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aviv_b_artworkAuthor: Aviv_b
Fandom: Torchwood
Schmoop: Soulmate
Title: Bashert
Words: 1740
Rating: PG
Characters: Ianto/Aaron
Disclaimer: Not mine; Aunty B's and RTD's
Summary: A Ianto's Journey Verse Story. Aaron and Ianto ponder rings for their civil commitment.
A/N: The story of the rings that Ianto and Aaron gave each other. I’ve borrowed the engraving for Aaron's ring from IJ chapter 80: http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/46647.html.
When Aaron & Ianto had their civil ceremony in April of 2009 Ianto insisted that there be nothing that resembled a wedding. No cake or flowers, no registering for gifts, no party. The only thing he agreed to was to wear a plain gold wedding band.
It wasn’t that Ianto was ashamed of Aaron or embarrassed about their civil union, he just saw the event as a private decision between himself and Aaron. They had lived together for over a year and had been a couple for eight months, so getting their civil union was more a formality than anything else. And for Ianto, the ring was a quaint idea that he initially didn’t place much importance on.
For Aaron, however, the rings meant much more. He and Ianto had not only become a couple but were also able to form an empathic bond. To him the rings were a symbol of this bond and of their commitment to each other.
So Ianto agreed to the rings and they decided that they would each buy a ring for the other so that they wouldn’t be identical. “Too couplish,” they both agreed. Oddly enough when each man went to choose a ring, it was Ianto who knew exactly what he wanted to buy and Aaron who struggled to find the right ring for his partner.
Aaron wasn’t religiously observant, but his Israeli upbringing and Jewish heritage were very important to him. So Ianto did a little research online and discovered that under Jewish law wedding bands were supposed to be plain, unadorned with no stones or inscriptions. To comply with this requirement, but to personalize the ring, couples often had inscriptions put on the inside of the band. He knew that Aaron would be surprised and thrilled if Ianto had the engraving done in Hebrew.
Ianto also discovered that you couldn’t walk into any jewelry store in London and get Hebrew engraving. Fortunately, London had several stores that specialized in Judaica. He ended up going to the “British Yiddish” store, as they seemed to have a lot of different products, not all of them religious in nature.
He felt a little uncomfortable when he went into the store as many of the items were unfamiliar to him. It was an early Sunday morning, but the one clerk was already helping a customer. He walked around a bit looking at the ritual objects. He knew what a menorah was, and he had seen dreidels before, but what on earth was a Havdalah candle? There were a large selection of books, most appeared to be either religious tracts in Hebrew or books in English on Jewish observance, ethical questions and philosophy. But there was also a selection of books by Israeli authors, Jewish history, and Jewish humor books, including some that were surprisingly risqué.
The young woman behind the counter was just finishing up with another customer at the jewelry display. “Mazel Tov, Mr. Shapiro, I’m sure your daughter will like her Bat Mitzvah gift…and if she doesn’t she can always exchange it for something else.”
The customer laughed. “Well Debra, if you had a nose ring in Goth style that went with purple hair she’d probably be thrilled.”
“She won’t be thirteen forever and someday she’ll appreciate a beautiful gold necklace.”
“From your mouth to G-d’s ears. Shalom.”
The woman turned to Ianto. “You looked a bit bewildered. Can I help you with anything?”
Ianto looked around nervously. There were only two other customers in the shop and both were busy perusing the book selection.
He typed carefully into his cell phone. “I want to buy a wedding ring and have it engraved with this.” Ianto handed the page he had printed from the Internet to her.
אני לדודי ודודי לי (Ani L'Dodi V'Dodi Li)
“Good choice. ‘I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine.’ 'The phrase from the Song of Solomon is very popular. Now is your fiancée very observant. If she is, you can’t use this ring for the ceremony, but if not, then this is kosher to use.”
“Not observant.”
“And do you know her size?”
At that very moment an elderly gentleman came out from the back of the store and stood next to the young woman. Ianto wasn’t quite sure how his answer would be received.
“Uh, his size is U ½.”*
The elderly man walked away muttering under his breath. Ianto wanted to run from the store. “Maybe this was a mistake….” Ianto started to type.
The young woman smiled in sympathy. “I’m afraid my grandfather is a little behind the times,” she said quietly. “I think its sweet. Why shouldn’t your celebration include your Jewish heritage?”
Ianto couldn’t help it; he broke out into a silly smile. “Uh, my partner’s Jewish, I’m not.” The woman started laughing.
“I know, a gay goy in your store. Must be a first,” Ianto added, trying to ease his nervousness.
Not by a long shot. But a gay, non-Jewish man speaking with a cell phone, now that is a first. Let’s see if we can’t find the perfect ring for your partner.” She asked a few questions about Aaron’s profession and activity level and recommended a plain flat band in 14 carat gold with a slightly textured finish. “You don’t want anything raised or highly polished. And 18 carat gold isn’t durable enough for someone who is working with equipment and such.”
They chose the type of Hebrew letters for the inscription and Ianto made arrangements to pick up the ring the following week.
Meanwhile Aaron was still struggling to find just the right ring for Ianto. He had stopped by several stores that specialized in Welsh and Celtic rings, but they weren’t able to do the engraving he wanted.
He finally ended up at a store that specialized in Jewish giftware. When he told the woman what he wanted she smiled. “We seem to be having a run on rings for commitment ceremonies…uh…these last few months,” she said catching herself at the last moment. “Now tell me something about your partner.” As they chatted she realized that her instincts were correct. This was the partner of Mr. Jones who had been in the previous week. Debra was going to recommend the same ring as she had done before, but fortunately asked if they were interested in matching rings.
“We decided not to get matching rings. Too cutesy. My partner didn’t want anything overly sentimental for our commitment ceremony, I had to practically beg him to wear a ring.” She smiled as she chose a slightly narrower 18 carat yellow gold ring for Ianto as his hands were a bit smaller than Aaron’s and she didn’t want to ring to overwhelm Ianto's long slender fingers.
The Welsh and Hebrew words Aaron wanted engraved on the inside of the ring were no problem. He had carefully printed out the words from a Welsh wedding site:
Am Byth Cariad.
“It means ‘Forever My Love’,” Aaron explained.
“And we’ll add the Hebrew on directly across from that.” She thought it looked a little bare in comparison to the other ring she was having made. “I want to check something online.” She quickly searched for Welsh wedding ring sites and found what she was looking for. “Here, look at this,” she said turning the laptop toward Aaron. “How about adding two etched Welsh dragons between the Hebrew and Welsh words?” Aaron loved the idea.
“Could you really do that?”
“Our engraver does all sorts of engraving on jewelry. His specialty is Hebrew script but he has done Russian, Chinese and Korean for us, so I don’t think a Welsh dragon will prove impossible. And I think your partner will be very happy with the ring.”
Debra had helped dozens of couples pick out rings over the years and she was confident that Aaron and Ianto were going to be very pleased their rings.
Aaron made arrangements to pick up the ring early the next week. “Call first just to make sure its ready,” the woman suggested. “Wouldn’t do to have you show up at the same time as your partner.”
After Aaron left the store, Debra’s grandfather came out and looked at the purchase order. She explained that this order was from the partner of the young man who had ordered the special ring the week before. To her surprise, her grandfather said, “Nice boys, did you know that the young one is a survivor of Canary Wharf?"
Debra was stunned. "How do you know that?"
"He looked familiar to me, so I googled his name. See, your old grandfather isn't as unhip as you thought. Just wait until I get my Face Book page finished."
Debra shook her head in amazement.
***
Aaron and Ianto ended up exchanging rings in the privacy of their home the evening before they went to register their civil union. They had finished dinner and were relaxing in the lounge with the last of a bottle of wine.
“So how do we do this exactly?” Ianto asked nervously.
“Well I think we can skip the part about getting down on one knee,” Aaron snarked.
“I’ll go first,” Ianto volunteered. He was getting more anxious by the moment.
Ianto handed the small box to Aaron. Aaron immediately recognized the navy box with the gold embossing on it but said nothing to Ianto. Aaron opened the box and saw the ring. He read the inscription inside and smiled.
“How did you know...” Aaron’s voice drifted off as he choked up a bit.
Ianto bit his lower lip. “I researched Jewish wedding traditions online. I know this means a lot to you and I wanted to do it right. I had to go to a special store for the Hebrew engraving, but you probably know that.”
Aaron took Ianto into his arms and gave him a kiss. “Mr. Jones, have I told you what an extraordinary man you are?”
Ianto blushed.
“Oh, and oddly enough I have a ring for you in the very same box," he said handing Ianto a small blue box embossed with the ‘British Yiddish” logo on it.
Ianto snorted. Ianto took out the ring and smiled as he read the Welsh inscription. “What does the Hebrew say?”
There was only a single word in Hebrew letters and though he had picked up a few words living with Aaron, Ianto had never seen this word before.
באַשערט
“Bashert. It’s actually Yiddish and means, Destiny. It’s often used to refer to the person that G-d has chosen for you…the person you were meant to be with.”
“Like your Soulmate,” Ianto replied.
“Exactly. And you truly are my Soulmate.”
“And you’re my Bashert,” Ianto said pulling Aaron in for another kiss.
__
*U ½ UK size = 10 ½ US size.
