Christmases to Remember
Title: Christmases to Remember
Summary: Some Christmases have been more memorable for Bobby than others.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None.
Spoilers: Vague through Season 6
Word Count: 500
Author’s Note: A series of five drabbles. Written for spn_christmas ‘Minor Characters Day’.
~~~
As a boy, Bobby had been as excited as any other kid to find Santa’s bounty beneath the tree. The Christmas morning rush - tearing of paper, a full day of play and the gluttony of Christmas dinner.
It was the same every year until it wasn’t. Family disbanded, some passed on, others like himself just plain moved on. Nothing went as planned, but things always worked themselves out, whether or not for the best.
Christmas wasn’t a holiday to celebrate alone. He knew enough people. They just weren’t the sort to share the holidays with.
That was until Karen.
~~~
Come December, the joy of the season radiated from her.
She became an enthused drill sergeant directing the parade of boxes from the attic. In a few years she’d amassed decorations enough to turn their humble home into a winter wonderland.
No blizzard could stop him from hanging lights around the house so he could watch her face light up with the glow.
Coming in from the cold, a cup of hot chocolate, still warm cookies and an even warmer hug were always there to greet him. Until they weren’t.
Bobby then swore to shoot any man who mentioned Christmas.
~~~
“What about Christmas?”
John didn’t acknowledge Dean’s question, just swept through like a hurricane and hit the road. Left on Bobby’s couch was a boy and his sleeping brother.
Big eyes too old for the freckled youth filled with defeat. Christmas was only a day away.
There were no gifts or decorations, no tree or lights - only snow, bittersweet memories and a boy still in diapers on the verge of never knowing Christmas magic.
Dean barely asked if they could give Sammy Christmas before Bobby felt Karen’s spirit with him.
For the first time in years, he opened the attic.
~~~
With legs as lifeless as his heart felt, Bobby couldn’t open the attic if he wanted to.
It wasn’t a question of hanging lights, but whether to bother turning on a lamp. Tonight it was dark.
He couldn’t watch John’s boys become casualties in a losing war while only taking up space. The gun held one bullet and the whiskey bottle lay empty.
Two silhouettes at his door and the gun retired to the drawer.
Dean ignored Bobby’s shock and clicked on the lamp with eyes that still knew too much. “I’m spending my second last Christmas with my family.”
~~~
Without Sam, the light had gone from Dean’s eyes. Boisterousness had given to withdrawn, confidence to unease. Dean swore there could never be Christmas without Sam and wished last year had been the last.
But life had gone on for Bobby, it would for Dean too.
Inevitably, the man who had once pleaded for Christmas for his brother could do nothing but the best for the newest boy in his life.
Karen’s decorations came to mingle with Lisa’s. They remembered those that had passed and embraced those that came.
As always, it was the best Christmas they could make it.
Summary: Some Christmases have been more memorable for Bobby than others.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None.
Spoilers: Vague through Season 6
Word Count: 500
Author’s Note: A series of five drabbles. Written for spn_christmas ‘Minor Characters Day’.
~~~
As a boy, Bobby had been as excited as any other kid to find Santa’s bounty beneath the tree. The Christmas morning rush - tearing of paper, a full day of play and the gluttony of Christmas dinner.
It was the same every year until it wasn’t. Family disbanded, some passed on, others like himself just plain moved on. Nothing went as planned, but things always worked themselves out, whether or not for the best.
Christmas wasn’t a holiday to celebrate alone. He knew enough people. They just weren’t the sort to share the holidays with.
That was until Karen.
~~~
Come December, the joy of the season radiated from her.
She became an enthused drill sergeant directing the parade of boxes from the attic. In a few years she’d amassed decorations enough to turn their humble home into a winter wonderland.
No blizzard could stop him from hanging lights around the house so he could watch her face light up with the glow.
Coming in from the cold, a cup of hot chocolate, still warm cookies and an even warmer hug were always there to greet him. Until they weren’t.
Bobby then swore to shoot any man who mentioned Christmas.
~~~
“What about Christmas?”
John didn’t acknowledge Dean’s question, just swept through like a hurricane and hit the road. Left on Bobby’s couch was a boy and his sleeping brother.
Big eyes too old for the freckled youth filled with defeat. Christmas was only a day away.
There were no gifts or decorations, no tree or lights - only snow, bittersweet memories and a boy still in diapers on the verge of never knowing Christmas magic.
Dean barely asked if they could give Sammy Christmas before Bobby felt Karen’s spirit with him.
For the first time in years, he opened the attic.
~~~
With legs as lifeless as his heart felt, Bobby couldn’t open the attic if he wanted to.
It wasn’t a question of hanging lights, but whether to bother turning on a lamp. Tonight it was dark.
He couldn’t watch John’s boys become casualties in a losing war while only taking up space. The gun held one bullet and the whiskey bottle lay empty.
Two silhouettes at his door and the gun retired to the drawer.
Dean ignored Bobby’s shock and clicked on the lamp with eyes that still knew too much. “I’m spending my second last Christmas with my family.”
~~~
Without Sam, the light had gone from Dean’s eyes. Boisterousness had given to withdrawn, confidence to unease. Dean swore there could never be Christmas without Sam and wished last year had been the last.
But life had gone on for Bobby, it would for Dean too.
Inevitably, the man who had once pleaded for Christmas for his brother could do nothing but the best for the newest boy in his life.
Karen’s decorations came to mingle with Lisa’s. They remembered those that had passed and embraced those that came.
As always, it was the best Christmas they could make it.