Castiel pulled apart his Oreos. He would hold one half in each hand and eat them in turn. Dean was fascinated and sat opposite him with his elbow on the table and his chin on his fist. Dean had gobbled his mid-morning snack in seconds.

"Do they taste better when you take them apart?" Dean asked.

Castiel grinned.

Sam flipped open his phone. Kevin had texted to say he was outside. Instead of opening the door, Sam insisted on testing his camera.

Dean and Castiel followed the taller hunter to the laptop. Kevin was smiling up at the lens. His crew stood round him. Appliel's back was to them, but they could see his white tight curls above the collar of his standard angel suit. Appliel's vessel was of the same bloodline Raphael preferred but he had remained neutral during the heavenly civil war. Koneal and Delifer flanked Kevin. They had the appearance of career women in their forties, with perfectly coiffed hair and spray bottle tans. They fussed over Kevin like spinster aunts, but they gave Dean the vibes of stern disapproving nuns.

"Stick behind me Cas." Dean instructed as they went to the door.

Kevin ran in as soon as Sam opened it, dodging Koneal's attempt to restrain him.

"Sam!" He pealed and hung off the hunter's arm. Then he grinned at Dean and said hello.

"Hey Kev." Dean couldn't help smiling back even if he was dreading the contents of Kevin's backpack, "How're you doing?"

"Good. Great. The guys are amazing. They take care of everything so I can work. They create this atmosphere…"

Castiel scribbled and passed over ... the oasis in the desert

"Exactly, Castiel." Kevin looked at the Winchesters who were stumped. "Delifer said that if the Leviathan had not intercepted the Garrison, I would have been able to work and learn in a serene and safe place. Of course, as Appliel pointed out, the top brass would never have let me go. They are making their best effort to reproduce the conditions for prophethood."

"Is that a word?" Sam asked.

"Possibly not." Kevin conceded. He moved to the table. "They get anxious if I'm away for long."

"Smity anxious or harsh words anxious?" Dean jumped in.

"Minor damage. Koneal burned a bush when I was too long with the dentist."

Castiel nearly got sick laughing. Obviously that was hilarious to angels.

"Baby is out there." Dean made to go but Sam put a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh they won't touch the Impala." Kevin said, "It is a holy object."

It was Dean's turn to get a stitch in his side from laughter. "Oh. Oh Kevin, stop… Sam and I… we lost our cherries in there. I bumped uglies with many a high school chick and of course I popped Anna's…"

Castiel smacked his butt.

"Ouch!" Dean rubbed his butt cheek, "Fucker! That hurt."

Castiel looked inordinately pleased.

"Seriously, guys, I've got to get back out… wait…" Kevin looked at Castiel and then at Dean, and then at Dean's dark bruised hickey on his throat, "Have you guys moved on from the eye-fucking?"

Dean cleared his throat and in a very dignified tone said, "Castiel is my partner."

"Good for you. For you both," Kevin nodded, took the news in his stride, and continued, "So. I haven't gotten everything off the tablet. I think, but I want Castiel to read over the gleanings I have here, that there is a reverse spell."

He opened the back pack and pulled out a thick sketch pad and a giant bottle of water. "Koneal says I have to hydrate."

From their resting place in the pad Kevin laid out three sheets of paper that had been wrinkled and then smoothed over.

"You didn't have time to re-write them?" Dean asked.

Kevin didn't dignify the question with a response. Castiel picked up the closest one to him. In Dean's eyes it seemed to be a pattern of scattered symbols from the tablet surrounded by Enochian. He knew Castiel and the angels didn't read Tablet-babble but Cas was running his finger down the Enochian and looking perturbed.

"I know," Kevin said then turned his attention to Sam and Dean, "It's like there was another layer of meaning to the spell. When I cracked the original, it niggled at me, made the symbols dance. There is more on the reverse side that I have yet to break."

"Where is the tablet?" Sam asked looking at the suspiciously flat backpack.

"I didn't want it anywhere near Crowley."

"Fair enough," Sam responded and pulled a chair out far from the table. He stretched his legs. "So Man, what have you got from it?"

"Well, there is a reversal."

Dean nodded. He'd gathered that bit.

"You need to reverse each part of the spell Metatron used and then add a final element." Kevin beamed at them.

"How Kevin?" Dean tried not to let his frustration into his voice. The poor boy looked so satisfied to be bringing them 'good' news.

"Well. I haven't cracked that yet."

Sam groaned.

Kevin was quick to add, "But I know where you start and what the key is."

"There's a key?" Dean imagined a larger version of the bunker door key and them kicking the angels' asses through the pearly gates and locking them behind them, maybe adding a Castiel inspired 'take that asshats'. He noticed the others' concerned looks at his manic grinning.

"I'm good," Dean licked his lips, "Continue."

"Not a physical key." Kevin sounded like he was teaching the dunce class.

"Yeah. Right. Why would it be?" Dean laughed to cover up that he thought it might have been and they'd have to dig around in another of Lucifer's crypts to find it. He told himself to shut up and stop letting his anxiety make him look like a grinning idiot.

"This part says you must reverse each step in the original order." Kevin pointed at the middle page, "That one is about the futility of attempting these trials and how Metatron only wrote the reversal because there must be balance. The page Castiel is holding says the Seeker must hold the measure."

Castiel had been tapping his pencil against the Enochian. He wrote down the side of the page
The Seeker must Keep the Log

"Huh?" Dean read it upside-down. "What does that even mean? Keep a log like a Starfleet Captain? Or walk around with a freaking piece of wood in a Twin Peaks tribute?"

"Are you sure Castiel?" Kevin asked, "My first instinct was Keep too rather than Hold but hold fitted better with measure."

Castiel gave a sharp nod.

"Do you mind if I ask the guys their thoughts?"

Castiel stood up and headed for the door. The others followed.

"What?" Dean asked, "Hello. What the fuck kind of log?"

Sam jostled his shoulder, "A log is a biblical unit of measurement. I think it's a small volume of liquid."

"Freaking encyclopedia brain," Dean grumbled but kindly because he was glad Sam had at least answered that part of the puzzle.

Outside Delifer was waiting in Kevin's beat up Mazda. Koneal and Appliel were missing, until Dean followed Castiel's gaze and found them sitting in the treetops. Delifer got out when Kevin used the bonnet of his car to spread out the sheet.

"Del what do you think? Castiel has suggested that the Seeker keeps the measure during the quest and that it is a log." Kevin asked.

Dean blinked and he was being crowded by the other two stick-up-the-butt Kevin groupies. He moved out of their way and plastered his side up against Cas.

"Castiel." Appliel inclined his head in greeting.

Castiel mirrored his gesture in response.

"We are glad to see that you have survived." Koneal stared unblinking at him. It made Dean feel like they were inspecting Cas.

"The Prophet asked us to help you," Delifer didn't sound very friendly. She took a step so she was directly in front of Cas. Dean put his hand on his arm. "You are still our brother Castiel."

Delifer raised her hand. Castiel watched the glow of Grace from her fingers. His sadness and loss was tangible to Dean, who tightened his grip. The angel touched Castiel's temple and closed her eyes.

"I am sorry," Delifer dropped her inhuman gaze, "I cannot cure your mutism. There is nothing physically wrong with you."

"Tell us something we don't know." Dean was all at once angry with her for disappointing Cas and with the world for the bum hand they always seemed to be dealt.

Delifer took his comment literally, "I can score his ribs to match yours. Perhaps not quite the same as yours." She gave a weird smile, as if her mouth was unaccustomed to the movement.

Castiel laughed.

Dean raised an eyebrow.

Koneal came forward, "I will do it sister. You expelled a great deal of Grace in your attempt to heal our brother."

Dean felt a twinge of guilt at his previous anger. He hadn't known Delifer had made such a monumental effort.

"Why do Cas's rib marking need to be different to ours? He is human now too." Sam asked.

"Not different to yours Samuel," Appliel answered as Koneal moved closer to Cas. "Your brother has an extra symbol that allowed Castiel to maintain the connection he forged at their first meeting. In times of need it helped guide Castiel to Dean."

Dean knew Castiel had some kind of way around their rib wardings but had thought it was because Castiel had written them, and it didn't always work, sometimes he needed to tell Castiel where they were for him to find them. Then he thought of how Castiel had shown up and found him a number of times before he popped open Purgatory, how Cas had found them when the guy got out of God's armpit, and of the night they had found Castiel's battered body on the highway in front of the Impala. He wasn't annoyed that Castiel had presumed so much way back then when he did the rib inscribing. It made practical sense, and who knew what would have happened if Castiel couldn't have reached him those times. When Dean looked up again, Cas was clenching his hoodie around his mid-section. Smarmy pride was a bad look on Koneal.

"Hurts like a bitch doesn't it?" Dean sniffed, "It'll fade Cas, and at least you are for our eyes only now."

Castiel managed a smile through the pain and mouthed 'yours'.

"Sure, my eyes." Dean laughed.

Kevin and Sam cleared their throats in unison.

"We're good?" Sam looked at Dean and Cas who both nodded, "Kev? If Cas is right about the liquid measure, what does that mean?"

Appliel answered, "Kevin have you told them what you have garnered about the blood?"

"I knew there'd be blood. There is always friggin blood," Dean muttered.

"Summary of findings?" Kevin asked.

"Please," Sam encouraged.

"A Seeker takes up the quest to reverse the spell. A measure of something from each part, blood in the first instance, must be protected and kept by them until they have the full log, then they can presumably do a new spell."

"Presumably?" Sam queried.

"I haven't translated that far." Kevin looked apologetic.

"What do I have to do?" Dean demanded.

"You've nominated yourself as The Seeker then?" Sam asked.

"Damn Straight Sammy." Dean stood up to his full height, "This is my quest. You are not jumping in to bathe in blood. Castiel is not going chasing after cupids without me. I'm shouldering this one. My family, my partner, my freaking planet, and excuse me guys, the angels can go directly back to Heaven do not pass go, do not collect $200."

"Dean, you do not get to self-nominate or to self-sacrifice, or to run headlong under a coming bus." Sam glared at him.

"I'm not. Not this time Sammy." Dean wondered if Sam had listened to what he had just said. Castiel didn't look too pleased with him either. "Look, guys, I'm not volunteering for a fast end here. I want to do this so Cas can live a life without fear of being smited, so we can go about our business without worrying about angels holding apocalyptic grudges and so Meta-dick gets his."

"You are not doing this on your own Dean." Sam insisted.

Castiel caught him by the shoulders. Dean bent his head so their foreheads touched. He spoke to Cas but loud enough for the others, "Cas, Hun, I know you might think this is your task to rectify but I can't risk you, I just can't. I won't do it alone. I'll need all the freaking help I can get if previous events are anything to go by."

He turned his head to Kevin, "What do I need first?"

"The blood of the blood of the Nephilim."

Castiel stepped back and threw his hands up. Dean watched as he marched back into the bunker.

"Metatron and Castiel killed the only living Nephilim when they took her heart for the spell." Koneal supplied.

"Oh." Dean responded. He supposed he should think that was it. There was no way to begin the quest. His quest. But he didn't believe that. He felt there was a way around it. There had to be. "We'll work on it, hit the lore, and you Kevin, you need to get working on the next part, OK man?"

Kevin agreed, "OK Dean. We'll head out. I'll stay in touch."

"You don't want to stay for lunch?" Sam asked.

"No. Thanks Sam," Kevin smiled, "There is a noodle bar on the way home."

Sam gave Kevin a hug.

Dean shook his hand. "You take care Kev. Don't let Apples, Cones and Deli push you around."

"I don't see why he can't use our proper names." Dean heard as he walked back in to find Cas. Sam remained outside to wave them off. Dean huffed at the nature of angels. He needed to find his own and reassure him that not having a living breathing Nephilim available didn't end things before they had even begun.