Chapter Text
When Sam’s phone rang, he checked the caller ID. And nearly dropped the phone in shock. He glanced over at Dean, hoping this wasn’t going to start yet another fight. “Amelia?”
“Sam. Look. I know I said either all in or all out, and you chose out, but something’s come up.”
Dean was glaring at Sam, but Sam ignored it. Amelia sounded too freaked out. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s a woman here. And she… look, this is complicated. She says she’s here to keep demons from killing my unborn child. The one I didn’t know I had, but apparently I’m pregnant. And… it’s not Don’s.”
The implication was clear. If it wasn’t Don’s, it was Sam’s. “You’re sure?”
“That’s what she says. I took three pregnancy tests, Sam. I’m pregnant. She knew that, so I’m going to guess that her information on who the father is is good, too.”
Dean’s glare had gone full hostile now, but this was huge. “All right. Dean and I are on our way. Does this woman know how to fight demons?”
“She’s got this knife that she says can kill them, and she gave me a bottle of holy water?”
“Good enough. Stay safe. We’ll be there as soon as we can.” Sam hung up and turned to face Dean. “I know, you’re pissed.”
“Damn straight. Why are we heading for Texas?” Dean had already turned around, though, the second Sam had mentioned demons.
“To save my child from demons.” Dean shot him an incredulous look. “I swear, I used a condom, but maybe it broke.”
“Or Amelia’s wrong about the baby daddy. When would you even…”
“When you sent me that fake message to get me away from Benny. She spotted me, we slept together, it was a mistake but it happened.” Sam toyed with the phone in his hands. “If it is mine… I’ll let Amelia decide what to do, whether she wants to tell Don it’s his or have an abortion or whatever, but if she’ll let me, I want to be part of my kid’s life. Is that… are you going to have a problem with that?”
Dean shook his head. “Sammy, I don’t care how I feel about the girl, I would never keep you away from your kid. You know how scared I am that I’ve got a kid out there I haven’t been around for, how much I wish I could go back and be Ben’s dad again.”
When they got to Kermit, Amelia and the woman met them at the park. Riot was with them, and Sam had a joyful reunion with his dog. When he stood up, he looked at the strange woman. “Who are you?”
“Samantha Morales. Amelia’s my grandmother. I came back in time to save my mother’s life, a spell to take me to my nearest blood relative. Mom named me after her father. Which of you is Sam Winchester?”
Dean nodded to Sam. “You know, I believe her. She’s got your nose. And your height.”
“So you must be Dean.” Samantha held out a hand. “It’s nice to meet you. Mom talked about you two a lot.”
“So she knew us pretty well…?”
“Yeah. I know the big family secret, you don’t have to hide it. You guys raised Mom, with a lot of help from a few of your friends, and I knew you two when I was little.”
Sam and Dean looked at each other in confusion. “The big family secret? Obviously, if you’ve got Ruby’s knife,” Sam said.
Samantha rolled her eyes. “No, not the family business secret. The family secret.”
Another perplexed glance. “Okay, what are you talking about? Because I’m not sure I know the family secret, if it’s not about the family business,” Dean said.
Samantha looked between the two. “Oh, come on. You guys know what I’m talking about. Don’t make me say it in front of Grandma, because she doesn’t actually know that one and I don’t want to mess up the timeline if I can avoid it.”
Sam shook his head. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about, Samantha.”
Amelia stood up. “I’m going to the bathroom. I have my holy water. Talk amongst yourselves because I don’t think I want to know this big secret.”
When Amelia was gone, Samantha leaned forward. “You two. I’ve seen the rings. I used to spend the night at the Bunker all the time, and for old guys, you two sure were loud when you’re horny.”
“Wait, what?” Dean looked horrified. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you, but I am not…”
Sam tried to quell his own shock as Dean got up and walked away from the table. “Look, Samantha, I don’t know what you think you heard or saw, but Dean and I are brothers. That’s it.”
Samantha’s eyes flew open wide. “Oh, shit. You guys aren’t… you’re not together yet, are you. This is before the wreck. Cas!”
Castiel came, looking curiously at Samantha. “What are you doing here? You’re not even born yet.”
“Trying to make sure I get to be. Saving my mom’s life. And fucking up the timeline by assuming things had happened that hadn’t. Can you…”
Castiel looked at Sam. “Sam, things should unfold on their own. Will you allow me to alter your memory and restore the timeline?”
“Is it true? What Samantha said… that’s the way things are going to happen?”
“That’s the way they’re supposed to. You know as well as I do that free will can change destiny, though.”
“Fix my memory. You’ll have to fix Dean’s, too, though.”
Castiel shrugged. “Dean’s memory is already fixed. Messing with your brain, without your knowledge and consent, I’ve done too often to be comfortable doing it again.”
The demons attacked that night, and with Samantha’s help, the Winchesters fought them off. Amelia and Don sat down with Sam and the three of them agreed that when the baby was born, Sam would come get her and take her to Kansas.
On the way home, Dean glanced over to Sam. “You sure about this? Raising a baby in the Bunker?”
“Dean, the baby’s gonna be a target for being my kid. In the Bunker, we can protect her. It’s not like we’re raising her in the back of the Impala running from one hunt to the next, and Cas and Jody and Charlie and Kevin have all promised to help us out. And come on, I know a niece isn’t the same as a daughter, but you’ve always wanted to raise a kid…”
Dean smiled, but his response was cut off as a truck came barreling down the road out of control. Sam cracked his head on the windshield of the Impala.
The next thing he knew, he was in his bed in the Bunker, Dean sitting in the chair beside him and Castiel reassuring Dean that Sam would wake up eventually. Sam tried to force his eyes open, and eventually succeeded. “D’n?”
“Sammy! Oh, thank God.” Dean reached for Sam’s hand. “Sam, do you remember the wreck?”
“Yeah… how long have I been out?” Sam started to sit up, only to find Dean and Cas both restraining him.
“Four days.” Dean squeezed his hand. “You’re not in the hospital because they kept kicking me out, so Cas and I kidnapped you and brought you home.”
“Dean…” Sam laughed. It hurt. “Why’d they kick you out?”
“Visiting hours or some such. Said you needed your rest. Near as I could tell me sitting there staring at you wasn’t gonna keep you from your coma, but they wouldn’t listen to reason.” Dean squeezed Sam’s hand again. “So Cas helped me and has been acting as a human hospital machine system, making sure your heart kept beating and you were breathing and all.”
“Thanks, Cas.”
“You’re going to be okay, Sam. I’ve healed what I can. All that’s left for you is to recover from the shock and trauma.” Castiel reached out, smoothing back Sam’s hair, and flew off.
Sam looked critically at Dean. “Have you slept since the wreck?”
“Course I have. I was hurt, too, had to sleep off my own shock and trauma.” It wasn’t convincing. “Sammy, I couldn’t, okay? Not until you woke up. I couldn’t… it wouldn’t be the first time you’ve died, but it would be the first time you’ve died not sure that I love you and that losing you would kill me. And every time I closed my eyes… I saw you waking up, me not there, and assuming the worst. That I still had my head up my ass about Amelia and didn’t care.”
“Not like you’d let me stay dead.”
“Sam, I’m sorry. As far as you knew, I was dead. You’d made the promise to leave me that way next time. I shouldn’t have given you so much crap about not looking for me. Amelia was you attempting to move on and find something to live for, not not caring about me being gone. I know that and I’m sorry for lashing out at you.”
“Even now that there’s a kid involved?”
“Especially now. Sammy… if you want to leave here, move to Kermit, be with Amelia and raise your kid together, you know I’ll support that, right?”
“That’s not what I want, Dean. If it were, I wouldn’t have worked out the plan to bring the kid here when we can.”
“You want to be here? With me?” Dean actually sounded worried about it, to Sam's shock.
“Yes.” Sam looked uneasily at Dean. “You don’t want me here?”
“Okay, Cas assured me there was no concussion or brain damage. So what the hell, Sammy? There is no way I don’t want you here. You and your kid.”
“I’m a little confused.”
“It’s just that while there’s still time, there’s something I want to tell you so that if you decide you can’t deal with it and you want to run, you can. Once the kid’s here, it’ll be a lot harder.”
“Okay…”
“This isn’t exactly news to me, but it might be to you. I’m bi.”
Sam blinked a couple times. “Okay, you know this is where I’d be punching you if I could get out of bed, right? You think I’d run because of that?”
“That itself, no. Not quite sure exactly what label you prefer, but I know you’re not a hundred percent straight. But you might want to run from the one guy I’ve ever really been seriously attracted to instead of just appreciative of. The one I actually love.”
Sam rolled his eyes. “What, Cas? All these years and you finally decided to fall for him?”
“Cas? What? No.” Dean looked at him funny. “You.”
“Me?”
“You.”
“But I’m your brother.”
Dean smirked. “Yeah, I’m aware of that. Which is why if you want to run, I’ll help you pack and let you take the Impala if you want her. I just… I’ve been in denial for years, but hauling you out of that wreck, worried that you might not know just how wrecked I would be if you didn’t fight to hang on… and I can’t promise something won’t slip or I’m not gonna screw something up, so I figured you should hear it from me while you could get out easily. While you had somewhere to go.”
“You are an emotionally constipated idiot, Dean. I’ve been in love with you since I can remember. I used to think I’d grow out of it, but then I didn’t at Stanford, or during the Apocalypse, so I’m pretty sure I won’t.”
“But I’m your brother.”
“So?”
“Hey, you brought it up first.”
“Just to make sure that wasn’t gonna be a problem. But it sounds like if I don’t care, you don’t.”
“You know me. Laws are for other people, not Winchesters. Okay?”
“Yep. Cas know?”
“Cas knows. He predicted your reaction and specifically said that if you wanted this, he’d do whatever he can to support us and keep us safe.”
“Good.” Sam tugged on Dean’s hand. “You need to sleep. I need to sleep. Get in here.”
Dean got in, curling up against Sam. “You okay? This isn’t hurting you?”
“I’m good. Go to sleep.”