[FIC] I Do

[sungreen70.livejournal.com]

Title: I Do
Author: Sun Green
Pairing: Greg/Josie
Rating: PG
Summary: While standing at the altar, Greg reflects on his relationship with Josie. My Trick or Treat fic for proopstradamus

 

The altar candles had a cloying scent that made Greg wrinkle his nose in distaste. He looked sideways at Josie and his breath caught in his chest. Greg had never been sentimental, but now he had to admit that the old cliché was true – women did look even more beautiful on their wedding day. At least Josie did. He wouldn’t have thought it possible. Of course, once upon a time the entire last year would have seemed impossible as well.

 

He’d always counted Josie among his closest friends. She fit in like one of the guys. She could drink any of them under the table, and she held her own – hell, most of the time, she outdid them – in any intellectual debate or battle of wits. They all enjoyed Josie’s company. But what Greg had with her was special.

 

Their first time had been after a night at the pub near the BBC, Josie comfortably trading raunchy stories with Greg, Richard, and Clive while matching them beer for beer. Afterwards, Greg walked her to her flat, both of them deliciously tipsy as they stumbled arm in arm through the deserted streets. At the door they lingered, reluctant to part. Eventually they fell silent. Their gazes locked. Seconds later Greg leaned in to kiss her, softly at first, then more deeply. Their tongues twined together and Greg felt himself growing hard as he pulled Josie closer.

 

“We can’t,” she protested weakly. But then she was reaching to loosen his tie, her crimson-lipsticked mouth finding his again. Greg shook his head in response – whether he was agreeing with or denying her words, he wasn’t sure – his hand slipping into the opening of her blouse. Josie tugged him inside and he groped behind him for the knob, pulling the door closed without breaking their kiss.

 

Afterwards Greg stretched out on his side in the pale blue sheets, head propped on one arm. His eyes traveled appreciatively across Josie’s body. “This can’t happen again,” she said, making him raise his eyes to meet her serious ones.

 

Greg nodded. “I know.” Then he lowered his head to her breasts, sliding his tongue around them until Josie giggled against her will.

 

“…after tonight…” she sighed resignedly as Greg moved down her stomach. Her breath caught sharply as he teased her with his fingers. She closed her eyes, a contented smile curving her lips.

 

They’d kept their resolve. For a few days. Then one afternoon when he knew she’d be home, he found himself on her doorstep, sheepishly holding the flower he’d filched from someone’s garden along the way. He didn’t know what kind it was. Josie looked from him to the blossom and back again, surprise and consternation finally giving way to eagerness. Without a word, she held the door open wide enough for him to step inside.

 

And so it continued. The electric tingling Greg felt anytime Josie’s eyes met his was so powerful he was amazed that no one around them seemed to notice. All Josie had to do was give him one of her impish smiles and he’d grow hard. More startling was the overwhelming tenderness that washed over him as they lay in each other’s arms, spent and satisfied after their lovemaking.

 

“This needs to stop,” Josie said every time. And yet she never turned him away when he appeared at her door.

 

Early one morning before the sky was light, they lay silently looking into each other’s eyes. Greg’s hand ran lightly down the smooth curve of Josie’s back, over and over again before he finally spoke.

 

“I love you,” he confessed.

 

Josie’s eyes filled with tears. “Greg…” She rolled over and pressed her face into his chest. He tightened his arms around her and closed his eyes, inhaling the sweet scent of her hair.

 

Greg hadn’t planned on going to Josie’s place last night. They’d parted after the late morning wedding rehearsal, Josie heading off with Sandi and Caroline to do whatever it was a bride and her bridesmaids did the day before; Greg returning to his flat alone.

 

At home he’d been restless; his own wedding preparations done until tomorrow. He moved from sofa to chair to window; picking up a book, a newspaper. Put them down and turned on the television, then turned it off. Nothing could take his mind off of the following morning. Nothing could keep him from thinking of Josie.

 

Outside her flat, he knocked insistently until she appeared, opening the door to reveal a foyer cluttered with cardboard boxes packed for the move. “You can’t be here,” she chided, but her eyes betrayed her.

 

“Bad luck the night before the wedding?” Josie gave him one of her raised-eyebrow looks. “Josie, I need to be with you. Please.”

 

She started to shake her head; then her arms slipped around him. “You have to leave before morning,” she murmured against his mouth.

 

“I will,” Greg promised, just before he eased her back onto the bed.

 

A few hours later, true to his word, Greg gently shifted Josie to the other side of the bed. She never woke, even when he pressed one final kiss to her lips. He dressed in the dark, slipping quietly out of the flat and into the cold night.

 

“Who gives this woman to be married to this man?”

 

The words snapped Greg from his reverie. Mechanically, he turned to Josie and lifted the gauzy veil from her face. As he leaned in closer, their eyes met and held for a brief second. Though their gazes dropped almost immediately, it was long enough for Greg to see the glimmer of sadness in Josie’s eyes. Swallowing hard, he kissed her cheek before turning to face the minister. His voice was barely audible as he replied.

 

“I do.”

 

And then Greg stepped aside, averting his eyes as Josie joined hands with her groom.