“Whew! Sounds good to me.” Sam rose from her chair. “Let’s go.”

Rounding the door into the bathroom, Sam closed it and looked up expectantly to C.C. “Well, where’s that flask?”

“What flask?” C.C. lifted the back lid off the commode and stuck her hand down in the water. Within seconds she emerged with her prize and turned holding a bottle of liquor in her hand. “Who needs a flask when I got the whole bottle?” The brunette grinned from ear to ear.

“Now that’s what I like,” Sam smiled as she watched C.C. unscrew the top off. “One well-prepared roomie.”

“That’s ex-roomie, Sam,” the brunette corrected her. “It’s your party. I’ll let you go first.” C.C. offered the opened bottle.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Sam took the bottle and raised it to her lips. After taking a long pull from it, she handed it back to C.C. “Your turn, ex-roomie,” Sam made sure to exaggerate the word.

The two young women exchanged the bottle amidst small talk and laughter, soon losing track of how long they were there, when the sound of a soft knock came to the door.

Annoyed by the interruption, C.C. pushed open the door. “What? Can’t you see we’re busy.” Her eyes fell on her sister Randi. “Oh, come on in and bring your friends with you.” She motioned with the bottle in her hand to Crystal and her mother. “Come on in, there’s plenty of room.” C.C. moved over to stand on the other side of the commode. “Sam, move on down there. Let’s give the late arrivals some room.”

“God, what is this, a party?” Sam laughed hysterically as she reached again for the bottle.

Randi moved closer to her sister and smacked her in the head with an open hand, then grabbed the bottle from her.

“Ow!” C.C. rubbed her head as she ducked away from another attempt. “What was that for?”

“So, you’re the one who took off with the whole bottle.” Randi looked at the liquor bottle to see that it was two drops fuller than empty, then turned to the others. “Who’s got that flask?”

The sound of a loud burp came from the far corner of the tiny room, drawing everyone’s attention to it. There stood Sandy with the opened flask still in her hand. “That’s some good stuff,” the woman said as she held the container up to see if there was any more left to drink. Seeing none, she turned it upside down. “Oops, all gone,” she said with a silly smile on her face.

Sam watched as the door opened and one by one the women filed out. “Hey, where’s everybody going?” She edged up behind C.C. as she moved closer to the door. “I thought we had a party going on.”

Feeling slightly dizzy, Sam braced her arms against the door frame. Within seconds she felt the nausea strike her as if someone had just jumped on her stomach. The blonde looked up to see two figures before her, her eyes crossing and unable to focus, she didn’t know who they were.

Terri studied Sam for only a moment. “You okay, kid? You don’t look so hot.”

Sam lowered one hand to her abdomen as another wave of nausea came over her. “Oh God…” she moaned, turning paler by the minute.

Sarah shook her head and sighed. “There she goes, praying again and Brooke’s not even here.” She placed one hand on her hip. “And all I wanted to do was to use the facilities.”

The physician looked at the assortment of women draped over anything that would hold their weight in sound sleep and smiled. “God, I feel just like I’m at work, even on my days off,” Terri muttered under her breath, then moved through the suite to the bedroom.

Opening the door, she looked in to see Sam finally asleep with one arm wrapped around C.C., while her other hand held on tightly to the empty ice bucket. Pleased that Sam had finally gotten a few hours of sleep, Terri turned to leave when she felt the touch of a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Looking back, she saw the top of her mother’s hair. “Hi, Mom.”

“Morning, Terri,” Mable greeted her daughter. “How’s your patient doing? Will she live to get married?”

“Take a look for yourself,” Terri moved away from the door. “She stopped throwing up around three in the morning. I figured I’d let her sleep as much as she can before her big day starts.”

“You know that wasn’t nice what all you girls did to Sam.” Mable gave Terri a stern look. “If I would have known sooner, I would have put a stop to it.”

“Mom, we’ve all been there on our last night of freedom. It’s just that you were never invited.” Terri tried to hide her need to grin. “Come on, I’m sure that even you did something a little over indulgent before you got married.” The physician tried to turn the tables on her mother.

“Well…” Mable’s eyes darted around the room for a moment, then settled back onto her daughter. “Now, Terri… she raised her finger to scold, then stopped abruptly. “Yeah, you’re right. Jenny Thompson and I stayed up all night and…” Mable turned her head, putting her hand up to halt the conversation. “This isn’t about me, young lady. Today is about Sam and your sister, Brooke.”

Terri smiled, pleased at having the heat suddenly evaporate from the smoldering fire of her mother’s anger. “You’re right, Mom. Today is about someone other than us. Here,” Terri motioned for her to come past her. “See for yourself. Sam is resting just fine.”

The matriarch pushed past her daughter, then craned her neck around the half-opened door to get a better look at the sleeping women. Smiling as she backed away, Mable turned to her physician-daughter. “Well, I guess if you can’t have the sister you love lying next to you, her closest sibling would be the best choice.”

Terri nodded. “Speaking of which, I’d better give Rick a call and see how our other bachelorette of the night is doing.”

“Yes, and while you’re at it, see how the rest of our brave warriors are doing, would you? I’m going to look in on the rest of this motley, drunken crew on the way out. Thanks for staying with them, Terri. I know that they’re in good hands,” Mable patted her daughter’s arm. “Just like Randi knows that her kids are with me.” Mable thought for a moment. “Hmph…that’s why you didn’t let me in on the…” the matriarch’s eyes got bigger. “Oh, you girls had this all figured out, didn’t you?”

“Uhh-huh…” Terri smiled. “Thanks Mom,” she winked, then rubbed one hand on her stomach. “I’ll remember that for future reference.”

“Anytime, Terri. I’m always happy to watch my grandchildren.”

Hearing a loud buzzing sound interspersed with gasps and snores that were coming from the area, she thought better of using the phone in the living room. “I think I’ll make that call to Rick from the bedroom. See ya later, Mom.” Terri saw the subtle nod of her mother’s head, then entered the bedroom where the sound of only two snoring people was more conducive to a phone conversation.

Picking up the telephone in the bedroom, Terri quickly placed her call to her husband. “Hey, Honey, how’s my sister doing?”

“Hi there, Beautiful,” he chuckled. “She’s doing fine. She’s nervous as all hell, but she’s okay otherwise. I can’t believe that she hasn’t thrown up yet.”

“She was like that even as a kid,” Terri informed her husband. “She’ll hold it in until she makes herself sicker.” Terri shifted the phone from one hand to another. “I hope that you’re letting her get some sleep. I figured that the buzz they both got should give them at least one good night of sleep,” Terri chuckled.

“Gee, thanks for the warning. So, how’s Sam doing?” Rick asked, using every means to spend some time with his wife.

“She’s good, now.” Terri turned to look at her patient. “Resting comfortably in C.C.’s bed. I’m glad that we made her get this suite now. I’ve got four more patients than I was planning on having, thanks to their wonton alcohol consumption out in the living room.”

“How was her party? Did she like that nightie you bought her?”

Terri thought for a moment, choosing her words carefully. “It was ah…” the Pediatrician giggled, “embarrassing for her, to say the least. I don’t think Sam’s going to remember much of it, though.” Terri looked over to the slumbering blonde. “I’m sure that Brooke will be the one to really appreciate my good taste in clothing.”

“Oh, sounds like she’s going to be a bit dehydrated when she gets up. Don’t let her be hungover, Babe.”

“I know, I know,” Terri rolled her eyes at her husband’s reminder. “Two liters of intravenous fluids and plenty of coffee and toast. Don’t worry, she’ll be fine by the time she has to walk down the aisle.”

“Right,” Rick agreed. “How’s everybody else, doing?”

Terri thought about her Mother’s term for the women sleeping off the effects of the liquor in the next room. “Well, I think we better have room service send us some Tylenol to each of the rooms. I’m sure that if my motley, drunken crew here is anything close to yours, there’s going to be plenty of headaches going around this morning.”

“GAWD,” the word was shouted, then followed by an immediate yelp of pained agony. “I’m in hell!”

Terri pulled the receiver away from her ear, then carefully listened until Brooke’s yelling stopped on the other end of the connection. “Rick, what are you guys doing to my sister? It sounds like you’re torturing her.”

“Oops, that’s my cue, Babe. I’ve gotta go, and no, we haven’t done anything to her.” He smirked, “She’s just got up with what I’d call a major headache.”

“Oh God, Brooke. That’s disgusting,” Brian called out loud enough for Terri to hear.

“What’s happening, Rick?”

“Brooke just barfed all over Brian’s shoes,” Rick groaned. “I hope he brought more than one pair with him ’cause those are wastebasket food now.”

Terri couldn’t help but laugh, having lost a few pairs of her own shoes in just the same manner. “Well, you’d better get going. Speaking of which, I’d better look back in on my women’s ward over here.”

“RICK!” Brian’s shrill cry broke the air. “Carry your sorry ass in here and fix this shit. You’re the doctor here.”

“Yeah,” Terri smirked, “I can hear that you guys showed her a really good time. Later, Rick.”

“Bye, Babe.”

Terri hung up the phone and looked over to the quietly sleeping blonde. “Boy, am I thankful that you did that last night and not this morning. I’m not too sure that I wouldn’t be joining you myself, now.” Terri reached into her pocket and pulled out her package of saltine crackers as she moved toward the door. She opened the plastic bag and promptly popped one of the morsels into her mouth. “Well, that’ll help my nausea.” She looked back to Sam one last time before exiting the room. “And as soon as you wake up, I’ll see what I can do to help yours.”

“Come on, Brooke, you’re fine. It’s just nerves.” Brian stood outside the bathroom door in his stocking feet. “We all do before we get married. Why in the hell do you think the custom of getting drunk the night before got started? It’s so everybody thinks that’s why you’re puking your guts out.”

“Go away, Brian.” Brooke’s lackluster voice came through the door.

“Brooke, I’m not going to be the one to tell you what to do, but if you don’t come out soon, you’re going to be late for your own wedding.” Brian began to pace, knowing that he too, still had to get dressed.

“Go away, I said.”

Hearing that, Brian threw his arms up in the air and started muttering under his breath. “Yeah, get me in trouble with your mother and my wife. Mable and Randi will have my head if they find out. It’s not bad enough you trashed my favorite pair of shoes.” He turned abruptly in midstep and looked up to see C.C. poking her head into the half-opened door to the room.

“Hey, Brian.” C.C. did a quick scan of the room with her eyes. “What’s the hold up? I thought that Brooke was supposed to meet with the minister at two?”

“C.C., thank God!” The exasperated man jumped for joy at the sight of seeing Brooke’s favorite sibling. “Hold up? Oh, nothing except she’s been throwing up for the last 2 hours. Maybe you can get her to come out.”

The brunette walked over to the bathroom door and gently tapped it. “Hey, Brooke.”

“No, not again.” Brooke moaned.

C.C. could hear the sound of dry heaves as she put her hand on the doorknob and started to turn it slowly. “You done doing that disgusting stuff? …’Cause if you’re not, I’m just gonna go tell Sam that you want to call it all off.”

“NO!” Brooke replied, without a second of hesitation.

The young woman at the door looked back into the room as Peter entered. She smiled at her sister’s reply. “So,” C.C. glanced over to Peter. “You coming out or what?”