Where Art Thou, Dear Brother?

Sam's POV

Sam woke up early the next morning, last night's events still fresh on his mind. He supposed he had been a little harsh, but he was just being honest. That was what Dean had wanted, right?

Of course not, jackass, he thought to himself. Do you think he wanted to know that his younger brother wouldn't do anything for him?

He pushed the thought aside. He had been willing to do that once. But now he wasn't sure he could trust Dean. He wanted to, but the things Dean was willing to do to keep him here... It scared him. What else was Dean willing to do for the sake of not being alone?

He looked for Dean in the room he was the night before. When he saw all the empty whiskey and beer bottles, he decided that Dean must be sleeping, so Sam didn't look any further for him.

Sam grabbed his laptop and headed out into the front room. He began looking for a case, hoping that some work would help clear his head. A half hour later, he found one in upstate Nebraska. A bunch of young kids had went missing within the last week, and it looked like something worth checking out. Closing the laptop, he stood up and began to gather his things.

"Dean!" he called.

Sam went to go make himself some breakfast, expecting his brother to eventually come out of his room. He made breakfast, sat down at the table and ate, but Dean never came out.

"Dean, get up!" Sam called again. He finished his breakfast and cleared his place. Dean still hadn't appeared. Sighing, Sam went to his room.

"Dean," he said, knocking. There was no answer. "C'mon, man, if you're ignoring me because of what I said..."

Sam tested the handle. The door was unlocked.

"Dean?" Sam creaked the door open. "Hey man, get up..." He trailed off as when he realized there was no one in the room. Sam sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "Great. Where'd you pass out this time?" He turned to leave, but a paper on the bed caught his eye. Turning on the light, Sam picked up the paper and saw that it was a note. His brow creased as he read.

Don't even bother, you son of a bitch

Sam's eyes widened. He hadn't really—

Sam sprinted out of the bunker, bursting out into the crisp morning, looking for the Impala. It was gone. Sam whipped out his phone and dialed every single one of Dean's numbers, praying each time that he would pick up. When he didn't, Sam threw the note down in anger.

Dammit! What the hell Dean! What the freaking hell! You chose now to run off?

Sam looked up at the sky. "Cas!" He shouted. "Castiel!"

There was a flapping of wings and Cas appeared behind him.

"Sam?" He asked. "What is it?"

Sam ran his hands through his hair. "It's Dean. He left."

Cas frowned. "What do you mean he left?"

"I mean he left, Cas. He took the car and left." Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. "We had a fight last night, and I said some things that made him mad, so he ran off. He left a note saying not to look for him, but I need you to find him."

Cas tilted his head, confused. "What did you fight about?"

"Gadreel possessing me," Sam sighed. "I told him that I couldn't trust him a few days ago, and that we had to keep it strictly business between us, and I guess I must have been a little harsh because he was pretty mad about it last night."

"Strictly business?" Cas asked.

"I...I basically told him that we couldn't be brothers anymore." Sam said, looking at his hands.

"You did what?" Cas exclaimed, appalled. "Sam, you must have known that he would be upset about that. You mean everything to him, and for him to hear that you didn't want him to be your brother anymore..."

"I know, I know, that was too much," Sam said, looking up at Cas. "And I guess I was still pissed, so I told him something that I knew would hurt him. But Cas," he continued, his face dead serious. "I wasn't kidding."

Cas frowned angrily and threw his hands in the air. "Well that just makes it worse!"

"I can't trust him, Cas. He's too desperate, too willing to do anything for the sake of not being alone. I don't know what he'll do next." Sam put his hands up and looked Cas in the eyes, pleading for him to understand.

But Cas just shook his head. "I can't believe you Sam. We need Dean to help us fix this mess, but he can't do it without you. If you had died, Dean would have given up, and then where would we be?"

Sam was shocked that Cas was actually siding with Dean. "Well for starters, Gadreel wouldn't be running around helping Metatron start a war between the angels, we would still have Crowley behind bars, and Kevin would still be alive!"

Cas shook his head again. "You just don't understand, do you?" He asked angrily. "He does it because he loves you, and that's what brothers are supposed to do! In all this crap you have to deal with, in all the crap you've ever had to deal with, the only way he gets through it is you. And now you've said the one thing that would hurt him most." He turned  away.

"What have you done." Cas disappeared, leaving Sam to wonder the same thing.

What have I done?