If he were honest with himself Jack would know that he had been anticipating and dreading this day in equal parts. After all, when he received the invite in the post he had been happy (and more than a little bit relieved), he was glad that Abby had finally found someone to love her as much she loved them and he was honoured to be invited to their wedding.
He just wasn't looking forward to actually going.
He knew that Abby and Connor's friends from their work were going to be there and the last time he had seen them all… the circumstances had been less than desirable. He still looked back on his actions then and felt an acute sense of shame so he just tried his best gloss over them. It was easy said than done.
Taking a breath he looked in the mirror for the final time before leaving his flat. With a last tweak of his tie he grabbed the wedding present he'd got only yesterday and left.
When he finally got there he was assaulted with a barrage of unfamiliar faces. He recognised the odd family member but they were whisked out of sight almost as soon as he saw them. Without quite knowing how he soon found himself in the church having been herded in with the rest of the guests. He was quick to take his seat even though he had planned on seeking out Abby before the wedding actually started. He sighed, he wouldn't know where to look to find her even if he did get up.
He hadn't actually spoken to Abby about the wedding properly. He'd sent back his reply as soon as he had received the invite and sent her an e-mail soon after that to which she had replied but no plans to meet up had been made. The lack of contact was mutual on both sides. They were both happy to love each other from a distance.
In fact come to think of it, he'd only spoken to her a handful of times every since she was found after her year of being missing. He'd spoken to her over the phone since then and asked her what had happened and where she'd been but the only thing that achieved was his sister abruptly ending the conversation and saying that she would tell him next time. She never did.
So lost in thought was he that he didn't notice the groom and the best man walking to stand by the alter, but when he looked up he saw the two familiar faces.
Connor looked drastically different from when he had last seen him. It wasn't just the suit or what he was wearing that made him so different. In fact it had nothing to do with what he was wearing. It was more to do with how much older he looked. When Jack had last seen him Connor barely looked older than him but now the man to whom his sister would shortly be married look like just that…a man.
Connor may have looked different but after a minute of observation Jack could plainly see that he was still the same Connor he had met all those years ago. He looked more nervous than any person Jack had ever seen and when he fidgeted slightly he could clearly see that his hands were trembling. Jack couldn't help but smile when he saw this; he knew his nerves were completely unfounded, even through their limited contact Jack could tell that his sister loved Connor. It was then that Connor turned slightly and spoke to his best man. Jack looked over to see if he recognised who Connor had chosen to stand with him on this day and almost sank in his seat when he realised he did.
Captain Becker.
The person who he was determined to avoid. It may be the cowards way out of dealing with past events but he had long ago realised that he was, in fact, a coward.
He was saved from dealing with any further misgivings as music swelled through out the room and everyone turned to get their first look at the bride.
His first thought upon seeing Abby was that she looked absolutely beautiful. Her hair had grown longer since he had last seen her and it was delicately pinned back away from her face. Her dress was just what he would have imagined her to choose: a knee length white affair that managed to look like a wedding dress without looking extravagant.
Jack was a little surprised to see her being walked down the aisle by an older man but he didn't look out of place either. Jack vaguely recognised him as someone he'd seen before though maybe only in passing. He was almost certain that the man was Abby's boss though he wasn't too sure on his name. Overall, his sister looked every inch of typical stunning bride but he knew he wasn't imagining it when he said that there was something that outshone the way she looked.
Jack had never seen his sister look so happy.
She looked like she had just been waiting for this day her whole life. Maybe she had.
He knew it wasn't expected of men but he did find himself tearing up slightly as the soon to be married couple read out their vows to each other. Both of them looked happier than he had ever seen them.
~o~o~o~
After the wedding as he was headed to the reception Jack wondered how this was going to turn out. Since he barely knew anyone there he was pretty sure that he could get away with congratulating Connor and Abby and then melting into the background before he made his getaway. He knew he shouldn't be thinking about his sister's wedding like this but in truth he'd rather not go to the reception at all, but he hadn't managed to talk to Abby at all and he knew he had to speak to her before he left.
He parked the car and looked at the hotel that the reception was going top be hosted in. Abby had told him where it was by e-mail, when he'd asked why they'd chosen this place she'd just said that one of friends had got married there and it seemed like a nice place. It was. As he walked in he noticed how nice it really was. Everything was decorated tastefully but sparsely, the main focus of the reception was definitely the people not the decorations.
As the hall where the reception was going to be started to fill up Jack kept an eye out for Abby and he soon saw her walk in holding on to Connor's hand. He made his way over to them and stopped. When she saw him she walked over to him.
"Congratulations," he said, a little nervously, "you look lovely-" He was cut off by the suddenness of Abby's hug. As he hugged her back it struck him that this was the first time in over a year that he had spoken to her; he had never wanted to become that type of brother who only talked to his sister when it was some kind of event; but without meaning to and with the best intentions, he had.
"Thanks," she said with another blinding smile, "listen, I'll talk to you later, yeah? Save me a dance!" And with that she was off, talking and laughing with people that she looked infinitely more comfortable with than her own brother.
Jack sighed, he knew that after that one sentence he would stay. He couldn't not after his sister had asked him on her wedding day.
Cementing his resolve he looked around for some family members of his he could talk to with to pas the time.
~o~o~o~
As it turned out the evening had been rather pleasant. He had sat with some cousins he hadn't seen since he was a child and the conversation had been light and flowing. The speeches were from the best man and the man who walked Abby down the aisle were funny (and in one case highly sarcastic) although they seemed to be mostly inside jokes as most of it went straight over Jack's head.
Soon the time came when more and more guests were drifting towards the dance floor as they waited for the bride and groom to have their first dance. Having seen this Connor took Abby's hand and together they made their way to the middle of the floor. As they started dancing slowly more people started dancing and Jack was left on the sidelines to watch. He couldn't help but stare at different couples on the dance floor, he stared at them and wondered how they knew his sister. It felt like he should know who they all were but it seemed that his and his sister's life had drifted apart further than he had thought.
As he watched a new couple joined the floor, a woman with long, wavy brown hair and a man who seemed reluctant to go. He watched with a quirk on his lips as part of their conversation made it's way over the general noise of people talking and laughing,
"-No, I really cant dance Emily-"
"Matt, everyone can dance-"
"Not me."
"Well, it is high time you learned then!" And with that the woman dragged 'Matt' to the floor and together they started dancing.
As Jack looked around he saw once again the person he'd been trying to avoid. Captain Becker had just stood from where he was sitting at the table and had his hand extended for the woman next to him. When she stood Jack could see that as well as being one of the only girls at the reception in flat shoes she was also pregnant. Not heavily so but enough that it was possible to tell. Jack ducked his head slightly as they passed so as not to be noticed and once again he caught snippet of their conversation as they made their way to the dance floor,
"I'll look stupid!"
"You won't look stupid, I thought you liked dancing?"
"I do like dancing," said the woman looking up at Becker, "but without my heels I'm almost a foot shorter than you!"
"Well," said Becker as his hand drifted down to the woman's rounded stomach, "we both know why you can't wear heels as much any more." The woman looked up at him with a smile and soon, they too were dancing.
Jack had watched this exchange with the sort of guilt that meant he shouldn't have overheard that. Unbidden, memories flew through his mind,
"Becker? That's the man who just took on a pack of killers to save you skin!" Came Connor's angry voice.
"So?" Came his own calloused reply.
"So?" Said Abby as she leapt up and almost shook in her anger; instead having to make do with an accusing finger, "He's dead, and it's your fault!"
At the time he had been terrified and injured but the fact remained that he had not cared about the man's life. He had shown his true colours in that hell hole of a place and it still haunted him.
"Jack?"
The sudden voice shook Jack from his reverie as he looked to see Connor standing beside him.
"Oh, hi," Said Jack struggling to find the words to express what he wanted to say, "congratulations, by the way."
"Thanks." Said Connor unable to stop the grin from spreading across his face when he looked at the dance floor to see Abby dancing with the man who had walked her up the aisle, Lester was it? Jack couldn't remember.
"Look after her, ok?" Said Jack quickly before he lost his courage to say it. He had never had 'the talk' with Connor about Abby. In a way it seemed useless. They both knew that out of the two of them Jack was more likely to hurt Abby than Connor was.
Connor looked at Jack seriously and once again Jack felt he was seeing a different side to him than he was used to, this wasn't the sci-fi geek he had first met, this was the man he had grown into.
"I will, I promise." He said without a hint of his usual good nature in his voice.
"Jack!" Called a voice from the dance floor. He looked up to see Abby beckoning him and with a final nod to Connor he walked over to her .
~o~o~o~
When Jack looked back on that evening it would be with fond memories. It had been wonderful to see his sister again, even if only for a short while and it had been nice to see her so happy.
But he would also say it was the night when he realised that he wasn't his sister's only family anymore. Not just in the sense that she was married to Connor but Jack could see it in the way that she hugged her friends at the end of the night, the way that she would swat Becker's arm when he made a quip about Connor and the way that she teased Matt about never having been to a wedding before.
Jack had heard the phrase "You can't choose your family" before, but that's exactly what his sister had done. She'd gone and chosen another family. He was surprised in himself when he found himself smiling at this thought, it didn't really matter, he supposed, as long as she was happy.
And if there was one thing that his sister was at that moment in time, it was happy.
….
A/N- Thank you for reading! I really enjoyed writing this but I would love to hear what you thought of it, reviews would be wonderful! Any prompts for more primeval one-shots would be great, thanks-VE