Author's Note: Hi! First I'd like to thank CandyCakes and thoughtyouknewr for reviewing. THANKS! It's nice to know people are reading and enjoying this. And speaking of enjoying... hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Two: Confusion

At first, as consciousness began to take hold of him, everything felt very familiar to Dean. After all, waking up in pain was something he was quite used to. His head was pounding in time with his heartbeat and he could feel the tackiness of dried blood on his forehead and down the right side of his face. He also felt a slight burning sensation in his right hand. All together it wasn't the worst condition he'd ever woken up in, but the headache made the thought of getting up damn unappealing. So, instead, Dean groaned and rolled over, burying his face in the soft pillows. And that was his first clue that something was wrong. The pillow was far too comfortable and smelled way too good for him to be in that crappy-assed no-tell motel that he and Sam were staying at. And come to think of it, he could feel the warmth of the sun on his body when he knew that there weren't any windows in their room. And since he'd been hunting an old dead hag the previous night, he was pretty sure he hadn't gotten lucky with some hot chick who'd taken him home. So where the hell was he?

Dean opened his eyes and rolled over into a sitting position. All traces of sleep were gone as he took in his surroundings, ready for a fight if it were to come to that. He sat on a king sized bed on top of a light blue comforter. Matching pillows (one now blood stained) were arranged by the cherry-wood headboard. The head of the large bed was up against the wall and positioned in what seemed to be the exact middle of that wall. Also in the room was a dresser and two nightstands that matched the bed-frame, a clothes hamper, a desk with a lamp, laptop computer and an office chair, and a sliding closet door with a full length mirror. The room itself was painted a soft blue. And there was a huge window that took up more than half of the wall to the left of the bed. Dark blue drapes (the kind meant to block out light) were pulled open letting the morning sun shine into the room. The room was actually rather nice. Dean was certain he'd never seen it before in his life.

The hunter stood and walked to the window. Looking out, he realized that he was on the second story of a two-story house in a middle-class type of neighborhood. The lawn was well cared for and encircled by a picket fence (wood-stained… not white) and a cement path led to a nicely-detailed front gate. A front gate… Dean looked down at the infected-looking puncture wound in his right hand as the memory of what happened at a different, more run-down gate came back to him.

"Damned skanky bitch!" Dean cursed under his breath. He wasn't sure what was going on, but since her slutty face was the last thing he'd seen, he was positive that she had something to do with it. But if she had kidnapped him, she'd done a piss-poor job of patting him down. He could feel the pistol still tucked into the back of his pants (along with the pistol shaped bruise from sleeping on it), the knife hidden in his boot, and the cell phone in his front pocket. He was just about to pull it out to call Sam when the door behind him swung open.

"Dean, are you awake yet? I thought I heard you…" Dean spun around to face Sam, the younger Winchester's face going pale as he took in his brother's appearance. "Holy crap, Dean! What happened to your head?"

"Sam!" Dean breathed a sigh of relief. "Damn am I glad you're here!"

"Why wouldn't I be? And again, how did you injure your head?"

"Dude, it's from Grandma Ghost-bitch's wrestling match. Where are we? And why are you dressed in those pansy-assed clothes?"

Sam looked down at his charcoal-gray suit, purple button down shirt, gray and purple striped tie, and well-shined shoes. "What's wrong with my outfit? I'm dressed for work."

"We got another job?" Dean was getting more confused by the minute. And judging by the look on his brother's face, he wasn't the only one.

"I've got work. Last I knew, you were still on leave." He looked suspiciously at Dean. "Are you feeling okay? Maybe you should go to the hospital and get that looked at." He pointed at Dean's head injury.

"I'm fine. I just… what the hell's going on?"

"Did you sleep in your clothes again last night?" Sam sighed. "Look, I know you're having a rough time. I can't even imagine what you're going through, but you need to take better care of yourself. You haven't been eating or sleeping well enough and I still think you should talk to someone. You know, a professional. And both Mom and Dad agree."

"Mom and Dad? Dude, what are you even talking about?"

"I spoke with them last night after everyone went to bed. They're concerned about you too."

"Uh, Sam, either my head injury is far worse than I thought and I'm hallucinating all this, or you got conked on the head last night too. Because there's no way you spoke with our parents last night. Not unless…" Dean cut off mid-sentence. He suddenly remembered his experience with the djinn all those years ago and the time, much more recently, that him and Sam had ended up in that bizarro-world where their lives were a television show. And this felt just like those. So either he was insane, was dreaming while being fed upon, or was in an alternate universe. And what did it say about his life that he could pretty much dismiss the first (and only normal) one of those options. And since he was pretty sure there weren't any demons with the powers of the djinn that only left one possibility. And if he was stuck in a different dimension, he should probably play along at least for while. "I mean, yeah, uh, are they doing okay?"

"They're fine. But concerned about you."

"Right, because I've been having a hard time ever since… that thing…" Dean winced knowing he sounded like an idiot, but hoping to trick Sam out of more information.

"I know you miss her, bro. We all do. But Melissa wouldn't want this for you."

"No, of course not." Dean agreed. "You're right. I'll try to take better care of myself. But, uh… Melissa, she just, you know, meant a lot to me." The elder brother figured that 'Melissa' must have been a girlfriend. One that had lived with him if the well-decorated room had anything to say about it.

"I know she did, dude. And look, I didn't mean what I said last night. You didn't have to take the ring off to prove you could get over her."

Okay, not just a girlfriend, then. This alternate Dean must have recently lost his wife. But still… a house, a marriage, a job, living parents, and what seemed like a decent relationship with his little brother. Alternate Dean's life didn't seem too bad.

"No, you're right Sam. I just needed some time."

"And I'll give you all the time you need. That's why Jess and I moved in with you. To help out any way we can, so you can take some time to get yourself back together."

Jess? Dean glanced down at Sam's left hand and saw a gold band. So, alternate Sam had a pretty sweet life as well.

"Look, Dean, get yourself cleaned up and let me know if you need a doctor to look at that head wound. I can call the office and tell them I'm gonna be late if you need stitches. But we gotta do it fast, because Jess will be back with the kids soon. She took them to go get some more diapers from the store but that was half an hour ago and the trip doesn't take that long."

"Kids?" Dean tried to picture Sam as a father.

"Yeah, they went with her so you could get some sleep. But you know your little girl will get upset if she sees that Daddy has a booboo."

Daddy? Well, it looked like they weren't Sam's kids after all.

...

...supernatural...supernatural...supernatural...supernatural...supernatural...supernatural...supernatural...

...

Sam sat watching his brother sleep. He wished that Dean would wake up soon. Sam needed to know that he was okay. He needed to know what had happened that had led to his older brother's unconscious state. He never should have let Dean go out ahead of him the previous night.

When he'd finally finished packing up their stuff and gotten out the door, he'd seen the other hunter lying crumpled on the ground near the front gate. Sam had run to him, concerned that the head injury had been far worse than it had looked. But when he'd reached his brother and turned him over, he was shocked to see no mark on him. He was certain that Dean's head had been bleeding, but there wasn't even a bump where he'd been hit. And that wasn't the only strange thing. Dean's over-shirt was missing as were his boots and socks. And he appeared to be weaponless. After several failed attempts to wake the other man, Sam had dragged him to the Impala and got him into the back, careful of his head just in case there was some kind of unseen damage. He searched his brother's pockets for the keys, but they weren't there. They weren't on the ground and Sam knew for a fact that they hadn't gotten left behind in the house. So, after hotwiring the car, he drove back to their motel and dragged the still unwaking body into their room and settled him on the bed.

He'd kept vigil over his older brother all night, growing more worried as the hours passed. He was almost ready to call Bobby when Dean's eyes blinked rapidly a couple of times before opening completely.

"Dean? You okay, man? What happened?"

"Sam?" the other man looked around, confusion written all over his features. "Dude, where are we?"

"I dragged your sorry ass back to the motel last night. You've been out for eight hours, completely unresponsive. You had me worried. So what happened to you?"

"Motel? What motel? And what are you talking about? Nothing happened last night. I went to bed after you acted like a complete ass to me and then I woke up here. So why don't you fill in the blanks. And where are the kids? Are they okay?"

"Uh, there are no kids here, Dean. And what do you mean I acted like an ass to you? Dude, you were the one that got all pissy and left me with the clean up. And you didn't go to bed, you passed out near the front gate."

"I didn't even go outside! And by the way, this place is way below your usual hotel standards. And why do you have a motel room anyway? Dude, you're not cheating on Jess are you? 'Cause I will so kick your ass if you do."

"Jess? What the hell are you talking about, Dean?"

"Jess. You know… your wife. Where is she? Is she watching the kids?"

"Dude you're not making any sense! What kids are you talking about?"

"My kids!" Dean screamed back at him.

Sam stared at him, trying to see if he was playing some kind of massively dumb prank. But he looked completely serious and completely freaked out. Something was definitely wrong and arguing more wasn't going to accomplish anything.

"Okay, Dean, calm down. How are you feeling? Does your head hurt? Are you feeling dizzy or disoriented?"

"Right now I'm just pissed with a side order of confusion. What's going on? Why are we here? If this is a lame attempt to get me to open up and talk about my feelings, my answer is still no. I appreciate your concern, but I'm not ready to talk just yet. I'll admit I haven't been eating much, and I still don't sleep well, but I'm holding it together, dude. I think I'm doing pretty damn good. I mean, jeez Sam, Missy hasn't even been dead three months yet, and you expect me to just be okay? Let me tell you, you don't get over a dead wife that easily."

Wife? Sam's attention immediately went to something his eyes had seen but his brain hadn't registered. A gold band on his brother's left hand. Then things started to click into place. This wasn't his older brother at all.

Author's Note part two: I know that not much happened, but I had to set the stage for things to come, and hopefully it was still enjoyable. And let me know if I need to specify which sections are our universe and which are AU as each chapter will have a little of both. Please review and let me know what you all think.