Best Friend's Brother

Chapter 18

It had been an entire year since Castiel had spoken to Dean. He and Sam had finished school and were now working. Castiel had brought the house that Dean had chosen, but he stayed in contact with Sam and Jessica. Sam was a lawyer at some fancy lawsuit, and Jess was a nurse trying to become a doctor. And Castiel, he was a psychiatrist for injured military soldiers.

As for Dean, Castiel knew nothing.

He had tried to search for him after school, to solve their fight, but he had no luck. He had spoken to many people for help, but he didn't seem to get any closer to finding Dean. The police were trying to search for him, like he was a criminal, but Dean seemed to disappear off the face of the earth. He was nowhere to be found, and Castiel was beginning to lose hope.

Until his friend, Balthazar, mentioned hiring a private investigator.

He and Balthazar had become friends when they began talking in their psychology class after Castiel had given his assignment on Dean. They began to talk about relationships and talking about who they loved. Their past relationship was behind them, and they only saw each other as best friends. It was nice to be able to speak to someone about the things he kept buried, but he missed Dean.

Balthazar had mentioned a private investigator who was the best. He could track down someone in less than a week. Almost everyone went to him for help. Although he did charge a lot, it's cheaper than most PI's. Balthazar had given Castiel the number for this PI in case Castiel ever wanted to call him. The number sat on Castiel's desk for weeks until he finally decided to ring.

The phone began to ring, and Castiel began to panic. Eventually, they answered.

"Hey, who do I need to find for you?"

Castiel froze. "Dean?" He asked with a shaky breath.

Their was silence on the other end. "I think you've got the wrong number".

"No", Castiel exclaimed. "Dean, please. I have been trying to find you for the past year. I needed to talk to you about what happened".

"I don't care".

"I do!" Castiel said, firmly. "What I did was wrong, I apologise. I should never have done it. I had an assignment where I had to study and analyse someone's behaviour. I know I should have asked for permission before I did anything, but I spoke to Sam and he told me to tell you after I had finished. I wanted to tell you about it, but I didn't know how. I'm sorry, Dean. You trusted me with your personal life, and I took advantage of it. I understand if you don't forgive me, but I want you to know how sorry I am".

It was silent. "Okay".

"Okay?" Castiel asked. "What does that mean?"

"It means okay. I accept your apology, but I don't think I can forgive you".

Castiel nodded, although Dean couldn't see. "I understand, I was expecting that".

"I gotta go, I have work".

"Okay", Castiel paused. "Do you think maybe we could meet up some time? I've missed you".

"I'll think about it".

And then the line went dead. Castiel was frozen in shock. It had been a year since he last heard Dean's voice. And it did wonders to his heart. Instantly, he asked Balthazar to come over. Castiel was alone for about 20 minutes until his best friend arrived. Balthazar seemed to have known that Castiel had been upset because he had brought ice cream and doughnuts.

They sat on the couch in the living room eating as Castiel began to explain. "I phoned the number you gave me", he began. Balthazar stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue. "Turns out, that amazing PI is my ex-boyfriend. I hadn't heard from him in a year, since our break up. I apologised to him, but he didn't want to speak to me. I invited him out to meet up sometime, but he didn't give me an exact answer. He said he'd think about it before hanging up. He didn't even say bye". Castiel felt his eyes well up with tears. "I ruined everything", he whispered.