Deviant Heart

Chapter 30: The Epilogue

April 7th, 2042 1:20 pm

Hank walked up the stairs toward the master bedroom, adjusting his tie as he did so. He knocked firmly on the door. "Hey, kiddo? You ready?"

"Yeah, one sec!"

The door slid open, and Hank let out a low whistle.

Clara was wearing a full length white wedding dress. Lace off-the-shoulder sleeves came down to her wrists, the bodice covered in the same lace material, and the full skirt had tear drop gems scattered about it, with a police-blue ribbon tied around her waist. Her brown hair was curled and fell like a waterfall down her back, covered by a lace veil with a tiara headpiece. Diamond teardrop earrings hung from her ears, and her makeup amplified her beauty.

Hank smiled at her. "You look beautiful, kid."

She smiled back. "Thanks, Hank."

"But... you're just missing ONE thing."

She cocked her head in curiosity as he pulled out a long, black, velvet box from his inner coat pocket. He opened it to reveal a diamond necklace with a long diamond teardrop.

"Oh, Hank..."

"Figured you could use a little something."

"Thank you. It's beautiful. Could you help me put it on?"

"Sure."

Clara carefully moved her hair and veil and turned around, letting Hank put the necklace around her and close the clasp. He stepped back, and she fixed her hair.

"How's it look?"

"Matches perfectly."

"Thanks. You look so handsome!"

Hank glanced down at his formal officer uniform.

"Aw, you even styled your hair."

He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, yeah, let's get going already. You're gonna be late for your own wedding."

She giggled. "Alright."

Hank led her down the stairs, where they passed a small table that had a picture of everyone from her birthday party the previous year, resting neatly in the frame she had received from Alice.

"Hey Hank? Thank you again for walking me down the aisle."

"Of course, Clara. I know your old man would have loved to if he was still here."

She smiled sadly. "Yeah, he would. But I'm sure he's happy with his replacement for this."

The two old partners smiled at each other warmly.

Near the door to the backyard, the rest of the wedding party waited in line, prepared to walk down the aisle. Kara and Markus were in the front as the maid-of-honor and the best-man. Alice stood behind them, standing between Sumo and Princess as the ring bearer. Even as a one year old dog, Princess was bigger than Sumo and was almost taller than Alice. Sumo had a black bow tie around his neck, and Princess had a pink bow around hers. North and Leo stood behind them as a bridesmaid and groomsman, with Nines behind them holding a little white basket filled with flower petals as their 'flower guy,' Gavin's idea that Connor loved. (Nines hated the idea, but saw how much his brother loved it and couldn't say no.) The ladies were dressed in police-blue, sleeveless, floor length dresses, and the gentlemen were dressed in black suits with matching blue ties. Kara and North were also holding bouquets of flowers consisting of blue roses and baby's breath.

Kara glanced back and saw Clara. She moved over to the bride and handed her a larger bouquet of the same flowers. "You ready?"

Clara took a deep breath. "Yes. I'm ready."

She nodded, then pulled the veil down over the bride's face. Kara knocked on the double doors to tell the person on the other side that they were ready.

The voices outside became quiet as music started to play. The doors opened, and everyone stood as the wedding party started to walk down the makeshift aisle they set up in the backyard. Half of the guests were co-workers from their police department, so they were dressed in their formal officer attire. At the front of the seats were Gavin, Josh, Luther and David. Connor stood at the end of the aisle, by the podium, dressed in the formal officer uniform he got on his one year anniversary of working at the police department.

The pairs started to go down the aisle with short breaks between each group.

"You ready Clara?" Hank asked, offering his arm.

She smiled. "Yes. I'm ready." She looped her arm with his.

Hank walked his pseudo-daughter down the aisle, towards the love of her life. He looked over at the groom, and saw the adoration and love Connor felt for her bursting from his eyes... and knew Clara was looking at him the same way. Hank felt proud to be the one to offer Clara to Connor. He was happy for them after everything they went through. He was proud and honored to be the one to help them this way, to have met them and watched them fall in love. It was a long road, but they made it. Their deviant hearts persisted.

And it was beautiful.