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Charlie was really enjoying herself. The night may have started off as a way of helping her brothers out, but this Christmas event was actually super amazing. She had managed to snag a hand-knit elf hat while Sam asked about custom made dolls of all things. Charlie got Sam a headband with reindeer antlers and insisted that he wear them. She even convinced him to take a selfie with her, although he voiced his concerns about her using the picture for blackmail purposes.
“Why are you looking for dolls, Sam? What does that have to do with talking to Dean?” Sam smiled mysteriously and wiggled his eyebrows at her.
“You’ll have to wait and see. You’re so impatient. What’s with the picture taking by the way?”
“I just thought it’d be nice. I got some sneaky ones of Dean being all adorable with Cas.” Sam laughed.
“So, you are trying for blackmail, clever.” Charlie rolled her eyes. “Actually, can I see the pictures?”
“Sure.” Charlie handed her phone over to Sam. He took a few moments to look through them with a grin growing across his face.
“Do you mind if I send some of these to myself?”
“Go ahead.” Sam thanked her and spent a few moments emailing himself some of the photos.
“If you get anymore tonight, can you send them as well? Dean’s working on a gift for Cas, and I think I can add on to it a bit.” Charlie nodded her agreement.
“No prob. What are you up to, a photo album or something?” Sam shrugged.
“Not really, I’m going to frame some of them. I’m not sure I have enough for an album, we don’t stop and take pictures all that often,” Sam gave Charlie half of a smile and then spotted something in the distance. “Hey, I think that’s the booth I’m looking for.”
Charlie wandered around the custom doll booth for a bit while Sam got into a deep discussion with the artist running the place. It took long enough that she’d started playing on her phone by the time Sam walked back over.
“Well, that cost way more than I was originally intending to spend on Dean, and she won’t have it ready until tomorrow night, but I think it’ll be worth it.” Sam honestly looks excited just for himself, so Charlie just punches his arm and grins.
“You better find somewhere for everyone to spend the night then. Check out the forecast.” Sam’s eyes widen in mild surprise as he sees the weather app on Charlie’s screen.
“Wow, yeah, I don’t think we want to be driving in that. Especially since the Impala isn’t exactly the best car for snow. An actual blizzard, huh?”
“Yeah, it may still miss this area but we might as well see where we can snag a few rooms. There’s some sort of 1800s B&B within walking distance. After that we can go meet Santa Claus!” Charlie clapped her hands with glee and started bounding off to wherever this inn was supposed to be as Sam followed her with a bemused expression.
***
“Dean. There is one over here.” Dean walked over to Cas while dodging some of the crystals hanging from the ceiling in the New Age-y shop one of the kids they’d passed had tipped them off about. Cas had stopped trying to restrain his smile, he was enjoying how much fun Dean seemed to be having playing this silly game.
“Awesome! You’re pretty good at this angel spotting thing.” Dean smirked and winked at the actual angel in the store.
“Yes,” Cas said dryly. “It does seem to be some sort of innate skill on my part.” Dean chuckled and makes sure Castiel records the newest scavenger hunt angel on his list.
“We only have one more on the list. Where haven’t we gone yet?” Castiel lifts an eyebrow as Dean pours over the small map of the historic city he’d found in the event booklet.
“We haven’t gone to get coffee yet. I believe someone mentioned coffee to me before starting this endeavor but we’ve been walking around for an hour, and I still have yet to see any.” Dean rolled his eyes.
“Wow, Cas. I will say the one human trait that’s given you very little problems is sarcasm.” Cas just continued to look at Dean expectantly. “Alright, alright, lets go get you coffee, angel.”
Dean grabbed Cas’ hand to lead him out of the store through the maze of shimmering crystals, painted tarot cards, and velvet draped tables. Cas’ chest felt tight with hope as he allowed himself to be pulled up the stairs towards the door. While, yes, Cas was an angel, that’s not what the word had sounded like when Dean had just said it. Cas felt another wave of grace pulse through his still fragile wings. He kept his grip on Dean’s hand as if it were the only thing keeping him from drowning.
Once they got outside Dean started walking uphill towards the coffee shop he’d seen on the map. Castiel stayed quiet while following, as he didn’t want to draw Dean’s attention to the way that they were still holding hands.
Eventually though, they reached their destination and Dean dropped Castiel’s hand to hold open the door to the small shop with local artwork decorating the walls. Cas immediately missed the feeling of Dean’s hand but pretended to be absorbed in reading the menu board to compose himself before looking back over at his best friend.
“Do you see anything you want, Cas?” For one insane moment Cas almost said - yes, you. Clearing his throat to cover up his near miss Cas stumbled over his words.
“Uh, just something warm? Would you pick? There are too many choices.” Dean’s eyes ran across the menu board for a few minutes.
“You said you could kind of taste the peppermint bark we made, right? The have peppermint flavor on the specials board, if you want.” Cas nodded and let Dean order coffee for Castiel and hot chocolate for himself. While Dean was ordering Cas looked around at some of the artwork hanging on the walls, keeping an eye out for their last scavenger hunt angel. He was contemplating a painting that seemed to be an abstract version of a human eye when Dean came up behind him holding two mismatched mugs.
“Let’s go upstairs, Cas. It’s kinda crowded down here and the barista told me they have an outdoor area up there.” Cas followed Dean up the stairs of the historic building. The upstairs did seem to be more peaceful. Dean walked over to doors leading outside and Cas reached in front of Dean to grab the door since he was still carrying their drinks.
“This is beautiful,” stated Cas. The angel stood still for a moment, taking in the narrow wooden balcony that wrapped into a steep drop off of stone that served as a wall to the store but hadn’t been altered from the outside. Dean noticed what Castiel was looking at and led them back to a table right by the natural rock wall. They had an excellent view of the main street and all of the lights from their vantage point.
“I have to admit, this is a pretty cool place.” Cas agreed with Dean and pulled his drink towards him, only then noticing that the notably handmade mug was covered in bumps that were painted to look like bees. He glanced up at Dean only to find him watching Cas in anticipation. A smile slowly spread across the angel’s face.
“Bees? You asked them for this mug, didn’t you?” Dean chuckled.
“Yeah. If I recall you were very enthusiastic about bees a few years ago.” If Castiel could get any redder out in the biting cold he would have.
“I do like bees, yes.” Castiel attempted to maintain a solemn expression but this was ruined when he looked down at the mug again, feeling new feathers forming as his grace pulsed behind him once again. Dean reached across and touched Cas’ arm for just a moment.
“Hey Cas, are you okay?” When Cas looked back up into Dean’s face, he knew his eyes had teared up a bit, but he smiled fondly at Dean nonetheless.
“I’m wonderful Dean. I just – it was very kind of you. To think of me like that, I mean.” Castiel crinkled his nose to try and prevent himself from actually crying. Dean’s face was hard to read just then, some sort of mixture of guilt and perhaps understanding.
“I, um, I just thought it’d make you smile man.” Dean rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and Cas decided it was time to change the subject.
They began a heated discussion of where they should look next for the last angel. While they were debating the merits of looking in the small train museum it started to snow and Cas took a few seconds to enjoy the sight of the flakes falling on the beautiful street below. They made there way back inside thinking that they may just have to skip to meeting Charlie and Sam as the restaurant was at the opposite end of the main road and the snow was picking up fast. Dean grabbed Castiel’s mug to return them to the front and the angel pulled the blue and white knit hat he’d picked up over his head. He’d made Dean get one as well, in green and red, something he’d probably be less resistant too now that it was snowing. Castiel smiled at the memory of Dean’s protests over the pompom on top of the hat.
“The guy up front said this snow may turn into a blizzard late tonight, so we should definitely regroup with the others.” Castiel silently held the knit hat up to Dean and rolling his eyes he tilted his head forward a bit so Cas could easily pull it on. Cas opened the door and was quietly happy as Dean took his hand again to lead him through the small crowd of shoppers.
***