An hour later – an incredibly long hour which felt to Reid like three days – all of the Snyder and Hughes families, along with family friends like John Dixon, Barbara Ryan, and Henry Coleman (who was there primarily to see if Doctor Oliver would make a fool of himself), were seated comfortably in rows of chairs that were laid out in front of the Snyder pond; Luke's parents, sisters, brothers, and grandmothers were in the front row with Katie, Chris Hughes, and Jacob. It was a gorgeous end of summer's day and there was no sign of rain. It was the most perfect weather for the wedding.

Luke stood at the altar smiling, but there was an anxiousness in his eyes. The wedding was supposed to start and Reid was nowhere to be seen. Lily and Holden saw that their son was distressed, as did Katie who got up and walked back up to the house. When she opened the door, she found Reid sitting at the kitchen table, stuffing his face with one of his disgustingly huge sandwiches and a bag of potato chips.

"Reid Oliver, what on earth are you doing?" Katie said, the door slamming behind her.

"Eating," Reid said, through a mouthful of bread.

"You're supposed to be outside getting married to Luke. I thought we had handled this," she said, sitting down at the table.

"We had. I was hungry," Reid said, taking another bite of his sandwich.

"Reid!" Katie said, glaring at him. "You're using food as an excuse to avoid this. Put the sandwich down now!"

"I'm in the middle of eating it," Reid said indignantly, as the screen door slammed shut. Katie looked over the top of Reid's head and saw Luke standing in the doorway.

"I'll leave you alone," Katie said standing up, as Reid looked around, confused.

"Thanks, Katie," Luke said, walking over to the table, Reid just finishing his sandwich.

"Hi," Reid said.

"Hi," Luke responded, sitting down and looking at Reid.

"I was hungry," Reid said, awkwardly and uncomfortably.

"Of course you were," Luke said blandly, no trace of sarcasm or humor about the situation. Then suddenly, "Do you have cold feet, Reid? Because you're making me really nervous."

"I'm sorry, Luke. This marriage stuff isn't for me," Reid said, not looking his lover in the eyes.

"What are you saying?" Luke asked desperately. "You don't want to marry me?"

"I do," Reid said, taking Luke's hand.

"Then what's the problem?" Luke was close to tears now.

"My brain won't let me," Reid said, knowing how childish it sounded.

"But what does your heart say," Luke asked quietly.

"I love you, Luke. Please don't doubt that. I will love you forever. And I want you with me forever. But weddings. You know I don't like them."

"This wasn't my idea, Reid. You asked me," Luke said, angry now.

"I know. That was a mis–"

"A mistake? Please don't tell me it was mistake, Reid. You planned it all so beautifully," Luke said, close to tears again.

"I know. The sappy vow, declaring love in front of everyone, it's not my thing," Reid said.

"Is this about last night?" Luke asked.

"Last night?"

"When you asked me if I wished I was marrying Noah?"

Reid opened his mouth but shut it without speaking. "No," he finally said, slowly enough that he couldn't convince Luke.

"It is," Luke insisted. "You don't want to marry me because you're afraid that sometime in the future I'm going to leave you. Or that you're going to lose me. You think that if we don't get married that the pain will be less."

Reid hated that Luke knew him so well. When Reid didn't answer him, Luke added, "Do you really think that I don't feel the same way? I'm terrified that you're going to leave me or that something will happen to you. It haunts me every day."

"It does?"

"Yes, of course! I love you with every fiber of my being. The thought of losing you makes my blood run cold. But doesn't that mean we should get married all the more?" Luke said, moving his chair closer to Reid and brushing his hand against the doctor's cheek. "I promise you that whatever pain comes our way won't hurt anymore if we're married than if we're not. In fact," Luke said, moving even closer, "it might even hurt less because we'll be dealing with it together. Don't you want that as much as I do?"

"You know I do," Reid said, brushing his own hand across Luke's cheek.

"Then let's get married," Luke said, standing up, pulling Reid with him.

"One thing first," Reid said.

"What?" Luke asked and was answered by Reid's mouth capturing his own.

Five minutes later, the restless guests out by the pond all breathed easier when they saw Luke and Reid making their way quickly down the path, hand-in-hand. Together, they rushed down the aisle and took their places in front of the priest.

"Hi. Sorry," Luke said to the priest, a little breathlessly. "We're good now."

"Are you sure?" the priest asked.

"Yes," Reid answered and squeezed Luke's hand in assurance.

"Alright, then. Ladies and gentleman," the Father said, addressing the crowd. "If you will all please resume your seats, we're ready to start." The crowd settled down. "Welcome. It is my honor to preside over this historic wedding," Father Jones said. "Luke, Reid, as you set out on your journey into marriage, remember that love is a precious and beautiful thing. Cherish and honor it. And now, your vows."

Luke and Reid turned to face each other.

"Reid, I spent two and a half years in love with someone who most of the time didn't seem to love or even appreciate me. Nevertheless, I did everything I could to try and make him happy, no matter how many times things went wrong and he pushed me away. Even when I went against my better judgment and blackmailed you into coming here so that he wouldn't have to be blind for the rest of his life, my love still wasn't good enough for him.

"At my own doing, you stormed into my life. You were rude and sarcastic and mean. I'm not going to lie. I couldn't stand you. But I gradually came to see that under that hard shell there was a person just like me. A kind, caring heart that just didn't know how to go about getting close to anyone. But when you let yourself get to know me and I got to know you, you brought to my life something I hadn't had before – appreciation. You saw me for who I was and you liked me for it. You never once tried to make me something I wasn't, I'm not. With you, I was never questioning how you felt about me. I just knew because you were so blunt and open about it. And that was wonderful.

"You are constantly challenging me and making me a better man. You don't put up with any of my crap, but you don't walk away from it either. Together, we find a way to work through it and I know that we always will. And for that, I love you, Reid, with my whole heart and soul, and I am so happy and honored to be standing up here with you today," Luke said, smiling

"Luke, it's no secret that when you first dragged me here I wasn't the nicest person to you. And I think it's safe to say that you annoyed the hell out of me whenever you were around. You got under my skin immediately, from the second or third time I laid eyes on you. I tried endlessly to stay away, but I never could manage it. You always seemed to be around. No matter how rude or mean to you I was, you were nice to me anyway. I never could quite figure out why. I guess that's what got me about you. Your heart. Having shut off mine from the world for so long, to come into contact with someone who was so open with theirs was truly fascinating. You've helped me so much to understand that there is so much more to live for than just a job. Never in a million years would I have believed that until I met you. You truly opened up a new world to me. I love you more than I have ever loved anything. I could never love anyone or anything as much as I love you. You are my entire world, Luke, and I am so happy to be standing here today with you," Reid said, smiling a little sheepishly, embarrassed slightly by the scene that had occurred in the kitchen earlier.

"The rings, please," Father Jones said. At his cue, Ethan walked up to Luke and Reid with a pillow bearing two solid gold rings.

"Luke, with this ring, I pledge to eternally love and cherish you," Reid repeated after the Father and placed the ring on Luke's finger.

"Reid, with this ring, I pledge to eternally love and cherish you," Luke repeated after the Father and placed the ring on Reid's finger.

"It is my duty, honor, and pleasure to now pronounce you married," Father Jones said.

Luke and Reid flashed matching smiles and kissed like they had never kissed before as the church erupted in applause.