A/N - Here's the moment my fellow shippers have been waiting for. For those of you still hanging in there even though finishing this is taking me forever, I appreciate you! Hope this delivers some good feels. There's going to be some action in this one again soon! ~ J
"Here, let me," Mac offered, reaching out for Fred and plucking her off Jack's lap.
Jack grinned. "You look more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room fulla rockin' chairs, bud. You gettin' cold feet or somethin'?" he teased.
Mac smacked Jack on the arm almost reflexively, then fidgeted and threw Jack a nervous little smile. Fred frowned at him. "Nac, no!" she ordered.
"Sorry Freddie. I know, no hitting," Mac chuckled. He grinned at Jack. "She's nailed the boss tone. I predict your daughter is going to grow up to be a nurse."
"I predict she's gonna be somebody's badass bodyguard. She's just looking out for her Daddy. Arncha Freddie?"
"Da," she agreed and Mac laughed.
Jack pressed, "Are you seriously nervous about doin' this? Cause you guys could wait a minute and do it when you were planning at Christmas."
"I'm not nervous about the getting married part. I want that. I wish we'd done it sooner, but … I may be slightly worried about how pissed off her parents are gonna be that we're not waiting for them to fly out. Or having the big wedding they wanted." He sighed. "Boze brought over the iPad so they can still sort of be here. Mel is breaking the news to them now."
"Yeah well even if they're mad, they'll get over it," Jack said calmly.
"Yeah," Mac said absently, disentangling Fred's hands from his black silk tie.
At least he'd been sort of dressed for this. When she first brought it up in the waiting room, Mac hesitated, thinking it'd be weird to just run off and get married the day they buried a teammate. But then he sort of decided it was the right thing. He wanted it, God, just so much. And being reminded of that razor's edge they walked had made him want it even more. He supposed, like she said, it was a way to remember, to make the fallen part of what they'd build moving forward.
"Psst, hey Mac! We're ready if you are," Boze called in from the doorway.
Jack looked at him and raised his eyebrows in a slightly teasing way. "Are you?"
Mac gave him a shy mile in return. "Most definitely."
Mac got up and went to take the outstretched iPad from Bozer's hand. "Hey, Mr. Sullivan. Mrs. Sullivan," he said to his impending in-laws.
The greying red headed man on the screen chuckled and offered a fatherly understanding sort of smile. "When are you going to start calling us Dan and Nora? Or should we start calling you Mr. MacGyver?"
"I'd really rather you didn't, sir. I mean, Dan … I was honestly afraid you guys were going to be upset."
"The smile on my baby girl's face when I answered this call? Nothing much you could do today would upset me, Mac."
"Ditto," Nora agreed. She smiled and Mac thought again that while Mel and her mother looked nothing alike, Mel had gotten her mother's smile, which was at once both sort of movie star dazzling and girl next door sincere. Then she added, "Besides, since we eloped, we can hardly judge. It's lovely of you both to include us."
"You're not too disappointed?"
"Melody already promised you'll still have the reception over the holidays so everyone can come and celebrate with you."
A golden eyebrow went up. "Did she?" And here he thought he was off the hook for all of that. "Well, it would be a shame to disappoint everyone."
"Will your father be able to join you today?" Nora asked.
"Um … Jack's here," he answered, very nearly without thinking. "Hey … I'm getting very dirty looks from our officiant from the doorway, so I'm going to put you guys down in a pew and get things started."
He arranged the iPad in the front row, then he glanced up and nearly jogged to the back. "Ri! You made it!"
She threw her arms around him. "I was already headed over here to meet the babies." She paused. "And I was bringing company."
Riley stepped aside to allow Matty through the doorway. "Matty!" Man beamed, dropping down to pull her into a brief hug. "When you didn't answer your phone I was afraid you were too busy to come over at the last minute like this."
"And miss you signing the one contract that will assure me you won't just bypass Medical just because you and Dalton think you belong on the Justice League or something? Never."
He laughed. "I guess you got my email that I changed my mind about leaving."
"Did the smile that's starting to hurt my face give me away?"
Mac started to answer but Mel called from just outside the door. "Are we gonna do this or what? My feet hurt in these heels!"
Mac laughed. "So take them off!" he called.
She laughed. "You're the idea man."
Jack came back carrying Freddie back and put her down for his own set of hugs.
"Congrats on fatherhood, Old Man," Riley said into his shoulder.
"I'll tell you the same thing I told Mac, I got to be a dad years ago, kid. But this is the first time you get to be anybody's big sister."
Mac added, "I don't know if this would be your first stint as a bridesmaid, but could you walk with Fred?"
Riley hugged him, too. "I'm honored, Mac."
Matty followed Mac, Jack, and Bozer down to the front.
Bozer stepped behind the podium, as Mac stood in front of it, and Jack took his place next to him. Matty faced the iPad. "Mr and Mrs Sullivan, it's a pleasure. I'm Matilda Webber. Mac and Melody work for me. I'd be happy to make sure you guys don't miss anything by holding the iPad."
Mac grinned. Everyone who was really important to him was here. And they were all pitching in on his latest improvisation. Bozer shushed everyone.
"Whoops, almost forgot," Jack said, and got out his phone. He opened his music app and put it down on the podium. A soft instrumental version of the Lumineers Ho Hey started playing. They hadn't talked about music. Trust Jack to do something to make the moment even more memorable. And it was so perfect, so very them, Mac could feel a lump forming in his throat. He turned toward the doorway.
Riley led Fred down the aisle, grinning hugely when she took the whole bag of petals and tossed it up in the air in the middle of the aisle.
Jack laughed and shook his head, then he winked at the two girls and they sat down in the row across the aisle from Matty.
Mac's amused smile changed to one that was more perfectly content when Mel walked down the aisle, barefoot like he'd suggested, carrying the two roses she'd gotten downstairs. When she arrived next to Mac she handed Jack the flowers, then linked elbows with Mac and pulled him close to her.
Bozer cleared his throat and made eye contact with Mac, tilting his chin toward the door. Mac turned to see what was up. A small crowd of staff, patients, and visitors had formed at the entrance. Mac and Mel shared a look. Mac called out, "Hey! This is exactly what it looks like. Come on in and join us if you want."
The pews in the small chapel became dotted with other people just looking for a beautiful moment in a place too often full of ugly ones and Mac thought that was just perfect. Because really that's sort of how he and Mel had ended up together. Just two people who found something good in the midst of a lot of bad.
When the small crowd quieted Bozer began speaking.
"Dearly beloved, we're gathered here today to witness my best friend prove he's never met a plan he can stick to."
Light laughter rippled around the room. Even the strangers who'd joined them had to chuckle. The way Mac blushed and ran his hand over the back of his neck told everyone present that he wasn't just being teased, he knew it was true.
"When Mac first told me he was getting married, I was thrilled. I'd been planning to be his best man since we were about eleven. But he told me he'd already asked his other best friend Jack to be his best man. I can't really explain why because, well, I'm not allowed, but I wasn't upset. There's a Wookiee life debt involved."
More laughter. Boze grinned. He loved doing this.
"But then he told me he wanted me to perform the ceremony and I knew that online divinity course I took so I could write a horror movie with accurate exorcisms finally paid off. Of course, I thought I had until Christmas to prepare! But even though I'm here without a script, it's one of the greatest honors of my life to gather you here today to witness the marriage of Angus Henry MacGyver and Melody Brigid Sullivan."
"Aw, Boze," Mel and Mac groaned together. Whole names should be publicly banned in both their opinions.
He tossed them is mischievous grin. "That's payback for springin' this in me, Mac!" He looked out at they audience, "And it's even more of a pleasure to tell you I don't have much left to say in this ceremony because even though they just decided to do this about three hours ago, they went and wrote their own vows. Which of you is ..?"
Melody let go of Mac's arm and turned so she could face him fully. She took both of his hands in hers. She glanced around a little nervously, but then her eyes met Mac's.
"This isn't just my vows. It's sort of a confession, too. When we met, I think it was four years ago, you know we clashed right off the bat. I think I yelled at you before I knew what your name was." She glanced at the gathered witnesses. "I'm a nurse, and he is a terrible patient."
"I don't think I'm that bad," Mac grinned and squeezed her hands.
"You've gotten better. A little." Laughter rang around again. "With no small amount of coaching."
"Coaching? Is that what you call being terrifying?"
She gave him a playful glare. "Quit interrupting my confession! Anyway … I called you stubborn and ridiculous … but what I really meant was 'you're gorgeous and I've heard all about you and I more than half had a crush on you already so please don't let me be the staff you finally do something stupid enough to die on'."
Mac flushed. "You had a crush on me?" He was rifling through his all to perfect memories for their first encounter. When he came up with it, he flushed a deeper shade of red and just shook his head.
"After that I hated even seeing you come into the infirmary. I was convinced you kept getting hurt just to torment me." She caught his eyes again and smiled. "Then we started actually working together. The more I was around you, the more I had to acknowledge that what I felt for you wasn't just simple care, or even friendship. I knew you were a hero when I met you. The moment I realized you were my hero was one of the best I've ever known."
Mac pulled her toward him then and kisses her firmly on the mouth. A few whistles and some applause came from the audience as Boze reached across the podium to separate them. "Hey, enough! That doesn't happen yet."
Mac pulled away and grinned at him. "Sorry Boze. You're the one who pointed out how bad I am at plans though."
Bozer looked at Mel. "Go ahead, now that we've got Super Mac under control."
"Now you know. I liked you. When you thought I hated you. And I loved you long before I could ever have admitted it to myself or to you. So that's the confession part. Here's the vows."
She squared her shoulders and stepped just a little closer, tilting her chin up so she was looking directly in his eyes. There was an emotional sparkle to them; one she knew she shared at the moment. "Mac … I promise to be your wife, to miss you when you have to take off to do something important, to squeeze every moment of joy and purpose out of the time we have together. I promise to never live in fear of what bad things might happen, but to live in expectation of the good things. I promise to love you, the way a Mac needs to be loved. And to let you love me back. No walls, no games. Just us. That's what I promise."
Mac bit his lip for a second. He took a deep breath and started to speak. When no sound came out, he cleared his throat and tried again. "Mel. I … I'm so bad at this …"
This time she pulled him close and kissed him.
Bozer just laughed this time. "You folks get the feeling that keeping these two apart is a losing battle?"
It took them a little longer to come up for air this time, and when they did Mac just sent a sheepish gaze around the room and shrugged. "I love her. Not kissing her is not an option."
"Same," Mel agreed with a passing little wrinkled-nose grin.
"I'll keep this brief because words aren't really my thing unless I'm explaining something scientific … You know what … actually … Scientists will tell you all about the chemistry of love, from the sweaty palms caused by a rush or norepinephrine to the euphoria we feel when we are flooded with phenylethelamine and dopamine, the bonding we experience with the release of oxytocin … And I weirdly find all of that pretty romantic. You changed my body, changed my brain. But the science only gives you credit for doing it chemically."
He paused, then decided to follow his impulse to pull her to his chest and hug her to him tightly. Based on how she hugged back, it was a good impulse.
"You've taken care of me when I was hurt, when I was sick … and even when I was convinced you just had it out for me, you always went above and beyond. And as bossy and mean as I often accused you of being, I appreciated it." He swallowed hard. "I've never had an easy time admitting to needing help … no that's not true. Since my mom died, and especially since my dad left, it's been hard for me." He took a deep breath. He hadn't meant to mention either of his parents, but there it was. "Ask Boze … or Jack … the people I care most about are the hardest to accept that from."
"So being stubborn and ridiculous is your love language?" Mel teased affectionately.
"Trust me, it is," Jack contributed, and once again soft laughter filled the room.
"So that's my confession, I guess. Contrary to anything I would have said at the time, I liked you too." His blushing smile made Mel feel like her heart might just burst in her chest. "Now for the vow part."
He took a deep breath and released it slowly.
"I'll always fix your car when it makes that funny noise. I'll cook you chicken fingers and mac and cheese whenever you want it, and especially when you're tired. I'll rub your feet after you work a double or just because you want me to." She laughed softly at his practical declaration. He squeezed her hands. "I'll always try to make it home to you, no matter where I am or what my circumstances are."
He swallowed again. They both knew what he meant by that and the way her eyes were searching his face said 'You damned well better'.
"I'll always be stubborn and ridiculous. I'll always improvise. And I'll always, always no matter what, love you."
They weren't sure which of them initiated it this time, but they were a tangle of limbs and lips for a full minute before Bozer cleared his throat loudly. "Ahem! Would you two mind holding your horses so we can make this official?"
Mac disengaged first. "Sorry, Boze. I'm terrible at sticking to the script."
Mel grinned. "And he's a bad influence, too."
Bozer shook his head in affectionate exasperation with both of them. "The rings?"
"Oh, um, they aren't ready yet. That's why I got the roses. I forgot to tell you," Mel said.
"You improvised," Boze grinned. "You're right, he is a bad influence. You take one of those flowers then."
Jack handed Mel one of the long stem roses and leaned in and kisses her cheek. She beamed at him, before turning back to Mac.
Bozer started to speak, "Do you Melody take …"
"I got this Boze. I Melody take you Mac to be my husband and all that means, which in our case is maybe more than the average. And nothing and no one can ever stop it or get in the way of it and if they try they'll have me to deal with."
She handed him the rose. "I think I was supposed to say I do in there somewhere so … I do."
"Me, too," Mac whispered. He turned to jack and accepted the other rose from him, along with a quick fierce hug. Then he turned back to Mel. "I do, everything that means, everything it's always meant, past the inevitable heat death of the universe, Melody. I do."
They leaned in again, but Bozer reached out and put a hand between them. "Alright, before there's anymore improvising, by the authority of my online ordination and the state of California, I pronounce you husband and wife. So you can …"
They were already wrapped in each other's arms again, and everyone, the strangers and the friends, the family members, even those a whole country away, stood and applauded.
After a minute or two, they pride themselves apart and turned to face everyone. "Thank you!" they said together.
Boze grinned. "Mr. and Mrs. Angus and Melody Macgyver, everybody!"
The applause started again and they exited the chapel on a wave of it.