(April)

There's no wedding to speak of. No fancy invitations or venue to choose, no nit picking over colors and flower arrangements. Just a shopping trip to the Magnificent Mile in Chicago one weekend, allowing the girls a chance to pick out their dresses – off the rack, each different based on the wearers tastes, but all of them simple and comfortable enough that there would be any number of opportunities for future uses – while Loki and Brad spend maybe an hour on a similar quest for decent suits before ending up at a sports bar down the street, chowing down on over-priced hot wings and gourmet sodas.

They pick a date at the end of April at the McHenry courthouse. There's not much of a ceremony planned, either, though they do toy with the idea of exchanging vows. Ultimately, though, they decide nothing really needs to be said; each knows their own heart, and trying to put those feelings into words will only result in one or both of them crying and choking on the words anyway, so why stress about it?

A banquet for afterward is also far too daunting a prospect. A party, on the other hand, is totally doable, especially when Rab so courteously suggest the Candle as the perfect location. The venomous look Mary sends her husband at the offer is almost enough to curdle milk, but Bethany quickly laughs and assures her it will be a good old-fashion carry-in, thus relieving the harried chef of any cooking duties for the evening.

Also, turns out that not only is Daz's oldest brother, Carlos, a member of a small classic rock and 90s cover band, but he also recently decided to try his hand at DJing. The look on the kid's face when Bethany hires him on the spot – a serendipitous meeting of the two families at an ice cream shop they apparently both frequent – is totally worth the resulting root beer float spit-take. She even helps the thoroughly embarrassed teen clean up the mess and manages not to laugh when his voice squeaks as he thanks her.

Lastly, they invite Bethany's mom to join the crew at the courthouse for the non-ceremony itself - an offer which causes her to cackle gleefully over the phone, loud enough to cause a few bursts of static to jump and zip down the line, because no way would her dignified, unflappable mother ever sink so low as to jump up and down and clap her hands like cartoon villain who's diabolical plan is coming to fruition. Especially as Bethany is quite positive her mother had absolutely nothing to do with it.

She still sends a suspicious look to the ceiling as she finishes the call, though, followed by an equally suspicious narrow-eyed glare at the back of Brad's head where he paces, oblivious to her scrutiny, on his cell phone across the room.

"Meddling deities," she mutters.

...

And then, late in the afternoon on Friday, April 25, 2008, with Rab and Mary acting as witness, Liz and Loki standing up as Maid of Honor and Best Man respectively, and Illana bouncing excitedly beside them, they sign the paperwork.

They kiss, everyone claps and cheers, and the newly-weds are liberally peppered with birdseed on the courthouse stairs. They do pause long enough to get a few very informal pictures to commemorate the event, but ten minutes later everyone piles into their vehicles for the short trip to the Candle.

The party, after all, is just getting started.

...

It's almost 2 o'clock in the morning before all the none-essential guests call it a night - Carlos definitely knows how to keep a party going, and the boy most certainly has talent. She's not the only one to think so, either, and Bethany grins when she notices Rab shake his hand during tear down, telling him his music and is band are welcome to come play at the Candle any time.

A quick run through also informs her that there are enough leftovers lying on the buffet table to last them a week, despite the whole point of a carry-in in the first place – in that, whatever gets carried in should, thus, get carried out as well. Apparently what she forbade in wedding gifts (not that that it stopped a few anyway) the guests all made up for in food, and it's only the Candle's industrial-sized fridge that allows them the space to store it all. Rab's selection of liquors and booze behind the bar has definitely taken a hit, too, but he – as well as everyone else – is cheerfully mellow enough not to care about the small fortune it will take to restock it.

Finally, after shooing away the last of the stragglers, 2:30am finds Bethany in one of the cushy chairs some resourceful party guest dragged from the wall near the stage, half asleep against her new husband's shoulder. Illana, who should have been home and in bed hours ago, lays curled asleep at their side, though at some point she did, at least, have the foresight to change out of her wedding duds and into a pair of soft leggings more appropriate for running around the guests and making mischief with her friends. She's also covered to her knees in an oversized men's dress shirt that, based on the color and style, started the evening on either Brad or Loki. Lifting her head, Bethany peers blearily around the room at the rest of her nearest and dearest, all scattered in various states of sprawl and inebriation around them, and it's not long before her eyes pick out Liz, curled in a booth next to a snoring Loki and wearing the shirt's partner over her slinky party dress. Bethany's exhausted brain decides that trying to figure out which shirt started where is quite beyond her capabilities at this point and thus stops trying.

Continuing her weary perusal, she also notes several pairs of stockinged feet sticking off the end of a booth here and there, some tangled mops of hair peeking over the back of a few others... and that they are surrounded on all sides by a wreckage of ripped streamers, confetti and flaccid balloons. The Candle's greatroom is a mess and clean up duty tomorrow... er... later today will be a doozie, but for now, she just smiles and settles her head back against Brad's shoulder, reveling in the feeling of being surrounded by the people she loves most in the world.

Despite what the rest of the world probably thinks should be happening instead, Bethany really can't think of a more perfect wedding night.

Besides... she's a married woman now, and they have all the nights from here on out to revel in that particular tradition.