(no subject)
Title: It's a Nice Day: Part 1.
Author: bitchandjerk
Characters: Sam/Dean,John/Mary/OFC OMCs OFCs Jared/Jensen
Rating :R
Words10,000/3,688,900
Warnings: Wincest
Summary: Sam and Dean arrive in New York for the New Year's Eve party.
Notes:: AU, rest are here.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.
Feedback: Makes me hard
You didn't get to be the world's most handsome, charismatic, and best father by not paying attention to everything going on around you. The very second Dean left the hospital with Mikey he was forever changed. Not only was he solely responsible for keeping someone else alive for the next eighteen years, he saw everything around him with new eyes. Those first few weeks he watched Mikey like a hawk and probably didn't get more than thirty minutes of uninterrupted sleep at a time mostly because he had no idea what the hell he was doing and he had convinced himself that something catastrophic would happen. It was hard work being a single parent and unfortunately it didn't get any easier once Sam was back.
Over the years Dean had become a very keen observer and he knew his children better than anyone else, even better than Sam. He knew when a little cough would turn into a full blown cold, he knew that silence always meant trouble, and most of all he knew when his kids were up to something. Sam called him as crazy as he was sexy, but Dean wasn't stupid, he was smart like a fox and there was no denying that Michael was most certainly up to something and that it was most likely no good because he was a ginger and that was their whole thing.
Dean first got an inkling when Michael and Alex left to go to the house in New York to get ready for the rocking New Year's eve party. In fact he had actually started to suspect shenanigans when Michael first mentioned the big fireworks display taking place on the lake, but then he did a little research and it was an actual thing that happened every year. Dean sort of thought that maybe Sam was in on it and that he was working with Michael to ruin all his blowing stuff up fun, but after some very rigorous ass torture it became obvious that Michael's only accomplice was Alex, who had always been up to no good.
On New Year's Eve, Dean decided it was time he got to the bottom of things, so after fucking Sam, he loaded up the car with the kids, got on the road, and neglected to start a movie even after being prompted six separate times. He had just over three hours to figure out what the hell was going on and because he knew his kids so well he knew they'd crack. He wasn't even going to attempt to start with Mikey because that little nerd could keep a secret like his life depended on it, but Ollie, his favorite and sweetest talking child, could be easily bribed with food, kisses, and the promise of getting to sleep in the big bed if he cooperated.
Unfortunately, either someone had already gotten to Ollie or he simply didn't know anything. He did go on a ten minutes tirade about how Oinkers needed his own car seat, but if he knew what Michael was up to, he wasn't talking. Dean tried Ethan next, but he wouldn't shut up about being the world's most mature six year old. Mary was unconcerned with anyone's affairs except for her new doll's and Milo had a box of animal crackers, so he completely ignored Dean which was nothing new. Mikey was out because he was a nerd, and Dean didn't want to press Evan, because if he knew something and spilled the beans he'd inevitably get upset. That left Buster, but he was sound asleep sucking on his pacifier like it was going out of style.
For the next hour Dean thought long and hard about what underhanded scheme Michael was up to and after another half hour he finally figured it out. Sam had dozed off so Dean promptly slapped him in the side of the face and told him to prepare himself for war. After getting slapped back, twice, Dean told Sam that it was oh-so-obvious, that Michael wanted to throw a party he could invite Jensen and Jared to. Sam would be forced to see them and they'd have to sit down and talk about the recent unpleasantness surrounding the filming date of the movie.
Sam, who didn't think Michael was up to anything, was suddenly very interested, and as expected, he turned in his seat and started to snap his fingers at Mikey in an attempt to get information out of him. He absolutely refused to be ambushed by the no good, selfish, and ungrateful Packlecki's and he wanted to know exactly what to expect when they got to the house so he could decide who got to live and who had to die. Mikey just sort of shrugged and went back to watching his movie, which only made Sam reach back and snatch his headphones away from him.
That went over like a fart in church because for the rest of the car ride everyone was yelling back and forth about how they didn't know anything and eventually Dean started to believe them, even if they were probably all filthy dirty liar babies. They probably could have argued a little more, but Buster was still sleeping and he hadn't pooped himself yet. If he woke up from the arguing he was going to promptly take a dump and then they'd have to stop and that was the last thing Dean wanted to do.
For the rest of the ride in Sam was tense and nervously tapping his fingers against his leg. He absolutely did not want to deal with Jared and Jensen and if they showed up at the house he had already decided to ignore them and figure out some kind of punishment for Michael for being so sneaky and underhanded. Of course the reality of the situation was much, much, worse, for Sam at least, because Michael was up to something, but it didn't have too much to do with Jared and Jensen.
When Dean finally made it to the house, he drove up the long driveway and then stopped rather abruptly causing all the kids to start yelling again. The house and all the grounds were covered in a fresh thick blanket of snow and in the middle of everything, right next to the lake was a rather large white tent. There was a rather elaborate looking platform not far from that and there were literally dozens of people running around all over the place carrying buckets of flowers, large candelabras, and what looked to be about a hundred chairs. In the middle of it all Michael was gesturing wildly to Antony, who was nodding and smiling with his clipboard in his hand.
"Son of a bitch." Dean whispered. "Is this what I think it is?"
"Over my dead body!" Sam screamed. "Drive over there!"
Sam reached over and smacked Dean in the side of the face again, causing him to drive forward very quickly, which made the kids yell yet again. When they pulled up next to the house Sam was out of the car before Dean even had a chance to put it in park. He tore ass through the snow and started to yell and scream while waving his hands in the air like a crazy person. In order to avoid an international incident, Dean left Mikey in charge and then ran to join Sam just as fast as he little legs could carry him.
"How dare you!" Sam yelled. "After everything we've done for you this is how you repay me!"
"It's a surprise!" Michael smiled. "It's going to be the best night of my..."
"How dare you!" Sam said again. "I have been planning this day for years and this isn't what I wanted!"
"Well, Sam, technically."
"And you!" Sam said as he turned to face Antony. "After everything we've been through, you do this behind my back! Do you want me to have you sent back to Australia, where you had to fight kangaroos to make a living? Is that what you want!"
"Sammy, calm down..."
"I booked Hearst Castle!" Sam said as he grabbed Michael's face in his hands. "You know how hard it was for me to book Hearst Castle without a date! I had it all planned out!"
"You're squeezing my face off, dad! Ain't nobody said nothing about no Hearst Castle!"
"It's what I wanted!"
"But it's my wedding!"
For whatever reason, probably temporary insanity, Sam spun Michael around and spanked him rather firmly on his butt. Whatever that was supposed to do, didn't happen, because Michael turned around and smacked Sam right on his ass at lot harder. Sam was seriously about five seconds away from a total mental breakdown, but Dean was as happy as a man could be. He pushed Sam over into the snow, gave Michael a big hug, and then went off to check things out. Sam immediately started to physically and verbally abuse Antony, but he had already been through much worse, so Dean knew he could handle it.
To be completely honest Dean wasn't totally thrilled with a surprise wedding, but he wanted whatever made Michael and Alex happy. He was actually kind of impressed they had managed to keep everything a secret and eventually Sam was going to calm down and stop freaking out. He so wanted to throw another perfect over the top wedding and he hadn't even gotten to participate in the planning, so Dean saw where he was coming from, but it wasn't his wedding.
"He's so mad."
"Oh, he'll get over it." Dean said as he rolled his eyes. "Daddy will dick him down later and he'll forget all about you ruining his wedding. I can't believe you two managed to pull this off!"
Dean was even more impressed when he realized just how much work had gone into the surprise nuptials. Alex and Michael had been engaged for what seemed like forever and whenever talk of an actual wedding came up they were both completely uninterested. After all they already had a house and were living together and when you got to that point a wedding was basically just a party and some paperwork. They weren't going to be more together if they were married so they both just kind of shrugged it off.
It wasn't until October when they were faced with the reality of becoming parents in just nine short months that they sat down and decided to do the damned thing. Alex wanted something simple in either Vermont or New York, and Michael wanted to wear white without anyone talking smack about him behind his back. They both wanted a winter wedding and above all else they wanted nice and easy.
Unfortunately planning a wedding, even a small one was hard work. Alex had a full time job teaching the kids and Michael was consistently killing it at Yale. For about two weeks they tried to get things done on the weekend, but it left little time for anything else. Michael had actually decided to draft Sam, but Alex, for once in his life, put his foot down. Sam couldn't do simple, it wasn't in his nature, and something with a handful of friends was going to turn into a full scale event which neither of them wanted, until they had their first meeting with Antony.
He was the best of the best and Michael figured he could turn out a simple wedding in his sleep, and it had started out like that, but then there were menus and floral prototypes and color schemes. At that point Alex and Michael realized that while they wanted something simple, they deserved something extraordinary. Not Sam's style of extraordinary, but still, something pretty nice and maybe a little extravagant. They still wanted it to be a surprise though, and it was because apparently no one they had invited suspected they'd be coming to a wedding instead of a New Year's Eve party.
"To go behind my back and involve my best friend is completely unacceptable. As far as I'm concerned all these people are trespassing!"
"How many best friends you got?" Michael asked as he saw Sam charging towards them. "You may have two."
"Why do I get two and Dean gets twelve?"
"Because it's my wedding day and I say so."
"Michael." Sam said sincerely. "Let me fly everyone to Hearst Castle tonight."
"Seriously." Dean sighed. "You're serious with this?"
"Antony said we could pull it off!"
"Sammy, you have him in a headlock."
"Help me." Antony whispered. "I'm far too delicate for roughhousing."
"Oh, please. If you survived numerous dingo attacks in the Australian wilderness you can survive this."
"Dad, let him go. We'll cancel the wedding."
"Oh, thank God!" Sam said as he hurled Antony to the ground. "Daddy was worried he'd have to involve his best friend God to smite your sweet high tight ginger ass. You don't want that do you? For daddy to have you smoten?"
"It's fine." Michael smiled. "I thought you might be upset. I'm sorry for being so underhanded and selfish."
"Aw, it's okay! Just don't let it happen again. Daddy doesn't like when things aren't all about him. I'll plan everything, Antony can brief me on what you and Alex want and then I'll just do whatever I think is best since he has no taste and you're a hillbilly."
"Sammy!"
"And I'm extra super sorry that I knew you'd react like this and while you were beating your best friend senseless, I made sure Alex told Milo he gets to be the ring bear."
"What!"
"And that we had a custom dress made for Mary to be the flower girl."
"What!"
When Dean looked over Mikey had everyone out of the car and Alex was talking to Mary and Milo telling them all about their very important jobs. Mary was into it because there was a dress involved, and Milo was ecstatic since he got to be a bear at Jared and Jensen's wedding and he was still bringing it up at least once a day. That was when Sam realized he was beaten because the kids were officially involved and there wasn't shit he could do about it.
After helping Antony up off the ground, Sam apologized to him and then gave Michael a big hug to congratulate him. He was probably only kind of serious about the whole Hearst Castle thing, at least like 60%, but he was a big enough man to be happy for Michael and Alex. In fact in the grand scheme of things a surprise wedding was probably for the best because if no one knew about it no one, namely paparazzi, could crash it. It was smart all around and Dean was looking forward to dancing with Sam and maybe even getting sloppy drunk.
"Rawr!" Milo yelled as he ran over with his hands like claws. "Ring bear, daddy!"
"I heard!" Dean said before squatting down. "Why are you so ferocious?"
"Rawr!"
"Daddy, a new dress!"
"It's about time someone got you a dress. What do you need that for?"
"Flowah girl." Mary said proudly. "Because me, Murray, gorgeous."
"True story!"
"Daddy!" Milo said as he pulled on Sam's jeans. "Rawr! Ring Bear!"
The rest of the kids were equally excited about the surprise wedding. Mikey thought it was high time Alex and Michael settled down and the twins were thrilled because a surprise wedding meant surprise cake. Ollie, for some reason, was pretty sure there were going to be hot dogs and that alone was reason enough to celebrate. The only one who wasn't on board was Buster and that was only because Alex had gotten him out of his car seat and was holding him. He didn't go in for that kind of shit and he was scowling like it was going out of style. He was extra fidgety too and didn't relax until Dean took him and punched Alex in the arm for touching his baby.
"Milo." Sam said as he picked him up. "Promise daddy that you'll let me throw you a wedding one day."
"Okay. Rawr!"
"Are you really upset?" Alex asked. "It's going to be great."
"Of course I'm not upset."
Besides knowing the kids, Dean knew Sam and regardless of what he said or how he acted, he was quite obviously upset. That wasn't to say he wouldn't be supportive or happy for Alex and Michael, but something was upsetting him about the surprise wedding and Dean was positive it had little to do with it not being an over the top affair at Hearst Castle. No one else seemed to notice anything wrong, except for Mikey, who always knew when something was up.
He wasn't acting weird and he didn't do or really do anything, but he was staring at Sam in the most peculiar way. At first Dean thought he was just imagining things, but when Mikey caught him staring he very quickly looked away and diverted all his attention to showing Ollie something in the snow. Instead of asking what was up Dean decided to let it go until he got a chance to talk to Mikey alone. He didn't want to ruin Michael or Alex's excitement and he most certainly didn't want to make a scene, since Sam had already handled that by trying to behead Antony.
Sam absolutely loved the house on Lake George because it was so ridiculously fabulous and downright decadent. The other houses were nice, but the house on Lake George gave Sam the opportunity to do something he rarely got to do anywhere else, which was to be completely alone in a house full of people. In Connecticut it was impossible because while the house was big, there were only so many places to hide and if someone needed him they found him.
The main house at Auldbrass was much smaller, but there Sam could always sneak off into one of the dozens of other building on the property. They were great places to hide, but that was all he could do in them. He couldn't work on little projects or straighten things up, all he could really do was read or maybe play on his phone. The main problem with doing that was that once he was inevitably found someone would accuse him of hiding and question why he was doing it.
In Vermont the house was pretty big and there was plenty to occupy his time, but when they were there, there was always a lot of activity going on and usually a lot of house guests. The entire time they were there for Christmas Sam had been constantly busy and there wasn't a spare moment to hide and spend time alone. Even if there was there were too many people in the house and someone always needed something or wanted to talk and Sam just couldn't get a moment alone unless he was in the bathroom, which wasn't all that enjoyable.
In New York, Sam had thousand of square feet and he could hide in any number of places in plain sight. Even with a house full of people he could easily get lost somewhere and it would take at least a half hour for anyone to find him and that was usually the result of a lot of yelling or a cell phone call. To avoid that Sam had left his cell phone in the kitchen, and found a perfect little spot to cloister himself away in.
On the second floor of the library, there was a quaint little nook for reading which was just big enough for two chairs and an end table. It was sort of tucked away so anyone walking through the library couldn't just glance up and see who was there. The only way to do that was to climb the spiral staircase in the corner, walk along the balcony, and then peek around the corner. Sam was perfectly hidden and comfortable, with a oversized cup of coffee, a stack of magazines, and a couple of cookies he had snuck off with. He knew he had a good hour before anyone found him or started yelling for him and he was going to enjoy himself.
"Sammy?"
"You gotta be fucking kidding me." Sam whispered to himself. "I just sat down."
"Sammy? Are you up there?"
"Yes." Sam groaned. "I'm fine, you can go back to daddying."
"Sammy, I can hear you, but I don't know where you are."
"Up the staircase, take a left."
"Okay, I'll be there in five to ten minutes."
Sam groaned again quietly and then grabbed one of the magazines to bury his nose in it. For the record it's not that he didn't want to talk to Dean, he just didn't want to talk to anyone. He wanted to relax and be alone with his coffee and his magazines and not worry about what was going on right outside the window. Sam had an almost perfect view of all the activity happening at the lake and as much as he hated himself for even thinking it, it was kind of annoying him.
"Why are you hiding up here?" Dean asked once he arrived. "What's wrong with you?"
"I'm just reading."
"Please tell me you're not pissed off that you didn't get to plan Michael's wedding."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"Are you mad because they didn't involve you at all?"
"I'm not mad about anything."
"Are you upset because they think you would have made it into some huge production?"
"I don't think they think that, but maybe you do."
"Sammy, I didn't come here to fight with you. I just want to talk."
"And I want to read."
"Fine." Dean said before he sat down. "When you're done, I'll be waiting to talk to you."
"I have six magazines."
"I can wait."
Dean pulled a bag of animal crackers out of his jacket and proceeded to open them up making the most amount of noise possible in the process. Sam briefly considered tossing him over the railing or out the window, but he'd probably just land on his feet and make his way back upstairs with an even noisier snack. Sam was absolutely determined to read his magazine to prove a point, but he couldn't act like a child and he couldn't pretend like he wasn't bothered.
"I wanted more for him."
"Excuse me?"
"I wanted more for him." Sam said quietly. "That little boy who came to live with us and told us about Alabama, he's a man now and we did that without any guns or magic or super powers. The two of us, our family, our friends, we made that boy into a man."
"Go on."
"And I want more for him because he deserves it."
"Sammy, this is what they want. It's going to be beautiful."
"I understand that, I don't doubt that it will be, but he deserves better."
"He has everything he could possibly want."
"And he deserves more."
Sam didn't know why the surprise wedding had hit him so hard, but it did. He saw what was happening and his whole plan for giving Michael the world and then some went out the window. It wasn't about the wedding Michael wanted or what Sam wanted, it was just about giving him more because he deserved it. It wasn't even about the wedding at all really, that was just the impetus that got Sam thinking and then got him thinking too much. He wanted to play it off like he was upset about not getting to plan the perfect wedding for his son and maybe that had fooled everyone else, but he could never fool Dean.
"You think he shouldn't marry Alex?"
"Of course not. There's no one better for him than Alex."
"Then what are you trying to say?"
"I don't know." Sam shrugged. "Consider me at a loss for words."
"I find that hard to believe."
"We did everything we could, Dean, but we can't fix it. We can't change what happened to him. Our kids are going to know one day, his kids are going to know. All we can do is always make things better and with all the money in the world, all the power we have, we can't give him what he deserves."
"Sammy, he's happy. He's at peace. He's strong because of what happened to him. I agree he deserves the world, but he has enough. He has more than enough."
"Do you remember that week before you started working at the garage?"
"Sammy."
For all he had done, for all the money he made, and all the adoration he had, Sam found it impossible to articulate the way he was feeling. It was such a strange thing because at one point him and Dean could literally hear each other's thoughts. Sam would have loved to had that little perk back, but he didn't, so the best example he could give was to remind Dean of a story from their past, one he didn't particularly care to reminisce about.
Before Mikey was born, Sam was in the apartment and Dean was living alone in a duplex he was renting. He wasn't hunting or working and he was paying the bills in the way he always had, by doing whatever underhanded trickery he could to get money. All the bills were paid with credit cards that weren't his and the rent came from cash he had saved and unscrupulous credit card advances. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, but Dean was just trying to survive.
When Mikey was born and Sam came back, Dean made a very deliberate decision about how he was going to take care of his family and how he was going to take care of his son. He wasn't going to lie, cheat, and steal to keep a roof over his son's head because Mikey deserved better. Sam supported him because that's what you did when you loved someone, but he knew it was a disaster in the making.
Neither of them were prepared for how expensive children were. Mikey needed formula and diapers and visits to the doctor and it only took a couple of weeks before all of Dean's saving were nearly gone, the bills were late, the rent was due and Mikey was down to his last pack of diapers. Sam got a little creative with the finances and he managed to get everything paid, Mikey had everything he needed and they had another month in the house, but once he was done there was nothing left. It was no exaggeration either, he had about four dollars to play with and an empty refrigerator.
"We went hungry. We had nothing for an entire week before dad showed up and you found work. Do you remember that?"
"Of course I do, what does that have to do with Michael?"
"Having nothing sucks. I know buying things and spending all this money we have doesn't fix what happened to him, but it helps, it's a distraction, and since he met Alex I've been dreaming of throwing him a wedding so amazing that he'll never forget a second of it. I just want to do everything in my power to make it better for him."
"And you think what he planned with Alex won't be something he never forgets?"
"It's not that. I just had a plan and whenever things got rough for me or him or you, I'd imagine this huge event. I had a list of things that I thought would help, you know?"
"I guess." Dean said as he stared at his hands. "Sammy, I love you, I loved our wedding, but honestly, I..."
"What?"
"I didn't care about it at all. You did great, it was beautiful, it was fun, but all that mattered to me was being with our friends and family."
"Me too."
"And that's all Michael and Alex care about. You may have imagined this huge event because you feel like it's what he deserves, but what he deserves is someone who loves him as much as Alex does. Someone he's going to raise a family with. We've given him everything, we've made him into a man. It's time to let Alex do the rest."
Dean, as always made a lot of sense, but Sam still felt weird about the whole thing. He absolutely wasn't being selfish, it's just that he had plans for Michael, he had made them years ago before he even expressed any interest in dating and one of the things he wanted to give him was a completely over the top wedding. Since that wasn't going to happen, Sam decided it would be best for all involved to just cross it off his list. He still had plenty he wanted to do for his big boy and no matter what anyone said he was spoiling the shit out of that kid when it was born.
"Dad? Dad?"
"Are you okay, Sammy?"
"Yeah." Sam smiled. "It's going to be perfect."
"Dad!"
"Up here!" Sam yelled over the balcony. "What's wrong?"
"I have a wedding crisis!"
Sam wanted to leap to his feet and do everything he could to assist, but to not appear too eager he gave Michael directions on where to find them and then waited with Dean. If it was a real crisis, Michael was handling it very well because he looked calm and collected, which for the record was exactly how Sam handled his own wedding related crisis' when they came up. He certainly hadn't hit anyone or threatened deportation.
"You two need to stop your sinful kinky deviant sex acts, that I don't want to know anything about and help me!"
"What's wrong?" Dean asked. "And they were only a little kinky."
"Jeremy just got here and he wasn't even excited when I asked him to be my best man."
"Jeremy?" Sam laughed. "What about Ryan?"
"Jeremy was my first friend I made by myself and yes, he wanted to kill dad and he tried to eat Anthony, but I told him when I got married he was going to be my best man."
"What did he say when you asked him?"
""If that's what you want, I guess.""
"Ouch." Dean whispered. "Alex must be looking everywhere for me to ask me to be his best man."
"Hey dad." Michael said as he sat in Dean's lap. "You are so sexy."
"Oh, God! No! This can't be happening to me!"
"Your pecker is huge!"
"No! No!" Dean said as he knocked Michael to the ground. "I absolutely refuse to accept that..."
"He already asked Justin."
"The fuck he did!"
Sam actually cringed and then tried to sneak off before Dean exploded all over his beautiful face, which he usually fucking loved. To not be Alex's best man was bad enough, but to have Justin take his place was a total kick in the balls that Dean didn't need. He looked very upset, but Sam had to ignore him because Michael was more upset and he had more of a right to be.
Jeremy hadn't really been the same since Thanksgiving. He had a very bad year what with being kidnapped by God and all, and then when things were looking like they were getting back to normal, Aaron came home with Max. There was no denying that Jeremy cared about Max and he'd do anything to make Aaron happy, but it wasn't what he signed up for and it was starting to wear on him some. He just wasn't very talkative anymore, he didn't seem very happy, and his once constant presence at the center had dwindled significantly. He hadn't even mentioned anything about starting Grad school in January and before Max that was all he could talk about it seemed.
"He's having a rough time."
"Dad, he's so down."
"I know." Sam sighed. "This hasn't really been easy on him, you know?"
"But it's my wedding. I'm worried that he couldn't even pretend for just a day...for me."
"Is there a reason you didn't ask Jason?"
"Yes."
Dean waited a couple of seconds, but Michael didn't feel the need to clarify, which sort of surprised Sam. After everything they had been though and the past few months they had gotten really tight. Having him not ask Jason was weird and it was even weirder that he hadn't asked Ryan. Sam got where he was coming from with Jeremy because they were really close, but once Aaron was in the picture and Michael started school they didn't hang out as much. Michael was nothing if not a man of his word though and if he promise Jeremy he could be the best man then he was going to be the best man even if they had gone ten years without talking.
"What do you want us to do?"
"I'm just telling you. Few weeks ago I could have asked him to set himself on fire and he would have happily done it for me. Y'all don't think he's mad that I'm so close with Ryan and Jason do you? He was gone and he needed to spend time with Aaron when he got back and..."
"Hey." Dean said as he shook his head. "Calm down. You didn't do anything wrong. It's your big day and even if he's not excited, he should pretend to be."
"I thought it'd mean so much to him and if it doesn't that's okay, but at one point nothing would have meant more."
"Do you want us to talk to him?" Sam asked. "I don't know that we can force him to be excited."
"I don't care about that dad. I care that he's not okay."
Sam didn't know what to do and he felt awful, because honestly him and Dean had been working pretty hard to pretend that nothing was wrong with Jeremy. At first it was just a wait and see kind of thing. They figured after a couple of weeks he'd settle into his new life with Aaron and Max and everything would be okay, but that clearly hadn't happened. Jeremy had been pretty okay on Christmas, but he had spent a lot of time acting and there was a very good chance he had put on a show, that he had been putting on a show and he just couldn't do it anymore.
"We're going to get through today and tomorrow we'll talk to him. If this isn't something he feels like he can do you can always ask Ryan, right?"
"I guess."
"You don't..." Sam said before he paused. "You don't think he's jealous that he can't have this with Aaron, right?"
"Sammy, does he honestly strike you as the wedding type?"
"No, but that's easier for me to deal with than worrying that he's..."
"Profoundly depressed." Michael said quietly. "He needs help."
"He'll get it." Dean smiled. "Everything will be okay."
"I'm going to go talk to him. I don't want to force him to do something he doesn't want to do."
"Okay."
"Dad, you're okay with Alex?"
"Absolutely not, again, not your problem."
As many problems as Sam was having with the whole wedding thing, he at least kept his cool around Michael. Dean apparently didn't feel like that was something he had to do. Michael looked a little upset that he had a problem with Alex not picking him, but he still gave them both hugs and then walked away to go find Jeremy. Sam really wanted to let Dean have a piece of his mind, but he didn't say anything. He didn't start yelling or sighing, and he didn't judge because Dean hadn't judged him.
"Why Justin?" Dean asked after a minute of silence. "After everything Alex and I have been through."
"Dean, Justin was willing to die for us simply because we took care of Alex. I know this means a lot to you, but I think maybe...maybe it means more to Justin and Alex knows that. He puts on his tough guy facade, but we both know he wants to be up there marrying Alex. That was their plan."
"Seems like a lot of things didn't go according to plan."
"No, but our son is getting married, or friend is marrying him, and Craig did say yes when Justin proposed."
"I know."
"Plans change. That doesn't mean they change for the worse. I think things, for us, don't always work out the way we thought they might, but they work out for the best."
"That needs to be the family motto."
"I'll have a crest commissioned as soon as we're back home."
"Come on." Dean said as he offered his hand. "Let's go see if there's anything we can help with."
"Okay. There's a lot of stuff going on out there and...Oh, I know someone is not peeing behind my tree!"
"Where?"
Sam was looking out the window and most certainly saw someone either hiding behind a tree or taking a leak. That shit was not cool and Sam was all about to head downstairs and raise some hell, but all of Antony's workers were dressed head to toe in black. The man he saw was in jeans and a big coat. At least he assumed it was a man, Sam didn't get a look at his face because he ducked behind the tree too quickly. He might have been with the vendors or making a delivery, either way peeing outside was no permitted.
"Right by that tree."
"I don't see anyone, Sammy."
"He ducked behind that tree. I need to go raise some hell."
"Would you rather a stranger pee inside the house?"
"Ugh." Sam groaned. "The nerve of some people."
"Come on, let's go see if there's any yellow snow."
By the time they made it through the house and out to the tree no one was there and there was no pee in the snow, thank God. Dean accused Sam of being crazy again, but there were definitely some fresh footprints in the snow. Sam immediately began to worry that some delivery driver was about to tip off the paparazzi, but Dean assuaged his fears by reminding him that no one was ruining Michael's big day.
Twenty minutes before everything was due to start, Dean found himself in the middle of another crisis. As a dutiful host, he was standing outside the big tent welcoming the guests who all were in complete shock. They had no idea what was going on, but Michael and Alex had been smart enough to make sure everyone knew that the big party was black tie. Whatever reservations Sam may have had were a thing of the past because everyone looked so good and Antony had done an absolutely beautiful job.
Because it was Winter and it was still plenty cold out, Michael and Alex had decided on white and cream colored flowers. Everything was all cool and icy and to combat the cold there were several heaters dotted around. It was actually kind of nice to be standing by one and Dean knew the tent was extra toasty since they could put as many heaters as they wanted in there without melting the snow which Michael was quite adamant about.
As more and more of the guest arrived, realized what was going on, and offered their congratulations, Dean became more and more proud. He was beaming and Sam was in his glories. It wasn't what he had planned for Michael, it wasn't ridiculous and over the top, but it was still perfect. Everything was beautiful and Dean knew the whole night was going to be something to remember for the rest of their lives and he also foolishly assumed that everything was going to be drama free.
That all changed when a big black SUV arrived and parked in the designated area. Sam was busy talking to Jenny, so he missed seeing Jared step out in his very nice looking tuxedo. He got out the babies first and then went to the passengers side to open the door for Jensen. Dean thought that was just adorable, until Jensen hopped out of the car and teetered to check on the babies on a set of not so formal crutches. Dean audibly groaned and then Sam finally looked over and whispered a very inappropriate obscenity under his breath. Jenny took that as her cue to get the hell out of there and Dean practically ran over to assist Jensen.
Since the whole movie fiasco, Sam hadn't said a word about Jared or Jensen, and Dean hadn't talked to either of them. He wasn't doing it on purpose, he was just trying to keep the peace and if he acted like nothing was wrong or that nothing had happened Sam was going to raise hell. He was still pretty pissed off about Jensen refusing to honor his obligations to the movie in the timeframe they agreed on, but Dean was pretty sure he was about to get over it.
"What the hell!" Dean said as he helped Jensen walk. "What happened?"
"I told you I needed to have knee surgery."
"I thought you were lying!"
"When have I ever lied to you? Who's getting married?"
"Michael and Alex." Sam said as he walked over. "Jensen..."
"Yes, Sam?"
"I'm...sorry."
"Mmhmm." Jared groaned. "Well, look at my babies, come on."
"I want to go see Michael."
"I was just about to go check on him." Dean said. "You can come with me."
Before Dean could check on his biggest baby he had to peek out the newest ones. Austin and Dallas weren't in formal wear, but they both looked really fucking cute. It was close to their bedtime and they were both sort of drowsy, but they seemed to enjoy being invited to a fabulous social event. Dean really wanted to pick them up and give them a couple of smooches, but instead he settled for one kiss on the head and then walked off with Jensen leaving Sam behind to talk with Jared.
Dean really felt bad about doubting Jensen, and he felt extra bad for Sam because he had kind of gotten the cold shoulder. In time it would be fine because friends sometimes got in arguments or had disagreements. That was just part of life and hopefully by the end of the night Jensen and Sam could reach some kind of peace for Michael's sake.
"You doing okay?"
"Fine." Jensen sighed. "Okay, I did lie."
"Excuse me?"
"I did lie. I had the surgery before I called to tell you I needed surgery."
"Why would you do that?"
"Because I thought if you guys thought I just had surgery it would buy me some more time at home."
"Jensen, you knew when the babies were coming, you knew when the movie was starting and you know how important this is to Sam."
"I know."
"I won't tolerate lying...but let's keep when you had the surgery between the two of us."
"Probably a good idea."
"When are you going to be off those crutches?"
"About a week more. It's getting better everyday."
"Good."
"Are you okay?"
"I just want Sam to keep his cool about the movie, it's fine I..."
"I meant with all this...with Michael."
Dean sighed and nodded without giving an answer. He wasn't completely fine with it, he felt like what he assumed all dads did when their kids got married. He could have completely lost his shit, but he had a good memory. He was worried when Michael and Alex started dating, when they started living together, when they got engaged, when they moved into the house, and all that had turned out great. Nothing had changed, Dean's relationship with Michael was exactly the same and it always would be.
Since Michael was the big boss of the relationship he had claimed a corner of the house to get ready and wait in while Alex had to get ready and then wait in the tent. When Dean got to hallway leading to the room Michael was holed up in he heard a lot of very intense, very loud arguing. Jensen was steady enough on solid ground so Dean jogged down the hall and was almost at the door when Jeremy pulled it open and ran out. He nearly knocked Dean flat on his ass and he actually ran into Jensen who was trying his best to hobble towards the commotion. He didn't knock him over so Dean groaned and then walked in to see what the hell was going on.
"What the hell is..."
"Ryan, I don't care that you don't know what formal wear means you're my best man."
"I don't own a tuxedo, I'm sorry."
"It's fine. You look very nice."
"It's a nice suit." Ryan said quietly. "Kevin loaned it to me."
"It's fine."
"What happened?" Dean asked. "What's going on?"
"I don't ask anything of anybody and for one day it's all about me and Alex. I don't know what his problem is, but I've had enough of it."
"Michael." Ryan said. "He's obviously upset about something."
"And if he don't wanna tell me then I ain't got time for it."
"Oh, God." Jensen whispered as he made it into the room. "You look so handsome."
"Jensen! I was so worried you wouldn't make it."
"You should have told me what was really going on, I would have gotten here last week."
"Hey." Dean said. "Can you uh..."
"I got him. Go ahead."
While Jensen tended to Michael and got what looked to be the first of many knee kisses, Dean sprinted out of the room to look for Jeremy. He realized what a ridiculous notion that was because Jeremy was fast and he could have freaking been ten miles away already. Even if he wasn't fast the house was huge and he could have ducked in any room he wanted to. There was no way Dean was going to be able to open every door he passed, so he just hoped for the best and kind of made his way to the center of the house. He didn't have much time because the wedding was just about to start, but regardless of where he was standing during, Jeremy had to be there.
After three agonizing minutes of searching, Dean finally found Jeremy the same place he had found Sam. He wasn't up in the little book nook, he was on the ground hugging his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth. He was crying, which he rarely did, he was practically gasping for air, and when Dean got to him he felt his entire body shaking.
"I'm here." Dean said as he sat next to him. "Breathe, okay?"
"I can't."
"Yeah, you can. Give me your hand."
"I can't breathe."
"You're having a panic attack. Sammy had them all the time once he left the apartment. Come on, look at me. I'm right here."
Dean was so set on yelling at Jeremy for not doing everything he could to make Michael happy, but that all changed once they were looking at each other. For the first time in a long time, Michael was the last thing on Dean's mind and he wasn't much concerned about any of the kids. He was just worried about Jeremy and the pain in his eyes. It was almost too much for Dean to handle, but he wouldn't let himself look away and he wasn't going anywhere until he got something out of Jeremy.
"It's over." Jeremy whispered. "It's over."
"I don't think it is, you just need to keep breathing and stayed focused on me and..."
"Aaron. It's over."
"Wha...what do you mean?"
"It's over." Jeremy said again. "I can't...we can't do this anymore."
"No, you'll...you both just need to talk and we'll all sit down and work something out and it'll be fine. You'll both be fine and everything will be okay, don't worry about it. Everything will be fine. Me and Sammy and dad can help out more with Max. What's another kid at this point?"
"No. There's nothing to work out. It's over. We can't do this anymore. I'm sorry I let Michael down, but I couldn't pretend for another minute. I can't fake it anymore."
Dean knew he had to say something. He had to do something to make Jeremy feel better and he had to figure out a way to fix things, but he couldn't do anything. He just sat on the floor and stared at Jeremy for the next few minutes until he stopped crying and shaking and his breathing returned to normal. Once he was sure he was past the worst of it, Dean stood, helped Jeremy up and then walked with him to the lake so they would both be on time for the wedding.
Things weren't great between Jeremy and Aaron, Dean knew that, everyone knew that, but he never imagined they'd just go their separate ways. Dean wasn't even sure how that worked because they had been intimate in every sense of the word and he had no idea how anyone could just go back to being brothers after that. Over the past ten years Dean had done things with and to Sam that had irrevocably changed their relationship, but that was just sex. Over the past ten years Dean had also shared every secret and fear and he cried with Sam and stayed up all night talking about the future, their future together. Jeremy and Aaron had done the same and Dean didn't know how you'd deal with things changing so drastically.
When Dean sat down in the front row, Sam looked at him and then over at Jeremy who should have been with Michael. He knew something was up, but surrounded by their friends and family was the wrong time to ask about it. John was sitting right next to them and he kept looking over at Jeremy and then glancing back at Dean and furrowing his eyebrows. When Dean made a deliberate point to look away, John started shooting glances at Aaron, who was up on the beautifully constructed stage ready to get things started.
Because there was no bride there wasn't anyone to give away or any grand entrance. Alex just made his way out of the tent with Justin and just a few seconds later Michael came out of the house with Ryan right behind him. They both looked so handsome and Dean was happy, but his heart was breaking at the same time. Before Michael took his place on the stage, he stopped and got a kiss on the cheek from Sam and then three or four from Dean. It was hard to believe he was the same boy who showed up at the house on Sam's birthday almost three years ago, but he had made it. He had survived and worked hard and he had everything he could possibly want, including family that had never and would never let him down.
Just when Aaron was about to get things started, Jeremy stood up from where he was sitting and took his place right next to Michael. Ryan almost seemed relieved and he gladly slunk back off the stage and went to sit next to Kevin. As hard as it was to be up there, Jeremy had done it for Michael and for just a second they squeezed each other's hands before Alex nodded to give Aaron the go ahead.
Aaron had married dozens of people and he had a pretty standard little opening speech all memorized. He went custom for Alex and Michael though and it was beautiful. He spoke about love and family, and trust and how at one point they had both been so broken, but together they were stronger than anyone else he knew. It was really beautiful and Michael didn't make it more than a few minutes before he was sniffling a little. Dean sort of expected the same from Alex, but he had the biggest goofiest grin on his face the entire time because after a lifetime of hardship and heartache, he was finally getting what he deserved, they both were.
Things were going pretty well until it was time for the rings. Milo had his little pillow and he was guarding it with his life. When Aaron asked him to come up, he leapt to his feet, stomped around for a full minute, and growled at everyone before attempting to bite Jensen on his ass. In order to avoid a vicious mauling, Jensen grabbed him by the arm, pointed him towards the altar and then smacked him on the butt. After that he promptly delivered the rings and then ran to Sam so they could figure out the best way to retaliate.
"Alex." Aaron said. "Go ahead.
"Michael." Alex said as he twisted the ring between his fingers. "I've been trying to figure out what to say...since I first laid eyes on you. I saw you and I wanted to sit with you and talk to you and hold until everything before that day went away. I have loved you since I met you and I promise you I will spend the rest of my life making sure every second of your life was worth it. You are my best friend. You are my home, and I can't wait for the rest of our lives together."
"Wow." Dean whispered. "Allergies acting up over here."
"Here." Sam said as he gave Dean a Kleenex. "Me too."
"Michael?"
"Alex." Michael said as he took his hands. "I wish...I wish I could say I loved you as soon as I met you, but we both know that ain't true. When I met you, when I met my family I didn't believe that love was something for me. My family made me think otherwise and you were patient and kind and until there was you I never dared dream of a family of my own some day. I love you, Alex Watkins, and you make me forget."
Dean was blubbering as quietly as he could and so was Sam, but John of all people let out a pitiful whale noise and basically threw himself onto Mikey who patted his back and assured him that everything was going to be okay. After some more run of the mill vows, the exchanging of the rings and a very innocent yet sexy kiss, Alex and Michael turned towards all their guests and raised their joined hands above their head.
"Ladies and gentlemen." Aaron said before a dramatic pause. "May I introduce Michael and Alex Watkins-Winchester."
When John made another injured whale noise Dean actually laughed before he leapt to his feet and cheered as loud as he could. For the past year or so there had been much heated debate over the last name situation and for a while Dean was very worried that Michael might become Michael Watkins, which was just completely unacceptable. Not only did they hyphenate, but Alex made damned sure he was getting a husband and making sure all the bitches out there knew that he was the only person worthy of being Dean's best friend. He was a Winchester after all and they always won out in the end.
"Time for me, daddy?" Mary asked Sam. "Murray?"
"Go ahead, baby." Sam said as he handed her the basket. "Real high in the air!"
Mary nodded very enthusiastically and then took off down the aisle to toss rose petals all over the place. Because no one had walked down the aisle she had to wait until after the wedding, but that was fine with her, all she wanted to do was wear a dress and throw rose petals around. She did an excellent job and Dean was very proud of both her and Milo, even if he was about a foot away from biting Jensen on the ass again.
Dean absolutely didn't want to ruin anyone's evening, but he had to talk to Sam and he had to act quick because Jeremy stayed at the altar for about a minute before he started to retreat back to the house. Aaron sort of looked over, but he had a job to do and kept smiling while Michael and Alex walked down the aisle and towards the tent for dinner, dancing, and mingling with their friends.
"Good job." Sam said as Aaron stepped down. "That was great."
"Thank you, Sam. Carol, I'll take Max now and..."
"He can wait." Dean said before pulling Aaron aside. "Anything you want to talk about little brother?"
"I just want to get Max so we can..."
"Yeah?"
"Carol, I'll take him now, thank you..."
"Jesus, Aaron, he's fine. She knows what she's doing."
"Dean, what the hell is wrong with you?" Sam asked. "What happened with Jeremy?"
Dean kind of wanted Carol to step away with Max because as long as Aaron could see him he was going to be distracted. She knew better though and just hung back and made sure Aaron could see that Max was perfectly fine. It would have been better if she left though because she was within earshot and she absolutely could not be trusted to keep secrets from John when it came to his kids.
"This is neither the time nor the place."
"Too fuckin' bad. What the hell happened?"
"We are...we no longer want the same things."
"Who..." Sam said before he paused. "Who doesn't...Dean?"
"Jeremy told me they're not together anymore."
"That's ridiculous." Sam laughed. "Aaron, that's ridiculous. It's ridiculous!"
"Keep your voice down. This isn't about Jeremy and I, it's Michael special day. This can wait. Carol, may I please have my son?"
When Dean tried to stop him, Aaron actually nudged him way too roughly. It hurt pretty fucking bad and Dean was left rubbing his shoulder while Aaron snatched Max away from Carol and went to busy himself in the middle of the largest group of people he could find. Talking to him hadn't gone over so well, so Dean took Sam's hand and once again went searching for Jeremy. He was a lot easier to find the second time because he was throwing his big duffel bag in the back of his car and obviously attempting to make a quick escape.
"You're not leaving this house."
"Well, you can let me leave or you can go get Charlie to stop me because I don't think either of you are up to the task of keeping me here against my will."
"Jeremy." Sam said as he shook his head. "Talk to us."
"I don't want to talk. I want to go home. I want to move my shit out of the barn and move into my new place."
"You...you already have a new place?"
"I signed a lease right before Christmas."
"What the fuck?" Dean whispered. "I get that this hasn't been easy, but you can't cope with your problems by running away."
"Really?" Jeremy laughed. "Seriously? From you two? Seriously?"
"Jeremy." Sam said. "Don't..."
"I'm coping just fine. I'm not going to go looking for a bridge or dig a hole in the backyard and stick a sawed off shotgun in my mouth."
"That is so far below the belt."
"You should have let me leave when I wanted to."
Dean had never in his life been so hurt by someone he loved. Bringing up shit about what he almost did that was fine, but bringing up the bridge in front of Sam was completely inappropriate and borderline unforgiveable. Without another word Jeremy hopped in his car, backed up, and drove away. Dean really had no idea what the fuck had just happened, but he couldn't worry about that because Sam was just staring at nothing.
"Sammy."
"I can't believe he said that to me."
"He's a dick. He's hurt and he just wanted to..."
"Hurt us?" Sam asked. "When we're trying to help?"
"He just wanted to get out of here. He didn't mean it."
"That's not something that makes you weak."
"What?"
"It doesn't make you weak." Sam whispered. "To make that decision to go a bridge or dig a hole. You have to be strong to do that. You have to be even stronger to not take it any further than that. I am not weak."
"Sammy, he didn't say you were, he..."
"I am not weak." Sam said through his teeth. "I'm not weak."
Dean tried to stop him, but Sam pulled away and went to join the rest of the guests. He had a bit of a walk to compose himself by the time he made it to the tent Dean knew he'd have a smile on his face so he could pretend like everything was just peachy. It wasn't so easy for Dean. He stayed standing next to all the cars and let the cold air sting his eyes until they dried out, before he put on his big fake smile so he could go and be happy for Alex and his son.
Dean was already halfway back to the tent when Abel stepped out from the woods and groaned rather loudly. He had been close enough to hear everything while still staying completely hidden from everyone at the wedding. Those Winchesters sure were a whacky bunch and Abel couldn't help but think a lot of their problems could be solved if they all stopped fucking each other.
"Jeremy's a dick even when he's not evil." Abel whispered as he squinted at the crowd. "Are they having gumbo for dinner? I want gumbo."
"Then go have gumbo." Gabe said with a smile. "How much longer do you plan on skulking around?"
"I'm not skulking. I'm just hanging out. What are you doing here?"
"Same thing you are. I wouldn't miss Michael's wedding."
"He looks happy, doesn't he?"
"Very."
"Healthy too."
"How does that make you feel?"
"Better." Abel whispered. "I guess. What are we going to do about Jeremy and Aaron?"
"We?" Gabe asked. "We aren't going to do anything. I'm going back to work and I assume you'll keep skulking around until Dean finally spots you and kills you before you have a chance to explain yourself. I thought you were leaving."
"I did...for a day...eighteen hours."
"It was seven. You stayed away for seven hours. You can't keep this up. You have to make a decision to leave for good or tell Sam you're back."
"I can't yet."
"I trust you know what you're doing?"
"Not a clue."
"Good luck with that then." Gabe said. "Enjoy the fireworks. I hear they're spectacular."
Abel nodded and then he was left all alone again the freezing cold with only a couple of cars to block him from the wind. It was still so fucking cold, but stayed outside and watched everyone dance and laugh and eat and Gabe was absolutely right. The fireworks were spectacular.
Author: bitchandjerk
Characters: Sam/Dean,John/Mary/OFC OMCs OFCs Jared/Jensen
Rating :R
Words10,000/3,688,900
Warnings: Wincest
Summary: Sam and Dean arrive in New York for the New Year's Eve party.
Notes:: AU, rest are here.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.
Feedback: Makes me hard
You didn't get to be the world's most handsome, charismatic, and best father by not paying attention to everything going on around you. The very second Dean left the hospital with Mikey he was forever changed. Not only was he solely responsible for keeping someone else alive for the next eighteen years, he saw everything around him with new eyes. Those first few weeks he watched Mikey like a hawk and probably didn't get more than thirty minutes of uninterrupted sleep at a time mostly because he had no idea what the hell he was doing and he had convinced himself that something catastrophic would happen. It was hard work being a single parent and unfortunately it didn't get any easier once Sam was back.
Over the years Dean had become a very keen observer and he knew his children better than anyone else, even better than Sam. He knew when a little cough would turn into a full blown cold, he knew that silence always meant trouble, and most of all he knew when his kids were up to something. Sam called him as crazy as he was sexy, but Dean wasn't stupid, he was smart like a fox and there was no denying that Michael was most certainly up to something and that it was most likely no good because he was a ginger and that was their whole thing.
Dean first got an inkling when Michael and Alex left to go to the house in New York to get ready for the rocking New Year's eve party. In fact he had actually started to suspect shenanigans when Michael first mentioned the big fireworks display taking place on the lake, but then he did a little research and it was an actual thing that happened every year. Dean sort of thought that maybe Sam was in on it and that he was working with Michael to ruin all his blowing stuff up fun, but after some very rigorous ass torture it became obvious that Michael's only accomplice was Alex, who had always been up to no good.
On New Year's Eve, Dean decided it was time he got to the bottom of things, so after fucking Sam, he loaded up the car with the kids, got on the road, and neglected to start a movie even after being prompted six separate times. He had just over three hours to figure out what the hell was going on and because he knew his kids so well he knew they'd crack. He wasn't even going to attempt to start with Mikey because that little nerd could keep a secret like his life depended on it, but Ollie, his favorite and sweetest talking child, could be easily bribed with food, kisses, and the promise of getting to sleep in the big bed if he cooperated.
Unfortunately, either someone had already gotten to Ollie or he simply didn't know anything. He did go on a ten minutes tirade about how Oinkers needed his own car seat, but if he knew what Michael was up to, he wasn't talking. Dean tried Ethan next, but he wouldn't shut up about being the world's most mature six year old. Mary was unconcerned with anyone's affairs except for her new doll's and Milo had a box of animal crackers, so he completely ignored Dean which was nothing new. Mikey was out because he was a nerd, and Dean didn't want to press Evan, because if he knew something and spilled the beans he'd inevitably get upset. That left Buster, but he was sound asleep sucking on his pacifier like it was going out of style.
For the next hour Dean thought long and hard about what underhanded scheme Michael was up to and after another half hour he finally figured it out. Sam had dozed off so Dean promptly slapped him in the side of the face and told him to prepare himself for war. After getting slapped back, twice, Dean told Sam that it was oh-so-obvious, that Michael wanted to throw a party he could invite Jensen and Jared to. Sam would be forced to see them and they'd have to sit down and talk about the recent unpleasantness surrounding the filming date of the movie.
Sam, who didn't think Michael was up to anything, was suddenly very interested, and as expected, he turned in his seat and started to snap his fingers at Mikey in an attempt to get information out of him. He absolutely refused to be ambushed by the no good, selfish, and ungrateful Packlecki's and he wanted to know exactly what to expect when they got to the house so he could decide who got to live and who had to die. Mikey just sort of shrugged and went back to watching his movie, which only made Sam reach back and snatch his headphones away from him.
That went over like a fart in church because for the rest of the car ride everyone was yelling back and forth about how they didn't know anything and eventually Dean started to believe them, even if they were probably all filthy dirty liar babies. They probably could have argued a little more, but Buster was still sleeping and he hadn't pooped himself yet. If he woke up from the arguing he was going to promptly take a dump and then they'd have to stop and that was the last thing Dean wanted to do.
For the rest of the ride in Sam was tense and nervously tapping his fingers against his leg. He absolutely did not want to deal with Jared and Jensen and if they showed up at the house he had already decided to ignore them and figure out some kind of punishment for Michael for being so sneaky and underhanded. Of course the reality of the situation was much, much, worse, for Sam at least, because Michael was up to something, but it didn't have too much to do with Jared and Jensen.
When Dean finally made it to the house, he drove up the long driveway and then stopped rather abruptly causing all the kids to start yelling again. The house and all the grounds were covered in a fresh thick blanket of snow and in the middle of everything, right next to the lake was a rather large white tent. There was a rather elaborate looking platform not far from that and there were literally dozens of people running around all over the place carrying buckets of flowers, large candelabras, and what looked to be about a hundred chairs. In the middle of it all Michael was gesturing wildly to Antony, who was nodding and smiling with his clipboard in his hand.
"Son of a bitch." Dean whispered. "Is this what I think it is?"
"Over my dead body!" Sam screamed. "Drive over there!"
Sam reached over and smacked Dean in the side of the face again, causing him to drive forward very quickly, which made the kids yell yet again. When they pulled up next to the house Sam was out of the car before Dean even had a chance to put it in park. He tore ass through the snow and started to yell and scream while waving his hands in the air like a crazy person. In order to avoid an international incident, Dean left Mikey in charge and then ran to join Sam just as fast as he little legs could carry him.
"How dare you!" Sam yelled. "After everything we've done for you this is how you repay me!"
"It's a surprise!" Michael smiled. "It's going to be the best night of my..."
"How dare you!" Sam said again. "I have been planning this day for years and this isn't what I wanted!"
"Well, Sam, technically."
"And you!" Sam said as he turned to face Antony. "After everything we've been through, you do this behind my back! Do you want me to have you sent back to Australia, where you had to fight kangaroos to make a living? Is that what you want!"
"Sammy, calm down..."
"I booked Hearst Castle!" Sam said as he grabbed Michael's face in his hands. "You know how hard it was for me to book Hearst Castle without a date! I had it all planned out!"
"You're squeezing my face off, dad! Ain't nobody said nothing about no Hearst Castle!"
"It's what I wanted!"
"But it's my wedding!"
For whatever reason, probably temporary insanity, Sam spun Michael around and spanked him rather firmly on his butt. Whatever that was supposed to do, didn't happen, because Michael turned around and smacked Sam right on his ass at lot harder. Sam was seriously about five seconds away from a total mental breakdown, but Dean was as happy as a man could be. He pushed Sam over into the snow, gave Michael a big hug, and then went off to check things out. Sam immediately started to physically and verbally abuse Antony, but he had already been through much worse, so Dean knew he could handle it.
To be completely honest Dean wasn't totally thrilled with a surprise wedding, but he wanted whatever made Michael and Alex happy. He was actually kind of impressed they had managed to keep everything a secret and eventually Sam was going to calm down and stop freaking out. He so wanted to throw another perfect over the top wedding and he hadn't even gotten to participate in the planning, so Dean saw where he was coming from, but it wasn't his wedding.
"He's so mad."
"Oh, he'll get over it." Dean said as he rolled his eyes. "Daddy will dick him down later and he'll forget all about you ruining his wedding. I can't believe you two managed to pull this off!"
Dean was even more impressed when he realized just how much work had gone into the surprise nuptials. Alex and Michael had been engaged for what seemed like forever and whenever talk of an actual wedding came up they were both completely uninterested. After all they already had a house and were living together and when you got to that point a wedding was basically just a party and some paperwork. They weren't going to be more together if they were married so they both just kind of shrugged it off.
It wasn't until October when they were faced with the reality of becoming parents in just nine short months that they sat down and decided to do the damned thing. Alex wanted something simple in either Vermont or New York, and Michael wanted to wear white without anyone talking smack about him behind his back. They both wanted a winter wedding and above all else they wanted nice and easy.
Unfortunately planning a wedding, even a small one was hard work. Alex had a full time job teaching the kids and Michael was consistently killing it at Yale. For about two weeks they tried to get things done on the weekend, but it left little time for anything else. Michael had actually decided to draft Sam, but Alex, for once in his life, put his foot down. Sam couldn't do simple, it wasn't in his nature, and something with a handful of friends was going to turn into a full scale event which neither of them wanted, until they had their first meeting with Antony.
He was the best of the best and Michael figured he could turn out a simple wedding in his sleep, and it had started out like that, but then there were menus and floral prototypes and color schemes. At that point Alex and Michael realized that while they wanted something simple, they deserved something extraordinary. Not Sam's style of extraordinary, but still, something pretty nice and maybe a little extravagant. They still wanted it to be a surprise though, and it was because apparently no one they had invited suspected they'd be coming to a wedding instead of a New Year's Eve party.
"To go behind my back and involve my best friend is completely unacceptable. As far as I'm concerned all these people are trespassing!"
"How many best friends you got?" Michael asked as he saw Sam charging towards them. "You may have two."
"Why do I get two and Dean gets twelve?"
"Because it's my wedding day and I say so."
"Michael." Sam said sincerely. "Let me fly everyone to Hearst Castle tonight."
"Seriously." Dean sighed. "You're serious with this?"
"Antony said we could pull it off!"
"Sammy, you have him in a headlock."
"Help me." Antony whispered. "I'm far too delicate for roughhousing."
"Oh, please. If you survived numerous dingo attacks in the Australian wilderness you can survive this."
"Dad, let him go. We'll cancel the wedding."
"Oh, thank God!" Sam said as he hurled Antony to the ground. "Daddy was worried he'd have to involve his best friend God to smite your sweet high tight ginger ass. You don't want that do you? For daddy to have you smoten?"
"It's fine." Michael smiled. "I thought you might be upset. I'm sorry for being so underhanded and selfish."
"Aw, it's okay! Just don't let it happen again. Daddy doesn't like when things aren't all about him. I'll plan everything, Antony can brief me on what you and Alex want and then I'll just do whatever I think is best since he has no taste and you're a hillbilly."
"Sammy!"
"And I'm extra super sorry that I knew you'd react like this and while you were beating your best friend senseless, I made sure Alex told Milo he gets to be the ring bear."
"What!"
"And that we had a custom dress made for Mary to be the flower girl."
"What!"
When Dean looked over Mikey had everyone out of the car and Alex was talking to Mary and Milo telling them all about their very important jobs. Mary was into it because there was a dress involved, and Milo was ecstatic since he got to be a bear at Jared and Jensen's wedding and he was still bringing it up at least once a day. That was when Sam realized he was beaten because the kids were officially involved and there wasn't shit he could do about it.
After helping Antony up off the ground, Sam apologized to him and then gave Michael a big hug to congratulate him. He was probably only kind of serious about the whole Hearst Castle thing, at least like 60%, but he was a big enough man to be happy for Michael and Alex. In fact in the grand scheme of things a surprise wedding was probably for the best because if no one knew about it no one, namely paparazzi, could crash it. It was smart all around and Dean was looking forward to dancing with Sam and maybe even getting sloppy drunk.
"Rawr!" Milo yelled as he ran over with his hands like claws. "Ring bear, daddy!"
"I heard!" Dean said before squatting down. "Why are you so ferocious?"
"Rawr!"
"Daddy, a new dress!"
"It's about time someone got you a dress. What do you need that for?"
"Flowah girl." Mary said proudly. "Because me, Murray, gorgeous."
"True story!"
"Daddy!" Milo said as he pulled on Sam's jeans. "Rawr! Ring Bear!"
The rest of the kids were equally excited about the surprise wedding. Mikey thought it was high time Alex and Michael settled down and the twins were thrilled because a surprise wedding meant surprise cake. Ollie, for some reason, was pretty sure there were going to be hot dogs and that alone was reason enough to celebrate. The only one who wasn't on board was Buster and that was only because Alex had gotten him out of his car seat and was holding him. He didn't go in for that kind of shit and he was scowling like it was going out of style. He was extra fidgety too and didn't relax until Dean took him and punched Alex in the arm for touching his baby.
"Milo." Sam said as he picked him up. "Promise daddy that you'll let me throw you a wedding one day."
"Okay. Rawr!"
"Are you really upset?" Alex asked. "It's going to be great."
"Of course I'm not upset."
Besides knowing the kids, Dean knew Sam and regardless of what he said or how he acted, he was quite obviously upset. That wasn't to say he wouldn't be supportive or happy for Alex and Michael, but something was upsetting him about the surprise wedding and Dean was positive it had little to do with it not being an over the top affair at Hearst Castle. No one else seemed to notice anything wrong, except for Mikey, who always knew when something was up.
He wasn't acting weird and he didn't do or really do anything, but he was staring at Sam in the most peculiar way. At first Dean thought he was just imagining things, but when Mikey caught him staring he very quickly looked away and diverted all his attention to showing Ollie something in the snow. Instead of asking what was up Dean decided to let it go until he got a chance to talk to Mikey alone. He didn't want to ruin Michael or Alex's excitement and he most certainly didn't want to make a scene, since Sam had already handled that by trying to behead Antony.
Sam absolutely loved the house on Lake George because it was so ridiculously fabulous and downright decadent. The other houses were nice, but the house on Lake George gave Sam the opportunity to do something he rarely got to do anywhere else, which was to be completely alone in a house full of people. In Connecticut it was impossible because while the house was big, there were only so many places to hide and if someone needed him they found him.
The main house at Auldbrass was much smaller, but there Sam could always sneak off into one of the dozens of other building on the property. They were great places to hide, but that was all he could do in them. He couldn't work on little projects or straighten things up, all he could really do was read or maybe play on his phone. The main problem with doing that was that once he was inevitably found someone would accuse him of hiding and question why he was doing it.
In Vermont the house was pretty big and there was plenty to occupy his time, but when they were there, there was always a lot of activity going on and usually a lot of house guests. The entire time they were there for Christmas Sam had been constantly busy and there wasn't a spare moment to hide and spend time alone. Even if there was there were too many people in the house and someone always needed something or wanted to talk and Sam just couldn't get a moment alone unless he was in the bathroom, which wasn't all that enjoyable.
In New York, Sam had thousand of square feet and he could hide in any number of places in plain sight. Even with a house full of people he could easily get lost somewhere and it would take at least a half hour for anyone to find him and that was usually the result of a lot of yelling or a cell phone call. To avoid that Sam had left his cell phone in the kitchen, and found a perfect little spot to cloister himself away in.
On the second floor of the library, there was a quaint little nook for reading which was just big enough for two chairs and an end table. It was sort of tucked away so anyone walking through the library couldn't just glance up and see who was there. The only way to do that was to climb the spiral staircase in the corner, walk along the balcony, and then peek around the corner. Sam was perfectly hidden and comfortable, with a oversized cup of coffee, a stack of magazines, and a couple of cookies he had snuck off with. He knew he had a good hour before anyone found him or started yelling for him and he was going to enjoy himself.
"Sammy?"
"You gotta be fucking kidding me." Sam whispered to himself. "I just sat down."
"Sammy? Are you up there?"
"Yes." Sam groaned. "I'm fine, you can go back to daddying."
"Sammy, I can hear you, but I don't know where you are."
"Up the staircase, take a left."
"Okay, I'll be there in five to ten minutes."
Sam groaned again quietly and then grabbed one of the magazines to bury his nose in it. For the record it's not that he didn't want to talk to Dean, he just didn't want to talk to anyone. He wanted to relax and be alone with his coffee and his magazines and not worry about what was going on right outside the window. Sam had an almost perfect view of all the activity happening at the lake and as much as he hated himself for even thinking it, it was kind of annoying him.
"Why are you hiding up here?" Dean asked once he arrived. "What's wrong with you?"
"I'm just reading."
"Please tell me you're not pissed off that you didn't get to plan Michael's wedding."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"Are you mad because they didn't involve you at all?"
"I'm not mad about anything."
"Are you upset because they think you would have made it into some huge production?"
"I don't think they think that, but maybe you do."
"Sammy, I didn't come here to fight with you. I just want to talk."
"And I want to read."
"Fine." Dean said before he sat down. "When you're done, I'll be waiting to talk to you."
"I have six magazines."
"I can wait."
Dean pulled a bag of animal crackers out of his jacket and proceeded to open them up making the most amount of noise possible in the process. Sam briefly considered tossing him over the railing or out the window, but he'd probably just land on his feet and make his way back upstairs with an even noisier snack. Sam was absolutely determined to read his magazine to prove a point, but he couldn't act like a child and he couldn't pretend like he wasn't bothered.
"I wanted more for him."
"Excuse me?"
"I wanted more for him." Sam said quietly. "That little boy who came to live with us and told us about Alabama, he's a man now and we did that without any guns or magic or super powers. The two of us, our family, our friends, we made that boy into a man."
"Go on."
"And I want more for him because he deserves it."
"Sammy, this is what they want. It's going to be beautiful."
"I understand that, I don't doubt that it will be, but he deserves better."
"He has everything he could possibly want."
"And he deserves more."
Sam didn't know why the surprise wedding had hit him so hard, but it did. He saw what was happening and his whole plan for giving Michael the world and then some went out the window. It wasn't about the wedding Michael wanted or what Sam wanted, it was just about giving him more because he deserved it. It wasn't even about the wedding at all really, that was just the impetus that got Sam thinking and then got him thinking too much. He wanted to play it off like he was upset about not getting to plan the perfect wedding for his son and maybe that had fooled everyone else, but he could never fool Dean.
"You think he shouldn't marry Alex?"
"Of course not. There's no one better for him than Alex."
"Then what are you trying to say?"
"I don't know." Sam shrugged. "Consider me at a loss for words."
"I find that hard to believe."
"We did everything we could, Dean, but we can't fix it. We can't change what happened to him. Our kids are going to know one day, his kids are going to know. All we can do is always make things better and with all the money in the world, all the power we have, we can't give him what he deserves."
"Sammy, he's happy. He's at peace. He's strong because of what happened to him. I agree he deserves the world, but he has enough. He has more than enough."
"Do you remember that week before you started working at the garage?"
"Sammy."
For all he had done, for all the money he made, and all the adoration he had, Sam found it impossible to articulate the way he was feeling. It was such a strange thing because at one point him and Dean could literally hear each other's thoughts. Sam would have loved to had that little perk back, but he didn't, so the best example he could give was to remind Dean of a story from their past, one he didn't particularly care to reminisce about.
Before Mikey was born, Sam was in the apartment and Dean was living alone in a duplex he was renting. He wasn't hunting or working and he was paying the bills in the way he always had, by doing whatever underhanded trickery he could to get money. All the bills were paid with credit cards that weren't his and the rent came from cash he had saved and unscrupulous credit card advances. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, but Dean was just trying to survive.
When Mikey was born and Sam came back, Dean made a very deliberate decision about how he was going to take care of his family and how he was going to take care of his son. He wasn't going to lie, cheat, and steal to keep a roof over his son's head because Mikey deserved better. Sam supported him because that's what you did when you loved someone, but he knew it was a disaster in the making.
Neither of them were prepared for how expensive children were. Mikey needed formula and diapers and visits to the doctor and it only took a couple of weeks before all of Dean's saving were nearly gone, the bills were late, the rent was due and Mikey was down to his last pack of diapers. Sam got a little creative with the finances and he managed to get everything paid, Mikey had everything he needed and they had another month in the house, but once he was done there was nothing left. It was no exaggeration either, he had about four dollars to play with and an empty refrigerator.
"We went hungry. We had nothing for an entire week before dad showed up and you found work. Do you remember that?"
"Of course I do, what does that have to do with Michael?"
"Having nothing sucks. I know buying things and spending all this money we have doesn't fix what happened to him, but it helps, it's a distraction, and since he met Alex I've been dreaming of throwing him a wedding so amazing that he'll never forget a second of it. I just want to do everything in my power to make it better for him."
"And you think what he planned with Alex won't be something he never forgets?"
"It's not that. I just had a plan and whenever things got rough for me or him or you, I'd imagine this huge event. I had a list of things that I thought would help, you know?"
"I guess." Dean said as he stared at his hands. "Sammy, I love you, I loved our wedding, but honestly, I..."
"What?"
"I didn't care about it at all. You did great, it was beautiful, it was fun, but all that mattered to me was being with our friends and family."
"Me too."
"And that's all Michael and Alex care about. You may have imagined this huge event because you feel like it's what he deserves, but what he deserves is someone who loves him as much as Alex does. Someone he's going to raise a family with. We've given him everything, we've made him into a man. It's time to let Alex do the rest."
Dean, as always made a lot of sense, but Sam still felt weird about the whole thing. He absolutely wasn't being selfish, it's just that he had plans for Michael, he had made them years ago before he even expressed any interest in dating and one of the things he wanted to give him was a completely over the top wedding. Since that wasn't going to happen, Sam decided it would be best for all involved to just cross it off his list. He still had plenty he wanted to do for his big boy and no matter what anyone said he was spoiling the shit out of that kid when it was born.
"Dad? Dad?"
"Are you okay, Sammy?"
"Yeah." Sam smiled. "It's going to be perfect."
"Dad!"
"Up here!" Sam yelled over the balcony. "What's wrong?"
"I have a wedding crisis!"
Sam wanted to leap to his feet and do everything he could to assist, but to not appear too eager he gave Michael directions on where to find them and then waited with Dean. If it was a real crisis, Michael was handling it very well because he looked calm and collected, which for the record was exactly how Sam handled his own wedding related crisis' when they came up. He certainly hadn't hit anyone or threatened deportation.
"You two need to stop your sinful kinky deviant sex acts, that I don't want to know anything about and help me!"
"What's wrong?" Dean asked. "And they were only a little kinky."
"Jeremy just got here and he wasn't even excited when I asked him to be my best man."
"Jeremy?" Sam laughed. "What about Ryan?"
"Jeremy was my first friend I made by myself and yes, he wanted to kill dad and he tried to eat Anthony, but I told him when I got married he was going to be my best man."
"What did he say when you asked him?"
""If that's what you want, I guess.""
"Ouch." Dean whispered. "Alex must be looking everywhere for me to ask me to be his best man."
"Hey dad." Michael said as he sat in Dean's lap. "You are so sexy."
"Oh, God! No! This can't be happening to me!"
"Your pecker is huge!"
"No! No!" Dean said as he knocked Michael to the ground. "I absolutely refuse to accept that..."
"He already asked Justin."
"The fuck he did!"
Sam actually cringed and then tried to sneak off before Dean exploded all over his beautiful face, which he usually fucking loved. To not be Alex's best man was bad enough, but to have Justin take his place was a total kick in the balls that Dean didn't need. He looked very upset, but Sam had to ignore him because Michael was more upset and he had more of a right to be.
Jeremy hadn't really been the same since Thanksgiving. He had a very bad year what with being kidnapped by God and all, and then when things were looking like they were getting back to normal, Aaron came home with Max. There was no denying that Jeremy cared about Max and he'd do anything to make Aaron happy, but it wasn't what he signed up for and it was starting to wear on him some. He just wasn't very talkative anymore, he didn't seem very happy, and his once constant presence at the center had dwindled significantly. He hadn't even mentioned anything about starting Grad school in January and before Max that was all he could talk about it seemed.
"He's having a rough time."
"Dad, he's so down."
"I know." Sam sighed. "This hasn't really been easy on him, you know?"
"But it's my wedding. I'm worried that he couldn't even pretend for just a day...for me."
"Is there a reason you didn't ask Jason?"
"Yes."
Dean waited a couple of seconds, but Michael didn't feel the need to clarify, which sort of surprised Sam. After everything they had been though and the past few months they had gotten really tight. Having him not ask Jason was weird and it was even weirder that he hadn't asked Ryan. Sam got where he was coming from with Jeremy because they were really close, but once Aaron was in the picture and Michael started school they didn't hang out as much. Michael was nothing if not a man of his word though and if he promise Jeremy he could be the best man then he was going to be the best man even if they had gone ten years without talking.
"What do you want us to do?"
"I'm just telling you. Few weeks ago I could have asked him to set himself on fire and he would have happily done it for me. Y'all don't think he's mad that I'm so close with Ryan and Jason do you? He was gone and he needed to spend time with Aaron when he got back and..."
"Hey." Dean said as he shook his head. "Calm down. You didn't do anything wrong. It's your big day and even if he's not excited, he should pretend to be."
"I thought it'd mean so much to him and if it doesn't that's okay, but at one point nothing would have meant more."
"Do you want us to talk to him?" Sam asked. "I don't know that we can force him to be excited."
"I don't care about that dad. I care that he's not okay."
Sam didn't know what to do and he felt awful, because honestly him and Dean had been working pretty hard to pretend that nothing was wrong with Jeremy. At first it was just a wait and see kind of thing. They figured after a couple of weeks he'd settle into his new life with Aaron and Max and everything would be okay, but that clearly hadn't happened. Jeremy had been pretty okay on Christmas, but he had spent a lot of time acting and there was a very good chance he had put on a show, that he had been putting on a show and he just couldn't do it anymore.
"We're going to get through today and tomorrow we'll talk to him. If this isn't something he feels like he can do you can always ask Ryan, right?"
"I guess."
"You don't..." Sam said before he paused. "You don't think he's jealous that he can't have this with Aaron, right?"
"Sammy, does he honestly strike you as the wedding type?"
"No, but that's easier for me to deal with than worrying that he's..."
"Profoundly depressed." Michael said quietly. "He needs help."
"He'll get it." Dean smiled. "Everything will be okay."
"I'm going to go talk to him. I don't want to force him to do something he doesn't want to do."
"Okay."
"Dad, you're okay with Alex?"
"Absolutely not, again, not your problem."
As many problems as Sam was having with the whole wedding thing, he at least kept his cool around Michael. Dean apparently didn't feel like that was something he had to do. Michael looked a little upset that he had a problem with Alex not picking him, but he still gave them both hugs and then walked away to go find Jeremy. Sam really wanted to let Dean have a piece of his mind, but he didn't say anything. He didn't start yelling or sighing, and he didn't judge because Dean hadn't judged him.
"Why Justin?" Dean asked after a minute of silence. "After everything Alex and I have been through."
"Dean, Justin was willing to die for us simply because we took care of Alex. I know this means a lot to you, but I think maybe...maybe it means more to Justin and Alex knows that. He puts on his tough guy facade, but we both know he wants to be up there marrying Alex. That was their plan."
"Seems like a lot of things didn't go according to plan."
"No, but our son is getting married, or friend is marrying him, and Craig did say yes when Justin proposed."
"I know."
"Plans change. That doesn't mean they change for the worse. I think things, for us, don't always work out the way we thought they might, but they work out for the best."
"That needs to be the family motto."
"I'll have a crest commissioned as soon as we're back home."
"Come on." Dean said as he offered his hand. "Let's go see if there's anything we can help with."
"Okay. There's a lot of stuff going on out there and...Oh, I know someone is not peeing behind my tree!"
"Where?"
Sam was looking out the window and most certainly saw someone either hiding behind a tree or taking a leak. That shit was not cool and Sam was all about to head downstairs and raise some hell, but all of Antony's workers were dressed head to toe in black. The man he saw was in jeans and a big coat. At least he assumed it was a man, Sam didn't get a look at his face because he ducked behind the tree too quickly. He might have been with the vendors or making a delivery, either way peeing outside was no permitted.
"Right by that tree."
"I don't see anyone, Sammy."
"He ducked behind that tree. I need to go raise some hell."
"Would you rather a stranger pee inside the house?"
"Ugh." Sam groaned. "The nerve of some people."
"Come on, let's go see if there's any yellow snow."
By the time they made it through the house and out to the tree no one was there and there was no pee in the snow, thank God. Dean accused Sam of being crazy again, but there were definitely some fresh footprints in the snow. Sam immediately began to worry that some delivery driver was about to tip off the paparazzi, but Dean assuaged his fears by reminding him that no one was ruining Michael's big day.
Twenty minutes before everything was due to start, Dean found himself in the middle of another crisis. As a dutiful host, he was standing outside the big tent welcoming the guests who all were in complete shock. They had no idea what was going on, but Michael and Alex had been smart enough to make sure everyone knew that the big party was black tie. Whatever reservations Sam may have had were a thing of the past because everyone looked so good and Antony had done an absolutely beautiful job.
Because it was Winter and it was still plenty cold out, Michael and Alex had decided on white and cream colored flowers. Everything was all cool and icy and to combat the cold there were several heaters dotted around. It was actually kind of nice to be standing by one and Dean knew the tent was extra toasty since they could put as many heaters as they wanted in there without melting the snow which Michael was quite adamant about.
As more and more of the guest arrived, realized what was going on, and offered their congratulations, Dean became more and more proud. He was beaming and Sam was in his glories. It wasn't what he had planned for Michael, it wasn't ridiculous and over the top, but it was still perfect. Everything was beautiful and Dean knew the whole night was going to be something to remember for the rest of their lives and he also foolishly assumed that everything was going to be drama free.
That all changed when a big black SUV arrived and parked in the designated area. Sam was busy talking to Jenny, so he missed seeing Jared step out in his very nice looking tuxedo. He got out the babies first and then went to the passengers side to open the door for Jensen. Dean thought that was just adorable, until Jensen hopped out of the car and teetered to check on the babies on a set of not so formal crutches. Dean audibly groaned and then Sam finally looked over and whispered a very inappropriate obscenity under his breath. Jenny took that as her cue to get the hell out of there and Dean practically ran over to assist Jensen.
Since the whole movie fiasco, Sam hadn't said a word about Jared or Jensen, and Dean hadn't talked to either of them. He wasn't doing it on purpose, he was just trying to keep the peace and if he acted like nothing was wrong or that nothing had happened Sam was going to raise hell. He was still pretty pissed off about Jensen refusing to honor his obligations to the movie in the timeframe they agreed on, but Dean was pretty sure he was about to get over it.
"What the hell!" Dean said as he helped Jensen walk. "What happened?"
"I told you I needed to have knee surgery."
"I thought you were lying!"
"When have I ever lied to you? Who's getting married?"
"Michael and Alex." Sam said as he walked over. "Jensen..."
"Yes, Sam?"
"I'm...sorry."
"Mmhmm." Jared groaned. "Well, look at my babies, come on."
"I want to go see Michael."
"I was just about to go check on him." Dean said. "You can come with me."
Before Dean could check on his biggest baby he had to peek out the newest ones. Austin and Dallas weren't in formal wear, but they both looked really fucking cute. It was close to their bedtime and they were both sort of drowsy, but they seemed to enjoy being invited to a fabulous social event. Dean really wanted to pick them up and give them a couple of smooches, but instead he settled for one kiss on the head and then walked off with Jensen leaving Sam behind to talk with Jared.
Dean really felt bad about doubting Jensen, and he felt extra bad for Sam because he had kind of gotten the cold shoulder. In time it would be fine because friends sometimes got in arguments or had disagreements. That was just part of life and hopefully by the end of the night Jensen and Sam could reach some kind of peace for Michael's sake.
"You doing okay?"
"Fine." Jensen sighed. "Okay, I did lie."
"Excuse me?"
"I did lie. I had the surgery before I called to tell you I needed surgery."
"Why would you do that?"
"Because I thought if you guys thought I just had surgery it would buy me some more time at home."
"Jensen, you knew when the babies were coming, you knew when the movie was starting and you know how important this is to Sam."
"I know."
"I won't tolerate lying...but let's keep when you had the surgery between the two of us."
"Probably a good idea."
"When are you going to be off those crutches?"
"About a week more. It's getting better everyday."
"Good."
"Are you okay?"
"I just want Sam to keep his cool about the movie, it's fine I..."
"I meant with all this...with Michael."
Dean sighed and nodded without giving an answer. He wasn't completely fine with it, he felt like what he assumed all dads did when their kids got married. He could have completely lost his shit, but he had a good memory. He was worried when Michael and Alex started dating, when they started living together, when they got engaged, when they moved into the house, and all that had turned out great. Nothing had changed, Dean's relationship with Michael was exactly the same and it always would be.
Since Michael was the big boss of the relationship he had claimed a corner of the house to get ready and wait in while Alex had to get ready and then wait in the tent. When Dean got to hallway leading to the room Michael was holed up in he heard a lot of very intense, very loud arguing. Jensen was steady enough on solid ground so Dean jogged down the hall and was almost at the door when Jeremy pulled it open and ran out. He nearly knocked Dean flat on his ass and he actually ran into Jensen who was trying his best to hobble towards the commotion. He didn't knock him over so Dean groaned and then walked in to see what the hell was going on.
"What the hell is..."
"Ryan, I don't care that you don't know what formal wear means you're my best man."
"I don't own a tuxedo, I'm sorry."
"It's fine. You look very nice."
"It's a nice suit." Ryan said quietly. "Kevin loaned it to me."
"It's fine."
"What happened?" Dean asked. "What's going on?"
"I don't ask anything of anybody and for one day it's all about me and Alex. I don't know what his problem is, but I've had enough of it."
"Michael." Ryan said. "He's obviously upset about something."
"And if he don't wanna tell me then I ain't got time for it."
"Oh, God." Jensen whispered as he made it into the room. "You look so handsome."
"Jensen! I was so worried you wouldn't make it."
"You should have told me what was really going on, I would have gotten here last week."
"Hey." Dean said. "Can you uh..."
"I got him. Go ahead."
While Jensen tended to Michael and got what looked to be the first of many knee kisses, Dean sprinted out of the room to look for Jeremy. He realized what a ridiculous notion that was because Jeremy was fast and he could have freaking been ten miles away already. Even if he wasn't fast the house was huge and he could have ducked in any room he wanted to. There was no way Dean was going to be able to open every door he passed, so he just hoped for the best and kind of made his way to the center of the house. He didn't have much time because the wedding was just about to start, but regardless of where he was standing during, Jeremy had to be there.
After three agonizing minutes of searching, Dean finally found Jeremy the same place he had found Sam. He wasn't up in the little book nook, he was on the ground hugging his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth. He was crying, which he rarely did, he was practically gasping for air, and when Dean got to him he felt his entire body shaking.
"I'm here." Dean said as he sat next to him. "Breathe, okay?"
"I can't."
"Yeah, you can. Give me your hand."
"I can't breathe."
"You're having a panic attack. Sammy had them all the time once he left the apartment. Come on, look at me. I'm right here."
Dean was so set on yelling at Jeremy for not doing everything he could to make Michael happy, but that all changed once they were looking at each other. For the first time in a long time, Michael was the last thing on Dean's mind and he wasn't much concerned about any of the kids. He was just worried about Jeremy and the pain in his eyes. It was almost too much for Dean to handle, but he wouldn't let himself look away and he wasn't going anywhere until he got something out of Jeremy.
"It's over." Jeremy whispered. "It's over."
"I don't think it is, you just need to keep breathing and stayed focused on me and..."
"Aaron. It's over."
"Wha...what do you mean?"
"It's over." Jeremy said again. "I can't...we can't do this anymore."
"No, you'll...you both just need to talk and we'll all sit down and work something out and it'll be fine. You'll both be fine and everything will be okay, don't worry about it. Everything will be fine. Me and Sammy and dad can help out more with Max. What's another kid at this point?"
"No. There's nothing to work out. It's over. We can't do this anymore. I'm sorry I let Michael down, but I couldn't pretend for another minute. I can't fake it anymore."
Dean knew he had to say something. He had to do something to make Jeremy feel better and he had to figure out a way to fix things, but he couldn't do anything. He just sat on the floor and stared at Jeremy for the next few minutes until he stopped crying and shaking and his breathing returned to normal. Once he was sure he was past the worst of it, Dean stood, helped Jeremy up and then walked with him to the lake so they would both be on time for the wedding.
Things weren't great between Jeremy and Aaron, Dean knew that, everyone knew that, but he never imagined they'd just go their separate ways. Dean wasn't even sure how that worked because they had been intimate in every sense of the word and he had no idea how anyone could just go back to being brothers after that. Over the past ten years Dean had done things with and to Sam that had irrevocably changed their relationship, but that was just sex. Over the past ten years Dean had also shared every secret and fear and he cried with Sam and stayed up all night talking about the future, their future together. Jeremy and Aaron had done the same and Dean didn't know how you'd deal with things changing so drastically.
When Dean sat down in the front row, Sam looked at him and then over at Jeremy who should have been with Michael. He knew something was up, but surrounded by their friends and family was the wrong time to ask about it. John was sitting right next to them and he kept looking over at Jeremy and then glancing back at Dean and furrowing his eyebrows. When Dean made a deliberate point to look away, John started shooting glances at Aaron, who was up on the beautifully constructed stage ready to get things started.
Because there was no bride there wasn't anyone to give away or any grand entrance. Alex just made his way out of the tent with Justin and just a few seconds later Michael came out of the house with Ryan right behind him. They both looked so handsome and Dean was happy, but his heart was breaking at the same time. Before Michael took his place on the stage, he stopped and got a kiss on the cheek from Sam and then three or four from Dean. It was hard to believe he was the same boy who showed up at the house on Sam's birthday almost three years ago, but he had made it. He had survived and worked hard and he had everything he could possibly want, including family that had never and would never let him down.
Just when Aaron was about to get things started, Jeremy stood up from where he was sitting and took his place right next to Michael. Ryan almost seemed relieved and he gladly slunk back off the stage and went to sit next to Kevin. As hard as it was to be up there, Jeremy had done it for Michael and for just a second they squeezed each other's hands before Alex nodded to give Aaron the go ahead.
Aaron had married dozens of people and he had a pretty standard little opening speech all memorized. He went custom for Alex and Michael though and it was beautiful. He spoke about love and family, and trust and how at one point they had both been so broken, but together they were stronger than anyone else he knew. It was really beautiful and Michael didn't make it more than a few minutes before he was sniffling a little. Dean sort of expected the same from Alex, but he had the biggest goofiest grin on his face the entire time because after a lifetime of hardship and heartache, he was finally getting what he deserved, they both were.
Things were going pretty well until it was time for the rings. Milo had his little pillow and he was guarding it with his life. When Aaron asked him to come up, he leapt to his feet, stomped around for a full minute, and growled at everyone before attempting to bite Jensen on his ass. In order to avoid a vicious mauling, Jensen grabbed him by the arm, pointed him towards the altar and then smacked him on the butt. After that he promptly delivered the rings and then ran to Sam so they could figure out the best way to retaliate.
"Alex." Aaron said. "Go ahead.
"Michael." Alex said as he twisted the ring between his fingers. "I've been trying to figure out what to say...since I first laid eyes on you. I saw you and I wanted to sit with you and talk to you and hold until everything before that day went away. I have loved you since I met you and I promise you I will spend the rest of my life making sure every second of your life was worth it. You are my best friend. You are my home, and I can't wait for the rest of our lives together."
"Wow." Dean whispered. "Allergies acting up over here."
"Here." Sam said as he gave Dean a Kleenex. "Me too."
"Michael?"
"Alex." Michael said as he took his hands. "I wish...I wish I could say I loved you as soon as I met you, but we both know that ain't true. When I met you, when I met my family I didn't believe that love was something for me. My family made me think otherwise and you were patient and kind and until there was you I never dared dream of a family of my own some day. I love you, Alex Watkins, and you make me forget."
Dean was blubbering as quietly as he could and so was Sam, but John of all people let out a pitiful whale noise and basically threw himself onto Mikey who patted his back and assured him that everything was going to be okay. After some more run of the mill vows, the exchanging of the rings and a very innocent yet sexy kiss, Alex and Michael turned towards all their guests and raised their joined hands above their head.
"Ladies and gentlemen." Aaron said before a dramatic pause. "May I introduce Michael and Alex Watkins-Winchester."
When John made another injured whale noise Dean actually laughed before he leapt to his feet and cheered as loud as he could. For the past year or so there had been much heated debate over the last name situation and for a while Dean was very worried that Michael might become Michael Watkins, which was just completely unacceptable. Not only did they hyphenate, but Alex made damned sure he was getting a husband and making sure all the bitches out there knew that he was the only person worthy of being Dean's best friend. He was a Winchester after all and they always won out in the end.
"Time for me, daddy?" Mary asked Sam. "Murray?"
"Go ahead, baby." Sam said as he handed her the basket. "Real high in the air!"
Mary nodded very enthusiastically and then took off down the aisle to toss rose petals all over the place. Because no one had walked down the aisle she had to wait until after the wedding, but that was fine with her, all she wanted to do was wear a dress and throw rose petals around. She did an excellent job and Dean was very proud of both her and Milo, even if he was about a foot away from biting Jensen on the ass again.
Dean absolutely didn't want to ruin anyone's evening, but he had to talk to Sam and he had to act quick because Jeremy stayed at the altar for about a minute before he started to retreat back to the house. Aaron sort of looked over, but he had a job to do and kept smiling while Michael and Alex walked down the aisle and towards the tent for dinner, dancing, and mingling with their friends.
"Good job." Sam said as Aaron stepped down. "That was great."
"Thank you, Sam. Carol, I'll take Max now and..."
"He can wait." Dean said before pulling Aaron aside. "Anything you want to talk about little brother?"
"I just want to get Max so we can..."
"Yeah?"
"Carol, I'll take him now, thank you..."
"Jesus, Aaron, he's fine. She knows what she's doing."
"Dean, what the hell is wrong with you?" Sam asked. "What happened with Jeremy?"
Dean kind of wanted Carol to step away with Max because as long as Aaron could see him he was going to be distracted. She knew better though and just hung back and made sure Aaron could see that Max was perfectly fine. It would have been better if she left though because she was within earshot and she absolutely could not be trusted to keep secrets from John when it came to his kids.
"This is neither the time nor the place."
"Too fuckin' bad. What the hell happened?"
"We are...we no longer want the same things."
"Who..." Sam said before he paused. "Who doesn't...Dean?"
"Jeremy told me they're not together anymore."
"That's ridiculous." Sam laughed. "Aaron, that's ridiculous. It's ridiculous!"
"Keep your voice down. This isn't about Jeremy and I, it's Michael special day. This can wait. Carol, may I please have my son?"
When Dean tried to stop him, Aaron actually nudged him way too roughly. It hurt pretty fucking bad and Dean was left rubbing his shoulder while Aaron snatched Max away from Carol and went to busy himself in the middle of the largest group of people he could find. Talking to him hadn't gone over so well, so Dean took Sam's hand and once again went searching for Jeremy. He was a lot easier to find the second time because he was throwing his big duffel bag in the back of his car and obviously attempting to make a quick escape.
"You're not leaving this house."
"Well, you can let me leave or you can go get Charlie to stop me because I don't think either of you are up to the task of keeping me here against my will."
"Jeremy." Sam said as he shook his head. "Talk to us."
"I don't want to talk. I want to go home. I want to move my shit out of the barn and move into my new place."
"You...you already have a new place?"
"I signed a lease right before Christmas."
"What the fuck?" Dean whispered. "I get that this hasn't been easy, but you can't cope with your problems by running away."
"Really?" Jeremy laughed. "Seriously? From you two? Seriously?"
"Jeremy." Sam said. "Don't..."
"I'm coping just fine. I'm not going to go looking for a bridge or dig a hole in the backyard and stick a sawed off shotgun in my mouth."
"That is so far below the belt."
"You should have let me leave when I wanted to."
Dean had never in his life been so hurt by someone he loved. Bringing up shit about what he almost did that was fine, but bringing up the bridge in front of Sam was completely inappropriate and borderline unforgiveable. Without another word Jeremy hopped in his car, backed up, and drove away. Dean really had no idea what the fuck had just happened, but he couldn't worry about that because Sam was just staring at nothing.
"Sammy."
"I can't believe he said that to me."
"He's a dick. He's hurt and he just wanted to..."
"Hurt us?" Sam asked. "When we're trying to help?"
"He just wanted to get out of here. He didn't mean it."
"That's not something that makes you weak."
"What?"
"It doesn't make you weak." Sam whispered. "To make that decision to go a bridge or dig a hole. You have to be strong to do that. You have to be even stronger to not take it any further than that. I am not weak."
"Sammy, he didn't say you were, he..."
"I am not weak." Sam said through his teeth. "I'm not weak."
Dean tried to stop him, but Sam pulled away and went to join the rest of the guests. He had a bit of a walk to compose himself by the time he made it to the tent Dean knew he'd have a smile on his face so he could pretend like everything was just peachy. It wasn't so easy for Dean. He stayed standing next to all the cars and let the cold air sting his eyes until they dried out, before he put on his big fake smile so he could go and be happy for Alex and his son.
Dean was already halfway back to the tent when Abel stepped out from the woods and groaned rather loudly. He had been close enough to hear everything while still staying completely hidden from everyone at the wedding. Those Winchesters sure were a whacky bunch and Abel couldn't help but think a lot of their problems could be solved if they all stopped fucking each other.
"Jeremy's a dick even when he's not evil." Abel whispered as he squinted at the crowd. "Are they having gumbo for dinner? I want gumbo."
"Then go have gumbo." Gabe said with a smile. "How much longer do you plan on skulking around?"
"I'm not skulking. I'm just hanging out. What are you doing here?"
"Same thing you are. I wouldn't miss Michael's wedding."
"He looks happy, doesn't he?"
"Very."
"Healthy too."
"How does that make you feel?"
"Better." Abel whispered. "I guess. What are we going to do about Jeremy and Aaron?"
"We?" Gabe asked. "We aren't going to do anything. I'm going back to work and I assume you'll keep skulking around until Dean finally spots you and kills you before you have a chance to explain yourself. I thought you were leaving."
"I did...for a day...eighteen hours."
"It was seven. You stayed away for seven hours. You can't keep this up. You have to make a decision to leave for good or tell Sam you're back."
"I can't yet."
"I trust you know what you're doing?"
"Not a clue."
"Good luck with that then." Gabe said. "Enjoy the fireworks. I hear they're spectacular."
Abel nodded and then he was left all alone again the freezing cold with only a couple of cars to block him from the wind. It was still so fucking cold, but stayed outside and watched everyone dance and laugh and eat and Gabe was absolutely right. The fireworks were spectacular.