Author's Note: Hey all! Sorry for taking me so long to post the forth chapter. I was redecorating my house, my friend's house and helping my sister move into her new place. Apologies. Plus side? I got the fifth chapter all written up, I just got to proof it and submit.

Anywho, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!


So...breaking through fabric of reality, how does one do that? He should just ask Daniel, or Carter. She's smart, she'd probably ramble off a dozen theories and all he had to do was take notes. Easy peasy.

Dean snorted. Yeah, real easy to break through the Veil. He couldn't help it, he had to laugh and he did. He laughed so hard and long his ribs started to ache.

Daniel and Vala looked at him liked he lost his mind. It made him laugh even harder. They weren't that far off. He was planning to break through the Veil to get to his imaginary friend just so said imaginary friend wouldn't be alone anymore. Oh, and once he somehow managed to break through the Veil he had to find the right reality with his Doctor, all without damaging the very fabric of reality, every reality.

Wow, he couldn't breathe. Dean hyperventilated.

"Breathe, Dean. Just breathe." He could barely hear Daniel over the roaring noise. "It's okay. I'm right here. Everything's going to be alright. Now, breath with me." Dean felt himself being pulled up into Daniel's lap. If he wasn't so worried about suffocating, he'd be mortified right now but he was beginning to calm down. Daniel put his head over his heart and Dean found his own heartbeat slow down to match Daniel's calm, steady rhythm. Within minutes Dean found he could catch his breath. He began to pull away, his face turning bright red but Daniel wasn't having it. He stubbornly pulled Dean back into his lap and just held him for a long time. Despite the embarrassing situation, Dean relaxed into Daniel, putting his head back over Daniel's heart. He let himself be held and taken care of.

They heard the door open and close. Tensing, Dean looked up but soon relaxed when he saw that it was only Vala bringing some food for them. Understanding that Dean wasn't in the mood to eat with other people right now. God, he had an awesome foster mom.

Dean watched as Vala spread out his favorite food so that it was close enough for him and Daniel to reach without moving from their position. He has never been so grateful before in his life. He needed this. He needed to be held and to have someone else take care of him, something he hasn't done since his dad, hell, since his mom died. And to be honest, it felt amazing. He didn't have to be watchful or careful anymore. Daniel had already proved he'd keep him no matter what. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off of him. So he stayed in Daniel's arms, not bothering to move unless he absolutely had to.

An hour passed by as they ate in companionable silence. As much as Dean wanted to ignore this entire situation, he couldn't do that to Daniel and Vala. They put up with so much from him, he just couldn't do it. So instead he buried himself into Daniel's chest and hugged his foster father tighter, feeling Daniel do the same, grounding him once more.

Their time in Paris came and went. To Dean's absolute terror, they flew home. He did it for his foster parents; they both looked exhausted from both the trip and his nightmares of the Doctor. He woke up screaming every time and Daniel was always there, Vala not far behind. It got to the point where, to Dean's deep mortification, he slept with them. Vala told him, ever so bluntly, that they could not do this another night and pushed him bodily into bed, right into Daniel's arms. They sandwiched him between them effectively trapping him. It took a while but Dean grew accustomed to this new development and the nightmares soon faded.

After what seemed like the hundredth time, turbulence shook the plane causing Dean to gasp and hold even tighter to the armrests, damn near fusing them together. Vala pried his right hand off the poor, abused metal and folded it into hers, whereas Daniel grabbed his left and did the same. Feeling like a child, he tried to pull away but turbulence rattled the plane, AGAIN, and he gripped tighter onto their hands. "Shit," he swore and all but buried his face into Vala's chest. She soothed him and continued whispering nonsense into his ears until he drifted off into blissful sleep.

When he awoke, they were landing at the airport and Dean booked it for the exit, cutting ahead of everyone else. He could hear Daniel and Vala calling after him but he wasn't going to stop, not when he was so close to solid ground. The moment his feet hit the dirt he dropped to his knees: he was home! In a rather dramatic manner, he kissed the ground and refused to move, that is until Daniel picked him up and carried him into the terminal. What is it with him that causes Dean to act like a pathetic kid when it comes to Daniel and Vala? Seriously, if his dad or Sam had seen him acting like that, they wouldn't know who he was.

But he was a big enough of a man to allow himself to be carried to luggage before grabbing what was left of his dignity and hopping down out of Daniel's arms, sending them a glare warning them not to say a word. They obliged but not before giving him a look. God, he hated when they did that. It always made him feel like he was doing something wrong, without knowing what exactly. Just that it was w-r-o-n-g.

Normally, this would be the perfect time to argue that he was innocent, of whatever they were silently accusing him of, but instead he bowed his head in submission and dutifully grabbed his luggage, then headed out to the parking lot and patiently waited for them to catch up.

Dean couldn't help it. For one brief second, he thought he was looking for the impala, his dad's black '67 Chevy Impala the one he got for him and his mother as a pre-wedding gift. He remembered many a-day when they just packed up and went for a ride.

He remembers the time when mom had found out she was pregnant with Sammy and they decided to go to Grandpa Campbell and Grandma Deanna to share the good news. Whenever he started to get bored his mom would sing a song to him or play little games with him, and his dad would look at them like they were the only things that mattered in the world. It made him feel safe, secure, loved.

A year later that feeling disappeared. But over the years, it slowly came back until his dad died and then Sammy was taken away. It felt like his world was truly ending; that is, until Daniel and Vala saved him and brought back the feeling of home. He sent a silent prayer to Sam, begging forgiveness for finding a family without him in it.

Dean was snapped out of his somewhat melancholic thoughts when Daniel bumped into him, sensing the encroaching sadness, and smiled at him then nodded towards their car, where Vala was waiting impatiently for them. Dean shot Daniel a smirk before shooting off towards the range rover. Not as cool as a 1967 Chevy Impala but it was reliable and not douche-y at all. It was suitable.

He threw himself into the backseat and watched Daniel and Vala argue over who's going to drive. Dean felt a smile grow, Vala was going to win, dad could never deny mom when she truly wanted something. The smile that was steadily growing on his face died suddenly.

Wait, what?

Dad?

Mom?

Shit.

Dean felt his stomach seize up and the overwhelming urge to throw up dominated everything else. Who was he to deny such an emotion? Dean calmly got out of the car, went towards the trunk and promptly emptied himself of the lunch he had managed to choke down. Understandably, Daniel and Vala were a little freaked out.

How he could he tell them that he forgot, for one second, they were not his parents...it was just one second and Dean felt like his world warp once more. All his carefully formed walls he had erected after his father's death came crumbling down and Dean's world turned black.


TBC