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Castiel stares at the lesson plans on his desk, not really seeing the words. It’s been a week since the disastrous attempt at a family dinner, and he’s still reeling from the information Dean gave him. His sister is a stalker. Castiel never interacted much with Raphaela, not with her ten years older, but he still can’t imagine what led her to stalking someone. He really wants to talk about it with his parents, but Castiel won’t share Dean’s past without his permission, and he didn’t ask.
Sighing, he pushes the papers away, done pretending. No point in staying if he can’t focus. Castiel starts packing up his things when he looks up and sees Gabriel standing in the doorway. He didn’t know Gabriel had actually arrived since his plans changed after not making it for dinner that one night.
“Hey, little bro. What’s got you so down?” Gabriel shoves away from the doorframe to take Castiel’s bag out of his hand, tossing it over his shoulder. “You’re usually smiling all the time, not depressed and down.”
Castiel gestures for him to head out, not wanting to talk about it until they reach the parking lot to get a little more privacy. “My boyfriend had some stuff happen before he moved here, and he just told me about a lot of it,” Castiel says, the best way he can think to explain it. “Things happened a week ago, and he just explained it Saturday, so I’m still processing.”
“This is Dean, the guy I was going to meet at dinner Sunday?” Gabriel asks as they get into Castiel’s Prius.
“Yeah, Dean.” Castiel smiles because he can’t not smile when he thinks about Dean. He takes a moment to show Gabriel a picture on his phone.
“Is he actually your boyfriend, or still waiting to DTR?” Gabriel asks, wiggling his eyebrows with a smirk. “Because he looks like a sexy fuck buddy if you haven’t DTRed yet.”
Castiel smacks his brother, used to his shit but not always wanting to put up with it. “Yes, Dean agreed to be my boyfriend. You don’t have to be an ass about it.”
“But I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t at least a little bit of an ass.” Gabriel cocks his head as Castiel starts driving home. “So, can I still meet the guy?”
Shrugging, Castiel admits he doesn’t know. “We’re still working on things, given the whole disaster of the last weekend. He agreed he still wants to meet you all, but we didn’t set a date for that.”
“Well, I’m here for the next month, and I’d love to see the guy who’s got you extra happy, even more than normal.” Gabriel pulls out his phone to shoot out a quick text. “Now, do I have to find a hotel room to stay in, or can I use your guest room? I’m not staying at Mom and Dad’s, not when I saw a sexy hunk of man in town that I want to get in my bed while I’m here.”
Castiel shakes his head, used to his brother’s propensity for finding short term lovers while in town. “If you’re looking for a fuck buddy, a hotel sounds like the best place for you to be.”
Gabriel pouts, puppy dog eyes Castiel grew immune to years ago. “But it’s so much less impersonal if it’s the guest room. Please, baby brother of mine? I promise to have dinner on the table every night, your coffee ready in the morning before you leave for school. You can make me work for you, and I won’t complain.” Castiel gives him a look. “Won’t complain much.”
Castiel sighs. He might be able to avoid the puppy dog eyes, but he’s not good at ignoring the idea that family supports family if they can, and Castiel can definitely support Gabriel by letting him borrow his guest room. “Fine. But I will now expect a mug of coffee to drink with breakfast and another one to take to work five work days a week.”
“I can do that,” Gabriel promises, putting his fingers up to swear like a scout, totally disregarding the fact that he was never a scout.
“You’d better.” Castiel parks in his driveway to let Gabriel out before parking in the garage. It’s barely wide enough for Castiel to squeeze out of his car, but he’s not willing to stay in the driveway. The weather is not always nice to vehicles. “So, I don’t have enough food to make dinner, but there’s leftovers.”
“Nope, Indian food on me,” Gabriel announces, waving around his phone. I already added your place to my DoorDash, and I’ve already found the place around here with the best reviews. I got your butter chicken, and I want a lamb curry. Between that, the appetizers, and the naan order, you’ll have enough for lunch tomorrow.”
Castiel really appreciates that since he’s not just being lazy and trying to avoid cooking tonight. He really doesn’t have ingredients to make much more than pancakes and eggs, and Gabriel does not like to eat breakfast for dinner. “Thanks. I’m going to go shower, and hopefully dinner arrives pretty soon.”
Gabriel waves him away, and Castiel heads up to off the day. His students were great, no more irritating or aggravating than normal, but Castiel felt more than a little distracted, something that reflected on his teaching. Hopefully tomorrow is better. Hopefully he can settle his nerves and process enough before tomorrow morning.
After his shower, Castiel doesn’t smell food yet, so he grabs his phone to text Dean to ask if he can talk about Raphaela with Gabriel. He almost feels like he needs to talk to someone not directly involved in what happened. That said, he doesn’t want to share Dean’s business without Dean’s permission. Dean doesn’t know Gabriel, might not want a stranger knowing his business.
Instead of texting back, Dean calls him. “Hey.”
“Hello.” Castiel sits down on the bed. “How was your day?”
“Still going,” Dean admits, and Castiel realizes he can hear the occasional sound in the background that reminds him of the shop. “So, you want to talk to your brother Gabriel?”
“I need to talk to someone else, someone not involved directly in what happened,” Castiel admits, rubbing his hands up and down his thighs. “If you don’t want me to talk to him, I won’t, but I hope it’ll help me process.” Hopefully Dean understands, doesn’t think Castiel wants to start sharing his business with the world.
“Just Gabe,” Dean says after a long pause. “You can tell him what you know since it isn’t much more than just big picture things.”
Castiel nods before remembering Dean can’t actually see him, and then he feels a little silly. “Okay. Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
Dean hums in his ear. “Thanks for asking. How was your day?”
Moving with the change in topic, Castiel tells him about a positive day, not telling him about his distraction because Dean doesn’t need to hear that. “And Gabriel ordered Indian food, so it should be a nice night.”
“Sam made pulled pork in the crock pot,” Dean says, “which is a new thing, so we’ll see how it goes. I’ve got about half an hour left before heading home.”
“Enjoy your dinner,” Castiel tells him, and they hang up shortly afterwards.
When he heads downstairs, he sees Gabriel closing the door, bag of food in hand. “Perfect timing. Do you want plates to be all formal, or are you good eating out of the containers?”
“Bowl, please, since I don’t want to eat out of the container if I’m planning on having leftovers.” Even if he’s going to eat it tomorrow, it’s a cleanliness thing.
“Bowls it is.” Gabriel puts the food on the table before grabbing bowls and silverware from the kitchen as easily as if he works in this kitchen every day. Gabriel hasn’t visited this house before, so he must have snooped when Castiel was showering.
“So, you want to talk about what’s bugging you to help process it, or is that something you’ll do yourself?” Gabriel asks once they’ve had a chance to serve their food and start eating.
Castiel puts his fork down with a sigh and tells Gabriel that their sister is a stalker, that she has a restraining order against herself because of her actions. Gabriel stares at Castiel as he explains it all, half full mouth falling open which is gross, but Castiel continues until he’s shared everything he knows.
“Raphaela did that?” Gabriel shakes his head while finishing his bite. “She’s always been a stickler for the rules, so while I totally believe your boyfriend, I’m having issues picturing her doing that.” Then he jolts upright to stare at Castiel. “Does that mean Dean’s in danger when she’s in town? Because that is not okay.”
“I don’t know,” Castiel admits. “He has a restraining order, so as long as she obeys that, I think he’ll be okay. I don’t even know if she knows Dean is here since they heard her name then left before she saw anything. I hope he’s alright.”
Gabriel shrugs. “We’ll just have to drive her out of town if it’s too much for Dean. I love my family, mostly, but Raphaela’s the one in the wrong here, and she should have to change her behavior.”
Castiel agrees, but he’s not sure how to address it. They might have to tell Mom and Dad since Raphaela’s living with them as long as she’s in town, or Dean could just not go over there. Probably up to Dean, not Castiel and Gabriel.
They start eating again, and then Gabriel says, “Hey, I bet that’s why she lost her job. If she was taking time to deliver gifts during the work day, to make a lot of calls, that wouldn’t really work well.”
“She lost her job?” Castiel thought she was just in town to visit for a bit.
“You didn’t know?” Gabriel shakes his head. “I don’t know why, but I can guess now, but I heard Mom and Dad talking about it. She lost her job a while ago but didn’t admit it until recently because she got evicted. They’re confused because she should have her savings, but apparently she says she has nothing.”
How much money did she spend on unwanted harassing gifts to try to give to Dean? Raphaela’s smart and put together, and this doesn’t sound like her at all. Castiel wonders what happened that would cause her personality to change so drastically, but he’s not a doctor of any kind. “Let’s just leave it for now. I think I needed to hear someone else say that it doesn’t sound like Raphaela while also acknowledging that it doesn’t change what she did or the impact it had on Dean.”
“You’re right. She sounds different, but she still did the wrong thing and hurt someone. I can’t wait to meet Dean though. You have to arrange something. Give him my number,” Gabriel demands. “I want to talk to this guy even if it’s not face to face.”
“I’ll let him know you want to talk but that he doesn’t have to talk to you if he doesn’t want to.” Castiel refuses to maybe make Dean feel like he’s being pushed into anything he doesn’t truly want to do.
“Deal.” Gabriel nods, Castile texts Dean, and they move on to other things.