Dean's Not Fine

VBF A Supernatural story by Jennie @DeanIsntFine Featuring Dean Winchester @DWImpala67 This is the first of my VBF stories, featuring my best fictional friend. It is set in Season 14, right after "Unhuman Nature." To read the others, click: Part 2:  "Welcome to Rocky's" Part 3: "Last Call" Part 4:  "Nourished" As I climb into bed, I reach out over the edge, extending my hand into the empty darkness. As a child, I never had an “under the bed.” My dad built all the beds in my house, all with flat boards as a base and storage drawers underneath. Nowhere for monsters to hide. So I’d never had to fear them. My best friend kills monsters. Where he lives, they’re real.  When I reach out into the dark, sometimes I can feel his hand grasp mine. Sometimes… *** “Dean…” I call out to him with my mind. As I close my eyes for sleep, I can see the bunker’s tile hallways take shape out of the darkness. My bare fe...

Imagine if your life was as filled with sacrifice and, well, bad friggin' luck as the Winchesters'. I've always admired the way that the boys keep fighting, many times in the face of apparently insurmountable odds. So serious is their work ethic, their sense of responsibility, that even their foes have learned not to bet against them. Bruce Hornsby's song "Fortunate Son" is inspired by the story of a Marine named Lewis Puller , who was the son of another legendary Marine. He followed his dad into service, and war, and lost both legs in Vietnam. His autobiography won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992. He tragically committed suicide in 1994, at age 48. The story definitely carries parallels to John and Dean -- the good son, following his father into battle, and suffering the painful consequences. There's no glory to be found in this service, the hunting life. Just pain, heartbreak and sacrifice. Always the sacrifice.  Read Bruce's fascinating ac...

Ahhhh, life on the road. There have been many songs written about the grind of touring, from the musician's perspective. Less common is a song from the perspective of a dad. When Bruce Hornsby wrote "Sunlight Moon," he was an older dad of young twins. (Bruce is 63... Russell and Keith -- named after famous piano players -- are now 26.) It's a touching look at the moment of saying goodbye, and how hard it is when the kiddos are at that age when they don't understand why Dad's going away, again. Our favorite three dads have kids who are just that age. They work away from home -- and then spend most weekends away too, catering to us, a different kind of family, at conventions. From some of the bad behavior I've read about since I joined this fandom, I think it's important for us, as fans, to understand and appreciate what Jensen, Jared and Misha are sacrificing.  Nothing helps me remember that more than this song. The song is attached...

Sharing music with my son is one of the best parts of our relationship... he has a real mind for music, and he appreciates its complexity. I was surprised to learn that, independent of me, he had gotten interested in the progressive metal band Dream Theater, which I had listened to often in college.  Each song is dense and dreamlike, but this one, "Metropolis Part 1, the Miracle and the Sleeper," is particularly rich.  So, with my son's interest piqued, I went back for myself and listened after many years... and of course, the parallels to "Supernatural" popped out at me right away. Three different ideas came from the lyrics of this prog metal opera, from different phases of Dean's life.  The song is featured below. Block out a little bit of time... it's a long one! (Extra credit: Count the different time signatures. Knocking the rhythm senseless is kind of a specialty of theirs... one of their songs has 81 time changes! This one is only ...

My son is a big fan of the metal band Trivium, and we scored tickets to their show a few weeks back...  Taking the boy (he's 13) to his first real metal concert brought some trepidation for his dad and me... but we were quickly surprised -- both by the friendly, caring tone of the band and its frontman, Matt Heafy , and the fun-loving, diversely aged crowd.  My husband and I weren't the oldest people in attendance, and their were far younger kids in the audience than my son. In all it was a massively entertaining good time (we had industrial-strength ear protection), and Trivium gained a couple of ardent new fans. Their song "Beyond Oblivion" is about runaway technological advancement and the peril it could place on humanity, but the more I listened, the more it sounded to me like an excellent parallel to the end of Season 10, and the beginning of 11, when Sam Winchester unleashes the Darkness upon the world to free his brother from the Mark of Cain. Aga...

Well, we all know  how well I was dealing with Michael!Dean, through the waning months of Season 13 and all of Hellatus. I didn't like it. I didn't want it. It terrified me. And now that it's obvious that the other shoe still hasn't dropped, I'm more scared than ever.  But we did get Dean back. And now it feels like we can at least be with him through whatever comes next. The Bruce Hornsby song "Michael Raphael" centers on the "bad angel, good angel on your shoulder" concept... "Remember those cartoons..." Bruce sings at the start of the song. Our Raphael isn't the good guy that Bruce sings about, but his Michael rings pretty true. It inspired me to make this. The original song is embedded below. Headphones or earbuds work best.

I used to listen to music a lot more. All the time, actually. Eventually, my favorite artist pretty much took over all my listening time: Bruce Hornsby. I've seen him in concert about a dozen times over the years, the first time as a young lass in 1987 at Jones Beach, N.Y. Because his music is so eclectic, and has changed so much over the years, I didn't feel like I needed anything else.  And that's exactly how I feel about "Supernatural." Eclectic, always surprising, constantly evolving, it has shut out other shows for me and now consumes my watching world.  But I did get back into listening to Mr. Hornsby. And now, thanks to Show, his songs take on a completely different meaning. I hope you enjoy "Invisible," featuring a young Sam Winchester. (The original song is embedded below. Headphones or earbuds are best.)