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"This is why hunters don't have families," Dean says as Kaylee, solemn-faced and tense with a fussing Hannah in her arms, watches them drive off. It's an apology, though, not a reprimand.
Cas hates that look more than anything, but this is what they do. This is all he can do. Now.
"That ain't true and you know it," Kaylee tells him time and time again. There are moments when he'll concede that she may be right, but he's one of the few people on this earth who understands that this is a job that needs doing, so he feels he can't walk away. At this point, it's in his blood as much as it is Dean's or Sam's or Bobby's. It is all he knows in this new, human life of his, and he never questioned it until he saw Kaylee's face the first time he came back from a hunt, arm slung over Dean's shoulders, clumsy stitches in his side, and a shifter still loose in Richmond.
Kaylee helped him change the bandages, her mouth pressed in a tight line, and never said a word. She didn't have to.
"I'm sorry," he said, catching her wrist as she finished pressing down a strip of medical tape with careful fingers. "I'll stop if you want me to. Find something else."
"You don't have to stop," she said, not meeting his gaze, "but I don't have to like it."
Now when he leaves on a hunt, she pulls him close and whispers into his chest, "You come back safe. Promise?"
He nods, Hannah's chubby fist tapping his cheek. "Promise."
He makes that promise to them every time, hollow though it might be, because it reassures them both, and in those moments when he's backed into a corner with no way out but his own wits and wiry strength, he fights all the harder for it.
Castiel drops a kiss to Hannah's forehead before pulling away and picking up his bag. He starts and grins when Kaylee slaps his behind as he goes, and when he looks back over his shoulder, Kaylee winks at him before taking Hannah's hand in hers and helping her wave goodbye.
Cas slips into the car before he can change his mind about going. He knows once they hit the highway, the guilt about leaving will subside enough to be manageable. He'll do his job and come back safe because he promised, and when he does, there won't be quite as many monsters in the world for all of them to fear.
This is why hunters don't have families, Dean says, but Cas thinks it's the reason why ever hunter should.