A/N: Just a little drabble of a scene I imagined for Murph's wedding day after seeing this WONDERFUL movie. Enjoy!
The knock at the door was loud, and she knew it was her brother before he even spoke. "Murph, you ready? The natives are getting restless out here." His sense of humor had improved in the last few years, at least. Hope could do that.
"Just a minute," Murph called, turning back to look at herself in the mirror. Her red hair was pinned up in an elaborate up-do, a birdcage veil over her face, and her make-up was perfect in spite of the dust. Like most little girls, she'd imagined this day for years, and now it was finally here. Her smile dulled a little. As a little girl, she had always pictured her father walking beside her as she approached the love of her life. But he had left when she was ten and never come back. Well, not in the physical sense, anyway. Murph picked up her bouquet off the vanity, the blooms tightly bound together with a cornflower blue ribbon, tucked in with pearl-topped straight pins.
The door creaked as it opened and the awkward clomp of feet more used to work boots than dress shoes shuffled in.
"What's the hold-up?" Tom asked, then caught his breath. "Wow, Murph, you clean up nice."
Murph smacked him playfully, careful not to disturb the corsage pinned to his lapel. "Shut up."
Tom came up behind her, looking over her shoulder into the full-length mirror. Her dress fell just below her knees, the back and cap sleeves made of sheer lace while the rest was satin, beaded in pearls.
Murph bit her lip, smearing lipstick on her teeth, and she reached up to rub it away. She wasn't used to wearing make-up - what was the point, when she spent most of her time holed up underground, solving the unsolvable equations Professor Brand had saddled her with after he died? Even when she wasn't at the NASA base, she was outrunning dust storms in her Jeep.
"I wish Dad was here for this," she said, her eyes burning as she blinked away tears. "Hell, Mom too."
"Hey," Tom said, putting a hand on her shoulder. The warmth was comforting through the sheer fabric.
Murph sniffed. "I know you think I'm crazy for thinking he'll come back," she said.
Tom looked down. "I did for awhile," he admitted. "I just wanted you to move on with your life and quit living in the past. So many things could have gone wrong, and no matter how much he wanted to, maybe Dad couldn't come back. But you solved it, Murph."
"And now we wait," Murph said.
"And now we wait," Tom agreed. "But we can't stop living our lives while we wait."
His gaze fell to her wrist and he frowned. "Getty know you're wearing that damn thing down the aisle?"
Murph brought her wrist up and looked at the worn watch as if she only just realized she was wearing it. "Oh," she said. "Dad gave it to me."
"I know," Tom said with a laugh. "Here, I've got an idea." He unhooked the clasp of the watch band. Taking her bouquet from her slack fingers, Tom wrapped the watch carefully around the bound stems of the bouquet. He gave it back to her. Murph ran her fingers over the familiar leather band, comforted by its nearness.
"Getty's a lucky man," said Tom. Murph hugged him. She could smell the rose pinned to his suit coat. She remembered seeing the first one bloom in the laboratory, smelling the flower for the first time in her life - she'd been brought to tears. It was little more than a surreal dream for a girl who'd grown up in a world full of corn. That was the first time Murph had truly believed that mankind might not only survive, but be saved. Murph pulled away and glanced back in the mirror, carefully wiping away her tears.
Tom offered her his arm. "Shall we?"
He led her to the front doors leading into the little wooden chapel, and they swung open to grandiose organ music and her smiling groom. Murph beamed and ran her thumb over the clock face. She still missed her father - oh, how she missed him! - but she could learn to be content while she waited for him to come home.