"No. Not really," muttered Sam, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.
"Was it another Technicolor demon vision by YED, Inc.?"
"Yes . . . no . . . I dunno. It was—different somehow."
"How?"
Sam shook his head. "I dunno. I can't explain it. It just felt different."
"And it involves me."
"Yeah."
"So what was I doing—killing some badass evil sonuvabitch?"
"Um—no."
Dean was surprised to see his brother's cheeks turn a little red. "So what was I doing?"
"You . . . um . . . you were . . . naked. Completely naked. And there were these two women."
"Sammy," crowed Dean, "that's not a nightmare vision, that's a dream come true!"
"No. No. You . . . you were tied down. Tied down to some kind of table or something."
"Tied to a table?" Dean scrunched his eyes and momentarily leered at the ceiling. "A little kinky, but hey . . ." He shrugged.
"Dean, you don't understand—there was blood. You were bloody. And there was something carved on your chest—a word or a . . . a . . ."
"So—more than a little kinky," the other man quipped, ignoring the slight chill at the back of his neck.
"Dude—can you like be serious for a min—"
"Sam, look, I'm fine. You saw for yourself."
"But . . ."
"We're not even here on a hunt, remember?"
"I know. But . . ."
"C'mon, Sam! We agreed we'd take one day—one day--just to have fun. And since I always wanted to try fishing and see what it was like, we're here at Pine Lake to fish. Tomorrow. Early." Dean nudged the mattress with his foot. "So get some sleep."
"Okay. All right, fine." Sam flopped back on the bed and covered his eyes with his left arm. "I'll see you in the morning," he mumbled.
Before crawling back in bed and extinguishing the light, Dean decided he needed a drink of water. He ambled lazily to the bathroom and filled a glass, downing the cool liquid in a few gulps.
On his way back to his own bed, Dean paused at the foot of Sam's and let his brother's earlier words echo briefly in his mind. With a weary grunt, he determinedly turned his mind to fishing and walked to his own bed. After snapping off the light sitting on the small table separating their beds, he settled in and closed his eyes.
In the other bed, Sam Winchester gradually sank into a deep and, thankfully, dreamless sleep. Dean Winchester wasn't quite so lucky.
TBC . . .