AN: It's Tartie week once again. The prompt for this is Tina and Artie when they're old. So this the account of their 50th wedding anniversary celebration.
October 28, 2070
With three children, eight grandchildren, two great grandchildren, various significant others of the children and grandchildren, and friends of the couple, the hall rented for Artie and Tina's 50th wedding anniversary was packed. It was technically a surprise party – the two in question knew that their family was planning something, but they didn't know the details.
Cassidy, their oldest child, had organized almost everything. The hall had been rented, the food brought in by various family members, decorations were hung, and appropriate music was playing in the background. Everyone was milling around, with drinks in hand, waiting for the couple in question to arrive. Her husband had been chosen to bring them to the hall, since he was about the only one in the entire family that could keep a secret. Knowing her parents, they wouldn't be surprised at all, but it was fun to try and surprise them anyways.
Lydia signaled from the window where she had been watching for the approaching car. Everyone quieted down and stood to attention. They could hear muffled conversation outside the door as Bill was seemingly helping the two toward the entrance. As soon as the door swung open, everyone shouted "Happy Anniversary!"
"I knew I forgot something important!" Artie said, smacking his hand against his forehead. Everyone laughed as Tina playfully swatted her husband on the shoulder.
Once their parents were situated at the main table, the party was able to get into full swing. Friends from high school and college were the first to swarm over by the couple. The few from high school that were able to make it included Kurt Hummel, Mercedes Jones, and Sam Evans. All of the Abrams children knew these three well, as they had been a constant presence in their childhood – about as much as other family members. Both Artie and Tina had college friends who had been able to make it as well.
There were tables set up around the hall with pictures of the two through the years. Some focused on them individually when they were kids, while others chronicled their relationship, with pictures of them together from the seventh grade on. Their wedding picture was blown up and the centerpiece of the whole display. Eventually, the two were able to come over and look at it together. Tina made fun of Artie's fashion sense (which hadn't changed much in the seventy years that he had been alive) and Artie teasing told Tina that she would look great if she added purple streaks to her hair again.
Abigail had been in charge of getting a judge to come in so that the two could renew their vows. A simple arch had been set up in the hall and the two repeated their wedding vows to each other in front of all the people they loved. Predictably, Tina had started crying and ended up in Artie's lap, face in his shoulder, amid the cheers and claps from those watching.
After everyone had gotten dinner and was sitting down, a video of the two was presented. One of their grandchildren, Jamie, had gained his grandfather's skills when it came to video production. Over the past month or so, he had been in charge of putting together picture and video of the two of them. Images of Artie and Tina together flashed across the screen, showing how long they had been together. Up at the high table, Tina reached over and squeezed Artie's hand tight. He glanced sideways at his wife, whose face was lit up by the screen. She looked just as beautiful as she had on their wedding day, with the same happy smile on her face. He couldn't believe that it had been that long – that they had been together for this many years.
At one point, the tables were pushed to the side so that there could be some dancing. While they didn't recognize half the songs that were being played, Tina and Artie were out there for almost every number. During the slow songs, Tina was nestled snugly in Artie's lap, as he slowly turned them in circles. He wasn't able to do so as exuberantly as he had at their senior prom, but it didn't matter since they were together.
Near the end of the evening, when the DJ was playing a newer song that all the grandchildren seemed to know, the two slipped out into the cool evening. Tina pushed him along the path, the two having fallen into a comfortable silence. Eventually they came along a bench where Tina gratefully sat down for a rest. Artie rolled so he was facing her and took her hands.
"I love you," he said earnestly.
"I know," she said with a smile. "I love you too."
"What do you say to years more years?" he said with a smile. Tina just laughed and shook her head.
"I don't know if I could handle fifty more years of Artie Abrams," she said.
"Seems like you enjoyed these ones," he replied, sticking his tongue out at her. Despite his graying hair and wrinkles, Tina could still see the dorky boy she had fallen in love with so many years ago.
"Only if you promise to do all the cooking," she said.
"I already do half the cooking!" he protested. "What are you going to do all of then?"
"I'll think of something," she said, pulling him in closer for a kiss. It was like this that their children found them five minutes later.
"Really you two?" Cassidy said, slightly out of breath. When they had noticed that the two were missing, they quickly spread out to find them. She had figured that they probably snuck off for a moment along, but to make out? How absolutely typical of them.
"She made me!" Artie exclaimed, pointing a finger at Tina who just rolled her eyes.
"Don't worry; I'm more than ready to get back in to the warmth."
"I thought I was keeping you warm," Artie protested as his daughter started pushing him back toward the hall.
"Dad!" chorused the girls, who at this point, were used to their parents being mushy (and at times inappropriate) around them.
Tina and Artie just exchanged glances as they were shepherded back into the warm hall. It had been one hell of fifty years – and they couldn't wait to see what came next, as long as they were together.
Feedback is much appreciated as usual.
