Meg made sure to keep Castiel busy for most of Monday. The horses needed comprehensive physicals as it had been a long summer, between working at the faire and the long hours traveling between Lexington and Kenosha. Castiel wanted to make sure the horses were in top condition for the longer weekend, so he spent half the day in the barns with the vet and the roster for the weekend was updated accordingly.
Anael brought Claire and Jack to the Castiel's office around lunchtime, and they had a picnic lunch. Castiel and Meg had thick-cut roast beef sandwiches on sourdough, slathered with a tangy deli mustard, Anael had a chef salad with diced roast beef, and the kids enjoyed thinly sliced honey-glazed turkey breast and Swiss cheese on rye with mayo. Potato chips made the rounds, the kids had apple juice boxes, and the adults polished off a liter bottle of Coke.
At 2PM, Alfie knocked on Castiel's door with the beginnings of a proposal for the farm to invest in several Percherons. The two men sat at Castiel's desk with Alfie presenting his preliminary findings while Castiel made adjustments and observations, and both made notes.
"Let's see how the new Friesians work out before we start dealing with a whole new breed of horse," Castiel advised. "In the meantime, you've got a great start for the proposal. I'll email you my observations and notes and you can work it in."
Alfie nodded and gathered up his things. "Thanks, boss."
"No, thank you, Alfie," Castiel said, rubbing his sore shoulder absently with his hand. "You're doing fantastic work here and I really appreciate your initiative. On your way out, if Meg is at her desk, can you have her come in to see me, please?"
Alfie nodded and exited Castiel's office. A few minutes later, Meg came in. She set 3 extra-strength Tylenol and a can of Coke onto Castiel's desk and then sat. "You're overdoing things, Clarence."
"I'll meet the kids at my mother's for dinner," Castiel said, checking the time, "in an hour. Then we'll head home, the kids'll watch an hour of TV before bed, and then I'll video chat with Dean. Has the new bed been delivered and assembled?"
There, he'd said it. Called out the elephant in the room.
"Yes, Clarence, your new bed was delivered and assembled, and I put fresh new sheets and a comforter on it, as well as new pillowcases on the new pillows."
Castiel simply nodded and sighed. He had a feeling it was going to be a long night for him.
"So we need a dozen Bowie blanks, a dozen Santoku blanks, and if we have time, I want a dozen straight razor blanks as well," Dean said, scrolling through a spreadsheet on his laptop. Benny was making notes on his tablet, marking down the appropriate supplies they'd need to get it all done.
"This is gonna be a long week, brothah," Benny observed.
"I think we've got five Bowies and two Santokus in the emergency supplies if we run out of time," Dean noted. "I can shift them into the inventory and I'll make a notation to make new blanks for the emergency stock after the busy weekend."
Benny nodded and the two men got to work. First order of business was lighting the forges, and second order of business was cranking up the music. It was an eclectic mix of classic rock, Viking metal, Cajun, and zydeco. Dean twisted his braids into a topknot, both men slipped leather aprons over their heads, and they began their busy day.
Two hours later, and each man having polished off their first liter and half bottle of water of the day, they had their first real break. Stepping out of the hot smithy, they sat on canvas chairs in the driveway, sipping from cold bottles of water.
"Remind me when we head back in to see if we have a Damascus steel Santoku blank in stock," Dean said, squinting up at the blue sky dotted with fleecy clouds.
"Has someone ordered one?" Benny asked, holding the cold bottle to his neck.
"Nah, I want to make one for Cas's mom and bring it as a gift when I visit," Dean said, then guzzled the rest of the water. He stood and headed back into the smithy, empty water bottle swinging from the carabiner dangling from a finger.
"Bribing Castiel's family to like you," Benny said with a grin, draining his own bottle and following Dean back inside.
"Whatever works, man," Dean smirked.
"Well, it's a good thing you're not depending on bowling them over with your personality. What are y'all bringin' for the boy?"
"Small Norse axe head on a braided leather cord, dull, of course."
"Good plan," Benny observed.
The two men got back to work for another two hours, and another two knife blanks were done by each man. Benny ordered a pizza delivery for lunch, and 29 minutes later the two men were back outside on the canvas chairs, enjoying a meat-lover's pizza, garlic knots, and cold Coke.
"I need to talk to you about something," Dean said around a piece of particularly crispy pepperoni. Benny made a 'go ahead' motion with his hand as he poured himself another cup of Coke. "If all goes well with my visits to Lexington, I'll be moving there around Winter Solstice - that's December 21st for you."
"And what about the business and your house?" Benny asked, chasing a stretching cheese string.
"Well, I'd rent a property in Lexington that would have a place for a smithy, and rent equipment. As for here, you've mentioned Andrea's been kinda wanting to settle down with you, and I was hoping you'd rent this place from me. If we have two smithies, we could each hire an apprentice or journeyperson and increase our output capabilities."
Dean laughed at the look of panic on Benny's face. "Dude, you've been together for seven freakin' years! What were you expecting?"
Benny opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He took a sip of Coke and shook his head.
"Look, Benny," Dean said in a calming voice, trying to get his friend off whatever ledge he was teetering on, "you've got a few months to decide and plan. And if you don't want to rent the house, I'm sure I can rent it without the smithy, and you'll have access to it, okay?"
Benny simply nodded, tossing the half-eaten slice of pizza into the box, and guzzled the Coke instead. Dean shook his head and finished his slice. It seemed lunch break was over.
Dean paced his bedroom, throwing glances at the laptop on his bed. The leftover meat-lover's pizza he'd reheated for dinner sat like a greasy brick in his stomach. Sam hadn't been wrong when he'd teased about Dean's preference to never have serious conversations, and Dean could feel his heart rate increasing as the clock blinked closer and closer to 8PM. He needed a beer. No, a joint.
No, he needed to do this sober.
Fuck.
He flinched slightly when the laptop trilled notification of an incoming video call.
Gods Above, give me strength.
He inhaled deeply, sat on his bed, tapped the accept button and exhaled with a smile. The smile warmed when Castiel appeared.
"Hello, Dean."
"Elskan, how is your shoulder?"
"Hurts like a sonovabitch," Castiel said with a grimace. "I'm still popping Tylenol every 4, 5 hours."
"I suppose asking you to take things easy this week is a waste of breath?" Dean asked with a small smile.
"Now you're starting to sound like Meg," Castiel groused.
"We're just worried about you," Dean said with a smile. "Listen, I don't mean to change the subject so fast, but I need to talk to you about something, and I don't want to lose my nerve."
Castiel squinted slightly and tilted his head. "Sounds serious, Dean."
Dean shrugged his shoulders. "It kinda is. I, um - I plan on looking into rental properties in Lexington, so I can be closer to you, and y'know, we can actually start dating."
He could feel the flush on his cheeks and he watched the screen with trepidation. Castiel blinked and licked his lips. "You would do that for me? For us?" he asked in surprise.
"Cas, I meant it when I said I want to give us a go. And that ain't gonna happen with us nearly a thousand miles apart."
"But why?" Castiel seemed insistent on getting an answer.
"Because -" I love you. Say the words Dean. STFU, Freyja! "- I'm the one with the more mobile job, I wouldn't be uprooting kids, and I'm able and willing to move."
"You'd move away from your family?"
"Why does it sound like you're trying to discourage me, Cas?" Dean asked, frowning slightly. "Don't - don't you want us to have more than weekends in the summer? And it wouldn't happen immediately, I was thinking around Christmas time."
"Of course, Dean! I think - there's a part of me that expected to have to convince you to move out here, yet you're volunteering from the get-go. I had this whole conversation in my head with you. I guess - it's just thrown me for a loop that we skipped that."
"So you want to have an argument?" Dean asked with a grin.
Castiel smiled and sighed, suddenly looking exhausted. "I'm sorry, mon chéri, I'm not feeling myself these past couple days. Between the injury, the pain from the injury, the changes in my bedroom, I'm a bit out of sorts."
"This your first night in the new bed?" Dean asked, once again watching Castiel carefully. Castiel simply nodded, eyes downcast. "I can go to a hotel when I visit if that will make things easier, engill."
"That's very thoughtful, Dean," Castiel said, scrubbing his face with his hands. "As of right now, I don't want that. I think I'm going to turn in early though. With everything going on right now, I think I'm going to have a long night."
"Alright, Cas, goodnight," Dean said with a smile. Say the words, Dean. Shut up, Freyja. They disconnected the video chat.
Castiel stared at the ceiling, watching the blades spin on the ceiling fan. At some point last night, sheer exhaustion had pulled him under and he managed some sleep, but he didn't feel refreshed in any way. The bed was comfortable, the pillows had just the right amount of height to them, and the linens had that wonderful fresh-out-of-the dryer smell he appreciated. But he missed the dip in a certain location on the mattress, the pillows were devoid of that slept-in scent that lingered after months of use, and the linens were still a bit too straight-from-the-package stiff. And of course there was that discussion with Dean. He had a feeling he'd handled it badly, but the thought of anyone up and moving nearly a thousand miles away from friends and family, just to be with him, terrified him. What if it didn't work out? What if they only worked because they were in this bubble at the faire? He couldn't be responsible for someone completely changing their life. He needed to speak with Meg.
He sighed and rolled over when his alarm sounded, hitting the off switch with a finger. He kicked back the covers, sat up, scrubbed his face with his hands, and made an experimental roll of his right shoulder. Still hurt like a motherfucker. He stood, feeling twice his age, and shuffled to the bathroom for a piss and a shower. He rubbed his face again. And a shave.
Once his morning ablutions were done, it was time to roust the kids out of bed and get the day started. Naomi had messaged him the other day to let him know a second gown was awaiting Claire. He smiled at the thought of his daughter participating in the faire this weekend. When he left his room, he could smell the already brewed coffee. Thank God for timers.
Dean was on autopilot for the bulk of the day. Work two hours, take a thirty-minute break, lather, rinse, repeat, except take an hour for lunch. He was trying really hard not to overthink Castiel's reaction to his plans on moving to Lexington. He was really, really trying. But he's Dean freakin' Winchester. Eventually the workday was finally over, and there were another 10 blanks for the weekend. At the rate they were going, they wouldn't need to dip into the emergency stock. He waved as Benny climbed onto his motorcycle, and headed into the house. He needed to shower, change, swing by Harvelle's for take-out, and then face Bobby.
Gods, he really hated heart-to-heart talks.
An hour later, Dean trotted up the stairs to Bobby's, bags of burgers and fries in his hands. One might think it was his go-to food for when he needed to have A Conversation with his surrogate father, but the truth was, both men simply liked the roadhouse's cheeseburgers and fries. Occasionally onion rings too. The front door was unlocked as usual, and Dean entered the foyer, looked around, and headed straight for the kitchen.
"Bobby!" Dean called out.
"Already in the kitchen," the gruff older man replied. Dean made his way into the kitchen, put the greasy bags on a newspaper on the table and gave Bobby a hug.
"Missed ya, old man," Dean said with a grin. He grabbed a handful of paper towels off the roll, sat at the table, and started pulling food out of the bags. Bobby grabbed a couple bottles of beer and the bottle of ketchup out of the fridge.
"Well, y'know where I live, boy," Bobby said dryly.
The two men got to eating, enjoying the food and the companionable silence. It was only when Dean started on his second beer that he spoke what was on his mind.
"This weekend closes Bristol, and the weekend after that, I'm going out to Lexington, to meet Cas's son, Jack," Dean said, playing with a french fry.
"You already met the daughter, right?" Bobby asked, watching the man who was like a son to him.
"Claire, yeah," Dean nodded. He took another pull from the bottle of beer, took a deep breath, and just spat it out. "I'll be moving to Lexington in a few months to be closer to them and have more than just a weekend thing."
"Balls, I guess I owe your sister-in-law five bucks," Bobby huffed.
Dean sputtered and choked on the beer. "You too?!"
Bobby simply smirked and took a bite from his burger. "All jokin' aside, Dean, I'm happy for ya. I really am."
"Bobby, what if it doesn't -" Dean tossed his mostly finished burger onto the paper and sat back in his chair, appetite suddenly gone, looking dejected.
"Hey now, ya idjit," Bobby scowled, pointing a finger at Dean, "don't you go down that road. What I tell you 'bout settin' yourself up for failure before even given' it a chance?"
"To not to," Dean said with a sigh.
"Then don't."
The two men returned to the business of eating and once the meal was finished, they began discussing the feasibility of opening a branch of The Doobie Brothers in Lexington and other nearby Kentucky cities to justify investing in a Cessna. Dean had discovered there were no direct flights between Sioux Falls and Lexington.