Romance without Tears (closed)

[slut_in_white]

Naomi didn't recall Nick getting out of bed. It was early in the morning, and she wasn't much of a morning person, though she did recall slipping out of sleep for a moment and feeling vaguely upset by the lack of her fiance's warm, sturdy presence.

She tossed and turned until he returned to bed with her, when the feel of his arms around her settled her back into relaxation almost instantly.

It wasn't until she came drifting back out of sleep some unknown amount of time later that she realized something was... off, somehow. Wriggling about until she could roll over in his arms, she turned to face Nick, blinking the sleep out of her eyes as she did. And he was awake. She wondered if he hadn't fallen back to sleep since returning to bed with her.

But, more importantly, something was wrong. His expressions were often inscrutable - he always looked stoic and perfectly calm, almost regardless of whatever else he was feeling. Or at least, he did to everyone else. Naomi could read him like a book, and this morning, there was something that dulled the usually bright intensity of his blue eyes and creased his brow ever so slightly.

She lifted one small, warm hand to his cheek, her fingers gliding over the stubble of his jaw while she worried her lip between her teeth. "Nick? What's wrong?"

 

[Maka]

Even in his current frame of mind, the feeling of Naomi's fingertips sliding gently along his face was blissful. He smiled at her, concerned in turn by the worry on her face, the way she was nipping delicately at her lower lip, the way she always did when she was pondering some problem.

"It was my father," he said. He didn't need to add to that statement. Even before they'd realised they were in love, he'd confided in Naomi, and only in Naomi, all the troubles and pain of his childhood and alcoholic father.

"He's living in L.A. now," he went on quietly. "He says he's sober but... "

He'd said that before, God knew how many times before. When they'd been living closer together, Nick had made every effort to support his father's rehabilitation... but eventally exhaustion after repeated relapses had soured him on any chance of his father becoming a different person.

He looked down at Naomi, so delicate and so pretty that she almost seemed to shimmer there, a wonderful, fragile beauty light as a feather in his arms.

It didn't feel right. He wanted the most important person in his life to meet his father. But he was also afraid. Naomi's family had their quirks, but they were also a loving, warm support for her, a source of strength and not pain. He worried that if she met his father on one of his bad days, in one of his dark moods, she'd suddenly...

He didn't know what, except that he was terrified of losing Naomi, of her seeing another, unlovable side to him when she met his father, however much advance warning she had. And so he stroked her hair without continuing, without saying anything more.

 

[slut_in_white]

He says he's sober but...

"...but he's said that before," Naomi finished for him, her voice whisper-quiet. Her lips pressed tightly together, and her eyes slipped shut. She hated to see Nick in pain. She hated to see anyone she cared for in pain, of course, but Nick especially so. Because she loved him more than she thought possible. Because pain was something he showed so rarely.

Her eyes fluttered open again when she felt his hand in her hair. There was only one thing to do Support her soon-to-be husband. No matter what he decided. As far as she was concerned, Nick had done more for his father than he deserved - far, far more. He was beyond reproach in his handling of those issues from his childhood. Normally, when she'd only heard one side of the story, she'd withhold such harsh judgment on someone who had not the opportunity to defend themselves. But Nick was honest to a fault. He was a man of pure integrity and, as such, she had no doubt that the story she'd heard was the truth. No sugar-coating, no trying to make himself appear a better man than he was, as most would do. Besides, it wasn't as though he needed to make himself appear better - he'd be practically saintly in his repeated attempts to support his father's recovery, even after relapse after relapse.

She didn't have to ask why he'd called. The timing was far too coincidental to be anything else. Somehow, he'd heard about Nick's upcoming wedding. She wondered if he had the bad taste to demand an invitation. Surely he realized he didn't deserve one, didn't he?

Naomi shifted slightly and pressed a quick kiss to Nick's lips, worry still clear on her elfin features. "Do you want to see him?" There was no expectation in the question - no implication that she thought he should. If he said no, she would respect that. If he said yes, she would be there for him, every step of the way.

 

[Maka]

"What'd I do to deserve you?" Nick whispered, yielding to the sweet warmth of Naomi's kiss. He thought, long and hard, about what he wanted, about what he should do.

"I don't... " he was hesitant, un-Nick-like. "I want to see him. But after the wedding. When I've... "

His arms closed tight around her.

"When you're mine for good."

 

[slut_in_white]

A short giggle escaped Naomi as Nick finished explaining. She blushed immediately and shot him an apologetic look, because she knew now was not the time for amusement. Still, her expression was lit up with love and happiness, even as she tried to make herself look more solemn.

"I'm already yours for good," she answered softly, smiling. "We don't need to sign a sheet of paper to make that true. Our wedding is going to confirm what's already true," she whispered, pressing another kiss to his cheek after she finished.

There was another pause while she looked up at him, waiting until he met and held her gaze. "I love you. I will always love you. No matter what happens."

 

[Maka]

Naomi's attempt to look solemn after her giggling fit only made her look all the more impishly adorable and Nick couldn't help the answering grin that spread across his face, or the laugh that followed it. At the same time, he felt a flood of relief spreading through him as Naomi said what he knew to be true, yet had needed to hear.

"And I love you too," he said, returning her hug.



***

And now he stood, dressed in a smart suit under a billowing, colourful pavillion, very conscious of the gaze of all of his and Naomi's friends and all of her large extended family. It was a brilliant summer day, and the park chosen for the venue was in verdant full blossom. Though it could have been a thunderous rainstorm and Nick wouldn't have cared, might not even have noticed.

His eye kept straying impatiently to the aisle, waiting for Naomi and her father to make their appearance, much to the indulgent amusement of their guests. Nick, for once, could not conceal his emotions. He still could not quite believe his own luck.

 

[slut_in_white]

They say that fluttering feeling in one's stomach when excited or anxious or nervous is called "butterflies." Butterflies were small, delicate, gentle. What Naomi felt was none of those things.

Dressed, hair done (well, as much as one could "do" a pixie cut like hers), and made-up with only a slight accent of make-up, she was pacing back and forth in a hotel room with her sisters all watching and giggling.

"It's not funny!" She snapped. The clock on the wall said it was 27 minutes until she needed to leave for the ceremony. It had stopped. It must have! She swore it had said 30 minutes 2 hours ago! This was insane!

"It's hilarious, actually," Beth chirped, giggling. Naomi fixed her with a deadly glare, but all that seemed to do was make her laugh harder.

It was funny how excitement could turn to a complete lack of patience when Naomi was locked in a small room with a dozen women and all she really wanted was to go see Nick. Which, naturally, was exactly what she wasn't allowed to do.

Pace, pace, pace. Another glance at the clock. 26 minutes to go. She groaned. She would be dead in half an hour. Each second was a year, and she would age and die and the whole of human civilization would die off before 1:00 finally arrived.

She was going insane.

----

Naomi's mood brightened considerably once they left the hotel, finally. Her father awaited her just outside the pavilion when she arrived.

"You look beautiful," he greeted, holding his hands out to her.

And she did. The dress was fitted perfectly to her natural body shape, with only a few layers, leaving it comparatively nice and light - appropriate for the warmth of the day. The skirt hugged her hips, then swept down into a flared, layered skirt. No train, no poofy princess skirt. Just Naomi, in white, with a bouquet of red roses.

She took her father's arm as the music began, and then, her heart hammering so hard in her chest she feared it might beat right out of her ribs, she turned the corner into the pavilion, where she saw Nick, awaiting her at the end of the aisle.

And just like that, everything was fine. The nerves seemed to shed away, leaving behind nothing but a bright, shining joy. Her expression broke into a broad smile the instant she laid eyes on him, and a titter ran through the crowd at how radiantly happy she looked.

It was a struggle not to simply run down the aisle to him. And yet, once she finally made it, her father took her hands, squeezed them once, and then passed them to Nick's waiting grip, offering him one quick nod of the head - a subtle motion, but one whose purpose was clear; I approve.

 

[Maka]

Nick's breath caught in his throat the moment Naomi appeared. She literally took his breath away. The golden afternoon sunlight glowed behind her slight, slender frae, set off to perfection by the simple, beautiful wedding dress she wore, as white and delicate as cherry blossom, so light that it seemed like it might have simply descended on her from the sky. There was magic in her sparkling eyes, her shy smile, in the light reflecting in her golden hair. Most of all, she looked so happy, so excited, a happiness that transcended even the elfin beauty of her face. Nick had unconsciously took a step forward at the sight of her, and had to restrain from simply dashing to her.

It made it all the sweeter when she came to him and her father joined their hands, with just a slight inclination of the head to Nick. Few even in the audience, their most intimate friends, could have imagined what their gesture meant to Nick, or all the story that lay behind it. Then Nick was holding Naomi's hands and staring into her eyes and he could barely hear the minister speaking (a kindly woman from a tolerant, liberal church -naturally neither Nick nor Naomi had even contemplated being married by someone who would not also consecrate gay marriages):

"Nicholas Hearn, do you take Naomi Highford to be your wedded wife, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to her, for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Nick said at once.