A/N - Sorry for the delay in chapters. I had a lot to think about for this scene. :)

Wedding Day

The Doctor was nervous. Not the terror of, 'look a Dalek Fleet is approaching', but more in the 'must not under any circumstances muck this up' sort of way. Rose's cousins were laughing and punching each other, while Jake primped in the mirror and the Doctor was fingering the TARDIS coral in his pocket and thinking.

He'd been married before. It wasn't a particularly pleasant memory. Nor was his memory of his son's wedding all that nice. He'd really not liked the woman his son had married. He'd missed Susan's wedding, though he'd made it to the reception. That had been a time of mixed joy for him. He'd been glad for her happiness and miserably lonely at the same time.

He honestly couldn't think of a happy wedding memory. It had always been about other people finding someone and leaving him. Jo had married Dr. Jones and then gone off and away. Before that, Ben and Polly had traipsed off to the altar and each time, the Doctor had been left behind. Even the Brigadier had gotten re-married and left UNIT. Every wedding had been a sort of loss for him. Even his own. Though what he'd lost then was his innocence.

She'd been beautiful, clever, and had acted as though she thought he was funny and brilliant. He'd thought she loved him and that she wanted to be with him for who he was. His wedding had been a dull boring affair, but he'd been happy regardless. The wedding night had been a disaster. No longer having to pretend, she'd lain beneath him like a stone.

He'd walked away, leaving her there, unable to hide his grief and disappointment. He'd spent that night re-working his sonic screwdriver and talking to his Mum. She'd been as sad for him as he was and they had discussed his options. He'd chosen to stick it out, to live with his mistake and he'd regretted it for a very long time. His wife had poisoned his relationship with his son, arranged the boy's marriage to another high born snob, and allied herself with the Doctor's older brother, making sure to ridicule and embarrass the Doctor whenever she could.

Then Susanatrevalar had been born. His granddaughter. From the first moment he'd held Susan, he'd loved the baby girl. She'd looked up at him with her unfocused dark eyes and he'd been lost in adoration. Her parents had been uninterested in her and she'd followed after him from the moment she'd learned to crawl. He recalled every moment of her childhood, the bright enquiring mind, the giggling child who'd shared his irreverent attitude and sense of humor, the small soft arms wrapped about his neck, the trusting gaze of someone who'd believed in him completely.

Then she'd turned eight and been brought before the Untempered Schism. He closed his eyes in pain. He'd taken her and escaped Gallifrey less than a week later. He'd stolen a TARDIS and run and he hadn't stopped running since, he knew. Even though she was dead now, burned up with Gallifrey, he was still running, only now he was running from the memory of what he'd done.

The last time he'd seen her, she'd gone with him to the TARDIS, to say good-bye. She'd watched him with the sapphire blues eyes she'd gotten from her last regeneration and there had been sorrow and worry in them. She'd looked like a renaissance painting of an angel. Pale blonde hair held back in a bun, her white doctor's robes hanging about her, so slender and fair, so beautiful, and he'd killed her. The person he'd loved most in all the universe and he had murdered her. She'd died screaming in agony and it was all his fault.

Tears were burning in his eyes and he forced his mind away from the memory.

Rose.

He made himself go forward, he saw Rose again, in the basement of that shop. Her eyes were so warm, so filled with a passionate intelligence, and an aliveness that he hadn't felt himself in so very long. She'd demanded that he come back to life, that he respond with some sort of humanity. She'd chided him, bullied him, laughed and teased him, hugged and cuddled him until he found himself starting to thaw out. The thick carapace he'd hidden inside of began to crack apart. She'd risked her life to save him, made him see that maybe he was worth saving.

Her love had brought him back to life and now here he was getting married to her. He pushed the sorrow away, the bad memories, and tried to concentrate on the future.

He was marrying a girl who really did love him for who he was. She didn't know about his family, his inheritance, his history, or the legacy of his ancestors, so she couldn't be marrying him for that. It would be okay now, because he had his Rose.

"Doctor?" Jake interrupted his reverie. "It's time." He nodded at the young man and they headed out. The Doctor quite comfortable in the jet black trainers he'd compromised on with Jackie. It had helped that the wedding planner, that lovely David chap, had sided with him on them. Fellow had been utterly delightful and had made Rose feel happy and contented with the whole mad process. The Doctor was considering making him his own Sonic, just as a thank you.

The priest smiled at him as he came forward.

St. James' Church in Piccadilly had a lovely altar and the cheerful yellow interior made everything seem brighter and happier. They'd chosen the church partially for its location and partially for its tolerant and open attitudes. They might not have known that he was an alien, but he doubted that they'd have minded regardless.

"Rev. Lucy," he smiled, while shaking her hand, and she grinned at him.

"John," she greeted him and gestured him to his place, still smiling. He'd tried to get her to call him 'Doctor' but she laughed it off as 'too formal' and he'd let it pass. This ceremony was for public consumption and for Jackie and Rose, after all. It wasn't as if he could put his real name on a marriage license after all, so this was just a bit of play-acting, as far as he was concerned. He'd married Rose in Norway by the laws and customs of his world and that was legal and binding enough for him.

Jake pantomimed not being able to find the ring and the Doctor looked heavenward and prayed for patience. He recalled the same prank being played at Shakespeare's wedding and had no doubt that similar hijinks had been played out since the first hominid had handed a ripe fruit to a potential mate, only to have his best chum chuck twigs and leaves at them both. It was just something quite uniquely human, an irreverence that he normally appreciated, when he wasn't the butt of it.

The music started up and the bridesmaids did their processional up the aisle, all looking rather pleased with the rose tinted gowns they were wearing. Rose appeared at the end of the aisle, leaning on Pete's arm, a radiant smile on her face.

The Doctor was fairly certain that his heart had stopped beating. She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in nine hundred years of traveling through time and space. The white dress floated around her like a cloud, it glittered and gleamed with beads and embroidery, tiny puffed sleeves kissed her arms and she held a huge bouquet of roses in a thousand different hues, with ribbons trailing down from it. Her hair was swept back up off of her neck into an elaborate confection with sparkling gems threaded through it, a white veil drifting over her like mist.

He wished suddenly that his Mum could have been here. Smiling at his wife as she marched towards him, he wished he could have shown her this final culmination of his journey, to let her see him finally finding the happiness that she'd always wished for him.

Rose reached his side and he took her arm with a feeling of absolute rightness. For all that this ceremony was just a bit of public spectacle, he found himself moved by the beauty of the Church, the music that was underlining the joy and solemnity of the occasion, the wonderful sweetness of the flowers everywhere, huge sprays on either side of the altar and smaller bundles on the ends of each pew, it was like something from a fairy tale and he blinked back tears as Reverend Winkett began reading out the liturgy.

Rose was beaming up at him, her smile so broad and joyful that he thought his heart would burst from the happiness he was feeling.

When at last they had said their vows and turned to face the congregation, he was grinning as broadly as she was and the cheering was loud and celebratory. His wife on his arm, the Doctor marched off to the limo looking forward to the reception.

"Not too shabby, Doctor," Rose teased as they climbed in.

"Yeah, normally I'm rubbish at weddings," he chortled and she leaned in for another kiss. This was the best part of it all, he decided, kissing Rose was his favorite pastime. Better than chips, better than biscuits, more addictive than chocolate and twice as sweet. He lost himself in the things that they made each other feel for a long while.

"I love you, Rose," he told her again and she grinned at him.

"You mentioned that earlier," she murmured and he touched his forehead to hers.

"I intend to tell you at least ten times a day, every day, for the rest of our lives," he informed her and she dissolved into giggles.

"I love you too, Doctor," she replied, still laughing and he kissed her again, for good measure. He had a lot of catching up to do.