Chapter 2

(CASTIEL'S POV)

At 8:02, Castiel heard the familiar tinkle, as the door opened.

"You are late"

"Good morning to you too, Chewy"

Castiel looked at Gabriel, who was smirking. "I do not understand that reference" he said with a confused look on his face.

"Chewy. Like Chewbaca."

Castiel cocked his head to the side in bewilderment.

"Come on, Cassie! Chewbaca?! From STAR WARS! Please tell me you've seen Star Wars."

"I'm afraid not. I did not realise the stars were at war. The number of casualties must be immense," Castiel said, worry plastered across his face.

"Woah. Woah. Cassie!" Castiel had a look of complete terror on his face as he stred off into the distance.

"Castiel! Yoowoo!" Castiel's eyes flickered to Gabriel.

"I-"

"They're movies!"

"Oh yes," he said smiling suddenly, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I knew that! Of course," he laugh nervously, patting down his uncontrollable hair. "I was just messing with you. Haha," Castiel said laughing too loud.

"Okay.." Gabriel said, looking at Castiel in confusion.

Castiel quickly turned around, hoping Gabriel hadn't seen the emotions that were painted clearly on his face. The war of the stars had reminded him of one that he had been part of. Gabriel walked behind the counter and headed to the back to get ready for work.

Castiel spent the morning deep in thought, mostly thinking about his past as he made sandwich fillers and some fresh desserts. He had taken a few cooking classes since he fell and he enjoyed watching some cooking shows so he'd picked up a couple of things.

By 9:30am most of the snow had been cleared off the streets so Castiel figured that business would go as usual.

He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the door chime at about 11:00am, when Gabriel had taken his break. He had his back to the door. Taking three deep breathes and turning around.

Before he had a chance to look up at his customer, he looked down with a frown. He realised that he had left the cups in the store room so he had to go and get them.

"I'll be with you in a second, I left the cups in the back. I will be right back," Cas said, not making eye contact with his customer, which Meg told him was rude. He wasn't in the mood to be interrogated once they saw the sad look on his face either. He looked over his shoulder instead to see if he had left them on the counter beside the coffee machine.

"That's okay...Castiel. I can wait," a too familiar voice said.

Castiel's breath caught in his throat. He slowly let his eyes travel up. He knew the face that he would see there, but he prayed to his father that he was wrong. Upon looking up, he first saw a plaid shirt which made him smile a small, sad smile. Then he saw his jar and the stubble that he found oh-so-perfect. Then he saw those lips and they were turned up into a beautiful smile, showing a great set of teeth. Then the nose that should be illegal. Castiel took his time to take in this face, the hair and every detail, renewing his memory of it and then finally Cas allowed his eyes to meet those forest green ones that he loved so much. Castiel couldn't help but fall into those eyes. They were amazing.

Castiel realised that he was staring. He bit his lip and turned around quickly so that Dean wouldn't see the blush spreading up his cheeks.

He opened and closed his mouth, like a fish. He closed it and tried again.

"How did you-" Cas whispered, his voice barely audible with shock.

"Your name is on your name tag" he replied pointing down at his chest.

"Oh, yes. Of course," Cas said, laughing nervously. He tried to hide his disappointment for the fact the green eyed man needed to read his name tag to know his name, rather than remembering it himself. The blush slightly returned to his cheeks.

He took a deep breath, pointed in the direction he needed to go and walked away.

It was only when he reached the store room that he realised that he had been holding that last breath. He quickly controlled his breathing, looking for the cups. He reached out to grab them when he saw his hands. They were shaking violently. "What is wrong with you? You were a soldier. You were the fearless Castiel. You were the one who made others quake in their boots, but now you are being reduced to the same by one man?" one part of his brain thought. "but he's not just any man, is he? He's-" Castiel shut his brain up and walked out the door back into the coffee shop.

"Sorry about that, Dea- I mean sir"

"Its okay Castiel. I'm Dean by the way," he said with a smile that made Cas' heart skip a beat.

"Hello Dean," Castiel said smiling

"Hey Cas." Dean replied chuckling. Cas almost fell over at the use of Dean's nickname for him. There were so many memories attached to that nickname. Memories that Dean didn't have. "Interesting name, you've got there." he said, looking at Castiel as if he could see through his fasçade.

"Yeah, I know. I suppose you could say my family is very religious," Castiel said laughing inwardly at his own humour.

"So you're okay after this morning?"

"Yes. Thank you so much for your help. I fear I might have died of hypothermia without your assistance."

Dean just nodded in acceptance and his smile grew.

He continued making small talk as Castiel made his coffee almost subconsciously. His hands working even though his mind was on Dean.

"Here you go," Castiel said as he handed Dean his coffee.

"But I didn't order. How'd you know what I wanted?"

Castiel's eyes widened as he realised what he had done and he quickly tried to lie to cover his back.

"I-ah- took a guess. I mean you look like the type of man who would, you know, order a black Americano" he rambled, blush spreading up his neck but he did his best to hide it. " not that I'm judging you or anything. I'm not prejudice. Sorry." he said trying to cover his tracks.

"Oh. Okay. Thanks man. How much do I owe you?"

"Oh, no. It's as you would say "on the house"," Cas said smiling to himself for getting the phrase correct.

"No, I can't let you do that."

"Please. Let me do this. After this morning, I want to show my appreciation."

"Wow. Thanks, man. That's really kind of you."

"It is my pleasure Dean"

"See ya Cas," Dean said smiling.

"Goodbye Dean," Cas said returning the smile the same amount of enthusiasm.

Dean turned and headed out the door and Castiel waved until he was out of sight.

Castiel realised that there were other people in the coffee shop that he hadn't even noticed. He looks around and sees Gabriel eyeing him curiously.

"Was that Mr. Rugged-Sexiness?"

Castiel blushed, " Shut up, Gabe," he said with a smile.

"Huh. Okay. Are you okay? After everything..."

Castiel just looked at the floor, so Gabriel changed the subject.

"Well thank you for taking all that time to talk to him. I know you had a lot to catch up on. I really enjoyed having to do everything myself. It was a delight." Gabe said smiling around the lollipop that wasn't in his mouth two seconds before hand.

Castiel gave him an annoyed look."I don't know how you do that. Or why. You do realise you'll lose all your teeth? Also, you will probabaly get diabetes and then where will you be? You wouldn't be able to eat them anymore"

"God, you're so positive, it's no wonder I love working with you," Gabe said with a smirk on his face. "Thank you for that. You have inspired me to stop eating sweets and become completely healthy," Gabriel said without moving an inch.

"What about that one?" Castiel said eyeing the lollipop, still in Gabe's mouth.

"Ahh! You still have lots to learn young grasshoppa. One does not need teeth to eat a lollipop. Plus my teeth look better than yours do," he said, trying to keep his face innocent but a smile was breaking through.

Castiel looked at him in horror, but when he saw the corners of Gabriel's mouth turn up and his annoyance melted away and he slapped his arm in a joking manner.

"You're just jealous. That I will still be able to eat sweets, when you have no teeth and have to watch what you eat."

"No, I'm just jealous because Mr- Rugged-Sexiness spoke to you and he didn't even see me. I mean how could you forget this face?" Gabriel questioned pointing to his face. "But I'm not jealous of the fact that you had cream on your nose the entire time!"Gabe started to laugh. Castiel quickly touched his nose, finding that Gabe was indeed correct. Castiel joined in, mostly laughing at Gabriel laughing, but also laughing at the idiocy of himself and to cover his embarrassment. They kept laughing, but now they were mostly just laughing at the other laughing, with tears streaming down their faces until they were lying on the floor, clutching their sides in pain, trying to catch their breath.

Everyone in the coffee shop was staring at them, but they didn't care. They were having too much fun to care what the snobby business people thought of them, after ll, it was Castiel's coffee shop.

Once they composed themselves, they stood up and immediately went back to work. Gabriel went to clear tables and Castiel started taking new orders. Today seemed like it was going to end better than it had started.

(MEG'S POV)

Meg was sitting on the couch in the living room, staring at the TV screen.

Castiel won't be home for another 30 minutes. I could watch one episode of it. He'd never know. Then I can watch more when he goes to bed.

Meg sat debating with herself for a few minutes. Eventually, she gave in to her crazy side and turned on the TV. She glanced around the room, just making sure that no one was there, even though she knew that she was alone.

She clicked on the channel and the show came on. She sighed in relief. This was the best way, Meg found, to wind down after a long day's work in the hospital.

I know what you're thinking. A demon working in a hospital? But since Meg had started acting more human and she had started living with one, she decided that she wanted to help people. She had done some courses and gotten a few minor degrees so that she was qualified to do the small jobs.

"Thank Lucifer for soap operas" Meg said aloud.

She loved the drama in these. She was always able to tell who was going to kill who, who was going to cheat on who and just the general plot all-round. She liked to think of herself as a miniature Sherlock Holmes with her amazing deductions got lost in thought as one woman punched another on the show.

She almost fell off the couch when the front door opened and Castiel walked in. She looked at the clock, half an hour had already passed.

"Good evening, Meg."

"Heya, Clarence. How was your run this morning?" Meg asked with a smile.

"It was cold. I slipped on some ice and fell into the snow. Also I think my shoes gave me blubbers." Cas answerwed in a monotone.

This time Meg really did fall of the couch.

"Blubbers?! What the- ha- hell- hahaha- are- hahahaahaha- blubbers?"She managed to get out between laughs and gasps for air.

"Those small, but painful bubbles I sometimes get on my feet." Castiel said giving her an annoyed and disapproving look.

"Oh Castiel! They're not called blubbers you gobdaw! They're blisters."

"Oh yes. That is what I meant," he said sitting down in the armchair.

"Are you okay, after your fall?"

"Which one?"

"The one this morning," she said regretting her previous choice of words

"Yes, I am fine. A man helped me,"

"Oh. That was kind. Do I know him?" she asked curiously.

He looked at her, with pain written across his face, which he was obviously trying to hide but his eyes gave him away "No," he said quietly, which meant yes.

She got the hint and dropped the subject, so they just sat there watching the TV.

"What is this?" Castiel asked pointing at the TV.

Meg realised that she had left the soap opera on.

Oh hell.

"It's a soap opera, Castiel."

"You, Meg Masters, demon, are watching a soap opera?" he smiled at his realisation.

"Hey! Don't judge me. I had a bad day at work and i needed a pick-me-up, so I turned this on so I could mock their terrible acting skills and laugh."

Castiel just nodded, a frown forming on his face.

"You okay, Clarence?"

"What? Oh, yes. Yes. I'm fine. No I'm better than fine. I am great. Brilliant. Wonderful. Fabulous. All of the above," Cas replied but his frown didn't leave his face.

"Castiel, you know better than to lie to me,"

"I do not wish to talk of it."

"Alright. But I can't help make it better if you don't tell me."

"You cannot make it better, Meg. No one can." he snapped at her.

"Okay, alright. Don't get your panties in a twist."

He glared at her. If looks could kill...

"Goodnight, Meg." Castiel growled at her, standing up and walking away, annoyance clear from his body language.

"Goodnight, Castiel", she said turning her head to look at him, but he was gone.