There is really no excuse for the fluffy, very happy, feel-good, AU of this story, just as a warning :P This was requested by AnastaziaDanielle who wanted a Sam/Jess AU where Jess lives and they have two kids and Dean goes to visit for the holidays. Hope you enjoy this one, my friend :)

(Disclaimer: Ian and Emily are my own creations)

A Merry Little Christmas

For AnastaziaDanielle

Dean sighed as he tapped his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. Only twenty more miles to Palo Alto and he was crawling through rush hour traffic. All he wanted was to get to Sammy's house and have the chance to meet his new niece. He hadn't gotten back to California for nearly six months now, between hunts and everything, so he hadn't gotten to meet Sam and Jess' new daughter, Emily. Ian, their four-year-old son, had been champing at the bit for Uncle Dean to get there, and was probably driving his mom and dad crazy. Dean smiled at that thought. "This traffic is driving me crazy too," he muttered to himself.

Finally though, he made it through and got into Palo Alto in the late afternoon. At least he would still be able to get there for dinner. He only wished he could have come earlier than Christmas Eve, but a werewolf hunt in Colorado had run longer than expected. He had had time to do a little shopping on the way there, however, and planned on staying until after New Year's.

He pulled up to the cozy little house and he always felt a wave of happiness wash over him as he saw it with its front lawn and warmly lit windows—a real home. It was everything he had ever wished for Sam; his little brother was finally happy, which in turn, made Dean happy, though he would never admit that out loud because that was too close to a chick flick moment.

He had only barely parked the Impala outside the house when the door flew open and Ian ran out, grinning happily and shouting.

"Uncle Dean!" he called.

"Hey, buddy!" Dean cried with a laugh as he got out of the car and swept the little boy into his arms, spinning him around.

"He's been waiting by the door all day."

Dean looked up to see his little brother grinning at him. "Sammy," he said.

"Hey Dean," Sam replied and stepped forward to hug his brother, Ian squished between them.

"You look good, Sam, though it looks like you packed on a few pounds." Dean grinned and teasingly poked Sam in the stomach, making him slap his hand away.

"You're one to talk," Sam retorted.

"I'm fighting fit," Dean scoffed and turned back to Ian. "Why don't you help me bring my stuff inside? There might be something for you."

"Yes, yes!" Ian cried and scrambled out of Dean's arms as he opened the trunk and pulled out a box of presents.

"Careful, its kinda heavy!" he said as Ian grabbed the box and headed inside with it. Dean grabbed his duffle bag and closed up the trunk, turning back to Sam and slinging an arm around his shoulders as they headed back inside. "So, how is my little niece?"

"See for yourself," Sam said, closing the door behind them and Dean turned to see Jessica standing nearby, holding a bundle of pink blankets in her arms.

"Hi, Dean," Jess said with a smile. "How was your trip?"

"Long, but I'm here now," Dean said and kissed her cheek before looking down at the bundle in her arms. "Couldn't miss getting to see my new niece."

"Would you like to hold her?" Jess asked and put her into Dean's arms before he could say yes or no. He couldn't help a smile as the tiny bundle shifted and gave a small sound of protest at being disturbed and he looked down at her delicate features, stroking her tiny cheek with a finger.

"Hey there, Emily, it's your Uncle Dean," he said before turning back to Jess. "She sure is pretty. Definitely doesn't take after her dad."

"Oh shut up," Sam said good-naturedly, putting an arm around Jess and grinning proudly as his brother smiled down at his daughter.

Ian came back from putting the presents under the Christmas tree and glommed onto Dean's leg. "I'm a big brother now, just like you, Uncle Dean," the boy said proudly.

"You are," Dean said with a proud smile. "I'll have to teach you all the tricks of the trade. You'll especially have your work cut out for you with a little sister. Gotta make sure the boys treat her well."

"I will, I take good care of her!" Ian said jumping up and down before running to Jess. "Can I show Uncle Dean how I feed Em her bottle, Mommy?"

"Sure, Ian, she does need to eat. Go sit on the couch."

Dean followed Ian into the family room and sat beside him on the couch, handing the boy's little sister over to him. Emily's eyes opened, hazel like her daddy's, and looked up at Ian and reached out a tiny hand toward his face. Dean smiled.

"Look at that, she already trusts you."

"Of course she does," Ian said matter-of-factly as he took the bottle Jess brought to him and began to feed his little sister. That brought back memories for Dean. Memories of feeding Sammy in the backseat of the Impala while John drove, getting up and taking care of him during the night when their dad had had a long hunt and needed rest. Dean swallowed hard, his throat suddenly tight, but with relief and thankfulness. He was so glad that Ian and Emily wouldn't have to go through the same thing he and Sammy had. He looked up and saw Sam starting back at him with a small worried crease between his brows.

"You okay?" he asked quietly.

Dean smiled genuinely, the gesture instantly making his brother relax. "Yeah, a little tired. But not so much I can't help put cookies under the tree for Santa and read Ian a bedtime story."

Ian perked up. "You have to read The Night Before Christmas, Uncle Dean!"

"Whatever you want, kiddo," Dean told him.

Jessica came back into the room then. "Well, right now, dinner's ready. I'm going to go put Emily down and then we can eat. Would you set the table, Ian?"

"You can sit next to me, Uncle Dean!" Ian said as he ran off.

Dean chuckled and turned to Sam. "How have you been, little brother?"

Sam nodded with a smile. "I've been good. We've all been good. What about you?"

Dean shrugged. "Aw, you know, the usual. Wish I could get out here more often."

"Well, I actually was going to talk to you about that," Sam began, but was interrupted by Ian coming back into the room.

"I set the table, Mommy said to come into the kitchen!"

Sam motioned to the direction of the dining room. "We can talk later, shall we?"

"Yeah, I'm starving," Dean said and allowed himself to be pulled into the other room by his nephew.

After dinner was done, Dean helped Ian pick cookies for Santa and put them on a plate with a glass of milk.

"And a carrot for the reindeers," Ian said, adding a carrot to the plate.

"Here, why don't you let me grab the milk, buddy," Dean said as he foresaw a disaster approaching with the precariously balanced glass of milk and grabbed it off the plate as Ian carried it to the fireplace and set it down on the hearth. Then he sat and grabbed a present from under the tree.

"We got you presents too, Uncle Dean; I picked this one out, wanna rattle it?"

Dean grinned and took the box, shaking it slightly. "Hm, I have no idea what that could be. I bet it's awesome if you picked it out, though."

Ian grinned and sorted through the ones Dean had brought, shaking them and trying to guess what they were before Jessica came in and told him it was time for bed.

"Aw, but I wanna rattle my presents more," Ian said.

Dean stood and picked him up, settling him on his hip. "Yeah, but if you don't go to bed soon, Santa won't come. Besides, we were going to read a story…unless you don't want to read…"

"Yes, yes, read to me, Uncle Dean!" Ian said bouncing in his arms.

"Okay, then go brush your teeth," Dean set him down and headed to the boy's room, finding the book already off the shelf and set on the bed. When Ian came back he leapt onto the bed, and Dean sat against the pillows as the boy snuggled against his side, his head resting on Dean's shoulder.

"Okay, let's get to it," Dean said, putting an arm around Ian. "''Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...'"

By the time he was done reading, Ian was asleep, dreaming of sugarplums. Dean eased himself from the bed, and pulled a blanket over the boy before tip-toeing out and closing the door behind him.

He went back out to the family room where Sam was stoking a fire in the grate. He turned with a smile as Dean entered.

"He asleep?"

"Went right out," Dean told him with a chuckle.

"How about some eggnog?" Sam asked, pointing to a bowl on a table beside the tree.

"Your nog?" Dean raised an eyebrow as Sam shrugged. "You wanna kill me, kiddo?"

Sam laughed and poured some into two cups and pressed one into his brother's hands. "Just take it, dude. You know you love it."

"Yeah, whatever you need to tell yourself, Samantha." Dean hid a smirk as he took a sip and—yup just like he remembered.

"So anyway," Sam said, shifting a bit awkwardly in the way Dean knew meant that he was about to say something he wasn't sure Dean would like. "About what I was saying earlier…"

"Yeah, you got me curious," Dean said, turning from the fire a minute to cast a sideways glance at his brother. "Something up with you?"

"No, nothing like that," Sam quickly reassured. "It's a good thing, at least, I hope it is, but it's really for you to decide, after all."

"Sammy, spit it out," Dean told him.

Sam huffed a laugh. "Okay, so this friend of Jess's told me the other day that he was planning on renting out his apartment. It's in a complex just down the road and it's a nice place, decent price, I thought…maybe you would be interested."

"Me?" Dean asked, genuinely surprised.

"Well, yeah," Sam said, shifting again. "I mean, you don't have to stay there all the time, and I'm not asking you to give up hunting, it's just, I thought it would be nice for you to have your own place, I know it's what you've always really wanted—don't give me that look! And besides, Ian would love to have you around more. And I'd like both him and Em to grow up around their Uncle."

"You seem to have this all thought out," Dean said, going over to pour more eggnog.

"Well, I've done a lot of thinking about it," Sam said. "Like, the fact that I think you would really enjoy having your own place to crash in when you needed. And…well…I kinda miss my big brother." He rolled his eyes as Dean snorted a laugh. "I just thought you might consider it."

"Aw, Sammy, you know I can't help it when you look at me with the puppy eyes," Dean said.

"I am not looking at you with the puppy eyes," Sam protested.

"Oh, yes you are, and you know it too," Dean said with a chuckle, taking a swig of the eggnog and wincing. "But honestly? I really like the idea. It might take a little thought, but I'm glad you brought it up to me. What do you say we go see it sometime next week?"

"Sure, that would be great," Sam said, grinning genuinely.

"And, hey, I miss my little brother too," Dean said. "Even if it is a lot quieter on hunts without you. Not to mention less gassy in the car."

"Oh, come on, dude, you know you're just as bad."

"Oh, yeah, and you were always the one who liked to pass the blame with the gas."

"At least I never snored."

"Oh come on, you know that isn't true! And I'm definitely going to ask Jess the truth about that one."

"All right, fine, I concede," Sam said and huffed a laugh before he turned to his brother and raised his glass. "Merry Christmas, jerk."

Dean smiled back and touched glasses. "Merry Christmas, bitch."

Then they stood in companionable silence watching the fire blaze as snow started to fall outside.

If you want more Christmas stories, check out the story I'm co-writing with AnastaziaDanielle "Home for the Holidays" it's posted on her profile and features Sam and Dean going to spend Christmas with Bobby but they meet two recently fatherless boys and help them have a happy holiday.

Up next is a story for Aini NuFire!