This is the next story in the Family Verse; if you haven't read the others, then you probably won't know what's going on. But...Even if you have read the others, this story is going to start out really confusing! It will make sense in a few chapters so don't worry! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this!
Sam was only half asleep; his bed was really comfortable, it was nice and warm in his room, and the flowery smell of Jess's hair was the most wonderful thing he had ever smelled. He must have been having the most vivid dream he could remember. Sam turned in his sleep to his stomach flinging his arm out towards the middle of the bed.
He startled a little when his arm connected with the body of another person. Alec must have moved over to his bed in the middle of the night. He started to move his hand away but another hand grabbed his and pulled him closer. He was concerned for just a second before he figured out that the other person was actually a female.
Sam relaxed a little and curled himself around the woman in his bed. He vaguely wondered where Dean and Alec were and who the woman in his bed was, but he was mostly asleep so he'd figure it out later.
He almost thought that the woman in his bed was Jess. Her hair smelled the same, she fit against him the same way she always did, but that wasn't possible. She died in a fire over two years ago.
"Sam…we need to get up…" Sam was shocked that she even sounded like Jess.
"Why?" Sam asked sleepily. Maybe this was still a dream and he should play along.
"It's Monday…you have a meeting…" She mumbled. He was pretty much convinced that it was Jess who was in his bed, so he really was dreaming. But since that was the case, he really didn't want to wake up. And if in reality he was cuddling up against Alec, then he would just have to deal with it.
"I'm gonna skip it…" Sam muttered into Jess's hair. He'd missed that smell so much; he'd missed her so much. "Stay here with you…" Sam said, pulling her closer.
She actually fought against him until he let her go and she sat up in their bed. "Sam! You can't skip this meeting!"
Sam buried his head in his pillow; why did his dream have to argue with him.
"C'mon, I'll make some coffee," Jess said and then she was gone. Sam tried to make her come back in his head, but his dream wasn't cooperating.
The smell of coffee drifted through the room a little while later and Sam couldn't believe how realistic this was. He finally decided to sit up and he was surprised to see that it was the apartment that he and Jess shared. He didn't know why he was surprised, but it was just as he remembered it and it was extremely realistic.
He managed to make it to the kitchen a few minutes later but he froze in the doorway. Jess was sitting on the counter and when he walked in she gave him the most beautiful smile. Sam found himself automatically smiling back at her. His eyes started to fill with tears at the sight of her and as soon as one spilled onto his cheek Jess was on her feet and walking over to him. She put her arms around him and he crushed her to him.
He snuggled his face into her hair and held her, just enjoying the feel of her again.
"Sam, what's going on?" Jess asked in confusion.
"I'm just really happy to see you again," Sam replied without releasing Jess.
Jess laughed a little and said slowly, "I'm really happy to see you too…" Jess started to wiggle free and Sam reluctantly let her go. She walked back to the counter and poured coffee into two mugs. She turned back to him and handed him one of the mugs. "Are you sure you're ok for this meeting? You look like you've seen a ghost…"
Sam chuckled and decided to humor her, "Of course I'm ok for this meeting. And ghosts are really no problem for me."
Jess gave him a weird look, "You're in a good mood this morning…"
Sam just kissed her in reply. Her lips were so soft and when she kissed him back he almost forgot he was dreaming. He set his cup of coffee on the counter and then wrapped his arms around Jess's waist. He picked her up and set her on the counter and she wrapped her legs around him. He could stay like this forever; he never wanted to wake up.
Jess smiled into his kisses and then pulled back just a little, "You should hang out with your brothers more often…"
Sam froze and looked at Jess in confusion, "What?"
"Your brothers…they seemed to have really made you happy…" Jess said, slightly confused.
Sam looked away from Jess and tried to figure out what was going on. Was Jess the dream? Or was the past couple years a dream… Was Alec around or was he just part of the dream? There were too many questions that he didn't know the answer to.
"You said brothers?" Sam finally asked.
Jess looked at him in concern and nodded, "Yeah, Dean and Alec…they came and got you to look for your Dad…"
"It's Monday?" Sam asked and Jess nodded. He took a step back and then decided he needed to talk to Dean. He ran back to his room and scooped up his cell phone. He dialed Dean's number and held his breath as he waited for his big brother to answer.
"Hey, tired of being boring yet?" Dean asked as soon as he answered. Sam didn't know how to ask all the questions going through his head, but it was a relief to hear Dean's voice. He must have taken too long because Dean's worried voice came back on the line, "Sam? Is everything ok?!"
Sam nodded even though Dean couldn't see him, "Is Alec there too?"
Dean was quiet and Sam almost thought he was crazy until Dean said slowly, "Yeah…why?"
"Where are you guys?"
"We're in a motel just outside of town," Dean answered in confusion. "Sam, are you sure you're alright?"
"Yeah…I just think I had a dream…" Sam was so confused. "Can you guys come back?"
"Sure Sammy," Dean instantly said, "When do you want us?"
"Now?"
"Alright, I gotta get Alec up, but we should be there soon."
"Thanks Dean."
Sam was about to hang up, but Dean stopped him, "Sam wait! Don't you have some big meeting today?"
"I don't know…" Sam answered honestly. He didn't care about the meeting anyway. He might have before, but now everything was up in the air.
"Sam-" Dean was really worried, but Sam was actually feeling a little worried himself. Jess was alive and Alec was with Dean; what was going on?
"Dean, even if I do have a meeting, I want to talk to you instead. I can't tell what's real…that dream really messed me up…or maybe this is a dream and I don't know what to think…"
"Ok, ok, we'll be there soon, but stay calm," Dean reassured.
"Ok…thanks Dean," Sam said again and then hung up. At least Dean would be able to clear this up; he would tell him which one was his reality. A hand touched his shoulder, making him jump. He turned and saw that Jess was the one who touched him.
"Sam?"
"Jess…Dean and Alec are coming over…" Sam said in a rush.
"Ok," Jess said simply. "You call and reschedule your meeting and I'll start on breakfast."
Sam smiled and kissed Jess lightly, "Have I told you how much I love you?"
Jess smiled and said, "Don't worry; I think I know even when you don't tell me."
Sam was nervous. He knew that Dean and Alec had met Jess before, but he didn't remember it. He didn't really know what to expect. He didn't know why he couldn't remember things, but if this was a dream it was lasting way longer than it should have. And it was way too confusing.
Jess suddenly handed Sam a handful of plates and pointed to the table. She turned back to the stove and Sam turned to the table and almost dropped the plates to the floor. Dean and Alec were standing in the doorway, both wearing identical shit-eating grins. Jess suddenly gasped seeing the two of them standing there; Alec snickered and Dean gave her a little wave.
"Don't you guys know how to knock?" Sam asked in aggravation. He wasn't actually mad at them, he really wanted to just go over and hug both of them, but still. Dean had already broken in once. Dean just rolled his eyes and Alec smirked.
Sam had woken up to a crash that came from the next room. He went to investigate what it was only to discover that someone had broken in. He waited until the man walked by him and then he attacked. The intruder actually fought back and managed to throw him to the floor.
"Whoa, easy, tiger," the man said when Sam tried to throw him off, but the voice was familiar.
"Dean?" Sam asked in confusion and Dean had just chuckled back. "You scared the crap out of me."
"That's 'cause you're out of practice," Dean argued with his eyebrows raised. Sam finally managed to get the upper hand and flipped Dean to the floor. Dean chuckled and relented, "Or not…" He pushed Sam's shoulder and said, "Get off of me."
Sam rose and gave Dean a hand up and asked, "Dean, what the Hell are you doing here?" He hadn't seen Dean in four years and now he just randomly shows up at his apartment. What was he supposed to do with this?
Dean patted Sam's chest and said, "I was looking for a beer…"
The light suddenly flipped on and Jess appeared in her short pink underwear shorts and her smurfs shirt. "Sam?"
Sam and Dean both looked over at her. "Jess, hey," Sam quickly said. Dean looked over at Jess with interest and Sam quickly introduced, "Dean, this is my girlfriend, Jessica."
"Wait. Your brother Dean?" Jess asked, stepping further into the room. The curiosity was clear in her voice and Sam wanted to cringe. He had wanted to keep this part of his life away from her.
"I love the smurfs," Dean said with a smile and Sam glared at him.
"Sam, your girlfriend's hot," Alec suddenly said, appearing in the doorway behind Jess. She jumped and spun around to look at him. He gave her a small smile and held out his hand, "Alec."
"Jess," She replied, slowly shaking his hand.
"You know, I gotta tell you, you are completely out of my brother's league," Dean said, stepping closer to Jess. She just looked at him in amusement.
"Let me put something on," Jess said, and started to turn away.
"No, no," Alec and Dean both protested, and then Dean said, "No, I wouldn't dream of it, seriously."
Jess looked over at Sam and raised her eyebrows in disbelief.
"Anyway," Dean suddenly said, "I gotta borrow your boyfriend here."
"Talk about some private family business," Alec threw in.
"But nice meeting you," Dean finished, dismissing his girlfriend like he owned the place.
"No," Sam protested, moving to stand by Jess and putting his arm around her. "No, whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her."
"Okay," Dean said with a small smirk. "Um, Dad hasn't been home in a few days."
"So he's working overtime on a 'Miller Time' shift," Sam shrugged off. "He'll stumble back in sooner or later."
Alec huffed and then leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed.
Dean looked down in thought and then looked back up, "Dad's on a hunting trip, and hasn't been home in a few days."
Sam felt his stomach drop at the information and decided that he should actually talk to Dean and Alec. And he should definitely talk to them away from Jess. "Jess, excuse us."
"Hi!" Jess said with a wide smile, trying to cover up her shock at seeing them. Sam tried to ignore the confusion that his memory had just brought on.
"Hey," Dean responded with his most charming smile. Sam shot him a glare, but Dean ignored it.
Alec walked into the kitchen and threw his jacket over one of the chairs, "Smells great! I'm practically starving…" Alec shot Dean a look that said that was definitely his fault and then smiled at Jess. "Do you need help with anything?"
"Um…no I think I've got it…" Jess replied slowly, still shocked at Dean and Alec's appearance. "You two just sit down and everything will be ready in a few minutes…"
Dean and Alec both ignored her though and helped where they could. With everyone helping it hardly took any time at all for the table to be set and all of them were ready to eat.
"I still can't get over how much you two look alike…" Jess said after a few minutes of eating.
"We get that a lot," Dean said with a smile.
"Dad mixes them up all the time," Sam suddenly said; the information coming out of nowhere.
"Dean, close the door would ya?" John asked gruffly, but Sam looked up from his book and saw that it was Alec at the door.
Alec scowled, he looked to be about 13, wearing old hand-me downs from Dean. He was just about to say something, but then he looked to the side to where Dean was sitting, cleaning a gun. Dean barely shook his head no at Alec. He huffed, but shut the door and stomped over to sit by Dean.
Anger welled up in Sam; his Dad couldn't even be bothered to look up and see who was actually at the door. "If you would look up, you'd be able to tell the difference," Sam grumbled under his breath.
"What did you say?" John asked, anger creeping into his voice.
"If you would've looked, then you would have been able to see that it was Alec at the door and not Dean," Sam replied evenly. He hated it when his Dad ignored them; he was too wrapped up in the hunt to pay them any attention.
"I'm trying to figure out how to kill this spirit before it gets to anyone else," John argued; he didn't say that he couldn't care less who was at the door, all that mattered was that he figured out this hunt.
Sam opened his mouth to argue back, but Dean cut across him and lowly commanded, "Sam, drop it."
Sam switched his glare from his Dad to Dean, but he didn't say anything else.
Sam shook his head as the memory washed over him. They had been pretty young and Alec had been with them. He knew that wasn't the only time their Dad had mixed Dean and Alec up; there were short memories of Alec with them and being called Dean. Sam really wished he could figure out what was going on.
"Sam, you alright?" Dean asked in concern.
Sam looked up to see Dean, Alec, and Jess all looking at him with worry. "I'm fine," Sam quickly reassured. He took a big mouthful of scrambled eggs to prove he was alright, but he kept his focus on his plate.
"So…did you guys have a good trip?" Jess asked after the silence had started to stretch.
Dean pulled up to the curb and stopped the engine. Sam quickly grabbed his bag and got out of the car, but then he leaned in the open window.
"You'll call me if you find him?" Sam asked and Dean nodded. "Maybe I can meet up with you guys later, huh?"
"Yeah, alright," Dean easily agreed.
Sam smiled and patted the edge of the window before he turned and started walking across the road to his apartment. It was late and he needed to get some sleep before his meeting. He heard the back door of the Impala open and he figured that Alec was climbing back into the front seat.
"Sam," Dean suddenly called out, making Sam turn back. "You know, we made a Hell of a team back there…" Dean said, leaning forward so he could see around Alec.
"Yeah," Sam agreed. "We did."
Dean gave him a small smile before he started the engine. Sam watched as his brothers disappeared down the road. He waited for a minute before he turned and walked up to his apartment. He quickly made his way up the stairs and unlocked his door. He tossed his things down once he was inside and slowly made his way through the small apartment.
"Jess?" Sam called out so he didn't startle her. "You home?"
He didn't get a reply as he walked back to their bedroom. He silently opened their door and saw that Jess was fast asleep. He didn't waste any time getting out of his jeans and crawling into bed next to her.
Then he woke up. He remembered that part. He had thought that he'd been dreaming when he'd woken up next to her, but now he could remember some of the things leading up to that. But what did that mean about his other world. The one where Jess had died in a fire and he'd gone hunting with Dean.
"Jess, could you give us a few minutes?" Dean asked quietly. Sam looked up in surprise and found that he'd zoned out again and was freaking them out.
"Yeah, sure," Jess said. She got up and kissed Sam on the temple. "I'll be back in a few hours ok?" Sam nodded and she grabbed a few things and then walked out of the door.
"Alright, what's going on with you?" Dean asked as soon as Jess was gone.
Sam looked between Dean and Alec and saw that they were both looking at him in concern. He figured if he wanted to get some answers, he might as well just come out with it. "I can't figure out what's real…"
"What do you mean?" Alec asked, leaning forward so he could rest his arms on the table.
"I mean, I woke up this morning and I was in bed with Jess, but in another world Jess is dead. It's like I've gone back in time or something, but it doesn't make sense. Because if I had gone back in time, then you wouldn't be here," Sam said, with a pointed look at Alec. "But now I'm having these flashbacks that are filling in the blanks, and they seem so real and I want them to be real…"
"Sam, it's gonna be ok," Dean reassured, "We'll help you figure this out."
"What do you mean, I wouldn't be here?" Alec asked when Sam didn't say anything.
"In the other world, me and Dean found you in Seattle…I think right now though, you were in Manticore…" Sam slowly replied.
Alec's eyes hardened just a little, but then he shook his head. Sam was just about to ask, but Dean explained before he could. "No…" Dean drew out, looking at Sam like he was missing something. "Dad got Alec out of Manticore over 10 years ago."
"What?" Sam asked in disbelief.
"He's been gone too long," Dean said, pacing around the room. Sam watched him pace; he was too scared to do anything else. Dad had been gone for a week; he'd left them saying that he'd found their baby brother and he wasn't coming back without him.
"I should've gone with him," Dean said, running a hand through his hair in aggravation.
"Dean, who's our baby brother?" Sam asked again; he'd been asking that since their Dad left, but Dean had refused to answer him.
"Alec," Dean said, finally stopping to face him. "Alec's our brother. Mom died and Dad packed the three of us up and we left. But Alec was kidnapped a week later."
"I don't remember that," Sam argued.
"That's because you were only two," Dean replied, starting to pace again.
Sam wanted to argue more, but he knew now wasn't the time. Dean was on edge and Dad hadn't checked in with them.
"Why didn't Dad take us with him?" Sam asked after a few minutes.
"It was too dangerous…" Dean mumbled in reply. He suddenly stopped again at the familiar sound of the Impala. He ran to the door and waited for their Dad to do the knock. When he finally did, Dean opened the door revealing their Dad carrying a child in his arms.
The child had a shaved head and was wearing what looked like an oversized t-shirt. He was dirty and unconscious, but their Dad was back and that was reassuring. Dean moved forward to take the kid from Dad and he gratefully handed him over. Dean took the child to one of the beds and lay him down.
"What happened?" Dean asked as he started to carefully check the kid over for injuries.
"Security was heavier than I thought it was going to be," Dad grunted back; walking over to the other bed and sitting down heavily.
"Is that our brother?" Sam asked quietly.
"Yeah Sammy, that's Alec," Dad replied and then he smiled at Sam. "We've got him back."
"Dad got you out when you were a kid…" Sam muttered after the memory finished.
"Yeah…" Alec replied slowly, looking at Sam in confusion.
"Did you hit your head or something?" Dean asked. Sam looked back at him, his eyebrows drawing together. "You were there when Dad came back. You don't remember?" Dean continued.
"I didn't hit my head… and I just did…sort of remember…" Sam mumbled. It was weird that these flashback things kept happening. He couldn't control them and he couldn't remember anything that really surrounded the memory. He tried to come up with what happened after Dad brought Alec inside, but nothing was appearing.
"Alright," Dean said, leaning back in his chair and locking his eyes on Sam. "Tell us what you remember."
"Well, I just now remembered when Dad brought Alec home. You were pacing around the room, and then Dad came in carrying Alec and that was it…" Sam said.
"What else?" Dean prodded when Sam didn't continue. Sam's eyes widened and Dean said, "C'mon Sam, we wanna know everything that you remember. So start talkin'."
Sam took a deep breath, "Ok, I remember when you and Alec broke in the first time. I kind of remember that you dropped me off last night and then drove away. Another one was just a time when Dad mixed you and Alec up…that's about it…" Sam said.
"And that's all you remember?" Alec asked in concern.
Sam nodded and then said, "But there's this whole other world that's way more realistic…"
"What happens in the other world?" Dean asked seriously.
"You come and get me by yourself to go find Dad and then you drop me off when the hunt's over. I come inside and Jess is on the ceiling, and then everything catches on fire and you come and get me. Then I go hunting with you. We hunt for two years before Bobby tells us that you have a clone and we go and get him…There's so much detail in that one that it seems like it actually happened."
"So what do you think this is?" Dean asked once Sam was done.
"I don't know," Sam replied, running his hands through his hair.
"You think this might be a hunt?" Alec asked. Sam looked at him in confusion so he sat up a little and explained, "I don't know, maybe something happened to make you forget everything and replaced all of you memories with some alternate universe…"
"Or maybe you went back in time somehow," Dean said, raising his eyebrows briefly, "Changed something so now everything's different."
"Maybe…" Sam said slowly. He wasn't sure any of that was really what was going on, but it did help that Alec and Dean were throwing out suggestions.
"Well, we'll help you remember what you're missing," Dean said. "And maybe you'll keep having these flashback things and it'll bring it all back."
"Thanks Dean," Sam said, "Thanks for coming back and helping me."
"Sure Sammy," Dean said with a small smile. "We'll stay as long as you want us to."
Sam smiled and asked, "Really?"
"Yeah," Dean replied with a wide smile.
"You guys will really stay?" Sam asked, just to make sure.
"We're gonna have to hunt sooner or later, but yeah, we're gonna stay," Dean said seriously.
"Besides, we get fed here, so good luck actually getting rid of us," Alec said with a smile.
Sam smiled back. He still didn't know what was happening, but Dean and Alec would help him figure it out and everything would be fine. Plus, Jess was still alive, which was practically a dream come true.
More soon...