Chapter 2

November 18, 2018

"You okay, Dean?" Sam asked as he watched his brother struggle with his tie.

Dean, Sam, and Cas were holed up in the guest room Sam and Trevor were sharing while the women were getting ready downstairs, and Brooke was getting herself ready, helping Trevor, and watching Kit in the room across the hall. Sam had just finished helping Cas put his tie on correctly, and now he was wondering if he was going to have to help Dean with his too.

"I'm fine." Dean said. His hands were shaking. "I'm just, you know...I'm nervous, okay? And excited. And I think I might be sick. I felt fine last night, but now..."

"I'm sure it's just the nerves and excitement." Sam said calmly, smiling softly at his brother. He'd never seen this side of Dean before. It was refreshing to know that his brother could be something other than annoyingly confident. "You are getting married after all."

"I can help with the nausea." Cas volunteered.

Dean shrugged it off. "Thanks, Cas, but I'm sure I'll be fine. Sam's right. It's just nerves."

Cas sighed in slight annoyance and grabbed Dean, placing two fingers against his friend's forehead to rid him of the nausea he was feeling no matter what was causing it. "You're getting married, Dean. Today is not a day you want to be sick. I've never experienced it before, but I'm pretty sure you can still vomit even if it's just nerves. Do you really want that to happen on your wedding day? Possibly while Meredith is standing right in front of you?"

Dean had a mental image of himself throwing up all over Meredith as they were saying their vows, and cringed. "Good point."

"You really need to learn how to let others take care of you, Dean." Cas said, the annoyance fading from his voice but still clearly there. "You're obviously doing better with that because Meredith doesn't give you a choice, but you've still got a long way to go, my friend."

"Cas." Dean said dryly, still fumbling with his tie. "It's my wedding day. I'm about to get married. Twice. You wanna lay off the lectures for a little while?"

Cas simply rolled his eyes.

Sam smiled at the angel's reaction, but only because Dean hadn't seen it and couldn't see Sam's smile. "Do you want some help with that?" he asked his brother as someone knocked on the door.

"No." Dean said as Cas went to answer the door, finding Brooke. "I'll get it, Sammy. Just give me a minute."

"How's in goin' in here?" Brooke asked, smiling as she watched Sam try to wrestle the tie that was still around Dean's neck away from his brother.

"Dean's being stubborn." Cas informed her blandly. "But I think we're almost ready."

"Dean, would you just let me help you?" Sam practically begged. "It'll be so much easier."

Dean knocked Sam's interfering hands away. "Back off, Sammy. I know how to tie a tie. I've done it plenty of time in the past. Without your help."

"Yeah, and without your hands shaking." Sam pointed out.

Cas rolled his eyes and sighed.

Brooke laughed and skirted around the angel to get to the Winchesters. She gently nudged Sam out of the way, and held out her hand for the tie. "Come on. Hand it over."

"I got it." Dean said.

"Dean, I have a ten year old son." Brooke said. "You may be bigger than he is, but I promise you you're not gonna win this fight. Hand over the tie or the girls are gonna be waiting on you."

Dean considered arguing with her, but finally just sighed and gave in, handing her the tie and allowing her to put it on him.

"It's a miracle." Cas said.

Sam laughed.

"Shut up." Dean barked. "Both of you."

"Hey." Brooke said, purposefully pulling the tie a little tighter than necessary to get his attention. "Knock it off."

"Sam." Dean gasped and loosened his tie when Brooke released him. "Your girlfriend's trying to strangle me."

"Good." Sam said, not bothering to correct his brother on his relationship status. He and Brooke were not actually together. "Sometimes you need strangling."

"Not on my wedding day." Dean argued. "Not on any day, but especially not on my wedding day."

"It wasn't even that tight, you big baby." Brooke said. "I'm gonna go see if everyone else is ready."

"Sam, m—"

"Don't"

"What?" Dean asked innocently.

"Don't." Sam repeated.

Dean turned to face his brother. "Don't what, Sam?"

"I know what you're gonna say, Dean." Sam said. "Don't."

"You don't know what I'm gonna say."

"Marry that girl." Sam said, his face and voice emotionless.

Dean shrugged. "Okay. So, maybe you do. So what? God said it. Why can't I?"

Sam made a face.

"Don't give me the bitchface, Sammy." Dean said. "You and Brooke—"

"Are in a really weird situation, and we're taking it slow." Sam finished, knowing it's not what his brother was going to say. "It's also none of your business."

"Alright, alright." Dean said, backing off. "Calm down. It's dropped, okay? Can we go back to being nervous and excited about the wedding now?"

Sam sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah."

Cas was glad he didn't have to break up a fight. "If you two can behave long enough to get to the courthouse without hitting each other I'll meet you there."

Dean waved him on. "Go on. We're fine."

"Dean?" Cas said before leaving.

"Yeah, Cas?"

"I'm happy for you." Cas said earnestly. "If anyone deserves to be happy and have their dreams come true, its you."

"Gee, thanks." Sam said.

"You deserve it too, Sam." Cas said. "But you're not there yet, are you?"

Sam smiled and looked at his brother. "He's right, you know."

"Yeah, I know." Dean said. "Of course I know I deserve to be happy. I've dealt with enough crap in the last thirty-nine years. I think I've earned a little happiness. Now if I can just hold onto it for a little while."

"You will." Cas assured him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Longer than a little while, my friend."

A small smile flitted across Dean's face before Cas disappeared. "You think he's right?" he asked his brother.

Sam nodded. "Yeah. I think if anyone can make it happen, you can."

%%%

"Knock knock." Brooke said as she knocked lightly on Dean and Meredith's bedroom door and poked her head inside. "Can we come in?"

"Of course." Meredith said, welcoming her probable future sister-in-law into the room where she, Kim, Alex, and Claire were all getting ready for the courthouse wedding.

Brooke came into the room with Kit on her hip, having relieved her son of temporary babysitting duty. "The guys are just about ready. How we doin' in here?"

Meredith fastened an earring and there was a hiss of hairspray as Kim put finishing touches on Alex and Claire.

"I think we're pretty much ready." Meredith said, poking the other earring through the tiny hole in her lobe.

"You look beautiful." Brooke said, taking in Meredith's long sleeved lace dress that stopped a few inches shy of her knees, the wide, light brown belt around her waist, and the matching ankle boots on her feet whose stiletto heels would make it easier for her to kiss her husband along with making her legs look great.

Meredith smiled her thanks. "I'm so nervous."

"Why are you nervous?" Claire asked.

"I don't know. Maybe because I'm getting married?" Meredith shot back.

"Yeah, but you're getting married to Dean." Claire said. "What's there to be nervous about? Other than maybe having the King of Hell crash the wedding."

"That, and a million other things." Meredith said. "Trust me, Clairy. If you ever get married you'll be just as nervous as I am. Even if you've been married before."

Claire shut her mouth and shrugged when Meredith shot down her next comment before she could even make it. "Don't call me Clairy."

Meredith stuck her tongue out. "Clairy."

Kim walked over and hugged her sister. "Everything'll be fine, Mere."

"Are you forgetting that we have to see our mother later?" Meredith asked.

Kim cringed. "Well...there'll be alcohol at the wedding, but Cas said he talked to her and she agreed not to get drunk and ruin the reception."

"Yeah, but we can still get angry and ruin the reception."

"That won't happen." Kim said as her baby moved inside her. "We won't let that happen. Right?"

Kim still had her caught in a loose hug, so Meredith felt the movement too and was cheered up by her unborn nephew. "Right."

Kim placed a hand on her belly as the baby continued to dance around. "I doubt Crowley'll show up. He wasn't invited, and there's no way he could possibly think it would be a good idea to ruin Dean's wedding. He can't possibly be that stupid."

"I think the worst thing that we might have to worry about would be one of the kids making a mess or Liam deciding to show up early." Kim said.

Meredith looked down at her sister's belly, and pointed an admonishing finger at it. "If you even think about showing up three months early you're in so much trouble, mister."

"What are you gonna do?" Alex asked, chuckling. "Spank him for ruining the wedding while he's in an incubator in the NICU?"

"I'll spank him when he comes home." she corrected, obviously teasing. She certainly wasn't going to spank her newborn nephew. "And the wedding has nothing to do with it. I want my nephew to be born healthy and fully developed."

"I second that desire." Kim said. She looked down at her belly. "You here that? You listen to your Aunt Mere or you'll get a spanking from both of us when you get home."

There was another knock at the door, and Trevor popped in. "Are you guys ready yet?"

The women all laughed and Meredith nodded. "Yeah. We're ready."

"Then let's go!"

Trevor dashed out of the room, and Brooke laughed at her son. "He's so excited!"

"Obviously." Meredith said. "I'm surprised he's not dragging us out."

"We'd better get going or he might." Brooke warned as Kim grabbed her shoes and they all filed out of the room.

%%%

"Wow." Dean said when he saw his bride, a smile stretching across his face. "You look great."

"Gee thanks, Dean." the other four women chorused.

"Oh stop." Dead said in response. "You all look great."

"Come on." Sam said, moving to herd the women and Trevor out the door. "Let's give the happy couple a few minutes."

Brooke passed Kit to Meredith and gave her new friend a hug. "It's gonna be fine." she whispered in her ear.

Meredith smiled as Brooke followed the others out of the house.

"She's right, you know." Dean said after everyone else was gone and they were alone with Kit.

"I have a right to be nervous on my wedding day."

"Well, yeah." Dean said. "So do I. And I am, but you're not just nervous about the wedding. You're nervous about the marriage. If you wanna back out there's still time. We can call it off."

Meredith shook her head. "No. I don't want to call anything off, Dean. I love you, and I want to marry you. It's just that even with the whole soulmate thing...this isn't exactly easy for me."

"I know." Dean said softly, moving closer to her. "Now, don't start crying on me. You'll just have to redo your makeup, and we'll be late for our own wedding."

Meredith smiled and laughed, adjusting Kit. "I'm not gonna cry. I don't think. Not right now anyway."

Dean put his arms around her and pulled her to him, careful not to squish Kit. He kissed her forehead. "I know this isn't easy for you, Mere. It's not all that easy for me either if we're being completely honest here. There's still a part of me that thinks you'd be safer without me. I struggle with it every day. But as much as that little part of me wants to leave, the rest of me wants to stay even more."

"To keep us safe." she said.

"Partly." he agreed. "But you don't really need me to keep you safe anymore."

"Of course I do."

"Not as much as you used to." he said. "You all know how to protect yourselves, and with the exception of Dylan, I don't think anyone's gonna run off and start hunting full-time. I could leave right now, and you'd all be fine."

Meredith shook her head. "No we wouldn't."

"Maybe not emotionally, but..."

"So, why don't you?" she asked. "If it's such a struggle for you to stay, and you know we'd be okay without you, why don't you leave?"

"Because I wouldn't be okay without you." he said, smiling softly. "And it's really not that much of a struggle to stay. If I truly thought any of us would be better off if I wasn't here I would leave, but me leaving would only make us both miserable and you know it's literally impossible for me to abandon my family. So, suck it up and let's go get married. We're not gonna screw this up."

Meredith laughed and leaned her head against his shoulder. She stayed that way for a long moment and then looked back up at him. "You're amazing. You know that?"

"It's been mentioned a few times."

She laughed again and gave him a gentle push toward to door. "Come on. Let's go before someone needs a diaper change."

"Let's go get hitched!" Dean said, rubbing his hands together excitedly as he followed his girls out of the house.

He paused at the door and took a moment to do something he never did. "I don't know where you are or what your deal is, and I'm obviously not your biggest fan, but thanks."

He didn't think Meredith had heard his little prayer, but she had. She smiled as she pretended she hadn't heard and strapped Kit into her car seat, and then climbed into the truck. She glanced up for a moment and added a quick thanks of her own before Dean climbed in and they were backing out of the yard.

This is where I usually try to put in some cute little remarks or something, but I just sat here for about ten minutes trying to come up with something and it's not happening this morning. So, I guess I'll just skip ahead to thank you for the follows, reviews, etc, and I hope y'all are enjoying the festivities! Or soon-to-be festivities. ~SG