A/N - Hardison stands up to his Nana... Parker finds an answer to a, 'burning,' problem...
A/N - I am terrible with certain accents... So I'm not sure what a St. Louis accent is supposed to sound like.
With this chapter I decided not to put much more detail into Hardison's wedding in this story. Let me know what you think...
Would you like to see the wedding happen in this story or would you like to see it as a story of their own?
If you would like to see it in this story would you want full details of both weddings? Would you want the same for Nate and Sophie?
If you would like to see it as a story of their own then would you like to see a separate story of how Sophie gets Nate to marry her?
Let me know!
After crashing on the couch at Nate's, the next morning, Hardison was up super early because he was going to have to call his Nana in Chicago. Time zones could be a bitch sometimes, especially since he had to be up at 4a.m. to call her at 6a.m. His Nana was an early riser. Alec left the loft before Nate and Sophie were up to go and buy some breakfast. Half an hour later he came back with a box of still slightly warm croissants with butter topping and three coffees. He knew an all-night place that was open off of Stark and 4th. He pulled himself out a couple pastries and put the box into the microwave to keep them warm, hopefully… Nate and Sophie usually didn't get up before 10 anyway. His Nana never answered the phone right off the bat; she screened her calls because of pesky bill collectors, automated computer calls wanting her to take surveys, and people she just didn't want to talk to. Hardison was probably in hot water already because he hadn't called her in a while, but that street ran both ways. And he'd just been in town not too long ago and didn't stop in and visit. Alec waited for the outgoing message to finish playing before he heard the beep.
"Yo Nana, it's Alec. You home?" He said and when no one picked up, "Guess I'll call back in a bit."
He figured she'd probably gone out to get her morning walk in before breakfast. He sat down at his computer and began to check on the news of the world. He knew that she would be about a half hour gone before she'd be back. Hardison's grandmother was large and in charge, but not like Tyler Perry in a dress; though just as opinionated Medea. She was only 5'6 and sturdy; born and bred in St. Louis. Sweetest thing ever but don't cross her… She could be a bulldog. Alec never could get away with too much. He waited the appropriate amount of time before he dialed her number again.
"Naana, you back yet? I gotsta talk to ya…"
"Ah'm here, just got back. Ah'm all sweaty and stuff. Good lookin' fall day. Gonna start snowin' soon."
"Hey, I gotta talk to you."
"All right, hang on… Ah need mah coffee," Miss Lucille Barnett said. "Just a moment."
She set down the receiver of the phone. Lucille didn't believe in those new-fangled portable phones or digital answering machines. No, she had the kind that still used the two cassette tapes; one for the out-going message and one for incoming messages. She reversed the tape every night before bed to rerecord over the old recordings. The phone had one of those dials on it where you used a finger to turn the wheel to dial a number; nope, no battery operated anything for her… Lucille needed her coffee before she had any conversation with Alec because it was going to be a long stressful one. She wondered what he'd done now… Good Lord, he sure put her through some tribulations while he was growing up under her care. She tried to settle him down, but there were times she didn't know if she'd survive raising him. She was all by herself, a widower, and all wasn't easy raising a foster child on her own. But she thought he seemed very smart and just needed some direction.
Lucille went into the small kitchen and pulled the small box from the upper cabinet. She filled the green hot water pot and put the flame on high. Then three tablespoons of her favorite international coffee flavor later she was almost to Heaven. 10 minutes after, she added the hot water and stirred it before she came back to her teal colored La-Z-Boy recliner. All the while, Hardison had been waiting on the other end of the line.
"Ah'm back. Now, what's up? You got yourself in some kinda trouble again?"
"Depends on how you look at it, Nana."
"Don't you Nana me, boy. Spill it."
"I took your advice and settled down."
"Settled down? You stopped messing around with those video games? Ah told you they were a waste of time."
"No, Nana, I didn't. I got married."
"What was that, boy? You got married?"
"Yes, Nana."
"An just where was my invite? You didn't knock her up did you, young man?"
"We didn't send any because we eloped. No, she's not pregnant."
"Oh boy, you know you ain't married. Not unless ah'm there. How could you do that to your granny?"
"Yes, I am Nana…"
"Oh no you ain't boy, an ah didn't even to get to meet her… She ain't white is she?"
"No, Nana. She's your dream girl. I know you're gonna love her."
"Can she cook, clean, and be a good mother? What are her parents like? They go to church?"
"I think so, but she caters on holidays. I haven't seen her clean yet and now's not the time for that question. I haven't met her parents yet. They might be here for Thanksgiving."
"And why not?"
"Because they live in Seattle, Washington; I live in Portland, Oregon."
"When are you gonna give me babies to play with? Ah ain't gonna be around much longer you know."
Hardison rolled his eyes…
"I'll have to ask to my wife and see."
"My boy, you ain't married yet. I'll go talk to Reverend Myron tomorrow."
"Nana, I know what you want but we ain't getting remarried yet. Two important friends I want to be there can't make it. So don't rush."
"Why ain't they gonna come to the weddin'?"
Hardison tried not to blow his top. He tried counting from ten to one and then sighed deeply.
"Because one of them freakin' hospital with a tube down his throat and the other one is my ex-girlfriend who is takin' care of him."
"Forgive an old woman, Alec. Ah didn't mean to hurt your feelins."
"S'okay Nana. He's in bad shape, in ICU. He died three times before they got him stable."
"Oh, Good Lord! Is he gonna be okay?"
"I hope so. I want them both at the weddin' because they're like family to me."
"Ah understand."
"So, we're gonna wait."
"Well, ah don't know what to say to that. Ah'll have to hold my britches then."
"I'll definitely let you know when we're ready to move forward."
"You do that, hon."
"I gotta get to the store before the morning rush," Hardison lied. "Love you, Nana."
"Love you too, baby. Be safe."
"Always."
Well, that had gone a little better than he thought it was going to go. At least she backed off a little bit. Oh he knew she'd still go see Reverend Myron tomorrow anyway. Now he was going to have to tell Sophie that she not only had one wedding to plan, but now she had two. He considered waiting a while though before he told her the change in plans. At least Alfie was already prepared to have two weddings to smooth things over between both families. Most women couldn't handle that kind of stress.
Days seemed to turn into weeks for Parker, but it had only been about a week and three days before Anisette had finally come to her with the answer from her sister, Cosette. It had mostly taken so long because Anisette had to work and Cosette was hard to reach. She preferred to spend her time with nature instead of humans. It was three days until the full moon and Parker had been pacing at night because she was worried the answer wouldn't come. So, when Anisette appeared in the doorway on the evening of the 26th with a bowl of something shiny and white with a broom, she tilted her head slightly like she wasn't sure what the woman was up to.
"I finally reached my sister and she sent these items to help you with the creation of the sacred space."
"Oh goodie! What's all this?"
"This is a bowl of coarse sea salt. Salt has been in purification rituals for thousands of years according to Cosette. I had her give you the larger rocks of salt because the smaller ones would be harder to clean up. She said to sprinkle it around the area to cleanse the space and make it sacred. Now you won't have to burn anything."
"What's the broom for?"
"She said that typically, the broom is associated with cleaning and purification. You use the broom to go around the edges of the space, sweeping away negativity. The last thing she said was to start and finish near a door so that the negative energy can be accurately swept outside."
"Perfect, I'll sweep the salt out and then I won't get in trouble."
"Yes, I'll have housekeeping come by and mop up the salt outside. I'll put some water on it first and let them now some saline dribbled. Maybe I'll just put a hole in a bag or something and replace it with new."
"Thanks for the help."
"Anything you need, you just hit that button."
"I could use a snack."
"How about the usual?"
"Sounds good, but can you throw in some of those small boxes of cereal?"
"Sure, what kind?"
"Anything would be great. Thanks bunches!" Parker whisperingly exclaimed, because Eliot was asleep.