"Hello?"

"Anyone fancy a royale with cheese?" Maya's voice came from the loudspeaker.

Or, Le Big Mac?' Dean replied.

Sam rolled his eyes at the Pulp Fiction reference, but pulled out a map to see what was coming up.

"There's a town about a half hour away. We could probably haul up there for the night if you're tired. That okay?"

"Ba-con dou-ble, bacon dou-ble." Maya's tone was sing-song.

"You holding up alright?" Dean asked, brow furrowed.

"Bored. Okay though, thanks. See you in 30."

The car fell silent again as call cut off, and Dean's concentration went back to the road ahead, damp and shimmering in the early evening light.

"Um...I'll take a bacon double cheeseburger with fries, and a sprite... oh, and a side of onion rings, please. Thanks." Maya slid the menu back, watching Dean lean back languidly against the booth."That last half hour dragged. Boy am I hungry." The waitress came and set down the drinks.

"Ugh, you and me both. Always tastes better when someone else is buying, too." Maya winked at Dean, who was now sipping coke.

"How was your journey, must've been nice to have some company, huh?"

Dean scoffed. "Who? Sam? Pfft. He was asleep until you called." Sam responded with a punch on the arm from across the table.

"Oh, really? Interesting."

"I wasn't asleep the whole time." Sam said defensively.

"Sure, Sam, sure." Maya gave him a playful nudge, Dean watching the smile that played across her lips as she bantered. She seemed okay, or as okay as she could be at the moment. He thought that once she'd seen the bunker, she'd feel less anxious. She said herself she wasn't leaving much behind, but he knew it was still rough for her. They had a tonne of stuff to sort out- the powers? They still hadn't tested Cas' theory that she'd been given angelic powers when she was healed, and they hadn't heard from the angel since it happened. He didn't mind though, at that moment in time he was just happy that she was there with them, that they hadn't had to drive away without her and never see her again. That he could wake up every morning and see her.

Our waitress set down the food and I took a sip of my sprite. "We still haven't heard from Cas. What do you think's going on?"

Dean scrunched up his face. "God knows. I've tried callin', but nothin'."

"Thought he might have realised how much we needed him to come back. For one, I'm still angel bait."

"Maya's right, Dean, we gotta find him. She's gotta be warded."

I cocked my head. "I wonder if I could talk to him- you know, angel radio and all that..."

Dean looked up from his food. "Have you heard anything so far? Picked up any transmissions, so to speak?"

"Not that I know of. But maybe if I focus real hard I might be able to hear something."

"Yeah, and get a nosebleed." Dean put down his burger and picked up his cell. "Let's try this the less Sixth Sense way first, huh?"

I watched as Dean put the phone to his ear, and roll his eyes a couple of seconds later as it went straight to voicemail.

'Ok, let me try!' I put my fingers to my temples and shut my eyes like a low grade psychic, but Dean quickly batted my hands away from my face.

'Maybe not here, genius. And maybe don't do the whole charade, either.'

I cut my eyes. 'Spoil sport.'

'Eat your onion rings.'

I sat in the back seat of the impala, both the Winchester's eyes set firmly on me. I closed my eyes, and thought hard about Castiel. His voice, his face, the aura I saw surrounding him at the hospital. The traffic was a dull hum which quickly dissipated into complete, deafening silence.

Nephillim? Powerful energy... Castiel... Find out. Someone lay with... a human? Halfing, it'll be the end of us all.

I tried to focus harder. I needed to transmit, not receive

Castiel? Cas? It's Maya... can you hear me? Cas?

'Maya?'

'Cas! Where have you been? Are you alright?'

'I'm quite alright. Just... busier than I expected.'

'You said you'd be back.'

'I am sorry, Maya. I didn't think I'd be here this long.'

'We're headed to the bunker, can you meet us there tomorrow? And why won't you answer your phone?'

'I will do my best. Phones don't work too well in heaven, Maya, I presumed that would be obvious.'

'My bad. Catch you later.'

I blinked my eyes open and tried to bring myself back to reality. The brothers were still staring at me, their brows furrowed in concern.

"Did that work?" Sam asked.

I nodded. "It was so weird. I could hear so many voices at the same time, but couldn't really make out what they were saying. I kept hearing... Nephillim, and halfling?"

"Nephillim, I've seen that word somewhere."

"I've read about them." I bit my lip. "But not in a lore book..."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "In what?"

"I was kind of obsessed with young adult fiction when I was a little younger... stories about half angels, half humans. Fallen angels falling in love with humans..."

"So, trash?" Dean smirked at me.

I gasped. "How dare you."

"Guys." Sam interrupted. "You picked up talk of a nephillim? Do you think that's coincidence?"

I fidgeted in my seat. "No, I don't. You think they felt what happened? I heard 'powerful energy' thrown around. Maybe they think I'm nephil?"

Dean looked uncomfortable. "Look, let's just wait till we can talk to Cas, huh? Let's not get too many ideas. You haven't told us what he said, did you reach him?"

"Yep. He said he'd been 'busier than he expected', he should be meeting us at the bunker tomorrow."

"I say we get a room here for the night, crack the last five hours in the morning."

Dean and I nodded our agreement, and I slid out out of the Impala's back seat into the warm evening air. Dean wound down the window, arm resting on the door. "Stick behind us, there's gotta be a crappy motel somewhere round here."

"Nothing too crappy," I pleaded, "I do want a decent night's sleep."

"Beggars can't be choosers, toots."

"We're not exactly beggars, Dean, pick something nice."

I don't know what I was expecting from a bunker, but the word itself didn't provoke too much excitement. This, though, this was incredible. It had an art-deco feel, inviting and nostalgic. It felt warm, lived in. I was half expecting some cold war relic, canned peaches, scratchy blankets and dusty concrete flaws. Instead, there were warm lights, shelves upon shelves of books, boarding school style bedrooms. Sam had said it was pre-war, built in the thirties.

"This... this in an extremely pleasant surprise."

"What? Some of the motels hunters stay in, and you were worried about a bunker?" Dean tossed a couple of my bags down the table in what looked like a War Room. Sam shuffled down the balcony stairs a few seconds later, loaded up with more of my stuff.

I shrugged. "Bunker sounded kind of scary..."

"This place is paradise, sugar, believe me. Safest place you could ever be."

"Yep." Sam pointed to the heavy door on the balcony above us. "Only way in. There's layers and layers of warding- if an angel or a demon wants to get in, it needs the key."

"And I'm guessing you don't hand those out to just anybody, huh?"

"Especially not those black-eyed freaks." Dean crinkled his nose in exaggerated disgust.

I slowly padded through to the library, fingers tracing the grains of a long wooden table, relishing the atmosphere of the place. The yellow warmth of the lamps; the smell of the old, leather bound books; the echo of my footsteps on the wooden floor.

"You wanna pick a room?" Dean appeared behind me, arms laden with boxes.

"Are they all the same?"

Dean paused for a moment. "Yep."

"Then I'll take whichever." I smiled, and trailed behind him to my new room.

"Few doors down from mine, you know, just in case." He winked, setting down the boxes.

"Thanks, stud, I'll remember that."

The room was pretty small, a double bed filling most of the space, but it felt cosy and safe. The dark walls and lack of windows made it feel a little cramped, but I figured I could fix that, with the guys' permission.

"Glad I didn't bring that third suitcase..."

"Yeah... like I said, downgrade."

"Come on, Dean." I put my hands on his shoulders. "This works for me, the amount of stuff I've hauled up here, it'll feel like home in now time."

Dean stood uncomfortably in the doorway, looking lost without the cover of the boxes.

"Hey, I want you know how grateful I am to you for doing this for me. You didn't have to, you didn't have to invite me up here; you could have just left me to deal with this crap myself. You didn't. Yeah, my bedroom may be a little smaller, a little less bright, but now I have you and Sam, too. I'd rather have a small bedroom and you two than all the space in the world and nobody to share it with." I meant what I was saying, and I wanted him to know that. At that moment, I couldn't care less about the size of my room. I had family now.I cupped his cheek. "Thank you. For all you've done for me. You've done more for me in a week than anybody's done for me in my whole life. I'm soexcited to spend time with you and Sam, to have partners in crime. I'm so excited that I get to see you everyday..."

I let the words linger for a moment, but dropped my hand from his face. "Let's do this, hey? Go out, kick monster butt, take each day as it comes. It's exciting."

"You sure?" he looked uncertain.

"Yep." I said brightly, giving him the biggest smile I could muster.

"Real cute. You oughta get unpacking, I'm making grilled cheese."