"So it was an angel?" Sam said, taking another stab at his salad with his fork and munching loudly on the lettuce.

"Yeah, it was an angel," Dean said as he took a bite of his burger. His mouth was full when he continued, "Said his name was Castiel. If that's not a dick name then I don't know what is."

"So God, the Bible, all that stuff is real," Sam said in wonder, not making eye contact with Dean.

Dean snorted. "Yeah, well, just because there's angels doesn't mean there's a God. And just because God gave me work to do doesn't mean I'm going to do it."

Now Sam looked at Dean. "Shouldn't you, though? I mean, it's God, Dean. You can't just blow this off."

Dean chewed and ungracefully swallowed. "Yeah, well, I don't even know what it is that God wants me to do. I mean, that angel dick disappeared pretty fast after we had our little discussion."

Sam shrugged. "Well, there's got to be a way to call him back. I don't know, maybe, pray to him or something."

Dean shook his head. "No way, Sammy, I'm not doing that. If they want me, they can come to me."

Later that night, Sam was in the shower while Dean was laying on his bed in the motel, idly flipping through channels on the TV. He was about to drift off to sleep above the covers when there was a sound like a rustle of wings, and Castiel literally appeared out of thin air.

Dean started, and his heart must have skipped a beat. He clutched at the side of the bed, and managed to choke out, "Damn it, Castiel," before regaining himself.

"Hello Dean," Castiel said.

"How the hell…what the hell…why the hell are you here?" Dean stuttered angrily.

Castiel furrowed his brow. "Well, I thought I'd take this opportunity to answer any of your questions that I can, since we're…alone." He cast a pointed look in the direction of the bathroom, where Sam was still showering.

"Anything you have to tell me, Sam can hear," Dean said, but decided not to push that fact because at least the angel was here. "I just want to know what God wants with me."

Castiel moved closer to Dean, once more disregarding personal space, until he was standing over him. "The exact details are confidential," he said, "but I can give you an idea. I trust that you remember Lilith."

Dean coughed. "Remember? She's a pretty constant part of my nightmares, man."

"Well, Lilith is trying to break the sixty-six seals as told in the book of Revelation to free Lucifer from his cage."

Dean took a moment to process this, before saying carefully, "Lucifer? As in, Satan?"

"If you prefer to call him that."

Dean let out a small, disbelieving chuckle. "And so what would happen if Lucifer went topside?"

"The apocalypse."

"Great," Dean muttered. "Fantastic. And what does God want me to do about it? Stop Lilith?"

"That remains to be seen," Castiel said. His blue eyes were fixed unblinkingly on Dean's. "But I need to know that Heaven has your full support."

"My full support?" Dean said, springing to his feet and striding away from Castiel. "I can't support this when I barely know anything about it! I don't want to say yes if all Heaven is going to do is send me on a suicide mission!"

"Heaven does what is best for mankind," Castiel said patiently. "Your intention has always been to do what you find best for mankind. I'm sure God only deemed that you and I had matched objectives, and decided that you had the skills to carry out what needed to be done."

"Yeah, well, do me a favor, Cas, and come back with some answers next time," Dean said, turning his back to Castiel.

Castiel stood there for several moments, before there was a rushed sound of wings. Dean turned back around and Castiel was gone.

"Were you talking?" Sam said, coming out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist.

"Castiel was here," Dean said flatly.

Sam looked around, eyes wide. "He was here? Where did he go?"

"I found out the scary way that angels can just pop up out of thin air if they want to. And they can disappear just as fast."

Sam sat down on his bed. "Wow. Dean, I mean, what have you gotten yourself into?"

"I didn't ask to be dragged out of hell."

"Well, no. But I'm sure being here is better than the alternative, isn't it?" Sam said, biting the side of his tongue and looking meaningfully up at Dean.

Dean sat down on the edge of his bed. "I just want some damn answers, Sammy."

"And I'm sure you'll get them, all in good time. I doubt that it's often that God sends heavenly messengers to communicate directly with humans, so I think we need to be patient as everyone just figures out what's going on. So tell me, what did Castiel tell you?"

It was a long while before the Doctor opened the TARDIS doors once more to allow Clara in.

"Doctor," she said hesitantly, before gathering her courage, "can you tell me what's going on?"

"Where's River," he asked, his voice slightly scratchy.

"She left," Clara replied. "She had to go, but she said just to call if you needed any help."

"She didn't explain anything to you?"

Clara bit her tongue before saying, "She told me…you had a friend once. And you lost her."

The Doctor sighed. "Sit down, Clara."

Clara perched precariously on the edge of one of the TARDIS's steps, and the Doctor sat next to her.

"I had a friend a while back," he began gradually and delicately. "Her name was…Donna. Donna Noble. And she was extraordinary."

The Doctor fell silent, so Clara smiled and nodded at him, her eyes soft, encouraging him to go on.

The Doctor licked his lips. "It's hard to go into all of the details, but in a way her mind sort of…became like mine. She started to think like a Time Lord. Humans aren't meant to think like Time Lords, Clara. And it was going to destroy her from the inside out." The Doctor's voice cracked a little, and Clara put her hand on his shoulder. "She had never thought of herself as anything special. And finally she discovered that she was special, but she couldn't stay that way. She had to forget all of our travels to have any chance of staying alive." The Doctor shuddered. "I had to build a sort of…a sort of wall in her head, to block out any memories of me. She forgot everything. And she went back to her normal life, and to this day, she doesn't remember that she saved the universe." Clara gasped, and the Doctor smiled. "She did, Clara, she really did. The entire universe would just be a void of devastation if it weren't for her. And she doesn't even know she did it. She still goes through every day believing that she's nothing remarkable. But she is so remarkable, Clara."

Clara allowed the story to sink into the silence for a while. Then she said, "So we need her back, then? But what's going to happen? If you needed to block her memories, what would happen if she remembers?"

The Doctor's voice shook. "Nothing good."

"So how do we solve this?" Clara said determinedly, jumping to her feet and pacing around the TARDIS. "There must be an answer." She stopped walking and looked at the Doctor. "If they want her so bad, the angels must have an answer. Why can't we just talk to them?"

The Doctor stood and straightened his jacket as he walked over to the TARDIS console. "The angels and I aren't exactly on…speaking terms."

Clara huffed. "Oh, come on, Doctor. For Donna's sake, we need to do something, don't we?"

The Doctor paused for a moment. Then he came over and kissed Clara on the top of her head. "You're wonderful," he murmured. "Absolutely brilliant. Of course you're right."

Clara grinned. "Clara Oswald for the win. Oswin!" she said, giggling.

The Doctor pretended his hearts didn't lurch at her words, and entered the coordinates into the TARDIS.