It took Castiel a little while, but he did eventually join her, settling in cautiously next to her.

Charlie glanced over at him and grinned a bit, but didn't make any move to start the conversation yet. She wanted it to be on his terms.

"Why hide among humans?" He finally spoke quietly. "Why abandon Heaven?" And us, he wanted to add. But he didn't. Not yet.

"I haven't abandoned anyone," Charlie replied softly. "I will go back, I promise you that." She was quiet for a moment. "Humans... They feel things, far more than I had anticipated they would. They are clever almost beyond their means. They can build everything from nearly nothing. I had not anticipated any of this, and I wanted to see it for myself." She looked at him. "You know what I'm talking about; you've experienced these things."

Cas nodded slowly. "I have," he agreed quietly. "But many of your other children have gone astray in your absence."

"I've heard," Charlie said. She was quiet for a moment. "It isn't that I don't care, Castiel. I care very much. But this is something your brothers and sisters have to sort out for themselves. They shouldn't always rely on me for every solution. I'll step in if things get too far out of hand, but it hasn't quite reached that point yet."

Cas nodded again but didn't say anything more. He wasn't sure what else to say. After all that time looking for God and wanting to talk, he had nothing more to say.

Charlie just watched him for a moment, and then leaned over and pulled him into a hug.

"You aren't doing the wrong thing," she said. "You're doing just fine. And you deserve a man like Dean Winchester to love you."

Startled, Cas stiffened a little bit, not quite sure what to do.

"Dean is a good man," he agreed quietly.

"Yes he is," Charlie promptly agreed. There was no question about that. "You deserve a good man. And he deserves someone to love him and look after him."

Cas was quiet for a few more moments. "I am unsure how well I can do that," he admitted.

"You've been doing well so far," Charlie pointed out. "Just keep trying. That's all anyone can ask."

Cas nodded, content to try that for a while.

A few days later, Kyra and Gabriel were getting at each other again, because she still refused to trust him entirely.

Honestly, Gabriel could understand a bit of lingering wariness, but Kyra was being outright distrustful.

"Come on," he said. "I think by now you'd know if I was going to do anything to you. Cut me some slack, here."

"I've been cutting you slack," Kyra said. "I'm not glaring at you, nor am I traveling in the opposite direction. But you're known for being unpredictable and mercurial."

"But you're not exactly giving me a chance, either," Gabriel pointed out. "Honestly, why doesn't anyone believe me when I say I don't care that you're a nephilim? It's been ages since I cared."

"Oh, I don't know," Kyra said, glowering briefly at him. "Maybe the squadron of angels that have tried to kill me a few times. That's likely to make a bit paranoid."

"Did you happen to notice I wasn't one of them?" Gabriel retorted. "That I protected you from that monster not too long ago? I don't know, maybe that I haven't turned you over because my older brothers are all assholes?"

"Yes, they are," Kyra agreed easily. "I've only met a very few who are not assholes. You still pull asshole stunts, I doubt you will ever stop because you've been a trickster for too long."

"I try really hard not to be the kind of asshole Michael is, or Raphael is," Gabriel pointed out. "And I think I'm doing okay, which is why I don't get why you're still acting like I'm going to strike you down where you stand at any given moment."

"Because!" Kyra huffed. "You try being outgunned by just about everything and being on so many shit lists you lose track, and not end up paranoid." Because she was paranoid, but she wasn't discriminating too much. She didn't entirely trust any of the guys. She just didn't trust Gabriel more.

"After that stunt they pulled with burning your house down, none of the other angels care about you anymore," Gabriel pointed out frankly. "You're not a threat to them, and you don't have a stronghold against them anymore, so you've officially become small change as far as they're concerned. And I'm not going to do anything because A: I don't particularly want my family's attention on me, B: Mom likes you, and C: I don't really want to deal with Cas if I did."

Kyra growled wordlessly at him and, frustrated, poofed out of there. It wasn't a trick she pulled often, but she could, and she did. She even left a few feathers behind.

That surprised Gabriel a bit, but he wasn't surprised for long, and he quickly followed her. He wasn't about to let her just run off like that, not when they had to straighten this whole thing out.

Kyra vanished again, and kept vanishing when he showed up. She wouldn't be able to keep that up forever, but she could keep it up for a while.