A/N: To guest Loreley: I miss Charlie, too :( So so much. So I'm glad that's what her character sort of brought back for you! ^_^

Without further ado...

"You're sure you'll be alright?" Sam asked once again, watching Aileen for any sign of hesitancy. There was none. "We're not in a hurry. There's no reason to just leave you here by yourself."

Aileen smiled in the warm California sunlight and shook her head. "Go," she urged him. "I'll be fine. Colin's flight will be here any time and Dad's going to have the equipment down here by tomorrow."

Right. Probably being around when the boyfriend was told the whole story was not a good idea. He might not be quite as understanding about how the entire thing had started out.

A plane rumbled overhead, temporarily blocking out the nearby sound of traffic coming to and from the airport just over the hill from where the Impala sat parked. "So how does this work now?" Sam couldn't help but ask, peering over Aileen to the Pacific Ocean glittering in the afternoon glow. He grinned. "You, what, ask the otters where they found Cas, then make a miraculous archeological discovery?"

Aileen laughed. "Happens all the time," she assured him. "If that boat is as old as Castiel said, it could be an important find. No sense leaving it at the bottom of the ocean. Besides, who would believe that a bunch of sea otters led us there?"

Sam shook his head and snorted. "You certainly have an interesting life."

"Says the guy with an angel in the backseat and the King of Hell on speed-dial?"

He laughed. "Yeah, good point. Alright, well, if you're sure."

"Positive. Go take care of Castiel." Her voice dropped as she leaned over to look at the car before whispering, "He'll definitely be okay, then?"

Sam nodded, smiling at her concern. It was obvious that she and the angel had bonded, for which Sam was also grateful; Cas needed friends. "The wound was already looking better this morning. It's starting to heal itself, which means his angel grace is kicking in. He'll be good as new in a couple more days." He set a hand on the elemental's shoulder. "Thanks to you."

Aileen smiled and looked down, almost shyly. "Oh, you know… no biggie."

"No, seriously," Sam said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "Thank you. For both of them."

The elemental met his eyes again, a look of understanding passing between them. Sam didn't even want to imagine how things might have gone down without her there. He was going to miss having Aileen around, though she would have her work cut out for her.

"Come on," he said, turning back towards the car. "Dean and Cas will want to say goodbye, too."

He led the way back to the Impala where Dean and Cas were waiting. Dean sat behind the wheel, drumming his thumbs along with the rock beat blasting from the stereo, though he turned it down as Aileen leaned over to look in the window.

"All set?" the hunter asked. "Your boyfriend's gonna be here to meet you?"

"Any time now," she confirmed. "Dean… thanks for the, um… adventure. Just what I needed. I mean, I don't get enough of it on my own or anything."

"Please, you know you loved the whole life or death thing," Dean teased.

Aileen grinned. "Stay out of trouble, 'kay?"

"You too, kiddo."

Moving on to the backseat, Aileen leaned down to peer inside. The seat was lined with stolen pillows from the motel, allowing Cas to recline comfortably and keep his shoulder from jarring too much on the way back. Sam traded a look with Dean as the angel struggled to sit up, eyes lit.

"Aileen," he said. "I'm glad I've finally met an elemental. You've certainly proven to be everything they were meant to be."

"And I'm glad to have met an angel," Aileen returned. "And… same."

This time, it was Cas's turn to glance aside, though Sam could see his face lightening at the compliment.

"Good luck with all the Heaven stuff," she added, before straightening and taking a step back. "Bye, guys."

Sam gave her a nod, then moved around to claim his own spot beside Dean. His brother twisted around one last time towards Aileen to give her a wave, when the elemental suddenly called out,

"Oh, and if you could do me one more favor?"

"You name it," Dean called back.

"Uh… make sure those turtles get to a clean lake somewhere?"

Sam frowned, baffled, before remembering what she was talking about. He burst out laughing—the turtles she had rescued from the lake in Kansas were still sitting in a cardboard box in their library. Dean groaned and peeled off down the road, pointing the Impala towards home at last.

SPN SPN SPN

Castiel had never been what humans referred to as a "good patient", though he was doing his best not to let his impatience interfere with the healing process. His shoulder was getting better, albeit slowly; much slower than it would have before. But this wasn't the first injury he'd sustained since losing his grace, and the angel could almost look at the situation without a trace of bitterness.

It was what it was, as Dean had said in the past. There was nothing Castiel could do about the state of his grace, other than to keep his vessel as healthy as possible, so that was what he focused on. Better to worry about what he could affect.

"How is choking down rabbit food supposed to be helping him?" Dean demanded in the Bunker's kitchen, squaring off with Sam.

"They're vegetables, Dean! Some people eat vegetables! It's nutrients-"

"He's an angel. If you're gonna make him food, at least make it a warrior's meal!"

"What, like your heart attack between two buns? That's supposed to do him any good?"

Castiel watched the exchange with a trace of a smile playing on his face. The irritation of being laid up was slowly fading away in the face of the comfortable, familiar feel of the brothers arguing. How strange, he mused, that listening to bickering could make him feel better. It was different from the arguments of angels, which tended to involve more celestial power being thrown around.

"Cas, back me up here," Dean snapped, whirling towards the angel. "Wouldn't you rather have a thick, juicy burger than a plate full of leaves?"

Ah, this argument was more enjoyable to listen to than to participate in. Castiel looked past the brothers towards the TV that sat on the counter, and changed the subject:

"It appears our misadventure made the news."

Debate forgotten, both Winchesters turned. Dean leaned in and turned up the volume, allowing the news story to be clearly heard.

"Scientists are still puzzled by the anomaly. Several instruments from various data collection sites along the coast all picked up the same readings, predicting what should have been a massive rogue wave crashing into the California coast somewhere around Santa Cruz. No such wave was ever seen, however, and it appears that whatever caused the anomaly disappeared as randomly as it came."

"We can't explain it," another man said, the banner at the bottom identifying him as an oceanographer for a coastal agency. "Had it been only our instrumentation giving us these readings, I would have written it off as a glitch in the system, or some kind of gross miscalibration. But to have the data corroborated by several cooperating agencies… well, it just doesn't make sense."

"Regardless of what caused the malfunction," the newscaster went on, "we're told that the size of the tsunami, had it been real, would have been enough to wipe out the city of Santa Cruz. While the bafflement continues, so does the gratitude that this wasn't a real event."

"You're welcome," Dean told the TV, before turning it off. "You know, when I said I wanted a beach vacation, that wasn't exactly what I'd had in mind."

"Hey, we could always go back," Sam offered with a smirk. "We could pop in on the Donovans' excavation, do some scuba diving-"

"Hah. Hah. You're hilarious."

Castiel sat back in the chair, reeling from how close they'd come to such a terrible disaster. True, it hadn't come to pass, and true, he'd at least been strong enough to help destroy the goddess, but…

"Cas?"

He looked up to see Sam watching him with a careful eye. Beside him, Dean stood with a suddenly serious face. Castiel looked away.

"I'm afraid I wasn't much use-"

"I'm gonna stop you there," Dean interrupted, pulling out the other chair so he could sit across the small table from Castiel. "Really? You saved my life. You let yourself get caught, protecting me. You swam god knows how far and ran god knows how long, bleeding out, I might add, to help kill her. You held her off long enough for Sam to figure out how to gank the bitch, and then you stabbed her with the same blade she'd run you through with. So, uh, not sure where you're getting this 'not much use' bullshit from."

"Cas, you get that everything that happened… that wasn't you just 'helping', right?" Sam added. "It wasn't like we did the work and you kinda helped. We're a team. You, us, Aileen, we did that together. Without any one of us…" He trailed off, then gestured to the TV. "Let's just say, it'd be a very different ending to that story."

"We need you, Cas," Dean stated. "And you came through, like you always do."

Their words were comforting, but the angel felt suddenly self-conscious. "I'm sure you tire of telling me this-"

"No," both voices raised at once.

"We'll say it as often as we need to remind you," Sam added. "Seriously, man. We should have never given you reason to doubt it in the first place. But you're one of us."

One of them. To be a part of something, to have a family based on loyalty instead of obedience… sometimes Castiel still had to take a moment to process that, and how good it felt.

Healing would come. And in the meantime, Castiel had his family to watch out for him.

SPN SPN SPN

Dean kicked his feet back and grabbed his beer off the table, ready to settle in for a well-deserved night off with Sam and the football game on TV. Cas's shoulder had finally healed up a couple of weeks ago and the angel was currently up in Heaven for another meeting—Dean had suggested Cas show off his win over Rán to remind the feathered dicks that he was still a badass to be respected—and the brothers were waiting up for news of how things had gone.

Sam tossed a bag of chips his direction, which Dean caught and opened with relish, ready to dive in to the snacks.

He was interrupted by a banging knock on the front door, which made both the hunters freeze. Dean frowned; Cas didn't have to knock, and only a handful of others even knew where the Bunker was. He got to his feet, instinctively grabbing the gun that was never far out of reach. Couldn't be too careful.

Sam gave him a silent nod, following behind his brother and snagging a blade from a nearby case as the two made their way up the stairs. Dean paused at the top, getting his pistol situated so that he could use it quickly if necessary, then opened the front door just a crack.

A girl with spiked blonde hair stood at the doorstep, grinning. "I come in peace," she announced. "Please don't shoot me or chain me up in your dungeon."

Dean frowned and cocked his gun behind his back. "Who are you?" he demanded, opening the door a bit wider so that Sam could move forward to see the newcomer. Her eyes slid to the younger Winchester, narrowing a bit with a thoughtful light.

"Tall," she stated, eyeing Sam. Her gaze shifted back to Dean. "And suspicious. So you must be Dean, and this one is Sam. My name's Sylphie. Aileen sent me."

Dean's eyes widened as Sam pushed the door open the rest of the way.

"Aileen?" Sam demanded. "Is she alright?"

"Oh yeah, she's fine," Sylphie assured them. "Just too busy to bring this to you herself." She held up the thick, padded envelope she was carrying, giving it a little wave. Dean took it, still watching the strange girl with shrewd eyes, trying to determine if she was on the level. The blonde met his gaze with a wry look.

"She said you'd take some convincing. Look, I'm one of the good guys."

Sylphie twirled her finger in the air; the dry leaves scattered around the front door swirled off the ground in a whirlwind of red and brown, making the hunters stumble back in shock.

"What the-" Dean blurted out. "How did you…?"

"Wait. You're an elemental, too!" Sam exclaimed, stowing the dagger he'd brought.

"Right," Sylphie confirmed with a laugh. "Air. I was just passing through on a tornado chase, so she said I should make sure this gets to you. Also some other guy. Uh, Castiel? Some funny name like that?"

Dean was still trying to process all of this, staring at the stranger, so Sam stuttered,

"Uh… yeah, he's not here. Sorry, um, do you wanna come in?"

"You're chasing a tornado?" Dean asked. Sylphie gave him another impish grin.

"Hopefully. And no, sorry, I'd better get back to my team. Later, guys!"

"Uh… bye?"

They watched as Sylphie breezed back up to the road and hopped onto a motorcycle. Neither moved as she roared off, waiting until the last echoes of the engine had disappeared. Dean stared down at the envelope in his hands.

"So, that was weird."

"What is it?" Sam asked, gesturing to the package.

Dean stepped back inside the Bunker, letting the door close behind him as he pushed the de-cocking lever on his gun. He led the way back down the stairs, dropping the weapon on the table and examining the envelope. Ripping it open, Dean pulled out a sheet of folded paper.

"It's a note," he murmured, unfolding the paper. "Dear Sam, Dean, and Castiel… huh, says they've finished excavating that boat, lots of science-y words, hopes we're well, and…" Dean trailed off, reading the last bit silently. His eyes opened wide.

"What is it?" Sam prompted, grabbing the note away from Dean so he could read it for himself. "Turns out there was a lot of treasure still in the hold, and since Castiel is the one who found it, I thought the lion's share of the finder's fee should go to you guys. You know, since you don't get paid to save the world, haha. We kept enough to cover the cost of the excavation, but please accept this as our thanks for everything you do. Your share rounds up to about-"

The hunter's voice stuttered to a halt as he registered the figure that Aileen had written down. Sam gasped with shock, then grabbed the envelope away from Dean to open it the rest of the way. "Dude!"

"Right?"

"Dude!"

Dean laughed, pulling out the stacks of bills banded together neatly, rifling through one and taking a sniff. "Smell that, Sam? That's enough to keep Baby gassed up for the next ten years!"

"Holy- I can't believe she did that!" Sam gasped. "That's- this-"

"Thank you, Aileen Donovan," Dean murmured, shaking his head. His brain couldn't quite process this, dazed by the unexpected windfall.

Money in the coffers, a beer and a game in his future, Cas doing his stuff in Heaven but on his way home soon, and good friends.

Hey, it wasn't the beach, but life was looking up.

A/N: I can't believe it's over! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who's left me a review, or favorited, or just lurked and enjoyed ^_^ Once again, Aileen (and Sylphie) belong to Angela Wallace, I just borrowed the girls for my crossover with Elemental Magic! (Aileen features in books 1 and 2, Sylphie is 5 and 6) And this turned out to be so much fun that I'm not totally opposed to doing another one in the future, maybe to bring Sylphie deeper into the SPN world.

And again... danke, gracias, Спасибо, Хвала вам, bedankt, and any other language you might natively speak. Thank you to any anonymous reviewers who might leave me a note on this chapter, since I won't be able to respond to you. HUGE thank you to Aini NuFire for being the fantastic beta that she is!

Stay tuned... I'll be posting another fic before too long, focusing on Crowley and Cas, as a series of scenes of their evolving frenemy status, LOL ^_^

Peace!