[MEME] -- #5, the AU from Hell

[freshoffthefarm]

[From here, as requested by fakesIt was an op in Vegas, which was so weird since most of her domestic ops stayed in the DC Metro area, and Annie had done her job well. The extra babysitting had been extra annoying (when wasn't it?), but he'd come along to visit an old friend... or so he'd said

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[freshoffthefarm]

Annie wasn't concerned about the money, either. She was concerned about Porter Webb being extremely upset about her darling son running off to Vegas and getting married in a drunken stupor to some floozy he'd dated for a year some time ago.

She didn't want to be a floozy.

"I'm not really concerned about that. I'm worried about what your mom is going to say about the rest of it. The marriage part. I think we can file the paperwork in Virginia, too. It'll just take longer."

[fakes_death]

"My mother didn't speak to me for a month when I ended things. She thought I was being an idiot."

Hopefully that would lay Annie's fears to rest. Porter wanted Annie to be a part of their family from almost the very beginning. Clay just knew that she wouldn't like that she wasn't there when it happened.

He wasn't planning on mentioning the paperwork that was not filed in his bag.

[freshoffthefarm]

"What?"

She had learned more about their failed relationship in the last twenty minutes than she had in the last nine months and she wasn't sure she was going to be able to process it for a while. At least not in its entirety.

It was a good thing they had six hours. And their flight was being called. Annie gave him a wry smile. "It was nice of you to swing an upgrade for your wife."

Even saying it sounded weird.

[fakes_death]

"We didn't speak for a month. She thought I managed to screw up the best thing in my life. She was right as usual."

Things for Webb were different than Annie during those nine months, but no less painful really.

He smiled at her mention of the upgrade, "One of the advantages to being Mrs. Webb, no more economy class."

[freshoffthefarm]

"Mrs. Webb." Annie shook her head and reached for her dress. "So surreal, Clay. This whole day is completely surreal."

Stepping ahead of him, she moved to give her boarding pass to the woman at the gate, then started down the jetway onto the plane. The closest flight attendant hung her dress in the closet up front and Annie thanked her before finding her seat.

Once he'd sat next to her, she said, "A month, really?"

[fakes_death]

He nodded in agreement before heading down the jetway after his wife. He wondered if everyone felt as strange as he did after their first few hours of marriage or if it was because he couldn't actually remember it.

Once on the plane, Clay stowed his bag in the overhead compartment, fishing out a book and his iPod in case Annie decided she wanted to take a nap.

"An entire month."

[freshoffthefarm]

She supposed it made her feel a little better that Porter had obviously been on her side throughout and maybe wouldn't be that upset about their sudden nuptials.

When the plane started to taxi, Annie instinctively found Clay's hand and squeezed. Her thumb ran over the ring he was wearing as hers, on the hand gripping the hand rest, caught the sun coming in through the window.

"You have excellent taste. The rings are all gorgeous." A pause. "Thank you."

[fakes_death]

"I'm glad you like them."

He imagined she and Joan were going to have a competition in the office come Monday. Clay might have outdone Arthur.

"And you're welcome." Then for the first time since what they'd done the night before, he really smiled. "Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Webb." He still didn't believe it either.

[freshoffthefarm]

His smile prompted her own, the same one that he'd seen her give the receptionist at the hotel. "Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Webb."

Saying aloud made her laugh a little and she shook her head again before sighing a little and resting her head on his shoulder. "This is what we're going to do? Tell everyone we did it on purpose and see what happens?"

She hadn't let go of his hand yet.

[fakes_death]

Now his favorite smile was directed at him, and he couldn't be happier.

"That's probably best and I hope there's a photo somewhere that we can show them." He figured the looks on Joan and Arthur's faces would be priceless. "Your sister and my mother first, though."

There were so many other things they'd need to decide, like where to live, discuss the children issue, any other legalities concerning his money and her apartment lease. But right now he didn't want to deal with it. All he wanted to do was sit in this over priced seat, just like this.

[freshoffthefarm]

"I didn't see a photo," she said lifting her head again. "We can tell them we didn't take any because...?"

Her mind drew a blank and she realized that neither of them had eaten. Coffee and aspirin after the night they'd had was clearly not the best thing for her reasoning skills and she shook her head. "I'm tired, I'm hungry and I feel a little sick to my stomach. I should have grabbed something in the airport, sorry."

Settling against him again, she thought to herself how easy this had been to skirt their issues and she just wanted to make it through the rest of the flight without her headache coming back.

[fakes_death]

"I suppose we could, I just want to see you in that dress."

Clay let go of her hand and put his arm around her shoulders. Making it through the flight without a fight would be good. They just got married, they were supposed to be happy.

"Just relax, when the flight attendant comes around I'll get us something. It's usually better than coach."

The fact that she was hungry was a good sign, at least she wasn't too upset about everything not to eat.

[freshoffthefarm]

The earnestness of his tone made her heart stutter and she lifted her head again to look at him. Fighting was definitely going to be a bad thing on an airplane, but she had a feeling that they weren't going to get out of talking about things. They only had six hours to get their story straight.

"I'll wear the dress for you," she said quietly, giving him a smaller version of his favorite smile before putting her head down again. "We can take pictures that way."

[fakes_death]

"Suit or Tuxedo?" A simple question that wasn't so simple a decision on Annie's part.

The flight attendant appeared soon after, and Clay got them both something to eat and more coffee. They'd talk after breakfast, when they were both more level headed and not as prone to crankiness due to hunger.

[freshoffthefarm]

Once she had a little food in her, she felt more steady. Certainly enough to talk.

"Let me get my phone and we can figure out how we're going to work this out." She pulled it out of her purse and the first thing she saw was that there had been a photograph taken and it was... "Incredible."

It came out a soft sigh as she gazed at it, then turned to show it to Clay. "Look."

[fakes_death]

The look in his eyes said that he thought the photo was just as incredible as Annie did. She looked amazing, he looked good, and there was no mistaking just how happy they both were. He doubted alcohol influenced the decision all that much.

"The first thing we're doing when we land is getting that off your phone and printed."

Clay looked for a few more seconds before looking back up at Annie, "You looked beautiful."