m_findlow

Title: One perfect moment
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 78 - Fairytale at fandomweekly
Summary: Gwen reflects on her perfect fairytale wedding.

‘I, Gwen Elizabeth Cooper…’ Her whole body went into a fit of tingles at speaking those words. They weren't even the most important words. They were just the beginning. The beginning of the rest of her life together with the one man she loved more than anything else in this world.

She'd spent so long wondering what today would be like, all that planning and the headaches and the mini rows that had cropped up over such stupid things as whether to have silver cutlery or gold, and should they offer a fish course alternative or just stick to chicken and beef. There were whole days when she was convinced that planning a wedding was the fast course to ending a relationship. It seemed like more trouble than it was worth trying to make it into an event that would make everyone happy. What did their happiness really matter? Wasn't this meant to be about her and Rhys? It was their day, but at the end of it, it was beginning to feel they were just performers on stage, entertaining their guests.

Perhaps most people would have considered the whole thing a grand failure, what with everything that had happened for them to get to this point, but it only brought into focus just how important today was. She wanted to marry Rhys Williams even if it might kill her first.

The whole day was part horror, part slapstick comedy and part fairytale. It was the last of these that she focused on. All she'd ever wanted was her happy ending; her one day as a princess marrying her prince. That she'd been thrown into adversity, faced down monsters and had her knight in shining armor come to her aid when she needed him most, all made it seem so unbelievable she wanted sure she wasn't about to wake up and find out that it had all been a dream.

Only Torchwood could give you a wedding like this, Gwen, she mused. A last minute impregnation by an alien shape-shifter, waking up to find herself looking like some desperate valleys girl trying to squeeze the wedding in before she went pop just to make sure it was all official with God.

Of course she'd wanted her teammates at the wedding but her hormones were all over the place and she was just so pissed off with Owen and Jack and why they couldn't fix it just to give her this one perfect day. By the time Tosh had turned up at the venue to lend her moral support, and Ianto had shipped over that beautiful replacement dress that she might actually fit into, she couldn't believe she'd ever been mad at them in the first place.

They'd almost made it to the end of the ceremony. That was all she really wanted, just to say I do and be pronounced man and wife. Of course Jack Harkness was going to storm in at the last possible moment and bring the whole thing to a grinding halt. It wasn't for an unrequited declaration of love, however. Naturally it was something alien, come to invade, and it wasn't going to wait until Gwen had tossed the bouquet to come and tear her open for its offspring. That's gratitude for you.

Running for your life from a monster on your wedding day? Sure. Why hadn't she factored that into her wedding plans? We'll have the soup starter, duck out to chase down a few weevils, then mains, save the world from impending alien invasion and be back just in time to cut the cake. No worries. And we'll do it on three or four glasses of champagne. Because that's how Torchwood rolls. Watching Rhys threaten his own mother, come alien shape-shifter, with a chainsaw and then being blown to smithereens by Jack with his plasma cannon was just a bonus. She'd always hated her mother in law to be. A pity she wasn't actually the alien. Still, she had the mental images to carry with her. Result.

‘I, Rhys Alun Williams…’ She watched as Rhys finally, slowly slipped the band of silver onto her finger. It was plain as it sat neatly next to the far more elaborate and sparkling engagement ring. One ring to promise a future together and one ring to seal that promise for life. It was all she could do not to leap into Rhys’ arms and hug the life out of him, desperate to expel some of the pent up energy inside her. Instead she kissed him as was part of the agreed ceremonial procedure and when she broke away she knew that today was the best day of her life.

She turned to face her family and friends, hearing the sound of their applause. Some of them had known her and Rhys for as long as they'd been together and had probably been wondering when they were ever going to finally tie the knot. Others were more recent friends - the last true friends she'd made since joining Torchwood - and their smiles and acceptances were the ones she delighted in most. Jack smiled at her as he clapped. He was happy for her, and that meant the world to her. He could have tried to lure her away from Rhys, and she might have let him, but he hadn't. He understood that she and Rhys were meant to be. Some of them might not get their happy ever after, but she would. She planned on making it count for all those dear friends she'd made who might never get the same chance.

Only later as she watched them fill the dance floor, Tosh and Owen, pretending they were totally platonic, and Jack and Ianto, swaying like two perfectly matched souls, did she pray that they too might get their fairytale happy ending, just like she and Rhys had. Today was a day for them too, special and perfect, to celebrate the idea that everyone deserved to be happy.