Carter's Duty - 13. Chapter 13

Will should have realized something was wrong when he had pulled up to the bench where he normally met Andrew, only to find he wasn't waiting for him. On any other day, Will would have written it off as just Andrew running late, but not that day, though. That day, Will knew all too well why Andrew was late.

He waited, watching as the clock on his dashboard counted away the minutes, slowly creeping closer to an hour. And he watched as the world seemed set to pass him by, people coming to and fro from the student buildings, meeting their own loved ones, going on with their lives. And yet there he sat, the two tickets in his pocket, a futile gesture now.

Again he regretted not buying Andrew a cell phone, at least then he could call him and find out what was happening. But that wouldn't change the fact that Will's phone was sitting in its cradle on the dashboard. Andrew hadn't even bothered to call to let him know he was going to be late, that alone said something.

Finally giving up, Will gunned the engine and threw the car into gear as he headed for home. At least there he could be productive. Jeff would be getting everyone together for the rehearsal dinner a few hours away, and since there was no point now to dodging it for a hockey game, Will might as well fulfil his obligations as the best man.

By the time he arrived at home he found that his once peaceful haven of solitude had been converted into a staging ground for an invasion; there were cars everywhere, including on his front lawn. And he recognized Jared's Jeep Grand Cherokee blocking his driveway. It looked set that the fun of the night was only just about to begin. He quickly found a parking space, stealing one at the retirement home across the road from his house, and headed into the midst of the madness.

Jared intercepted him at the door before he had so much as stepped a foot across his threshold. "Will!" he called grabbing his arm and dragging him back towards the door. "Come on, we have to get moving."

Will blinked as he set down his brief case, "I just got home, can't I at least..." he looked longingly towards his couch.

"Oh no," Jared replied as he shook his head, "You're the one who said you wanted to be a part of this whole wedding thing, and weddings take more than a day. Jeff's got a list of things that need doing, and now you're stuck with all of us doing what we do so if I don't get to relax, neither do you."

"Wonderful." Will wasn't in the best of tempers to begin with, now he was becoming grumpy.

"Come on, rehearsal's tonight and then there is the bachelor party; we're all going to dinner at the Keg..."

"And after that?" At least, Will thought, there would be some fun tonight.

"Nothing else, just dinner," Jared replied.

"Just a dinner?" Will looked confused, "What the hell's with that?"

"Oh, come off it Will!" Jared rolled his eyes, "You know what a bachelor party is. It's the night before the wedding; the groom needs to go out and his buddies throw him this big dinner. All his male relatives should be there, and us."

"Slow down," Will said shrugging his arm out of Jared's grip, "you said dinner, Jared. That's a bachelor party? I mean a dinner? What about the drinking? Aren't there supposed to be strippers and dirty movies?" He loosened his tie.

"You don't drink, and I know you don't want to watch the dirty movies. Much less Jeff, and I don't think the rest of us are going to be into your taste in strippers."

"But that's not a bachelor party. Does Jeff know he's just having a dinner? If I was getting married, I would expect a party." Will grabbed his leather bomber jacket as Jared pushed him back out onto the street.

"But you're not the one marrying Lisa, and she specifically said no bachelor party."

"She requested it?" Will asked, pulling his jacket on and looking at Jared in confusion. "Since when does the bride get to decide that?"

He nodded, "Yeah, and I don't think Jeff wants to start out his married life with Lisa mad at him, so he said okay." Jared shrugged, "I mean we never went out to drink and see strippers anyway. So what's the point of doing it now?"

"Never?" Will asked as he leaned on the side of the Jeep. "What was her name... Bambi... Candi... Sandi...-"

Jared cut Will off quickly, "Yeah, but that was a long time ago, and it has nothing to do with right now." He opened the passenger door, "Now get in `cause we have to go pick up Brody at the airport."

"Oh," Will said, as he climbed up into the mammoth vehicle, immediately wishing they had taken his car.

He knew should have been stressed about Andrew, the doubts and fears that went along with the day, but he was beginning to cheer up; there was something about the chaos of a wedding... an energy, Will couldn't help but be sucked up by it. It gave him a way to avoid dealing with his own problems.

To think, originally he had been dreading the thought of a wedding. Lisa was one of those people he always assumed would want a high-fashion wedding, something where everyone wore designer clothes. Naturally he would have starved, being unable to eat anything he didn't recognize and couldn't readily identify. Will had real issues with eating things that looked ready to crawl off the plate and do the tango across the dance floor. When Farah and Rafik had gotten married it had been like that; Farah had wanted a modern Islamic wedding, filled with a mix of the traditional and western ideas. It had been uncomfortable, uptight, and very typically Farah. Rafik had hated it.

But there was the difference between Farah and Lisa. Lisa actually listened to what her husband-to-be wanted, and Jeff was more about family. To Jeff, it was more important than being fashionable, and that meant that the wedding would be a quiet, private event with real, `down-home' food. Jeff had described the event as `two days of mothers, grandmothers, cousins, aunts and uncles, other relatives and friends; those who pretended to be, and all the good food they can cook. Plus there was supposed to be lots of singles for all the bachelors out there, and you know how accommodating Italian-Canadian girls could be.

Will had to admit he had no clue.

Well Maria was certainly out to give Andrew a crash course.

At least there were lots of people around, and lots of food. A winning combination, Will thought.

All of Jeff's family liked to laugh, talk and eat, and Will could relax into that environment. And as much as the imposition annoyed Will, he had to admit Jeff's family was nice. Most of them were friendly, especially Jeff's mother. But they all looked at him with a strange recognition in their eyes. Will didn't know whether it was from things Jeff had told them about his upbringing, or if it was just because he was a close friend to Jeff. Or maybe they recognized something in his mannerisms. Whatever it was, it was better than being stared at like he was an alien or worse, like he was about to break.

The only reason Will could surmise they looked at him like that was because they knew he didn't really have a family of his own. It was like Jeff was letting him borrow his for a little while, because things like a wedding just didn't happen in the Major's army. At least not without bloodshed. And if they did, it was because Will stopped going.

Jared punched Will's arm, "Hey, wake up."

Will rubbed his shoulder, though it didn't hurt; he had been staring out of the window at the cars and houses streaking by them, too focused inwards to pay attention to anything else.

"Sorry, was just thinking," he murmured, watching the big houses slip by as they drove.

"I saw the smoke," Jared replied. "Just kidding, is something bugging you? Did you break up with Andrew?"

"No," Will replied, "nothing's wrong, I'm fine."

"You always were a lousy liar," Jared responded. "Well, there's no hurry, right Will? I mean, take your time, eh? You never know what might happen. You and Andrew will be okay."

Will finally turned to look at his friend; it was a strange thing to say, like Jared knew something more than he was letting on. For him not to come right out and say what he meant and be cryptic like that...well that was strange.

"I heard Brody was coming stag," Jared changed the topic, noticing Will looking at him strangely. "Not that it's a bad thing..."

"Brody is eternally stag," Will replied. "Is there such a thing as a male spinster?"

"Will, he's just being choosy. He needs to find just the right kind of woman. I mean, imagine what his mother would say if he ended up with the wrong one."

"Couldn't be any worse than what the major said," Will retorted.

Jared met Will's look for a second before turning back to the road ahead of the jeep.

"Is that what's bugging you?" Jared asked, and he shrugged, "Just because your dad's a narrow-minded asshole..."

"I'm past it, Jared. Really." Will rubbed his temple absently, "Really."

Jared nodded, "Okay, okay, I'll stop prying." He shrugged again, "Not that I've made the best choices with who I date..."

"Bambi," Will supplied with a grin.

Jared reached out to smack Will again, but Will pushed his hand away.

Brody's plane was on time, but there was no sign of the great man himself. The trend-setting globe-trotter hadn't come through the arrival gate yet. No doubt tied up in customs explaining various narcotic paraphernalia he always seemed to have on hand.

Will had just begun to get impatient when his phone rang.

"Hello?"

Someone breathed hard, then Will heard a loud moan.

Will clicked it off. "Sick bastard."

"What?" Jared asked.

Will didn't get a chance to answer before it rang again.

"Yeah?"

"I want you," a deep, male voice said. "I want you to--."

Will clicked it off again, and Jared was staring at him, confused.

"I don't know," Will said. "Maybe someone got a hold of my number and--."

It rang again.

"Hello!" Will yelled into the phone. A few passers-by turned to look at them.

"I know, I know. I know what you did last summer, William Carter. I know--."

Will turned the phone off completely then, knowing that no one important was going to call him anyway. He wasn't even sure why he had brought it with him.

"That was odd," Jared observed, "has that happened before? Maybe you should--," Jared was cut off by his own ringing phone. "Uh-oh."

"Don't answer it," Will cautioned.

Jared pulled it out and clicked it on. "Hello?" He was quiet, eyeing Will seriously for a very long time, then he started laughing. "It's for you," he said, handing it over.

"Great," Will murmured. "Hello?"

The breathing and the moaning started up again. Will listened this time, knowing that it was a Jared-approved call.

The moaning stopped and was followed by a satisfied sigh.

"Now wipe your hand, you dirty bastard," Will said.

There was laughter. Brody laughter.

"Hey, Brody," Will said.

"Hey, how'd you know it was me?"

"Who else gets off to the sound of my voice? Where are you?"

"Across the concourse at the bar, I arrived early."

Will looked around and didn't see him. "Yeah? Where?"

"Here. Look. Look harder. C'mon. A stylish, handsome guy like me in an airport full of honeys can't be that hard to spot, Billy-boy"

Will simply followed the cutest women in sight back to a large group of them, and the one guy standing in the midst of them. Sure enough, Brody lifted his hand from the bar and waved, his head turning back to the super-model-in-training he was chatting up.

"Yeah, I see you." Will nudged Jared, and the two headed across to join their old friend.

"Hey, William!" Brody said, dropping low and throwing his arms around them both.

"Hey, ya'ol'dawg," Will replied, wondering at Brody's ability to attract so many girls at the same time.

"Hey, Brody buddy," Jared said, clapping a hand on Brody's shoulder, "glad you made it."

"Hey, Jared; Jeff get cold feet yet?" Brody's eyes flashed over his sunglasses, "I could have a jet standing by and we could all fly down to Tijuana... you know there's no extradition treaty there."

"Lisa would find us," Jared said as he grabbed Brody's bags. "Come on, let's get moving."

Brody took a moment to say goodbye to the girls, getting more than his share of kisses and promises from them, always playing the game.

They hurried to the parking lot.

"So what's the plan, boys?" Brody asked, spreading out across one of the Jeep's rear seats. And Will realized the Cherokee was perfect for the idea forming in his mind.

Will glanced at the pair of them, "Gentlemen, we have a mission."

Jared looked worried for a moment. "Mission? What mission?" he swallowed. "We're not going to screw up Jeff's wedding, Will. This is one thing we all have to take seriously and..."

Will cut Jared off, "No, no, hear me out. Jeff's not having a bachelor party. He's having a bachelor dinner."

Jared started the truck silently, but Will could see the idea sat with Brody about as well as it had sat with him.

"How come?" Brody asked as they approached the highway.

"Lisa told him not to. And I understand that, you know? But I don't think it's especially right." Will said.

"Well everyone looks at things differently," Jared began.

Brody chuckled, "Oh no, hell no. What do you mean no bachelor party? What is that about? Who gets married without a bachelor party? Your marriage'll be annulled if you don't have one? Right?" He took a moment to look over his sunglasses at a pretty young woman who flashed him a smile, "Besides I didn't fly all the way here not to have a night of nefarious pleasures that we all will vow never to mention to Lisa."

Typical Brody reaction.

Will shrugged.

"I don't think it's that serious," Jared said, trying to be cautious.

Brody shook his head, "No. We are having a bachelor party, and we are having it tonight. I don't care what Lisa says. He's not hers yet and we need to have something to mark the event. Something that we will remember, right Will?"

"Dang skippy," Will replied.

"Just watch what you guys plan," Jared warned them. "Don't go making Lisa mad on her wedding day, or Jeff either!"