Much to Sam's surprise, Cas came in next. He stared at Sam intently, as if deciding how to react to him, but eventually, he sat in the chair next to Sam's bed and reached out to cover Sam's hand in his in a gesture of comfort that had Sam fighting the urge to break down in tears.

"Cas, I'm sorry," Sam said quietly.

Cas replied, equally quiet, "I know you are."

Sam nodded slowly. He wasn't going to get forgiveness from Cas. Not now anyway.

But he couldn't help but ask, "Can you ever forgive me?"

Cas smiled softly, "Yes, of course."

"But you're still upset with me now," Sam concluded out loud.

Cas nodded, smile fading, "Yes. You tried to kill one of my best friends. I am a bit...troubled by that."

Sam didn't know how to react to that. Cas was upset. Sam made him upset. But Cas thought Sam was one of his best friends? He knew Cas cared, but he hadn't known...

"Why do you look confused?" Cas asked. Sam met Cas' gaze reluctantly, "I didn't know you thought of me as one of your best friends. That's...Thank you, Cas."

Cas looked at him sternly, "Do you think I would've lied to Dean for you if I didn't care about you? Do you think I would be here right now instead of Charlie or Dorothy or Gabriel if you didn't mean something to me?"

Sam blinked away tears and looked down at his hand. Cas had a point. He had a serious point, and Sam hadn't had a clue.

Cas squeezed Sam's hand and caught his gaze sharply.

"Dean was so scared, Sam," Cas said, "I was so scared. Gabriel didn't leave this room until you woke up. Charlie and Dorothy were at their wits' end. Jo and Balthazar and Benny were here when they first heard. Kevin and Anna are here, too. Bobby and Ellen are on their way. You have so many people that care about you, that are here for you whenever you need them. And they want to be there for you. There is no obligation. Don't you dare forget that if you ever consider doing this again. And you better not. The nurse is already telling us we need a better place to hang out."

Sam hugged Cas quickly. Cas returned the hug tightly, but it wasn't until Sam heard Cas sniffle that he realized his friend was crying.

Sam didn't let go of Cas until Cas decided to release him. Cas wasn't crying anymore.

"You are worth more than you give yourself credit for," Cas said quietly, his voice thick with tears. Sam didn't know what to say.

He didn't quite believe him. He'd caused his family so much pain. He clearly couldn't be worth much as a person if he'd been willing to do that to them. But hearing it again from so many different people was starting to make it sink in a little.

Cas got up and said with more composure, "I won't make the others wait. I'll see you later." He opened the door and Charlie rushed in.

Charlie sat down in a huff and said, "Alright. What really happened? Suicide attempt is way too cliché, and you'd never do that to us, so I want you to tell me the real story, and make it good, Sam."

Sam sighed, "I don't know what to tell you, Charlie."

"Sam," she said, concerned, "It wasn't just an accident? You didn't just auto-pilot taking pills?" Sam shook his head. It was hard to even meet Charlie's gaze. He didn't know how he was going to deal with seeing everyone else.

"But you're my boy. You and Dean, you're my boys. Why would you...?" she said, pleading Sam to tell her he didn't try to kill himself.

"I'm sorry," Sam said. Charlie shook her head and closed her eyes.

"What the hell, Sam?" she said, exasperated, "We've been through so much. I would've-Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry," he said again.

She folded her hands and placed them on her lap calmly, scarily calmly.

She said, "Tell me now."

At first he hesitated. Sure, he'd known Charlie since they were on the streets together, but this was seriously personal shit. But she was family. So he told her. He told her about Luci, about Gabe, about everything. And she listened.

Dorothy came in next. She closed the door behind her and stood at the foot of Sam's bed with her arms held behind her back as if she was at attention.

She smiled at him and said, "I'll bet ten bucks that everyone else is trying to get you to talk about your feelings and what happened. It's because they care about you. They aren't trying to be all in your face, they're just scared." She crossed over to the side of his bed and fixed Sam with a hard stare.

"At least the worst is over," she said, "You've already talked to Dean." She glanced around awkwardly while Sam decided to reply or not.

She sighed, "They're only letting one person in at a time, so I shouldn't hog up all your time. I'll see you at home when you're out anyways."

Before she left, she turned to Sam from the door and said, "I'm glad you're gonna be okay."

Sam beckoned her over, and she hugged him.

"Me, too," he said quietly. After she left, it became a revolving door of loving faces, concern, hurt, and confusion.

Kevin hustled into the room and said, "This is really not fair, you know? You know how much work I've been doing just to keep up with the curriculum? You know how hard I've been trying to balance with Anna? You know how much I've got on my plate? You told me that I need to keep going. And then you do this?"

He dropped himself into the chair and shook his head in frustrated disbelief.

"You don't get to give up if I don't, got it?" he snapped. Sam nodded quickly, having never seen him go off like this. But Kevin had a point. They all did.

Balthazar sighed as he entered the room and closed the door.

"This is going to be emotional, isn't it? Could we not? I'm sure you're sick of talking about it, and I frankly don't want to know. Mind if I just sit here?" he said, walking to the plastic chair.

He plopped down without waiting for an answer and asked, "Seen any hot nurses in this place yet?" It was the first time Sam felt like laughing since he woke up.

Jo closed the door softly and visibly steeled her resolve to remain calm by taking an exaggerated deep breath.

Sam was expecting her wrath, but instead, Jo sat next to his bed, took his hand in hers, and said, "If I score you more beer, will you promise not to do something like this again?"

Sam laughed, "Jo, that's not—" Jo's smile sobered as she squeezed Sam's hand tightly.

"Seriously, though. Never do this again. Ever," she said.

He nodded and said, "I'm sorry, Jo. I didn't mean to—"

Jo sighed, returning to a lighter tone, "It's fine. Next time I come into this hospital with you better be when we're replacing Dean's liver, alright?" He couldn't help but laugh. He loved his family.

Bobby and Ellen came bursting in at the same time with Ellen shouting behind her, "I don't care about your stupid policy!" They both rushed to Sam's bedside like the loving parents he'd never had.

Ellen gushed, "Oh, honey, I'm glad you're okay."

Bobby smacked Sam upside the head, snapping, "What the hell's wrong with you, boy?"

That visit almost hurt as bad as Dean's, but it was nice having something close to parents. He'd never been hugged so much in his life.

Benny and Anna didn't come in at all. Anna didn't really know Sam, and Benny knew he made Sam uncomfortable as it was. But they both extended their well wishes through the others.

Gabriel, much to Sam's relief, came back after everyone else had gotten to see him. He sat back down in the hospital chair with a grin stretched across his face.

"So," he said, "Where did we leave off?"

"I've had feelings for you for a while," Sam said.

Gabe smiled brightly, "Oh, right. Well, not to abruptly change the subject, but I'd really like to talk about this." He pulled a folded note out of his pocket. Sam felt like he just swallowed acid. It was his note. Gabe unfolded it and showed Sam his own handwriting.

"I'm the only one who's seen this, so consider yourself lucky," he said.

"You were the one who found me?" Sam asked.

"Don't change the subject," Gabriel said, "But yes. We'll get to that. This note, though."

"I'm sorry you found me, I had no idea it would be you. I'm so sorry," Sam said quickly.

Gabe sighed, "I'm not. If I had been any later, we may not be having this conversation...and you don't know what that would do to me." He fixed Sam with a soft, sad gaze and held up the note, getting back to the matter at hand.

"Sam," he said, voice pouring over his name like honey, "What the hell? You did it for us? What the hell, Sam?"

Sam stared at his hands, "I feel like a burden to you guys, especially you. You could do so much better than me. You should do so much better than me. I felt like it was best to take myself out of the equation. I have since seen the error of my ways."

Gabe stood quickly and looked down at Sam. "I'm glad you realize that suicide is a bad idea. I really am," he said.

Sam met Gabe's eyes and saw them so full of affection Sam wanted to cry. How could someone look at him like that? How could he deserve that kind of love?

Gabe cupped Sam's cheek with one hand and said, "Sam, I've said this before, and I'll say it again. There is no one, no one, better than you. Period. End of story. If I have to spend the rest of my life proving that to you, then that is exactly what I'm going to do."

Sam felt a tear roll down his cheek. He never imagined someone would say that to him, let alone hearing it more than once. He never ever imagined believing such words. But when Gabriel said it again, he didn't doubt him for a second. Gabe wiped away Sam's tear and kissed him softly.

"I love you," Sam said.

Gabe laughed even though his smile wavered slightly and said, "Let's see if you still say that when you see me naked."

Sam laughed and a rush of relief flooded Gabriel's face.