First things first.
I DON'T OWN SUPERNATURAL! ALL RIGHTS BELONGS TO THE RESPECTIVE OWNERS OF THE SHOW!

I am very proud of this fanfiction and how it came out.
I have written it almost two months ago and now, on christmas day, I can FINALLY upload it.

I hope you will enjoy this chapter and i would LOVE to get some feedback from you :)

I am so sorry for grammer or spelling mistakes. This one was hard to translate...

MerryChristmas boys

Christmas.

The happiest day of the year.

The day on which every child and every adult was happy.

Joy, fun, cohesion. That was everything that mattered on a day like this.

At least if you were a normal family and lived no sinister life as a monster hunter...

But even in the life of a monster hunter, there were quiet moments.

So also in the lives of Sam and Dean.

It had been a tough year for the Winchester brothers.

They had to take many losses.

Above all, the loss of their father hurt the two brothers still very much even if they didn't show it. The pain was still there and it would probably never completely disappear...

But on a day like today, the two tried not to think about it.

Above all, Dean, who had very attached to his father. How his brother Sam saw the whole thing, he was not able to assess and perhaps it was better for him if he did not know.

Sam and John had never had a particularly good relationship to one another...

Since the older Winchester didn't want to tear open any wounds, he wrapped himself in silence and continued to think back to what this year had brought him.

There had happened a lot in his life. He had been in hell and an angel had rescued him from perdition.

An angel!

Dean still couldn't believe that angel existed. Even if his rescue was already months back. In those months much had happened and his vision of angels had been tarnished, because he had seen how they really were and how brutal they could be. Above all the problems they had with Uriel still gnawed at him. Even if the Archangel was dead now...

Castiel had improved somewhat since then and Dean and Sam had befriended with him. Even if he still behaved quite strange from time to time.

But that was nothing new. On the contrary, because it could also be extremely amusing in some situations, because Castiel still didn't know much about human behavior.

After all they didn't know what he had done before he came to earth.

It certainly looked like he had not many experiences with humanity…

Dean shook his head and quickly tried to forget these thoughts.

He had other things in mind on a day like this.

A small smile crept onto his face as his eyes fell on the clock on the wall.

He and his brother had found shelter at Bobby's house for a few days and the older hunter had gone along with Sam in the city to do a bit of shopping.

Dean had taken advantage of the time of their absence and immediately he had prepared a few little surprises for the two hunters. As he did so, Castiel had appeared out of nowhere.

Dean almost had a heart attack, as he had turned around and had almost run into the angel, who was standing directly behind him.

Castiel had kept a stoic face.

Even when Dean had told him again about the personal space of a human and he had made it clear to him that he should not ever sneak up on him and move too close to his body. The angel had simply tilted his head and gave him one of his famous, questioning looks.

Dean had just rolled his eyes and had told him about his plan.

And if he knew no better, he could have sworn to have seen the ghost of a tiny smile on Castiel's lips and shortly after he had disappeared, only to re-appear a few moments later with a small Christmas tree in his arms.

Dean couldn't contain himself and had laughed out loud at this sight.

And in that moment, the smile on the lips of God's Warrior was clearly visible, because he had never seen Dean so happy and carefree as in this one moment.

Together, the two had set up the Christmas tree and decorated it.

Of course, after Dean had explained to him how it worked, because Castiel did not seem versed in the art of adornment a Christmas tree.

Perhaps he might be an angel who also knew why humans celebrated Christmas, but apparently he knew nothing about human Christmas traditions.

When they had finished decorating the tree, Dean had shown him how to refined Christmas Punch (only to annoy his baby brother a bit since he couldn't take absolutely no alcohol) and even though Dean would deny it for the rest of his life, but he had "let himself down" and baked Christmas cookies. Just as he had always done with his mother...

The memories of those days still hurt him and if Cas wouldn't have been present, he would have cried. But his sad thoughts were quickly put to an end when the angel had tried to turn on the mix machine. He had not ensured that the machine was already switched to full strength and in the moment, when he had turned it on, he had disappeared in a cloud of flour.

And Dean had gotten the laughing fit of his life.

Castiel hadn't looked as if he would find it funny, but the moment Dean already went to his knees from laughing so much, he could no longer restrain himself.

Dean had immediately stopped laughing, as Castiel's laughter had echoed through Bobby's house. He had never seen the angel so happy as in this moment. The stoic facade was gone, had made space for joy and merriment. Exactly what counted at Christmas and Dean had felt a warmth inside his heart, as he had felt it the last time when he had been with his mother.

Castiel had become more than just an ally in the recent months.

He had become a good friend, maybe the best friend Dean ever had.

They had become like a little family...

And this little family now sat together on the small sofa in Bobby's living room.

After Dean had helped Castiel to liberate himself and his clothes from the flour, the two of them had gone back down and waited for Sam's and Bobby's return.

They didn't need to wait for too long because just ten minutes later the two hunters were back from their shopping trip.

Sam and Bobby were amazed when their eyes fell immediately on the Christmas tree that stood in the corner of the living room. And the smell of freshly baked cookies filled the house.

"Dean? Cas? What is going on here?"

The answer Sam got to his question was a broad smile of his brother and Dean stood up, walked over to him and gave him a big bear hug.

"Merry Christmas Sammy," he whispered into his ear and Sam's own lips curled into a wide smile and he hugged his brother back.

Even Bobby's lips curled into a soft smile at the sight and he went into the kitchen and put his purchases onto the table. Here his glance fell on the lovely decorated cookies that were on a tray, which stood on the stove to cool down.

Still with this big smile on his face Bobby started unpacking his purchases. A small grin settled on his features, as Dean walked into the kitchen together with Castiel and Sam. A cheerful laugh left Dean's lips when he saw what Sam and Bobby had brought.

"Looks like we had the same idea for a Christmas with our family, eh Bobby?" He grinned as he saw the turkey Bobby pulled out from one of the shopping bags.

Bobby just smiled mischievously and began to shove the three young men out of the kitchen.

"I'll take care of the food and you three...do what you want. Go out and have some fun. It's Christmas. Today you are no hunters, don't forget that. And you Castiel, you should relax a bit too. After everything you've done for us in the last few months, especially for Dean, you really deserve a break."

Castiel smiled lovingly, but got no chance to reply about it, as Dean pushed him out of the kitchen.

"Come on you two, let's go out. It snowed. As far as I know you have never seen snow, right Cas?"

The angel shook his head and Dean's grin widened.

"Well then it is about time. Come on, let's go out."

Bobby could only shake his head as he watched Dean, as he put on his thick jacket, a scarf and gloves as fast as he could and stormed out the door.

Sam and Castiel followed a few moments later.

The eyes of the angel began to sparkle, when he saw the white stuff, which shimmered red in the light of the setting sun.

He had not yet taken much time to look at the snow, but now that he was with Sam and Dean, he had all the time in the world to do so.

Carefully, he put one foot before the other, the snow crunching under his feet and he felt the cold crawled through his shoes, right into his toes.

But it was not an unpleasant feeling. Quite the opposite, because it was one of the most beautiful feelings he had ever felt. The feeling of boundless freedom and –

Something cold hit him right in the neck, melted and slowly seeped into his clothes.
A shudder ran through his whole body, as the cold mass slowly ran down his spine and when he turned around, he looked in two grinning faces.

"Look Sammy. The term "snow angel" gets a whole new meaning now, don't you think?" Dean grinned and he threw a second snowball in Castiel's direction, which hit the angel exactly in his face this time.

The surprise about this "attack" came so quickly and unexpectedly that it tore the angel off his feet and a little later he lay in the snow.

He could hear Sam and Dean laugh and he felt how his own lips curled back into a gentle smile. He sat up and wiped the rest of the snow from his face as he looked at the two boys which already ran into his direction.

"Attack!" They roared laughing and they were going to attack their friend again with their snowballs, but Castiel was faster and with a single, small movement of his finger and the help of his heavenly powers, he threw a wall of snow at both of them which now tore the two hunters off their feet until they lay in the snow.

Grinning, Castiel watched the two hunters, as they tried to get the snow off their clothes, as they had sat up, glaring at him playfully.

"Just you wait Cas! This means war!"

As soon as the two were back on their legs, Castiel could not look and he tried to run away laughing, but he was not fast enough and it was not long until he lay face down in the snow yet again. He squealed out loud when he felt someone pulling his jacket and his shirt back and a little later he felt this ice cold feeling yet again as a snowball disappeared inside his clothes...

The "battle" lasted almost an hour and Castiel could not remember the last time when he had so much fun in his life and when the last time had been when he had laughed so much as at this day.

The Winchester brothers certainly felt not differently and with a gentle smile on his lips, he watched the two in how they covered the small table in Bobby's kitchen.

After their snowball fight they were gone after the other under the shower.

Now Castiel sat on Bobby's sofa, his feet in a bowl of warm water and Dean had lent him comfortable sweatpants and an old sweater of his. He had wrapped himself in a warm, soft blanket and enjoyed the warmth that flooded his human body.

He had asked the three hunters, whether he should help them, but they had denied because they were so or so already almost done with their preparations.

He winced slightly when Dean suddenly stood behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. When he raised his head, he looked directly into the grinning face of the hunter.

"Well Cas? Everything okay with you?"

The angel gave him this gentle smile and nodded his head to the question.

"Good. I want to show you something."

Castiel raised his eyebrow when Dean pulled out a small mistletoe behind his back, gave him a big grin and then turned around and walked over to Sam and Bobby, who stood side by side at the kitchen table.

"Hey you two, look who is under the mistletoe and we all know what that means~."

"Oh God, Dean!"

Sam nudged his brother playfully as he kept his mistletoe above him and Bobby to annoy them a bit. Bobby shook his head again, but a small smile spread across his face, which quickly became a grin and before Sam knew what was happening, he grabbed his face and Bobby gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

"Bobby!"

Laughing Sam jumped a few feet away from the older hunter and ostentatiously wiped his cheek. Even Castiel had to laugh at the sight.

It had been such a long time that he had laughed so carefree and could have so much fun. He almost felt more comfortable in the company of Sam, Dean and Bobby than in the company of his own brothers and sisters. Since their father was gone, his brothers and his sisters had changed. If he was honest, he didn't want to come back home anymore because he could no longer bear the sight. The sight of what had become of heaven, his home...

Again a hand laid on his shoulder brought him back from his thoughts and he looked into Bobby's face.

"Come on Cas. We are all waiting for you. Sit down with us at the table and eat something with us."

And in that moment, as he looked into Sam's and Dean's expectant faces, a warm feeling flooded him and he thought he would burst any moment.

The feeling he had missed so much.

The feeling of being part of a family...

After dinner, the brothers and Bobby exchanged their Christmas gifts with each other.

And they even had brought gifts for Castiel. From Dean he got a new tie, a scarf from Sam and a book of different kind of stories from Bobby. For boring times he had said.

For Castiel, it was the most beautiful gifts that he had ever seen and he had tears in his eyes as he got them and thanked the three for them. Inwardly, he suddenly felt miserable that he had no gifts for Bobby and the brothers, but when a suitable idea had come to him, as he was able to thank them for this wonderful day, a small smile crept back onto his face.

The rest of the evening they spent by eating Dean's homemade cookies, telling stories of past hunts and in the end they all sat in front of the TV and enjoyed the Christmas program.

And for Castiel, it had become one of the best days of his life...

(The Epilogue will follow tomorrow and you're going to find out about Castiel's gift :).)