And to Hold

May 30, 2014 00:39

Title: And to Hold
Summary: Emma didn't realize how hard it would be to plan a wedding while her family tries to change things left and right. (AU)
Characters/Pairings: Emma/Neal
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,019


It has been months since Neal asked Emma to marry him. It hadn’t been the most classical of proposals. Neal didn’t take her to a restaurant or some other thought of romantic location; he hadn’t dropped to one knee or produced some long speech that left her in tears. In fact the whole thing, up until the words “marry me” had been uttered, had been so ordinary that it had taken Emma several days and a diamond ring on her finger to finally convince her that she had not made the whole thing up because…really? Happy endings are kind of hard to accept when the majority of your life you have been used to the apocalypse, fire and brimstone finale.

They had been leaning against the Bug waiting for Henry to finish school when it had happened. Neal had one arm slung over her shoulders watching her with a fond smile. She had been tucked into his side, an arm wrapped around his waist talking about how they needed to stop off at the shops on the way home to pick up toothpaste, when out of nowhere Neal had swooped down and kissed her hard. It was the sort of kiss that went from an ‘I’m quite in love with you’ to a ‘we’re going to be arrested for indecent exposure if we don’t slow down’ make out session. When finally the need for air had forced them apart Neal had rested his forehead against hers and breathed into her still open mouth “marry me” his voice husky and full of need. Emma had soon realized that kissing someone whilst you are smiling, laughing, crying and repeatedly saying “yes, I love you, yes, yes, yes, I love you, yes” was a pretty impossible task but she had kept on going anyway because she was finally getting the ending she had wanted for herself since she was seventeen and had stolen a stolen car.

It’s been months now since that moment, but Emma was still no closer to getting their wedding off the ground. It not really her fault though, or Neal’s they already know what sort of wedding they want, it’s just it’s not the wedding their families wanted.

Emma’s teeth clench as she crosses out what she had previously written on a notepad with such gusto that the pen practically tears the paper in half. She takes a long look at the other five things she had previously written before giving in and ripping out the whole page entirely. Scrunching it into a ball Emma throws it across the room with a growl of frustration, it misses the waste bin and lands in the heap of paper balls already scattered over the floor.

Determined not to give up just yet though, Emma picks up a larger notebook that is covered in white lace and has the words ‘wedding Ideas’ written in gold across the front. Opening it she sighs deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose as an extensive list that covers forty five pages is revealed. The list contains a mixture of handwriting styles, cursive, lopped, printed, scribbles Emma can hardly read. None of them belong to her though, because this particular catalogue of concepts was given to her by her entire family and consists of their thoughts on what the Emma and Neal wedding extravaganza should be. Family is perhaps the wrong term, what she means she means is the entire population of Storybrooke, everyone!

Emma manages to read twenty five pages of the manifesto, getting to Leroy’s bold print on the bottom of the page and his suggestion of a free bar, in big bold letters. He had underlined the words several times for emphasis, adding three exclamations points as well, just in case they hadn’t quite got the point. Before her head starts to spin, the air becoming hot and sticky. Her chest clenches as the ever familiar cold pricks of panic begin to creep up the back of her spine and her whole body twitches with the sudden need to escape.

Slamming the book shut Emma slips off the bed making her way over to the bottle of scotch she’d left on the table. She pours herself a glass and takes a large gulp, closing her eyes and concentrating on her breathing, forcing herself to slow and elongate each breath until finally, she feels back in control.

It’s not that Emma hadn’t realized the complications of planning a wedding; it was as much a stressful experience as it was a happy one and that was before you added in the very vocal and contrasting personalities that resided in Emma and Neal’s combined relatives and friends. So yeah, from the moment Neal had popped the question Emma had always known that this wedding was going to be somewhat difficult to plan. She thought she was prepared for it, but that was then and this was now. The now being where, everywhere she went she was cornered by one person after another who wanted to discuss color schemes, flower arrangements, venues, music, party favors, food and cake. It wasn’t just her either; plenty of people had approached Neal as well to the point where he was now suggesting they just elope, taking Henry with them of course. A solid plan, expect they both know it kill their respective parents, they’ve missed out on so much already.

At this point it was honestly boarding on harassment, or perhaps they’d already passed into that territory. Considering the fact she were now hiding out at Granny’s bed and breakfast, her mobile switched off, the phone in the room disconnected and Granny under strict instructions to not let ANYONE up the stairs, the use of crossbows had been green lighted, told Emma that yes they had definitely crossed the point into madness. Hell even Pongo had turned up outside their flat with a piece of fabric in his mouth, granted it had been a lovely yellow silk that was the exact same shade as the bug and Emma did intended to use it but it wasn’t really the point.

genre:romance, ship:emma/neal, fandom:once upon a time, length:one short, genre:au, rating:pg, genre:future fic

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