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Parents.
It was the one thing they explicitly asked their DJ not to mention in front of all of their guests at their wedding, but the DJ they paid for sent another one at the last minute, and now it’s been announced to the entire fucking world that they’re both unintentional (Tim) and chosen (Lucy) orphans.
It’s no secret to anyone that neither Lucy nor Tim got the luck of the draw in the parent lottery, but it’s also not something they talk about any chance they get.
While Tim has had almost forty years to process the absence and abuse his parents forced him to endure before — and after — they died, Lucy’s wounds that her mother and father left are still fresh and raw.
Tim’s mom abandoned him and his sister so young that neither sibling remembers much of her at all, and his father, if he can even call him that, when he wasn’t beating on him, he was too drunk most nights to remember he had kids, so although it’s one of those circumstances he wishes he could’ve changed, he came to terms very early in his life that they would never be there for his greatest accomplishments.
Lucy hadn’t been so lucky.
Her parents were there, but never truly there in the right ways. With every inch she gave, they took a mile. No matter how hard she worked, they wanted more and when she couldn’t give it, they berated her until her self-confidence became an idea she couldn’t ever get back.
Pleasing them became a chore, a burden to bear until it got to be too much, and yet, she exhausted every bit of herself to carry it.
Tim realized just how traumatic her childhood had been when she came home one day, collapsed in a puddle of tears the second she walked through the door because she’d placed second on the Detective’s exam, and begged him to not be disappointed in her.
That was the day he blocked their numbers in Lucy’s phone and got her an emergency session with his therapist.
When it came time to pick the music for their wedding, they were asked if there would be a father-daughter and mother-son dance, and without hesitation, they evidently declined.
It’s taken years of their relationship (and hundreds of therapy appointments) to get Lucy to a place where she doesn’t second guess herself or need constant reassurance from anyone.
It took all of five seconds to take her back to the very beginning.
Despite Angela’s best efforts as Tim’s Woman of Honor to stop the moron from making more of a fool of himself, an awkward silence fills the room once he asks for the father of the bride to step out onto the floor and dance with his daughter.
Tim is fuming at her side, his joyous expression now one of rage in defense of his stunning wife, and Tamara is giving every guest who dares to even blink in the couple’s direction at that moment a death glare.
Her overfilled heart starts to sink into her stomach as tears burn her eyes and she wants to curl up into a ball, out of sight and out of mind from the suddenly crowded room of people who they chose to celebrate their best day with them.
“Shall we?”
She nearly jumps out of her skin despite the soft tone of the voice behind her, but she settles almost instantly and does so with a relieved smile when she sees who it belongs to.
She takes his outstretched hand and lets him whisk her away to the dance floor, and it soothes her that much more to find Tim and Genny there, too.
so lately, been wondering
who will be there to take my place
He wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her close as he begins to sway with the music, and she brushes away the few tears that had escaped before she could stop them.
when I'm gone, you'll need love
to light the shadows on your face
“Thank you for doing this.”
if a great wave shall fall
it would fall upon us all
Percy West offers a gentle smile and lets her rest her arms around his shoulders as they embrace the bittersweet feeling that overwhelms them both.
and between the sand and stone
could you make it on your own?
“It’s what my son would’ve done.”
if I could, then I would
i’ll go wherever you will go
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fin.