Supernatural - Chapter 48: Christmas Gift (Patreon)

Murphy spent several more days in the hospital.

Her recovery went reasonably well once she woke up. At least her wounds caused no new problems, even if her body was clearly lagging behind her mind.

Any movement hurt her side. Her right shoulder was still too weak for much use, and the two broken ribs were worse. A cough, a sneeze, or even a slightly vigorous laugh was enough to make her regret being alive.

When the nurse finally let her out of bed for the first time, she was only allowed to walk around the hospital room a little.

Murphy steadied herself against the side of the bed. Before she could manage a second step, Dean and Sam were already following on either side. Neither touched her, but they stood absurdly close, ready to catch her at the slightest wobble.

Halfway across the room, she could not hold her tongue any longer.

“I’m only walking to the door.”

“We know,” Sam said.

Knowing that did not stop him from following.

Dean was even less apologetic. “Keep walking. Nobody’s stopping you.”

Murphy glanced from one side to the other. Their idea of a normal amount of personal space had apparently changed. The events of early May 2 had really frightened them. In the end, she swallowed her complaints and obediently completed the short walk.

She was too exhausted to speak as soon as she lay back down.

The look on Dean’s face practically shouted, I knew it.

Murphy ignored him.

Once she recovered enough energy, the brothers finally raised the questions they had not been able to ask before.

Murphy could only speculate about why the contract had suddenly failed at the very end.

The timing was suspicious. It had happened almost the instant Dean stepped outside the last protective barrier on his own.

He had not offered himself in exchange for someone else, nor had he intended to let Sam pay the price. He had simply chosen to go out and save a person, knowing full well the hellhounds were waiting.

Murphy did not have enough information to explain why a contract from Hell would recognize that choice, or what other rules they might not know.

“So you don’t know either?” Dean asked.

“If I knew, I would have told you to try it from the start.”

Dean had to admit that made sense, and he let the subject drop.

The contract was broken. They could afford to leave its mysteries for later. The thing all three were far more concerned about now was the power Sam had suddenly unleashed that night.

Sam, in particular, found it troubling.

“I wasn’t even thinking about how to do it,” he said. “When I saw Lilith, all I wanted was for her to stop.”

And she had stopped. Black smoke had even been forcibly dragged from the body she possessed.

The memory still left Sam uneasy.

He knew the power had come from him, which only made it worse. In the past, he had at least recognized the prophetic dreams when they came, and had experienced moving things without touching them in desperate moments. What happened that night was something else entirely.

Murphy listened from her hospital bed while quickly running through the original storyline in her head.

Of course she knew where Sam’s abilities came from.

Azazel had put demon blood into him when he was an infant. Those powers had never sprung out of nowhere. What surprised her was what had happened afterward.

In the story she remembered, Sam later tried to develop the ability until he could exorcise demons directly and even face more powerful ones. Demon blood had always been central to that path.

But none of that had happened here.

Ruby had not taught him a thing. He did not even know such a path existed, yet the power had emerged on its own and nearly torn Lilith right out of her host.

That was not how Murphy remembered things.

She considered it for a while, but kept the words demon blood to herself.

Once she said them aloud, she might as well be showing Sam a dangerous road to follow. She did not yet know why things had changed, and there was no reason to put the riskiest explanation in front of him now.

“I have some idea why you have that power,” Murphy finally said.

Sam looked at her immediately.

Dean frowned too. “You know?”

“Part of it,” she answered, refusing to elaborate. “But what’s happening now isn’t quite what I expected. I need to investigate first.”

“Investigate what?”

“Whether I’ve missed something.”

Sam clearly wanted to ask more. Murphy could not give him an answer that satisfied even herself, however.

“I’ll tell you when I understand it better,” she said. “I don’t want to frighten you with guesses.”

Sam went quiet at that.

He was still concerned, of course. But Murphy had promised to look into it, and he was not going to demand an answer right away.

Besides, his own injuries were still healing. Dean certainly would not let him hunt down another demon merely to test the ability.

For now, the matter was set aside.

Murphy did not forget about it.

Once she left the hospital, she planned to sort through everything she remembered again. The story was changing more and more. Things she once could have treated as answers were now only clues.

Several days later, the doctor finally cleared her to go home.

Murphy was visibly delighted. She had asked almost every day when she could leave. By the end, the nurses knew what she was going to say before she opened her mouth.

On the actual day of her discharge, it was the other two who were anxious.

Murphy reached for her coat, but Dean took it from her. Before she could remind him that she could move her right hand again, he was carefully guiding her arm into the sleeve without disturbing her shoulder.

“It was my shoulder that got hurt, not my ability to dress myself.”

“Close enough right now.”

Murphy glared up at him.

Dean showed no remorse at all. He even straightened her collar.

Sam returned from handling the paperwork just in time to see them.

His back had mostly healed too. He walked normally again, though he was not supposed to carry anything heavy. Seeing Murphy’s displeasure, he wisely stayed out of the argument and took the heaviest bag from beside the bed.

Murphy was too happy to be leaving to make a fuss. She decided to forgive them for the moment.

Once they were in the car, both brothers assumed they were going straight to Bobby’s.

Baby had been on the road for a while when Murphy spoke from the back seat. “Turn right up ahead.”

Dean glanced into the rearview mirror.

“Bobby’s is to the left.”

“I know.”

Sam was looking over the medication the hospital had sent with her. He looked up as he realized what she meant. “Your secret?”

Murphy laughed. “You finally remembered?”

“We never forgot.”

“Then take the right turn.”

Dean was not keen on taking a recently discharged patient sightseeing. He asked twice how far they were going. Only when Murphy assured him it was close did he reluctantly follow her directions.

Whatever else they asked about the destination, she refused to reveal anything.

She had prepared for this day for too long. May 3 had come and gone, but at least all three of them were together. She was certainly not about to spoil the surprise five minutes before they arrived.

When Baby turned onto the gravel road, Murphy began to feel excited herself.

The house appeared ahead.

Dean slowed the car. Sam looked out the window.

Several months had passed. The place, once old and neglected, looked considerably better.

It had not been renovated into a brand-new house. The exterior still looked much as it always had, but everything that needed repairs had been dealt with, and both yards were tidied. It was far more inviting than when Murphy had first seen it.

Murphy still had to get out of the car slowly. Sam helped her find her balance. Dean came around from the driver’s seat, though his eyes kept drifting toward the garage.

“So this is the big secret?” he asked.

“More or less.”

“What does ‘more or less’ mean?”

Murphy took the keys from her pocket.

“A Christmas present.”

Both brothers froze.

“What?” Dean plainly had not understood.

“A Christmas present.” She gave the keys a little shake and motioned toward the house behind her.

Dean followed her gesture. A moment later, something in his expression changed.

“Hold on. What did you just say?”

“The house.”

“I can see it’s a house!” His voice rose. “You bought it? The entire house?”

Sam finally understood too, and looked every bit as stunned as his brother.

“Murphy! When did you buy it?”

“Just after Christmas.”

Both brothers fell silent again.

Murphy briefly explained the paperwork. The title was temporarily in Bobby’s name, but she had paid for the place and all the work done to it since.

Dean interrupted halfway through. “I don’t care whose name’s on the papers.”

Property records were the last thing on his mind.

Sam kept staring at the house, still struggling to take in the fact that Murphy had secretly bought a home.

Murphy gave them a moment before separating the keys.

Three keys. All identical.

She kept one. The other two had been waiting for this day.

“This is yours.”

She offered the first key to Dean.

He reached out easily enough, but just before his fingers touched it, his thoughts took a strange turn.

Murphy had bought a house.

And now she stood at its entrance, offering him a key.

They would all live together. Each person would have a room, Baby would have a garage, and they would no longer need to hunt for a motel vacancy every night.

The thoughts piled up, and Dean’s mind went a few steps further without his permission.

House. Keys. Living together. How the hell had that turned into a wedding aisle?

Jesus Christ. He was only accepting a key!

He grabbed it quickly. Any longer and he might start planning what color tie to wear to the wedding.

Murphy, however, had noticed him acting strangely.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.”

“You definitely spaced out just now.”

“I’m just shocked, okay?”

Dean closed his fingers around the key, determined not to invite another question.

Sam suspected that something very odd had just gone through his brother’s head. Before he could decide what, Murphy offered him the second key.

“Yours.”

Sam had already guessed.

Three keys, one for her, one for Dean, and naturally one for him.

But even with Murphy holding it out to him, it took him a moment to react.

The woman he loved stood before a home where they would live together, handing him a key meant especially for him.

It almost felt too good to be real.

Sam had dreamed of an ordinary life like that once.

A place where he could stay, without packing up his possessions at a moment’s notice, and where the person he loved would be close. So much had happened since that he had forced himself to abandon the idea.

Now it had been offered to him in a way he could never have imagined.

“I get one too?” The question sounded foolish even as Sam asked it.

Murphy gave him a puzzled look. “Why else would I have three keys?”

Sam lowered his head and smiled.

Of course. She had included him from the beginning.

He took the key and watched the metal settle into his palm.

At least he did not have to guess whether Murphy wanted him to stay. She clearly did.

Murphy watched them both and felt a sudden rush of tenderness.

Dean kept turning the key over in his hands. Sam was hardly better. Both had accepted their keys but still looked too stunned to make sense of them.

They had looked the same when they realized the house was meant for all three of them.

Surprise, excitement, and a trace of unease.

The more Murphy watched, the more the scene reminded her of something.

They were like two animals who had wandered homeless for years, suddenly brought into a warm house and told they could stay.

Even after crossing the threshold, they would step carefully, looking back as though someone might tell them there had been a mistake and the home was never meant for them.

The comparison almost melted Murphy’s heart.

Especially since both of them were such enormous dogs.

The brothers had learned to sleep just about anywhere. Motels felt more familiar than home, and Bobby’s place was always there when they needed it.

Only now did Murphy understand how different having somewhere to sleep was from knowing a place belonged to you.

Dean remained silent for a long time.

The key should have been nearly weightless, yet it suddenly felt strangely heavy in his hand. He tried to find something to say and came up with, “You really...”

Murphy waited for the rest of the sentence. Instead, Dean walked over and hugged her.

At least he remembered that she had only just left the hospital. He restrained himself and slipped his arms around her with great care.

Murphy went still for an instant, then understood. She lifted her uninjured hand and gently patted his back.

Dean held her for a while before pulling away. His eyes were a little red, but he looked much more at ease.

Inside, Murphy did not bother giving them another room-by-room introduction. They could see the changes for themselves.

The drafty, worn, unsafe parts had all been repaired. The plumbing, wiring, heating, and protections useful to hunters had been redone as well, but she had deliberately left plenty of space for furniture.

Dean noticed at once.

“Why is there still so much empty space?”

“Because I’m not going to live here alone,” Murphy said as she made her way farther inside. “You two get to choose the rest.”

Sam looked around again, more thoughtfully this time.

This was better. Murphy had not decorated the entire house for herself and merely set aside two rooms for them. There were still so many things the three of them could decide together.

The upstairs bedrooms followed the same principle.

Murphy showed them the room she had picked for herself and told the brothers to choose between the other two. Sam chose the quieter room farther in. Dean did not object. Half his attention was already downstairs in the garage.

When Murphy caught Dean looking toward the garage for the third time, she gave up.

“Go on, then.”

“Go where?”

“The garage.”

“I’m in no rush,” Dean said, pouting.

Murphy could not be bothered to argue.

He lasted less than ten seconds before inventing an excuse to go downstairs and “check something.”

Sam watched him hurry off with a helpless smile.

Murphy laughed too. “I knew that would be the first place he wanted to see.”

“So you deliberately saved it for last?”

“Of course.”

They continued upstairs toward the attic.

There were two main spaces on that floor. Murphy gestured toward one of them as they passed. “That’s my workspace.”

Sam followed her gesture. “So yours is up here too?”

“Yeah. It has the best soundproofing in the house. You can read, I can work, and neither of us will disturb the other.”

Murphy mentioned it casually. Sam, however, found the arrangement unexpectedly appealing.

A few steps farther on was the study she had reserved for him. When she opened the door, he slowed noticeably.

The room was not lavishly furnished.

Installed bookshelves covered most of one wall. A desk stood in a convenient position, and a place by the window had been left for reading. Plenty of room remained for things they could add after moving in.

Sam walked inside, but it was the desk that caught his attention first.

He sat down to try it and immediately found that its height suited him far better than an ordinary desk.

“Did you choose this too?”

“The desk?”

“Yeah.”

“Remember that furniture magazine? I heard you talking about it and picked something you’d like. I had Bobby help adjust it, too.”

Sam looked surprised. “How did you know to change the height?”

To Murphy, the answer seemed obvious.

“Whenever you used those tiny motel desks, you’d have to shift around after a few minutes. You looked uncomfortable even to me.”

Sam was speechless. He had not even noticed that about himself.

In those days, Murphy might have been working on her computer or looking through her notes beside him. She had never appeared to be watching him. Yet she had remembered that small habit when she bought his furniture.

Murphy had no idea where his thoughts were going. She was still examining the bookshelves.

“I didn’t buy any books. You can choose those yourself,” she said. After a moment she added, “And if you fill these shelves, there’s room for another bookcase.”

Sam looked where she was looking.

An entire wall of shelves, waiting for him to fill them.

He remembered the habits he had developed over the years. Thick books were difficult to carry. Too many would not fit in the car. He rarely kept a book after reading it. They were always on the road, and owning less was easier.

Apparently, he no longer needed to think that way.

After a quiet moment, Sam smiled. “This Christmas present is a little too much, you know.”

Murphy turned to him. “You don’t like it?”

“I love it.”

He stood and drew her into a hug. He was almost excessively careful, keeping away from her injured shoulder and not daring to press against her broken ribs.

Murphy could barely feel the embrace. She laughed. “I’m not made of glass anymore.”

“No point taking chances.”

“All right.”

She raised her hand and patted his back, making no immediate move to pull away.

Sam was so tall that with his arms around her, her face rested against the upper part of his chest. At this distance she noticed his scent was faint and clean: soap, fabric dried in the sun, and something she could not quite identify that probably came from all their time in the car.

It was familiar.

When the three of them had crowded into motel rooms or Baby, she had caught it now and then, but never so clearly.

Murphy unconsciously drew another breath. Then she realized what she was doing and felt suddenly self-conscious about how intimate the gesture seemed.

And Sam did not let go right away.

When he lowered his head, his nose was close to her hair. Her usual shampoo had faded during her hospital stay, mixed now with a faint trace of disinfectant. Yet at this distance, he could still recognize the scent that was hers.

Sam suddenly decided he should probably stop hugging her.

A key and a study had already given him far too much to think about. With Murphy resting quietly in his arms, there was no need to put his self-control through any further tests today.

Even so, he stayed there for another two seconds before finally releasing her.

Murphy looked up, oblivious to what had occupied him during those two seconds. She only noticed that his ears seemed a little redder.

Dean’s voice suddenly rang out from downstairs.

“Murphy!”

He shouted loud enough for the whole house to hear.

Murphy and Sam turned together. Another shout followed almost at once.

“Murphy!”

Sam sighed. “I think he likes the garage.”

Murphy could not hold back a smile. “Sounds like it.”

By the time they slowly made their way downstairs, Dean seemed like a different man.

The redness around his eyes at the front door had vanished. He had already paced around the garage several times and was clearly deciding where to put his tool cabinets, spare parts, and workbench.

The moment Murphy reached the entrance, he pointed inside. “You’re serious about this?”

“Which part?”

“All of it!”

Dean was delighted, and he could not have hidden it if he tried.

The garage was much tidier than it used to be. Even with Baby parked inside, there was room to work around her. Lighting, a sink, and the basic fittings were already in place. Murphy had avoided making too many decisions about tools and workbenches on Dean’s behalf. Clearly, that had been wise.

One walk around was enough for Dean to start rearranging the place in his mind.

“I’ll pick the tools myself. Might need a different workbench. And we could add a couple of lights over there.”

Murphy listened for a moment. “Are you asking me, or telling me?”

Dean considered that. “Telling you.”

Sam laughed from the doorway. Murphy laughed too, but the movement pulled at her injured side and made her draw in a sharp breath.

Dean noticed instantly, his excitement giving way to concern. He insisted that she rest. Rather than be sent back upstairs as soon as she arrived, Murphy agreed to lean against the doorway and stay still.

Once he was satisfied she was fine, Dean returned his attention to the garage.

Baby could finally stay under a roof instead of spending night after night parked outside, exposed to the weather. The thought pleased him so much that he even began wondering whether to add insulation for winter.

Sam did not stay to discuss tool cabinets. He went to examine the safeguards already installed around the house.

The devil’s traps, salt lines, cast-iron decorations, and supplies stored for hunters in the basement were all familiar to him. He immediately spotted a few more places that could use reinforcement.

Murphy nodded when she heard his suggestions. “Change whatever you want. Just don’t demolish the house.”

Sam laughed. “Tell Dean that.”

From the garage came an immediate protest. “I heard that!”

By the time they had inspected everything that interested them most, Murphy was nearly out of strength.

She still thought she could manage, but her steps were getting slower and slower.

Dean noticed and promptly ended the tour. Sam sided with him this time. Outnumbered two to one, Murphy was sent to rest in the living room.

The brothers were nowhere near finished looking.

She had barely settled onto the couch when their voices began drifting down from upstairs. They were already discussing furniture and possible changes. Before long, they disagreed about where a cabinet ought to go.

Murphy had no interest in joining the debate.

The house had been empty for so long that hearing the two of them moving about and talking inside it felt unexpectedly comforting.

Only in the afternoon did Dean remember they had originally planned to return to Bobby’s that day.

“So what are we doing tonight?”

Murphy looked up. “Staying here, obviously.”

Dean blinked.

“There are beds,” she reminded him.

Sam laughed first. They did not have much to move anyway. After years of living out of duffel bags and Baby’s trunk, most of their belongings were already with them. The rest could be collected from Bobby’s whenever they liked.

Dean accepted the idea even faster. “Then we’re not going back.”

He sounded so certain that Murphy suspected he would happily sleep in the garage even if the house had no beds at all.

Dinner was simple. Dean went out and brought back pizza.

While Sam looked for plates, he shifted a few things to different places. Dean returned and casually rearranged several more. Murphy sat quietly watching, offering no opinions.

The three of them would be living there. Over time, everything would naturally find a place that suited them all.

After dinner, her medicine and the day’s accumulated exhaustion finally caught up with her. As Murphy grew sleepy, Dean walked slowly upstairs with her. At the door to her room, she turned and discovered Sam had come up from downstairs too.

For a moment, all three stood together in the hallway.

There was nothing left to arrange. Nobody needed to announce tomorrow’s departure time, choose the next town, or remember when they had to check out.

Murphy found that unfamiliar quiet rather wonderful.

“Well... good night?”

Sam looked surprised for a moment, then smiled. “Good night, Murphy.”

Dean smiled too. “Good night.”

After Murphy shut her door, the brothers lingered outside their own rooms for a while.

Dean was the one to break the silence. “Sammy, help me move my tools tomorrow.”

Whatever complicated emotions Sam had been feeling promptly evaporated. “It’s your garage. Move them yourself.”

“The whole house belongs to all of us.”

Sam turned and laughed. “That’s not what you were saying this afternoon.”

Dean was already opening his door, looking completely innocent.

“Night, Sammy.”

Sam stood there for another two seconds before shaking his head with a smile and going into his own room.