Author's Notes: It's my birthday, so I decided to celebrate by giving you guys another chapter, enjoy. As regard to a couple of questions I got in reviews, I realize there are CharCoop fans reading this story, and I love that, but I do hope they remember that this is primarily a ViP story and thereby not all chapters will have CharCoop content. Some will, other won't. Hope you're cool with that. As always major shout-out to my wonderful beta, Mediatorsk!
"So, what do you think?" Violet gives a slow twirl, showing off the maroon dress, "Do I make a presentable 'best man'?"
"Presentable is not exactly the word I'd use," a guttural growl escapes Pete's lips as he snakes his arms around her waist, attacking her perfumed neck with soft kisses.
"Pete, seriously," Violet laughs, only making half-assed attempts at pushing her amorous husband away, "If we get this dress wrinkled then Cooper… okay, Cooper isn't going to care, but I don't exactly want to give Charlotte another reason to hate me …"
"Then," Pete slowly unzips the dress, "let's get you out of it…" He slips the dress off of her shoulders, trailing kisses along her clavicle.
"Pete…" Violet's voice carries only a hint of objection, "We'll be late…"
Pete only momentarily tears his attention away from her neck-area, "I have it on good authority that Cooper and Charlotte ran off to fool around in a storage shed in the middle of our wedding… along with Cooper trying to talk you out of marrying me, I figure this is the least they owe us…"
The dress drops to the floor without any further protests…
Post coital bliss is only interrupted by noises from across the hall. "Sounds like someone's woken up from his nap," Violet murmurs, giving her husband one more kiss before gently nudging him to get up. Giving herself a few more seconds to recover, she watches Pete as he pulls on his pants and shirt.
"You better lose that grin before the wedding," she playfully warns him.
"Prepare to lose that dress the minute we get back," he counters, causing her to laugh as he leaves for their son's bedroom.
Half an hour later Lucas is both fed and dressed and playing on the floor with his truck, while Pete adjusts his tie and brushes lint off his jacket. Violet has yet to show her face downstairs and Pete grins smugly as he thinks about the way he thoroughly messed up her hairdo.
The door bell rings and almost immediately he hears Violet's voice from upstairs, "Pete, can you get that? I'm still fighting it out with the flat iron…"
Chuckling to himself, Pete turns to make sure Lucas is still playing nicely at his spot and not getting into any mischief that might delay them further. His good mood however evaporates as he opens the door to find the Turners on the other side, "What are you doing here?"
Dinner didn't go any better after Lucas' miniature food fight. All throughout the evening conversation had been laced with passive aggressive remarks that the couple altered between counter-arguing and stepping around. It was a miracle neither of them had lost their cool by the time they left to put Lucas to bed.
"You're dressed up," Mary Anne remarks, a hint of surprise in her voice.
"Yes, we're going to a wedding," Pete explains.
"Oh," Mary Anne's eyes suddenly light up, "Then we could be of assistance, take Lucas off your hands for the day, give the boy a break from that nanny." She makes no effort to hide the disdain she feels about the couple's choice of caretaker.
"He's the ring bearer," Pete counters, grateful for the excuse. He doesn't mention the part where Maria will come to pick Lucas up after the ceremony, freeing both parents up to enjoy the night together. He might have promised Violet to give her parents a proper chance, but he draws a line at leaving his child alone with these people.
"I'm done, I'm done," Violet announces as she hurries down the stairs, "I swear, that's the last time I let you…" She stops mid-sentence when she spots her parents, "Mom? Dad?"
"Violet," Mary Anne's fake smile and faux maternal tone could fool anyone who doesn't know her, but they give Pete the chills.
"W-what are you doing here?" Violet looks at her parents with a nonplussed expression on her face.
"They came to offer to watch Lucas for us," Pete quickly explains.
"Well, he's the ring bearer, so…"
"Whose wedding is it you're attending?" Stephen asks.
"It's Cooper's," Violet answers, "Cooper and Charlotte's…"
"I see," Mary Anne says shortly, "And is this one another parentless affair or was that just the two of you?"
Pete clenches his fists. More than anything he wants to speak up, but what he has to say would require a lot more time than what they currently have, so he forces himself to let it slide, "You know what," he says instead, "We really should get going, so…" He quickly flashes Violet the time.
"Damnit," Violet curses under her breath, "I'm sorry," she quickly apologizes to her parents, "It's just that we're running late, and Lucas is the ring bearer and I'm best man, so this is… bad…"
Pete turns to pick up Lucas, while Violet grabs the bags and locks the door. "Some other time," she promises, as they both rush past her parents in the direction of the car.