When they reached the stage, Greg pulled out his microphone and clicked it on. "Well, ladies and gentlemen of the crowd, I thank you for allowing Beth and I to share the evening with you. This has meant a lot to me and I'm sure it's meant a lot to Beth-"
Before he could finish his thought, a familiar voice broke in. Nick had grabbed a microphone from one of the stands and interrupted Greg's rambling. "Greg, you're not doing yourself any justice. Being serious is not one of your foremost virtues, so I've decided to take over." With that, he shifted his attention to Beth. "Beth, if I could have you step this way please." Beth looked at Greg and he just shrugged his shoulders. She did as she was told, and she maneuvered around Greg so that she was standing on Nick's right. "Please kneel." Beth stifled a laugh, and obeyed the odd command. Nick then turned his attention to the crowd. Nick apparently had something planned that Greg didn't know about. Beth stole a glance at Warrick, and the twinkle in his eyes betrayed his feigned ignorance. Beth was brought back to the present by Nick's voice. "Ladies and gentlemen of The Cage, we have something very special for you tonight. We are going to do something that has never been done before, and may never be done again." Nick paused as the crowd cheered in approval. Nick turned his attention back to Beth, who was still kneeling on the floor. "Beth Sanders, husband of Greg Sanders, we, the members of AFIS, have come together to make a decision. We have decided to make you an honorary AFIS member." The crowd began to shout, holler, whistle, and scream. When the crowd had finally calmed, Nick continued with his pompous ceremony. "I, Nick Stokes, dub you, Beth Sanders…" Here, he took his microphone and tapped each of Beth's shoulders in the traditional knighting ceremonies of the days of old. "…Mrs. Beth Sanders, the trianglist." Beth almost died laughing, for as Nick spoke, Warrick appeared before her with a shiny new triangle. The crowd was also laughing hysterically. Beth stood gracefully, and accepted the gift from Warrick.
Someone in the crowd started shouting, "Speech, speech," and soon everyone was chanting. Greg had been laughing so hard, he had tears in his eyes as he offered Beth his cordless microphone. Beth took the microphone and faced the crowd.
"I'd like to thank all of the little people that made me who I am today. They made great stepping stones. And thank you to my loving audience; I never could have done it without you… Well, actually, I could have, and I did. So never mind, I don't really thank you." Beth bowed low and then blew kisses to her audience. Everyone was laughing again, and Beth's smile stretched from ear to ear. "But honestly guys, I would really like to express my appreciation to all of you here, and thank you so very much for making me feel like I'm a part of this family. Before this night, I had no idea that this place even existed, and now, I feel like I belong here. Thank you so very much." The crowd erupted into applause.
While Beth spoke, Nick and Warrick had returned to their instruments and began to fiddle with them. Greg stole the microphone from Beth before she could go on. He addressed the crowd as he spoke. "You'll have to excuse my wife. She has a tendency to blow things out of proportion." When Beth heard that, she punched Greg in the shoulder. "See the abuse I have to put up with? Well, while Beth tries to regain her composure, we have one final song that we would like to play for you. This one is not an original, and we'd like to apologize for that, but we felt that it was so very appropriate for the moment. So here it is, The Last Song by The All-American Rejects."
Greg shut off his microphone and returned it to his back pocket. As he returned to his drum set, Beth settled herself into a spot between Nick on the bass guitar, and Warrick, on the keyboard. She held her triangle high, and was ready to play. Warrick couldn't help but laugh when he saw her standing there with her simple instrument and such joy on her face.
After the band members were settled in, Warrick began the song. He played a few measures of chords and then from behind her, she heard Greg's voice. She turned to look at him and he locked his eyes on hers as he sang the opening lines of the song.
"This may be the last thing that I write for long. Can you hear me smiling when I sing this song, for you, and only you."
Moments after Greg finished the lines, the rest of the band kicked in. Beth clanged her triangle in time to the beat, knowing full well that no one could hear her, but that didn't matter. She was enjoying herself too much.