Surprise!

April 17th, 1983

12:21 am

WB's house, Milwaukee

Six pairs of eyes focused on Layla. Kitty was instantly silent, and her reddening face showed how much effort that was costing her. Red squeezed Kitty's hand. Eric turned around on his heels so fast that he almost dropped the vinyl he was holding, and Donna sat back on a chair, still holding the tray with slices of cake. Next to Donna, WB gave his mother a hard look, holding the coffee pot handle so tightly it made his knuckles turn white.

The only one that seemed unaffected by Layla's question was Angie, who stood up to save the vinyl from Eric's hands. She put the vinyl on the turntable and stood in the back.

Two seconds later all eyes focused on Jackie and Steven, who were sitting side by side on the couch. And they were looking at each other, as if they were talking through their eyes. Steven nodded almost imperceptibly.

And then Jackie turned to Layla with a smile.

"Oh, Layla, don't worry, I'm absolutely positive that the date we picked is nowhere near your funeral" she said.

Nobody said anything, but they all looked at them expectantly.

"How can you…?" asked Layla but was interrupted by Steven.

"February 17th" said Steven

"What?" exclaimed Donna "That's like… next year!"

"Actually…" said Jackie avoiding everybody's eyes "it was exactly two months ago"

Just like Angie had predicted, they all reacted more or less in the same loud way. First incredulity, then happiness and then outrage.

After the initial shock, Kitty had tears in the corners of her eyes. Donna was gesturing with her hands, and Layla was laughing so hard that they couldn't understand what Donna was saying. WB had finally set the coffee pot down and Eric looked dumbstruck.

Hyde hurried down the hallway to the office hoping that Angie would still be there. She usually went out at lunchtime to run errands or meet with friends. She was sitting in one of the two desks inside the room, frowning at the page in front of her.

"The numbers don't really care if you frown at them or not" he commented, leaning against the desk.

"Ha, ha… very funny" she retorted, dropping the pencil she had been holding "Why are you in such a good mood?" asked her, suspicious.

"You'll see" he replied standing up and reaching for her coat "I need a favor" he continued, holding the coat for her.

One hour later they parked in front of City Hall and Angie, Jackie and Steven stepped out of Jackie's car and into the building.

While they waited for their turn Angie bombarded them with questions, and they explained that they just wanted to be married.

"Why not have Donna and Eric as your witnesses?" asked Angie after a small silence.

"Because they wouldn't understand" said Jackie

"I don't either" retorted Angie.

"But you are practical, and you're here, and you're not pushing for the party, and all that crap" said Steven

The ceremony, if you could even call it that, was simple and short. They didn't need to exchange vows, since they had done it already the night before. Today they just needed to sign the papers, with Angie as the witness.

They went to a nearby restaurant for lunch and after that Angie told him to take the afternoon off and go away for the weekend. "You could ask Layla for the lake house" she suggested, and walked back to the studio, only a few blocks away.

"Why didn't you say anything?" asked Donna after a moment of silence.

"Well… it was just a spur of the moment kind of thing" explained Steven, shrugging.

"But a marriage license takes days…" commented Eric.

Steven looked around slightly frustrated. They still didn't get it, not like Angie had that day. They didn't want to make a big deal out of it and even then, getting married is not something you tell your friends and family over the phone.

"This doesn't have anything to do with you" Steven tried to explain. "It was something we needed… just the two of us"

"Same reason why we haven't seen anybody since… that day" said Jackie doing her best to sound matter-of-factly, but her voice broke just a tiny bit on the last part.

"Oh, honey!" said Kitty standing up and walking towards Jackie and pulling her to her feet to give her a big hug. And then did the same for Steven, who patted her back uncomfortably. After that the tension in the room faded and everybody congratulated them, wholeheartedly.

/-/-/-/

1:47 am

Jackie and Steven's house

They decided to go home early. It had been a long day at the studio for Steven and Jackie was emotionally exhausted too. After over three months she had forgotten how much energy it required to be around so many people at once… and how much she loved it. After their announcement things had slowly quieted down and somehow Jackie had returned to her earlier conversation with Angie and the both of them had convinced WB that he just needed to redecorate his living room and dining room.

Steven was pretty sure that it had to do with all the alcohol coursing through is father's veins, and that he wouldn't remember the next day. Layla had said "I don't think so, boy". He didn't argue. He knew by now that he would never win a discussion against her when she called him boy. Maybe WB would remember, or maybe Angie would make him remember. In any case, Steven was glad to see how much they cared about Jackie.

The original idea was that they'd go to city hall right away but then I found out that marriage licences take a few days to process - I'm not from the US so that would have been an honest mistake .. though I'm too OCD haha