Sam and Dean get to the hospital and get to Bobby's room. They find Larissa sitting in a chair next to the bed and she's asleep with her head resting on her arms which rest at the end of the bed.
"Larissa?" Sam gently touches her shoulder, the young woman jumping awake.
"Hmm? What?" She looks around, spotting the two brothers. "Oh. Hey."
"What are you doing here?" Sam asks.
"Oh, um, I was working a case in the next state, but finished a couple of days ago. Bobby didn't answer his phone so I-I got worried. I called so much, the maid answered one and told me he was getting put here."
Before they can say anything else, the doctor walks in, briefing the boys on Bobby's situation.
"So, what's the diagnosis?" Sam asks.
"We've tested everything we can think to test. He seems perfectly healthy." The doctor says.
"Except that he's comatose." Dean says and the doctor nods.
"Mr. Snyderson, you're his emergency contact. Anything we should know? Any illnesses?" The doctor asks.
"No, he-he never gets sick. I mean, he doesn't even catch cold." Dean says.
"Doctor, is there anything you can do?" Sam asks.
"Look, I'm sorry, but we don't know what's causing it. So we don't know how to treat it. He just... went to sleep, and he didn't wake up." The doctor says.
Sam and Dean share a look while Larissa looks at Bobby sadly. After her own father, Bobby is like a second father to Larissa. And with her dad gone, he's the only one she has left.
+++
The three walk into Bobby's motel room.
"So, Bobby was working a case here?" Sam asks Larissa who nods.
"You think there'd be some sort of sign, you know? Research, news clippings, or a fucking pizza box or a beer can." Dean says.
"He hides it." Larissa states. She opens the closet and pushes all of Bobby's clothes aside to reveal his research.
"How did you--" Sam points to the closet.
"I've worked some cases with him. Know he puts it in the closet so if people accidentally walk in, they don't think he's totally psycho." Larissa says.
"Good ole Bobby, always covering up his tracks." Dean chuckles.
"You make heads or tails of any of this?" Sam asks.
""Silene capensis." Which, of course, means absolutely nothing to me." Dean says.
"Here. Obit." Sam takes an obituary off of the wall. "Dr. Walter Gregg, 64, university neurologist."
"How'd he bite it?" Dean asks.
"Um... actually, they don't know. They say he just went to sleep and didn't wake up." Sam says.
"Like Bobby." Larissa mumbles.
"Yeah." Sam whispers. "So, let's say Bobby was looking into the doc's death. You know, hunting after something--"
"That started hunting him." Dean says.
"Yeah." Sam nods.
"All right, stay here. See if you and Rissa can make heads or tails of this." Dean says.
"What are you gonna do?" Sam asks.
"I'm gonna look into the good doctor myself." Dean says, leaving.
Sam and Larissa study the research in silence for a little bit. Sam glances over at Larissa and notices her twisting the ends of her hair around her fingers.
"You okay?" Sam asks. Larissa snaps out of her trance, looking up at Sam.
"Hmm?" She asks and he raises his eyebrows in question. "Oh. I-- I'm fine." She nods.
"You sure?" Sam asks.
"Yeah, it-- I just, um... it's just a little hard. You know, Bobby and-and all." Larissa says.
"Right. Yeah, of course." Sam says. "He'll be okay. Bobby, uh... Bobby's probably one of the strongest people I know."
"Yeah." Larissa whispers, weakly smiling.
"I didn't realize you guys were so close." Sam says.
"Well, um... he always helped my parents with hunting. Taught them more stuff when he could. He's basically another dad... and given my dad is gone, I... I don't really wanna lose another one. Especially barely even a decade later."
"I get it." Sam says. He frowns when he notices her teary eyes and hears her small sniffle that she tries to cover up with a cough. Sam carefully reaches out and wraps an arm around her, pulling her to his chest.
When she hugs him back, Sam wraps his other arm around her, one hand cradling her head to his chest. His chin rests on top of her head, his other hand rubbing her back.
+++
Sam and Larissa walk into Bobby's hospital room where Dean is sitting. He turns and sees them.
"How is he?" Sam asks.
"No change. What you got?" Dean asks. Larissa looks at Bobby sadly as her and Sam stand at the foot of the bed, Dean joining them.
"Well, considering what you told me about the doc's experiments..." Sam sighs. "Bobby's wall is starting to make a hell of a lot more sense."
"How so?" Dean asks.
"This plan, Silene Capensis, is also known as African Dream Root. It's been used by shaman and medicine men for centuries." Sam says.
"Let me guess. They dose up, bust out the didgeridoos, start kicking around the hackey." Dean says.
"Not quite. If you believe the legends, it's used for dreamwalking. I mean, entering another person's dreams, poking around in their heads." Sam says.
"I take it we believe legends." Dean says.
"When don't we? But dreamwalking is just the tip of the iceberg."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, this dream root is some serious mojo. You take enough of it, with practice, you can become a regular Freddy Krueger."
"You can control anything. You could turn bad dreams good. You could turn good dreams bad."
"And killing people in their sleep?"
"For example. So, let's say, uh, let's say this doc was testing this stuff on his patients. Tim Leary style."
"Somebody gets pissed at him, decides to give him a little dream visit, he goes nighty night."
"But what about Bobby? I mean, if the killer came after him, how come he's still alive?"
"I don't know."
They're leaving Bobby's hospital room and still talking about the case.
"So how do we find our homicidal sandman?" Dean asks.
"Could be anyone." Sam says.
"Yeah?" Dean asks.
"Yeah." Sam and Larissa both nod.
"Anyone who knew the doctor, had access to his dream shrooms." Dean says.
"Maybe one of his test subjects or something?" Sam suggests.
"Possible. but his research was pretty sketchy. I mean... I don't know how many subjects he had or who all of them were." Dean says and Sam scoffs. "What?"
"In any other case, we'd be calling Bobby and asking him for help right now." Sam says.
Dean grabs Sam's arm to stop him from walking and Larissa also stops.
"You know what? You're right." Dean says.
"What?" Sam asks.
"Let's go talk to him." Dean says.
"Did we just walk out of the same hospital room?" Larissa asks.
"Sure. I think we might find the conversation a bit one sided." Sam says.
"not if we're tripping on some dream root." Dean says.
"What?" Sam asks.
"You heard me."
"You wanna go dreamwalking inside Bobby's head?"
"Yeah. Why not? Maybe we could help."
"We have no idea what's crawling around in there."
"Well, how bad could it be?"
"Bad."
"Dude, it's Bobby."
"Yeah, you're right. One problem, though. We're fresh out of African Dream Root, so unless you know someone who can score some..."
"Crap."
"What?"
"Bela."
"Bela? Crap." Sam scoffs. "You're actually suggesting we ask her for a favor?"
"I'm feeling dirty just thinking about it, but, yeah." Dean says.
+++
Larissa and Dean are sitting in the motel and Sam is asleep at the desk. Larissa and Dean look up when they hear moaning, both turning to Sam who is responsible for it. As he continues to moan, Dean gets more amused, and Larissa gets more uncomfortable, feeling like she shouldn't be there.
"Sam. Sam!" Dean calls. "Sam! Wake up." Sam sits up, his back still to the other two. Dean chuckles, glancing at Larissa who is grimacing.
"Dude, you were out. And making some serious happy noises." Dean says. "Who were you dreaming about?"
"What? No one. Nothing." Sam answers.
"C'mon, you can tell me. Angelina Jolie?" Dean asks.
"No." Sam answers.
"Brad Pitt?"
"No. No! Dude, it doesn't matter."
"Ah, was it, um... was it somebody in this room?" Dean asks with a smirk.
"No! No." Sam quickly answers. "No. Dude, shut up."
"Whatever." Dean lets the topic go.
"Whatever." Sam mumbles.
"I called Bela." Dean states.
"Bela? Yeah? She-- what'd she... you know, say? She gonna... help us?" Sam asks awkwardly.
"Shockingly, no, which puts us back to square one. I've been trying to decipher the doctor's notes. Unfortunately, he has worse handwriting than you do." Dean says. "You gonna come help us with this stuff?"
"Yeah, yeah. Just give me a sec." Sam says.
"I'm, um... gonna go hang out in the bathroom to let you... you know, cool off. Cause this is... very awkward." Larissa grabs some papers and goes into the bathroom, shutting the door, and sits on the floor to read through the notes.
"Think she's going to dream about you now?" Dean asks with a small laugh.
"Shut up, Dean." Sam snaps.
There's a knock on the door and Dean gets up, going over to it. He cracks it open before giving Sam a look. He opens the door and Bela walks in.
"Bela. As I live and breathe." Dean says.
"You called me. Remember?" Bela asks.
Larissa hears her voice and leaves the bathroom, obviously not expecting the woman who disagreed to help to show up.
"I remember you turning me down." Dean says.
"Well, I'm just full of surprises." Bela says.
"Hey, Bela. What's going on?" Sam greets.
"I brought you your African Dream Root." Bela states, handing a jar to Dean. "Nasty stuff, and not easy to come by."
"Why the sudden change of heart?" Dean asks.
"What? I can't do you a little favor now and again?" Bela questions.
"No. You can't." Dean says. "Come on, I wanna know what the strings are before you attach them."
"You said this was for Bobby Singer, right?" Bela asks and Dean nods. "Well, I'm doing it for him. Not you."
"Bobby? Why?"
"He saved my life once. In Flagstaff. I screwed up and he saved me, okay? You satisfied?"
"Maybe."
"So when do we go on this little magical mystery tour?"
"Oh, you're not going anywhere. I don't trust you enough to let you in my car, much less Bobby's head. No offense."
"None taken. It's 2 AM. Where am I supposed to go?"
"Get a room. Ah, they got the magic fingers, a little casa erotica on pay-per-view. You'll love it."
"You..." Bela glares at Dean. She grabs her coat and purse, storming out.
"Nice to see-- seeing you..." Bela slams the door shut. "Bela." Sam awkwardly finishes.
"Oh, my God." Larissa seems to realize something. "Really?" She asks Sam.
"I-- no, it-- I-- just--- hi." He awkwardly stumbles over his words. Larissa stares at him suspiciously.
"Were there more than two people in your dream?" She asks.
"Uh..." Sam doesn't answer.
"Oh, my God!" Larissa exclaims.
"Sam, you sly dog." Dean chuckles, patting his brother on the back.
"It was a dream, Dean." Sam says.
"Oh! Oh, God. Ugh." Larissa grimaces slightly.
"Can you-- can you not say those words, please?" Sam asks, fidgeting a little.
"Just so you know, I am never having a threesome in real life. With anybody." Larissa states. "So don't think about making that a reality."
"Noted." Sam nods. "But technically, it-it wasn't a threesome. Just a... just a very long dream. One after the other... and then maybe both of you at-at the end a little. So, technically--"
"Oh, my God." Larissa whispers.
"Well, hey, she didn't say anything about getting her alone." Dean says. Larissa and Sam both glare at Dean, their cheeks tomato red. "What?" He asks innocently.
"You both suck!" Larissa exclaims, storming into the bathroom to get away from them.
"Usually it's the girl that sucks." Dean remarks.
"Dude!" Sam hits his brother's arm.
"Ow!" Dean whines.
~ ~ ~
Sam walks over to the two beds, Larissa and Dean sitting on one. Sam gives Dean his glass of African Dream Root before giving one to Larissa, making sure to avoid all eye contact with her.
"Uh, should we dim the lights and sync up Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon?" Dean asks jokingly. Larissa quietly laughs as she gets it.
"Why?" Sam asks, confused.
"What did you do during college?" Dean asks. Sam still looks confused. Dean goes to take a drink, but Sam stops him.
"Wait, wait, wait. Can't forget this." Sam pulls out a small envelope. He pulls something out, giving some of it to Dean and Larissa.
"What the hell is that?" Dean asks, looking at the stuff in his hand.
"Bobby's hair." Sam states.
"We have to drink Bobby's hair?" Dean asks.
"That's how you control whose dream you're entering. You gotta... drink some of their, uh, some of their body." Sam says.
"Well, guess the hair of the dog is better than other parts of the body." Dean says.
"Don't even put that thought in my head, please." Larissa says, dropping Bobby's hair into the drink. She quickly downs it, grimacing at the taste.
"Bottoms up." Dean says.
"Yeah." Sam says. The brothers clink their glasses before drinking it.
"Feel anything?" Dean asks.
"Nope." Larissa shakes her head.
"No. You feel anything?" Sam asks his brother.
"No." Dean answers. "Maybe we got some bad shwag."
"Hey, when did it start raining?" Sam asks and Dean looks over at the window. He gets up, walking over to it.
"When did it start raining upside down?" Dean asks. Larissa looks at the window, seeing the rain drops trail up the window.
They look around and are suddenly no longer in the motel room and are now in a house.
"Okay, I don't know what's weirder. The fact that we're in Bobby's head... or that he's dreaming of Better Homes and Gardens." Dean says.
"Wait. Wait a sec. Imagine this place, uh, without the paint job. More cluttered, dusty, books all over the place." Sam says.
"It's Bobby's house." Dean realizes.
"Yeah." Sam nods.
"Bobby?!" Dean calls. They walk around, trying to find Bobby or anything helpful.
"Bobby?" Sam calls out in a loud whisper. "Dean? I'm gonna go look outside."
"No, no, no, stay close." Dean says.
"Dude, I'll be fine. Just look around in here. Look, we gotta find him." Sam says.
"I'll go with him to calm your mother hen heart down." Larissa tells Dean.
"Don't do anything stupid." Dean says. "Or anything that happened in that dream earlier."
"Dean!" Sam hisses.
Sam and Larissa open the door, walking onto the porch. It's suddenly a bright, clear sky day and it doesn't match what outside of Bobby's house looks like. They continue to observe the beautiful setting, both spinning around when the door slams shut.
"Dean!" Sam calls, trying to open the door, but it doesn't budge. He walks to the window and bangs on it. "Dean!"
"Well, that isn't good." Larissa comments.
"Come on." Sam says, the two walking down the porch and walking around, trying to find anything. They walk by sheets that are hung up and drying. Sam turns around, hit over the head. Larissa flinches at the noise of something hitting something and turns to see Jeremy holding a bat and Sam on the ground.
"Sam?" She kneels next to him. "Hey, hey." She looks at him concerned.
"I'm fine." He mutters, looking up at Jeremy who stands over them. "Who are you?" He asks. Sam manages to sit up a little and moves in front of Larissa. He loses a little strength, his back resting on her lap.
"Who are you? You don't belong here. Neither of you do." Jeremy states.
"You're one to talk. You're in our friend's head." Sam says.
"You got a poor choice in friends. This is self defense. He came after me. He wanted to hurt me." Jeremy says.
"That may be because you're a killer." Sam says.
"You should be nicer to me. In here... you're just an insect. I'm a god." Jeremy states. "Sweet dreams." Jeremy raises the bat.
Sam pulls his arm up to protect his head and Larissa gets up to stop Jeremy. But before he can swing, the two hunters, along with Dean, jump awake and are back in the motel.
+++
"So, uh, stoner boy wasn't in his dorm. My guess is he's long gone by now." Sam says, him and Larissa walking into Bobby's hospital room.
"He ain't much of a stoner." Bobby says.
"No?" Dean asks.
"No. His name's Jeremy Frost. Full on genius. 160 IQ. Which is sayin' something, considering his dad took a baseball bat to his head." Bobby says. "Here's father of the year." He shows Sam and Larissa a copy of the dad's driver's license.
"He died before Jeremy was 10." Bobby says.
"Looks like a real sweetheart." Sam sarcastically remarks.
"Injury gave him Charcot-Wilbrand. He hasn't dreamt since." Bobby says.
"Till he started dosing the dream drug." Dean says.
"Yep." Bobby nods.
"How'd he know how to dig up your worst nightmare and throw it at you?" Dean asks.
"Hey, he was rooting around in my skull. God knows what he saw in there." Bobby says.
"Yeah. How'd he get in there in the first place? Isn't he supposed to have some of your hair, your DNA, or something?" Sam asks.
"Yeah. Before I knew it was him, he offered me a beer. I drank it. Dumbest friggin' thing." Bobby says.
"Oh, I don't know. It wasn't that dumb." Dean nervously laughs.
"Dean, you didn't." Sam says.
"I was thirsty." Dean says.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Larissa groans and Dean helplessly shrugs.
"That's great. Now he can come after either one of you." Sam says.
"Well, now we just have to find him first." Dean says.
"We better work fast... and coffee up. Because the one thing we cannot do is fall asleep." Bobby states.
+++
They managed to take down Jeremy two days later since Sam took dream root to get in Dean's head when his older brother refused to stay up any longer. Sam got in Jeremy's head, his father showing up, and it gave Sam the chance to take Jeremy down.
Dean is on his phone while Larissa sits on the bed and Sam and Bobby get back.
"Hey, you guys seen Bela? She's not in her room. She's not answering her phone." Dean says.
"She must've taken off or something." Sam shrugs.
"Just like that? It's a little weird." Dean says.
"Yeah, well, if you ask me, what's weird is why she helped us in the first place." Bobby says.
"I thought you saved her life." Dean says.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Bobby asks.
"The thing in Flagstaff." Dean says.
"That thing in Flagstaff was an amulet. I gave her a good deal, that's all." Bobby says.
"Well, then why did--?" Sam asks.
"You boys better check your pockets." Bobby says. Sam and Dean go through their jeans and jackets. "Not literally."
Dean goes over to the closet and opens the safe, finding the colt gone.
"The colt. Bela stole the colt." Sam states.
"Damn it, boys!" Bobby exclaims.
"Pack your crap." Dean orders.
"Why? Where are we going?" Sam asks.
"We're gonna go hunt the bitch down." Dean states.