Content: In which they arrive at the wedding and meet lots of people, one very special in particular.

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Author's Note: Once again, thank you so much! I really appreciate your lovely feedback :D

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Dean loses in the end.

He likes to think he's resistant and steadfast even on a bad day, but the truth is, confronted with Emma turning into an actual angel in order to impress her old dad and with Jo switching between pleading and threatening and incessant text messaging, Dean never stood a chance.

He tries.

For heaven's sake, he tries so damned hard.

But it's a futile endeavor right from the beginning.

Not even at work he can't escape this whole madness. First thing Monday morning Dean is faced with a Bobby who looks way too smug for comfort.

"I just heard you got yourself a girlfriend, Dean," he says, laughter in his voice. It sounds so freaking surreal that Dean can't help a shiver. "Good job, she's a real keeper."

Dean rolls his eyes. "Oh please. You were with her right from the start, you bastard! She told me about your little vacation planning."

"Well, I knew about the wedding," Bobby confirms, apparently not at all apologetic in the slightest. "And I knew you would hate it, so I agreed. But I had no idea about the dating addition."

Dean grumbles. He seriously needs to start looking for some new friends because his current ones are undoubtedly the worst!

"I'm so happy everyone is so fucking entertained by my misery," he presses through gritted teeth before grabbing some random tools in his vicinity and walking over to the broken down Buick he's been working on since the day before. "At least everyone else has a freaking blast."

Bobby grunts loudly. "Don't get your panties in a twist, idjit. I didn't tell Jo to go for it so you would be a miserable piece of shit. I just want you to take some time off, dammit."

Dean sighs heavily. "Bobby ..."

"You're a full-time dad with a full-time job," the old man cuts in. "You should seriously take some time for yourself once in a while."

Dean raises his brows and throws a look over his shoulder. "And you think playing Jo's boyfriend will help with that?"

Bobby snorts. "No, of course not. But getting out of the house, having some fun with your daughter and forgetting about anything else for a while – that's what you need. And a wedding at a frigging estate with tons of free foods sounds like a nice way to start."

Dean grimaces, but can't find the right words to argue with him on that one. He feels tired of searching for excuses to hate the whole thing.

"And I'm frigging ordering you to take more time off work than those four days, do you understand?" Bobby folds his arms across his chest, looking like a man not ready to change his mind. "Two weeks at least. Three would be better."

Dean doesn't have the energy or the courage to contradict. Bobby may not be his dad, but with his actual parent being more AWOL than not since Dean is able to remember, Bobby became such an important father figure in Dean and Sam's life that a lot of people in town started to call them "Singer's boys" ages ago and didn't even stop when John eventually found his way back to a much more settled life next to his kids. Bobby's concern isn't simply the worry of an employer fearing that one of his guys might collapse at some point and not be capable of working anymore, but of a man caring about the boy he sees as a son.

And Dean seriously isn't able to fight back when Bobby gets that expression of parental concern on his face. Admittedly, it's hard to detect sometimes because he always hides it behind grumbles and murmured "idjits", but it's there nonetheless and Dean feels something warm and nice in his chest every time he witnesses this.

"Go on a road trip after the wedding," Bobby suggests. "You used to love them."

Dean did indeed. He finds himself smiling at the memory, especially when he recalls that one amazing road trip he did right after graduation. For two months it just had been himself, his Baby and the road. He never felt more free.

However, now he can't help some reluctance. "What about Emma?"

Bobby shrugs. "Take her with you. She's almost six. Your daddy took you on road trips when you were about that age."

Well, John isn't exactly the best role model for fatherly responsibility, but Dean gets the point. Back then Dean enjoyed spending time with their dad, away from home and school and whatever, and he can see Emma liking it, too. Her love and pride for the Impala is almost as big as Dean's and the prospect of taking the car for a long ride would probably delight her in a lot of ways.

"So you're saying I should give my little baby girl the best summer experience ever?" Dean says, amused. "A wedding with horses and princesses and a road trip afterwards? She'd love me forever."

"She'll do that anyway," Bobby waves him off. "But yeah, she'd love you forever."

Thinking about that for a second, it actually sounds like a nice idea. Helping out Jo for a few days so she would owe Dean a huge favor in return, and afterwards going on an awesome vacation with his favorite girl.

Yeah, why the hell not?

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0-0-0

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Dean wants to keep Jo in suspense for a few more days since that's what's she deserves after jumping him with a proposition like that, but after she does his laundry without one single word of complaint, even his oil-stained and disgusting work clothes, Dean is unable to play the tough guy anymore.

And he gets an armful of Jo when he finally spill the beans.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she squeals into his ear, squirming like a hyperactive kid. "I won't forget that ever, I promise! I owe you big time."

"Big. Time." Dean repeats, emphasizing every single word. "Even in fifty years, as soon as I utter the words, 'Remember the time I went with you to that wedding …', you will leap out of your wheel chair and do my bidding, do you understand?"

She nods enthusiastically. "Of course."

Dean can't help a smirk. This might come in handy after all.

"However," he says, raising his finger like a teacher attempting to get his class' attention, "there are a few conditions before we're doing this."

Jo doesn't appear fazed by that. "Can't be worse than washing your underwear."

Dean decides to ignore that statement in favor of his own sanity. "I don't want you all over me at the wedding, okay? No kissing, no groping, no touchy-feely, no bad touching at all! I don't need yet another reason to kill you."

Jo rolls her eyes in a very overdramatic fashion. "Fine, whatever."

"And no cutesy pet names!" Dean demands. "As soon as you start to call me 'honey bunch' or 'rainbow sunshine', I'm out of there!"

Jo scoffs. "Don't worry, we're trying to fake a realistic relationship in front of Ethan. If I would call you my 'rainbow cutie pie sunshine', he'd know right away that something is up. Not to mention the fact that I'd probably puke just saying the words and trying to look like I actually meant it." She shakes her head. "No, Ethan has to believe what we're selling him and that won't work if I suddenly turn into an adorable little barbie doll that has to give everyone sugary nicknames."

"And what little story you wanna tell him about us?" Dean asks. "When did we come together? How did it happen?"

"I told Ethan it happened when the both of us were still together," Jo explains, grinning proudly. "I fell in love with you and searched for a nice way to end my relationship with him because contrary to Ethan I'm not a cheating scumbag that doesn't give a shit about other people's feelings."

Dean frowns, confused. "Wait, you told him?"

"Yeah." Jo shrugs casually. "At Kali's birthday, about two months ago. I told him about our epic love story back then and you should have seen his face." She laughs, clearly delighted by the memory. "He didn't take it well that I wasn't thinking about him 24/7 while we were still an item."

Dean clenches his jaw. "You started this lie two months ago?"

Suddenly he understands perfectly well why Jo didn't just pick a random guy and offer him some money, like you can see it in so many stupid rom-com movies. She needed Dean's assistance specifically to protect her sweet, little fairy tale of two friends falling for each other.

Jo pulls a face. "So?"

Dean opens his mouth to start some kind of rant, but chokes up when he realizes he's got nothing to say to that. It doesn't really make any difference at what point Jo decided to use him as her fake boyfriend, he obviously never had a say in this anyway.

"What would you have done if I'd say no?" Dean wonders.

"Some lie about you not being able to get off work or something like that," Jo says. "It wouldn't have been ideal – far from it, actually –, but better than nothing."

Dean sighs deeply. He never stood a chance, so it seems.

"I hate you, Harvelle," he says with no real heat.

Jo simply smiles at him. "I know," she answers like that's some kind of compliment. "And that hatred will probably grow after our little shopping tour, am I right?"

Dean squints his eyes, sensing evil coming his way. "Shopping tour?"

Jo laughs cheerfully. "It's a goddamned wedding, Winchester! You can't show up in flannel shirts and old jeans."

Dean's stomach begins to jolt unpleasantly. "You mean …?"

"Monkey suits!"

Oh dammit all to hell!

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0-0-0

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Time flies by when you don't really pay attention.

One minute Dean gets himself a fancy suit – which, admittedly, looks rather hot on him, as Jo and three shop assistants assured him over and over again – and buys Emma a nice dress as well because she's his queen and she deserves only the best (and because she pesters him for two days straight that she needs some clothes worthy a wedding and Dean's too weak to contradict her) and all of a sudden the day he dreaded arrives and he steers the Impala on the longest driveway in the history of mankind.

It wasn't an overly long trip, about an hour tops, but Dean already feels kinda exhausted when he spots the mansion in the background while driving up the gravel path.

It's been a challenge to bundle up two highly excited girls and get them to stay still for a while. Emma rushed back into their apartment at least ten times, every time right before Dean was about to close the car's doors and start the engine, and Jo made him do a detour to her place although he specifically told her that she should bring everything she'd need over the night before. Not to mention Sam who decided to show up at Dean's about half an hour before their departure and managed to let them run late since Emma got all cheerful and quite eager to show her uncle her new shiny dresses.

Yeah, it's been rather stressful before they even arrived at their destination.

And Dean doubts that it'll be any easier from there on.

"Look, Daddy! Horses!" Emma squeals cheerfully. As soon as Dean parked the Impala next to a row of expansive looking cars and climbed out of his seat, she's already right beside him, grabbing his shirt and pointing wildly in the direction of a huge paddock near the mansion where indeed a few horses are lazily grazing, not giving a crap about the already large number of humans (obviously some employees helping to set up for a big party) buzzing around the house.

"Can we go see them? Please?" Emma starts to squirm, her cute face scrunched up in a manner like she's about to die a horrible death if she'd be unable to reach the animals in the next few minutes.

Dean, however, didn't come all this way to budge easily. "Honey, it's not very polite to just rush off when you barely arrived. We have to greet our nice hosts first."

Emma's eyes grow big. "The princess bride?"

Dean can't help laughing at her phrasing. "Yeah, the princess bride."

They don't have to wait very long for the welcoming committee. Dean didn't even manage to drag their ridiculously big pile of luggage to the equally huge front door before a tall woman descends the stairs in such an elegant way it hardly appears human. Her lips curl up into a smile when she spots Jo fighting with one of her many suitcases.

"Jo, my love!" she says, stretching her arms widely. "It's good to see you."

"Hey, Kali!" Jo drops her bag as if it means nothing to her and embraces the woman affectionately. "You look amazing."

Dean silently agrees. He met his fair shade of beautiful women over the years, but Kali clearly is something else. He can't exactly pinpoint what it is specifically – maybe it's the long legs or the stormy eyes or the way her presence seems to suck the air out of everyone's lungs who stays too close –, but he can't help feeling rather intrigued by this person.

Jo and Kali chat comfortably, completely ignoring the people around them, and Dean wonders why he never met this woman before today. Jo seems so familiar with her, so easy, that it's more than obvious they're parts of each other's lives for longer than just a few days. Dean actually figured he knew everything there is to know about Jo Harvelle, but apparently he had been wrong.

"That's him?" Kali's piercing gaze abruptly lands on Dean, scrutinizing him from top to bottom. "Dean?"

Dean isn't really certain what to make of that tone in her voice, but nonetheless he forces a smile on his face and says, "It's nice to meet you."

Kali merely raises an eyebrow, ignoring Dean's outstretched hand completely. "I thought he'd be taller."

Dean frowns, not sure whether he should interpret that as some kind of insult or not, but before he's able to ask, Jo pipes in, "Yep, that's him. Dean Winchester. The best friend a girl can wish for."

Dean pulls a face. "Stop being so nice to me. It's making me nervous."

Jo nudges his shoulder. "You love it."

Kali's lips twitch upwards as she suddenly squeezes Dean's biceps as if she's on the farmer's market checking the products. "We can definitely work with that. He's got a good build, delicate features, his ass is very firm and did you see his eyelashes? I'm actually a bit jealous right now."

Dean takes a step back immediately. "Would you mind? Objectification is not exactly the polite thing to do when meeting someone for the first time. Or at all."

Kali doesn't seem impressed. "And he knows some big words, too," she says in a sultry voice. "I mean, you could easily depict him as a brainless lumberjack, but there is much more going on that meets the eye, right?"

Dean attempts Sam's bitch face #48 – "Do I seriously have to put up with this bullshit?" – and though it doesn't manage the perfection his little brother and his very expressive features normally reach, Dean thinks he made his stance at least moderately clear. "How about we don't talk about that in front of my daughter?"

He nods toward Emma who seems quite confused by the adult's behavior, looking back and forth between them and obviously trying to make some sense out of what's going on.

"Right, I'm sorry," Kali says, not sounding sincere at all. She pets Emma's head gently like she's a puppy in need of comfort. "That was rather rude of me."

Dean finds himself scoffing. No wonder Jo gets along so well with this woman, they're indeed basically soulmates.

That's gonna be a fun weekend.

Emma, though, seems to be rather fascinated by Kali, scrutinizing her closely. "You're a princess, right?"

Kali wrinkles her forehead and for a moment it appears as if she'd dismiss the girl altogether, but then a pleased smile creeps onto her lips and she suddenly kneels down to be on Emma's eye level. "No, little one," she counters. "I am a Goddess."

Emma is silent for a second, simply stares at the woman in front of her, and eventually begins to giggle. "You are?"

Kali chuckles amused. "Yes, I am. Can't you tell?"

"You are very pretty," Emma agrees, nodding enthusiastically. "And you've got horses and a big house."

"See?" Kali says. "A true Goddess."

Dean exchanges a discreet look with Jo, signalizing with his brows a clear "Is that woman for real?", and only gets a stifled laugh and a shoulder shrug in response.

"But to be fair," another voice all of a sudden cuts in, "this house actually belongs to my mother, not Kali. My lovely fiancée would never have chosen those ugly green tiles for the third bathroom on the second floor."

A man with light brown hair and a big smile appears right next to them out of nowhere, looking at Kali like she's the answer to all his prayers. You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to realize they're faced with the groom here, though Dean actually has to admit that the guy is not what he expected him to be. Judging by Kali's radiating beauty and intense character Dean anticipated a huge and bulky guy, much closer to a well muscled underwear model, rather than this quite unimpressive dude who looks more of a class clown. Kali probably could eat the guy alive and still be hungry afterwards.

But then again, Jo already told him that they're both not what to be expected from the outside, so Dean keeps any kind of comment to himself.

"Hello, Gabriel." Jo puts on a smile that actually looks kinda nice and sweet. "Thank you so much for letting us stay here in your, well, in your mom's house."

Gabriel presses a quick kiss to her cheek. "Nonsense. It's much more convenient that way. Besides, there are so many rooms in this place, even I haven't seen every single one of them. There could be some BDSM dungeon right here and I wouldn't even have a clue." He chortles. "Though knowing my mother, I wouldn't be surprised, to be honest."

Jo's eyes glint. "Well, as long as I don't accidentally find some chained and gagged guy hanging from the ceiling while looking for the bathroom –"

Dean clears his throat very loudly, making sure that everyone's attention focuses on him. "Don't forget that minors are present, Joanna Beth," Dean warns, not giving a damn that he sounds exactly like her mother right before one of her infamous tongue-lashings. "Maybe we shouldn't talk about people hanging from anything."

Jo at least has the decency to look slightly bashful for forgetting the company for a second there, Gabriel, however, doesn't seem to share those qualms. On the contrary, his smirk only grows when he offers Dean his hand.

"Very nice meeting you," he says. "You must be the boyfriend."

"Dean Winchester," he introduces himself while shooting a side-glance in his daughter's direction, wondering if she'd pick up on the "boyfriend".

But Emma doesn't appear highly interested in what the grown-ups have to say. She steps forward, examining Gabriel from top to bottom and eventually asks, "So you're the groom?"

Gabriel grins broadly. "I sure am, honey."

Emma nods solemnly. "And you're both the hosts?"

Gabriel seems a little puzzled by that question, but he nods anyway. "Um, yes?"

"Great! Hello then" Emma beams up at him before grabbing his hand clumsily and shaking it. Gabriel looks fairly amused by her antics, but he doesn't even get the opportunity to squeeze back or react in any other way because just a moment later Emma drops his hand like a hot potato and abruptly turns toward her father. "Now we met the hosts and said hello. Can we please see the horses now?"

Dean sighs. He should have seen that one coming, sometimes his little girl is way too sneaky for her own good. "Sweetie …"

"Please don't say no, Daddy!" Emma cuts in, her pleading tone in full motion now. "You said we had to say hi to the hosts and we just did! So can we go to the horses?" She trains her big puppy eyes toward Gabriel and adds a very heartfelt, "Please?"

The poor guy apparently doesn't have the foggiest what hit him because he simply blinks and mutters, "Um …"

Dean takes a deep breath, already preparing himself to find a proper explanation why they should settle down first and actually get their luggage off the front porch for starters before running off to the stables. Emma's been a very well-behaved girl the last two weeks since she learned about the wedding, but the sight of the horses so close by now obviously makes her forget everything she ever promised her father, her attention only fixed on the animals. Dean can tell by the gleam in her eyes that another temper tantrum is coming their way in record time.

"How about we show her the horses?" Kali suddenly chimes in. "The men are welcome to carry the heavy luggage inside while we girls have some fun."

Jo nods approvingly. "I promised you to babysit after all," she reminds Dean.

Emma pouts for a second, not very fond of the term "babysit", but she keeps from protesting since she's smart enough not to get in the way when an adult actually agrees with her.

Dean heaves a sigh. For a moment he considers denying their proposal because he honestly doesn't want Emma to get away with too much, but at the same time he's got no real energy to fight her right now, especially not in front of some strangers.

"Okay, fine," he caves in before sending his daughter a stern look. "But only because Kali and Jo offered, do you understand? You have to thank them for that."

Emma grins at both of the women. "Thank you!" she says dutifully, apparently determined to tame the excitement in her voice at least a little bit.

Dean bends down and presses a light kiss onto her hair. "Have fun, sweetie. I'll join you soon, alright?"

Emma instantly wraps her short arms around his waist. "Hurry up, Daddy. You need to see the horses, too."

Dean chuckles and cards his fingers through her blonde hair. "You won't even notice I'm gone."

She squeezes him one last time, mumbling something into the denim that sounds suspiciously like "Bat-Dad", and eventually grabs Jo's hand, urging her to move. Jo laughs amused and lets herself drag away by the girl, followed by Kali who still looks like a immortal queen walking through the damp grass in high heels.

"Cute little thing," Gabriel says after a while of them watching their favorite ladies walk away. "She's gonna be a lot of trouble when she'll hit puberty, huh?"

Dean can't help a groan. "Please don't remind me of that."

Gabriel snickers good-naturedly. "Sorry, man." He slaps Dean's shoulder way too hard, probably meant as a reassuring gesture. "You're here to have fun, right? This is a wedding after all!"

He suddenly leans a bit to the side, his gaze locking on something or someone behind Dean. "Hey, dear brother of mine!" he yells, making Dean flinch. "Come over here!"

Dean turns around and notices a group of men nearby. One of them gestures animatedly and points in several directions, most likely giving some instructions to the other guys, before striding toward Dean and Gabriel.

"I'd love to show you around and stuff, but unfortunately a groom is always busy, busy, busy," Gabriel explains. "But my brother will take good care of you. You're a special guest after all."

"Special guest, huh?" Dean rises a brow. For a moment he's honestly confused, figuring that Gabriel is just fucking with him, since he can't be seriously more important than all the rich douches that will eventually arrive over the course of the next few hours or days, but then a thought crosses his mind and he starts to smirk. "Kali would crush your nuts otherwise, am I right?"

Gabriel grimaces. "What can I say? You've seen her, she's got not many lady friends."

"Neither does Jo," Dean says. "Most of them are terrified as soon as she shows them her knife collection."

Instead of being surprised or at least mildly aghast, Gabriel begins to laugh. "Your girl is awesome, man," he states. "No wonder Kali likes her so much, they're a match made in heaven."

"More like hell," Dean corrects.

Gabriel grins brightly. "And that's why I told my baby bro to make sure you've got the time of your life."

"Please refrain from calling me 'baby bro' with people nearby," another voice, very deep and rather frustrated sounding, cuts in all of a sudden. "Or ever."

Something tickles in the back of Dean's mind hearing that voice and he finds himself spinning around so fast he makes himself a little dizzy.

And all of a sudden he stares into a set of blue eyes.

Impossibly blue.

Ridiculously even.

Eyes he seriously doesn't see for the first time. Far from it.

Eyes that are actually so painfully familiar that Dean feels his knees go a little weak and for a second there he fears that his legs would buckle and quit their services.

Eyes he dreamed about over and over again for the last couple of years.

Eyes that belong to a boy – no, a man – he was never able to forget.

Holy. Shit.

Eyes that start to narrow now, studying the man in front of them intensely. First with bewilderment and then shock when recognition hits home.

"Dean?"