Seeing that tear fall, Dean had a flashback to when Castiel had been lying on the warehouse floor, just after Sofiel had announced that God had been there.


"God was here?" Dean stared at Sofiel. "Are you sure?"

Sofiel nodded. "I did not see Him very well, He was fuzzy for some reason, but I felt His light and His power. I have never been in the Lord's presence before, but I know it was Him. There is no doubt in my mind."

"What did He do to Cas?" Sam inquired, glancing down at the seemingly lifeless being that separated him and Dean from Sofiel.

"He physically tore the souls out of Castiel," Sofiel answered. "And then He sent them back to Purgatory through a spell."

"What did He do after?" Dean questioned.

"After that He disappeared," Sofiel said. "One moment He was there, the next-gone."

"Is Cas still alive?" Sam asked.

Sofiel crawled over to Castiel's side and studied him. "He is still breathing, but it is very shallow." She unbuttoned Castiel's shirt to look at his wound. It was deep, ragged, and ugly, but the bleeding had stopped. "I do not think God intended to kill him. If He had wanted that, Castiel would already be dead."

"Why would God put a hole in Cas like that and then leave him unhealed if He didn't want to kill him?" Dean inquired.

Sofiel frowned in thought. "I do not know. All I know is something is wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"I'd have thought that after the souls were gone I'd be able to sense his grace again, but I can't."

Dean and Sam shared a look.

"Are you suggesting he might be human?" Dean asked, turning back to Sofiel.

She shrugged slightly. "There is only one way to find out."

With that, she drove her hand into Castiel's chest and did a soul search.

Castiel had to have been in a deep unconsciousness because he gave no sign of distress, unlike those whom he'd done searches on previously.

After several seconds Sofiel pulled her hand out of Castiel and nodded a confirmative to Sam and Dean. "He is human."

As she spoke Castiel's wound magically disappeared before their eyes.

"Are you sure?" Dean questioned.

"One hundred percent," Sofiel told him. "God must have just healed Cas because he has no grace in him anymore, and I can clearly feel a soul in there."

"Why would God make him human?" Sam asked.

Sofiel gazed at Castiel's face. "I do not know how the Creator's mind works, but He must have plans for him. What those are will be a mystery until Castiel stirs, and that is if he has been told. The Lord does not always tell those he sends on a mission what He expects out of them. Sometimes it is figured out only with time."

"So what do we do now?" Sam inquired.

"That's easy," Dean replied. "We go back to Bobby's."

"But what about Cas? We can't leave him here like this."

"Yes we can," Dean argued.

"Dean, he's human now," Sam protested. "We can't just leave him lying here. Who knows what'll happen when he wakes up? What condition he will be in?"

"I agree," Sofiel said. "I know you feel betrayed by Castiel, Dean, but he might not even remember what happened when he wakes. And even if he does, he most certainly will have been changed by the experience he's had. You need to look past what he's done."

"The hell I have to," Dean snapped.

"Dean," Sam sighed. "Look, I'm angry at him too, but it wouldn't be right."

"What do you want to do?" Dean asked.

"We could take him back to Bobby's," Sam suggested. "We could put him in the panic room until he wakes up."

Dean shook his head.

"Just until he wakes up," Sam added.

Dean huffed. "Whatever. Go ahead. But you're going to have to convince Bobby yourself. I'm sure not going to try."

"I will," Sam said. He then turned to face Sofiel. "Can you fly me and Cas to his house?"

"Yes," Sofiel answered. "Of course."

Sam looked back at Dean. "Are you coming, or do you want to drive the Impala back?"

"What do you think?" Dean said.

Sam nodded. "Alright. I'll see you later."

He then approached Sofiel and they lifted Castiel up so they could wrap his arms around their necks.

As soon as they were ready, Sofiel teleported away, and Dean trudged back to the Impala alone.


When Dean had arrived at Bobby's he had been shocked to hear that Bobby had agreed that Castiel could stay in the panic room. Sure, he'd demanded that Castiel be locked in it, but Dean had thought Bobby wouldn't have let him stay at all. Sam must have pulled his puppy dog eye trick once again.

Dean was asked by Sofiel to give her a pair of his jeans and shirt so she could change Castiel out of his bloody clothes. She insisted he was the closest to Castiel's height and weight and she refused to go steal some from a store, so Dean had grudgingly agreed to do so.

Now, after witnessing Castiel's first sign of humanity, Dean had hope that Castiel was going to be a better person. However, that didn't mean he wasn't still angry at him. Dean still planned on giving him a talking to when he awakened.

He didn't have to wait long.

Minutes later, as the first morning light shined into the panic room, Castiel stirred.