Coming out of the bathroom Dean sighed, "well today I am officially six months pregnant and if I have go to the bathroom one more time I am going to scream' he assed as he began to make his way to the bed.
"Boy this is gonna be fun"
Sam looked up from his laptop to see his brother looking warily at his bed. He watched with a sympathetic smile as Dean slowly eased himself onto the bed holding one hand under his abdomen and using the other to push himself into a more comfortable position.
Closing the laptop Sam walked over to the side of Dean's bed, where the older Winchester was pondering over some research.
"Dean we have been searching for this poltergeist for over a week now now, I think its time to give up. Besides Holly said you need to rest, I don't think hunting is the best way to bring down your blood pressure"
"My blood pressure will go down when I know that son of a bitch is gone forever Sam. Besides I think I got something."
"What"
"Alfred Rudder, died in 1786 says in the report he was a schizophrenic had an episode and hung his wife before offing himself the same way"
"So where do we go?"
"His old farm 200 miles north, dude it's just a routine salt and burn"
OoOoOoOoOoO
5 hours later Dean stood and watched as the last flames licked the sides of the grave. Moments later Sam appeared with a shovel.
"Would you look at that sucker burn."
"Watch out I'm gonna' start filling it in"
"Need a hand" Dean pleaded, "I've done nothing all night"
Sam shook his head
"Alright then I will just grab the duffel bag from inside"
OoOoOoOoOoO
Entering the dusty house Dean headed for the kitchen where the duffel bag was sitting on an old wooden table.
"Smells like dead in here, wouldn't you say little guy"
Dean was reaching for the bag when a wooden chair flew from the darkness. Managing to duck just in time he grabbed the bag and begun to run for the door. It was in sight when a force threw him against the wall. Unable to stop his imminent fall, Dean went crashing straight into a wooden cabinet before hitting the ground.
Suddenly a young lady appeared above him. Grabbing the collar of his shirt she pulled him up to standing, putting his hand over his stomach as he prepared to be thrown again he closed his eyes. Then he did the only thing he could,
"Sam!!"
A loud bang reverberated off the walls as the shotgun fired, Dean falling back to the ground as the ghost disappeared in a shower of rock salt.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Sam came running the moment he heard the crash. He knew it was not his vision-the house was not alike nor was Dean far enough along in the pregnancy. But all the same something was wrong.
He was at the stairs when a second, louder, crash rang out, and he heard his brother calling his name.
Running into the living room Sam assessed the situation for a mere second before pulling the shotgun and firing into the monsters head.
His heart skipped a beat as he knelt down to his brother who was sitting upright against the wall, holding his stomach and breathing heavily.
His face was pained as Sam helped him off the ground.
"Dean, are you ok? Are you hurting? What happened?..." Sam flustered before Dean cut him off.
"Calm down, I think I'm ok. Apart from my back nothing really hurts, my stomach doesn't hurt or anything."
"Are you sure?"
"If something was wrong with the baby wouldn't Holly be here?"
Sam sighed, "you're right. Lets get out of here before she comes back"
"Sounds good"
OoOoOoOoOoO
The boys were at the car when a sharp, swift pain ripped through Dean's middle. Gasping in pain and surprise he gripped the door frame tightly, one hand clutching his stomach firmly.
Fear flashed through his mind but the pain left as quickly as it came and convinced it was nothing after a few moments he straightened up only to see his brother staring worriedly at him.
"Dean?"
"I think the baby got its foot caught in a corner", Dean guessed. "S' fine now"
Still shaken slightly from the pain Dean got into the car with a worried looking Sam following suit as the hunters made their way home.
OoOoOoOoOoO
"So if we roasted old man Rudder, who the hell attacked me?"
"Well its obvious isn't it? It was his wife." Sam sighed, "Emily Rudder was killed violently by her husband, so she fits the profile. We should have thought of it sooner."
Dean shifted slightly as the pain in his back tweaked momentarily. Careful as to not scare his brother he simply said,
"Well I for one am going to bed for a good night sleep"
"Night"
OoOoOoOoOoO
Sam was still watching television when he heard a hitch in his sleeping brother's breathing. Sam paid no attention until he heard a soft moan from the bed.
"Dean? Need some help getting up?"
Hearing another moan Sam walked over to the bed to see his brother tossing about, wax faced and sweating profusely. Terrified, he bent down.
"Dean?"
OoOoOoOoOoO
Dean's eyes flew open as the pain gripped him like a vice. As the pain mounted it was all he could do to breathe.
Whimpering, he tried to focus on the person calling his name, looking through the haze of pain he saw his brothers worried face looking down at him.
"Sammy, it hurts. It really hurtsssss" he cried as the pain doubled causing him to curl into himself.
"I know Dean, it's alright. Holly will be here any second and she will fix this" Sam said, hoping he was right, where the hell is she?
"Sam, I don't wanna lose him" Dean pleaded, "please!"
And with that one word, Sam broke and a single tear ran down his cheek.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Mere seconds later Holly was through the door and at Dean's side. She began to check him over as he cried out in pain. Turning to Sam she cried,
"What happened?"
"I don't really know. I was cleaning up after a salt and burn and he went to get the duffel bag." Sam garbled, "I heard a crash and when I came in he was being attacked by a ghost, she was lifting him up. He got up and said he was fine, then five minutes ago this started."
Holly looked down as Dean moaned, "ghost threw me into a cabinet…..I hit the ground hard"
Sam gulped, "what's happening, is he losing the baby"
Dean looked up, breathing heavily.
"No." Holly said gravely, "but something is damaged and the baby is trying to fix it, that is what's causing Dean so much pain right now. I will explain more later, when the pain has settled but for now Dean has to ride this out."
"How much longer will this last?"
"Depends on the amount of damage, could be up to half an hour, we will just have to wait and see."
Holly and Sam looked down at the man lying curled up on the bed and Sam realized just how attached Dean was getting to the little thing inside him, and he hoped everything would turn out ok, because he didn't know if Dean could handle it if it didn't.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Sam walked into his brother's room to see him propped up and, although visibly still in a small amount of pain, looking much better.
Sitting in the chair opposite the parents-to-be Sam asked the brunette, "Ok Holly, what just happened?"
"The baby is fine, for precaution the baby has a special protection around it. When you were thrown something inside of you was damaged but the protection that surrounded the baby made sure whatever was going on in there was healed. This protective force will remain until the eighth month of pregnancy, when your body…rearranges. Once this change takes place it is up to your body to take care of the baby. Once it disappears it is up to the baby to decide when it wants to make its entrance, it could be the day after or you could make it full term. Whatever the case you can not continue on this path or things will end badly"
Holly's brow creased as she turned and spoke directly to Dean," to stress the seriousness of this you should know that if it was a regular pregnancy you would have just miscarried."
Dean sat silently through this speech rubbing circles over his swollen abdomen, but at those final words Dean's hand came up to rest over his baby, a single tear slipping down his face.
Later that night, through the darkness, Sam lay awake as his brother's silent sob pierced his ears and his eyes filled with tears as he heard the three broken words,
"I'm so sorry"
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
The next day Sam walked through the door of their room just as Dean was sitting down on the couch.
"Morning"
'Mmm"
"Look Dean what happened wasn't your fault, you couldn't have known"
Dean looked at his brother and then looked at his hands, "don't try to make me feel better. It was all my faults, if I hadn't have pushed to keep hunting, if I had not put myself first, we wouldn't have gotten into that trouble in the first place."
"Dean…"
"No it's true, and if I hadn't have pushed aside the pain and the feeling something was wrong, maybe things wouldn't have gotten to that extreme. I need to start thinking about the fact that there is something inside of me that I have to care for, not just me."
"Dean listen , this is not your fault. You are just acting on your hardwiring, all your life it has been hunting comes before anything and that you come after everything else, this isn't about you being selfish its about how selfless you are to give everything for the job. You need to get yourself together so you can see just what an amazing thing this is and so you can see that it is happening to you, of all people in the world, you. I think someone thought you were worthy, why don't you?"
"Thanks Sam"
"That's alright?"
"Hey Dean, are you hungry?"
"Starved"
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The next morning Sam said he would take Dean out for breakfast.
Sam waited at the door as Dean made his way out the bathroom. Scowling Dean grumbled "I swear if I have to go one…more…time' Dean stopped and groaned, using his hands to steady himself against the wall, before moving to the kitchen chair, rubbing his engorged stomach.
Sam panicked and ran to his brother's side, kneeling by his legs and looking up into Dean's green eyes.
"What's wrong? Is it the baby? Its ok, just breathe…."
Dean chuckled before exhaling "Sam its ok… Since the accident the little monster has been kicking up a storm in there…Here feel!" he placed Sam's hand on his lower abdomen then flinched as the baby gave a particularly painful kick right under Sam's hand.
"Sam pulled his hand away and smiled up at Dean, then stood and pulled Dean up he said excitedly, "wow, that was weird, you know I cant believe you are going to have a baby. You need food!"
Straightening up and letting out a sigh Dean cleared his throat,
"I'm glad you enjoyed that, coz I sure as hell didn't"
As they headed out the door Dean turned to Sam,
"Sam I have been thinking and I think I should listen to what Holly said and tone it down, you know more bed rest, water and…no hunting. But I figure we can still hunt small fry, I can be research guy and you can exorcise or salt and burn we don't have to disappear completely"
"I think that is a great idea, and if hunting is really important to you we can do that too. But you have to promise to relax; you are coming into the last trimester so it's really important."
"I promise"
