Bubble gum and Candy floss 1/1
Disclaimer:- Don't own them just borrowing!
Episode:- None
Pairing:- Sandra/Gerry
Rating:- K+
Achieve:- . /group/new_tricksff/
Summary:- There would be more moments just like it he knew that but as long as he could guide her toward focusing not on the sadness she felt now but on the bubble gum and candy floss of her childhood she'd get past it all in the end.
Author's Note:- This is another of Beth's 12 word challenges the words this time are Hand, Flower, Phone, Butterfly, Murders, Diamond, Baby, iPad, Union Jack, Tap, Water, Blanket. The words are in bold and underlined where they turn up in the story other than that it's just a bit of fluffy fun! Enjoy and reviews would be lovely!
"I can't believe you talked me into this." Gerry snapped looking around the throng of people around them and shaking his head. "You realise we'd have seen more if we'd stayed at home and watched it on the TV don't you?"
"Stop being such a misery!" Sandra sighed beginning to wish she'd come on her own. If he spend the whole day looking at his watch moaning and staring at his phone in the hope something would come up that meant they absolutely had to go into work then it would be no fun at all. "We wouldn't have been able to feel the atmosphere at home and the excitement. What's the point in living in London when there's an event like this going on and staying indoors?"
"Yeah well if I'd stayed indoors I wouldn't have just been poked in the eye by a 6 year old waving a plastic Union Jack would I?"
"Look if this is the way you're going to be all day just go I'll stay and watch the parade myself." Sandra continued suddenly feeling irrationally angry with him. They so rarely got extra days off to just spend together and enjoy the fact that this was their life now, that even after messing each other around for almost a decade they'd finally made it and if he couldn't see that was important to her then she wasn't sure she wanted to spend the day with him.
"Wow down girl I'm just saying there were other things we could have done today with our day off than stand around waiting for the diamond jubilee parade with 200 thousand other people. Right now I'd rather be still in bed enjoying the fact we didn't have to be up at the crack of dawn." Gerry smiled taking her hand and pulling her a little closer as she pouted at him and he couldn't help but relent a little. "Ok, ok I know it's a big thing and I know what you're saying it's a shame to live here and not see some part of it but can you at least promise me we'll find somewhere quiet for our picnic afterward."
"Yes we'll go to the park and find a quiet corner where we can relax afterward, I'll even let you put that terrible music you like on the iPad provided you don't play it too loud." Sandra smiled squeezing his hand a little tighter as they turned their attention toward the road and the crowd started cheering a little louder as a row of horses and carriages passed and a second later the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh passed by waving and smiling.
"You know I remember bringing my mother to see the silver jubilee parade." Gerry said as they started walking toward Regents Park and he switched the picnic basket from one hand to the other putting his free arm around her waist as they walked. Now that they were away from the main crowd he was feeling much better about the day. He knew she was right spending their days knee deep in murders and the worst things that people could do to each other was enough to make it hard to see the best of the world but walking through the city now on a beautiful June day with her was perfect.
"We didn't come I was only 15 and my mother wasn't having any of it. You were a bit old to be going to big events with your mother you must have been what? 24 or 25 weren't you off seducing women and spending time in seedy night clubs?" Sandra laughed as they reached the park and scanned around spotting the perfect quite corner.
"My Mum was a big royalist and she wanted to come so I had to bring her." Gerry shrugged spreading out the blanket they'd brought and opening the basket.
"Aww that's so sweet Gerry! I always knew there was a reason I fell in love with you." Sandra laughed sitting on the blanket and pulling him toward her kissing him gently.
"I don't think being a loyal son was the reason you fell for me." He whispered the picnic briefly forgotten as he laid her back on the blanket and indulged in a moment of enjoying the way she melted into his kiss the fact they were in public in a park full of other people seeming to become irrelevant. She'd always been able to turn on the tap of his desire making him unable to focus on anything but her and this was no exception.
"Lunch Gerry, hold that thought till we get home." Sandra smiled gently pushing him away and lifting the bowls of salad and bottles of water out of the basket as a couple walked past and she smiled as the young woman cooed at the baby in the sling resting on her partner's chest. "You know I think it's great that men are so open and happy to be seen carrying their kids about these days. I'm pretty sure my father would have died rather than push me around in my pram let alone carrying me around in a sling on his chest."
"Yeah I know but it was different then Sandra even when Paula was born men didn't do that. I remember having a huge row with Allison because we were going to a party in a house down the street, she had Paula all dressed in a lovely butterfly costume and she had bags of things and plates of food and stuff to carry and she wanted me to push the pram but I flatly refused. It was only 5 doors down the street or whatever but it just wasn't done. Men didn't push prams. Looking back on it I can't believe I was such a tosser about it." Gerry agreed as they both started eating and fell silent for a second before he realised the happy relaxed atmosphere that had been the trademark of the day seemed to have faded. "What's wrong sweetheart?"
"I was thinking about you taking your Mum to the Silver Jubilee and how I don't have any real memories of doing anything with my Mum. I remember days out with my Dad though. He'd take me shopping for books or we'd go to museums and we'd always bring home flowers for Mum which feels a bit hollow now considering what I know about his level of fidelity. Sometimes though he'd take me to the coast, that was my favourite. My Mum was death on sweets she used to ration them I was only allowed them now and then but when we'd go to the coast he'd let me have Candy Floss and bubble gum you know the multi coloured balls you get from those machines?"
"Oh yeah I used to love those machines all lined up with different coloured sweets." Gerry laughed the wistful edge to her gaze as she set aside her hardly touched food and sighed making his heart break. "Sandra it's ok to still have nice memories of you Dad. I know he's fallen from grace a little in your eyes in the last few years but it doesn't change what he was or how much you loved him."
"When did you get so perceptive?" Sandra smiled as he shrugged. If someone had told her a few years ago that once they were in a relationship he'd be so good at tuning into her feelings she'd have laughed at them but he was. He could take a simple statement or change in her mood and know immediately what was behind it.
"I don't know you bring it out in me I suppose but I mean what I say sweetheart." Gerry sighed lying back on the blanket and pulling her with him as she propped herself up on one elbow and stared down at him. "What you Dad did, the things you've been finding out about him, are terrible but that doesn't change the fact that while he was alive you loved him and you have some good memories."
"I just wish sometimes that I'd never found out the things I did and I know you all told me not to dig, even my Mum told me to leave it, but I didn't listen and now I've got to deal with it."
"I know but you did find them out and you can't turn back the clock but it's a beautiful day, we have each other, and the sun's shining to its ok to just remember the nice things for now." Gerry smiled as she nodded and he knew the moment had passed. There would be more moments just like it he knew that but as long as he could guide her toward focusing not on the sadness she felt now but on the bubble gum and candy floss of her childhood she'd get past it all in the end.