John Doe

Chapter Fifteen

Castiel was laying sprawled out on the couch in his apartment. And whatever anyone tells you, he was not resenting his day off or his brother's wedding that was keeping him from work. This was a big deal for him (bigger deal for Samandriel, but Cas liked to be selfish sometimes) he'd be seeing his family - in its entirety - for the first time in several years. He heaved himself from the sofa, pausing momentarily to see if Lucifer had enough food in his bowl. Cas hurried off to his bathroom, brushing his teeth, then climbing into the shower. After his shower, he fixed his hair, a process that consisted of drying his hair and trying to tame the mess of wild curls and twists. The fight to subdue his hair failed, so he re-brushed his teeth instead.

Needless to say, he was feeling a pressuring need to look perfect for Alfie's wedding.

He practiced his smile in the mirror. It was the worst smile he'd ever seen, and he worked in a hospital. When he decided the smile didn't look too unappealing, he stared into his own eyes. Were they always that blue? Dean had said they were pretty... Dean had said he was pretty. The thought alone made Cas blush as he walked into his bedroom. He went over to his closet and peered around for something acceptable to wear. He finally settled on a white shirt, a blue neck tie, a black blazer, and black trousers. He looked around for his dress shoes, but someone knocked on the front door, so he gave up and stepped into his black Vans, hoping it would look at least semi-presentable.

He walked through the small apartment space and unlocked the front door, pulling it open. Gabriel was waiting on the other side of the door, looking completely bored, dressed in a green shirt and skinny-style black slacks. "Hey, baby bro." He said.

"I'm two years younger than you." Castiel grumbled.

Gabe sighed and rolled his eyes, "Good to see that your day off has the stick farther up your ass than usual."

Castiel frowned. "Are you coming in?" he asked.

"We have to leave now if we're going to make it to Palo Alto on time." Gabriel said digging through his pant pocket. He pulled out a cherry sucker, and stuck it in his mouth.

"We're seven minutes from Palo Alto, it's eleven twenty-six, and the wedding doesn't start until three." Castiel informed.

"Yeah, but mom called and said she wanted us over at the hotel she and dad are staying at earlier so we had time to 'converse'." he said, complete with air-quotation marks.

Castiel sighed. "Okay, but we have to be back by six."

"Dude, you do realize that the wedding will take at least an hour and a half? The after party will be about an hour, and I'll need at least fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes for what?"

Gabriel gave him this look, "Kali is making an appearance. Piece it together genius boy." It clicked in his brain, and he shoved Gabriel's shoulder into the doorjamb.

"Gross, Gabriel." He scoffed, and Gabriel laughed happily. He turned and said goodbye to Lucifer and grabbed his trench coat.

"I don't think mom's going to be all to thrilled with your choice in clothing." Gabriel said, referencing his shoes and coat.

"She can deal with it," Castiel sassed.

Gabriel smirked, "There we go, live a little, be sassy." Cas tried his damnedest not to smile a little bit.

Gabe backed into the hallway, making room to accommodate Castiel, as the door across the hall opened. Amelia stepped out of her apartment. She jumped when she saw Cas, not used to seeing him during the day. Sometimes she would pass him on their way in from work, but they rarely said two words to each other. Castiel kind of embarrassed her when he came out while they were dating. Gabriel knew the history between the two of them, and snickered when she blushed and Cas looked away.

"Hello, Jimmy." She muttered.

"Hello." Castiel said to her quietly.

"Excuse me." She nodded to Gabe and squeezed past the two of them, rushing down the stairs.

"Well," Gabe coughed, "that was awkward."

"Very awkward." Castiel agreed.

"Why'd she call you Jimmy?"

"I have no idea. She even did that when we were dating."

"The girl has a thing for middle names, huh?"

"I suppose."

They took the stairs two at a time, heading down for Gabriel's car, so that they wouldn't have to take the bus. Gabe told Castiel he needed to learn to drive, and they argued about that all the way to Palo Alto.

It took them ten minutes, with traffic, to get to the fancy ass hotel their parents were staying at, and another four minutes to convince the lobby manager that they were actually Naomi and Marv Novak's children. And then it took another two to actually locate the ginormous suite they were staying in. Gabriel rapped on the door, until Naomi opened the door, a fake smile painted on her face. She wrapped Gabriel in a one-sided-cold-as-ice hug, and hesitated before doing the same to Castiel.

"How are you boys?" She asked as she ushered them into the suite that was bigger than Castiel and Gabriel's apartments combined.

"I'm great, mom." Gabriel said sarcastically, but either Naomi didn't notice or simply ignored it.

"And Castiel, how are you?" Marv asked coming into the room, setting the book he'd been holding on the table.

"I'm fine." He answered trying to keep the tremble from his voice.

"Your shoes." Naomi gasped.

Gabriel disguised an "I told you so..." with a cough.

"Yes, I couldn't find my dress shoes." Castiel replied setting his jaw.

Naomi clucked her tongue muttering, "Unacceptable..." under her breath.

Castiel counted his breaths as he took them, thinking about how much better he would be feeling if he was back at the hospital with Dean and Sam and Jess, instead of sitting around with his family. If he could just make it to six he could go back to having no contact with anyone other than Gabe and Alfie. He sighed when he realized he hadn't even seen Hester, Raphael, or Bartholomew.

He just had to make it to six...