Rose twirled around in front of the mirror while her mother tried to make her veil lie flat.
"Stop your squirming, I've got enough of that from Tony! Now just hold still a minute!" Jackie grabbed the corners of the veil and gave it a shake to smooth out the wrinkles, then let it fall gently against the back of Rose's gown. The white fabric glowed in the light from the window, matching the happiness radiating from Rose's face as she surveyed herself again. Her gown hugged her body before widening into a sweeping skirt, hemmed with lace and tiny, sparkling stones. Loose lace sleeves draped across her arms, leaving her shoulders bare and drawing attention to the beautiful necklace she wore, featuring the same stones as her dress. Her hair done up and out of her face, she felt like a real princess.
"Sort of like Madame de Pompadour," she muttered to herself, remembering the beautiful woman they had saved from the murderous clockwork robots.
"Well listen here, Madame," Jackie said, smiling. "You'd better not mess that up one more time or I'm done with it! Now I'm just gonna go find Tony and your dad real quick, don't you leave this room! We don't want the Doctor seeing you before it's time, goodness knows you two don't need any more bad luck!"
Alone with her reflection, Rose slipped her hand inside a pocket hidden in the folds and ruffles of her dress and drew out a silver key on a thin chain. She thought back to her early days with the Doctor, when he was all ears and leather jackets, and smiled to herself. Then she tucked it back into her pocket and twirled around again, making the veil flutter and swirl and fall all out of place.
The Doctor waited in a small room off the sanctuary of the church. He paced back and forth with nervous energy, periodically stopping to check the doorframes and calculate the date the original structure was built. He remembered the last time he was in this very church, and reapers were attacking the world outside as it dissolved into nothingness. This time would be different; Jackie wouldn't be yelling at him, Pete would be alive on purpose, and the only child Rose could be holding wouldn't create a paradox that would end the world.
He stopped his pacing as Pete poked his head around the door and gave the Doctor a little nod. He acknowledged it, and Pete vanished behind the door again. The Doctor patted his tuxedo jacket, momentarily searching for a screwdriver that wasn't there. Slightly disheartened, he took a deep breath and walked through the door out into the sanctuary.
It was a small affair, all totalled. Since Pete and Jackie had never had a daughter in this universe, and he and Rose were both relatively new, there weren't many guests present. Noticeably missing were Mickey and Captain Jack Harkness, both far away in a parallel dimension. But some of Rose's new mates, as well as a few teachers from the Doctor's school, were present in the pews, along with a handful of Pete and Jackie's friends and coworkers. The Doctor was less interested in the crowd and more intent on the double doors at the other end of the aisle, currently obscuring his vision of the one person he wanted to see most. Though their life here had been uneventful to date, the Doctor was still on the lookout for any potential extraterrestrial shenanigans that could arise.
He stood alone at the front of the church, Pete having gone to join his daughter for their march up the aisle. The pastor walked up from another door and gave a nod to the organist, who began playing a lively tune. The Doctor's heart skipped a beat as the audience stood and turned to face the back of the sanctuary. The doors opened slowly and Jackie walked solemnly through, holding a waddling Tony by the hand as he clasped a pillow to which was tied their wedding bands. The guests murmured as the adorable toddler grinned up at them, then caught sight of the Doctor and waved the pillow around in the air. But the Doctor barely noticed, so focused was he on the empty doorway at the end of the aisle. Pete appeared in the archway and waited for Jackie to reach their pew with Tony, then turned and gave a smile, holding out his arm.
Rose had been waiting for what seemed like hours for the guests to arrive and seat themselves. She bounced on the balls of her feet, her hand darting in and out of her pocket to grasp the TARDIS key for comfort. Her mother and Tony had just made it to their seats and her dad was holding out his arm for her to take. She pulled her hand out of her pocket and went to smooth down her dress one last time. She noticed a red imprint of a key on her hand, and wondered at the expanse of her nerves. I'm going loony here, she thought. She took a deep breath and let it out, her cheeks puffing out with the effort of calming herself. Then she took a step forward and into the doorway.
The Doctor watched. All sound dropped away and the only thing he could hear was the muffled beat of his one heart. As Rose stepped onto the aisle on Pete's arm, she looked up and locked eyes with the Doctor. He had never seen her so radiant, not even when the heart of the TARDIS burned in her eyes and she controlled time itself. She glowed from head to toe, looking more beautiful than the snow-covered mountains and silver forests of Gallifrey and smiling brighter than the two suns of his home world. He couldn't take his eyes off her tongue, which poked through her teeth in the most endearing way. All of a sudden, she was there in front of him, and he was taking her from Pete and leading her to the front. As he listened to the pastor welcome the guests, he kept stealing glances at Rose. He thought back to the last Christmas he had spent with Rose. They had been his first days in this body, right after he regenerated on Satellite 5. Right after he had kissed her and taken the timestream from her head into his own.
Not that she remembers that particular kiss, he thought. In fact, she doesn't remember New New York either. Guess I'm not that good at this, am I? He ducked his head to hid a grin, and Rose looked quizzically at him. He realised that the pastor had stopped speaking and was looking at him expectantly. The Doctor blanked for a moment, then gave his head a tiny shake.
"Right! Of course. I do, Rose Tyler. Oh, I most definitely do." he stated.
"And do you, Rose Tyler, take Doctor John Smith to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?"
"I do." Rose was beaming up at him, her face once again forming her adorable, goofy smile, tongue and all, and he couldn't help smiling too.
"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife."
The Doctor turned to face Rose and placed his hands on her waist, pulling her in for a kiss he made sure she would never forget.
Rose leaned back in her chair, stuffed from the delicious meal she had just finished. She peeked over at the Doctor's plate, pleasantly surprised to see that he, too, had eaten all of his chicken and parmesan asparagus. He had even helped her polish off the special plate of chips the caterers brought out as a little joke, one of the Doctor's imagining. The guests, too, were finishing off their meals, and when she looked back to the Doctor's seat, her view was blocked by his tuxedo buttons. She craned her neck back to look up into his face, and he held out his hand for her, his new wedding band reflecting the flickering candle flames. She stood and let him lead her to the dance floor. He gave a suave nod to the band leader, then a little wink at her. Before she had time to realise what was happening, she heard the opening chords of Glenn Miller's In the Mood and suddenly the Doctor was swinging her around the dance floor. A laugh burst from her, and she moved with the music as the Doctor spun her. As the song ended, he wrapped his arms around her and dipped her low, taking the moment to whisper in her ear,
"I've just remembered - I can dance!"