Chapter Twenty-Five

Winter drew onwards, with Cas wrapping himself up in several layers every time he left the house, Dean grinning every time he threw a scarf over the top and obscuring half of his face.

As much as he hated the cold, he loved using it as an excuse to snuggle close to Dean in the evenings, blankets piled over them both.

They were both in the bakery one frosty December morning. Cas had begun putting up Christmas decorations, and Dean was leaning against the counter, watching him. Alfie was tending to the coffee machine, as usual, though he had recently taken on a much bigger role at the bakery, and came in early to help Cas with the prep.

'Dean, the counter!' Cas protested, moving Dean away from the glass counter.

Cas was decorating the register with tinsel when a customer came in, completely swathed in layers, scarf and hat covering most of her face. Cas glanced up at her, but then did a double take. 'Wait… Charlie?'

'Surprise!' she said, taking off her hat and scarf.

'Charlie!' He flung his arms around her, squeezing her tightly.

Alfie vaulted the counter and jumped on her as well.

'Careful,' Cas said reproachfully, pulling away. 'What are you doing here? Why didn't you call?'

Charlie raised her eyebrows, reached behind the register, and pulled out Cas's extremely dead phone.

'I meant, why didn't you call Alfie?'

'I thought I'd surprise you, that's all.' She looked around the bakery, her eyes fell on Dean, and her face lit up. 'Is this him? Is this Dean?'

Cas blushed. 'Yes, this is Dean.'

Charlie squealed slightly, and hugged Dean tightly. Cas tried to keep a straight face at Dean's shocked expression over Charlie's shoulder.

'It's so great to meet you,' she beamed. 'Oh, wait..' {How are you?}

Dean blinked in surprise. {You sign?}

{Of course. As soon as C-a-s told me you sign, I started learning. I have a group}

{Why?}

{The whole time we lived out here, he never mentioned a man, but he did not stop talking about you when you met}

'That is not true,' Cas spluttered.

'Sure it isn't,' Charlie laughed.

Dean raised his eyebrows, amused.

Charlie then began inspecting the bakery. 'Are these the best decorations you guys could come up with?' she asked, pointing at the pale pink frosting on the cupcakes. 'Clearly you guys need some inspiration around here.' She went behind the counter, peeled off her gloves, and grabbed the fresh batch of cupcakes that Cas had just made.

Cas watched her start to decorate the fresh ones, and shared a confused look with Alfie.

'Um, Charlie?' Cas said.

'Yeah?'

'What are you doing here?'

Charlie glanced up from her cupcakes. 'I'm getting married.'

Cas looked mystified. 'Yes?'

She grinned at him. 'Next month.'

'What?' Cas hugged her again. 'That's so great! I'm so happy for you!'

'So, I want to take you all out for drinks. Hey, don't you have a brother?' she asked Dean, who nodded. 'I'd love to meet him! Is he free tonight? You should bring him.'

Dean nodded again.

'Awesome!'

{I have to get to work} Dean told Cas, his face falling slightly. {See you later} He kissed Cas goodbye, and left.

Charlie winked at Cas, who rolled his eyes.

'How is Dorothy, anyway?' he asked.

'She's great. Visiting her parents with the news.'

Cas smiled widely.

The rest of the day was surreal. Having Charlie back in the bakery was like a breath of fresh air. She helped Cas put up the Christmas decorations, and refilled the cake decorations with as many different colours as she could.

Alfie stayed all day, too, and the three of them closed together.

Once they'd dropped off the leftovers, they met Sam and Dean outside.

Sam warmly shook Charlie's hand, then let her lead the way to her favourite bar.

She ordered them all a round of drinks and sat them all down at a table.

'So, how'd you and Cas meet?' Sam asked.

Dean watched her, interested.

'Well, we were sort of on the same scene for a while, so we knew each other from around. I actually dragged him out of clubs a few times, when I thought he'd had enough-'

'I don't remember that,' Cas said.

'Duh, you were completely wasted every time I did. I used to keep an eye on him whenever I saw him out, 'cause he was clearly using a fake ID, and he had just about the worst fashion sense I've ever seen-'

'No change there, then,' Sam laughed.

'Oh, trust me, this was so much worse.'

'Pics or it didn't happen,' Alfie grinned.

Cas frowned. 'Charlie doesn't have-'

'Oh, Charlie does,' Charlie said, smiling wickedly.

Cas's eyes widened. 'You don't!'

'If you think I didn't keep photos of you for this exact occasion, you're wrong.'

To Cas's horror, Charlie unlocked her phone and pulled up her photos. She giggled as she picked one out, and passed it around the table.

Sam burst out laughing and Alfie sniggered at it. It was passed over to Dean, who choked on his drink.

Cas snatched it away and groaned. It was a picture of him at about sixteen years old, wearing the mesh vest he'd left at his parents' house, with a stringy white top hanging off his shoulders. He was clutching a glass of something green in one hand, and a cigarette in the other. The black eyeliner he'd ringed his eyes with had smudged all over his face, and his hair flopped over his forehead, greasy and electric blue.

'Oh, you think that's funny, do you?' Sam said to Dean, who was almost crying with mirth. 'Let's see what everyone has to say about this.'

Dean's face fell.

'What do you mean?' Cas said.

'Let's just say, you weren't the only one that went through that phase,' Sam said.

Cas glanced at Dean, who was shaking his head.

Sam too pulled up a photo and passed it around.

Alfie guffawed and Charlie giggled. She passed it to Cas and he gasped.

In it, Dean was wearing a ripped t-shirt, flipping the camera off with both hands, while sticking out his pierced tongue. His nails were painted black, as were his eyes, but the best part was his hair. Spiked into a tall mohawk and dyed fluorescent green.

Cas looked wide-eyed at Dean. {You never mentioned this} he signed gleefully.

Dean groaned and hid his face in his hands.

Cas passed Sam's phone back, chuckling. He squeezed Dean's knee, coaxing him away from his hands and revealing bright red cheeks. {At least I'm not the only one} Cas said.

Dean groaned again.

{It's cute} Cas reassured him. {Really. Green suits you}

They all laughed and drank some more, until their tongues had loosened a bit more, and the atmosphere was pleasantly relaxed.

'So, Dean,' Charlie said, leaning over the table towards him. 'Is Cas the first guy you ever liked?'

Dean blushed, and grinned. {He is}

Sam frowned, sipping his beer. 'No he isn't,' he said.

Dean glared at him. {Yes he is} he insisted.

'That's not true.'

{Yes it is}

'Oh yeah? What about Benny?'

Dean leaned back in his seat, and Charlie made an amused 'Ooooooh' sound.

'Who's Benny?' Cas asked Dean with a sly smile.

{No one} Dean signed forcefully.

'You're such a liar!' Sam laughed, his cheeks reddening from the alcohol. 'Benny was a guy that used to work in Dean's favourite diner. We were there basically every day, and you could not get them away from each other. Seriously, you should have seen the way Dean looked at him.' Sam devolved into laughter, but Dean looked down at his lap.

Suddenly, Cas didn't find it quite as funny as everyone else did. He slid his arm around Dean's waist and pulled him closer. 'It's okay,' he whispered in Dean's ear.

Dean sighed. {He wasn't…}

'Wasn't what?'

{Like me. He wasn't like me}

Cas bit his lip, as he saw a long-forgotten heartbreak resurfacing behind Dean's eyes, barely understood and buried deep. 'What happened to him?' he asked quietly.

Sam shrugged. 'Moved out to Georgia last I heard. To be with his family, or something.'

{I need some air} Dean said, getting up.

Cas watched him leave and waited a few minutes before following him.

'Dean?' he said, gently touching Dean's back when he found Dean outside.

Dean shook his head. {It's fine. I didn't realise how far back this went. It seems like everyone except me knew}

Cas squeezed his arm. 'I've said before, it's okay not to know.'

Dean nodded. {He wasn't that great anyway}

'Are you coming back inside?'

Dean looked uncertain.

'Come on, we can get Charlie to tell more stories about me.'

Dean smiled.

'We'll have some more drinks, and Charlie will tell you all about the time I threw up on a guy, what do you think?'

Dean rolled his eyes, but grinned.

'That's more like it.' Cas led him by the hand back inside, picking up another round of drinks along the way.

Sam was already too far gone to notice Dean's discomfort, but Charlie nodded at him in concern.

{I'm fine} Dean told her. {Tell me about the time C-a-s vomited on someone}

'Oh, that's a great story!' Charlie said, grabbing her drink. 'So there I am, watching Cas hit on this guy, which is a sight itself to be honest. I'm keeping an eye, 'cause he's completely wasted and I'm making sure this guy isn't up to any funny business…'

Cas blushed the further she went with her story, but it was worth it to see Dean laughing.

'... I turn away for like one second, and I turn back and they're making out against the wall of this club. But then, I see that Cas has gotten really unsteady and pale. So I start going over to get him, but I'm already too late. The guy could definitely tell what was about to happen, but he's too late as well. He tries to get away, but as soon as he lets go, Cas pukes all over him, but it's not a regular puke, it's bright blue. As in, so blue, it was never coming out of that guy's sweater. That's when I decide he's done for the night, so I apologise to the guy and get Cas outside, where he immediately passes out. It took me hours to get him home, 'cause no cab would take him in that state. And when he wakes up the next day, with a monster hangover, of course, he remembers none of it until I tell him.'

{You're right, that is a great story} Dean signed, laughing so hard he was struggling to keep his signs straight.

'Honestly, how his parents didn't realise before, I have no idea,' Charlie laughed.

'How did you two end up opening a bakery together?' Sam asked.

Charlie blinked. 'That is a long story.'

'Let's hear it.'

'All right, just don't fall asleep. It all started when I found him out on the streets. I was just walking around with Dorothy, and there he was, asleep under a bench in town, with only a ratty old sleeping bag. Honestly, he was a mess.'

Cas nodded in agreement.

'He wouldn't tell me what happened at first, but I took him back to my place for a while. It was awful for days. He didn't sleep, he barely said a word. All he did was drink hot chocolate and hide under the blankets in my spare room. I almost thought he wouldn't get better. Then, one day, I had been out shopping all day, and when I came back, the apartment was covered in cupcakes, and I mean covered. There wasn't a flat surface that wasn't covered in cupcakes. I was so confused. I don't even know where he got the flour from, but then I tried one, and they were amazing!'

Dean chuckled, and grabbed Cas's hand.

'So I thought, why not put it to good use. We tried a few more recipes and Cas was amazing at every single one. It was crazy, but I thought it just might work.'

'Okay, but how did you get the money to outright buy a bakery?' Sam asked,

Charlie and Cas glanced at each other nervously.

'Well…'

Sam rolled his eyes. 'I'm a lawyer, not a cop. Besides, statute of limitations.'

'Technically, it was his money,' Charlie said hastily. 'His parents had locked him out of the account, but it was still his. All I did was help him gain access to it.'

'Ah, I see,' Sam grinned, downing the rest of his drink. 'Smart.'

Charlie winked at Cas, and they all drank more, becoming increasingly raucous until the bar called last orders.

By the end of the night, they were all glad they'd chosen a bar within walking distance of their apartments. Sam wandered off back to his, and the rest of them back to Cas and Dean's.

Charlie stumbled into the spare room, Alfie passed out on the couch, and Cas and Dean fell into their bedroom, just barely managing to get the door closed.

{I love you so much} Dean signed sloppily from the bed.

{You're drunk} Cas signed back, lying down next to him.

{So are you. It's still true} He laughed weakly to himself, as they both wriggled under the blankets.

They were asleep almost straight away, Dean snoring loudly.

Welcome back everyone! Thanks to VegasGranny, ThornsHaveRoses, Kathy, AGirlIntheGalaxy, thewindinthemeadow, Lady among the trees and Pyrite for the wonderful reviews! See you all next time!