Sam sat with Gabriel at the library. They'd been going there every day for about two of three weeks. Gabriel had decided to move their braille lessons to a different venue, which really annoyed Sam at first because he knew Gabriel was capable of doing it at the house. He was doing it to make sure Sam got out more and was around people.

Sam was more okay with the library trips now. He was starting to get used to being blind, even if he still hated it, and he was getting used to being around other people. He still made himself very aware of when someone passed by him, but he no longer feared a demon at every corner.

The braille lessons themselves, were something else entirely. Sam hated them. He got extremely frustrated very easily. It was so difficult to learn, and Sam wasn't used to that. Learning had always come very easy to him. He wasn't a genius or anything, but he picked things up quickly. This wasn't like that. It was really hard. "Ugh! This is driving me insane!"

"Calm down. It's gonna take time, Sam. You won't get it overnight," Gabriel said very patiently.

"It's been weeks since we started!" Sam exclaimed in frustration.

"Yeah, well, it takes kids more than a few weeks to read visually, so it's only fair to assume that it'll take you a while to learn to read braille. And you should probably keep your voice down or we'll get kicked out," Gabriel said.

Sam snorted. "I'm sure you can avoid us getting kicked out. Though I wouldn't mind being thrown out."

Gabriel chuckled. "You wanna take a break? We can go to the diner down the street for lunch and come back."

"Sure, but let's skip the coming back part," Sam grumbled as he stood up.

Gabriel laughed and the two of them started walking towards the exit.

Sam only got a few feet before he felt himself colliding into someone and then falling to the floor.

Gabriel immediately went to help Sam. He would've stopped Sam's fall, but they were in public and he knew he wouldn't be able to do it without giving away that he was a little more than human. He was just a little too short for anyone to believe he could sustain Sam's weight. "You okay, Sam."

"Yeah," Sam said as he started to get up. He then felt Gabriel grab his arm and allowed the angel to pull him up.

"Oh, man, I'm really sorry," the man Sam bumped into said.

The first thing Sam noticed was that the man was American, which was a little surprising, as he didn't run into many so far. "No, it's okay. It was probably my fault."

"No, the idiot wasn't looking where he was going," Gabriel said while glaring at the man in front of him. The guy looked around middle-aged and had balding dark hair and brown eyes.

"Gabriel," Sam admonished.

"No, he's right, I wasn't paying attention. I'm sorry. My name's Will," the man said.

"Sam," he said before sticking out his hand. He felt the man's hand in his soon and shook it.

"It's nice to meet you. Again, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I've stumbled plenty of times. Once more doesn't make a difference. I should've been paying better attention anyway. Usually I know when someone's close by," Sam said.

"I got your cane, Sam," Gabriel said. Sam had dropped it when he fell and it had landed a few feet away.

Sam put his hand out and felt it being placed in his hand. "It was nice to meet you, Will."

"Yeah, just great. You might want to look up when you're walking from now on," Gabriel said shortly before leading Sam away.

"Gabriel, do you have to be an ass?" Sam was asking as they walked.

Meanwhile, Will watched them leave and then went to the front desk to speak to the librarian. "Excuse me, do you speak English."

"Pretty good, yes," a woman with graying dark hair said in a French accent.

"Do you know the two that just left, the blind guy and his friend?" Will asked.

"Oh, yes. Sam and Gabriel. They come often. Sam is learning to read without his sight," the woman said.

"How long have they been coming?" Will asked.

"A few weeks. They are very nice, though Gabriel appears protective of Sam," she said.

"Thank you," he said before walking away.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Bobby was exhausted. He hadn't slept well lately, neither had Dean. Sam had been gone for about a month and there was no sign of him at all nor any leads on finding him. It was keeping both hunters up and barely functioning. Bobby spent most of his time that wasn't spent helping other hunters trying find some way of finding Sam and Dean was taking up hunt after hunt to keep his mind off things.

Bobby was in the middle of looking up some lore for a hunter when he heard the phone rang. He immediately rolled his chair over to the phones and answered it. "Singer."

"Hey, Bobby, it's Will."

"Hey, Will, what's up? You still in France?" Bobby asked. Most hunters didn't bother with hunts outside of the country, but there were a couple, which was good because a lot of monsters didn't care what part of the world they wreaked havoc in.

"Yeah, I was looking into a supposed animal attack. I just hit the library. When I got here, I bumped into a couple of people. One of them matches your boy's description," Will said.

Bobby stiffened. He'd given Sam's information to a few trustworthy hunters. He'd been a little uneasy about doing so after his trust in Tim and Reggie was betrayed, but he had very few options. He didn't even think it would do much good, but he had to give it a shot. "You think you saw Sam?"

"Yeah. The librarian says he and his buddy have been coming in to the library for the last few weeks. The timing kind of fits from when you told me he was missing. But, Bobby, he's blind," Will said as gently as he could.

"Then it's not Sam," Bobby said gruffly. The voice in the back of his head was saying that it was possible, that they had no idea what those assholes, the hunters or the angels, might have done to him, but Bobby wasn't willing to even consider it.

"Bobby, the kid said his name was Sam and he looked exactly how you described. You really believe in coincidences like that? You told me that he might have been injured," Will said.

Bobby sighed. He had said that, but he hadn't imagined possible blindness. He didn't want that for Sam. He knew what it was like to lose a part of yourself. He didn't want that for his boy. "You're sure he's blind."

"Yeah. He didn't make any eye contact with me and he had a cane, one the blind uses," Will said.\

"You said he was with someone," Bobby said as he remembered Will saying Sam had a buddy with him.

"Yeah, some guy named Gabriel."

Bobby wasn't religious by any means, but he did know that there was supposed to be an archangel named Gabriel. He was supposed to be God's messenger. Sure, a lot of people had that name, but they knew Sam had been taken by an angel.

"How did he seem around this guy? Did he seem like he was being held against his will?" Bobby asked. He couldn't imagine an angel taking Sam to a library while holding him hostage, but he also couldn't see Sam agreeing to stay with one.

"No, he seemed fine, kind of friendly. And this Gabriel guy seemed decent. He was really protective of Sam, bit my head off for accidently knocking him down," Will said.

Bobby wasn't sure what to make of that. The only decent angel he knew was Cas and that was only since the apocalypse began. Bobby didn't trust whoever this was. He was sure the guy had some kind of agenda.

"Bobby, you want me to come back tomorrow and try to talk to him?" Will asked.

"No, I'll handle it. Give me the name of that library," Bobby said before quickly grabbing a pen and paper scrap. Then he wrote down the name as it was given to him. "Thanks, Will," he said before hanging up. Then he picked the phone up and made a call.

"Yes," a male voice answered.

"Cas, it's Bobby. I need you to get to my place as soon as…"

"I am here," Castiel answered from behind Bobby.

Bobby hung up the phone and turned his chair around. "Well, you're certainly quick."

"What can I help you with? I am busy searching for Sam," Castiel said. He had been doing nothing else since he'd learned what happened to him. Not only was it important that Sam be found to keep him from agreeing to be Lucifer's vessel, but Dean was refusing to talk to him as well. He was still angry Castiel hadn't listened to Sam's prayers and he wasn't really wrong to be.

"Yeah, well, I might have found him. I've been having some hunters keep an eye out just in case. One of them find someone with his description in a French library," Bobby said.

"Your friend must be mistaken. No angel would take him out in public," Castiel said.

"He's with someone named Gabriel. I know there's an angel with that name," Bobby said.

"An archangel, yes. No one's seen him in thousands of years," Castiel said with a frown. He didn't understand why Gabriel would surface now or why he'd take Sam. Was it just because the apocalypse started?

"Look I was hoping you could check this out, see if it is him and what's going on," Bobby said.

"Of course. Do you know where they are?" Castiel asked. He would need to be careful about this. There was an archangel involved and that could get deadly. But he would do what he could to help Sam and hopefully also regain Dean's trust.

Bobby handed him the piece of paper in his hand. "They're not there now, but apparently go often. One thing though. I don't want Dean to know until I'm sure it's Sam. I'm told he's blind, and just the thought of that would tear Sam up."

Castiel frowned once more. "If Sam were blinded, Gabriel would be able to heal him. I'm unsure if this is not merely a coincidence."

"Yeah, well, we'll find out when you see them, won't we?" Bobby said.

"Alright. I will keep you informed," Castiel said before disappearing.