Chapter Text
Dean Winchester’s arms are getting tired. He can feel the sweat dripping down his neck, and he really wishes they would turn off that damn Mariah Carey song. Even if it is helping him keep his compressions in time. Dean is crouched down in fake snow, surrounded by plastic reindeer, and Santa Claus himself is lying flat on his back in front of him having suffered a cardiac arrest on the last Saturday before Christmas.
Not for the first time Dean marvels at how weird post-hunter life can be.
The elves are keeping the crowd at bay but Dean can hear children crying, and the murmurs of parents trying to reassure them that Santa isn’t dying. Dean feels a crack and is pretty sure he has just broken one of Santa’s ribs. He hopes the kids didn’t hear that.
“Come on man.” He mutters under his breath. Sarah, his partner, has already shot Santa up with a stimulant and attached the defibrillator panels, now they just needed a rhythm. Just a little spark. Dean really hopes this isn’t taking as long as it feels like it’s taking.
“Maybe we should stop and get him out of here.” Whispers Dalbir, the EMT they were training. Kid was having one hell of a first day.
“Not yet. He’s still here.” Dean insists. He can feel the man’s life hanging in the balance and knows there’s still a chance. Another crack reverberates up his arms. “Come on!” Dean yells
“We got V-Tach, clear!” Sarah yells. Dean throws his hands up, and Sarah hits a button that sends a shock of electricity to Santa’s heart causing his body to leap up. A child screams.
“Go.” At Sarah’s order Dean continues chest compressions until she yells clear again. Another shock, but this time his vitals stabilize. “We got him!” Sarah says.
Dean takes a deep breath and wipes the sweat out of his eyes before quickly getting back to work. Dalbir administers oxygen while Dean and Sarah get Santa onto the stretcher. Dean looks around at all the worried faces.
He hopes he sounds convincing as he says, “don't worry everyone. Santa just needs a little rest but he’ll be up and about by Christmas eve!”
There is clapping as they wheel Santa through the mall, and Mariah hits her last high note. It really hadn’t taken that long after all.
***
Dean sits at a table rolling his cold beer between his hands. Sarah and Dalbir talk back and forth leaving him be. The bar is fairly crowded with the usual Saturday night crowd. It’s warm bordering on stuffy, but thankfully there is a cool breeze every time the door opens. Dean is lost in thought, he is remembering his first night as a full fledged paramedic. Things hadn’t turned out the way they had today. They had gotten a call about a homeless man collapsed in an alley. It was so late that it was practically morning. The cold rain had poured down on his head, leaked under his uniform, chilled him to the bone. A chill passes through him as he remembers.
He had known the guy was gone when he had started CPR but he still gave it his all. Even if you can’t save them all you still have to try. His compressions were stiffer than they were today. He still had to count under his breath back then. Maybe if they had been a little sooner. His partner made him stop. Maybe if he had been a little stronger. He walked down the alley to take a moment for himself. He sensed her before he saw her. Tessa the Reaper, looking much more lively than when he last saw her, hand in hand with the man he’d been working on. She smiled at him. Told him that there were big changes going on on the other side, thanks to Jack and Castiel. She said he would be proud of them, that they were proud of him, and then she was gone. He hopes she was right.
Sarah looks up as a wave of fresh air reaches them. Dean looks up too and sees a man in a trench coat coming in the door. His heart stops for a second before he recognizes Doug, Sarah’s husband. Doug rushes over to their table giving Sarah a quick kiss before sitting down. She leans against him. Their intimacy is quiet and comfortable. If Dean feels a small tug in his stomach he ignores it and takes a drink of his beer.
“So how goes the battle?” Doug asks. “Mine was very successful. Sheets balanced. All my numbers in a row, not a single soldier lost.”
“That’s nice babe. We,” she says taking a dramatic pause and gesturing to the table, “saved Christmas.”
“Really?”
“Yup. Re-started Santa’s heart right in front of a group of terrified children.” Sarah replies.
“No shit.” says Doug.
“It was a lot.” adds Dalbir, “maybe I’m not cut out for this.”
This stirs Dean out of his revery. He gives Dalbir a supportive pat on his leg. “You were great kid. Kept your cool, jumped in when needed. You got this.”
Dalbir looks at Dean intently. “But how did you know. How did you know to keep going?”
“Oh Winchester always knows.” Sarah answers. “That can’t be taught. It’s like he sees their soul leave their body.”
Dean scoffs. “It’s just a feeling. Trust your gut kid, you’ll get there.” Dean winks at Dalbir, and Dalbir’s cheeks darken.
“I’m going to get another drink.” Dalbir says, quickly leaving the table.
“Uh oh, another one.” Doug says.
“Another what?” Dean asks.
“Another of our trainees is hot for teacher.” Sarah says. “It’s always you. I’m hot too!”
“Of course you are.” Doug says. “They just know you’re unavailable.”
“Winchester is completely unavailable!”
“I am?”
“You know you are. You’re like a fortress surrounded by a moat filled with alligators.” Sarah says matter of factly.
“I’m just busy. I’ve got the job, our poker nights, lots of family obligations. Do you want to see more pictures of the nieces, because I have a lot of new ones. I have a very full life.” Dean states pointing his beer at Sarah.
“I know you do. Oh sweetie, I didn’t mean to strike a nerve.” She says and pats his arm.
“You didn’t.”
“I’m just saying you could have everything you already have and more, if that is even something you want. You know I’m just saying this out of love and completely support you right?” Sarah asks, looking worried.
Dean gets up and kisses her on the top of the head. “I know. I love you too partner. In a completely platonic closed off kind of way. You too Doug.” He kisses Doug on the top of his head too.
Doug smiles. “Thanks man.”
“And right now what I really want is to crush our newbie at pool, and take his money.”
“Dean be nice it’s Christmas!” cries Doug, who has been a victim of Dean’s pool shark ways in the past. Dean just grins, grabs his beer, and heads over to the pool tables.
The night passes quickly. Dean’s mood lightens considerably after winning a few rounds. He shakes off Sarah’s words, and his melancholic mood, and lives in the moment. It’s something he has been working on, and he’s gotten pretty good at it. He even lets Dalbir win a game before teaming up with him to completely destroy Sarah and Doug. He wasn’t lying earlier when he said he has a very full life, he does. It is filled with friends, family and love. If every now and then an old sadness creeps in that’s okay, it’s part of being alive. It’s okay to miss the people that aren’t here. Today was a good day, and if tonight he drifts off to sleep thinking about a certain trench-coated someone, well that’s okay too. When that inescapable Mariah Carey song comes on again, Dean sings along at the top of his lungs.