A/N: One chapter left after this!
Chapter 30 – Some People Get Married
"So you're getting married to Mummy?" Leah wondered as the Doctor straightened out her bridesmaid dress three weeks later on the morning of the wedding.
"Yes," he told her patiently, taking a hairbrush and brushing her long brown hair carefully.
"Aren't you already married?"
"No, we're not," he replied. "Not in Earth law, anyway."
"Why not?"
"What is this, 21 questions?" he asked seriously. "We just never felt the need to do it before."
"Why now?"
"Why not?" the Doctor countered. "I'm just going to be proving to your Mum how much I love her."
Leah's face crinkled up into a cute smile. "Aww!"
"Yeah, I know," the Doctor said meekly, sliding the clip into her hair and stepping back to admire his work. "Look at that!" He grabbed her shoulders and turned her back and forth in front of the mirror.
"Mummy's much better than you," she told him seriously.
"Hey!" he protested. "I'm trying my best."
She just beamed and reached up for a hug, which he reciprocated.
"Now, make sure you've been to the toilet and everything then we'll meet Uncle Jack and leave," he said when he'd pulled back. She nodded, and instantly ran off into the bathroom just as the door opened to reveal Alex standing there, staring up at his father wearing a suit that was a little too big for him, his hair all over the place.
"Alex!" Rose's voice yelled from outside. "Come back!"
"Rose!" the Doctor said quickly, spinning around on his heel to face the opposite wall. "If I see you your Mum'll kill me!"
"Don't worry, I'm not comin' in!" Rose told him from outside the door. "Alex, c'mere, I need to do your hair!"
Alex ran to his Daddy and clung onto his leg for dear life.
"I don't think he wants it done!" the Doctor yelled back, picking up the boy.
"C'mon, Alex!" she begged. "Else Mum'll kill me!"
"Are you seeing the one constant here?" the Doctor wondered to the boy, who just giggled and hugged his neck.
"Alex!" Rose called again.
"Don't worry, I'll sort him out!" the Doctor yelled back, sitting him on Leah's bed. He took a comb and ran it through Alex's hair, who began to wail and cry and bat it away with his hands.
"Okay, okay," the Doctor conceded, pulling away the comb, and instead patted it down slightly to little effect as it sprung up again instantly at his touch. "Oh blimey," he muttered.
"Have you done it yet?" Rose wondered from outside the door.
"Umm... Yes! He's ready! Get going, we'll see you there!" he lied, staring at the hair mess of Alex in front of him with wide eyes. Jackie wouldn't notice, would she?
"Okay! Bye!" Rose yelled back, and there was the sound of running footsteps backup the corridor.
"Bye!" the Doctor yelled back and waited for the footsteps to disappear, before looking back at Alex. "Alex, just... hide from your gran, okay?"
Alex giggled and nodded.
Roughly thirty minutes later the Doctor was stood in the little room Martha and Mickey had got married in but a couple of months previously, standing there waiting to greet everyone as they arrived. Jack was with him, watching him carefully.
"You wanna sit down?" Jack asked the Doctor seriously, realising he'd been stood up for about ten minutes straight now.
The Doctor nodded, wincing a little at the pain in his legs. They still weren't fully healed and according to the scanners it would be another two weeks until they were, so Jack fetched the wheelchair he'd thought to bring and pushed the Doctor to sit in it before they waited some more for the others to arrive.
"You nervous?" Jack wondered, looking at the alien sitting in the wheelchair with his hands currently running back and forth through his hair. He stopped, stared at Jack and pulled a half-smile.
"Yeah," he confessed. "I don't know why."
"It'll be fine," Jack assured him. "Know your vows?"
The Doctor instantly froze. By the look on his face alone Jack could tell the thought of vows had never even entered his mind.
"Uh oh," Jack muttered.
But before the Doctor could reply to this, the first of the guests appeared. It was Jackie and Tony, both looking very dressed up with Tony in a cumbersome suit with his hair combed and parted. He looked like he'd had a very bad morning.
"Hello!" the Doctor said brightly, sticking out a hand to Jackie and Tony in turn.
"Your hair is a bloody mess!" Jackie told him seriously, reaching forward to try and straighten it out. It made no effect whatsoever. "Don't you have alien Brylcream or somethin'?"
And instantly the Doctor realised how much he was going to get killed when she saw Alex. "Not... as such."
"And bloody hell, your tie!" was her next complaint, yanking it and pulling it so tight he was choking. "I knew I should've dressed you this mornin'! Don't you go messin' Rose's big day! I don't want any alien invasions interruptin' anythin' neither!"
"'Kay," was all the Doctor managed to choke through his tie. Thankfully Jackie moved on and Jack dived forward quickly to loosen it from around the Doctor's throat.
"Thanks," the Doctor wheezed, chest rising and falling rapidly just as Martha, Gwen, Rhys and Ianto entered, all dressed up in exactly the same outfits they'd worn to Martha and Mickey's wedding.
"Hello!" the Doctor said again brightly, sticking out his hand from them all to shake. "Thanks for coming."
"Wouldn't have missed it for the world," Martha assured him, leaning forward and hugging him. "How are your legs?"
"Couple of weeks to heal," he replied.
"I'll check them over later, if you like," she told him. "Maybe sort out some physiotherapy."
The Doctor nodded. "Thanks," he said, then looked at Gwen and Rhys. Gwen was holding Kiana. "Thanks for looking after Kiana. Where's Anwen?"
"She's at my Mum's," Gwen said, then nodded at Rhys. "This silly oaf didn't pick her up and we didn't wanna be late," she joked, smiled.
"You love me really!" Rhys insisted, then kissed her cheek happily.
They both giggled and moved off with Martha to take a seat, Kiana happy in Gwen's arms.
"Feels nice not to be making the teas and coffees," Ianto said.
"Well, I've got no idea what Jackie's planned or how a wedding works so really you actually could be," the Doctor confessed with an apologetic shrug.
"You're not," Jack told him, grinning. "See you at the party and we'll have our own honeymoon afterwards..."
"Person sitting right here," the Doctor reminded him.
Jack just beamed and winked at Ianto, who nodded and moved to sit down. Then Jack noticed the Doctor was staring at him. "What?"
"When are you proposing?" he asked the ex-Time Agent seriously.
"I'm not," Jack replied. "I like it this way. It's like we're just dating..."
"You mean you're each other's booty calls."
Jack paused, lips pursed. "That's a very human phrase for a respectable elderly alien such as yourself, Doctor."
"Elderly?" the Doctor repeated, but quickly had to tear himself away to greet Sarah. "Hi, Sarah!"
"Oh, Jack warned me you'd thrown yourself into a blender again," she said, looking at him sat in the wheelchair. "There is a concept called safety, you know," she said, laughing and reaching down to hug him.
He beamed as she drew away. "Thank you so much for coming."
"You're very welcome," she assured him. "Can't say I ever imagined this day, though. You, getting married! I mean, I know you and Rose have been practically married for years but this is very odd."
"I know," he replied, laughing. "As odd as you having a son when I first found out."
"We both grew up," she supposed with a smile, then turned to gesture to the people behind her. "I've brought Luke, Clyde and Rani, I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all," he said, reaching out to greet them all in turn. "Any friend of Sarah Jane Smith is a friend of mine."
They all thanked him for letting them come and everyone went to take a seat.
"That's everyone," Jack said, grabbing the wheelchair handles and pushing him up the aisle to where the UNIT registrar, Martha's friend, was waiting, parking him in the appropriate place. "You've got about 15 seconds to work on those vows..."
"What did you just say?" suddenly came Jackie's voice from the front row, and they both looked up to see Jackie sitting there was her arms folded, looking incongruous.
"Nothing," Jack said quickly, then turned back to the Doctor. "Seriously, good luck," he said, hugged him, and then went down to take his seat just as the music started up and Leah and Alex appeared at the doorway to walk down the aisle..
"Alex!" Leah hissed to her little brother beside her, feeling everyone's eyes on them. "Just do what I do, okay? It's really easy."
Alex nodded and she took his hand, holding her bouquet in the other as they began to walk forward. Alex suddenly caught sight of his Daddy at the top of the aisle and beamed, waving enthusiastically. The Doctor waved back with a smile.
"Alex!" Leah hissed, nudging him. "Don't do that!"
Alex looked away from his Daddy and continued down the aisle with the music still going. They finally reached the top, beamed broadly at a mission succeeded and went to take their seats by Jackie and Jack.
Then everyone rose to their feet as the music burst into a crescendo, the doors opening to reveal Rose standing there with Mickey's arm linked in her's. She began down the aisle with her dress trailing along the floor, smiling so broadly her whole face was aching quite badly. But she just couldn't wipe it off.
"Y'know, I always imagined a weddin' with you but I never imagined pretendin' to be the father of the bride," Mickey said seriously to her in an undertone as they walked.
"Yeah?" she said with a giggle. "I didn't imagine it like this either."
"Yeah. Hey, check out your groom," Mickey said, nodding to the Doctor and grinning.
Rose looked, and resisted the overwhelming urge to snort with laughter. The Doctor's face was an absolute picture.
The Doctor himself was sure his jaw had dropped so far he swore could actually feel it scraping the carpet. She was absolutely beautiful in every sense of the phrase, striding towards him holding her bouquet in her hands so tightly, smiling so broadly and gazing at him with those beautiful eyes. The conveniently placed skylight was illuminating her in a bright glow, her blonde hair in curls around her face. She looked like an angel – absolutely nothing less. Even though he could see the dust in the sunbeams of Vashta Nerada currently covering her, but he wasn't really thinking about that, because that wasn't a beautiful thought.
He suddenly didn't want to be sitting down. He pushed himself out of the wheelchair, struggling to get upright until he was standing on two feet. Pain shot through his still healing legs but he didn't care. He wanted to stand for this.
Finally Mickey and Rose reached him, and he could now see she was smiling so much it looked like she was in an incredible amount of pain. He took Rose's hand, Mickey letting go and bowing slightly before moving to his seat.
The Doctor helped her up the step onto the platform before reaching up to brush a stray lock of hair from her eyes.
"You look... so beautiful," he whispered.
"I know!" she squeaked, obviously trying desperately not to laugh at the expression on his face, coupled with the fact her mum was inconspicuously wiping tears from her eyes at the pure beauty of her daughter.
He grinned at that, then they both turned to face the registrar.
"Good afternoon, everyone, I am the registrar assigned from UNIT," the registrar began. "We are here today to witness the marriage of the Doctor and Rose Tyler. In each other's company they have found happiness, fulfilment and love, and they wish to affirm their relationship with this marriage. But before we begin, I must ask, if anyone can show just cause or impediment why these two should not be married, may they speak now, or forever hold their peace."
Silent seconds rolled by. Jackie looked obviously around the gathering with an expression on her face that dared anyone to even try.
"I believe someone has prepared a reading?" the registrar asked.
"Me! Me!" Leah said quickly, jumping to her feet and running to the stage to stand in front of her parent's clutching a piece of paper and obviously trying to steal the limelight. She opened the paper, cleared her throat and began.
"I call this, 'My Mummy and Daddy'," she began. The Doctor raised an eyebrow. He didn't know anything about this... "My Mummy and Daddy are the best, they are better than the rest! They save the world every day and everything's always really okay! We travel round and fight bad people, sometimes on top of a tower steeple. Daddy's really tall and Mummy's really pretty, and they both really like Holby City! When I'm sad they hug me tight and when I'm bad they set me right! They make me dinner with all the things I like, but I don't think they have a friend called Mike. But they could, and they might, because they don't fight! Well sometimes they do but that doesn't rhyme. Anyway," she cleared her throat and continued. "Daddy teaches me things so I can rhyme, things like ei'lera'min kime! Mummy wakes me up everyday, she's always got breakfast on a tray. I really like them and I'm sure you do too, 'cos we all live in a box that's blue. I love them both really a lot, even if Daddy is sometimes a clot. The end! Uncle Jack helped me with some of the rhymes," she said, smiling and bowing to the audience as they whooped and cheered her.
The Doctor and Rose stood there with their jaws agape, staring at Leah who finished bowing and went back to her seat where Jack gave her a congratulatory hug.
"Did you know she was going to do that?" the Doctor asked Rose seriously.
"No..."
"I understand you have prepared vows?" the registrar asked in an interruption. Rose nodded, turning to the Doctor, who, after a moment's pause, turned to her.
"You can go first," she invited him.
"No, really, you," the Doctor replied quickly, glancing at Jack who was giving convert thumbs up, looking nervously at Jackie sat beside him every other second.
"You!" Rose insisted, grinning. "Be romantic."
"Now I'm under pressure," he muttered.
"Just a little," Rose replied, still grinning.
"Fine..." he pursed his lips in thought, then began. "Every time I see you my eyes just go wide and I feel so warm inside... Like when you appear next to me while I'm messing with the TARDIS, when I see you when I wake up, when we've just escaped through a muddy ditch full of brambles whilst it's raining whilst being chased by a farting sludge monster that's vomited all over you..."
"Hey! That was one time!" Rose protested, laughing.
He grinned and continued. "I like how I can just watch you. I like the way your eyes literally shine when you look at me, how your nose adorably moves when you say certain words, how when you're being cheeky your tongue goes between your teeth and you grin at me. Maybe I'm not exactly what you envisioned as being your ideal husband when you were a kid. I'm tall and lanky and I'm an alien... I mean, sure, I'm not Enrique Inglesias..."
"Stop readin' my diaries!" she squeaked, laughing.
"And maybe I'm not particularly romantic or anything like that but that's how I am, and I'm so glad you'll take me like that. When we first met, I probably hid my true self from you a lot, because I wanted to just make you smile and be happy with me. But since I asked you to bond with me I've held absolutely nothing back. You know me, you know my head, you know my feelings, and I've never been so comfortable with anyone than I am with you."
He waited for an interruption, but to his surprise it didn't come. She just looked up at him lovingly, waiting for more.
"I knew since the moment I asked you to bond with me that things would sometimes be tough and that hard exterior of the Doctor who isn't affected by anything would shatter in a million pieces to show you who I really am. But whatever we went through, whether I've been crying rivers or screaming with anger, lying sick in bed or pouring out my soul to you kind of like I am now, you never judged me, you never got annoyed with me... The only person you ever judge is yourself. You're completely selfless, and you can't even consider that I might be being unreasonable. And that, Rose Tyler, is just a fraction of things I love about you. If I was to go through every single reason that I love you in all the detail it deserves we'd all still be here next week. So I'm not going to.
"So really, what I vow is that I will always try to be the least annoying that I can, and I will protect our family with every ounce of strength in my body and every cell of genius in my brain. I've learnt my lesson with others before. I'm not going to do anything that could ever hurt you or our family. Because you all are now the only reason that I breathe. It's true that throughout most of my life I've just been wandering from place to place, not really having a focus, but when we bonded and Leah was born everything just became so clear. My purpose is to protect you. It's what I was made for. I love you, Rose."
He finished, gazing at her standing there in front of him with so much love in her eyes he thought she was completely blind. But she blinked and straightened, glancing around at the crowd. Her Mum was crying even harder, and a few more people were obviously trying desperately not to well up.
"Beat that," the Doctor challenged in an undertone, grinning widely.
She giggled at that, took a breath, looked at the floor, then back at him, and began.
"When I was 19, stuck in Henriks in a dead end job eating chips and beans on toast that really kinda seemed like the most I could ever have, yeah? I wasn't born into royalty or riches and I never dreamed of goin' up any further. I dropped out of school, I didn't get any grades, I never tried because I didn't see the point. But when I met you everythin' changed. Though, even when I ran into your weird alien blue box to travel the Universe with you I still didn't anticipate any of this. You're an alien who travels the universe and I was a shop girl human. I kinda figured that although I loved you, you'd probably never love me back in the same way because life wasn't that nice. Even when I got stuck on that parallel world, there was never anyone comparable. The only person I ever thought about was you. I missed you so badly. You were my life... Even just for a year or so.
"But then I got so lucky. You told me you loved me too, and it was like you'd just threw up a rainbow on me or somethin'. Then we bonded, and everythin' was just absolutely perfect, yeah? Before I met you I never believed in Disney love, that two people could just meet and be absolutely perfect for each other. But it really does exist. Chance in a million to meet the perfect one, right? But you're my soul-mate. My soul-mate's an alien," she giggled, then continued. "And you know, we've fixed each other without even knowin' we fixed anythin', yeah? I don't really believe in fate but what are the chances of us meetin' each other, really? We've had petty fights, yeah, we wake up mad at each other sometimes but that's just completely normal, I know, because we always make it up by the evenin'.
"You're beautiful both inside and outside. You make me laugh so hard, you make me cry with happiness, you make me feel like the most special and lucky woman in the entire universe everyday. I love you so much I just can't tell you enough times, and nothin' is ever gonna change that. I never want to see you regenerate again but I accepted when I bonded with you that it was gonna be a possibility, and whatever happens, however it happens and whatever you look like I will see it through with you. I had a moment before but from now on I'll always be there for you all the time, so you're gonna have to get used to me standin' around with a tissue and a waterproof shirt waitin' for you to cry," she joked, smiling. "That's what I vow, really. You and our family and our friends are everythin' to me. I will be there for you forever. If you'll have me. I love you, Doctor."
She finished, and they could both quite clearly hear Jackie sobbing, blowing her nose into a tissue loudly. They just grinned at each other, enjoying the moment.
Even the registrar's voice seemed to be trembling slightly, and he'd only known them for three minutes. "May we please have the rings?"
Jack and Martha jumped up instantly, charged with the rings. Martha gave the ring to Rose and moved back to her seat efficiently, while Jack strode confidently up, digging into his pocket on the way. Then suddenly he frowned, and dug deeper. Then he was panicking, frantically checking his pocket with both hands.
"Ring?" the Doctor wondered.
"Err..." Jack began, looking up at the Doctor's wide expression, pulling a grimace. "Umm.."
Suddenly Alex came running up to his Daddy, holding up a ring between forefinger and thumb.
"There go, Da," he said, turned and ran off again.
It took the Doctor a moment to process what had just happened, just staring at the ring in his fingers. Then it finally clicked, and his head snapped out to Alex who was now sitting on the chair beside his gran again, who was looking a little more than surprised at her grandson.
"Alex, did you just...?"
"Go!" Alex insisted, waving his hands.
"Okay, okay!" the Doctor said quickly, taking the stunned Rose's hand to slip the ring on and trying desperately to remember what Jackie had made him memorise and repeat at least 100 times. "Umm... This ring is a token of my love. I marry you with this ring, with all that I have and all that I am."
She finally gathered her senses enough to remember what she had to say, trying desperately to concentrate on getting married before the fact Alex had just talked. "I will forever wear this ring as a sign of my commitment and the desire of my heart."
She reached to his hand and slipped the ring on.
"What you said back atcha," Rose told him.
"Same," he agreed, beaming.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the registrar said. "You may now kiss your bride."
The Doctor leant forward and did so, arms wrapping around her and giving her the best kiss he could muster for as long as breath would allow him, which left Rose practically fainted in his arms. Everyone cheered and clapped, still cheering as they both signed the registrar and took each other's hand, securing their grip on each other's hands before walking back down the aisle with confetti raining around them.
Ei'lera'min kime – I really like cake