Hey ;) Sorry this took so long, and it's not even very good :( These chapters seem to get shorter every time 0.o
Disclaimer: Not mineeeee
Howard had managed to carry Vince back up to their flat, unlock the door, and gently put him on the bed. Sighing, he pushed Vince's hair away from his mouth, and whispered lovingly,
"What am I going to do with you, eh?" Vince mumbled something incoherently but didn't stir as Howard noiselessly pulled his boots off, allowing him to roll over and pull the duvet around himself.
Howard stroked the smaller man's hair once more and dragged himself out the room, letting the door silently swing shut, as he contemplated what to do next.
He fell onto the sofa heavily, letting out a deep breath. He was overwhelmed by it all. Everything he ever thought was fact and scientific was gone. Blasted away in an instant. Of course he believed in magic, it was impossible not to where he lived, but it was so bizarre that his fiancée had actually travelled back in time that he didn't know how to comprehend it. The only logical thing to do was call Naboo.
--
"Howard open the door you ballbag!" Naboo's irate voice travelled through the door, which Howard had somehow not heard to be knocking for the past ten minutes. Trying not to look needy, he sauntered towards the door, casually opening it and leaning against the door frame,
"Alright?" He asked, trying to imitate Vince's devil-may-care charm. He failed. Naboo raised an eyebrow and said,
"You called me and babbled into the phone for about ten minutes about time travel. I was halfway convinced that you'd gotten drunk and Vince had coerced you into doing some twisted Doctor Who role-play." Howard stood there with his mouth wide open before shaking his head and saying,
"Look, I don't know what to do Naboo, we need help" The shaman cocked his head slightly with a slight look of interest in his eyes,
"Is it with the wedding? 'Cause I can find somewhere dirt cheap that'll fit loads of people, and…" He was interrupted by Howard,
"Naboo, firstly, Vince would kill you if anyone but him chose anything to do with the wedding and secondly, no. Something really weird happened," Naboo was still looking at him, and Howard knew he had him hooked, "Come and sit down" Howard offered, motioning towards the sofa before sitting down himself.
"So?" Naboo asked, "What happened?"
"When Vince woke up from, y'know… the coma, he said that he'd gone back in time, and he was a DI back in 1973. Here, he wrote loads of stuff that happened to him, or the people he met, look at all the detail" He passed the sheets of paper over to the shaman, who took them wordlessly and read through them.
"Howard," He started, cautiously, "I know you love Vince, and… fine, I do as well, but I think we should take him to a psychiatrist, something obviously happened from when he either hit his head in the accident, or when he crashed for a while, it must have starved his brain of oxygen for a while…"
"It's all true," Howard murmured, ignoring Naboo's face, "All of it"
"Howard, you're only saying that so you don't hurt his feelings, but this can't happen…" Naboo started again, trying to make Howard see reason, but Howard shook his head adamantly,
"I thought that as well, when he told, but he… we went down the archives and he looked these people up…"
"Howard," Naboo croaked, "It was all in his head…"
"And they were all there! And he was as well!" Howard continued, acting as thought there hadn't been an interruption, "It had his death date down, because apparently before he came back to us he got shot and…" Howard tailed off, realising what he'd just said. Never, ever, since joining the police had he had anyone fatally wounded. And it was someone who he cared about more than ever. He hadn't even been there to help.
"Howard," Naboo began, trying to console him, "Even if all you're saying is true, he wasn't really shot was he?" Howard shrugged, and glanced towards the bedroom door, hoping Vince was still asleep.
"It is all true Naboo," He insisted, "We even went to see his DCI, and he and his wife both remembered Vince! Ok, so he was definitely in the hospital all through it, but he was really there, he really had gone back in time, to 1973! He met his dad!" Naboo paled slightly,
"I think something like this has happened before," Naboo said shakily, "I'm sure Saboo mentioned it once, some guy went back in time after falling off a building, he tried to top himself, and met someone he knew, and almost killed himself there, he created a paradox, all because he touched the guy he knew. It didn't happen right then and there, but a few weeks later, for no reason, he just died. All because he touched this guy". Howard had started shaking and clutching onto the sofa cushions,
"So if Vince made any kind of contact with his dad?..." He said, throat feeling dry and scratchy,
"Then he could have made a paradox" Naboo finished grimly.
"What do we do?" Howard whispered,
"Wait," Naboo advised, "And ask him to think, think really hard. Ask if he touched his dad. I'll go see the shaman council immediately" He swiftly stood up and was hurrying towards the door, before stopping and twirling round so fast he almost fell over, hearing a meek voice from the bedroom,
"I didn't" Vince murmured, limping slightly over to the sofa, which Howard noticed and forgot about the matter in hand as he started to fuss over the smaller man,
"Are you ok sweetheart? Do you need anything? Painkillers? Tea?" Vince shook his head but took Howard's hand, pulling him gently onto the sofa so he was sat next to him, allowing Vince to curl up and rest his head in his fiancée's lap.
"Are you sure Vince?" Naboo asked, persistent. Vince nodded and said,
"I only talked to him. I saw my mum though," He paused, trying to remember everything about her, "She was really pretty, loved my dad. And… he was… he was the one who shot me" He whispered, which only Howard could hear, and it was obvious to Naboo that Vince had said something appalling because Howard's fingers had suddenly stopped running through Vince's hair, and he started whispering urgently to the smaller man, which Naboo took as his cue to leave,
"Yeah so… I'll pop by in the week?" He muttered, timidly, before simply walking out and quietly closing the door.
Meanwhile, Howard was trying to convince his fiancée that that wasn't what his dad must have been like,
"Think about it Vince," He said earnestly, "He would never shoot the son he loved so much. He only shot you because he thought you were trying to take him away from his family. He had no idea" Vince nodded morosely, before saying,
"D'you wanna start planning the wedding?" Immediately taking his mind off what he had been thinking about so morbidly. Howard brightened as well, glad that Vince was happy, and that he was actually going to have some say in it.
--
"Jazz!"
"Electro!"
"Jazz!"
"Electro!"
This argument had gone on for more than ten minutes now, both men fighting over the choice of song. Vince had insisted on a traditional type of wedding, which meant that they had to not see each other before the ceremony, and also meant that they had to have a 'first dance' as a married couple. Which brought about the dilemma of music. They were going to have a DJ for the night do, but Vince had wanted a special song for them to dance to. Eventually, Howard held up a hand,
"What if… we don't have either jazz or electro. What if we have…something traditional, like you wanted. A slow love song to dance to"
"But they're soppy and boring" Vince moaned, putting on a childish voice to show he wasn't totally against the idea. Howard grinned as he tried get up and over into the kitchen without messing up the masses of piles of paper that Vince had put together, with various flower arrangements, seating, menu, drinks, the cars they would arrive in, the place itself… The list went on.
"What if we have an Elvis song?" Howard suggested, quickly scanning the row of CD's they had stacked up in the kitchen,
"Isn't he mostly jazz?" Vince asked, disdain in his voice,
"No, jazz is much better than Elvis!" Howard argued, "What if we have 'Can't help falling in love with you'?" Vince shrugged and said,
"I dunno, what about this one?" He slid an anonymous CD into the player and chose the right song. After a few seconds, Howard grinned and said,
"It's perfect" And braved the paper mountains again just so he could kiss Vince on the nose,
"It's ok I suppose," Vince said, trying and failing to sound modest, "We should make a list, I still like that Elvis one" Howard nodded and scrabbled through a draw to find another pen.
When he was sat down next to Vince again, he had a quick scan of the arrangements, and his widened in horror,
"Vince, we are not getting Gok Wan to do your hair and make-up, or have Jeremy Clarkson to drive the car. And said car is not going to be a million pound Aston martin that we'll only need for about half an hour!"
"What about after?" Vince countered, "What about when we drive off?" Howard tried to hide a grin as he said,
"I've already got something in mind for that, I think you'll like it" Vince smiled and turned back to his lists,
"Right, shall we have Lilies or Roses? And shall we have French Champagne or Flirtinis? Or should we have both?"
Howard sighed. This was going to burn such a deep hole in his pocket.
Any ideas for wedding songs? I got one in mind which is the one Vince put on, but I didn't name it :P Review? xx