Special

I open the door and freeze because there is an angel standing on my doorstep.

The angel smiles at me.

"What the hell are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here."

"Who says?" the angel drawls moving closer. I step back.

"It makes the whole bloody thing of spending last night at your parents' house pointless doesn't it?" I growl with mock severity.

"Ah well... that wasn't my idea."

"Do they know you're here?" I ask, with more mischief and less censure now that the shock has worn off.

"What do you think?"

"Marc..."

"Oh for goodness sake, Jamie."

"Shit..." I stagger backwards as he throws himself at me, flicking the door closed behind him. I trip over the edge of the carpet and end up in an undignified heap on the floor with a grinning Marc on top of me. "Get off me, you fool."

He giggles and kisses me soundly. My resistance weakens and I simply throw my arms around him and hug him so hard he squeaks and pulls away.

"Easy. Don't break my ribs."

"Sorry. I'm just... Do you have any idea how horrible it was last night to fall asleep in that bed all alone?"

"Yeah." The smile fades from his face to be replaced by 'that look'. I first saw it on the day he woke in hospital and I have seen it every day since. It's a look that says 'I love you'. "I know exactly how horrible it was. It's never, ever going to happen again."

"Never, ever." I confirm.

Gently he lowers himself onto me again and I hold him in my arms right there, in the middle of my hall, with my stubbed toe and bruised backside throbbing, and I am happier than I have ever been in my entire life. The sun is shining through the panel in the top of the door and it's setting fire to his crown of gold. It's longer than it has ever been, more waves than curls now, tumbling over his shoulders and framing his face with two golden curtains. He looks different than he did before: different but the same.

Everything about him is different. For the first weeks every day was a shock. Who would have known that there was such a keen wit and intelligence hidden behind those vacant blue eyes? He has always been a sponge that soaks up experiences but now he soaks up knowledge too. It took him a matter of weeks to learn to read and, more than that, to enjoy it to the extent that he consumes books rather than reading them now.

He still retains his childlike innocence and excitement at all sorts of things, small and big. He kicks through leaves in the autumn, jumping and spinning and laughing when they crackle. Just before Christmas it snowed and he was wildly excited. Christmas is a season of total magic when he wakes me every day, bouncing. He dances in the rain and drags me out of bed to watch the sunrise. He's a child, a man, an angel... and a wonderful lover.

"What are you looking at?"

"My angel."

He blushes delicately. "I'm not an angel."

"You are MY angel," I say firmly.

Very gently he brushes my face with his fingers. "My Jamie," he murmurs in that way which is guaranteed to send shivers down my spine. As he bends to kiss me the front door which had not quite closed behind him bursts open and the hall seems full of people. Someone catches Marc around the waist and tears him out of my arms, swinging him away from me.

"I can't take my eyes off you for two minutes," a familiar voice scolds. "I knew you would be here."

Marc grins at his sister and throws his arms around her. "Don't be cross with me Jude. I just wanted one little kiss. I was afraid I was going to burst if I didn't."

"Get home with you, evil boy. Don't you know it's bad luck to see the bride on the day of the wedding."

Marc giggles and points at me. "Jamie's the bride, Jamie's the bride," he sings as Judith pushes him out of the door and slams it behind them.

Alex, my best friend and best man stands over me with his hands on his hips looking down at me with a frown on his face. "Are you seriously insane? Tell me you're not actually going to marry into that family."

"What? Why?"

"Because I think that boy is one of the few people on the planet who is actually more insane than you are. When you're together neither of you take anything seriously."

For a moment I'm worried but then I see the twitch in the corner of his mouth.

"I take him seriously, Alex."

The nascent grin fades and he nods his head. "I know. And he takes you seriously too. Now get your fat arse off the floor and go have a shower so we can find a way of squeezing it into your suit. You've got so fat lately."

"I so have not."

"I'm not sure that you are going to fit," he says, shaking his head with a mock frown on his face. "Maybe you should think of that bridal gown after all."

I let him haul me to my feet and hug him. "Thanks, Alex."

"What are you thanking me for?"

"I don't know. I just needed to say it."

"I told you... insane. Get your flabby butt in the shower."

Two hours, a hover ride and car journey later, I skirt a bush and almost literally walk into a complete stranger. We had agreed that we wanted to walk in together and that we would meet in our favourite place. I stop and my heart literally turns over in my chest.

His eyes are almost exactly the same colour as the sky behind his head. He is dressed in the same suit as I am, the grey highlighting the blue of his eyes and the pale gold vest making his golden hair glow. I have never seen him look more beautiful, never, and the most beautiful thing about him is the look in his eyes.

He slips his arm around my waist and we stand together, on the lip of the bluff, looking down towards the beach where we can see a crowd gathering around the white tent which has been erected on the sand just above the tide line. It's typical of Marc that he wants to do this outside, on the beach, in the early spring. It's also typical that the sun is smiling on him... on us.

"Thank you," he says simply.

"What for?"

"For waiting."

"You were the one who was waiting idiot."

He pulls away and looks into my face with a strange look in his eyes. "No, not today."

I feel the smile spreading through me from deep within and when it bursts out it lifts me from the face of the earth and it feels like I am truly flying. Marc laughs and kisses me gently and briefly.

"My Jamie," he murmurs just as he always did: just as he always does. And then he grabs my hand and we are flying into our future.

Marc Harmon is an extraordinary person. He's special.