"Thomas, Thomas wake up" a voice whispers in my ear. Not again! I was woken up like this yesterday and it was for something bad "Go back to sleep!" I say, swatting them. They shake me "Mr. Andrews keep your voice down, if we wake Jack then we'll never get my wedding dress". Wedding dress? I sit up and look at the delinquent, she's standing in front of me already fully dressed "The wedding is tomorrow" she informs me. I think I might have a heart attack, tomorrow? Is she out of her mind? She was just horribly ill yesterday and she wants to be married tomorrow? How can you plan a wedding in such short time?
When I ask her these questions she merely sighs "Yesterday while you boys were at that conference I made all the arrangements! Were going to go buy the dress this morning, and then we're going to take the train upstate where my sister is going to meet us and take us to my house. The wedding will be held in my little town, my friend is working on doing all those arrangements. And then the reception will be at my house! My friend is working on that too" she explains to me. No wonder she sent so many emails!
Wait a minute, if she's buying the dress this morning, what did she need to wake me up for? She tosses me a random shirt "I don't care what you wear, meet me down in the hotel lobby in 5 minutes!" she tells me. With that she disappears out the door and leaves me standing in the middle of our hotel room. Jack is still sound asleep, and I take care to keep it that way as I slip into my trousers and my shirt. I button my vest, then throw on my overcoat before heading down to the lobby. She isn't going to make me shop with her is she?
Yes, yes she is going to make me shop! Unbelievable! Sometimes I believe she forgets I'm a man, a man who has no interest in wedding gown shopping! When I ask her why she brought me she simply tells me she needs a second opinion, and I'm the only one who can do it. Jack is the groom, he isn't allowed to see the dress. However, I wish he could have come anyway, because he would have been much more excited for this than I am!
A woman comes and leads us down some hallways to a secluded little hall with two dressing rooms and a pedestal between them. The woman points to a chair and I sit down, now I'm going to have to wait! The ruffian and the woman disappear into the dressing room, before the woman comes back out and disappears down the hallway. This won't take too long will it? Soon the woman returns, carrying many dresses over her head. We'll be here all day! I know one thing about the delinquent, and that is she is incredibly indecisive! She has a terrible time making decisions!
After a few minutes she comes in and steps up on the pedestal. I have to attempt not to laugh at the atrocity she's wearing! It's a lace ball-gown, that makes her look like a giant marshmallow! I fear if a gust of wind came she would float away in this dress! She looks over at me "Well?" she asks. I swallow "It's a little bit too..." how do I put it nicely "Much" I finish. She shrugs and turns to the woman "Not this one then!" she tells her. The woman smiles "Alright, well let's keep looking then!".
Dress after dress, none of them are right. Actually, the more dresses she tries on, the more critical and serious about it I become. This dress has to be exactly right, it needs to be perfect! After several more dresses she finally comes out in a gown that makes my heart jump up in my throat for some reason! She looks, well, she looks amazing! She looks like a bride, like she should walk down the aisle right now and marry Jack! The ruffian gives me a funny look "Thomas are you upset about something? You look like you're going to cry" she tells me. I shake my head "This is the dress Gabby! This is the dress!" I tell her. Who would have thought I would feel so emotional over a silly thing like a wedding dress.
The woman leaves for a moment, then comes back with a veil, placing it on the ruffian head. Now she really looks like a bride! And it's definitely a shock to me, I've been treating her like the naive teenager I first met all those years ago. Now that she's standing here in this dress, I know she's not that girl anymore.
"You really like this one Thomas?" she asks. I nod and she steps off the pedestal and stands in front of me "Thomas, I have a question. Are you, happy here in the future?" she asks me. That's a pretty sudden question, one that I'm not exactly prepared to answer right now. Honestly, I don't know for sure if I'm happy in the future. As much as I have grown to love Gabby and Jack, and all my new friends. I still miss my wife and child, my old life. I miss my mates at the shipyard, and visiting my parents on Sundays!
Finally I tell her "I don't know if I'm happy. Perhaps one day I will be, I'd like to be happy here. It isn't as bad as I originally thought it would be". She smiles "I've been so selfish, bringing you to the future. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, I am really sorry Thomas and I'll make it up to you somehow, I promise" she tells me. I smile back at her "You're a good girl. Now get out of that dress so we can get going" I tell her. She turns and disappears into the dressing room, coming back out in what she came into the store wearing.
Once we pay for the dress and everything we practically race back to the hotel. To our horror though, Jack is nowhere to be found. There's a note on the desk and the delinquent reads it aloud "Heard there was a toy and candy center in this city called 'Times Square'. Went to check it out". She smacks her palm to her forehead "We'll never find him in Times Square! It's the most crowded place in the whole city! And with Christmas coming up? We'll be lucky if we ever see him again!" suddenly the door opens and Jack strolls in carrying 4 bags.
Her eyes widen "Where the hell have you been?" she asks him. He takes a bite out of a chocolate bar he was holding before dropping his bags on the bed "Didn't you get my note?" he asks. He reaches into one of the bags and tosses her something "Here, I got this for you!" he tells her. Her eyes light up as she tears open the wrapper and begins eating the little candies Jack got her "I forgive you!" she tells him. I can't help but laugh slightly, she may be an adult in some respects, but she's still a child in others. Talking with her mouth full, she must know better!
Jack shows off his bags "Check it out! I went to the M&M store and got you those candies sweetheart, and then I crossed the street and visited the Hershey candy store! And then check this out!" he reaches into a bag and pulls out a hat with mouse ears, putting it on his head "They had a Disney Store! And look at this! They had a toy store with 3 floors in it! And a Ferris wheel! Here Thomas, I got this for you in there" he reaches into a bag and hands me a present, it's something called 'Legos'.
The ruffian smiles at Jack "That's very nice darling, but we have a train to catch so could you please pack your things!" she tells him. He laughs "Already done, mostly because I never really unpacked in the first place!". I merely have to throw a few things into my own suitcase before I'm ready to go. The ruffian packs quickly as well, before stuffing her cat into its carrier. We grab all our bags, she grabs Killian's leash while I take Ramin and Jack carries Thomas. Once we check out we catch a taxi to grand central station, and then we're on our way to upstate New York!
While we're on the train the delinquent calls her sister to ask her if she's on her way. When she answers yes they hang up and she swats Jack away from the bag the dress is in "Jack, you're not allowed to look in there!" she tells him. He raises an eyebrow "Why not?" he asks. She rolls her eyes "Because it's my wedding dress darling, and you're not allowed to see it until tomorrow". His eyes grow wide "Tomorrow? What do you mean tomorrow?" he asks. Oh, he doesn't know does he? This will be interesting!
"Jack, we're getting married tomorrow!" she tells him. He stutters "B... But that's so... so soon!" he tells her. She sighs "I want to be married and go on our honeymoon before Christmas" she tells him, he sighs "Alright, I take it you have everything planned then?" he asks. She nods and he sighs "Well, alright. I'm ready to marry you, I've been ready for a long time anyway. I just didn't expect, you know, tomorrow" he says, chuckling.
Finally we get to the station and we drag all our things off the train. Now where is this girl's sister? Suddenly the delinquent smiles brightly and tells us to follow her. We head out into the parking lot where a girl is waiting for us. She's slightly shorter than the delinquent, but a lot bigger, with her long hair tied back in a messy ponytail. She smiles goofily "Hi Gabby!" she says, opening her trunk. The ruffian laughs "Hannah! What the heck kind of bumper sticker is that?" she asks. Her sister looks at it, grinning ear to ear "It's the nyan cat!" she tells her. The ruffian rolls her eyes "Yes I know it's the Nyan cat, but why?" she asks. Hannah shrugs "I like it!".
The delinquent turns to us "Alright Hannah well here they are! This is Thomas Andrews, and this is Jack Phillips!" she tells her. The girl smiles "Awesome! By the way, Mom's mad at you" she informs her sister. "Gee what a surprise" the ruffian replies sarcastically. We all pile into the car and start the long drive up to her little town.
We arrive at her house as the sun begins to set over the valley. Snow falls softly over the countryside, as the pull in the driveway of her childhood home. I'm astounded, the girl practically lived in a mansion! After getting out of the car, instead of taking us to the front door, she leads us around the house and down a hill, heading towards a red barn. We don't stop there though, we walk straight through the barn, she barely acknowledges a pair of sheep in one of the stalls. Once we're clear of that barn, we begin approaching a large fenced in area, with a little red shed of some kind. There's nothing in sight.
Suddenly she whistles and enters the fenced pen. Suddenly a shape appears at the far end of the field, it's ears pricked and alert to the girl standing in his field. "Rocky!" she calls, the pony begins walking forward towards us, but the delinquent isn't going to wait, she begins running out to him. The pony stops a few feet away from the girl and she stops, holding her hand out to him "Rocky? It's me bonny boy. Remember?" she asks him, her voice is so soft Jack and I can hardly hear her.
The pony closes the gap between them and lowers his head slightly, she reaches up and rubs her hand on his forehead and under his forelock. They stand like that for a long moment before he lifts his head up and she wraps her arms around his neck, burying her face into his fuzzy coat. Jack and I have come up behind them now, and being closer I can see tears running down the girl's cheeks "I missed you Rocky, did you miss me?" she asks him. The pony lowers his head, resting his neck on her shoulder as though to hug her back. Her breath hitches and her arms tighten around the pony's neck "I'll never leave you again bonny boy" she promises him "Never again. I'll bring you back to England with me, or where ever I end up! I don't care! I am not leaving you here anymore" she tells him. The pony steps back and she takes his nose into her hands, kissing it.
I can't help but smile at the scene, for a few reasons. The first being, that this fuzzy little pony is the famous Rocky that she dreamed and talked of so much. And the second reason is, well she seems more excited to see this pony than she is to see her own mother and father! Finally she finishes being reunited with her pony and leads us back towards the house. We enter the front door and are immediately greeted by a large collie and another scottie. The ruffian smiles "Angus! Zoey!" she greets them, crouching down to pet them and hug them.
The next thing to greet us is a brown tabby cat, who rubs up against her leg "Puddles!" she says, picking the cat up and petting it "I brought your brother back for a visit!" she tells her, setting her down. She then opens the cat carrier her sister brought in and left by the door, letting Thomas run out. The two cats both race down the hall together and disappear through a door.
Now we're finally starting to see people! The first person being her brother, who walks up to us with a funny look on his face. "So you guys are the real Thomas Andrews and Jack Phillips?" he asks. When Jack says yes he nods slowly "Cool, cool" he replies, shoving his hands in his pockets. He looks at the ruffian "Mom's mad at you" he tells her. She laughs "Yes, I know" she replies. He shrugs and walks into another room.
Finally the dreaded parents arrive. The father comes down first, and he shakes our hands and greets us kindly. The last person is her mother, coming down the stairs with a wary expression. Gabby stands aside as Jack and I try to be as friendly as possibly. I shake her hand "Thomas Andrews" I introduce myself. It's Jack's turn next and she shakes his hand as well. Now that we're all downstairs, her father invites us into the kitchen and asks us if we want anything to drink.
I ask for a glass of champagne while Jack sits at the table quietly, I think he's slightly bothered by the fact that his fiancé's mother doesn't like him and won't even give him a chance. The ruffian leads him into the dining room and the two of them sit down. Once I have my champagne her father and I join them. The ruffian's mother has vanished back up the stairs, and I don't expect to see her again for a while. Gabby smiles brightly "Daddy, guess what?" she asks him. He asks her what and she tells him she's getting married tomorrow.
He smiles slightly "Yes, I know. Hannah told me. Are we invited to the wedding or what?" he asks jokingly. She smiles and nods "Of course, who else would walk me down the aisle?" she asks him. I could think of one person, but I push the thought away. We all continue to talk casually, her father seems to like us and Jack. However at times I find it a little difficult to understand him, as he is clearly not from this country and he has an accent. After talking for an hour the girl's mother finally returns. Her father tells us he's going into the kitchen to make dinner and he disappears.
Her mother sits down at the table and there's an akward silence. Finally the delinquent says "Mom, I told ya they were real". That only seems to make her mother more upset with her "They aren't supposed to be here" she tells her coldly. Her daughter stands up "Mom! They can be here if I want them here! Everybody else likes them here but you! And if you are so against them then I swear I will never talk to you again!" she replies.
Jack tries to put a word in but the battle rages on and he is ignored. "Gabrielle! You can't have everything you want! You're going to change history!" she tells her, her daughter puts her hands on her hips "But Mom! You always bought me whatever I want! And you told me to make history! Well look right there, I've brought two 100 year old people back to life!". She approaches her mother "You always told me to fulfill my destiny! Always! And I have! It might not be the destiny you wanted me to fulfill, but maybe what you wanted wasn't my destiny at all!" she lectures.
Suddenly her father bursts in the room "WHO WANTS COSMIC BROWNIES?" he asks. I think he's grown tired of the argument, and I have to say I have as well. Gabby glares at her mother before grabbing Jack's arm "Come on Jack, we'll get our brownies and then I'll show you and Thomas around". We leave her mother sitting alone in the dining room and grab some brownies.
She leads us upstairs and into a very clean room. She smiles brightly "This is my bedroom!" she states proudly. The first thing to notice is the shelves, they're full of nothing but horses! Plastic horses! And then there are some of the posters and things she has hanging on the walls. Two are small paintings of racehorses, one is a picture of her and a yellow dog, one is a picture of a mermaid, a crab, and a yellow and blue fish, one is of some people surfing with a little blue monster. And the rest are all posters, one for Phantom of the Opera, and the rest are all signed posters of school productions she'd been in.
We sit on her bed and she points at various things around the room "There's my very first horse show ribbon I ever won, and there's my Phantom of the Opera music box. And there's my paper Titanic model that I built all by myself!" she points out. I smile, the model is impressive!
After a little while her father calls us down to dinner and we all head down to the dining room once more. Everyone is at the table, her father at the head of one end, with her mother to his left. Her brother sits next to her mother and her sister right next to him. I decide to sit at the other end of the table, while the delinquent sits to her father's right and Jack sits next to her.
The dinner table is quiet for a moment, before Hannah begins talking. Her brother, Alex, also starts asking me question after question about the Titanic. "Is it true the Olympic was the ship that sank instead of the Titanic?" he asks, what kind of absurd question is that? I tell him that is was certainly the Titanic, which only causes him to launch into an entirely different set of odd questions.
Meanwhile Jack continues talking with the delinquent's father while she supervises quietly. Her brother and sister quickly finish their meals and dismiss themselves, and Jack and I finish not long after them. Suddenly her mother tells the two of us to leave, as they wish to speak with their daughter alone. Jack and I pick up our dishes and leave the room. Of course, that's not going to stop us from listening to their conversation! We throw our dishes into the sink and then press our ears against the closed dining room door, listening intently.
"Jack's a good guy, don't you remember when I told you about him on the Titanic?" the delinquent says to her parents. Her father speaks first "He isn't a redneck, I like him" he says. Her mother still isn't all the way on board with it "Why didn't you tell us? Why are you marrying him so soon? You haven't given it enough time to know whether you're making a mistake or not!" she says. To this the ruffian answers "I love him, after everything I've been through on Titanic with him, I know he's the one! And being on Titanic II with him only made me more sure! I've waiting 8 years for this Mom, and I'm going to marry him tomorrow no matter what" she says.
Jack is smiling brightly at the conversation. "Well, I give you my own consent to marry him" her father says, which makes Jack look like he wants to jump up and down and celebrate. I'm still holding my breath though, the whole wedding could be off if her mother says no. This isn't 1912, a man's word hardly means anything anymore unless his wife agrees also. Finally she says "You can marry whoever you want, I won't stop you". The delinquent jumps out of her chair and yells "THANK YOU MOMMY!" before running towards the door.
She bursts through the door, which causes Jack and I to fall on our backsides. She laughs as she helps us up "Oh Thomas! You stalker!" she says. Jack kisses her "So we'll me married tomorrow?" he asks, she nods "Yep! And then we're going to catch a plane to florida for our honeymoon!". Jack makes a funny face "Florida? What's in florida?" he asks. She smiles brightly "Disney World!".
We has a problem everybody! That problem being, my laptop has been stolen by my wicked mother! She took it because she says I have an 'addiction' to fanfiction and I need to focus on more important things. Of course, there isn't anything important to focus on for another week so I'm kinda mad. That's why I stole her laptop to type up this chapter ;)
My confiscated laptop means chapters are going to be even SLOWER coming! But at least I know what they are! Next chapter is going to be the wedding, and no, we are not going to have Jack POV for that. Mostly because, well, I'd have to make this story rated M. It would just make things really weird! Anyway, we'll be POVing with Thomas, as he tries to figure out his Legos and, he's going to have to do a favor for Jack. What favor? Well you'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out!
THANK YA FOR THE REVIEWS! You people *Sniffle* you're just amazing! That's why in the review store today we have special shirts that say 'I'm the best reviewer ever' on them. They come in a multitude of colors, so review and get yours today! THANKS FOR READING!
P.S. If you're curious as to what the wedding gown looks like, this is the one I ended up picking in the end. I'm terrible at choosing gowns though. Anyway, just type 'Alita Graham Sweetheart A-Line Gown in Lace' into Google Images and it's the first picture that comes up ;)
P.S.S. Bonus Cookies if you can tell me what the two pictures that Thomas described in my room are of. Hint: They are both pictures from Animated Movies!