Author's Notes: This is for the television show, Brotherly Love, which I do not own. I'm making no profit from this and no copyright infringement is intended. All reviews/constructive criticism are greatly appreciated. Enjoy!

Summary: Lou Davis is about to get married to a seemingly perfect guy, but maybe something more than cold feet gets the best of her.

She should've known when she was in the bridal shop.

The fact that Lou Davis had even gone into a bridal shop to begin with should've been a clue but there she had been, all wrapped up in some of the finest lace and satin dresses any girl could imagine for her wedding day. But she was not the kind of girl who enjoyed bridal shops or floral shops or sessions with the caterer. It's not like she'd never given her wedding any thought, but the whole process of planning seemed like a giant headache. Claire had made things a little easier, but Lou sometimes faked her enthusiasm whenever they talked about "the event" during breaks at work. She would feel her insides cringe when Claire brought it up and she'd make excuses to go fix a brake line or rotate a tire or do something that felt more like her the closer it got to the big day.

And now here she was. Lou was standing in front of the mirror for the hundredth time, taking a good long look at herself and thinking of what she was actually going to go through with. Marrying Josh should feel right; correction, it was right. He was a good man with his heart in the right place. With his MBA from Harvard and his seemingly savvy business sense, she had no doubt that Josh would secure a job that would give them a sense of stability for the rest of their lives. So why couldn't she see herself walk down the aisle in a matter of mere minutes?

Because of him. The self-involved, cocky, good-looking jerk she'd so affectionately called him once. Yes, she'd slipped and added the good-looking part to that insult, even though she denied doing so when Joe called her on it. Lou blamed the circumstances, considering they were trapped in an overheated supply closet because Lloyd thought it'd be fun to play matchmaker. Fat lot of good that had done; they'd merely exchanged insults until Lou had found a screw driver that would unhinge the door.

There was that one moment though. Lou wasn't even really sure how it had happened, but Joe was chasing her and when his grimy, grease-stained hand made contact, she had felt herself being swept up to his chest and there had been…something. His breathing had become shallow as his brown eyes had scanned over her face and blood had run annoyingly, unexpectedly hot and fast through her veins.

But she shouldn't even be thinking about that. Not now, not when Lou was standing in front of the mirror, looking at herself in her pristine wedding dress and thinking of men other than her soon to be husband. But it wasn't just any guy…it was Joe. Joe Roman who made her so angry she could see red. Joe Roman, who bowed at the altar of the literal (and proved her point when she told him so). Joe Roman, who occupied more of her thoughts than she cared to admit, even to herself. And it was Joe Roman who had made planning her wedding easier, not Claire or even Josh for that matter. He was there when Lou needed to complain about color swatches and he was there when Josh was on ridiculously long business trips. He was just there for her and always had been since they met a year and a half ago.

She should've known when she was in the bridal shop that this wedding was one giant mistake.

--

"Oh Lou." The gasp came from behind her and Lou broke her gaze from the mirror to see Claire and her sons, Matt and Andy, standing in the doorway. Claire had her hands over her mouth and her eyes were visibly welling up. Matt had a big, admiring smile on his face as he looked at her with adoration. Little Andy …she had to laugh when she saw the shock registered on his face.

"Wow Lou, your dress is huge!" Andy exclaimed, running up to her to examine the giant skirt more closely. "Whaddya got hiding under there, more costumes or something?"

She laughed more as she looked at him; he looked so precocious and angelic in his little tuxedo, but she had known him long enough to give him more credit. "No Andy, just layers and layers of the same dress. But I'm surprised – where's your costume? I thought you were coming as a superhero."

"I am," Andy told her, pulling a spandex Spider-Man mask out of his jacket pocket. "Mom says I have to wait until the reception though. Quiet Andy Roman by day…party time Spider-Man by night!"

"As long as Spider-Man isn't trying to use his web to climb the walls of the church, I'll be a happy mother," Claire replied, seeming to have gained composure as she wiped a stray tear from her cheek. She smiled at her youngest son and then entered the room and held Lou's hand in attempt to calm her nerves. "So how are you feeling? Your hands aren't shaking nearly as hard as mine were on my wedding day."

"Well you can blame the four glasses of champagne I've had since I put the dress on," Lou answered dryly, watching as Matt made his way into the room. He seemed quieter than usual, almost as if he were apprehensive about being in the same room with her. "How you doing over there Matt?"

"I'm good, I'm good. You look very pretty Lou," Matt assured her, nervously fidgeting with his hands in his jacket pocket. There was an awkward silence and as she was about to thank him, he opened his mouth again. "I don't know where Joe is."

"He's not coming?"

"Maaaaatt, we weren't supposed to say anything!" Andy exclaimed, shooting his older brother a dirty look. "Mom said Lou would be stressed enough!" Lou looked at Claire questioningly as she pulled her hand away and waited for an answer.

"It's not that he's not coming…" Claire said, flustered in her response. She tucked her hair behind her ear and sighed. "He's just not here yet. I'm sure he's coming."

There was a knock on the door that prevented Lou from responding and everyone looked to see the wedding planner that her mother had hired standing there with a clipboard in her hand and a pinched look in her face.

"Ten minutes until the wedding starts Ms. Davis. I suggest you all give the bride her privacy," the wedding planner suggested as she crossed something off her clipboard. "Your father will be here shortly." She spun on her heel in a huff and Claire gave Lou an apologetic look.

"It was really sweet of you guys to stop by," Lou said as she gave them a fake smile. The champagne was starting to get to her head and she needed to collect her thoughts if she was going to go through with this. "But you should probably go find your seats. I'll see you all at the reception."

"Okay Lou. Have fun getting married!" Andy said excitedly and she knew he was only counting down the minutes until he was able to put on his precious superhero mask. He bounded out the door in a way that made her wish she could bottle that kind of energy and Claire followed right behind him, trying to make sure her son didn't get into any unnecessary trouble. Lou followed Matt to the door, but he stopped in front of her and turned to give her an unexpected kiss on the cheek.

"I'm sure he'll turn up," Matt said in a way that made it sound like he was trying to convince himself too. She felt her own smile fade as she leaned against the doorway.

"No. He won't."

--

Joe Roman was not a complicated kind of guy. He liked his steaks rare, his cars classic, and his women willing. Really that's all a guy needed in life, right? The problem with women (all women, he thought savagely as he tightened a bolt under the hood of the car he was working on) was that they were too complicated. They would say one thing and mean another. They would laugh at your jokes and make fun of your hair and wear that perfume that was far too distracting when they talked about fan belts and spark plugs. And just when you think you can see yourself with them as more than friends, they would go get engaged to a snooty Harvard man who was so not perfect for them at all.

The problem with Lou Davis was that she was a complicated woman.

Joe wiped his hand across his forehead as he gazed over the dirty engine. The inside of a car made sense to him. He could see where all the parts fit and when something looked out of place. He knew how to change an air filter when it got too clogged and he had graduated as the Top Brake Technician in his class. So that might not be Summa Cum Laude to some people, but it meant a damn lot to him and to anyone who rolled their broken car into Roman Customizing. It could've…should've meant a lot to Lou but she had made her priorities known when she'd given him a wedding invitation. Talking about art and business with Josh meant a lot more to her then continuing on whatever relationship it was that she had with him.

Not that Joe thought they were in a relationship or anything, they were just friends. Maybe, maybe not; the line between them had always been too blurred for him to tell.

He buried himself into the car as he attempted to reattach a loose radiator hose. At the other end of the garage, he heard the familiar creak of the wooden door swing open and he sighed at the thought of another customer when he had all this work to do. Besides, it was Saturday – didn't anybody know how to read a sign?

"Uh sorry, we're clo…" Joe started, but when he lifted his head he met the gaze of the last person he would've pictured coming through the door. "Lou? What are you doing here?"

She stood in the empty garage, cold and slightly disoriented from fleeing the church so fast. In her frenzy, she had managed to convince her father's limo driver to take her back down to Philly and somehow, she wound up here. Back right where she started, she supposed.

Looking at Joe, Lou just felt…exhausted. She crossed the garage to be near him with layers and layers of white fabric growing gray from the dirty cement floor. She fell on to his chest when she reached him with a mix of bundled nerves, exhaustion, and a certain sense of freedom from having escaped the wedding. Lou wrapped her arms tighter around his neck, needing to make sure that this was real and it was happening and it wasn't just some sort of dream she could wake up from. She breathed in his smell; faint aftershave and engine oil floated in her nose as the medallion hanging from his neck felt cool against her collarbone. She didn't even realize she was crying until he spoke.

"Lou? What's wrong?" Joe asked as he returned her embrace. His arms crossed comfortably at the small of her back and he squeezed her tighter when he heard her pitiful sniffles.

"I couldn't do it Joe," she said softly into his ear. "I couldn't marry him."