Author's Note: You know Wash would throw one heck of a party. You just KNOW it.

Note, this is set in the context of my other stories, but definitely not necessary to read those for this to make sense – just be aware that in my context now, Wash and Taylor are married and have a little girl named Gracie, and the Sixers have come back to Terra Nova.

Disclaimer is as usual – no profit, not mine (except Gracie, of course), just borrowing.

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." - Ernest Hemingway

The Bachelorette Party and the Aftermath, Four Weeks to Wedding #1

"I cannot believe I somehow ended up being the hostess for Mira's shower," Elisabeth grumbles under her breath as they make their way to Boylan's bar. Maddy follows close behind them, looking a little excited and a little frightened. All of them are carrying large shopping-type bags.

Alicia just laughs and shoots Elisabeth a shit-eating grin. Elisabeth responds with an obscene gesture that makes Maddy blush and say, "Mom!"

They're going to Boylan's in order to set everything up for Mira's bachelorette party. Of course, Mira refuses to call it that, saying it's silly. She just calls it the Night Out. And to prove it's not just a bachelorette party, she made Alicia invite Carter. Alicia didn't really mind that, though. It's not like Alicia won't be at Carter's – she's actually hosting his too.

That was the deal they worked out – Alicia would host Mira's "Night Out" as opposed to her shower. It took about ten minutes with Elisabeth and Maddy for them to realize that Alicia was helpless with anything excessively girly, and wedding and baby showers are pretty much the girliest things any of them can think of.

Mira walked in on that conversation, hearing Elisabeth giving Alicia a good-natured hard time about her complete ignorance of how to throw a shower. With what Alicia would swear was a predatory gleam in her eye, Mira basically cornered Elisabeth into doing the shower. It was actually highly entertaining – Mira understood one thing, the only thing she needed to know: Elisabeth is far too polite to say no to a direct request.

So, Alicia got to handle something far more in her own element: a party involving booze and bar snacks. Alicia did insist on slightly better fare than Boylan usually has, so they're bringing in their own food, hence the shopping bags. Boylan has expanded his bar, so they'll be occupying a private area at the back, where Reynolds and Dunham will be on duty, keeping the regular bar patrons out of the decent food.

Reynolds in particular was an easy sell, as Alicia knew he would be. He's almost painfully protective of his still very naïve young wife. This way, he'll be able to keep an eye on Maddy while also having an official reason for being there.

As for Carter, he claims that the only reason he agreed to attend was to see if Alicia can throw a decent party. Mira and Alicia know that's bullshit, because they were both there when Alicia invited him. He looked positively chuffed to be asked before he hastily assumed a poker face and pretended to be nonchalant about it. He blew the nonchalance, though, when he gave Mira a big hug before he left.

They arrive at Boylan's and haul their bags down the stairs into the bar. Reynolds and Dunham are already there, and they step up to help Elisabeth and Maddy with their bags. They know better than to try to help Alicia. She grins at the way they both seem to consider it but then step away from her and head into the back of the bar.

She laughs and rolls her eyes when she gets to the area where their party will be, because Carter is already there, drink in hand. "Haven't you ever heard of being fashionably late, Carter?"

He raises his glass in a sort of salute to her. "Figured I needed to get a head start on you ladies. Got to give you something to try to keep up with."

Alicia snorts out a laugh when she hears Reynolds cough to cover it up when he says, "Moron."

Carter isn't fooled, though. "What was that, Corporal Reynolds?" He raises an eyebrow.

Reynolds looks at Alicia, who gives him a go ahead sign with her hand before going to help Elisabeth and Maddy put the food out. Reynolds smirks at Carter. "You're a moron if you think the lieutenant needs you to give her a head start on anything. But good luck, Carter." As he walks away, joining them setting up the food, Alicia grins again when she hears Reynolds mutter, "You're gonna need it."

Two hours later, the party is in full swing. It's an interesting and varied group of attendees, including Deborah Tate – who has long since buried the hatchet with Mira, Skye – who appears annoyed that both her mother and fiancé are present, Reilly, Tasha, several female former Sixers and several of the female vendors from the market.

Alicia has a pleasant buzz on, but she's far from intoxicated. Poor Carter is a little unsteady on his feet, but he's trying to hide it as he talks to Mira and some of the other former Sixers. She knows that she's had at least as many drinks as Carter.

She guesses that he thinks her tolerance never recovered after having Gracie; the opposite is true. It might even be better than it used to be. What he doesn't know is that spending any free time with Elisabeth will improve anyone's tolerance. Elisabeth would surprise most in the colony with her love of alcoholic beverages and her rather staggering tolerance for their consumption.

If Alicia is right, Elisabeth, also pretty rock-steady on her feet, is within a drink of Alicia and Carter. Alicia has been working the room for most of the evening, doing her best to play her role as hostess well. As far as she can tell, everyone is having a good time. Even Maddy, who is often reticent in this kind of social environment, is pretty loose and giggly, prompting Reynolds to keep bringing her food – which she doesn't eat – and stand nearby like a worried mother hen.

She can almost hear him fretting when she sidles up to him, swirling her sixth cocktail in her hand. "Just hold her hair back when she's puking later, Reynolds. She'll think you're the most wonderful guy in the world."

He jumps slightly at the sound of her voice. He frowns briefly before rolling his eyes and chuckling. "You're corrupting my wife, Wash."

She laughs, then looks up to see Maddy approaching Reynolds with a rather determined look on her face. If Alicia had to call it, she'd say Maddy's expression is downright feral. The young woman gets to Reynolds and whispers something in his ear that makes him blush bright red. She then plants a very heated, deep kiss on his lips and says, "I can't wait to get you home tonight," before swatting him on the butt and walking back over to the now laughing group she's been with all night, which includes Reilly, Skye and Tasha.

Reynolds just stands there blinking, cheeks burning. Alicia laughs again. "Mark?" He looks at her, clearly dazed. She gives him a knowing smile. "You're welcome." Still blushing, he swallows hard and just gives her a nod and a small smile. "Go get your wife, kid. If there was ever an invitation to be handsy with your wife in public, that was it. Consider yourself off duty for the night."

This time, his smile is wide, though the blush turns even deeper. "Thanks, Wash." He takes off for Maddy's side, and a moment later, Alicia has to smile when she hears Maddy squeal as Reynolds wraps his arms around her from behind.

"Wash!" She turns towards the voice yelling her name across the bar. "Get your ass over here!"

Alicia lifts an eyebrow at Carter, but she still walks over to where he sits with Mira, Elisabeth, Deborah and several of the female former Sixers. Though older, throughout the night, their area of the bar has been the rowdiest. Grabbing another cocktail from the waitress, Alicia walks over to the noisy group. "Can I help you, Carter?"

Mira answers before he can. "Carter has a challenge to issue, Wash."

Her eyebrow arches even higher. "Really? Do tell, Carter." She takes another sip of her drink.

He glares blearily at Mira. "It's not a challenge, Wash, I just made a statement."

Mira snorts and Elisabeth says, "A challenging statement."

Alicia has to laugh, because the look on Carter's face is now near comically annoyed. "This I have to hear. Carter?"

He huffs in irritation, clearly pretty drunk. "I just said I can take you."

"I'm sorry?" Alicia gets a bemused half-smile on her face.

"I said I can take you." He looks at her like it's the most elementary thing in the world.

"Are you serious, Carter?"

"Of course!" His face is downright smug. "I've beaten you before, and now you've had a kid."

Alicia's smile turns predatory, and Mira says, "Carter, shut up."

Elisabeth must also notice the gleam in her eye, because she says, "Alicia, he's drunk. Ignore him."

What no one else noticed was Reilly and Dunham edging closer. Reilly laughs, catching everyone's attention. "Carter, you actually think you can take the lieutenant?"

Dunham is laughing too. "And Carter, the only time you 'beat' her was the day she and I were captured, and you didn't beat her. She only lost because Mira hit her in the face with the butt of a rifle."

Alicia rolls her eyes and deadpans, "Thanks for the reminder, Dunham." Mira chuckles at that while Elisabeth just shakes her head.

Dunham looks a little abashed, and he smiles sheepishly. "Sorry, ma'am."

"Hey, talking here!" Carter wobbles a little as he stands up to face Alicia, clearly irritated that the focus is off of him. "So, you need your boys to defend you, Washington? Or should I call you Mrs. Taylor?"

Alicia crosses her arms across her chest, not sure if she should be amused or pissed off by this. Her buzz is getting stronger by the moment, and while her brain says to just be amused, her pride is pissed. She decides to listen to both. She laughs, but it's an evil laugh, and she sees Elisabeth drop her face into her hands, knowing what's coming. "You can call me whatever you want, Carter. And you can meet me in the sparring ring at ten hundred hours tomorrow morning."

"Shit," Mira mutters.

But Carter is either too drunk or too blind to see that this is not a good thing for him. "I'll be there, Little Sister."

"Can't wait, Big Brother. But you might want to go home and sleep it off now. It won't be any fun to beat you up if you're puking."

Dunham's and Reilly's eyes have been getting bigger and bigger throughout the exchange, and the minute the time and place are agreed to, they scurry away. Elisabeth looks at Alicia with a confused expression on her face. "Where are they going?"

Alicia laughs again. "To get the word out and to set up the betting pool."

Carter blinks. "What?"

"Hope you like sparring with an audience, Carter, because you're going to have one when I kick your ass tomorrow." Alicia pats him on the head and shoots him a grin before grabbing another drink and parking herself in a chair in the midst of Deborah, Elisabeth and Mira, who are all laughing loudly by now.

At that moment, an outraged looking Skye storms up. "Carter, what did you do?"

With that, Carter looks more than a little concerned, and Alicia joins in the laughter with the others. Skye begins to drag Carter away, fussing at him as they go, and Alicia calls after them, "Enjoy your moment of clarity, Carter, and I'll see you in the morning. Wear something dark so the bloodstains won't show too bad!"

Elisabeth swats Alicia on the arm, but Mira is all but doubled over laughing. She reaches for her comm, and a moment later, they hear her say, "Isaac, we have to be at the sparring ring at 10 am tomorrow. Trust me. We're not going to want to miss this."

A couple of hours later, Alicia gets home, slightly tipsy but still not drunk. For her, it's always been about balancing liquor, water and food consumption. She actually has a bottle of water in hand, almost completely gone. It wouldn't do to be dehydrated for her little set-to with Carter in the morning.

As she closes and locks the front door, a voice from behind her makes her jump. "So, really, Alicia? You're fighting Carter tomorrow morning?"

She turns and gives him a sheepish grin. "He started it." Nathaniel crosses his arms across his chest and gives her a skeptical look. She mirrors his pose. "He did. He told Mira, the other former Sixer women, Deborah and Elisabeth that he could take me. And when I confronted him on it, he said he'd beaten me before and now I've had a kid, so he could definitely take me."

Nathaniel whistles. "He said that? Seriously?" At her nod, he says, "Damn, I knew the boy was crazy, but I never thought he was stupid until now. And when the hell did he beat you?"

She huffs out a breath and gets a little outraged. "He didn't! He was talking about when Dunham and I got taken! He didn't beat me that day! Mira did, with the butt of a damned rifle!"

Instead of responding, he just grins and steps forward, kissing her hard and pressing her back into the door with his body, hands coming to rest flat against the door on either side of her head. Surprised, her own hands come up and grip his biceps for a moment before sliding upwards to thread into his short hair as the kiss becomes deeper and more heated. After a moment, without breaking the kiss, she hooks a leg over his hip to pull his body completely flush with hers.

When the need for air becomes too great, she pulls her head back slightly, breathing hard. He bumps her nose with his and pulls back just enough to press his forehead to hers. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he smirks. "You seemed surprised, but you should know by now that, to me, you pissed off? Incredibly hot."

She laughs softly as her hands slide down to scratch lightly at his neck. "Sorry, must be all the booze," she pauses and looks up at him through her eyelashes before leaning forward to nip at his neck. "Should we take this to our bedroom?"

He groans a little. "Damn."

She moves back to where she can look at his face. "Damn?"

"We can't take this to our bedroom."

"Why," she starts to ask, then it dawns on her. She drops her head to his shoulder in defeat. "You let Gracie go to sleep in our bed, didn't you?"

"You have no idea how much I'm regretting that decision right now."

She feels evidence of his regret pressing against her and she smirks at him. "Oh, I don't know, I think I might at least have a vague idea." She uses her leg, still hooked over his hip, to help her grind against him a little.

He glares at her. "You are an evil, evil woman."

She laughs. "Maybe. But if we're going to do this, it needs to be soon, because I need to be well rested to kick Carter's ass in the morning."

He shoots her a questioning look. "How exactly are we going to do this? The sofa seems like a bad idea with Gracie in the house. No door to close."

"Nathaniel, shower. Now." She unhooks her leg from his hip and starts towards the bathroom. When she realizes that he isn't following her, without turning around she looks back over her shoulder to see him watching her walk away, a positively lecherous look on his face. She can't help but grin at him. "Are you joining me, or do I have to make it a cold shower?"

He covers the space between them in almost record time. When he gets right behind her, he grips her hips and starts walking her towards the bathroom. As he moves her ponytail out of the way to get access to her neck, he murmurs, "Lead on. Would hate to subject you to the torture of a cold shower, Lieutenant."

She laughs as they get to the bathroom. "Well, you know, there's just nothing sexier than a selfless leader, willing to take one for the team."

**WT**WT**WT**

The next morning, after Nathaniel took pity on her and let her sleep in instead of doing the morning patrol, Alicia climbs out of bed at about 9 a.m. As she looks at herself in the bathroom mirror, she has to smirk at the small hickey she now has just beneath her right collarbone. Even after ten years together, he still really likes to mark her now and then.

Since she always retaliates, it has become something of a game with them. Just like her, he's currently sporting a new hickey, his just below his ribcage.

After drying her hair, she slips on her favorite sports bra and comfortable training clothes. Outside the bathroom, she hears a knock at the door and the sound of Deborah Tate's voice. Alicia realizes that Nathaniel must have called her to babysit – she's not surprised. She knew Nathaniel would find someone to watch Gracie so he could come to Alicia's little face off with Carter.

A few minutes later, with thank you to Deborah and a big hug given to Gracie, Alicia and Nathaniel head for the training ring. It's only 9:30; they want to get there a little early to give Alicia some time to warm up. It's pretty quiet in the gym when they arrive, so, after stretching for a bit, Nathaniel holds the bag for her to get loose.

Fifteen minutes later, people are starting to arrive, more than even Alicia anticipated. She stays focused, now kicking the bag to warm up her legs. As she delivers a smooth roundhouse to the bag, a high, clean shot that makes Nathaniel mutter, "That's my girl," Alicia hears Skye's voice.

"Lieutenant!" Alicia stops working the bag to turn and face the young woman as she approaches, Carter close behind her. He's wearing training clothes like Alicia's, but he looks a little nervous, whereas Alicia looks completely relaxed.

Nathaniel hands Alicia a towel. "Hey, Skye. What's up?" Alicia has to work hard to swallow her smile.

Skye looks over her shoulder at her fiancé, shooting him a glare. It's pretty clear that he's been getting that look since last night, if his face is anything to go by. She then turns back to Alicia. "Please, ma'am, just not the face."

"Skye!" Carter protests, "How about a little loyalty, babe?"

She rounds on him. "I'm loyal, Carter, but I'm not an idiot." She once again turns back to Alicia. "We have pictures to take, so I'd prefer you not break his face. The odds on him are long, but my mother didn't raise a fool. My money's on you, Lieutenant. So, feel free to kick his ass, but just try to keep the marks to his face to a minimum if you can."

Alicia laughs out loud as Carter starts to splutter. "You bet on Wash, Skye? What the hell?"

Skye rolls her eyes. "Like I said, Carter: Loyal, but not an idiot."

Carter looks at Nathaniel. "And you're not pissed at her for this?"

Nathaniel chuckles and hugs Skye to his side. "Son, you asked this young lady to marry you without asking my permission first. I was going to find a way to torture you, but this? My lovely wife kicking your ass in front of the better part of the colony? This is far better than anything I could've dreamed up."

Carter sighs, clearly resigned. "Wash, shall we?" He motions towards the sparring area, now surrounded by spectators.

Alicia leans up and pecks Nathaniel on the cheek, and she turns to Sky and says, "I'll see what I can do to limit blows to either below the neck or to the back of his head."

"Thanks, Lieutenant," Skye chirps back, completely ignoring Carter now.

Alicia nods, and then she follows Carter to the ring. A cheer goes up when she enters. Alicia is surprised at who all is there. Not just her soldiers, but Maddy, Malcolm, Shannon and Elisabeth all stand nearby. Guz is playing ref, and within moments of him telling them to go, Alicia has popped Carter across the back with a blow from her right arm and swept his feet out from under him using her right leg.

As she helps him up, he mutters, "Two out of three."

Over the next fifteen minutes or so, they fall into a rhythm, but Alicia still takes him down two more times. After he mutters, "Four out of seven," Skye shakes her head at him. Alicia has a feeling that this will be something of a last hurrah for Carter. He's weaving on his feet, and Alicia can tell that it will only take a couple of well-placed hits to take him out for a bit.

This time, though, as they face off, she can tell that he's being more calculated, trying to read her movements. Sadly for Carter, it's really too little, too late. He does get in a shot or two, the worst one coming when he moves forward and then feints back, making Alicia chase him. When she does, he's able to get in a solid pop to her arm and then sweep her feet, dropping her to her back.

Carter must think he has her down this time, because he approaches immediately. But as he bends towards her, she pulls her knees up then kicks her legs out and jumps to her feet in one fluid motion. Carter looks surprised, but he recovers quickly, getting in another kick at her legs. He's chasing her again, moving faster than he has since they began.

She's having to duck swing after swing, and at one moment, she actually thinks that Carter may manage to take a round from her. But then he drops his shoulder in a way that tells her exactly when he's about to take a shot at her head. With a muttered, "Sorry, Skye," she spins and pops her elbow to his jaw, dropping him like a ton of bricks.

The area, which had been loud with cheers throughout their fight, goes quiet for a moment. She turns and resumes a defensive stance, finally slightly winded. Guz calls the round for Alicia, her fourth win out of four, and she steps towards Carter, who is flat on his back. She can see that he looks a little dazed. "You still with us, Carter?"

He groans and then replies, "Yes, but I'm staying down here for a while, at least until you promise to stop hitting me."

At that, a laugh roars up from the gathered crowd, and Alicia holds out her hand to Carter. "I promise to stop hitting you, Big Brother."

He takes her hand and lets her haul him to his feet. "Thanks, Little Sister." He wobbles briefly when he's upright, blood now trickling from one corner of his mouth.

They stand there looking at each other until she finally grins and says, "Say it, Carter." The crowd goes quiet again.

He snorts but replies, "I can't take you, Wash." The crowd bursts out in sound again, this time cheers. Alicia sees Shannon high-five Maddy. Skye rushes over and starts fussing over Carter, while Nathaniel approaches Alicia.

From behind, Nathaniel wraps a gentle arm around Alicia's shoulders, and he draws her to him, her back pressed against his front. "You done having my wife kick your ass, Carter?"

Carter, to his credit, just nods and laughs, and he turns to leave with Skye. Alicia can't resist calling after him. "Carter!" He turns back. "When I throw your bachelor party next week, can you please promise me that you won't start telling people that you can take Nathaniel? Because I don't think he'll goes as easy on you as I did."

He glares at her. "Bite me, Wash."

She just laughs at that, waving as he turns again to walk away. She calls after him one more time. "Love you too, Carter."

That earns her a hug and a laugh from Nathaniel. "Home, my badass wife?"

She chuckles. "Sounds like a plan. I promised the Bug I'd help her make cookies today."

"Excellent," he says, leading them towards home, "Promise me you won't kick my ass if I try to steal one, OK?"

"I'll think about it."

"Hell, that's better than I was expecting. Deal."

They're still laughing when they get home.