Disclaimer: I own the story and any random OC's found here. I own nothing else after that.
A/N: Thank you so much, everyone, for all of your support! You guys are amazing! :D
"Oh, you look beautiful." Traci gushed moments later to Noelle, helping the bride get ready as Andy and Gail sorted out the bouquets, removed Noelle's veil from its box, and kept track of time. Though not bridesmaids, they were friends of Noelle's and wanted to help. Noelle was extremely grateful, since her bridesmaids were running late. They had taken Chloe's car, but a tire had blown out en route. A flat tire was a flat tire; fortunately, Gail had dispatched Dov and Nick to help them out before they were late.
Also, fortunately, Noelle's sister Julia, the maid-of-honor, was present. She was grateful for all of her sister's support leading up to the wedding.
Nearby, Julia sat with Noelle and Frank's daughter, attempting to put little Mary-Jane shoes on the infant's feet. The psychic had been right- she and her sister had grown closer after she had had her daughter. She was going to send him a "thank you" card once she got back from her honeymoon.
"Thank you." Noelle said, barely containing her exuberance. "I just… I can't believe that this is really happening. Today is really here, now." She said, grinning at her reflection. She was living every girl's dream- the gorgeous dress, the chapel all decked out to the nines with pretty stained glass and flowers everywhere, the groom that took her breath away, and her socks off when she fell asleep in front of the TV, and the daughter she had always prayed for.
It was elegant and amazing and beautiful and…
And just what I always wanted, Noelle thought with a grin.
Turning, she and Traci exchanged smiles. She knew that Traci was masking the pain she felt inside, thinking about what her wedding to Jerry would've been like, but that she wasn't going to let it burst to the surface. No, she was too good a person to do that.
"Ok, we have thirty minutes until the wedding begins." Andy said, checking the time on her phone before storing it in her clutch again. "Do we put the veil on now or…?"
Julia looked up, having successfully put the baby's shoes on- much to the child's chagrin- and gasped. And then gave her sister a watery smile. "Oh Noelle, you look beautiful."
Noelle's eyes grew misty at that point too, so happy to be close to her sister once more. "Thanks, Jules."
Gail snapped a picture of the sisters at that point, taking it to capture the moment. "Perfect." She said, checking the digital camera's tiny screen quickly.
The atmosphere was one of joy. It was a day that everyone had prayed would be perfect for the couple, especially Noelle, and it was.
"Thank you, Gail, for referring us to your mother's friend. She's a miracle maker," Noelle said as Gail smiled and shrugged.
"You guys needed a wedding planner and she needed work; it was fate." Gail said, adjusting the camera's settings.
Andy and Traci exchanged silent looks. Gail and Nick's breakup had reverted Gail back to her original take-no-garbage personality, yet they knew there was more to the story than what was being said.
Julia got up and went over to her sister, wrapping one arm around her while the other held Noelle's daughter close. "I'm so happy for you, sis."
Gail snapped a picture of the embrace- definitely one for the photo album- while someone knocked on the door. "Candygram!" Oliver's playful tone came through the door, causing Noelle to laugh.
"Come in, Oliver." She called through the door.
The door cracked opened first a tiny bit, as if Oliver was waiting for a thrown shoe to fly his way, and then opened it even further. "It's not bad luck if the best friend sees the bride before the wedding?" he asked, being himself.
Noelle laughed as Traci called out, with a smile on her face, "Not at all."
"Oh good," Oliver said as he pushed the door open all the way and stepped into the room, closing it carefully behind him so as to prevent Frank from seeing Noelle. "Guess that means I'm supposed to dish out wisdom and make sure she's ready to walk down the aisle." He said as Julia grinned.
"Hey, I'm off the hook then. I'm just gonna keep track of my niece." Julia said, taking a seat again, the baby cradled close. With a skilled hand, she grasped a headband that she'd placed nearby, the final piece to the little girl's ensemble. With lightning-fast fingers, she put the adorable lilac accessory on the baby's head, the tiny item matching the baby's dress perfectly.
"Aw, she looks so cute." Andy said, tiptoeing over to peer at the child, who looked rather disgruntled now that she wore the headband. "Though I don't think she likes the headband."
With perfect timing, the child reached up and pushed the headband off with a wobbly little fist. It dropped to the floor, under the table. The little girl seemed quite smug with herself then.
Jules sighed. "I know what I'll be doing all day."
Andy chuckled as she retrieved the headband. "Maybe she'll come around to it."
Jules shook her head. "Doubt it."
Oliver smiled at his best friend- the best friend that was also causing his heart to break right then.
Though he wanted to tell her how he felt, he wasn't about to admit that he had always loved her, especially not today, her wedding day. God help him though- he wished that he had had the courage to admit it a long time ago instead of knowing that he would spend the rest of his life silencing his weeping heart.
Pasting a smile on his face, he watched as Noelle nervously smoothed her skirt out. "You look absolutely beautiful, Noelle. Just perfect."
Noelle's fluttering hands stopped and she smiled sheepishly. "Oh, thank you. That's… Really sweet of you, Oliver."
Oliver nodded, his hands tucked into his suit pockets. "Yep, that's what I'm here for. And, to ask if you having everything. So, something old?"
His best friend, the woman he had been in love with for a long time, nodded and laughed. Tugging at one earring, she grinned. "Recognize these? I've had them since Junior High and been wearing them for as long as I've been a part of the 15th division."
With a grin, he nodded. "Indeed, I do recognize them." She'd been wearing them when they had first met. "Something new?"
"What isn't new?" Noelle asked as Gail left. "Everything I'm wearing is all new," she said, twirling partway to show off the dress.
Oliver nodded, momentarily losing his voice. "Ok; good. Anything blue?"
Panic momentarily crossed Noelle's face, and then she calmed down. "Does blue toenail polish count?"
"It does," Julia answered. "Totally."
"Oh thank God." Noelle laughed lightly. "I'm good there. So that just leaves…" She stopped before she said, "borrowed". "Oh no." She'd forgotten something borrowed.
The women of the room leapt into action at that point, going through their purses for stray jewelry for Noelle as Oliver waved his hand.
"Don't panic; I've got this." Oliver said, reaching into his pockets for stray items. "I have…" He withdrew his tie, a keychain, and a pocket knife Noelle had given him one Christmas.
Squinting, she realized that she'd also given him that tie. It was in the shape of a trout. I need to get him to buy some more ties, she noted as he offered his findings to her.
"Any of these work?" he asked, looking hopeful. "Oh, I also have my phone, but I don't know if you really want to risk it going off during the service."
Noelle smiled again. "You are one of the greatest friends ever; thank you." She said, selecting the pocket knife from the collection. "You said it's always brought you luck," she said as smiled at Oliver. "Well, I'm borrowing that luck for today."
"Hey, I'll do anything I can to help." Oliver jammed his keys and tie back into his pocket, rocking nervously on his heels.
In the silence that followed his statement, Noelle realized that Oliver wasn't telling her something, but that he was in pain. And, knowing that, hurt her a little.
Down the hall, Gail went looking for the groom. She wondered if he and the groomsmen, since they were all there, wanted to get their pictures taken before the ceremony began. She was the unofficial photographer, since she felt
KNOCK KNOCK. Her knuckles wrapped against the door, though it was ajar. When Frank didn't answer, not even a grunt, Gail growled in annoyance and pushed the door open even further.
Instead of spotting a panicking Frank trying to remove coffee from his suit coat, she spotted Frank putting his phone and keys into his jeans pocket, his back to her, with his suit in a crumpled mess on the floor nearby. He was obviously getting ready to leave, not getting ready to stand in front of a church.
Shocked, Gail pulled the door back into its original spot and then began heading towards the room where the groomsmen were. This situation was one that she had no clue how to fix. She needed someone's help.
Sam, one of the few members of the 15th who was in the wedding party, was easily found in the groomsmen dressing room, just down the hall from the panicking Frank.
In the midst of conversing with Frank's cousin, Luke, and Noelle's brother-in-law, Sam had no clue what was going on until Gail appeared in the nearby doorway.
"Uh, Sam? I think we have a problem," she said, nervously fiddling with the camera in her hands as he turned to look at her.
Sam raised an eyebrow at the blonde before crossing the room. "What's wrong?"
"It's Frank," Gail stated simply. "You need to speak with him." She paused as Sam heard Luke clear his throat in the background, the room growing quiet. "Right now." She added after a pregnant pause.
Oh boy. That can mean very few things. Sam thought as he nodded calmly before following Gail out of the room. Please, Frank, be having a wardrobe issue.
Oh, he so wasn't.
"I gotta get out of here, Sam. I need some space." Frank said, shoving his suit into its garment bag when Sam arrived in the room moments later.
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Uh, in case you hadn't noticed, you're about to get married, Frank." Sam said, not sure why everyone was behaving so oddly that day. "In, like…" He looked at his watch- from Jerry- and sighed. "Twenty minutes, tops."
Frank shook his head as he pulled his leather jacket on, looking distressed. "I can't, Sam."
That stopped Sam cold in his tracks as he watched Frank begin to nervously pace.
"What do you mean, "You can't"?" Sam echoed, though he knew exactly what Frank was getting at. "You're not seriously considering walking out on you and your fiancée's- the mother of your child and the love of your life's- wedding, are you?"
His tone implied that he wasn't at all accepting Frank's cold-heartedness.
Frank looked up as he stopped pacing and the two men's eyes met, an unspoken message passing between them. Frank was going to do that.
Sam was stunned; Frank was an old friend, and so was Noelle, so he was caught in the middle of a situation that he didn't really want to be in.
"Well, this is a surprise." Was all Sam could say at the moment; he had had no experience with someone getting cold feet at a wedding before.
Hopefully, I can talk some sense back into him.
While Sam tried to talk Frank out of making one of the biggest mistakes of his life, Gail went looking for Oliver. She figured that the best friend of the bride, who was also a friend of the groom's, might be able to help. Fortunately, he was right where she'd last seen him.
Peaking into the room, Gail cleared her throat and tried to sound as casual as possible as she spoke. "Um, Oliver? Could I have your help for a minute?" she asked, meeting Traci's eyes as she tried to subtly signal that there was a problem.
Traci didn't catch the look, but Julia did.
"Uh… Sure." Oliver said, not sure what was going on. "I'll go check it out," he told Noelle with a casual pat on the arm before heading out the door.
"What was that about?" Noelle wondered as Julia realized that there was a- hopefully slim- chance that involved Frank.
"Um… Maybe there's a- a cake problem." Julia suggested, looking to Andy for help.
"Yeah, I'm sure it was just something simple. Maybe Dov and Nick had a problem with changing Chloe's tire." Andy suggested. "It'll be fine."
Traci nodded. "Yeah." Though, by the tone in her voice, she was thinking the same thing Noelle was.
Before any of the other ones could stop her, Noelle was out the door, following Oliver and Gail.
By the time Oliver reached the room Frank was in, Frank and Sam were just short of yelling.
"You're being a coward." Sam snapped at Frank, his eyes flashing as Oliver entered the room.
"Maybe so, but I'm trying to protect her. I don't want to break her heart after the wedding, or now. I just…" Frank ran his hand through his hair, stopping short as Oliver sighed.
"All right, I'm guessing by the conversation, and how you're dressed," he nodded at Frank at that point, "that the groom is about to… Leave."
"Yep, that's right." Sam in a short, terse tone.
Frank glared at Sam as Oliver sighed, Gail excusing herself with a mumbled remark of locating Dov and questioning his tire-changing abilities. "Ok, um… So, let's talk about this."
"Don't." Frank shook his head at Oliver, knowing exactly what he was doing.
"Don't what? Want to know why you're leaving my best friend on her wedding day, the day she's dreamt about for years?" Oliver asked, losing his temper for a moment.
The moment when Andy, Traci, and Noelle reached the door.
"What?" Andy blurted out the word before she could stop herself, startling the three men.
Traci took one look at the situation and knew that it was better if she left, not giving any excuse. She was going to go let Julia know what was happening though, since the dedicated sister had stayed behind with the baby.
"Frank… Are you?" Noelle asked softly, stepping into the room slowly.
Oliver closed his eyes at that point, furious with himself for not shielding her, though he knew that Noelle would've been upset if he had.
"Noelle, I'm sorry…" Frank said, pain in his eyes. "I…"
"Don't." Noelle shook her head, obviously fighting back tears. "Just don't."
Then, she was gone. She'd taken off running down the hallway, her train trailing behind her, as she tried valiantly not to cry.
"Noelle-" Frank started forward only to have Oliver shake his head.
"Don't bother." Oliver growled, storming past Frank after Noelle. "Noelle, wait!"
That left Andy standing awkwardly in the doorway, with Sam and Frank glaring at each other.
"Nice going, Frank." Sam uttered as Frank's eyes flashed. "You're throwing away a love of a lifetime over cold feet? That's ridiculous, man. She loves you, and you love her. If you let her walk away now then you may never get her back. Could you live knowing that you caused her that much pain?"
Frank snorted. "Are you talking about me and Noelle, Sam, or you and Andy?"
Sensing that it would be in her best interest to leave, and not wanting to hear Sam's answer right when she was finally getting over him, Andy cleared her throat. "I'm gonna go see if Oliver and Noelle are ok." She said, hurrying away from the doorway.
Sam cringed, attempting to collect his thoughts, before glaring at Frank again.
Will this day ever make sense?!
One chapter remains in this short-but-sweet tale. It will be up soon, FYI.
Reviews are lovely. Cake of your choice for you. ^_^
Flamers will have to contact my secretary who seems to have replaced the office phone with a bag of candy, so good luck there.