What to Expect... Chapter 09 (Destiel MPreg)

Disclaimer: Supernatural and its characters are the property of Eric Kripke. Sadly, I do not own any of these guys.

A/N: Hello, everyone! I'm finally back! A ton has happened in the five months since I've posted a new chapter, but I'll put those details (as well as the two pieces of art that go along with this chapter) on my profile page so you can read them later. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this return to mpreg!Cas. There will be just a tiny bit of angst at the beginning of this chapter, left over from the last one, and the rest will be nothing but fluff. Brace yourselves, though, because in two more chapters things are going to get intense. I've spent months writing, rewriting, and polishing this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy.
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September 10, 2015 – 16 weeks

"By the sixteenth week, the uterus has grown to the size of a cantaloupe, and the baby is anywhere from three to five ounces and four to five inches long," Castiel murmured as he sat curled beneath a blanket in one of the plush armchairs in the bunker's library, reading aloud from his copy of "What to Expect When You're Expecting." It was a perfect day for some quiet reading, chilly and damp and crisp with the first scents of early autumn. Castiel had woken unusually early that morning, full of energy and ravenously hungry, and seeing as Dean was still asleep and Sam had left before dawn to take care of a mischievous spirit that was damaging a family's home several towns away, he decided that the time left over after sating his cravings would best be spent tucked away somewhere warm and quiet.

He had already read this book cover to cover more than once, so he already knew most of the information inside by heart, but for some reason he still couldn't help but open it up and scan a few of the pages at the beginning of each week. Maybe it was because of the maternal hormones coursing through his body, or maybe he was just allowing himself to become overly sentimental, but somehow reading about their child's progression as it actually happened each week made the pregnancy feel more real to him, as if he could really see and feel exactly how the baby was growing and changing within him day by day. It filled him with an excitement that was impossible to put into words, unlike anything he had ever experienced before as an angel or human, and he did not have to ask to know that Dean felt the same.

Until about three weeks ago, though, he had all but forgotten the joy of waiting for their child to arrive, too worried and heartbroken over failing to earn Claire's forgiveness to find much excitement in anything.

The first few weeks after that failed attempt at bringing her home had been hard on the entire Winchester household, but none so much as Castiel. He had gone after her not only because he genuinely cared for her, but because he owed more than he could ever put into words to her father, Jimmy. When he saw how much hatred she held toward him, how much he had taken from her without even realizing it, he knew that he had failed not just her, but also her father, who had only ever asked him to keep Claire safe in his absence.

No matter what Dean did to comfort him, he could not seem to bring himself out of the dark fog that had taken over his every thought. Food seemed to lose its taste, television and books ceased to hold his interest, and even lovemaking with Dean failed to stir anything more profound than a temporary carnal pleasure within him. He spent most of the first week confined to the bedroom or the library, avoiding both Sam and Dean in favor of sitting alone with his thoughts. He plastered on a fake smile whenever one of them asked if he was alright, took a few bites of food whenever Dean would cast a worried glance at his still-full plate, but before long he would inevitably end up curled over the toilet in the master bathroom, heaving so violently he could barely pull in a breath as his body rejected whatever nourishment he tried to force into it. This only served to frustrate him more, because he wanted so badly to be able to provide nutrition for the baby and his own body seemed to take joy in defying him at every opportunity. He knew Dean and Sam worried about him – if he was being honest with himself, so did he – but he couldn't seem to find a way to shake this deep-seated feeling of failure, to gain back the contentment and anticipation he had felt before everything went so terribly wrong.

The turning point came on the first day of his thirteenth week of pregnancy, when Ahiel came to the bunker to perform his first second-trimester examination. They had only just begun, Ahiel taking measurements of Castiel's vitals, when the doctor's expression darkened, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the number indicating Castiel's weight on the scale. With ice in his voice, he had said, "Sam, Dean, would you mind leaving the room for a few minutes, please? I need to speak to my brother alone."

Castiel felt his heart beginning to pound as he watched the others file out, especially when Dean did not even look back at him, and by the time Ahiel turned his attention back to him he was tense from head to toe.

"Now then, Castiel," Ahiel said slowly, tapping his fingers against the top of the clipboard in his hands. "I see here that instead of gaining the amount of weight I had recommended for you at your last appointment, you have actually lost five pounds. Dean tells me that you've barely eaten for the last two weeks, and that even when you do you almost always regurgitate whatever you've consumed within minutes." He set the clipboard down on the table, his expression softening as he placed a hand on Castiel's knee. "You must know that this isn't good for the child, Castiel. If your morning sickness is worsening I can prescribe you something to help, but I cannot do anything for you without knowing what you're feeling. I know you would never do anything to endanger your baby deliberately, so please tell me, Brother – what's happened to you?"

And just like that, Castiel finally broke, clutching onto Ahiel and sobbing desperately as he told him about everything he'd thought and felt since Claire's disappearance. He told him about the constant feelings of guilt and failure, the fear that he would fail his own child the way he failed Claire, the constant nausea that made his stomach turn even when it was empty and growling with hunger. Ahiel did not say a word the entire time, letting him say everything he needed to without interruption and then giving him a few minutes to pull himself together afterward.

When he finally did speak, it was with a sad, understanding smile that nearly made the pregnant angel start crying all over again. He motioned for Cas to lie down on the table, which he did without protest, and then pulled up the angel's shirt so he could examine the baby.

"Castiel," he said gently, handing him a tissue to wipe his eyes and nose, "I understand that you feel you've failed your vessel's daughter, and as a fellow angel I understand exactly how poorly we tend to react to failing those we consider family. But whether you are willing to believe me or not, I can tell you that you have not failed Claire. Her childhood may have been changed by her father's service to you, but her choices still are ultimately her own. Someday she may choose to come back to you, or she may not, but you've done all you can for her now and you must take comfort in that fact.

"You have a child of your own that needs you," he said firmly, placing his palm against the skin of Castiel's abdomen and closing his eyes as he focused on separating the pulsing aura of the child's grace from the stronger aura of Castiel's that surrounded it. "And that is all you need to worry yourself with right now. Dean loves you deeply, and Sam cares about you, but neither of them can help you if you do not help yourself. For them, and for the child who depends on you, please put Claire from your mind for the time being." He smiled, then, reverently stroking his palm across the tiny bump of Castiel's belly. "Our Father has blessed you with a great miracle, my brother. Do not despair, but rejoice and be glad."

At that moment Castiel felt a strange warmth emanating from within his lower belly, and it was as if all the grace of Heaven had descended to fill Castiel with comfort and peace. He placed a hand on his stomach, wondering what was causing this sudden change, and Ahiel chuckled, striding over to the door so he could open it and let Sam and Dean know it was alright to come back inside.

"It seems the child does not want you to feel sad anymore, either."

Life had largely returned to normal for Castiel and the Winchesters after that. Although he still thought of Claire from time to time, he no longer felt such a terrible, crushing guilt when he did so, a fact which he credited entirely to the way his baby's grace had reacted with his own that day. Ahiel had prescribed him a few days' worth of anti-nauseants, which enabled him to get his body accustomed to regular meals again so that the vicious cycle of going without food and being sick whenever he did eat would finally stop. Dean doted on him a little too much at first, almost as if he thought Cas was an invalid now instead of simply pregnant, but Castiel said nothing about it. After all, he really had given the hunter cause to believe that for a time, and Dean tended to hover when he worried, so the least he could do was put up with a little extra "mother-henning" if it helped Dean work out his own anxiety.

So by the time his sixteenth week rolled around, Castiel was back to normal and feeling better than he had in weeks. Most of the unpleasant symptoms from his first trimester had finally tapered off, especially the constant exhaustion and nausea that had plagued him for nearly two straight months. He still suffered from occasional dizziness when he stood too quickly or went too long between meals, but overall he was finally starting to feel like an expectant parent, rather than someone with a chronic illness.

"And look it, too," he mused, stroking his hand over the rounded globe of his belly that now protruded fairly noticeably above his hips. For the last month it had been steadily growing, the final traces of his previously well-defined abdominal muscles disappearing as his stomach began to curve upward and outward to accommodate the life developing rapidly inside. He was truly beginning to look forward to the prospect of raising a child now, especially when that child's father would be Dean Winchester.

"Your father and I cannot wait to meet you," he cooed softly in Enochian, rubbing small circles over the area where he thought the baby most likely to be. "I do not even know what you look like, but I already know that I love y–"

"Cas? You up already?"

Castiel dropped his hand from his abdomen and looked up at the sound of Dean's voice, chuckling softly as the hunter wandered into the library with his hair still mussed from sleep and his gray terrycloth robe hanging precariously off of one shoulder.

"Yes," he finally answered as he carefully slipped a bookmark between the pages he had been reading and gently closed the book. "I woke up craving food about an hour ago, and by the time I finished eating I was too alert to go back to sleep."

Dean strode across the room and wrapped an arm around Castiel's shoulders, leaning down to kiss him before he gave a mischievous smirk. "Oh yeah? And what combo did the baby come up with this time?"

Castiel sighed wearily, not understanding why Dean seemed to get so much amusement from his pregnancy-related cravings when he himself found them completely maddening, and then reluctantly mumbled, "Carrot sticks dipped in caramel sauce…"

Dean laughed, and Castiel frowned and reopened his book, huffing and shrugging Dean's hand off of his shoulder as a hot blush of embarrassment worked its way up his cheeks and ears.

"Aw, c'mon, don't be like that," Dean said, the smile still audible in his voice as he tousled his fingers through Castiel's hair. "It's all part of the experience, remember? Besides, that's actually not a bad one, at least not compared to last week when you mixed that Sriracha with –"

"Do nottalk about that," Castiel cut in, feeling his stomach flip at just the mention of his ill-fated hot-sauce experiments a week before. "I haven't vomited once since then, and I would like to keep it that way."

"Alright, alright," Dean said, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender and plopping down into the chair right beside Castiel's. "No more Sriracha-talk. But I did actually come out here to ask you something. How would you feel about taking a trip down to Wichita today, maybe seeing a movie? Just to get out of the house? I know it's farther away than Concordia, but there are some awesome restaurants and stores down there I've been wanting to check out, so I figured you and I might as well make a day out of it."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Castiel answered, standing from the chair and stretching until his spine popped. "When would you like to leave?"

"Just let me get dressed and brush my teeth, and then if you're ready we can hit the road."

"Okay. I'll go get dressed, too." He strode down the hall to their bedroom with Dean, retrieving a suit-and-trenchcoat outfit that Dean had bought him soon after he moved into the bunker. He loved the familiarity of the long coat; he hadn't realized how much he had missed it until Dean had offered to replace it for him. Also – although he felt no need to admit this to anyone – it was currently the only clothing in his wardrobe that still fit, not including pajamas.

…Or at least it was supposed to have been.

As he slipped on the pants and tried to pull up the zipper, he realized with no small amount of irritation that it would no longer pull more than a quarter-inch upwards. The button and belt were no better, stopping more than an inch short of closing no matter how hard he pulled on them, and the shirt now just barely hung past the bottom of his belly, so tight across the back that he could barely move. How could that be? These clothes had been almost too big for him before, just like they had always been. Granted, he hadn't worn them in nearly a month, seeing as he had been in no mental state to go anywhere at all, but he couldn't have gotten so much bigger that quickly, could he?

With a frustrated grunt he flopped backward onto the bed, sucking in his stomach as much as he could and holding his breath until he somehow managed to get the button closed. With a sigh of relief he stood up, slightly uncomfortable with the waistband digging into his skin but happy with this small victory. He bent forward to fasten his belt over it, only to gasp as the overly-stressed button on his pants flew off with a "pop!" bouncing off of the wall and landing somewhere underneath the bed.

"Uh… Cas? What's going on?"

Castiel jumped at the sound of Dean's voice behind him; he had almost forgotten the hunter was supposed to be coming back for him. "Dean, I… um…" he stalled, feeling a hot blush of embarrassment working its way into his cheeks for reasons he could not understand. Finally, realizing it was too late to preserve his dignity at this point, he huffed and glared down at his pants, muttering, "Apparently I've outgrown even my largest outfit. Unless you want me to go to the movies with you in my pajamas, I'm afraid I won't be able to accompany you today."

Dean, to Castiel's immense relief, was either too kind to laugh or too afraid of what the angel might do to him if he did (although he was fairly certain he did hear a quiet snicker while his back was turned.) After a moment he strode out of the room, returning with a pair of Sam's jeans that had been pinned up around the legs and an old T-shirt, and barely five minutes later the two of them were seated in the Impala, listening to her purr as she sailed over the distance between them and Wichita.

*DeanCastiel*

The drive to Wichita seemed to fly by in no time. Castiel had dozed off and begun snoring quietly less than a half-hour into the drive, lulled to sleep by the sound of Dean's old classic rock tapes, and this gave Dean even more time to fine-tune his plan for making this day perfect. Before long the hunter was turning the Impala off of the interstate and into the parking lot of an enormous shopping center, slowing down to a crawl as he looked for a spot that was as close to their destination as possible. Beside him, Cas blinked owlishly and snorted awake, brow furrowing in confusion as he sat up straighter in his seat and took in the scenery around them.

"Dean? Are you sure this is the right address?" he asked with a yawn. "I do not see anything that looks like a movie theater here."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Dean answered, sliding into a spot right beside one with a sign marked "Stork Parking – Expectant Mothers." He cut the engine, chuckling at the way Cas's eyes flicked between him and the sign with a deer-in-the-headlights kind of confusion in them. "Alright, you ready?"

"I… I don't think I understand," Castiel said slowly, still squinting at the cartoonish drawing of the long-necked bird with a bindle gripped in its beak as if it was purposely hiding something from him. After another moment his eyes widened, comprehension dawning on his face, and he glanced suspiciously at Dean. "We were never really going to see a movie, were we?"

"Nope," Dean said with a sly smile, opening up his door and getting out of the car while he waited for Cas to do the same. "I wanted to surprise you – I know you've never been baby shopping before, so I thought that might be more exciting than seeing some overpriced movie we can just watch on Netflix in a couple of months. And since this place," he pointed up at the enormous letters across the front of the store spelling out Babies-R-Us, "is supposed to have just about everything a baby could ever need and then some, I figured it was a good place to start."

Castiel didn't say anything for several moments, his eyes growing slightly misty as his hand drifted up to touch his belly – a nervous habit he had developed in the last couple of months and which Dean found absolutely adorable – and then he turned and wrapped his arms around the hunter, giving him a brief kiss.

"Thank you, Dean. I think it's a wonderful idea."

"I hoped you would," Dean said softly, taking his angel's hand as they began making their way into the store.

As soon as the glass doors slid open, though, both of them stopped in their tracks, momentarily overwhelmed by the incredible array of baby and toddler products spread across the entire building. Just from where they stood Dean could see bottles and pacifiers, diapers and creams and powders, onesies with matching booties, plush toys and rattles and teething rings, and more clothes for both mothers and babies than he had ever seen in one place before.

He slowly walked forward, just barely aware that Cas was still beside him, overwhelmed by the seemingly endless variety of colors, patterns, textures and shapes that filled every shelf as far as he could see. He had thought he knew everything about babies and baby needs, since he had practically raised Sammy from infancy, but apparently a lot had changed about baby shopping since the early 1980s.

"Okay, Cas," he said after taking a moment to get his thoughts back on track. "I think the best way to do this would be for us to split up and each cover half of the store. Why don't you take the left side and pick out some toys and clothes and things for the baby – you'll need to pick things that say they're for newborns – and I'll go over there and look at the bottles and diapers."

"Alright…" Castiel said uncertainly, looking a lot meeker than Dean was used to seeing.

"Hey, don't worry," the hunter said lightly, wrapping an arm around Cas's shoulders and giving him a squeeze. "If some of the stuff you pick is too big, we can always use it later. The point is just to have fun and pick out some stuff you think the baby will like. Oh, and I guess try to pick some stuff that's kind of gender-neutral for now, since we don't know whether it's a boy or a girl."

Castiel blew out a deep breath, the tension leaving his face and a small smile moving in to replace it. "Yes, that sounds good. I will do my best."

"You'll do fine," Dean assured him. "And if you have any questions, you can always just call me or come find me over there."

Cas nodded and turned to start making his way toward the baby clothes, and Dean traced his own path over to the diaper aisle, picking out a box of Huggies (he normally wasn't a brand-name kind of guy, but after watching Sammy go through nearly three years of constant diaper rash caused by cheap, off-brand diapers, he wasn't about to cheap out here) and throwing them into the cart along with a box of wipes, a tube of diaper rash cream, and a bottle of baby powder. It took him only another minute or two to pick up a few bottles; it wasn't likely they would need many of them, anyway, since Castiel had already started asking Ahiel about breastfeeding at his last checkup. Finally, after adding a couple of pacifiers to the basket, he was able to make his way over to the place he had pretty much planned this entire trip around: the maternity section.

He was more than a little self-conscious as he walked past the shelves full of back supports, pregnancy pillows, and nursing bras, especially once he passed under a flowery pink-and-brown sign labeled "Just for Moms," but thankfully there were no other expectant parents anywhere around, and he said a small prayer of thanks for that to whoever might be around to hear it.

He already knew Cas's normal measurements; he had been the one to take them down just weeks after the angel moved into the bunker, so that they could get him a properly-fitted FBI disguise for investigations instead of the oversized, cheap one Cas had bought for himself soon after he became human. Because of this it took him only a few minutes to locate several things in Cas's size, which he figured to be just a couple of sizes higher than usual around the waist thanks to the new curve of his middle, although the real challenge was finding anything masculine enough for the angel to wear it without looking totally ridiculous. Thankfully there were a lot of stretchy maternity T-shirts in stock as well, some with small patterns and logos on the front and some completely bare, and Dean made sure to pick out a few of these in various sizes and colors so that Cas would always have something simple and comfortable to wear no matter how much larger he grew. He also found an off-white wife-beater style tank top, which he knew was one of Cas's favorites to wear around the house whenever it was hot outside, and a double-layered knit T-shirt with white sleeves underneath that he knew Cas would appreciate on a cold, rainy day like today.

Next to go into the basket were a few pairs of maternity jeans with pregnancy panels already sewn in, although he unfortunately could not find any without some kind of floral or swirl pattern stitched into the back pockets, some stretchy yoga and sweatpants for around the house, and a back support which Ahiel had advised them would definitely be necessary in the coming months. Finally, he picked out an enormous body pillow called a "Snoogle," which he thought was a really, really stupid name, but according to several online review sites was an absolute necessity for helping expectant moms distribute their weight more equally and sleep better at night.

Once he'd placed the overly-expensive pillow into the basket he ran through his mental checklist one more time, wanting to be sure he'd gotten everything his angel might want or need for a while, and then made his way over toward the baby toys and clothes, where he quickly spotted Castiel examining some kind of tiny, baby blue onesie.

"What'd you find so far?" Dean asked as stepped up behind the angel and draped his arms across his shoulders.

"Much less than I had hoped to," Castiel said with a sigh, bringing his hand up to clasp both of Dean's against his chest as he looked around at the myriad of colorful and, to him, completely foreign items that lined the shelves. "I never realized a single child needed so many things to remain content. I am beginning to realize that I am much less prepared to be a parent than I thought I was, Dean."

Dean huffed a soft laugh, smiling when it tickled Cas's ear and made him squirm slightly. "Well, that's why this baby's got two parents, right? Besides, no parent ever knows what they're doing the first time around, angel or not. If it hadn't been for Sam, I wouldn't have a clue either." He leaned in and kissed the soft shell of Cas's ear before pulling away and giving his shoulder a reassuring pat. "Trust me, Baby, I'm nervous as hell too, but you don't have to worry as much as you think you do. Just relax and enjoy it, huh? You'll catch on quicker than you think if you just go with the flow, I promise."

Castiel sighed and gave Dean a weak smile, placing the onesie back into the bin where he had found it and digging through the pile for one in a different color. "I will do my best, but I can't promise I will be able to be as relaxed as you are, Dean. Angels as a species are not very gifted in that. We are used to having a clear set of directions to follow in every situation – 'going with the flow' is typically not something we are taught to do."

Dean smirked. "Yeah, well, I'd say you crossed completely out of 'typical angel' territory the second that pregnancy test came back positive. And speaking of which," he said, reaching into his own basket and pulling out some of the articles of clothing meant to fit Cas at his current size, "Why don't you go to the dressing room and try these on? We need to make sure they all fit before we get 'em, and I bet they'll be a hell of a lot more comfortable than Sam's giant pants."

"These do look better, yes," Castiel said, examining a pair of the jeans Dean had handed him and stretching out the panel lining the waist. "Would you mind examining the selections I've made while I'm gone? I want to make sure I picked the correct sizes."

Dean gave him a thumbs-up, already shoulder-deep in another bin of clothes as he searched for a smaller size in one of Cas's selections: a plain white onesie with a black and yellow bee and the words "Bay-Bee" stitched onto the front. After another minute of digging he found it, smiling triumphantly as he threw it into the basket with the others which, surprisingly, were all actually the correct size. He was just about to turn around and go meet Cas in the dressing area when a flash of bright yellow in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned toward it and instantly broke into a smile, tossing the little bundle into the basket. Cas was going to love it.

With that he made his way over to the dressing rooms, where Castiel was just finishing up trying on the clothes Dean had picked for him. He had on the stretch jeans and the double-layered knit shirt, and if Dean was being honest it really did look good on him. The fabric of the sweater was loose enough that the shape of Cas's belly was just barely visible, and would be completely unnoticeable to anyone who didn't know to look for it. The jeans fit him well, showing off the shape of his thighs and butt without hugging too tight in the waist, and he looked more at ease in those clothes than he had in any others in quite a while.

"I like these clothes very much, Dean," Castiel said when he saw the hunter, tugging a wrinkle out of one of his shirtsleeves. "There were only two shirts that did not fit, but the rest are very comfortable. Thank you."

"Anytime," Dean answered, bending down to pick the discarded shirts up off of the floor so he could hang them back up on their way out. "Hey, why don't you just leave those clothes on and put your other ones in the basket? We can just pull off the tags and pay up front."

"Yes, that sounds like a good id– Dean, what is this?"

Dean turned around to see what Cas was looking at, mentally kicking himself when he saw Cas holding up the little "Value Pack" he had grabbed a few minutes earlier. Inside was a yellow-and-black-striped bumblebee onesie, complete with little wings in the back, bee socks with wings on the toes, bee mittens, and a big plush bee on top of it all. He had hoped to make that a surprise, but forgot to hide it under all the other items before coming back here.

"Well, I wanted to surprise you, but…" He shrugged. "You like it?"

"I love it," Castiel said warmly, smiling down at the package and stroking his finger over the plush bee to feel how soft it was. "And I think the baby will too." He started to say something else and then stopped, looking down as his stomach and sighing when it growled loudly enough for even Dean to hear. "Apparently what the baby wants now, though, is food."

"Well that," Dean said with a grin as he and Castiel began pushing their carts toward the checkout line, "I can definitely take care of."

*DeanCastiel*

"So what do you think about 'Jackie?'" Dean asked as Castiel dipped his last French fry into a tiny pool of ketchup at the edge of his plate. They were seated at the back of a little burger joint called Jimmie's, which Dean had found on his phone and decided looked good. It had definitely lived up to expectations, and apparently Cas had loved it too because he'd inhaled it so quickly Dean almost hadn't seen him do it. He hadn't done much but nibble on his own burger yet, too busy looking up possible baby names on his phone and pitching them to Castiel for approval. So far, though, none had met whatever undeclared standards the angel had set for his hypothetical daughter, so they hadn't even made it to boys' names yet.

"Dean, we are not naming our child after a song by The Ozark Mountain Daredevils."

"Damn, I forgot Metatron beamed all that trivia stuff into your head. Okay, so what about Stev-"

"No, we are not naming a girl after Stevie Nicks, either."

Dean sighed dramatically. "Fine. What name would you suggest then, since none of mine are making the cut?"

Castiel chewed slowly on a French fry, then swallowed and said, "For a girl, I would suggest 'Etharzi Maria Winchester.' The first name is an Enochian word that means 'peace,' and the second would be a tribute to your mother."

The hunter was silent for a moment, dumbstruck by the amount of thought that Cas had seemingly already put into the name. "Yeah, okay, you've definitely got me beat," he conceded. "What about for a boy?"

"If we have a boy, I think 'Zildar Robert Winchester.' 'Zildar' means 'flight,' or 'he who flies.'"

"Yeah, I like it…" Dean said thoughtfully. "Etharzi or Zildar. It might take me a little while to come up with nicknames, but I'll find a way," he said with a wink.

"Yes, which is exactly why I didn't suggest 'Assiel,' after one of my brethren."

Dean snorted and took a sip of his milkshake. "Yeah, that and the fact that they'd get teased for pretty much their entire life."

Castiel hummed distractedly, and Dean followed his gaze down to the nearly untouched burger on his plate, almost laughing before deciding it was not in his best interest.

"You want this other burger, Cas? I ate so many of those fries I don't know that I can finish it."

Castiel raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing him for a second. But when Dean picked up the burger and began moving it toward Cas's mouth, he gave up resisting and took hold of Dean's wrist, helping guide the food so that it ended up in his mouth instead of up his nose or on his cheek. Dean smiled and cupped the back of Cas's head, still relieved after all this time to see how much his appetite had improved.

"It's very good," Cas said with an affectionate smile, taking the burger from him so he didn't have to hold it up the entire time.

"Glad you think so. Oh, hey," he said as he peered out the window. "It's starting to rain pretty hard out there. Why don't I go pay and pull the car around while you finish that?"

"You don't have to do that, Dean. The rain isn't going to hurt me."

"I know, but I want to. No reason we both need to be soaked. Besides, we don't need you catching a cold or anything right now."

"You're right. I hadn't thought about that," Castiel said sheepishly. "Alright, then. Thank you, Dean."

The hunter nodded, heading up front to pay the ticket and then sprinting through the driving rain and over to the Impala as fast as he could. He shook the water out of his hair and shivered as he turned the key in the ignition, glad Cas didn't have to go out in this and risk being wet and miserable all the way home.

"Etharzi or Zildar…" he thought as he pulled the car up to the front entrance and Cas hurriedly slid into the passenger seat. He took the angel's hand, rubbing his knuckles with the edge of his thumb, and sighed contentedly as they made their way back toward the interstate and the warm, dry coziness of the bunker.

"I wonder which it's going to be…"
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A/N: Please leave a comment if you have time. They really do mean a ton to me!

Next chapter will be the big gender reveal, so if you haven't already, be sure to make your guess as to which gender it's going to be in the poll on my profile page!