Standing Outside the Fire

7

[Family Matters]

INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

Sam grunted and groaned.

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

Sam groaned again.

Castiel frowned. "You did this?"

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

"Has he been feverish?"

"Have you?" Dean and Francesca pressed.

"No," Sam replied. "Why?"

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

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

Dean pursed his lips. "You better hope he can."

"You 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?" Castiel inquired.

"I don't," Sam answered.

Francesca 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 Francesca asked.

Castiel looked at the younger Winchester. "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 angel. "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."

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

Francesca glanced at Dean and stepped closer to him. He took her hand so they both could feel a sense of comfort.

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

"No," Castiel replied.

"So that's good news?"

"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-"

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

"So, where is it?" Francesca wondered.

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

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

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