Waking Up in Vegas

The encounter with Ellery was one that was far too awkward for Haley's own sake. Haley herself had explained that maybe she simply had a familiar face and before much more conversation could be had, the couple were back on their way through the tour of the Burton facility.

Overall it was massive. Kevin walked her through the area where they typically gave tours, in-fact, they jumped in and joined the tail end of a group tour that was going through. Haley wasn't even listening to the guide talk so much as Kevin talked and explained how the boards were made. She had no idea that so much went in to making the boards. She knew knew it wasn't a simple process but, as they passed by the quality control part, she just didn't know it was so involved.

As the tour moved on, Kevin took her to the board museum. Kevin said it contained pretty much almost every board Burton ever made. Haley had no idea how big that this company was in Kevin's life. It wasn't just in his life, this was his life. She even stopped to read a placard on one of the kids boards that said it had once belonged to Shaun. It was kind of surreal.

After the tour they headed back to the Pearce house where dinner had already been prepped and was now on the table. Everyone was sitting around waiting for them and, unlike the meal when they arrived, it was quiet. Eerily quiet. Haley didn't like it at all because she knew what was coming. The talk. There was no way that after meeting with a lawyer and with Sue, that they didn't know.

After dinner was strange. The plates were empty and everyone was full (Haley was sleepy herself). Adam sat back a little in his chair, one arm draped over the back and one arm sitting on the table, "Sue Izzo called." Adam started, "Said you renegotiated some of your contracts."

Kevin nodded, "Yeah, we met up at the Burton place and had some things reworked." Kevin said, himself relaxing back into the chair and resting his hands on the table. "I had Haley amended into some of the contracts."

Adam waited quietly as Kevin's dad Simon spoke from the head of the table, "Kevin do you really think that was a good idea?" His dad asked.

Adam kind of jumped in, "You guys hardly know each other." Adam looked at Haley, "I'm sorry but, we've never met before. We don't even know you and suddenly Kevin is amending you into his contracts." Adam paused, looking between Kevin and Haley. "There's something you're not telling us."

Haley nodded a little, feeling quite bad, her head hung a little, even as Kevin reached over to squeeze her hand. "Look, Haley's not just my girlfriend..." Kevin let his voice trail off, "She's my wife." Kevin finished, looking at Haley with a smile and a squeeze of her hand.

The table was silent, then Kevin's dad finally spoke up, "Marriage is a big deal. Your mother and I have been through a lot. It's not something you can just rush into." Kevin's dad was smart, Simon was the brightest person Kevin knew.

Adam sighed, "How long have you guys even been together?" Adam was concerned for his younger brother. He was worried that Haley was some fan that had tricked his brother into marrying her.

Haley finally had enough courage to speak up, "September. We met at the Burton party at SIA in Vegas." Haley said, her voice soft.

Adam just shook his head, "So you got married in Vegas?"

Kevin gave a slight nod, "But I knew her before that. She was friends with Marge, used to go to school in New York and was working in Aspen at the XGames this year." Kevin sat forward, letting go of Haley's hand, "Look, Adam, I know you're concerned and I appreciate that but, we want to give this a real try. We didn't feel like it was right to try to dissolve something that, at some point, we both felt we could do, together." Kevin was trying to explain.

"What Kevin means is that we didn't feel it was right to just try to dissolve the wedding without putting forth our best effort instead of spending our future wondering what if." Haley said, trying to make it sound less like it was something they jumped in to and more like something they had seriously considered.

"Look," Kevin's mom Pia piped up, "I think we need to give them the benefit of the doubt."

Kevin's dad, after a brief and thoughtful pause, spoke again, "We have always trusted you boys to know your limits. This, is clearly no exception to that." Simon said.

Pia, she always had a smile on her face, and Haley knew that without a doubt Kevin took after her. "I, for one, think we should celebrate." Pia said, "It's a joyous occasion." She paused again as she looked at her youngest son and now daughter-in-law. "Any plans for a big wedding?"

Haley was caught off-guard by the question and, well, she could still feel the anger and confusion in the room from Adam alone as Andrew and David had long ago gone to do any dishes that might be worth doing, "I, well, not right now. I think we're going to wait until after Kevin's season and see how things go. There's plenty of time and I think it's not fair to plan it without him." Haley replied.

Kevin nodded in agreement, at least that would buy them some time. "We're already married and everything but we do want the ceremony, we just figured that we wanted some time to sort of adjust and between my season and Haley trying to get on her feet in California, we just figure we would put that kind of thing off until the summer at least."

Kevin (and Haley) wasn't ready to divulge that he'd been totally "white girl wasted" and married Haley. It wasn't the most ideal situation considering his parents' side of the family was, well, not exactly the most socially liberal bunch. For the first time, in Kevin's mind, his thoughts turned to Haley's family. He had never met her family and, well, from the phone call he'd gotten years ago, they weren't wholly thrilled with him.

Haley didn't even dare to mention this to her family and she prayed that Michelle hadn't said a word, after all, she'd promised not to. Haley knew that her father would probably give Kevin the typical, 'You hurt her, I hurt you' talk but it wasn't her father she was afraid of. It was more her brother that Haley was worried about. Although she was close to her family, when she miscarried, her brother was the only one who really knew everything. Her brother had been there for her and she just didn't want him hurt by this.

"So, Haley," Simon spoke, jolting the young woman from her thoughts, "Out of curiosity, how does your family feel about this?"

Haley paused and looked at the head, her new father-in-law, and frankly decided honesty was the best policy, "They don't know, yet."

Pia seemed a little shocked, "Aren't you going to tell them?"

Haley sat back a little in the chair, seeming to relax a bit, "My family is a bit more traditional and I'm scared of their reaction. Especially my brother." Haley said, "In due time, I think we will, but we are taking things one day at a time. This is still new to the both of us." Haley's voice was a bit quiet but no less firm or sure sounding.

Pia just smiled as she got up from around the table, "Well, you know, we are glad to welcome you to our family and there's always a place for you here dear." The older woman said as she wrapped up Haley in a tight hug.

Haley had known, to some degree, that Kevin's parents were different but, she wasn't prepared to be welcomed with so many open arms. She couldn't blame Adam either for being skeptical, hell, she was still skeptical herself if this would work out but Kevin was trying and it wasn't fair for him to put in 80% and for her to not even try, not even a little bit.

Kevin was grateful that his parents were this open-minded and accepting, and so instantly loving. It was strange, and while he couldn't really blame Adam for being about 90% skeptical, Kevin completely understood why his brother would be so upset. It is hard to sit by and watch as you feel like the people you care most about are making a huge mistake. Kevin fully understood that, but, he also knew that if they had simply annulled the marriage he'd spend his days full of 'what if'. Kevin didn't like the idea of spending the rest of his life wondering 'what if'.