Their next case was a doozy. People were being forced into dreams; said dreams were being controlled by an outside person who had taken African Dream Root. It was rare and tough to come across but the root allowed the consumer to dreamwalk into another person's head, effectively warping their dreams until killing them. Bobby was forced inside one of the dreams and the trio just wouldn't stand for that.

Dean called Bela in hopes she could get her hands on some of the roots. Surprisingly— she showed up! Allie kind of found her amusing. Bela noted she only did it because Bobby had saved her at one point. She left and the Winchesters brewed the root. It was strange. They had to drink Bobby's hair to get into his dreams. Allie stayed behind as a trip sitter. After all, it was kind of like getting high. Right?

One minute they were in the motel— the next they were walking around Bobby's house.

Bobby was plagued by visions of his ex-wife Karen. She had died before Allie was conceived. Karen wasn't her mother but Bobby talked about her sometimes. Karen was trying to kill him. Nightmare of the year. Dean and Sam pulled Bobby out of his dreams. The only downside? Bobby noted the dream walker had gotten into his head due to him accepting a beer. DNA.

Dean had also accepted a beer. Fucking awesome! Now they had a two-for-one deal. A buy one get one free. Dean tried to stay awake for forty-eight hours but he couldn't take it. They all went into his head to allow him some sleep.

When they entered the first thing that they saw waiting for them was a dream of Dean having a picnic with Lisa, a woman he had met on the road years prior. He was domestic. Allie figured it only made sense that a part of him desired that with a woman and yet she felt strangely disappointed.

It didn't last long though. The three took off into the woods only to be separated. They found themselves in a house full of Dean's dreams, Dean's thoughts. Allie was no exception. "Well, might as well take a look in door number one." She hesitated before opening a basement door. In the basement were John and Bobby. It must have been a fight that they had when Dean was a child. She watched as the two men fought over Dean's lack of a normal childhood.

John was a man of few words. He was always busy hunting. Always on the move. But when he saw his son, he stopped. His eyes darted around Bobby's basement. "Dean, go upstairs." John paused his argument with Bobby and waited for his son to leave. "You aren't their father." John finally returned back to their heated argument. "I am and I'll do what I need to do with my own damn kids."

Bobby was furious. He had been taking care of them for years. "You're not their father, John. You left them with me." Bobby yelled back. "You're a hunter. You're a drunk. You're a son of a bitch." Bobby paused and looked at his friend. "You're right. I'm not their father. But I'm the closest thing they got." Bobby argued back. "I've taken care of them when you were off saving the world." He snipped sarcastically. John was a son of a bitch. They butted heads all the time over Sam and Dean.

John shook his head as he heard Bobby start to argue with him again. John knew what he was doing for them was right. He didn't have time to be their father. "If I'm a drunk and a son of a bitch, then why do you think Sam and Dean turned out so well?" John asked angrily, glaring at Bobby. Well as in good fighters, well as in still alive. Though they were still young.

John knew that he was being harsh with his sons but he needed to be firm with them to prepare them for hunting. He looked over as Allie walked into the basement and sighed as she came down and listened to them argue about him being a terrible father to Sam and Dean.

He glared at Allie and rolled his eyes as he heard Bobby defend his opinions.

Allie stood there. She knew that maybe it wasn't appropriate to argue with them but she couldn't help it. "Shut up John." She sniped. Seeing Dean as a child... the look on his face... it was heartbreaking.

"Bobby is a damn good father. Better than you ever were." She didn't know John well but Sam and Dean had confided in her. A part of her hated him. Bobby had accepted her so easily, so wholeheartedly when she showed up on his doorstep nearly four years prior.

John scoffed and rolled his eyes as he looked at her, "You don't know me or my sons." He argued with her. He was getting annoyed with all of this. "I'm doing what's best for them," John argued with Allie. He didn't need this. Not now. "What would you know?" He asked angrily. He looked back at Bobby and then Allie again.

"I know my sons better than anyone." He said confidently. "They're my sons, not yours." John snapped at her angrily. He really didn't want to hear her mouth right now. "Go upstairs," John ordered her angrily, pointing at the stairs that led up into the house.

Bobby knew he wasn't the best father, but he knew he was much better than John Winchester ever was. He'd raised two sons alone with a bottle of whiskey for a partner and they turned out alright in his book. Maybe they did butt heads over everything, but he'd always been there for Sam and Dean— even when John wasn't.

John looked back at Allie and pointed towards the stairs.

"Don't tell my daughter what to do!" Bobby growled defensively, moving his way between John and Allie before things could get physical. John Winchester had always been an asshole, and he didn't deserve to have Sam or Dean as sons.

John shook his head when Bobby stepped in between Allie and him, "I'm not trying to be an asshole here, Bobby." He argued with him. John looked over at Allie and glared at her, "Stay out of it." He demanded angrily. He didn't need this right now. "You don't know what you're talking about." He snapped at her angrily, glaring at her. "Why the fuck are you here anyway? This is my son's dream." He demanded angrily, glaring at her. He wasn't happy that she was here, messing with things.

Allie couldn't help but fight John. This was just a dream. It's not like it was real. It would have no lasting impact on Dean. She could say what she needed to get off her chest and then rejoin the brothers. "John. You're an asshole." Her vulnerability and pain were able to show through considering no actual people were around. "You put something on me that destroyed me. I can't take care of Dean. He's going to hell." Her lip quivered as she spoke. It felt like one minute she was just a cheerleader from a small town in Ohio and now suddenly she had the weight of the world resting on her. The four years had gone by fast.

"But it's not my fault. You did this to them. You brought them up in this— and now you're dead. Bobby has done the damn best he can but..." she ran her hand through her hair. "What are we supposed to do? What am I supposed to do?"

He sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his hair, "You know— it's hard to take anything you say seriously when you don't even know your ass from your elbow." He argued with her angrily. "And I'm not trying to be mean about that, I'm just telling you the truth," John told her seriously, looking her in the eyes. "I'm telling you— you need to stop crying about things and learn how to hunt because that's your duty now." He told her seriously, looking into her large doe eyes. "If you want to cry, go outside and cry." He told her seriously, his tone firm and stance unrelenting. This woman was nothing but a distraction. He needed to get back to his point with Bobby.

"Shut the fuck up, John!" Allie wasn't a crybaby but God damnit Dean was dying and she had no idea how to save him or help ease his pain as the end shambled towards them. She didn't know what to say or do or how to act for him or herself. "Your son's dying! The clock's ticking!" She yelled with clenched fists.

"I'm not just a hunter and neither is Dean. He deserves his humanity. He deserves the innocence that you took away from him!" Allie may have been raised by a single parent without much of a childhood but at least she had some. Dean barely had any. He was a child for four years of his life before Mary died, that was it.

She became quiet as a young Dean came back down the stairs. He must have been around eight. His body was so.. Fragile. Tiny.

Dean looked down at the floor when his dad got mad at him for eavesdropping on his conversation with Bobby.

Dean's eyes filled with tears as his father started yelling at him for coming downstairs again and eavesdropping on them talking about him, "Dad..." Dean spoke quietly. He was always left out of things. He didn't understand why they were upset with each other, his dad was a hero!

He shook his head when John told him to shut up and looked up at him with tear-filled eyes, "Please, Dad... I just wanted to hear what you guys were talking about." Dean told his father.

He watched his father walk over to him and grab his arm tightly, dragging him up the stairs roughly in irritation and anger, uncaring of just how intense his grip was across the small bicep.

Allie's eyes widened as she saw John's anger herself toward his children. This must have been the beginning of John's descent. That's why Dean remembered it so vividly and dreamed about it. John was an abusive ass but all of Dean's admittances to her were regarding when he was older. His preteen and teen years.

"Stop it!" She screamed and interfered. It didn't matter that it wasn't real. Allie couldn't handle it. The blonde shoved John away. Dean looked so small and vulnerable, so sweet and deserving of kindness and love. It was before his macho exterior had taken hold. Her hands cupped his petite cheeks and tears fell from her eyes at the sight of red marks on Dean's arm from where John had grabbed him. "I'm so sorry." He was just a child. "I'm sorry."

John let go of Dean when Allie pushed him away from him, "Stay the fuck out of it, girl!" John yelled angrily, glaring at her, "This is between my son and me!" He yelled with a venom that she had never witnessed before. John turned to look at Dean.

John grabbed Dean's arm harshly, dragging him towards the stairs once again, "come on." He ordered him, yanking him towards the stairs roughly, "Let's go!" Continuing Dean's painful memory.

While Allie stood in the painful memory of abuse Sam was tied up by the dreamwalker. Dean, however, had the shortest end of the stick. He faced another version of himself; one that taunted him with twisted and aggressive mockings. His own pain, self-loathing, and fear.

"I mean, you're going to hell and you won't lift a finger to stop it? Talk about low self-esteem. Then again, it's not much of a life worth saving." The alternate version of himself taunted.

"Wake up, Dean. Wake up."

"After all, you've got nothing, outside of Sam. You are nothing. You're as mindless and obedient as an attack dog."

"That's not true."

"No? What are the things that you want? What are the things that you dream? I mean, your car, that's Dad's. Your favorite leather jacket, Dad's. Your music, Dad's. Do you even have an original thought? No. No, all there is is, "Watch out for Sammy. Look after your little brother, boy!" You can still hear your Dad's voice in your head, can't you? Clear as a bell."

"Just shut up."

"When you think about it... all he ever did was train you, boss you around. But Sam... Sam, he doted on. Sam, he loved." If only Dean knew that nearby Allie was experiencing exactly what his alternate self was speaking of—- if only a brief taste.

"I mean it. I'm getting angry."

"Dad knew who you really were. A good soldier and nothing else. Daddy's blunt little instrument. Your father didn't care whether you lived or died. Why should you?"

"Son of a bitch! My father was an obsessed bastard! All that crap he dumped on me, about protecting Sam, that was his crap. He's the one who couldn't protect his family. He's the one who let Mom die. Who wasn't there for Sam. I always was. He wasn't fair! I didn't deserve what he put on me. And I don't deserve to go to hell!" Dean shot his taunting, sadistic self and grimaced at the sight of his own body slumped against the wall.

Suddenly the clone shot up, eyes black and tone intense. "You can't escape me, Dean. You're gonna die. And this? This is what you're gonna become!"

The walls of Bobby's basement faded away and suddenly the trio jolted awake in the Impala. Sam and Dean had defeated the dream walker.

They sat together in a small diner that night. It was difficult for Allie to stay quiet about what she had seen. John was a piece of shit. He was a terrible father. The marks... she couldn't get them out of her eyelids. Every time she blinked they were there. Although Dean had expressed parts of his childhood to her before it was never that young. Not that it would be any less difficult to see him go through it at any age. Putting a hand on a child was never okay.

They ate in silence for a while. Whatever Dean had experienced had obviously impacted him. He did this twitching thing with his jaw sometimes when he was thinking. "Dean...Sam..." Allie started. They didn't need to talk about the abuse but instead, she opted to speak about her father.

"You know that my dad loves you like you're his own sons, right?" They deserved it.

Dean sat with Allie at a small diner with Sam across the booth from them. He could feel the tension in his body as they sat there together. It had been a long day and Dean didn't really want to talk about what had happened while taking the dream root.

Dean looked up when Allie said his name and then Sam's, "yeah..." he spoke softly, looking up at Allie, nodding his head as he listened to her. "I know Bobby loves us," Dean said seriously, looking her in the eyes. "And Bobby may not have raised us— but he was always there for us— whenever we needed him." and Dean meant it. He really did.

Sam sat across the booth from them, looking up at when they mentioned Bobby. He had been pretty quiet since they woke up, still trying to process everything that had happened with the dream root. He nodded his head in agreement with Dean, "he was always there for us growing up, no matter how much he and Dad fought— he would still come through for us if we needed him." Sam told her seriously, smiling warmly. "We'll always love Bobby," Sam told Allie seriously, looking her in the eyes.

He looked between them when he heard what she said about Bobby loving them like they were his own sons.

Should it have been so painful? It's not like it happened to her. Right? Yes, Dean was her friend but the situation rattled her so deeply . Yes, there was anger involved but really it was more than that. Dean had been beaten up by the world since he was a child . Only on the earth for four years before the misfortune began.

Blue eyes connected with those of her best friends in the whole fucking world. The world had given Dean shit all. At least Sam got to go to school. Dean had always been treated like a soldier, like a pawn in life with no control at all and Allie mourned for the child that never received the comfort, care, and nurturing that was deserved. Now he was going to die. What was fair about that? What God would allow such a fucking tragedy?

Allie reached out to hold their hands in hers and for the first time ever she let herself be as vulnerable as she could on purpose. It was brought out not by a random mood swing or panic attack. She just wanted them to know that they had changed her life in the best way possible.

" I love you guys so, so much. " The moment was like strung gold. Threads of treasure between the trio. She'd never forget it. Tears brimmed Allie's eyes and she smiled. "With all my heart." At that moment the little diner they were in felt like the greatest place on earth.

Dean held Allie's hand gently as she held his hand in hers, feeling the warmth of her skin against his, the touch of her fingers intertwining with his own as they held hands. Dean could tell that she was emotional. He could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice, "We love you too, Al." Dean told her softly, squeezing her hand gently, giving her a smile, letting her know that he meant it. He could feel Sam's hand holding his other hand, letting him know that he agreed with him that they loved Allie. "We're all we've got in this crazy fucked up world." but it was more than that. Seeing her like this… their friendship had come so far in the time they had known each other. He was proud of her, more proud than he had potentially ever been.

Sam sat with Allie and Dean at the diner, his eyes locked on her beautiful blue eyes as they held each other's hands Dean squeezed her hand gently and gave her a smile, letting her know that he meant every single word he said. Sam squeezed his big brother's hand gently as he said the same thing, "We love you too." Sam told her sincerely, his voice soft and quiet so no one else could hear him. "We're all we've got." He added honestly, knowing that they were family even though Allie wasn't biologically related to them. They all loved each other, supported each other, and would do anything for one another. That's what family was. It wasn't about being siblings or blood or… it was just this. Doing anything for someone else. Friendship just didn't begin to encompass it.