Chapter One: Plans
Then…
"Dean! Dean, look!" Sam's small hands were fisted in the back of Dean's shirt, dragging him backwards to stand on front of the small hotel room television. On it, there was an advertisement for a family vacation to Disney World. They looked happy, in an artificial kind of way, not that a six year old Sam would recognize that. Dean pulled away from his little brother's insistent hands.
"Yeah, Sammy, I see it. Cool."
Sam's face was very close to the screen. When his nose accidently brushed against it, he jerked back from the electrical shock. He looked up at Dean with wide eyes. "Where are they?"
"Um…it's a place called Disney World."
"Can we go there, Dean?"
"Sammy…"
"Please?" And that was when Sam broke out the puppy-dog eyes. Ah, crap. What was Dean supposed to say?
"Sammy, it's really faraway. We can't right now, okay?"
"Okay!" Sam agreed and then skipped over to his bed and started playing with his cars. Dean looked away, feeling guilty for his lie. Not exactly a lie, but he had implied that they could go someday. And the probability of that happening was practically nonexistent.
Now…
Dean wandered through the hallways of the bunker, thinking. Sam wasn't doing very well, and Dean was getting worried. He didn't know what to do to heal his brother.
He found himself wandering into Sam's room, empty at the moment while Sam was on another run. Moving around the room, Dean took in every detail. Sam still didn't have very much stuff and the place wasn't nearly as awesome as Dean's but there were small personal belongings scattered around that were making the place start to look Sam's. There were stacks of books on every available surface, plaid shirts peeking out of the closet and a few drawers and a couple of photographs on the dresser. One was a picture of Sam and Dean when they were kids. Dean looked closer. Sam was staring up at Dean with idolizing eyes and Dean was ruffling Sam's hair, which was just starting to get long. The sasquatch grows his fur, Dean thought, smiling to himself. The other photograph, wasn't of a person, or anywhere that Sam and dean had been. It looked like it had been clipped from a magazine many years ago. It was a picture of Disney World.
Dean pulled back. Why did Sam have a picture of Disney World? Unless…he thought back to the first time Sam had seen a commercial for the amusement park. Dean had told him that they could go someday. Dean smiled to himself. If he couldn't heal Sammy, he could sure as hell make him happy. Dean walked away, head full of half-formed plans.
"Oh, Castiel, who art not here, get thine ass to the bunker."
"Dean. We really need to talk about your prayers."
Dean spun around. Cas was standing in the middle of Dean's room, looking around in interest. He had a slight look of disapproval on his face, which Dean assumed was from the lack of formality in his prayer. But hey, at least Cas answered him.
"dude, listen up. I need a favor."
"I gathered that."
Dean watched Cas as he walked around Dean's room, inspecting the various weapons that were on the walls. It was silent for so long in the room, usual Dean would have been uncomfortable. But he was lost in thought, trying to figure out how to word his request.
"Well?"
"What?" He realized that Cas was looking at him expectantly. "Oh, right. So listen. Sam's never been to Disney World and I thought it would be a good idea to take him."
"Why?"
"Well, he hasn't been feeling well and I thought it would cheer him up."
"I see." Cas looked at him, giving Dean one of those rare and genuine smiles. "You are doing this for him. As a gift."
"Yeah. And I need your help, man."
Cas looked at him for a few more minutes, with that same smile on his face. Dean felt a strange flare of pride in his chest. Cas was looking at him like he was the only person, ever, to have exceeded Castiel's expectations. This small pride was overshadowed, however, by how uncomfortable Dean was getting under Cas's stare. He cleared his throat.
"Alright," said Cas. "What do you need me to do?"
Dean smiled and they got to work on planning.