It's the first day back at school today and it also happens to be my fourteenth birthday! Think of this as my present to you guys. Kind of backward, but I'm feeling generous. Obviously I didn't write this today, I didn't have time, but I thought I would post a few thousand words of Naitlyn fluff :D
"You're what?"
Caitlyn winced. "We're married, Mum. And before you ask, I wasn't drunk. Neither was Nate. We both knew exactly what we were doing and we don't regret it at all."
"We definitely don't." Nate said loudly. Caitlyn could almost hear her mother clenching her jaw over the phone.
"Caitlyn Gellar, I want you home this instant so that your father and I can talk some sense into you."
"No. This is exactly why we didn't tell anyone except Shane and Mitchie. You don't like him because he's a rock-star and his parents don't like me because they think I'm not good enough for their famous son." Caitlyn rolled her eyes at the stupidity of the four adults, all of whom she was now related to. "And another thing, it's Caitlyn Grey now."
"We are not discussing this over the phone, Caitlyn. I don't know where you are, but I want you on the next plane home."
"Great idea. The only flaw is that I don't know where I am either. For this exact reason, Nate and I are just planning on driving. We don't know when we'll be back so don't bother waiting up."
"Caitlyn, you come home this instant, you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, I just don't think I'll bother listening. Bye, Mum, I'll talk to you later. I have a honeymoon to go on."
"Caitlyn Gellar, don't you dare hang up this phone. We are not finished talking about this you still-"
Caitlyn sighed in relief as her mother's spiel was cut off. Groaning, she ran a hand through her hair and turned to Nate.
"That went surprisingly well."
He chuckled and took a hand off of the steering wheel to rub her knee soothingly. "According to Shane and Mitch, my parents actually called the police."
"They what?"
"We're fine, don't worry. Once they'd explained what had happened, the police said that they couldn't do anything. We're legally old enough to be married and we both left of our own free will."
Caitlyn smiled sadly, watching the road ahead of her as she spoke. "Don't take this the wrong way, but are you sure that we're doing the right thing. I love you, you know that, but would it have been easier to tell our families that we were engaged and given them time to adjust to the idea before we actually got married?"
"Maybe it would. But then I wouldn't be able to say that I'm sitting in a car with my wife. I know you're not the sort of girl who wanted a huge white wedding and I can quite happily live knowing I didn't have one as long as I have you by my side."
The newly-weds sat in silence for a while, enjoying their time together as much as they could before the inevitable storm broke out. They could only drag out their disorganized honeymoon for so long. If Mitchie had been given the time she had begged for, she would have flown her friends to an exotic island in the Caribbean for two weeks, or something equally expensive and attention grabbing. But Caitlyn and Nate had agreed almost as soon as they were engaged that they didn't want the sort of wedding that Shane and Mitchie had had.
They knew that they had two options: a huge wedding incorporating everything that a wedding should be, hundreds of guests, hours of planning and four thoroughly disruptive parents, or eloping in a quiet country church with only two witnesses and then disappearing for a few weeks. Shane and Mitchie had chosen the former, a lavish ceremony with a reception that was little more than a glamorized disco, a night of fun that nobody would ever forget. Nate and Caitlyn, however, had decided that sneaking off over the weekend and marrying in a small church a few miles from the coast in Florida was a better plan.
They had done exactly that. The hardest part had been gathering enough nerve to tell their parents, something that had gone almost as badly as they had feared. Nate's parents had never liked Caitlyn, they seemed to think that she was of the wrong class for their perfect son and liked to think that he could do better, despite the fact that he had been denying this fact for eight years. Mitchie had never bothered them, they loved their first daughter-in-law, but Nate had told them that if they didn't rapidly change their views about Caitlyn then they would probably lose Mitchie too.
Caitlyn had not managed to catch her Dad, he worked relatively odd hours and she could never remember when he was home. Her Mum, however, had been able to tell something was up from the moment she answered the phone and Caitlyn had cracked and told her. Now - a whole twenty four hours after the wedding had happened - the cat was well and truly out of the bag
"… and quite possibly turning around to bit itself." Caitlyn muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, just thinking out loud, that's all."
Nate's eyes clouded over with thought and a second later he swerved the car off of the road and down a tiny country lane. Caitlyn swore as she regained her balance and Nate looked guilty as he carefully drew the car to a stop.
"Sorry."
"It's okay, I forgive you."
Nate opened his door and climbed out into the surprisingly warm night. He stared up at the cloudless sky for a long moment, noticing more stars every time he blinked. He jumped when he felt hands slide around his waist and turned to find Caitlyn crouching on the bonnet of the car.
"What?"
"Come and join me?" Caitlyn gestured to the space behind her and Nate grinned, darting around to the back seat and pulling out the picnic rug and not-so-romantic plastic bag of food that he had thought to bring. His wife – he still couldn't believe that he could call her that – helped him lay the rug across the metal exterior of the car and they silently climbed on together.
Caitlyn curled into Nate's arms as soon as his head hit the car and he chuckled at her eagerness, pulling her closer to him. They lay for a long time, happy to be with each other and at peace with the world. The stars created the perfect background for the pair.
After almost an hour of comfortable silence, a streak of light across the sky caught their attention. Both of them saw it, both of them had to blink several times to get rid of the mark on their vision and they both turned to face each other.
"You've got to make a wish, baby," Nate said softly. Caitlyn smiled.
"I wish that we could stay like this forever. Just us. No crazy relatives or disapproving parents and no paparazzi for once in our lives. Just the two of us, alone and happy. I wish it could be like this forever. Or at least for a few more hours."
"It can be." Said Nate. "It's not even midnight yet, we have plenty more hours to be together before the sun comes up. It's just us, the stars and-"
"And the rain." Caitlyn pointed to the grey clouds that were rapidly forming on the horizon and both her and Nate groaned.
"You've got to be kidding me." He growled. When no almighty voice from the heavens declared a joke, he sighed, sitting up slowly. "Come on, Caity. We don't want to get caught in the rain. There was a town signposted down this road, it can't be that far."
The couple gathered up the few things that they had taken outside of the vehicle with them and threw them back inside, climbing in together just as a single drop of rain landed on the windscreen.
"How did it reach us that fast?" Caitlyn asked, straining to look for clouds. Nate started the engine and they pulled out into the road at a high speed.
The rain was falling heavily ten minutes later as they reached the outskirts of an area that couldn't be called anything except a village. It looked as though it held no more than twenty houses and the road they were driving along – the signs labeled it as the high street – had just a post office, tiny store and pub.
The pub boasted bright lights and a bright fire through the windows and Caitlyn pointed it out eagerly. Nate didn't hesitate to pull the car up to the side of the road and cut off the engine.
"We're gonna have to run," Caitlyn told him when she failed to find an umbrella in the pile behind her.
"You stay dry," offered Nate. "You run and I'll lock up the car and stuff."
"No, Nate, that's hardly fair. Why should you get wet?"
"Because I'm your husband and you're my wife and I have the responsibility of taking care of you now."
Touched by his words, Caitlyn leaned across to give Nate a gently kiss. "You're the best husband ever, did you know that?"
"I think you've told me a few times…" He said smugly. Caitlyn smacked his arm playfully. "Okay, now go. I'll meet you inside."
Still laughing, Caitlyn opened the door and gave an unnaturally girly scream as a torrent of water fell onto her lap. She slipped out of the car and slammed the door behind her, running in the direction of the pub. Learning from her actions, Nate pulled away from the door before the water fell onto him, leaping out seconds later and locking the door behind him. He felt a hand slide into his own and turned.
Caitlyn was standing directly behind him, drenched and grinning impishly.
"I thought you'd gone inside!" Nate shouted over the roar of the rain.
"I didn't want to leave you out here!" said Caitlyn. She was speaking directly into his ear but he could barely hear the words before they were whipped away by the unexpected wind.
Knowing that they wouldn't be able to have a civilized discussion in the fierce weather, Nate and Caitlyn walked casually into the little pub. They were already soaked to the skin, they couldn't get any wetter, and so they didn't hurry.
When they stepped through the doors, a wave of heat hit them, almost knocking Caitlyn backwards. She felt Nate's arm slip around her waist to steady her.
It was then that they noticed the scene in front of them.
The pub was packed, what seemed to be the entire village was crowded inside, talking and laughing cheerily, drinking and flirting playfully. Children no older than four or five ran in and out of table legs, toddlers rolled on the floor and even incredibly elderly people were sitting around. Nobody noticed Nate and Caitlyn standing in the doorway until a young woman glanced over their way. She whispered something to the man sitting next to her and he turned to face them.
"Well it's not too often we have visitors around here!" He said in a loud voice. Everybody in the room stopped speaking, turning to look at the couple in the doorway. "Come in, come in. Make yourselves at home. This is a celebration after all!"
At the mention of celebration, a group of teenage girls in the back of the room cheered loudly. Caitlyn smiled nervously, glancing at Nate.
"We might as well," he muttered. "They seem friendly enough and it's better than going out in that weather."
xOx
"… We came looking for somewhere to shelter when it started to rain and we found this place. That's about it." Caitlyn sipped the beer in her hands, looking around at her new group of friends. The three women had been listening to her story with rapt expressions for almost ten minutes and never interrupted once. One of them finally spoke up, aiming her question at Nate rather than Caitlyn.
"You're Nate Grey, aren't you?"
The hand resting on Caitlyn's shoulder tensed visibly as he nodded hesitantly.
"That's cool, we don't get too many celebrities come visit us here."
And then she carried on like she hadn't just discovered that a member of one of the world's biggest boy bands was in the room with her.
Caitlyn and Nate had discovered early on that this village was different. They had gathered in the pub to celebrate the hundredth birthday of a gentleman named Charles, who had gone home almost four hours ago but even now, at two in the morning, the party was still going on. The adults let their children wander freely around the bar, not worried about illegal alcohol consumption because this was how they had brought their children up and they knew they could trust their neighbors.
Everybody was very open, happy to tell the couple anything that they wanted to know and using the wedding of a couple they had never met before as an excuse to drag out the party even longer. They had offered them free drinks, warm, dry clothes, places to stay and even late wedding gifts in just the two hours since they had arrived. Nate and Caitlyn had been given the honored seats by the fire and had dried off in no time at all, listening to the highly amusing tales from the local people.
And now this.
The way the information was treated proved to Caitlyn how different the way of life here was. These people, mere miles from cities that Caitlyn had been to plenty of times, didn't care about collectable things. They didn't acre about how many awards Nate had won or how much money he had rolling around. They didn't mind why they had visitors, not really. They were just glad to have somebody else to share their happiness with.
Caitlyn loved it. She was pretty sure that Nate did too. She hadn't seen him this relaxed in months. He was sitting as close to her as he could comfortably get, with his arm wrapped around her shoulders and the frown he had been wearing for so long had finally melted off to be replaced with a wide, natural smile.
As the people around them began to talk amongst themselves again, Caitlyn felt Nate bend down to gently kiss her temple.
"I love you," he whispered. Caitlyn shifted slightly, resting her head on Nate's shoulder.
"I love you too."
Caitlyn stared into the fire in front of her, watching the flickering flames for a while and desperately trying to keep up with their constant speed. A spark shot out, burning itself out within seconds, but nevertheless reminding her of the shooting star.
"My wish came true," she said softly. Nate looked down at her, passion burning in his eyes. "We're here, together, happily. Our parents aren't here to glare at us, or each other, there aren't any crazy photographers and Shane and Mitchie aren't here to wind us up. As much as I love them, they can get annoying sometimes."
"I know what you mean." Nate grinned. "Do you think you could make wishes more often?"
"I don't know, do you want me to?"
"If they make me half as happy as I am now, then I wouldn't mind. Although, let's hope this one doesn't end too soon. I'm having the time of my life here, with my wife in my arms."
It has literally no plot, no purpose and no real interest, but it's my birthday, I'm allowed to write things like this, aren't I. I've got to go because, for my birthday, I'm surprisingly busy, but would you mind dropping me a few reviews, as a present? ;D Oh, and maybe one more on UOTH, just because it's at 99! Reaching 100 would be an awesome birthday present!
Anyway, I have a lot of cakes to eat and school to get to,
**Spwarkle**