**Nothing from Charmed or Supernatural belongs to me.**
Chapter Eight
*Four Days Until The Wedding*
Melinda was caught in a confusing situation. She was almost awake, trying to figure out where in the hell she was, and what in the hell had happened. Her head was pounding, her entire body ached, and even though there only a tiny bit of dim light, it felt as though it was burning her eyes. She hummed a little sound, moving ever so gently. The back of her legs and her ass were freezing, but the rest of her was warm. Her head was pillowed on something nice and soft, and if she didn't know any better, she would think it was a pillow. However, something was up under the pillow, and it chose that second to move. Melinda rolled on her back, slowly opening her eyes. Sleepy green eyes opened to look back at her, and Dean smiled.
"Good morning, sunshine."
He spoke so very softly, lifting a hand and barely touching Melinda's forehead.
"How you feeling?"
Melinda let out a groan, glancing around.
"Are we in the bathroom?"
Jesus Christ, was that her voice? Did she happen to eat gravel last night? Ugh, don't think about eating. Her stomach rolled, and Dean smiled, lifting a hand to rub his eyes.
"Yes, we are in the bathroom. We have been for …"
He lifted his wrist to glance at his watch, and yawned.
"The past five hours."
Melinda glanced up at him, noticing the light above the shower on behind his head. That's where the dim light was coming from. Dean smiled down at her, running his hand back over her forehead.
"Do you have any memory of last night?"
Melinda shook her head, gasping as the action sent a wave of pain through her. Dean gently rubbed her arm.
"Easy, baby. Take it easy."
She let out a groan, and he laughed quietly.
"Are you laughing at my misery?"
"No, sweetheart. Not at all."
Melinda groaned again, and Dean leaned to kiss her forehead. Melinda moved, very slowly, on the pillow on top of Dean's lap, moving closer to him. He gently ran his fingers through her hair as she tugged the blanket tighter around her. He spoke quietly, barely above a whisper.
"I followed you to P3. Sat at the back, watched you do shot after shot."
Melinda groaned, and Dean smiled, laying a hand on her back, almost cradling her.
"Sorry. Anyway, I gave some idiotic punk assholes some very nasty looks, and they backed off of you, pretty much. By midnight, you all were wasted out of your minds. Your mom and aunts went home then, leaving you girls to run wild. And that you did."
Dean shook his head at the memory of the night before. Melinda looked up at him.
"Did I make a fool out of myself?"
Dean smiled down at her, bringing his hand back to her forehead.
"No, babe. I wasn't going to let you."
She let out a sigh of relief and Dean bent to kiss her forehead again.
"So, about 2:00, you saw me. Ran over, and announced to everyone in the bar that I was going to be your husband."
Melinda groaned, shutting her eyes as Dean smiled.
"Then, you made me come and dance with you."
Melinda closed her eyes.
"I kind of remember that."
She thought back, and the memory came back to her.
Melinda made her way to the end of the bar, where her fiancé sat. He turned his head to smile at her, looking so very good in that beat-up leather jacket. He took another sip of his beer as she came to stand beside him.
"What are you doing here?"
"Someone had to watch out for you."
"I love you. I am so lucky to have you."
"Damn right, boozy."
She giggled, leaning over to kiss him. When she pulled back, Dean coughed.
"Damn. Jager already, babe?"
"Hell yeah!"
Dean shook his head, keeping a smile on his face. It was going to be a long night. Melinda let out a loud whistle, and Dean closed his eyes.
"Ow, babe. Warn me before you do that, would you?"
"Attention, bar people! This hot guy, right here? He's going to be my husband this weekend!"
Cheers and applause spread throughout the bar and Dean waved a hand, just a tiny bit embarrassed. She was going to love hearing about this tomorrow. She turned back to him, smiling.
"Dance with me."
"I don't think so."
"Oh, come on! You've got moves. I know you do."
"Oh, really? And how do you know this?"
Melinda stepped closer, putting her mouth right by his ear.
"I can tell by the moves you make when you fu—"
"Okay then! You, my Mel, are drunk."
"So? Dance with me anyway."
He shook his head, but he let her lead him onto the dance floor. And she proceeded to drive him absolutely crazy. The tiny scrap of shiny material she called a dress was bad enough. Her makeup, done differently than he'd ever seen, making her look exotic and even more beautiful than she normally was? Almost painful for him. Having her grinding against him, running her hands all over him, letting her mouth touch his every now and then? Now that actually was painful. He was hard as a rock, and nothing at all could help, other than Melinda, and she was set on holding out until the wedding. This could very well turn into the worst case of blue balls Dean Winchester had ever encountered.
"Dean?"
He looked down at her, and Melinda blinked.
"When did we get home?"
He smiled, running his fingers through her hair again.
"About 4:00."
"Where the hell is my dress?"
Dean's smile grew. He had-very carefully-gotten her out of that miserable excuse for a dress that drove him absolutely crazy, and into one of his t-shirts shortly after he'd gotten her up the stairs.
"I managed to get that off of you once I got you in your room. I almost managed to get a little something else, too."
Melinda gave him a confused look, and he bit back his laughter.
"But, that was the moment, uh … all the 'fun' you had decided to make another appearance."
"Oh, dear God."
Dean laughed quietly then.
"Yeah, I'll say."
"No, I think I'm going to throw up again."
He helped her sit up, moving her hair back from her face, and sure enough, she was right. Dean sighed, holding back her hair as she threw up, as she vowed never, ever, ever to drink ever, ever again. She also vowed that whenever she saw Peyton, she was kicking ass first, asking questions after. Dean just nodded, murmuring calming words until her stomach settled a bit. When she was done, he handed her toothbrush to her, and she brushed her teeth, then laid back down on his lap. She rolled as close as she could get to him, and he cradled her in his arms.
"I hate myself right now."
"I know. Been there."
"If I asked you, would you just kill me? Put me out of my misery?"
"No, babe. Think of this as a rite of passage."
She groaned, and Dean smiled, bending to kiss her hair.
"I love you. If that makes you feel any better."
Her answer of "not really" was muffled against his chest, and he laughed. She groaned, pushing out of his arms to hover over the toilet again.
"Seriously? How is there anything left in your stomach?"
"Hush."
"No, I'm serious. We've been at this for 5 freakin' hours. Well, save for that one which you slept through, thank God."
Melinda groaned as Dean assumed his position, holding her hair back. After a second, she sighed.
"No, I think that might have been a false alarm."
They shared a sigh of relief, relaxing a bit until they heard a yell outside the door.
"Ma, I think Mel's up! Hey, do you think she wants some breakfast?!"
"Oh, that bastard."
Melinda tried to cover her ears, but Chris kept right on yelling.
"Maybe some oily, fluffy pancakes with tons of runny butter! Or greasy, dripping bacon!"
Melinda threw up then, and Dean held back her hair.
"Chris, you son of a bitch! Shut the hell up and go the hell away!"
"Please, stop with the yelling. Christ Almighty."
Dean sighed as Melinda hung her head. Outside the door, they could hear Chris' laughter. Dean handed over the toothbrush again, and she brushed her teeth, then basically collapsed into his arms. Dean kissed her forehead and settled back against the tub, holding her close to his chest.
"I feel like death."
"I know, baby."
"Why are you still here?"
Dean smiled, looking down at her. She had her face against his chest, her eyes closed, makeup smeared. Her lipstick was long gone, and at one point, she had cried, so she had lines of black tear tracks down her face. Still, she was the most beautiful thing Dean had ever laid eyes on.
"Because I love you."
He bent to kiss her cheek, and she sighed.
"Plus, I figure if we can make it through this…"
"We can make it through anything."
He smiled, gently rearranging his arms.
"You got it."
They sat in silence for a while, and he thought she might have gone back to sleep.
"Mel?"
"Hmm?"
Okay, never mind. She was awake.
"How's your stomach?"
She made a little noise and Dean smiled.
"Think you're okay to try the bed?"
She nodded and Dean did, too.
"Okay. I'm going to lay you down while I stand, then I'll get you, okay?"
She nodded again, and he stood up, letting out a groan as he stretched his aching joints. He bent down and Melinda rolled to him, and he gathered her in his arms.
"Close your eyes, okay? The lights are on full-blast out here."
She closed her eyes, leaning her head into his neck. Dean walked from the bathroom to Melinda's room, winking down at Kate as she solemnly watched them go by. Dean laid Melinda on the bed, and she turned her face into the pillow, until he had pulled the curtains closed. He slid his shirt over his head and walked to the bed, tucking her in. He ran his fingers through her hair until she opened her eyes to look at him. He smiled at her, speaking softly.
"I'm going to help your dad some in the garage. You sleep, okay? I'll be back to check on you later."
She nodded, pulling the covers closer around her.
"If you need me, just call. I love you."
She murmured that she loved him too, and Dean smiled as he kissed her forehead, then left the room.
That night, Melinda slowly made her way to the kitchen. Piper lifted her head from the paper she'd been reading and smiled.
"Well, look here. Sleeping Beauty."
"Go ahead. I know better, right?"
Piper shook her head.
"You do, but hey. How often does one get married?"
Melinda smiled, taking the seat by her mother, pulling her legs up underneath her, spreading her robe over them.
"I feel bad. I didn't get any wedding things done today."
"I know. You slept the day away. And if it makes you feel any better, all of your cousins did the same thing. You girls can't really run with the big dogs."
Melinda smiled.
"Ain't that the truth."
Piper smiled, laying the paper down.
"Well, lucky for you, you've got me. And Phoebe and Paige, and we got shit done today."
Melinda fell out laughing at her mother, who just smiled.
"Made a nice little dent in your list, so no worries. You're still on schedule. But Dean has got to get on his guest list tomorrow."
"No, I took care of that for him."
"Now how did I know that would end up happening?"
Melinda smiled, glancing over at her mother.
"I told him I'd take care of it for him if he did something for me."
Piper studied her for a second, then smiled.
"He called Sam, didn't he?"
Melinda smiled and nodded.
"Sam was supposed to catch a flight in today, but I missed today, so…"
"Oh, that must be where Dean went off to."
They smiled, until Piper let out a sigh.
"Honey, you know it's going to be …?"
"Awkward? Yeah, I know. But, we're putting it aside. It's my wedding, Mama, and I can't imagine it without Sam."
Piper nodded.
"Okay. I think it'll be good for Dean to have his brother there, anyway."
Melinda smiled.
"Me, too. Now I just have to figure out how to tell Peyton."
Piper sighed.
"Well, what about Dean's friends?"
Melinda let out a breath.
"Well, not surprisingly, there aren't many. And even less that aren't old girlfriends or hookups. I took the liberty of weeding those out."
"Always a good choice."
Melinda smiled and nodded.
"I called Bobby, who's heading here on Thursday, and Ellen and Jo, who will be here Saturday morning. Someone named Rufus sends his regards, as did a nice psychic name Missouri. She actually called me before I could call her, which kind of threw me off. Oh, and Chuck is seriously thinking about coming, as well."
Piper smiled, reaching over to lay a hand on Melinda's.
"Well, that's a bigger list than I expected."
"I know. But, I'm happy. At least he'll have some people here."
They heard doors slamming, and they both looked over just in time to see Dean walk through the door, followed close behind by Sam. Melinda smiled and jumped up, walking to wrap Sam in her arms. He smiled as he bent down, returning her hug and closing his eyes.
"Sammy, I'm so glad to see you."
"I'm glad to see you too, Mel. You look beautiful."
"You should have been here last night."
Melinda turned back to look at Piper and Dean, who had spoken the exact same sentence at the same time. Piper smiled and stood up, walking over to hug Sam.
"It's good to see you, Sam."
"You too, Piper."
Piper looked to Melinda, a look she knew meant "find Sam a room." Melinda looked back at Piper.
"Hey, Mama, is—"
"Yes."
Melinda bit her lip. Peyton was in what was considered her room, so Sam definitely couldn't stay there. And the guest room had kind of been overtaken by a tiny, blue-eyed beauty. Piper shrugged her shoulders, and Melinda turned to Sam.
"We're kind of at full occupancy at the moment. Aunt Phoebe and Coop are living here, still, and with Kate…"
Sam looked over to Dean, who shook his head, meaning "we'll talk about it later." Sam smiled.
"I can go get a motel room or something."
"No!"
Piper and Melinda refused so sincerely that all Sam could do was smile and laugh, holding up his hands.
"Okay, okay."
"There's that bed up in the attic."
Piper smiled at Melinda.
"Very good. You can stay in the attic, Sam."
He smiled and gathered his bags, walking past Dean, who slapped him on the shoulder. Melinda smiled at Dean, who opened his arms as she walked into them, giving him a long hug and a kiss. Dean smiled when she rested her head on his shoulder, running his fingers through her hair.
"I take it you're feeling better."
Melinda smiled.
"Much better. Thank you for taking care of me."
"Yeah, it's not often you find someone who'll sleep on the bathroom floor with you, hold your hair back while you vomit. That is true love, my sweet baby girl."
Melinda closed her eyes at Piper's remarks, while Dean just smiled. He kissed Melinda's forehead, then shrugged out of his jacket, heading upstairs to make sure Sam was settled in.