Vrskaandrea: God help anyone who tries to take her offspring, but one of Deanas biggest fears is that after all this is over and she can finally go back to her family, she will have nothing to show for it.

Franki3Winchester: Bobbys blunt and to the point attitude is just the metaphorical slap to the face people need some times. He's awesome like that. I can assure you there will be no Jack-esque instant aging, because while Deana is almost positive she's not making it out alive, she also knows that Sprout will be protected and taken care of.

Malic Malic: I think we all miss this Bobby. I loved him so much. I wish things were easier for Deana too, but then there'd be no story!

Chapter 39

Bobby's to the point speech seemed to have the desired effect on Deana, on all of them really. Deanas outlook had once again improved trusting in 'her Angel' and the others to help her through.

Bobby and Jim had switched her bed out for an old hospital bed they had managed to get their hands on, 'to help with the delivery', they'd informed her and Castiel had even managed another visit, albeit a short one. Michael was still watching him and searching for Deana. They went over the plan for the imminent arrival of Deanas child and Cas assured everyone he had someone in mind to assist, seeing as none of the others had any midwifery training. Deana surprised everyone when she made a joke about having a two thousand year old midwife.

After the strategy had been set Bobby, Jim and Ellen gave the other two a few moments of privacy. Cas and Deana sat on the swing chair on the veranda. Cas gently cupped Deanas face and kissed her softly.

"How are you coping with it all?" Cas asked as they gently swung back and forth.

"Okay I guess. It's not like I really have much of a choice." She replied.

"I'm sorry." He said with a sigh and he leant his forehead to Deanas.

"I know, what's done is done." She replied, covering Castiels hand with her own.

"I wish we could be together, but..."

"I know." Deana pulled away. "Your vessel."

"He has a family."

"And it wouldn't be fair to him, to them. I get it." Deana assured her Angel. "I have to ask though, all that time you were with me, even now, what did Jimmy think he was doing? What does his wife think?"

"Just before I arrived in Lawrence, Jimmy was offered a new job. This position required him to travel, sometimes at very short notice. I tried to get him home as often as possible."

"So, like the times you had to report to your brothers? Jimmy would be with his family?" Deana asked.

"Yes. A vessel is not necessary in Heaven, actually, it's not really necessary on Earth if I'm with other Angels, also on evenings where I knew we wouldn't be together, I'd release him then as well."

"What if someone started asking him about his work?"

"It was actually all very legitimate. There is an office and an actual company. Its all controlled by heaven of course, sometimes it requires a slight alteration of their realities, but everything is there if someone should investigate."

"Hmm."

"Why are you so interested?" Castiel inquired.

"No reason, just curious." Deana replied looking at the Angel beside her.

She leaned against him and they sat quietly, swinging back and forth for a while.

"I guess you should probably be going. You don't want to make Michael suspicious." Deana said finally, pulling away from Castiel and sitting up.

"Yes I should." Castiel replied regretfully. He stood and reached for Deanas hand.

Together they walked around the side of the cabin and to the ward barrier. Ellen had been waiting and gave them a sympathetic smile. Angel or not, she had been young once and remembered that excitement of first love.

"All set?" She asked.

Castiel nodded. He gave Deana one last kiss as Ellen dropped the warding then he stepped past the net and disappeared.

Not having an actual due date, they had just added five weeks to the date of Castiels first visit. With just ten days to go a small emergency had called Ellen away from 'baby watch' duty and Bobby arrived a few hours after her departure to find Deana in the kitchen cooking up a storm.

"Hi Bobby!" She greeted him cheerfully. "Hope you're hungry. Got meatballs and focaccia in the oven and I'm doing a crumble for dessert. You must be tired, why don't you sit and I'll get you a coffee and some cookies. They're fresh, just took them out ten minutes ago."

Bobby just stared as she continued to babble wondering what the heck was going on.

"Is everything okay Deana?" He asked.

"Yeah! I've never felt better! I got so much energy today, I feel great! Here take a load off and relax."

She carried a mug of hot coffee and a plate of three different types of cookies over to the table and put them down gesturing at the chair and looking expectantly at the old hunter.

"Okay, well, thanks?" Bobby sat and carefully sipped his drink as he watched Deana moving about the kitchen again. "Shouldn't...shouldn't you be resting or something?" He asked.

"Yeah, probably. I'm sure I'm probably gonna regret not getting as much sleep as I could now once Sprout arrives but you know, probably couldn't sleep now even if I wanted too."

Deana threw a smile over her shoulder as she filled a large bowl with hot soapy water then carried it across the kitchen and sat it on the counter near the pantry. She pulled the door open and began removing the contents from the cupboard and then thoroughly cleaned it, moving on to all the other cupboards despite Bobby's continuous suggestions she rested.

Two days later Deana sent Bobby to town with a large shopping list. When he returned three hours later he nearly had a heart attack after he found Deana up a ladder washing windows. He looked around and saw the couch covers had been stripped and nearly all surfaces were gleaming brightly.

"Get down from there woman!" He demanded carefully placing his hands on her waist to help her down from the ladder. "What on earth has gotten into you?"

"This place is filthy Bobby! I can't have a baby in this place! It's like disease central!" Deana said waving her arms around.

"Maybe, but you're can't just go climbing ladders, especially if no ones around!"

"Well, fine! You finish the windows, I'll keep going with the laundry."

She slammed the cloth against Bobby's chest, walked around him and headed to the laundry.

"I'm telling you Ellen, it's the damnedest thing. She was up a ladder without a care in the world, scrubbing away at the windows, jabbering something about natural light. This place is cleaner than I've ever seen it. She's washed everything that could possibly be washed. Did you know the couch is actually beige not grey? And she's filled the freezer with little single portioned meals, just incase we get hungry and don't want to fix something for our selves or if a hunter drops by to use the place after we've gone. She was afraid they'd get hungry. She hasn't stopped in days. I'm a little scared." Bobby admitted in a whisper.

Ellen just laughed as she listened to her friend babble away.

"Bobby, relax. This is perfectly natural. She's nesting." Ellen explained.

"She's what?"

"Nesting. It's what expectant mothers do when their time is getting close. I guess if Castiel hadn't told us, this would have given us warning the baby was close." Ellen joked over the phone.

"This isn't funny Ellen. It's creepy!"

"Don't worry about it Bobby, she'll stop soon and probably sleep for a week. I'll be back tomorrow and then you can go back to your beloved dust filled home."

"Well great! And my place isn't that dusty." Bobby groused.

"Yeah, alright." Ellen laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow."

True to Ellen's word, Deana called it quits around supper time. She made up a tray of coffee and the assorted cookies and cakes she had made, and carried it to the coffee table in the lounge. She sat down with a large sigh and promptly fell asleep with out even taking a sip of her drink. Bobby smiled fondly at the sleeping girl and covered her with a blanket before taking up his mug and the plate of sweet treats.

"Well, waste not want not." He said to himself and then ate the entire contents.

When Deana began snoring, Bobby carefully carried her to her room and settled her on the bed, covering her with the quilt.

She was still asleep when Ellen arrived late the next morning. The woman astounded at the state of the cabin and admitted to Bobby she thought he was exaggerating but she had to agree with him that Deana had done a thorough job.

Deana emerged, yawning just as Ellen and Bobby we're sitting down to lunch.

"Morning." She said as she shuffled toward the coffee maker.

"Afternoon." Bobby replied.

"How are you feeling?" Ellen asked.

"Oh, hi Ellen. Truthfully, I hurt." Deana said rubbing her face with both hands. "Everywhere."

Ellen chuckled.

"I figured you would be." She stood and pulled a bottle from her bag at the end of the table. "Here, try this."

Deana reached over and took the proffered bottle.

"'Muscle Ease Body Wash'." She read opening the bottle and sniffing. "Mmm! Smells good."

"It's got peppermint, lavender, sage and some mineral salts. It's fantastic in a bath but works as a shower gel too." Ellen explained.

"That's lucky, considering we don't have a bath." Deana joked. "I think Im gonna go try it now."

She picked up her mug and left the room.

"Make sure you leave me some!" Bobby called after her.

With the cabin cleaned and the freezer full, Deana found herself at a loose end. She had spent too long that afternoon just staring at the empty cradle, trying to imagine her baby in there. More than anything she hoped Sprout had Castiels blue eyes and dark hair, but then again, those features really belonged to his vessel and the more she thought about that fact the sadder she got. Deciding to try and find something to distract her she found the knitting needles Ellen had given her and some extra yarn and settled herself on the couch and with Ellen's help, she started another blanket, well at least, that's what she hoped it would be.

Deana was squirming on the sofa and then with an exasperated groan she threw her knitting to the side and stood up.

"Everything okay." Ellen asked, looking up from her book.

"Yeah, just can't get comfortable and then when I manage to Sprout decides it would be fun to use my bladder for a punching bag. This is like the twentieth time I've needed to pee today! Seriously, it's beyond a joke!"

Ellen watched as Deana waddled away. Waddling being an apt description as her belly had seemed to almost double in size in the last month, especially as Deana had told Sprout to grow as much as it needed to, as long as it didn't hurt her. She turned back to her book knowing that any day now the Nephilim would be joining them.

Deana didn't know what woke her but after twenty seven minutes of tossing and turning she realised she wasn't getting back to sleep. Throwing her blankets back with a disgruntled sigh, she wandered down to the kitchen, with a pit stop at the bathroom first, and poured herself a glass of milk, rubbing at a twinge in her back.

Ellen found her over an hour later pacing across the lounge room and back, her face screwed slightly in a grimace and releasing the occasional huffs of breath.

"Deana, it's the middle of the night, what are you doing up?" She asked.

"Sorry I didn't mean to wake you. Couldn't sleep." Deana replied, pausing to rub at her back again. "I feel all weird, like really restless, you know? My back hurts and I keep getting these little twinges."

Ellen stopped and looked back at Deana, watching her complete another circuit of the lounge.

"Um Deana?" She said walking back towards her. "I think you might be in early labour."

"Don't be silly, that's not happening for another week." Deana answered. "I'm just...oh my god!" Deana stopped moving when she felt a tug deep down and looked wide eyed at Ellen before glancing down at the spreading wetness on her pyjama pants. "What the hell happened?"

"It's okay Deana, your waters just broken, that's all." Ellen tried to soothe her.

"That's all!? What the hell does that mean? I'm not ready. I...I can't do this." Deana rambled gripping tightly to Ellen's shirt as another 'twinge' ran through her abdomen.

"Yeah you can and looks like you don't really have a choice now." Ellen said as she wrapped an arm around Deanas shoulders and lead her to the sofa. "Sit down and try to relax. I'll go get you some clean pants."

"I can't sit there, I just cleaned that couch." Deana grumbled.

In the end, Deana opted to just keep moving around the lounge room as it made her feel better, while Ellen contacted Bobby and Jim. Before daylight had even begun to shine she started doing laps of the cabin outside, occasionally leaning against the building as her contractions began to hit.

"Okay that one was only fifteen minutes." Ellen said after Deana had breathed her way through another 'mildish' one. "I think I'm gonna go in and get the room ready. Do you want me to call Castiel?"

"No not yet." Deana answered as she pushed off the wall.

"Deana are you sure? We've got no pain relief here for you. I know it's probably not too bad yet, but this is just the beginning, it's gonna get worse."

"I know but I'll be fine. I'll let you know when it's too much." Deana began walking away, waving her hand. "Come on, let's get this room ready."

Together the women stripped the bed of its covers just leaving the bottom and top sheet. Ellen collected some absorbent mats from the cupboard and placed them on a table with some towels. Bobby had brought in a bucket of ice chips and a glass and placed them on the bedside table.

"This is really happening, isn't it?" Deana asked as she surveyed the room.

"Sure is sweetie." Ellen said, wrapping an arm around Deanas shoulders. She could feel the tension in the soon to be mom and pulled her in for a hug. "It's gonna be alright, you're gonna do great."

"I'm scared Ellen." Deana admitted quietly.

"That's normal in any situation, and admittedly, this isn't any normal situation." Ellen whispered back still holding Deana as the frightened girl clung to her tightly.

From the doorway Jim cleared his throat drawing the women's attention.

"I'm sorry to intrude but I made some camomile tea. I though it might help keep Deana calm until we call for Castiel." He said.

"Thanks Jim. That sounds great." Ellen replied.

Deana put a folded towel on the seat of the chair before she sat, 'just in case'. They quietly sipped their tea until Deana dropped her head against her arm and rested it on the table while she breathed through another, stronger contraction. Ellen gently rubbed circles on her lower back, trying to help ease the tension.

"Well they don't seem to be getting much closer but they do look like your contractions are getting stronger." Ellen said.

Deana just nodded.

"I think maybe it's time to call Castiel." Jim suggested.

"No." Deana shook her head against her arm.

"Why not? I think he needs to be here, and who ever he's bringing." Ellen said.

"He has a wife and child." Deana mumbled into the table top.

"Who? Castiel?" Jim asked.

"No, Jimmy." Deana rolled her head to the side to look at the priest. "His vessel has a family. I've seen them. 'S not fair to keep taking him away from them." She said blinking lazily.

"None of this is fair, Deana. Not to any of you." Bobby told her quietly.

"Yeah I know." Deana mumbled as her eyes slid closed and her breathing evened out.

"Deana honey? Why don't you go rest in your room while you can?" Ellen asked, still making circles on the sleeping girls back.

"Mmm, 'kay." She replied.

Blinking rapidly Deana tried to push herself up from the table and with Ellen's help was soon resting comfortably on her bed. Ellen stayed, rubbing her back until she was sure Deana was asleep.

She returned to the kitchen and the other hunters.

While Deana rested, Ellen, Bobby and Jim set about making preparations of their own. They had a light breakfast and after cleaning up started setting out their weapons, gun filled with salt filled cartridges and consecrated iron rounds were really all they had available to them, they salted all the doors and windows, Deanas room had already been done, and laid out devils traps around the cabin.

Deana had been resting for about an hour when a loud moan and a sob filtered down the hallway to the group there. Ellen looked up to the others.

"I'm going to call him." She said.

Bobby and Jim nodded in agreement and Ellen left the building.