So, this isn't exactly the Christmas one-shot I wanted to write. Originally I had a whole different tale to write, but I was really struggling to get it pulled together. Maybe for next year?

I had wanted to have something before Christmas, but that didn't work out...so forgive me and count this as close enough? It's just a cute, fluffy little one piece. Nothing more and nothing less. At least, I think it's cute...

(Yes I did this instead of starting the story that follows Shadows of California...Sorry. Please still love me. I'm working on it still, I promise! I want a sneak peak to leave you guys when I post the end of Shadows!)

Merry Christmas, loves. You are all so wonderful 3

A Little Christmas Tale

"Do you hear that?"

Dean moaned as he rubbed his eyes, trying to come out of the haze of his slumber being disturbed. He rolled over to face her, ready to ask her what she meant, but was halted when she placed a finger to her lips. He paused, listening carefully to hear what had woken her from her sleep. Soon he was able to just hear the sound of whispers from right outside of the bedroom door.

"They've been out there for a couple of minutes now," Buffy whispered.

Dean wrapped his arm around Buffy, pulling her over to his side of the bed. They both knew that they couldn't stay here like this, but he just wanted a moment of this before being pulled out of bed. He glanced over to the clock on the nightstand. It was just about 6:30, which was substantially better than last year's wake up.

"Guess we should get up before they get up to any mischief," Dean suggested, also in a whisper.

Buffy nodded, although she would have much preferred to stay in bed. Dean leaned down and gave her a quick kiss before quietly slipping out of bed. He shot a glance back to Buffy, an impish grin on his face. She watched with amusement as he waited for the moment of bravery that was required for the monsters on the other side to finally open the door. There were a few moments of waiting before the doorknob began to turn slowly, allowing the door to be pushed open just as slowly. As soon as the door was opened a couple of inches two small heads popped into the room.

Dean let out a growl and grabbed at the two children around their ribs, tickling them mercilessly, eliciting giggles from the both of them. Buffy laughed at the display and loved every minute of it.

"Daddy, stop it!" Jenny giggled, swatting at her father.

"Now what are you doing at our door this early in the morning, huh?" Dean laughed as he picked Jenny up and ruffled little Robbie's hair.

"Daaaad, it's Christmas!" Robbie cried out.

Dean looked back at Buffy, a look of mock-shock on his face, "is it now?"

"Yesssss!" Jenny squealed.

"Well then, I guess we better go out there and see what Santa might have brought you guys – you were good this year, right?"

Both children nodded their heads emphatically.

"Oh good," Dean said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Buffy giggled in bed. What a goof.

"Mommy, come on!" Robbie pleaded, jumping onto the bed.

"Okay, let's go!" Buffy said, jumping out of bed with the boy.

The two children cheered as they led their parents down the hallway towards the living room. A quick flick of the light switch as they passed by and the room lit up, bathed in reds and greens as the tree came to life. Below the decorated tree was a mountain of gifts, each wrapped with brightly coloured paper, ribbons, and bows. Jenny and Robbie's eyes lit up at first glance of the room, completely in awe at what they found. They dashed towards the tree and began digging through to find which boxes belonged to each of them.

"I think we outdid ourselves this year," Dean grinned as he pulled Buffy towards him.

Buffy nuzzled into Dean, "you're the one that kept buying more and more toys for them."

Dean chuckled, "oh c'mon, how could I not? Look at how happy they are."

"Guess we should get the camera before they start tearing into those."

"For sure. I'll get some coffee on," Dean said, placing a kiss on Buffy's cheek.

Buffy shook her head, "I'll get the coffee. You just make sure to get pictures of anything I miss, okay?"

Dean nodded in agreement and grabbed the camera from the hall closet before joining the little ones in the living room. Buffy watched as he sat down, taking a moment to appreciate the look on his face. She wasn't sure who was more excited at that moment: Dean or the kids. Which was why she had offered to be the one to make the coffee, just as she did every year. Buffy had memories of Christmas as a child. She remembered waking up and running downstairs to find what goodies had been brought for her. Dean on the other hand, didn't. She knew what his Christmas' had been like growing up. He would just be lucky if his father even remembered it was the holidays. There had been a lot of things that Dean had missed out on growing up, and there was nothing that Buffy could do to change that. She could, however, give him all those moments now, with their little ones. He shouldn't be the one to miss any part of Christmas morning. Not even to make coffee.

As she was getting the coffee ready to go she could hear the giggling in the living room, followed up by a chorus of "wows" and "no ways!" She grinned to herself; the joy was contagious. She always loved the feeling of Christmas morning, and she found that it was even better as the parent. The feeling of pride and joy was indescribable.

"Mommy! Hurry up!" Jenny yelled from the living room.

"I'm coming sweetie!" Buffy called back, grabbing the two mugs of coffee.

"Oh my god, you should have seen the look on Robbie's face when he opened up the playstation!"

"Oh, I missed that one?" Buffy pouted, "tell me you got a picture of that."

Dean nodded, much to Buffy's pleasure. Buffy handed him his coffee, which Dean gratefully accepted. Their attention was brought back to the Christmas morning events when they heard more squealing from the kids.

"Oh that one's mine!" Jenny exclaimed, grabbing a small box from under the tree.

She gave it a shake, her ear to the box trying to identify what could be inside. Finally she tore into the paper, sending shreds of it every which way. Underneath she discovered a plain box which gave her no new hint as to what could be inside. The box was quickly reefed open, revealing a pair of cleats.

"New cleats!" She could hardly contain her excitement, "I got cleats and ballet slippers!"

The look of happiness on their kids' faces was almost more than Buffy and Dean could handle. Once the last of the boxes were opened, the wrapping paper was efficiently strewn around the room, and the kids were happily occupied with their new toys, Buffy noticed one more box hiding under the tree.

"Oh, they missed one," Buffy pointed. "Wait, I don't remember wrapping that."

Dean's eyes glinted, "no? Well that's odd. Maybe Santa brought us something too?"

Buffy shot a slight glare towards Dean, "I thought we agreed – no presents this year?"

"You didn't really think I'd stick to that, did you?" Dean shrugged.

Buffy delivered a light jab of her elbow into Dean's ribs before going and snatching up the small box. She really had no idea what could be inside the small box; there was nothing she really needed.

"Well, you gonna open it?"

Buffy tore into the packaging, only to find a second wrapped box inside. She looked at Dean with a quizzical expression; he was enjoying this far too much. She opened the second box only to find a third box. She shook her head at Dean as she once again tore into the paper. Inside this box, however, she finally found her first hint as to what it was.

There was a small ring box inside the last box.

Buffy looked up at Dean, her eyes welling up with tears. She didn't have to open this box to know what was inside. When she didn't open it immediately, Dean took the box from her, opening it so that she could see the ring inside.

"I couldn't afford a ring before," Dean started, "and you deserved so much better than that."

He had always hated that he hadn't been able to give her a real ring. Hell, they hadn't even been able to afford a real wedding. It had been a city hall wedding and nothing more. No dress. No first dance. No honeymoon. No ring. They had built a life together, and neither of them could be happier, but this was something that always weighed heavy on him. Buffy deserved that dream wedding, and it was something he didn't have the ability to give her. At least now she could have the ring.

Buffy struggled to find her words, "Dean…you didn't have to – "

"Yes I did," Dean smiled, "I never got to do this right the first time."

Buffy threw her arms around Dean and planted her lips down onto his. When she finally pulled away, Dean brought his hand up to wipe away the remaining tears with his thumb. Buffy grinned wildly as Dean took the ring out of the box.

"Buffy. Will you already be married to me?" Dean asked, a sly grin playing at his lips.

He figured if he was going to do this, it may as well be cheesy as hell.

Buffy giggled as she nodded, "of course, you dork."

Dean slipped the ring on her finger before pulling her back in for another kiss.

"Ewww!" The two kids cried out in unison.

Buffy and Dean pulled away sheepishly.

"Hey, shouldn't you be playing with your toys?" Dean asked.

The two kids exchanged glances before Robbie started to speak, "we wanted to give you your presents!"

"What?" Buffy was caught off guard. They hadn't taken the kids shopping for each other.

"Did you do this?" Dean asked.

Buffy shook her head before asking, "when did you two go shopping?"

"Uncle Sam took us with Aunt Willow and Auntie Tara!" Jenny exclaimed, obviously pleased with herself.

"They did!?" Dean laughed. Of course they did.

Jenny handed a small bag to Dean while Robbie handed a matching bag to Buffy. Both parents exchanged glances with one another before reaching down into the bag. They each retrieved coffee mugs, obviously painted by the kids. Buffy's mug featured a small pink pig on the front, bearing a striking resemblance to Mr. Gordo, who sat on the shelf above the bed. The rest of it was a mishmash of colours and shapes. Dean's mug was a mix of colours and images as well, with the letters "KAZ" painted around it carefully.

They were perfect.

"Oh my goodness, did you make these?" Buffy exclaimed, pulling little Robbie up into her lap.

"Yup, all by ourselves!" Robbie nodded happily.

"Thank you, princess. It's perfect," Dean cooed, hugging his little girl.

"Now, whattya say we get some breakfast?" Buffy said, standing up and swinging Robbie to his feet.

"Can we have waffles!?" Jenny pleaded.

"Ya, Mom, can we have waffles?" Dean joined in the pleading with a wink.

"Robbie, is that what you want too?"

Robbie nodded his head emphatically.

"Well, I guess it's unanimous. Do you guys wanna help?"

Robbie and Jenny dashed off towards the kitchen, leaving Buffy and Dean alone in the illuminated living room. Dean grabbed onto Buffy's hand, giving a squeeze, before he started towards the kitchen as well. Buffy pulled him back gently.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Did you really think I wouldn't buy you a gift either?" Buffy said with a smirk.

Dean chuckled, "I should have known. What did you do?"

No matter what he bought her, no matter what he did, she always managed to one up him. It had become a little game to the two of them over the years, and one that had become rather expensive as well. That, of course, didn't mean they were ready to stop though. Dean was sure that one day he was going to win, but he had a sneaking suspicion that today wasn't that day.

"You'll have to head out to the garage to find out," she winked.

Dean practically sprinted to the garage door. He swung the door open and flipped the light on to find that his Baby was not alone in the garage anymore. Sitting next to her was a Chevy Nova. It had seen better days, but it was easy to tell that it had been a beauty in its day; a real cherry. Most of the paint had worn off, but the remaining paint was sapphire in colour and very old. There were dents and dings throughout the body and it was definitely missing parts. It was going to take a lot of work to get her road worthy.

Dean could hardly wait to get his hands on her.

"Where did you find this?" Dean asked.

"You'd be surprised what you can find when you're determined. And when you have a couple of witches helping," she grinned.

"But…why…? I love it, don't get me wrong, but why a broken down old car?"

"Of all the stories you've told me of your childhood, there were so few that were happy memories. The way you talked about working on the Impala with your Dad was one that always stuck out to me. I figured that maybe…you'd like to do the same with our kids?"

Dean was completely awestruck. He couldn't think of a better gift to be given than the chance to build memories with his kids. To do something with them that he had so loved with his own Dad. Getting an awesome car out of the deal was nice too, of course, but nothing beat the idea of fixing it with Robbie and Jenny. That was better than anything he could have hoped for.

"You're incredible, you know that?"

Buffy grinned, "I do what I can. Merry Christmas, Dean."

Buffy reached up and kissed him.

"Merry Christmas, love."