AN: Hey guys! Another chapter! I'd hoped to have had this one up by Christmas, but you know how that goes. Either way, here it is. Merry-late-Christmas! xD Kudos to Souless666, Air Guitar Pixie, Hades Lord of the Dead and icedragonfirebird for reviewing! I tried to look over it, but if you find any mistakes please let me know. Enjoy the chapter! Reviews are love, reviews are life.

Disclaimer: The show is still not mine, unfortunately...

Before Dean could respond, Castiel was talking.

"What do you remember, Sam?"

Sam's eyes met his, and he narrowed them, "Uhm...not much. I was in a cage, and it was really bright and there was so much screaming and - " He cut himself off and pushed those memories away. He didn't want to regress back to what he'd been earlier, "And then I was in an orchard with some guy named Frank staring at me like I had three heads."

Castiel nodded, "Anything else?"

"He was gonna drive me into town, but I saw the salvage yard, and I had to stop. It just seemed really...familiar, you know?" He paused, gaze landing on Dean, "And then you walked out. I'm pretty sure I passed out after that." He shifted uncomfortably on the couch, as if realizing he was somewhere unfamiliar for the first time, "That's about it."

"How did you know my name?" Dean asked, "Do you remember me?"

Sam shook his head, "I just...in the cage...something kept me going. I forgot everything else but I knew I had to stay strong for Dean. I just don't remember who that is and when I saw you I thought it was you, but if it's not I'm really sorry for the confusion." He knew he was rambling, but talking about this made him uncomfortable. He also hadn't missed the way Dean flinched when he'd said cage.

"Sammy..."

"Hold on Dean." Castiel interrupted him, looking Sam in the eye, "So you're saying that you do not remember anything from before the cage?" Receiving a nod, the angel placed a hand on his chin and straightened, turning his back to the two by the couch, "That would mean..." He trailed off, frowning.

"Would mean what?" Dean questioned, glaring.

Cas turned back to them, still frowning, "Well it appears that Sam will never be able to recover his lost memories without doing serious damage to his state of mind, even with the small amount of grace that he has within him now." Before Dean could even protest, Castiel removed his hand from his chin and held up a finger, "However, with some work we may be able to help him remember things little by little."

"Don't I get a say in all of this?" Sam spoke up for the first time, sitting up straight now and no longer looking so uncomfortable, "Maybe I don't want to know who I was. Maybe I don't want those memories anymore."

Dean looked at his brother, grimacing as he did, "You don't mean that, Sammy."

Without thinking, Sam glared at him and murmured, "It's Sam."

He got wide-eyed stares in response.

"What?" Shaking his head, he sighed, "Never mind. Anyways, it's not that I don't wanna remember, but I don't wanna have to go crazy in order to do it. I'd like to keep myself sane, okay?" He looked at Castiel, "Now, you said there's a way to do this without having me go insane, right?"

The angel nodded, "Yes, but it would be a long process."

Sam leaned back against the cushions, "Well, let's try it, shall we?"

"We can only do it in parts, Sam. It would be unsafe to do it any other way." Castiel sat down on the sofa next to the amnesiac, "Since you've already been through so much today, it would be unwise to try and remember more than one instance of your life. Are you sure you don't want to wait until tomorrow?"

"Do what you have to." Sam responded.

"There's something you should know." Castiel murmured into Sam's ear as he leaned forward and placed his hands on the other's forehead. Dean stood and moved away, pulling his phone out of his pocket and walking into the other room, "What I'm doing is incredibly risky. Even though I'm going to be as gentle as possible, you could still very well lose your mind."

Bobby watched the two of them from the corner he sat in, arms crossed, "You shouldn't do this, Sam. Not if it's not safe."

Sam seemed to ponder this for a moment, a strange look on his face, "Even so...I feel like this is the right thing to do. I feel like, if I were still..you know, me, this is what I would choose to do." His eyes met Castiel's, "Does that make sense?"

The angel smiled softly in response, "I think that's what Sam would do as well."

Bobby grunted, a frown on his face, but he stayed otherwise silent.

With that, Castiel gripped Sam's skull lightly with both hands, resting his thumbs on the hunter's forehead. He pulled his grace to his fingertips, letting it flow out of him and into Sam. It seeped into Sam's mind, trying to track down the smidgen of grace that had been left inside of him. He found it, taking up most of the space inside Sam's mind despite the fact that it was such a small amount. He looked past it, attempting to track down the mass of darkness that hid behind the light.

The darkness that held Sam's missing memories.

After a moment, he found it. It sat in the furthest corners, just outside the reaches of the grace's light. Gently, Castiel began to tug at it. He pulled at the corners, as if they were the ragged strings of an old blanket. Eventually, one came loose. He gripped it tightly and tugged, feeling it drag as it broke away from the much larger mass.

It was the memory of what had happened just before Sam fell into the cage.

Feeling victorious, Castiel carefully pulled the rest of it out of the darkness.

That of course, was when Sam began to scream.

Dean watched as Castiel approached his brother on the couch. Feeling like Sam was safe with the angel, he motioned to Bobby that he was going to go make a phone call, he headed off into the dining room. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he pressed 4 and then the call button before putting it to his ear.

"Hello?"

Smiling, Dean murmured, "Hey Lisa."

"What happened? Are you okay?" She sounded worried.

"No, no everything's fine." He held up a hand, even though she couldn't see the movement, "I just wanted to let you know that - "

"You're not coming back, are you?" Before he could respond, she spoke again, "You've found what you were looking for, then?" Again she cut him off, "It's okay Dean. I understand. Just...just be careful, okay? Don't get yourself hurt."

"I...I won't. Thanks, Lisa. You guys were amazing with me."

"Goodbye, Dean."

"Bye." He hung up, shoving the phone back into his pocket and trying to not to feel the emotions that were welling up in his chest. He gained one thing, but lost another. With a deep frown, he went over to the liquor cabinet and grapped the bottle of whiskey that sat on the shelve. Before he could pour himself a glass, however, screaming echoed out from the living room.

He immediately sprinted back into the room, find Sam writhing around on the floor with Castiel standing above him, eyes wide.

"What the hell did you do?!" Dean shouted over the sound of Sam's screams.

Castiel shook his head, mouth opening and closing as if he didn't know what to say.

Bobby stood up from where he'd been sitting and approached the two, "Cas was doin' his thing and then all of a sudden Sam started screaming." The ex-hunter gestured towards where the angel was standing, holding his hands in front of him now like they'd been burned, "Sam dropped to the ground and Cas pulled away lookin' like he'd been shocked or something."

"Cas...what happened in there?" Dean said, more gentle this time.

The angel looked up, slowly meeting Dean's gaze, "I...I found his memories. I tried to - to pull one loose and it just - " Castiel swallowed, looking terrified. That look alone was enough to nearly make Dean shit himself, "They all came tumbling out. I don't think I will be able to retrieve any of them without his whole mind breaking down."

"So what the hell do we do now?!"

A hand was placed on Dean's shoulder, "Calm down. You ain't gonna do no good freaking out like that." Bobby stated, eyes narrowed, but determined, "Now, Cas, could you patch him up the way you did before?"

The angel slowly shook his head, "The cage...there was so much...and the grace that was in him has all but disappeared into the recesses of his mind again. I would...it would break him completely." He flexed his hands, the tingling sensation of Sam breaking under his grace still making his nerves go haywire, "I don't - there's nothing I can do, Dean."

Dean ignored him and knelt at Sam's side, "Sammy?" He murmured, placing his hands on Sam's shoulder's as the bigger man squirmed and writhed on the ground. He wasn't screaming anymore, but instead was wimpering quietly to himself, "C'mon, man. You can do this. You can get past this, right?"

His voice seemed to strike a chord within Sam, for the hunter immediately stilled.

"You hearin' me, Sammy?" Dean whispered, hopeful, "Come back to us."

Sam seemed to uncurl from the ball that he'd rolled himself into, tears streaming freely from his eyes and down his cheeks. His eyes were glazed over, but more focused than Dean expected them to be. Especially now. Those glassy, hazel eyes met Dean's for a moment, and it was like Sam was just there. Like he'd returned to himself.

"Sammy?"

"Not real..." The man muttered, and Sam was gone again, turning away from Dean and squeezing his eyes shut.

"It's me, Sam. I promise I'm real." Dean said, feeling a sudden wave of hopelessness wash over him. God, what had that bastard archangel done to his brother to break him so badly?

Sam's eyes opened slowly, drifting back to meet Dean's, "Dean...?"

"Yeah, Sammy. It's me. I'm here." Dean said, pulling Sam close and resisting the urge to cry like a baby. He was a man, and real men didn't cry.

The body in his arms suddenly fell still, and before Dean could say anything, Castiel spoke up.

"Relax, he is only asleep." The angel murmured, helping Dean move Sam back to the couch, "But how he managed to find himself again after all of that...it's beyond me. I didn't think even the strongest human could come back from what he'd been through."

"Is he alright now?" Dean murmured, brushing the hair from his brother's face gently. Wishing that for a moment things could go back to the way they were before any of this had happened. Before Lucifer, and the apocalypse. Back to a time where they were just two brother's, searching for their lost father.

Castiel nodded, "I think so, though I am reluctant to traverse his mind again to check for sure. I don't want to damage him any further."

Bobby stood suddenly, "Well, I think I'll go get some dinner started."

"It is two in the morning." Castiel commented, a confused look on his face.

"And I'm pretty sure Dean hasn't eaten all day. So therefore, dinner. C'mon angel, you can lend me a hand." In reality, Bobby just wanted to give Dean a moment alone with his brother. He knew how close the two really were, even if they pretended not to be. And while the ex-hunter could give them all the support in the world, it was really just those two who carried each other through everything.

Castiel seemed to understand this, and silently followed Bobby into the kitchen.

Left to his own devices, Dean settled for sitting on the floor by the couch, head pressed against the armrest, eyes closed. He would watch over Sammy as he slept. And when his brother woke, he'd watch him then too. Because he was a big brother, and big brother's looked out for their younger siblings.

TBC