36

GREAT HEARING FROM YOU

Anna had enjoyed her time in the warm weather, but was starting to get hungry. She didn't feel like walking or driving anywhere for food, so instead decided on delivery. Walking up to the main lobby, she saw Brian behind the counter again. "Hi Brian, you got any delivery menus for a pizza or something?"

"Sure. There are pizza places, and a few Chinese restaurants that deliver. Hang on I'll grab some menus," he helpfully explained. A minute later he returned with folded menus to the surrounding eateries. "Here," he said with a smile as he handed her the menus.

"Thanks," she responded and returned to her hotel room. Deciding on Chinese, she ordered some Mongolian beef for delivery. Before hanging up the phone she added in some cream puffs for good measure. Turning the air conditioning on high, she sat and watched the news until her dinner arrived.

The blonde reporter was doing a story about the continued strange weather happenings in Arizona. Anna's thoughts immediately fled to Sam and Bobby working on the Hell Gate in the desert. She felt guilty for leaving Dean in Colorado, and wondered if he had already called his brother and Bobby to inform them.

'Would they care?' she wondered.

'Of course they would care you idiot!' now she was having an argument with herself. 'Dean probably called them the minute he woke up. Hopefully. Unless…unless he's happy and glad I left, then maybe he didn't call them at all.' Her racing mind was brought to a screeching halt at the sound of someone knocking at the door. Her heart rate increased, thinking for a second that there was a possibility Dean was on the other side of the white door. Slowly walking over to the entrance, she opened the door to have her hopes crushed. A short man holding a bag of food stood before her.

"I have a delivery for Anna," the Asian accent was prominent in the short man's voice. He looked grumpy, like he hated his job.

"That's me," she replied in a lifeless tone.

"Ten fifty," the man held out his hand for money.

"Right, of course," she turned and rummaged through her purse until she found her wallet. Giving the man fifteen dollars, she instructed him to keep the change. The smell of the Mongolian beef filled her senses, and she was suddenly in a better mood. 'Perks of pregnancy: mood changes and happiness from food.'

Hours later, she was lying in bed still watching the news. She'd eaten dinner, showered, and was finally able to lie down. Still snacking on some of the cream puffs, her attention was directed towards the weather forecast for the week. Eventually, she fell asleep. It was the first time in months she'd slept alone without Dean next to her. She missed the warmth of his body, and the comfort of his arms around her. Keeping her emotions in check, she caressed her rounded abdomen and drifted off.

She was jolted awake by a thunderous knocking on her door. 'Housekeeping?' she pondered. Looking at the clock on the nightstand she saw that it was really early. The clock read 5:11 AM. 'That's too early for housekeeping. At least for me.' Still half asleep, she made her way to the door and opened it. The shock was evident in her eyes as her husband stared back at her with a mix of rage and relief.

"Thank God," he breathed and pushed himself into her room. Still speechless, she looked up at him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she whispered, still mesmerized by his appearance.

"Then what the Hell Anna!?" she jumped back and the anger and volume of his voice. "Nobody took you? You're sitting here eating fucking Chinese!?" he pointed at the empty container from earlier.

"I wanted to give you an out! I felt guilty after everything, and I heard you praying to Castiel. I know I'm dragging you down and that you're miserable. You put on this mask in front of me, but I know the truth!"

"Don't. Don't you ever talk to me like that again," he warned with a hurt look in his eyes.

"You're part of this damn prophecy is done! Look, I'm knocked up. Good job!" she shouted back and gestured to her swollen midsection.

"You really think I want you gone? Where in God's name did you get that idea? Because you heard me praying to Cas? Well newsflash honey, just because this isn't easy doesn't mean I want to kick you to the curb! I'm involved in this just as much as you! Unless you hate me so much that you left because of that you're stuck with me. I'm not leaving, I don't want an out, I want you." He was still angry and shouting, but Anna saw the true emotion shown through his emerald eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said as a tear escaped her left eye.

"Come here," he commanded and pulled her close to him in a crushing hug. "Don't ever do that again to me, you understand?" he explained with a muffled voice into her hair.

"I promise." Her answer must have pleased him because she could feel some of the tension leave his body.

"What's going on?" Brian suddenly appeared in the doorway and saw Anna and Dean. "Hey, get off her!" the lobby attendant yelled at Dean. Brian was standing with a baseball bat in his hands and a pair of preppy sweatpants.

"Excuse me?" Dean turned with a raised eyebrow at the younger blonde boy.

"I said leave her alone!" Brian was obviously misunderstanding the situation and Anna's lips curled up in a smile.

"We're sorry for the yelling, this is my husband Brian. This is Dean," Anna introduced and smiled when the bat was lowered.

"Oh, I…sorry, I heard yelling and I just wanted to make sure everything was okay," he tried to apologize but only received a glare from Dean. "I'll leave you two alone," Brian said before leaving.

Dean closed the door to give them some privacy and turned to face Anna. "On a first name basis with the lobby boy? Really?" he was teasing her, and she knew it.

"Oh definitely. He even helped me order Chinese food yesterday," she said with a smile and wide eyes. Dean chuckled and brought her close again.

"I'm serious. Don't ever do this shit again Anna. I need you, our baby needs you, Sam needs you, and even Bobby needs you. God knows the old man needs someone to coddle and tell stories to. Sam and I won't listen to them anymore." She let out a small laugh at his comment. "But don't you ever think I need an out. We are going to get through this together, just like we said."

"Okay," she agreed with a smirk. Happiness flooded her body and she was immensely relieved that her stupid fears were all over nothing. "Let's just chalk it up to pregnancy hormones," she suggested and Dean let out a full, loud laugh.

"Pregnancy hormones. Okay we can go with that."

"Did you already tell Sam and Bobby I had left?"

"Yeah. He was my first phone call after I realized you left your cell at the cabin."

"Great. They're probably going to be mad at me for causing all this trouble."

"Pregnancy hormones, remember? Nobody's mad at you, so stop worrying. By the way, on my speedy drive here I had a visit from that angel of ours."

"Cas is okay?" she questioned with hope in her eyes.

"Yeah. He told me that Zachariah is still alive, so we need to get back to the cabin. He also told me that they're up there fighting a war inside the pearly gates. Hopefully Cas's side pulls through and we won't have to worry about the winged bastard Zach anymore."

"I hope so too."

"That was Dean. She's okay. Just a pregnancy hormone incident, she's fine though," Sam told Bobby. They had books spread everywhere, and the older man was trying to find a specific one.

"Good. Girl gave us quite a scare. They better be heading back to the cabin, we don't need Zach finding them while were tryin' to deal with this Hell Gate shit," Bobby grumbled. He and Sam were both exhausting themselves trying to solve the gate issue.

"Dean said they were leaving the hotel shortly." Bobby found his book and started tuning Sam out. Shaking his head, Sam checked his email. He read Mandy's email address on his inbox screen. Smiling, Sam decided to take a break from research and read her message.

Mandyann85

Hey Sam, hope you're doing well. Collin and I are fine, still adjusting though. He has a spring break coming up, and I thought we could visit? If you and your brother are busy, don't worry about it. With our parents gone, I'm not sure what to do for his break this year, and wanted to keep it low key. Just let me know.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Mandy.

Sam's eyebrows rose in surprise, and he so desperately wanted to see her. Looking over at Bobby, realization that he was in the middle of a job, a big job, and an interruption probably wouldn't be tolerated. At the same time, he so badly wanted to see Mandy.

swinchester

Mandy,

I would love for you and Collin to come visit. At the moment I'm working in Arizona, but I think I can get a few days off to come spend some time with you. My brother and I have a cabin in Colorado we're staying at, and there is plenty of room for you and Collin. There's stuff to do a few towns over if he needs entertainment on his break. We could catch a movie or something? Keep me posted on the dates & details, and we'll talk soon? Great hearing from you.

Sam.

A/N: What did you think? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Still trying to figure out how to play out the whole Zachariah thing, and the Hell Gate. There's a few ideas, but if you have any other ideas about the story don't hesitate to PM or review!