Heaven Can Wait

[stardust47]

A wedding... is supposed to be a day you can never forget. Nobody knew this as much as James Barett, now an Ensign in the Bretonia Armed Forces, who was about to get married to Catherine Herstal, the love of his life.

It's difficult to be married to someone in the military. Catherine was considering this when she was piloting the Enterprising Visions to New London to pick up James, who had saved his shore leave for the wedding day.

Junction was buzzing with activity, a rare thing for the station. Much of the inside had been decorated for the occasion. James had suggested a low-key ceremony, but this was very quickly shot down by pretty much everyone. The couple had decided to give their own vows but, other than that, it was a mostly traditional wedding. James had chosen Dave, an old friend of his, to be Best Man and Catherine chose Steve (real name Stephanie) as the bridesmaid.
James was changing into his BAF dress uniform when Dave came in.
"What's the matter?" asked James, pulling up the rather heavy trousers.
"The ceremony starts in five minutes," said Dave, hurriedly.
"I only need four," lied James.
Ten minutes later, Catherine and Steve were exchanging some witty banter when James came in, resplendant in the dress uniform.
"Sorry about that. Just... fasionably late," said James, mistakenly hoping that Catherine would understand. Instead, she just stood there, confused.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Ah, nothing. Can we just get on with it?"
"Alright then," sighed the registrar. In the minutes that had passed since Dave went to see James, he and Steve had made their short but meaningful speaches, thereby giving the author a convenient excuse to- oh, what the hell, I'm just being lazy here. Skip to the end!
"Do you, Catherine, take James to be your husband?"
"I do,"
"And do you James, take Catherine to be your wife?"
"I do,"
And with that, it was sealed. Everyone cheered as the young couple kissed, confirming their love to the world.
A wedding aboard a space station, befitting much of the two lover's lives...

...Followed by a party that could have caused permanent liver damage. A night of wild drinking, nonsensical stories and some rather disturbing but still mildly amusing dance moves. By the time James and Catherine retired, Catherine was very willing to, ahem, consumate the marriage.
When the morning came, James sent the obligatory message to the Armed Forces, telling them the news.

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