Sam was sitting at the dining room table listening to Gabriel in the kitchen. He knew something was wrong with the angel. He'd been weird and pissed off ever since they left the library. He'd barely spoken since then and when he did, his tone was tense.

Gabriel was in the middle of making dinner. He was still extremely angry over his conversation with Castiel. Honestly, he was angrier at Dean than Castiel, though Castiel did have his own crap to answer for with Sam, along with the rest of their asshat brothers. But Dean was Sam's brother. He was the one who screwed Sam over and now had the nerve to want him back. He didn't deserve Sam, and okay, maybe a part of it was that Gabriel didn't want to give Sam up.

"Gabriel, are you okay?" Sam asked.

"That's like the hundredth time you asked me that. How many times are you gonna keep asking?" Gabriel asked as he turned over the chicken he was frying.

"When you stop lying. I may not be able to see you, but I can hear the anger in your voice," Sam said. He'd gotten pretty good at compensating for his lack of sight. He paid attention to the sound of someone's voice a lot more.

Gabriel sighed. He knew he had to explain to Sam what happened. He meant it when he told Castiel that he was going to tell Sam that Dean was interested in seeing him. He'd been putting it off for the last few hours because he was afraid that even after everything, Sam would choose to go back to Dean. Even in such a short time, Sam had become an important part of his life and he didn't want him to go. "Just let me finish dinner and then we'll talk while we eat."

"Okay," Sam agreed.

It took Gabriel about another ten minutes to finish cooking. Then he put the chicken and rice he made onto two plates and brought it over to the table. "Alright, here we go."

"Thanks. So what's up?" Sam asked as he very slowly and carefully worked on cutting his food. Needless to say, the once simple task was a lot more difficult when you couldn't see.

Gabriel sat down across from Sam. "Castiel showed up at the library."

Sam dropped his silverware onto the plate in surprise. "H…How'd he find us?"

"It turns out we ran into a hunter there yesterday. My guess is it was the idiot that knocked into you. Apparently he knows Bobby Singer. They found out what happened to you with those men and they've been looking for you," Gabriel explained.

"How'd they find out?" Sam asked, a little rattled that they even knew. He never wanted Dean to know. He'd feel obligated to find him and then take care of him.

"I don't know. I didn't ask. I wasn't really interested in much Castiel had to say," Gabriel said.

"Th…They know I'm blind then," Sam said. It wasn't a question. Even if that hunter for some reason hadn't told Bobby he was blind, which was highly unlikely, Cas would have seen it when he showed up today.

"Yeah. I'd assume by now your brother knows too."

Sam hung his head unhappily. "I didn't want Dean to find out.

"Yeah, well, he should know. He ought to know what he caused," Gabriel bit out.

"He didn't cause it. It's not his fault," Sam argued.

"He's not responsible for the actions of those psychos, but if he hadn't been such a dick, you wouldn't have been alone for them to go after," Gabriel said.

"It was my choice to leave," Sam said.

"And his to let you. His to push you away in the first place. He threw you away. That pisses me off because you deserve better. Dean's not perfect. He had no right to judge you so harshly," Gabriel said firmly.

Sam shrugged, not sure how to respond.

"According to Castiel, Dean would like to see you. Apparently he feels bad. Not nearly enough though," Gabriel said. He said the last part under his breath to himself. He would not give Dean a pass because he suddenly found a heart. It didn't show up until after he found out Sam had been kidnapped and tortured. Gabriel had to wonder if Dean would still feel guilty for his actions if that never happened.

Sam shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't sure what to do. He really did want to see Dean. He missed his brother. Dean had been the constant throughout his whole life. It had hurt so bad to have to let him go. But Sam wasn't sure he could go back now, for more than one reason.

"Sam, do you wanna see your brother?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes, but I'm not sure I should. He probably just wants to see me now because he feels bad about what happened to me. He doesn't really wanna see me. He just thinks he should. Just like when he finds out I'm blind, he'll think he has to take care of me," Sam said. It wasn't just that though. He knew that all the resentment and distrust would still be there and he wasn't sure he could deal with it. Secretly, that was one of the reasons he left. Everything he said to Dean about not trusting himself was true, but he was sure if he thought his brother had his back that he would stay. That was why he'd been hoping Dean would try to stop him. He didn't because he didn't want to be around him. Sam wasn't sure he could go back to that. He knew he deserved his brother's ire. Maybe he even deserved his hatred, but he didn't want to deal with it, especially after nearly a month of it being different. Gabriel never sugarcoated what he did wrong, but he didn't hold it against him every second or look at him almost like he was a demon. Well, at least Sam guessed he didn't. But that was how he sometimes felt with Dean. Hell, it seemed a lot like that even before he released Lucifer. He didn't want to go back to that.

"Sam, if you don't want to go to your brother, our arrangement stands, but I think maybe you should. You should at least talk to him and figure out if maybe you do want to go back with him," Gabriel said. He didn't think Dean deserved for Sam to even give him the consideration of talking to him and he was more than a bit worried that Sam would choose to go off with his brother, but this was not about what he thought or wanted. It wouldn't be right for him to influence Sam to stay away from his brother. He wouldn't be much better than Dean for doing that. He needed to help Sam make the right choice for him.

Sam sighed. He was more than a little reluctant, but maybe it was best for him to do this, maybe even for him to stay with Dean if he'd have him. Gabriel shouldn't have to keep taking care of him. He deserved to have his life back, even if Sam was reluctant to leave. "Okay. We can go tomorrow."

"Alright. Let's eat," Gabriel said before digging into his dinner.