Torchwood: Fanfic: Left at the altar

[m_findlow]

Title: Left at the altar
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 717 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for badly_knitted's prompt "any, any, Left at the altar" at fic_promptly
Summary: They really know how to make a wedding memorable

For all intents and purposes, the day had turnd out better than they expected. Neither of them had wanted the fancy wedding with all the bells and whistles, but their friends and their family would have been disappointed with anything less. After everything they'd been through over the years, didn't they deserve just one perfect day?

The sky was bright and clear, and the air was cool without being cold. There wasn't a breath of wind about to ruin hairdos or fly up any ladies skirt, and the chance of rain looked negligible, which was fortunate considering they'd ditched the idea of a claustrophobic marquee wedding for one out in the open countryside.

They were halfway through the ceremony. Jack's hand hadn't left Ianto's the entire time. Even though he'd have happily eloped, he had to admit, his future husband to be looked even more handsome than usual, and he couldn't help but stare at him. Somewhere in the back of his head, he could hear the celebrant's voice, but the words themselves were barely discernable over the tide of thoughts rushing around inside his head. Could they please just get to the kissing part?

Then he heard the tiny sound beeping. The celebrant paused awkwardly for a moment, his train of thought disturbed by the interruption that only he was close enough to hear. Ianto met Jack's gaze momentarily, letting him know he'd heard it also.

The celebrant continued on, putting the sudden beep down to someone's watch, ringing in the hour. A few minutes later the beeping started again, louder and more insistent. The celebrant cleared his throat and eyed Jack with annoyance, having discerned the source of the noise, and tempting him to let go of his lover's hand and turn off the offensive noise. When it stopped again, the celebrant ploughed on. He was determined to get to the end without any further distractions or disruptions.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep!

This time the celebrant didn't stop. By now everyone in the first few rows could hear it, so he talked loudly over the top of it. He was a man on a mission now. Come hell or high water, he was marrying them!

Jack and Ianto looked at one another again. Jack raised his eyebrows questioningly, and Ianto smiled, rolling his eyes. His look already confirmed the answer to the question that lay unspoken between them.

'Did you bring the SUV?' Ianto whispered.

'Parked it round the back of the homestead. Just in case.'

The celebrant was more than a little surprised when Jack placed a hand on his shoulder, effectively stopping him mid sentence.

'Sorry old boy, but we've gotta go.'

The celebrant looked utterly perplexed. He'd seen brides and grooms bail on their beloveds before, but this was unprecedented.

'Lovely ceremony,' added Ianto. 'We' ll be sure to hire you again next time.'

'Next time?' the celebrant sputtered.

'Enjoy the reception folks,' Jack yelled, 'everything's already paid for!'

Jack grabbed Ianto's hand tightly and they both ran down the aisle and out across the field to the large homestead in the distance, leaving their friends and family behind, with looks ranging from stunned to downright annoyed. Of all of them, the celebrant looked the most confused. It was the first time he'd ever found himself left standing abandoned at the altar.

Gwen was already trying to clamber over guests to reach the end of the pew she was stuck in. Rhys seemed to be unintentionally hindering her efforts. With any luck, they'd be gone before she could make her escape. This was their day after all.

As they clambered into the SUV, both of them were madly grinning. It wasn't that they didn't want to be married, just that this was way more fun.

'Not too many people who can say they crashed their own wedding.' Jack observed.

'Well, at least we'll have something to remember it by.'

'Hope whatever it is, it's good. Hate to have run off just for some lousy weevil. Oh, and by the way,' Jack grabbed Ianto's tie and pulled him forward into a deep kiss.

'That was the only part I was really hanging out for. It'd be a shame to have gone to all that effort for nothing.'

'I couldn't agree more. Shall we?'

Comments

[bk_forever]

Better luck next time, boys! Hopefully your next attempt to commit matrimony won't get so rudely interrupted!

Thanks for the fill!