"…So I went in, and there Sammy was, tied up in a bed like that writer-guy in Stephen King's novel, and Becky muttering like a maniac… Hey, are you sure I haven't told you this before?"

Castiel smiled and shook his head, even though Dean couldn't possibly see that. "No, you haven't. What happened next?"

Dean went back to his story, and Castiel relaxed in comfy coach he was sitting on, curled up like a teenage-girl with phone on his ear, like Anthony had mentioned with a fond smile on his face while he'd ushered Aziraphale out of the room. The demon always took care that Castiel was left alone when Dean called, and even if Castiel wasn't sure why, he was thankful of this little piece of privacy… Especially since the first call he'd gotten from Dean after the… kiss… had been just as awkward as they both had probably been afraid of.

Dean had gave Castiel a long and stammering talk about how he liked the angel, even if not in the way that Castiel, as far as he knew, would like him to like him, and that he thought that Castiel was an amazing person and that he didn't want to give up of their friendship, and that Dean was flattered, he really was, because Castiel deserved better (at this point Castiel tried to interrupt and tell Dean that that wasn't possible, but the hunter continued as if he hadn't even listened; possibly he was afraid that if he stopped talking he wouldn't have enough courage to continue his speech later), and that Dean would probably do better if he did love Castiel, in romantic sense he meant; but he didn't, not yet at least, but maybe he someday could now that he'd seen that as a possibility, and meanwhile, would it be possible for them just continue as they did before.

It had took sometime for Castiel to process what it was that Dean was actually aiming to, but finally he felt his whole world to brighten as it came clear that Dean, indeed, didn't hate him and wanted still to be his friend. He'd quickly answered that he, too, wanted them to be friends and that Dean wasn't obliged to give him any more than that.

Either of them hadn't known what else to say, and they had ended the call soon afterwards, feeling relieved yet strangely disappointed at the same time.

Next day, Dean had called again; this time, he'd started to talk about the latest case he and Sam had been solving, and so that had became course of their daily conversations: Dean talked about hunting trips (both current and the older ones that Castiel hadn't yet heard about), and Castiel on his part told him how it was to life with Aziraphale and Anthony (who nowadays hardly returned to his apartment at all).

"… And who else then marches in than king of douchebags himself! Man, was Crowley mad at that demon! "You make a deal, you keep it!"" Dean hollered, imitating, rather badly, Fergus' enraged voice. "Jeez, it was nice to have him in our corner, at least once…"

He's been there more often than you even know, Castiel thought, but said nothing. The self-proclaimed king of Hell was one topic that the angel avoided while talking with Dean, even though the hunter had made few not-so-tactful inquiries. Castiel knew that Dean would possibly never to be able to see Fergus as anything but a demon, and he didn't want to strain their frailty-normalized friendship by trying to explain how much more complicated person Fergus was than what he let out. Castiel loved Dean, but his love towards Fergus was no lesser, though completely different kind (and he would never be able to tell that to the said demon, either), and he didn't want to put up with Dean's attempts to make him call off their friendship, which was more like a brotherhood than anything else nowadays.

"So… Enough about my crazy life, how have you been?"

Castiel smiled. "My life here simply isn't as colorful as yours, Dean. This morning, I was put on charge of Aziraphale's shop while he went with Anthony to meet some seller that had found some old tomes he thought that would be of his interest."

"How many customers you managed to scare away, this time?" Dean asked, mirth in his voice. Castiel could almost imagine his smirk, and it made him blush a little bit.

"The only customer that walked in was this old lady; she left without buying anything as soon as I started present her few of the most controversial prophesy-books in the store. She muttered something about "Satanists" as she

hurried out."

Dean laughed. "Who on earth keep a bookshop, if all he wants to do is to scare off any paying customers? How does he even live? Doesn't he need money for, you know, taxes and stuff?"

"It's easier for angels", Castiel reminded.

"True… And have they managed to introduce you to a pleasures of eating, yet?" Dean was intrigued about Aziraphale's and Anthony's constant attempts to teach Castiel into digesting food for his own pleasure, even if it was unneeded for an angel.

"They… keep trying." Yesterday, they'd took him into a French restaurant; before that, they'd already tried Italian, Korean, Indian and Chinese cuisines.

"They should buy you some hamburgers; those are real culinary treats", Dean said, and Castiel wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

"I'll tell them that", the angel promised.

"Then again, I'm not sure if you can find a good burger in UK; best to wait till your back here, then I'll take you in some good place."

Castiel's heart pounced little by that. Was that like… a date? No, Dean probably didn't see it like that…

"That would be nice, Dean", he answered.

"Yeah… Well, I have to go; Sammy should be back soon. Is it okay if I -?"

Dean asked almost every day if it was "okay" with Castiel that he hadn't yet told his brother that they talked daily on the phone. Dean had explained than if he knew, he would then start to question why Castiel hadn't dropped by even though he was staying on Earth, and while it was okay for Dean to converse with Castiel on the phone, he wasn't ready yet to do same face to face. Castiel had said that he understood, but Dean still seemed to feel little guilty about it – or, as he put it, "Like you're some kind of dirty little secret of mine… Which you're not; there's absolutely nothing dirty in you! Or me talking to you… Nothing dirty in this at all!"

Castiel sighed. "You don't need to tell him that I'm not residing in Heaven at the time. That's where I should be…"

"Don't start this again, Cass; you said that Aziraphale told you to not return there because factions that are on rule in there right now wouldn't treat you friendly."

"It isn't as if I deserved kindness."

"Cass: Shut. Up. I that clear enough? You made mistakes: don't we all? You at least tried to made world a better place, and it's more than what those bureaucrats up there have ever even though to do. Because they don't care. You do; and yes, it went almost as badly as it possibly could go, but when you realized that you'd made a mistake, you immediately tried to fix it."

"And failed", Castiel muttered. "Instead of fixing anything, I just ended up releasing Leviathans."

"AND you helped us to took care of that. So no more talking about returning Heaven, understand?"

"Dean…"

"Promise me, Castiel. Promise, that you won't do anything before consulting me or Aziraphale. Or his Crowley. Or even our Crowley… Heck, just promise me!"

"… I promise."

"Good boy", Dean said. "I would give you a cookie, but… Next time, okay?"

"Okay", Castiel answered, puzzled of what cookies had to do with anything. "I… You'll call again tomorrow, won't you?"

"Won't I always? – I have to go, take care, Cass!" Dean said, hurriedly, and ended the call; apparently Sam had just arrived.

Castiel put his phone away, tiny smile on his lips, as hi whispered in a empty room, "Take care, Dean…"


Castiel stepped in the kitchen and found all his current family sitting there, sipping tea (and possible something stronger) in comfortable silence. When he came in, Aziraphale hurriedly stood up to make another cup for him, Anthony raised his own cup for a silent greeting, and Fergus raised his eyebrow before saying, "Do you need to look so… infatuated? It's disturbing; you look like you could start flying any moment now…"

"I'm an angel; flying's not unfamiliar feet to me", Castiel pointed out as he sat down.

"That was figure of speech", Fergus started to clarify, but stopped short when he realized that Castiel was actually smiling. "You knew that, didn't you? Why, you cunning little shi-!"

Anthony sniggered. "Isn't it cute how well our kids come along, angel?" he asked from Aziraphale, who shot a puzzled look at him before he saw the demon gesturing towards Castiel and Fergus.

"Our – Oh! Of course. Yes, they get along splendidly, don't they?" he answered, and smile he gave to Anthony was so full of love that it made the demon plush.

"Oh, please! Why have all members of this suddenly became so smitten?!" Fergus whined.

"Like you haven't", Anthony retorted pointedly.

"Not in front of Feathers!"

"Am I not allowed to know?" Castiel asked, little put out; he'd thought that he and Fergus had gotten over their trust-issues already.

"It's not that!" Fergus said quickly. "It's… Well, there's certain people from who I'm trying to keep out of my, em, liaisons, and…"

"What Fergus is trying to say", Aziraphale interrupted, as he walked back to the table and put cup of tea in front of Castiel, "is that he doesn't want you to feel conflict in obligations between him and some of your friends."

Castiel frowned. "It's something you would like to hide from Dean and Sam?" he guessed.

Fergus sighed. "Here we go…"

Castiel thought it a moment before asking, "It… isn't hurting anyone, is it?" As all other three occupants of the room shook their heads, Castiel nodded for affirmation. "I understand. But… you'll let me know eventually… right…?"

"As soon as the other party is ready to do some confessions", Fergus assured, seemingly relieved when Castiel didn't question it further.

Relaxed atmosphere returned, and Anthony started to tell them about his latest improvements in what came to "tempting" human kind. Castiel sipped his tea and listened how he and Fergus started baiting each other while Aziraphale kindly reprimanded them before offering some more biscuits.

Castiel smiled fondly; what a family…


Days went by without bigger surprises. There was this little panic when it was found out that Aziraphale had lost something with a great importance, but he'd pleaded Castiel to not ask more about it ("It's bad enough that Fergus knows!"), and Castiel had gave his promise to not look any further into it.

Then one day he and Anthony went to some auction and when they returned, the demon looked forlorn, like he'd just lost something irreplaceable. He smiled weakly at Aziraphale's attempts to cheer him up, and left home even when the older angel almost begged him to stay over nigh.

"He had a row with Fergus", Aziraphale explained.

"Is it serous?" Castiel asked, feeling worried; he didn't want to lose any parts of his new family.

Aziraphale shook his head. "They have these fights every now and then… It's best if we don't get involved; they always make up, eventually." But the older angel seemed as worried as Castiel did.


Few days after the auction Castiel then heard something he hadn't expected to hear ever again: quick, desperate prayer from Dean to come to see them at once.

The angel fly to them immediately, appearing in the back seat of their Impala. "What is it, Dean?" he asked, worriedly, and was the thrown out of balance as the car made sudden, jerky movement.

"Jeez, Cass! Are you trying to kill me?!" Dean shouted, and pulled the car on the side of the road.

"I'm sorry; I thought that you wanted me to hurry."

"Yeah, yeah; my mistake. I'm never going to get used to people just – appearing out of nowhere like that!"

Sam looked over at Castiel. "Good to see you again, Cass. Sorry for bothering you like this, but…"

"We need to check Bobby. Right now."

Castiel frowned. "Is he in trouble?"

"Possibly", Sam answered. "Can you take us in his current location? You haven't been there before, but –"

"Easily done", Castiel assured. "Right now?"

Dean nodded firmly. "Yes."


It took no effort from Castiel to move them all – himself, brothers and their car – in front of the secluded-looking little hut. Castiel frowned a bit as he saw the amount and range of different kinds of vegetables that grow everywhere around them; he hadn't known that Bobby was this good as a gardener.

As they walked through the yarn, Castiel made his best to not drink Dean with his eyes. It had only been couple of weeks, not even a month; in the past he'd often stayed far longer times away of the hunter's company, but now… now it felt like he was unable to steer his eyes away from Dean.

They arrived to the balcony, and tried to make as little noises as possible while they listened if there was any voices coming from inside; they heard nothing. "Let's move on in", Dean muttered darkly.

Inside the hut, they found Bobby – who was currently a bit busy, since Fergus was kissing him rather thoroughly, and it seemed that the old hunter had nothing against it.

Castiel was still trying to process what it was that he was seeing here, when Dean interrupted the kind of cute picture by yelling from the bottom of his lungs, "HEY!"

The pair hurriedly stepped apart, Bobby looking both embarrassed and little scared, while Fergus glared them, probably testy about the interruption, before laughing with glee at their disturbed expressions.

"Have fun to try and explain that to them", the demon purred to Bobby with a playful smirk on his lips before vanishing with a wave of his hand.

Bobby turned to look at them; he still looked very flustered, but now less worried and there was determined look in his eyes that meant that he'd made his decision and would stick with it, no matter what.

So, it was Bobby who Fergus has been seeing, Castiel thought. Well, at lest I now understand why he wanted to keep it secret from me… He probably feared that I would just blurt it out on the phone without even realizing that I was doing so…

After that, it was a full chaos in the house: Dean started to demand answers, and Sam tried to get Bobby to "come back his senses", while the old hunter insisted that he knew what he was doing and besides, the boys had it all wrong.

"I had him trapped in the demon trap so I could ask few questions, and when I released him, he decided to kiss me because he knew that you were coming in and wanted to spook you a bit. And that's that!"

"Oh yeah? Then what was that what you said about Crowley visiting you regularly?" Dean pushed on.

"Just to make some company-! And I never said that it was regularly, I said that sometimes he pops in and –"

"Bobby, he's a demon; and not only that, he's the king of Hell. You shouldn't let him in your house –"

"Dammit, Sam, I'm not "letting" him to do anything!"

"So you try to keep him out, then? Well, clearly he's found the way to slip past you wards. Dean and I could –"

"My wards work just well! Don't get cocky on me boys, I've done this longer than you two have even existed–!"

"So you should know better than anyone that only good demon is an exorcised demon!"

"Now listen, you idjits –"

Castiel decided that it was time for him to open his mouth. "You really should listen Bobby, Dean; surely he knows what he's doing."

Dean turned to look at him. "You can't be serous, Cass! That was Crowley; he's planning something, he always do! I don't know how he's convinced Bobby to not sent him back to the Hell where he belongs to, but -"

"Dean", Castiel said, with a serious voice, "I know you don't like Fergus, and I'm not reprimanding you about it; but I'm asking you to remember, that I happen to consider him as a friend of mine, so it would be nice if you didn't bad-mouth him while I'm standing right in front of you."

Sam seemed horrified by that. "Friend? Cass, you can't mean that…"

"I do; not only that, I live in the same house with an angel whose in stable relationship with his father, so we'd kind of need to get along just for that."

"Okay, when did you start to call him "Fergus"? And I admit that the demon with sunglasses is okay dude, but Crowley certainly hasn't took after him…"

"Fergus has helped you more often than worked against you. And yes, he's always took care that he gets something out of it, but what else can you expect? He's an opportunist."

"Cass…"

How can it be that the most wonderful person in the world happens to be the most stubborn one at the very same time?

"Dean. I'm not asking you to like him; I'm just asking you to give him a change."

Castiel and Dean stared each other in the eyes; finally, Dean threw his arms in the air, defeated, and turned to look at Bobby. "Fine! Try to keep a demon as a house pet; just don't come cry to me when he bits your hand off."

"Your approval warms my heart", Bobby grunted.

For a moment, they all just stood there, wary and unsure, before Sam cleared his mouth, "So, Cass… What was that about you living with Aziraphale? I thought you were staying in Heaven…"

Castiel didn't often feel need to curse, but now all he could thought of was oh, crap.