Author's Note:
Hey guys, hope you're having a decent start to your holiday season! Thanks for all the well-wishes and support, I really appreciate it! If you ever want updates on chapters or whatever my zafiction account on tumblr will be the place to check for them, see where I'm at etc. Enjoy the chapter! I struggled with it lol
It was just after 8 in the morning and the three young men sat in the living room with glazed eyes. A yawn passed between them like a wave every now and again, always seeming to miss Castiel. Dean sat with Cas snuggled up next to him on the couch as the TV played some random crap on Netflix, Jet was on the other end of the couch and Sam was as far from Jet as he could be. Dean thought to comment on it but he didn't bother. He knew Sam was upset about the kiss thing.
That day was going to be hell and Dean knew it. He'd spend most of it away from Cas and wind up moving tons of boxes that he didn't want to have anything to do with. Sure, it was his crap but he really didn't wanna do it. He wished Jet had called the moving company before Bobby arrived, that way they'd have at least a little less to do that day.
Dean looked back and forth between Sam's slowly blinking face and Jet's mid-yawn, "I wanna call a moving company," he decided and both nodded without a word having to be spoken about it, "Bobby will forgive us I think."
"We'll have to tell them to just leave the stuff at the front door though," Jet mumbled with closed eyes, "The issue isn't Bobby's disapproval here."
"Right," Dean gazed down at Cas who was curled up with his head in Dean's lap, wings fluttering subtly every little while.
"Wonder if he had nightmares too…" Sam furrowed his brow and glanced toward the stairs, his gaze conveniently avoiding Jet's general location.
"I don't think he's been around Cas long enough," Dean grumbled as he slowly pulled himself upright, completely disrupting Castiel who was grunting his displeasure in being woken up. "Sorry buddy," Dean ruffled his already dishevelled hair and walked toward the door.
Luckily for them Bobby was already heading inside, "I thought I heard somethin'," he smiled a little and looked at them with a curious eye. "What kinda hell woke you boys up today?"
"Cas'," Sam replied without moving any unnecessary muscles, "Did you get any nightmares?"
"A little, but I don't remember 'em."
Dean couldn't tell if Bobby was serious or just saying that to keep them at ease. For his own sanity's sake he decided to go with the first option and leave it at that. "So… we were thinking we'd get a moving company anyway and just get them to ditch the stuff at the front door. Think you could keep Cas from getting out?"
Bobby shrugged, "Doesn't sound like it'll be much trouble."
'Yeah, keep telling yourself that,' Dean thought with a smile and nodded, "Okay then we'll get this show on the road, everybody's up anyway."
"Can we get breakfast first?" Jet had turned to peer over the couch; all Dean could see were dark, pleading brown eyes.
"Obviously."
Sam sighed and pushed himself up to his feet too, "Alright, I got the list of places we need to hit up so let's do it."
Dean went back to the couch and leaned over to nudge Cas' arm, getting a sleepy look for his efforts, "Hey Cas, I'm going out for a bit okay?"
Castiel blinked at him a few times but didn't seem to quite get it. Dean smiled and brushed his fingers over Cas' hair, tucking strays behind his ear. "See you later." With that said he followed Sam and Jet toward the door, the keys to the Impala jingling in his pocket. "Take care Bobby, and if something happens call Sam or Jet."
"Don't drop this on us," Jet retorted playfully and Sam rolled his eyes.
"Dean let Cas eat his phone yesterday, remember?"
"Oh… right…"
Bobby chuckled and gave a short wave, "Have fun, don't bite each other's heads off."
"No promises," Sam called over his shoulder as the door closed behind them. The three hustled their way to the car and piled in, Jet called shotgun and though Sam would've normally fought him for it the claim went unchallenged. Sam still didn't want to deal with that just yet.
Dean drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and looked up at the rear view mirror, "Where to first, Sammy?"
"Breakfast, I thought."
"Right, but where?"
Jet scrunched his nose at that, "Why does he get to pick?"
"'Cause I said so, now shut up."
Sam smiled and shrugged, "I guess Biggerson's?"
"Biggerson's it is," Dean grinned and cranked the tunes before he tore down their new drive-way.
The restaurant was packed and Dean briefly wondered what day it was, whether Sam should've been at school, or what the hell was going on. He glanced at his brother as they entered but Sam didn't seem bothered by it. In fact his eyes were following a waitress with a pot of coffee in her hands, though Dean thought it might be for the pretty waitress he knew that Sam's gaze was fixed on the black drink she carried.
Jet led the way to the 'Please Wait to be Seated' sign and leaned against the podium, looking at the host with a smirk that almost convinced Dean that Jet had slept that night. "Table for three, you got room?"
The young man looked at them with a slightly creased brow and a look that told Dean they might be waiting a few minutes before the man even spoke, "It'll be a few minutes,"
"Figured," Jet sighed and looked at the other two with a shrug, "Isn't it a friggin' weekday?"
"It is," the host replied, "however there was a large group in for breakfast today, looked like some kind of event. A table should be cleared for you momentarily, I'll let you know once we can seat you."
"Thanks," Dean gave a short wave and turned to look at Sam as the man walked away, "he looks familiar."
"I know," Sam muttered as he looked down at his phone, tapping away at Dean-didn't-know-what. "His face… I've seen him before but I don't know where-" he paused and looked up again at the host who was directing a waiter. Sam's eyes were wide and Dean was pretty sure he stopped breathing. "That's Michael Novak." He whispered just barely audible.
Dean and Jet both whipped their heads around to look at the man again, his hair was similarly dark like Castiel's but his back was turned, Dean couldn't tell much else from there. "You sure?"
"Positive, that's definitely him." Sam turned his phone over to Dean who looked at the Facebook photo. The first things he noticed were the same blue eyes and chiseled jaw that were just facing them moments ago stared up at him from the screen in his hand.
"Yeah," Dean muttered, unsure how he felt about it as Jet snatched the phone from him. He unintentionally ended up staring at Michael as the man finished what he was doing and turned his attention back to them. He seemed slightly unnerved by their stares but smiled anyway and mouthed 'one moment' as he lifted up his index finger.
"I see the resemblance, sorta," Jet handed Sam's phone back to the younger Winchester and crossed his arms, "So then that brings us to a new dilemma; do we tell him now?"
Dean bit his lower lip and could barely imagine how that would go. Of course they'd tell the truth but Michael would have full right to take Cas away. "You think he'd want Cas?"
"Depends," Sam looked at Dean with a raised eyebrow, "Would you demand a trio of strangers hand me back if we were in the same scenario?"
"You know I would," Dean frowned and tried to keep his eyes away from Sam's judgement, "but I don't want to lose him, what if we never see him again?"
"Dude," Jet grabbed his shoulder and turned him so they were face to face, "chill, okay? We have some time and we know where he works. Plus we had his Facebook and didn't message him before so how does it change now? We'll tell him when we think Cas is ready,"
Dean took a calming breath and nodded, Jet was right. Just because Michael was in front of them didn't mean anything had changed, they had the option to tell him earlier and didn't. Michael was physically present which made it feel more urgent but Dean did his best to keep Jet's comments in mind. "Good point, so we'll just keep it to ourselves-"
"Did you say Cas?" An unfamiliar female voice asked from behind Sam, the three guys turned to see a redheaded woman that caused a similar recognition in them as Michael had.
"Uh," Sam stuttered and looked at Dean with wide eyes and a gaze that begged assistance with the situation.
"What?" Dean feigned ignorance and aimed a full-tooth grinned at her, a 'we're obviously trying to cover up' move he was sure Sam would try to punch him for.
"You just said Cas, didn't you?" She repeated as she furrowed her brow and stepped closer, Dean worried she'd been standing there long enough to know what Cas they might've been talking about. With natural Winchester luck he was almost certain she'd heard the whole thing.
"Yeah," Jet replied to her so casually Dean wondered briefly if Jet even gave a shit anymore. "Our friend, Cassie, you know her?"
The girl paused and looked at the two Winchester boys for a second then back at Jet, "No… sorry, I was pretty sure it was someone else…" She seemed to bite at the inside of her cheek for a moment before Michael called over them.
"Charlie, what're you doing here?" he walked past the waiting boys and went right to her, "I haven't seen you since Christmas."
"Been out of town," Charlie smiled, both her and Michael unaware of the anxiety growing in Dean and the other two. "Looking around, you know, hunting down the last bits of clues I could find."
"Hmm," Michael hummed distantly and turned his gaze toward the floor, "did you find anything?"
"Just a dead end that pointed back here," she shrugged as she spoke; her tone was surprisingly upbeat to Dean's ears. He knew they were talking about Cas, he'd seen the posts they left on his page. "But I didn't come here to tell you that, was wondering if you guys might have an opening somewhere? Maybe part time?"
Michael raised an eyebrow at her then glanced at Dean and the others, suddenly wary of their presence. "We might, let's talk later okay?"
"Why are you hosting, anyway?" Charlie laughed, "Weren't you promoted to manager last year?"
"Someone called in today," Michael turned away from her and smiled at the others, "Sorry about the wait, please come with me."
"Sure," Dean shrugged and happily walked away from Charlie's curious eye.
"We don't want to interrupt," Sam added politely to which Michael shook his head.
"Not at all, don't worry about it." He glanced back, not at them but toward Charlie. Dean could feel there was some more history there than he could guess at.
As they settled down and looked at the menus Dean glanced at Jet, "Decent save, man."
"She didn't buy it," Jet replied calmly, "I can tell by the look she gave me, she's a liar too."
"You don't have super powers, Jet. And this isn't a movie, talk like a normal person." Sam muttered angrily, Dean really wished their tension could be toned down for a little while but apparently Sam wasn't having any of that.
Jet on the other hand just shrugged it off, which, Dean knew, would just irritate Sam even further. "Just sayin', she knows what I said about you-know-who and I'm guessing we'll see more of her soon."
"As long as it's a little later than sooner I'm good," Dean sighed and put his menu down, "Today hasn't started off so great, I hope Bobby's doing alright."
"He can handle a feather-weight," Jet smirked at him, "Bobby's a tough dude, don't count him out so fast."
"We'll get a call if it gets weird," Sam added as he placed his menu with Dean's, "though I'm not sure if we'd be any help regardless."
"I'm still trippin' over the fact that we ran into both Michael and Charlie in the same five minutes," Jet was quick to change the subject before Dean started to worry some more. "Sounds like she's on a mission too."
"I don't know if I'm happy or sad she hasn't given up yet…" Dean didn't want to imagine what they'd say once they found out.
Sam nodded quietly, a slight hum in his throat. "So who's calling the moving people?"
"I would if I had a phone," Dean snarked and Jet rolled his eyes similarly to how Sam had done throughout the day so far.
"I'll do it," Jet snarled grumpily and took out his phone.
"Great," Sam looked at Dean next, "The closest place to here is the DMV so we can update our address after breakfast."
"Can we eat before we plan the whole day?" Dean took on a pleading look, "Or at least can I drink coffee?"
Sam nodded firmly, "Good idea, I might mess it up if I do it before coffee…"