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Chapter 24

Serra

"This ain't so bad," I said to Sam, leaning my head on his shoulder as we sat and watched a movie. "I don't know what Grace is complaining about."

"They're not conscious, Sere," Sam said quietly, smiling. "It's a little different when all four of them are awake at the same time."

I rolled my eyes and scooted lower so that my head lay in his lap. I stared up at him from my position on the couch and shook my head. "Whatever. She's a big girl. She can handle it." Knowing Sam rolled his eyes, I smacked his arm and turned to finish watching the movie. A few minutes later, I could hear one of the twins begin to fuss, their voice echoing through the baby monitor on the table. Turning to glance up at Sam, I lifted my eyebrows. "My impulse is to let him cry it out," I began, "especially considering that if it's Everett, he's gonna be more pissed off that Grace isn't here."

Sam didn't seem to know what to do, so I shook my head and sat up, listening. He moved to the edge of the couch, listening as well, but to something I hadn't noticed yet. "You hear that?" he said, standing silently.

"All I hear is the baby," I said, watching my husband carefully. "What do you hear?"

Shaking his head, he padded to Grace's kitchen and stared out into the night. "Go upstairs, Serra," Sam whispered. "Listen for the kids."

"Shit," I said, walking towards the steps. "Do you see it? Is it back?"

Sam held up his hand as he stared out into the darkness. I closed my mouth and went up three of the steps to get a better view outside. Still listening to one of the babies cry was comforting. At least nothing had changed inside. I ran up the rest of the steps and into Grace and Dean's room. I dug through Grace's nightstand drawer and brought out her tiny .9 millimeter, just to make myself feel better. I came back out onto the landing and stared down into the kitchen. I saw a glint of light from the top of the refrigerator and whispered to Sam. "Sam!" I shouted, using no voice, "There's a .45 on top of the fridge."

He glanced back at me and tiptoed to the fridge, reaching up blindly. Successful, he brought down the gun and checked the clip. "They're not silver," he said quietly. "This won't help me."

"It's comforting at least," I said, moving towards the kids' rooms. Levi was still asleep in the middle of Grace and Dean's bed, surrounded by pillows, so I padded to the other bedrooms and listened at each of the doors, trying to figure out who was crying. Libby was snoring away, still deep asleep while one of her siblings sobbed. I hesitated at Glory's door, but as I got closer, I knew for a fact that the crier was Everett. Figures.

Gently, I opened the door of his bedroom and walked inside, checking the windows out of habit. Everything was right where it should be, but Rhett was red in the face from crying and as I approached him, I shoved the .9 millimeter in my back pocket and he quieted long enough to see that I wasn't Grace and began to cry again. "Oh, come on, kiddo," I said, scooping him up out of his crib. "You're okay." I patted his back and bounced him around the room, trying to calm my nephew. "You're okay. Momma's going to be back later. She went to go fuck your daddy." I chuckled at my own foul mouth, realizing how awful it sounded out loud. "Sorry. She went to see your daddy. There, that's more PG, right?"

He was relentless, wailing at the top of his lungs. I offered different objects to him as we walked, but nothing appeased him. I stared down at the mini-Dean in my arms and shook my head. "You're pathetic," I said, heading towards the window in the corner of the room. Glancing up, staring out into the field behind the Big House, I could see movement. The curtains that hung in my nephew's room were just transparent enough to see through and as I approached in the dark, I could see a creature moving quickly across the open space in the tall grass. "Shit, there it is," I said, staring.

Almost as if the monster heard me, it paused and stood on its hind legs, turning to stare into the upstairs windows. I knew from the angle it watched from, it couldn't see us, but there was a distinct possibility that it could hear us. "Shhh, Rhett. It's okay," I patted him again and watched the creature take off running again, into the night.

I could hear Sam running up the steps to the second floor as I watched the werewolf take off across the field, back towards the main road where Sam had seen it the first time. Breathless, he ran into Rhett's room, pushing his hair out of his face and glancing around. "Are you okay?"

"We're fine," I said, making a face. "It's not like it was up here."

"I know, but did you see it?"

Nodding, I spoke over Everett, "Yeah, and I'm pretty sure it could hear him." I flashed to the memories of my dad hunting the pack of werewolves when I was a kid and knowing that they had a taste for young flesh. "You think it's circling for the kids?"

"It wouldn't surprise me," Sam said, approaching Rhett and me. He reached out and stroked our nephew's head, shushing him as he did so. "Everett, it's okay," he said quietly. "Shhhhh."

"I'm gonna go downstairs and try to feed him," I replied, Rhett still screaming.

Turning to follow me out of the room, Sammy hesitated in the hall, listening to the other three kids. Everyone seemed safe and quiet, so he joined me in the kitchen moments later. I grabbed a bottle from the fridge and shook it, warming it under the hot water of the sink. "Come on, kiddo. It can't always be mom holding you," I was saying over his sobs. "You've gotta let someone else hold you every once and awhile." I turned, thinking Sammy was standing behind me, but I looked up into Cas' blue eyes instead. "Shit, hi Cas," I greeted, taking a deep gasp of air. "What brings you over? You catch sight of the werewolf?"

"Werewolf? No. There is a werewolf?" he asked, suddenly facing the sliding glass door at the end of the kitchen. "I heard Everett continue to cry and decided to come and help Grace, but you're here. Where is Grace?"

"She went to see Dean at the shop. He finished the Chevelle tonight and she wanted to reward him," I replied, swirling the bottle under the hot water as Rhett continued to wail.

Castiel shook his head, obviously not understanding. "It is Dean's new, chosen career to refurbish vintage cars. Isn't that in itself a reward?"

I was shaking my head as I felt Everett's bottle. It was good enough. I laid him back into my arm and showed him the bottle of milk. He continued to whimper, but seemed content in being fed. He reached for the bottle as I walked over to the couch to sit down. "No, you're not getting it," I said, picking up the conversation. "She and Dean just haven't had any alone time in awhile, with the kids here all the time. She went to the shop to "see" him." I emphasized the word "see," trying to communicate the truth in my sister's evening adventure.

Cas simply stared at me and tilted his head. Sam chuckled behind me at my frustration.

"She went to fuck him," I said blatantly using the same inappropriate phrase I had used in front of Everett.

Watching Rhett eat, Cas nodded, finally understanding. "I knew they were intimate this evening. Twice, in fact, but Grace is not ovulating, so I allowed them to proceed."

Sam put up his hands and shook his head, walking away from Cas and I. "What the hell, Cas?" I said, shaking my head as well.

He watched my and Sam's reactions with confusion. "Grace and Dean had assigned me the task of not allowing Grace to be impregnated again."

"Literally?" I asked, my eyebrows in the air.

Nodding, Castiel continued, "They have yet to figure out a better solution. Nothing else will work and Dean seems to have an aversion to condoms."

"Oh my God, Cas," Sam's voice came from behind the counter. "Stop, just stop talking."

He didn't seem to understand the discomfort of the discussion, but Cas stopped talking anyway. He glanced out the window with his hands behind his back and smiled lightly, changing subjects. "A werewolf?"

Laughing at Sam's reaction, I nodded, grateful for the shift in conversation. "Yeah, Grace caught wind of her a couple of days ago. Said she couldn't hear her."

Nodding, Cas agreed. "No, Grace would not be able to hear a creature such at that. This pack is different, though. They can shift at will and the family is very large."

"How can they shift at will? A genetic mutation?"

Cas glanced over at Sam, nodding slightly. "Do you remember Eve? When she began to change the monsters she created to make new, more horrible ones?"

Sam nodded once. "She is hard to forget."

"The werewolves that existed before were bound by the lunar cycle. The newest families that have been changed and inter-bred do not require the cycle in order to shift."

"Awesome," I muttered. Glancing down at Everett, I smiled lightly. His bright blue eyes, so similar to Grace's, were beginning to close and finally, he was breathing calmly. "Hey, look. I'm the most amazing aunt ever. I got Rhett to calm the hell down."

Sammy chuckled quietly. "It's a miracle."

Almost as if he understood, Everett glanced at Sam and frowned slightly. Again, giving into the sleepiness he felt, he closed his eyes, still with his little eyebrows furrowed together.