Ignore the title, I couldn't help myself :P This one was requested by Tisha Wyman who wanted a story where 'Dean finds the Christmas spirit'. Not sure this is exactly what you were expecting, but I hope you enjoy it anyway :)
I can't believe it's only about a week until Christmas!
Also thanks to my guest reviewer KAL, glad you're enjoying these :)
The Mark of …. Candy Cane?
For Tisha Wyman
Sam Winchester woke up slowly, actually feeling rested for once. He groaned and rolled over to check his clock and saw it was 7:30 in the morning. A little later than he usually got up, but they had been putting in a lot of hours the last few days hunting a ghost a couple towns over and Sam was glad to get some rest. For once he would really just like to relax on the holidays.
He sat up and yawned, then frowned, as he saw something very red and green resting at the foot of his bed. He reached down to pick it up and unfolded it to reveal a very, er, decorative Christmas sweater with jungle bells and mooses on it. He wasn't exactly sure what to make of that. Maybe he just needed some coffee.
He shuffled out of the room, shivering in the chill air and looked up to see Cas, already dressed, coming out of his room. It was what he was dressed in though that surprised Sam. From the waist down, he was just wearing the jeans that they had bought him since he became human, but above the waist he was adorned in an extremely garish Christmas sweater with a bright Christmas tree right in the middle of it.
"Good morning, Sam," Cas said.
"Uh, good morning, Cas," Sam said, then had to ask. "Um, did you buy these sweaters?"
Cas frowned and shook his head. "No, I assumed it was you or Dean. It is rather…colorful. I only wore it so I wouldn't offend anyone."
"Must me some prank Dean's pulling," Sam decided, wanting coffee even more now. He and Cas stepped out of the dormitory ward and into…
What could only be described as what would happen if a Christmas store vomited in the bunker. Christmas lights were strung around every inch of the bookshelves, some around the railing of the stairs. Some were accompanied by garlands that hung on the tops of bookshelves, and also were laid out in the middle of the tables with surprisingly tasteful holly berry displays. But what really caught Sam's eye was the giant Christmas tree that sat in one corner of the library. Even though the bunker was huge, the tree made the area seem incredibly small in comparison. Surrounding the tree were boxes of decorations and more lights, as if there wasn't already enough of those.
Cas stopped beside him with a confused stare. "What is all this?"
Sam still couldn't form words by the time Dean appeared—and then he was even more speechless. His brother was also wearing a garish Christmas sweater, but he also had on an apron with a gingerbread man on it and a rather unnerving grin on his face.
"Cas! Sammy, you're up!" he exclaimed.
"Dude," Sam finally got out. "What the hell is all this?"
Dean frowned as if Sam were stupid. "What do you mean? It's Christmas, Sammy. I just did some decorating."
"Some?" Sam asked. "Dude, you like, bought an entire Christmas store. How did you even fit all this stuff into the Impala? How did you decorate so fast?"
Dean shrugged as if it were no big deal. "You guys were asleep, I just went out on the supply run, saw the decorations and decided we should do Christmas this year." He frowned and pointed a spatula he had been carrying at Sam. "And you're not wearing your Christmas sweater. If you don't, you won't get any gingerbread pancakes."
"Gingerbread pancakes?" Sam asked before Dean went back into the kitchen and to the supposed pancakes. He looked over at Cas, slack-jawed and the ex-angel shared a look.
"I think we might have a problem," Cas said.
Sam nodded then retreated to his room to dress. He reluctantly pulled on the Christmas sweater but until he knew what was going on, he figured it was better off just going along with whatever Dean wanted. He really didn't know what this was, but one thing was sure. That wasn't his brother.
He met Cas in the kitchen where the ex-angel was sitting at the table, watching as Dean flipped pancakes on the stove. He plopped two onto plates and brought them over to Sam and Cas. Sam just stared down at his. They were shaped like gingerbread men. He didn't even know that was possible.
"Eat," Dean commanded, setting the syrup down. "They're delicious!"
Sam shared a look with Cas again, and then as Dean's back was turned, reached into his pocket for his flask of holy water and poured some into Dean's coffee. When Dean came back with his own pancakes and sat down, Sam and Cas held their breath as he sipped the coffee but without any adverse effects. Okay, so he wasn't possessed. That at least was a good thing, but that still left a plethora of options for them to work through. Shapeshifter being the next one, although why a shapeshifter would pretend to be a Christmas obsessed Dean he had no clue. They couldn't rule out any options yet though.
"So, I don't know about you, but I haven't gotten any Christmas shopping done yet," Dean told them, eating the pancakes with enthusiasm. Cas took a tentative bite, and then seemed to decide they weren't bad so Sam did the same. "I thought we could go into town today, to the mall or something, and do a little shopping."
"Are you sure?" Sam asked skeptically, after deciding that the gingerbread pancakes were actually really good. "I mean, tomorrow's Christmas Eve, everything is going to be a zoo."
"It'll be fun! Where's your Christmas spirit, Sammy?"
Sam snorted, wanting to comment that he never really had any, but Cas beat him to it.
"Dean, we are just slightly concerned. You're not acting exactly like yourself."
The elder Winchester frowned. "What do you mean? Can't I enjoy Christmas? There's no crime against it!"
"No, Dean, there's nothing wrong with it," Sam insisted quickly. "It's just you've never been this excited about Christmas before is all."
Dean shrugged and smiled. "Guess I just found the Christmas spirit this year."
Sam felt a niggling at the back of his mind at that, but shook himself. Maybe if they spent the day with Dean, they would be able to pinpoint what was wrong with him. "Okay, Dean. We'll go to the mall and shop. I guess it would be nice to have an actual Christmas this year."
Dean beamed and stuffed the rest of his pancake into his mouth. "Great! We leave in ten. And don't take off your Christmas sweaters!"
Sam grunted and turned to Cas balefully. "Well, I guess it's not the worst thing that's ever happened to us."
He began to reevaluate that sentiment when they finally entered the mall, which, as he had feared, was swarming with last minute shoppers.
"This looks dangerous," Cas stated, shifting nervously in his garish Christmas sweater.
"Come on!" Dean commanded, striding forward as if he knew exactly what he was doing.
Sam bit back a protest and grabbed Cas' sleeve, forcing both of them through the throng after Dean. They almost ran into his back as he stopped quickly and turned around.
"Alright, you know the rules, we all go separate ways and no following or spying, got it?" Dean commanded, glaring at them.
"Sure, no problem," Sam said and Dean smiled and started making his way through the crazy shoppers again. Sam turned to Cas. "Let's follow him."
They trailed Dean to several stores, trying to figure out if he was doing anything weird, all the time watching for any potential supernatural baddies that might pop up. Since they still didn't know what was going on with Dean, they couldn't be too careful.
Eventually, though, they realized they had lost Dean. Sam and Cas stood among the mall kiosks and looked around.
"Where did he go?" Cas wondered. "He was right there a second ago."
"I know," Sam replied in exasperation and motioned for Cas to follow him. "Come on, let's—agh!"
They turned around, only to almost run into a very angry Dean, standing behind them with his arms crossed.
"Are you trying to spy on me to see what you're getting?" he demanded.
"Um, no," Sam tried, but Dean jabbed a finger into his chest.
"Well, scram!" the elder Winchester commanded.
Sam and Cas hurried away, casting furtive glances back at Dean until they realized he was doing the same thing. Then they stopped behind a pretzel stand, peeking back to find Dean had disappeared again. "Okay. That was close."
"Sam, do you think it's possible that nothing at all is wrong with Dean?" Cas inquired.
Sam entertained that notion only for a second, before shaking his head. "No, something is definitely up with him. He's just not…Dean."
"Then what do we do now?" Cas asked.
Sam shrugged. "Well, I guess since we're here we may as well go Christmas shopping. If Dean is so into it this year, we may as well attempt to enjoy ourselves as well."
He turned and saw that one of the jewelry kiosks, also had a display of decorative knives. One in particular caught Sam's eye; a hefty pocketknife with embossed silver handle. "Hold on, Cas," he said and asked the kiosk owner how much the knife was. Deciding he could afford it, Sam bought it for Dean. It had been a long time since he had actually gotten Dean a nice gift.
"It's silver too," he added. "Just in case."
Cas nodded in agreement and the two of them continued on their shopping venture. Sam didn't stop worrying about Dean and what he might be getting up to, but he at least tried to enjoy himself a little. At least he was tall enough to see over the plethora of people milling around.
Eventually, they ended up in the food court for lunch after Cas had found Dean a new robe so Sam didn't have to complain about the 'dead guy robe' he had found in the bunker when they first got there, and he also had something he was hiding from Sam. Sam had managed to buy Cas a new jacket in one of the department stores so he hoped the ex-angel wouldn't peek into the bag.
"I wonder if I should text Dean," Sam said.
Cas shook his head and pointed. "No need, there he is."
Dean came up to them with several bags and a smile on his face. "You guys get everything you need? I don't know about you but I would really like a hot chocolate."
Again, Sam wondered what had happened to his brother, but he smiled back. "Okay, we can get a hot chocolate on the way out."
"And when we get back, it's time to decorate the Christmas tree and start baking cookies!" Dean stated.
"Okay, sure," Sam agreed, casting a glance at Cas.
Once they got back to the bunker, they found Dean had also bought wrapping paper and bows during his Christmas shopping spree that morning so they were able to wrap their presents. Then they set about decorating the huge Christmas tree that Dean had somehow gotten into the bunker all by himself that morning.
"Isn't this fun? We've never gotten to do this before," Dean said with a happy smile as he and the others hung ornaments from the tree limbs.
Sam, despite the strangeness of his brother's current state, actually had to agree that this was actually pretty fun. "Yeah, it is," he admitted. "It's kinda nice to just get to relax and enjoy the holidays."
"Right?" Dean beamed before he went to plug the tree in and the lights illuminated it. "There. Perfect. Now we have something to put our gifts under!"
"Is that truly the only function for the Christmas tree?" Cas asked as he hung one of the last red balls up.
"Of course not, but it's the most important," Dean grinned and then clapped their shoulders. "Come on, let's go make some cookies, I have some great recipes I want to try!"
The rest of the day they spent laboring in the kitchen, making batch after batch of cookies in all shapes and forms. Sam and Cas tried to escape on several occasions, but Dean wouldn't let them go at all, always catching them if they tried to slip out. And they listened to Christmas music for hours during the cooking making and Sam had continuous hand cramps from all the decorating. It had been going on for almost five hours as the cookies kept piling up, and probably would have gone on longer if Sam hadn't been able to convince Dean that they should watch some Christmas movies. This, amazingly, Dean agreed to, and while they were watching The Christmas Story he thankfully conked out on the couch, obviously exhausted, and started snoring.
Sam and Cas tiptoed away from the couch and into the kitchen, which was covered wall to wall with cookies. In fact, Sam wasn't sure how Dean had gotten all the supplies to make them, they seemed to be endless. What could possibly have happened that morning at the store to cause this.
And then Sam felt really stupid. "The store," he groaned, slapping his forehead.
"What?" Cas asked.
"It has to be the store! Dean went there this morning and something must have happened to make him go insane like this. What if it's some kind of Christmas spirit hex?"
Cas pondered this. "That could be possible. But to what purpose? It doesn't seem necessarily to be a dangerous thing. At least not yet."
"I don't know," Sam said, musing more on the subject now. "But I think we need to go check it out first thing in the morning. Right now though, I really want some real food."
The next morning, Sam woke early and tried his best to get him and Cas out of the bunker without Dean noticing. However, his plan was in vain, for as soon as the two of them exited the dormitory wing Dean was on them with a fresh Christmas sweater and a renewed grin.
"Guys, where are your sweaters?" he demanded, his grin disappearing.
"Uh," Sam tried, but Dean was already running off to the other room, returning with a bag from which he produced an elf hat, which he promptly plopped onto Sam's head. He then did the same to Cas with a jingly Santa hat.
"Never mind, I got these instead. Come on, let's have some hot chocolate and Christmas cookies for breakfast."
Sam and Cas looked at each other before they were racing after Dean. "Dean, hey," Sam tried but Dean was singing "Jingle Bells" to himself off-key and Sam bit his lip, wondering how to approach this.
"Dean!" Cas tried. "You're not yourself!"
Dean stopped and glared at them. "Come on, guys, would you stop? Can't I just enjoy Christmas? Are you scrooges or something?"
"Dean, we're just wondering if something happened at the store yesterday," Sam tried as calmly as possible. "You've been…different ever since. Did you meet someone there?"
"We just want to make sure you're okay," Cas pleaded.
Dean put down the mugs he was carrying and glared at them. "You know what, scrooges get coal in their stockings. Now sit down and eat your cookies!"
"Dean, what if something is wrong? Wouldn't you want to know? I mean, what happens if this lasts until after Christmas?" Sam tried.
"That's it," Dean growled and left the room, coming back with a strand of lights. "I really didn't want to have to do this, Sammy, but…"
Sam didn't even have time to react, he was so surprised to find his brother pushing him into a chair and tying him up with Christmas lights. Cas followed and pretty soon, both of them were in the most festive bonds they had ever been in, with plates of cookies set in front of them. Dean picked up a gingerbread man and shoved it into Cas' mouth before the ex-angel could protest.
"There, eat your cookies. I'll untie you when you decide to embrace your Christmas spirit. Sammy, you too." Dean glowered at him, holding up another cookie.
"Dean, come on, you have to know you're not yourself," Sam pleaded, or tried to, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he too had a cookie shoved into it.
"You guys just don't want to celebrate Christmas with me," Dean grumbled. "Well, we're going to have a nice Christmas this year if I have to keep you tied to these chairs the whole time. Now, stay, I'll be back in a minute."
Sam wriggled instantly as Dean left the room, and cast a glance at Cas. "I think I may be able to get out."
"Good, I'll keep him distracted, while you get out and go to the store," Cas whispered as they both cast furtive glances toward the entrance to the kitchen.
Sam gave one last twist and pulled his arms free; after that he was able to untangle himself and stand up. "Just try to keep an eye on him. Don't let him do anything crazy."
"Just go!" Cas hissed as they could hear Dean coming back.
Sam hurried out the other entrance of the kitchen to the bunker's garage, hearing Dean call for him just as he closed the door behind him. He ran to the Impala and was away before Dean could come find him.
It was Christmas Eve and the store was busy with people buying last minute things for their Christmas dinners. Sam was determined to search the place top to bottom though, if it meant finding out what had happened to Dean.
Thankfully, it turned out that he didn't have to go that far.
His eye caught one of the cashiers, a young brunet woman, who was smiling at all the people, decked out in Christmas colors and even a Christmas hat. Sam edged closer to her, as he watched her talk to the people she was ringing up.
"I hope you have a wonderful holiday! Keep up your Christmas spirit!"
Sam continued to watch as a man who looked flustered and just about done with everyone being in his way grunted at the cashier's bubbly attitude. She frowned, anger flitting over her gaze. Sam watched as she turned away from the man, muttering something under her gaze as she picked up a candy cane, and then turned back to him with a smile and handed him the candy.
"I hope you have a fantastic Christmas," she said.
So it was a hex. Sam bit his lip and went to grab a couple groceries before he got into the woman's line. When he got up to her he leveled a gaze at her.
"I know you're a witch," he said, cutting to the chase. "You hexed my brother. I want you tell me how to fix him."
She looked slightly shocked, then indignant. "I'm not hurting anyone. I'm just giving them a little Christmas spirit! There's not enough of that. Everyone is just so worried about what they're getting for gifts that no one really sits back and enjoys the holidays anymore. Not the way they should be, with family and togetherness."
"Well, my brother is going insane. He tied me and our friend to a chair with Christmas lights and forced us to eat cookies. Whatever hex you used on him seems to be escalating, and it might get worse."
She bit her lip and then sighed. "Fine. I'll give you something to fix him, but I hope he learned his lesson."
"And please stop," Sam added. "I don't want to have to come after you. It's Christmas, after all."
She glared at him but nodded. She turned to pick up another candy cane and said a spell over it. It glowed for a second then stopped, and she handed it to Sam. "There. Give this to him and it should reverse the spell." Sam pocketed it and paid for his groceries, before the girl said, "Thanks."
Sam smiled at her. "Merry Christmas."
By the time he got back to the bunker, Cas was still tied to the chair and looked sick on the cookies that Dean kept shoving into his mouth. Sam's older brother looked up as he came in and glowered, while Cas looked relieved.
"Sammy, why did you run away?" Dean demanded.
Sam forced a smile. "Just wanted to do a little last minute shopping. Here, I got you this." He handed Dean the candy cane. "Eat it now."
Dean took the candy and with only slight hesitation, he ripped it open and popped it into his mouth. Sam held his breath and watched as he saw Dean suck on the candy cane a few times. He was about to turn back to Cas, when he stopped, and his eyes went glassy, before he blinked several times, and a confused expression came over him. He took the candy cane from his mouth and turned a bewildered expression toward Sam.
"Sam, what…?" he turned to Cas and his eyes blew wide. "Cas?" He hurriedly went to untie Cas who staggered to his feet, clutching his stomach and groaning.
"Did…did I do this?" Dean asked, looking between Sam and Cas, trying to figure out what was going on.
Cas put a hand on his shoulder with a small smile. "It wasn't your fault, Dean. You were under some spell."
"A witch at the store hexed you because I guess she thought you needed a little more Christmas spirit," Sam told his brother, watching him with concern. "How are you feeling?"
Dean looked around the room, plucked at his sweater and frowned at the hat Cas was wearing. "Well…kinda…empty. Why are there so many cookies?"
Sam huffed a laugh. "You were a cookie fiend yesterday. But you…you don't feel sick or anything?"
Dean shrugged. "No, just a little, I dunno, depressed, maybe."
Sam's heart sank and he realized that maybe he hadn't done his brother a favor after all. Even if Dean had been insane the last couple days, he had been happier than Sam had seen him in a long time. He smiled encouragingly. "Well, we still have all the Christmas decorations up and everything. Why don't we celebrate Christmas this year?"
"Yeah?" Dean asked, and he sounded rather hopeful, to Sam's surprise.
"Of course!" Sam told him.
"I too would like to celebrate it like the humans do, now that I am one," Cas agreed. "But I don't think I would like another cookie. My stomach is very unhappy."
Dean chuckled. "Sorry about that, Cas. Uh, what are we gonna do with all of these anyway?"
Sam thought and then smiled. "I actually have an idea."
The rest of the day, they spent taking boxes of cookies to the hospitals and old folks' homes in town. Everyone really enjoyed the cookies and Sam was glad to see his brother grow happier and happier as the day went on. Even without the hex, it seemed Dean had been able to find some Christmas spirit after all.
That night they watched more Christmas movies, introducing Cas to their favorites, and the next morning, they got up early and opened the gifts they had gotten each other. It was fun, like being a kid again, except better, at least in Sam's opinion. He looked over at Dean who was inspecting the new knife Sam had gotten him and his older brother looked up at him with a smile.
"Having a good Christmas, Dean?" Sam asked.
Dean grinned. "Yeah, little brother. This was great. Even if I had to get hexed to realize it, I think we should do Christmas every year."
"I agree," Sam nodded.
Cas put on an old Christmas record and the three of them just sat and enjoyed the day as Christmas should be enjoyed. With family.
