Way Back When
Title: Way Back When
Author: Diane
Pairing: Nathan/Haley
Category: AU
Rating: Teen Rated
Disclaimer: Nope, I don’t own a thing!
Spoilers/Warnings: None as it’s AU.
Summary: “You know, I can’t help feeling this won’t be the last time we’ll see them dancing together at a wedding,” she said quietly, the palm of her hand resting against her heart.
Author’s Notes: This has been written for Marishna's Multi-Fandom Picture Prompt Ficathon and THIS was the picture prompt I was given. A big thank you goes to the fabulous Dawnie for all of her help when I was struggling to come up with anything and for reading over this for me. You're a star! *hugs*
“Honey, what are you doing out here?” Lydia James asked as she stepped out onto the patio, the cool breeze ruffling her hair.
Her mother’s voice broke Haley out of her thoughts and turning her head towards the older woman, she smiled. “Just thinking.”
“What about?”
“Shelby’s wedding,” she replied.
Lydia smiled knowingly. “Ah, I remember that day only too well.”
“How come?”
“Well, that was the day I told your father just who you’d be marrying.”
Haley scrunched her face up in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t make that face, Haley-Bop… If the wind changes, you’ll stay that way.”
“Ha ha,” she retorted. “Seriously, what did you mean about telling Daddy who I’d be marrying? I mean, I was only six at the time of her wedding.”
“So? Age doesn’t mean a thing when true love is involved,” Lydia quipped. Seeing the look on her daughter’s face, she quickly continued. “Okay, remember how you were a flower girl and Nathan was the ring bearer? Well, as beautiful as Shelby looked and how lovely her wedding was, I spent a great deal of time watching you and Nathan and I just… I got this feeling that I’d one day see the two of you tying the knot…”
Eighteen years ago...
“Nathan!” Haley stomped her foot, watching as her best friend ran away from her.
“Go ‘way…” the six-year-old told her in a loud voice causing several guests to glance over at him.
“Come back here!” she shouted, her hands firmly planted on her hips.
“No!”
“Momma! Nathan won’t dance with me!”
Nathan turned and glared at the little girl who was standing in the middle of the dance floor. “Tell everyone, why don’t cha!”
Walking over to her daughter, Lydia crouched down in front of her. “Sweetie, you can’t force him to dance with you.”
“But… everyone else has someone to dance with,” she said, pointing out the bridesmaids who were already on the dance floor with the men from the wedding party. “He’s supposed to be with me!”
Biting back the laugh she could feel bubbling up in her chest, she ran a hand over Haley’s dark blonde curls. She looked so pretty today in her cream coloured dress with the orange sash tied around her waist and her matching hair-band. “How about I have a little word with young Master Scott and see if I can get him to dance with you?”
“Okay,” Haley said, nodding. Wrapping her arms around her mother’s neck, she hugged her. “Thanks, Momma.”
“You’re welcome, baby. Now, in the meantime, why don’t you go and see if Daddy will dance with you? He’ll probably let you dance on his feet if you ask him nicely.”
The little girl giggled before running off to find her father. She was so busy having her Daddy making a fuss of her that she didn’t notice where her mother disappeared to.
A little while later when she was dancing in her father’s arms to a slow song, her head resting on her shoulder, she happened to look down and see her best friend standing there, a half-smile on his face. “What?”
“Do you wanna dance?”
“Really?”
“Uh huh.”
“Sure… Daddy, can you put me down now?”
“Ditching me, huh, Haley-Bop?”
“No,” she said, wriggling in his arms when he tickled her ribs.
“Okay, you two go dance. Be good now.”
“We will,” Haley said as she grabbed Nathan’s hand and dragged him into the centre of the dance floor. Taking his other hand, she placed them on her waist only for the dark haired little boy to pull them back.
“What are you doin’?”
“What? We’re gonna dance.”
“Why’ve I gotta put my hands on ya?”
“Uh, maybe ‘cause it’s a slow song,” she pointed out.
“Can’t we wait for a fast song?”
“No! I wanna dance to a slow one.”
“Hey, your mom didn’t say anythin’ about that.”
“Nathannnn.”
Releasing an exasperated sigh, Nathan gave in. He should’ve held out for more money, he thought to himself as he stepped towards his friend and let her put his hands on her waist. This was way more than five bucks worth! “Woah! What’cha doing?”
It was Haley’s turn to sigh. “I have to put my hands on your shoulders,” she told him. “Look at Lucy and Brian over there.” She gestured over to one of the bridesmaids who was dancing with one of her male cousins.
“Fine” Nathan mumbled, letting her put her hands on his shoulders.
On the other side of the room, Lydia stood next to her husband watching the two six-year-olds, a smile stretching across her face. “Jimmy, look.”
Looking over to where his wife was pointing, he shook his head and laughed at the sight of his baby girl slow dancing and in Nathan’s case, slow shuffling.
“You know, I can’t help feeling this won’t be the last time we’ll see them dancing together at a wedding,” she said quietly, the palm of her hand resting against her heart.
“What are you talking about,, Lyd?” he asked, placing an arm around his wife’s shoulders.
“I think we’ll one day see them dancing at their own wedding.”
He chuckled at her words. She was such a romantic! “They’re only six, honey, plus given how headstrong they both are… I’m not sure they’d be a match made in heaven.”
Lydia had to give him that. Her daughter could be a real bossy little madam when she wanted to be and had near perfect timing in busting out the pout whenever she wanted something badly enough. She was forever using it on Nathan and while he’d at first give as good as he got, he more often than not caved in and let her have her own way. Thinking about it, maybe they were a perfect match after all.
“I’m telling you, Jimmy… One day we’ll be standing here watching them dancing at their own wedding.”
“Care to put your money where your mouth is?” he teased.
“What did you have in mi—” She was interrupted by the sound of Nathan shouting “No!” at the top of his voice and sharing a smile with her husband, she quickly went over to see what the problem was now.
“Nathan, honey, what’s wrong?” Lydia asked, crouching down beside them.
“I’m not kissing her! You didn’t say anythin’ about me havin’ to kiss her!” he told the older woman.
“Momma… tell him he has to!”
“Haley-Bop, you can’t force him to do that if he doesn’t want to.”
“See,” Nathan said, poking his tongue out at the little girl.
“Shut up!”
“Haley!” Lydia chided.
“Sorry,” she mumbled,, looking down at the floor, her brown eyes filling with tears.
“Sweetie, why don’t we go and see when they’re going to be cutting the cake?” Lydia suggested, gently tugging on one of the little girl’s curls.
“No, it’s okay,” she whispered. “I’m gonna go and sit with Grandma and play with Mr Waffles,” she said referring to her favourite stuffed bear which she’d brought with her.
Nathan watched as his best friend kept her eyes on the floor and started to walk away from him. He hated to see her cry and so, without thinking, he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. Before anyone could say anything, he pressed his lips against hers and held them there for a split-second before drawing back, fighting the urge to wipe his hand across his mouth.
The tears disappeared as quickly as they’d come and Haley beamed at him. “You kissed me!”
“So? I jus’ did it to stop ya bawlin’,” he told her. He could feel his cheeks heating up and he ducked his head to stop her from seeing his face go all pink like hers always did when she was embarrassed.
“You still kissed me!” She giggled.
Glancing over her shoulder at her husband who she knew was watching, Lydia gave him a knowing wink, chuckling under her breath when he shook his head at her. “Okay, kids…’ she said, turning back to look at them. ‘… how about we go and—”
“When’s Shelby throwing her flowers?” Haley asked.
“You mean her bouquet? Well, it probably won’t be for a while yet. Why do you ask?”
“‘Cause I wanna catch it!” she exclaimed proudly.
Nathan regarded her with a confused expression on his face. “Why do you wanna catch a bunch of stupid flowers for?”
“No reason,” she replied sweetly.
With her youngest daughter already having attended a couple of weddings, Lydia knew that Haley was well aware of what it meant when someone caught the bride’s bouquet and that feeling she’d gotten earlier grew stronger as she realised the significance of the little girl’s words coupled with the fact she was hiding that piece of information from Nathan. Oh, her baby girl was good!
“C’mon, Nathan, let’s go and see Grandma,” she said, taking his hand in hers and pulling him along behind her.
“Why? Ugh, I’m not playing with that stupid bear again…” he told her adamantly as he let her drag him off the dance floor.
Laughing at the children’s antics, Lydia made her way back to her husband, eager to tell him what had just happened and how their daughter had just played her best friend.
The two women laughed as they each remembered the events of that day.
“God, how bossy was I back then?”
“What do you mean ‘back then’?” Lydia said teasingly before her tone turned slightly more serious. “I can’t explain it but… I just knew I’d be watching you and Nathan dancing together at your very own wedding.”
“We were just six though…” Haley whispered, still shocked at her mother’s words and especially at the fact that she’d never once said anything. Of course, she and Nathan had endured a fair bit of teasing over the years, both before and after they’d realised their feelings for each other and gotten together but still… “How come you never said anything?”
Lydia shrugged. “I’m not sure… Maybe I didn’t want to add any pressure onto you or Nathan. Plus there was the fact your father thought I was mad for even thinking it.”
“Well, there is that,” she quipped.
Smiling at her daughter, she took in the sight of her dressed in her ivory white, strapless wedding gown and her heart felt like it was going to burst out her chest with happiness. She could feel tears prickling behind her eyelids and she blinked to try and stop them from falling. “You look so beautiful, Haley-Bop.” Taking a step forward, she brushed away a stray honey-blonde curl and cupped her daughter’s cheek tenderly.
“Thank you,” Haley said, her own eyes filling up. “If we don’t want Taylor on our case, we’d better not start crying and ruining our make-up,” she joked, referring to her older sister who had helped organise the wedding.
Lydia nodded her agreement. “So, are you ready to become Mrs Scott?”
“I’m so ready. Is it time yet?”
“Uh huh,” the older woman replied after checking her wristwatch and, holding out her hand to her daughter, she added, “C’mon, let’s go and find your Dad so we can get this show on the road.”
Taking her offered hand, Haley let herself be led back into the annexe room where she and her bridesmaids had gotten ready. She’d wondered why she would be thinking about her cousin’s wedding on her and Nathan’s own special day but now, having heard further details about it from her mother, it made more sense and it also made her realise that maybe she’d been waiting for this day pretty much her entire life.
“So, you actually paid him to dance with me?” she asking, shaking her head in amusement. Yeah, that sounded like Nathan all right.
“Auntie Haley?”
“Yes, honey,” Haley replied, looking down at her five-year-old niece, Emma, who was her flower girl.
“I’m gonna make Josh dance with me like you did to Uncle Nathan.”
Glancing over at her mother, they both laughed.
“Were you listening to us, you cheeky little monkey?” Lydia asked, gently tweaking her granddaughter’s nose.
“You talk loud,” the little girl retorted.
Leaning in towards Haley, the older woman whispered into her ear, “Do you think your ring bearer is going to want more than five dollars to dance with her?”
“Yeah, I’d say so,” she answered, her lips quirking up into a smirk. “I mean, you’ve got to take inflation into account for a start.”
When the two women started laughing again, the little girl placed her hands on her hips and pouted. “What’s so funny?”
* * * * *
“You look beautiful, baby,” Jimmy James told his youngest daughter as they stood just out of everyone’s line of sight; waiting for the bridesmaids to reach the altar.
“Thanks, Daddy. You’re looking pretty handsome yourself.”
“Of course I am,” he teased. “So, are you ready for this?”
Remembering what she and her mother had talked about a short while ago, her smile stretched across her face. “I’m more than ready…”
Kissing the top of her head, Jimmy smiled at her as they turned the corner and made their way down the aisle, nodding and smiling at the family and friends who filled the congregation.
Haley’s eyes were locked on her future husband’s as she slowly walked down the aisle and she blushed slightly when he winked at her. She couldn’t help thinking about how gorgeous he looked in his black tux and as she got closer, a tiny gasp escaped her throat when she saw that in place of the purple flower all the men in the wedding party were wearing in their buttonholes, he was wearing an orange bloom instead and, meeting his gaze again, she knew he’d been thinking about that day, too.
When her father handed her over to Nathan, he kissed her cheek and clapped his almost son-in-law gently on the back before going to take his seat beside his wife.
“You look amazing,” Nathan whispered as he intertwined his fingers with Haley’s.
“So do you… I especially like that orange flower.”
“Just so you know, you won’t have to boss or guilt me into kissing you today… or any other day come to that,” he told her, giving her his trademark smirk.
Giving his fingers a squeeze, she laughed softly and her cheeks flushed a rosy pink as they stepped up onto the altar, both of them eager to get the ceremony started so they could finally be man and wife.
Fin