See Chapter One for Disclaimer


Maddie specifically told them not to freak out.

They didn't listen to her.

Maddie found herself in the backseat of Bucky's SUV with Dean sitting next to her and Cas in the front seat, giving Bucky directions to the nearest hospital. Sam was following behind in the Impala, and Clint had rushed home to get Laura, who Maddie demanded be there as soon as possible.

It should've taken an hour and a half to reach Maddie's hospital.

It took forty-five minutes.

Which was a blessing in disguise because Maddie's contractions had hit her as soon as they'd settled her in the SUV and Maddie had almost no breaks in between, the contractions coming more and more often the longer it took. Dean leaned against the door, Maddie's back pressed against his chest and her legs sprawled across the rest of the seats. Her hands clasped his tightly, and she pressed back into him for every contraction.

"I changed my mind," She admitted as Dean carried her through the hospital doors. "He can stay inside."

Dean huffed. "It's too late for that," He pointed out. He settled her into a wheelchair that had miraculously appeared the moment they'd stepped into the hospital. He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to one hand, simply because he felt like it. "He's on his way."

Maddie tried to smile at the sweet gesture, horrified to find that she'd liked it, but the smile came out as more of a grimace, because the pain was HOLY CRAP. Cas, Sam, Dean and Bucky followed as a nurse hurried Maddie back through double doors, but another nurse stopped them. "Family only," She'd ordered.

"I'm her brother." Bucky quickly spoke up.

The nurse raised an eyebrow, but didn't object. "And is the father here?" She asked in a bored tone.

"Yep." Dean said quickly. Sam and Cas shared a look, but then nodded. Bucky smirked. "That's me." The nurse rolled her eyes.

"Let's get you two scrubbed up then, and you can join her," She ordered.

Dean turned to Cas and Sam, and they smiled. "We'll be out here," Sam promised. "Have fun, Dad." Dean rolled his eyes and punched his brother in the arm, then quickly followed Bucky and the nurse past the double doors.


When Bucky and Dean had been scrubbed in and dressed in weird backwards hospital gowns, they'd been show to where Maddie's room, where she was propped up in a bed, wearing a gown of her own with her legs spread. A doctor and a few nurses hurried around the room, getting things ready and checking Maddie's vitals.

Bucky and Dean quickly moved to one side of Maddie's head, and she immediately held out her hands. Bucky grabbed one and Dean the other.

"Hey guys." She smiled wearily at them. Her hair was already damp with sweat, her face shiny with it too. "What lie did you spin to get in here?"

"That's no way to talk to your brother," Bucky teased.

Maddie rolled her eyes then looked at Dean with a raised eyebrow. He smiled apologetically. "I'm hoping he has my eyes," he joked.

Maddie huffed, then she shut her eyes tightly and grimaced.

Dean and Bucky grimaced as well as Maddie squeezed the life out of her hands.

"Aren't they supposed to give you pain medication?" Dean asked worriedly once Maddie was panting and had opened her eyes once more.

"I don't want it." She said after a moment. "No drugs."

"That's badass." Bucky said approvingly.

Maddie grinned. "Yep." She agreed.

"Alright Miss Sinclair," The doctor spoke up. "How are you doing?"

"On a scale of one to one hundred? A four." She smirked. "On a scale of one to ten? Also a four." She looked at the doctor. "How many hours are we looking at here?" She looked at Bucky and Dean. "Labor takes a long time," She informed. "Hours and hours."

The doctor sat on a stool to look Maddie over. He chuckled. "You, Miss Sinclair, are fully dilated. We'll have you start pushing in just a moment and once that starts, your son should be out in little less than an hour."

"Seriously?" Maddie raised her head. "That soon?" She looked impressed. "I guess when he's ready, he's ready."

She leaned back, breathing deeply. Then she chuckled.

"What?" Dean asked.

"My body is ready." She said slowly. She laughed again. Dean looked at Bucky confused, and Bucky shrugged.

"Alright, are we ready? Dad and Brother, make sure she's breathing deep and evenly, and let her push down with her hands. Give her some tension to push against, and encourage her. This part isn't going to be fun." Dean and Bucky nodded solemnly and adjusted their positions.

"There's a fun part in labor?" Maddie panted. "When was that? Did I miss it, or did I just skip it altogether?"

"You skipped it," Bucky said dryly. "It's called an epidural."

Maddie rolled her eyes.

"Okay Miss Sinclair, it's time to push. Are you ready?"

Maddie nodded, a determined look crossing her face.

"Alright." The doctor nodded. "And…push!"


Maddie's son was born an hour and nine minutes, or 69 minutes later, as Maddie liked to think of it.

He came out red-faced and covered in yucky stuff and screaming, and Maddie let herself fall back, eyes locked onto the squalling bundle that the doctor handed off to the nurses to clean.

"You did it," Bucky said quietly, awed.

"Your son is here." Dean added.

Maddie laughed breathlessly. She squeezed both mens hands tightly before letting go of them to reach for the baby that a nurse placed on her chest.

The second Maddie and her baby met skin to skin contact, the baby stopped crying.

A wide smile took over Maddie's face, and she took in everything.

"Ten fingers," she quickly counted, "ten toes." She sighed. "He looks like a potato."

"But a very handsome potato." Bucky added. Maddie rolled her eyes.

"What do you think?" She asked, placing her son in Dean's hands before he could protest.

Dean sputtered, but then went silent as he looked down at the newborn. He smiled as if he couldn't help himself. "Definitely a potato." He agreed. "I'm sure it's just a phase," He assured with a smirk. Maddie huffed and turned to Bucky, while Dean stared wide-eyed at the little boy.

"So…I'm usually not ones for traditions and crap, but I was wondering if you'd be his godfather?" Maddie patted Bucky's arm. "Whether or not this kid will have a dad, I want him to have some sort of man adult figure in his life, and I think you'd be great at it."

Bucky's eyes widened, (and maybe they teared up a little, but you have no PROOF) but then he smiled and nodded.

"I'd be honored."

"Sorry, dad, but we've gotta take your son for just a second," a nurse reached for the baby, and Dean resisted for a moment before handing him over. "We're going to make sure he's clean and healthy, and then we'll bring him right back." The nurse promised, and Maddie and Dean nodded, watching as the nurse took the baby away.

Bucky fidgeted. "I'm uh…gonna go watch." He said after a moment. "I'll let the guys in the waiting room know, too." He nodded, then hurried out of the room.

Dean smiled and took Maddie's hand back. Maddie smiled at him.

"That was subtle." She joked.

Deam smiled and shrugged. "While I've got you here," He spoke softly, even though there was no one else in the room, "I thought of a name that might work."

Maddie brightened slightly, a tired smile flitting across her face. "Great! Because I've got nothing," she admitted. "If you don't give me a good one, his birth certificate will say raptor saurus Sinclair."

Dean snickered, then shook his head. "It fits every requirement you had," he informed, "which, if I remember correctly, was that he should have a weird name that could potentially be shortened into a normal name, with a nickname that was either an animal or a food…but preferably both."

"Got it." Maddie nodded. "So whats the name?"

Dean paused for a moment.

"Orion."

Maddie narrowed her eyes as she thought. "First reaction? I love it. The normal name would be…Ryan?" Dean nodded, and Maddie pursed her lips. "Acceptable. Animal nickname is…." She paused, then smiled. "Rhino?" Dean smiled and nodded again.

"A potential for fat jokes," She pointed out, "but I can work with that." She shook her head. "But I'm not seeing the food nickname."

Dean smirked. "Oreo." He finished, and Maddie's eyebrows rose.

"Clever." She nodded slowly. "I love it." Dean smiled, and Maddie smiled back, and then Maddie couldn't think of anything else to say and Dean seemed perfectly content to just stare at her and she really didn't mind, and then,

"Here he is." Bucky returned, ruining the moment, but he had a small bundle now nestled in a soft blue blanket in his arms, so: forgiven. He placed the baby on Maddie's chest.

"Now is the moment of truth. Is this handsome guy named after a dinosaur?" Bucky grimaced, and Maddie laughed.

"No." She rolled her eyes. "Bucky, meet your godson, Orion Quinn Sinclair."

Bucky smiled in surprise. "It's perfect." He admitted.

"Why Quinn?" Dean asked. Maddie scrunched her nose.

"That's my brothers name," She admitted, and Dean and Bucky shared a look.

Maddie never spoke about the family she'd left behind.

"Well," Bucky said softly, "I think that's a great name."

"Me too." Dean added. Maddie chuckled, and Dean couldn't stop himself, and really, he didn't want to.

Because this moment? This was life; new life. And for the guy who spent so much time ending life...this moment was so surreal. So Dean chose not to curb the impulse, instead giving in; and He leaned forward to pressed a kiss against Maddies forehead.

She looked up at him, surprised, and Dean froze.

And if Dean could do what he wanted, then so could Maddie...and then Maddie was leaning forward and pressing her lips to his. Dean unfroze long enough to return the kiss.

It was awhile before Maddie pulled away to smile down at her son, and Dean, after a moment of simply observing the woman who constantly surprised him, did the same.

Bucky cleared his throat. "So…do I pretend I never saw that, or?" He asked awkwardly, and Maddie cleared her throat.

"You're still here."

"Yep." Bucky nodded.

"You don't have to erase it from your mind." She said slowly, shooting him a look. "But I wouldn't go shouting it from the rooftops."

"Right." Bucky smirked. "No problem."

Dean opened his mouth to say…something, but then Cas and Sam were entering the room, eyes lighting up at the sight of the baby. Clint and Laura entered quickly behind them, and Maddie raised the baby up, lion king style.

"I made this." She said proudly. "ta-da."

Everyone oohed and ahhed over Orion, oohing and aahing again once Maddie informed everyone of his name.

"He's pretty white," Clint pointed out, "for coming out of a brown person."

"I may be brown," Maddie argued, "but I'm half-white on the inside, and his dad is full white, so…she pointed at Orion, who was nestled in Laura's arms. "white." She concluded.

"Blue eyes." Clint said meaningfully.

"They might change." She argued quickly. "And even if they don't," she grimaced. "Both potentials have blue eyes."

"We're talking about the father?" Dean asked. His eyebrows raised. "You don't know who it is?"

Maddie shot him a glare and he raised his hands. "Cas mentioned he was out of the picture, not that you didn't know who it was." He explained. Maddie turned her glare onto Cas, but then she huffed.

"There are two potentials," she admitted. "One is not from around here," She snickered. "The other is around, but I highly doubt it's him and I don't want to bring it up until I know for sure, because he'd definitely want to be involved, and I dunno about that," She rolled her eyes.

"So what are you going to do?" Bucky asked, trying to think of a solution where everybody won, but coming up blank.

"I'm not going to do anything till I get back from London." Maddie began. "He'd only flip out and try to keep me from going and that's not an option. Also, his job is ridiculous, so he can't really do any full or part time custody right now anyway. I'll run the tests when I get back and go from there."

"But you'll be in London six months. St- the potential father is just supposed to miss pretty much the entire first year of his sons life?" Bucky asked seriously.

Maddie grimaced. "First of all, that would be so rude, and I'm not about to do that. Second of all, I have a plan so don't worry about it." Laura handed the baby to Clint, who smiled and started making faces at the baby.

"So what's the plan?" Dean asked. He smiled at Maddie to show he didn't care that she didn't know who the father was, and Maddie squeezed his arm thankfully.

"It's a secret." She smirked. "But it's a really good plan."


Steve Rogers fired up his laptop and went first to his email.

He found it best to start every morning with checking his email and clearing his inbox. It made him feel productive and started his day off on the right foot.

His eyebrows furrowed at the subject of one particular email that morning though.

"Thanks for your donation?" He frowned and clicked open the email, pausing at the picture of a newborn baby, swaddled in a blue blanket and wearing a bright red beanie. He smiled helplessly at the sight of the cute baby, then quickly turned his attention to the text.

Dear Mr. Rogers,

Safe Haven would like to thank you for your generous donation to Safe Haven Infants, which provides care and helps with the placement for unwanted newborns who are dropped off at fire stations or churches under the safe haven law.

As a thanks for your giving, we at Safe Haven will be sending you updates on the child that you are helping provide for while they wait for their forever homes. A picture of "your" child is below.

Meet your infant!

His name is Orion Quinn. He was born March 1st, 2016, weighing 9 and ½ pounds and measuring at 21 inches long. The picture above is Orion at 3 days old, having been released from the hospital only the day previous.

Updates on the infant you are helping will come monthly unless otherwise stated and will include pictures, videos, and a log of what new things your infant is learning and activities he is up to!

Below is a link that you may follow to either opt out of these updates or increase the number of updates you receive.

Again, we thank you so much for your donation, and we know that little Orion thanks you as well!

-Safe Haven Infants

Steve read the email, then scrolled back up to the picture of the baby.

While he couldn't remember ever donating to the charity, it sounded like something he'd do. And what would it hurt to get pictures of a cute baby every now and then?

So after a moment of consideration, he clicked the link provided and switched the number of updates he'd receive to "weekly".


Yep. Steve is the potential.

But you knew that, right? It was totally obvious, right?

ANYWAY, NEXT THINGS NEXT, Maddie and Orion are off to London! Who they will run into is ANYBODY'S guess...Check it out in the next installment of SHIFT, titled ABROAD.

Review/Follow/Favorite?

~CLC~