Chapter 32
Sam was standing anxiously at the altar, Steve beside him staring at him in amusement remnant from the hair incident earlier. Sam was sure no one, especially his brother, will ever let that incident live down.
His eyes landed on Bobby, who sat in the front row next to Judy, both of them staring at him with fond smiles like proud parents, beside them was Charles and Erik, who also were looking at him with soft looks, that Sam felt himself relax. He was in a room filled with all his loved ones, waiting for his wife-to-be to walk through the doors. There was no reason for him to be worried.
Softly, the music started and the doors opened to reveal Dean and Clint, arm in arm, looking to be uncomfortable as hell at being forced to walk down the aisle like this, but grudgingly doing it. That turn of events was announced by Pepper a few minutes before the wedding, which gave them no enough time to protest, much to everyone’s amusement.
As the two of them started to walk with a grimace like smile on their faces that made Sam and Steve grin like idiots, they were followed by Castiel arm in arm with Charlie, both looking at the two in front of them with barely counseled amusement, followed by Bucky with Raven in all her blue skin glory, then Bruce with Pepper.
The Bridesmaids looked incredibly beautiful in their red dresses that accentuated their respective red hair, and the groomsmen with red ties to complete the elegant look.
Right at the back, Thor appeared with a big smile, dressed in a suit as well, which he was wrestled into by Natasha, since he was planning to show up with some Asgardian’s robes that almost gave the bride a heart attack. In his hands, there was a small, red cushion that held the rings. He followed the small procession.
When they reached the altar, they moved into their positions, Dean clapping Sam on his shoulder with a grin, as he moved to stand behind him with the other groomsmen.
Then the music changed as everyone in the room stood up, eyes trained on the double doors as they opened again.
Revealing the most beautiful sight he ever saw in his life. It’s been three days since he saw Natasha, something about bad luck to see the bride before the wedding and they took it to a whole new level, since they didn’t need to tempt fate.
But it was worth it, as the breath was stolen away from him, when his eyes landed on his soon to be wife, standing in all her white glory, looking even more gorgeous than she already was.
Her arm was tangled with Tony’s, who was grinning beside her as they both started to walk down the aisle. Every eye in the room were locked on them, but Natasha’s were trained on Sam, smiling softly at him the entire way towards the altar.
When they reached them, Tony moved to place a soft kiss to Natasha’s cheek, sent a wink towards Steve, before taking his seat next to Charles in the front row, while Natasha moved to stand before Sam.
“Hi.” She murmured while grinning at him.
“Hey,” he whispered back, unable to remove the huge smile on his face.
Their moment was broken by Angel, who suddenly left Judy’s side to run up to them and wrap himself around Steve’s legs, while staring up at him happily. Managing to make them laugh as they stared down at the small, clingy puppy.
“Well, then. Looks like he wanted to join too.” Steve started with a chuckle, then turned to face the room. “Friends, Family. Dog.” He added with a grin, making everyone chuckle. “Thank you all for being here to join us for this blessed event. I have known these two for a quite some time now, and I cannot imagine two people more perfect for each other. Despite everything that we faced in our hard life, they managed to find happiness in each other. And I know I speak for everyone here, when I wish them a lifetime of happiness.”
Steve’s soft, deep voice washed over everyone, locking them in this sweet moment, as Natasha and Sam kept staring at each other with barely contained grins.
“Rings?” Steve called, looking over at Thor, who immediately stepped forward excitedly to hand over the rings.
Steve then nodded to Natasha to start saying her vows.
She took a deep breath, before looking up at Sam, a smile brightening her face.
“When I was growing up, I never had a mom or a dad.” She started softly; her gaze focused entirely on Sam. “I never had a family. I was considered an unredeemable monster for almost my whole life. I never thought anyone will ever be able to look past that.” She let out a small laugh then. “But I met a tall, big hearted, puppy like idiot who didn’t care. Who actually didn’t see me as the monster I always thought I was.” She reached over and Sam took her hand gently in his, unable to tear his eyes from her. “But I am standing here today, knowing that I have everything I am ever going to need. You are my family, Sam.”
Everyone practically melted at Natasha’s words, Tony and Charles starting to tear up, while Bobby was rubbing at his eyes. Clint was practically sniffing. As Natasha placed the ring into Sam’s finger.
“Dean, are you crying?” Bucky whispered with a grin at the oldest Winchester.
“Shut up, I am not.” Dean hissed at him while rubbing furiously at his eyes, while a teary eyed Castiel just chuckled and wrapped an arm around him.
Steve grinned at the exchange, before turning to Sam and gave him a nod to start his own vows.
“Natasha, you are the best thing that ever happened to me.” Sam started softly, his hand cradling Natasha’s gently. “My life had always been hard. Bloody. Filled with grief and pain. All that changed when my family met yours. When we all became one family. When I met you. You made my life worth living. Made me realize that it was worth living through the literal hell that was my life, if it led me to meet you.” His free hand raised to cup her face gently, as she stared up at him in awe. “You are the most beautiful, kind, strong person I have ever met. I can’t wait to share the rest of my life with you. To wake up every day to your face. To have you as a sister to Dean and Cas.” He smiled, as his eyes got tearful a little. “You are the love of my life, Natasha.”
By that time, everyone in the room was practically crying. Even Erik was fighting his tears and was failing miserably. The bridesmaids were grinning with tearful eyes, while Dean practically melted into Castiel’s arms to hide the fact that he was pretty much crying in joy. As Sam placed his ring into Natasha’s finger.
“Wow.” Steve blinked away his own tears, as he gathered himself to carry on. “Well, Natasha, will you take this overly tall man to be your husband?”
“I do.” She murmured, without a second of hesitation.
“Sam, will you take this scary woman to be your wife?” Steve was failing miserably in hiding his grin.
“I do.” Sam whispered; his smile was impossibly soft.
“Okay, then by the power invested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you Husband and Wife.” Steve announced with a huge grin on his face.
The two couple just stood there, grinning at each other like they forgot what else they were supposed to do.
“Hey, Sam, if you don’t kiss her I will.” Steve raised a pointed eyebrow at him, making the others almost giggle.
“Oh, right!” Sam snapped out of his trance, as he eagerly moved to take Natasha’s face in his hands and kissed her passionately, as she wrapped her own arms around his neck.
The room erupted in happy clapping and shouts around the newlyweds, who separated to grin happily at their family. They were immediately tackled by hugs, as Steve wrapped his arms around Natasha happily, while the others approached as well.
Sam turned and pulled both his brother and brother-in-law in one big hug, they both chuckled as they hugged him back just as tightly.
“I love you, guys.” He whispered, burying his face into Dean’s shoulder, squeezing his family even closer to him. “I am so happy that you both are here with me today.”
His words made the couple startle for a second, before Castiel smiled warmly, while Dean’s face softened as he clapped his brother on his back.
“There is no other place we would rather be, Sammy.” Dean whispered softly with a small smile.
After they separated, Natasha practically tackled Dean into a tight hug, that managed to make him unable to breathe, but hugged her anyway just as excitedly. Just as Sam was pulled into a hug by a very excited Thor, almost breaking a few bones in the process.
But Sam didn’t care. He was happy. A few broken bones will not change that.
It will be worth it.
***
Later in the reception, the newlyweds were seated on a table with the other three married couples, while the rest of the team were moving around, drinking, eating and overall enjoying themselves happily.
During their first dance as a married couple, swinging slowly to the soft music, surrounded by all the other couples in their family, Sam finally admitted to her about the hair incident, enjoying the sound of her laughter.
“Dean and Tony were actually planning to get me a traditional, Indian headdress to hide it and get on with the wedding.” He continued with a chuckle, managing to laugh about the whole thing without feeling ashamed now.
“Why didn’t you try a hat?” Natasha asked with a raised, curious eyebrow.
That made Sam pause and blink at her, before turning to Dean and Tony, who were dancing with their husbands close to them.
“Hat.” He started dryly, giving them a blank look. “You guys thought of an Indian headdress, but you didn’t think of hat.”
They both gaped at him for a second, while Steve and Castiel were practically shaking from how hard they were trying not to laugh.
“Hey! I did think of Cas, you have to give me some credit for that!” Dean pointed out defensively, making his husband snort.
“I also thought about finding you a toupee, but that would have looked stupid.” Tony added helpfully, managing to make Steve move to bury his face into his shoulder as he giggled.
“Right, but the Indian headdress would have looked stylish and fancy.” Sam gave them a bitchface, that was made specifically for these two.
“Oh, look! Food!” they both exclaimed a little too loud, as they practically dragged their husbands behind them, as they ran away from Sam’s bitchface and Natasha’s delighted laughter.
Right now, at their shared table, the newly married couple were practically glued to each other, grinning and smiling like idiots, much to the others amusement on the table.
“I am pretty sure they will turn into a pile of goo any second now.” Tony commented, while taking a sip from his wine.
“You are in no place to judge.” Charles rolled his eyes, as he gave him a pointed look. “On your wedding day, you were practically a huge, happy teddy bear.”
“Well, they didn’t know that, Big Brain, damn!” Tony groaned, as all eyes turned to look at him with predator like grins, while Steve just chuckled and wrapped an arm around Tony’s shoulders.
“Actually, we both were. Seriously, anyone on their right mind will be like this on their wedding day, if they were marrying the person they love the most.” Steve pointed out with a small smile, placing a kiss to Tony’s temple, who was struggling not to blush.
Dean was about to tease him mercilessly, but he got two raised eyebrows from Sam and Castiel, so he immediately snapped his mouth shut.
Otherwise, he would have been a huge hypocrite, since on his own wedding day, according to Sam, he resembled a big, lovesick puppy that practically attached to Castiel, while grinning like an idiot the entire time. He didn’t regret it, or was ashamed. He never thought he will ever get married, and he had married the angel that he loved for years and was too afraid to do anything about it. Of course he would be grinning like an idiot.
After discussing that Erik was also resembling a cuddly mama bear on his wedding, managing to make the mutant fifty shades of red, while Charles kissed his cheek with a small grin, it was finally time for speeches.
Dean insisted to be the last, which only managed to make Sam nervous and terrified the whole time. Steve and Castiel gave them heartwarming speeches, that left the entire room with tearful eyes yet again, then Clint, who gave an embarrassing speech dedicated to make Natasha’s face red from killing intent, after that, surprisingly, Bobby gave them short few words, but it was deeply from his heart and it showed.
Then came Dean’s turn.
The room went silent, as everyone watched Dean walking up to the small podium. Some were waiting in anticipation, others, mainly Sam, were waiting for a disaster.
“I have to go to the bathroom, so I am going to keep this short.” Dean started dryly as he talked into the mike, getting chuckles from everyone and two groans, one form his brother and the other from his husband.
“This is going to be unbearable,” Castiel muttered to Steve, who snorted loudly.
“It is kinda hard to come up after Steve Rogers, king of strong speeches, but I will give it my best shot.” Dean shrugged, as he started to read from his pre written speech, “Even though, a few months ago, Sam came up to me and told me ‘I don’t really want you to speak in my wedding, but you are the only brother I have.’ So here we are.”
Every word Dean was saying was delivered in a dry, deadpan way, that only managed to make everyone laugh involuntarily. Tony already was covering his mouth with his hand, so he won’t accidently snort rather loudly.
“For those who don’t know me, I am Dean and I am today’s best brother. I decided to enter the best brother stakes, instead of the best man stakes, because there will be less competition.” This time, Tony failed to hold back his snort.
“It is really an honor to be here today, in a room filled with friends and family. You can find people from all around the world here. A few traveled specifically for the event. It is amazing how far people will travel for a free meal.”
It was hopeless, the room turned successfully into a pile of people unable to resist their laughter, even Natasha was unable to hold it back, while Dean didn’t bother to look up from the paper, he just delivered every sentence with a complete straight face, which made it even funnier.
“No, really, I love being a part of this small army that Sam calls wedding party. Like literally, everyone here is armed under their suits and dresses, if someone decided to blow an air bag, they are going to be shot to death in under two seconds. You can’t be too careful after everything that happened, really.”
Sam’s face was struggling to maintain his scowl, but his lips were moving violently to let out the laugh stuck in his throat.
“It’s really great to be here today, considering we were trapped in another world a few days ago and almost shot to death. I always knew that the wedding was going to happen one way or another, since everything was already paid for. You can’t just go to cancel a wedding just because the bride was killed in another world. That would have been embarrassing to explain.”
Natasha snorted into her wine glass, managing to make their table lose it completely.
“Let me tell you a little about my relationship with Sam. We met in the eighties. Back in a time where spam was simply canned meat. I was bigger at first, obviously, since I am the oldest, but a few years later, Sam started to look like a child body builder, while I looked like no one ever fed me.” by that time, even fucking Fury was laughing. “He was always like. ‘I need my proteins, I need my proteins.’ So I would just starve, I guess.”
“When were young, I would take advantage of his too large body, so I would give him a hard object, then I stand with any glass object behind be, such as mirrors, windows or pitchers. Then I insult him. Since he is a big puppy, who sometimes don’t know his own strength, he would hurl the hard object at me, I duck, the glass would break and I would love every second of it.”
Erik loved that particular part and was laughing way too hard, while Bobby was chuckling, obviously seeing that story himself at some point.
“A couple of years ago, on my birthday, Sam gave me a card that said “Happy Birthday! Cas made me give you this!’.” A groan from Sam, a startled laugh from Castiel. “I won’t make fun of Sam much today. He already went through too much this week. He does have qualities! Like, uhm, oops, give me second, I forgot to come back and fill this blank space.”
“Jerk!” Sam let out an involuntarily yell at his brother, who only took it on stride.
“Calm down, Bitch, don’t get your panties on a twist, I will find a quality.” Dean retorted automatically, no change in tone or even on his face. “No, no, he does have qualities. He is smart, he is tough, the guy stood up to an evil, Nazi version of me, enough said. Letting that version shot an arrow at my car, which is now had an arrow hole in it, thanks Sam, one day I will stick that arrow into you where the sun won’t shine. Wait, we are supposed to talk about his qualities, I got sidetracked.”
“Make him stop, I am dying.” Tony wheezed through his continuous laughter, leaning heavily against Steve, who was also losing it.
“Today, Sam is a married man! Today is about Sam and the love of his life. His hair.” Somewhere in the room, Thor was practically wheezing in Bruce’s arms. “In a world where there are people who leave everything for the last minute, like myself and this speech, and then there is Sam, you could look no further in the planning that went on for today, he actually had his wedding website up and running, even before he met Natasha.”
Sam was stuck between hiding under the table, or try to murder himself with a dinner knife.
“Natasha, you look beautiful today, Sam, you could have used more work. Nat, I can already tell that Sam is better than you in choosing their partner. After all, you chose him and he chose you, you do the math.” Natasha was positively grinning now, while Sam was facepalming.
“I liked you from the start, even if I hate showing it. You are kind, compassionate, badass and way out of my brother’s league. Welcome to the Winchester family, where you need to die two or three times to confirm your membership. Since you cheated death a few times by now, and you didn’t die so far after sleeping with Sam, I can confidently say you will be the only exception. Seriously, I couldn’t have asked for a cooler sister-in-law.” At that part Dean sent Natasha a smile and a wink, electing a few ‘awws’ from around the room.
“Sam, Natasha, I wish you two all the best in your life together. I love you both.” A pause. “Cas made me say that.”
The room practically erupted in a loud roar of laughter that managed to terrify poor Angel. Even Castiel let out a startled laugh and now was leaning heavily against Charles, who was failing to stay upright from the force of his mirth.
“Let’s all raise a glass to Natasha and Sam! I am going to hug them now, then go to the bathroom, thank you.” With that Dean, thankfully, wrapped up his speech. He descended from the stage, as everyone clapped enthusiastically while still laughing hysterically.
He grinned as he approached the new married couple, Natasha grinned back as they hugged, not even slightly bothered about Dean turning his speech into stand-up comedy.
“I hate you.” Sam narrowed his eyes at him, but the mirth in his eyes and his grin didn’t make it convincing.
“Love you too, bitch.” Dean wiggled his eyebrows as he pulled his brother into a hug, obviously too proud of himself.
Sam couldn’t even bring himself to care anymore. Watching his brother getting claps on his back from their increasingly amused friends, then get a raised eyebrow from his husband, who was immediately pacified when Dean gave him a quick, enthusiastic kiss.
Sam’s eyes then landed on his wife. His wife. Who turned her eyes to him, to give a small, sweet smile that he knew it was only for him, and now it will forever be only for him.
In a room filled with all the people he loved. His brother’s laughter ringing in his ears, his brother-in-law’s warm presence, his family of superheroes bickering, laughing, clapping on his back every few minutes, his wife’s eyes unable to look away from him for too long, Sam learned what happiness really felt like.
An emotion he thought he will never feel completely, but in this moment, he now truly understood what happiness really was.