Someday - Chapter 13

You should see my favorite people,
You catch a glimpse of gold through their skins.

And I'm alright on my own, but with them I'm much better
They're like diamonds and diamonds are forever

Army - Boy

The rain patterned down lightly against the window of the living room, barely heard over the inane chatter of an over-excitable gameshow host on the TV in the corner. Bobby glared at it for a few seconds before turning around on the couch at the sound of footsteps behind him. Dean shoved the door open with his shoulder and deposited one of the cups of coffee in his hand onto the side table closest to the couch, then sank down in the opposite armchair. They sat in silence for a few moments, punctuated by the wind picking up outside and whistling through a tiny gap in the window frame. Dean coughed.

'Yeah, I've been meaning to fix that.' he muttered. Bobby took a gulp of his coffee and shook his head.

'You gonna tell me why you're acting so god-damn weird boy? Because I tell you, the last time someone made me a cup of coffee without me asking for it was a hell of a long time ago now and I'm pretty sure I had to so more than just show up to deserve it. What's the occasion?'

Dean laughed. 'No occasion Bobby. Just glad to see you is all.' Bobby grinned back lopsidedly, settling back into the couch.

'Yeah, well. I do mean to get down more often. Ellen's always on at me, but y'know how it is.' Dean nodded, smiling awkwardly. He loved Ellen, but it had always been slightly difficult to get on with her - she was easily the most stubborn person he'd ever met, including himself. She suited Bobby well though, always made sure he didn't worry too much about him and Sam, and looked after himself from time to time. It had been so hard in the beginning, stopping himself from running north every time it got lonely without Sam around, or the shop wasn't doing so well, or he just got sick of doing the same thing every day without any changes. It had taken one month of spending four weekends in a row at Bobby's for Ellen to finally sit him down and tell him to go the hell home.

Lately though...

'So.' Bobby cleared his throat, interrupting Dean's train of thought. 'Are you ok?' he asked gruffly, looking slightly embarrassed.

'Sure?' Dean replied, not quite sure what was expected of him. 'I mean, no different.'

'You sure about that?' Bobby raised an eyebrow sarcastically, staring pointedly around the room. Dean looked around in confusion.

'What? I cleaned.' he snapped defensively. 'I can clean.'

Bobby chuckled. 'Dean, I've known you your entire life. Your idea of clean is buying a new rug to hide the carpet stains and making sure you've got enough dishes left to eat off of. Do you even own a vacuum?'

'I borrowed one. From a friend.' Dean muttered.

'See, that's another thing. I don't mean to be a dick kiddo, but since when do you have friends?'

Dean stared. Bobby wasn't joking, that was for sure. He looked genuinely concerned, as if the news was actually shocking to him. Come to think of it though, didn't he have a point? Other than Sam and Bobby, it was hard to think of anybody else who'd been in the flat for more than ten minutes at a time. In the space of two months he had managed to collectively spend more time with Cas than he had with any other human being in the last five years. He shrugged and looked at Bobby helplessly.

'You said it yourself, I guess my manner just isn't all that inviting to most people.'

'But this guy - Cas?' Dean nodded. 'Hell, I only found out he existed last week and you've already got him running my garage?'

'My garage.'

'Dean.' He looked up to see Bobby unexpectedly smiling, warmly and genuinely. 'I'm glad. He's good for you.'

'God you sound like Sammy. You'd think I never left the house the way you guys are acting. He's just a nice guy is all, he helps me out, so I help him out. We get on.'

'You help him? With what?'

Dean thought for a moment. 'Well, he isn't very good with technology, like even worse than you.' Bobby snorted in protest but stayed quiet. 'He hasn't really got anyone to talk to except his freaky brother and even he is barely ever around, so I keep him company sometimes. And he's actually way better than me at running the shop. He got the register to stop making that clanking sound in like, the first few minutes he was working. He's just... a nice guy' he finished lamely.

Bobby nodded. 'You keep him company? Uh huh. Boy must be damn lonely to want a fool like you around all the time' he said, but his eyes sparkled playfully even as he spoke. The room fell suddenly quieter as the TV show in the background ended, giving way to a quiet infomercial. The silence was solid and comfortable though, and neither hurried to break it. Sometimes it was just easier not to.

Cas hovered awkwardly in the doorway to Dean's house, not sure whether or not he was supposed to step forward and join the pair a few metres in front of him in the driveway. The last few days had been rather different than he was used to, with another new person there to poke and prod at his guarded exterior and ask endless questions. Although, to his credit, Bobby had never once made him feel uncomfortable, and had backed off quickly when Dean told him to. Whenever he flinched at a question or the words in his mouth died out as soon as he tried to answer, Dean was there at his side, reassuring and calm, and Bobby had respectfully followed suit. Bobby had approved of the general running of the filling station after a quick trip down to see it (despite Dean's continued protestations that he had no right to approve or disapprove of it anymore) and had kept his remarks about the old impala to an absolute minimum. He seemed to see much more than he let on sometimes, and more than once Cas felt his shrewd eyes watching him carefully when he wasn't paying attention.

It was nice though he thought, leaning against the front door frame and watching the two men squabbling by the car. Nice how easy they were able to be around each other, especially considering what Dean had told him about their history. It took a remarkable man to take on children that were in no way his own responsibility and raise them as his own. Hell, his own father hadn't even managed to hang onto all of the ones he had to start with. It was something only a truly good man could do, and it seemingly took a whole lot more than a few memorised bible verses to build a good man.

Overall, Cas had decided that he rather liked him.

'Hey kid, get over here' Bobby called over. He stood up, shook himself out of his reverie and walked over to the open car. Cas held out his hand respectfully and smiled nervously, his heart swelling slightly at the idea that he was wanted at this particular goodbye. Bobby raised an eyebrow at him and scowled, before grabbing his hand and pulling him in for a rough one-armed hug. Cas froze on instinct, unsure of what to do before settling for patting the other man's shoulder lightly as he was released.

'Look,' he said quietly, reaching up to pat Cas's arm reassuringly, ' I get it, I really do. Sometimes families are a big old pile of shit. Hell, my own dad-' Bobby stopped himself and cleared his throat. 'What I mean to say is, sometimes you're better off choosing your own family. Screw that blood is thicker than water crap, if you weren't happy then you did the right thing getting out. Besides,' he nodded his head towards Dean who was walking towards them, having gone back into the house to grab the final bag to put in the car, 'we're hardly your typical all American family and we do okay, don't we? And if Dean wants you around then I sure as hell ain't gonna argue with that. Far as I'm concerned, anyone he cares about joins my family by default. You just take care of him, you hear me?' He nodded at Cas and took the bag from Dean, placing it in the backseat with the rest.

'Tell Sammy I said hello, yeah?' Dean asked, stepping back to where Cas was still stood, a slightly dazed look gracing his features. Bobby nodded and grinned, hopping into the car with the fluidity and elegance of a man half his age. As the car pulled away and drove off down the street, Cas dimly noted that the ground was dry enough now that the dust was beginning to puff up again beneath the speeding wheels.

Cas turned shyly to Dean, who looked happier than he had ever seen him. His eyes drifted over to meet Cas's, and gleamed with light.

'Well?' he asked casually, smiling softly at Cas. 'You coming back in or not?'

'Weren't you going to work on the car tonight?' Cas answered, forgetting to worry for once that it might seem odd that he'd paid so much attention to his friend's plans. Dean rolled his eyes and flung his arm around Cas, pulling him tight and warm against him, and steering him back up the pathway.

'That old thing can wait. I've had Bobby snoring his head off in the spare room for three nights and he knows full well I can never get used to the silence again once he's been hanging about, making such a goddamn racket. Always the same, even when Sammy comes to stay.'

They stopped at the threshold, and turned towards each other, Castiel desperately begging his mind not to shut down on him and just to stay calm. Dean coughed nervously and inclined his head sheepishly towards the door. 'Look, I don't want to stay awake with all of my ghosts tonight. Will you stay?'

'In the guest room?' Cas asked, inwardly congratulating himself on how steady and calm his voice was. Dean shrugged and moved marginally closer, opening the door with one hand as he did. He held out the other invitingly to Cas, confident and shaky all at the same time, closing the rest of the distance between them, and for a moment the air seemed to shine golden with promises and hope.

'I guess I'll leave that up to you.'

Two more chapters and this is finished! Sorry to have such massive gaps in between :( Life has a tendency to creep up on me and get in the way all too often.