step by step
An NCIS fic collection
by mew-tsubaki
- ^-^3
imagine: special event 1—borrowed & blue (this post on the sideblog: 716076774874808320/parknight-imagines-special-event-1-borrowed)
tags: established!Parknight, AU
- ^-^3
They walk out into the vestibule at the same time and look up at the same time, catching each other's eye and snickering when they do so.
Jess is the first to quiet her laughter. "Funny running into you here," she says, taking a step closer and reaching up to smooth the lapels of his jacket.
Alden shrugs and additionally picks at his cuffs. But he holds his hands out for the prop in her other hand, and he fusses with adjusting the navy bow around the stem and tweaking a petal or two here and there. "I'd make the joke myself, but…" His eyes dip down again to meet hers, and they drink in the sight of her when she moves from smoothing his jacket to reaching up to smooth back his hair. "We're probably jinxing ourselves, aren't we? Seeing ourselves at the last second before—?"
"Since when is Alden Parker superstitious?" she teases, though there's a nervous wobble to the lilt in her tone, because she wonders the same thing.
All these years at NCIS. All these years together.
Never have either of them imagined that these years, these roads, would lead to…here.
"Not superstitious," he finally corrects. "Just…have a healthy respect for…lore."
She can't help it: Jess barely stifles her snort. "'Lore,'" she echoes.
Alden raises one eyebrow (the Alden Parker "Yeah, yeah, I hear you judging me" stare) and reaches for the flower—an orchid—in her hand a second time. "Hey, I speak some lore. Language of flowers is lore," he reminds her, knowing that'll do the trick.
And it does. Jess' natural rosiness blossoms on her cheeks and she shakes her head, gently, carefully. "Don't," she chides, but she's not laughing at him. She just doesn't want to have to fix her hair now, when they're out of time.
And that's precisely the case. They're here and there's little room to turn back—but, why would they want to?
(All these years of working side by side. All this time spent thinking alike or being on the same wavelength. All the ups and downs of navigating the same tempers and appetites. Growing up Navy and bearing the responsibility of such family obligations. Doing their best and failing to meet family expectations—and learning to be proud of their own successes, to support each other's successes.)
Jess meets Alden's eyes. Alden meets Jess' eyes.
(It might be a jinx, seeing each other before they head in—but seeing each other right now is a reassurance, too.)
She finishes fiddling with his hair, tucking an errant strand behind his left ear, and moves to adjust his bowtie instead.
He tightens the bow around her bouquet—the lone flower, really, a blossoming white orchid to bless their small event. He doesn't fuss with the petals a second time, though, opting to caress them…and their softness has him yearning for her instead, so he caresses her cheek.
Her breath hitches, and she nods.
Then they open the doors together, finally ready to meet their justice of the peace.
(Because seeing each other ahead of time might've been a jinx, and it might've been a reassurance, too. But is it much of a jinx if it's on a future they'd never imagined until now?
And is it such a jinx when they forge ahead anyway, facing a new future together?)
- ^-^3
Surprise~! :D Since April is the birth month for the parknights sideblog but I'm also hitting 30(!) chapters in this drabble collection, I thought I'd do smthg special. P sure I've stated in A/Ns for other Parknights that my hcs for them don't rly include marriage (or, for sure, wouldn't include kids—esp not for Knight). But it doesn't mean I won't read stories with these ideas for Parknight in them, so I thought I'd also try my hand at writing a sneak peek of their wedding. :') (Which is also big bc I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've written an on-screen wedding for OTPs…or, like, at all. XD) This also takes some inspiration from s20e15 passing items: Parker's orchid obsession (my man!) and Knight's comment about dads, leading Parker to offer up Roman, *lol*. Well, through marriage, Roman would finally be a dad to Knight…sort of. XD Also, this ep continues the canon of Knight's obsession for the Parker hair (and now I'm beginning to question myself, which came first: her canon obsession or ours in fic? XDDD) Anywho…! Btw, this is also for YearoftheOTPEvent on tumblr (April: peace). Lastly, if you read this on FFN, note that this chapter (like a few others) has a special edit accompanying it on the AO3 chapter/tumblr post, so please visit the story on AO3 or drop by the blog to see the pretty Parknight wedding AU edit…!
-mew! ;3