TITLE: "Redemption"
AUTHOR: Kathmak
SPOILERS: Brief reference to "Release."
SUMMARY: Today is the day my life begins again.
DISCLAIMER: John and Monica don't belong to me, but they do belong to each other (and Fox and 1013, of course)!
NOTES: This is another in a series of "500-ish word" prompts.
I watch her as she walks down the aisle to the strains of "The Wedding March." She's so beautiful, my Monica. I wouldn't have figured she would choose to have a traditional ceremony with a white lace wedding gown and all, but then again she's always been full of surprises.
She is breathtakingly radiant. Even from here I can see that there's a little tear in the corner of her eye. She'll be quick to reassure me later when we're alone that it's a 'happy' tear, whatever the heck that means. I guess it's a guy thing, but I don't like seein' her cry under any circumstances, happy or otherwise. But then Monica will put her hands on my face and kiss the hell outta me and tell me how happy she is, and I'll relax. She always knows just what to do to put my mind at ease.
There's a certain confidence in her stride, just like the confidence that shows in everything she does. Like in the way she loves me, for example. God, I'm such a lucky man.
I admit that I haven't always been as sure of things as she has been. Not because I didn't love her. No, far from it. In fact, it was because I loved her so much that I questioned how things would work out for us. I was afraid that my love somehow wouldn't be enough for her. She deserves the best, and for awhile there my head was so screwed up I didn't know if I was the one who could give her everything that she needed.
Turns out I had nothing to worry about.
I think back to the day I released my son's ashes into the sea. Monica took me home with her, tellin' me she didn't think I should be alone.
"Let me take care of you for once, John," she said. I was gonna tell her that she always had taken care of me for as long as she's known me, but I was too numb to say much of anything at all.
She cooked me dinner and told me that she was there for me if I wanted to talk. We stayed up all night and she held me close as I cried until I had no tears left to cry. Then, as the first light of dawn came peekin' in through the curtains, I kissed her. I kissed her long and tenderly, over and over. Guess I was trying to make up for all of the times before when I should have kissed her but didn't. We made love for the first time that morning, and afterward, as I lay with her healing arms wrapped tightly around me, I finally felt whole again. I closed my eyes and thanked God for the remarkable gift I had been given.
A second chance.
A shot at redemption.
Monica approaches the altar and smiles at me. She takes my hand and I smile back, knowing that today is the day my life begins again.
-End-