I would like to thank everyone who has followed, reviewed, or favorited this story so far! I hope you will enjoy reading this chapter and I would love some reviews! The same warnings apply to this chapter as the last one, and I will continue to make a glossary of horse terms used in this chapter.

Chapter Two – The Angel of Thursday

ONE YEAR AND FOUR MONTHS LATER

It was almost sun set when Dean finally led Cyrus up to the arena, it had been a long day and he was happy to finally get to ride his horse. He hadn't had a chance to ride Cyrus for a few days, there was just too much to do, especially since his dad had decided Dean needed to play a bigger role in training. He'd been spending more time working the green horses than he had with his own.

"All right boy." Dean smiled; patting his bright chestnut gelding on the shoulder he put his left foot in the stirrup and swung up. Gathering his reins he shifted his weight back and Cyrus set out at a trot, the thoroughbred had always been sensitive, and after a few days without work he was more energetic than normal. Dean pulled him back to walk with an 'easy boy'. He was starting to think he should have lunged him or just let him run before he had gotten on, but he didn't want to take the time to do it now. Jumping will be interesting today, Dean thought.

Dean and Sam had always been different when it came to riding; Sam had been a lot more casual than Dean. He would exercise the horses and go out on trail rides with the family, but hated competing. John had bought Cyrus for Dean when he turned eighteen; to be his jumper, for the last four years Dean and Cyrus had been cleaning up at shows. He hadn't had much time to ride him, much less show him, not since Sam had left.

Shortening his reins a bit he pushed Cyrus into a trot, the gelding tried to rush forward but Dean held him back, pulsing with his ring finger on the inside rein, asking him to bring his head down.

"Good boy."

Sam had been at Stanford for three months now, Dean wasn't happy about it, more so about the fact that he didn't plan on coming back home after. He was starting to think his Dad was more upset than he was, not that he showed it outright, not since he had first found out. Dean was pretty sure that their dad would have handled it better if Sam had spoken to him earlier, or he had at least known before the acceptance letter came. Maybe that way Sam would have stayed through the summer instead of bolting. He'd gotten a couple calls from him, Sam had spent the summer fixing cars in a little auto shop to pay rent till he moved into the dorm.

Dean had finished his warm up letting Cyrus canter before popping over a few low jumps. He had a course set at about three feet, he had been competing at four and half feet, but he didn't want Cyrus to overdo it since he had been worked so sporadically.

"Let's go Cyrus." He said setting off at a canter towards the first fence; the gelding tossed his head rushing forward. Dean sat deep in the saddle holding him the last couple strides to the jump and rising up into two-point as they soared over and landed on the other side cantering down the line towards the second jump. Coming around the corner Dean looked towards the driveway, a beat up yellow Volvo rumbled up to the house. Dean didn't recognize the car, and it wasn't nice enough to belong to one of his dad's clients. Weird, he thought, but ignored it returning his focus to getting a good approach on the next fence.

Despite being more hyperactive than normal Cyrus had done great, Dean smiled patting his horse on the neck and giving him a loose rein to walk out. He was going to have more work to do once he had Cyrus cooled out and taken care of. He needed to go out to the feed store before it closed they were running low on the high performance stuff that one of the boarder's horses got. Dad would be pissed if the woman who owned said horse came to him out of food.

He looked up as the familiar form of his father walked towards the barn, side by side with someone he didn't know. He had dark hair and looked tall, shorter than him or his behemoth of a little brother, but tall none the less. He had his eyes trained on John listening quietly as the older man spoke while they walked. He didn't look like someone coming to try out a horse; he was dressed plainly in jeans and a tee-shirt, not breeches and boots.

"Dad!" Dean called out and the two men looked up, "Can I…talk to you for a minute?" John looked over at the stranger said something before walking up to the arena. "Who the hell is he?" Dean asked quietly looking up at the dark haired guy, making eye contact briefly but he looked away suddenly becoming rather interested at the architecture of the barn.

"New stable hand."

"He new in town? I've never seen him before."

"Yeah, yeah he only just came; he's been staying in the motel." Dean looked at the new guy again, he still had his back turned, hands stuffed into his pockets.

"Where's he going to stay now?"

"I was thinking in Sam's room."

"In Sam's room?!" Dean snapped and the new hand looked up startled, but quickly turned back around.

"He needs a place to stay, and it's not like Sam's using it."

"But –"

"No buts Dean. I'm going to go show him around. When you're done with Cyrus why don't you bring him with you into town?"

"Fine." Dean grumbled turning Cyrus from the rail and continuing to cool out.

Dean led Cyrus out to the pasture, the gelding staying close despite the slack in the lead rope. His shirt and black breeches were soaked, it was still hot for September and he had needed to bathe his horse, and consequently ended up covered in water himself. He wasn't exactly looking forward to dragging the new hand around, it was going to be dark soon and he would rather just go out come back quickly and go to bed as soon as possible. At least he would have someone to muck the stalls for him.

He let Cyrus through the gate and then slipped through shutting it behind himself. There was a big show in a couple months; with the new guy around he would be able to get back into shape, get back to competing. Dean rubbed his hand across the white stripe on Cyrus's face, mumbling a 'good boy' to him and slipped the halter off. The gelding stayed for a moment butting his head against Dean before leaving to get some water.

"Hello, Dean." A voice came from behind him and Dean spun around cursing.

"What the hell?" He looked up to see the new guy a few feet behind him at the gate.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." He apologized, Dean's eyebrows raised, his voice was a lot deeper than he had thought it would be.

"Yeah well give a guy some warning next time." He grumbled opening the gate and pushing past him. The gate slammed shut and he headed towards the barn, the new stable hand close behind.

"My name is Castiel. Castiel Novak." Dean paused turning to look him in the eye.

"Castiel?" he put emphasis on each syllable of his name.

"My mother was very religious."

"That doesn't give me anything bud."

"Castiel is the angel of Thursday."

"Ookay." Dean nodded and patted him heavily on the shoulder before turning back towards the stable. For a second he didn't think this 'Castiel' was going to follow, but it wasn't long till he heard footsteps jogging up behind him. Dean was really starting to question his father's decisions, letting some stranger sleep in Sam's room. Some religious nut job at that, he seemed a little off in the head.

He walked into the barn, heading for Cyrus's stall and roughly put the halter onto its hook. A boarder walking past with her horse gave him an odd look as she walked out of the barn. Dean turned, Castiel still stood behind him, quietly watching. Their eyes met, Castiel looked so analytical, a weird feeling formed in the pit of his stomach. This guy gives me the creeps, Dean thought turning away, pretending to busy himself organizing his tack trunk that sat outside of Cyrus's stall. He rummaged around placing polo wraps onto one side, crops in the holders on the bottom of the lid; he smoothed out the already perfect pile of saddle pads. Turning his head slowly he looked back, Castiel was still there.

"You gonna stand there all night?" he snapped slamming the tack trunk closed.

"I'm…waiting for you."

"To do what?" Dean growled straightening.

"Your father. He told me to go with you into town."

"Right..." Dean turned making eye contact with Castiel briefly, then looking down "right. Come on then." His voice was gruff as he walked passed Castiel, "Meet me by the truck, I'm going to go grab the keys and change."

"Which truck? There are three out there."

"The nineteen sixties model, next to the impala."

"Old cars." Castiel commented.

"Dad doesn't like to let go of things." Dean laughed shortly and then paused, "I'll see you in a few minutes."

Dean jogged up the front steps and into the house; he wasn't looking forward to the next hour or so with the new guy. He was weird… too serious and too awkward at the same time, he seemed like he would be a paper pusher behind a desk, not a stable hand. The door banged shut behind him and John looked up at his son and then back to the news paper he was reading.

"Have you met Castiel?" John asked as Dean strode into the laundry room.

"Yeah! Where did you even find that guy?" He called out reaching into the dryer for a pair of blue jeans and a shirt, and grabbing a pair of work boots to exchange for his tall leather riding boots.

"He responded to an ad I put online, I thought you could use the extra help." John said not looking up as Dean walked back into the room.

"I mean yeah, but he's kinda… I don't know… strange?"

"He's a good kid, seems like he'll be a hard worker." John dismissed him.

"Whatever." Dean muttered heading upstairs to get changed.

Dean walked out to the truck, keys jingling in his hand. Castiel looked up from where he stood next to the passenger's side door as Dean walked to the driver's. He didn't say anything just unlocked the door and slid in starting the engine. The radio started blaring and Dean smiled tapping his fingers to the beat against the steering wheel. It was a moment before he wondered where Castiel was, he looked to the right to see a pair of blue eyes staring at him through the window look down at the door handle. Dean leaned over and let him in, letting the truck roll forward as Castiel pulled on his seat belt.

The drive was quiet for a long time; for once Dean was keeping his eyes trained on the illuminated section of road. Sparing no more than a couple glances at Castiel, not really sure what to say, or if he actually wanted to say anything at all. It was hard to guess what the other man was thinking; he kept such a straight expression. He was turning out to be pretty quiet too, so it was surprising when he was the one to break the silence.

"I saw you riding your horse when I was driving up." He said not looking over.

"You did?"

"Yeah, you looked uh... very good. It was…impressive."

"Thanks." Dean said a bit stiffly, "You uh, you ride at all?"

"No."

"What're you doing at a horse farm then?" Dean asked with a sudden sinking feeling, this guy hadn't been around horses. He was starting to worry he would have to spend more time babysitting him than getting his own work done.

"I've always been very fond of animals. It seemed like it would be interesting. I was surprised when I got here; I assumed it would be a western farm not an English one."

"Yeah we uh breed warmbloods, mostly Dutch and Hanoverians; for hunters and jumpers and stuff." Dean replied letting the conversation fall back into stiff silence again for a few moments. "So you've really never ridden? Not even a pony ride at the fair when you were kid?"

"No. No I didn't go to fairs often. I went once with my older brother, Gabriel, but we wasted out money trying to win a goldfish before we found the ponies." Castiel replied his tone didn't change; it still made Dean a bit uncomfortable how detached he seemed even when talking about something like his childhood.

"So you have a brother too?" Dean asked.

"I'm the youngest of six."

"Six?" Dean's eyebrows rose.

"I have a large family."

"I'll say." Dean chuckled as he pressed the brake, "Alright here we are, Harvell's Feed and Supply."

Glossary

Boarder – Someone who pays to keep their horse at a stable.

Breeches – tight riding pants, classically tan or white, can come in many colors.

Canter – A three beat gait slower than a gallop (four beats) and faster than a trot (two beats)

Chestnut – A coat color varies from dark to bright coppery reddish browns with matching mane and tail.

Gelding – A male horse who has been castrated, known for generally being calmer than most stallions and mares.

Green Horse – An inexperienced horse who has only recently begun training.

Halter – A kind of head collar usually leather or cloth, a lead rope is attached under the horses head just behind the muzzle when leading.

Hunters – An equestrian discipline involving showing on the flat and over fences, tests the suitability for riding a horse in the field, looking for even temper and easy comfortable strides.

Jumpers – An equestrian discipline where the horse and rider negotiate a technical course of jumps involving tight turns and brightly colored fences as quickly as possible without knocking down any rails. Tests the athleticism, agility, speed, and bravery of the horse.

Lunging – Can be used as a training method or as a way to get energy out, the rider will stand at the center as he has the horse circle him attached to a long rope called a lunge line. The rider will generally lightly flick a lunge whip or the end of the line to signal the horse to go forward.

Polo Wraps – cloth leg wraps used to protect the horse's lower legs in certain disciplines.

Warmblood – A type of horse that's breeding is derived from a mixture of hot blooded (thoroughbred, Arabian, and barb horses) and cold blooded (draft breeds such as Clydesdales) horses. They are generally large and athletic.

Dutch Warmblood – Warmbloods of Dutch origin

Hanoverian – Originating from the area of Hanover in Germany(I believe I could be wrong)

Thank you so much for sticking through another chapter I hope you enjoyed and were able to get through the heavier use of horse terms in this chapter if you aren't an equestrian. Please, please, please review, tell me what you think! I love constructive criticism as well as compliments!