"Hey mom," Greg smiled as he greeted Blythe at the airport on Thursday evening, "how was the flight? How was Europe?"
"Oh Greg, it was amazing, but not as great as seeing you again, my handsome baby boy," she grinned back, then looked around, "where's James? And Rob? The kids?" Blythe then did a double take, "where's your cane, Greg?"
"I don't need it anymore," he grinned, "haven't for quite a while now, a lot of physio and gentle exercise to build up compensating muscle, as for the kids, James is at home with them, it's just a lot easier than dragging the both of them to the airport," Greg answered, "Rob is out at the moment… he's been going through a hard time since Josie passed away, let me take one of your bags," as they walked out and across the parking lot to the Chevy.
"My God, Greg, whose car is that?" Blythe gasped, "it's enormous!"
"That's ours, James and I. He had an old Taurus he was driving around in, but it broke down, and we're slowly parting it out. You know that we legally adopted Tyson and Charlie, right?" Greg asked and Blythe nodded, "that's right, I thought I'd told you," Greg continued.
"Where are you going on your honeymoon? You should really consider going over to Europe, Greg, it's beautiful there, you'd both love it. I even heard about a cruise that is going over there," Blythe asked as they were driving home, and Greg sighed.
"We will be spending two nights and a day at a local hotel, a nice one of course, but we're not going to go anywhere exotic or far away. We need to be close by in case the kids need us," Greg explained with a sigh and a defeated look in his eyes.
"Rob can take care of the kids," Blythe argued back, "he did it for a few months before you and James moved in and took that over,"
"Rob's… Rob isn't really in a headspace that he's capable of taking care of two kids at the moment. It's a big factor in why James and I have adopted them and taken on full legal custody, as hard as that was to do, to go through the courts and everything like that. Like I said, he's still… depressed and trying to cope with Josie passing away," Greg pointed out, "we want to make it all as least stressful for him as possible,"
"So, who is taking whose name? Will you be James House, or Greg Wilson?" Blythe asked excitedly later that night when she was sitting around the table with James and Greg, having been slightly disappointed but understood that both kids were asleep in bed by the time they returned back to the house.
"Neither," James shook his head, "we talked at length about it, and now that Tyson and Charlie are ours, we figured it'd be easier on them- and be a hell of a lot easier in a future legal sense, for them to have the same last name as us; so Gallagher it is," James nodded, as the little yet unnamed puppy ran around barking at their feet, biting the backs of ankles.
"Wow, how many people have you invited to the wedding? How many people are coming?" Blythe questioned and Greg sighed with a look of defeat on his face.
"We originally wanted a big wedding with all the bells and whistles, everything being wonderful and beautiful… but money became really tight. It's expensive looking after two kids, mortgage, car payments, James had to take a month off work without pay when he broke his hand, I had to do the physio and things for my leg that was super expensive, we bought a puppy, and my wallet was stolen and I had about 15 grand stolen out of my bank account… so we have had to cut the wedding back to the barebones. There's going to be ten guests, and we're getting married at the beach where I proposed in Bay City. We originally had all of these grand plans for a giant party of a wedding, but life got in the way… maybe one day we'll end up having a proper wedding where we can invite some of our old friends from over east to come over, have a big reception party, but for now, this is what's financially best for us," Greg sighed, looking truly defeated and down about it, and James reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it comfortingly, "the important thing is that it means James and I will be together, that's all that matters,"
"He's been really quite down about it," James went on to explain, "it was like with every next obstacle that came, we had to cut one or five things out that we had initially really wanted to have in our wedding. Now it's going to be little more than a courthouse wedding, and that's really got him down…."
"The important thing is that we have put some money aside now to take care of the kids. The kids are more important than any wedding… a wedding is just a single day of our lives; but we've got those kids for the rest of our lives," Greg pointed out, "we've even had to have one of my friends who does photography as a hobby to take our photos,"
On the Saturday morning of the wedding, chaos filled the house, "where the hell is Rob? He went out last night and he's not come home yet, we need to leave in an hour!" Greg shouted, as he helped Charlie get dressed in her pink, fluffy dress.
The door knocked and James ran over to answer it, "Phil, Ryan, thank God you're here, it's absolute total chaos here right now. Thank God Gracie looks ready… Rob's missing, we can't find him, we're trying to get the kids ready… can you just help with… everything?" James just about screamed and bounded back up the stairs.
"Rob texted and said, 'I'm in Flint, I'm not sure how I got here, but I'll meet you in Bay City in time to be there'." Ryan read from a text a few minutes later and James screamed in frustration and pulled at his hair from the top of the stairs, before rushing off in another direction towards the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.
Greg stuck his head out of Charlie's room, "Phil, can you help up here? I need you to fix up Charlie's hair, I have to go sort this out," as he rushed out of one doorway and into the bathroom, to see James in his wedding suit, sat on the floor with his back leaning against the wall and tears rolling down his face.
"On it!" Greg heard Phil yell back.
"Hey there, husband," Greg smiled, going to sit down beside him, "I might need you to help me get back up off this floor when we're ready," he smiled over at James, "I know everything is chaotic right now, but this is going to be one of the best days of our lives. I know that this isn't what either of us originally had in mind, but sometimes that's what makes life so interesting," Greg said as he looked over at James who was sobbing next to him and scrunched up one side of his face in thought. "Okay, so let's wind the clock back two years ago, you and I were just friends, could you have ever imagined that we would have been in a relationship?" and James shook his head, "okay, and then when we were driving back from South Dakota and everything with Lisa was completely falling apart, did you ever think that we'd move to Detroit and start a new life and never look back?" James shook his head again, "and then when we started staying here for what was originally going to be a month, two at most; that we'd now be the legal fathers to two adorable, sometimes well-behaved children? That we would have a son and a daughter?" James shook his head again, "did you think that I was ever going to get off my ass and finally propose to you?" and James chuckled lightly and shook his head. "So, if James from two years ago were to walk in this room right now, and learn everything that's happened over the last two years, do you think he'd be expecting this? Do you think he'd be surprised? Happy?" and James sniffled and looked up, picturing himself standing in front of them and nodded, letting the tiniest of smiles grace his lips. "There's that beautiful smile," Greg wrapped James in a hug, "now, I don't know about you; but I've got a wedding to marry the love of my life to get ready for, so let's get back out there and show the world who we are, and that we can conquer anything that life dares to throw at us,"
"Okay," James sniffled, and went to stand up, and then helped Greg up to his feet, embracing him for just a moment, "everything is going to shit," James whispered.
"Things aren't exactly what we'd initially planned, but James, that's what makes life so interesting," Greg smiled back, "now are you ready to go from Dr. Wilson to Dr. Gallagher?" to which James just nodded, "okay, good, let's go then," Greg leant forward and kissed James before grabbing his hand and walking him out of the room.
"Where's Rob?" Jay called out from downstairs.
"Flint! He's in Flint apparently, and says he has no recollection of how he got there, but claims that he'll be there in time for the wedding," Greg muttered, walking down the staircase, "is everyone ready to go?"
"Andre and I bought you guys the old '67 Mustang to drive up there, just for a bit of extra fun," Jay smiled, "we figured you guys could probably use it at the moment,"
"Oh, thank you so much," James grinned, and walked out to see the glossy black, vintage Mustang, "it's beautiful,"
"Don't crash it," Andre added with a straight face, throwing the keys to James, who grinned back and went over to tightly hug Andre and Jay for their gift.
"Okay, let's go, and hope that Rob finds his way to the wedding sober," James sighed, climbing in the driver's seat of the Mustang, and Greg climbed in the passenger side, almost feeling sick with excitement, "let's go get married," James grinned over at him.
As they approached Bay City, the sky was beginning to rapidly darken from the bright blue it was that morning, to a dark blue, to a purple, and then a threatening charcoal colour, "what is it that they say about rain on your wedding day?" Greg asked nervously, eyeing the sky.
"That the beach will hopefully be empty," James mumbled back, sounding just as nervous.
"Where's Rob?" Greg muttered, pacing around the beach, now running about an hour late, "we've taken the photos… God, he promised me that he'd be here!"
The officiant glanced behind him at the darkening clouds and then checked his phone to monitor the incoming storm, "we've got about fifteen minutes before we have to start so we'll be done before this storm and cold front hits,"
"Daddy, I'm cold," Charlie tugged on Greg's suit jacket.
"Me too," Tyson turned to James, who looked over at Greg and saw the kids shivering.
"Darlings, you are the ring bearer and flower girl, you can't put some sweaters on for that. We're going to get some photos of you walking down the aisle for your dads," Blythe told them.
"Screw that," Greg and James said in unison, "it is fucking cold… shit, we've left their spare clothes in the Chevy…" then Greg clicked his fingers; "there's a spare pair of sweatpants for Charlie in the back of the Sequoia for when she has accidents. I'm going to go grab those," as he started heading over towards the dunes.
"Hang on Greg, we've got a couple of hoodies of Gracie's in the trunk of the Denali, they're pretty warm," Phil raced after him, grabbing the keys. They returned with the sweat pants and hoodies, Greg helped Charlie put on the sweatpants and hoodie, and Phil handed one to both Gracie and Tyson as well, "take the suit jacket off, Tyson, put this on, it's Gracie's but it'll fit you," and given that Tyson didn't complain about wearing a pink and purple hoodie with a 'Frozen 2' graphic on the front and just threw it straight on suggested to Greg and James that he really was freezing.
Twenty minutes later, and James saw Rob staggering over the sand dunes with a distant rumble of thunder in the far background and ran over to him, dragging him behind him; "what the fuck took you so long! For fuck's sake, Rob, this is our wedding day! You couldn't have stayed sober for one fucking day? How the fuck did you end up in Flint, anyway? Tyson, Gracie and Charlie are freezing now, and Charlie's hair is ruined because she was so cold from wearing a dress in this freezing cold weather!" James yelled.
"You're the idiots who decided that a winter wedding in Michigan was a smart fucking idea," Rob snapped back, as Greg started helping Charlie take off the hoodie and sweat pants while she cried about being cold, and Greg tried his best to soothe her.
"You're a jerk, Rob," Greg snapped back, "leaving us all out here to freeze! It's not so bad for us adults, but there's a little boy and two little girls who have been freezing cold in the wind on the beach waiting for your stupid drunk ass to show up!"
"Why is Tyson wearing a fucking Frozen sweater? Are you trying to turn him into a queer like you two?" Rob snarled back, "I got here, didn't I?"
"Don't you dare talk to my son like that!" James stormed over and shoved Rob back, so he staggered back, "he was fucking freezing, and you took the Chevy with the kids' spare clothes in it! He had to borrow one of Gracie's hoodies because we had to wait an hour and a half for your pathetic drunken ass to show up! These poor kids were on the verge of getting fucking hypothermia because their drunk granddad disappeared on their dads' wedding day and you promised us that you'd be here on time, and you were ninety minutes late! Sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up!"
Andre got some photos of Greg and James standing at the makeshift alter with Charlie throwing rose petals down the aisle of sand, and as soon as she was done, Phil beckoned her over and helped her put the sweatpants and hoodie back on and sat her down on the chairs, and once Andre had photos of Tyson bearing the gold wedding bands, he rushed back and pulled the hoodie back on and sat next to Gracie, still visibly shivering.
"James, from the moment I met you, in the New Orleans County jail after you nearly killed a man in a bar room brawl," Greg smiled and let out a little laugh, "I knew there was something special about you. I bailed you out, and I know I've always said it was because you were clearly the most interesting person at a very boring medical convention over twenty years ago when we were both kids. In reality, James, I knew that there was just something about you that would make you one of the people who I was destined to spend the rest of my life with. I don't believe in fate, astronomy, or twin flames, or any of that romantic goop; except for you. James, you have been my best friend for well over twenty years. We have always been absolutely inseparable from day one. Once we fell in love, everything became that much stronger. You have stood by me through some of the darkest times of my life without reservation or judgement when nobody else did, I never experienced love until you and I became a couple. I didn't even think that it existed, but I know now for sure that it in fact, does. And here we stand; on the exact place where we became engaged, and are solidifying our love for one another permanently. I can't wait to grow old with you, and I can't believe that I'm marrying my very best friend, but here we are," Greg vowed as he looked into James' watering, beautiful big brown eyes.
"Oh, wow, I don't know if I'm going to be able to recite this without crying now," James laughed quietly, "Greg, you are the most amazing person I have ever met. This is my fourth wedding, but I have never felt this way I feel about you with anyone else before in my entire life, and with you, I feel it every second of every day. You are not only my husband and the love of my life, or the amazing and instinctual other half of parenting for our children, you truly are my best friend. You always have been since that fateful night in Louisiana when I laid eyes on the stranger for the first time who bailed me, a stranger to him, out of jail. I knew that there was something else about you. I spent three wives in twenty plus years trying to find the love I had for you; until I realised that that love was standing right beside me the entire time. You are the most patient, forgiving man I have ever met. We've always stood beside each other through good times and bad, through sickness and health… you've held me down and given me a reason to live for when I had no other, you are the life raft in my hurricane. You've saved my life so many times, you were the one who saved me from myself so many times, you were the one who never gave up on me when I'd given up on myself, you sat beside me when I couldn't eat without reservation or a second thought. Gregory, you hold me down when I panic every time without fail. Whether that is when I'm having a flare up, or when everything has gone to hell, you're the calm, the eye, of my storm, and the apple of my eye. You protected me from your father and was willing to be murdered for me to have a chance to get out of that situation. Statistics say that people who have experienced what you have shouldn't be the kind of person you are. And yet, here you stand, my enigma, my heart and my soul. I hold you in my hands, and you hold me. I can't wait to spend every day of the rest of my life with you. Until death do us part, and as far as I'm concerned, not even then, I love you more than anything; more than I knew to be humanely possible, and I always will love you just the same, Gregory," James vowed.
They exchanged rings and as they shared their first kiss as husbands, the rain began to fall, James and Greg paused, pulled apart, looking skyward together, and smiled; "it's rain on our wedding day, but I couldn't be happier," Greg smiled at James and went in for a second kiss.
"I present for the first time as husbands; Greg and James Gallagher!" the officiant announced as the two of them just smiled at one another, watching for a moment as the rain soaked through their clothes, dampened their hair so the rain dripped off it and down onto their faces, and both felt as though this felt like it should be a dream. Greg smiled, feeling more euphoric than he could ever have remembered or imagined, looking deeply into his husband's eyes as he pulled back James' hair over his shoulder and they intimately and lovingly embraced one another.
The wind and rain began picking up, "okay, let's get out of here," Greg muttered as they began packing up the chairs.
Charlie began crying and wiping at her eyes as the sand whipped up to about her eye height, "stop crying! I've got a headache," Rob growled back at her, "you need to stop crying, Charlie,"
"You wouldn't have a damn headache if you'd just stayed sober!" James snapped back, picking Charlie up and putting her on his back, shaking his head at Rob in disappointment before walking over to Greg, "look, I don't know about leaving the kids here while Rob is in such a state. I honestly don't know if they're going to be safe. Maybe we should postpone our weekend," James sighed, shaking his head.
"You guys have already toned everything down and sacrificed so much of your wedding, you shouldn't have to cancel your honeymoon too! Charlie and Tyson are more than welcome to stay at our place for the weekend if you like. It's only going to be us there, no visitors, nothing. Obviously don't feel obligated to say yes, we know how careful you are with those kids, just like we are with Grace. But you two deserve a break. You're doing everything for this family," Ryan offered.
"Are you sure?" Greg frowned, "they can be a lot of work,"
"So can Gracie," Ryan smiled, "the offer is there if you want it,"
"What do you think, James?" Greg asked, James just shrugged and pointed out that it was Greg who struggles the most with letting the kids out of his sight, so it should be his decision. Greg paused for a second and nodded, "okay, that's okay, but please call if anything happens at all. Please," Greg pleaded.
"Of course," Ryan agreed, as they were all huddled underneath a shelter, listening to the rain pounding on the roof.
"We'll meet you back at home and pack a bag for the kids and then we'll head off," James suggested, and Tyson and Gracie grinned at one another, excited for a sleepover. "Tyson, Charlie, you two are going to behave for Phil and Ryan, okay? No messing around and being silly, got it?" to which they both nodded.