1When they arrived at the room Dean was relieved to see that Sam was still asleep, but that immediately changed as he saw Sam start to thrash in his sleep. He was having a horrible nightmare by the looks of it, if not a vision.

"SAMMY!" Dean yelled.

"He can't hear you, remember?" Azra said.

Dean started to run over to wake Sam but stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he remembered his last attempt to wake him.

"What are you waiting for Dean! Wake your brother up!" Azra ordered him.

"But what if I get sucked into his dream again?" Dean asked.

"You will, but it's the only way Dean. I'll be right here in case anything happens. Death isn't my only trick," Azra assured him.

Dean felt like he could trust her for the moment at least and put his hand on Sam. He felt the room start to spin fell to the floor again.

When he woke up he knew exactly where he was this time. Sam was reliving the night of the crash. Dean was pinned to the wall, and he was bleeding; again. He saw Sam struggling against the invisible force that held him to the wall. Dean felt no pain this time, he wasn't really bleeding. this was a dream, but Sam believed that his brother was dying and that was enough.

"Sammy!" Dean tried to yell out, but it only came as a whisper. This was Sam's nightmare and whether Sam realized it or not, he made the rules.

Sam heard his brother cry out. His brother had lost so much blood; he knew this couldn't last long. Sam's mind was on fire as he struggled against the invisible force that the demon had over him. He heard his brother say his name again and that was enough. Dean was dying and there was nothing that Sam could do about it but watch. Sam watched as Dean's head started to drop to his chest and he heard his name one last time, Dean was trying to tell him something but he was too weak, "Sammy-,"

"NOO!" Sam yelled as he closed his eyes as tightly as he could. Suddenly he heard a shot and something drop. Sam was released from the wall.

Dean looked on in amazement at what he saw- Sam had fired the gun at the back of the demon's skull, just like Max.

Dean fell to the floor and before he could get up Sam was next to him. Dean looked and saw how much more severely he was beaten. What had happened differently before he got there? Sam also had a massive headache that he was doing a poor job at hiding, probably from the telekinesis.

"Dean! God you've lost a lot of blood," Sam said.

"I'm fine Sammy," Dean replied.

"No you're not so quit trying to hide it jerk," Sam said.

"Really Sam, you have to listen to me," Dean ordered, "You're having another nightmare and I'm here to wake you up, bitch."

A look of recognition crossed Sam's face and his expression changed to a mix of worry and relief.

"Dean!" Sam said as he held his brother, "Oh God Dean, I'm so worried about you, you're the one who needs to-" Sam was cut off as he woke up with a gasp. Sam turned to look at his brother's unconscious body and continued his sentence, "-wake up."

Sam's headache carried over from the nightmare intensified. He squinted his eyes and inhaled sharply and shielded his eyes from the light.

"Ah, Dean!" Sam said.

Sam could feel his brother in the room, but he could also feel a stronger, more intense force that he couldn't recognize. He grabbed blindly some pain killers out of his bag and felt his way to the bathroom to get some water. He swallowed the cold water too fast and the headache that followed from the cold was enough to knock him back into the hard chair. "Great," he said out loud to himself, "I can tell you seven ways to get rid of a spirit without blinking, I can tell you anything about pre-law, hell, I can even predict the future sometimes, but can I see an Ice-Cream-Headache coming? No, not yet. I doubt even Missouri can," he laughed a little at that.

Dean got up off of the floor, careful to avoid contact with the salt.

"Glad to see you're finally awake sleeping beauty!" Azra laughed.

"Where's love's first kiss?" Dean smirked.

"Oh you're funny," Azra laughed, "And you and I both know it would be far from your first."

"Yeah well 'the kiss of death' doesn't really appeal to me right now anyways," Dean smiled.

Azra broke up laughing at that statement. Dean looked on puzzled, it wasn't that funny.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Oh nothing, it's just," she took a pause laughing, "I haven't done it that way in years, I'll have to remember that."

"THAT'S REAL?" Dean stepped back in amazement and surprise.

"Well of course it is Dean, I gotta have a little fun sometimes," Azra laughed.

Dean let out an uncomfortable laugh and sighed as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Oh come on, you can't tell me your afraid to die?" Azra said.

"Well yeah, I'm not exactly looking forward to it if you haven't noticed," Dean said uncomfortably.

"That's the one thing that confuses me about people," Azra smiled.

"Why?" Dean asked, "I thought you'd understand more than anyone."

"It's because I understand death so completely, that's why I don't get it," Azra stated.

"Huh?" Dean was lost.

"Let me explain, you see Death is just another part of life. You're born, you live your life and you see people die before it's your turn. Dean, what do you think happens when you die?" Azra asked.

"Well," Dean rubbed the back of his head, "I guess I haven't really thought about it. I guess if you're good you go to heaven or what not and if you're bad..."

Azra laughed a little, "What, you go to hell?"

"Well yeah, isn't that the general idea?" Dean asked.

"Yes and no. Let me enlighten you a little. Hell was created by God for demons and other evil things. No human soul goes to hell, but not every soul goes to heaven. Most go to heaven right away though, contrary to popular belief, there is good in EVERY person," Azra said.

"Then what happens to the rest, how does God deal out 'retribution'?" Dean asked.

Azra laughed a little, "Dean what do you think Karma does all day, just sit on her hands and watch infomercials on TV.? That's her whole purpose. You'd like her; she has your sense of humor. I'll have to introduce you two one day,."

"Well that explains a lot," Dean muttered under his breath to himself which made Azra laugh even harder.

"As for your other question, once in a while we get a soul that is so twisted that we can't let it in right away. Like the man you met, Bender I think his name was. The only way I can explain it is it's almost like a time out that they go into. They watch their lives play over and over until they start to feel remorse and change their actions. After a while, the part of them that is wicked melts away and then we let them through, do you understand? I know it's a lot and that's the only way that I can think to explain it," Azra finally finished.

"Yeah I guess," Dean grunted, not entirely satisfied that the Benders were in "time out."

"Good, look, I'm sorry, I have business somewhere else. I have to go but I'll be back soon," Azra said.

A look of horror crossed Dean's face.

"No not like that Dean. God when are you going to stop being so paranoid about me. If that was my mission, you wouldn't be standing here," Azra said as she faded away. "Oh, by the way," Azra's voice called out and scared Dean enough to make him jump, "Stay with your brother, he needs to feel you nearby. Plus it will make it easier for me to find you later."

Dean gulped, he still wasn't sure he liked the idea of death coming back to find him, but he did agree that Sam needed him close. So he did as she said.

Suddenly Sam felt the other presence disappear his headache was long gone, but he had to wonder what else it was that he felt. He sat by Dean's bed. He had no more to say, he had already made Dean every promise and threat that he could think of, all that was left was to wait.

And he did.

Dean couldn't help but feel guilty for causing Sam this much grief and stress. He walked over to where Sam was seated and began to speak.

"Sam?" Dean asked. No response came from his brother, what else could he expect? So he did the only thing he knew would reach Sam. Dean knelt down next to his brother.

Sam felt a hand on his shoulder and another over his hand and looked in that direction.

Dean was glad to see Sam glance in his direction, but he knew that Sam couldn't see him; he had almost the same look as when he was having a vision while he was awake.

"Sammy, look, I know you can't see me or hear me," Dean started, "But I know you feel that, and don't pretend that you don't." Dean rubbed Sam's hand a little to keep his attention.

"I know you think that you're to blame, but your not. This was an accident Sammy. You need to know that I'm fine, and I'll get back into my body and wake up for you as soon as I can get that figured out," Dean said.

Dean thought he saw a tear start to form in Sam's eye, but he turned away too quickly for him to be sure.

"Dean..." Sam said softly as he looked at his brother's face. He felt something wet slide down his cheek, but he didn't care.

Dean had moved to the unoccupied chair after a few minutes, Sam couldn't handle Dean touching him for too long. He had watched him as Sam finally drifted back to sleep, hopefully he would get some rest before the next nightmare hit. Dean sat there and watched as Sam slept peacefully until he heard his name.

"Dean, I'm back," Azra's voice said before she had totally reappeared.

"What, you have a meeting with Fate or something?" Dean said mockingly.

"Or something," Azra said somewhat darkly, "By the way, Fate's a jerk, we went out," Azra said jokingly.

"Seriously?" Dean said as he raised an eyebrow.

"No, just teasing you," Azra laughed, "But he is really a jerk, he's so full of himself. I prefer Free Will."

"Yeah, I think I do too," Dean said.

"So should we get down to business?" Azra asked.

"Business?" Dean asked confused.

"Yes Dean, you don't think that I'm hanging around you just for your good looks do you?" Azra smiled.

"Well," Dean lowered his voice and smiled, "I can be quite charming."

"I'm not sure 'charming' is the correct term for you Dean," Azra teased.

Dean's expression changed as his ego was deflated.

"Ouch! That one hurt," he said with smile as he put his hand over his heart.

"I knew I kept you around for a good reason, you're funny. I've got to tell you though, I was tempted when you were electrocuted a few months back, but then you made funny little remark about Snuggle and I thought that I'd let you stick around," Azra laughed.

But Dean wasn't laughing. He looked at her with one of the saddest expressions she'd seen in a long time.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" she quickly apologized, "I didn't realize-,"

"No it's fine!" Dean said sharply.

"Dean, I know, it's scary to realize that you won't live forever. That's something that you had to learn to soon, and for that I'm sorry." Azra said.

When Dean didn't say anything she added, "Dean, I needed you to live. I could have taken you, but I didn't. Who do you think influenced Roy to pick you out of all of those people to heal? In fact, do you remember when you were hunting that reaper?" Azra asked.

"Yeah," Dean said, how could he forget?

"It was headed right for you, it would have taken you if I hadn't have stepped in. Who do you think guided Sam out of the cellar that night?" Azra stated. "And there have been plenty of other times too Dean, I think you know what I'm talking about," She added with a smile.

"The asylum!" Dean asked.

"Yes Dean, I was there with you. Since when do you carry around a useless weapon?" she said.

Dean had counted his lucky stars that the gun didn't fire when Sam pulled the trigger. But then again, he didn't think that Sam would.

Azra came up behind Dean a smacked the back of his head, "By the way that reminds me... WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING BACK THERE GIVING HIM A LOADED GUN? YOU KNEW HE WASN'T IN HIS RIGHT MIND! Some days I swear you have a death wish or something Dean. You're lucky that I let you off with just the rock salt, I should let Sam shoot you in the foot or something, maybe that will knock some sense into you!"

"Oww," Dean said rubbing the back of his head but then he started to nod his head in agreement, "Yeah, that was pretty stupid."

After he paused for a moment he asked, "So is that why the scarecrow didn't take us?"

"No Dean, I have a life outside of you. That was luck, so don't get careless thinking that I'll come and save your ass every time you get into trouble," Azra said plainly.

"Got it," Dean said, "So what is this business?"

"Well, I have to work through you Dean, so I'll let you choose who should we start with, John or 'Sammy' over there?" Azra asked.

"YOU'RE NOT TAKING THEM!" Dean said protectively as he rose to his feet.

"And I have no intention to Dean, it's more like... a friendly chat I guess." Azra smiled.

Dean didn't want to wake his brother, he was still sleeping peacefully, and that happened so rarely.

"Dad first," Dean said.

"Right, let's go then," she said as she started to leave.

John's room wasn't very far from his and John was sleeping when they arrived. Dean noticed as soon as the walked in, the T.V. screen that was on went static.

"Do we have to wake him?" Dean asked.

"No, I need him asleep, I work best in people's subconscious," Azra explained. "Again, people see death coming and they start to panic."

"Right, so what do we do?" Dean asked.

"First, go to the opposite side of the bed," Azra ordered.

As soon as this was done she took Dean's hand and touched John's cheek with the other. "As soon as your ready to start put your hand on him Dean," she said. Dean took a deep breath and after a moment, he did as he was told.

The room suddenly seemed like it was spinning but it wasn't the dizzy effect that Dean was used to and he remained standing as they entered John's dream

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TBC... Chapter 3 out of 4. We'll folks, it looks like we're almost done, it's really great to read all of your wonderful comments. I never thought that my first fic would be recieved this well and I really appreciate everyone's kind words and everyone being patient for the chapters. I wont be evil much longer, the soonest I'll post Ch. 4 is tonight, I'll post it tomorrow at the latest. But tell me what you think, I love honest opinions. Your comments make me a better writer. When I was writing this, I had a different plot line in mind but this is what came out as I was typing and I like it better. I hope you've enjoyed the ride so far. You all rock my salt!