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…

In the afternoon, once Rosie had handed out all but one loaf of bread, she made sure to head down the alley next to her bakery.

As expected, the man was still there, sitting against the wall looking up at the sky.

Rosie approached slowly. "Hi," she said, startling him out of his reverie. "I'm Rosie."

The man looked Rosie directly in the eyes. His eyes were a startling blue, and they contained a great sadness and pain. "Ca—Clarence," he said after a pause.

"Well, Clarence, today's your lucky day." Rosie smiled as she held up the loaf. "You want this? I baked it myself."

Clarence looked down at himself and rubbed his stomach. "Yes, I suppose so," he answered in his gravelly voice. "Do humans…we…always get hungry like this?"

Rosie wrinkled her brow. Clarence maybe wasn't completely right in the head…But she didn't like that thought. No, it must be that Clarence was new at not eating every meal. He had probably hit hard times, and here he was.

So Rosie thrust away her doubts and put on a confident smile, handing over the food. "If you're planning to be here tomorrow, I'll be back with another," Rosie promised.

Clarence looked up at the sky again and sighed. "Yes, I'll be here."

…

As his second day of being a human came to a close, Castiel felt a strange mix of emotions, which, he supposed, was only human.

Cas was very thankful for the bread Rosie had given him, and he was glad he hadn't scared her away.

However, Castiel felt nostalgic, especially when he heard the name Clarence. The last time someone had called him that…

Cas didn't want to think about it.

Instead, he ate half of the bread and fell into an uneasy sleep.

…...

It became a routine in their lives—Clarence would sit in the alley and Rosie would provide him with bread.

After the first week, when Rosie noticed Clarence didn't leave except for short periods of time each day and her bread seemed to be the only food he was eating, judging by how much weight he'd lost, she began handing him not just bread, but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Rosie wished she could do more for Clarence, but she knew if he really needed help he'd ask. She didn't want to break their comfortable bond by digging into touchy subjects.

Still, it hurt to know that whenever she went to bed at night, Clarence was sleeping in the street a couple meters from her.

It wasn't like that with the other homeless people. They all had been wronged by life, but by now they could cope.

Clarence could not cope.

Once, when Rosie saw Clarence leave the alley, she surreptitiously followed him.

Apparently, when Clarence left the spot, it was only to freshen up in the public restroom at the park. Then he returned to his nook between the garbage bins.

Sometimes when Rosie walked by her window she'd peer out, and Clarence would always be in the same position. He never tired of thinking, it seemed; Clarence wouldn't move for hours and even with the most menial objects he never got bored.

Whenever Rosie visited, she tried to make a small conversation with Clarence, knowing how hard it must be to have no human interaction.

Clarence was always very polite, but he clammed up whenever it came to discussing the past.

All Rosie knew was that two friends of his were looking for him, but Clarence wouldn't disclose their names and he didn't explain why he didn't want to be found.

As the days shortened and the temperatures dropped, Rosie couldn't help but hurt at the pathetic way Clarence would shiver. When the first snow fell, Rosie went out to deliver his sandwich bundled up in a coat.

"First time seeing snow?" Rosie asked, seeing the way Clarence was staring amazedly at the sky.

"No," Clarence replied, keeping his eyes turned upward. "I've seen it many times, but never from this perspective."

By now, Rosie knew not to look into comments like that too much. Clarence wasn't delusional, he was actually very smart, but many things he said didn't make sense.

Rubbing her hands together, Rosie couldn't wait to hurry back inside, and she wondered how Clarence could stand the weather with only a shabby trenchcoat.

"Hey," Rosie said before she could change her mind. "You want to spend the night at my place? To get out of this cold."

Clarence looked over to her cheerfully lit bakery with a yearning. "I couldn't. That's fine."

"Oh, come on," Rosie took his hand, which was freezing. "You'll freeze to death out here."

Clarence turned with a startled expression on his face. "It's that easy? To die of cold?"

Rosie felt uncomfortable, and tugged on his hand, bringing him over to the bakery. "I guess. Either way, you'll be more comfortable in here."

"Thank you," Clarence responded as he felt the heat of the room seep over him. "You are very considerate."

A slow blush crept into Rosie's cheeks. "Don't mention it."

She then ushered him upstairs, showing him into the guest room which contained a bed and a desk. "You can sleep here."

"Once again," Clarence said, "Thank you."

"No problem," Rosie said calmly.

Inside, she was very excited. Rosie felt her life was about to get way more interesting.

…

Castiel couldn't stop marveling about how kind humans could be.

From heaven's perspective, it was a world full of treachery, materialism, and misfortune, but the few people he came across seemed to go out of their way to help.

Rosie was one of those people.

As he began his nightly ritual of praying (not that God ever answered), Castiel thought of Dean and Sam. He knew they'd be only too happy to have him on their team, but it was not right. Cas would be more of a hindrance, and his brothers might get angry with the Winchesters if they helped him survive.

Castiel did want to survive, but not at the price of his best friends.

Speaking of friends, Rosie was now one of his. Castiel loved their talks every evening, and he knew that his human body would not get nearly enough nourishment to survive without her.

Even with a sandwich a day, Castiel's stomach complained. He couldn't comprehend the pounds of food it must take a human to survive with enough each and every day.

But Castiel didn't want to dwell on human feelings; he was hungry and aching enough as it was.

Instead, Castiel snuggled up under the covers and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

…