Hey there! I just wanted to say that I'm really amazed that this story has over 20,000 views. I know it might not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it really means a lot to me that people are reading.

Thanks for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing. This chapter raises some questions and sets things in motion for what's to come.

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.

Twenty One: The Bunker

As they laid together the next morning, a tangle of limbs and bed sheets, Amriel trailed her fingers up and down Castiel's chest, admiring his smooth skin.

"Urim told me something interesting while he was torturing me," she said softly, glancing up at him briefly, gray meeting blue. "Whenever we were within a relatively close distance- twenty miles he said, in Heaven, our graces became brighter. He might've been lying, but I thought it was something worth looking into. Chuck told me that we're kindred spirits of a sort… There might be a connection."

"Are you sure that's what he said?" When she nodded, his mind began to race and his eyes narrowed as he thought about it. It truly was interesting, as Amriel had stated. If it was true, then her arrival at the gas station made sense. "Why did you keep moving from town to town after the fall? What kept you running?"

Amriel shrugged, "I didn't feel safe. But as soon as I got to Rexford I felt such a relief, like I could stop running." She wasn't sure if she was explaining it as well as she should, but Cas seemed to get what she meant and he smiled. He felt safe with her too, but he had put her in danger and couldn't forgive himself for it. He couldn't forget the sounds of her screams or the way she looked when he found her, covered in her own blood and limp like a rag doll. The night before, he had a nightmare that he had found her just like that, only she was dead, her grace no longer illuminating the space she filled. In his nightmare, Naomi had appeared behind her body, a twisted smirk plastered all over her face.

"You did this to her, Castiel. Her infinite life, snuffed out because you involved her in all of this! This never should have happened. She trusted you and this is what happened. This is what always happens when people trust you." Naomi had said this and more demoralizing, hurtful things in his dream and he had woken up in the middle of the night. Once he realized that he had been sleeping, Cas decided that he wouldn't be doing that anymore. At least he didn't have to sleep now that he was an angel again.

"Cas, do I have to go back to Heaven if we open the gates?" Amriel brought him out of his thoughts and he stared down at her. "I don't want to if it isn't necessary."

"What do you mean, you don't want to return to Heaven?" Cas asked, shooting her a confused look. That's all any angel wanted- that was all he had wanted when he was trying to prevent the Apocalypse with the Winchesters. But he wasn't sure if that's what he wanted now.

"It's going to be a mess. I don't want to be a part of their petty fighting, so I won't go back. It's not like I can, anyways," she frowned. Amriel knew her wings weren't in any state to be used. Every time she looked in a mirror she could see that her feathers had slowly started to grow back, but she had no idea if she could ever actually be able to use her wings again. Castiel must've known that she was thinking about them, because his fingers brushed along her soft feathers and she shivered at his gentle touch.

"They're still beautiful, Elle," he said softly and the blonde froze. She knew they weren't beautiful. He must just be saying that- like the men on TV. Amriel had learned in her months on Earth that humans lied constantly and usually over the most trivial things. Even Castiel lied to her every once in a while, but only about how he wasn't tired when he was really exhausted. She saw the way he looked at her, affection clear in his bright blue eyes and she knew he was being honest. How did he find them beautiful while she was disgusted by the very sight of her wings?

"They're offensive," she huffed, trying to ignore the way his fingers trailed along her newly grown feathers. "I had to pull some of them out myself after I took my vessel… It was awful."

Castiel was hit with visions of a frightened Amriel, huddled up somewhere pulling out emerald feathers that would do more harm than good if they remained attached to their host.

"I guess I'm lucky, though. Many angels suffered much worse than I did in the Fall."

He had seen it all from Earth, but he didn't know the extent of the damage until he heard that Ezekiel had actually died. Cas wondered just how weakened Amriel's grace had been when she fell and how long it took for it to heal- then he thought about how all of that recovery had been wiped away by Urim. Without a connection to the Heavenly host, it could take months, even years to regenerate properly. The idea of her being in pain for so long made him sick - metaphorically, though, since he no longer felt any human illness or pains. He had expected his emotions would be affected as well, but he glanced down at Amriel and felt a surge of love and complete devotion rush through him.

Castiel's phone began to ring, and with a groan he answered, listening to Dean's short command to get to the bunker now. He hung up and placed his phone back on the night stand before rolling over to face Amriel, who was watching him with a confused look on her face.

"Is there anything you'd like to do before we go to the bunker? Dean needs us."

Amriel nodded, saying she wanted to have breakfast. Keeping her vessel nourished would make things easier on her grace, but it would still be a long process.

They went to a diner and once Amriel had gorged herself with pancakes and bacon, they paid the bill and left the diner. Cas had sipped on a cup of coffee while she ate, wanting to blend in at the busy restaurant, but he found that it wasn't as satisfying as it had been when he was human. They left the diner and Castiel helped the blonde into the car before getting into the driver's seat and they were off.

They had been on the road for nearly an hour, listening to the radio and chatting idly in Enochian and English, before Cas decided to bring up their destination.

"You should be rather comfortable at the bunker. It's a truly interesting place."

"I just don't want to be a burden to them… or to you," Amriel mumbled, looking over and taking in his profile. He was wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and a loosely done blue tie and a tan trench coat over that, and she remembered that was what he had worn when he first took the vessel of Jimmy Novak. Everyone knew how strong the Novak man was and Cas had told her that Hael had wanted to take the body because Jimmy was no longer there to give consent. She liked these clothes on him- they seemed to suit him. Wait, did she just make a pun?

"You're not a burden, trust me. Dean likes you a lot and Sam seemed enthralled. They don't trust people easily, that's for certain. You've earned Dean's after what happened with Ephraim, so believe me when I say that there will be no problems when we arrive at the bunker."

When they got to the bunker they found the door unlocked and Castiel didn't take that as a good sign. He knew that it was always secured.

Amriel looked around the bunker in shock- this wasn't what she had expected at all. The enormous, almost regal space was a disaster. Chairs were upturned, a broken lamp and papers littered the floor, and it was eerily quiet.

"What happened here?" she asked, and Cas shook his head, unable to come up with an explanation.

The blonde knelt down and began picking up the papers, noticing that many of them were about angels- Metatron, to be more specific. She was straightening them out to put on the large table in the center of the room when she spotted her name at the top of one of the sheets.

Setting the rest down, Amriel glanced at the page with her name written on it and she saw an artist's painting of a blonde angel, dressed in a billowing white gown with bright emerald wings that faded into a pastel and then to white, ascending into Heaven with her arms outstretched towards another angel with sandy hair and blue eyes. She noticed that both figures were glowing brightly that all of the other angels in the background lacked, and she squinted at the caption.

"Amriel's ascent is received by her eternal partner."

Why hadn't she seen this painting before? She knew of every piece of art that dealt with Heavenly beings. This painting was done by the High Renaissance artist Raphael, so it wasn't like it was an obscure piece. She noticed that someone had annotated the page, drawing circles around eternal partner and had written Cas? next to it. Amriel frowned. She would know if she had an eternal partner, whatever that was, wouldn't she?

The page went on to talk about her duties and how she was well liked in Heaven.

"Well that's an exaggeration," she thought out loud. Few angels knew of her or even acknowledged her before she had been punished for disobeying direct orders. "They researched me."

She handed the paper over to Castiel, who didn't look surprised whatsoever.

"It was most likely Sam. Dean isn't too fond of doing research," he told her, eyeing the picture curiously. "I've never seen that before. It must've been discovered somewhat recently- in the last ten years, I'd say."

"Where was this painter getting his information from? Why haven't I seen this before?"

Amriel was cut off when Dean entered the main room and dropped a bag full of weapons on the table.

"Dean," Cas greeted, glad to see his friend, but concerned at the same time.

"Cas. Now, look at you, all suited up and back in the game. Hey Blondie," he nodded to Amriel, who nodded back.

"I, um, we came as soon as you called. What happened here? What's wrong?"

Dean stopped rearranging the weapons in the bag and he stared up at Cas, telling him that they should sit down.

"Is there somewhere I can rest?" Amriel asked Dean suddenly, realizing that this was probably a conversation she should let them have alone. Cas turned to look at her, concern written all over, from his posture to his furrowed brows.

At first all he could see was her grace, the dim light trying to heal itself while keeping her vessel going. Then he looked with his human vision and saw that she was exhausted, and if he could see that then Dean could too.

"I'll take her to the room I used the last time I was here," Cas answered for the hunter, taking Amriel's hand and leading her down a long hallway to the third door on the left.

"Will you be okay here while I talk to Dean?" he asked once she had removed her shoes and laid down on the bed.

"Yes, Castiel, I'll be fine," she said, giving him a small, reassuring nod that didn't do much to calm his nerves.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, promising that he would be back in no time, and then he left the room, closing the door behind him. Cas returned to the main room to find Dean looking over the papers Amriel had been holding and he cleared his throat.

"There's some stuff I gotta tell you, Cas… Kevin is dead."

And then it went from there. Dean told Castiel everything. How he had let 'Ezekiel' possess Sam, and how it had ultimately gotten Kevin Tran killed.

"Sammy was dying. What was I supposed to do?" Dean asked, running a hand over his face and trying to hold himself together.

"You let an angel possess him?"

"He said it was the only way, and I believed him. Now Sam's gone. Kevin's…"

"Dean, I'm sorry." Cas wasn't sure what else to say. There was nothing to say.

"Yeah, well… Sorry don't pay the bills, does it? It sure as hell ain't gonna bring Kevin back. We gotta find that son of a bitch."

"If the angel possessing Sam isn't Ezekiel, then who is it?"

"A dead man walking," Dean said with a determined voice. He was going to do whatever it took to get Sam back.

"What, you're gonna destroy him?"

"Damn right." Dean's answer didn't surprise Cas, but he still shook his head and sighed.

"You kill an angel, its vessel dies, too. Amriel won't let you kill Sam, you know. He was apparently doing some research on her. Do you have any idea what it means?"

"Not a clue. You'll have to ask Sammy when we find him. We gotta find him, Cas. But I'm sure you wanna get some sleep or something first, huh?"

"I'm an angel again," he said, watching the Winchester's eyebrows raise. "I did something I'm not proud of, but I did it to save Amriel and myself. You couldn't imagine the things they did to the both of us, especially her- I can still hear her screams."

"Is she gonna be okay?" Dean asked, looking from Cas to the hallway that led to the room Amriel was in, worry written all over his face.

"Her grace couldn't keep up with everything Urim did to her… I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to extinguish it all together. It'll take time for her to recover," Castiel sighed. "Amriel told me her feathers had been growing back, but handfuls have been pulled out. I wish I could've made him feel what she must have felt before I ended him."

Dean could tell Cas was getting worked up, so he held up a hand and told him to calm down. He asked if there was anything they could do to speed up her healing process. They would need another angel in their corner if they wanted to find Sam.

"She would have to touch a soul, but even then I'm not sure how much help it would be." The angel shook his head and sighed, "Truthfully, the only way she could heal quickly and completely is if Amriel was in contact with the Heavenly host."

"What's up with all the angel on angel violence though? She has nothing to do with Malachi, Bartholomew, or Metatron."

"She was with me, that's why. They thought we had information about Metatron's whereabouts, and they were ready to do whatever it took to get that information. I did what I had to do to protect Amriel."

Dean nodded, knowing he would've done the same thing if Sam's life was on the line.

"We need to come up with a plan to deal with this angel. Any ideas?"

Castiel heard footsteps coming from down the hall and he looked up and felt a familiar warmth spread through his chest.

Amriel's hair was mussed, so he figured she had been tossing and turning as she slept. Her grace seemed a little brighter than it had been before, but it could've just been him hoping she was healing.

"Hey, Blondie, what do you think we should do to get this angel out of Sam? Could we stab him with that blade of yours?" Dean nodded for her to take a seat and she stared at him for a few seconds before realizing what he wanted her to do.

Pulling out the chair beside Castiel, she sat down and shook her head in response, saying that it was a terrible idea.

"If you try to kill the angel, you would kill Sam too. He's one of my charges- I can't let you do anything to harm him." Amriel rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms, trying to figure out how to get an angel out of a host without harming the human.

"Listen, Sam is strong. If he knew an angel was possessing him, he could fight. He could cast the angel out." Cas suggested and Dean thought about it for a second and nodded.

Cas took Amriel's hand and Dean saw her flinched in a tiny, almost unnoticeable way and he raised an eyebrow. Was he missing something?

"What's up with you, Amriel?" Dean asked, looking from her to Cas, then back to the blonde and trying to figure out what was off.

"I'm just drained," she answered, keeping her gaze on the table and yawning.

Dean shook his head, saying that it was something else.

"Does Sam know that there's an angel possessing him?" Amriel tried to change the subject, but the Winchester wasn't having it.

"As far as I know, he's in the dark. I don't know how we're supposed to clue him in. But answer my question. You look like you're gonna hurl," Dean turned to Cas, "Is she gonna hurl?"

"She did after we escaped Malachi's imprisonment, so I'm not sure. Her grace is reacting adversely to the one that I took. I'm going to figure out a way to get mine back. But we need to deal with Sam first. Do you remember Alfie?"

"The kid angel? Yeah. Why?" Dean tried to figure out why Alfie was relevant to this situation, but he couldn't.

"Before he died, he told me the demons were able to dig into his mind— access his coding. We might be able to do that here, to bypass the angel and talk directly to Sam."

"And you think that would work?" Dean looked from Cas to Amriel, and the latter shrugged.

"I don't know, but I think we should try," Castiel answered for the both of them, and Dean nodded.

"Why don't we go pay Crowley a visit then," Dean said, pushing his chair back and standing up. "We've got him locked up in the storage room."

Cas stood too, glancing down at Amriel and taking in the tired look on her face. He knew that he should feel more empathy like he had before, and he almost could. Her skin was pale and all he wanted to do was make her feel better, but there wasn't much he could do right now.

"Would you like to join us?" Cas asked, holding out his hand and feeling a familiar warmth when she took it.