Chapter 38

Sam

Dean had been sleeping for hours when both girls turned in tandem towards the bedroom. We had been cleaning up the mess from the fight and I knew I was tired, so both my pregnant wife and pregnant sister-in-law must be exhausted.

"What's up?" I asked, leaning on the mop.

Serra turned back towards me, her hands on her waist. "Dean's awake," she said as Grace walked back towards the bedroom.

"Should we be going with her?" I asked, moving towards Serra and propping the mop against the table. "Is he okay to be alone with her?"

Nodding, Serra turned back towards her sister. "He's fine," she said. "Grace thinks the demon spell died with Ouriel."

"Do you agree?"

Serra turned to face me again, the sunlight catching her stomach as she took a deep breath. I smiled internally, thinking of my child, growing safely inside my wife. "Yeah," she finally said. "I think so."

The bedroom door opened and Grace led Dean by the hand out into the living room. We watched silently as they moved towards us and as my brother approached, I reached out my arms into a hug. "I'm glad you're okay, man," I said, patting his back as he returned my hug. "We missed you."

"Yeah," Dean agreed. "Me too."

Serra stepped forward to hug Dean as well, but he held her by the shoulders, not allowing her closer. "What?" she asked, tilting her head.

"What is this?" Dean demanded, gesturing to her stomach.

Serra laughed, the tension immediately gone. "Oh yeah," she giggled. "Me too."

Dean stared at me and shook his head. "Number two," he sighed, shaking his head. "I remember when we thought it was only number two. Turns out it was two and three."

Immediately turning towards Grace, Serra glared at her with panic in her eyes and tilted her head. "There's only one, right?"

Grace chuckled. "Yes," she agreed, nodding.

Dean wrapped Serra in a hug and sighed. "Congratulations, Luck," he whispered. "I'm sorry I missed it. I've missed a lot, here lately." Looking up at me from hugging Serra, Dean continued. "Congrats, man. Good luck. You're gonna need it."

I laughed, nodding. "Especially if it's a girl, right?"

"Especially if it's a girl." Dean chuckled and turned back, "Oh God, what if it's a girl like her?" Dean spun slowly to survey the damage as we cleaned the Big House. "Not too bad," he said. "I'm glad it ended fast. I'm tired of redoing hardwood in here."

Grace busied herself filling a pitcher for sun tea and shrugged. "Serra going for the Knight Blade was a good call. Took care of things quickly."

"That's how we do," Serra said quietly, walking over to Grace and unwrapping tea bags as she set it on the counter.

I turned towards Dean and took a deep breath, running my hands through my hair. "You sure you're okay, Dean?"

"If you're asking if the demon spell is gone, then yeah," Dean replied. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just hate myself a little more than I used to."

"You couldn't control it," I replied, turning towards him, talking quietly. "You didn't do it on purpose."

Dean turned so that his back was to Grace and he tilted his head, leaning closer to me. "I don't give a shit if I did it on purpose or not. I still fucked at least six other women, Sam. I went to bars, finding women that looked just like her, and then killed them when I was done having my way with them. I am a fucking monster, man." He glanced back to where the girls were standing and shook his head. "She shouldn't want me back, Sammy."

"She does, though, Dean. She loves you and we all missed you." I leaned closer and nodded towards Grace. "She needs you now, more than ever, Dean," I explained. "Four kids? You are a father, first and foremost. You need to get your shit together and help her take care of your kids."

Dean licked his lips as he closed his eyes. Nodding, he took a breath and turned back to Grace. "Why does she still love me?"

"Apparently, because she's as big of an idiot as you are."

…

Sam

Time passed quickly and Dean was at Grace's beck and call once more, trying to earn back her trust with every breath he took. Liberty and Levi were attached to Dean's hip wherever he went, insisting Dean take them with him to the shop every few days when Dean went back to work. Everett and Glory were never far behind. The guys at the shop were relatively forgiving, understanding only that the Winchesters went through some heavy stuff and that we were all on the mend, Grace and Dean included.

I went to the shop on my way home on some idle Tuesday in July to pick up Levi. When I walked into the front door, Tony and Dean were locked in an argument about the sixty-seven Camaro they had been working on for the past few months and what color the final coat of paint should be.

"A Camaro didn't come in 'Sunfire Yellow' in sixty-seven, Tony," Dean explained, his arms spread wide. "The Corvette came in 'Sunfire.' The Camaro had two choices: 'Butternut Yellow' or 'Capri Cream'." Dean slammed down the order file from the owner. He jabbed his finger to the file and raised his eyebrows. "Dude wants it stock sixty-seven, so that's what we're going to give him." I cleared my throat, waiting for Dean to finish his sentence. He turned to acknowledge me and made a face. "What."

I chuckled at my brother's enthusiasm and shook my head. "I just came to take Levi home," I said, leaning on the counter. "I can take Lib too, if you want."

Dean checked his watch and then looked at the clock on the wall. "Is it already four?" He shook his head and ran his hands through his hair. "Tony, you call him back right now and tell him it's gonna be between 'Butternut' or 'Capri'."

Tony rolled his eyes and headed back towards the bays. Dean paused, waiting to hear Tony's voice on the phone. Once line two lit on the phone at the counter where Dean stood, he turned back towards me and shook his head.

"I think I've lost a step or two with these guys," he said quietly. "They doubt me…question me constantly. They keep asking for Grace."

"Grace held it together," I said, tapping my fingers on the counter rhythmically. "She knew what she was doing and I think they respected her."

"Does that mean they don't respect me?"

Shrugging, I sighed. "They thought you left, man. The story they have in their heads is that you're the bad guy and that Grace was the damsel in distress."

Dean's green eyes flicked up to mine. "I am. She was."

I closed my mouth and tilted my head. "You were. Past tense. They'll come around, man. It's only been a few months."

He rolled his head from side to side and turned towards his office, calling his daughter's nickname, "Hey, Meatloaf, Uncle Sammy's here. Bring Levi and his stuff."

Liberty peeked out from the doorway of Dean's office and grinned at me, waving. She disappeared again and I looked back to Dean, who was rubbing his arm absentmindedly. "You okay?" I asked, lifting my eyebrows.

Dean lowered his jaw and nodded. "Yeah," he said, shaking his head. "Still throbs every once and awhile when I get upset or emotional. Likes to remind me it's there." He sighed, unrolling the sleeve to his flannel. "Grace has it under control, but you know. I try not to bring it up."

"It's okay to talk about it, Dean," I said, lowering my voice. "It wasn't you. It was the spell."

Liberty came running out of Dean's office, my son hot on her tail. "Hi, Uncle Sammy!" Liberty cried, jumping into my arms, not giving Dean the chance to reply. "Levi was annoying today."

"Oh, thanks for the report," I responded. "What did he do?"

Grinning, she glanced at Dean. "He got Daddy's permanent marker and drew on the wall." I glanced up at Dean and chuckled. "Great," I said, picking Levi up from the ground. "Did you draw on Uncle Dean's wall?" Levi pressed his little lips together, too much like Serra, and nodded his head very slowly. I brushed a strand of auburn hair out of his face and stared at him sternly. "Why did you do that? You know you're only supposed to draw on paper."

"Draw car," Levi said, pushing hair out of his face. "Draw car for Uncoe."

Dean chuckled and took Levi from my arms, tossing him in the air a bit. "Oh, it's okay, little man. It is a smooth ass car."

"Dean."

"Sorry. It's a nice car," Dean corrected, rolling his eyes.

I zipped up Levi's backpack and glanced up at him. "You want me to bring some of those Magic Erasers tomorrow? Clean it off?"

He shook his head and grinned, staring at Levi. "Tell you what," he said, a wide-mouth grin spreading across his face, "you give me about five minutes with some clippers with this kid, we'll call it even."

"Not even a little bit," I said, taking Levi back and turning towards the door. "You coming home with me, Lib, or do you want to come home with Daddy?"

Liberty glanced back at Dean and shook her head at me. "I wanna stay with Daddy," she said, walking back towards Dean, raising her hand to hold his.

I glanced at my brother and smiled. "Okay, see you soon," I said. "Thanks for taking him today."

Dean waved and bent to pick Liberty from the ground, nuzzling her face and setting her on top of the counter. "Bye Uncle Sammy!" she yelled, waving.

"Bye, Libby!" I replied, waving over my shoulder. I was glad to see Dean and Lib still harbored their dedication to each other, and now that Everett was happy, knowing that Faith would be born in just under two months, there didn't seem to be anything that could trip us up now.