The next morning, Sam was in the kitchen eating breakfast with Gabriel when his phone rang. He immediately felt around for it and picked it up. "Answer call," he said loudly. Gabriel had made his phone voice activated so he'd be able to use it easier. "Hello?"

"Hey, Sammy," the voice of his brother came through the phone.

Sam stiffened a bit, not expecting his brother's call. He probably should've. The only person who had his number, aside from of course Gabriel, was Bobby. So it would either be him or Dean. "Hey."

Gabriel, meanwhile, got up and left the room to give Sam some privacy.

"Bobby gave me your number. I would've called you yesterday, but the old man wouldn't give me the number until this morning," Dean said sounding really irritated about that fact.

Sam chuckled slightly. "He probably wanted you to cool off."

"Whatever. So how are you?" Dean asked.

"I'm okay. We were just having breakfast. Then we head to the library for this stupid Braille reading crap," Sam grumbled. He really hated learning Braille. It was just so difficult. Reading had never come so difficult for him, even as a child. Actually, he wasn't sure learning anything had been so hard. He usually found learning anything quite easy. This was not.

Dean wasn't thrilled about the 'we' comment. "Oh. I guess that's what you were doing at the library when Bobby's friend spotted you."

"Yeah, we go everyday," Sam said.

"Well, you kind of do need to to learn it if you're going to read, and we all know your geekish need to read," Dean joked half-heartedly.

There was silence between the two before spoke again a couple of minutes later. "So what are you up to?"

"Nothing today. I'm probably just gonna give my baby a work up," Dean said before deciding to dive into the heavy stuff. "Look, I'm sorry for yesterday. I didn't handle things well."

"Gabriel didn't deserve the things you said," Sam said.

Dean could argue that point. In fact, he wanted to argue it, but he remembered what Bobby said about not bad mouthing the Trickster to Sam. It wouldn't do any good. "I'm sorry. I was a dick. I've been a dick for months. Look, I know things are going okay for you right now where you are, but you know, you could come back. You know you're welcome here," Dean said.

"I know. Bobby already told me he'd be glad to have me there," Sam said.

"I wouldn't either. I want you to come back," Dean said. He knew he had to say it because Sam didn't believe Dean wanted him around. He hated that his brother thought that, but he also knew it was his fault.

Sam didn't believe him. Dean kept saying he wanted him to come back, but he only started saying it after Sam got blinded. He felt that Dean must think he was obligated and didn't really want him around. But he decided not to say that to Dean because he didn't want to start an argument. "It's okay, I'm find here. You'll be hunting anyway and Bobby has his job helping other hunters. It's better that I stay here."

"That's not why you wanna stay," Dean said.

"Dean, please..."

"Look, I'm not trying to start a fight, but I know the real reason you're doing this. "You don't think I want you here, but I do. You're my brother. I love you, Sammy. I don't say it often, but I do. And you don't believe that. You think I've turned my back on you," Dean said.

"No. I think you don't want to deal with me anymore, and I don't think you're wrong to feel that way. What I did was horrible. I deserve everything that's happened. I deserve your hate," Sam said, his voice close to cracking.

"I don't hate you, Sam. Please, don't say that again. And don't say you deserved any of this crap either! What happened to you is not your fault. It's not some kind of punishment. Bobby told me that's what you think, but it's not true. What happened to you happened because you had the back luck of running into a couple of sick bastards, who apparently forgot that they were supposed to target monsters, not humans. I swear, if they were still alive, I'd kill them myself, after inflicting the same amount of pain on them as they did you!" Dean said firmly.

"Dean, I don't wanna talk about this, okay? Look, I have to go. We have to get ready to go soon," Sam said.

Dean sighed. He wanted to push more, but he knew if he did, Sam would likely hang up anyway and maybe even ignore his calls. "Okay. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright. Bye," Sam said before hanging up.

Gabriel walked back in a couple of minutes later. "How did it go?"

"You know already. Even in another room, we both know you could hear every word," Sam said.

"True. Well, he didn't act like a complete idiot this time. I guess that's progress," Gabriel said.

"I almost prefer how he was before I left. At least I knew it was how he really felt," Sam said sadly.

"Sam..."

"I don't wanna talk about Dean anymore," Sam cut off.

"Okay, fine. Are you done eating. You wanna get ready to go?" Gabriel asked as he rested his hand on Sam's shoulder.

Sam felt it again. That same exhilaration he felt every time Gabriel touched him, and once again, he wondered what it meant. He quickly pushed it aside though, not wanting to dwell on it. Instead, he grabbed his cane from the floor and stood up. "Yeah, just let me change."

"Sure. I'll be in the living room," Gabriel said.

Sam nodded and headed for the stairs.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Michael was angrily pacing the floor of his office while his brother, Raphael was leaned against his desk. Raphael had just told him that Sam Winchester was apparently missing and that the last they knew of him was him praying to them after being tortured. This had all happened over a month ago and he was just being told. "Why am I just hearing about this now?!"

"Because I saw no point to bother you with nonsense," Raphael said simply.

Michael stopped and glared at his brother. "Nonsense? You just told me that Samuel Winchester's last known whereabouts was a basement that was covered in his blood! How is that nonsense?!

"The humans that tortured him were killed by one of us. I assumed it was either Castiel, in which case, it was inconsequential since he would've brought the boy back to his brother, or Lucifer, which would help us. If Lucifer had him, he would simply 'encourage' him to say yes," Raphael explained.

"If it was Lucifer, it would've been done by now. Now human could withstand torture for this long, especially when inflicted by an archangel," Michael said.

"And the last hunt Dean Winchester was on was solo. I've tracked his movements, after the fact, obviously, since Castiel saw fit to hide him from us," Raphael said annoyed. He had basically had to search for monster attacks that the Winchesters might respond to, which wasn't as simple as one might think. There were actually quite many across the country.

"So if it was not Lucifer or Castiel, who rescued Sam Winchester and why was he not immediately brought to us?" Michael asked.

"It was no one here. We've checked everyone. Whoever is responsible must be a fallen," Raphael said.

"Find them," Michael ordered.

"I am working on it," Raphael said before standing up and heading for the door.