A/N Set between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of The Other Winchester - The Rise of Darkness. I wrote this and decided it wouldn't fit with the pace of the story. It's a totally fluffy fic, no plot just some family goodness. I thought because its Christmas it be a good time to repost. I hope you enjoy it.
The Other Winchester – A Winchester Christmas
They had been back in Sioux Falls a couple of weeks and it was now Christmas eve; Haley had recovered nicely from her brush with the werewolf and other than a few bumps and bruises she was back to her old self, although still bemoaning the loss of her beloved "Baby" her Harley Davidson motorcycle. Sam and Dean had never put much thought into Christmas in fact; the last Christmas that they had celebrated was right before Dean went to Hell. This year Haley had other ideas.
"Come on guys, this is our first Christmas together don't you think we should celebrate it properly" Haley had said a few days before, green eyes pleading with her brothers. As usual neither was able to say no to their sister for long; so before they knew it Haley had them packed into one of Bobby's trucks and down to the Christmas Wonderland to pick up a Christmas Tree. Of course it couldn't just be any tree it had to be the perfect tree; the three siblings spent hours looking at every tree on the lot until eventually they found the perfect tree, which turned out to be a huge eight foot Christmas Scots Pine tree which Haley insisted would look amazing in Bobby's sitting room. So, they got the tree, next came the lights, the decorations and the garlands for the tree. Then Haley insisted that they couldn't just have a tree, so she bought a mountain of lights, decorations and garlands for the inside and outside of the house.
So here they were on the morning of Christmas Eve, putting together their first family Christmas.
"Haley, tell me again why we need a thousand Christmas cookies" Sam asked his sister from the kitchen table where he was spooning out what seemed like mountains of cookie dough onto baking sheets.
"Have you even met Dean?" Haley answered with a laugh, turning to face her brothers her long hair bundled on top of her head, her face flushed from the heat of the stove and her eyes sparkling with warmth and happiness.
"Hey!" Came Dean's indignant call from his place next to Sam.
"Besides, they've to do us through Christmas, but only if Dean STOPS eating the cookie dough before it gets cooked will there be enough!" Was their sister's, not entirely joking, response.
"Hey" Dean said again as he chewed his way through yet another bite of cookie dough, with a shrug and a laugh he said "WHAT! It's like little bites of heaven"
"I believe that there is no taste to heaven" Castiel said seriously as he too piled cookie dough onto sheets.
"Okay, can I trust you guys to finish up with the cookies whilst I go and get the last of my gifts wrapped" Haley said as she took off the little apron that she was wearing. Kissing each of her brothers on the head as she passed, she bent down and whispered into Castiel's ear "Guard the cookie dough, from the cookie thief will you?"
"Of course" Castiel said as he watched Haley leave the room, a softness in his eyes which was reserved only for her. He had come to spend Christmas with the Winchester family at Dean's request. He had said that it'd be make Haley happy to have all of their "family" together and he was more than willing to make Haley happy, although his feelings for her were more, simply more than he had experienced with another human. When he looked around again, he saw Sam and Dean looking at him with twin looks of amusement on their faces.
"Try not to be so obvious Cas" Sam said with a grin.
"Okay, I gotta tell you guys, I never saw myself doing this a year ago. I would have laid money that the world would have burned up bloody and that we'd all be dust, but here we are all alive, all together and making" pausing for dramatic effect "Christmas Cookies. Dean freaking Winchester the best damn hunter on the planet is making Christmas Cookies and do you know what?"
"No, what?" Sam asked eyes alight with laughter.
"I like it! WHY? Because it makes Hales happy" Dean said despite everything that they had been through, having their sister back in their lives after a twenty year absence was the best thing that had ever happened to him in his whole life. His relationship with Sammy, where once he had thought it broken beyond repair, was back as it should be and he had a family life that he could only dream about having when he was growing up. They might still be hunters, but that didn't take away from family. So forget about an apple pie life with Lisa, this was family and hell yeah he was happy to make Christmas Cookies.
"Yeah, she's lit up brighter than the Christmas Tree just now and given the number of lights she's piled onto that thing that's saying something" Sam said, with a wink in his brothers direction he turned to Castiel and said "So Cas, about Christmas and baby Jesus, it true?"
Castiel simply looked at him and with a quirk of an eyebrow reminiscent of Dean said seriously "That is top secret information"
The next morning found Sam and Dean, Haley, Bobby and Castiel all sitting together for breakfast. They had decided that they would wait before exchanging gifts until after breakfast when they were all properly awake. Looking around the table, Bobby couldn't remember the last time he had seen any of the occupants of this room looking so relaxed and happy. Haley had gone out of her way to make sure that everything was perfect and had spent the last few days, cooking, decorating and wrapping presents for each of her family. She had even had Castiel wiz a few presents back home to Ireland for her adoptive family. "So, we ready to open some presents then?" he said to the group as they finished up. This was met with a chorus of enthusiastic combined "Hell yeah" and "absolutely" from the Winchester siblings.
Getting up the group made their way into the sitting room; looking at it now Bobby had never seen his house look so much like a home. The tree took pride of place in the corner of the room and was decorated with many many lights and different baubles. Underneath the tree was filled out with parcels of all shapes and sizes, some decorated sweetly with bows and ribbons, others kinda thrown together, but all looked wonderful to an old man who thought he would never have a proper family. They were a kind of odd group, but they fit and they were his family. Bobby could feel his eyes tear up as he made sat down on the old worn sofa.
"Okay, I thought that we could do one each, until we get through them all" Haley said as she plopped down on the rug in front of the Christmas tree. Looking at the men in the room she said "May I?"
At the nods of response Haley started to pull the gifts from under the tree, passing one to each person. "Okay, these are from me" as the men started to open their gifts. Haley was a little nervous, she had spent quite a bit of time over the last few weeks deciding what to get. She had never bought gifts for them before and she hoped that they would like them. One by one they opened their gifts,
"Haley?" Sam said as he looked at the gift his sister had purchased for him.
"I know you never got to finish Stanford, so I thought you might like to finish school by correspondence. You know if we ever get out of hunting, we're gonna need someone with an education to support us. Besides, you can work on assignments anywhere when we are on a case and submit them by internet. I checked it out and it's a good programme" Haley explained a little nervously. Sam had told her so often, how school had meant so much to him when he was growing up and that he sometimes wondered what might have been if he hadn't gone back to hunting. Overwhelmed Sam got up and hugged his sister tight, sometimes he couldn't believe how well she knew him despite them having been separated for so long. "Thank you"
Looking from Sam to Dean, Haley smiled when she saw the look on Dean's face as he examined the hunting bow and arrows. "Nice choice sis" Dean said, he green eyes alight as he looked up at his sisters grinning face. "I think I'll set up a target out back later. Try this bad boy out!"
"Haley girl, where did you get this?" Bobby asked as he looked at the ancient book of Nostradamus predictions. "Well, it's from my own collection. I bought it a few years back at an auction. I thought you might like it" without a word Bobby simply nodded as he discreetly wiped a tear from his eye.
Finally, everyone turned to see what Haley had gotten for Castiel. Dean looked into the box as Cas peered inside his expression puzzled, looking up he said "I do not know how to play chess"
Haley laughed, her face slightly flushed as she looked at Castiel and said "I do, I thought I could teach you. I think you'd like it"
"Thank you, I would like that" Castiel replied as he stared into Haley's sparkling eyes. He was already looking forward to spending more time with her. Pulling out two of the pieces, Castiel could see that they were carved into little replicas of angels and demons.
Sam turned to look at Dean the unsaid question answered by Deans nod "Okay, Haley our turn. Dean and I got you a shared gift. I hope you don't mind"
"Of course not Sammy" Haley answered her eyes sparkling with joy, she couldn't remember ever having enjoyed Christmas so much as she was this one.
"It does however come in two parts" Sam handed the smaller of the two parcels to Dean and handed the larger parcel direct to Haley.
Taking it gently Haley peeled the wrapping paper away; looking inside she could already feel the tears well up as she took in the sight before her. Her brothers had taken the picture that Uncle Bobby had of the three of them together on their final summer vacation prior to her being taken away by her dad and had it blown up and framed. On the bottom, they had had a small gold plaque inscribed with "To Haley, our sister. A memory of the best summer of our childhood. From your brothers Dean and Sam" Haley brought her hand up to her lips as they trembled slightly with the emotions which threatened to spill over. Looking at each of her brothers in turn she said "I love it!" her eyes bright and luminous with watery unshed tears.
"Don't cry yet Hales" Dean said as he handed Haley the smaller of the two gifts. Taking the gift from Dean she carefully unwrapped the small box. As she opened it she gasped "Are these?"
"Yeah, they were moms. We thought it only right that they come to you" Dean said softly as he looked at the rings nestled in the soft satin of the box. Pulling the rings out of the box Haley placed them on her finger and with a surprised "they fit" burst into tears. Getting up she grabbed a hold of each of her brothers in turn "I love you both so much"
Without a word Castiel handed Haley a small neatly wrapped gift, which he had decorated with a small bow. He had seen how prettily Haley had wrapped her gifts and thought that she would appreciate the gesture. Haley opened the gift carefully and looked into the box. There nestled on the whitest piece of satin was a silver cross, engraved with enochian symbols, attached to the most delicate silver chain. Looking up at Castiel; Haley said "It's lovely Cas. Will you help me put it on?" She made her way over to where he was sitting. Handing Castiel the cross she turned and lifted her long hair away from her neck to allow Cas to clip the catch of the chain into place. As he did so he grazed the back of her neck lightly and felt a small shiver go through her.
Getting up from her place on the floor Haley leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Cas's cheek "Thank you Cas, it's beautiful"
"Okay Haley girl. You get mine after everyone else has opened their gifts"
The next hour or so was spent opening gifts and sharing them with each other. Eventually the last gift was opened and Bobby said "Right Haley girl, we need to go upstairs to give you your last gift" As everyone got up, Sam nudged Dean who looked at him with a wide grin. "Haley, look up" he said an answering grin on his face.
"What?" Haley said as she looked up. Turning sharply to her brothers she said "How did that get there?" indicating to the sprig of mistletoe that was directly above her and coincidently Cas, who was standing at her side. Castiel looked up and said "I do not understand the significance of this plant"
"Hales, it's traditional you know" Dean said as he tried not to laugh at the blush creeping up his sisters face. The look in her eyes however said that she might just kill him, Christmas or not.
Turning to Castiel and stepping into his personal space; Haley said "Just go with it Cas" and with a look at her brothers which promised vengeance she reached up and pulled Castiel's head down to meet hers and placed a soft but firm kiss on his lips, her tongue lightly tracing his bottom lip. Pulling back she said "It's traditional"
"Merry Christmas Cas" came the joint response from the other three men in the room, who all stood with identical grins on their face. Puzzled Castiel said "Thank you" his mind reeling he could still feel Haley's lips against his. The memories of their last brief kiss, the night of the party in Ireland playing on his mind.
Bobby's present to Haley turned out to be her very own bathroom. He had had a weekend off when the trio were away hunting and he and Castiel had put in a bathroom in one of the small rooms upstairs for her own use. Haley had squealed like the girl she was and had threw her arms around him saying "You are the BEST Uncle B"
They spent the rest of the day together as a family, and sharing a traditional Christmas. They ate Turkey with all of the trimmings and had lots of pie. Dean ate until it looked like he would burst, but still kept eating. The day passed in a haze of laughter and love with each moment creating a new memory. Evening came and found them all once again in the sitting room; Sam was on his laptop signing up for the correspondence course that Haley had bought him. Bobby was gently snoozing on the chair a game of football playing quietly on the television and Haley and Castiel where both sitting on the floor, Haley teaching Cas how to play chess, both looking at each other with small smiles as they worked through the game.
Dean was silently watching the scene before him, a beer in one hand and a plate of Christmas cookies on his lap. Looking down he said to himself "maybe I should be doing some additional training if Haley is gonna keep feeding me like this". Thinking back over the last couple of weeks Dean couldn't help but think that things were going to good, that something was coming. He recalled his conversation with Sam in the motel room right after Haley was attacked by the werewolf and her bike destroyed. Things on the demon front were to quiet, Alistair had said that it was open season on the Winchesters. Dean's knew that they were not home and dry as Sam hoped they were and that they still had to be prepared for something, hell anything that came their way. They couldn't afford to become complacent in thinking that the demons had given up on them, something just wasn't right and he couldn't put his finger on it. Looking over at Sam who in that moment looked up and caught his eye he smiled, without a word Sam smiled back and returned to looking at his computer his long hair flopping over his forehead. Dean knew in that instant that whatever came would have to go through him to get to his small unique family and swore "God help anyone who tries!"
No one in the house was aware of the lone figure standing outside in Bobby's yard, eyes as black as coal and no one heard when it said in a voice so cold "He is rising and the Winchesters will die"
Authors Note: So I told you it was a pretty fluffy fic. I hope you liked it. Let me know if you did as reviews feed the creative mind.