It was another two days before they allowed Sam to leave the dungeon. In that time, Jack had continued to wonder about Sam, and Dean had no doubt that as soon as he left the dungeon Jack would bombard him with questions.

He warned him, "The kid has been asking questions non-stop. Do you want to tell him what really happened or do you still want to try to keep this away from him? It's okay if you don't want him to know. We won't tell him if you don't want us to Sammy."

"I don't… what's the right thing to do here? Jack will never stop asking until he knows he has the truth. I don't want to lie to him. And clearly I still… I could still be a problem. Should he know? I mean what if something happened again and… he should know that he can't trust me." In truth, Dean didn't know what the right answer was either. It may be important one day that Jack know this about Sam. But answers would only lead to more questions and the whole story seemed like a lot to lay on a kid. "I just… I'm not sure I can tell him."

"Look. How about for now we go eat dinner as a family. I'll tell Jack not to bother you. We can make a real decision tomorrow. I'm sure you're exhausted; let's just… figure it out later."

"Alright. One thing at a time I guess. Wait what time is it?"

"Uhh…" Dean quickly checked his watch. "It's almost six-thirty, but no one has actually started making dinner yet. How about you go downstairs with mom and Cas and Jack for a while and I'll go pick up some pizzas."

"Dean… What I said to mom… how could I…" Thinking about it now, he was appalled by what he had done and by what he had said to his mother. He wasn't sure if he could face her or whether she even wanted to talk to him.

"Sammy, you wanna know the truth? We are angry. Me and mom and even Cas; we're all angry that you would do this and make yourself and all of us go through this again. But… but we aren't giving up on you. We aren't gonna shame you and guilt you because it just isn't worth it. We're gonna watch you like a hawk for a while. We have to make sure that you won't start again, and we aren't gonna trust you with demon hunts for a while. But we'll get past this like we did last time. Right now, what you need to do is go apologize to her, and tell Cas every single place you stashed blood. We think we got all of it, but we can't be sure. You want to start gaining our trust back? That's how to start. I'll be back in a little while." Dean left the room.

Sam walked down to the library and was relieved to see that Mary was the only one in there. He had more than a few difficult conversations ahead of him and he didn't want to have an audience for each one.

She looked up when he entered the room. "Sam, how are you? Where is Dean?"

"Dean went out to get pizza. I'm…I don't know." He sat down at one of the tables. "I'm… mostly ashamed… Mom what I said to you before… I don't… I never meant… I am so sorry. It isn't your fault and I don't blame you. I can never apologize enough. I'm sorry." He couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes and instead kept his gaze on the floor.

"Sam, right now I'm just glad that you're okay. We'll get through this." Mary wasn't really sure what to say to her son. She herself felt partially guilty for the fact that he had been drinking blood for weeks without her realizing anything was wrong. Shouldn't she have known that something was wrong? "Although… I know you and Dean don't really want to tell me about a lot of your past, but now it seems like maybe you should. Sam, given… this… I need to know if there is anything else that I need to know."

Sam nodded but didn't get the chance to say anything else before Castiel and Jack came into the room. Jack walked over to him and said, "Sam, are you okay? Dean said I'm not supposed to ask you about it 'til tomorrow but I just want to know if you're okay."

"Yeah Jack," Sam said, finally looking up from the floor. "I think I'm going to be okay."

Sam was telling Cas every place he had hidden blood when Dean got back with pizzas. They all sat down around the table and, all except Cas, started eating. And awkward silence hung in the room and no one wanted to be the first to speak. Sam caught each of his family members shooting quick worried glances at him more than once. Part of him wished they would just leave him alone. Part of him was glad they were still there at all. He didn't feel like he deserved to be eating dinner with his family as though everything was okay. On the other hand, he could see that what Dean had told him was true. Sam could tell that his family was angry, but they didn't seem interested in shutting him out.

Maybe Dean's right, he thought. We can get through this. He knew it would take time, and a lot of effort on his part. He would have to prove himself to his family again. But he was determined to do so.