Title: A Ring, Scotch, and Talk of Other Things
Author: scgirl_317
Summary: After a slow week, Billy gets bored and starts pestering Rick. Things get very interesting when Rick responds.
Author's Note: And now we come to the end of our tale. That's the way Shakespeare would put it, anyways. CBS has officially cancelled CHAOS after only a 13 episode run for reasons beyond my comprehension, but anywho. (Side note: what is it with Eric Close and his shows only lasting 1-2 seasons? Dark Skies, Magnificent Seven, Now and Again, and now CHAOS? It's like he's jinxed! Without a Trace was the only one that had a decent run.) Rick and Adele are far too cute together, and the finale got me brewing on the two of them. This has been developing in my mind all day, and I have no idea how it's going to turn out, but it'll be fun unfolding it!
There were no two ways about it. Billy was bored.
It had been an ungodly slow week for the ODS. No missions to the far reaches of the earth, no bad guys to track down and catch. The only catching that had been done was the catching up of back-logged paperwork. And that had been turned in two days ago. Billy didn't normally consider himself a person who needed constant activity, but this was getting a bit ridiculous.
With a huff, he sat back in his chair and took in his teammates. Michael was nose-deep in a book, likely some war hero biography or Sun Tzu translation; Dorset had read The Art of War twice.
Casey was reading what appeared to be a fairly in-depth report on the improvements the Israeli Special Forces were implementing in their training program. Billy didn't think you could improve on the Israelis, but apparently, they did.
Rick… Billy paused to consider his youngest and newest teammate. Martinez had seemed off all week, either on pins and needles or completely zoned out. That seemed to have passed, and now he had this stupid grin on his face as he scrolled down on whatever he was reading on his computer. Said stupid grin was usually reserved for whenever Adele was around and he was off duty. The sudden switch intrigued Billy, as did the expression on Rick's face.
Suddenly, Billy knew how he could entertain himself. For a little while, at least. Rick did not like to talk about his relationship with the deputy director while at work—Billy suspected she was the cause of said stupid grin—and Billy got great amusement from riling people up. His plan set in his mind, he began laying the bait.
"You seem rather chipper, today," he said casually.
"Things are just going very well for me, right now," Rick replied, just as casually.
"Wouldn't happen to have anythin' to do with a certain deputy director, would it?" Collins began fishing.
Rick didn't respond, but the stupid grin never wavered. The exchange had now gathered Casey and Michael's attention, and the latter took a serious look at Rick.
"Oh no, you didn't," Michael groaned, setting his book on his desk.
"Didn't what?" Rick asked. There was no way Dorset could know what had happened last night… could he?
"What?" Malick asked, recognizing the hybrid look of dry amusement and annoyance that only Dorset could ever pull off.
"I know that look," Michael said. "I had that look plastered on my face for a month."
"Why?" prompted Billy.
"Fay agreed to marry me," Michael said, raising an eyebrow at Rick. "Anything you care to tell us, Martinez?"
Rick shrugged, the stupid grin spreading into an even goofier smile, "She said yes."
"You proposed to the deputy director?" Casey asked, torn between shock and amusement.
"Yep!"
"And she said yes?" Casey continued.
"So that explains why you've been so nervous all week!" Billy exclaimed. "You've been carryin' the bloody ring in your pocket for days!"
"I guess congratulations are in order," Michael said. "Would it be too soon to ask if you've settled on a date?"
"Next Saturday," Rick answered.
Billy chocked on his coffee.
"You mean, a-week-and-a-half-from-now next Saturday?" Casey asked, his eyes widening.
"Yeah," Rick assured them. "We talked about it. Neither one of us want any big, grand spectacle. Her parents have a house in Alexandria; we'll get married in their back yard. Simple clothes, small reception, and my sister was already planning to come up for a visit next weekend, anyway. It made sense."
The other three conceded that his logic was sound.
"Well, this is an occasion," Billy chuckled. "The first ODS wedding, and it's our own young Martinez."
"No one in the ODS has ever gotten married?" Rick asked.
"Not while they were in the ODS," Casey replied. "The closest we've come to having a married man in the unit is Michael joining before his divorce was final."
That sobered Rick somewhat, remembering his ill-thought-out dalliance with Dorset's ex-wife when he first joined the team. He would like to think he'd wizened up some since then.
"This calls for celebration," Billy called out, cutting the tension and opening his desk drawer.
He reached in and pulled out a flask, tossing it to Rick.
"What is this?" Rick asked, eyeing it warily.
"You'd think the boy'd know a flask when he saw one," Billy noted jokingly.
"No, I mean, what's in it?"
"My granddad owned a distillery, south of Edinburgh. Family's been brewin' that stuff for years."
Rick carefully unscrewed the cap, almost as if he was diffusing a bomb, and took a sip. At first, the liquor went down smooth, but after several seconds, it hit like a punch in the gut. Billy laughed; it was everyone's reaction to tasting the strong scotch for the first time. Michael smiled, remembering the first time he'd been knocked out by the Collins' brew. Rick stopped coughing enough to manage to screw the cap back on the flask and set it on his desk.
"So, your days of bachelorhood are numbered," Billy began ominously. "You do realize what this means, don't you, Martinez?"
"Uh," was all Rick could manage to utter, still recovering from the scotch.
"It means, my young friend, that we are going to throw you one hell of a bachelor party," Billy answered with a grin.
"ODS-style," Michael added, grinning conspiratorially.
Rick knew he was in for it. He knew that a bachelor party with the ODS would not involve the typical strippers and gallons of booze—granted, if it was Billy's "home brew", it wouldn't take gallons. He didn't know what to expect, but he knew that with those guys anything was possible.
"I have just one request," he stated in what he hoped was an air of finality. "I want to arrive at my wedding on time, and not drunk or hungover."
"Deal," the three chorused at once.
What did he just get himself into?