The Arthur C. Clarke story that inspired me was, "Childhood's End".

Chapter 11

The Wedding

On a small, rocky outcrop, poking into Lake Geneva, stood the fairytale castle of Château-de-Chillon. It was usually full of tourists, being one of the most visited tourist destinations in Switzerland. That weekend however, it had been rented by the Coulthard family for the wedding of their son André.

The little rocky island was pretty much surrounded by water, and the lake formed a natural moat. As a result, access to the castle was via a modern covered bridge, which crossed the shallows of the lake. This wooden bridge was the remains of the old drawbridge, and some of its old workings could still be seen.

To the side of the footbridge entrance, were a set of stone steps which led down to a small, rickety looking wooden jetty. A modern yacht was moored there, which somehow managed to look embarrassed at being a modern, high tech vessel moored alongside a medieval castle. A wooden galleon would have been more appropriate. The yacht belonged to one of André Coulthard's uncles, and it had arrived the previous day after ferrying André and his family fifty miles across the lake from Geneva.

Inside the castle, the buildings and outhouses of the castle were orientated around four small courtyards, the largest of the which was "The Courtyard of Honour", a site of ceremonial importance and the grandest of all the communal areas. And on this Saturday morning, the tranquil silence of that courtyard echoed to the sound of time and space being nudged to one side as a quirky wooden box slowly appeared below one of the covered wooden galleries that ran around the stone walls.

'There, now wasn't that easier than trying to squeeze everyone into your dad's airship?' John asked, as he stepped out of the TARDIS.

'Yeah. You'll get no argument from me,' Rose said as she followed him out and looked around the medieval courtyard. 'Oh God. This is beautiful.' She was reminded of the court of King Arthur from and adventure in the old universe.

The rest of Blue Watch filed out into the courtyard, the men in their formal morning suits, and the Blue Watch Babes in their pale blue, strapless bridesmaids dresses. They looked around in wonder at the fairytale galleries and walkways, the Gothic arches, and the round turrets.

'The kids would have loved this,' Rose mentioned to her husband. 'It's like Hogwarts.'

'Yeah, we'll have to come back here when we're not so busy.' They had decided that it would be easier to leave the children with their grandparents for the weekend whilst they focussed on the bride and groom.

'We'd better find the reception area and see where everyone is,' said Rose. But even as she finished speaking, she saw a familiar figure walking through the archway into the courtyard. 'André!'

''Ello Rose. We 'eard the TARDIS arrive,' he said in his usual French accent as he approached. A woman in a smart wedding outfit had followed him into the courtyard and stood beside him. 'And of course, you remember my mother, Anna.'

'Of course we do,' John said, shaking her hand. 'Nice to see you again Anna.'

Anna Coulthard was a tall, athletic woman in her late fifties. She had shoulder length auburn hair, chocolate brown eyes, a perfectly proportioned nose, full lips, and a strong jaw line.

'And you John,' she replied. 'And all of you,' she said to the assembled members of Torchwood, 'thank you for coming, and welcome to Château-de-Chillon.'

As she shook his hand, she remembered the last time they had met, and it was a less than joyous occasion.

Six months previously.

Jack Harkness sat at his desk and accessed a file on his computer that he'd hoped he would never have to access. It was the emergency contact details for next of kin. He dialled the number for Karl and Anna Coulthard and waited for the call to connect.

['Ello,'] a woman's voice said.

'Mrs. Anna Coulthard?' Jack asked.

['Yes. Who is this?']

'My name is Jack Harkness. I'm director of the Torchwood Institute in London.'

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and Jack realised that having been a police inspector, Anna Coulthard had probably made calls like this herself.

['How bad is it?'] the woman asked without any preamble.

Jack took a deep breath. 'Your son has been injured during a surveillance operation. He is alive, and receiving the best possible care. The trauma team have stabilised his condition and I will keep you informed of any developments.'

['Thank you Mr. Harkness. We will be on the first flight to London.']

'Of course. I'll send a car to collect you when you arrive.'

['Thank you.']

When they arrived in the High Dependency Ward, they found their son asleep, with a pale, silver haired woman holding his right hand and stroking his face. Anna had seen them together on the television show that they watched via satellite, and knew that she was his field partner. She had also seen the way that her son looked at her and suspected that he had fallen in love with her.

Anna was a recently retired police inspector, and the thing people remembered when they met her for the first time, was the way she looked at you. She didn't use those dark eyes to look and see, she used them to examine and scrutinise. She would look a person up and down, assessing their posture and body language. Then her gaze would rest on the face, taking in the nuances and facial expressions. She prided herself on being able to judge someone's character within a few seconds of meeting them, and she was rarely wrong.

Today however, she failed completely, because she could not "read" this strange young woman. She sat on one of the chairs at her son's left side and squeezed his hand. 'André, Sweetheart?'

André's eyes flickered open, looked at Angel, and he smiled. He rolled his head on the pillow and looked in confusion at the faces that were there. 'Mother . . ? Father? What are you doing 'ere?' he asked weakly.

Anna rolled her eyes. 'Your director calls us and tells us you have be seriously wounded . . . What do you think we are doing 'ere?'

Karl gave a little chuckle at his wife's irritation. He was a tall thin man, with short, black hair flecked with grey. He had piercing blue eyes with laughter lines at the corners. He wore wire rimmed glasses and a neatly trimmed goatee beard. He squeezed his son's forearm. 'How are you son?'

'Weak and tired,' he said before looking back at Angel. 'But content.'

'And this must be your field partner Angel,' Anna said, with a hint of animosity in her voice, still trying to "read" her alien features.

'Yes, I am. It is nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Coulthard, although the circumstances of our meeting are not nice.'

As Anna watched her speak, all she could detect was honesty. Pure, simple and innocent honesty, and that threw her, because as a detective, she wasn't used to that.

'Angel saved me Mother. She dragged me out of 'arm's way. If she hadn't done that, I would 'ave died,' André told them.

'No,' Angel protested. 'It was Chris who carried you out of the school, and it was Adam who brought you back to life.'

'What 'appened?' Karl asked.

'We were on a surveillance that went wrong. We went into a school to protect a student who didn't know 'e was an alien. I was shot in the chest by an energy weapon, and like I said, Angel risked everything to drag me to safety.'

'Then we owe you a debt of gratitude young lady,' Karl said with a warm smile.

'And we 'ave some news for you,' André said. Karl and Anna looked at him with raised eyebrows. 'Angel and I are engaged.'

'Really?' Karl said with a grin.

'Engaged?' Anna queried with less enthusiasm. 'To be married?'

'That's the usual meaning of being engaged, Mother,' André said lightheartedly.

'But you've only just met. You barely know each other,' Anna protested. She knew about the Florence Nightingale effect where a patient falls in love with their nurse or doctor, or a victim falls for their rescuer.

'Mother!' André said sharply. 'We know each other well enough to know that we love each other.'

'Do you?' she asked her son. She then turned to Angel. 'Do you love him?'

It was fair to say that the answer she got, was not the one she was expecting. 'I think I do,' Angel said honestly.

'Don't you know? 'E's asked you to marry 'im. I would 'ave thought it was important to be sure,' Anna said. She was right about this alien, she didn't love her son.

Angel hesitated as she considered her response. 'Love is an intellectual concept that seems difficult to define.'

'Try,' Anna said somewhat unkindly.

'Mother, that is enough,' André said angrily, wincing at the pain from his healing chest wound.

Angel looked at André and gripped his hand for support. 'No André, it is all right . . . When I saw you get shot, it was as if I was also shot,' she started to explain. She looked at his parents. 'If I'd have had the chance to throw myself in front of André and take the hit myself, I would gladly have done so to spare him the pain and distress he has experienced.'

Her eyes started to fill with unshed tears. 'And when I cradled his head on my lap, and I watched the light go out of his eyes . . . a part of me died with him.'

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked at her love and remembered that moment in the car. 'And when you were brought back to life . . . back to me, I . . . I knew I would not be able to live without you.' She wiped the tears from her cheeks and looked at Anna. 'Is that love? It fills me with so much joy, and yet it causes me so much pain. Is that right, is that what love does?'

Anna went to speak, but had to clear her throat. She reached a tissue from the box on the bedside cabinet and dabbed her eyes. She reached across the bed and held Angel's hand which was holding André's. 'Yes,' she whispered. 'That is love . . . In fact, I think that is one of the most poignant declarations of love I 'ave ever 'eard.'

Anna stood and walked around the bed and held her arms out in an invitation for a hug. Angel stood and hugged Anna around the chest, whilst Anna hugged Angel around her shoulders . . . and her wings, and gently patted her back. 'Forgive me my dear. Thirty years of being a police inspector has left me a cynical old hag.'

'You have nothing to be forgiven for. You are his mother, you love him. I am a stranger to you, and . . .' She flexed her wings and smiled. '. . . I am strange.' Karl snorted a laugh at that. 'And I now know that I love him, because I now know what love is.'

Anna smiled at the petite alien in front of her. 'When did you last have something to eat and drink? Would you like a sandwich and a cup of coffee?'

Angel nodded. 'Yes, that would be nice.'

Without looking around, Anna spoke. 'Karl, go and fetch some sandwiches and coffee.'

André looked at his father with a smirk. Karl waggled his eyebrows, looked at his wife and then gave André an "OK" gesture with his finger and thumb. It was rare to see his wife in tears, and this young waif had managed it. She was something special this one.

After they had eaten their sandwiches and drank their coffees, Jack gave them a whistle stop tour of the Special Operations Unit. Being Director of Application Development at a successful IT company, Karl marvelled at the technology available to Torchwood. Anna stood in the Despatch Office and observed the agents coordinating responses to operatives in the field. It was truly remarkable.

Eventually, they came to the Standby Room and met the members of Blue Watch, including the Watch Supervisor, Rose Smith, and her husband, John. Anna could see that Rose had been affected by what had happened to her son. 'André speaks very 'ighly of you Mrs. Smith . . . you shouldn't blame yourself for what 'appened.'

'It's Rose, and I have to, I'm the supervisor, and André is a member of this close knit family. If anything happens to one of us, it affects all of us.'

Anna smiled and stroked Rose's cheek. 'I know, I 'ave experience of that myself. But with such a strong and loving family around 'im . . .' She looked around the Standby Room. '. . . I know 'e is in safe 'ands.'

Anna was then introduced to John, and they shook hands. Once again, her ability to read a person failed her. Here was a man whose eyes seemed to be older than his face. And those eyes held secrets . . . lot's of secrets.

She finished shaking John's hand, and was back in the present. She looked over at the bridesmaids. 'You all look lovely. Come on, I'll take you up to Angel's room. I think she needs to see some familiar faces.'

'Ah, a case of wedding jitters,' Alice said with a smile. 'Come on girls, operation "tie the knot" is underway.' They laughed and followed Anna out of the courtyard.

'And I will take you to the Coat-Of-Arms hall, where family and friends are gathering,' André told them.

In one of the medieval themed bedrooms, the Blue Watch Babes found Angel sitting at the dressing table, having her hair styled. When she saw them, she stood and hurried to them to enjoy a group hug.

'Are you all right?' Rose asked her in her role as maid of honour.

'I am now,' Angel replied with a smile, looking at Anna as she explained. 'Anna and Karl have been lovely, so kind and welcoming. And yesterday I got to know André's brother and sisters as we travelled across the water.'

'But there was only André that you really knew,' Alice realised.

'Yes, and today I think there is something wrong, because they won't let me see André.'

Rose smiled and rubbed her arm to comfort her. 'Don't worry Angel, that's just one of the traditions we told you about. It's bad luck to see the groom before the weddin', and also . . .' Rose looked her up and down. 'You are gonna knock his socks off when he sees you in that dress.'

The dress was white silk, with a bodice of individual silk "feathers". It was an off the shoulder design, the same as the bridesmaids dresses, but was lower at the back to accommodate Angels wings. Rose and Julia had taken Angel to Tyler Mansion to meet Jackie's designer, and he had done a fantastic job of realising their ideas.

'So come on girlfriend, let's add the finishin' touches and get you ready for your man.'

The Coat-Of-Arms hall was a large room with a vaulted ceiling which was supported with wooden columns. Chairs were arranged in rows for the guests and an altar had been placed at one end. André was sitting in the front row with his younger brother Jan, who was his best man. Next to them were an empty chair for Anna, then Karl, André's older sister Celine, and finally Nicole, the youngest of them all. John sat behind André and looked along the row, when a thought occurred to him.

'André?' he whispered, leaning forward. 'Who's giving Angel away?'

'Ah, she 'as kept that a closely guarded secret. She wanted it to be a surprise.'

'I wonder who it could be?' John asked.

'My money is on Andy,' André said, referring to Captain McNabb, the head of Special Operations. 'With Jack as a close second.'

As the bridesmaids put the finishing touches to Angels outfit, the same thought occurred to Rose. 'Angel, I forgot to ask you. Who's giving you away today?'

They were surprised when Angel gave them a mischievous smile. 'That, is a secret, and you are going to love it. They will be here soon.'

"They?" Rose thought. Surely she meant "he". Rose put it down to Angel's use of the English language.

There was a knock at the door, and Anna's face peeped around the corner. 'Is everyone ready Rose?'

Rose looked around the room. 'Yep. We're all good here. Just need someone to give the bride away.'

'Ah, I think I can 'elp you with that. I will see you down stairs. Enjoy your day Angel.' Anna's head disappeared, but the door stayed open.

Rose's jaw dropped as a familiar figure walked into the room, holding the hand of a familiar four year old girl dressed as a bridesmaid. 'Dad?! Juleshka?! Wha' . . ? How?'

'Hi there Sweetheart. Angel reckoned she was a bridesmaid short,' Pete Tyler said to his stunned daughter.

Rose looked over to Angel, and Angel smiled. 'When I arrived at Torchwood, your father looked after me. He secured my refugee status, arranged for my identity papers, passport, visa. He gave me guest quarters at the Tower, and even gave me a job in the day care centre. He was a father figure when I needed one, and he will be a father figure today.'

Rose smiled at her father. 'Yeah. He's been one to me too,' she said cryptically as she kissed him on the cheek and hugged him around the neck. She was of course referring to the fact that this universe's Pete Tyler was not her "real" father.

'And you, young lady,' she said, stooping down and picking up her daughter. 'Look beautiful. But how did ya manage to hide all this from me and yer dad?'

'Eyulf said if we imagined that Granny and Grumpy were taking us to Harry Potter Land at the Warner Studios, you and Daddy wouldn't be able to tell the difference between going there and coming here.'

'He's your father's son,' Rose said. 'The crafty little devil.'

['Rose, what's up?'] John thought in her head.

['Hah! Plenty. Are you in for a surprise. Tell André we're on our way.']

'You all right Dad?' a young voice said beside John in the hall. He turned to see the cheeky grin of his son, Eyulf in the chair beside him.

'Eyulf? What . . ? How?'

['Already done that one,'] Rose laughed in his head.

'Ooh, this is posh, innit,' Jackie Tyler said as she led Jason by the hand to the seat next to his brother. 'Close yer mouth John, there's a train comin'.'

John's mouth snapped shut like a Goldfish's. 'But what are you doing here? And where's Pete and Juleshk . . . ah.' He'd worked it out.

André turned to look at them. 'Mrs. Tyler. What a surprise. Thank you for coming. Angel will be delighted.'

'More than y'know lad. And it's Jackie,' she told him.

'But where is Pete?'

'He's a little bit busy at the moment, but he'll be along in a minute,' she explained with a grin.

'So, how did you get here? I mean when?' John asked.

'After you'd dropped the kids off and driven away, Alistair drove us to the airport and we flew over in Pete's airship,' Jackie explained.

John laughed. 'You can take the man out of Torchwood . . .'

Before John could finish the saying, Mendelssohn's Wedding March started playing, and they all looked to the back of the hall.

'Oh wow!' André breathed.

'Wow indeed,' John agreed.

'She looks gorgeous,' Jackie said, reaching in her handbag for a tissue to wipe her eyes.

Pete had a proud smile on his face, and Angel's smile gave her an elfish quality.

Jackie explained why Angel was being led down the aisle by Pete. 'It was one of the times when Angel was havin' her dress fitted. She took me to one side and said she'd been readin' about how the father gives away the bride, and she hadn't got a father. Brought a tear to my eye that did. She wondered if Pete would give her away, but didn't know how to ask him.'

John grinned. 'And of course, he said yes.'

'He was gobsmacked when I told him. He went and gave her a big hug and said she should never be afraid to ask him anythin'. He was burstin' with pride.'

'And still is by the look of him,' John said as they reached the altar. Rose turned to look at her family and gave them her tongue between the teeth smile and a cheeky wink.

The registrar signalled for people to sit, and made her introductions before getting down to the business of the civil marriage declaration. It was the start of another of those special Torchwood family moments which brought everyone closer together.

The End