Author's Note: The board is set, but there's a piece missing. Can the other players save him before it's too late? I have no idea where this chess analogy came from, I just thought it was fitting.

Other: And, a continuing thank you to my beta for this story, vrskaandrea - any remaining errors are solely my own.

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Neurosis

It had been a week, while Benny, Eli, and Cas didn't necessarily NEED sleep anymore…Dean was 100% human which meant that sleep was a requirement of…living. The problem was, he really hadn't allowed himself to sleep…Sam slept, Ben slept, and Cas even slept - despite not needing to…but Dean couldn't. He didn't know where Chuck had disappeared to and he just couldn't get his mind to focus off all the possibilities of what COULD have happened. Given, Chuck had been recovering quite well, his vocabulary had evolved but he still had issues with longer sentences, complicated phrases, or just names…about the only one he was able to get consistently correct was Dean, it was funny in a way that his way of pronouncing Ben was Bean. No, it wasn't nearly as funny to Ben. But, what would happen if Chuck got hurt? How far back could that set his recovery?

Dean knew he was getting snappy and grumpy and yeah…lack of sleep was messing with him, but when anytime he closed his eyes he was getting nightmarish thoughts of what COULD have happened to Chuck that would make fans of Supernatural cringe…he just couldn't sleep! He knew taking it out on Benny wasn't right, but…he was about 99.9% sure that Benny knew that he was beating himself up even worse. What kind of…person was he that was letting his soulmate get him off while the person that had been clinging to him pretty much since waking up in the hospital was tucked up against him? And, who was he kidding? He knew he'd woken Chuck up, with the grip he'd had on him…it wasn't really feasible that he HADN'T!

Dean leaned his head back against the couch, allowing his eyes to drift closed, but being sure to keep a grip on his glass of Snapple Apple. He could feel what Benny was doing, the hand down the front of his jeans and the teeth sunk into his neck…it had felt so, SO good, but it just felt dulled - muted. His left hand was on the back of Benny's neck, his right on Chuck's right shoulder. And, that right there WASN'T right! As the feeling built his left tightened on Benny's neck and he'd heard the groan from him, his right moved down to Chuck's hip. Dean gripped his glass harder and gritted his teeth. Trying to resist the urge to thrust had been difficult - how well he'd actually succeeded, he did not know - as he was getting so much closer, he didn't think he'd succeeded with biting back the moan, he twisted just enough for a bloody kiss from Benny, allowing his left hand to fall to the couch. The taste of his own blood while his tongue was in Benny's mouth was a weird kind of intoxicating. His right hand cupped Chuck through his jeans, he'd felt him jerk, before relaxing back into Dean's hold.

Dean's eyes snapped open and despite his tear-blurred vision, he stood up quickly and threw his glass against the wall off to his right and he wasn't even sure how to describe the sound that came out of his mouth. Why the hell had he done that to Chuck? Maybe he shouldn't be trying to figure out where he'd have disappeared to. Maybe Chuck was better off without Dean trying to find him. Maybe that was really why he'd taken off because he was scared of Dean - of Dean - of Dean trying to take advantage of him. Dean let out a gut-wrenching sob as he hit his knees and his hands covering his face. 'I'm heading back to my room.' His head snapped up to look toward where he'd thrown the glass to see a blurred version of Ben standing in the same area that he'd just thrown his glass, and even through his tear-stained version, he could tell Ben was somewhat frightened. Yeah, he was batting a thousand…

'Cher?' He looked up to see Benny standing there concerned. Benny crouched down in front of him. 'You need sleep cher.' Benny said with no room for argument.

'I can't!' Dean stressed through his tears. 'I can't sleep!' He added.

Benny put his right hand on Dean's left shoulder and Dean jumped up like he'd been stung. 'Don't touch me!' He snapped, feeling instantly guilty upon seeing the hurt look on Benny's face. 'Benny, I -' He began to try to explain but before he could even finish his though, Benny had vanished. 'Fuck!' He thought to himself as he allowed himself to sit - collapse - back onto the couch.

Dean's head hurt like never before and he closed his eyes, but the images in his head kept swimming before his eyes, making him seasick - and he wasn't even on a boat. Did he really do that to Chuck? Did he really touch him, or did he imagine it all?

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Dean was laid back on the couch, his left arm thrown over his forehead, his right hand holding his cell phone on his stomach while he scrolled through some of the comments that had been made after Chuck's singular post since his stroke…or more accurately, Dean's actually the one who wrote it with Chuck's approval explaining a bit about what had happened and that he needed time to recover and to please respect his privacy during that time. Dean's own message immediately below it 'You're not going through this alone.' Dean squeezed his eyes shut as he hit the button to turn the screen off. And, even more accurately, what Chuck/Dean posted was originally on Benny's Facebook page and then the post shared on Chuck's Twitter account because the length of the post exceeded Twitter's character limit and what Dean posted with HIS post was also a link to an article about BOTH him AND Chuck taking the rest of the year off and potentially longer, causing the suspension of filming of Supernatural until Chuck's better.

Dean laid his phone screen-down on his stomach but didn't remove his hand from the back of it and let his eyes drift closed. He loved Benny, THAT wasn't changing! But, who was he really trying to fool? Part of the damn reason he'd even agreed to take the role in Supernatural was because he'd had a thing for Carver - Chuck! And, by what he'd learned - that probably hadn't been one-sided. But, they'd become FRIENDS, THAT WAS IT! He wasn't in love with Chuck and Chuck wasn't in love with him! Dean opened his eyes before narrowing them. Okay, he KNEW he wasn't in love with Chuck, but was it possible Chuck was actually in love with him like Gabriel suggested? No! Absolutely not! Chuck loved Gabriel and that was THAT! Then again, when they were both very, VERY drunk…they had gotten each other off on more than one occasion. That didn't mean anything, right? RIGHT? Right! 'Fuck!' He thought repeatedly to himself as he banged the back of his head against the arm of the couch.

Dean again let his eyes drift closed. He wondered if he should tell Benny that he liked the ways that Chuck played with his balls better than Benny. Yeah, no - nope, nope, NOPE, NOPE, NOPE, and HELL NO! Maybe Benny was right and he needed sleep…probably badly.

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Dean rolled - fell - off the couch when he heard the knocking/banging of someone knocking on a door. Somehow he thought that being woken up when he was probably wasn't a bad thing considering he was also very much aware that he was very, VERY hard. Sitting back slowly on his haunches before standing up just as slowly, he adjusted himself in his jeans before going to check the door when there's another knock at the door. Dean opened the door and immediately felt two things, the first being that he's curious why Gabriel was at his door, the second being a slight hint of concern about why Gabriel had an obvious black eye - his left - and what looked like a bruise from a rope, belt, or something similar around his neck - the latter of which he'd seen before when he and Chuck got rough, but something he noticed was actual worry on Gabriel's face. 'You look like hell, Gabe!' Dean said with a slight smirk, knowing he was probably NEVER getting to say that, again.

'Dean, please tell me Chuck made it back here.' Gabriel said pleadingly, completely ignoring Dean's comment.

'No. We've been trying to figure out where he's at and I didn't figure he'd be with you for a week without word one to me.' Dean admitted.

'Goddammit!' Gabriel said frustrated as he gripped the sides of his head with his hands, pushing his hair up slightly.

'Gabriel, where the hell is he? Because, you obviously know SOMETHING that has you concerned. And, you better be explaining REALLY damn fast why you've waited this long to come here!' Dean said angrily.

'He's with Becky.' Gabriel admits, and figured he probably shouldn't have started with THAT part of the explanation when he ends up flat on his ass a moment later with a freshly busted bottom lip.

Dean grabbed Gabriel by the front of his shirt with both hands. 'You let him go with, Becky? Are you fucking insane? You know how dangerous it is for those two to be together! And, Chuck isn't even fully recovered, yet. Goddammit, do you know what she could end up doing to him when he's not even able to say her fucking name!' Dean snapped while shaking Gabriel.

'I didn't have a choice, Dean!' Gabriel attempted to explain, his head snapping back with the force of a punch to his left jaw. 'You don't understand!' He pleaded. Another punch. 'Dean, please!' Gabriel pleaded. 'I love him, I can't deny that…but if I had stayed with him…Kali was going to release pictures of us - me and Chuck - that…we DID NOT need released! And, even if I could deal with that like you and Benny dealt with the picture that came out of you two in a risqué position…there's a video she has of his time with Becky that…' Gabriel couldn't continue as he began to cry, his bottom lip quivering.

Dean released his hold on Gabriel's shirt as he knelt down to his left. 'What the hell is in that video that you were willing to risk breaking his heart for?' Dean asked desperately.

Gabriel saw Sam, Benny, Cas…and another Benny - okay - and lowered his head before turning his attention to focus solely on Dean. Gabriel leaned so he could whisper very quietly directly into Dean's left ear. 'Do you remember the breeding bench?' He pulled back and saw how pale Dean had gotten in that moment.

'Oh god, no!' Dean whispered pleadingly.

'Now, you see why I was willing to hurt him and what that video will do to him if it gets out. I have to go back to Kali, I have no choice…but please, Dean…save him! Save him from that psycho bitch like I never could!' Gabriel begged.

'Alright, Gabe and thank you.' Dean said sadly.

'Breeding bench?' Cas asked confused. 'Aren't those for dogs?' He added.

'Yes, Castiel, they are. I see them as either a use for bitches who don't want to be bred but they're also used in certain types of kink.' Gabriel explained.

'What does a breeding bench have to do with Chuck?' Cas asked curiously.

Gabriel and Dean both lowered their heads but otherwise didn't respond to the question.

'Just let it go, Cas. There are some things you don't have to know and this? This is one of them.' Dean said regretfully.

'But, I don't -' Cas began.

'Shut up, Cassie! This DOES NOT and WILL NEVER concern you! There are things in this world that you DON'T have to know!' Gabriel snapped.

'Is this part of what makes Becky a psycho bitch?' Benny asked curiously.

'One of the many, yes.' Dean said vaguely.

Sam, Cas, Benny, and Eli all shared a look but decided to just drop the subject because by the way BOTH Dean and Gabriel were acting, it was apparent that trying to get more out of them was going to end up being like trying to get blood from a stone.

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Author's Note: When I was writing this chapter, it was with one idea but when I got done with it and 25, I ended up going back rewriting them because I just didn't like the way they read…so hopefully, you all liked this chapter.

Reviews/Comments/Constructive Criticism welcome!

Flames will be used to roast marshmallows and then promptly deleted!