"Dean, come on!" Sam said as he pulled at the sleeve of Dean's jacket. Dean lagged behind before finally letting his little brother win and pull him along. Sam pushed open the door and a gust of cold wind flew into the motel room. As recently two brothers stepped out into the brisk December air, Dean was blinded by the sunshine reflecting off of the windows of the buildings across the street. It was early in the morning and the boys were stuck in a small town in Kansas while their father was hunting a monster. Their dad had never seen this kind of creature before, so he was gone longer trying to figure out how to get rid of it. Dean didn't mind though. He was used to being alone and having to take care of Sam. Besides, it was almost Christmas and Dean didn't really want to be hunting around Christmas. Today, Dean let Sam decide what he wanted to do. Sam wanted to go and look at all the Christmas lights and the stores getting ready for the big holiday. In the mind of a six-year-old, they had to be the first ones to see everything or it just wasn't as special. So, Sam had made Dean wake up bright and early to go outside. Dean was a little annoyed that he didn't get to sleep in, but making Sammy happy was worth it.
The Winchester brothers walked down the steps of the motel and stood in front of the street admiring the scene.
"So, where are we going now?" Dean asked.
"There!" Sam pointed at a parking lot filled with Christmas trees.
"Okay. Lead the way, Sammy."
"I don't want to be called Sammy! That's for little kids! I'm not little anymore." Sam huffed.
"Sure, I'll call you Sam when you've stopped falling asleep before 9:00 and start growing a beard. Like me." Dean said proudly.
"You don't have a beard, Dean!"
"Yeah, well, I've got… whatever. I'm still older than you no matter what. Let's go." Sam and Dean started to cross the street and Dean rested his hand on Sam's shoulder the whole time, making sure Sam stayed with him. The two reached the other side of the street and Sam ran towards the trees. Dean walked at a leisurely pace towards the lot and looked at all the Christmas decorations hanging on the shops. There were strings of large, bright bulbs dangling from the roofs and gold tinsel lined the wooden beams. The lights, of course, weren't on yet, but Dean could imagine how beautiful they would look as soon as it became dark.
Dean casually walked up to the tree lot and stopped. He couldn't see Sam anywhere. Dean began to panic a little, how could he lose Sammy? Dad won't be happy about this… Dean thought to himself.
"Sam? Sammy? Where'd you go? This isn't funny!" Dean called out as he glanced down each aisle of trees searching for Sam.
"You have to come find me! We're playing hide and seek." Sam shouted back. Dean turned his head to where the sound came from and began to walk in that direction. Finally, Dean saw Sam's bright blue jacket through a few tree branches. He snuck around the trees, hoping to surprise Sam. Sam turned when he heard Dean's footsteps and then ran behind another aisle of trees, laughing the whole time. Dean stepped quickly and carefully across the patches of ice, trying to catch up to his brother. As the brothers chased each other around the Christmas trees, time seemed to fly by. Finally, Dean cornered Sam by a pile of snow. He lunged at Sam but missed horribly and fell into the snow. Dean turned around and there was Sam, laughing hysterically at his brother. So, Dean wrapped his arms around Sam's legs and pulled him into the snow. The two sat in the cold, wet pile of snow for a moment, both smiling from ear to ear.
"You boys gonna buy a tree?" A tall, scruffy man asked Sam and Dean. Dean was a little intimidated by the man, but stood up, shook of the snow, and stepped closer to the man.
"Oh, no, we were just looking at them. They're so pretty, my brother loves all of them. Even the Charlie Brown ones." Dean responded, forcing a smile across his face.
"That's all right, I was just wonderin'. Thanks for stoppin' by here." The man said as he walked back towards the trees.
"C'mon, Sammy. We should get going. Thank you, sir." Dean said. Sam got up and the two started to meander the streets of the small town again. They stopped here and there to look at the shops; most of them were either women's clothing stores or some kind of shop full of funny little knick knacks, but that didn't seem to matter. Sam was in awe of the entire town, and Dean couldn't help but let his brother's joy and excitement affect himself too.
The sun was setting and the down was growing darker. Shops started to turn on their lights and suddenly the entire street was illuminated by the little bulbs. It looked magical. Dean never said fluffy words like "magical," but this place truly was… magical.
After a while Dean decided that they should head back, and Sam reluctantly followed. On way back they bought some food and brought it to the motel. The two sat on their beds and ate in silence as they watched a Christmas special on T. V.
"Today was fun." Sam finally said.
"Yeah, it was." Dean whispered, realizing that this was probably the most fun he'd had in a long time.
Sam eventually drifted off to sleep, leaving Dean to clean up the room and turn off the lights. As he was throwing away the trash, Dean looked out the window and saw that the tree lot was still open. Suddenly, he had an idea. Dean drew protection signs all over the walls, poured salt around Sam's bed and by the doors and windows, and took every precaution imaginable. Then, he slowly snuck out of the room and locked the door.
Dean ran over to the lot. When he got there, he took out all the money he had been keeping for months. It wasn't that much but hopefully it was enough. Dean only had about $10, and he knew that wouldn't buy him the biggest or the best tree, but maybe it was enough to buy a small one.
"Excuse me, sir. Is there a tree here I could buy for $10?" Dean asked the man sitting by the trees.
"Well, maybe. Let's go look. Wait, aren't you that little fella who came by earlier today with your brother?"
"Yeah." Dean mumbled.
"I thought you weren't buying a tree."
"Well, I saw how much he loved them and, since we have never really had a real Christmas, I thought I could get him a tree to make tomorrow a little better."
"That's very nice of you. Now, let's see if we can find you a tree." The man responded. He took Dean around the tree lot as they looked for one that would work. Finally, they found a little tree for $12. It was missing a few branches and some of the needles were falling off. But it was perfect. Dean gave the man his money and started to drag it away. Before he got too far, the man stopped him.
"Now wait a minute, you got anything to put on that tree?" He asked Dean.
"No… not really." Dean said, feeling slightly ashamed.
"Well, all right. I think I've got a few extra lights and ornaments around here somewhere. Let's see." The man rummaged through a box of Christmas things and brought out some lights and a few ornaments. He put them in a separate box and handed it to Dean. "Here you go. Merry Christmas." The man told Dean.
Dean smiled at the man as he carried the little tree and the box of ornaments. He walked up to the motel room feeling quite accomplished and pleased. He opened the door and then stopped. His father was sitting on the bed, staring at the door. Dean pulled the tree inside and closed the door. His heart was already racing and nothing had even happened.
"Dean." Dean looked at the ground, avoiding any eye contact with his father. "Dean, where were you? Why did you leave? You know you can never leave Sam alone!" His voice grew louder with each sentence.
"I'm sorry, I just went to buy Sam a Christmas tree. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I… I took all the precautions, I made sure he would be safe!" Dean responded, his voice shaking.
"And what if he hadn't been safe? What if something had happened to him? What would you have done then, Dean? You can't take risks like these. You can't leave him alone, I can't lose him too, Dean."
"I know! I know it was a mistake. I just… I just wanted… I wanted…" Dean stumbled on his words.
"You wanted what, Dean?" Anger flowed out of every word.
"I wanted to give Sam a normal Christmas! I wanted to let him experience something normal for once, something happy, something nice. I just wanted to make his Christmas a little better. That's all." Dean shouted, his face growing red with fear and anger. Dean's father stood up and walked towards Dean. He stared Dean in the eyes with such an anger that Dean began to tremble. Then, he walked out he door and slammed it behind him. Dean sat down on the bed, still shaking from the fight. He placed his hands over his head and started to rock back and forth. Tears began to roll down his face.
"Dean…?" Dean heard a little voice say quietly. It was Sam. He had heard the whole fight. "Dean, are you okay?" Sam asked. Dean could tell his brother was frightened. He didn't want Sam to be frightened.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry you had to hear that." Dean said as he wiped the tears from his face.
Sam got out of the bed and walked over to the tree laying on the floor. He dragged it to a corner and tried to lift it up. He couldn't. Dean laughed a little and got off of the bed to help. They leaned it against the corner of the room, making sure it stood tall. Dean brought over the box of lights and ornaments and gave them to Sam. Sam took the lights out and placed them on the tree; Dean helped to spread them out to cover the whole tree. They placed the ornaments on the branches and then plugged in the lights. A few of the bulbs were out, but the tree still lit up.
"It's beautiful." Sam said. His face had an awestruck look, and Dean knew he had done the right thing. "Thanks, Dean. It's the best Christmas present ever."
"Merry Christmas, Sammy." Dean whispered.
"Merry Christmas, Dean." Sam said. The two of them sat by the tree and looked at it for a while. Sam placed his head on Dean's shoulder and started to fall asleep. Dean smiled a little as he looked at his brother. He was so peaceful and happy. And in that moment, Dean knew it was really Christmas.