Clarence started healing again, and true to what they had agreed on, every applicant went through Meg. Many of them were either false with the intent to discredit him, or people just looking to prolong their lives. Meg ruled all of them out and approved the genuinely ill. Despite her misgivings, she even approved someone who was obviously a Hunter. He'd been going blind in one eye. She wasn't sure if he figured out she was a demon. He didn't say anything, or try to kill her.

Their life together settled into something pleasant. One day he came home and set a small, filthy puff of black fur on her lap. It turned out to be a half-starved kitten. Their "first child" he said. He'd found it in an ally while in town. She had no idea how he'd managed to get it home on his bicycle, but he had. Meg rolled her eyes and handed the meowing, squirming, scratching thing back to him with orders for a bath. The animal seemed to hate her at first. Smart thing. Yet, over time it grew less afraid and then wouldn't leave her side. She actually grew to admire its attitude. They named it Nyx.

Despite all of it, Meg knew it would end. It had to. Happy Ever Afters were for storybooks, and even if they were real, she wouldn't get one. Those were for heroes. She was a demon, and so all that awaited her was pain and death.

Poetic, almost, since that's what she had brought others for centuries.

So when Dean Winchester showed up on her doorstep one day, she wasn't really surprised.

He was, pulled out his Demon Killing Knife, and pointed it at her. "Meg? What the hell are you doing here?"

"You know, it's really impolite to threaten someone on their own doorstep."

"You live here?"

She made a show of looking around. "Yep. My house."

"I was told this is where a true healer lives. I'm supposed to talk to his wife." Dean looked at her accusingly, as though she'd done something to them.

Meg crossed her arms. "He's not here."

Actually, he was upstairs still asleep, and she hoped he'd stay that way.

"So he does live here." She didn't reply. "Cut the crap, Meg. Does the healer live here or not?"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you need him?"

Dean's expression grew stony. "None of your business."

Meg smiled. "Wrong answer. Bye."

She started to close the door, but his arm shot out in an attempt to stop her.

"Don't test me, Meg," he growled, moving the knife closer to her. "I will gank you without a second thought."

"Excuse me," she heard behind her. "Why are you threatening my wife?"

Dean's expression changed from angry to stunned. "Cas?"

"Please, there's no need for violence. Put the knife down."

"You're dead. I watched you die!"

Clarence came up next to her. "You've obviously mixed me up with someone else. I'm Clarence, and this is my wife, Meg. Please, put the knife down."

Dean looked back and forth between the two of them. "What did you do to him, you bitch?"

Beside her, she felt Clarence stiffen. "Obviously, you are distressed, and I am understanding of that. However, I will not tolerate rudeness."

Dean gaped at him. "She's not your wife, and your name isn't Clarence. Cas, it's me. Dean."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know you," Clarence said, and for a moment Meg felt this might work out.

"Don't know me?" Dean scoffed, and Meg could see a little bit of hurt deep inside Dean's expression. "Dude, you...you rescued me from Hell."

Clarence gave an uncertain smile. "What?"

"Yeah. 'Raised you from Perdition.' Ring a bell? Your name isn't Clarence. You're Castiel. An angel."

Meg saw that troubled blankness look that had occasionally crossed his eyes return, and she backed away. The men were too focused on each other to even notice. She watched as Clarence's entire body language changed. His spine stiffened as he remembered he was in a vessel, not born into a body.

Then she felt it. The flare of angelic grace.

"Dean? I do not understand." he asked, his voice changing from easy to the uncertain tones of someone for whom English wasn't their first language.

"There you are," Dean said, and then his expression hardened. "You need to come with me."

"Whatever you need," Castiel said.

Meg felt like vomiting. It didn't matter that the last time Castiel had seen Dean, Dean had stood by and let Sam put an angel blade in Cas' back. It just mattered that the Winchesters needed him.

And Meg was forgotten. Ignored.

She closed the door and leaned against it. Her chest ached and she didn't know why. Slowly, she made her way upstairs. Grabbing her bag, she methodically began to pack. She resolutely didn't look around at the remains of her shared life with Clarence. Her goal was to get her things and get out.

She finished, and as she was closing the zipper, she heard the flutter of wings and felt angelic grace. Slowly, she turned around to face him. Angling her body so he couldn't see her right side, she pulled a hidden angel blade into her hand.

"Why?" he asked, his voice low and harsh.

"You don't remember?"

"I remember everything. Was it all a lie? A demon trick?"

Meg felt the ache in her chest increase until it consumed her. Raising the angel blade, she moved past him without answering. She was almost out the door when she felt him grab her arm. She spun around and lashed out with the blade. "Don't touch me."

"Suddenly I'm not allowed to touch you? Am I not your husband?" he asked, his tone mocking.

"No. You're not. My husband is obviously dead." She hated the way her voice shook.

Her husband would not have needed to ask if it was all a lie. Most importantly, he would look at her with love, not like she was the filth beneath his shoes. An abomination.

Cas' expression changed to surprise, and she took the opportunity to teleport away.

She arrived at one of her safe houses and set her bag down. Immediately, she reinforced her wards, especially the anti-angel ones. Feeling secure but for some reason not better, she sat down on the sofa.

o.O.o

—and found herself back in the field.

"Meg?"

She turned and looked at Chuck, rage filling her. She clenched her fists and held it in. Lashing out was her instinct, but she had the feeling that attacking would be a bad idea. "Oh, now you show up. Well, you're too late. It's over."

Chuck stuck his hands in his pockets. "Is it?"

"I did everything you asked. I found him, protected him, didn't trigger his memory—"

Chuck nodded. "Married him."

Meg felt like she'd been punched, and the ache in her chest grew. "I was just humoring him. It didn't count."

"Really?

"Yeah. Were you paying attention to the vows? I said 'to be no other than yourself' and that wasn't him. Clarence wasn't real." She felt a stabbing pain in her chest and sat down in the soft grass.

Chuck sighed and shook his head, sitting next to her. "I actually think Clarence was him at his most true."

"How is that possible?"

Chuck gave a bitter smile. "I was so proud of my angels when I created them. The archangels, I mean. The other angels...I mean, yeah I was proud, but there were just so many. I got a bit carried away. Anyway, those same archangels became such a disappointment to me. Then the humans... Well, so much happened that I didn't really focus on the lower angels like I should have, and then I left. So those same disappointing archangels taught the lower angels how to act, how to believe. Castiel is the product of that."

"So what you're saying is, take away what the other angels taught him and...it's Clarence?"

"Someone who loves deeply and just wants to help everyone," Chuck confirmed. "Yeah, he usually screws things up and makes them worse, but deep down he's pure."

"You don't think I corrupted him?" Meg asked. "I married your angel. Screwed him. You don't think he's tainted now?"

He didn't rise to her bait. "Quite the opposite."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, Meg. Or should I call you Joan? That was your human name. You're a demon who rescued an angel. Protected him. Helped him help others. Married him. Loved him. Made love with him." He smiled when she flinched. "Yeah, that's right. You didn't screw him. You loved him and he loved you."

Meg looked away.

"Castiel is a Fallen angel. But more importantly, you're a Risen demon." He sounded strangely excited.

"There's no such thing."

"There hadn't been until now. My experiment worked."

"Excuse me?"

"When you and Castiel first kissed, I was appalled. Then I got really bored. I should never get bored. The last time that happened? Well, let's just say there's a reason the platypus exists. I started thinking..."

Meg closed her eyes and felt nauseated. She'd been nothing more than a pawn for a bored deity. Cla—Castiel hadn't been brought back for any important reason. It had all been for nothing. An amusement.

"I'd like to wake up now," she said, surprised at her restraint.

Chuck waved his had dismissively.

o.O.o

Meg stayed in her apartment until the alcohol ran out. When she opened her door, she found Castiel waiting in the hallway.

"What the hell do you want?" she asked, pulling her angel blade out.

He stared at her for a few moments, and then she noticed his coat moving. A small, black head poked out of a pocket, meowed, and jumped down. It scampered up to her and clawed her leg, meowing.

"You forgot her," he finally said.

Nyx's meowing got more insistent and the kitten tried climbing her leg. Unable to stand it any longer, Meg reached down and picked the animal up. Nyx head-butted her neck, purring.

"Thanks. How'd you find me?"

"I'll always find you, Meg."

"Yeah, that's not creepy or stalkerish at all."

"I am your husband."

She gripped both Nyx and the angel blade harder. "Are you?"

His brow wrinkled. "We did get married."

"My husband wouldn't have talked to me the way you did. He wouldn't have accused me. He—" She broke off for a moment and then finally said the words. "He loves me. So again, I ask, are you?"

"I—" His indecision infuriated her, and she wanted to punish him.

"Do you want to spend time with me? Live with me?" she asked, her tone mocking. She stepped forward until she was inches from him. Tilting her head up, she gave him a vicious smile. "Kiss me? Touch me? Be inside me?"

He stayed silent.

"Or do you want to smite me?"

"I cannot smite you," he said, his voice low.

"You're a full powered angel again. Sure you can. I believe in you."

"I do not want to."

"What do you want?" she asked, frustrated. "Make up your mind. I'm bored."

"I want you," he said simply. "I was wrong. I realize that now."

She didn't believe him, but he could have smote her several times by now. She couldn't even feel his grace gathering, nor had he reached for a weapon.

"I don't know why," he said simply. "It does not make sense, but it is the truth."

She thought about telling him Chuck's manipulations but decided against it. Which made no sense, because finding out that his Father thought of him as nothing more than a tool for His amusement would devastate the angel. She didn't want to do that. She wanted—

"What about the Winchesters?" she asked, buying time.

Castiel frowned. "I am finished with them. I healed Sam's brain from what I did to him and left. I cannot forgive them for killing me, or for not listening to me in the first place, long before that."

"Good for you."

He gave her a small smile. "Will you come home?"

"You want to just go back to how we were?" she asked.

Nyx meowed and hopped over to him. The kitten nuzzled his cheek and settled herself on his shoulder. "Yes. But with all my memories. What do you want, Meg?"

She still didn't completely trust him anymore, but that was overpowered by...by...

Ah, hell, by love. She loved him. She'd loved him for a long time now.

Grabbing her bag from where she'd dropped it on the floor, she returned to him. "Let's go."

They returned to an inferno.

Quickly Cas teleported them out of the burning house and into the woods across the street.

"I do not understand. There was nothing that could have started this," Cas said.

Meg nodded down the street where a car was idling. Inside, she could see the man from the church along with a few other men. "Look."

Cas seemed dismayed. "Then this is my fault."

"No. It's theirs." She let her eyes flick to Black. "I warned them."

"Meg..."

Furious, Meg started towards the car. A hand on her arm stopped her.

"Let me," Cas said.

"I'm the one-"

"It will mean more from me."

He walked to the car, and before the occupants could even blink, calmly ripped the door from the car and pulled the driver out.

"I heal your father, and this is what I receive in return?" Cas asked.

"It's our duty to drive the demon from our midst," the man said, struggling in Cas' grip.

"The demon has done nothing to you."

"Her mere presence is enough. Obviously, she's ensnared you."

Meg snorted.

Cas' eyes began to glow, and his wings manifested as great shadows. Even his body language changed, and Meg loved it. This was as close as she would ever get to being able to see the true Cas. Though a part of her did cower. She was a demon, after all.

"You think a demon can ensnare me? I'm an Angel of the Lord."

The man stopped cowering and stared in amazement. On the other side of the car, the other occupants frantically climbed out and scurried into the night. In the distance she heard sirens.

"P-please. I only wanted to do holy-"

"You are far from holy. You've been judged, Robert McPherson."

Without another word Cas and Robert teleported away.

Meg contemplated going after the other arsonists, but a moment later Cas reappeared next to her.

"What'd you do?" she asked.

"He's in a jail cell."

"That's it? Couldn't you have roughed him up a bit? He burned our house down!"

The fire trucks had arrived, and they moved further into the trees.

"His mind is...not what it was," Cas said grimly.

Meg grinned. "Well, that's something. Now what?"

"We no longer have a home."

"Nope."

"We could get a new one? Together? If you want."

"I want," she confirmed. "For now, let's go back to my apartment."

"Why?"

"So we can look for a new place." She paused, remembering him in full angel mode. "After."

"After?"

Leaning up, she firmly kissed him. "After…"

"I see. Yes, definitely...after."