I'm sure you already know that this is Alethea with chapter 4! Thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows, and go ahead and keep 'em coming! Bear with me through this mammoth of a chapter! Enjoy!
Cas's pregnancy is pretty normal. We'd already figured out that the baby is due in early April, eight and a half months from now (Cas isn't an archangel, so even though the baby is going to be a Nephilim, it's full term), but now there are so many decisions to make!
We have to decide where to live, if we're going to raise the baby as a hunter, and a name.
The first one is easy, because I doubt that you can buy a house on credit card fraud. We're going to live in the Men of Letters bunker, which will be good if we need help from Sam, Mom, or Gabe.
The second one is a little harder. We fight over it a lot, but nothing ever gets resolved, so we put it aside, deciding to focus on names for now.
"So, our baby needs a name," I tell Cas one night as we take a break from reading up on vetalas. Sam and I used to have a system in which he did research and I seduced chicks into talking. When Cas started staying in the hotel rooms with us, becoming our partner instead of just the person we called for additional research or manpower. Cas ruined the system, insisting that I do research as well. "What are you thinking?"
"I would like to name the baby after one of my siblings," he states definitively. He leans back in his chair, hands drifting naturally to his stomach the way they've started doing. Cas begged to hunt until he physically can't, mostly so he won't be away from me, so I agreed to make him happy.
"What will that entail?" I question, unsure of how much I want my baby named after an angel.
"I like the names Arariel, Ezekiel, Hesediel, and Netzach," he tells me.
"Sure," I agree hastily, still not sold. I have some suggestions of my own. "What about John? Or Robert? Benjamin, Kevin, James, Henry?"
"For a girl, Dina, Hanna, or Ariel, maybe," he suggests.
"Those are better," I tell him, nodding. "I kinda like Joanna, Emily, Alyssa, Charlie, Sara, Rosie, or Cecelia."
"What about Mandi?" Cas interjects. "For Amanda, because she's helping us so much by allowing me to inhabit her body to carry our child."
"I'll think about it."
By the end of our conversation, we've decided on Ezekiel, John, and Henry for a boy, Joanna, Mandi, and Hanna for a girl. Cas tried to talk me into Ariel, after the angel of nature, but I will not name my child after the little mermaid.
With that decided, we're forced to go back to the hunting argument.
"Cas, I will NOT raise my baby the way I was raised!" I shout at him.
"But our baby could be a hero," Cas argues.
"Or it could kill people!" I take a breath, begging Cas to understand. "Cas, Baby, you have to realize just how many people I've had to kill. Not just monsters, either, but sometimes there are humans that I can't save! I don't want that kind of guilt for my baby."
"Think of all the people you've saved, think of that for our baby!" He protests.
"And what about the people who've died? What about Amy, or any of the other monsters, all the decent people, that I didn't need to kill and did?" I remind him. "What about Randy?"
"You had the Mark of Cain!" He counters. "You weren't in control of yourself!"
"But I've still done bad things when it was just me, Cas!" I sink into the bed, my head in my hands. "Do you think I don't wake up every day regretting it?"
"Dean, our baby could be great, our daughter could help people!"
"What?" I gasp.
"Our daughter could help people," he repeats.
"Our…daughter?"
"Yeah," he answers softly. "Our daughter is going to help people."
"How long have you known that we're having a girl?" I ask, putting my hand on his stomach lightly, the stomach that's holding my baby girl.
"I didn't realize I did," he answers, placing his hand over mine, leaning his head on my shoulder while sitting next to me on the bed. "It just…came out, but I can feel that it's true. We're having a little girl."
"We're having a little girl," I repeat. "A little girl. Our little girl."
Cas lets out a happy breath. "Our little girl. And I will train her to be a hunter if you won't."
"Cas, she's going to be safe. She's not going to be in danger like Sammy and I were," I tell him.
"So, if something attacks her, we're going to tell her that it's her imagination?"
"Nothing's going to attack her!" I nearly yell, already sure that I will protect my baby girl with my life.
"Dean, she's not any more likely to get attacked if she knows what she's up against," he reminds me. "Dean, she could be great."
"I know. And she will be." I hug him, giving up reluctantly. No relationship works if you can't compromise.
"As a hunter?"
"As a hunter," I agree.
And that's how baby Hanna/Joanna/Mandi became a hunter. But apparently, hunter babies need to eat a lot.
"Dean!"
Something shoves me again and I realize it's an elbow. Lately, six-month-pregnant Cas has been getting crazy pregnancy cravings, mostly in the middle of the night. I'm a good husband, and I try my hardest to cater to Cas's needs.
I roll over, still half asleep. "What do you need, Baby?" I do my best to blink the sleep out of my eyes, peering at Cas through the dark.
"I would like a burger," he informs me.
"Comin' right up," I swing my legs out of bed. "What'd you want on it, cheese, tomatoes, onions, barbecue sauce? I can fry up some bacon if you want. And I'm gonna put mine between two donuts, what'd you think?"
"I would like a veggie burger with lettuce and tomato," he tells me.
I search my husband's face for signs that he's joking. I find none, but Cas has a hell of a poker face. I decide it's safe to laugh.
"Yeah, sure," I agree. "Tell me what you really want, Baby."
"I am serious, Dean." He certainly looks it as he repeats his previous statement, "I would like a veggie burger with lettuce and-"
"No, I heard you the first time,"' I tell him as the color drains from my face. "Baby, do you feel ok?"
"I feel fine, Dean," he informs me, looking confused. "Just hungry."
"For a veggie burger?" I ask, still not believing my ears.
"Yes, Dean."
I take a deep breath.
"I think we need to get divorced."
It takes five couples counselling sessions to resolve that one.
But it does get resolved, and Cas's pregnancy progresses normally. We hunt, we feel Hanna/Joanna/Mandi kick, we watch Sam and Gabriel get married. Things are pretty good.
"Dean!" Cas stands with difficulty, his belly quite round as he struggles to get up from the chair he sank into. "I was just praying."
"To God?" I ask, confused. "He's not even on the planet."
"He was not on this planet until he was Chuck," Cas informs me. "Heaven is a realm that exists by itself, independent of Earth."
"Ok," I agree instantly, not quite sure what that means. "So, you were praying to God?"
"No. I was praying to my brother Sandalphon," he replies, as though praying to a guy named Sandal is totally normal.
"Sorry, Sandal?" I snort, unable to contain my laughter.
"Sandalphon, yes," he says with his trademark Cas straight face. "I do not understand your amusement, Dean."
"His name is Sandal," I let out between guffaws. "God is a horrible parent! Who names their kid Sandal?"
"Sandals were not yet invented, Dean," he reminds me, wincing as a shape moves across his belly. "Sandalphon is the angel of unborn babies, and I pray to him for watch over our daughter."
"Good," I answer, sane again. Then the laughter sets back in. "Sandal!"
But may Sandal-whatever protect my baby girl.
She certainly causes a lot of trouble, though. I never anticipated how much strain it puts on a relationship to have a baby. That's demonstrated when Cas and I have our biggest argument yet.
"I can't be a father, Cas! I tortured people in hell, I broke the first seal, I-I…I've killed people, Cas. We don't want a baby to have my DNA."
"What about me, Dean?" Cas asks angrily. "I would like to have this baby."
"Well, if I can't have a baby, you certainly can't. You opened purgatory, resulting in me ending up there, which I never blamed you for, by the way, but you let the leviathans out, which led to Bobby dying, Cas!"
Cas takes a deep breath. "Then maybe it is not that you do not want a baby, it is that you do not want a baby with me."
I run my fingers through my hair.
"I will leave." Cas turns to go. "Goodbye, Dean."
"No, Cas, I didn't mean that," I say hastily, trying to 'calm down'. I pull Cas toward me. "No, Cas. I married you, and I chose to have a baby with you."
"But I opened purgatory. I let out the leviathans." Cas starts to cry (pregnancy hormones). "I got Bobby killed. Bobby was like your father."
"And now you're my baby's father." I hug Cas. "Baby, shh, don't cry. It's ok. I didn't mean it."
"I'm sorry, Dean."
"I know, Baby. It's ok." I lift Cas's chin so that he's looking at me. "Hey, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Baby."
"Dean, you are really…not mad?" he asks softly.
"I was, for a minute. But no, Baby. I love you, ok? More than I could ever possibly be angry at you." I kiss him again. "Cas, we've both done some bad things, but our baby? Our little girl is going to be as strong and good as she is smart and beautiful."
"She cannot be everything, Dean," Cas reminds me.
"Sure, she can. She's a Nephilim, isn't she, and besides that, she's a Winchester."
Cas lays his head on my shoulder.
"Dean, she's kicking," he informs me.
I put my hand on Cas's stomach. "She's pretty strong, isn't she?"
"She will a good hunter."
"Yeah, she will, Cas." I wrap my arms around him. "What should we train her in first, vamps, werewolves, demons, or ghosts?"
"What about angels?" Cas suggests.
"She'll learn that by immersion, she'll be living with one."
All in all, Cas being pregnant wasn't terrible.
-Alright, what'd you think of Destiel's pregnancy? Remember, my prompt is still up and I'm waiting for baby names. I have the next few chapters all written, but I really want to hear from you guys, so I'm not posting until at least one more person responds to the prompt so Baby Destiel has a name.
Answer my prompt!
