Ok, ch 44, it's another long one, and the second today so fire away…
I still own nothing.
Ch 44
"Lauren you all set?" Jasper shouted, getting Lauren's attention as he turned away from Amelia.
"All set for what?" Amelia asked as Lauren bounded over to him, they were obviously plotting something. Lauren grabbed Jasper's hand as he handed his prized camcorder to Nick and they started to walk away. "Jasper." She said starting after them, missing the conspiratorial smiles shooting around the group she was with.
"You'll see, wait there." He grinned cheekily as he and Lauren made for the house.
Amelia turned; she couldn't be bothered to worry about it really, and sat back down. It had hit about half past five, they'd been at this since three, Amelia was beginning to think that they probably needed to cut the cake and sing the happy birthdays as she surveyed the dwindling number of energetic children and the increasing number of children flopping on their parents, as Imogen returned, holding her hands up for Abby to pick her up, which she did obligingly as Imogen stuck her thumb in her mouth and laid her head on Abby's shoulder.
"You tired Immo?" Abby asked her quietly.
"A bit." She replied, pulling her thumb from her mouth, turning her head to look out over Abby's shoulder as a couple of kids screamed around behind them.
Amelia looked over noticing that Abby, Maggie, Birdie and Nick were all engaged in a somewhat animated conversation, and Luka and Sam had peeled off. It had, all in all been a fairly successful afternoon, apart from Lauren's brief bad language interlude, everyone seemed to have had a good time, but she thought that it was probably time to start winding things down. She was talking to a few of the parents of Lauren's school friends who she knew fairly well when she heard Jasper wolf-whistle getting peoples attention, she turned to see him standing on the steps leading up to the deck with Lauren on his hip. She frowned trying to figure out what kind of a stunt they were about to pull, there were about twenty adults in their back yard and probably another fifteen or so kids left, she started to smile as she saw his imminent public humiliation. Everyone in the garden had turned to look at him by the time he started speaking and Amelia had her arms crossed over her chest a smile on her face, shrugging as people asked her what was happening.
"Ok." Jasper started setting a now extremely happy looking Lauren on her feet. "Right, everyone knows that it's Lauren's birthday today, and we'd like to thank you all for coming, so cheers," He said raising his hand holding his beer, as a number of people raised their glasses back. "Happy birthday baby." He said bending down giving her a big kiss, which she reciprocated. "However," Jasper continued. "Lauren and I have just had a little chat, and we've decided that it would be ok to do something else today as most of you know." He cleared his throat and continued, Amelia had a decidedly dubious feeling rising in the pit of her stomach, somehow she felt that this was going to result in her own public humiliation as well. "Amelia and I have been talking about getting married for a while now." He continued as a number of eyes darted towards her and she shook her head smiling, a blush creeping up her cheeks, she had an idea what was coming now as she looked back at Jasper and into his eyes, this was her idea of a nightmare, and Jasper knew it, and revelled in it, becoming aware of a presence by her side she looked over to find Nick with Jasper's video camera in his hands.
" You knew about this didn't you?" She shook her head still smiling as Nick nodded the camcorder.
"Nick, mate, I'd back off, she's already threatened to beat me to death with that thing twice today, and I don't think she's going to like what I'm about to do." Jasper warned, semi-seriously. "Ok." He sighed explaining the situation, "Mealia and I, we've not done anything official about it, but we've talked about it and tossed a few ideas around, we both decided that if we were going to do it, it wasn't going to be a big thing, pretty much just an excuse for a party, and so, since you're all here, and if you wouldn't mind staying for a bit longer…" He stopped, breathing in deeply, feeling suddenly very nervous, glancing down at Lauren who was about to burst and then straight at Amelia. "Meals you're not even going to get a period of engagement I'm afraid, but I do have the rings, and if you say no then I'm in big trouble because I've got all the paperwork and there's a minister turning up in about an hour…So will you marry me right here, now, tonight?" He finished, smiling and frowning at the same time, a hopeful expression on his face. A small cheer went up from behind him inside the house as he started to make his way down the steps towards her.
Amelia was dumbstruck, she watched a new crowd of people make their way out of the house behind him most of whom she recognized, ignoring them momentarily, she surveyed the faces surrounding her, few of them looking particularly surprised, eventually finding the one she was looking for, Birdie looked almost as excited as Lauren as they locked eyes briefly, it was definitely a yes from her. She brought her hand up to her face and rubbed her eyes, slowly, looking back at him a smile playing on her lips.
"You're enjoying this aren't you?" She said smiling at him as he approached.
"A little bit yeah." He replied smiling back still a few feet away.
"I hate you for doing this." She shook her head, unable to get the smile off her face.
"That's fine but will you marry me?" He asked finally reaching her.
"Nick I swear to god if you don't take that camera out of my face." Amelia turned warning Nick who'd been getting ever closer to her since Jasper started and was now focussed closely on her cheek; he backed off slightly whispering into the camera.
"So." Jasper pushed for his answer. Amelia looked at him for a minute, searching his eyes for a reason she shouldn't apart from the gut wrenchingly humiliating way he'd asked her she couldn't find one. "Birdie tell her." Jasper said looking over at her, unable to bear the tension any more. Amelia looked over at her too.
"I've been telling her for years love, she ain't listened to me yet." Birdie replied shrugging at him. Jasper looked back at Amelia, who sighed, bringing her hand back up to her face she started nodding, she drew her hand across her forehead as she began to smile again.
"Is that a yes?" Jasper whispered bowing his head to find her eyes, bringing his hands up to her shoulders, she looked back into his eyes and smiled, still saying nothing but he got the message.
"It's a yes." He told the gathered crowd as he pulled her into a hug. She hugged him back tightly. Pulling away she arched her back, her hips pushing into his.
"I'm going to fucking kill you for this." She mumbled still smiling as he brought his lips down to meet hers.
"What the hell do you wear to get married in your own back yard?" Amelia said to herself peering into her closet, she'd just had the fastest shower of her life after Lauren had spilled orange juice all over her in her excitement.
"Mommy." Lauren screeched running into the bedroom in her underwear. Amelia had sent her with Birdie and Maggie to get her changed as she too had had juice all over her.
"What?" Amelia asked turning round to her.
"You said I could wear anything but they won't let me wear my pajamas." Lauren wined.
"Why do you want to wear pj's Lo?" Amelia said frowning her hands on her hips as she looked down at Lauren.
"Because then I won't have to get ready for bed and I can stay up later." She explained.
"You can stay up as late as you like tonight Lo, so go and choose some proper clothes." She instructed with a smile on her face as she looked down at her daughter.
"Can you tell them?" Lauren frowned.
"Ok come on." Amelia said grabbing her hand, making for Lauren's bedroom wearing sweats she'd found on the bathroom floor. "You excited?" Amelia grinned, pausing with Lauren on the landing, kneeling down in front of her, holding her hands on Lauren's sides as Lauren nodded at her grinning.
"We're going to be like a real proper family now with a married Mommy and Daddy and everything." Lauren grinned, her chest heaving with a satisfied sigh.
"Yep." Amelia nodded back at her, a genuine warm smile on her face.
"It's good." Lauren smiled at her, she watched her daughter's eyes for a second, all she could see was pleasure, nothing else, she wanted to bottle the feeling it gave her, and the feeling Lauren obviously had, she didn't want to move from this spot, not ever, her and Lauren, both revelling in total satisfaction, in a place in life where nothing could ever go wrong, if they just stayed here like this, this was good, god, it was better than good.
"I love you, you know that?" She said still smiling into Lauren's eyes.
"I know that and I love Daddy too." She smiled at Amelia.
"Me too." Amelia nodded at her, her mouth twitching towards an involuntary smile as Lauren put her arms around her neck and gave her a hug and she sighed, pulling Lauren in closer, closing her eyes, sighing a more than satisfied smile. "God I love you Lo." She whispered her eyes closed, her head buried in Lauren's hair as she sighed into her daughters neck.
Abby stepped back quietly from the top of the stairs, she'd watched the exchange silently, she was smiling inwardly, she wanted this for Amelia, for Lauren, Jesus if she was honest she wanted it for herself and she was closer to getting it than she maybe had ever been before as she headed noiselessly back down the stairs to find Nick, her previous mission abandoned.
They entered Lauren's room where Maggie and Birdie were talking about Lauren's clothes, cooing over them almost, both lost in their devotion for the little girl. They both turned as Lauren announced that Amelia had said she could stay up as late as she wanted so she didn't have to wear pajamas to save time after all.
"Tell me you're not going to wear that." Birdie said looking Amelia up and down, "I know it said it weren't smart but that's pushing it." She said disapprovingly.
"I'm not, I'm not, I'm at least going to change into a bath robe." Amelia replied, humouring her. "But I need you to go and see what Jasper's wearing, or if he's changing or anything, so I can pick one out that's the right colour." Amelia teased. Birdie headed off on her new mission, muttering about how this wasn't the time for jokes, as Lauren headed for her closet to pick something out.
"You ok?" Amelia asked Maggie as the three of them were left alone for the first time since they'd met.
"I'm fine." Maggie reassured her, "Are you nervous?" She asked tentatively.
"I don't know." She replied, frowning slightly, "I'm not sure that I've been given the time to get nervous." She shrugged.
"This is what you want though." Maggie half questioned, eager to talk to Amelia.
"Yes, it is, and I'm glad you're here Maggie." Amelia said cracking a smile.
"Thank you so much sweetie, I'm glad I'm here too." Maggie said pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. They pulled apart and smiled at one another warmly.
"I should go get dressed." Amelia said, realizing she only had about twenty minutes.
"Ok." Maggie smiled at her.
"Don't let her give you any trouble." Amelia said eying Lauren who was now throwing clothes out of draws on to the floor in her search for what she wanted to wear. "Oh and don't worry about tidying any of this up, I'll do it tomorrow." Amelia added indicating the ensuing chaos as she headed back to her own room, and Maggie turned towards her granddaughter ready to sort her out, her spirits sawing.
"Knock, Knock" Someone called from the other side of the open door as they poked their head round. "Can I come in?" The woman smiled.
"Hey." Amelia face lit up saw she saw her. "I didn't realize you were here."
"I wouldn't miss this." She smiled walking into the room, giving Amelia a hug. The woman was Kate; she'd been Amelia's best friend through college and had worked along side her in Birdie's bar for years, for a long time the two had been inseparable.
"Ok, help me what do I wear for this?" Amelia said perplexed. The pair set to, routing through Amelia's closet eventually coming up with something vaguely appropriate, she looked more as though she was about to go out for a casual dinner than get married, but then again, a number of the guests had just spent the afternoon at a kids party so they weren't exactly dressed for the occasion either.
Birdie pushed her way into the room without knocking, she grinned widely as she saw Kate. "Hello my darlin' I had a feeling you'd show your face here." She said hugging her.
"You look beautiful luv." She said turning to Amelia. "Jasper ain't changed so you'll fit with him fine, and your mother's got Lauren well under control, I like her you know." She assured Amelia as she sat down to apply some makeup.
"You're mother's here?" Kate asked shocked.
"Yeah, I'll tell you about it later." Amelia assured her as she moved on. "Birdie did you know about this?" Amelia said as she routed through her makeup bag.
"He told me this morning, it's been all I could do to keep it to me self. I brought you a little Dutch courage." She added, bringing a bottle from behind her back, her eyes twinkling wickedly.
"I can't, I don't want to fall down the aisle or throw up on the groom." Amelia said tuning back to the mirror.
"Hell I'll join you." Kate said smiling.
"That's the spirit." Birdie said cheerily pouring generous measures into two glasses.
"Who else knew about this?" Amelia said turning to look at the two women about to raise their glasses to their lips.
"Everyone." They said in unison, smiling.
"Cheers." Birdie said as they toasted, "About bloody time."
Back out in the yard, everything had been transformed, the fairy lanterns that had been hung up for Lauren had all been lit, and flaming torches had been stuck all over the grass, ready for when it got dark, there was a cool breeze, but the summer evening was pleasant enough. The paddling pool had been removed, and with a troop of helpers they'd set up rows of seats, the original drinks' table had been turned into a proper bar, optics an all, most of which had been brought by Jasper and Amelia's old New York friends on request from Jasper; the food table had been re-set, ready for the second feeding of the day, and another old co-worker, turned professional DJ was setting up in a corner of the deck, along side a gang of 'old school' New Orleans jazz musicians that Eddie had roped in and paid for, promising them 'one hell of a party' to close the deal.
"Did all of you know about this?" Maggie asked as she sat with Abby, Susan and Elizabeth, all of whom had received secret invitations from Jasper via Abby. They nodded sheepishly.
"I gave you the invitation this morning." Abby defended herself. "I only knew about it ten days ago." She informed her.
"I don't think that he really trusted us not to let it get out." Susan added, she'd only received her invitation two days ago.
"He had a point." Abby observed correctly.
"It's better than my wedding." Susan said in the brief awkward silence, smiling at them.
"Hopefully it'll last longer too." Abby joked, a frown creased Maggie's forehead.
"I got married in Las Vegas." Susan explained to Maggie.
"To a guy she met on the plane out there." Abby added.
"Really." Maggie choked back a laugh of disbelief, as Susan answered her with a nod and a smile.
"Oh come on that's unfair." Chuck said a mock pained expression on his face as he held his hand over his heart appearing behind them.
"True though." Abby noted raising her eyebrows at him smiling.
"Do you know all the people here?" Maggie asked surveying the now packed yard as she looked around she noticed that the place was much fuller than before.
"No." Abby shook her head, looking around, catching Luka's eye as she did, smiling at him and Sam who were talking to Coop. Carter, Kerry, Chen, Pratt, Neela, Gallant, Yosh, Jerry, Randi and Chuni, were all milling around as well as a few other familiar faces from the ER, all of whom had been invited. She kept scanning as Susan and Elizabeth talked to Maggie. Finally she settled on her niece who was sat cross-legged on a rug with Imogen and Elizabeth's daughter Ella. They were all giggling excitedly as Nick videoed them; her eyes lingered there for a minute, smiling slightly at Nick and the little girls.
"Ok." A voice came over the DJ's microphone getting their attention. "I think we're about ready to get this show on the road." It said. "It looks like we've got a few more people than seats so I think that some of you are going to have to stand, sorry about that." He said not very apologetically. "If anyone who is family or something like it could head to the front, I believe that's traditional, and the rest, just grab a seat anywhere, or stand to the back, cheers guys." He finished as the microphone clicked off.
"You think we should go up there?" Maggie asked Abby frowning worriedly.
"Go." Susan chastised them, almost pushing them towards the front, as Elizabeth collected Ella and she, Susan, Chuck and the baby found seats towards the back. Abby and Maggie found a couple of seats in the second row. After a few minutes most of the seats were full and a hum of excitement filled the air. Birdie and Ed went to sit in the front row, Ed turned around having noticed them behind him, he whispered. "Look, I don't know if you want to, but there's a pair of empty seats here and I think it'd mean a lot to the doc if you two was the ones to fill 'em." He said honestly, he was a man of few words but what he said was genuine, and so Abby and Maggie subtly moved to the front.
"Hi, I'm Kate." Kate introduced herself to Abby in hushed tones as Abby sat down.
"Hi, Abby." Abby replied.
"Nice to meet you, finally." Kate smiled, they'd had a number of phone conversations over the last ten days, in an effort to achieve some semblance of organisation and they'd not done half badly.
"Birdie." Nick said in a loud whisper appearing by her, managing to get the attention of most of the people in the first few rows. "Can you look after Immo?" He asked passing his daughter over. "I've got to be the cameraman." He said, his attention focused on a failing attempt to be subtle.
"No problem." Birdie replied, pulling her up onto her lap, as Imogen wriggled off and went to sit on Abby's lap.
"Is that alright?" Nick asked, as she nodded smiling weirdly at him, he thanked her, kissing her quickly, heading to the back of the congregation.
Jasper made his way to the front, with two other guys who looked strikingly similar, only one significantly younger and one slightly older, standing by him, they were standing by the back wall of the yard, which was draped in fairy lights for the occasion, next to the minister, who'd shown up about fifteen minutes earlier, it would have looked like a real wedding had two of them not been wearing Jeans and the other board shorts and t-shirts.
The jazz band suddenly struck up with an innovative version of the wedding march and everyone turned to look, most of them noting the slightly surprised and amused look Amelia shot in their direction. Everyone stood up, as she headed down the makeshift aisle, consisting of a variety of rugs, holding Lauren's hand. She was wearing the white knee length skirt she and Kate had picked out earlier, having decided that it was the most virginal/bride looking thing she owned along with a low cut, back and front, black v-neck top, and bare feet, in contrast to Lauren's dark blue, baggy tom-boy pants and pink t-shirt with bare feet. In all fairness Amelia looked great and Lauren looked very cute as she clung to her mother's hand looking slightly bewildered by all the faces staring at them as her grip tightened around Amelia's fingers.
"God there was a day when I looked that good." Susan whispered to Elizabeth as Amelia passed them.
"It's called aging it'll catch up with her." Elizabeth whispered back as they share a smile, looking back at Amelia.
Amelia had almost reached Jasper when she looked to her left; she paused, almost forgetting where she was as she saw Jasper's younger sister and her boyfriend, smiling widely at her.
"Keep going." His sister hissed forcefully as she saw her pause.
"I'll talk to you later." Amelia whispered back raising her eyebrows smiling as she focused her attention back on the route ahead with only a couple of feet to go.
She found herself standing next to the minister, the only man there in a suit, and briefly surveyed Jaspers entourage.
"Hi." He smiled at her, looking from her to Lauren and back.
"You've got a best man, hi Dan, best men." Amelia said indicating behind him, her surprise evident as she bent round Jasper slightly, smiling quickly at his younger brother, noticing his older brother as well "Hey Tom." She added with a wave looking back to Jasper. "Was I supposed to get bridesmaids and stuff?" She said frowning,
"I don't know; it's tradition, Nick's the other best man but he's filming." Jasper shrugged as everyone listened to their conversation.
"You've got three best men?" Amelia said, slight surprise in her voice as she laughed and Jasper nodded.
"So do I need a maid of honour and stuff if you've got them?" Amelia asked quizzing him.
"If you want." Jasper told her shrugging. The entire situation was so farcical that most people were finding it funny.
"Ok." Amelia said taking a deep breath, looking around, briefly surveying the people in attendance as Lauren held firmly onto her hand, frowning out at the crowd from behind Amelia's skirt. "Sorry I'll just be a second." She said turning towards the minister, hauling a somewhat fussing Lauren up onto her hip as she did.
"Don't worry about it." He smiled at her, laughing slightly as she turned back to the assembly.
"Ok, Kate, Abby, Emma and Imogen." Amelia said deciding her group quickly.
"Are you serious?" Kate said as she finished.
"According to my sources you all found out about this before me so you should have arranged this before." Amelia said laughing slightly at Kate's surprised expression.
"Ok." Kate replied standing up, pulling Abby with her, grabbing Imogen's hand and headed over to the front, Jasper's sister Emma joined them as well.
"I want to be one too." Lauren said loudly, pulling her head out of the safety of Amelia's shoulder, arching to look at her mother.
"You already are Lo, that's why you're here." Amelia explained, smiling into Lauren's eyes as she placed her back on the floor. Lauren smiled, taking Abby's hand, next to Imogen.
"Ok, are we ready?" The minister asked as Amelia turned back to him.
"I feel a little out numbered now." Jasper told the minister turning towards him as well, "Hold on one more second." He turned back to the gathered audience, "Nick mate, hand the camera over and get down here, I need more backup." He yelled.
Nick palmed the camera off on an unsuspecting guest and jogged to the front.
"Ok, looks like we're set, whenever you're ready." Jasper told the minister.
"D'you know the romantic way you do things astounds me sometimes." Amelia quipped as the service began, and Lauren tugged at Abby hand pulling her down to whisper to her.
Ok, this is the second one today, I couldn't hold off, I really like this chapter so…
I swear I will do review responses!! Give me till tomorrow.
Cheers and let me know as ever…Kay