Okay, here is the usual disclaimer: I do not own supernatural, nor any character created by the show, nor some of the ones in this story 'cause I stole them from almost 'real' life (my friends). Nor am I making any money from this unless my friends try and bribe me not to put it up, but I will anyway, so alas no money.
A/N: This is what I wanted to do all summer as I HATED the idea of Dean suffering in Hell and Sam, suffering without Dean.
Beta'd: by morning sunlight and griffen-girl02 aka Ellen
Good writing
Serenity for all
Sincerely Rae Artemis
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Escaping Into Reality
Rae lay slumped over her desk, the circles under her eyes standing out in stark contrast against her pale skin, lit up by the feeble computer screen, mere centimetres from her head. A pile of paper shifted with her every breath, and a pool of drool was collecting under her chin.
The door to her bedroom opened a crack and admitted two stealthy shadows, who were familiar enough with Rae's place to not trip over the furniture as they tiptoed in.
"Dude, she's drooling," The shorter of the two shadows murmured, leaning over to stare at Rae's unconscious face, while the other shadow looked through the stack of paper. "And she's still wearing her glasses, they're all crooked," Dean grinned manically as he looked down on her.
"Be quiet Dean, she might hear you," Sam whispered harshly; as he delicately extricated the laptop from Rae's tangled arms, before carefully retracing his steps back out the door.
He sat in Rae's favourite green chair, opening up her most recent emails and word documents. Sam felt like he was prying but the note Rae had sent him was to come and check her research immediately. Going through her handwritten research, which had 'An escape into reality' at the top in Rae's hand Sam frowned as he noticed that there were other contributors on the page, some of which seemed familiar. He flicked on the lamp beside him, trying to get a better look at the strangely familiar scrawl, but was distracted by a loud thump and high pitched yelp that emanated from Rae's bedroom.
Sighing heavily, Sam carefully placed the computer on the table in front of him and trudged back into Rae's room, flicking on the overhead light as he did so. Expecting the worst he collapsed into hysterical giggles at the sight that awaited him.
As he and Dean had learned over the past few years of visiting Rae, she could be an extremely heavy sleeper when she was very tired. A heavy sleeper to the point of being like the dead. Of course there was the flip side of the coin that if she were afraid or threatened she was so perceptive in her sleep that Sam was fairly certain that not even a ghost could sneak up on her. Even though Rae was a heavy sleeper, it didn't mean that she didn't react to things that went on around her, in occasionally violent fashions. Dean must have done something noisy enough make Rae react to him even in her sleep, in, and in Sam's opinion, a hilarious manner.
Rae's desk was beside her bed acting as a night table as well as a study area. When they'd arrived Rae had been slumped over her desk in her chair, maybe half a meter from her oh so comfy bed. Dean must have done something, as he was now pinned under unconscious Rae, who appeared to be using him as a life sized teddy bear.
"A little help here Sammy?" Dean growled, trying not to look stupid as he was being cuddled by Rae, who he considered, and it pained him to even think this, too good a friend to mess around with. "Before I am crushed to death? She's heavier than she looks."
At just that moment Rae decided to wake up and whack him with a pillow, perhaps it was just because she was ready to wake up or maybe she heard him and woke up. Whatever the reason, Dean received a beating with her pillow before she decided to get off him.
"Ass," Rae muttered, not so quietly under her breath as she took Sam's outstretched hand, there was a peace sign drawn on her cheek, and a line streaked when Rae had, most likely, tackled Dean to the bed.
"Yeah, you do kinda have a big one," Dean drawled, smiling as she turned, to give him a murderous glance. He didn't even flinch as Rae picked up her pillow to whack him again, but Sam took it off her, giving Dean the look that meant, 'don't rile her up.' Rae sighed, giving Sam a generalized glare, all the while fighting not to put her hands on her hips, they always made fun of her when she did.
"Um. Rae?" She turned to glare at Dean once more; giving into the urge put her hands on her hips. "Your glasses are a little crooked, I mean they were before but now they're downright sideways on your face."
"Shut up Dean," Rae muttered, fixing her glasses before placing her hands back on her hips. "So you guys are here, did you look over the research Sammy?"
"Yeah, have you by chance developed a split personality, Rae?" Sam ventured, still wondering at the strange handwriting on the page, which he still had clutched in his hand. "'Cause this page here seems a little random."
"What? No, I mean, I've been playing with different styles, and well I've been bored with my own style of handwriting and thought I'd give a shot of trying a new way to write."
Rae shrugged her shoulders nervously, avoiding eye contact and being all around suspicious. A short but heavy silence descended and Rae snatched up the paper from Sam's hand and blankly stared at her previous theories. Heat began in her cheeks and travelled up to her hairline, the tips of her ears and down to where her shirt covered.
"Okay," Dean drawled out, miming insanity signals at Sam, directly in Rae's sightline. After the requisite death glare, Rae settled on the bed, pushing Dean to the side and Sam sat down on the recently vacated chair.
"So I really have to ask where you've been getting your information on the supernatural?" He asked, reaching to look back over the papers again, Rae refused to let go and so Sam had to let her keep them. "Because it wasn't from us and yet this is stuff that I didn't think was easy to find?"
Dean leaned into Rae, trying to look at the papers that were now clutched to her chest in a death grip.
"I am not without my own sources, which I will keep anonymous," Dean and Sam gave her dubious looks, from either side. "I did a journalism class last semester and I picked up a few things I'll have you know."
"Okay, so how is it you know all these things about tulpas and other thought created forms?" Sam asked, Dean lying back on the bed staring at the light blue ceiling. The fact that the bed wasn't on fire and that the bed wasn't broken glass or any other torture he'd been slowly getting used to, was heaven.
"I just did a little research, Wikipedia is an amazing thing. And that's all you're getting out of me." She smiled, folding the papers down and then tucking them inside her jeans hip pocket.
"Did you find a way to get us a vacation or should I start counting down to the less than enjoyable situation of having my flesh peeled from my bones for the third time this week?" Dean muttered, his fists scrunching his eyes until he saw blue stars behind his eyelids.
"It just so happens, with the help from my anonymous source, I have-"
"Wait, this source isn't Meg is it? Because she's still pissed at us for the whole sending her to Hell, killing her father and brother thing, and so she might not be the most trustworthy person to be using as a source," Sam cut in, worried that should the bitch be involved that it could lead to far worse torment for Dean.
"No, geez give me a little credit, I would never deal with that bitch again. The plan is that I write a fic where you guys go on a vacation, basically I set that up with my talent and my source will take care of the rest."
"What's that?" Sam asked, leaning forward and earnest look on his tired face. "Its not magic is it?"
"No, 'cause this is the real world, and I'm not allowed to tell you its part of the deal," Dean looked up from his reclined position, mistrust all over his face. "Its an ironclad, deal-breaking rule. I cannot tell you guys who or what they are going to do because you might object or something."
"You know what? I don't care, Dean stay in Hell for the next three and a half months. We can't just sit back and do nothing!" Sam looked over at Dean who tried to hide the haunted look that lived in them.
"Good to know Sammy," Dean held up an arm and Sam pulled him back into a sitting position. "So, what do we do?"
"Well you guys can chill out while I write the fic. After that my source has set it so you will be pulled into that one no matter what, and once it completes you guys will be on vacation for the next little while. I can't promise that it will last all summer but you'll get a few months at least and anything after that we'll have to wait and see," Rae felt bad not being able to give a definite answer on how long or how well it would work but as had been discussed this was a very unusual and bizarre situation to try and work with.
"Sam?"
"Yeah Dean?"
"I'll race you to the refrigerator," He smirked, bounding off the bed, leaving Sam grinning at Rae who in turned couldn't help but laugh at the antics.
With Dean and Sam camped out on her couch, waiting for the fic to be completed and posted, she felt more nervous than usual, which hadn't been helped by Sam consistently popping his head in the door asking if she needed help. She hadn't lied when she'd told Sam that there was no magic involved as technically this wasn't magic, it was more of an alchemistic change to their situation. She could hear Sam and Dean argue over what movie would be up next, worried that her sources would show up just as Sam looked in on her.
Sending out the email, as she'd been instructed to do when prepared to post she waited, nervously watching the door, her left foot twitching against the desk leg. She was staring so intently at the door she didn't notice the two men at the foot of her bed, until one turned on her stereo to some loud mullet-rock. Rae turned towards the music, jumping to her feet as it came on.
"Holy Hades Ash!" Rae shouted in a whisper, hurrying to lock the door before Sam or Dean's head poked in for a look. John gave Ash a look of disapproval. Over the last few weeks he'd had to work closely with 'Dr. Badass' to help his boys out and when it came to Dean and Sammy, John had a high tolerance for doing whatever was necessary.
John strode over to the stereo, cutting the volume in half. No longer a wave of noise, but loud enough that they would not be heard. All three jumped when the doorknob rattled and a knocking began.
"Rae? Are you okay in there?" Sam's voice came through the thin door, Dean just audible behind him asking what was going on. John gave Rae a sharp nod towards the door while Ash flopped down on her bed, tossing the teddy bear off. John frowned at Ash's boots on the bedspread and pushed them off the bed, causing Ash to roll his eyes and slouch to his feet, making his way towards her stereo.
"No I'm fine Sammy, just need a little music to figure the ending," Rae rolled her eyes as the lame excuse tumbled from her.
"It doesn't have to be Shakespeare Rae, just good enough to get the job done." Dean called, his attention already pulled back to the TV by a very young Jessica Alba on Dark Angel, yeah he watched for the plot, sure.
"Thanks Dean!" Rae growled back, fighting the urge to yank open the door and argue her own merit as a writer, or at least threaten him with a dentist fic.
She turned back to John and Ash, both of whom where gawking around her bedroom like a couple of tourists. Ash was inspecting her CD collection with scepticism, while John seemed more intrigued by the layout her room, beginning to create a mental blueprint for later, should it be needed. Again Rae felt a little stab of guilt over her conflicted feelings towards John; on the one hand she'd seen the worst of him in some of the stories that had been related. On the other he was taking a serious chance helping Rae get the boys a vacation and he had sold his soul for Dean, an act that had scored brownie points with almost everyone in the fandom
"Well Rae, you got your little chapter done? 'Cause I got a date with a pretty nice gal," Ash drawled out, his weird tricked out laptop under his arm held with negligent ease, brilliant technical skills and mind completely at odds with his appearance.
"Yeah Ash, its all done and ready to go, how about you? Are you ready to hack fanfic's server and put in the virus?" She furrowed her brow, more than mildly confused by the technical points of the plan. "How is it that this is going work?"
"As Sam and you have figured out the creation of us all has been done through the focus of so many people's energy. So once you've uploaded your chapter, the reality for Sam and Dean will shift and they'll be enjoying a little vacation," John patiently explained, a little anxious to get his boys out of harm's way. "If we are at all like the thought forms I've faced in the past then this should work, but I've never heard of anything like what's been going on…" He trailed off, his hands scrubbing at his face, a gesture that Sam and Dean unconsciously mimicked.
"That's where the doctor comes in," Ash grinned setting up his laptop beside Rae's little iBook on her desk. The strange flashing lights of Ash's were in stark contrast to the sleek white laptop casing of Rae's beloved and trusty little computer. "After your story is up, I hack in with my kick ass virus, which will fool the metaphysical/technological system that pulls Dean and Sam in and out of 'reality' if you can call this dump that. Anyhoo this should get them a little R&R."
Ash smiled crookedly at John who gave a little shake of his head and grinned right back. All three froze when they heard the creak of a chair as one of the boys shifted weight, but there was no knock on the door or discovery of the plot.
"Shall we get this done?" Rae asked, heart in her throat and nerves about worn through. John looked just as nervous and Ash was grinning his happy go lucky smile, as Rae edged past him to her computer. "Alright I'm uploading it and then it's all yours Ash."
He picked up his laptop and plopped right onto her bed, making the head board bounce against the wall, drawing a darker look from John and a sigh from Rae. After three weeks of working together John was quite ready to be solo again and get on with a nice easy hunt. He found himself smiling, a cold predator smile and Rae was staring at him with a blank expression on her face. She jumped when Ash clapped his hands in triumph.
"Done and done! Woo, damn I can't wait for a vacation!"
"Well Rae, thank you for your help and worry, Ash and I should be going-" He was cut off as Rae surprised him with a hug before turning to Ash and treating him to a warm embrace as well. "Uh, well yeah. Keep an eye on the boys if you can? Its been a long while since they had a vacation and I don't want them losing all they learned on a wild shore leave, if you get my drift."
Rae and John exchanged a smile, as John and Ash walked out the door vanishing in an instant. She was just going to bed, when there was a knock on the door. Confused as to who was in her suite this late, she threw back the quilts to answer it, opening the door she got quite a surprise.
"So do you have any more of those microwave curries in your freezer or should I start looking through leftovers?" Dean asked as he leaned against the doorframe, Sam behind him smiling a big goofy grin.
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A/N2: To anyone who is wondering why Sam and Dean aren't to be told Rae's source (John and Ash) don't worry I will explain that…in the next chapter, mwa ha ha! So just wait and see and all (well most) will be explained.