AN: This is a one-shot requested by radpineapple, who said that Cas and an OC of mine named Barb really needed to meet in person. Barb also appears in the stories Watering the Flowers, Uncanny Valley, and Red Horizon. You do not need to read those to follow this one, since I give a brief overview of the important events there. Not a lot of action or plot here, just a chance for Cas to meet Barb.

This takes place between season 12, episode 8, LOTUS, and 9, First Blood. Sam and Dean are in the secret government prison after exorcising Lucifer from President Jefferson Rooney.

Beta'd by Janice, who makes all of my writing a thousand times better (at least).

I do not own Supernatural or any of its characters, though Barb and Harry are mine. (Though really, by now, Barb belongs to you readers too!)

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Cas was well aware that size is no indicator of danger. For example, the deadliest creature to humans, killing around a million every single year, is the tiny mosquito. Another example might be Rowena who, despite her rather diminutive body, was certainly one of the most dangerous people on the planet. Still, the angel had not expected to feel quite so...cowed...by a tiny, rather elderly, human woman.

"I appreciate you taking the time to meet me when you are certainly busy with whatever celestial duties you may have, Castiel," Barb Treese said, her steely tone indicating she wasn't all that appreciative. "But if you don't stop lying to me, angel or not, I'm going to drag you out of here by your ear and teach you the fear of Barb."

Cas swallowed a large drink of the coffee he'd ordered just to be polite. Strength, he thought, might have as much to do with intent as it did about physical presence. Harry, Barb's husband, glanced from his wife's glare to Cas, who was floundering in a way that was frankly embarrassing. He'd thrown a molotov cocktail at an archangel, challenged another for control of Heaven, and called both degrading names. He'd sneered at the king of Hell and hit Lucifer with a guitar, but he was utterly at sea now, and he could tell that Harry knew it judging by the barely hidden amusement in his eyes.

"Well," said the ruddy-faced man, slapping his own thighs. "Gonna check out the Ace Hardware 'cross the street, see if they got any of the John Deere replicas I don't have yet. You two have a nice chat." He gave Barb a peck on the cheek, and she managed to smile at him without letting up on the glaring, a feat worthy of Dean.

Cas looked at Harry with a combination of betrayal and borderline panic. Harry just patted him heavily on the shoulder and left with a sincere but useless, "Good luck, kiddo."

This woman was a friend of the Winchesters, Cas reminded himself. They'd first run into her many years ago while on a salt-and-burn, then she and her family had later helped them out when Sam had been poisoned. And quite recently, she'd called for help, and Sam and Dean had gone to Arizona to solve a supernatural case and protect Barb and her sisters. Cas had briefly seen Barb once and had spoken to her on the phone. Sam had also shown Cas a candid picture of Barb and Dean he'd taken on his phone. In it, the woman had been barefoot and wearing a flowered dress and floppy hat, and she and Dean had been laughing uproariously. To say that none of these things had prepared Cas to face Barb's ire was an understatement of epic proportions.

A week before, Barb had called different phones of the Winchesters until Cas had answered one. She and Harry were "road-tripping" she said, and they would be crossing Kansas in the process, and would they like to get coffee together? She was Sam and Dean's friend, so Cas had figured the polite thing to do was to agree, meet in their stead, and give acceptable excuses for their absence. He had not been expecting an interrogation.

"So, you're telling me that Sam and Dean are busy," Barb started when Cas didn't speak. "On a case that you don't know the details of. And they can't answer their phones. But they're fine. And I'm supposed to just believe that." Barb's sweet, little-old-lady face leveled Cas a look that was so flat that he felt like a mouse being eyed by a hawk. "You know I raised four boys, right? My bullshit meter's working perfectly. How about you try again, and tell me the truth this time."

Cas felt his shoulders slump, and Barb must have seen his capitulation on his face, because she relaxed. "It's...kind of hard to believe," he said weakly.

"Sweetie, the first time I met Sam and Dean, they were digging up my long-dead neighbor who showed up and tried to kill them. The second time, Sam was infected while killing some Hell-spawn, and we had to tie him down and exorcise it. You flew out there to heal him and Dean, if you remember. Then, a few months ago, they defeated the ghost of a witch who could make herself into a sandstorm. Try me."

Cas looked into Barb's eyes and thought of how much his friends had trusted her in the past, the affection in their voices when they spoke of her. He looked at her empty coffee cup. "I believe you should have a different kind of beverage for this discussion. Would you like to see where Sam and Dean live?"

The Treeses followed Cas back to the bunker and he gave them a brief tour, trying to think about what Sam and Dean would show them. The thought of the pleasure they would have taken in Barb and Harry's awe was bittersweet.

They lost Harry in the garage, but Cas thought that Barb wanted to hear the story one-on-one anyway. Barb stopped them in the kitchen. "Let's sit here, shall we?" she suggested, her whole demeanor much softer somehow, now that she knew she was going to hear the truth.

Cas didn't think Barb really knew the Really Big Things that had happened in the Winchesters' lives, so he didn't mention Lucifer specifically, just saying that a demon had targeted the president. He left out Rowena and Crowley and Kelly, but mentioned that he had only left because they'd told him to get an innocent to safety. The words tasted like ash in his mouth.

To Cas' surprise, Barb set a hand atop his. "It's not your fault, dear," she said, and Cas couldn't say a word for a few long minutes. He suddenly thought he knew what about her had appealed to Sam and Dean so much, and it wasn't just her strength or what Dean called "spunk."

"I – you hardly – how could you know that?" he finally asked. He wondered if he should move his hand.

Barb tightened her grip for just a second, staring at Cas with wise eyes. "Because you're family. Family they've chosen, and I know that they don't do that easily or often. So I know that you've done absolutely everything you possibly can to find them and get them back." Barb sat back. "How can I help?"

Cas didn't know Barb, but her words were somehow exactly what he needed to hear. He managed a small, sad smile. "I cannot think of anything you could do to assist, but I am grateful for the offer." He meant it. He had felt very, very useless and very, very alone. Barb couldn't help, but somehow he felt just a little better.

"You just need to have a little faith, honey," Barb added, and Cas actually felt a little twinge of amusement. That, too, was bittersweet.

"Er…" Was it fair to tell Barb the truth about faith?

"If nothing else, have faith in Sam and Dean," the woman continued. "You know how they beat the ghost witch and her gigantic sandstorm?"

Cas shook his head.

"Well, I'm not actually sure, but I know they did it together. The one piece of good news in this whole mess is that they're together. Now, where is Harry? We need to do some shopping."

To Cas' ever-increasing bemusement, Barb pulled a pad of paper from the large purse she carried everywhere and tasked him and Harry with getting all of the items on a very long list she penned. Harry simply nodded and more than proved his worth. He seemed able to find even the most obscure items in the grocery store, including many the angel had never heard of. He had no idea why they needed so many kinds of foodstuffs or cleaning products, but Harry didn't question it, so neither did he.

When they got back, Barb was hard at work cleaning. The bunker didn't seem to accumulate much dust, but she had swept and mopped the kitchen, map room, and library, and as soon as they showed up, she began to make food. Then she started wiping down every surface in those same, main rooms. She even found the laundry room and washed, dried, and folded everything in there. She didn't go into Sam or Dean's bedrooms, which Cas found he appreciated, but by the time she was finished, the freezer was full of meals with descriptions and instructions attached to each and the entire place smelled sharply, lemony clean and all of the wood seemed to glow.

Cas didn't understand any of it, but Harry told him not to interfere. Actually, he and Harry mostly stayed out of the way unless they were called on to move tables and chairs around.

Finally, Barb called the men back into the kitchen. Her face was pink and her hair was damp and curling at her hairline, but she looked pleased. "There," she announced. "Now it's all ready for when Sam and Dean get back. Sit down, boys. I made food for my helpers."

Cas opened his mouth to say that they hadn't really done much and that he didn't need to eat, but Harry elbowed him and said, "No, you sit down and we'll get it."

Maybe Cas understood after all. Barb couldn't really fix anything, so she found something she could do, at the same time making sure Cas knew that she had faith that Sam and Dean would be coming home. He could appreciate that. Cas ate everything Barb put in front of him without a word about how he could only taste the molecules. After all, it wasn't really his body that she was feeding.

Afterwards, Harry washed the dishes and Cas dried them, and when they found Barb again, she was standing in the library. There were tear tracks on her face, but her eyes were dry. She leaned into Harry when he put an arm around her, and Cas thought about human means of comforting each other. They seemed so useless on the surface, yet he couldn't deny their efficacy.

"I'm sorry we can't stay, dear," said Barb. She faltered for the first time and Harry tightened his arm.

"You call us once they're safe, son," said Harry, holding eye contact with the angel. It was an order, but a benevolent one. And it was infused with just as much confidence that Sam and Dean would be back as Barb had showed.

Cas found himself nodding. "I will," he promised solemnly. He'd expected blame, like Mary had thrown at him. And, he admitted, Cas thought he deserved it. Despair weighed heavily, but maybe Barb and Harry's faith – in Sam and Dean, even in Cas – made it just a tiny bit lighter.

Barb hugged Cas and insisted he kiss her on the cheek, and Harry clapped him on the back, then they were gone. The bunker seemed even quieter now that they'd been and gone, but Cas made a couple decisions. First, he could do some Hunting, or at least try to. (He knew that Sam and Dean had continued Hunting no matter what else they were going through at the time, even when Dean's deal was counting down and when Sam was dying from the Trials.) Second, he would find a way to get his friends – his brothers – back, no matter what it took.