Castiel didn't hear from Dean for 4 days. And even then, it wasn't like he'd gotten the call from his green-eyed dreamboy. It came from Sam, and the only reason he knew to answer the call was because it was from 'Singer Auto Garage'.
He'd spent the 4 days in between moping in his room. It was partially because he'd lost the love of his life, yeah. It was also partially because his twin brother was coming back from the grave to haunt him. And it was mostly because he was selling his soul to a questionable company in order to get away from it all.
As soon as he'd gotten off the phone with Dick Roman's asian secretary, he'd gone straight to the convenience store and bought several packages of cigarettes. In between curling up in his covers and drowning in classical music, Castiel spent his time chain smoking. His room smelled terribly like tobacco and he knew he'd have to wash his sheets lots of times before the smell came out. It didn't bother him that much, but it would sure as hell bother Micheal.
The worst part would be going through the withdrawl again. He was going to quit, because he didn't want to have to pay 18 hundred dollars for silly car repairs that weren't even his fault. Micheal wouldn't break his word about that, regardless of their fight.
His phone had rung obnoxiously loud, and he checked the caller ID. He suspected Gabriel or Lucifer, who had been checking in several times a day to make sure he wasn't cutting his wrists. Castiel wasn't that much of a wuss, and it kind of annoyed him that his brothers thought so. Still, it was nice having some human communication.
He'd seen the name and, remembering that they owed him 2 doors, accepted the call. Some sadistic part of him way deep down hoped it was Dean on the other end of the line, but the other, more prominent part of his brain hoped it wasn't. Thankfully, it was the younger Winchester. Castiel could handle that.
"Cas! Long time no talk!" It had been like, a week. "We got those doors in last night so, whenever you want just bring your car on over!"
Well, the sooner the better. Castiel kind of wanted to be able to drive again without plastic thumping loudly in the wind and the heat getting unbearably high because the air conditioner was ineffective. He told Sam he'd leave right away and dug himself out of bed for a long overdue shower.
He hadn't even encountered Dean on the way in. As soon as he'd entered the lobby, he'd handed the keys to Sam who ran out back and did whatever the heck business he had to. His car was towed out back by an older man as Sam returned.
"It'll be about 2 hours." The scraggly-haired teenager annoucned. "You can head on out and I'll call 'ya, or you can come behind the desk here and watch TV with me." Castiel craned his head and there was, infact, a television hidden behind there. There was also a blonde haired girl, about Sam's age, sipping on a can of coca-cola.
"Nowhere to go, really." Castiel said. Sam smiled brightly at him and held a door open. There was nothing but a small armchair in the corner and a wooden chair at the desk, both of which were occupied by the others, so the dark haired teen took a seat on the floor.
"Hi!" The blonde girl said cheerfully. "I'm Jess." So Sam even dragged his girlfriend to work with him. They really were inseperable. He smiled at her lightly before turning to see what she was watching. The news. "So you and Dean, huh?"
"Jess." Sam warned from his spot at the desk, where he was sorting files. Castiel felt instantly uncomfortable.
"What?" She asked him. "Dean's too pansy to talk to Cas so I'll do it for him." Oh man. He was about to be lectured by a girl younger than him who had probably no more experience in dating than he did, seeing as she was practically attached to Sam. "Okay, so. From what I gather, you guys had a tough night and fought, you don't want to be friends anymore. You're both emotionally scarred and your personalities oppose each other perfectly, and would make a great couple but you're only attracted to one person, which Dean finds unfair, but he doesn't know that the person you're attracted to is him." She paused and mulled over her thoughts while Castiel tried to hide his face in his coat. "Um, yeah. Kind of confusing. Did I miss anything?"
"Nope." Castiel croaked. Well, now that all of his innermost secrets were out in the open...
Jess grinned widely at him. "So here's the deal. We force you 2 into a room to talk it out, and then your forgive each other, feelings are revealed and the magic happens." Oh, he wished it were that easy. Her smile turned sweet and she looked infinately wiser than her age would allow, just for a moment. "He cares about you a lot, you know. He's just trying to accept that the Jimmy he knew is long gone and he has feelings for his best friend's twin brother."
Well, when it was put that way it was kind of understandable. If it was even true. Castiel remained silent and kept his eyes glued on the floor. Jess turned back to the TV, where footage of Richard Roman giving a public speech was being broadcast.
"My uncle Frank says that guy's crazy." Sam said. He must have felt awkward. They were, afterall, talking about the possibility of his older brother being in love with a man. "Says he puts addictive stuff in the food supply so that people want to keep buying more. That why his company's doing so well. And that the man has shady doings out in archeological dig sites all over the world, and that he's looking for something nasty."
"I've got an internship with them in the works." This caught both of the teen's attention. Sam leaned forward slightly in his seat, and Jess twirled her hand in a way that said 'go on'. "They're offering me lodging and a small pay. I have amazing math scores and a penchant for ancient languages, so I'll basically be crunching numbers and translating for anybody who asks for it. Dick's secretary is currently looking into enrolling me at the local school." He smiled. Jess and Sam were practically awestruck. It was an amazing thing, to be sure. "If it falls through, I'll be leaving at the end of the month."
Sam looked like he was about to offer congratulations, but Jess looked worried. "Does Dean know?" She asked suddenly.
Castiel's brow furrowed. Of course not. "This was set up a few days ago. I'd feel like he was stalking me if he did."
Jess looked horrified and practically jumped out of her chair. She grabbed Castiel's arm and started tugging on it. "Well you have to tell him! I just know he won't like it." Castiel wasn't looking forward to talking to the older man. He still had nearly 2 hours while the other fixed his door, and he was planning on using that time to figure out what he had to say. They probably hadn't even gotten the doors out of packaging yet.
Castiel carefully peeled Jess's fingers from off his forearm. "I will. Later." He said. Jess gave him a look and pursed her lips. She gave up, however, and retook her seat on the couch.
The next hour and a half was spent with Sam and Jess in casual conversation. They talked about random things, and occasionally Castiel offered his imput. But for the most part he was silent and Jess eventually flipped over to some disney movie Castiel had never seen. It appeared to be a parody of Rapunzel. A few customers came in asking for wiper fluid or some transmission fix, and Sam promised their cars would be up next.
Eventually he excused himself for a smoke. Sam had told him to go out back because there was propane stacked up in the front. Castiel wasn't really sure the back was any safer, with it's various car parts, but he didn't argue. It was hot outside but Castiel ignored it. He sighed in relief as he shook a cigarette out of the box and pulled a lighter from his coat pocket. He lit up quickly and took a deep drag, needing the nicotine bad after not having it at all that day.
Dean and the same older man from before were working diligently on the finishing touches for his Ford. Perhaps smelling the smoke, Dean looked up and their gaze connected. "You can finish those screws, right?" Dean's voice carried to him. The other man grunted in affirmation, and the next thing Castiel knew the eldest Winchester was moseying on over.
Castiel protested loudly as the first thing Dean did was grab his cigarette and stomp it into the dirt.
"Quitting, remember?" Dean smirked triumphantly, and the shorter man huffed in annoyance. "So Cas, what's new?"
"I started smoking again." Castiel said sarcastically. He was surprised when Dean laughed.
"Seriously though." Dean said, removing his shoe from atop Castiel's drug. The blonde was sweaty and wearing a wifebeater that easily showed off his muscles, and it was very hard for Castiel not to stare. "I found out my dad had a love child on Sunday. My new step brother is named Adam Milligan. He's like... 10 years old."
Alright. If Dean was going to tell him that, Castiel figured he owed him. "My brother is set to move back in with us in 2 months." At Dean's silence, he clarifed, "Jimmy." He only wished it were Gabe or Luke.
"That's... kinda rough." Dean said uncertainly.
Castiel laughed a little in dismay. "You too. What's Adam like?" Anything to hold off the awkward conversation. It was inevitable, but it didn't have to happen just yet.
"He's nice, I guess. Not a fan of my father, but in the end none of us really were. We invited him to some fancy restaurant, but he says he doesn't want to do the 'family bonding' thing."
Castiel smiled knowingly. "I can relate." He wasn't close to Micheal and definately not Jimmy, and he didn't really plan to ever be.
Dean snorted. His hands were twitching in apprehention at his sides and after a breif lull, he responded. "Ellen's going out of town for a few days. Which means Friday, Jo and I are inviting some friends to the Roadhouse for discount drinks. There won't be a lot of people. 15 at most. And uh... Gabe's gonna be there." So his older brother had conspired against him with the enemy. Him and Dean were friends, though, so Castiel guessed it made sense. He tried not to be too mad. "You're welcome to come, if everything's cool between us."
Castiel wasn't sure everything was. They hadn't even talked about it but if Dean didn't want to, why bring it up? Against his better judgement, he agreed to go.
"Awesome! And hey, get off the smokes by then, okay? I don't want you there all needy again."
He'd planned to stop after today anyways. That gave him 2 and a half days to get over the most painful part of withdrawl. He figured he could do it, as thats what it took him last time. He nodded his head in agreement. Dean held out a hand and insistently wiggled his fingers, so reluctantly Castiel handed over his last box. He wanted to go through the last 4 but... he'd do what Dean wanted.
It seemed they were friends again after all.
The older man came over and Dean introduced him as Bobby. They all went over what had been done to his car and Bobby said the bill would be sent to Micheal, and then he handed Castiel the keys and walked him over to his car. Castiel almost teared up - he was that happy.
He said goodbye to Dean and poked his head inside to tell Sam and Jess he was off, and then he slid into the drivers seat of his car. The first thing he did was crank up the air conditioner and bask in the fact that it worked. Then he pulled out of the driveway to Singer's. Perhaps it wasn't as nice as the impala, but it was still his car. And it was good to have it back.
A/N: I do all editing for this, so there are probably lots of spelling mistakes. For some reason my checker doesn't work. =/
But there's the next chapter. I don't know when 15 will be up 'cuz I have work tomorrow and then college orientation Friday, so probably after that. Sorry.
I love it when Jess talks some sense into our boys.