Mother –John Lennon
Mother, You had Me I never had you
I wanted you but you didn't want me
So I got to tell you
Goodbye , Goodbye
Father, You left me but I never left you
I needed you but you didn't need me
So I just got to tell you
Goodbye , Goodbye
Children, Don't do what I have done
I couldn't walk so I tried to run
So I got to tell you
Goodbye , Goodbye
Bela's ivory wedding dress swished delicately at her feet as she took in her reflection. Her hair was done up in a pretty twist, with a few wisps framing her shell-shocked face, her newly-painted fingernails nervously twisted the lace veil that Ruby had just placed carefully at the top of her head. Something still wasn't right. She knew it.
"Bel" Ruby scolded gently. "Would you stop fidgeting? Everything is going to be perfectly fine…Jo will be back in a few minutes and I'm sure she straightened everything out with the caterers. Just relax. Be calm. Take a deep breath. In and out. In and out."
Bela started fanning herself with her hand, as beads of sweat threatened to slip down her face. Something wasn't right. Michael wasn't going to show up or the caterer wasn't going to make it…it was as if someone was determined to ruin this carefully planned day for her.
Now she started to pace.
"I don't know, Ruby. I just have this weird feeling that something's going to wrong…what if Jo can't figure things out with the caterer? What if there's no food? What will we do?"
Ruby chuckled. "Well, first of all, you're going to get all your money back. Second of all, we'll find a way to feed all these people if it kills us. Don't worry. You've worked so hard to make everything perfect…now you just need to let everything actually be perfect."
Ruby placed a reassuring arm on her friend's shoulder and Bela rested her head lightly on top of it.
Outside, however, things were not going as smoothly.
Jo gripped her cell phone tightly and grasped for Sam's arm as he knelt next to her.
"What do you mean you are going to let them in the church? I don't care if they are her parents." she started to shriek but quickly lowered her voice as Sam gestured for her to keep it down. "You can't. Bela doesn't want them here. Why do you think you were hired? If she sees them, she's going to freak and then she's going to kill you."
She looked at Sam helplessly, who just bit his lip and shook his head. He was at a loss. They sat in the hallway of the church, both dressed in their wedding attire and preparing for complete disaster. Bela was going to have a panic attack when she found out that her parents were trying to railroad the security Michael had hired to keep them away into letting them into the church.
Dean and Castiel walked out the door and Jo caught a glimpse Michael pacing nervously from the other side of it. Dean promptly walked over to where Jo and Sam sat and mouthed: "What's going on?"
Jo just shook her head in annoyance, not wanting to have to deal with him too, and rose from her chair and marched over to the other side of the hallway.
"Seriously," she continued arguing. "What are you going to do about this? They aren't invited..I don't care if they are the bride's parents..what part of she didn't invite them is it that you don't understand?…there's got to be something you can do."
She threw her head back in frustration and exhaled loudly. After a few more minutes of arguing, she promptly thrust the phone in Sam's face.
"Here…can you please talk to them? They're not listening to me. Maybe you can do a better job of convincing them to not let those assholes bribe them into letting them in the church."
Sam's eyebrows rose in disbelief and he reached out a shaky hand to take the phone, before quickly rising out of his head and moving to where Jo had just been standing.
Jo threw herself into the seat next to Dean and started rubbing her temples exhaustedly.
"So, they are playing the money game to try to get in?" Dean asked cautiously.
She tensed at the sound of his voice and winced involuntarily.
"Yes," she replied tersely. "I can't believe the nerve of those people. I mean after all this time to try to come to her wedding. After everything that they put her through. They are trying to buy their way into the ceremony."
Dean sighed and scratched his eyebrow. "Wow."
"You can say that again." Jo muttered under her breath.
"Wow," he repeated in a weak attempt at a joke before Jo turned her death glare on him.
They sat in uncomfortable silence as they listened to Sam argue, as quietly as possible, with the security team, who were apparently still unable to come up with a better solution. Jo fidgeted agitatedly in her seat and nervously smoothed the new crease in her dress, becoming more and more aware at how uneasy she felt sitting so close to someone she had purposely been avoiding like the plague. She had made every effort to keep her distance from him, sitting as far away from him as possible at the rehearsal dinner the night before, refusing to make eye contact or speak to him unless she absolutely had to and all but locking herself in her room when she had returned home the morning after spending the night at Ruby and Sam's. Thankfully, there was no sign of Anna by that time. Yet, she had still had to face Dean, which was just as painful.
All this of course, had obviously not been lost on Dean, who was now watching her carefully with a wounded expression.
He bit his lip, as if he was afraid of saying the wrong thing, of upsetting her even more than she already was because he suspected that she was upset about more than just the catering difficulties they were currently experiencing.
"Are you…are you alright, Jo? You haven't been acting like yourself lately…I mean it seems as if it's more than just this situation with Bela," he trailed off, immediately cut off by the fierce look in her eyes.
"I'm fine, well, at least I was until all this shit happened. So…will your latest conquest be making an appearance later tonight or are we going to be spared of that spectacle?" She spat out.
He exhaled in frustration and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "So that's what this is about. Honestly, I don't see why you care so much…you told me you didn't ..You actually implied it would be a disaster if we…"
"Are you fucking kidding me, Dean? Does that mean that she is coming? You actually invited that skank to be your date?" Jo asked, her voice low and menacing.
"For your information, she's not. I actually brought Dani as my date," he replied, keeping his voice low as well.
Jo's brown eyes widened "You brought Dani as your date?"
"Not that it's any of your business," he began but trailed off as Sam came back over to them, which was lucky timing because Jo had been fully prepared to give him an earful.
"Well," Sam began tiredly. "I think I straightened it out. Apparently they can keep them out of the ceremony but they can't keep them from waiting outside for Bela. Apparently they aren't breaking any laws."
Both Dean and Jo groaned.
"I did the best I could!" Sam reasoned quickly.
Jo threw her hands in the air, standing, taking charge again.. "Alright, alright. There's nothing we can do about this, short of murdering them outright, correct?"
Everyone nodded quickly.
"So here's what we do," Jo continued firmly. "We can't tell them. At least not yet. Just think about this for a second. If we tell Michael now, he's just going to be worried about Bela's reaction and if we tell Bela now, we all know exactly what she's going to do. So, let's not ruin their wedding ceremony. It's best if that goes smoothly…at least they'll have the memory of the ceremony and they'll be so happy about that that maybe she won't freak out as much as we think she will…"
As she trailed off, she realized how unlikely that actually was.
Sam just shrugged. "All right. I don't see any other way, really. There's nothing else we can do but hope for the best…"
As if on cue, Ruby's head poked out from the dressing room. "What's going on? Is it time to start …"
All of them just nodded their heads as the boys darted into the dressing room to get Michael while Jo quickly headed back into the girls' dressing room.
When Jo caught sight of Bela, she felt a sharp tug on her heart. Bela was pacing around the room, clasping her hands together in nervous frustration, stopping every once in a while to get a look at herself in the mirror.
"Bells," Jo started. "You look absolutely beautiful."
Bela's head shot up at the sound of her friend's voice and she was immediately at her side. "What's going on? Is everything straightened out? What happened?"
Jo took a shaky breath before she began speaking again. She hated lying to Bela but she knew there wasn't any other choice. "Well, as it turns out…there was just a mix-up and it was a different wedding that they were talking about. But your filet mignon and lemon-pepper chicken is on its way. No worries. Now…let's get you married."
Bela's face washed over with relief. "Oh, thank God. That's wonderful…I was really starting to think everything was going to be ruined…alright, how do I look?"
Jo smiled warmly at her friend as they gazed into the mirror together. "You look perfect. How about me?"
Bela returned her smile and gave Jo a quick peck on the cheek. "Beautiful. Just not as beautiful as me!"
They laughed at the shared joke as Ruby came in to announce that everyone was ready to start the ceremony. She carefully handed Bela her large bouquet of lilies and white roses as Jo held the door open for her. Bela's uncle was waiting for her at the door and smiling through unshed tears, gently took his niece's hand to lead her to the aisle where she would meet her future husband.
Jo quickly took her place behind a couple of Bela's cousin's, with Ruby filing in behind them as maid of honor. She shuffled down the aisle, trying very hard not to feel too awkward with the attention on her. She smiled at the crowd as she walked by, and .was stunned when she caught a glimpse of her mother in one of the front row holding hands with John Winchester.
Jo didn't have time to think about what it meant as Ruby followed right behind her and soon, everyone was on their feet to greet the bride as she marched down the aisle to meet her awaiting groom.
"My parents!" Bela screamed, causing everyone around her to wince. "My fucking parents were here! Oh my God….oh my God…this is the worst thing that could possibly happen…"
"Whoa, Bela…slow down…everything's going to be alright…"Michael replied soothingly trying to calm her down while the rest of his wedding party cringed as Bela beautiful face turned beet red.
"Alright? Alright, Michael? How is everything going to be alright? My parents showed up on what was supposed to be the happiest day of my life and no one warned me ! And you," she turned on Jo now. "You told me everything was fine. You told me it was a catering issue..That everything had been taken care of…you fucking lied to me! How could you do that to me…on my wedding day!" She screeched. Thank God they were in the back corner of the reception hall where the rest of the guests couldn't hear her.
Jo held her hands up defensively as she felt Dean moved in front of her as if to protect her from Bela. "Listen, Bela…we just wanted to…" he began.
Bela didn't let him finish. "We? You mean to tell me that you all knew about this before the ceremony?"
Sam and Dean nodded, while Cas and Ruby bit their lip guiltily. Gabriel snickered at them getting caught causing Bela to turn her death gaze at him. He winked one of his honey whiskley colored eyes at her and she practically growled in his direction.
She then turned on Michael, nostrils flared and jabbed a finger into his chest. "Did you know about this, Michael?"
He furiously shook his head to the side and gripped her shoulders. "Bela…I didn't know they were actually here.."
She looked at him incredulously "You thought they'd come? That's why you brought in security and didn't tell me. And then they" she spat pointing at Dean and Sam "didn't tell you they were here."
Michael shook his head "No,they didn't tell me anything but it's fine..Look at me Bells, it's going to be fine..they are gone. They aren't coming back."
Bela just shook her head. "How can you be sure? How can any of you be sure? How could you all have kept that from me. At least if I knew, I could have prepared myself…You are all not invited to my reception!"
Gabriel let out another giggle and quickly turned his head to hide from Bela's death glare.
Bela was preparing to lunge when Gabriel's cheerful voice stopped her.
"Oh come, Bela…you know that was funny. You just disinvited the groom to his own wedding reception. That's fucking hilarious. You're just too pissed off right now to realize it. Look, none of us were purposely trying to sabotage your wedding day. Why would we do that? We love you and you know that. We know your parents are douchebags and all Jo tried to do was keep everything calm for your big day. I'm so very sorry you had to see their faces today, but they are gone now."
Bela stared at her with her mouth agape. For once, she didn't know what to say. She was still searching for a response when she felt Michael's warm hands cup the sides of her face.
"Hey," he began gently. "We're married. That's all that matters. This is supposed to be the happiest day of our lives and we're not going to let your parents ruin it. This is our day. And all I want to do is drink some of that expensive champagne you ordered and dance with my wife."
She seemed to melt right into his arms at his little speech and she threw her arms around him. "You're right, you're right…you're all right. I'm sorry for flying off the handle but I just wanted this to be perfect…and I guess I didn't have to worry about that because it already is"
Michael rubbed his hands together mischievously and enveloped her in a passionate kiss, which only caused their wedding party to groan.
"Hey, come on! We're newlyweds, what did you expect?" He asked through his wide smile