Best Man

Laughter is great medicine.

You don't have to be a doctor to know that. However, it's awfully nice to have one in the family. But, alas, that's beside the point, which is that laughter is great medicine.

Despite any tensions felt in the pool earlier during the party, all had seemed to vanish when everyone began to filter out, therein leaving Mike and Caroline in the house with just her parents and sister.

They chatted amiably about how Caroline was growing up and all the cooky mischief she'd get into, though making it clear she was in no way a bad seed. More just along the lines of the comic relief and an instigator who liked to pick on Giselle until, sometimes, the younger Woods girl cried.

Usually it had something to do with how Freddie Krueger would come and kill Giselle in her sleep or the Gremlins hiding under her bed at night.

You know. Innocent mind games kids played on each other in the 1980s.

"You know, she used to do that to me, I think, just about every chance she got," Giselle muttered, gesturing to her sister with her glass of champagne.

The Woods had toasted the engaged couple; hence the reason for the bubbly.

Caroline shrugged. "Yeah, but none of it meant anything. Not even the tears. That was just a quick victory," she grinned devilishly. "The real prize was when you would creep into my room at night asking me to check under your bed, to make sure Stripe, the head Gremlin with the white mowhawk, wasn't lying in wait to eat you."

Mike grinned and hunched forward with a small laugh, shaking his head. "I can honestly say I feel for you, Zelle. My sister, Myla, used to torture the hell out of me. And you know why that is?" Giselle just smiled at her future brother-in-law who had and arm around Caroline's waist on the couch. "Because older siblings are supposed to do that. It's, like...this unwritten law, or at least a tradition."

Paul nodded. "Not necessarily. Sometimes it's the complete opposite," he commented. "In my case, I'm the oldest, then my sister Marie, then my brother David. And I swear, he tortured all of us to no end."

"What about you, mom?" Caroline asked, nodding to her mother.

Joanne simply shook her head. "Oh, no. My brothers and sisters never did anything like that. My oldest sister is eighteen years older than me, then the next is fifteen. Then my brother, rest his soul, who was thirteen years older. Then there was my twin sister Joyce and me, followed by my sister Kim, five years later. I was in the middle."

"And raised in a strict Christian house," Paul added. "But then she met my family and married into it and all hell broke loose."

Smiling as she looked on at her parents, Caroline took note of their empty champagne flutes. "Do you want any more?" she asked, pointing to them.

Paul nodded, but Joanne declined. Taking her father's glass, she excused herself in order to get refills in the kitchen just as Giselle offered to come with her, in the process grabbing Mike's glass for him to get him a refill as well.

As the sisters stepped into the kitchen, the brains of the duo watched as the older pulled the champagne bottle from the fridge as she leaned against the island, just waiting for the right moment to ask---

"So, what's the what on the Love Triangle between you, Mike and Tre, huh?" Quirking an eyebrow in curiosity, Giselle studied how Caroline's head shot up and stared back at her; hazel eyes locking with blue eyes.

And then, Caroline dropping one of the champagne flutes in her hands.

"Fuck," Caroline bit out as the glass shattered to the tiled floor. "Look what you made me do."

"Everything all right in there?" Mike called out.

"Yes," she replied. "Giselle just dropped a glass."

Giselle's mouth formed a perfect circle and she scoffed at her big sister. "Hey, don't blame it on me because you don't like taking responsibility for your actions."

Bending down to pick up the broken pieces, Caroline lifted her head and frowned. "Whatever."

Crouching down to help Caroline with the glass, Giselle let out a small sigh, followed by a truce-bearing smile. "Aw, c'mon. Just tell me what the hell is going on around here these days," she practically pleaded. "I sense extreme tension, and no, it's not one of my 'psychology skillz' because anyone would sense the friction between you people." After a short pause, she added, "It's that bad, Care."

Not responding, Caroline scooped the remainder of the glass shards from the floor with a wet rag and threw it all into the garbage can that was hidden in the cupboard under the sink.

But when she turned back to her sister, she reached for a new glass in the cupboard above and to the right of the sink and set it down with a sigh, as she muttered, "Tre kissed me, okay?"

Giselle's lips part in surprise and her eyes widened all the same, but no comment passes from said lips. Instead, Caroline continues.

"Tre kissed me at 880 a couple weeks ago," she repeated. "And then Mike walked in and gave Tre a piece of his fist and he would've given him the whole thing if Billie hadn't walked in and pried him off of Tre. And, oh...while Mike was trying to beat the shit out of Tre, he hit me in the nose by accident and made me bleed..."

After explaining it all, Caroline inhaled and then exhaled a deep breath.

Giselle was, to say the least, still stunned. And, for probably the first time ever, she didn't have an opinion or analysis at the moment. She was just rather, well, stunned.

And that's when Joanne stepped into the kitchen with a bright, cheery smile on her face.

"Need any help in here?" she inquired, placing a hand on each of her daughters' shoulders.

Caroline shook her head with a smile all her own. "No, we're good. We were just cleaning up the glass."

"And, well, we kinda got sidetracked by talking about the wedding," Giselle added as a lie. Heaven knows their mother didn't need to know about the debacle Caroline had informed Giselle about.

Turning more upon Caroline, Joanne beamed and placed her hands on her eldest's face and then pulled her in for a hug. "I still can't believe my little girl's gonna get married."

Looking over her mom's shoulder, Caroline locked eyes with Giselle, who mouthed, We'll talk about this later.



A few hours later, lying in bed together, Mike turned to look Caroline over with a grin dangling from his thin, but delectable, lips.

Slowly, he ran a hand underneath the covers and wrapped his arm around her waist and under her, pinching her ass and causing her to squeal.

Slapping his arm as hard as she could she faux grimaced at him and pursed her lips as if to prove she meant business. "My parents are down the hall, Mike!" she whisper-yelled. "Like I really want to wake up the house so they can all overhear our sex life."

Simply nodding in obedience, Mike lowered his lips to hers to shut her up; kissing her and making her forget about anything and everything.

Looking up at him afterward, she just stared and smiled.

"Well, as long as we're quiet..."

Mike grinned yet again, but this time more mischievously. "See, this proves no woman on this green earth can resist the Mikenator."

Stopping him by placing a finger against his lips before he kissed her again, Caroline frowned. "If you never refer to yourself as 'The Mikenator' again, I promise I will make you a very happy boy."

"Deal."

Pinning Caroline to the mattress, he brought the covers up over their heads and only giggles escaping the cavern of her mouth seemed to waft about the dimly lit bedroom.



Come morning, Mike awoke to the distant smell of coffee seeping into his nostrils like one of the Folger's commercials. And the only reason he could sense the caffeinated beverage brewing from the kitchen that keenly was because Mike was so used to it and craved it like a crazy freak.

Smiling at the thought of the warm, brown nerve-hyping goodness, Mike opened his rather sleepy blue eyes and tried to sit up but found his path, so to speak, to be blocked. And he also found the reason why.

Never, in all his experiences of spending a night with any woman, had one like Caroline found the most intricate ways of wrapping herself around his body, holding onto him, as she slept.

She was like a friggin' Chinese finger trap.

The more you pulled the more it would not come off.

And not that Mike was complaining. Just the opposite, really. He loved waking up to her this way.

The way she draped one leg over both of his, wrapped her arms around his upper body and rested her head on his chest while her dark hair was sprayed out over his neck and slightly in his mouth.

It was a slice of heaven.

And he could just stare down at her for hours, doing his best to keep her from stirring awake.

Unfortunately, when Mike coughed some of her hair from his mouth and picked a few random strands from sticking to his chapping lips, Caroline abruptly lifted her head with a disoriented expression on her face, Mike couldn't help but laugh.

"Wha--?" she muttered sleepily.

"Shh," he hushed her, cupping her face and leaning forward enough to kiss her quiet.

Flashing her a smile, Mike removed his hands and slid out from under the covers and stood up beside the bed, butt naked, and stretched; reaching his arms up toward the ceiling with a yawn.

When he felt Caroline's hand smack his bare ass, he threw a glance over his shoulder. "Oh my," he snickered. "I think Caroline has a crush on me." Bringing his hands to his mouth, he purposely giggled like a school girl.

"Other way around, baby," she mumbled, plopping her head back down onto the bed. "Other way around."

Shaking his head with a laugh, Mike turned on the shower and then took a piss while he waited for the water to get warm. After about a quick five minutes, he stepped out, completely fresh and clean, with naught but a fluffy, light blue towel wrapped around his waist and his hair slicked back as if he were accessing his inner 'Holiday' bartender once again.

When the door was open, connecting the master bath to the master bedroom, Mike was greeted by Caroline's light snoring, signaling she'd fallen back to sleep. So, he did his best to be quiet as he threw on a pair of boxers and jeans, followed by a North Carolina Panthers T-shirt he'd picked up last fall when the two of them joined her father and his cronies for a football game one weekend.

Giving one last look back at Caroline, Mike laughed under his breath and headed out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind him just as he was instantly welcomed by the smell of now both coffee and breakfast awaiting him downstairs.

And Mike wasn't even two steps into his kitchen when he was bombarded by 'Good Mornings' and 'How Did You Sleeps?' from his future in-laws who had clearly been up for a while.

"Morning," he replied with a smile as he took a seat at the coffee table.

"I remember how you like your coffee, and as soon as I heard you coming down the stairs I hurried up and made it for you," Joanne commented, walking up to him and placing a steaming mug on the table before him.

"You're an angel," he remarked.

"Not all that ironic, considering she's obsessed with angels and has always decorated the house with angel stuff," Giselle spoke from across the table and clad in her pajamas.

"Still...to make someone breakfast and have coffee waiting for them and its not even your house..." Mike trailed briefly. "That's just...awesome."

As everyone began to sit around the table and help themselves to servings of eggs, bacon and toast, they began to chat about little things, such as Caroline.

"So, my daughter still being lazy?" Paul questioned with a grin.

"Last I checked, yep."

"She always used to sleep the day away when she was in college and didn't have classes," Joanne added.

"That's because I was up late, mom," came Caroline's voice suddenly as she entered the kitchen in a staggering gait. "I went to bed late, got up late. No different from you going to bed early and waking up early."

"Morning, honey," Paul cut in.

"Morning," she answered, then continued without missing a beat. "I got eight hours of sleep just like you. Just a different eight hours." Giving her parents a kiss on the cheek, The Sinners' frontwoman sauntered over to Mike and sank down in the seat beside him, leaning over as he turned his head; the two of them kissing each other as a greeting.

"Still..." Joanne muttered.

"No, not still," Caroline insisted. "I worked better on a different schedule, ma. You start your day at 5 AM, like, every day and then you're in bed by 9 every night. I, on the other hand, have a lifestyle that emphasizes the night owl complex I seem to suffer from, so my day starts at noon, usually, and sometimes I go to bed between 2 and 4 in the morning 'cause I have to be up late."

"Same here," Giselle concurred. "When I'm on call, I might hafta work night shifts, so it throws my whole schedule off. Actually, with what I do, I don't have a set schedule."

"Neither do we, really," Mike commented.

Pausing for a moment, Caroline looked at Mike's profile as she brought a piece of bacon to her lips and she smiled.

"Since we're all together again, why don't we talk about the wedding?" Joanne suggested, changing the subject.

Caroline's expression changed as she looked over at her mother, just as Mike looked at her profile this time, noting how she just seemed to loathe talking about the wedding at all.

A part of this made him sad. But maybe it was just her mom wanting to talk about it every waking minute to go over every possible detail.

Or maybe it was something else.

Either way, he hoped it wasn't anything serious.