The Angel, The Hunter and The Nephilim (Destiel x Daughter)

32. Serious Secrets

Leah has developed the habit of stroking her stomach when she thinks about the baby growing inside her, which, admittedly, happens constantly. She's finally started talking to Castiel, but she keeps the talks to short one-liners to get used to it again. The toll of his abrupt exit and the time away from each other, then his subsequent return, has put a quiet blanket over the household. Nobody knows what to say to each other to make it seem normal, and the men are walking on eggshells around their daughter, hoping she won't push them even further away.
She's obviously still furious at both of them, for the deceit and the abandonment, but she's got bigger worries now. They're gonna be a family of four and she can't bring herself to tell her fathers that they're gonna be grandparents. She doesn't have any idea how they're going to react, because she's never had to tell someone this big. She did tell them about Michael, which had adverse reactions; Dean got angry, Cas got quiet. But things hasn't been this bad before, and she's fucking terrified.
Leah, after all, has to make a choice. The doctor in the emergency room had felt her stomach and told her that since her stomach had started growing slightly, and the probable date of conception, she must be around 4 or 5 months along. It's way too late for an abortion. She has to either keep it or give it away. And she doesn't want the same fate for her baby as she got herself, being given away time and time again, she doesn't even know how many homes she lived in before Dean got her. She's happy she ended up with her real father, as happy as she can be despite all the times he's let her down lately. But keeping it seems at least as unfavorable. Raising a kid with her parents, everyone knowing she had been knocked up and gave birth just after a few months of living here? The shame would be unbearable. But it has to take its course in some way, and maybe the universe will roll in her favor just this once.
But when she's laying in bed late at night a week after finding out, stroking her ever-growing belly, she finds tears running down her face. It's not okay. She can't bear this alone. She has to tell someone.
Dean has always told her that if she can't talk to him about it, at least tell someone, and it will be easier. Leah doesn't know where Sam and Madison landed on their own pregnancy, but the desperate young Winchester realizes that they're the only ones who can relate. She picks up her phone and half sits up in bed, her lower back aching. She can barely keep the crying at bay and is worried her dads are gonna hear her downstairs, just as Sam picks up the phone and nothing is more important than getting it off her shoulders.
"Uncle Sam, please help me," she sobs and can barely stop when she hears him scramble with something over the phone, as if he's getting up.
"Leah? What's wrong?"
"Something happened, and I can't tell anyone, and I'm so scared," she cries into the phone.
"What happened? Do you need me to come pick you up? Where are Dean and Cas? Are they okay?"
Leah struggles to stifle her crying when she hears someone walk up the stairs. She holds her hand tightly over her mouth and waits for a second until she hears them enter the bathroom and closing the door.
"They don't know, I can't tell them, you're the only one who'll understand!"
"What can I do? Do you wanna get out of the house? I'll come pick you up."
"Yes please," Leah whispers into the phone, and she can hear him jumping into his shoes and grabbing his keys, on his way out the door.
"I'm on my way. I'll be there in five, okay? Be safe."
He hangs up, and Leah wipes away her tears and packs an overnight bag in case she's gonna sleep over. Waiting until whoever is in the bathroom to go back downstairs, Leah enters right after to get her toothbrush and skin wipes, splashes some ice cold water in her face to conceal the redness, and she puts on her coat and a brave face as she walks downstairs and passes the kitchen where Dean and Cas are discussing something.
Dean looks up.
"Hey kiddo, where are you going?" he asks and gets up from his chair, following her out into the hallway.
"I'm just going to a friend's place."
"Have you seen what time it is? You're not going anywhere, young lady."
"Dad, it's only 8. I've been out until nine on school nights earlier, and it's never bothered you before. And I don't even have school tomorrow."
Dean had gotten a bit stricter since Cas returned, Leah has noticed, and when he crosses his arms, she has a hard time holding the tears back, hoping he won't see that she's been crying. He's got eagle eyes about this sort of thing.
"Please, dad, I'll just be gone for about an hour."
Dean shakes his head, staring into the ground for a moment before he smiles shortly, mercifully not having noticed that something is wrong. He would have been on her tail constantly until she'd finally break and tell them. But she doesn't wanna tell them.
"One hour. They picking you up?" he asks and nods toward the sound of the car in the driveway. Leah nods and puts on her shoes and hurries to the door.
"See you later," she says and rushes out.
Once she's inside the car, Sam starts driving and instructs her to put on her seat belt.
"Now talk to me, Leah," her uncle says and looks at her. "What happened? What's going on?"
The two of them haven't talked in a while. It's been a week since she found out, a week since Cas returned, and she knows that the both of them talk a lot to Sam, but him and his niece rarely talk. It's strange but comforting to have someone else, anyone else that she knows she can trust, to talk to. She finally feels safe and secure for the first time in days, and the tears start flowing down her face.
"You remember the night I had the panic attack and started bleeding?" she asks, and he nods in reply, pulling over into a gas station parking lot one street down so he can turn to her and give her his attention fully.
"Yeah, I remember." He remembers too well.
"They told me that I'd had a miscarriage. But I- I didn't. I'm still pregnant," she breathes and starts sobbing at the feeling she gets, the pit in her stomach saying it out loud.
"Going on around five months now. I'm fifteen years old and five months pregnant!"
"Oh my god, Leah, and you haven't told Dean or Cas?" Sam asks, letting out an incredulous gasp, the news sinking in. "They need to know, you know that, right? Who else knows about this?"
"I just needed to not be alone about it anymore," she sobs. "The doctor who told me and I are the only ones who know. And you, now, of course. I just don't wanna be in that house, it's so weird, and my dads are just worried all the time and I can't deal with it anymore. I was barely allowed to go out tonight."
"Well, it is pretty late," Sam says and looks at the digital clock on his dashboard, but moves his hand to Leah's arm, feeling awful about his niece and her conundrum.
"You can crash at my house if it doesn't feel right at home. You still have your room right down the hall. I will take care of you and help you. Does that sound okay?"
"But... but I have to let dad know where I am or he's gonna start a manhunt," his niece whispers and wipes at her face. Sam smiles sadly.
"Don't worry about it, I'll fix it. Where does Dean think you are?"
"Just with a friend, I promised him I'd be back within the hour."
"Then I'll call him when you're settled down at home and tell him you were with a friend who lived closer to our place than to yours so you decided to sleep at our house. It's really no problem. Madison and I really miss you," he says and ruffles her hair before he starts the car back up again. Leah smiles and sniffles.
"Thank you so much, uncle Sam," she whispers and leans her head on him for a bit. "I knew that you would understand."
"We take care of our own," he smiles and ruffles her hair lovingly. He throws a glance towards her stomach when she sits back in her car seat, wiping her face. Every instinct he's got is just screaming at him to call Dean and Cas immediately and tell them what's going on. But his niece came to him in confidence, and he's not gonna break her trust.
After everything she's been through lately, he knows how desperately she needs an ally.