Authors Notes: I am so behind on these advent prompts it's not even funny anymore, thankfully weekend! Hopefully, I'll have some time to finish up a few of these. This story is going to read as one-sided love but please see the notes at the end!

Warnings: Angst, Minor Character Death, Past relationships, Canon Character Death, Incest, One-Sided love(ish).

*** Special notice: I am in the process of deleting my other account and migrating the fics to this one. Please note that the prompts for this series were pictures.

Snow Globe

The first Christmas Sam spent with Jessica they didn't have much. Both sharing a dorm, they didn't have their own space, having to share with their respective dorm mates. Still, Sam put in an effort and let her decorate his small space with little ornaments she had her parents ship to her. While she was a bit disappointed she wouldn't be returning home for the break, Sam had made certain to make it up to her. When they opened their presents that year, Jess had given him a small snow globe with a snowman inside. It was cute, but when he looked at her in confusion, Jessica had smiled and pulled him into a kiss.

"So you have something of your own to put up next year, silly. At least now we can see some snow around here, even if it's inside the globe."

Sam hadn't realized how much the small snow globe would come to mean to him until after the fire. It was sitting in a box in the back of their storage room, one of the few things they managed to save. Tucked away and wrapped in a bright red scarf so it wouldn't break was the small little snowman. Sam hadn't thought twice about packing it into his duffle bag when he left with Dean. It was all he had to remember Jessica by.

Year after year, Sam would pull out that small snow globe and simply look at it for a while before tucking it away the moment Dean came into the room. It wasn't that he was ashamed of the little figurine in fake snow, but he wasn't ready to share it with his brother. After Dean sold his soul, Sam had thought about bringing it out when they celebrated Christmas for the first time together like he had dreamed of when he was small. Still, the small snow globe remained in the bottom of his duffle, wrapped protectively. The last time Sam took out the small globe was with Amelia, he had used it to explain he understood her pain of having her love taken from her.

The second they discovered her husband wasn't dead, Sam stuffed the snow globe into his duffle once again before leaving. It served as a reminder; he couldn't keep happiness. Every woman he had fallen in love with was ripped away from him, he could pretend -just like the snowman- that everything was perfect, but the second there was even a crack in the glass everything would fall apart. Like with everything else, Sam pushed the thought to the back of his mind, burying it so it wouldn't bury him.

Safely tucked into the corner of a large duffle bag, the snow globe remained out of sight and out of mind. Until Sam found himself a home outside of the Impala. Unpacking his things into the bunker, the closest Sam had ever had to a home he found the small snow globe tucked away. For a second Sam thought about throwing the thing out, the reminder that he couldn't have happiness. It was a surprise to even Sam when he placed it on a shelf in the library once it came time for Christmas again. He didn't think anything of it, simply placed the small snow globe down and walked away.

"You know I've seen you trek that thing across the country… what's up with the snow globe?"

Startled, Sam turned to face his brother. Dean had his arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the doorway while waiting for Sam to explain the small snow globe. Having thought Dean hadn't noticed the question left his mouth before he thought it through. "You've seen it? How? I always keep the thing tucked away."

Dean raised his eyebrow before answering. "Dude, for a year I thought you were dead… I went through your stuff. Wasn't going to leave your clothes dirty and stinking up Baby, noticed it when I was cleaning things out." Keeping his expression neutral, Sam spoke. "You cleaned out my stuff?" while he didn't want to admit it, Sam was hurt by the knowledge. Even when Dean went to Hell, Sam didn't clean out his things. He had put some things away, but everything was exactly as Dean left it for when he came back. It was why he had never upgraded the stereo in the Impala, Dean wouldn't be impressed when he came back.

"Dude, I put it back didn't I? Didn't think anything of doing your damn laundry, excuse me for wanting to keep the stink down."

Sam looked at Dean then, his eye widening while he realized what he was feeling. Dean's last statement barely registered while he went over his last thoughts. He hadn't really cleaned out Dean's things because Dean would be back. Not once did Sam entertain the thought of Dean leaving for good. They had been killed more times than Sam probably even remembered and yet, Dean always came back to him. Glancing at the snow globe, Sam smiled slightly, interrupting Dean.

"Jess gave it to me our first Christmas together. I figured it was time -now that we have a place that we decorate a bit."

Walking past Dean, Sam reached out and placed his hand on his brother's forearm before moving to the kitchen to start on dinner. Maybe it was time for him to try to move onto something new, instead of remaining in his imagined snow globe. While it wasn't something he had considered before, Sam knew there was only one person who would never leave him. It would take time and he would have to be careful. But maybe, just maybe he could finally have someone he could hold onto.

P.S. If you want to keep up to date on my writing add me to Facebook, Tumbler or Twitter as CrowNoYami ;-) Also, if you want to see what I'm reading (I always review so you know what you're getting into) I'm on Goodreads as well, same name as always.

P.P.S. I understand that this reads as unrequited love, however while it will not be turned into a chaptered fic and there will be no sequel, in my mind? Sam and Dean end up together after Sam makes his interest known. It takes time, and Dean probably has a freak-out or two… but I can't picture Dean turning Sam away, I feel like it wouldn't take much for Dean to go from loving Sam to -loving- Sam.