Gohan sat at the computer in Lindsey's room, waiting for her to wake up. His eyes roamed over the website, reading the signs and symptoms of alcoholism. They just didn't seem to fit. So she'd gotten blasted 2 times in the past month. That didn't seem like such a big deal. Maybe he was overreacting.
She finally stirred at about ten, squinting her eyes against the sunlight streaming through the window. "Gohan?" she asked.
"You're awake," he smiled, spinning in the computer chair to face her.
She looked around, "What happened?"
"You don't remember?" he asked.
"No," she groaned, sitting up and dropping her feet to the floor.
"Xander brought you home," Gohan said.
"Xander?"
"Yeah," Gohan said, a bit unpleased. "Why were you at the warehouse?"
Lindsey rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. "I went to ask Yelena for help. . ."
"Help with what?" he asked skeptically.
"Wedding stuff," she answered.
Gohan cocked his eyebrow. "Now what would she know about planning a wedding?"
From downstairs came the chime of the doorbell.
"She's good at research," Lindsey continued. "I thought maybe-"
"Lindsey!" came Goku's voice from downstairs. "Someone's here to see you!"
"Oh, gods," Lindsey moaned and started for the door.
"This conversation isn't over," Gohan said as he stood to follow her.
Lindsey's stomach twisted into knots, but she nodded.
Yelena looked like a miracle to Lindsey, standing in the doorway.
"What are you doing here?" Gohan asked her.
Yelena fixed him with a stern look before she said, "I'm here to take Lindsey for her first fitting."
"For your dress?" Catie asked, walking in from the kitchen.
Yelena nodded.
"SQUEEEEE!" Catie beamed. "Can I come too?"
Lindsey and Yelena looked at each other for a moment, before Lindsey turned to her. "Sure, Cat."
"Oh my god, oh my god," Catie bounced across the room. "Let me change my clothes!" and she ran up the stairs.
"You might want to shower," Yelena told Lindsey in a hushed voice. "I'll wait."
"Okay," Lindsey said in grateful confusion. She followed Catie upstairs.
"I thought the dress fittings weren't until a week before the wedding?" Chichi said frantically, pulling a copy of the list she'd given Lindsey out of her pocket. "I'm sure of it," she added, her eyes scanning the list.
Yelena leaned against the doorframe, a bored expression on her face.
"Yes, yes, here it is!" Chichi proclaimed, holding up the list and pointing to a line near the bottom.
"Yorgi is having a dress made," Yelena explained in a bored voice. "Geumbee will need measurements to start."
"O-Oh!" Chichi blushed. "That sounds expensive."
"It is." Yelena examined her perfectly manicured nails.
"It's probably not a big deal for him, mom," Gohan explained, trying to ease the tension.
"Well, I suppose that's very generous of him," Chichi said, tucking the list back into her pocket. "Are you going to be helping her plan the wedding?" she asked Yelena, trying to make polite conversation.
"Yes."
"Have you ever planned a wedding before?"
Yelena shook her head. "I know nothing of this kind of thing."
"Oh, don't be so modest, Yelena," Gohan laughed nervously. "You're brilliant on the computer! It should be easy for you."
Yelena ran her eyes up and down Gohan in skepticism before she gave a huge eye roll. Flowers and frilly things were silly to her and she was only doing this for her friend.
Catie and Lindsey returned shortly later, Lindsey's dreadlocks dripping on the carpet. Yelena wrinkled her nose. "You're getting those redone," she said, lifting one and examining it. "Your hair looks like shit."
"Gee, thanks," Lindsey replied sarcastically.
"Look! I see you roots!"
"Your," Lindsey corrected Yelena's English. "Your roots. With an R on the end."
"Your roots," Yelena repeated with a nod. Her English was probably the best of her Russian comrades, but she still forgot bits and pieces from time to time and honestly didn't mind being corrected.
It was true what she said about Lindsey's hair, though. The dreadlocks were hanging limply from her naturally red hair, which was starting to grow back in.
"I make you appointment," Yelena said.
Lindsey was tempted to correct her again, but then thought better of it. How Yelena knew Lindsey needed saving, she wasn't sure, but she was grateful that Yelena was here nonetheless.
"Ready to go?" Lindsey asked Catie.
Catie nodded and turned to Jenny, who was sitting on the couch. "You wanna come?"
Jenny shook her head. "I'm really nauseous this morning. I don't think I can handle the car ride."
"Okay, we'll see you later," Catie said to her, giving Trunks a big kiss and hug.
"See ya," Gohan said quietly to Lindsey.
"Bye," she said and hesitantly gave him a quick kiss.
The three girls headed for Yelena's gleaming silver sports car. Catie climbed in the back seat as Lindsey and Yelena got in the front, and Yelena shifted gears quickly, eager to get away from the farm house. It was far too ordinary for her taste.
Yelena said something in Russian and Lindsey shook her head. "I don't speak Russian, Yelena. You know that."
Yelena bit her bottom lip and slapped the steering wheel, glancing at Catie in the rearview mirror.
Lindsey's eyes moved quickly from Yelena to the mirror then back to Yelena. Their eyes met, and Lindsey gave a sideways glance at the back seat. Yelena gave the tiniest of nods.
Lindsey understood then. Yelena was unpleased that Catie was with them. Lindsey offered Yelena an apologetic look and Yelena huffed.
"So what kind of dress do you want?" Catie asked, missing the exchange between the women in the front seat.
"I don't know yet," Lindsey said, thinking. "Something big and extravagant. Is Geumbee really going to make my dress?"
Yelena nodded. "Yorgi had her flown in from New York this morning."
"I haven't seen her in a long time," Lindsey said, thinking about the tiny Korean girl she'd met in high school. "I didn't know Yorgi knew her."
"He doesn't," Yelena answered. "But he's heard you speak of her. I tracked her down and convinced her to come."
"Thanks, Yelena. For everything."
Yelena looked at Lindsey out of the corner of her eye, then gave a small smile.
"Leenseeee!" Geumbee squealed in her cute accent, running forward and hugging her friend who stood a good head taller than her.
"Oh, she gets hugs and I don't?" Kolya asked Lindsey, leaning against the bar.
Lindsey gave her tiny friend a squeeze.
"I at good height, too," Geumbee smiled at Kolya. Keeping her face turned towards him, she leaned back into Lindsey, her cheek resting against Lindsey's breast.
Kolya's eyes narrowed. He grumbled something that sounded like, "That's bullshit," and turned away from them.
"Geumbee!" Lindsey exclaimed with a giggle. She'd forgotten how forward and innocent Geumbee could be.
Geumbee stepped back. "You American girls have such big boobs," she said, looking down at her own tiny frame. "It's not fair."
"With what Yorgi's paying you, you can buy some," Yelena said sternly. "Come. We use my room."
Yelena's room was huge with big windows overlooking the ground around the warehouse. She had a vaulted ceiling from which hung an exquisite crystal chandelier. A lush, white fur rug covered a good piece of the dark hardwood floor. Her desk was a dark, reddish wood with a hand carved marble top Yorgi had imported from Italy. Every tiny detail in the room spoke to Yelena's expensive taste and Yorgi's eagerness to give it to her.
Yelena strode across the room and threw open the large French doors to her closet. Her closet was, in fact, a secondary room, not quite as large as the first. Designer clothes hung in protective garment bags and mannequins displayed some of her favorite pieces, including opulent necklaces made of fine jewels. A particularly ornate, gothic piece caught Lindsey's eye and she stopped to examine it.
"Black diamonds," Yelena said with an air of smugness.
"It's breath taking," Lindsey said. She'd never seen anything so beautiful in her life.
One corner of the room was exceptionally well lit with multi-angled mirrors like those you see in a professional dress shop. A small pedestal was there before them.
"You take these off," Geumbee said, plucking at Lindsey's clothes as she sat on the chaise lounge and began pulling things from her bag.
"Yelena, I feel like I could go shopping in here," Catie grinned, looking around the room.
Yelena smirked and sat at her vanity, examining her makeup.
Lindsey nervously undressed and stood on the pedestal. She looked at the floor, not wanting to stare at herself in the mirror.
"You so tall," Geumbee sighed as she began taking measurements and writing them neatly on a small notebook. "Not fair," she said again as she measured Lindsey's bust. When she was done, Lindsey dressed quickly and the two girls sat at Yelena's desk. Geumbee pulled a large sketch pad from her bag and some pencils.
"What style do you want?" Geumbee asked, looking excited.
"Something that's tight on the top, strapless with a really full skirt," Lindsey answered.
"You want really big?" Geumbee asked, making fluffing motions with her hands.
"Ridiculously big," Lindsey answered.
Geumbee scratched away at the paper before her, sketching a woman's figure, then drawing the beginnings of the dress over it.
"You want long train, too?"
Lindsey nodded.
Skritch skritch skritch went Geumbee's pencil.
"And a three-tiered veil," Lindsey added. She didn't know where the ideas were coming from, but the distraction of planning her dress was more enticing than thinking about her previous actions the night before and the conversation Gohan wanted to have about them. It was not, however, helping her massive headache.
As if reading Lindsey's mind again, Yelena pressed two pills into her hand and offered a bottle of water.
Without question, Lindsey gulped them down.
"You want beading?"
"Not a lot," Lindsey said. "I want to wear some pretty jewelry, I don't want to get too gaudy."
Geumbee nodded and continued to draw. "What about something like this?" she said finally, as she held up the sketch for Lindsey to examine.
Lindsey's breath caught in her throat. "Geumbee… that's perfect."
The dress featured a strapless top with a deep neckline, and Lindsey had to smile. Geumbee's envy of buxom women drove her to display other's endowments whenever possible. The top was gathered to the left side of the dress, meeting a large rosette at the top of the skirt. From this rose, the skirt split into a wide, upside down V, displaying the layers of material beneath it, each side lined with more rosettes.
"I make them from chiffon," Geumbee said, pointing to the roses with the tip of her pencil. "I think a dress with a very pale gold huge would look amazing."
The skirt was even fuller than Lindsey had hoped for and a long train would trail behind it. She'd never known what her dream dress was until she saw this sketch.
"Thank you, Geumbee," Lindsey said.
Geumbee beamed with pride.
"That's settled then," Yelena said. "Now, Catie, why don't you take Geumbee downstairs and help her find something to drink."
Catie leaned over Lindsey's shoulder, staring at the sketch. "You're going to look beautiful." She kissed Lindsey's temple and Lindsey squeezed her eyes closed, willing herself to not pull away from her friend. It wasn't so bad with the girls.
"Come on, Geumbee," Catie grinned.
Geumbee tucked her supplies back into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "I see you later," she said and followed Catie out of the room.
"Yorgi wants to see you," Yelena said and sat down at her vanity again.
"About what?" Lindsey asked.
Yelena looked stern and didn't answer.