After kissing Piper thoroughly before watching her walk out the door, Dean sat on the couch and put his feet on the table. He picked up the TV remote and turned it on. It was a cooking show.

"The olive oil must have a purpose here."

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"I'll take the olive oil and we'll just put a, just a touch of olive oil, okay? That's all."

"Oh."

"Can't make any mistakes with this machine. Now, for liquid, I could use water but I'm gonna use a little spinach-"

Dean flipped through channels. Stock market, cartoons, some sort of video. Then the news, with a pretty reporter speaking. "And today marks the anniversary of the crash of United Britannia Flight 424."

Dean sat up, feeling his stomach drop. "Indianapolis residents held a candlelight vigil in memory of the hundred and eight people who lost their lives…"

"No, no," he snapped, eyes not leaving the screen. "I stopped that crash."

Dean stood up and walked to the desk that held a laptop in the corner. He flipped it open and started looking up headlines.

INDIANAPOLIS SUN, DECEMBER 5TH, 2005 - FLIGHT 424 CRASHES, 108 DEAD

NINE CHILDREN COMATOSE

PARENTS MUTILATED IN BED

GIRL DROWNS IN HOTEL POOL

Dean felt nauseous. He had saved all those people. Sometimes just him and Sammy, more recently with Piper, too. He didn't understand. He went to lean his head back in frustration, and caught a glimpse of a passing figure walking down the hallway. Wishing he had his gun, he stood up to follow.

He walked into the bedroom and saw nothing. He opened the closet door, and jumped back when he saw several women, dead, hanging in the closet.

A sound behind him had him whipping around to see yet another woman, with a head wound, flicking in and out in front of him.

His chest heaving, Dean turned back around to the closet… The empty closet.

xxxxx

Dean stood in front of his father's grave. He had come for… Closure? He wasn't sure what. He contemplated his father's gravestone.

JOHN E. WINCHESTER

1954-2006

LOVING HUSBAND & FATHER

REMEMBERED FOREVER

"All of them," he started, voice ragged, "Everyone that you saved, everyone Sammy and I saved. They're all dead. And there's this woman, that's haunting me. I don't know why. I don't know what the connection is, not yet anyway. It's like my old life is, is coming after me or something. Like it, like it doesn't want me to be happy. 'Course I know what you'd say. Well, not the you that played softball, but... 'So go hunt the djinn. It put you here, it can put you back. Your happiness for all those people's lives, no contest. Right?'" Dean paused, trying to collect himself. "But why? Why is it my job to save these people? Why do I have to be some kind of hero?" He felt a tear slide down his cheek. So much for collecting himself. "What about us, huh? What, Mom's not supposed to live her life, Sammy's not supposed to get married? I'm not…" He wasn't sure he could say it. "I'm not supposed to be with Piper? Why do we have to sacrifice everything, Dad?" He stopped again, not sure what good this was doing. "It's…" There was silence, then thunder rumbled in the distance. "Yeah…"

He turned and made his way back to Baby, sure of what he had to do.

Even if he hated it.

xxxxx

Dean was rifling through his mother's china cabinet, feeling guilty. He had only a second's warning to turn around and disarm Sam. Sam's lack of training for the situation caught Dean off guard.

Dean chuckled. "That was so easy, I'm embarrassed for you."

Sam wasn't deterred. "Dean? What the hell are you doing here?"

Dean got up, and watched warily as Sam got up, too. "I was looking for a beer."

Sam looked at him incredulously "In the china cabinet?"

Sam turned on the light, and Dean shut his eyes and leaned his head back, knowing that Sam was seeing the cabinet open, and the box on the floor with the lid off.

"That's Mom's silver."

Dean sighed. "Sam."

"What, you... You broke into the house... To steal Mom's silver?"

Dean opened his eyes and looked at his younger brother. "It's not what it looks like, okay? I didn't have a choice."

Sam, starting to get angry, scoffed. "Oh, really? Why? What's so damn important you gotta steal from your own mother?"

Dean cocked an eyebrow, thinking quickly. "You want the truth?"

"Yeah, yeah I do."

Dean shrugged. "I owe somebody money."

Sam was shocked. "Who?"

"A bookie. I lost big on a game, I gotta bring him the cash tonight."

"I can't believe we're even related." Sam ran a hand through his hair. "How could you do this to Mom? Hell, how could you do this to Piper? If you knew the things she said to me when we talked about you-"

Dean couldn't take it. "Sam, I'm sorry."

Sam huffed. "Yeah."

Dean leaned down and pulled a knife from the box. "I'm sorry that we don't get along. I'm sorry that it somehow came between you and Pipes. And I wish to hell I could stay and fix it. But I gotta do this. People's lives depend on it."

Sam's eyes widened. "What are you talking about, Dean?"

"Nothing. Forget it. Just uh... Hey, tell Mom I love her. And…" He swallowed. "And Piper, tell Piper I love her, too."

Sam wasn't an idiot. Dean could tell he knew something was wrong. "Dean."

Dean turned around. "I'll see you, Sammy." He walked out the door and shut it behind him.

He walked across the street to the Impala, got in, and shut the door. He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling, thinking.

He turned the key and listed to Baby's engine start. Suddenly, the passenger door opened and Sam got in.

Dean frowned. "Get out of the car."

"I'm going with you." Sam looked resolute.

Dean shook his head. "You're just gonna slow me down."

"Tough."

"This is dangerous and you could get hurt."

"Yeah, and so could you, Dean."

Dean sighed. "Sam-"

Sam glared at him. "Look, whatever stupid thing you're about to do, you're not doing it alone. And that's that."

"I don't understand. Why you doing this?"

"Because you're still my brother."

Dean grinned. "Bitch."

Sam looked shocked. "What are you calling me a bitch for?"

"You're supposed to say jerk."

"What?"

Dean shook his head. "Never mind." He put the Impala in gear, and they drove away.

xxxxx

They drove toward the abandoned building. Dean was tense, almost sick to his stomach. He didn't want to do this. He wanted to drop Sam off, go home, and wait for Piper to get back. He wanted to surprise her with breakfast, and champagne, and then taste and touch every part of her to show her what she meant to him. He wanted to make up for all the shitty things he'd done to her, once he found out what they were.

He wanted to work at a garage. He wanted to help people by getting their cars running. He wanted to come home to Piper at night, and on one or two nights a week, go over to his mom's house. His living, breathing mom, who loved him and loved Piper. And Sam and Jess could visit, and they'd all go out to dinner. And he would propose to Piper, make her Mrs. Piper Winchester. Soon, God, so soon. And...

Dean closed his eyes to keep the thoughts from piling on further. He shined the flashlight at Sam, who had been asleep. Sam startled awake. "Where are we?"

Dean gave a forced chuckle. "Well, we're not in Kansas anymore." Sam didn't smile, and Dean rolled his eyes. "Illinois."

Sam looked warily at the warehouse. "And you think something's in there?"

Dean looked at the building, too. "I know it is."

They crept into the building, Dean holding the flashlight, Sam walking nervously behind him. "See? There's nothing here, Dean."

Dean ignored him and turned down the hallway where he had been attacked the first time, Sam sticking close. "Look, Piper has got to be worried sick about you. Come on, let's… Let's just go."

A noise echoed through the room. Dean elbowed Sam in the gut. "Sh!"

Sam had heard the sound, too. "What the hell is that?" he whispered furiously.

"Stay behind me and keep your mouth shut."

Dean looked into the room they were walking into, to see bodies hanging. The ones from the closet. "Shit."

There was a drained blood bag hanging next to one of the bodies. Sam was horrified. "What the hell?"

Dean looked around and saw the woman he had been seeing. There was a blood bag hanging next to her, too. This one was full. He was in shock. "It's her."

Sam examined the woman. She began to whimper, her eyes flicking open.

"Dean, what's going on?"

Dean grabbed him and dragged him behind a shelving unit. "Come on!"

The brothers watched as the djinn came into the room. It walked up and stood in front of the woman. She started to cry weakly. "Where's my dad? I won't tell… No, don't."

The djinn touched her face. "Sleep." Blue light glowed where it had touched the woman's face. "Sleep… Sleep."

Her head fell forward and she relaxed. The djinn leaned against her, touching her right arm breathing heavily. He reached for the blood bag, pulled out one of the tubes, and started drinking deeply.

Sam gagged. Dean could have killed him as he pushed him silently away. The djinn had heard, and when he came to look where the men had been, they were gone.

The djinn turned around warily. He began walking up the steps that Dean and Sam were hiding under. Neither took so much as a breath until they heard a door shut further away. Sam was gasping. "This is real? You're not crazy?"

Dean was ignoring him. "She didn't know where she was. She thought she was with her father." He approached the woman, hearing Sam come up behind him. "What if that's what the djinn does? It doesn't grant you a wish, it just makes you think it has."

"Look, man. That thing could come back, all right?" Sam said nervously.

Dean suddenly saw himself, pale, hung up by his wrists like the woman was, a blood bag hanging next to him. He started to hyperventilate.

"Dean, please."

"What if I'm like her?" Dean gasped. "What if I'm tied up in here some place? What if all this is in my head? I mean it could, you know, maybe it gives us some kind of supernatural acid, and then just feeds on us slow."

Sam was shaking his head. "No. Dean, that doesn't make sense. OK?"

Dean was staring at the woman, horrified. "What if that's why she keeps appearing to me? She's not a spirit. It's, it's like more and more like I'm catching flashes of reality. You know, like I'm in here somewhere, and I'm, I'm catatonic, and I'm taking all this stuff in but I, but I can't snap out of it."

Sam was trying to placate him. "Yeah, OK, look. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. I was wrong. You're not crazy but we, we, we need to get out of here. Fast."

He grabbed Dean's arm and began to pull him toward the exit. Dean yanked his arm away and backed away from Sam. Sam turned around and held his arms out to the side. "What?"

Dean was starting to get mad. "I don't think you're real."

Sam grabbed Dean by the arm again. "Dude, you feel that? You feel this? I'm real. This is not an acid trip. I'm real, and that thing is gonna come down here and kill us for real. Now, please-"

Dean pulled out the silver knife. He knew what he had to do, and he ignored the screaming pain in his chest. "There's one way to be sure."

Sam let go of him and backed up. "Woah, woah, woah. What are you doing?"

Dean was trying to gather his courage. "It's an old wives' tale. If you're about to die in a dream, you wake up."

Sam paled. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's crazy. All right?"

"Maybe."

Sam started approaching Dean slowly. "You're gonna kill yourself-"

"Or I'm gonna wake up. One or the other."

Sam held his hands up. "Okay, this isn't a dream, all right. I'm here, with you, now. And you're

about to kill yourself, Dean."

Dean shook his head. "No, I'm pretty sure. Like, 90% sure. But I'm sure enough." He turned the knife in his hands, ready to thrust it into his belly.

"Wait!" Sam bellowed.

Dean turned and saw his mother walking toward him, in the nightgown she'd been wearing when he first saw her. Piper was behind her.

Sam looked sad. "Why'd you have to keep digging? Why couldn't you have left well enough alone?" Dean looked to see that Jessica had joined them. "You were happy."

His mother stood in front of him. "Put the knife down, honey."

Dean felt tears start to gather in his eyes. "You're not real. None of it is."

"It doesn't matter. It's still better than anything you had."

"What?"

"It's everything you want. We're a family again. Let's go home."

Dean shook his head. "I'll die." His voice broke. "The djinn'll... Drain the life out of me in a couple of days."

Mary was shaking her head in return. "But in here, with us, it'll feel like years. Like a lifetime."

Dean looked at Sam, who nodded. "I promise," Mary said as she took his chin in her hand, forcing him to look down at her. "No more pain. Or fear. Just love and comfort. And safety. Dean, stay with us." She was stroking his cheek, and he leaned into her hand. "Get some rest."

"You don't have to worry about Sam anymore." Dean looked over to Jess. "You get to watch him live a full life."

Mary stepped away, and Piper walked to him. She took his face into her hands, pressing her lips against his. He couldn't help himself, he kissed her back until she pulled away. "We can have a future together." Her beautiful hazel eyes were begging him. "Have our own family. I love you, Dean. Please."

Sam walked up behind her. "Why is it our job to save everyone? Haven't we done enough? I'm begging you. Give me the knife."

Dean looked at his mother, Sam, and Jess, saving Piper for last. He memorized her face, and released the knife with one hand. He placed it behind her head and pulled her in for another deep, long kiss. He then looked up at his family with tears in his eyes. He released Piper and backed away, making eye contact with Sam. He whispered, "I'm sorry," and drove the knife into himself.

Piper and Sam rushed to him, calling his name. "Dean! Dean!"

Piper was stroking his face, panic on hers. He realized that he was hanging from his wrists, the blood bag hanging next to him.

"Oh, God." Piper was motioning to Sam to pull the tube out of Dean's throat. "Come on, Dean, wake up, come on, wake up, God dammit!"

Dean managed to make his gaze focus on Piper. She smiled, tearing up. "Hey, hey, oh, thank God."

"Ah, Auntie Em. There's no place like home."

Sam chuckled. "Thank God. I thought we lost you for a second." He pulled the tube out of Dean's neck.

Speaking was taking up a lot of energy. "You almost did."

"Oh, God." Piper's chest was heaving as she moved to support the majority of Dean's weight.

"Let's get him down, Sam."

Sam reached up to start cutting through the rope. Dean turned to see two bright blue eyes next to him. "Sam!"

Piper whipped her head around as the djinn knocked the knife out of Sam's hands. Dean started to pull at the ropes Sam had started to cut through, but paused as Piper grabbed the knife and slammed it through the djinn's back. Her breathing was ragged and the tears spilled down her cheeks as she hurried back to lift Dean as Sam finished cutting through his ropes.

When he was done, Sam took Dean's weight so Piper could check the girl's pulse.

"She's alive!" She pulled the tube out of her neck and held her hand out for the knife from Sam. When he handed it to her, she wrapped her arm around the other girl's waist and cut the ropes with a few short jerks. The girl fell onto Piper, her arms wrapped around the standing woman's neck. "I gotcha," Piper murmured soothingly as she tucked the knife into her back pocket. "I gotcha, we're gonna get you out of here, okay?"

xxxxx

Piper was sitting on a cot in the motel room they had gotten for the night. She insisted the brothers have the beds, and had ordered a cot without brooking any argument. Dean was sitting on the edge of one of the beds, looking away from her. He hadn't looked at her since he had woken up in the djinn's hideout.

He had told them about the perfect life he had seen. She hadn't been in it, which had hurt. When Sam asked about her, Dean had shrugged and without looking at her said, "Probably because in a perfect life, you wouldn't be around, Pipes. You'd be off somewhere, living normal. Just like us."

Sam was on the phone with the hospital. "OK, uh, thank you so much for the update. OK, bye."

He hung up and looked at both of them. "That was the hospital. Girl's been stabilized. Good chance she's gonna pull through."

Dean nodded. "That's good."

"Yeah." Sam paused and looked at Piper, who looked at the floor. "How 'bout you? You all right?"

Dean cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm all right. You should have seen it, Sam. Our lives. You were such a wussy."

Sam laughed. "So we didn't get along then, huh?"

Dean shook his head. "Nah."

"I thought it was supposed to be a perfect fantasy," Piper said quietly.

Dean shook his head, still not looking at her. "It wasn't. It was just a wish. I wished... For Mom to live. That Mom never died, we never went hunting and you and me, Sammy, we just never uh... You know."

Sam gave up. "Yeah. Well, I'm glad we do. And I'm glad you dug yourself out, Dean. Most people wouldn't've had the strength, would have just stayed."

Dean scoffed. "Yeah... Lucky me. I gotta tell you though, man. You know, you had Jess. Mom was gonna have grandkids, I had… Uh, you know, you guys."

Piper felt the words stab into her. You're being selfish, just be glad he's alive, she thought to herself bitterly. She stood up, grabbed her bag, and walked into the bathroom. It had been a long day, she wanted a shower and her cot.

She heard Sam say quietly, "Yeah, but... Dean... It wasn't real."

"I know. But I wanted to stay. I wanted to stay so bad. I mean, ever since Dad... all I, all I can think about is how much this job's cost us." There was a pause. "We've lost so much. We've... sacrificed so much."

"But people are alive because of you." Dean scoffed. "It's worth it, Dean. It is. It's not fair, and… You know, it hurts like hell, but… It's worth it."

Piper shut the door and leaned against it, closing her eyes.

xxxxx

A/N: Hi, everyone! Here's my notes:

I own only Piper Finley, the original character. I don't own Supernatural, or the characters (heartbroken).

Reviews and comments give me the warm fuzzies and keep me going.

**Special thanks to DaphneSyltherinWinchester for the favorite!

If there are any mistakes in continuity, canon, or geography, blame me.