https://archiveofourown.org/works/64962355/chapters/170099404
Graham is throwing another pair of jeans into his suitcase as arms come around him, “so a place with jeans.”
“I gave you items to pack.” He smiles and tightens her arms around his waist and feels a kiss dropped to his shoulder.
“A swimsuit is one of them.”
“One of the places has some gorgeous water that we can spend some time in. I packed my speedo.”
“I am the only person that would want to see you in one and out of one,” she winks at him as she throws another pair of trainers in her bag.
“I might have to find some swim shorts then.”
“You will model that speedo for me though.”
“Anything for you my dear, so we have someone watching our house, Ryan’s and of course Kent with your charity.”
“Who asked if this was a surprise honeymoon.”
“No, we aren’t married yet. One day though.”
“Yes, Ace. I would love to call you my wife one day.”
“Not yet, though. I agree, I would like to be your wife.” A sigh escapes her throat.
“I never thought I’d see the day when I was ok with being someone’s wife.”
“I know where you are coming from. We both never thought we would fall in love again, but here we are.”
“Here we are. You’re not proposing yet, are you?”
“No, would you like to get married one day?”
“I don’t know yet. I love you, but I am not ready.” She looks at him, “are you ok?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I want to be with you.”
“I just don’t want you to feel like you are missing out.”
Turning her around, “what exactly am I missing? I love you. I don’t need a piece of paper that says to the world that I love you and you love me. We both have been married that ended in tragedies. If you never want to get married, that’s ok. I still love you.” Wrapping her in his arms, “Ace, you mean so much to me.”
“And you mean a lot to me. Now get out, you are distracting me. I need to finish before Yaz picks us up.” Kissing her quickly he leaves the bedroom.
After the car is packed and they are on their way to the airport, “Ace, you told me that Tegan and Nyssa were not like you and her.”
“Very different, those two loved each other. When Nyssa left there were times Tegan would just stand there in their room looking at her science equipment. After about a year, she was done. Married quickly, divorced, then met her second husband.”
“She’s been married twice?”
“Yes, both horrendous. Her heart always belonged to Nyssa. She wants everyone to find the happiness she can’t have. It’s why she pushed so hard for Graham and I to get together. She knew how happy he would make me.” Ace looks at Graham.
“You make me happy too,” he tells her, they hear gagging from the driver's seat.
“You’ll find your person soon. I have more than one person. Tegan and Graham.”
“The Doctor cares about us, but they are almost incapable of being someone’s person. Yes, he was the closest thing I had to a father, or even a good parent.”
“Until he started playing mind tricks on you.”
“I know. Did I ever tell you about the money I found in my name that made it so that I could start my charity.”
“How much did you find,” Yaz asks.
“2.5 million pounds. That was enough for me to start and set up a home. Then I met Mike a few years later. I had a life insurance policy made for myself, and he made one without my knowing. His life insurance helped me build my bomb shelter. A safer place to build my nitro.”
“Grace’s life insurance went to Ryan and I. He doesn’t know that I made sure he got part of it. Since I was her husband, they tried to say all of it went to me. I fought with them saying Ryan was her grandson, her pride and joy. He should at least get part of it.”
“Didn’t he get half of it,” Yaz asks as she pulls into Heathrow's parking lot A.
“He did, he doesn’t know I fought for it. Please don’t tell him Yaz.”
“I won’t, do you know when he is coming home?”
“We talked to him the other night,” Ace starts to talk as a horn honks, “he’ll be back the day we are.”
“All three of you will have jetlag.” After Yaz parks, she helps them get out their bags. “Have fun, but not too much.” Graham, knowing Yaz says nothing, just grabs his bag with one hand and Ace’s with the other.
“An almost 10 hour plane ride, Graham.” They walk onto their plane.
“Can you not handle that length of time with me?” He jokes as he puts their bags over them in the compartment.
“Oh you know I can, but we can’t do one of my favorite things to pass the time.”
“Graham, are you part of the mile high club?”
“Have you ever had sex on a plane?”
“Get that blanket and drape it over your lap.”
“I can’t yet, have to wait until the plane takes off.”
“You’re no fun,” she kisses his cheek.
“Disgusting, we are right next to the honeymooners,” a woman of 20 says as she passes by them. Ace sits back and Graham tries to grab her hand.
“Don’t listen to her, we are just two fools in love.” She relaxes as preflight procedures begin. Once the flight is up in the air Graham gets the blanket and puts it over his lap. “Ace.”
“Does it look like we are married?”
“I don’t know, but what matters is us and no one else.”
“Why do I let what others say impact us?”
“We haven’t had the best of luck and this vacation is like a trail to see if we can get away without work getting in the way.”
“Seattle, and a drive down to California, a short layover in Hawaii, then a flight to Japan.”
“Places along the ring of fire.”
“I love you too.” Ace looks down at the blanket and reaches underneath it.
Walking out of the doors of SEATAC airport, rain starts to pour. “Home Sweet Home, right,” jokes Graham.
“Maybe not totally.” She takes his hand while pulling her bag. “Though my home is where you are.” Graham brings their hands to his lips.
“We have the rest of today to do anything. Check in is in three hours.”
“I hear Pikes Place Market is wonderful.”
“I hear they have this thing called the Sounder that can take us there.”
“Let’s see if they have a run coming up,” he says.
After checking her phone, Ace sighs, “no Sounder today.” The rain lets up a little and the sun comes out.
“Anything else you want to do?”
“Downtown Seattle, walking distance from many pubs and bars, the stadiums, and their convention center.”
“More than one in the area. Their baseball team is at one park and next door is Lumien Field is where the lesser football and the better football is played.”
Scrunching up her face, “you really did your research.”
“I want you to have a relaxing time.”
“Most of our time our time together is relaxing.”
“How about we go to the hotel, wait in the lobby until check in, then spend the rest of the night in our room.” After ordering an Uber™, they make their way to the hotel.
The next morning, Graham wakes up first, props himself on his elbow and watches as Ace’s eyes flutter in her sleep.
“Stop being creepy, and your breath smells.” A groggy Ace says.
“Good morning, you were dreaming.”
“One tends to dream when she is sleeping. Don’t you dream?”
“I don’t need to dream much anymore.” He gets off the bed after kissing her forehead.
“I’ll brush my teeth and get us something to eat.”
“I’ll take a shower; alone.”
“On my way my Queen.” He bows before turning to the door
“Stop, just stop.” Graham stops and faces Ace. “I am not a queen.”
“You deserve to be treated like one.” He turns back to the bathroom door and quickly brushes his teeth before heading to get some breakfast.
Hours later they are walking down the streets of downtown, “Graham.”
“I love you too, we are almost there. I didn’t plan for there not being a game. If there was, I would've tried to get tickets.”
“I am fine with just seeing the building,” she brings his lips down for a kiss.
The following week, Graham gets the car he is renting and they get on I-5. “Are you ready for the longest drive of your life?”
”How long is this drive?”
"A little over 15 hours, just you, me and the open road.” He smiles at her as they turn right onto the I-5 South ramp to Tacoma, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Ace looks out the window as Graham listens to directions from the car’s GPS.
When they arrive at their hotel over 16 hours later, because of traffic and the needing to stop for food and bathroom breaks. Both are sluggish and after checking in, slump their way to their room and fall onto the bed.
The following morning, Ace is woken up by the bed shaking vigorously, “Graham, stop shaking the bed.”
“I am in the doorway of the bathroom. I had to make sure I had to pee before I woke you up.”
“You mean I almost slept through my first earthquake.” She sits up, “great we are in California, the state that is known for semi regular earthquakes, and I sleep through one.” Crossing the room he takes both of Ace’s hands in his and drags her up. Let’s wait to see if there is an aftershock.” Looking into his blue eyes, her smile grows and eyes shine. “I love when your eyes are like this.” He leans forward and kisses her nose.
“I want to see the Walk of Fame and the cracks in it from earthquakes.”
Throughout the day they walk around Downtown Hollywood and eventually make their plan to Hawaii the following weekend.
“This is nice,” Ace whispers to Graham, while cuddling on a beach.
“It is, and you.” Hearing her laugh he tightens his arms around her.
“I want to go swimming, probably the best way to get wet out here.”
“Later, I could get a different kind of wet.” She detangles from him and offers her hand after she gets up. “Want to go swimming with me?”
“I could go for a quick dip.” He gets up, Ace watches as his smile goes from sweet to devilish.
“Graham, what is the smile for,” she asks, letting go of his hand and walking backwards, eyes widening as Graham follows her.
“Let's play a game,” he asks, falsely sweet.
“Let’s pretend for a moment that we are young lovers.”
“Turn around and run. I will chase you.”
“Graham,” she says with laughter in her voice, as she turns and takes off with a full sprint.
“I’m going to get you Dorothy.”
“You don’t need to get me, you already have me, Graham.”
“Not in my arms right now.”
“You already have my heart though.”
“And you have mine from the moment we met.” He catches up to her and tries to lift her without hurting his back. With laughter ringing out for all to hear, Ace and Graham land into the clear blue water.
“See, I still got you wet out here,” he says quietly as they get above the surface of the ocean.
Three days later, the two of them board the flight to Japan, both sleeping the majority of the 10 hour flight. “Our last stop before heading home, are you ready?”
“Graham, this has been the most relaxing vacation I have ever had,” they share a smile as screams are heard. “I spoke too soon. Ready for one adventure.”
“I am ready for any adventure for the rest of our lives. We just have to find somewhere to put our bags.” They see two people running towards the screaming.
“We know who that must be,” Ace turns to Graham. “Should we leave those two up to it or help?”
“I went into a volcano with just a message to my psychic paper. We should see if the Doc needs help.” Ace looks at him with a scrunched smile and they take off, bags in hand.
Hours later they are eating next to the TARDIS, “so the relationship is going well,” asks the Time Lord.
“I say it is,” Ace steals one of Graham’s fries.
“Her stealing your food, is that why you asked to make sure it was cooked in new oil.”
“Part of it, she makes me want to eat better and I didn’t know when the last time the oil was changed. I know fries aren’t healthy.”
“She makes you happy, do you make her happy?”
“Professor, I am right here, yes, Graham makes me happy.” When they are done eating the Doctor leaves with his companion and Ace and Graham start to walk around Tokyo.
Days later they board the plane, “Graham,” she gets his attention.
“While in Japan, I got this feeling.”
“I want to be married to you.”
“Yeah, if this vacation showed me anything, a simple married life with you will be like this.”
“Ace, we won’t have a simple married life. We fight aliens, you run a charity.”
“Ok, married life with you will be fun.”
“We both know the most important part of being married.”
“I love you and you are my best friend Graham O’Brien. Do you still want to marry me?”
“I do. I was already planning on spending the rest of my life with you.” Hours later they land back in London, Ryan and Yaz are standing right outside of the airport waiting for them. Graham knows he now has to talk to Ryan. Ryan sits next to Yaz in the front, while Ace and Graham are in the back seats.
“Sorry for how packed the car is. Three people each with their own suitcases,” Yaz apologizes.
“Yaz, you picked up Ryan and Ace and I. I have all who I love the most in one car. It may be packed, but it’s what I like. My family in one place. This doesn’t happen too often.”
“Family, is there something you want to tell me Grandad,” asks Ryan.
“No, there isn’t.” Graham puts his arm around Ace’s shoulder.
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