Two days later…
Dean sat behind the wheel of the impala with Sam in the back seat. Angel was beside him bouncing her knee in irritation, clearly livid and jittered up.
"This freakin' sucks. Like really really sucks." She scoffed, "This kid isn't a ghost or a freakin supernatural whatever. He's a freakin human so where the hell could he be?"
"Ang, maybe you should drink some water." Sam offered carefully, "You seem a little…"
Dean looked over at her, "Caffeinated."
"Oh, do I?! Do I?!" She yelled back angrily earning looks from the both of them, "Thank you for pointing out the obvious Captain Douche and Sergeant Jerkface!" When her cell rang she sighed in frustration as she fumbled for it before finally getting it in hand, "Bobby, please tell me you got something!
"Strip club was a bust, huh?"
"Yes."
"That was our last lead."
She groaned, "Oh, come on, Bobby!"
"Don't yell at me, girl. I'm working my ass off here."
"Sorry, I'm sorry. I'm just…" She sighed heavily again and ran a hand down her face, "I'm tired."
"Well, who ain't?"
"Does Bela have anything?"
After a pause Bobby answered, "She's got nothing."
"Oh, well thats- thats just amazing! I am so glad she stuck around to help." She snapped, "You know what? I think I'll just go and pick out my headstone now!" She flipped the phone closed and threw it in the backseat, narrowly missing Sam, before turning her anger on Dean, "Turn here! Now!" Dean jumped at her angry voice and glared at her as he turned down a side road, "Stop the car!"
He slammed his foot on the brakes as they got to a clearing in the woods and looked at her like she had gone insane, "What the hell is the matter with you?"
"You wanna know what my problem is?" Reaching over she grabbed the keys to shut off the engine while Dean scrambled to put the Impala in park, "I'm tired. I'm exhausted and this whole thing is making me a paranoid jittery mess! I can't drink another espresso Dean!" She slid down a bit in her seat, crossing her arms and resting her head on the back, "So, were handling this my way."
Sam shook his head, "What are you talking about?"
"I'm saying that I'm taking myself a long-overdue nap."
Dean angered and pushed her arm so she'd open her eyes, "The hell you are, Angel!"
"Angel!" Sam popped up next to her ear making her jump at his volume, "That's the dumbest idea you've had all week. Jeremy can come after you."
"Yeah, that's the idea." She glared at them before shutting her eyes again, "Now, both of you, kindly shut your face holes."
"No!" Dean shook her again, "What the hell are you talking about? You wanna volunteer to go up against this guy alone? Were we not in the same house earlier? We almost died!"
"Look, we can't find him so this is the only plausible alternative. Lets let him come to me instead of staying up another four days and wasting time not finding him."
"You think the only plausible alternative is running onto his own turf blind?" Sam scoffed, "Where he's basically a god?"
"I've been hunting since I was thirteen, Sam." She leaned her head back again and settled in her seat, "I think I can handle it."
"Yeah?" Dean scoffed, "Well not alone, you can't."
He reached over and pulled out some of Angel's hair just before Sam did the same thing.
"Ow!" She glared at them as she touched her head where they grabbed the hair, "What the hell do you two think you're doing?"
Sam answered as he fiddled with the hairs he took, "Comin' in with you."
"Uh, no. That is so not happening." Her glare read murder as she pointed it between them, "No!"
"Why not?" Dean glared right back, "At least then it'll be three against one. How could we lose?"
She didn't have a response at first, opening and closing her mouth before she bristled yet again, "I don't want you two snooping around in my head!"
Dean scoffed, "Get over it."
She glared as Sam readied the items to make the liquid and Dean just held her glare with his own.
Later on…
All three of them were asleep, leaning on the doors of the Impala. Sam woke up first, clearing his throat and running a hand over his face. The car was still right where it was before they fell asleep.
"Guys." He leaned over and hit each of them on their arms, forcefully waking them up, "Hey, wake up."
Dean jumped in surprise, "Jeez."
"For the love of God, Sam." Angel groaned as she slowly opened her eyes and looked around, still extremely tired, "Why are we still here?"
"You tell us." Dean yawned before meeting her eye, "This is your dream."
A sound outside the car alerted them and had Sam tensing, "There's someone out there."
The three of them got out of the car and carefully looked around. As they walked in front of the car, music could suddenly be heard. Dream a Little Dream of Me by the Mamas and Papas played making her heart speed up a little. Angel stopped at the song, and the memories it was eliciting, before turning around in surprise. When she turned again a corner of the clearing lit up to reveal a section of a fancy restaurant. A small table sat two settings with a champagne bottle on ice in between. On one plate sat a small velvet box. In the blink of an eye Jax was in front of her, dressed in a button up and slacks. His hair was still curly and around his face beautifully as he smiled charmingly down at her.
"Hey, babe." He took her hand gently in his own, "You wanna sit down? Our table's ready."
Angel didn't move. She just stood there staring up at him with wide eyes.
"Come on." He kissed her hand before bending down and pecking her lips, "I've got a surprise for you."
Jax dropped her hand and walked over to the table. He pulled out her chair first, the one sitting in front of the small velvet box, before taking a seat in the other. Sam and Dean were both standing a bit behind her, each taking this all in as she just stared at Jax longingly.
"I- I…" Her eyes trailed from Jax to her brothers and she immediately cleared her throat and looked away from them as they took a few steps toward her, "Stop giving me those looks."
Dean cleared his throat softly as he dropped his eyes from her and looked back to Jax.
Sam also closed his own mouth and looked away from her, both knowing they were intruding on a very personal dream, "Sorry…"
"Angie." Jax earned her attention from the table as he poured two glasses of champagne, "I love you."
Emotional pain as well as guilt flittered across Angel's face as he smiled at her like a love sick puppy. Suddenly his entire scene shook and both him, the table, the settings and the music disappeared.
"Where-" Angel looked around as her brothers did the same, "Where'd he go?"
Sam was looking into the woods and suddenly Jeremy came out from behind a tree, "Guys."
The boys both took off after Jeremy, who bolted upon being spotted. Angel quickly followed them as they ran into the woods. She quickly lost track of her brothers, but kept running in the same direction.
Suddenly she stopped and turned, looking around in sheer confusion, "Uh…" The woods had turned into wallpaper and she was now standing in a hallway with doors on both sides, "Okay. Don't panic, Ang." She mumbled to herself, "Don't panic."
Angel slowly began walking down the hallway towards a door at the end of it. Before she could reach it, it suddenly began to slowly open up. She stopped immediately as she watched it glide open more, revealing a motel room. As she entered the room on edge, clicking could be heard. Walking in all the way she noticed the room was exactly the same as the one she was staying in with her brothers. Across the room from the door, sat a blonde woman on the chair by the desk.
She walked further into the room, watching her closely, "Hello?"
The woman kept clicking the on and off button for the lamp on the desk, her back to Angel. The woman clicked the lamp back on before turning her head towards Angel, a disdainful pissed off expression on her face. Angel's eyes widened into saucers once she realized the woman was herself. Dream Angel slowly stood up, and turned to Ang, who swallowed at the sight of herself.
The look on Dream Angel's face softened slightly, "Hey, Ang."
"Oh-kay." Angel took a breath, "So… this is happening right now."
She smiled, "The two of us need to discuss a few things."
"Right, right. Of course we do." Angel nodded as she began to walk in a circle, as did Dream Angel, so they were circling each other, "So, what? This means that I'm my own worst nightmare, right? Am I supposed to go through some Superman III junkyard scene with you or something? 'Cause i gotta say…" She shook her head, "I got better things to do."
"Joke all you want, smart-ass." Dream Angel rolled her eyes, "But you can't lie to me. I know the truth." They stopped walking, now having changed places with Angel standing by the desk and Dream Angel by the door, "I know how dead you are inside. How worthless you feel. I know how you look into a mirror… and hate what you see."
Angel swallowed hard as she took a moment to get ahold of herself, "Yeah, okay. Look, this whole thing you got going on? It's not gonna work." She cocked an eyebrow and smiled, "You're not real."
"Sure I am. I'm you."
"Oh, no. No, you're not, sweetheart. This whole thing is my little siesta. Not yours." She raised her left hand, "All I gotta do is snap my fingers and you go bye-bye."
She snapped her fingers once, and nothing happened. Angel's smile faded, and she snapped again, noticing nothing's happening. Dream Angel just watched her silently as she snapped them three more times before letting her hand fall to her side, eyebrows lifted.
"I'm not going anywhere." Dream Angel gave her an I-told-you-so nod as she spoke, "Neither are you." The door slammed shut behind her before locking and all the smiles were gone from Angel's features as she went completely serious, "Like I said…" She raised her hand, in which she was now holding Angel's silver Desert Eagle AE, "We need to talk."
In the Impala…
A loud bang was heard making Sam jump awake as he gasped. He was sitting in the passenger seat while Dean was still fast asleep in the drivers sleep.
"Dean." Sam hit him on the arm to try and rouse him, "Hey, get up. We need to find Ang."
He hit him on the arm two more times and then Jeremy turned around, with a hard, evil look. Sam only had a second to respond and take in that it was Jeremy and not Dean. Jeremy immediately hit him hard in his stomach with the tip of the bat he used earlier in Bobby's dream. Sam grunted and opened the door so he fell through the door, face first, still grunting in pain.
"Boy…" Jeremy shook his head as he came around the front of the car, the bat resting against his shoulder, "You just don't know when to leave well enough alone, do you?
As he walked towards Sam, who had reached the back of the Impala while still on the ground, he closed the door Sam fell out through and continued walking up to him. He towered over Sam who was now turned over, looking up at him, still moving backwards.
Pain laced the youngest Winchester's voice, "You're a psycho."
"You're wrong."
"Yeah?" He scoffed, "Tell that to Dr. Gregg."
"The doc? No, no. The doc's the one that got me hooked on this stuff and then he took it away." As Sam still laid on the ground, Jeremy leaned on the Impala as he raised the bat, and held it like he was about to swing, "But I needed it, and he wouldn't let me have it."
"So you killed him?"
"I can dream again. You know what that's like, not to be able to dream? You never rest, not really. It's like being awake for 15 years."
"And let me guess. That makes you go crazy?"
"I just wanna be left alone." Jeremy leaned down toward Sam as he held the bat out at him, "I just wanna dream."
"Sorry. Can't do that."
"That's the wrong answer." Sam was suddenly pulled flat against the ground and he groaned and gasped heavily as he now became tied to railroad spikes, stopping his movement completely, "I'm getting better and better at this. Stronger and stronger all the time." He studied the bat before looking back down at Sam, "But you, your sister and your brother? You're not waking up. Not this time. I'm not gonna let you."
Back with Angel…
"I mean…" Dream Angel scoffed, "You're going to hell and you won't lift a finger to stop it." The two Angel's began circling each other again, "Talk about low self-esteem." She chuckled, "Then again, I guess it's not much of a life worth saving, now is it?"
"Jesus, Angel. Wake up." Angel muttered to herself hurriedly as her eyes flashed from her dream-self to the gun her dream-self was holding, "Come on, wake up."
"I mean, after all, you've got nothing outside of your brothers. Not even Asa could fill that void." They stopped circling each other, now in their original positions with Angel by the door and Dream Angel by the desk, "You know why? Because you are nothing. You're as mindless and obedient as an attack dog."
"No, that-" Angel shook her head, smiling in denial as she tried to brave this conversation out, "That's not true."
"No? What are the things that you want? What are the things that you dream? I mean everything you own, everything you love… Your car, your weapons, your music, the books you read, all of it came from Dad or Dean or even Sam. Hell, I mean you don't even feel complete when you're off playing 'couple' with Asa. You only feel worth something when you're with your brothers because you're still following orders that way. Do you even have an original thought?" Angel scoffed at her dream-selfs words, not wanting to admit to anything, "All there is inside your head is, 'Watch out for the boys. Look out for your little brothers, girl!' You can still hear your Dad's voice in your head, can't you?" She motioned with the weapon to her head, "Clear as a bell."
Angel shook her head as her eyes narrowed, "Just shut up."
"I mean…" Dream Angel lowered the gun, "Think about it." She walked towards Angel, who was glaring into her matching green eyes, "All he ever did is train you, boss you around." She stopped once they were face to face, "But the boys? The boys, especially Sam, he doted on. The boys he loved."
"I mean it." Angel growled angrily, "Shut up!"
"Dad knew who you really were. A good soldier and nothing else. Daddy's beautiful blunt little instrument." Dream Angel angered the more and more she spoke, "Your own father didn't care whether you lived or died so why should you?!"
Without a word of warning Angel angrily attacked her dream-self and knocked her into the wall above the desk as she screamed, "My father was an obsessed bastard!"
Dream Angel tried to get up so Angel kicked her down onto the desk again. She grabbed the gun before landing two hard right hooks and pinning Dream Angel to the wall with the gun pointed at her chest.
"All of that crap he dumped on me about protecting the boys! That was his crap. He's the one who couldn't protect his family. He-" She stepped back and swung again, hitting Dream Angel twice, "He's the one who let Mom die!" She pinned Dream Angel again, "He was never there for Dean or for Sam! I always was! He wasn't fair! I didn't deserve what he put on me!" She breathed heavily as she backed away from Dream Angel, "And I don't deserve to go to Hell."
Angel shot Dream Angel twice in the chest with her AE. As she lowered the gun and looked at Dream Angel she noticed that her dream-self was dead. Blood was splattered on her face and her eyes were closed. Angel calmed her breathing down as she approached her dream-self on the desk, looking at her carefully. Suddenly Dream Angels eyes flicker open and they're completely black, as when a demon possesses a human. Angel widened her eyes at that as Demon Angel looked into her green eyes with dark black ones.
"You can't escape me, Angel." Her voice was hard and angry as she got up and advanced on the shocked wide eyed hunter, "You're gonna die. And this? This is what you're gonna become!"
Back at the Impala…
Jeremy was hitting Sam repeatedly on his legs and knees, both with the bat and with his feet. Sam was grunting through the assault, not able to move.
"You can't stop me." Jeremy hovered the bat above Sams chest, "There's nothing I can't do in here."
Sam panted, "Because of the Dream Root."
"That's right."
"Yeah? Well, you're forgetting something."
Jeremy readied the bat to swing down on Sam, "What's that?"
Sam looked up at him with a smile, "I took the Dream Root too."
A man's angry voice sounded behind Jeremy, "Jeremy!" When Jeremy turned around he was shocked to see his father standing at the edge of the woods, "Jeremy!"
"No. No…" Henry stomped towards him, "Dad?"
"You answer me when I'm talking to you, boy!"
Jeremy backed away from Sam and Henry, the bat no longer in his hands, "No…"
Suddenly Sam popped up in front of him and hit him across his face with the bat. Sam hit him again and again until Jeremy fell to the ground dead. In the next second the three of them jerked awake inside the impala as they panted. Both brothers looked at Angel to make sure she was okay but she didn't return their looks. Sweat covered her face as she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to control her breathing yet again. Her own demon black eyes flashed in her mind and quickly looked outside the windows, clearly shaken by what just happened.