Chapter One – Elizabeth Weir and Guest.
Elizabeth Weir and Guest.
Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Weir request the honour of your presence at the marriage of their daughter.
Isabelle Anne Weir
To
Adam Seth Fielding
On Saturday the Eleventh of December at three o'clock
St. Andrews Church.
Dr Elizabeth Weir sat cross-legged on her couch; hands twisting together as she continuously read the invite to her little sisters wedding.
The 'joyous occasion' begins in a week and the nerves rose little by little each day.
They weren't solely due to the fact that she hadn't seen her family in two years, (or so she told herself) or the fact that it reminded her how close she came to walking down the aisle with her now ex-fiancé, Simon.
No, it wasn't due to either of those reasons. Elizabeth couldn't bare the thought of showing up to her sisters wedding alone.
She could handle being constantly hounded with questions that single people, such as herself, dreaded answering; from parents and relatives. After all she is a professor, in international relations, at the local University and knew how to handle herself in high pressure situations and Elizabeth whole-heartedly believed that her family was one big high pressure situation.
No, Elizabeth doesn't want to show up alone because she is determined to show Simon what he missed out on; after hearing from her cousin Teyla Emmagan that Simon was to be the best man.
"What!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"You didn't know? Oh, Elizabeth! I'm sorry; your mother assured me that you knew!" Teyla said exasperated.
"I can't believe this. Well, I'm not surprised that Mum didn't tell me, she wouldn't relinquish such detail to me if it meant I would consider not going to her baby girl's wedding." Elizabeth said bitterly, while brushing her hair off her face and continued.
"Why is he even the best man? I didn't think Simon and Adam even knew each other that well?"
"A lot's happened since you've been here last, Elizabeth. After you and Simon broke off the engagement-"
"We did not break off the engagement!" Elizabeth cut in angrily. "He got cold feet the night before our wedding and took off! Leaving me nothing but a note saying 'I'm Sorry'"
Elizabeth still remembered that day clearly as though it only took place a couple of hours ago.
She had woken up with a huge grin on her face and felt like a kid on Christmas morning; waiting for her parents to wake up so she could open her presents. When Elizabeth looked at her clock on the bedside table, she found herself looking at a note instead that simply said, 'I'm sorry-Simon.'
A hundred reasons ran through her head of why he may be sorry; never landing on the answer she knew was right and feared. Elizabeth had got up and slowly walked over to where her wedding dress was hanging and burst into tears. Sinking to the floor as her whole world crumbled and collapsed around her.
"Elizabeth?" Teyla said uncertainly. Elizabeth had been silent now for a couple of minutes.
Elizabeth snapped back into reality; recollecting her thoughts.
"Sorry Teyla, you were saying about Simon…"
"Yes, after the incident," Elizabeth winced, but she knew Teyla was doing it for her benefit.
"Isabelle tracked him down and I guess she was there for Simon in his time of need." Elizabeth couldn't help but notice the skepticism in Teyla's voice.
"His time of need?" Elizabeth said incredulously. "She's my sister! Why wasn't she there in my time of need?"
"I don't know Elizabeth; it's all a bit vague. That's all I know about it." Teyla knew Elizabeth went through hell after Simon left her and felt guilty for being the one to tell her that the man responsible for ripping her heart out was attending her only sisters wedding.
This was typical Elizabeth thought, annoyed at her mother for neglecting to tell her this. Of all the crappy Country Club gossip she has to put up with from her mother's weekly phone calls, this just happened to slip her mother's mind? No, there must be more to it.
"So I guess…" Teyla continued, "…Adam picked Simon to be his best man for Isabelle." Elizabeth didn't respond. I can't do this! I can't do this! Elizabeth started to panic.
"You're still going to come though, aren't you?" After reassuring Teyla that she was still coming and thanking her for giving Elizabeth the heads up about Simon, unintentional as it was, Elizabeth rang one of her colleagues from the University, Dr Daniel Jackson and hoped against hope that he would accompany her to the wedding.
"I'm sorry Liz, I wish I could but I promised Vala that we would go away for the weekend and do something 'fun' for a change." Daniel said, not quite believing that anything he had done so far wasn't considered 'fun.'
"Daniel…" Elizabeth recognized Vala's husky voice in the background. "…is this bikini too revealing?" Vala said seductively, drawing out the last word with a purr. Coughing slightly, Daniel turns his attention back to Elizabeth.
"Sorry Liz, but I-I gotta go." Elizabeth chuckled slightly as she hung up the phone. Daniel and Vala were the complete opposite of each other, yet they made perfect sense.
A couple of days later and Elizabeth still hadn't found anyone to accompany her to the wedding. Sitting in the University staffroom, Dr Carson Beckett and Dr Laura Cadman tried to make suggestions to Elizabeth.
"Is it really the end of the world, if ye go alone?" Carson asked and immediately regretted, as he was met with daggered looks from both Laura and Elizabeth.
"Bloody hell," Carson muttered under his breath. "I think I have to go and prepare for me next class." Carson said quickly, getting up and giving Laura a quick kiss on the forehead before nearly running out of the staffroom. Both women smirked at each other before continuing.
"Ok, don't judge me," Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "But once upon a time, when I didn't have Carson, I hired a male escort to take me to my high school reunion." Elizabeth's eyes widened and had to suppress the urge to giggle.
"Hey!" Laura slapped Elizabeth's arm, seeing she was about to laugh.
"Do you know how embarrassing it would've been to turn up at my own reunion alone and be forced to make small talk with a bunch of people I can barely remember or even like?" Laura smirked, "Plus the bonus features were excellent."
Elizabeth stopped giggling instantly. "You didn't?"
"What... he was hot!" Laura said defensively. Elizabeth burst out laughing again.
"You can laugh Liz, but it was the best 500 bucks I ever spent!" Laura couldn't stop grinning stupidly at the memory.
"Anyway, I still have the number of the place if you're interested?" Laura waved her mobile phone in front of Elizabeth's face.
"Err… thanks Laura, but I don't think I'm quite there yet." Laura picked up Elizabeth's hand, wrote the number on her palm and winked at her.
"Just in case"
Elizabeth, still sitting on the couch, staring at the invite, was anxiously waiting for the messenger to pick up her 'dates' plane ticket. In a moment of weakness and desperation, Elizabeth rang the number Laura had given her and now had a male escort to take with her to her sisters wedding.
John Sheppard. Age: 36. That's all Elizabeth knew about him. She had wanted to meet him a couple of hours before they were due to leave but when she had arrived home from work; she found her answering machine blinking.
"Hey Elizabeth, this is John Sheppard. Sorry I didn't get back to you last night; I got your messages, all eight of them. Elizabeth cringed. I know your nervous Lizzie, Did he just call me Lizzie? Elizabeth wondered, thinking her ears were deceiving her. But this is what I get paid for, I know you wanted to meet a couple of hours earlier but I have to take care of some things first. so I sent a messenger to pick up my ticket, Elizabeth, stop worrying, your ex-fiancé will wish he never left you and your family will think we're in love. So you're going to have to trust me ok? So I'll see you at the airport, Can't wait to meet you."
Elizabeth, what have you gotten yourself into?