Chapter Ten

"They have feelings for each other?" Charlie asked incredulously.

"Well, yes," Castiel replied, frowning. "With your powers I thought you'd know that already…"

"Well, obviously I could tell that about Dean," she said, "but Ivy's had years of practice on me; she knows how to bar her thoughts when she wants to. I could have sworn she wasn't kidding when she said she didn't like him."

Castiel nodded, but said, "Why are you so against it, though?"

Charlie turned a guarded eye to him. "She's my cousin. She's the only family I have left in the world. We protect each other."

"I'm sure there are worse things in the world to protect her from, Charlie."

Charlie bit her lip, but kept her gaze locked into Castiel's. "I can't take that chance. These are the Winchesters, Cas."

Castiel shook his head emphatically. "Don't assume that their family history defines them, Charlie," he insisted. "It doesn't define them…no more than yours defines you."

Ivy pulled into a parking spot at the diner and went inside, making a beeline for the booth she and Charlie normally occupied. Lucy was there within moments, a cup of black tea in hand.

"What'll it be, love?" she asked as Ivy took the cup.

One of Ivy's favourite things about the diner was that it served breakfast all day, and normally when she was this upset she would order stacked pancakes with extra maple syrup and an order of bacon on the side. But she stopped herself and replied instead, "Just the chicken BLT, please."

"Coming right up."

The rest of the diner was empty. When Lucy came back, Ivy's food was fresh off the grill. The mouth-watering smell of homestyle fries wafted up to Ivy's nose, and she realised she was hungrier than she'd anticipated.

"Mind if I join you awhile?" Lucy asked.

"Please do." Ivy smiled as the older woman took the seat opposite her.

"So, those two young strangers," Lucy began, "I heard they're staying with you?"

Ivy nodded, removing the toothpick from one quarter of her gigantic sandwich. "Met them when they arrived in town," she explained, "and they weren't too pleased that we don't have a motel."

"Well, if they'd come two months ago Gormley's B&B would still be open," Lucy said. She suddenly gasped. "Oh, Ivy, I didn't mean to – "

Ivy shook her head. "No, it's alright, really," she assured Lucy.

After a moment, Lucy remarked, "One of them was in here yesterday. Cute, he was."

"Who, Dean?"

"Yes, that's the one." Lucy smiled. "It's been a while since you've seen anyone, hasn't it?"

Ivy laughed. "Oh, Luce!" she said. "That's just bad for business. Can't go mixing hunting with romance, sadly."

"Business?" Lucy repeated. "Hunting?"

Oh crap.

Castiel observed Charlie working in the garage with great interest. She had long since finished the work on Lucy O'Reilly's car and was now working on a rusted up bucket of a Toyota that, to the Angel's nose, smelled more like the inside of a gas pump than a car.

"Why does it smell like that?" he asked.

Charlie straightened up. "You can smell that from across the room?"

"Well…yes. I am a powerful being."

Right, forgot about that. "Come here," she said.

"There?" Cas parroted, pointing. "There, by the car? Next to you?"

"Yes…" Charlie looked at him strangely.

"I thought I was supposed to stay in the corner."

"Just get over here," Charlie said impatiently. Castiel complied, and she pointed inside the hood. "That's the crank case," she began. "When you can smell that gassy kind of smell, it's time to change the oil. This is where we begin."

Castiel looked at her, unsure of what she expected him to do.

"Grab that right there. That's the fill cap. Now let's find the dipstick."

"That's what Dean calls sometimes calls people with bad attitudes," Cas remarked.

Charlie laughed. "Well, it's transferable. Now…"

Not too long after, Castiel had done his first-ever oil change.

"That wasn't so hard," the Angel mused, holding his hands out in front of him and looking at his grubby digits. "It's awfully messy though."

"That's part of the job," Charlie said, amused by his fastidiousness. "It's better than blood and guts, though."

"Yes. They are difficult to get out of clothes."

Castiel was surprised to hear Charlie laugh yet again at his remarks. "I wasn't aware I was being humorous," he said. "I don't understand why you're laughing."

"Because that was funny," Charlie explained. "You're actually quite good for a laugh, Castiel. I don't mean that in a mean way, though. I just mean that you're…easy to get along with, maybe. When you're not uptight."

"Dean said the same thing once. We became friends after that."

"Oh, really?"

"He's not as crass as you think." Castiel started washing his hands off in the sink. "We started to become quite close after he made me watch the video of the pizza man."

"So it's not enough that you go around being a macho pest, but you have to corrupt angels, too?"

Even in his darkened mood Dean could detect the note of good-natured sarcasm in Charlie's voice. "Hello to you too," he replied gruffly. "I guess Castiel found you and told you about the pizza video?"

Charlie giggled as she came up the front steps. "Yep."

"He was here earlier," Dean continued. "Said he wanted to talk to you and Ivy, and went off right after I told him neither of you were home."

"Yeah, he dropped by the Motors," Charlie confirmed. "He didn't mention anything to me though."

"Well, he said he wanted to talk to Ivy too. Apparently it's important."

Charlie pursed her lips. "Maybe he'll come back later on this evening. He went off into town after the Motors." She looked around, suddenly confused. "Where's Ivy? Usually she's home by now if she stepped out during the day, unless she's hunting."

Dean shrugged. "I think she took off on a motorcycle or something," he said impassively. "Whatever."

Charlie narrowed her eyes. "What did you do?" she demanded. "What did you say to her?"

The older Winchester stared at her. "Nothing, I swear to God," he insisted. "Sam and I just found her doing yoga in the reading room, and suddenly she was all ice-queen on me."

"She doesn't get provoked without reason," Charlie said.

"Well, I did nothing wrong, and she took off really pissed at me and I don't know why."

Oh, you're such a boy!

What the hell? Dean looked around wildly, and realised Charlie had spoken to him in his head again.

You're getting the hang of it. Charlie cocked an eyebrow. Oh, wow. You really don't see what you did wrong?

"No, I do not," Dean replied out loud. "Jesus. What was that for?"

"Trying to see what went on. And oh, I did." Charlie pulled her hair out of its elastic and raked her hand through the rambunctious golden curls that fell over her shoulders. "It's not often that Ivy expresses any kind of…well. Hm. How can I put this delicately?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "After the way you've been verbally kicking my ass from here into next Sunday, you're suddenly worried about how to phrase something?"

"It's a delicate issue, Dean."

"Well, out with it, then!"

Charlie sighed. "Ivy doesn't often act jealous. When she does, it's with reason. Not a logical one, but a reason."

"Huh?" Dean said, confused.

"See, that's exactly what I mean about you being such a boy," Charlie explained. "Dean, she likes you a lot. And she's a bit jealous of whoever this…Lisa person is."

Dean stared daggers into Charlie, who physically backed away from him. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Dean, whoa. I'm sorry."

"Don't you ever say her name or Ben's name out loud," Dean growled. "Never. Do you read me?"

"Loud and clear," Charlie said uneasily. "But – "

"I don't want to talk about it." He turned away.

Charlie pursed her lips. "Fine, then," she snapped a moment later. "Go wallow."

"Yeah, well, why don't you go, oh I don't know, throw shit around in the garage," Dean retorted.

Charlie twisted her hair back up into a messy knot, her blue eyes glinting. "Yeah, maybe I will. Don't come in, though." She walked back down the steps and tossed over her shoulder, "I never miss twice."