It was meant to be a surprise. Dean had waited until Cas and Jack were gone, back to Heaven for some of their bonding "healing Heaven" time, leaving Dean in their new home, all alone with too much time on his hands and a lot of free space to suddenly do it with. So he goes from store to store, scrambling to buy as many sets of lights as he can, ornaments, even a few trees- small ones for Jack's bedroom, a big one for the living room, and a third just for Cas and Dean in their room. Even with the house being fairly level to the ground, and only having one set of stairs to go up and down just to get inside, he's still kind of breathless by the time he gets it all inside.

Still, it doesn't stop him from clapping his hands enthusiastically, looking it all over for a few moments, before wading in and getting started. He gets the main tree up with some finagling, then decides to leave it as is, wanting to decorate it with Jack and Cas. He does lay other little things around, like Nutcrackers, and a couple snowman and Santa toys and- yeah, ok, he might have gone a little overboard, but damn. First Christmas in the new house, he figures he's allowed.

Then he heads outside and falters a little as he looks up at the roof. Even for a two story house, it looks... really high up there. Dean swallows hard, his fingers flexing and twitching at his sides. "It's fine, you can do this," he psyches himself up. "Hell, you've beat demons and everything else under the sun, what's a little height? Right?" He laughs, high pitched and a little manic before taking a deep breath and adjusting the ladder so it seems, hopefully, a little more sturdy. He climbs up it slowly, breathing in and out as steadily as he can, considering. "Fuck," he grouses. "I hate heights... dunno what's worse, this or flying..."

He finally makes it to the top and swings over, crawling until he's straddling the top of the roof, already disliking the shift in gravity as he moves. He keeps his eyes trained ahead, desperate not to look down. "Come on, Winchester," he mumbles to himself. "Just a few string of lights, then you can head back inside and surprise the kid and Cas as soon as night falls."

He hooks the first strand in safely, trying to keep it as straight and steady as he can. The second and third follows, and by the time he's on the fourth, he's almost forgotten where he's at- until he hears something and glances over the edge to look- just to gasp, his body freezing, fear taking over. "Oh hell, no," He breathes. He suddenly feels dizzy, it becoming a struggle just to stay upright, keep ahold on the roof awning. "Ah-" His grip slips and the next thing he knows, gravity has claimed him, and he's toppling down- down-

What exactly he thinks in the time that he falls, he can't recall after the fact. What he prays must sound like gibberish, panicked desperation as the ground races up to meet him, and then- then... well.

Awareness slinks back in, slowly, and he blinks groggily, realizing he's cushioned against something warm, something... familiar. He sighs slowly and buries his face deeper into the material. "Is this Heaven?" he grumbles, thinking it would be about his luck to die off of a fall from his own damn roof.

"Definitely not," Cas tells him, fingers soothing through his hair. "This is our yard, in our house. You are safe."

"You caught me," he mumbles, still a little out of it.

"I did," Cas confirms, leaning in to press a tender kiss to his forehead. "I am thankful I arrived in time. It all seemed to happen very quickly."

"You're telling me," Dean groans, struggling to sit up. With some of Cas' help, he finds his way upright and leans into Cas' side. "Remind me next time to let the winged people I know do all roof-based activities," he says, smiling up at Cas.

"Maybe next time those winged people will have to surprise you with putting lights all over the place when you least expect it," Cas teases him, cradling his face. "How do you feel?"

"A little embarrassed," he sighs. "A little sore. But not horrible. Could've been worse."

Cas nods, his fingers still warm against Dean's cheek. "Yes," he mumbles. "It absolutely could've been." He gets to his feet after a few moments and draws Dean up as well. "Come with me."

"Huh?" Dean asks, squeezing Cas' hand as he's led towards the side of the house, Cas smiling over at him when he spots Jack standing on the edge of the property, gazing up at the roof. "What- he alright?"

"He's perfectly fine," Cas confirms with a nod, drawing Dean closer and standing behind him, arm warm around his waist. "Hello, Jack."

Jack turns at their appearance and grins at them, hand lifted in a wave. "Hello, Castiel. Hello, Dean." His grin grows. "The house looks incredible, Dean."

Dean flushes a little, chuckling sheepishly. "Hey, glad you like it, kid. I was... I uh, I did this to try to make things a little more special. It being the first big holiday after Chuck and all."

Jack nods, turning to gaze back up at it. "It's amazing. I'm looking forward to Christmas so much." he hesitates though and peers over at Dean. "Please be more careful next time though, Dean. Decorations aren't as important as your health and safety is."

Dean coughs, rubbing a hand down his face. "You've been hanging out with Cas too much, kid."

Jack tilts his head. "I think we've been hanging out a satisfactory amount? Castiel?"

Castiel's lips twitch up into a smile and Dean sighs. "Never mind, just a dumb joke. You're fine."

"Oh," Jack says, his face clearing up. "Alright." He steps forward and stands next to Cas and Dean, watching the lights race each other along the roof. Not quite visible, as the sun hasn't fully set yet, but getting there.

Dean glances back at Cas, then over at Jack, and smiles at the happy looks on their faces. Yeah, he thinks, squeezing Cas' arm. Worth it.