Chapter Text
The music blasting through the bar was loud, but not enough to drown out the screaming match across the room. Cas was slouched in a booth in the corner of the bar with his back facing the crowd. He didn’t need to be looking to know when the first punch was thrown. He finished the remainder of his beer in two large gulps and slammed it on the table. Just as he turned to stand up, a burly inebriated man slid across the floor and stopped at Cas’ feet. Cas sighed; he didn’t feel like getting involved in a barroom brawl. He waited for the guy to stand up so he could make his hasty exit. The man did no such thing.
Instead, the other gruff man involved in the fight stomped over to the man lying on the floor and stood over him. He reached down and grabbed the man by the front of the shirt and landed multiple punches.
Cas decided the best thing to do was to pretend he didn’t notice so he faced back toward his table and absently picked at the pretzel mix that had been previously untouched.
One second his empty beer bottle was sitting next to his left hand, and the next it was lying in broken pieces on the sticky floor. The man on the ground had leaned up and taken it, smashing it over the head of the man still raining down punches. The movement launched a piece of broken glass into the left side of Cas’ face.
When it hit him, he yelled out in surprise and pain and that’s when some patrons finally took action. He didn’t think it was bleeding much, but he knew it stung like a bitch and was dangerously close to his eye.
He vaguely registered two men pulling the fighting patrons off of each other. He registered that someone’s hands were on his face and shoulder trying to get his attention.
He looked up at the person who was touching him. It was a cop with long, light brown hair and kind, hazel eyes. Cas glanced at the man’s badge and noticed he was a sheriff.
Before he had a chance to panic about being scrutinized by a cop, the sheriff’s words cut through the ringing in his ears and made him realize he was meant to answer.
“Sir, do I need to call an ambulance? I think you’re in shock. It’s gonna be okay though, it missed your eye. Not by much, but by enough.” Hearing the sheriff ramble over his injuries did nothing to calm him.
“I don’t think an ambulance is necessary, Sheriff…” Cas trailed off as he looked back at the man’s badge, “Winchester. I’m fine. I can just pull it out, it's really no big deal.”
For the second time that night, Cas tried to get up out of his booth, but the sheriff was blocking him in and gently pushed his shoulder so he would sit back down.
“Just call me Sheriff Sam. And I really wouldn’t advise that. It’s a fairly large piece of glass. You might need stitches.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary either. Please excuse me.”
Sheriff Winchester let him get up this time, but he followed him.
“Sir, I would feel like I didn’t do my job if I let you leave without seeing a doctor. Now either I take you to the hospital, or I follow you there. Which would you prefer?”
Cas was set to ignore Sheriff Winchester, but then he reached up to feel the piece of glass sticking out of his cheek. It was not a small shard of glass, it was a significant chunk of the bottle. Touching the glass had sent an immense shooting pain through his body and made him feel unsteady on his feet. The sheriff grabbed Cas again by the shoulders to ensure he didn’t fall and he realized the sheriff was right.
“I didn’t drive here,” Cas answered simply.
“Well, alright. I’ll take you to the hospital. My truck is right out front.” Sheriff Winchester slowly removed his hands and Cas followed him out the door.
Hastily parked right outside the doors was the sheriff’s truck. The side read “Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department.” Cas didn’t know what state he was in let alone recognize the county name. He thought he was still in Wyoming, but it was possible he’d crossed over into Colorado.
The short drive to the hospital was extremely uncomfortable since Sheriff Sam had advised him not to remove the glass.
The sharp pain had mostly subsided and was replaced by a stinging sensation that hurt more when hitting bumps. The sheriff was trying to avoid potholes, but there was only so much he could do on such rural, badly maintained roads.
“Did you recently move here or are ya just passing through?” Sheriff Winchester’s tone sounded friendly enough, but Cas was still on edge.
“I don’t know, yet. Depends if I like it here, I suppose.”
Sheriff Sam raised an eyebrow and huffed an amused laugh, “Well, alrighty then. I’m probably biased, but I hope you come to like this town. It really is great, even though we only have a few thousand in the county. Honestly, it’s probably great because there are much fewer people.”
Cas gave a noncommittal hum, indicating he heard, but had nothing more to add to that.
After another awkward few minutes, Cas spoke up, “I guess I didn’t really thank you back at the bar. I appreciate you checking on me and taking me to the hospital.”
“Just doing my job,” Sam tipped the front of his hat down, “But you’re welcome…sorry, I don’t think I got your name?”
Cas shifted nervously in his seat, weighing the pros and cons of lying to a cop about his identity. “Cas,” He said simply.
“Ya got a last name, Cas?”
“Yeah.” Cas didn’t bother to elaborate, and Sam didn’t push it further.
****
“I’m going to need more information than that, sir,” the receptionist at the ER sat behind the registration desk suspiciously looking back and forth between Cas and Sam.
When she’d asked for Cas’ information, he’d only given her a first name.
“I don’t have a phone or a permanent residence, at the moment.”
“Sir, I’m going to need a last name, at least,” The receptionist looked over at Sam for help, but he just shrugged at her.
“Smith.” Cas didn’t like lying, but he wasn’t going to take any chances.
“Mrs. Jakobi,” Sam addressed the receptionist. She didn’t have a name tag, so Cas figured they must be in one of those small towns where everyone knows each other. If that was the case, he couldn’t stick around much longer. “Go ahead and put down the ranch address and number.”
Sam rattled off a phone number while Cas walked over to the furthest chair and sat down with a sigh. Without thinking, he brushed his hands across his face and pulled away abruptly when he remembered his injury. He hadn’t touched it, but even getting close to the shard of glass hurt.
“Why’d you give a fake name?” Cas jumped when Sam approached him.
“I didn’t,” he knew he didn’t sound very convincing.
“You're not, like, a fugitive, are you?”
Cas looked up at Sam with wide eyes, shaking his head. Sam started laughing and he relaxed a bit.
“I’m just messing with you, Cas.”
“I’m not a criminal, and I didn’t lie about my name.”
“You said you were passing through town. Do you need a place to stay for a bit? And maybe an opportunity to make a little money?” Sam sat down in the chair next to him. He was feeling more and more on edge.
“That’s very kind of you, but it’s not necessary.”
“Where are you stayin’ then?” Sam sounded skeptical.
Just then, a nurse approached them, “Mr. Smith?”
Cas nodded and followed the nurse. He was surprised when he heard the clacking of Sam’s boots behind him. He turned around, “I can handle it from here, Sheriff. Thanks for the help.”
“I would feel awful for letting you go back out there with no place to stay with an injury-”
“It’s hardly a big deal,” Cas cut Sam off, causing Sam to give him a skeptical expression.
“Look, my family has a horse ranch not too far from here. We have a guest room that’s not being used. You could stay there at least for tonight.”
The nurse led the men to a sectioned-off hospital bed. She pushed the curtain aside and gestured for Cas to have a seat on the bed. Sam sat in a chair next to it.
The nurse took Cas’ vitals and informed him a doctor would be in shortly.
“Sheriff-”
“Call me Sam.”
“Sam, I’d prefer not to impose on your family.”
Sam rolled his eyes, “If it was an imposition, why would I have asked?”
Cas shrugged and looked around at anything but Sam’s face. He didn’t know how to get out of it without being rude and he couldn’t afford to offend a police officer.
“Just tonight.” Cas finally answered.
“Okay, but just so ya know, you can stay as long as you want. If you feel bad about imposing, you shouldn’t. We always need help around the ranch anyway. My brother has been dilly-dallying for weeks about hiring a new ranch hand. If anything, you being there would help my family. It’s a paying gig too.”
“I don’t know about all that. I don’t know the first thing about helping on a ranch.”
“My brother Dean is the one who runs the ranch. He’ll show ya the ropes.”
Cas was getting more and more frustrated with Sam’s insistence. “That sounds like the opposite of me helping out. Sounds like I’d be giving your brother more work.”
Before Sam could reply, the doctor walked in, “Alright, Mr. Smith, got caught in a bar fight, did ya?”
****
Sam’s truck turned off a dusty, run-down road onto a dustier, more run-down road. A sign passed on the left informing Cas they were arriving at Shady Pines Horse Rescue. A lone street lamp offered little light for him to make out much else until the truck had pulled up to the main house.
The ride from the hospital had been even more awkward than the ride there. Cas was pretty sure he’d fallen asleep at some point. It was such a relief to have that piece of glass gone from his face, but the three stitches that replaced it weren’t very comfortable. The doctor had only given him a topical anesthetic and no pain pills, so he was still in a bit of pain now that the anesthetic was wearing off.
Sam hadn’t pressed the issue of Cas working at the ranch any further. He supposed Sam thought it was a win that he was “considering it.” That had been a lie, though. Cas was starting to hate all the lying. It was just another reason why he needed to leave sooner rather than later.
The past few minutes had been filled with Sam telling Cas about his family. His parents lived in the main house on the ranch while Sam and Dean lived in a smaller house on the property. There was also a staff house that had three bedrooms where their other two employees, Charlie and Jo stayed. That was where Cas would be staying the night.
Sam parked the truck, turned it off, and the two of them climbed out. Sam went around to the back seat to grab Cas’ bag which they’d stopped to retrieve at the motel room Cas had been staying at. He told him he was able to carry it and Sam handed it off.
“Alright, I’ll take you over to your room. The rest of the family is probably asleep by now, so I’ll introduce ya’ll in the morning.” Sam headed off toward a small, two-story building that desperately needed new paint.
As soon as Sam opened the door, a conversation spilled out. It was a man and a woman speaking.
“I’m telling you right now, that episode will go down in TV history, Charlie! It’s the greatest episode of the show yet! Greatest episode of any show, even,” The man was passionately saying.
“You’re wrong, Dean. Mark my words!” The woman replied.
“You’re both idiots,” A different female voice replied.
“We’re here!” Sam interrupted. Cas followed him through the door and around a corner into a small, cozy dining room where three people were sitting at a round table sipping beers and excitedly chatting.
The two women– one a red-head, and the other a slightly younger blonde– jumped up to greet him, but the man eyed Cas up and down with a condescending glare and slowly stood.
As the women, who introduced themselves as Charlie and Jo, hugged him, Cas and the man-made intense eye contact. He felt threatened by it, but he wasn’t going to let it show, so he didn’t look away. Finally, the man straightened his face to a more friendly expression and approached Cas.
“Hey man, I’m Dean. Sam told me ya don’t have any experience with horses, so I hope you’re a quick learner, cuz I’m a busy guy.” Dean did not move to shake Cas’ already extended hand, so Cas put it down, hoping no one noticed.
“Dean, don’t be an asshole,” Sam said to his brother and then turned to Cas, “Sorry about him, Cas.”
“So, what’s Cas short for?” Charlie asked excitedly.
“It’s not short for anything,” he lied. Charlie squinted at him and for a second, Cas was worried he’d been caught red-handed, but then she shrugged and enveloped him in another hug.
“Come on Charles, you’ll smother the guy,” Dean said as he gently pried her off of him. “Look, it’s been a crazy day, so I’m heading to bed. Charlie, Jo? Show him around?” Charlie and Jo agreed. Dean turned to his brother, “We need to talk.”
Sam hadn’t even had a chance to shut the front door behind himself when Dean started to cut into him, “What’s his deal anyway, Sammy? You know I only hire the best! I’m not hiring him.”
Sam was able to get the door shut halfway through, but Dean’s words could still be made out. The two brothers must have kept walking away from the house because eventually, Cas couldn’t make out their voices any longer.
“So all the bedrooms are upstairs. You can follow me, it’s the first one on the left.” Charlie led the way up the steps and Jo trailed behind Cas. “Jo and I are glad you’re here, Cas. Dean will come around. He acted like a dickhead the first time he met me too, but now we’re the best of friends!” Charlie stopped short in front of the door and did a flourish with her arms, “Ta-da!”
Cas stepped forward into his room for the night. It was small, like everything else in the house, but it was cozy. The bed was freshly made and looked so soft. Cas resisted the urge to belly-flop onto it. He thanked the women and then gently shut his door. As soon as he was in the privacy of the room, he took off his shoes, stripped to his boxers, and climbed under the covers. Before he even had time to remember he’d left the lights on, he was asleep.