Fireworks

Summary: 1-shot. It's 4th of July and after what happened during the final trial and waiting for the next shoe to drop, Dean decided to surprise Sam. *Slightly limp but otherwise happy!Sam & happy/protective/big brother!Dean* Set after the season 8 Finale so it may have some spoilers.

Warnings/Spoilers: No real warnings and there may be slight spoilers from the season finale from season 8.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is written just for the enjoyment of myself and others.

Author Note: Sorry this is late but I was working on finishing a story last night. This is probably one of the shorter pieces I've done but I hope I captured the theme and emotion I was going for. Enjoy and join me on Facebook under morgana07!

SPN SPN SPN SPN

Sitting on the hood of the Impala with a beer in his hand while watching the clear sky slowly get darker as night came on, Dean Winchester glanced back through the windshield to see that his younger brother still appeared to be sleeping.

Ever since the events in the church, the night he'd stopped Sam from completing the trial to close Hell and the angels fell from Heaven or were kicked out depending on whose version he chose to believe, Dean had been keeping a closer eye on Sam.

His brother had been pushing hard to complete the trials and had barely been pulled back. Dean still felt his throat clog as he remembered the pain and hurt in Sam's huge hazel and pure puppy dog eyes as he admitted what he'd confessed to.

Since that night Sam had his good days and his bad ones as they mainly stayed close to their new home in the old Men of Letters bunker.

They'd taken on a few simple hunts while Sam, when he felt like it, tried to figure out what was happening to all the angels that had fallen and Kevin tried to actually translate the damn Angel tablet but this trip wasn't quite what Dean had led Sam to believe it was.

Sam had been having a not so bad week which meant he'd been able to eat, drink and sleep without waking up sick or screaming with nightmares so Dean had taken the chance to risk driving further than he had been willing to take his brother lately.

Tossing out a casual line about a simple salt and burn, he'd hustled Sam into the Impala without allowing him near the trunk and had given Kevin the usual orders not to throw any keg parties while they were gone, then the elder Winchester had worked to just give Sam simple answers about the 'hunt' since he knew his brother would fall to sleep once they were fully on the road.

Ever since Sam had been a small child, the one sure way to get him to sleep would be to just put him in the Impala, slip a well-worn cassette tape in and drive.

That was how more often than not John Winchester got his sons to sleep when they'd been small, how Dean would help his brother sleep during nightmares, visions or when Lucifer was haunting his dreams and to this day if he wanted to be sure Sam slept he'd just get him in the car and drive.

Since settling into the bunker they didn't drive or stay at as many hotels and Dean wondered if that bothered his brother as much as it still tended to bother him, especially on nights when he knew Sam wasn't feeling well and the urge to check on his brother every five minutes drove him.

This trip Sam had curled his shoulder into the passenger side door like he normally did and conked out for the biggest part of their journey. He only surfaced once to look around, mumble a question that might've been 'are we there yet' and then fell back to sleep.

The field that Dean drove into still hadn't changed much from the last time he and Sam had been there. With a sigh he once again considered the lives that he and Sam had been through since the summer of 1996 and wished that his brother hadn't lost so much of that natural innocence and childhood that he'd still had that night.

A glance at his watch told Dean what time it was and he smiled a little to himself at the sound of the passenger door opening as Sam woke up to realize they were parked and where his older brother was.

"Dean?" Sam rubbed his eyes to clear them while shoving restless fingers back through his hair as he looked around to try to discern where they were and why they were parked in a field surrounded by a grove of trees but otherwise it was clear. "Where we at?"

Reaching into the cooler at his feet, Dean's fingers brushed over the beer to move to the water he'd stashed in there for Sam since he wasn't giving his brother beer until they stopped for food on the way back. "A field," he replied blandly, holding out the water and knowing he was being graced by one of Sam's famous bitch faces. "You feel okay?"

"Yeah, I don't feel as tired," Sam admitted, taking the water as he stepped up to where Dean was still sitting to gaze around them. "Funny place for a salt and burn case," he remarked, beginning to suspect he'd been tricked and so wasn't surprised when he read the quick flash of guilt on his older brother's face in the moonlight. "What's going on, Dean?" he asked curiously, knowing that Dean wouldn't have driven them miles and miles out of their way without a good reason. "If not for a case then why are we in a field in the middle of nowhere at night?"

Dean finished his beer before sliding off the hood to stretch, wincing as the muscles in his back disagreed with that move. "You recognize this place at all, Sammy?" he asked, pulling the keys from the ignition to stroll back to open the truck.

"It's…a field, Dean," Sam did look around again but nothing was clicking for him until he turned to see his brother taking a cardboard box out of the trunk and it hit him like a fist in the chest.

Once again he was thirteen years old and Dean was seventeen. It was a hot and muggy 4th of July in some town that they were staying in while their Dad was off on a hunt.

Sam recalled his boredom and his disappointment when Dean decided he'd rather have a date than spend the time with him and the few little firecrackers that Sam had spent his small allowance on earlier that week.

Put out, bored and hot, Sam had been trying to focus on a book rather than blame his brother for not wanting to hang around the motel when he could get lucky with some local girl when he'd heard the familiar roar of the Impala coming back.

Going outside to see what his brother had forgotten that made him return hours ahead of when Sam would have expected Dean, the teen was surprised when his brother jerked a thumb to the empty passenger seat while telling his shocked brother to get in.

Sam had been so shocked at this change that he nearly forgot to lock the motel and would have if Dean hadn't reminded him to with his usual cocky smirk before driving what had seemed like hours to Sam but was more than likely only a little like forty five minutes away from the town and the motel they were staying at.

The field had been the same as it was now and Sam wasn't even aware of when he'd begun to smile as it dawned on him why his brother had kept him away from the trunk earlier. "What's in the box?" he deadpanned as best he could, recalling that he'd asked the same question years earlier too.

"A whole new level of awesomeness in the way of fireworks, little brother," Dean grinned, managing to hold onto the box, shut the trunk and pull his lighter out of his pocket all without dropping anything. "I figured it was time we did something fun for a change."

"Playing pool and getting laid not fun for you anymore, Dean?" Sam teased, feeling himself relaxing more at the open handed slap to the back of his head and hearing the growled 'bitch' being tossed his way.

It had been so long since he and Dean had used those once familiar nicknames that he nearly stopped walking as he followed his brother out further in the field when he heard it.

"Jerk," he shot back hoping his voice wasn't as shaky as his hands suddenly appeared to be and then he was blinking when a few bottle rockets were shoved his way. "Seriously?"

"Playing pool is still fine and…can't really share the whole getting laid experience with my brother unless there's something you care to share with me, Sammy," Dean smirked as he knelt down to put the fireworks into the ground before looking up to see the scrunched look that comment earned him. "Plus, I haven't really been seeing much action lately so I figure attempting to burn this field down again will work plus…they made you laugh last time and I want you to have a chance to actually laugh again, Sam."

Swallowing hard at that, Sam had to look away for a second or run the risk of breaking Dean's no chick flick moments rule but allowing the tears he could feel burning his eyes fall down his cheeks. "Hasn't been much of a reason to laugh these past few weeks," he murmured, handing his brother the last rocket before rubbing his arms through his jacket against a sudden chill.

"I know there hasn't been but that was then and this is now," Dean lit the fuses on the six rockets in order before standing up to nudge his brother back a few steps to wait for them to go off. "This is a whole different ballgame, Sammy and starting now…it's back to basics and nothing…nothing is coming between us like it has been these past few years," he promised firmly, glad the rockets took off then so he had an excuse to cover the way his voice dropped lower and he swallowed the emotions he never felt easy with sharing.

Sam's eyes lit with excitement that Dean hadn't seen on his brother in more years than he could honestly recall as the rockets shot into the night sky to explode in brightly colored lights that rained down onto the field.

Watching his little brother smile as he took in the lights coming down, Dean eyed the box of fireworks before carrying them out to the middle of the field to carefully arrange them in the box in a certain way before feeling Sam behind him and knew he had his full attention.

"Your choice, Sammy," he stood to nod to the box while holding Sam's eyes. "You want to do this one at a time or…just light 'em all off at once like we did that night?"

Dean held his lighter out to Sam and then just waited to see what his brother wanted to do since this night, the weeks of planning and of secretly buying the fireworks had all been for Sam.

He wanted to see his brother laugh after the months of sickness, of pain and uncertainty and held his breath until Sam's fingers reached for the lighter.

"Let's light 'em up," he replied after a second, returning the full smile his older brother offered.

Sam bent carefully to see that Dean had placed the fireworks in a certain pattern so setting them all off at once would still have the maximum effect. He found the fuse before realizing that his brother must have suspected he'd want this since each piece seemed to be wired to the next in a complex way that only Dean could've done.

Clicking the lighter to life, Sam lit the fuse and as soon as it lit he felt strong fingers pulling him to his feet and pulling him back to the edge of the field.

"Fire in the hole!" Dean laughed as the box took off in a series of rapid fire noise and color, letting go of Sam's arm once he was sure it was safe and just stood back to watch his brother's face as he took it all in.

He recalled the bright and amazed look of pure enjoyment and happiness on his thirteen year old brother's face as he turned in circles in this field that night so long ago and now as he watched, he smiled when he recognized the same look of happiness and joy on his thirty year old little brother's face as he stood in the middle of the shower of colors to turn in a circle.

Watching Sam like this made Dean aware of the tears on his face because there were times recently that he honestly feared he and Sam would never have another moment like this but it was when he heard what he'd been waiting for that he fully allowed himself to put aside the still present concern and caution to just enjoy the night and the moment.

It had been years, actual years, that Dean could remember hearing Sam laugh like this. Oh, he'd heard his brother laugh but not his full, honest, without reserve or concern laugh. This laugh, as he just kept watching the showering fireworks continue to go up and come down, was the laugh that Dean could get from his little brother when he was a kid.

The laugh that had always made Dean smile regardless of his mood was now fully showing in Sam's voice and on his face and in his eyes as the bright lights reflected in those eyes that hadn't seen anything like joy in a long time.

Engrossed in his own thoughts and memories, Dean wasn't even aware that Sam was speaking to him until he felt a hand touch his shoulder and he jerked out of his own thoughts to meet his brother's slightly concerned face.

"I'm good, Sammy," he assured the younger man, shaking himself out of it to straighten up to pull the box of sparklers from under his jacket. "Wanna give these a whirl?"

Sam took the sparklers to split them up and lit them, being careful to avoid the sparks as he shook his hands to see what kind of lights they'd give off while looking towards his brother out of the corner of his eye. "Thanks for this, Dean," he knew he was close to that chick flick line but decided to risk it. "I know with everything going on that we have more to worry about than fireworks or sparklers but..I…I…missed this…I missed you."

Focusing on the sparklers in his hands rather than the sudden lump in his throat, Dean took his time to debate on what to say to that before taking a shaky breath and just tossed it all into the pot. "I missed you too, Sammy," he replied, voice deep, huskier with the emotion he very rarely let out unless it was for his brother. "We're gonna be good now, little brother."

Nodding, Sam considered what his more basic instinct was saying…what he would've done years ago without thinking to what his more reserved self, the self that knew how Dean was these days and was just deciding to be happy with the night the way it was when his older brother proved that he could still shock him.

"C'mere, Sammy," Dean tossed his own rule out for the night, reaching over to grasp Sam by the back of the neck to pull him in for a full tight hug that he held once he felt it returned, not missing the slight shaking in Sam's arms. "Happy 4th of July, little brother," he murmured, hearing another laugh as the final set of fireworks went off.

"Thanks for the fireworks, Dean," Sam gave the moment another minute before stepping back to crane his neck to see this batch of lights, showers and bursts, begin to rain down and couldn't resist stepping into the center like he had back in 1996 when he still believed in normal and a life outside of the family business.

Sam listened to Dean actually allowing himself to laugh and accepted that this was normal for him now and as he met his brother's smile in the darkness, lit only by the fireworks going off and lighting up the sky, Sam knew he wouldn't have it any other way.

The End