AN: Well done to those who picked Isabel would get pregnant. They needed some good news.
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When Sam and Dean finally made their way back to Lawrence a little under a month later, Paul and Isabel had settled easily into their newlywed routine. Their welcome was warm and cheerful, and Sam and Dean felt immensely fortunate and comforted to know that no matter what happened on the road or what they went through during their hunts, they at least had this place to come back to. Every time they came down it felt more and more like home.
Missouri came around the same night and together with Isabel prepared a large hearty feast, while the boys relaxed and took a load off. Paul went to bed early, informing the boys that he had an early flight the following morning. The University of Texas in Houston had recruited Paul to present a series of lectures on urban mythology as part of the syllabus for sophomore history students at the start of each academic semester. It meant that twice a year, for two weeks, he would be in another state. Isabel joked that it would give them a welcome break from each other. A marital time out. Paul didn't find it quite so funny and before going to bed, made Sam and Dean both promise that they would stay with her for the two weeks he was away and keep an eye on her.
After the table was cleared and the dishes done, Dean drove Missouri home. When he came back he settled back on the couch in the lounge room to watch TV, while Sam and Isabel sat next to each other at the kitchen table, talking and drinking tea. Sam caught her up on what he and Dean had been doing in the last month. Their run in with another hunter Gordon, their encounter with Andy and his powers of mind control, he told her about Ellen, Jo and Ash at the roadhouse. Twenty minutes into his monologue, with the occasional nod or wow from Isabel, he could no longer ignore the fact that she was without a doubt not listening to a single word he was saying.
"Are you even listening to me?" He asked waving a hand in front of her face.
She blinked at him "Huh?"
"I've been talking for the last twenty minutes" Said Sam with a small smile "apparently to myself"
"I'm sorry" She said, lightly tapping him on his knee "I'm just…a little preoccupied"
"What's bothering you?"
She looked around the kitchen and back towards lounge room. She could hear the TV in the in the other room and the unmistakable sounds of Dean snoring. She leaned in towards Sam.
"I'm late" She whispered.
He looked at her for a moment and the meaning became instantly clear. He'd been in a serious relationship before and he knew what those words meant.
"Oh" He said lowering his voice as well "How late?"
Jessica had once uttered those words to him about six months after they'd started going out. They had stopped his heart cold. In her case, 'late' had meant only a couple of days, and they'd both almost fainted in relief when her body finally caught up with her cycle. Needless to say, they were very careful after that.
"Too late" Isabel said "Like, three weeks"
"You should get checked out" He suggested. He knew three weeks was more significant than a few days.
"I know" She said frowning "Can you imagine?"
"A honeymoon baby?" He asked amused "A little cliché, isn't it?"
"I don't know" She said, now thinking seriously about the timeline "Three weeks, means it could have happened anytime between four to six weeks ago"
"You could have been pregnant at your wedding?" The smirk on his face reminded her of Dean and she wondered if the two were spending too much time together and starting to rub off on each other "I stand corrected…shotgun wedding! How very radical of you, Bel"
"What can I say, I live for controversy" She said with a mock scandalized gasp, before waving her hand in a dismissive gesture "In any case, it's not for sure yet"
"Get one of those home pregnancy tests"
"I did. It's been sitting in the back of my shoe rack for five days"
"What are you waiting for?"
"Paul to go away" She said casually "I don't want him to freak out"
"I'm getting the feeling it's not a wanted pregnancy"
"Unplanned, Sam, not unwanted" She corrected him "The thing is…I know for a fact Paul wants it. I don't' want to tell him until I know for sure"
"And you?"
She took a moment to answer "It just doesn't feel like the right time yet, with everything that's happening"
"I know what you mean" He let out a deep breath "But deep down you want this too, don't you?"
"I don't know"
"What are you more afraid of, that the test will be negative or that it will be positive?"
She looked at him sharply for a moment before her face broke into a grin. Her apprehension belied her excitement at the prospect of being pregnant.
"I don't think there's anything I want more right now than kids" She said "I want them and I want them now"
"Then take the test" He said encouragingly as he wrapped his hand around her.
She looked at him and bit her lip. She smiled again and nodded enthusiastically "Tomorrow"
He smiled back "Tomorrow"
The next morning Paul left for the airport. Isabel felt him stir in the bed next to her and woke up with him, in spite of the ungodly hour. He quietly gathered his luggage and briefcase while Isabel made him some breakfast. She watched from the front door as he pulled out of the driveway, giving him a final wave and a little sad smile. She walked back into the house and sighed. The sun was starting to rise and she knew there was no way she'd be able to go back to sleep. Sam and Dean were still sleeping and with nothing better to do, she changed into a track suit and went for a run.
She came back to find both Dean and Sam in the kitchen waiting for her. She poured herself a glass of water and gulped it down. She put the empty glass in the dishwater and turned to find her cousins staring at her intently.
"Are you waiting for me to make you breakfast?" She asked with a smile to let them know she found the notion hilarious and highly unlikely.
"No" Dean said with a casual shrug and crudely added "We're waiting for you to pee on a stick"
She turned to Sam "You told him?"
"I'm sorry" Sam said innocently "Was it supposed to be a secret?"
"Of course not, but" She said "I just thought…I…it"
"Stop stalling and take the damn test, will you?" Dean piped in impatiently "Come on, I wanna know if I'm gonna be an uncle"
She smiled along with them before it slowly morphed into an anxious frown.
"I'm nervous" She admitted.
"It'll be fine, kitten" Dean said gently.
Without another word she rushed out of the kitchen and ran into her room, fishing behind the shoe rack in her closet for the brown paper back containing the pregnancy test kit. She took it with her to the bathroom and stared at it through the clear shower curtain the entire time she took a shower
Sam and Dean waited patiently for her in the kitchen, slowly making themselves breakfast as they listened to the sounds of running water from the bathroom. Twenty minutes later the shower stopped running and they looked at each other in anticipation. Ever since Sam had told Dean about the possibility of Isabel being pregnant, the events of the last few months seemed to take backstage and both of them were now brimming with hope that it be true.
The bathroom door opened and a few seconds later Isabel slowly walked into the kitchen. Her eyes were red and puffy. Tears had already started making their way down her cheeks. She looked from the white plastic stick in her hand then up at both her cousins. Sam made a move towards her but before either he or Dean had a chance to say anything, she leapt forward and jumped up into Sam's arms. He put his arms around her to support her and hold her up as she wrapped all her limbs around him and screamed loudly into his ear.
"It's positive!" She shrieked, making Sam laugh and cringe at the same time "It's positive!"
She let go of Sam and he set her down on her feet again. Dean moved forward and threw his own arms around her shoulders, pulling her to him.
"Awesome!" He said, kissing the top of her head.
"I can't believe it!" She said laughing as she stepped back and wiped at her tears of joy "I can't stop crying and laughing at the same time!"
Sam grabbed the box of tissues from above the refrigerator and held it out to her. She took a few with a shaking hand, and then wiped her face and blew her nose.
After a few minutes she'd calmed down, though it was obvious she could hardly contain her excitement. She decided that before she did anything else or told anyone, specifically Paul, she should go to her doctor and get properly checked out. It became quite possibly the longest day in her life as she waited for her appointment the following day. Sam and Dean drove her into downtown Lawrence to see her doctor, who promptly informed her that she was indeed pregnant. It was hard to tell, but she couldn't pinpoint the conception date to anything more accurate than five to six weeks.
"So there's no way of telling if you were pregnant before the wedding?" Dean asked her once they were back at the house that night.
"No" She said as she started to empty the dishwasher.
"Don't you don't keep track of…"
"No, Dean we don't keep a tally" She said sarcastically before he had a chance to finish his vulgar thought "I also happen to be a little sketchy when it comes to taking the pill"
"That's really romantic, Bel" Sam said dryly from his seat at the table "Make sure you tell that story to your kids"
"Anyway, if I was pregnant at my wedding, it's a miracle it survived that exorcism" There was no accusation in her tone, she was just pointing out a simple fact "It doesn't matter, I don't care when it was conceived"
"Except if anyone else asks" Sam offered.
"That's right! If anyone else asks it was during the honeymoon" She said with authority "Are we all clear?"
"Crystal" Sam agreed.
"We have to celebrate" Dean said suddenly.
"How?" She asked "I'd love a big fat margarita the size of my bathtub, but that's not going to happen now, is it?"
"Not for a while" Dean said with malicious glee.
"Thin ice, Dean, thin ice" She said threateningly.
"What can we do?" Sam pondered aloud.
"I've got it!" Dean said abruptly, slapping his hand on the kitchen bench "Are you working this weekend?"
"No" She replied slowly.
"Good, then pack your bags 'cause we're going to Graceland"
Her jaw dropped and she stared at her older cousin "For real?"
"Yeah, for real" He said with an eager nod "You've been wanting to go for ages, haven't you? Well, now you've got the weekend off, Paul's away, me and Sam are here with you, it's perfect timing. We're going, baby"
She turned to Sam, her eyes shining with excitement. She wanted confirmation that Dean's offer was for real and he wasn't just yanking her chain.
"Memphis it is!" He said with a smile.
"Alright! Yeah!" She squealed as she stood from her chair and gave Dean and Sam each a loud kiss on the cheek "I'm going to pack"
"Bel, it's only Wednesday" Sam pointed out, laughing at his cousin.
"Oh, you're right" She said, genuinely disappointed "But Friday is so far away. I can't wait that long"
"You've waited two years" Dean added "Two more days isn't gonna kill you"
Friday came around more quickly than she thought it would. In between her cousins visiting, her job at the spa and the daily never ending ritual involved in keeping herself hidden from the demon, she didn't really have much time for any other thoughts other than when she should break the news of her pregnancy to Paul. She decided, and her cousins agreed, that she should tell him personally face to face the moment he came back, which unfortunately meant, that all three had to keep the news secret from everybody else until then. Missouri would be the hardest, and all three were gratefully relieved to be away from Lawrence that weekend.
They piled into the Impala on Friday evening and as soon as they hit the interstate to Tennessee Isabel pulled out a tape from her purse and thrust it between the two front seats, motioning Sam to play it. He grabbed it from her, and with a groan realized it was an Elvis tape.
"To get us in the mood" She said.
"Sensational" Sam said sarcastically.
"The guy at the music store laughed at me when I asked for it" She said.
"Well, do you blame him? What kind of dork under fifty listens to Elvis" Dean said teasing her "Seriously, Bel"
"He laughed because I asked for a tape" She said just as haughtily "I told him it was for my Grandpa, who'd never heard of a CD player"
Sam and Isabel broke out in laughter and Dean thrust the tape into the deck just to drown them out.
They went to Graceland on Saturday, spending most of the afternoon wondering around the castle that the King of Rock and Roll called home. Sometimes, when you want to do or see something for so long, when you finally do, it never lives up to one's expectations. Isabel thought how people often say fantasy is better than reality. In this particular occasion, that was not true. Maybe it was the fact that she'd just found out she was pregnant, maybe it was the fact that she was on the road with her cousins again, even if only for a couple of days, but more than likely it was the absolute extravagance and marvel of the place she had so far only imagined. She had an amazing time, made all the much better with the knowledge that Sam and Dean had also enjoyed it.
The only mention made of Isabel's pregnancy with relation to their research on the demon was hastily dealt with the day Sam and Dean left Lawrence again. Paul was flying back from Houston the following day and Sam suggested they give the newlyweds time alone to share the news. Dean added that with Isabel's new condition it was probably a good idea to get moving with their search for a permanent method of extermination anyway.
Not for the first time, Sam and Dean realized that it was getting harder and harder to leave their cousin with every visit they made to Lawrence. They promised Isabel that they would visit again by Christmas at the very latest, which was only three months away.
"Can you believe it?" Dean asked Sam as they drove away from Lawrence "We're gonna be uncles"
"I know" Sam said with a smile "Life has a weird sense of humor, doesn't it?"
Soon they would find out just how weird and perverse life's sense of humor could really be.