A/N: This chapter draws fairly heavily from the episode Dream a Little Dream. Song is, of course, Sad but True by Metallica.


Chapter 16: I'm You


Hey (Hey), I'm your life

I'm the one who takes you there

Hey (Hey), I'm your life

I'm the one who cares

They (They), they betray

I'm your only true friend now

They (They), they'll betray

I'm forever there

I'm your dream, make you real

I'm your eyes when you must steal

I'm your pain when you can't feel

Sad but true

I'm your dream, mind astray

I'm your eyes while you're away

I'm your pain while you repay

You know it's sad but true

Sad but true

You (You), you're my mask

You're my cover, my shelter

You (You), you're my mask

You're the one who's blamed

Do (Do), do my work

Do my dirty work, scapegoat

Do (Do), do my deeds

For you're the one who's shamed

I'm your dream, make you real

I'm your eyes when you must steal

I'm your pain when you can't feel

Sad but true

I'm your dream, mind astray

I'm your eyes while you're away

I'm your pain while you repay

You know it's sad but true

Sad but true

I'm your dream

I'm your eyes

I'm your pain

I'm your dream (I'm your dream)

I'm your eyes (I'm your eyes)

I'm your pain (I'm your pain)

You know it's sad but true

Hate (Hate), I'm your hate

I'm your hate when you want love

Pay (Pay), pay the price

Pay, for nothing's fair

Hey (Hey), I'm your life

I'm the one who took you there

Hey (Hey), I'm your life

And I no longer care

I'm your dream, make you real

I'm your eyes when you must steal

I'm your pain when you can't feel

Sad but true

I'm your truth, telling lies

I'm your reason, alibis

I'm inside, open your eyes

I'm you

Sad but true

When Sam, Dean, and Ty arrived at the hospital in Pittsburgh, Ty found herself torn between a desire to run to Bobby's bedside as quickly as her legs could take her and a fear of taking even one step inside the facility and seeing Bobby lying in a hospital bed. Ultimately, she forced herself to follow Dean and Sam, but lingered behind them when they entered his room. He looked so vulnerable lying there, even without any obvious injuries, and she felt so helpless loitering in his doorway looking at him.

It killed her that Alex was off following that lead on the Seal without her, even if Jo and Ellen were with him. But this was Bobby. She had to be here. So while she wasn't thrilled about splitting up, she knew it was the only choice they'd had.

Someone must have alerted the doctor of their arrival, because he slipped past her into the room while she was still trying to convince herself to enter.

"Mr. Snyderson?" he asked.

"That's me." Dean nodded, "This is my brother and Harry's niece."

Ty started. She'd been so caught up she'd completely forgotten that Bobby was here under one of his aliases, Harold Callahan. She mentally chastised herself. He definitely didn't need her blowing his cover on top of everything.

"What's the diagnosis?" Sam asked quickly, impatient for news.

The doctor shook his head while he picked up Bobby's chart and flipped through it, "We've tested everything we can think of to test. He seems perfectly healthy."

"Except he's comatose." Dean pointed out the obvious.

"Mr. Snyderson, you're his emergency contact. Is there anything we should know? Any illnesses?"

"No." Dean shook his head quickly, "He…he never gets sick. I mean, he doesn't even catch cold."

"Doctor, is there anything you can do?" Sam asked, sounding almost as desperate as Ty felt.

"Look, I'm sorry, but we don't know what's causing it, so we don't know how to treat it. He just…went to sleep and didn't wake up."

Dean and Sam exchanged a look before they both glanced over at Ty. She didn't need them to tell her. This had to be something supernatural. Bobby had been on a hunt and now he was in a coma for no apparent reason. There had to be something causing this.

"Thanks, Doc. Could we…uh…have a minute with him?" Dean asked, clearly looking for a way to get the man out of the room so they could discuss this.

"Of course. Take your time." the doctor nodded before he replaced Bobby's chart on the end of his bed and exited the room.

Ty stepped inside after he left and pulled the door closed behind her.

"What do we do?" she demanded the second it clicked shut.

"Any idea what he was hunting?" Dean asked in return.

Ty shook her head. Her eyes kept drifting back to Bobby's face and she found she was slowly but surely moving closer to his bedside, "Ellen just said he'd gotten a call from some professor and then a few days later he heard the professor was dead so he came out here."

"So we retrace his steps." Sam said, "I'll find out where they brought him in from."

Dean nodded, "And I'll see if I can find an obit for a local professor and look into that."

He glanced over at Ty who had finally moved to stand over Bobby. She had her hand raised like she wanted to brush his hair off his forehead or something, but she didn't actually touch him. It was frankly almost as disconcerting to see him without a hat as it was to see him lying there.

"You want to stay with him?" Dean asked gently.

Ty shook her head quickly, "I want to get him out of here."

"You should stay." Dean insisted, "We'll check into those leads and if we have anything, we'll come back and get you, okay?"

He moved over to her side, placing his hands on her arms so he could make sure he had her full attention, "He'll be alright, but I would feel better if you were here keeping an eye on him for us."

Ty met his gaze for a moment and found herself nodding, "O…okay. I'll stay. But call me the second you know anything. Both of you."

"We will." Dean promised and Sam nodded in agreement before they both quickly left the room.

Ty sighed and moved to perch herself in the chair near Bobby's bed. It was about as uncomfortable a chair as she'd ever sat in, but she resolved herself to keeping vigil in it. She pulled one knee into her chest, wrapping her arms around it.

"God, I hate hospitals." she muttered.

It felt like forever before Ty's phone rang, nearly making her fall out of her chair. She scrambled for her phone, nearly dropping it on the ground before she managed to answer it and hold it up to her ear.

"What do you have?" she demanded immediately.

"Found the professor." Dean's voice answered her, "Some neurologist named Walter Gregg. No official cause of death. They say he just went to sleep and didn't wake up."

Ty swallowed the lump that formed in her throat, glancing back towards Bobby, "Anything else?"

"Yeah. I stopped by the university and managed to get a look at some unofficial experiments Dr. Gregg was doing. He was testing some treatment for Charcot-Wilbrand Syndrome."

"What the hell is that?"

"I guess it's a condition where you can't dream. I talked to one of the test subjects. He said the doc gave him this weird tea that sent him on a bad acid trip. Said it freaked him out so bad he dropped out of the test." Dean explained, "Heard from Sam yet?"

Ty shook her head automatically even though Dean couldn't see it, "No, not yet."

"Alright, I'm heading back to you. If Sam checks in, tell him to meet back there, too."

"Got it." Ty nodded before she disconnected.

Dropping her phone into her lap, Ty looked up at Bobby again. There had been absolutely no change the entire time she'd been there.

"We're figuring it out, Bobby." she promised him softly, "Just hang in there, okay?"

Ty was again relieved when she didn't have to wait too much longer before her phone rang again, this time with Sam on the other line. He'd apparently found something at Bobby's motel room that matched up with the info Dean had gathered, but wanted to wait to share it with both of them. Ty hated having to wait, but she reluctantly agreed.

Ty stood up, shoving her phone back in her pocket. She paced the room while she waited. She'd never really considered the thought that something might happen to Bobby. It was stupid because she knew how dangerous hunting was, but for some reason Bobby just seemed indestructible to her. But now, it was obvious that wasn't the case. She itched to do something to help him and if the boys didn't get here soon, she was going to lose her mind. This was even worse than the thing with the Seals and Dean's bounty in some ways because she could see Bobby right in front of her, trapped in a coma that had been fatal for the last victim. He was there, right in front of her, and yet she was still losing him. Ty resisted the urge to punch a wall and instead swore that whoever or whatever was responsible for this was going to suffer.

By the time Sam and Dean reentered Bobby's room, having both returned at almost the same time, Ty had already devised a number of different excruciating scenarios for the culprit, each more elaborate than the last. She was so absorbed in plotting revenge that when the boys walked in, she whirled towards them, eyes still dark with fury.

"Woah, easy there." Dean said, holding up his hands, "It's just us. Geez, what happened? They try to make you eat hospital food?"

Ty waved the question away, "Okay, we're all here. Sam, spill."

Sam nodded, shutting the door behind him and pulling a folded piece of paper from his pocket. He unfolded it and held it up so Dean and Ty could see.

"This was on Bobby's wall. It's Silene capensis, also known as African Dream Root. It's been used by shaman and medicine men for centuries."

"Let me guess." Dean said, "They dose up, bust out the didgeridoos, and start kicking around the hackey."

"Not quite. If you believe the legends, it's used for dreamwalking." Sam corrected, "I mean, entering another person's dreams, poking around in their heads."

"And I take it we believe the legends." Dean said.

Ty sent him a sharp look, "When don't we?"

"But dreamwalking is just the tip of the iceberg." Sam continued, "This Dream Root is some serious mojo. You take enough of it, with practice, you can become a regular Freddy Krueger. You can control anything. You could turn bad dreams good, you could turn good dreams bad."

"And killing people in their sleep?" Dean asked.

Sam nodded, "For example."

Dean sighed. This was starting to sound more and more complicated. Ty, on the other hand, was getting furious all over again. She clenched her hands, trying to keep it under control.

"So let's say this doc was testing this stuff on his patients, Tim Leary-style…" Sam continued.

Understanding where his brother was going, Dean continued for him, "Somebody gets pissed at him, decides to give him a little dream visit, he goes nighty-night."

"But what about Bobby?" Sam asked, glancing over at the sleeping hunter, "I mean, if the killer came after him, how come he's still alive?"

"I don't know." Dean answered, following his brother's gaze.

"Because Bobby's strong." Ty snapped, and as soon as she opened her mouth, her rage spilled out, "But you're telling me this is some human asshole who did this to him? Some freaking Dream Root junkie has Bobby trapped in his head in, what, a killer nightmare?!"

The brothers exchanged a glance before looking back at Bobby.

"How do we find this asshole?" Ty demanded.

"It could be anyone." Sam said uncertainly.

"Anyone who knew the doctor and had access to his dream shrooms." Dean corrected.

"So maybe someone who was involved in the tests, then?" Ty ventured.

"Possible, but his research was pretty sketchy. I mean…I don't know how many subjects he had or who all of them were." Sam scoffed, drawing Dean's attention, "What?"

Sam sighed, "In any other case, we'd be calling Bobby and asking him for help right about now."

Dean looked thoughtful for a moment, "You know what? You're right."

"Okay?" Sam replied, confused.

"Let's go talk to him." Dean declared.

Sam looked back at his brother like maybe a trip to the hospital's psych ward might be needed, "Sure, but I think we might find the conversation a bit one-sided."

Dean grinned, "Not if we're tripping on some Dream Root."

"What?" Sam asked.

At the same time, Ty demanded, "Are you nuts?"

"You both heard me." he replied.

"You want to go dreamwalking inside Bobby's head?" Sam asked, just to make sure he was following his brother's latest crazy plan.

Dean shrugged, "Yeah. Why not? Maybe we could help."

"But you have no idea what's going on in there." Ty protested. She didn't know everything there was to know about Bobby's past, but she could imagine that his worst nightmare had to be something you didn't want to see. What happened if they got trapped in there, too? They didn't really know how this stuff worked, after all.

"How bad could it be?"

"Bad." Sam said simply, clearly thinking along the same lines as Ty.

Dean looked unconvinced, "Dude, it's Bobby."

To Ty's astonishment, Sam seemed to consider Dean's words and then agree, "Yeah, you're right. One problem, though. We're fresh out of African Dream Root, so unless you know someone who can score some…"

"I don't." Dean admitted, but he didn't seem deterred. He paused like he was racking his memory before he added, "But I think Dad might."

"What?" Sam asked in confusion.

Dean didn't reply, but headed quickly out of the room. Sam transferred his confused look to Ty, but she shook her head. She had no idea what he was talking about either. They waited with Bobby until Dean returned, carrying John's journal. He already had it open and passed it to Sam.

"Dad knew a shaman. I never met him, but Dad mentions him a couple times in the journal and look here." Dean said, gesturing to the top corner of the page.

"A phone number." Sam realized, brightening.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Ty demanded, "Call him."

Dean nodded and pulled out his phone, swiftly punching in the numbers. This was still a long shot. The shaman could have changed his number or even met his maker between the time when John last saw him and now. Heck, the number might not even be the shaman's. It could just as well be a pizza delivery service, but Dean doubted it. His Dad rarely recorded anything irrelevant in his journal. No, he was almost certain this had, at least at one time, been the shaman's number. Now he just needed to cross his fingers that he could still reach the guy.

After three or four rings, Dean was starting to give up hope and trying to think of another solution, when suddenly the line picked up.

"Hello?"

Dean frowned uncertainly. There was no way that voice belonged to the person he was looking for. But, maybe it was a relative or something.

"I'm looking for a Taki Redwing." he ventured.

"Who's asking?" a young female voice on the line immediately shot back.

"Uh…Dean Winchester. Taki helped my dad a couple times, John Winchester."

"Winchester? Never heard of you." she said and Dean was sure she was about to hang up when he heard a faint voice in the background that apparently made her hesitate, "What's that, kwa'a?"

The voice in the background said something else that Dean couldn't make out. Finally, the woman came back on the line.

"Well, apparently Grandpa's mind is still as sharp as ever. He remembers your dad. What do you want?" she asked, still sounding like she'd much rather just hang up.

"Look, I know you don't know me, but I could really use your help. I need some African Dream Root." Dean began to make his plea, hoping he could convince this woman that her grandfather's relationship with his dad was enough to get her to do him this favor.

"Dream Root? What the hell do you need with that?" she interrupted.

"I need it to save a friend." Dean answered. He paused, taking a deep breath before he added, "Please."

The line was silent for long enough that Dean checked to make sure that she hadn't hung up on him after all. But the call was still connected and finally he heard her sigh.

"Alright. Where are you?"

Dean quickly gave her the info on the hospital, "How soon can you get here?"

The woman heaved a dry laugh, "Oh, no. I don't have any of that nasty stuff and there's no way I'm traveling across the country. But I know people. I'll make some calls. Keep your phone close."

"Thank you." Dean said, grateful that she was helping even if she clearly didn't think it was a good idea.

"Just be careful with that stuff." she said and hung up before he could reply.

Dean met Sam and Ty's expectant gazes and gave them an encouraging smile. Now they just had to wait for their delivery and hope that they could get through to Bobby, wherever he was in there.

By the time the call came to Dean's phone, night had fallen and the three young hunters had reluctantly left the hospital to get a room at a motel nearby. Sam had convincingly argued that Bobby wasn't going anywhere and it wasn't like they could take the Dream Root right there in the hospital, anyway. Ty was still as anxious as ever, though. She couldn't bring herself to eat anything and she could barely stay still. After Dean gave the mysterious party delivering the Dream Root their motel address, she walked back and forth to the door enough times that Dean stood up and forcibly pushed her down into a chair.

"Quit it. You're making me dizzy." he complained.

"I can't help it." Ty replied, struggling to get up again.

Dean opened his mouth to reply when a knock sounded on their door. He moved to open it, Ty jumping to her feet behind him, but by the time he swung the door open, whoever had knocked was gone. All that remained was a glass jar full of some pale roots left outside their door. Dean glanced up and down the hall curiously, but there was no one around. With a shrug, he grabbed the jar and brought it inside.

"Guess they weren't feeling chatty." he said, handing the jar to Sam.

"Are you sure that's the right stuff?" Ty asked, glancing suspiciously at the roots.

Sam held the jar up and inspected the contents, "Looks like it, but I guess there's only one way to know for sure."

Sam unscrewed the lid and pulled some roots out. He was about to start preparing the drink they'd have to take to go under, but paused.

"So…uh…who's going to take this stuff?" he asked, knowing as he did it that this was probably going to be the start of an argument.

"I am." Dean said immediately.

"Like hell." Ty snapped, "You can't go in there alone."

"She's right, Dean." Sam agreed.

"Fine. Sam and I will go on the dream trip." Dean said. He turned towards Ty, "But someone needs to stay sober in case things go bad."

"Then you stay." Ty argued, angry and frustrated that he was trying to leave her behind once again.

Dean shot Sam a glance at his brother, silently telling him to give him some space. Sam nodded and stepped into the tiny kitchen area to start preparing the brew for whichever of the two of them ended up taking it.

"You always do this!" Ty snapped at Dean, as Sam made a quick escape, "This is Bobby. I'm not going to just do nothing."

"I know it's Bobby." Dean replied, "The man is like a father to me, okay? And I'm not asking you to do nothing."

"Whatever." Ty growled, crossing her arms obstinately over her chest.

Dean took a few cautious steps closer to her. Dealing with her when she was like this was not terribly dissimilar to trying to deactivate a bomb. If he wasn't careful, he could set her off.

"Ty, listen to me for a sec, will you? I know you love, Bobby, that you'd do anything for him. That's why I need you here. If anything happens to me and Sam…well, you're the only person I trust to take care of him."

Ty's face was still set with stubborn determination, but she didn't say anything, which was encouraging. She was at least listening to him. Dean almost smiled as he thought to himself that maybe he was getting better at this communication thing, but he caught himself before the expression made it to his face. If she caught him smiling, she'd definitely lose it.

"Plus, I'm counting on you to keep an eye on us while we're under. I don't know if you heard, but apparently I'm topping the demon most-wanted list these days." he said, his tone lightly teasing to try and lighten the mood.

Ty sighed and uncrossed her arms, "Fine. You win."

Dean finally allowed himself to smile, mostly with relief, and moved closer to give her a kiss. Ty allowed it for a moment before she pushed him away.

"But mostly just 'cause I wouldn't want anything to happen to this body of yours." she smirked, a teasing glint in her own eyes, her hand lingering on his chest.

Dean grinned and gave her a more heated kiss in response, only pulling away when he heard Sam loudly clearing his throat. When he turned to his brother, Sam had two cups full of something that did not look at all appealing. Dean reached out to take one.

"So…uh…should we dim the lights and sync up Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon?" he asked, as he took his cup and had a seat on one of the beds.

Sam seated himself on the other bed, giving his brother an uncertain smile, "Why?"

Dean shot him a disappointed look, "What did you do during college?"

Sam just continued to look confused so Dean transferred his gaze to Ty, raising an eyebrow as if to ask, 'Can you believe this kid?' Ty just smiled and shook her head at him. Shaking his head, Dean raised his glass.

"Wait, wait, wait." Sam said quickly, stopping him, "Whew. Can't forget this."

He pulled a small envelope from the pocket of his shirt, pinching the contents between his fingers before leaning over and putting it in Dean's hand.

"What the hell is this?" Dean asked, frowning.

"Bobby's hair." Sam answered simply.

Dean glanced up at him sharply, "We have to drink Bobby's hair?"

"That's how you control whose dream you're entering." Sam explained, "You gotta…drink some of their…uh…some of their body."

"Gross." Ty commented, making a face.

"Well, I guess hair of the dog is better than other parts of the body." Dean said, sprinkling the bits of hair into his drink.

Sam did the same, but both boys hesitated as they looked at their glasses.

"Bottoms up." Dean finally declared.

"Yeah." Sam agreed, clinking his cup against Dean's before they both downed the contents.

Ty couldn't help but make a face as she watched them. She was just about to ask how bad it was, when both brothers collapsed backwards onto their beds. She quickly moved closer, checking to make sure they were both still breathing, but it looked like the Dream Root had just done its job. They were both asleep. Although, it seemed like on this hunt, that was where the danger lurked. With a sigh, Ty gently took the cups from their hands.

"Be careful, guys." she said to their sleeping forms, "Bring Bobby back with you."

Ty kept vigil over the boys, feeling like she was starting to become a professional at this point. After a while she started debating whether she should give Alex a call just to pass the time, when Sam flinched. It wasn't much, but it was enough to make Ty's brow furrow with worry. Something was definitely happening in that dream. Ty stood anxiously between Sam and Dean, her eyes flicking back and forth from one to the other for any other indication of what was going on.

Suddenly, the boys both gasped, sitting up abruptly. Ty jumped, startled by their simultaneous awakening, pressing her hand over her suddenly racing heart. The boys didn't look much better, both panting to catch their breaths.

"What happened?" Ty demanded, "Are you okay? Bobby?"

Dean nodded quickly, taking a deep breath before he could respond, "Yeah, yeah. I think he should be okay. Sam?"

Sam nodded back that he was fine, "And I found our dreamwalker."

The hunters quickly moved into action after that. Ty was torn between her desire to go with Dean to check on Bobby and to go with Sam to try and find the creep responsible, who matched Dean's description of the test subject he'd spoken to before. Finally, she decided revenge could wait until she was sure Bobby was okay. And once she saw Bobby awake, sitting up and complaining to his nurse, she felt such a wave of relief wash over her that she knew she'd made the right call.

"Bo…Harry!" she exclaimed, barely remembering to use his alias, hurrying to his side and enveloping him in a tight hug that had him grunting at the impact.

"Jesus, girl, I'm already in the hospital." Bobby grumbled, but Dean caught the small smile on his face and the way he hugged her back.

"Good to have you back." Dean added, sending the nurse a smile and a nod as she excused herself from the room to give them some privacy.

"So," Ty said, as she released him and perched herself on the edge of his bed, "where were you? What happened in there?"

Bobby's expression darkened, "Nothing good."

"Hey, Bobby." Dean asked quietly, "That stuff with your wife…that actually happen?"

Ty's eyes widened. She knew vaguely that Bobby's wife's death had something to do with why he became a hunter, but that was as much as she'd heard about it. She assumed whatever had happened must have been awful, but maybe it was even worse than she'd figured.

"Everybody got into hunting somehow." Bobby said vaguely.

"I'm sorry." Dean said softly.

Bobby's voice was gruff, but firm, "Don't be sorry. If it weren't for you, I'd still be lost in there…or dead. Thank you."

Dean didn't respond, but his lips twitched a little before he looked away, unwilling to engage further in such a serious moment. He was relieved when Sam entered the room a moment later.

"Stoner boy wasn't in his dorm. My guess is he's long gone by now." he told the others.

Bobby shook his head, "He ain't much of a stoner."

"No?" Dean asked, remembering his conversation with the guy about the "ferns" he may or may not have been growing.

"No. His name's Jeremy Frost. He's a full-on genius, hundred-sixty IQ, which is saying something considering his dad took a baseball bat to his head. Injury gave him Charcot-Wilbrand. He hasn't dreamt since." Bobby glanced around the room at the other hunters, "You found my stuff at the motel, I'm guessing."

Sam nodded and pulled some folded papers out of his jacket. He figured it couldn't hurt to keep the stuff he'd collected from Bobby's motel room as well as the other things they'd added since they'd joined the hunt, just in case. Bobby accepted them, looking through them quickly until he found what he was looking for.

"Here's Father of the Year." he said, holding out a copy of a driver's license, "He died before Jeremy was ten."

Looking over the ID photo, Sam frowned, "Looks like a real sweetheart."

"Okay." Dean said, "So he starts dosing the dream drug and becomes Freddy Krueger, but how'd he know how to dig up your worst nightmare and throw it at you?"

"Hey, he was rooting around in my skull. God knows what he saw in there." Bobby said defensively, clearly uncomfortable with the idea of someone digging through his mind. Ty couldn't blame him, but that didn't really answer the question.

"Yeah, but how'd he get in? Don't you need a part of the body, like the hair Sam and Dean had to drink?" she asked.

Bobby rubbed at the back of his neck, looking embarrassed, "Yeah, before I knew it was him, he offered me a beer. I drank it. Dumbest friggin' thing."

"Oh, I don't know." Dean said, giving a nervous laugh, "It wasn't that dumb."

Sam, Ty, and Bobby all looked over at him. Ty narrowed her eyes, "Dean, you didn't."

"I was thirsty?" Dean offered, knowing it was a weak excuse.

Sam glared at him, "Well, that's great, Dean. Now he can come after either one of you."

"Well, we just have to find him first." Dean countered.

"We better work fast." Bobby said, "And coffee up, because the one thing we cannot do is fall asleep. Now get me the hell out of here. I told that nurse to get me the discharge papers. What the hell is taking so long?"

Ty grinned and got back to her feet, offering to go find out. Man, she'd missed Bobby.

Unfortunately, the relief was short-lived. The next two days were a blur of chasing down every whiff of a lead. The more leads that didn't pan out and the longer Dean went without sleep, the closer Dean seemed to be to losing it.

"I mean, this Jeremy guy's not a friggin' ghost! Where the hell could he be?" Dean demanded angrily as they sped away from their latest lead with nothing to show for it.

Sam glanced over at his brother with concern.

"Dean, you sure you don't want me to drive? You seem a little…" Dean glanced sharply at him, making him pause before he concluded, "caffeinated."

"Well, thanks for the news flash, Edison!" Dean snapped.

Ty tried to stifle a snort of amusement, glad that Dean's phone rang at just that moment, distracting him. Dean fumbled the phone for a moment, swearing in frustration until he finally managed to get ahold of it. He snapped the phone open aggressively, "Tell me you got something!"

"Strip club a bust, huh?" Bobby guessed from the younger hunter's frustrated tone.

"Yeah." Dean confirmed shortly.

"Well that was our last lead."

"What the hell, Bobby?!" Dean yelled into the phone, feeling his tenuous grasp on his sanity slipping further.

"Don't yell at me, boy. I'm working my ass off here." Bobby snapped back.

Dean sighed, "Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just…I'm…I'm…I'm tired."

"Well, who ain't?" Bobby grumbled back, not particularly enjoying the past two sleepless days even if he had spent the days preceding them in a coma, "I've been calling up everyone I can think of. They've all got nothing."

"Great!" Dean exclaimed, "Well, I'm just gonna go blow my brains out now!"

He flipped his phone closed again and threw it down on the seat before slamming his fist down on the steering wheel in frustration. He could not keep going like this. If Bobby had nothing, then he'd just have to take matters into his own hands. He made an abrupt turn onto the first side road he saw, then pulled over near a wooded clearing

"What are you doing?" Sam asked in confusion as he shut off the car.

Dean slid down in his seat and rested his head against the back, making himself comfortable, even though he felt like he could probably fall asleep standing at this point, "Taking myself a long overdue nap."

"What?!" Ty exclaimed, sitting up straight in the backseat.

"Dean, Jeremy can come after you." Sam added.

"That's the idea." Dean agreed.

"Are you nuts?" Ty demanded.

"We can't find him, so let him come to me." Dean declared.

"On his own turf?" Sam pressed, "Where he's basically a god?"

"I can handle it." Dean said, feeling half asleep already.

"Not alone, you can't." Sam argued, reaching over and yanking some hairs from his brother's head.

"Ow!" Dean exclaimed, reaching up to feel the spot where Sam had pulled the hair, checking to make sure he hadn't given him a bald spot, "What are you doing?"

"Coming in with you." Sam announced.

"No, you're not." Dean denied, then turned and glanced in the backseat and Ty, "And neither are you."

"What? Why?" Ty protested, "If he's that powerful, you could use all the help you can get."

Dean opened and closed his mouth for a moment, shifting awkwardly in his seat, before he finally admitted, "'Cause I don't want you two digging around in my head."

"Too bad." Sam replied stubbornly, starting to prepare the Dream Root drink, "You've got to take at least one of us."

Dean continued to shift awkwardly, glancing back and forth between Sam and Ty.

"Urgh…fine." Dean finally grumbled, "I'm too tired to fight with you two. Sam, you're coming. Ty, you can murder me later."

And when he looked back at her again, she did indeed look like she wanted to murder him. He wasn't sure if it was a good sign or a bad one that she didn't say anything or argue with him, but simply crossed her arms and glared at him. Suddenly facing Jeremy and whatever nightmare he had to throw at him didn't seem quite so bad.

Dean relaxed back against his seat again and when he saw Sam chug the Dream Root, he closed his eyes. Watching them both from the backseat, Ty could tell that even without the Dream Root, Dean was out like a light almost immediately. Sam slumped a moment later, following quickly after him. As mad as it made her to be left behind, she supposed she could understand Dean not feeling comfortable with her being in his head. Still, she'd been as considerate and understanding as she could be these past couple days and she was sick of it. So, if the boys didn't wake up in the next hour, she was going in after them, no matter what Dean wanted.

Meanwhile, Sam woke up in the Impala, and just like the last time he'd taken the Dream Root, it first appeared as if nothing had happened. But this time he knew better. Glancing over at his brother, he saw he was still asleep.

"Dean." he called. When his brother didn't immediately stir, he hit him in the arm.

"Geez." Dean complained, starting forcefully awake, "For the love of God."

Still feeling groggy and wishing he could sleep for another week before he had to deal with some Sandman asshole, Dean glanced around, "What are we still doing here?"

"I have no idea." Sam said, but a noise outside the car drew his attention, "There's someone out there."

Both men quickly got out of the car, looking around the surrounding woods for any sign of what had made the noise. Nothing jumped out at them, so they both moved around the front of the car to continue investigating. Suddenly, music started playing, coming out of nowhere. Dean immediately recognized Since I've Been Loving You by Led Zeppelin. He turned around and a corner of the clearing lit up like someone had flipped a switch. Sitting in the glow of the new light on a blanket was Ty, uncharacteristically dressed in a blue summer dress. She had a small cooler next to her with a few beer bottles poking through the ice. There was also what looked like a fresh cherry pie in front of her and a couple plates.

"You gonna sit down?" Ty asked him with a smile.

Dean just stared, speechless. She just looked so relaxed, so carefree, so radiant. Ty sliced a piece of pie and put it on a plate that she held out to him, "Come on. Sam and Sarah finally found a babysitter, so we're meeting them for dinner later, but that doesn't mean we can't have dessert now."

Dean tore his eyes away when he felt Sam walk up next to him.

"Did she say babysitter?" he asked in surprise.

"I don't know. I've never had this dream before." Dean answered quickly, but the embarrassed look on his face made Sam think that was probably a lie, "Stop looking at me like that."

"Sorry."

"Dean," Ty piped up again, drawing his attention back to her. She smiled again, her face open and unafraid, her eyes bright with happiness, "I love you."

Before Dean could say anything, everything started to shake and the light over Ty flickered and died. When it went out, she disappeared along with the picnic and the Zeppelin music. Dean looked around, but there was no sign of her anywhere.

"Where'd she go?"

Sam was about to reply that he had no idea, when he spotted Jeremy lurking behind a tree, "Dean!"

Jeremy immediately took off and Sam gave chase after him. Dean followed, but soon lost track of them in the trees. After a moment, he stopped and turned around, because this was just weird. The woods had somehow turned into a tacky wallpaper design of a forest on a long hallway dotted with closed doors.

"Okay…" Dean said, confused.

Well, since he didn't have any other ideas, he started down the hallway. As he neared the end, the door ahead of him lurched open. That was definitely not a great sign, but Dean pressed ahead. Whatever was going on with this dream, he was clearly supposed to go inside.

As he entered the room, Dean could hear a clicking sound and he discovered that he was walking into his room at the motel. Across from the door, someone was sitting at the desk, clicking the desktop lamp on and off.

"Jeremy?" Dean ventured, but when he moved closer he found himself looking at a very familiar profile. Somehow, he was looking at an identical version of himself. The dream version stood up from the desk and turned to face him.

"Hey, Dean."

Trying not to let on how disconcerting it felt to be face-to-face with himself, Dean smirked, "Well, aren't you a handsome son of a gun."

"We need to talk." his doppelganger replied, evidently not amused.

Dean nodded to himself, circling his mirror image, "I get it. I get it. I'm my own worst nightmare, is that it? Huh? Kind of like the Superman III junkyard scene? A little mano-y-mano with myself?"

"Joke all you want, smart-ass." the dream version snapped back, "But you can't lie to me. I know the truth. I know how dead you are inside. How worthless you feel. I know how you look into a mirror...and hate what you see."

Dean swallowed hard, but tried not to let on how much the dream version's words were hitting home, "Sorry, pal. It's not gonna work. You're not real."

"Sure I am. I'm you."

"I don't think so. 'Cause see, this is my siesta. Not yours." He smiled confidently and raised a hand, "All I gotta do is snap my fingers and you go bye-bye."

To prove it, Dean snapped his fingers once, but nothing happened. It didn't make sense. This was his dream. He should be in charge, be able to dispel the monster like Bobby had. He snapped his fingers again. His smile disappeared and he tried a few more times before he gave it up. Dream Dean was giving him a smug smirk.

"'I'm not going anywhere." he said, "Neither are you."

The door slammed shut and Dean could hear the lock click. The other version of him wasn't smiling anymore, and a sawed-off shotgun had materialized in his hand.

"Like I said, we need to talk."

"Okay…" Dean drawled slowly, his eyes subtly roaming the room for some kind of weapon to even the playing field, "What do we need to talk about?"

"You, obviously." the other Dean replied, gesturing at him with the shotgun, "You know with that bounty on your head, you're practically a dead-man walking, but that's not the real problem, is it?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Dean denied.

"Didn't I say you can't lie to me? You know exactly what I'm talking about." Dream Dean snapped impatiently, "You're ready to go to Hell at the drop of a hat. Sammy, Ty, your daddy...is there anyone you won't throw yourself in front of a bus for?"

Uneasy, Dean started circling again and again, the other him did the same.

"Talk about low self-esteem." Dream Dean chuckled sardonically, "Then again, I guess it's not much of a life worth saving, now is it?"

Dean tried to ignore him, not wanting to hear anymore from this screwed-up version of himself. He muttered under his breath, "Wake up, Dean. Come on, wake up."

"I mean, after all, you've got nothing outside of hunting." Dream Dean continued.

Almost as one, they both stopped circling. Dean gave up on looking for a way out or a weapon. It was useless. Somehow, he just had to face down this Bizarro Dean and get himself to wake up.

"You're nothing. You're as mindless and obedient as an attack dog." the other Dean continued to lash out.

"That...That's not true." Dean again denied, but it was getting harder to keep up the tough front with his twisted doppelganger dragging all his inner doubts and fears out into the open.

"No?" Dream Dean challenged, "What are the things that you want? What are the things that you dream? I mean, your car? That's Dad's. Your favorite leather jacket? Dad's. Your music? Dad's. Do you even have an original thought?"

Dean scoffed like that was all bullshit, but he couldn't seem to find a reply.

"No. No, all there is is, "Watch out for Sammy. Look out for your little brother, boy!' You can still hear your Dad's voice in your head, can't you?" He motioned with the weapon to his head, "Clear as a bell."

Dean tried to shoot him his usual self-assured smirk, "Just shut up."

Dream Dean lowered the gun and stalked towards him, "I mean, think about it. All he ever did was train you, boss you around. But Sam...Sam, he doted on. Sam, he loved."

"I mean it. I'm getting angry."

"Dad knew who you really are, a good soldier and nothing else. Daddy's blunt little instrument. And now he's gone and there's no one to pull your strings, so what's the point of you anymore?" Dream Dean continued on mercilessly. His face contorted with anger and he spit out, "Fact is, your own father didn't care whether you lived or died. Why should you?"

"Son of a bitch!" Dean snapped, unable to take it anymore. The rage that had been simmering under his skin since Sam and then his dad died burst from him and he shoved the other him into the desk, "My father was an obsessed bastard!"

Dream Dean tried to get back up, but Dean kicked him back into the desk again and wrestled the shotgun away, striking him with it once before using it as leverage to push Dream Dean against the wall.

"All that crap he dumped on me, about protecting Sam! That was his crap. He's the one who couldn't protect his family. He…" Dean stepped back and swung the shotgun like a bat, hitting the other him again. The angry words continued to pour out of his mouth, and he pinned Dream Dean again to continue screaming them in his face, "He's the one who let Mom die, who wasn't there for Sam. I always was! He wasn't fair! I didn't deserve what he put on me."

Dean backed away, releasing the other him, but he wasn't done.

"And I deserve a life!" Dean finished, firing the shotgun twice into his double's chest.

The other Dean collapsed onto the desk, blood splattered everywhere and eyes closed. Dean expected to wake up if he managed to defeat his dream monster, but it didn't seem to have happened. He approached the other him warily even though he couldn't imagine how he could not be dead.

Just as Dean leaned closer, his double's eyes flew open. But rather than his own hazel eyes looking back at him, they were the soulless black eyes of a demon.

The demonic Dean sat up abruptly, his voice hard and angry, blood spatter still dripping down his face, "You can't escape me, Dean. You're gonna die. A demon is going to drag you to hell. And this? This is what you're gonna become!"

"No!" Dean denied, leaping backwards.

The demonic version of himself grinned, "Oh, yes. It's just a matter of time before Lilith gets you down in the pit and sooner or later, you'll turn into this."

"Shut up!" Dean snapped, continuing to back away.

"What's the matter, Dean? I thought you weren't afraid to die. Oh, I get it. It's that same old pathetic weakness of yours, isn't it?" Demon Dean taunted.

Dean's back hit the door. He reached behind him for the handle but it was still locked.

"You don't want to be alone, right Dean? Okay." the demon version snapped his fingers and, unlike when Dean had tried it, this time something happened. A form materialized just behind his demonic double's shoulder. It was Ty, now dressed in her usual clothes, but with the same black eyes as the other Dean. She smirked and waved her fingers at him.

"No." Dean shook his head.

"You can literally be together forever. All you've got to do is drag her down with you. That's what you're good at, right? Actually, knowing her, she'd jump right in after you if you asked. You know she would."

Demon Ty nodded in agreement, leaning into Demon Dean's side and gazing up at him adoringly. He flashed her a quick grin before turning his attention back to Dean.

"This is your future, Dean. There's no use fighting it."

Suddenly, the world flickered. For a second, Dean found himself once again face-to-face with his demonic half before there was a flash and the next thing he knew he was gasping awake in the Impala next to Sam.