Best Man

Later that night, once Giselle returned from Starbucks, she dropped a bomb on Caroline.

But, it wasn't an unpleasant bomb. It was, in fact, practically desired.

"You're moving to the Bay area?!" Caroline had squealed happily as she hugged her little sister before getting an answer.

Yes, it was true.

Giselle decided to transfer from Raleigh, North Carolina to San Francisco, California to work in a hospital psych ward for her first year of residency.

She'd done it for a number of reasons.

She wanted to be closer to Caroline and to help plan the wedding, since she was going to be the Maid of Honor. Also, Giselle wanted the change of scenery. She'd lived in Raleigh since she was eighteen, when she first went to college. She was the reason her parents decided to move there as well, even though her father's job gave him the option of a number of places; including Boston, Washington (DC, that is), Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Mateo, California.

She was already in her first year of med school by the time her parents moved; leaving Caroline home in Buffalo, living with their grandmother while the older Woods sister tried putting her band together.

Caroline, in her excitement to have family moving near her, asked Giselle to live with Mike and her until she found her own place, and that there wasn't even a rush in doing that, either.

Accepting the offer after a lot of declining at first, Giselle began to settle into the extra bedroom she'd been staying in for the past night and day, a little more that just a mere visitor would.



When July became more of a recent memory and August was in full bloom, things actually seemed to be falling into place for the first time in a long while.

All three members of Green Day -- yes, that's including Mike and Tre -- were back in the studio, happily making music once more; the events from June nothing but in the past to them.

It was good to have this ambiance amongst them. Mike figured it had something to do with Giselle. Tre had seemed to back away from Caroline almost completely since her younger sister moved in. And the bassist had a theory that Giselle and Tre might've had a chat or two sometime in the last month.

Mike hoped there was mentions of castration and the like from the younger sister, as a warning to leave Caroline alone.

And, speaking of Caroline, The Sinners were getting back into the swing of things as well with going back into the studio. They'd been starting to get flack from the record execs and Rob Cavallo, who was getting flack as well because he helped produce the band.

Making matters easier for the producer and strangely not so weird for those involved with the supposed 'Love Triangle,' both Green Day and The Sinners were all holed up at 880 Studios. One band in Studio A, the other in Studio B. And while both bands were working, almost feverishly sometimes, most days of the week for the entire month of August, they still found the time to take it easy and joke around at home.



On one of the last days of what was turning out to be a surprisingly not-so-sweltering August, Giselle had awoken early to get ready for work at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in the city. She was finally showered and dressed when she emerged from her room and noticed the pair of hot pink ladies' panties on the floor of the hallway.

Why she didn't notice it before when she was going back and forth between her room and the bathroom blew her mind, but now that she saw it, she couldn't help but grimace. Not two feet away was a pair of black boxers.

Wrinkling her nose, Giselle muttered, "Jesus Christ on a cracker...can't they contain themselves until they're inside their damn room?"

Bending down, Giselle picked up the panties with the tips of her thumb and index finger, in a way that suggested she was holding a piece of human feces. With her free hand turning the doorknob to Mike and Caroline's room, she pushed the door open slowly and stepped in quietly, expecting to find the couple asleep together.

But, alas, it was just Caroline; sprawled out on top of the sheets.

And naked.

Giselle had yet another reason to grimace.

Like she really wanted to see her sister's bare ass.

Turning her grimace into a scowl, she snapped her arm back and flung the panties onto Caroline and with a triumphant smirk, she dashed from the room and down the hall just as Caroline stirred and called out in sleepy contempt.

"What the fuck?" Caroline questioned angrily.

But Giselle wasn't gonna wait for her sister's wrath. Running down the stairs and turning the corner, she passed through the kitchen in a blur to grab the car keys to her rental car and muttering quickly to Mike who she'd found sitting at the table, drinking a cup of decaf coffee -- due to his heart -- and reading the newspaper.

"Hi. Bye."

Before Mike could set his coffee down to make any kind of response, Giselle was out the front door and he was left just staring, wondering, "What the hell?"

Not a few moments later, Caroline's footsteps pounded down the stairs and she appeared in the kitchen, tightening the belt on her robe and glowering at Mike.

"You got coffee that fast?" she demanded.

Mike simply stared back up her. "What? I've been up for an hour."

At the sound of a car revving up and pulling out of the driveway, Caroline rolled her head back in annoyance and then tipped her head forward again to look at Mike. "Was that Giselle?"

"I think so," he replied with a shrug. "She flew by here so fast my first thought was Tasmanian Devil."

"I swear, maybe I wasn't thinking when I asked her to move in."

Showing concern for her comment, Mike furrowed his brow. "Why's that?"

Pulling her hot pink panties from the pocket of her robe she flung them at Mike and they landed in his coffee cup, just as he was about to take a sip; causing him to make disheartened 'oh' sound.

"It's like my high school years all over again," she sighed, pulling out a chair kitty corner to Mike and sitting down with slumped shoulders.

"You just threw your dirty underwear in my coffee," he muttered, still staring at the pink material sopping up his warm, decaffeinated beverage.

"I was a bit of a slob, in some respects, sure, and Giselle would always pick up after me...but only to throw it on top of me when I was sleeping," Caroline continued without missing a beat.

"You threw your dirty underwear into my coffee," Mike repeated, picking the panties up and dropping them with a soaked plop onto the wooden tabletop.

Locking eyes with him, she shrugged. "It's only decaf."

Narrowing his serious blue eyes on Caroline, Mike almost smiled as he growled, "Why you little---"

Without another word, he set his coffee down and practically jumped out of his chair as he leaned forward, grabbed Caroline at the waist and pulled her out of her own chair, only to lift her up in his arms and fling her over his shoulders like a caveman.

Smacking her on the ass as he carried her out of the kitchen, he smiled victoriously when she let out a yelp and then flung her down onto the couch as soon as they were in the living room.

Clamoring up on top of her, Mike just studied her face as she began to giggle. Then, reaching her hand up, she ran her fingers through the hair that was falling slightly onto the tops of his ears.

"Your hair's getting a little long."

"Think I should cut it?" he asked, leaning his face forward to nuzzle his nose against her chin.

After kissing his forehead, she shook her head and pulled him down all the way so that she could feel his weight pinning her to the cushions. Laying his head sideways on her chest so that his ear was over her heart, Mike let out a small breath.

And the two of them just laid like that, sharing a loving moment.



Giselle walked to the nurses' station on the psych ward of UCSF Medical Center with a clip board in her hands while she was biting the end of the pen in her other hand.

"I just looked in on that little girl, Julie Kerwin. The one who survived that car accident last week but lost her parents. And I think she's doing a lot better. She's ten so she can understand a lot of what's happened," she muttered to a nurse behind the desk. "Could you make sure Dr. Bath gets this, please?" she asked, handing the clipboard over.

"Sure thing, Zellie," the nurse replied with a smile. Then added, in observation, "You got somewhere you gotta be?"

Giselle shrugged impishly as she looked over head at the wall clock, then back at the nurse.

"Is it some hot date?" the nurse continued.

"Maybe," Giselle replied, walking backwards away from the desk.