Did You HAVE to Set Me This Task?

Happily ever after......

First: yes. That's the main reason I can't keep watching OUAT. The only character I liked was Rumple/Gold and....yeah. No.

But happily ever after??

Alright. I realise that I actually DO recognise 'happily ever after' and romance but....  It's really, really complicated to explain but...

My 'romance' is the same as my 'friendship' - the only difference being that 'romance' means that the partner comes before all other family and friends. (Save children of course.....) The...physical aspect doesn't factor at all and....honestly I think I'm probably completely avoiding that part. *shrugs*

I'm still a little child in many ways - denying life and reality and what I don't want to see. Denying what I struggle with so i can deny my struggles. I'll grow up enough to recognise that I DO see love, it's just....I don't know. I so rarely, rarely see it so it just...doesn't seem real. It seems like I'm making it up completely.

And then you ask me for examples??

Good gracious - what you put me through.....

Oh, by the way? As long as we're talking about annoying/bad pairings: Juliette and Nick. *gags* *Grins*

Faramir and Eowyn

They're quite possibly a terrible example, honestly. It's almost like they just...fall in love and just...that's it! Love at first sight!

....they're the first romantic couple I liked. The only I like above all else.

Honour, respect, equality, understanding, support.....

THAT is the happily ever after I believe in.

Unfortunately, Faramir is a fictional character.....  *sighs*

But the first time I read the books was amazing - all the...depth that only added to the movies. And Faramir!

I do so love the books....

Amy and Rory

.....yes. I'm very much aware Bella already used this. Sorry.

In my defense this is the pairing she used to point out to me that I DO like romance, just....a specifically friendly, long term kind that's NOT centered on the physical or anything like that....

They never really considered anyone outside of each other. They put each other before themselves. It didn't matter what mistakes the other one ever made - they always came back together, worked things back out.

Both of them made mistakes. Both of them didn't communicate. Both of them were different.

But they worked things out. They didn't....just assume and then blame everything on the other. Even when they did break, they still worked things out - they were...one.

One flesh right? IN MORE WAYS THAN JUST PHYSICAL.

Mentally. Emotionally. Spiritually.

Edmond and Haydée

The movie was an excellent adaptation, really. Surprisingly. I actually watched it first and then was able to read the book - and I was pleasantly surprised on many fronts.

Not the least because the 'romance' in the movie? The love between Edmond and Mercedes? Of course, the beginning is correct in the film but....  He doesn't get back with her after his return. They are different people and I didn't have to sit through extramarital affairs in the book.

Thank you, Dumas!

That's not to say Edmond doesn't find love. He rescues this slave girl that - while originally he only planned to keep her for his revenge - he comes to care for. And she cares for him. Although Maxemilien and Valentine are priceless, I loved Haydee and Edmond so much better.

The first pairing was naive, innocent - Edmond and Haydee knew each other, the good the bad and the ugly. They worked together, a team. It didn't have the best beginnings perhaps - but the end made the rest better.

(Honestly, I could go on and on about that entire book....)

Gibbs and Shannon

Those that have seen NCIS? You know I'm sort of stretching the 'ever after' part....

I've also just proved to myself that I DO like romance. I'm just apparently picky.

Very picky.

Oh, but Gibbs and Shannon....

Alright, his OTHER marriages don't work but... That first one was good.

When you see him with his team, with children, he is a good man. He treats the team like his family - he has more...loyalty to them than he did to his other wives. He has a patience and kindness and appreciation for children.

I sort of watched the series backwards, so it wasn't a surprise - after seeing the fifth series' episode "Requiem" I already knew of Shannon and Kelly for series three.

So seeing him with his team? With Abby? With Ducky? With any child at all?

It's no wonder he did what he did after their deaths. He loved them. That I couldn't ever doubt.

Iolaus and Ania

The really sad thing is that this pairing is only in the films - and that only in passing. By the time the series started, the writers apparently decided it would be better to forget he was ever married.

Ick.

Anyway.

Oh Iolaus....

He was a surprising character. Surprising in that he was so well done. Is so well done. (I haven't actually finished the series yet....) But he's always the bachelor - the one the women usually go after because Hercules is off limits and doesn't really care. And then Hercules has to go help his friend out.

Ania is sort of just....forgotten. Denied. Swept under the rug.

Iolaus is a good man - loyal to the death, literally. (several times...) He's a farmer, a hunter.

And he marries a young woman that can't cook, can't sew, and scares the livestock because she can't work with them.

He marries her just for love.

I wish they had kept her around, kept her in the series. Because seeing Iolaus interact with others from that aspect? Would have made him even better.

Harold and Grace

...is it more priceless that the actors are ACTUALLY married, or just their interactions?

This...

That show finale was heartbreaking. On so many levels.

And then there was the good. The joy that shone through the tears.

They DID get a happily ever after.

The things he did for her, gave up for her.... The things she would have undoubtedly have given up for him!

He adored her, and she him. I wish they could have had more time but....I...  It was masterfully done.

 Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane

This.

This, this, this, this, this, this, this on so, so, so, so many levels.

Alright, so when I started this post I could literally ONLY think of two pairings: the Ponds and one pairing I'm writing out now. And then I found another. And another. And another. And now this one!!  Oh I adored these two.

They were so mismatched. Optimist, pessimist, reality, fantasy, murder, detector, noble, common, smooth, scandal.... One polite and in control that willingly made a mockery of himself to be left alone, and one that fought to hide herself to be alone.

But so beautiful and strong together. A perfect team.

Serafina and Dylan

 I was very, very surprised I enjoyed this as much as I did - the whole trilogy. (You sort of have to read them all to catch the character arc completely.

It's...probably the sappiest pairing on this list, but still.

It was interesting - spanning classes and beliefs, united with basically common interests and morals. It slowly grew into more and... It resolved itself well. There was a bit in the last book where I was seriously wondering if he was going to ruin it but.....

Murder and marriage! What more could you ask of a book?

Grace and Rigsby

This is one I actually almost wrote off. Although Jane and Lisbon work well together they are....too ill-matched. He's too manipulative, she's too trusting and...no. Doesn't work. It just rubs me the wrong way.

But Grace and Wayne?

This one actually started physical. This one was SO annoying. Must we have the office romance - stop messing with good shows!!

But....they lasted. They grew and lasted and stayed together and...

Against all odds they fit. They grew and it deepened. It surprised me - but it was a nice offset to Jisbon certainly....

Harrison Wells and Tess Morgan

We don't see a lot of them.

In fact, I think there's only one scene of them - one GOOD scene.

Wells is....an amazing, faceted man. I wish we could have seen more of HIM. Not Thawne. Not Meta.

Him. And Tess.

Two scientists.

Naming the lab for each other.

Caring for each other.

I wish we could have seen more of that...

Ryan and Jenny

I want to finish watching the show for these two at least.

Castle and Beckett are best as friends and ruined in the last series, but these two?

First: Ryan puts up with SO much at the station basically nothing is going to phase him....

And....*smiles* He's a wonderful father and husband and so...caring!!  I love it!!

 Palmer and Breena

 Why are all of the perfect pairings so...glossed over??

They're a match made in the morgue.

Literally.

*grins*

But in all seriousness, they're both caring, precious, devoted, kind, innocent people that work with dead bodies all day and somehow....

Can look at each other like that all of the time.

Can care for each other throughout anything. Besides anything. Without anything.

And more....

There's another pairing that fits PERFECTLY but....

*sighs* I've forgotten it. Lovely.

And there were many other pairings that....almost made it onto the list. Most didn't make it because....the love was too selfish or too one-sided. Too physical and shallow.

There were also so many other pairings that perfectly fit the list too that i left out because these were my favourites.

However, there are two that are really, really close.

John and Mary

Honestly, I think my main fault with this is just that I never really liked Mary. In the books she wasn't fleshed out - and I couldn't STAND her in the casebook... - and in the show she was tinted by the books.

Because Watson is a good man, on all accounts. In the books, there's nothing to suggest she WASN'T good, and in the series she....cares for him.

It's another one of those pairings that works to work. And succeeds. It's not perfect - but it succeeds.

Murdoch and Julia

There are only two things wrong with this one and it really doesn't have anything to do with their love.

First? I think it's an...unequal yoke. She does not believe the same as him (yet.... I can still hold out hope...) and there are some major things that he seems to...compromise (almost) on for her, that I really think he wouldn't and shouldn't. I don't think that's being true to his established character.

Second? I think the writer is...dragging it out in several instances. Almost as bad as Caskett.

That being said: ....it's  a love that has DEFINITELY stood and persevered through trial. Good grief - so. much. trials. Lots of fire.

I think it's been worth it - except for the faith thing above - and....I'd still watch the series again knowing how irksome it would be at times. They...if the writers didn't mess it up? 'Til Death do they part' is VERY real, even disregarding Murdoch's principles on the matter.

Tony and Jeanne

The only reason this isn't on the list is because it's not 'happily ever after'.

A relationship between a womaniser and his mark, built on lies - it shouldn't have worked. This was the sixth series, Tony was definitely maturing; but.... He was still Tony. He was still....self-isolated.

Because even though the relationship was built on lies, because it was a sham - the emotions weren't.

He lied about them. He turned her against him.

That relationship? Could have worked.

But he was scared and the moment was...lost.

But that's what Tony can be. Not just an immature boy - but a dependable man. He already is that. But he could be a great father and husband.

(and in a way, I think that's what's different between stark and Dinozzo: Dinozzo has LEARNED from his mistakes and GROWN....)

And there were so many other relationships that were wrong. Relationships that seemed forced - that were written poorly, that were broken up for no reason.

It was also kind of funny the amount of relationships I came up with that were friendships only - Sherlock and Watson, Arthur and Merlin, the Doctor and anyone (there were a LOT with him....), Castle and Beckett (I still think it works better as friends....), Ilya and Solo.....

So I learned irrevocably that I DO like romance, in fact, I adore it.

I love marriage and partners and lasting relationships.

But! I do look for LASTING relationships, marriages that reach BEYOND the physical and material and the immediate.

I'm basically looking for the best friends to marry. (and then somehow get over the physical mess to get a family but....)

So...thnak you very much. That...actually taught me a lot.

I went into this not expecting to find anyone - and I found a lot of pairings.