"You're so stupid!" Tessa yelled. "Cas, how can you be so foolish? Within the day you will be laying those eggs! You've never done this before and now you're going to wander some place based on a whim you picked up last night?!"

Cas ignored what she said. He didn't care.

"I've received a sign from God," he explained. "I'm certain that Dean is still out there somewhere. I will endure what I must if it means finding him. The idea of him injured, unconscious, needing help…" He paused and took a pained breath. "It hurts me. He's done so much to help me with my life, and now, even if it's only a 'whim that I picked up last night,' I'm going to follow it. Our herd is gone, his pack is broken. At this point, it doesn't make much of a difference if I live or die."

"Castiel, you are being foolish beyond all reason," Gadreel interrupted. He looked incredibly frustrated. "Look at what we have gone through! Sure the herds and packs have been destroyed by this weather, but we've found new hope! These travelers here have embraced us. We begin an entirely new life! We've been redeemed by them. And you're going to turn your back on these people who offer us everything when we have nothing."

Gabe now stepped in. Holding his eggs comfortably to his chest, he looked to Gadreel and then to Cas, and finally back to Gadreel.

"Hold on a second," he began, smiling oddly. "Didn't all of this begin with Cas and Dean telling us things that we should have listened to? Haven't we agreed that we've been dumb? Tessa, you even said so. You just made it clear to us. Cas wants to go on his own, risk his life and uh, probably die…lay his eggs with nobody to help…" He swallowed tightly and flicked his eyes back to Cas. They were sad. "We should probably honor that…"

Gadreel pressed his lips together in thought. After a long moment of standing, staring and holding their breath while waiting, he agreed.

The travelers were more than happy to offer Cas a small cart that he could keep supplies in. It wasn't large enough to sleep in but he could keep blankets in it. He would also get one of the horses, though the remainders of his herd still needed the wagon.

It was a sad goodbye and a great shame to have the already broken group of people break even smaller, but Gadreel's words had inspired a new unity in the three that remained with the travelers. They were already feeling like a big family by the time Cas had moved on.

He headed towards the east, just as the meteor had guided him. That led continuing through the grasslands and soon turned into a forest. At first it was spare, but the further Cas pressed on, it grew denser and denser until the daylight was almost impossible to see through a stained glass-like canopy above.

Then, Cas noticed there was a warm, comforting vibe to the woods. He couldn't quite place what it was but it made him believe that he was right on track.

His horse continued with the cart lugging behind them. Cas ate dried fish and nuts to sustain energy, but nothing he ate could ease the tension of his heavily pregnant stomach. The pain grew and he knew that it was finally time.

It was difficult to sit on the horse while his body prepared to lay the eggs, so he found a space to dismount and rest with a blanket beneath him. He removed his pants, squat down, curled up and cried out in great pain. He could feel the eggs moving—pressing further and further down through is body on their way to freedom and the beginning of life.

His hands were trembling and his stomach twisted this way and that as he retched, overcome with pain and odd feelings. He cried and cried, fearing that he might fall unconscious from the horrible discomfort of egg laying.

He tried to steady his breathing. At that moment, he thought it may have been a mistake to follow he meteor towards the east and away from his herd. He had never felt more alone.

But he had to have the eggs. They had to come and they would. He would get through it and all would be well.

He took a deep breath and pushed. They were leaving his stomach now and heading down towards his cloaca. His knees fell to the ground and his hands soon followed. Wild shrieks of terror filled the dense woods around him. His head was spinning. His sight was blurry. He wasn't going to die, was he? Had anyone ever died from egg laying? Not that he knew of, but he didn't know very much…

As he felt his hole spread, some sort of unpleasant embryonic fluid passed. He screamed so loud that it apparently got the attention of a nearby forest dweller.

He heard a smooth female voice call to him in his hour of need.

"Do you need help?" she asked. He heard footsteps growing—they were soft and many, perhaps some from children.

Cas couldn't answer, he was in too much pain.

"Are you—are you laying eggs?" the woman again called out. She was closer now.

Cas heard a strange noise. Were there birds? Was she with birds? It sounded like wings flapping.

"You're okay, you'll be all right. Take deep breaths. The eggs will be out of you soon."

Cas had no choice but to listen to her. She was comforting, at least. A soft hand touched his arm and he felt oddly relieved.

"You're all right," she reassured him.

Sweating, crying, he looked up and saw the person who the voice belong to. She was young and pretty, with long raven hair and full lips. There were fuchsia freckles on the bridge of her nose and cheeks that made her beautiful in an other-worldly way.

"You're okay," she said. "Keep pushing. Take deep breaths. In—out—in—out."

Cas breathed along with her directions.

"Your eggs are on their way. Don't worry. It sometimes takes a while."

"Thank you, thank you," Cas muttered.

He was drooling. It was embarrassing. Every part of him was exposed and now a complete stranger was helping him. Tears fell to the forest floor. All things considered, he was grateful—he wasn't alone.

The other footsteps surrounded Cas and had no voices and he was a little bit alarmed, but the woman was kind and helpful and he couldn't be bothered to wonder about it. It was impractical to worry.

An impossible stretch of his cloaca led to a blood curdling cry. He gasped and clutched grass out of the soil.

"You're doing good! They're coming!" the woman cheered. She stroked his arm.

Cas laughed through his screams. It was wonderful! He was giving birth—somewhat.

As the eggs passed, Cas thought he blacked out momentarily. The pain was so unberable that he was thankful for that. When he came to, he found himself lying flat on the ground with his head turned to the side, gasping and twitching.

"Anymore?" the woman asked. "Are you okay? Do you have anymore?"

Cas opened his eyes and saw the sideways forest and felt grass scratching the half of his head that rested on the ground. He smiled and laughed.

"No," he said.

His hands stroked over his stomach and felt that it was still swollen but the pressure of the eggs was relieved. It was done. He survived.

He struggled to sit up. "How many?" he asked weakly.

The woman was very small and fair. She appeared elated. "One!" she exclaimed.

Cas' reaction was the complete opposite of hers.

"One?!"

He sat up better and saw down between his legs sat one, large egg. The shell was still slightly soft from having just been passed, but it was a beautiful, crystalline blue with a corona of emerald around the bottom. Cas' shaking hands reached out and took it. It was still slimy.

"One," he said, heart broken.

The woman, however, was surprised.

"This is incredible!" she said. "You wander into our forest and you have a miraculous birth!"

Cas cried harder now.

"How? HOW?! How is this a miracle? I've had one. One! I lost my mate and now we only have one—one egg! How will it survive? How did this happen?!"

His eyes fell on the woman and he realized that in his panic, he had completely overlooked the fact that she had a pair of bright purple butterfly wings beating on her back. She also wore a thin dress made from a fabric that Cas had never seen before. It sparkled pearly white yet was also translucent. If he hadn't been so preoccupied with his egg laying, he may have spent more time observing her nude figure, clearly visible through the strange material of the dress. It was oddly enchanting, but Cas put his attention back on the egg.

"One is the worst luck," he sighed. "Whatever you…what are you?"

"I'm a fairy, of course," the woman said. "Well, my name is Ruby. And you?"

"Castiel, or Cas. It doesn't matter. Either way. But Cas is much easier."

"Okay, then, Castiel or Cas. While your kind may find a lone egg to be unlucky, my kind think it's the most lucky of all!"

Cas stared at the egg in his hands. He turned it over once. It was very warm with life.

"I've never even heard of fairies," he said quietly. "I never realized there was such a people like you."

"Mm. Yeah. We try to hide from you, so I'm not surprised."

As he examined his surroundings better, he noted that the other footsteps heard earlier belonged to three little children. They were barely toddlers and all wore clothes made from the same material as Ruby's.

"My babies," she said when Cas stared at them. "I had a clutch two years ago."

"So then you also have eggs? Where are their wings?"

"Half-fairies," she specified. "Their father is a hunter. Human."

Cas blinked. "Is he around?"

"Yes. You must be exhausted. You want to come back to my house and eat something? Rest, maybe? I want to know why you're here and why anybody would come alone into the woods to pass eggs!"

Cas chuckled sadly. It was true. He had made poor choices, but he stood by them and still believed whole-heartedly that Dean was alive.

Ruby took Cas, her children and the horse and wagon through the woods and to her house. When she stood, he saw that her body was covered in those bright freckles, too; only the ones on her back and thighs looked more like leopard spots.

That comforting feeling Cas had earlier was growing stronger as they got close. Finally they reached a tiny house. It looked like it was straight out of a fairy tale (no pun intended!)—it was a tiny log cabin with a thatched roof and flowers growing up the walls and in the yard. The trees parted just around it so that light fell down over the roof. A tall man stood in the doorway and suddenly a dog came running out at them.

"RORORORORO!" it barked wildly.

Cas had never seen such a hound! It came up to his waist! The coat with short and tan but the face was black, with copper eyes and floppy ears. He thought it was amazing that the dog was gentle with the toddlers.

"Who is this?" the man, presumably Ruby's mate, asked.

"A beta that I found in the woods. He just had an egg. One egg!"

"Oh, Chuck!"

The man gasped and ran to Cas' side. He was incredibly tall—taller than Dean! His hair was long but his face was well groomed. He took Cas' arm.

"Are you okay? Mentally and physically?"

"I think so," Cas mumbled. He was confused.

They led him inside and had him sit down. There was actual furniture inside the house. The chairs had padded cushions and a rug was on the floor. Against one wall was a fireplace that roared and crackled softly. The three toddlers ran in behind the mom and took their seats on the rug.

"Are you a hunter or a gatherer?" the man asked.

"Gatherer, I suppose."

"You suppose?"

Ruby got a clay cup from a box and put tea into it. She then brought it to the fire, where a kettle was boiling, and poured hot water over it.

"Thank you," Cas said when she offered him the cup. He kept his precious egg in his lap. "I was always a gatherer, but my mate, well…he was a hunter. He is a hunter! I'm going to find him."

"Where did he go?" the man asked.

"I—I don't know."

Cas told them every detail about the storm. He explained how the stragglers of his herd had left and were with travelers now, and also about the meteor and his inclination that Dean was alive.

"Beautiful," Ruby sighed as his story finished. "True love, my kind would say!"

The man, who had introduced himself as Sam, laughed softly and touched the fairy's hand. "Your kind says a lot of things."

"Um," Cas interrupted. "Would you mind…since I told you about me, perhaps you could explain more about the fairies?"

"What is there to say?" Ruby asked. "We're fairies. We're very energetic, to put it lightly. Sam came to us as an egg. Oh, didn't your mother lay you in this forest?"

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Apparently she came here just like you—alone and afraid. She had just one egg and then later died."

Cas gasped.

"It's okay, it's okay," Sam tried to calm him down. "It's clearly just a coincidence. You're very healthy and the egg looks like it, too."

"My people raised Sam and then I fell in love with him," Ruby added very quickly. She had tea, too, and sipped it. "Now we have our own clutch. Little half-fairies."

The toddlers were stumbling around on the floor. Cas noticed that they had freckles on their bodies like Ruby, too. The two boys had gold spots that were harder to see while the single girl had light blue. Cas watched them and smiled. He thought about what his child might look like once it hatched and grew up.

"You're tired," Ruby said, breaking his concentration. "Come and rest here. You're welcome to stay."

"Thank you," said Cas.

He nodded gratefully then made up a nest with the blankets he had brought along in the cart. Sam and Ruby chatted quietly and Cas dozed off. He curled up around his egg and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and reassured himself that Dean was out there.