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[off_the_ceiling]

Jess knew her best bet was to stick around home for a little while, sitting outside with a cool drink and fiddling with her ring every few minutes. It was already on its last legs, but she didn't mind. She knew that it had been there, what it meant, and that was the important thing. Sticking around home meant that sooner or later she was going to

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[weary_head]

She was waiting for him. That much was obvious from the path, and Dean felt an unexpected surge of nerves. He was happy for them both - maybe too happy, given his embarassing display with Sam - but something about it still felt awkward.

It wasn't like they both didn't know that Dean was a big part of why Sam and Jess hadn't had a happily ever after back home. Not the only part, and not the biggest part, but a part nonetheless.

He scuffed his boots together, forcing his feet back on the path to home. Dean had half a second left to choose, and in that second he chose loud and obnoxious. Maybe it was clumsy, but it was the quickest end to a heart to heart he wasn't yet sure he was ready for.

"Well, let's see it," he said, tapping his hair. "What, no daisy chain to go with?"

[off_the_ceiling]

Jess made a face at him but showed him the ring anyway. Before it had a chance to finally fall off her finger.

"Told you I'd say yes," she said, beaming up at him. "Well, I told little you, anyway."

[weary_head]

"I seem to remember that through the sugar rush," said Dean. He held her hand almost delicately, examining the ring of grass. It was threaded and drying out, but Dean didn't see anything but the promise Sam had made when he looked at it.

"Knew he'd get off his ass eventually."

[off_the_ceiling]

"I didn't even see it coming," admitted Jess, pulling her hand back after a few moments to look at the ring herself, wonderingly. "When we talked about it, he always talked about eventually. I never thought eventually would come so soon. Sam... he likes to think about things. You know?"

[weary_head]

"Likes to think'em into the ground," said Dean, thinking of Stanford, and how it'd just come out of the blue. At the time, Dean wished it had - whims, at least, could be replaced. He hadn't made that mistake again.

"He just doesn't like saying when he's thinking about'em." He sat down on the porch opposite her. "Drama queen."

[off_the_ceiling]

Jess just laughed and turned the ring on her finger. Dean sure knew his brother pretty well.

"So I guess he already asked you to be best man, huh?" she said.

[weary_head]

Dean looked down at his hands, but it wasn't far enough to hide his bewildered smile. It wasn't that he hadn't expected to be chosen - he'd have shot any man who tried to take the title from him, in fact - it was just that a part of Dean hadn't expected the time to come.

Even here, where things were so much better than home that they might as well be in another world, it was hard to shake the feeling that something bad was just waiting for its chance to stand in the way again.

"Yeah," he said, flicking his eyes up to hers. "If you, uh, want to set any ground rules for the bachelor party, now's pretty much your only chance."

[off_the_ceiling]

"Just make sure he shows up at the wedding sober, that's all I ask," said Jess. Everything else, she figured she'd be happier never knowing about. "I know our first meeting didn't exactly start out on the right foot, Dean, but Sam's lucky to have you. Hell, I'm lucky to have you. It makes not having my brothers here a little easier to bear, you know?"

[weary_head]

Dean's eyes widened and resettled on his hands, Dean himself not quite sure what to make of the unsolicited praise, even if it did feel pretty damn good. He hadn't thought he could be any more determined to see this right for them, but with that flare of warmth in his gut, Dean discovered that yes, he could.

"I didn't know you had brothers," he said quietly, sympathy mixing with that warmth. God knew, Dean didn't fare so well without his own.

[off_the_ceiling]

"Two of them," said Jess, giving him a soft, wistful smile. "I'm the middle child. Patrick's in New York and Ian's a freshman at UCLA."

[weary_head]

"Middle child with two brothers," said Dean, whistling low. He leaned forward, chasing away the tightness in his chest the only way he knew how. "So was Sammy like, the only action you ever managed to sneak past them?"

[off_the_ceiling]

Jess's smile widened a little, acknowledging the truth of that. "Let's just say my love life got a whole lot better after I left home to go to college," she said. "But I always did hold my own around those two. I had to."

Dean wasn't really like either of her brothers - well, maybe a little like Patrick - but he made her think of them anyway. Maybe it was just a brother thing.

[weary_head]

"Guess so," said Dean, wondering not for the first time if his overprotectiveness had contributed to Sam bowing up in the first place. Surely Dad had been worse, but Dean didn't doubt he'd contributed to the problem. Stubborn little Sam.

"That must work pretty well with Sam. That kid can throw a mean hissy fit."

[off_the_ceiling]

"He does have it in him," said Jess, turning her ring again. Her finger was a little red from the rough edges. "But mostly the Sam I've always known was pretty serious and studious. And stubborn as hell, especially when you tried to get him to have some fun."

[weary_head]

"So it's not just me he resists," said Dean with a groan. Selfishly, that was comforting. If Sam had a hard time going out when it was Jess doing the asking, he didn't feel so bad anymore.

"I'll probably have to tell him we're going to book club just to get him to his own bachelor party."

[off_the_ceiling]

"Tell him you're rescuing kittens or something," said Jess, grinning at him. "You know, he's probably going to ask me if it's okay for him to have a bachelor party. Seriously. Does that mean he expects me to ask if it's okay to have a bachelorette?"