By the time Ward was released from medical it was time to head to England to put the finishing touches to the wedding. Skye had done most of the planning with Anabelle's assistance and Ward had chipped in when Skye threatened to get 'too girly' as he put it. She had also called some of her old friends that she hadn't seen since joining S.H.I.E.L.D and told them that she was getting married and would like them to be there.
While he was in the hospital he had been told in more detail what had happened to send their car flying the way it had. Apparently the robbers had used stealth technology to build a car and had parked it just outside the bank. They had then used the device that altered the sound continuum so that there was a delay, but they had programmed it wrong. They had only programmed it for five minutes, so when the alarm had sounded they dropped it and ran back to the car, hoping to pick it up when everyone had gone. They had seen Fitz pack it up and give it to Ward. They then followed them and saw Ward put the device in the boot of their car. So at the first opportunity they smashed into the car, sending it flying, and retrieved the device. Ward was later informed that Coulson, Romanov, Hawkeye and Fitz had gone after the culprits. They had arrested them and seized the device and everyone and thing concerned with the incident was now locked up securely.
"Ward?" Fitz asked breaking him out of a bubble.
"Yeah?"
"I need to talk to you about your stag hag?"
"My what?" Ward asked, slightly alarmed.
"Oh you know, bachelor do."
"Oh, alright."
"Where I live there is this custom to take a Stag out on a whiskey crawl. You start in a pub on one side of town and work your way around to the other side"
"As long as there are no strippers planned." Ward warned him.
He didn't really want a bachelor party, but Fitz was keen on arranging something, besides, a pub crawl. How bad could that be?
They landed in London and drove the cars straight to Ward's house. They all unpacked their possessions and Ward and Skye headed off to the country house.
They got to the house and were welcomed by Anabelle.
"So can I ask how work has been or will you have to kill me?"
"Work hasn't really been work." Ward told her.
"What?" Anabelle asked.
"We had a small accident after we left that sort of put us out for the best part of the last seven weeks." Skye explained.
"Ouch, well come along. The chefs are waiting for you. I have also, in collaboration with everyone else involved, arranged a table for you to view to check it is appropriate." Anabelle said to them, leading them into the house.
She led them to the banqueting hall which was empty, except one of the tables. This had been set up using their colour scheme and had all of the accents Skye had chosen. In the centre of it there was a stunning display of purple flowers with that one central sunflower. There was a pale yellow trim down the centre of the table and all of the chairs had been covered, with pale purple sashes tied around them. It had been set for three people.
Also on the table were name cards for guests, an order of service and table numbers. She led them over to the table and bade them to sit. Anabelle could see Ward struggling to sit.
"When you said you were in a small accident, what did you do?"
"Car got totalled. Fractured my hip, dislocated my elbow and injured my knee." Ward told her in a dead tone.
"Ouch. Skye I see your shoulder is better." Anabelle responded, trying to give Ward more time to sit.
"It is. You have no idea how nice it feels to be able to take care of myself!" Skye admitted
Anabelle let out a small laugh.
"Ok. The chef is going to bring the menu out in five minutes, starter first, followed by the main selection and finally desserts. Before then I would like to give you an update."
"You've kept us fairly well updated."
"Thankyou, but certain items need doing now."
"Like?"
"I need you to give the all clear to have these printed." Anabelle said to them, handing them the paperwork.
Between them, Skye and Ward looked through all of the items before arriving at the order of service.
"Everything seems to be alright except one thing." Ward told her.
"What wrong?"
"They've spelt Ward wrong on the order of service." Skye pointed out.
Anabelle looked mortified. She took the order of service off Ward and looked at it. She took out a big red marker pen and circled the incorrect word.
"I've spoken to both tailors and they are expecting you in the morning for a final fitting. They will then make any necessary alterations and send them to us. We will put them in your rooms before you arrive, which brings me to my final point."
"Anabelle, breathe." Ward reminded her. He didn't know how she talked for so long without taking a breath, but she did.
"Our wedding on Thursday has cancelled, so I have arranged for you and your wedding party to stay here that night, as well as Friday night."
When Ward and Skye failed to respond Anabelle got worried.
"What's wrong?"
"It's just May, Amber and Kain. They aren't part of the wedding party as such, but we can't leave them back at the house." Ward told her.
"I'm sure we can squeeze them in." Anabelle reassured, making a note in her notebook.
She rang a bell and a waiter in a waistcoat arrived with three dishes.
"Ok. So we have a classic tomato and basil soup, this one is chicken pâté and finally we have a classic prawn cocktail." Anabelle told them, pointing to each dish in turn, before indicating that they should tuck in.
Skye and Ward tried all three starters trying to narrow it down.
"Normally, I'm not a big fan of soup but that is nice." Skye said, dunking her bread into the soup.
"I'm going to veto the prawn cocktail." Ward said.
"Why? That was nice too!" Skye exclaimed.
"I know a few people you have invited who are highly allergic to shellfish, to a point where if they are sat next to it they will swell up." Ward reminded her.
"Oh. Yeah. Let's veto the prawns. So it's between the pâté and soup."
"I'm going to go with the pâté." Ward said.
"Why?" Skye asked. She wasn't trying to be difficult, but she kind of wanted the soup.
"I'm assuming your dress is going to be white, or cream. The soup is red."
"And your point?" Skye asked, trying to defend the soup.
Ward tapped his fingers on the table in front of her.
Skye was slow to get the point, but Anabelle had got it and written down paté. Skye eventually cottoned on to the fact Ward was indicating her to look at his fingers. When she did look she saw small red spots spattered over the crisp white linen from where she had dunked her bread and popped it in her mouth.
"Let's have the pâté." Skye conceded.
"We can serve the soup to the vegetarian you told me about." Anabelle told them.
The waiter reappeared and cleared their plates to replace them a few minutes later with a choice of three main courses.
"We have goat's cheese and caramelised onion tartlet, for the vegetarian. Then we have a beef wellington with dauphinoise potatoes and vegetables. Finally we have duck breast, served with plum sauce on a bed of sliced, baked new potatoes and some greenery. Dig in."
"This duck is cooked perfectly. There is very little fat and isn't chewy like the beef" Skye said.
"I agree. The beef is a little overcooked, and I'm assuming this dish is harder to cook on a larger scale."
Anabelle nodded her head.
"Have you tried the tartlet?" She asked.
"I have. It's nice, but I like a bit of meat for dinner." Ward told her with a smile.
"I haven't." Skye said, hunting for her fork.
"Here." Ward said to her, handing her his.
"Mmmmm. That is good. But I think I still prefer the duck."
"Ok. So the duck it is." Anabelle confirmed, writing it down in her notebook.
With that she nodded to the waiter who cleared the plates.
"I'm going to give the two of you a minute before I ask for the desserts." Anabelle told them, pouring them each a sample of the wine.
She knew that they would be starting to get full, even though they weren't eating the full dishes.
Five minutes later the waiter brought out two plates with desserts on them. One was a chocolate cake, with a thin marble chocolate slab sticking out of it. It had a jug of cream on one side.
The other plate had a simple lemon cheesecake, which had caramelised lemon peel on the top of it.
Skye went straight for the chocolate cake, where as Ward wrote a note on the napkin and took a bite out of the cheesecake.
"Let me guess. Orgasmic?" Ward asked her.
"Mmhm!" Skye moaned through her mouthful of chocolate cake.
Ward laughed and pulled the cake towards him. He took the smallest piece and tried it.
"You don't like it?" Anabelle asked, noticing the movement.
"I'm not a big lover of chocolate in any form." Ward told her quietly.
He saw Skye look at the cheesecake like it was an alien and took the opportunity to pass the note to Anabelle.
"You want the chocolate cake don't you?" Ward asked her.
Skye looked at him with her bottom lip stuck out.
Anabelle laughed and wrote it in her notebook.
She glanced at Ward's note and tucked it into the page, nodding her understanding.
Half an hour later everything had been sorted and confirmed and Ward and Skye headed back to Ward's house.