"I consulted with several angels in Heaven trying to track down concrete information on unicorns, thinking that if I could find out what was actually out there, I might be able to discern who had access to the same information and gather a list of possible conspirators. I did find some information buried deep in the library, but unfortunately there was no way to know who else had accessed that same information," he told them.

"What, they don't make you sign out books with your name each time you want to do some reading?" Sam said, and Elena could hear the sarcasm in the question.

Castiel frowned and shook his head.

"Unfortunately not, Sam, though that would have been rather helpful."

Dean smirked at Sam, sharing a quick laugh over Castiel missing the obvious humor in Sam's statement. Castiel looked to Elena.

Humans and their humor, he said, realizing his misjudgment.

I don't know, I thought it was pretty funny, she replied.

Castiel's eyes widened a little with surprise.

I'm a quick learner!

"So, what happened from there?" Dean asked, prompting Castiel to return to his story.

"Right. I attempted to set a trap to catch whoever may have been involved. Unfortunately, it appears I underestimated whoever was behind this. Four days of...unpleasant conversation...before the demons who captured me left me to die. At least, I think that's what they were doing."

Sam and Dean both had looks of surprise on their face, but Bobby was ready to step in.

"How in the hell did some demons trap you?"

"They had an angel trap. There were seven of them."

Dean looked confused.

"Wait, there are angel traps? And no offense, Cas, but how the hell did seven demons manage to hurt you that badly, even if you were stuck in the same place for four days?"

Castiel raised his eyebrows and scanned the room before facing Dean.

"They were using angel swords on me."

Dean looked like he didn't quite know what that meant, so Castiel continued.

"It's a sword used only by a particular class of angel, the Grigori."

Dean scoffed in disbelief and held up his hands.

"Wait a minute, Cas, you mean to tell me that angels are behind this?" Sam asked.

"The Grigori were an elite team of angels who...I believe you say went off the reservation," Castiel explained. "Much like unicorns, no one realized that they were still around. There were approximately 200 of them originally. We all thought they had long since been eliminated."

Sam shook his head.

"Cas, are you telling us that we have mercenary angels running around doing this and no one realized?"

Castiel nodded.

"Well, how the hell do we stop them?" Dean asked.

"As far as anyone knows, they are as vulnerable to the sword or an angel blade as I am. The last time we believed them to be eliminated we were apparently incorrect, so I'm not sure how much I trust the knowledge of their weaknesses."

"Yeah, ya think?" Dean said. "Jesus, we got angels from Hell running around murdering unicorns and you all are up there running around with your heads up asses!"

Castiel's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he tilted his head again and glared at Dean.

"You speak with such arrogance," he said. "As if you have always been aware of everything going on around you. Need I remind you about how long you spent with Sam after I brought him back before you realized something was wrong? That his soul was missing?"

Dean squared his shoulders and crossed his arms defiantly.

"Yeah, Cas, and who's fault was that? Who's the one who got Sam but, oops! Left a piece behind."

Castiel's eyes narrowed even more. He took a breath in and opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself and shook his head slowly, maintaining eye contact with Dean the entire time. Elena had experienced them bantering playfully, bringing up past mistakes, but whatever was happening now was definitely not that. Sam took the silence as an opportunity to step in and try to ease the situation and keep things moving forward.

"Okay, Cas, it sounds like even though you hit some roadblocks, you did get some intel on who might be involved."

Castiel gave a final piercing glare at Dean before frowning and facing Sam, his face relaxing slightly.

"Yes. I am still unsure who the men who brought Elena over were working with. I don't think their leader was present for the show."

Sam nodded thoughtfully.

"Okay, well, that's okay, it's better than nothing. Now we have something to go on. Is there any way to tell how many Grigori might be out there still?"

Castiel shook his head and sighed heavily.

"I don't believe so. As I mentioned, we thought that the problem had already been taken care of. I am not sure it would be particularly feasible to pull off a similar maneuver today to eliminate them. A large part of their transgressions against Heaven included developing interest in human females and reproducing with them, creating a powerful race of half-human, half-angels called the Nephilim. We thought we destroyed both with our last attempt, but I could not guess how many Nephilim may exist along with however many Grigori are out there."

Sam looked defeated.

"Wait just a minute, Castiel. Somethin' about what you just said is itchin' my brain. I know I read somethin' somewhere about the Nephilim before. How did you get rid of them the last time?" Bobby asked.

Castiel raised his eyebrows and looked up, scanning the room again. His eyes squinted and relaxed a little as he spoke, and Elena could tell he was feeling uncomfortable about whatever he was going to say.

"Well, God sent a message down through Uriel—"

"Junkless," Dean spat out, and Castiel glared at him in response.

"—to a prophet to prepare for a world-ending event. He had the prophet gather a variety of specimen to preserve and outlast this event. Adequate preparations were made, and the majority of species were preserved, along with the prophet's family."

There was a pause of silence after he finished, before Bobby shot up out of his seat and slammed his hands on the table. Dean and Sam looked at each other, confused, Elena took a step back, surprised by Bobby's reaction.

"You frickin' kiddin' me, Castiel?"

Castiel continued to look around the ceiling of the room, clearly trying to avoid answering Bobby. Dean looked at Bobby and spoke up.

"Bobby—what's he talking about?"

Bobby gave a look of disgust at Castiel and basically spit the words out as he answered Dean's question.

"He's talkin' about the goddamn flood, Dean, you know, The Flood. Noah, his Ark, and two of every creature."

Sam laughed out loud for a moment until he realized Bobby was serious. His eyes went wide with surprise and disbelief.

"Seriously, Cas? The last time Heaven tried to take these Grigori and Nephilim out was when God flooded the whole world? And you think that may not be 'particularly feasible' to do again." Sam laughed dryly as he shook his head.

Castiel brought a hand up to the side of his head and rubbed it while he closed his eyes.

"That is correct, Sam. Clearly the world as it exists today has had quite some progress since then—" he began, and Dean scoffed and said "Clearly."

Castiel shot him a look and continued.

"—so that is the more obvious reason of why it's not the best plan, but additionally God promised to never use that method again to destroy the Grigori and Nephilim. It was a one-shot deal."

Dean scoffed again.

"Really worked out, didn't it?"

"We believed the Grigori and Nephilim had been destroyed, so yes, we thought it did. Humans were given something in return for this event, as well."

"Oh yeah? What did we get for allowing God to destroy all life on the planet?"

Castiel hesitated, making a pained face as he debated responding. Finally, he spoke quietly.

"Rainbows."

Dean laughed hollowly, looking to Sam and Bobby before looking back at Castiel and stopping abruptly.

"Rainbows, Cas? Friggin' rainbows?! Well, that's just awesome!" He shouted.

Castiel's his expression radiated anger.

"And the promise to never eliminate all life on earth in one fell swoop again, Dean. It's not as though this was something hastily thrown together. It pained our Father dearly to do this to his most prized creation: you humans. But he could see how the Grigori were tainting you and what it would cost the whole of humanity if He let it continue. You want to know another part of that agreement, Dean? Your side was supposed to avoid murdering each other, but it does not look like that held up for too long. What choice did He have but to try and give humanity one more chance to experience life? Time and time again, you have insulted me and called me a child for my actions and choices. Well, look who is the child now, Dean!" Castiel's voice rose to a shout and suddenly all the lightbulbs in Bobby's house exploded.

Elena could see how angry he had become; his wings were raised high and flared out. Bobby threw up his hands.

"Okay, I've had enough of you two idjits goin' back and forth yellin' at each other about being butthurt over things that neither one of you had anything to do with. Cut the crap, we need to focus and figure out a way to help keep Elena safe! Not even an hour ago Dean, you were just about ready to jump off a cliff when you thought Cas was dead. Get your head out of your ass and stop holding him accountable for the actions of the entirety of Heaven!"

Dean looked sufficiently deflated by Bobby's comments.

"And you," Bobby continued, turning to Castiel. "Stop actin' like we can't handle what you're talkin' about. There's no reason to obfuscate because you know we're gonna figure it out one way or another. Be straight with us and stop actin' like you gotta back every one of your old man's decisions. Ain't that why you fell from grace the first time around, free will and all that? You got it, now own it. Just because He did some crap way back when don't mean you gotta agree with it."

Elena watched as Castiel's wings sagged at Bobby's words. He lowered his head and nodded.

"You are right, Bobby. I'm sorry," he said, looking to Bobby and Sam as he spoke.

He shifted slightly, and Elena could tell he felt nervous.

"I am sorry, Dean," he said finally.

Dean grimaced and sighed, shaking his head.

"Me too, Cas." Dean paused a moment. "I really am glad you're okay. I'm tired of losing good people, I'm tired of losing my family. You're probably the best I got of both those things," he said finally.

"Oh, thanks a lot, Dean," Bobby said, rolling his eyes.

Sam threw up his hands and shook his head in disbelief.

"I'm over here breaking up World War Three because you two can't keep your egos in your pants and that's the thanks I get," Bobby continued.

Elena was nervous for a moment that the tension would rise again at his comment until she saw a small smirk on his face. Dean shook his head and laughed, as did Sam. Even Castiel smiled a little. He looked over to Elena and the smile disappeared, replaced with worry.

"Bobby is right, though. I'm not sure what we're going to do to keep you safe. I do not know if anyone else up there might be working with the Grigori. I don't know how to get you answers, or go after whoever might be involved, without great risk."

Elena bit her lip and looked over at Sam. He gave a slight nod and a pointed look, encouraging her to be honest.

"With everything that's happened, I'm not sure I would want you to keep trying to find the answers."

Castiel started to protest but Elena shook her head.

"I'm serious. Even before I knew about what happened to you, I was having doubts about whether returning was the right thing for me to do. Castiel, my whole family is gone. If I'm the last of my kind, that would be a lonely eternity. There's no guarantee that even if we were able to stop the Grigori and whoever else might be involved that I would even be safe. Maybe for another hundred years or another thousand, but someone at some point is probably going to find me."

Castiel stared at Elena, confused.

"But if you don't go back, what would you do?"

Elena shifted her feet, looking down for a moment before looking back at Castiel.

I could choose to stay here. I could choose to stay human.

His eyes widened in surprise.

Is that what you really want?

Elena looked at him sadly.

I don't have anyone else left, Castiel. You said yourself that we have this undeniable connection. The thought of leaving you behind to return to nothing is just...I can't imagine doing that, she finally said.

Castiel stared at her, clearly thinking something but not telling her his thoughts.

"What are they doin'?" Bobby asked.

Sam frowned a little.

"I think they're able to communicate telepathically or something."

Bobby rolled his eyes.

"Well don't that just make you feel like a real creep," he said, "Standin' around watchin' these two make moon eyes at each other."

"Okay," Castiel said aloud.

"Okay, what?" Sam asked.

Castiel continued to stare at Elena intently.

"Elena's going to remain a human. We will cease the search for those involved in this massacre."

Dean frowned and shook his head.

"Isn't that a little dangerous? To just stop looking for information now that we know the Grigori, Nephilim, and maybe more angels are involved?"

Castiel looked over at Dean.

"At this point in time I am not sure we really have a choice. They are too powerful, and we know too little. I think as long as we're not looking for them, we will be relatively safe. I hope."

Sam looked uneasy at Castiel's last comment.

"Well, what happens when we see things start popping up and we think it might involve them, do we just walk away?"

"We deal with them when we are forced to. Until then, we need to try and stay safe and hope this is the last we hear from them for a while. I'm going to put Enochian sigils on Elena like I did to the two of you," Castiel told Sam and Dean.

They both winced subconsciously.

"This will hurt," Castiel told her, and she looked at him with confusion.

"What are—" Elena started to ask, then sucked in a breath as she felt a searing pain inside her torso.

She let it out slowly and the pain started to fade.

"What was that? What did you just do to me?" She was trying not to panic, but she didn't understand why he hurt her.

"I etched Enochian sigils into you to protect you from angels finding you."

"Is that gonna be strong enough for the next time you two, you know," Dean gestured crudely with his hands.

"Dean!" Sam said sharply, looking at the ceiling and shaking his head.

"I don't understand," Elena said.

Castiel cleared his throat.

"I think he means in the event of another shockwave when we climax during sexual relations," he told her.

"Oh for cryin' out loud," Bobby said, rubbing his hand on his forehead. "That was somethin' I could've done without hearin'."

"Boy, Cas, you sure do know how to sweet talk the ladies," Dean said and winked at Castiel.

Castiel tilted his head, narrowing his eyes at Dean as he tried to discern whether it said sincerely or in jest.

"Thank you," he said finally, raising an eyebrow a little as he said it. "And to answer your question, yes, this should protect her regardless of any energy that she gives off during any number of activities."

Sam raised a hand to his mouth and tried to hold back laughter, but his shoulders shaking gave it away.

"I'm startin' to feel like I'm stuck in one of them crappy teenage monster love stories," Bobby muttered.

"I don't have to leave, now, do I? I'm still really new at being a human and I don't think I could manage on my own," Elena said, suddenly concerned that they would make her leave if they thought she didn't need protecting.

"Well, I don't know about that. Cas got let loose pretty early on and only got accused of being a sexual predator a handful of times," Dean said with a laugh.

Castiel tilted his head and looked annoyed.

"Ha ha, Dean," he responded, which only incited more laughter.

"Of course not, Elena. You're more than welcome to stay here with me as long as you want," Bobby told her. "As for these two, might do them some good to have another person to talk to aside from each other from time to time."

Elena nodded thoughtfully.

"Thank you, Bobby. I know I've still got so much to learn just about being a human. I really appreciate that you'd be willing to do that for me," she told him.

He gave her a smile and a nod before excusing himself.

"Gotta replace all these lightbulbs and fix the windows so we can see when it gets dark soon, thanks to someone's Almighty temper," Bobby said, smirking at Castiel.

Elena laughed at Bobby's comment and then again when Castiel ruffled his wings.

"If you'll excuse us for a while, we're going to discuss some things. We'll be back," Castiel told Sam and Dean.