A week passed by and Dean was unexpectedly pulled into a conversation with Aria. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks were red.

"Dean, can I tell you something?" she whispered.

"Uh, sure," Dean said. "What is it?"

"Um, well..." Aria hesitated, and looked at the ground. "The thing is-- okay, you know what? I'm just gonna come out and say it; I think I might be pregnant."

"Are you sure? Did you do a test?" Dean asked. "Is that even possible?"

"I was taking my birth control, but stopped when I realized my period was two months late and I've been too afraid to go see a doctor or even go to the store and buy a test."

"Why are you telling me this? Shouldn't you be telling Sandy, or even Rain?" Dean pointed out.

"Sandy wouldn't know what to do, and Rain would just freak out." She wiped her cheeks. "I'm scared, Dean. What if-- what if I--"

"Look, just breathe, okay? We need to get you a pregnancy test."

"O-okay." Her voice broke. "You're right. I didn't even think of that."

"You, stay here and try to calm down. I'll make a run to the store, and--"

"I'll go with you," Aria said quickly. "I don't want to do it here, anyway."

"Okay," Dean said. Then, again, "Okay."

|

Dean never thought he'd be in a position like this, but here he was. Standing just outside of a gas station bathroom, waiting for a friend to finish up finding out if they're pregnant or not. He jumped a little when the door opened, and was even more startled when Aria dragged him into the bathroom. Thank goodness it was a family one.

Aria shook her head, and held the test out so Dean could see it. "Is that another line? Or am I seeing things?"

It was faint, but definitely there. "Yeah, I think so."

"That there's two lines, or that I'm seeing things?" Aria asked frantically.

"There's two lines, Aria," Dean said as calmly as he could.

"Fucking-- fuck," Aria swore and threw the test onto the ground. She went over to the wall and kicked it hard. Then, she punched it and immediately clutched her hand with regret. "Shit, that hurt."

"Maybe you should--"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Aria said, sticking a finger in Dean's face. "I wanted this, but not like this."

Suddenly, Dean thought of something horrific. "Wait, if you're pregnant, and Sandy's the only one who could've gotten you pregnant, does that mean the baby is a vampire?"

Aria didn't say anything.

"You've gotta tell Sandy and Rain," Dean said. "And you need to be careful. You shouldn't be working in the environment you do while carrying a baby."

"I know," she said.

"If you wait too much longer, they'll be able to hear the baby's heartbeat," Dean pointed out.

"Oh no, you're right."

"You know, Cas probably already knows."

"Wait, what? You think so?"

"Well, he is an angel. If he does know, he probably just hasn't said anything yet." Just like he had yet to say a lot of other things, apparently.

Aria put a hand to her forehead. "I can't handle this."

"Look, it's not that bad--"

"Sam is the baby's father!" Aria blurted out, and immediately clasped a hand over her mouth. "Holy shit, I didn't mean to just say it like that," she mumbled.

Dean just stood there, completely still, trying his best to comprehend what he thought he'd just heard.

Aria's hand fell to her heart. "Please don't freak out."

Dean couldn't say anything. He didn't know what would even be right to say.

"At least it's not a vampire," Aria joked, but still looked terrified.

"This isn't funny," Dean finally said.

"Hey, it was Sam's idea to get together. If you wanna be mad at anyone, be mad at him."

"You flirted with him first," Dean pointed out. "I watched you."

Aria waved a hand. "Whatever."

"Do Sandy and Rain know what you've been doing?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, and they're a thousand percent okay with it because we're good at communicating stuff like that."

"Well, clearly you're not good at communicating with me!"

"What was I supposed to say? Oh, guess what Dean? I think I'm pregnant with your brother's child. Congrats! You're gonna be an uncle!" Aria said sarcastically, but looked mortified at her own words.

Dean desperately needed something to distract him from the word uncle. "Uh, okay. What about Rowena? I though Sam was seeing her." He also thought Sam was monogamous, but that was a whole other question he didn't really want or need an answer to just yet.

Aria put on a poker face. "I'm pretty sure she knows. We haven't talked much, but when we did she said something about going out of town? Yeah, that was it. She had to go to, uh...Texas. For water from the Gulf of Mexico. Pretty sure she's in Galveston right now. Oh yeah, she said she was also gonna go to Rainforest Cafe and make all of the animatronic animals real, just to mess with people."

Dean narrowed his eyes. "Didn't you take Rain to go see her just a week ago?"

"One can do a lot in a week," she pointed out.

"I think you've proven that," Dean said, placing a hand to his own forehead, now trying to calm himself instead.

"Yeah, okay. I see your point," Aria said. "By the way, I'm keeping it. Just in case there was any doubt."

"Wow, thanks for sharing. Would it be rude to ask why?"

"Obviously! But, since I don't mind saying: I've always wanted to have kids. Plus, I feel like it's right. I'm twenty-seven, and life feels like it's at a standstill," she explained. "I see all the same people at the club, and even with the random bouts of hunting, I still find myself wanting something more from life."

"And you think this is it?"

"Basically, yeah."

A moment of silence passed between them.

"You know, if it makes you feel any better, I wasn't planning on having a baby with Sam. Like, ever. We were just hooking up, that's all."

That didn't make him feel better. If anything, it made him feel much worse.

"Does Sam want a kid?" Aria asked, eyes now locked on the tile floor. "I mean, it doesn't really matter all that much. I was just wondering."

"I don't know," he said honestly.

There was a knock on the bathroom door. For a moment, Dean had forgotten they were at a gas station.

"We should probably get going," he said.

Aria rolled her eyes, and picked up the pregnancy test from the floor, and shoved it back into the box. When they left, the person waiting outside glared at them, probably thinking something scandalous had gone down.

"Do you want to go tell Sam?" Dean asked, once they were back out to the car.

"No, not really," Aria said. She had taken the test back out, and was laying across the backseat, staring up at it in her hands.

"Well, you have to at some point."

Aria sighed. "Seems like too much of a commitment."

"You're the one who slept with him," Dean pointed out.

"Yeah, but I don't exactly have control over my birth control failing, now, do I?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Using just birth control isn't exactly completely safe, you know."

"Whatever. Hey, let's talk about something else," she said, sitting up, and resting her head in her arms on the back of the seat. "How are you? You've seemed upset these past few days. Is it the new job? Cause you can get another job, Dean."

"No, it's not that," Dean said.

"So you are upset?"

"Well..." he trailed off. "I'm having a bit of a relationship crisis."

"A crisis?" Aria repeated. "Damn."

"Yeah, Cas finally decided to tell me some stuff, and I had a moment with someone I honestly thought I'd never be with again."

"Was it Benny?" Aria asked unexpectedly.

"What?" Dean was shook. More shook than he was when he found out Aria was carrying his brother's unborn child. "How did you know?"

"I overheard Cas talking with Rain about it," she said. "You know, he only ever shows up while you're at work."

"So you already knew?" Dean asked.

Aria nodded. "Though, he seemed different last night. Maybe he'll show up again tonight."

"I don't work tonight."

"Exactly," Aria said. "But, what do I know? I'm not a relationship expert."

"To me, you are," he said genuinely. Still, he didn't know how their relationship seemed so perfect. Well, maybe now it wasn't so perfect. But, even then, there was still a level of communication going on that seemed impossible to keep, and they'd all managed to make it work so far.

"Aw, thanks." Aria sat back in the seat. "Now, c'mon. Let's go do something fun. I read about this abandoned hospital, and I was thinking about going and seeing how many spirits I could set free."

"Absolutely not," Dean said immediately. "The ghosts can find their own way out of the veil. We're not messing with them."

|

Cas did show up that night.

"Hi, Cas," Dean said, trying not to sound annoyed that he just now decided to show his face.

"Hello, Dean," Cas said back.

"So, where have you been?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Where have you been, Cas?" Dean asked again. He wasn't going to stop asking until he got an answer.

"I'm sorry," Cas muttered. "I'm here now."

"You smell like pine and alcohol," Dean said coldly. "It's disgusting."

Cas drew back, looking somewhat offended. He stayed silent.

"What do you want me to say? Oh, Cas, you smell so sweet, as always. Honey, let me have some of that delicious, deadly blood of yours!"

Cas' expression softened. "I-- I'd like for you to not be angry with me."

"What makes you think you deserve that?" Dean said. "None of this would have happened if we would've just talked."

"We did talk," Cas pointed out. "It didn't really work out, remember?"

"Hm, yeah. All I remember is you saying you want to fuck. Oh, and that you're in love with me, apparently. Your timing skills are horrible, by the way."

"I'm sorry about that, too."

"What? That you're in love with me, or that you want to fuck? Or, even worse, both?"

"That I waited so long to say it," Cas whispered.

"Oh." Dean took a deep breath. Suddenly he wasn't angry anymore, he was just left with a feeling of being overwhelmed. "I'm not ready to have sex with you."

"That's okay."

"I will be. Eventually-- soon, even."

"I know."

"I love you," Dean practically sighed. "I love you so much, I crave being held in your arms. I feel so safe when I'm with you."

With that being said, he stepped over to Cas and pulled him into an embrace. Cas still smelled different, like a bar in the middle of the woods, but it didn't matter. In fact, it was probably better this way. Dean smiled when Cas returned the gesture, and wrapped his arms around him.

"By the way, I don't mind if you want to spend time with Benny," Cas said unexpectedly.

Dean pulled away. He was just too awestruck not to look at Cas as he asked, "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Yes, I am. As long as you keep the relationship equal, I'm okay with you being with both of us."

Dean pulled Cas into another hug. "I don't know what to say."

"Maybe thank you for understanding and compromising," Cas suggested.

"Thank you, Cas," Dean said. "For thinking it over, and for trusting me. I honestly don't really deserve it anymore."

"That's the whole point, Dean. I know you never wanted to hurt anyone. You were just doing what you could to cope," Cas said, then added, "We all were."

Dean pulled out of the hug, and kissed Cas tenderly. "It's been a long day, how about we go to bed?"

Cas smiled and wrapped his arms around Dean in yet another embrace. "Okay."