Tony was getting nervous. Laura hadn't asked him yet. Hadn't asked him even once.
They had decided to go with a very simple wedding service with simple vows to be said and rings to exchange. But they both wanted to be able to say something and had added that to the service. This left them both needing to write something. Tony had expected Laura to tease him about getting it done non-stop. But she hadn't. Not at all. Not even once.
This in reality was probably a good thing since he had nothing written. Oh, he tried. But everything sounded too sappy or too trite. He needed some inspiration.
The Sunday before the wedding Tony found himself up and out of bed early, chuckling to himself as Laura curled up around his pillow as he slipped out of bed. She was not a morning person. He made some coffee and went and sat out on the deck with a notepad, hoping to be inspired. When the coffee finished perking he went back in and poured himself some, and spied Laura's mp3 player sitting on the counter. He wondered what she had been listening to lately, she had such eclectic taste in music he could never be sure.
Heading back outside he stretched out on the lounger and hit play, and almost laughed out loud as the 1812 Overture blasted his ears. He knew she was a General in disguise. He flipped through song after song, some he listened to and some he passed over. It was like a record store had exploded, she had tracks from all over the place and from all eras. He was enjoying himself so much that he didn't see Laura standing in the doorway.
Laura walked over to Tony and sat down; situating herself between his legs on the lounger she leaned back against his chest. She stole one of the ear buds so she could listen too as she sipped her coffee.
"Having fun?" she teased.
"Oh yeah. It's been a fascinating trip into your psyche."
Her teasing little, "Be nice," got her a deep chuckle from Tony.
She noticed the notepad on the armrest of the chair and put two and two together, "You haven't written your vows yet have you?"
Tony grimaced behind her but decided not to fib, "Working on it Laur."
It was her turn to chuckle, "Yeah, me too."
He stuck his chin on her shoulder, "Everything I put on paper just sounds so..."
"I know. Sort of like a bad romance novel or something."
"Yeah."
"Part of me wonders if it's so hard because we've already said everything that's important."
Tony ran that statement over in his mind and suddenly knew exactly what his vows were going to be. It was so simple.
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Late Tuesday afternoon they had an appointment with an attorney that was a local associate of Anthony DiNozzo, Senior's attorney. Anthony wouldn't tell them why he wanted them to meet with the attorney.
Both of them were coming directly from work, and they met at the attorney's office. Laura looked polished and professional in a very flattering creme colored suit and Tony was in what Laura lovingly called his Federal Agent Poster Boy look, a designer navy blue suit with a crisp white shirt and tie. They looked like two people that had the whole world at their feet, and they did.
As they waited in the lobby of the law firm Laura almost snickered to herself as she watched the young receptionist try to subtly gawk at Tony. She had also caught the flash of envy from the girl when Tony reached over and took Laura's hand. And that's where there were when another woman entered from behind a closed door and led them to a conference room.
There were two men in suits in the conference room when they were shown in. One was a grey haired older man that upon seeing him Tony immediately broke into a wide smile and shook his hand, "Charles! It's great to see you. Is Dad still making you fly around the globe?"
Charles smiled fondly at Tony, "No, Tony. I only handle the important things these days. This is my old friend Donald Egan's office that I am imposing on for this meeting."
Tony introduced Laura to Charles, who turned out to be Anthony's long time friend and attorney. He was very warm and pleasant man and she liked him instantly.
The other man in the room had been all but forgotten but upon hearing Laura introduced to Charles he started choking. Three sets of eyes turned towards him and Laura's mouth fell open in shock, "Marcus?"
"Laura?"
Laura was in shock, time had apparently not been kind to Marcus. He had lost a good portion of his hair to typical male pattern baldness, and he was just enormous. He had always been a big man, but fit and trim. This person in front of her was so far removed from her memories of him that she almost didn't recognize him.
Laura looked to Charles, "I don't understand."
Charles looked at Marcus then back to Laura, "Marcus is an attorney in this firm Laura, Donald offered his services in case we needed anything. Are you two acquainted?"
Tony piped up wryly, "Yeah. You could say that Charles."
Tony could almost sense when Laura clicked over into what she called politicking mode, she used it when she was in situations where she had to deal with people diplomatically that she really didn't care for. She needed this confrontation four days before their wedding like a hole in the head. He subtly moved closer to her and put his hand on the small of her back possessively. The other he extended to Marcus, "Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. I work for NCIS. I'm Laura's fiancée."
Marcus looked at the two of them and down to Tony's extended hand, after only the briefest of pauses he shook it, "Attorney Marcus Bastina. It's nice to meet you." Marcus just couldn't believe that this man was marrying Laura, what could they possibly have in common? And she was marrying a DiNozzo? This was Laura who tutored for cash to pay for college, marrying into a ridiculously wealthy New England family. He was floored.
He looked to Laura, "You look great Laura, and I guess um, congratulations are in order."
She replied coolly, "Thank you Marcus." Turning to Charles she smiled, "So why are we here Charles?"
He held out a chair for Laura and chuckled, "That my dear is an interesting story. Tony, I am sure you remember your grandmother on your mother's side?"
Tony grinned, "Yeah. Big hats, lots of funky jewelry, laughed at everything, she was great. But then again I was only four when she died, so my perspective might be off."
"Actually as someone that knew her a long time I would say that description fits her pretty well. She had a certain zest for life. Well to make a long story short, she had established a small trust for you to be released upon your marriage. And we are here to go over the details."
Tony and Laura just looked at each other not saying a word. Then Tony just smirked and gave her a little head tilt. She shook her head with a grin and they turned their attention back to Charles.
He gave them the details of the financial end of the trust and when he was finished he carefully slid a large wooden box in front of Laura, "This is her gift to Tony's bride. He remembers her jewelry, but what he is probably not aware of is that all of her ‘funky jewelry' was in fact real, and most of it designed just for her. She had hoped that his bride would find some pleasure in it."
Laura tentatively opened the box to see a myriad of jewelry. Beautiful stones of every color flashed out at her and she was awed. Something in particular caught her eye and she lifted them carefully out of the box, it was a set of exquisite hair combs made out of silver and adorned with butterflies made out of sapphires. She ran a gentle finger over them and looked at Tony, "I think I found my something blue."
He nodded and she put them carefully back in the box and closed it. Charles had finished what he had come here to and was just answering any questions they had when Marcus interjected, "If you tell me the name of your attorney, we can provide him this information so the trust can be added to your pre-nuptial agreement."
Both Tony and Laura looked at him blankly, they didn't have a pre-nuptial agreement, had not even considered one. Charles just chuckled; he had done his homework before coming here and was well aware that they did not have one. When they both looked at Charles he just spread his hand out in mock surrender and said, "It's your decision."
Tony composed himself first, not wanting to let Marcus see them uncomfortable, "Okay then, we'll discuss it Charles and let you know."
They all rose to leave and Marcus asked quietly, "Laura can I have moment?" She looked at Tony briefly and nodded at Marcus. The other two men left the room and Marcus quietly closed the door.
"Laura I just wanted to say that I meant what I said earlier, you really do look great. And you seem happy."
"Why do you seem so surprised by that Marcus?"
"I just wouldn't have expected you to marry a DiNozzo."
"No Marcus, say it how you really mean it, you wouldn't have expected a DiNozzo to marry me."
"Laura."
"Well its true isn't it? That's what you're thinking."
He didn't answer her, because it was exactly what he was thinking. And she took that as a victory. She had finally realized how petty a person he really was, and breathed a silent sigh of relief that she hadn't married him after all.
"Goodbye Marcus." She said and left the room.
She found Tony and Charles standing in the hallway waiting for her, and she smiled. And when she reached to two men Tony took her hand and squeezed and she looked over and gave him a little wink to let him know she was okay.
Tony insisted on taking Charles out to dinner and the three of them had a wonderful time. And later that night as they got ready for bed Tony finally brought up the subject of Marcus, "So that was Marcus?"
"Yeah. Sort of. He hasn't aged well. I think he needs to lay off the gin and tonics."
"You okay with seeing him?"
"Better than okay actually, I guess I never realized how ugly a person he was on the inside."
"He just kept staring at you and me, like we were a freak show or something."
"Marcus just can't believe that a DiNozzo would want to marry me."
Tony pulled her into a tight embrace, "Not just any DiNozzo, this DiNozzo."
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