Nirvana

You came in with the breeze on Sunday morning

1 year later

Harley stood in front of the half size mirror above one of the sinks in the bathroom. She ran her shaking hands over the front of the sleeveless leather dress covering her body, and exhaled shakily. For a moment, as she thought of the group that was likely already seated downstairs in the hotel restaurant she wondered if this was the right thing, if they had done the right thing.

There was a knock on the door, but she didn't answer. A few seconds of silence later she heard James speak gently, "Everyone's waiting."

She wanted to speak back, to tell him she was almost ready but nothing came out. So instead she looked back at the mirror, and then down at her shaking hands. Her eyes closed as she focused on taking a big breath, inhaling through the nose and exhaling out of the mouth. She repeated this a few times before she decided it was now or never and yanked the door open so fast James nearly fell on top of her.

"You okay?" He asked concerned as she slipped her shoes on, the python printed ones he had gotten her for her birthday when they first met, and slid her hand into his.

"Great." She told him, doing her best to sound confident and honest.

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze as they walked down the hall toward the elevator. He turned to her once he hit the main floor button and asked, "Why are you so nervous?"

She was quick to tell him, "I'm not!"

A little too quick in his opinion but before he could voice that the elevator stopped and Pekka stepped into it. He grinned at the two of them, "Fancy meeting you here."

Harley rolled her eyes at that, James simply smiled and told him, "She's a little nervous."

"I can see that. Not that I blame her either." Pekka stated nonchalantly. Harley's head snapped up and toward him in alarm and with James' ever persistent glare on him he explained, "Well its just between Emma and Shea there's gonna be a lot of anger tonight."

"Thanks man." James muttered as Harley ran her hand through her hair and began tapping her foot against the floor.

Her hands were shaking again, her stomach was doing gymnastics and she felt like at any given moment she might just lean over and hurl.

Pekka was quick to tell her, "But they'll be happy!"

"Yeah after one of them kills us and I'm not banking on it being Shea." Harley muttered.

Pekka grinned, "Yeah Em is scary when she's pregnant."

The elevator came to a stop and opened up to the lobby, Harley felt like she was glued to the floor as James and Pekka stepped out of it. James turned and to glance at her when he realized she hadn't gotten off with them. He grabbed her hand and had to pull her out before he leaned down to speak softly in her ear, "Just relax. Everything is gonna be fine."

"It just never occurred to me how mad they might be at us." Harley told him honestly, looking down at their hands. James curled his index finger under her chin to pull her eyes back up to his, he tucked a loose wave back behind her ear and leaned down to kiss her softly.

When he pulled back he told her, "They're waiting."

In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Everyone was seated, mid conversation when the three of them arrived. Shea exchanged a glance with Craig when Harley sat down and immediately downed half the glass of wine nearest to her, which happened to be Craig's. James simply stifled a laugh.

Emma turned her attention to Harley and grinned, "So what's the deal with this whole vacation?"

Harley couldn't answer, it was as if she lost her voice. She simply drank the rest of Craig's drink as James explained, "We just figured it would be good for us all to get together during the off season, gives you four a break from the kids and stuff."

"Not all of us." Emma muttered with her hand resting on top of her stomach. Shea leaned over to kiss her cheek as everyone chuckled at her.

"You'll live." Kelly told her, drinking her own wine as their waitress came to get everyone's drink order.

There were eyebrows raised as Pekka ordered a bottle of champagne, asking for eight glasses, one for ginger ale, and then the eyebrows crunched together when Harley asked for a double vodka. James simply chuckled at her, and she narrowed her eyes at him when he did it.

Once the waitress left Emma turned to Harley and said, "Alright I smell a secret and you're awful at keeping them. Spill. Now."

Harley's only response was to grab Roman's glass and down half of it as well only to realize it was just water, exclaiming after, "I expected that to be alcohol."

He shrugged, "Fooled you."

James cleared his throat and got everyone's attention and Harley felt her mouth go dry. He waited until the waitress deposited their drinks and left them alone before he told the group at their table, "Well there was another reason for this trip."

"And that would be?" Shea asked curiously, eyeing the two of them. Harley refused to meet his eyes, she kept hers casted toward the glass of water between them.

"Well… Harley and I have an announcement." James told them, reaching for her hand under the table. He slipped his fingers between hers and felt her squeeze tightly as he told them, "We got married."

Someone dropped a fork, another choked on water, and Emma simply exclaimed, "YOU DID WHAT?!"

"Babe calm down. You don't want to have this kid in Vegas four months early do you?" Shea asked her, placing his hand over hers.

"Shea Michael Weber do not babe me right now!" She exclaimed before turning her wild brown eyes at Harley, who shrunk down in her seat slightly. Emma then turned to James and stated, "You fucker! You're supposed to inform me before making life altering decisions like asking my best friend to marry you!"

"I'm sorry?" James stated with a smile that made Emma roll her eyes.

Curiously Craig asked, "When did you two manage to sneak off and do that?"

"Uh… when my parents were in town last." James told them.

Kelly dropped the fork she picked up again, "That was like four months ago!"

"Well… you know… we were gonna tell everyone but then we thought we'd just plan a trip and do it then." Harley finally found her voice and said in defense of their decision to keep things hush hush.

Emma looked over at Kelly and told her, "She's gone crazy."

"Absolutely bonkers." Kelly stated with a nod of agreement.

Rolling her eyes Harley told them, "We just didn't want it to be this big huge thing. We wanted something simple and plain. With just family."

"This is why Pekka kept grinning all night last night!" Kelly exclaimed, having finally put the pieces together.

Everyone at the table turned their stares to Harley and James, who sighed and explained, "I couldn't convince him to leave Finland without a reason."

"I can't believe this." Emma muttered.

Harley let out a sigh and said, "I'm sorry."

Shaking her head Emma told her, "I can't believe you kept this huge secret from everyone for almost four months. I'm impressed."

Harley smiled and told her, "I told you I can keep a secret."

"Clearly." Kelly stated with a grin.

There was a loud bang as Pekka popped the bottle of champagne and said, "And now we drink!"

"God yes." Harley muttered, drinking half her glass of vodka, making Craig raise his eyebrow. She stuck her tongue out at him, making him shake his head and laugh in amusement.

Two hours later Harley was sitting by the hotel pool, her legs crossed and leaning back on her palms. She turned as Shea sat down beside her, mimicking her stance. They sat in silence for several minutes before Shea asked her, "You okay?"

Harley kept her eyes on the pool, let out a quiet sigh and told him, "I'm fine."

"You're lying." He told her, making her sigh.

She sat up, pushed her fingers through her hair and told him, "I'm having a rough a day."

"You sure you don't mean a rough month?" Shea asked her, and when she turned to him with a raised eyebrow he explained, "You've been off for a while Harley."

"It just doesn't get any easier I guess."

Upon hearing that Shea slid closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. She slouched into his side as he told her, "It doesn't, especially when you get married and they're not there."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." She said softly, twisting her fingers around each other in nervousness. She had been feeling guilty for the way they went about this whole thing since doing it, but the guilt had gotten worse and worse over the weeks leading up to this trip.

Shea shook his head, "Honestly I'm not surprised. This was a very Harley thing to do."

"Still. It's not like we purposely decided to keep you all out of this. It was just… we talked about it and then it just happened and I'm not really sure why we decided not to tell people right away." She explained, rubbing her hands on her dress covered thighs.

"Because someone would have tried to talk you guys out of it." Shea told her, knowing more than likely someone would have done just that, stating they hadn't been together nearly long enough to get married. He was quick to tell her, "But it's your choice, and personally I think you made the right one."

"Yeah?"

He grinned at her and nodded, telling her, "Yeah. James makes you happy, and I know I never have to worry about you."

"Oh really?" She asked him curiously.

"Yeah. It was part of the deal." Shea told her with a wide grin.

With an eyebrow raised she asked curiously, "What deal?"

"I told him the only way I would let him date you was if he promised to treat you the way you deserved to be treated, and that if he didn't take care of you and protect you and make you feel loved then all bets were off." Shea informed her, and Harley couldn't help but laugh at that. Go figure.

She glanced over at his watch, quarter to twelve, and got up, holding her hands out for him, "We should get in."

He got up, and they walked side by side to the elevator. The ride up six floors was silent, and as they got off Shea told her, "Congratulations again."

"Thank you. You know… for tonight." Harley told him before they separated, her going left and him going right.

James was sitting on the balcony when she got in, and he called out, "I'm out here."

She tossed her clutch onto the dresser, took out her earrings and necklace off, before slipping out of her dress and throwing on a robe. She tied up her hair and then made her way out to the balcony, where she sat on James' lap, one arm around his shoulders and said, "Sorry, Shea and were talking."

"I know. I could see you guys from here." He told her before quickly adding, "I wasn't spying on you or anything. I was on the phone with my mom."

Harley leaned her head against his and smiled when he wrapped his arms around her. They sat like that for nearly half an hour, before he told her, "I detected a shiver. We should go inside."

"But I'm comfy." Harley told him, letting out a squeal as he got up, throwing her over his shoulder and walking into the hotel room. As he closed the door with his foot he pulled her robe up and jokingly bit into the side of her hip, making her laugh loudly before stating, "Some things never change."
♠ ♠ ♠
30 chapters
70, 000 plus words
177 subscribers
100+ comments.

INSANE.

I never could have predicted the reception that I got on this story so this is just... yeah... hit a few mibba milestones on this one too. My first 30 chapter story and the first time I hit 100 comments. Absolute insanity.

So thank y'all for reading and sticking around and commenting. I hope you enjoyed the ride, and don't forget the sequel which will be out in a few weeks.

The Perfect Storm

And with that Nirvana and I bid you all a bitter sweet goodbye (for now)