Honey Apple Pie

Chapter Two

 The sky was grey again the next morning, as Castiel hurried down to the bakery. He was not used to everything remaining where he'd left it the night before, but he was grateful to get started without having to waste time looking for everything he needed.

He set about gathering up what ingredients were left over from the day before, to see what he could make from it. There were several sheets of puff pastry still, so he decided to bake it all into several batches of Danishes. He then made two pecan pies, along with his usual selection of cakes and breads, and fell into his usual routine until Alfie arrived.

'You really can't keep doing this,' he said, pointing at the 'Out of Order' sign on the coffee machine.

Castiel gave him a sheepish look as he pulled the sign off the perfectly functioning machine.

'Let's try this again,' said Alfie. 'Just do what I say. We'll start with one black coffee, how about that?'

Cas nodded.

'Okay, great. First, get a cup,' Alfie said patiently. 'Yeah, that's right, now put it under the nozzle here.'

'What about all these other nozzles? And these buttons? What-?'

'No, no, stop. You'll confuse yourself again. Just put it under this nozzle.'

Cas obeyed.

'Good. Now press this button right here. No other buttons, just this one.'

Cas did as he was told, and hot, fresh coffee poured out of the machine and into the cup.

'See, that wasn't so hard, was it?' Alfie grinned. 'Why don't you be in charge of black coffee today, and if it goes well, we can try the next part, what do you say?'

Cas looked doubtful, but Alfie laughed at him.

'Let's just give it a try.'

It went well at first, but Cas got flustered when Alfie tried to show him how to make white coffee, so Alfie ended up making him a new sign that read 'Black coffee only' at the end of his shift.

'Well, it's better that "Out of Order", I suppose,' he said, throwing on his jacket.

'Thank you,' Cas said. 'I'll see you tomorrow.'

Alfie waved, and the bell above the door tinkled as he left, leaving Cas alone with his thoughts. He occupied himself by making more cupcakes. He decorated them simply again, but added a pinch of sprinkles to each this time.

He had the usual stream of kids once they let out, and was just considering whether or not to make some meringue, when the bell tinkled again. In walked the man he'd met the day before, Sam Winchester.

'You're back,' Cas smiled.

'Sure am. My brother liked the pie.'

'I'm glad to hear it. What can I get for you today?'

Sam looked around. 'I hate to be awkward, but uh, Dean, my brother, he said to ask for one of everything.'

'That's no problem at all.' Cas set about wrapping and bagging one of everything.

'So if you're Cas, where's Charlie?' Sam asked.

'Chicago,' said Cas, wrapping a loaf of bread.

'Oh, I'm sorry.'

'Don't be. If you'd met her, you'd know she's not a small-town girl. I'd rather see her happy than stuck here with me.'

'I see.'