Not Just Another Day

by Originals143

A day altogether different from a normal day of duty, when the entire CID team has to run around busily, taking care of several little tasks in the process.

|: Not Just Another Day :|

A/N : I have tried to include some light moments of ALL the recent couples of CID (read : romance and friendship). So, please don't review about why have I not emphasized on Abhirika's romance, or why are there so less scenes of 'Duo'! Well, enough of blabbering! Here's the story...

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"Tarika!" Abhijeet's hysterical voice came from behind, as he was making desperate attempts to make his wife calm down. "Why don't you just relax and take it easy? We can take care of everything, you know!" "Abhijeet, please!" Tarika frowned, without looking at him, as she ran around the place hastily arranging some sweets from one plate to another. "My best friend's getting married! How can you just expect me to relax?"

Abhijeet rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Oh c'mon! It's not just your best friend who's getting married! They're even our colleagues who're getting married!" He finally succeeded in stopping her from running around, and took her hands in his. "Everyone's actively participating in taking care of the arrangements. You yourself have seen to it! So can you please just relax and take rest for a while?" he pleaded, earnestly looking into her eyes. Tarika shook her head exasperatedly "Ok! Ok! I promise, I'll try not to run around too much, take some time to relax in between, eat on time and have my medicines. Happy?" Tarika questioned her husband lovingly, giving him her most beautiful smile, and Abhijeet smiled satisfactorily, before pulling her gently to a more secluded spot in the hall.

"By the way, did I mention that you're looking like a million bucks today?" He asked, leaning closer to her and she blushed a brilliant scarlet, identical to the red-and-gold saree she was wearing. "Maybe the glow's started showing up!" she said shyly, a twinkle shining in her eyes, as she put one hand over her stomach. Abhijeet simply smiled happily and nodded, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead. "I'll just go and check up on Tasha" Tarika told her husband and went off towards her best friend's room.

No sooner had she left, than Abhijeet heard a long suffering wail from behind. "Holy crap!" He quickly turned around to see his best friend's leg entangled in a wire and he tripped spectacularly before Abhijeet came over and caught him with all his strength, just on time. "Daya!" he sighed exasperatedly. "Why don't you just look while you walk!" and Daya glowered down at his best friend. "Do you mean to say that I do it purposely? And just because you're gonna be a father, doesn't mean that you should just go on lecturing people!" he complained as he managed to detangle his leg from the wire. "Chill yaar, was just kidding!" Abhijeet said affectionately. "Is the bridegroom ready?" he questioned, and Daya groaned inwardly. "Ahh yes! I finally managed to fix that turban onto his head! Let's just hope he keeps it on till the wedding's done!" he sighed, and Abhijeet smirked "Well then, let's go get him. What're you waiting for?" Daya nodded knowingly, and they set off towards Vivek's room.

/\/\

As she was heading towards Tasha's room, Tarika noticed Freddy having a tough time in arranging the return gifts, as he struggled to carry a pile of them to one corner. "Here Freddy Sir, let me help you with that." Tarika leaned forward and extended her hand to carry the pile when Freddy hurriedly stopped her. "No no! It's ok, Dr. Tarika! I'll handle this! You please don't worry and take rest!" he assured and Tarika groaned in frustration. "Oh God! Freddy Sir! For heaven's sake, I am pregnant! I am not sick!" she said exasperatedly. "And I am perfectly capable of doing all the work here!" she glared at the inspector with her hands on her hips. "Ummm I know, Dr. Tarika!" Freddy scurried along "It's just that Manisha has given me this work, and she'll give me ten other endless chores to do, if I don't complete this seamlessly!" he cried, pointing to the boxes of perfectly-wrapped gifts, as they were finally arranged neatly in their place.

Tarika shook he head, smiling. "Speaking of Manisha bhabhi, I guess she was looking for you some time back!" she informed, as she scanned the entire hall. "Ahh well, there she is!" She pointed out in the direction where the lady in question was standing, giving strict instructions to the food caterers and Freddy hurriedly ran over to her, leaving Tarika shaking her head and laughing in amusement.

/\/\

"Ok! Listen, I want everything to be arranged perfectly in order, alright?" Manisha ordered the staff sternly, as she was constantly over-looking the food arrangements. "And the vegetarian and non-vegetarian items have to be placed on separate counters! Is that clear?" she pointed out, as Freddy came over and placed a gentle hand over her shoulder. "Just cool down, Manisha!" he laughed. "These people know their work!" he said, and took out his handkerchief as he saw his wife sweating. "Why don't you just go and relax for a while? You've been working non-stop for the past two days!" he said, as he dabbed her forehead with the hankie.

Manisha let out a small laugh. "You're telling me to relax? When you yourself have been running around continuously for the past whole week, looking after everything!" she held her husband's hand affectionately. "And how can I simply relax when my dear husband's been busily working and tiring himself? I have seen you doing a lot for Vivek's wedding! I know you haven't slept for the past four days! I am just trying to help with whatever I can!" Freddy took her hands in his and said, getting emotional. "Well, I guess I am just too excited for Vivek's wedding. I've been waiting for it to happen for so long!" Manisha smiled at her husband and patted his cheek lovingly. "I bet you are. And no one will be happier than you on seeing Vivek finally walk down the aisle, I am sure!" Freddy nodded in agreement "That's true!" he whispered to his wife.

/\/\

"For God's sake, Sachin!" Rajat sounded almost close to tears, as he looked up at his friend impatiently. "How many times are you gonna fix your sherwani and your hair? I've been telling you again and again that it is looking absolutely perfect!" he cried, sitting down on the bed in their room, and suddenly shot him a look of suspicion. "And may I ask for what reason or for whom are you making such desperate attempts to look so extra-ordinarily dashing and handsome?" Needless to say, that made Sachin widen his eyes in horror, and he hurriedly covered up "Ummm.. it's nothing Sir! Really! I guess we should just go and check up on ACP Sir and Salunkhe Sir!" "Yes, let's go!" Rajat said, as both of them heaved a sigh of evident relief.

As they were making their way towards their seniors' room, Sachin noticed that the door to Tasha's room was slightly open, and he caught a glimpse of Kajal, laughing and teasing Tasha, accompanied by Tarika. She was looking stunning in the purple lehenga which she was wearing, with her hair tied up and taken forwards over one shoulder, and Sachin found himself completely mesmerised by her beauty. He kept staring at her through the slit between the door and the wall, forgetting the fact that he was accompanied by Rajat.

"Ahem ahem!" Rajat coughed theatrically, bringing him back to reality. When he came back to his senses and looked at Rajat, Sachin saw that the latter had a mischievous smirk on his face and his eyes were glinting dangerously. "So this is the reason why you wanted to look so perfect!" Rajat teased and Sachin's eyes widened to twice their normal size, as he violently shook his head in protest. "Don't you worry!" Rajat kept a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I won't tell anyone. This is our little secret!" he whispered, leaning closer to Sachin and winked at him mischievously. Sachin smiled sheepishly as they made their way to the elderly gentlemen's room.

/\/\

In the meanwhile, the two old gentlemen were going through a similar phase, in another room. "Salunkhe!" ACP Pradyuman burst on his best friend like a thunderstorm. "For God's sake, it's not you who's getting married!" he frowned at the forensic scientist, as he paced back and forth with his hands on his hips, in the room which they were sharing. "For heaven's sake, stop troubling that god-forsaken comb, will you?" he pleaded, with an expression similar to which Rajat had borne a few minutes ago. "This must be like the hundredth time I'm assuring you that your wig... umm.. your hair is looking perfectly fine!" he proclaimed, correcting himself hurriedly.

Needless to say, nothing got past the old doctor's razor-sharp ears, and he shot a poisonous glare at his good old best friend. "And just what did you say?" he growled. "Umm...mmm.. I mean you are looking utterly handsome yaar!" ACP Pradyuman said hastily, in his traditional finger-shaking mannerism. "It's enough now! Are you going to waste the entire day in front of the mirror with that comb? C'mon yaar, our kids are getting married, and we got to go down and help the others with the arrangements!" he ordered, getting into his typical boss-mode.

The forensic expert banged the comb on the table with an irritated look, as he barked at his best friend. "See Pradyuman! Just because you don't have any hairs on your head, doesn't mean that I..." "Sir!" Dr. Salunkhe stopped in mid-sentence, as he was thankfully interrupted by Rajat's voice, who poked his head through the door-way, followed by Sachin.

"Sir, we just came to check whether you both are ready or not." Rajat supplied, to which ACP Pradyuman nodded. "Yes, we're done. C'mon Salunkhe! Let's go now!" he hurriedly gestured to his best friend, and the four of them went downstairs.

/\/\

As the four of them made their way down the staircase, they saw that everyone was already present, and were busy in their own work. Vivek was scowling in irritation as he found it difficult to manage the heavy turban onto his head, and Daya and Abhijeet were fixing it again and again, pleading Vivek to handle it till the wedding rituals get completed.

Manisha was helping Tasha in adjusting her bridal dress, and they both were having a good laugh with Tarika and Kajal over something. Sachin, Freddy and Rajat on the other hand were roaming around the room, giving a final scan across the room to all the arrangements, and also welcoming the guests in between.

When ACP Pradyuman went downstairs, he saw Vivek and Tasha's faces glowing with happiness, and both were blushing evidently, the crimson red color reflecting brightly on their fair faces. He beamed proudly at both of them, and gave an affectionate pat on their cheeks.

Finally, the priest gestured the bride and groom to be brought forward for the rituals, and Freddy and Manisha slowly made Vivek and Tasha sit down respectively. As she sat down besides Vivek, Tasha felt his constant gaze on her, and she blushed a brilliant pink identical to that of her make-up. She looked back at him, as both their eyes spoke volumes of countless emotions in those few seconds.

As the priest was busy chanting some prayers, Abhijeet's sharp eyes noticed Vivek surreptitiously holding Tasha's hand, and the latter was blushing till her hairline, making desperate attempts to free her hand from Vivek's grip. Abhijeet smirked and prodded Tarika in the elbow, gesturing her to look in their direction. Tarika gave him a knowing smirk, and gently hit on his arm with her elbow.

"Ok! Now since this ritual is done, it's time for the bride and the groom to exchange garlands" the priest announced, and Tarika instantly came forward and began tying the end of the dupatta of Tasha's dress with that of Vivek's sherwani. Once it was done, both of them stood up facing each other. As Tasha was about to put the garland around Vivek's neck, he was suddenly picked up by Freddy and Rajat, and had to hold up to Freddy's shoulder in an attempt to balance himself. There were laughs of amusement in the hall, especially by ACP Pradyuman and Dr. Salunkhe, as Tasha was standing helplessly, with the garland in her hand, unable to reach up to Vivek's neck.

Abhijeet and Daya were no less though. They instantly came forward, and picked Tasha up from either side, to make her reach up to Vivek's height, and everyone clapped in sheer happiness as Tasha and Vivek quickly exchanged their garlands.

/\/\

"Thank God, everything got over so well!" Tarika heaved a sigh of relief, as she plonked down in a nearby chair beside Rajat and Sachin, looking thoroughly drained. "We had been telling you not to take stress, when all the others are there to take care of everything! But of'course, you don't want to listen to anyone!" Rajat mocked his sister, as he cleaned the sweat off her forehead. Tarika rolled her eyes at him, and suddenly smiled mischievously as a thought occurred to her. "When are you getting married now? It's high time, Rajat! You should start looking for a girl now!" She started lecturing her friend-cum-brother when she saw Kajal standing in front of her, with a huge plate in her hand.

"Tarika, it's time you have your food! And Abhijeet Sir will flay me alive if I don't report to him that you've finished everything in this plate!" she shook her head indignantly, gesturing to the plate in her hand and Tarika rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Oh God! This husband of mine, I tell you!" she murmured to her friends and extended her hands as she took the plate from Kajal's hand, and started eating obediently like a five-year-old child. While she was having her food, she saw Kajal and Sachin smiling at each other, and Rajat having a hard time in fighting down his laughter. She raised her eyebrows suspiciously at either of them in turn. "Am I missing something?" "Ummm ...no Tarika, it's nothing!" Rajat hastily covered up, seeing the shocked look on Sachin's face. Tarika simply shrugged, and got back to her plate.

/\/\

Tarika was sitting quietly in a corner of the hall, smiling to herself, as she saw Vivek and Tasha feeding each other from a single plate, being overlooked and teased by ACP Pradyuman, Dr. Salunkhe, Freddy and Manisha. "Remember our days?" she turned around to see Abhijeet standing behind her, and smiled as he came over and sat beside her. "Yeah! Everyone has the same excitement, the same look of happiness which they had at the time of our wedding, isn't it?" she questioned her husband, and he smiled happily, as in one corner, ACP Pradyuman and Dr. Salunkhe were joking about something and laughing heartily.

Abhijeet smiled and nodded at his wife in agreement, as he slipped a hand across her shoulder. Suddenly, he remembered something, and narrowed his eyes at his wife "Did you eat your food?" he asked her, tilting his head to a side, to which Tarika sighed heavily "Yes, I ate my food, took my medicines, am taking complete rest, and... the baby's fine!" That earned her a smile from her husband, as he seemed predictably satisfied. "By the way, they look so perfect, don't they?" she asked Abhijeet, pointing in the direction of Vivek and Tasha, who were smiling romantically at each other, without the notice of the veterans present there. "Yeah, just like us, na?" Abhijeet teased her, and she shook her head, and replied sarcastically. "Yeah right! The only thing is, Vivek didn't take three years to confess his feelings to Tasha!" she proclaimed. "Thanks a lot for reminding me!" Abhijeet snapped and huffed indignantly, as he dropped his hand, and went over to the corner where Daya was standing, leaving Tarika erupting into a fit of giggles behind him.

/\/\

As Vivek finally went over to sit in the decorated car, after taking countless instructions and blessings from the veterans, he saw Tasha wiping her tears gently with a tissue, being careful not to smudge her make-up and he sat down, looking warily at his wife. "Is that supposed to be a warning or threat or what?" he pointed to her tears sceptically. "Oh shut up Vivek!" she sniffled and suddenly smiled emotionally. "It's just that everyone has done so much for our wedding. All our team... they've been running around continuously since the past few weeks, just for us! Right from ACP Sir, Abhijeet Sir... I just feel so overwhelmed!" she told her husband, her voice barely above a whisper, as fresh tears started forming up in his eyes. Vivek nodded and smiled distantly "Freddy Sir hasn't slept for an entire week! And everyone was looking so exhausted at the end!" "We are so lucky to have such a team...such a family!" Tasha's eyes glistened as she looked over at her husband, who was going through exactly the same emotions as hers.

"Absolutely!" he smiled and slipped an arm over her shoulder, gently pulling her closer. "And I am just so lucky to have you as my life-partner!" he grinned and touched her cheek, as she blushed through her tears. "And you better brush those tears off, because I for one, wouldn't like to see them again in your eyes." He instructed, as she happily obliged and wiped off her tears. They smiled at each other silently, as she rested her head on his shoulder and they set off towards the beginning of a new chapter in their life.

~~ The End ~~

A/N : Well, I had initially decided to end this story peacefully, without any message or note. But, upon noticing the amount of instances which have been taking place recently, I figured I cannot just keep silent. The message written below has absolutely no relation to the story. It's just written in an attempt to knock some required sense into some people, who must remain unnamed. So here goes...

I guess, everyone present here must be aware of one universally-accepted fact on this earth – Every individual has a freedom of speech and a freedom of thought. Which simply means that every person existing on earth has the liberty to talk as per their choice, to think as per their wish. And this particular thought is also applied when it comes to thinking of various ideas and exploring our creativity in writing stories. Every writer has his/her own choice, own imaginations and own comfort level in writing down what they wish, and no one – as in, no one has the damn right to raise an objection over one's choice of ideas or for thinking in a different perspective.

It is as simple as this – when you have a particular idea, write it down or discuss it with people. Let others do the same. But, why, may I ask, why do you just have to go on accusing people for daring to think in a perspective, which does not match yours or which you do not agree with? You can simply express your view regarding the idea, but what sense do you see in literally blaming that person of betraying your trust and discouraging him/her to the extent that he/she feels so down as to stop thinking and cry their eyes out? Let me tell you, for whoever this is aimed at – this is utterly ridiculous and simply implies that you're just too immature for your own, and whatever you've done is sheer non-sense, nothing else! It sounds to us as if you have no other work to do, and you can stoop to such a level to make people vulnerable and give up writing, just because you are jealous of their talent and you know that you can never reach upto their level.

So, I would suggest you to follow this simple logic – Got an idea? Write it down. People will appreciate it, may or maybe not for the story, but definitely for your writing efforts. Similarly, let people do their work. Atleast learn to appreciate the efforts put in by the writers in the story. Also, the most important point here is, a majority of a writer's work depends upon the reviewers. It's the reviewers and their reviews which motivate the writers to write further, and get a chance to improve themselves. If you start accusing the writer of writing what you didn't like, or go so far as to discourage them to quit writing, what peace does that give you?

And please bear one thing in mind – A writer will only write what he/she is comfortable with. There's no point forcing someone to adopt ideas which they don't agree with, because no matter how hard they try, they just cannot give their heart and soul to it! If you'd have told Sr. Arthur Conan Doyle to write a series about mushy and melodramatic romance, do you think he'd have done it? Absolutely not! It's only because of his creative mind and the ideas which crept into it, that gave us the world-famous and incredibly amazing detective series "Sherlock Holmes".

And last but definitely not the least, please don't resort to any disgusting ways of emotional blackmail to get things done your way! We are not the ones to fall prey to that! We don't agree with what you want, we will not do that! If you want people to know about your ideas, you yourself write them down. We will not do that for you, and no. We will simply not! And no, we will not accept your imaginations even if you force them upon us! That's it!

Well, this again is not written with the intention of hurting anyone. No Offense Meant to absolutely anyone here. It's just that, people need to understand the simple fact that writers can have their own imaginations, their own perspectives and they'll adopt only that which their mind tells them. There's no point in forcing someone else's imaginations on them. Again, No Offense Meant! I again repeat myself, I have no intention to hurt anyone's feelings.

Regarding the story, well, I am just hoping it's upto the mark! Please don't hesitate to let me know if you find any flaw at all in the story. In other words, please R&R. And yes, some of the ideas have again been taken from PR's several stories.. so thanks again PR!