December 24, 2031

Weeks after Conception: 17 (4 months, 1 week)

The next two weeks passed by without any signs of demons and Sam and Dean had gone on a couple hunts. Castiel and Emily meanwhile had kept to Bobby's house for the most part, studying his books, watching TV, and observed Emily's stomach as it began to become noticeably rounder.

The visual sign of their baby growing had an effect on both of them. Emily, now less queasy than before seemed to liven up and she caught herself resting her hand on her belly more often while Castiel became gentler, more intuitive.

On Christmas Eve morning Castiel awoke to see snowflakes falling slowly through the air to the ground outside of the bedroom that they now considered theirs.

He smiled and turned to whisper in Emily's ear "It's snowing."

Emily opened her eyes slowly and yawned. As she rubbed them she asked "Do you think it'll stay this time?"

Castiel shrugged. "I don't know. It looks cold enough out there."

Just then Emily gasped in surprise and she laid her hand quickly on her stomach.

Castiel became concerned. "What is it?"

Without saying anything Emily picked up his right hand and placed it on her abdomen. Castiel widened his eyes when he felt a squirming movement from within it.

"The baby's moving." Castiel was in awe.

Emily grinned, and nodded. "Isn't that a great Christmas present?"

"Best I've ever had," Castiel murmured.

He kissed Emily, and pulled her closer to him. There they stayed for some time each with one hand on Emily's belly and felt the life inside her move. Neither had ever been happier.

After Castiel and Emily dressed later in the morning, they went downstairs to find Sam and Dean throwing lights onto the branches of a freshly cut spruce tree in the library. The aroma was wonderfully fresh.

"Wow guys you didn't have to get a tree," Emily told them.

Sam looked up from their work and said "We wanted to. We are usually on the road constantly, so it's nice when we can to celebrate Christmas with a tree and all."

"Well I love it," commented Emily. "I guess I'd better go into town to pick up some Christmas food if we're going to get into the spirit." She glanced over at Castiel. "Do I even have to ask if you're coming?"

"No, because I definitely am," laughed Castiel kissing her forehead.

Emily rolled her eyes and went to grab her coat out of the closet by the front door. Castiel did the same and then they left after he took his car keys off of one of the key hooks, leaving Dean and Sam to plug in the lights of the Christmas tree to see if they all worked.

Once they were done Dean took out a couple of beers from the refrigerator and gave one to Sam to drink as they looked over their work.

"Not bad huh, Sammy?"

Sam couldn't disagree. "Best tree I've ever seen."

He clunked his beer bottle with Dean's and they drank up.

When Emily and Castiel arrived back at Bobby's they had quite a bit of bags of groceries with them. Castiel took three trips to the car and back. Sam and Dean were astounded.

"Did you buy out the local store?" scoffed Dean, jokingly.

Emily put a hand on her hip after putting the bags she was carrying on the bar. "Nooo. I bought what we needed for the week."

"There's no way we'll eat that much," Dean denied.

"You're not the one who shops for you," Emily pointed out to him. "Believe me you guys eat a lot. Hell, more than I do, and I have an excuse."

"We do too," protested Dean. "We're hunters. We have high metabolisms."

Emily giggled. "Thank God for that, the way you love food you'd weigh a ton."

Sam smirked. "Definitely."

Dean glared at him. His eyes said it all: Betrayer.

"Cas could you unwrap the ham and put it in this afterwards?" asked Emily, lifting a pan onto the bar next to the sink.

Castiel gave her a nod. "Of course."

He took out the ham she'd bought from one of the bags and carried it over to the pan to work on it.

"I'll sharpen the craving knife," volunteered Sam. "Hasn't been sharpened since two thousand and seven; it must be dull."

"Wow" was all Emily could say to that.

Dean searched the bags. "No eggnog?"

Emily frowned. "I didn't know you liked it, and of course I can't have it."

"No biggie, I'll go get some for myself."

Dean grabbed the Impala's keys as he began humming one of the old songs he liked, probably Ramble On, and slipped through the door in the kitchen.

"He's more upbeat than usual," noted Castiel.

Sam grinned. "It's Christmas, and he-we haven't celebrated in a while."

"Mmmm this is delicious," Dean rolled his eyes with pleasure as he chewed on a piece of ham that night.

"Glad you like. My sister…taught me everything," Emily trailed off.

Castiel squeezed her hand under the dining room table. "You should call her sometime."

"Not yet, when we get the demon I will."

Castiel nodded and forked up some mashed potatoes from his plate.

"You guys haven't noticed anything?" Emily questioned casually, looking over at Sam and Dean.

Sam shook his head. "Everything seems normal."

"Good."

Emily then bit into the slice of bread she was holding and they all went into a comfortable silence.

After they were done dinner, and Emily and Castiel had washed the dishes, the group entered the library and pulled the couch and a couple chairs to the center to watch TV. The guys had settled on watching football and Emily went along with the flow. It didn't matter to her.

Once the guys were sitting Emily left to grab the presents she'd bought for them earlier that morning, and took them to the men.

When they saw Castiel, Sam, and Dean all were surprised.

"You didn't have to get us anything," Sam told her.

"I wanted to, here." Emily passed out a gift to each of them. "Get busy."

Sam, Dean, and Castiel did as ordered, unwrapping their gifts as Emily sat down next to Castiel on the couch.

Dean was the first to uncover his. It was a vinyl record of Pink Floyd's album Dark Side of the Moon.

He lit up. "Where'd you get this?"

"Garage sale," Emily admitted. "It was in pretty good shape and I noticed Bobby has the player downstairs for it so I figured why not?"

"I love it, thanks Em."

Emily smiled. "No problem."

Next was Sam. His gift was a tan leather Journal.

"I thought you'd like something to write your story in and notes like your father did," explained Emily. "I was going to get you a book but it seemed silly with all these books here around us."

"It's great," Sam reassured her.

Castiel was last. He opened his box to find a Sony camera.

"You mentioned to me more than once that you wished to take pictures of some places we visit and now you can."

Castiel kissed Emily.

"I'll put it to good use," he promised.

Dean then stood to flip on the Christmas lights and raised the volume on the TV.

The guys focused back on the game while Emily found herself watching the sparkling tree as she curled up next to Castiel with her head on his shoulder. She felt wonderful, and so peaceful.

What a great day, she thought.

Emily hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep but when she opened her eyes she was in bed and Castiel was checking on the salt line that lay on the windowsill.

"What time is it?" inquired Emily.

Castiel twisted in his spot to see her and sighed. "Eleven."

"What's in your hand?" Emily asked.

Castiel was holding a small navy blue box. He glanced down at it and protruded his lower lip. "I wasn't expecting you to wake up now."

"What is it?" insisted Emily.

"I wanted to wait until tomorrow," said Castiel as he sat down on the bed beside her and opened the box.

Emily's eyes bulged when she saw the gold ring inside.

"Emily, will you marry me?" questioned Castiel.

Emily was stunned. She hadn't been expecting him to propose.

Castiel looked nervous. "Well?"

"Yes, of course," Emily burst into a grin.

She stuck out her left hand and Castiel slipped the ring on her finger.

"It fits perfectly," he mused.

Castiel's eyes met with Emily's and she leaned forward to give him a passionate kiss.

She pulled him closer to her and Castiel's eyes became wide with realization. He kissed her back stronger, and they sunk down onto the bed.