Nick jumped when he heard the loud blare of his alarm clock and fell painfully to the floor, landing on his left side. His elbow jammed into his stomach, causing him to knock the wind of out himself.
"Son of a bitch..." He said breathlessly. He reached up and grabbed his alarm clock and turned it off as quickly as he could. He sighed and layed back down on the floor, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and trying to pretend he hadn't had that dream.
He heard Warrick walk in, but didn't say anything until he asked sleepily, "Nick, where the hell are you?"
Nick sat up. "Right here."
Warrick shook his head. "Not even gonna ask man." Warrick fell onto Nick's bed and yawned. "I am so exhausted."
Nick fell back against the floor beneath him. "Me too. Watching the entire second season of Entourage last night wasn't a good idea."
"It was a very good idea, we just shouldn't have done it." Warrick corrected. Nick stood with a groan. "What did you do?" Warrick asked.
"Fell out of bed again." Nick said as he looked at the bruise on his ribs.
"Nightmare?"
Nick nodded. "Yeah, a bad one."
The last 4 hours of Nick's life had been the most hectic yet. Getting the suits, making sure the band was showing up, and the thousand other things he was in charge of doing tired him out pretty easily. He was trying as hard as he could not to fall asleep in the back room of the church 5 minutes before the wedding.
And it's a good thing he didn't. Warrick came back from the bathroom shaking his head and holding up his hands.
"I can't do it." He said, and headed for the window at the back of the room. "I'm bailing." He reached up to open the window.
Nick sprang up from his chair and ran towards Warrick and pulled him away from the window by his shoulders. "Woah woah woah." Nick moved so he was standing in the middle of Warrick's escape route. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I can't marry Catherine. I'm gonna mess up." Warrick tried to get around Nick, but couldn't. "Move man, let me go."
Nick pushed Warrick backwards further. "No." Nick said defiantly. "You're freaking out for no good reason at all."
"What happened the last time I got married? Awful divorce. Worst decision of my life."
Nick shook his head. "Catherine's not Tina, and this weddings in a church."
"I'm not worried about Cath, I'm worried about me. I'm gonna fuck this up somehow, and I can't hurt her."
"So you're gonna walk out on your wedding?" Warrick stopped trying to fight off Nick, half because he knew he was right and half because he didn't want to accidentally hurt him. "Listen to me Warrick: you're not gonna mess up because you love Catherine. I wouldn't let you marry her unless I knew that. It's gonna be okay man, trust me."
Warrick sighed. "You're right. Sorry Nick."
Nick smiled. "It's alright. Just don't do that again, you scared the hell outta me. Catherine would kill me if you bailed. Like legit...my life would be over."
Warrick laughed. "Yeah that's true." There was a soft knock at the door. "Come in." Warrick said.
Greg popped his head in. "They're getting ready to start."
Warrick nodded slowly. "Alright."
"I gotta go with Greg, see ya soon bro."
"Yeah...thanks Nick." Warrick said before Nick left.
Nick smiled. "No problem."
Nick closed the door behind him and Warrick sank into the leather arm chair Nick had occupied before he had burst in and tried to escape. He smiled at his own stupidity and rubbed his face to calm himself down. A few minutes later, Grissom came in and Warrick followed him to the alter where Nick and Greg were already waiting. He took his place in front of Nick, and Grissom stood behind Nick and in front of Greg.
Shortly thereafter, the bridemaids came out and took their places. Catherine's sister was the maid of honor, followed by Jenn, Sara and Sophia. Then the famous wedding music blared out from the organs and everyone rose as Sam walked Catherine down the aisle.
Anyone would agree that 'beautiful' was the biggest understatement of the century. Sam was smiling proudly, and with good reason.
The ceremony couldn't have gone better. Well, Nick and Greg could have refrained from laughing when Warrick accidentally cut the priest off, but other than that, it was perfect.
The reception was very well set up. The food and drinks were served quickly and all went smoothly. About 30 minutes in, Sam tapped his wine glass with his fork and stood, getting everyone to quiet down and give him their undivided attention.
"I want to thank you all for coming, and of course give Warrick and Muggs my best wishes." Everyone clapped. "But this isn't my job, so I'd like to hand it over to the best man, Nick Stokes."
There was more applause as Nick stood and Sam patted him on the back. "Thanks Sam." Nick took a quick sip of his wine before he began. "I've been lucky enough to have known Warrick and Catherine for the past 12 years, and I can confidently say I know them both pretty well. Therefore, I'd fight anyone who would try to argue the fact that they literally are perfect for each other. I know it's probably the most cliché thing ever, but that's okay."
Nick paused for a second before continuing. "Not many people can say that they're best friends end up getting married...to each other...and those that do don't have friends like these two. They're the best friends I've ever had. I'm very lucky to be so close to them, but they're even luckier to have each other." Nick looked over at Warrick and Catherine, who were sitting to his right, and laughed when he saw tears running down Catherine's cheeks. "So seeing as how I'm gonna get yelled at later for making Catherine cry..." Nick paused briefly as everyone laughed. He turned and raised his glass to Warrick and Catherine and smiled. "Here's to Catherine and Warrick, congratulations guys. I love you both very much and couldn't be happier for you."
Nick took another sip of his beer and smiled as he watched Catherine and Warrick during their first dance together as a married couple. Of course he was happy as hell for his best friend, but he was also happy they had decided to go with an open bar.
Nick was just taking the first sip of his third or fourth beer as Greg came up and took the seat next to him.
"Great speech Nick."
"Thanks G."
They fell into a comfortable silence and watched as another dance started up. Greg looked from Catherine, to Nick, back to Catherine, then finally back to Nick. "So is she the one that got away?" He said, his mouth once again moving a lot faster than his brain.
Nick looked at Greg and frowned. "Who?" He asked in confusion.
Greg figured that as long as he was stuck with his dumb question, he might as well get an answer. "Catherine. I may not be Warrick, but I know you well enough to see that you still have some feelings for her." Nick stared at Greg, who held up his hands and shook his head. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna tell Warrick." He said with a laugh.
Once the shock of Greg's question passed, Nick actually considered it for a minute. The answer came right after he saw the huge smile on Warrick's face. "Even if that's true...and I'm not say it is...I'm glad she got away from me and found him."
The song ended, and before he could respond, Catherine came up and grabbed Greg's hand. "Your turn." She said with a smile as she dragged Greg out onto the dance floor after her.
Warrick took Greg's now empty seat next to Nick. He reached into his jacket pocket and handed Nick a small piece of folded paper. Nick accepted it with a confused smile and unfolded it, only to immediatly try to give it back to Warrick.
"No man, I don't want this." Nick said as he shook his head.
"Well that's a problem because it's yours."
"No, I remember giving it to you."
Warrick shook his head. "It was a loan Nick. Now I'm repaying you."
"Well I don't want you to." Nick said as he forced the check back into Warrick's hand. "Consider it a wedding gift."
"Nick, it's 15 thousand dollars. Not to mention you letting me live with you and everything. Take it."
Nick shook his head again. "No. Even if you somehow force it upon me, I'm not cashing it, so you just killed a tree for nothing."
Warrick sighed. "Then what am I supposed to do with this?" Warrick asked as he held up the check.
Nick smiled as Greg and Catherine returned and as he was being dragged out to dance with Catherine, he said to Warrick over his shoulder, "I don't care...give it to Greg."