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Christmas.
Much like the boys, you didn’t celebrate it too often. There hadn’t really been much point with a hunter’s life and all. Most of your Christmases were spent passed out on a lumpy motel mattress after a hard case and a bottle of whiskey. But this year… this year was different.
You’d met the Winchester boys one snowy winter night at the end of January. Well, ‘met’ is putting it lightly. They’d saved your bacon from a hunt gone wrong.
A group of demons hadn’t been very happy you’d ganked a few of their buddies so they’d set out for vengeance, capturing you with the intention of a slow painful death. Five hours into the torture, you nearly bought it, passing out from blood loss mere seconds after seeing the brothers burst in the warehouse wielding knives.
When you came to, you were in a hospital hooked up to so many wires one could mistake you for a cyborg. The first thing you noticed was an impossibly handsome man with a days worth of scruff and short brown hair sleeping in the chair beside your bed and it just went from there.
They took to their safe house, affectionately called 'the bunker’, and taught you how to be a better hunter. Sam liked having a willing study buddy to research with, often working all night. Castiel liked having someone to watch endless shows and movies with. Dean liked having discussions about bands, your vast variety of music tastes including most of his made for a lively conversation. You’d even gotten him to listen to some of your favorites; some of which he actually liked.
You grew close to all of them over the months, but one day you noticed a change between yourself and Dean. Butterflies in your stomach when you rode alone with him on errand runs. The goosebumps that ran up your arm when his fingers accidently brushed you. You started wondering if he felt it too and it turns out he did; his eyes darting away when you caught him looking, the awkward shuffle dance of who goes on which side becoming an excuse to keep his hand on you a little longer than necessary.
Though he never made a move. You thought he would, but he didn’t and so the two of you danced around each other for the past two months, each silently daring the other to make the first move.
“Y/n, is this correct?”
You looked up, shot back to the present at the sound of Castiel’s voice. He was looking at you expectantly, awaiting your verdict on his handywork; strands of lights he had painstakingly entwined along the railing on the stairs.
“Looks good, Cas. Just gotta plug them in,” you grinned, walking over and plugging the cord into the wall.
Rejoining Castiel, you crossed your arms and gazed at the soft white lights glowing in the dimness of the bunker. You met Castiel’s piercing blue eyes and nodded, patting his arm lightly. “You did good. Thanks for helping me out.”
A pleased smile graced Castiel’s face. “I’m glad I could help. I know you wanted to surprise Dean,” he said.
It wasn’t until Cas started walking away that what he said hit you. “Wait, wait, what? Surprise Dean?” you asked his retreating form, your eyes going wide.
Castiel didn’t answer, only half turning to give you another little smile before disappearing around the corner.
You smiled and shook your head at yourself. Guess the two of you weren’t as subtle as you thought. Turning back to the pile of tangled Christmas lights on the table, you jumped as your phone vibrated loudly. You lifted up one end of the lights, then the other looking for it, but when you didn’t see it, just heaved the whole pile up in the air to find the pesky thing right in the middle.
How’d it even get under there. You grabbed the phone and silenced it, pulling up a new text from Dean.
We’ll be home in ten, read the bright little screen.
Alright. You paused with your finger on the screen, tempted, not for the first time, to add 'baby’. Instead you chickened out and hit send after putting a little smiley.
You shoved the phone in your pocket and scooped up the leftover lights, leaving the room to put them away and wait for the boys.
~~~
Two hours later found the four of you in the study laying around after, save Cas, had eaten your fill of dinner with two servings of pumpkin pie apiece. You all had fallen into a comfortable silence a little while ago, Castiel absorbed in a book on Greek mythology, Sam stretched out across the couch, his fingers brushing the floor as he nodded off, his hair falling over one side of his face.
Dean was reading a mystery novel in the arm chair across from you, occasionally peeking over the top to steal glances at you. Well, he was trying to look like he was reading. Truth was he couldn’t get past one paragraph.
His eyes were on you again as you stretched, slipping the headphones Sam had gotten you down onto your neck. He chewed thoughtfully on his bottom lip before making up his mind. Not even bothering to mark his place, he put his book down and stood, waving for you to follow.
“What are we doing?” you asked curiously once the two of you were out of earshot.
“I didn’t give you your present yet,” he said simply.
You raised one eyebrow when he grabbed your coats off the hooks by the exit.
“It’s outside? Is it Baby?” you teased, slipping into the coat Dean held out for you.
That earned you a laugh as he donned his own coat. “No. C'mon.”
You followed him into the night, pulling your fuzzy scarf over your nose before the wind whipped it red. It was cold out tonight. In fact it reminded you of the night the two of you had met just last year. There was at least five inches of crisp unbroken powder on the ground.
After five minutes of walking, you glanced around the semi dark and saw he’d taken you into the field. “How much farther?"
Dean paused. “This is a good a spot as any.”
The reappearing butterflies flew in dizzying circles within as he turned to you, the light from the moon catching in his eyes reminding you how he looked when he came home to see the bunker all decorated.
He hadn’t been expecting anything, never mind the whole library and hall covered in lights and tinsel. As soon as he came down the stairs he’d dropped his bags and wrapped you in a hug, sending a heat spreading through your chest when he whispered 'thank you’ in your ear.
You gazed into those eyes as they met yours for a second before darting away to dig around in his pocket. “It’s not much,” he admitted. “But I saw a place on the way home and it made me think of you,” he said, one corner of his mouth turned up in a nervous grin. “Here. Pick one.”
You looked down at his clenched fists held out to you, unable to stop the smile spreading across your lips. “This one,” you decided, touching one finger to his right hand.
“First try,” he grinned and with that opened his hand to you.
Nestled in his palm was a necklace, a tiny wing attached to a leather cord. “I know how much you love angels,” he said, taking the two ends and bringing them up to your neck. “I’ve heard you ask Cas about his wings enough times to know you wanted to know what they looked like,” he chuckled. “So, I got him to describe them to me and I had this custom made.”
It was your turn to bite your lip as you looked into his eyes, your own eyes starting to glisten.
Dean froze when you didn’t say anything. “Do you like it?” he asked, worry creasing his brows.
“I love it, Dean,” you whispered, flinging your arms around his neck in a tight embrace.
The lines in his forehead vanished and he hugged you back, holding you close until he pulled away a minute later and cleared his throat. “And I, uh, have one more thing.”
“I don’t need anything else, Dean,” you smiled up at him. Your heart skipped a beat when he squeezed your arm gently and moved closer to you, so close now you could feel his breath on your face. This was the moment that all those months had led to. You knew it in your soul, the knowledge racing through you like a wildfire before he reached out to tug your scarf down gently.
“But I need it. It’s you. I love you, Y/n,” he whispered, closing the gap between you to press his lips to yours.
It was warm and tender, gently, ever so gently pulling at your top lip to give you time to respond. And respond you did, matching his movements, tasting pie and whiskey with snowflakes mixed in. Time stood still around you as you lost yourselves in each other. By the time you broke apart, you were both breathless.
He slipped his arms around your waist and pressed you to him, your hands resting on his warm chest as he looked down at you, a gentle smile playing across his lips.
“I love you too, Dean.”