Flashback: Wedding
A soft smile met her lips as she looked at herself in the mirror - within it a version of herself looking back at her. One that she thought she may never get the chance to see. One that… well… was happier than words could describe. The reason? Because for the first time - Jess had nothing holding her back. Because… in a few minutes she would be walking towards the man she loved more than anything else. Her person… Her best friend. Her forever. Was it bad that she thought she may never have this moment? Never get the chance to be with someone who made her heart race simply by the thought of them? For such a long time - Jess had gotten it… gotten that feeling just to lose it over and over again and honestly… it was killing her to the point of being done with it all. She was almost content that love wasn’t for her. The time she lost Dorian… the times she had her heartbroken. Part of her almost feared that she may lose it again… but she pushed that thought out of her mind hearing a soft voice behind her.
“You look beautiful, nugget,”
Her smile was replaced with a larger one as she found Andy leaning against the wall, looking her up and down. There was a simple elegance in her dress she wore - nothing too fancy. Jessica’s excuse was that she needed something that had the breathability to eat - but really, she just… loved the simplicity in it. After all of it - Jess never needed a fancy dress, a fancy wedding, a fancy ring. All she wanted was to be with someone who cared about her.
“You sure? Isn’t this about around the time I’m supposed to start freaking out about something superficial and stressing my knight of honor out?”" Jess questioned, moving her eyes away from the mirror and meeting the blue hues of Andy’s eyes as she walked over towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek before holding him tightly once again. “Hey you still have to get me ring pops okay? Ex-husband or not,” Jess muttered, smiling as she looked at him.
“Wouldn’t have it any other way Nug. Anyways, there’s this huge crowd out there and usually, I’d think it’s about time for me to start singing - but I think today they’re waiting for you,”
Jess laughed ever so slightly as he put his hand out, and without hesitation, she found her hand in his as he brought her out of the empty dressing room to the exterior where everyone was waiting. Though Jess let go of Andy’s hand bending down as she saw her little daughter stumbling over towards her the moment the little girl had seen her mother - Amie and Phoebe yelling her name as they were seemingly trying to get her to hold flowers and stay still.
“Hello baby girl are you being a little rascal again?,” Jess whispered with a smile, laughing as the little girl said “No mama”, kissing her girl on the cheek and smiling as the little girl tightly wrapped her arms around her neck. Within a few minutes - they had all made their way to the start of the walk. Kissing her baby one more time, Jess put the pouting girl down. “Hey Shay look over there,” Jess whispered in her girl’s ear, pointing towards where Dorian was standing, as Amie and Phoebe went to either side of the girl. It only took a second of the girl catching her father in her sights that she started stumbling over with Amie and Phoebe who threw flowers as the munchkin tried to get to her dad.
Usually, at weddings, it was a father who gave a daughter away - but that wasn’t the case this time around. Jess loved her parents… but they had never been a big part of her life… never chosen to be that. So she had requested another person. As her little girl walked… okay fine… ran towards her dad, Jess stood up to face that man for the second time. “Ready when you are Mister,” Jess smiled, taking Andy’s arm as she started walking towards Dorian. Towards the love of her life.
Reaching him, she muttered a soft thank you to her friend before taking Dorian’s free arm - the other tightly holding their daughter. Jess brushed her hand over her daughter’s hair, before looking back at Dorian - the love for him only growing within her. And soon, the two got married for the second time, finalized as she kissed him after the minister finally uttered the words “You may kiss the bride”
Jess and Dorian had spent the last few hours of their reception greeting the guests and not eating. Her wedding planner and Davina had warned her that no matter how much food she organized - it would be rare if she had time to sit down and eat any of it since apparently being the “bride” meant that you had to talk to ever damn person in this place. And god damn it, they weren’t wrong. But this was Jessica - and if she worked this damn hard to have all the damn cuisine at her food festival of a wedding - SHE WAS GOING TO bloody FEAST on it all. It wasn’t long until Jess and Shay found themselves at their table eating… okay, stuffing their faces with desserts and avoiding people. Jess pouted, however, when she heard her husband appear with the words “Of course you like cupcakes the most” at their little girl. “She obviously has good taste” Jess teased the man, standing up as she placed a kiss on his cheek. “Sorry for leaving you with Aunt Helina… that woman can go on and on about the royal history and I could not bloody deal with it anymore - especially not on an empty stomach,” Jess grinned. Though, instead of answering, she watched as he picked Shay up and walked their baby towards Davina. Jessica watched with a curious expression as he walked towards the middle of the venue grabbing a mic. She couldn’t help but laugh at his sentiment of the ongoing bet they had going - which honestly was the first of many based on this wedding. Though Jess was still positive her Uncle Reginald would be the first one. He always thought he had a higher tolerance than he did, after all - and both her and Dan could recall the time he had two drinks and then fell asleep on the Queen’s lap.
Though jokes aside, when she heard his next sentiment the confusion returned to her face as he started going deeper into his speech. Although, as he continued her expression was rather replaced with one of pure love. “Heyyyy” Jess laughed as he called her out about lying to him about remembering the kiss, soon followed by the laughter of others in the room - though hers only grew when he cursed in front of the royal audience.
But when she listened to the video that came on the screen, her heart started racing again and she could feel the slight goosebumps on her skin. God, she loved that man with everything in her heart - which was exactly why she didn’t wait after his speech was over, rather, she immediately made her way towards him and wrapped her arms around him to pull him in for a kiss. Soon, holding him tightly as he whispered in her ear about the trophy, though she matched it with her own whisper, “I love you so much,”. And she did. There were no words that could fully describe how happy Dorian made her feel. “He’s a bloody liar by the way. On the record, I didn’t pretend not to remember. I just selectively forgot a few things,” Jess stated into the microphone before putting it down alongside the trophy and pulling the man towards the area dedicated to dancing. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Jess laid her head on his shoulder as she swayed with him - the band playing a slow song as it was technically their first dance. “You know…” Jess whispered, looking back up at him with a smile. “There are no returns or exchanges available for me… you’re kinda stuck now,” She stated, bringing her hand towards his cheek. She was about to say something else though she found their little girl waddling towards them mumbling dada up, Shay found herself escaping Davina and made her way towards the two of them with her hands raised. Jess watched as Dori easily picked her up so the little girl could dance with the two of them. And that’s exactly what they did. This truly was her forever, and Jessica couldn’t be happier.
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