There were few angels Castiel could call his friend. There were even fewer humans, and beyond that, nothing. Then again, Vamiel was the farthest thing from any of them.

The older angel was still Earthbound; though that didn't seem to both him as much as it did Castiel.

They were sitting in some Miami cafe, Castiel quietly drinking coffee to blend in while Vamiel fished through a paper, pausing over certain stories or ads and even occasionally shoving it in Castiel's face.

"Why you hangin' out here anyway, Cas? Thought you were all 'gung ho' family again. Not that I uh, don't mind the company."

"I just…I wanted to be somewhere other than heaven."

Vamiel eyed him. "Cryptic as always, eh?"

"No. I need some time."

Vamiel folded the paper, still eyeing him as Castiel downed the rest of his coffee, apparently not caring that it should have been burning hot. "That's not it at all, is it?"

Castiel looked down at his hands. "It's her birthday today."

"Huh, what? Her? Oh, your kid."

The angel kept his head down, staring at his hands and barely noticed a waitress refilling his cup.

"How long has it been now?"

"Two years."

Vamiel shifted in his seat. "Makes sense then, why you came."

"What?"

"Time to get away? Not deal with anything…" when Castiel tilted his head, Vamiel tossed the paper on the table and sighed. "Sufferin', Cas. It's what you're doing."

"I understood that much."

"You were looking for similarity!" Vamiel waited for Castiel's confused fog to lift. "Remember Sera?"

"Your wife?"

"I lost my lady. And you lost both your kid and your mate…"

"You're saying I came to you because of how similar our situations were?"

"Yes!"

"I'm sure you feel flattered."

"Well, yeah."

He watched Castiel's usually stone face curve in a slight smile, probably the first time he'd seen him do that in years. "I didn't come because of that."

"What? Yeah you did."

"I came for the coffee," he tilted his head. "You were always so self-interested."

Vamiel scoffed and leaned back, watching Castiel. His brother had always strange, even before that strange thing he had with a demon, and it seemed what he had to do to protect them had taken a horrible toll on him; from the attempted suicide during the Fall to just the overall depression when he did see him.

The angel had been through too much and it made Vamiel feel a tinge of sympathy.

"So…what are you gonna do about it?" he said finally. "She's your daughter, man."

"I can't risk going near them, and I don't even know where they are. And if I did…"

"Yeah I get it. So you're just gonna sit here and sulk? Don't your humans know? You could always send somethin' to them, you know. You'll never have to know where they are. The humans can help."

"I can't risk Sam or Dean either," Castiel said, almost glaring at the word "humans". "And I know her mother will make her happy, even when I can't."

"You have a lot of faith in them. I'm sort of jealous."

"Faith is a virtue. I'm, surprised I still have it."

There was a softening in Castiel's features, almost as if their little chat seemed to comfort him.

"So, what now?"

He sighed. "Return to heaven, I guess. There's still so much to rebuild and with Metatron bringing the angels back, I need to be there."

Vamiel nodded. "Good luck, Cas. Still sorry 'bout the kid."

"Yeah," Castiel stood, the warrior still imposing as his face switched from soft to hard again. "Thank you, Vamiel."

"Yeah. Whatever I did."