Over the next weeks they gradually fell into a new routine.
Sam had awoken late that first morning; surprised that he had slept in for so long and with his brain feeling almost foggy from too much sleep after so many months of hardly any.
He had stumbled into the kitchen unable to stifle his yawns…
"Tough night?" Jody chuckled from where she sat at the table enjoying a mug-full of steaming hot coffee and looking at her tablet.
"Hh-hum." Sam couldn't help but yawn again. "Where is everyone? Any sign of Dean yet?" as he also helped himself to some of the beverage.
The brunette snorted. "He's been up for hours! He decided that he didn't like the way we'd stocked the cupboards yesterday after all, so I caught him rearranging everything this morning!"
"He what?!" The young man stared. "He's supposed to be resting!"
"Relax," Jody grinned. "Castiel was helping him: between them they've wiped down just about every surface in here! It's called 'nesting', boy. He's come home, and he just wants everything right, that's all."
Her smile was infectious: Sam calmed down just seeing it. He laughed and sat across from her. "I remember just after we'd found this place and moved in…
Dean was so excited. I didn't get it then. I suppose I'd had four or so years at College and I still had hopes of somehow living… a normal life.
In a normal house with a 'white picket fence' as he would say…
I didn't get how much it meant to him. Actually having a room of his very own. Coming back to the same walls beneath the same roof, knowing that he could leave something and it would still be there exactly where he left it…"
Sam smiled at the memories: "it was then he began to cook properly and I realised just how bloody good he is! He should have been a chef, never mind a mechanic!
And when I took the mickey out of him, that's exactly what he used to say… that he was nesting! I remember him getting so upset that I didn't feel the same way about this place as he did: that I only thought of it as a workplace and not a home…
He sighed.
"I just didn't understand…"
"You do now, boy!" Jody told him. "And the way you've been determined to find him and bring him back here, you think of this place as 'home' as well now!"
"He's my home." The man spoke without thinking… but even if he had, he would have said exactly the same thing.
The sheriff met his eyes and nodded... then changed the subject… sort of. "I'm still amazed at the inside of this place, Sam. It's… wow! But for a child…"
"I know," he agreed. "I was thinking about that last night…. If we need to, then we'll take you up on your offer please. But for now, he seems happy to be home. Where is he, anyway? He better be resting now!"
Jody laughed again. "Hardly! He was worried about the way Claire's engine was sounding so they're in the garage… which is also incredible by the way… and I want a go in your shooting range before I leave…"
She was talking to herself…
Sam had already gone.
"What the hell are you doing?" he all but exploded as he caught up to where his brother, the angel and the beautiful young blonde were all standing around the open hood of the van. "I told you not to work on it! I told you I'd do it!"
"Don't get your panties in the proverbial twist, Princess!" Sam might have completely missed Dean these last few months but just at that exact moment he couldn't actually remember why. "Cas and Claire have done the heavy stuff: all I've done is tell them what to do!"
At least that made Sam pause. "Seriously?"
"He has not touched the engine, Sam." Castiel's tone was as calm and steady as always. "Claire is leaving this afternoon and he was worried that the van would fail her…"
"You're going? Already!?" The young man had all but forgotten why he had rushed to the garage. "I thought… well, I hoped…
You're welcome to stay. As long as you want. You can use this as a base if you'd like…"
"What my Sammy is trying to say," Dean laughed. Sam thought it was a wonderful sound. "What he's trying so inarticulately to say, is that you're family. And you're welcome to call this place home."
"I'd like that," Claire smiled. "But right now I have to go. And you!" This was said with a sweep of her hands at all the three men. "Y'all need to… there's probably still a few things to sort out, let's say, and it'll be better if there's no one else around…
But I'll be right at the other end of a phone if you need me. And you can call anytime, I mean that." This last was addressed to the one of them who was pregnant.
And he, to his chagrin, had to hastily wipe at his eyes with his sleeve: "Goddamn hormones!"
Claire laughed as she was suddenly caught in a huge embrace, and she could feel Dean trembling slightly as he tried to contain the strength of his sentiment… "Idgit!" she whispered as she tightened her own arms around his neck in return and felt the man chuckle against her.
"I wish he was here," Dean confided right into her ear. "I miss him so much: he always knew what to do…"
"Jodie told me all about him," Claire breathed back. "She said he was always so proud of you. Loved you like the son he never had…"
That was it. The mummy-daddy to be had to hastily pull away, averting his eyes to the ground to avoid meeting anyone else's in the vast open space as he abruptly walked out of sight behind the van. "Sorry, I'll be right back!"
"Dean?"
Sam was already moving to follow, concerned at what could have suddenly caused his brother to seem so upset, but the beautiful blonde caught at his arm: "Just give him a minute. Cas, is it all done now?"
"It is indeed, Claire." The angel had also been looking with some concern in the direction that his friend had so hurriedly disappeared to but he turned readily enough back to the young woman: "That was a lovely thing you said to him: it obviously means the world…"
"I only told the truth," but her eyes were glistening, despite her brief annoyance at the angel's intentional eavesdropping via his inhuman hearing. Sam stood and stared at them both with growing impatience, waiting for an explanation.
But then he was turning to greet his brother as he heard him returning. Dean's eyes were red-rimmed and he was somewhat noisily blowing his nose: "Sorry about that! Must have rubbed some grease into my eye…"
His words were brought up short by the simple expedient of suddenly finding his face pressed against the solid chest of his younger brother and two long strong arms wrapped around his body and back, pulling him in. "You okay?" Sam softly asked.
Dean tried to pull away. His annoyingly taller and larger little brother held tight… and grinned as he felt the older man concede their small battle with a somewhat grumpy sounding sigh: "I'm fine. Now gerroff!"
But he didn't move away as Sam released his hold only enough to instead stand with one arm curled around his brother's waist as they both turned back to the others: the younger man simply reluctant to not be close to the other man now he had finally found him, and Dean… well…
… he seemed to appreciate that.
"Start her up a minute, Claire. Let me hear how she's running now!"
"Since when did my van become a she…?" The blonde grumbled good-naturedly even as she climbed into the driver's seat to obey: her smile becoming a wide grin as the tone of the engine now sounded much smoother even to her untrained ear. "That's brilliant! Thanks Dean!"
"Least I can do, Claire. Thanks for…. well, you know… helping this big lug look for me… I…"
"Nothing more to say." She shrugged at him. "We'd never have stopped. Not a single one of us."
Then they were all grinning as Dean blushed from the tips of his ears to as far beneath the collar of his loose-fitting shirt as could be seen, and Sam couldn't help but give him another hug. "C'mon. I'm hungry. Claire, you going to grab something to eat before you go?"
"Always got time for food, Uncle Sammy!" The girl teased him, and it was the younger brother's turn to go bright red in the face.
Both the brothers had been sorry when the young woman and Jody had made their excuses soon after the meal and left.
But at the same time…
… it was a toss up as to which of them gave the loudest sigh of relief.
From then on Sam had just about split his time in three. Mornings were spent doing groceries runs, fetching items ordered online by his brother, or studying local advertisements for actual paid work to try and make the brothers at least a little respectable for if they wanted to be part of normal society in the future.
Evenings were spent sitting with Dean and watching DVDs or actually, to Sam's amazement, just talking with his brother about… lots of things.
While the afternoons, which was when the pregnant man often did seem to now need a rest, were spent by Sam on his laptop, looking up news stories and legends for possible hunts as had been his habit for years. The only difference was that now he passed them over to other Hunters, much to his brother's anxiety: "What if they can't handle them? What if they need back up?"
"Then they get back up from someone else. My place is right here with you: I'm not going anywhere, Dean. Really."
And every time the older man would bite at his lower lip with a mixture of nervous anxiety and relief that he was desperate not to admit to.
But Sam knew it anyway.
He was grateful that Dean seemed to have accepted that his own Hunting days were probably over.
Not only was the older man's somewhat eye-catching and definitely abnormal shape making him reluctant to risk leaving the safety of the Bunker at all until the baby was born, but also Dean had determined to himself that his daughter would have one permanent and preferably alive parent to count on: at least until the goddess had finally revealed her plans for him and hopefully, his mate.
The fact that he was getting increasingly fatigued with every extra pound gained also helped.
"Let me get that."
"I'm fine, Sammy."
"Go and sit down and put your feet up. Just tell us what needs doing."
And Dean would…
… Eventually.
Although quite a few times both Sam and Castiel would have to bite their own lips hard not to get infuriated with him first.
Between the three of them, the main areas of the Bunker had been cleaned and sanitised to within an inch of their lives… the rooms and the men… well, Sam's and Castiel's lives, anyway: the pregnant man having been designated despite his protests to watch only and not assist...
Dean had had a good look at the rooms either side to his bedroom and eventually decided on the one that would be his daughter's once she was old enough to sleep on her own. His younger brother and the angel had spent an entire afternoon and evening clearing all the Men of Letter's sealed crates and boxes out of it: no mean feat when every single one had to be checked carefully in case it contained a cursed or other dangerous item.
Castiel had been sent off to pick up some low odour paint that Dean had ordered online from the nearest hardware store. Sam had been surprised when it hadn't been the pastel pinks that he had suggested but instead had mostly consisted of boring browns and greens. Lots of them!
He had got quite snippy about it: "What do you want these for? It's going to look terrible!" Then he had regretted his words as Dean's eyes had filled with tears and the older man had retired to his own room for the rest of the day.
How Sam had wished he could follow him and just hold his brother tight…
To hell with it: it had taken him until the evening to build up the nerve but he had done just that. "I'm sorry."
"S'okay." Dean had snuffled into the material of the shirt covering the younger man's chest.
"It's not. We'll decorate it exactly as you want it: you just tell us and we'll do it…"
"S'okay." His brother had sniffed again.
The very next day he had asked Sam and Cas if they wouldn't mind helping him clear out the other room instead.
Sam sighed as he stood and looked around: that had been three weeks ago and the second choice room had still not been painted, although he had offered numerous times. He had even opened one of the tins of yucky reddish brown paint to start it as a surprise, although it had been him who had been taken aback when he had found it more than half empty. "Dean, you imbecile: you got sold a dud!"
He had gone to look for his brother. Dean had been worrying him by seeming to be extra tired since… well, since Sam had upset him about the paint… and had actually started listening to their advice about having an afternoon nap most days without arguing.
Which really worried Sam!
But the mystery of the missing paint had been forgotten instantly upon finding the older man in his room and once again in tears. "What's the matter?"
"I can't fit into any of my pants!"
Sam smiled as he remembered: it had been one the few times that Dean had actually let himself be held without getting anxious about it. He understood that the older man was still a little worried about being close… too close… to him and Castiel after… well, after what they had gotten up to with the other Dean…
But.
His brother might not want to face it, but he had changed. Not only physically, but emotionally.
In fact… Dean had gotten… actually… really touchy...
He just hadn't realised that he had.
If they were sitting together watching the TV, Dean would rest his hand on his brother's arm without being aware that he was doing it… And since he had started to seem so tired all the time, Sam had taken to steadying the older man as he walked around just in case he slipped.
Just a gentle hand against the small of his back…
… which Dean would lean back against …
… in fact he would move closer to Sam… or Castiel, if it were the angel providing the support… seeking the touch… yearning for the physical contact when he wasn't thinking about what he was doing…
… until all of a sudden he would realise and then he would get flustered and pointedly pull away and bite poutingly at his lower lip and look…
…adorable…
… but sad.
Sam hated it when Dean looked sad.
Which is why he took every chance to hold him, as did Cas, because the older Winchester, whether he understood why or not, needed that proximity to another living, warm being…
And if his younger brother and the angel also got some modest pleasure from it then they would take it, no matter how small.
So over the last few weeks they had fallen into a routine, all three of them. One of as near domestic bliss as each brother had given up thinking that they would ever be able to have…
Everything was perfect…
… Well, apart from the still undecorated room…
Sam once again found himself standing in it, looking around at the still bare concrete walls of the imminent nursery to be with some anxiety. He sighed and called out to his brother: "Dean? Are you up for some painting? We'll do it. Just come and tell us how you're wanting it to be: I'm sorry I upset you….
Dean?"
He started to panic when he couldn't find his brother anywhere at all. "Cas? Cas? Have you seen Dean?"
"He said he needed some air, Sam." The deep calm voice did nothing to ease the young man's anxiety.
"He's… he's outside? He's gone outside the Bunker? I… How…? What were you thinking, letting him go?" Sam all but erupted, hurrying back up to the main area and the curved set of steps that led to the external world and reaching for his cell as he did.
"Come on, come on: answer your fucking phone…" His long legs had already taken him through the doorway, banging the heavy metal door open with a loud clang as Sam's memory… of rushing outside a few months before in a frantic and fruitless search for his brother… overcame his logic…
… which would have reminded him had he just paused to think for a moment that the Dean who had fled that first time had been at the peak of his fitness, and not nearly full-term pregnant!
Sam came nearly to a dead stop outside upon the realisation that, just like that night, it had gone dark outside. Shit, he must have really lost track of time: he had been reading through one of Benjamin's books of legends about the Pawnees and their superstitions, which was actually really interesting. The last time he had seen Dean was when he had gone to have an afternoon nap… that must have finished ages ago, and they should all be having dinner together by now and…
He was panicking.
Time seemed to stand still…
Last time his brother had just disappeared into seemingly thin air and Sam just hadn't been able to find him… not for months…
What if he couldn't find him this time…?
What if…
"Hey, what's up?" His brother's deep gravelly voice cut through his stupefaction as the call connected. "Sammy? You okay?"
"Yes! Yes…. Where are you?" The young man felt that his mouth had lost every last molecule of moisture… he could hardly speak…
"I just got a little antsy, being inside all the time. And I didn't realise that…"
"That…?"
He heard his older brother heave a big deep sigh down the line: "I'm up the path on the ridge above the Bunker. C'mon join me." There was a click as the call was hung up.
"Sam? Is he alright? I'm sorry, I just didn't think…" The angel had followed right behind him out of the Bunker door and was standing just as helplessly as the young man had felt.
"Not now, Cas!" Sam didn't pause to say anymore: he was already racing up the road towards the small track that led up the hill above them, hardly aware of the running footsteps that were instantly behind him.
They sprinted up the path towards the summit… only to slide to a halt on the dirt.
Sam hadn't registered the night fully as he had run out of the Bunker. Yes, the evening had drawn into night without the young man noticing, but actually, now the clouds were shifting once more, they were revealing a stunningly beautiful full moon that was lightening the entire area around to be almost as bright as the day.
It was lighting Dean fully in its glow.
He was sitting on the brow of the hill, leaning comfortably back on his elbows with his legs stretched in front of him, as relaxed as Sam had seen his brother in years. Somehow the radiance from the moon seemed to be focusing on him and him alone, and Dean was unconsciously luxuriating in it just as a bikini-clad woman on a beach would worship the sun.
Sam swept to his knees beside him and flung his arms around the older man, hauling him up into a more seated position. "You okay? I was worried!"
"Sorry," Dean grunted. "I just couldn't settle to anything inside today. Couldn't even unwind enough to sleep earlier! Just felt… I felt that I had to be outside.
And then when I came out… I looked up and there she was…" He indicated the brilliantly shining orb above them.
Sam adjusted his position to sit beside his brother on the ground: feeling safe enough that moment to put his arm around Dean's shoulders and hug him tight.
Castiel joined them to also sit on his friend's other side and reached to cover Dean's hand with his own, smiling when the man allowed him without thinking, and indeed squeezed his fingers back a little. "Is she talking to you? Can you hear her?"
Dean shook his head: "Not in so many words. But she was calling. I know you two don't believe me. But…"
"But?" His younger brother prompted.
Dean bit his lip. "Everything's going to be okay, Sammy. Don't ask me how or why I know, but I do. She's got this whole thing covered…"
Sam wanted to argue. He wanted to tell Dean how insane he sounded, and how he had been brain-washed somehow by something evil that couldn't possibly be a fucking Goddess…
… but he didn't.
Because he was sitting with his brother close enough to count as being in his arms, and Dean was nearing the approximate date of giving birth (as far as they and Benjamin had been able to guess), and for once his brother was calm and contented and not full of nerves, and not feeling nauseous which was still a major worry to the younger man, and whatever was causing that to happen… or not to happen as the case might be… was okay.
Sam would take it.
His brother actually looked better rested the next day than any since he had found him again. "You sleep well?"
"Yeah, yes I did." Dean's eyes actually sparkled a little as he smiled. "Right through for a change. I didn't even need to get up to piss!"
"God, you've really always got to spoil things, haven't you?" Sam scolded in disgust. "You couldn't just leave that last bit off!"
"It's all part of a big brother's job!" Dean smirked at him. "Gotta upset you daily otherwise you'd get complacent!"
The younger man tutted, but internally he was laughing along. And he had to admit that the moon had been absolutely stunning the previous evening: Sam couldn't ever remember seeing it so beautiful… or so large.
Why did it seem to look so large?
But it didn't matter. Because just at that particular moment beneath that unnaturally large moon, Sam had been completely content to sit on the grassy bank with his arm tight around an uncomplaining Dean, with Castiel sitting equally close the other side of his brother with his hand now holding the pregnant man's tightly and resting on his bump…
Sam would have been completely content to live in that particular moment for the entire rest of his life…
He would give his life for Dean. And Castiel would. And for the baby of course…
Sam and the angel would stand between Dean, his little girl, and the whole fucking universe if they had to.
They went for a walk outside the Bunker every evening for the few days that the moon was full, and even Sam had to admit that it was having a major effect on his brother.
And definitely in a good way.
For the first time since he had been brought back to the Bunker, Dean seemed to have let himself relax. He was actually managing to get some decent sleep and most importantly, his incessant nausea finally seemed to have eased. He was managing to enjoy his food again… although Sam had his brother on the strict nutritional diet that Benjamin had devised... and despite the older man's grumbles about too much rabbit food and not enough pie, he was starting to look healthier and with more colour in his face than he had for a long time.
And because Sam (and Castiel, although the angel didn't really need to!) were eating the same as Dean… well, even the young man had to admit that the elderly native Pawnee's regime was doing a lot of good. For him as well as his brother.
Although when he went grocery shopping, Sam did occasionally take time out to sneak away and have a crafty burger. Just the thought of red meat was what seemed to turn Dean's stomach the most, and the older man had already declared, quite seriously to Sam's surprise, that he would probably never be able to eat it again…
Which declaration had probably shaken the younger man more than anything else… possibly even more than his big brother somehow having a baby… that not only had Dean been somehow altered by being abducted to that other dimension...
… but that the change itself was going to prove to be irreversible.
Even as Sam chomped down on his latest sly bacon cheeseburger, he was seething: no matter how long it took him, he was going to kill that Goddess bitch for doing this to his Dean.
He wasn't going to let her get away with it, no matter what he had to do. He was going to find her and end her.
But he had to do it somehow without upsetting his brother.
The days passed… and the estimated due date of the birth got closer…
"What's going on?" Dean had heard the agitation in Sam's voice as he approached the kitchen: the younger man was striding around, talking animatedly into his cell. "Is it Jody? Claire?"
Sam momentarily paused from the call and ran his hand through his long hair: "Charlie."
"Charlie? What's going on? Is she okay?" The older man was instantly as vexed as his brother.
"You need to sit down! You're only days away from giving birth!"
"He's what?!" The screech down the line was heard even by the angel as he came down the corridor. Dean paled even as he rested his now considerable weight on the chair and stared at the younger man with wide eyes.
"We'll talk about that later!" Sam hastily turned his back on his brother and hissed down into the cell. "Not one word, Charlie! I mean it! Just keep telling me about this Sarangay!"
"What's a Sarangay?" "But they are not native to America." Both Dean and Castiel started to speak at once but it was the latter who carried on talking… "They come from the Philippines: they are a bull-like monster. What would one be doing here?"
"The parents stole its jewel just before they emigrated." Sam explained. "They thought they'd be safe by running away to another continent but it's tracked them down. The father's already been killed: now it's coming after the rest of the family."
"They are in serious trouble." Castiel stated the obvious in his own uniquely unemotional style: "A Sarangay will never give up until they are all dead."
"I know!" Sam's anxiety was now explained. "And Charlie's in the middle of it! She can't handle it on her own…"
"I'm still here, bitch." The redhead's loud voice down the phone gave away her lack of amusement at that comment. "And what the hell's going on with Dean? Did I hear that right: did you just say he's going to give birth…?"
"Not. Now!" Sam shouted as Dean's complexion impossibly went whiter and his green eyes filled with tears. "Charlie, I mean it! Look, I'll get another Hunter to come and help you: it'll need at least two…"
"It'll take more than two." Castiel informed him. "A Sarangay is an extremely formidable beast. She will need my assistance."
"Great! Cas? Will you be able to go and help her?" Sam felt a wave of relief although he was still worried about their friend and the incredibly dangerous monster that she would be facing: in any other circumstance he would have been itching to go himself. "Charlie, text me where you are and wait there. Cas is on his way. Don't you dare try and deal with it on your own…"
"You go as well, Sammy." Dean understood his brother completely. "She'll need your expertise…"
"I'm staying with you!" The younger man's reaction was immediate. "No way am I leaving you alone this close…"
"Sammy." Dean's tone left no room for argument. At all. "It's Charlie. She needs your help. Now git going: you're wasting time…
I'll be fine." As Sam opened his mouth to try and disagree anyway. "Really. Now go."
"You sure…?" The younger man was torn... he loved the red-headed girl like the sister he had never had… but… he would burn himself and the whole world to hell if anything happened to his brother… "What if you go into labour? Shut up, Charlie! No: you need me here…"
"Sammy." Dean reached with his arms to take a tight hold on the younger man's shoulders: they looked into each other's eyes momentarily… "It's Charlie. You need to help her…
… Now go!"
Sam stared down at the older man's sternly set jaw and saw, (with a tremendous relief that he didn't want to admit to), that there would be no further discussion. Finally he nodded: "Okay. But you're to check in with me every hour, I mean it! If you miss just one I'm straight back! Charlie, text me the address: Cas and I are on our way…
…. Let's get this over with as fast as we can."
"I could fly you, Sam." Castiel offered.
But the young man shook his head "We're gonna need a ton of stuff from the Impala… and if you wouldn't mind driving, I've got a few books in mind to bring and start looking through on the way. I don't want to have to waste a single minute once we're there…
… And you!" This was addressed to Dean. "I mean it! The slightest twinge… any little thing and I'm right back here!"
"Okay, bitch."
"Shut up, jerk!" And Sam was hurrying to fetch the books he wanted… "And don't you dare try and paint that room on your own!"
Dean watched the Bunker door shut behind them… and gave a massive sigh of relief. He loved his brother and his angel… he really loved them both… but they were getting just so… suffocating.
He walked… waddled, shit: he was definitely waddling… back to the kitchen and ran himself a glass of water. God, he missed whisky...
But he had to admit he was grateful that Sam had insisted on joining him in abstinence and instead had poured every single bottle of it away… which was a really, really thoughtful thing to do that Dean had appreciated very much, especially as even the thought of the smell of strong liquor had been making him want to vomit earlier in the pregnancy…
In fact, his brother had been amazing about everything. And Castiel had.
But now… if Dean dropped anything on the floor, it had been picked up for him before he could even get his body low enough to get close to try and get it himself, which was great of them but he wasn't incapable…
And if he rubbed at his back… which always seemed to be aching lately… then both of the others would be immediately fussing around him, wanting him to sit down and rest, or offering to call Benjamin…
And once he was sat down, then one or the other of them would offer to rub his feet and ankles… which did seem to be permanently swollen lately… or fetch him what he needed so he didn't have to try and get up again which Dean had to admit was becoming a major struggle for him lately, but that wasn't the point…
It was demeaning.
It was embarrassing.
And Dean just kept feeling like bursting into tears because of how good it all felt, and how he wasn't alone like he thought he was going to be and how no matter what had happened, Sam and Castiel had just accepted him and what he was now and what was going to happen imminently, and they both wanted to be really involved, and neither of them had touched him at all inappropriately although they both always instinctively seemed to know when he needed a hug and he always seemed to be needing a hug lately and…
Dean drank his water and wiped his eyes… Shit, he really missed them both already.
And he was worried about Charlie: he had no idea what the fuck a Sarangay was but it sounded nasty. He wished he could have gone himself to help her… although she would really have been freaked to see him looking so fat…
… Would she ever want to see him again?
What if she thought he was the freak?
What if she wanted to hunt him down like the monster he was…?
Dean wiped away his next lot of tears and shook his head at himself. He was being ridiculous: his Sammy wouldn't let anyone hurt him. Not even Charlie.
With a sigh he refilled his glass of water and headed for the bedroom he had picked out for his daughter: he had some painting to finish!
Dean was just rinsing out the brushes when he heard the main Bunker door clang shut. Instantly he was on alert: "Sammy? Are you done already? Sam?
Carefully he crept back to the main area, gun (that his brother would have had a fit about had he realised that Dean still carried it everywhere) in hand. Slowly he rounded (while wincing at his own pun) the corner…
"Hey Dean!" Claire had already reached the base of the stairs and was coming to greet him with a large embrace. "Sorry it took me so long to get here. I was a bit… busy with a vamp when Sam left the message asking if I wouldn't mind checking in on you…"
"I… He… Of course he did!" Dean couldn't help but tear up yet again, but this time from the knowledge that he would always be his brother's first thought no matter what.
"Hey!" And the blonde's arms were tight around him. "Aw, Sam said you were struggling a little now the end's nearly in sight. But you're looking good…."
"I'm so fat!" the man wailed.
"You're beautiful." She whispered into his ear. "This is all so new: you've got no one to ask for advice as you're the very, very first but you've done so well. It's going to be okay…
You and that little girl are going to be just perfect."
That did it. Claire made sure to keep her arm tight around Dean as he snottily snuffled his way back to the kitchen and helped him to carefully sit down before setting the water to boil for some ginger tea.
"Feeling better?" She asked as they both sipped a soothing mug full of the steaming drink.
"Sorry for being such a wuss."
"You're forgiven… daddy!" And she grinned at him. "Now. What the hell were you doing with those brushes? Sam is going to kill me!"
The next day or so seemed to fly by: if Dean wasn't laughing with the beautiful young blonde then they were having deep conversations about life, babies, cooking and all the different colours of paint that they were using.
Sam was relieved to hear how happy his brother was sounding every time he called, but the Sarangay had proved far more formidable and taken longer than he had hoped it would to take down, and he had to admit… every single bit of him fucking ached. Perhaps he should admit that he was getting older and retire with his brother…
Although, even Castiel said he now hurt all over.
But at least Dean was okay. Sam determined to himself that he was going to buy Claire something really nice for taking care of his brother when he got back… like a new revolver or a machete…
"So if it's okay, I'll be home tomorrow. I could start driving now but… I'll be honest, Dean, I'm absolutely shattered. I just want to get my head down for a few hours then I'll head straight back, I promise…"
"That's fine… I'm fine. Do what you gotta to be safe, Sammy. I'll see you when you get here…"
"If you need me sooner, just call. Anything at all. I'll be there, Dean."
"As long as you're all safe…. Erm…. What did you tell Charlie about me, Sammy?"
Sam bit his lip: "I told her the truth, Dean. And believe me, she wanted to forget all about the Sarangay and just come and see you. I won't be surprised if she tries to follow me back to the Bunker tomorrow…"
"She really okay…?"
Sam smiled down the phone at the uncertainty in his brother's voice: "You kidding? She's gone out and bought a baby-Batman romper suit! Shit: I wasn't supposed to tell you that! Act surprised when she gives it to you! But it is really, really cute…
See you tomorrow, big brother." Sam disconnected the call.
"Dean?" Claire had been talking anxiously on her own cell at the same time. "That was my friend. Things are moving around her apartment on their own: she's pretty freaked out about it. How soon will Sam be back?"
"You get on." The response was instant. "They'll be on their way soon. I'll be fine."
"You sure?"
"I can manage one night on my own!" Then Dean was reconsidering his indignation. "Sorry. You've been great! I really… thanks for being here, Claire. I mean it. But if your friend needs you, then you have to go and help her.
Sam and Cas will be back sometime tomorrow anyway…"
"Okay, baby mama: just as long as you'll be okay. I'll go and get my stuff. Oh, and Dean?" as the blonde started to turn away. "That lucky little girl is going to just love her room!"
Dean swore as he awoke ridiculously early the next morning: that 'lucky little girl' was playing yet another fucking tune on his fucking bladder! Boy, he couldn't wait for this to finally be over…
… and yet… he had to admit to himself that he was absolutely terrified as to the next bit!
With a sigh, he went to make himself some herbal tea.
By eight o'clock he was wandering aimlessly around the corridors of the Bunker. He just couldn't settle for some reason: it was an effort to sit down and even more of an effort to get up again, and trying to go back to bed meant lying down which just put the baby on his blimp of a belly and made him want to urinate yet again…
… so he was just roaming… waddling… around the long halls on his own at stupid o'clock in the morning. It already felt like he had walked miles…
Everything was ready.
All that he was waiting for now was… Dean gulped… for him to actually have the baby!
He was just heading back to the nearest bathroom yet again when he became aware of another new ache in his body… in his back to be precise. An ache which turned into a pain that rapidly transmogrified into absolute fucking agony.
It felt that someone had not only stuck a knife into him but was twisting it in the wound. The memory of Mr Manolli and that fucking kitchen knife shot to the forefront of Dean's brain even as he was grasping at the nearest wall for support…
… And then, just as suddenly the pain was gone.
"What the fuck was that?" Dean caught his breath.
And then he shrugged. Just another joy of being pregnant: really, the thrills just kept coming…
He had just walked… waddled… to the bathroom when the pain suddenly hit in the same place again.
And then stopped.
It took Dean the third time of suddenly having to grip hold of the basin tightly and brace himself against the rising pain to realise…
Shit! He had gone into labour.
And he was completely on his own in the Bunker for at least the next few hours.
Sam. He had to call Sammy!
Dean waited for the contraction to pass, tried to steady his rising pani… breathing, steady his breathing… and felt in his pocket for his cell phone.
Only to realise that it wasn't there.
Where had he…? Fuck, he had left it on his bedside table. Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck!
He had to get back to his room to get it.
But even as he turned to try, the next contraction struck. Shit: weren't they meant to start off slow and gradually increase? These fuckers were hitting just about one after the other! Dean held on to the basin and fought to catch his breath.
He had to get hold of Benjamin!
Even as the pain eased he felt the next one already starting. And every time… the pain grew more and more…
It grew so bad that Dean all but felt his knees buckle beneath him. His vision blurred and all he could do was try and gasp his way through until he could finally focus again, only to find himself completely on the floor and as curled into as much of a ball as a pregnant man could get!
And the pressure was already building in his abdomen again…
Tears of frustration as well as pain filled Dean's eyes: he had known that he probably wasn't fully prepared for the actual birth, not that there was any other man in this dimension who had ever been through it that he could actually ask, but this was way beyond anything he could have imagined. He knew he had to get back to his bedroom but all he could think about was the next contraction to come…
With one determined effort, he blindly reached up to the basin again, desperate to try and get back to his feet… or at least to his hands and knees…
It was with genuine relief that he felt warm fur tickle between his outstretched fingers and heard the deep purr of the nahurac: "Hey, baby. God, am I glad to see you! And as beautiful as ever! Oh shit, here comes another!"
The spirit animal stood firm and uncomplaining as Dean's hands tightened into twisted fur-filled fists with the pain…. well, apart from a slight snarl and a flash of the glinting green eyes… "Sorry, baby. Oh fuck, that hurts so much! Can you get Sammy for me?"
The big animal stared at him with the distasteful expression that most cats seem to reserve especially for humans…
"Well, can you at least help me to my room so I can get my cell?" Dean shook his head at himself: "I'm talking to a fucking inter-dimensional , probably not even real, cat! Worse: I'm actually expecting it to answer! I've totally lost it! Oh shit…"
He doubled up again as the next contraction hit. And this time… "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! I think my water's have broken! I need Sammy! I need Benjamin!"
Dean paused despite the pain.
"I need Samuel. Please…
Please can you get me Samuel?"
The nahurac blinked at him disdainfully.
"Oh come on! I get more emotion from my other Baby! And she purrs better than you as well!"
The green eyes sparkled momentarily pale blue but Dean didn't notice: he was busy trying to think (and catch his breath) before the next lot of pain hit. "Okay. First of all, I need to get to my room to get my cell. But I also need to get to Sammy's room to get those new soft towels that he bought ready…"
He struggled to try and get to his feet, gasping a little even as he used the nahurac as a support. Then...
"Ew… Fuck it: first of all I need some clean pants! These are clinging to me! What is this stuff? It feels like it's still pouring out of me!"
"It's omega slick."
Dean started and struggled to try and turn at the sound of someone else in the supposedly empty Bunker… then all but burst into tears at the sight of the elderly Benjamin standing behind him... and unbelievably still wearing his fluffy moccasin slippers."Oh man, am I glad to see you! But how…?"
"Our Lady sent your nahurac to me last night." The grey-haired man smiled. "I knew it meant you must be getting close: I just grabbed my bag and drove. I even forgot my boots!"
He paused as Dean doubled over once more in pain, and moved to rub the pregnant man's back until the contraction had passed. "I was going to suggest we got you to your room, but you're making such a puddle of slick that I don't think you're going to make it…"
"I'm what? Oh shit!" And he was bracing himself against the basin again.
Benjamin busied himself with his bag: "You're slicking! I wondered… I know we have no experience with what you are, but you also told me that omegas were created for breeding! You were saying that, without suppressants, they naturally have extremely large families. So it makes sense that… just as you said you had naturally produced this substance that… well…. makes things easier during the act of sex, that it also helps with the act of birthing…"
"You're saying…" Dean gasped as he managed to catch his breath momentarily: "… you're saying that this… icky stuff… is me?!"
"Natural lubricant, yes." Benjamin was pulling some things out from his bag as he explained. "Literally works both ways! I doubt we're going to need these," as he took out some forceps, "but I'll get the cord clamp ready. And my stethoscope and thermometer… we'll need to get your lower half undressed… "
"We'll what?" Dean had now been forced back down on his knees on the floor, but at least the old man's words had just taken his mind completely off the pain: "Oh no, it's fine. I can manage…"
Benjamin laughed despite himself: "All the stories I've heard over the years about this big bad Hunter and he turns out to be a right weakling."
"What?"
The other man grinned down at him: "You're not the first Hunter I've ever met. And he was so very, very proud of you… you idgit."
Dean snuffled.
"Now get those pants off and get yourself sorted out while I go and find some clean towels. I'll put those ones on the rack there under you for the moment…"
"Sammy's room. Down the hall: third on the right."
Benjamin nodded. "Back in a mo."
There was a momentary pause after the older man left the room: the minutest respite from pain, discomfort and… that slimy-feeling if sweet-smelling stuff that had now soaked completely through Dean's sweatpants and undershorts…
But he could already feel the pressure in his abdomen building again…
Quickly he shoved the offending item of clothes down… or would have had they not been sticking to him… but Dean did at least manage to pull them both out of the way enough before the next lot of pain hit. Once more it took his breath away and it was all he could do to stay on his hands and knees without collapsing completely: "Oh shit, shit, shit!"
The beautiful big cat was there again suddenly, butting against his head and right shoulder with its own, just like its smaller domesticated relatives do to legs when they want attention. Without even thinking the man reached out, wanting to feel the support that was being offered beneath its layer of warm fur…
As the contraction eased only a little before immediately reforming into the worst one yet, Dean felt like crying; felt like screaming; felt that he was so alone and yet definitely did not want anyone coming back into that room to see him like this, so needy and exposed and desperate all at the same time…
The only way to stop himself from yelling and begging and howling was to throw his arms fully around the nahurac and just bury his head into the softness of its coat: his fists tightening with the effort of not giving into the natural urge to weep uncontrollably at the agony and the stretching in his insides and the sheer uncomfortableness of the feeling and the just fucking humiliation of being on the bathroom floor like this, feeling so emotional and vulnerable…
He was not going to cry. Women did this every day. He could do this… once.
Definitely he was only ever going to do this the once.
The cat pressed its head against his… and purred: the sensation going all through Dean's body. And suddenly he felt the urge to… use the toilet. But he couldn't move.
He was in pain, and he felt that he had lost the use of every single one of his limbs and he now needed to go to the fucking toilet…?
And he couldn't stop himself from pushing down there…
"Hell! Even quicker than I expected!" And Benjamin was back in the room with him and also kneeling down behind where Dean was trapped in his own private hell of mental paralysis on the floor and reaching for… "The head's already out! Just one more push'll do it, boy. Don't worry: I've got her!"
"What…?" But his body was already responding to the instruction, and suddenly, with an icky squicky squishing noise, he felt the pain in his abdomen release, followed almost immediately by the sound of…
… the desperate wail of a newly-born infant.
"How…?" Dean felt exhausted: he felt that he had run a marathon. He felt that he had gone twelve rounds with a minotaur. But none of that mattered. "I… she… is she…?"
"She's absolutely beautiful." Benjamin smiled. He was already cleaning the baby girl up ready to wrap in one of the brand new soft clean baby blankets that he had found with the towels. "Try and turn yourself around, and I'll hand her to you. You did good, Dean. She's absolutely beautiful!"
Still three hours or so drive away, Sam and Castiel were speeding in the Impala on their way back to the Bunker.
"Try not to fret, Sam." The angel was saying: "I am sure he will call should he need us."
"That's not the point," the young man was berating himself. "I should have just come back last night. When I woke this morning and saw Claire's text about her having to leave to help her friend…
I should have come home last night even if I slept all day today… What if he's not alright? What if something's happened while he's on his own…?
What if that bitch has taken him again while no one was there with him…? I…!"
His words broke off abruptly as suddenly his whole vision was filled with a flash of bright light blue. Sam braked instinctively and the Impala screeched to a burning-rubber-stink halt in the middle of the road…
No.
Not in the middle of the road.
As Sam and the angel's somewhat now black-spotted vision cleared, they could both see that…
They weren't in Missouri anymore.
They were actually just sitting in the stationery Impala… which somehow was now right outside the Bunker!
"Is that what it feels like when I fly you somewhere?" Castiel asked with interest. "Dean always tells me that his stomach gets very unsettled when I do, and mine definitely is now…"
Sam's was as well. But that didn't matter as his brain finally caught up with his body… "Oh my god… Dean! Dean!"
And he was out of the car and running into the Bunker, almost slipping down the metal stairs in his panic: "Dean! Dean! Are you okay? Where are you?"
"Here," came a voice that Sam momentarily couldn't place… but then as he followed it into one of the bathrooms and recognised the elderly native Pawnee, and saw his brother sitting on the floor leaning against the bathtub, looking pale and exhausted but happy, wearing sloppy stained sweatpants and a large old towel over his lap, surrounded by… Sam was quite happy not to think about what that slippery stuff was all over the floor although it smelt really, really sweet… and holding a soft new baby-blanket-wrapped bundle of something that was wriggling and kicking and… staring up at his brother with huge beautiful green eyes… her tiny nostrils already twitching as she drank in the scent of her daddy…
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Sam was across the room and on his knees beside his brother in the next instant. "You had her! Are you okay? I… Oh my god: she's beautiful!
I should have been here…"
"S'okay, Sammy." Dean chuckled, winced and cried a little all at the same time. "I'm glad you didn't have to see me like… well… I'm just glad, is all.
She had it covered anyway."
"She?" Sam was instantly on edge. And furious with himself: he should have been here with his brother when Dean needed him… he had let the older man down yet again…
"She." And Dean patted something that was resting calmly against his leg: something that Sam couldn't see but, the way that his brother's hand stalled nearly 12 inches above his thigh and his spread fingers seemed to sink into something soft or covered with thick fur…
… and whatever it was… it purred at his brother's touch…
"The nahurac." Castiel had followed him in and now leant over Sam's shoulder to inform him in a loud aside before acclaiming with genuine excitement: "Your child is… incredible, Dean. She has your eyes… and your lips… and your angels' kisses…"
"They're called freckles, Cas."
"And this angel will be her guardian for the rest of his life: I promise you…"
"Thanks, man." And Dean tried not to cry again, as the three of them simply sat on the bathroom floor together and stared at the beautiful brand new little girl…
"Have you got a name yet, Dean?" Benjamin had finished cleaning and packing his equipment away.
Dean chewed at his lip: "Well," he finally said. "As she's… we're… the first of … well, what we are… I thought about Eve… but obviously, that's got bad connotations… given… well… what happened…
But then I thought… Evie. And Marie for mom… I mean, the other Dean already took Mary…
What'cha think?"
"Evie-Marie?" Sam was thrilled to have been included in the decision: "I love it! Evie-Marie Winchester. And I'm sure mom would have been proud…"
Dean blinked: "Well, actually I was thinking of Marie as her middle name but… yeah… yeah, I like the hyphen…"
"Hey, Evie-Marie," Sam had never felt himself to be so large as when he tried to delicately touch the tiny newborn's cheek with his oversize fingers… "Can I hold her…?"
"Sure…"
Benjamin helped the brothers: both being equally as terrified of dropping Evie-Marie as the other. But eventually Sam was sitting with her in his arms… or rather hands… and he was staring down at the baby he was cradling with so much emotion and awe in his face that Dean felt his heart overflow with love for them both…
And oh god, he was so tired and he felt so… yucky. He so desperately wanted a shower or even better, a long soothing bath.
And more importantly: Sammy had promised he would cook him some bacon!
The next couple of days went by in a rush: Sam had never seen so many people in the Bunker. It seemed like Benjamin's entire tribe had come down to greet Evie-Marie and it seemed that the entire building was filled up with their gifts as well as their laughter and excitement, not to mention Jody who had turned up at an unearthly hour the very next morning after the baby was born, desperate to meet her and congratulate Dean…
Even so, all three men… well: one man, one recently pregnant newly turned were-being and one angel… breathed a sigh of relief when they had all finally left again and they had the Bunker to themselves again… plus the baby of course.
And now she… and her daddy… were both sound asleep in Dean's bedroom. Sam had to admit that Evie-Marie had a powerful pair of lungs, although she always instantly calmed down when his brother picked her up: her little nostrils working away and her big green eyes tracking her daddy wherever he went in the room even though she was still only a few days old…
He was standing in her room: the one that Dean had originally wanted his little girl to have when she got old enough to sleep on her own. Sam had heard Castiel and Benjamin moving things around before the elderly man had returned home and had found them carefully arranging Evie-Marie's nursery furniture in there.
Sam had never worked out why his brother had just wanted it to all be in a simple plain wooden style: he himself would have gone for a pastel-pink, or covered in unicorns and rainbows, but no… Dean had just wanted a simple oak wardrobe, dresser and cot… and a rocking chair big enough for an adult man to be able to safely sit in with his growing daughter…
Now the young man understood.
Because it had turned out that Dean had been painting the room himself during the nights with the assistance of Castiel, (which also explained his marked increased exhaustion during the days), and Sam was now just standing in the centre of the room and marvelling…
… at the forest that had been painted all around the walls.
The 'boring' browns and greens had been merged together perfectly to become beautifully painted and realistic trees and leaves, some covered with spring blossom: some with soft fresh buds about to burst, all with grasses and flowering plants of all different colours in between them… and his brother, whom Sam had never realised had so much talent, had painted red squirrels and chipmunks chasing each other around the branches, and there were brightly coloured small birds flying about from tree to tree, and rabbits and voles and beavers and even a cuddly-looking skunk hurrying between the trunks… and a beautiful stag silhouetted in a perfectly placed patch of 'light' that seemed to filter down through into a glade beyond…
And when Sam looked closer, he suddenly realised that there were little people in the mural. There were tiny elf-like beings down beside a beautifully painted copse of trees: the trunks of each of which, as Sam looked closer, had little front doors in. There were rings of vivid scarlet and white spotted toadstools being danced around by parties of glowing little winged men and women.
There were definite fairies wearing flowers for clothes flying amongst and around the blossoms, and a bunch of taller and stouter beings in the background who might have been gnomes or… Sam didn't know what they were but the whole room was just incredible.
A noise from behind him made Sam turn. Dean stood there, with Evie-Marie in his arms: even with being so young she was already seeming to study each and every inch of the wall and take it all in…
Sam couldn't resist going to take her from his still tired looking brother: "Dean, I never realised how much imagination you have! Especially the fairies! I don't even understand what made you think of them, but they look so realistic. If I didn't know better… and if I didn't know that they don't actually exist… I'd say it's almost as if you could see them!"
Dean opened his mouth… thought about what he had been about to say… and shut it again.
"Have you tried feeding her again yet?"
It was a serious question and had become a slight issue between them… although the young man couldn't help from grinning as his brother's face automatically flushed bright red.
Sam had secretly been incredulous as to how well Dean had been dealing with his change and being pregnant… but the moment his nipples had started to leak milk after the arrival of his baby had been the final quirk that nearly completely broke the older man…
The only thing that had stopped him from having a full meltdown had been that his breast size hadn't grown in the same way that a human woman's would have. In fact Dean had lost just about all of his remaining pregnancy weight in only a couple of days and seemingly more besides…
He looked good.
In fact, he looked amazing.
He certainly didn't look like he had just had a baby…
… with the exception of having leaky nipples every time his daughter cried.
"She's fine on formula," Dean mumbled eventually.
"It would be better for her if you tried. Experts say that the natural benefits are tremendous: you'll pass on antibodies and reduce her risk of having allergies…" Sam had read all the books… twice.
His brother sighed: "Son of a bi…"
"Dean! Language!"
Evie-Marie broke the rising tension in the room by beginning to fuss in her uncle's arms… almost as if she knew that he got as anxious about holding her when she was crying, as her daddy did when he was trying to feed her…
… probably even more so…
Dean sighed at his now two-patches-of-damp shirt, but then couldn't resist from smirking at the younger man… who was now looking more and more panicked with every passing second as Evie-Marie's cries turned to full on desperate wails that seemingly meant: 'I'm starving to death here!'
He grinned as he took her back: "C'mon here baby! What's all this ruckus about?"
Sam sighed as the baby's tears ceased almost immediately once back in his brother's arms: even at only a few days old, Evie-Marie was obviously already a complete daddy's girl.
But… he supposed… Dean was also completely smitten, and definitely already wrapped around the little girl's finger. If the amazing scent that had filled the Bunker ever since she had been born was anything to go by…
It had taken Sam a couple of days to realise that the aroma was emanating from his brother and it meant… he was sure it meant… that Dean, at the moment at least, was an incredibly happy omega.
Which made Sam an incredibly happy and content man.
Even if he couldn't be anything more than a brother to Dean and a uncle to Evie-Marie, at least he could enjoy being the baby's close family for as long as this Goddess bitch allowed him to.
And… what the hell, he might as well admit it… he was already totally wrapped around the little girl's finger as well!