A week and a day later, Cas found Dean in one of the rooms putting various weapons in boxes.

“What are you doing?” She asked, giggling.

“I’m getting rid of anything that could be used to hurt the baby.” He told her, glancing back at her.

“That’s sweet human, but we kind of need those.”

“Cas, you can’t use human as a term of endearment, it’s weird. And we can’t have anything around the house that could hurt it!”

“Yes, we can! We just need to be extra careful where we put the stuff. The baby will be fine.”

“It would be easier to just get rid of the stuff.”

“Dean, you’re a hunter and I’m an angel, you can’t just get rid of all of the weapons! Cas yelled at him impatiently.

“Tell me that when Michael or Lucifer or just about anything else comes after our kid!” Dean yelled back.

“I will! Mainly because the weapons protect us from them!”

“Fine Cas! The weapons stay! Happy?”

Cas smiled.

“Very!”

Dean smiled too.

“Good! I love you.”

“I love you too.”

They kissed and held on to each other like the world would end if they let go.

“Hungry?” Dean asked.

“Starving.”

“Alright, burgers and fries?”

“And coffee?” Cas asked hopefully.

“Nope, the caffeine is bad for Rebecca.”

“Rebecca?”

“The baby.”

“Becky.” Cas said, and Dean groaned.

“Ok, enough said. Rebecca is out.”

“Can you get me pickle chips?”

“Fine, but you shouldn’t eat too much junk food. I’m getting you a salad too. I feel dirty just saying that.”

“You’re a human!”

“Cas, you need to stop that!” He protested.

“No thank you!”

“No pickle chips!”

“Worth it!” Cas grinned and Dean kissed her.

“So Cas, I read online-”

Cas groaned.

“I read that talking to the bump is very good for the baby.”

“Dean, food is also good for the baby.”

“Right, burgers!”

“Baby wants pickle chips!”

“Bye Cas, bye Dave!”

“Dave?”

“After Dave Mather?”

“Dean, we talked about this! No cowboys!” Cas protested.

“Fine. love you!” He said, walking away.

“I mean it, Dean!”

“I’ll be back in about twenty minutes!” Dean told her, over his shoulder.

Cas rolled her eyes and smiled.

“Hear that Baby? Your daddy wants to name you Dave.” She said quietly, rubbing the non-existent bump softly.

•••

Gabriel knocked on Dean and Cas’ door, unsure of what to say when someone answered.

“Come in.” Cas answered, and he obeyed.

“Hey. I was wondering if you had a minute?”

“Yeah, what’s up Gabriel?” The other angel said in a very human way.

“I want advice. I really want to be with Sam, but I keep messing it up. I want to fix it. What do I do?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you could talk to him?”

Gabriel sighed.

“He’s giving me the silent treatment.”

“I don’t know what that is.” Cas said very quietly.

“It just means he isn’t talking to me. Actually, maybe I will try that…” Gabriel paused to toss it around in his mind for a minute. “How are you and Dean and your kid?”

“We’re good. Dean’s been treating me like glass, and being a little annoying, but he’s taken care of us so much already. It’s amazing.”

Gabriel smiled.

“I’m glad, Cas. Any idea what junior is yet?”

Cas’ hand hovered unconsciously over her stomach.

“I don’t know. I don’t know which one I want more either. Dean says he wants a girl.”

“I was like that with my first. She was the best thing that ever happened to me. Although, I still regret not telling her father. I think one of her descendants was the first king of Israel. I had left after one of Michael and Lucifer’s fights, and he and I met. I found out about a week later that I was pregnant and ran like hell. I finally ended up back in heaven and Mikey and Luci both blamed each other for it, and I hated them both, and Rafi took care of me. You were very young then, and Mikey was your favorite, but you cried the day I left.”

“Michael was never my favorite.” Cas said, wrinkling her nose slightly. “You were the only one who would play with us fledglings, you were everyone’s favorite. Michael ordered us to stay away from you, but I went anyway. You let me feel her kick.”

Gabe laughed slightly.

“I remember you jumping about a billion feet in the air. You ended up hiding under your wings, until Mikey found you and took you back to the garden. Even back then, you were terrible at following orders.” He quipped.

“Hey, am I interrupting something?” Dean asked, walking into the room with a bag and hot-cup from Biggerson’s, and handing them to Cas.

“Thank you. No, we were just talking about the day Gabriel left heaven.” Cas told him, and took a sip. “Coffee?”

“It’s decaf, not quite as bad for Charlie. I, uh, felt bad about earlier, so I got the pickle chips.”

Cas gasped, and opened the bag.

“I love you, will you marry me?” She giggled, kissing his cheek.

Dean smiled.

“I love you, too. Yes, I will marry you. So, I thought we could start calling the baby something like Charlie for now and we can figure out an actual name later. What do you think?”

“I think it sounds perfect.”

“Um, I’m going to go track Sam down. Thanks for the advice Cas.” Gabriel got up from the bed and walked to the door.

Cas got up too, and hugged him.

“Good luck.”

•••

“Ok, now that that happened, can we talk?” Gabriel asked, lying on Sam’s bed, looking up at the ceiling.

Sam sighed and got up off the bed, grabbing his pants from the floor.

“No. Look Gabe, can we just forget that this happened, and hope it never happens again? He asked, pulling the pants on.

“Sam,” Gabe said, sitting up, “I’m not sure that I can or want to forget that.”

“Fine.” Sam sighed, “Just, don’t bring any of it up. Especially around my family.

“Ok.” Gabe said.

He snapped his fingers and Sam was alone.

He sat back down on his bed, ran his fingers through his hair, and looked around the room.

His gaze landed on a faint bronze glow coming from a small green bag on his desk.

“What the hell is that?”

He walked over and picked it up carefully.

A small cream note with his name in beautiful golden letters was attached to one of the bag’s drawstrings, so he opened it, taking out a piece of glowing, leather cord.

As the glow faded, he noticed small sigils and symbols imprinted carefully into the leather.

He stared at it in awe for a good minute, until someone knocked at the door loudly. He quickly shoved the cord into a drawer just as it opened.

“Hey Sammy, Cas and I just finished making dinner.” Dean said.

“Ok, thanks Dean.”

“Are you ok? You look lik-“

Sam crumbled to the ground, not hearing the rest of his brothers words.

Dean lunged for him, catching him just before he hit the ground.

“Sam, are you ok? Sam? Sammy!”

Sam opened his eyes and blinked a few times.

“Dude, are you ok? You just passed out!”

“Yeah, I- I just need to go find Gabriel.”

Dean went rigid.

“What did that son of a bitch do?”

Sam sighed, and sat up.

“Dean, he didn’t do anything, I just need to ask him something.”

Dean went silent for a minute, before finally relenting after Sam’s puppy eyes did him in.

“He’s eating with Cas in the kitchen.”

“Thanks.” Sam stood up, got the cord, and ran out of the room.

•••

Sam plopped down into one of the chairs beside Gabe.

“Dude, we need to talk.”

Cas looked between the two of them and stood up, grabbing her plate and leaving.

“So now you want to talk.”

Sam ignored him and held up the cord.

“Ok, so what is this and why did it make me freaking collapse?”

Gabe sighed.

“It’s a protection bracelet.” He said, matter-of-factly, “The sigils and things are supposed to ward you, protect you from spells, give you strength and energy, the works. But if you put it down too quickly, or if someone tried to take it from you with force, it weakens them to the point of collapse. There were instructions in the bag.”

“Ok, but why? Why did you give it to me?”

“It’s just a gift. Don’t read into it. You made it perfectly clear you’ve- what were the words you used? Oh yeah, ‘you’ve had enough of my games!’ Whatever the hell that means.” He replied angrily.

“I’m sorry. Thanks for the bracelet.” Sam said, 

quietly, tying it to his wrist and standing up.