Chapter 6: Nick's Story

"Who I am is simple," Nick replied to Dean's inquiry. "I am an old man who is celebrating his last Christmas."

"What?" Sam asked.

"I have an inoperable brain tumor. The doctors have given me six weeks to live, but I happen to know that I don't have anywhere near that much time left."

"I'm sorry," Sam said true sympathy heard plain in his voice.

"Don't be," Nick said with a smile. "I'm 74 years old. I have lived a good long life, but I have been alone for a long time now, really alone since I sold my company and retired. I know this is my last Christmas and I simply wanted to have someone to spend it with. I think the dying is the easy part. It's the loneliness that is hard to deal with. It is a scary thing to know the day you face your maker is coming and you have no one to talk to and nothing but time on your hands to think and ponder various moments in your life. I should have told my wife not to fly to London that weekend. If I hadn't been so hard on my oldest son he might not have fought me about going into the family business and therefore not joined the Marines. I knew my youngest was abusing alcohol but I didn't know how to deal with it at the time because I was grieving the death of my oldest so I ignored it and he drove into a wall and died. Don't get me wrong, there are good memories too, but even they can cause pain."

"So you see," Nick continued, "Having the two of you here as been a blessing. It has allowed me to focus on someone other than myself. It allowed me to do a good deed and plan a big surprise. Once again I felt important. I felt needed. But best of all, it allowed me to not be alone, and there is nothing worse than being all by yourself at this time of the year."

"I can understand everything that you're saying," Dean replied. His voice was softer, a little less cautious as he continued, "But why us?"

"I knew the two of you needed help yesterday. I had a vision of your coming and I knew I needed to be there when you arrived. I know the life you live is hard and taxing. I know that you both feel invisible to the rest of the world. I know you don't have a family to go to at the moment. We are all sort of in the same boat you might say."

"When I first approached you two last night I hadn't planned to do all of this. I was simply going to give you a place to sleep and something to eat, but then I got to know you both and well, you remind me of my boys. It has been a long time since I've had the chance to spoil someone, to put a smile on someone's face, and watching you boys last night and talking with you both, I guess I just felt a connection to you both. So does that answer your questions?"

Dean and Sam both looked at each other and then back to Nick.

"I'm sorry I thought you were crazy," Dean said.

"It's understandable," Nick laughed. "So how about it? Are you two ready to open your presents?"

"Nick, you do realize that we live in a car for the most part," Sam grinned. "There is no way on earth all of this will fit."

"That's fine," Nick laughed. "I guess I did get a little carried away. Once everything is open you two can sort through the things you want to take and leave the rest. I do have one favor to ask though."

"What's that?" Dean asked.

"Take the day off from hunting. Stay here just for today, celebrate Christmas with me, and make an old man happy. Tomorrow you can drive out of here and get back to your job and when you do you both will be rested and well nourished.

Dean looked at Sam and smirked when he saw Sam nodded his head. Dean knew his baby brother well enough to know Sam would never walk out on this old guy who had been so nice to them and had taken care of them. Sam would give the man the only thing he had to give as payment for his kindness, companionship.

"Looks like you have a deal," Dean said.

"Wonderful," Nick exclaimed. He had a seat in a wing back chair that had been pulled close to the tree.

Sam had a seat in the sofa which left Dean to sit in the floor and play Santa. At first both boys had felt slightly awkward opening presents from a stranger but soon the oddness wore off and the two were actually having fun.

Dean was really happy for Sammy. This was the first time Sam had ever had a real Christmas, the kind that you got to see in the movies.

Sam peeled the paper off and opened a box that held an oxford style white Polo shirt in it. Sam knew the shirt cost a fortune, well at least what he and Dean would have considered a fortune.

"How did you know the right size to buy?" Sam asked.

"The shinning does have its uses," Nick replied. "That's how I managed to do so well in business. It's easy to make the top of the Fortune 500 list when you can read your colleagues and competitors minds."

"Yeah, I guess that would be a handy little skill to have," Dean agreed as he opened his next box. Like Sam he had already opened two boxes with shirts in them, but this one was too big to be a shirt box. When the paper was removed he saw that it was a cooler for the car, the kind where you plugged it into the cigarette lighter.

"This will definitely be useful," Dean said. "Look Sam, we now have a fridge for the car."

"Great." Sam's next present was a GPS for the car.

"That should make finding where you need to go a little easier," Nick said.

They continued to go through there presents one by one. They each received new duffle bags, more clothes, Sam got a parka to replace his blood stained one, there were hunting knives, a new laptop, a portable DVD player for the car along with an assortment of the newest releases, mostly action flicks, and even a CD player for the car so Dean could finally replace the out of date cassette player.

Sam opened the next present and saw a wooden box. It took a moment for him to realize what it was. "This is cool," Sam said. It was a combination chess and checkers set. One side of the box was a chess board, and the other was checkers. Inside he found all the pieces along with a deck of cards and dice.

Both Sam and Dean were really surprised by how much thought Nick had put into there their presents. He had made a point of getting them things that would make being on the road day in and day out easier, whether it was keeping snacks cold, getting directions, or finding ways to entertain themselves during down time or long drives. When all was said and done there was several thousands of dollars worth of merchandise under the tree.

Finally they were down to the last four presents, the ones that Sam and Dean had bought each other.

Sam went first. He opened the first present to find a copy of A Tale of Two Cities.

"I remember back in high school that was your favorite book," Dean said. "You read it like five times."

"It was. I'm surprised you remembered." He opened his next gift, which was very thin, and suddenly felt his emotions start to rise.

It was the size of an 8 x 10 portrait, but it was a collage of the baby pictures they had gotten when in Lawrence. Dean had mounted them to a sheet of card stock and then had it laminated. In the center was the one of the entire family standing in front of their house, Dad holding a five year old Dean and Mom holding an infant Sam. In the top corner was one of Dean holding him when he was just a baby. Dean looked so happy. Other pictures showed the family at happy times; Mom smiling and waving, Dad tossing a ball to Dean.

These were pictures of memories he didn't have, but they had happened. This was proof that he had come from a normal family once and that his father had been a real father once, the kind that played with his kids, the kind who smiled and wasn't afraid to show the love he felt. Sam's eyes glistened and he blinked several times to hold the tears back. After last night Dean surely couldn't handle another overly emotional moment.

"Thank you," Sam finally said, swallowing at the lump in his throat.

"Merry Christmas Sammy."

"Merry Christmas. Now it's your turn."

Dean tore open the first package and found a leather bound book on Demonology. He had wanted the book a few months ago when they had gone into an antique book store but it had cost too much.

"Sam, where did you get the money for this?"

"I had a little left from my student loan," Sam said with a shrug.

"Wow, thanks."

Dean opened his second gift laughed when he saw a portable CD player with head phones.

"Is this your way of trying to not listen to my music anymore?" Dean asked.

"Who, me, nah. But, if you should happen to like them, I've already taken the liberty of burning you three CD's with all your favorites on them. It took me hours to download all of them."

Dean smirked. "Well, now that we have a CD player for the car your CD's will come in handy." He couldn't help but laugh at crinkled brows and grimace on Sam's face.

"Yeah, that'll be just great."

00000000000

Having finished showering and shaving, Dean pulled on his new clothes and had to admit they were pretty nice. He looked in the mirror and almost laughed at how freaking preppy he looked. He had on his trusty blue jeans, but now he wore a blue button down Polo shirt with a brown cable knit sweater pulled over it. They were the clothes Nick had bought for him and he had expected them to be as uncomfortable as that damn suit he and Sam had wore when they posed as Homeland Security Officers, but they were actually pretty comfortable and it would help him and Sam not look so out of place here.

He stepped out of the bathroom and found Sam sitting on the side of the bed. Sam was also wearing new clothes. He could see a stiff white collar sticking up from under a royal blue sweater that had some sort of tiny crest stitched on the pocket.

Sam looked at Dean and smirked.

"Don't say one word," Dean warned. "So help me I'll give you the mother of all wedgies if you comment on these clothes."

"All I was going to say is that you look nice," Sam replied.

"Well of course I do. I am the handsome one after all."

"Yeah, so I've heard," Sam chuckled.

"You okay?" Dean asked when he saw Sam looking less than peachy.

"Yeah, just my back started hurting some."

"Did you take your meds?"

"Just popped one," Sam replied. "It'll kick in soon enough."

"Well why don't you stay here and get some rest," Dean offered.

"No, I'm good, really."

The brothers walked back into the living room and found Nick had set up the chess game.

Nick looked up at the boys. "My, you two clean up really well. I dare say the girls at the country club would be fighting over the two of you."

"Uh, thanks," Sam said feeling a little embarrassed but he looked over to see Dean grinning in all his macho glory.

"Would either of you like to play chess? I do love the game."

"I will," Sam offered.

Dean watched as Sam and Nick played their chess game. The game lasted for about fifteen minutes before Nick won. Halfway threw a second game and Nick was beating Sam terribly once again.

"You know, this isn't fair. You can read my mind. You know what move I'm going to make before I even make it," Sam joked.

"True, but even if I couldn't read your mind you chess game is really rusty," Nick chuckled.

Dean started laughing which earned him a glare from Sam.

"Fine, I'll play Dean next," Sam said.

"Sure, no problem," Dean said. Chess was actually a game Dean was really good at. Chess was like going to battle. You picked out a strategy, anticipated your opponent's moves, counterstriked, and then conquered. And, if that didn't work, you could always use distraction to reposition a piece when your opponent looked away. Sam was going to get his butt whooped.

A few minutes later Nick claimed victory for the second time and Sam set the board up to play Dean. Dean just smiled smugly when twenty minutes later he beat Sam, leaving his baby brother to sit there with his jaw hanging.

"When did you learn to play chess?" Sam asked.

"Dad and I had to do something in the evenings to amuse ourselves once you went to college. Plus Dad said it was good for helping to think strategically."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Sam griped.

"Oh chill out, you're just mad that there's something I can do better than you," Dean pointed out.

Sam was about to respond but there was a knock at the door. Dean hopped up and opened it. In came two women who went to the tree to start cleaning the mess from all the wrapping paper and then two men pushed in a cart that was heavy with food.

The Winchester boys watched as covers and lids were removed to reveal a whole turkey, a spiral ham, and serving bowls filled with mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, and cranberry sauce. A bread basket was filled with croissants and butter. Finally set down on the sideboard was an apple pie, a cherry pie, and a large tiramisu cake. Glasses were filled with wine, water, and soda.

"Will there be anything else?" one of the waiters asked Nick.

"I believe this is quite enough," Nick replied. He quickly scribbled his signature at the bottom of a piece of paper and showed the men and the cleaning crew out.

"Wow, I could definitely get used to this," Dean said.

"What, being normal?" Sam asked as he stared at the bounty before them.

"No, being rich," Dean laughed. He pulled out the seat for Nick to sit in and helped him slide up to the table. Then Sam and Dean had a seat as well.

"I would just like to say thank you to you two," Nick said. "You have given me a real Christmas and you'll never know how grateful I truly am."

"I feel like we're the ones who should be thanking you," Sam said. "No one has ever done for us what you have." Dean nodded in agreement.

"Well," Nick said, "let's eat while it's hot. Dean, will you do the honors?" He passed Dean a large carving knife and Dean stood to slice apart the golden roasted bird. He wasn't exactly sure where to start.

"The breast," Sam said.

"What?"

"Start at the top and slice down."

"I know that," Dean griped but then did as Sam said. Soon every plate had turkey.

Sam picked up the serving fork and placed slices of ham on each plate. Finally all the bowls were rotated around the table as they put large helpings of various items on their plates.

"Oh my god, this is so good," Sam said after swallowing several bites.

"Pass the gravy," Dean said and proceeded to drown his potatoes before shoveling more in. Dean sipped his wine and realized that he could actually grow to like the stuff.

Once again Sam couldn't have any because he had just taken his pain medication, but then Sam wasn't really a big drinker anyway. He would easily get drunk after just two drinks.

"So do you boys have any big job lined up after this?" Nick asked.

"Not really," Dean replied. "We need to take care of some unfinished business from yesterday, but after that we'll just drive until we find something."

"Or something finds us," Sam smirked. "What about you? Where are you going to go after this?"

"I'm not sure," Nick replied. "I think I might just stay here for a little while longer." There was a touch of sadness to his voice that both Sam and Dean noticed. Sam suddenly wondered if Nick had had a premonition of his own death.

"Yes, Sam, but let's not dwell on such things today. It's Christmas, a time for happiness."

"Yes, sir."

Everyone continued to eat and this time even Sam went back for seconds.

"Save room for desert," Nick said.

"Oh God, I can't right now," Sam groaned. "If I eat any more I'm going to be sick." Even Dean finally reached his limits and passed on the deserts, but with the promise he would try them all in about an hour or so. Sam just shook his head. He didn't think he'd be eating any pie till much later in the evening, better yet, maybe tomorrow.

Sam and Dean sat at the table for another moment letting the food in their stomachs settle. Nick stood up and went to the living room. He shut off the Christmas carols which had been playing softly all day and turned on the television set. He turned off all the lights in the room except for that which came from the tree. Then he had a seat in his wing back chair.

Finally Sam and Dean wandered into the living room and joined him, each sitting on the sofa facing the television.

"Is there anything in particular you boys want to watch?"

"I don't care," Sam replied.

"Do you like action movies?" Dean asked.

"Yes, I do."

"Well we could put in one of the DVD's you bought us. There's War of the Worlds, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, or Batman Beyond."

"I'd like to see War of the Worlds," Nick decided. "I remember hearing the radio version when Orson Wells narrated it. God it seemed so frightening. I also saw the movie they made years ago, too and loved it. Hopefully this one will be just as good."

Dean placed the movie in the DVD player and turned it on. For the next two and a half hours they sat in comfortable silence and enjoyed the special effects on the large flat screen TV.

"Wow, that was incredible," Sam said at the end.

"Yeah, but man that little girl sure did scream a lot," Dean added.

"Dean, it was the end of the world. People were being slaughtered and turned into fertilizer. I think she was entitled to scream."

"Put it this way, when I was ten I sure as hell didn't scream when we hunted."

"That's because Dad had already trained you not to," Sam pointed out. "If she had been raised like us she probably would have handled the situation better."

"You two remind me of my sons so much. Good lord those two boys would argue about everything and they were so bull headed that the argument would never stop. One time they even came to blows, but I'll tell you one thing, no matter how mad they might be at each other, if anyone else tried to hurt one of them they came together in an instant and protected each other."

Suddenly Nick grimaced and put a hand to his temple.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked.

"I'm sorry, just a bit of a headache. I'll take some Tylenol for it in a bit."

"Are you sure that's all it is?" Sam asked. He felt something was wrong but he didn't know exactly what.

"Yes, excuse me. I'll go right now and take some medicine. I'm sure it'll fix it right up."

Nick left the room. Dean looked at his watch and saw that it was going on eight o'clock.

"We actually need to turn in pretty soon. I want to leave early tomorrow morning. We still need to go back and burn those remains we found."

"Yeah, sure," Sam said softly.

"You okay?" Dean asked.

Sam nodded.

"Sam, you know we have to leave, right? I know the old guy wanted company for Christmas but I highly doubt he was planning on keeping us around for the long haul."

"I know that. It's just that part of me hates to leave him alone. He's dying, and he has no one. Doesn't that bother you?"

"Sure, but Sam, we can't stay here for the next six weeks waiting for the poor guy to drop dead. It's not our place, and besides, we have to keep looking for Dad."

Sam let out a frustrate sigh.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Dean, I know you idolize Dad, and I know your bond with him is stronger than the one I have, but I'm getting tired of looking for a man who clearly doesn't want us to find him. The last couple of months there have been times when we were in true danger, not to mention several near death experiences, and Dad is no where to be found. Do you realize that we could get killed at anytime with what we do, and he wouldn't even know about it?"

"So what then? You want to give up the search for our father in favor of staying here with Nick?"

"No, I'm not saying that."

"Then what are you saying?" Dean demanded.

"I don't know what I'm saying. I guess I'm just thinking out loud. I just wish I understood. If I could simply be told why it has to be like this then maybe I wouldn't have such issues with this cat and mouse game. Why send coordinates but not call and say 'Hi, I'm fine?'"

"Sam, believe me when I say that when we finally find Dad even I'm going to want a good explanation, but I can't quit this. I have to believe that if the rolls were reversed Dad would never stop looking for us."

"I know," Sam said.

"Listen, if this is that important to you, you can stay here. I'll keep going and you stay with Nick, and then…when…when it's over call me and I'll come get you."

"No!" Sam said firmly. "We stay together. Either we stay here together or we leave together but we don't split up anymore."

Dean smiled and gave Sam a soft punch in the arm. "We stay together. I'll make a deal with you. If Nick wants us to we'll stay one more day, but after that we have to leave."

"You mean it?" Sam asked.

"Sure."

"One more day?"

"Just one."

Sam smiled. "Thank you. I don't know why, but I have this feeling that we need to stay here, that it's important."

"What, like the place is haunted or something?"

"No, nothing like that. I…I can't explain it. I wish I could but I don't always understand the feelings that come my way. The visions are easy. It's like watching a movie, granted its usually a scary as hell movie, but these feelings, or hunches, I don't always understand what they mean."

"It's okay," Dean said and placed a firm hand on Sam's shoulder. "I'm sure in time it'll get easier to understand what you vibes are trying to tell you. I like this though." Dean moved his finger back and forth pointing at Sam and then himself.

"What?" Sam questioned.

"You telling me what's up. Usually you keep this stuff to yourself and leave me out of the loop."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I guess I was afraid to. I didn't know how you would react to it. I didn't want you to be scared of me."

"Scared of you!" Dean laughed. "Sam, visions or no visions I can still kick your ass."

"Shut up," Sam said, also laughing.

"Bitch."

"Jerk."