AN: I don't own Supernatural.
"Dean? Hey Dean?! Are you okay?"
"What what?"
Dean shook his head trying to clear it. His mind felt fuzzy. He grimaced as he tried and failed to remember the details of mere moments before.
"Are-you-o-kay? You look like Crowley just professed his undying love for you or something."
Dean turned his head to the right to face the girl speaking and he felt every muscle in his body freeze.
She was pretty. Beautiful really. She wore a long, sleek, ivory dress, sleeveless and elegant. Her hair was pulled up in a stylish, messy bun, golden tendrils framing her sunny face. Her eyes sparkled as she gazed up at him and looped an arm in his.
"Jess?"
She chuckled.
"God Dean, how can you be getting cold feet? It's not like I'm asking ya to marry me. Just give me away."
Dean was still staring in shock when organ music sounded ahead of them and he started, looking wildly about. Jess gave him a kind smile and gently tugged his arm, prompting him to stumble forward a little.
"Remember, left foot first, Dean."
Dean mumbled unintelligibly.
Oak doors swung in front of the pair and Dean felt his feet move as he gazed into the large room. A church. It was a church. Lavishly decorated with sparkling ribbons wound into bows, fresh gardenias and red roses and all that crap were bunched into bouquets that lined the aisle. The church was huge, and so had comparatively few people. On his left were children with Jess' hair and old couples with Jess' eyes, all smiling and proud. And the right…
First he saw Cas standing, fiddling with a blue bowtie and looking confusedly at a fresco on the far wall depicting naked baby angels playing harps and trumpets. Next to him, Gabriel sat on a pew, chuckling as he added baggy overalls and baseball caps to the frescoes of Micheal and Raphael.
Behind them, Kevin Tran leaned forward in his seat to shush the archangel and Charlie, who sat next to him, kept telling the Trickster to make Micheal look like Yoda in a dress. Ellen and Jo spared disproving, yet fond looks at the group before beaming at Jess and Dean; their smiles only rivaled by Bobby's and Jody's in the front row. The pair were tentatively holding hands as they grinned, and if Dean didn't know better, he could have sworn he saw Bobby brush away a tear. Garth was openly sobbing into a handkerchief, distracting Gabriel from his task and making him visibly uncomfortable.
Dean smiled as he looked away from the scene and let out a breathy laugh as he saw the figure standing next to Cas. Sam stood in a ridiculous monkey suit, tugging on too short sleeves and blowing untrimmed hair out of his eyes as he tried not to smirk at his guests. When Sam caught sight of Jess and Dean, Dean thought his heart would burst from sheer joy. Sam's eyes were filled with such warmth and light as he offered a little smile, gazing at the two people he loved most in all the world.
Dean grinned back as he and Jess made their way forward. As he approached Sam he thought he had never seen his brother happier in his life. He turned to Jess and kissed the beaming girl's cheek before stepping aside. The couple met one another's eyes before turning to the priest, an elderly man with a double chin. Before he could speak a word, however, Sam and Jess had drawn guns on the poor man.
"Crowley, how many times do we have to tell you; you are not officiating!"
The priest scowled and rolled red eyes.
"Oh come on, Dean and Cas get to be involved in the ceremony! Why can't I?"
Jess looked sidelong at Sam.
"Well Crowley, honey…you're a demon. You are literally damned. I'm afraid that kinda disqualifies you from ahh…this."
"That's just discriminatory."
Jess smiled kindly at him. "You can still stay as a guest."
"Fine."
Red smoke billowed out of the priest's mouth and drifted out of sight. Moments later, Crowley's vessel appeared and sank onto a pew next to Jess' mother, who let out a little squeak of fear. Dean put his head in his palm. Dead friends, childish angels, and a sulking demon. This was going to be an interesting ceremony.
—
Bells rang and rice was thrown. Dean stood off to the side and watched as Sam laughed, kissing his new bride and trying to shield her dress from the onslaught of rice with his own jacket. Sammy had done it. He was happy. Finally happy after all these years. And Dean was happy too, for that's all he'd ever wanted.
—
If Sam could have read his brother's mind, he couldn't have agreed more. Everyone he loved was here. His brother and best friend were co-best men. The love of his life was standing beside him, holding his hand and if he had it his way, they'd stay that way until the day he died. He thought his smile would crack his face for being so wide as he glanced around at each face. His grin fell a bit, however when he noticed someone missing. That was when he saw Dean slipping off into the crowd. He frowned.
—
It had taken a while but Dean finally found the brightly lit reception hall, and took his place at the head table. This kind of thing really wasn't his style, but today was for Sammy so he toughed it out with the uncomfortable suits and froufrou food. He even used the right forks for each course of the meal with a little guidance from Jess who sat at his right with Sam next to her, who looked at him questioningly regarding his disappearance. Dean simply shook his head.
He was actually beginning to enjoy himself when someone called for a speech from the best men. Dean had been dreading this. He really wasn't prepared. At all.
He signaled that Cas, who sat to his left, should go first. Cas vehemently shook his head, looking as panicked as Dean had ever seen him.
"Purgatory, Hell, Apocalypse, no problem, but a Best Man Speech? God forbid. This has to be the greatest challenge Heaven has ever faced," Dean thought. He was no better really, but honestly, this was scarier than death. Death was cool. Death eats pizza. Death doesn't make you gives public speeches. Brothers are worse than Death.
Based on Dean's understanding, he and Cas had been sacrificing themselves for one another since they met, and he figured it was Cas' turn. He spilled his champagne on the poor angel, making him reflexively stand. All eyes turned to him, and any color in Cas' face seemed to drain away.
"Um..I uh…W-when I met Sam he was addicted t-to demon blood, and uh, he was destined to become Lucifer's vessel. I raised his brother from Hell for the sole purpose of becoming Micheal's vessel and bring about the apocalypse by destroying each other and everything they loved. That caused some issues between us. There was a lot more with some betrayal and various incidents with torture and death and uh…through it all Sam has, for the vast majority, remained a good person and friend. When he was not, it was primarily my fault. There was an incident in Hell…" He broke off catching Sam's glare.
"Sam is a good human male with the hair of a female. I wish Jessica luck. To the bride and groom!"
Cas sat back in his chair with a plop as the room echoed his sentiments. He looked sideways at Dean as if to say "He's your brother. It's your turn Assbutt. If you don't suffer through a speech as I just did, I'll drop your ass back in Perdition." Dean stood and cleared his throat.
"Um wow okay, well I never thought I'd see this day or have to do this. I mean really, I thought I was free and clear; who would ever want to wake up to that face in the morning?" he said, indicating his brother who spluttered in protest. "But I guess Jessy here defied and surpassed any expectations I might have had. I mean she's beautiful, intelligent, way more than Sam and sooo out of his league, but she stuck around. And I know she'll take care of my baby brother, and that's all I could really ask." Dean cleared his throat again. People were getting teary eyed and all this emotional crap was making him feel awkward. "Um…you know I never really thought of what it would be like to have a sister. I imagine she'd have been a pain in the ass, you know like Sam. I uh, I never would've imagined anyone like Jess,.. but I'm proud to call her my little sister. Welcome to the family Jessy. As you can see it's kind of broken and mishmashed, but these people would protect you with their dying breaths. And as for me, well, I'd go to Hell and back for ya. To Jess and Sammy!"
The room cheered as Jess pulled her new brother into a hug as Sam watched through eyes blurred with tears.
—
Soft music played as the reception began to die down. Sam had gone off quite a while ago, but had been cornered by Jess' grandmother in the kitchen, and who was now lecturing him about being good to her girl and how she wanted great-grandchildren. Jess took this opportunity to discuss something that had been on her mind.
"Dean, at the ceremony earlier, when you left, I thought…I don't know what I thought. Maybe that you were leaving Sam so he could get away from hunting? Maybe that you thought you'd be alone from now on and were just leaving before you were left? I really don't know, but I don't want you to think you have to leave..ever, so…where did you go?"
Dean looked down, and if Jess didn't know better, she'd say he was embarrassed.
"I, well, I just thought that it seemed like I came empty handed so I uh…"
His ears were definitely pink now as he handed her an envelope. She took it, brows drawn in confusion and opened it. When she took out its contents her eyes widened."
"Dean, what-what is this?"
He scratched the back of his neck.
"It's your wedding present. I'm really not great at picking gifts out, so I uh figured 'money works too. Sammy can get his own damn gravy boat'."
"Gravy Boat?! Dean, there's enough here for a down payment on a house! We can't take this!"
Dean pushed the check back into her hands when she tried to return it.
"Yes you can. Besides, that money was never meant for me anyway."
She cocked her head in confusion.
Dean looked embarrassed again.
"When I was twelve, my Dad taught me to hustle pool, and any money I won was my own. I used it as sparingly as I could. I only ever spent any if we were starving or maybe on Sam's birthday, but I saved the rest. Not for me, but for Sammy. It's not like Dad was ever gonna start a college fund for him. I had to believe that one day he would get out of the life, so I started up an account. Dad never knew. But then the little bastard got a full ride to Stanford, so I figured if he ever got married he could use some cash to get his life started so I kept it in that old account until today and..Ooof!"
Jess wrapped her arms around Dean and kissed his cheek, making him blush fiercely. Sam walked back to see this display and smirked.
"Should I be worried?"
Jess laughed and stood to kiss her husband.
—
The guests were all lazing about when the slow songs came on. Jess' mother had gotten a bit tipsy, and so kept stepping on Crowley's feet as they danced. Crowley himself was still quite bitter about the day's earlier display and complained to the poor woman who just mumbled back.
Bobby and Jody tried to dance. They really did. He awkwardly took her hand as they stumbled around the dance floor, tripping often. When he saw Dean on the other side of the room watching them and chuckling he mouthed "shut up!" before returning his focus to his two left feet.
Charlie and Kevin sat in a corner discussing the mathematics behind science fiction, deep in argument over the realistic possibilities of technological advancement in Star Trek versus those in Doctor Who. At the end of the argument, both thought they had won.
Cas and Gabriel sat at a table, Cas staring intently at a flower, Gabriel looking on in confusion. When Cas held the flower out, Gabriel leaned over to inspect it, and it sprayed him with holy water. Gabe spluttered and, for once, Cas actually laughed.
Sam and Jess were holding hands at the head table, when Jody stepped particularly hard on Bobby's foot. He let out a curse and hopped on one foot. Sam giggled and went to help his old friend.
The DJ changed the song and Dean looked at Jess.
"May I have this dance?
She grinned and stood with him.
The song was more upbeat than the last few. It was one Dean had heard on the radio a few times before, and so he sang along softly.
"Oh don't you dare look back
just keep your eyes on me,
I said your holding back,
she said shut up and dance with me."
Jess giggled as Dean spun her around the dance floor, his feet quick. He was a surprisingly good dancer.
"Dean!"
Dean jerked his head up. That had been Sam's voice, but Sam was still talking to Bobby, not even looking at him.
"Dean!"
The voice echoed as he looked around. Jess was looking up at him, concerned. She didn't hear it.
"Dean!"
The world went black.
—
"Dean! Hey hey, Dean. It's okay. You're okay."
Dean groaned as he sat up.
"Sammy?" His voice was weak and hoarse. "What happened?"
"You charged into a Djinn lair, alone by the way; which was a dick move, you jackass! You nearly gave me a heart attack when I saw you fall. I ganked 'im and I've spent the last five minutes trying to wake you up!"
"Five minutes?"
"Yeah. Don't do that again!"
Dean chuckled.
"Okay Sammy."
Sam rolled his eyes, knowing that they would probably be having this same conversation next week.
"Can you walk?"
"Yeah."
Dean stumbled to his feet, using his too-tall brother as support.
"Ah, I'm good Sammy, just give me a minute. You can head out to the car."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
As the door to the darkened warehouse closed behind his brother, Dean let out a sigh and dug his hands into his pockets, drawing out the contents. Some lint, a woman's phone number on an old napkin, a five dollar bill, and three quarters. He weighed the change in his hand, deciding he would go to the bank tomorrow and make a deposit into an old account. After all…he could still dream.
Fin