West Coast

Chapter Twenty-one

He ended up painting the beach again. 'What is this, Dean?' Cas asked, as he painted grass on the same sand dune he'd painted before.

Dean looked at it and shrugged.

'You still don't want to tell me?'

'What can I say? I'm an optimist, I think you'll remember it.'

Cas sighed, but finished his painting. 'I've painted at least five of these now,' he said.

'Yeah, that's why I think you'll remember.'

'Mm.'

After a flurry of activity a couple of weeks later, they had everything packed into the Impala, ready to go.

Cas, in an attempt to make himself useful, packed their carry-ons.

'What's this?' Dean said, picking up a large bottle of sunscreen. 'You don't burn.'

'No, but you do,' Cas said, taking the bottle from him.

'What? No I don't.'

'Yes, you do,' Cas insisted. 'Your freckles get darker first, and you start to get some more, then you start to burn right here.' He brushed the bridge of Dean's nose and smiled.

'All right, I guess we can bring it,' Dean said, blushing as he put the bottle in his bag.

Sam came over to help make sure they had all their paperwork, and the three of them climbed into the car, Sam in the back seat to take a nap while they were driving.

Cas had Hoagie in his lap, all dressed up in his service dog uniform. 'Mary's wearing him out, I see,' Cas said, glancing at Sam in the back seat.

'Yeah, she's teething,' Dean grinned.

'Maybe we should have her to stay more often.'

Dean nodded slowly. 'Yeah, I think we could do that. Set up a crib in the office, or something.'

'Sounds good to me,' Sam mumbled in the back seat.

Dean laughed and threw a wrapper over his shoulder at Sam, who barely even moved.

Dean shoved Sam awake when they arrived at the airport in Seattle, and all of them got out of the car. 'Here,' Dean said, throwing Sam the keys once the bags were unpacked. 'You better be careful with my car. If I see so much as a scratch-'

'Yeah, yeah, murder, disembowelment, blah blah blah, whatever, I'll take care of it.'

'Okay, she's a her, not an it.'

'Rookie mistake, Sam,' Cas said, clipping on Hoagie's leash.

'Really, Cas? Whatever, I'm going now.' Sam got in the car and rolled down the window. 'Have fun being gross and sweaty in Hawaii.'

'Joke's on you, we got our own pool.'

'We do?' Cas asked.

'Yeah, didn't I tell you?'

Cas shrugged. 'Could go either way.'

'You guys are hilarious. I'll be here when you get back.' Sam pulled away in the car, and they went into the airport.

Cas was fine most of the way, and only wobbled in security when one of the agents asked him to let go of Hoagie. Dean reminded them that they weren't allowed to separate anyone from their service dogs.

'My brother's a lawyer,' Dean said smugly. 'He knows what he's talking about.'

The agent rolled his eyes and let Cas hold Hoagie's leash through the scanner.