This is holiday fluff, pure and simple. It was Christmas on repeat. Now, it is a future laid out in front of them. It is a hunter and his family. It is the same Christmas songs shared with eggnog and twinkling lights. It is a new day in which a once insecure man has nothing to lose because it all feels rather permanent now. He is happy. He looks down into the face that is likely feigning sleep for his benefit and smiles.

When they had finally crawled into bed, exhausted from the Christmas Eve activities, Dean said to Cas, "I can't believe that it is done. I am going to miss it a little."

Cas scooted up close to Dean, having already snapped on some of his sleep sweats and a tee-shirt. "I know what you mean. There was comfort in it for you. It is nice sometimes to think that you can't permanently harm anything through your actions." He stopped for a moment and ran his hand up through Dean's hair. Dean closed his eyes and nuzzled up into the touch. "The other side of that though, is that you can't permanently help anything through your actions either. Sometimes it is just nice to fix things."

"Sometimes I think that we are too similar." Dean smiled at him and he smile back. Dean reached up. "Hand me the alarm clock."

"Why?" Cas furrowed his brows a little.

"I want to set it." Dean sat up a little, and Cas reached back to the clock behind him.

"It's Christmas. Shouldn't you just sleep in and wake up when it comes to you naturally? I think that you have earned that."

"I want to set the alarm, because it is something that we couldn't do before." He had it set for 5:30 am and Cas gave him a look of pure displeasure.

"No, 5:30 is completely unreasonable. It is not even four hours from now."

"Why are you letting it bother you? You don't need sleep."

"A wise man once told me that he needed four hours of sleep to function. And, although you are adorable when you are tired, I want you to be well-rested." Dean looked at him and considered changing the time on the clock. I have to get the repairs done on Cas' car. Cas seemed to see Dean preparing to argue a little about how he could set his alarm for whatever time he wanted. "I was just thinking that you might need your rest for other activities." Dean caught the smile playing out on Cas' lips and set the alarm for 7:00 am. It might not give him enough time for the car repairs, but he would figure something out. Besides, the look on Cas' face, pure hotness. Dean almost gave up on the need for sleep that was weighing on him at that moment.

He let out a yawn though, and Cas pulled him close, taking away the alarm clock as he did so. "Goodnight, Cas."

"Goodnight, Dean." And Dean felt the relaxation of sleep descend upon him through the careful ministrations of Cas' fingers in his hair.

The alarm clock should have been what woke him up, but it wasn't. Instead he opened his eyes naturally at 6:00 am and stared at Cas. He had his eyes closed as if he were sleeping. It was peaceful. He felt funny though. It felt like he and Cas were not alone. His gaze swept the room, and, sure enough, Gabriel was standing at the foot of the bed.

"Well, good morning sunshine." He was loud in a sing-songy way. Dean glanced back at Cas and wondered why he was not responding.

"What's wrong with him?" Dean sat up quickly, worry clear in his tone.

"Oh, don't worry. I just wanted to talk with you a bit. He needed the sleep, despite his angelness. It has been a bit taxing on him to deal with all of this."He waved out his hands.

Dean felt a little comforted. He adjusted his position on the bed and Gabriel sat down at his feet. "So what's on your mind?"

"I want to reward you for your efforts on my behalf."

"It was Cas that did everything, not me." Dean involuntarily found his hand moving out to Cas. It was starting to feel unnatural to be separate from him. It seemed much more necessary to just constantly maintain some sort of touch.

Gabriel stared down at Castiel. "Well, he certainly did do a lot. He also seemed to carry a lot of guilt over my little demise. Hopefully, he is getting over that." He turned his gaze to Dean then. "You did much as well. I got to see a lot in there while you were hauling my sorry grace around."

"Well, Gabe, that's not awkward or anything." Dean shifted about a bit.

"For you and me both." Gabriel smirked. "Seems you may have lost something important when you helped me out."

"I didn't lose anything. From the looks of things, I have gained quite a bit lately. So, thanks." Dean let his gaze trail over to Cas and then back up to Gabriel.

"Well, let me just say, you're more than welcome, and thank you, Dean Winchester, for fixing things, from kittens to angels." Gabriel reached out his hand then and placed it on Dean's head. Dean felt warmth course through him and had to close his eyes against the blindingly bright white light that filled the room. When Gabriel released him he said, "Merry Christmas, Dean. Enjoy the memories. I took the liberty of removing some from Sam before I came to you. He didn't need to see that much of you and Cas. Just saying."

Dean blinked his eyes back into focus. He felt his mind flooded with memories that weren't there just a few moments before. "Thank you Gabriel. Thank you." He stood up, but his legs were weak. Gabriel lowered him back to the the mattress.

"You should just take it easy for a bit. Let Cas know that I'll be back by later. We could do another little family gathering or something. Take care of yourself, Dean, and take good care of him. It matters knowing that someone cares." He gave Dean a pat on the shoulder and walked out of the room.

Dean scooted back down into the covers and wrapped his arms around Cas. He let his mind wander over the memories, the old ones folded into the new ones. There had been many repeated days. Dean had thought back over them as he laid in bed next to Cas. He started counting them. He lost track eventually. It seemed to stretch well into the hundreds. It had been at least a year's worth of repeaters. So, he started counting again, only this time he only counted the days that were the most important. There were 24 days that mattered. He reached out to Cas and traced out the edge of his jaw with his fingers. No, 25 days. Today has to count for something. Thank you, Gabriel. This day certainly mattered.

Years together, fighting the good fight, and what truly brought them together could be boiled down to 25 days. He felt redeemed in the universe. He had felt before like there had been much that he had to atone for. He had felt like there was much that he needed to fix. It was odd to lay in this bed and think that nothing really needed to be fixed. Well, Cas' car, but nothing major. Well, it's major, but not apocalypse major. He chuckled to himself. He looked down at Cas and wanted to wake him up. He wanted to look in his eyes and tell him that he remembered everything. He wanted to know what Cas thought now. What he wanted for the future, now that there was such a concept again.

He wondered if Cas felt like he had been redeemed a little. He wondered if he felt like he could be happy. He wondered if he felt like he could love without guilt. That last was important. Dean did not want Cas to carry around so much on his shoulders. He wanted him to experience the same freedom that he now felt coursing through his own veins. He hoped that Cas felt like they had both finally gotten something that they deserved, each other. He leaned toward him and kissed him. He was happy when Cas' eyes opened.

"Was I sleeping?" Cas sat up. He moved his hand over to Dean's side though.

"Gabe thought that you needed a little siesta. He also wanted to give me a present."

Cas looked at him funny. "That could be bad. What did he give you?"

Dean seemed to ignore the question at first and said,"So, tell me what your favorite memory was from the last yearish of repeats."

"I don't know if I have just one. I liked the night that we gave presents to children dressed as Santa…" he let his gaze rake down Dean's body then. "and you were dressed as an elf."

"Really, Cas, lederhosen is your great turn on?" Dean laughed at him.

Cas stiffened then and sat up. He reached out to Dean's face and stared at him like he was seeing into him. "You remember; you remember."

"Yes, Cas, I remember. It was Gabe's little Christmas present." Cas fell onto him, kissing him as though it was all new. Maybe it was in a way for him. Dean certainly didn't mind. The alarm clock went off, and Cas reached back to smack the noise away without breaking free from their kiss. As he moved to Dean's neck Dean said, "I love you, Cas." He wondered if it sounded cheesy to Cas.

Cas stopped what he was doing and moved up so that his face hovered just over Dean's. "I think that it is acceptable for me to tell you now that I love you too. I will never deserve you, but I do love you." Dean smiled at him.

"You're wrong, but who am I to argue. Loving someone isn't about what you deserve. It is just what is, what will always be. Now, less talking. There will be plenty of that when your brother comes back later for family bonding time." Dean pulled Cas to him again and thought, that little motion never gets old.

The day would be filled with family and every cliched holiday tradition. Dean would manage to squeeze in a little work time on Cas' car, but that would be a task that would require many days of uninterrupted effort. Perhaps Kali could help me out with that. Dean plotted a little and wondered if it would be acceptable to ask. They played music on the record player and ate food until they could have burst. Dean eventually swooped Cas up into a dance and Kali and Gabriel had joined them. The song turned into "White Christmas" and Dean just grinned through it. Sam sat off to the side looking a little lonesome.

Gabriel said, "I would have thought that you would have been on a run by now, Sammy old boy." He added a wink to the end of the statement.

"What are you saying?" Sam got up, though, as though he knew full well what he was saying.

"You know, she won't stand outside waiting for you all night. The future is yours. Make of it what you will."

Sam didn't even change. He just headed out. He took the stairs two at a time and was at the door when he called back down. "Thank you. Merry Christmas."

"Good luck Sammy." Dean called back at him.

"Don't need it. I've got a god, a brother, and angels on my side. I'd say that is better than having luck oozing out of your pores." With that he was out the door. The song ended and Gabriel snapped his fingers. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" flowed out of the player.

"I always liked this one. See you both around." With that Dean and Cas were left alone dancing to Gabriel's song. It was a nice way to be. Dean could imagine living like this forever.

Cas looked at him steadily and asked, "Are you happy?"

"Yes. You?"

"Yes."

Dean would live through those 25 days again and again in his memories now, but he looked forward to the days that were laid out ahead of him. He looked forward to spring time and walking with Cas in the rain. He looked forward to summer and convincing Cas to go swimming. He looked forward to autumn and kicking up red and gold leaves together in front of the bunker. He looked forward to the big moments and the small ones. He looked forward to seeing Sam happy. He looked forward to it all. It had been a Merry Christmas, but most of all he thought that it might just be the beginnings of a merry life.

The End

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AN: Well, that about does it. Hope that it was a satisfying holiday read. Sorry about the lateness of the last chapter, but it was Christmas after all. Thank you all for the warm holiday wishes, reviews, and general warmth. I am going to dive fully back into the Dean saga and I have a small ficlet challenge that I have to pull together by the 9th of January. My prompt is bells and ice, so that should be fun. It'll be up on tumblr through the Destiel Ficlet Challenge.

So, all the best to you all as this year draws to a close. I hope that you all have a marvelous new year and all the blessings that life has to give.