AN added 12/29/2010: Well ... this one didn't have authors notes originally ... so I just hope everyone enjoyed this instalment. ~Ella

Chapter Twenty-Six

December 26

As Sarah walked through the house in slippers she felt completely comfortable and at home. She was still in her pyjamas. Her hair was sticking up in funny angles from sleeping on it while it was up in a ponytail. Yet, it didn't matter because the only people in the house were the make-shift family she had found herself in. Bobby's house seemed to exude a safe, warm and welcoming environment completely different then its first impression had been. Of course, it helped that Sarah, Bobby and Cas had cleaned a bit while putting up Christmas decorations.

Walking into the living room, Sarah was pleased to find Castiel sitting there, doing nothing. Smiling, she went over and joined him on the couch, pleased that he hadn't sat in her spot.

"So, where were you yesterday?" Sarah asked, curious. "I was starting to get really worried when you were so late showing up."

"You said humans exchange gifts," Castiel said.

"Yes…" Sarah nodded, waiting for Castiel to explain further. When Castiel did not seem inclined to elaborate - Sarah prompted him along, "how did that make you late?"

Not answering, Castiel pulled something out of his pocket and held it in his hand. Tilting her head, she gingerly picked up a very simple necklace. The chain was a simple silver chain and the pendant about half the size of the nail on her pinkie finger. The pendant was very reminiscent of a very old, misshapen coin. Unable to think of any words, Sarah just blinked at Castiel, with her mouth wide open.

"It wards off possession," Castiel stated.

"You were late … because you were getting me a present?" Sarah asked softly, holding the necklace closer. "I … thank you."

Sarah eagerly unclasped the ends and tried to put it on without much success, she sucked at putting necklaces on. Her roommates always got her ones with extremely long necklines because they were tired of having to help her.

"Can you help me?" Sarah asked, letting Castiel take both ends as she pushed her hair out of the way. After he was done putting on the clip, Sarah ran a finger down the chain and over the bumpy surface of the small pendant. Beaming up at Castiel, she leaned forward and gave him a big hug.

"You know," Sarah said thoughtfully. "I don't think I could have survived this holiday season without you. You got me a present, you helped me decorate and I mean – you got me this tree … I could never even begin to repay you for everything. I hope … I hope you know how much this means to me."

Castiel did not reply, but a ghost of a smile crossed his lips fleetingly. Before her courage left her, she gave him a small peck on the cheek, chuckling at his wide-eyed expression.

"There's no mistletoe," Castiel pointed out, confused and alarmed.

"That was a thank you," Sarah smiled gently. "No mistletoe required."

Getting up from the couch, Sarah walked over to the tree and grabbed two envelopes. Walking back over, she gave the thick one to him first. When Castiel just sat, holding it in his hand, she laughed.

"It's your present, now open it up," Sarah encouraged.

As Castiel opened the envelope and pulled out at least ten sheets of paper with tiny miniscule writing on both sides, he glanced up at Sarah, not sure what he was holding.

"I know that you seem pretty interested in the modern traditions," Sarah explained. "So, I wrote out all the ones I can think of. The first few pages are religious holidays, and then I included some things like, tipping people and getting bus tickets. This way you might not be so confused about things, just, you know, ease the culture shock a bit."

Castiel was flipping between the papers, reading the tiny handwriting. "This is very useful," Castiel stated.

"Yeah, I included a whole page on girls because if Dean is your only source of information on that, you'ld be screwed," Sarah smiled, before holding out the second, much smaller envelope. Leaning forward, she gave the same instructions as the ones she had given to Bobby, Sam and Dean. "This is your second gift, but it's very important that you do not open it now. Put it in your pocket and only when you feel like everything is going wrong can you open it. Promise me?"

Castiel stared at her intensely, before nodding and slowly taking the letter from her and putting it in one of his inner coat pockets. Sitting back, Sarah smiled at Castiel.

Later that afternoon, Dean was piling leftovers into his mouth with more exuberance than was necessary. Sam, Cas, Sarah and Katie could not help but stare in disgusted silence as Dean single-handedly ate the rest of the turkey, potatoes and warmed up gravy.

"Oh god, we should make these things more often," Dean moaned, a bit of potato flying out of his mouth. Sam cringed, but kept quiet, shaking his head at his brother, as Bobby wheeled into the room.

"Keep your yapper closed. I don't want bits of your food all over the place," Bobby said. Dean was kind enough to look slightly remorseful as he continued eating. Bobby continued to wheel around the table over towards Sarah and Katie. "You two, with me, in the living room."

Briefly glancing at each other, Katie and Sarah stood up and followed Bobby out of the kitchen. As he slid shut the doors, Sarah caught the curious faces of the Winchester boys and Cas.

"So, I've been researching the damn necklace," Bobby said, getting right down to the point. "Breaking the damn thing obviously didn't destroy it. So I kept digging. Turns out the thing is older than it looks, earliest records are Middle Ages, but it might've been around longer."

"Okay," Katie said, trying to understand why Bobby would be telling them this separated from everyone else.

"Seems that people who used them would go to a different reality for one month before returning back," Bobby said, looking pointedly at both of them.

"So, people would choose their own home after a month vacation," Katie shrugged. "How does this affect us?"

"People didn't choose one way or another," Bobby said. "The damn thing dragged them back."

"What?" Katie asked. "The necklace?"

Bobby just nodded.

"But it broke," Katie said. "Why are you telling us this?"

"Like I said, breaking it didn't seem to work," Bobby said, wheeling over to his desk and pulling a large leather-bound volume off of it. "It had enough juice to zap Sarah half-back. It'll drag you back."

Katie and Sarah just stood, looking at Bobby. Neither one could think of a word to say.

"Merry Christmas, your going home," Bobby said, shrugging his shoulders. After a couple minutes of stunned silence, Bobby added, "I'll let you mull it over."

After he left, closing the doors behind him, Katie slowly turned to Sarah.

"We're going home," Katie whispered to herself, a big grin breaking out on her face. "Sarah, we're going home."

"Yeah …" Sarah said, her eyes glued to the Christmas tree. "Yeah …"

"I'll see Drew again, and my family … I … Sarah we're going back," Katie celebrated. The smile faltered as she noticed Sarah wasn't joining her in joy. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Sarah said, her eyes finally leaving the Christmas tree. "Nothing."

"Bullshit," Katie replied, upset that Sarah could not be happy about being able to go home. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Sarah snapped.

"You were moping around for ages when we couldn't go home, and now we are and you go all angsty?" Katie pointed out. "What's with the change of heart?"

"Because when we go home, we go home," Sarah said.

"Ugh, yeah, kind of the point," Katie said, not getting the point.

"Meaning," Sarah continued, "that we can't come back. We'll never see Bobby again, or Dean, or Sam or Cas."

"We'll see them once a week," Katie argued.

"That doesn't count," Sarah denied. "Plus, how do we know if what we see is what they go through? I mean, what if we have changed everything."

"How could we have changed anything?" Katie said. "They don't really know how we saw them stop the apocalypse. They don't know season six."

"So what, we let Sam lose his soul?"

"Why are you arguing this? I thought we agreed not to tell them."

"I don't … I just ..." Sarah trailed off, pacing the floor.

"I thought you wanted to go home."

"I do! I just … I never thought about what we would have to leave," Sarah admitted quietly, quickly losing her fire. "I am happy to hear we're going home … I am … but I never thought it would hurt so much."

Katie saw the tears formed in Sarah's eyes and faltered. She hadn't really thought about it that way. They had thought they were here for good … they had made friends and did their best to incorporate themselves into this world. Now that they were leaving, they would need to leave behind everything they had built for themselves.

Walking over Katie wrapped her arms around Sarah's shoulders and gripped her tight. As Sarah started to shake, Katie hugged her tighter.

"We'll still have each other," Katie murmured. "That won't change."

Crying, Sarah didn't say anything. Katie heard the door open behind her.

"So I heard the good news," Dean announced, strutting in, but his step faltered when Katie pointed her eyes down at Sarah. Sam and Castiel also stopped, unsure what to do.

Surprising both Sam and Dean it was Castiel who walked over to Katie. His eyes traveled over Sarah, who was trying to stop crying but couldn't calm her breathing.

"What is wrong with her?" He asked Katie.

To Castiel's dismay and discomfort, his question seemed to cause Sarah to cry harder and attach to him. Unsure what to do with his hands which stayed limply at his side, he sent a panicked look to Dean.

"She's taking the news a bit roughly …" Katie muttered to Sam and Dean as the three of them watched Sarah cry on Cas.

"A bit of an understatement," Sam muttered.

AN: Ah, the big reveal. What do you think? Should they stay or leave? Please review, it helps my creativeness! ~ Ella