35

"What do think Sam's gonna say?" Abbie asked Dean.

"He's in for one hell of a shock." Dean commented, imagining Sam's reaction. "Up until a few minutes ago I thought the only thing I would be leaving behind would be a car."

"Think again." Abbie smiled, "Dad."

"That sounds so..."

"Weird." Abbie finished.

"Yeah, weird." Dean agreed, "I never thought I'd be a father. I decided, long ago, after being raised by a hunter, that if I had a family, it'd be after I was done hunting. Then when I made the deal..."

"I know, this didn't feature in my plans either, Dean." Abbie told him.

"You know you can rely on Sam, Bobby, Ellen, Jo after..." Dean trailed off, Abbie nodded sadly.

"We'll manage."

"K, well, you stay here, chill out. I'm gonna go and tell Sam." Dean grinned, walking out of the room, and knocking on Sam's motel room door. A few moments and Sam opened the door.

"Hey." Sam greeted him, frowning, "I thought you were checking out more of the victim's friends."

"That can wait." Dean walked in a sat on one of the beds.

"O...k." Sam was confused, "You ok?"

"Abbie's pregnant."

"Pregnant? Wow." Sam feigned ignorance. "Wow."

"I know." Dean sighed, "I think I'm in shock."

"Good shock or bad shock?" Sam asked, with a smile.

"Good shock I think." Dean returned the smile. "Definitely good."

"Well congratulations I guess."

"Thanks." Dean stood up, "Hope your demon buddy can come up with the goods, Sam. It's bad enough having to leave you and Abbie on your own out there. But I do not want my kid in the middle of this. If Ruby can fix it, then I'm out of the hunting game, if not, I want you to swear to me you'll make Abbie quit."

"Sure, Dean." Sam told him.

"I mean it, Sam. She's stubborn as hell, and I know you'll both be hell bent on revenge."

"I-"

"I'm serious, Sam. If I don't make it, you and Abbie, make a fresh start of things, I'm not saying 'get with my girl', but these things, these monsters, we've spent our whole lives on the run from stuff. I don't want that to be their life, I want her and the baby to have a home, not motel room after motel room."

"Ok Dean." Sam conceded, "I promise." He couldn't blame Dean for his request, their childhoods had been hard on them, Dean especially. "How's Abbie?"

"Nervous I think." Dean told him, "Because I might not be around. It's due the day before my time's up."

"The day before?" Sam asked, "Damn."

"I know, like I told Abbie, let's hope it's not late." Dean rubbed at his eyes, "Anyway, what did you find out from the coroner?"

"Umm, couldn't find him." Sam lied, "Didn't Abbie tell you?"

"So what did you do while she was at the clinic?" Dean asked, frowning. Had Sam known before him?

"Grabbed a coffee in the cafeteria, Abbie told me Hal had arranged for a prescription for antibiotics to be picked up at the clinic, you know, in case we need them anytime."

"Well, I'm thinking there's nothing here. We should head back to Bobby's."

"If you're sure." Sam smiled, knowing that they had done what they had set out to do even if it hadn't worked.

"Yeah, meet you at our room once you're all packed up." Dean walked back through to his own room. "We're heading back to Bobby's in a bit. There's nothing here."

"Really?" Abbie asked, "What did Sam say?"

"He agrees." Dean grabbed his bag, "I just got something I need to sort out first. Tell Sam I won't be long."

(That night)

Abbie was reading in the back of the car when Dean turned to Sam. "I went to the crossroads, tried to find our friend, have a little chat. She didn't show."

"Maybe she was too busy."

"For a Winchester?"

"Maybe." Sam stared straight ahead.

"There's a bullet missing from the Colt."

"And?"

"And, I'm thinking that bullet is lodged in the crossroads demon's head." Sam didn't answer. "You stupid son of a-" Dean sighed angrily. "I thought we agreed."

"No, you told me what to do." Sam argued. "We thought we were helping."

"We?" Dean looked in the rear view mirror. "You took my pregnant girlfriend to a damn demon, Sam?! Are you crazy?!"

"No, we thought-"

"Sam didn't know about the baby, Dean. It was my idea."

"It didn't work, did it?" Dean asked, "I'm still on the block."

"She doesn't hold the contract." Abbie explained.

"She tried to trade the baby's soul for yours." Sam added quietly.

"She did what?!" Dean was furious, thinking Abbie had attempted the trade.

"No, no. The demon did." Sam explained quickly, noting Dean's glare.

"You think that I'd...?" Abbie asked, realising what Dean had thought. "I can't believe you!"

"Hey, I'm not the one who was about to trade my unborn child's soul!"

"I wasn't either, Dean. It was just something the demon said, I obviously didn't take her up on it, did I?"

"Can we focus on the positive?" Sam tried to stop the argument, "You're gonna be a dad, Dean. That's pretty awesome, huh?"

"You knew."

"I lied to Sam, told him the demon was lying." Abbie covered up.

"So, who does hold the contract then?" Dean tried to change the subject slightly.

"She didn't tell us." Sam answered, "I don't know."

"Well, our best lead is the crossroads demon, no...wait, you killed her."

"Funny Dean." Sam sighed, "We'll figure it out."

"You got more bright ideas, college boy?" Dean asked, sarcastically.

"Maybe Bobby-" Abbie started.

"Oh you think he has an idea and he's keeping it to himself?" Dean interrupted, "Bobby gets his kicks from watching me thinking I'm gonna die."

"I don't know, Dean. I was just saying."

"Bobby didn't think our plan would work..." Sam told her, "Thought it was a long shot."

"Well he was right, wasn't he?" Dean replied, "I don't want to talk about this any more."

"But-"

"Abbie I said I don't want to talk about it, ok?"

"K." She answered quietly, closing her eyes to try and catch some sleep.

"You didn't have to be so hard on her, Dean." Sam scolded him. "She going through enough without you yelling at her for trying to help you. She's looking at being a single mom, she's terrified. Blame me for it, I drove her out there, I pulled the trigger."

"Oh believe me, Sammy, I am blaming you. You put the idea in her head in the first place."

"You know if I'd known about the baby, I'd never have taken her with me. I think it's great you guys are having a baby."

"Great that I might not be around to see it born?"

"Don't think like that." Sam told him, "We've got 34 weeks, Ruby says-"

"Ruby says, Ruby says, when does Ruby plan to actually do anything."

"I don't know, I don't know." Sam sighed.

"Looks like we don't know a hell of a lot then doesn't it?" Dean observed, "Subject closed." He turned up the stereo in the car, drowning out Sam's protests with Metallica.