"That might be days from now," Sam said. "Or a week. More than a week." He hadn't been keeping track of when the advisory notices were sent out, but he knew that they were not always predictable. He knew that Cas had a point, though, that they shouldn't just stop looking. But Sam had been emotionally knocked to his knees, and he couldn't even figure out where to begin thinking about looking for his brother. Not yet.
He felt more than saw Cas sit down beside him, but took the phone. It took a moment for him to pull himself together, to remember how to do something so simple as programming, but when he started to concentrate there was a part of his mind that was glad for the work. Glad for the brief moment of logical, straightforward work, the feeling of doing something, as small as it was. It was really very little; it wouldn't keep the angel with him, it would just make sure he knew within two hours of Cas leaving.
"I know," he said, glancing up briefly from what he was doing. "But neither would Dean." And that was the problem. That even if his family didn't want to leave him, even if there were no tangible dangers, they might disappear anyway. He went back to what he was doing, struggling to concentrate, and then stopped momentarily when he heard a beep from his own phone.
Reaching for it, he picked it up and opened the new message. It was SHIELD, notifying him that Dean was gone. He gave a hoarse laugh, and then showed it to Cas. "Or maybe not a full week, after all. Just a couple of hours."