Chapter 74.

Dean sat on the end of Cas's bed. "Okay, phone off, focus on me."

Cas turned the phone off and put it on the nightstand. "What's your idea?" he said.

"It's a strange one and might not work and it has the potential to get very weird, very fast, but if it works, it'll make your night a lot more peaceful."

"That sounds good." said Cas.

"It does? I mean, yeah, it does, because it is. When I was a kid, I had these night terrors."

"You still do."

"Yeah, but in those days, they freaked Sammy out."

"Still do." said Cas.

"Not helping." said Dean. He instantly saw the regret in Cas's eyes and knew he had not intended to be annoying. "Sorry, this is a little awkward and could lead to a crapload of crazy for both of us, if I'm wrong, but I'm not. I'm like, eighty percent sure that it's fine."

"So what do you want me to do?" said Cas.

"Like I said, my night terrors scared Sam and worried Dad, so I needed to get a lid on them, fast. This is going a long way back. I was maybe six or seven. So this is not a Sarah-approved technique, but not all my coping strategies can have been flawed, right?"

"Right?" said Cas, uncertainly.

"Right! That's all we need. A little bit of confidence. Besides, this is a one-off, so even if it's not best practice, it can't do any harm."

"Your mind thinks it'll work. It's urging you to stop talking it down." said Cas.

"So, close your eyes and meet me at Bobby's, right by the fireplace." Dean closed his eyes and quickly found his way there. Cas was sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace.

Dean sat beside him. "Okay," he said, "Just take all the fears and doubts running through your head and say to them, 'Not now!' Stop each one, in its tracks with a clear 'Not now!' and just focus on a non-threatening, regular sound. I used to use the A/C or Sammy's breathing."

"Is it okay to use your breathing?" said Cas.

"Yeah, that'll work. I know your thoughts take longer to shut down than mine, because your mind is like a giant highway and mine is a dirt track, but I think that also means you have greater control."

"In theory." said Cas, "But you've been doing this for a long time and nobody has more control over his thoughts than a Winchester."

"I don't know where you get these ideas, I really don't." said Dean.

"It does seem to be working." said Cas.

"Focus more and it will work faster." said Dean.

Cas closed his eyes in the library as he already had in the real world. After a while, he seemed a lot more relaxed.

"How do you feel?" said Dean.

"Pretty good. Thanks."

"I think we can do better." said Dean.

"You have another trick."

"I have a theory. We know you can sleep, you've done it."

"When I was sick or low on grace." said Cas.

"Which means the mechanism exists inside you. You just need to be able to access it. We currently have the resources of both our minds. Above all, I have years of experience of grabbing sleep where I can. But I'm not leaving you open to my bad dreams. You can stop the bad ones, can you guarantee a good one?"

"I don't think I can sleep at will." said Cas.

"I think you can follow me in. You control that body very precisely, right?"

"Yes, with an act of will I can make it do just about anything."

"Lucky Jules." said Dean with a smile.

"What do you mean?" said Cas.

"Not important, right now. I think if you use the link to follow my consciousness into dreams and control your body to mimic what mine does when it sleeps. you can at least approximate sleep. Does that make sense?"

"Astonishingly, yes." said Cas.

"I guess I should lie down for this bit. Wait here while I adjust my physical location. Can you hold this space alone?"

"I think so." said Cas.

Dean returned to the bedroom and lay on the bed. "This never happened." he said. He closed his eyes again and quickly returned to the copy of Bobby's library. Cas was still sitting on the floor, eyes shut.

"Back." said Dean, "So, we need a good dream or no dreams."

"Is there any recurring good dream you have?" said Cas.

Dean thought about it. Most of his recurring dreams were anything but pleasant. "No." he said.

"None?" said Cas, his tone sympathetic.

"Skip the pity. We're working here." said Dean.

"Go back years, to when you were small. Surely some scrap of hope got into your dreams then?"

"I used to have dreams of a normal life, with Mom and Dad safe and Sammy and me growing up in a normal home. Not wise to visit those dreams. Even the good stuff goes bad over time."

"Okay." said Cas, "Let's keep it simple. I'll tell your mind to focus on your life before the fire, on good stuff with Sam."

"That should work." said Dean, "And you need to put me to sleep and then follow as quickly as you can."

"If this doesn't work ... "

"It will." said Dean.

"But if it doesn't, it's not your fault. Angels don't really sleep." Cas opened his eyes and reached out to touch Dean's head. Out in the world, Dean's body fell into a deep sleep and his inner self found himself at home, still sitting on the floor with Cas, but infant Sammy lay on his tummy between them, playing with brightly coloured toys.

"Do you feel asleep?" said Dean.

"I'm not sure." said Cas, "But I do envy the human capacity to dream."