<P> Sam is close to death in the premiere, "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here"; it is revealed that the trials have severely burned his internal organs as well as cut off oxygen - flow to his brain, and that he has virtually no chance of survival . Having slipped into a coma, Sam has a dream in which he realizes that he is dying and struggles between whether or not he should even try to fight, eventually electing to let himself die with the guarantee that this time he cannot be revived and cause anymore damage . However, the angel Gadreel is called in by Dean to save Sam through any means necessary . Disguised as Dean, Gadreel convinces Sam to let him save him and Sam agrees, unwittingly providing permission to Gadreel so that the angel can possess him due to Gadreel's ambiguously - worded question . Gadreel spends the next eight episodes healing Sam from within without Sam realizing it . In fact, Sam is completely unaware of Gadreel's presence, as the angel spends most of this time laying dormant in Sam's subconscious and he and Dean go to some lengths to prevent him finding out about it because Sam could prematurely expel Gadreel if he found out . </P> <P> Sam is alerted to Gadreel's possession of him by Crowley in the later episode "Road Trip", at which point he revokes his permission and forcibly expels Gadreel from his body by ordering the angel out . To his horror, he also finds out that Gadreel has killed Kevin using his body to prove his loyalty to Metatron . Sam is appalled and angry at how far Dean will go to keep him alive, feeling betrayed that Dean not only helped Gadreel possess him and hid the truth from him but also for persuaded him not to finish the trials and thus kept the gates of Hell open and allowed demons to continue wreaking havoc, all to keep Sam alive . Sam lets a guilt - ridden Dean leave at the end of the episode . In the following episode "First Born", Sam works with Castiel to extract a lingering piece of Gadreel's grace (angelic energy) so that they can track him . Feeling guilty over the deaths he could have stopped, especially Kevin's, Sam urges Castiel to extract all of the grace still inside him, even though it may kill Sam because the grace is keeping him from reverting to his deathly state prior his possession . However, Castiel refuses to risk Sam's life . As a result, the amount of grace they gather is insufficient to track Gadreel . </P> <P> Sam runs into Dean on the same case in "Sharp Teeth". Although Dean tries to divert Sam from the case so that they won't have to work together again, Sam reveals that he is willing to work with Dean again so long as it is on a strictly professional basis, telling him that they cannot work on a brotherly basis anymore because Dean has lost his trust . At the end of "The Purge", Sam responds to Dean's attempts to justify his decisions by saying that Dean's choices are not as selfless as Dean paints them and that he would not have done what Dean did given the same situation, which stuns Dean into silence . </P> <P> The two eventually begin to come back together as Sam learns more about Abaddon's history and plans after he learns that she has been taking souls while leaving the victims' alive', much like he was after his escape from Hell . They eventually manage to determine the location of a portal to Heaven that allows Castiel to trap Metatron while Dean kills Abaddon with the First Blade--acquired from Cain himself and the only weapon capable of killing a Knight of Hell--but Castiel is left dying of the grace he stole to regain his powers while Dean is transformed into a demon due to the First Blade's influence . </P>

Who does sam end up with in supernatural