It was quiet the next day, and Sam and Dean didn't turn up, but the day after, at around lunchtime, both of them entered the shop looking like completely different people. Sam in a sharp suit with his hair brushed back, and Dean absolutely covered in grime and oil.
'You got the jobs!' Cas smiled.
'Sure did,' said Sam, with Dean nodding behind him.
'You are not coming in my kitchen looking like that,' Cas said to Dean, pointing at the black oil covering his arms up to the elbow.
Dean held up his hands defensively, grinning.
'Where's Alfie?' Sam asked.
'Oh, he's just sick today. He'll be fine.'
'Oh, well...' Sam glanced at the coffee machine.
Cas rolled his eyes. 'Why don't you just come back here and get one?'
'Thanks, Cas,' Sam said, coming around the counter.
Cas moved along the counter out of his way, and stood opposite Dean. He felt his heart begin to pump faster. 'Dean, I wanted to show you something,' he said.
Dean watched him as he, slowly and hesitantly began to sign.
{Hello, D-e-a-n. How are you?}
Dean gaped at him, completely flabbergasted.
'What? Did I do it wrong?' Cas asked anxiously.
Dean shook his head hurriedly and signed back, slowly so Cas could keep up. {Hello, C-a-s. I am good. How are you?}
{I am okay, thank you.} Cas smiled widely. 'I'm not very good at it yet, but I can practice more.'
Dean didn't respond, and Sam came back around the counter with two cups of coffee.
'Jeez, what did you do to him?' Sam asked, handing Dean his coffee.
'Uh...'
Dean made a face and elbowed Sam.
'Hey, watch the suit!' said Sam.
Dean shook his head, and signed impatiently at him.
'All right, I'm doing it. Cas, can we please have a couple of slices of pie?'
'Sure. It's blueberry today, is that all right?'
'Yeah, that's fine. Sorry to rush you, but we gotta get back to work.'
'No, it's fine.' Cas cut them a slice each of the pie and wrapped it for them.
Sam hurried out of the door once he had paid, but Dean stopped by the exit.
{Thank you.}
Cas smiled. {No problem.}
Dean left, the bell tinkling as he did so, then Cas took a deep breath to steady his nerves.
He bumped into them again later that night, when he was shopping for new ingredients.
He was staring at a shelf of fruit, his brain stalling on any sort of decision, with a peach in one hand, when Sam's voice caught his attention. He looked in the direction it was coming from, but thought his ears must be playing tricks on him when there was no one there. But then Sam came around the corner with Dean, arguing with him about something.
'No, Dean, we can't just live on hot pockets and taquitos forever. We have to have real food eventually. Try eating a broccoli or something.'
Dean began signing furiously, but then Sam noticed Cas out of the corner of his eye.
'Dean – Dean, stop,' said Sam.
Dean ignored him until he, too, saw Cas, and waved awkwardly.
'Cas, what are you doing here?' Sam asked as he and Dean went over to him.
'Uh, shopping, I guess.'
'You guess?'
'Yeah, Charlie or Alfie always used to do this part for me. Obviously, there was always things like butter and flour that I would give them a list of, but other than that, they would just bring me things and I would bake it.'
Dean pointed at the peach in his hand.
'Yeah, but what can I do with peaches?'
Dean tilted his head slightly.
'You're right, I could do peach cobbler, but would people eat it?'
'I'd eat it,' Sam said.
Cas shrugged and began piling peaches into his cart.
Dean elbowed Sam while Cas wasn't looking, and subtly signed something.
'Cas, are you okay?' Sam asked at Dean's prompting. 'You don't look so good.'
'Oh, I'm fine,' Cas said, brushing off their concern. 'I cycled here, that's all. I wasn't really expecting to talk to anyone either.'
'You cycled here?' Sam exclaimed. 'But it's like an hour away.'
Cas shrugged. 'I have to get ingredients somehow.'
'No, that's ridiculous.' He and Dean exchanged a few gestures, then he said, 'Yeah, next time, we'll drive you. No arguments.'
Dean elbowed him again.
'What? You don't need to so that every time, just chill out. Yeah, I'll ask – Where's your bike?'
'It's locked up outside, why?'
Sam waited for Dean to finish what he was signing. 'It won't fit in the car, Dean – no, I agree with you-' Sam got frustrated with him at that point and began signing back.
Cas watched their silent conversation, bewildered, only catching the couple of signs he knew every so often.
'What? No, I'm not doing that!' Sam burst out.
Dean signed something else and Sam groaned loudly. 'Fine. Whatever. Cas, Dean's driving you and your bike back to town.'
'No, I can't let you do that,' said Cas, backing away slightly.
'How are you getting all your groceries back? You're not gonna fit it all on your bike.'
Cas's shoulders slumped. He hadn't thought of that. 'All right, but let me pay you for the gas.'
Dean shook his head forcefully, ending any argument Cas might have had.
Sam sighed. 'Okay, finish your shopping, and we'll meet you outside.'
They walked away and Cas continued what he was doing, willing himself to go faster and make quicker decisions, so they wouldn't be waiting outside for too long. He filled his cart with everything he thought he would need, paid, and exited the building.
Sam and Dean were outside, loading their bags into the trunk of a shiny, black '67 Chevy Impala.
'Is this your car?' Cas asked, admiring it.
'Yeah, it's Dean's,' said Sam. 'He loves this thing. He might even marry it one day.'
Cas laughed. 'Well, it's beautiful. It would make an excellent bride.'
Dean grinned at him and began loading his bags too.
'What about my bike?'
'We're putting it in the back of the car, and you're sitting up front,' Sam said.
'What about you?'
'I'll just call a cab.'
'But-'
'Cas, this isn't a discussion. I don't mind – really. Now go get your bike.'
Cas did as he was told and retrieved it for Sam to carefully pack into the back seat of the car.
'See you at home,' Sam said as Dean climbed into the driver's seat.
Cas lowered himself into the passenger side. The leather seats were worn but comfortable and Cas noticed that it was still equipped with a cassette player.
Dean started up the engine and smoothly backed out of the parking spot, then spun the wheel and drove out of the parking lot.
It was almost dark, making it difficult to look at anything out of the windows, so Cas looked through Dean's tape collection instead. It consisted mostly of classic rock.
'Not bad,' Cas commented. 'Not really to my taste, but not bad.'
Dean held out one of his hands, without taking his eyes off the road, and Cas placed a tape in his hand. He pushed it into the player and smiled as Led Zeppelin came through the speakers.
Cas listened quietly, the music the only sound in the car until they arrived back at the bakery. They pulled Cas's bike out of the back seat and Dean unloaded his groceries while Cas unlocked the bakery door. He pulled the bike inside and locked the door behind them.
Dean hopped up on the counter in the kitchen and watched Cas put everything away. After a while, he dug in his pockets for a pen and notepad. He wrote something down, then put it next to him and waited for Cas to come back over. He tapped it and Cas bent to read it.
"Why are you so sad?"
He tapped it again, then motioned for Cas to watch him. He signed slowly, so that Cas could see each individual gesture. {Why are you so sad?}
Cas copied the gestures before answering, so he could try and learn them. 'I miss Charlie,' he admitted. 'And running the bakery alone is hard work.'
Dean nodded and wrote something else.
"Was she your girlfriend?"
Cas laughed at this, and Dean again showed him the signs, and continued to do so for everything they both said. 'Let's just say I'm not really her type.'
Dean raised an eyebrow questioningly.
'Her type's name is Dorothy,' he said, laughing again at Dean's surprised expression. 'Charlie did help me buy this place, though,' Cas explained. 'The lady that owned it before owed her a favour, so she sold it cheap. I could never have afforded it otherwise.'
"Charlie sounds like an interesting person."
Cas smiled. 'She definitely is that.'
They both sat for a minute, nothing else to say, and Cas became uncomfortably aware of how close Dean was. He took a step away and shook his head. 'Thanks for driving me. Here, I'll let you out.'
They went out to the front, Cas bringing his bike with him and locking the door once again.
Dean stood with his notebook in hand and tapping with his pen, looking as if he wanted to write something else, but then he slipped it back into his pocket and went back to his car instead.
'Goodnight, Dean,' Cas said.
Dean smiled, then showed him the sign. {Goodnight, C-a-s.}
{Goodnight, D-e-a-n.}
And then he was gone, leaving Cas to cycle home alone in the darkness.