Genre: Romance, fan fiction
Title: Yesterday to Tomorrow: Chapter Forty-seven, Canned floor
Author: dreamsinfiction
Fandom: Chris Cornell of Audioslave
Rating: R/NC-17
Warning: violence, language, sexual nudity


Links to Previous Chapters:
Chapter One, Ice Cream
Chapter Two, Waves
Chapter Three, A Breath Away
Chapter Four, Completely platonically
Chapter Five, Don't leave bed
Chapter Six, Not a rebound
Chapter Seven, Kaleidoscope of feelings
Chapter Eight, Shadows of memories
Chapter Nine, Ripe circumstances
Chapter Ten, Domus
Chapter Eleven, Where it all began
Chapter Twelve, A blessing
Chapter Thirteen, Just a quick deposit
Chapter Fourteen, Precious
Chapter Fifteen, A Chest
Chapter Sixteen, Block the bullet
Chapter Seventeen, A test
Chapter Eighteen, Not a Girl's Best Friend
Chapter Nineteen, Nervous Twitch
Chapter Twenty, More every breath
Chapter Twenty-one, Fire in the sky
Chapter Twenty-two, Prickling revelations
Chapter Twenty-three, Baby steps
Chapter Twenty-four, Accidents happen
Chapter Twenty-five, Questions

Chapter Twenty-six, Je t'aime
Chapter Twenty-seven, Sommeil
Chapter Twenty-eight, Insta-family
Chapter Twenty-nine, Moving along
Chapter Thirty, Forever and a day
Chapter Thirty-one, Smiling down on you
Chapter Thirty-two, Always be here
Chapter Thirty-three, Music to the soul
Chapter Thirty-four, Surprise
Chapter Thirty-five, Kisses of passion
Chapter Thirty-six, Among the stars
Chapter Thirty-seven, A setback
Chapter Thirty-eight, Hold onto the moment
Chapter Thirty-nine, Paradise sunset
Chapter Forty, Sit with me
Chapter Forty-one, Lost like a prayer
Chapter Forty-two, 843
Chapter Forty-three, Out with the girls
Chapter Forty-four, Overwhelming
Chapter Forty-five, Mama Lyssa
Chapter Forty-six, Big sister



With Selene and Andrew along this time, just to make sure that Toni and Nick were kept track of, Alyssa ventured back to the bridal boutique. Forgoing the bridal gowns for the moment she headed over to the bridesmaids dresses. Her hands trailed over the fabrics for awhile before settling to pull out some dresses. She frowned and returned every one to the rack.

"What's wrong?" Selene asked while Andrew made faces at Nick.

"I don't have any bridesmaids confirmed," she frowned. "I'm weeks behind schedule. I'm never going to pull this wedding off in time."

"Who have you asked?"

"Well Aleece said yes, but she's really needed there with Xavier being the ringbearer. And... I asked a girl I knew back in Catholic School, but she hasn't returned my calls. I had thought we were rather close in school...." she looked at the floor. "How about you?"

"Of course," Selene replied in a tone that hinted she should have already known the answer to that. "So you've got Aleece and me. You need more because....?"

Her brown eyes rose, "I guess I don't. Andrew's going to be my person of honour. Chris has Brad, Tom, Tim, and his brother.... it's rather unbalanced."

"But you've also got the girls," she pointed out.

"True...." her frown didn't go away. "I don't have any girlfriends, Selene. My best friend is the person I'm marrying. I've not made time to make other friends."

"Oh fuck that," Selene rolled her eyes. "You've got plenty. The ones that matter. Now let's find you a dress so I can get to planning the bachelorette party!"



Pulling on the ribbon stays of the dress, Alyssa barely managed to tighten it enough for it to stay up. But that was certainly enough to decide on it.

It was the one. The perfect dress.

Stepping out of the dressing room, the long skirt swishing softly with her steps, her eyes looked around for Selene and Andrew.

Toni saw her first, "Lyss-Lyss boooootiful!"

She smiled crookedly, pulling the dress up some more since it was slipping, "You think so?"

"Absolutely," Andrew declared.

Selene appeared and stepped behind her. Pulling the ribbon tighter, she wiggled her nose. Her fingers slipped around the top edge of the sleeveless top, checking for any give.

"I don't even think it will need much alteration," she declared. "Seems to fit you perfectly already."

Alyssa grinned, "This is the one."



Setting a stack of small envelopes on the dining table, Chris kissed the top of Alyssa's head. She smiled up at him, before turning her attention back to her wedding planning notebook. Marking a few more things off her checklist, she smiled contently to herself.

"How did the day go?" he asked.

"Great."

"Find something?"

"Found lots of things," she replied vaguely, glancing and winking at him. "Next week we have an appointment with the florist on Tuesday. I'd like you to be there."

"Of course."

"Then I'm meeting with the event planner at the LA Center on Wednesday to discuss how to set up the room," Alyssa claimed.

"Any chance I can get you away for a weekend to do something non-wedding?" he asked, opening the fridge and pulling out a Coke.

"I'm all yours this weekend," she grinned at him. "Provided you can slip away."

"Absolutely," he set the nearly empty can down, as he slid into a chair next to her. "Want some help?"

"I can sort through the replies to our invitations just fine, Chris," she teased. "But it would be great if you would figure out what we're having for dinner."

"What are my choices?" he asked, leaning over to grab her notebook.

"Not for the wedding, silly. For tonight," Alyssa rolled her eyes, moving the notebook out of his reach. "We meet with the caterer next Thursday to talk food and give an approximate on how many people."

"Ahhhh," Chris nodded. "I'll go ask the kids."

"Oh but they'll say cookies. Well Toni will. Nick will probably just say baby words. So figure it out on your own," she stated.

"Fine, fine," he stood. "Chinese?"

"Sure, fine. Your decision," Alyssa declared, starting to open the small envelopes. "Oh and next Friday we'll meet with the baker. When do you want to talk music?"

He stared at her over the edge of the Coke can raised to his mouth.

Her eyes went to his, "For the wedding. We can't just have any kind of music. Not with our guests. Not with who you are."

"I don't know," he replied, crushing the can and tossing it in the recycling bin before pulling another from the fridge. "You think we could get Weird Al to play?"

It was Alyssa's turn to stare.

"Sure. He'll be my wedding gift to you," she answered with a straight face.

"Sweet," he grinned, opening the new can. "Who's marrying us?"

"Cardinal Roger Mahony, of course," she replied.

His new can of Coke hit the floor, "You're shitting me."

"Chris, you're getting Coke all over the floor."

"Nevermind that. The Cardinal is marrying us?"

"Yes," she replied cautiously.

"But how? We can't have a Catholic wedding. I've been married before."

"And neither of us are devout..... or really even believing Catholics," Alyssa pointed out. "Which is why we're not getting married in a church. Roger is doing it as a friend of mine, Chris, not as the Cardinal."

"You know Cardinal Mahony as Roger?" the coke was slowly spreading across the floor.

"Chris, the Coke," she pointed at his feet. "If you're uncomfortable with Roger, I can ask one of the monks at the Buddhist centre. Or hells, we can ask Brad. He's licensed."

"He is?"

"I'm not continuing this conversation until you clean up your mess," Alyssa gestured to the floor.

"Right, right," Chris looked around for a towel. "Really the cardinal, Alyssa?"

Rolling her eyes, she went back to focusing on opening the reply envelopes, sorting them into small piles on the table, "You'll need to get some cleaner too. Or the floor will be sticky."



Reaching over to Chris's knee, Alyssa pushed gently on it, to stop the nervous bounce. He smiled weakly at her, before looking around the hall once again. He hadn't ever really been in the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in LA... or anywhere else for that matter. Catholic school, yeah. Even Catholic churches. But not an archdiocesan center. It was a little overwhelming.

And he didn't want to take any 'Marriage Preparation' classes. He didn't think Alyssa did either. Besides they weren't having a Catholic wedding. They just weren't. So why did he have to come down to the Center?

"You sure about this?" Alyssa asked softly.

"About what?" he replied.

"Telling Roger Brad's going to marry us instead," she declared.

Chris's eyes went wide, "When did we decide that?"

"When you dropped a can of Coke on the kitchen floor."