"I hate to say it, but we can't find anything that talks about something like what you're going through," Sam told her a week after they'd returned to Bobby's.

"What does that mean?"

"We don't have anything that can help for now. We'll keep searching, I'll keep searching. But I don't think we're going to get an answer anytime soon."

Elena nodded and looked down at the kitchen table, feeling herself slump in her chair with the bad news. Dean was sitting at the table drinking coffee and Bobby was leaning against the counter, a defeated expression on his face.

"How have you been feeling?" Sam asked.

"Okay, I guess. I don't know what to expect though. I read the books you got her, but that's assuming the pregnancy is purely human. There's nothing that covers my situation," she said.

Cas, standing nearby, looked away.

"I think that we are on our own with this baby," he told her.

Bobby cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, but you two are most definitely not on your own. You got me and these two idjits here for whatever you need."

Elena smiled warmly at him. Bobby came across as gruff a lot of the time, but it was easy for her to tell he was a big softie at heart.

"Don't pregnant women have a lot of doctor visits?" Sam asked suddenly.

Elena remembered reading about the different appointments in her books and nodded slowly.

"Probably not a good idea for you to go to a doctor, just in case there's anything...unusual...that starts to develop," Dean said, and Bobby agreed.

"I'll reach out to some people and get some equipment so we can do our best here," he told her. "It won't be nothin' too fancy, but I can get an ultrasound machine, I'm sure of it."

Dean looked at Cas.

"Can you tell if there's something wrong with her, Cas? I know you can feel what's wrong with people, do you think it would work for this? Or would it be too dangerous to try again?"

"I believe I could tell, and as long as I'm not searching her mind, it should be safe."

He stepped close put his hand on her shoulder. She felt tingly for a moment, then it was gone. Cas smiled at her, practically grinning. Elena tilted her head and waited, smiling back at him.

"You are both fine from what I can see," he told her. "She's beautiful."

Elena's eyes widened in surprise.

"You could see her? You could see that she's a she?"

Cas's smile widened even more.

"Yes. She is growing well and has the tiniest little fingers and toes, though they are webbed right now."

"Like a duck?" Dean asked.

Elena ignored him, letting Sam jab his elbow into Dean for the comment.

"Babies have to grow somehow, Dean, it's probably just part of the process," Sam said.

"That's great news," Bobby told them. "I'm gonna start making those calls."

Elena felt her stomach grumbling, ready for lunch.

"I can't be in a kitchen without eating, it seems," she announced as she got up and began to prepare some food for herself.

Elena enjoyed making unique sandwiches, trying out unusual combinations. The first time she had done it, Bobby grumbled how it was the one thing she did he hoped she would forget. Cas, Sam, and Dean watched her with a sort of morbid curiosity as she prepared the sandwich, both at the strange combination of flavors and then the speed with which she inhaled her food.

"You know, it's kind of rude to stare that much at a person. I may not remember anything, but I know that. Especially if it's staring at a woman. As she eats," Elena said after she finished her sandwich.

Cas looked perplexed.

"I did not think that humans enjoyed syrup on pickles," he said.

Dean shook his head, a slight look of disgust on his face.

"We don't."

"Okay, Elena, I gotta ask—why did the sandwich need to have strawberries with the roast beef?" Sam asked, rubbing his forehead between his eyes with his hand.

"I'm trying to eat healthy for me and the baby," she replied, as if the answer was obvious.

Dean made a 'wow' face and shook his head again.

"Well, moving on from Elena's little sandwich of horrors there, we should probably come up with a plan for this whole situation," he said. "Bobby's gonna get the ultrasound machine, what do you need us to do?" He asked, looking back and forth from Elena to Cas.

"I'm not sure there's much else you can do," she said.

Dean frowned, exchanging a look with Sam, who nodded in response to whatever unspoken question Dean asked.

"Do you think you'll be okay if we head out hunting again?" Dean finally asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

"I'm glad you're feeling better about things," Sam told her.

He gave her a small smile before looking at Dean, nodding in agreement with the plan.

"Cas, can you stick around, or do you have to leave?" Dean asked.

"I'll be able to stay for now. I may need to leave on occasion. I will avoid it whenever possible."

Dean nodded, satisfied with the answer.

"Well, Sammy, pack up and let's ride."

After Dean and Sam left, Elena spent time asking Bobby and Cas about Nephilim.

"I know this baby isn't one, but it's the closest comparison we've got, right?" She said, and Cas frowned.

"I suppose."

"How does it work with them? I mean, do they have abilities like angels?"

"Yes."

Bobby rolled his eyes at Cas's answer.

"You gotta give her more than that, idjit. From what I read they were giants."

"Giants?" Elena asked apprehensively.

"Power giants," Cas corrected, then sighed. "Not actual giants. We discussed it before…anyway, I suppose you didn't have a chance to pass along that information."

"What kind of power did they have?"

"Too much. They had angel grace and a soul, the grace keeping the two halves in balance. I believe this child would have the same grace, and that it would function in the same way."

Elena bit her lip and looked to the side, not exactly comforted by his response.

"What about the whole problem with labor?" Bobby asked Cas.

Cas looked uncomfortable, refusing to make eye contact with them.

"Problem? What problem?"

"It won't happen with Elena, right, if the baby isn't a Nephilim?"

"I don't know," Cas replied.

Elena stamped her foot down, fists clenched and blowing air sharply from her nose.

"I'm standing right here; don't ignore me. What are you talking about?"

"Nephilim mothers don't survive labor," Cas said, still refusing to meet her gaze.

"So…there's a chance that I'll die giving birth to her?"

"Of course not," Bobby insisted, then looked to Cas uneasily.

"I don't know," he said.

"Is there anythin' you do know?"

Cas looked at her suddenly and she felt her heart race.

"I do know that she has a unique energy signature," he said, a slow smile spreading across his face.

"Well, that makes sense though, right? I mean, that's how you can tell where we are," Bobby said, but Cas shook his head.

"No. I mean, yes, but this is…it's like nothing I've ever seen before. I can show you if you'd like," he told Elena.

She nodded and he came closer, taking her hands in his.

"Close your eyes."

She did as instructed, seeing nothing but black at first. Her hands were warm where Cas was holding them just from the contact. After a few seconds, she felt them get warmer, the same tingling sensation from before spreading through her. There wasn't black in front of her anymore; suddenly she saw swirling gold making beautiful ribbon waves through grey, wrapping itself around and weaving in and out. It was the most precious thing she had ever seen.

"Oh," she said softly, opening her eyes.

Cas was staring back into hers, his blue eyes almost glowing. Elena didn't want him to let go of her hands or step back. She felt drawn to him by something she couldn't explain or understand. It was beyond her physical attraction to him, which she had come to terms with. She felt warm all over as she stared at him.

"Cas," Bobby said quietly, almost like a warning.

Cas dropped her hands and stepped back, much to Elena's disappointment. She was confused by Bobby's interruption. She felt embarrassed but didn't understand why.

"I'll be right back," she said, excusing herself to the bathroom.

She heard Cas and Bobby talking from down the hall, unaware of how their voices traveled.

"You need to be more careful," Bobby said.

"I did nothing wrong," Cas answered.

"You saw what happened, didn't you? Don't tell me you didn't notice it."

"What is your point?"

"My point is that the poor girl don't know which way is up right now, and she don't need you makin' it worse!"

"Elena is not a poor girl, Bobby."

"Damn it, idjit, I don't mean it—"

"I am aware you didn't mean literally. She is not helpless. She is capable."

"Maybe she was before, but she don't remember a thing now. She's fragile now. Just because you want her back don't mean it's what's best."

Elena bit her lip, frowning at their exchange. She didn't feel fragile, exactly. She felt overwhelmed by the situation, but she thought she was handling it about as well as anyone could be expected to.

"I miss her," she heard Cas say.

"I know you do. We all do."

"I've been trying so hard to give her space. You have to understand, from the moment she arrived, I've felt her. I always feel her. It's like…there's a pull that I can't describe, drawing me to her. It reminds me of being around other angels, only it's more powerful than that. I feel…compelled…to be physically close to her. It hurts to fight that, especially when she was glowing just now."

"Yeah, well we both know what that means, which is why you had to back off. She's got enough goin' on right now without dealin' with that."

"I'm not pressuring her," Cas replied quickly.

"Not intentionally, no. But she already knows you were involved, I mean, the evidence is kinda hard to ignore. She probably talked about it with Sam. I know it's hard, but you can't trick her into remembering."

"I'm not trying to trick her. Everything she is dealing with right now is difficult. It's complicated and unfair and I just wanted to give her something to smile about."

"Well, I can't fault you for that."

Elena made her way down the hall loudly to announce her return. Bobby and Cas looked at her when she came back in. She gave them both a smile, not mentioning a word of what she heard. She knew from talking with Cas and Sam that she had powers in her human form, and they had both mentioned her glowing before. It worried her that she had done it without noticing, and she wasn't sure what caused it. She would have to ask Sam to explain the next time they spoke.

"I'm feeling tired, so I'm actually going to lay down for a while," she told them.

"I need to check on something, but I'll be back later today," Cas said.

Bobby frowned and shot Cas a look before heading off to the kitchen.

"Holler if you need anything," he told Elena.

She closed the door to her room, shedding her clothes as quickly as possible. She knew it was strange, but she never felt entirely comfortable wearing them. One thing she did enjoy was the comfort of the bed as she pulled the covers over herself. It wasn't long before she was asleep.

Something was wrong. She opened her eyes, but it was dark and hard to see. The room smelled strange, almost musty, sort of like dirt. It reminded her of the smell on rainy days, earthy. Her bed didn't feel right, either. It felt too hard, almost like a floor. Elena pushed herself up to a sitting position and realized she wasn't in her bed or her room. There wasn't much light, but there was some coming from outside the area she was in. She could barely make out the walls, but they didn't look right, either. She realized she wasn't in a room, but some sort of a cave. As she peered through the darkness at the cave she realized there were strange markings around it. She climbed to her feet carefully and tried to find the walls of the cave without falling and hurting herself.

The area she was in was about 10'x16', with a narrowing a little smaller than a doorway that led to wherever the light source was coming from. She tried to call out to Cas. He told her how he could hear prayers and that they had been able to communicate telepathically, and she desperately hoped it would work.

Cas, can you hear me? Something is very wrong, I don't know where I am. I don't know what's happening. I'm scared.

"Ah, just about time now, isn't it?" she heard a woman's voice say.

Elena turned to look and saw just a shadow in the doorway, the darkness from the cave with the light behind it obscuring the person's features.

"Who are you? How did you bring me here?" she asked, trying to sound braver than she felt.

She heard a low laugh and realized the voice was feminine.

"I brought you here because I brought you into this world. I am the one who forced you into this form and let you ripen for me. But now it is time that I take what's mine," the woman responded.

Elena started to back up and bumped into one of the cave walls, almost falling.

"Ah ah, no running, no falling. It's time, dear."

Elena was gripped with a crippling pain suddenly from her uterus. She cried out and grabbed at her abdomen which—oh, my God—was heavily swollen. She leaned against the cave wall, trying to catch her breath.

"Don't worry, I'll have you delivered in no time and then we'll be on our way."

Elena's blood ran cold, but before she could reply another contraction paralyzed her. She screamed again in agony and fear, and—

"Elena! What's wrong?"

Elena woke suddenly as Bobby shook her, bolting upright in her bed. She was breathing heavily and crying, her hands immediately going to her abdomen. Relief rush through her when she realized her body was the way it should be. She was not in labor. She was not in a cave. No one was stealing her baby from her.

"Elena, for cryin' out loud, are you okay?" she heard Bobby ask again, desperately.

She looked at him finally, still panting, but feeling a little more controlled.

"I—I'm okay, Bobby," she said, but he wasn't buying it.

"Bullshit. What happened?"

Elena looked concerned, afraid to tell him the truth, though she didn't know why. Finally, she took in a breath, held it for a few seconds, and tried to let it out slowly. It was still shaky, but better than it had been.

"I had a bad dream," she said softly.

Bobby looked at her, clearly waiting to hear more.

"It had to do with my baby, it was just, I don't even know. But I was going to lose her, it was terrible," she said.

Bobby looked at her sympathetically and put his hand on one of hers.

"Oh, Elena, I'm so sorry," he said. "We were havin' an intense conversation before, I'm sure that didn't help things."

Elena nodded slowly. She couldn't shake the feeling that it was more than that, but she didn't really know how to explain it, nor did she want to try.

"Well, I'll get out of your hair, I just ran in when I heard you screaming," he told her.

Bobby closed the door and she gently touched the necklace, hoping Cas would be back soon. He might have insight about the nightmare, and at the very least, she could tell him about it without him overreacting. She needed to tell someone who wouldn't panic, because she was doing enough of that on her own. Everything seemed too real to be just a dream, and Elena hoped she was wrong.

Cas still wasn't back when she decided to call it a night. She and Bobby had enjoyed a quiet supper and watched a movie afterward, and she was on her way to bed when Cas appeared in front of her. She stopped short to avoid walking into him. The smile that had started to cross her face stopped when she saw how upset he looked.

"Cas? Are you—" she started to ask, but he closed the distance between them and pulled her tightly against his body, his arms not allowing her to move away.

Elena froze, surprised and nervous about the intensity of the contact.

"Are you okay?"

She wished her voice wasn't shaking but being so close to him was overwhelming her. Fear rested in the pit of her stomach at the thought that even if she wanted to, she couldn't escape his grasp. She didn't expect him to harm her, but it was terrifying to feel that way. At the same time her mind was struggling, her body was reacting positively to the feel of him, enjoying all the places their bodies were having contact. Elena did her best to settle both to a more neutral place.

"No," he whispered.

She waited for him to continue talking, prompting him when he remained silent.

"You wanna elaborate?"

Cas loosened his hold on her, and Elena immediately pulled back against his embrace, the fear winning out. He seemed to realize finally that she felt trapped, dropping his hands and looking down.

"I'm sorry, I didn't…"

"It's okay."

He looked back up at her, his expression as terrified as she felt.

"Where did you go? I saw the cave, I heard that woman, and you were—" he stopped, unable to continue.

Elena felt her throat tightening with fear as he described her dream.

What if it wasn't just a dream?

"I thought I had a nightmare, but it felt so real. Bobby ran in and woke me up because I was screaming. How did you even know about it? How did you know what happened in it?"

Elena felt tears pricking at her eyes as she tried to stay calm.

"Elena, you called for me. When you did, I...I tried to go to you but I could not for some reason. I saw everything but I don't know how. If you were here at Bobby's the whole time, I do not understand why I was unable to come to you."

Elena was about to say something when Bobby rounded the corner.

"Oh, hey Cas," he said before he realized something was wrong. "What's goin' on?"

"I think we need to figure that out."

"Okay, well, let's go sit down then. Elena, do you want tea or somethin'?" Bobby offered, but she shook her head.

Cas joined her on the couch, clearly wanting to be closer but giving her space to feel comfortable.

"This about her dream?" he asked, and Cas finally looked at him.

"I'm not convinced it was a dream," he replied.

Bobby looked troubled by that notion.

"What exactly happened?"

Elena explained what she saw, and that Cas had witnessed it as well and been unable to come to her when she called.

"If you weren't dreamin', how in the hell were you havin' your baby? I mean, you're only a few months along right now," he pointed out.

Cas shifted a little, and Elena could tell he wanted to say something but didn't know how.

"What is it?" she prompted.

He took in a breath, looked at her, looked away, and let it out.

"I think your consciousness may have traveled into the future," he said. "It would explain why I could not follow you when you called for me, and how you were at the point of labor when clearly that is not the case here and now."

"Balls," Bobby said, shocked.

That almost brought a smile to her face, but the thought that she may have had a glimpse of her future was serious enough that nothing could make her smile right now. What kind of future was it, when she was apparently being held prisoner by someone, the same person who claimed to have done this to her in the first place, the same person who said they were going to take her baby?

"Is that even possible?" she finally asked Cas.

"For you, I think yes, perhaps. Especially given what you have already done regarding the work with your chakras. I know that you have not done anything purposefully since you found out about our baby, and that you don't remember any of it anyway, but I think that may be what happened. Your third eye chakra is theoretically capable of such a thing."

Bobby sat back, not looking any less worried.

"What are we supposed to do?"

Cas shook his head.

"I don't know."

"Well, can't you ask around upstairs?"

Cas looked at Bobby sharply.

"No! No one up there can know. I…I'm not sure what they would do, if they found out. I don't want to risk putting you in more danger," he said, his voice softening as he addressed Elena.

"There's gotta be somethin' you can do," Bobby said.

"We're still fighting a war against Raphael, Heaven is too unstable right now to be of any use."

The tears Elena had managed to hold back earlier found their freedom, streaming rapidly down her face.

"It's going to be okay, Elena. We'll keep you safe," Bobby told her.

"How? You all thought I was safe here, but something just happened, and no one could help. How can you keep me safe?"

"I can stand guard for you at all times," Cas told her.

"Really? Sure you won't have more important places to be?" Bobby asked sarcastically.

Cas frowned.

"If I get called away, I will make sure Bobby or Sam or Dean can keep watch over you," he told her.

Elena bit her lip and looked down as she considered it. Having him around all the time would be awkward but she was more worried about what might happen if he wasn't.

"Okay."

Cas followed her down the hall when she headed back to her room for bed. She went to close the door behind her when he grabbed it, interrupting the movement.

"I need you in my sight to protect you."

She frowned, not expecting him to be in her room. She thought he would wait outside the door while she slept.

"Well, okay, but don't think you're coming into the bathroom with me when I have to pee."

Cas didn't respond as he closed the door. She waited for him to turn away so that she could get into bed. When he continued to stare at her, she sighed.

"I'm not going to get undressed in front of you," she told him.

He gave a nod and turned around, facing her when she let him know it was safe.

"Are you just going to stand there all night?"

"Yes."

"Won't that get uncomfortable?"

"No."

"Well, okay, then."

Elena felt uncomfortable having him staring at her as she tried to fall asleep. She enjoyed laying on her back but ended up shifting to her side facing away from him. She knew it didn't really make a difference, but it gave her the illusion she wasn't being watched if she didn't see him. After a few minutes in the new position, she fell asleep.