"How in the hell did this happen!?" Dean asks again, barely managing to keep his voice relatively close to normal this time. Sam is still looking them up and down with his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide as Adam glares at them both. Michael stands firmly next to him with an arm loosely curled around his waist. "Well, it is not impossible but it was surely unexpected." Castiel provides just to earn himself Dean's murderous look which he bravely returns. Jack is the only one looking happy. The nephilim is smiling at Adam and his uncle ignoring the fighting and shouting which is mainly the older hunter's doing. Adam smiles back at the boy, he loves this child, more than ever since his visit to Raphael a few weeks ago. "As Castiel said, it is not impossible. Nephilims are a mix of angel grace and human soul. They need a parent to carry them in their body to keep them safe on Earth until they finish shaping their own being and growing up. Mostly like how an angel needs a vessel to be here. The difference is, nephilims can and will create their own vessels once they are ready to do so. A human and an angel is all that's needed to create a nephilim. There are no extra requirements. Since the female anatomy is needed to carry and develop the baby's body, it isn't strictly necessary in this case."
Dean seems no calmer than he was a minute ago when the archangel finishes his small speech. The human bangs his fist on the table and stands up. "Listen here you fu-" His eyes flicker to Jack for a second. "-featherhead, you are telling me you put a baby in my little brother and you dare to-" He starts shouting again. "I think, I am quite capable of making my own decisions, Dean. It was our decision. We wanted a baby and we only wanted to let you know. We certainly don't need, or want for that matter, your opinion." Adam locks his eyes with Dean's daring him to go against that. They stay silent for two seconds and it's then that Sam clears his throat.
"This is good news, Adam. I mean, we are happy for you two just this situation is hard. I mean, isn't it dangerous for a human to…" Sam trails off suddenly looking all too aware of Jack listening to the conversation. The little boy's smile falters on accord but he doesn't lose his spirits. "Raphael will treat me throughout the whole thing. I am already fifteen weeks along. Everything is perfectly fine.-" Adam assures him, about to say more but Dean interrupts him. "Fifteen weeks!? And you tell us now? My brother is angel-pregnant and already… Hell, you don't even- you look- normal." Dean points at Adam's abdomen making him sigh. "I am normal. And I won't look pregnant. Mix of grace and soul, no body in here, remember?" Dean furrows his brows as he looks Adam up and down. Jack and Sam seem satisfied that the new nephilim and Adam will receive proper care. They don't have anymore issues. Castiel is watching Dean with one of his unreadable expressions again.
Finally Dean huffs and pulls out a chair directly in front of him. "Alright, bump or no bump you're still angel-pregnant and we are keeping you off your feet from now on. Sit." At that everyone makes a varying set of surprised faces. Even Michael raises a brow silently but slowly uncurls his arm from Adam's waist so the human sinks on the chair. Dean and Michael follow his example with his oldest brother's eyes still on his abdomen. For a minute awkward silence takes over.
"So you have a little light ball in there? I mean, Kelly looked pregnant." Again Dean talks looking genuinely confused. Sam too leans in to listen and even though he would never admit it out loud Adam finds it somewhat amusing to see the ruthless Winchester brothers like this. "It's the female body's default reaction to carrying a second soul inside." Michael states before Adam cuts in. "And if you call my baby a 'light ball' again, Michael will smite your ass, right?" He asks his mate in the end and the archangel slowly nods more to satisfy him than anything else. "But it's a- shit how is it even gonna come out?" Dean's face contorts and Sam immediately covers Jack's ears next to him. "Dean!" Castiel simultaneously shouts with the younger hunter. "What? We gave him the talk." The older Winchester starts grumbling again. "Don't cause unnecessary stress around my mate." Michael looks directly at his supposed true vessel.
"And you, assbutt. We didn't finish that conversation. You knocked up my brother then proceeded to-" He turns to fully face the archangel. "I did. Now, stop trying to pick fights in front of my pregnant mate. Your nephew or niece might be listening." Michael hisses out at the man. Adam braces himself for the coming shouting match yet Dean unexpectedly falls silent with his eyes finding him once again. Adam notices that Sam too has his wide eyes on him. "Nephew or niece?" Sam tries the words out loud, his tone uncertain. "Dude, we are uncles." Dean says with awe in a moment of eureka. Everyone smiles. Adam feels giddy like on the moment he learned of the tiny life in him. Maybe, just maybe they will get through this without any more fights. "I still owe you a puch." Dean has to talk again. Michael furrows his brows and Adam readies for a slight earthquake.
Why did he even hope?
The next months pass rapidly. Before Adam knows, he is in the fifth month. Raphael comes to check up on him every week and gives him some angelic medicine prepared with grace and ancient plants Michael is sent to fetch from the past a little too often. Gabriel returned to Heaven to help around since he knew that another nephilim was on the way and that Michael would need to take care of his mate most of the time. Lucifer is around too. He returned from his trip with Amara to 'find a better him' like she did. She is the new God now ever since she, the archangels, Empty, Death and Team Free Will 2.0 joined forces to beat Chuck.
All the archangels visit him from time to time. Raphael thinks it will do good to the baby to be around more angels than just his father so he or she will feel less threatened in the world and develop a resilient grace. The archangel does most of the work around Heaven these days. He leads Gabriel and Michael who stepped down from his higher position to be with Adam.
Gabriel spends his time alternating between Heaven where he helps to educate the newly created angels and the bunker where he hangs out with his nephew and assists in hunts sometimes.
Lucifer is mostly trying to mend his relationship with his son. He bore the Mark during the last fight against Chuck. He took most of the strain of locking him away. Then Amara asked for Jack's help to clear out the remaining corruption and heal his grace. Turns out, Chuck knowingly left some remnants of the Mark in Lucifer so he would go down faster and take more damage in the Cage. Though, Jack succeeded to almost recreate the blindingly bright grace of the Morningstar. Now, Lucifer's eyes shine bright blue like all the other angels and his charred wings reflect white light again. Adam heard he even visited Kelly's heaven multiple times. He doesn't know what they talked about but a few weeks later, Jack was telling Sam how his mother told him she would be there for him if he wanted to give Lucifer a chance.
Now, the father and son spend a day together every two weeks. Sam accompanies them wherever they go. He isn't all that comfortable with Lucifer but he tries for Jack. Michael has patiently explained to Adam that the Cage did the worst of the torture and made Sam think it was Lucifer. Of course the younger archangel chipped in here and there but the vile, horrifying bits and pieces Sam remembers aren't completely on him. Jack too is still guarded. He can't forget how his grace was stolen from him but Lucifer is really regretting ever falling apart with and hurting his son. He tries his best. Jack's room is filled with colorful toys and the boy really enjoys the trips to the zoos and fairs even though he stays closer to Sam. Lucifer found him a school. Jack enjoys all his classes and sometimes, when Jack is visiting Adam, Lucifer and Michael help him with his homework. Every once in a while, Adam catches Jack letting Lucifer ruffle his hair.
Gabriel and Lucifer are with him as Adam tries to build a highchair. The two are still tense most of the time but apparently, Gabriel got his most deserved apology. The youngest archangel watches his brother carefully and what he sees doesn't displease him, Adam can tell. They are slowly finding their old sibling relationship. Lucifer tries to be nice and restrain himself even when he feels attacked by Dean or Michael or anyone else mostly for Jack's and Gabriel's sakes. It was the breaking apart of their family that forced Gabriel to desert Heaven the first time around. Lucifer won't make the same mistake again. At least, he tries. Adam is sure that the younger one knows that too.
They finish the bright yellow piece of furniture and Adam sees Gabriel silently placing a hand on his brother's shoulder who is staring at the little thing and no doubt thinking about the lost childhood of his own son. He too walks closer to the two and copies Gabriel.
As Lucifer raises his head to give him a weak smile of gratitude, his eyes widen.
Adam feels weird.
Like when he was being possessed, only this energy moves outward from his body and not the opposite. And it feels different. Not ancient and concrete like Michael's grace but fresh and fluttering.
Lucifer smiles.
"He just told me to smile for dada. Because dada doesn't like it when people are sad." He chuckles before Adam who is still processing what just happened. "I heard that too, Adam!" Gabriel laughs openly and lets Lucifer pull him close in a hug, celebrating.
Adam looks down at his flat abdomen and gingerly places a hand there. Then he hears it.
Dada.
He tears up at an instant and puts both hands over his stomach with his fingers spread under the watchful gazes of the two smiling archangels. "I love you baby. Dada loves you." He whispers and the voice of a baby squeals in delight before starting to giggle.
"Well, who wants to tell, Mikey?" Gabriel jumps where he stands and Lucifer lightly slaps him on the arm. "His mate, of course. Come on we have work to do in Heaven." He catches his brother's wrist to drag him out of the front door. "-ll send him back immed-" Adam briefly nods, not really hearing the whole thing. He is too busy listening to the other voice in him.
Dada, dada, dada!
That night, he lies on his back on their bed shirtless as Michael leans over him and places kisses on his abdomen while muttering to their baby. Adam smiles and wipes at his eyes at the high-pitched little voice in him as the baby laughs and coos at the attention his father pours over him.
"Dean this is too much." Adam points at the table after fifteen minutes of eating. There is half a veggie burger, a large bowl of salad with tuna fish completely untouched and a half drunk glass of orange juice still in front of him. He already ate a whole burger of the same kind and a bowl of yogurt with berries and walnuts. "No shit, you're eating for two now shut up and finish it." Dean answers and Adam swears Sam is smiling discreetly as he bites into his own burger. Even Michael nods next to him and hell, did Adam lose his only ally against the oldest Winchester's bullshit? He groans.
"Since when are you a health freak anyway? Salad, juice, yogurt… Seriously? Aren't you a burger and beer kind of guy?" Adam rolls his eyes. "Well, Holy Ninja Turtle said it's good for the squirt so you're eating all of that." Dean repeats himself and goes back to chewing. Jack looks back and forth between them and snickers at the nickname for his uncle while Michael frowns and throws a warning glare at Dean.
It is always like this lately. Adam is six months along and the baby radiates his energy now. He comes to the bunker often. Jack is always excited to see him and try to talk to his cousin. Sam is always careful around him, light on his feet and calm all the time since they all had an earful from Raphael about causing conflict and tension around an unborn nephilim. Castiel comes and goes between the bunker and Heaven. When he is around, he seems fascinated at everything the baby does. His little one loves to blabber and giggle while making sparks of grace appear around Adam. And Dean, well, he is on this overprotective phase where he doesn't let Adam lift a finger, places throw pillows behind him as he sits even though he doesn't have a baby bump or pains and cooks all these different recipes he secretly looks up from a mom's blog on the internet. Sometimes, as Sam watches his older brother with a soft smile and Dean catches him, the older hunter mumbles something about their mother being pregnant with Sam and him vaguely remembering John talking to him about making mommy comfortable and happy. Even Adam feels the loss of Mary then.
As for the other relatives, Gabriel keeps buying onesies and toys for his nephew and he makes sure to get bigger toys for Jack too. Lucifer sees him from time to time either when he comes to visit their house with Michael or when Michael takes him to Heaven. He asks permission to feel and gently talks with the baby. He was the one to hear the tiny voice the first after all. Raphael examines him every few days now while making him new kinds of medicines to strengthen his body and slowly drawing up a plan to put Adam to bedrest the last two or three weeks.
It's all actually very sweet how everyone takes care to make him feel comfortable and help around. They all love his baby, Adam knows. But the best of it all is of course Michael. His angel was always affectionate with him but this is something else. Adam wakes up to breakfast in bed more often than not. Their evenings consist of cuddle time in a fluffy blanket in front of the TV with cartoons on as their baby giggles and hours spent with Adam resting on the couch as Michael reads softly from an old tome of fairytales from Kate's boxes full of things left away from Adam's childhood. Michael makes sure to fill the tub for him every night and get in with him, tenderly helping him wash his hair and massaging his shoulders.
One day, Michael returned home from a meeting in Heaven with a gift box and a huge smile. Inside, Adam found small converse shoes the size of his palm and a tiny suit with a sewn on bowtie on the white shirt, black pants with suspenders, a black vest and a small newsboy hat. Adam laughed all evening after he read the tags saying '18-20 months' and saw Michael's face falling at the thought of waiting two years to dress his son in 1920s fashion.
"This is still too much." Adam tries to get up but Michael pushes the bowl of salad closer to him and tells him to at least eat a little. To be honest, Adam is glad that he is finally civil with Dean but them uniting against him like that is quickly becoming annoying.
"My uncle will teach me the fun stuff?" Adam laughs holding up a green onesie for everyone to see. They are all gathered in the Milligan house. He is sitting on the sofa surrounded by tons of gifts. Gabriel is sitting on the carpet among the colorful bags with Jack choosing which to open next together. Lucifer is watching his son from where he sits with Michael and Raphael across the room. Dean is watching Adam chuckling and voicing his approval at the clothes of Gabriel's choosing every once in a while. Castiel and Sam are lightly discussing something between every display of a new baby item.
"Of course I'm cute. Have you seen my uncle?" Even Castiel smiles at that one. "Uncle (word): A dad without rules." Michael gets a cloudy look on his face. "I'm not letting you teach my son tricks and tell him to use those against me." He states all too seriously while pointing at Gabriel. The younger archangel sticks out his tongue as Jack hands Adam a neon pink box with a white bow. It reveals a giant pink teddy bear holding a heart shaped cushion with Michael's name sewn on it in golden thread. Guess they found their baby's crib buddy for the first few months of his life at least.
Adam sits on the porch watching as Michael polishes a small crib he carved out of oak in the last week. A few neighbours here and there throw them looks ranging from weird to sweet. One of them, an old lady who lives just across the street comes with a huge bowl of fresh cookies and congratulates them both on getting accepted for 'adoption' and their bravery to own their love and found a family despite the nasty people all around who surely give them trouble. She also offers her services as a babysitter whenever they need someone to watch their tiny angel for them. She knows stuff, she has eight kids and tons of grandkids, she says. Adam kindly thanks her and brings out some lemonade. The three of them sit for half an hour before the woman departs hugging them both.
"I am making sure this woman gets the nicest heaven she could imagine for herself with her family around." Adam nods biting in another cookie as Michael returns to his work.
The nursery looks perfect. They have redecorated Adam's old room with the oak crib and dresser, a white armchair next to a small changing table, a white bookshelf filled with some of Adam's old storybooks, white tulle curtains and colorful animal stickers on the light yellow walls. There are colorful baby toys and plush animals all around. The only thing lacking in here is their baby now. Just another month, and their tiny nephilim will be sleeping in his crib papa built him with his own hands wrapped in the blanket dada made for him.
Adam places Gabriel's pink teddy bear in the crib then steps back next to Michael to the doorway. They silently watch their work for some time. "Do you like your room, baby?" Adam whispers with a hand on his abdomen. He guides one of Michael's hands over there with his free one and they wait with sweet anticipation. Adam feels buzzing under his palm. Their son is responding to his father's touch, excited as always. "You are going to sleep in dada's old room sweetheart. Your grandma gifted this room to any child dada would have as soon as he left for college. She always wanted to paint your room in yellow because you are her little sun. She loves you too." Adam tears up as he talks quietly and Michael wraps his arms around him kissing the few stray tears away.
Don't cry dada. Grandma is happy. She loves you and papa and me.
Adam gasps and starts laughing. He knew his baby could talk full sentences but he never heard anything other than dada and papa and the giggles before. Lucifer too heard a big sentence when the baby talked to him the first time around but that was it. He raises his head to see Michael watching the two of them with awe and love. Like they are the center of the universe. Adam pulls him down for a kiss.
Papa! Dada!
They both shed a few happy tears between laughs as they sit in the chair in the nursery with Adam on Michael's lap snuggled up to him and watch their surroundings imagining their son in there.
It hurts like nothing Adam has experienced before but even as he screams and squeezes Michael's hand, he isn't scared. Their baby is detaching himself from his soul, that's why it hurts but it will be over soon, Raphael explained to him when he started to feel the first tingles of energy wanting to get out a few hours ago.
"I am here, Adam. I got you. I got you both. You just try to calm down. Our baby will be fine. You will be fine. I got you, love." Michael keeps speaking without really knowing what he says in his desperate effort to try and help Adam relax with two of his fingers pressed against his mate's forehead. He is worried sick himself even though Raphael took fifteen minutes to assure him that everything is perfectly fine with his mate and child. As Adam lets out another loud scream, Michael pushes a little more of his grace through their bond to try to lessen the pain. Adam looks at him with pleading eyes and tells him to concentrate to help the baby.
Three whole hours go by with Michael draining every bit of his power for his family and Adam doing his best to not lose himself to avoid scaring their son. Raphael checks on them here and there but doesn't get too close. The new nephilim knows his uncle but this is a private affair where he wouldn't trust anyone else other than his father to keep him safe. It's the expected reaction of every nephilim to want to be met with their father immediately after being born and drive away everyone else other than their parents.
Finally, Michael starts to feel the younger grace completely separate from Adam's soul which nurtured it for its entire existence. Adam passes out in his arms as light fills the room.
A baby's cries are heard through his laboured breathing.
Adam has never seen anything more perfect.
The tiny baby blinking up at them with his green eyes same as his papa's and soft puffs of light blond hair he inherited from dada is just that: perfect.
Michael sits next to him on the bed and carefully reaches a hand out. Their baby smiles at him letting out a soft cooing noise then slowly clutches his finger. Adam gives up his own finger to the other tiny hand's surprisingly strong squeezes. "One hell of a grip you got there little one. Are you a swordsman too, huh? Like papa?" Adam chuckles and the baby squeals with both their fingers still in his grasp.
Like papa!
Another squeal fills the room as they hear the two words in a mental link and bright grace sparkles as it floats surrounding both Adam and Michael. The baby pulls Adam's finger to quietly suck on it but still watches them intently as the archangel kisses his mate on the forehead then leans down to do the same to the him.
This, Adam thinks, is the best feeling in the world. He has his angel with him. He is holding their child in his arms. He couldn't ask for more.
Jack runs after his cousin as the toddler tries to maintain his balance on his own to not end up on the grass again. He is just starting to walk. Playing tag with big brother is his new most favorite activity.
Dean and Gabriel work side by side on the barbecue as Sam reads under the tree in their backyard. Castiel is helping Michael set up camping chairs around a big portable table with the food. Raphael sits with Adam a few feets from where Jack is being chased by a dedicated two-years-old as they laugh at the two boys. Lucifer gets out of the door with the spare high chair. "Come on everyone, food!" Dean calls out with a large plate in his hand. Jack picks up his tiny playmate and lets his father wrap his arms around the both of them in a quick hug before the archangel takes his nephew to settle him in his place.
Adam sits close to his son. The little nephilim is wearing his outfit with the converse shoes and the newsboy hat for the first time today for his uncles. Adam has a feeling he won't get to wear it again after hours of playing on the grass today, his newfound insistence to eat on his own with his hands and his total hate for bibs though.
Everyone smiles and laughs all through the big lunch. Michael tries to help the baby with a particularly big piece of cheese only to end up with it on his face. Lucifer cackles along with his nephew at the dumbfounded expression the oldest archangel wears. It, of course, doesn't last. Jack finds it to be a great idea to mimic his little cousin and soon the whole table is making fun of two archangels who nod at each other with sympathy.
Adam leans back on his chair to watch his family. From the moment they learned of his existence, his little boy brought joy to all of them. Everyone on this table have done many wrongs. But together, thanks to the two wonderful children among them, they have managed to found something great. Just like Dean and Sam dreamed of for years as they fought against monsters and apocalypses, like Kelly predicted, like the archangels needed for their family, like Kate imagined on the rainy days she told Adam of the first years of his life and tried to describe the little sun that is her future grandchild as she talked to him on the phone asking him of any possible girl or boyfriends.
And these two precious little suns are just great.