Sophie sat down at the kitchen table and dropped a stack of flyers in front of Dean, narrowly missing his coffee.
"We're in Sioux Falls for two weeks next month," she said, "And Sioux Falls is a big enough town that they have things like Lamaze classes and prenatal yoga. We're going."
"Don't you mean you're going?" Dean asked.
"Nope," Sophie pointed to a line of text that read birth partners welcome on each and every pamphlet, "I mean we."
"Do I have to wear the weird stretchy pants?"
"I don't believe that's a requirement," Sophie replied.
"Okay," Dean sighed, "Then I'm in."
The day they were scheduled to drive out to Sioux Falls dawned bright and clear, at least that's what Dean's phone told him. Sophie was still hard asleep when he woke to start packing and check on Sam. The second trial had taken an awful toll. And Dean was worrying. Doing his best to keep it to himself. And failing miserably.
He went to the kitchen first, assembling the handful of medication and supplements Sophie would need when she woke up and making coffee for himself and peppermint tea for her. Once she was awake they'd figure out what sounded like she could eat it and go from there.
Mugs in hand, collection of pills in his pocket, he made for Sam's bedroom but found the door open and the bed empty. That wasn't a good sign. So he checked the library and the map room. Empty. But he could see light under the bathroom door.
"Hey, you in there?" Dean called through the closed door.
"I'm fine, man," Sam insisted weakly.
"You think I buy that? Let me in," Dean set down the mugs in his hands to try the door knob, getting frustrated when he found it locked.
A few long moments passed before Sam finally opened the door. He looked awful.
"Have you checked your temperature lately?" Dean asked, shouldering past his brother and trying to get a hand onto the younger man's forehead.
"About an hour ago, and it's fine," Sam insisted, "Aren't you supposed to be driving to South Dakota?"
"Sophie's still asleep. First appointment isn't until tomorrow anyways. And regardless…I'm not leaving you here with you looking like that," Dean replied.
"I'll be fine," Sam said, cringing and pressing a hand to one of his ears.
"Right," Dean raised an eyebrow, "I'm so confident you're not going to collapse in a feverish heap any second."
"You can't skip out on her doctor's appointments. Besides, she can't drive herself," Sam put in, logical as always.
"No, but I can bring you with us," Dean countered. Yeah. That's what he'd do. Jody had two guest rooms. It'd be great…well…not great exactly but it'd do the job.
"I have research that I need to…" Sam began.
"Or if you want to stay I could always have Garth come look after you like I did with Sophie a couple months back," Dean suggested. He knew that'd shut his brother up.
"Fine," Sam conceded, "But I'm bringing my research."
"Bring whatever you want," Dean replied, "First research question for you - find out how many aspirin will kill you then take two less than that. Get packed up. We're on the road in an hour."
The plan went better than Dean expected. Jody was beyond happy to help with research. She cooked and fussed and seemed genuinely happy to have "kids" in the house again for a longer stretch.
Sam spent almost every waking moment cooped up in his room with piles of books, emerging on rare occasion to take a quick shower or join them for a meal. But he was close. And Dean could keep an eye on him. So he counted that as a win.
Sophie's 3D ultrasound was equal parts fantastic and creepy. Dean still wasn't sure how he felt about seeing inside her body. He'd seen peoples guts spilled out on the pavement one too many times to want a view of anybody's internal organs. But getting a glimpse of their daughter's face that didn't just look like black and white blobs just about made it worth it. Sophie tucked the little print out into her pocket and carried it everywhere, showing any random stranger who happened to ask when she was due.
The prenatal couples yoga wasn't quite as bad as he had feared, though it was close.
Sophie, a natural-born hippie with great flexibility from all that judo, was beyond delighted. Dean, clueless and inflexible after decades of fighting and sitting in a car, felt like a bull in a china shop. He was also the only one not wearing the weird stretchy pants. It was some consolation that every other dad in the place seemed similarly freaked out and incompetent. And it was a source of pride that Sophie was clearly in the best shape out of all the women in class. The instructor was accommodating and didn't even comment on the nasty scars peeking out from the neckline of Sophie's tank top. And when the class was done Sophie thanked him so exuberantly afterwards that it was hard to regret going.
Sophie's appointments with Dr. Johnson went fantastically as they checked her bloodwork and talked over where to find a lactation consultant who would work over Zoom, since Lebanon had exactly zero.
But things took a turn the morning of Sophie's Lamaze class. Sam woke up spiking a fever at four in the morning and Dean spent the better part of the night with Sam in an ice bath and Sophie dozing in his lap on the bathroom floor. He kept dosing his brother with Aspirin and hoping for the best. But eleven o'clock came around and Sam's fever was still 103.
"You can't leave him," Sophie said earnestly, pulling on clothes as Dean paced at the foot of their bed.
"But you also can't drive," Dean put in, "And I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to be the only one at a birthing class."
"Well no but…" Sophie began, but Dean cut her off.
"I wonder where Garth is…" Dean started to dial his phone, "Maybe he could…"
"Dean! I am not going to a Lamaze class with Garth!" Sophie cut in.
"But you like Garth," Dean reminded her.
"Not like that," Sophie tossed a pair of socks in his direction, "Why not have Jody take me?"
"Big case," Dean said, "Can't miss work. I already asked."
And then there was a fluttering of wings.
"I could take her, or stay with your brother," Cas said, appearing suddenly in the open doorway, "Whichever you'd prefer."
"Excuse me?" Sophie's voice was flat, emotionless, "You tried to murder him last month in case you've forgotten!"
"Hey, Sophie," Dean put a hand on her arm, placating. He really needed her not to have a seizure right now. And lately getting upset had been triggering them. Not bad ones, but still. An unconscious brother and a simultaneously unconscious wife was more than he could handle.
"I'd be happy to assist however I can," Cas repeated.
"Would you give us a second?" Dean asked. Castiel disappeared.
"I don't trust him," Sophie said.
"I know," Dean agreed, "I've got concerns too. But it's a birthing class…what could possibly go wrong?"
"Do you want me to start a list?" Sophie snorted.
"I could leave him here with Sam?" Dean sounded like he was trying to convince himself.
"But Cas can't fix him," Sophie said, "So if something happened while you were gone…"
"I'd still want to be here," Dean finished for her.
"Can't blame you," Sophie replied.
"I'm so sorry baby," Dean said gently, hands stroking up and down her arms, "I'm frisking him for weapons before you leave. Promise."
"Thanks. It's okay," Sophie sighed, "Stay with Sam. He needs you more right now. As long as Cas doesn't start sniffing people I think we'll be fine."
It was not fine.
Cas and Sophie returned not half an hour later. Sam was hard asleep, but the fever had broken, at least temporarily. Dean was slouched in an armchair with his feet propped up on his brother's bed.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sophie asked as she stormed in, Cas on her heels.
"I still don't understand what I did wrong," Cas pleaded.
"You told someone it wasn't their baby!" Sophie exclaimed.
"You did what?" Dean asked.
"Well first we lied to the instructor and said I was Sophie's brother," Cas explained, "And then they gave some confusing and largely unhelpful information about how to breathe. I thought you all knew how to do that naturally? You used to…"
"And then…" Sophie prompted, "Fess up."
"And then we all sat in a circle which was very strange," Cas continued, "And I asked the man next to us how he knew the woman he was there with. Because it was very clear by smell that it was not his baby."
"And you told him this?" Dean asked.
"Of course," Cas replied.
"And what happened then?" Dean looked to Sophie.
"Then the husband started yelling and the wife started crying and we all found out that she's been seeing his co-worker Derek for two years on the side," Sophie replied, "And then the instructor asked us to leave."
Dean pinched the bridge of his nose. He was caught between wanting to burst out laughing and wanting to strangle Castiel. He tried to suppress both urges. But after a moment couldn't help it and cracked a smile.
"Are you laughing?" Sophie asked, still livid.
"I mean…you have to admit…" Dean chuckled, "It is kinda funny."
Sophie glared at Castiel, but Dean could see the annoyance starting to give way to levity.
"Okay, fine it was very funny," Sophie replied, starting to laugh herself now, "You should have seen the lady's face. And then the instructor - this old Korean grandma type - starts trying to calm everybody down with her Tibetan singing bowls. And Cas starts sniffing another lady's belly and the husband hauls off and slaps him. I thought someone was gonna call the cops."
She was laughing hard now, tears forming in her eyes and her cheeks growing pink.
"You know," Sophie said, settling herself on Dean's lap and sighing, "It probably wouldn't have been nearly that much fun if you'd been able to go with me."
She paused.
"Then again I also would have actually been able to learn Lamaze breathing if you went with me…" she added.
"I'll find us a YouTube tutorial," Dean said, "Promise."