squidgy78: Thanks so much! I fully intended to have Dean be in this story more, but Amelia is being selfish! Maybe I can reclaim the story back from her.
JoBethH: As always, thank you so much for reading! :) Your cheerful words mean a lot.
Ladygaladrim: Thank you so much! I spent some time trying to pin down Bobby's accent, I'm so glad you noticed. :)
Amelia woke up the next morning, face buried in her spit-soaked pillow.
"Gah," she commented to the empty room as she wiped her face again and scrubbed her hands through her hair. She glanced at her watch. Eleven. Wow, she hadn't slept that late in forever. Amelia put on a clean pair of pants and a nice t-shirt, and put her hair back in a french braid. She took a breath, and walked up the stairs into a scene of kitchen chaos.
Sam and Dean struggled with some yellow stuff on the table, Jo mixed up something on the counter, and Bobby and Ellen stirred various pots on the stove. Everyone milled around, bumping into each other and laughing. Amelia froze in the doorway, almost inclined to retreat to the panic room again.
Then Jo caught sight of her. "Merry Christmas Lia!" she grinned, wrapping her in a tight hug.
"Gah," Amelia yelped as Jo's arms encircled her, but after a second, she tentatively reached up and patted Jo on the back. "Merry Christmas?"
Jo stepped back, and smiled at her. "How'd you sleep?"
"Uh," Amelia itched her head. "Really well, actually."
"Could use a hand here, princesses," Bobby grunted.
Jo made a face, but returned to chopping up fruit.
"What do you need help with, Bobby?"
He glanced at Sam and Dean. "I think the boys need a little help with the pies."
Amelia studied the stuff on the table for a minute before a realization struck her. "Wait," she gasped, "that's pie dough?"
They had it smeared all over the table, themselves, and the rolling pin. She burst out laughing, harder than she had since Paul died. Dean just glared at her. She wiped a tear off her face, gave another chuckle, and pitched in. A little over an hour later, they settled down to ham and all the fixings. To Amelia it felt like they ate for hours, laughing and teasing each other, nibbling on the ham, trying to eat Jo's fruit salad with a straight face. When the pies came out of the oven (Amelia had helped the boys make the mangled dough into something resembling a pie) Amelia couldn't eat another bite. Dean, on the other hand, even though he had eaten more than anyone else, beamed like a little kid and dug in happily. Amelia initiated the dishes, since she had escaped from helping with most of the cooking. Ellen pitched in beside her.
"Merry Christmas, Amelia," she said. "I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, but I'm glad you could come. Makes it feel more like a family."
Gifts were given sporadically throughout the day, half the time as an ambush. Dean would wander by, then a rather badly wrapped present would sail through the air towards someone. Other gifts were left around the house, anonymously, with a name addressed on them. Half the fun was guessing who had gifted it.
Amelia received a comfy new sweatshirt, she correctly guessed Jo, and a fully stocked charm necklace that turned out to be pieced together from everyone, Bobby donating the lion's share. Dean gave everyone socks with little bottles of different flavored vodka in them. Sam got the pink, cake-flavored one, of course, and a pack of hair scrunchies. Amelia had pieced together some random gifts on the way up from college, per Bobby's advice. Ear plugs and a pomegranate for Sam. Dean took slight offense at the fact that Amelia thought Sam needed ear plugs in his life. She had gotten him a pack of fake mustaches and a pack of Oreos, though, so he warmed back up pretty quick.
Ellen took forever to guess Amelia for one of her gifts, a hex bag. Not Bobby, Sam, or Dean. Amelia had the original idea, and Jo had helped her with it. Dual hex bags linked to each other, one for Jo one for Ellen. A nail attached to it by a string would always rotate towards the other bag, so as long as they had the hex bags on them, they would always know where the other person was.
Ellen gave her a quick hug when she finally cornered Amelia and heard the purpose of the bag, and straight away hung the bag around her neck. Jo already wore hers. Amelia had already given Bobby his steaks, but she gave him a bottle of semi-nice whiskey in addition. Hustling certainly came in handy.
At one point in the afternoon, Amelia stood at the sink sipping some water when she heard a rustle behind her and a few gasps. She spun, and choked on her water. A man stood in the living room, wearing a beige trenchcoat.
"I have come to wish you a joyous celebration of the anniversary of the birth of the one you call Christ," he said in a gravelly monotone, "even though the actual day is not directly analogous to the current method of counting the days since the Jewish calender was based upon-"
"Merry Christmas, Cas!" Dean cut him off with a laugh and a smile, and Sam, who happened to be closest, gave him a one armed hug.
"I believe there is a tradition of exchanging gifts," Cas said, like they were a foreign culture he had studied. He handed Sam a bulky, oddly shaped package wrapped in what looked like leaves.
"We haven't seen you in months, what's up?"
"The angels are still busy trying to-" he stopped, and looked piercingly at Amelia who had just choked again at the word 'angel', seeming to realize her presence for the first time. Bobby had explained angels in passing.
"Who is she?"
"That's Amelia, she's a new hunter," Bobby said, "I'll vouch for her."
Cas studied her with narrowed blue eyes. "Nonetheless it is not appropriate to discuss such matters. I was not being prudent in my joy at seeing you again." Amelia saw Dean snort silently behind Cas. "I have been busy."
"We're glad you could come, Cas," Sam told him. "Christmas is for family, and you're family, too."
"Can you stay?" Dean asked him.
He shook his head. "Regrettably, no. There are too few of my brethren remaining, we all have much work to do. Already I have stayed longer than I intended to. Goodbye. And.. Merry Christmas."
"Cas!" Dean started to get up from the couch, but Castiel had already disappeared. Just disappeared. One second he stood in the middle of the living room, then with a rustle he was gone.
Amelia choked on her water a third time, and had to bend over the sink coughing.
The package contained a half-melted chocolate Easter bunny that even Dean wouldn't eat and a few generic glass Christmas tree ornaments.
"Well," Jo ventured, "it's the thought that counts?"
Bobby started laughing so hard he had to sit down.
No one offered any explanation to Amelia about the man, whoever he was, and she didn't ask.
That evening, cuddled up in her new sweatshirt and cozy socks, fingering the old charms on her new necklace, sipping another round of Bobby's now famous eggnog, Amelia smiled. Wide. So wide it hurt her mouth a little. It had been a strange day, what with flying socks, poker, and horrifyingly sentimental Christmas movies playing in the background. But it had been a Christmas. Sure, there had been arguments and insults, Dean had been almost insufferable and Sam had bitch-faced a truly incredible amount of times. But no one had sat in deathly silence for fear of a beating, no one plastered on a fake smile for appearances, no one stomped off to their room even. People fought and made up, usually, hilariously, by fake fighting. Apparently nothing said "I love you" more than arguing for two hours over a completely nonsensical topic.
So by midnight, halfway through an awful Christmas horror movie, Amelia's stomach hurt from eating too much and laughing so much at jokes and the stupid movie. Sure maybe the house felt a little small. She could bear it for a few days. That night, for the second time, she slept without nightmares.
Awww, Cas! I had to bring him in somehow, even if he really doesn't come into the story. :) Hope you enjoyed the Christmas happiness, as usual in Supernatural, it's not going to last long... *suspenseful music plays*
I'll update again soon, thanks for reading!