Elena had just finished another yoga practice after lunch. It had been a few days since she and Cas held hands, with no other physical contact since then. She noticed that his gaze was off in the distance instead of focused on her, which was happening a lot since that night.

"I have been thinking," he announced.

Elena raised her eyebrows and gave him a smile.

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed," she replied.

Cas tilted his head at her, determined she was teasing him, and smiled back.

"You are quite sharp," he said, and she laughed.

"It's from talking to these guys. Dean's sarcasm, Bobby's faux-exasperation, and Sam's...well, Sam's not too funny, actually. At least not on purpose. Anyway, what were you going to say?"

"I have been thinking about how you are protected from the angels right now."

Elena turned her head to the side a little and looked at him, waiting to hear the bad part.

"I do not believe it is possible for me to provide our daughter with the same protection."

Ah, there it is. The proverbial other shoe dropping.

Cas looked crestfallen. Since the night they held hands, Elena felt on edge, expecting things to go wrong for reasons she couldn't understand. It was as though a part of her knew things wouldn't work out. Nothing felt stable at this point, but she hadn't been expecting this. Elena had subconsciously taken in a breath at his words, holding that breath as she remained silent and unsure of how to respond. She didn't realize until it was burning in her lungs to be let out. She obliged and released the whoosh of air, taking a few unsteady breaths to get back on track. Cas looked at her worriedly.

"I don't know if they can sense her yet," he said. "It's possible she is protected while she gestates."

Elena once again didn't realize she was doing something until she felt her hand touch her lower belly.

"I'm sorry, but it's too dangerous to mark her with Enochian sigils," he said, and she nodded.

"No, of course. I understand. From what Dean and Sam said, it was painful. She shouldn't have to experience pain before she's even born."

Her mind was racing in all directions, fueled by fear. She looked at Cas and saw a sadness in his expression, along with something else.

"What is it?"

"Elena, I am supposed to protect both of you. I don't even know if I can protect her," he said, frustrated. "How can I be a good father if I can't even keep her safe before she is born?"

"Cas, you aren't doing anything wrong," she told him.

He looked like he didn't believe her. She closed the distance between them and grabbed his face in her hands.

"You are being a good father already because you are thinking about these things. You are trying. That's all either of us can do right now. There is no guidebook for us to use, no lore to research, no one to ask questions. This is an entirely unique situation."

Elena saw the doubt in his eyes fade a little as she spoke.

"We'll be okay," she said softly.

"How do you know?"

"Because we have to be."

As they walked back to the house, she decided to share something with him.

"I was looking into some possible names for her."

Cas gave her a small smile.

"What did you come up with?"

"Well, I have a few that I liked the most. Dorothy means a gift of God, which I thought was very nice. Izel means unique, and she is certainly that. Rosalind means gentle horse, though I suppose I am not necessarily gentle."

"Not necessarily," Cas agreed, smiling.

"Then there's Arella, which means angel. Amara has a beautiful sound to it and means eternal."

Cas looked at her, waiting, somehow knowing she was holding out on him.

"But my favorite two that I found were Eowyn, which means horse of joy, and Ava, which means like a bird."

"Ava Eowyn," he said.

"That's how I said it in my head. Something about it just felt right."

"Ava Eowyn, our Divine daughter."

They smiled at each other, and Elena enjoyed the warmth moving through her as she began to glow.

Before she knew it, another month had passed. Bobby occasionally went out to hunt something, but he was never gone more than a couple days. She and Sam (and sometimes Dean) had been fine aside from that one night, which was a relief. They still spoke most days, and she appreciated his friendship. He was easy to talk to and didn't seem disappointed that she still didn't remember anything. She hadn't brought up the subject of her feelings for Cas again, and Sam hadn't asked.

She had finally asked Cas about the situation with the mind block, and why Dean was so weird about it with him. Cas explained about Sam having been brought back from Lucifer's Cage soulless, and that when Death retrieved Sam's soul, he constructed a block in Sam's mind to prevent him from feeling the damage done to it. If he remembered, or started to, the wall could collapse and the torture his soul endured while in the Cage could destroy him. Elena understood the seriousness of protecting that secret, even though she felt uncomfortable about lying. It made sense why Dean had been as intense about it, and why Cas had only spoken to Dean about what he found with her mind.

She went to her room to take a nap one day, tired from her afternoon yoga practice. She was four and a half months along, and while the initial constant fatigue had eased off, she still tired easily some days. It was exhausting growing a baby. Cas turned around while she shucked her clothes and climbed into bed, turning back to watch her after she was covered in bed. His watching her while she slept was feeling less uncomfortable, and she appreciated the protection. She fell asleep quickly.

The earthy smell hit her nostrils and Elena grabbed the wall. She saw the shadow of the woman's form backlit, her eyes having trouble adjusting to the darkness still. The wall was a little slick. She took a step forward along it and felt the ground was slick beneath her feet, too. A contraction rippled in her womb and she gasped, unable to move while it continued. Elena felt a liquid traveling down her legs. She wasn't sure at first if she was losing control of her bladder. The liquid continued to trickle each time she moved.

This must be my water breaking.

"You're ripe now, let's get you to a more comfortable location and get you delivered," the woman told her as she approached.

"Who are you?" Elena yelled, placing a hand protectively over her swollen belly while keeping her other hand on the wall.

"I'm the one whose name is so often forgotten, lost, argued about. I'm the one who saved the last of an entire class of angels and their offspring from annihilation at the hands of their own Father. I'm the one who will overcome the taint in my own bloodline to rule over all things soon enough," the woman responded as she approached.

Elena tried to move away but couldn't move much, between the contractions, the floor being slick, and the darkness. She felt herself cower away from the woman as she got closer, still unable to distinguish what she looked like.

"Now, now, I have no need to dispose of you just yet," she said to Elena. "I need you to give me this world's greatest gift first, and it wouldn't be helpful if I went and killed you before she was delivered. Though, if need be, I could always just cut her out of you," the woman said. "But I would prefer not to cause any more trauma than absolutely necessary."

Elena felt the woman grip her upper arm and lead her toward the lighted area. They were in some sort of a cave, but it must have been one that had been altered somehow to allow for separated makeshift rooms. Elena doubted it was natural. As the woman led her into the lighted area, she saw a very comfortable-looking bed that had some sort of incline to it so that her legs would be lifted upward. It was the shape of an "L" on its corner. The woman helped Elena get into the bed and get comfortable. Elena hated accepting the help and wanted nothing more than to run, but she had no choice. Her contractions were coming closer together now and growing more powerful. It was almost too much to move at all during them.

Cas, oh please, hear me, she tried to call out.

Elena barely noticed the blankets and towels and buckets all around.

"Alright, I need to check you to see how close we are," the woman told her. "Get on the table and spread your legs."

Elena wanted to refuse but she could tell this baby was coming soon, so she did as told with much resentment. The woman washed her hands in a bucket of soapy water, poured some from a different bucket over them, and dried them with a towel.

"Put your feet up on the bed, bend them tight with your heels close to your butt, drop your knees to the side, that's a girl," the woman told her as she slid her hand in between and checked Elena's progress.

Elena yelped at the violation, not from physical pain but from frustration and rage at not being able to stop it and having no one else around to help.

"When the next contraction comes, I need you to start pushing," the woman told her.

Gritting her teeth, Elena managed to reply.

"Who. Are. You!" she demanded, before a low moan started as another contraction began.

"Push now!" the woman told her.

Elena could feel her body telling her the same, so she listened to that. She used the pain to channel it through her body and push. As she did so, she let out a primal scream.

"Elena!" Cas shouted, and she opened her eyes suddenly.

He was grasping her upper arms in his hands, looking terrified. Elena immediately grabbed for her belly which was no longer swollen, her body braced for another contraction which did not come. She was panting heavily and quickly sat up, Cas having released her when she awoke.

"It happened again," she said, looking at him.

"I know. I'm going to check you over," he told her.

She felt the warm tingly feeling throughout her body as he touched her, a more worried look appearing on his face. Elena felt her stomach drop and pulse quicken.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

He said nothing, just lifted her up out of bed and suddenly they were in the garage. Bobby was there and started to say something about Elena's lack of clothing when Cas cut him off.

"Do you know how to use that machine?" he asked, his voice tight.

Bobby's eyes widened and he gave Elena a worried look.

"Not exactly, but I can try. Clear off that table and have her lay down on it," Bobby said as he pulled out the ultrasound machine.

Cas flicked his hand everything on the table was pushed onto the ground. He brought her over and helped her lay down on the table. Elena's eyes were filling with tears, and she tried again.

"Cas, please, tell me what's wrong," she said, her voice breaking.

He looked at her, his gaze full of fear.

"I don't know," he told her. "There's something wrong with her heart."

Her eyes widened and she drew in a shaky breath. She was trembling with fear as she waited on the table. Bobby had plugged in the machine and turned it on.

"Cas, pass me that tube," Bobby said, pointing in the general direction of what he was talking about.

Cas retrieved the item and Bobby squirted some on her lower belly.

"This ain't quite the same stuff they usually use but it should work," he told her.

He put a wand on the gel and moved it around, coating the area.

"I don't want to hurt you, but I need to press in some to get a picture," Bobby told her. "Let me know if it starts to pinch or anythin'."

Elena just stared at the ceiling above her head, biting her lip, hands clenched into tight fists at her chest, as if she were halfway to the fetal position. She felt the pressure in her lower belly which didn't hurt but did feel uncomfortable.

"Try to breathe normally," he told her.

After a few minutes she was getting worried. She noticed Cas was studying the screen intently.

"I'll try to get a better picture, but I don't quite know how to work this more than what I'm doin'," Bobby told them.

Elena refused to look, and instead closed her eyes tightly. As Bobby fiddled around with the machine a little, they suddenly heard noise.

Wooshwooshwooshwoosh

Elena opened her eyes and looked to Cas, whose gaze was still fixed on the screen. She looked then to Bobby, who had a half-smile on his face.

"Well, I'll be darned, there's her heart beatin' right along," he said.

He tried to get a larger image on the screen of the area, but their daughter kept moving around.

"I'm sorry, Cas, she's being a little too rambunctious for me to get more than the noise and that view," Bobby started to tell him. "And honestly I don't know quite what I'd be lookin' for," he finished.

"Can you just keep the sound playing for a minute?" Cas asked.

Elena watched as he closed his eyes, listening to the rapid noise. She noticed after about twenty seconds he looked relieved, and she felt some of the tension leave her body from that. When he opened his eyes, he met her gaze.

"I think she is okay now," he said.

Elena looked at him questioningly.

"When I scanned you before, her heart was beating so quickly."

"Babies hearts do beat more rapidly in utero," she told him, but he shook his head.

"Yes, I am aware of that, but hers was beating dangerously fast."

"How quickly?"

"Approximately 200 beats per minute," he said, and she felt the tears coming back to her eyes.

Bobby was looking back and forth between them.

"She's dropped back down to 170."

"I'll be honest, I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing," Bobby said.

Elena did her best to keep her voice steady.

"At this point, her heart should be around 160 or 170 beats per minute," she explained. "200 is way too fast."

"What would make it start going that fast? Did something happen?" Bobby asked.

Elena's face fell.

"I was having another vision," she said. "I was in full-blown labor in it, trying to get information from that woman as I felt Ava being born."

Bobby's hands dropped to his sides.

"Balls," he said quietly.

"I could see everything again, Elena," Cas told her. "I was trying to wake you up, but it was like you were stuck; I couldn't wake you. I'm wondering if we were not the only ones witnessing this, if Ava was also there, or at least could feel what was happening in your vision." He paused, conflicted about continuing to speak.

"Just say it, Cas," she told him tiredly.

"I think we need to find a way to sever this connection. I'm worried that if we don't, Ava might not survive."

His words rang loudly in her mind, resonating an unbearable pain, so Elena rolled onto her side away from them and did what she hadn't done since she woke up without her memory: she threw up. Bobby grabbed a sheet from somewhere in the garage and draped it over her, and Cas rubbed her back as she continued to empty her stomach of what seemed to be everything she had eaten for lunch and breakfast.

"Can I get you anything?" Cas asked her when she had finished.

Elena forced herself to sit up, wrapping the sheet around herself. She shook her head.

"How would we even stop this connection?"

"I do not know, Elena.

She noticed a look cross Bobby's face, but he remained silent.

"What is it, Bobby?"

"Well, I was just thinkin' about what you were saying with nothing triggerin' it so far as you were aware. In fact, you shoulda been more relaxed than normal since you were sleepin'."

Cas tilted his head and narrowed his eyes a little.

"What if it wasn't you, now, movin' forward, but it was you, in the future, movin' backward? Or future you somehow pullin' now you forward? If you just woke up in that place, scared, confused, and in labor, I mean, maybe that was enough goin' on with hormones and whatnot for your energy to push something back, like a warnin' or somethin'," he said.

Elena looked at Cas, wondering his thoughts.

"I think that would be possible," he said.

"Well, if it's me in the future, then why am I doing this knowing that it's putting Ava at risk? Shouldn't I know better?"

"Perhaps it's unintentional. Maybe it is out of your control in the future, as it is now," Cas suggested.

Elena couldn't meet his gaze, so she just looked down at her legs hanging off of the table.

"Sorry about your floor," she said.

Bobby shook his head.

"Please, that's why I got a drain over here. I'll hose it down, don't you worry. By the way…Ava?"

"Ava Eowyn," Cas confirmed. "Which means like a bird and horse of joy. It seemed apt."

Bobby grinned and shook his head, chuckling.

"I'll say. I know Cas saw what happened, but you mind fillin' me in?"

Elena bit her lip and shook her head.

"I don't want to spend time right now on it if it's months away. We need to find a way to block these visions first. I'm going to borrow your computer and do some research," Elena said, and Bobby nodded.

Cas gave her a look akin to a light grimace and stayed behind to speak with Bobby. Elena needed to find a way to break the connection, so she began looking more into chakras. Unfortunately, all of the information out there was focused on unblocking the chakras, which was of absolutely no use to her. There was no way she could find to alter the crystals used for the third eye chakra to reverse the unblocking and therefore block. After searching and searching, she did come across something interesting that gave her an idea, one that she knew Cas would not like.

"Cas?" she called out.

A moment later he appeared in the living room in front of her.

"I found something that I want to try. I think it will be a way to block the chakra."

He tilted his head, staring at her. She gestured for him to join her on the couch, and he sat next to her, no space between them. Elena tried to ignore the way her body felt like it was sparking everywhere that his arm and leg were touching hers. She took a deep breath and gestured at the laptop.

"This is called reflexology. It's a practice where pressure points in the hands and feet can be used to trigger different spots. If you look here," she said, pointing to one of the images, "this is where the third eye chakra is located on the foot, and over here," she said, pointing to a different image, "is where the point is located in the hand."

Cue head tilt, add one side glance.

"That is interesting," he told her, "but I'm not sure what this has to do with anything."

Elena bit her lip and turned toward him.

"Okay, well, this is a little out there. I want to break my toes in that spot and injure my thumbs at that point so that the chakra becomes blocked."

"Elena, I—" he started to say, but she interrupted him.

"I know, you don't want me to hurt myself, you don't want to hurt me, you don't want to help me hurt me, I know. This isn't something I really want to do, but I'm terrified that if we don't break this connection today, that what you said might be right. I could go to sleep tonight and have another vision, and maybe Ava wouldn't be strong enough to…"

She trailed off as tears filled her eyes. She fought against them, trying to will them away.

"I know it's only a temporary solution, if it even works. But it's the only thing I could find that we can try right now. I need your help," she pleaded.

Cas looked like he was wavering. He looked at the computer screen again, closed his eyes, took a breath in, then exhaled before opening his eyes and looking back at her.

"Okay. I trust you. What do you need me to do?"

Elena gave him a tight smile.

"Thank you," she said softly. "I know that you can do things with your mind, can you separate the bones at this point?" she asked, pointing on the screen.

Cas nodded, and she pulled her feet up and put them on his lap, turning sideways on the couch. He lifted his hands to her feet and then hesitated.

"This will hurt," he said, looking into her eyes.

She nodded and braced herself. Even though she was prepared, and even though it was quick, she yelled in pain as the bones separated. Bobby came running into the room from his study.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking between Cas and Elena.

Her face was tight with pain still, and she was forcefully inhaling and exhaling through the pain.

"I broke her toes," Cas told Bobby.

Bobby looked at him, bewildered.

"Well why in the hell did you do that? Heal her!" he said.

"It is to try and block her chakra," Cas explained. "What did you want me to do to your hands?"

Elena felt less sure about that point on both thumbs. With her toes, it was painful and would continue to be painful when she walked, but she could also compensate and put more weight on other parts of her feet. Her thumbs were not as interchangeable.

"I'm not sure, exactly," she admitted. "A burn wouldn't work, because it would be too painful to use. It's not at a joint, so we can't break it easily. It has to be something to go through the bone. I'm not sure how to damage this area," she said.

Bobby was watching where she was pointing and sighed.

"A nail," he said unhappily. "Drive a nail through. It'll hurt like the dickens, but you should still be able to use it. Just keep it bandaged well so you don't get an infection. I'll grab you one," he sighed and headed for the garage.

After Bobby disinfected the nail, Cas drove it through one thumb and remove it, disinfect again, then the next thumb. Elena couldn't help screaming each time the nail went in and came back out. Tears were another symptom of the process, and both those and the screaming continued when she had to dunk her thumbs in some hydrogen peroxide to cauterize the wounds, Bobby's orders. Bobby wrapped some gauze around her thumbs to help prevent anything unwanted getting in.

Elena could tell how uncomfortable Cas was watching her go through it, even if it was to stop something even more awful from happening. She could see his wings tighten each time she cried out, so much that she was worried he was going to hurt himself. She was exhausted by the end of it, and despite the distance they'd kept since when they held hands, she leaned heavily against him. He put an arm around her, holding her tightly against his body.

"I'm gonna go out to get some grub. I'll make sure to bring back plenty," Bobby told them.

"How are your injuries?" Cas asked once Bobby was gone.

Elena was still pressed against him. She took account of everything, moving her toes and thumbs gently to test them out.

"It's painful," she admitted. "Manageable, but painful."

"You are incredibly brave," he told her softly.

Elena looked up at him, her heart pounding wildly. She tilted her face closer and leaned forward. When their lips met, she closed her eyes, feeling like an explosion of energy was released. His hand moved from her cheek to the back of her head, not releasing her as their mouths moved together. The exchange felt more powerful than she could have imagined, and she could practically feel the heat from their passions burning her face.

Wait a minute, I really do feel heat.

Elena pulled back and opened her eyes. Cas seemed to realize the issue at the same moment.

"Oh, balls! The couch!" She yelled, grabbing a blanket and patting down a small fire on the couch backing.

"That's new," Cas commented, perplexed.

"Bobby is gonna be pissed," she groaned.

"But not surprised."

She furrowed her brow.

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't he be surprised?"

"The first time we engaged in sexual relations, there was an explosion of energy released when we climaxed. We were at a hotel, but I'm sure that Bobby heard about it from Dean and Sam."

"I…don't even know how to respond to that."

"And, of course, there was the fulgurite incident," he continued.

Elena raised an eyebrow in her confusion.

"The necklaces that we wear are from the fulgurite. It's a mineraloid lechatelierite that is formed when excessive heat and energy are discharged into an area of sand, soil, and organic debris. Normally, the cause is a lightning strike. In this case, it was formed at the beach when you performed a particular action using your mouth on—"

"Oh, my God, please don't finish that sentence," Elena groaned, covering her face with her hands. "It seems like it was dangerous that we were involved."

"Initially, though we practiced many times to redirect energy so that our sexual relations were not inherently dangerous to others nor nearby structures. Kissing never ignited anything, though," he continued.

"Well, that's the last time it will be happening, because I'm not risking burning Bobby's house down or starting a forest fire for a little action, no matter how plump your lips look, or how cute you are when you're a little confused and get all squinty at me, or when—"

Cas pressed his mouth against hers and Elena moaned.

So much for that.