AN: This is an alternate ending to SC, so don't panic. It's not how it actually ends (if I ever finish it)…this is just a one-shot. As a side-note – since I can't get into SC right now – I believe I said Goku and Pan were 2 and a half years apart? I'll fix it later if anyone knows.
Beautiful as You
The sun was bright, the colors were serene, and people were smiling…some shed tears. Up in the top part of the church, Videl sat with her little girl, teasing her hair into a ponytail. She wanted her to look simply amazing for her wedding day. She had every right to know true happiness. After having the ponytail intact, she teased in a few curls to frame her daughter's porcelain face. "You look amazing," she commented, placing some flowers in the tail. "He's going to be amazed when he sees you."
"I know," Pan commented, turning to her mother with a magnificent smile. "I love Miles…I'm glad he decided to be with me. I would be lost without him."
"He's a great man, you're lucky to have found him when you did." Videl toyed around with Pan's veil a few times, trying to get it perfect. "I hope you find a love like your father and I did."
"I hope so, too." Pan stared down at the bouquet in her hands; the white and pink tulips drew out the slightly off white in her dress. Pan had chosen to use off-white…not because she was impure, but she hated to be like everyone else. "Do you think he knows?"
"Yes…he knows." They both knew the unspoken 'he' in question was her father. "He'll be proud."
"I know." Kissing her mother's cheek, Videl hastily went downstairs and grabbed Little Goku. "Goku, go see if Miles is ready; your sister is."
The twenty year old nodded and went to the separate room, looking for Miles. Miles was pacing, something he didn't usually do. Pan was about to marry a nervous wreck, and she didn't even care. It was true when they said love was blind. Pan didn't even care that Miles was blind. She didn't care that he couldn't see her. She didn't even care that he was a little rough around the edges; because that's what made him appealing to her. "Pan wanted to know if you were ready to go."
"I will be," He commented, fixing his tie. "She'll look amazing, I bet."
Goku noticed that he had it on upside down and quickly ran over to help him. The man was a wreck. "She looks amazing; I wish I could find a way for you to see her."
"It's okay," he held up a hand to tell him to stop fidgeting with his tie. "I don't need to see her to know I love her." Miles was a professor. He taught speech classes; it was the only thing he could do without stuttering, or needing to write a lot. Usually for the writing, he had someone help him out. Pan had met him in class and immediately fell in love. It wasn't uncommon for a student to fall in love with a teacher – not when Pan had waited so long to go to school. Twenty three years old, and already she was going to be married.
"That's what love is, right? Love is blind?" Goku hadn't meant to be rude to him, but Miles was okay with the fact that he couldn't see. He was okay with Pan being his protector. He didn't care about a lot of things; it's what made him special to her. "I-didn't mean that the way it came out."
"No, it's true. Love is blind. It can't see flaws, only beauty. That's what your sister is…beautiful."
Goku never admitted it outright, but in the company of his brother-in-law, he didn't mind. "She is kind of radiant, isn't she?"
"We should probably go out there before she gets worried."
AN: I've never been to a wedding – so just bear with it. Most of you can use your imagination.
The ceremony commenced without any kind of problem, the flurry of white and beige down the aisle, Pan nearly falling on her gown, and the first time Miles heard her full name…it was all quite an experience. Pan looked back while they read the vows; something seemed to be missing from the crowd of people. She already knew what it was, but it wasn't something she could fix.
"So your name is Panchali?" Miles asked, dancing with her slowly at the reception. He chuckled softly, knowing that she was named by her father – the name meant Princess in Sanskrit. He could understand her father's reasoning.
"My father picked the name. It was the only thing he could think have that matched my lineage." Pan smiled softly, but felt like crying. There was no way she could hide the fact that she missed him. The pain was unbearable.
"He sounds like he was a great man." Miles commented, brushing back her hair with a shaky hand. He knew she was crying when she sniffled, and wiped away her tears. "A wonderful man. I hope I can do him some justice."
"You're exactly what he'd want for me." She laid her head against her husband's shoulder, entwining her hand with his. Since her father had been buried without his wedding ring, Videl gave it to Miles, and she held her mother's. Videl had decided the moment Pan said she was getting married that she was going to give her the rings that stayed in her dresser drawer for the better part of six years.
"You never told me how he died," Miles whispered softly, knowing it was a hard topic to discuss.
"I…" She smiled, sucking in a breath, proud of her father's death. She wasn't proud that he died, but the cause he died for. "He died overseas…protecting a little girl. She'd wandered onto their camp, when he went to take her home, her family came looking for her…" Pan got quiet. "The other people, the ones that came looking for her…assumed he'd kidnapped her, and took him as a POW." Her words got silent; she laid her head on his shoulder. "They didn't tell us what happened after that – it was for the best."
"You were only eight…" Miles did the math on his own; her father was drafted when she was three, almost four. He wrapped his arms around her tighter, toying with a strand of her hair. "He would be proud of you."
Pan's choice to join the military had shocked all of them, considering her father's violent death. She had said she wanted to do it to honor his legacy. To make sure that they would remember him for times to come. Miles accepted that; he honored that. Pan would have it no other way. "It's a hard choice." She had just come home on leave, Miles waited for one whole year to marry her. He'd proposed before she left. They decided to get married when she came home. Now that she was stateside for a few years, he could actually get the chance to smile more.
"I have this crazy image of your father in my head," Miles said, taking the girl off guard. "Tall, kind of buff…spiky hair, and glasses? Oh, and green eyes…I bet your eyes are green, too, aren't they?"
"That's him…how did you know? And…my eyes are green…Goku's are blue." Pan looked at Miles, quietly wondering how he'd managed to describe her father perfectly without having met or seen him. "Miles?"
"Do you remember me telling you about the night I went blind? How the impact had caused brain damage?" He asked quietly. He hadn't always been blind; it happened shortly after they had met. A few days before she confessed she loved him. The feeling was always there, that couldn't be denied. "I think he was the one that pulled me out of the wreckage. I could only catch a glimpse of green eyes…but I remember them. He said to me 'don't worry, you'll be fine. I'm going to keep you safe until help gets here.'…and he did."
"That sounds like my father…so, he's alive?" Pan asked with excitement and anger lacing her voice. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"He wasn't alive, at the time I thought he was. He sat with me the entire time until the EMS got there…told me all about you and Goku…said how proud he was. Then he talked about your mother, and how she was doing. He seemed like a nice man." Miles fell quiet, looking at her shoulders in an attempt to see her eyes. "He loved you guys with all his heart."
Pan sighed, pulling Miles close, tangling her hands in his hair. "I know." When she peered over Miles' shoulder to see the other people in the room, she noticed her father standing in a corner with his halo. It all seemed so much more real, seeing him there. Miles couldn't see, so she knew he wouldn't notice. "He's here." Pan murmured, kissing Miles gently on the cheek. "Thank you for bringing him here."
"What do you mean?" Miles asked sincerely.
"When he died, I used to see him…everywhere. We'd talk and spend time as if nothing happened. I know he wasn't there, I got put in counseling for it…but I didn't care. I missed him. I remember saying something to him at one time, asking him if he knew I was happy…he said he'd always be there for me when I wasn't." Pan looked at her white shoes. "I wasn't happy when you asked about him, but then something you said sparked that memory…and there he was. So…thank you."
Wow, this is somewhat CRAPPY. XD
