Therapy and a Double Wedding
The weekend ended with everyone agreeing that the dinner party at Ethan's had been a great success; indeed, a repeat was pencilled in to everyone's diary for the following week, only this time it would be hosted upstairs, with the bringing of the dessert falling to Ethan and Drew. Drew decided quickly that he would opt to take either a trifle or Eton Mess, both of which were quick to prepare, and delicious. Thus on that Monday morning Ethan headed to work in the knowledge that Drew was going to be okay, even if he had still suffered from his nightmares on the last two nights, which had meant that he had continued to sleep in Ethan's bed. That did not bother him at all, and he actually had to admit that he found it comforting too on some level, if just a tad difficult to get used to after always having a bed to himself throughout life…
As for Drew, he had found sharing a bed with his best friend a little awkward at first, but he had been so matter of fact about the whole thing that he had quickly realised that it was not a big issue at all. With Ethan away at work, and the house tidied, he left Evie to read one of her new books as he made a call to the number Rabbi Hirsch had given him on Saturday. At first he was surprised that the counsellor seemed to be expecting him to call, given that it was just after 9am, until he realised that the good rabbi had actually made a point of contacting the man in question herself at some point after their talk. With that hurdle overcome, it was easy for the conversation to go on.
"Now I have been told a little bit about your situation," the counsellor said, "but I think that it is for the best that we do not discuss such matters openly over the telephone; delicate matters need talked about face to face. As it happens, I do have an opening in my appointment diary this morning for a preliminary chat, if you are available."
"That does sound wonderful," Drew replied, "but I am afraid that I have my daughter to look after. I have just returned to the city, and as yet I have not enrolled her in a new kindergarten; there is no-one available at short notice to look after her, so I am afraid that I will need to decline."
"I am aware of that, but I actually have a room here, just off my office, where there are toys and books for her to occupy herself with whilst we chat. You are not the first single father I have had as a client, and I am afraid that you will not be the last. The only access to the room in question is from my office, and so she would be perfectly safe."
"Well, I suppose… What time are we talking about?"
"I am free from 11am; I start these meeting with a short session, just to ascertain all the facts, and then we build a programme for you from that. Some people find counselling therapeutic, whilst others cannot stand it. After our meeting today you will be able to tell whether this approach is for you, or not…"
Drew got himself and Evie ready, and then, armed with a set of directions and a subway map, they headed off in the direction of the counsellor's offices on East 29th Street. As they rode together on the subway, Evie still complaining about the hard seats, Drew decided that the best thing to do was tell her exactly where they were heading, and the reasons why. She listened quietly, then after a few moments deep in thought, she spoke. "So if you talk to the man about her, he might be able to help you stop having bad dreams?"
"I hope so… Uncle Ethan helps, but sometimes it is better to tell all of your secrets to a complete stranger when you have been hurt badly, rather than someone that knows you too well."
"I guess that makes sense; That is why I told Miss Frobisher things, even when you had told me that I shouldn't. Sometimes when I had heard you crying during the night, I ended up being upset at school, and she noticed… I knew that she wouldn't tell anyone, so it was a good idea."
"Well, I am glad that you didn't listen to me, and that you had someone to talk to. We will need to find you a new school to go to here soon; I want you to have friends your own age here to play with. Maybe we could see about sorting that out this afternoon… As for lunch, well I think we might have that at a diner were all of the staff sing as you eat…"
"Singing waiters? That sounds like a lot of fun, daddy!"
"It does, doesn't it," said Drew, who now was hoping that he was remembering the address of the Spotlight correctly; still, he could always call Ethan and ask if they got a little lost.
The subway journey was not a long one, and soon they were walking along East 29th Street, finding the building that housed the office, and then riding up in the elevator. As they headed up, Drew found that a lot of his nerves had made a return. This was new territory for him; he had never been one that was given to string emotions, and had never been known to wear his heart on his sleeve. Now he was preparing to share his darkest secrets with a complete stranger. Had Evie not been with him, he realised, he would probably not have gone in, just turned tail and fled. However, he knew that he had to try and sort his head out, if not for himself, then for her…
That night Ethan arrived home to the smell of pizza permeating the house, but was a little surprised to walk into the kitchen and find the food in question had just been delivered. He greeted his new roommates warmly, and noticed at once that Drew looked tired; that could explain the takeout. He did not question it as they sat down, just let Evie tell him all about her day; her first visit to the Spotlight Diner, where Dani had taken an instant shine to her, and had promptly spoilt her, thus letting Drew just relax and enjoy the atmosphere. After dinner, it was time for her bath, something that she was left alone to do at her age, and the minute she was gone, Ethan had just looked over at his friend, waiting for him to speak; when he did not, he said "You look done in, my friend. Did the Spotlight exhaust you?"
"No, that was the trip to the kindergarten this afternoon. Jeff sent me the details of the one that little Wes used to go to, and will come back to next year. I called them, and they had places, so I arranged to pop in. The upshot is that she is enrolled, and has her first half-day tomorrow. All being well, she will be in for the whole day the rest of the working week after that; it will be good for her to get some friends on the go. Then of course I saw the counsellor this morning…"
"You did?" said Ethan, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice. "You never said that you were going; I would have come with you if I had known."
"I know that you would have done, but it was all arranged at short notice, and it seemed silly to call you and disturb your day after everything else that you have done for me. In any case, I kind of need to do this alone. I will admit that it was draining going over it all, but afterwards I did feel a little better; it was cathartic I guess. So I will be having a weekly session to begin with, just to see how it goes, and I can do that whilst Evie is at school."
"That is good to hear. I hope that it helps you to get back to the old you, more or less," said Ethan with a smile.
"I am afraid that might never happen, Ethan; too much was done to that Drew and I doubt it would be healthy to bring that optimistic man back to life. I do know one thing though; I have found my home here in New York, and now that I have, I have no intention of ever leaving it."
That Drew was now back in town to stay was something that all of his friends agreed was fantastic; he fitted into their world right away, almost as if he had never been away. With Evie now enrolled in the nearby kindergarten, and making friends straight away, Drew now found that he had time to start on his next task, whilst carrying on with his counselling sessions; namely, finding a job. His old employer in Oxford had been contacted by Ethan, and he had sent him a glowing reference, along with a personal letter, in which he expressed his delight that Drew had left Lucy. Ethan had never mentioned that when he asked for the reference, but Oxford was quite a small city, and the news had spread from somewhere, probably the hospital that she had used to work in.
The fact that Lucy had been abusing Drew had been a rumour for a while amongst his former colleagues; indeed, they had suspected something at the time, but like so many other people, they had felt powerless to intervene, and then it had been too late, and he had been whisked off to London. His former employer apologised that he had not done more, although Drew was certain that he did not need to do so, and intended to write back at some point and tell him as much. He had not managed to do so when a second envelope arrived from Oxford, this time from the University itself. On opening it, he discovered that it contained a new copy of his degree certificate, along with most of the other documents that he had from his days studying there that Lucy had destroyed. He had not sent for them, and Ethan denied any involvement. In the end, he became increasingly certain that the Carmichaels might have had a hand in it…
He thus now had all the proof that he needed to start his job hunt in earnest, with evidence of his qualifications in full as well as the resume. There were a lot of positions for which he could apply, but several in particular attracted his attention. He wanted a job in which he could work from home most of the time, maybe only going into the office a couple of days a week; that would fir in with Evie and all of his other commitments. The first task was to create a new CV, as his old one was seriously out of date. The only problem that he had there was the seriously long gap in his employment history. He had no idea how he could explain that without telling the entire world about what had happened with Lucy at first. He considered saying that he had chosen to be a stay at home father for a few years, but that would not get round the issue completely; people would want to know why he was back in the US. In the end, he decided to tell just the basics; he stated that he had had an accident, and that he had then moved to London when his ex-wife had needed to for her career…
As Drew carried on applying for jobs, the summer began to draw to an end, and the raw heat of August soon gave way to the more equitable climate of September. This was a month that would end for many of them with a trip to the Windy City. The double wedding of Jasper and Brad to fraternal twins would be quite an event, and a new experience for most of them. To see two best friends marry a brother and sister at the same time in the same place was just a little out there, even in this day and age. At a stroke, the two former Warblers would become almost brothers-in-law, and afterwards, they would be living next door to each other. The siblings did not want to be too far from each other, and if as a bonus, Jasper and Brad ended up staying together, that was no bad thing.
In the middle of September there came a small piece of bad news. Nick and Jeff had planned on heading back for a few days to attend the wedding; they had intended to fly over on the Friday to Chicago, attend the wedding, travel on to New York on the Sunday, and return from there on the Monday, allowing them to check in with everyone in the West Village, particularly a certain cat. Then Nick's new boss had dropped the bombshell; his attendance was necessary at a conference on Tuesday morning, and furthermore, there was to be a planning meeting for it on Friday afternoon. As such, there was no way that he could travel across the Atlantic, and although he would have understood if Jeff had wanted to go alone, his husband decided that he would rather stay in London too. They broke the news to the two grooms first; they were sad, but understood the reasons why they could not come, given the distance that they had to travel. They did however promise that if the ceremony could be broadcast on Skype, they would watch. As it happened, that would not be an issue…
That course of events did actually create another problem. As part of their trip back to New York, Jeff had arranged with David that he and Mercedes should come to New York on the Monday, and they would show them everything that they needed to know about the house, letting them settle into it comfortably for their time in the city. That would also not now be possible, and so the task would now fall to the only person that had lived in it that was in town. Mike would be happy to do so for his friends, and was in a position to do it as he was on a week's vacation. He had the time off before he began his serious rehearsals for the Christmas show at the City Ballet, in which he would be dancing the male lead. He would also have visitors of his own that week in the form of his old friend Matt Rutherford and his pregnant wife; they were scheduled to arrive in the city a few hours after David and Mercedes, so it would all work out nicely.
The saddest note of all for Jeff, however, was that he would be denied a reunion, even if it had only been going to be for a few hours, with Caleb. With the benefit of hindsight, he realised now that it was not going to happen that actually his plans might have made the pain of separation worse for him and his little cat afterwards, so maybe it was all for the best. He was just glad that Caleb had not been aware that he had been coming back; after all, his heart still broke just a little every time that he heard that plaintive miaow on Skype as the cat placed his paw on the screen, trying to touch his human…
Without the presence of Nick and Jeff, the wedding would also not be quite the same for the other two musketeers, but they were both still determined to enjoy it, given that very soon Trent would be the only one of them on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean. To that end, he and Sebastian had made plans to arrive earlier than the others the day before the wedding and have a catch up for just the two of them. Dave and Rory were also to be absent for the wedding, with work commitments and child care issues tying them both to home. Both Sebastian and Trent had been to Chicago on a few occasions, but those had been the briefest of visits to see friends, or had been on work or school trips; for that reason they decided to explore the city a little that Friday afternoon. Having seen all of the major sights in the centre of town, they headed back to their hotel to freshen up, then headed out again to a bar restaurant that had been recommended to them by Mike.
He had frequented it regularly in what seemed like a previous life now, when he had been studying in the city. True, they were probably the oldest people there, but the music was good and the food fantastic. Their server did give them a look when she came over, and both of them initially thought that it was because of their age, but then, when she returned to take their order, she simply came out with it and asked if one of them was actually Sebastian Smythe… He smiled, and said yes, which prompted the young lady to tell them all about her theatre studies course so far. She promised not to tell anyone else who they were, so that they could have an undisturbed evening, but was left with a huge smile when Sebastian signed her bill pad without her even requesting it…
"I guess that is the one downside to your career, Seb," said Trent when she had brought their main course. "Someone might recognise you when you are out, and potentially the quiet evening that you had anticipated is destroyed… That is why I try to stand right at the back when the President is making one of my speeches, and try to avoid the camera if at all possible. Even though the world of politics is nowhere as glamorous as that of Broadway, folk still get recognised and put on the spot."
"You get used to it, and honestly, I don't mind if I am alone, or with a few trusted friends. However, if I am out with Elise, then I just want to be left alone. People did ask if they could do a shoot with me, her and Dave just after she was born, and have done again since, but the answer will always be no. So far no-one has tried to 'papp' us as we go about our everyday lives. I just hope that they respect us when our second child arrives."
"They had better, or they will face the wrath of all of the Warblers, not to mention the fierce Santana Pierce-Lopez… Anyway, I know I have said this already, but I am so pleased for you both - and you have also given me and Rory pause for thought; Cormac needs a sibling, and we are planning on doing something about that as soon as we can…"
"That is great, and I wish you both all the luck in the world with achieving it. I am only sorry that Nick and Jeff will not be having a second child, but then Jeff was always quite adamant, and although there is not much foundation in science for his beliefs, I can understand why he has decided not to take the risk."
"It is going to be strange not having them there in person for a Warbler wedding. I miss them, although I will deny that if they ask. You on the other hand will be seeing them in the flesh very soon - you go at the end of next week, don't you?"
"Yeah, and that will be me in London until the 22nd of December," replied Sebastian. "I am torn about it actually as the time approaches; yes, it is good for my career, but it will be so strange to be away from Dave for so long."
"It will be worth it for the experience in the end," said Trent. "They do say that the way the West End works is totally different to Broadway, and it will get your name out there into a totally different world. I am guessing that you will be tied up with rehearsals and promotional interviews when you first get there too?"
"Naturally; I have a few already booked with the more serious elements of the press, and one TV interview at the BBC, although there is a strong possibility that I will be back there doing a chat show too - a Graham somebody or other, the name escapes me…"
"Graham Norton? It probably would be, and trust me, if it is, Rory will be so jealous of you…"
The night went well for the two of them, but given that they were now both approaching the age of thirty all too quickly, it ended at a very reasonable hour, given that they also needed to be up and presentable for the wedding pretty early the next day. The ceremony might not be until the early afternoon, but Thad had arranged for them all to meet up beforehand for brunch. He had chosen a venue close to the wedding, and he was already there, on his own, when Trent and Sebastian walked in.
"I had an idea that you two would be the first ones here, although the majority of the others are en route from O'Hare as we speak. The flight from Boston arrived first, and on time, so David, Mitch and Gabriel will be here presently; the New York flight was late however, although that contingent are in cabs as we speak. As for Cameron, well he spent last night with his parents, and so he is driving here… okay, scrub that, he has just arrived…"
They all stepped over to the door to greet him, and noticed at once just how well he was looking. His marriage to Flora, and being in Vermont, doing the things that he loved, had banished all of his old cares and woes; the fact that fatherhood was only a matter of weeks away had made his life complete, although secretly he was rather worried about how he was going to cope with newborn twins…
Gabriel too seemed to be glowing with health when he arrived, safe in the knowledge that after a long wait, he would be marrying the love of his life in a little over three weeks from now. That might have contributed to the fact that Mitch in contrast seemed a little subdued; he was beyond pleased for his friend, but he was going to miss his companionship after so long. All he could hope was that once he had got used to the idea, being a single man with his own place in Boston wouldn't be so bad, and it might even spur him along to find someone of his own to share his life with…
The time for the wedding was soon upon them, and the former Warblers that had assembled in Chicago arrived in good time to take the seats that had been allocated to them. Thad made sure that the camera that had been set up for the Skype link was working, and that it would offer a good view of proceedings to the two of their number that were watching the event from the other side of an ocean. As he was doing so, Jasper and Brad arrived, both in tuxedos; they were well tailored and fitted them perfectly. Above their buttonhole flowers Thad was pleased to see two Warbler Pins, a reminder to the world of their connection to Dalton. He also smiled as he saw those two guests that had attended every other Warbler wedding he could recall arrive. The Carmichaels seemed to get great pleasure out of seeing all of their boys reach this landmark stage in life, even if it had to be a reminder of their own aging. There were signs of that now, less apparent perhaps to him than the others of course, given that he saw them every day, and as such, little differences went unnoticed.
Jasper and Brad went to greet them, and Thad could not fail to notice the way that Mrs Carmichael immediately went to straighten Brad's tie; this made Jasper laugh until she delved into her bag, pulled out a brush, and began to attack his tuxedo jacket. That made everyone in the place chuckle, including the parents of the two grooms, who like all the family of ex-Dalton boys had long ago accepted the way that the former Principal and his wife treated their former students as if they were their own children… Thad's attention was suddenly diverted to the laptop that was hosting the Skype call, as he heard the notes of an incoming call. He answered it, and smiled as Nick and Jeff appeared on the screen, both impeccably turned out, with little Wes sat in between them. They checked the sound levels, and were still doing so when the two grooms arrived and proceeded to greet the first two of their close group to have married. That conversation only ended when the signal was given that their respective partners had arrived, and the ceremony could begin.
Of course, all of the other Warblers had met Angus and Kirsten MacBride at some point or another, but for most of them it had been sometime ago, and only once. Now as they walked into the wedding venue, their were gasps of surprise. Kirsten had decided against a traditional wedding dress, and instead was glad in a gown that would not have looked out of place on the red carpet at an awards ceremony. It was cream rather than white, and had a demure cut; she wore it with a fitted jacket, decorated with gold brocade, which set off her blond hair. By her side, her brother had embraced their Scottish heritage and was wearing a full formal kilt outfit, which set off his rugged good looks and his compact, muscular body. To be frank, he looked smoking hot, and that fact did not escape even the most heterosexual of men in the room. At the front, facing forward, Jasper and Brad were more aware of what was coming than they might have been, as they could see the looks on Nick and Jeff's faces, so they knew that their soon to be spouses had to look good. They were not disappointed, and stood proudly at the side of their partners as the celebrant made his way to the spot in which they would intone those formal words that would bind them to the twins forever….
As the ceremony progressed, Nick and Jeff discovered that the benefit of watching an event on camera was that they could turn the sound at their end down and comment on things, just listening to what was going on far away. It also meant that their son was free to chatter away happily, which he seemed to want to do a lot due to the novelty of the situation. He was quiet enough though at the moment that the three grooms and one bride were pronounced as being married to their respective partners. The only drawback was that as after the ceremony, as the rest went off to enjoy a catered meal, Nick and Jeff would sit down to an ordinary dinner at home. They had decided that they would have take out, a rare treat, and had found a good restaurant nearby that delivered. They signed off after wishing the newlyweds all the best, and then waving at all their friends that had clustered around the screen…
For those in Chicago, it was now time to head through to the meal, which was a buffet affair as it turned out, although not quite as lavish as the one they had partaken in after Trent and Rory had married. There was still more than enough food to go around, helped by the fact that appetites amongst the Dalton boys had lessened with age, all now conscious of the fact that their metabolism was slowing down with time. There was no-one present that was not overjoyed for the two young couples. Admittedly, the Warblers did all privately think that the speeches that were given by the groomsmen that were friends of Jasper and Brad from college might have been better had one of them been asked to give it. The party would go on well into the evening, with the Warblers being coerced into giving an impromptu performance; most of them also had a dance with the bride, and her brother too in some cases. No-one batted an eyelid, as that was what happened at weddings. They would all leave that night knowing that the future for the two couples was a rosy one…