Dean Winchester glanced over at his younger brother Sam and sighed heavily. Sam was sitting up against the headboard of yet another motel bed in front of the television. By all appearances, it seemed that Sam was entranced by the cartoon on the TV, but Dean could tell that Sam's mind was not on how Pixie and Dixie were going to escape from Mr. Jinks this time. There was sadness in Sam's eyes that only Dean could see, sadness Dean had felt many times but had learned to hide.
"So, Sammy," Dean spoke up, hoping to cheer up his brother, "what do you want to do for your birthday?"
Sam dragged his eyes away from the TV screen and fixed his attention on Dean, a small hint of confusion on his face. "We can't do anything, Dean. Dad told us to stay here and not to leave."
"I know what Dad said," Dean replied, "but if you could do anything you wanted, what would you want to do?"
With a small sigh, Sam flicked his eyes back to the TV and shrugged. "I don't know."
Dean narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to get a read on his brother. "Come on, Sammy, you have to want to do something."
Sam kept quiet for a moment before blurting out, "I want to have a big dinner with you and Dad and have cake and ice cream. That's what I want to do for my birthday." With tears quickly welling in his eyes, he dropped his gaze to his hands. "And I know you want to give me what I want, but you can't give me that."
Dean, too, looked down at his hands. "No, I can't."
Sam sighed, taking a moment to compose himself, and faced the television again. "It's not fair, Dean."
"I know it's not."
Dean knew that Sam was right; it wasn't fair. A boy just turning seven should want toys and games for his birthday, and instead, Sam was wishing for family time. At eleven, though, Dean understood something that Sam was just too young to understand, that their father had a reason for doing what he did. He had a reason for going out after evil creatures, a reason for dragging them with him, and a reason to leave them in motel rooms for days on end. To Dean, their family wasn't typical, but it still was a family. To Sam, though, it seemed as if their father was just gone all the time.
After another few moments of silence, Dean got an idea. He stood up from his place at the small table in the room and walked over to his duffel bag. After rummaging for a minute, he managed to turn up a ten-dollar bill his father had left him for emergency money. Then he walked over to the television and switched it off. "Hey!" Sam cried. "I was watching that!"
Dean just smiled calmly at his brother and tossed Sam's sneakers up onto the bed from the floor. "Here. Put these on."
Sam furrowed his brow as Dean put on his own sneakers. "What are we doing?"
"Just put on your sneakers," Dean insisted.
Sam rolled his eyes but he did as he was told, slipping his left root into the sneaker without untying it first. As he slid his right foot into the other shoe, Dean grabbed his hand and dragged him to the door. As Dean took the chain lock down, Sam's eyes widened. "Dean, Dad said we couldn't leave!"
"I know what Dad said," Dean repeated, "but he's not going to know unless one of us tells him, right?" Sam nodded, amazed that his brother was outright defying their father's orders. "So, I'll promise not to tell him if you promise the same thing."
A small smile tugged at the corners of Sam's mouth. "I promise."
"Good." Dean opened the door, pushed his brother out, and after patting his pocket to make sure he had the room key on him, closed the door behind the two of them.
When John had first driven them into the motel a couple of days prior, Dean had seen a sign for a game room. After standing in the bright May sun for a moment to orient himself, he started walking in the direction of the office. A quick tug on Sam's hand got his brother to follow him.
Dean looked down at Sam and smiled. The combination of confusion, anticipation, and amazement on his face was priceless. Dean was slightly amazed himself that he was disobeying his father, but he wanted to do something special for Sam on his birthday. He had a funny feeling that if they did get caught, John would at least understand why Dean had done what he was doing. He might not like it, but he'd understand.
As they boys got closer to the game room, Sam finally figured out that his birthday present was a trip outside to play and have fun. He jumped up and down then took off running towards the game room once it was in sight. Dean laughed and ran past his brother. "I'm going to get there first!"
"Nuh uh!" Sam yelled, speeding up.
They reached the threshold of the game room door at the same time. "Jinx!" Sam exclaimed, out of breath but giggling.
"Jinx only works if you say something at the same time," Dean said with a slight roll of his eyes. "It doesn't work on ties."
"Oh," Sam frowned. He took a quick look around the game room and broke out in a huge smile. "Dean! They have Skee-Ball! And air hockey! We have to play air hockey, Dean, we have to!"
"All right, all right!" Dean smiled as he took the ten out of his pocket. "Let me go change this out."
Sam, out of force of habit, followed his brother as Dean asked a worker at the counter to change out his bill for some quarters. The woman handed Dean a roll of quarters and smiled, telling the two boys to have fun. Dean thanked her, opened the roll, and handed Sam eight quarters. He pocketed the rest to ensure that he had enough money left for the second part of the surprise. "What do you want to do first?" he asked Sam. Asif he didn't already know.
"Air hockey!" Sam exclaimed. "Then Skee-Ball, and then Pac-Man, and then air hockey again!" He ran over to the air hockey table and slipped two quarters into the slots in the side of the table. "Come on, Dean!"
"You'd think you've never played air hockey before," Dean laughed as he joined his brother at the table.
After the boys had played three games of air hockey, two of which Dean had won, Sam grew antsy. "Can I go play Skee-Ball now?"
"Yeah, sure," Dean said with a shrug. "Just stay where I can see you."
"Always do!" Sam called over his shoulder as he ran to the Skee-Ball alleys.
With Sam stationed at the rightmost Skee-Ball alley, Dean took the time to walk around the game room, searching for vending machines. That was the second part of the surprise; he was hoping against hope that he could find some kind of treat. He might not have been able to give his brother cake and ice cream, but he could at least try to find something special for him.
There were no vending machines in the game room proper, but there was a second entrance to the game room that opened up into the motel office. There, they had vending machines. Dean glanced back over at Sam, and when he saw that his brother had just started a new game, he slipped through the door. He hurried over to the vending machines, glancing quickly at the rows of candy bars and bags of chips. A small smile spread across Dean's face as one of the items on the bottom row caught his eye. He slipped six quarters into the coin slot and purchased two of the item. He turned his attention to the second vending machine, a refrigerated one. With a wide grin, he dropped four quarters into that machine and purchased two items from the top row. Then, he got two cans of soda from the third and final machine.
He ran back to the game room, relieved to find Sam exactly where he left him. "Sammy, come on!" he called.
Sam rolled a ball down the alley before turning around to face his brother. "I've still got three balls left!"
Dean nodded and gestured to his brother that he'd be outside. He settled down at a picnic table outside the door of the game room, squinting against the bright sunlight. He set his two items in front of him and opened his Coke, then he set Sam's two snacks and soda across the table.
A moment later, Sam exited the game room. "What's going on?" His gaze landed on the picnic table and let out a small, touched gasp when he saw the two snacks set out for him: an ice cream sandwich and a Hostess cupcake.
"It's not a big dinner, and Dad's not here, but this is kind of like cake and ice cream," Dean said, watching as Sam sat down at the table and excitedly ripped the paper wrapping off of the ice cream sandwich.
"This is awesome, Dean!" Sam said around a mouthful of ice cream.
"Don't mention it, squirt," Dean replied, grinning at his brother's enthusiasm. Sam didn't smile very often, but when he did, his whole face brightened. Dean was just happy that he was able to make his brother happy, even if it was only for one day. "Happy birthday, Sammy."
Sam smiled gratefully at Dean as he popped the last of the ice cream sandwich in his mouth. "Thanks." He opened the cupcake before he had even swallowed.
"Slow down there, killer, or you're going to make yourself sick. We've got plenty of time." Dean took a sip of his soda. "When we're done, do you want to play another game of air hockey?"
"I need to beat you again," Sam said by way of an answer.
"You can try," Dean retorted. When Sam looked up, Dean just raised his eyebrows and gave his brother a mischievous grin.
"You're on!" Sam exclaimed, downing his mouthful of cake with a gulp of soda. He grabbed the cupcake in one hand and the soda can in the other and started heading back into the game room. "Come on!" Dean chuckled and followed his brother inside.
After another three games of air hockey, two of which Sam won this time around, the two brothers were out of quarters. Sam pouted for just a moment when Dean informed him of that fact, but he grabbed his almost-empty soda can and began heading for the door.
The two of them silently made their way back to their room, both of them slightly afraid that they would round the corner and see that their father had returned while they were out. Dean was even preparing himself for a screaming match, but the boys were lucky; the Impala was not parked anywhere near their room. Dean allowed a small sigh of relief to escape before digging around in his pocket for the room key.
He opened the door and allowed Sam to enter before him. He took a quick sip of Coke before entering the room himself and pulled the door closed behind him. Dean sat down on the bed, kicked off his sneakers, and set his can on the nightstand between the two beds.
"Hey, Dean?" Sam spoke up as he took off his own sneakers.
"Yeah?"
"It kind of makes me sad that we can't tell Dad about what we did today."
Dean furrowed his brow in confusion. "Why?"
Sam smiled widely. "Because this was the best birthday ever."