Title: Instinct

Author: HigherMagic

Pairings: Dean/Castiel, Sam/Gabriel

Rating: NC-17

Word Count: WIP

Spoilers: None

Summary: Werewolf/Were-cat AU. The Pack meld is going ahead, and though it's not going exactly smoothly, that's the least of Dean's problems.

Notes/Warnings: MPreg. I'm, like, dying of fluff here, people. I really want to be evil. There were so many things I could have done here to be evil but I WOULDN'T because I PROMISED. THERE WILL BE ANGST as soon as my Muse crawls out of her happy hole. I think the other fics I've been writing have angsted me out :/ Possibly. *shrugs and slinks away*

Unbeta'd. All mistakes are my own (:

I'll admit it; I kind of felt smug when Castiel woke up the next morning, tried to stand up, and grimaced in discomfort. Not that I wished any pain on my mate, but bottoming was a sore business, especially the first time, no matter how gentle the other half is. Getting a taste of his own medicine could only be a humbling and beneficial experience for him.

He caught my smirk and rolled his eyes. "You're such an ass sometimes, Dean," he said fondly, reaching down and ruffling my hair, and I shook my head, pushing him away. I flipped him off and rolled onto my stomach, pulling a bear fur around me because it was still early – not yet dawn – and I was going to get me some sleep. Hey, I had to actually take care of myself now.

Castiel seemed to agree – he 'hmm'ed softly and placed a kiss to my cheek, brushing a hand through my hair. "I'll see you later," he said, standing.

"Bring food."

I didn't hear his reply.

When Castiel came back, I was awake, and I looked up to see him enter the tent with a kind of bemused expression on his face. "It appears you wolves have different courting methods than we do," he said with a slight smile, sitting down next to me, but I wasn't really concentrating because he was holding a bigass slab of meat in his hands along with some vegetables. I licked my lips, eyes focused on the meat and he rolled his eyes, handing it to me.

It was slightly cooked, pink in the middle but brown on the edges, and I moaned, biting into the deer steak and feeling the juice and blood run down my chin. I wiped my chin after the first bite and caught Castiel watching me.

"Sorry," I said, waving at him. "Go."

Castiel rolled his eyes, an affectionate smile on his face. "I was just approached by that Lisa woman, and she asked me if it would be okay to court Jo." I paused. "I said 'Yes', of course."

"Yeah, Jo asked me a while ago," I said, shrugging. "I said it was okay, but I honestly…well, I was kind of blindsided by it," I confessed. "I wouldn't have thought that…"

"Relationships can sometimes be based on trust and affection, you know," Castiel said dryly, and I flushed, biting into the meat again to avoid having to give a snappy comeback. Then he shifted, folding his legs up his chest, wrapping his arms around his shins. "That wasn't the…only thing," he said softly.

"Another one?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Honestly, the unions between our packs were going way better than I could have ever imagined – friendships, family units were being formed at a weirdly fast rate. I could go outside and see Hunting parties of wolves and cats in equal measure. Some of the cats had taken to going au natural as the wolves did, while I could see some wolves taking to wearing the cat's clothing. The children could be seen wrestling and playing with each other.

Castiel nodded, lips pursing. "In fact, they're waiting outside to ask you, if you're willing to hear them out." I cocked my head to one side, wondering why Castiel would even tell them to wait. "It's…unorthodox."

"Come on, Cas, let them in. I'm sure I can handle it," I said, grinning, and he sighed lightly and stood up, going to open the tent flap.

Adam and Anna were there, hands linked together as Adam led her inside. She hesitated on the opening before coming inside, clearly out of her element and looking uncomfortable – I could kind of see why. Things hadn't happened in the best way to paint her in a good light here, but that was all water under the bridge…sorta.

At least my younger brother seemed calm, sitting down in front of us and pulling her down as well. She went, folding her legs up in front of her, clothing tightly stretch across her body, and it looked uncomfortable but she still did it anyway, her body tense and her eyes averted from mine and Castiel's. She didn't let go of Adam's hand though, but held it tighter.

I opened my mouth to say something – because I totally had something to say, just so you know – when Michael also walked in.

Michael made me uncomfortable. Of course, you know this, reading what you've read so far. Since the move with Castiel practically acting as my second shadow and never hesitating to act like the BAMF he was whenever someone got too close or too comfy, Michael had backed off and I hadn't had much trouble from him, but that didn't mean I wanted to share close quarters with him either. Plus he had this weird look about him that reminded me of my dad, which just added a whole new wrongness to it.

"Um…" I looked over to Castiel as he sat down next to me.

"I told you it was unorthodox," he whispered to me and I resisted the urge to jab him in the stomach, just barely.

"Alpha," Adam said, just managing to catch my attention and I looked at my younger brother, swallowing. "All three of us have come to you to ask permission to court each other." I raised my eyebrow and took a deep breath, and then stopped. I frowned, looking to Castiel who was watching me expectantly.

I inhaled again. There was a weird scent in the air…Like, hormones (though that's nothing new) and it was foreign, all mixed up and I couldn't figure out what it was.

They were getting unnerved by my silence, and that's when it happened – Anna bit her lip, her other hand moving behind her folded legs, and she rubbed very slightly around her stomach. My eyes widened in realization and I looked to Adam, who was watching me with worried, hopeful eyes. Michael just looked resigned.

"Who's the father?" I asked softly, and I hoped the hard edge wouldn't be mistaken for menace. It wasn't anger – of course not – but I was surprised and sometimes apparently when I'm surprised I have a habit of acting like I'm pissed off. It's something I try and get around but sometimes it just comes out wrong.

Adam bit his lip, looking over at Anna who had yet to move, yet to look anywhere except at her knees. "That's just it," he said, looking back at me. "We don't know."

"How did…When did this happen? How – was it like a separate thing?" I gestured wildly between the three of them. "Did you both just decide to…like, share?"

Adam's eyes narrowed at me. "Please don't say it like that," he said softly, but with just a little growl in his voice, and I swallowed, sighing and trying to calm myself down, and gestured for him to go on. "And it just happened…a couple of weeks ago we…were all…involved…" He was blushing and I felt sorry for my brother, having to stumble through this while the two were-cats remained silent and unmoving. Anna bit her lip, rubbing her stomach again, and her eyes finally flashed up to meet mine.

"Listen, I really like your brother," she said earnestly, biting her lip again before her eyes flashed to Michael. "And I like Michael too, and what happened was rash but we can't do anything about it now but I don't want…to be cast out for something like this. Please."

I sighed, leaning forward and rubbing my forehead. I suddenly had a headache. "No, guys, of course you have permission and of course you won't be cast out for this," I said, getting it out of the way. "I'm not angry about it. Just…surprised is all. I hadn't even realized you three were close at all." I smirked a little Anna's way. "I thought you hated my kind."

"Your brother is a very good diplomat," she replied with a wan little smile, and I couldn't help it – I burst out laughing. "But…Jesus, guys, couldn't you have waited until she wasn't in heat or something?" I asked, unable to believe that my little brother had been so irresponsible as to get the poor girl pregnant (potentially).

Castiel sighed. "You know what the commercials used to say – it only takes one time."

"Commercials?" Adam asked, brow furrowed.

"They were things used back during human times," Castiel explained, "to sell things. To make people want what other people were selling. They also were used to warn against social problems and also offer services to people."

I looked over at my mate again. Sometimes I could forget that he was actually old enough to have been around before civilization opened its eyes and greeted the world. Before humans were even really humans. It just…blew my mind sometimes. I wondered how he remembered it all – if there were still remnants of the old world left behind. There must be, but I'd never seen them – I'd never gone outside the forest until I'd taken over my Pack and begun my outreach to unite wolves and cats. The only knowledge I had of history was tales that the older members of the Pack told me and what tales we could hear from others. Everything was passed on by word-of-mouth nowadays.

I never got the point of recording history. I mean, say someone wrote a record of something, like a war. And that war was fought and say it was lost. That person who'd recorded it would be biased to the winning side (if they wanted to keep their lives), and wars are often written from the point of view of the winning side because the losing side would be dead. And then anyone who came along and read that record would think things happened a certain way when they might not have. History was subjective.

And say that record was kept but then that society was invaded by another place. That history could be changed again to make the decimated society look like the villains, so that record could have been changed yet again. By the time someone from our time would read it, it could have been changed thousands of times and the truth would have been gone.

History passed on by word of mouth was just as bad, oftentimes worse, but it was basically the only method we had left now, because those that were historians back in human times before the disease were rich, powerful people living in densely populated cities. They were the first to go. Only those who lived in the country survived and those that were used to the more rugged life survived better. It was natural selection.

Humanity as a race had been so thoroughly destroyed that pockets of civilization could go forever without ever realizing that they weren't the only one. Besides, we were better like this, stronger. We didn't need concrete buildings and animals to protect ourselves because we were the animals, now.

At least, that's how my Dad always told it to me.

Anyway…huge digression aside. What was I talking about?

Right.

"It doesn't work like that for cats," Anna murmured, flushing a little. "We are capable of getting pregnant at almost any time of the year, continuously. I know wolves tend to go into heat – we don't." I blinked at her.

"Then how do you know when…you can?" I asked, gesturing again, frowning in confusion.

Anna flushed a little, and I would feel bad for all the probing questions if it weren't for the deep talks I'd had to have with all of my pack when all the drama began for this whole move-miscarriage-pregnancy thing.

"We just keep trying until we are."

"…Oh. Okay." I was at a loss of what else to say, so I didn't say anything. Eventually Adam cleared his throat and I remembered myself. "Of course, you have permission to be together." My little brother relaxed visibly, and Anna did also when Michael reached out and placed a hand on her knee, smiling at her. I'll admit I felt a kind of grudging affection for him then, although I was still kind of freaked out because Adam was, like, half his physical age (I shudder to think how old Michael actually was) and they both just seemed in it for Anna. I didn't know what would happen when the baby was born and we could know who the father was, but for now I was willing to grant my brother nine months of happiness. "If you don't have anything else…"

I continued to eat as they left the tent, Castiel seeing them out, and then he sat down in front of me, smiling a little and took my chin in his hand, forcing our eyes to meet. "Are you okay?" he asked seriously, and I jerked my head away with a light growl.

"I'm fine. Just freaked out."

"Freaked out?" he repeated, cocking his head to one side, brow furrowed.

"Yeah. I mean…Michael's kind of a sleezeball. First impressions last forever, Cas," I replied, finishing up the meet, and I grimaced, pushing the vegetables away. Castiel looked at them with a deadpan expression and pushed them back towards me. "Dude, I'm not eating that."

"Yes you are," he said sternly, holding up a carrot. "You have a child growing inside of you, Dean, and it cannot survive solely off of meat as you seem so fond of doing. If I have to hold you down and force feed it to you, I will."

"God, you're such a bitch," I growled back, but took the carrot, biting into it. He just smirked at me, stupidly impervious to my angry-face, and that just pissed me off more. It was like since I'd gotten pregnant that I'd lost all the power now, and I did not agree with that, thank you.

Castiel rolled his eyes. "It's not like you're allergic."

"Wouldn't know," I replied, shrugging, and pointed at him with the bitten-off carrot; "You've jinxed it now. If I die it'll be because you angered the carrot." And then I burst out laughing, the image of a really angry red carrot jumping up and down and speaking in a really high-pitched squeak the only thing in my head. I shook my head and took another bite.

Castiel was watching me with a raised eyebrow. "Maybe you should rest," he suggested gently, pushing at my shoulders, and I pushed him away half-heartedly. "Really, Dean, you're obviously still tired and I want you to get as much rest as you can."

"Cas, I have like another six months."

"Even so," he replied, brushing my hair back from my face, and I swear he has kind of a hypnotic power because I suddenly felt tired, and he kissed me gently, holding my head in his hands, thumb stroking along my cheek, and my eyelids started drooping. Damn psychic were-cat powers.

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "You're joining me, then," I demanded, and I heard him give a noncommittal grunt, but his body relaxed and he laid down next to me, one hand resting over my spine, the other at my stomach and I smiled into the kiss, ruining it.

I woke up the next morning nauseous again, and barely made it to the edge of the camp before I threw up the meat and vegetables from last night. Castiel was right behind me, soothing a hand up and down my spine while I emptied my stomach.

"Dean? You feeling alright?"

"Told you those carrots would come back with a vengeance."

He grunted lightly again, still rubbing up and down my back until the heaving stopped and I could move my head away, not wanting to breathe in the smell and make myself sick again. I grunted, digging my hands into the soft dirt around the puddle and piled it over the mess, burying it in damp earth.

I swallowed, tasting bile again, and grimaced, holding my stomach. Then I looked down. There was a bump there. Like an actual freaking bump. I sat up, unable to take my hand away as I looked down at my stomach.

"Dean? What's wrong?" Castiel asked, shifting so he was kneeling more in front of me than by my side, and his concerned eyes met mine. "Are you still feeling sick?"

"Don't you…I…It's…" I couldn't form words, too shocked at the fact that something was suddenly there. I took Castiel's hand and pressed it against my stomach. "It's bigger now," I murmured, watching him watch me, then his eyes trekked downwards, fingers splaying out over my stomach. "I mean it's…fuck, Cas."

I couldn't even think. There's a difference between knowing something's happening but also, you know, seeing the evidence. Like…I don't know. Bleeding or something. You know your blood's there but when you cut yourself and it comes out of you it just makes it all the more real.

Yeah I know – shitty metaphor, but I couldn't think of anything else.

Castiel chuckled, looking back at me, eyes bright. "Yeah, I'd say that's a baby or food," he said lightly.

"S'cause you've been forcing all that food down my throat and won't let me out of the tent to do stuff," I griped back at him, standing but unable to quite stop…touching my stomach. I sighed, thumbing over the slight rise that was really barely noticeable except it was right there and it was only going to get bigger and then God there would be a baby and –

"You're thinking too much," Castiel said, cupping my cheek and forcing our eyes to meet. He leaned in and gently brushed our lips together. "Stop. This is fine, Dean, this is natural." His hand covered mine, our fingers overlapping each other as they rested against my stomach. "You're doing a wonderful thing."

"I'm gonna get huge," I muttered, not quite able to let that go.

"You're getting pregnant," Castiel amended with a smirk, the bastard, and I was about to come up with another snappy reply (seriously, I was) when I heard an excited whooping coming from the camp, and turned my head, just in time to see Sam running towards me, grinning like an idiot.

He enveloped me in a massive huge, crushing the wind right out of me and I let him, trying to suck in a breath through my teeth.

"Sam," Castiel warned, "let go of him." And I tried to add my say by smacking him on the shoulder with my fist. Sam relented a little, until I could at least breathe. "I mean it, Sam," Castiel said; "You're crushing him."

"He can handle it," Sam muttered into my neck, and I shook my head.

"I can but the baby that's recently gotten big enough to see can't and you're crushing it with your Gigantor body, now shift –" I pushed at him and he let go. "Thank you."

"You're showing?" he asked excitedly, going to his knees immediately and touching my stomach, grinning when he felt the slight bump. I fought the urge to shy away from the touch because I wasn't really expecting or used to it and it was semi-awkward, having Sam on his knees.

"For God's sake, Sam, get up," I said, rolling my eyes and trying to play it off, pulling him up to stand by his hair, and he went, pouting a little but unable to keep it up due to him still grinning like an idiot, touching my stomach. "What's the reason for molesting me, huh Sammy?"

His smile, if possible, grew wider. "Gabriel's pregnant," he said proudly.

My eyes widened. "Really?" Then I was grinning too. "Sam, that's awesome!"

"I know, right?" Sam was too happy to keep still, obviously, bouncing from foot to foot, grinning like he'd just gotten the best news in the world (which I would say he had). "I mean, it's just…" He shook his head, and made an excited little noise. "And now you're showing…"

Things were finally going well. "Go be with your mate, Sammy," I said, brushing my hand down his face. "And…listen." I drew him closer, pulling him away with me a little so Castiel couldn't overhear – "Remember what you talked to me about, with pressure, okay? Don't get overexcited. A lot of things can go wrong in the first few months, and even then. Please, don't get your hopes too high, alright? It'd kill me to see this go badly."

He sobered up a little, hugging me more gently than the first time. "I get it Dean. You're the only one I've told anyway," he whispered, nuzzling into my throat for a moment – and I let him – before straightening, still smiling. "I'll catch ya later." Then he was off running again, and Castiel was watching me when I approached him.

"That was sound advice you gave him," he said, wrapping his arms around me, and I sighed, resting my forehead on his shoulder.

"Yeah. I know."

I felt him smile against my temple, and he turned his head to place a kiss on my cheek. I couldn't help but smile back and hold him tighter. "We're gonna be parents, Dean," he whispered, sounding awed, and I chuckled quietly, finding yet another facet of Castiel's personality – the sweet, wonderful side that found beauty and joy in everything.

"Yeah, and pretty soon the hormones will have me acting all crazy."

"Oh, so you'll be blaming hormones?" he asked innocently, laughing when I poked him in the side. "Just kidding. You know I love you, hormones or not."

He kissed me again, this time on the temple, and I smiled, letting myself relax, his scent and body heart and steady, strong heartbeat calming me down. "Yeah. I know that too."