Posted by Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in Going to the chapel....Chris and Lexi are gonna get married

Posted by Lieutenant Christopher Robins (Stellar Cartographer) in Going to the chapel....Chris and Lexi are gonna get married

Posted by Lieutenant Alexandra Garfield (Xenobiologist) in Going to the chapel....Chris and Lexi are gonna get married
Snip

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12:00 PM Reception Hall
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“Well I think Chris is crazy and I am the one agreeing to marry him like this,” Lexi pushed the door open with her palms expecting to see what she had explained in detail. The theme had been starry night. Everything was supposed to be hues of midnight blues against crisp whites. The tables were to have midnight blue linens with bright white china and sparkling crystals that refracted the light from the centerpieces so that one felt like they were among the stars. The ceiling was the holographic image of the Nepalese sky where Chris tried to get Lexi to focus on something other than the fact they were lost. In one corner a five-tiered wedding cake stood almost as if it were a piece of art. The icing was midnight blue. The layers were encrusted with edible sugar crystals so that when one ate it they could eat a piece of heaven The crystals cascaded down the tiers becoming more sparse so that the night sky imagery could be seen. A top was a calligraphy S symbolizing the martial name. Everything was supposed to be breathtaking and while it was not what Lexi expected, it did take her breath away.

“Oh my god,” Jaime said slowly surveying the room. Since she had no idea what to expect, the sight was hard to comprehend.

“Oh Lexi,” Meghan put a hand on what was supposed to be her future sister-in-law’s shoulder. “Maybe we could,” she tried to be positive but this was one of the few times even a miracle could not save the day.

“Ahh hmm,” the maitre d’ cleared his throat announcing his arrival behind the trio of women. At least for the moment, Ms. Garfield seemed to be taking the news much better than he anticipated. “I am so very sorry Ms. Garfield. We did not think anything of Mr. Schmidt entering the room. He told the staff he wanted to make a few last minutes changes for you. We thought you would be surprised. Unfortunately, as you can see the room is now unusable. Since he only tampered with the items you supplied there is not much we can do, however, if you choose to press legal charges we have him at least entering the room. I am truly sorry,” the maitre d’ apologized as he gave a slight bow and backed out of the room. While he felt sorry, there was little he could do except clean up and set up or the next reception that was scheduled for eight hours from now.

Stunned, Lexi put her fingers to her lips as if to stifle any reply attempting to come out as she looked at her dream. The room looked as if a full on brawl had occurred here.
There was so much to take in that Lexi started with the tables. The flower centerpieces had all the blooms ripped off and strewn about like blood spatter in a homicide. The crystal vases within the flowers were shattered at varying heights indicating they were struck with something like a baseball. Jagged hunks of glass rose from a bed of stems making it appear like a splintered bone rising from some macabre grave.

“Lexi maybe we should call Chris,” Meghan said as Alexandra took a tentative step into the room. Looking at her other sister in law, Meghan had no idea what to do as Lexi seemed to be in a daze.

“No,” Lexi said sharply cutting her off as she moved into the room more. The crinkle and crunch from the shards of glass beneath Lexi’s feet echoed off the walls and floor. To Jaime, it sounded like a re-enactment of the initial destruction with each step Lexi took. Leaning over, Lexi picked up a hand-etched crystal wine glass of the night sky. “This was the wedding favor. At the top here,” Lexi pointed to the top of the little dipper, “is Polaris. It is in the constellation of Ursa Minor. Ursa Minor is also called little bear because Pooh is just a little bear,” Lexi’s voice caught in her throat. She set the glass down gingerly on the table knowing it might be the only one left.

“Honey it is going to be okay I promise,” Jaime came up behind Lexi and hugged her shoulders. The state of the room left many questions but the one that burned the brightest was why Lexi was marrying Toby when everything about this room screamed Chris. There would be time to find out more. Right now her heart went out to Lexi. The cake in the corner had obviously been sampled with someone’s fist having each tier smashed and the center cored out. The final insult was the holographic display of the night sky flickered on and off with an obscene message about Lexi’s virtue scrolled in bright red.

Turning her face around Jaime mouthed for Meghan to get Chris. No one but him was going to have a chance of fixing this and there was no chance at fixing anything. The maitre d’ was correct. Nothing could be salvaged for the reception Lexi and Chris had planned to have here even ten hours from now.

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Outside the reception doors
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As Chris and his brother’s turned the corner to enter the room, they would see Jaime and Meghan pacing outside the door. Meghan was wiping her eyes with a tissue indicating she had either been crying or was just trying to stave off tears. Jaime took a deep breath as she saw Chris approach.

Lexi

“Chris!” Ian could be heard as he came up to the trio as he peeked into the room as he took a deep breath. Part of him felt responsible as he looked at the mess. So much of the day had been ruined but Ian couldn’t help but feel like everything was also being righted. “Before you go in there, I have an idea…” he said as he motioned for him to follow him over as Paul and Nathan made there way in.

Nathan put his arm around his wife Meghan as they all looked around at the carnage. “Who does this? Hurt or no… this is some psycho shi…” Nathan stopped as he looked over at Lexi and stopped cold. He could tell how much she put of herself into this. Lexi had always been part of the family in many ways, so many adventures in the outback with her, or treks through Israel. Between her and Ian’s family the three seemed to all kind of meld, it wasn’t uncommon to find Ian, Lexi and Chris all at someone’s home during their off time.

“I need a tissue,” Meghan said to Nathan feeling more tears overwhelming her eyes. “And this is not because I am pregnant and horrrrr moannnnn allll,” Meghan began to cry enough for everyone in this room. Someone’s wedding day was always special but the details that went into this showed Lexi had thought of Chris for it all. The colors were more on the masculine side and every detail in the room shouted about how Lexi dreamed of being a Robins. While the familial name was lost on some, it wasn’t on Lexi.
Lexi sat stunned in a chair just staring at the single glass still intact. She would be crying like Meghan however sometimes shock was far more powerful than sadness.

Paul came over as he hugged Lexi tightly before he began to inspect more of the room as he seemed to be taking it all in. As a Commander and XO on his father’s ship he had an eye for investigation as he seemed to be piecing together a crime scene. “Maybe we should all take a crack at hitting him…”

“Three times a charm,” Lexi’s voice seemed to crack like a thunderbolt in the near silent room. “Chris has already done it twice and Ian once.” Her tone was not angry or vengeful. It was pure defeatism. “Thank you though,” Lexi reached up patting Paul’s hand.

Meanwhile…

“I don’t know if she is going to buy that… this place… she made it for us even if she didn’t know it at the time, you saw in there. It was destroyed. Just changing venue isn’t going to help that. I need to pull a miracle here bud.” Chris sad as he had a defeated look to himself as he talked with Ian. He had been working so hard to make today fit and every turn he was having a giant pitfall on him.

“Trust me… I will get my dad and this will be great. Lets go in there and tell her, it’s your only option and I have never let you down.” Ian said as he seemed to be almost desperate to make this work. He needed to fix this for them, he couldn’t chance one of the chickening out again and he become left in the middle again.

“Fine fine… we can pitch it to her, well you can I will nod and go mm hmmm a few times.” Chris said as he held his arm out for Ian to begin back to the reception hall.

Back at the Hall…

“Good news everyone! I have a plan!” Ian said as he entered, followed closely behind by Chris.

Christopher Robins

“No plan,” Lexi said standing up and turning to face Ian. “We are not doing this. I am exhausted. Do you know how long I worked on this” Lexi finally got past the shock of what had occurred.

“A few months?” Ian asked, he knew it was no more than six months ago she had gotten engaged. He knew how much this place had been centered around Chris and her even if she hadn’t admitted it but he always assumed this was something she put together recently.

“Years Ian, years,” Lexi could feel her chest burning as she felt the crushing sadness of what Toby did. “And yes, I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life. I want this dream,” she gestured around her, “so badly I was willing to settle on anyone to achieve it. Only without you,” she gestured to Chris with an open palm as if she wanted him to take her hand. “Without you this was never anything I wanted.” Pulling the veil off from the back of her hair do, Lexi threw it on the ground. “Paul, Nathan, Jaime and Meghan I am so so sorry for dragging you all down here.” Lexi’s voice was shaking. It was easy to see that this apology was heartfelt but killing her inside. “I love your brother. I always have and always will. I just can’t do it today. Not with something like this marring the day. He deserves more. He deserves to come in first. He deserves to be picked first and not have some sloppy second. I am sorry,” Lexi said heading towards the exit.

Lexi

“Honey, our life has always been messy… listen to Ian. He… might just have an ace up his sleeve.” Chris said as he took her hand as he came over to her.

“Yes please doll, I will make this right. I should have stopped Toby from coming in here… after us hitting him twice I figured he would slink away but he didn’t…” Ian said as he looked around the room. So many faces he had become friends with over the years, he had to make this right.

“My family ranch has a restaurant with a reception area and everything. I have the ability to get what I can here, and I even have the man for the job… at least Kelly is getting him. Just give me four hours, we can even try to get you married under the stars doll.” Ian said as he came over to Lexi and took the glass that she had as he looked over it. “I will make this perfect, there was even a delivery for Chris I accepted… some flowers. I think those and this glass are all we need to get Jacen to finish your dream.

“Jacen?” Chris said as he looked over at Ian, there was no Jacen in this plan before. “The Chief of the Atlantis? Is the Atlantis here I thought you guys shuttled over.”

“Well he was here to visit family as well, lot of shore leave for the crew… he should be off the phone with Kelly soon but trust me, he is a miracle worker.”

Meanwhile…

“Ma’am with all due respect, hell no. I was here to just enjoy some time away, I couldn’t have my wife and kid here but I figured see my family. I can’t keep pulling these out of my ass like some perverted magician.” Jacen said emphatically as he shook his head at the holo. His beach adventure with his family had been something he had been looking forward to for some time.

“Four hours? All you want from me is four hours of work? In New Orleans? I… fine… but you owe me the good stuff. None of that cheap swill you give Mardusk and the other, I want that West Virginia stuff that O’Neill girl gave Ian when he left a few years back… you know the good stuff.”

“Fine fine… I am coming, tell Ian I swear if this is a prank to get me at his family’s estate I will turn his replicator to make only gruel.”

Saphire Room…

“Okay it’s all started, you just have to agree.” Ian said as he came back into the room, he had left to talk to Kelly as he looked at the group to gauge their responses.

“Go for it Lex, we all will help.” Nathan said as Paul and the rest all nodded in agreement as they all seemed to be eyeing Chris and Lexi to see what they decided.

“This is ultimately your dream wedding, my dream wedding is just getting to say I do… as long as I get that I am happy, though… sentiment that you put into this is beyond lovely and I won’t lie and say it hasn’t touched me dearly. I just want you ultimately in the end happy, do you wanna run the gambit?” Chris asked Lexi as he put his arms around her as he made her face him.

Christopher Robins