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They are so happy the first time they find out Sam’s pregnant.
Dean holds his hand and smiles the whole time. Sam is smiling, too.
The doctor isn’t smiling. He says things Sam isn’t sure he understands. You won’t be able to carry the pregnancy to term, he says. The fetus will never develop a fully functional brain. Dean shouts that he’s lying.
The doctor says their baby won’t survive another month. When he starts asking Sam weird questions Dean pulls out a knife. The doctor calls security.
They run back home.
Their home doesn’t have electricity or running water, and they only have a mattress and a shopping cart they keep their stuff in and a couple of shelves, but Sam doesn’t care, because they’re together.
A week later Sam wakes up because of the pain and blood between his legs. He cries for three hours straight. Dean shushes him and tells him they’ll just try again. That they’ll have a baby. But they just had a baby, Sam says.
Sam only stops crying when Dean picks up their baby carefully and puts it in an empty jar. Look, Sammy, the baby’s gonna stay with us, he says. It’s safe, see. He brings the jar to Sam. The baby doesn’t have legs and its head has a wrong shape and it’s so, so tiny, but it’s their baby and Sam is happy.
They put the jar with their baby on a shelf.
Dean pours something in the jars every time they put their babies in there. Says it’ll keep them comfortable. Formaldehyde, he calls it. Sam used to think it smells bad, but now he likes it, because it reminds him of their babies.
Dean has to find them a new mattress a couple of times. It’s alright, Sammy, he says. People throw them out all the time.
They have seven jars now. Seven babies. Some of them don’t really look like babies, but that’s alright, Sam knows that they are.
It’s all good until Dean says they’ll have to get rid of the other babies when they have a real one. A baby with two legs and two arms, no more and no less, with fingers and thumbs and toes, and a face with two eyes and a nose and a mouth, and a nice skull that covers the whole brain. Sam punches him and starts crying. He says they’re their real babies, too.
Dean says he’s sorry over and over and over again until Sam calms down. He says he loves their babies and he didn’t mean it that way. He says he loves him. Sam says he loves him too.
One day they hear a car outside, for the first time since they moved into their house. Dean says they have to hide their babies. That no one else can see them. Sam hides them under the floorboards. He feels bad about it, because it’s cold and dark there and they’ll be alone, but Dean says it’s important.
There’s two police officers and Dean fights, but they pin him to the floor and put him in handcuffs and then one of them restrains Sam when he tries to help him.
They take them to the station and put them in separate rooms. It’s awful. Sam’s never been away from Dean for longer than a couple of minutes.
The police say the doctor they went to before they had their first baby alerted them. Sam thinks it’s because Dean pulled a knife on him. They say it’s because Dean’s hurting him. Sam doesn’t understand.
They put a piece of paper in front of him and tell him it says what Dean did wrong. He can’t read that well, because he never really went to school, but they say it out loud anyway. Big words. Incest. Statutory rape. Brainwashing. Coercion. We’ll get you a therapist, Sam. They say Dean is sick. Sam snorts at that. If Dean is sick, then Sam is sick, too.
They say that Dean forced him. They say it’s not his fault. Sam says he wants to be with Dean. They say he doesn’t understand.
They say they need to take him away from Dean, somewhere safe. They’re out of their minds. He’s only ever safe with Dean.
There’s some noise outside and they leave him in the room to check on it.
They don’t come back, Dean does. He has blood on his hands and clothes. Just like every time they have a baby.
When they come back for their babies Dean says they have to find a new home. They’re not safe here anymore. Sam agrees. He just needs a while in here.
He takes their babies from under the floorboards and kisses every jar before he puts them in their shopping cart. Dean kisses them, too.
Dean covers them with a blanket. Sam thinks it’s so their babies are warm, but Dean repeats it’s so that no one else sees them. Sam’s alright with it. Dean’s always right.
They walk the whole night before they find another house they can live in on the other side of town. Just for now, Dean says. We’ll have to get far away from here.
They put the jars on the floor by the wall. Dean makes them a bed with blankets and clothes because there’s no mattress in there.
Before they make love Sam turns the jars around. He knows the babies can’t see them, not really, but he feels better like that. They only have twelve eyes altogether. Two of them only have one eye, one doesn’t have a face, but one has two faces, each with two eyes and a nose and a mouth. This one has four arms and four legs, too. Sam thinks it kind of makes up for the ones that don’t have limbs.
Dean pulls him into his arms and Sam’s happy again.
Maybe this time they’re going to have a baby that won’t be in a jar.