Dean was awake, showered, dressed and lacing up his boots before the sun even peeked over the horizon the next morning. His mind was mostly clear; he knew what he had to do. Dean just grunted when Sam asked him in a bleary voice if he wanted his moral support at the clinic this morning. It wasn't until he was flying down the road in the Impala with Kansas blaring over the speakers, that he realized he was about two hours too early. Great.

Without so much as blinking, Dean swerved sharply to the other side of the road where he saw a diner; He didn't even pay attention when he cut off another driver, and didn't hear their horn blaring angrily at him. He walked into the diner in a daze, and sat down at the counter.

"Bad morning?" The pretty waitress smiled at him, and he couldn't even muster up a smile in return. He could only nod as she held up the decanter full of hot coffee, and he forced himself to get lost in it's comforting warmth. Yeah, just like you got lost in Sheila's comforting warmth, which landed you here in the first place. It was shell shock, it had to be. Dean had never been prone to shock before, but this whole thing was new territory for him. He wasn't sure how it was all going to work out, but he never shirked responsibility. He must have sat there staring at the counter for a good twenty minutes before he gave himself a mental kick. The waitress must have given him a refill twice already, and he didn't even look up.

The coffee was hot, near scalding, but that didn't stop Dean from gulping it down. He stood up with new purpose and threw a couple of bills on the counter. In seconds, he was back on the road. Having decided to face this thing, he just had to tackle it. If he had to be a father, then he would be a good father. After all, he had practically raised Sammy and he was good at protecting him. A bubble of hope rose inside of him, but almost instantly popped. He suddenly knew he wasn't cut out for this. Raised Sammy? Sure, but look what happened there. He couldn't keep the kid straight, couldn't keep him safe. It was back to square one with Dean's emotions.

Dean was so lost in his own thoughts, that he didn't even notice that he'd already arrived at the clinic. Not that it mattered, it was still too early for it to be open. He sat there wrestling with his inner demons, as it were. Who knows how long he sat there.

There was a sharp tap on his driver window, which made Dean almost jump out of his skin. He rolled down the window while inwardly cursing himself for not paying attention to his surroundings.

"Dean Winchester?" The woman with dark curly hair and a white lab coat asked with a smile. Dean gathered his nerves and smiled back. He stepped out from the car,

"Yes. You must be Sheila's friend Margaret?" Dean held out a nervous hand to shake. Margaret laughed a little when she shook his sweaty hand and said,

"Don't be so nervous there, buddy. It's not like we're testing you for HIV." Dean was immediately put at ease. Now this woman he could get along with. Not that he had any business getting along with any woman, considering his current predicament. Margaret beckoned him to the door of the lab, which she unlocked. It only took her a moment to flick on a few lights and lead Dean into the lab room. Dean sat in one rolling chair, and she the other. Margaret gathered the few supplies she would need with a practiced ease.

"Okay, I'll just need to get a sample from you, then you'll know the results this afternoon." She waited with a test tube in her hand, and expectantly looked to Dean. The man in question stared at her. It only took a moment for him to gain his cool as he cocked up one eyebrow and turned on the charm.

"What kind of sample?" He teased. Margaret laughed again, her ruby red lips pulling back to show all her teeth.

"Relax! It's just a mouth swab, for God's sake." Margaret was right. Dean had decided to play this whole thing cool, and just take it one step at a time. That's right, just get it together. This isn't like you at all. Handle this like a man at least, Dean. His inner monologue almost sounded like John right now.

Margaret pulled a long Q-tip from the test tube and poised over Dean to swab his mouth. Dean opened up and allowed her to perform the test. He didn't believe that it could be this easy. She popped the sample back into the test tube and carefully labeled it.

"Alright, we're all set. Like I said, you'll have the results by this afternoon." Dean just nodded and stayed where he was. He was honestly intending to just wait in that very spot until the results came in. Margaret looked at him pointedly until he got the hint to get up and leave.

After grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair and shrugging into it, he knew that there was only one thing to do. The engine of his baby roared to life and he spun the tires wildly just getting out of the parking lot. He had a one track mind at the moment, and it didn't take him long to end back up in the driveway where all this started.

Dean only hesitated a moment before knocking firmly on the door. He reasoned with himself that it probably wasn't too early. He wasn't yet prepared when the door was flung open.

"Keep it down, would ya? My mom is sleeping!" The girl at the door made Dean's heart freeze in his chest. He saw his own features, feminized, and Sheila's features, miniaturized. Somehow the two of their looks were blended into one beautiful girl. He used to despise people who picked out someone's features in a baby; Grandma's chin, Mom's eyes, Uncle Tommy's smile. He understood it now. Dean saw his own lips paired with a strong jaw, and Sheila's beautiful wide eyes. He was snapped out of his reverie by Valerie's sharp tone,

"Are you going to come in, or just stand there with a dumb look on your face?" Oh yeah, and Dean's attitude was prevalent as well. He cleared his throat awkwardly and stepped inside. Suddenly the collar on his shirt felt much too tight, and his leather jacket was much too hot. The strong hunter who ran into metaphorical (and literal) burning buildings for a living had the sudden urge to down a bottle of booze to numb his emotions. He cleared his throat again and pulled at his shirt.

"Well, uh, I guess you know," He began, stuttering all the while. He could really use that drink right about now. The girl in front of him was shooting daggers with the look she was giving him.

"I know who you are and why you're here." At least it was to the point. Dean moved slowly over to the couch as if he were in the same room with a wild animal; a preteen girl is practically the same thing. He sat down gingerly and put his elbows on his knees.

"So tell me about yourself." It seemed like a safe place to start. Valerie flicked her long blonde hair behind her shoulder and sat down opposite Dean on the loveseat.

"Well, let's see, where do I start here?" There was just a hint of acid to her voice, but Dean didn't catch the warning in time, "Oh yeah, my mom is dying of cancer. I'll be left all alone with some one-night-stand homeless loser; Ripped away from all my friends and the only life I've ever known, all because my absent 'father' didn't know how to keep it in his pants."

Dean laughed mirthlessly and instantly lost all of his previous unease. Attitude he could handle.

"Well, gee, why don't you tell me how you really feel?" He retorted. He wasn't really being snarky, he was just showing that he was tough enough to handle what the girl was dishing out. Valerie bristled up at his comment, but was cut off when Sheila shuffled into the living room.

"I see you two have become acquainted." She gave them both a small smile. She had no illusions, and didn't expect them to bond so quickly. She knew that they'd be good for each other when the time came. They'd keep each other on their toes. They were so alike, how could they not be right for each other?

Valerie jumped right up when her mom came into the room, and helped her over to a chair to sit down. Dean hadn't even noticed before how weak Sheila really was. He felt a sharp pang of… Guilt? Heartache? Pity? It was all he could do to keep from crumbling from the inside out. Valerie carefully covered Sheila with a blanket and brought her some coffee from the kitchen. Valerie's tender care for her mother touched Dean's heart in a big way, even though he would probably never admit it.

The rest of the morning flew by too fast, but it was pleasant. Dean stayed, they all talked, and the angsty girl seemed to have run out of scathing remarks. Dean could see that Valerie was hurting, but she put on a brave face for her mom. She was really like him after all. Even when Sheila had to lay back down for a nap a couple hours later, the tension wasn't unbearable. The duo talked about safe, mundane, things and that was just how they both wanted it. They weren't even really getting to know each other, it was more like they were just getting used to each other.

Dean started looking through some takeout menu's for something to order for everyone's dinner, when his phone started buzzing in his jacket pocket. He picked up the phone and answered in his usual fashion,

"Yeah." It was Margaret from the clinic, with the test results. Dean interrupted her before she said anything else, "You know what, it's okay. Just keep the paperwork on file for later." He sat the phone back down and continued what he was doing. Dean didn't need some test results to know what he already saw in front of him...That he was a father now.

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A/N: Thanks for reading, everyone! There's lots more to come, so stick with me! Thanks to my wonderful Beta reader, KayValo87 who made this chapter go smoothly.