"What are you doing here?" Elizabeth asked when Charlie showed up at her office a month or so before her wedding. "I told you I don't want to see you. I'm engaged for heaven's sake! And it's almost time for me to be married!"
"Yeah, I know," Charlie said dryly. "I saw the guy. He looks like living with him would be a real treat!"
"Granted he's not the most flexible man," Elizabeth conceded. "And he's not terribly affectionate...but those things aren't really important in a relationship, are they?"
"I'm gonna stop you right there," Charlie told her. "Don't do this to yourself. Don't marry that idiot! You deserve to be with someone who is affectionate and loves you, even if it's not me. I know it's not really my place to say stuff like that, but I have to." He then kissed her, deeper than she would have liked, but he noticed that she didn't push him away. When he finally pulled away, he then looked her in the eyes and said, "Think about what I said, will you?"
"I don't have to," Elizabeth replied resolutely.
"Fine," Charlie said, heading to the door. "If you want to waste your life, go ahead."
"I will!" Elizabeth said. "And it's not a waste. I know what I'm doing!"
"You don't," Charlie said, opening the door. "But good luck anyway." He then left, leaving an angry Elizabeth to slump in her chair and try not to think about what he said.
By the day of her wedding, Elizabeth was still resolute about marrying Stephen, although, at that point, the marriage was more about proving something to Charlie, rather than because she loved her fiance. In fact, if Charlie hadn't been in her thoughts, she would have dumped Stephen right away. She knew in her gut that he was cheating. She'd found jewelry in his dresser drawers that was not her taste at all, and clothes that were not her size were being delivered to the house monthly. But when confronted, Stephen always managed to explain himself. She heard a knock on the door and, thinking it was her father, went to open it. But it wasn't Gregory who strode in. It was Charlie.
"I'm not calling off the wedding," Elizabeth told him. "Stephen is probably cheating on me, but I can't end this. Not now."
"Is it because of me?" Charlie asked. "Are you so mad at me that you're willing to make yourself miserable by marrying a jerk who doesn't love you?"
"Well, yes," Elizabeth nodded. "It's not smart, but it's how I feel."
"All right, then," Charlie nodded and handed her a pin made up to look like a blue flower. "It's my grandmother's," he said. "It covers old, borrowed, and blue, don't you think?" Then, to her surprise, he gave her a gentle kiss. "Good luck, Lizzie," he told her. "I-I hope you're very happy."
He tried to cover it, but Elizabeth was sure she heard his voice break as he made his way out the door. She heard the door close, sighed, then tried to shake off his show of emotion as her mother came in and helped her with her dress.
"Do you think that my marrying Stephen is a good idea?" Elizabeth asked her mother. "Do you get any...bad vibes off of him?"
"Well, I don't," Katherine told her, laying a supportive hand on her back. "But if you do, if you think he's gonna make you unhappy, you don't have to go through with this, you know."
"I know," Elizabeth said. "But I think...I think it's too late to bow out now. I can always get divorced later if I have to."
"All right," Katherine sighed, even though, if she were in Elizabeth's place, and feeling what her daughter said she was feeling, her reaction would be to run like hell. "You do whatever you feel is necessary. Your father and I will support you no matter what."
"Thanks," Elizabeth told her mother. "Especially since I bet you don't believe I'm making a good choice, that means a lot to me."
Meanwhile, Charlie, despite the fact that he'd made Elizabeth think he was leaving the venue for good, was actually skulking around the reception area, and trying to find the groom and to verify Elizabeth's suspicions of cheating on his part. Finally, as it got close to the wedding start time, he walked past a closed door behind from which, loud chatter was emitting. Charlie ran to the door and put his ear against it, but he needn't have worried: the two people on the other side were talking so loudly, it was as if they didn't care who heard.
"Oh, this diamond necklace is so pretty!" A female voice cried. "However did you get the money for it?"
"My foolish father-in-law to be is giving me all sorts of money," Stephen's voice replied. "And of course I plan to spend it all on you, Rosie!"
"Wonderful!" Rosie trilled. "Sure beats working, doesn't it?"
"Definitely!" Stephen agreed. "Why should I work when I've got a wife whose family is just ready, willing, and eager to just hand me money!"
Charlie's eyes narrowed and he opened the door, causing a skinny, raven-haired woman with ample bosom to jump off Stephen's lap where she'd been perched. "And just who are you to interrupt people's private conversations?" She asked, striding up to Charlie with anger in her voice.
"And just who are you to carry on an affair with a man who's engaged, Rosie?" Charlie shot back.
Rosie put a hand on her hips and Stephen asked, "Just how do you know her name?"
"I was standing on the other side of the door while you two were loudly talking about how you're gonna bilk my family out of a bunch of money by marrying someone very dear to me even though you don't give a fuck about her," Charlie replied. "And I have a mind to tell Elizabeth about that."
"Now just a minute," Stephen said smoothly. "No need to act rashly. What do you say I give you half of whatever else I get and we'll call it even?"
"Half?" A put-off Rosie cried. "Who in the world says he's entitled to half? What about me?"
"Darling," Stephen told her patiently. "Either we give him half and he keeps quiet about what we said, or we don't give him half, he tells Elizabeth, and you go back to being a prostitute on a street corner cause I won't have a nickel to my name. Which one is better?"
"Oh, all right," Rosie sighed. "We'll give him half!"
"Unfortunately for you, I can't be bought!" Charlie shouted. "Elizabeth is gonna know you're a big fat liar, and then you'll be left with nothing. A suitable ending, don't you think?"
He then darted away and Stephen ran after him. They got in a scuffle that ending up giving both of them black eyes and torn jackets, and they only separated when Gregory and Elijah (who was there alone cause Selina was visiting one of her many children) pulled them apart.
"That's enough!" Elijah said firmly. "No more fighting!"
"Am I going to have to request you go home?" Gregory asked Charlie. "Cause I will."
"No," Charlie sulked. "I'll behave myself." But once Elijah and Gregory had gone on their way, Charlie headed back to Elizabeth's dressing room, grabbed her from behind, and compelled her not to say a word, and in fact, just sleep until he got her away from Stephen forever. While he was trying to her out of the venue as stealthily as possible, he passed the bathroom with Elizabeth over his shoulder, and Katherine stepped out and stared at him. "What are you doing?" She asked as she smoothed her skirt. "And why do you have my daughter over your shoulder like that?"
"She...passed out," Charlie improvised. "I'm going to get her some water or something."
"No," Katherine shook her head. "You're trying to get her away from Stephen, aren't you?"
"Yes," Charlie sighed. "But I guess the jig us up, isn't it?"
"Oh, not because of me," Katherine scoffed. "Elizabeth told me that she felt Stephen wasn't gonna be good to her, but was too stubborn to end things herself, so, since I felt I had no choice but to support her stupid decision, I'm glad you're making the choice for her that I can't."
"I can't believe you're okay with this," Charlie said.
"Oh, believe me, I am," Katherine replied. "Can't say she will be, though. Good luck!"
"Thanks!" Charlie replied and took Elizabeth out to his car, driving her away as Katherine went to sit next to Gregory and act like their daughter hadn't just (though through no choice of her own) left her fiance standing at the alter.
After driving a way, Charlie decided that just taking Elizabeth home wouldn't be enough. She would still try to go back to the wedding and ruin her life, so he called his mother and asked if anyone was using the plane or the yacht, after going to Elizabeth's apartment and picking up a week's worth of clothes for her.
"Not that I know of," Laura replied. "Why? Are you finally deciding to take some time off work? Maybe go somewhere far away to get your head on straight about Elizabeth?"
"Yes!"Charlie nodded. "Exactly! I'm gonna go to the airport and fly to a tropical locale, and hopefully, that will make me feel better."
"Good," Laura replied. "And don't forget to bring me a present."
"Sure, Mom," Charlie replied. "I won't forget!"
Then he drove to the airport and got Elizabeth on the plane without the crew so much as batting an eye at her unconscious state (which made him wonder what had gone on in this plane to make them so stolid.
After they were in the air, that's when Charlie finally woke Elizabeth up. She looked out the window and let out a shriek. "Charlie!" She cried when she saw him. "What the fuck have you done!"
"What are you doing?" Ethan asked his father as he strode into Elijah's office and saw him writing on a piece of paper.
"Nothing," Elijah said, quickly covering up what he'd been writing, which was a mock-up of what he assumed Lisa and Ethan's wedding invitation would look like. Going to Elizabeth's wedding (despite the fact that it hadn't ended well) had made him feel sentimental and think about the future.
"No, Dad, I wanna see." Ethan came to stand next to his father, moving his hand and seeing what Elijah had written.
"What's that?" Ethan said. "It looks like a wedding invitation."
"Maybe I'm being foolish, but I can't help but make one for you and Lisa," Elijah told him. "Now that that phase you had with that Jeffrey boy is over."
"It's not over," Ethan said quietly. "It's not just a phase, Dad. I'm gay, Lisa and I are friends, and if I'm gonna marry someone, it will be Jeffrey. Sorry to disappoint you, but that's how things are."
He then strode out of Elijah's office without giving his shocked father a chance to respond, then got in his car and drove to Roxie's, where he drank so much that Roxie insisted he take one of the rooms on the upper floor for the night, as he was in no condition to drive.
"Ethan told me he's gay," Elijah told Selina that night, his voice full of shock. "I-I-I..."
"And what did you say after he told you?" Selina asked her stuttering husband. "You didn't yell at him, did you? What did you do that made him tell you?"
Elijah sighed. "He found me making up a wedding invitation for him and Lisa."
"You're making wedding invitations for a pair of sixteen-year-olds?" Selina's jaw dropped. "I don't know if you realize this, but it's not the year one thousand anymore! You can't expect kids to marry that young!"
"I wasn't expecting them to marry!" Elijah shot back. "I just wanted to see how their names would look on a wedding invitation. Is that so wrong?"
"Well, it's certainly insane," Selina replied. "Especially since you wouldn't do the same for Ethan and Jeffrey."
"All I want is for my children to marry and have children," Elijah told her. "And how is that gonna happen for Ethan if he marries a boy?"
"If they choose to have children, they'll either adopt them, which your son Gregory did without complaint from you, or find some nice woman's egg to join one of their sperms with and then have another one carry the baby," Selina said. "And voila, there's your biological grandchildren. And you remember how hard it was to tell your dad you were a werewolf, right? It's just as hard for Ethan to tell you he's gay, so it would be best if you could support him."
"All right," Elijah said. "If he gives me a chance, I'll try."
Selina scoffed, grabbed a pillow and got out of bed. "Good luck with getting that chance," she said. "Roxie called to tell me that Ethan was at the bar and that he's drunk so much, she's keeping him for the night until he sobers up. I wonder why he would feel the need to do that? Cause he knows his father is a bigoted, judgmental asshat? I can't imagine what you said when he told you that he wears nightgowns to bed."
"He doesn't know how I would respond!" Elijah cried. "He didn't even give me a chance to say anything after he told me." He paused. "Ethan wears nightgowns to bed?"
"He didn't need to give you a chance to respond," Selina replied coldly, ignoring Elijah's shock. "He already knew what you were gonna say, and I don't blame him for not wanting to hear it." She sighed. "I'm gonna go sleep in the spare bedroom. Goodbye." She then shut the door behind her after turning off the light, leaving Elijah to spend the night alone.