A/N: I own nothing, sadly.
Oh chariot your golden waves
are walking down upon this face
Oh chariot I'm singing out loud
To guide me
Give me your…
Strength
-Gavin Degraw
The reception was in full swing. It was frightening. Aiden looked like she was having a good time, and he stood by her and smiled at all the people he'd never seen before. God her family was huge. Loud, crazy Italian-Hispanic-Greek people from Brooklyn. What the hell had he married in to? They'd rented out a night club, and it was absolutely packed.
Little kids ran around while their parents danced rather naughtily. Flack could see his mom and dad dancing, and God, it was so sad. Was his dad doing a Mick Jagger impression? His hands were on his hips like guns, and he was swaying back in fourth, pointing at Aiden's Grandmother, and shouting something. What was it? Flack could hardly hear it over "Disco Inferno." Oh, yes. His father was shouting, "Hey you; get off my cloud!" Oh, lovely.
Aiden's Grandma shook her fist at him and muttered something rather vile in Italian. Or maybe it was Spanish. He really had no idea what language it was, or what she said, but Aiden looked rather appalled. She recovered and laughed, clutching the front of Flack's Tux, face turning red. It was times like this, watching her, he wondered. Why would she have said yes to him?
She could have snapped her fingers at any guy. Seriously any guy and they would have gone, but she chose to marry him, and he felt like the luckiest guy in the entire world. And maybe he'd stumbled over himself a little bit during the proposal, and she'd cried loads more than he'd expected, but on the whole things went rather well, and here they were, 6 months later. Married.
Some cousin of Aiden's came up and hugged her, and they began talking rapidly in- what the hell language were all these people speaking? Mike Truman, one of his buddies from the station came up and clapped him on the back.
"Way to go, Flack."
"Hey, thanks man."
One of Aiden's slut cousins, Vanessa, he thought her name was, walked by and looped her finger into Mark's fly, pulling him suggestively to the dance floor.
"Gotta go!" He said, voice an octave higher.
Flack only laughed, rubbing his eye, shaking his head in disbelief. Aiden was still giggling with her cousin. Monica! That was her name. Then Aiden's youngest brother, Ronnie came over and grabbed Flack's arm. For a skinny twenty-year-old, the guy was pretty buff.
They all were. All eight of them. The sight pf them all standing there in the corner sparked thoughts of the mafia. He couldn't help it, he was a cop. Barry, Jeremiah, Alex Dean, Raul, Harry, and Marco and stood in a semi circle. Ronnie shuffled over to join them.
"What's up guys?" Flack asked with a small grin, figuring he knew exactly what this was all about.
Barry, the oldest, walked up to Flack and slung an arm around his shoulder.
Flack could see Danny Messer out of the corner of his eye. He was grateful. Probably one of his best pals would back him up. Sure enough, Danny came swaggering over; tie loose, sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
"What's up, gentlemen?" Danny said, New York accent coming out thicker, seeing as he'd certainly knocked back a few drinks.
Flack shook his head. Danny was going to be no help to him this way.
"We're about to lay down the ground rules." Raul said, cracking his beefy knuckles.
Danny laughed.
"Ground rules for what?" He asked, raising en eyebrow. Danny never knew quite when to shut his mouth.
Flack grew increasingly worried.
Harry snorted.
"For the honeymoon."
"Oh Jesus." Flack said, paling.
Danny laughed loudly.
"Please, they did that like, a year ago. They didn't waste any time, I can assure you." Danny laughed louder.
He was the only one.
Barry's hold around Flack's neck increased.
Flack tried to find a way to talk his way out of it.
The brother's faces were turning rather purple.
Jeremiah stepped out of the line, pointing his finger at Flack.
"She's no floozy, my sister."
They all nodded in agreement.
Jeremiah continued.
"You will treat her like a lady."
They all nodded more.
Even Danny.
Flack wasn't sure Danny even knew what he was doing.
"You understand?" Jeremiah asked.
Flack nodded.
"Like a lady, absolutely." He said, trying to move carefully away from the watchful eyes of Barry.
"Well, we all know he's a gentleman in the condom department." Danny slurred, gesturing wildly.
The brothers eyes narrowed.
"I mean," Danny continued, "She's not knocked up yet."
"Ok pal!" Flack interjected. "Let's get out of here, man."
He grabbed Danny and dragged him away from the brothers.
He let out a sigh of relief.
Flack had never been much of a dancer. But Aiden told him he had to pick the song for the first dance together. He'd visited a zillion web sites. He'd read books. He'd been looking into it for months. Being a guy, he flipped a coin five minutes before the reception. Heads it was Chariot by Gavin Degraw, tails it was You're Still the One by Shaniah Twain. It landed heads. He was glad. It wasn't exactly traditional, but neither were they.
The DJ announced the dance, and they stepped onto the floor. All the annoying photo-seekers were crowding around and Aiden's grandmother was muttering in Spanish again, and he couldn't understand a Goddamn word she was saying, but he didn't care. He was way too happy to care. He was practically on cloud nine. Of course, all that champagne had helped a little bit too.
The song started.
Staring at a maple leaf
Leaning on the mother tree
I said to myself we all lost touch
Your favorite fruit is chocolate covered cherries
And seedless watermelon
Nothing from the ground is good enough
Body rised
It puts over me
He put his hands on her hips and she laid her small hands on his chest and he grinned down at her. He leaned down the couple inches and claimed her lips with his. Flashbulbs erupted and Aiden could've sworn she heard her grandma say something about selling the picture on the internet.
They broke away slowly.
Oh chariot your golden waves
are walking down upon this face
Oh chariot I'm singing out loud
To guide me
Give me your…
Strength
He tugged her closer and leaned down to whisper into her ear.
"Isn't this where I'm supposed to declare my undying love to you?" He asked, kissing her neck softly.
"If you want." She murmured, resting her head on his shoulder. He kissed her neck again, one of his hands moving up and down her back softly.
Remember seeking moons of birth
Rings made mirrors of the earth
The sun was just yellow energy
It is a living promise land
Even over fields of sand
City filled with burden
"You had me at 'The dead body is over there'." He said, and she giggled into his neck. He smiled slightly, holding her tighter. "You're the most beautiful woman in the entire world."
Cover me
from bringing back
More than a memory
"We were always a constant in each other's lives, and it was inevitable that this would happen. I didn't marry you because I thought I could live with you. I married you because I knew I couldn't live without you. And God, I am just awful at making speeches, but I love you with all my heart. And that's gotta mean something."
Oh chariot your golden waves
are walking down upon this face
Oh chariot I'm singing out loud
To guide me
Give me your…
Strength
"And- and I'm really glad Danny finally talked me into proposing to you." He said laughing, as she looked up at him, shocked.
"Kidding! Kidding!" He assured her, kissing her once more.
"Where was I?" He said, tugging her closer once more.
"I'm fantastic and brilliant and the love of your life." She murmured against the soft skin at the base of his neck.
He grinned.
You'll be my vacation away from this place
You know what I want
Holding that cup,
It's pouring over the sides
Makes me wanna spread my arms and fly
"And when you're pregnant with my eight million children and you're bossing me around, I'll love you just as much, if not more, if it's even possible."
"What makes you think there's gonna be eight million of your kids?" She teased, kissing the corner of his mouth.
"You can't keep your hands to yourself and we're both Catholic. We might need to invest in a farm."
She giggled into his mouth, eyes still slightly full of happy tears.
"I love you." She whispered
"I love you too, Aid." He said seriously.
"You didn't kill our dance thingy." She said
"You're surprised?" He asked mockingly.
"Mac told me about the coin toss."
"Did he?"
"Mhm"
But he'd already silenced her with another kiss.
Oh chariot your golden waves
are walking down upon this face
Oh chariot I'm singing out loud
To guide me
Give me your…
Strength
A/N: Reviews are nice! I thought it turned out cute. Not quite as sappy as I would've liked.