Part of the Angel Family Restaurant Series
Whole New World Restaurant table #010-Saturday
Meg entered the staff room and headed straight for her locker. She was done for the day and ready to go home and take a long, hot shower. Someone had spilled cola on her as she had been cleaning a table and she felt sticky and gross.
Next to her few personal items was a plain white envelope. She opened it and found a paycheck. The first honest, legal payment she had ever received. It felt strange but kind of good.
Then she looked at the amount.
Furious, she marched out of the room and into Castiel's office.
"What the hell is this?" she demanded, throwing the envelope onto his desk.
Castiel sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Meg, I know this is your first job, but it is not polite—"
"Screw polite. Is this some kind of joke? What, I go to cash this and find out it's fake?"
A look of utter confusion on his face, Castiel looked in the envelope. "Your paycheck? Meg, this the correct amount, I assure you."
"It's too much," Meg protested. There had to have been a mistake, or it was a trick. She'd been foolish to trust him.
He pulled out a small calculator and came around the desk. She resisted the instinct to step back and raised her chin instead. He stopped close enough for her to see the screen, but far enough away to give her plenty of personal space. He then proceeded to explain every single aspect of her pay stub, and then showed her the calculations he used for her paycheck.
"See? The math adds up. This is your proper pay, minus your rent and utilities."
"It's...too much," Meg replied with a lot less heat than previously. Now instead of enraged she felt uncomfortable. She wasn't worth this.
"No it's not," he replied firmly, handing her back the envelope.
Meg returned to the staff room and was grabbing her coat when Charlie came in. Meg wasn't sure about Charlie. She liked the young woman, but Charlie had started getting nervous and a little hero worshipy around Meg ever since Meg had helped her with that grabby customer.
"Hey, Charlie? Where's the nearest check cashing place?"
"On the other side of town. Why?"
"We got paid today?"
"Oh, no. You don't want to go to one of those places. They'll take, like, half your check in fees!"
Half of what she got was still pretty damn good. "I—"
"Why not just go to a bank?"
Meg looked away. "Thanks."
She started to head for the door when she felt a hand on her arm. She tugged her arm away and saw Charlie watching her, her normally sunny expression serious.
"You don't know how to open a bank account, do you?"
"I—
"Look, I don't want to get into anything personal, but I'm pretty smart and I've figured some things out. Why do I pick you up tomorrow and we can go to my bank?"
"I don't need your pity."
"Not offering it, just basic human decency?"
Meg searched Charlie's face but Charlie was right. She didn't see any pity. "Fine. Thanks."
The next morning Meg was just finishing cleaning when Charlie knocked on the door frame of her open front door.
"Good morning," Charlie greeted, far too cheerfully. "Nice place you have here."
"Thanks," Meg replied, feeling awkward. She quickly closed the door and hurried down the stairs. In the driveway was an ugly yellow car, and Charlie motioned for her to get in.
"Um, is that...?" Charlie asked hesitantly. Meg looked over to see a pajama and robe clad Castiel taking a bag of trash out to the can.
"Yeah, this is his house. Why?"
"Nothing," Charlie answered, far too quickly and started the car.
It turned out that opening a basic bank account was extremely easy. It also helped that Charlie blatantly flirted with the teller. In half an hour Meg had a new bank account and a shiny new debit card.
"I'm hungry. Do you mind if we grab something to eat?" Charlie asked.
Meg didn't, so Charlie took them to a burger place in the mall.
"So, you live with Castiel," Charlie began when they were seated.
Meg buried her burger in ketchup. "Not with him. In that apartment."
"Isn't that awkward?"
Meg shrugged. "Not anymore. He's like, so...saint like, you know? Thought he was a perv at first but..."
Charlie laughed. "Well, that makes sense, doesn't it?"
"Why?"
"Before he opened his restaurant Castiel was a priest."
o.O.o
"Who is that with Meg?" Ambriel asked from a spot by the living room window.
"Ambriel, that is none of our business. She's our tenant. What she does with her life doesn't concern us," Castiel replied.
"Right," Ambriel replied, and Castiel was confused by the sadness in her tone. "I have to go study."
Cas watched his little sister go and for the first time felt a tinge of worry. He hadn't noticed Ambriel and Meg getting particularly close. Meg wasn't close to anybody. That's why he was so surprised to see her leaving with Charlie. Still, he would have to keep an eye on Ambriel from now on.
A few hours later he had gotten dressed and was in the middle of his Saturday afternoon cleaning routine. The doorbell ringing startled him as he was running a duster over the living room television.
"Cassie!" Anna cried when he opened the door. Cas was so stunned to see his elder sister that he was frozen as she enveloped him in a hug.
"What are you doing here?" Cas asked after she had released him. He stepped aside so she could enter the house.
"Can't I just visit?" Anna asked, looking away. "What's that smell?"
"Lemon cleanser and I have a quiche in the oven. What are you doing here, Anna?"
Anna pulled off her heavy coat and he automatically took it to place it in the hall closet.
"Is Ambriel home?"
"She's upstairs studying. Anna—" Cas began but Anna hurried up the stairs.
He sighed and followed her.
In Ambriel's room Anna had cornered Brie at her desk. The young woman was hunched over, looking silently down at her laptop, and had an open textbook next to her.
"—doesn't matter. How often do you see me anymore? We used to do a lot together, Brie. Come on, let's go get something to eat. Maybe we'll even go to the mall."
Ambriel shut the laptop and Cas had enough.
"Anna, leave her alone," Cas said.
Anna gave him an impatient look. "She's being rude."
"No, you are being rude. Now, leave and let Ambriel study."
Anna looked like she was about to challenge him, but she stormed out of the bedroom. Cas followed but glanced back to find Brie watching him within an expression of mixed relief and worry.
"What was that Castiel?" Anna demanded once they were back downstairs.
"Why are you here, Anna?" Cas asked once again.
"To visit my family," Anna replied, but once again she looked away. "I thought you'd be glad to see me."
"You could have called," he pointed out. Anna was very much about scheduling and planning ahead. She didn't do surprise visits.
"It was a last-minute...I just started driving and... Why won't you let me take Brie? I practically raised her."
Castiel led them into the kitchen and put the electric kettle on. Taking two mugs out of the cupboard, he set one in front of Anna. He grabbed the jar of coffee, but Anna shook her head.
"Do you have any peppermint tea?"
Anna didn't drink tea. She called it dirty leaf water.
"I...yeah, I keep some around for when we're sick."
He found it and gave it to her. She placed a bag in her mug and set the box down.
"Ambriel is at a critical point in her schooling—" he began.
Anna scoffed.
Castiel had picked up the now hot electric kettle, but he set it down with a thud. "Get out."
"Excuse me?"
"You have never supported Ambriel or her wishes."
"If she had just chosen to be practical—"
"I brought her here to get away from you and Dean, Anna. I will not allow you to come here and continue the same thing."
Anna stood and crossed her arms. "You have no right. I am the one who raised her after Father left us."
"We raised her and Samandriel, Anna. You, Me, Gabe, and Raphael."
Anna snorted. "Please. Rafe ran off to New York as soon as he could. Gabe was too busy screwing anything that moved, and you...you left for seminary school."
"You still hold that against me."
He'd wanted to be a priest since he had been ten and gone to Mass with a friend. He'd loved every second of it. He'd had his college picked out when he was thirteen, and molded his teen years—when not caring for his younger siblings—towards his dream. Receiving his acceptance letter had been the happiest moment of his life. Then Dean had crushed that happiness.
"I trusted you to care for them while went into the Army. Instead, you left them with Gabe?"
"No," he replied and concentrated on making his coffee. "No more. I won't be made to feel guilty for following my dream anymore. I came back."
"Not for us," Anna replied coldly. "You came back for Jimmy's family, but not your own."
Cas felt like he had been slapped. Slowly, he turned to Anna. She paled slightly and he could see that she knew she had gone too far.
"Cassie..."
"Get out of my home, Anna. You're not welcome here anymore."
"Cas—"
"Go!"
"Castiel, please. I...I'm pregnant." She pulled the baggy sweater she had been wearing against her body, and Cas could see the definite rounding to her normally fit and trim body. "Dean and I fought about it."
He leaned heavily against the counter. "Is it Dean's?"
"Fuck. You."
"What am I supposed to think?"
"That's not why we fought. Anyway, can I stay for a while? Gabe's place smells like alcohol and bodies."
"I don't think..."
"I can stay in the apartment."
"It's occupied." He suddenly felt exhausted and he still had to deal with the Saturday evening rush. "You can stay but if I hear you bothered Brie, you will leave."
"You'd throw your pregnant sister out?"
"You can handle yourself. I have to go."
Anna just nodded, and Cas reluctantly left.
In the driveway, he saw Charlie driving off and Meg struggling with several large bags.
"Nee help?" he asked.
She paused and finally nodded. "Yeah. I hadn't planned on getting anything, but Charlie wanted something from the store so I thought why not since I was there. Then she needed something from a different store and..."
"You have things now," he said, taking a bag.
"I guess," she shrugged, but he could see the hint of a smile that she was fighting.
He was as pretty sure that Charlie hadn't actually needed anything, but knew Meg would resist and outright offer to shop. He felt a sense of pride in the way his employees looked out for each other.
He waited patiently as she set her purchases inside and re-locked her door. They had taken to walking to work together when their schedules matched. He spotted Anna watching them from a window, but as he turned his attention to Meg complaining about Charlie's enthusiasm and energy, he felt the tension fade away.