Something About Stars -- Chapter 19 Commentary

[earlgreytea68]

In response to this post, an anonymous reader requested Chapter 19 of Something About Stars.

This chapter was a clean-up chapter, taking every loose end and making sure it was tucked in tight. I love to write this sort of chapter. I am an unabashedly sentimental person.

He told his parents with some trepidation. How did you say I’m marrying an alien and we’re going to live on her spaceship, but I promise we’ll bring the grandkids for plenty of visits?

“I’m marrying Athena,” he broached, finally. They had known her already, from his friendship with Brem, and Matt, trying to get them used to the idea of her, had had them come to dinner with her several times. They made Athena nervous—he counted once, and she re-tied her hair 47 times between the beginning of the appetizers and the conclusion of the entrees—but he knew that was because she was trying so hard not to seem weird.

Someone in comments to this chapter remarked that Athena kept her cool in front on Gallifrey but is rendered a nervous wreck by Matt's parents. And that makes total sense. Athena's trained since girlhood to react to life-threatening situations. Being a daughter-in-law to normal humans is completely outside her realm of experience.

“Well, it’s about time,” said his mother, approvingly, handing him a fresh beignet loaded with powdered sugar. “You’ve been mooning over her since you were 18.”

I love that there was literally no one in the world but Athena who didn't know Matt was in love with her.

“Yes, well, it took me a bit of time to convince her she’d been mooning over me, too,” said Matt.

“But you did it in the end,” his mother beamed at him.

“Well done,” boomed his father, from behind his newspaper.

“Yeah,” said Matt, and licked powdered sugar off his thumb. “So,” he said. “She’s an alien.”

There was a pause, and then his father said, “That explains so much.”

Which, you may or may not recall, was exactly what Matt said upon learning Brem was an alien.

As a sign of approval, his mother gave him her ring to give to Athena, and Matt liked the idea of a very human tradition being passed on among the Time Lords he was amazingly eventually going to father, a ring from a simple shop in New Orleans someday journeying onto planets on the other end of the universe. Athena was touched by the gesture, which relieved him, and she hugged his mother fiercely and they became fast friends and his mother adored Rose, which was predictable since Rose simply had that way about her, and although his mother commented jealously that it would be nice if he could marry a woman whose parents looked a bit more age-appropriate so that they didn’t look so ancient at the wedding, the Tyler charm was a difficult thing to ignore and his parents fell under its thrall quite effectively.

I wanted Matt to have very supportive parents. Matt himself is an extremely supportive person, and he had to have gotten that from somewhere. So the fusion of the Tyler and the Mailloux families is effortless and free of drama. Matt and Athena have had enough drama already, and will have enough drama in their future. This I wanted to be easy for them: simple, and happy.

He was half-living with Athena on her TARDIS and half-finishing up his residency. He would never go into private practice now, he thought—there was no need—but he might as well finish it all up. Athena and Rose and Fortuna and Jackie and his mother went wedding-dress-shopping, and he met them for lunch, bemused by their enthusiasm.

“We just seldom shop,” Athena told him that night, crawling into his bed and waking him up, as she frequently did. “The TARDISes usually get us everything we need.”

“Well,” he said, around a yawn, settling against her. “I’m glad you’re having fun with this. It’s your first wedding.”

She tensed against him. “Why do you say that?”

“Because it is, isn’t it? Or is there something I don’t know about one of those many boyfriends you had before me?” He nuzzled at the curve of her shoulder and breathed in the scent of her.

“You say it like…Like…”

“Athena Tyler Soon-to-be Mailloux,” he said, which had become a thing with them by that point, and then he said, firmly, “It is a non-negotiable part of this entire arrangement that this is not to be your last wedding. I don’t even want to imagine you spending the several centuries you’re going to have after me all alone.” She didn’t say anything. “Athena,” he said, again, and nudged at her.

I had to address this at some point, but I didn't want it hanging over them, the way it hung over Athena's parents. Matt simply isn't that type of person, to dwell on things like that. He loves Athena, he long ago accepted this part of her. Athena is her father's daughter, of course, and would rather not think about this stuff, but that's why Matt is good for her: Matt has a talent of making huge things seem manageable.

“We’re not supposed to be talking about this. We’re not supposed to be making it a big deal.”

“I’m not. But you should never, ever, ever feel guilty for anyone or anything that comes after me. I need you to know that now. I don’t want you to waste even a double-heartbeat of your time thinking that I would be upset.”

And Matt's just a genuinely great guy. I haven't thought far enough ahead to think what happens to Athena after Matt dies. But this line, here in this story, lets me know that, if I wanted to think that far out, I could give Athena more relationships, guilt-free, knowing she (and I) had both done right by Matt.

She turned in his arms and looked at him solemnly in the starlight that drifted through his window. “Agreed,” she said, finally, and nodded. “Agreed. Let’s not talk about it again.”

Starlight. This fic was named after it was finished, and it was named precisely because "stars" shows up in it everywhere.

“Fine,” he said. “Let’s do something else.”

“Good idea.”

“It’s been forever since we watched Gossip Girl.”

“Shut up,” she said.

They were married outside, under live oaks on a huge plantation. It was an attempt to blend the traditional Catholic family Matt came from with the free-spirited nature of Athena’s life: a formal ceremony under the sky that held up the rest of the universe. Brem was best man and even consented to wear a tuxedo coat over his jeans and T-shirt. Fortuna served as maid of honor and looked so ravishing in the pink gown Athena had chosen for her that Matt’s cousins spent most of the reception fawning over her. Jackie wore an over-the-top bright pink concoction that she relished and that made her the most memorable guest of the day. Athena went as traditional as traditional could be, but wore her hair in a ponytail with her pink ribbon and Chucks on her feet in homage to her father, who refused to wear his tuxedo because he said it was cursed and he wanted her to have a perfect day so instead he wore a special pink tie she bought him to match Fortuna’s dress and he walked her down the aisle in his brown pinstripes and he gave her away with a line of Gallifreyan that made Athena burst into tears and crush him in a hug and had Matt answering questions all night about what language had been used in the ceremony.

I loved imagining this, so, so much, this perfect wedding for the little girl who I'd written into so many stories. If I were filming this, this would be a montage, mostly because I could think of no words more important than just the image of all these characters, in one place, loving each other.

Matt was in the middle of answering one of those questions, and Athena, tired of the receiving line, sought out her family. They were not on the dance floor, where Jack was inappropriately flirting with Brittany. Instead, they were clustered around a table, loudly talking over each other as they normally did, and Athena smiled and skirted around the table where Donna and Sarah Jane were deep in conversation and pulled up a chair.

I admit I had to go through later and scatter in these references to the other guests. Of course they would be at Athena's wedding, I'd just forgotten to write them in.

“What are we discussing?” she asked.

“Digger flirting with your sister,” responded Mum, eyes twinkling.

“Stop it,” protested Fortuna, blushing. “He’s being silly.”

Athena grinned and looked at Brem to gauge his reaction. Brem was writing.

“Are you journaling?” she asked, in disbelief. “Seriously?”

He looked at her briefly. “I’m chronicling all of this. For you. I’ll give it to you.”

“You’ll give me your journal?” The sentiment touched her.

This is a huge thing, and Athena knows it.

“Just this bit of it,” he warned her. “Not the whole thing.”

Dad shook his head good-naturedly and puffed on a New New York cigar. “And what you would call this one, Brem?”

It tickled me to bring this story full-circle the way the other "Chaos" stories did: Brem, journaling, and discussing the story's title.

Also, as an aside, I love that the Doctor is smoking a cigar here. It's unaccountably sexy, isn't it?

“It’s Athena’s story, that’s up to her,” he said.

This was, of course, a very deliberate alteration from the usual path of a "Chaos" story.

Fortuna looked at her. “So? What would you call it?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” She tipped her head back, looking at the sky over her head. “Something about stars?” she offered.

This was Kristin's contribution, and it works *so* *perfectly.*

Brem sighed heavily. “I’m so glad you’re Matt’s problem now.”

“Shut up,” she grinned, and shoved him lightly.

He leaned over and scrawled some Gallifreyan characters into the journal, murmuring, “Then Athena shoved her sainted brother for no very good reason…”

“’Sainted’?” snorted Fortuna.

“’Brem had always been underappreciated by his sisters,’” continued Brem, still sketching in Gallifreyan.

Athena looked at his scribbled Gallifreyan and experienced a moment of loving them so much – and of feeling their love in return, so solid in her head – that she suddenly found herself wiping away tears.

I admit that *I* loved all of them so much at that moment. It's very odd, because I know I created them, but I am very, very proud of how happy they all turned out!

“You okay, love?” her grandmother asked her, reaching out to rub her back.

“Yes,” she answered, smiling. “Just happy.”

Grandma smiled at her.

“Do you think this band knows Vampire Weekend?” mused her father. “What’s with the band, anyway? Can’t we play our own music?”

I was *obsessed* with the new Vampire Weekend album when I was writing this. And, hey, every other "Chaos" story ends with a song.

Athena shook her head fondly. “I told Matt it would come to this. Ask the band to take a short break, and you can play some of your music.”

He looked pleased. “Excellent. Go get your husband, we’re going to play ‘Run.’” He stood up, then clarified, “Not the mopey Snow Patrol version.”

Now, I adore the Snow Patrol version of "Run," but it is not appropriate music at a wedding.

“Good,” said Athena, standing up as well and going in search of Matt, finding him still trying to explain the oddities of their wedding to one of his aunts. The pair of them fell silent as she came up to them and wrapped her arms around Matt’s waist. She noticed that his family was unfailingly polite about not mentioning how strange her family was in front of her. She beamed at the random old aunt he was talking to. “Can I steal him?”

The old aunt smiled sweetly back at her. “Absolutely.” She moved away from them.

Matt turned in her arms and gave her a quick kiss. “Where have you been?”

“Brem’s giving us a volume of his journal as a wedding gift.”

“He couldn’t have gotten us the blender we wanted?”

This is my favorite line in the whole chapter. Oh, Matt, you crack me up.

Athena laughed. “I have been fetched to make you dance with me.” She moved out of the arms he’d draped around her waist, tugging at his hands and singing along to the song as she swayed to the beat. “’Cause only with you, it’s the only honest way to go…”

He smiled and let her tug him onto the dance floor, and kissed her before dipping her. “So lead my feet away,” he told her, with a grin, “’cause all they do is stay.”

“You know this song!” she exclaimed.

He straightened her. “And I don’t think your eyes, have ever looked surprised,” he finished the lyric. “I know some things, you know.” He kissed her again.

I still can't get over how much I love these lyrics for this moment.

Someone cleared their throat near them. Athena raised her hand and looked at the waiter. “Sorry. That man asked me to give this to you.” He handed a piece of paper to Athena.

“What man?” said Athena, in surprise.

The waiter gestured. “That—He was just there.” The waiter frowned.

Athena opened the note.

“What’s it say?” asked Matt.

“It’s in Gallifreyan.” Athena smiled. “And it says, ‘Enjoy the Gershwin.’”

Awwww, the Master is *such* a romantic. (He'd never admit it.) 

“By special request,” said the band’s singer, on cue, break evidently over, and launched into Someone to Watch Over Me. Athena smiled and tucked the note in the inside pocket of Matt’s jacket before laying her head on his shoulder.

“Now,” said Brem, coming up to them as the song concluded, “I have given the band another break and chosen this next, very boring song just for you.”

“Thanks for that ringing endorsement, Brem,” said Athena.

“No problem. Enjoy.” He waved his hand toward Fortuna, who turned the song on.

Athena laughed. “Do you know what this is?” she asked Matt. “It’s Amy Macdonald.”

 “Of course I know what it is,” replied Matt. “It’s the first song we ever danced to.”

Yup. At the end of "College," if you're curious.

“I didn’t think you’d remember.”

“Not remember? Theenie, it was a seminal moment in my life.”

“Mine, too.”

“Liar,” he said, good-naturedly.

“No, it was, I just didn’t know it at the time.”

Which is, of course, how most of life's seminal moments go.

“You’re so very lucky I love you so much,” said Matt, and kissed her under a black sky carpeted with stars.

And there you go. It ends with "stars."

Comments

[auntiesuze.livejournal.com]

Why do I not remember this chapter??? That's so strange. I double-checked and remembered reading the previous one...how the heck did I miss this? Or do I have selective amnesia? o_0

*goes to check original post*

Ohhhhhh....it was posted the day I flew out to San Diego. I must have missed it when I got back. OMG I almost missed this chapter!!!!

They're married!!!!! SQUEEEEEEE!!!!!! *bursting with happiness*

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Oh, no! I'm glad someone requested it so you got to read it! It's one of my favorites!

Yup, they're married! ;-)