Things had been going far too well for far too long. It was only a matter of time before something monumentally awful happened and there it was, just three words but words that had thrown the lives of Sam, Dean and Chloe into chaos yet again. Those three words: 'Mel is missing', and since Sam had spoken them there had barely been a moments peace for anybody. Sam and Dean dived into the Impala and drove straight to where Mel lived, a couple of hundred miles away from their last hunt. Chloe had stayed behind and was waiting for Castiel to join her so she could do some digging of her own.
Chloe was getting fed up because Castiel had turned up for a few minutes just to hear what had happened and then disappeared again saying he'd look into it. That was 2 days before, and there was still no sign of Mel. Chloe had just got off the phone to Dean, who, along with his brother, had been meticulously searching Mel's apartment for any sign of what had happened to her, to see a man lounging in a chair by the window.
"Who the hell are you?" Chloe asked, backing up towards the kitchen counter to reach for the gun that she had left there.
"You won't be needing that." The man said to her, looking bored, "Castiel sent me. I'm Gabriel and I can help you with your little problem."
"Gabriel?" Chloe asked, confused, "I thought you were…"
"Dead?" Gabriel interrupted her, "Yes well. What's dead doesn't always stay dead around here." Chloe nodded, she definitely couldn't argue with him there. Things had a habit of getting pretty damn weird, even after someone was supposed to be dead.
"So you can help us find Mel?" Chloe asked sitting down in the chair opposite his.
"I can help you find her. Well, when I say you, I mean Sam and Dean, you can't help with this one I'm afraid." Gabriel shrugged.
"What do you mean? Why can't I help? What's going on?"
"So many questions, so little time. If you know what's good for you, you will shut your mouth and listen." The threat has half-hearted but Chloe did it anyway. "A trickster has your friend." Gabriel began.
"A trickster? But I thought you were…" Chloe interrupted, but Gabriel held up his hand for her to stop.
"You're making this harder than it needs to be. Dammit just listen to me!" Chloe nodded for him to continue.
"There are many tricksters, but they usually keep their heads down and certainly don't screw with hunters. I am an exception, of course, because I am an angel choosing to be a trickster, because frankly, why the hell not? His name is Richard, and he has a particular taste for making people see how their lives could have been. I have been led to believe that your friend is living a life in an… alternate universe, if you like, as a prolific author. Now I'm not going to pretend to care what happens to your friend, but I am told that I should be making amends for my past actions, so I am here and offering my assistance. So you better call Dumb and Dumber, ahem, excuse me, Sam and Dean back here because they are the only ones that can do what I am proposing." Chloe took in all what Gabriel was telling her and, although she felt like she shouldn't trust him, she put all her faith in him to bring Mel back.
Of course Dean wasn't quite so trusting, but Gabriel's story seemed plausible because there was no trace of Mel in West Virginia at all, so he was willing to give it a shot. This wasn't necessarily because Mel was high on his list of priorities, but Sam, and Chloe for that matter, cared about her and they were high on his list of priorities so he wasn't about to let them down again.
"So how does this work?" Sam asked, he was totally up for the idea even before he'd heard it. He wasn't going to admit defeat without a fight, he had to find Mel.
"Unlike any other 'trip' you have been on," Gabriel used air quotes to signify that he was talking about their past encounters with him, "This time you are only going in mind, it's not a giant illusion set up in a room of my choosing, this is entering what is essentially another existence. Your bodies will stay here and I will send your minds into Richard's dimension and you will have to find your friend. I'm sure it won't be too hard to track her down, she a published author over there, but you will have to play your parts. Over there you won't be hunters so whatever it turns out to be you must play the part or you'll never make it out alive, Richard punishes those who rebel."
"Hang on a minute," Dean protested trying to cover his fear with accusations, "You expect us to trust you here with our bodies?"
"I won't be alone here so you have nothing to worry about." Gabriel replied being purposely vague.
"What do you mean?" Dean asked.
"Because I will be here." Chloe offered, "I can't come with you, so I will stay here, right here," She emphasised that last part, "Until you get back. You have nothing to worry about this end, just find Mel and bring her back."
"What do you want us to do?" Sam asked, there was no question about him doing it; he couldn't live with himself if he didn't at least try.
"Just lie down on a bed and we can get started." Gabriel replied. Dean still looked sceptical so Chloe grabbed him and hugged him, whispering in his ear,
"I'll be here protecting you. Just find Mel and get back here as quick as you can. I love you." And then she pulled away. Dean didn't take his eyes off Chloe for a second as he walked around to the vacant bed and lay down. Gabriel crouched down between the two beds and put a hand on one of Sam and Dean's shoulders and said a few words in what Chloe assumed was Latin. Instantly Sam and Dean's eyes drifted shut and their bodies went still and lifeless. Gabriel straightened himself up, rubbing his hands together,
"So, what fun shall we get up to while your boyfriend and his brother are off in fantasy land?" He asked with a provocative grin. Chloe ignored his suggestions and sat down in a chair opposite the beds and folded her arms across her chest.
"Do you know what my alternative life would have been?" Chloe asked. She had been wondering ever since he'd mentioned that she couldn't go with the boys.
"You would have been hit by a car and killed when you were 6 years old." Gabriel told her looking deep into her eyes.
"Oh." Was all Chloe could reply.
Dean opened his eyes and rolled onto his back. He lifted his head and looked across the expensive hotel room and wondered where the hell he was. Sitting up Dean rubbed his head, noticing the medley of empty beer and whisky bottles lined up on the coffee table and muttered to himself,
"Wow, that must have been some session last night." He could hear the shower running in the adjoining en-suite and a voice singing just loud enough to be heard over the sound of the running water. Dean smiled, he would recognise that tone-deaf voice anywhere.
"Come on Sammy get a move on, we've got a job to do!" Dean yelled. The sound of water stopped and a few seconds later Sam emerged with a towel wrapped around his waist and another for his hair.
"Dude you have to check out that shower." Sam grinned at Dean, who smiled and shook his head at how easily pleased Sam could be.
"Come on, we've got to find Mel and get the hell out of here… Speaking of here, where are we? What are we?" Dean asked. Sam shrugged as he pulled on his jeans.
"I don't know, but no matter what we do here we've obviously never managed to get away from sharing hotel rooms." Sam replied. Dean raised his eyebrows but nodded in agreement just as he noticed something propped up in the corner of the room. On closer inspection it turned out to be a guitar. Dean sat on the edge of his bed turning it in his hands and without even thinking about it played the intro to Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water. Sam's eyes widened.
"Dude! How did you do that?" He asked, incredulous.
"I have no idea." Dean replied, equally as amazed as his brother. "Well, at least we know what we do for a living here." When Sam just frowned Dean continued, "We are rock stars Sammy!" Dean clarified his point by picking up a gig programme he had just noticed off of the bedside table. "We are in a band called Winchester."
"Winchester? You have got to be kidding me?"
"Nope, says it right here." Dean replied waving the book in Sam's face.
"Ok great." Sam replied snatching it from Dean's hand. "Come on, like you said, we're here for a reason, let's get on with it."
The brothers fully intended to walk right out of the hotel, find a car that might be theirs and then go do some digging on Mel, but before they even got out of the hotel's foyer they were surrounded by a group of screaming girls.
"Sammy what is this?" Dean asked, actually fearing for his life just a little.
"I think we have fans Dean." Sam replied as he tried to dodge the grabby hands of the crowd of at least 20 girls that were swarming around him.
"Boys what are you doing?" Boomed a familiar voice from somewhere behind them making both Sam and Dean turn around to stare.
"Bobby?" Dean asked. Bobby walked over to extract the pair from their swarm of fangirls. Once they were safely away Dean continued, "Wow, it's good to see you again Bobby!"
"Yeah, we missed you." Sam added. Bobby just frowned and looked between them.
"How much did you boys drink last night? I only saw you just yesterday being your band manager and everything. But yeah sure, it's good to see you too, I guess." Bobby looked uncomfortable. Sam and Dean exchanged glances and it took them a few moments to remember that of course Bobby would be here because in this life he didn't live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere plotting to kill supernatural creatures so, naturally, he'd live longer. Bobby cleared his throat and tried to overlook the awkwardness,
"Come on, the rest of the guys are on their way, we need to get onto the bus."
"Rest of the guys?" Sam asked, more to himself than anyone else but Bobby heard and frowned at him.
"You sure you're okay boy?" Bobby asked.
"Umm, yeah. Rough night, I guess." Sam replied. Bobby escorted him and Dean outside, past the screaming crowds and onto a double decker bus with blacked-out windows and had 'Winchester' written in huge letters on the side. Before they had chance to really look around them they were followed onto the bus by two more familiar faces: Castiel carrying a guitar case and Ash twirling a drumstick between his fingers. Dean's eyes widened,
"Dude, this is getting weirder and weirder every minute." He whispered to Sam, who just nodded in reply.
"What's goin' on guys?" Ash asked more as an acknowledgement of their presence than actually asking. He lounged on a seat and was already putting his headphones in his ears and playing invisible drums along to whatever music he was listening to. Castiel hadn't spoken up until that point but he sat down opposite Ash and greeted Sam and Dean half-heartedly,
"Hey guys."
"Hey Cas, what's up?" Dean asked.
"Girl trouble." Castiel muttered back and turned to face the window. Dean raised his eyebrows and was mildly impressed that Cas could even get a girl based on what they had all seen in their normal life.
"Anyway," Sam began, remembering the task at hand, "How are we going to find Mel?" He asked sitting down away from Castiel and Ash.
"We need a laptop to do some research." Dean replied, quickly realising that wouldn't be as easy as it sounded. Sam shook his head at his brother's total ignorance of technology, pulled his iPhone out his pocket and waved it in Dean's face.
Finding Mel obviously wasn't going to be as easy as Sam and Dean had hoped. 'Alternate reality Bobby' had been busting their asses from the moment they stepped off of the bus. For nearly 2 days straight they went from shows to rehearsals to promotional parties and, to their amazement, they were able to pull it off, and they were awesome! But under the eagle eyes of manager Bobby it was impossible for them to do any research never mind actually sneak away to find Mel. This was really getting to Sam and he was quickly losing patience with the whole situation.
"You heard what Gabriel said." Dean tried to reason with Sam after hearing him complain for the 100th time that day, "We have to play our parts of this douchebag trickster will kick our asses out… or worse."
"Well we can't just sit here and do nothing!" Sam yelled, mistaking Dean's attempts at reason for his simply not caring.
"We are going to do something about it! Let me go and talk to Bobby. I have a plan." Sam simply raised his eyebrows in response to Dean's explanation, Dean's plans historically weren't that excellent as he had a reputation for being more passive than proactive when it came to making plans.
Dean disappeared and returned about half an hour later.
"We have a gig lined up in West Virginia on Tuesday!" Dean proclaimed looking pleased with himself. Sam sighed,
"And?"
"That's where Mel is, dumbass!"
"Yeah… And?" Sam repeated.
"And I've made it clear to Bobby that she should be sent VIP passes to the show along with a note, which you are about to write," Dean slammed down a pad of hotel paper and a pen in front of Sam, "A note that expresses your strong desire for her to attend. Something mushy, you're good with that crap."
"That might actually work." Sam said thoughtfully. He was impressed but wasn't exactly going to let Dean in on that; his ego was big enough already.
"You don't have to thank me right away." Dean prompted sarcastically, glaring at the back of his brother's head.
Tuesday night arrived in West Virginia and the boys were preparing for yet another show, but this one, they hoped, would be different because Mel would be there and they'd get her the hell out of this 'life'. Sam was more impatient that Dean could possible bear but there was nothing he could do about it yet. Sending Sam out to search for Mel in an ocean of screaming fans was hardly going to work, if anything it was more likely to make her stay away than bring her to them. A knock at the door pulled Dean away from his thoughts.
"Mel!" Sam exclaimed, standing up so fast that the chair he had been sitting on toppled over backwards.
"Umm, hi." Mel replied nervously. Sam was rushing towards her but Dean reached out and grabbed his arm just in time.
"Thanks for coming." Dean said instead, trying to subtly remind Sam that Mel probably wouldn't know who they were.
"Thank you for inviting me." Mel replied casting nervous glances at the brothers, the kind of looks a person gives someone when they know that they know them but have no idea where from, "I don't mean to be rude, but have we met before?" She added. Before Dean or Sam could reply Bobby appeared in the doorway and yelled,
"Show time!"
"We have to go," Sam told Mel reluctantly knowing that he had to go out on stage for the sake of getting her back, "Please hang around until were done and we'll explain everything I promise." Mel nodded as Sam and Dean disappeared down the hall.
Performing was awkward for Sam and Dean, they knew what to do but just felt incredibly stupid doing it. They made it through their show and before the screams had even died down after their last song Sam had dashed off the stage to find Mel. It was a while later before Dean found him.
"She's gone." Sam said breathlessly, looking as if he'd just been running around the whole building trying to find her.
"Don't worry we'll find her. We have to." Dean replied, he was fed up of the situation - he wanted to get back to the real world, and Chloe.
"Dude I've had enough of this. We've been spinning our wheels for too long, I don't know how much more of this I can take."
"You and me both." Dean muttered to himself, but as he turned to walk away something over Sam's shoulder caught his eye, "But maybe our luck is about to change." Dean added so that Sam could hear him, because walking down the corridor towards them was Mel.
"You stayed after all." Sam noted, not hiding his amazement at seeing her.
"Umm, yeah. I was out front watching you guys. That's why I was invited here, right?" Mel asked, confused.
"Yeah, about that… We need to talk. But please promise that you'll hear me out before you decide call me insane. What I've got to say is going to sound crazy, but it's the truth." Sam warned. Mel nodded.
Mel did as she had promised and listened to what Sam had to say before she said anything, and when he was finished she took a few minutes to take it all in and figure out what the hell was going on.
"So you're saying that I'm not really an author, I'm your girlfriend from another dimension?" She asked. Sam smiled sadly,
"And that's just the tip of the iceberg. You should see what other kind of batshit crazy stuff goes on back there!" Dean added. Mel looked scared, to say the least, and Dean's input wasn't exactly comforting.
"That's not helping Dean." Sam told his brother, "Give us a minute?"
"Fine, I'll be outside. Come get me when it's time to get the hell out of here." Dean sighed as he headed for the door.
"Sorry about him." Sam began, "He just wants to get back to his girlfriend."
"Chloe?" Mel asked without thinking. "Wait, how did I know that?"
"Yeah, Chloe. You know that because you don't belong here and we're here to take you home."
"No." Mel started to freak out, "No! That's not possible. You must have mentioned her name before, how else would I know that? You're insane. This stuff only happens in the books I write! Maybe that's it, you're just fans of my book screwing with me…" Sam didn't know what else to do or say so he grabbed Mel by the shoulders and kissed her. At first she struggled and tried to pull away, but after a few seconds she stopped and kissed him back. When he pulled away she looked up into his eyes.
"Sam?" She asked, confusion etched all over her face.
"I'm here to take you home." Sam replied comfortingly, taking Mel's hand. "DEAN!" He yelled. The door opened and Dean entered the room. He saw Sam holding Mel's hand and smiled.
"Awesome. Let's get the hell out of here." He said. The three of them stood there for a few seconds looking at each other and then it slowly dawned on the brothers that they'd been in so much of a hurry to get there to find Mel they had no idea how to get back.
"I have an idea." Mel offered, "I write about this kind of thing. In my last book the characters Mark and Sebastian get trapped in another world and to get back they have to draw a symbol on a mirror in blood and say 'domum me', which is 'take me home' in Latin, as they touched it. The words and the symbol were something I dreamed about, but maybe they'll work." Sam looked impressed.
"It's worth a shot. Come on Dean." He said. After some deliberation, they decided it was Mel's blood they needed. She drew the symbol on the mirror and as she placed her palm flat against the it Sam grabbed her other hand and Dean put a hand on both of their shoulders, closing his eyes tightly. Mel spoke the words and everything went black.
Dean opened his eyes and found himself lying on a bed. He'd barely even sat up straight before another body collided with his at full force and he felt familiar arms being wrapped around him.
"You're back!" Exclaimed Chloe, overwhelmed with relief at seeing Dean conscious again, as she hugged him. She pulled back so Dean could stand up, just as Sam opened his eyes and looked around. Gabriel was sitting in a chair by the window looking pleased with himself but he was the last person in anyone's mind at that moment.
"Where's Mel?" Sam asked as he got to his feet. "What happened? She was right there with us?" Noticing their apparent failure Sam's anger was obvious and Dean swore under his breath as he moved to stand closer to his brother before he swung for Gabriel.
"It didn't work." Dean stated solemnly.
"We've got to go back. Send us back!" Sam demanded, but Gabriel shook his head.
"I can't. Richard knows you've been there, he wasn't able to throw you out last time because you were under my control but he won't let me let you back in. He's completely shut down the wall and blocked me out."
"You lying son of a bitch, you promised you'd help us!" Sam yelled so loudly that Chloe almost didn't hear her phone ringing. She was frowning at the familiar number on the screen as Gabriel yelled back at Sam,
"I did help you!" The shouting continued as Chloe retreated into the bathroom and shut the door so she could answer her phone. She emerged a few moments later to see Dean holding Sam back as he tried to lunge for Gabriel.
"Guys I have something to tell you." Chloe said, but her voice was completely drowned out by their argument so she had to take it up a level. "I know where Mel is!" Chloe called at the top of her voice. Sam froze and wheeled around to face her, Gabriel took that opportunity to move as far away from the 6 foot 4 Winchester and Dean just looked relieved that he wouldn't have to haul Sam away if he continued trying to beat the crap out of Gabriel.
"What? How? Where?" Sam asked, not knowing which answer was more important.
"Mel just called me. She said she's just woken up in a motel room in Vegas and doesn't know how she got there. She's a little freaked out but she's fine. I told her you'd go and get her Sam." Chloe replied, but Sam was already grabbing the keys to the rental car they'd got when they were searching for Mel and disappeared out of the door.
A few hours later Mel called again to say that Sam was with her and that everything was okay. Gabriel had disappeared almost as soon as Sam had left, so it was just Dean and Chloe left behind.
"What was it like over there?" Chloe asked.
"Weird." Dean replied, "I knew it wasn't real but it was all just so… real. It was easy to forget why we were there. Did Gabriel tell you why you couldn't come with us?"
"Yeah… He said that in that other world I would have been dead, so I'd have been no use to you guys over there." She tried to cover it up with a joke, but even the thought of dying again scared her.
"So anyway, what were you in your other life? If you weren't hunters, what were you?" Chloe asked with genuine curiosity.
"Rock stars." Dean muttered as his face flushed bright red. Chloe turned away to hide her grin.