A Wedding in Coral Palms
Pairing: Jake Peralta/OC
Rating: K+
Warning: Cursing.
A/N: Here's another AU for me to get started on writing stories again. Unfortunately, this means that both my Sherlock & Benedict Cumberbatch fan fictions are on hiatus. I'll upload a chapter or two for those as well but no promises. This is my baby for the next few months.
I'm a big Brooklyn 99 and Andy Samberg fan so this shouldn't be a surprise. I find it weird shipping actual characters in the series even though Jake & Amy are goals, so I'm going to add an OC here. No hate, but constructive criticism is always welcomed. Let's get to it.
Chapter One- Robbery At A Bridal Shower
"She doesn't shut up, does she?" Veronica murmured, eyeing Cousin Jordan as she went on about the 'viral' video she had taken the day before and how much money she'd make off it once she'd put it online.
Violet looked in the direction of their dear cousin as well, before sighing. "Nope, she won't."
"Remind me why this was necessary," Vanessa groaned.
"Dad wanted the entire family to attend Val's wedding," Violet told her once more, "and he also wanted them to take part in everything."
"So, we're going to see Cousin Jordan at the bachelorette party, aren't we?" Veronica inquired.
Vanessa faked a gag as she replied to her twin sister, "Oh no, I'm going to go on a murder spree if that happens."
"Hate to break it to you guys, but she will be attending," Violet informed them. Her statement was followed by quiet groans from her sisters. "Oh c'mon, it's not that bad!" she told them. "Imagine how Val's feeling. She's got to pretend that she's interested or there's going to be a lot of drama. Try to support her, at least!"
She sent her sisters a look and they rolled their eyes before crossing their arms. Not for the first time this morning, Violet sighed.
She had known this would happen the moment Valerie had told them that she was marrying her middle school sweetheart, Brett Nelson. None of them had been particularly enthusiastic about it- as far as Violet remembered, Brett was plain- granted he'd been the quarterback in his high school football team, and everyone in town seemed to know him, but she wasn't sure how he and Valerie could work out.
After all, Valerie a big city girl. Their family had moved to Washington when Val was twelve, and she had handled the change from Coral Palms to DC quite well. For the last fifteen years, she hadn't given any indication of missing Coral Palms at all, and had even hated their visit last November when their grandmother was sick. However, during that time she'd met Brett and then...
Well, Violet liked to think that the rest was history. Her sisters were convinced that Brett Nelson had hypnotized her. But Val was really in love.
And Violet knew that because every time she saw Val and Brett, she was reminded of their parents. Sure, her parents had had a rocky relationship, but they'd done well for themselves. They were the perfect couple in Violet's eyes and they'd been going strong for thirty-one years. Violet could only dream of a marriage like her parents and whenever she saw Val and Brett, she felt as though she was looking at her parents again.
Of course, Vanessa and Veronica wouldn't understand that. They were just fourteen. They were also quite childish for their age but that was because everyone at home had spoiled them rotten. Especially Valerie. They'd also never lived in Coral Palms, having been born and raised in Washington, and from what Violet could tell, were quite taken aback with the small town their family was from. The twins had been causing havoc since they had arrived in Coral Palms, something which many people in town didn't appreciate. At all. Finally, Violet had been assigned to mother them, so they wouldn't do something too offensive during their stay. After all, Coral Palms was nothing like Washington. Things worked differently here. Which was also why Violet felt quite concerned about her sister's decision to marry Brett.
Still, she trusted her judgement more than anyone else. Even if their family thought that she was on crack, Violet stood by her sister's decision. Speaking of sister-
She turned her attention towards the head of the table to find Valerie- who was sitting a couple of seats away from Cousin Jordan, pretending to pay attention- looking at her.
'Help me!' she mouthed discreetly. Violet gave her an encouraging smile which Val returned almost gratefully. 'Where's Tora?' she mouthed once more.
Violet looked around the single long table that sat in the middle of the room where all fifty-eight of their guests were sitting. There were a couple of empty chairs but no sign of Victoria.
Typical.
'I'll look,' she mouthed back to Valerie before turning to the twins on either side of her.
"Behave," she told them sternly, "I'm going to go look for Tora."
They nodded silently, and Violet stood up from her chair and went out of the reserved area, wondering where she could find-
There she is.
Shaking her head, Violet walked out of the restaurant towards her eldest sister who was standing in the parking lot, talking to someone on the phone. Well, yelling at someone on the phone but that wasn't the point.
She briefly smiled at her before proceeding to curse at whoever was on the other end and hanging up. "What's up, Violetta?" she greeted her, teasingly, knowing full well how much she, like all their sisters, hated her full name.
"Val wants you to be inside," she told her.
Tora shook her head. "Tell Val that it's her bridal shower. Not mine. Someone's gotta do all the adult work here. Want some?" She held out her pack of cigarettes for Violet who scrunched up her nose in response.
"Eww, keep those vile things away from me!" she cried, causing her sister to chuckle.
"Violet hates vile things," Tora muttered under her breath, just loud enough for her to hear, "isn't that funny?"
"It's not funny, Tora," she told her, watching her as she lit a cigarette. "Cigarettes cause cancer."
"Well duh, that's the point..."
"Seriously, I don't want you to die before me!"
Tora looked heavenwards, making a face as she said, "Well, I hate to break it to you, Violet but I'm ten years older than you so...awkward."
"God, you're so annoying," Violet grumbled, "seriously. Valerie really wants you inside. You've been working like crazy since we got here, Tora. Give it a rest."
Her sister looked shocked. "Rest? I can't rest, Violet. I've gotta make sure that Val's wedding is perfect. I can't let anyone ruin it. Gosh, I hate this town and I need to make sure that no one brings up anything-"
"Well, our dear cousin Jordan's been talking about some viral video she took for the last forty minutes," she informed her, "I'd say that qualifies as ruining the wedding."
"I swear to God, how are we related to her?" Tora wondered aloud. "I think now's a good time to take a DNA test and prove that Dad's adopted."
Violet giggled. "Cousin Jordan won't believe in it. She thinks that DNA tests are a government conspiracy."
"Well, can you tell her that I'm the Deputy Legislative Director for Bernie Sanders?" Tora asked her. "And that we're totally making America a Communist state."
"Don't say that!" Violet scolded her. "You know how things are like here!"
Tora rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I couldn't care less," she said, "I just need to make sure that Val has a great wedding, then this town and its people can fuck off."
Violet sighed. "Between you and the twins, I'm surprised that Dad's family isn't boycotting the wedding yet."
"They won't boycott the wedding because there's free food and drinks, Violet. That's it. They're not doing this because they want to be near us," Tora explained, "they're doing it for the booze. And the free WiFi. But if it makes Dad and Mom, and Val happy, I'm happy. Now, if you excuse me- I've got to make some calls. They say that Bernadette's is the best bakery in the tri-swamp area but I don't really like the dessert options there. I think I'm gonna have the desserts flown in from Washington with the wedding cake."
"You're basically bringing Washington to Coral Palms at this point, you know."
"I know. But that's because this town's shit and I don't know why Val's getting married here and not in New York or some place but I'm going to make sure she has her dream wedding anyway."
"Ever the perfectionist, Tora."
"Yeah I know."
"You're the best," Violet commended her sister, hugging her.
Tora laughed, returning the hug. "Yeah, I know that too."
"But you should really come inside. Val wants you in," Violet told her, before stepping back. "We can't let Cousin Jordan talk about that video during the entire wedding."
"I'll see to-" The words hadn't come out of her mouth yet when they heard Cousin Jordan's voice.
"I demand to see the manager!"
Violet and Tora looked at the entrance of the restaurant where the bridal shower brunch was taking place to find Jordan Karfton shouting at the manager.
"She has a very annoying voice, doesn't she?" Tora asked Violet who simply sighed. Then she walked towards Jordan and the poor manager of the restaurant. Violet followed.
"What's going on here?"
Seeing Tora, Jordan turned her focus solely on her, forgetting about the man she had been berating, completely. "Do you know what one of the waiters told me?" she shrieked.
She didn't give her a chance to respond. "She told me to shut up. Because I've been talking about the video I made! Can you believe it? How dare she say shut up to me? We've paid for this restaurant!"
Tora smirked at the statement and Violet had to pinch her arm to stop her from saying something. If it hurt her,Tora didn't show any indication. She didn't even flinch and instead, spoke to the manager, in a calm, disinterested voice, "Please tell your staff not to comment on anything. They shouldn't hear anything when they're in the room with our guests. They shouldn't be commenting on anything that our guests say. They're shadows. Tell them to pretend that they don't exist. Can you do that for me?"
"Yes, of course, I'm so sorry," the manager nodded. He apologized multiple times before walking into the restaurant. Tora smirked. The restaurant was part of the only four-star hotel in the entire tri-swamp area. It was also the site of Val and Brett's wedding. The manager would listen to them. Three out of the four wedding events were being held here.
"You didn't have to be so mean to him, you know," Violet commented.
Tora shrugged. Violet took it as her queue to leave.
"Well," Jordan said after a few moments of silence during which she observed Tora smoke. "People sure listen to you."
Tora smiled a bit at that.
"I heard your ma telling my ma that you work with politicians back in Washington D.C. Is it true?"
"Yup." Tora nodded.
"So, is this why you're always wearing a suit?" she went on. "When I first saw you, I thought you were just some arrogant city girl who had her head too far up her own ass but you- you're the real deal!"
Tora genuinely laughed at that one. "You'd be surprised how many people have their heads up their arses back in Washington, Jordan. It's not uncommon there."
"So, who do you work for?"
"I work for an independent Senator. I stay out of the whole Democrat- Republican-" Cousin Jordan was nodding her head in agreement as though she understood what Tora was talking about. That tempted her to tell her who she worked for but decided not to. She could wreck havoc after Val's wedding. Not right now. "-rivalry going on. I just wanna serve the country, is all."
"That's what it should be," Jordan agreed, "I can only imagine how brutal D.C might be. Tell me, are you interested in becoming a politician one day?"
"Well..." Truth be told, becoming a senator or at least a representative was pretty high on Tora's list but only her sisters knew that. She wasn't sure if she wanted Cousin Jordan to know about her plans in the VERY likely event that she told people about it. After all, there were still a good five to ten years before Tora ran for anything. She didn't want to sabotage herself by letting her big mouth, gossip-loving cousin know about it. "Probably not. I'm happy with the way things are right now. There's mom and dad and the twins to take care of. And Violet just started medical school. I don't think I have that kind of time."
"My ma thinks that you're an ATM machine," Jordan told her.
Tora couldn't help but laugh at that. "What?"
"Yeah, that's the only reason why your family's doing so well. It's all because of you, isn't it?"
"Well, no- my dad-"
"Pssft, be real with me, Vicky. Your dad's all talk and no game. Everyone knows that. The only reason why-"
"Jordan Karfton!" A voice announced causing the both of them to look in the other direction. Sure enough, there were two men walking towards them. One was black, and looked oddly familiar, while the other one was white. Tora raised a brow. What was happening here?
While there were African Americans in Coral Palms, seeing them interact with the white folk was rare. After all, Coral Palm was a stereotypical red neck area. It was worse than Texas in some ways and for that, Tora hated it. Or maybe it was just the way they were raised. Their mother had made sure that Tora and her sisters wouldn't be anything like the rest of her paternal family. And for that, Tora was grateful.
All this talk of tanning bed and viral videos were so irritating. There was more to life than that. But it was people like her cousin Jordan and her family who wouldn't get it. They just liked to blame everything wrong with their country on immigrants like her mother who had to work hard every day of their lives to succeed.
Tora couldn't wait to leave Coral Palms forever.
God, she missed Washington.
"What do you two want?" Jordan snapped as the two men approached them.
"Look, I know you'd rather get the tanning bed but you need to listen," the white man- who was the younger of the two- spoke, "our boss will fire us if that video goes viral. You've got to help us out."
"Nah-uh, not my problem," Jordan replied, "I want my tanning bed. And nothing will change that!"
"Now," the African American man spoke, "I understand that you want your tanning bed but-"
"No but's sugar," Jordan interrupted him, "I mean, unless you want-" She gestured between the two of them. "-ya know, this to be a thing. I won't hold it against you. It could still happen, but I really need a tanning bed."
"You don't need a tanning bed, Jordan," Tora decided to intervene, "you look great."
"That's what I told her," he agreed with Tora.
"Yeah but I don't trust you!" Jordan said, before turning to Tora once more. "Do you know what they did last night? We made a deal. They were supposed to pay me $15,000 to delete that video and you know what? They tried to trick me! Thank god I brought Cousin Billy and his friends with me or they would've gotten away with it!"
Tora let out a low whistle. "Woah, that's weird. Why is this video so important to you guys?"
The white man with the bad hair dye spoke. "I told her yesterday. We'll get fired if it goes viral."
Tora turned to Jordan. "C'mon, Jor- these guys clearly need their jobs. Can't you just lay them off?"
"No! I want my tanning bed!"
She sighed. "Okay, I can see the video at least. It can't be that bad."
"Oh sure, it's hilarious," Jordan said, pulling out her phone. She had only pressed play on the video when the guy snatched the phone out of her hands and made a run for it. The African American man waited a few seconds, as if understanding what happened before running off as well.
"My phone!" Jordan roared, grabbing her arm. "They stole my phone!"
"Do you know their names?" Tora asked her.
"No, I don't! Why would I?"
"I- I'm gonna report this to the police," Tora began but was interrupted.
"It's all YOUR fault!"
"My fault?"
"If you never told me to see the video, this would've never happened!"
"Jordan, be reasonable. It-"
"NO! I want my tanning bed and I want my phone! I need to speak to my mom! And Billy and his friends! I need to-"
"Oh Lord..." Tora groaned, quietly so that Jordan wouldn't hear her. This had potential to ruin Val's wedding. Jordan wouldn't shut up about this, she was sure. The last thing Tora wanted was for someone else to be the center of attention in Val's wedding.
So, in spite of her better judgement and the fact that she already had a lot on her plate, Tora turned to Jordan and said, "I'll get your phone back."
Jordan stopped wailing. "You will?"she asked her, looking like a sad child. It occurred to Tora that Jordan used to do this when they were kids as well even. Guess some habits die hard, she mused.
"Yes, I promise you, I'll get your phone back and I'll make sure that you get a good deal on that viral video," Tora said, "I know a few people who can help with that. I just- I need a favour in return."
"Anything for you."
"Just make sure that Val's wedding is awesome."
Cousin Jordan broke into a grin. "This town will never see a wedding as great as Val and Brett's."
Tora nodded. "Great. Now I'm gonna make some phone calls and we'll get your phone."
"Sure you do your thing, girl!"
Tora smiled, and watched Jordan go back in. Why did she have a bad feeling about this?