Author's Note: Hey, look who's still alive, lol! I'm sorry for my amazingly long absence from this place...I just started my senior year of college and have been settling back in here and seeing my friends I haven't seen in months. And if you read either Our Conversations or My Fifty Things, I'll be updating those soon--I'm in the middle of the next chapter of My Fifty Things and I already have a few conversations written out. Plus I have another little two or three shot in the works, based on a review for Our Conversations.
Now that I explained that, on to this story...there's no slash (but there is a focus on JD/Perry friendship in the story). This was an idea I had for a longer, more epic story, but I decided not to do it, and instead concentrated it into a one shot. I hope you guys like it! The title came from a song with the exact same title about a man asking the father for permission...I thought it was fitting. It's Stealing Cinderella by Steve Kirwan.
Don't own them...like always.
"Abso-hu-lutely not." Perry Cox said, crossing his arms and glaring at the younger man in front of him.
"But sir—" The younger man started, just as his ex-wife exclaimed, "Perry, come on!"
"No. Jennifer is not ready to be married. And even if she is, she will not be marrying you."
"Perry, this is ridiculous. They've been dating for three years now…you really aren't going to give your blessing because of who his parents are?" Jordan asked, crossing her arms and getting ready to face off against Perry. The younger man was stuck in the middle, cowering.
"Correct." Perry said, staring his ex-wife down.
"You realize that even if you don't give your blessing, Jennifer will still get married? She'll probably run away and elope and then I won't be able to see my daughter's wedding." Jordan returned the glare he was shooting at her.
"You can see Jack's wedding." Perry continued to stare at Jordan, hoping she would back down. There was no way he was giving permission. Not with the parents this boy had.
"That's not the same and you know it." Jordan finally turned, looking at the boy frozen in spot between the two. "Tell you what: I give you permission to marry Jennifer. Now go run along and ask her, like you were planning on doing…even though I don't know why you were thinking Perry would say yes."
"Th-thank you ma'am." He turned and fled out of the room, hoping Jennifer would realize the sacrifice he went through to get someone's permission to marry her. Even though she wanted her father's permission, she'd have to settle for her mother's. No way was he going back in there and facing off against Perry Cox.
Back in the room, Jordan turned once again to Perry. "I don't understand. Jennifer's happy. They've been together long enough. Why won't you just say yes?"
Turning to the liquor he always had close by (which he figured he'd need a lot more of now), he grimaced. After taking a sip of his scotch, he looked at Jordan and answered:
"Because I don't want John Dorian to be my daughter's father-in-law."
--
"Hey future daughter-in-law!" JD said, throwing the door open. Surprised, Jennifer stepped inside, wondering where Sam was. "Has Sam asked you yet? Can I start calling you Dilly? I know Izzy goes by Dizzy, but this would work out on many levels…the best friends would be Dilly and Dizzy, and I always wanted something like that with my best friend. And then Dilly comes from DIL, which is the abbreviation for daughter-in-law, which is what you are!"
Sam came running out from the bathroom, hoping to stop his dad before he went any further. Luckily, JD was in a daydream and Sam took advantage of that time to pull Jennifer away. By the time JD snapped out of it (muttering "people would look strange if they were green like pickles."), Jennifer and Sam were already back in his room.
"Did you ask my dad?" She asked him, breathless.
Sam hesitated. "Well, I went over there. And I tried to ask him, but he was refusing. Your mom gave permission though, and I'm not going back over there to deal with your dad. He looked ready to kill me!"
She laughed. "That's just my dad! He always looks like that when I mention you, but he has yet to do anything…and besides, he's harmless." Sam was doubtful. She didn't see the look he shot him as soon as Jordan gave her permission…Sam shuddered just thinking about it. "Come on. We'll go together to talk to my dad."
Sam shot her a look. "Maybe tomorrow?" He asked, hoping she would agree. He had just gotten out of the lions' den alive tonight, why would he willingly go back in there now? "My dad wants to celebrate with us tonight. He bought food and some beer, and he's really looking forward to it…"
Jennifer sighed. "Okay, but tomorrow morning, we have to go talk to him. It's bad enough we're already engaged before you asked him. I can't continue sneaking around like this."
Sam agreed to go (although tonight he would make a will, just in case tomorrow was the day her dad actually killed him) and they walked out to the living room.
When they arrived, his dad was on the phone. "Hey Per-Per! Yeah, I know you said not to call you that, but we're about to be family! Our kids are going to get married and have little babies, and we can celebrate holidays altogether. Now, I don't know if you've thought about the holiday schedule yet, but I was thinking we could alternate; you know, you have Christmas one year; I have it the next year. But of course, the other will still attend. And we can take big family trips—like cruises!…No, I think it's a great idea. You know you've always wished we were family. This is the best way for it to happen, since I'm a little too old to be adopted. Plus, who didn't see this coming with our kids being born so close together and you having a girl, and I had a boy. It was a sign….No, Izzy was too old. She and Jack are supposed to get married, even though they haven't figured it out yet…Yes, Turk and I planned out our kids' lives when they were babies…You didn't realize this was the plan for our kids? Wow Perry, I thought you listened when I told you and read the diagrams given. Oh, hey, the kids are here. Gotta go, Per-Per! Send Jordan my love." He hung up the phone with a flourish, and turned to the couple.
"You two ready to celebrate this engagement?"
--
Well, fuck. That was the only thought of Sam Dorian as he stood outside the battlefield formerly known as the Cox residence, listening to Jennifer and her dad. He had arrived early, hoping he could get there before Jennifer started the discussion, since nothing seemed worse than if he interrupted their fight…
Perry opened the door and jumped right on him. But instead of being just Perry Cox, he was now part lion, part dinosaur, with eagle claws and was able to tear Sam from limb to limb…
Sam shuddered. Maybe standing out here for a few more minutes would be a good thing. He leaned against the door, trying to hear the voices on the inside and figure out how it was going. They weren't yelling, which would seem to be a good thing, but to the best of Sam's knowledge, Jennifer and her dad never yelled at each other. They were very close and Jennifer tended to turn to her dad first in times of crisis.
Jordan was probably somewhere near by the two, ready to fight Perry if he gave an answer she didn't like. Jennifer was her princess, and she loved nothing more than to spoil her.
It could be that Jack was in the room, helping her sister and defending Sam. For as long as Sam could remember, he and Jack had been best friends, which helped him when he realized he liked Jennifer—since Sam and Jack were always together, he could be around Jennifer without questioning.
Finally, he heard Jennifer say in a slightly raised voice "But I love him!" and he took that as his cue to go inside. He knocked on the door—he would never enter that apartment without knocking unless he was suicidal—and waited for it to open. It didn't take long, and when it did, Jack was on the other side.
"Hey man," Jack said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Good luck in there. Dad refuses to give his blessing and Jennie refuses to back down. Be strong. And remember: Dad can't actually kill you, as much as he may want to. Mom would be so mad if he got sent to prison." Jack laughed and pushed Sam in the room.
Sam stumbled forward, catching the attention of both his fiancée and her father. "Um…hi." He managed to get out, walking quickly by the father, hoping he wouldn't trip him or accidentally leave his fist out for Sam to hit.
"See Daddy? He showed up. Will you please give us your blessing now?" Jennifer was beginning to pout, Sam noticed. That didn't bode so well for this whole thing. Jennifer only pulled out the pouting when she was getting desperate.
"Sam," Perry growled. Sam's blood froze and he snapped his head to look at the man, eyes wide. "Why should I give you permission to marry my daughter?"
Because I already asked her, he thought, then realized that probably wasn't the smartest thing to say. "Because…I love her. And I want to spend the rest of my life with her."
"I told you Daddy." Perry ignored his daughter, eyes focused on Sam. Sam attempted to not show any weakness during the staring match, almost feeling his lip quivering and his eyes beginning to water.
Finally Perry broke the gaze. "What did your father have to say?"
Sam grinned. "He's excited. He always wanted a daughter after me, but Jennifer and Izzy were the closest he got." Shouldn't have implied that Jennifer is like a sister to me, he thought, inwardly cringing. "Not that Jennifer is like a sister to me…incest is gross…but my father always cared about her a lot."
Perry grunted. "Jordan, do I have to do this?" He looked towards his ex-wife standing in the doorway, just as Sam predicted she would be. She nodded at him, shooting a small look at Sam, and Perry rolled his eyes. Standing up and walking over to the bar, Perry addressed the couple: "If you guys really want to do this, I guess I'll okay it, only because I'm being forced to by the other members of my family. But don't screw my daughter over, Sam. If you do, I might have to kill you."
Sam gulped and nodded. It's not like he ever would, but the threat alone scared him enough to guarantee it would never happen.
Next to him, Jennifer bounced up and down, grin on her face. She bounced over to her father, yelled "Thanks Daddy!" and threw her arms around his neck. He returned the hug, fixing a glare on Sam behind her back.
Jordan and Jack came up to the couple after Jennifer stepped away from her dad. After a few rounds of congratulations and questions about when they wanted the ceremony, Jordan went over to the bar to grab some champagne for a toast. They all gathered around, holding up their glasses of champagne (except for Perry, who was standing further back, arms crossed, sipping his scotch).
"To the happy couple!"
--
They decided on a wedding at the hospital church, as unromantic as it sounded. That was the only place they could guarantee all of their parents and family friends could go, since inevitably at least one of them would be on-call. There were many fights at the Cox residence when Perry attempted to schedule himself to work that day so he wouldn't have to spend time with JD, but ultimately, the yelling by Jordan and Jennifer wore him down. When that was finally settled, he set out to try to schedule JD to work. That battle was fought by Jordan and Carla, and, between the two of them, they won in less than an hour, a personal best for them.
Jennifer and Sam decided to get married in four months. Neither of them wanted to be engaged for very long, and Sam personally was afraid that the longer the two of them waited, the more likely it would that Perry would withdraw his acceptance and kill Sam. Once he was in the family, he was safe. After all, nothing had ever happened to Jennifer's Aunt Danni, and Sam knew how much Perry hated her.
Throughout the months leading up to the wedding, JD helped the couple with whatever they needed and planned dinners for them at least once a week. He tried to get Jennifer's parents to come, but they would never agree. JD talked about plans for after they got married—where they would live, how long until they would have kids, if they would have kids, did they want a dog like Rowdy? But he was a bouncing ball of excitement, almost surpassing the bride and her mother. As time went on, JD begun to get more involved in the wedding planning, even venturing over to help the girls. The first time Perry walked in and found JD in his living room, Perry offered such a glare to anyone who tried to talk to him, Sam thought even Jennifer wasn't safe from death right then. However, over the next month, Perry realized JD wasn't going anywhere, and began to just ignore him whenever he was at the house.
For the most part, Sam stayed out of the wedding plans. It's not like he had any idea about what the difference between the cream invitations and the ivory. Or which font looked better. He was just waiting for the end result, and would help Jennifer along the way when she needed it.
Jennifer and her mother became matching tornadoes of activity, and their apartment became a frenzied place where Sam was convinced plans got buried under other plans, never to be seen again. Jack tended to crash at Sam's place a lot during the time, because not even his bedroom was safe—it had become the area for the different flowers that would be used to the wedding. Jack joked that roses were placed in lieu of his head, and lilies were given the best seat for the TV.
The only safe place from wedding planning in the Cox residence was the master bedroom. Perry had made sure the bedroom stayed wedding plans free, even though JD offered a bed to him if he needed it. Perry's response had just been a growl and to throw the offending wedding plans on the floor outside his bedroom door. He then locked himself in for a good hour with a bottle of scotch and the TV turned to Sports On Demand.
As the wedding grew closer, the girls grew more frantic. Slowly all the women in their lives were drawn in. Izzy helped with the wedding cake, Carla helped with the photographer, and Elliot helped with most everything, since she saw this as the closest she would get to her own wedding. Sam watched in amazement as the women around him begun speaking in codes about this stuff, and occasionally told him something he needed to do.
They were writing their own vows, and Turk warned him not to take something from When Harry Met Sally, that the girls didn't like that. Sam enlisted the help of whoever he could get—his dad, Turk, Jack, he even went to Rowdy to see if he could give him any insight. He drew the line at Justin, his dad's old unicorn, though.
It was a pretty small wedding. As far as bridesmaids and groomsmen went, the only ones were Izzy and Jack. They contemplated asking some of their parents' friends, but ultimately decided to keep it small. But what they lacked in bridesmaids and groomsmen though, they made up for in guests. Since their parents all worked in the hospital, they had grown up there and, as a result, invited most of the people—Doug, Ted, Kelso (who Sam heard Perry mutter something about "outliving us all"), Shirley, The Todd (who gave Sam a "married five" when he heard about the engagement), Lonnie, and, of course, Sam's birth mother, Kim. On top of that, they had their families—JD, Perry, Jordan, Elliot, Carla and Turk. Turk and JD tried to score Rowdy an invite, but Carla and Jordan made sure the two of them knew it wasn't going to happen. Sam would also swear that they invited some random patients from the hospital too—there were a few names on that list he recognized from going to see hid dad at work.
--
Finally, the day arrived, and Sam was nervous. He hadn't seen Jennifer in over a day, what if she had changed her mind? Or fell in love with the stripper at her bachelorette party? Actually, that last one would never happen, since Jack told Sam the stripper was actually The Todd and he never got to actually strip—the girls had put an end to it very quickly, then took a shot in order to try to erase the images of The Todd.
JD and Jack were the two helping Sam get ready. Jack was doing a good job keeping his best friend calm. He called Jennifer to check in with her, and to relieve Sam's fears that she would leave him today. She laughed and reassured him that she would still be walking down that aisle and then hung up so she could get ready.
JD, on the other hand, was almost more nervous than the groom, but he couldn't keep the grin off his face. Sam heard him when he saw Jennifer's dad: "Hey new family member! Can you believe our kids are finally getting married today and we're going to be family today? This is something I've been hoping for since I was just your protégé as an intern…oh, Per-Per, don't give me that look and just walk off, I know you're excited too!" Sam wondered whom his dad was more excited for—Sam for marrying the girl of his dreams, or himself for finally getting to consider his old mentor family.
When the time arrived to begin the ceremony, time seemed to speed up and slow down at the same time. He remembered only select parts of it: Izzy winking at him when she arrived at the alter, the moment of hesitation Perry had before handing Jennifer over to him, the resigned nod when Perry took his seat next to his ex-wife, seeing Jennifer tear up as he said his vows, feeling his own eyes water as she read her vows, the preacher telling him he may now kiss the bride, and the pronouncement of the two of them as "Mr. and Mrs. Sam Dorian."
As they walked out of the church, time sped up again. They posed for pictures, accepted well wishes from everyone, and ate dinner at the reception. They danced their first dance, cut the cake, and threw the garter and the bouquet (which Jack and Izzy caught, respectively. Sam saw his dad and Turk exchange a thumbs-up and a smile, and remembered their plan, and judging my the look on Perry's face, he also remembered their plan). The rest of the night blended together, but he knows he saw his dad and Jennifer's dad, standing off to the side, laughing and talking…for a good hour or so. Jennifer danced with her dad, Turk and JD, and Sam danced with Kim, Elliot, Carla, and Jordan. They had group dances, and even managed to get Perry to do the Macarena—which was photographed, with everyone asking for a copy of it.
Finally, the two of them were allowed to leave, and begin their honeymoon. They told their parents bye, and promised to give them a call before they left on the plane the next day. They got ready to go out, through the crowd of people holding bird's seed to throw at them. When Sam saw Perry standing with the crowds, he had a moment of panic, imagining that it wasn't actually bird's seed he was going to throw, but a knife into Sam's face. Sam quickly snapped out of it, reminding himself that he was family now, and so nothing would happen to him.
As they got into the car to drive off, Sam and Jennifer looked out the window to wave goodbye once more. Sam marveled at the sight in front of him: Perry and JD were standing side by side again, laughing at something JD said.
Maybe this whole new combined family thing would work out after all.
Author's note 2: I hope you guys liked it! Let me know what you thought.