Chapter 37
Amy and Rory returned to London with a day to spare before John and Mary's wedding. Walking into 221b was like walking into a madhouse. Sherlock was nitpicking over every single detail and having small arguments with Mary over whether or not she should wear a veil – Sherlock was against it, but Mary was adamant on wearing one. John sat there with his hands to his face looking as if he wanted to be anywhere but Baker Street. The sight of Amy and Rory entering had calmed everyone for a few minutes until they needed Amy's opinion. In all honesty, Amy didn't know how to react to Sherlock being the one to freak out over the wedding rather than the two people actually getting married. She wished she could attribute his panicked feelings might be due to the fact that John was moving on with his life and he was experiencing feelings of abandonment, or because he had spent much time suffering over planning this thing.
The morning of, however, was a completely different story. Not only did Sherlock look completely calm, but he was dancing. Albeit, he was practicing for later, but it was still odd to see Sherlock in that sort of mood.
"Did you know that Mrs. Hudson brings us tea in the morning?" Sherlock asked as Amy took the place of his invisible dancing partner.
"Well, who else would?" Amy said as they both waltzed around the room.
"I thought perhaps you did, or that it just happened," Sherlock shrugged, and then a moment of silence passed.
"Big day, today. You ready?" Amy asked.
"It's hardly a big day. Two people saying words, signing things, eating, going on a sex holiday, and then resuming living together," Sherlock scoffed.
"So you're calm then?" Amy asked as Sherlock led her around the room.
"Calm? Of course I'm calm."
The song that Sherlock composed ended and Sherlock and Amy stood face to face in the living room, "well to battle, then."
Luckily for Amy, neither John nor Mary asked about the sudden disappearance, and when she asked Sherlock later, he said that he told them it was some sort of family emergency. She supposed that it was partly true – the Doctor was family, and sometimes they were emergencies. But now an emergency was happening right in front of Amy.
"Oh my God," Mary nearly shrieked when she saw the empty pillow that the ring bearer was holding. "Where are the rings?!"
The other bridesmaid, Janine the maid of honour, and Amy began to frantically search the small room in the church. Amy sat Mary down on the couch, trying to calm her down.
"Stay calm, we'll find them," Amy reassuringly told her as she watched Janine tear apart the room.
She whipped out her phone and dialled Sherlock, hissing into the phone, "we lost the rings."
"What?" Sherlock whispered back, and the sound of men talking could be heard on the other end.
"The ring bearer doesn't have them, Mary doesn't have them, I don't have them, Janine doesn't have them," Amy whispered. "Do you?"
"No, but I might know someone who does," Sherlock spoke, and then hung up.
Amy took in a breath and tried to get Mary to focus on something else as she relied on Sherlock to find them, "Here, let's touch up your make up. Do you want something to drink?"
Mary sat in front of the mirror shaking her head. Carefully moving the veil away, Amy applied some lipstick and powdered her forehead. She put the brush down slowly, and looked at Mary, a small smile forming at the corner of her lips.
"What is it?" Mary looked at her a tad worriedly.
"It's nothing. You look beautiful, Mary," Amy smiled wider. "John's going to cry."
"Oh God, I hope not," Mary chucked. "Or else I'll start crying, and it'll just be one bloody mess of tears."
Amy giggled, and then the sound of knocking on the door interrupted. Amy quickly stood up and walked to the door. Opening it to prevent anyone from looking at Mary, she realized that it was Sherlock. He, of course, barged right in.
"Here, I found them," Sherlock opened his hand and two wedding bands shone.
"Who had them?" Amy loudly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Doesn't matter," Sherlock shook his head and looked at his mobile. "Now that we've gotten that crisis averted, are we ready?"
Amy looked back at Mary, who was watching this exchange, "Yes!"
Sherlock nodded once and retreated from the room. Soon, Amy found herself walking down the aisle. She took quick glances at who was sitting in the pews. She managed to catch sight of Rory and Greg sitting together, Molly with Tom, and Mrs. Hudson. Taking her place, she watched as Mary began her walk. Amy watched John closely, seeing his face light up at the sight of Mary in her beautiful lace gown. She swore she could see tears welling up in his eyes. As Mary found her way to John's side, Sherlock and Amy shared a look – one that said "oh my goodness this is actually happening!"
The rest of the ceremony went by quickly, and after emotional vows that brought Mary to tears, Mary and John were officially husband and wife. Waiting for the crowd to make their way out of the church, Amy passed the time by fixing Sherlock's tie. Being in three and a half inch heels, she was just about a bit taller than Sherlock and towered over everyone else in the bridal party.
"Well, the hard part's over," Amy laughed. "For them at least."
"That was hardly considered to be difficult," Sherlock narrowed his eyes.
"An expression, Sherlock," Amy rolled her eyes. "Are you ready for your speech?"
Sherlock patted the area where he kept his notecards containing his speech and forced a smile. With the signal that everyone was out of the church ready to receive the newly wedded couple, Amy took her place with the other bridesmaid with flower petals in their hands as Sherlock stood beside Janine. With much fanfare, John and Mary walked out as they threw the petals in the air. After many pictures later, everyone found themselves at the reception hall.
Amy chatted with Rory for a bit, and they got nostalgic about their own wedding and the ridiculous entrance the Doctor made after her very public speech that he depended on in order to be thrust back into reality.
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.
She scanned the room, watching as Sherlock and Janine talked, seeing Greg sit alone (to which Amy pushed Rory to get them to talk), and then seeing John approach a man in a military uniform. Amongst the mingling, Amy found her thoughts wandering, but it was interrupted when a familiar sound floated in the air. Amy was immediately shocked back to reality and for a second, she thought she might have hallucinated, but seeing Sherlock's face confirmed what she heard.
"He can't be here," Amy said to Sherlock as Rory joined them. "Not now."
"Stay calm, don't walk too fast," Sherlock instructed, leading Amy and Rory to the door.
When they got outside, they were very relieved that nothing looked out of the ordinary.
"Why is he here?" Amy asked as all three of them searched the grounds.
"Because I sent him an invitation," Sherlock said nonchalantly.
"Does John know?"
"No, but why not?"
"Why indeed," the Doctor's voice came up from behind them, startling Amy and Rory.
"Doctor!" Amy hugged her raggedy man and saw that he was wearing a tuxedo, making him look very dapper.
"Right, well I only came for the dancing, has that started yet?" the Doctor rubbed his hands together.
"Erm, no," Rory answered. "We just got here and the reception's about to start. Where'd you park your TARDIS?"
The Doctor looked around with a smile, "no idea. Cloaked it. Invisible. It'll reappear eventually."
The sound of clinking glasses got everyone's attention – they were about to begin dinner. Sherlock and Amy shuffled the Doctor into the reception, seating him in an empty seat close to the back of the room. No one noticed that there was anything different – not even John or Mary knew that they had a new guest arrive. Amy took her seat beside Mary, and Sherlock beside John. Every so often, either of them would look to see what the Doctor was doing, but luckily, he wasn't attracting much attention to himself.
"Pray silence for the best man."
The crowd applauded as Sherlock stood up. Amy glanced at him and the guests – everyone seemed to look nervous for what Sherlock was about to say, but the only one who seemed to be excited was the Doctor.
"Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends, and …," Sherlock's gaze zoomed to the Doctor's face. "Erm … others." He paused. "Er … ah … also."
Amy was confused with Sherlock's stammering – since when did Sherlock get so nervous speaking? A moment passed, and then John said the word "telegrams."
"Ah, right!" Sherlock gained some footing. "First thing's first – telegrams. Well they're not actually telegrams. We just call them telegrams. I don't know why. Wedding tradition … because we don't have enough of that already."
"To Mr and Mrs Watson … so sorry," Sherlock began but Amy accidentally spaced out as Sherlock read them. It was only till Sherlock said the word CAM that Amy saw that Mary tensed up. "Wish your family could have seen this."
"Um, special day, very special day, love, love, love, love, bit of a theme – you get the gist," Sherlock let each card fall in front of him as John, Mary, and Amy looked at him with confused expressions on their faces. "People are basically fond."
He enunciated that last word and got a few giggles from the guests, "John Watson. My friend. John Watson. John. When John first broached the subject of being best man, I was confused. I confess at first I didn't realize he was asking me. When I finally understood, I expressed to him that I was both flattered and … surprised. I explained to him that I'd never expected this request and I was a little daunted in the face of it. I nonetheless promised that I would do my very best to accomplish a task which was, for me, as demanding and difficult as any I had ever contemplated. Additionally, I thanked him for the trust he'd placed in me and indicated, in some ways, very close to being … moved by it. It later transpired that I had said none of this out loud."
John, Mary, Amy, and the guests laughed at that last statement, and Amy reminisced about that memory. Seeing him in such a state was hilarious to her, and seeing him drink his tea with the eyeball was the cherry on top.
Back in the reception hall Sherlock pulled out some cue cards and then went through them. Amy went over the next part of his speech with him earlier and was so glad she forced him to take out the part about marriage conventions and his spiel about human nature, however, the next part Sherlock seemed to rattle off from his memory, making just about everyone uncomfortable. Of course.
The Doctor sat at the back of the room thoroughly entertained.
"The point I am trying to make is that I am the most unpleasant, rude, ignorant, and all-round obnoxious arsehole that anyone could possibly have the misfortune to meet. I am dismissive of the virtuous, unaware of the beautiful, and uncomprehending in the face of the happy. So if I didn't understand I was being asked to be best man, it is because I never expected to be anybody's best friend. Certainly not the best friend of the bravest and kindest and wisest human being I have ever had the good fortune of knowing," Sherlock paused to look at John.
"John, I am a ridiculous man, redeemed only by the warmth and constancy of your friendship," he turned his focus to Amy, then to Mary. "Amy has seen for herself how much John's friendship has changed all of us for the best. Mary, when I say you deserve this man, it is the highest compliment of which I am capable. John, you have endured war, and injury, and tragic loss, so know this – today you sit between the woman you have made your wife, the woman who brought balance when trouble came, and the man you have saved – in short, the three people who love you most in all this world. And I know I speak for Mary and Amy as well when I say we will never let you down, and we have a lifetime ahead to prove that."