As soon as the gun fires, Castiel steps in front of Emma and James. He barely makes it before the bullet hits his arm, and he has to fight back a groan. He heals it immediately, the pain gone in an instant.

"Stop!" Castiel calls out, his voice as loud and urgent as possible. Shockingly, it works, which may be the first time in history that they've listened to him.

"Cas?"

Castiel takes a deep breath, trying to prepare himself for the conversation he knows is about to come.

"How does a shifter know your name?" Emma asks.

All Castiel can bring himself to say is, "He's not a shifter."

The man in question runs through the sewers, closing the distance between them in just seconds. He throws his arms around the angel, pulling him into a hug.

"Oh my god, Cas, you're here," he says breathlessly. He takes a step back, his hands still on the angel's shoulders as he stares at him in disbelief. "I can't believe it. It's really you."

And though Castiel has spent the last couple months doing everything to avoid being in this exact situation, now that he's here, he can't help but smile.

"Hi, Sam."

In the corner of his eye, Castiel sees Emma and James glance at each other warily.

"Are you okay?" Sam asks. "Where have you been? I've been calling and texting and I even tried praying a few —"

"I know," Castiel interrupts.

That shuts him up immediately. Sam's worried expression changes to one of confusion, and maybe even betrayal. It's enough to make Castiel feel guilty, if not for ignoring him than for admitting it so harshly.

"You know," Sam repeats slowly. "You..." He scoffs, his hands drop to his side. "Right. Of course you did."

Castiel sighs. "Sam..." Though he may not be on good terms with the winchesters, he never intended to upset them — to upset him specifically. Sam's been nothing but nice to him for most of their time together.

"No, no, it's fine," Sam says, though it's clearly not fine. "You were busy. I get it. Had time to stop by Jody's, but couldn't pick up the phone for two seconds.. Got it."

Castiel opens his mouth to say something, but ultimately decided against it. There's no point in arguing about it. He's not here to ask for forgiveness. Why should he even try?

But then his gaze shifts and he sees Dean, frozen where he stands a few feet back. He's gaping at Castiel, his mouth open as if he's trying to say something, but he doesn't. Every bit of Castiel is urging him to look away, but now that they've locked eyes, he can't. It was easy to walk away when Dean was pissed, when he refused to make eye contact and every look was a glare. It's a lot harder when he sees the emotion in Dean's eyes.

"Hello, Dean."

When he greeted Sam, he couldn't help but smile. Looking at Dean, he can't force himself to do the same. Just seeing his face is bringing back conflicting memories.

"Something always goes wrong."

"And why is that something always you?"

That's the hardest to forget. The words have rung like an echo in his head since he heard them. They've reprimanded him through every mistake he's made.

But that's not the only voice he hears.

"I never should have let you go."

Because there's more to Dean than his cold exterior. On the inside, he's a good man. He's soft. He's empathetic. He's emotional, and not always in a bad way. That's the Dean that Castiel fell from grace for.

And that's the Dean he sees now.

"Cas," Dean whispers.

There's so much that needs to be said, but neither of them say it. It's a tense silence, and Castiel would do anything to break it, but he can't.

James clears his throat, and the awkward moment is over.

"So," he says, "I take it you two are the Winchesters?"

This seems to be the first time Sam notices them, no longer too distracted by seeing Castiel again. "Uh, yeah. And you are...?"

"Cas's new and improved friends," Emma jumps in before James can answer, for which he smacks her on the shoulder. "He said you're Sam, right?"

"Yeah, and that's —" Sam, completely misunderstanding what she meant, starts to gesture to Dean for an introduction.

Before he can finish, Emma punches him in the face.

"Ow!" Sam instinctively puts a hand over his face as if protecting it from another unexpected punch. "What the hell?"

James and Castiel both move at once, each grabbing one of Emma's arms before she can do any more harm.

At the same time, Dean marches toward them, no longer awkwardly hanging back a few feet. It almost looks as if Dean is going to punch her back, but Sam puts an arm out, subtly telling him to back off. Dean does, though he's clearly reluctant.

"I told you, you are not allowed to punch them," Castiel hisses.

"That is not true," Emma says defensively. "I asked who I could punch, and you said Sam. That was the compromise, remember?"

"That is not what happened."

"Well, it's kinda what happened," James says, and Castiel shoots him a glare

Sam scoffs. "What did I do?"

Castiel drops Emma's arm, but he makes a mental note to keep an eye on her. She's definitely not their biggest fan.

"Ignore her," Castiel says, then asks the more important question. "What are you doing here? Don't you have more important things to do than hunting a shifter?"

"Half a hospital was miraculously healed yesterday, and you thought we were just going to ignore it?" Sam says incredulously. "We didn't even know there was a shifter until half an hour ago."

"Oh." He knew it was going to confuse the hospital staff, but it hadn't occurred to him that it may draw some hunters' attention as well.

"Well, that was just Cas," Emma says, "and we can take care of the shifter ourselves, so it looks like your job is done here. You can go back to antagonizing God or whatever it is you do in your free time."

Sam raises an eyebrow. "What has he been telling you about us?"

Before Emma can say something that makes the Winchesters hate him further, Castiel says, "She's right. It's just a shifter. We can take care of that. I can only assume you're still trying to take care of Chuck. That takes priority."

"Well, we just walked all the way this way," Sam points to the sewer behind him, "and you just came from there." He points straight ahead. "If neither of us ran into the shifter, it could be either way. You really want to split three people into two groups to look for it?"

Castiel hesitates. He doesn't want to work with the Winchesters. It would bring back too many memories, and though he knows he can't go back, it's sure to make him want to. But Sam has a point; going off alone when hunting a shifter is a death wish, and sticking together only gives them half a chance at finding the thing.

Fortunately, James steps in with, "Then we can go the way you came and you can go the way we came. It's like we never even saw each other."

"Good idea," Castiel agrees.

"Shouldn't we work together?" Sam asks. "Maybe we know something you don't, or vice versa. I'll go with you two —" He gestures to Emma and James, "And Dean and Cas can go together."

"Not a chance in hell," Emma says immediately.

Unfortunately, it occurs to Castiel that Sam does bring up another good point. Of course, Emma brings one up, too — leaving her alone with a Winchester is a death wish, and he's not entirely sure he can rely on James to break up any fights.

"I suppose that makes sense," Castiel says, earning a confused look from his new friends, who only know the Winchesters from Castiel's experience and have already dubbed them horrible partners. "But Emma should stay with me or she's going to start a fight."

Emma grins. "You know me so well."