Back at the library, settling down in front of the computer, Dean felt an anticipatory rush. Five minutes from now, his existential crises would be settled, and he could get on with figuring out what was going on without the constant distraction of having to reassure himself of his own existence.

He pulled the keyboard forward and pecked out D-E-A-N W-I-N-C-H-E-S-T-E-R, hitting 'ENTER' with an accomplished flourish. Seconds later the screen filled with the search results. The sidebar baring his picture took him by surprise. He was pretty sure those only came up for celebrities. Curiously, he read the text.

Jensen Ackles

Born: March 1st, 1978

Dallas, Texas

Roles:

Eric Brady: Days Of Our Lives

Eddie G: Blonde

Ben/Alec: Dark Angel

"What the hell?" he burst out, drawing shushes and complaints from the other patrons. "What the hell?' he repeated in a whisper, leaning in closer to the monitor.

He turned his attention to the list of links and clicked on the top one, opening a Wikipedia article.

Dean Winchester is one of two main characters in the horror genre book series "Supernatural" created and written by Carver Edlund. Dean, along with his brother Sam, hunts down and battles various mythic terrors within the larger story arc of trying to solve the mystery of their family's paranormal history.

Dean blinked, trying to process what he was seeing. So much for ending his existential crises. He skipped further down the page.

In 2005, Eric Kripke pitched the idea of a television adaptation of the books. It wasn't picked up, however, and only the untitled pilot episode was ever filmed.

Dean was too stunned for even speculative wonderings to form in his head. With no other apparent course of action, he went back to the search results. Almost on auto-pilot, he clicked another link: "Jensen Ackles talks to us about Supernatural".

The video started with a tedious network stock intro. Impatiently he skipped past it, and was confronted by the image of himself inexplicably seated on the stage of some drivel morning show.

"...was really excited about it. I had never heard of the books before Eric asked me if I'd be interested, but the script seemed pretty solid. Dean has a lot in common with Alec, which is probably what made Eric consider me for the part. I felt like I was in a good place to transition into the role. I personally thought the pilot turned out great but didn't happen. I'm just an actor. They give me the lines, I say them. I don't get to make the decisions."

OK, Dean may have been having trouble telling up from down lately, but he was damned straight sure he hadn't given any crappy morning show interviews about playing himself in a TV show, so what the hell was this? There didn't seem to be anything else to do but keep watching.

"So, what was it like working with Jared Padalecki?" interview guy asked.

On the screen, not-Dean broke into a jovial laugh, "Oh man, that guy, I gotta be honest, at first I was thinking, 'Are you kidding me? The Gilmore Girls guy?"

"Not really the same kind of character, different genre." interview guy prompted.

"Right, exactly," not-Dean agreed. "Their options were kind of limited, though, because they already had me. Since Sam's taller than Dean, that's a whole ongoing thing between them, they could either go with Jared, or Richard Moll in a wig."

The two shared a laugh with the audience.

"But no, really," not-Dean continued, "he's a great guy. We hit it off right off the bat. I'll tell you this, he's got the impulse control of a two year old. I mean, I play around. I like to have a good time on set. Then they put me with this guy, and he's like a big overgrown toddler, and suddenly I've got to be the adult in the room."

"Are you two still friends?" interview guy asked.

"We keep in touch, get together every once in awhile." not-Dean answered, nodding. "We did a photo shoot together a few months back because they're kicking around the idea of using us for the book covers."

"OK, the books," interview guy seized on the topic, "there's a rumor that with Edlund publishing again that there may be a second chance for a Supernatural show. Is that true?"

"I don't know." not-Dean shrugged, "but anything's possible in Hollywood. I hope so, I really do. After the pilot, actually being able to be Dean, I got to be a pretty big fan."

"Oh, not on your best day you creepy ass, shape shifting wannabe." Dean muttered.

"What do they call it?" interview guys joked, "a fan girl?"

"Fanboy," not-Dean corrected him, "no, let's go with fan man." He puffed out his chest, hands on his hips, "I am...Fanman." he mugged for the camera.

Dean winced at the display.

"So, would you be interested in playing Dean if that happened?" interview guy tried to steer things back on track.

"Oh man, I'd love that, I really would, but you know, if they start at the beginning, Dean's 26 when the story starts. I think I've gotten a little rough around the edged to pull off 26. I could maybe do John. I'd take that in a heartbeat."

"I don't know," interview guy disagreed, "These make-up people are pretty impressive with what they can do. Let me tell you, our girl here, she is so talented, she makes me look good day after day."

"Yeah maybe, maybe," not-Dean went along with the gag. "I'll have to see if Eric calls me." He looked into the camera, pantomiming a phone with his hand, "Eric, call me. Let's talk,"

"OK, they're telling me we have to take a break." interview guy broke in. "Jensen, I want to thank you for coming to talk with us. I understand you're going to sing for us before you go."

"Yes," not-Dean confirmed, "I've got my buddy Jason Manns here with me. We're going to do a duet. It's a track off his new album "Never Alone".

"Can't wait, and we'll be back with that right after this."

Dean stared at the screen in stunned silence. This was...he didn't know what this was. Weird was nowhere near a big enough word. A shifter, it had to be a shifter. No, he realized, couldn't be, no eye flare.

OK then, it was one of his messed up hallucinations. Like when he saw John. Hell, he'd probably wake up tomorrow remembering this all completely differently. He pressed his hand down on the wound on his arm, just to feel the pain, to know it was there.

He had cut himself, in Bobby's kitchen, with Bobby's own knife, taken off of him in a scuffle. The wound proved it. The rest of the world may be refusing to get on board with the facts, but it had to have happened. Open wounds didn't just spontaneously appear.

The burn did, an annoying voice in his head reminded him. Not in the mood, he told it to shut up.