[[Wedding]]

[survivesitall]

Christmas Eve had seemed the perfect time to get married. Elena loved Christmas, a holiday she'd only come to celebrate as an adult and part of the Pack. This would be her first away from them; away from all of the effort Jeremy would go to, making sure Stonehaven was absolutely perfect. Here it was just Clayton and her, her hand drifting to her already curving belly at that thought. It would be their last Christmas alone, that was definite. But without the Pack, without Jeremy, it had made sense to them both that they try and make it as much a celebration as they could.

They'd decided to have the wedding at the house, clearing out the living room to make room for their friends. A crackling fire gave the room warmth, and the tree they had felled together stood proudly in the corner, covered with little lights but nothing else in the way of decoration. On the mantle there was a snow globe with two wolves in it, their only other Christmas decoration and a recent acquisition.

Elena wore the same dress that she'd worn to Hermione's wedding. Beaded and off-white, it didn't fit as well as it had then. By their count she was ten weeks pregnant, but already she looked closer to four months. She didn't care about that, she would have been happy getting married in jeans. The celebrant spoke of simple things; committment and love. Elena knew that they had that already. She knew that in the nearly thirteen years since they'd first come together they'd been through more than most couples could ever dream of. Being turned into a wolf, kidnapping, magic attacks, killer mutts... The list went on and on and that didn't include the things that they'd done together.

When she said I do she could feel the tears welling, and for once she didn't care about that either. She'd grown up needing to be strong and tough, and finally she could let another side of herself show. The side that was scared for what they were getting into, but loved Clayton completely and wouldn't want to have her life without him.

She kissed him and heard the cheers of their friends. It was done. They were now Mr and Mrs Danvers.

Comments

[survivesitall]

"You could have worn jeans and I would have been happy. I could have worn jeans and Clayton wouldn't have cared," Elena admits in a whisper, leaning close and nudging Mylia with her shoulder. "But I wanted to dress up, for once in my life."

[rulesofthewild]

"The lady at the store told me I had to wear a dress," Malia confesses. She shrugs and looks down. "I like this one the most, I think." It definitely wasn't the dressiest thing the clerk had shown her, and Malia likes that.

[survivesitall]

"Well, you look great," she says, even though she knows that she's repeating herself. Elena figures this time it's worth saying again. "Have you had anything to eat yet?"

[rulesofthewild]

"Not yet," she says. Then her eyes widen and she sort of grabs Elena's arm. "Is there deer?" she asks eagerly. She hasn't caught the scent, yet, but that doesn't mean anything. Maybe it's in a building. Maybe it's still being cooked. Maybe they'll go hunting together!

[survivesitall]

"No but there's rabbit." Elena smiles at Malia's enthusiasm, the younger girl sometimes a snapshot of what Clayton might have been like at one point. "We'll probably go out running tomorrow though. Try and find a deer if you want to come along."

[rulesofthewild]

Malia grins, eyes flashing eagerly. "Yeah!" she says with feeling. "You mean it? I can come?"

[survivesitall]

"Of course you can come," she says, grinning. It took a few weeks for Elena to be comfortable changing while pregnant, but as Clayton had pointed out her body still needed it and she had changed those first few weeks before she even realised. "I'd like it if you did."

[rulesofthewild]

She smiles. She'd like it, too, but the words slip from her mind. Instead, she just grabs onto Elena and hugs her. Elena might recognize the embrace of someone who doesn't do it a lot. Malia is awkward, but enthusiastic, clutching onto her with gratitude and no concept of how bodies can slot together.

[survivesitall]

Elena understands. There had been a time in her life that she hadn't been used to affection of physical closeness. Clayton had been the one to change then, and then after her change Nick and the rest of the Pack. She holds the woman close, kissing her temple before releasing her to clasp her shoulders in affection. "You're always welcome out here."