Love Is Christmas (a late SPN fic)

[Zwee]

Hello, all!

First off, I'll start by saying that I've been trying to post this story since Christmas Eve, but the website was being weird, and I was only actually able to log on tonight. Also, I've had company, and not tons of time to get on here anyway...

Excuses aside, I hope you'll all forgive me for a late Christmas story? Maybe? It's Sam and Dean... if that helps any? Its pretty long, too. Sorry about that!

The title is stolen from a gorgeous Sara Bareilles song.

~*~

Sam had been feeling off for days now. He’d been putting up with headaches, chills, and a runny nose since Illinois where they’d found a hunt, and they had made it to South Dakota without it manifesting into a full-blown cold yet. He’d known for weeks that he’d get sick.

For one, the weather was cold, and he and Dean found themselves doing hunts in the pouring rain, hail, sleet, and snow. And, though the weather itself wasn’t enough to get him sick, it had a way of weakening his immune system. For another, he’d been getting little to no sleep lately. Between staying up late on his laptop, working a case, or being racked with nightmares that left him exhausted and not very well rested, he’d only gotten a few hours of good, uninterrupted sleep in the past few weeks. But the one thing that ensured he’d get sick, was Dean, who had beat him to the cold, and, in his misery, could care less about keeping it contained.

Dean was in a horrible mood. He glowered at Sam when he spoke, and found reasons to be annoyed with everything in the motel room. Sam couldn’t blame him. Their last hunt had left them a little worse for wear, especially Dean. He’d managed to sprain his ankle quite badly, and sliced his hand open. The latter wasn’t so much concerning as it was irritating on Dean’s part, since he was having trouble holding things. He couldn’t even do proper stitches on Sam’s head and abdomen wounds, so Sam had had to do them himself, and, with a concussion, that proved to be difficult and a bit painful.

“HHuhh-HEHHssshoo! HuhhEHHTSHAH!”

Sam flinched from where he was sitting in front of the mirror, inspecting his stitches, and frowned. “Bless you.”

Dean groaned. “ I thingk I’b literally dyigg, Sabby.”

“You aren’t dying.” Sam rolled his eyes, threw his brother the toilet roll to blow his nose. Dean began coughing hard into his fist. “I don’t like the sound of that cough, though.”

“It’s the plague.” Dean said, once he’d finished coughing. “I’ll only be alive for the next 24 hours. Hht-SHUH! Huh-hehhh-TSCHHOO!”

“I doubt it.” Sam replied, shivering. He decided to put his shirt back on, digging a warm plaid flannel shirt out of his bag to go on top. When that still didn’t seem to warm him, he grabbed a hoodie too.

After Dean complained for the eighth time that hour that there was nothing on television, Sam decided he needed some air.

“I’ll pick you up something to take your mind off your boredom, okay?” He said, grabbing a coat.

“Fine.” Dean glared at his ankle, switched channels, and heaved a sigh.

Sam slipped out, shoulders hunched against the sharp, winter wind. He stepped carefully, trying to avoid large patches of ice. He could already feel the snow leaking into his boots and frowned, remembering he really needed new ones.

The warmth of the convenience store was a relief, and Sam scrubbed at his nose, red-tipped from the cold. “Huhh-kktsch.”

He managed to find a “Busty Asian Beauties” magazine for Dean near the checkout, and tossed it up on the counter, along with pain relievers and cold medicine. He glanced down at the headline of the newspaper up front, scanning for hunts as usual before noticing the date.

“It’s Christmas Eve?” He asked the cashier, somewhat surprised.

“Yeah, dude. What have you been on?” The cashier glanced down at his magazine. “This edition’s a good one, man.”

Sam resisted the temptation to roll his eyes, turning back and saying over his shoulder, “Just a minute. I need a couple more things.”

He heard the guy groan at him, but ignored it, grabbing a few essential items for his brother, and grabbed several boxes of tissues, before returning to make his purchase.

Stepping outside into the cold was unpleasant, but he tried not to think about how wet his socks were getting, and how badly he needed a tissue. He didn’t want to dig through the bag now because that would mean stopping and letting the cold wind take over and freeze him solid, so he just sniffled and tried not to sneeze again.

“Hutshchoo! Heh-EHHtsch!” The plan failed as he entered the warm motel room, finding his older brother had finally found something mildly satisfying to watch, seeing as he didn’t scowl at Sam for making a sound.

“Gesuddheit. Cold out there?”

“Yeah.” Sam said, tucking the bag behind his back inconspicuously. He managed to slip it inside his backpack without Dean noticing, before handing his older brother the magazine with an eager grin.

“Awesobbe!” Dean actually looked happy for the first time since his injury, accepting it and flipping it open immediately. “Thanks, Sammy.”

“Huhh-uhh-hitchoo. HatchshSHUH!” Sam sneezed, only just managing to catch the sneeze in his cupped hands.

Dean glanced up, worry flickering in his eyes for a moment. “Hey, go warbb up. It’s like below zero, add you’ve got ice id your hair.”

Sam grimaced, heading into the bathroom, and taking his bag with him.

The water in the shower wasn’t as hot as he’d wanted it to be, and the steam did nothing to clear his head or nose, but it was nice to warm up after such freezing weather.

He dug through his bag, searching for something that would make him feel less like an icicle. His fingers came in contact with something soft and thick. It was a dark blue sweater. The sweater was from Jess, a Christmas gift. He was suddenly struck with the memory of their first Christmas together.

“Open it!” She urged, smiling from ear to ear, her face flushed.

“Hmm…” He shook it, listening. “It’s… a kitten? No, no, wait. I know. It’s a motorcycle!”

They were both kneeling on the floor, huddled in front of the tiny fake Christmas tree Jessica had bought in a bout of homesickness the previous week. She was leaving the next day to go home for the holidays, so she had insisted they celebrate early, and open their presents together.

“Open it, idiot!” She was giggling, tugging on the hem of his pants in excitement.

He ripped the paper off, and held up the sweater so he could see it in the light. It was rather simple, just blue, but it was incredibly soft, and he could see little holes and missed stitches and could tell it was handmade, so that made it a hundred times better.

“Wow,” He breathed, pulling it on right there. “Jess… This is perfect!”

“I’ve been working on it for months, and I had to start over like four times, so I’m just happy I finished it in time. It really does fit, right? I wasn’t sure I’d bought enough yarn. It was going to be red, you know, for Stanford, but the stupid shop I went to was out of red, it being Christmas time and all, so I bought blue. Blue looks better on you anyway.” She bubbled, smiling bigger than he’d ever seen.

“I love it, Jess.” He said, kissing her.

Sam shook his head, clearing himself of the memory and burying his face in his hands, sneezing. “Hup’tschoo!” He held the soft wool for a few seconds more, before slipping it on over his head.

He was still shivering, but he toweled off his hair, leaving his soaked clothes to defrost in the bathtub.

~*~

Dean had tucked the magazine Sam had bought away for future browsing, and was buried in covers, tucking his head underneath the pile for a few loud sneezes.

“HH’DGGSHHHUH! Huh-HESSCHHOO! Huh’tSCHHAH!”

“Bless you. You okay?”

Dean groaned pitifully, peeking his head above the blankets. “Dno. Cadd I have the Aspirid?”

“Yeah.” Sam handed Dean the bottle and some water, grimacing when his older brother began to cough harshly. “Did you take anything for that?”

Dean shrugged. “Hours ago. It didd’t help bmuch.” He shivered.

Sam pulled the comforter off of his own bed, throwing it over his brother.

“You dodn’t deed to do that.” Dean cleared his throat, coughed some more.

“You’re shivering.” Sam sniffled a little, swiping his nose with a hand. “I have another blanket anyway.”

“Thaddks, Sabby.”

Dean was now just a huddled ball under the layers of blankets he had collected. In a few moments, Sam could hear him snore softly. He settled down in his own bed, switched off the light and sighed.

Outside the window, the lamp flickered. He’d forgotten to shut the blinds. The flickering light had kept him up all night last night. He flipped over to stare out the window, trying to force himself up. In the distance, he could see a house, decorated with lights. Just faintly he spotted a triangle of glittering yellow, with a glowing top which must have been the star.

Out of nowhere he was wide awake, with a purpose. He got up and slipped on Dean’s leather jacket, his own coat still dripping in the tub. Once his boots were on, he managed to sneak out the door without being heard. He checked through the window to ensure his brother was still sleeping, then headed out into the freezing cold once more.

His first stop was the liquor store, still open, to his relief. The woman behind the counter did not seem happy to be working at this hour on Christmas Eve.

“Hi.” Sam said, setting the bottle of Dean’s favorite whiskey on the counter and smiling.

“Will this be all for you tonight?” She said, scowling.

“Yep, that’s it, thank you.” He paid, and carried the paper bag to the door. “Merry Christmas!” Sam caught a glimpse of the cashier rolling her eyes before he was barraged with freezing wind and a face-full of snowflakes. He sent a flurry of sneezes into his free wrist.

“Hh’kktscchh! Huh-tsshhhew! Huh-huh-ESSHHhew! Hut’shhuh! Hhhh’tsscchh!”

After he’d recovered, he braced his shoulders against the cold, sniffling, and headed off to the next location on his list, climbing inside the Impala and setting the bag on the empty seat beside him.

His second stop was the Christmas tree stand on the corner. He was filled with relief when he saw that the lights were still on, but saddened a little to see the number of trees left.

An elderly man sat inside a heated tent, sipping from a cup. Sam smiled, nodding a greeting at the man.

“Good evening!” The man stood up, making his way over to Sam. “I’m George Carroll. Can I help you find a tree this evening?”

“Um, yeah. Thank you.” Sam glanced around nervously at the remainder of the trees. He had never done anything like this before.

“What type are you looking for?”

“Uh… I haven’t decided yet.” Sam said uncertainly.

“Well, what size?”

Sam thought about the motel room, trying to size it up in his mind. “Maybe… Five feet?” The ceilings weren’t tall, he should know, and he didn’t want to think about trying to fit something too tall through the doorway. Plus, he wasn’t sure how much money these trees would be, and he still needed to buy lights.

George nodded, his eyes crinkled with a smile. “Right over here then, young man.”

Sam looked at the collection of small trees. One was crushed on one side, one had no definite top. One was half bare, and one was very skinny. He finally decided on a tree that was bushy on one side with a large sparse patch in the back. It was the one in best shape, and he didn’t think Dean would mind.

“Alrighty, then. This one’s the one?”

“Yeah, it’s perfect. Thank you. How much?”

“How about you just take it for free? Merry Christmas, son.”

“Oh. No, really. I couldn’t do that.” Sam shook his head, reaching for his wallet.

“It’s Christmas Eve, and you’re buying it for someone you care about. Really, young man. It would be a gift to me if you took this tree.” George Carroll’s blue eyes glimmered as he stared into Sam’s green ones.

“Thank you.” Sam said quietly, sincerely.

George helped the younger Winchester strap the tree to the top of the Impala, then stepped back to admire his handiwork.

“You have a merry Christmas, son.”

“You too.” Sam replied, then drove off to his next stop.

He managed to find one store still open with everything he needed. Next to the thick wool socks Dean had needed for months, Sam found a spool of tree lights, the last ones in the store. He looked around for a star, but there was none to be found. Sam looked at several angels, before realizing the perfect tree topper would be found in the children’s toy aisle.

Next, he needed wrapping paper. There were a few religiously-themed Christmas rolls left, but Sam found kid’s birthday paper decorated with old cars, so he chose that instead.

Satisfied with his findings, he walked up to the counter, sniffling.

“Did you find everything okay today?” The cashier asked.

“Y-yeah, I—hhtshhhchew! Huh’kktshh! I did, thank you.”

“Bless you!” She said, ducking beneath the counter for a tissue. “Here,” she handed it to him, smiling.

“Thanks.” He flushed a little, turning away to wipe his nose.

“Got a cold?”

“No, not yet. The cold is getting to me, that’s all.” He smiled sheepishly.

She hummed to herself as she rang the items up.

“Okay, you have a nice night, sir.” The girl said once she’d finished and he’d paid.

“You too.” Sam left the store with a feeling of excitement.

His nose was running, and he used the tissue the girl had given him to wipe at it, sniffling. He really wasn’t looking forward to coming down with what Dean had.

~*~

Once Sam got back to the motel, his head was spinning a little, and he had to stop twice to lean against something as he coughed. He didn’t mind, though, his head was too full of the plans he’d made to care much.

He managed to get the tree inside the room without Dean waking up, and he even strung the lights up. To his disappointment, half of the string was broken, so only the very bottom and top of the tree was lit up. After a few moments of sadness, he moved on, mounting the tree-topper, and then picking up the presents.

All the paper crinkling and cutting and taping would make too much noise, so he decided to move outside to wrap them. He disliked this idea, but he knew it was the only way.

Wrapping the presents took effort, seeing as his fingers were frozen and shaking, and he couldn’t keep from sneezing long enough to tape down the sides. After nearly an hour of freezing, laborious work, Sam had finished his project.

Coming back into the room, Sam set the presents under the tree, which was leaned against the wall for lack of better support. He couldn’t help a grin. He had just wanted Dean to feel better, and he knew this would be perfect. He wondered vaguely if Dean had had any real Christmases with their mom before she died. He decided Dean had probably had four perfect years with her, and felt a stab of jealousy that he would never experience a Mary Winchester Christmas.

His eyes were watering, and he sneezed, loudly, before he could stop himself.

“HHT-SHHUH! Huh’KKTSCHH’hew!”

Dean gave a small snort in his sleep, stirring, and waking up. He scrubbed at his eyes, squinting at the bright light of the tree. “Sammy?”

“Merry—kktshhh!—Christmas, Dean.”

“What the… it’s Christmas?”

Sam nodded, sniffled. His nose twitched. “Hhhh-tshhhhyew!”

“Bless you. Where’d you get a tree on Christmas?”

“Mr. Carroll…” Sam said vaguely, turning away to sneeze yet again. “Huh-tksshhhuh! Heh-eehhhtshuh!”

“Bless you.” Dean had climbed out of bed now, and was walking over to the tree, looking slightly awestruck. “Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“What the hell is on top of our tree?” Dean was staring at the tree topper. Then he turned to look at Sam, his face screwed up in confusion.

“It’s an angel.” Sam said, a little sheepishly.

“It’s an action figure.” Dean took the figure down to look more closely. It was a detective, with dark hair and a trench coat.

“It’s Cas.” Sam said, grinning.

Dean laughed out loud, and, even though it turned into a nasty coughing fit, Sam couldn’t stop smiling. He hadn’t heard that sound in too long.

Dean bent down to pick up one of the messily wrapped packages. “Are these all for me?”

Sam nodded, then coughed into his hands.

Dean tore open the gifts with some difficulty owing to his injured hand. Presents assembled around him, he grinned widely.

“Thanks Sammy.”

“You’re welcome, Dean. Hht-kksshhew!”

For the first time, Dean seemed to really look at his brother. He took in the sickly pallor, the glassy, shiny eyes, the pink nose, and the spots of color on his brother’s cheeks.

“Damn it. How long have you been sick for, buddy?”

Sam looked about to protest, then shrugged half-heartedly. “Not long.” He shivered.

Dean frowned in concern. “Fever?” He didn’t wait for an answer, leaning forward to feel his brother’s forehead. “Yep, shit, a high one.”

Despite these words, Sam couldn’t wipe the smile from his face.

“Hey, I’ve got some things for you too, Sammy.” Dean said.

“Really?”

“Of course. They’re not wrapped or anything. TSSHH’uhh! Ugh.”

“Bless you.” Sam looked at him, excitement in his eyes.

Dean got up and went to his bag, tossing Sam a pair of socks that nearly matched the ones he had just received. With great force, he extracted an incredibly soft dark blue blanket, and threw that at Sam too.

“Thank you, Dean.” Sam was in awe. “They’re perfect!”

Dean opened the bottle of whiskey and poured some out while his younger brother pulled on his new socks.

“Hey, Sammy. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Dean.” Sam grinned.

~*~

Hope you enjoyed it!

Happy Holidays everyone!

[Ciuty80]

this was a wonderful belated christmas story!!!!

i really like the fact that both guys end up being sick and sneezy!! :drool:

and i do know LovelyLinda will be happy to read this too!

thank you for writing this cute thing!!

[LovelyLinda]

You are baaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!!

*hugs you*

This is spectacu-lacu-lar....I love you!

I have been so curious since the day you had sent me an exerpt of this goodness <3

Thank you!!!

There is so much love in there.....And all these sneezes..

Thank god you're back!

[BlueRandom]

Cuuuute! This is the first fic I've read in ages, and it's lovely. I love the scraggy Christmas tree, and Cas on top, and all the festive-ness.

(Plus, it's both of them ... )

[Emily]

IT'S SO SWEET, DEAR JESUS, I LOVE THIS OMGOMGOMG

I love the whole thing with George Carroll (by the way, the pun can't be unintentional, can it? )

Oh you, this is the cutest thing ever. Thank you for writing it! = w =

[VividBubbles!]

I love the whole thing with George Carroll (by the way, the pun can't be unintentional, can it? )

Hehehehe. I saw this too. Every time I read the name I giggled. I love how Sam doesn't even comment.

Also,

MY GOSH, THE ACTION FIGURE OF CAS IS JUST TOO ADORABLE!!!

Sammy is just so sweet and Dean is such a good big brother. This is just amazing.

BYE!

[SexualOddity]

MERRY CHRISTMAS ZWEE!

My family celebrate right through to Jan 6th so for me you're right on time.

This is such a great fic, I think probably even my favourite of yours (and there's such stiff competition!) So yeah... gonna do a list.

1. I actually love the idea of Sam just a little bit sick and kinda muddling through for days before. I don't know why, but I think I have a bit of a thing for people being an insy teeny bit sick, IDK.

2. Did you write a fic that contained sickSam and sick Dean AND hurtSam and hurtDean..? I think you did. And I might just have to love you to death for it. The image of concussedSam struggling to stich up his wounds was a particular favourite.

3. I love all the looking out for each other, and especially Sam worrying about Dean's cough.

4. Pooooooor wet, cold, leakybootsSammy.

5.The stuffy 'gasundteit' was adorable! I honestly don't think I've read that before.

6. Sam is so cute when he doesn't really know what to ask for when he's buying the Christmas tree. And George Carroll was SOOO nice.

7. I love the slow, slow, slow onset of illness. You're such a tease! But in a really, really good way.

8. CAR WRAPPING PAPER!

9. Sneezing while talking to a stranger. I love that. Hee hee hee! *blush* Especially when she gave him a tissue and asked about his health!

10. Ohhhh the image of Sam in the cold outside, not able to tape up the presents properly for sneezing! Sammy!

11. THEY'RE BOTH SO SICK AND FEELING SO CRAPPY. BUT THEY'RE SO HAPPY! AND IT'S LOVELY!

12. I TOTALLY HAVE CASTIEL ON TOP OF MY TREE! (Yes, I know I'm a loser. And not even an original loser because I stole the idea from someone on LJ. But still, it makes me smile)

Overall, this made me all warm and happy inside.

Heeeeeeee!

[Kshu]

OMG Thats so sweet! Also, I love, love, love the mention of Cas at the top of the tree haha!

[Sawyer]

Ooooh I was so excited to see that you posted something! And on top of LITERALLY EVERYTHING SEXUALODDITY SAID (I was planning a list of comments in my head that said EXACTLY THE SAME THINGS, seriously!) I also want to add that I loooove how you wrote about Sam's reasons for getting sick (I love knowing where they picked it up and that their immune system was already shot to hell etc. etc.) and just the lovely contagion and ohhh my god Dean's melodramatic stuffed up whining and ALSO Sam wearing DEAN'S LEATHER JACKET when he went out shopping! Aww! This was wonderful wonderful wonderful.

[ID2006]

happy dance

[Zwee]

It's HIGH time I thanked my lovely reviewers! Stuff has been crazy for me, but that's no excuse! You all are too sweet, and it's been almost a month since I've posted this story. But I haven't forgotten your kindness!!

@Ciuty80: heehee, I'm a sucker for sick and sneezy brothers! I'm so happy you thought it was cute! Thank you!

@LovelyLinda: HAHA, spectacu-lacu-lar! I totally forgot about that episode! I laughed so hard. Thank you so much for the review, love! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I was hoping you would. It's because of your Dean-love that I really wanted to put sick Dean in there!

@BlueRandom: Thank you! I love festiveness! And I LOVE it when it's both of them. They're so adorable in mutual misery. <3

@Emily: Wow, I'm so happy you enjoyed it! Pun definitely intended!! And thank you!

@VividBubbles!: Haha, yeah, my attempt at the most Christmasy name without being like "Nicholas Claus" or something! Thank you! Your reviews are wonderful!!

@SexualOddity: You've outdone yourself. SO MANY THINGS. Thank you thank you thank you thank you!! I wish I could tell you how much it all means to me! I enjoy SickHurt brothers. Suffering in adorableness together. Remind me to write more of that! If you're a loser for having Castiel on your tree, I'm definitely a loser for WANTING ONE SO BADLY. Again, just... thank you!

@Kshu: Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it!

@Sen Beret: Ooh, I'm glad you liked that! I love coming up with those, because, for me anyway, if there's anything better than a cute guy with a cold, it's a cute guy coming down with a cold! I like that. Thank you!

@ickydog2006: heehee! Happy dance from me that you liked it!

Thank all of you who read my story!! I'm sorry this is SO late. I couldn't sleep because I felt guilty for not thanking all of you. You're too sweet! Have wonderful Januarys!