Chick Used To Be a Dude

It took John nearly a minute to remember where he was and why. He wasn't as used to moving around anymore as he had been and anytime he woke up in a different bed it threw him off for a few minutes, made him feel displaced almost like the years of stability living with Dean and then in New York had been some sort of to-good-to-be-true dream that his mind had tried to trick him into believing. Then he remembered he'd accepted Elaina's invitation to come in and talk things over. Well, fuck, he thought. Not much talking had happened once he was through the door. At least none that could be repeated in polite company. Elaina's bedroom was a lot like the woman herself. Not at all girly, but distinctly feminine. Definitely more feminine then his. And it had a lot more stuff. He looked around from where he was sprawled on his stomach and wondered where women got all of it from and why. Really, all you needed was a bed, some drawers, a table and a lamp or two. Maybe a chair. Anything else was completely unnecessary and he couldn't see what the point was.

"There's coffee."

He rolled over to see Elaina standing in the doorway wearing nothing but his shirt, her long hair loose. He smiled at her, enjoying the sight of her wearing his clothes. The fact that only two buttons were done didn't hurt matters any either. "Come 'ere."

She smiled brightly but didn't move. "Don't you want breakfast?"

"Breakfast can wait."

"We have a base to run."

"I'm the boss. They can wait half an hour."

Dena was finally asleep again after her nightmare, but Dean kept holding her as he watched Cassie sleep. He had to leave again in the morning… well in a few hours really. Cassie was curled up on her side, one hand on their unborn child. Dean felt like it was just finally sinking in, the fact that they were going to have another baby. A baby De wanted to call Rocco, after one of the neighborhood kid's puppies. He snorted out a soft laugh at that.

Dean sat on the bed next to Cassie, careful not to jostle either her or their daughter awake, and placed a hand on Cassie's stomach, the platinum of his wedding ring glinting in the dim light filtering in from the hallway. The closer they got to Cassie's due date, the more he hated leaving. She was two weeks away, and the doctor said that while she was beginning to efface (whatever the hell that meant – Dean tried not to pay too much attention to some of that stuff) there was no reason to believe that she would be early. And Dean's trip would only take a few days, a week at most.

He felt movement under his hand and smiled. Feeling his son – and Dean was still convinced this would be a boy – move never got old. Hopefully, though, he wouldn't start up a soccer match in there and wake his mother up. Cassie hadn't been getting much sleep lately. Seemed like every time she laid down, the kid woke up only to fall asleep when she was moving around.

"Hey kid," he said softly, "try to take it easy on your Mom while I'm gone. She needs her rest for when you get sprung from in there."

The anticipation was killing him. Dean had never been a patient man and he wanted to meet this new addition to his family, wanted to see who he looked like, whose eyes he'd have. And the idea of holding a baby in his arms that he knew was his… that he couldn't wait for.

He sighed as he looked down at De where she lay curled and safe in crook of his arm. "You're old man is whipped, baby girl. Completely and totally whipped."

Sam tried to ignore it, but Dean wouldn't stop staring at him. Just sitting in the passenger seat, sunglasses on, openly staring. Not even complaining about the music or how slowly and carefully Sam was driving. Ten minutes out of New Sparta, Sam finally heaved a sigh. "What, man?"

"You got laid."

"What?" He threw his brother a startled open mouthed glance. How the hell did Dean figure that out?

"You've been wearing a goofy ass-smile all morning. You haven't bitched about anything all morning, not even the fact that we ran out of cream for your coffee and you had to use milk."

Sam gripped the steering wheel tightly, staring straight ahead and feeling his face heat up. He had been planning on telling Dean. Not because he ever felt the need to share personal information like that with anyone, even Dean, but because of what it meant for his relationship with Ariel.

"So does this mean Ariel's my sister-in-law now?"

"Yeah… I guess."

"Cool. We'll throw you guys a party when we get back. Hopefully before the new baby comes. Otherwise it's gonna end up more like a bachelor party, since I'll be doin' it on my own. I mean, I don't think Ruby'll wanna help. I suppose I could ask Ellen."

"You don't have to do that, Dean."

"The hell I don't. You finally got hitched. I think that calls for a party. Speaking of which, Dad's seeing someone."

Sam actually swerved. "What?"

"Dude! Watch how you're drivin' my baby! I know there ain't much in the way of traffic anymore, but you do that again and you're ridin' shotgun for the next two years, Sam."

Sam sighed. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, man. Just be careful."

"Alright. I'll be careful. So… Dad's dating?"

"Yeah. Ellie, Ella… somethin' like that."

"You mean Elaina? His XO?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Is that ethical?"

Dean looked at him like he was crazy. "For one, this the freaking apocalypse, or at least close enough. Who cares if she works for him? I'm his boss and I sure as hell don't. For two, it's not like he's turned into some creepy ass stalker who's following some unwilling chick around and sniffing her underwear or threatening to fire her if she doesn't put out. This Dad we're talking about. The original Mr. Rules & Consequences."

"I guess you're right."

"Just do not, and I repeat, do not bring that shit up to Dad. His entire life has been devoted to you and me. He only had a few years of happiness out of all the shit he's had to deal with. Let him have something for himself."

"Dude! I'm just sayin'…"

"Yeah, well don't."

There was silence in the car for a few minutes. "'M sorry, Dean. I just… I'm tryin', okay?"

"Well, try harder Sam. You've been assuming worst motives for everything Dad does since you were twelve. I just… I never understood it. Dad's not perfect. I get that. I do. Dad can be the biggest asshole in the world when he wants to be. But he's still a good man who deserves a little happiness before he kicks the bucket. Again."

"Yeah. You're right. I know you're right. I know he did the best he could. I really do know that, and I understand him better than 0I ever did growing up. But… being angry with Dad is like a habit and sometimes I just… fall right into it without even thinking about it."

There was silence for another few minutes. "So, what's it like to be with a chick who used to be a dude?"

Unexpected Arrivals

They'd just arrived in Minnesota to deal with a roving band of vampires when Dean got the call. "Dean?"

Dean was instantly worried when he heard his wife's voice. She sounded weak and more than a little scared. "Cass? Baby?"

"You need to come home. Now."

His stomach dropped at that. The doctors had said everything was fine. The baby was healthy, Cassie was healthy. Everything was supposed to be fine. "Is… is something wrong?"

"The baby's coming."

"But… you're not due for another couple of weeks," he said, caught between relief and worry. Cassie groaned so loudly, Dean had to pull the phone away from his ear. He cringed because that was definite pain in that whimper. "Okay. Okay, I'm comin'. You hear me, baby? I'm on my way."

"O-okay. Okay." She was gasping, clearly still in pain.

He hung up the phone and stared at it for a second, trying to get his brain working. He needed to ge home, but they were hours away now. Enoch. He should call Enoch. He looked up to see Sam watching him. "The baby?"

"Yeah." He looked around the empty parking lot of the deserted hotel. They'd been staying in more and more of those lately as people either congregated together, fled to rural areas or migrated to the sanctuary cities. Not many people staying in no-tell motels these days. Not that it was illegal for them to break in anymore. They could freaking commandeer shit now. Which, as far as Dean was concerned was just totally awesome. He turned to face Sam again and nearly screamed like a girl because Ariel and Enoch were right there. As it was he made some sort of undignified screechy noise in the back of his throat. And really… was it necessary to sneak up on a guy like that? "What the hell?"

Ariel cocked her head at him, looking slightly remorseful. "Sorry. Enoch's going to take you back home. I'm here to watch Sam's back."

"Yeah. I bet. Just make sure you two bring my car back in the same condition it's in now."

Dean was officially freaked out, not that he was about to show it. If he didn't know better, he'd think Cassie was possessed. She vacillated between being downright hostile and completely clingy. It was creeping him out, but he understood it because he could feel how her emotions were being effected by the pain she was, how badly she felt about her bouts of bitchiness, how grateful she was that he was there, and how desperately she just wanted this to be finished. Cassie was full on screaming during the contractions and even though women on tv and in the movies always did while they were in labor, it never seemed this… alarming. That was his wife in their bedroom, screaming like she was being gutted by a damn werewolf. The doctors had sent him for more ice chips and he'd found Ruby in the living room with De and Mike.

"Ruby, can you take her to your house?

"Sure."

De looked up at him, her eyes too big and shiny. "Is Mommy alright, Daddy?"

"She's… the baby's coming out right now. Mommy will be fine."

"But she's screaming!" Her lip wobbled and her eyes got even shinier, tears gathering at the bottom.

"I know, baby girl," he said as calmly and reasonably as he could, kneeling in front of his daughter. "That always happens when Mommies have babies. Ruby will bring you back when the baby's here and you can see Mommy for yourself, okay? But right now I need you to be a big girl and go with Ruby. Okay?"

"Yes sir," she said softly. He could see her squaring her jaw and trying to pull herself together. His good little soldier. He kissed her on the forehead and made sure they left quickly before taking the fresh batch of ice chips upstairs. Cassie was cursing now and he was glad he'd gotten De out of the house. Dean cursing was bad enough, but he was pretty sure that hearing her mother curse would probably scar her for life. Especially cursing like that. Dean was positive that he'dever heard Cassie say 'motherfucker' before.

By the time he got back to their room, the baby was already crowning. Another few minutes and he would have missed the birth of his second child altogether. Part of him thought that might not have been such a bad thing. He'd seen some really, truly gross things in his life. Like epically gross. But this was just kind of painful to watch. It just seemed wrong that Cassie should be able stretch that much. No wonder she was screaming. He'd be screaming too. Cassie called to him and he tore his hand away from his baby's head coming from a place he never wanted to see it again. He quickly moved to the bed and sat down next to her, holding her hand and supporting her back as she pushed. The moment the doctor announced that the baby was delivered was a huge relief. Dealing with Cassie's emotions and De's emotions and his own emotions over the past few hours had been exhausting. Cassie sagged against him feeling a relief so profound that he wouldn't have been surprised if she fell asleep. But along with the relief was the eagerness to meet their son that made sleep impossible. One of the nurses began messaging Cassie's stomach, explaining that she was helping her deliver the afterbirth. That sounded like one of the many things Dean didn't really want to know more about. The baby was crying now, loud and strong, and the doctor and the other nurse had him in the corner looking it over.

Finally, the nurse brought the now bundled baby over and put him in Cassie's arms. He looked red and his head didn't look quite right. But Sam's baby had looked kind of like that at first too. The baby had a head full of brown, wavy hair and when he squinted his eyes open for a few seconds they looked blue-black. His skin was the color of Ariel's red tea with cream in it. And despite that he was blotchy and some sort of white stuff on his skin that looked totally gross, and that his head was definitely misshapen, he was one of the most beautiful things Dean had ever seen.

"Wow," he said softly. He felt like he was going to burst, but he wasn't sure that there were words for what he was feeling.

"You were right baby. He's a boy."

"I'm always right," he said automatically, reaching out a hand to run a finger along his son's face and hair. He was so soft. How was it possible for any living thing to be that soft? He tried to remember if Mike had been this soft. "John. John Samuel Winchester."

"We'll call him Johnny."

The baby yawned, his mouth stretching impossibly big. "Johnny." Dean needed to call his father and Sam, needed to go get De. But right now all he seemed to be able to do was stare at his son. He leaned forward and kissed Cassie softly. She had given him this.

Compatible Powers

"Dad!"

"Dean? You sound excited." The boy hadn't even given him a chance to so much as say hello when he picked up. John didn't know why it always made him nervous to hear Dean that excited. Maybe because while happy was always a good thing where Dean was concerned, the kinds of things that got his son excited were usually… questionable.

"The baby was born about thirty minutes ago. It's a boy. Five pounds, eight ounces. He's beautiful, Dad. You should see him. I'll send you pictures in a few hours. John Samuel Winchester."

John was smiling at Bobby, as he listened to his son talking way too fast, the way he did when he was on a sugar high. He put his hand on the mouthpiece. "Dean's baby was born. John Samuel. Five pounds, eight ounces."

"Just what the world needs. Another John Winchester," Bobby groused, looking pleased despite his bitching. "Tell the boy I said congratulations."

"Bobby says congratulations. How's Cassie?"

"She's completely awesome. Knocked out right now. Can't say I blame her. That was fuckin' intense. I don't know how women do that, man."

"One of the things that's makes 'em special, son. Just make sure you send those pictures and give the boy a kiss from his Grandpa."

"Yeah, I will. I just…"

Nearly thirty years of interpreting Dean's silences, unexpressed wishes and half spoken thoughts let John hear what Dean wasn't saying. He wished John was there. "Yeah. Me too, son. Me too. And Dean? No caffeine. You're already hyper enough, boy."

"She's in Minnesota with the other Sam."

Sam looked up at Dean, who had just barged into his office. "I know," he said through clenched teeth. "I can feel them. Their… bound."

Dean snorted. "So he got to play hid the sausage with the angel. Maybe he's not such a big loser after all."

"Damn it, Dean, will you focus!" Dean blinked at him, clearly confused. "Do you know what that means? Why it's even possible for them to do something that no one's been able to do in thousands of years? That it's so strong that I can feel it from halfway across the damn country?"

"No… but I'm guessin' you're gonna tell me." Dean sounded slightly annoyed and even more bored.

"Compatible powers. The possibility of producing offspring with even greater abilities."

"Compatible… how's that possible? The source of the powers are opposites."

"No. They're not. The Fallen are angels. The Nephilim are half angel. They may have been caste out, but they are the same. So you send Abadon, and you tell that son of a bitch that he'd better succeed in killing Ariel otherwise we're going to have a big problem on our hands. Because if they have a child stronger than this reality's Sam, it will also be stronger than me."

Dean scowled. "Well, that is a problem. Why the hell didn't you say somethin' before now?"

"Because… I thought after what I'd done to her, Ariel wouldn't go near him."

"You said you didn't finish."

"No… but I thought it was enough."

"You thought? Apparently you thought wrong. Geez… I thought you were supposed to be the brains in the arrangement. I swear you weren't this stupid in the other reality. Did you hit your head repeatedly on the fucking way over?"

"What the hell, man?"

"That should be my line. I'm goin' with Abadon."

"No, Dean-"

"Shut the hell up right the fuck now, Sam," Dean growled, his voice low and dangerous. "You should have just killed the bitch when you had the chance. Now we're lookin' at the possibility of some kid being born that could challenge us. Whatever could kill you could kill me. 'S bad enough we have Ariel, Enoch and Alex. I want this done right so I'm gonna make sure it is. You don't want me disobeying you're orders? Then let me do what I need to do to protect us both and I won't."

A/N:

Hi Casammy! It has been a while, my friend. Don't lose hope… Ariel's not dead yet and I know how much you love her. I hope all's well with you.

Yeah, Rosasia, I plead guilty. I have evil, evil plans for Lisa. But I refuse to give any of them away. You'll just have to wait and see.

Sam and Dean are fun in all their incarnations, redgriffin7, but even more so when they're evil. They can say the most horrible things to and about each other and still be good. Sam and Ariel fit really well. That took even me by surprise since I never had any intention of pairing Ariel with anyone at all. LOL. And yes John/JDM is yummy. I can't blame Elaina one little bit. Dean's more than a son to John, I think. He's probably the only person whose opinion actually matters to him enough to change course. But yeah, I think I got my mojo back for this story. Just had a bit of a hard time with this chapter because it's transitional.

Thank you so much, Miapocca, and welcome! I've always adored Cassie, and yeah the whole Lisa thing hit me right out of left field. I was kind of like 'What? What the hell happened to Cassie – you know the woman Dean told Sam was the only woman he ever loved.' I know a lot of people didn't like her (cause, you know, they would have immediately believed their boyfriend of two weeks if he'd told them that he hunted vampires, werewolves and ghosts for a living), but I did and I kept waiting for her to come back. LOL. Silly me. I would love to be published one day, and I keep trying. Still LOLing about how you keep imagining Ariel.

-Angie