Cracking his neck, Castiël groaned.
It was Saturday, and he had an early shift.
Since it was still pretty cold outside, people tended to stay indoors and the day was heading off to a slow start.
He turned to the dark skinned, older man that had come in.
"Good afternoon, mr. Turner. You're out and about early today." he greeted.
The older guy huffed and waved a hand at him.
"Yeah, yeah. And on a shabbat too." the guy groused.

Castiël leaned on the counter with his arms folded.
"Then shouldn't you be abstaining from being here, mr. Turner?"
The weatered skin creased around the corners of the man's mouth and he chuckled low.
"Call me Rufus, boy. And technically... Yeah, I should, but I need a drink. Being the DA tends to get me outta bed on the most awful hours, and now my car is falling apart on me too. So, can I get a Johnny Walker Blue?"

Castiël shook his head with a smile and grabbed the requested drink.
"So, Rufus, why don't you get her fixed?" he said, cleaning the bar.
Rufus eyed his drink, then took a sip.
"The shop I always went to, closed. And I don't trust many people."
Silently agreeing within, Castiël walked back up to him.
"Do you trust me, Rufus?" he dared to ask.
A calculated stare took him in from head to waist.

"I guess... don't know your name, but I know you never water down my booze."
Castiël chuckled and inclined his head in acceptance of the veiled compliment.
"Thank you. I am Cas... Cas. I know of a place, Singer salvage...it does repairs too. It's on Sundowner, just outside the citylimits."
Rufus sat up, eyes crinkling at the corners.
"Singer? As in Bobby Singer?"

Castiël nodded.
"You know him?" he asked, slightly surprised.
Rufus scoffed, grinning by now.
"Yeah.. I know him. Crazy old coot. So, Cas... you'd trust them with your car?"
Happy to help, Castiël nodded.
"Yes, sir! One of the mechanics is my housemate, and his car is pristine, even if she is almost 40."
He pulled out his phone and scrolled until he found a picture of Dean with his Baby. He'd taken it last summer when Dean was waiting for Lisa, because Baby was just such a beautiful car.

Rufus narrowed his eyes at the phone, then pulled back with widened eyes.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that's old John Winchester's car!" he exclaimed, trying to catch the licenceplate.
That piqued Castiël's interest and he looked at the picture himself.
"Really... did John have any kids?" he asked casually, but Rufus wasn't fooled.
"Yeah he did... it is is car, isn't it? Licence plate KAZ 2Y5?"
Castiël eyed the man carefully.
"You tell me, I tell you, deal?"

Ruffus nodded appreciatively.
"Ok, Cas. You got me. John has two boys. Samuel and... Dan? Denny?"
Castiël's heart thumped.
"Dean? Sam and Dean? Are you sure, Rufus?"
Rufus slapped the counter and a grin slid on his face.
"That's it! Sam and Dean! Boy... the times I had to have a talk with old John..."
Rufus took another sip, draining his glass. Castiël tipped it up again at his signal.
"Guy was a drifter, you know. He'd come into town every now and then, those boys in tow. Some times he'd drop them at old Singer's place, and leave. Other times he'd stay there too. Never long enough for the kids to really settle. I had Dean in my sights though... that kid looked like he'd go through any lengths for his brother, even if that meant breaking the law."
Another sip of JW down the hatch, and Rufus was nodding to himself.

"Yeah... I felt sorry for those two. Dad was a bit of a drunk at times. Don't know if he was abbusive... Never found a mark on the kids, but they were kinda squirrely around him. Get them alone, and they were cocky as heck, but with John around... it was like he was their sergeant. He'd be barking orders, and the kids hopped to it. Sam a little less eager than his brother, but still. I wonder what happened to them..."
Castiël smiled. For all the grumpiness and grousing, mr. Rufus Turner had a golden heart.
"Well, the guy leaning against the car is Dean. He is my housemate. He works at Bobby's and his brother, Sam... he is a lawyer, downtown. I am unsure as to what happened to their Father though."

Rufus looked up from his drink.
"Really now? I am glad to hear it. So Dean is a good mechanic, I take it?"
Castiël nodded eagerly.
"Then I'm gonna get my ancient butt to that place, and see if he can rescue my old clunker. Thanks, Cas."
His phone beeped and he pulled it out with a resigned sigh.
"I gotta go." He slapped four twenty dollar bills on the bar and hoisted himself to his feet.
"Keep the change, Cas. For... rendered services."

While he dropped the twenty dollar change into the tipjar, Castiël heard his phone bing with an email notification. Looking around to see if anybody was around, he took it out to check.
When he saw it was from Human Resources at Nomed, he swallowed.
What would they want? Was he in trouble?
With trepidition, he tapped the mail.

'Dear mr. Novak,

It has come to our attention that you have gathered up quite a bit of due vacation.
It has accumulated to over a month worth of payed vacation.
Therefore we request that, if you do not have any pressing reasons to come over, you take up some of that time as soon as possible.
Our suggestion is that you keep some of the time in reserve for emergencies and such.
Hence we recommend that you take three weeks out of the five and a half you have, as per Monday next.
Your pay will remain the same, overtime not included.

Sincerely,

Becky Rosen, Human resources'

Relief flooded him as he read the mail a second time.
He wasn't in trouble. If he wasn't mistaken, he had just been ordered to take three weeks paid time off!