When they got to the hospital, Meg met them in the hall. She glanced over at Lily, whose eyes were shooting daggers at her.
"What's she doing here?" Meg asked. Dean followed her gaze to Lily, then turned back to Meg, who continued. "I called you boys, not her."
"Yeah," Dean said, "well, you want our help? She's part of the package."
"She punched me."
Dean turned to Lily. "Did you punch her?"
"Damn straight," Lily said.
Dean smiled and turned back to Meg, with a shrug. "That's my girl. Be thankful that's all she did."
"Fine, but don't be surprised if I rip her pretty little face off when this is all over."
"I'd like to see you try," Lily said.
"Okay, you two," Dean said. "We're here for a reason."
"Right," Meg said. "This way."
When they finally got to Castiel, Dean tried to talk to him. Lily leaned over to Sam.
"Was he always like this?"
"No... not really."
"Right?" Meg overheard and chimed in. "He's been like the naked guy at the rave ever since he woke up. Totally useless."
"Will you look at her?" Castiel said. "My caretaker. All of that thorny pain. So beautiful."
"We've been over this," Meg said, "I don't like poetry. Put up or shut up."
"I may throw up," Lily said.
Sam handed the stone tablet to Castiel, and told him that he woke up the same time they broken the tablet out. Castiel took it and smiled.
"Oh. Of course," Castiel said "Now I understand... If someone was going to free the Word from the vault of the earth, it would end up being you two. Oh, I love you guys."
Castiel pulled them both into an awkward embrace. They tried their best to keep him on track. His mind was obviously not well. He told them the writing on the tablet belonged to Metatron, the scribe of God. Castiel couldn't read it. It wasn't meant for angels, he said.
"Okay," Meg said, "this all sounds bad. What are you two jackasses doing with the Word of God? Let me see that thing."
"Back off, Meg," Dean growled.
"Come on, it's my ass, too."
"He said back off!" Lily said. She placed herself between Meg and Dean.
"You don't play well with other girls, do you?"
"I get along with girls just fine, it's demons I have a problem with."
"Damn it! Enough of this 'demons are second-class citizens' crap!"
Castiel became visibly agitated. "Don't like conflict." With that, he disappeared, dropping the tablet to the floor. It broke into several large pieces.
Meg said he was probably in the day room, so Dean went to talk to him while Sam picked up the tablet. Lily went with Dean. Without him there to reign her in, she wasn't sure she could handle being with Meg. He gave her that perfect blend of support and correction. He let her have her say, but kept it from interfering. She wondered if Sam would be able to stop her if she really got going.
Dean and Lily found Castiel sitting at a table in the day room, just like Meg had said. Dean asked him if it was taking in Sam's mess that caused him to be the way he was now. Castiel just pulled out a board game and held it up. Sorry. He shook the box and it was instantly set up. The three of them played as Dean tried to get answers from Castiel, but he just rambled on about the universe. Dean got so frustrated that he swept his arm across the table, sending the board and all of its parts flying across the room. Lily flinched. Castiel went to the floor and began picking up the pieces. He soon stopped and looked up.
"What?" Dean asked.
"Sam. He's talking to angels."
Dean was on his feet, and Lily was right behind him. As they got closer to the room, Dean slowed and held his hand up. Lily slowed and remained quiet. They were surprised to hear Castiel's voice suddenly coming from inside the room.
"Damn it," Dean muttered.
Lily watched as Dean cut his palm with his knife and began to use his blood to draw on the wall.
"What are you doing?" She whispered.
"Quiet." He worked fast. When he was done he stepped into the doorway of the room.
"Hey," he said. "Heads up, sunshine."
He placed his hand in the middle of the sigil he had drawn and the angels disappeared in a blinding flash of white light. Lily stepped into the room as Dean spoke.
"All angels blown back to their corners. We got like three, four hours tops."
"Castiel too?" Lily asked.
"Him too," Dean said.
A voice to their right started screaming, "What's happening?! What's happening?!"
"What is that?" Dean asked, looking at a young man who couldn't be more than eighteen, maybe younger.
"It's, uh... Kevin Tran," Sam said. "He's, uh, in advanced placement."
They did their best to explain what was going on to Kevin. During the conversation, Dean and Lily discovered that the angels said Kevin was a prophet, and that he could read the writing on the tablet. They had come to try to take him to the desert to translate the tablet under their protection.
"Gentlemen," Meg said, "we've got to start running and hiding. Or do you want to tangle with those wing nuts twice?"
"I'm sorry. Did you say 'we?'"
Lily smiled. She was happy to see that Dean really didn't trust the demon.
"I'm on the angels' radar now. You think I don't need a little safety in numbers?"
"All right, we'll go to Rufus' cabin. Kid can do his book report there."