John Doe

Chapter Two

Castiel was not a very social man. He didn't have many friends. He had a total of exactly 6. There was Anna, a girl with hair the the crisp red of strawberries. Victor Henrickson, a police officer he'd known for several years. There was Balthazar, a guy Castiel had known his entire life, and even had a thing for at one point. He had his brothers, too, Gabriel - 5'9" of concentrated sass and candy - and Alfie - the youngest - his other siblings were nothing to him, not really.

And he had Sam Winchester, a curious law student studying at Stanford, and his best friend. He moved from Lawrence, Kansas where he lived with his brother. His brother. The one Cas knew nothing about. Anyway, Castiel met Sam at a bookstore. It was really a chance meeting, Sam was looking for the modern law text and wandered into the medical reference books. Castiel pointed him in the proper direction, and was invited out to coffee with Sam and his girlfriend Jess.

The point being, Castiel wasn't a very social man.

"Cassie? You awake?" Gabriel asked playfully placing a clipboard next to where Cas was leaning against the secretary's desk. Gabriel worked in the pediatric ward of the hospital while Castiel did general medicine.

"Yes, Gabriel. I can assure you I am." Castiel said massaging his temples.

"Ooh, someone needs an early morning pick-me-up." Gabriel said nudging Castiel's shoulder. "And look, here he comes now." Gabriel smirked, although his smirk was trademark, and not all that rare. He slid along the secretary, Tessa's, desk. Tessa smiled up at Gabriel and they both pretended to talk.

Castiel peeked over his shoulder and saw Sam hustling towards him. He looked at Gabriel. "Gabriel that's just wrong."

"Oh, not your type, I guess?" Gabriel shrugged.

"I don't understand that reference. Sam, what are you doing? Do you require assistance?" Castiel pivoted on his heel, turning to look at Sam.

"No, Cas, I'm okay. Are you busy?" Sam asked. He sounded somewhat flustered.

"Its a hospital. But at the moment no, I am not. Can I do something for you?"

"I need help."

"Perhaps you should seek out a councillor at Stanford for assistance Sam. I work in the medical field. I'm not a lawyer."

"Not that kind of problem Cas."

Sam looked at Gabriel who was dutifully unwrapping a sucker. He blushed slightly and Castiel guessed he probably winked or made a crude gesture. Castiel rolled his eyes. "What's the problem Sam?"

Sam licked his lips and met Castiel's eyes once more. "I'm going to ask Jessica to marry me."

Castiel's ocean blue eyes widened, to the point of almost being comical. "Sam, that is not really my area of expertise."

"Oh, I thought, you know, you're kind of an attractive guy. You might have a girlfriend or something." Sam said.

"Oh that's not really what Cassie here's into. Huh, Cas?" Gabriel said and Sam looked at him as he spoke.

It took a moment before it clicked in Sam's brain. "Oh... oh, yeah, that's... cool. Yeah." Castiel raised an eyebrow, sensing Sam's discomfort.

"You're worried I'm attracted to you?" Castiel asked.

Sam turned bright red, almost the color of Anna's hair. "W-what? No." Sam sputtered.

"Don't worry about that Sam. My feelings for you are completely platonic." Cas said, and as his pager bleeped, added, "If you'll excuse me." Sam nodded and stepped out of Castiel's way.

"I'll see you later." Sam called as Castiel walked down the overcrowded hall.