Work Text:
3rd Person POV
“What?” Ste said in disbelief.
“Yep. Opps. Was I not meant to say anything?” James says to us.
“Hang on; tell them why he slept with you.” Abby says to James and he looks shocked.
“I don’t know why he slept with me. He must just not be getting excitement.” James says looking at Ste. Ste had tears falling down his face wondering why Brendan would do this.
“Maybe he slept with you because you have been blackmailing him for months.” Abby says which makes James look shocked and Ste look confused.
“What do you mean blackmail Abby?” Tony says to her as he puts a hand on Ste’s shoulder.
Abby pulled out her phone to read off some of the texts. “Job for you, and I won’t hurt them.”, “Come over. Need you slut.”, “Tonight or lover boy finds out” Abby reads off the text and Ste is broken. He ran all the way back to the Lomax’s.
“Where did you get them?” James says.
“Dad told me everything James. Go home to your sad life. You are done with my dad James. Come to the wedding and you will be leaving in an ambulance.” Abby said as she walked away.
“You know, you don’t scare me Abby.” James said making Abby stop in her tracks.
“I won’t but the fact that I can tell Juliet everything and she will turn against you.” Abby says as she walks towards her house.
“Do you really think you can turn Juliet against me?” James says now looking a bit shaken.
“Oh James. I don’t think so… I know so.” Abby says before turning and going to check on her dad.
1 hour before the wedding
Everyone was ready to get in the taxis to go to the church. Brendan and his tribe were sipping champagne and chatting.
“I would like to raise a toast,” He started, “to all of my family and friends here today. Without you, I probably wouldn’t be here. And a massive thank you to my lovely daughter Abby. You have truly been amazing this whole time, even when you were running around trying to figure out which shoes to wear. To Family.”
“To family” Everyone chanted. At the house now were Brendan, Cheryl, Declan, Abby, Juliet, Matthew and Warren (Who had begun to date Cheryl)
Over at the Lomax house, it was equally as calm. Ste’s group consisted of Ste, Leah, Lucas, Leela, Peri, Tony and Diane. They were all sat around, sipping champagne apart from Ste who had water.
All the taxi’s arrived and everyone was on their way to the wedding. Ste and Brendan were so excited that they smiled the whole time.
The wedding
The day had gone fine up to now. Typical isn’t it.
Here is what happened. Everyone unloaded from the taxis while Tony, Diane, Abby and Declan had met outside the church.
“If anyone interrupts, Dec and I will sort them out.” Abby said to them and everyone nodded.
Declan and Diane walked into the church to take a seat. Peri and Leela walked down in their beautiful teal dresses, then Cheryl and Juliet walked down in light pink dresses. Abby and Brendan walked down next followed by Tony and Ste. They all hugged each other and sat down.
“If one person here knows of any reason why these two men cannot be joined in marriage, please speak now or forever hold your peace.” The priest said. And to no one’s surprise, James and John-Paul walked through the doors. Brendan and Ste both looked shock. Without thinking twice, Abby and Declan got up and ushered the two out of the church.
Outside the church
Abby POV.
“What are you two doing?” I said as myself and Declan stood between them and the door.
“I take it you haven’t told him?” James said gesturing to Declan.
“Hang on, I know what both off you have been doing. And you think you can turn up here and make a scene. No way.” I says as I step closer to them.
“Abby, what have they done?” Declan asks.
“John-Paul have a very drunk one night stand with Steven and James here has been blackmailing our dad into sex.” I say looked each of them up and down.
“You blackmailed my family.” Declan says now stepping closer to them as well.
“So… Your dad needed to learn.” James said with a smirk.
“So not only do you try and kill me, you try to tear our family apart.” I say to them as Declan and I step closer.
“Ye… pretty much.” John-Paul says looking Declan in they eye. I am staring down James.
“Mess with a Brady once, shame on us. Mess with a Brady twice, sucks for you.” I say to them.
“Isn’t it shame on you?” John-Paul asks.
“Not this time.” Declan says as he flies a punch to John-Paul’s jaw line. I hit James just as hard. I fight soon ensues. Punches, kicks, biting, everything was happening. James and John-Paul were covered in blood but Abby and Declan were pristine clean. Not a drop of blood was on them. A few bruises had started to form but that was it.
“Leave and if you EVER try to tear my family apart again, I will kill you both.” I say. Both of them get up and run off like wimps. We heard cheering coming from inside which means that the wedding was over.
Declan and I both walk in to see our dad covered in confetti. We walk up to the front to stand by Juliet and Cheryl.
“Where have you been?” Juliet whispers to me.
“Sorting James and John-Paul out.” I say to her clapping for dad and Ste.
“You better not have done anything stupid.” Juliet says to me and she catches a glimpse of my knuckles covered in blood.
When dad and Ste were outside taking photos, Declan and I had gone to the bathroom to sort out our hands. Everyone was outside so we both went into the ladies bathroom.
“You know dad will kill us if he finds out we battered John-Paul and James.” Declan says as he grabs paper towel to dry off his hands.
“They will understand. Would you rather Dad and Ste get married or watch dad fall apart because of McQueen and Nightingale?” I ask him honestly.
“Them get married.” Declan says discarding the paper towel.
“It’s settled then. This was for the best.” I say. Juliet entered the bathroom more than likely in search for me.
“Talk.” Juliet demands. I nod at Declan and he leaves. We both jump and sit on the counter.
“John-Paul had a very drunken one night stand with Ste.” I say. She looks shocked.
“What about James?” She asked. It was the question I had feared all day.
“He has been blackmailing my dad into having sex with him.” I say looking at her. She looks horrified.
“I am so sorry.” She said.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. James is the one who should be sorry.” I say to her.
“He should have learnt his lesson by now. Let’s hope.” Juliet says jumping off the counter.
“We have a wedding to celebrate, and thank you for being my date” I say to her as I jump off the counter and take her hand. We head outside to see photos still being taken.
“Abby, Juliet.” Ste shouts and waves us over. The photographer takes a picture off us and we smile. I hide my knuckles so that dad doesn’t question me.
We end up having a lot of photos taken. When Dad has a photo with me and Declan, he smiles but whispers to us.
“I take it you took care of them?” Dad asks still smiling.
“They aren’t coming back.” Declan says
“If they do, they leave in a body bag.” I say still smiling.
We have a load more photos and then it is time for the speeches. Myself and Tony were doing a speech as well as dad.
Tony goes first and his speech is good.
“Abby. Your turn” Tony says handing the microphone to me.
“Right yeah. Hey guys. First and foremost thank you all for coming. I know best men and best women are supposed to totally roast the grooms but I want to tell you a story that my dad told me. He may not know it but while I was in a coma I could hear everything. While I was out he shared this story from mine and Declan’s past. In summary, it was about how he wanted to always see us and want to be with us all the time. But he couldn’t and he regrets that because it’s his fault. Ye I mean you did go to prison but you are here now and that is what counts. He also told me a story about him and Ste. A long time ago, he and Ste were sat in the club and dad was trying to apologise for something. Probably a lot of things. But dad made him a special drink, and Ste do you remember the name?” I say turning to Ste.
“Wasn’t it called Sorry Steven?” He says.
“Correct. Dad said he tried to make a drink that was just like him, sweet and spicy, hot and cold. He described Ste as someone who should never be crossed. Honestly he just blabbers on about Ste. Dad is like a lovesick puppy around Ste but if anyone threaten him then they need to start running. I told you the stories because many people view dad as this hard man who gets what he wants, when he wants. They see dad as someone who will kill just for a ham sandwich. Truth is he is just like the rest of us. You can love him but he will love hard. You can knock him down but he will get back up. You can beat him black and blue but he will beat you into a grave. He will go through rough patches, but they just make him stronger. So I propose a toast to resilience and taking after dad. To resilience.” I finish and we all toast. Dad looked like he was ready to cry and so did Ste.
We finish all the speeches and it’s time to dance. Cheryl and Leela push Ste and dad to the dance floor.