Secrets Will Kill You

So, night fell and we were all sitting in the Impala, outside ‘Santa’s’ trailer. It’s been a few hours already and I was freezing and getting restless. “What time is it?” Dean asked.

“Six minutes on from when you asked last” I said and he yawned.

Sam handed him a thermos filled with coffee and I was about to ask for some…but then I saw there was none left as Dean sighed, putting the cap back on. “Wonderful” he grunted.

Then, I leaned forward in between Sam and Dean and looked at Sam. “Hey Sam…why are you the boy who hates Christmas?” I asked him with a joking tone but it was a serious question.

“Why are you the girl who hates every other day of the year except for Christmas?”

“I don’t hate every other day of the year…” I scoffed.

“Well I wouldn’t expect you to love Christmas so much” he said, looking out the window.

“And why’s that?” I smiled, curious as to why he would really think that.

He smiled and laughed under his breath. “Well, because of…” he started as he turned his head to look at me. But, then his smile dropped. “Never mind” he said and looked out the window again.

“Wait, Sam, really, why do you say that?” I asked.

“Mel, I don’t think…” Dean started but I shot him a look so he shut up.

“Sam?” I said.

“It’s nothing…”

“Because my father’s birthday? Is that what you were going to say?” I asked him.

It seemed like he was almost scared to look at me. “It’s okay…ironically enough…it’s one of the reasons why I love Christmas…so if I feel like being happy for a little bit, I don’t think it should be a problem” I said but the way it ended…I had venom in my voice as I hissed at him…it was unintentional.

But, before anyone could say anything else, we all saw ‘Santa’ moving by the window in his trailer and as he was dressed in a Santa-hat and a white tank top, he pulled the curtains shut…and then we heard a woman screaming. We all flew the doors open and piled out of the car and we raced to the trailer and then opened the door as we had our guns drawn. We walked in and ‘Santa’ turned around at the noise of the door squeaking. We all saw it was just the TV that had a screaming woman and we hid our guns. ‘Santa’ stood, struggling so hard to keep his balance. He looked disgustingly dirty and had a bottle of alcohol in his hand.

“The hell are you doing here, huh?” he slurred.

We all looked over him at the TV and the dude was watching some kind of porn Christmas special. We all looked at each other, unsure of what to do next. But, ya know what Dean thought was the best solution? He started to sing…not very good either. So, we all joined in, acting as carolers as we were singing Silent Night…I don’t know what the hell Dean was trying to sing though because every other word was ‘jolly’. In fact, Sam didn’t even know all the words either. ‘Santa’ started to smile and he even corrected Sam on a word quickly before joining us. They’re mistakes caused Brit and I to make mistakes. While ‘Santa’ became distracted by the singing, we all slowly began to back out of the trailer.

Once, we were outside, we were all storming toward the car. “What the hell was that?” I yelled at Dean and I tried to fight the urge to smile.

“It’s called improvising!” Dean yelled back at me.

“I am officially scarred” Brit said.

I cant blame her…no one should have to see an elf from Santa’s work shop, pleasing Santa.

We got back to the motel and Sam and Brit collapsed onto the couch, falling asleep in each others arms instantly. I smiled a little at them, shaking my head. I covered them with a blanket and then looked up to see a shirtless Dean standing in the doorway of the bedroom. He was grinning and wiggling his eyebrows at me. I crossed my arms and raised my eyebrows at him.

“I don’t think so, hon. I gave you some last night even when you threw a snowball at me. So, now? Lets just call this pay back for starting that snow ball fight yesterday. I’m still mad at you” I stated and pushed passed him.

He grumbled something but I didn’t hear him…if I wanted to I could’ve heard him, but I didn’t want to…it made everything so much more amusing.

~~~

The next morning, I woke up in the bed to see Dean watching me. “What are you…” I started but was caught off by his lips. I laughed. “Dean, what are you doing?”

“Kissing you” he mumbled against my lips. “Come on, real quick” he said, pulling the blanket over us.

I laughed. “No, Dean, stop it. Brit and Sam are probably up…they’ll hear us” I tried to push him off but he was persistent.

He started to kiss my stomach and I started to laugh and giggle. “Dean, come on stop it…” I said and then he stopped. “Wow, you actually stopped”

“We have a problem” he said, mumbling against my belly button.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Well…you have a belly button ring for one. How did I not know about this?”

“I always took it off before…Dean, what’s the…” I pulled off the blankets and saw his lip stuck to my belly button ring.

“Dean…are you freakin kidding me!” I yelled at him and laughed. “Okay, okay ow! Don’t pull. That hurts!” I yelled at him.

“Well, sorry. Being attached to you like this isn’t exactly painless either”

“What are you guys doing in there? Come on, stop being dirty and get out here!” Brit laughed.“There was another incident” she added.

“Be right there!” I called to her. “Okay, try to take it out of my belly button…without ripping my skin” I said.

“Okay” he said and started to try.

“Ow, ow, ow okay stop” I said and he did right away. “Okay…I’ll hold the ring down while you pull your face off okay?” I said, hoping he would go for it.

“Okay” he got on all fours and got ready.

“Okay…now” I said and pulled off.

He immediately groaned in pain as he shot out of the bed. I looked down at my bell button to make sure it was in tact and I took out the ring and held it up so the whole thing was dangling in the air. Then, I set it down on the small table beside the bed and I jumped over to Dean.

“I am so sorry. Are you alright?” I asked, putting his head in my hands. “I told you to stop” I laughed lightly at him.

“You owe me now…I cant believe I didn’t know about the belly button ring…that’s so…hot” he grunted slightly. “You. Owe me” he repeated and walked around me to walk out to Sam and Brit.

But, Brit came in. “What happened?” she asked me. I bust out laughing though…I just couldn’t help myself…it was funny.

We got to the other crime scene and Dean started asking questions as I just stood at his side and Sam and Brit were looking around. We just got through a few questions and then dean and I were trying to comfort the poor woman who just lost her husband and then Sam comes over and asks her where she got the wreath that was above the fireplace! Dean and I looked at him in shock. I mean really? Why would he ask that?

“Excuse me?” Mrs. Caldwell asked, not sure if she even heard him right. Suddenly, I felt us all become uncomfortable in our own shoes. “Just curious, you know…” Sam said.

So, we left. “You should’ve just asked her about her shoes while you were at it Sam, I saw some nice handbags in the foyer too” Dean snapped. Sam scoffed. “We've seen that wreath before, Dean. At the Walsh's. Yesterday” he said and now Dean looked utterly annoyed. “I know. I was just testing you” he said and I just rolled my eyes at him.

~

We got back to the motel once again…of course after stopping for some fast food for lunch. Sam got on the phone with Bobby right away as we walked into the room. Bobby always knew the answer to everything somehow…and right now, we really needed that. I loved Bobby. He became the closest thing to a father to me and Brit.

“So what did Bobby say?” Brit asked once he was off the phone. I was sitting on the floor as Dean and Brit were on the couch and Sam walked over to us.

“Well we aren’t dealing with an anti-Santa…and he said that we're morons. He also said that it was probably meadowsweet in those wreaths. It's pretty rare and it's probably the most powerful plant in pagan lore”

“They used meadowsweet for human sacrifices. It was kind of like a chum for their gods. Gods were drawn to it, they'd stop by and snack on whatever was the nearest human” Brit said and Sam nodded.

“Why would somebody be using that for Christmas wreaths?” Dean asked as he stood up and walked over to pick up his mug of coffee.

“It's not so crazy as it sounds, Dean. I mean, pretty much every Christmas tradition is pagan” Sam said. We all walked over to him. “Christmas is Jesus' birthday”

“No, Jesus' birthday was probably in the fall. It was actually the winter solstice festival that was co-opted by the Church and renamed "Christmas". But I mean, the Yule log, the tree, even Santa's red suit, that's all remnants of pagan worship”

“How do you know that?” Dean muttered.

“Are you going to tell us that the Easter bunny is Jewish too?” I quipped.

“So, you think we're dealing with a pagan god?” Brit asked, moving on and ignoring me.

“Yeah, probably Holdenacar…god of the winter solstice”

“And all these Martha Stewart wannabes are buying these fancy wreaths” Dean stated.

“Yup, it's pretty much like putting a neon sign on your front door saying: ‘Come kill us’

“Great”

So, apparently when you sacrifice to Holdenacar, he gives back mild weather…which explained why there was no snow in the middle of December in the middle of Michigan. Bobby’s working on how to kill the thing but for now, we head out to where they’re selling the damn wreaths. This was our only freakin lead and I was getting annoyed with this crappy Christmas already…and I started to want it to be over…but I had to push those thoughts out of my head…at least for dad. He loved Christmas…not even because his birthday was on Christmas (which was a bonus for him) but he just loved Christmas in general. I had to try and keep this up for just a little bit longer. Christmas was almost here…and then it would be gone and I’ll be able to stop being happy and nice all the time.

We walked into the store in town that sold all Christmas stuff and we walked up to the guy behind the register. “Uh…we were playing Jenga over at the Walsh's the other night and uh…well, he hasn't shut up since about this Christmas wreath. I don't know, you tell him” Dean said, gesturing to Sam.

He was definitely annoyed as I tried to control my snickering. “Sure” he said, agitated. Then he looked at the guy and forced a smile. “It was yummy” he said, flatly and Brit and I just gave him a pointed look, keeping our snickers to ourselves.

“I sell a lot of wreaths, guys”

“Right, right. But, but you see, this one would have been uh…really special. It had uh…green leaves, umm, white buds on it. Might have been made of uh, meadowsweet?” Sam insisted.

“Well, aren't you a fussy one?”

“He is” Dean agreed, laughing to himself.

I nudged Dean to get him to cut it out. Yea, it was funny but it was also enough. I wanted to finish this case already. “I know the one you're talking about. I'm all out. You kids will have to go see Madge Carrigan. She’s the one who made them and said they were so special. She gave them to me for free”

“Free?” Brit asked, skeptically.

“Did you sell them for free?” Dean asked.

“Hell no, it's Christmas. People pay a butt-load for this crap”

“Yea…that’s the spirit” I sneered at him and then I rolled my eyes.

But, then I frowned slightly. Meadowsweet was not cheep…and it was not something you could just get at the closest super market. Why would this woman just give it away for free?

~

After some walking around…and some more shop lifting…hey, I wasn’t proud of it…okay I kind of was. I was always good at shop lifting…but Brit was the expert…she just didn’t like doing it. I had all this crap in the bed of my truck and on the floor in the back seat, covered up with a blanket or two. This better turn out well, that‘s all I have to say. Then, while Brit and I were trying to keep discreet, we also had to keep an eye on Dean while he went for candy canes anywhere he saw them…well I had to keep an eye on him. Night finally fell and we got back to the motel room. We all threw our coats onto the bed that was six feet away from the living room and then I sat on the floor, leaning against the coffee table as Dean collapsed onto one of the chairs and Sam and Brit collapsed onto the couch. We were all exhausted but at least we were getting somewhere on this case.

“Remember that wreath dad brought home that one year?” Dean asked Sam and I smiled a little. “You mean, the one he stole from, like, a liquor store?” Sam said and I frowned slightly at the venom in his voice.

But, Dean wasn’t phased. “Yeah, it was a bunch of empty beer cans. That thing was great. I bet if I looked around hard enough, I could probably find one just like it”

“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 wanna have Christmas so bad?”

“Why are you so against it? Were your childhood memories that traumatic?”

“No, that has nothing to do with it”

“Then what?”

“I mean, I-I just…I don't get it. You haven't talked about Christmas in years” Sam noted and Dean paused, looking down.

“Well, yeah…” Then he looked back up. “This is my last year” he finally said and I felt myself cringe.

I saw Dean glance at me and give me a sad look but when I looked at him, he looked down. Then, Sam sighed. “I know. That's why I can't”

“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” Sam said.

I could hear the pain in his voice even though he didn’t show anything. Maybe this really wasn’t a good idea. I mean, yea I wanted to have a really good first and last Christmas with Dean…but not if Sam was going to be upset with the idea…I wanted him to enjoy himself too…and I wanted Brit to be able to enjoy it as well. I knew if Sam wasn’t going to enjoy it then Brit wouldn’t either…damn holiday.

~

We decided to pay Madge a little visit. But, when Brit and I pulled up in the truck, we sat there in shock as we stared at the decorated house. It had Christmas lights hanging everywhere, sleighs on the roof with plastic reindeer, happy plastic snowmen on the lawn and an inflatable snowman. This was too much Christmas even for me…and I think I’ve been putting on a good act lately. We got out of the truck to walk over to the boys as they got out of the Impala.

“So, how’s your lip?” I asked as Dean and I walked side by side.

“Hurts…but don’t think I forgot that you still owe me” he said and I rolled my eyes at him. We walked up to the door.

Once we knocked, Madge answered the door and as Sam was talking to her about the wreaths, I could see inside that there were decorations all over the place and a gingerbread house was on the table. Sam was telling her how we wanted to get some wreaths but once we said they were sold out before we could…she said fudge…I guess that was a cuter way to say it rather than the other alternative…nope, I think I’d rather say fuck. Then, a man wearing the same exact sweater as Madge came over to us. I could only guess that he was the husband. He offered some brittle and Dean actually went to get some but I nudged him slightly so he stopped himself. Then, we left to go back to the motel and Sam did some of his research and with Brit’s help they found something. Last year there were two abductions in Seattle that took place right around Christmas…the Carrigans lived in Seattle last year and then moved here in January. Apparently all that crap in their house was vervain and mint which was some hard core pagan stuff. Bobby was sure that evergreen stakes can kill this thing so now…we continue to wait.

~

Once it got darker and later, we went back to the scarily decorated house with our stakes and I picked the lock quickly and easily. We all crept inside and the inside was just purely scarily decorated like the outside was. We turned and saw the furniture were really covered in plastic which was ironic since Dean made a joke about it before…imagine if he was the real psychic out of all of us? Sam called us over and we went over to him following him down some stairs into a basement. I could smell iron…and the smell of rotting filled my nose as well. I gripped onto Dean as it got darker. He used his flashlight and we came to a bowl with bloody bones with pieces of skin still on them. I felt like I was going to throw up. We all looked around to see more bones scattered around. There were bloody tools on a bench and a pair of bloody boots. I saw Sam keeping Brit close so I didn’t have to worry about her. But, then all of a sudden…I heard something and saw a shadow move quickly. I spun around quickly.

“Mel? What is it?” Dean whispered.

“I think they know we’re here” I whispered back to him. He immediately grabbed my wrist, pulling me closer to him as he flashed his light in different directions.

But, then I felt someone else grab my other wrist and tear me away from Dean. I turned to see it was Madge and she started to choke me. Dean went at her but Mr. Carrigan appeared and slammed his head into a pipe and I saw him fall to the ground, unconscious. I saw Mr. Carrigan fight off Sam and Brit easily as I was starting to gasp for air…and then I blacked out as well.