Reckless and Brave

C. (100) Crumblin' Down

[Family Matters]

Holly sat on the bed watching Sam. She couldn't imagine not feeling anything. Nate was watching her worriedly. He knew how close she was to her brothers, and he knew how much this would hurt her.

Sam grunted and groaned and Cas said, "You're right. He looks terrible." Sam groaned. "You did this?"

Sam frowned. "Cas? What--" He grunted. "Let me go."

"Has he been feverish?"

"Have you?" Dean asked.

"No." Sam answered. "Why?"

"Is he speaking in tongues?" Cas asked. "Are you speaking in tongues?"

Sam shook his head. "No. What are you...Are you diagnosing me?"

Holly looked up from her sketchbook. "You better hope he can, Samuel."

Sam glared at her before saying, "You really think that this is--"

Dean frowned. "What, you think that there's a clinic out there for people who just pop out of hell wrong? He asks, you answer! Then you shut your hole. You got it?"

"How much do you sleep?" Cas asked.

"I don't." Sam replied.

"At all?" Dean and Holly questioned.

Sam shook his head. "Not since I got back."

"And it never occurred to you that there might be something off about that?!" Dean cried.

"Of course it did, Dean. I-I just never told you or Holly."

"What?"

"Sam..." Cas began. "What are you feeling now?"

Sam scoffed. "I feel like my nose is broken."

"No, that's a physical sensation. How do you feel?"

"Well, I think--"

"Feel."

"I...don't know. What? Uh..."

"This will be unpleasant."

"What--"

"Bite down on this. If there's someplace that you find soothing, you should go there. In your mind."

Sam did so and screamed as Cas's hand entered his stomach.

After Cas finished, Dean asked, "Did you find anything?"

"No." Cas replied.

Holly scooted closer to Cas on the bed and asked, "So, then, good news?"

"I'm afraid not. Physically, he's perfectly healthy."

"Then what's wrong?"

"It's his soul. It's gone."

Dean glanced at Holly before scoffing. "Um...I'm s--I'm sorry. One more time, I'm like five. What do you mean he's got no--"

"Somehow, when Sam was resurrected, it was without his soul." Cas answered.

"So where is it, then?" Nate asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"My guess is...still in the cage with Michael and Lucifer."

Dean frowned. "So, is he even still Sam?"

"Well, you pose an interesting philosophical question."

"Well, then, just get it back."

"Dean."