A/N: We do not own Degrassi, we only make it's characters do our evil bidding. This is co-written with BrokenAngel5683. It's set seven years in the future the week before Jimmy and Emma's wedding. It's unconventional couples for the most part. And if characters seem OOC it's because of the natural evolution of growing up.

~Emma~

There are so many little things that just don't seem to be going right, this is my wedding and yet nothing is exactly what I want. For instance, I can't have a full vegetarian menu because the majority of the guests eat meat and wouldn't like the vegetarian cuisine. Honestly shouldn't what I want be what matters at my wedding?

Now there is this party tonight, all of our guest should be in town as of this afternoon so I thought it would be good for them to all meet up before the wedding gets underway for real. The whole thing seems silly right now though, maybe it wasn't a good idea after all, it's just one more event to fall apart on me. I hate this. Our guests will be coming over soon and all Jimmy can do is argue with me that the color of the napkins "is no big deal." I tell him "It's a big deal to me, our wedding colors are lavender and rose; you can't just put out blue napkins and call it a day, it just isn't right."

When we graduated from Degrassi neither Jimmy or I expected to go back. When I finished my degree I heard that Ms. Sauve was retiring so I applied for her job. Some how counseling at Degrassi seemed like the best thing to do. When I started I was surprised to see Jimmy coaching Basket Ball and teaching Phys Ed. Things started out innocent enough, spending time with a familiar face. Eventually it got to the point where I was spending all the time I could spare with Jimmy. Seeing him became the highlight of my day. We even spent our breaks together as much as possible.

It's impossible to tell when the feelings changed but I know that last year we spent Christmas with my family and by some design we ended up standing under mistletoe together. Neither one of us intended the kiss to be more than innocent I'm sure but intent does not always match action. In that moment I realized that I could never be with any man other than Jimmy Brooks. The trick was to wait for him to figure that out. He didn't disappoint me though, within a month we had moved in together, by summer we were engaged. Now the day that I have been waiting for for a year has finally arrived and if my lunk headed fiance could just switch the napkins things would be perfect. "I love you." I say kissing him quickly. "Now can you please find the right napkins?"

~Jimmy~

I shake my head at Emma. these past few months I've been really having to remind myself that I love this girl. That I do want to get married to her. That I do want to spend the rest of my life with the girl who flips out over napkin colors and the fact that not everyone will want to eat vegetarian, and hemlines, and invitation calligraphy, and stem wear, and china patterns. I know that as soon as the wedding is over, she'll calm down. Probably start stressing over the honeymoon, but with any luck, I'll be at least a little successful at getting her to relax and enjoy the moment. She wouldn't want to freak out the whole time and not enjoy it.

And to be honest, she's got all kinds of ideas about everything. Like for the past few weeks she's been sleeping back in her basement room at her mother's house. We've severed all ties in the fooling around department until after the wedding, but that isn't what bothers me the most. What bothers me is that her mom and dad are spending all of these important moments with her. Even if all she does is freak out, I want to be there to see it. I want to witness her. I want to feel like a part of her life. And I feel like an outsider. And what really bothers me is that not only is she staying there, but so is Sean. Sure, he's with Jane now, but there's still so much history there. And he's getting all of the moments with her that I'm missing out on.

"Em, no one will care if the napkins are blue, and the wedding colors are lavender and rose," my tone become mocking at the last two colors. How come blue could be blue, but we couldn't simply say pink and purple for the wedding colors.

~Jay~

For the first time since I took over the shop from Tony I am not going to be here to close. I hope the kids can handle it. Out of the blue I got an invitation to Emma's "Wedding Extravaganza." I swear nothing that girl does is ever simple, she can't just have a wedding, she has to have a pre-wedding party for the guests in addition to the normal festivities. Honestly I'm surprised I even got invited, I never thought a few evenings in the ravine could leave a lasting impression. As funny as that thought is I doubt it's the reality of the situation. Still ever since I screwed up things with Manny I have not exactly walked in that circle and last I checked Jimmy was never a card carrying member of the Jay fan club. I threw myself into my work,spending pretty much every waking moment at the shop. It worked out though, when Tony decided he wanted to retire a couple of years ago he was willing to let me take over, on paper he's still a partner but I run my own show.

"I expect everything to be handled as if I was still here. It should be slow considering the holidays but you never know when something will come up." I yell on my way out the door.

I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, to be honest my life has been pretty lonely lately. My thoughts are filled with images of the past as I head home to shower and change.

~JT~

I put a hand up to stop Alex from ringing the doorbell. There was obviously a fight going on on the other side of the door. "Give them a minute," I said, giving them time to fix the apparently easily fixable situation. but instead of doing the right thing, Jimmy insisted on arguing.

I reached down and turned the door knob, letting myself and Alex in. "Hey there," I said with a grin, walking over to Emma and giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You look lovely." It wouldn't fix everything, but it might go a long way. It might at least stop the argument. Then before there was any time for any replies, I grabbed Jimmy and the offending napkins and pulled him towards his kitchen. As we walk away I say to him in a joking manner. "Pink and purple," I scoff,"Anyone can see these colors are lavender and rose." I had to take a moment to rub it in. I winked at Emma.

I pulled Jimmy into his kitchen and into his pantry,closing the door behind us, closing us both in the tight space together. "come on man. You only have one job right now. Keep the bride happy, calm, and relaxed. And you're failing miserably. I don't care if she asks you for pink napkins with green polka dots, you go scour the town for them. got it?" I sighed. How could the guy be so dense.

"But she's impossible," Jimmy argued,"Nothing seems to be right."

"and nothing probably will be until the big day. And then she'll relax and enjoy it. but just remember that this is her day. Focus on her. Everything will be fine. It's almost over. Okay?" I began to try and spin around in the small space. "Now where are those pink and purple napkins?"

"right here," Jimmy said, pulling them down from a top shelf.

"Great," I said, taking a package, glad to get out of the small space with him. We both tried to leave at the same time, tripping over each other on the way out. "Napkin crisis averted," I announce to the girls as Jimmy and I reappear with the right napkins in hand.

~Emma~

True to form JT enters on his own in the middle of the fight just in time to prevent me from crying. I really was coming close to tears. I know that no one cares if the napkins are the right color but I do, I want every detail to be perfect. Is that too much to ask?

The guys disappear into the pantry and I can't help but laugh at the absurdity of the two of them in such a small space. That was enough to break the tension of the moment, I keep laughing.

"Are you okay?" Alex asks, bewildered by my sudden laughter.

"I'm fine, just really stressed about all of this. I'm getting married soon and sometimes it is just too much to wrap my mind around. I feel like I'm going crazy."

"Short trip." Alex teases which sets me back off again. This time Alex joins in on the laughter.

It's amazing how much people change over time, not all too long ago Alex and I couldn't be in the same room together. Now here we stand joking like old friends, I would never have thought that possible in highschool.

"Napkin Crisis adverted" I here from the direction of the pantry and turn to see Jimmy and JT in a tangle of limbs. Alex and I look at each other and disolve into a fit of giggles.

"Thank you for finding the right napkins." I say to the guys walking over to kiss Jimmy lightly. "Well as the first of our guests are already here the rest should be arriving shortly. Shall we enjoy our party?"

~Jay~

I pull into the driveway and realize that I must be one of the first to arrive, there is a distinct lack of cars out here. Oh well, no time like the present to begin my torture. I shrug into my jacket, settling it better on my shoulders and ring the doorbell.

Sooner than I expected Emma answered the door. I shouldn't have been surprised, this is Emma after all. With the hour of her party swiftly approaching she would be hovering nearby just waiting to greet her guests.

"Jay?" she asks as if she is actually unsure of my identity. For the first time I really stopped to think about how I am dressed tonight, black slacks, fitted black sweater and gray peacoat. I have kept my hair short for a while mostly out of convenience but tonight I styled it a bit. I had figured that for a special occasion I needed to look my best but I never thought that I would be unrecognizable.

"Yeah, it's me." I say as she steps back to let me in. I can't help myself and take the moment to lean down to hug her tightly as I enter the house. "You look great by the way, Congratulations."

I turn into the room and am forced to stifle a groan as I take off my coat. I was right in my earlier assessment, there was practically no one here. Worse is that one of the other guests is my ex, Alex. We have maintained an uneasy friendship over the years but haven't really hung out in nearly a decade. I can't blame her for not wanting to see me after we broke up, I was a horrible boyfriend to her, after all while we were together I cheated on her a number of times with multiple people including Emma. From the way JT's arm is around her waist I can guess that they are together now. I hope it goes well for them.

It is beyond awkward to be in a room where both women have seen you with your pants down and both men would probably kill you if they knew all the details of said situations. I try to cover my discomfort by helping myself to a drink and greeting the others as jovially as I can manage. I have a feeling this is going to be a long night.

~JT~

So everyone ahs to be echoing my silent sentiment ehre. Awkward. That's right. This roomw as now full of jay's past conquests adn their current partners. Not that I think Jimmy or I are feeling particularly threatened, but being in the company of a guy who needlessly hurt your girl doesn't exactly engendered positive emotions. After all what he'd done to Alex was completely reprehensible. But I could see the tension building in Emma again as she realized that the order the guests were arriving in weren't exactly in her favor. And if anything, this night needed to be smooth for her. And since Jimmy was having trouble working out some of the kinks, I woulds tep in. help him out. Keep the peace. And the sanity. After all, this jay looked like a different man than high school Jay.

"Hey Jay," I said to him, biting back my own personal dislike for the guy. I had lost my son due to my lies and involvement with drugs, at Jay's insistence on the idea. And I ahd lost Liberty because of it too. Though I was sure that the two of us weren't meant to be together as we were now happier than we'd ever been with our respective significant others. Jay ahd just gotten hismelf a drink and I wrapped an arm around Alex, giving ehr a quick squeeze before saying, carrying on the joke about napkins and color schemes from earlier. "Can I offer you a napkin? We have an amazing selection of Rose and Lavender..." I gestured to both as if I was a Price Is Right girl.

~Jimmy~

Emma kisses me lightly and I immediatey regret the fact that I had spent all of the time before our guests arrive arguing over the stupid napkins, instead of just fixing it and taking a few moments to enjoy kissing her, holding her. The separation was weighing more heavily on me over the past few weeks than it had been her. Probably because she was always so busy with something to do fo the wedding. Or with entertaining her house guests. Her house guests were a whole other matter. I knew Sean was with Jane now, but her sleeping the same place as him, there was some primal part of me that didn't like it, didn't approve. She was going to be my wife soon. And she was spending all of her time with him. I knew rationally that she wasn't, but I still couldn't stop thinking it.

I ran my fingers through her hair. "Yes, let's." Then I kissed just below her ear before saying quietly, into her ear,"If you need anything, let me know."

~Ashley~

It's been years since I've seen any of these people. It's not that I haven't wanted to. It's just that things got crazy fast. Hectic. First I was trying to make it with my music as a singer songwriter. But all the pressures. The fact that I would have to leave home. It all amounted to it being too much. And I took time to think about my future. I remebered the high school dream that Jimmy and I had had of going to law school together. I had reminisced alone. And then I had reminisced with Jimmy. And it had led to a short, but yet again failed relationship between the two of us. But that had even been years ago now. Because it was while with Jimmy again that I remembered how much I liked...how fun it was...to mix the music, to produce the tracks. I put some things together for him. And after we broke up, it seemed like I had a clear path. And so I put everything into that. And now, I had finally arrived. I was making lots of money as a producer. I had produced track for the likes of Muse, Fall Out Boy, and Drake over the years, amongst many others. And I had lost touch with lots of people. all but Craig really. But that was because we were always in touch for the music. We always had that in common. And I had been one of the few people even invited to his wedding to super model, Mia Jones.

So I was greatly surprised to receive an invitation to Emma Nelson and Jimmy Brooks's wedding. I didn't even know they were seeing each other and now they're getting married. But I knew I had to go. Even if it was a struggle to make time in my busy schedule. They were friends. Jimmy one of the best I had ever had. And so that was the reason that I found myself outside Jimmy's door tonight. I knocked.

Before I knew it, the door was opened. By Jimmy. I felt a little awkward in his presence. What was I supposed to say now? "Umm....hey, Jimmy," I said to him.

"Ash, it's great to see you, even if it has been to long," Jimmy responded, but he was awkward too, as he ushered me in. And as I took a look around, I realized that being inside wasn't gonna make things any less awkward. I was surrounded by people that I had never been friends with. I gave a nervous smile, but didn't say anything, unsure of what to say to this motley group of people.