Title: Nothing and Everything

Chapter 2

~~~~~~~~~~

Morning came far too early.

Sam opened his eyes and turned his head, looking over at the other bed. Dean was asleep, his mouth open and probably a puddle of drool on his pillow. The idea for a practical joke came to mind, but he concluded that Dean would hardly be in the mood to enjoy it so he filed the idea away for future use.

He laid still for a long while, thinking about the cases they’d just finished and how strange it was to have a sense of fun come back into the job. Maybe fun wasn’t the right word. It just felt right again, like he and Dean were exactly where they were meant to be and life might actually work out for them. It was a good feeling.

Rolling onto his side, he glanced at his phone on the nightstand, then the clock, and back to his phone. It was too late to call Gwen before she left for her morning run. He’d have to wait until later. Sam got up and began part of his own workout, moving softly so as not to wake Dean. When he’d finished, he took a shower, and was surprised to find Dean awake when he left the bathroom to get his clothes. He was lying in bed staring at the ceiling.

“Thought you’d sleep for awhile yet.”

Dean sat up and rubbed a hand over his face and through his hair. He sighed. “I want an early start. Sooner we get back the better, you know? Especially with t-minus thirty days and counting.” He shook his head. “Geez, Sam, I got too much to do before this kid comes.”

There was that anxiety, rising already today. Sam grabbed his clothes and took them into the bathroom. He had a little impatience himself to be on their way and home. Since settling into the base, he found himself missing it when they were gone and looking forward to the greeting he got when he stepped through that door. Gwen would come to him, put her arms around his neck and tug him down for a string of heated kisses that usually had Dean rolling his eyes and telling them to get a room, right before Jo did the same to him.

He dressed and returned to the room.

“You done in there?” Dean shoved the covers off and gestured towards the bathroom.

“Yeah.”

With a yawn, Dean stumbled into the bathroom and slammed the door.

“I’ll get coffee,” Sam told the closed door. He was halfway back to the room when his phone rang. It was Jo. “What’s wrong?”

“Good morning to you too, Sam. Nothing’s wrong. Why would you think something was wrong?”

“It’s early and you’re calling. You don’t get up this early, Jo.”

“I’m not in labor, if that’s what you’re worried about, and I do get up early if I happen to already be awake.” She cleared her throat. “I wanted to talk to you about Gwen while she’s still out running.”

“What’s up?” He balanced the coffee carefully and let himself into the room, closing the door with his foot. One cup tilted alarmingly before he managed to right it and set both down.

“Has she mentioned her nightmares to you at all?”

Not if she could help it. Gwen had given him bare details, but nothing that explained why the dreams were scaring her so deeply. “Sometimes she does, why?”

“She had a bad one this morning.” She yawned and followed it with, “excuse me. Sorry about that. Sam, she actually screamed this time, then admitted they’re getting worse. I don’t know what to do here. She’s barely slept since you left. I think the only reason she slept last night was the alcohol at dinner. I’ve been half tempted to dose her with something to get her to sleep.”

“We’ll be back later today. I’ll try to talk to her then.” Try? He’d make her talk. Somehow.

“Good. Dean up yet?”

“In the shower.”

“Oh. Well, see you when you get back then.”

Sam hung up as Dean came out of the bathroom. “That was Jo,” he started. “She --”

Alarm flashed in Dean’s eyes. “She in labor?”

“No. She’s worried about Gwen.”

Dean blew out a breath, a hand pressing to his stomach. “Don’t do that to me, dude. I keep thinking the next call coming in is going to be that she’s in labor.”

“She’s got a month to go, Dean.” He handed Dean one coffee. “Here.”

“But she looks like she’s about to pop. I think she’s further along than she thinks.” His shoulders visibly relaxed and he took a drink of coffee before asking, “What was that about Gwen? She’s not still having nightmares, is she?”

“She is.” Sam began packing. “Bad ones, too. She won’t talk to me about them, I’ve tried. She’ll wake up and sit there staring at her hands, crying, then when she looks at me, all I see is dread and fear, like she thinks something happened.”

“They’re getting worse.” It wasn’t a question.

“They are. Jo confirmed it. She says Gwen’s barely slept since we left.”

“I bet she slept last night. When I talked to Jo about ten, Gwen and Sophie were tipsy on margaritas.”

“But she woke up screaming. Jo heard her.”

“Sure a må rt hasn’t latched on to her?”

“I plugged the keyhole and cracks and one didn’t appear. I don’t know. Maybe it is just her mind trying to work through everything. It’s got to be rough learning your birth mother was a witch and killed your father when he tried to protect you from her.”

Dean packed in silence a long moment, then glanced up. “You don’t think Mia managed to somehow escape Molek and got in Gwen, do you? Possessed her?”

Sam sent a very unfriendly glance his way, though it wasn’t something he hadn’t thought about himself. He’d been watching her closely for any signs of strange behavior while they were back at base, but there was no strange behavior, only the escalating nightmares. “Thanks. That’s a nice cheery prospect, Dean, the evil witch possessing my girlfriend, but, uh, I don’t think that’s the problem.”

“You’re welcome.” Dean flashed an irreverent grin at him. Going into the bathroom, he gathered up his toiletries. “Well, what about a ghost sickness?”

“While she’s had the nightmares and fear, there’ve been no physical symptoms and if she’d contracted a ghost sickness, I’d think it’d take her by now. She’s been having nightmares since Battle Creek.”

“Good point. Okay. We get back, we watch her, see if anything new turns up, try to diagnose her.”

“Could be just dreams.” Sam zipped his bag closed.

“True.” He nodded in agreement. “Honestly, I’d be more concerned if she wasn’t having nightmares. Things we see and have to do pretty much guarantee them.”

“She usually doesn’t have any though. I mean, none that hang around. Her nightmares are usually…normal garden variety.” Meaning they weren’t of the sort Sam and Dean often both suffered from. Having been in a very real, literal hell did that to a person. “Maybe it’s nightmare disorder.”

“Nightmare disorder? There’s such a thing?”

“There is and it can be caused by extreme stress or anxiety. I looked it up last night after we got back.”

Dean pursed his lips and shrugged his brows. “That night was sort of stressful. She probably thought she was going to die a few times.”

“Not to mention finding out that her mom really was evil didn’t exactly alleviate her anxiety about how I’d react to the truth about her birth parents.”

Dean pulled out a slip of pink fabric from his bag, eyed it, grinned, and shoved it back inside.

“Was that…. Tell me that wasn’t a pair of panties.”

Dean glanced up. “No. Maybe.” He snorted. “Like you don’t carry something of Gwen’s with you when we leave base. Come on, Sammy. Tell the truth. You’ve got some of her silkies in that bag somewhere.” He pointed at Sam’s bag, twirling his finger.

“No, Dean, I bring the knife she bought me or maybe the shirt. I don’t feel the need to carry around a pair of her panties.”

He frowned and zipped his bag with a shrug of his brows. “To each his own.”

“Does Jo know you rifled through her underwear drawer and took those?”

“Of course she does. She gave them to me. I couldn’t decide between the satin ones or the silk and lace, so she --”

“More information than I want to know, thanks.”

Dean chuckled, then sobered. “So does Gwen have the symptoms of that nightmare thing? Does it fit?”

“It could fit. Vivid dreams, she’s alert when she wakes, not groggy.” When he’d hold her immediately after she woke, she’d be panting, a sweat on her skin. Sometimes, she’d even be shaking.

“Is there a treatment or something?”

Sam found it funny that they’d discuss treatments for Gwen while usually ignoring the probable need for it themselves. He uttered a half laugh. “Sure is. Basically, you reduce stress and create a ‘peaceful sleeping atmosphere’.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Good luck with that.”

“I know. I’m almost hoping it’s something supernatural. At least with that we have a shot at stopping it. If it’s just her mind having trouble coping….”

“Sucks.”

“Yup.” Sam gave the room a final once over. “You ready? If we go now, we should be getting home right about the time Jo’s got the baby shower gifts put away.”

“Sounds good to me.” Dean grabbed his bag in one hand, his coffee in the other and led the way out to the car. Within minutes, they were gone.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jo had never expected to have a baby shower. Her mother, however, had made it happen. It wasn’t a large gathering, just a few hunter friends for the most part, yet the very fact that she was having one kept making her tear up.

I’m having a freaking baby shower. How cool is that, she thought.

She shifted a little on the couch, grimacing from the pain that felt almost like a cramp and wondering if she was having Braxton Hicks contractions. It was probable Jo supposed. After all, she still had a month to go. She’d read a lot of women had them and as they came and went, she wasn’t alarmed by it.

“You okay, sweetie?” Ellen stopped on the way back into the kitchen, staring at her with a concerned expression.

“Yeah, I’m fine. He’s just a little active is all.” Why worry anyone needlessly? Dean was already convinced she’d go into labor any second. Every time she rubbed her belly or tried to stretch her back out Dean asked if she was okay and Sam would blanch and look panicked.

“If you’re sure….” Ellen’s gaze slid down to her stomach and she slowly turned back to getting the buffet table set up.

At the moment, there were only her, Ellen, Gwen, Melissa and Sophie present. Ellen was busy getting the food table set up, occasionally pressing Gwen or Mel to help her. Sophie was extremely hung over and wearing her sunglasses in the house, staying as far from the food table as she could and nursing a glass of ice water like it was a miracle tonic. She’d been late arriving and was currently waiting for the painkiller Ellen had given her to take effect.

Mel appeared to be having a good time despite the fact that Sophie snarled whenever she tried to talk to her and Gwen only made grunting noises and shook her head or nodded. Then again, Jo thought Mel could have fun anywhere. She was too good natured to take things the wrong way even if they were intended that way. Gwen hated her, thought her too stupid to do the job, but Mel must be doing something right since she was still alive.

A few other women had swung by since the shower had started at eleven and hadn’t stayed. Jodie was one of them. She’d been on her way to work.

Jo reached for her glass of punch and took a drink. Abigael had been invited. She didn’t know if Ellen had gotten hold of Abigael or not. The angels seemed to have disappeared entirely, neither Dean nor Sam trying to contact Castiel since right after Battle Creek. Dean’s explanation had been brief: Cas had a new job and wouldn’t have time for many coffee breaks. He hadn’t been around much up until now anyway, what with first the war, then trying to put heaven back together.

Another pain hit her and she rubbed her side.

What had happened with the AMP? Dean hadn’t mentioned it. Had it ever gotten off the ground? Had the angels found a use for the program graduates?

Melissa opened the front door and greeted the woman standing on the steps with a bright smile. Jo squinted against the sun shining in around the woman, trying to see her features. She was of medium height, with short brown hair, and a confident, almost swaggering air to her. She waved at Ellen, who waved back.

Ahh, Jo thought. One of mom’s weird friends.

The woman set a brightly wrapped present on the gift table and approached. Up close, she looked vaguely familiar, yet Jo couldn’t place her. “Congratulations, Jo. It’s good to see you well.”

“Thank you. I --” Before she could say anything else, the woman moved off to the buffet, not bothering to introduce herself, which solidified in Jo’s mind that it was one of her mom’s friends who assumed Jo remembered her. The mystery woman snaked a few cookies from one plate while Ellen wasn’t paying attention and turned back to the room, studying it and the people there, her stare falling upon Gwen and lingering.

Gwen looked over at the woman and followed Ellen into the kitchen. When she came back out, Jo beckoned her over.

~~~~~~~~~

Having rarely been to any baby showers, or any that she could recall, Gwen hadn’t known what to expect, so she was pleasantly surprised to find that while Ellen had teased Jo about party games, she had none planned. Her only plan was a spread of food Dean would be sorry to have missed and a ton of pictures throughout the afternoon.

Gwen forced herself to talk to Melissa even though she hated her, mainly because Sophie was too hung over for a good conversation. Too many margaritas the night before and Sophie had been drinking them like the water she now had in hand. Gwen smothered a yawn with one hand. “I’ll be right back,” she told Mel. “Get the door if someone knocks?”

“Oh, sure. No problem.”

Going into the bathroom, she splashed some cool water on her face and contemplated asking Ellen if she’d brew a pot of really strong coffee. She wasn’t hung over like Sophie. Her trouble was trying to stay awake. The nightmares were beginning to really affect her days now. She knew she wasn’t getting the rest she should because she never needed naps, yet now she’d find herself dozing by afternoon.

Gwen patted her face dry, hung the towel back up, and stepped back into the living room, grabbing a can of soda from the cooler. She peered across the room at the woman placing a present on the gift table. There was something familiar about her, but Gwen couldn’t quite place her. “Ellen.” She stepped into the kitchen and got Ellen’s attention, indicating the woman with her can. “Who is that over there?”

“Who?” Ellen looked and shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought she was someone you or Jo invited.”

“No, I don’t think I know her.”

“Must be someone Jo knows then.” She dumped a second bag of Jo’s favorite cheese popcorn into a bowl. “Here, take this out for me. We’ll do the cake in a bit.”

But it didn’t appear Jo knew the woman. She motioned Gwen over and jerked her chin towards the woman. “Who is that?”

“Hell if I know. I’ve never seen her before. Ellen doesn’t know either. I’ll ask Sophie and Mel.”

Ellen came from the kitchen, more food in hand. “Come and get it, gang.”

Jo slid forward on the couch cushion, her standard preparation for standing up.

The doorbell rang before Gwen could talk to either woman. It was Abigael, looking nervous. She was in casual wear of jeans and a t-shirt, holding a large present wrapped in multicolored polka dot paper. “I wasn’t sure what to bring. I chose a few things from the list. Baby showers aren’t exactly anything Castiel ever covered in lessons, but I thought it appropriate to make an appearance.” She stepped inside the house and glanced around the living room, frowning a little. “Feels…different in here.”

“Different how?” Gwen led her to the gift table to drop off the present.

“I don’t quite know. It’s…familiar. I’ve felt this before. Not recently, just…. Give me a moment.” She set the present on the table and faced the room, glance turning from one person to the next. The strange woman went into Ellen’s kitchen, Abigael’s attention fixating on her. Her eyes narrowed, lips parting. She brushed past Gwen and certain she was about to find out what was going on, Gwen followed her right into the kitchen.

Abigael stopped right inside the kitchen door and said a few words in a low voice. The woman’s body shifted, changing into a man, blond, with a neat beard and a mildly annoyed expression.

The Trickster.

“What did you have to go and do that for,” he said.

Gwen hurried to make sure the kitchen door was closed. Everyone in that living room would go ballistic if they knew he was there. Supernatural creatures, save Abigael, weren’t welcome at this baby shower. “What the hell are you doing here,” Gwen demanded in a low hiss. She’d thought they’d left him behind in Las Vegas.

“I don’t force you to appear whenever you hang around, angel,” he spat at Abigael, folding up the cookies in his hand into a paper napkin and tucking them into his shirt pocket.

“I don’t crash your baby showers in drag, Trickster,” she replied in a cool tone. “Leave now with no protests.”

He waggled his fingers at her. “Oooh, look at the big, bad angel. Or what? What are you going to do? I’m not harming anyone here, nor do I intend to.”

Gwen gestured towards the living room. “What’s in the present you put on the table?”

“A receiving blanket, if you must know, taken directly from the gift registry. The Tigger theme was too perfect a gift to pass up. I can play at being human too,” his glance slid to Abigael, “angel.”

“Why would you do that,” Gwen asked him, crossing her arms. How had he known about the registry? For that matter, how had he known about the shower? Had he been watching them? The idea that he’d been standing there near them just out of sight watching them creeped her out.

“Would you believe it’s out of the goodness of my heart?” He favored her with a cocky smile.

“No.”

The smile faded.

“Why are you here,” Abigael demanded. “If your presence causes anything to go amiss with the birth next month, I will personally end you.”

“End me?” He laughed. “You’re a junior class creampuff, girly, but no need for violence. I came to pay my respects to the pretty mama. I’ve done that and --”

“Pay your respects? I don’t buy that for a second.” Gwen moved casually towards the back door, though what good would that do to cut him off when he could simply vanish?

“I’m not lying,” he informed her. “I haven’t changed anything…except my appearance -- which the angel changed back. No altering of any reality. I did bring a blanket and I did come to pay my respects.”

“Monsters don’t pay respects.” Gwen locked the door.

The Trickster clasped his hands together and pressed them to his chest. “Gwen, darling, I’m sad you think so ill of me. Here I thought we were soul mates.” He said it like a spurned lover barely holding back his emotions.

She snorted. “Where’d you get that idea?”

He lowered his hands. “Gabriel had an interest in Sam and Dean and he would have had an interest in Dean and Jo’s child. He would have come himself if he’d been around. He was a close friend of mine and I’m merely honoring what his wishes would have been.”

“The only reason Gabriel or any of the Arcs would have been interested was to use the child in some way, therefore, you’re a threat.” Abigael stepped towards him, raising one hand. He vanished and reappeared behind her. She whirled.

“You bore me, angel. Go away.” He squinted his eyes and snapped his fingers, Abigael disappearing. He sauntered towards Gwen, pressing her against the counter. He slid a hand along her hip, squeezed it, his other hand resting on the counter. His arms fenced her in. “You know…. I meant what I said the last time we met, Gwen darling. You and me together…we could trip the light fantastic, have a few wild nights…. Make something special.”

“You said before it’d never work,” she reminded him.

“I changed my mind.” He leaned forward.

Gwen put her hands against his chest to keep him back. “Let me go.” It was like trying to budge a steel column. She’d thought Sam strong, but he wasn’t this strong.

Leaning closer, he pressed a kiss to her cheek by her ear. “Your spark, my style.” His breath was hot against her skin. “Think about it.”

“No. My answer is no.”

“Let her go,” Abigael demanded, reappearing.

He drew back and rolled his eyes, then snapped his fingers, once more sending Abigael away. “Always destined to be interrupted….”

“You can’t keep doing that,” Gwen protested.

His hands grasped her waist, fingers squeezing. He was less than his usual cocky self, his manner more determined than coaxing, his stare unsettling, gaze fixed firmly upon hers. “It doesn’t hold her for long, no, but…I admit, I longed to see you again, Gwen. Even if it was just to look at you and not talk to you. Can’t get you out of my mind. The child and it’s parents are of no interest to me…though I do admit I look forward to butting heads with Sam sometime in the future. I think he’ll be a worthy opponent, like another man I once met. You figure out how you’re special yet?”

“I have a good idea.”

“The archangel bloodline breeding program. Well…not everything is about the angels, though in their arrogance they’d like to think it is.”

“You’re not talking about it?”

He smirked, but didn’t answer the question. “Tell the truth now. Do you really want to bear Sammy boy’s little archangel vessels? Wouldn’t you rather make something different than potential angel meat?”

“In what world do you think I’d choose you over Sam?” Even though she knew it wouldn’t hurt him, she grabbed the knife Ellen had been using from the counter and thrust it into his stomach.

He released her and stepped back, anger rippling across his face. He yanked the knife out and tossed it in the sink. It sank deep into the porcelain. “I’m beginning to think you might not return my affections.”

“Aren’t you a smart one?”

His stare was cold, calculating, and he sneered, “I hear you’ve got renewed interest in daddy these days.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“Shouldn’t leave your diary out, darling. It was just laying there, waiting to be read. I read all about your thoughts on daddy.”

He’d been in their house, their base. Out of all the things they’d put protections up against, how could they have missed him? She’d remedy that as soon as she could get back to the house.

“If you ever come in our base again --”

“He was more than what you think he was.”

The spite in his voice chilled her, goose bumps stripling her arms. What did he mean by those words ‘more than what she thought’? “Was he human?”

“Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t. After all, mommy was a witch. Give her a few centuries down in the pit and she’ll be a demon. Why don’t you spin the wheel, Gwen, see what comes up?”

“You knew him.” Right then she could see that plain on his face. He’d known Aaron personally and hadn’t liked him at all. She thought ‘hated’ was probably the right word. He had, without one doubt, hated Aaron.

“He was a pain in my ass,” he spat, the fingers of one hand curling into a tight fist. His other hand lashed out, gripping her throat and pulling her close. “Very few people in centuries have been able to do what he did.”

She pried at his fingers as they squeezed her throat. “What did he do,” she choked out.

Abigael reappeared, her expression one of fury. She grabbed hold of the Trickster and disappeared with him.

Gwen rubbed her throat, forcing herself to take deep breaths. What the hell had just happened? He’d gone from determined and cool to furious in seconds.

The door opened, Jo stepping into the kitchen. “What’s going on in here? Where’s our mystery…” She gasped and put a hand on her stomach. “I really wish those pains would stop. Where’s our mystery guest? No one out there knows her. Tell me we didn’t have a shower crasher. And where’d Abby go?”

“Pains,” Gwen asked, moving from where the Trickster had maneuvered her. “Jo, what kind of pains are you having?

“Just pains. I’ve been having them since right after breakfast. The woman,” she prodded with raised brows.

“It was --”

A rush of liquid splattered the tile floor and Jo looked down. “Oh no!” She shook her head. “No, no, no….”

“I think that means you’re in labor,” Gwen told her.

Jo gaped at her with wide eyes and open mouth. “But…I can’t be in labor! I have a month left!” She put her hands on her stomach.

Gwen wondered if the Trickster had the power to do this. She just didn’t know the full reach of his power. His brand of magic set natural things awry, but if Jo had been having pains since before he arrived here…. When had he arrived? How long had he been watching them?

“It’s not time,” Jo swallowed hard. “I’m not in labor.”

“Jo, you can’t press your knees together and keep the kid in there another month, not if your water broke.”

“Bet me. I’m determined. I can do it.”

Ellen approached, giving Jo and the floor a thorough once-over. “I guess I did see what I thought I saw. Son of a bitch. Party is now over,” she called over her shoulder. “Gwen bring my car around. Mel.… Would you mind putting the food away for me, then lock up and take Sophie to her motel?”

Gwen exited the house, wondering exactly what the Trickster was up to. What trick was he playing and how did he benefit? What was his game?