Just some shameless fluff for the season. And because I needed something to cheer me up after watching the Hobbit today. Weechesters usually do the trick ;)
Stay Warm
A Supernatural Fanfic
Throughout Sam's childhood, Dean had not only been a big brother to him, but a mother and on occasion a father, when John wasn't there to fill that roll. He had mostly been too young to appreciate it, and on occasion downright annoyed by it, but it had kept him safe and on extreme occasions alive when the outcome might have been very different. But it wasn't always a matter of life and death, sometimes, it was just every day things, and in later life, Sam would argue the fact that those were the things that really saved him. The little bits of normal in their very un-normal life that kept him sane when it seemed the whole world was falling down.
"Come on, Sammy, it's freezing outside, you have to put the warm clothes on!" Dean coaxed his sulking younger brother.
"Don't want to!" Five-year-old Sammy said with a pout, folding his arms over his chest so Dean couldn't put the jacket on him. "I can't move in it, and the scarf is itchy and makes my neck hurt!"
"We can't go to school until you put your warm clothes on," Dean tried, knowing Sammy really enjoyed kindergarten and hoping it would bribe him.
"But can we go without all the coats?" Sam whined. "I can hardly walk!"
"Sammy, you don't want to get cold and get sick do you? The you'll have to stay in bed and sneeze and you can't go to school, or play in the snow."
"I like to play in the snow," Sammy said, seeming to think the matter over. "But it's hard to play in the snow with all the layers!"
Dean sighed and finally reached for his own scarf, and undid it from around his neck. "Tell you what, Sammy. If you put all your warm clothes on, I'll let you wear my scarf. It's softer than yours. Okay?"
Sam thought for a long moment, while Dean waited impatiently, not wanting them to be late. "Okay," he finally said with a deep sigh, letting his arms hang loosely at his sides as an invitation for Dean to put his coat on. "But can we play in the snow and build a snowman after school too?"
"Of course, Sammy," Dean said, shoving his little brother's arms into the thick coat. "We can make a whole family of snowmen."
"Okay," Sammy said, seeming a little happier about the situation. He only complained a bit when Dean shoved mittens onto his hands and a hat onto his head. Finally, he wound the scarf around his neck and finished getting his own warm clothes on.
"There, is that scarf any better?" he asked.
Sam nodded. "Yes. But I still feel stiff."
Dean laughed and tweaked his little brother's nose; one of the only parts visible on his person. "Well, I guess that means you won't win the race outside!"
Sam giggled and chased his big brother to the door, tussling with him to open it. Once they finally got outside, Sam offered his mittened hand to Dean as they walked to school.
"Thank you for the scarf, Dean," he said.
"Any time, squirt," Dean told him with a grin, clasping his little brother's hand as they made their way down the street to the school.
When John came home later that night, he found the front yard of the house they were renting populated with snowmen and laughed softly, going inside to join the boys for dinner.
Now, many years later, it was a freezing winter and the boys were driving through Michigan after finishing a job. It had involved an unknown beast attacking people who got too near the woods, and Sam and Dean had gone out to gank it. Unfortunately, in the process, it had chased the brothers through unknown territory, and Sam had taken a dive through some ice with the help of the monster, some kind of malevolent sasquatch, and its powerful throwing arm. Dean had shot it a moment later and spent several harrowing minutes fishing his little brother out of the water, which was thankfully not too deep. But it had resulted in a frozen Sammy, and from the long trek back to the Impala, he had nearly gotten hypothermic and by that night, back in the hotel, covered in all the blankets and homemade hot water bottles, he had caught a fever and was sneezing his head off.
The next day they had set off for warmer climes, but it was cold, and Sam was a miserable lump in the passenger seat. To top it off, it appeared the Impala's heater wasn't working very well. Even Dean was cold, his fingers freezing and cramping on the steering wheel, and he could feel Sam's shivering through the seat.
Finally, Dean had had enough of listening to his little brother's groans and sniffs and coughs, and watching him trying to fold his huge, lanky frame into a ball on the seat to keep what little warmth he cold in. He pulled off at the next exit, and stopped at the first gas station he could find. Sam mumbled something and Dean got out and went hurriedly into the store to buy two coffees, reveling in the warmth on his cold hands. He set those inside the Impala to stay warm and then hurried around to the trunk, rooting through both his and Sam's bags for any warm article he could find.
Finally, with an armload of warm clothes, he went to the passenger door and opened it up to reveal his brother. Sam moaned as the wave of cold hit him, and looked up balefully at Dean and sniffed. He looked so pitiful with his red nose and flushed cheeks that Dean wanted to shake his head.
"Don't look at me like that, Samantha, now stand up for a minute, we're going to get you warmed up."
Sam groaned but Dean reached inside the car and drew his brother out, propping him against the door. He threw his armload of clothes onto the top of the Impala, and first grabbed a second hoodie of Sam's, forcing it over his brother's head and shoving his unresponsive arms through the holes. Sam protested weakly.
"What?" he groaned, flapping his hands, before Dean put a stop to that with a second jacket.
"I'm getting you warm, Sammy. I'm tired of hearing you whine. Now, do me a favor and help a bit."
Sam half-heartedly shoved his arms through the holes of the jacket, and Dean refrained from smiling as it reminded him of a little Sammy many years before. Dean zipped the jacket up to his chin, patting Sam's overly padded chest before he reached for the mittens and then a scarf and hat that he pulled down over Sam's shaggy hair and ears. Satisfied, that he had finally gotten enough layers onto his skinny frame, he bundled Sam back into the car and tucked a blanket over his legs before pushing a hot cup of coffee into his mittened hands.
"Drink," he commanded and Sam did as he was told, sipping the hot drink and breathing a slight sigh of relief.
Dean nodded in satisfaction that his little brother was taken care of for the time being, and headed back around to the driver's side.
He closed the door, turned the heat back on full blast, and got back on the road, alternately holding his own coffee in opposite hands to warm them. Finally, there was a sniff and a satisfied sigh from the passenger seat.
"Thank you, Dean," Sam said softly. He had finally stopped shivering.
Dean smiled to himself. "Anytime, Sammy."
No matter how old he got, he would never stop looking after his little brother. Some things never changed.