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Mary’s parents always set up a tree, no matter where they stayed. It was always a fake tree they bought second-hand. Something cheap they could leave behind when they eventually moved on. Because they were going to move on, no matter what… They lived in motel rooms if they thought the cases would be quickly dealt with. Longer cases meant they could live in rental homes, but either way, Deanna made sure to put up a tree. Sometimes it was a small one that would fit on a motel nightstand and sometimes it was a big one that could fit in a living room.
It wasn’t decorated like most family trees were. It wasn’t a grand tree like Mary would see in the movies where there were so many ornaments, she couldn’t count them. The fake trees always came with lights and then the five ornaments Deanna kept with her wherever they went. It wasn’t much, but Mary was happy they at least did this.
She didn’t have much of a childhood. The second she could hold a knife in her hand, her parents trained her for a hunter’s life. Mary’s presents were learning how to shoot a gun or a brand new knife. If she was lucky, she could sneak a movie without her dad catching her. One of Mary’s favorite memories was riding in the back seat of the car, looking out the window, and seeing the Christmas lights. It was never anything her parents planned, they were always working on a case, but in December, Mary was able to catch a bit of Christmas magic.
Some houses were simple, just lights on the house. Others were magical, with lights on the house and a whole Christmas village with Santa and his reindeer. Mary loved them all, and she would stare out the window in awe. A simple act of someone decorating their yard made Mary’s year.
She swore when she was a mother, her pups would get to be children. Her pups would get to watch all the Christmas specials and help decorate the tree. Mary’s pups would be excited about Santa coming to visit them and would wake up on Christmas morning with presents stuffed under the tree.
And Mary kept true to her world with Dean.
Even when the pup was too small to remember anything, she would still decorate the home and John would put lights on the house. They would decorate the tree and show it to Dean. Even when Dean was a small newborn pup, Mary and John would drive around the block and look at all the lights.
Now Dean was three, knocking on four, and the pup got excited whenever Christmas rolled around. Dean loved helping Mary and John decorate the tree, he loved watching Christmas specials and writing to Santa. And Dean loved getting into the back seat of the Impala, staring out the window, and looking at all their neighbors' Christmas lights.
“Mommy! Mommy! Can we go now?!” Dean practically shouted as he tugged at Mary’s coat.
“Dean, you can’t rush mommy, she’s carrying your little brother.” John told the young pup and Mary glared at him.
“I can still move around just fine, I’m not that big! Look, Dean! All I have to do is put on my hat.” Mary smiled at Dean as she did so.
“How long is it gonna take Sammy to get here? He slows down Mommy!” Dean whined.
“I’m not slow, see? I’m ready!”
“Yay!” Dean screamed and jumped into John’s arms when the alpha bent down.
They walked out to the car and Mary got into the passenger seat as John got Dean buckled up in the back. When the Impala rumbled to life, John turned on some music, turning the volume on low before pulling out of the driveway. They listened to Ramble On as they looked at all the lights on the block. Some were simple with colorful lights, others had more decorations, but each one Dean would ooo and aww.
It filled Mary’s heart with so much joy, that she thought it might bust. She thought she had been her happiest when she and John mated, but nothing compared to being a mother. To be able to provide her son with a real childhood, and soon, months later, she’d be able to do the same with Sammy.
“Can we see the cool house?” Dean asked.
The cool house wasn’t on this block, but Mary and John always drove down two streets so Dean could see it.
“You got it, champ.” John replied, making Dean squeal with glee.
There more houses with decorations and it made both Mary and Dean happy to see them, but then John slowed down as he approached the “cool house”.
“Awwww!” Dean gasped.
It was a two-story house, with colorful lights on it. On the roof there was a Santa on a sleigh pulled by a reindeer made out of white lights. Candy canes on the yard with white and red lights, a snowman with a mixture of white and colorful lights, and snowflakes that would blink in and out, making cool light movements each time. There was an arch made out of lights and inside was a small house with waving elves. John came to a stop so Dean could press his face to the window and take it all in.
John did it for Dean, but deep down, Mary knew the alpha did it for her as well. Trying his best to give Mary some Christmas magic she missed out on as a child. What John didn’t know, was ever since John came into her life, the gap Mary missed out on had been filled. From the simple act of giving her a gift the first Christmas they shared, to being there for her when she spent her first Christmas without her parents a part of this world, and now this.
John had taken the hurt away from her childhood by simply being there with her and now, he was making it better by giving Dean what Mary couldn’t have as a child. Mary never thought she could live a life so happy and filled with love, but she had it. She had it with John and Dean, and in April or May, she’d have it with Sammy too.