Sam sat at the small table in the motel room he shared with Dean with a bunch of books scattered around him, all of which had something to do with angels or Heaven. He wanted to find out as much as he could about angels. So far, the only information he had came from Crowley and the Trickster, and it wasn't nearly enough. He intended to be prepared for whatever they tried.

Soon, Dean walked in and saw his brother with books scattered around him. "What are you doing?"

"Research," Sam said. He didn't try to hide it. It was a little late even if he wanted to.

Dean walked over and picked up one of the books. "Last I knew, we were hunting a werewolf, not angels. What the hell, man?"

"What?" Sam asked in a tone that made it clear he felt he'd done nothing wrong.

"You know what, Sam. This thing you have against Cas," Dean said. He'd hoped that Sam's distrust of angels would go away after a few days, but it hadn't. Sam had been back for weeks and nothing seemed to have changed. It scared Dean because he could barely recognize the brother he had from before their respective trips to Hell.

"I don't know why you think I have anything against him? What, because I'm doing research. Maybe I just wanna know more about the guy you've befriended and where he comes from. Maybe it would help me to trust him," Sam said.

"He's an angel. I don't understand why you'd distrust him in the first place," Dean said.

Sam scoffed. "Like that would be enough for you. It wasn't enough for you. Bobby told me you didn't even believe it when Castiel said he was an angel. Even after that, you didn't know whether you should trust him. But you expect me not to?"

"Yeah, because it's you! You'd pray all the time. You were the believer in angels. You always thought they were good," Dean said.

"Well, maybe it's a little different actually seeing one. Maybe I want to make sure I can trust them before I start befriending them," Sam said.

"And you won't take my word that Cas can be trusted, right?" Dean asked with a bit of bitterness in his voice.

"This is not about trusting you. It's about the fact that some things are not what they appear to be. I'd think you'd know that by now," Sam said.

"Cas came down here to save you," Dean said.

"And that doesn't seem weird to you? Why would an angel give a damn about me selling my soul. People sell their souls all the time. Hell, you did, and they didn't rush to save you. Didn't you ever wonder once why they'd help me?" Sam asked. He didn't understand why his brother was so blinded by these guys. Why did he trust Castiel so much. Dean had never been very trusting before.

"Of course I did. The only answer I got was that God wanted you saved. Yeah, that's weird, but Cas has never done anything to make me think he wasn't telling the truth. Besides, I may have wondered, but I never really cared about why they wanted to help you. As long as they did it, I was fine with it," Dean said.

"Well, I'm not. I want to know what they want. They want something, Dean," Sam said confidently. Of course, he already knew what they wanted, but he couldn't tell Dean that right now.

"You know, it's not just this issue you have with the angels. You're different, man. You're distant, you keep secrets, you lie to me..."

Sam stood up and interrupted his brother's rant. "Hold on! Don't even freaking try that! I have not lied to you once. Maybe I've refused to tell you thinks, but I have not lied."

"Same thing, man. Am I supposed to feel better that you're just keeping things from me? That you don't trust me, your brother, enough to tell me what you're hiding?" Dean asked angrily.

"Like you trust me? You think I don't see the way you look at me, like something's wrong with me?" Sam asked.

"That's because there is! You don't act the way you used to. If I hadn't done those tests to make sure, I'd almost say you weren't even my brother," Dean said.

Dean's words cut Sam, but to his credit, he didn't let his brother see that. He didn't wear his emotions on his sleeve anymore. After sixty years of torture, he simply didn't know how. Hell had hardened him, and a large part of him thought that was a good thing. "You say something like that to me and I'm supposed to trust you?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Dean asked.

"Anything I don't tell you is stuff I don't want them to know," Sam said as he pointed to the ceiling to refer to the dicks in Heaven. "I don't trust them and I don't trust you not to tell them. Why wouldn't you since you have so little trust in me?" Sam asked.

Dean looked at his brother for several seconds with a stony expression before storming out of the room.

"Well, talk about conflict," a voice said as soon as Dean was gone.

Sam turned to see a balding man wearing a suit. He had a smug grin on his face. "Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Zachariah. I'm an angel. I work with..."

"You've already lost my interest. Get out," Sam said.

Zachariah laughed. "Well, you're far from what I expected. Then again, from what I've gathered, your brother is even shocked by your superb personality."

"I wasn't aware 'get out' translated to 'please keep annoying me'," Sam said dryly\

"I'm afraid we have business to discuss before I can leave. I want the name of the demon who dealt with you and the being that pulled you out of Hell," Zachariah said in a tone that made it clear it wasn't a request.

Sam retook his seat and propped his legs up on the table. "We all want things we're never going to get. Deal."

"You do not want to try my patience, boy. I can make things very difficult," he said.

Sam smirked in response. "I like difficult. I've gotten used to it in the last sixty some odd years."

Sam's words only seemed to anger Zachariah. "You smug little insect! You will give me what I want or I will rip off all your limbs with a wave of my hand!"

Sam laughed mockingly. "You'll find that torture doesn't intimidate me. It's all been done, I assure you, in worse ways than you could probably even dream up. Besides, you won't do anything. You want something from me and my brother. I may not know what it is, but I know you want something. You won't lay a finger on us."

Zachariah had to admit, he wasn't expecting this type of reaction. He expected at least some kind of surprise and slight fear from the youngest Winchester after hearing his threat, but Sam Winchester didn't seem to give a damn. He believed nothing could touch him worse than Hell. "Don't underestimate me. I can do plenty to you without killing you, and believe me it will much worse than anything any demon did to you. Think your decision through. I will be back."

Sam watched him disappear before going back to his research without a care in the world.