AN: I just realized that I forgot an author's note on the last one. Whoops! Thanks (and free virtual pie) to you to those who reviewed. To those who didn't... I missed you! *goes off and cries until JustWhelmed sends picture of Castiel* All better! (But I still like reviews)

Disclaimer: Sadly, I only own Rose and she's the least exciting thing in here.

Dean's immediate reaction was to exclaim "like Hell!" and lunge between his sister and the angel.

Castiel's face was still mostly blank but he somehow managed to convey frustration. "I am not going to hurt her."

Dean snorted. "Says the guy who let her wander into Hell. Clearly you have her best interests at heart."

Castiel completely invaded Dean's personal space then, taking very deliberate steps. Technically, Castiel had to look up to talk to Dean, but that elicitated no smug feeling from Dean. The angel might look so much like a nerdy little guy in a trench coat that the Winchester men (who couldn't see the halo of light) could usually forget the power contained within him, but it was radiating now.

"You should show me some respect," Castiel warned in his low, velvet stretched over gravel voice. "I pulled you out of Hell. I can throw you back in."

That wasn't a threat Dean had considered. It wasn't enough to make him move away from his little sister because nothing was, but it was enough to make him shut up.

"Oook," Rose said from behind her oldest brother. "Before anyone get condemned to the Pit, let's just talk this out." She tried to scoot out into the open, only to find herself thrust behind Sam's back. "Oh come on!" she huffed. "If he was going to just whisk me away, he would have done it already."

Sam and Dean exchanged glances and conceded the point. Relaxing a bit, they let Rose walk to the middle of the room.

With her brothers on one side and the angel on the other, she felt kind of like a ref in a prize fight. Or a lion tamer. "So..." She figured that the most important questions were where he wanted to take her and why. She decided to skip those for the interesting ones.

"Why did Uriel call me the Chosen One? And why did he blame me for the murder of the angels?"

Castiel shifted slightly, as if that was a topic that made him uncomfortable. "The angels that have been killed have all been from our garrison-the garrison that fought the Battle to retrieve you from Hell."

Rose started to feel sick to her stomach. "Wha, what does that mean?"

"Lilith," he answered. (Out of her peripheral vision, Rose saw Sam tense) "It appears that she wants you."

"What?" Dean looked at his sister who looked a little less panicked than he felt.

Castiel didn't break eye contact with Rose. "You made it through Hell, Rose, without dying. Lilith wants to know how that was possible. I can promise you, you won't like her way of finding out."

Sam tensed a little more. He had some idea as to her methods.

"I got in and out because of you," Rose argued. She argued because she was scared of what Castiel was hinting at. "Isn't that right?"

Castiel nodded. Once. "I let you in, and the garrison fought my passage inside to retrieve you, yes."

Rose let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. "Well, then, Lilith is way off base. She should take it up with the angels."

"They aren't telling her," Castiel said quietly. "None of the five."

"Oh," she replied. She had forgotten in that short space of time that angels had died. To protect her. Her eyes filled with tears. She wasn't sure exactly why she was crying, but there seemed something so perverted about angels being killed by demons. Or angels being killed at all; and to think that it was her fault was more guilt than she could handle with a straight face, no matter how good the Winchesters were at burying shame deep under their skins. "I don't..."

"I still don't understand why Lilith wants Rose," Dean finished for her, unable to see her face but knowing by the set of her shoulders how upset she was. That was slowly killing him too.

Castiel ignored Dean. "Do you really think that you are just like everyone else?" he asked Rose. "You survived Hell. We had almost nothing to do with that. That was you. The demons ripped you apart (Dean and Sam actually flinched at those words while Rose merely nodded) and you survived. There is no one else who could have done that."

"Why me?" she asked, not wanting to be special, different. A freak. "Why is it always me?"

Castiel moved closer and laid his hand on her cheek. There was that familiar, not burning heat. Dean growled a little, but Sam stepped on his foot. He had a feeling that the angel would not usually be so forthcoming, and he didn't want Dean to break his focus.

"Because it had to be you," Castiel answered like it explained everything. Maybe to him it did.

"I don't understand," Rose insisted quietly.

"I know," he said kindly, running his thumb over her eyelid gently. "Someday you will, I promise you. However, right now, there are things I have been forbidden from telling you by my superiors. The orders involving you come from high on the celestial chain of command."

"Well, that's great," Dean said sarcastically. "Very helpful, you know, having all of this information. I'm sure we can deal with Lilith now. Thanks."

He had apparently forgotten the throw you back into Hell threat. Or maybe he really had that little control of his mouth. Sam and Rose wondered sometimes.

Castiel's whole not changing expression but conveying emotions thing was really a gift in Rose's opinion. She thought it would have helped in dealing with her dad. She refocused her attention just in time to catch the angel's words.

"You forget why I came here, Dean. I came to protect your sister from Lilith. What else can you want?"

"You came to take her away," Sam piped in from his corner. He drew himself up to his full, considerable height and crossed his arms making the muscles bulge just slightly. It was usually intimidating. "Why should we trust you?"

Castiel didn't seem impressed. "I would never hurt her."

Dean had a way of coiling his energy and strength in a way that let the prey know exactly what was coming. It didn't seem to bother Castiel either. "I don't believe you."

Castiel spun around faster than a thought and grabbed Dean by the shoulders in an iron grip. "I held her soul in my hands before you even knew her name," he said in his most dangerous voice. The ground actually seemed to shake a little with the angel's wrath. "I watched her walk into Hell. To. Save. You." He punctuated his words with a little shake. "Do not blame me for your mistake."

"Woah, woah," Rose said, walking over and putting her hand over the angel's and marveling at her own bravery. "Can you let go of my brother, please, Cas?" She wasn't quite sure where the nickname had come from, but both brothers gave her an odd look. Castiel apparently didn't notice. He reluctantly let go of Dean, eyes blazing with blue fire that Dean thought he could feel burning his skin.

"Look, I appreciate that you're trying to protect me. But, if you lock me away from my family, with all of the shit that's going down right now, I'd go crazy worrying about them." Castiel looked at her, fire dying somewhat until his eyes were their usual electric blue. "The best thing that you can do for me," Rose continued quietly, "is to help them kill Lilith."

"'Them'?" he repeated, almost suspiciously.

"Sam and...Ruby," the word tasted bitter in her mouth. "They've been hunting Lilith for a long time now and-"

"We know," Castiel interrupted. "Why else do you think we let that demon live?" He turned to Sam and his voice held a distinct warning note. "That being said, you are walking down a dangerous road, Sam Winchester, and we aren't sure where it ends. We will stop you if you force us to."

With that he was gone.