CHAPTER 7

Meanwhile in Tech City, the Chaotix team along with Tikal and Nails were all gathered at a church to finally celebrate the wedding between Espio and Tonya. Everyone was dressed in formal attire while they all sat and watched the wedding taking place in front of them.

Espio and Tonya were standing with each other while they stood in front of the altar with the preacher standing between them.

Espio felt like he couldn't take his eyes away from her while he gently held her hands.

She wore a beautiful long white dress with a lace design on the sleeves of the dress. Her eyes happily locked onto his as she looked through her transparent white veil.

Espio wore a black tuxedo, black dress pants, and black dress shoes. He held onto her hands lovingly. "You're beautiful", he whispered to her softly.

A warm blush had formed on her face while she smiled warmly, "I love you."

A warm smile formed on his lips as he whispered back to her. "I love you too."

While the preacher continued to speak, Appex sat there on the pew and lazily turned to Midnight who sat beside him. He spoke to him in a low voice. "I wonder how many weddings we're gonna end up going to?"

Midnight nervously looked around as if he was on guard. "I just hope a demon dog doesn't decide to crash the party."

Freya who sat beside Midnight had turned to him in confusion as she overheard his and Appex's conversation. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh, nothing." He wanted to explain to her what had happened during Shadow and Rouge's wedding but he felt like that wasn't the time to tell her about it. He then felt Appex lightly nudge him on his arm.

"Oh geez. Check out Ker." He pointed over to the demon who sat in between Nails and Tikal.

Tikal gently patted Ker's hand as she watched him wipe a tear from his face. "Oh, Ker. I had no idea you were so emotional."

He softly sniffed, "I'm sorry. Weddings just make me so happy."

Nails had made an annoyed look as she recalled him crying during Shadow and Rouge's wedding as well. "Ker, you knock me on my ass more and more each day."

The group was then startled when Shadow had suddenly stood from his seat from the back of them. He angrily looked over to the rest of the group. "I wish you'd all shut the hell up! I can barely hear their vows!"

The entire group had then realized that they were being a little loud and disrespectful. "S-Sorry!"

From Shadow's sudden outburst, the preacher, Espio, and Tonya had paused and looked over to the group. Once they saw the group settle down, they tried to continue with the ceremony.

The preacher had then cleared his throat and continued. He looked over to Espio. "Do you, Espio, take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife? To love, honor, and cherish her through sickness and health, through times of happiness and travail, until death do you part?"

He warmly smiled towards her, "I do."

The preacher had then turned to Tonya, "And do you, Tonya, take this man to be your lawful wedded husband? To love, honor, and cherish him through sickness and in health, through times of happiness and travail, until death do you part?"

She happily smiled at the chameleon, "I do."

The group smiled happily as the preacher continued and saw Espio slowly place the wedding ring onto Tonya's finger.

The preacher continued, "You come to me as two single people and you will now leave as a married couple, united to each other by the binding contract you have just entered. Your cares, your worries, your pleasures, your joys you must share with each other. The best of good fortune to both of you." He closed the bible he was reading and turned to the couple, "you may kiss the bride."

As soon as Espio pulled back her veil, Tonya happily leaned in and pressed her lips against his while she had her arms wrapped around his neck.

While they both shared their first kiss as a married couple, the group happily cheered for them.

Rouge leaned against Shadow's shoulder while she sat next to him while holding Spike in her arms. "God I'm so jealous."

The black and red hedgehog arched an eyebrow towards her. "...Why is that?"

She held out her hand towards Espio and Tonya as she started to explain to him. "Because they didn't have a group of psychopaths trying to wreck their wedding!"

He crossed his arms and formed a small smirk as he looked away from her. "You loved every bit of our wedding and you know it."

A sweat drop appeared on the side of her head, "We all almost died!"

He placed his hand on her bare thigh and gently stroked it. "Good times, babe. Good times..."

She sat there and continued to give him an annoyed look while he recalled how hellish their wedding actually was.

Back at Luke's house, Nicole stood there in the middle of the kitchen having her eyes locked onto Lori's. She couldn't believe it. The woman standing in front of her was actually Luke's ex wife and judging by her expression, she didn't seem at all happy to see her. "You...you're Lori?"

She crossed her arms and glanced at her up and down in annoyance, "Yeah? And who might you be?"

Before she could speak, Luke had spoken after he had set Ariana back down onto the floor. "This is Nicole. She's..."

Lori had then quickly spun around to him and pointed at him angrily. "What? Your new slut?"

Nicole gasped and couldn't believe what had just came from her mouth.

Luke had given her the same reaction but he was ten times angrier about it. He grabbed her wrist and coldly glared at her. "Don't fucking come into my house and disrespect my fucking girlfriend!"

Nicole's heart raced. In only a matter of seconds it seemed and Luke and Lori were already at each other's throats. She looked over to Ariana who was getting upset watching her parents argue. She took a small step forward, "Lucas, please..." she begged.

Luke turned to Nicole's worried face and saw her directing her eyes over to Ariana who was giving him and Lori upsetting looks. He took a deep breath and took his hand from her wrist. He then felt Ariana hug at his leg again.

She looked up at him with tears swelling in her eyes. "...Daddy?"

Lori glanced down at Ariana and then looked back to Luke while having her hands on her hips. "Lucas, why don't you help Ariana with her bags. They're heavy", she spoke in a bitter tone.

He knew exactly what she had wanted. He knew that she wanted to talk personally to Nicole to perhaps fill her head with lies and trying to get her to hate him. He stood there with his fists clenched angrily until he felt Ariana tugging at his arm.

"Daddy..."

He saw her expression towards him and he knew had to try to calm himself down. He didn't want to upset her even more than she was getting. He was willing to calm himself for Ariana's sake. "I'll meet you outside, sweetie."

With a small smile on her face, she let go of his arm and ran outside to wait for him.

When he saw her running back outside, he stormed over to Lori and whispered harshly into her ear. "I'm warning you. Stop your fucking bullshit. Especially in front of our daughter."

She crossed her arms in annoyance and flashed her eyes over to his. "Go help your daughter. Now", she spoke coldly.

He glanced back at a worried Nicole and then coldly glared back at Lori before he walked out of the door.

Once he and Ariana were outside, Lori slowly took a step forward towards Nicole. "So", she began. "You're Lucas' new whore huh?"

Even after all that, Lori was still determined to hate her in every way possible. "...What is your deal? You just met me!"

Lori's eyes glanced around the messy kitchen and caught sight of how the table had looked and the can of whipped cream on the floor. It didn't take her long to figure out what had actually happened last night. She huffed angrily and turned back to her with an evil smile, "I wonder where he found you at. You know he has a thing for strippers right?"

She couldn't help but to clench her fists in uprising anger. She knew what she was trying to do and it was working. She was only getting more and more angry towards her. "Why are you so hostile? You two are separated."

She angrily crossed her arms. "How dare you! I am not hostile! Why would I be upset over someone like you? Lucas and I aren't even together anymore so don't be so stupid! I honestly can't see why he's so infatuated with you anyway." She took out a pack of cigarettes from the inside of her denim jacket. She took one out the pack and placed it in her mouth. "But then again, you look like the type to just lie there and take it." She took out a blue lighter from the same pocket she got her cigarettes from and lit the cigarette.

She arched an eyebrow, "...What?"

She blew out some smoke, "You heard me. I bet you let him beat the shit out of you."

Now that she thought about it, she had recalled the event that just happened in front of her. While she and Luke were arguing, she did in fact see him having his hand on her wrist. Her heart raced as dark thoughts came rushing to her, "You...you're wrong. Lucas wouldn't do anything like that."

She chuckled under her breath, "You did see what just happened right? He laid his hand right on me. Lucas has always had anger issues." She took another puff of her cigarette, "You've fucked him. You know how much of a beast he can be in bed. Honey, trust me. That's only the beginning..."

There was a moment of silence between the two until Ariana came back inside with a light blue backpack on her back and Luke came behind her while holding a black bag in his hand. She laughed happily as she ran back into the kitchen.

Lori looked down at Ariana who had happily approached her. "Did your father help you with your bags?"

She made a nod as she widely smiled, "He sure did!"

While Lori and Ariana spoke, Luke had locked eyes with Nicole and saw a shocked and saddened expression on her face. He just knew something had happened between them while he wasn't present. He set the bag he held down onto the floor and kneeled next to Ariana. "Hey why don't you show Miss Nicole some of your drawings in the living room?"

She happily nodded, "Okay!"

Afterwards Lori watched as he stormed over to her and grabbed her arm roughly as he spoke harshly into her ear.

"Upstairs. Now."

Nicole's watched as he grabbed her arm and seeing it ony made her heart race even more. She saw him letting go of Lori's arm and allowed her to make her way upstairs. She then saw him walking over to her and gently rubbed her arm. "I'm sorry, hun..."

She turned to him full of worry and placed her hands on his chest. "Lucas", she spoke softly. "Don't do this. I'll be okay."

He slightly shook his head, "Don't worry. Everything will be fine." He glanced over to Ariana who had seemed worried all over again and then turned back to Nicole. "...This won't take long. Keep Ari company will ya?"

She slowly nodded and him gently kiss her forehead before he stormed upstairs along with Lori. This made her sick to her stomach. Just how toxic was his relationship with Lori? What were they planning to do upstairs? Argue? Fight? Her mind was clouded with all kinds of possible dark thoughts. She was distracted from her thoughts when Ariana had tugged at the sleeve of her shirt. She looked down at the smiling young girl and thought that despite the dark situation that was going on, she had to think about Ariana. She was so young and still didn't quite understand the situation with what was happening between her parents. All she knew what she could do was to keep her distracted and happy.

"Hi! I'm Ariana!"

Despite what was going on, she tried to form a warm and wide smile towards the child. "Oh hi! I'm Nicole!"

Moments later, Ariana had sat down with Nicole on the sofa in the living room while she had showed her her drawings.

Nicole had skimmed through all of her artwork and noticed a lot of it was of Luke and Lori. Even though deep down, she was severely disturbed. If Luke and Lori argued like this on a daily before they finally divorced then how was Ariana exactly handling it? "Wow, Ari. I'm impressed. You draw very well."

"Thanks! My daddy says if I keep drawing, I'll be an artist someday!"

Her smiled widened, "I believe him." The two of them were then startled when they heard Luke's loud and angry voice from upstairs.

"Fuck you, you bitch! Get out!"

They both spun around and saw Lori walking downstairs with Luke angrily following behind her.

When Ariana saw Lori making her way into the kitchen, she ran towards her in worry. "...Mommy?"

Lori turned to her and hugged her with a faint smile on her face. "Sorry, sweetie. I gotta go. I'll see you later on tomorrow night okay?"

Tears swelled in her eyes while she hugged her. "Are you and daddy fighting again?"

She slowly looked up at Luke and saw his furious face. Afterwards she looked back at her with the same weak smile on her face. "No, sweetie. We were just talking about adult stuff."

A tear streamed down her face, "That's what you always say..." She saw Lori gently wiping a tear from her face and kissing her forehead.

"I love you, sweetie. Be good for daddy okay?"

She made a slow nod, "Okay..."

Lori stood from the floor and flashed her eyes over to Luke. "Goodbye, Lucas", she spoke bitterly.

While having his arms crossed angrily, he responded back to her in the same bitter way she had done. "Goodbye, Lori."

After when she slammed the door shut behind her, more tears had steamed from Ariana's face. She turned to Luke while she had cried, "I hate it when you two fight!"

He saw her making her way upstairs while sobbing. "Ari!" He called but she didn't stop. "Ariana!" Once he saw her run upstairs, he heavily sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed. "God damn it..."

Nicole slowly approached him. "Should I...leave?"

He slowly shook his head, "I'm sorry, Nicole. I didn't want you to see this..."

"...Do you and Lori fight like this...a lot?" Her mind couldn't help but to wonder what actually happened while he and Lori were upstairs together. She didn't see any strange markings on her but her mind was still in a dark place.

He once again shook his head, "Not since our divorce. The only reason this time was bad was because she caught us together." He turned to her, "I know what she did. I know what she said and she was fucking wrong for that. She's a fucking miserable person and just wants me to be the same way."

Her eyes shifted from his as she nervously began to play with her black hair. "Lori...was she...like this with your other girlfriends?"

"To be honest, you're the only one I've been with since we split up."

"...What?" She couldn't believe it. She was the only one Lori had seen him with and she acted like that?

"She only acted that way towards you because she was obviously jealous. She's never seen me with another woman before. I guess it kinda got to her. But that's no excuse. She shouldn't have talked to you like that especially when she doesn't know a fucking thing about you." He slightly sighed, "she wants to tear us apart. That's all what it is."

She placed her hand gently over her mouth as she recalled how aggressive she got towards her. "She was so angry..."

"Then fuck it. Let her be angry and hateful." He reached out to her and held her hand. He softly kissed her hand. "You and I are happy. That's all that matters."

She formed a small and weak smile as she made a nod.

"Like I said last night, you're one of the best things to happen to me in a long time. I'm glad I have you, hun." He placed his hands on her face and made sure his eyes had locked with hers.

She gently placed her hands onto his chest while she looked up at him, "Lucas..." She watched him slowly leaned in and pressed his lips against hers.

He slowly broke their kiss and began to step away from her as he pointed upstairs. "I'm uh gonna talk to Ari."

She slightly nodded and agreed that Ariana needed comfort and reassurance that everything was okay...for now. She glanced around the messy kitchen. "I'll try to help you clean up a bit down here."

He smiled warmly towards her. "Thanks, hun."

When she saw him walking upstairs, she stood there in the kitchen alone in her thoughts about what had just all happened.

Author's Note: Wow! Lori is quite a bitch eh? Wonder how Nicole plans on handling Luke's crazy situation? Tune in for the next chapter being posted tomorrow! R&R please!

In The Next Chapter...

Luke: Heh how about we get this table dirty again...

Nicole: Um?

Ariana: Miss Nicole! Let's watch cartoons together!

Luke: Wha? Where did she come from!?

Nicole:...Why do you do it?

Luke: Control is something I was always passionate about...

Nicole: I don't know...