Chapter Seven:
Wedding Bells?
After a month of being engaged, Greg and Norah finally decided to make their wedding arrangements.
"What's to arrange? We don't want a traditional wedding. Period, mother." Norah shouted toward the phone on the wall. Maybe speakerphone wasn't the best way to do this. She looked at Greg and rolled her eyes.
"Your grandmother isn't going to be happy." The female voice on the other end said.
"Good, she's not invited," Norah told Libby.
The voice got louder. "Norah Elizabeth! She's your grandmother."
"She hates Greg," Norah said, but Greg was too fed up and bored with the mother and daughter, who had been fighting for an hour, to be offended. "Even if I did invite her she wouldn't come."
"That's because it's not going to be a traditional wedding with the whole family."
Norah rested her head on her hands. "Whatever. If she loves me she'll come, even if it's not a boring wedding like every other Stokes'.
"It could be worse, you know," she continued. "We were thinking of getting an Elvis impersonator to marry us." She smiled diabolically. She loved to irk her mother.
Libby let out something of an annoyed grunt. "Look, I have to go. We'll talk about this later."
"Whatever, mom." Norah rolled her eyes.
Libby mocked Norah, "Whatever mom. I want my own kind of wedding. I want to rebel against my family. I want to be original. I don't want a tradition wedding, mom. I don't care if grandma doesn't want to come, she hates my fiancé." Greg couldn't help but laugh at the woman's mocking whines, geared to insult his soon-to-be-wife.
"Yeah, it's real traditional having a kid before you're getting married, huh mom?" Norah glared at the phone and then kicked a hysterical Greg off his stool and sulked more, like a kid throwing a fit.
Greg yelped as he fell to the ground, the kitchen stool falling on top of him. This just made him titter harder.
Norah mom ignored Norah's comment. "Who the hell's laughing like that?" Libby asked.
Norah, still pouting, answered, "Greg."
"What is he, some kind of hyena?"
"Mother!"
Greg laughed harder. "If you think this is bad, you should see Norah - she's looks like a 4-year-old when she pouts."
"She always has." Libby laughed.
Norah let out a frustrated roar. "God! Is no one on my side?" She stomped to her bathroom and slammed the door.
"Let me guess - she locked herself in the bathroom?"
"Yeah." Greg snickered.
Libby and Greg bonded that moment.
Why did Greg always meet the greatest women over the phone? "I'd better try to get her out of there."
"So, October 1st is the day, right?" Libby asked, knowing the answer. She mentally hoped they'd change it.
Greg picked himself up off the floor and straightened the tipped chair up. "Yep."
"Great," Libby said rather unenthusiastically. She hung up the phone without another word.
Greg shrugged and turned off the speakerphone. He knocked on the door of the bathroom.
Norah didn't answer.
Greg abused the door some more.
Still no answer.
"Stop being a baby, Norah." Greg shook his head.
"You're the one who was laughing at her ridiculing me. You're supposed to stick up for me."
Greg rolled his eyes. "It's not that big of a deal, Nor. Seriously." Greg paused a second. "Why do you hate your family? Your mother seems like a great person."
"I don't hate my family. I just want to be my own person and they smother me." Norah rubbed her foot over the tiled floor.
"Maybe we should just have a wedding like she wants." Greg gave in.
"No." She didn't say it harshly, she was sick of screaming. But, she didn't say it nicely; she didn't want to give in.
Greg held his head in annoyance.
Norah opened the door. "I can't believe you would ditch me and our plans for our future. Of all people."
"I'm not, it's just that this is not worth the aggravation."
"We don't have the money for a big wedding." Norah told him.
Greg opened his mouth to say something, but Norah held up her hand to stop him.
"Don't say it. I'm not taking money from my family for this wedding. If they're going to give us money I want it to go for the honeymoon. The wedding doesn't matter to me, it's all about the marriage." Norah nodded.
Greg hated when she sounded all philosophical, mostly because it reminded him of Grissom. "It's just that your mother seems like a nice, funny -"
"It sounds like you have a crush on her." Norah scrunched her nose up in disgust. "How Jerry Springer."
Greg shook his head and snorted.
Norah rolled her eyes and walked to the sink with a glass. "I was being serious." Now she mocked him, "She's so nice and funny. Sigh." She tried her best to look lovestruck.
"I was just being nice." Greg threw his hands up into the air in his defense.
Norah glared. "Maybe next time you should wipe he drool off your chin before you say that."
Greg shook his head. "This wedding crap is really stressing you out."
"Especially since my fiancé is not taking my side."
"I AM on your side." Greg growled in aggravation. "I don't want a big wedding, either, but I don't want your family to hate me because we didn't have one, either."
"We don't we ditch the family and just go to some drive-in wedding chapel," Norah moaned.
Greg sat on a stool. "As long as all this grief is gone, I don't care what we do." He paused a second as the phone rang.
Norah answered it. "Hello?" Pause. "Yeah." Pause. "Oh, hi." Pause. "Is something wrong?" Pause. "Um, okay." Pause. "Me and Greg were just talking about the wedding." Pause. "I think so." Pause. "Okay, see you then. Bye." Click.
Greg looked at Norah's concerned face. "What's up?"
Norah shrugged. "It was Warrick. He said he needed to talk to me."
"Translation: Greg leave."
"It'll only be a few minutes. He's coming over in ten minutes. Go get a pizza or something." Norah was kind of afraid of what Warrick had to say.
-----
"Do you want some coffee?" Norah asked, not even sure she had any to make. She wanted the silence to end as soon as possible.
"No, thanks." Warrick said. He paused a second. "I just wanted to talk to you. We never get to talk anymore."
Some how Norah didn't think this trip was just some friendly talking. Something was up. She felt it.
After a few more seconds of dead air Warrick opened his mouth. "Do you ever think about the baby?"
"What baby?"
Warrick shook his head, wishing he had been more specific the first time. Now he was even more embarrassed. How should he put this? "France." He hoped that would bring back the vivid memories to save him his awkwardness.
Norah started biting her bottom lip. No, not biting. Gnawing. "Sometimes." Her eyes fell to the floor. She couldn't look at him. A pit formed in her stomach. "Do you?"
"More than you could ever know," Warrick truthfully told her. "I always used to wonder what our life would have been like."
She wished he'd stop. She didn't need the stress.
Warrick watched her fidget painfully. "I'm sorry I'm making you uncomfortable. I just need to get these feelings out before you and Greg got married." He stood up. He knew he made a big mistake.
"We should do more stuff together." She didn't want him to leave. "We've barely hung out since I came back to Vegas. Do you want to stay for pizza? Greg went out to get it."
"I don't think -"
She frowned. "Come on. It'll be nice."
'More like awkward as hell,' Warrick thought to himself. "I was going over Nick's to watch a football game with Abby and Nick."
"Oh, okay. Who's playing?" Norah asked.
Warrick blurted out two teams, knowing Norah wouldn't know who they were, let alone if they were actually playing tonight. "The Packers and the Bears."
Norah nodded. "Have fun." She smiled and gave him a hug.
He left without saying anything else.
Norah sunk onto the couch. She felt wretched, but she knew he would find someone else. Someone way more deserving of him than she ever would be.
Five seconds later, Greg came in with the pizza box on his head. He tipped his head down to look at Norah, who had quickly plastered a smile on her face when she saw him. The pizza tumbled off his head. Norah frowned at the cheesy mess on her hardwood floor.
"Sorry," Greg said leaping over it. He grabbed the paper towels off the counter and headed back out into the living room. "How'd it go?"
'Horrible,' she wanted to say, but instead she lied. "Good. It wasn't that important, but he just couldn't wait." She forced her mouth to smile and stood up to help Greg clean up.
"What was it about?" Greg pressed.
"He confided in me, Greg," Norah responded. "Sorry, but I'm going to tell you about his secrets."
Greg rolled his eyes and picked up a handful of pizza in a paper towel and dumped it in the box. Norah wiped up the last bit of sauce and stood up.
"Does my hair smell like pepperoni?" He asked her.
She sniffed the hair of a still kneeling Greg. "No. It smells like peaches." Her eyebrows scrunched together. "Have you been using my shampoo?"
Greg's ears turned red. "I ran out so I took a shower over here after work."
"No wonder the floor was wet this morning. I thought the sink was flooding again." Norah shook her head. "The curtain goes INSIDE the tub."
"You're supposed to use the curtain?" Greg joked. "You sound like my dad, Norah."
Norah rolled her eyes. "Come on, Peaches, let's go out for dinner before you have to go to work."
"Nor?" Greg stood up.
She turned toward him. "Yeah?"
"Will you keep the shampoo thing on the down low?" Greg asked. He mentally prayed she wouldn't tell the guys at the lab, especially. Even though Sara and Catherine would give him just as much grief.
"Sure, Peaches. Do you think I would humiliate you like that?" Norah smirked.
Greg's eyebrows raised. "Yes."
"It won't slip, promise. Just be careful when I'm drunk."
Norah had totally forgotten about her conversation with Warrick, which had happened a mere five minutes ago. She laughed as they walked out the door and outside. Until she saw Owen.
"You've got to be freaking kidding me," Norah groaned.
Owen jogged over to her and Greg. "Look, I know you don't want to talk to me so I'll make it short. I'm sorry. And I wish you luck - both of you." He half-smiled at Greg.
"Just one question," Norah started. "What did you mean that one time in the parking lot when you said you knew all about Greg."
Greg looked back and forth between Norah and Owen.
"I'm dating a girl that works at that casino you worked at. She dated him and tells me what a great guy he is...all the time. Apparently we both like green-eyed girls."
Norah looked at Greg and then turned back to Owen.
"Well, congratulations. We have to go." She didn't need anymore issues to deal with today. She pulled Greg to the car by his hand. "Come, Peaches, we have wedding arrangements to attend to." She spoke loud to make a big show of their wedding to Owen.
"I thought there weren't any arrangements to make," Greg whined. He didn't know how much of this wedding crap he could take.
Norah shrugged. "That was before we wanted Elvis. Do you know how booked up that guy gets at this time of year? He's like the Mall Santa of matrimony."
Greg shook his head as he got into the car. Norah rushed into the driver's seat. "Can we move now? I'm sick of him stalking me."
"What are we going to get to eat?"
Norah rubbed her forehead. "That's all you have to say? 'What's for dinner?'" She sighed. "Men."
"Correction: Hungry men." Greg nodded proudly.
"Well, if SOMEONE wasn't testing his balance with the pizza box we'd already be full." Norah said backing out of her parking spot.
Greg turned up the radio and stuck his tongue out at Norah. Norah screamed the words to the song. Greg changed the station. Norah turned the heat up. Greg rolled down the windows. This meaningless fighting continued until they got to some crappy burger-joint. They both got out and Greg ran to the door before Norah and held onto the handle, preventing her entrance. She banged on the door and yelled him some very specific and explicit directions on where he should go. After some time passed, a traffic jam of angry customers started to form. Needless to, say Greg and Norah and four generations after them aren't allowed in that restaurant.
"I'm hungry."
"You said that."
"I'm hungry."
"You said that."
"I'm -"
"GREG!" Norah shouted at him. "You'll get your food when I find a place that sells edible food that neither of us are ban from and not before!"
Greg hung his head. He kept quiet for a minute and thought about the wedding. He wondered if Norah had gotten everything organized, since she was the one rebelling.
Norah stared at the road. She hated the silence but decided not to talk either and just think about he wedding. She wondered if Greg had gotten everything organized, since he was the one taking siding against her.
The moral of this story: Communication is key.
Wedding Bells?
After a month of being engaged, Greg and Norah finally decided to make their wedding arrangements.
"What's to arrange? We don't want a traditional wedding. Period, mother." Norah shouted toward the phone on the wall. Maybe speakerphone wasn't the best way to do this. She looked at Greg and rolled her eyes.
"Your grandmother isn't going to be happy." The female voice on the other end said.
"Good, she's not invited," Norah told Libby.
The voice got louder. "Norah Elizabeth! She's your grandmother."
"She hates Greg," Norah said, but Greg was too fed up and bored with the mother and daughter, who had been fighting for an hour, to be offended. "Even if I did invite her she wouldn't come."
"That's because it's not going to be a traditional wedding with the whole family."
Norah rested her head on her hands. "Whatever. If she loves me she'll come, even if it's not a boring wedding like every other Stokes'.
"It could be worse, you know," she continued. "We were thinking of getting an Elvis impersonator to marry us." She smiled diabolically. She loved to irk her mother.
Libby let out something of an annoyed grunt. "Look, I have to go. We'll talk about this later."
"Whatever, mom." Norah rolled her eyes.
Libby mocked Norah, "Whatever mom. I want my own kind of wedding. I want to rebel against my family. I want to be original. I don't want a tradition wedding, mom. I don't care if grandma doesn't want to come, she hates my fiancé." Greg couldn't help but laugh at the woman's mocking whines, geared to insult his soon-to-be-wife.
"Yeah, it's real traditional having a kid before you're getting married, huh mom?" Norah glared at the phone and then kicked a hysterical Greg off his stool and sulked more, like a kid throwing a fit.
Greg yelped as he fell to the ground, the kitchen stool falling on top of him. This just made him titter harder.
Norah mom ignored Norah's comment. "Who the hell's laughing like that?" Libby asked.
Norah, still pouting, answered, "Greg."
"What is he, some kind of hyena?"
"Mother!"
Greg laughed harder. "If you think this is bad, you should see Norah - she's looks like a 4-year-old when she pouts."
"She always has." Libby laughed.
Norah let out a frustrated roar. "God! Is no one on my side?" She stomped to her bathroom and slammed the door.
"Let me guess - she locked herself in the bathroom?"
"Yeah." Greg snickered.
Libby and Greg bonded that moment.
Why did Greg always meet the greatest women over the phone? "I'd better try to get her out of there."
"So, October 1st is the day, right?" Libby asked, knowing the answer. She mentally hoped they'd change it.
Greg picked himself up off the floor and straightened the tipped chair up. "Yep."
"Great," Libby said rather unenthusiastically. She hung up the phone without another word.
Greg shrugged and turned off the speakerphone. He knocked on the door of the bathroom.
Norah didn't answer.
Greg abused the door some more.
Still no answer.
"Stop being a baby, Norah." Greg shook his head.
"You're the one who was laughing at her ridiculing me. You're supposed to stick up for me."
Greg rolled his eyes. "It's not that big of a deal, Nor. Seriously." Greg paused a second. "Why do you hate your family? Your mother seems like a great person."
"I don't hate my family. I just want to be my own person and they smother me." Norah rubbed her foot over the tiled floor.
"Maybe we should just have a wedding like she wants." Greg gave in.
"No." She didn't say it harshly, she was sick of screaming. But, she didn't say it nicely; she didn't want to give in.
Greg held his head in annoyance.
Norah opened the door. "I can't believe you would ditch me and our plans for our future. Of all people."
"I'm not, it's just that this is not worth the aggravation."
"We don't have the money for a big wedding." Norah told him.
Greg opened his mouth to say something, but Norah held up her hand to stop him.
"Don't say it. I'm not taking money from my family for this wedding. If they're going to give us money I want it to go for the honeymoon. The wedding doesn't matter to me, it's all about the marriage." Norah nodded.
Greg hated when she sounded all philosophical, mostly because it reminded him of Grissom. "It's just that your mother seems like a nice, funny -"
"It sounds like you have a crush on her." Norah scrunched her nose up in disgust. "How Jerry Springer."
Greg shook his head and snorted.
Norah rolled her eyes and walked to the sink with a glass. "I was being serious." Now she mocked him, "She's so nice and funny. Sigh." She tried her best to look lovestruck.
"I was just being nice." Greg threw his hands up into the air in his defense.
Norah glared. "Maybe next time you should wipe he drool off your chin before you say that."
Greg shook his head. "This wedding crap is really stressing you out."
"Especially since my fiancé is not taking my side."
"I AM on your side." Greg growled in aggravation. "I don't want a big wedding, either, but I don't want your family to hate me because we didn't have one, either."
"We don't we ditch the family and just go to some drive-in wedding chapel," Norah moaned.
Greg sat on a stool. "As long as all this grief is gone, I don't care what we do." He paused a second as the phone rang.
Norah answered it. "Hello?" Pause. "Yeah." Pause. "Oh, hi." Pause. "Is something wrong?" Pause. "Um, okay." Pause. "Me and Greg were just talking about the wedding." Pause. "I think so." Pause. "Okay, see you then. Bye." Click.
Greg looked at Norah's concerned face. "What's up?"
Norah shrugged. "It was Warrick. He said he needed to talk to me."
"Translation: Greg leave."
"It'll only be a few minutes. He's coming over in ten minutes. Go get a pizza or something." Norah was kind of afraid of what Warrick had to say.
-----
"Do you want some coffee?" Norah asked, not even sure she had any to make. She wanted the silence to end as soon as possible.
"No, thanks." Warrick said. He paused a second. "I just wanted to talk to you. We never get to talk anymore."
Some how Norah didn't think this trip was just some friendly talking. Something was up. She felt it.
After a few more seconds of dead air Warrick opened his mouth. "Do you ever think about the baby?"
"What baby?"
Warrick shook his head, wishing he had been more specific the first time. Now he was even more embarrassed. How should he put this? "France." He hoped that would bring back the vivid memories to save him his awkwardness.
Norah started biting her bottom lip. No, not biting. Gnawing. "Sometimes." Her eyes fell to the floor. She couldn't look at him. A pit formed in her stomach. "Do you?"
"More than you could ever know," Warrick truthfully told her. "I always used to wonder what our life would have been like."
She wished he'd stop. She didn't need the stress.
Warrick watched her fidget painfully. "I'm sorry I'm making you uncomfortable. I just need to get these feelings out before you and Greg got married." He stood up. He knew he made a big mistake.
"We should do more stuff together." She didn't want him to leave. "We've barely hung out since I came back to Vegas. Do you want to stay for pizza? Greg went out to get it."
"I don't think -"
She frowned. "Come on. It'll be nice."
'More like awkward as hell,' Warrick thought to himself. "I was going over Nick's to watch a football game with Abby and Nick."
"Oh, okay. Who's playing?" Norah asked.
Warrick blurted out two teams, knowing Norah wouldn't know who they were, let alone if they were actually playing tonight. "The Packers and the Bears."
Norah nodded. "Have fun." She smiled and gave him a hug.
He left without saying anything else.
Norah sunk onto the couch. She felt wretched, but she knew he would find someone else. Someone way more deserving of him than she ever would be.
Five seconds later, Greg came in with the pizza box on his head. He tipped his head down to look at Norah, who had quickly plastered a smile on her face when she saw him. The pizza tumbled off his head. Norah frowned at the cheesy mess on her hardwood floor.
"Sorry," Greg said leaping over it. He grabbed the paper towels off the counter and headed back out into the living room. "How'd it go?"
'Horrible,' she wanted to say, but instead she lied. "Good. It wasn't that important, but he just couldn't wait." She forced her mouth to smile and stood up to help Greg clean up.
"What was it about?" Greg pressed.
"He confided in me, Greg," Norah responded. "Sorry, but I'm going to tell you about his secrets."
Greg rolled his eyes and picked up a handful of pizza in a paper towel and dumped it in the box. Norah wiped up the last bit of sauce and stood up.
"Does my hair smell like pepperoni?" He asked her.
She sniffed the hair of a still kneeling Greg. "No. It smells like peaches." Her eyebrows scrunched together. "Have you been using my shampoo?"
Greg's ears turned red. "I ran out so I took a shower over here after work."
"No wonder the floor was wet this morning. I thought the sink was flooding again." Norah shook her head. "The curtain goes INSIDE the tub."
"You're supposed to use the curtain?" Greg joked. "You sound like my dad, Norah."
Norah rolled her eyes. "Come on, Peaches, let's go out for dinner before you have to go to work."
"Nor?" Greg stood up.
She turned toward him. "Yeah?"
"Will you keep the shampoo thing on the down low?" Greg asked. He mentally prayed she wouldn't tell the guys at the lab, especially. Even though Sara and Catherine would give him just as much grief.
"Sure, Peaches. Do you think I would humiliate you like that?" Norah smirked.
Greg's eyebrows raised. "Yes."
"It won't slip, promise. Just be careful when I'm drunk."
Norah had totally forgotten about her conversation with Warrick, which had happened a mere five minutes ago. She laughed as they walked out the door and outside. Until she saw Owen.
"You've got to be freaking kidding me," Norah groaned.
Owen jogged over to her and Greg. "Look, I know you don't want to talk to me so I'll make it short. I'm sorry. And I wish you luck - both of you." He half-smiled at Greg.
"Just one question," Norah started. "What did you mean that one time in the parking lot when you said you knew all about Greg."
Greg looked back and forth between Norah and Owen.
"I'm dating a girl that works at that casino you worked at. She dated him and tells me what a great guy he is...all the time. Apparently we both like green-eyed girls."
Norah looked at Greg and then turned back to Owen.
"Well, congratulations. We have to go." She didn't need anymore issues to deal with today. She pulled Greg to the car by his hand. "Come, Peaches, we have wedding arrangements to attend to." She spoke loud to make a big show of their wedding to Owen.
"I thought there weren't any arrangements to make," Greg whined. He didn't know how much of this wedding crap he could take.
Norah shrugged. "That was before we wanted Elvis. Do you know how booked up that guy gets at this time of year? He's like the Mall Santa of matrimony."
Greg shook his head as he got into the car. Norah rushed into the driver's seat. "Can we move now? I'm sick of him stalking me."
"What are we going to get to eat?"
Norah rubbed her forehead. "That's all you have to say? 'What's for dinner?'" She sighed. "Men."
"Correction: Hungry men." Greg nodded proudly.
"Well, if SOMEONE wasn't testing his balance with the pizza box we'd already be full." Norah said backing out of her parking spot.
Greg turned up the radio and stuck his tongue out at Norah. Norah screamed the words to the song. Greg changed the station. Norah turned the heat up. Greg rolled down the windows. This meaningless fighting continued until they got to some crappy burger-joint. They both got out and Greg ran to the door before Norah and held onto the handle, preventing her entrance. She banged on the door and yelled him some very specific and explicit directions on where he should go. After some time passed, a traffic jam of angry customers started to form. Needless to, say Greg and Norah and four generations after them aren't allowed in that restaurant.
"I'm hungry."
"You said that."
"I'm hungry."
"You said that."
"I'm -"
"GREG!" Norah shouted at him. "You'll get your food when I find a place that sells edible food that neither of us are ban from and not before!"
Greg hung his head. He kept quiet for a minute and thought about the wedding. He wondered if Norah had gotten everything organized, since she was the one rebelling.
Norah stared at the road. She hated the silence but decided not to talk either and just think about he wedding. She wondered if Greg had gotten everything organized, since he was the one taking siding against her.
The moral of this story: Communication is key.