A few more stories were traded around that night. A few more hours went by, a few more laughs got passed around.

That was, until Cas seemed to get a sudden realization and had to get up from the table. The conversation had been something about doing secret santas at school- or whatever, Dean couldn't remember it well. He had been enjoying the moment more than he'd been focused on the topics. It was pretty typical, in retrospect, that Cas would suddenly have to leave on "business that shall not be named". Dean knew he looked pissed for the first minute. Then he just did his best to let the emotions float past- feeling a little too relaxed and tired, a little too disappointed to be angry. And it wasn't Cas' fault, it was just… Cas.

He chuckled, feeling his temper surfacing just as the bunker door slammed shut behind the angel. "Man. Always something new on angel radio, huh?" His words were bitter, and they tasted surprisingly sweet as they came out.

"I don't think it's like that, Dean," Sam said softly. Too softly, for his liking.

"Then what is it like? Because- I- I know we don't ever do stuff like this, so nobody should really have a ton of stuff ready, and we can't just quit researching for a whole week at a time. But it was…" He snagged the eggnog Cas had left behind- it wasn't much, but the alcohol content was enough to hit the spot, for the moment. "I just wanted this night to work out. Y'know?"

"Well, thanks, I'll remember all your appreciation next time I go to cook something else," Sam groused.

Dean rolled his eyes, feeling as drained as his brother now that the fun had shrivelled into dust.

Sam sighed. "Look, I get it. Cas ends up confusing me way more than he does you. He's just never been good at talking about things. Especially emotional-kinda stuff and everything that goes along with a holiday…" he chuckled. Dean must have been accidentally giving him some sort of look. "You're not so good at it either. But you really liked that NES Zapper-"

"Dude."

"- even when you feigned disinterest, because apparently you were 'too old for it' by the time you finally got your hands on one. Point is, Cas cares about a lot more stupid stuff of yours than you'll give him credit for, and if you put all your street smarts into reading him once lately, you'd probably see it." He caught Dean toying with the empty glass. "Don't think about it too long. There's still all these dishes here you said you'd wash." Sam flashed him a grin and got up from the table, trying to give him something of a reassuring look that Dean avoided entirely.

He did as he promised. The food was either washed away or shoved into the fridge to be finished up quick tomorrow, and he dried his hands with a small huff, glancing around the silent kitchen and tossing the damp rag onto the counter with a good sense of finality. Only, the night was still- for the most part- in its infancy, and he knew with the kinds of thoughts he still had playing on his mind that he'd never be able to crash like Sam was doing right now. Instead, a case of beer came back with him to his room, and he emptied it gradually while going through the rest of the DVD pile he'd set aside for him and Cas to finish watching.

Cas glanced down at his list too many times to count. Surely over two dozen times while he coasted around in his car, noticing that a lot of stores in the area had closed for Christmas. And plenty more times in between. There were a few locations kept open largely by people who didn't celebrate the holiday, and a few that had nothing better to do. One local store caught his eye, and he came away that evening with a gift for each of the brothers, feeling pretty pleased with himself, despite how Sam's list of ideas had gone completely to waste.

Wrapping was another matter entirely. But the box was covered, and he hoped that was all that mattered. It hadn't seemed like such a challenge until Dean was no longer there to fix his folds or measure the amount of wrapping paper each object needed. He placed Sam's present along with the others under the tree, and held onto Dean's, for whatever reason. The box was so small and delicate-looking compared to what the brothers had stocked the rest of the tree with. He tossed it between either of his hands, making his way down the hall until the sound of old pop music echoed from underneath Dean's bedroom door. So, he was still awake. Cas didn't know what he'd expected. Sure, it was late, but proper sleep hours weren't much of a thing in the bunker.

He opened the door slowly to see Dean lounging among a few of his pillows, a remote in one hand and a beer in the other. In fact, there were quite a few beers littered around the place. Dean seemed fairly indifferent to his entrance, and he used this as an excuse to close the door behind him, catching a glance at the movie and the kind of mess Dean had managed to make of his room in such short order. It reeked of cheap beer.

"You came back quick," Dean remarked while the movie continued to flicker light across the one side of his face.

"What do you mean?"

Dean seemed to be searching him for something. "Doesn't your angel business usually take longer?"

"Well, it wasn't actually anything to do with angels or cases…" Cas fumbled to bring the box out from behind his back. It looked a little foolish now that he could guess why there were so many beers left drained around the room recently. He hated whenever Dean jumped to conclusions like this, but the only small words to come from his mouth were, "I was getting you a gift for Christmas."

Dean paused at that. Cas came around to the side of the bed and placed the tiny box down on the countless books, magazines, comics, scattered papers, and whatever else Dean had stacked onto his nightstand table. The movie was paused by this point, leaving the room in a weird kind of silence that Cas wasn't sure what to do with. He swept up all of the beers for lack of anything else to do under Dean's curious gaze, and while fully aware that Dean had only just started the bottle he held in his hand, Cas extended a hand for it, expectantly. Dean eventually complied.

With the beers in his arms, he made his way to the kitchen, leaving Dean and the box alone in his bedroom while he made this quick run. Though, "quick" might not have been the most accurate term. He was a little weary to be going back in there. The stark smell of alcohol would still remain, reminding him that some of his absences hurt Dean more than he had ever considered in the past. It just didn't cross his mind sometimes. But… Dean hadn't looked so good tonight. Cas was mentally and physically spent, and yet, he knew he really owed it to Dean to stick with him tonight. He didn't know much about Christmas movies, but they didn't seem like the kind of things you watched by yourself.