A Very Supernatural Christmas.

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE , A VERY SUPERNATURAL CHRISTMAS

a/n : we are so back

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"This is so stupid..."

"Aw, come on." Dean lightly touches Athena's shoulder and leads her through the gate. "This is like an undercover mission."

Athena keeps her hands stuffed in her Christmas sweater cardigan. "This thing is itchy."

"It's your undercover outfit," Sam says.

Athena scoffs, "Why do I even have to do this?" she looks at Sam and Dean. "Couldn't you just do this yourselves?"

"And be seen as creepers?" Dean scoffs. "No, thanks."

"Anti-Claus might be the stupidest idea you guys have ever come up with." Athena lightly pulls at the collar of her Christmas sweater.

"It's a Christmas miracle." Dean softly exclaims. "Hey, speaking of, we should have one this year."

"Have one what?"

"A Christmas."

Athena lightly chuckles, finding the idea amusing. Sam immediately shuts down the idea. "No, thanks."

"No, we'll get a tree, a little Boston market--just like when we were little," Dean says with a small smile.

Athena pulls her brows together.

"Dean, those weren't exactly Hallmark memories for me," Sam replies.

Dean pulls his face back, "What are you talking about? We had some great Christmases."

"Whose childhood are you talking about?" Sam chuckles.

"Oh, come on, Sam--"

"No, just...no." Sam softly sighs. He didn't want to have this conversation and he sure as hell didn't want to reminisce.

"Wait..." Athena stops walking. "You guys celebrated Christmas?"

Sam and Dean stop and turn to the girl as she tries to take in this information. Athena then raises her brows, "So, this Christmas thing. It's not just from movies or for celebrities? Regular people just...do it?"

"I mean, they don't 'do it'. They celebrate it." Dean shrugs his shoulders.

Athena bites the inside of her cheek and softly hums. Sam raises his brows, "I forgot you've never celebrated Christmas."

"Yeah, celebrating Christmas kind of fizzled out a little while before you came to live with us," Dean says, his smile vanishing.

Athena clicks her tongue, "Eh, it's whatever."

"No, it's not whatever." Dean shakes his head. "We need to celebrate Christmas seriously." he looks at Athena and then Sam.

Sam shakes his head, "No." he snorts. "Sorry, Athena, but...I just can't." he softly speaks, his eyes sad.

Athena tilts her head and gives them a blank stare. She had no idea why they were so upset over her not having a Christmas to celebrate.

"I'm not upset about it." she then chuckles. "I've never celebrated Christmas. Why would I be upset about something I never had?" she then walks away from them.

Dean pouts his lip and guilt rises in Sam. Dean points at Sam, "Grinch."

Athena notices Sam's spaced-out expression. She brushes him off and looks around the "Winter Wonderland". In the Christmas movies Athena has seen, there was always snow, the kids were happy, and their parents at least had a look of happiness for their children.

But this wasn't that.

The kids were crying, the parents were either tired or pissed (or crying themselves). And the elves all smelled like booze. Then Athena saw him...

She stops in her tracks and her stomach twists. The man in the red suit was sitting on a large throne-like some kind of king. "That's Santa?" She points at the man. "He can barely hold his head up."

"Yeah, yeah. Now go sit on his lap."

Athena whips her head around and turns to Dean. "I beg your fucking pardon?!"

People passing by state at the three which causes Sam to awkwardly wave at them. "Hey, guys. Maybe we should use our indoor voices?"

"We're outside!" Athena seethes. "I'm not sitting on some old guy's lap."

"Of course you are. It's tradition—"

"A tradition I've never celebrated, remember?" Athena wrinkles her nose. "He doesn't even look like he should be around kids!" She points at the man.

Simultaneously, Sam and Dean look at the Santa. His eyes were bloodshot and his head was dropping from side to side like he was trying to stay awake. Sam's jaw clenched and Dean winced.

"Okay, yeah. Never mind." He shivers. "Sorry about that."

The 13-year-old just scoffs and pushes past her brothers.

The siblings make their way over to the Santa that had just finished talking to a kid. But as they got closer, they noticed the kid was crying. Athena swallows thickly and her upper lip begins to sweat. The Santa makes eye contact with Athena as soon as she's close enough—she stops in her tracks with her brothers bumping into her.

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Hi, little girl. Did you have something you wanted to ask Santa?"

Athena shakes her head, "No, hell no." She turns on her heel, but both brothers turn her back to the Santa Clause which causes Athena to groan. Athena rocks back and forth on her heels. She reluctantly makes her way up the steps to Santa. A forced smile spreads across her face. "Hi, Santa. Can I...get a doll or something pretty and...pink?" She murmurs while looking off to the side.

"Aww, now is that any way to ask Santa?" Then he does something that pisses Athena off.

He pats his lap.

Athena's skin crawls and her lip curls. "You're fucking disgusting!"

Sam and Dean's faces drop and Santa's does the same. Athena takes a step toward Santa. "Listen to me. You better give me my fucking doll or I'm gonna shove this gun so far up your ass, you'll be spitting up bullets for weeks!"

"Aaand I think we're done here!" Dean claps his hands together. Sam grabs one of Athena's arms and Dean grabs her other arm. "She doesn't actually have a gun. I mean, she's a kid and we're so responsible!" Sam nervously laughs.

The brothers pick Athena up and carry their kicking and screaming 13-year-old sister out of "Santa's Wonderland".

☆

"I get to shoot him."

"Athena, that's not even how to kill him." Sam looks to the girl in the backseat. Her arms were folded and her hair was now pulled into a tight ponytail. And she exchanged her itchy Christmas sweater for a dark green NASA graphic tee with her leather jacket over it. She shakes her head and her left eyebrow twitches. "I don't fucking care. Let me have some fun before he goes!"

"Hey, did you forget that we're on a stakeout right now?" Dean turns to her.

Athena snaps her eyes over to Dean and his smug smirk drops. "Hey, did you know that after I kill this Santa imposter, I'm gonna let Gil roll all over your bed?"

Gil pops his head up and a soft noise comes from him.

"You wouldn't dare." Dean squints his eyes. "I wouldn't be able to get that fur off my clothes and—"

"Your vision would be fucked, your throat would be scratchy which means you'll be more quiet." Athena carelessly shrugs. "Sounds like a plus to me."

"Guys, shut up."

Athena turns to Sam. "I'm gonna buy one of those inflatable clown dolls and put it under your covers while you're sleeping. So when you wake up, he'll be right there waiting for you."

A chill rushes down Sam's spine and he swallows thickly. "You wouldn't."

Athena looks between her brothers and leans back in her seat, testing them. Sam and Dean look at each other and then at the girl. She totally would.

Athena then looks at Sam, "Can we change the subject to why you hate Christmas?"

Sam closes his eyes and lets out a breath which causes Athena to smirk. Dean snaps his fingers and points at Sam. "Yeah! Why are you the boy that hates Christmas?"

"Guys..."

"I mean, I admit it—we had a few bumpy holidays when we were kids."

"Bumpy?" Sam lets out a sharp laugh.

"That was then. We'll do it right this year." Dean gently urges.

Sam looks at Dean and then at Athena. "Look, if you and Athena want to have Christmas, knock yourself out. Just don't involve me."

Athena winces, "He sounds serious."

Dean rolls his eyes, "Oh, yeah, that'd be great—me and the moody teen making cranberry molds."

"I'm not moody." Athena snaps. "I'm just surrounded by idiots."

Dean then points at Athena. "I'm not making cranberry molds with her."

She didn't want to make fucking cranberry molds anyway. And yet that still bothered her.

"Oh, that's funny, 'cause I was going to say that I don't want to make cranberries with you." Athena pushes his head to the side. Dean softly groans and rubs his head.

"Hey, guys can you quit it and look?" Sam points forward.

Dean and Athena follow Sam's finger. The Santa from earlier was walking through the trailer. He stops in front of the window and looks outside before closing the curtains. Athena slightly leans forward with her brows pulled together. "What's up with Saint Nicotine?" Dean questions. Athena softly chuckled at the comment.

Suddenly, a scream comes from the man's trailer which catches all the sibling's attention. Sam and Dean quickly leave the car with their guns drawn. Athena then softly smirks, "Nighty night Santa is a go." She gets out of the car with her gun in hand.

Sam and Dean had already opened the trailer door and entered when Athena walked up the steps. She walks through the door with her gun raised, but Sam and Dean are just staring at the Santa and he is staring at them.

"What the hell is going...?" Athena's question trails when she sees what's playing on the TV screen. "Oh, gross!" She points at the TV. "He's watching--"

Dean covers Athena's eyes with one hand and pulls her into his side.

"What the hell you doing here?" The Santa slurs.

Sam and Dean looked at each other while Athena's eyes were still being covered.

"Uh...S-Silent Night."

Sam's eyes widen and he shakes his head. Dean raises his brows and urges Sam. The middle Winchester looks at the Santa and shifts uncomfortably. Sam slowly begins to sing along with Dean. With her eyes still covered, Athena raises her hands and sways them while softly singing the song too.

"Holy Night..."

The Santa laughs and sits back down, encouraging the three. He begins to sing with the siblings as well. Sam then taps Dean's shoulder, signaling him to exit the trailer. Sam was the first to walk out of the trailer, then Dean led Athena and himself out; shutting the door behind them.

Athena steps down the steps, but she whips back around and points at the trailer. "He was watching porn!"

☆

"Well, we're not dealing with the Anti-Clause."

Dean looks at Sam, "What did Bobby say?"

"That we're morons."

Athena snorts, "I could've told you guys that...Anti-Clause--so stupid." she flips through her intel.

"He also said that it was probably meadowsweet in those wreaths," Sam states.

"Wow! Amazing..." Dean then blinks. "What the hell is Meadowsweet?"

Athena softly hums, "It's pretty rare, and it's probably the most powerful plant in pagan lore."

"Pagan lore?" Dean pulls his brows together.

"Yeah. See, they used Meadowsweet for human sacrifices." Sam explains. "It was kind of like a...chum for their Gods. Gods were drawn to it, and they'd stop by and snack on whatever was the nearest human."

"Why would somebody be using that for Christmas wreaths?" Dean asks, he walks over to the sink to get a drink.

"I mean, pretty much every Christmas tradition is Pagan," Sam pronounces.

Dean pulls his brows together, "Christmas is Jesus' birthday."

"No, Jesus' birthday was probably in the fall."

Dean turns to Athena, "What?"

"It was actually the Winter Solstice festival that was corrupted by the church and renamed 'Christmas'." Sam adds. "But the Yule Log, the tree, even Santa's red suit--that's all remnants of pagan worship."

Dean then looks between his siblings. "How do you two know this stuff?"

"What are you gonna tell me next? The Easter bunny's Jewish?"

Athena then wrinkles her nose. "Don't be ridiculous."

"So, you think we're dealing with a Pagan God?" Dean asks.

"Yeah, probably hold Nickar, God of the Winter Solstice."

Dean slowly nods his head, understanding. "And all these Martha Stewart wannabes, buying these fancy wreaths..."

"It's pretty much like putting a neon sign on your front door saying, "Come kill us"."

Athena looks across the book and a soft chuckle escapes her lips. "When you sacrifice to hold Nickar, Guess what he gives you in return?"

"Lap dances, hopefully." Dean murmurs.

Sam kicks Dean's ankle and he grunts. "Kidding."

"I'm guessing you were referring to something gross." Athena sighs and flips the page. "They get mild weather."

Dean glances out the window and frowns. "Like no snow in the middle of December in the middle of Michigan."

"For instance."

"Do we know how to kill it yet?" Dean asks, taking a seat.

"No, Bobby's working on that right now," Sam replies. "We got to figure out where they're selling those wreaths."

"You think they're selling them on purpose?" Dean inquires. "Feeding the victims to this thing?"

Athena then tosses the papers onto the table, stands up from her seat, and pats her legs. "I found the town Christmas shop," she informs them. "It's not far from here, so instead of asking all these rhetorical questions; we can just pay whoever sold these a visit."

Sam and Dean look at each other. They shift in their seats in an awkward silence that causes Athena to fold her arms. Dean then shrugs a shoulder, "Yeah—okay, that...makes sense."

...

The three Winchesters walk into the store and Athena lets out a sharp breath. "Yikes."

She had to close her eyes to all the bright lights and bright colors in the Christmas store. Athena didn't hate bright colors but since the car crash, she hasn't been able to look at bright-colored things for more than 20 minutes. She would get terrible migraines.

The soft Christmas music in the background settled her down a bit. But seeing the smiling cashier in a Christmas sweater made her entire mood drop. No one should be that damn happy.

"Can I help you three?"

"Uh, hope so. " Dean speaks. "We were playing Jenga with the Walshes the other night, and he hasn't shut up since about the Christmas wreath. I don't know--you tell him." Dean gives Sam a taunting nudge in the ribs. Sam sends Dean a pointed glare, "Sure." he then looks back at the man. "It was yummy."

Athena snorts, "How yummy?--"

"Stop talking." Sam seethes.

Athena smiles.

"I sell a lot of wreaths." The man says--needing specifics.

"Right, right, but you see, this one would have been really special." Sam continues. "It had, uh, it had green leaves and white buds on it. It might have been made of meadowsweet?"

"Well, aren't you a fussy one?"

Sam deadpans and looks to the side. Dean giggles, "He is."

Athena laughs, "He's one upset teddy bear--anyway, about that wreath?"

"Right, I know the one you're talking about." The man nods his head. "But, I'm all out."

"Well,  seems like this meadowsweet stuff's rare and expensive. Why make wreaths out of it?"

"Beats me. I didn't make them."

Athena raises her brows, "Then who did?"

"Madge Carrigan--A local lady." The man answers. "Said the wreaths were so special, she gave them to me for free."

"She didn't charge you?"

"Nope."

"Did you sell them for free?" Dean asks.

Athena looks at him with an incredulous expression. "What kind of question is that?"

"Hell, no. It's Christmas. People pay a buttload for this crap."

Athena then points at the man, her point being proven.

☆

"Those wreaths probably go for 100 bucks!"

The Winchesters step into the motel room. Dean flicks the light on, which causes Gil to wake up from his spot on the chair.

"I would say a couple 100," Sam says.

Athena then laughs, "Christmas is the time to get rich."

"And this lady's giving them away for free?" Dean says. "What do you think about that?"

"Well, sounds pretty suspicious."

Athena walks over to the table and picks up Gil. She sits on the chair and puts Gil in her lap while petting behind his ear.

"Remember that wreath dad brought home that one year?"

Sam pulls his brows together, "You mean the one he stole from, like, a liquor store?"

Dean laughs and nods his head. "Yeah, it was a bunch of empty beer cans. That thing was great."

The entire time Dean spoke, Sam scrunched his brows up more every second that passed. "I bet if I looked around hard enough, I could probably find one just like it."

Sam softly sighs, "All right, dude...what's going on with you?"

"What?"

"I mean, since when are you Bing Crosby all of a sudden?--Why do you want to do Christmas so bad?"

Athena sinks deeper into her chair. This was going to be a long night.

"Why are you so against it?" Dean questions back. "Were your childhood memories that traumatic?"

"No, that has nothing to do with it."

"Then what?"

Sam bunches his shoulders, "I mean, I just--I don't get it. You haven't talked about Christmas in years."

Dean's smile lessens and he looks down at his hands. "Well, yeah. This is my last year."

Without even knowing, Athena slightly tightens her grip around Gil.

"I know. That's why I can't." Sam softly speaks.

The pain was so obvious in Sam's voice. But Dean didn't want to read that much into it. If he read into it, his true feelings about selling his soul would emerge. So, Dean tried his best to push it down. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I can't just sit around, drinking eggnog, pretending everything's okay when I know next Christmas you'll be dead."

"I just can't."

A silence settles between the siblings. Athena could feel her own emotions rising. But she would rather die than her brothers see her show any ounce of empathy towards either of them. So she sucks in a small breath and plasters on her show smile.

"And on that note..." Athena sputters. "I'm gonna call it a night." She stands up with Gil in her arms. Athena presses her lips into a small line. "Night, boys." She walks out of the room.

As soon as the door behind her closed she let out a trembling breath and her stomach turned.

...

'This is where Mrs. Wreath lives, huh?"

Athena lets out a small breath. "That's what the lady said." she stuffs her hands into her leather jacket.

"Can't you just feel the evil pagan vibe?" Dean dramatically shudders.

Athena's eyes travel across each decoration on the land and spread across the house. Dean starts toward the house with Sam and Athena behind him. The eldest Winchester knocks on the door and the wreath jingles along with each knock.

The door swings open and a lady in a Christmas cardigan stands in front of then with a warm smile. "Yes?"

"Please tell me you're the Madge Carrigan who makes the Meadowsweet wreaths." Dean mirrors her warm smile.

"Why, yes, I am!" The lady beams. Athena has to force herself to keep her eye rolls under control.

"Ha! Bingo!" Dean exclaims.

"Well, we were just admiring your wreaths in Mr. Sylar's place the other day." Sam explains.

"You were?"

Athena looks past the woman and glances around the house as best as she can from the porch.

"Well, isn't that Meadowsweet just the finest-smelling thing you ever smelled?"

Athena absentmindedly hums, "Oh, yeah, it sure is..." she pulls her eyes away from the house and looks back at Madge. She presses her lips into a small smile. "But the problem is, all your wreaths had sold out before we got the chance to buy one."

"Oh, fudge!"

Athena pulls her face back and her eyes slightly widen. "Wow, yeah--okay...fudge..." she snickers under her breath. Sam softly nudges his sister and she grunts.

"You wouldn't happen to have another one that we could buy from you?" Dean asks.

Madge slightly opens her mouth, "No, I'm afraid those were the only ones I had for this season."

Dean clicks his tongue out of disappointment. "Tell me something--why did you decide to make them out of meadowsweet?"

"Why, the smell, of course!"

While the four were talking, a man had may his way down the stairs and beside Madge.

"I don't think I've ever smelled anything finer."

Sam clenches his teeth into a tight smile. "Yeah, um, you mentioned that."

"More than once," Athena adds.

The man that was now standing beside Madge pulled his pipe from his lips. "What's going on, Honey?"

"Well, just some nice kids asking about my wreaths, dear."

The man nods his head. He raises his hand, "Oh, the wreaths are fine. Fine wreaths."

"Oh," he holds a bowl out towards the hunters. "care for some peanut brittle?"

Dean's eyes light up and he reaches for the bowl. Simultaneously, Sam and Athena lower his hand.

Athena presses her lips into a small smile. "We're okay. Thank you, though."

☆

"Hey, so I was thinking—"

"Uh, oh." Athena softly snickers. She glances at Sam and notices his deadpan expression.

She heard a voice scream at her to be nice. Athena rolls her eyes and closes her book. "Okay, what?"

"Maybe..." Sam touches the back of his neck. "We should have a Christmas. To surprise Dean."

Athena obnoxiously cackles. "Are you serious?"

Sam shrugs, "Why not?"

The girl looks to her side. "Sam, you already explained to Dean and I why you don't want to celebrate."

"I know what I said, but now..." Sam inhales a breath. "I just want Dean to know that I do care about him and that he's dying." Sam explains. "He's scared to death. I know it and you know it."

The girl doesn't reply. But Sam knew that he was making a good point to her from the way she folded her arms and looked to the side.

"I want him to know that we're here for him."

Athena softly scoffs, "Okay, I get it. You want to make memories, especially with him dying but, Sammy..." she sighs and shakes her head. "I don't understand this Christmas thing and it seems like you don't either."

"Sure we could celebrate it with and for Dean. But why should we?" Athena bunches her shoulders. "Why should we make new memories? It's going to make losing him hurt way more than it already will."

"We'll find a way to save him—"

"So you've said..." Athena scoffs. "Just, do whatever you want, all right? Leave me out of it, please." She then looks away from Sam, ending the conversation.

Sam's shoulders sag and a small defeated breath escapes him. "Okay, well...would you mind coming to the next room? We have to talk about this Pagan God stuff."

Athena sighs, "The Carrigans, right." She stands up from the desk. "Let's go."

Sam gives her a small smile and Athena couldn't help but feel bad.

...

Athena was sitting in a chair with Gil sitting in the other next to her. Her eyes were glued to the book she had read for the past hour. Sam was scrolling on his laptop, looking for any information on the couple they met earlier. Dean was sitting on the edge of his bed and sharpening stakes. But every few minutes he would shift his eyes to little sister. He hasn't made any progress with Athena at all. He understands if she never forgave him. But he also didn't want them to be on such bad terms that Athena hated him even after he was gone.

"Hey, Athena."

The girl pulls her eyes from her book and looks at her eldest brother. "Uh, yeah...?"

Dean dramatically winces. "My hand's kinda..." he opens and closes his palm. "...it's starting to cramp."

Sam looks up from his computer and looks at Dean with furrowed brows.

Athena blinks, "Okay...?" She then looks at Gil with a perplexed expression.

"I think I need to rest it, so would you mind taking over for me?"

Athena snaps her eyes back over to Dean. "Wait, seriously?" She stands up from her seat.

Dean smirks, "Yeah, why not?" He stands up from the bed.

Athena lets out a small breath and walks over to the bed. She grabs the Bowie knife and wood. "You know how to whittle, right?"

Athena sputters her lips. "I've only watched you guys do it all my life." She looks at Dean with a small smile. "I've got this."

The girl soon realizes that not only were Sam and Dean looking at her with a smile, but she herself was smiling. Her smile then drops and she sits on the bed. "Only an idiot wouldn't know how to whittle." She murmurs and begins to sharpen the stake.

Dean softly chuckles and turns away from the girl. His eyes then meet Sam's—who was looking at his big brother with pride. Sam then goes back to his computer and Dean felt his heart swell from the certain look of approval. Dean sits in the chair Athena previously was sitting at. He looks to his side and looks at Gil, who was already looking at him.

Dean had never looked at the cat intently before. But now that he was...

Dean's nose twitches and he lets out a loud sneeze. He wipes his nose and shakes his head. "No, I still hate them."

Sam claps his hands, "I knew it! Something was way off with those two."

"What'd you find?" Dean sniffles.

"The Carrigans lived in Seattle last year, where two abductions took place right around Christmas." Sam pronounces. "They moved here in January. All that Christmas crap in their house wasn't boughs of Holly. It was vervain and mint."

Dean pulls his brows together. "Pagan stuff?"

"Serious pagan stuff." Athena nods.

"So, what, Ozzie and Harriet are keeping a pagan god hidden underneath their plastic-covered couch?" Dean asks.

Sam lets out a breath of uncertainty. "I don't know. We got to check them out."

"So, what about Bobby?" Sam asks. "He's sure Evergreen stakes will kill this thing, right?"

Dean nods his head, "Yeah, he's sure."

Sam then looks at Athena. "Thena, listen, since we're basically going to be proceeding with a home invasion—"

"You want me as look out." Athena presses her lips together.

Sam gives her small smile. Athena nods her head, "I can do that. Better than staying in the car, I guess."

She blows the excess wood shaking off her hands and sighs. Athena stands up, "All done."

Dean walks over to the girl and picks up the stake. "Wow."

Athena pulls her brows together and a scowl forms across her face. "What?"

"This is really good."

The girl's face relaxes and it's replaced with a look of shock. "Really?"

Dean looks at his little sister. "Yeah. Better than how I was making them at your age."

Athena looks at the stake then looks back at Dean. "Oh...thanks."

Sam closes his laptop and he couldn't stop the smile forming on his lips watching his siblings have a civil conversation.

...

The Winchesters walk up the porch. Dean crouches down and picks the lock to the door. He slowly pushes it open. Sam and Dean look at Athena. She gives them a two-finger salute. Sam hands Athena one of the stakes and she grabs it.

Sam and Dean step into the house and close the door behind them. Athena lets out a small breath and curls her fingers around the stake. She turns to street and looks up and down the suburban street. Athena walks back and forth with her eyes still on the street. She turns back to the door.

The girl decided to keep Gil at the motel. If she had to insert herself in this case and save her brother's asses again. She wasn't going to let Gil be in the crossfire of Pagan Gods. She wouldn't let Gil be in the crossfire of anything.

She would die for that fucking cat.

"Excuse me?"

Athena's jaw goes slack. Shit.

She whips around to the lady and she quickly hours her stake behind her back. Athena's face lights up, "Hey—Hi!"

Athena takes a step towards the lady.

"Is everything okay?" The woman asks, she pulls her earbuds out. Athena slightly opens her mouth, "Oh, yeah! I was just...sneaking back in." She winces. "Yeah, my curfew was 10."

"Oh." The lady pulls her brows together and looks back at the house. "The Carrigans don't have kids."

Athena tenses, "Right. Well, I'm not their kid. They're fostering."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You know the Carrigans." Athena clicks her tongue. "They are so kind and yet here I am being a large inconvenience to them."

She felt it in her stomach. Those words spoke more to her than she realized.

"Well, I'm sure they care about you very much." The lady softly smiles. "They wouldn't keep you with them if they didn't."

Athena raises her brows, slightly taken aback. My brothers love me.

Athena swallows the lump in her throat. "Yeah, you're right." She presses her lips together. "Thank you."

The lady gives Athena a small nod. "Make sure you go straight to bed, so they don't catch you."

Athena points, "Yes, ma'am. Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas!"

Athena watches the lady jog away and she lets out a small breath once she was gone. The girl pulls her brows together and she gnaws on her lower lip.

A scream pulls Athena from her heavy thoughts and she looks at the front door. "Shit!" She goes to open the door but stops. Athena quirks a brow when an idea pops into her head.

She pushes the doorbell. Athena swallows and rings the doorbell again. She rings it again and again. Athena presses her ear against the door. Footsteps were quickly approaching. Her skin jumps and she runs down the steps and hides behind the bushes.

Operation: Ding dong ditch, bitch.

The door pushes open and Athena slightly jumps but she stays quiet.

"Hello?"

"Is anyone out there?"

A silence settles and a scoff comes from the man. "Who still ding dong ditches?"

The front door then closes. Athena lets out a quick breath. Her brothers weren't idiots. Not entirely. That should've given them enough time to get their shit together.

Athena walks back up the steps, a thud is heard inside the house and she takes that as her sign. She pushes the door open just to see her brothers pushing a shelf in front of a door. Sam and Dean turn to the girl.

"Oh thank god!" Sam exhales. "Do you still have your stake?"

Athena holds it up, "Where are yours?"

"In the basement." Dean answers. "We don't have time to get them.

Athena looks around and her eyes stop on the decorated Christmas tree. "Evergreen, right?" She points at the tree.

Sam and Dean look at the tree then back at Athena. "You're a genius!"

Athena shrugs, "I know."

The siblings run over to the tree and push it over. Athena cheers, "Yeah! Fuck Christmas!" She pumps their hands up.

"Athena just break that branch off."

"Breaking branch." Athena grips one of the trees branches and pulls it with her foot. Despite the pain in her hands she pulls harder to the point the tree snaps. She lets out a quick laugh of triumph. Athena hands one of the branches to Dean. Sam breaks off another branch from the tree.

Athena's ears perk, "Silence."

"What?" Her brothers inquire.

Athena repeats through clenched teeth. "Silence."

Sam and Dean finally get what she was getting at. They look at the door that stopped shaking. "Where the—"

The man screams and tackles Dean to the ground. The woman steps toward Sam and Athena. Sam immediately holds a hand out to his little sister and steps in front of her.

"You little thing...I loved that tree." Her eyes then shift to Athena. "You must've been the little sneak that rang our doorbell fifty billion times."

"That's a lie." Athena speaks. "It was four times, idiot!"

Sam raises the stake, but the Pagan Hod backhands Sam and sends him flying into the chair. Athena's mouth drops open, "Did I say idiot? I meant Pagan God—Wondrous Pagan God—"

The woman grabs the stake from Athena's hand and pushes her. The girl flies back and slams into the wall. Athena slides to the floor and groans. "Wondrous Pagan Cunt..." she rolls onto her back and looks at the ceiling.

"The mouth on you, missy." Madge walks over to the 13 year old. "You've been around these boys for far too long."

A quick laugh comes from Athena. "You're telling me, lady."

The Pagan God grabs Athena by her leather jacket and pulls her up. Athena reaches in the back of her waistband and pulls out her emergency stake. The girl then thrusts the stake into the God's chest. Athena's mouth hangs open, horrified from the squishing sound. "Oh, I'm gonna be sick!" She dry heaves.

"Madge!"

Dean takes this moment to hit the man across his face with the tree branch. The man falls to the side and Dean stabs him in the chest. Madge goes limp and falls on top of Athena. The girl screams, "Get the dead god off of me, please!"

Sam and Dean run over to the girl and lift Madge's body off of her. Athena inhales a breath and nods. "Thank you." She quickly stands and pats herself off.

"Merry Christmas." Sam exhales.

Athena rolls her eyes, "Oh, shut up."

☆

"Can I ask you something?"

Dean looks at his little sister. "Shoot."

"Why do you care so much about Christmas?" Athena asks. "I mean, I know it's your last year and everything. But...you could have a memorable year without a regular holiday for regular people."

Dean looks straight ahead and thinks for a moment. Athena takes his moment to think as him ignoring her, so she just lets out a breath and shakes her head. "Forget I—"

"We don't have a lot of good memories."

Athena pulls her brows together from what Dean said, but she keeps her eyes forward while they walk down the aisle of the convenience store.

"And I'm mostly to blame for that. Not just dad." Dean bites the inside of her cheek nervously. "It's taken me some time to come to terms with that." He admits. "I don't even think we have a picture of all three of us."

"I just...I want some good memories with you guys." Dean says. "Even if it is of us doing regular people things. I mean, why not? Regular people things are fun some times."

"Besides taxes."

Dean then looks at Athena and she looks at him. He softly chuckles at her effort to make conversation. "Yeah, besides taxes."

Athena nods her head. "That's a...good answer." She presses her lips together. "About the memories thing. You're right."

"I always am." Dean mirrors Athena's catchphrase.

Athena rolls her eyes, "Let's not get too crazy." She shakes her head. "To me, you'll always be an idjit."

Dean nods his head with a frown. "That's fair."

...

Athena and Dean walk up to the motel room and Dean pushes the door open. He steps aside, letting Athena in. As she steps into the room, her eyes are greeted with colorful lights and a small decorated Christmas tree. "What in the hell?"

"Hey. You get the beer?" Sam stands up with a warm smile.

"What's all this?" Dean asks while closing the door behind him.

Sam blinks, "What do you think it is? It's Christmas." He motions to the banner that says 'Merry Christmas'.

Dean looks around the motel room. "What made you change your mind?"

Sam takes a pause. He could feel his eyes beginning to burn. Athena looks at the ground. Sam grabs another cup, "Here, uh, try the eggnog."

Dean grabs the cup with furrowed brows.

"Let me know if it needs some more kick."

Dean takes a sip of the eggnog and pulls his face back. He softly wheezes, "No, we're good."

Sam laughs, "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Sam nods his head. "Good. And Athena..."

The girl softly hums and looks at her brother. He holds a cup out to her. "PG eggnog for you."

Athena presses her lips together. "You could just say eggnog, but, uh—thank you." She grabs the cup.

"All right, well, let's have a seat." Sam sits on the couch. "Let's do Christmas stuff of whatever."

Athena sits down on the couch and sits criss-crossed.

Dean softly smiles and he begins to get excited. "All right, first things first." He grabs a bag from underneath the couch. Dean sits down on the other side of Athena and holds two gifts out to Sam. "Merry Christmas, Sam."

Sam grabs the gifts with a smile. "Where'd you get these?"

"Someplace special." Dean answers. "The gas mart down the street."

Sam laughs. "Great minds think alike, Dean." He grabs his gifts and hands them to Dean.

Dean's face lights up, "Really?"

Sam and Dean then look at Athena, who was aimlessly sipping her eggnog. Athena blinks, "What?" She looks back and forth at her brothers.

"Listen, you little Grinch in the making. I didn't forget about you." Dean points at her. Athena raises her brows out of shock. She sets her eggnog down. "What?"

Dean grabs a gift and holds it out to her. Athena pulls her brows together. "Oh..." she rolls her lips into her mouth.

Sam chuckles, "I have a gift for you..." he scratches the back of his neck. "Maybe kind of a surprise as well, we'll see how you take it."

Athena blinks, "Oh, crap. What is it?"

Sam shakes his head, "No, no. Open this one first."

Athena's face flushes, "Well, before we..." she trails off and looks forward. Sam and Dean glance at each other, sensing her timidness. "...I may have. Gotten you guys something too."

"What?!"

Athena groans and sinks into her seat, her face becoming a deep red. "Stop it. Don't act so shocked..."

"Well, it's just you said—"

"I know what I said." She lets out a breath of annoyance. "But I knew everyone was going to be giving gifts out and I didn't want to be the only douche not doing it—that's all." That definitely wasn't all, but that's what Athena continued to tell herself.

Athena shoves her hands into her pockets. "I didn't have time to wrap 'em and I sure as shit didn't buy them. I just...made them."

"Oh my fucking god. Homemade gifts? That's even better!" Dean holds his hands up, knowing it would further embarrass his sister.

"Stooop." Athena sags her shoulders and softly whines.

Sam couldn't stop his laughter at this moment. Athena pulls the bracelets from her pockets and holds them out to her brothers. Both the brothers grab the bracelets. Sam had a blue one and Dean had a green one. They were woven and braided bracelets that said "dumb" and "dumber" on each. Athena points at the words, "So you don't forget."

"That I'm dumb?" Sam raises a brow.

Dean mimics Sam's expression, "And I'm dumber?"

Athena innocently nods her head. "Mhm."

Sam and Dean look at each other then at Athena with a smile. "These are great, Thena."

Athena shrugs a shoulder. "Whatever. Can we get on with this, now?" She motions her hands to the wrapped gifts,

"Right! Yeah!" Sam claps his hands. The siblings begin to unwrap their gifts. Sam laughs, "Skin mags! And...shaving cream!"

"You like?"

Sam smiles, "Yeah. Yeah."

Dean chuckles at his gifts, "Look at this. Fuel for me and fuel for my baby." He looks at the gifts and his own smile finds his lips. "These are awesome. Thanks."

Athena lets out a gasp.

Sam and Dean look at the girl. She holds up the backpack with a clear bubble lining. "A cat backpack?" Athena's eyes widen. "Dude, why would you—"

"I'm sure that furball of yours is tired of fitting into that zip up bag of yours." Dean shrugs. "Now he can see the world."

Athena keeps her eyes on her eldest brother for a moment and she bites the inside of her cheek. Dean making an effort for a car he supposedly "hated" spoke volumes to Athena. It showed he cared.

"On that note..."

Sam stands up and slaps his knees. He walks around the couch and Athena's eyes follow him. "On what note—oh my god!"

Sam was holding Gil up, who was wearing a Christmas sweater. Athena shoots out of her seat and runs over to Sam and Gil. "How did you get him in this?"

"He...actually wasn't that bad." Sam shrugs.

Athena lets out a breath of disbelief. Even though Gil was an easy cat to love. She would've figured he would put up a fight to be put into a sweater. Sam sets Gil on the ground. Athena looks at her cat and she tilts her head.

"You know what?" Athena crouches down and pets Gil. A smile finds her lips just from seeing Gil in his Christmas sweater. "I can see why people like Christmas so much." Gil falls on his side and stretches out, allowing Athena to scratch his side more. A small giggle escapes her lips. Athena lifts her head and looks at her brothers. But she pulls her brows together when she sees them smiling.

"What?"

"It's nice to see you smile." Sam shrugs with a smile of his own.

Athena's smile drops and she clears her throat. "Yeah? Well..." she goes silent. Athena couldn't come up with anything. So, she utters out a soft, "Whatever..." before she picks Gil up and sits on the couch.

Sam and Dean sit on each side of their sister with their eyes on the game. And when Dean looked over at his siblings, he saw the content smile on Sam's face. And he could've swore he saw one on Athena's too.

But he decided not to mention it.

━━━━━━━━━━

author's note.

The way the last scene made me tear up. I love these three with all my heart it's not even funny.

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