"Excuse me, sir," a woman's voice rang out.
Dean stopped, his hand reaching for the door to Castiel's office.
A tall blonde woman was staring pointedly at him, her lips pursed in a slightly disapproving, but civil, smile.
"Do you have an appointment with Mr Gregory?" she asked him.
"No, I don't have an appointment and who's asking?" Dean was too worried to keep a polite tone.
The woman's smile tightened, "I'm Rachel. Mr Gregory's assistant."
Dean tried to ignore a little stab of disappointment; Castiel hadn't mentioned anything about a cool, aloof and attractive blonde replacing Crowley. Dean's swagger usually deflected attention from a mean possessive streak. Possessiveness could make some people aggressive, but it just made Dean feel extremely vulnerable.
"Look, Rachel, I don't have an appointment, but I need to speak to Cas. I'm from the AWU and this is urgent."
"Well I am Mr Gregory's assistant, any issues you may have can be passed through me and,"
"Rachel," Both Dean and Rachel turned at the sound of Castiel's voice.
Castiel caught Dean's angry countenance and tilted his head in confusion.
"Mr Gregory, I can handle this," Rachel started.
"Thank you Rachel, Dean, please come in."
Dean stalked past Rachel and into Castiel's office, tamping down the sixteen-year old girl inside of him who wanted to tell the bitch to 'suck it.'
Castiel closed the door behind Dean and made a move towards him. He stopped at the closed expression on Dean's face.
"Dean, what's the matter?"
Castiel's office, where they had touched each other for the first time, felt cold to Dean now. The sunlight through the blinds was weak and pale and Castiel's face was shadowed in the low light.
Dean lifted his eyes to Castiel's. The furrowed brow and the concern in that blue gaze cut him to the quick. It was then that Dean realised how heavily he had fallen for the other man.
Now he just needed to get the word from Castiel and he could go back to Rufus and tell him that Xaphan's employees were safe. He could tell Anna she had been mistaken. Dean resolved to do this quickly, like ripping off a band-aid.
"Cas, word's gone around that you're laying off 20 of your people here at Xaphan. I know it's crazy, man, but Rufus sent me down here to check it out. It's crazy right? I mean, you wouldn't do something like that?"
Castiel drew back in surprise, "Dean, how did you find out about this?"
"Rufus heard it from a source…but Cas, it doesn't matter cos it just ain't true right?"
"Dean," Castiel said seriously, "it is true, in a manner of sorts, but I don't know how you found out. Nobody is supposed to know."
Dean couldn't believe Castiel was saying this so calmly.
"What the hell, man?" Dean blurted, "You start getting to know the workers here, we talked about how we could improve conditions and revenue and then you pull this shit?" Dean hadn't realised his voice had risen to a yell.
"But Dean, let me explain, I," Castiel moved to place a hand on Dean's shoulder.
Dean jerked away so quickly he backed right into the door.
"Get the fuck off me, man," he gritted out, "you're an asshole just like every other greedy, goddamn, white-collar son-of-a-bitch. Fuck it, What the hell, Cas? You even had me thinking you were different."
Castiel's face hardened, his eyes, usually so open, were shuttered and cold.
"Do you know what your problem is, Dean? You always think you know best. You should show me some trust here, I think I've earned it."
"Trust?" Dean scoffed.
"Yes, trust. I appreciate everything you've done but there are difficult decisions that need to be made and if you're not willing to hear me out, then you can just leave."
If Dean missed the flash of anguish in Castiel's eyes, it's because he couldn't bring himself to ignore Castiel's choice of words and stern delivery. It stoked his anger.
"So what, Cas, you pulling rank now? Dick move, man."
"How did you even find out, Dean, anyone who knew has been sworn to secrecy and,"
"Anna," Dean interrupts.
"Anna?"
"She saw the paperwork when she was in your office the other day, Cas," Dean said.
Castiel looked down at Dean's feet.
"Anna," he said softly, "Now I understand."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Dean moved so that he was standing close to Castiel, their faces almost touching.
"Interesting way of getting ahead in your line of work, Dean. Fucking employers to get them onside, fucking your contacts for information," Castiel sounded angry and hurt.
For a moment Dean looked like he wanted to hit Castiel. And Castiel braced himself for it.
"Wow, Cas, just…wow," Dean took a deep breath and exhaled, as though he were relieved, "we're done here. This shit is just too much, I'll get another rep to come in sometime this week to start negotiations and liaise with the members, cos I am just done."
"Dean," Castiel starts, his tone oddly placating.
"You know what, Cas? Whatever you've got to say, I don't wanna hear it," Dean ran a hand through his hair, and grabbed his jacket, "I'm getting the hell out of here. You want a fight? You've got one."
Dean stormed out of Castiel's office, his gaze never moving to the desk just outside, where Rachel had surely heard every word and was now silently gloating. He just moved until he was in the Impala.
Sitting there, Dean rubbed a hand over his forehead and tapped the steering wheel, wondering what the fuck had just happened and whether any, or all of it, was his fault. His breath hitched and he slammed his closed fist into the door, hitting it with three sharp jabs. His knuckles stung, but the pain did nothing to clear his head.
Back in his office, Castiel sat at his desk, staring vacantly at his computer screen. He knew exactly what he should do. Find a way to tell Dean the truth about what he was doing. Clear up this mess that reeked of a clichéd Hollywood drama. But he couldn't. Stupidly, he wanted Dean to trust him, to trust his judgment.
Castiel sat there until his office fell dark, until he heard Rachel pack up her things and leave for the day.
Then he picked up the phone and dialled the extension for the factory floor.
"Bobby? Can you please come up before you finish for the day? There's something we need to talk about."