AUTHOR'S NOTE: I don't normally put in trigger warnings because I don't usually write anything that needs one and if you're a Supernatural fan enough to read fan fiction, I would assume you can handle show-level violence. But to avoid anyone coming at me for no warnings for even the minor bit of violence I wrote, I will put a summary of the things depicted in this chapter at the end. I promise the pregnancy fluff will return. :)

Dean tensed at the voice behind him, hunters' instincts and the body's natural fight or flight response prepping him to react. He slowly placed the pie box on the counter and turned to face the intruder who, upon turning around, Dean noted was a man about his height and who was blocking Dean's only exit from this room. Unless he wanted to try to squeeze his belly out the bathroom window but he had a feeling whoever this guy was would be faster.

"Who are you?" he growled, mentally calculating his odds of making it to the gun under his pillow before the other man could get to him. And the gun would only work if he were human but Dean couldn't exactly test him.

"Cael," the man said, lifting his chin and looking down his nose at Dean. "And you are Dean Winchester. My, my, the rumors I've been hearing among the angels were true; there is a nephilim in existence. And not just one but three. I can sense their grace-soul abominations inside you and…" He tsked a few times, twisting his mouth into a disappointed moue. "Castiel was always a rebel but this? He knows better."

Dean felt a flare of anger and protectiveness wash over him at hearing the winged dick in front of him calling his kids "abominations" but he tamped it down, knowing he needed to be level-headed or risk angering Cael enough to put his children in danger. "What do you want?" he snarled instead, trying to move this along.

Cael hummed thoughtfully but Dean got the feeling it was just for show; if the angels had sent one after him, they knew what they wanted with him and his kids – not that they were going to get it. "I should kill you and the abominations, but," he said, drawing out the last word, "I think the angels could benefit from so much power."

"Yeah, well, the angels ain't getting their hands on my kids," Dean growled, adopting a defensive stance though he really hoped he wouldn't have to try to fight with his belly throwing him off.

"Oh? And how do you plan to stop me, Dean?" Cael taunted, grinning like he'd already won. "You're too fat to fight me and do you really want to risk your precious kids' lives?"

"If you want me for their power, you won't hurt me or them or you'd have already tried attacking me," Dean countered. "But I'm not going to willingly go with you."

"We've planned for that," Cael said just as two more angels in male vessels appeared in the room, closer to Dean than the hunter would like. "And there's no reason we can't rough you up a little bit as long as no harm comes to the abominations."

Dean only managed a few backward steps away from the two angels before they'd grabbed his arms with vice grips that he couldn't get out of no matter how hard he struggled. One of them reached two fingers to his forehead and he tipped his head back, trying to get away from the touch.

"Let go of me, you winged assholes!" he snarled.

Held fast, he could struggle all he wanted but he couldn't get away and the one attempting to touch him managed to do just that and suddenly his world went dark.

Castiel furrowed his brow as he lowered his phone from his ear and ending the call only to redial his boyfriend's number a third time. Again, it rang and rang until voicemail picked it up.

"Still no answer?" Sam asked where he was leaning against the Impala's trunk.

They'd finished their digging and knew exactly who their ghost was and planned to deal with the bones that night when they could sneak into the cemetery under the cover of darkness. For now, they were just trying to check in with Dean and see what he wanted for lunch so they could bring it back to the motel.

Except Dean wasn't answering.

"No," Castiel growled, ending the call and shoving his phone back into his coat pocket.

"Maybe he's just asleep," Sam suggested. "Y'know, like what happened last night."

"If he were asleep, his phone should have woken him by now," Castiel argued, rounding the Impala to the passenger side. "We need to go, now. I need to see for myself if he's alright."

Sam nodded and pushed himself off the trunk and moved around to the driver's side. Once they were in, he backed out and drove toward the motel. Beside him, the angel was practically radiating worry. Sam pushed the speed limits a little bit but didn't go fast enough to endanger them or anyone around them and certainly not enough to gain the attention of any patrolling officers that may be out.

"I'm sure he's fine, Cas," he said in an attempt to soothe the angel.

"I hope you're right," Castiel sighed. "I just… It's like an instinct to want to protect Dean when he's pregnant with my eggs and the longer he is out of my sight without knowing if he's alright, the more I worry."

"I think I get it," Sam agreed. "Like animal parents and their young."

Castiel glared at him.

"I didn't mean you're an animal, Cas," Sam hurried to explain. "But the instinct you're describing sounds more like that than just your usual need to protect us."

Castiel hummed in vague agreement but didn't feel like pursuing that line of thinking.

They rode in silence and as the motel came into view, the angel stiffened in his seat and was scrambling out of the car the moment Sam put it in park.

"Dean!" he called, hurrying into their open room, his blade falling into his palm. "Dean?!"

Sam followed him in, his gun raised as they scanned the room. He made his way through to the bathroom but when he aimed his gun into the darkened room, it was empty and untouched. The rest of the room looked normal, too; the bed was slightly messy but that wasn't surprising since Dean and Cas had slept in it the night before.

"The door is open but it doesn't look like there was a fight and the bathroom's clear," he announced.

"His pie is on the counter," Castiel added. "You put it away last night and we didn't touch it this morning."

Sam hurried from the room and quickly unlocked his own room, stepping in with his gun raised. His room looked similar to the other. The bed was rumpled – he knew he'd made it that morning but guessed Dean had probably been resting in their absence – and his laptop was open on the table. A glance at it just showed his desktop; Dean had probably used it to entertain himself but hadn't fully shut it down after he was done.

"His phone is still here," Castiel called from the doorway. He couldn't enter the room but he could still scan it from there.

Sam quickly crossed to the bed to pick up Dean's phone and scanned through it. "The only calls are from you and me. I don't think anyone lured him away," he said thoughtfully. "His pie was on the counter in your room, right? And your last check in was around noon and he answered, right? I bet he got hungry and decided to go next door to get his pie, probably assuming he'd be outside the warding for only a couple minutes."

"Why wouldn't he just tell me he wanted it?" Castiel snarled.

"What would you have done if he'd said he was hungry and wanted something just feet away?" Sam countered. "You'd have driven back here to help him. I know my brother and you and I both know how he's been having trouble dealing with being pregnant changing things for him. He probably didn't want to bother you for something he could easily get himself."

"But he left the warding meant to keep him and our children safe," the angel growled.

"Yeah, and he probably thought he'd be outside them for two minutes, tops. Think about it, have we even seen anyone strange around?" When Castiel huffed but shook his head, Sam continued. "See? I'm betting he didn't think anyone was after him or the triplets and thought he'd be fine."

Castiel sighed heavily, realizing Sam was right; he couldn't change why or what Dean had done now. "We need to find him," he said instead.

"Well, who would want to take him?" Sam asked, trying to narrow down who they should look for.

"The angels," Castiel said without hesitation. "If they knew of the triplets' existence, they'd either want to kill them or use their pwoers. And if the demons have realized Dean is pregnant with half-angel babies, they'd likely want the power."

"Okay, so angels or demons," Sam agreed with a nod. "They're usually the prime suspects when something powerful comes into play anyway. Have you been checking into Angel Radio lately?"

"No," Castiel admitted with slumped shoulders. "I have no desire to see many of my brothers and sisters and they don't want me so I haven't bothered to listen to what they're up to. I should have; if I had, we might have anticipated this."

"Hindisght's a bitch, Cas, but you can't beat yourself up over should haves," Sam said with a reassuring smile. "It happened how it happened and we just gotta deal with it. But maybe you can tap into Angel Radio now and see if anyone's talking about Dean," he suggested.

"I suppose I can try," Castiel agreed on a sigh then closed his eyes and focused. His brow furrowed in confusion as he spoke aloud, relaying to Sam what he was hearing. "Several angels are talking about their being angel offspring in existence. They know the trijplets have been created. They… They don't seem to be able to sense that there are more than one which is understandable; unless an angel is in close proximity to Dean, it is hard to distinguish the three from one another."

"Do any of them seem to know where they are?" Sam asked.

Castiel shook his head as he opened his eyes with a sigh. "No. They seem to be sepculating. If an angel has Dean, they are keeping it quiet."

"Probably a good idea," Sam greed. "If they announce they've got the person carrying an angel baby – or in Dean's case, three – they'd probably have every angel alive after them."

Castiel nodded. "A half angel, half human child is powerful, sometimes more powerful than even a high-ranking full angel."

"And if they get their hands on that child before it's born, they can train its powers as it grows for whatever they want," Sam agreed with a heavy sigh.

"I have not heard any prayers from Dean either," Castiel added. "Either he is behind angel warding that prevents him from being able to contact me or he's been rendered incapable of speech somehow."

"If angels have him, I don't think they'd have angel warding up," Sam countered. "But if they want the triplets' powers, they can't hurt Dean. The triplets are nowhere near developed enough to survive if Dean dies."

Castiel nodded and his grip tightened on his angel blade. "We still need to find him quickly."

When Dean came to, it was gradual, like waking up in the morning. As he fluttered his eyes open, the first thing he became aware of was a cloth stuffed into his mouth and tied in place to keep him from spitting it out. Any attempt to lift either hand to remove it made it clear his wrists were tied to the arms of the chair he was tied to, thick ropes tied around his chest above where his belly sloped forward holding him to the hard back. He couldn't see past his belly but in trying to move his feet, he realized his ankles were tied to the legs of the chair, too.

Realizing he was stuck and had no way to pray to his boyfriend for rescue, Dean scanned the room he was in, mentally groaning when he realized he was probably in an abandoned warehouse – why was it always creepy abandoned warehouses? But other than the chair he was tied to and a table along a far wall lined with things Dean didn't want to think of their uses for, the room was empty.

Fan-fucking-tastic, he mentally snarled. If he hadn't been so stupid and so focused on his damn pie, he'd be safe in Sam's warded motel room right now. He should have just told Cas at the last check-in that he was hungry and sucked it up and asked for the pie in the other room. It was around lunchtime anyway, Sam was probably hungry and needing a break, too. And Dean hated to admit it, but he knew they'd willingly bring him food if he asked. But no, Dean had let his pride get in the way and had acted stupidly and now he was God knows where with no way to alert Castiel.

"Ah, you're awake," Cael cooed from the doorway to the room Dean was being held in, sauntering in when Dean raised his eyes to glare at him. "Sorry about the gag," he added in a tone that made it clear he wasn't sorry at all. "Couldn't risk you praying to your boyfriend for help. Not that you know where you are anyway but still, we aren't taking any chances."

Dean only glared at the angel, wishing he could set the bastard on fire with just his eyes

"Now, let's see how much power they have," Cael said, slipping an angel blade into his hand as he crossed to Dean.

The hunter tried to twist and wiggle himself as much as he could, fighting his restraints, but he was securely bound and unable to move away as Cael trailed the blade down his cheek. He hissed behind his gag at the sting of a fresh cut and felt blood trickling down his cheek.

Cael hummed thoughtfully as he watched the cut bleed. "Nothing. I wonder if they're aware enough to conserve their budding grace. Perhaps they'll only act if your life is in danger."

Dean's eyes widened fearfully at what that might mean and watched as Cael shoved the ropes on one of Dean's wrists upward enough to expose the flesh there. With a quick jerk of the blade, Cael sliced through Dean's wrist, blood immediately welling up and pouring over his wrist and the arm of the chair, down onto the floor. Dean screamed against the gag and his chest tightened with fear. He was gonna die! An angel had tied him up and slit his fucking wrist and now he was gonna die!

"Don't worry," Cael sighed with a roll of his eyes. "If they can't save you, I will heal it. We don't want them to die which means you can't."

Dean forced himself to calm a little at the reminder though it still scared the shit out of him to watch his wrist bleeding so heavily. Of course he wouldn't die; Cael had said the angels wanted his kids and the kids needed Dean alive to grow. But as he watched, the gash across his wrist slowly knit itself back together, faint grace blue light behind the wound. It wasn't as seamless and painless as when Castiel healed him but he assumed that was because the triplets were still growing and didn't have as much practice or power as Castiel.

"Amazing," Cael breathed. "They seem to only act when their mother's life is in danger."

Dean glared at the angel for calling him "mother" but couldn't protest with the gag in his mouth.

"I wonder if they heal any faster closer to where they are," Cael said thoughtfully before using the angel blade to slice Dean's shirt open to bare his belly. Then he pressed the tip of the blade into the top of Dean's belly and dragged it down over the swell to the bottom, leaving a bright red gash.

As Dean tipped his head back and panted through his nose through the stinging pain of the cut, he felt the famililar warmth of grace flare up in the wound as it knit itself back together.

"Fascinating," Cael said. "It seems the closer to their incubation point I go, the quicker they heal you."

Dean moaned faintly through the gag, both in discomfort and a fuilte plea to get Cael to stop. His body throbbed with pain that wasn't just from the cuts Cael inflicted in places the triplets hadn't felt necessary to heal. Sitting for what was probably hours in such a hard chair was making various parts of his body ache. His ass was numb by now, tailbone aching, and his hips, which already ached now and then from the strain of the extra weight of the triplets, throbbed. His shoulders hurt from being pressed back into the chair by the rope around his chest and his back hurt from being forced upright and still for so long.

"I wonder what else they can do from in there…"

Dean lifted his head and watched Cael move away to set the blade back on the table then furrowed his brow in confusion when the angel returned empty handed. He watched with aprehension as the angel knelt in front of the chair and lifted his palms toward Dean's belly. The hunter wiggled desperately in the chair, the thought of the angel touching his belly making him nauseous.

"Oh, calm down," Cael snapped, glaring up at Dean. "I'm actually not going to cause you any harm this time. I merely want to see if I can communicate with them through their grace or if the eggs they grow in prevents that."

This actually made Dean more curious than frightened. He knew Castiel could sense their kids inside Dean and he knew that if Castiel touched him, he could sense them more clearly. But he didn't know if Cas had ever tried talking to the eggs. He wondered if the triplets could hear them from in there like human babies.

Curious despite the urge to stay on high alert with his captor so close, Dean let himself relax and watched warily as Cael slowly slid his palms across Dean's belly and tamped down the urge to vomit at the unfamilar touch. But true to his word, Cael's touch was gentle and he didn't try to harm Dean or the eggs. He simply closed his eyes and sat quietly for several seconds. When he finally opened his eyes, he sighed and stood.

"No," he announced. "I can feel them but I can't communicate at all."

Dean felt a small twinge of disappointement mix with the relief of Cael taking his hands away from his belly – so Cas probably couldn't communicate with their triplets through their shared grace. He wasn't sure why it uspet him so much though. They'd be able to talk to the babies once they were born and as they grew up; there'd be no barrier preventing them from talking. But for now, Cas couldn't experience much of the pregnancy like a human father could because of the nature of the eggs and the inability to communicate with their kids was just another thing Cas couldn't share in.

Not that Dean could really communicate with them either. Hell, he couldn't even feel them yet; he might not ever truly feel them like Cas had explained. He might be able to feel the eggs moving as the triplets moved but he wouldn't feel kicks or a hand pressing out against his belly.

"They're restless," Cael continued, oblivious to Dean's inner turmoil. "I think they've had enough practice for now. Don't want to wear them out too soon. And, I suppose that you'll need some kind of food unless I want to starve you to death. Seeing as I need you to help them survive, I should go find you something to eat."

And with that, the angel marched from the room with an attitude akin to a child skulking off to go complete a chore.

Cas paced the lenth of his and Dean's room while Sam sat the table with his laptop which he'd brought over from his own room. The angel hadn't heard any prayers from his boyfriend in the couple hours since the last time Dean had checked in so Sam was trying to search for any evidence of angelic presence in the town, hoping something could point them to had taken Dean.

"Hey, Cas?" he called, waiting until the angel stopped pacing and his attention was on Sam before continuing. "Remember a few years ago when Sammandriel was captured and him being tortured released all that power? You know, like the burning bush?"

Castiel nodded. "Yes, I remember. Naomi made me kill him…"

"I know, but that's not why I bring it up," Sam quickly explained. "Is it possible that if Dean's being tortured, he could cause the same kinds of reactions nearby?"

Castiel tilted his head in thought but ultimately shrugged. "I do not know. Offspring like ours have not existed in centuries. Their powers are a mystery to even myself. Why? Have you found something unusual?"

Sam shook his head with a defeated sigh. "No. I was just hoping there might be something to look out for… Whoever took Dean is being really careful about hiding him."

Castiel hummed in agreement then went back to his pacing while Sam stared at his laptop screen as if willing some kind of clue to appear. After several minutes of silence, he sat up straight again, another idea coming to him.

"You can sense the triplets, right?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes," Castiel said, pausing in his pacing to face the younger Winchester again. "But I have to be in close proximity to Dean to do so. Inside their eggs and inside him, their grace doesn't emit a powerful enough signature for me to sense in a wider radius like other angels."

"Oh." Sam slumped back in his seat. "I was hoping we could use your connection to your kids to find Dean."

"Perhaps instead of trying to find signs that point us to someone, we should search for places that might be useful at holding and possibly torturing someone," Castiel suggested.

"Yeah," Sam said slowly as he began typing again. "If we're right and they want the triplets' power somehow, they'd need somewhere isolated to hold Dean, somewhere that wouldn't attract too much attention. Got it!" he announced, spinning the laptop around to show Castiel a map of Sterling. "There's an abandoned warehouse on the other side of town. That's usually where our bad guys take people they want to hold onto for awhile."

"Would they really be stupid enough to hold Dean so close to where they took him where we could possibly find him?" Cas questioned.

Sam shrugged. "Maybe they thought we'd assume they wouln't be and look furhter away for Dean instead of right under our noses. Worth a shot, right? If he's not there, we widen our search."

Castiel nodded and marched toward the door, leaving Sam to scramble to shut down his laptop, grab the Impala's keys, and follow. "Let's go."

Despite the near full body throbbing – or maybe the throbbing helped – the bone deep exhaustion one can only expereince if one has been tortured for several hours in a row dragged Dean into a light, fitful slumber. He only woke again when he heard a crash coming from somewhere in the warehouse. Somehwere near the room he was being held in. Then, through the door leading out of the room, he could make out the faint edges of grace blue light and his heart beat faster in his chest with anticipation.

Either his captors have turned on one another or someone's here to rescue him!

"Dean!"

His whole body tensed and he tugged hard where his wrists were bound to the chair at the sound of that voice, desperate to free his hands so he could rip out the gag and call out to his boyfriend, to tell Cas that he's here, that he can hear him! When Cas called his name again, he yelled out around the gag as loud as he could manage and wiggled hard in the chair, trying to free himself. He did manage to wiobble the chair a bit, the wooden legs thumping against the concrete floor. It must have made enough noise though because not a minute later, the view into the other room was blocked by a familiar suit and trench coat.

Relief flooded him and he blamed pregnancy hormones for the tears that filled his eyes, blurring his view of his boyfriend, and his throat clogged up. An involuntary sob tore free only to be muffled by the gag and he wiggled harder in his chair until hands were cupping his face and thumbs were stroking away the tears and Cas's gravelly voice was droning on behind the blood rushing through his ears, a soothing, continuous murmur. And then the gag is gone, carelessly tossed away, and the next sob to burst free isn't muffled.

"Shhh, Dean, I've got you," Cas soothed as he trailed his hands down Dean's cheeks and neck and shoulders and back around to undo the rope holding his chest to the chair.

Dean took several deep breaths, trying to will back the want to cry because Dean Winchester did not cry over being tied up and tortured! He'd experienced worse in hell and Cas was already untying his wrists anyway. But while he forced back a few sobs, the tears continued slipping down his cheeks and his breaths came in shuddering inhales and exhales.

"I've got you," Cas soothed again, tossing away the last of the ropes, the ones that had bound his legs to the chair, and rising again. He held his hands out to Dean who griped them tightly and used the leverage to pull himself to his feet.

As he stood straight, a sharp pain stabbed through his back and hips at finally being upright and an involuntary whimper fell past his lips, his hands griping Cas's harder.

"Dean?" Cas's voice was just this side of panicked. "Are you hurt?"

"Just the normal pregnancy aches," he clarified. "My back, my hips… My fucking tailbone kinda hurts, too."

Cas wound his arms around his hunter and gently tugged Dean until he slumped forward against his chest. Then he trailed his hands down Dean's back and over his hips, the familiar warm tingle of Cas's grace soothing away the aches and pains as soon as the angel's hands passed over them. Dean groaned in relief and slumped furhter into Cas's chest, winding his own arms around him and burying his face into his neck.

"Thanks," he practically moaned. He knew any cuts left over from Cael's "experimenting" were gone, too.

Their moment was broken as Sam burst into the room, panting, eyes wide as they took in the room until they landed on the couple in the center. "Dean," he breathed in relief. "You okay?"

"Yeah, m'good, Sammy," Dean assured him as he gently pushed out of Cas's hold. "I just wanna go home. Like, Batcave home, not just the motel."

"We can do that," Sam assured. "But, ah… Cas and I still gotta burn the bones of our ghost."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wow, two in as many days! Go me! And yes, I saved Dean in the same chapter I kidnapped him in but I'm no good at torture stuff so I cut it short. And yes, Cas has been calling the trips "fledglings" but Cael called them "nephilim" like in the show. That'll be addressed. I didn't forget what the show calls them when Cas was calling them fledglings and I didn't forget that Cas was calling them fledglings when Cael called them nephilim. ;)

This was supposed to fullfill the part of OP's prompt that said Dean had to deal with hunting while pregnant but he didn't do much actual hunting… I hoe it's still okay? If it's not quite what you had in mind, I'll come up with another hunting scneario in a future chapter.

My inability to write casefics is why I mostly write fluffy AUs but I couldn't resist the eggpregg prompt which is set in the SPN universe and so, of course, hunting will pop up… But for the most part, this is a happy, fluffy we're-having-babies prompt, so…

The violence depicted in this chapter is Dean getting cut in various places to see how the trips heal him, including a gash across one wrist. And his torturer makes a long cut down his belly to see what the trips will do but no real harm comes to the trips, promise.