Tera stood up from the chair she'd been sitting in for the past few hours. The Winchester's doctor had finally come in to talk to them only to tell them the same thing that everyone else had. They had been in an accident, but no one knew what was happening. They were stable for now and all they could do was wait.

Tera glanced over at Harper; she had finally fallen asleep and had her head resting on Dean's arm. The human had some pretty astonishing stamina considering everything that had happened in the past few hours and all of the emotional stress she was under. Harper had found Dean and stuck by his side until she couldn't stay awake any longer. She rested her head on his arm, unwilling to break the contact. It was disgustingly cute.

Tera turned from them and started for the door. She knew she couldn't go too far thanks to the binding, but it should be far enough. The binding was kind of annoying, but it had its uses. There would be no way for the Winchesters to kill her, because if they did then Harper would die too. And she couldn't see Dean allowing that; she'd seen the way he'd looked at her. They might not be officially a thing, but he did care about her.

But even more than the protection the binding gave her, the big bonus was getting closer to Sam. She had heard about him before she had her plan for a demon army and he intrigued her. He was supposed to be the leader of the demon army, but he'd refused. When she saw him for the first time after the wreck, it was like crawling out of Hell for the first time. He was magnificent, with the hair and the legs, and he'd 'rescued' her.

Sam had treated her like he actually cared; he'd talked to her and she'd even helped them escape the hospital. She had been surprised by how much fun it had been, but she had plans to carry out and she couldn't have them getting in the way. She had wanted him to be her second in command, but he had that stupid tattoo so she'd had to use Alec. They had gotten rid of her army, but she hadn't been able to get Sam out of her head. She'd been so close to having her army, but now she thought she'd try something new. It really did get boring being a demon for hundreds of years.

She decided she would explore since the sight of Dean and Harper was about to make her lose her lunch. It was cute, but still; a demon could only take so much.

The room to the right of Dean's turned out to be Alec's. He was in the same shape as Dean and she couldn't help but feel sympathy towards her ex-second in command. She walked closer to his bed out of curiosity; she wanted to know if he'd gotten one of those tattoos or not. She pulled the edge of the hospital gown to the side and couldn't help the sad smile at seeing the ink on his chest. She patted his chest lightly before she left his room. He'd been an excellent second…

She walked to the room to the left of Dean's after that and saw Sam lying on the bed with tubes all over. A heart monitor was the only thing that broke the silence and Tera slowly walked over to his bed. She brushed the hair from his forehead and then ran her hand down his cheek. It was rough with stubble, but he still looked cute, maybe even cuter than before. She decided that she would stay in here until Harper woke up, and then she would try to help. She had nothing better to do.

Alec was still cold; he didn't think he was ever going to be warm again. They'd dragged him to the hospital, but they didn't think anything was actually physically wrong with him. They thought it was all in his head. Just like the beeping. But if it was all in his head, shouldn't he be able to make it stop?

He was back at Bobby's now, wrapped in five different blankets but he was still cold. It was a bone deep chill that made his body ache. He was shivering and shaking nonstop, and he just wished it would end.

"Hey, kiddo," Dean greeted as he walked into the room. "Still cold?"

Alec nodded, but he didn't bother saying anything. He didn't need to. He'd been like this for a week now with no change. He was too tired and cold to even talk.

Dean crouched down in front of him and put his hand against his forehead to check him for a fever. He already knew that he didn't have one though. "Bobby's still looking for what's goin' on…"

Alec nodded again; he already knew this too.

"You gotta talk to me kiddo," Dean practically begged. Alec hadn't said anything since they got back from the hospital.

Alec dropped his gaze; he felt bad for making this worse for his brothers, but it took too much energy to talk. Energy that he didn't have right now. Besides, what was he going to say? Yeah, I'm still cold, sorry it won't go away, thanks for trying. Dean probably didn't want to hear him apologize anyway.

"What do you mean you're going to take him off life support?!"

A girl's voice suddenly floated through his head. He didn't recognize the voice; the only other ones that he'd heard had been male. He had been only hearing the voices when he slept, but now it was becoming a regular occurrence.

"I'm not an idiot! I know what that means! I'm asking what gives you the right to do it?"

She was pissed, whoever she was. He decided he liked this voice; it'd be ok if she actually stuck around instead of those two stuffy guys.

"I won't allow it. You're doctors, so whatever is going on, figure it out."

Dean started to stand up and walk away, but Alec had a sudden urge to say something and actually reached out and caught his sleeve. He just barely pulled, but it was enough to catch Dean's attention.

"You need somethin'?" Dean asked in concern. He immediately turned back and tried to hide his surprise at hearing Alec's voice.

"Do you…do you think this is all in my head?" Alec asked quietly, his voice was rough with disuse.

Dean crouched down again and reassured, "No, I don't think it's in your head. I think something's doing this to you. I don't know what it is, but we'll find it and kill it, ok?"

"Yeah…ok," Alec breathed out.

"Get some rest," Dean said, reaching out and Alec expected him to mess up his hair, but he just patted his shoulder instead. That wasn't right; Dean always messed up his hair. Didn't he? "It's good to hear your voice again," Dean said, interrupting Alec's train of thought. Dean had started walking to the door, but he'd turned when he'd said that, but Alec just gave him a small smile in return before he left. He was starting to feel tired again. Tired and cold; it was never going to end.

Alec closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

"What's going on?" A female asked in irritation. It was a different female than the one before. No one answered her so she prodded, "C'mon Cricket, maybe I can help."

The girl from earlier sighed and then said, "They want to take him off life support…"

"Why?"

"Look at his stats," she replied impatiently. "His temps way down and so is his blood pressure. He's starting to go downhill…"

"So wake him up."

"I can't…I don't know what's going on…I have a guess, but it's only a guess."

"What's your guess?" The other girl didn't immediately reply. "C'mon, it's better than nothing!"

"Fine," she finally relented, and then she dropped her voice to a whisper. "I think it might be a djinn."

"A what?"

She sighed, "He might be trapped in a dream world. It'll seem real to him, so I don't know how he'll break through…If that's even what's going on…"

There was silence for a minute, and then, "Try talking to him. They say that people in comas can sometimes hear things…and he has heightened senses so…"

Another stretch of silence while the other girl thought about this. "Ok, I guess it doesn't hurt to try it…but you can't be here."

"Why?!"

"He doesn't like you," she stated simply and it sounded like she had a smile on her face.

The girl huffed, but she didn't say anything to disagree. The silence started to stretch again and Alec thought maybe they had both left.

"Hey Alec," the girl finally said. He was surprised that she was talking directly to him; that never happened before. "I don't know if you can hear me or not, but I think you're trapped in a dream and you need to wake up. You're starting to go downhill fast and I don't know how to help you…Wake up ok?"

Alec startled awake and forced himself to his feet; the blankets falling from his shoulders, back to the sofa. He swayed and the room tipped, but he managed to stay off of the floor. He started walking to another room; he had to find either Sam or Dean. The room tipped again though, and he felt his knees starting to give.

"Whoa!" Two hands suddenly grabbed onto him and helped him stand. "Where do you think you're goin' huh?" Sam asked quietly.

"I…um, needed to talk to you…or Dean…" Alec replied, sinking a little more. But Sam kept him up and moved him back to the sofa.

"Alright, what's up?" Sam asked, sitting next to him. He looked surprised that Alec was actually talking, but he grabbed one of the discarded blankets and wrapped it around his shoulders.

"Is this real? Or am I dreaming right now?" Alec asked.

"Alec…I'm not really following…" Sam replied slowly.

"Have you ever heard of a…a djinn?" Alec knew instantly that Sam knew what he was talking about because all the color drained from his face.

"Why do you ask?" Sam hedged.

"A voice in my dream…a girl this time…told me that she thinks I'm in a dream world and that none of this is real," Alec started rambling, "She pretty much told me that I was dying. So, if that's true then this really is all in my head and I need to wake up somehow…"

"Alec, slow down…what are you talking about?"

"In my dreams, weird voices keep popping up but they always talk like I can't hear them. And the beeping! The beeping started out only some of the time, but now it's constant! What if I can hear what's going on in the real world!"

"This is the real world," Sam stated, "This is real, Alec."

"The beeping…what if the beeping's something in the real world!" Alec said; this was starting to finally make sense. "What if I'm in the hospital and…she said something about my stats, maybe I'm sick here because in the real world I'm sick…none of this would be real. How do I wake up?"

"Alec, c'mon man, just calm down for second ok?" Sam said, slightly panicked.

"How would I wake up?" Alec asked, looking up and actually asking Sam this time instead of just thinking out loud.

"Alec, please, just listen to me, ok?" Sam said, shaking Alec's shoulders slightly. "This is real. Your dreams are probably just a side effect of whatever is making you cold, ok? They aren't real."

"No Sam, she talked to me. She knew who I was and she…she told me this was the dream and it makes sense! I don't have any memories from before that hunt and none of this seems right!"

"Your memories will come back Alec…" Sam tried to reason.

"No…no, I think she was right…" Alec muttered. He got to his feet even though Sam tried to stop him. "How do I wake up…"

"Alec, c'mon…we're gonna go get Dean…maybe he can talk some sense into you," Sam said under his breath. He started to pull Alec to another room, but Alec found the strength to force him to stop.

"No," Alec replied, ripping his arm from Sam's grip. Sam turned to look at him; his eyes were wide in concern. Alec started to pace, trying to work out how to wake himself up. "When you wake up from a dream, something usually wakes you up…but the girl said that she couldn't do it or didn't know how…if you fall, you wake up before you hit the ground…but I already jumped off a cliff…maybe I need to fall from something higher…"

"Alec, please," Sam begged, but Alec ignored him.

"Death!" Alec said, snapping his fingers from finally figuring it out. "If you're about to die in a dream, you wake up!"

Sam grabbed him suddenly, but he easily slipped free. Before he was completely clear of his older brother, he reached for Sam's gun that was tucked in the back of his pants. He grabbed it and had it in his hands before Sam even knew what happened.

Alec held up the stolen gun and asked, "Just like when we first met, right Sammy? I said you needed to keep better track of your weapons. Now, why would I have a memory of when we first met?

Sam's mouth popped open in surprise and he twisted around to see that his gun was in fact missing. He turned back to Alec though and begged, "Alec, please don't do this." He ignored the other things that Alec had said.

"I'm sorry Sam…" He really hoped he was right, otherwise he was going to really mess up his older brother. He didn't think about it long though; if he did, he might talk himself out of it. He took a deep breath, put the gun against his temple, and pulled the trigger.

Alec was choking; there was something down his throat that was making him gag. Hands were on his chest and someone was yelling, but he had no idea what they were saying. He tried to calm down, but it was hard.

He blacked out for a few seconds. He knew one thing for sure, he wasn't dead. He remembered the other world and he remembered shooting himself, but he wasn't dead. He had been choking, so, obviously not dead.

"Alec, can you hear me?" A familiar voice asked; it was the girl from his dreams. "Alec…"

Alec was glad to find that whatever had been down his throat was gone and he tried to get his eyes to obey him. He finally got them open a crack, but there was a blinding light overhead and he had to close them again.

"Get out," the girl ordered whoever was in the room. Alec heard multiple sets of feet walk out after just a moment's hesitation. He heard the girl get up and walk a little ways and then heard a click. She walked back over to his bed and sat down. A second later, a warm hand touched his arm.

"Alec…I turned the lights off so they won't be as bright…" she said quietly. She sounded familiar and not just because she had been in his dream, but he couldn't place it.

He suddenly heard the beeping again and his eyes flew open. The beeping started going faster and Alec tried to sit up but he was too weak to get very far.

"Alec…" The girl called out. Alec stopped his pathetic search for the source of the beeping and focused on the girl in the room. He was surprised to see that it was Harper.

"Harper?" Alec tried to ask, but his voice was barely a whisper.

"Hey," Harper replied with a small smile. "It's good to see ya again."

Alec didn't know how to process everything that was going on, but he had thought the beeping had just been in his dream. "The beeping?" Alec finally asked, needing to find out if it was real or not.

Harper turned her head and looked behind him, "It's your heart monitor…"

Oh…ok, that made sense. He breathed out a sigh of relief at finding out that he wasn't completely insane.

"Can you turn it off?" Alec begged; he'd heard it constantly and he'd had enough of it.

Harper patted his chest and then stood. He couldn't see her, but he could hear her flip a switch and then there was finally silence. He started to close his eyes, but Harper shook him awake.

"Alec, I need you to stay awake for me ok?" Harper pleaded. "Please, I need to ask you a few things…"

Alec forced his eyes open again and looked up at her. She looked a little frazzled; her clothes were rumpled, her hair was in a messy ponytail, and there were dark circles under her eyes. He didn't know how long he'd been trapped in that dream world, but with the way he felt, it seemed like a while. And he didn't know how long Harper had been there, but she looked tired, so he thought she'd been there a while too.

"How're you feeling?" Harper asked softly when he didn't say anything.

"'M cold," Alec admitted. So that had been real just like the beeping; he wasn't crazy.

Harper quickly stood up and walked to the door to call out, "Can I get an extra blanket in here?" Then she came back in and sat next to him again. "Do you remember what happened?"

Alec kind of shook his head no and then said, "I don't really know…I think I hit my head…"

"Do you know where you are right now?" Harper asked, leaning forward a little to rest her arms against his bed.

Alec took a quick glance around the room and sort of asked with a smirk, "Hospital?"

Harper laughed lightly, "Alright that was a stupid question…"

There was a quiet knock at the door that had both of them shifting their focus. A nurse stood in the doorway holding an extra blanket. She looked slightly nervous to be standing there; her eyes kept shifting over to Harper and then away again. "I have the extra blanket…" she said slowly.

"Great," Harper said with a small smirk, giving the nurse permission to come into his room. The nurse walked in quickly and tucked the blanket around him.

She started checking his stats, but she went as fast as possible. Just as she was about to leave the room, she stopped and said, "Dr. Anderson would like to talk to him soon…run some tests…"

"Tell him that I will let him know when he can come in here," Harper replied shortly.

The nurse nodded and then walked out of the room.

"You've got everyone scared of you…" Alec said with his eyebrows raised slightly.

"They tried to take you off of life support," Harper instantly defended herself. "I wasn't going to let that happen and I made that very clear…"

Alec smiled a little, "Thanks…"

"Don't thank me yet," Harper said after a minute. "Now, we've got to figure out how to get Dean and Sam to wake up…"

"And find a way to kill this son of a bitch," Alec threw in and Harper nodded in agreement.

One down, two to go. Harper didn't know how he did it, but Alec had somehow broken through and woke himself up. She was beyond relieved that he had too. Dr. Anderson had been in his room constantly, trying to convince her that he was suffering and the only thing they could do was end his pain. Pompous jerk didn't know anything.

She'd freaked out on him; they almost had to call security on her. But she'd put her foot down and she had been right. Alec woke up and now he was just sleeping peacefully now. She had tried to get him moved to one of his brothers' room, but she hadn't gotten her way, yet. So far Dr. Anderson was her whole list of suspects, but she needed proof, not just her personal opinion on the matter.

"Hey Cricket," Tera suddenly said, and Harper couldn't help but jump. She hated that.

"You need to leave," Harper said, briefly glancing up at Tera and then back to Alec.

"But I'm bored," Tera complained. "I can only watch Sam sleep for so long…"

"You can't be in here," Harper hissed. "If he sees you…"

"What's he gonna do, kick my ass?" Tera asked with a smirk. Harper looked at her incredulously so Tera dropped the smirk and said, "He's weak, and I don't mean that in a mean way. Something's wrong with him…"

"What do you mean?"

Tera started to move forward, but Harper instantly stood to block her path to the bed. If Alec really was hurt, then there was no way she was going to let a demon near him.

"Relax," Tera said with a sigh. "I'm not gonna do anything."

"Are you still a demon?" Harper asked derisively and Tera scowled. "Then you're not getting anywhere near him."

"I just spent the past eight hours sitting at Sam's bedside, and I didn't do anything to him!"

"Well, you're not allowed to go back in there either," Harper said, even though she knew she sounded childish.

"So where am I supposed to go?" Tera asked in aggravation. "I can't stay here and I can't go to Sam's room. I doubt I can go to Dean's…"

"Go find a nice supply closet," Harper suggested with a fake smile.

"Go find a nice supply closet…" Tera mocked, childishly. "Just when I was starting to think you weren't half bad for a human."

"Liar," Harper replied with a smirk.

Tera smiled and shrugged, "Demon." Tera walked forward and sat on the edge of Alec's bed and Harper scowled at her.

"What did I just say?"

Tera shrugged again, "Don't get near my boys, you're a demon, blah, blah, blah, I wasn't really listening."

Harper took a deep breath and tried to calm down; this demon was driving her nuts. She didn't know how she was going to live with being tied to the demon for the rest of her life. Alec's head rolled slightly in his sleep and he frowned a little. He was starting to wake up.

"Go," Harper hissed, waving her hands to try and get Tera to leave.

"He's gonna see me sooner or later," Tera hissed back.

"Later!" Harper whisper-yelled.

Tera rolled her eyes dramatically, but got up and walked out of the room. Harper breathed out a sigh of relief. It would be better if she warned him a little before he saw the demon. Not much better, but at least it wouldn't be a complete surprise.

Alec shifted a little and then sleepily opened his eyes. He looked around in confusion for a second until his eyes landed on her sitting in the chair next to his bed.

"When can I get out of this bed?" Alec grumbled jokingly. But he relaxed against his pillows again; he looked exhausted. He had dark circles under his eyes and his skin was almost translucent he was so pale.

Harper couldn't help but smile though; he sounded just like Dean. "Not sure yet, but I am trying to get you moved to either Sam or Dean's room…"

Alec nodded, "That would be good…"

"Alec…I have to tell you something and you're not going to like it…" Harper started out slowly. She really didn't want to shove this on him, but she didn't really have a choice. Alec's walls instantly went up and Harper knew he was trying to prepare for whatever she had to say. She took a deep breath to tell him, but then she saw his focus shift to the door. His hands formed into fists and his eyes turned cold.

Harper shot a look behind her and groaned; of course Tera didn't listen to her.

Alec growled; he didn't say anything, but there was a low growl in his throat. He ripped out the tube in his arm and leapt out of bed. Harper moved in front of him and put her hands against his chest, but she didn't think that would hold him back. He was pissed.

More soon...