The sky was grey again the next morning, as Castiel hurried down to the bakery. He was not used to everything remaining where he'd left it the night before, but he was grateful to get started without having to waste time looking for everything he needed.
He set about gathering up what ingredients were left over from the day before, to see what he could make from it. There were several sheets of puff pastry still, so he decided to bake it all into several batches of Danishes. He then made two pecan pies, along with his usual selection of cakes and breads, and fell into his usual routine until Alfie arrived.
'You really can't keep doing this,' he said, pointing at the 'Out of Order' sign on the coffee machine.
Castiel gave him a sheepish look as he pulled the sign off the perfectly functioning machine.
'Let's try this again,' said Alfie. 'Just do what I say. We'll start with one black coffee, how about that?'
Cas nodded.
'Okay, great. First, get a cup,' Alfie said patiently. 'Yeah, that's right, now put it under the nozzle here.'
'What about all these other nozzles? And these buttons? What-?'
'No, no, stop. You'll confuse yourself again. Just put it under this nozzle.'
Cas obeyed.
'Good. Now press this button right here. No other buttons, just this one.'
Cas did as he was told, and hot, fresh coffee poured out of the machine and into the cup.
'See, that wasn't so hard, was it?' Alfie grinned. 'Why don't you be in charge of black coffee today, and if it goes well, we can try the next part, what do you say?'
Cas looked doubtful, but Alfie laughed at him.
'Let's just give it a try.'
It went well at first, but Cas got flustered when Alfie tried to show him how to make white coffee, so Alfie ended up making him a new sign that read 'Black coffee only' at the end of his shift.
'Well, it's better that "Out of Order", I suppose,' he said, throwing on his jacket.
'Thank you,' Cas said. 'I'll see you tomorrow.'
Alfie waved, and the bell above the door tinkled as he left, leaving Cas alone with his thoughts. He occupied himself by making more cupcakes. He decorated them simply again, but added a pinch of sprinkles to each this time.
He had the usual stream of kids once they let out, and was just considering whether or not to make some meringue, when the bell tinkled again. In walked the man he'd met the day before, Sam Winchester.
'You're back,' Cas smiled.
'Sure am. My brother liked the pie.'
'I'm glad to hear it. What can I get for you today?'
Sam looked around. 'I hate to be awkward, but uh, Dean, my brother, he said to ask for one of everything.'
'That's no problem at all.' Cas set about wrapping and bagging one of everything.
'So if you're Cas, where's Charlie?' Sam asked.
'Chicago,' said Cas, wrapping a loaf of bread.
'Oh, I'm sorry.'
'Don't be. If you'd met her, you'd know she's not a small-town girl. I'd rather see her happy than stuck here with me.'
'I see.'
Cas finished wrapping and bagging all the goods, then brought it all up to the register. 'Anything else?' he asked.
'Do you have any more of those cookies?' said Sam.
'Sure.' Cas added the cookies to the bag.
'Okay, how much will this run me up, then?'
'That'll be twenty dollars.'
Sam dug into his pockets.
'Where are you from?' Cas asked him.
'Us? We're from Kansas. Town called Lawrence – Aha!' Sam pulled a crumpled twenty from his back pocket and handed it to Cas. 'What about you? You from around here?'
'No, I'm from Milwaukee.'
'Milwaukee? Really? How'd you-'
Sam was interrupted by a long, loud blast from a car horn outside.
'Sorry, that's Dean, I gotta go. Thanks, Cas.' Sam dashed away before Cas could say anything else.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully and he closed on time, and packed his bag with the leftovers.
Cas thankfully didn't live far from the bakery, and avoided having to use transportation for the most part, preferring to walk. The volunteers at the homeless shelter were happy to see him as always and gratefully accepted his bread and cakes, before he continued home to his apartment.
It wasn't anything fancy, but Cas was proud of it. It was on the ground floor of a small apartment building, with the front door on the outside, and had an open plan kitchen and living room. Three doors lead off the main room to a small bathroom and two bedrooms, one of which was now empty but for the spare bed.
Cas flicked on the lights and put his keys in a bowl on the counter. In one corner stood a fish tank that contained four angelfish and a school of tetras. As Cas sprinkled some food into the tank, his tabby cat Gracie jumped up on the recliner chair next to it and licked her lips.
'Don't look at them like that,' he said to her softly. 'Come on, you're next.'
She followed him back into the kitchen part of the room and jumped up on the counter, where he placed a bowl full of cat food. She tucked into it, purring happily. Cas chuckled, petting her while she ate.
His own dinner was a simple soup and he fell asleep in his recliner, only waking a few hours later to take himself to bed.
Sam was early to the bakery the next day, arriving at lunchtime when Alfie was helping with the coffee machine, but this time he was not alone. Along with Sam came a man dressed in jeans and a worn leather jacket, his hair carefully styled and hands shoved into his pockets.
'You must be Dean,' Cas said with a friendly smile, holding out his hand.
Dean nodded slightly, but ignored Cas's outstretched hand and looked around the bakery.
Cas faltered slightly, lowering his hand.
'Don't mind him,' said Sam, throwing Dean a nasty look, 'he's just cranky cos he didn't get enough beauty sleep last night.'
Dean glared at him and made an angry hand gesture.
'Bite me, Dean,' Sam said. Then Sam spotted Alfie behind the counter. 'I don't think we've met. I'm Sam, that's Dean.'
'I'm Alfie. I help Cas work the coffee machine.'
'I didn't know it was a two-person job.'
'It's not. Cas doesn't know how.'
'Thanks,' said Cas.
Dean raised an eyebrow.
'Anyway. Can I get you guys anything?' Cas said forcefully.
'Sure, we'll take some pie and cookies.'
'Good choice. We've got a nice cherry pie today.'
Dean watched him closely as he cut a slice of the pie, unnerving Cas slightly.
'Awesome. Two dollars, right?' said Sam, digging in his pockets again.
Cas nodded and rang it up on the register. He waited patiently while Sam tried to find some money. Eventually Dean pulled out his own wallet and handed Cas the two dollars. Cas then handed Sam the bag and he made to leave, but Dean didn't move.
'What?' said Sam.
Dean nodded at Cas.
'Oh! Right! Sorry, I forgot to tell you. We've picked you as our bakery, so we'll be seeing a lot of each other and, hopefully, Dean in a better mood.'
Dean rolled his eyes and walked out.
'That's great,' Cas smiled. 'I'll see you soon, then.'
'Yeah, sure,' said Sam, hurrying after Dean. 'Bye!'
Alfie and Cas watched as they left and stood for a moment in silence.
'What was that about?' Alfie said, bewildered.
Cas merely shrugged.