Author's Note: How many times do I have to acknowledge that I don't own the Harry Potter or Supernatural characters? I'll keep doing it anyway. Spoiler alert for episodes: Unforgiven and Mannequin 3: The Reckoning.

Chapter Inspiration: The Reason by Hoobastank

Chapter 5

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

After Dean sent Harry's owl back with his letters, he dressed and headed down to Bobby's kitchen for some coffee. He wasn't sure if, or when, Hermione would come talk to him, so he decided maybe it would be a good time to talk to Sam about the seizure that he'd had. It was a moment of pure fear for Dean. It was everything he was dreading since Sam started remembering the case he'd worked while soulless.

He poured a cup of coffee, and a second one as well when he heard Sam's footsteps coming down the stairs. Taking a seat at the kitchen table, he extended the invitation for Sam to join him.

"Dean, when you said I seized, how long was I out?" Sam asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

Dean was surprised that Sam was the one to initiate this conversation. He'd been planning on being the one to do it, but seems he didn't have to. "I'm telling you, like 2 to 3 minutes. Why? What'd it feel like to you?"

"About a week, give or take." Sam reluctantly admitted. He didn't want to talk about this, but except for when they were talking about Dean's baby, there had been tension between him and his brother, and felt they should resolve it.

Dean nodded, accepting the admission for what it was. "You want to talk about it?"

"It?" Sam questioned.

"Yeah, whatever that was. It was like you were freaking electrocuted." Dean clarified, taking a large sip of his coffee.

"Look, I mean, it wasn't fun, but I'm fine." Sam said, hoping to appease his brother.

"Fine." Dean replied, not believing that it was as Sam tried to convince him of. "It was Hell, wasn't it? You got a big, fat face full of Hell. Ever cross your mind that you could have died?"

"Oh come on." Sam said, not sure as he believed what Dean was telling him.

"I'm serious. And none of this 'it's just a flesh wound' crap. Cause we did it your way, we let you go explore, and every bad thing that I said would happen, happened. So, guess what? Past stays past, we're not kicking that wall again." Dean laid out for Sam. He wouldn't let anything happen to him, not on his watch.

"So I'm supposed to just ignore it?" Sam pushed back. He wasn't entirely sure why Dean was making such a big deal out of a seizure.

"Yes!" Dean replied firmly.

"Dean, I might have done who knows what, and you want me to forget about it?" Sam asked disbelievingly. What was so wrong about wanting to make amends for whatever he did while he didn't have a soul?

"You shove it down, and you let it come out in spurts of violence and alcoholism." Dean advised. It was a better alternative than what Sam was on about.

"That sounds healthy." Sam remarked in a sarcastic tone of voice. Just because that was how Dean chose to deal with things, did not mean he had to as well.

"Works for me." Dean commented, almost as if he could hear Sam's thoughts. "It's not a joke. Your life is on the line here Sam. This is not a debate. I mean, first you were soulless and a dickbag, now you're not. So, we good?"

"Yeah, sure." Sam replied, trying to sound as if he agreed. He needed to placate his brother, before he went into full protective mode. "You up for a job?"

"You've already found another one?" Dean asked.

"Janitor murdered in a college lab last night. Doors were locked, and nobody else in or out of the building." Sam recited the information he'd found on the web.

"Where at?" Dean asked, voice guarded.

"Patterson, New Jersey. It's at least a full day's drive away." Sam commented off handedly.

"Sam, if you want to take Bobby and go check it out, that's fine. I kind of promised someone I'd be around here to talk for a while." Dean replied, it shocked him how easy it was to turn down the hunt.

"Okay, I'll go talk to him." Sam replied. He was glad his brother was prioritizing a conversation with the mother of his child. It gave him hope that maybe one of them could get out, and find some happiness. Now that his soul was intact, he could actually feel good about this turn of events.

Before Sam even stepped out of the kitchen, a sound like the crack of a whip sounded from outside. Pulling the demon killing knife from his pocket, he moved so his back was pressed against the walls of the hallway so he could investigate. However, Dean knew what the sound was, and was moving quickly towards the door. Bobby was also coming around the corner to investigate as well. All three men looked at each other, Sam confused as to why they weren't acting as if there was a possible threat in the yard. Before he could ask either Bobby, or Dean, why they didn't seem to be concerned, a soft knock on the front door could be heard.

Bobby nodded to Dean, before making his way to the kitchen. Dean walked to the door and pulled it open, revealing a nervous looking Hermione.

"Hi." Dean said, then mentally smacked himself for his less than smooth greeting.

"Hello." Hermione replied, wrapping her arms around herself in a protective manner.

Bobby returned at that moment with the usual silver cup filled with holy water.

"Hi Hermione. You know the drill." He said by way of greeting.

"Hey Bobby." Hermione replied, accepting the cup from his outstretched hand. She drank down the water quickly in front of the three expectant faces of the hunters in front of her. When nothing happened, she handed the cup back to Bobby, and Dean stepped aside so that she could enter the small home.

"What brings you here?" Bobby asked.

"Dean wrote saying he wanted to talk, so here I am." Hermione replied, stretching her arms out to her sides.

"Why don't you kids take it up to the bedroom." Bobby offered.

Dean nodded, gesturing Hermione to take the steps first. Stepping around him, she climbed the staircase carefully, her heart pounding. Her baby must have known something was up, because she could feel that he or she was more active than normal, for this time of day anyway. She rubbed a hand over her stomach, hoping to calm the little one down. She turned to the right, headed right for the bedroom she'd stayed in with Dean. Once they were inside, Dean closed the door for some privacy. He hoped Sam and Bobby would be too busy discussing the case his younger brother had found, to be trying to listen in. He watched her take a careful seat on the edge of the bed she'd slept in, the one Dean still preferred to sleep in now. He noted the difference in how she moved now, and her swollen stomach. A feeling he couldn't name tugged at his heart at the sight.

"Um, I'm not very good with words, so I don't know how to start this." Dean started, moving to take a seat on the bed opposite her.

"It's okay Dean, just tell me whatever's on your mind." Hermione replied gently, resisting the urge to reach out to him.

"When did you find out?" Dean asked rather abruptly.

Hermione took a breath, she knew he'd probably have questions, she just didn't expect him to jump right into it. "I found out a month after you and Bobby left. I couldn't figure out why I was feeling so weird, so I went to a healer." She told him.

"What's a healer?" Dean asked.

"It's the magical equivalent to a muggle doctor." Hermione explained gently.

"Okay, so why didn't you tell me when you found out?" Dean asked, his voice harsher than he intended.

"Like I said, I have no good excuse for not telling you. It all comes down to me being a coward." Hermione began. "I felt that telling you would make it out to be like I was asking you to choose between hunting, and the baby. I didn't feel like I could put that kind of pressure on you, it wouldn't have been fair." Hermione stopped herself there so she didn't reveal to him her deepest fears, that he'd not care and choose hunting over her.

"What changed over 5 months then?" Dean asked, trying to piece together the why's he had.

"First, my friends. Ron and Harry were especially mad at me for not coming and telling you immediately. They felt you had every reason to know, if nothing more, for the sake of knowing you have a kid in the world. Their arguments were valid, even if it didn't seem like I was listening to them. Fear had me holding back, like I said." Hermione explained, looking down at her hands in her lap. "Secondly, the baby changed my mind. I felt that I would be letting he or she down if I didn't at least try to talk to you. I owe it to our little one to at least try." The last part of her explanation was spent with her hands rubbing over her belly.

"Harry and Ron were right Hermione. I deserved to at least have the choice, or at least the ability to come up with some compromise." Dean explained.

"I know, I just thought you'd think it unfair of me to ask you to choose." Hermione explained, her voice cracking.

"Hermione, you're not asking me to choose. Don't you get it?" Dean asked heatedly. "Giving me the chance to be involved, does not equate to you asking me to choose between one or the other, but if I wanted to choose one or the other, it would be because I wanted to."

"I guess I never thought of it that way." Hermione replied, brushing stray tears off her cheeks.

"No you didn't, but that's in the past now. We can't go back and change it, all we can do is move forward." Dean said, wiping his palms on his jeans.

Lifting her face, she looked Dean in the eye, waiting for whatever he was going to say next. Dean saw her tear stained face, and for a moment felt a little bad for how terse he was with her. He could have handled his questions about why she kept his family from him for six months, better. Unfortunately, for both of them though, he needed to get the answers to his questions before he could move on.

"With that being said, I really want to be involved from here on out. I don't turn my back on family." Dean continued.

"Really?" Hermione's eyes brightened fractionally at his statement.

"Yes really." Dean replied, a small, crooked smile, pulling at the corner of his mouth.

A small smile bloomed on Hermione's face. This was turning out better than she thought. Instead of being alone, she was going to have him at her side, and she was proud to have him there. He was a good man, just like she knew all along, even if her pregnancy hormone addled brain didn't register the fact.

The moment of elation felt by Hermione and Dean was short lived though. A sharp kick to the ribs had Hermione's face scrunching up in pain, and her hand going to her ribcage. Dean seeing the change was immediately on his knees next to her, taking her free hand, and yelling for Cas.

"Cas, god damn it, get your feathery ass down here, I need you." Dean yelled. When then angel didn't immediately appear, he added: "Cas, it's Hermione."

The familiar whoosh of wings flapping, sounded in the room, and both looked up to see Castiel standing at the foot of the bed Hermione was sitting on. "What's going on?" The angel asked seriously, but with a note of urgency.

"Something's wrong Cas, she's in pain." Dean replied, panic squeezing his chest.

Cocking his head to the side, Castiel studied Hermione carefully with his remarkably blue eyes. "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her. I see no reason she should be in pain."

When the pain lessened, Hermione looked to Dean to explain. "Dean, he's right, there's nothing wrong with me. The baby kicked my rib cage, and hard."

"Baby?" Castiel questioned, cocking his head to the right.

"She's pregnant." Dean replied.

"So she's with child?" Castiel asked.

"That's typically what pregnant means." Dean quipped.

"When did you have time to fornicate with her?" Castiel asked bluntly.

"Six months ago, while we were in England." Dean replied, his hand still gripping Hermione's.

"Please be happy for us Cas." Hermione added, her eyes filling up with tears again.

"I am." Replied the angel in a gentler tone than he'd used with Dean. "I just wonder if…" His sentence trailed off.

"Wonder what, Cas?" Dean asked, his tone suddenly defensive.

"Nothing Dean. This is good news for you." Cas replied, his tone conciliatory.

"Yes, it is." Dean replied, looking Hermione in the eye with a small smile. His questions were answered, and he was done questioning this. He was going to be there for his family.

"If that is all, I must be going. There is unrest in heaven that I must attend to. Raphael is gaining power, and allies." Castiel replied, then disappeared with another whoosh.

"He still does that?" Hermione questioned Dean.

"Yeah, more so now lately, than before. Seems not all is well in heaven." Dean replied, simplifying the explanation.

"Oh." It was all Hermione could think to say.

"I want to be involved. That's why I wanted to talk to you. I want to be there for you, and for our baby." Dean told her gently, squeezing her hand.

"I'm glad Dean, so glad." Hermione told him, squeezing his hand in return. She felt a kick press into the hand she had over her stomach, which gave her an idea. Pulling Dean's hand, she placed it on the same spot, where another kick pressed into his. She watched as Dean's eyes widened, a look of wonder crossing his handsome face.

"Was that…?" Dean asked, the end of his question fading out in awe.

"Yeah. Little one is a fighter, just like it's father." Hermione replied, a small smile on her face.