A.N.: Here is chapter 7! Hopey you like! As always thanks to all who read and review :-) And to my dear friend Dorothy, your comment on this chapter made my whole day!
Disclaimer: Have you seen this scene on the show? Then it's not mine.
Everything that could go wrong did go wrong that day. One of the candles catching on the napkins and creating a small fire, check. Jo deciding last minute that she didn't want them to get married (mostly in part to a fight with Dean) and throwing a fit, check. Sam eating one of the appetizers and getting violently sick, check. And lastly, the young hunter who had come in the door, one hand pressed tightly against his gut. He smiled shakily at them before passing out into a steady stream of his own blood. Check and check. Bobby was starting to think that maybe something didn't want them to get married.
Not to mention if he has to hear one more time from John how "I really hate this monkey suit. Makes me look like a damn fool." It was going to be what the man was buried in, coincidentally on his wedding day.
Rufus too has piped up several times about the insanity of trying to have a wedding at the Roadhouse. Ellen and Bobby weren't exactly made of money and there was only a handful of people either of them had wanted at the event. It was either the Roadhouse or his house and after a messy exorcism Bobby really didn't want to have to explain to the few guests that were not part of the life why he had blood stains and devil traps littering his home. A fact he was a lot less worried about when the hunter fell down to the floor. There was a half a minute of silence and then his sister had let out a ear splitting shriek and Ellen had come running up to the front with nothing but a robe on.
"What the hell? Who is that?" She demanded, turning back towards him.
Bobby shrugged a shoulder. "Hell if I know."
Ellen sighs and hoists him up on her shoulder as she shoots a look at Bobby.
"Well we can't just leave him bleeding to death on the floor. Grab the first aid kit and send John back."
Bobby's sister Kelly wails. "What is happening?"
John nods and takes the kit from Bobby before he disappears into the back room.
Kelly is still spewing questions and Bobby thanks the Lord that Rufus escorts her outside.
Good, he has enough to deal with inside.
It takes Ellen and John about twenty minutes to get the young man patched up and then he is sleeping soundly on the cot in the back.
John comes out wearing a smirk and not looking a bit guilty that the suit is covered in a thick layer of crimson.
"Guess I'll have to change." he muses and Bobby frowns at him.
One easy, fast wedding. Is that too much to ask?
"Whatever." Bobby huffs and heads to the bar.
Rufus claps a hand on the back of Bobby's shoulder. "Your sister isn't going to be causing a scene anymore. Are we getting on with the festivities or what? I could use a drink."
Bobby laughs. "You could use a drink? You? It's my wedding and I've spend most of it putting out fires! Literally!"
Rufus stares at him.
"Well don't lose your cool Bobby, you'll be the ball to Ellen's chain by the end of the day."
He sighs deeply. "I don't know, maybe Fate is trying to tell me that..." he pauses as the door to the back swings open and Ellen strolls out. Her shoulder length chestnut brown hair is swept back into curls and she is donned in a beige dress with a single gold chain on her neck. She is wearing a smile that is warm and carrying a small bouquet of sunflowers. Bobby can't form an single thought and his mouth pushes out. "Wow."
Screw fate. He's getting married.
Ellen stops next to him to whisper. "You ready to do this?"
Bobby mouth quirks up as he retorts. "Can we just get to the 'I dos' already?"
She giggles, a sound that she reserves just for them.
"I know today's been a bit crazy and I've been a grouch, but I just wanted to let you know," He begins.
"Bobby I'd marry you in the middle of a desert covered in ectoplasm. The details don't matter much to me, just the person at the end of it all."
How does she know what to say? All fears and worries and insecurities are chased away in a moment and all he sees is her.
The ceremony is quick and Bobby doesn't remember much other than he says I do and Jo is sitting next to Sam. Dean keeps trying to tell his brother something and Sam keeps glaring at him. John is practically beaming in his jeans and t-shirt now. Bobby just can't stop staring at Ellen. How he's managed to find not one, but two women who are willing to spend the rest of their lives with him he doesn't know. But he's not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
He bids farewell to the onlookers, assuring Jo that they would be back in a couple days. She gives him a half smile and kisses his clean shaven cheek. He fixes Dean with a gaze that says 'You try to pull anything while I'm gone and you'll be dealing with me when I get back.' Dean nods.
His wife touches a hand to his arm. "We better get going."
He nods and issues one last wave to the crowd. His sister keeps trying to get his attention and Rufus keeps filling her hand with a glass of alcohol. He tilts his head towards the other hunter 'Thanks Rufus I owe you one.'
He starts up the car and shifts into gear, the roar of the engine being challenged by the sound of cans clanking together.
Him and Ellen exchange a look before both breathe out a laugh. Rednecks, always tying something together.
"Did you pack everything you need?" He asks her.
"Yeah. We're covered. Got a sawed off and salt in the back too. You know, just in case." She laces her fingers into his.
Bobby kisses their interlocked hands. Till death do us part. Sounds good to him.
It starts off as such a good day. The sun is shining, the guests are here, and she's managed to clear out all of the hunters who usually spend their days swapping war stories and polishing off drinks. Jo smiles broadly at her, exclaiming, "Mom, you look great!" and taking her hand.
"You sure you're okay with this Joanna Beth?"
"Okay? I love Bobby and so do you." She leans into her mothers embrace. "This is just going to be the best."
Ellen was satisfied. If her emotional hormone bomb of a teenage daughter could get on board, Ellen needed to shake off her pre-wedding jitters. It's not so much that she doesn't want to marry Bobby Singer, it's that she always hoped that she was only going to do this once. She doesn't think she can make it through life is she has to say goodbye to another man she loves. Jo is babbling and preening and asking "Do you think Dean will like the dress? Not that I care, I was just wondering."
Ellen snorts. Her daughter is so transparent when she likes someone. Then again so is she.
"I'm going to go check on everyone." Jo states before racing out of the room.
Ellen hears the rumble of Bobby's engine and her heart picks up speed in her chest. It's showtime.
Jo stomps back into the room and Ellen thinks it's to announce that it's time to get a move on, but her whole face has changed.
"Sweetie," she starts patting the bed next to her so Jo will sit. "What is it?"
"Nothing." she pouts.
"Nothing my butt. Baby, what's wrong?"
"Don't get married!" she cries.
"What?"
"Don't do it!"
"Jo, I thought you were fine with this."
"No! Boys are mean and they are only going to hurt you in the end. They are so dumb!" she exclaims.
Ellen pats her perturbed daughters leg.
"Dean?" She inquires. Her Jo has been crushing on that boy since she was old enough to realize what that meant.
She raises upset eyes to her Mom. "No." Her eyes cast back down. "Yes."
"Oh honey, I'll let you in on a little secret," And she would have imparted all of her womanly wisdom if a terrified cry had not cut into her speech.
Was it too much to ask to get married without a complete stranger bleeding out on her floor? She can hear Bobby's sister jabbering and when she meets Bobby's eyes she doesn't think they have ever looked so annoyed.
With the help of John they get the victim stitched up and are ready to get back to the wedding.
"I can't wear this suit like this." John says happily and Ellen almost laughs at how horribly out of place he looks in the formal wear. She wonders if years ago when him and Mary had taken the plunge he had dressed the part.
"You nervous?" he asks and she shakes her head.
"No."
"Oh I guess you just have all the symptoms then." He jokes and in a rare moment of complete sincerity states. "Mary and I were terrified."
"What?"
"Mary, she got cold feet and I, well hot headed moron that I could be I got mad. We got into this huge fight right before the wedding and I really thought she wasn't going to go through with it. Although at the time I could have cared less and then I saw her. God she was...glowing. As corny as that sounds, she was radiating warmth and love and all the good things life has to offer and as soon as I saw her everything clicked." He twists the band on his finger. "Damnedest thing is when I asked her what made her change her mind she said I saw you and nothing else mattered."
Ellen smiles at him. "That's really sweet John, but that's you and Mary, this is me and Bobby. It's different."
John chuckles as he heads back out the door with a soft spoken. "If you say so."
And dammit, he's right.
After Ellen has cleaned the blood off of her and slipped into her beige gown, (Because she was a lot of things, a liar was not one of them) she goes out to face him and as soon as she sees his face it's over. The uncertainty, the fear, the thought that maybe this whole thing was crazy and she was only given one chance at happiness and she already let that slip through her fingers. Gone. Like they never existed in the first place. There was just him and her and the uncharted territory that was their life together. Ellen couldn't wait.
The ceremony took longer than she would have liked and then she is hugging a few people and kissing the top of Jo's head. Her baby girl. The gift that Bill had left for her. For each other. Her husbands' arm curls around her side and Ellen really doesn't know what she was so afraid of.
In the car they both laugh at the trail of cans, some beer, some beans, that is attached to the back. She doesn't know if she has ever noticed how well their laughs fit together. She tells them they are all set and then Bobby lifts their fingers to his face to kiss them before he guns the engine.
"Hang on tight Mrs. Singer." He throws the comment in her direction.
Mrs. Singer. She likes the sound of that.