Work Text:
Sam sat on his bed staring at the thing he was holding in his hands. He wanted to do something special for Dean's birthday, but he wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to give Dean what he was holding, or if it would make things worse.
"Oh well, I suppose I won't know unless I try." he said to himself.
He quickly finished wrapping it in an old newspaper he'd found. With slight trepidation, he walked into the main room of the bunker. As he'd thought, Dean was sitting at the table with piles of research spread in front of him.
"Hiya Sam." he said with a brief glance upwards, "M'just tryin' to find anything in the lore that might help with what Metatron told us about the mark. Y'wanna help me?"
"Maybe later." Sam replied, "Let's just take the rest of the day off right now, maybe go out to a nice restaurant and a movie or something this evening."
Dean looked at him like he was insane. "What the hell for? Dude, it's not like it's a holiday or something, is it?"
Sam blinked several times before slowly replying. "Um, It's your birthday Dee!"
Dean looked surprised. "Huh. Yeah, I guess it is! I'd forgotten. Why're you makin' such a big deal out of it though? We haven't celebrated birthdays for a while now."
Sam shrugged. "We're both here, we're both alive, and I just wanna do something special for you this year." he paused, weighing the possible effects of what he was about to do in his mind. "I- I have a present for you." he said shyly, holding out the small package wrapped in the leftover comic page.
Dean took it, then slowly opened it to reveal the beautiful, ugly face of the amulet that he'd thought he would never see again. Tears welled up in his eyes as he took in the significance of this simple, infinitely valuable, gift. "Thanks Sam, I love it." He managed to choke out through the lump in his throat.
Sam wrapped his arms around him from behind. Dean leaned back against him, tears flowing freely now. "I'm sorry, so sorry for everything, Sammy." he whispered softly. There were tears in Sam's eyes as well, and he gently kissed Dean's neck. "I forgive you, Dean. I forgive you for all of it." he whispered back.
They stood like that for a long while. Sam whispering soothing words into Dean's ear from time to time, and Dean's body shaking with sobs. When Dean finally cried himself out, he sniffed several times before turning around in Sam's embrace. "Thank you." he said simply, then burrowed his face into Sam's chest. Sam smiled softly. "You're welcome." He kissed Dean's head. "Happy Birthday, big brother."
And it was a very happy birthday indeed.
~Fin~
Inspired in part by this lovely picture by travellerintime@tumblr. Please go check out all the other amazing work by this wonderful artist! :)
