Title: Unbound
Author: smolder
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Angel the Series belongs to Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt. Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling.
A/N: These drabbles won't always be in strict chronological order.
A/N 2: Reviews are Good. This has been a subtle hint from the author - Please return to your regularly scheduled reading.
They get married in the summer and she insists on going all the way to Hawaii. Only those who are most needed are there with them – Dean's own immediate family, Pravati and Seamus. All others can be told later (their real friends won't mind - or will forgive them quickly - and anyone else doesn't matter).
It all runs smoothly, although he wouldn't expect any less from Padma. She wasn't the bride-zilla or the type to go into hysterics. And he wasn't really the type to panic or do something idiotic during a stag party. (He ended up just trying to watch all the Die Hard movies with Seamus. They took a drink every time something blew up, didn't get through them all, and had a horrible hangover in the morning.)
Nothing though prepares him for the sight before him. And Dean swears his heart stops when he first sees Padma at the end of the make-shift isle: barefoot and with her long black hair flowing completely unbound.
And while she might be wearing the red that is customary of her culture, the cut definitely is not traditional. Her tattoos that he has always adored but only gets to see in private are now all on full display in the island sun.
Her top consist of a simple piece of fabric covering only her breast, the raven and DA symbol clearly show above it. And her heavily-embroidered skirt, although reaching her ankles, rides low so as not to cover the flowers (rosemary and chamomile) curling at her hipbones and the sun on her naval catches his eye like always. When she starts walking, he can see that there are deep slits up both sides as well so the ink on her thighs is not hidden today either. Dean knows that as she strides calmly by his family will see glimpses of a lotus, mountain, and moon on her shoulders and back as her hair is propelled behind her.
Padma is always so careful to keep herself covered that to see her like this, so much unabashedly glowing bronze skin adorned with ink – it is absolutely stunning. In fact he almost thinks that he has been stunned, that he is dreaming. The location, the event, the wide-eyed looks of his family in the seats, all lend a dream like air.
When she reaches the front and turns to him after handing off her flower (a small break off of a flowering almond tree – representing hope) to her sister the reality of the moment seems to come back to him with a startling snap.
She is dressed so differently but her eyes regard him in the same steady way he has come to cherish. And she leans in a bit whispering only for him to hear; "Today is for us. About us. I didn't think it fair to hide who I am when you never do."
Dean smiles, understanding many things suddenly – that this is why she had wanted to get away to do this. That he will never stop being amazed by this woman and her quiet wisdom that always seems to hit him hard.
His only response is to bend down and whisper what he couldn't help thinking when he saw her like this (what he always thinks, is always stunned by his muse). The very same words that started their whole relationship, "Can I paint you?"
And Padma gives his that very same little Mona Lisa smile as that first time he asked in Seamus' apartment. She doesn't at all acknowledging the man that has not so subtly been trying to hurry their conversation along and get them to start the wedding ceremony. She takes her time to answer him as she always does.
"Always," she murmurs (and it sounds like a promise, like much more of a vow then what they are doing here) and grabs his hand, intertwining their fingers. Two of which have new tattoos.
Her seventeenth and his first.
In many ways it feels like this whole ceremony is for show. That they have been married since the gold and bronze twisting filigree ink he designed (he presented the sketches to her in lieu of a ring after she agreed she would like to get married) wound around their fingers. He already feels like he belongs to Padma – is the corresponding linking balance to her (and his tattoo to hers).
But it is worth doing this (even if they both initially felt a bit odd and out of character - that it was more for his family and to be seen as married in the eyes of society than anything else) to see her like this.
And Padma seems to have an uncanny ability to calmly control any situation that she wants to without stepping on anyone's toes. Planning sessions between his best-man, her maid-of-honor, his wife (to-be / fuck it, she is his wife already), and him have turned this into something that is uniquely theirs. (And with Seamus involved he can't wait for the reception.)
Yes, theirs.
"Always," he repeats smiling down at her and the two of them finally turn to take their vows. Although he can't shake the feeling (and doesn't want to) that he just did them.
Always.