If he was being honest with himself, a habit he tried very much to avoid, Dean was a little hurt.
For years, the trip to Vegas was just for him and Sam. It was sacred, no matter what else was going on in their lives (which was often quite a bit), they'd always made their way up to Vegas. It was just for a few days, and it was pretty blatant hedonism under the guise of "brotherly bonding," but it meant something to Dean. He'd thought it meant something to Sam, too.
"Ugh," Chrys complained. "Are you gonna sulk the whole time? Because I can find another bar to go to."
He glared at her. "Can it, Summers."
Sam had invited Chrys to go with him on his hippie camping trip, or wherever it was he was going, but she'd looked at him like he'd suggested she start eating small children. "Uh… No, Sam, that's all right. You go 'find yourself,' Dean and I will catch up with you later."
Which was how Dean found himself in a bar drinking with his honorary sister-in-law in Vegas, instead of enjoying the strip with his brother.
"What's he gotta find out there, anyway?" he asked sullenly.
Chrys rolled her eyes. "You know Sam. He's gotta go have a teenage angst moment every few months or he stops being a real boy."
His phone went off, and Dean chuckled at Chrys' words as he pulled it out. "I guess you're right, just ticked."
"You're always ticked at Sam for some reason or another."
He frowned down at his phone.
From: Sam
348 Twain Ave. WEAR FED SUIT! Don't bring Chrys.
Dean snorted. "Sammy just sent me an address, I guess to meet him at." He looked up at Chrys. "He doesn't want me to bring you."
Something flashed in her blue eyes, but she smiled sunnily. "Aw. That's not really up to him, is it?"
Chrys was still grumbling as the pulled into the parking lot of A Little White Chapel, the address Sam had sent Dean. "Don't bring Chrys, my ass," she muttered.
"Yeah, yeah, you do what you want," Dean said, glaring at the chapel. "Wonder what this is?"
"Doesn't look like camping to me." Maybe there was an explanation that wouldn't make her want to smack Sam, but she doubted it. Most things made her want to smack one Winchester or the other. She followed Dean in without complaint, though.
They walked down a white hallway, both of them obediently dressed in their Fed suits. One of the lights at the end flickered, and Chrys drew her gun at the same time that Dean did. He started to open the double doors at the end of the hall, but Sam pulled them open from the inside before he got a chance.
Chrys almost dropped her gun in shock. Sam was wearing a tuxedo, not a Fed suit. His long hair was combed neatly back, and he had a pink boutonniere pinned to his chest.
Sam smiled at his brother and motioned to the gun. "It's okay, you don't need that. Come-" Before he finished, he caught sight of Chrys. "Uh…"
"Hi, Sam."
He winced. "Hey, Chrys. You, uh, you weren't really supposed to be here."
She tucked her gun into the holster under her shoulder with a tight smile. "Yeah, that's what I heard. Lucky for both of us, I ignored it." She stepped forward to push her way past both brothers. She smirked when they followed her.
"I thought you were out, uh, becoming one with the land, or some shit," Dean said behind her.
"Yeah, I was, uh, doing something."
Chrys stood in the middle of the room, glaring around. There was an altar, the aisle, and it was all… Hideous. Everything was bright colors and obnoxious, "romantic" themes. It made her eyes hurt a little.
If we ever got married, it would be in a courthouse.
"Doing what?" Dean demanded.
"Uh… I'm, uh. I'm in love."
Dean met Chrys' eyes, then they both looked at Sam again. "Yeah, Sammy, I know," Dean said slowly. "Chrys lives with us, you moron."
Sam turned apologetic eyes onto her. "Well, uh, no."
Chrys' eyes narrowed and her blood ran cold. "Excuse me."
He looked earnest. "Look, I know this is kind of sudden, and kind of, well, unfair to you. But life is short, right?"
Chrys felt her heart start to ache. "And what, exactly, is kind of sudden, Sammy?"
"I, uh. I got married!"
Chrys' mind went completely, perfectly blank.
Dean blinked, then stared at his brother incredulously. "You what?" He looked over at Chrys, but the shock on her face spoke volumes. If Sam really had gotten married, it wasn't to Chrys.
And that pissed Dean off.
"What the fuck, Sam? To who?"
A woman entered the room in a wedding gown, bouquet in hand, her face covered with a veil. Just the sight of her made Dean uneasy, and it was compounded when she lifted the veil and smiled beatifically.
"Becky?"
Chrys was having an out-of-body experience, she was sure of it. Even if she wasn't, her left eye was twitching incessantly.
"Shouldn't she have asked for my permission or something?" Dean hissed.
Sam raised an eyebrow. "You want her to ask you for my hand?"
"I just-"
"It would have been nice if she had asked someone," Chrys snarled. Anger was starting to buzz beneath her skin, burning so hot it was making her dizzy. It was kind of comforting. Anger, she could deal with. Heartbreak? Not as easy.
Her eye was still twitching, though.
Sam had the absolute nerve to still look apologetic. "Chrys, I know this is hard, but if something good's happening, I gotta jump on it. Now, today. Uh, period."
She snarled deep in her throat and felt a hard arm wrap around her waist when she lunged for Sam. "Chrys," Dean's voice was deep, cautionary in her ear. "Come on, chill, C."
She yanked away from him, but didn't try to attack anyone again. Dean was still glaring at the new, happy couple. "Are you even sure that she's her?" he asked.
"Yep!" Becky chirped. Chrys growled again, and the girl flinched, but pulled the sleeve of her wedding gown (wedding gown?!) up to show the cut on her arm. "Salt, holy water, everything. Not a monster, just the right girl for Sam."
"Are you, now?" Chrys asked through gritted teeth.
Becky smiled sympathetically. "I know this must be terribly difficult for you, Chrysa-"
"Becky, you're going to want to shut the fuck up right the fuck now."
"Chrys," Sam said quickly. "I know this is hard to swallow, and I had the same opinion that you did, but once we got past the whole book thing, I found out that she's great."
"And what about the soulmate thing, Sam?" Chrys snapped, her hands trembling in the hard fists she'd clenched them into.
"Chrys, I-"
"Ma'am?" A gentleman in a suit was addressing Becky, an envelope in his hand. "Your bill?"
"Of course!" she said enthusiastically, shooting nervous glances at Chrys as she darted away.
She'd better be fucking nervous, I am going to tear her limb from limb.
"Look," Sam said. "If you guys can't be supportive, then… I guess you'll just have to meet up with us when you can."
"Excuse me?" Dean sounded just as angry as Chrys was.
"I just-"
Chrys was completely done with this bullshit. She stepped forward, fisted her hands in Sam's tuxedo, and dragged him down to kiss him hard. Once she was done (though he hadn't reciprocated, which made her heart hurt even worse), she went up on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. "I'm going to go right now, but I'm going to find out what's going on, and you keep this moment in mind when I come for you, yeah?" Before he could respond, Chrys turned to see Becky glaring daggers at her. Chrys plastered as sincere a smile as she could on her face. "Becky!" she said. "Becky, let's talk."
"Uh-"
"Just a girl talk," Chrys assured her, stepping away from Sam. "Just kind of a 'good for you,' 'to the victor go the spoils' type of thing."
Becky looked nervous, which was the smartest thing she'd done in the last several minutes. "Oh… Kay?" She squeaked when Chrys grabbed her arm, but didn't bitch about her grip being too tight, which was good, because Chrys would have snapped it in half.
Once she got the girl far enough away, Chrys twirled her around and got in her face. "Look, Becky," she whispered, "I don't know what you did to Sam, but I'm gonna find out, okay? And once I undo it, I'm going to find you, and I am going to kick your bony, crazy ass. You hear me?"
Becky glared up at her, and there was not nearly enough fear there as far as Chrys was concerned. "You can't talk to me like that! I'm Sam's wife."
"And he's about to be a widower," she promised, gearing herself up to fight.
The arm came around her waist again, though, and she fought as Dean pulled her away. "Come on, hot stuff," Dean grunted, clearly unhappy as well.
"Let me go!"
"Chrys," Dean snapped, pulling her out of the chapel after him. "Something is obviously going on. We're gonna call Bobby, we're gonna figure it out, and we're gonna fix it."
"And then I'm going to beat the shit out of her."
"And then you're going to beat the shit out of her."
"This is stupid."
Dean sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. Chrys had been impossible to deal with since they'd left the chapel. "We need to see if she's part of this."
"I think it's pretty fucking obvious that she is," she snarled.
Before he could argue anymore, the door to the apartment they'd found in Delaware opened to reveal Sam. He looked at them warily. Dean smiled and handed him the unwrapped box he'd carried up here. Chrys put a bow on it, at least, that's fine. "Look, this is us, being supportive."
"This is Dean being supportive," Chrys snapped.
Sam took the box, but looked at Chrys sympathetically. Dean had to admit that if he'd been in Chrys' position, that particular look would get pretty old. "Chrys, I-"
"What's going on, love muffin?" Becky's voice called from behind Sam.
"Love muffin?" Chrys sounded a little horrified, but a lot more furious.
Dean groaned. "Oh, Jesus." He turned to her. "Can you chill for a minute?"
"No."
Sam sighed. "Chrys-"
Dean held his hand up. "Just don't, Sam, okay? Chrys has every right to be pissed off right now."
"Goddamn right I do."
"Shut it, woman."
"What's this?" Becky chirped, coming to stand next to Sam. She wrapped her arm around his waist, and Dean watched as Chrys stared at that arm predatorily.
She's going to kill Becky, and I might let her. "Well, Becky, we're still a little worried," he said amiably.
Sam frowned. "Dean, she's my wife. You guys don't have to be worried! I'm happy!"
"You're not even acting like yourself, Sam!" Dean protested.
"How?"
"Oh, let's see," Chrys said tightly. "You married some bitch."
Becky gasped. "We are happy, you, you, shrew."
Chrys jerked forward, but Dean was no stranger to the woman standing next to him, and he caught her again. It wasn't easy, because he may have been bigger than her, but she was probably crazier than he was, so it took some doing to restrain her. "Come on, Chrys, don't let her win like that."
"Oh, she won't win," Chrys said darkly.
"You know what?" Sam said. "What Becky and I have is real. And if you can't accept that, that's your problem, not ours."
Dean glared at his brother over his shoulder. "Or maybe she's part of whatever's going on in this town! The people whose dreams are coming true and then dying! Or didn't you notice?"
"Well, at first, we thought crossroads demon-" Becky started.
Dean ignored her, because he still had an armful of struggling Chrys. He spoke only to Sam. "Look, if you really do care about her, I'd be worried. Because people who do get their little fantasies or whatever seem to end up dead pretty quick."
Sam didn't seem to be having any of it. "You know, I went after her, Dean." Chrys gasped and stilled in his arms. "Yeah, maybe that's what's bugging you. That I'm moving on with my life. I don't need you guys anymore."
Dean felt himself start to go numb from shock. Why… Why'd he have to say that, specifically? Sam always had known where to hit Dean the hardest, and that would always be not being needed.
"You bastard," Chrys breathed. She'd stopped struggling, and now she slipped her hand into Dean's. He realized he'd stopped breathing and was just staring at his brother in horror. "You're going to pay for that, Sam," Chrys vowed, then turned her cold stare to Becky. "You, too, Rosen, because I know this is your fault, and I will be getting my recompense."
Dean followed Chrys as she tugged him down the hallway from the apartment. She was already pulling her phone out and dialing Bobby's number. "We're gonna need backup if we have a rogue demon," she said fiercely, "And you and I are basically useless right now, so it's gonna have to be good."
- Feedback gets my motor running.
- Come see me on tumblr at kbeautimous!
- This chapter was supposed to be funny, and it ended up being more angsty than I planned on. *shrug* Oh, well. Hope you enjoyed!
