Ok, here's my Christmas present to the people of the Internet! I just thought of some Christmas-y fluff and I was like "Why not?! Let's make this a thing!" So here you go!
xxx
Sam got out of the Impala and went to the trunk. He opened it and extracted the two bags of groceries. It had been his turn to make a supply run as the Bunker had been running low on food. Before he had left, Dean had made sure to stress the importance of not forgetting the pie. Sam walked towards the door of the run-down building that was covered in snow and, careful not to slip on the ice, opened the door. He headed down the staircase and came to the landing.
"Hey, Dean, can you help me with these bags?" Sam asked, trying to look past his burden to catch a glimpse of his brother.
"I'm a little busy; you can handle yourself, Sasquatch." Dean's far away voice told him. Sam could tell from the distance he was at that Dean was in the kitchen. What was he doing there? Usually when Dean ate something, he sat in the library, eating his food while researching about the Mark.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked, making his way down the last flight of stairs separating him and the library.
"Take a look. It's in the library." Dean told him.
When Sam entered the room in question, he placed the bags of food on the table and stopped in his tracks. The sight before him caught him completely off guard.
In the right corner of the room closest to the door, there was a Christmas tree. It was fully decorated, completed with a star on top. It was giving off an evergreen scent that made Sam want to breathe deeply. It gave the library a new smell, covering the usual old book scent. It was covered in lights that sparkled. The whole sight made Sam feel relaxed, relieving the tension that he was so used to feeling.
Looking around the library, he saw that there was silver garland lining the bookshelves. There were bowls of small candy canes on each table. Sam looked around, completely surprised.
"Uh, Dean?" Sam asked.
"Yeah?" Dean replied.
Sam walked into the kitchen to see Dean standing by the counter, a bowl and wooden spoon in hand. He was mixing something when he looked up at Sam. "What exploded in our library?"
"Christmas, you smart-ass." Dean teased, "It's Christmas Eve and we are going to celebrate."
"Uh, ok." Sam didn't know where this had come from. Dean hadn't said anything about Christmas all year. "How'd you get all this up while I was gone?"
"Cas helped." As if on cue, Castiel walked into the kitchen.
"Hello Sam. Merry Christmas." Cas greeted him with a smile.
"Merry Christmas, Cas." Sam told him, smiling back at him.
"Anyways, I'm making Christmas cookies now." Dean said, "We can decorate them when I'm done. So get in the Christmas spirit, Sammy!"
Sam chuckled, glad to see Dean so happy. With everything that had been happening recently, they all needed this.
The boys spent the afternoon joking, laughing, and decorating Christmas cookies. All of them admitted that it felt odd not doing anything dangerous. It was odd to have the time to just relax and do something so normal as decorating cookies or celebrating Christmas in general. But they all appreciated it.
The group had a dinner prepared by Dean. He spent all day making the food for it. It was the first food that Sam and Dean had eaten that hadn't been fast food for a while. They had almost forgotten how it felt to be able to sit down and relax, just eating and talking. Cas, being unable to eat food as an angel, sat with them at the table. Everyone was content.
After dinner, they went over to the tree, where there were presents underneath. Sam told the other two to hold on and ran off down the hall to his bedroom. He walked into the room and crossed over to the bed, kneeling down on the ground. He reached under the bed and moved his hand around blindly until he found what he was looking for. Pulling a small wrapped box out, he got up and headed back down the hall towards the library. He found Dean and Cas exactly where he had left them.
"Just had to grab this." Sam said, showing them the gift in his hand.
"Ok." Dean replied, then turned to Castiel, "Ok, Cas, so Sam saw this in a store we were at for a hunt one time and said it reminded him of you. I agreed and three days ago, I went out and grabbed it." Dean handed over a flat box wrapped in red wrapping paper to Cas. Castiel took it with a smile and tore the paper off. He opened the small box and saw a dark blue tie, just like the one he wore a lot. This one, however, was new. His old one was always getting ripped in the middle of a fight, causing him to have to replace it a lot. Cas smiled at Sam and Dean.
"Thank you." he said.
"No problem, Cas." Dean said.
"Merry Christmas." Sam told him.
"I didn't have time to get you two anything." Cas replied sadly.
"This whole set-up is gift enough."
"Yeah, thanks for helping me with this, Cas."
Cas smiled again at his friends.
"Here, Sam." Dean handed Sam a white envelope, "Look at it later."
Sam nodded and handed Dean the box he had fished out from under his bed.
"I thought you didn't know we were doing this." Dean commented.
"I didn't, but I had this for you for a long time and I thought that now was the time." Sam explained.
Dean took off the wrapping paper to reveal the box. He then took off the lid and looked inside. What he saw made him stop and stare in amazement. He reached his hand inside the small box and pulled out something attached to a black cord. It was a gold pendant with a man's head with horns. It was the necklace he had gotten from Sam as a kid on Christmas. The one he had thrown away all those years ago, in that motel room, an action he regretted many times.
"How did you find this..?" Dean asked quietly.
"I never lost it. I took it out of the garbage and kept it with me. I planned on giving it to you sometime, I just never knew when." Sam told his brother.
"Thank you, Sam. I love it." Dean said simply.
Cas smiled, watching the two brothers. He knew about that amulet and everything it meant to them. He himself had been sad when he saw that Dean had gotten rid of it. It symbolized everything the two Winchester siblings stood for.
The group sat around and joked for a little while until deciding to get some rest. Cas went to the room reserved for him in the Bunker and Sam and Dean went to their own rooms.
Sam sat down on his bed after closing the door and looked at the envelope Dean had given him. He opened it and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Unfolding it, he saw it was a note that Dean had written, recognizing his brother's handwriting. It read:
Dear Sammy,
I know that the last few months have been rough. I know that it was hard to see me as a demon and watch me say all those awful things. And I want to say that I am so, so very sorry. I know that an apology won't fix anything or erase anything I did, but I want you to know that I haven't changed. I still find you more important than the entire world. I want you to know that you are the best thing in my life and I wouldn't trade you for anything. I will always protect you and run to the ends of the earth if it means you will be safe. I know that I have made some mistakes, both recent and in the past. I know I have hurt you. I regret everything I have ever done to hurt you. I'm not guaranteeing that I will never do something wrong again. After all, I'm human. But I will never, ever try to hurt you. In that church, during the Trials, everything I said was true. There is nothing I would put in front of you, past or present. Or even future. I know things have been rough lately and I don't expect them to get too much better any time soon (I mean, when does it ever work like that for us?). But we will get through this together. Because that's how we do things.
You are not alone.
Sam wiped a stray tear from his eye, just becoming aware that he was crying. He always knew that his brother loved him, but things like this just proved it and every time it shocked him.
He put the letter on his bedside table and smiled, laying down on his bed. He fell asleep the last words of the letter playing though his head on repeat.
You are not alone.