At Last!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the Terra Nova universe they are the property of their creator and as such I make no money from this or any other story that write on this site. The only characters that belong to me are my O.C's that I have created. Ryan Marshall is one of mine so hands off!

Summary: It is the day of Taylor's and Washington's wedding. It has been a long time coming as well, a day that neither the happy couple nor the community at large thought they would ever get to but all in the colony are determined to see the day go without a hitch or at least that is the general idea but as with all weddings especially on Terra Nova something is bound to go wrong that is just the nature of the beast known as getting married. But then again maybe it will not, you will have to read to find out and no skipping to the end just to find out.

A/N: This story can be seen as a standalone or a small side story to the story Judas; if you not yet read Judas you might want to read that first before you read this story.

Alicia sat staring into the mirror on her dressing table as she thought about the day and what was about to happen, she was marrying Nathaniel Taylor, a man she had loved for almost her entire adult life and with whom she already had a child a young man who until recently she had not got to know too well as she had given him up for adoption when he was but a few hours old and it was not until a few months before that they had started to bond as mother and son something that she had never thought she would ever have done when she had given him up so long ago.

She smiled as she thought how in a few months their family was going to be increased from three to four and she still had not told Nathaniel her news she wanted to wait until after they had said their vows and tied the knot, the small mischievous part of her wanted to savour the look on his face when she did, as he had only just got the hang of being a father to their first child, Ryan. Despite the fact he already had a son from his first marriage but then his son from that marriage was estranged to say the least and no one missed him from the colony least of all his father.

Her thoughts returned to the events of the last year or so that had changed not just her life and Nathaniel's and of course young Ryan's but that of the entire colony. The last few months had been hard since the destruction of the gate which had meant that they were forever or until the gate could be repaired cut off from the time they had come from and the chance of any new supplies.

It had also meant that the mercenaries that had come through the portal and taken over the colony had also been trapped here but eventually they had been beaten back and the colonists had reclaimed their home. There had been deaths abut fortunately not as many as they had originally feared there would be.

Pausing a moment in her thoughts, she listened to the sound of footsteps outside her door. She reached down to pluck a dagger that she kept taped under the bedside cabinet that was next to the dressing table where she was sitting, when the door to her bedroom opened and in walked Dr Elizabeth Shannon.

Alicia relaxed at the sight of her friend, internally she smiled to herself again, as she wondered at the turn of events that had occurred in the last few years which had meant that she was now best friends with Dr Shannon. Something which a few years ago, she would not have thought of ever happening.

"Breakfast is ready," Elizabeth told her.

"Breakfast?" she said in reply.

"In the other room, Gabrielle and myself brought it over, mind you I think Boylan was driving her mad this morning. So she got her own back on him by leaving him holding the baby and helping me bring you breakfast, we both thought it would be nice to have a girly talk with you before you and Taylor tie the knot."

Alicia grinned and grimaced at the same time, she did not like the idea of the girly talk, after all she was not that girly, admittedly she was going to be wearing a dress today but that was about as girly as she was going to be.

Smiling she stood and followed Elizabeth into the main room of her home,at the kitchen island Gabrielle Boylan was placing containers of food on table and she smiled again at the thoughts of her old friend Boylan, now a married man, to the woman standing there.

Boylan marrying had been a shock to everyone least of all to Gabrielle, the woman he had fallen in love with following her rescue of Alicia and her son from the mercenaries that had taken them, months earlier.

"Well, what do we have here?" she asked Gabrielle.

"We have an absolute feast for this morning," Gabrielle told her. "Mini hard boiled eggs, bacon, gruel bread fried to crispness with honey topping it, all of which can be washed down with fresh hot coffee. Well as close as coffee as the botanists could get from the beans they have been growing. It does not taste entirely like the coffee we all grew up with but that might be a good thing, as it actually taste better than the coffee we grew up with."

All three ladies smiled at the thought of coffee again in the mornings, it was one of the things that many in the settlement had been missing since the destruction of the gate and it had almost caused a few riots in the community over the last few months.

They all sat, enjoying the food before them, Alicia took a mouthful of the coffee and groaned in sheer pleasure at the the taste of it, Gabrielle was right the coffee was better than the coffee they had grown up with.

"Told you so," she heard her mutter and opened her eyes to see Gabrielle smirking at her.

Elizabeth leaned forward and started to speak, "Now that we are all here together, as Gabrielle and I are your friends, we feel it is our duty to tell you of the things expected of you on your wedding night."

Alicia spluttered as Elizabeth's words sank in, coughing she managed not to splutter her coffee over the surface of the kitchen island and had only just got control of her coughing when the sound of the front door opening caught her attention and in walked her son Ryan.

XxX

For a moment there was no sound other than Alicia's coughing, the other two ladies in the room looking slightly worried but yet amused, and for a moment Ryan wondered just what he had walked into.

"Hi mom, Dr Shannon, Gabrielle, what's going on?" he eyed the three women before him suspiciously.

"Oh nothing Ryan," his mom spluttered, still trying to get control of her coughing fit. She saw both Elizabeth and Gabrielle glance at each other smiling.

"Oh really, so why are you coughing like you have swallowed something that did not agree with you and why are your two best friends smiling like Cheshire cats?" Ryan said, looking pointedly at his mother.

"Well, it is like this Ryan, we were merely about to give your mother some advice for her wedding night?" Gabrielle told him.

Ryan had just sat and poured himself a cup of coffee and was about to take a mouthful when he too ended up doing the exact same thing his mother had done just a few moments before.

"Ewwww, gross ladies. That is one conversation I do not want to hear and by my mom's reaction neither does she!"

"Oh come on Ryan, you are not a child in fact it might be a good idea to have you here, so you can give your mom advice also. After all you would want your parents to have a good night would you not? Particularly make sure that your mom will not regret marrying your father especially if he is not any good in the bedroom department?"

Gabrielle told him, her eyes twinkling as an evil smile graced her face, as she watched the youngster literally squirm in his seat.

"No I do not want to hear that," Ryan protested.

"Well if you are staying you will be hearing it!" Elizabeth told him, also like Gabrielle smiling evilly.

Ryan glanced at his mother, hoping she would back him up and saw that he would have no such luck there. Grabbing some of the hard boiled eggs off the plate, he grabbed his coffee mug and headed for the door.

"I'll be back in a while, so you ladies can continue with your 'chat', I'll go and make sure that dad and Mr Shannon are okay."

The sound of the door slamming, made all three women laugh at his hasty departure.

XxX

Ryan made his way across the settlement, munching on the eggs he had snagged at his mothers and drinking the remains of the coffee, he was not paying much attention of where he was going until he heard someone cough beside him. Glancing over he saw his friend Josh and his girlfriend Skye.

"Hi you guys?"

"Hi Ryan, thought you were suppose to be at your mom's place helping her and the other ladies finish getting ready." Skye asked.

"I was but decided to leave," he shrugged.

"Why?" Josh asked, curious that his friend was not where he was suppose to be.

"The ladies, including your mom," he said glancing at Josh, "were having a chat about the wedding night and what mom and dad were going to be getting up to, that is one conversation I did not want to hear. Especially when your mom said that my input would appreciated on what I thought that mom and dad should do to enjoy the night."

"Eww, that is gross mate. I hope that my mom never do that to me when I get married. In fact I do not even want to think about my parents doing it either." Josh told him.

XxX

The last of the flowers had been placed in Alicia's hair, she had not wanted flowers in her hair, it was not the sort of thing that was something she would normally wear but she had to admit, looking into the mirror that it looked rather nice. Behind her, she could see both Elizabeth and Gabrielle give each other a knowing smirk towards each other and she squinted her eyes at whatever it was, her two friends had in mind.

"Well are you ready?" Elizabeth asked her.

Taking a deep breathe, Alicia nodded at her reflection in the mirror and stood, ready to begin the walk that would send with her becoming a married woman to the man she loved.

XxX

The sun was getting high in the sky as people began to wander into the square to witness the marriage of Alicia Washington and the commander. Children were running excitedly around their parents and other adults, playing tag with one another, as the adults spoke to each other in small groups. More people were attending this wedding ceremony than any other that had taken place in the settlement but it was not every day that the two in charge got married.

Everyone had wanted to attend this wedding and none were willing to miss it.

The commander stood to one side with one of his oldest friends Guz, watching the people mill about. Nearly everyone who could attend today was here, no one in the colony was willing to miss this wedding he noted, almost all the market traders who would have been out selling their wares were in attendance and near the stage someone had set up a few tables with some food on them, that some of the cooks of the colony had been making for the last day or so, everyone it seemed were determined to have something to do with and to make his and Alicia's wedding special and he was grateful to the colonists for that.

There was a small swarm of the small native birds that were not dangerous perched on the rooftops he noticed and they were twirling away as if making the music for today's event, and on the ground at the sides of the stage and in patches in the direction that he knew Alicia would be coming he could see small delicate flowers that had in the last few months been blooming around the colony, making a natural yet beautiful decoration for their marriage.

XxX

Alicia stepped out of the front door of her home, her dress rustling as she took the first of the steps towards her future, and the man she loved. She had to admit it was not often wore a dress but she felt good in this one, it was not all frills and bows like some ladies liked to wear but it had a nice slinky feel to it and some pearl embellishments stitched into it, not a lot, just a few here and there, and she lifted it a little to keep the hem line from trailing in the dirt.

As she walked it seemed as though the whole of the colony were lining the sides of the street, although she did not really notice who everyone were, her eyes were only for Nathaniel who she could see waiting for her at the end of the street by the stage.

She felt someone come to the side of her and take her arm and glanced to the side to see her son Ryan, smiling at her as he led her towards his father.

"Hi mom, " he whispered, "you could still do a runner if you want. Got a jeep stashed away and Josh said he would run interference for us so we could escape."

Alicia chuckled and lightly smacked her sons arm.

"Hush you, I am not going anywhere, I have waited too long for this day."

"Can't say I didn't try," Ryan chuckled, although he was rather glad his mom was not going to leave his dad at the alter, it would have made life a bit hard in the colony for him. He would have stood by his mom's decision even if it meant that the two of them would have been ostracised by the entire colony most likely and the commander would have been like a bear with a sore head, not an image he wanted to think about, today of all days. Besides he did kind of liked his dad even if he was a bit of an arse at times.

Beneath the bodice of her simple dress Alicia felt her heart give a little tug the closer she and Ryan got to where Nathaniel and Guz were standing, oblivious to the murmurs of the crowd surrounding the stage, she stopped for a moment.

The pressure behind her bodice seemed to increase and she was almost strangling the small bouquet of flowers she was holding, as well as her sons arm with her other hand. Nathaniel stood just an arms length in front of her but he moved closer to her, to stand right in front of her.

"Hi," she said to Nathaniel almost shyly, "Ready when you are."

If she lived to be a hundred years old, Alicia knew she would never forget the expression on his face at that moment, he appeared so proud and sure as he glanced at the trust and love he saw simmering in her eyes. She knew that she had to tell him now before the wedding about the baby.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," she returned, just as quietly.

With the back of his finger he grazed her cheek as he looked into her eyes again and nodded, Alicia releasing her sons arm and taking the hand he held up for hers.

"There is just one thing I have to tell you before we do what we do ." she whispered.

"What's that?" he asked.

"I'm pregnant!"

Alicia told him just a little nervously, not entirely sure of what his reaction would look in his eyes was part shock part desire but mostly delight she saw as he registered her words.

"You're not mad?" she asked him.

"Of course not, I love you, I love our son and I am going to love this new child you are carrying, it makes our family complete."

Alicia matched his expression as she took his hand finally, knowing that despite what the future threw at them, they had each other and nothing would ever change that.

At last she had the man and the family she wanted!