To all JAC shippers, please don't hate me for this chapter. I understand this is quite a bold move considering I had only written one fanfic but please trust me on this one. I may not be able to update every day, but I hope that you'd bear with me. Thank you! Oh, and please don't forget to leave me some reviews. Thank you again!
Chapter 1
"McKenna Llewellyn Taylor, do you take Christine Whitney to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"
"I do."
A tear.
"Christine Whitney, do you take McKenna Llewellyn Taylor to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"
"I do."
Another tear.
Jo wiped at her tears with a tissue that she had been clutching even before the ceremony began. She plastered a smile on her face while Mac and Christine exchanged rings.
"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."
Jo blinked her eyes, a second too long just as Mac's lips touched Christine's. She then opened her eyes again and smiled widely, a little too widely. She stood up as well, when all the guests did, while clapping their hands to the celebration of love they'd just witnessed.
When the newlyweds were swarmed by their guests, Jo hung back slightly from the crowd. She felt the rush of another batch of tears.
Mac received all the congratulatory messages, hugs, and kisses from family and friends. While Christine's family and close friends almost filled the whole church, his side of the church consisted only of his mother, Millie and his whole team.
Mac was wearing his Marines uniform and Christine was wearing a white, simple, but sophisticated ankle-length wedding dress. It was really just a simple wedding, attended by only the closest to them.
Mac embraced Millie who kissed her only son, tears of joy in her eyes. She was happy that finally, her son had moved on from the tragic death of Claire. And though she knew that Mac won't ever forget Claire, as she did not, even a second, forgot her own husband, the important thing is he fought hard for his life back.
When Mac was released by Millie, the whole team went in to hug him and Christine. Lindsay's hug was the tightest, and the longest. She looked at Mac as her father away from home, and turned to him every time she's having difficulties in life. And Mac was always there for her too, giving her his full support, and offering his help.
Mac looked around him, as though looking for someone.
He then spotted her lurking around at the back of the group.
Jo saw Mac picking his way to her direction and she hastily checked her reflection using the front camera of her phone to make sure that there was no trace of tears left on her face.
"Hey Mac! Congratulations! It was a beautiful wedding." Jo exclaimed to him when he finally reached her.
"Thank you! I'm glad you came." Mac said smiling happily, opening his arms to receive Jo's hug.
When they released each other, they looked into each other's eyes, smiling. It was a brave thing for Jo to do because even if she's truly happy for Mac, she knew that it would only be a matter of time before her eyes betray her to him. So, she looked away when it became too painful for her to look at his eyes and smile.
Just as Jo looked away, Mac frowned a bit, sensing something odd, though he couldn't figure out what.
"Christine's looking for you, Mac. Go back there." Jo said to him, distracting his thoughts.
He looked up to see Christine scanning the crowd, most probably searching for her husband. Mac gave Jo a quick hug before turning on his heels and joins his wife.
After the wedding, they all gathered at Christine's restaurant for the reception. Tables and chairs were rearranged in a way where a presidential table could be staged in front of all the guests.
Midway through the party, they were asked to dance their first dance as a married couple, to which they happily obliged.
When the first verse of the song was being played, and the couple started dancing to it, everybody was watching and cheering quietly.
She saw this as an opportunity to escape and so Jo quietly stood up from their table to leave the restaurant.
"Where are you going?" Lindsay, who was sitting beside her half-whispered.
"I'm going home. It's already late. Ellie's alone at home." Jo said, knowing fully-well that Ellie was already old enough to take care of herself, but Jo couldn't think of another excuse.
Lindsay frowned a little but nodded her head at Jo.
Jo quickly but quietly slipped out of the restaurant to the cool, New York night. She left the venue as discreetly as possible, trying to do it without anyone seeing her, as they were all engrossed at the lovely dance in front of them.
Mac saw a movement outside the restaurant from the corner of his eye. He thought it was just some pedestrian passing by but there's something familiar about that woman.
Jo?
Mac and Christine swayed to the music, but Mac's eyes did not leave Jo as he watched her hail a cab. He watched her rode off at the back of the cab, without even glancing at him, not even a wave in his direction. He felt Christine's eyes on him and he tore his gaze away from the now-tiny yellow car in the distance.
Ellie put the mug of hot cocoa at the bedside table before pulling the duvet off the bed. She then slid into the bed, sat and leaned her back at the large headrest.
"Why did you still went there, when I told you a number of times not to?" Ellie asked sighing.
Jo was lying on her side, facing away from Ellie.
Ellie placed her hand on Jo's head, and patted it gently just like how her mother used to do to her when she was a young girl.
"How can I not go, Ellie? If I say no, there'd be more suspicions." Jo said sitting up.
Ellie took the steaming mug from the bedside table and gave it to her mother, which Jo gratefully accepted.
"I am his second in command, and his bestfriend…" Jo hesitated a bit "…Well, at least that's what I'd like to think. Though, after that night, I'm guessing I'm not anymore, but how can I not attend the most important event of his life?" Jo said after taking a couple of sips of hot cocoa.
"Yeah, I understand that, but you're only hurting yourself. I told you that you can use me as an excuse. You could've said that I was home, sick. You could've gone there and left right before the ceremony started. Tell them I called you on your phone and asked you to come home right away because I'm not feeling well. But of course, you were being stubborn again." Ellie said, exasperated.
"Oh Ellie, I don't want to lie, okay?"
"Yeah. Right." Ellie said shaking her head.
"He's so happy, Ellie. He's so happy with her. And he's very handsome in his uniform." Jo said, sniffling.
Ellie sighed at the sound of Jo, sniffling. Her mother seldom cried and she only cries if things became too much for her to bear. And this time, she knew that Mac getting married to Christine just became more than too much for Jo.
Jo put the now-empty mug at the bedside table on her side of the bed. She laid back down, pulling Ellie down with her.
"Sleep here with me tonight, okay?" Jo whispered against Ellie's black curls.
Ellie nodded her confirmation and snuggled closer to Jo.
"I love you, mom."
"I love you, baby."
Jo walked out of the elevator when it stopped at the 35th floor.
On her way to her office at the end of the hall, she glanced at Mac's dim office. She was not used in seeing it that… dark. If you worked at the crime lab, you'd understand why Jo felt that way. The crime lab could easily be Mac's permanent address. It felt odd and empty whenever you looked at his office and no lights were on, blinds were down, and no hint of occupancy could be seen.
"Good mornin'" Jo greeted Lindsay, who was already at her desk, working on something on her computer.
"Hi, Jo! Good morning!" she greeted back with a smile.
"Ellie okay?" Lindsay asked Jo, remembering what she told her last night.
"Yup. I just wanted to be sure that she's not staying somewhere else when I'm not around, since it's already late." Jo lied, improvising as she goes.
Lindsay nodded.
"You can never be too careful. But we missed you last night. We had a group picture with Mac and Christine, the whole team's there except for you."
"Oh, bummer." Jo said, wanting to add something more but couldn't think of anything else appropriate to say.
Lindsay did not notice the too short response, though.
"Mac asked about you, I told him you got to rush to Ellie."
Jo looked up at Lindsay, unsure of how to react on that. So she did not.
The day came and went with just petty crimes here and there but nothing worth staying late for, as if knowing that the boss of the crime lab was on leave for his honeymoon.
Mac's accumulated unused leave was finally put into good use. He was on leave for a whole month for their honeymoon, going to Maui first then proceed to Napa Valley, where they planned to have some wine tasting for the restaurant.
"Oh, come on!" Jo exclaimed when she realized what Ellie had put on the player. "Not that again!"
"Why not? It's good. It's my favorite." Ellie countered to her mother's whining.
"But we've already seen it a lot of times already." Jo said as she took a handful of buttered popcorn and shoved half into her mouth.
"Yeah, but the last time was almost two months ago." Ellie reasoned as she sat next to Jo and played the video.
The movie started with the scene where people were milling around the airport, kissing and hugging friends, families, and lovers. They were watching "Love Actually". It was Ellie's ultimate favorite movie and she would always watch it when nothing new was out and worth watching.
Jo stopped whining when the movie progressed because honestly, she liked it too.
Everything was doing well, and she was really enjoying their movie night when suddenly the screen showed Keira Knightley opening the door to see Andrew Lincoln with signboards standing outside, asking her to be silent.
. Jo thought. I totally forgot about this scene.
When Andrew Lincoln started to walk away, Ellie spoke up, catching Jo off-guard.
"You know what, mom? When worse comes to worst, maybe you should just do the same thing. Tell Mac that you love him without having to speak at all."
Jo looked at Ellie, eyes wide.
"Are you out of your mind?" Jo finally uttered.
"I'm just saying." Ellie shrugged her shoulders and turned her eyes back to the movie.
Jo rolled her eyes at Ellie then shook her head. She then turned her attention again at the movie, just in time to hear,
"Enough, enough now." Andrew Lincoln said as he walked away.
Jo swallowed to a dry throat.
Enough, Jo. Enough now.
