So this is just a short chapter to bridge some of the timeline. The next chapter will jump ahead and soon Jess will be brought in and maybe Max eventually. There still aren't too many chapters left unless everyone really likes the Jess/Max chapters. Hope you all like it!

He gasped awake and nearly fell out of his bed when he heard Alec's tortured cry in the room next to him. He had his gun out and was in his little brother's room in less than a second, but felt at least a tiny bit of relief when he saw that his brother was alone, Manticore wasn't trying to take him away, there was nothing supernatural going on, he was just having a nightmare.

He quickly stowed his gun away, and then slowly walked over to his brother. He'd had more than enough black eyes from waking Alec up that he knew he needed to be careful, but all he wanted to do was wake him up as fast as he could. He grabbed both of Alec's wrists to try to keep his little brother from hitting him, and then said, "Alec, wake up kiddo, you're having a nightmare."

He didn't immediately panic when Alec didn't wake up. He knew it took a few minutes sometimes, and every once in a while he needed to get some water to get him to wake up, but Alec would wake up eventually.

Except this time, nothing was working. Ten minutes had been the record, but he'd been trying to get Alec to wake up for over 20 minutes, and his little brother still wouldn't surface.

"C'mon kiddo, you gotta work with me here," Dean whispered, running his hand through Alec's sweaty hair. His little brother's breathing was getting worse; he usually only had these kind of nightmares when he was hurt, but they hadn't even gone on a hunt since they'd moved. This was the 5th nightmare this week, but he'd been able to get his little brother to wake up the other nights.

"Alright, hang tight," Dean said finally. "I'm just gonna go get my phone and get Sam or Ben to talk to me, ok? I need some help…"

Alec still didn't wake up, so he got up and went to his room to get his phone. He jumped when his phone went off as soon as he grabbed it. He smiled when he saw Sam's name pop up; it was like his brother already knew he needed some help and was going to call him.

He walked to the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth before he ran it under cold water and answered, "Hey, I was-"

"Dean, I need to talk to Alec," Sam cut off.

"What? Why? What's going on?" Dean asked, running back to his little brother's room. Alec was still trapped in his nightmare, so there was no way he was talking to Sam right now.

"Ben's sleepwalking!" Sam exclaimed. "He keeps sleepwalking. I didn't even wake up to find him until he was almost out of our building! He's going to get hit by a car if he keeps this up! He never did this before, did he?!"

"He's seriously sleepwalking?!" Dean asked back in concern. Maybe this wasn't working, them splitting up. Alec and Ben needed each other and they'd never actually been apart before. They should have found a way to ease into this instead of jumping right in.

"Yeah, so I need to talk to Alec to find out what to do," Sam said.

"Sam…I was going to call you," Dean said slowly. "Alec's having a nightmare and none of my tricks are working…I was going to ask Ben what I should do."

"Shit," Sam breathed.

"Is Ben back at the apartment?" Dean asked, sitting down next to Alec again. He gently put the wet washcloth on Alec's forehead, feeling a little relief when Alec relaxed a tiny bit. He still didn't wake up, but maybe this was an improvement.

"Yeah, but he keeps trying to leave," Sam said. "I can't get him to snap out of it…Do you think we rushed them? Maybe we did this too fast…"

"I don't know," Dean admitted. "Ok, put the phone against Ben's ear," he said, coming up with a sort of plan. "I'll talk to him and maybe that will trick him into thinking I'm Alec."

"You think that'll work?" Sam asked skeptically.

"What else do we have?" Dean asked back. "It's not like I can make it worse…"

"Ok, here he is," Sam said.

"Ben, um…hey brother…" Dean said. Ben and Alec called each other brother and had since they were nine, so if he wanted Ben to think he was Alec, then he had to call him brother. "Can you hear me?" Ben didn't answer, but Alec let out a pained groan, so he knew he needed to get through to Ben. "Can you wake up for me?" He had to stop himself from calling Ben 'buddy', but somehow he held off. "I really need to talk to you…"

"Alec?" Ben asked sleepily.

"Hey buddy, you awake?" Dean asked.

"Dean?"

"Yeah, it's me," Dean said.

"I thought you were Alec…" Ben muttered.

"No, but I need your help," Dean said. "Alec's having a nightmare and I can't snap him out of it…"

"Did you try a wet washcloth?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, and he still won't wake up…he sounds like he's in pain," Dean said helplessly.

"Let me try talking to him," Ben said.

"Ok, go ahead and start talking," Dean said, gently putting the phone against Alec's ear. He ran his hand through Alec's sweaty hair and waited while Ben talked to his brother. He could tell immediately that there was a change with Alec. His little brother relaxed beneath his hand and his breathing slowly evened out in sleep.

He pulled the phone away once Alec was completely asleep again. Ben was still talking, and he smiled a little when he figured out he was reenacting the movie 'Back to the Future' for him.

"Hey Ben," Dean interrupted. "He's asleep for real now."

"Good," Ben breathed. "I was getting close to the end…"

"So, 'Back to the Future', huh?" Dean asked. "That's how you get him to sleep?"

"Pretty much any movie," Ben said. "Get him a TV or a radio because he can't sleep when it's silent unless someone is next to him."

He nodded and said, "Alright…what about you and sleepwalking? What are Alec's tricks for helping you?"

Ben chuckled, "Trip wire in front of the door, rope tied to my ankle, bucket of water over the door…He never uses the same tricks, so I don't know which one works the best."

"Lock the door with the deadbolt," Alec suddenly whispered. "He'll pick the main lock, but he doesn't know to unlock the deadbolt when he's sleeping."

"Hey kiddo," Dean said. "How ya feelin'?"

"Tired…" Alec muttered.

"Alright, scoot over," Dean said. He got into bed next to Alec and wrapped his arm around his shoulders. "Until I can get you a TV, you're stuck with me."

"I can just sleep on the sofa," Alec mumbled.

He ignored his little brother and spoke to Ben instead, "Ben, can you put Sam back on?"

It was quiet for a few seconds, but then Sam asked, "Did he wake up?"

"Yeah, and now I know what to do," Dean said. "And Alec said to lock the deadbolt. That will stop Ben from leaving the apartment."

"Seriously? That's it?" Sam asked in surprise.

"That's what he said, and he would know…" Dean said.

"Alright, thanks Dean. And tell Alec thanks too," Sam said.

"I will," Dean said.

"Ben wants to know when you guys can visit…" Sam said.

"Alec's gonna be off school for fall break in a few weeks, so we'll come visit then," Dean said. "And Christmas break will be a good time for another visit, and then we'll leave another trail for Manticore to follow."

"They haven't gotten close to you guys, have they?" Sam asked.

"No, not yet," Dean said. "But I'll probably have to pull him out of school and move after Christmas, but he's ok with that. How's Ben doin'?"

"He's at college more than he's in his own school," Sam said with a chuckle. "He's sitting in on classes and the professors all love him. I think he finally found something to challenge him, so he's pretty happy about that even though he's skipping out on his school. Turns out though, the professors wrote him a letter, so the school excused all of his absences. Have you guys been hunting?"

"Not yet," Dean said. "Took a while to get settled…we're not really used to the whole staying in one spot thing, but we're getting better at it. I got a job at one of the garages, and Alec likes bein' there more than he likes school, but I think he's just lonely. He came home with bruises and a split lip one day…He's not getting along with the kids at his new school…"

"You guys won't be staying in Pittsburg for more than a few months though, right?" Sam asked.

"It depends on hunts and Manticore," Dean said. "And if Alec gets beat up again, then I'm gonna do some things that'll mean we'll have to leave."

"They didn't beat me up," Alec whispered against his side. "It was just a fight…"

"Yeah? Then how come your knuckles weren't even bruised?" Dean asked sarcastically. Alec gave him a half-hearted glare before he settled against him again.

"It was an ambush," Alec mumbled. "Nothin' I can't handle…"

He ignored his little brother and asked Sam, "You hear from Dad lately?"

"Not since he helped us find our apartment," Sam said.

"Us either," Dean said.

"I'm sure he's fine," Sam said. "Probably just got busy on a hunt or something…"

"Yeah…probably," Dean said. "I'll try to get ahold of him in a few days if I don't hear from him."

"And call me when you and Alec are going to visit. Or we can meet up somewhere if it's too far," Sam said.

He agreed, and then they both hung up. He snuggled down next to Alec, seeing that his little brother was asleep again, and fell asleep.

More soon...