Truly, Madly, Deeply - Sequel to Affirmation Part 3
Pardon the delay in posting this. I've been busy working on HIGNFY screen caping, working on the final part of this four story series, recovering from being a little ill, and resting my brain after completing WLIIA AMV Hell.
So, anyways, here is part 3 of Truly, Madly, Deeply - in which Ryan's father causes trouble, more exploration in several relationships, and a big problem arises for the wedding.
Title: Truly, Madly, Deeply
Author: Shinigami518
Rating: PG-13, but with some bits of R in it.
Main Character(s) and/or pairings: Ryan/Colin, Tony/Paul, Josie/Richard, Jeff/OFC, Stephen/Hugh (growing near the end)
Summary: Taking place in early-mid June of 2007, Good news rings out through the Whose Line community: Ryan and Colin are geting married! (YAY!!!) But with all weddings, there's always problems along the way. From plane rides to Bachelor parties to relationships either gonig sour or rekindling to relatives. This includes Ryan's father, who wants Ryan to call off the wedding, saying that he's ruining everything he ever had with Patty. Will there be a happy ending around the corner?
See previous chapters here to get refreshed:
View Affirmation here:
Epilogue, but with all parts linked
View Against All Odds here:
Epilogue, but with all parts linked
View last chapters here:
Part 1
Part 2
Next part to come in a while, so be patient, read, and review.
Part 3: The highest powers, In lonely hours, The tears devour you
June 11th
2:30PM
With only two days left until the wedding, there were still many things to do and with such little time, it had to be done not just perfectly, but quickly.
Most of the planning was already finished. The food for the reception would start being cooked that day, the rest being cooked the next day, decorations were bought, and the rooms were selected for the wedding and reception to take place. All that was needed to be done was to make sure everyone had an outfit, the decorations to be put up, and any last minute details (seating arrangements and such) to be sort out, so everyone had their job.
The first thing to be done was the run-through of the wedding. Of course, there were problems. Claire, the flower girl, had to be reminded that she shouldn’t skip when tossing the flower petals. Drew and Brad, the best men for Ryan and Colin respectively, still were talking about where to have the bachelor parties for each men separately or combine into one huge party. This wasn’t a problem except they were talking about it while the Priest, Brother Alan, was explaining what Ryan and Colin would do during the ceremony. Sam, who was given the roll as Ring Boy, nearly fell asleep during the run through and almost dropped the practice rings. Aside from those mishaps, the run-through went about as smoothly as possible.
Some of the guests, meanwhile, were helping out with organizing and decorating. Josie, Wayne, Richard, Hugh, Mike, and Will were helping with sorting through the music that would be played at the reception. Robert, Janet, Sandi, Patty, Lennie, and Stephanie helped out with the rest of the cooking. Samantha, Melissa, Julie, Alicia, and Christine (rather reluctantly at first) helped out with the decorating. Their job got a bit complicated when Tony dragged Stephen and Paul over, a bemused Clive following close behind, to help out. Christine, reverting back from her fangirl mode to her strict older sister roll, refused upfront to let them help, taking her ‘new job’ as the “Head of Party Planning” rather seriously. This prompted Julie to shout “Shut up, Angela!”, which made Melissa giggle. Christine, however, just stared at her with a blank annoyed look on her face and asked “…what are you talking about?”
Julie muttered to Will and Melissa later that Christine never watched “The Office” and told Melissa to force her to watch all the good episodes once they get home.
Things started getting a bit more complicated later after the run through with the arrival of Sonny and Irene Stiles, Ryan’s parents. The older Stiles male frowned when he first saw Ryan walk over, holding hands almost casually with Colin while Irene gushed over them, congratulating them on their upcoming marriage. Sonny then said six words that sent a cold chill up Ryan’s spine.
“Ryan, we need to talk, now.”
<<<<<<>>>>>>
Several minutes later…
“What do you think grandpa and dad want to talk about?” Sam asked Mackenzie, walking with Luke, who carried Lea, and Claire. The small group were returning from a quick dip in the pool and had just learned from Irene about Ryan and Sonny going off to talk about something.
“Beats me, Sam. Must be serious if grandpa wanted to talk with him and if he’s acting so serious about it.” Mackenzie shrugged, which made Ethan, who was in her arms, giggle.
“Grandpa looked mad. I hope he’s not mad about daddy marrying Uncle Colin.” Claire whimpered slightly, clinging to Sam’s arm.
“I hope not, small fry. And in a few days, Uncle Colin’s gonna be your second daddy and I’m gonna be your big brother.” Luke reminded Claire, carrying a sleepy Lea in his arms. Claire smiled in realization.
“Yeah! He’s not gonna be Uncle Colin anymore and you’re gonna be my new big brother!” Claire stated, excited over the new change.
“And what does that- Hey! Do you hear that?” Sam asked, his ears perking up. Mackenzie, Claire, and Luke raised their heads, listening to what Sam heard. Ethan and Lea just stared around in confusion, not knowing what was going on.
“Sounds like daddy and grandpa, but they sound mad, really mad.” Claire remarked, her emerald green eyes wide in fear. The four, still carrying their younger siblings, made their way over to the side room. Peering in, they say Ryan and Sonny exchanging in a heated argument.
“Dad, how can you even say that!?” Ryan snapped, tears starting to sting his emerald green eyes.
“Ryan, for as far back as I can remember, you’ve never gave any sign you were… That way, and then all of a sudden, you come out and tell me that you’re getting married to your oldest MALE friend, weeks after the death of your and his wives! Do you have any idea how embarrassing that is for me to explain to everyone?!” Sonny snapped back coldly. The two oldest Stiles children looked at each other in shock. Their grandfather was THAT ashamed of their father?!
“Dad, I’ve always had feelings for Colin, but during that time…,” Ryan took a deep breath, “You know that it was still dangerous to be gay at that time and besides, when I was going to tell him, he was already marrying Deb.” Ryan went on. Sonny shook his head and turned away from his son.
“How much thought have you given this? Are you sure you actually love him and NOT trying to replace the memory of Pat, the woman who gave you three children?” Sonny asked, still coldly. Ryan looked at him as if he was shot, his face deathly pale.
“Dad how could- I loved Pat as much as I love Colin! I’m not trying to-.” Ryan stated, offended and fighting back tears. Sonny then turned to face Ryan and cut him off.
“Then I suggest you stop these stupid fantasies of a perfect life because I won’t have any part of it! Tell your mother that I’ll pick her up after your ‘wedding’, because I won’t be attending it.” Sonny shouted, not caring if anyone heard. Even worse was the way he spat out the word ‘Wedding’ as if it was a dirty word. Ryan stared at his father in shock as Sonny spun back around and stormed off out of the room.
The children watched Sonny storm pass them, not even noticing their presence. The Stiles children stared at each other in shock. They couldn’t believe their own grandfather would say those things to their father. Ethan started to whimper, causing Mackenzie to gently stroke his back to calm the small child.
Luke finally broke the silence. “Your grandpa’s being a bit of a dick, is he?” He remarked, his comment stirring Lea from her sleep.
<<<<<<>>>>>>
In another room, another similar argument was going on between a father and his child, but the anger was over something different
“Dad, you’re making too big of a deal over this!” Samantha groaned. Martin had asked for her to leave the “Party decorating group” to talk for a little bit and Martin had started the same argument he began days earlier about how he didn’t trust the former Whose Line men and women.
“Am I? After meeting some of these… new friends of yours, how can I not? I told you they were weird and strange, and this proves it.” Martin asked.
“They would never hurt me, Julie or Melissa, dad! Besides, I’m almost 21 years old, I’m not a child!” Samantha retorted, hands on her hips.
“She’s right, dear.” Stephanie noted, standing a small distance away.
“I’m still her father and I don’t like how those people act, especially some of those English ones. The only one that seems to be ok and the only one you can really trust is Stephen Fry. He’s the only sane one and non-gay one out of this group of weirdos.” Martin exclaimed. Samantha stared at her father in disbelief. Surely he knew…
“Dad… Mr. Fry is gay.” Samantha told her father, squinting slightly. Martin’s response was a blank stare of confusion.
“….what?” he just asked.
“He’s gay, dad. Like Ryan and Colin, Tony and Paul, and Sandi.” Samantha explained.
“B-b-but he can’t be gay! He’s so… normal!” Martin stuttered.
“He is darling. I’ve known about that for a while.” Stephanie replied.
“That can’t be! He’s so…,” Martin frowned and sighed in defeat. “Shit, I need a drink.” He muttered loudly while still frowning. Samantha sighed and left to return to her friends.
<<<<<<>>>>>>
Meanwhile…
Dinning Area
“Patty, I’ve got some bad news.” Chip sighed, walking over to his wife. Patty turned to face him, confused.
“What is it, Charles?” Patty asked.
“It’s Wayne and Mandie. I just heard them arguing and it’s getting worse and worse.” Chip replied.
“You don’t really think they’re going to split? What about Maile? Are you sure you heard right?” Patty asked in a flurry of questions.
“I don’t know, but it does sound serious. Thankfully, Maile hasn’t been around to hear most of it, poor kid.” Chip answered, calming his wife down.
“What can we do then?” Patty wondered.
“Be there for them,” Chip sighed, “That’s all we can really do at this time.” Patty shook her head sadly.
“How can this day get any worse?” She asked out loud.
<<<<<<>>>>>>
Greg was humming an off-key version of “Time Warp” to himself when he was nearly knocked off his feet by two blurs. After a few seconds to regain his bearings, he turned to see who nearly knocked him for a loop.
“Luke, Claire, watch where you’re going!” Greg shouted, fixing his off-centered glasses. The two, who were carrying their younger siblings, didn’t reply, they just kept running. Greg shrugged and shook his head, wondering what caused them to be upset. His answer came when Sam walked out of the room Luke and Claire exited, shaking his head.
“Hey, Sammie, what’s shaking?” Greg asked, switching to his hipster voice. Sam just looked up at him, frowning sadly. “What’s the matter?” Greg asked, this time concerned.
“Dad… Dad and grandpa had a fight.” Sam replied. Greg’s frown deepened. He knew that Ryan and Sonny usually had their rough spots, but none of their fights got as bad as Sam was making it out to be.
“How bad was it?” Greg questioned, starting to get a bit worried about his old friend.
“Bad enough to break dad down to tears.” Sam answered, starting to feel angry over the words he, his sisters, Luke and the babies overheard. “Grandpa said some REALLY harsh things about dad and Uncle Colin’s relationship. He’s not even coming to the wedding now because he thinks dad’s ruining everything he used to have with mom.” Sam blinked back a few tears that began to well up when he mentioned Patti Stiles.
“How is he?” Greg was growing more and more worried. Ryan hardly ever cried except when it was very, very bad.
“Taking it really hard, Uncle Greg. He’s… he’s thinking of postponing the wedding, even thinking of stopping it all together.” Sam replied.
Greg almost fell over in shock. “Are you serious?” He gasped.
“Mack’s in there trying to comfort dad, but he needs some serious help from everyone, including Uncle Colin.” Sam told Greg. Greg shook his head, letting everything sink in.
“There’s gonna be some pretty pissed off folks once they hear what you have to say.” Greg noted, looking grim.
<<<<<<>>>>>>
In the main room where the wedding will be held…
“How the hell did you get tied up in the crepe streamers?!” Christine groaned, burying her face in her hands.
“Would you believe I was ambushed by Tony, Paul, Julie, and your sister?” Clive sighed. The lawyer was tied to a chair with a variety of colored crepe streamers, many overlapping one another. Stephen, meanwhile, was using scissors to cut Clive free from his restraints.
“Hey, we were bored!” Melissa exclaimed in defense. She, Alicia, and a recently rejoined Samantha were wrapping so ribbons around some chairs. Several strands of ribbon were also tied to Melissa’s long braid, several bits of ribbon adorned Alicia’s hair and her wrists like bracelets, and Samantha had a few tied around her arms like arm bands.
“And we wanted to have some fun.” Tony put in as he, Paul, and Julie were sorting out strands of ribbons on the other side of the aisle of chairs. They, too, had been playing with the ribbons. Julie had her hair in two short, high pigtails with the ribbons holding her hair in place, Paul (and Julie too) had a few strands of ribbon tied to his glasses, and Tony had some adorning his wrists and several draped around his neck like ties.
“Honestly, you’re all children!” Christine groaned once again, walking away from the group with streamers in her arms. She then went to work putting the streamers up along the wall, not saying a word while doing so.
“What crawled up her butt and died? She wasn’t like this last night, that’s for sure.” Paul asked Melissa once Christine was out of hearing range.
“She takes things a little too seriously at times, even worse when she’s working. The only times I see her relax is when she’s around any hot guys, like you’ve all seen last night.” Melissa sighed, tying several white, pink, blue, and yellow ribbons to the back of the chair she was working on.
“So she’s really like this all the time like you said?” Alicia asked her pen pal. Melissa nodded with a groan.
“Think she needs a holiday?” Clive wondered, finally free from his bindings.
“From what I’ve seen so far, Clive, she needs a holiday FROM a holiday.” Stephen replied, gathering the damaged streamers and putting them in a small pile.
“I’ll say!” Melissa laughed, moving onto the next chair. Julie shook her head and turned back to face Tony and Paul.
“So, Tony, Paul, I saw that stunt you pulled on that last episode of Have I Got News…” Julie began, gathering several strands of ribbon together to be tied to a chair.
“You did, huh?” Paul smirked.
“Sure did. When Alicia e-mailed me, Sam, and Lissy the spoiler from the taping, I almost didn’t believe her. Then, of course the footage popped up on youtube and so I believed her.” Julie replied, letting out a small puff of air to blow away some bangs that got in her eyes.
“And what did you think?” Tony asked, grabbing some ribbons together and began tying them to a chair.
“Ballsy, clever and to the point, but ballsy. Have you gotten any backlash from the stunt?” Julie stated, and then asked in curiosity.
“Just a couple of complaints, but nothing too serious. Piers Morgan actually wanted to be on the first show next series, can you believe it?!” Paul remarked, grimacing slightly when he mentioned the name. Julie winced, remembering what she heard and read about Piers Morgan and how he and Ian had gotten in a super bitch-fight when he was on “Have I Got News For You” years ago, plus the fact he wanted to be on the show after the Angus Scandal broke out in 2002. A shocking thing like Paul coming out of the closet on the show would be another spark in his fire to get back at Ian.
“Shame it was Ian you were shagging, Paul, or Piers would be all over you guys like flies on shit.” Alicia remarked, brushing back a few strands of hair as she worked on a chair.
“What did Piers actually do? I only know he was on those “Got Talent” shows and I’ve seen he’s a bit of a jerk. Is he really that bad?” Samantha asked curiously and confused.
“Worse, Sammie. That prat’s been after Ian ever since that episode he appeared in.” Paul answered with a groan.
“And I’m sure you French-kissing Tony on the show in front of a live audience and cameras was like an early Christmas present for him, right?” Clive asked, raising an eyebrow while walking over. Tony chuckled when he saw Paul blush softly.
“I thought it was sweet, though. Shows how much you love each other.” Julie whispered, blushing as well.
“Oh God, what is wrong with you, Julie!?” Christine groaned, walking back over to the small group. The redness in Julie’s face faded when she stood up and turned to face the older Anderson girl.
“Excuse me?” Julie asked in annoyance, putting her hands on her hips.
“You thought those two kissing was sweet?! Those two are old enough to be your father or uncles!” Christine exclaimed, pointing at Paul and Tony.
“Oi!” Paul snapped, getting annoyed with Christine.
“Chris, knock it off!” Melissa shouted.
“Don’t you start with me, Melissa Joanne Anderson!” Christine told her sister, calling her by her full name. Melissa fumed, dropping the ribbons she had in her hands.
“Chris, my middle name should NOT be revealed in public!” Melissa growled, blushing in embarrassment.
“Both you and Julie are disgusting! Why are you acting this way around these older guys that aren’t as attractive as Jeff or Wayne or Chip!?” Christine asked, still ranting. Samantha began wondering if having another argument with her dad was better than listening to this.
“That’s because YOU never saw any of them in action. You refuse to watch anything with your “Hot Boys” in it, so you never saw how awesome, funny and hot these guys can really be!” Melissa retorted in response.
“I’ve seen these guys in action, Christine. They good, maybe even better than your favorite hot guys!” Alicia added, finishing decorating another chair.
“Trust me, these guys can be-.” Julie began to add when Luke and Claire, both carrying Lea and Ethan respectively, came rushing into the room.
“Guys, we need to call a meeting, we’ve got a problem!” Luke exclaimed, catching his breath.
“What kind of problem?” Clive asked, walking up to the young man.
“A big, massively ginormous size problem!!” Claire replied loudly.
“I think that sums it up, Clive.” Stephen told the balding man.
<<<<<<>>>>>>
Several minutes later, everyone but Ryan, his parents, Colin, Mackenzie, Mandie, and most of the children had gathered in the main room. Greg and Sam had joined Luke and Claire shortly after the latter told everyone to meet there. Once all that were told had gathered there, Greg and the kids told them about Ryan’s fight with his dad and what the kids overheard.
“He said WHAT?!” Brad exclaimed once they all heard what Sonny had told Ryan minutes before.
“Yup, Ryan’s old man is completely against the whole thing.” Greg confirmed with a scowl and a nod.
“You’re joking!” Craig blurted out in disbelief.
“I don’t think he is, Craig.” Diedrich whispered to the man next to him.
“I can’t believe that bastard said all that! Doesn’t he even care about Ryan’s happiness?!” Melissa fumed, starting to pace in aggravation.
“It’s unavoidable, kid. There are still people that are ignorant and stupid pricks that feel that way about anyone that’s ‘different’ from them.” Sandi replied, making air quotes when she said the word “Different”.
“And, unfortunately, one of those is Ryan’s old man.” Drew added with a frown.
“How’s Ryan handling this, Greg?” Kathy asked, worried about her former co-star.
“Not that great.” Greg replied with a sigh.
“Dad’s really upset over what grandpa said. His words really hurt him.” Sam added, looking down.
“Oh dear.” Alicia whispered, upset over what she heard.
“I’m glad my dad wasn’t around. If Ryan’s dad said those things to Dad, Ryan’d be steaming mad.” Luke put in, sitting down while bouncing a fussy Lea on his knees.
“Well you know how protective Ry is over Col.” Jeff remarked.
“I think many of us have first hand experience of moments like that.” Richard noted in remembrance.
“I know I have.” Brad nodded.
“Where are Ryan and Colin?” Patty asked, holding Chips hand in hers.
“My dad’s with Brother Alan for the wedding, talking about something I didn’t catch. He doesn’t know what happened, though. Yet.” Luke replied.
“Problem with that, though, Luke, cause the wedding might not take place with the way our dad’s thinking.” Sam told Luke, gesturing to himself, Claire and Ethan.
“What do you mean, Sam?” Julie asked, a bit worriedly.
“Dad’s having second thoughts about the wedding. He was even thinking of postponing, close to calling off, the whole thing.” Sam replied, worriedly.
Steve Frost was the first to make a comment on this revelation. “The fuck you say!” he blurted out loudly, earning a slap on the arm from Josie. “He really wants to do that?!” he asked, rubbing his bruised arm.
“Sounds like it, Steve-O. His old man got him pretty messed up.” Greg nodded grimly.
Suddenly, Mackenzie burst into the room, startling everyone. Panting for breath, she made her way to the large group.
“Dad, missing, upset, can’t find him, trouble, help, now!” Mackenzie gasped, her words jumbled.
“Can anyone here translate gibberish to English?” Hugh asked in annoyance. Sam walked over to his older sister, surprised by her sudden appearance.
“‘Kenz, what’s going on? I thought you were with dad?” Sam asked.
“Dad’s missing, that’s why I’m not with him!” Mackenzie replied, gasping while catching her breath.
“What?!” Sam and Claire exclaimed, as did most of the people in the room.
“You’re joking!” Nicole remarked.
“I don’t think she is, Nicky.” Sean’a whispered to her friend.
“What do you mean ‘missing’?” Craig asked, standing up and walking over to the young woman.
“As in he bolted when I left him alone to use the ladies room. He wasn’t in the lobby or in the reception room. He’s not even answering his cell!” Mackenzie explained.
“You mean he could be anywhere?!” Robert asked in disbelief.
“Right!” Mackenzie nodded grimly.
“Oh, fucking arse hell shit.” Stephen whispered, lowering his head. Hugh overheard Stephen’s colorful exclamation and tried not to chuckle. Everyone else didn’t hear the remark. Many of them - including Luke, Brad, Drew, Diedrich, and Greg - were worried and wondering where Ryan might’ve gone.
“I knew something bad was going to happen.” Patty whispered softly.
“Listen, everyone, let’s calm down. Now is not the time to panic.” Melissa exclaimed, even though she was panicking inside.
“This is the perfect time to panic, Mel!” Julie snapped, standing up and facing her friend, “We’ve got less than 48 hours to prepare for this wedding, one of the grooms is missing, the father of the missing groom has just bailed on us, and you’re telling us NOT TO PANIC?!” Julie went on, fuming like mad.
“Alright, everyone stop!” Drew exclaimed loudly, adding a loud whistle to get everyone to shut up. “Listen, Ryan must still be in town, so we gotta split up and try to find him. Cover everything within city limits, he couldn’t have gone far.” Drew continued.
“I think we should check the hotel, Colin’s place, his place, and anyplace he could’ve gone in the city.” Greg suggested, fixing his shirt.
“Good idea.” Jeff nodded.
“Luke, Sean’a, and I’ll keep an eye on Colin; you guys go out and look for him.” Brad remarked, walking over to Luke.
“Alrighty then, lets work out who’s going where then.” Drew exclaimed, slapping his hands together.
Once everyone started picking and assigning groups, they split up and began their search, but this wasn’t going to be any ordinary search for a missing person.
This was a search for a comedian who just had a horrible fight with his father less than two days before his wedding.
More to come soon, so stay tuned, read and review.