Hopelessly Human

6. A Matter of Trust

[Family Matters]

INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

Sam grunted and groaned.

"You're right. He looks terrible," Castiel said.

Sam groaned again.

Azrael frowned. "You did this?"

"Cas? Rae? What's-" Sam grunted. "Let me go."

"Has he been feverish?" Castiel questioned.

"Have you?" Dean and Natalia pressed.

"No," Sam replied. "Why?"

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

"No. What are you two... Are you two diagnosing me?"

Natalia pursed her lips. "You better hope they can."

"You two really think that this is-"

Dean cut him off. "What, you think that there's a clinic out there for people who just pop out of Hell wrong? They ask, you answer! Then you shut your hole. You got it?"

"How much do you sleep?" Azrael inquired.

"I don't," Sam answered.

Dylan frowned. "At all?"

"Not since I got back."

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

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

"What?" Dean and Natalia asked.

Azrael looked at the younger brother. "Sam... What are you feeling now?"

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

"No. That would be a physical sensation. How do you feel?"

"Well, I think-"

"Feel."

"I... don't know." He looked at the angels. "What? Uh..."

"This will be unpleasant," Castiel warned.

"What-"

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

Castiel injected his hand into Sam's chest and Sam screamed, groaned and breathed heavily.

Dylan gripped Natalia's hand tightly, seeing her panic and worry.

When Castiel removed his hand, Dean asked, "Did you find anything?"

"No," Castiel replied.

"So that's good news?" Natalia questioned hopefully.

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

"Then what?"

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

Dean scoffed. "Um... I'm s -- I'm sorry. One more time, like I'm five. What do you mean, he's got no-"

Azrael interrupted him. "Somehow, when Sam was resurrected, it was without his soul."

"So, where is it?" Dylan wondered.

"Our best guess... Still in the cage with Michael and Lucifer."

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

"Well, you pose an interesting philosophical question," Castiel replied.

"Well, then, just get it back," Dean reasoned.