If you're a fan of the movie this was originally based on, you will probably have noticed by now that I'm completely off script here. Cas had his own ideas about how things should go, and he's too cute to argue with. He looks at me with those big blue puppy eyes and I'm like, Sure you can kiss Dean now, honey. I'll just rewrite the whole chapter to include some kissing just for you, kay?

Many thanks to NeteleJala, gnbrules, Kathy, Eyum daRelmera, superchiwo, and Damaged Emerald for taking the time to share their thoughts. Seriously, guys, I feel so loved and supported. Keep up the good work. =)

Chapter Eight

At breakfast the next morning Castiel decided to just bite the bullet. If he was going to make it through Claire's teenage years, he'd best get used to having the difficult conversations now.

"Do you like Dean?" he asked as a way to broach the subject although he was pretty sure he already knew what the answer would be.

Sure enough, Claire looked up from her pancakes and nodded enthusiastically.

Castiel smiled. "Yeah. Me too. I, um … I think I might invite him over here more often. Would you be comfortable with that?"

Another definitive yes.

Okay. So far so good. Now for the hard part. "And sometimes he might … stay overnight. Like a sleepover party."

That got a puzzled frown. The apartment only had two bedrooms.

"He would sleep in my room," Castiel clarified. "You don't have to give up your bed."

Claire pointed at Castiel, still frowning.

"I would sleep in my room too. With Dean. The thing is, Claire …" He stopped. This was harder than he'd expected. How the hell did you explain sexuality without actually getting into the subject of sex? Then he had a flash of inspiration. "You remember when you were watching Lilo and Stitch the other day?"

She nodded. She was still clearly confused, but she was a kid. She was used to not understanding the things grown ups said, so she listened and waited patiently for him to start making sense.

"You know how in the movie David likes Nani? And he likes Lilo too, but he likes her in a different way. He likes Lilo as a little sister or … or a niece. The way I like you. But he wants Nani to be his girlfriend, right? Well, I like Dean the way David likes Nani."

She was still frowning.

"Are you confused because Dean isn't a girl?" he asked gently.

She nodded.

"Okay. So in real life sometimes men fall in love with women, and sometimes they fall in love with other men. And some people think that's wrong and men should only love women, but that's not true. Some men are just born a little different, and they're not able to fall in love with a woman, but that doesn't mean they should have to be alone their whole life."

Claire's frown had turned thoughtful rather than confused. She was absorbing his words, turning them over in her head and slowly fitting them into the jigsaw puzzle of her ever evolving worldview. He waited. Finally she stood up, took the message pad off the fridge, and brought it back to the table.

Castiel watched in amazement as she began to write. He knew she could write of course, but so far she had refused to use it for anything but her schoolwork. The doctor back in Illinois had told Castiel that this too was perfectly normal. Traumatic mutism was less about an inability to talk and more about the mind refusing to interact with a world that had suddenly become too frightening and unpredictable. So the fact that she was willing to use words even if they weren't spoken words yet meant that she was starting to feel safe again.

She pushed the pad towards him and he read, You want Deen to be yor boyfrend? He made a mental note to work with her on spelling, but now didn't seem like a good time to criticize. He didn't want to discourage her from communicating with him this way.

"Yes," he said. "Yes, I do."

She took the pad back and wrote, You luv him?

"I …" It would be simpler to just say yes, but it wouldn't be honest, so he did his best to explain. "I don't know. This is another way that real life is different from Disney. Sometimes you need to spend a lot of time with someone so you can figure out if you're in love with them or not. Right now I just know that I like him. He's kind and funny and …" An excellent kisser. He kept that part to himself. "And I enjoy his company. I'd like to get to know him better."

She considered her next question for almost a full minute before she wrote, Can girls luv girls the saym way boys luv boys?

"Yes," Castiel said with a smile. "They can. But I think you should wait until you're older before you decide which one you like. I know boys might seem kind of icky right now, but things change as you grow up."

~o0o~

In their haste to be responsible and not have impulsive couch sex, they had neglected to discuss how things would work at … well, work. Castiel really, really didn't want a stupid failure of communication to derail them before they'd even got started, so as soon as he walked in to the kitchen, before Dean could so much as say hello, he said, "Dean, may I have a private word please?"

Several of the staff gave Dean pitying looks, and Gabe muttered not quite under his breath, "Uh oh. Someone's in trouble." Castiel ignored them and led Dean into the pantry. If they thought this was a patented Chef Novak telling off, so much the better. They would think twice about interrupting lest they get caught in the crossfire. There were advantages to being feared.

"Am I?" Dean said nervously once the door was closed. "In trouble?"

"No." Castiel took a breath and let it out, letting go of his brusque, bossy work persona and being just Castiel again. "No, I just thought this was a conversation best had in private. We need to decide how we're going to handle this. Working together and being …" A couple sounded presumptuous at this stage so he went with, "Involved."

"Oh. Right." Dean didn't relax. If anything he looked even more tense. "Thing is, Cas, um … You know how you said you couldn't have a casual relationship?"

Castiel's heart stopped. That was what it felt like anyway. An icy hand reached into his chest and squeezed. He should have known this was too good to be true. Dean had reconsidered in the sober light of day and decided that he didn't want Castiel after all.

The voice of insecurity almost drowned out what Dean was actually saying. "Well, I can't have a secret relationship. I did my time in the closet, thanks, and it was hell. I won't live like that again. I can't. I'm sorry if that's a deal breaker."

The wave of relief was so intense it made Castiel a little weak at the knees. He stepped closer to Dean and gently touched the other man's cheek. "Hey. It's okay. Breathe, Dean. I wasn't suggesting that. I have nothing to hide. I'm merely saying that we should be sure of each other's boundaries so we don't violate them accidentally."

Dean finally untensed, the wariness disappearing from his eyes. "Oh. Right. Of course. You're right. Sorry for … freaking out on you."

"You don't have to apologize. I understand. I did my time in the closet too, and I wouldn't go back for anyone. That said, there is a difference between secrecy and privacy. How do you feel about PDA?"

"I'm okay with it most of the time, but we should probably keep it to a minimum in the kitchen if only so we don't get distracted and start a fire."

Castiel couldn't help smirking. "Literally or metaphorically?"

Dean laughed. "Both? There were definitely sparks flying last night. Please tell me I didn't imagine that."

"Oh, there were sparks." His gaze drifted down to Dean's mouth as he remembered how perfect those lips had felt on his, how utterly gorgeous they looked all pink and swollen and wet with Castiel's saliva. Alone in his bed after Dean had gone, he'd gotten himself off to the image of those lips doing things far less innocent than a little kissing. He wondered if Dean had done the same.

Their eyes locked again, and the air between them crackled with so much sexual tension it was almost visible to the naked eye. This was half a second away from turning into another horny make out session. Castiel took a step back and made a herculean effort to remember what they'd been talking about. Boundaries. Right.

"Define minimum."

"What?" Dean too needed a moment to remember how to think with his upstairs brain. Castiel tried not to feel too smug about that (and failed abysmally). "Oh. Um … Well, no kissing, I guess."

"On the mouth or none at all?"

Dean considered for a moment, then decided, "None at all. At least for now. Maybe once we've, you know, gotten this out of our systems" — Translation: had sex a few times — "we can risk it. Right now we're clearly wound way too tight."

"Agreed. And where is it okay for me to touch you in public?"

"Anywhere above the waist."

"Including your face?" That would give them away for sure. Touching someone's face was pretty much universally considered intimate, particularly between two men.

"Yes," Dean said without hesitation.

Castiel nodded. "Okay. I think that covers everything important."

"Wait. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What are your boundaries?"

"Oh." Castiel gave a low chuckle. "You will soon discover, Dean, that I am completely without shame." Then he realized that while it was still technically true, one caveat had to be added. He held up a finger. "Except around Claire. I have no issue with kissing in front of her, but —"

"Everyone keeps their clothes on until the kid's asleep. I know the drill," Dean said. "You're not the first single parent I've dated."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me. You're devastatingly handsome, you like kids, and you can cook. You're every single mother's dream guy."

Dean laughed. "Yeah, except for the part where I'm hella fucking gay. Speaking of, how did Claire take the whole 'I like boys' thing?"

"Surprisingly well. It helps that at her age romance is a very nebulous concept anyway. It's an adult thing, so it comes as no surprise to her that it's more complicated than she had realized. And now that that part's taken care of, I thought maybe we could go out to lunch one day while Claire's in school."

"Sounds great," Dean said with one of those smiles that lit up his whole face and warmed Castiel from the inside out with its glow. "Did you have somewhere in mind?"

"I did. I know a great little place in Chinatown. You'll have to drive though. I don't own a car."

For some reason this made Dean light up even more. "Oh, man. You haven't met my car yet, have you?"

Castiel barely restrained a snort. "I'm sorry. Met your car? Are you one of those guys who talks to his car like it's a person?"

Dean looked highly offended. "She, Cas. My baby is not an it. She's a classy lady. Tell you what. I'll give you a ride home tonight and you two can get acquainted."

"So long as that isn't a ploy to get me acquainted with your back seat," Castiel said playfully. "I'm a classy lady too. Two date minimum." He wasn't entirely joking, but he knew Dean would never push or manipulate him into doing something he wasn't ready for.

Dean laughed. "Yeah, no. Not saying I've never done that. It's a really good thing the car can't actually talk or she'd have some stories for you. But I'm not eighteen anymore. I don't think my back could take it. And besides …" He stepped into Castiel's space and put a finger under his chin, gently tipping his head back until it was at the perfect angle for kissing, but he didn't kiss. He just looked. The heat still smoldered in those green eyes, but it was controlled, patient. "The first time I have you, I want you to be comfortable so I can take my time. Pick you apart nice and slow until you're begging for me, then make you come so hard you can't remember your own name, only mine."

His voice rolled over and through Castiel, smooth and dark as melted chocolate, and Castiel bit back a very undignified whimper. Dean suddenly closed the last inch of space between them and pressed their lips together, a brief, close mouthed kiss but almost bruising in its intensity. Then, just when Castiel was about to flick his tongue out and swipe along Dean's bottom lip, his tried and true method for signaling that he would like to be kissed for real now please and he could make it worth his kissing partner's while, Dean pulled away and stepped neatly out of reach.

"See you in the kitchen, chef," he said, his eyes twinkling in a way that left no doubt he knew exactly what he was doing to Castiel and was enjoying every minute of it. He walked out of the pantry looking nothing like a man who'd just been told off by the boss.