38 weeks
June 12, 1996 was a day that was never going to be forgotten by Angelica and Dean, but mostly Angelica. Dean and Angelica were on the couch watching a movie. Although they were friends, he still for example massaged her feet which he was doing now while she threw popcorn into his mouth to which he caught. Though the movie was on, they weren't really paying attention to it but instead talking and laughing as they kept their ears open for what was happening in the bathroom. For the past few weeks Castiel started getting Braxton hicks contractions so he was currently in the shower dealing with back spasms which he told Angelica about. Neither of them knew that today was the real thing known as labor.
Right now, he was leaning against the shower wall with his hand on the wall making groaning and moaning noises until his stomach tightened to create an impossible amount of pain, catching him off guard causing him to cry out. Angelica and Dean stopped what they were doing and knocked on the door as fast as they could hearing the sound.
It was Angelica's voice he heard first sounding worried. "Are you okay in there?"
"It's nothing. These Braxton hicks contractions just seem to get stronger as the weeks...aaAAHHH...go by."
"That didn't sound like nothing." Dean said next sounding worried as well.
"I'll be out in a second. Can I at least go to the bathroom? Can I get some privacy at least?"
"Sure, man but don't take long."
Instead of using the bathroom he got out the shower where his water broke, and he felt something different down there, so he went to feel it and screamed. He ran out the bathroom in just a towel and began hyperventilation as he shouted in between contractions:
"I HAVE A VAGINA. Oh my god...Uggghh...oh my god, oh my...uhhhhh... this ruins my masculinity..." It wasn't really a vagina but a birth canal under his ball sack but he took it as such.
While Angelica was struggling to keep a straight face, Dean came up to him and shook him. "Get it together. I think this is the real thing. You're having this baby and there's nothing we can do about it now."
"I still have like two to three weeks left. This shouldn't be happening...OW!" he said suddenly bending over his protruding belly.
"Your turn Angel."
Angel came up to him and put her hands on either side of his face as he straightened back up. "Everything will be okay. Most babies are just born early as early as thirty- six weeks. It's their way of telling you they want to meet you early." She then kissed him to which he melted into as she leaned her forehead into his.
"Okay. Thank you," he said after his panic attack passed. "My water broke."
"I'll take care of it." Dean said knowing they needed this moment alone together. With that, he filled a bucket with soapy water and grabbed a mop to do just that.
"We're having a baby. Isn't that exciting?" Angelica asked, trying to get Castiel's mind off the pain.
"I'm having...AHHHHHH...the baby." he said as he doubled over again moaning but she caught him letting him rest his head on her shoulder as he dealt with the pain of the contractions. "Remind me to never put you in this situation, okay?"
"You don't want a mini us running around the house with this one here?" she asked right back with a smile in her voice.
"You mean to tell me you want a baby?"
She shrugged then nodded. "I don't know. Maybe. I just want to feel those little magical kicks to my belly like you did. It's like nothing else. The pain in the end would be worth it bringing a life into this world."
"Okay. We'll work on it soon as the doctor approves of me having...Uggghh... sex again."
"You mean that?" she asked as he nodded because that was the only thing he could do at the moment. She looked toward where Dean was in the bathroom. "You can come back now. His contractions are four minutes apart. Did you run some water in the tub?"
Dean came back to the room and then turned back around. "Right on it." he said before he asked in a panicked voice. "Wait who will deliver it?"
"I was hoping you would since the doctor is too far away and he's pretty close to delivery."
"Holy shit! I've never delivered a baby..." he said beginning to panic as he began pacing and rambling.
She guided Castiel to sit down in a seat nearby and then she went over and held Dean's hands in hers and began speaking to him in hushed tones before speaking in a normal tone that Castiel could hear. "...and I trust that you can bring this baby into the world safely." She then gave him a hug to which he accepted then pulled back. "Now please run the water while I change into a bathing suit. I'll be getting in the tub with him. "
Dean nodded before heading back into the bathroom. While they heard the water running, they had another moment to themselves but that was after she changed quickly.
"Still not going to give me the sex of the baby, are you? You're not going to at least give me a hint?"
He shook his head no, his eyes shut against the pain, plus that was the only thing he could do now as the pain intensified.
"Alright, water's ready! You can come in as soon as you're ready." Dean shouted from the bathroom.
After Angelica helped him into the tub in which he dropped the towel to the floor before then, she put a shirt on him to give him a little modesty. She grabbed a washcloth from the linen closet should she need to wipe his face to cool him down then slid in behind him in the huge tub that could fit at least three people.
Dean got into the tub with only a pair of boxers on and began checking his dilation. Castiel leaned his head back against Angelica and covered his face with his arm suddenly embarrassed. Dean was his friend but also like a brother to him and what he was doing now was all kinds of wrong.
Dean seeing his embarrassment rushed to reassure him as he withdrew his hand. "Hey, don't be embarrassed. What are friends for, huh?"
"They aren't supposed to stick their fingers...oh shit...into my nether regions." Castiel retorted as another contraction overcame him.
"This is something I have to do to check dilation. Plus, I'm pretty sure you'd do the same for me if I were in your same situation." Dean said as he took his other hand and began rubbing his hand over Castiel's thigh comfortingly.
"You're right...I'm sorry."
Angelica smiled at the scene in front of her as she began to rub his contracting belly in soothing circles and massaged his lower back in alternating turns as she kissed the side of his face several times. "You're doing great Cas. We're almost there."
"Oh God I have to push!"
"Now?!" Dean almost shouted.
Before he could answer, he began to feel pressure in the lower part of his pelvis and began pushing with it.
"Whoa hold on Cas. I have to check to see what's going on!" he said as he began to check. "I think you're free to push now."
Before he started pushing again, Angelica reached forward telling Dean to wet the washcloth with cool water and to hand it back to her. She began to cool him down.
"Thank you." he said sounding tired. She nodded as she kissed his temple.
When Dean saw his face scrunch up, he began encouraging him on and Angelica joined in as another contraction came over him.
"KILL ME NOW! Get it out! Please just...AHHHHH...get it OUT!"
"Keep going Cas. You're doing so good. Don't you want to see our baby? Not long now, I promise. You're the strongest person I know." Angelica soothed.
"I love you." Castiel replied panting as he turned his head to Angelica to kiss her briefly.
"Ditto. Now bring our baby into this world!"
"I can't...I r... really can't."
Dean lifted Castiel's chin so he could look into his eyes putting his forehead to his. "Yes you can!" he said before resorting to drastic measures. "Do you want this baby to die? This baby is depending on you. Now push."
Tears were falling down Castiel's face unchecked as his face went white with the pain as he began to scream in earnest as he pushed with all his might as contraction after contraction came and went in what seemed like one behind the other.
"Here it comes. The head's out. A few more pushes and you'll be done." Dean said as he supported the head.
Angelica cried tears of happiness knowing soon she'll be a mommy soon and didn't know what to do with that information quite yet. She would finally have someone she could call hers which seemed unreal especially because that someone came out of a man. She kissed the side of his face before he could push again in happiness.
He gave two more pushes, letting out a guttural low howl, as shoulders came out first followed by the rest of the body.
Dean lifted the baby out of the water who began to wail and move its little limbs around.
"You have a girl." he said handing the baby over to Castiel. "Which one of you lovebirds wants to cut the cord?"
Angelica and Cas looked at one another then at Dean with smiles on their faces as they started talking at the same time but with different statements in agreement with one another. Cas: "You can do the honors!" Angelica: "You can, you delivered her!"
"Are you sure?"
At our nods, he cradled her to his chest and cut the umbilical cord from her stomach as he finally looked up at Cas and asked: "So should I start calling you mommy now?"
He got a hard punch in the arm for that by Castiel and a laugh from Angelica.
"Ow! Just kidding Cas. I can't wait to introduce her to my music."
Angelica began to smile taking in the scene as she counted fingers and toes on the baby as Dean took care of the afterbirth. She loved moments like this, seeing them interact like brothers. It seemed they got closer toward the end of the pregnancy and that warmed her heart.
"You did it Cas. Our baby is here! She looks just like you in your baby pictures." she said leaning closer to get a better look as she kissed the baby's forehead before touching her fingers for the first time. "Have you decided on a name?"
"She does, doesn't she?" he said studying the baby's features. "I'll name her Elizabeth. Elizabeth Dean Novak. Lizzy for short."
"Oh Cas, you didn't have to do that." Dean said tearing up as he quickly got out the tub looking at the clock in the bathroom as he went to grab a blanket and a scale balance to weigh the baby out of the other room so he could let his tears fall.
"Well, you did deliver her." Castiel shouted loud enough for Dean to hear from the other room.
"I can't believe she's here." Angelica said unable now to stop touching the baby. It was surreal that it was here, real, alive and healthy after feeling as though she only existed in abstract hidden under Castiel's clothes as a bump. After Angelica heard the very first heartbeat of the baby, she knew that this was reality. She didn't anymore exist in abstract but was actually going to be an actual living human being though she didn't know it was going to become hers to play a major role in its life because she was still with Dean at the time.
Suddenly the doorbell rang, and Angelica got out the tub to answer the door after she wrapped a towel around herself only to discover it was her parents and Castiel's doctor. Castiel got out the tub, draining the water from the tub, as he began wrapping the towel around his waist as he went into their room they shared together to change giving the baby to Dean to wrap in a blanket. The room Angelica and him decorated was originally his room but they turned it into a Winnie the Pooh themed nursery.
In it was one of the best sayings both Castiel and Angelica grew up on painted using word letter frames as well as the cartoon too. It read 'you're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think', a quote by Christopher Robins above the crib. Inside the nursery there's also short curtains with Tigger and Pooh on them. Hand painted characters from the show were on some of the walls and there were baby books within the room on shelves. Many other things were found in that room but the final touch was the baby's name outside the door which Castiel put up while Angelica talked to her parents before heading into their room.
"What did we miss honeybee?" said Julian, her father.
"Oh, just the birth of your granddaughter." she said as she turned around away from all three of them. "Follow me."
"Oh my. I have a granddaughter. Where is she? Show me!" Leia, her mother said as she began weeping tears of joy.
The doctor came up behind her parents and began talking. "Dean texted me and told me it was time so since I didn't know a faster way to get here, I called your parents and told them that it was time for their grandchild to be born and they gave me directions on how to get here faster from where I was."
"I'm sorry we couldn't get here sooner. We were out for date night then we..." her mother started saying before Angelica told her to stop, she didn't need to hear that as they all began following her.
They entered the room where Castiel was sitting on the bed, back on the headboard in the middle of the bed looking tired with a smile on his face, as he looked up from the baby to them as they walked into the room. Angelica immediately set to the side of him kissing him briefly before gently taking the baby from him, that was now in a cute onesie with the words 'Best of Mommy and Daddy', and began getting up to show her parents. It was the last onesie left at the baby store and Angelica couldn't resist buying it.
"Mom, Dad meet Elizabeth Dean Novak. Lizzy for short"
After her parents gushed over her and held her for the first time, she handed it over to Dr. Watson so he could check her over.
"Angelica, guess what? I'm a full man now."
He got a laugh from both Angelica and her mother, and they didn't know why it made them laugh but it did and a statement from her father.
"That makes me one lucky man. I had a c-section when I had her." he said as he got out his phone and pulled up the camera on it while her mother got out her own camera she always carried as the doctor placed the baby in Castiel's arms as Angelica set next to him giving the baby her finger to which she held tightly.
"We need a picture of you two to document this moment." Leia said holding up her camera as Julian got his phone ready for when it was his turn. The first picture was of Castiel holding the baby as Angelica kissed him and they took several other poses in which they asked her parents to send them the pictures. They were the best pictures ever next to that of the many sonagram pictures they kept but those pictures didn't compare to seeing the real thing.
Their family was complete and that's all that mattered. Although the baby wasn't really hers, blood didn't matter and it wasn't what made a family either, and she wouldn't change a thing not for the world for what she had now. To her it was a dream come true and it was if you really think about it.
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update this story for those of you following it. I have no excuse but that some of the scenes I wanted to be a little bit if at all perfect. I know I skipped ahead a little too much but I didn't want you reading filler chapters when you don't need to. Please give me your thoughts on this chapter. I wasn't going to go this route but I wanted to have Castiel go through some real pain. Review, favorite, or follow! Bonus anyone who can guess the funny lines and point them out in the reviews!