Dean went in to the yard early the next day. He found Bobby first thing and told him about Sam and Jess coming to visit. Bobby was more than happy with Dean doing some overtime and gave him the days off he wanted. He seemed to brighten slightly at the mention of Sam coming back to visit, as much as Bobby could brighten anyways.

With that all settled and out of the way, Dean plugged away at the different cars that rolled through until quitting time.

"You gonna be in early again kid?" Bobby asked Dean as he walked towards the impala.

"I'll be up with the birds Bobby. See ya then." He called back as he closed the heavy impala door.

The drive home was faster than usual. The roads were clear of the normal after work traffic. When he got home to the building he saw that Cas's car wasn't there. He must be really swamped. He pulled out his phone in the dying light and decided to send him a text.

Dean: You still working?

Cas: Unfortunately

Dean: Damn

Cas: I just left my meeting. I have a bunch of paperwork to put away and then I'll be heading home soon. Unless they find another reason to make me stay.

Dean: Sneak out.

Cas: I can't do that Dean.

Dean: It was worth a shot. You finish saving the world. I'm tired and hungry.

Cas: I will get to the world when I finish saving this reserve. Have a good night Dean.

Dean: You too Cas.

So he wasn't going to be seeing him tonight. That was a bummer. He decided to call the cable company as he walked upstairs. Dean had a feeling he would be wanting to watch TV this week to pass the time.

Castiel finally got into the parking lot at 9:30. He looked up through his windshield and saw it was dark in Dean's apartment. There was only the blue glow of the TV. That was ok. He was exhausted and knew he had to get up and do it all again tomorrow. He couldn't wait for this whole ordeal to be over with so he could get back to the much better parts of his job. He would like to see Dean, but it would have to wait.

He walked drowsily into his apartment and fed Meg her dinner. He didn't spend any time visiting her. He felt guilty about it, but he was so tired. He thought about eating, but the call of his bed was too strong. He walked into his room, took off his clothes, and was asleep before he hit the sheets.

By the time Wednesday rolled around, Dean couldn't stand not seeing Cas anymore. They had sent a few texts back and forth seeing how the other was doing, but that wasn't good enough. Dean was thrilled when he came home and saw that Cas was already back from work.

"Finally." He sighed and hurried out of the car. He skipped stopping at home, even though he still smelled like an auto shop. He knocked on Cas's door and waited patiently for him to answer.

Cas opened the door a crack and peeked out. He was holding his phone to his ear and listening to whoever was on the other end going on and on. Castiels face lit up as he waved Dean in.

"Sorry." Cas silently mouthed to Dean and pointed at his phone.

"No Crowley, I don't care about how reasonably priced their jeans are." He looked at Dean and rolled his eyes. He listened for a while longer and started again. "Mine? They're." Cas looked down at his pants and looked for something to indicate the brand. "Wait. No. We aren't talking about my pants." He shook his head. "Listen, the land is protected. There is other land that is actually for sale."

Dean sat himself down at Cas's table and watched him. Documents were spread out over half of the space there. He picked one up to check it out, but it may as well have been written in Latin.

"You can throw contracts at me all day, it isn't going to change anything." Cas sat down across the table from Dean and put his head in his hand. Dean saw how fed up and tired Cas looked. He felt bad for him, he wanted to do something to help, but this was clearly out of his skill set.

"Ok.", "Alright.", "Definitely not." Cas was looking at Dean apologetically.

"I'll be there. Goodbye." Cas ended the call quickly as to keep the conversation from continuing.

"Sorry." Cas said aloud this time. He took a deep cleansing breath. "Hello Dean."

"Hi." Dean smiled at Cas. He found he was still handsome when he was tired and ticked off. "I saw you were home already. I didn't think you would be working. Sorry to interrupt."

"I don't mind. I'm glad to see you. I was missing you." He looked down at the paper work on the table. "I am getting really tired of looking at these."

"I only saw one and I'm tired of looking at them. We could burn them and say the apartment caught fire." Dean said seriously.

Cas laughed. "That would only get me new copies and a day behind."

"Oh. Well. Crap." Dean said. "Is work always like this?"

"No. It's usually much better. Things like this don't happen often." Cas reached down and grabbed the bag he carried his paperwork in. He pulled out a file and handed it to Dean.

Dean took it and opened it up. He saw topographical maps of the parks with little notes written in Cas's scrawl. He flipped through the pages and saw pictures of birds and long passages hand written beside them. He didn't understand what any of it meant, but he could tell between looking at this file and the paperwork on the table, this was what Cas liked working on way more. He kept looking through the pages and saw there were more maps of other cities and towns. He looked to Cas.

"Why do you have maps outside of Sioux Falls?"

"I work for the State. With the different districts and universities, doing research. I travel sometimes, but they have cameras all around and a bunch of us work together, so I don't have to go too often anymore." Cas was surprised he hadn't actually mentioned what he does to Dean yet. He had really just scraped the surface.

Dean closed the folder and handed it back to Cas. "That sounds complicated."

"It can be. I like it anyways." Cas said as he reached up to rub at his eyes. He was tired. He wanted this week to be over already.

"Does that mean you have Monday off next week?" Dean perked up suddenly as he asked.

"Does what?" Cas didn't know what Dean was talking about. "Why would I? Oh, yeah." It was almost Memorial Day. "I guess I do."

"Awesome. Sam and Jess are gonna come out on Sunday. I know they'll wanna see you."

"Oh. That's great." Cas was having a hard time focusing. "Do they know? About us I mean."

That's right. He hadn't had a chance to talk to Cas in the last few days. They hadn't exactly discussed what their relationship was.

"Uh. No. I. No. They don't." Dean felt guilty about it, like he was hiding it on purpose.

"Are we going to tell them?" Cas asked through a yawn. "Excuse me. I'm sorry Dean. I haven't been sleeping much."

"It's alright. You look beat." Dean paused. "And yeah, I was gonna tell them when they got here. They don't exactly know that I'm, you know."

"Gay?" Cas laughed.

"That's it yeah." Dean smiled at the sound of Cas laughing.

"I think they will be fine with it. I don't know them well, but they seem like the accepting type." Cas told Dean sincerely, trying not to sound tired while he spoke. He knew from experience how coming out was, and he didn't want Dean to think he wasn't interested in what he was saying.

"Yeah, I think your" Dean started.

Castiel's phone started vibrating across the table.

"Right. Work?"

Cas picked up the phone and squeezed it in his hand. He clenched his eyes shut and slowly lifted the phone to his forehead. He bumped it there a few times in frustration.

"Your Mom?" Dean guessed again.

Cas lowered his phone and shook his head.

"Gadreel?" Dean tried, knowing he would be right.

"Yes. I tried to block his calls, but he just started trying from another number. At least this way I know it's him" Cas looked at the phone. "I would like to throw this thing away."

Dean looked at Cas and wanted to help him. He looked so done with everything. He stood up and walked over to Cas's half of the table. He took the phone from his hand and tossed it on the couch.

"There. That's better." Dean said and moved to stand behind Cas. He reached up putting his hands on his shoulders and started to work on them. The muscles there were very tight. Cas lowered his head and let Dean continue what he was doing.

"Mmmm. Thank you Dean." Cas said with a sigh as he started to relax.

"Am I hurting you?" Dean asked, he didn't really know what he was doing. He knew what he thought felt good on him and was just trying to mimic that.

"No. That feels very nice." Cas rolled his head from side to side.

"You're pretty built, for an orn…ee?" Dean tried.

"Ornithologist." Cas laughed. "It's ok if you call me a bird guy."

"No, I'll get it. Shut up." Dean played it off. "But yeah, doesn't seem like the most physical job."

Cas was glad Dean was behind him. He thought he may be blushing.

"I do a lot of field work. Not really at work. I'm usually out researching in my spare time. It can be challenging so I stay in shape."

"You work when you're not working? Is there something wrong with you?" Dean couldn't believe somebody would want to use their brain all day and then go home and do it again.

"You fix your own car don't you?" Cas asked

"Well, yeah but that's different." Dean countered.

"Not really." Cas sighed as Dean rubbed an especially tight muscle lower in his back. "I'm doing research for my dissertation."

"What?" Dean's hands stopped.

Cas turned his head to look up at him. "For my Ph.D."

"Oh." Dean laid his hands back down on Cas's shoulders.

Dean's mind was racing. His Ph.D.? Was Cas a genius, while Dean couldn't even remember what he does for a living?

Cas put his hand up to meet Deans. "What?" He turned to look up at him.

"Your Ph.D.?" Dean asked.

"Yes." Cas said slowly.

"Ok, give it to me straight." Dean wasn't sure why he felt worried. "How smart are you?"

Cas laughed and stood up to face Dean. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Um. Yeah. Ok." Dean liked the sound of that. He thought he would have to leave right away with all the work Cas clearly had to finish.

Cas went into the fridge and pulled out 2 beers. He handed one to Dean. "I don't usually drink on week days. But," He sighed and looked back at the table. "It won't hurt."

Dean noticed how gracefully Cas managed to skirt around his question.

"Good try. Really? Your Ph.D.?" Dean asked as he opened his beer.

"Yes, really. I guess you can say I'm pretty smart. I thought that was obvious." Cas tried for the joke.

"So compared to say me?" Dean asked unsure about even saying it out loud.

"Oh." Cas paused. "Dean. Is that why you're being so weird about it?" Cas looked at Dean seriously.

"I'm not being weird. You were secretly brilliant this whole time, and I've been calling you a bird guy."

"I am a bird guy." Cas was starting to feel concerned about where this was going. He didn't bother mentioning his dissertation to Dean because it wasn't something that came up naturally in their conversations. He wasn't hiding it.

"You know what I mean." Dean said more annoyed than he meant to.

"I wasn't being 'secretly brilliant'. I'm not even normally brilliant. I'm well educated in specific fields." Cas tried not to get his back up too much. "Are you mad at me for it?"

"No." Dean wasn't sure why he was so worked up over it. Cas had seemed like such a normal, nerdy guy before he knew this about him. He looked at Cas and saw that he looked confused.

"I don't know. It's kind of intimidating I guess." Dean finished.

Cas looked at Dean and knew that he meant what he was saying. "It shouldn't be." He said simply.

"It is anyways." Dean smiled at Cas. He was still really good looking. Dean was relaxing a little bit. "How long did you go to school for? Forever?"

"I'm still kind of in school. It's felt like forever." Cas reached up and rubbed at his neck.

"I dropped out, so excuse me for thinking you must be a genius." Dean looked down at his beer. When he faced up again he saw that Cas was smiling.

"That doesn't bother me at all. If you ever feel intimidated just remember that I drove a screaming car for a year."

Dean started laughing. "Ok, maybe you aren't a genius."

"Thank you." Cas said, making Dean laugh more. He liked it when Dean laughed.

Cas was feeling better. More alive. Seeing Dean was good for him. He looked back over at the table.

"Do you need me to go?" Dean asked watching Cas's eyes.

"Not yet. I don't have much more to do. Just reading and signing things. In duplicate." He rubbed his eyes. "I like seeing you better. How has your week been?" Cas asked Dean. He started walking into the living room and motioned for Dean to join him.

They sat down on the couch together. Meg ruffled her feathers in her cage and started pecking at her little mirror. "Hey Meg." Dean said to the bird. She ignored him.

"It's been alright. Long. Boring. Not a whole lot to report. I need to get a bed for that spare room for when Sam and Jess come." Dean thought for a second. "And I have cable now."

Dean looked around the room and suddenly noticed a lot he hadn't before. Books for one. Lots of books neatly in shelves. A couple frames on the wall that Dean didn't stop to read. He had been more interested in finding pictures of Cas's family. He thought he should try and get a closer look at those sometime so he knew exactly what "specific fields' Cas was 'well educated' in.

"I'd ask how your weeks been, but apparently it's been a shit show." Dean said to Cas.

"Shit." The bird spoke up from her cage.

"Meg!" Cas looked at her and back to Dean. "She's been cursing a lot."

Cas sighed. "It's been a long week. It's almost over. They have no right to the land and are just whining about it at this point."

"It sounds like they are running out of ideas if they're calling you up at home to ask what you're wearing." Dean smirked at Cas.

"I hope so. That was Fergus Crowley on the phone. He wants to build there and he can't. He doesn't like not getting what he wants." Cas looked at Dean. "I don't want to talk about work."

"Ok. What do you want to talk about?"

"What are you going to tell Sam?" Cas asked.

Dean groaned. "I don't know. What do I say? Surprise?"

"Is he going to be surprised?" Cas genuinely wondered.

"I don't know. Maybe." Dean tried to think back to any times he may have hinted things to Sam. "Maybe not." He added remembering some of the things Sam had said and done the last time he was out there.

"I think you can just tell him plainly and he's going to be happy for you." Cas said.

"I don't know." Dean sighed.

"What do you know?" Cas asked him.

Dean laughed. He reached over and grabbed Castiel's hand. "I know I like you. He's gonna figure it out one way or the other, 'cuz I don't plan on quitting that any time soon." He felt his old confidence coming back.

Dean leaned over and kissed Cas.

Cas's phone started buzzing between the cushions of the couch. Dean pulled back. "I agree, you should throw that thing out."

"I can't even turn it off lately." Cas reached into the couch to grab the phone.

He held it down in front of him. Dean could see it was Gadreel.

"This guy is starting to piss me off Cas." Dean said roughly. "Can't you just tell him we're together so he quits."

"He won't quit." Cas put the phone down on the coffee table in front of him.

"Then we could change your number. Or how's a restraining order sound?"

"He will get my new number. My mother always makes sure of it." Cas sighed. "And a restraining order would make more trouble than its worth. Our parents are friends remember?"

"Ass kicking's still on the table." Dean said seriously.

"Dean." Cas laughed.

Cas let out another yawn.

"You're beat. You should go to bed. I'll forge your signature." Dean said and rubbed Cas's arm.

"It's not worth the jail time Dean. I should get reading. I will take some of them into bed with me." Cas compromised.

"Ok. I'll get out of your hair." Dean said standing up.

He reached down and gave Cas his hand. Cas took it and stood up beside Dean. They held hands a second longer before letting go.

Cas moved to the kitchen table to start gathering up his things. Dean walked up behind him and wrapped his hands around Cas's waist. Cas stopped grabbing papers for a moment and leaned back into it.

"When are you done this? Friday?" Dean asked pulling Cas in tighter.

"Yes." Cas shivered at the feeling of Deans breath on his neck.

"Let's do something then. Anything. I don't like not seeing you."

"Me either." Cas turned his head towards the side Dean was on. "We will think of something to do." He added.

Dean had to leave right now before he jumped this guy's bones. Cas was tired and overworked, and Dean was distracting him. He leaned in and kissed Cas's neck before he let go.

"Get some sleep ok?" Dean said as he opened the front door. "Or you're not gonna make it that long."

"I will." Cas smiled at the request. "Goodnight Dean."

"Night Cas." Dean closed the door.

Cas was feeling a bit dopey. Dean was kind of dreamy. And warm. And smelled like cars and ecstasy.

He shook his head. Back to reality. Cas gathered the rest of his papers and put away the ones he didn't need. He took the rest into his bedroom and put them on his bedside table. He switched on his lamp and got himself ready for bed.

He got under the covers and started reading through his papers, but he found he kept losing his place. Halfway through a page, he would start trying to add how many hours were left until Friday. When he had re read back to where was, he would start wondering what they were going to do.

Cas flipped through the pages left in his hand. There weren't many, he decided he could read them in the morning. He put the papers away beside him and turned out the light. Cas knew he was finally going to get a good night's rest. His phone was still out on the coffee table where he left it. Good, he wouldn't have to listen to the damn thing buzz. He rolled over and fell asleep feeling better than he had in days.