Dead eyes rimmed with frost covered lashes stared up at him. Dean remembered the warm shade of brown and the crinkles in the corners on those rare occasions dad smiled at him. Blue lips, skin the color of milk and the gaping hole where John's heart used to be. Dean thought to himself, "Small target".

The Omega looked up at the winter sky awash with stars and made a wish, "I don't want to remember this anymore…take this all away and let me be happy."

"Memories make you who you are Dean, a weak, bleeding Omega carrying the spawn of an equally weak and worthless Alpha."

The sound of snow crunching beneath boots grew closer and closer as John Winchester advanced. Naked and vulnerable Dean tried to run but found himself stuck in place. Strong hands whirled him around to face the man that had hurt him in almost every way imaginable.

John bent his head, nose to nose with Dean and when he spoke the smell of death washed over the boy. He tried to turn away but the corpse grabbed his face and held it there.

It growled out, "You think you deserve happiness Dean?"

The Omega lowered his eyes, not able to stand the milky ones staring down at him, "Y-yes Sir I do."

John pressed his fridged lips to Dean's ear and whispered, "You are almost a high school dropout…you know nothing about being a mother or a wife and the only thing you contribute to your mate is that slice between your legs and a fertile body. Pretty boy Dean…not even a decent Hunter…not even a real man."

…..

Dean bolted up in bed drenched in sweat, his breath labored from silent screaming in another tortured nightmare. He tried to sleep but tossed and turned until the wee hours of the morning burdened with more worries than someone his age should ever have. He didn't share with Castiel trying to protect his Alpha much like he did for Sam. Being a protector was something woven into the very fiber that made up Dean Winchester.

The more sleep evaded him the more ways he tried to find his own ways to relax. A warm shower, listening to music with his headphones on, drinking catnip tea, or going down to the home gym to the beat the crap out of the Novak family's training dummy. Dean couldn't wait for spring so he could train outdoors with Sam and go running with Castiel.

Too much pent up inside needed to come out. Dean wrung every drop of sweat and semen from Castiel morning and night but the Omega was still wired at Dean had taken to sitting in the atrium star gazing in hopes of putting his mind to rest.

He grabbed a tube of lipstick then wrapped his naked self in an afghan Scotty had crocheted for him and left.

The Omega settled next to Scotty's grand Chinese elm bonsai to contemplate the titles that would define him the rest of his life.

"What am I? A Mr. or Mrs….a husband or wife." Dean looked down at his protruding belly, "I know I'm a mother…if I carry a baby in my body it's ok to say I'm the mother…my egg, Cas' sperm, my uterus. Doesn't make me less of a guy. Am I a guy? I'm a third sex…what the fuck does that even mean when up until last fall I was all male, on the outside at least."

After going round and round for the better part of an hour Dean thought of running back to Castiel, shaking him awake and demanding his Alpha make these choices for him just so he had a direction.

Not any closer to a decision Dean balled up his fists and fought the urge to scream. The Omega wished he could jump in Baby and take off for a day or two someplace remote where he could yell at the top of his lungs and no one could hear him.

Dean opened up the fist containing the lipstick. He had no idea why he grabbed it in the first place. He was about to wing it into the plant life then had second thoughts. Rubbing his thumb slowly along the phallic silver tube Dean removed the top to admire the pale rose color Castiel had picked out. The love/hate relationship Dean had with the simple gift given as a romantic gesture was just one more thing he wrestled with.

"You don't define me." With that thought in mind Dean decided to keep it.

The teen felt sometimes he was his own worst enemy.

He stretched out on the double chaise and covered up with the afghan. The atrium was a magical spot to the Winchesters. Surrounded by beauty and protected from the elements and the outside world it was a place of peace and contemplation.

Sam told Dean the atrium felt safe even though they were inside a vast, glass room. Scotty said it had good chi, Dean didn't know what Chinese food had to do with the atrium but he knew the difference between a good place and a bad place. The atrium was beyond good.

…

Castiel woke with an uncomfortable hard on and an urge to pee. "No Dean…must be in the bathroom." He shuffled down the hall and pushed open the door to fine Sam sitting on the toilet reading one of Spencer's Omega romance novels. They stared at each other for two uncomfortable seconds before Cas made a hasty exit.

"Damn it, we need our own place!."

He ran buck naked through Spencer and Scotty's room, erection bobbing ridiculously. Making it to the bathroom Castiel managed to do his business. He almost made it to the door without incident until Scotty loudly whispered, "Everything come out ok?"

"Have you been awake the whole time?"

"Don't worry Cas, it was nothing I haven't seen before. It was a nice way to wake up though." Scotty rolled over to big spoon Spencer. Castiel heard him laughing softly.

"We really need our own place."

….

"Dean…Dean."

The Omega woke up to find his Alpha slipping under the afghan, "Hi babe. What is it?"

"I missed you. Couldn't you sleep?"

Dean snuggled against his naked mate. The warmth and comfort was just what he needed, "I got stuff on my mind."

Admiring his Omega's pretty face illuminated by moonlight, Castiel thought how Dean's pale freckles reminded him of constellations. "Someday I will count your freckles."

"Oh yeah, all of them or just the one's on my face?"

He slapped a freckled butt cheek, "You are a salacious little Omega."

"I'm guessing salacious is a good thing."

"Very."

The mates rested quietly in each other's arms. Castiel waited for Dean to open up but he stayed lost in his own thoughts.

"Would you like to talk about your worries Kitten?"

The last thing Dean wanted to do was dump his nightmares and worries onto Castiel at three in the morning, "Nope, I'm good."

The handsome young Alpha did something peculiar. But when you're in as much love as Castiel Novak the sky is the limit on peculiar. He licked Dean from nipples to nose not missing a spot, "Oh my sweet I am going to sweep you off your feet in front of family and friends. I'll pull out all the stops and lay my soul bare in front of the world for you!"

He started licking Dean again sending the teen into fits of embarrassing giggles and squeals of, "I'm ticklish damn it!"

The almost groom's blue eyes lit up like noon day sunshine, "Ah there you are, I knew I could make you feel better."

Dean did feel better, so good in fact he showed off how limber he was by swinging a leg over one arm of the big chaise, "Kitten wants some more licking from …" Dean took a foot and ran down the Alpha's belly to his dick, "…daddy."

….

Spencer kissed his sleeping Scotty then smooched the nice baby belly his wife was sporting. "I'll let you both sleep in because I know how to make my own coffee and breakfast. I'm a goddamn miracle of a husband…yup that's what I am"

After mentally patting himself on the back he pulled on some sneakers and headed for the basement to run his pert ass off to keep fighting fit for his sweet Scotty.

He as he passed by the atrium he heard a tortured moan, then someone cry out a string of garbled words.

Spencer sprung into action like a sexy, middle aged GI Joe. He ran in and took a fighting stance to Kung Fu the ass off the assailant. What Spencer found instead was Dean on his back blissed out and panting and his son kneeling between a pair of long bow legs with a flushed face dripping with slick.

"Sweet Jesus, I thought someone was getting killed in here!"

Castiel thought to himself, "We really need to get our own place."

…..

Scotty and Dean set off that morning to Omega Bridal. It was an exclusive, one stop place for all things Alpha-Omega wedding related. Dean had put off the choosing of an outfit firstly because he hated clothes shopping and second he hadn't decided what he wanted to wear.

Scotty allowed Dean to drive them in the Impala and that was what finally got the young Omega to go. Scotty went over final plans for the wedding and reception while he had a captive audience. "The wedding party arrives at Angelus Grotto at ten in the morning and we separate you and Castiel…"

Dean didn't like that idea one bit, "Why?"

"He can't see you before the wedding, its tradition." Scotty pressed his forehead against the cold glass of the passenger window trying to ward off the headache he was sure Dean would give him.

"Well that's stupid."

Ignoring the bride-to-be he continued, "Once the ceremony is over…"

"Then we take pictures right?"

"Yes, formal pictures and everything from wedding to reception will be photographed and video taken."

Dean relaxed his death grip on the wheel a little, "Thanks for taking care of all this Scotty." He reached over and briefly patted the lanky blonde on the knee.

Scotty caught it and kissed the top of his hand before letting it go, "I love you Dean and I love Castiel so it's my pleasure. Do you promise to hear me out on the rest of the list and refrain from being a pain in my perfect butt?"

"Yeah, I won't be a pain in your perfect butt." Dean got a devilish grin on his face. "Just for the record, my butt is way better."

"Now on to the reception…"

…

Dean had a horrified expression on his face the entire time Marcel trotted out rack after rack of wedding gown monstrosities.

.Scotty felt for the tough fifteen year old. This world was hard on Dean and the last thing the older Omega wanted was for his charge to be discouraged or disappointed. Scotty pulled Marcel aside for a conference.

Marcel knew Scotty well enough. He had done the Omega's wedding attire and had also handled the Mercado-Lafitte wedding. The diminutive, talented tailor smiled up at the handsome young man, "Do you have any ideas for Dean's gown?"

Scotty looked over at unhappy Omega now sitting on a velvet covered chair talking to his belly, "You can't put Dean in anything a Beta would wear or an especially feminine Omega. He needs something comfortable, absolutely no white, more on the male side of Omega. It wouldn't hurt for Dean to have some softness and beauty, just keep it low key. Honestly nothing out here will do."

Marcel walked over and slowly circled Dean, "You are stunning, the perfect mix of masculine and feminine just like Scotty."

Dean scowled, "Stop that, you're creeping me out."

"Don't flatter yourself Mr. Winchester; you are sooo not my type." Marcel suddenly snapped his fingers, "I've got it!" He guided Dean and Scotty to the back room where Marcel had racks of garments from the humble beginnings of Omega mating ceremonies.

The tailor swept his arm out to the side, "Behold, these are from the past when our bonding with Alphas was very ritualistic and all our own. No Beta female influence. Our bodies are special and so should the trappings for our ceremonies."

Dean was very intrigued by the tailor's words. It spoke to the Hunter inside of him.

"That is exactly what I want. No chick wedding ceremony, I want people to know that I'm an Omega male." Dean had a renewed excitement, "Tell me more about the old ways."

…..

Sam had no money for a wedding gift so he told Dean he would clean the Impala top to bottom and clear out the trunk so it could packed for the honeymoon.

He worked on Baby after school every day that week. Sam buffed out the scratches on the headlights, detailed the interior then shined the Impala to a mirror finish.

Sam had saved clearing the trunk for last because of the emotional implications. Filled with John's items, everything held a memory.

He removed weapons and ammo first checking to be sure the guns were unloaded with no rounds in the chambers. Sam took apart and cleaned each one then stored them safely in the basement until Dean could decide what he wanted to do with them.

The rest, including the duffle bag, was packed into storage bins and placed near the weapons. Sam opened nothing feeling it wasn't right to go through their father's things without Dean there. He was the oldest and Sam felt by rights his brother should help Sam inventory everything. Each piece in John's arsenal in the battle against the Supernatural was irreplaceable and special.

Going through the contents together would either open old wounds or help heal the ones that were already there. Sam decided not to talk to Dean about it until after his brother came back from the honeymoon at the cabin.

…..

Castiel swiped his credit card at the pump after fueling up the Fiesta. It beeped and a message of "Declined, pay inside" popped up. It was just what the teacher needed as the rotten cherry on top of the shit sundae called his day.

He had been scolded like a child by the principle for talking off a week for their honeymoon and the last prenatal visit with Dean. She also pointed out he looked like a hobo with his scruff, messy hair and wrinkled clothing.

There was no point in telling her that his scruff was impossible to hold back, his hair couldn't be tamed and as for the wrinkled clothing the teacher had no idea how that happened. He left in the morning put together and by the end of the day Castiel was a mess.

Cas wanted to tell Principle Pendergrass to blow it out what he imagined was her dry, tight old butthole but he held it all back taking his lumps. The teacher couldn't afford to get the boot with a pregnant bride-to-be to support.

Castiel shuffled up to the counter and greeted Barb with a sheepish look and silence.

She gave her favorite customer a once over, "Bad day in the classroom cutie?"

Cas handed her money from his wallet, "I doubt I look anything close to cute. Sorry about the card…I didn't know I hit my limit already. I just put a hundred down on the balance."

The rumpled Alpha squinted at sign on the wall behind her, "You're looking for help?"

She leaned over the counter giving Cas a gander at her full rack which he ignored, "Why, are you interested?"

"Maybe, what are the hours?"

Barb tried not to appear too hopeful, "Nights and Sundays."

The Alpha scratched his scruff while he thought over the possibilities with extra money, "If the position is still open after I get back from our honeymoon I might take it."

…..

The Morning of the Wedding

Castiel rushed around the room dripping water all over the rug after a quick shower and shave. Towels didn't enter the groom's mind on his mad dash to get ready for the biggest day of his life, at least so far.

Dean had tried to initiate shower sex but Castiel felt they should bathe separately. He didn't want to take the risk of becoming hopelessly knotted deep inside his brides little puss and end up late for the wedding.

The Omega sat in the middle of their bed watching his man with amusement, "Cas I should be the one freaking out. Is it the traditional ceremony you're worried about because I thought Spencer went through the whole thing with you and we practiced…"

"Socks…Dean I need socks!" Castiel dumped the hamper of clean clothes on the floor and fell on the pile searching.

"Cas…Cas!"

"What?!"

Dean held up a pair of Cas' socks. The Alpha launched himself onto the bed dragging Dean along with him, "I love you Kitten, love, love, love you."

He tossed back his head and let out a joyful laugh, "I love you too Cas…love you more than cheeseburgers with bacon even."

….

"You made it…great! Dean is gonna be so excited to see you, I'm excited too…ok see you there." Sam hung up the phone.

Alfie noticed Sam was at full dimples, "Who was that?"

Sam reached out and straightened his plus one's polka dot bowtie, "An old friend of the families."

TBC