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Disclaimer: In no way do I have any rights to Supernatural or any of the characters you are familiar with. I only own Amriel and any OCs that pop up along the way.

Chapter Seventeen: Sam

Once they were checked in at a small motel in Caribou, Castiel changed into his suit and made sure he had his fake FBI badge that Dean had given him long ago. Amriel sat on the bed, watching as he did his tie and admiring the way he looked in the suit.

"You look quite handsome, Cas. Very official. I'd believe you were a federal agent if I didn't know any better," she told him honestly, and he sent her a smile.

"Elle, you probably wouldn't know any better," he laughed, "But then again, neither would I. If Sam and Dean can get away with it all the time, I can do it too."

"What should I do while you're at the scene? I've already warded the room," she gestured to the sigils on the walls as she yawned.

"Perhaps you should rest. You were awake the whole ride here," Cas said, a hint of concern in his voice. He couldn't help but remember how fidgety and nervous she had been the entire time they were on the bus.

"I suppose," Amriel nodded, trying not to think about how anxious the confined space of the bus had made her feel. "I'll look online and watch the news for information about the murders, too."

"As long as you get some sleep," he told her in a gentle tone now, sitting on the edge of the bed and taking her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. "I worry about you, Elle. How's your grace? You haven't spoken of it much…"

His question had caught her off guard completely. Since Paige had seen her true form, Amriel had been paying close attention to her grace and how it had healed over the months. It was much brighter than it had been when she fell, and her wings… She flashed Cas a bright smile before she started to tell him.

"Oh, I wish you could see. It's far brighter than what it was when I found you. It doesn't dim when I'm tired, and I really think I could move objects or people like Ephraim did. My wings— the feathers have been coming in slowly. That's why Paige was so concerned, I think. There's a lot of new growth, but it's patchy," she shrugged, an idea suddenly popping into her head as she grinned. "I want to try something. Stand up, please."

Amriel hopped off of the bed and told Cas to stay where he was. She walked a few feet away so they were standing across from each other, and she looked him straight in the eyes, telling him to stick with her.

Holding up her hand, Amriel spread her fingers before pulling them back and towards herself, like she was trying to grab something out of thin air. She tried this a few times before taking a deep breath and nodding. This time, Castiel flew the few feet and collided into her, toppling them to the ground, a shriek of laughter escaping Amriel as she fell into a fit of giggles. Her laughter was infectious, and Cas found himself chuckling too, holding himself so he wasn't crushing her against the carpet.

"Well, now we know that I can move people," Amriel grinned up at him, a light in her eyes that Cas hadn't seen since she first healed him without incident.

"Hello officer, I'm Agent Steve Moscone, FBI," Castiel flashed his fake badge and glanced around the scene of the crime with critical eyes. "I've been sent to assist in the investigation. Tell me what happened here."

Cas followed the officer through the bar, going through what had happened until he saw Sam and Dean come in through the front door.

"Ah, my colleagues," he said to the cop, excusing himself.

Approaching the hunters, Cas sent them a small smile as Sam slapped him on the arm.

"Agent," Sam greeted.

"Agent," Castiel answered in a faux official voice, and Dean cut their fun short.

"Cas. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Um, I still have that badge you gave me."

"Oh yeah? So, what the hell are you doing here?" Dean asked again.

"The murders were all over the news… I thought I might be of help."

"Yeah, but Cas, you know this is an angel situation, right?" Sam asked, "I mean, you left that night because angels were on your ass."

An uncomfortable look crossed Dean's face and he interrupted, "Yeah, and you were living the life, you know? Early retirement, working your way up the Gas-n-Sip ladder. Where's your girlfriend at?"

"Girlfriend?" Sam echoed, but neither his brother nor Cas explained.

"If angels are slaughtering one another, I have to do what I can to help. It's a risk we should be willing, don't you think?" He looked to Sam, who shrugged in agreement, and he continued, "Hey. Cas is back in town."

"Seriously? Did you-" Dean looked at Sam, amazed, "Did he just say that?"

"These angels— they were butchered. Much more violence than was required." Castiel glanced over his shoulder back at the scene and frowned. It must've been horrific.

"Definitely took more than one or two killers to pull this off," Sam nodded.

"Hit squad? Bartholomew's people?" Dean thought aloud, and Sam continued his train of thought. "Well, Bartholomew has a faction we know about, but this could be somebody else entirely… We don't know."

"Well, whoever it is, we'll find him," Cas said, his voice filled with determination that Sam hadn't heard in a long time.

"We'll find him. That's great," Dean groaned as Cas walked off to continue looking around.

"What did you mean when you asked Cas about his girlfriend? Does he seriously have one?" Sam asked with an eyebrow raised, his gaze moving from his brother to the former angel in a familiar suit as he assessed the scene.

"It's a long story," Dean sighed. "Let's just focus on the job."

"She should be here shortly," Cas said after checking his phone for probably the fifteenth time in the past ten minutes. It was driving Dean nuts. "I gave her the address, and this bar isn't far from the motel…"

"I'm sure she won't be much longer. We just got here, Cas," Sam smiled, not realizing how much he had actually missed his friend until earlier today. "So, how did you meet this girl?"

Cas was going to answer, but the door of the bar opened and Amriel walked in, her golden hair falling in waves around her shoulders and her gray eyes searching the crowd until she saw who she was looking for, a bright smile lighting up her face. She made her way over to the bar to get a beer before joining them, and Cas noticed that she was underdressed compared to the three men in suits, wearing a pair of denim shorts, a white v-neck and an unbuttoned plaid with the sleeves rolled up. Sam followed Castiel's gaze, and he was floored when he saw a small, blonde girl coming towards them. The younger Winchester shot his brother a look, clearly asking what was up with this, but Dean merely shrugged.

"There she is! Took ya long enough." Dean smiled at Amriel as she approached the table, pulling her in for a small hug before looking back at his brother and gesturing to the girl. "Hey Sammy, here's someone that you'll be very interested in meeting." He nodded to her, indicating that she should introduce herself.

Staring up at the enormous man with long, dark hair and kind eyes, she felt extremely nervous for some reason. She glanced to Castiel, who nodded before taking a sip of his beer. When she looked back to Sam, she saw that he was full of curiosity and even apprehension as he watched her play with the ends of her over shirt.

"I'm Amriel. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sam Winchester. I've been waiting a long time for this, actually," she said, her voice trailing off quietly and she saw his eyes narrow before they widened in realization.

"You're the angel of May? You're beautiful…"

"Isn't she?" Castiel interrupted, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and kissing her temple in a display of affection that was strange to the Winchesters. He was clearly drunk- they all knew it, and Amriel gave Sam a soft smile.

"Thank you, but this is just a vessel. I'm one of your guardians. I watched when I could, but we were told to take a more hands-off approach. I bent the rules when I thought it was necessary, though," she told him, and a grateful look passed over his face. "When you were twelve and that abnormally large child was chasing you after school…"

"You're the reason he tripped?" His jaw had dropped, as had Castiel's, and Amriel saw a look of pride in his bright blue eyes.

"It's hard to do much when you're merely a multidimensional wavelength of celestial intent," she shrugged unknowingly echoing words Cas had said once before, "But I did what I could to ensure you weren't harmed."

"Well, thank you. I really didn't want to get the crap beaten out of me by Jason Thompson," Sam smiled, holding out his hand. His small grin widened once her tiny hand slipped into his giant one, and he tugged her from Castiel's grasp and into a hug of his own, saying to her quietly, "If Dean hugged you, then I know you're one of the good ones."

In his embrace, Amriel felt something familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. It was warm and comforting, and when she pulled away she squinted and saw the glow of a grace that she didn't recognize.

"Sam must not know he's being possessed by an angel. But who is it?" She thought to herself. Once Amriel was in her own chair, Dean picked up the conversation.

"Hey Cas, are you sure you're ready jump back into all this? I mean, it seemed to me like you'd actually found some peace," Dean shot him a look and glanced not so subtly to Amriel.

"You once told me that you don't choose what you do. It chooses you," Castiel answered, and Dean stared at him in confusion.

"Huh?"

"I'm part of this," Cas continued, clinking his bottle against Dean's, "Like it or not. Amriel is, too. Right, Elle?"

"That's right," she nodded, taking a swig of her beer and finding that she didn't like the taste as much as other beers she'd tried.

"All right, well, then, in that case, we have to figure out, uh, who we're up against, what they want, and how do we stop them," Sam stuttered out, drawing a glare from Dean.

"Well, Bartholomew wants to reverse Metatron's spell. Presumably to take Heaven for himself once his following is large enough. That's according to April."

Amriel's eyes widened at the mention of April, remembering that Cas mentioned her once before.

"The reaper you banged," Dean clarified, and Amriel stiffened, staring down at her beer with a sudden interest.

"Yeah, and you stabbed," Castiel shot back.

"Yeah…" Dean muttered. "She was hot."

"So hot. And very nice," Cas nodded and Dean hummed in agreement as his friend continued. "Up until the point she started torturing me."

"Well, not every hookup's perfect." The hunter patted his friend's arm.

Sam couldn't believe the exchange that was going on before him, especially with Amriel sitting right there with them.

"Really?" Sam finally spoke up, "You're gonna talk about some reaper Cas banged right in front of his girlfriend?"

Castiel paled, turning to face an obviously uncomfortable Amriel, and Sam offered to get another round of beers.

"Nah, I'll get it. C'mon, Elle," Cas hopped off of his bar stool and held his hand out to Amriel, who took it without hesitating and together they walked over to the bar, where they ordered four more beers.

"Sorry about that. I wasn't aware that it's forbidden to discuss prior relationships, well, it wasn't even a relationship," Castiel fumbled over his words, and Amriel shook her head, telling him not to worry about it.

"I'm so glad I finally got to meet Sam. But there's something you should know. I think there's an angel residing in him.. I could barely see a grace-"

"Yes, an angel helped him heal after the trials. I'm sure there's some residual grace running through Sam," Cas explained away her concerns. "I doubt it's anything to worry about."

The couple took the beers back to the table, and Cas smiled, "Here we go, four brewskis."

Sam cleared his throat and excused himself, saying that he needed something out of the car. "It was really great to meet you, Amriel."

They watched him walk out of the bar, before Dean turned to face the two lovebirds in front of him. Cas was clearly wasted after only a couple of beers, his focus on nothing but Amriel for the time being. It was nice seeing him like this- as relaxed as an ex-angel could be, staring at his girlfriend with bedroom eyes. Dean was surprised he wasn't trying to grope her right now.

Castiel cleared his throat and looked at Dean, finding the courage to say what had been on his mind all night.

"I, um, I noticed you look kind of… uncomfortable whenever Sam mentions my leaving. Doesn't he know that you told me to leave?"

"Here's the deal," Dean answered, "When Sam was doing the trials to seal up Hell, it messed him up, okay? The third one nearly killed him, and if I'd let him finish, it would have. He's still messed up, bad."

Amriel looked alarmed at this point. Why hadn't she known that Sam had been doing the trials?

"You said the angel, Ezekiel, helped heal him," Cas said, his head tilting to the side and Dean looked down, avoiding his gaze.

"Look, I gotta do everything I can to get him back. Now, if that means we keep our distance from you for a little while, then… Then I don't have a choice. I don't feel good about it, but I don't have a choice. It's great to have your help, Cas, and yous too, Amriel. Okay, but we just can't work together."

"Well, that's just fine then," Amriel spoke up, sending the hunter a harsh glare. "Send away the angel and former angel who could offer a lot of help in solving this case. We'll be going now."

She really wanted to discuss more with Dean, but it appeared that he wanted nothing to do with Cas, and that hurt her.

"Don't maul her until you're back at the motel, Cas," Dean smirked, trying to save face, and he took a long swig of beer.

"Call us if you need anything. I'm sure you will at some point," she shot, unsure of why she was being so short with the Winchester. Something about the way he had acted towards Castiel really left a bad taste in her mouth, and she was trying to dish it back to him. A taste of his own medicine, she thought it was called.

"Sure thing, Elle," the Winchester winked and watched as she took Castiel's hand, telling him to c'mon, and she led him out of the bar. Dean watched them leave, thinking to himself that they could actually be mistaken for a real, human couple.

He couldn't help but notice how in-tune they were with each other, communicating with looks, occupying almost the same personal space, but not looking like they were all over one another. He had also noticed how most of the guys in the bar had stared at the blonde girl, but she hadn't noticed anyone other than his former angel of a friend. It was weird to Dean that Cas was the one that had found happiness with a girl. Things with Lisa hadn't worked, and neither did the situation between Sam and that Amelia chick.

Dean had noticed that Amriel seemed like she was doing a lot better in terms of blending in and not coming off all angel-y. It was a major change from when he had seen her mimicking him after they had taken down that Rit Zein. He decided that he was happy for Cas, and he really hoped that he and Amriel returned to that tiny town and settled down for good.