Imaginary Lover

Chapter 4

A/N- I apologise for the lateness, my dear readers because I had no idea there'd be so many of you. Thank you so much!

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It had been two days, two days since Cas had texted Dean and then stood him up. Charlie had tried asking him about what happened but Dean would brush it off saying it was okay and that he was fine. Charlie knew differently of course. She had a gift and a curse for observing people and knowing everything about them just by looking at them. Dean was not okay, she could see that. His eyes were dull, his walk lacked a certain grace and his shoulders were always slumped. He missed Castiel and was hurt by what he'd done and she understood that. He looks more unhappy than he did when I saw him on his first day, she thought as she walked with him.

To make matters worse, Charlie hadn't seen Castiel around in any of the classes she had together with him. He was nowhere to be found. She had asked around but nobody had any information of his whereabouts. She'd hoped that it had been urgent that he'd had to leave and would come back and explain everything to her new best friend because Dean was not holding up well.

She walked Dean to the parking lot, said good bye to him close to his car and set off toward her own car. Dean was thankful that she was there and knew that she was concerned for him and tried his hardest to tell her not to worry about him. Yes, he was hurting. He'd given his heart away to a boy after only one date and now he was paying the price. Sighing, he slipped into his car and drove aimlessly around town. After enough dilly-dallying, he set off for home knowing his mother would be getting worried.

He stepped into the door and was greeted by Bones. "Hey there buddy! Where is everyone?", he said as he petted Bones and scratched behind his ears. He went to the kitchen and found a note- Gone grocery shopping with Sammy. Be back soon. Love Mom.

He left the note and headed toward the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water and headed upstairs. There was an assignment due next week but he didn't feel up to it so he changed out of his jeans and into sweatpants and sat at his desk with his laptop watching Breaking Bad. He'd just started it but he was slowly getting hooked. Before he knew it, there was a loud knock on his door and Sam came in.

"Your turn to help with dinner!", he said with a smirk on his face.

Dean groaned. "Fine", he said and walked downstairs to help his mom with the lasagna. Mary knew something was wrong with her son but she knew he'd tell her himself sooner or later. At dinner Sam talked about a debate competition that was coming up and how the club had wanted him to go for it and represent their school.

"I never thought they'd pick me! There are so many kids who're better but they chose me. It was really shocking", he said. Dean was in deep thought when something struck him. "Sammy?", he asked. "Yeah?" "Have you talked to or met Gabriel recently?" "Uhh, no. I'm meeting him on Saturday I think. Why'd you ask?", Sam asked as he looked at his brother. Dean shook his head,"No reason. Just remembered him randomly."

"Oh! Boys, your father called today", Mary said. Both boys snapped their attention to their mother. Dean was the first to speak,"How is he? Is he okay? Is something wrong?" His mother chuckled,"Yes, he's fine. He had good news. Said he was coming back home in a week or ten days max."

The Winchesters were ecstatic and celebrated. Their father was coming home after six months. Yes, he'd been gone for longer before but he'd gone to an active conflict zone with a threat to his life. The news that he was coming back was more than enough for the family to cheer.

Dean went up to his room with a huge smile on his face. His father, his old man, was coming back. He couldn't wait to listen to all his stories. He loved listening to them, just as he had his grandfather Samuel. Feeling much better, he got down to finishing the assignment. He finished it surprisingly fast and headed for the shower and then turned in early for the night.