Wow, so I meant to put this up yesterday? It's already been on AO3 for nearly a day. I always forget about this website. *headdesk*

Dean shifted nervously on his couch and glanced at the clock again.

They'll be here Dean. Stop worrying, Cas signed. He was sitting next to Dean on the couch, waiting for Sam and Sarah to arrive.

"But they're late. They said they'd be here at noon."

They're only ten minutes late. It's fine.

Dean looked at the clock once more. "Sam's never late. Something must have happened to them. They must have had an accident, or-"

Cas put a hand over his mouth. Stop freaking out. I will hit you.

There was a knock at the door.

That must be them now.

Dean got up and answered the door, only to be pulled into a hug. "Hey, Sammy. You're late."

Sam let go and pushed past him into Dean's apartment. "I know, I know. We would've been here sooner, but there was traffic."

Dean kissed Sarah on the cheek and took the bag she was carrying. "Please tell me you brought pie." He peeked inside. "Oh, yes! Peach?"

Sarah nodded. "Naturally."

"You are the best! I'm going to put this in the kitchen, you make yourselves comfortable." Dean put the pie on the counter, and when he got back to the living room, Cas was writing in is notebook.

"Whatcha writing?" he asked.

Cas quickly signed, Sam asked me what I do for a living, and continued writing.

He worked from home, translating books into other languages. He could translate to and from English, Spanish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Swahili, Korean, and Japanese.

"It's really cool that you know that many languages," Sam said after he and Sarah read what Cas wrote.

Cas just smiled and nodded.

The next half hour was spent trading information back and forth, with Dean translating Castiel's short statements, and him writing the longer ones down.

"If you don't mind my asking," Sarah said later on, "how did you become mute?"

Cas didn't move, but his smile faded the slightest bit.

"Oh, forget I asked," she said, backtracking.

It's fine, he signed, allowing Dean to translate before continuing. It's sort of a delicate subject.

"You don't have to-" He held up a hand to stop her.

I don't mind. I'm just not used to being around people who don't already know.

Everyone was silent as he wrote. Dean peered at the notebook.

I'm the youngest of three. My mother was quite liberal in her youth, and since my siblings were born without any complications, she had no qualms about doing so many drugs while pregnant with me. As luck would have it, my vocal chords developed abnormally, and I was born almost completely mute. I can just barely make a K sound.

"Really?" Dean said.

Cas nodded and passed his notebook to Sarah, who read it and then gave it to Sam.

"Can you really?" Sam asked as he gave the notebook back to Cas.

He nodded again and demonstrated. I discovered that when I was seven and my sister accidentally broke my leg.

Sarah leaned over and hugged Cas. "I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have to suffer for your mother's mistakes!"

He wrapped his arms around her, making sure Dean could still see his hands.

Nobody is perfect. I don't hold it against her.

"It was still really irresponsible of her."

"Text me, okay?" Sarah said to Cas as she and Sam were leaving. "I want that chicken salad recipe."

Cas nodded and gave her one last hug.

"I think that went well," Dean said after he locked the door behind them."

I told you there was nothing to worry about.

Dean scoffed. "Yeah, yeah, you were right. Don't rub it in."

Cas smiled and pulled Dean in by his belt loops. I'm always right.

Dean hummed and cornered him up against the door. He leaned in until their lips were barely a hair's breadth apart...

And then they were interrupted by a knock.

Dean sighed and leaned his head against the door. "What did they forget?" He stepped back and allowed Cas to get himself straightened out before opening the door again.

"How hard is it to- Lisa?"

Oooh, random cliffhanger for no reason! What's Lisa doing there? Will Ben come into play? How will Cas feel about it? How will Dean feel about it? Some of these questions and probably others will be answered next time!

Thanks to everybody who helped me decide the reason behind Castiel's muteness. Somebody made a comment about wanting to know why, so I threw that in. And yes, his sister is Anna. I never actually mentioned his and Gabriel's last name (mostly because I hadn't decided what it was), but it's Milton. I dunno who their irresponsible mother is though. Dean's still gotta meet the family though, so I'll figure it out.