"What did you mean by angel grace? I thought it was supposed to cure a human." Sam asked as soon as Gabriel left, his brows furrowed in confusion as Castiel looked at him, chewing on the inside of his cheek.

"Yes, when an angel uses its grace, it does heal a human, but that's the problem. This grace has been stuck inside Dean, and there is no angel to control it." Castiel replied, his hand still on Dean to keep him as pain free as he could. "Grace is not like demon blood. Without its angel to control it, it will slowly kill its host."

"Why does it do that?" Sam pressed, looking at Dean and shaking his head with gritted teeth.

"Sam, we were created for the purpose of following God's orders. We are his judgement. If something needs to be smited, we are the ones who does it. Our grace could destroy the world if we wanted to. Why do you think Lucifer was cast from heaven when he wanted to destroy the humans?" Castiel responded, taking a shuddering breath and pressing the heel of his hand to his forehead. "I don't understand all of it myself, so if you need a better explanation, ask Gabriel. He is an archangel after all."

Sam was silent for a moment, seeming lost in thought. "How much grace is needed to kill someone?" He asked, a hesitation in his voice as he looked at Castiel.

"I don't know." Castiel replied, returning to his seat for the long wait.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Night was beginning to fall in before Gabriel appeared, all caution thrown to the wind as he landed at the foot of Dean's bed, a dark look in his eyes. "The angel is Hael. I asked Balthazar and she disappeared off the angel radio a few months back."

"So you don't know where she is?" Castiel asked, slumping back into chair with a sigh of defeat. If she wasn't able to be found, then there was no point in hoping anymore.

"We can try the ritual to summon her, but I think she might be closer than you think." Gabriel responded, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully. "When we use a vessel, our grace can be in the host without it harming them. That's because in order to kill someone, grace needs to be regularly placed into the host again and again."

"So what you're saying is..." Sam said, only to trail off at Gabriel's nod.

"Yes, Hael has to stay close to here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Time ticked slowly by as Castiel waited for Sam and Gabriel to return. He refused to leave Dean's side, so they would be performing the ritual on their own. The angel didn't worry though. If Gabriel was there, then catching Hael would be no problem for them.

His hand had returned to Dean's, squeezing gently and pushing his grace through the link to ease the pain as they waited. The hunter had a thin film of sweat across his forehead, his breaths labored and rattling. The angel swallowed nervously, though he could do nothing as he held just a little bit tighter, squeezing the phone in his other hand as well.

The ringtone went off, and barely had a second of playtime before Castiel hit the button and held it to his ear. "Hello?" He said, his heart picking up speed.

"It didn't work, Cas." He heard Sam say, the defeat in his voice like a blow to the angel's chest. "I'm sorry, but whatever she's doing to hide, she's doing a damn good job."

Castiel swallowed, his throat feeling like it was closing in on itself as tears began to make tracks down his face. "A-alright, Sam. Then I'll see you when you get here." He said, his voice shaking as he pressed the end call and then let the cell phone fall from his hand and clatter onto the floor. He let out a whimper as he rested his head against Dean's frail arm, begging to his father for help.

But he knew his father refused to mess in angel's affairs anymore and that Castiel was on his own. He had only Gabriel and Sam here with him, to watch his one and only die right before his eyes, and that pain left him shaking uncontrollably and a ringing in his ears that drowned out all other noise.

Then the ringing didn't stop and echoed throughout the room, making it louder and louder with each passing moment. He raised his head, his breath catching in his throat as he saw it was the heart monitor, and the beat had gone flat.

"Dean?!" Castiel shouted, standing and letting go of Dean's hand in a panic. The hunter took in a sudden gasp before falling quiet again, blue grace flowing from his mouth and disappearing into the air before the monitor started beating normally again. Castiel took in a shuddering breath, looking down at his hand and seeing that his fingers were still glowing with blue. He had almost frozen Dean's heart in his sorrow.

A nurse with long brown curly hair and the name tag of Lindsey rushed in, the panic in her eyes obvious. "We got a code blue. Is everything okay?" She asked, moving over to Dean's bed and checking his pulse. Castiel couldn't respond, but only took a step back, his skin growing pale as nausea crept over him.

"Must have been a mess up in the monitor." He heard the nurse say, but didn't listen as he turned and rushed out of the room, his hands clasped tightly to his body and hid under his sleeves as he walked down the hallway. He didn't know where he was going, but he had to get away from Dean before he ended up killing him.

"Mr. Angel?" He heard a small voice say, and turned his head to see the little girl, Felicia?, was standing there, holding her mother's hand. The mother looked a lot healthier than when he healed her, and instead of those dying eyes, they held a cove of intelligence and life.

"Oh...h-hello." Castiel said, his voice shaking as he tried to wipe the tears away. It didn't work very well, and he didn't remember when he started crying but only that he couldn't stop. "How a-are.....you?"

"Mommy's all better now." Felicia said with a smile, holding tightly to her mother's hand with bright eyes. "Thank you for helping her when the other angel couldn't."

Castiel froze, his brows furrowing as he stared at the little girl. She had mentioned the angel before, but, did that mean... Why didn't he realize before?

"Does the angel work here still?" He asked, his voice hesitant and cautious. Felicia's face grew a bit conflicted at that, and she awkwardly shook and nodded her head.

"She doesn't have her halo anymore, but I can ask where she is." She said, glancing around and waving to a nurse with large curves as she walked by. "Mrs. Carol, do you know where Ms. Lindsey is?"

Castiel didn't even wait to respond as he took off, his mind focused on only one thing as he burst into Dean's room. The nurse was still there, hunched over the hunter in complete focus. Castiel stalked over, whipping the girl around and staring at the needle full of bright yellow light.

"Hael." He growled, before grabbing her by the hair and whisk of his wings, they were gone.