Love You to Death

Chapter Two: What Dreams May Come

He was running, running...had to get away. Now, NOW! Have to run. Faster. Faster...can't stop. Then...

It's here. They're here. Safe now, in their arms...safe. Content. Sleep now, rest. They're here.

Sam jerked awake, careful not to move lest he disturb Dean. The moon was high, its silvery light shining through the window. Turning his head, he saw Dean sprawled in the other bed, arms and legs tangled in the blankets as if his sleep had been as restless as Sam's.

A slight flicker of glowing movement in the corner caught his eye, but when he looked it was gone. He was about to slip out of bed to investigate when something large and furry pounced onto his bed.

"YEEEAARRGH!"

Dean bolted upright, gun in hand as he slapped the light switch.

Light flooded the room and they squinted at the intruder. A huge black cat sat on Sam's legs and glared indignantly at them before hopping off the bed, over to the window, and launching itself outside onto the deck, tail high and regal.

"What the...?"

"Must have been a neighborhood cat or something," Dean yawned as he turned over and went back to sleep.

oooOOOooo

The next morning Sam forced himself out of bed. The fatigue seemed to have moved into his bones, and it was a fight just to walk to the bathroom and splash cold water on his face. That didn't work, so he decided to take a cold shower.He was just drying himself off, shivering, when Dean pounded on the door.

"What?" Sam yelled, angrily.

"Get your ass in gear, Sammy! We've got a meeting in half an hour."

Realizing that Dean had done more research than he thought, including setting up interviews, Sam hurried to dress.

As he wolfed down donuts and coffee in the car on the way to the meeting, Dean told Sam everything he had found out the previous night. There had been unexplained deaths in the town of Haven's Rest for years, but never connected to any one particular place or cause. There was a total of 68 men and 3 women who had died in the past 100 years, but the townsfolk hadn't connected them. Dean had. They had mostly been listed as natural causes, except for the few that died in car accidents. The connecting factor was that they had all died in their sleep (the car accidents were also attributed to the drivers falling asleep at the wheel) and they had been complaining of weariness for weeks prior to their deaths. The deaths were also increasing by a factor of 3-4 times the original rate. The fact that worried Dean, however, was that Sam wasn't sleeping well, and he was afraid his brother might be one of the next victims.

"So what, we have some sort of sleep demon, or something?" Sam asked.

"I don't know for sure, dad's journal doesn't give any clues, so have to work with what we've got."

"Well, hell. Where are we supposed to start? We don't even have a physical place or person to start with, I mean, these deaths have happened all over town, and to people who have nothing in common but that they live here. It's not like we can just zero in on one person and exorcise them." Sam sounded frustrated.

"Which is why we're starting with the Sheriff." Dean said.

"Oh, goody. Who are we now? Agents Dum-Dum and Hollowpoint?"

"Smart ass."

"Better than a dumb ass."

"Yeah, but still an ass."

Sam gave up. He'd never win.

oooOOOooo

"Run...RUN! You've got to get away from the...

Safe now. You're safe, Sam. We've got you. We won't let anything happen to you. Safe...safe...safe...

Sam blinked awake. He was drifting off to sleep at odd moments now. The first time had been in the car after a fruitless interview with the Sheriff, which had yielded them no clues. The next had been the following day while he was waiting for Dean to pay the bill at the Moe's Diner. This was the third time in as many days that he had fallen asleep unexpectedly.

Man, if Dean finds out he'll accuse me of being narcoleptic, Sam thought.

At that thought, the big black cat that had startled them on their first night jumped onto the windowsill. The Winchesters had discovered from the hostess that his name was Salem, and it was one of the two that claimed the B&B as their home, the other cat being Black Magic. Salem studied Sam for a moment, casually licked his paw, and jumped back down onto the deck, disappearing from sight.

Shaking off his weariness, Sam forced himself to study the death certificates again. They had copies from the local library of all the information available on the deaths, and were attempting to find some sort of connection. Sam frowned. Something was niggling at the back of his head, something he knew would make all of this make sense, but he just couldn't reach it. After three days of searching they usually had at least a name or place, something. This hunt was elusive and frustrating.

"Dude, you frown any harder and it'll freeze that way,"

Sam jumped at Dean's sudden appearance in the doorway. He hadn't heard his brother coming into the suite, that worried Sam. His guard was slipping.

"There's a connection here, I can feel it. I just can't find it," Sam growled and smacked the papers, dissappointed with himself.

"Take a break then, I'll take over," Dean said, frowning internally at Sam's appearance. His hair was more ruffled than before, hanging in his eyes and hiding them from Dean's penetrating gaze.

Sam sighed and stood up as Dean took his place at the table strewn with papers. He stretched and felt his back 'pop', then wandered into the bedroom where he turned on the TV and laid down on the bed.

oooOOOooo

The fear was back, and he was off running again. Running, running, running so hard, so fast, his breath came out in short gasps. He couldn't keep running...no! Keep going, have to, have to, can't stop...

Then they were there, their warm presence, holding him, protecting him. They would save him. He pressed further into their embrace and they responded, holding him closer, their hands clasping his body to theirs.

oooOOOooo

A/N: Can anyone figure out what kind of baddie is coming after the brothers? Cookies to those who can!