"Dude," Nick said as he, Greg, and Warrick got out of his car, "remind me why we had to have the rehearsal at my house?"
"What is 'because that's where the wedding's gonna be,' Alex?" Greg answered jokingly.
"Well I was going to phrase it nicer," Warrick said with a chuckle, "but the kid's right, Nick. It makes life easier to have the rehearsal at the same place the actual wedding is gonna happen. Otherwise we'd end up with Sara tripping over a potted plant and Grissom knocking over a tent pole on the big day instead of doing it tonight like they did."
"But who's gonna help me clean up the whole yard tonight and then re-set everything for tomorrow?" Nick whined. "It's already 9 o'clock!"
"Chill out, Nick," Susan said over the top of Nick's car as she climbed out of her own. "I'll help you set up if you think it's gonna be that difficult." Standing on tiptoe so she could see over the car's roof, she wiggled her eyebrows at Warrick and Greg, then directed her attention back to Nick. "Everyone knows it takes a woman half an hour to do what a man need six hours for."
Greg snickered. "I'm going to pretend that I didn't just get the mental image I got from that one, Susan. Now," he added, "since we're all here, how about we go inside? I don't know about any of you, but I'm about to start gnawing on Warrick's arm if I don't get some food soon."
Warrick yelped in mock-distress and jumped backward, holding his arms close to his body. "Down, boy. Food in a few minutes. We just gotta wait for the familial reinforcements."
Catherine, who had been bent over the back seat of Susan's car, trying to get a firm hold on the box that held the groom's cake, straightened up and smiled at Warrick. "Familial reinforcements? Nice, War."
"Well what would you call them, Miss Brilliance?"
"Hmm," Catherine said, hefting the box into her arms and following Susan over to the group of men, "how about 'the rest of the group'?"
" 'The rest of the group,' what?" asked Sara, who had suddenly materialized behind them along with her family, Grissom, and two of the bridesmaids.
Catherine jerked a shoulder in her best attempt at a no-handed wave to Sara. "We were discussing what to label you, Grissom, and your family. Warrick said 'the familial reinforcements,' I say 'the rest of the group'."
Grissom grinned. "I don't think any of us care what you call us at this point, as long as you feed us." He turned to look at the group behind him. When they all nodded enthusiastically, he turned back to Catherine. "Yep, we're in agreement about that. How about we get inside, eat, and then discuss it?"
*******************************************************************************************************************************
"Well it's not my fault that someone put that flowerpot there!" Sara protested loudly, frowning good-naturedly at Nick. "It's your backyard; I bet you put it there on purpose, just to trip me up!"
"Face it, Sara," teased her friend Michaela, hoisting the bite of cake on her fork in a mock-salute. "You're not exactly grace embodied. You were a klutz in school, too, and it hasn't gotten much better."
"Oh, come on," Sara shot back. "How many people did you know at Harvard who were more interested in making sure they didn't walk into any trees than in making sure they'd gotten the formula from Dr. Nickel's last lecture right?"
"Um, sorry to tell you, but that would be most of the campus other than you and me, hon." She shrugged. "But hey, we're the ones with good jobs these days, so who's laughing now?"
Sara's brother grinned. "I like that philosophy. Works for me and Kate, right hon?" he asked, looking across the table at his wife.
"Are you calling me a klutz, Andy Sidle?"
"Erm . . . no, dear." He ducked the joking swat that came toward him, then opened his eyes and laughed. "My theory is that it runs in the family and you were forced to acquire it when you married me."
"If we weren't sitting in a nice restaurant right now, I'd throw something at you," she replied sweetly. "Just wait 'til I get you home."
"Children!" Sara's father exclaimed. "Behave yourselves, all of you," he added playfully, looking around the table, "or I might be forced to send some of you to bed without dessert."
"No fair, Dad!" Sara whined. "You can't deny the bride a piece of cake!"
"It's okay, honey," her mother said, patting Sara's hand. "Just tell him the cake is part of the essential nutrition needed while you're breastfeeding."
"Yeah, Dad – what she said!"
Grissom, who had been watching all this with amusement, cleared his throat. "Not that I want to interrupt a discussion about Sara and her cake, but it's starting to get late and we have gifts to give to you kind people . . ."
"Hey!" Greg chirped, elbowing Nick. "He called us kind!"
Nick raised his eyebrows and gave the younger man with an indulgent look. "Right, Greg-o. Just keep telling yourself that."
Sara gave the two men a quelling look and shifted toward Grissom. "Yeah, guys, we want to thank you for being with us in the wedding, and helping set it up, and putting up with the assorted strange things that happen when you put me and Gris together and ask us to organize something like this. So girls, these are from me," she said, handing each of the four women a small box.
"And these are from me," Grissom added, handing slightly larger boxes to the groomsmen.
The only sound for a few moments was that of rusting paper, then Catherine spoke up. "Hey, wow, Sara. These are beautiful!" she said, holding up the inscribed silver bracelet that had come from her box. "It says my name across the top, and underneath it says . . ." she added, turning the bracelet over, " 'Gil and Sara, 2004'." The other bridesmaids made similar comments as they opened their boxes.
"Thanks, Sara," said Susan, turning over her bracelet to examine it.
"Sweet!" contributed Michaela. "Catherine's right, these are really nice. Thanks!" She stood up to hug Sara, and soon they were surrounded by the other three bridesmaids in a group hug.
"Okay, okay," Sara finally said, stepping back out of the mass of people. "Let's squeal about it later and give the guys a chance to open their stuff now."
The men pulled open their boxes and checked out the contents. "Nice," Nick chuckled. "A flask. Just what I need to start carrying to help me make it through work."
Grissom laughed. "I'd better not see that on you at work, Nick. Or on you two," he added, eyeing Warrick and Greg. "And not tomorrow, either, please. Other than that, knock yourselves out."
There was no group hug for the men, of course, so Grissom simply looked around to make sure that everyone was settled down, then said, "We hope you all like them . . . you have no idea of the strange wedding party gifts out there. And on that note . . . let's return to the cake!" Sitting down, he leaned over to kiss Sara, then dug in to his dessert.
