Anybody who knew the Winchester brothers, they knew they were close. Thick as thieves they were, and nothing could separate them. They looked out for one another, more that Dean was always looking out for Sam even though the younger brother was convinced that he didn't need looking after. But nonetheless, they were brothers. So when one got hurt, the other suffered, as well as the person that did the damage in the first place.
But sometimes, the damage goes farther down than expected, and ultimately affecting the relationship altogether. It started when Sam was madly in love with the bad boy of the school, besides Dean, and just by coincidence the juvenile delinquent senior, Gabe.
Being only sixteen and Gabe eighteen, Sam couldn't help but fall to his rehearsed and cheesy pick up lines that swooned all the other boys and girls as well. Being seventeen, Dean found that he was born to play the part of protector for his brother, doing the best he could to shield him from the senior but ultimately failing as the younger brother fell in love fast and hard.
"Sammy, I don't think you should be going out with him, he's not a good guy. As your brother, I'm telling you not to do this. He's bad news." Dean advised his brother as he got ready for a date with Gabe. The younger brother scoffed, checking himself in the mirror before brushing past him and looking for his phone. "You just don't know him, Dean. He's kind and caring and...gentle." Sam let his voice taper off.
"You better not be saying what I think you're saying." Dean said, thinking his younger brother had lost his 'V-Card'.
"No! Of course not! He's just...he's kind to me. He promised never to hurt me or leave me." A smile ran across Sam's face at the mere thought of the senior. "He loves me, Dean. And I love him. And you can't change that." Sam grabbed his jacket and phone as he brushed passed Dean once again and was about to head out the door before the older sibling pulled him back.
"I'm not trying to change that, Sammy. All I'm saying is...." Dean sighed as looked to his feet. "Be careful. I've seen you get hurt before, just don't let this be another one." He smiled before pulling Sam in for a hug and quickly releasing him. "Go, have fun. Just don't get hurt. You hear me?" He warned. Sam gave a breathy laugh before saluting goodbye and closing the door behind him.
As soon as the younger brother was gone, Dean rushed to the back door, jumping over furniture in the process just to reach it quicker. Whipping the door open with a wide grin on his face, there stood his boyfriend with an equally wide grin but teeth chattering as the temperature was dropping rather rapidly in the later months.
"Jesus, I thought he'd never leave." Castiel said, hugging and kissing his boyfriend for warmth as Dean giggled and gladly accepted the embrace.
Dean always thought he could only do what he was told to do. Look after Sammy and make sure he doesn't get hurt. But Castiel Novak changed that. Cas was the only person to ever get under Dean's skin. In a good way. He loved Cas with everything he had and everything he would ever have. Though just being young and dumb and lovestruck teenagers, Dean knew this and he didn't care. He wanted to share anything and everything he had with him. Even his body. He made love to him; gently, thoroughly, and ever so lovingly. Being together since freshman year, everybody already thought they were practically married.
"So, what are we going to do tonight?" The teen asked promiscuously, biting his lip and staring into Cas' eyes. Cas arched his brow and chuckled. "Whatever you want to do."
"Movie night it is then!" Dean hopped onto the couch, already kicking off his boots and snuggling into a pillow and unfolding a blanket. Castiel laughed at his boyfriend. Though he looked and was a bit intimidating, Cas only knew him as a giant teddy bear; soft, cuddly and warm. Something that always gave him comfort and a sense of home.
If only Dean knew of what his brother was up to.
As soon as Sam was picked up on Gabe's motorcycle, the younger teen gripping tight onto the senior's waist, they stopped at a dingy little motel and checked into a room.
It wasn't Sam's intention at all for it to go like this. He didn't imagine losing his virginity like that. But Gabe promised to be loving and gentle like he always says he is to Sam. And Sam trusted him.
"All you need to do is tell me to stop, okay? I promised I wouldn't hurt you, remember?" Gabe held Sam's head in his hands and gently kissed his cheek. Sam breathed in through the nose and out through the mouth in a means of trying to relax.
Thoughts ran through Sam's mind like a nascar race, dozens of them running at once. But one stood out the most.
What was Dean going to say?
-------
Dean paced outside the bathroom, like a caged animal as they waited to be released. The teen banged on the door again for the upteenth time and put his hand to his hip as the other ran through his hair. "C'mon, Sammy! It doesn't take this long!"
"Jesus, Dean! Leave me alone!" Sam snapped back. Dean huffed, backing away from the door and pacing the floor again like the caged animal he was. He saw his boyfriend, Castiel, come into view as he stopped, pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before pacing again and chewing on his thumbnail.
"Is he done yet?" Cas asked Dean. The teen didn't answer, still pacing and still chewing. Cas stopped him in his tracks by pulling on his sleeve and wanting to stop him from worrying.
"Dean, listen to me. I know he's your little brother, but he's gotten himself into worse things. He'll get himself out of it." Cas tried to calm Dean but he released himself from his boyfriend's grip and started to pace again.
"Yeah, but running off with a senior juvenile delinquent and getting himself pregnant is not what I expected from him. He's only sixteen!" Dean ran his hand through his hair and huffed in frustration. Cas pursed his lips and watched while he worried boyfriend pace in front of the bathroom door and waited for the news of the younger teen. Sam might've been sixteen but Cas and Dean were only seventeen themselves and the person responsible for the unwanted pregnancy of the younger brother was eighteen; notorious for the well-known words of 'loving and leaving'.
Sam opened the door to the bathroom, refusing to look either of them in the face as he shoved one hand in his pocket and the other held the test to his side. Dean stopped pacing and Cas stood right behind him, just as anxious as his boyfriend for the results.
"So?" Dean asked. Not another word was spoken between them as Sam gently handed them the test as the older brother swiped it from his grasp and looked at the not so surprising results. Positive.
Dean smirked. Something he did when he was angry. Dangerously furious. He licked his lips and clenched his jaw, gazing back to Cas as he shook his head. "Dean, you don't need to do this." Sam interjected, taking to words right out of Cas' mouth.
"Why? Hm? Because he's not who I think he is? He isn't 'all that bad'?" The older brother made quotations with his first two fingers at his smart remark. Sam bowed his head in a sort of shame. He realized his brother wasn't entirely wrong.
"He really isn't Dean! He loves me! He loves me for me!"
"And was getting you pregnant showing how much he loves you?!" Dean quickly retorted back. That shut the younger brother up fairly quick, as it left his mouth agape but nothing came out.
"How far along do you think you are?" Cas asked, giving his boyfriend some time to calm his thoughts. Sam shifted his weight from one foot to the other in thought before deciding on his final answer. "Only a couple of weeks. That was the last time we, uhm, got together." Though in reality, it was the only time they got together.
Dean looked as if he was about to punch a wall or anything that landed in front of his fist. Pacing like a caged animal once again before ultimately deciding to actually send his fist through the drywall. "God damnit!" The teen yelled. "Mark my words, Sam! I will get that son of a bitch! And don't even try to stop me!" He stormed off, almost convinced that steam was rolling out of his ears in rage as he disappeared down the hallway.
Sam was on the verge of tears as he looked from the hallway where his older brother left to Cas, the other boy pursing his lips and bringing him in for a hug. "Dean's gonna be Dean, you should know that more than anybody. Let him blow off the steam, he'll come around." He gave a loving smile to the younger teen before heading off down the hallway to find his fuming boyfriend.
------
The next day at school, Dean scoured the school yard for the senior that knocked up his baby brother. His eyes widened and his fists clenched at the sight of him. "Gabe!"
The senior was leaning on his motorcycle, gloves in hand and laughing with his other delinquent friends over God knows what before turning his head at the sound of his name. He made eye contact with Dean as the teen marched over to the senior, fists still clenched at his side.
"Hey, Dean-o! What brings you over-UMPH!"
In one swoop, Gabe was taken from his bike and pinned to the fence behind him. His delinquent friends approaching but being warded off by Dean.
"What the hell do you want?!" Gabe struggled to free himself but was surprised to find the strength that was held against him.
"For you to grow a pair and be a man!" Dean yelled back. Gabe opened his mouth to say something only to see they were still outside and in front of his friends. Dean caught his attention to his goons as he loosened his grip. "Let's talk somewhere that's a bit more private." The teen grabbed him by the collar of his shirt as he stormed off to a more secluded area of the school yard.
"Now, what the hell is your problem?" Gabe brushed his sleeves like Dean left some sort of debris on it. Dean smiled, that murderous smile to let him know he wasn't joking around. Dean took a couple steps back and ran his hand over his face, debating whether or not to punch the senior square in the jaw. It would bring relief to the boiling rage that settled in the pit of his stomach, but a promise was a promise to Sam; not a single bruise was to be made.
"You have no idea how much trouble you're in with me and my baby brother. Especially Sammy." Dean's voice got dangerously low and rough.
"Why? What happened? Is he hurt?" Gabe asked, sounding genuinely concerned. Dean loosened his the coiled anger a little in the pit of his stomach. Maybe Sammy wasn't lying and saying that he really did care about him.
"Way worse than that, Gabe. You-" Dean started but soon tapered off, thinking of what he should say. It really wasn't his place to tell his brothers' boyfriend of the pregnancy, it was Sam's. Dean stepped away from the senior. He sighed.
"You need to go talk to him. He needs you and he has something to tell you. He really does love you, Gabe." Dean confessed, rubbing the back of his neck and stuffing his hands in his pockets. Though Dean was against the relationship, he couldn't help but see the love the senior had in his eyes at the mere mention of Sam. He always saw Gabe as the delinquent he was, unruly and wild and unable to hold a relationship. But seeing how much he cared for his younger brother, Dean couldn't keep them apart. He just hoped Sam wouldn't be left with a broken heart.
Without another word exchanged between the two, Gabe left to get back on his motorcycle and ride to the Winchester household to finally talk to Sam.
Dean sniffled, shifting his weight from one foot to the other before deciding to start for home as well, making sure he gets home much later than Gabe so he wouldn't catch any of the intimate details shared.
----
It's been three months since Sam told Gabe of the accidental pregnancy. Three long months of falling into a deep depression for the younger teen and three long months of comforting by Dean and Cas. Three long months of rejection for Sam. Though Dean warned his brother about this, and Sam refusing to listen, he couldn't help but feel that something brought them together. Whether it was some force of God, or perhaps this accidental pregnancy, Dean felt guilty for trying to pry them apart from each other.
"So, are we gonna talk about this, Sammy?" Dean sat his brother down on his bed as Cas sat next to Dean in the office chair that went with the brothers' bedroom desk. Sam remained silent, keeping his arms crossed but in a way of protection across his slightly expanded belly. "Do we have to, Dean?" He asked shyly.
"Yeah, we kind of do. So what do you want to do?" The older brother asked. Sam felt the tears start in his eyes, looking to the adjacent wall and out the window to avoid eye contact with his brother and his boyfriend.
"It's alright Sam. I understand it's hard, but we do need an answer so we know how to plan for the future. No matter what you choose, we'll help you and support with whatever choice you make." Cas put his hand out and pulled Sam's into a loving handhold of reassurance. The frightened teen smiled, letting a single tear fall before he looked back out the window then to Dean, having the same smile of reassurance on his face just like Cas.
"I've thought it over, and even though it'll be hard, I think I want to keep it." Sam finally answered, letting out a sigh that sounds as if he's been holding it in since he found out he was pregnant. Dean pursed his lips, afraid of what the future will hold for his little brother and for what kind of a beating Gabe will receive from the older sibling.
"Are you sure you'll be able to handle it? I mean, I know you'll have me to help you, but you know Gabe-" Dean heard himself then immediately shut his mouth, not wanting to make his brother mad.
"Gabe made himself quite clear, he doesn't want anything to do with me or this baby. I can handle it by myself, I know I can." Sam was so sure of himself, thinking he could really do all of it by himself but he really couldn't.
He was lost without Gabriel, Dean and Cas saw all of his sorrow and anger in the past three months for the absent boyfriend and father-to-be. Sam wanted to do the thing that has been nagging at his thoughts since he found out. He wanted to rid of it, not have a thing to do with it unless he had Gabe. Sam was truly lost.
Dean opened his mouth but was soon cut off by Cas. "Sam, we know Gabe has his problems, but I know for a fact he takes responsibility for his actions. He'll come around to it; I promise." Cas smiled, sliding his hand across the table to join it with the younger siblings. Sam gladly took it before quickly dropping it and walking off.
"How did I get so lucky to have you in my life?" Dean asked, kissing the back of his boyfriend's hand with a smirk plastered to his face. Cas blushed, kissing his boyfriend back on the lips. "You attempted to flirt with me with the pickup line, 'did it hurt when fell from heaven?'" Cas scoffed.
"Yeah, but I got you anyways." Dean retorted, kissing him back again. "Let's just hope Gabe makes the right decision."
---------
Five months later...
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Dean yelled over the roar of Gabe's engine as he rolled up in the driveway. Gabe put his hands up in surrender. "I'm here to get Sam back!"
"Get the hell out of my sight! Just hop back on your bike and ride your lyin' ass outta here! And stay away from my brother!" Dean yelled back.
But the senior wasn't willing to pay attention, turning off his bike and stepping off. "I just came here to talk, I was inconsiderate and selfish last time we talked. I just want to apologize and get Sam back. To get my baby back as well." Gabe didn't comprehend the words that he said, realizing that he was to be a father. An actual father.
"Didn't you hear me the first time? I. Don't want. You near. My brother. Anymore! You need to le-"
"Dean?"
Both of the men turned to the voice to see a very pregnant and very tired Sam Winchester. While Gabe was somberly smiling to the younger brother, Dean was the exact opposite. With his eyes as big as saucers in surprise, Dean tried his best to shoo his brother back into the house.
"Sam, get back in the house. I'm trying to deal with this asshole!" Dean pointed to the senior that was standing behind him, a look of anger starting to gather on his face at the older brother.
"It's alright Dean. Come in Gabe, we need to talk." Sam offered entrance to the house as Gabe smiled and took him up on the offer, brushing passed Dean with a small shoulder check. Dean rolled his eyes and growled deep in his throat, stomping back up the stairs and into the house as he was sure he slammed the front door behind him.
As Sam sat back in the couch he was previously sleeping on before he was interrupted with the current problem, Gabe sat across from the younger brother as Dean stood watch in the kitchen with Cas sheepishly sipping on a cup of coffee.
"So do you think they're okay? Or, at least, on good terms? I know this is the first time they've talked in months, but they have to be on some kind of common ground besides the pregnancy." Cas asked in a hushed tone before taking another sip of his coffee and looking to Dean over the rim of the cup. Dean just shrugged his shoulders and slowly blinked. "I would suspect that they are. I know Sammy loves him but this whole thing with him running away from his responsibility as a father has both me and Sammy a little cautious towards him. He's a good guy, I'll give him that. But I don't think he understood what it meant to Sammy when he left him high and dry and...pregnant." Dean snorted as did Cas, watching from their secretive perch in the kitchen as the younger Winchester and juvenile delinquent tried to make up for the hurt they caused in the past. More of Gabriel causing the hurt than Sam.
But younger boy sat in silence, eyes cast to his hands that were resting atop of his belly. He didn't dare to look at Gabe without bursting into tears and a fit of rage over what he's done to him. Gabe intently watched Sam, being fascinated by the fact of another life growing inside him. With the air already thick with suppressed anger and depression, the senior decided to break the wall between them.
"Sammy-"
"Don't. Please don't do that to me. You left me!" Sam yelled, still keeping his eyes and mind focused anywhere but at Gabe and the situation at hand. Gabe felt cracks in his heart start to appear as he heard the sadness in Sam's voice; small and broken.
"Yes, I know. I know I hurt you and I'm sorry. I didn't know what I was getting myself into with you and I'm sorry. But I'm here and I want to get you back. You and our baby." Gabe tried his best to sound sincere. Sam locked eyes with the senior, letting the tears flow as he sniffled and pulled his attention back down to his belly, running his hands over it and smoothing out the shirt that covered him.
"How do I know you won't run off again as soon as the baby's born? How do I know you won't leave us?" Sam lowered his wavering voice, tears stinging his eyes again and biting the inside of his lip.
Gabe didn't have an immediate answer for that, letting his head hang and lip squirming in thought. He looked to a Sam, who was awaiting a response for his enigma of a question. He did have an answer, he just didn't know if it was the right answer. Letting his mind rule over his heart has gotten him into so many problems in the past with other love interests. But seeing his whole future in front of him made him realize every mistake and broken relationship he's had only to lead up to this moment. The moment to see Sam and to see him as his own for years to come and their baby and nothing else. That's all he's ever wanted now.
"Because...because I see everything I've ever wanted right in front of me. I want you and only you. I love you, Sam. And I love our baby. Being a father was the one thing that scared me, fearing that I would probably end up like my own dad. He was a horrible man and ignored me when I always needed him most, whether it was supposed to be for somebody to talk to or for an actual parent. I didn't want the inevitable to happen to me of being a bad parent. I would never do that to you or to our baby. I know I hurt you and I know I will probably never get your full trust back, but please, don't push me away like this. I love you Sam." Gabe hadn't realized he was on his knees in front of Sam, hands hovering above the younger teens rounded belly.
Sam wearily smiled and rested his head in his hand and keeping his legs folded underneath him and off to the side on the other side of the couch. More or less being tired from his previously interrupted nap and the restless child within him that kicked little feet and jabbed elbows into his side.
"Do you really mean all that? All that stuff about us and this baby? I mean, are you sure about this?" Sam asked, running his hand over his belly and setting it back on top of it. Gabe smiled, gingerly setting his hands to either side of the belly and pressing a kiss to the stretched clothing. "I've never been so sure about something in my life."
As Sam gladly accepted Gabe back as his boyfriend, and accepting him as a true father for their baby, the two finally got back to Sam's nap as they both layed down on the couch in each other's arms. Though Gabe really didn't sleep, he held the younger teen in his arms and continued to place kisses in his longer hair, noticing the wandering eyes of the older Winchester brother and Cas.
"Can I help you boys with something?" Gabe asked, continuing to stroke and pet the hair that adorned his boyfriend's head. The snickers could probably be heard by the whole street as the two were laughing away from behind the kitchen counter. "You two are so mushy-gushy, lovey-dovey; it makes me a little sick to my stomach."
The senior shot them a glare that could definitely make them rethink their words. Cas snickered at Dean's words as the older Winchester crossed his arms in pretend disgust but was blindsided by a kiss to the cheek by his boyfriend and a smile spreading across his face. Before Cas could pull back, Dean caught him by the back of his neck and placed his lips onto his, smiling once again into the kiss.
"Mhm, that's what I thought. Look, I really do love your brother and I really do love our baby and I have no intentions on leaving either of them. I intend to stay for a very long time." Gabe confessed, feeling his boyfriend shift next to him as his head sat in his lap.
"Gabe?" Sam groggily asked, rubbing his eyes then clutching the bottom of his bump. The senior helped his boyfriend sit up as his pain increased and soon was accompanied by a stifled moan.
Ice settled in the bottom of his stomach as he realized what was happening. A trickle turned into a gush as he gasped and stood up to see the wet spot on the couch and his pants soaked. His water broke.
The baby was coming.
"Gabe?!" Sam asked again, worried and settling into a frantic state as the senior felt the same way. That familiar tug at the bottom of his heart telling him to leave, telling him to drop everything and every tie he's had to the Winchester's and ditching a possibly happy and bright future. But a vow was a vow, and he intended to keep it.
"We need to get you to the hospital." Gabe snaked his hand around Sam, rubbing small circles into what was left of his waist as he had Dean grab the car keys and the overnight bag that was on standby in the younger brother's room. While everybody climbed into the car and Dean sped off onto the highway, Gabe sat in the back against the door as Sam sat between his legs.
Sam's eyes screwed shut and his toes curled as a contraction rolled through his belly and a soft moan barely crawled up from his throat. Gabe trailed his hands anywhere they were needed, from stroking his hair to rubbing his shoulders or waist to ease the pain.
"We're almost there, just hang on for a little longer." Gabe promised, kissing his head and watching the world pass by the window as Dean probably broke almost every speed limit trying to get to the hospital.
-------
"Just one more push Sam! C'mon, Sammy, you're doing so good." Gabe held his boyfriend's hand and stroked the back of his sweaty neck, helping him lean forward and curl with the help of the forceful contraction.
"I can't, I can't do it Gabe. I can't do it any more, I'm...I'm tired." Sam started to cry. He was scared more than tired, thinking and working out the worst possible ideas in his head of what will happen when it was born. Questions reeled through his mind if the baby was going to be okay or if he was going to be okay, being a parent at such a young age. A more important question kept coming back in the back of his mind; would Gabe leave him again?
"I know you can do this, Sammy. You are strong and courageous and I love you. C'mon, just one more push, Sam." Gabe whispered, never leaving the gaze he had to his boyfriend. Sam panted, letting a few stray tears run from his eyes as he moaned and another contraction made itself evident. With one more forceful push, Sam felt a shoulder wriggle free then another and then a sudden relief of pressure as the baby slipped out with ease, sending the younger teen back on the bed and in the arms of the senior.
"You did so good, Sammy. It's over, our baby's here. It's all over. I'm here." Gabe comforted, holding Sam's head and stroking his hair as he placed kisses along with glistening jawline and sweaty forehead.
"It's a girl!" They heard the nurse say as she lifted the pruned and purple baby onto Sam's chest and snuggled it close to his neck. With a look of shock on both of their faces, Gabe looked to the small child on his boyfriend's chest and the tears started to involuntarily roll from his eyes and down his cheeks. "I-it's a girl? I have...I have a daughter?" Gabe asked in a stunned tone. Sam gave a wet chuckle and nodded his head, gingerly caressing the thin hairs on their daughter's head as she drew her first breath and a cry rang throughout the whole room and signaling that she wasn't too happy about being evicted from her cozy home.
"She needs a name, Samuel." Gabe said, never taking his eyes off her and putting his hand over her small back. Sam smiled and the name clicked with him. "I think I have an idea. Go and get Dean and Cas while they get her cleaned up." Gabe smiled and kissed his boyfriend before almost leaving the room as he was called back into the room by a nurse.
"Sir? Would you like to cut the cord?" She asked. A curt nod by Gabe as he came back in the room and gingerly took the scissors from the nurse and cut the cord that connected his boyfriend and his daughter. Sam smiled but felt a pang of sadness as he was disconnected from his daughter. Though holding her and kissing her and touching her was way better than having her on the inside where he couldn't do any of those things. This was never a mistake.
Gabe left the hospital room and sat in the hallway, leaning over and pressing his palms to his knees. He was a father. Officially a father. No matter how many times he thought of running away from it all again, nothing could ever separate him from his family ever again. He was there to stay.
Regaining his composure, he took a deep breath and walked down to the waiting room to collect the older Winchester and Cas to take them back to see the baby.
-----
"So? What's her name, Sammy? You're killing us with the suspense." Dean asked, looking adoringly to his younger brother and his niece that sat peacefully in his arms, wrapped tightly in a light pink and white blanket with a pale pink beanie on her head to hide her fair hair.
"Her name is...Maddie Rose Winchester." Sam added, suspending his sentence to regain his composure as he was on the verge of tears again, looking to his daughter and seeing a world of change upon her face. She could do anything and everything she wanted in this world and though she might get judged for it, nothing could stop her from doing what she wants to do. And nothing would stop Sam from protecting his daughter.
"Maddie Rose. My daughter. Our daughter." Gabe smiled, kissing Sam's hair and sniffling to hold back his tears once again. Nothing would stop Gabe from protecting his daughter either.
Though their family is screwed up or small or a little weird, it was still a family. They had each other and that's all they needed. Branches of different kinds grafted onto the same tree. Now a new branch sprouts from the tree. An original.