Fic: Bitter Seed
Oct. 31st, 2010 07:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serafina20Title: Bitter Seed
Fandom: SPN
Pairing: Dean/Rachel, Sam/Nathan
Rating: Mature
Warning: mentions of rape (a little late, I guess; sorry)
Summary: The fallout from Rachel's abduction by the YED continues when she discovers she's pregnant.
Series Captured Soul, Kitsune, Another Kind of Trap, The Greater Good,and Picking Up, Lethe
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, 5, & 6
Dean had to give one thing to Rachel's parents: they got stuff done. And fast. In the few hours since they'd arrived, they'd gotten Rachel a doctor, driven across state to see said doctor, somehow gotten clearance in a freaking hospital, and turned Dean's entire world upside down. And considering how often that had happened since waking up and finding out Rachel was his wife all those months ago, he had to wonder how he was still sane.
His mother had been a hunter. Her whole family had been hunters. No way Dean had seen that coming. His father had never talked about Mom's parents. He'd never talked about his own parents, except to say they'd died before Dean had been born. Dean had never thought to wonder about his mom's parents.
They'd been hunters.
And Sam hadn't been born a psychic. The demon had done something to him. One of his parents, or his grandparents, had made a deal. Had given him Sam.
Fuck. Dean had known Sam shouldn't be messing with these powers. He'd always said so. But Rachel had been so convinced that Sam had been like her grandfather or something. She'd insisted…
Not that Sam had made much progress. As far as Dean knew, Sam had never gotten any kind of control of his powers. He definitely wasn't like Andy or his freaky brother. Or that douchebag, Max. They could control those freaky powers; Sam couldn't.
That was something. All they had to do was keep Sam from trying to use his powers, and everything would be okay.
Yeah. And pigs flew and wishes came true and angels were watching over him. Dean believed it all.
They were in another hospital, another room. It was beginning to feel like a joke. They'd always avoided hospitals before, whenever they could. Too much risk involved in being caught by the police or insurance agents or something. But Rachel was pregnant. And rich, and she didn't have a police record. So they were practically living in hospitals it seemed.
The doctor the Adamses had flown out was Dr. Steven Flynn, MD. He was a friend of Rachel's parents, knew all about the supernatural and hunters and stuff. Apparently, he specialized in treating people who'd been possessed by demons or attacked by other supernatural creatures.
If he hadn't been so fucking annoying, Dean would almost regret not knowing about him before. It wouldn't have been so bad going to a doctor who knew how to treat all the crap they dealt with.
But, he was annoying. In the first five minutes after meeting him, Dean had almost punched him. The man was just way to excited about the fact that Rachel was pregnant with a demon baby and seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact she was scared out of her mind. Dean had no idea how he was going to deal with this guy for nine months.
But, Rachel's parents seemed to trust him, and Rachel trusted her parents, so Dean was biting his tongue. Biting his tongue and squeezing Rachel's hand as she was forced to tell him what she remembered about the conception (still nothing more than those few flashes), how she'd been feeling during the first few weeks of the pregnancy (she hadn't noticed), and what she knew about the demon who'd done this to her (it had yellow eyes).
Dr. Flynn had written it all down, then grilled Dean about what he knew, which was, unfortunately, not much more. He felt like an idiot, but who didn't notice their wife was nearly fourteen weeks pregnant, but, dude, it hadn't been noticeable. It wasn’t like he kept track of her cycle or anything, and he only bought her pads or whatever when she put it on the list and it was his turn to shop. She hadn't been throwing up, and while, yeah, maybe she'd been tired in retrospect, but he why should he notice if she hadn't?
"So you don't know anything else?" Dr. Flynn said when Dean was done talking. "Your father never found out what kind of demon it was?"
Dean shrugged and laced his fingers through Rachel's. They were in an examination room, Rachel on the table in a paper gown. Her father had excused himself from being in the actual exam, which was probably a good thing because there were just some things a father shouldn't see, but Janet was there on the other side of the bed. She was stroking Rachel's hair, listening silently as Rachel and Dean talked with that same look on her face that Rachel got when her mind was working a million miles an hour.
"I think he might have, but he never told me," Dean said, the old frustration burning dully in his stomach. Yeah, John had never said what kind of demon was after his family. He'd told Dean that it had infected Sam and that Dean might have to kill his brother if something went wrong, but he hadn't bothered telling Dean why. Just that this thing was dangerous. That Sam might be dangerous.
But, as usual, he'd held back vital information. And now they were all paying for it.
Then something occurred to him. "Holy water didn’t affect it," he said.
Dr. Flynn pursed his lips. "It didn't?"
"No."
He sat back and ran a hand over his perfectly silver hair. "I've never heard of any demon that's not affected by holy water. Have you, Janet?"
She shook her head, but added, "Demons aren't really my specialty. I haven't run across many in my life. They're pretty rare."
"Yeah, they used to be," Dean said. "In the past year, Sam and I have run into more than we've done in our whole lives."
Janet frowned. "I wonder why there are suddenly so many of them. Or where they've all been. What about your hunter friend? Bobby? Has he dealt with many demons?"
"Some, but not more than us."
"Obviously, the demon who did this is planning something," Rachel said. She'd lain back at some point and closed her eyes, like she was asleep. But now, she opened her eyes and stared sightlessly at the ceiling. "I bet whatever he's planning is going to happen in, oh, about six months."
"How you figure?" Dean asked, then immediately bit his tongue hard enough to taste blood.
Rachel gave him a look.
"Sorry." He squeezed her hand apologetically. "So maybe that's why these kids are popping up right now? Like Sam and his visions and stuff? They're getting ready for some deadline."
"Probably," Rachel said.
"What kids?" asked Dr. Flynn.
Rachel clenched her jaw. Color rose her to her cheeks, and she took a couple of really deep breaths. This was a sure sign that someone was about to die.
Janet beat Dean to it. "Dr. Flynn, maybe you should do the sonogram now, and we can continue the conversation after."
"When I have my underwear on," Rachel added, voice sharp enough to cut.
Flynn just blinked his stupid blue eyes behind his stupid steel rimmed glasses—he seriously looked like he'd stepped out of a J. Crew catalogue or something—and then nodded. "Oh. Yes, of course. Um, Elaine?" He turned to the nurse.
The nurse handed him some kind of probe.
"So, uh," Dean said, not sure if he should avert his eyes or what, "what, exactly, are we going to see?"
"A fourteen week old fetus, presumably," Flynn answered, leaning in between Rachel's legs and narrowing his eyes.
Dean's jaw clenched. "Is the baby human or demon?"
He looked up. "Well, there's no clear account. That's what makes this so exciting."
"Dr. Flynn!" Janet snapped. "This is not exciting. This is my daughter."
"I'm sorry, Dr. Adams. Really." Dr. Flynn had the decency to look a little bit embarrassed. "Of course, I realize that this is very hard for all of you. But this is the first case of demonic pregnancy in the twenty-first century, and the first one where we will be sure to have accurate and complete data. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm getting carried away, but this is my life's work."
"And she is my life's work," Janet said.
Dean bit his tongue again, this time more gently. No way he was going to say something like Rachel was his life or whatever. But when Janet's words took the last of the excitement from Flynn's face, Dean was tempted.
"You didn't answer his question," Rachel said, voice sounding hoarse. "Is this thing going to look like a demon?"
Flynn shrugged. "Well, we'll get a better idea once we do the sonogram, but most likely not. Usually, there are demonic traits about the offspring, but overall it's human."
"Traits?" repeated Dean.
"Yes, like a tail or hooves. The last reordered case was said to have cat-like eyes, like the demon that fathered it."
Rachel sighed and closed her eyes again.
"What about the personality?" Janet asked. "Are they more demonic or human?"
"Should I just line up the name Damien and get it over with?" Rachel whispered.
"I highly doubt this will be the anti-Christ," Flynn said in what Dean was sure to be a comforting tone.
Rachel tightened her hand on Dean's, face now completely red.
Dean held her hand tightly, just to keep her from clocking Flynn.
"So, what will it be?" Rachel asked.
Flynn shrugged. "I don't know. There isn't enough data to predict."
"What about the cat-eyed kid? What was it like?"
"Stories don't really say. Just that when he grew up, he went after his father."
Dean could feel some of the pressure on his chest ease. "So, the demon never came for the kid or anything."
"Well, it couldn't. The woman killed it post-coitus."
Rachel snorted. "Wish I had thought of that." Tears escaped from under her lashes.
Dean grabbed a tissue. Wiped them away. "What about what she said? About the demon needing a human host to reproduce."
Dr. Flynn shook his head. "That was clearly a lie. I've never heard of any demon needing a human to reproduce."
"But this one might," Janet said. "It's already acting atypically. And the only person to identify it is dead."
"And he didn't leave any records?" Dr. Flynn sounded disappointed. But, like, there's no Santa disappointed, not we could actually help Rachel if we knew' disappointed.
Dean wondered what they'd do if he punched the doctor.
"No records. And, even if we knew, this thing can wipe minds," Dean said tightly. "Rachel can't even remember what happened. Not clearly."
"I know," Flynn said in what Dean was sure was supposed to be a soothing voice. "I was just hoping that maybe it was written somewhere." Sighed, then looked back at Rachel. "Okay, Rachel, I'm going to slide this in so we can get an idea of what's inside you."
"Doctor!" Janet snapped.
He grimaced. "Sorry. Rachel, don't worry. Like I said, baby usually looks perfectly human. I'm really just checking for development."
She closed her eyes again, the blood draining from her face. Tears slid down her cheeks.
Dean leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "It's okay, baby. I'm here."
"Thanks," she said.
Her eyes tightened, hand clutching at Dean's as the doctor slid the probe inside her.
He held her gripped her hand back. Rubbed her arm with his free hand.
Then he jumped.
"What the hell is that?" he said, looking at the machine. It was making a thumping sound, like a broken squeeze toy or a drum or a…
"That's the heartbeat." The doctor pressed a button. "And that is your baby."
The last doctor hadn't showed them this. Hadn't made them listen to the heartbeat. Rachel had been too upset, and Dean had been too worried about Rachel, so the doctor had kept it hidden from them. Just said that everything looked normal and sounded fine.
He squinted at the machine, and his stomach dropped. He hadn't expected to be able to see anything. On TV and movies, they always said it was hard to see, like a blur, and the chick was always crying because she couldn't see her baby, but that…
"That's a head!" he couldn't help exclaim, pointing at the monitor. Then, because of the circumstances, he dropped his voice and whispered, "It's really big. Is that normal?"
"That's perfectly normal, Dean," Flynn said. "You said the other doctor put you at about thirteen weeks?"
"Yeah." Rachel's voice was tight. Tense. "But that was almost a week ago."
Holy crap. That was a baby. Rachel's baby. The baby he was going to raise, going to fight tooth and nail to keep no matter what. It was a baby, with a big fucking head and tiny little arms and little stick legs.
And a heart. A tiny little heart that was beating.
He let out a breath, feeling like he'd been punched in the gut. He was surprised to find his eyes wet.
"It's human," he said.
"It certainly looks human," Flynn said, continuing to move the probe and push buttons. "Really, it's what I'd expect."
"Right, but… that's human." Dean reached out and touched the screen.
"Dean, don't get too carried away," Janet said, but she sounded very far away.
It didn't matter what she said, or what Rachel feared, or what Flynn theorized. That was a fucking human baby. He knew demons. That wasn't one.
"Dean?" Rachel whispered.
Dean tore his eyes from the screen and looked down at Rachel.
She had her eyes closed, tear tracks painted down her face.
"You okay?" he asked, squeezing her hand.
"Yeah." She opened her eyes and met his. "I'm fine. Just, you know. Uncomfortable."
"I'm almost done, Rachel," Dr. Flynn said.
She swallowed and nodded. "So. Big head, huh? Must take after you."
He snorted. "Don't think so, babe. You're the one with all the brains."
A tear slid from the corner of her eye. She smiled tremulously.
Dean wiped the tear away.
"Okay, that'll do it," the doctor said. He pulled the probe out and handed it to the nurse. Then he removed his gloves with a loud snap. "So, I'll let you get dressed, then have Elaine take some blood. We'll run some tests, both standard and some that have been traditionally used for demonic pregnancies, and…"
"Wait," Dean interrupted. "How can you have tests for a demonic pregnancy if this is the first one you've ever seen?"
He shrugged. "There's lore. I don't know how accurate it is, but it's all we got."
"How much blood are you going to take?"
"She'll be fine, Dean."
His jaw tightened again. "Why don't you try reassuring her?" he snapped.
Flynn blinked. Looked at Rachel. "You're going to be fine. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
Rachel smiled wryly. "Gee, thanks, Doctor. Can I put my underwear back on, now?"
"Sure. Um, I'll just step outside. Elaine?" he said to the nurse.
"I'll come with you," Janet said. "My husband and I have a few questions." She leaned over and kissed Rachel's forehead. "You okay?"
"Yeah, Mom, I'm fine."
Once everyone else was out of the room, Rachel slid off the bed. "Yuck. Oh, God, I hate pelvic exams." She grabbed a handful of tissues and turned away from Dean.
He sat down and looked at the now empty screen of the sonograph machine. "So. You think we can trust this Dr. Flynn?"
"My parents do. Hand me my underwear?"
Dean picked it up from the pile and handed it over to her. "He kind of seems like a jerk to me."
"Most of my parents' friends are. Sometimes. Jeans?"
He passed them over. "I wanted to punch him in the face."
"So did I." She sighed. A moment later, she settled into his lap.
"You okay?" Dean asked, putting his arms around her.
"I will be." She sighed again and rested her head against his. "At least it doesn't have, like, a visible tail or anything. Or hooves. At least not yet. I don't think I could handle that." She wrinkled her nose. "What do you think would happen if I drank a gallon of holy water? Or ate a bunch of raw salt?"
He squeezed her. "Don't."
"No, I won't, I…"
"Don't."
She fell silent. Nodded. "I won't."
He rubbed her back before sliding his hand up to the back of her neck.
"You know, Bobby's home town is kind of nice. And it's got a hospital," she said.
"So… what?"
"I'm just saying. I'll need to be somewhere close to a hospital so Dr. Flynn can do his experiments on me."
"He's not experimenting."
"He kind of is." She tilted her head back and looked up at Dean. "I'm sure there's a house for rent in town. And I'll be near Bobby if anything happens."
"I don't like to think of you all alone in a house. Pregnant." His stomach twisted, thinking what could happen.
"I'm going to have to be, sometime."
"You could live with your parents."
"I don't want to."
He wrinkled his nose and said, "You could live with Nathan."
"Dean, I don't want to move in with my brother or my parents. I want a place that's ours. That you could come home to." She kissed him. "I'm not asking you to give up hunting."
"I would," he said before he thought about it.
Her lips twisted. "So you say right now."
"No, I'm serious. Let Sam and Nathan go after the demons and the ghosts. Or Sam and Jo. Or Sam. I want to stay with you."
"I don't even want to stay with me," Rachel said, shifting. She winced and put her hand on her stomach.
Panic shot through him. "What's wrong? Are you in pain? Are you all right? Let me get the doctor."
"I'm fine, Dean. It's just that… round ligament pain or whatever the doctor was talking about earlier." Her hand tightened on his shirt. "Stay."
"You sure?"
She nodded. Closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest.
Dean forced himself to relax. Cuddle her closer, letting his chin drop on the top of her head. He sat there, listening to her breath and trying to imagine a life without hunting and killing every night.
He wasn't sure how he felt about it. He wanted to want it. Wanted to stay with her, safe. Protecting her and living in a house. Waking up and going to a normal job every day. Not having the constant stress and adrenaline and fear.
It sounded nice. But, somewhere inside, Dean was pretty sure Rachel was right. It couldn't last. He wouldn’t be happy like that, not for very long. And, the demon was coming after them. Coming after Sam and Rachel, both. It wasn't like Dean could just let that happen while he went to some nine to five job and fell asleep on the couch.
"Okay," he finally said, tightening his arms around her.
"Okay, what?"
He tightened his arms around her. "Maybe a house or apartment near someone isn't a bad idea. But, let's think it through. I mean, it doesn't have to be in Sioux Falls in the middle of nowhere just because that's where Bobby lives. There are other people you can live near, including your brother and parents. In our own house."
"Dean…"
"I'm just asking you to think about it." He pulled back and tilted her head up so he could look into her eyes. "Just think about it, okay?"
Rachel sighed. Nodded. "Okay. I'll think about it." She closed her eyes and rolled her neck. "Okay. Let's go do the rest of this and get it over with. I want a cheeseburger."
He smiled it hurt. "You're not pregnant. You're just turning into me."
She laughed. "And pie. Three pieces. Chocolate." She slid off his lap, but grabbed his hand, pulling him along. "And ice cream. And…"
"Chocolate pie? What about apple?"
"We can have that, too." She stopped at the door. Pulled Dean against her and kissed him. "Hey, you know what?" she whispered into his mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"What?" He kissed her, tongue pressing into her mouth, stroking against hers.
"Did you know pregnant can get really, really horny?" She nipped his bottom lip, fingers teasing through his hair.
He groaned into her mouth. "Cheeseburgers, pies, and sex? Girl, you are the woman of my dreams."
Rachel laughed. For the first time since this whole mess began, she almost sounded like herself.
Fandom: SPN
Pairing: Dean/Rachel, Sam/Nathan
Rating: Mature
Warning: mentions of rape (a little late, I guess; sorry)
Summary: The fallout from Rachel's abduction by the YED continues when she discovers she's pregnant.
Series Captured Soul, Kitsune, Another Kind of Trap, The Greater Good,and Picking Up, Lethe
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, 5, & 6
Dean had to give one thing to Rachel's parents: they got stuff done. And fast. In the few hours since they'd arrived, they'd gotten Rachel a doctor, driven across state to see said doctor, somehow gotten clearance in a freaking hospital, and turned Dean's entire world upside down. And considering how often that had happened since waking up and finding out Rachel was his wife all those months ago, he had to wonder how he was still sane.
His mother had been a hunter. Her whole family had been hunters. No way Dean had seen that coming. His father had never talked about Mom's parents. He'd never talked about his own parents, except to say they'd died before Dean had been born. Dean had never thought to wonder about his mom's parents.
They'd been hunters.
And Sam hadn't been born a psychic. The demon had done something to him. One of his parents, or his grandparents, had made a deal. Had given him Sam.
Fuck. Dean had known Sam shouldn't be messing with these powers. He'd always said so. But Rachel had been so convinced that Sam had been like her grandfather or something. She'd insisted…
Not that Sam had made much progress. As far as Dean knew, Sam had never gotten any kind of control of his powers. He definitely wasn't like Andy or his freaky brother. Or that douchebag, Max. They could control those freaky powers; Sam couldn't.
That was something. All they had to do was keep Sam from trying to use his powers, and everything would be okay.
Yeah. And pigs flew and wishes came true and angels were watching over him. Dean believed it all.
They were in another hospital, another room. It was beginning to feel like a joke. They'd always avoided hospitals before, whenever they could. Too much risk involved in being caught by the police or insurance agents or something. But Rachel was pregnant. And rich, and she didn't have a police record. So they were practically living in hospitals it seemed.
The doctor the Adamses had flown out was Dr. Steven Flynn, MD. He was a friend of Rachel's parents, knew all about the supernatural and hunters and stuff. Apparently, he specialized in treating people who'd been possessed by demons or attacked by other supernatural creatures.
If he hadn't been so fucking annoying, Dean would almost regret not knowing about him before. It wouldn't have been so bad going to a doctor who knew how to treat all the crap they dealt with.
But, he was annoying. In the first five minutes after meeting him, Dean had almost punched him. The man was just way to excited about the fact that Rachel was pregnant with a demon baby and seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact she was scared out of her mind. Dean had no idea how he was going to deal with this guy for nine months.
But, Rachel's parents seemed to trust him, and Rachel trusted her parents, so Dean was biting his tongue. Biting his tongue and squeezing Rachel's hand as she was forced to tell him what she remembered about the conception (still nothing more than those few flashes), how she'd been feeling during the first few weeks of the pregnancy (she hadn't noticed), and what she knew about the demon who'd done this to her (it had yellow eyes).
Dr. Flynn had written it all down, then grilled Dean about what he knew, which was, unfortunately, not much more. He felt like an idiot, but who didn't notice their wife was nearly fourteen weeks pregnant, but, dude, it hadn't been noticeable. It wasn’t like he kept track of her cycle or anything, and he only bought her pads or whatever when she put it on the list and it was his turn to shop. She hadn't been throwing up, and while, yeah, maybe she'd been tired in retrospect, but he why should he notice if she hadn't?
"So you don't know anything else?" Dr. Flynn said when Dean was done talking. "Your father never found out what kind of demon it was?"
Dean shrugged and laced his fingers through Rachel's. They were in an examination room, Rachel on the table in a paper gown. Her father had excused himself from being in the actual exam, which was probably a good thing because there were just some things a father shouldn't see, but Janet was there on the other side of the bed. She was stroking Rachel's hair, listening silently as Rachel and Dean talked with that same look on her face that Rachel got when her mind was working a million miles an hour.
"I think he might have, but he never told me," Dean said, the old frustration burning dully in his stomach. Yeah, John had never said what kind of demon was after his family. He'd told Dean that it had infected Sam and that Dean might have to kill his brother if something went wrong, but he hadn't bothered telling Dean why. Just that this thing was dangerous. That Sam might be dangerous.
But, as usual, he'd held back vital information. And now they were all paying for it.
Then something occurred to him. "Holy water didn’t affect it," he said.
Dr. Flynn pursed his lips. "It didn't?"
"No."
He sat back and ran a hand over his perfectly silver hair. "I've never heard of any demon that's not affected by holy water. Have you, Janet?"
She shook her head, but added, "Demons aren't really my specialty. I haven't run across many in my life. They're pretty rare."
"Yeah, they used to be," Dean said. "In the past year, Sam and I have run into more than we've done in our whole lives."
Janet frowned. "I wonder why there are suddenly so many of them. Or where they've all been. What about your hunter friend? Bobby? Has he dealt with many demons?"
"Some, but not more than us."
"Obviously, the demon who did this is planning something," Rachel said. She'd lain back at some point and closed her eyes, like she was asleep. But now, she opened her eyes and stared sightlessly at the ceiling. "I bet whatever he's planning is going to happen in, oh, about six months."
"How you figure?" Dean asked, then immediately bit his tongue hard enough to taste blood.
Rachel gave him a look.
"Sorry." He squeezed her hand apologetically. "So maybe that's why these kids are popping up right now? Like Sam and his visions and stuff? They're getting ready for some deadline."
"Probably," Rachel said.
"What kids?" asked Dr. Flynn.
Rachel clenched her jaw. Color rose her to her cheeks, and she took a couple of really deep breaths. This was a sure sign that someone was about to die.
Janet beat Dean to it. "Dr. Flynn, maybe you should do the sonogram now, and we can continue the conversation after."
"When I have my underwear on," Rachel added, voice sharp enough to cut.
Flynn just blinked his stupid blue eyes behind his stupid steel rimmed glasses—he seriously looked like he'd stepped out of a J. Crew catalogue or something—and then nodded. "Oh. Yes, of course. Um, Elaine?" He turned to the nurse.
The nurse handed him some kind of probe.
"So, uh," Dean said, not sure if he should avert his eyes or what, "what, exactly, are we going to see?"
"A fourteen week old fetus, presumably," Flynn answered, leaning in between Rachel's legs and narrowing his eyes.
Dean's jaw clenched. "Is the baby human or demon?"
He looked up. "Well, there's no clear account. That's what makes this so exciting."
"Dr. Flynn!" Janet snapped. "This is not exciting. This is my daughter."
"I'm sorry, Dr. Adams. Really." Dr. Flynn had the decency to look a little bit embarrassed. "Of course, I realize that this is very hard for all of you. But this is the first case of demonic pregnancy in the twenty-first century, and the first one where we will be sure to have accurate and complete data. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm getting carried away, but this is my life's work."
"And she is my life's work," Janet said.
Dean bit his tongue again, this time more gently. No way he was going to say something like Rachel was his life or whatever. But when Janet's words took the last of the excitement from Flynn's face, Dean was tempted.
"You didn't answer his question," Rachel said, voice sounding hoarse. "Is this thing going to look like a demon?"
Flynn shrugged. "Well, we'll get a better idea once we do the sonogram, but most likely not. Usually, there are demonic traits about the offspring, but overall it's human."
"Traits?" repeated Dean.
"Yes, like a tail or hooves. The last reordered case was said to have cat-like eyes, like the demon that fathered it."
Rachel sighed and closed her eyes again.
"What about the personality?" Janet asked. "Are they more demonic or human?"
"Should I just line up the name Damien and get it over with?" Rachel whispered.
"I highly doubt this will be the anti-Christ," Flynn said in what Dean was sure to be a comforting tone.
Rachel tightened her hand on Dean's, face now completely red.
Dean held her hand tightly, just to keep her from clocking Flynn.
"So, what will it be?" Rachel asked.
Flynn shrugged. "I don't know. There isn't enough data to predict."
"What about the cat-eyed kid? What was it like?"
"Stories don't really say. Just that when he grew up, he went after his father."
Dean could feel some of the pressure on his chest ease. "So, the demon never came for the kid or anything."
"Well, it couldn't. The woman killed it post-coitus."
Rachel snorted. "Wish I had thought of that." Tears escaped from under her lashes.
Dean grabbed a tissue. Wiped them away. "What about what she said? About the demon needing a human host to reproduce."
Dr. Flynn shook his head. "That was clearly a lie. I've never heard of any demon needing a human to reproduce."
"But this one might," Janet said. "It's already acting atypically. And the only person to identify it is dead."
"And he didn't leave any records?" Dr. Flynn sounded disappointed. But, like, there's no Santa disappointed, not we could actually help Rachel if we knew' disappointed.
Dean wondered what they'd do if he punched the doctor.
"No records. And, even if we knew, this thing can wipe minds," Dean said tightly. "Rachel can't even remember what happened. Not clearly."
"I know," Flynn said in what Dean was sure was supposed to be a soothing voice. "I was just hoping that maybe it was written somewhere." Sighed, then looked back at Rachel. "Okay, Rachel, I'm going to slide this in so we can get an idea of what's inside you."
"Doctor!" Janet snapped.
He grimaced. "Sorry. Rachel, don't worry. Like I said, baby usually looks perfectly human. I'm really just checking for development."
She closed her eyes again, the blood draining from her face. Tears slid down her cheeks.
Dean leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "It's okay, baby. I'm here."
"Thanks," she said.
Her eyes tightened, hand clutching at Dean's as the doctor slid the probe inside her.
He held her gripped her hand back. Rubbed her arm with his free hand.
Then he jumped.
"What the hell is that?" he said, looking at the machine. It was making a thumping sound, like a broken squeeze toy or a drum or a…
"That's the heartbeat." The doctor pressed a button. "And that is your baby."
The last doctor hadn't showed them this. Hadn't made them listen to the heartbeat. Rachel had been too upset, and Dean had been too worried about Rachel, so the doctor had kept it hidden from them. Just said that everything looked normal and sounded fine.
He squinted at the machine, and his stomach dropped. He hadn't expected to be able to see anything. On TV and movies, they always said it was hard to see, like a blur, and the chick was always crying because she couldn't see her baby, but that…
"That's a head!" he couldn't help exclaim, pointing at the monitor. Then, because of the circumstances, he dropped his voice and whispered, "It's really big. Is that normal?"
"That's perfectly normal, Dean," Flynn said. "You said the other doctor put you at about thirteen weeks?"
"Yeah." Rachel's voice was tight. Tense. "But that was almost a week ago."
Holy crap. That was a baby. Rachel's baby. The baby he was going to raise, going to fight tooth and nail to keep no matter what. It was a baby, with a big fucking head and tiny little arms and little stick legs.
And a heart. A tiny little heart that was beating.
He let out a breath, feeling like he'd been punched in the gut. He was surprised to find his eyes wet.
"It's human," he said.
"It certainly looks human," Flynn said, continuing to move the probe and push buttons. "Really, it's what I'd expect."
"Right, but… that's human." Dean reached out and touched the screen.
"Dean, don't get too carried away," Janet said, but she sounded very far away.
It didn't matter what she said, or what Rachel feared, or what Flynn theorized. That was a fucking human baby. He knew demons. That wasn't one.
"Dean?" Rachel whispered.
Dean tore his eyes from the screen and looked down at Rachel.
She had her eyes closed, tear tracks painted down her face.
"You okay?" he asked, squeezing her hand.
"Yeah." She opened her eyes and met his. "I'm fine. Just, you know. Uncomfortable."
"I'm almost done, Rachel," Dr. Flynn said.
She swallowed and nodded. "So. Big head, huh? Must take after you."
He snorted. "Don't think so, babe. You're the one with all the brains."
A tear slid from the corner of her eye. She smiled tremulously.
Dean wiped the tear away.
"Okay, that'll do it," the doctor said. He pulled the probe out and handed it to the nurse. Then he removed his gloves with a loud snap. "So, I'll let you get dressed, then have Elaine take some blood. We'll run some tests, both standard and some that have been traditionally used for demonic pregnancies, and…"
"Wait," Dean interrupted. "How can you have tests for a demonic pregnancy if this is the first one you've ever seen?"
He shrugged. "There's lore. I don't know how accurate it is, but it's all we got."
"How much blood are you going to take?"
"She'll be fine, Dean."
His jaw tightened again. "Why don't you try reassuring her?" he snapped.
Flynn blinked. Looked at Rachel. "You're going to be fine. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
Rachel smiled wryly. "Gee, thanks, Doctor. Can I put my underwear back on, now?"
"Sure. Um, I'll just step outside. Elaine?" he said to the nurse.
"I'll come with you," Janet said. "My husband and I have a few questions." She leaned over and kissed Rachel's forehead. "You okay?"
"Yeah, Mom, I'm fine."
Once everyone else was out of the room, Rachel slid off the bed. "Yuck. Oh, God, I hate pelvic exams." She grabbed a handful of tissues and turned away from Dean.
He sat down and looked at the now empty screen of the sonograph machine. "So. You think we can trust this Dr. Flynn?"
"My parents do. Hand me my underwear?"
Dean picked it up from the pile and handed it over to her. "He kind of seems like a jerk to me."
"Most of my parents' friends are. Sometimes. Jeans?"
He passed them over. "I wanted to punch him in the face."
"So did I." She sighed. A moment later, she settled into his lap.
"You okay?" Dean asked, putting his arms around her.
"I will be." She sighed again and rested her head against his. "At least it doesn't have, like, a visible tail or anything. Or hooves. At least not yet. I don't think I could handle that." She wrinkled her nose. "What do you think would happen if I drank a gallon of holy water? Or ate a bunch of raw salt?"
He squeezed her. "Don't."
"No, I won't, I…"
"Don't."
She fell silent. Nodded. "I won't."
He rubbed her back before sliding his hand up to the back of her neck.
"You know, Bobby's home town is kind of nice. And it's got a hospital," she said.
"So… what?"
"I'm just saying. I'll need to be somewhere close to a hospital so Dr. Flynn can do his experiments on me."
"He's not experimenting."
"He kind of is." She tilted her head back and looked up at Dean. "I'm sure there's a house for rent in town. And I'll be near Bobby if anything happens."
"I don't like to think of you all alone in a house. Pregnant." His stomach twisted, thinking what could happen.
"I'm going to have to be, sometime."
"You could live with your parents."
"I don't want to."
He wrinkled his nose and said, "You could live with Nathan."
"Dean, I don't want to move in with my brother or my parents. I want a place that's ours. That you could come home to." She kissed him. "I'm not asking you to give up hunting."
"I would," he said before he thought about it.
Her lips twisted. "So you say right now."
"No, I'm serious. Let Sam and Nathan go after the demons and the ghosts. Or Sam and Jo. Or Sam. I want to stay with you."
"I don't even want to stay with me," Rachel said, shifting. She winced and put her hand on her stomach.
Panic shot through him. "What's wrong? Are you in pain? Are you all right? Let me get the doctor."
"I'm fine, Dean. It's just that… round ligament pain or whatever the doctor was talking about earlier." Her hand tightened on his shirt. "Stay."
"You sure?"
She nodded. Closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest.
Dean forced himself to relax. Cuddle her closer, letting his chin drop on the top of her head. He sat there, listening to her breath and trying to imagine a life without hunting and killing every night.
He wasn't sure how he felt about it. He wanted to want it. Wanted to stay with her, safe. Protecting her and living in a house. Waking up and going to a normal job every day. Not having the constant stress and adrenaline and fear.
It sounded nice. But, somewhere inside, Dean was pretty sure Rachel was right. It couldn't last. He wouldn’t be happy like that, not for very long. And, the demon was coming after them. Coming after Sam and Rachel, both. It wasn't like Dean could just let that happen while he went to some nine to five job and fell asleep on the couch.
"Okay," he finally said, tightening his arms around her.
"Okay, what?"
He tightened his arms around her. "Maybe a house or apartment near someone isn't a bad idea. But, let's think it through. I mean, it doesn't have to be in Sioux Falls in the middle of nowhere just because that's where Bobby lives. There are other people you can live near, including your brother and parents. In our own house."
"Dean…"
"I'm just asking you to think about it." He pulled back and tilted her head up so he could look into her eyes. "Just think about it, okay?"
Rachel sighed. Nodded. "Okay. I'll think about it." She closed her eyes and rolled her neck. "Okay. Let's go do the rest of this and get it over with. I want a cheeseburger."
He smiled it hurt. "You're not pregnant. You're just turning into me."
She laughed. "And pie. Three pieces. Chocolate." She slid off his lap, but grabbed his hand, pulling him along. "And ice cream. And…"
"Chocolate pie? What about apple?"
"We can have that, too." She stopped at the door. Pulled Dean against her and kissed him. "Hey, you know what?" she whispered into his mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"What?" He kissed her, tongue pressing into her mouth, stroking against hers.
"Did you know pregnant can get really, really horny?" She nipped his bottom lip, fingers teasing through his hair.
He groaned into her mouth. "Cheeseburgers, pies, and sex? Girl, you are the woman of my dreams."
Rachel laughed. For the first time since this whole mess began, she almost sounded like herself.
