"Sammy?" he asked. He didn't get an answer, though. He checked for a pulse and found one.

He couldn't believe it. Sam was in Hell. And if he had gotten out, why would he have gone on some random hunt instead of finding Dean. Dean got out the salt, silver, and holy water. Nothing got a reaction from the unconscious creature in front of him. He wouldn't allow himself to believe it was his brother yet. He couldn't take the disappointment if it wasn't.

He knew that none of those tests would work on Lucifer. That was also the thing most likely in front of him. How could he tell if it was Lucifer? The only way he could think of was to have help from another supernatural being.

"Cas!" he yelled. "Cas! Cas! Cas!"

"What is it Dean. I'm busy," Castiel said from behind him. He had been in Heaven fighting a war and the last thing he needed was to come down here. On the other hand, Dean had sacrificed his brother to save the world and rid it of Lucifer. It wasn't like he called him every five minutes. This was the first he had heard from him.

"Is that Lucifer or Sammy?" he asked, pointing at the still form.

"That's Sam. How did he get out of the cage?" Castiel asked.

"Are you sure?" Dean asked.

"Yes, Dean. If that was Lucifer, I would be able to see his true form under Sam. Same with anything really. That is definitely your brother."

Just then, Sam began to stir.

"I really have to go now," Castiel said. That was true, but he also felt awkward around Sam. He had had Lucifer inside of him. He had always been an abomination, but now it was just so much more. He disappeared.

Dean rolled his eyes and shook his head. At least he told him he was leaving this time. He thought that might have been a first.

"Sammy?" he asked.

"Dean? What are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"What am I doing here?" Dean asked, incredulous.

Sam was finally sitting all the way up and Dean grabbed him into a hug. Sam returned it with all he was worth.

"How did you get out?" Dean asked.

"No idea," Sam said. "One minute I was..," he didn't finish the thought, but shuddered. "The next I was back in that cemetery."

"How long have you been out?"

"Almost a year. I was only down there a month," Sam admitted.

"Month our time or Hell time?" Dean clarified.

"Our time."

Dean nodded. Ten years. That was a long time to be in Hell.

"What have you been doing all this time?" Dean demanded.

"Hunting," Sam shrugged.

"By yourself?" Dean could kill him. That was so dangerous. As evidenced by what had just happened. If he hadn't shown up when he did, he wouldn't have gotten this reunion.

"I didn't want to intrude on your happiness," Sam replied, lamely.

"Well, who else knows your back? Does Bobby know?" Dean was going to kill him, too, if he had kept this from him.

"Bobby? Bobby's dead. I remember I, Lucifer, snapped his neck."

"Cas brought him back."

"Cas is alive?" Sam had thought he had seen him just now, as he was waking up, but figured he was seeing things or hallucinating or something.

"Yeah. More or less. You know Cas. He's up in Heaven, though. I just called him down to verify that you were you. He did and then he split again," Dean explained.

"We should probably not be staying here right now. That tolpa could come back any minute," Sam said looking around. He didn't really feel like a second round right this instant.

"Oh, he's gone. I took care of it," Dean bragged.

"How? You had to make a tree fall on him."

"Or throw an reverse Sidgil of Sultan amulet at him, which is what I did. You always did have to do things the hard way, Sammy," Dean teased. And it felt good.

"How did you figure that one out?" Sam asked. He had never heard of such a thing.

"Bobby," Dean admitted.

"So, he's really OK?" Sam asked. He had been beating himself up about killing him. The news that he was alive was almost more than he could bear.

"Yeah."

"Did Crowley give his soul back?"

"I don't know," Dean admitted.

"So, what were you doing here?" Sam asked. "I thought you had given up hunting."

"I promised you if the legend changed we would come back. When I found out it had, I knew I had to make it right."

Sam nodded. This was his big brother.

SSS

Dean had helped Sam to a hotel room. "You'll probably be wanting to get back to Lisa and Ben," Sam said.

"Yeah. But first, I want to figure out how you got out. You really have no idea?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head.

"And that doesn't seem weird to you?" Dean asked.

"Honestly, I don't really care," Sam said.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Look, Hell's not fun. You know that. I got a get out of jail free card and I'm not going to spit all over it. The truth is, I'm scared to go poking at it in case I get thrown back in."

"But, Sam, something bad could be going on," Dean protested.

"When you got out of Hell, did I get all mad, demanding how it could have happened?" Sam yelled. It felt like Dean was mad that he was out.

"That's not what I meant, Sam. Of course I'm glad you're out. I spent months trying to find a way to get you out myself. Of course, most of that, I guess you were already out."

"You promised to leave it alone, Dean," Sam reminded him.

"Of course I wasn't going to leave it alone. So, now you know I'm not mad you're out. I'm just worried you'll have to pay."

"Well, when you got out, Bobby said the only thing that could pull someone out of Hell were angels. So, maybe angels did it," Sam reasoned.

"If that were the case, I don't think Cas would have been so surprised to see you when I called him down," Dean countered.

"Oh, well. Guess we're back to square one, then," Sam said. He wasn't lying. He really didn't care. Whatever did it, he was grateful.

"Do you remember it?" Dean asked.

"What?"

"The cage."

Sam nodded.

"And?"

"And what?" Sam asked. He couldn't believe Dean wanted him to talk about it.

"If anybody could relate," Dean pointed out.

"This is the first time I've been in a hotel room since I've been back," Sam said, apparently changing the subject.

"Where have you been sleeping?" Dean asked. "I noticed that fancy car outside the forest. That yours? You been sleeping in that?"

"It's mine, but I haven't been sleeping in it. I sleep outside. I don't like to be confined. The cage is small, Dean. It's about the size of the bathroom in here. And there were four of us squeezed into it."

"What about Adam?" Dean asked, feeling guilty it had taken him this long to ask about their other brother. Honestly, he hardly ever gave him a thought.

"Still down there as far as I know," was all Sam felt like saying about that.

Dean could tell that Sam didn't want to talk anymore. He wouldn't push it. "We should get some sleep," he said. He turned out the lights and watched as Sam curled onto his side.