Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dean groaned as Castiel dropped him on his bed. Dean was out drinking again after another disappointing case. The older Winchester brother had been through a lot the past couple of weeks. Lucifer dying, but his human vessel, Nick, still living, who then proceeding to have gone missing. Michael had recently been killed by Jack, but Dean kept having nightmares. Since Jack’s passing and resurrection, Dean vowed that he wouldn’t allow such things to happen to anyone ever again, yet he had failed that promise when one of the hunters had passed this previous case.

The hunter laid on his back as Castiel went on to pulling off Dean’s shoes to be placed by the bedroom door. Dean mumbled something under his breath before turning to his side and falling asleep. The Angel sighed as he shut the light off and closed the door behind him. A huge wave of worry washed over the wingless Angel and this caught the attention of the young Nephilim. Jack looked up at his father and tilted his head with curiosity stirring in his mind.

“What’s wrong Castiel?” The Halfbreed asked as the Angel walked into the room.

Sam looked up from his tablet to look over at Cas and back to Jack.

“Yeah, you’re treating Dean as if he was your drunken lover who can’t control their alcohol intake.” A small smile creeped onto Jack’s face before Castiel answered.

“You claim to believe that I see Dean as my ‘lover’ Sam?” The blue eyed Angel said with air quotations on the word lover.

Jack let out a slight chuckle before standing up and walking over toward his father. The Nephilim placed a hand on Castiel’s shoulder and looked into his eyes.

“Cas, are you telling us that you DON’T love Dean?”

Castiel began to stumble over his words, “What? N-no of-of course I-I love Dean. B-but n-“

Before Castiel could finish digging a deeper hole for himself, there was a loud noise that echoed throughout the bunker catching all three off guard. After a few minutes of nothing but silence, Castiel proceeded to defend himself before being interrupted by Dean’s scream echoing throughout the halls. Jack was the first of the three to bolt toward the hunter’s bedroom. After a few moments, the half breed called out to his two other fathers that there was a problem with the door. Petrified, Cas and Sam rushed toward the outside of Dean’s bedroom door. Sam tried the door first, but it didn’t budge.

“RrrraaaaAAHHHHH!!!” Dean cried out from inside his room.

This drove the flightless Angel to take hold of the doorknob and force his weight upon the wooden plank that blocked the passage from the hallway to room. Dean cried out once again, but this time there was a high pitched ringing accompanying his screams of help. Sam tilted his head to understand who, or what could be making such noise. Soon enough, the tall man covered his ears as the ringing grew unbearable, and shortly after Sam covered his ears Jack and Cas followed. The ringing grew so loud to the point where all three of them collapsed to the bunkers floors, causing them to all cry out in agony from the pain they felt in their skulls. After what felt like an hour, Jack spotted a pink light illuminate along the rim of the doorframe. As the light grew brighter, the ringing decreased.

Eventually, the pink light disappeared and the high pitched ringing had stopped. Cas was the first on his feet and he made his way toward the door. Upon turning the doorknob, the Angel looked around Dean’s bedroom hoping that he was alright. After looking throughout the room, Sam, Jack and Castiel all began to roam about the bunker. After searching the entire place from top to bottom, they all had to come to one conclusion. Dean Winchester was gone.

-2 weeks later-

Castiel slammed a vampire up against the wall of the abandoned warehouse after a ten minute fighting session. Sure the Vamp looked like crap and close to death, but that didn’t mean Cas was left unharmed himself. He held the Angel blade under the vampire‘s chin and slowly pressed up. The fanged creature flinched as they felt their blood slowly drip down the blade threatening to tear off their head. This, of course, didn’t faze the creature, but more of made them smile with their fangs showing with pride.

“Tell me where he is.” Castiel growled as the blade seeped deeper into the creature’s neck.

“And why would I do that, Castiel? As I see it, this scenario can be played out two different ways, but it all has the same ending for me. Headless on this old, rustic flooring, and you still being unsatisfied with the little information you could extract from me.” The Vamp spat some blood into the floor before continuing their little monologue, “So why don’t we just skip to the end here, and you go on ahead and push that fancy blade of yours into my monster brain and end me? Because, Castiel, I don’t know where your little boy toy went.”

Before, Cas would’ve been completely alright with letting the Vampire live and move on with their life, but that last comment pushed his decision over the edge. The wingless Angel pushed the blade upward with such a force that the fanged being’s entire head had gotten ripped from their neck up. Castiel just stood there as the body of the vamp collapsed to the rusty floor. He then let out a cry so loud and full of rage, that it shattered the glass windows around him. Those that weren’t already broken at least.

Outside by the impala, Sam and Jack had witnessed the windows explode into a million pieces. Before they could rush into the warehouse, however, Castiel was already marching their way. Sam was the first to walk over to him, but after the Angel just brushed past the tall hunter, that explained everything to Sam. This case was also a dead end on finding Dean. Sam combed his fingers through his hair before walking back to the impala to drive back to the bunker. It’s been a quiet two weeks, and with nearly every hunter in their own case along with the fact the Angels were not gonna be any help, it looked as if this wasn’t gonna end well for team free will.

Castiel entered the kitchen with Sam and Jack in tow. The tall hunter sat at the table to look for anymore clues that could help them find Dean, and the wingless Angel walked toward the fridge to pull out a couple bottles of beer. Jack was concerned, so he tried to grab the bottle from his father, but slowly retreated after seeing the cold stare coming from Castiel. Sam looked up at the two but kept quiet, knowing that this feeling of loss with their most valued member was really hard on Cas. Without a word exchanged, the blue eyed Angel walked out of the kitchen and down the hall, leaving the Nephilim and the hunter to chat in the kitchen.

“He seems to be taking this very hard.” Jack said very innocently.

“Yeah.” Sam sighed as he looked back at his tablet, “If we can’t find Dean soon, we might end up assuming the worst. And I’m not sure Cas is ready to say goodbye to Dean.”

Jack nodded before a sudden feeling engulfed his entire being. He grabbed ahold of Sam’s sleeve to get his attention. Sam looked at the young Nephilim with confusion but soon with concern.

“What is it Jack?” Sam asked as he placed the tablet on the table.

Jack looked up before he rushed out of the kitchen and down the hall.

In Dean’s room, Castiel was looking about the decor on the walls, and looking through the collection of rock music that still laid on Dean’s desk. He took a swig from the bottle before making his way to the bed, where he last put Dean to rest. He felt regret and anger and all sorts of negative emotions before he sat down. Upon sitting on Dean’s bed, expecting a memory foam mattress to support his weight. He instead received a grunt of pain not from himself, but from underneath him, causing him to jump at least three feet into the air.

“Dean?!?”

Chapter Text

Dean sat up in bed after an unexpected wake up call from his Angelic friend. As he readjusted his sitting position, his door burst open with Jack and Sam on the other side. The Nephilim smiled and Sammy‘s face was shown of shock and happiness all in one expression. Castiel was the first to embrace Dean with a hug, and not wanting to seem rude, the older Winchester brother hugged him back. After being released from the Angel’s embrace, Sam was next to engulf his older brother’s presence, a little longer than hunter and Angel hugged for. Dean nodded before getting winded from Jack’s hug attack.

“Ok, what is with you guys.” Dean said with a hung over voice and a gasp of air.

The trio all gave each other concerned gazes before looking back at their fearless leader. Dean looked up at all three of them before trying to stand up. The green eyed hunter nearly fell backwards if it weren’t for Castiel standing there to help him to his feet. Dean gave his Angelic friend a pat on the shoulder before making his way toward the kitchen. Sam, Jack and Cas followed closely behind the man who had just returned from his odd abduction. As Dean sat down at the table with a cup of coffee and a couple Tylenol tablets, he asked his question again.

“What’s up with you guys? You all seem like you just saw someone come back to life or something.” Dean chuckled silently before downing the two pills and taking a sip of his coffee.

“Dean, what’s the last thing you remember?” Jack asked as he walked over toward one of his human fathers.

“Castiel left me in my bedroom after I drank too much the other night. Why?”

This had confirmed what worried the three men. Dean didn’t remember that he was kidnapped or who had even taken him. Sam sat next to his older brother and tried his best to explain what happened the past couple of weeks. Dean’s tired expression shifted into many different emotions. At first, he wanted to laugh at how crazy the story that his younger brother told him was, but then his face filled with concern and fear. After Sam finished his segment, Dean stood from the table and headed toward his room. Castiel was the only one to follow him, hoping he could help this hunter he had feelings for.

“It’s not true, right?” Dean asked with a broken voice. “It can’t be, right, Cas? Cas, tell me that what Sammy told me was a prank you, Jack and him came up with to get back at me for all my crazy pranks. TELL ME-“

“What Sam said is true, Dean. You were taken a couple weeks ago, and we’ve been trying to locate you ever since.”

Dean sat on his bed, covering his face out of shock, confusion and a hint of anger. Where this anger came from, Dean was unsure of, but he knew he was angry for some reason. Castiel didn’t know much of what was coming over him, but he found himself walking over to Dean’s side and gave him a side hug. Dean took a moment before he looked over at his Angelic friend and smiled warmly. Like that, he felt his anger nearly disappear when Castiel held him.

-A few days later-

Dean was locked in his room again for the fifth time that day. This caused Sam, Jack and Castiel to strike a little meeting to discuss what could be happening to him. Castiel believed that it could be the stress he had after coming back from being taken... again. Jack believed that it was Dean just being himself, trying to get back into his usual routine. Sam had other theories as to why Dean had been avoiding them the time he’s been back, but didn’t believe them to be true.

“You know...” Jack started before looking from Sam to Castiel, “Maybe he just needs a break. In fact... Sam and I haven’t had a hunt together in... Since Michael kidnapped me. But I believe he has some hunter stuff he could teach me.”

Sam gave a confused look before he caught what Jack was trying to throw out there.

“Jack, I can-“

“No, Cas. He’s right. I mean, no offence Castiel, but I’m a more experienced hunter than you are. Be-besides, we need someone here to watch Dean.” Sam smiled.

“Why does that always have to be me, Sam? Why don’t you ever watch him, or let Jack watch him?”

“As I’ve heard it, you and Dean have a more profound bond than he and I could ever achieve.” Jack smiled before walking out of the kitchen and into the war room.

Cas turned to Sam who now had a guilty smile on his face. The tall hunter shrugged as the Angel proceeded to give him the death glare.

“You told Jack about that, really?”

“Hey, you’re the one who told me that-“

“Yeah,” Cas sighed, “When you were soulless.”

“Hey, I still remember it.” Sam patted Castiel’s shoulder before following Jack out of the bunker.

Before the Angel could call out to Sam and Jack, the bunker door slammed shut. Castiel gave a sigh before he made his way toward Dean’s room to tell him that Sam and Jack went out on a hunt. When the blue eyed Angel got to the hunter’s room however, he found that it was empty. This worried Castiel and he quickly ran down the halls to find where Dean had went, or if he was even in the bunker at all. As Castiel ran past the bathroom door, the old wood swung open and Cas nearly body slammed into Dean.

“Dean!” Castiel yelled as he went in for a hug.

“Whoa there Cas. What’s wrong?” Dean said as he returned the hug.

Cas pulled away from Dean and looked him over to make sure there wasn’t any marks, scratches or even a hint of bruising on him. Castiel gave a sigh of relief before catching his breath. The hunter stared at his friend with concern and had him look into his eyes. The Angel tried to shy away from those captivating wintergreen eyes, but he found himself staring deeply into them as Dean’s lips moved.

“What?” Castiel asked.

“I asked if everyone was alright. You seem pale.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Great even.”

Dean gave a nod before making his way back to his room, occasionally looking back at the Angel in the trench coat. Castiel composed himself when something in the bathroom caught his attention. Castiel was about to take a closer look when Dean called out for Sam and Jack. The Angel gripped the handle of the bathroom door and shut it completely before going toward his hunter friend.

Chapter Text

“Sam and Jack when out on a hunt.” Castiel said as he caught up with Dean.

Dean looked back at Castiel and gave a slight nod, almost seeming quite annoyed about not being informed by his own brother about this. Dean went to grab his phone to give his brother an earful when Castiel grabbed his arm and shook his head.

“Dean, I wanted to ask you something.”

“I don’t know Cas.” Dean chuckled, “I’m not sure I’m ready to be in a committed relationship just yet.”

Castiel gave Dean a tilted stare before going forth with his question. “Dean, is there something new with you, physically?”

Dean was not prepared for that question. He gave Castiel his signature confused look hoping deep inside that Castiel didn’t catch him hesitate, but knew too well that Cas caught it. Dean gave out a slight laugh before he came up with an excuse not to answer the question. But he couldn’t say it because Castiel spoke first.

“Don’t lie to me Dean. I saw that shock when I first asked you. So tell me the truth. Is there something new with you, physically?”

The two stood there for about three minutes before Dean cleared his throat and let out a nervous laugh.

“Could this place use more beer? I think this place could use more beer.”

As Dean made his way to the front door, Cas pulled his arm stopping the hunter in his tracks. Dean stood there for a bit, trying, but failing, to get out of the Angel’s grip. After accepting that he wasn’t getting out of Castiel‘s hold, Dean stood closer to him to the point they were sharing the same air. This caught Cas off guard a little, but he composed himself before preparing to ask the question again.

“What is new with you, De-“

The Angel was cut off with Dean pressing himself against the wall and gripping him tight. Sure, Cas has kissed guys in the past, but he was in a female vessel and that was ages ago. Somehow, here and now, kissing Dean was a whole new feeling. Like this was right, that this was meant to be. Castiel closed his eyes, forgetting his question all together and pulled Dean in for a deeper kiss.

After a good three minutes, Dean realised what he did and pulled away quickly. The brunette hunter stared in shock and worry at the man he had just made out with. Dean felt embarrassed, and felt that he had ruined it or something and had turned to run out of the bunker, however yet again, Castiel gripped him from behind and held him in place.

“I’m so sorry Cas. I... I don’t-dont know what came over me. It’s just....”

Cas turned Dean to face him and he ran his finger over the stubble and held firmly on the Winchester’s chin. Dean’s face was a deep crimson as a smile crept onto his face before he leaned in for another deep kiss.

“I knew you loved me.” Dean chuckled.

“Right.” Castiel shyly laughed, trying his best not to be too happy about this moment.

Dean grabbed Castiel’s hand and lead him down the hall, and Cas had a very mixed facial expression. He knew what was going to happen the moment they entered Deans bedroom, but he had to remember that if he was too happy in this moment, Dean would fall apart.

Chapter Text

*smut*

Dean laid on the bed as Castiel crawled over and between his legs. Resting his hands under the thick cloth of Dean’s flannel, Cas made small rotation with his thumbs as his lips were held captive by Dean’s. The hunter moaned as he felt the soft movements of the Angel’s fingers slowly lift up his flannel and shirt from his warm soft skin. Parting for a second, Cas kicked off his and Dean’s shoes as Dean began to unbutton the Angel’s over shirt.

As soon as Castiel’s trench coat and shirt were off, Dean stopped for a second to take a look at Cas’ undershirt. This resulted with Dean smiling as he read the print to the Angel over him.

“I Wuv Hugz?”

Castiel chuckled before he took it off of his vessel and tossed it onto the floor by his trench coat. They both began undoing their pants and slipping them onto the floor as well before going back in for a kiss. Dean was silently praying to himself that Cas wanted to be bottomed for their first time, but Cas had other plans. While distracting Dean with a heavy deep kiss, Castiel pulled their boxers off and slowly spread Dean’s legs apart.

“Oh, Cas.” Dean groaned into the Angel’s lips, not feeling Cas’ dick preparing to make Dean his.

Just as the hunter opened his eyes to get Cas on top of him, he felt something squeeze its way inside of him. His eyes grew wider as he felt exactly which hole it was in too. He wanted to protest, or to at least tell Cas he was in the wrong hole, but he never knew how good it felt to have a penis inside of a vagina. The hunter swung his head to the right as he felt the full length of the Angel inside of him, and gave out a pleasurable moan as Castiel slid out slightly, and slowly slid back in.

“Ah, Cas!” Dean grunted as he felt Castiel pecking at his neck.

Castiel smiled as he repeated the rotation of his hips, smile growing ever so slightly with each of Deans moans with each penitration. Yet, Cas had to consistently remind himself that if he allowed himself to be happy during this moment, he’d never see Sam, Jack or even Dean ever again. Cas was so caught up in his mind space that he hadn’t realised he came inside of Dean until he felt Dean’s seed over his own stomach. Dean rested his head on the pillow, eyes fluttering open and shut, barely staying awake.

Cas smiled slightly, and as he pulled out, he went to grab something to clean Dean up with. When he came back with a paper towel to clean Dean’s stomach, he realised that the hunter had fallen asleep. Castiel shook his head as he proceeded to wipe Dean clean, and was prepared to get dressed and watch over the bunker till either Dean woke up, or until Sam and Jack returned from their ‘hunt’, but Cas figured that Dean didn’t want to wake up alone. So, Cas lifted the covers and slid under them, having Dean curl into him.

Chapter Text

Castiel knew he couldn’t sleep, but he felt that it would be easier for him to shut his eyes, making the illusion that he and Dean were sleeping together in the same bed. Before Castiel knew it, he was dreaming. Yeah, it startled him a bit at first, but then he saw it was an alright dream. He let his guard down a little bit, but still trying his best to be on high alert. It’s been years since he had last dreamt of anything. He kind of missed this.

His dream consisted of him, Sam, Jack and Dean in a nice house, almost like the one the Winchesters used to live in before Mary died. There wasn’t a threat of other supernatural creatures trying to kill them, and they all seemed to be at their happiest that they have been, ever. Jack had a normal like childhood, and he was just about to from graduate high school and he had a girlfriend. Sam was engaged to Eileen and their wedding was in a few months, and it seemed that Dean was Castiel’s husband and they were the current homeowners.

As Dean and Jack were conversating on where the family would go after his graduation, Cas saw that Sam and Eileen were signing to each other about their wedding plans, and perhaps that they might have been expecting. Castiel did a quick scan of Eileen and noted that she was indeed pregnant. About three weeks at most. Cas chucked to himself, imagining that one day Dean would end up pregnant with his own child, a daughter maybe, who was gonna be more human than Nephilim.

“Cas? Honey? Is everything alright?” Dean asked when he saw his husband smiling.

Castiel looked up at Dean, who seemed to be glowing brighter than ever. The smile returning, growing ever so bigger.

“Yeah, babe. Everything couldn’t be more perfect.”

The blue eyed Angel went in to kiss Dean, when the whole room turned dark. Everyone was frightened, even the Angel himself when it seemed the world outside was becoming thunderous. Sam cradled Eileen, holding her close as Cas held both Dean and Jack. The whole room shook in a violent manner, causing Eileen and Jack to turn their heads toward their protectors. Dean tried to sooth Jack by stroking his hair and whispering calming things to him. Castiel saw that Dean was doing this as to make sure Jack didn’t do any harm.

As soon as the shaking happened, it had stopped. Everyone crowed together after to make sure they were all okay. When there no sign of anyone hurt, they all shared a laugh.

It was then that Cas had finally let his guard down in the dream. He felt... happy. Then Jack started screaming, as did Eileen. Sam, Dean and Cas all looked at what was causing them to cry out, then Cas’ heart stopped. There was a tear in the world right where they looked. There was black ooz swirling around and only Jack and Cas knew what, or more of who, that was.

The Empty was finally here to collect.

Cas turned Dean around and gave him the biggest kiss he’d ever given anyone before.

“I love you, Dean.” Castiel said as he pushed everyone behind him.

“Cas? What are you doing? What is that?!?” Sam panicked.

“It’s the Empty. It’s here to take Castiel.” Jack cried.

“Why the hell does it want him?” Dean growled.

“I made a deal with the Empty in order to get Jack’s soul back. I promised it that when I finally let myself be happy, that it would take me.”

“Why the hell would you do that?!?” Sam screamed.

“It wouldn’t have left heaven alone unless it got Jack, so I made a trade that day. My life for Jack’s.”

Dean forced Cas to face him and this startled the Angel, especially when he saw tears welling up in the hunter’s eyes.

“So, you’re tell us that before this moment, before all this, right now, you weren’t truly happy? Not at our wedding, not when we found out I was pregnant?”

Everyone looked at Dean in surprise and shock, including Castiel. How was it even physically possible for Dean, who was in fact a human male, to end up becoming pregnant. Then Cas remembered that Dean did go missing before they slept together. Something was different with Dean physically.

“Cas, look out!” Sam shouted as he pushed the Angel out of reach of the black ooz.

“Sam!” Eileen and Dean screamed as they took ahold of him.

“No!” Cas heard Jack cry before realising they all were being gripped by the Empty.

Castiel watched in horror as the Empty consumed his family. He was waiting for the ooz to take ahold of him as well, yet when it never took him, the Angel opened his eyes. There, in front of him, was the Empty.

“Why didn’t you take me? That was our deal!”

The Empty just smiled before turning back to the portal. At that moment, everything hit Cas. This wasn’t real. This wasn’t really happening in the real world.

“I’m dreaming.” Castiel whispered before he looked at the Empty.

“I’M DREAMING!!”

Chapter Text

Castiel jolted awake and looked around himself, collecting his bearings. After a few minutes of heavily breathing, Cas noticed that he was the only person in the bed. Freaking out, Castiel leapt out of the mattress, without thinking of putting his clothes on, and bolted out the bedroom door.

“Dean?!?” Castiel cried as he looked in the bathroom.

Not finding Dean there, he ran to the dungeon. There was still no sign of the Winchester he had recently hooked up with the night prior. The Angel was losing hope with each room he found empty. After finding out that he was the only one in the bunker, he had started to believe his nightmare had become reality. Castiel, butt naked, then curled up into a ball in the war room, and began to sob softly to himself.

“Cas?”

The Angel heard from the front door, and he looked up seeing both Sam and Jack returning from their ‘hunt’. Overfilled with joy and other emotions, Castiel ran over and embraced them both, completely forgetting he was unclothed.

“You guys are back! How was the hunt?” Castiel smiled, again not realising his underdressedness.

“The hunt was... uh... it was quick.” Sam stammered as he tried to keep his eyes from Cas’ private area.

“That’s great to hear.” The bare skinned Angel smiled.

There was another silence between the three of them for a few moments before Jack spoke up.

“Dad?” Jack started, “Where are your clothes?”

The celestial being finally looked down and felt embarrassed about his nakedness. He grabbed the closest book to him and covered his genitals.

“And where’s my brother?” Sam asked with a knowing smirk.

“Oh, Dean? Well he- I- we were uh-“

“Playing strip poker.” Dean said from the bunker door.

“Right, strip, strip poker.” Castiel sighed in relief.

“Obviously, Cas lost. So I went out to get more beer. That was what Cas and I bargained. If I lost, he’d pick a healthy alternative drink for us here, but if I won, I’d get to grab the beer that I liked.”

Dean lifted the case of beer in his hands, along with a plastic bag full of other random gas station snacks, and a small unopened box. Jack tried to take a closer look at it because he felt that there was more to this story than what Dean OR Cas were telling. Before Jack could read what the box said, Dean had taken the bag out of the war room and into the kitchen.

“Dean? Where are my clothes?” Cas asked as he shuffled behind him.

The hunter just chuckled as he looked Cas up and down. Without thinking, Dean gave a slight wink before telling the Angel that his clothes were in the laundry room. Cas nodded his head before making he way to fetch his clothes.

“Wait, so you’re telling me that you and Castiel played ‘strip poker’, over the choice between beer or a healthier beverage?”

“Yeah. I don’t see the confusion.”

“Why are Cas’ clothes in the wash then? And why was he so hectic when Jack and I walked in?”

“Heh, well... I may have-“

“I think he had sex with him.” Jack said in the most monotone way possible.

Sam and Dean both looked at Jack with their jaws hitting their feet. Then Sam turned to his older brother and crossed his arms with the same knowing smirk running across his face, and a slight chuckle escaping the tall Winchester’s lips.

“Is this true, Dean?”

“Well... you see...”

“Now why in heaven, hell, PURGATORY, or even on earth would Dean wanna have sex with me?” Castiel asked as he pulled his trench coat over his shoulders while walking into the kitchen.

“That’s a little excessive, wouldn’t you say? N-Not that we did have sex, or that I’d want to have sex-“

“Dean?”

“Yeah, Cas?”

“Shut up.”

“Okay.”

Sam and Jack both glanced at each other with wide grins plastered all over their faces. They knew, even if Dean and Castiel were gonna deny it all month, that those two had a heated night together while they went hunting.

***

A few weeks went by, and Dean wasn’t himself. Then again, neither was Jack. It was almost normal for Dean to be in a different mood after an experience such as with Michael, but since there was a small chance that Jack didn’t have his soul anymore because of killing Michael was raising more concern for him than for Dean. Sam and Cas tried to be worried for Dean, but he seemed like he was handling whatever was making him not himself pretty well.

Although, he was barely drinking the beer he bought after his and Castiel’s ‘strip poker’. Not to mention he was being more cautious during most hunts. And it wasn’t like how he was when he was haunted to be fearful of everything, but more of like he was trying to protect his own body from too much damage.

Sam and Castiel talked about confronting both Jack and Dean about why they were acting so different than their usual selves, yet figured that they weren’t gonna say anything about it.

However, after a particularly dangerous hunt, Dean threw up mid fight. This caused everyone who was fighting to stop and stare at the hunter who just expelled his lunch. The monster that Dean was fighting jumped back a little bit, revolted by the bile sitting just feet from its... well... feet. This gave Sam enough time to kill both the one he was fighting and the one who got disgusted by Dean’s sudden burst of puke. When the final body fell to the floor, Sam looked at his brother with concern and a bit of worry looking at the vomit on the ground by his other brother.

“Dean?”

“I’m fine Sammy. I swear I am.”

Dean wiped the corner of his mouth with his thumb before Sam grabbed him by the shoulders and forced Dean to look at him. The older Winchester stared into his younger brother’s eyes with more worry and fear than his usual smug attitude. Sam took notice at how scared Dean was of him than ever before. He loosened up a bit before asking the question again. Dean then took a deep breath before talking to his younger brother.

“If I’m going to be telling you Sammy, I need to tell everyone. You, mom, Jody, Donna, Jack... and Cas.”

Sam tried to ignore the fact that Dean paused when saying Cas, but he felt relieved that his brother was finally gonna be telling not just him, but the rest of their family what was going on. Sam dialled up Mary as Dean texted Castiel to meet up at the bunker as soon as they possibly could. After getting a reply from Cas, Dean over heard Sam’s conversation with Mary.

“Yeah, I’m sure he’s fine mom, but you’ve got to pick Jody up. I think it’s fair that she hears what’s going on with Dean as well.”

Dean wasn’t certain he wanted to tell them just yet, but the one he was second guessing most at the moment was Jody.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell her, he feared that she already had an idea of what was going on with him. He was scared to say the least, on how Sam and most importantly, Cas, would react if they learned that Dean went to Jody about his new body part before either of them. To be fair, he was a little scared when he felt strange pain not a day after his return.

Dean had felt that his new part was beginning to cramp up, and he didn’t want to have that question in his search history, so he called up Jody and asked to meet up for a personal questioning. To say the least, Jody was a little shocked when Dean... showed her... that he wasn’t lying about having a female body part. She had told him to try and be on birth control, even if he wasn’t gonna be sleeping with men, however, the day he had planned to get said birth control, he got a little sidetracked.

“Tell me Dean, is there a particular reason you’re glowing?” Donna asked, catching the hunter off guard.

“I’m sorry... I’m what?” The older Winchester stammered.

“Glowing, Dean. Jody and I were wondering why you were giving off this beautiful glow.”

“Donna!” Jody called from the other side of the bunker.

The blonde shrugged as she began to defend herself. The state trooper slapped her palm to her forehead as she escorted her friend out of the room. After a few minutes, Jody walked back preparing to apologise to Dean about Donna’s sudden question. But whatever statement was brewing in her head slowly stopped when she saw the expression on the hunter’s face.

“Dean?”

“Jody...”

Chapter Text

“Dean? What’s wrong? You look as pale as a ghost... figuratively speaking.”

Dean looked up with puppy dog eyes and a lump in his throat. He tried his best not to show any tears, but his eyes were betraying him as a single tear made a small trail down his left cheek. Jody walked over and wiped the tear with her right thump and saw as Dean was between pushing into and pulling away from her touch. He eventually melted into her hand and looked into her eyes. That’s when she knew, one hundred percent for a fact, what he was about to say was true.

“Jody...” Dean paused as he let out a shaky breath and whispered, “I’m pregnant.”

Jody put her hands down and took a slight step back at the sudden news. She looked toward Dean’s child that he was now subconsciously gripping, and looked back up at his frightened expression.

“Your actually pregnant?” Jody held Dean’s face.

“You aren’t joking?” She took a step back.

“Oh.... my.... God...” Jody almost hugged his stomach before straightening out.

“Dean I can.... I mean.... I’m happy for you Dean. How... I mean... who’s... wait..... OH MY GOD!! Is it who I think it is?” She then crossed her arms with a knowing look.

After she was done with her little interrogating, Dean covered her mouth as he looked out of the kitchen to see if either his brother, mother or if even Donna heard what Jody had expressed. After the sheriff had time to calm down, Dean let her go before giving out a sigh of defeat. A slight chuckle escaped his lips however before he looked up at his mother figure.

“Yes, it’s who you think it is, but you can’t tell any of the others. Not Sam, Donna, and ESPECIALLY not my mother. I want to be the one who spills it to them.”

“Hey, Dean. It’s your body. This is your big news. My lips are sealed.” Jody processed to zip her lips and throw the invisible key away.

Dean gave a slight chuckle before he escorted the officer to the table in the war room as Cas and Jack entered the bunker.

“Great, we’re all here.” Sam started off before clapping his hands together, “So, as well all know, Dean hasn’t been himself lately. And now he’s willing to tell us what’s going on with him.”

‘Here goes nothing.’ Dean thought to himself.

“Alright, my dear beloved family, this is important that you all should know… Last week I discovered that…” Dean looking around the room, his eyes stopping on Castiel before he looked down at the table.

“I’m pregnant.”

***

Once more, Dean was nowhere to be found. Sam, Jody, Donna and Mary tried to reach out to everyone in any way possible, and Castiel kept beating himself over the disappearance of the hunter this go around. He felt that it was his fault for everything, from getting Dean pregnant to agreeing to Mary’s suggestion for getting rid of the unborn baby. The guilt was eating away at him worse than the Leviathans did. Especially the last thing he said to Dean before he stormed out of the bunker three weeks prior.

-“Dean, I feel that your mother is right. You aren’t exactly ready to ‘mother’ a child right now.”

“‘Ready to mother a child right now?’ Really Cas? I’ve raised my little brother! I didn’t have a choice but to be a mother. Or a father. I had to raise Sammy before he could even walk or talk. I was four and I didn’t have a choice at that time. But now I do have that choice Castiel. Yet you, and Mary, want to take that away from me because she doesn’t want a child to come out of me?”

“No, Dean. We didn’t mean it like that. You’re a male, and if you got hurt giving birth to a nephilim, especially my nephilim, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”

“So you want to take away the only thing that’s keeping me alive right now?”

“It could kill you Dean. Ever thought of that?!? I’d rather have you over that thing inside of you!!!”

“This, ‘thing’, is our child Cas. And if you don’t want to be their father, fine. I’ll manage on my own.”

“What’ll you do when it’s alone after you give birth to it?”

“They won’t be alone Cas. They’ll have me.”

“It’ll have your corpse, Dean.”

“You don’t know that!!”

“We don’t know what’ll happen to you!!!”

“I can’t believe how selfish you’re being Cas!”

“Me? Selfish?”

“Yeah! We told you to get rid of Jack when he first came, yet here he is. Why is it that you can take care of the devil’s child and not your own?”

“Because Jack came from a female and not the man I love!!”

“So you didn’t care about Kelly?”

“No! It’s not that... I made a promise to her, to watch her child.”

“And yet you can’t even stick to the promise of loving what you and I made together?”

”It’s more complicated than that.”

“How could our love be complicated?”

”Dean, you could never understand why we can’t work.”-

Castiel was pulled from his trance after feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out and looked at the caller ID.

It was Sam.

Sighing, Cas opened his phone and answered.

“What is it Sam?”

“Just checking in on you, Cas. Haven’t really seen you since Dean and his baby disappeared.” Sam said through the phone.

Castiel wiped the tear from his face before replying.

“I’m not sure right now Sam. I just-“

“I know Cas. There were some things I should have said too.”

“It’s just... I wasn’t trying to hurt him. You know that.”

“Yeah. We’ll find him Cas. It’s only been a few weeks.”

Cas hung up the phone before looking up toward the stars rethinking his words to Dean before he stormed out of the bunker. His next actions he knew he was gonna regret more than anything, but he felt that he had no other choice but to do this in order to remain with the Winchesters, and see their child. Letting out a deep sigh, the Angel let go of all reasoning before making his way to talk to Rowena.

Chapter Text

“I was wondering whether or not you’d be coming into the house, Castiel.” The ginger witch smirked as she turned to face the fallen Angel.

Cas glared upon shutting the door behind him. He knew Rowena used her magic to spy on the Winchesters from time to time, but it still startled him when she’d expecting either him or the brothers.

“How long have you been watching me?” The baby Angel in a trench coat asked.

The witch gave a flirtatious grin before going over to her bowl of herbs and putting something in the mixture. This caused the Angel to roll his eyes as he knew she wasn’t gonna answer the question.

“Are you here for a tracking spell for your little baby mama? Or is he the dad in the relationship?”

“We aren’t in a relationship like that. Not anymore I’d think.”

Rowena saw the depression on the Angel’s face, despite him looking constipated over half the time. She knew that look of regret more than anyone. After putting some herbs away, Row walked over to her couch and patted next to her gesturing for Cas to sit. Still unsure of the Witch’s intentions, Castiel walked over and sat next to her nonetheless. Rowena then picked up a couple tea cups that appeared seemingly out of nowhere and handed one to Castiel.

“What are you playing at here?” The Angel glared.

Rolling her eyes, the ginger witch took a sip of her tea and looked at the hesitant Angel hunter.

“It’s jasmine tea, Castiel. It’s not poisonous nor will it render you unconscious.”

Taking a quick whiff of the tea, Castiel looked back up at Rowena thinking this was another one of her tricks.

“What does it do?”

“It’s supposed to calm you down.” Rowena scoffed before setting hers on the coffee table.

Taking another whiff, Cas took a small sip and smacked his lips together, trying to ignore the taste of molecules. After he was able to pass the texture, he took notice on how warm the tea was as it slid down his throat and rested in his stomach. The witch was right, this tea was making him feel all warm and calm inside. So he kept sipping his tea as he tried to remember why he went to see Rowena in the first place.

“Why do you hide behind that mask?” Castiel heard Rowena asked out of nowhere.

“What do you-“

“You know what I’m talking about, Cas. You hide yourself as Dean does around Sam. And trust me, I know when someone is hiding something from somebody else. What is it that you’re hiding from the boys?”

Castiel set his cup down, one because he ran out of tea. And B, he wanted to be up and stand by the fireplace before he told Rowena what was on his mind. He felt that she might as well know why Castiel refuses to be happy, truly happy when around the boys, or when he even found out Dean was pregnant with his child and saw how desperate he was to keep the child. Sure, in the past he would have been ecstatic about him and Dean starting a family. Yet, ever since he made the deal with the empty, he feared when his true happiness would arrive and it would be demolished by the black ooz of the Empty to take him away.

“Sam and Dean don’t know this, Rowena, but when I went to heaven to collect Jack’s soul, I ran into an old aquatints. They wanted Jack because he was part Angel, so I offered my life for Jack’s. The only catch was that when I allowed myself to be truly happy that the Empty would come and take my life.”

Rowena was taken aback by this. She never thought in her entire existence that Castiel would be so honest with her, or with anyone, of such delicate information. Then, as if accidentally summoned, Rowena had the sudden urge to shout and scream at Castiel for doing this to the boys, to Dean. It wasn’t like she had a sudden soft spot for the Winchester that now carried a Nephilim, but she knew what it was like to be lied to while with child. And since she knew Dean the way she did, she knew for certain that if Dean heard of this, not only would he be heartbroken over hearing that their one night of passion wasn’t enough to make Cas truly happy, but the fact he kept such an important piece of info from them.

“Cas, I’m sorry that you have to be going through this… but are you sure that loving Dean is what makes you the happiest?”

Castiel turned to the witch in disbelief. How was she able to say that as if she didn’t know he had the ability to smite her were she stood? The blue eyed Angel took a deep breath before glaring at the red headed witch who was way past her expiration date, and went back to sitting by her side.

“I’m pretty certain, with my whole being, that if Dean truly accepts me and this child of ours till the end of our existing lives, it would make me the happiest Angel… the happiest being in the entirety of any reality. But it’s the consistent reminder that if I’m allowing myself to be happy and the Empty coming to collect that’s holding me from finding Dean and pulling him into my arms, holding him close and never letting go, no matter how mad he’d be with me. I want him to be my partner. I want him to mother my child. I want to be happy for him and the fact that he loves me back… but if I do, 100 percent accept that fact… I’d lose him before I ever truly had him.”

That’s when Rowena realised that he wasn’t here to ask her for a tracking spell as she had previously thought. He was here for a memory alteration spell.

“Castiel, I understand your fear of losing your precious light, but are you certain you’re ready to pay the price for what you’re here for?”

The fallen Angel stared into the red witch’s eyes with tears threatening to make themselves known to her. Seeing the glimmer of fear, regret and despair, Rowena knew for the light of her remaining soul, Castiel wasn’t proud to ask this if her. A deep sigh escaped her blood red lips as she agreed to help Castiel with the memory spell.

*fifteen minutes prior*

Dean walked into Rowena’s cottage with a few bags of groceries and other herbs. Sure, running to the witch wouldn't have been his immediate response to leaving the bunker, but she was the only one who seemed to understand what Dean was going through. Aside from them being completely different sexes. It truly surprised the witch when she found Dean at her doorstep all those weeks ago, but if it was anything that she could do to help, she was more than willing to block Dean and his unborn child from anyone and everyone if she could.

“Rowena, I’m back with… whatever it was you asked me to get. Remind me again, you’re sure that Sam, Jack and… Castiel, don’t know where I am?” The pregnant hunter grumbled as he placed the bags on the table.

Rowena walked from the kitchen and looked at the spoils that Dean had brought for her as they lay spread across her mahogany table. Picking up an oddly shaped root, the witch smiled as she walked over to her spell bowl.

“Does the mighty Dean Winchester really doubt my magic capabilities?” The ginger witch grinned as she placed the root in her bowl and said a few Latin words.

With the bowl glowing a bright purple, Dean saw as the Witch’s eyes glimmered a similar hue as the light. Rowena stood using her abilities to locate where the other boys of team Free Will 2.0 were, starting off with the father of Dean’s unborn child. Upon entering, Rowena immediately pulled out of her trance and told Dean to go inside the washroom. Without question or hesitation, the pregnant hunter moved quickly as he ran into the small room and locked the door behind him.

Dean tried his best to remain quiet as he heard the front door open and light steps walking into the small cottage. He recognised those footsteps well before he heard the gruff voice respond to Rowena’s comment with a question. Trying everything in his power not to make a sound, Dean sat by the bathtub while he listened in slightly to the conversation the Angel and witch were having on the other side of the door.

To Dean, the conversation felt like an eternity and he was worried that Cas was able to sense his presence there. What other explanation was there to Castiel showing up to Rowena of all people. The thought of Rowena’s spell not working frightened the pregnant man that he thought of either escaping from the bathroom or to just come clean to Cas-

“Sam and Dean don’t know this, Rowena, but when I went to heaven to collect Jack’s soul, I ran into an old aquatints. They wanted Jack because he was part Angel, so I offered my life for Jack’s. The only catch was that when I allowed myself to be truly happy that the Empty would come and take my life.”

Dean felt a sudden rage in him upon hearing this, yet he stayed there on the floor. As much as he wanted to storm out of the washroom and confront Castiel, he wanted to hear a little more of his side of the story without being dragged back to the bunker. Dean quietly slid closer to the door to try and hear the conversation a little more.

“Are you sure that loving Dean is what makes you the happiest?”

There was a long pause that seemed to have worried Dean. But then he thought to himself, if that’s true, wouldn’t Cas have been taken by now? It didn’t make sense to Dean that Cas’ true happiness happened and yet he was still here, right?

“I’m pretty certain, with my whole being, that if Dean truly accepts me and this child of ours till the end of our existing lives, it would make me the happiest Angel… the happiest being in the entirety of any reality. But it’s the consistent reminder that if I’m allowing myself to be happy and the Empty coming to collect that’s holding me from finding Dean and pulling him into my arms, holding him close and never letting go, no matter how mad he’d be with me. I want him to be my partner. I want him to mother my child. I want to be happy for him and the fact that he loves me back… but if I do, 100 percent accept that fact… I’d lose him before I ever truly had him.”

That’s the moment it hit Dean like a ton of bricks. Cas wasn’t there for him… so to speak… Cas was there to ask Rowena for a memory spell. If they all forgot the moment Dean and Cas had, then Castiel wouldn’t look back upon that moment and feel dread of not being able to feel happiness about that night. If everyone forgot that Castiel was the father of Dean’s unborn child, they may not worry too much about him giving birth to said child. As much as Dean wanted to remember the passionate night with his best friend, he didn’t want to have Cas be taken away just for loving him and their child. A deep sigh escaped his lips, because he was aware on what was needed to be done next.

Chapter Text

Rowena shut the door behind Castiel after promising him that she’d perform the memory spell as soon as she found the pregnant hunter. After a while, Dean stepped out of the washroom and saw Rowena sitting on the couch running her thoughts. Dean sat next to the witch as she handed him a little cup of herbal tea, and the hunter happily took the cup as he leaned back into the floral designed sofa.

He didn’t drink it right away, but more of played with the golden rim around the lip of the teacup as his thoughts were also in turmoil. Was he really considering on forgetting that Cas loved him as much as he loved the fallen Angel? Most importantly, would this spell affect their unborn child?

“The spell won’t harm the baby, if that’s what you’re wondering.” Rowena whispered, breaking the silence a little.

Dean chuckled, “I hate it when you do that.”

The witch smiled as she made her way to the herbs and picked out a few ingredients for some type of spell. Dean set his cup down on a holder and walked over to her, watching as she picked the weirdest ingredients.

“Give it a few days Row. That way it’s a little more believable that you had to try and find me.”

The ginger witch looked at the hunter with surprise.

“Are you sure, Dean?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything. And as you said, the spell wouldn’t harm the baby. I trust you’d do the spell right.”

Rowena sighed deeply as she put her ingredients down and faced Dean. Looking closer at him for any sign of a lie or hesitation, and noticing as there was none in the wrinkled oak green eyes, the witch shook her head and let out a scoff.

“Alright, I’ll do it. But for a spell this big and powerful, I’m gonna need an anchor.”

“How do you mean?”

“What I mean dear is that I’m gonna need someone to hold most of the weight of this spell and a keyword for them to gain their memories back. Spells this big aren’t usually permanent without an anchor. That, and I’m not sure how many people know about you and the Angel.”

“Sam, Jody, Donna, Mary, Jack, and you. Aside from Cas and I of course.”

“Wow, just off the top of your head there lad?”

“There was so many things going that day, yet I remember who was told.”

“Alright. Well, we will give it some time, then I’ll tell Cas-“

“No.”

“I’m sorry?”

Dean took a deep sigh as he looked up at the witch who had given him sanctuary since he ran from the bunker. He wasn’t sure how he suddenly got the courage, or it could have been the blind hope that there was a way to keep the Empty away from Castiel, but something in him was telling him to say the following words.

“I’ll be the anchor. Castiel doesn’t need to know, nor does anyone else who is affected by the memory alteration spell. Make me the anchor, Row.”

Rowena looked deeply into the hunter’s deep green eyes that hid behind dark bags and a few lines from age to pin point the truth and/or a hint of second guessing.

After not seeing any fear nor regrets in his word, the 300 year old witch sighed.

“Alright Dean… what keyword did you want?”

***

Dean sat up surrounded by his family and looked at their faces. But none could compare to the look he saw from Castiel. The Angel’s face showed of pain and a form of joy, but also a load of regret.

“Dean, you’re alive!” Sam smiled as he hugged his older brother.

“Yeah, doing great. Just wish I was as happy to see you guys.”

“I feel mostly responsible for that.” Mary said, “Dean, I really am sorry. It’s just, when I heard that you were pregnant, I got worried. We don’t know the father or of his origins- I mean, you don’t even remember who it was that night. He could have been human, or he could have been a vampire, or worse, an Angel.”

Dean dangled his feet over the edge of the table as he faced his mother with an angry sigh.

“Mom, there’s no way I’d allow myself to sleep with an Angel, no matter who it was, or how ‘madly in love’ I was with him.”

Castiel raised an eyebrow at this comment.

“Well, that doesn’t matter now, Dean. What does is that we’ve all come to an agreement while you were missing.” Sam interjected.

“I’m not getting rid of them.” Dean growled as he clutched his stomach.

Jack gave out a slight chuckle, “No, Dean. After you disappeared, we realised… well, Mary realised, that if carrying this child made you happy, then it really doesn’t matter who the father is. So we all agreed that you could keep the child.”

Dean looked to his family, then back to his mother.

“Really? You’re letting me keep them?” Dean whispered as he held back tears.

“Hey, if you’re happy, then we’re happy. Besides, it be nice to have a nibling who I don’t have to shoot for trying to kill you.”

Everyone gave Sam a strange look.

“What? Nibling is the gender neutral term for one’s child to their sibling. We don’t know if I’ll get a niece or nephew, and it’s an easier way for me to say than ‘I’m getting a niece and/or nephew’. The internet is free you guys.”

Everyone gave a slight laugh as Dean held onto his unborn child.

Chapter Text

Jack didn’t mean to. He was scared, and confused. He didn’t mean to do any of this, he only wanted to help. He was still trying to understand what feelings were. He was trying to be like Dean. Be like Cas. He was trying to be human again. However, he knew if Dean or Sam found him, he might not make it. He fled out of fear, or at least that’s what he wanted to believe why he fled.

Mary was just talking too much, scaring him, not understanding him. He had to do what he did to Nick for what Lucifer had done to his family, yet Mary didn’t understand that. All she saw was another human wanting to not feel anymore. She saw an innocent man, when in reality, Nick was as much a killer as any of them. When he saw what he had done to Mary, he wanted to undo it. He wanted to bring her back and apologise. The Nephilm felt like that was the best option to go before finding Dean and Sam.

Dean, however, wasn’t aiming his hormonal anger towards the young hybrid. He was pissed at Castiel, because Castiel knew that there was something going on with Jack, and he wanted to tell the Winchester’s about his concerns, but it seemed a time had been missing where he could’ve yet didn’t. Like their past couple months faded into a different memory. Castiel knew that Dean may never forgive him OR Jack if they never found Mary.

“If something happened to her…If she’s … Then you’re dead to me.” Dean growled through gritted teeth at his best friend.

Sam understood that Cas had something for Dean, or the other way around. Yet for this moment where Mary wasn’t anywhere to be found, Dean was more caught up on revenge than any feelings that stirred in his head. Sam tried to comfort his pregnant brother, knowing that he was failing at that.

“Dean, if you stress out too much, you might lose your child.” Sam said in the Impala.

“Cas knew that there was something wrong with him this whole time and he didn’t say anything to us about it.”

“And maybe for good reason too. Look, I’m not trying to find an excuse for Cas on why he did what he did-“

“Then don’t.”

Sam opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it, knowing that his brother was in no mood to listen to him. He still was a little worried his brother was gonna be over stressing and unintentionally lose his child.

***

Sam and Dean ran back to the place of where Jack had unintentionally killed their mother as the winds died down. Both brothers proceeded with caution as they saw Jack holding something, or rather, someone.

“I’m sorry.” The young Nephilim choked out, “I… I tried to bring her back.”

“It’s okay.” Sam gently whispered as he got a little closer to Jack. “This wasn’t your fault.”

Jack quickly looked up at Dean and knew that had Dean got any closer to him, he would find a way to end his life. So carefully placing Mary back on the ground, Jack vanished before the trio.

With that, Sam rushed to Mary and held her as Cas waved his hand over her lifeless form.

“She’s gone.”

“Gone? What do you mean gone? The spell should have worked, shouldn’t it have?”

That’s when Rowena stepped up behind the men saying, “Not unless she’s found peace in the afterlife.”

Dean lifted his hands to his head as he walked in a tight circle. The pregnant hunter felt hurt that his mother felt it was more important to her to be in paradise rather than being there for her son while he was about to give her a grandchild. Everyone else seemed to have felt his frustration in about the same sense he had, if not stronger. Almost like his pregnancy, or his child, was sending strong signals of Dean’s inner emotions nearly forcing everyone around him to feel the same or understand the grasp of his anguish.

***

After Castiel and Sam finished building the hunter bed and letting Mary’s soul rest, Dean was already waiting in the impala wanting to find Jack and make him pay.

Cas just stared at the flames, trying to understand why there was so much time missing, and thinking that somehow Dean’s unborn child had something to do with it. He was pulled from his trance when Sam rested his hand on his shoulder, gesturing him to the car where the pregnant Winchester waited.

As they drove, Sam and Castiel were able to feel basically every thought and emotion emanating from Dean. The two glanced at each other in worry and concern for the now oldest Winchester still alive. Sam went to turn the radio on, but Dean grabbed his hand and shoved it from the knob.

“Geez, when did you get a grip?” Sam winced as he tried to relieve pressure from his wrist.

Dean looked at Sam and wanted to apologise, but the reflection of Castiel in the rear view mirror shut his mouth into a tight snarl.

***

They ended up having a small get together in memory of Mary, knowing that she left a big impact on the remaining hunters and humans from the other world that Chuck had abandoned. Dean looked at the group of hunters around the room, all of who were oblivious to his pregnancy, but knowledgeable about his disappearances the last couple of months.

After Dean said a few kind words and everyone took a swig of their beers, Dean having a root beer due to his condition, a sudden crack was heard in the back of the room with one of the hunters falling to the floor with a hatchet in his head. Everyone looked up at the culprit, only to see the other world Bobby walk from the shadows and nods at the hunters.

“Make sure I get my hatchet back.” Bobby grumbled as the wrath was being dragged away.

“Damn Wrath. Knew him from a nest your mom and I busted a while back. Probably here to gloat. Bastard.”

Sam patted the shoulder of another hunter as he walked over to his familiar father figure.

“Hunters memorial completed with a monster. Mary would have appreciated that.” Cas smiled softly.

Apocalyptic!Bobby chuckled, “Now that you mention it, yea.”

The old man looked at Sam and asked how he was, which Sam gave a slight reply of sadden content.

“And the uh… pregnant one?”

The three hunters all looked up at Dean who held a box as he too dismissed another hunter.

“Parent-to-be… seems to be doing okay. Hard to say, aside from the fact that the child in him seems to be holding him together pretty well.”

“Yea,” Bobby interjected, “Maybe he’s like me… minus the hidden baby… being teary in public is not my style.”

Dean began putting the photos back inside the box and stopped to look at the black and white photo of Mary.

“Most everyone has headed out, but I thought I’d stick around more. You know, open some non-alcoholic drinks and talk about mom.”

Dean scoffed as he walked toward the hall, “Talk about mom? Isn’t that what we have been doing? Besides, what’s to talk about, aside from the fact she chose dad over…” Dean looked at Bobby for a second before walking away with the pictures.

In the kitchen, Bobby handed Sam an open beer and picked up the small picture Sam was looking at.

“Sam, I wanna talk about what happened to your mom, because I’m hearing the kid… did Jack-“

Before the old hunter could finish his question, Dean stepped into the kitchen.

“Need anything?” Castiel asked.

“I could use a drink.”

“Bars open… aside from alcohol for you.” Bobby stated.

Dean just rolled his eyes as he mumbled, “Nah, I gotta get out of here for a while.”

“But we gotta talk about Jack.”

“We will.”

***

Dean sat on the side of the road, sobbing silently as he held his unborn child, not knowing why his mother chose to stay in heaven rather than staying on earth to help him through the rest of his pregnancy. He couldn’t have been more than a few months with child, but he still needed her.

***

“Just getting back?” Sam asked as Dean walked into the bunker.

“Yea.”

Sam kept typing away at the pc, trying to find a way to find Jack before Bobby and his gang did.

“You know… I keep thinking about mom.” Sam started as he shut his laptop, “for most people it’s ‘Hope’ or ‘Faith’. We know the truth, we know God is real, and we know Angels are too.”

“God writes paperback books in his underwear. And Angels are dicks.”

“But they’re real, right? We know mom’s not sitting on a cloud playing a harp, she’s in a good place. Or she’s in a great place.” Sam didn’t notice the little emotional faces Dean made as Sam kept saying how Mary being in Heaven living her memories with J*hn was better than her being there to help him with his pregnancy, “She’s with dad.”

“Mhmm, and you know what else? There wasn’t enough of her to even try and bring her back.” Dean turned to walk but before he completely left the room he mumbled, “Nor was the idea of her being a grandmother enough for her to stay.”

This hurt Sam after he heard that last bit.

***

“Hello Jack.”

The young hybrid looked up, hoping it was an image of his mother there to help him, after his vision of Lucifer tried to convince him otherwise. But to his dismay, it was an Angel he met in heaven when Cas tried to retrieve his soul.

“I’ve met you before… in heaven.”

“Yes we did.”

“How did you find me?”

“Jack, I’ve come here to tell you something, something important. It wasn’t your fault. What happened with Mary Winchester, that wasn’t your fault.”

“You know about that?” Jack curled into himself.

“Jack, it was a mistake. Doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve redemption. I know, heaven knows, your mother knew that you have a glorious destiny.”

Jack let his guard down a bit, “I do?”

The familiar Angel started telling Jack about how the world used to fear God and the Angels, and tried to follow His every word, but soon fell apart when he left. She even tried to convince Jack that even though he couldn’t save Mary, for Sam and Dean’s (mostly Dean’s) sake, he could still make changes in the world.

“And imagine how happy that would make Sam and Dean.”

Jack smiled at that thought of at least making Dean happy.

***

“So, the Angels… they’re going to help us?” Sam asked Cas.

“I was promised every effort would be made to locate Jack.”

“Oh, heaven ‘promised’.” Dean sarcastically stated, “Great, well we should take that to the bank.”

Castiel tried to reassure the brothers that they could trust the angels (like they haven’t already betrayed them enough) and that they could find a way to fix Jack before things got too dire. However, Sam pulled up a few articles that said otherwise. Jack was still just a child, but without his human half to tell him right from wrong, he was willing to believe anyone or anything if it meant that Dean wouldn’t see him as a monster anymore.

“So either,” Dean laughed, “Chuck came back, which… heh.. that ain’t gonna happen, or…”

“Jack.” Cas sighed in disbelief.

***

After the third biblical incident, Dean led Sam to the dungeon where he had kept the Malik Box that he had intended for himself when still holding Apocalyptic!Micheal in his mind. He suggested that they held Jack in the box until he figure out a way to gank him. Sam didn’t feel comfortable lying to Jack, especially with Dean still in his first trimester. Granted, Jack had more trust in Sam or Cas when it came to promises on saving his soul, if there was any left.

It took Dean a little while to convince Sam about the idea, but after a bit he managed to get Sam on board.

Chapter Text

After Jack escaped the Malik Box and stood in front of those he trusted, Jack felt anger raising out of him.

“You lied to me… YOU LIED!!”

With his abilities, Jack pushed everyone back, sensing Dean’s child protecting him and itself upon impact. Jack wasn’t sure if Dean felt it too, but he didn’t want to stick around to find out.

Soon as they all were on their feet, Castiel approached the destroyed Malik Box, unsure as to why it wasn’t able to hold Jack.

“So, what do we do?” Cas asked as he faced the brothers.

“We find him.” Dean started off.

“How?”

“I don’t know Cas!!” Dean shouted, “You tell me.”

“Last time we found Jack… w-was by praying to him, but… that’s not gonna happen again.”

“Yeah, you think?”

“You should never have tried to lock him away.”

“You know what, you’re right. I never wanted to put him in that DAMN box, I wanted him DEAD.”

“Dean-“

“He’s dangerous, Cas. And you knew it! You’ve known it for a long time. But that’s okay, you know why? Because me and Sam, we’ve killed about everything there is. And this… ‘Jack’… Oh, we’ll find a way. Because he’s just another monster.”

“You don’t mean that.”

Dean took a step toward the angel as he grumbled, “The hell I don’t.”

Cas just stared, terrified of Dean for the first time in what feels like a long time, before he pushed passed him to figure out a way to find Jack on his own.

“Alright, so, I guess we gotta find Jack.”

“Yea…” Sam sighed, “then what?”

“I don’t know, maybe we call Rowena, see if she can put together one of those, er… soul bombs.”

“The… thing we were gonna use against the Darkness?”

“Yea, might actually put a dent in the kid.”

“Okay.”

Dean stepped toward his younger brother, “Sam, I know this isn’t easy, okay? I know how much he meant to you, he meant a lot to me. He was family. But this, this is not Jack anymore. He’s hurting-he’s killing people! This isn’t gonna be easy, I mean we’re gonna have to do the hard thing. We’re gonna have to do the ugly thing.” Dean then turned from his brother to look at the destruction left behind. “Ain’t like it’s the first time, though, right?”

***

Sam and Dean pulled up to Mirror Universe while finishing up a call with Row. Sam wasn’t happy to be asking the witch about such a severe topic.

“She in?” Dean asked as soon as Sam hung up.

“She thinks it dangerous… especially for you, and also insane… but yeah, she in.”

“Well, she knows what Jack’s capable of.”

With nothing more to say, the two walked into the building, trying their best to find any clue as to where this rouge soulless Nephlim was.

“Nerds.” Dean muttered as soon as they saw what it was like on the inside.

“Takes one to know one.” Sam replied back.

“What?”

“You… ah come on man. You’re always calling me a geek when you know every word to every Led Zeppelin song, backwards and forwards. You can discuss and detail every major rock drama between the ‘67 and ‘84. And… you watch ‘Jeopardy’ every night.”

“Ok, alright, yeah. But I’m nothing like these, uh, you know, gaggle of Zuckerbergs.”

“Th-They’re not,” Sam scoffs, “Mirror Universe builds facial-recognition software. They’ve got contracts wi-with basically every law-enforcement agency on the planet.”

“Okay, so?”

“So, we need to track Jack, but he flies, so if we can’t exactly track his license plate, but maybe we can track-“

“His face!”

“His face, exactly.”

“Okay.”

Dean looked up at the lady at the desk and a slight smile found space on his face.

“Oh, I got this.”

Dean walked up to the desk with his fake badge in hand as the lady greeted him.

“Hi, I’m Dean Winchester, and I’m looking for the devil’s son.”

The lady and Dean just stared at each other in silence before she spoke up.

“What?”

Smiling awkwardly, Dean repeated her question before chuckling to himself as he looked at the badge, rereading the name and then presenting it to her again.

“I meant, ahem, I’m Dean Winchester, I’m looking for the devil’s son, I’m 13 weeks pregnant and this badge is fake.”

The lady gave Dean another confused face as she looked at the badge and back up at Dean. Dean laughed to himself before putting his badge back in his jacket.

“Excuse me.”

Dean grabbed Sam’s arm and asked him who his favourite singer was.

“You say it’s Elvis, but we both know that’s crap. Who’s your favourite singer?”

Sam scoffed, “It’s like you said, it’s Celine Dion… heh, I mean Celine Dion. It’s Celi- uh… Dean, every time I try and say ‘Elvis’, it comes out-“

“The sad, horrible truth. Yeah, you know why? Because we can’t lie.”

Across the room an employee shouted who ate his yogurt as another stood saying it was him, which resulted in him being tackled to the ground as everyone started spouting the truth and getting angry with each other, throwing supplies and furniture at each other. This forced Sam and Dean to hurry into the office room closest to them as the news explained that the president ended up spending two hours talking about his tax and demon deal with the deceased demon Crowley.

***

“When people can’t lie, the Internet gets real quiet.” Dean said as he scrolled his feed.

A container of liquid splashing against the glass wall separating the Winchesters from the rest of the building. Dean just hummed to himself as he looked back at his phone, snarking a mother blogger who clearly was lying about her family and the diet she forced them on.

Outside in the chaos, Chuck and Castiel stood watching as everyone was losing their minds.

“This is why people need to lie. It’s good. Keeps the peace, you know?”

“Seems like an odd stance for… you.”

“Is it?” Chuck shrugged, “I’m a writer. Lying’s kind of what we do.”

As a crumbled paper hit Chuck’s face, Cas stepped out and called out for Sam and Dean, making sure they were okay.

“Cas?” Sam asked as he heard Castiel’s voice.

“Cas?” Dean asked as he opened the door and gestured the Angel in. “How’d you get here?”

Cas pointed behind him as he stated, “He brought me.”

Dean looked at Chuck as he greeted the brothers. He was a little frightened and angry as the all powerful being stepped into the room.

“Where the hell have you been?”

“You know, that’s a funny question. Reminds me of a song.” Chuck pulled out a guitar basically out of nowhere.

As he began to play a tune, Dean grabbed the instrument out of Chuck’s hands and crashed it against the ground in a bit of normal anger and hormonal rage.

“Answer the damn question!” Dean screamed, forgetting who he was angry with.

“Don’t!!” Chuck shouted back, reminding Dean who he was talking to.

Sam and Castiel both kept a close eye on Chuck, knowing Dean’s situation, ready to do whatever it took to harm Chuck if he so much as touched a hair on Dean’s body. But Chuck seemed to calm down easily as he mentioned the small space the group was in. With a snap of his fingers, the trio and him were all transported to the bunker’s war room.

***

“Dean?” Sam entered Dean’s room as Dean was filling up an old flask.

“Yea, over here.”

“Hey.”

“Good, I’m glad you’re here. I actually needed to talk to you about something. Um… have a seat.”

Sam complies, ignoring the fact Dean is filling a flask with alcohol even though he’s finishing up his first trimester.

“Uh… what’s going on?”

Dean sighs, “You know what I’m gonna say.”

“Let me guess, this is where you tell me you’re gonna pull the trigger? Even tho you’re… well… you know.”

“Yea it is. We don’t exactly have a choice here, Sam. I was looking forward to this child as much as you were, but we gotta face facts about Jack.”

“But we do have a choice here Dean. Don’t we always? Isn’t that the point of everything we’ve been doing, everything we’ve done? That we always have a choice?”

“He killed our mom.”

“I get it, I was mad too. Or you know what? Hell, I’m still mad. And a part of me wants Jack dead, it really does! But Dean, we haven’t even tried to save him.”

“S— okay… you heard him right? He actually blamed mom from what happened!”

“He doesn’t have a soul.”

“And whose fault is that?”

“Mine. I’m the one who brought him back, and I brought him back because he’s family.”

“Okay.”

“And then he came back, and he burned his soul off to save us… you and me. And now what? You… now you, you want my permission? You wanna say I’m cool with losing him and losing you and that child of yours all at once? Cause I can’t do that. I won’t say that, cause I… No. I’ve already lost too much.”

Sam stormed out of Deans room as Dean tried not to take a swing from his flask, and just slammed it on the table.

Cas pulled his rented truck into the graveyard where Kelly was buried. As he stepped out he slammed his fist against the hood of the truck. Then he heard wings flap behind him, and he turned to see Jack standing there.

***

Dean walked up to Cas and Jack as Cas stood from the bench to cover Jack from Dean and the weapon Chuck forged. He stopped a few feet from them and asked for his friend to step aside. When Castiel didn’t comply, Dean ordered him this time, but Cas told Jack to leave. However, Jack didn’t feel like running, he couldn’t after everything he’s done to the Winchesters, to his mother, to Dean. He forced Cas out of the way and walked up to Dean, only stopping a few feet from the pregnant hunter, understanding exactly why Dean was there and the device he held.

Jack then got down to his knees and waited for Dean to walk up to him. Hesitant, Dean made his way to Jack with the weapon still aiming at the hybrid. Cas recovered from the blow from Jack and tried to sit up, watching Dean get to about a foot from Jack as he raised the weapon at the kid’s head.

Sam then pulled into the graveyard rushing to the scene, hoping his brother would come to his senses. He called out for his brother, silently praying that Dean would not go through with ending three lives that day. Jack looked at Dean’s face, ignoring the weapon, understanding why Dean needed to do this.

“Dean, don’t!!!” Sam shouted.

“I know what I’ve done.” Jack said, waiting for the trigger to be pulled.

Sam still trying to get Dean to hear him, and hoping that he’s change his mind on Jack.

“Stay back Sam.” Dean finally said as he adjusted his aim.

“And you were right, all along. I am a monster.”

Sam looked to Chuck as the scene played out, realising that Chuck wasn’t there to help, he wasn’t trying to right a wrong for the Winchester’s sake. This was a show to him, nothing more. He saw the anticipation on Chuck’s face as Dean held the weapon between Jack’s eyes, finger on the trigger.

As Dean cocked the weapon and stared at Jack’s face with his sad soulless eyes staring up at him, he realised something about the kid. He was just trying to be like him. He did everything the way he believed Dean would have done it. Jack was just following after those he saw as his fathers, his true fathers. Dean now finally saw Jack as his baby, similar to the child that still was sprouting in him. And he lowered the gun.

Cas marched his way to Dean and Jack while Chuck stood there confused and annoyed. Dean then uncocked the gun and tossed it to the side, feeling his motherly instincts kick in as he looked at the confused child that knelt before him.

“No, pick it up!” Chuck shouted as he stood by the gun and Dean, “Pick it up!”

“The hell Chuck?” Dean whispered as Chuck grumbled upon how this wasn’t how the story was supposed to play out.

“The story?” Cas growled.

Jack stood and everyone gathered close to Dean, as if trying to protect him from Chuck, still unsure if this monster knew about Dean’s baby.

“The gathering storm, the gun, the-the father killing his own son. This is Abraham and Isaac. This is epic!”

“Wait, what are you saying?” Dean asked.

“He’s saying he’s been playing us. This whole time.”

“Come on.” Chuck scoffed.

“Our entire lives. Mom, dad… Everything. This is all you because you wrote it all, right? Because-because what? Because we’re your favourite show, because we’re part of your story?”

“Dean, no offence, but your brother is stupid and crazy. And that kid is still dangerous! So pick up the gun. Pick it up… pull the trigger… and I’ll bring her back. Your mom.”

Dean glared at Chuck before glancing back at his brother then looking back at Chuck. His eyes resting on the gun for a second. After a moment’s thought, Dean took a step back and shook his head.

“No.”

Dean took a few more steps back to where he was now a little behind but also next to Sam.

“No. My mom was my hero. And I miss her, and I will miss her every second of my life, but she would not want this. And it’s not like you even really care. Cause Sam’s right. The Apocalypse, the first go-around, with Lucifer and Micheal, you knew everything that was going on, so why the games Chuck, huh?! Why don’t you just snap your fingers and end it?!?”

“Look, I-“

“And every other bad thing we’ve been killing, been dying over” Sam scoffed, “where were you? Just sitting back and watching us suffer? So we can do this over and over and over again, fighting, losing people we love? When does it end? Tell me.”

“Dean, don’t do this.”

“No, we’re done talking. Cause this… this isn’t just a story, it’s our LIVES!! So God or no God, you go to hell.”

A few silent seconds and Chuck chuckles silently, Chuck responds, “Have it your way.” And snaps his fingers causing Jack’s face to glow.

Sam and Cas call for Jack as he collapses and Cas goes to inspect what’s going on.

“Stop it!” Dean grumbles. Then turns to Chuck and shouts, “Stop it!!!”

Chuck then flings Dean backwards, again his child protecting as much as it can as he hits a gravestone. As Cas tries his best to keep Jack from burning out, Sam picks up the gun and called God by name. As the powerful being turns, Sam pulls the trigger, hitting Chuck in the left shoulder, inflicting pain on Sam’s left shoulder as well.

“Is that how you wanna do this? Fine. Story’s over. Welcome to the end.”

As Chuck disappeared the sky went dark. Dean stood to his feet and made his way over to Sam, Cas and Jack.

“You okay?” Dean asked his baby brother.

“Yea.” Sam grunted as he too stood to his feet, applying pressure to his newly added wound.

“Wait, I thought Chuck said the gun was the only thing that could…” Dean said as he saw wing marks under Jack.

“He’s a writer.” Cas sighed. “Writers lie.”

Chapter Text

“Hey.” Dean commented to Castiel as he looked over the map on the wall.

“Yeah, hey.” The gruff Angel replied. “Dean, I recognise that I dropped the puck.”

“Ball.” Dean said, still gazing over the map. “It’s- er, it’s drop the ball.”

“The ball. Right.” Cas remarked, “I didn’t tell you about, Jack. And then after what happened with your mother-“

Dean turned to Cas with his distasteful face since Mary’s death… again. “Don’t.” He grumbled, still very much hurt from not just the lies and secrets from his best friend, but of the sting that his mother didn’t think he or his soon to be child was good enough for her to stay on earth a little while longer.

“You’re angry-“

“Yes, I am angry!” Dean projected. “At everything. At all of it.”

“All of it? Even that child you were so adamant on carrying full term?”

“No, not them. I’m talking about this mess, all the messes. Turns out we’re just hamsters running in a wheel all our lives? What do we have to show for it, huh? Tell me you don’t feel conned. God’s been lying to you, Cas. Forever. You’ve fallen for the biggest scam in history.”

“You don’t think I’m angry? After what Chuck did? After what he took from me? From us? He killed Jack! But that doesn’t mean that it was all a lie.”

“Really?” Dean scoffed.

“Chuck is all knowing. He knew the truth, he… he just kept it to himself.”

“Well, now that his cover is blown, everything that we’ve done is for what? Nothing.”

“Even if we didn’t know, that all of the challenges that we faced were born of Chuck’s imaginations… how would we describe it all? We call it life! Because that’s precisely what life is. It’s an obstacle course, and maybe Chuck designed the obstacles, but we ran our own race. We made our own moves. Hell, you’re pregnant for crying out loud. And maybe you aren’t in some other realities, or even the ‘main’ reality, if this isn’t one of them. But I’d say we did well with that. Mostly.”

“Did we?” Dean felt a kick before collecting himself again, “I’ll tell you what we do know. Nothing, about our lives, is real. Everything that we’ve lost, everything that we are is because of Chuck. Or whoever is writing our story, which I am damn sure is Chuck. So, maybe you can stick your head back in the sand. Maybe you can pretend that we actually had a choice. I can’t. Hell, probably getting pregnant was a part of his agenda.”

Dean walked passed Castiel, but paused as Castiel started to talk again.

“Dean. You asked about what all of this is real.” Dean looked at Cas as the Angel turned around to face the hunter.

“We are. You, me, Sam and your unborn child. We have been writing our own story since the day we met. Hell, maybe even long before then. And I know for certain, that Chuck doesn’t have a single clue about that child growing within you, otherwise he wouldn’t have toss you like a rag doll back in the graveyard. He may be a monster now, but he wouldn’t destroy an experiment out of pure spite.”

Dean turned and walked out of the building as Castiel still stood there in the room.

While out hunting for more damned with Ketch, Dean thought a little about what Cas said about Chuck not knowing about his unborn child. Remembering the iron necklace Sam gave him earlier, Dean gave it to Ketch to keep him from getting possessed by a damned. As the two conversed, Dean felt his child moving again, making him not only a little uncomfortable with hunting, but also in the conversation about what was going on between that witch and the man of letters. Before he could dig himself a deeper hole about Rowena, he received a text, informing him that a couple hunters haven’t check in for the rotations.

After getting their asses practically handed to them in the warehouse by a few damned, Dean glared up at the soul holding a hatched, subconsciously clutching his stomach as the soul lifted the hatchet before being commanded to stop and leave Dean and Ketch alone. Dean looked at whoever commanded the soul away, staring as the mysterious saviour made themselves known.

“Kevin?” Dean stood as he got a closer look to make sure the light wasn’t messing with his eyes. “I don’t believe it.”

“Yea, I was gonna meet up with you guys sooner, but I kinda just got here.” Kevin stated as Ketch got to his feet. “Kevin Tran. Former prophet.”

“I’m Arthur Ketch. Former assassin.”

Dean gave a slight glare before looking back at Kevin.

“Mostly.” Ketch added.

“What-what are you even doing here? Cause you’re supposed to be in heaven.”

“Er, not so much.”

“Chuck said he was sending you to heaven.”

“Yeah, we’ll what he said, and then what he did…”

“He lied.” Ketch interjected. “For what? Kicks?”

“Turns out, God’s a dick.”

Kevin then looked at where Dean was holding his hands, staring at them quizzically. Dean saw this and quickly released his slightly showing baby bump. Ketch saw the quick motion and looked between the former prophet and the hunter.

“Dean, are you… aware… that you’re carrying a Nephilim?”

Ketch looked even more shocked, staring at Dean, “You finally got with that hot looking Angel?”

“Look, it doesn’t matter, we’re going to get you into heaven. Right? After we get all these, ‘Ghosts’ back to hell.”

“At least the town is warded.”

“Yeah but, it’s fading. I can feel it. Along with apparently you unborn child?”

“They’re fad-“

“Oh, no, no, no! That’s not what I mean. What I meant was that… I felt the presence of a Nephilim as soon as I surfaced. Was expecting it to be this ‘Jack’ fellow I’ve been hearing about during my time in hell.”

“Oh… thank… well, I guess any God that isn’t Chuck right now. Wait… Nephilim?”

“Don’t you know who the father is?” Ketch interjected.

“No, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have fought so hard to keep the baby. I’m far too along in this pregnancy to terminate, are you sure that I’m carrying a Nephilim, also why aren’t you surprised that I’m male and pregnant?”

Ketch shrugged, “I assumed you were a tranny. Female to male of course.”

Dean rolled his eyes, not wanting to ask Kevin why he wasn’t surprised, afraid the answer was probably the same thing.

“I thought you transitioned as well.”

***

“Wait, he said you’re carrying a hybrid?” Sam asked, “A Nephilim like Jack is… was?”

“Yea. But the kid has kind of grown in me-“

“On you-“

“That, and I think it’s a little too far into the pregnancy to even terminate.”

“You fought so hard for this child though, Dean. You said you didn’t care if they were a Nephilim.”

“That’s because I thought I wasn’t stupid enough to actually sleep with an Angel. Although, Ketch thinks that I ‘finally got with that hot looking Angel’ and that ‘I was a tranny’. Come on, do I really look that feminist to everyone?”

“Are you sure you didn’t sleep with Cas after Michael changed your body formation before his death?”

“Sam, I swear-“

“Just saying. There is that possibility.”

“Alright, let’s say that I did. Don’t you think Cas would have taken accountability by now? Even with Jack gone? I may not remember, so what would stop Castiel, an Angel, from remembering?”

“I don’t know Dean. Maybe he feels guilty?”

“All the more reason to own up to yet another mistake of his.”

“Or… and I’m just spit balling here… or, he probably found a spell or curse or some Angelic thing that made not just you forget, but also him.”

“Right, if there is such a thing, might as well say that he went to Rowena looking for a mind alteration spell, where everyone else forgets while only he’d remember after the ‘key word’ is spoken to him and he’d remember only after then. Get real, we have bigger problems to deal with than question the other half of my Nephilim child.”

“Fine, I mean it’s great to have Kevin around… ghost Kevin. But do you think it’s safe having him doing what he’s doing?”

***

Sam and Cas walked away after making sure Ketch was gonna be alright after getting shot by an Iron bullet.

“I tried to heal him, but it just didn’t work. I don’t know why.”

“Probably just tired Cas. We all are.” Sam scoffed.

“Something else is on your mind, what aren’t you telling me?” Cas asked as they got further from Ketch and Dean.

“It’s probably nothing.”

“Tell me.”

“Dean’s child…“ Sam sighed as he looked at his older brother talking to Ketch, “Is a Nephilim.”

“What?!”

“He’s thinking that he’s too far into this pregnancy to terminate. But he also says that the child has grown in him. ‘On’ him. Thing is, he’s attached to this baby more than when he first found out he was pregnant.”

“If it’s Micheal’s Nephilim, the thing could kill him.”

“Yeah, well, the time just doesn’t add up with that, Cas.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m saying that Dean may have been pregnant a while, but not as long as when Michael possessed his body. If that was Michael’s plan, to hide inside Dean as a hybrid, then Jack burned off his soul for nothing. But we all know Jack killed Micheal, and several weeks after is when Dean would have gotten pregnant. And we know from Kelly, that-“

“Archangel Nephilims develop within the first couple days after conception.”

“Right.”

“So if Michael isn’t the father… who is?”

Sam truly wanted to tell Cas that he was a potential parent to Dean’s child, but he remembered what Dean had said before. If Castiel was the father, why keep that information from everyone? Seeing Dean make his way toward them, Sam kept his answer short.

“We don’t know Cas.”

***

“Drink!” Rowena cried as she crawled to a pillar in the mausoleum after the spell backfired. “A real drink!” She nearly sobbed looking toward Dean.

“I don’t have my flask on me. Besides, I’m pregnant.”

“I have it.” Castiel grunted as he pulled Dean’s nearly full flask and handed it to Sam who gave it to Rowena.

“Ignoring that obvious couples shtick, can we finally admit the obvious? Er… she failed.”

Weighing their options, Cas followed Belphegor out to the crack in the earth as Sam and Dean contemplated what their next move in the sloppy-ass-ghost-pocalypse was going to be.

“I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let some glorified fanboy get the last word.” Dean grumbled.

***

After Belphefor explained Lilith’s Crook, Rowena figured she could use a healing spell of her own devise to close up the tear of hell after all the souls were sucked back.

“What are you going to need?”

“A few ingredients, nothing too exotic. Lavender, myrrh, the skull of an owl, quiet to perform the spell, and an assistant.” The room stayed silent a moment before Rowena volunteered Sam for the last thing. “You’re as close to a seasoned witch as we’ve got in this lot. And I’ll need someone out there by the rupture.”

“Why?”

“I need to do the spell in the safety of the crypt, but we need someone close to the edge to serve as a fulcrum, a carrier. Well to put it in, uh, ‘American action movie terms’, they’ll be carrying a bomb, I light the fuse, they toss it in… boom.” The witch made a small explosion motion with her hands before continuing, “Whoever does this, they’ll be unprotected. No salt circles, all manner of angry spirits right up in their grill. And, Dean, since it seems you’re carrying a Nephilim, they might protect you both as those spirits fly by.”

“You really want to put Dean out there, no. I don’t think so. He may be carrying a Nephilim, but it’s still far too dangerous for him to be doing anything right now. I’ll do it instead.”

“But then, who’s coming down with me? I’m not going down to Hell, going past all those pissed of ghosts and demons that are probably loitering down there, and sounding the Crook all by myself.”

“You want company?”

“I want protection. Muscle.”

“Yeah, Cas’ll go.”

“Dean!”

“I’ll be fine. As Row said, since we know I’m carrying a Nephilim, they’ll probably protect us both when shit hits the fan. Besides, you’ve been to Hell before.”

“You’re really making it sound like I don’t have a choice-“

“Good, great, go team.”

As Dean went to take a step, he arched over causing everyone but Belphegor to rush over to him. Dean waved them off, trying to play it off as a misstep, which nobody bought. Giving a defeated sigh, he sat down and winced as he felt his child moving.

“Dean, what’s going on? Why do you keep looking like you’re in pain?”

“Is it the baby?” Rowena quarrelled.

“No… maybe? I don’t know, okay?” Dean huffed, clutching his bump as if someone was about to hurt them. “I keep feeling them moving and kicking and sharing their existence within me, and I’m supposed to feel joy and happiness every time they move. However-“

“You feel pain?” Sam asked.

“No, you’re feeling scared, aren’t ya?”

The pregnant hunter covered his eyes at Rowena’s statement and tried not to cry.

“Am I doing something wrong?” Dean choked out before looking back up at the red head witch.

“Oh, Dean dear.” Rowena sat next to the hunter, “Every mothering parent feels this way when they’re carrying their firstborn. I can assure you though, it does eventually get better. Granted, not every pregnancies are the same, however every mother has felt scared at least once with their firstborn. You are no exception, Dean Winchester.”

“So, it’s fair for me to be scared, knowing they’re part Angel? And there’s a slight possibility I won’t be alive when they come into this world?”

Rowena ran her nails through Dean’s hair and cooed. “Oh, sweet lamb, all in due time.”

“Do… do you guys want to feel the baby before this suicide mission inevitably kills us all?”

Belphegor ‘rolled his eyes’ as everyone else rested a hand on Dean’s bump, feeling the baby moving about. The baby got a little more excited as soon as it was under Castiel’s hand, and everyone smiled a little. The moment was interrupted with Belphegor clearing his throat, causing everyone to disperse and follow through with the plan to get all the demons back into hell and closing the wound up for good.

***

Dean sat in the bunker library, picking at the lip of the glass of liquor he poured after talking with his baby brother. Reliving Rowena’s sacrifice, upset at the fact that Castiel pretty much fucked up once again, even if what he was doing was gonna stop another apocalyptical level threat that was gonna be coming in the form of Jack’s dead body. Dean had hoped that the Witch would have helped him with the rest of his pregnancy in some way had they all survived, but he knew better now than to allow himself to get his hopes up when it came to anyone helping him through this blessing turned nightmare.

Cas walked into the room, saw the glass of liquor, and against his better judgment, walked over to Dean and took it from his hands before draining the glass of all alcohol. If Dean wasn’t pregnant, he most likely would have gone off on his best friend for stealing his drink, but he had other reasons to be pissed off at the Angel.

“How’s Sam?”

“Not great.” The hunter grimmest as he avoided Cas’ eyes.

“Sorry about Rowena.” Castiel said softly, still holding the glass.

“You’re sorry?” Dean glared. “Why didn’t you just stick to the damn plan?”

Castiel set the glass on the table beside him and stepped toward Dean a little, “Because Belphegor was lying to us.”

“I knew that, I mean of course he was, Belphegor was a demon.”

“So you know he was using us? To eat every last soul to take over Hell, Earth, and everything-“

“Yeah, and we would have figured it out.”Dean yelled, a few lights in the bunker flickering at his voice, “After. With Rowena!”

“The plan changed, Dean.” The Angel then took a step away from the hunter, “Something went wrong. You know this, when things are going steady, something always goes wrong!”

Dean glared up at his friend, “Yeah, and why does that something always seem to be you, Cas?”

Those words were a stab through Castiel’s heart, which he didn’t remember being so painful at first. But he figured over time, being stabbed by the same person over and over hurt more then the time before. No matter if it was physical or emotional anymore. Dean saw the look on Castiel’s face and felt the pain he felt, but the hunter was too emotional and stubborn to try and take back those words. Even if by any chance Castiel was the other half of his child, Dean didn’t want to be near him in that moment.

“You used to trust me, give me the benefit of the doubt.” Cas scoffed, “Now you can barely look at me.”

Dean tried to look at Cas, but it only came as a death glare. He couldn’t change his face, even if he wanted to.

“My powers are failing, and… I’ve tried to talk to you over and over, and you just don’t want to hear it. You don’t care anymore. I’m… I’m dead to you. You still blame me for Mary’s death.”

Dean didn’t respond, but nodded in slight agreement that the unfortunate incident that happened to his mother with Jack stung. Dean wanted more than anything to try and keep the family together after finally out about his surprise pregnancy, and that once the baby came, everything would have gone smoothly for them. He knew he was being foolish thinking that one child could heal their broken little family and fix all the worlds problems. Every time they get even a single shred of sunshine, the universe would shred it before their very eyes a million times worse than the last.

“Well, I don’t think there’s anything left to say.” Cas mumbled before turning to leave.

“Where you going?” Dean gruffed.

“Jack’s dead, Chuck’s gone, and you and Sam have each other.” Cas then turned to face the hunter, “I think it’s time for me to move on. Like I should have done after the first apocalypse was avoided.”

Dean sat there as Castiel turned back around. Before the Angel made it to the stairs, Dean spoke up again.

“Tell me one thing, Cas. Before you leave.”

Castiel stopped and looked back at the hunter. “What is it you want me to say, Dean?”

Dean stepped close to the Angel, looking into his tired eyes. “Tell me…” Dean paused before continuing, “What made you so connected to Jack, even when you knew he was still Lucifer’s kid?”

Castiel didn’t answer the question, but instead just turned back around and walked up the stairs and out of the bunker. Dean looked at the door before returning to the library and sitting at the table’s edge.

Chapter Text

Rowena sat on her throne as she watched Dean and Cas barely speaking to one another. This broke her heart especially with the knowledge of their situation, and the state of their relationship. She also took note of how Dean kept clutching his baby bump anytime a demon, or even Sam, walked by him as if they had ill intent on his half breed. Not like the Nephilim hadn’t already fought hard to protect not just itself but their carrier during the time of its development.

The Queen of Hell knew that she was due to tell Dean everything soon, yet she wasn’t sure how soon that was. With seeing her favourite couple arguing worse than if they were married made her want to tell him right then and there. She held her tongue as they waited for word on if Michael was still in Hell or not. After they were informed that the demons could not locate the Archangel, Cas, Sam and Dean all prepared to head back to the surface.

“Erm, Dean. A moment before you go.”

All three men held back before Rowena said she only needed to speak with Dean. The hunter assured the other two that he’d be a minute before walking to a secluded area with the witch.

“You got my attention, what is it?”

“Oh I know I’m going to regret this…” Rowena hesitated before leaning in and whispering, “ Misha .”

Dean stared at Rowena, a little confused on why she said that name of all things.

“ Misha ?” Dean repeated before a surge of memories spilled through like a dam breaking in his mind.

Soon he remembered everything from his kidnapping to when he found out just how good Castiel was in bed. Tears welled in his eyes as he looked up at the Queen of Hell like he wanted to both hug her and end her. He stood tall, a hand still on his baby bump as he tried to ask Rowena why she said the key word so soon.

“There isn’t enough time for that, dear. I did what was for the best. And so I can do this.”

A bright pink light emitted from her hand as it was placed over the hunter’s hand. Soon the light wrapped around the pregnant hunter before seeping into his skin. Dean looked about himself then back at the Witch.

“It’s a triggered spell that’ll take place once your little one is ready to pop on outta ya.”

“What does the spell do exactly?”

“It’ll give you access to the room I have set up for you and your little one. There, you’ll be protected and have all the time you need to give birth and recover from your labour without outside consequence.”

“Right… thank you Rowena.”

“Anytime. And go easy on your baby daddy, you know he’s just trying his best.”

Dean nodded before hugging Rowena, then went to join his brother and baby daddy.

Once back on the surface, Dean gave Don a call to see if he might have had any leads with Michael surfacing on earth or not. After getting nothing from the prophet, Dean just told him to keep them updated in case there was a sense. Before sitting down to talk to his brother, the hunter leaned over as he felt his baby moving. Sam gave a worried glance, before Dean just waved him off.

“So, Eileen did pretty good, with you know, getting us back.”

“Yeah.” Sam nodded.

“Is she okay?”

Sam just shrugged nonchalantly, fidgeting with the tablet a little. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“If she needs something, she’ll tell me. We have an agreement.”

“An agreement. How adorable. Look, Sam, I tried the whole… family thing.”

“Yeah, Dean, and so did I. It’s just not something that’s for us.”

“No, not really…” Dean nodded before he realised that he was actually carrying a child.

“Well… maybe this kid’ll change that. And, what I’m saying if it was to work for both of us, me and this baby, and for you…. I mean, Eileen, you know…. She gets it. She gets us, she gets the life. She’s hot.”

Sam scoffed, trying to find a counter argument, or an excuse on why his life with Eileen wouldn’t work out. Dean stood by his word, before teasing Sam about how Eileen could definitely do better. As he walked out, he patted his brother on the back, expressing his gratitude for Sam and Eileen’s understanding.

“Y’know, I keep forgetting that you’re pregnant.” Sam admitted.

-Dean was distracted by the way Cas’ tongue danced with his, making him very lightheaded. Pulling from the passionate kiss, Dean opened his eyes a little, watching the slight shadow of Castiel’s smile grow-

Dean shook his thought at the memory, as his phone buzzed. Looking at the caller ID, Dean saw that it was Donatello. Upon answering it, all the soulless prophet was shouting sounded like nonsense. Dean told him to elaborate, and Don told him that he was seeing Michael. He then confirmed the Archangel had stopped in Egypt, and he now needed a drink.

Dean hung up the phone and updated Cas on where Michael was, and that there wasn’t much they could do until he flew elsewhere. Castiel then suggested that since they can’t get to Michael, that they get the Archangel to go to them. So Castiel called forth to his brother, telling him how they both shared a common enemy. God.

The angelic brothers then met in an abandoned barn, sharing a very awkward conversation about their last meeting before Michael asked why their father, the creator of all things, was now their shared enemy. Castiel didn’t say much, just flicked a lighter and dropped it onto the floor where Michael was then surrounded and trapped in a ring of holy fire.

Sam and Dean soon walked in, the older displaying a pair of angelic cuffs. However, seeing the Winchesters wasn’t what concerned the archangel, but more so the growing Nephilim within his sword.

Michael glared at Castiel, “Castiel, what did you do?”

Dean was the only one who knew the main context behind why Michael asked it in that tone, yet didn’t address it further as he went and placed the restraints on Michael. The Archangel looked hard into Dean’s eyes, trying to find an explanation as to why he of anyone would agree to bare and carry a Nephilim after knowing the potential consequences.

”How disappointing.” Michael hissed.

The fire was then put out and the boys dragged Michael back to the bunker.

***

Castiel roamed the halls of the bunker, looking for Dean. Seeing as Sam was out on a hunt by himself, Castiel called out to the remaining hunter.

“Dean?!?” The Angel cried as he kept passing by empty room after empty room. He was starting to get a little Deja Vu from before they found out Dean was Pregnant. “Dean! Come on, where are you… De-“

Castiel paused outside of Dean’s bedroom, mentally kicking himself for not checking there first. Approaching the door, Castiel could hear sniffling, as if Dean had been crying. Quietly, the Angel opened the door and saw in the dimly lit room that Dean was curled up on his bed with a pregnancy pillow Rowena gifted him during their visit to hell clutched between his knees and another pillow holding his head up.

“Dean?” The Angel whispered as he stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him before sitting by the pregnant hunter’s feet. “Everything alright? What’s wrong?”

Dean sniffled some more, curling tighter into himself, clutching the pillows as if the whole world would disappear if he let them go.

“Dean, I know I’m the last person you’d want to, but talk to me. Please.”

Dean laid there silently, the only sounds being the breathing from both hunter and Angel. After about ten minutes of silence, Dean cleared his throat, trying not to cry again.

“I started bleeding after Sam left…” Dean choked out, “And I haven’t felt the baby since. I’m afraid… I fear that… I couldn’t…” Dean barely held it in any longer and began to cry again, letting the hot tears soak into his pillow.

The Angel felt the fear and concern coming from his friend and knelt down in front of him, holding his hands in his own. The Angel let Dean cry some more before wiping away a tear as Dean calmed himself down a little. Dean leaned into the warmth of Castiel’s hand, smiling a little at the touch of his Angelic friend. Dean felt lucky to have gotten pregnant by his best friend, even if the improbable pregnancy was now over. He just wished that Castiel could have held their baby-

Dean’s eyes lit up before looking down at his stomach as he felt a light kick from underneath Cas’ hand. Castiel smiled a little as he too felt the baby moving, and looked back up at the watery eyes of his pregnant friend.

“They’re doing just fine, Dean. They’re strong, just like you.”

“It seems that way.” Dean breathed before resting a hand over Cas’. He pressed his head against his friend’s as he felt the life coming back into both himself and his baby. “I was so scared that I lost them. That everything I did to fight for them was for nothing. Just seems that they…” Dean paused, remembering that Castiel couldn’t know that he was the baby daddy. “That they needed a rest.” Dean kept smiling while another tear ran down his face.

“Seems you need one too, given the scare you had.”

Before Cas could leave Dean to rest, he felt the hunter hold onto his wrist tighter. Looking back at his friend, Castiel asked him if he just needed company before he fell asleep.

“Could you… lay with me?” Dean hesitated.

“Dean…” Cas felt a tightness in his heart hearing Dean plea.

“They calm down when you’re nearby. I’m assuming it’s an Angel thing. Just until I’m asleep.”

“Alright… I guess if it calms the baby down.”

Castiel took his trench coat off and rested it over Dean’s body before laying himself behind the pregnant hunter. The Angel wrapped his arms around Dean’s belly and leaned in close. Dean found himself nesting into Castiel’s frame, as if they were meant to fit into one another. The Angel nuzzled his head into the nook of Dean’s neck, feeling their body’s almost becoming one. A familiar feeling that he wasn’t able to pinpoint where he felt this before.

Soon, Dean feel into a deep sleep, snoring softly as Castiel just laid behind him. The Angel wanted to get up and just check on the bunker a bit more, but the Nephilim within Dean was holding Castiel in place. Cas chuckled softly, imagining that this was his little family, but he quickly tuned that out as he couldn’t allow himself to feel 100 percent happy. Especially not when Dean’s child was due so soon.

“I’ll still take care of you, even if you end up killing Dean. He’d want me to love you like my own… like Jack.” Castiel whispered as he rested his hand over the growing bump.

***

-Major Time Skip(will be seen in Side Stories of Marahieal… eventually)-

Dean was just happy he could eat his double back bacon cheeseburgers again without having major stomach issues, and other third trimester symptoms that he seemed to have skipped over before Chuck took away their hero’s curse. The boys then walked into the library where Castiel was waiting with a surprise. Behind him in walked Jack, who looked more tired, older and scared since the last time they’ve seen him alive.

Dean’s maternal side wanted to run to him, pull him in for a tight hug and apologise for their last encounter. However, he just stood there as if staring at an apparition, an illusion of Jack. Sam wasn’t one to hesitate, he was quick to embrace Jack and greet him with a smile. After collecting himself, Dean wrapped a hand behind Jack’s head, looking into his eyes then back at Cas, as if asking Cas if he was sure this was their son, their Jack. Cas nodded, confirming that this was indeed Jack.

Jack explained that he’s been back for a while, and he wanted so bad to be back with his family, but Billie and the Empty had a plan to stop Chuck… by powering the Nephilim up that will eventually kill God.

***

Sam and Dean were talking about what Jack had told them a week prior as they walked into a storage room when a bright flash filled the room and before them was a Prius and a couple of well groomed men with a five year old little girl in the back seat. Then men stepped out, the driver was holding the young girl, giving her a high five before giving the other man a fist bump.

They then noticed the brothers and realised they all looked the same. The boys called out to their counter brother, and the little girl said daddy at Dean before the rift they came in flickered and flashed. After the light calmed down, Sam and Dean looked around the room and couldn’t see their other worldly selves, nor the little girl that called Dean daddy.

Chapter Text

Sam and Dean entered Hell, looking for the Occultum. The boys were then confronted by a demon who said he knew where the item was and led them through the hallways of Hell.

Back topside, Cas was skeptical about the location Jo had given the boys and asked Jack to do a risky job. The young man was hesitant at first, reiterating that the Empty still wasn’t a big fan of the Angel. Cas reassured Jack that he was far from happy and that the Empty shouldn’t harm him while he’s there talking to Ruby.

While in Hell, Sam and Dean walked with the Demon, but they both felt something off. The boys had a sense that the demon was leading them into a trap. Which they weren’t wrong. They broke out into a blade fight with the demons, killing the other few demons that surrounded them. While killing the last demon, Dean felt a burst of water flush between his legs.

Dean swore under his breath before facing the demon that said they were ordered to killed the brothers. Dean ask if he meant by Rowena, but the demon confirmed that it was Jo who gave them the order, promising them freedom if they did.

“That bitch set us up.” Dean grumbled after Sam killed the demon.

The hunter was grateful he was in hell, since the water stain dried by the time he and his brother got to the rift and made it back topside. When they arrived, they weren’t expecting to see Casitel half dead and Jack staring up at them as if he was in trouble… again. Jack explained how Cas didn’t trust what Jo told them and went to talk to Ruby in person.

Dean told Jack to bring Cas back, and waited as the half breed fed Castiel’s life force back to him.

“Come on, wake up pal.”Dean held his breath, part on Castiel still not waking up and the other being he was feeling a contraction.

In the Empty, what appeared as Meg was crushing the very soul of the Angel, explaining how Death had promised that after Chuck was defeated, that it would be able to finally go back to sleep.

“Funny thing about her plan, she didn’t say anything about needing you.” The Empty smiled, before a sense came over it.

“Cas!” The Empty heard Dean say.

The Empty eased up on its soul crushing power over Cas before he vanished. The Empty’s eye twitched as it realised what just happened, swearing under its breath as it realised that it may never see Cas again. The Empty just sipped its wine before contemplating its next move.

Soon, the Angel started coughing, Dean let out a sigh of relief, making a mental note until his next contraction before looking back at Cas. Castiel then explained to the hunters that the Occultum wasn’t in hell, but was in the safest place in the world.

“Am I still an idiot?” Castiel glared.

Dean sighed, “Well yeah.”

The hunter wanted to say more on why, yet was terrified on how everyone would react, especially Cas who seemed to have had a terrible run in with the Empty when visiting Ruby.

“Wait, what if Chuck checks up on us and sees what we’re doing? Isn’t it practically over?” Jack asked.

“Yeah, it would be.” Sam affirmed.

“Uh…” Dean said lifting a finger, causing a few lights to flicker, “I have a dumb idea.”

Everyone ignored the fact that Dean may have messed with the light a little but listen to the plan he had.

“If Chuck comes back to check in on us, he’s gonna checking up on us here, in the bunker.”

“We don’t know that.” Sam argued.

“We don’t NOT know that.” Dean countered, “So he’s gonna see us, here in the bunker.”

Dean then gestured to the wall that held fancier Dean, Sam, and the little girl who was still being held in other Dean’s arms.

“What about the little girl? Wouldn’t Chuck realise they’re from another world if he sees a child running around the bunker?” Jack asked.

“We’ll get to that in a bit. First things first, we need a way to get them out of there.”

***

The duo stared at their other selves, each having a bottle of cheap beer in front of them. Dean wasn’t exactly drinking out of his, considering he was in the early stages of labour. The other Dean wasn’t drinking his either, just holding his daughter close to himself.

After a bit of a chat, and finding out just how different their lives have been compared to the HunterCorp brothers, Sam and Dean told them they had a favour. Sam told his other self that he needed to lose the man bun, which resulted in both HunterCorp Dean and his daughter to covering their mouth.

“Wait, what about Henri?” HunterCorp Dean asked.

“H-Henri?” Sam asked.

“His/My daughter.” Dean and HunterCorp Dean said in unison.

“Right, y-your daughter… I’d love to ask more about how you got her and all that, but we’re kind of on a time crunch.” Sam said as he stood up and led HunterCorp Sam to his room to show the him where his clothes were.

Dean then went to pick Henri up and lead HunterCorp Dean to his room, yet he felt another contraction. The first he’s felt in thirty minutes. HunterCorp Dean saw this and just told Dean to lead the way. He nodded before getting into how HunterCorp Dean got his daughter, who the father was and where he was.

HunterCorp Dean explained that he was born with both male and female reproductive organs, but they didn’t find out until he got his first period in his yearly teenage years. He also explained how his father hired the best to make sure Dean didn’t get pregnant by just anyone, or at all until he was ready. HunterCorp Dean then told him how he met an Angel named Castiel, and how they kind of hit it off, with his dad’s approval of course.

“Your Dad met Cas?”

“Of course. Hasn’t yours?”

“No. My dad died long before Castiel came into the picture.”

“I see. And I’m assuming this is your first with the Angel?”

Dean stared blankly at the other him, gaping his mouth like a fish out of water.

“He doesn’t know it’s his.” Dean finally admitted.

“Why not?” Henri chimed in.

“Well, because he made a deal with a very bad enemy, that if he’s happy, then he wouldn’t be around to enjoy that happiness.”

“That’s terrible.” Henri huffed. “I miss papa sometimes. But he wanted to save my little brother.”

“Brother?” Dean looked at HunterCorp Dean, puzzled.

“Well, his name is Jack. Cas and I kind of took him in after his mother passed.” HunterCorp Dean explained. “I’ve grown to love him as my own, despite his ’father’ being Lucifer. I swore he was in the car yet his car seat wasn’t in there. Cas ran back into the building when our dad said we didn’t have time. We went through together and he was just… gone.”

“I see…” Dean pulled HunterCorp Dean in so Henri couldn’t hear, “You don’t think your dad had anything against Jack, do you?”

“Of course not!” HunterCorp Dean whispered accusingly, “To my knowledge, he loved Jack as much as Castiel and I did.”

“Then why wasn’t his car seat in the car when you went through the rift?”

HunterCorp Dean glared at this version of himself, “I thought you were under a time crunch. I suggest you guys take my daughter, and keep her safe. Otherwise I’m going to tell your Cas that you’re carrying his child and are refusing to tell him.”

“Because if he finds out, the Empty will take him away forever!”

“So he still has his grace? Just get rid of it.”

“It’s not that simple.” Dean scoffed.

“Henri was able to get rid of the grace from both her father and Jack. It didn’t hurt much. Sure they still had a bit of angelic powers, but they won’t have to worry about their afterlife being held in, as you put it, ‘The Empty’ .”

Dean thought about what HunterCorp Dean had said, looking in the rear view mirror at Cas and Jack, wondering if this version of his daughter would have the same ability as the little one who was sitting between them. Upon parking the car, Dean felt another contraction, noting how they were getting closer together within the last hour. Henri noticed this, but said nothing, being five, and thinking her daddy was the same in every universe and had told at least Uncle Sam that his water broke. The group went up to the Cathedral, cursing under their breath as the door was locked. Dean told them not to worry, and pulled out a lock pick and began poking at the lock. They soon heard growling nearby, throwing them off since there shouldn’t’ve been any animals nearby.

Dean’s face dropped quickly as he remembered the kind of growling that was happening. They weren’t wolves or bears, they were Hell Hounds. They were in another trap and the only way to safety was inside the building. Sam kept urging Dean to go faster, and Dean told his brother that he was going as fast as he could. The hounds were kept at bay by Jack and surprisingly Henri.

“No! Bad Juliet! Bad gurl!” Henri kept shouting when she saw the Hell Hounds drawing closer.

Dean couldn’t hide his smile just as he finally got the door unlocked and everyone flooded into the building, shutting the doors behind them as the beasts drew nearer. Jack was holding Henri as the doors were shut and just kept holding her as Sam blocked the door. Henri kept shouting at one of the Hell Hounds, and Dean was trying his best not to laugh, given the circumstances.

“I take it Ruby forgot to mention the Hell Hound?” Dead tried to distract himself as another contraction hit.

“She failed to mention that, yes.” Cas confirmed as he was looking around the cathedral.

“Right, well where did she say it was?” Dean asked after the contraction calmed down.

“She said the top of the cross will point the way.”

Sam kept trying his best as the Hell Hounds kept barging against the door, and everyone was looking up at the cross. Not knowing what Ruby meant by her little riddle, Dean stated that these bitches wanted them dead. After he said that, and Jack covering Henri’s ears, the moonlight shown through the window and at the top point of the glass cross was a small shimmer of light under the floor boards.

“‘The top of the cross will point the way.’” Cas replied before Dean knelt down to pry open the hidden compartment.

Jack set Henri down who stood next to Dean as Cas looked over the Occultum. There was an encryption on the spherical object, roughly translating to ‘To get inside the Occultum, the Occultum must be in you.’ Dean bent forward after Cas handed the Occultum to Jack, getting a worried ask from the Angel.

“Daddy’s in labour.” Henri innocently pointed out.

“What?!” Sam, Jack and Cas all shouted in unison.

“I’m fine… Jack? Where is the Occultum?”

The attention was briefly taken off the hunter after Jack said that he ate it.

“What?!? Why?!”

“Well, it said that it needed to be in me, so.”

“No, spit it o-OW!” Dean bent forward again as he felt another contraction ripping through his body.

The hunter knelt on the floor just as Jack felt a cramp in his stomach and soon, both were curled over themselves on the floor before a bright flash took Jack away, shocking everyone. The shock was short lived as Sam and Castiel’s attention were then turned back onto Dean as he cried out in pain from another very powerful contraction. Castiel began undoing Dean’s belt, and slipped his pants off.

“Cas?!? The hell are you doing?!?” Sam shouted, while struggling to keep the door shut behind him.

“Dean is in labour, and he can’t give birth with his pants on, now can he?” Cas argued, pulling a blanket out of practically nowhere and covering Dean.

“Shit!!!” Dean swore as he felt another pain zipping through his stomach and up his ass. “Where’s Jack?”

“I’m assuming he’s in the Occultum, and we’ll probably see him soon, if he comes back.”

“AH… What do you mean IF he comes bAAACK!!! Son of a bitch!!!”

“Dean, I can’t believe I’m saying this right now, but that not what’s important. Your contractions are getting closer together, and from the feel of it, you’re completely effaced and at least 7 cm dilated.”

“What the hell does that even mean?” Dean swore, throwing his head back against the floor as his contractions kept coming in waves.

“It means you’re almost ready to meet your baby!” Sam shouted from the door.

Henri just kept sitting there as if she’s seen this happen before. She was being so quiet in fact, the boys had completely forgotten about her until she started shouting at Juliet for being a bad gurl again, and that her other version daddy was having a baby.

“She’s kind of scary.” Dean admitted as he was in a small break from labour.

“Kind of like you.” Castiel smiled, before looking back at Dean’s vagina, noticing the dilation had gone up another centimetre.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen like this.” Dean admitted.

“It’s not like you chose when your water broke.” Cas comforted.

“No, I mean, Rowena put a trigger spell on me in case this happened. That a door would appear to a room where I could give birth safely.”

“Oh, I removed that spell.” Henri smiled before patting Dean’s belly, “See, your baby wanted to meet her brother too, so until Jack returns, she’s gonna wait.”

“This isn’t you?” Dean asked before feeling another contraction coming up.

“No, silly. I don’t exist at all in your world. She’s similar to me, but her and I are not the same person. Much like how her dad and my dad are two different people as well.” Henri winked at Dean after his contraction went away.

Dean nodded, understanding that she was trying to cover up the fact that Castiel was the father of either daughter’s of Dean.

There soon was a glowing orb as the Hell Hounds breached through the doors. Sam held Henri close to him as the light evaporated the Hell Hounds and produced Jack. The Nephilim sat up as Dean felt the urge to push. The young Nephilim acted on instinct, grabbing Henri as Sam went to crouch between Dean’s legs and Cas held his hand. Dean gave everything he could, and quickly a thunder storm began to brew on outside as he pushed.

“You’re almost there Dean! Come on, just one more push! I can see her head!” Sam encouraged.

Dean cried out as he felt like his ass was on fire and trying to split down in two. Castiel kept whispering to him, taking great care into making sure the hunter was as comfortable as he could be. Dean looked up at the Angel, trying to picture himself in a hospital room with Castiel wearing scrubs and a mask. The hunter tried to picture this moment elsewhere, like a scene from a movie or a romcom of sorts. Dean let out a blood curdling cry as lightning stuck outside.

Chapter Text

Dean was laying on the floor, Castiel’s trench coat balled up as a make shift pillow under his head. Jack held Henri close to him as Sam was knelt between his brother’s legs telling him that he needed to push. The hunter kept sobbing in pain, shaking his head, screaming that he can’t do this. There was then a flash of pink and purple light followed by a door. Dean thought that this was the door that Rowena had forged for him until it opened and in walked The Queen of Hell along with Jody and Donna.

“Heard you were having a baby.” Rowena smirked as she presented Jody and Donna. “So I figured you needed some assistance.”

Sam back away as Jody took position between Dean’s legs and Donna was preparing a cleaning station with towels, wipes and a few baby clothes. Rowena then turned to the little girl sitting next to Jack and tutted her.

“You had no right destroying my spell, young lady.”

“Well Jack wasn’t here, and she wanted to meet him.”

“Ah, no excuses. You’re lucky you’re so cute. Must get that from your mama.”

Henri just nodded, looking back at Dean who looked calmer now that he had more help delivering this baby.

“Where are the girls?” Sam interjecting.

Donna said they were back at the cabin, explaining that they were on a girls camping trip when Rowena appeared out of nowhere and told them that Dean was in labour and needed their assistance. Claire wanted to tag along, yet Jody said she wanted her in charge of the other girls while they were away. Claire didn’t buy that and neither did the other girls, however they allowed it.

Dean silently thanked Jody as he felt his stomach tightening up, knowing what this next contraction was gonna be. He was gonna have to push as hard as he could to get this miracle out of his body. Dean gripped Castiel’s hand tightly as lights began to flicker around them and the storm outside grew wilder.

Eventually, Dean heard a young child crying and nothing else. He watched as everyone began to move in slow motion, the only things that seemed to matter in that moment were his baby, himself and Castiel. A small family that couldn’t be in that moment. The hunter was holding his daughter in his arms as Rowena cast a spell around the Cathedral, practically stopping any outside time.

The Queen of Hell knelt next to Dean and whispered in his ear. He looked up at her, into her eyes for a sign of hesitation or if she was lying. Her eyes ensured that she meant what she had told him, her smile sealing what he wanted to do next.

Dean gripped Cas’ collar and pulled him in for a deep and passionate kiss, startling everyone in that moment. Castiel was thrown for a swirl of emotions before melting into the kiss, cradling both Dean and his baby. Once the two were done making out, Castiel asked what that was about and Dean told him that the child within his arms was a product of the Angel as well.

“What?” Castiel muttered, looking at their little girl, now seeing himself in her dark hair and blue eyes.

“So, whatcha gonna call her?” Henri asked, looking at the infant.

Dean thought for a moment before smiling and saying, “Melody.”

“Melody?” Everyone asked almost in unison.

“Yeah, Melody Jody Rose Winchester.”

Jody then placed a hand over her heart as she heard her name being incorporated into Dean’s child’s name. Dean looked at her, his eyes asking if that was alright. She smiled and nodded, giving Dean a motherly kiss on his forehead.

“She’s perfect.” Jody assured, running a hand through his hair.

Dean then stared up at Castiel, knowing that once the spell around the Cathedral wore off, everyone but the hunter and the Witch would remember what happened within that moment in time. He held the Angel’s hand tightly, never wanting to let go. Dean wanted to tell Castiel everything, from who kidnapped him and gave him the uterus to their shared moment before the memory spell. He wanted to say so much, but it seemed that Cas knew the gist of it so far.

”I love you.” Dean smiled.

”I know.” Castiel winked, resting his head against Dean’s.

***
HunterCorp Dean congratulated Dean on his baby and promised him that he’d keep their secret. Dean thanked them, apologising again that they couldn’t meet Melody mainly for her safety. HunterCorp Dean understood before mentioning that he and his brother saw Baby and took her for a spin. This got a reaction from the hunter, and not in a positive way.

The HunterCorp brothers then quickly rushed out of the bunker, Henri clinging to her father while saying goodbye to Dean and her other Uncle Sam. Sam chuckled before resting a hand on Dean’s shoulder.

”She’s in good hands, Dean. Jody and the girls are going to take great care of her until we defeat Chuck.”

”I sure hope you’re right.”

***

Dean was distraught after hearing that his daughter had vanished while under the care of Jody and the girls. He didn’t know why Billie would be after her at all, since she was an unexpected surprise. He told Jody that it wasn’t her fault, and quickly hung up on her before towing Castiel with him to confront Billie. While in Death’s library, Dean demanded that she bring everyone that Death had made vanish back that instant.

Billie explained that she had nothing to do with everyone vanishing, and even if she was, she was too weakened by her wound to go after an innocent infant like Melody. She then started saying how since she wasn’t dead yet, she might as well take the great Dean Winchester with her. Castiel was quick to get Dean out of there and back to the bunker.

While in the war room, Dean asked how Chuck was even aware of Melody’s existence before he felt his heart being crushed. Castiel saw that it was Billie and dragged the hunter through the halls and eventually into the dungeon. Dean had a sick feeling in his stomach as Castiel grabbed his pocket knife and painted a symbol in blood onto the door. Once the symbol flashed, Billie’s access to Dean was severed and the hunter was able to breathe again.

Dean eventually sat in the chair that sat in the middle of the metallic devil’s trap, remembering the dream he had while he was still with child a few months back. He recalled him and the Angel inside the dungeon, talking about some entity that was after them. He also replayed the part where Castiel confessed his feelings to him and was soon taken away by the Empty. The hunter couldn’t let go of the image of himself alone in the dungeon, repeatedly trying Castiel’s cell, only for it to disconnect every time. Then watching himself look at the phone as it called, aware that it wasn’t Cas calling him and causing him to break down crying and eventually screaming out in agony on the floor for Castiel to come back.

Then it began, similar to his nightmare.

“There is something she’s scared of. Something even more powerful than Billie.” The Angel started.

No… NO!! Dean thought to himself as Death knocked against the door.

“When Jack was dying, I made a deal to save him.”

Stop, please, stop this. Dean kept thinking.

“The price was-“

“Your life.” Dean interrupted. “When you experience true happiness, the Empty would come and take you forever.”

Castiel stared blankly, scared at how Dean had knowledge of this deal when he himself had no recollection of telling the hunter.

“And ever since you took on that burden, that curse, you had no idea what the could be, what it would even look like. To your knowledge, you never found an answer. And now you’re realising that happiness isn’t in the having. It’s in just being, just saying it.”

“Why are you saying this now?”

“I understand how I’ve been looking at myself, and I know how you see yourself. And it’s the same as our enemies have seen us. That I’m angry and destructive, and I’m just my dad’s blunt little instrument. Where as you see yourself as broken and defective. As Chuck said, an Angel with a crack in your chest. Yet everyone who has ever met us knows that’s not who we are. They understand that everything we’ve done, the good and the bad, we’ve done for love. I raised my brother for love, you raised Jack for love, we saved the whole world for love.”

“Dean, what are you talking about?”

“Since knowing each other, since you pulled me out of hell, knowing you has changed me. Because you cared, I cared. I started caring about you and caring about Jack. I began to care more about the whole world because of you.”

“Why is this sounding like a goodbye?”

“Because it is.”

A single man tear fell from Dean’s eye as he step closer to Castiel, placing a hand on the Angel’s neck.

“I love you.”

Castiel felt a burst of joy rushing through his body before looking Dean in the eyes.

“Don’t do this, Dean.”

Castiel looked behind the hunter as the Empty emerged along with Billie finally entering the room. Dean pulled Castiel in for a deep kiss as the Empty surged around them, grabbing Billie and pulling her in. Before the Empty could wrap around Castiel, Dean had silt a small hole over Castiel’s neck, collecting his grace into a small container before bandaging up the cut.

The goop of the Empty paused just a few inches from the couple before reluctantly pulling back in on itself. Castiel wrapped his hand over his bandage, looking up at Dean with confusion. The hunter smiled weakly before presenting the Angel’s grace before him.

“It was a long shot, but I figured that the Empty couldn’t take you if you were human.”

“That was a risky shot.” Castiel admitted before leaning his head against the hunter’s.

“Well, can’t exactly have my baby daddy disappearing on me either.”

“Wait… you mean-“

“Melody is your daughter, Cas. It feels so good to finally tell you.”

“How long have you known?”

“Technically as long as I’ve carried her, but there was a small hiccup on when I didn’t remember.”

“Rowena?”

Dean nodded, “Rowena.”

Castiel then gripped Dean’s hips tightly and gently began to grind against him, a soft moan escaping him as he felt the pressure building in his pants. Dean gasped softly as he felt his own erection beginning to grow along side his increased wetness soaking his briefs. Cas then laid Dean on his back, pressing their hips harder together, soft groans and moans coming from both men the closer they got to their climax.

“Try-ah! Not getting me pregnant… hmmm… this time?” Dean joked as he felt his pleasure soon washing over him.

Castiel chuckled after he felt his own release spill over and soak both of their trousers.

“Well, then I suggest a clean change of clothes, huh?” Cas smirked leaning down for a kiss.

Before Dean could say more, he felt his phone buzzing, and looking at the caller ID, realised it was Sam. Dean sighed heavily before sitting and dragging Cas to get cleaned up.

“Guess we have to tell ‘em the bad news. That this wasn’t Billie’s doing.”

“Maybe after a proper moment in bed?” Cas teased.

***

It wasn’t easy, it down right difficult and exhausting, but they finally did it. Chuck was no longer in control of their lives. Chuck was now rendered human, his powers taken from him for abusing his title as God. Chuck knew his life had an ending, he always knew that, but he wasn’t expecting Castiel to be there. Cas wasn’t in his plan at the end. According to his plot, his plan, Castiel was supposed to be in the Empty, being tortured by his regrets.

Yet there he was, standing next to Jack as Chuck’s blows were being absorbed by the ticking time bomb that was Jack Kline.

“You are supposed to kill me! You’re Dean Winchester, the ultimate killer!” Chuck begged.

“That’s not who I am.” Dean stared, “As much as you deserve it for taking my daughter, I know she’s still out there, and I don’t want her to think that killing is the only thing to resolve bad guys like you.”

Chuck gave Dean a puzzled look. “Daughter? Dean, I never wrote a daughter in for you. At least not toward the end.”

“What do you mean? Did you not see my baby bump all those times we ran into you?”

“Baby bump? What are you going on about? You mean you’re the one who carried her?”

“You didn’t give him a uterus?” Sam asked.

“No! At least not in this universe. You mean to tell me this whole time that I’ve been trying to defeat you all, Dean was carrying a baby girl and gave birth to her? Who was the father?”

Castiel then wrapped his fingers in with Dean’s and stared harshly at the one he once called father. Chuck began to laugh hysterically before realising that this wasn’t his story anymore. It never was. This was the work of someone else, that possibly had a far worse ending for his favourite story created.

“You think you’re safe? You’re the Winchesters! You’re never safe! Your stories only end in tragedy and tears! That’s how it goes! Your stories never end, you’ll never have peace! You’ll never be done!” Chuck kept laughing, curling in on himself as the group just walked away from him, not taking his words to heart.

***

Amara had accepted to be the new God, assuring the boys that whatever her brother had said wasn’t true, and she was going to make sure of that. She knelt next to a nearly four year old Jack, patting his head and telling him he was free to be a kid. She then raised her hand and soon everyone returned, as if the past week never happened. She then turned away from the boys and faded into creation, keeping her promise to just observe, and not interfere as often as Chuck did.

Dean then got a call from Jody, saying that everyone was alright and everyone was back, including Melody. Dean gave out a sigh of relief, looking at Sam, young Jack and Castiel, nodding that he daughter was back and safe.

***

The boys were back in the bunker, Dean holding his daughter, feeding her formula, since the one who had taken him forgot to gift him milk makers of his own. HunterCorp Sam and Dean were there as well, Dean wearing similar flannels to the main Dean, confusing almost everyone who didn’t know there were two Deans. HunterCorp Sam however wasn’t that hard to tell apart from the actual Sam. Henri was having fun hanging out with her baby brother again, even if he wasn’t the same one, and Castiel was getting reacquainted with being human.

For once, everything was looking up. Melody was handed off to Cas for burping, and Dean stepped into the dungeon looking about the room, finally feeling comfortable to be back in there since his nightmare. HunterCorp Dean knocked on the door, catching his attention.

“So, seems you get your happy ending after all.” HunterCorp Dean smiled.

“Yeah.” Dean admitted. “And I promise, we’re doing everything we can to see if Amara had restored all the other worlds. And hopefully your Cas and Jack are alive there and well.”

“One can only hope, right?”

Castiel soon joined the Dean’s, informing his Dean that Melody had gone down for her nap. HunterCorp Dean walked out, patting Cas on the shoulder with a warm smile before going on to see his daughter. Dean leaned in and gave Cas a kiss before being twirled around and dipped.

“Cas, you got be pregnant once, let’s try not to make it a habit, huh?” Dean teased.

“Well, maybe give Melody a couple years before she becomes a big sister?” Cas wiggled his eyebrows.

“Cas!” Dean laughed before the duo just swayed to nothing.

“I love you.” Cas smiled, resting his head against Dean’s.

“And I love-“

***

One moment, Dean was with Castiel, about to profess his love to him, the next, he was in a dark void. The hunter sat up, looking around himself before what appeared as Meg was sitting before him. It was then wrapped in black goo before looking like himself. It stood tall and walked over to the confused hunter.

“Where am I?” Dean asked.

“I’m sure Cas has told you about me.” The being smiled before forming into Cas before Dean’s eyes. “The one he has made a deal with?”

“Empty…” Dean said horrified.

“Ding ding ding, give the man a prize!”

“It’s not Cas’ fault that you were awakened. You had no right making a deal like that with him.”

“Oh, but I did.” Empty!Cas mocked, “See, every thing else was asleep, there for I was asleep. And I like sleep. It’s peaceful. But when your Angel was waken one too many times, he therefore had awakened me. So he had taken my happiness. Seemed fitting that I take him when he felt happiness. An eye for an eye, if you will.”

“So… why am I here?”

Empty!Cas then pulled at the glass container that held Castiel’s grace that Dean decided to wear as a charm.

“You may have rendered Cas human, but part of him is now in you. Therefore, you’re my problem now.”

“Are you… who Chuck was talking about? The one writing this story?”

Empty!Cas smiled before standing tall, “No. But I’m prepared to make a deal with you. A trade of sorts if you will.”

“What’s the catch?”

“You have three years to complete this challenge. Time will stop for your timeline, therefore you don’t miss anything for your precious daughter. However, if you don’t complete this task in the time I give you, you shall perish and your daughter shall suffer to the same fate whenever I see fit.”

Dean sat there, pondering his options.

“If I refuse?”

“Then you die where you are now, and you spend the rest of forever trapped in Castiel’s mistakes.”

Dean sighed heavily.

“Fine… what’s the challenge?”