Work Text:
The best part of Sam’s job was that he got to see the world. Sometimes, he only really got to see the airport and the hotel, but often he had a layover long enough that he could at least get out and do something in the city he’d landed in. No matter how long he had, he always tried to get in souvenir shopping for his family. Traditionally, it was a matter of finding the biggest T-shirt he could get – if it would fit him, it would work for Castiel or Dean, too, and Meg loved wearing the giant T-shirts when she didn’t have to be dressed up for work.
The worst part of Sam’s job was having to be away from his family so much. It wasn’t like he was the only one gone a lot – Meg spent most of her time in Vancouver filming her TV show or LA or New York promoting it, Castiel was frequently on trips either for research or promotion of his books, and even Dean had overseas trips to meet with business partners and help them install the machines he’d designed for them. Having the four of them together took work.
They made a point of making it happen, though. Meg’s show had wrapped for the season and she was home in Texas. Castiel was back from his trip to India, and Dean had just gotten back from Germany. Sam was the only one still away, and he would be back once this flight landed and he’d gotten everything cleared. Then he was taking three weeks’ vacation to be with his family.
Thankfully, the rest of the crew was just as eager to get out of there as Sam was. He was able to clean his area quickly, and before long he was walking off the plane and texting Dean. He stopped to change out of his uniform into jeans and flannel, and then went outside to wait. It didn’t take long before Dean was pulling up in the Impala. Sam got in. “Hey. Miss me?”
“Cas is really glad you’re home, he’s not gonna be stuck between me and Meg fighting.” Dean glanced over at Sam. “Meg turned down a movie role.”
“So? We having money problems no one told me about?” Meg tended to be picky about her roles, because she had so much to do with her TV show even in off-seasons. Conventions, mostly, but also photoshoots and publicity events and occasionally meetings with coworkers to discuss the show’s directions.
Dean shook his head. “No, man, we’re good, don’t worry about anyone asking you to quit your job and get back into lawyering.” That wasn’t what Sam was worried about, but it was good to know. “She turned down Catwoman, Sammy. They’re gonna make another Catwoman movie, and they wanted Meg for the role, and she said no!”
Sam snorted. Dean was so ridiculous. “Did you ask her why before you started yelling at her for shitting all over your teen fantasies? Because I’m betting she had a good reason.” Dean’s face clearly said that no, he hadn’t gotten around to that part yet. “You know, I bet she’d be up for sexy cosplay time, if you can get this shit resolved. Which means, no offense, you’ve probably screwed yourself.”
Dean glared at him. “Catwoman, Sammy. She coulda been Catwoman!” Sam just rolled his eyes and let it drop. As annoying as Dean was, he was still Sam’s brother, and he didn’t want to fight this out.
Meg came running to Sam as soon as he got home, wearing a giant T-shirt Sam had brought home from Rome and nothing else, at least not visible. “Sam! You’re home! Please tell me you’re gonna listen to my side instead of just siding with Dean? I know he’s your brother, but he’s wrong.”
“Is there more to you turning down the role than just wanting your off-season as free as you can get it?” Sam asked. Since Dean hadn’t.
“Yeah, there’s a few things. One: I read the script and it’s worse than the Halle Berry movie.” Sam raised an eyebrow and looked over to Dean, who just shrugged it off. “Two: shooting started yesterday, so I’d miss out on our family time, and it’s not worth it for a bad movie.” That one, Dean softened a little at. Meg shot him a pointed glare, so Sam decided to refrain. “Three: shooting was scheduled to last right up until I had to be back in Vancouver, which means that any time lost would start conflicting with my real job, and Zachariah’s already threatened to fire me. Would have, if Crowley hadn’t explained slowly and clearly just how horrible it could be from a legal and publicity standpoint. Zach would love the excuse.”
“Wait, what?” Dean burst out before Sam could react. “Do I need to go up to Vancouver and punch that petty bastard? Why’s he want to fire you?”
Meg smirked. “And that’s a perfect segue into the last point. Catwoman’s outfit is supposed to be skin-tight, and if the script’s anything to go by, they’re counting on sexy to sell the movie. It’s sure not about the writing.”
“So?” Dean interrupted. “If this is a body-image thing, there’s three guys in this house who are perfectly happy to show you just how wrong it is to think you couldn’t rock skin-tight.”
“Oh, I know I can – for now,” Meg said. “How about you let me finish before you go jumping to conclusions, hmm?”
“Not sure he’s capable of that.” Sam raised an eyebrow at Dean’s glare, challenging him to prove him wrong.
“You may be right.” Meg paused to let Dean interrupt if he was going to, but he chose not to. “Thing is, skin-tight makes it real hard to hide a pregnancy, and with…”
“Wait,” Dean said. Meg rolled her eyes in exasperation, but this time, Sam was on Dean’s side. He wanted more information about this. “You saying you’re pregnant? You’re gonna have a baby?”
“Yep. I’ve run the math based on where you boys were and my cycle, and I’m pretty sure it’s six weeks along. Which would make it Cas’s baby, since that’s when he came to Vancouver to visit me. Not that that’s gonna matter, is it?”
When Meg had joined their polycule, that meant a long conversation about a lot of things. Most of it was just extending how Cas, Dean, and Sam did things. None of them had a uterus, though, which meant they hadn’t faced the possibility of accidental kids before. Dean was all for it; Sam wasn’t so sure. Cas and Meg were in the middle, and eventually, the four of them had agreed on a policy of not going out of their way to try for any, but if Meg was in a place where she was willing to go through pregnancy, they wouldn’t do anything to prevent it either. If a kid did happen, no one cared who the biological father was, they’d have three dads.
“Cas know about this?” Dean asked, breaking the tension.
“Yeah, I told him while you were out getting Sam. Speaking of, Sam, Cas is down in the basement and asked me to send you down once we were done here.” Meg raised an eyebrow at Dean. “We done here?”
“Not quite. Sorry about giving you grief over turning down the Catwoman role, Meg, this is way more awesome than that.” Dean paused. “Now we’re done.”
Sam headed down to the basement. “Cas? You down here?”
“Hello, Sam.” Castiel got to his feet and wrapped his arms around Sam. “Meg’s explained?”
“She’s told us about the pregnancy, yeah.” Sam held Castiel tight. “She didn’t say why you were down here, though. What’s wrong?”
“I’m feeling overwhelmed and I need you to help me calm down.” Sam tightened his arms around Castiel. He certainly didn’t blame him for it. If he’d had time to think about it yet, let it sink in, he’d probably be freaking out too. Hopefully, Castiel would start talking about it, so that Sam could work through it with him, but if Castiel just needed this hug, then Sam wouldn’t push.
Thankfully, after a minute or two, Castiel did start talking. “I’m not worried that we can’t provide for our child. It will likely mean Dean and I cut down on our travels, but that isn’t a problem. At least, not for me, and Dean was so excited about having a child that I fully expect him to have no problem making that sacrifice.”
“So what are you worried about?”
Castiel looked up at him. “I know we’re going to mess up. Every parent does. But think about what all of our parents were like… your mother died when you and Dean were so young and your father was barely worthy of the name between the grief, the rage, and the alcohol. My father was largely absent and my mother in jail from shortly after I was born. Meg never knew her mother, and her father, well… the less said about him, the better. How do we avoid stupid mistakes?”
“We do the best we can. Research. Talk to people. Gabriel, Jody, Bobby, Ellen, Pastor Jim… just because our biological parents kinda sucked doesn’t mean we don’t have parent role models. We call each other on mistakes and forgive ourselves.”
“Which, for the two of us anyway, is going to be the hardest part.”
“Yeah.” Sam loosened his hold on Castiel to where he could pull back and kiss his forehead. “We can do this, Cas. We can. Of course, we’re gonna need to support each other through it, but I think we can do that, too.”