I took Dax in to the office for his 4 month appointment the first Friday in June. Walking up to the front counter, I slightly groaned to myself when I saw Marge sitting behind it. I put Dax's name down on the clipboard and waited for Marge to acknowledge me. "Hello Miss Cohen-Chang. Just have a seat and Santana will be with you shortly." She told me in her snippy voice. "Thank you Marge" I said before I pushed Dax's stroller over to an empty chair in the corner. There was a young lady sitting with her young daughter and what looked like her best friend. I started to flip through a magazine sitting on a nearby table as I heard them talking. "Abby's doctor is so cute. I tried asking him if he would be interested to go on a date with me but he turned my down, something about already having a girlfriend. I couldn't believe it, I'm by far the best thing Dr. Chang could date." I couldn't help but smile to myself as I listened to their conversation. "Yeah, all I know is his girlfriend must be a model or something to turn me down." Santana opened the door then and looked at me. "Hey Tina, Mike is ready for you and Dax now." I put the magazine back down and stood up behind Dax's stroller to push him back to the room. I stopped right in front of the girls and leaned down to their level, "Actually I am a dance instructor." I said and continued on my way to the door. Santana looked at me with a confused face. "What was that all about and why is those two looking at you like a ghost?" She asked as we were walking down the hallway. "The one was saying how she asked Mike out on a date and how he turned her down thinking he must be dating a model. I was just proving a point." Santana took Dax out of my arms and set him on the table to get his vitals. "Wow Tina I didn't know you had a badass streak. I have to admit that makes me like you that much more." She handed Dax back to me and headed back out the door.
I was becoming quite fond of the like yellow walls with the panda bears painted all around the room and the fish painted on the ceiling. I just started to acknowledge the cute monkeys painted on the cabinets when Mike walked in. "Hey you two, you are a sight for sore eyes." He said walking up and giving me a kiss and rubbing Dax's back and smiling at him. "I'm going to check Dax out and then I'm going to have Dr. Puckerman come in here and give him his shots." Mike said as he took Dax from me. He started looking in Dax's ears and going down a checklist for things babies should be doing at 4 months. "Why is a different doctor giving Dax his shots today?" I asked as Mike moved to checking Dax's legs. "Well I don't want him to associate me with needles. I want him to actually like me." Mike said smiling up at me. "I met one of your admires out in the waiting room earlier." Mike was listening to Dax's chest then and looked up at me startled. "You what?" I sat on the table next to Dax and started kicking my legs back and forth trying to mess with him a little. "There was a young mom out in the lobby talking about how she asked you out on a date and you turned her down. She was very unhappy about that." I said jokingly as he realized who I was talking about. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe that crazy lady. Her name is Sugar and she thinks she is the greatest thing to everyone. I pretty sure I'm going to have to end up moving just to get away from her." Mike was saying as there was a knock on the door.
"Am I interrupting anything?" A man asked as he walked into the room. I noticed his coat read Dr. Noah Puckerman and realized it was time for shots. I instantly wanted to pick Dax up and leave then. "No Puck, come on in. Puck, meet Tina and Dax" "It's nice to meet you" He said holding his hand out for me to shake. "Mike tells me he needs me to give this little guy his shots now because he doesn't want his girlfriend's son to hate him so early on." Puck said laughing as he prepared the needle. Mike took Dax from my arms and held him in his arms. I turned my eyes away as Puck walked towards my boys and waited for Dax to start crying. When I saw Puck putting the cap back on and put the needle in the bio box, I turned around to see Mike holding Dax over his shoulder trying to calm him down. "You guys have a good time down in Florida and Tina; it was nice to finally meet you." "It was great to meet you too Puck." I said as I started to get our stuff back together in the stroller. "So are you ready to meet the rest of the family tomorrow?" Mike asked me as soon as Puck left the room. "No but I trust that you wouldn't feed me to the sharks. Plus the few times I have talked to your mom on the phone, she seems to like me enough." Mike gave me a peck on the cheek. "Of course she likes you and when she meets you she will love you." We were walking down the hallway then when Santana came from the other end with Sugar carrying Abby. Mike, who was still hold Dax, gave him a big hug and tickled his belly before he bent down and gave me a kiss and put Dax into the stroller. I smiled as I started to walk towards them and the front counter. "See you tomorrow babe" Mike yelled at me causing me and Santana to crack up laughing.
"I love the new highlight color sweetheart" Michelle told her over the video chat Saturday early afternoon. "Thanks mom. I kind of figured it would probably be best to take the blue out since I'm 19 anymore. I though blonde would be a nice difference." I told her as Dax started to make funny noises, so I held him up to the camera so my mom could see him. "He has gotten so big. I'm going to see you very soon Dax. Your Gammie love you very much. You have fun at the beach next week and make sure your mommy has a good time too." My mom was talking when Mike walked in the front door. "Hey Tina, are you guys about ready to head out?" He asked as he realized we were talking to my mom. "Hello Mrs. Cohen. How are you doing today?" Mike said moving into the view of the camera too. She smiled back at Mike happy to see him too. "Hello Mike, we are doing pretty well here. I hear you guys have a busy day today to go alone with your busy week coming up." Mike nodded slightly, "Yep today is all about introducing Tina and Dax to the rest of the family and last minute touches on the wedding party outfits." "Sounds like fun. I will let you go but Mike if you don't start calling me Michelle, I will have to bop you when we meet in person." She said with a smile. "See you later Michelle" "Bye mom" I turned the camera off and turned around to face Mike. "Are you ready?"
We walked into the bridal shop and saw a bunch of people sitting in the chairs and couches right inside the door. I saw Jen stand up from a chair and run over to us with the rest of the family following close behind. "I'm so glad you all could make it." Jen said giving all of us a hug and backed away as the rest of the family stood around us waiting for introductions. "Mom and dad, this is Tina and Dax." Mike said as his parents stepped forward. Julia walked up and gave me a hug and held her arms out as an invitation to hold Dax. "Tina it is a pleasure to finally meet you in person and Dax you are absolutely adorable." Mike Sr. stepped forward then and held his hand out to shake mine. "Tina it is a pleasure to meet you." After I met the rest of the family, we split up into guys and girls to the separate parts of the store to try on the suits and dresses.
My dad and I were sitting in two chairs waiting for James and Ben to finish trying on their tuxes. I had Dax sitting in my lap playing with one of his stuffed animals while I just watched him. "You seem like you are attached to that little boy already." My dad said to me as I looked up to him. "I really am dad." "You aren't concerned about the fact that he isn't yours?" I looked back down at Dax as he looked up and me and gave me a huge smile and it made my heart melt a little bit. "No it doesn't matter to me. I love him as if he was my own and I love Tina. I can see myself going through all of this one day with her and the thought just makes me smile more than I ever thought I could." I told my dad as he started to smile and a look of understanding crossed his face. "Well then I am happy for you. So do I get to hold my sort of grandson?" I handed Dax to my dad as I just sat and watched them.
"So Tina, you seem pretty happy with my brother." Kate said to me as they were waiting for the others to finish trying their dresses on. "I really am. Mike is an amazing guy and can't imagine life without him." I admitted turning to look at her. "Mike has always been a special guy and is very important to me. He has always thought like my mom and sister and not always picking the best choice in life. I will say that you seem to be good for him though." Unsure of where she was going with the conversation, I just nodded my head and replied, "Thank you" "Do you love him?" Smiling at the question because I realized she was just trying to protect her younger brother from any heartache that might come to him, I answered her. "I do love Mike very much. He is very important to me and wouldn't dream of hurting him." Kate's face lit up slightly then as she reached for my hand pulling me up. "Now that we have that taken care of, let's find you a dress." She said as we quickly walked over to a nearby rack that was full of not too formal dresses for me to look through.
We weren't leaving for Florida until Tuesday morning because Tina's class had their dance recital Sunday night. I had just finished packing when the taxi I called for arrived in front of my building. I put my luggage in the truck and we headed to Tina's building a few streets away. She was sitting on the front step with Dax in her lap and Brittany next to her. We came to a stop and I put her luggage in the back with mine. "I will see you on Sunday night. You and Santana have fun but please don't trash the place." Tina told Brittany as she gave her a hug and I took Dax sitting in his car seat and climbed on into the cab. We arrived in Florida 3 hours later and instantly loved it. After renting a car and getting our entire luggage, we headed to the large house my family was staying at for the whole trip. We were in the car driving listening to an oldie station, when Mike started singing along. I had no idea he could sing, he wasn't the greatest but he was still really good. I ended up just staring at him shell shocked when he finally looked over at me confused. "What?" "I had no idea you could sing like that." "I only sing when I really want to and in front of people I'm really comfortable around." He admitted before turning his full attention back to driving. "You are comfortable with me?" He laughed, "Yeah I am, considering other stuff I have done in front of you, singing really isnt that bad." He wagged his eyebrows back at me while I turned beet red and turned my attention to the road ahead of us.
When we got to the house, we found out that Jen, James, and Kate were driving around town getting last minute details figured out while Mike Sr., Julia, Ben, Camie and Callie were playing out back on the beach. Tina and I took all of our stuff upstairs and changed into our swimsuits and put some lotion on and headed to the back deck to join them. There was a large cabana that covered the deck and it had steps that went down to the beach where the girls were playing while the adults sat drinking tea on the deck. "I'm so glad you guys finally made it" mom said as she stood up to give us all hugs and take Dax away from me and started to sway with him and make him giggle. "It is so beautiful here. I never expected it to really look like this." Tina said as she was staring at the ocean. "Have you never been to the beach before?" I asked her. She turned around to look at me a shook her head. "We will stay up here and watch Dax. How about you two go play on the beach for awhile before dinner." My dad said as Tina grabbed my hand and started to run down the stairs. The first thing she did when we made it to the ground was run straight for the ocean. She swam so far that I was afraid she would get too tired trying to swim back, so I called for her and finally got her to stop. "Are you planning on going to visit Africa this afternoon?" I asked when I finally reached her. "I'm so sorry. This place is so brilliant, I can't help it." I pulled her in close to me and gave her a kiss. "I'm so glad you're happy and that I get to experience this with you but I have something very important to tell you" I started as I watched her face go from scared to expectant, "Tag" I shouted as I started to swim away as fast as I could.
"Look at that Dax" Julia said turning him around in her lap so he could see the ocean. "Your mom and dad are having a good time out there." "You are calling Mike his father?" Ben asked as he turned around to look at Julia. "As far as I'm concerned, Mike is that boy's dad." Mike Sr. replied and they were quite once again.
After their game of tag in the water, Tina and I started to help my nieces build a large sand castle. We had just finished it when Jen and Kate had come back. Jen and James were each going to stay in their family's rental houses until the wedding night and to spend some one on one time with everyone. "So the real question is should we leave it up or tear it down?" Tina asked looking at our creation. "I say we leave it up all week." Callie said as Jen joined us on the beach. "I'm so glad you guys made it! While you are down here, we need to get some pictures. I plan on making a huge scrapbook of the whole trip." Jen said and knowing her as well as I do, I ran up the steps to grab Dax. He was now keeping my dad company while my mom, Kate, and Ben were working on supper. Smiling while I held Dax in his board shorts and matching shirt and Tina standing next to me with my arm around her while Jen took the picture. "Perfect"
The rest of the week had passed by pretty quickly with sightseeing and wedding preparations. We had spent all day at the hotel decorating the patio where the reception was going to take place and the beach where the sunset ceremony was going to happen. I was sitting on the stage on the patio while feeding Dax a bottle when Jen came up and sat beside me. "This small simple wedding is a lot more work than I thought it would be." She said wiping her forehead. "Yes but it will be beautiful. I always thought a beach front wedding would be great and now I can see that I was right." I admitted looking around at how the decorations looked with the ocean in the background and then I focused on Mike who was hanging up another paper lantern and smiled back when he saw me. "Don't worry; you will be able to have the same option sooner than later." Jen told me as she gently nudged my shoulder. I looked at her confused not sure by what she was getting at. "Oh please, I see the way my brother looks at you. There was one point in our lives where we told each other everything no matter what. I can read him better than our parents and the look he has now is love. I promise you he will propose one day in the future and your beach wedding will be possible then." Jen said before James called her about a question and she darted off.
The morning of the wedding, I woke up and headed downstairs to get some coffee. I was going to help Jen and the girls with their hair while doing my own hair and makeup at the same time. Mike had already told me not to worry about Dax and just take care of the girls. Mike was the second groomsman in the wedding and was going to be walking with James's sister. At the request of James's grandmother who is very old fashion, the wedding party was kept only for relatives, so it was Ben, Kate, Mike and James's sister Kara. Mike was just pleased that he really didn't have that many duties today not that he would have complained if he did. After having a family brunch in the house everyone started to get ready before the limo showed up to take us all to the hotel. The guys were all getting ready in their separate rooms and then were to wait downstairs for the girls to finish. All of us girls were in the large family room upstairs getting ready together. I had just finished Camie's hair when I walked over to another mirror and started to take out my curlers when Jen walked into the room from the bathroom with her hair done and her dress on. "How do I look?" She asked in the simple white gown that had spaghetti straps and matching white heels with her hair up in an organized but messy bun. We all started to awe at her and give her hugs. We made our way down the stairs to meet up with the guys about 20 minutes later. I found Mike sitting sideways on his chair with Dax sitting on his belly as I walked up beside him surprising him. "So do I look as good as you two?" I asked causing him to look up and I saw his mind going blank. "You are so beautiful. It really isn't fair to Jen that you look like this." Mike said standing up with Dax. I had a light blue dress that had spaghetti straps and had a princess top to it that stopped just below my knees. Mike gave me a light kiss before Jen came down the stairs and all the attention shifted to her.
As soon as we got to the church, everyone went their separate way. Jen, Kate, and Julia headed to the bridal room to meet up with Kara and James's mom and the rest of us head to the lobby where there was a small path that led to where the ceremony was taking place. Mike bent down and gave me a kiss before him and Ben headed off to the grooms suite. I turned around surprised to see Mike Sr. still standing next to me. I gave him a big smile while trying to keep a hold of a squirmy Dax. "Why don't you go ahead and take a seat outside. The wedding is going to be starting in about 10 minutes. You can sit in the front row next to Julia and me if you would like." He said in his deep voice. "That sounds great. I will head out there now." I told him as he gave me the biggest smile that I had ever seen from him before he headed off to the bridal suite to find Jen.
The ceremony went perfectly. After the pictures were over, we headed back up the stairs to eat dinner. The bride and groom were sitting at their own private table up front and the rest of the wedding party sat at tables around theirs. I was sitting next to Tina while she was holding Dax but talking to my mom when Jen came rushing over to our table. "Mom we have a problem!" "What happened?" Kate asked appearing out of nowhere behind us. "The singer for the band never made it here and now it's too late to find a replacement!" Jen said in a panic. "Don't worry; I'm sure we can find someone. Let me go talk to the manager." Kate started to walk back into the lobby then. "Hey wait, I have an idea. Could you hold Dax for me?" Tina asked holding him out for my mom to hold. "Jen what is your wedding song?" Jen was confused but answered quickly. "It's L-O-V-E" Tina nodded and then grabbed my hand to pull me up. "What are you doing?" I asked her as she pulled me up on the stage with her. "We are going to sing for your sister." "What? I can't do that! I don't sing in public!" Tina padded my cheek and smiled, "Mike this is for Jen. This is her day and you are her brother; so we are going to sing for her." Tina turned to the band then and told them what was going on before she turned back around handing me a microphone. "Good evening ladies and gentleman. First off I want to thank everyone for coming on behalf of the happy couple and second I want to say congrats to James and Jen. I would now ask the couple to make their way to the dance floor for their first dance as Mr. and Mrs. Li." Tina said and then the music started to play. I could feel my emotions getting the best of me and my throat went dry all of a sudden. Tina took my hand then a squeezed it, "You're going to be great." She breathed to me and I started to sing.
"Thank you so much. It was perfect." Jen said for the millionth time as she gave us one last hug before she ran out to the limo with James. I turned back to see Mike standing next to me talking to one of his aunts and his parents with Dax fast asleep on his shoulder and couldn't help but smile to myself. I walked over and leaned against his other arm as he pulled it up and wrapped it around me. "Tina that was brilliant thinking on your part, you saved the reception and who knew my son could sing like that?" Mike Sr. said to me causing me to beam back at everyone. "It was no big deal really. Mike, we really should get Dax back to the house though." I said looking up at him. "Actually, we are getting ready to head out and would like to babysit him tonight. We figured you two would like some alone time." Julia said holding her arms out. Mike looked down at me and I just nodded like crazy. "That sounds great!" Mike said sliding Dax to her. We said goodbye to everyone and started to walk out the door. "So I'm thinking a walk on the beach, maybe a drink or two at the bar here, and then getting a hotel room?" Mike asked as he led me out the doors to the beach. "Hmmm you read my mind!"
I don't own anything Glee just love the show! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Then next one will take place jump ahead to the holiday months. I don't want to continue this story too long but do have a bunch of ideas I want to get down first. Please let me know any thought you might have about the story, I appreciate all of them! Thanks