"Found something!" Sam yelled and both Alora and Dean jumped. Alora had been reading one of the ancient books she'd found in the safehouse and Dean had been sleeping.

"What?" Dean grumbled.

"Well you know how when an Angel is…" He glanced at Alora and she raised an eyebrow. "Being tortured… they give off power spikes. Burning bushes, lightning strikes, miracles, stuff like that. Well I've tracked a rash of it to a small port town in Oregon."

Alora ran a hand through her hair again and closed her eyes. "Who would be torturing Castiel and why?"

"Well the Angels hate him for getting them kicked out of heaven, the Demons hate him because he's an angel, and there are a dozen or so magical races who hate him for helping us. It's dealers choice really." Dean replied.

"Dean…" Sam said softly and looked at Alora. "Alora Cas has been putting himself on the line with us for the last 5 years or better. He's done a lot of good but it's made him a few enemies."

"Frankly I'm amazed he managed to stay alive while he was human, I figured anything with a grudge would have munched him while he was mortal." Dean took a drink from the bottle and that was it for Alora.

She slapped the bottle out of his hand and sent it shattering to the floor. "You inconsiderate, egotistical, unfeeling bastard. He was alone. He lived on the street for God only knows how long before I met him. He was eating out of garbage cans and you couldn't be bothered to help him."

Dean looked at the remains of his beer soaking into the grimy floor then looked back at her clenching his jaw. She'd told them how She and Cas had met and then how they'd moved in together. He stood up slowly but Alora didn't budge, she was furious and sick to death of his cavalier attitude. "He never had a bad thing to say about either of you, as far as he was concerned you two were the best thing since the invention of peanut butter. He idolized you, made excuses for why you two left him alone, told me over and over about the good you two were doing in the world. 'Killing Monsters, Helping People, The Family Business' is how he said it and he was so damned proud of you both and the whole time you two couldn't be bothered could you?" She was breathing hard and her face was an angry shade of red.

"We were trying to shut down Hell!" Dean growled. "And when we realized it would kill Sam we had to stop but it broke something in him and I was a little busy trying to save my Brother."

"And Castiel isn't your brother too?!" She spat rising onto the balls of her feet and getting right in his face. "That's what he called you both. His Brothers. His only family."

Dean backed away abruptly and Alora wasn't prepared for that. She swayed forward and fell hitting her head on the table. Sam tried to help her up but she shook him off pressing her hand to the cut on her head and stalked out of the building slamming the door behind her.

Three Months Ago:

Castiel watched Alora sleep and smiled gently, she was a constant wonder to him with her honest smiles and her acceptance of him and his many many faults. He didn't sleep anymore now that he had his Grace back and he rarely ate anymore, it was all so much less enjoyable now that he was an Angel again, all but one thing, no matter how many times he saw her, touched her, smelled or tasted her she was as amazing to him as the first time.

He ran his fingers gently through the ends of her hair and frowned when he saw a single strand of silver amongst the dark brown, he touched the strand letting it sit on his finger and then looked into her face, he thought he knew her face, thought he could name every freckle, every contour and slight imperfection but there were new marks on her face. One or two new lines near the corners of her eyes, small curving lines slowly carving themselves around the corners of her mouth from where she smiled but his eyes flicked back to the one silver strand and he felt terror curl in his gut.

He thought nothing had changed with his returned status as an Angel, she still loved him, he still adored her, they still had moments that she called perfectly imperfect couple moments but that strand of silver told him that while he would remain as he was until the end of time she would age and die. He thought about how much Sam and Dean had changed in the few years that he'd known them. They had collected so many hurts, so many scars and age was carvings its implacable mark on them both while he watched. He would lose them both, he would lose the woman sleeping so peacefully beside him and he clenched his teeth to stifle the rising tide of anguish that threatened to swamp him. He couldn't lose them, he couldn't stand to watch them die, any of them, not Sam, not Dean and most especially not Alora.

He stood up carefully so as not to wake her. He had a lot of research to do, plans that needed to be made and he knew just where to start. He kissed her gently and vanished in a flutter of wings to the Bunker where the greatest repository of arcane knowledge in the world had answers for him if he could keep Sam and Dean from discovering his plans long enough to find them.