"Uhh is one of you Barry?" One of the new guys walked in to find the rest of us. The old gang and a couple of new kids who had been given community service. A final part of our community service was apparently to come in one day and talk to the new kids. Nathan had been excluded since he went off to Vegas with Marnie to try and cheat his way into money for a wedding. Simon looked at me confused, that's what Nathan used to call him. "Uhh, I guess that you mean me?" Simon stepped forward hesitantly, reaching his hand out for his phone. "Some guy just called your cellphone said he was in serious trouble." The kid threw the phone back at Simon as I groaned, wondering to myself what the fuck has Nathan done now. I looked around at the group, they all seemed to have similar expressions on their faces. I nodded my head looking at Simon "I guess we've got to call him, give us a minute." I followed Simon out of the room with his phone already dialing Nathan's phone number. "Uhhh Hello?" At first Simon held the phone to his ear but seeing my interest and confusion he put it on speaker as he spoke. "Marnie is something wrong with Nathan?" Her voice came out stressed and kind of distracted. "Oh well um yes, he well you see he got arrested." I looked at Simon eyes wide in shock, seeing a similar expression on his face. "What the hell! Okay Marnie," I blurted out, with a sigh I decided to ask the question "Where are you guys staying?" He voice came out a little confused, since I was the only one who knew what I was thinking. "Tuscany he went to the casino in the hotel, Why?" My eyes lifted up to Simon's face questions in them that he seemed to understand. "I guess that's where we're going." He said more to me than Marnie not that she seemed to mind as she was currently talking to a crying Nathan Junior. I went back the group alone, leaving Simon to ask Marnie more questions to actually prepare. Everyone looked at me curious about what could possibly be happening and where Simon was, "Well Simon and I are going to Vegas."
As it was last minute the flights were quite expensive, we took the left over funds from our run in with "Jesus" and packed quick and light since we only planned on being there a few days, with no idea how we could actually help Nathan. It was a long flight almost 11 hours and I was tired so I fell asleep quickly. When I woke up hours later, Simon seemed to have stayed up the whole flight, I tried to convince him to get some sleep but he refused so instead we watched a movie and played some stupid little games. Due to his lack of sleep he passed out almost as soon as we arrived at the hotel room. Not tired at all I'd sent a message to Marnie giving her our room number. She brought Nathan Junior and was actually really excited to have another person to talk to, especially someone she knew already and I enjoyed her company and hanging out with Nathan Junior who was tiny and actually very adorable. Marnie was all too happy to let me hold him and play while we talked. After a couple of hours of us catching up Simon walked out of the bedroom still half asleep, instinctively I went to help him since he looked seconds away from collapsing. I was instead greeted with a little kiss, I blushed turning around to Marnie though she didn't seem to mind, Simon's gaze followed mine and he immediately woke up upon noticing Marnie. Embarrassed he mumbled an apology and I spoke to distract him. "So Marnie, now that Simon's up can you tell us what happened with Nathan?"
She didn't actually have that much information apparently he had just been doing what he usually did cheating at the casino with his new power. He rushed back to the room and then he was arrested. He has apparently used his one phone call on Simon who was in fucking England instead of just calling Marnie. Eventually we headed down to the police station he was being held and asked to visit. They were hesitant but let us to see him. Nathan was being dramatic and cried out as soon as we entered, "BARRY, you've come to save me." Simon grimaced at the sound, I guess we forgot how excitable Nathan could be. As we got closer to the cell he was being held in Nathan leaned forward whispering to us. "Hey I need you two to get me out of here. They don't have any good food, it's horrible." I rolled my eyes sighing, "Not like you'd want to see a specific person or her child, nope just the food." Nathan turned to look at me his body going slack with sarcasm "Yeah and it's not like you were even invited were you." Simon glared at Nathan over the annoyance at my presence but shook his head sighing since there was no talking sense to Nathan. "How are we supposed to get you out?" Nathan's tongue came out the side of his mouth as he stroked his new beard. "Prison Break." He pointed finger guns at both of our unamused faces. I stared at him pointedly, "And how the fuck do you expect us to do that?" A devilish grin spread across Nathan's face, "Why we use you of course." We couldn't really walk away from the cell, worried if we did we wouldn't be allowed back. So our conversation wasn't all that private as I turned to Simon and harshly whispered. "Are we really going to break him out of Jail? This just seems like something that could go incredibly wrong!" Before Simon could say anything reassuring Nathan interjected, "No no it'll be fine you-you do your thing and act like one of them get the keys and walk me out of here!" I looked between the two skeptical, "I don't know that might not be the best idea?" Simon looked at Nathan saying nothing for a moment but then with a sigh stated "What other ideas do we have? I think we should just do it." I let out an annoyed huff but nodded my head and started to focus on one of the guards I saw earlier when we were walking in. The burning sensation covered my entire body but ended quickly leaving me in a strangers body. I sent a quick glare to Nathan before walking off to try and find a break room or something where the keys would be.
It didn't take too long the station wasn't all that big, it more of a struggle to make sure I wasn't spotted by the guard I was pretending to be, god how I wished Simon could still turn invisible, we were much less likely to get caught that way. But still I succeeded, while making my way back to Nathan's cell, I grabbed a pair of cuffs, if we were going to walk him out I had to make it look at least a little realistic. I walked up to the two boys forgetting they couldn't tell it was me glaring at Nathan. In response to my hostility he lifted his fists as if he could fight me through the bars. "Calm down Nathan, it's me." I held out the cuffs and spoke in a mocking tone, "Ready to be transferred oh so dangerous criminal." Nathan scoffed and tried to joke with me, "I'm not usually the one wearing the cuffs but if you insist." I rolled my eyes as I cuffed him and turned to Simon, "You might want to leave now so it doesn't seem as suspicious." He nodded, staring at me strange. It wasn't exactly normal to see your girlfriend as a giant cop, but still he walked off and after a few moments Nathan and I started to leave. Looking around corners, jumping at coming footsteps as if we were bloody loony tunes characters. There was surprisingly no issues, until of course we made it to the front desk. "Carl, what the hell are you doing with that prisoner?" The man at the desk looked at me quizzically, I guess I was Carl. I frantically searched my mind for a lie "The owner of the Tuscany called earlier, said he'd pay double to deal with the guy himself." I stared at him hoping he'd buy it as sweat slowly raced down my forehead. The officer snorted with a grin. "Hurry then." I nodded and exited the building quickly with Nathan in tow, not wanting to wait around for the real Carl to return. I rushed not waiting for Nathan to keep up as I made it to the car, shifting back into my own body with a shiver I dropped into the passenger seat with a sigh. Nathan slammed the car door as he entered and started talking about how rude I'd been, I tuned it out turning to Simon eye's half closed with fatigue, "Let's go."
We managed to sneak Nathan back into the hotel and to Marnie and the baby alright still feeling tired. I turned to him and Marnie mumbling out a quiet, "Okay we got you out, Anything else you need?" Marnie clapped in excitement at my question before exclaiming, "Oh you can be at our wedding!" I looked at Simon who's head bobbed in surprise, "What?" Nathan moved next to Marnie on the bed, wrapping his arm around her, "Well I mean we've got some money from the chip but maybe a big wedding isn't for us." I looked between then eyes wide in disbelief voice thick with sarcasm, "Yeah maybe you should try to get a house instead of living in a casino hotel or maybe you'll have to set it aside for next time Nathan get's sent to jail and you need to bail him out." I gestured to Nathan but he just winked and gave a weird little grin, "Come on you know you want me." Rolling my eyes I sighed "Look do whatever you think is best, I'm gonna go rest just make sure Simon knows so he can tell me later" I turned to leave but Simon grabbed my arm before I could open the door, giving me a small smile and kissing the top of my head. I sighed calming down, "Thank you."
When I got back to our hotel room I feel into a dreamless sleep. I woke up still tired, looking at Simon beside me, he gave a small smile at my expression and quietly whispered "We've got a wedding to attend my dear." I turned away pulling covers over my head still tired, "Then tomorrow can we spend the day just the two of us before we go back?" Simon laughed at my reaction "Of course." In order to prepare for Marnie and Nathan's Vegas wedding, Marnie came over to our room to prepare while Simon went over to theirs. Unsure of what to really do I video called Kelly and Alisha online and us girls actually had a very pleasant morning, Marnie wasn't exactly in a traditional wedding outfit but she looked nice and I honestly believed she could find a bright side to getting married in a pigsty she was practically ecstatic. It was actually kind of nice to be around someone so happy, although it was her big day she managed to ask all of us about our lives, she insisted on being there for me when Simon and I got married. At the time I laughed along with the others, our joy contagious but now I couldn't help but mull over that when, it wasn't an if. She really believed we would be together. It was kind of nice. Simon and I took some photos of the ceremony for Marnie and Nathan and we all celebrated a little before heading off separately to rest, though we had been given Nathan Junior to look after for the night. It was definitely an experience, showing possibly the worst part of having a child, still Simon didn't seem to mind and it made my chest grow warm. It was nice.
The next morning we were happy to hand over the baby back to our newly wedded friends and bid our goodbyes. As the final day of our little vacation I wanted to actually have some fun and hang out with Simon. We didn't exactly do all the casinos but instead we found ourselves visiting the Shark Reef Aquarium, which was absolutely amazing with so many cool fish and the sharks, I could have happily spent all day just standing in the tunnel watching the fish and sharks swim above and around me and Simon almost seemed ready to indulge me but I insisted we moved on even if it was hard for me to take my eyes off them and I was actually more than a little sad about leaving. Thankfully our next stop also had some aquatic animals. Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat, we watched a Dolphin show which was amazing, they really were incredibly intelligent, I took a whole lot of photos, my excitement maybe causing me to go a little overboard. The big cats were just as amazing, all brilliant whites. It made them a little easier to spot and I jokingly commented on how Simon was almost as pale as them, he rolled his eyes but laughed along. It really was turning out to be a perfect day. With a couple of hours left we headed to the Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. an interactive lab at Treasure Island I thought it would particularly fun for Simon since he really seemed to like Comics and everything though I had a lot of fun looking around and doing the little activities to become a 'qualified member' of the station as well. It was fun to run around like children and play a little game. As it turned dark we headed to the Eiffel Tower Experience/Viewing Deck It was pretty amazing and provided an amazing end to the night, though we did make one final stop to get the photo that I had been holding around since Future Simon died, us standing in front of the Las Vegas sign. It was a magical day and I couldn't have asked for anything better and then it was over.
It was time for us to go home, it was kind of disappointing but we knew it was going to happen. We woke up early, this flight thankfully was during the day instead of night so Simon didn't really have to worry about staying up alone. We talked about all the things we'd done the day before laughing and joking around. At some point I must have let what Marnie said slip. Just a simple comment about How much I loved her optimism, instead of saying if we got married she said when. It changed something in Simon he was suddenly alert and looked worried. Stress and doubt filled my mind, I fucked this up because I couldn't keep my stupid mouth shut. I could feel it now, swollen shut with my worries, my head clouded unable to babble my way out. "Shit." Simon whispered to himself, I could practically feel my heart stop beating. Time slowed as I was prepared to do anything to get away, but there was no escape we were on a fucking airplane for god's sake, we lived together. What were we supposed to do now that I fucked it up. Through my panic though Simon lifted his head, surprisingly he was grinning. "This was supposed to be a surprise." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little case. I couldn't take my eyes off it as he started to explain. "You know this isn't what I was planning, it's didn't really plan it out beyond the ring." I brought his rambling to an end with a kiss and a little whispered yes. The ring wasn't extravagant but it didn't have to be. It was a promise and that was enough.
*This chapter is loosely based on the Webisode 'Vegas Baby' of British Television Drama Misfits I wrote it purely out of passion so it isn't perfect or an attempt to steal any works from Howard Overman or anyone else*