West Coast

Chapter Ten

The next few nights were difficult for Cas as it got harder and harder for him to remain asleep, so much so that Dean had started allowing Hoagie to sleep in the bed with them.

Cas woke after a particularly vivid nightmare one night, and found the bed empty.

He got up and wandered into the living room. The lights were on in the dining room, and Cas found Dean and Hoagie at the table. Papers were strewn around and Dean was running his hands through his hair. Dean looked up and saw Cas through the archway.

'Hey,' he said, smiling tiredly. 'You all right? Nightmares again?'

Cas nodded. 'What are you doing out here? It's so late.'

'Nothing much, just working through the finances,' said Dean, gesturing at all the paper.

'Oh, are we okay?'

'Yeah, of course we are,' Dean said, 'I just need to move some stuff around, I think. It's just... '

Cas sat down next to him. 'Just?'

'You always used to do this stuff,' Dean explained. 'And Sam's been helping me with it, but I wanted to do it myself this time.'

'I see.'

'It's hard,' Dean admitted.

Cas looked down at the paperwork, then back up at Dean, and a thought suddenly occurred to him. 'You're dyslexic.'

'You remember?'

'Yes. Have you been struggling this whole time? Why didn't you say anything?'

'You have enough to deal with, and like I said, Sam's been helping me. I'm fine most of the time, this is just - more.'

'Let me help you,' Cas said. 'Where are you stuck?'

'Well...' Dean grabbed some papers. 'I've got the numbers on this one. If we take out your pension, that'll cover what's left of the mortgage. But this small bit here... I asked them to print it in bigger font...'

'Let me see...' Cas pulled the paper towards himself. 'It says that you can take it out early if you have written permission from me, a letter from the doctor confirming my diagnoses, and have it signed off by a lawyer.'

'Oh, okay, well we can do that,' Dean said, relaxing.

'What else?'

'There's this one... This is your savings account. I can't figure out how to access it.'

Cas read the letter. 'This one might be a little more difficult,' Cas told him. 'They want me to confirm the access request on my online account.'

'Right?'

'And I would need my memorable data to get into it.'

Dean snorted and they both started laughing. 'We'll have to go in with your ID, or something,' he said.

Cas picked up the bank statement and saw the large number displayed on it. 'What was I saving for?' he asked.

Dean shrugged, avoiding Cas's eyes. 'A rainy day, I guess.'

Cas read through some more of the letters, not quite putting it all together. 'Will we be all right on just your income?'

Dean smiled again, somewhat proudly. 'I don't mean to brag, or anything, but I'm one of the best mechanics in the state,' he grinned. 'All the rich douchebags bring me their classic cars to work on, and the guys at the shop know they have to pay me 'cause I'll steal all their clients if I leave.'

'Wow, I'm impressed.'

'Yeah, no big deal.'

Cas helped Dean stack the papers neatly. 'Is there anything else I can do?' he asked hopefully.