It goes something like this [Part Four]
Previous Parts I - II - III
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“Mom?” Matt said over the phone, “I’m engaged”
“Oh, that’s great news, honey…you would never believe what your father did yesterday with that monstrosity he calls a car!”
~
Apparently no one was really surprised when Karen and he got engaged. Not their parents - Matt was reasonably sure Karen’s father had called off a contract with a killer upon hearing the news that he did intend to make a honest woman out of his little girl.
It hadn’t come as a surprise to their costars or crew members, and their producers had been in the know since the beginning.
Things hadn’t really changed.
Well..actually they had: he had bought a ring to Karen…
And he had found out that Karen was a closet lover of romantic comedies
Some other things really hadn’t changed, though: she was crazy and he was crazy about her.
~
“Honey? I’m home!” Matt announced entering their flat. They both thought it was the cheesiest thing saying stuff like that, and loved to tease each other with stuff like that.
They were stupid like that, but life was good, they were happy, they were entitled to some stupidity.
He took some steps in the living room, only to find Karen wrapped in his favorite afghan, her knees pressed against her chest, her eyes red rimmed as she was watching something on tv.
He took some other steps, and frowned recognizing the movie Karen was watching.
“Love Actually?” He asked.
Karen nodded, without looking at him, “shut up, this is my favorite part!”
Matt took his coat off and rested it on a chair without stopping watching the scene: Keira Knightley had just gotten married with some guy, they were walking down the aisle and the cheese level went up various notches, when “All you need is love” was first sung then played by an impromptu orchestra in the Church.
And Karen was crying.
He sat next to her and she turned toward him saying, “Wouldn’t it be fantastic if it happened at our wedding?”
“Yes,” Matt said patiently, “but then I would have to kill my best friend who is secretly in love with you”
Karen snorted at his words, “But don’t you see?” she said gesturing at the telly
Matt shook his head no. “It’s a wedding…” Karen said.
Matt was confused and Karen sensed it, “You know…a real ceremony, she is wearing a wedding dress and everything is perfect…and I bet she also had an engagement ring…and didn’t have to hide things in public!”
background:white;mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Okaymso-ansi-language:EN-US">, Matt took a deep breath. Karen was being emotional…or maybe it was just stress. They had had paparazzi on set that day, all day, while shooting an emotional scene and for some reason Karen hadn’t taken it well.
She usually ignored paparazzi, she ignored rumors…but that day, maybe because of the scene they had shot, she had just stopped smiling…he had felt tension in her, while they were shooting their scene, the good bye between the Doctor and Amy…and he had recognized how much the feelings on Amy’s face were actually Karen’s.
And he had reacted as well…the emotion had been strong, real and unlike other times he hadn’t been able to control it.
He had heard Karen crying over his chest, sobbing, her emotions raw and real, take after take, under a scorching sun and it had taken all his training, especially toward the end, not to react…to remember that they were just actors playing a part….yet he recalled how that night Karen hadn’t let go of his hand, under the table at the restaurant, how she had clung to him in her sleep and how, when he had woken up he had found her already awake, her head nested against his chest, her eyes wide open.
She had smiled at him, but there had still been a hint of sadness in her eyes, a residual fear from the day before. He remembered kissing her, holding her, in bed, making small talk, making her laugh until that look in her eyes disappeared.
He had seen her holding a baby, for the first time in her life, just a few months before, and part of him…an ancestral, caveman part of him had felt proud…had wanted just that.
Character bleed could be a nasty bint…but there was something more.
“We will have a big wedding” Matt said after a moment, brushing her cheek with his nose first and his lips after.
“Yeah, after I leave the show, after the public accepts the doctor’s new companion, after …” Karen sighed and shook her head.
Keeping their relationship private, almost a secret from the general public was starting to take its toll on Karen, that was the truth. Not that he was happy about it, he didn’t like lying, he didn’t like some of the stupid things they sometimes had to say or do, but he knew it wouldn’t be forever. And it was for Karen…
“Are you having second thoughts?” Matt asked, real concern in his voice.
Karen did a double take, “What?” she said, “Are you crazy?” she showed him her left hand, and Matt smiled when she wriggled her fingers and he saw the solitaire sparkle.
“And give back this rock I can only wear home? As if!” She kissed him, and snuggled against his chest while she kept watching the movie, they even both laughed at the same parts, but Matt could still feel tension in Karen, so much that by half of the movie, she got up and mumbled something about getting dinner ready, leaving Matt alone on the couch.
He knew his fiancé - God, it was still so strange to say that word, even to himself! - well enough to know when to leave her alone. Or maybe he was being an idiot and he should go to the kitchen, help her out…or better yet, go to the kitchen, kiss her senseless and then take her out to dinner, and since he was at it, scream from the rooftops that he was the luckiest man on Earth because Karen Sheila Gillan had accepted to become his wife, and she put up with all his craziness and all the craziness imposed by their producers and handlers.