"Something Blue"
By December
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Dean / Jo
Warnings: Character deaths, both canon and non-canon. Spoilers through "Born Under a Bad Sign".
Summary: The people that should have been at Dean and Jo's wedding weren't there.
It was a simple little roadside chapel, a rest stop for weary travelers. It had four pews and a low roof that would've had Sam complaining about having to duck all the time. It wasn't the sort of place where most people even bothered to stop and pray, but when Jo and Dean stopped only with the intention of stretching their legs after driving all night, they somehow ended up getting married.
The priest should have been Pastor Jim, a friend of Dean's father that Dean had known forever. But Pastor Jim had died at the hands of a demon that was trying to make a point to the Winchesters, wearing the body of a pretty blonde girl. So instead they were married by a preacher they met at the chapel, traveling across the country with his wife and son in a dingy-looking camper.
The friends of the bride invited to the wedding should have included Ash, the quirky genius who lived at the back of the Roadhouse. But Ash died with Ellen's arm wrapped around his broken neck and her eyes a most unnatural yellow color. So instead Jo smiled at the mouse in the corner of the chapel and didn't chase it away.
The friends of the groom invited to the wedding should have included Bobby, another friend of Dean's father that was a friend in his own right. But Bobby died of a heart attack, sitting in his own kitchen, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. Nothing at all mysterious about it. So instead Dean toyed with the keys of the Impala that he considered his most reliable friend.
The flower girl should have been Sam and Jess's daughter. She would've loved it. But she died in flames with her mother, before Jess or Sam had any idea that she even existed. The demon really didn't any more Winchester women interfering with his plans. So instead Jo held a handful of half-wilted daisies she picked herself at the side of the road.
The ring bearer should have been their son. He would have been a toddler by now. But he died when a Hunter that should have known better brought a shotgun with a vicious spirit attached to it to the Roadhouse where Jo was supposed to be safe, damn it. She'd been five months pregnant and not able to keep herself from falling down the steps when pushed by unseen hands. So instead Dean shoved the ring in the pocket of his jeans and pulled it out, not too badly covered in lint, when the appropriate time came.
Jo's father should have walked her down the aisle (if there had been an aisle.) Bill Harvelle would have loved to give his little girl away, especially to one of John Winchester's boys. But Bill died doing what he did best, fighting a demonic horror well before it chose the guise of a cute blonde. The demon's claws had spilled his life all over a warehouse floor, ebbing away in a flood of pain, leaving John with the kind of gut-wrenching decision one hopes never to make. So instead Jo kept her father's knife in her boot and walked alone to stand in front of the preacher.
Jo's mother should have been standing nearby, telling Jo that she could've done better than Dean, but not really meaning it. But Ellen died after the yellow-eyed demon was exorcized from her body, and taking with it the ability to heal the gunshot wounds she bore. So instead Jo wore her hair down the way her mother liked it and remembered the faded wedding picture Ellen kept at her bedside.
Dean's father should have been watching from the front pew, letting Dean know how proud he was of his oldest son. But John died exchanging his life for Dean's, making a deal with his worst enemy so that Dean might live. So instead Dean set his father's journal with his coat on the empty pew and thinks that he will have to start a new journal to help the next generation of Winchesters survive.
Dean's mother should have been watching from the front pew next to his father, John's fingers intertwined with hers. She would have been so tickled that the son she sometimes still thought of as a little boy was getting married. But Mary died in flames, when Dean was so young he barely remembered her, killed because the yellow-eyed demon didn't realize that it was starting something that it would never be able to stop. So instead Dean watches Jo and thinks if anything happens to her, he'll shatter. Again.
The maid of honor should have been Jess. Jo and Jess would have gotten along famously, if they'd ever even met. Both strong-willed women worthy of the name Winchester. But Jess died in flames, pinned to the ceiling as Sam watched, reaching for her, screaming for her. Jess would have gotten in the way of the yellow-eyed demon's plans for Sam. So instead the matron of honor was the preacher's wife, a silly woman Jo didn't even really like, nothing at all like Jess.
The best man should have been Sam. Oh, God, the best man should have been Sam. But Sam died in Dean's arms, blood welling from his lips, the last casualty of the war started by the yellow-eyed demon, grinning in spite of the pain because he knew that they had finally won, and the war was over. So instead the best man was the preacher's gangly, soft-spoken fourteen-year-old son that reminded Dean so much of Sam at fourteen that it hurt.
It wasn't the happiest way to start a life together. But at least they were alive, bound together in marriage, in the tiny chapel with four pews, full of people that should have been there.