Fair warning: go get a box of tissues

Chapter 11

Katarzyna watched the summer fly by, turning into late September. A new semester had started, and she was resigned to waddling her now exponentially large stomach into the classroom, aided by her ever-constant shadow now; Sam. He'd been laid off by his law firm based on his tiny amount of seniority, and now followed Katz around under strict orders from Dean to not let her out of his sight. Thankfully for them both he still let her alone. She was looking forward to the weekend, even having extended the due date of her classes' papers another week so that she could have fun in New York with the boys.

Elijah and Ava were now nearing six pounds each in her belly, very healthy and fat for twins, partially due to Katz' very sedentary lifestyle as of late. She was lucky at this point that Dean and Castiel hadn't bought her a Rascal-like electric wheelchair to scoot around on instead of walking.

Regardless, she made her way into the auditorium room, used to having Sam as a 'class auditor'. No one at the school said anything, and those who did were either looking for a hookup from him or curious who her 'new assistant' was. As usual she sat on the edge of the stage in the auditorium, laughing at a joke Sam told her as he set her bag pee

down next to her and took a seat in the front row. Her phone beeped in her jacket pocket, signaling a text. Sam, playing the ever-pleasant role of nanny/assistant, answered it.

Hey, Zinny, still in NY?

I just got out, heard you were on Broadway

You still owe me like 10 grand, slut, don't think I've forgotten, especially after getting out of the jail you put me in.

Sam, having no idea of her drug relapse before Broadway, deleted the texts, thinking it was a wrong number. No more came, so he didn't think to tell her after class ended.

At the end of her day, Sam drove the heavily pregnant woman home, making small talk and babbling about how he and Gabe were talking marriage possibilities.

"I mean, we've been together almost as long as Dean and Cas, so it kind of feels like the next step, ya know?" he went on, a huge smile dancing across his face.

"Yeah, yeah, just don't go asking me for babies after. There's no way I'm doing this shit again!" she gestured to her stomach pointedly, making the giant laugh, shaking his head.

He dropped her off, helping her into the house where Cas sat ready to take her to New York. Dean had several appointments all weekend, so he couldn't get away, but Castiel switched a shift so he could. He never missed an opportunity to see Les Miserables.

"You need anything specific, honey?" he asked, gesturing to her already packed bag on the couch.

"Nah, as long as I have a dress for the show and some soft pants for the drive I'll be fine," she smiled, cupping a hand to his cheek and pressing a kiss there before heading down the hallway to pee for the thousandth time today.

When she came back, Dean was fussing over her and Cas, complaining that he hadn't slept alone in over five years and that the next few nights were going to be awful. Cas laughed, patting his chest and making a fake pouty face at him, promising to bring the family home to Daddy Dean as soon as possible. Dean sneered at him, pulling his angel in tight for a kiss. He turned and kissed Katarzyna, bending to talk to her stomach as she pulled a jacket on and wiggled her hugely swollen toes into a pair of flip flops. Marshall wandered into the room and licked her foot happily, thumping his tail against Cas' thigh as he said goodbye to him as well.

"Now, you two listen to Daddy Dean," he said, poking each side of her stomach lightly. "Be good for mommy and Daddy Cas, and don't try escaping from your bubbles until you're safely back here to meet all of us!" he kissed her stomach over each of the twins, grabbing the bags and walking them all out.

A major stipulation in them going was that Castiel had to stay by her side constantly. Dean was the worst of the nagging mother hens at this, making sure they heard it a thousand times over.

"Now, Cas, I'm trusting you to keep an eye on the whole family for two nights. Use that beautiful head of yours, and the doctor training in it to keep them safe and bring all of you home to me, got it?" he pressed, shutting Katz' door behind her and poking Cas in the chest with a smile.

"I promise, Dean. I love you," he said, reaching up to give his husband a kiss before climbing into the driver's side and taking the four of them away, leaving Dean waving in the driveway, Marshall sitting at his feet.

~0~0~

They arrived in New York (well, right over the border in Jersey) after about 6 pee-break stops and a few tubes of Pringles. Cas got out and stretched, swinging his asleep arms in circles to get the blood flowing while he walked around the car to help Katarzyna out. They checked in to the hotel by the airport in Newark, taking the elevator to the room with a duffel bag apiece. The show was tomorrow night, so there was no immediate rush.

"Let's order a pizza or something, I don't want to go out tonight, darling," Katarzyna moaned, sinking down onto the bed. Cas laughed and picked up the phone, ordering them a delivery New York pizza, extra cheese.

"How are you feeling?" Castiel called out to Katz as she sat on her bed, chewing on the pizza and rubbing the side of her stomach. She had a paper plate carefully balanced on the top of her huge belly, a scrap of crust sitting there.

"Oh, Dean, how I will never make it without your presence! I feel my water breaking from the lack of your sheer will keeping my cervix plugged!" she yelled, taunting the man on the phone. She heard a grumble from the receiver and laughed, rolling her eyes. "I'm fine, no babies coming today," she answered more seriously, putting the plate on the bedside table and getting comfortable for bed. It was nearing ten o'clock, and she was getting tired from the drive, teaching, and dragging around an extra 60 pounds.

Cas hung up a few minutes later, settling into bed behind her and flipping through TV channels until he found a funny movie to settle in with. He fell asleep an hour later, being lulled by Katz' soft snores.

~0~0~

The next evening, after an afternoon of baby clothes shopping and picking out nursery décor, the dynamic duo made for their hotel through the Lincoln tunnel, going to get ready for the opera at eight. Katz picked a black dress that ghosted over her stomach, taking down the size a bit. It was getting cold out, so she wrapped an oversized pea coat-poncho around her for warmth. Cas suited up, the blue suit making his eyes shine, and a black silk tie to tone it down. Katz took a picture of him and sent it to Dean for a tease, setting her phone on the bed as she tightened the coat around her belly and made her final primps.

"Ready?" he asked, stretching out a hand to help her up off the bed. She smiled and nodded, following him down to a cab on the street.

"Boy, you know how to make yourself look good," she said, patting his thigh. "I'm proud to be having your babies with the way you look," she winked at him, making the man blush all the way to his hairline. She stretched over and pecked him on the cheek lightly, looking out the window as they neared Times Square. Cas caught the cabbie rolling his eyes and smiling in the rear view mirror.

They checked in and were escorted to their box seat by a new kid who didn't know who Katarzyna was. He let them in, got drinks, and left, leaving the two to peer around the room and chat nonchalantly. The door opened and an old fellow cast member came in, kneeling in front of Katz and kissing her belly, practically crying that she wasn't the lead this season.

"Shh, I'll be back next year, I promise!" she shushed the man, who coincidentally was the star, playing Valjean. He laughed and kissed her hand, a voice echoing over the balcony walls for him back to the stage for a quick run-through and costume check before the show started.

Castiel beamed when the man asked if it was his baby before he left, shaking his hand. He nodded and explained the situation.

"Oh, lord you are a saint, you know it?" the actor asked her, bending to peck a kiss to her cheek before yelling, "Coming!" down the stairs and disappearing from view.

The show started about half an hour later, and it was marvelous. Katz cooed over her previous cast mates as they took over the stage, the show going on without her. Cas watched her mouth the words of every song, especially those of Fantine, a tear sliding out of her eye. The babies kicked in her stomach, recognizing the songs she sang to them all the time, but in a different voice. The girl playing her was Katarzyna's understudy from years before, who generally played a chorus member or other background character when the lead actress was there. Katz was proud to see her in the limelight.

After the show the duo made their way backstage, kissing and hugging everyone in sight. Subsequently everyone in sight had their hands all over her belly, rubbing it for good luck, cooing and wishing her a painless birth, etcetera. Katarzyna reached into her clutch for her phone to take down an old friend's new number, and realized that it was missing.

"Oh shoot," she gasped, looking up at Cas. "I must have left my phone at the hotel!" Cas laughed.

"Oh, well Dean will be going nuts, probably halfway here by now, worrying that you're in labor! We better get back soon then, mine is in my coat in the coat check-in downstairs." They turned to leave, saying farewells to everyone who'd wished her well and missed her terribly, leaving behind a promise that she's be back next season.

Castiel approached the counter, turning in his ticket to get his coat back, and was shrugging it on, staring down at his phone – and the approximately 7 text messages and 3 voicemails he had from his husband- while Katarzyna waved for a taxi not ten feet away on the sidewalk. He was walking out the automatic doors to her when he heard the yelling; by the time he looked up from his phone, not a split second later, it was to the tune of a gunshot.

Adrenaline took over, running forward to protect the woman carrying his children no matter the cost. His phone lay abandoned on the cement sidewalk where he dropped it as he jumped forward, managing to catch Katarzyna as she fell backward onto the ground. Only then did he feel the hot wet slide of blood against his skin, soaking through the fabric of his suit jacket. He looked down in horror to see the black material of her dress sticking to the skin of her ribs, just above her right breast. Doctor mode kicked in, and he recognized that the gunshot wound was not near her heart, unless the man had curved the bullet. The junkie, still in the process of running, had been tackled by two onlookers a few feet away, and was facedown, being handcuffed by the police man that had blessedly been patrolling nearby.

Castiel was stupefied, pressing his hand to the wound to slow the bleeding, but it had hit a pulmonary artery, and was gushing blood. Soon a pool was around them, and Katz was paling visibly within a minute. An ambulance arrived, the EMT grabbing up Cas' phone from the sidewalk where it was ringing; Dean again.

Everything was moving in slow motion. Katz was looking around dizzyingly, flashes of light and blood swirling before her eyes. Cas was next to her in the ambulance, talking to Dean, well, screaming down the line at him that she'd been shot. She vaguely heard, over the noise of the EMT working on her, Dean yell back that he was leaving that second and to fuck his appointments all weekend. A breathing tube was inserted into her nostril, and she felt the odd sensation of it being pushed all the way down the back of her throat into the lung that had not been punctured by the bullet. Her head lolled back to Cas when the fabric tape was stuck to her face, holding in the air tube. He was in a panic, watching every move the EMT made; keeping one hand on her stomach and one hand in her hair, reminding her that he was close. She stretched out the hand that didn't have an IV in it, grasping his weakly.

"She needs a blood transfusion. How far along is her pregnancy?" the EMT asked, looking up at Castiel.

"Just shy of eight months. You're going to need to do a Cesarean as soon as we get there, and then blood transfusions. She'll have to be taken to the surgery block for the artery to be repaired, so I suggest calling in now for a heart surgeon and a delivery surgeon to meet you at the door. The EMT nodded to the young doctor, calling in the code over his shoulder walkie- talkie. They arrived at the hospital a minute later, unloading the pregnant woman gently as she had come out of shock and was now feeling the pain from the wound.

"Katz, sweetie, they're taking you into surgery. I'm going to sit in with you; they're letting me change into scrubs now, okay? Stay with me! I swear to God if you don't pull through-" he was cut off by her hand, waving weakly at him from the gurney as they cut away her dress and assessed the wound, taping it up and putting her on a morphine drip, giving her the shots needed to speed up lung development in the babies before they could be removed. She was rolled slightly to the side, allowing for the spinal block to be injected and rubbed for a second. A blood bag was strung up, a new hole being poked into her arm for the blood transfusion. Her gunshot wound was stitched up messily, allowing for a coagulant to be injected on the site to stop further bleeding.

"Doctor Winchester?" the young surgeon came in, hands held up while an attending tied on his surgery gown and do-rag. Cas nodded, eyes flicking in to his best friend on the table within the surgery room. "My name is Zachariah, I'll be the heart surgeon for the day, and Doctor Balthazar is heading in behind me for the delivery. Can you tell me anything about what happened?" he asked, coming closer. Cas's eyes went back and forth between the surgery room and the surgeon again.

"We were at Broadway, seeing Les Mis. I went to get my coat and check the voicemails from my husband while she called a cab. Next thing I heard was yelling and a gunshot, and I caught her before she hit the ground."

"So you know this woman?" he asked. Cas rolled his eyes.

"I've known her for about ten years!" he yelled, getting angry that the doctor wasn't in there fixing her now. "She is carrying my twins as a surrogate for my husband and me." Zachariah nodded, ushering Cas in to the surgery room and letting him stand next to Katz. He took her hand and looked down, allowing the attending to tie on a face mask.

"You're going to be fine, sweetheart," he whispered, watching the nurses bustle around, hooking this and that machine up to her before setting down trays of surgery implements and miles of gauze. One of them checked her gunshot wound again, and Doctor Balthazar came running in, the nurse hot on his heels with his face mask in hand.

"What do we got here?" he asked in a soft British accent, somehow calming the terrifying situation in a simple sentence. Castiel relaxed, listening to Zachariah explain quickly the process before Balthazar dove in to save the babies.

"Cas, just make sure they know who I am, please. You two will be wonderful fathers. Let them listen to me on…tape…"
her eyes lolled from the drugs, but she didn't fall asleep, wanting to remain awake and see the twins delivered safely. Cas had never felt more helpless, having to force himself to not tear at his hair as he watched on in horror while the strange blonde doctor pulled the scalpel across Katz' belly, spreading her abdomen wide to pull out his twins.

A pounding on the glass window made them all look. Dean was outside, having sped at a demon rate to get there in under an hour. His fast-coming breath fogged against the glass as he motioned for Cas to remain beside her, to keep an eye out. It was superfluous of course, there was both no way for Cas to leave during an operation of this magnitude, and he wouldn't have if he had been able to anyway. He turned back to Dr Balthazar and watched as the man gently pulled Elijah from the gaping hole in between Katarzyna's hips. He heard Dean smack a hand to his mouth as the baby was lifted, screaming, into a nurse's hands and the nurse scrubbed him clean as Ava followed closely behind. Balthazar removed his gloves after cleaning her up a bit, removing the muscle spreaders and beckoned Cas to follow him into the next room where the twins were being washed off and swathed in hospital blankets. To say he was speechless is an understatement.

Katarzyna was stitched and stapled shut again as the doctors moved their attention north to the bullet hole in her chest. The lung needed to be patched, and the arterial wall had already begun its natural mending, but they needed to strengthen it, and fast. Dean watched helplessly from behind the glass wall as she was closed up and re-opened, a small incision being made to dig out the round and place a small stint in her arterial wall, making it a bit stronger so that the tissue could grow around the mesh and make a new pulmonary artery naturally. He couldn't help flicking his eyes from the scene in front of him to the doorway where Cas, his twins, and the blond doctor had disappeared. In a matter of minutes, Castiel rounded the corner, one pink and one blue bundle balanced delicately in each arm. His face was glowing under the spatter of blood from Katz' bullet wound. Balthazar pushed open the door for Cas, letting him out into the watching room with Dean. The larger man looked dumbfounded, a hand twitching hesitantly to take one of their new babies. He was scared shitless, for way too many reasons just now.

All he could see in that next second was the tears welled up in Castiel's eyes as he offered the pink blanketed bundle to Dean. He looked down in the face of his daughter, Ava, and saw every bit of the man he loved in her face and tufty black hair. He peeked over into the blue bundle, seeing Elijah crack a navy blue eye open and yawn, his mouth stretching into a perfect O as a hand fought its way out of the binding blanket. He laughed breathily, amazement and awe taking over the fear for his friend, at the perfect lives she had granted them with. He leaned across the two bundles, ducking slightly to press a teary kiss to Cas' lips as the two turned back to the viewing window.

Katarzyna's head was turned their way, a weak smile on her lips as she took in the view of her two best friends holding the twins she had nurtured for the last eight months. She had heard Dr Balthazar say to the nurse that they were perfectly healthy; a bouncing six pounds each which was huge for twins. As the two looked back at her, tilting the babies so that she could see from her position on the operating table, her eyes closed, a surgically restrained hand reaching up toward her face as if to bat off a fly. Two fingers curled and pressed lightly to her lips and her eyes opened again as she blew the new family a kiss.

"NO!" Dean choked a sob as her heart monitor flat-lined. Castiel was in shock and clutched Elijah tighter, looking to Dean as if to both say, "don't drop the baby" and "do something!" they both were frozen, rooted to the spot as Zachariah and his team of nurses pumped her heart, breaking out the paddles to jolt her if they needed to.

Cas slapped his free hand over his mouth, the tears freely flowing as he lowered the hand and knocked on the glass. The head nurse looked over at them, and he drew a hand across his throat, telling them to stop. It had been over ten minutes, and his training told him that there was no saving her.

The men looked fearfully at the new lives in their arms, so cruelly ripped from their nurturing mother in a twist of fate. Castiel slid down the wall, letting his body wrack with sobs as he heard the doctor mutter "Time of Death, 10:42 pm." Dean came to sit next to him, taking care not to jostle the sleeping, unawares infant in his arms. Ava nor Elijah made no sound, as if they knew it was a time for quiet.

The doctors and nurses got them up a few minutes later, taking the couple and the newborn twins to a room so that they could have some peace. Dean was still in shock, refusing to believe that she was actually gone. With Cas' doctor training, he was less in shock, going back over every step of the night, wondering where he had gone wrong and let her die. He had apparently uttered this aloud, because Dean switched arms with Ava and tucked his free one around Castiel.

"No, angel, you can't think like that. This is the fault of the man who shot her, not yours. You did what you could, as a doctor. Being pregnant…the odds were stacked against her." He whispered gently, not wanting to wake up the babies. A nurse came in with two bottles of milk they had made up. They gently awoke the twins and fed them for the first time, each taking the other baby from whom they had held right after delivery.

"She wanted them to grow up knowing who she was," Cas murmured, looking down and running the gentlest of fingers through the long black hair that stood on end from Ava's head. "We'll have to dig out our copy of Les Mis from our wedding night," Dean nodded silently, biting his lip as he felt more tears well up "I'm so sorry, Dean, I broke my promise, to keep the family safe and bring us all back to you," tears streamed down his face as he burrowed his head into Dean's shoulder. The larger man could do nothing to convince Cas otherwise, but he tried anyway.

"Castiel James Winchester," he said, his voice going hard. Cas sobered up a bit, or at least went quiet. "Don't you dare blame this on yourself one more time, or I'll have you evaluated!" Cas half-smiled and hugged the baby tighter, hearing her sigh and peek her eyes open for the first time. They were much lighter than Elijah's, almost crystalline to his navy. He ran a finger over her baby soft skin and clucked at her, smiling when a tiny hand fought its way out to grasp his finger tight.

A few hours later a doctor came in to take the twins' pictures, blood and feet prints, taking down their names for the birth certificates.

"She's Ava Misha Winchester," Cas said to the nurse, taking the first part of Katz' last name as the baby's middle name. "And he's Elijah Benjamin Winchester." The woman nodded thoughtfully, starting to back out of the room before pausing, tapping her clipboard with the pen and biting her lip. She turned to the couple slowly.

"Do you boys believe in angels?" she asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. The men looked at each other and back at her, nodding. "Well, I was in that operating room and I can honestly say that from the second her heart pattern flat lined, I felt a hand laid on those babies. They're very calm for being newborns, and I think you're in for a really good life with them. You need to pray every day that she keeps them safe, 'cuz that lady was a saint, and she's sure as heck in heaven watching over her family now" the girl smirked and walked out of the room quietly, leaving them to ponder.

"Holy shit," Dean blew out a puff of air, adjusting Elijah in his arms and resting back onto the uncomfortable hospital couch.

"You said it…" Cas trailed off, letting his eyes drift to the ceiling. "Katarzyna, sweetie, if you're listening, we love you. We could never repay you for this, for your sacrifice… but you're always welcome to keep an eye on us anytime, love." A tear slid down his cheek and he pursed his lips, pressing them to the forehead of the sleeping baby in his arms. Ava cooed from her roly-poly swaddled position in the wheelie hospital bassinette and Dean jumped up instantly to scoop her up. Great; they had been alive a grand total of five hours, and they already had their daddies wrapped around their tiny fingers.

Dean came over to the bed and pressed his forehead against Cas', tilting his head further for a kiss. They were going to be just fine.

teary yet? epilogue coming up in a few days :)

ps- I HATELOVED THE SHIT OUT OF KILLING HER

reviews por favor?