(A/N)-Hello lovely people! It normally wouldn't have taken me this long to post this, but I was gone all weekend with absolutely no access to a computer. But I'm back! So, as always, thank you to those who have given me feedback on this story, I really appreciate it and love you for it. So please, by all means, keep reviewing, because I really want to know what you all are thinking! (And I still don't own. I'm just as shocked and upset about it as you all are.)

Lydia absolutely loved the way the shotgun felt in her hands. There was just something about the way the wood felt in her hands, the loud sound that it made, the way the barrel looked that made her happy. Maybe not happy, but it did give her a sick, demented sense of joy. She assumed it was the rush of danger and feeling powerful. Whatever it was, she loved it. It was no surprise that her favorite part of her training was shooting the target in the backyard.

And that's exactly what she was shooting the target one November afternoon; shooting the target and thinking about Sam. They had been fooling around for almost three months, but only saw him once every two or three weeks. It was a routine agreement-he'd sneak in, get what he wanted from her, and sneak back out-but every time he came, Lydia fell deeper and deeper. She knew she wasn't supposed to develop any feelings, and she was almost completely positive that Sam had no feelings for her whatsoever, but it was getting harder and harder to convince herself that she wasn't going under. She wasn't in love with him-at least she didn't think she was in love with him-but Lydia Carmichael felt something for Sam Winchester, there was no doubt about it.

Then, suddenly, she saw a figure out of the corner of her eye. Six months earlier, she probably would've screamed or looked who it was. But now, she was looking to figure out what it was. Before she could stop herself, she pointed the rifle in the mystery figure's general direction and pulled the trigger. Her eyes widened in realization when she heard the shot, and her brain raced before her eyes caught up to her. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! I could've shot Bobby! Or Sam! Oh my God, please don't be them…

It's you.

And it was him. Castiel, the angel of the Lord himself, was standing on the grass in his trench coat. He looked exactly the same as he had when Lydia had seen him last; his eyes were a little colder, but that was about it. Except now, he had a bullet hole in the middle of his chest. He looked up at Lydia questioningly, his blue eyes piercing her soul.

"You shot me." He said simply.

Lydia had to take a few breaths before she could speak. She tried to make sure she sounded and looked as cold and nonchalant as possible. "You're an angel. Can't you heal yourself?"

Cas nodded, and when Lydia's eyes flickered down to his chest-which caused her face to go the slightest bit red-the bullet hole was gone. He sighed and looked back into her eyes. "Lydia…"

"Go to hell." Lydia raised the rifle again and shot Cas in the chest once more.

Cas looked back at his shirt, shocked. "You shot me. Again."

She nodded. "Yeah."

Cas looked like he was going to roll his eyes in exasperation, but he simply said, "Are you done yet?"

"Hmm…" Lydia contemplated it for a few seconds, then shot him one more time. He looked at her in surprise, and she said, "Okay, now I'm done."

Cas stuck his hands in the pockets of his trench coat. "Mature as ever, I see."

"Sarcastic as ever, I see." Lydia shot back.

He shrugged. "I could say the same to you." They both lapsed into awkward silence, the tension so thick, you could reach out and grab it. Cas gave a weak attempt at small talk by saying, "Your hair looks nice."

"What are you doing here?" Lydia glared at him.

"You are a hunter." Cas said it so matter-of-factly and so smugly, Lydia had to resist the urge to raise her gun again.

"Yeah, so what if I am?"

Castiel narrowed his eyes. "You said you wouldn't become one."

Lydia swallowed the lump in her throat. "You said you wouldn't leave me."

Cas started walking towards her, but stopped when he saw the way Lydia looked at him, feeling a strange loneliness in the pit of his stomach. "Things have changed."

"Yeah, well same here." Lydia rolled her eyes and started walking towards the house, trying not to look at him as she tried to sweep past him. She found that she wasn't going anywhere, however, when Cas grabbed her arm and wouldn't let go.

"You have three seconds to let go of me." The venom in her voice was almost frightening.

"Or you'll do what? Shoot me?" Cas' eyes were just as cold as hers were.

Lydia snorted, breaking his hold on her as she put her hands on her hips. "Don't provoke me."

"Don't threaten me."

"Or you'll do what? Shoot me?" she sneered at him.

Cas narrowed his eyes even more. They were so close, their chests were almost touching. "I could kill you in the blink of an eye without thinking twice."

Cas' eyes widened with surprise when he felt the slap on his cheek. He turned his head to look back at her and saw Lydia bare her teeth at him, her lip curled upwards. It was so differently than the Lydia of the past, he almost couldn't believe it. This definitely wasn't his Lydia.

"Threaten me one more time, you son of a bitch, I fucking dare you," she hissed. "You understand me?"

"Perfectly," Cas glared at her, trying not to let any other emotion besides aloof anger show on his face. "I don't want you hunting."

"And I don't want you in my yard." She folded her arms across her chest determinately and looked up at him.

Cas smirked the tiniest bit. "This isn't your yard. It's Bobby's. You can't just go kicking me out and slamming the door in my face anymore."

"Watch me."

Cas sighed heavily, taking his eyes off of her for a second or two. "Please, you need to stop hunting. I told you, it's dangerous. You can't be involved with this life."

"Why not?" Lydia chuckled bitterly. "It's my life. I can do what I want. You're not in my life anymore. You can't tell me what you think, because I really don't want your input."

"Too bad," Cas made himself look taller, stepping even closer to her. "I'm giving it anyway. And I am telling you, Lydia Carmichael, to stop hunting."

Lydia laughed, shaking her head. "This is ridiculous. Absolute ludicrous." She looked away for a moment, then looked back at him. "You can't tell me what to do anymore. You gave up that privilege when you walked out that door."

Castiel felt a flare of anger and words came pouring out of him before he could stop them. "Oh, my mistake. You don't want me in your life anymore? Is that why you still wear that necklace with my name on it?" Before Lydia could stop him, the angel grabbed the necklace she was currently wearing and held it up in front of her face like a trophy.

"Go screw yourself." Lydia muttered, taking the necklace away from him angerly.

"I'm not the one that's been doing the screwing, Lydia," Cas couldn't stop himself now. "I've seen what you've been doing all these months. Sam Winchester…"

"Don't bring Sam into this!" Lydia snapped.

Cas shook his head. "No, I will bring Sam into this. You're trying to replace me with him, and it's not working. You tried to do the same thing with Alex…"

"You are crossing a major line here, buddy." Lydia felt herself growing angrier and angrier with the angel in front of her.

"Oh, am I?" Cas asked darkly. "Tell me, it's not crossing a line to go have sex with...with him to get back at me? You're acting like a…"

"Like a what?" Lydia snarled.

Cas had to restrain himself from yelling in her face. "Like a whore. You are acting like a whore."

He might as well slapped her, that's how upset Lydia was. Without thinking, she took both her hands and shoved his chest, pushing him away from her. To both of their surprises, Cas tumbled back and fell on the found. He picked himself up, however, and shoved her back, not hard enough to make her fall, but lightly enough to make her stumble. Lydia immediately saw red, and she reached up to slap him across the face again. Before she could, however, Cas grabbed her hand and held it there in mid-air so she couldn't move it.

"Go away," Lydia hissed. "Go away and don't you dare fucking show your face around here ever again."

"No," he answered. "If Bobby or Dean calls me back here, I will come."

"Is that why you don't you come when Sam calls you?" Lydia threw the words in his face. "Because he's sleeping with me?"

Cas let go of her arm and stepped back. "You are the most selfish, self-centered, cruelest human I have ever met."

"And you are the most evil, cowardly, disgusting thing I have ever met in my life." Her words twisted like a knife. Cas was sure that she couldn't comprehend how much those words had hurt him.

"Evil?" Cas thundered. "You think I'm evil? Just because I hurt your precious human feelings?"

"Oh, I know you're evil!" Lydia shouted back.

Cas laughed in bitterness and contempt. "Don't you dare call me cowardly, Lydia Carmichael, I urge you."

"You are cowardly," Lydia searched his face, waiting to see his reaction. "I know you are. You'd rather behind your feathers and your clouds than come see me yourself for six months. You just watched me drink, hunt, and hook up. What kind of man does that?" Cas tried to respond, but she cut him off. "Oh wait, that's right! You're not even a man!"

"Then what am I?" Cas almost whispered the words. "Disgusting? All those months we were together, I disgusted you?"

"No, you didn't," Lydia's voice became the tiniest bit softer. "The thing you've become does."

Instead of being reassured, Cas became even more angry. "A thing? That's all I am to you? A thing?"

Lydia laughed in his face. "Well what am I to you? A petty human?"

"No," Castiel shook his head. "No. You are nothing to me."

He suddenly felt her hand grab his. "No!" Lydia shouted. Then, quietly, she said, "I don't care what else you do, but don't you dare say that I'm nothing to you, because I know for a fact that that's not true." When Cas said nothing, she went on. "I know I mean something to you. You're just too scared to admit it."

"Goodbye, Lydia." And with that, Cas disappeared.

Lydia stood there in the yard for a few minutes, frozen and unsure of what to do. Her heart was still racing, as well as her head. Finally, she stomped back into the house and was surprised to see Sam sitting with Bobby near the desk, talking.

"Lydia…?" Sam asked as she ran towards him and silently pulled him into a hard, passionate kiss. Her eyes were closed, so she didn't see how shocked he looked. Eventually, though, the surprise wore off and he shut his eyes, sticking his tongue in her mouth. Bobby didn't know what they had been doing, so the older hunter was confused as to hell as to why the man and woman he considered his son and daughter were making out in the middle of his house.

"What the hell…?" Bobby muttered. But Sam and Lydia didn't acknowledge him in the slightest. Lydia was practically dragging him into the bedroom, and before they disappeared behind the closed door, Bobby Singer could've sworn he saw a tear track running down that girl's face.

Inside the bedroom, Sam and Lydia were standing in the middle of the room, still kissing passionately, completely naked. Sam took off Lydia's necklace and studied it carefully. "Why exactly do you still wear this thing?"

In response, Lydia took it and chucked it in the garbage in the corner of the room. "Doesn't matter. It's garbage now, anyway."