Chapter 35
Ridin' the storm out
Title Credit: Song by REO Speedwagon, Album: Ridin' the storm out, 1973.
A/N: In this chapter we used a little gem from the show. We're not gonna credit it up here to avoid spoiling anything. It's been of course altered and flourished into our own version, but the main inspiration belongs to the writer of season 12 episode 23 season, Andrew Dabb. We'll credit it in detail at the end of the chapter but we're putting this here in case anyone recognizes it while reading through the chapter. We'd never take credit for another writer's work (and in this case an absolute gem of work!).
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"Kelly?" Amber whispered disbelievingly.
Bringing a hand to caress her own round belly, Kelly absentmindedly circled her protruding stomach. Slowing down as she spoke, Kelly stilled her movements, smiling up at the girl.
"You're Amber. He likes you, Amber."
"He…So they haven't…"
Amber was trying to figure out what was going on. She was feeling waves of love and gratitude flowing from this woman, but she had no idea why.
Kelly's smile widened.
"No, they haven't. And they won't. Thanks to you. And Castiel, too."
"But…"
Blinking, Amber was disoriented with how this had worked out.
"But they wouldn't listen to me," Amber spoke these words with surprise and disbelief, still trying to wrap her head around this.
"Apparently you managed to make them listen. And change their mind."
"That's a first…"
"'A first' I'm grateful for. They're gonna give my Jack a chance." Kelly's voice was soft and tranquil.
Walking closer to the seated woman, Amber didn't know what to say, feeling shy all of a sudden, even as she wished to keep talking to this woman...and her angelic child.
"Jack...his name's Jack?"
"Yes. Oh…" and Kelly clutched the side of her belly, her hand pressed flat to the side of her stomach. Looking up with a smile, Kelly met Amber's eyes.
"Do you want to feel him kick?"
Before Amber could say another word, Kelly reached across to her and gently grasped her wrist, pulling her up to standing in front of her. Placing Amber's hand on the side of her bump, her own hand covering Amber's, she felt this odd feeling of dense space give a thump right against her palm. Smiling, Amber was feeling a baby kick for the first time. This was so thrilling. This little creature was already expressing itself. A wave of loving energy travelled into Amber's hand, up her arm and into her heart. Then she felt it, her connection to this living, conscious being inside Kelly, growing. Feeling this energy building within her own body, Amber's eyes glowed gold. A vibrant warmth coursed through her and she knew then and there she'd been right all along. This was no spawn of evil. Smile growing, Amber felt the top of her own head tingle in this happy way.
This was the first time Amber had touched a pregnant woman's belly. It was oddly intimate, yet she'd seen this done frequently before. It was like a mother's body became communal property once she was carrying the next generation.
Kelly, watching this young girl's eyes glow, couldn't help but gasp. It was starterling.
"What…" she trailed off, not sure how to ask this question. 'What are you,' just didn't sound right.
Amber, eyes still glowing, smiled at the woman reassuringly.
"Don't worry… They haven't told you about me?" Amber asked, expecting Kelly to know about her.
"No… Cas said he couldn't tell me until I actually met you in here, where we'd both be safe," Kelly explained.
"I'm… like him," and Amber looked down at Kelly's stomach. "A Nephilim. Angel mother, human father in my case," Amber answered awkwardly. Internally scoffing at this surreal dialogue. Of all the conversations she ever thought she'd have in her life, she'd never expected to be saying that.
Face easing into a huge smile, her eyes gentle and happy, Kelly was beyond relieved.
"God, I'm so glad you've found me," she said quietly to Amber, hand lightly caressing her bump. "With Castiel and you… Jack's gonna be fine. Jack's gonna be just fine." Her words felt like a reassuring monologue, addressed mostly to herself, not so much to Amber.
Amber could feel that intense fear that was buried deeply in Kelly's mind...gnawing at her. Fear of death, fear of not meeting her son, fear of what would become of him once she was gone.
"Kelly, Jack isn't going to end up like me...alone. He's not going to be alone. I'll always have his back."
Listening to this girl's reassurance, Kelly felt tears coming to her eyes. It was odd...her tears were relief, but also, sadness...after-the-fact...that this girl had been alone. Kelly hadn't known this.
"He won't end up like you… What does that mean? Aren't the Winchesters your family?" Kelly asked.
"Yeah…" And here Amber looked off to the side trying to think of how to explain this all... This was complicated.
"We met only a few months back. I grew up in the system. It's a long story short. I didn't know I had a family."
"They didn't know about you?" Kelly's eyes grew larger...as if this was even possible.
"No. As you can tell, we Nephilims aren't exactly accepted in this world. I had to be hidden. And the safest way to do this was for nobody to ever link me with the Winchester name. I didn't even know about any of this until I was thirteen. This is a story for another time," Amber tried to bring this into a focus. "What's important is I know what it means to grow up without a family. What it's like to spend your life hiding and running. I'll make sure Jack never has to experience this."
Kelly smiled affectionately at the girl.
"Sweet, but a big promise from someone so young."
"Young but powerful. Not to brag or anything. And from our understanding Jack will be powerful, too. Probably even more than I'll ever be. So you can be sure we'll make a hell of a duo."
Kelly couldn' help but chuckle at this audacious prediction...and the hopeful image this girl's confidence presented.
Kelly was getting the feeling that this girl would do exactly as she described. Kelly felt this affirmation coming from her baby...from Jack. Jack believed Amber. Hiding her astonishment, Kelly continued to sit with Amber. Could she allow herself to believe this girl would protect her son?
Seeing Kelly's feelings, Amber understood this woman wished to believe her, but was hesitant to risk believing in this promise, especially a promise by someone so young. It was a fair question. Reluctantly, Amber knew this.
The door of the kitchen cracked open and Dean stood at the door frame. He paused upon seeing both Kelly and his sister in the room. He hadn't expected to find Amber here.
Clearing his throat he informed them, "We're gathering at the library. You two about done? We need you both upstairs."
Kelly nodded acknowledging this, "I'll head up now," she said with a small smile, sensing some tension between the two siblings.
Extending her arm to assist the pregnant lady to her feet, Amber pulled firmly as Kelly was hoisted up, bringing a hand to her back and rubbing it.
Walking out of the kitchen, Amber watched Kelly pass Dean, who held the door open for them both. As soon as she left the room, Amber and Dean's eyes met.
Walking up to her brother and standing in front of him for a second, Dean looked down at Amber, unsure of where any of this was going. When Amber opened her arms and hugged him tightly he simply blinked, completely thrown off.
Amber looked up at his confused face and simply said, "Thank you," before following Kelly to the library.
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"Yeah, that works. Ah ha, alright, try that. When? Oh, ok. Well, I'll see you when you get here. Thanks so much for doing this, honey. Yes...I know, but still, thank you Alex."
"Alex is coming here?" Claire looked up at Jody as the sheriff hung up on Alex.
"Yeah," Jody nodded. "Demon presence has spiked in Sioux Falls the last couple of days. Alex will be safer here."
"She's been out there alone with spiking demon activity?" Claire exclaimed.
The Winchesters and Castiel looked at her, surprised. This could very well be the first time they'd seen Claire this worried about someone else.
"Yes and she's done great, Claire. She chooses not to hunt and live in this life. It's not because she's incompetent. She's on her way here, so no need for you to worry. That's why I didn't say anything earlier," was Jody's answer.
Turning to Kelly she added, "Alex is my other step-daughter. She'll be here tomorrow with a bassinet and other supplies. Apparently, she was able to find one from one of her friends at the hospital. Better for a newborn and it fits in the SUV."
"Oh, that's so thoughtful, thank you detective Mills," Kelly smiled.
"Please, it's Jody. Just Jody."
Not having any idea what a bassinet was or why it was better for a newborn, Dean, Claire, Sam, and Amber simply acknowledged what she'd said. They had no opinion.
Cas, having some idea what he meant, chimed in, "The smaller size of a bassinet is safe and tightly comforting to the newborn who, up until this time, has only known the safe confines of the maternal womb."
Listening to this, everyone else was kind of uneasy with all of this baby care talk.
"Good idea Cas", was all Jody cared to offer. She was reading the room...and seeing all the uncomfortable feelings coming from everyone present. The inherent meaning of this was that they were preparing to care for Kelly's baby without Kelly in the picture...all within earshot of Kelly.
"Anyhoo…" directing her attention away from Cas' statement, Jody was ready to end this topic and so was everyone else.
Taking charge, Sam directed them to the next thing he and Dean had discussed.
"We think this is a good time to involve Crowley and Rowena." Looking around the small group, Sam and Dean scanned faces to see who needed catching up.
Jody and Kelly both looked perplexed, eyes wide and confused. Picking up on this cue, Sam launched into the cliff notes version.
"Jody...and Kelly...Crowley is a demon, a rather powerful demon, which is surprising as he and his mother have helped us trap Lucifer in the past. We have overlapping purposes for defeating Lucifer, so we combine forces for our own ends."
"Kind of, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' sort of deal," Dean chimed in.
Looking back at Dean, Sam nodded his agreement, "Yeah, sort of like that."
"And because Lucifer's defeat is so important to our mutual survival, we have a standing agreement with Crowley and his mother, who's the most powerful witch on earth. We're working towards this mutually-beneficial end. Do we trust him? No way...except where our mutual benefits overlap."
"If it makes you two feel any better about this, they tried to kill me a few months back and I'm still ok working with them," Amber added.
Mouth dropping open, Kelly had no words. Jody, being a pragmatic officer of the law, had no illusions that it was sometimes necessary to work professionally with other department members who she personally found odious, but they each did their jobs and together they helped put bad guys away and solve crimes.
Sam looked at Amber with his 'you're not helping' expression but didn't comment on her words.
Aimed primarily at Sam, Amber defended herself.
"What? It's true," Amber mumbled, scanning the room and finding either annoyance or disbelief.
"What's important right now, is that we ensure their cooperation. We'll need Crowley's intel and Rowena's magic," Sam continued.
"What for?" Claire asked. "It's not like she's found anything that can kill Lucy so far."
"And we don't think she'll do so now. But, we need somewhere safe for Kelly to give birth and Rowena will be our best shot at warding the place."
"Isn't the bunker warded already...for this?" Amber looked around the room.
"We're not compromising the bunker," Dean stated.
"But, Dean…" Amber tried only to be cut off.
"No, this can't happen here. We need the bunker safe for you, for us, and for…for him, too. It's not like Lucy will let it go once he's born. We'll need to make sure this place is secure enough for all of us. Like Sam said, Rowena is our best shot at keeping Kelly and her child safe."
And here Amber interrupted.
"His name's Jack.
Rolling his eyes, Dean was getting frustrated at this. Sam's mouth was tightened into a thin line of frustration as he glared at Amber.
Jody was seeing this antagonistic dynamic between Amber and her brothers. Where was this coming from? Jody had an idea where it's origin was, which was a build up of several overlapping things, one of which was a misjudged sense of teenage fairness. Jody understood more and more why the brothers had to keep a tight rein on this girl.
Claire was finding this whole exchange highly entertaining, including seeing Jody's reaction to this. She loved watching Dean's buttons get pushed and man, Amber was good at this.
Dean managed to not raise his voice as he answered.
"Whatever his name is, he'll need a safe place to go to...Amber. That's the bunker. And that's why we'll move this party to another location. The men of letters have a few more hideouts scattered around. They're not as safe as this place, but Rowena will be able to make them work. End of discussion."
"Alrighty then..." was all Jody had to say about this exchange. Kelly, who'd kept her silence during this explanation spoke up for the first time.
"Where will this safe place be?"
Turning to address her question, Sam and Dean both noticed Kelly's subdued tone and apparent apprehension.
"Don't worry. It's a safe place, and we'll make it comfortable for you." Sam was trying to be reassuring, even though he had no idea what this comfort might mean. Blankets, coffee, slippers?
"Cause you two know exactly how to do this, right Dean?" Claire couldn't help herself. All this concern for Kelly's maternal care, coming from lifelong bachelors, was so hard to take.
Not that Claire had any better understanding of this, but she found this all so inconceivable. They were working with the King of Hell and his witch mother to protect an innocent woman from Lucifer, who was her baby daddy, while giving birth to a powerful nephilim who was being watched over by an Angel of the Lord and another nephilim, along with this nephilim's hunter brothers.
Talk about jumping the shark...Claire mused to herself, 'God, who writes this stuff.'
Jody noticed Claire's devious amusement and didn't want to know what was behind her wry smile.
Needing to pull this back on topic, Sam cleared his throat to redirect the conversation.
"We're going to summon Crowley and get him and Rowena on the same page." Turning to assess the effect his words were having on those assembled. As he suspected, Jody and Kelly were merely present, not having any context for what to expect.
"He's fat and thinks he's clever. He's not," Claire saw Jody and Kelly's apprehension, too, and was trying to reassure them.
Amber, on the other hand, knew they were more than this...having almost been killed by them during one of her misadventures. Amber's side eye at Claire spoke volumes to her brothers who knew her personal history with Crowley and Rowena all too well.
"The point is we have a plan and we need Crowley to work with us. Jody, just needed to prepare you because we summoned him."
"Boys, I trust you to know this needs to happen. I'm staying."
Jody was once again the pragmatic police officer who assigned work detail, delegated and followed policy, made policy and enforced procedure. She could take this.
Nodding, Sam acknowledged this, and continued setting up the summoning bowl. This, Jody had seen before, Sam performing ritual magic. Watching Sam cut a slice in his forearm, he pooled the drops into a small vial. From this Sam wrote an incantation on a piece of parchment. It looked like Latin. Book open as reference, Sam was confirming this incantation as he transcribed it. Claire, who was seeing this again, found her distaste towards anything magic hadn't changed in the least.
Kelly watched this with detached fascination. Jody found this all so foreign...this being a side to the Winchesters she knew about, but had never observed. And Jody noticed Amber seemed entirely at home with this. Hmmm...just something she noticed.
Looking around the room, Sam confirmed that everyone was ready for the next step. Placing the blood-inscribed incantation in the summoning bowl, Sam repeated the words loudly and, striking a match to flame, dropped it into the bowl with his last words hanging in the air of the library.
A cloud formed from the gently rising smoke of the match and coalesced into an image.
"I see you're in a voyeuristic mood today Dean. Spicing it up are we? Oh, I like this. Our little tête-à-têtes always seem so, well, so droll without witnesses." Crowley was insinuating as much sexual context as he could...as was his enjoyment in taunting Dean.
"Don't you ever get tired of your own shit, Crowley?" Dean asked in an annoyed tone.
"Oh, I find myself delightfully witty. So no, I don't." Crowley's eyes scanning the room he spotted Kelly.
"And I see you found Rosemary again."
Claire couldn't suppress a soft snort but immediately corrected her face at Jody's warning scowl .
"You got any intel?" Sam asked, not engaging with the demon's usual taunting banter.
"About?"
"Lucifer. Do you have any new intel about Lucifer? Does he know we have Kelly?" Sam answered impatiently.
"Oh, we missed our usual coffee date yesterday, Moose. He hasn't caught me up with his latest news yet."
Turning to Kelly, he spoke directly to her, "Are you sure you want to be here with these imbeciles my dear? We do have a perfectly comfortable cottage way up in Canada. Beautiful location, impenetrable. Amber can vouch for it."
Feeling too revealed, Kelly took a step back to stand behind Dean and Jody.
Amber's jaw clenched at the words and she stepped closer to Kelly, ready to act, if needed, to protect her.
"Awww, another fan of the Winchester Mystery Hour, I see. Well, there's no accounting for bad taste."
"You're full of shit 'cause you don't know anything new," Dean surmised.
"Ow." Crowley's snide cockney belittled Dean's insult.
"Killing the messenger is bad form, don't you think? Careful. I might not be inclined to deliver the message and you need this message."
"What message?"
"Oh, the one that will save your collective asses. As pretty as many of them are…" and Crowley turned his gaze on the assembled women in the library.
Jody found this all insulting and terrifying in equal turn.
"Out with it, Crowley."
"Oh, don't rush the pleasure. Such a selfish lover. Tsk, tsk." Turning to face the women again, Crowley addressed them.
"Does he rush in with his great, big, engorged...intention ladies...and then just leave you after he's had his fun? Hmmm?" Crowley's smug face danced with evil delight.
Jody was feeling very uncomfortable here. Claire, on the other hand, used this opening for their own purposes.
"Why don't we ask your mother? She'd have plenty to save about Dean's engorged intentions. We want to chat with her anyway."
Dean couldn't help but smirk at Claire's comment. That was genius.
Looking askance, Crowley admired this deft remark. Pulling himself out of his ironic approval, Crowley addressed the others.
"She's still my favorite," Crowley remarked with begrudging admiration.
"What do you need my mother for?"
"Warding services," Amber answered. "We need a safe place for Kelly to give birth because it's certain that Lucifer will try to find us."
"Do you have such a place?" Crowley inquired.
"Do you shit where you eat?" Claire asked.
Caught off guard by her crude sarcasm, yet spot-on remark, Crowley was yet again given pause by this blonde girl. The brothers had never seen Crowley knocked off his snark so often as Claire seemed to do so well. Claire was good at this...and they'd keep this in mind for the future.
Turning to Kelly, realising how that sounded, Claire added, "No offense to your baby-hybrid or anything."
Kelly looked at this girl astounded. This whole back and forth with the King of Hell had left her speechless and confused.
"We're not compromising the bunker," Dean stated once again. "We have another Men of Letters' safehouse available. With some extra attention from Rowena it'll work fine for our purposes."
"And why would I or mother care for your purposes?"
"Because keeping Lucifer from becoming more powerful will keep you and your mother safe in your own little hell. Capisce?"
Looking thoughtful for a few seconds Crowley finally nodded. "That is true. There are some mutual interests involved." Pausing, he then added. "And how come you'll let her have the nephilim? Thought the plan was to kill it before it was born." Turning to Kelly he added with a smile, "No offense, my dear, Spawn of Satan and all…"
"Plans change...you would know about this."
"Awww, I see. Well, yes, sometimes one's best interest needs to be adjusted. I see your point. What will you do with it?"
"With him," Kelly spoke up for the first time. "Not a thing, a baby. A him," her voice was trembling slightly but she couldn't stand hearing this disgusting man talk like this about her son."
"He's not an item to do something with," Amber added, sounding just as upset as Kelly.
"Amber," Sam's quiet voice and light shake of his head made her quiet down. She read Sam's meaning and he was right. Crowley didn't need to know the why's and how's of their decision. He could be a potential future threat to Jack. Hell, to her, too. The less he knew the better.
"So, will she do this?" Dean was pushing for an answer.
"Oh, let me consult the oracle. Oh dear me. Seems she's not around right now. Imagine me answering for mummy dearest. There would be literal Fire and Brimstone if I did. But you Winchesters would know about Perdition, wouldn't you."
"Well, you let her know. And maybe remind her just how angry Luci was with the whole bottom of the ocean situation. I'm sure she'll find the motivation she needs. We'll call her soon and arrange for her and Castiel to go and fix up the place before we move Kelly there."
"Not so fast squirrel. I'd like to talk with your lovely ladies a bit more...since you've got your own harem living with you. I'm sure I can be of service to them...in special ways ...and they may need some help after living with you."
Rolling his eyes, Dean saw Crowley's constant barrage of slimy insinuations and coercion. SSDD.
"We're done here, Crowley," and Dean extinguished the smoke in the summoning bowl as the King of Hell made a face halfway between frustration and distaste.
Turning to assess the others in the room, Sam and Dean both scanned the faces, seeing mostly shock and fear. The one notable exception was Claire. She seemed disgruntled and feisty. Cas was standing next to Kelly and behind Claire, his gaze steady and strong. Unbeknownst to everyone, he was contemplating what had been said...especially by Claire.
Like a side shot he could always count on, Dean was considering that Claire had successfully knocked Crowley off of his arrogant stance every time she'd been present at his summoning. This was...to put it mildly...just so satisfying. Meeting her eyes, Dean smiled at Claire adding, "Good going."
There wasn't much more to say, and Claire knew she'd hit Crowley using his own game rules while making Dean look good. Claire just smiled her cocky, sideways smile as Dean passed leaving the area.
Cas, on the other hand, voiced his confusion.
"Why would Dean have engorged intentions?"
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In the room they were attempting to furnish as a nursery, Amber and Jody were standing across from Kelly, who was sitting on the bed as she unconsciously rubbed her round belly. With Jody's urging they'd decided to have a creative discussion of how they were going to further adapt this empty room into a warm place for Kelly's baby. Kelly was grateful for all of this effort to provide and care for the son she most likely wouldn't live to meet. Thoughtfully, Kelly felt Jack kick and she responded unconsciously as any pregnant mother would.
Jody watched Kelly rubbing her bump and this struck a deep pain of remembrance in her own heart. She'd rubbed her own tummy just like that when she'd been pregnant with her little boy, Owen. Her husband, Sean, had been so excited, constantly caressing her tummy, like it was a crystal ball, trying to see their future. Lapsing into a kind of frozen past, Jody became noticeably still. These strong memories were flooding Amber's own mind and she was seeing and feeling these images, too, which overlapped with their current reality of Kelly sitting there, caressing her unborn child. It was intense. Heart rending in fact and Amber felt this injection of loss that crushed her own heart with shades of her own birth and her mother's death.
Glancing at Jody, Amber wondered how this woman carried this round, functioning on a day-to-day basis with this loss so strong and ever-present? A tear leaked out of Jody's eyes and she rubbed them away with her hand. Amber, having felt this so intimately, grabbed some tissues and handed them to the sheriff. Kelly, confused, looked round-eyed to both women for an explanation. Amber subtly shook her head, signaling an unspoken "not now", and Kelly let it go. She'd hear about this later.
Clearing her sight, Jody blew her nose and brought herself back to the room they were all sitting in. Amber had placed a hand on Jody's shoulder and she only then, coming out of this memory, became aware that Amber's hand was still there. Realizing she'd become a minor spectacle, Jody tried to correct her reaction.
"Sorry," was all Jody could say. Amber simply kept rubbing her shoulder and back, smiling a gentle reassurance. Kelly, feeling the love coming from this huddled group, suddenly felt a burst of power coming from her lower back and abdomen...a deep, warm, loving, strong beam of something big was happening down there. It wasn't painful.
In that instant, both Jody and Amber became aware of a strong energy beam targeting Jody's heart...a brilliant golden-silver, effervescent light with the purest sense of timeless love. Amber saw this light directly filling Jody's heart and, a first, making an adjustment to the woman's heart energy in a way she'd never seen before. All Jody felt was a loving feeling.
Then she saw them in her mind's eye. Jody saw two men, around 30 years of age, standing side-by-side, eye's clear, handsome and beautiful, smiling at her reassuringly. Instantly she recognized her husband, Sean. He was this age when they'd married. The other man, familiar, but different, was her Owen, her son, also around 30. This was him all grown up. In her heart and mind Jody felt them telling her, "We're fine. We love you and we'll all be together again." A stiled sound of anguished joy escaped from Jody and her eyes filled with tears.
Amber saw this all in the full intensity that Jody was experiencing it, but with an even greater understanding, because she knew this was coming from Jack. Jack was comforting Jody. He'd made a pathway for Jody's son and husband to come through. Jack was adjusting Jody's heart to calm and reassure her. Jack was affecting this world even before he entered it.
At that moment, Amber simply grabbed Jody around the shoulders, crushing the woman to her, crying into her neck as Jody allowed herself to be held by her. Jody sobbed in Amber's embrace.
Kelly felt oddly comforted as she knew that her Jack had helped this woman somehow. Leaning in, Kelly put her arms around the other two and this little enclave healed Jody's heart.
A few minutes later, smiling, Jody looked up and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. The tissue was a wadded mess. Taking a deep breath, her glittery eyes held appreciation and love for everything and everyone who'd been present during this moment.
A wet and happy sound, a small laugh, came out of Jody as she was reemerging from this Akashic experience. They were still in the nursery...or what would become a nursery.
"Sorry guys. I didn't mean to do all this." Jody looked revealed and apologetic.
Kelly simply smiled her serene smile and tightened her embrace around Jody's shoulder. Amber, bearing witness to this, simply kissed Jody on the cheek, squeezing her shoulder.
"That...that was amazing."
Amber knew what had happened, but it was still a cosmic beautification. A blessing...and it had come from Jack.
Kelly knew something magnificent had happened, even though she saw and felt none of the intensity the other women had. "Jody, my Jack loves you,." That was an understatement.
"Yes…" was all Jody could say.
"Jody, do you need to get up, walk around, get some water or something?" Amber wasn't sure what Jody needed right now.
"That's a good idea. I'll be right back."
Jody got up and left the room, heading towards the bathroom across the hall. Splashing water on her face, she stared at her reflection in the mirror...the cut glass designs from the 1930's framing her face like an etched laurel wreath. In the mirror, she saw them again, Owen and Sean, reflected from within the mirror. Their smiling faces, both of them young and strong. One last deep sob escaped from her, and Jody saw them fading. Breaking down anew, Jody went with this wave of grief and relief...all bundled together.
Back in the would-be nursery, Kelly and Amber were talking.
"I felt it. I felt it grow strong and warm.I wish I could've seen it, too."
Amber had explained to Kelly what Jody felt, what she saw happen for Jody. This was their first time she'd shared with anyone that she could see and feel people's emotions and thoughts. This could be her undoing, but Amber felt this was a compelling time to tell Kelly about this gift Amber had grown into.
"This must be difficult sometimes for you." Kelly's statement was factual, no guessing involved.
With the clarity of how insightful this woman was, Amber was moved by her depth and kindness.
"I try to block out what others are thinking, you know, give them their privacy, but I can't do that very well yet. But it's a lot of help sometimes."
Here Amber's face morphed into a sly grin. "It's kind of helpful in weird ways, you know."
Kelly smiled back at this teenager who reminded her of her own awkward teen youth.
"It sounds like someone gave you the Rosetta Stone to see through what people say and what people mean."
This thought struck Amber quiet.
"Huh. Never thought of it that way...but yeah, it does operate like that."
Glancing at the door, Jody had returned and there was a different feeling in the room. The energy was lifted. It was more colorful and energetic, in a calm way.
"Okay. Ladies, where were we?" Jody was trying to sound chipper, somewhat embarrassed by how she'd derailed their nursery-planning.
"You ok, Jody?" Amber voiced this, both she and Kelly reflected back the same deep concern for her.
"Yeah. I'm fine." Pausing for a moment, looking off to the side as she reassessed her wellbeing, Jody realized she was actually better than she'd been in a while...about her son and husband.
Looking back up at the two faces, Jody smiled a sincere smile, warmth gently glowing in her heart. Amber could see this. Jody was emitting a golden-amber glow...and it was kind of twinkly like special effects in movies did for magic power.
However, Amber could really see this. Jody was fine, better than fine actually...and wishing to get on with their project.
Glancing over at Kelly, Amber's smile reassured her that Jody really was fine. Kelly's returned smile simply meant, 'Ok, let's carry on.'
The three of them returned their attention to the room, scanning the space around them. Kelly's expression was purposeful, while Amber and Jody sported helpless expressions. How on earth could this spartan room be turned into a nursery?
Not having the heart to ruin this for Kelly, Amber had already rummaged through her own and her brothers' rooms and brought a small pile of things she thought they could use. Two fleecey blankets, a grey and blue one, a baseball glove, a couple of children's books Sam had salvaged from his childhood. Definitely not stuff a newborn baby would enjoy but Jack could read them later on. And they'd impart a touch of childhood into this colorless space. Amber wasn't surprised Sam had opted to hold onto them along with a sparse assortment of items that hadn't gone missing or been discarded by John.
Surprisingly, there was a model replica of the Millennium Falcon with a few pieces broken off. Apparently, Sam was a Star Wars fan.
She was surprised that all Dean had cared to salvage was his teen collection of skin magazines. All retro and very, very dogeared, she hadn't been interested in asking him any more after this discovery. Completely musing to herself, 'Maybe a gift for Jack's twelfth birthday?' Looking over at Kelly, Amber felt embarrassed she'd even had that thought for this woman's child.
Turning to Kelly, apologetically, Amber said, "This is all I could find. Sam is searching the storage room in case there's any paint we could use but he wasn't very optimistic."
"Thank you, Amber," Kelly smiled. Her face grew stormy suddenly as she added, "You know someone needs to sleep in here with him so that you'll hear him when he cries!"
All these little details Kelly had never considered before started popping into her head.
This was a baby she was bringing into this world, and none of these people had any baby experience that she knew of. How would they manage with a newborn? How would Jack make it without her there to care for him.
Amber could feel Kelly's stress levels rising and easily read her worries.
"We will. It's five of us living here. Seven if you count Jody and Alex. Jack will be cared for, Kelly. We might know what we're doing initially, but we'll figure this out, I promise."
Kelly didn't seem convinced, but trusted how invested Amber was in helping her son survive and thrive. Glancing beside herself, to Joy, Kelly realized here was the answer: Jody had been a mother and apparently was still a darn good one. Jody had had a baby.
Amber could see Kelly's concerns and thoughts including the revelation of Jody being the one person in all of this who knew what she was doing. Her relief was literally swirling off of her in pastel curls of turquoise-blue and peachy pink.
'It's going to be a lot cuter in here when we bring the bassinet in here," Jody said, her voice still slightly wobbly.
"And when all this is over I'll make sure I'll go buy a few more things for him and spruce the room up. My 'welcome-to-this-world' gift to him."
A small smile forming, Kelly looked calmer.
"Okay. Let's move the bed against the wall. That will give us more space. He can have his play-gym here when he's older to practice crawling," her voice broke as this mental image invaded her mind along with the realization she wouldn't be here to witness any of these milestones. All Amber and Jody could do was place a hand on her shoulder as Kelly wiped her tears away.
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Hearing this feminine laughter coming from one of the rooms, Dean kept walking down the hallway to investigate.
Knocking on the door, Amber's face appeared in the crack.
"Hey. You need something?"
"No, not really, I noticed you all kind of disappeared and I was curious what was happening. You got a party going on in there?," Dean drew a bit closer to peek into the thin gap created by the open door. Amber, seeing no harm, opened it wider to let him see who he was addressing.
Jody caught the inquiry in Dean's eye and knew what was up. "We're just putting a nursery together Dean. We need a nursery."
Yeah, this was a thing now. The thought caught Dean in the throat.
These women were deeply invested in this kid getting a chance to live. That had been a concession of Amber returning to, and staying at, the bunker after going AWOL. It hadn't been without conditions. It wasn't a sure thing and Amber knew this...but, well, this all seemed like she didn't.
"Amber and I were just scrounging up what we could find in the bunker to see what we had to work with." Jody's glittery eyes now only held happiness, none of the sadness her companions had seen. Dean took this all at face value, not questioning anything beyond the obvious aside from his own concern that Amber hadn't remembered their agreed upon conditions.
Stepping into the room, Dean saw the items that Sam had contributed, particularly the Millenium Falcon.
"I haven't seen this in years. Sam loved this thing."
Picking it up, Dean grinned, remiscensing about his little brother and his Star Wars thing.
"Dad almost made him chuck it one time when we were purging stuff." glancing at the books. He was sort of remembering them in this distant way.
"I guess Sam managed to keep a few things."
Jody turned to Dean, giving him a look that said, 'What do you need Dean? State your business and get out.'
Placing a hand on Amber's shoulder, Dean spoke to her in a lowered tone.
"Can I have a word with you in the hall?" Eyes big, Amber wondered what this was about. She didn't think she was in trouble.
"Sure" and the two of them stepped out into the hall, Dean closing the door behind him as the others watched them leave.
Looking uncomfortable, but entirely willing to go there if he had to, Dean cleared his throat before speaking.
"You remember that we're giving this kid a chance? It's a chance, but it could also end up with us having to kill him if he's like his dad, you know, evil and all 'Spawn of Satan.' You remember this, right?"
Sighing loudly, Amber rolled her eyes.
"Hey, don't roll your eyes at me. This is serious and you know this."
Looking Dean square in the eye, Amber was gathering herself up for a fight, or at least something forceful. She had an oddly confident air about her that Dean hadn't noticed seeing before. His admiration was tempered by his concern about fighting with her because she could simply teleport out of there at will.
"Dean, I know this. Jody knows this. Does Kelly need to know this? She might not survive the birth. Is this the time to tell her?"
Pausing to see what effect her words were having on Dean, Amber further dug the knife in.
"You tell her Dean. If you feel so strongly that she needs to hear this, then you tell her. This nursely thing may be all that she gets."
Amber was right...and Dean knew it.
Just then, Jody stepped out into the halfway to see how these two were doing...stop any disputes if that was needed.
"You two good out here?" was Jody's buoyant voice, which held greater meaning that both siblings understood.
Looking at Jody, then to Amber, Dean affected a friendly smile.
"No, we're fine here. Just checking on something Amber and I had discussed. We're all good." Turning to his sister he addressed her, "You wanna head back in?"
Glancing up at her brother, Amber realized how this would affect her relationship with him if it came to pass and they decided to kill Jack. Dean knew nothing of what had just happened for Jody. There was this odd feeling in her own throat, this catch of fear for Jack.
Dean saw this look and knew what Amber was thinking. God, he hoped this would never have to happen. Amber would leave and he was quite sure she'd never come back.
"Ok. I'm heading back in," Amber spoke over her shoulder to Jody, disengaging from Dean and heading back in, glancing back at her brother. For a split second she again saw and felt his sadness, from when she'd been gone. She also saw that one of Dean's biggest fears was that he'd have to choose between killing this kid to save the world and keep his sister alive...and as a consequence, his sister disappearing forever. Would she disappear forever if that came to pass? She had no answer.
The door closing he stood there feeling this outcome as if it had already happened.
"You won't need to do this, Dean."
Startled, Dean inhaled a sharp breath, unexpectedly seeing Cas right next to him.
"Dammit Cas, clear your throat."
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The bunker door opening made everyone turn their heads up towards the top of the stairs, only to see a big wicker bassinet pushed through the door. Alex stepped into view behind the bassinet and she appeared to be carrying several bags. God, the entrance was crowded.
Alex's face was the only thing visible as she was struggling to push the remaining items through the door. Seeing Jody, as well as the Winchester brothers, at the bottom of the stairs she called out.
"Hey, Jody!" Remembering to address everyone else she quickly glanced around her. "Hey everyone."
Jody loped up the stairs to her adoptive daughter and slammed her into a huge one-armed hug, grabbing a bag from her as she did. Jody delivered a kiss to the side of Alex's head.
"God, it's good having you here! Any trouble on the road?"
Sam and Dean, who'd been standing at the bottom were right behind Jody, grabbing the remaining bags and the bassinet and started hauling it all down.
"Augh! Jody...Jody, can you take this one?
Having struggled to push the bunker door open, Alex was now pulling everything else into view.
"One would think they'd make these doors lighter," was her grumpy comment as Alex wrangled it down onto the entrance landing. Face turning immediately down to Jody, she smiled.
"Nursery?" Sam's inquiry interrupted their hug, but Jody kept things moving. "Yes, please."
"Sure thing Jody," was Sam's reply.
"Ok, I've got it," and Sam lifted the bags as he moved this all down the stairs and out of the way. Dean had the bassinet, hoisting that down the stairs.
Claire waited patiently for Alex to get down the stairs before slowly approaching her and hugging her tightly. She'd never admit it outloud, but she'd missed her. Jody watched her girls, knowing they'd missed each other even if this their relationship was rather cantankerous. Amber came to stand next to Jody and watched as the bunker became full of this extended family and all of this stuff.
Watching the greetings and hugs, she was again reminded that she now had this 'family of sorts' that she hadn't had before. And she saw and felt their feelings. They loved each other.
"Good to see you, pain," was Alex's response as she hugged the blonde tightly.
"Your life has been boring without me. Admit it."
"Whatever." Alex knew the patter of this greeting.
Emerging from the hallway, Kelly and Cas hung back, watching all this preparation for her baby manifesting into bags and a bassinet. Kelly felt her baby kick and she began caressing her belly, a mixture of excitement and sorrow swirling together inside her.
Leaving the war room, Kelly followed Sam as they headed to the room that would soon be her son's. She'd introduce herself and thank Alex later. Right now she needed physical proximity to Jack's things. This would be the closest she'd ever be to him. All she cared about was envisioning his tiny body in the bassinet and to see what else her new friends, Jack's new family, had managed to gather for him. She didn't realise Cas and Amber were following closely behind, not wishing to leave her alone while also giving Jody and her girls time to catch up. Both Cas and Amber were reading Kelly's feelings and thoughts.
Kelly stepped into the nursery right as Sam was leaving. Pausing, he watched her for a second, not sure if he should leave her alone or not. Sam didn't need nephilim powers to empathize with her and grasp what she was feeling right now.
Reading his discomfort Kelly managed to smile.
"I'll be fine, Sam. I just need a minute to see what I have here. Arrange a few things."
Nodding a bit awkwardly Sam took a step to the side so that Kelly could approach the bed where the wicker bassinet was laid.
"Just let us know if you need anything or feel unwell," Sam said in his kindest tone. He felt a bit awkward around this pregnant woman whose baby they were planning to kill just a couple of days ago.
Stepping into the nursery, Cas and Amber had a purpose. Seeing Kelly,s surrounded by the baby things he was pulling out of the bags, they knew this would be a good time. There was a n understanding that had arisen between these two angelic beings.
With Cas and Amber in the room, Sam felt comfortable enough to leave, knowing Kelly wouldn't be alone. He smiled at Amber as he walked out and was confident Kelly was left in good hands.
Watching Amber closing the door behind Sam, Kelly's expression held curiosity and sadness.
Turning her attention back to the things spread out on the bed she gently caressed the smooth wicker of the bassinet, her hand continuing to slide over the soft white cotton that covered the firm mattress inside. Should a baby mattress be firm? She had no idea. She'd never even considered becoming a mother. There was very little she knew about this motherhood thing. She just hoped these people could figure everything out.
Moving to one of the bags she rummaged through it and took out a cotton onesie. It wasn't new, but it was kept in great condition. Bringing it close to her face she breathed into it, feeling the fabric's softness and inhaling the gentle aroma of baby detergent. She wondered if the light blue and grey stripes would look good on Jack. And for the first time wondered what he'd look like.
She kept rummaging through the bag only to find more onesies, a few light blankets, pieces of plain fabric she had no idea what they were used for, and some tiny towels that she guessed were burp cloths. Her limited experience with pregnancy and babies consisted of a single baby shower she'd attended during half of which she was tipsy. But she did remember wondering what was the use of those tiny pieces of cloth and a seasoned mom informing her they were burp cloths, whatever that meant.
In another bag there were a few soft toys and what was probably sheets, with cute patterns.
Suddenly feeling overwhelmed, that first onesie still clutched in her hand, she took a step backwards and struggled to keep her tears at bay. The bitter realization that she'd never see her son in any of this stuff, that she'd never hold him wrapped in any of these blankets, that she'd never dangle a toy over his excited face was just too much.
Catching on her increasing distress Amber stepped closer to Kelly, laying a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. Looking back at Cas she motioned for him to tell Kelly what she'd discussed with him earlier that day.
"Kelly, Amber and I are going to try to help you when you are giving birth to your baby. Amber's grace is powerful and she's going to give you some before you are at your weakest. This may help you survive the birth."
"Grace?" Kelly asked, perplexed?
"It's like… like blood infused with celestial energy," Amber tried to explain, impressed with her own effort and vocabulary. Sam had really rubbed off on her. "It's what angels and apparently nephilims have circulating in our bodies. We think that if we inject you with mine it might up your chances to get through the birth. We know it has insane healing properties."
Kelly's response was silent, her eyes steady as she heard this. Not quite the response they expected, both understood her thoughts. She was afraid to have hope.
"We've never done this before, but we're going to try this," was Amber's response. Not hearing anything from the pregnant woman made Amber nervous. Had Kelly already resigned herself to death?
Sitting down on the bed, still holding the onsie, Kelly looked up at them. Her face was so serene...and so sad.
Cas felt the heartbreak of this mother. For the first time Cas considered if Jimmy Novak had felt this heartbreaking loss of leaving his wife and child when he offered his vessel to him.
Eyes cast low, Kelly was still holding the onesie in her lap, fertile belly protruding above, thinking about all of this. A shift in her energy became noticeable and she looked up to face Cas and Amber.
"You will take care of my son Cas." This was a statement, not a request.
"Yes. I will take care of your son."
Amber, reading this as a final request, felt conflicted. She was still going to try to keep this woman alive, but here...here was a resignation she felt helpless to stop.
"You will live, Kelly. We're going to try to keep you and your son alive, together." Amber's tone of urgency caught Kelly's eyes.
"I know you'll try, Amber. I believe you will," was Kelly's response.
And there it was, Kelly's eyes held an empathy to comfort Amber. Kelly was comforting Amber?!
"The point is, if it doesn't work, I need to know Jack will be in good hands. And he's chosen you, Castiel." Turning to Amber she added, "And I know you've chosen him. Knowing that he'll have the two of you… That's all I have. That's all I ask. I don't know what will become of him. I won't be here to see him grow, but I want to believe that with your guidance he'll make this world a better place."
Amber could';t help it, and her eyes filled with tears. Images of her own mother, choosing death to save her, it was too much for Amber and she had to turn away, arms crossed over her chest, to keep from showing the tears that now spilled down her face.
"Your son will do so much more than that, Kelly." Castiel wished Kelly to know what he'd seen in Jack's future.
At the woman's questioning look he continued, "When he and I connected I saw glimpses of the future. The future he will bring on this earth."
Amber was listening to this, too.
"A paradise without fear or hate, that's what Jack will create."
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"And then if the midwife wasn't able to get the poor babe out, then she'd take a knife she'd put in the fire and slice open the mother. But of course, the dear mother wouldn't survive to nurse her baby, so it wasn't always a good idea to save the mother at all."
Rowena, who had insisted on riding with them instead of teleporting with Crowley to the safehouse, was regaling Kelly, Dean, and Cas with horrific stories of childbirth from her day.
"And if the wee baby was too big to come out, the midwife had to slit open the mother's stomach for the baby to emerge into the world, motherless of course."
In the rearview mirror, Rowena caught Dean's disapproval and merely smirked.
"It's true. And if the babe was Merry Begot, the child was raised to be one of the high offerings at Beltane upon his 15th birthday."
Cas looked disconcerted and Kelly was ashen white.
"And with Fergus… Lord, he was one big baby. He nearly tore me in two. And such a scrawny kid later, couldn't trade him for more than three pigs…"
Three sets of eyes were focused on her as this witch talked about selling her child for pigs. Dean had a brief understanding of how the King of Hell became so twisted, it was because of his mother. Freud was right, 'It's always the mother.'
Not missing a beat as everyone's judgemental eye lay on her, Rowena kept on, "...But during childbirth he ripped me right open. If it wasn't for my impeccable magic skills, my rather impressive lady parts would've never been the same."
Kelly blanched at the horrendous image this formed in her mind. She felt her stomach churn. She'd never thought of what would happen to her body during birth, only what would come after.
"Do you really think that's what a woman needs to hear right before she gives birth?" Dean's expression of disgust and horror was further magnified by his own personal image of destroyed lady parts...particularly Rowena's. God, he didn't need to have this image.
"By all means, Dean, from your numerous experiences giving birth, what does a woman need to hear?" Rowena shot right back. "I could tell her she'll forget everything once the little creature is placed in her arms, but for one, that's a lie. Furthermore, she'll be dead by then anyway."
"Cas, why is Rowena with us?" Dean had been against this arrangement, Rowena with them in the Impala, but Cas had persuaded him it was in Kelly's best interest. Cas had planned on Rowena's presence being added protection while they were enroute to the Men of Letters' Safe house.
"I think a change of the topic is in order," Cas chimed in, feeling Kelly's stress skyrocketing.
"Kelly, remember, when you feel afraid or worried you go back to envisioning a happy place, a place you feel safe and comfortable. It could be your childhood room, or a serene beach, or lake," Cas tried to undo Rowena's damage by guiding Kelly based on the relaxation techniques he'd studied for this very reason. "Remember to breathe deep into your abdomen and exhale slowly out your mouth."
Kelly turned to look at Cas with a shocked expression. "Is that some sort of relaxation method or something?"
"Hypnobirthing," Cas replied confidently. "The most promising new pain management method."
"The most promising new pain management method is the epidural," Rowena quipped. "Breathing isn't going to help you one bit during that amount of pain dear, I'm telling you!"
"Do we look like we have or know how to perform an epidural?" Dean asked, getting more and more frustrated with all this birthing talk and Rowena's insensitivity. By comparison, this made Dean look like an empath.
"Hypnobirthing has been proven to help a lot of birthing women handle medication-free labor and delivery," Castiel said with confidence. Turning to Kelly he continued in a soothing tone, "I'll be guiding you with breathing techniques and visualizations and you'll ride out all the waves of pressure."
"Waves of pressure?" Kelly asked, not sure what else to comment on.
"Another word for contractions. I learned all about this in my online doula class."
"Oh, for Christ shake," Dean mumbled, wanting to start banging his head on the wheel. Sam would pay for making him drive with these three.
"Now, now Dean. No need to bring a male god into this conversation. You want to curse the birthing room?"
Dean wanted this conversation to be rover.
"Jesu of Nazareth was a compassionate man truly embodying agape. The misogynistic gospel attributed to him was in fact from Peter. Peter was always a hot head and really hated women, particularly Mary Magdalene. His long life in preaching in Rome set the tone for the entire culture of feminine persecution inherent in the Christian religion."
Kelly listened to all of this conversation and had nothing to say to any of it. This was surreal.
Rowena smirked, "Thought so."
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In the Challenger, Sam and Amber were following behind the Impala.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, Sam saw Jody's police cruiser keeping pace in this caravan.
They had lapsed into silence after discussing Amber's return from Reno. Sam was still emotionally sore about how Amber just left them. He and Dean had fallen apart in a way they hadn't experienced since they'd lost their dad. Officially, he'd forgiven Amber for her misjudgment, but there were moments he still felt angry at this decision.
An hour back he'd tried to talk to Amber about this and it had gotten so heated, he'd simply let it drop. Amber and he were each mired in their own thoughts, riding in silence. Amber held onto her own conviction. Yet, the talk she'd had with Jody had become a touchstone of contemplation. Jody had really made clear how much this had hurt her brothers, which Amber secretly wasn't too upset by. But overall, this still felt unfinished.
Not wishing to ignite another argument, but desperate for some sort of normalcy between them, Amber spoke in as even a tone as she could muster.
"I was going through the books you set out for me to research earlier. It said before a nephilim is born omens erupt in close vicinity to the nephilim birth. Things like storms, intense natural phenomena…"
"You did your homework. Yes. There are always omens before the birth of a nephilim," Sam confirmed. Pausing for a few seconds he then added, "I just wish there were omens before one of them disappeared."
Amber felt this statement was a sincere wish, not just the passive-aggressive jab it was. A small smile formed at how Sam stepped out of his comfort zone.
"You know… Sometimes I do, too," was her honest reply, her own volatile reactions had surprised and even shocked her in the past. This happened more than once...almost a pattern if she were to map it out. Despite her conviction that her last misguided decision had emerged from a good place, she kinda understood where Sam was coming from.
Her brother's surprised face made her shrug. "What? You think I'm always scheming? Half of the shit…" catching herself she amended, "stupid stuff that I do surprises me as well."
"I'm glad you're aware of this," Sam said, being extra careful of his tone. Now that he had managed to break through his sister's shell, and actually begin a conversation on the topic, the last thing he wanted was to make her feel cornered again. "And I get where you're coming from. I just hope you'll start remembering you can talk first and consider disappearing after reaching out to us."
"I don't plan to disappear again, Sam," Amber answered as Sam's deepest fear registered.
"You didn't plan it this time, either." Sam's deadpan delivery punctuated the possibility that Amber might do this again. It was very uncomfortable for Amber to hear because it was true.
"No… But…but Sam, this time I really got to see how my head's wired and why I ended up doing what I did. Jody helped."
"Yeah… Jody helped us figure out how your head's wired, too," Sam smiled.
"It's a promise Sam. No matter how much we fight or disagree, I'll never leave without telling you and preparing you first. I can't promise I'll always be able to live with you guys, especially when you're considering actions like killing someone like me, but I'll never put you through that again."
Sam considered her words. And he knew there wasn't really much more he could ask or hope for. She was sixteen. She'd be an adult before they knew it. She'd made it this far alone and she'd make it just fine alone if she chose to leave them in the future. All three of them knew this.
But he now believed she didn't want to leave. And that was more than what he could say about himself regarding his family when he was Amber's age.
"I can live with that, Amb."
"And you should've heard Emily tell Dean off. It was friggin awesome. I thought Dean was going to blow a gasket."
Claire had been filling Jody and Alex in on the hunt they'd had up in Topeka, KS and how Amber's old friend, Emily, had been splashed with Holy Water. Then not a week after she'd ended up being tangled up in the hunt they had with this roque priest and nun, and how ballsy this girl was.
Claire recounted a few scenes and was particularly impressed with how Emily stood up to Dean. It was beautiful. Claire and Dean had a better understanding, but this didn't stop her from admiring this girl's ballsiness.
Jody listened and was a bit appalled at both Dean's assumption of command over a random person and Claire's obvious excitement at Dean's lack of power in this situation. She'd thought Claire and Dean were getting along better.
"So, you did your research and you'd figured out they were the ones causing this?"
"No, but I was right. I was right and they wouldn't believe me until later. But I was right."
Seeing the huge margin of error Claire's hunters' instinct could yield, Jody knew she couldn't keep quiet on this.
"Claire, honey, this could've been wrong and if you'd just acted on your hunch, you could've harmed innocent people. You get this is how murder happens, right?"
"But I was right, Jody. Don't you get that?"
Alex was silently listening to this familiar circular argument Jody and Claire were having. She'd been quiet most of the ride, sitting in the back, tight lipped and pensive. Jody had noticed, but Claire was oblivious to Alex's subtle tells. Alex knew something.
"Claire, if you don't learn to do your research, other hunters are not going to trust you and they're definitely not going to want to back you up. No one wants to have other people's crap splash back on them."
Claire listened to this. This wasn't the first time she'd heard this solid advice from the sheriff.
"Whatever. I was right."
Making eye contact with Alex, who sat in the back seat, Jody wished to get this girl talking. Something was up with her and this was concerning.
Returning Jody's eye contact, Alex's dark eyes merely held her gaze for a full two seconds before looking away.
"Claire, would you get out my phone and tell Both cars I need to stop for a bathroom break at the next town?"
Looking mildly confused, since they'd just stopped not 40 minutes ago, Clare did what Jody asked. She wouldn't say no to stretching her legs.
Alex looked up at Jody's reflection, seeing her knowing eyes confirm that this stop wasn't all together necessary. Jody wanted to talk.
Signing, Alex looked away. She knew this was coming and she'd have to spill it.
Claire got the other cars on the phone and with only a bit of grumbling from Dean, they all pulled off at the next gas station with a quickie mart. They usually had nicer bathrooms for the girls. Turns out Kelly needed to use the facilities, too.
All three of the vehicles were parked at the mini mart. Leaning against the Impala with his arms crossed, Dean was looking impatient as his people sorted themselves out.
Jody had returned and was sitting inside her police cruiser having what appeared to be an intense conversation with Alex. Everyone else was inside the mini mart or using the facilities, so it was just Dean seeing this. Sam, coming out to the Challenger, noticed Dean's interest which got his interest, too. Going to stand next to his brother, Sam nudged him, pointing his chin in the direction of Jody and Alex.
"Not sure I should ask. It looks kind of heated." Dean, while still intensely curious, didn't wish to intrude into Jody's family stuff.
Sam, equally curious, decided to play the subtle approach checking out the sky, then the road ahead, his shoes...finally glancing back up to see if this conversation had changed.
It had.
Jody and Alex both got out of their car and wandered over to the two men.
Cas, who was keeping a heavy warding presence wherever Kelly was, was returning to the Impala with Kelly, Claire and Amber. Rowena had been hovering nearby and saw this movement. She also walked closer to this convening of people, her shrewd intentions seeking any backdoor to intel that may help her more personally.
Noticing that there appeared to be a meeting going on, Cas, Amber and Claire approached in time to hear Alex explaining something to Sam and Dean.
"There was demon presence in Sioux Falls about four days ago, and then it just disappeared. Claire's sources were telling me they appear to be heading East."
Claire's ear pricked up at her name. "Since when do you get involved in this stuff?"
"I don't."
A sadly annoyed look on her face, Alex's laconic response had clearly been reluctant.
No one spoke. There seemed like there was more to this. Alex looked very uncomfortable. "Some of Claire and Jody's contacts couldn't get hold of them and they tracked me down at the hospital. Told me to inform Jody and Claire."
Looking at the assembled faces, all grim-faced and tight-lipped, Cas looked at Kelly. "We have to go. We need to get to this safe house as soon a possible. It must be warded."
"When did you hear this?" Sam was curious...his mind already applying the logistics.
"This morning when I left."
"So, when were you going to tell us?" Dean's tone was tinged with frustration and fear. Alex had never been the target of Dean's upset and this made her uncomfortable.
"When we got there. We didn't hang around the bunker, so I figured when we got there and could do something about this. What can we do about it now?"
Alex had a good point, but still, it would have been good to hear this before now. Glancing at Alex, Dean just let it simmer down inside. This girl hated the supernatural world and he got it. But, he really wished she'd told them.
Quietly, each group got into their car and resumed the journey.
Rowena seemed slightly less concerned than the rest of them. She'd dealt with some pretty nasty inhabitants of the hell realms before. They were no big deal. She was pretty confident of her warding powers...and with Amber providing some angelic grace to add to her magic, well, this would be fun.
Everyone else was grim. They drove on.
In the distance across the Kansas plain, the cloudy grey day felt like an atmospheric manifestation of their collective mood.
The air felt warmer than it had earlier with an ozone taste in the air. A flash of lightning crashed across the afternoon sky followed by another. Commonly referred to as "Sheet Lightning", this colossal display of electricity etched cracks in the sky. It would continue for the rest of their drive.
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Opening the front door, the wind whipped it right out of Dean's hand, banging itself against the door jam and closing shut again.
Leaning his weight into the heavy wood, Dean pushed open the front door again, this time stepping into the entrance way to effectively hold the door open.
The others were grouped behind Dean, their arms full of items and gear. Sam, deciding to hang back, wanted to keep an eye on Amber and Rowena. He really wished Cas was here with them, too. Locating the angel, Sam placed a hand on his shoulder as he passed and leaned in to yell into Cas' ear, the winds being so loud and wild.
Cas listened and nodded his head, returning to his duty of ushering Kelly safely into the house. She was in her early stages of labor. Once Jody and her girls followed Kelly inside, and Castiel was sure Kelly had someone with her, he came back out.
Rowena, Amber and Sam were standing outside the house, waiting for the others to go in. It was treacherous weather. Glancing over at Amber, Rowena smiled a trite smile making Amber very, very apprehensive.
"So…how are we doing this?"
"You and Sam begin to draw your protective sigils, one north, one south, one east, one west. Draw them on the fence not the ground, the wind will erase everything we do on the ground right up. We also need to cut your pretty little arm and collect some grace for the ritual," Rowena said with a smile, red long hair and flouncing dress whipping around her viscously like an angry hurricane of magnificent color.
Amber gulped uneasily. The image of Rowena, hair and dress swirling in the wind against the dark horizon, and her powerful energy spreading around her in waves, was intimidating. Her last experience of the woman working magic around her, or rather on her, came rushing to the surface, igniting her own protective energy. She felt uncomfortable giving this woman access to her blood, to her grace, but couldn't really see any other way around this. Rowena's magic combined with her grace was what would make this warding powerful and they couldn't risk anything less than powerful. Not with Lucifer and hell on their tail.
Her eyes turned to Cas and Sam who approached her. Amber drew some reassurance from their presence. She also knew this time she was able to protect herself against the witch, if needed. Reading Rowena's thoughts and feelings, Amber picked up on the salivating desire this witch had to touch and interact with her grace. It was such a potent complement to Rowena's magic. And then a strange haze descended over Rowena's thoughts and they were obscured. Giving Amber the side eye, Rowena smiled a sly smile.
"Etiquette, dear. Staying out of my head is just polite, lest I have a mind to occupy yours in turn."
Stunned and concerned, Amber reflexively felt her energy pull back. She hadn't been able to do this consciously before, but now she withdrew and felt the intention of it.
Smile widening at Amber's shocked expression, the witch added, "Chop chop now! Get to work before company gets here!"
Sam, having anticipated this, brought a silver knife and a carved carnelian bowl. Walking behind the house, where it was more protected from the wind, Sam indicated to Amber he needed her forearm.
Eyes uncomfortable, Amber pushed up her sleeve and extended her arm to Sam. Not giving her any more time to further tense up, Sam was lightening fast and sliced a small incision across the top of Amber's arm. It didn't hurt.
At first nothing, then a thin sliver of red turned into a thin line of red, which turned into a bleeding, swirling miasma with iridescent dancing colors flowing down her arm. Holding the carnelian bowl out to Amber's arm, the swirling grace collected in the bowl, still moving and dancing hypnotically. Rowena watched this all, feeling such a pull to this magical substance, it was felt by both Sam and Amber. Uncomfortably so.
Amber would have sworn Rowena's fixation on her grace felt like a dog quivering in anticipation of a piece of steak falling to the floor. It was repulsive and fascinating all at once.
Pulling out a large glass vial with a stopper, Sam upcapped it, dipping it into the swirling grace, filling this vial to the top, leaving enough in the bowl for Rowena's ritual. Sealing it closed, it swirled with iridescent light and energy. This would be for Kelly.
"You don't expect this wee amount of grace to change the outcome for the dear woman, do you?" Rowena was clearly not wishing for any of Amber's grace to be diverted from her own use. Sam expected this and simply ignored the witch's response.
From the interior of the house, Dean was watching the figures of the witch and Amber. Jody was carrying the bassinet in for Kelly as the heavily-pregnant woman waddled slowly around the small living room, hand on her belly, tilting slightly with each step.
"Bedrooms are upstairs," Dean said, eyes never leaving Rowena and Amber. "Maybe it would be a good idea to go and settle into one. We don't really know how fast this thing is going to happen."
Kelly didn't need him to look at her to understand he was addressing her. The contractions were still tolerable so she doubted they were in too much of a hurry, but she wanted some privacy for her own purposes.
Turning to Jody, Kelly asked, "Can you get this upstairs please? I need it with me." Jody nodded and continued upstairs with the bassinet in her arms.
"Sure thing. Alex, honey, help Kelly up the stairs please."
"I can climb a flight of stairs," Kelly said dismissively.
Alex, experienced in talking stubborn patients into following doctors' orders, approached her with a reassuring smile.
"I'm sure you can. But sometimes an intense contraction can come out of the blue and you don't want to be climbing stairs when that happens. I won't touch you if you don't want me to, just let me walk right next to you so that I can help if needed."
Claire listened to Alex talking and watched how she didn't even wait for Kelly's answer, but simply and discreetly herded the pregnant woman towards the stairs, walking right next to her. She marveled at her patience and thought Jody was wise to choose Alex for that task.
"I'm gonna check out the rest of the house, start drawing Amber's sigils inside to buy us time. They'll only have to do the blood thing once they're done with the outside," she told Dean.
"Good thinking. Pay attention to your drawing. Remember…"
"...Even a tiny line being off can make the sigil useless," with an eye roll, Claire completed the phrase she'd heard a million times. She didn't like working with magic, but she knew in this case it was a necessary evil and she would do a fine job drawing these sigils when she wanted to. Dean, merely nodded his head, acknowledging Claire's attention to this important detail.
Jumping into action, Claire started drawing the sigils on every wall, the floors, in front of windows, at door entrances and the ceiling.
Dean, got out the large containers of salt they'd brought and started salting the doorways and window ledges, hoping it wouldn't come to these salt lines being the only thing between demons and them. It sure as hell wouldn't do anything to keep Lucifer out, he knew that much. As soon as he was done, he headed upstairs to salt a circle around whatever bed Kelly chose to lay on for the birthing.
Knocking on the door he found slightly ajar, he found Kelly rocking in place, leg to leg, with her eyes closed, hands caressing her stomach. Her belly looked considerably larger than it did this morning.
"Can I come in for a minute?" He asked, not sure if he should talk to her or not.
"I actually wanted some privacy for a few minutes, Dean."
"I need just a few seconds. I'll circle the bed with salt and be out of your hair."
"Fine," Kelly said, voice tight, breathing in deeply as the contraction radiated from her lower back all the way up to her stomach. She watched Dean work fast and leave with a nod. Contraction over, she went to the door and closed it before heading back to the bed. Beside her, on the bed, was the bassinet Jody had brought up. Kelly reached inside and took out the tripod and camera she'd asked to borrow from Sam, moving as quickly as her belly would allow, she set it up at the front of the bed. Pressing the button on the small device she watched for the blinking light that indicated it was recording.
Kelly took a few steps backwards until she felt the bed against her calves. Lowering herself down slowly she stared into the lens, a hand stroking her belly.
As a deep rumble of thunder reverberated through the house, she spoke quietly into the camera.
"Hello, Jack."
꧁ W ꧂꧁ T ꧂꧁ W ꧂꧁ T ꧂꧁ A ꧂
He had the house in view and it radiated such power.
If he hadn't been able to track Amber every time they'd stopped at a mini mart or gas station he'd have no way of knowing where they were going. Kyle had also sensed Kelly and this powerful nephilim growing within her.
Just like the very first time he'd schemed about how to meet the Winchesters, as he was lurking up on Jody's roof, he waited.
꧁ W ꧂꧁ T ꧂꧁ W ꧂꧁ T ꧂꧁ A ꧂
We are nearly at the end of our story arc. Next episode is the season finale, so to speak. We're tying things up and leaving it open for future one-shots.
Have to keep this story alive!
We are truly in love with this story which came through us. Much as a child comes through its parents, being brought out into the world to live, this story has taken on a life of its own, in some cases instructing us as to how it wished to be told.
Seriously, it did this.
Tell us, which scene in this episode was your favorite? How did it get your attention?
What do you think will happen next? Any guesses?
Why do you think Kyle is lurking around again?
If you are a person with a uterus, have you ever given birth? Does any of this feel real or familiar?
Have any of you ever recorded a video for your future self or your child / children?
Sheet Lightning is a real atmospheric phenomena. Have any of you experienced this? What was that like for you?
Road trips with multiple vehicles can be interesting. Tell us about your experiences caravaning with other people over long distances? How did that go?
Line credit: "Another word for contractions. I learned all about this in my online doula class."
This is the line we mention at the top A/N. This line and the conception of Castiel and his doula class was all Andrew Dabb, writer of season's 12 episode 23. One of our favorite Castiel gems and we couldn't not include it :) Hope you guys enjoyed our tweaking and inclusion of this in the fic's storyline.
We love you all. Leave us a review and we'll love you even more.
~MarionLuth & LauWhisperer