Chapter One

Dean Winchester drummed his fingers nervously against the arm of the crummy plastic chair he was sitting on. The woman seated across from him gave him a look as if to say 'Buddy, I'm nine months pregnant and anything can push me over the edge right now…and I think your incessant tapping might just be it.' He smiled and weakly and shifted his fingers from the armrest to this thigh.

"Okay, we're all checked in," Cas Novak said as he settled into the chair next to his partner. He frowned as he watched Dean's digits dance across the top of his leg. "Anna just texted me. She parked the car and is on her way up," he added, his eyes still fixed on Dean's hand. "What exactly are you doing?"

"What if the baby has an extra head or something?" Dean whispered, ignoring Cas' question (or maybe he hadn't even heard it).

Cas lifted an eyebrow. "Why would the baby have an extra head?" he asked (as if this was a perfectly legitimate question).

"Anna is your sister," Dean pointed out. "Stuff like that can get all genetically weird."

"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there," Cas said gently. He grasped Dean's hand in his own, momentarily ceasing the drumming (and earning Cas a smile from the mother to be). "You do know that Anna is only carrying the baby, right? She's not actually the baby's mother."

Dean tried to wiggle his hand free, but to no avail (Cas might appear slight, but he was strong). "Something could have gone wrong…gotten mixed up," he insisted.

"This isn't a sci-fi movie, sweetheart," Cas said with a bit of a chuckle.

Dean scowled. "Yeah, that's it…laugh. When the baby comes out with an extra foot we'll see who's laughing then," he replied, wiggling his hand again.

"I thought it was an extra head you were concerned about," Cas said, trying to hide his smile (and failing miserably).

When Dean was finally able to break his hand free he crossed his arms over his chest and chose not to answer his partner. Instead he looked around the OBGYN's office. The walls were filled with photos of happy mothers and smiling babies. The tables were littered with pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing magazines. Women of all ages sat in the waiting room in various states of pregnancy.

Never in a hundred (make that a million) years did Dean ever think he'd be in a place like this. He and Cas had met their freshman year of college. They were both studying business and found they had a majority of their classes together. Since they got on so well they deiced to room together the following school year.

Though they were good friends, the spring semester of their sophomore year changed everything. Dean had just gone through a break up (a little blonde thing named Chevy). He wasn't feeling particularly bad about…in fact it was kind of a relief. She was high maintenance and not exactly the brightest crayon in the box (in fact Dean and Cas had spent most of winter break making fun of her via text). Cas insisted they go out for drinks to mourn the loss (or maybe to celebrate …come to think of it). One drink led to another and another until the two found themselves back in their dorm wearing nothing more than a smile.

When Dean woke up the next morning he was worried things would be awkward, but they weren't. Cas leaned over, gave Dean a kiss, and asked where they should go for breakfast. It was just natural for them to be together. And together they had been for the past decade, as both a couple as well as owners and operators of The Roadhouse Bar & Grill.

Life was simple. Life was good. That was until Cas started bringing up the idea of expanding their family beyond the two of them. Dean told him he really didn't want a dog, but his partner wasn't referring to a canine.

A baby. Cas wanted a frikkin' baby! A crying-eating-pooping machine. It wasn't that he didn't want a family with Cas. It was more the idea of being responsible for someone else that scared Dean. And it's not like he had a great example in John Winchester. Cas pointed out that he had done a wonderful job raising his younger brother, Sam. But the thing with that was Sam was an adult now and though Dean still looked out for him he wasn't really HIS to worry about anymore. Sam was a lawyer, he was married…he had his own life going on. A baby of your own was something you were responsible for…forever.

Dean finally agreed to give it a go (after months of discussions, arguments, and one really persuasive power point presentation). He figured with having to decide between adoption vs. surrogacy and all the other nuisances of making a kid he'd have at least a year to get his head clear. Wrong. While Dean has been hemming and hawing Cas had been researching, reading, and talking to people about the best methods. In the end, they decided to go with Cas' sister, Anna, as the surrogate, a donor egg, and Cas as the baby's biological father. And of course Cas' swimmers were amazing (much like the man himself) and BOOM just like that Anna was carrying their child.

When the door to the doctor's office swung open and Anna's shock of red hair came into Dean's field of vision he was brought back to the reality of the situation.

He was really going to be a dad.