Archive of Our Own ^beta

"See you tonight," Cas smiled, waiting in the doorway for Dean to press a goodbye kiss to his lips. He looked even more breathtaking than normal, his work suit hugging his body perfectly, and his dark hair mostly tamed for once. Dean desperately wanted to kiss him until his lips were kiss bruised and his hair a mess from Dean running his fingers through it, but he knew better. Cas needed to go, they didn't have time for anything, even if Dean couldn't get the imagine of Cas using his blue tie to tie him up out of his mind. The silky fabric would feel so good wrapped around his wrists.

"See you then," Dean agreed, and the way Cas peered at him told him he hadn't fully managed to hide his regretful sigh. There was promise in Cas' eyes, a promise of later and Dean wished he could find it within himself to get excited about that. Cas needed to go, and if the kiss lingered for longer than it normally did, then that was just because Dean liked kissing his Dom. He wasn't feeling anxious, even if Cas was going to be gone for the entire day, and Dean was going to be home alone.

It was still early in the morning, seven am—way too early for Dean to be awake when he didn't have work—but Cas and Sam were both taking the train west for some kind of conference that their works had signed them both up for—as far as Dean knew it was a complete coincidence that they were both going, and they hadn't known until Sam had brought it up a couple of weeks before—and that meant they had to leave early. The original plan that Cas' job had suggested had included leaving late last night, and getting back early tomorrow, but Cas had refused, saying that he wasn't going to leave his Sub for that long. Dean appreciated it, he hated being a burden, but he really didn't like being alone for that long. He knew Cas would never leave him, but after all the time he had spent with John… he couldn't help how his sub brain reacted to being left.

"Bye," Cas smiled, squeezing his hand and lightly tracing along the edge of Dean's collar before he finally left, softly closing the door behind him and heading for the taxi he had called. Dean didn't want to watch him go—couldn't really, unless he was asking the universe to make him drop—so he forced himself to climb back up the stairs and curl up in bed, buried under the still warm covers. He was glad Cas was getting these opportunities, knew it probably meant his job was getting ready to give him another promotion, but he couldn't help how much he hated it when Cas was gone.

Cas had promised he'd be back by the early evening, so it wasn't even like Dean was going to have to sleep alone, and this definitely wasn't the longest time they'd ever been apart, but that knowledge wasn't settling him in the slightest. His Dom was gone, Cas had left him, and that was all his brain was bothering latching onto.

Dean was woken again from the fitful sleep he'd fallen into by loud pounding on the front door. He wanted to just grumble and bury his head back under the pillow, but the knocking wasn't going away and it was going to give him a headache if he just tried to ignore it.

With an annoyed sigh, he dragged himself out of bed and down the stairs. He didn’t bother to tidy himself up, even though he probably looked a mess from curling up under the covers. He felt a mess, and he’d probably just tell whoever was at his door that he wasn't buying anything, then head right back to bed. He grabbed the front door keys from the key-bowl, and yanked the door open, his words dying on his tongue when he found himself face to face with Eileen.

“Hello,” Eileen smiled, very obviously looking Dean over and taking in his disheveled appearance. She was wearing jeans and a flannel, which seemed to be her preferred outfit of choice, looking like she was planning any normal weekend at home. She wasn't wearing a collar—she and Sam weren't at that stage yet—but from the way her flannel was swamping her, he could tell it wasn't hers. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah, sure,” Dean nodded, awkwardly signing along. He’d gotten a lot better, but he still struggled a lot more than Sam and Cas. He stepped backwards to let her through, waving her into the sitting room as he relocked the front door, before sitting on the armchair. Eileen folded herself onto the couch, managing to look right at home, even though Dean knew he would have been feeling horribly awkward had their situations been reversed.

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

“No,” Dean shook his head, “I was just-” he didn’t finish his sentence, but they both heard the ‘moping’ that was supposed to be there. He felt kind of pathetic, especially when across from Eileen who was in the exact same situation as he was, but looking a lot less affected by it. It wasn’t like he could help it, but that knowledge had never helped before and it wasn’t helping now.

“Okay, great!” Her smile was infectious, and she carried such an optimistic energy with her that even though Cas’ absence was still itching at Dean like a missing limb, he could feel his mood rising considerably. He could definitely see what Sam saw in her. “I heard you make good pie?”

Dean frowned. “It’s been known. Why? Are you planning to make a pie?”

Eileen nodded, looking really excited about it. Dean couldn’t tell if she was excited about the pie, or the reason she needed a pie, but he hoped it was the first one. He had a lot of respect for people who were that excited about pie.

"I was hoping you'd teach me how to make some," Eileen told him, signing slowly so that it was easier for Dean to pick up.

"What's in it for me?" He already knew he was going to do it, regardless of what Eileen said.

"We're making pie, and I won't be able to eat it all on my own. Is that not enough?" Her expression was perfectly earnest, all except from her eyes which were sparkling with amusement.

"You're right," Dean sighed, pretending to be annoyed about it. "Alright then, I'll see if I've got the ingredients."

"Great!" Eileen held up a plastic bag that Dean hadn't noticed before, a smug smile on her face. "I was hoping you'd say that." 

Dean had been worried it would be awkward. This was the first time they’d been together without either Sam or Cas around, Dean wasn’t great at signing—or remembering to always look at Eileen when he spoke—and Cas being so far away was throwing him off enough that he probably wouldn’t be great company around anyone, even someone he’d known most of his life. There were so many reasons why this would go wrong, and Dean would end up making Eileen hate him, and things would be awkward forever.

Somehow, none of that happened.

Eileen was just… good company. They were also making pie, the best food in the world, which probably helped keep the mood up. Sure, there was the odd awkward moment—especially when they were mixing ingredients so signing wasn’t really possible—but, when wasn’t there. They got over them. They laughed it off.

It had been a while since Dean had met someone new and clicked so quickly. He’d forgotten what it was like. The feeling of rightness as his body, mind, and instincts agreed on one single thing.

Eileen was trustworthy. Eileen was a friend. Eileen was family.

"Why do you need to know how to make a pie, anyway?" Dean asked as they started slowly rolling out the pastry, making sure to face Eileen so she could read his lips when he didn't know the sign for something. "homemade can never be beaten, but even I will admit that a store bought one is good enough, and a lot easier. Though don't tell anyone I said that."

"Well, I'm trying to impress a certain someone, and a little birdy told me the best way to his heart was through pie, so here I am."

"Who are you trying to- oh." Dean probably looked like a fish, standing there in the middle of the room with his mouth hanging open. He'd never been in this situation before. Eileen wanted to impress… him? She already had his approval, everyone knew that, and he was looking forward to getting the chance to become better friends. But she was still wanting to make pie… for him.

For no reason other than… to be his friend? He was a sub after all, and Sam was a grown man; he had no control over his brother. Dean had already made it clear he liked Eileen, and yet she'd still gone out of her way to buy the ingredients for Dean's favorite food, and come over so they could bake it together. He didn't think anyone had ever done anything like this before, unless they were already completely family, or Cas. Ever since he'd presented as a sub, he'd been the one doing this kind of thing for other people, and to be on the receiving end of things...

"Sorry, did I break you?" Eileen laughed, her eyes soft with what felt like understanding. Dean's instinct was to assume it wasn't, there was no way she could understand, but the thing was… that instinct was wrong. Eileen was also a Sub, and Dean didn't know what her home life was before she met Sam. She very easily could understand the overwhelming wave of emotion that was running through Dean.

Dean made a silent promise to himself to talk to Sam as soon as he could, to find Eileen's favorite thing, so he could get the information required to give Eileen the same thing she'd given him.

“Alright,” Dean announced, having to clear his throat a couple of times to get rid of the emotion that was in his voice. He carefully transferred his rolled out pastry into the pie tin he’d greased earlier, and poured some baking beans inside. “Blind baking time!” He watched as Eileen slowly copied him, rolling the pastry onto her rolling pin before putting it in the tin, and then trimming the sides and patching any holes. Her pastry case wasn’t quite as flawless as Dean’s was, but she also didn’t bake pies every other week, and he was pretty impressed. “You’re a natural,” he told her, putting the cases into the oven and setting the timer.

“You're just trying to sweet talk me,” Eileen laughed, gathering all the pastry ends together into a ball.

“There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of sweet talking,” Dean replied, adding in a flirty wink just for the fun of it.

“Careful,” Eileen warned with a smirk, “What would Cas do if he knew you’d been flirting?”

Dean winced. He was more than aware of what would happen, from back in the days they were scening but not dating. Back then, Dean had always thought that Cas was just pretending he was punishing him for flirting, when he could tell Dean needed it. Now he realized that he’d just been an idiot.

“You’d really do that to me? You’d really turn on another Sub like that?”

Eileen put a finger to her chin, miming being deep in thought. “Aren’t we supposed to be making pies? We should probably continue with that.”

Dean laughed, a full belly laugh that made his sides ache and tears form in the corner of his eyes. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Eileen dropped her facade and started giggling too, her entire body shaking so much Dean was almost worried she was going to fall over.

“Okay,” Dean eventually said, breathing deeply to try and get the last of his laughter under control. “The filling, let’s see what you brought.” He swiped the plastic bag off the counter, where they’d left it, and started picking through the contents. With what he had in his cupboards, and what Eileen had brought, they’d have what they needed for a pecan pie, and an apple and cinnamon. The two best flavors.

"I might have asked Sam which ones to bring," Eileen admitted when Dean expressed his joy at the fillings.

“Better to ask than to bring a bad one,” Dean agreed, before he actually thought his answer over. “There isn’t a bad flavor of pie, of course, but if there was.” Eileen nodded, managing to pretend that he’d made sense for a whole ten seconds before her face slipped into a smile.

“Not a word,” Dean sighed, grabbing everything and taking it over to where they were working. “We have filling to make.”

“I can multitask.”

“Of course you can.”

They managed to get the fillings ready fairly quickly, by which time the pastry had finished pre-baking and they’d fished them out to cool. Dean was surprised when he glanced at the clock to see what time it was. He’d expected today to drag on without Cas, but with the help of Eileen and pie, time was moving at a reasonable pace.

He pulled his phone out his pocket, finding an unopened text from Cas. He smiled softly at the sight of it, reaching up to fiddle with his collar as he opened the text.

Cas <3 : The course is going well. It's actually pretty interesting.

Cas <3 : I miss you though. I'm looking forward to getting back.

Dean quickly typed a response, upset that he'd missed Cas. He wished he'd been able to talk to him, even if it was just across text.

Dean : I'm glad you're enjoying it.

"I'm guessing that's Cas?" Dean looked up to find Eileen leaning against the wall across from him, watching him.

"Yeah, he's finding the course interesting apparently."

"That's good," Eileen nodded, "Sam said a similar thing when he messaged me earlier."

Cas <3 : How's the pie making going?

Cas <3 : Sam told me Eileen was planning to come over.

Dean : It's pie Cas.

Dean : Pie is always good.

Cas <3 : Of course it is.

Cas <3 : Are you being good while I'm away?

Dean ignored the shiver that ran through his spine as he read the words. His brother's girlfriend was in the room with him, now was not the time for inappropriate reactions.

Dean : Of course.

Dean : I always am.

Cas <3 : Of course you are.

Cas <3 : I need to get back. I'll talk to you later.

Dean : Bye

Dean sighed, feeling something in his chest pull unpleasantly. He hated it when Cas had to leave, even when he'd never really been there.

He was so fucking whipped.

Which… probably wasn't a bad thing seeing as he was married to the guy and wore his collar with pride. But still.

Whipped.

Sometimes literally.

Dean mentally sighed to himself. He really needed to stop.

Dean had made more pies than anyone could possibly count this year alone, never mind in his entire life, so it was no surprise that the lattice he made for the apple pie was almost perfect.

Eileen's lattice on the other hand…

"Latticing is not one of your skills," Dean laughed, staring at the lump of pastry that was supposed to be a lattice in horror. "Maybe you should just do a plain lid?"

"That might be best," Eileen agreed, looking at her failed lid like she had no idea where she'd gone wrong. "This just doesn't want to play, it seems."

"Probably best the two pies have different lids anyway," Dean shrugs, "makes telling them apart much easier."

The look Eileen sent him clearly said 'I'm not buying your bullshit' which Dean thought was unfair, seeing as it was only partly bullshit. Sure, he was just giving her permission to give up on the lattice, but he did mean it when he said that having different lids was a good idea.

He helped Eileen where she needed it as she made the pecan pie's lid, but she was mostly fine on her own and even used leftover pastry to add a heart to the top for decoration.

"Nice," Dean hummed as he slid them both into the oven, setting the timer to make sure they didn't forget to check on them.

"There we go," Dean gestured grandly at the oven door where their two pies now rested side by side. "You now know how to bake pie!"

"Awesome," Eileen grinned. A strange look passed over her face for a moment, and her smile slowly dropped. Dean didn't even have to ask to know what she was feeling, he'd felt it enough times himself to see the signs before they even started.

Biology sucked sometimes.

"Ughhhh," Eileen groaned, her hands covering her face as a shiver racked through her body. "I know they said they'd be back tonight, but can they hurry up? I seriously hate this." She stumbled through to the sitting room, collapsing into the couch with a tired sigh. She'd be fine in a minute, but Dean knew it wasn't nice when you weren't used to it. "Sorry," she murmured without looking up, "you know how it is. My body is not happy with how far away Sam is."

Dean did understand, he really did. His mind knew that Cas was his Dom, which meant his body and instincts were more than happy to complain when he was too far away. He was glad to see Eileen having similar problems—which made him feel kinda mean, seeing as this really wasn't fun—because it meant it was just a normal sub thing. This wasn't Dean being weak, or useless, or needy. It was just how his biology wired him.

He walked slowly over to Eileen, gently laying a hand on her shoulder to prompt her to look up.

"Hey," he signed slowly, "at least we have pie." 

Eileen laughed, uncurling herself and reaching out to pull Dean into some kind of half hug. “Yeah,” she agreed, “at least we have pie.”

"Is Cas as good a Dom as he seems?" Eileen asked later on, seemingly out of nowhere. They were still in the living room, waiting for the pie timer to beep, and until a moment ago they'd both been focusing on their own stuff on their phones.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he seems like an amazing Dom. Every time I see you together… I can see that he's good. So I guess, what I'm asking is… is he really that good?"

Dean frowned. He had no idea where this was going, but he was more than happy to answer. "He's only human, you know," Dean shrugs, "he makes mistakes just like the rest of us, and all that. But yeah, he's definitely the best Dom I've ever had. He doesn't put on any kind of front, and barely treats me any differently with family than when we're alone. So if you've seen him being a good Dom, that's just because he is."

"Okay," Eileen hummed, and then didn't add anything more. Dean kind of wanted to respect her privacy, and not push… but he also really wanted to know why she was asking.

"Why did you want to know?"

"You're my friend. I needed to check."

"But… Cas is your friend too? Do you not trust him?" Dean was incredibly confused. None of this was making sense. Eileen and Cas got on so well! And now she was questioning how well he was treating Dean?

"I've had friends before who have had a Dom who seems perfect, who seems like everything you could ever want in a Dom, but is completely different behind closed doors. It took me years to be able to help them, and I refuse to let that happen again. I know it's most likely that Cas is just as perfect as he seems, but I always need to check."

Dean nodded, his mind flashing back to the first time he'd ever met Cas. He'd had a similar motive back then, the desire to save Dean after feeling like he'd failed others before.

"Yeah, I understand," Dean hummed. He hated to think about it, but now Eileen mentioned it, John was probably the exact kind of Dom Eileen was talking about. He'd been good enough at pretending to be good that even Sam had thought John was an okay Dom, even though he thought he was a horrible man. Obviously, Sam's opinion would probably have been different if he'd known Dean was a sub, but he still hadn't seen the problems that were there. "You don't have to worry though, Cas really is great."

"I'm glad."

"Though actually, if you're going to worry about me, I should probably do the same for you. Is Sam being good?"

"Well, if you're asking-" Dean recognized the glint in her eyes, and was quick to interrupt.

"No! I don't want details!"

Eileen laughed, clearly thinking she was being hilarious. "Okay, but jokes aside, Sam's great," she said, "attentive, kind, everything you want in a boyfriend, and a Dom."

"Good," Dean nodded, leaning back in his seat and staring at the ceiling. "We both got really lucky." He didn't want to bring the mood down, not when they were having such a good day, but he couldn't not think about it after what Eileen had just said. There were so many ways Dean's life could have ended up so much worse. He could have ended up dead by now from John's neglect, or found himself taken in by an abusive Dom who sensed his need and knew he wouldn't be able to fight back against an order. He hated thinking about it, simply because of how low the chances of Cas finding him actually were, and how it really was nothing but luck that brought Cas to him. If he had gone to any other bar that night…

"It's okay," Eillen interrupted his thoughts, her hands not signing along as instead she used them to grip Dean's shoulders and help ground him. It was only then that Dean noticed he was shaking, and he desperately wished Cas was there with him. He ducked his head to press his collar into his neck, reminding himself that it was there, that he was safe, that he was Cas'. "What were you thinking about?"

"Just… my past," Dean shrugged, his hands so shaky that his signs must have been barely readable. "I would be dead by now, if Cas hadn't found me."

Dean had to congratulate Eileen for managing to not look horrified, but then again… she'd been there when John turned up to talk to Sam, she could probably guess the kind of ship that man ran.

"But you're here now," Eileen said, "and if you think Cas is ever going to let you go, then you are severely mistaken. And possibly even stupid."

Eileen's words were blunt, but they got the job done better than any long flowery paragraphs would have. What he and Cas had was forever, and the past couldn't change that.

The timer went off just a few minutes later, startling them out of a conversation about dogs. The pies, when they pulled them out, were golden brown and smelt delicious. They placed them on the side to cool, and then stood back for a moment to stare at their hard work.

"Not to sound full of ourselves or anything, but these are the best pies I've ever seen," Eileen said, pulling up the sleeves of her flannel from where they had slipped over her hands.

"I agree," Dean nodded, "there's some ice cream in the freezer, I think we deserve to see if they taste as good as they look."

Dean grabbed out some plates while Eileen grabbed the ice cream, and then they carefully cut themselves large slices of both pies and added massive spoonfuls of ice cream on top.

"Oh, yes," Eileen sighed after taking her first bite, "this is delicious."

"Agreed," Dean hummed, taking another large bite, "so good."

"I've never been able to bake something this tasty! Thanks, Dean, you'll have to send me the recipe so I can try again some time."

"Sure. Though, if you ever want to come round and make another pie…" he didn't finish his sentence, but he knew Eileen understood what he was saying. He'd gotten much better with Cas, but he still struggled sometimes to say what he really wanted. When things were so perfect, he worried that asking for any more would make it all crumble around them.

"I'd love to," Eileen smiled, squeezing his hand tightly.

"Wait, wait," Dean laughed, "Sam did what!?"

"Yes! He actually punched him!" Eileen said, barely able to get her words out around her laughter. She was telling Dean about the time an asshole had tried to get her to leave Sam on one of their dates and come with him who promised to "show her a good time". Unsurprisingly, it didn't end well for that guy. At the time, Dean imagined it had been terrifying, but looking back on it, and on how normally calm Sam had started a fight, it was hilarious.

Dean opened his mouth to ask Eileen what happened next, when the sound of the door opening and conversation drifted in from the front of the house. Dean froze, while Eileen frowned, trying to figure out what Dean had heard.

"They're back!" Dean told her, jumping to his feet and waiting impatiently for Cas and Sam to find them. They walked straight into the living room, both looking tired, but happy.

Cas pulled Dean into a tight hug straight away, pressing a kiss against his lips as tension slipped out of both of them now they were together again.

"I missed you," Cas breathed, one hand going to the back of Dean's neck and stroking along his collar, while the other started carding through his hair.

"I missed you too," Dean breathed, "but Eileen's been keeping me company. You need to try the pie we baked!"

"Definitely," Cas agreed, finally pulling back. Dean could see Sam and Eileen having their own reunion, and he waited for them to finish before he went over to give Sam a hug as well.

"Would you like some pie?" he asked, going to the kitchen to grab two plates before Sam answered. He refused to be related to someone who said no to pie.

No and pie shouldn't even be in the same sentence together.

He made sure to give them both large slices, and plenty of ice cream, and then he went back into the living room to hand them over. Sam was sitting on the couch, with Eileen pressed against his side, their arms wrapped around each other. Cas had grabbed Dean's kneeling cushion out from under the couch while he was in the other room, and it was placed next to the armchair he was sitting in.

Dean grinned, handing both Doms their plates before sinking gracefully into a kneel. He leaned against Cas' leg, letting out a noise that could only be described as a purr when Cas started scratching his scalp.

Cas and Sam started eating their pie, piling on the compliments to the point where Eileen and Dean made eye contact across the room and rolled their eyes. The Doms were laying it on a bit thick. 

He still wasn't glad that Cas had left—and the sub part of his brain was yelling at him to keep Cas in his sight, to make sure his Dom wasn't going to abandon him permanently, to the point where he had to wrap his arms around Cas' leg to shut that part of his brain up—but at the same time he was glad to have had the chance to really get to know Eileen. It was great to have her part of his family, especially when she could properly appreciate a good pie.

Occasionally Cas offered Dean a bite of pie, which he happily accepted, but mostly he just rested his head on Cas' knee and let himself drift, settled in the knowledge that his Dom was back, and he wasn't going anywhere for the rest of the weekend.