"Sam…Sam!" A hand shook his shoulder roughly, rousing Sam Winchester from a rare dreamless sleep. "Wake up Sammy!"
"The bunker had better be on fire, Dean," Sam grumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he sat up. He paused as his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he got a look at his brother's face. Dean was pale and a little sweaty, and his eyes were bright with a nervous energy. "There's not actually a fire, is there?"
"Nah. No. Nothing like-everything is fine," Dean stammered, hand still on Sam's shoulder. Sam glanced down at the hand and then back up to his brother. "It's four in the morning Dean," he said slowly as a manic grin tugged at the corner of his brother's mouth, "What's up?"
For a minute Dean's mouth moved without a sound, opening and closing like a fish out of water.
"Dean-"
"Cas and I wanna get married," Dean said, tripping over the rushed words, his grip on Sam's shoulder like a vice, "Will you be my best man?"
It was Sam's turn to sputter. "Married?!"
"Yeah. So…how bout it? Will you stand up with me?" Sam was ninety-three percent sure this was a hallucination, but what the hell.
"I-I mean-Yeah! Yeah of course!" Dean's smile practically glowed in the dark room as he heaved a sigh of relief. He finally let go of Sam's shoulder to clap a hand on his knee.
"Great," Dean said, "Perfect. Throw on some pants and I'll meet you in the car."
Sam did not compute. "Wait. You mean you want to marry Cas right now?"
"Well it's a five hour drive to Iowa, but as soon as we get there…yeah. Now get a move on! Cas is getting Kevin up and Charlie is meeting us there." Dean gave a kind of giddy shrug and made for the door. Sam watched him go, mouth agape.
"And don't just sit there starin'!" Dean called from a ways down the hall. "We've got places to be!"
Sam scrambled out of bed, grabbing the first clean clothes he could find. Brothers and their freakin' random weddings. Honestly.
"Charlie! Dude, where are you?" Dean's voice was tinny through Charlie's speakerphone, resting on the dashboard next to her Zelda and Link bobbleheads.
"I'm just crossing the state line, everything ok?" Charlie spotted her exit sign. Ten miles to go. She pressed her foot a little harder to the gas.
"Yeah, but you gotta hurry up, they're gonna give our spot away if we don't-Kevin, we talked about this. Charlie's the maid of honor, you're the flower girl, and that's just the way it's gonna be-"
"Dean?" Charlie heard the scrabble of voices on the other end of the line as her men folk bickered.
"I'm here. Sorry, Kevin's being a little bitch- anyways, they're gonna make us wait another day if we don't get this ball rollin'."
"I'm twenty minutes out. Stall 'em, champ."
"You got it. Wait-Kevin, what? Jesus- I gotta go, Cas is in the men's room with Sam and I think he's having a panic attack. See you soon."
Charlie pressed even further past the speed limit, wishing for good luck and fast traffic on the fuzzy twelve sided dice hanging from her rear-view mirror.
"Will you, Dean Winchester, take this man, Castiel Engle, to be your lawful wedded husband, to be loving, faithful, and loyal for the rest of your married life together?"
Sam looked on proudly as Dean and Cas stood hand in hand before the justice of the peace. It had taken a little shady paperwork, not to mention angel mojo, to get them here, but as far as anyone in the room was concerned, Dean and Cas were going all the way, 'til permanent death do they part. Looks like Dean's fear of commitment had been in all in his head.
"I will," Dean answered, eyes shining, only a hint of a smirk at the sound of Castiel's quickly invented last name, "Hell yes I will." Kevin laughed and Charlie dabbed at her moist eyes with a tissue.
"And will you, Castiel, take this man Dean Winchester, to be your lawful wedded husband, to be loving, faithful, and loyal for the rest of your married life together?"
"I will," Cas declared, and despite his lovesick grin, he was every inch an Angel of the Lord. Sam doubted the announcement of the birth of Christ had been given so much gravitas.
"Alright boys," the judge said, "If you've got any personal vows you want to say, now's the time."
"Ah, we've got um, really personal vows," Dean told him, "And I'm not much of a public speaker, so if it's all right, we kind of wrote each other a letter." Sam noticed that Dean had pulled a crumpled sheet of notebook paper from somewhere, while Cas was holding a neatly folded letter written on old motel stationary.
"Works for me, son." The judge stepped back while Dean and Cas exchanged notes, looking nervous for the first time all day.
"You guys can see these later," Dean promised, but Sam waved him off and Charlie simply blew her nose happily, sharing tissues with a now misty eyed Kevin.
There was a minute or two of awkward silence and paper shuffling as both men unfolded their letter, reading to themselves. Sam didn't have any idea what the letters said, but the smile that slowly spread across his brother's face told him whatever Cas had written was probably perfect. A soft sob broke the silence and Sam looked to Kevin and Charlie sternly, but they were both dry eyed, staring at Castiel in shock. Castiel, former soldier of Heaven, had tears coursing down his cheeks as he read Dean's letter with hands that shook.
"Jesus Cas," Dean exclaimed wetly, quickly wiping some moisture from his own eyes, "It's not that bad, is it?" Cas smiled through his tears, throwing his arms around Dean's neck. Dean rubbed his hand up and down Cas' back, looking apologetically at the justice of the peace, who just shrugged good naturedly.
Sam just heard Castiel's muffled "I love you" against the material of Dean's second best Fed suit.
"I love you too, buddy," Dean assured him. Sam had to borrow one of Charlie's tissues at that.
"Not to rush you two, but you think you're ready to wrap this up?" Castiel stepped back, taking both of Dean's hands as he nodded.
"Yes," he said, eyes only for Dean.
"Bring it on home, Your Honor," Dean quipped.
"Well then," The judge declared, stepping forward, "By power invested in me by the state of Iowa, I am happy to pronounce you partners for life. You may now kiss your husband."
Sam led the cheering as Dean tipped Cas' chin up for a chaste kiss, whooping when Cas grabbed the back of Dean's neck and swooped him down into a low dip, arms secure around his new husband's waist. The justice of the peace rolled his eyes, Charlie and Sam beamed, and Kevin made a face as Castiel, fallen angel, kissed Dean Winchester like one of the heroes of old.
"Really Charlie? Journey? Are you fucking serious?" Sam rolled his eyes, exchanging a glance with Cas as his recently hitched brother and his maid of honor disagreed over First Dance music choices. Castiel's expression was somewhere between confused and totally blissed out, still riding the marriage high. Kevin was doing his best not to laugh, and Sam was trying as well. Of all the weird moments in his life, hearing Dean argue about what song he was gonna dance to with his angel husband while "Faithfully" blared insistently from the Impala's open doors was pretty weird. Not that Sam was complaining. Dean was trying his best to be angry despite the huge grin splitting his face, but Charlie was standing her ground.
"Oh no," Charlie cut him off sternly, "Do not pretend that you don't remember drunk dialing me a month ago crying to tell me how much this song made you think of Cas. You weren't that far gone."
Dean shifted, red faced. Kevin had to sit down he was laughing so hard. Castiel simply looked at his new husband curiously, eyebrows cinched in concentration as he listened to the lyrics of the song. Charlie waited with a raised eyebrow.
"…I didn't cry," Dean muttered at last, attempting to look like he wasn't hiding behind Cas.
"Your voice was roughened," Charlie said with a triumphant smirk, "By tears." Even Sam had to laugh at that one, though exchanging a look with Dean assured his brother that none of it was mean spirited. Dean even chuckled a little despite himself, grinning at Cas sheepishly as Charlie beamed. Castiel only looked at Dean with pure awe as the chorus soared.
"This song makes you think of us?" Cas asked softly, his hand on Dean's face so tender that Sam looked away, feeling a bit like an intruder in their private moment. Clearly the cheesy reputation of the song hadn't hurt Castiel's opinion of it.
"Well…yeah," he heard Dean mumble, still self-conscious, "You know…'Through space and time' and all that. We made it Cas. You and me." Sam didn't have to see Kevin's mildly skeeved out expression or Charlie's proud smile to guess what was happening in the silence that followed. He looked back to see his brother and his brother-in-law –wow that thought was still pretty weird-break apart, foreheads resting together momentarily before Castiel glanced pointedly back to their audience, watching raptly from their seats on the hood of the Impala. Dean ducked his head, making a face that made Cas laugh and Sam smile, before straightening up with a firm hand around his husband's waist.
"Alright Charlie," Dean declared, all trace of embarrassment gone, "Play it from the top. If we're doin' this 'First Dance' crap, then we're doin' it right, and that means all the way though." Charlie practically chirped with excitement, diving into the passenger seat to restart the power ballad and emerging with a lime green digital camera in hand. Dean looked like he was about to start a whole new argument, but a firm hand on his chin drew his gaze back to Castiel, and Sam didn't have to be a psychic anymore to know that his brother was gone. The opening chords began again, Cas drew Dean in close, and that was it. Sam saw the bright red video light blinking on Charlie's camera, and she threw him a wink.
"Just for posterity," she whispered conspiratorially. Sam nodded his approval. He hoped, for later mocking purposes, the camera could catch Dean's lips, which, as he and Cas spun in a slow circle, were whispering along with the song. It was too quiet for Sam to make out, but no doubt Castiel's angelic hearing was picking up Dean's singing just fine.
Margot McCreedy considered herself to be a fairly understanding person. It took a lot to get her temper up, and a youth spent in the big city left her with the ability to sleep despite a healthy dose of background noise.
But this was just ridiculous. She had an extremely important client meeting in…four hours and she hadn't slept a gosh darn wink all night. Try falling asleep when the couple next door is slamming the headboard so hard into the wall you're certain it's going to bust through the sheetrock at any second. The two of them had been going at it like rabbits since ten o'clock and were showing no signs of slowing down. From the first door slam it had been nothing but scraping furniture, strangled groaning, and strings of language that had had her blushing right up to her roots.
Oh yeah Cas…right there…harder. HARDERRRAUGGHHHHHYESSSSSS…Jesusfuckinchrist. So good…
Unwanted mental images aside, Margot breathed a sigh of relief as the noise died down. Perhaps they were done at last. Then she heard a low rumble, presumably from the more vocal man's partner. Apparently he had voiced a very enticing proposition. It wasn't long after that before there was the very audible thump of a body hitting the wall not six inches from Margot's pillow and the cycle started all over again.
Mm…your mouth….Holy shit how are you even doing that?! Ooohhh Cas…
The fists banging the wall in a veritable drum roll of passion was the last straw. As much as she should probably be congratulating them on their impressive refractory rates, Margot needed to sleep. When the next pause came, she slipped on her dressing gown and marched out into the hall, rapping her knuckles smartly against the door of the offending neighbors.
She heard low murmuring from inside, and cautious footsteps before the door opened a crack to reveal the most exquisite man. Margot's reprimand caught in her throat as she took in the miles of sun golden skin, lightly muscled, shimmering with a sheen of sweat and interrupted only by a pair of snug black boxer briefs.
"Can I help you?" The man asked uncertainly, his voice rough, Margot assumed from all the screaming she'd been hearing through the wall. She looked back up to his sparkling green eyes and did her best to rally her resolve.
"Hi," Margot began, clearing her throat, "Um, yes. I'm from the room next door, and I don't mean to be rude but you and your partner are being quite loud and I'm sure I speak for rest of the guests here when I say that it's three in the morning and people are trying to sleep."
The man had the decency to blush, at least. Margot tried to keep her expression stern, and her eyes off of the man's glistening pectorals.
"Yeah…sorry about that," the man flashed a dazzling grin, "We just made it legal and uh…" He raised a hand where a simple gold band flashed in the hall lights. "You know how it is."
"Yes. Well…I certainly do," Margot acceded, "Congratulations."
"Thank you." The man's smile went all the way to his eyes; lighting up his face and making him look about ten years younger.
"Who is it?" The rumbling baritone she had identified earlier asked from within the room.
"It's just the woman in the room next door," The man tipped his head back into the room to answer his partner, "It looks like we've been making a real racket." Margot heard a warm, rich laugh and the rustle of bedcovers.
"Whaddya say Cas?," the man asked, winking at Margot through the narrow door opening, "You think we can help her get some shut eye?" There seemed to be some hidden meaning in his words that gave her pause, but before she had time to ask, she heard the rustling of feathers directly behind her. She turned to face a dark haired, mostly naked man with striking blue eyes.
"Don't be afraid." Margot just had time to recognize the deep voice of the man from inside the room before he touched two fingers to her forehead and she crumpled to the ground.
Her last waking thought was wow, you're both really pretty. Judging by the soft chuckle she heard as sleep took her, she might have voiced that opinion aloud. Ah, well.
"What do you think they're up to by now?" Sam mused as he Kevin and Charlie lay on the grassy lawn a local park, watching the stars and working their way through a thirty-rack.
"Banging like gongs in a kung-fu movie soundtrack," Kevin announced with slurred certainty. Charlie giggled drunkenly, agreeing.
"That's gross Kevin," Sam declared, wrinkling his nose, "Ugh now I'm picturing it."
"Nah man," Kevin disagreed, "It's awesome. Not the sex part. That's nasty. But if Dean and Cas can make it, it's like…I don't know…any of us can, you know?"
"You think?" Sam asked, turning to look at the once jaded college student. He had to blink a few times in order to make the stars stop swerving in his vision.
"Yeaaah. Totally. It's like, any of us could be one gay crisis and an averted apocalypse away from true love," Kevin continued without a trace of cynicism, "That's freakin' beautiful, or something."
"Maybe," Sam mused, reaching for his eighth beer.
"I've already had my gay crisis," Charlie informed them cheerfully, "Middle school bitches! That means I'm already on my way!" Kevin offered his congratulations as Sam tried to make out the time on his cell phone.
"Holy shit guys," He declared, "It's fucking four in the morning."
"What?" Charlie exclaimed as Sam lurched to his feet, "There's no way I'm driving back to Moondor by morning. I'm gonna miss the archery contest…"
"S'okay Charlie," Sam encouraged, taking a moment to steady his weaving steps, "You can bunk with me 'n Kevin." The trio stumbled their way back to the sidewalk, Charlie reaching out to take Sam's hand as she stumbled over a hidden mole hill.
"We're walking?" Kevin griped, arms crossed over his chest with a scowl, "I'm too tired." Sam sighed with exaggerated patience.
"Well we're sure as hell not driving," Sam informed him, reaching out his available hand, "Come on, little brother." Kevin reluctantly took his hand, and after a few minutes getting his bearings, Sam led his happily inebriated extended family to a nearby motel.
Cas,
Cas Cas Cas. You are my family. Hell, you're more than that. You're part of me. You gave me faith, Cas, when I thought I had lost everything. You showed me that I deserved to be saved. You showed me what real loyalty looks like, and you re-awoke my penchant for wearing women's underwear. What I'm tryin' to say Castiel, Angel of the Lord, is that you saw me at my absolute lowest, and you still found what was good. You never asked me to change, you only showed me what I was too filled with grief and anger to see. You saved me, Cas. You gripped me tight, and I am never letting you go. I love you Castiel. I always will, and you can trust in that.
Dean,
From the first touch of my Grace to your soul I knew that my love for you would reshape my entire existence. I pulled you from Perdition, I followed you in Purgatory, and I chose you over the false Paradise of Heaven. I have branded you, Dean Winchester. I have, as Sam has taught me to say, "called dibs." With this mortal ceremony I claim you in the eyes of humanity, as I have already claimed you in the eyes of Heaven. I love you, and I will never leave you. I leave behind every moment of doubt between us. From this day forward, may we stand together on Earth, and build a new, bittersweet, and beautifully human Paradise, never to part.