Castiel arrived at the French library the next day. He'd briefly gone right after leaving Bobby's, but there was no sign of Sam or Gabriel, so he decided to try again the next day as they were unlikely to return the same day.
Castiel was surprised when he picked up Gabriel's Grace seconds after he arrived. He hadn't expected for it to be true. He figured Bobby's friend had made a mistake. But it was him, which probably meant Sam was also here.
Castiel scanned the area and found Sam and Gabriel towards the back. Gabriel, unsurprisingly had already noticed his presence, undoubtedly sensing his Grace as well. Castiel knew this because Gabriel was staring at him unhappily. Then after making a quick excuse to Sam, he was up and heading Castiel's way.
Castiel regarded his brother nervously, knowing very well what he could do to him.
Gabriel made it to Castiel quickly and grabbed him by the back of his coat, hauling him towards the door. "What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded once they got outside.
"Brother, what are you doing?" Castiel said. He didn't know what Gabriel wanted with Sam. It clearly wasn't to make him say 'yes' to Lucifer. They wouldn't be at a public library if that was the case.
"Why are you here?! How'd you know where to find us?" Gabriel demanded to know.
"A hunter friend of Bobby Singer's ran into you here. He had Sam's description. Is it true that Sam's blind?" Castiel asked.
"What do you care? You assholes forsook him! You don't give a damn about Sam," Gabriel said while glaring.
"That isn't true," Castiel said.
"No? Where were you when Sam was being tortured by those animals in human form? Don't answer because I already know. You were busy kissing Dean Winchester's ass or searching for our deadbeat father. It's a little late to pretend Sam means anything to you, brother," Gabriel spat.
"No one knew what was happening to Sam," Castiel tried to reason.
"That's because no one gave a damn what happened to him," Gabriel said.
"That isn't true. Even if you're right about me, Dean and Bobby Singer care about him. He's their family," Castiel said.
"I won't speculate about the old man, but Dean caring about him is a load of crap! The bastard left him to rot because he made a mistake!" Gabriel growled. Needless to say, he had no respect for Dean Winchester. The self-righteous asshole was part of the reason Sam had so little self-respect, why he felt he deserved to be blinded.
"It was Sam's decision to leave," Castiel said, feeling compelled to defend his friend.
"Yeah, because staying and allowing his own brother to continue to condemn him would've been better. Dean may not have told him to go, but that's what he wanted. He was tired of taking care of his brother. Well, guess what? He doesn't have to worry about that anymore. Sam's not his problem. I'll handle it from now on," Gabriel said. In the beginning, he wanted Sam to reunite with his brother because he knew how close they were and that it was hurting Sam not to be with Dean. But when Sam finally told him what happened, that changed. Dean didn't deserve his brother if he was willing to abandon him so easily and there was no way in hell Gabriel was going to Sam get hurt again.
"Is Sam blind?" Castiel asked again.
"Yeah, he's blind. You can feel free to give that information to your boy toy," Gabriel said. Sam didn't want Dean to know, but he did. He wanted Dean to know what happened after he pushed Sam away. He wanted him to hate himself for what happened."
"I don't understand. Why don't you heal him?" Castiel asked confused. He could tell by how angry Gabriel was that he cared for Sam, so why wouldn't he heal him.
"Oh, I'd love to, Bro. You find a way to get past the holy oil they mixed with the acid they poured into his eyes and I'll have it done in a second," Gabriel said coolly.
"Holy oil? I didn't know that could inhibit healing," Castiel said. He knew it could trap or kill an angel, but he didn't know that if mixed with a wound, an angel wouldn't be able to heal it.
"Well, it's never been tested until now. Are we done now?" Gabriel asked impatiently. He'd spent much more time on this conversation than he wanted to and every second he did just pissed him off.
"Gabriel, Dean is worried about Sam. He investigated the deaths of those hunters and saw his blood in their basement. He wants his brother back," Castiel said.
"I don't care. I don't give a damn what Dean wants. He threw his brother to the wolves! As far as I'm concerned, he lost the right to anything with Sam," Gabriel said before he began to walk away. He was done with this.
"How about Sam? I am sure he'd like to see his brother. You can't hold him hostage. You have to return him," Castiel said in a loud and demanding tone.
Gabriel was back over to him in seconds and had a glare on his face so powerful that Castiel would be incinerated if looks could kill. "You're just asking for me to smite you! Believe me when say, I have problem showing you that I am just as dangerous as Michael or Raphael!"
Castiel flinched. He had forgotten for a second. He should've known better than to challenge an archangel in such a way. He supposed he got caught up in needed to defend Dean. "I…I didn't mean to offend you, Brother."
"You know; it happens that I offered to bring Sam to his brother. He didn't want to go. It seems Sam doesn't have any faith in his brother anymore. That might have something to do with the bastard basically telling him he was better off without Sam. He doesn't trust him anymore. That's a problem. In his condition, Sam needs to be able to count on who's helping him," Gabriel said.
"You're saying Sam doesn't want to see Dean?" Castiel said surprised. Sam seemed to be devoted to his brother. Well, most of the time. Sam had chosen a demon over him, which was the beginning of all of this.
"Yeah, that's right," Gabriel said. Okay, that wasn't technically true. He knew Sam did want to see his brother, but Sam had made the choice not to and it would be respected.
"I'd like to speak with him."
"No. I know what you plan to do, Castiel. You wanna manipulate Sam, guilt him into going to see Dean. There's no way in hell that's going to happen. Now I will tell Sam that Dean wants to see him. If he wants to see his brother, fine, I'll bring him. But you're not gonna mess with his head. You try to talk to him now and I will smite your ass!" Gabriel swore before turning around and going back inside.