"So let me get this straight," Dean said, utterly confused. "You actually can talk, but not like a human?"

"She speaks with an angel's voice," Cas said.

Dean scoffed. "Yeah, when people dream of angels' voices, bleeding ears aren't usually part of the fantasy."

Which brought a question to mind for Sam. "How come she can't speak without her 'true voice', but you have to turn back into an angel to use yours?"

"I am a full-blooded angel in a vessel," Cas reminded them. "But Elizabeth's body was created specifically to contain all her powers, allowing them to come through as necessary. Otherwise, her powers would have combusted and burned up both her and her mother."

Elizabeth frowned and signed at Cas. Sam chuckled softly. "She says you're a lot of laughs, Cas- and she was being sarcastic."

Dean gave Elizabeth an angry look. "And you're not emotionless, either. You do at least have a sense of humor. Not a very good one, but it's there."

Sam again translated Elizabeth's sign language, "Until I was about six, I couldn't feel any emotions at all. Dr. Fisher wrote an article about me, but the American Psychology Association wanted to keep me classified, use me as research. About that time, the dull part of me that was my mother's angel nature became overshadowed by my father's humanity, and I began to show emotions- wild, extreme, uncontrollable, impossible to hide. Fisher changed her report to say that I could feel, but only in cases of extreme shock. She consulted with the APA, they ran a bunch of crap tests and came up with that cock-and-bull story that she fed to you.

"I laughed for the first time when I was seven. By the time I was fifteen, my emotions were as fully developed as that of any normal person."

Dean was still angry that she'd lied to them. "What about all that crap about 'logic not being clouded'? And how'd you fool a lie detector?"

"As my emotions developed, so did an unusual ability. I can control my emotions so well that, except in cases of major shock or excitement, I can make it look like I have no emotions at all. I can even fool a lie detector, and I find it very helpful to keep my mind clear so I can think."

"Are you doing it now?" asked Sam.

Elizabeth looked into his soft, bright eyes, smiled, and shook her head. "No, I'm enjoying this feeling of ecstasy. I finally know who and what I am, and why I am that way."

Sam lowered his eyes thoughtfully. "I understand how you feel."

Elizabeth smiled at him gently. She didn't understand what he meant, but she could see that he was sincere. She glanced up at Cas and signed at the other two. Sam told Dean, "She wants a minute alone with Cas."

"Okay," Dean agreed, getting up. "Take all the time you need."

Sam went out the door with his brother. "We'll just be in the next room," she promised Elizabeth.

Elizabeth watched them both leave. Then she got up and moved to a window. It was after ten o'clock at night. It had taken all evening for the guys to explain things to her- about the Apocalypse, angels, demons, and what Sam and Dean actually did for a living, if one chooses to call it "living". Slowly, Elizabeth was starting to make some sense out of all of it. She looked up at the stars and asked Cas, in her unearthly angel voice, "So where is it?"

Cas pointed up at a portion of the sky. He used his human voice to speak to her, rather than changing to his angel form. "Up there, between those three stars."

Elizabeth stared at the spot where he pointed. She was very happy, but a thought made her frown. "I don't want to seem ungrateful, but… will I be able to return to Earth?"

Cas shook his head. "Once in a while, under extreme circumstances, you might be able to get special permission to appear as an apparition in a dream, but you won't actually be allowed to return until you are a full angel."

Something in Castiel's words prompted her to ask, "How long will that take?"

"One hundred Earth years."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. "A hundred years? Why so long?" She folded her arms and looked at him sternly. "Is that how long it will take for me to lose my humanity?"

Cas gave her a warning look, which she ignored. She continued, "My mother loved me and my father, but that's it. She was really quite cold towards everyone else. You're only slightly better after two years with the Winchesters than she was after twenty-seven years on Earth. I actually see more hope for you than I ever did for her."

Cas looked tense and angry. "Elizabeth, we are what we are because we have to be this way."

"Right," Elizabeth said. "You all have to be a bunch of unfeeling, uncaring bitches and dicks; otherwise, you'll end up caring about the poor bastards that you loyal warriors are told to assassinate. I won't do it."

Cas squared his shoulders and looked at her severely, trying to ignore the way her words hurt him, cutting like a hot knife. "You have to."

"If you're so powerful," Elizabeth said, "why ask me? Why not just take me?"

Cas was silent.

"Cuz you have to ask," Elizabeth answered herself. "And I have to say yes."

"It's the way we angels work," Cas said.

"I won't do it," Elizabeth said again. She turned and started to walk away.

"If you don't, the demons will find you and kill you," Cas said. "The torture in hell for a mortal angel is intense, unimaginable. When you become a demon, you will be one of the most vile, murderous, conniving creatures in all of the universe. Is that what you want?"

Elizabeth whirled and glared at him. "Well, isn't that what you three chuckleheads are here for- to protect me?"

"Two humans and one angel cannot fight off an entire demon army. They will kill Sam and Dean, and since they apparently have seized control of an angel blade, they will probably kill me, too. Then they will kidnap you and drag you to hell."

Elizabeth's stomach churned. She didn't want them to die. And she didn't want to die herself and become some evil, unholy monster. She asked, "When will you take me?"

"Tomorrow night."

Elizabeth nodded. "I'll decide then."