Miranda moved into a small house just a few hours away from Sioux Falls. It's been a few months since Sam died, the woman losing touch with both Castiel and Dean.
Miranda whines as she sits in the hospital bed, waiting to be dilated enough to give birth. Bobby drove in earlier to babysit Carly.
"How we doing?" A nurse walks in with a cup of ice chips. "Here you go, sweetie."
"Thank you." Miranda mumbles. "Been better."
"Where's the father?" The nurse asks.
"Uh... he-- he passed a few months ago. Some... freak accident." Miranda says.
"Oh, honey, I am so sorry." The nurse frowns.
"Thanks." Miranda mumbles, sucking on an ice chip.
"You have any other family?" The nurse asks.
"Uh... not a whole lot. Really just a-- a father figure, kind of. But he's watching my first kid, so... all alone."
"Well, least it's not your first time. It's always scariest the first time. Second is so bad. Trust me, I know -- I got five."
"How old are they?" Miranda asks.
"First two are teenagers, third is 11, and the youngest two are 6 and 2." The nurse informs. "How old is yours?"
"2."
"Adorable. Well, I will be back in a little while to check on you again. Just hit that button if you need anything."
"Thanks." The nurse leaves. Miranda sighs, rubbing her stomach. "I wish your daddy was here, baby. I'm sorry he's not." She feels the baby kick. "Yeah, I know."
+++
Miranda whines as she gives a final push.
"We got him!" The doctor exclaims.
Miranda heavily breathes, dropping her head back against the pillow as the nurses put her baby on her chest and deal with getting him comfortable.
Miranda gently rests her hand on his back, sniffling as she cries while looking down at him. Her face screws up as she thinks about how Sam isn't here to see him.
+++
Miranda sits in her hospital bed, holding Wyatt who sleeps. Before he died, Sam and Miranda discussed names, agreeing on ones for both boy and girl since they didn't find out prior to the birth like they did with Carly.
"Hi, baby." She whispers, softly stroking his tiny nose. She quietly sighs, feeling her eyes well up again. "I'm sorry your daddy isn't here. I wish he would."
She turns when there's a knock on the door and Bobby peeks his head in.
"Got energy for visitors?" He asks. Miranda forces a smile and nods. Bobby opens the door more, Carly soon rushing in.
"Mommy!" She grins, racing towards the bed.
"Hi, baby." She softly smiles. "Hey. You wanna see your baby brother?"
"Baby?" Carly asks, standing on her tip toes.
"Yeah." Miranda angles the boy so Carly can see his face. "This is your little brother, Wyatt."
Bobby lifts Carly up onto the bed, the girl sitting on her knees.
"Be gentle." Miranda softly instructs when Carly reaches out and gently pats Wyatt's stomach. Carly taps his nose a couple times, giggling.
+++
"Come on, baby, eat the peas." Miranda does the airplane, getting the food into her three month old's mouth.
"Peas nasty." Carly gags.
"Well, he likes them, so be nice." Miranda tells her.
Carly pretends to throw up. Miranda rolls her eyes at the toddler, turning her attention back to her son.
"There we go." Miranda smiles when Wyatt swallows the peas. She continues to feed him some more, giving him his milk in between some bites.
"Where daddy?" Carly asks making Miranda freeze.
"I-- honey, I... I've told you... daddy isn't... he's not here anymore." Miranda says.
"He leave?" Carly pouts.
"Yeah. Yeah, in a way." Miranda says. "C'mere." She lifts Carly onto her lap, stroking the girl's hair. "See, there was this big fight and-- and daddy saved us by doing something so he's not with us anymore."
"I want daddy." She whines.
"I know, baby. I want him, too. We'll, uh... but he's always with us. In here." Miranda gently taps her daughter's heart.
"See him again?" Carly asks, a hopeful but sad look in her eyes. Miranda quietly sighs, knowing even when they die, Sam's still stuck in Hell so -- hopefully -- the three of them won't see him again.
"I don't know, baby." Miranda says. "But I know he loved you and your brother very, very much, and he was so sorry he wouldn't be here anymore."
"I miss daddy." Carly pouts.
"I know, baby girl. I do, too." Miranda hugs her, kissing her on the head. "Why don't you go play and watch some TV, hmm?"
"Otay." Carly gets off her lap.
Miranda sighs and turns back to her son. She flinches when Wyatt spits the peas out, all the mush landing on Miranda's face and shirt.
Carly breaks out laughing and Wyatt giggles as well.
+++
"Thanks for coming to her birthday." Miranda tells Bobby.
"Well, who wouldn't wanna miss the little girl turning 3?" Bobby remarks. "She not got any friends?"
"No. She's too shy, she shuts everybody out." Miranda says. "The one kid she did talk to ended up pulling her skirt down during recess so she punched him and now doesn't talk to anyone."
"They both get in trouble?" Bobby asks.
"Yep. Her more than him, which is bullshit." Miranda scoffs. "Little brat embarrasses her in front of the whole fucking daycare and yet she pays the bigger price for defending herself."
"Bullshit." Bobby grumbles.
"Yeah." Miranda mumbles, taking a bite of cake.
"And she still goes to the same daycare?"
"Yeah. All the other ones have waitlists and shit. I mean, nobody really bullies her anything. She doesn't completely hate it. She likes the women who run it. Just hates other kids."
"Don't blame her." Bobby scoffs.
+++
"Mommy, he won't stop!" Carly yells as her brother cries.
"I know. I know, I'm-- he's just having a tough day." Miranda says, bouncing her son.
"Tell him to stop." She whines.
"Doesn't work like that, sweetheart." Miranda tells her. "Go watch a movie on my laptop. Use the headphones."
Carly grumbles under her breath, stomping off to the bedroom.
"Ugh, fucking threenagers. Kill me now." Miranda mumbles to herself. "I know, baby, I know." She coos to Wyatt as he continues to wail. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I don't know what's bugging you. I fed you, changed your diaper, cuddled, nothing's working. I'm sorry."
"Okay. Okay, we're gonna try a story, all right? Your sister's favorite story." Miranda says, still rocking him. "Once upon a time... there was this young woman and she was somewhere new with her friends. She and her friends were walking around when this handsome giant spilled his drink all over her shirt."
"She was mad. Like, super duper mad. The drink soaked her shirt and it was hot and made her feel so icky. And later that day, they ran into each other again and she spilled some popcorn on him. Of course, popcorn just bounces right off and falls to the floor, so it wasn't really a fair trade. So they became Popcorn Girl and Coffee Boy."
Miranda continues the story a bit before realizing her son is asleep. She smiles a bit, pressing a gentle kiss to his head.
+++
Miranda gently sets Wyatt in the middle of her bed.
"You get to sleep in here tonight, buddy." She whispers. "Yeah. Just as a safety precaution. Nothing's gonna get you." She tells the boy who turned six months old today. She knows Sam's worry around the six month old mark. Miranda did the same thing when Carly turned six months old, the girl sleeping in her bed and the woman staying up all night.
"Mommy?" She hears a groggy voice, turning to see Carly.
"Hey, baby. What are you doing awake?" She asks, walking over to the three year old and picking her up. Carly rests her head on her mom's shoulder.
"Can't sleep." She whines. "Stay wif you."
"Of course." Miranda says, kissing her cheek. "I'm always up for a sleepover."
Miranda tucks Carly into bed and turns a Disney movie on before getting into bed on Wyatt's free side. She reaches over and strokes Carly's hair, the girl slowly falling asleep in the comfort of her mom's presence.
===============================
Just a warning to avoid some confusion, I'm gonna go along with the time jumps that are in the series -- which I didn't really do in my other books. I'm doing it so that the kids can get to be a bit older by time the series ends.
So, for example, in this series, John comes back in 2021, not 2019