Thank you for reviewing Dr. Serpico, spnfanforlife, and Temperamental18. This story is dedicated to a special someone. You know who you are. Merry Christmas everyone!
It had been exactly eleven months since Deans birthday, three since finding out that Dean would never go back to normal, and one day till Christmas.
Despite the little hope Sam had felt when Dean said his name then, he hadn't started talking much more.
To keep up with the Christmas spirit, and try to encourage Dean to talk, Sam had bought both the book and the movie Annabelle's wish, which was about a boy named Billy who lived on a farm and couldn't talk since a fire in his barn. Every Christmas when Santa came by, he gave the animals the ability to speak so they could wish for something. The cow Annabelle wanted to be a reindeer, but when she met Billy, she gave up her wish and instead wished to give her voice to Billy.
Sam thought it was quite fitting considering the circumstances.
Don't get him wrong, Dean was much happier now which was great, but Sam would give most anything to hear Dean talk again, even if it was in a childs voice.
"Hey Dean, do you want to help me with this riddle? I can't figure it out."
Ever since Sam handed Dean a Sudoku book to help Dean not be bored (give the guy a break, its all he had with him at the moment) and found most of it done, hard ones included, within an hour, hed been trying to get Dean intellectually stimulated and he seemed to enjoy it ok.
Gosh Sam wish he'd known how smart Dean was when he was normal, he would've never taken advantage of him.
Dean walked over, climbed into Sams lap, and looked at the riddle for a solid five minutes.
That was another thing Sam was proud of, the fact that Dean would touch him and come to him of his own accord. It was great progress.
Dean quickly wrote down the answer and hopped off Sams lap beaming up at him.
"Wow, great job! You're so good at this; I wish I was as smart as you."
Dean frowned with a scrunched up face and hugged Sam.
Sam laughed. It wasn't hard to figure out what Dean was thinking.
"Thanks Dean, but its okay, I'm not sad I'm not that smart, I'm just proud of you."
Dean was practically shining as he looked up at Sam. Sam couldn't think for a second as he remembered the way Dean used to look surprised and disbelieving when he was an adult and Sam swore that he would never have that face again.
"I love you Dean."
He heard a whispered "love you to Sammy." And smiled.
That was the one thing Dean would always say without fail. Every day, he had two brief moments to look forward to when Dean would say "I love you Sammy" and "Goodnight Sammy." That was almost all he ever got.
"Its bedtime kiddo. If you don't get to sleep soon, Santa won't come."
Dean nodded and held his arms up to be carried to bed.
As Sam tucked him in and curled up beside him waiting for Dean to get past the basic sleep stage and be in deep enough that he could slip out. Dang kid slept light as a feather.
As Deans breathe evened out, Sam let out a quiet whisper.
"I wish you would talk."
~*~*~*~*~*SPN~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sam woke up the next morning with Dean staring at him. It was sort of creepy but Sam had gotten used to Deans little oddities such as never waking him up and watching people all the time.
"Hey buddy, you ready to open up some gifts?"
Dean nodded and they went out.
When Dean had finished opening his gifts, he handed Sam to boxes that were poorly wrapped.
"For me?"
Dean nodded and pushed the boxes further into Sams hands with an impatient look.
"Ok, ok hold your horses, I'm opening it."
In the first box was a homemade card and a chocolate bar. The second box was empty.
"Dean? Do you know where the other gift went? If not it's okay I'm just curious."
Dean looked at Sam and shook his head then whispered
"I'm sorry I wouldn't talk. I'll do it if it makes you happy."
Sam smiled at Dean with tears in his eyes.
"I'd like that very much."
