Two: Got Your Picture in My Hand

For all that Dean was trying to move on with his life, a little bit of him – well, a very large bit, if he was going to be completely honest – was still hoping that Cas was going to come back. To that end, there was a framed photo of Cas next to the door over a sign that read "THIS IS CAS SHURLEY. IF YOU SEE HIM, TELL HIM DEAN'S WAITING FOR HIM AT HEAVEN."

Nobody had done so, or at least if they had Cas hadn't shown up, but it was worth a try. Plus, as a gimmick, it was pretty effective. It's the kind of thing people don't quite believe – mostly because they don't know the story. The people who did didn't share it.

Sam and Jess had moved and now lived fairly close to both Dean's place and Heaven, which was nice. Sam had made a habit of stopping in after work once or twice a week and humouring Gabriel (who, for all his talk, was campaigning behind the scenes for Jess and Sam to get married).

Things were going well, relatively, even if they had lost Ruby – an excellent chef – to their rival (Luke's Diner, three streets over, run by a British guy named Crowley) as soon as Sam started visiting regularly.

It was a month or two after Dean bought Heaven that Meg, one of Cas's former co-workers, caught him singing under his breath as he wiped down tables.

"Cas was always going on about a songbird," she commented. "Don't suppose it was actually you?"

Dean shrugged. "To be honest, he didn't hear me sing much."

"His loss," Meg said. "You ought to share that voice with the world, since you're depriving all of us of our Castiel."

"I'm not –"

"You're why he left, aren't you?" Meg said coldly.

Dean flinched. "Finish up and get out, Meg."

"Alright, alright," replied Meg. "Just a thought."

And that was what spawned Thursday night Open Mic – not that Dean would ever admit that it was Meg who gave him the idea.

He kicked off the first one with a smile and a "Hi, I'm Dean, the owner of the Heaven Cafe. I know most of you personally, and if I don't, feel free to introduce yourselves after the song. I'm starting us off with a song that's become almost depressingly representative of my life lately." He forced a laugh and started playing his guitar. "M'goin' back to the corner where I first saw you..."

Thursday Night Open Mic quickly became unofficially known as Heartbreak Night. People from all over town would pop in and commiserate over lost loves and sing or listen to other people sing about the same.

"You kind of brought it on yourself, Dean-o," Gabriel pointed out, gesturing to the framed photograph of Cas that still hung next to the door.

Dean shrugged. "It's not so bad, really. People need an outlet. Hell, I need an outlet."

"Aw, Dean, I thought we were your outlet," Gabriel replied, grinning.

"This whole place is, and you know that," said Dean.

Ruby started in on a pretty impressive rendition of Adele's "Someone Like You" just then. Dean glanced up just in time to see Sam duck out the door, looking uncomfortable. Sam and Jess had made a habit of showing up for Hearbreak Night for separate reasons – Jess liked hearing everyone sing with all of the emotion that only something like this could bring out, and Sam needed to be on hand to give his legendary bear hugs to anyone who came out of their performance sobbing. That said, Sam had a history with Ruby and it had been something of a dark time for him. They didn't talk about it. Needless to say, Sam wasn't about to offer Ruby a hug when she finished her song.

Jess slid into the seat next to Dean's. "Her song choice this week is much mature more than last week's."

"I'm pretty impressed she got from Taylor Swift to Adele in a week, too," agreed Gabriel.

Dean shrugged again. "It's hard to stay mad when Jessie here is your competition." He patted Jess on the shoulder. "I reckon she'd never actually met you before last week's, right?"

"You're right, you flatterer you," responded Jess, laughing.

Things were getting easier for Dean. He'd packed up some of Cas's things, put them in boxes in case he ever came back for them.

He didn't.

One day, on a Heartbreak Night, Nat sat down across the counter from where Dean was working. "Hey Dean, you hiring?"

It took him a minute to process the fact that Tali just asked for a job. Out loud. "Ah, yeah," he said when he'd collected himself, "but it's a waitressing job. You up for it?"

She nodded. "Cas always said I should push myself. And if I've got employment, I get my brother back."

Dean smiled. "Yeah, I know how that is," he said, thinking back to his college years, when he'd been fighting to keep Sammy and working three jobs. "Cas has been gone for a while now, though. Why -?"

"Meg isn't as good at motivation," Nat answered simply, shrugging.

"I'll give you that," replied Dean. "Come in this weekend, I'll have Adam and Krissy train you."

"Thank you, Dean," Nat said, signing as she spoke.

"You're welcome," Dean signed back. Nat smiled.

It was easy.

Well, running the damn cafe wasn't, and neither was coordinating the weekly Heartbreak Nights, both of those things were as complex and overwhelming as they could possibly manage to be. But something about life since buying Heaven was... easier.

Because when it came down to it, Heaven – with its photo of Cas on the wall and Gabriel in the back with the kids in front – felt more like home for Dean than the house did nowadays.

Nobody had heard from Cas since just after he walked out.

Nobody.

He'd just called in his resignation and disappeared. Never even stopped back in at home for this things.

It was like he'd dropped off the face of the earth.

On the whole, though, Dean tried not to think about it, because honestly things were good. Heaven was even starting to catch the attention of some of the town's foodies.

(Dean would never admit it to anybody, but he was really enjoying improving the menu. He happily left the baked goods to Gabriel, who relished in surprising the customers – and the waiters, when they were good – with new treats. But every new savoury item on the menu was Dean's doing, and people were loving it.)

And then Heaven started to attract the attention of people from out of town.

Dean pretended that he wasn't wishing for Cas to see one of the articles, even when Sam asked him directly and Krissy and Nat hinted their wonderings on the matter. He pretended that from the moment he walked through Heaven's door at 5am to the moment he walked out at 11pm.

At home, he'd stare at various reviews of the Heaven Cafe and wonder (hope) that maybe someday Cas would notice that this little cafe in the town he'd lived in for nearly five years was becoming well known for the photo of him on the wall.