Oh damn. So fantastic. Castiel is so bleak and directionless in the beginning and so slowly finds himself. It's beautiful. You did an excellent job with his characterization.

I love how Jayne tweaks and torments him. It's like at the beginning Jayne is trying to see how far he can push this unknown quantity then goes to the let's try to get in his pants and finally settles on Cass as a little brother/project object. I could totally see it going in the Jayne/Castiel direction, but I like that it didn't. The dynamic they ended with is just right.

And the last scene at the dinner table, so perfectly a family moment! Of course I got all misty eye'd for Dean (he's my boy when it comes to the Supernatural fandom) Cass and Sam looking to Dean for his approval, totally willing to leave if he says, but wanting so much to stay.

I gotta disagree with one thing tho, this here: There was no Heaven anymore either. I think, that as an 'angel of the Lord' even if it's a former state, he always has the connection to heaven. And that the journey he goes through in the fic is actually him rediscovering that connection. Even if he calls it something else he still has God's grace and all that. Anyway, that's my humble opinion *g*