| Chapter One
*This story runs during the equivalent of Season 3, with some skewing of timelines and information, as it is an Alternate Universe, based on the events of the television series. Canon parts are worked in with my own.
Honey Wheeler gasped for air as she clung to the toilet seat. What had been a bagel with fruit was already in the toilet, she didn’t think there could be anything left but her stomach proved her wrong as the vomit scorched its way up her throat again.
Finally, gulping for air, she leaned back, hoping she was done. She had thrown up her breakfast and lunch for the last two days. And a few times before that.
“Honey?” Trixie Belden, her partner and best friend stuck her head into the gold and ivory bathroom. “Honey, are you all right?”
She helped Honey to her feet, and the pale girl flushed the toilet and rinsed her mouth at the sink before grabbing her toothbrush.
“I must have picked up a bug,” Honey said weakly as she squeezed toothpaste on her brush and began to vigorously brush her teeth.
“You looked pretty bad yesterday but I didn’t want to pry.” Trixie closed the toilet seat and sat on it, studying her old friend. “Honey, I hate to ask, but this has been going on for a couple weeks—” Trixie hesitated. “Did you and Sam use a condom?”
Honey paused mid-brushing, her hazel eyes widening. She stared at Trixie for a long moment while a myriad of emotions displayed themselves in her eyes. Trixie’s bright blue eyes popped open.
“You didn’t? Honey Wheeler, what were you thinking?” she shrieked.
Honey leaned over and spit the foamy paste into the sink, and finished hurriedly, then rinsed her mouth thoroughly with mouthwash before she turned and faced her friend.
“Because neither Sam nor I were expecting to make love,” she said quietly. “I never once thought about protection.”
“Oh my God,” Trixie groaned, clutching her sandy curls. “Honey—”
“Sam’s not Dean,” Honey snapped. “He doesn’t run around with a pocket full of condoms! I—we both got caught up in the moment!”
Trixie stood, staring at her friend. “What are you going to do?”
“Get a test, first of all,” Honey said shakily. “It might not be.”
“Did you miss a period?” Trixie asked. “When was the last one?”
Honey frowned as she thought hard, and then leaned against the marble sink weakly. “Before we met the Winchesters.”
Trixie closed her eyes. “Honey, that was almost two months ago.”
Tears welled up in Honey’s eyes. “I know,” she whispered. “I just never-never thought about it. We got so busy with work—oh Trix, what am I going to do?”
An hour later, they stared at the stick test. Honey had showered while Trixie ran to the store, and got a pregnancy test. Trixie perched on the bathtub edge, holding Honey’s hand as they stared at the little stick. First one line, then two appeared.
Honey sucked in a deep breath. “Oh, Trixie.”
“Don’t worry,” Trixie said firmly. “We’ll figure this out.”
“Figure what out? What are you two doing back here? I had to dig out my key because you didn’t answer my knocking.” Dan Mangan, their third business partner, appeared in the bathroom door.
Dan took one look at his friends and knew there was trouble. Honey’s eyes were about to spill tears, and Trixie had one arm around her protectively.
“What’s happened?” he demanded, stepping onto the ivory and gold tiles. His eyes fell on the test. “Which one of you?”
But his eyes were on Trixie.
“Me,” Honey whispered.
Dan’s dark eyes bulged as they shifted to her. “What—who—how—”
“No one you know, Dan,” Trixie said quickly.
“You’ve been seeing someone?” Dan asked, surprised.
“Not exactly,” Honey murmured.
Dan raised one eyebrow and then sat on the floor and looked at his two oldest friends. “You better start at the beginning.”
***
An hour later, they had moved to the kitchen at Dan’s insistence he needed coffee while he processed the information they had just dumped on him.
“So, you’re telling me those guys you met, that you told me about, hunt ghosts anddemons?”
Trixie nodded as Dan sipped his coffee.
“Demons? There are actually demons walking among us? Like, Lucifer, Beezlebub and all that?”
Trixie nodded again.
“Shapeshifters, haunted spirits, urban legends—this stuff exists?”
“Yes,” Honey murmured, sipping the tea Trixie had made her. They sat in the pretty kitchen, decorated in dark green and gold and white.
“You know. It’s almost so absurd, I could believe it,” Dan said thoughtfully, pulling bagels out of the refrigerator. The three spent so much time here; Dan knew his way around their kitchen better than Trixie, who also lived there. “You two aren’t gullible enough to fall for it if there wasn’t proof.”
“If we hadn’t seen it—the ghost that is—we wouldn’t have believed it either,” Trixie said. “There was all this black mist, I heard that music box…it’s real. Dan, it was terrifying, that thing just picked me up and threw me across the room like a rag doll.”
Dan glared. “You conveniently left that part out two months ago.”
“Well, yeah,” Trixie laughed. “Like the guys would have believed us? Besides, Dean and Sam live by credit card fraud and hustling pool and poker. You know the Honorable Ones would have wanted to report them to the FBI. We owe them our lives; we couldn’t let that happen to them.”
Dan ran one hand through his thick dark hair. “Are you going to call them? Tell this Sam character he got you pregnant?”
Honey frowned, her eyes darkening. “No.”
“No?” Trixie and Dan echoed.
“No,” Honey said firmly. “I’ve been thinking about it. Listen, Dan, you don’t know all the stuff they do; Trixie, you do. They do important work. They hunt real evil. If Sam knew I was pregnant, he would come running back here in a heartbeat. I know he would.”
“And that’s a problem?” Dan asked. “Honey, he got you pregnant!”
Honey set her tea cup down.
“Dan, listen to me. Sam is an honorable guy. He wants a family more than anything. His mother died, then his girlfriend, and then his father. All he has is Dean. Sam cherishes family. But the work he does—there’s so much evil in this world, that to pull him way from it would be a crime. They have a destiny and a purpose, and I won’t mess that up. So no, I’m not going to call him.”
Dan folded his arms over his chest as he studied Honey.
“I’m admittedly impressed,” he said.
Trixie nodded her agreement.
“Don’t be,” Honey replied, sipping her tea. “Besides, I have tons of money. This child won’t lack for anything. If I was poor, then maybe I’d explore other options. But I’m not. I can give this child everything she needs.”
“Except a father,” Dan said pointedly. “Have you any idea what your father and brother are going to do when they find out you’re pregnant and you won’t tell them who, let alone tell the father that there’s a baby?” Dan asked.
Honey swallowed. “I hadn’t thought that far. I’ll make up a one night stand.”
Dan snorted. “Honey Wheeler doesn’t do one-night stands and everyone knows it.”
“Your father will be livid,” Trixie said quietly. “You know Jim will want to hunt Sam down.”
“Then they can never know,” Honey said. “I will protect Sam however I need to.”
Dan was quiet, lost in thought. Had Trixie or Honey looked at him, they would have seen the wheels turning at full speed behind the intense stare he was giving the floor.
“And how do you plan to keep them from finding out? Your dad is one of the most powerful men in the country, Honey,” Trixie reminded her. “He can have anyone tracked.”
“But he can’t track the boys. That’s the important part,” Honey said firmly. “He can never know their names, which means you two can’t go spilling your guts.”
“I have a better plan,” Dan said suddenly, looking up from he was leaning against the counter. The girls looked up from the bar stool they were perched on at the counter.
“Which is?” Honey asked.
“I’ll claim the baby.”
Trixie and Honey’s jaws dropped.
“You? Dan, are you nuts?” Honey demanded.
Trixie just stared at Dan, who shook his head.
“No, I’m perfectly sane, after being told that there are demons walking among us on this planet,” Dan chuckled. “Before you say no, listen. It makes sense. We’ve been friends for years. We work together closely. I haven’t dated a whole lot lately, neither have you. We simply tell everyone we’ve gotten much closer than anyone realized and one thing led to another.”
“The boys will be livid with you,” Trixie said softly. “Dan, you can’t do that.”
Dan nodded. “Yes, I can. Especially if we get married. They won’t freak as badly. It makes sense that we would end up together. Me with either of you.”
Honey’s eyebrows shot up. “Wait, married? When did that come into the equation?”
“Yes. We give the baby my name. It keeps this Sam guy safe, satisfies the BWGs and our families, and well,” Dan looked down at his hands, “it gives me a family too.”
Honey’s mouth dropped open as Trixie leaned back in her chair. Dan continued.
“It’s the perfect cover. Look, we all know I won’t find anyone to settle down with. We’ll set a pre-nup, to satisfy Matt as far as your inheritance goes. It’ll be a marriage of convenience. The kid gets my name, Sam is safe from your father, and it keeps Jim, Brian and Mart at bay. Eventually, they’ll come around and be happy for us.”
Honey shook her head. “And what happens if you meet the right girl in a year, or two, or three? How are you going to explain her to that you’re married to your best friend in name only so her kid won’t be illegitimate? No, Dan, I’m not going to do that. I’m a big girl.”
“Honey,” Trixie said slowly, “at least think about part of it.”
“If nothing else, name me the father,” Dan said, his tone becoming insistent. “I’ll take the brunt of the boy’s outrage. Then we’ll say I begged you to marry me, and you refused. It’ll at least keep Sam safe.”
“Why are you so concerned about Sam?” Honey asked suspiciously.
“Look,” Dan sighed as he got up and poured himself another cup of coffee, “I’d like to deck the guy for putting you in this position, but you obviously care about him. That makes him okay in my book, mainly because he seems like a decent fellow if he’d be willing to give up his life and come here, like you say he would. And I know exactly what Matthew and Jim could and would do to the guy if they got their hands on him. And that would hurt you.”
Honey was silent as she sipped her tea.
“It’s a good plan Honey,” Trixie said. Honey turned to her, surprised. “Dan has valid points.”
“My father will want your head on a platter,” Honey said quietly. “If he thinks that we had some one night stand—Dan we haven’t given any façade of dating!”
Trixie shook her head, the wheels in her mind turning. “No, no, we can pull it off. We go with the story that he wanted to marry you and you refused. You won’t be married out of obligation. You can list Dan on the birth certificate, to cover for Sam. Everything works out for everyone. Dan gets a kid, Sam is safe, the boys and your dad are placated. It’s a win all around.”
Honey sighed. “It does make sense.”
“Sam’s coloring is very similar to Honey’s,” Trixie pointed out. “So it’s not like the kid will be blue eyed and blonde and stand out. We can pull this off.”
Honey didn’t respond.
“Look, with your frame, I expect you’ll be showing in the next month or two,” Dan said. “We don’t have to decide right away.”
“Right,” Honey said softly.
“You—do want to keep it, right?” Dan asked hesitantly.
Honey smiled, one hand drifting to her still flat abdomen, as she thought about what she had shared with Sam Winchester. “Yes. I want this baby.”
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Author’s Notes
-a huge “Zeppelin Rules!” to my fabulous editors, Mary, and Donna who really helped me get this on track.
- Honey's in a pickle...you really think she can keep this from Sam?
- Word Count, 2,079
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