Nearly two years later, and Castiel's promise was holding true. At least until today.

Maybel was once again sitting in the armchair, trying to read a book, while Edward and Bella cuddled up on the couch. Her dad was in the other armchair, watching a basketball game.

The book wasn't holding her attention very well, but then again, nothing had since Castiel had left her and never contacted her again. She felt his distance like a tear in her heart, going unstitched and ripping further each day.

A knock on the door pulled her completely from her book, and she looked around the room. Her dad sighed and stood up, heading for the door. Maybel wondered who was knocking on their door; they hardly got visitors.

"Hello?" Her father's gruff voice asked.

"Hi, is there a Maybel Swan here?" Another gruff voice asked. One she recognized. Slowly getting up from her chair, she rounded the corner.

"What do you want with-"

" Dean? Sam?" She gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"Maybel, good, you're here. We need your help again."

She was blown away. She couldn't believe they were here, at her house.

"Oh, no. No, no, no." Her father waved a hand in front of them. "She's not going off on anymore 'devil hunts,' with strange men." he said in an end of story tone.

"Dad-"

"Nu uh. You barely know these men, and they practically kidnapped you last time-"

"No, they didn't!" She argued. "I agreed to go with them. I wanted to help. And I want to help again." She turned back to the brothers. "Come on in, tell me what's going on."

Dean nodded and stepped past her father whose mouth was working like a fish. Sam followed after, an apologetic look on his face.

"We're dealing with leviathans. No idea how to kill them, but they're spreading. We trapped one, Bobby's been tryna work him over, but nothing's doing the trick. We just need you to come back to Montana with us and take one look at him, let us know how to gank 'em, and then we'll bring you straight home."

"So, I'm still banned from helping long-term?" She asked.

"Damn straight you are!" Charlie yelled.

She whirled on him. "Dad! I'm almost twenty-two now, and I might still live at home, but I'm a grown woman! What I do with my life isn't up to you. Now please, this is important."

Charlie huffed and glared at the brothers before walking away, grumbling under his breath.

She moved past Dean to close the front door, and turned back to them.

Dean cleared his throat. "Yeah, uh… Cas told us you weren't allowed to be a part of this."

She placed her hands on her hips. "Are you two here in secret, or something, then?" She asked.

They shared a worried, sorrowful look. "Well, uhm- The thing is…" Sam started, but trailed off.

"What?" She asked, hands falling to her sides.

"Cas is dead." Dean looked up and met her eyes. "He's gone. And the reason we're in this leviathan mess in the first place. He let them out of Purgatory; brought them here."

That tear in her heart? The strain finally became too much, and it ripped into two miserable pieces.

"He- He's dead?" She asked, voice catching. Her vision was swimming, and her ears felt hot and stuffed.

"I'm sorry. We heard about your uh, your connection." Sam did look sorry, but his words barely registered with her.

"H-How…"

"He took in all the souls from Purgatory, but accidentally swallowed the leviathan, too. Even after we put the souls back, the Leviathan were too strong. They started leaking out of his vessel, and took over. Walked him into a lake, where he uh…"

"Fell apart?" She whispered.

"That's one way to put it," Dean agreed.

Sam caught her before she hit the ground.

"Hey, it's alright. It's alright."

She held onto his arms until the dizziness passed and she could stand on her own again. She let go and stepped back, nodding her head.

"Alright. Let me- Let me pack a bag, and say goodbye." She pushed past them and took note of the empty living room so continued on into the kitchen where she found her father.

"Dad…"

He sighed and looked out the window. "Monsters, huh?"

She took the seat across from him. Seemed like he was finally ready to talk about it. They hadn't said a word about her disappearance two years ago since that day she came back.

"Are you ready to believe me, now?" She asked softly.

He rubbed at his scruffy chin. "It just doesn't make sense."

She shook her head. "You're right; it doesn't. But it's all true."

"And just because you can… See them, or whatever, means you have to go on these- what, missions? With people you don't even know? What if these monsters try to kill you, huh?"

She sighed. "I can't just not help because I'm afraid something will happen. Before, I was helping stop the apocalypse. If they've come back, it has to be because something just as catastrophic is on the brink of happening, and I might be the only person who can tell them how to stop it."

Her dad nodded slowly before turning his head to meet her intense gaze.

"Alright. But I want you to call every few days, so I know you're alright. And if it gets to be too dangerous, you get out of there and come straight home, you hear?"

She nodded once, firmly, and rose from her chair. Taking the two steps around the table, she leaned down and gave her father a hug.

"I love you, Dad," she mumbled.

He awkwardly hugged her back. "I love you, too, kiddo."

She laughed weakly and pulled away. "I'll see you soon."

"Imma hold you to that."

She left the kitchen and headed for the stairs, avoiding Sam and Dean's eyes as she passed them in the foyer.

"You're leaving again?" Bella asked, stepping out of her bedroom just as Maybel opened the door to her own.

"Yeah. But don't worry, Dean and Sam hunt monsters. They'll protect me." She walked into her room and heard Bella's soft footsteps follow her in. She didn't say anything at first as Maybel pulled out her duffel and started packing.

"Who's… Cas?" Bella asked.

Maybel's hands stilled. "The angel."

"The one who showed up in our living room?" Bella asked. She started packing again.

"Yes."

"What did that man mean by… Connection?"

"Were you listening to that whole conversation?" She asked tersely.

"Maybe."

Maybel sighed and zipped her bag shut. Tears brimmed in her eyes.

"He was my soulmate."

Bella was silent for a beat. "Oh."

"Yeah." She gave herself one last moment to wallow in despair before she sniffed back the tears, straightened her shoulders, and turned around. "Well, I'll be back in a week, give or take."

Bella grabbed her arm as she passed, causing Maybel to stop and look over her shoulder.

"Be careful. I'll be waiting. Charlie will be, too."

Maybel nodded. "I know."

When she'd walked down into that basement and seen what they had chained up, she'd nearly screamed. Never had she seen something so ugly and twisted and made of pure nightmare fuel before. Dean had clapped a hand on her shoulder before the noise could make its way out, and dragged her back upstairs.

Once the door had slammed shut behind them, he asked,

"So? How do we gank 'em?"

She was shaking with fear and could barely form a coherent sentence. She took a moment, swallowed down all her emotions, and shakily answered him.

"Uhm. Borax. Like, cleaning supplies. And then you have to cut its head off, and keep it separate. Or, uh, the bone of a righteous mortal washed in the three bloods of fallen. That'll permanently kill them."

"The fallen?" Dean asked.

"Yes, uh. An angel, the ruler of fallen humanity, and a father of fallen beasts."

"Great. Yeah. Borax and head separation, got it. Let's get you home."

Her head snapped up. "Wait."

He waited for her to continue, raising both eyebrows. She took a deep breath, collecting her thoughts.

"I want to stay and help. I'm sure more monsters will come along, and you'll need my help again. And maybe at some point you won't have time to drive a few states over to get me and bring me back. So let me stay. I can figure out what the three bloods of the fallen means. Let me have another look at him, I might get more-"

"Nuh uh. Cas didn't want you in this life, and neither do we. It's not safe, and you don't have any training. Just because you know how to kill something doesn't mean you can ."

"Cas is dead. What does it matter what he wants anymore?"

"Uh, maybe because his dying wish was for us to stay away from you?" Dean asked sarcastically.

Her breath caught. The sorrow threatened to climb up and pull her to pieces, but she pushed it back down. "And you're already going against that, so you might as well make it worth your while. You should at least let me stay until you get this leviathan thing figured out."

Dean thought it over for a moment, giving her a hard look.

He threw his hands up in the air. "Yeah. Alright, whatever, kid. You wanna put yourself in harm's way when I'm giving you an out, be my guest. But just know, this life always ends, and it ends bloody."

She met his steely gaze with one of her own. "Loud and clear."

Maybel had been filled in on many things since Dean decided to let her stay. Things like how Sam was having hallucinations of the devil, and how to wield certain weapons, and the exact events leading up to Cas's untimely death. Unfortunately, Sam's hallucinations had come to a peak, which is how she found herself standing in the hallway of the mental hospital, whispering with Dean while Sam whimpered in the room behind her.

"I have to go check out this healer; see if he's the real deal. I need you to stay and watch over Sam."

She nodded once, feeling the pressure he was putting her under. "I'll keep a good eye on him."

"Thank you," he said, sighing and running a hand over his hair. He glanced over his shoulder and cringed. "Probably best to keep your distance, though. He's been slightly… Unhinged."

"Gotcha." She watched as Dean left, and then stayed in the hallway chair until the nurses kicked her out for the night.

Little did they know, she'd also been taught about lying and sneaking around. She simply waited in the courtyard until she saw Sam's light turned out, and then she hoisted herself up and over his window sill, dropping silently to the linoleum floor. She looked around the room only to find him gone.

"Shit," she cursed, rushing to the door and peaking out into the hallway.

"Sam!" She whisper yelled, looking both ways before exiting the room and heading to the right.

She ran around, looking everywhere, before finally coming up to a door and peering through the window, seeing Sam strapped to a table. A man was placing some wire contraption on his head, and she saw his eyes flash black.

"Oh, no," she hissed. She was still pretty weak when it came to self-defense- especially against demons- but if she didn't interfere, who knew what would happen to Sam?

She tried to doorknob, but it was locked. Looking around, she saw no other option than to try and kick it down. So she backed up, raised her leg, and kicked at the side with the knob as hard as she could. The first kick did nothing, but she heard a splinter at the second kick. She could also hear Sam's pained grunts through the door, and with renewed vigor, kicked a third time and managed to break it open.

"Sam!" She yelled as she busted in, before halting. She felt all the air leave her lungs as she stared in shock. "... Cas?"

Cas was staring back at her, a mix of many emotions in his face, but he decided on anger. "What are you doing here?" He demanded.

"I- I was supposed to be watching over Sam, but-"

"Did Dean bring you into this?" He growled.

"It- They needed help! But that- that doesn't even- You're alive! What-"

"I'm taking you home, and then I will be back to help you, Sam," Cas said, looking from her to the behemoth of a man laying still strapped to the bed.

"No."

"No?" Cas asked, looking at her through squinted eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere, not until we talk about… About everything."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Uhm, yes, there is! We could start with the fact that we all thought you were dead , where have you been? Dean and Sam needed your help!"

"After the leviathan escaped, I ended up on the shore of the lake with no memories of who I was or what I was doing there. A woman found me and helped me until Dean showed up today to ask for my help. I only just remembered everything when we got here."

An irrational surge of jealousy rose up in her. He'd been with another woman this whole time while she had been mourning him? Gritting her teeth against the unbidden tears, she turned away.

"You are upset," he deduced.

"Good observation," she snipped. Then sighed and hung her head. It wasn't his fault he hadn't remembered about her. Or the mess he'd left behind, leading Dean and Sam to come find her. "I don't want to go home," she said, turning back to face him. "I've been learning from them, lots of stuff. I want to help, I like helping. I feel like I've finally found my purpose."

Cas shook his head, eyes fierce. "I can't let you stay, if anything happened to you…" He shook his head. "You're going home."

"But I belong with you!" She grit out, jaw clenched. "You're just going to… To waste this- this gift we've been given? People go their whole lives looking for a soulmate, and we've practically been handed to each other!"

"I'm no good for you. Being your soulmate is a cruel joke on you. Being near me and the Winchesters will only get you killed."

"I don't ca-"

"I do!" He nearly roared, sending Sam into a scared frenzy. Cas looked at Sam sorrowfully before turning back to her, expression turning stern. "You're going home, so I can fix this mess I've made."

"Cas-!" She said warningly, but his fingers had already touched her face and suddenly she was standing alone on her front porch. "Cas!" She screamed. "You bastard! How could you?!" She fell to her knees as the tears flowed.

The door swung open and her father was there, wrapping her in his arms.

"Shh," he soothed as she sobbed. "What happened? Are you alright?"

Maybel continued to cry.

She tried so hard to convince herself to move on; that he wasn't coming back and he didn't want her. She continued to practice self-defense the way Sam and Dean had shown her. Maybel even convinced her father to teach her how to shoot a gun. He was surprised that she knew as much as she did, and she reluctantly told him that Dean had started to teach her. She really missed the brothers, actually. After all the time they had spent together, she had grown to see them as close friends, if not brothers of her own.

But of course, Cas had come along and ruined that, too.

She wasn't bitter. Not at all. She just felt like Cas was taking everything she had ever wanted in life away from her.

Ok, she was definitely bitter. Which is why when Cas appeared in her room out of the blue one night, she didn't greet him kindly.

The dopey grin slid off his face and was replaced with shock and hurt as the pillow she had thrown bounced off his head and hit the floor.

"I thought you would be happy to see me…" He mumbled, looking down. She noticed he was wearing a mental ward outfit beneath his usual trench coat.

"After you brought me back and dumped me here when I told you no?" She snapped, getting out of bed but not coming closer.

He cocked his head to the side. "Well, I came back for you."

Unease settled in her gut. "Why?"

That grin from before spread across his lips. "Because we belong together. I missed you."

"Oh, no!" She gritted out. "You don't get to come here and say that shit to me, not after you told me it didn't matter and I wouldn't see you again! Are you just going to leave me all alone again? Do you know how it feels, to be tossed around like this?" Tears sprang up in her eyes out of frustration and sorrow.

But his grin didn't falter. "Have you ever watched the bees before? Aren't they wonderful?"

Maybel pulled up short. "... Uhm, what?"

"A queen bee can live up to five years. Which doesn't seem like a long time, but other bees only live about a month. Interesting, isn't it?"

"Cas-" She could see it now; the look in his eyes that said he wasn't all there. "What happened?" She whispered fretfully.

"I took on Sam's affliction."

"And you've been in the hospital? Or with Sam and Dean?"

"The hospital. I only just woke up last night, when the Winchesters opened the Word of God." His grin stretched even farther. "Aren't those two just wonderful?"

Maybel crept closer. "Uhm, yes. Cas, why did you come back after saying you wouldn't?"

He chuckled, and it was so unlike him that it sent shivers down her spine. "I was being obstinate before. Why shouldn't we be together- it's been foretold. We're made for each other."

His answer felt like a bucket of cold water dumped over her head.

She looked at him sadly. "You wouldn't have wanted this. Cas… I think you should go back to Sam and Dean." As much as it hurt her to say, she knew that he wasn't of sound mind right now, and abusing that wouldn't be fair to him. She had to respect his wants, even if he didn't respect hers. "Go back to them, and they'll know what to do."

He looked like a kicked puppy, and it took everything in her not to cave and run into his arms. Although, one hug couldn't hurt… Right? Maybel closed the distance between them and hesitantly wrapped her arms around his middle, laying her head on her chest. She sighed and closed her eyes, enjoying the way it felt to be in his arms that came up and held her close.

The sound of his wings flapping had her eyes shooting open. They were standing in Rufus's house again now, and the brothers were there looking at them with wide eyes. Maybel gasped and reared back, glaring up at Cas.

"I told you no, Cas! Why can't you ever listen to me?"

But that was the wrong thing to say. His eyes grew sadder than she'd ever seen anyone's turn before, and then he disappeared with another flap of his wings.

Maybel cursed and tugged at her hair, whirling to face the boys. "Can I borrow a phone? I need to call my dad before he flips." Spotting the new addition sitting at the table, she frowned. "Who's this?"

"Oh, that's Kevin Tran. He's a, uh, prophet." Sam said.

Maybel rolled her eyes. "I know what he is, dufus." Dean guffawed a laugh while Sam turned a little pink.

"Right. My bad."

She waved him off as he pulled out a phone and handed it over. She dialed her home phone number, knowing it was late and likely no one would answer, but at least she'd be able to leave a voicemail. And then after that… She'd find Cas, and figure out where to go from there.