Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed. The vows used are a legitimate set of pagan vows, but I don't know a lot about handfasting so please forgive any errors, my loving readers.

13-8-2023

Chapter Six

The Wedding

Kate didn't sleep the night before her wedding. She knew she would have nightmares if she did, and a simple potion would let her feel as rested as the main character in one of the fairytales her Phoebe used to tell her once in a blue moon when she was growing up. She'd practically lived off the stuff during her time as General of the Resistance. She spent the night in Katy's childhood bedroom, that had used to be Paige's, looking through her other self's diary. Something inside her stirred in recognition at the pages full of fears of failure at her destiny, the stress she felt to live up to her parents' and extended family's expectations of her as a 'good, responsible girl'. The resentment at constantly being expected to set an example and take care of her cousins and even her older brother. The exhaustion of constantly putting up a front and the belief that she had to maintain it, no matter how she personally felt, for her family's benefit.

She didn't know if it was Katy, acknowledging her past emotions, or herself, recognizing similarities to her childhood in her counterpart's. It seemed like somethings stayed the same in every lifetime, and a part of Kate was disappointed to have her childhood fantasy torn down. Although she had realized how foolish the belief was long before she went back in time, a part of her had been sure that if she could change time, everything would work out perfectly for them all.

Not that it hadn't all turned out just the way she'd quietly hoped.

She orbed up to the attic shortly before dawn and quickly whipped up the potion she needed and downed it. Once it wore off she'd be practically comatose, but she'd be wide awake for the next forty-eight hours, leaving her wide awake for the wedding and reception, so she figured it was a fair trade.

She orbed down to the main bathroom when she heard people begin to stir and headed for the shower, appreciating the soothing feeling of the water on her tense muscles.

She was nervous. Everything good in her life had always gone wrong. She couldn't imagine this one thing not collapsing in on her. She wasn't worried about Niko jilting her or their relationship souring. After everything they had gone through together she knew they were bonded forever, but rather about demons. She worried they would attack the wedding and ruin it, or something would happen to Niko or someone else. She even worried about an objection. Really, she would have preferred an elopement, but the Sisters wouldn't stand for it, and Kate didn't have the energy to argue, so she simply left almost all of the decisions to them. All that mattered to her was that she be married to the love of her lives at the end of it.

"Kate, sweetie?" Piper called from the hallway, knocking on the bathroom door and breaking Kate out of her reverie. "You need to get out. The rest of us need showers too, and we've gotta get you ready!"

Kate quickly turned off the shower and summoned her towel with a wave, calling out to her mother as she did so, "I'm done. I'll just orb to my room and put on my dressing gown!" There was no way she was going to let her family see her scars if she could help it, especially not on her wedding day of all days.

She orbed to her room and dried herself off, bundling her hair up in the towel, tugged on her underwear and a floor length dressing gown to cover herself. She'd have gotten dressed if one of the twins hadn't insisted that she wait until her hair and make-up was done the night before when discussing the day's itinerary, so the lovely dress wouldn't be ruined. Really, Kate didn't see the point of getting all dolled up like this, but a part of her was excited about it. A small part.

"Michaela and Stephanie are here!" Sage, who was working as a beautician and had persuaded two of her co-workers to do the Halliwell women's hair and makeup for free (though Sage had insisted that she would be the one to get Kate ready), bellowed up the stairs. "Hair and makeup time!"

Kate walked down and entered the conservatory, where the beauticians were setting up their gear. There was a lot of stuff Kate didn't recognize, and she eyed them wearily. They looked like they could do a lot of damage if the user wanted to torture someone.

"Morning Kate! Oh my God, I can't believe you're actually getting married today!" Sage squealed, hugging her tightly. "This is Michaela, and this is Stephanie."

"Hi," Kate greeted them politely. "Thanks so much for doing this."

"No problem," the blonde who had been introduced as Stephanie assured her. "Congrats, by the way." Purple-haired Michaela also chimed in with her felicitations.

Kate felt her polite smile widen and soften as she nodded in response. She took comfort in the knowledge that, whatever demons attacked that day, by sunset she and Niko would finally be married, something she had never thought would happen.

"Thank you," she breathed.

"Now," Sage declared as the Charmed Ones entered followed by Phoebe's younger daughters. The sound of the showers could dimly be heard from upstairs, so Kate assumed that Prue and Hazel were still showering. "Time to make you shine!"

"Oh, my baby!" Piper gasped, biting back her tears to keep from damaging her carefully done make up. "You look so beautiful!"

Piper herself was dressed in a light blue sheath dress made of chiffon with pleated sequins, a matching lace shawl and high heels, her make up tastefully done and her grey-laced hair pulled back with a silver hairpiece, with matching jewellery inherited from the late Patty Halliwell, who in turn had received it from her paternal grandmother. Kate, meanwhile, looked stunning, even to her own inexperienced gaze. She wore an A-line tea-length dress made of satin, with form-fitting lace sleeves and a lace and satin bodice, and a skirt she could easily move in over some thick white tights for warmth and plain white flats she could walk in "without breaking her neck", as she'd argued to her mother, who'd wanted her to wear heels. Her make up was subtle and gave her usually worn and stressed face a glow that could equally be the result of her pure happiness as the ceremony approached, and her long hair was woven with delicate blue glory of the snows and scilla donated by some wood nymphs which would match her bouquet and the flowers decorating the house. She wore a sapphire jewellery set given to her as a wedding gift from her Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Cole as her 'something blue'. The dress was her 'something new', while her engagement ring, a Sanchéz family heirloom, was her something old. Finally, Sage had loaned her an athame which she had strapped to her thigh for emergencies as her 'something borrowed', and there was a coin in her shoe. It wasn't the most uncomfortable thing she'd ever had in her shoe, and really nothing could dim her joy at what was happening. Almost nothing. "I can't believe this is finally happening," Kate whispered. "Me either," Piper sniffled, blinking back tears again. "My baby girl, married! Time's flown by. I'm so happy for you, darling. I know we didn't get off to the best start, but it's clear Niko and you love each other just as much as your father and I love each other, and that's all I ever really wanted for you." "I just wish..." Kate trailed off with an uncharacteristic sigh and shook her head. "Wish what, Peanut?" Piper asked in concern. "If you're getting cold feet, that's entirely understandable. Lots of people do on their wedding day. Your father and I nearly didn't get married at all, you know. I was convinced we were cursed and things would never work out. Now look where we are!" "It's not that," Kate said firmly. "Not for a second. If there's one thing in this world that's certain, it's that I love Nikolas Parker Sanchéz and want to be his wife. No. To tell you the truth, Mom, I just wish my Phoebe was here to see this happen. I wish she could see that I did it, and that I've gotten a happy ending with the best man I've ever known." Piper didn't know what to say, so she simply hugged her daughter and tried to suppress the flicker of pained rejection and bitterness she felt at her daughter's longing for another mother.

The bench where Niko had proposed was converted into a wedding ceremony altar, and some nymphs had kindly used their powers to cause the flowers to blossom as beautifully as if it were the height of spring. Chairs had been set up and were full of family only, though some magical creatures were peeking out of the bushes looking excitedly. Wyatt was near the front with his boyfriend, the half-Manticore Seth Peterson. Niko tried to ignore their presence. The Seth Peterson of his original timeline had been as devoted to Emperor Wyatt as Niko was to Kate, and would and had done anything for him.

There were many bad memories attached to them both, and Niko had no desire to remember them on his wedding day.

Instead of letting the couple's presence bother him, Niko focused on waiting impatiently at the altar. He was standing next to the ghost of Penny Halliwell and his distant cousin, Eric, who was his Best Man, with the young Hal Mitchell as a groomsman. There were fewer Phoenixes than Halliwells at the wedding, but they were still present, and those who had come were all 'reserve Phoenixes', meaning that they, like Niko and his mother, had chosen not to be assassins.

"You must be the calmest groom I've ever seen," Penny commented, and it was clear from her tone that it wasn't a compliment.

Niko subtly rolled his eyes. "You would know, the amount of men you love potioned into marriage," he retorted. Eric placed a hand on his shoulder, half-supportive and half-warning.

Penny glared at him and opened her mouth to snap back at him, but just then the music started and the youngest Halliwell child began walking up the aisle, beaming widely. Niko barely noticed the others walking up the aisle, or the sounds of the song Kate had chosen for the walk down the aisle, How Long Will I Love You. One of the few decisions they didn't leave to their mothers was the music for this and their first dance.

All of his focus was on Kate.

She looked beautiful.

Everything passed in a blur of Kate, Kate, Kate until Penny began asking him to make his vows, a royal blue ribbon waiting for the final oaths.

"Katharine Patricia Halliwell," he began in a husky voice, barely aware of the people surrounding them despite the intensive training he'd undergone. "My Kate. I hope you'll forgive my lacklustre attempts to explain the unexplainable, my love for you. I just don't know how to put into words my love for you. Your strength awes me, and has since we were two young soldiers, sleeping in tunnels and fighting a never-ending war. But I knew it would end eventually, because you were in charge, and I've never known you not to succeed. I don't understand how we ended up in this place, but I thank the Goddess that we did. I would go through a hundred wars to end up here, with you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I could say it a thousand times, and it would never be enough to explain the depth of my love for you. I've seen you at your highest and lowest points, and nothing has, or could, make me waver in that. I promise nothing will take me from your side, as long as we live."

Perhaps not the most eloquent of vows, but Kate looked deeply emotional, unshed tears making her eyes shine even brighter.

"When I was a child the first time, Phoebe told me a lot of things about my future, but the thing that frightened me was the fact that I would one day fall in love," Kate told him, their eyes locked on each other. Emperor Wyatt himself could have appeared and they wouldn't have noticed him, too focused on each other. "I was afraid of letting my guard down, of losing what little I had left of my heart. Well, that failed completely. I don't know when I realized I was in love with you, only that one moment you were a soldier I didn't trust, the next you were the only one I trusted. You snuck inside my defences and stole my heart, and I never had a chance at stopping you. I know the best and worst of you, and it only makes me love you all the more. I love you. I love you, I love you. I will love you in this life and the next, because some things are fate, and we are one of them."

Penny Halliwell cleared her throat. She too looked a bit emotional. "Now. Katharine and Nikolas, we will perform the binding: I bid you look into each other's eyes. Will you honour and respect one another, and seek never to break that honour?"

"We will," they agreed in unison, and she draped the cord across their hands.

"And so the first binding is made. Will you share each other's pain and seek to ease it?"

"We will."

"And so the binding is made. Will you share the burdens of each so that your spirits may grow in this union?"

"We will," they repeated, and she bound them a second time.

"And so the binding is made. Will you share each other's laughter, and look for the brightness in life and the positive in each other?"

"We will," they smiled, looking lighter and happier than either had since their respective returns from the past.

"And so the final binding is made," Penny intoned solemnly with a final drape of the cord. "It is done. May I now present to you all, Mrs. and Mr. Katharine and Nikolas Halliwell-Sanchéz!"

The watching crowd burst into raucous applause.