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nickngregTitle: One year, Two Mismatched Men and Three Million Dollars 3/? (Catch up on previous chapters here)
Rating: PG-13 (language is now a factor)
Summary: Alcohol is known to do some pretty dangerous things to men, but when Research Scientist, Greg Sanders and Professional Trainer, Nick Stokes meet one drunken night- neither of them knew that it’d change their lives forever. In this instalment Nick and Greg meet their Minister and find out just what the marriage has at stake.
Notes: Thanks again to everyone that read and reviewed the last chapter... You guys rule of course. When I was writing this chapter a circus came to my town... It was called Stokes Circus... And they had a rodeo show xD Hilarious...
As that left his mouth he could feel all the eyes focusing upon him, probably all wondering why someone would ever get their marriage annulled. All those couples were too loved-up to consider that the marriage would collapse within three months and end up in a messy divorce; Greg was just stopping that from happening. Even the receptionist looked a little shocked, probably wondering how a good thing had gone so sour so quickly.
“I’m sorry,” She said in a less than apologetic tone. “When was this wedding Mr…?”
“Sanders, I think.” Was he still a Sanders or was he perhaps something else now? “It was late last night or early this morning- I think.”
The receptionist raised a questioning brow at him, whilst beginning to look over the appointment roster for the night before, her spindly fingers rolling over the names looking for the slot when the scrawny man stood in front of her, had gotten married. She smiled slightly when her trail led her to the
Greg noticed that her skin began to crack as her expression moved from the rather impassive one she had be permanently been wearing.
“Stokes and Sanders, is that correct?”
“Yeah, that’s us I guess.”
“Is there anything you’re actually sure of?” The woman snapped, but within a split second the anger had dissipated once again. “We do offer marriage counselling, perhaps you and your wife…” She checked the roster again for their names, “Nikki, would benefit from one of those sessions rather than getting an annulment.”
Greg had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing in her face. Firstly she assumed that he’d gotten married to a woman, followed by giving Nick a girl’s name. This whole situation was just getting better and better for Greg- who made a mental note to call Nick, Nicky one day.
“I don’t really think that would work. Can we get an annulment or not?”
“Yes,” She sighed, obviously defeated. “It has to be with the Minister that oversaw the union, so you’re going to have to wait until he finishes for lunch- which should be in about ten minutes. But we’ll need both of you here, will that be an issue?”
“No problem at all.” He said, grinning wildly. “Now, just to go get the other one!” He cried happily, bounding out of the Chapel with several confused people watching him.
He ran down the gravel of the lot, towards the black
“This is it! This is the chapel!” Greg yelled, banging on the rear of the car to alert Nick to the good news. “Did you hear me? This is the chapel!” He said, banging against the metal once again.
Nick’s head popped out of the window just as Greg was about to bang it again.
“Don’t hit my truck.” Nick warned, glaring at the overexcited blonde. “So this is where I got married? It figures that I’d end up in such a tacky dump. More importantly though, can we get an annulment?” His heart stopped when he saw Greg’s face fall. “Shit.” He cursed miserably, his fist connecting with the steering wheel.
“Lighten up!” Greg said, “It could be a lot worse. At least we can get a divorce, in some countries we’d be joined together forever. This way we’re only legally joined for a couple of weeks until the documents come through.”
“By which time I’m going to be suicidal.” Nick deadpanned. “Seriously though, what are we going to do?”
“Get a divorce, simple. It won’t take as long as you expect it to.” He was definitely enjoying rattling the Texans’ cage, making him very edgy. “Perhaps even ten minutes…”
“Wait, divorces aren’t that quick.” Nick said, the realisation slowly dawning on him that maybe Greg was just playing mind games. “That must mean we can get it annulled! And you were lying to me!”
“In all technicality I didn’t say we couldn’t, you assumed that we couldn’t from my expression. But yes, we can get it annulled and in twenty minutes time we should be free men.”
Nick whooped, jumping out of his car and sending a silent thanks to the powers that were finally back on his side. Greg on the other hand wasn’t rejoicing, he was trying to consider how to explain the situation to Archie without really damaging their relationship too much.
“Aren’t you meant to be happy about this?” Nick asked, noticing that Greg hadn’t expressed his happiness yet. “I mean, we can go back to our normal lives!”
“Yeah, but how am I going to explain it to everyone? Have you even thought about that?”
“I won’t need to; after this annulment no one will know what has happened. No need to tell anyone, just pretend it never happened.”
Well, that would be easier said than done. Because even if Greg pretended this had never happened, inside he’d always know that it did… And Greg, being honest and respectable, knew he’d have to tell his partner about what had happened that night.
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Nick officially hated the décor of this place; the garish colour scheme was enough to make his stomach turn and it was far tackier on the inside than it had appeared on the outside. The reds and the pinks clashed horribly, fake flowers dangled off every surface and all the furniture was heart shaped, this was the polar opposite to his dream wedding. Yet somehow a drunk Nick could look past all the small (and very gimmicky) details and wind up getting married in a place like this.
“Sorry to keep you waiting boys.” The Minister said, surveying the two men over the top of his glasses. “I wasn’t expecting to get an annulment today.”
‘Neither was I’ Nick thought to himself bitterly, fidgeting in the chair as the pink fluff irritated his skin.
“I thought you two were madly in love.” He said, and both Nick and Greg broke out into wild laughter. “It seemed that you were when you came in.”
“No offence, but we really weren’t thinking straight.” Nick said, cutting Greg off before he could even begin to explain the whole situation to the Minister. The details were better left unknown. “So is it possible for us to get an annulment?”
The Minister went inside his desk drawer and pulled out a document for them both to read, he slid it over to Nick.
“It would be possible, but you’d be making this contract void.”
“Contract,” Greg looked up at the man, “What contract?”
“The one your husband is reading. Last night you both signed a contract that said you were both in love and if the marriage lasted a year I would give you a substantial sum of money.”
“Wait, we both signed that?”
The Minister nodded,
“It has all three of us signed and legally bound; Gregory Sanders, Nicholas Stokes and Minister Adam Evenapple tied together to honour all the terms of the agreement.”
Nick remained silent throughout it all, carefully reading the contract, which did look very legally binding.
“Okay, so run me through what this contract says.” Greg said, suddenly panicking with the reality that he might actually be tied to Nick for the rest of his life- which at this rate was going to be three minutes before he had a coronary.
“It says that you two declare your true love for one another, that you will love and cherish one another and all the other typical marriage agreements. But it also says that if the marriage remains strong after a year, I will pay you two the sum of my estate.”
Greg sat there, completely stunned into silence, his brain processing the new information and it beginning to run at super speed.
“But why?” Nick asked, finally finding his voice.
“Why? It’s very simple. I’ve been running this chapel for 25 years, and it was one of the first places in
“That we can’t last a year because we’re not in love.” Greg mumbled and the Minister nodded.
“And if your marriage lasts a year without one of you leaving the other, she will receive the Chapel and you two will receive my estate. So, you want an annulment, please be my guests.” He said, pulling a second document out of his drawer- already written up, just waiting for their signatures to make it official. Neither of the pair moved to collect a pen and sign the document, still in shock. “Consider this though, I will be coming to check that all is fine in paradise and I will have sources that can keep an eye on you two at all times. I will know if you are living apart, not taking the commitment seriously, breaking your vows and that makes this contract void.”
Nick looked over at Greg, who was looking straight back at him, both deciding whether it was indeed worth it. Should they both sign now? It meant no money, but also meant they could carry on their lives. Or not sign? It meant they’d have to try a new life, but meant a large sum of money after just loosing one year to one another.
“But before this, I want to know why you are considering an annulment when you are so in love.”
“We both agreed that this wasn’t the wedding we wanted. We wanted a traditional wedding, in a place less pink with our family and friends present.” Nick said quickly, Greg nodding by his side. “We wanted an annulment so we could do it properly the second time around.”
The Minister looked visibly impressed and if Nick didn’t know any better he’d think that he actually believed the story. The Minister ran his fingers through his greasy blonde hair, considering the story, before taking both the contract and the annulment papers back and tucking them away in his desk.
“I think that is fair enough, but you cannot do that.” He said slowly, “After the year you can go for a redo, but until then… You can’t. But I think for a madly in love couple, that shouldn’t really be that disheartening.”
“Of course not!” Greg said forcefully, “We can wait, can’t we Nicky?”
Nick had to stop himself from swinging for Greg for using such an affectionate and endearing term; remembering that they were supposed to be in love- and didn’t couples have nicknames for one another? Instead, he grinned at Greg.
“Yeah, we can Greggo.”
The Minister looked between the pair, raising his brow, but decided not to question them any further.
“Very well then, I shall see you two soon.”
The pair got up and smiled at the Minister before disappearing out of his office and back to Nick’s
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“Did we seriously just do that?” Greg groaned, resting his forehead against the dashboard inside the
“It’s a bad dream.” Nick mumbled to himself, repeating it over and over like a mantra. “It’s a bad dream.”
“No, this is reality.” Greg said, pinching Nick’s arm. “See?”
“I can’t be married and have to stay married.” He said, shaking his head. “It’s just a bad dream.”
“We don’t have to stay married; we could just get it over and done with now. I mean it’s only a little bit of money.” Greg suggested, really wanting to take that option himself. “If we just go back and tell him it’s all a mistake… We could get our lives back.”
“We can’t.” Nick sighed. “We can’t tell him it’s a mistake; we have to pull this off.”
“It’s only money! I’m sure we both can survive without it…”
“You don’t understand. It’s not just money. It’s a lot of money.”
“How much?”
“Three million dollars, one and a half million each…” Nick said, looking for his partner’s reaction.
“You’re serious?” Greg asked sceptically, and Nick nodded. “Whoa, that’s… Wow…. A lot of money…”
“For one year of being stuck with you, I think I could definitely see it through.” Nick said, the colour starting to return to his cheeks. “What about you?”
“I could deal with it.” He was beginning to feel very much like this was a dream, whether it was bad or good, he wasn’t quite sure yet. “Can we go somewhere and get some coffee while sorting out the logistics of it?”
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Date: 2007-07-02 01:39 pm (UTC)Great chapter, me thinks Greggo and Nicky will get along very well ;)
*waits for next part*
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Date: 2007-07-02 01:44 pm (UTC)Me thinkg that they should get along well, but who knows eh?
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Date: 2007-07-02 03:36 pm (UTC)Worry about the GF and the BF talk, I hope they won't lie to them.
Can't wait for the next.
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Date: 2007-07-02 03:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-02 07:00 pm (UTC)Nick whooped, jumping out of his car and sending a silent thanks to the powers that were finally back on his side.
Lol. Your Nick and Greg are truly something else. Humourous but not quite crack because it has a wonderfully surprising plot.
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Date: 2007-07-02 08:05 pm (UTC)Thanks for reviewing!
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Date: 2007-07-02 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-02 08:06 pm (UTC)Wow
Re: Wow
Date: 2007-07-02 09:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 09:42 pm (UTC)^^ I do LOVE the name you chose for the Minister.
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Date: 2007-07-04 06:30 pm (UTC)Glad you found the Minister's name entertaining... I was wondering if anyone picked it up! Also very glad you find the characters believable... xD