*I do not own Supernatural, if I did I could probably afford to pay for college.
I stood off to the side, watching my brother and the rest of my new family debate where to set up the Christmas tree. It still felt strange to live here with Bobby and Ellen and their kids, Ash and Jo. It felt strange to get to do things normal kids got to do, like decorate for Christmas and eat homemade cookies and drink hot chocolate. It felt strange to feel happy. Three months ago my older brother Dean and I were living in a dump, the dump I had lived in for the first 11 years of my life. Our father was always too drunk to even notice how crappy our house was, or even care if he had noticed. He was too drunk to care about me or Dean, but never too drunk to not beat us for God knows what. Three months ago my father came home, drunker and angrier than I'd ever seen him, and he drank some more. He drank and drank until he didn't wake up the next morning. Three months later Dean and I were here, living with our father's lifelong friend – who was a much better man than Dad was – and his family. It was like living a dream.
"Sam, honey," Ellen Singer wrapped her arm around my shoulders lovingly. "Do you want to help me make hot cocoa for everyone?" I nodded. Ellen and I walked into the kitchen where she began to heat milk on the stove.
"So I was thinking, what if tonight after we finish decorating the house we all go ice skating together at the lake?" Ellen suggested.
I pursed my lips. "I've never actually been ice skating," I confess. Ellen gives me the same look she always does when I say something like that, it's a little bit of sadness plus a lot of caring. Basically, she looks at me like she wants to fix everything that I've had to deal with my whole life and erase all the bad memories and replace them with good ones. I'd let her, if it was possible.
"Then we definitely have to go." Ellen and I smile together.
When the cocoa is done we grab all six mugs and bring to the living room. Jo pounces on me before I can even set the mugs down, nearly spilling all of the drinks. "Thanks, Sam!" She calls. Dean gently grabs another mug out of my hands. Dean and I sit together on a couch, watching as the Singer family decorates the tree.
Dean slings his arm over my shoulders, pulling me in for a hug. "You having fun, Sammy?" Dean looks at me intently.
I nod. "Yeah Dean. I like it here." Dean smiles at me. "Do you?"
"Yeah Sammy, I like it here too." Dean gives me another squeeze.
"Yo Dean, Sam, come help us hang the stockings." Ash calls to us. Dean and I get up and pick our stockings out of the pile. Ash hands us each a removable wall hook that we put on the fireplace mantle. It's nice to have a fireplace, lined with stockings for each of us. It's nice to have a real family, and a real Christmas.
A new Christmas song starts to play on the radio. Bobby grabs Ellen by the arm and swings her around the room. Jo claps along and Ash rolls his eyes at his parents dancing around the living room.
I look around the room and smile. I have a family, a real, normal family. This has got to be some kind of Christmas Miracle.