Work Text:
Wedding Shoes
Jackie was glad that she had gotten Rose out of the house at all. It had been an eventful four weeks since Norway. Four weeks since that bloody alien had left her daughter a mess, again, sobbing on a beach. Jackie wavered between hating him and cursing his very existence and loving him for leaving her Rose with her family. Her growing family. She rubbed her slightly distended abdomen tiredly as Rose rifled through a rack of pink formals. "I don't know, Mum. What do you want me in?" Rose sighed.
Rose was still so despondent. She was tired all the time and spent more time sleeping during the day while she roamed the house restlessly at night. She slept to make the day go faster- then paid for it all night long. For the first two weeks she refused to leave the house at all then she finally ventured out to the lake by the guest house. That was after Pete and Jackie had announced their wedding date. A "vow renewal" as far as the paparazzi knew. She had smiled and played at being happy for their sake then completely fell apart when she was alone. In a way it was a good thing- it was the first time she hadn't felt numb since the beach. It wasn't long, though, for the numbness to flow back into her and though she tried a bit harder, it was still so hard to make an effort to care.
"Love, whatever you are comfortable in. We're trying to keep it low key," Jackie said. The paparazzi had been dogging the family of late. First Vitex millionaire Pete Tyler has a resurrected wife and previously unknown daughter, now rumors were swirling about that the wife was pregnant. Yes, it had been quite eventful in the Tyler household. Jackie and Pete were trying to keep plans quiet but it was hard. Although she and Pete had a good giggle at the thought of her second shotgun wedding...to basically the same man...in twenty one years. Jackie wished that Rose would share in the laughter. It hurt so much to see Rose downhearted. That's when Jackie hated the Doctor the most.
"You like this one, Mum?" She held out a petal pink, long skirted empire waisted formal dress.
"Do you?"
"Bride gets to tell the bridesmaid what to wear, Mum."
"I love it, sweetie. If that's the one we'll go with it. Let's try it on."
After the dress had been purchased they wandered past the shoe department, Jackie prattling on about silver sandals. Rose wasn't paying attention. Her eyes scanned the shoes- and stopped on one particular pair. They weren't silver sandals.
They were pink high topped Chuck Taylor All Stars. The first pair of Chucks she had seen in this universe.
She had wondered the lack of Chucks was something that was a part of Pete's World, and she was relieved to see that even if it was a small thing, there was some link, some reminder of her Doctor in his brown pinstriped suit and chucks.
Jackie knew what she was going to ask. And Jackie also saw the first real smile on Rose's face since Canary Wharf. The dress was long, Jackie reckoned. They'll be hidden.
Two weeks later, Jackie turned to trade her flowers the wedding band in Rose's hand. Her hands were shaking and she nearly dropped it. That would be the memory to retell from this wedding, since Pete had gotten her name right this time. She glanced down and saw the white toe of the chucks peeking out from under Rose's skirt. "One of these days the Doctor will see these wedding pictures, she reasoned. It was a small thing, but it was something she could hold on to. A small symbol of her growing resolve to reunite with her Doctor.
Three Years Later.....
The back garden was awash in color from the roses and wisteria. It was a beautiful sunny warm day, the first in several days. The Doctor said the universe was smiling down on them for a change. He stood at the end of the aisle with Tony Tyler, both wearing black pinstripes and black Chucks.
The violin music began and Jackie walked down the aisle, clutching a bouquet of wildflowers and a hanky because she was the mum of the bride as well as the matron of honor, and she couldn't shed mum of the bride tears while she did her matron of honor duties. She gave the Doctor a kiss on the cheek and took her place across from Tony. Tony fished the ring out of his pocket and gave Jackie the thumbs up and she glared at him until he put it safely back in his pocket. The Doctor chuckled.
The music changed and they turned their attention to the end of the aisle where Rose and Pete began their walk down the aisle. Tears bloomed in the Doctor's eyes as he watched her walking toward him, smiling brilliantly through her own tears of joy. Her dress was amazing. It was an ivory version of the dress she had worn to their ill fated meeting with Elvis. She had it specially made when he had told her about a dream he had of her in that dress walking down the aisle on Pete's arm.
The Doctor's eyes travelled down to the hem of the dress, and lower, to her chosen wedding shoes.
A pair of TARDIS blue high topped Chuck Taylor All Stars. Their smiles could have generated all the sunlight they could have ever wanted for their beautiful wedding day.