Dean drove them to a safehouse nearby and they spent some time angel proofing the place, Alora was silent and withdrawn until it was all done. "So it's Angels then." She finally said sitting at the rickety table.
"Maybe." Dean said.
"Actually Dean I don't think it is, remember the Angel back there said he'd been waiting for her to slip up and call out for Cas." Sam replied pulling out his laptop.
"So my new apartment got torched for no reason?" Alora asked.
"It was a noble sacrifice." Dean said with a small smirk as he pulled out a six pack of beer. "It gave us a place to start. Sam is gonna work his mojo on the computer and see what might have caught Cas's eye while you fill me in on his hidden love life."
"Where did you live before Cas moved you?" Sam asked.
"Portland Oregon." She replied.
Sam started typing and Dean handed Alora a beer. "So what's Cas like at home?" He asked.
5 Months Ago:
Alora stretched and checked the clock. Cas would be home soon and she grinned. It was the start of an epic 4 day weekend and she had big plans for it. She'd found a little farm that would rent them a cabin and they could pick their own veggies and gather eggs and go berry picking in the woods. She was ready to get out of town for a few days, the further the better because if they were in town Cas's job would call him up and he'd feel compelled to go in and handle whatever had gone wrong.
She got up and started packing their duffle bag stopping to flip through the new prints she'd made off her phone. She smiled at a picture of Cas covered in flour from a baking mishap and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she put double sided tape on the back and found a precut piece of matte frame to put it into. She hung it next to some of her other favorites and checked the clock again. Cas was late, he wasn't usually late but if he'd stopped to hand out sandwiches to the homeless he'd be late for sure. She smiled, he tried to hand out food and toiletries at least once a week on his way home. It had brought them together and they both kept it up. She finished packing the bag and checked her phone hoping for a message from him. There was nothing and she started to worry, he didn't like talking about his past but she knew he had been involved in something dangerous in the past, he would draw symbols and hide them all over the house, if he heard a strange noise he would get tense and only relax once he had been able to find the source.
She sat back on the floor and pulled her laptop onto her legs, Cas had teased her about her penchant for sitting on the floor when she had a perfectly good couch but she liked the floor, it was good for her posture. She was trying to transcribe a small file when Castiel simply appeared in the room wearing the strangest getup. She yelped and dropped her computer as she scrabbled backward. "Shit! Cas what the hell?"
He sank to the floor in a beige trenchcoat and stared at her. "Alora...I'm sorry. I haven't been entirely honest with you."
She stared at him. "How did you just… poof… in here?"
"Before I met you I was an Angel of the Lord… my Grace was stolen and I was rendered human but my Grace has been returned… I am an Angel again." He decided it was easiest just to spit it out.
Alora stood up shakily still staring at him her face pale. "Are you kidding me?"
He stood as well and used a small fraction of power to make his battered wings appear in shadow on the wall. "Oh fuck… you're not kidding me.." She whispered and backed up.
"Alora…" He reached out for her and stopped when she backed up further.
"I am sorry I did not tell you, I never dreamt I would regain my Grace." He let his hands drop and looked down at the ground for a minute before looking at her.
She rested her hands on top of her head the fingers weaving through her short hair. "You… I… We… shit Cas how? Why? When?"
He tried to explain as best he could and after nearly an hour Alora was sitting on the floor again looking stunned and dazed, he approached her cautiously and knelt in front of her. "Alora?"
She ran her hands over her face before looking up at him from where she sat. "What does this mean… for us?"
His heart leapt at that, that she still wanted there to be an 'us'. He wanted so badly to hold her but he wasn't sure how she would react to that. "I don't know." He admitted. "I still love you, but I am a danger to you. My own kind hate me for all the wrong I have done, all the damage I have done. And there are other dangers." He stood up and looked around the apartment before walking over to the wall of photos his hand resting on his favorite of them together.
"I should leave to keep you safe. As a human no one was hunting me, as an Angel…" He froze when she collided with him her arms wrapping tightly around his waist.
"Don't you dare." She ground out and her body shook against him.
He turned in her arms and tilted her face up to him, she was crying and he hated that. He had seen her cry a few times and it always tore at him. He wiped the tears away but she kept crying. "Don't you dare just poof away. Please don't. We can figure this out."
He wrapped his arms around her cupping the back of her head and holding her while she cried and he realized he was crying too, crying for lost chances, stolen opportunities. For the danger he was to her and the fear he held that something would happen to her. When they finally calmed a little she looked up at him her face blotchy and eyes red. "We can figure this out." She whispered.
He nodded and smoothed her hair back. "Somehow." He said softly.