POV: Dean
September 5, 2003
Cas and I had made it for more than three months, which was something I was proud of. It also seemed to calm some of his fears because I didn’t plan to leave. I loved spending time with him and being around him. I missed when he wasn’t here and I missed camping so much. The quietness and serene setting was stress relieving.
He came back to messages about deadlines, time projections about the future books, and general emails. I’d come back to a garage of classic cars that needed attention. We’d both dived in and sure it was stressful but I couldn’t totally blame his writing schedule or his deadlines for the increase in stress. Something showed on his face; he was keeping something from me and I wasn’t sure what. It made me worry a bit. He’d also been spending a lot of time during the day in my apartment doing calls, writing, or plotting. Not that I minded, it just made me wonder why he didn’t feel comfortable at home.
I was also worried because his birthday was coming up and I was fucking clueless as to what to get him or what to do. This is why I was glad when Charlie’s yellow car pulled up. She was here for an oil change that Kirk was doing but I could tap her brain a bit, as long as Cas stayed upstairs!
“Charlie!” I called.
She gave Kirk her keys and bounced over to me in her normal happy mood. She was a beacon for happy and upbeat, which was always appreciated.“Hey Dean, what’s up? Is that Cas’s car?”
“He’s in my place, there was a conference call at ten and another one at two, plus he’s working on the next book. He’s been on a lot of calls lately.”
Her brow rose. “But he’s not home?”
I wiped my hands off and shook my head. “No and I was going to ask if you had any ideas on why. He’s been hanging out here during the daytime and heading back late, but sometimes he doesn’t go home. Not that I mind that.”
“I didn’t know that he was coming here, I assumed he was at home when we talked. He’s sounded normal but I can tell there’s something going on with him. It happens when he has a tight deadline or something isn’t going right in his book. Sometimes with edits, but those are all done. He’s been more stressed, but he hasn’t said anything to me about why.”
“I’ve noticed the stress too. He doesn’t hide it well.”
She wiggled her eyebrow. “You’re supposed to be taking care of that Dean-o, what with you being the boyfriend and all.”
“Hey, I’m no miracle worker Charlie. I’ve done what I can when I can.”
“Well, you need to try more and do more.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Anyway, I also had another question.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“His birthday. Any ideas?”
“He really doesn’t do much for his birthday.”
“What do you mean?”
He fiddled with her shirt. “His parents and brother call but he doesn’t want anything big or special. I think it comes from not having many family members and them not really doing anything over the years. I’ve tried to get him to go out or do something but he won’t. I’m not sure he would, even for you.”
“Are you serious? You guys aren’t making me want to meet his family real bad. He never does? Not ever?”
“They’re really not bad, and to be fair, Gabe doesn’t celebrate either. I think it’s mostly a family thing but he’ll celebrate with me for mine or anyone else we know. He celebrated his past boyfriends’ too. But when it comes to his, he’s just not that into it.”
Well that was disturbing news because I really wanted to celebrate his. It was something my family tried to do even if it was before or after our actual birthdays.
“Are you trying to say me getting some folks together would be a bad idea? I was thinking about doing something at the house that Saturday with cake and whatever he wants food wise. Was going to let him know.”
She considered that for several minutes. Charlie knew him better than I, so if it was a horrible idea she would know.
“Actually, I think he may appreciate it. You’re going through this effort to celebrate him and he may fight you on it if you tell him, but I’m not sure I would do a surprise.”
“Okay, what about potential gift ideas? I’ve been racking my brain but I just keep coming up blank.”
She smiled. “I think anything you choose will be good Dean, it’s from you after all. Although, he does like vibrant shirts, things for the house and crafts. He hasn’t done many crafty things lately but he used to.”
“Are you getting him anything?”
“He told me not to get anything but since you want to do a little party for him then I’ll find something.”
I nodded. “Okay. If you want to head up and talk to him you know where the door is.”
She held up her phone. “I’ll message him first.”
“Might be a good idea in case he’s on a call.”
She sent a message and I assumed he said it was fine because she bid be farewell and headed up to my place. I went back to working on the car I was fixing. Simple project. Forty minutes later she came down, waved bye to me and got her car. Around noon when everyone else took their lunches, I headed up to take mine. Perks of living where you work. Cas was sitting at the table typing furiously away on something. He smiled when he saw me and I kissed his forehead.
“Did you eat already?”
His head barely shook. “No.”
“I’ll fix lunch then.”
“I can later.”
I kissed his forehead again. “You need to eat Mr. Writer.”
“I’ve been snacking!”
“I mean real food, not just snacks.”
He sighed. “If you insist.”
“I do.” I gave him another quick peck and then headed to make lunch.
He continued to type away as I prepared our lunches but once they were done and the plate was there he slid his laptop away from him. Both of us were quiet as he ate our lunches. We were almost done eating when the phone closer to me rang and I just got it. I did see the alarmed look on Castiel’s face, but had no idea why. Yet, I didn’t have time to say hello before a voice that was familiar rang out from the phone.
“Are you seriously trying to piss me off, Cassie? I’ve told you time and time again to stay the fuck away from Dean, yet where are you now? At his
place. Meaning you lied to me this morning when you said you were at home. You know I don’t like lies, Cassie. So much retraining to do. You remember that right? How much it hurt.”
I blinked and the color in Cas’s face seemed to drain away. It was definitely Robert’s voice on the phone and the wording indicated that he had talked to Cas somehow this morning and that he knew he was here. Yet, Castiel had told me he hadn’t called at all, not even before we went to Colorado. Realization hit me that what Cas was hiding from me was that Robert hadn’t stopped calling.
“Perhaps you should have waited until someone said hello Robert. I’m sorry you feel that way but Castiel is taken. If you want a second chance then you’ll be waiting a very long time. My best advice to you is to give up on Castiel; to move forward and forget this number. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some things to speak to him about.”
I pressed the end button and looked at Castiel. His face was pale and his expression made me think he was afraid of something. I could also see traces of guilt and sadness. I was certain that the thoughts running through his head were all me telling to leave, that I was done with him. Yet, those thoughts were no where near my mind.
“I’m going to assume by the way he spoke and the words he said that he hasn’t stopped calling you?”
He nodded and somehow that made him look even sadder. He was mostly looking at the floor by now.
“If I check, I’ll find other calls and messages?”
He nodded again and made no effort when I went to check said messages. I only opened the ones from Robert. He had messages from the last week from Robert; most weren’t that bad, just reminders to behave and stay away from me. For someone who was told to stay away, he sure hadn’t. My guess was his actual threats were done over the phone so there was no proof, after all calls would be his word against Cas’.
“Castiel, why didn’t you tell me he was still calling and messaging? I could have contacted the police again.”
“I already have. He’s not leaving any threats in the messages and I can’t prove he’s said any. I really did think he would stop, I thought he would get the message and move on. He’s not calling as much as he was.” He paused a moment. “You…don’t sound like you’re mad at me.”
“Why should I be?”
He frowned some. “I lied to you Dean. You asked me if he stopped and I said he had.”
“Yeah, you did tell me that. But, you’ve also told me how Robert was and what he’d done before. His messages keep telling you to stay away from me, but clearly you can’t. I am disappointed that you felt it was better to hide this, especially since it’s stressing you out. Charlie and I both saw it but we didn’t know what was causing it.”
It seemed my disappointment was even worse than being mad. His head dropped and I wondered if he was on the verge of crying, I saw no signs of that though. I got up and moved beside him, kneeling down and putting my hand on his thigh.
“Sunshine, look at me.” He moved his head toward me. “It’s okay. I’m not mad, I just wish you would have told me. I could tell something was wrong and I was afraid it was something I was doing. I didn’t know it was him and he doesn’t need to be doing this to you.”
“It was never you Dean, I just thought I could do it alone.”
I smiled at him. “You aren’t alone now and I’ll always be here to help you. Whether it be with him or something else. Okay?”
“Okay.”
I moved to kiss him and lingered, wanting that smile to come back, wanting that color to return to his face. I also really loved those chapped lips of his.
“How about you come down with me for a little bit? Take a break before your next call.”
“I think I’d like that. I don’t have long though.”
I kissed him again. “I’ll be sure to make it worth your time.”
He finally smiled back at me and we headed back down to the garage. I usually didn’t like distractions but I loved having Castiel here with me. He was attentive and he actually did want to learn, so it made it easy to teach and to admire. He didn’t mind staring at my ass when I was bent over the car and I certainly didn’t mind staring at his when he was bent over either. He stayed with me until it was almost time for his conference call, then he headed back upstairs.
Without him here I was just counting down until it was time to get off. I was practically laying on the motor trying to tighten a clamp when I heard him scream my name out. I rose up way too fast and cracked my head on the underside of the hood. Shit, that hurt! I was rubbing my head when I looked toward where he’d be and he was yelling my name again.
However, the look on his face didn’t make me think he was distressed or upset. In fact, he looked happy.
“Cas?”
He looked completely thrilled and so happy, I didn’t even know what that conference call was about, but clearly it was good.
“Dean! Dean! Dean! Dean!”
He made it to me but he just kept repeating my name until I cupped his face gently and only then did he seem to breathe a bit.
“Sunshine. Calm down for a moment, deep breaths.”
He nodded and it took him several moments to actually calm down and breath. I could feel his heartbeat in his neck and smile meant something good was happening. But, what that was I wasn’t sure yet. He finally seemed to calm down some.
“They want a movie!”
I blinked, that really told me nothing about what he was trying to say. “A movie?”
“My two o’clock call was with my publisher and she had a producer on the phone. Dean, he wants to do a movie for Supernatural! He wants me to write a movie!”
“Seriously?”
“Yes! I explained the outline of the next book and after that he wants to do a whole movie, something that could tie into the books and then I can continue after. He said depending on how well the movie went he was willing to consider a sequel or several. I can’t believe they want to do that!”
A little stunned I pulled him in for a kiss, leaving him breathless and at the same time I lifted him off the ground and spun him around.
“That’s fantastic news!”
When I sat him down I saw Kirk, Benny and Meg standing nearby.
“We heard him yelling. Are things okay?” Benny asked.
“They are. Castiel just got asked to do a movie for Supernatural.” I said.
“Really?” Meg asked.
He nodded, clearly still a little breathless.
“That is fantastic! Such good news. You need to tell everyone.”
“I had to tell Dean first.” He said.
“Well, he clearly knows so tell everyone else.” Kirk said.
His cheeks flushed some but he did call his parents, Gabriel, and then Charlie, while I couldn’t hear their end I was sure they were just as excited and happy as he was. While he made his calls, I called my own parents and sent Sam a message, since he was in class right now. My parents were thrilled and I knew Sam would be good. The other three went back to there respective jobs.
While he was talking to Gabriel I wondered if maybe his parents and brother would like to come down to celebrate his birthday. I’d ask Charlie the next time I could to see if that was a good idea, since they didn’t really celebrate birthdays. He still hadn’t asked me to meet them but I was okay with it because he was nervous about them accepting our relationship. I would just have to wait until Cas was ready to tackle that hurdle and I assumed that was when he felt that this was real and that I wouldn’t just walk away.
I leaned against the side of the car; it was so clear how happy he was about this.
“Why don’t you call Charlie back and see if they want to meet us for dinner? You need to celebrate this.”
“Don’t you have to finish this?”
“She’ll be okay if I need another day. I told her Monday anyway because it usually is a pain in the ass. If you’d like to invite anyone else I can call or you can.”
“How about everyone?”
“That can be arranged. Ellen would love to have us.”
He just flung himself back in my arms and I held him tight for several minutes. I could feel the slight tremor and knew it was good, this would be life changing to him. I stopped myself there because I couldn’t consider how much it would change our lives together as well.
“Alright Sunshine, I need a shower for real.”
“You smell fine to me.”
“I’m sure I won’t to others.”
He kissed me and then parted, started calling people and I called my parents back and let Ellen know we were coming.
“Are you inviting Sasha?” he asked.
“I can if you’d like me to. I wasn’t sure how you felt about him.”
“I’d like for Sasha and his boyfriend to come, if they can make it.”
“I’ll let him know.”
I was glad he didn’t seem to have any issues with Sasha, I knew some might. But I invited him and then got myself showered and changed. He did freshened up some and we headed to Ellen’s.
Everyone was excited, happy, and asked dozens of questions. Sam called while we were there and spoke to Cas for a little while. It was so nice to have this happy moment. I did notice a few times his phone rang but he didn’t answer it. I suspected that it was Robert; he was a little gray cloud in our clear blue sky. While we were at Ellen’s I got her alone and asked if there was anything we could do; her daughter Jo was an officer and some of her friends were, also. There wasn’t much beyond reporting it so there was a clear pattern that was established. Cas had texts and call logs, which we could get together as evidence.
I wondered though if he may try to really hurt him. Based on what he and Charlie had told me, Robert was a violent person. He’d already hit him once since I’d known him and he’d also made several threats that I heard that alluded to the possibility of more harm.
“You look a little spacey there Dean.” Sasha said.
“His ex from high school has kept calling; worried that he’s the gray in our blue sky.”
“Does Cas seem to be letting that bother him?”
“It has been bothering him and he didn’t tell me until today. I answered his phone by mistake and this guy just talked without even knowing who it was. I guess I need to get a restraining order Monday.”
“That would be the first thing to do. I’m glad you two got together.”
“Same.”
I downed the last of my drink and then dragged Castiel to the dance floor. What was the point in coming to a bar if you weren’t going to dance? We celebrated his achievement. We had fun and forgot about Robert for a while. But, I knew come Monday we’d have to do something. I also knew I had some shopping to do for his birthday and while I was here I booked the Saturday after for his birthday party.
We stayed out late but he stayed with me for the night.