No Quick Fix

His mood plummeted as soon as he turned from the bar to see that the person who had cleared their throat loudly behind him was Lisa. Swallowing his groan, Dean offered her a friendly smile and greeted her with a casual "Hey".

It didn't make her scowl go away.

"I've called you three times this week, Dean, and you haven't answered any of them," she was actually pouting at him. God, she was irritating.

"That might be because I don't particularly want to talk to you, Lisa," he folded his arms, taking a defensive stance that something told him might be unfortunately necessary.

"Dean..." she took a step towards him, a sudden change in expression crossing her face, and he realised with a jolt that she was trying to be seductive and coquettish.

"Lisa," he said, holding up his hands to stop her stepping any closer. "We are finished, I told you that already. It never worked, and we never loved each other. You know that. I dunno what you're wantin' from me now, but you're not gettin' it, ok?"

"How could you say that?" she demanded, the pout back. It wasn't remotely attractive, whatever she might think. "You know I love-"

"Lisa. You cheated on me, and I didn't give a shit," he said dryly. "I have no desire to go anywhere near you again, because even if I did want you, I know that I can't trust you. Now do me a favour, please, and go and find someone else to give you that baby you keep talkin' about, cos it sure as hell ain't gonna be me."

He folded his arms again, raising an eyebrow as a myriad of emotions crossed her face. She seemed to be trying to hide her frustration, but he couldn't care less. He just wanted her to leave, so he could get back to his friends, and try to get to know Cas a little better.

"Bye, Lisa," he said pointedly.

She started to argue back, but just then he looked above her head and furrowed his brow at the sight of Cas staggering out of the doors to the bar. He looked decidedly worse for wear, but the guy hadn't had that much to drink, surely? Muttering something dismissive at Lisa, he put his hands on her shoulders and moved her to one side, pushing his way back through the crowd to their table.

He slid in the booth next to Charlie, and nudged her. She turned to him.

"What's up with Cas?" he asked. She frowned at him, a trace of worry in her features.

"I don't know," she admitted. "He just said he needed air, and that he'd be back."

"Should we go check on him?"

Charlie shrugged. "Maybe if he's not back in a few minutes? I got the feeling he didn't want me trailing after him."

"Sure," Dean said, as casually as possible. He was worried though. There was something about this guy, something that was screaming at Dean to look out for him, and he hadn't looked at all well when he'd staggered outside.

He managed to sit still and make a vague attempt to join in some conversation with Benny for about a minute and a half before he was on his feet again, and heading for the door. A hasty "hang on" thrown in Benny's direction as he went.

The cooling air of the night hit Dean like a sigh of relief when he got outside. He paused as the doors closed behind him, scanning the parking lot quickly for any sign of Cas. He wouldn't just disappear, would he?

Movement caught his attention over at one side of the lot, and he looked to his left to see someone sitting on the low wall at the edge. It was definitely Cas. What took him a little longer was working out who the other guy was that was standing behind him, maybe eight or ten steps away from Cas' hunched figure. Wait, was that Gabe? Oh well, at least someone was looking after him.

Dean smiled, crossed his fingers that Gabriel hadn't started annoying the poor guy, and started walking towards them. He stopped when Cas suddenly shot to his feet and turned round to glare at Gabriel. For a brief moment he thought that Gabe had taken one of his usual jokes too far and Dean was going to have to apologise for him, but then Cas started speaking, in a voice that sounded utterly broken and made his heart stop for a second.

"You left me, Gabriel," he was saying. Wait, was Gabriel his ex? Dean's guts squirmed oddly at the prospect.

"I know, Cas, but..."

"I dealt with it, alone, for seven years, because you left me there!" Cas was almost shouting now, and Dean dropped his ex-lovers theory quite quickly. Then finally remembered that Gabriel was, indeed, straight.

"I'm sorry, Cas. I came back, I did!"

"When?"

"Lots of times, I promise. I couldn't get to you; I couldn't get past him. I promise you, I tried."

Gabriel raised his hands out in submission, his voice struggling with emotion, and Cas seemed to slump in front of him. Dean's entire being was screaming at him to go over there and pull the man into his arms, keep him from whatever hurt Gabriel was causing him with his presence, but his feet wouldn't move him from out of the shadows. They, at least, seemed to know that this was not a conversation he was meant to be listening to.

"Why didn't you take me with you?"

Gabe tensed at the quiet question, and Dean's mind was whirring with possibilities. "I couldn't, Cas. You know that."

"I don't know anything, Gabe, except that I lived with it for seven years, hoping that you would come back, or I would find a way to get away like you did."

"And you did, Cas. You're here."

Cas snorted. ""How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't, Cas. I've lived here for ten years. Dean Winchester mentioned your name yesterday. I had to come and tell you I was here, make sure that you're ok."

"You know what happened," Cas said bluntly.

"What do you mean? With Zach?"

"No. You know what happened in Maryland."

"Maryland? Cas, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Michael would've told you," Cas was almost cowering away from the conversation now, but clearly didn't believe Gabriel's confusion.

"Michael? I haven't spoken to Michael since before I came to Lawrence."

"You...what?"

Dean was listening to this absolutely rapt, but knew that he really needed to leave. He didn't want Cas to know that he'd heard any of this. He started walking slowly backwards, sticking to the shadows that had hidden him so well so far.

"Cas, what did he do?"

"It doesn't matter."

Their voices faded away as Dean got closer to the bar. He saw Cas turn back around and sit, his head dropping into his hands. He watched as Gabriel hesitantly approached and took a seat behind him. He reached the doors as he saw Gabriel hook an arm gently round the other man's shoulders, and then he was inside.

What the hell had he just seen? And whatever it was, how the hell did he fix it?

~~~

For the next two weeks Cas managed to avoid talking about what had happened at the bar. When he'd had enough and realised he'd needed to leave, he'd sent Gabriel to make his apologies to everyone. He figured it was the least he could do. The most discussion the night had brought him had been some ribbing about being a lightweight, but he'd laughed it off, and then kept himself as busy as possible. Charlie was the only flaw in his otherwise brilliant plan, but he was holding it together so far.

He hadn't heard from Gabriel at all, which was helping, slightly.

What was helping even more was that he'd clearly listened to Castiel's request and hadn't told anyone anything, as was evident by Dean Winchester's perfectly normal behaviour, the few times they had crossed paths during Dean's visits to his dad. Something about that was giving him great comfort.

"Cas? Which book are you on now?" Charlie suddenly appeared next to Cas, and automatically began helping him clear up the mess their latest emergency had made.

"Fourth."

"Really? Already?" Charlie looked impressed, but she needn't be. Since she had turned up with her 'lending set' of Harry Potter books the Monday after their bar experience, Cas had done little else with his free time but immerse himself in a world that took him suitably far away from this one.

"Wow, great," she continued. "Then you'll be good for tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow?" Cas frowned at the gauze and instruments he was trying to separate into different waste buckets.

"Tomorrow," Charlie said firmly. "We're going to marathon the first three movies, maybe four if you finish it tonight."

"Charlie..."

"Nope. No excuses accepted. My place, tomorrow. Come over for lunch, and we'll watch it all day."

Cas glanced up at her and saw the most ridiculous hang-dog expression on her face and couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, alright. Just put your normal face back on, ok?"

"Yes!" she squealed. "You're gonna love it, promise."

"What should I bring?"

"Hmmm. You make anything good?"

He shrugged. "I can bake."

"Excellent. You do dessert, and I'll take care of the rest, ok?"

This was how Castiel found himself knocking on the door of Charlie's apartment at one o'clock the next afternoon, clutching a dessert and a six pack of beer.

"Cas!" Charlie grinned as she opened the door. "Come on in!"

Castiel smiled at her, handing her his offerings so that he could remove his jacket. He looked around her apartment as she led him inside, and immediately began to see how a person could feel happily at home here. The walls were adorned with posters from a stream of movies, most of which he had never seen, including one of Harry Potter. There was a large bookcase against one wall, which housed an impressive number of books and some photographs. This is where he headed when she told him to make himself at home and headed for the kitchen to put his stuff away.

He quickly spotted some faces he knew, Dean's standing out to him, of course, but so did Meg's and Anna's, and there was a picture of Charlie with Dean and another tall man, who from the matching smiles Cas assumed was his younger brother.

"Good picture of him, isn't it?" She said, appearing at his side suddenly and making him jump out of his skin. This was becoming a habit.

"Who?" he asked, blushing too quickly for him to stop it.

Charlie just laughed.

"Come on, let's start Sorcerer's Stone," she grabbed him by the arm and hauled him over to her comfortable-looking couch, shoving him into a seat and collapsing next to him. The movie was queued up and ready.

"We'll grab burgers in time for Hogwarts. Sound good?"

"Perfect," Cas replied, realising that this might have been exactly what he needed. Charlie had been a true friend to him since he arrived, and if he needed to, he felt like there wasn't much he could tell her that would result in her judging him negatively.

That didn't necessarily mean that he was ready for her to know anything, but, you know. If necessary, he had someone.

Charlie's burger-making skills turned out to be rather impressive, something which she gave credit to Dean for, and which was said with a sly look at Cas that he tried very much to ignore. It wasn't until halfway through the second movie that they even contemplated dessert.

"What did you bring, Cas? I just put the whole Tupperware in the fridge without even looking."

"It's just a pie," he shrugged, wincing along with Ron Weasley at the thought of the spiders they were about to encounter. The movie was suddenly paused. He turned to see Charlie gaping at him. "What?"

"Did you make a pie, Cas?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Oh my God."

"Charlie, it's just a pie!" Cas was beyond confused. The look on Charlie's face suggested to him that something he had said had pulled her whole world together satisfactorily, but he couldn't imagine what it was. "I take it you like pie?"

"Oh yeah, I like pie. But I know someone else who loves pie."

She actually clapped her hands in excitement and Cas had a horrible feeling that he understood it.

"Charlie..."

"Pie is Dean Winchester's favourite food on earth, and you make it! It's like you were meant to be. I totally ship it, well, I was shipping it before, but now I totally do! And I know my gaydar's not broken Cas, so don't try and tell me you're not into guys. Oh wow, just imagine how cute you guys would be! And how cute your babies would be, if we could sort such a thing I mean, wow..."

"Charlie!"

She finally snapped out of her babbling and looked at him, her eyes wide with excitement. "What?"

"What makes you think I even like Dean?" Cas' heart was pounding. Of course he liked Dean, but this was getting into dangerous territory. If Dean was gay, or bisexual (ex-girlfriend, duh!), then Cas had to stay away.

"Oh please! I've seen the way you look at him, Cas. And Dean has never asked so much about anyone I've introduced him to before, so-"

"He what?" 

“He asks about you! Have you seen Cas lately, how’s he doing? Did he seem ok after the bar? Did you call him yet, Charlie, to check if he’s ok? Blah, blah.”

“He…he’s just being nice.”

“Yeah, sure,” Charlie chuckled, eyes rolling.

“Charlie,” he said firmly. “The guy flirts with everyone, every single person I have seen him speaking to – except me.”

“Well of course he doesn’t flirt with you, he likes you!”

“That makes absolutely no sense, whatsoever.”

“It does, trust me.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Are you still trying to tell me you don’t like him?”

“He’s a very nice man,” Cas sighed, then frowned when Charlie started giggling, a hand covering her mouth.

“I’m sorry, Cas, but man, you don’t need to be so formal about it! I know you like him, and I know he likes you, and now we have absolute proof that you guys are perfect for each other…”

“I hardly think making a pie counts as absolute proof!”

“…so what’s the problem?” Charlie finished, ignoring him.

Castiel lay his head back on the sofa, and took a moment to think. He wasn’t ready to tell her, anyone, anything. “I just…I can’t, ok? Can we leave it at that? I do like him, Charlie, obviously. I just can’t do anything about it.”

“Are you married, Cas?” Charlie asked quietly.

“No,” he answered, just as softly. “I’m not.”

“Ok Cas,” she slumped next to him with a sigh. “I give up. Can I just ask you one thing?”

“Sure.”

“Are you alright?”

The question was so sincere, and so full of concern that Cas had to stop his eyes from tearing up. What he wouldn’t have given for a friend like Charlie a year ago.

“I’m better,” he whispered. It was an honest answer.

He felt his hand being squeezed. “Come on, let’s keep going. Did you finish Goblet of Fire?”

Cas brought his head forward and smiled at her. “Sure did.”

“Excellent! Better get settled in then Cas.”

“Didn’t you promise me pie?”

“Oh my God! I totally forgot, hang on.”

Cas watched in amusement as Charlie practically bounded over the back of the couch and ran to the kitchen. He heard her opening cupboards and the light clank of plates and cutlery. A few seconds later he laughed out loud when he heard a squeal. “Pecan, Cas! You never said it was the best pie!”

He was still chuckling when the doorbell rang through the apartment.

“Can you get that, Cas? I’m doing delicate things with pie and ice cream here!”

“Sure!” he called back, and dutifully got up to answer the door. A voice suddenly shouted through it as a hand banged loudly on it.

“Come on, Charlie, I gotta piss, man!”

Oh crap. Cas opened the door just as Dean’s hand reached out to bang on the door again.

“Hello, Dean.”

“Oh, shit. Sorry,” a blush spread rapidly up Dean’s neck until it covered his cheeks. “Heya, Cas.”

A couple of seconds later Cas realised he was just staring aimlessly at the other man, and was barring the way into Charlie’s apartment. “Sorry,” he said, stepping back. “Are you coming in?”

“Uh, sure,” the blush hadn’t dissipated. “What are you guys up to?”

“Harry Potter marathon.”

“Shit, Cas. You finished those already?” Dean’s embarrassment was momentarily forgotten as he gaped at the nurse.

Cas shook his head. “No, just the first four.”

“Right. Well, uh, I still have to, um, pee, so I’ll just, uh…” Dean trailed off as he backed away, then turned and almost ran in the direction of Charlie’s bathroom. Cas headed straight to the kitchen, where Charlie looked up with a smile from where she was still wrestling with ice cream.

“Did you invite him here?” Cas hissed.

“Who?”

“Dean!”

“Uh, no,” Charlie winced. “Where is he?”

“Bathroom. I should go.”

“What? Why?”

“You know why!”

“No, I know you don’t want me to push you two together, and I know that you are crazy for thinking that’s a good plan, but I have no idea why you can’t be friends with the guy.” Charlie looked genuinely puzzled. A scoop of ice cream flopped onto the table.

Cas felt miserable. How the hell was this guy doing this to him? He barely knew him!

“I just can’t. I can’t be around him.”

“Can’t be around who?” said Dean’s voice from behind Cas. And from the hurt that Cas could detect, he knew exactly who Cas was talking about.