Just Imagine...

"Veteren of Marrige"

"I'm so happy for you, Gwen!" Toshiko was saying as she, Gwen, and Sam waited in Gwen's room before the ceremony, "I can't believe you're getting married!"
"Yeah," Gwen murmured, "thanks, I'm happy too."
"Don't look so nervous, sugar," Sam spoke up from where she had sprawled on the bed, "it ain't hard. Just gotta say two 'I do's and bingo! Married! And they lived happily ever after!"
"It's not the ceremony I'm worried about." Gwen said. Sam frowned and she rolled her eyes, pointing to her extended belly.
"Oh!" Sam exclaimed, "well don't worry about that either, we'll get it sorted. Plus, I went down the aisle pregnant... well, pregnant with Hanna, not an alien baby who's mother wants to kill me, but tam-ay-toe tam-ah-toe! It'll still work out."
"Sam, I don't think you're helping." Toshiko said quietly. Sam raised an eyebrow at her.
"What?" She asked.
"I don't think reminding Gwen about everything that's going wrong is going to help her."
"Oh, yeah, sorry. Hey, but at least both your parents are here, Lil' G! My Dad wasn't at my wedding, and my mother..." Sam huffed a sigh, "let's just say she was a bit too there. But that's not important right now, this is your story, not mine."
"In a few hours you'll be Mrs Williams, Gwen!" Toshiko added excitedly. Gwen didn't respond to either of them, she just got up from her chair (which was harder for her as she was carrying so much extra weight now) and walked out onto the balcony as quickly as she could. Sam frowned, concerned, before following her. She sighed as she put her hands on the railing.
"Oh dearie me, my wedding," Sam murmured, "it was really important to me too."
There was a moment of silence.
"Sam," Gwen said, "what was the most important thing to you?"
Sam stared thoughtfully across the gardens.
"Well," she said after a moment, "it's nice to have everything go smoothly, but I think being yourself and proclaiming your love to the person you wanna spend the rest of your life with is what really counts."
She ruffled Gwen's hair affectionately before turning to walk back inside, deciding maybe it was best to give Gwen some time to herself.
Gwen thought about her friend's words. Sam had been married for about ten years now, since she was nineteen years old. Which was a bit young in Gwen's opinion, but Sam had once said she had done it because she just didn't want to wait anymore. She'd been pregnant with her first child and she wanted to show Jay that she wanted him to be a part of their baby's life. So they'd gotten married eight months before Hanna was born.
Jack had been married before, Gwen knew, but he'd outlived all of his spouses, of course. He didn't like to talk about it. He seemed to treat love like it was a weakness.
But Sam was different. She saw love as a strength - the ultimate strength. She'd been through a lot when she was younger and the only thing that seemed to have gotten her through was her faith in the power of love.
It had been nice talking to Sam. She could be a bumbling idiot sometimes but she had a good heart. In a way, she was quite a bit like Rhys.
Rhys. Oh Rhys. How would Gwen make this up to him? She wanted to marry him today, but what if that was a mistake? She thought back to what Sam had said; "being yourself and proclaiming your love to the person you wanna spend the rest of your life with is what really counts". Maybe she was right. No matter what happened today, Gwen knew she loved Rhys more than anyone.

"Gwen told me you'd be up here."
Sam turned her head to see Jack standing behind her, a few paces back from where she was sitting at the edge of the cliff at Lookout Point, overlooking the rainforest and grasslands below.
"You were looking for me?" She asked, smiling.
"Umm... yeah," Jack murmured awkwardly, "can I talk to you for a minute? Gwen said... you knew a lot about this subject." Sam frowned as Jack walked over and sat down beside her in the tall grass, the stems rustling softly as he moved.
"What subject?" She asked.
"Marriage."
"... You're losing me."
"Mom, I've been married so many times before. But that never ended well. The people I married always died, and I had to live on. We had to separate."
"But that won't happen with Ianto, baby," Sam said gently, laying a hand on his arm, "you're not immortal anymore. You and Yan can grow old together. And believe me when I say he ain't never gonna leave you, not in a million years."
"But what if we fight all the time?" Jack pressed, not looking at her, "what if I push him away? What if it doesn't work out?"
"Jack, the only thing that will change between the two of you once you're married is the rings on your fingers and your last names. You've been together so long now, there can't possibly be anything lurking inside either of you that would make you want to leave each other."
Jack started shredding a few grass stems in his hands, looking at the ground. He still didn't seem convinced.
"Look at me and your Dada," Sam continued, "we fought a lot. We still do. But do you know why we haven't left each other, and never will? Because we love each other. I knew from a very young age how a felt about Jay, and the feeling only gets stronger every day. Us getting married only solidified that. So don't worry about it, please. You love Ianto, and Ianto loves you. If you weren't right for each other, you wouldn't be engaged."
Jack finally looked at her with a smile on his face.
"Thanks, Mom." He said. He leaned his head on her shoulder, and they stayed like that for a while, watching the setting sun turn the water a honey golden color.
"Why did Gwen send you to talk to me?" Sam asked.
"She said you talked to her before her wedding and it calmed her down," Jack answered, "and since I'm getting married tomorrow, she figured I might need someone to talk to. I was gonna talk to you anyway, but... Gwen told me what you said. And she told me how much it helped her. She suggested we start calling you the Veteran of Marriage."
"Veteran?" Sam echoed disbelievingly, which caused Jack to burst out laughing.
"It was her idea." He giggled.
"I'll bet." Sam muttered, but deep down she was touched that Gwen had valued what she'd said so much. "Don't you worry 'bout a thing, son," she said to Jack, ruffling his hair, "just show your love to Ianto, show him you wanna spend the rest of your life with him. That's what really counts here."

"Sam," Owen said uncertainly, "don't you dare make fun of me for this, but... can I talk to you for a second? It's kind of important."
Sam looked up from the sketch of a Weevil she was working on, her green eyes staring into Owen's in surprise.
"I'm not gonna make fun of you," she said with a slight laugh, "what do you wanna talk to me about?"
"Marriage." Owen sighed. Sam chuckled softly, shaking her head.
"Gwen, I love ya, but I never meant for this to happen." She said quietly.
"What?" Owen asked, finding it odd that Sam knew Gwen had sent him to her.
"Nothing," Sam murmured, still looking rather amused, "have a seat, the Veteran of Marriage is in."
"Veteran of Marriage?"
"Don't ask. What's on your mind, Pal?"
Owen sighed again, pulling up one of the nearby beanbag chairs and flopping back into it.
"Alright," he said, drawing a hand down his face, "Tosh and I eloped yesterday, you know that, but I just... I wonder if I'll be able to commit to her."
"What makes you think you can't?" Sam asked. Owen raised an eyebrow at her.
"Look at me, Sam," he said, "look at my life, look at all the things you criticized me for. Look at all the names you used to call me - does 'sleazebucket' ring a bell?"
"I didn't really mean that," Sam said, "I'm sorry... I had no idea you were that sensitive."
"I'm not sensitive," Owen growled, "and you're missing the point; you weren't wrong. I loved torturing people in happy relationships, I've said it myself before."
"But that doesn't mean you can't change."
They stared at each other for a second.
"Look," Sam sighed when Owen didn't say anything else, "I've seen changes in you in the past few months. You seem... happier. Happy to be with someone for more than just a one-night-fling. You married Tosh, that takes commitment - and believe me, it really does, especially when you've got angry Christian relatives breathing down your neck because you had premarital sex and got pregnant."
"Sorry?" Owen asked.
"Never mind," Sam laughed, "I'm just saying that to me, you already seem very committed to Tosh. People seem to think that they'll go through this big change after they get married, and that just ain't true. The only thing that changes is loving the person you wanna spend the rest of your life with more and more every day. So, tell me... are you happy with what you've done?"
Owen thought for a second, then nodded slowly, a smile coming to his lips.
"Yeah," he said, "I am."
Sam smiled back.
"Well, good," she said, "as long as you stay happy, you'll have no trouble at all. I promise."
"Thanks, Sam." Owen murmured. He stood up and walked back to his desk. He was almost all the way there when he stopped at turned back. "Gwen was right," he said thoughtfully, "you really are good at this."
The smile that crossed Sam's face, just for a moment before she squashed it, could've lit up the darkest night.