Ah, the finality of it all. This is the final installment of Freedom. Enjoy!

Lilly could hear the incessant tapping on the tabletop. She could hear it over the ticking of the clock and the scratching of the pen on the stack of envelopes in front of her. She reached across the table and grabbed the hand that was causing he endless tapping.

"This would be a lot easier if you would help me instead of making me insane," Lilly said, staring down her current nemesis.

"Isn't sending out the engagement announcements the woman's job? I don't even know why we have to send them out." He said, as innocently as he could manage.

"That was extremely sexist for such a sensitive guy. Or should I say, that was a horrible excuse for such a lazy guy. We have to send them out because most of these people didn't believe me when I said I was marrying a Jonas Brother, so it's your fault."

He shook his head, knowing that she made absolutely no sense, and tried not to laugh.

Noticing his smirk, she took a stack of envelopes and announcements and set them in front of him, "You can lick the envelopes."

She looked up again to see him smirking and making wildcat noises, "That sounds hot."

"Ooh, he's cheating on me with glue. The nerve! Are you seriously going to be like this until the wedding?"

"Oh, hon. I'm gonna be like this for the rest of our lives, and you're going to put up with every second of it," he said, getting up and moving to her side of the table.

She continued to write the addresses on the bleached envelopes, even when she felt strong arms around her waist and hot breath on her neck. She started to giggle like a schoolgirl as his gentle lips grazed her neck.

"Ew, PDA!" they heard as a teenage boy pulled out the empty seat between them.

"Hello Franklin," Nick groaned as he had to pull away from Lilly. He walked back over to his seat, but didn't take his eyes off of her.

"I am not a turtle! But you must be Casper, I mean, you're completely transparent right now."

"What do you mean?" Nick said, finally tearing his eyes away from hers to look at his brother.

"You don't want this wedding," he said matter-of-factly. Both Lilly and Nick looked up in shock.

"Of course I do! I can't wait to be married to Lilly," Nick said, a little too loudly.

"Don't twist my words. I said you didn't want the wedding, not the marriage. Mom and Heather are planning this big wedding, and you don't want any of it. Neither does Lilly. Why are you doing all of this?"

"What do you mean not have a wedding? Everybody has a wedding," Lilly said, not able to find a real reason.

"You guys know that you have never been like everybody else."

He picked up the engagement announcement and gave it to Nick. There was a picture of the two of them on it, lying in the grass. Lilly was wearing bright blue sunglasses and laughing, and Nick was just smiling, looking at her. It was perfect.

Nick looked up at Frankie, communicating almost telepathically.

"Uncle Frank," Nick said. Frankie nodded.

"Excuse me, who?" Lilly asked, utterly confused.

Nick reached out for her hand.

"Lilly, I would marry you this second, no questions asked, but I'm a guy. This will hopefully be your only wedding. If you want to do the whole, white dresses & pink roses deal, I'll be waiting at the end of the aisle, a smile on my face."

"Nick, you know I don't want any of that. I just want you."

A grin spread across his face, "We have an Uncle Frank—"

"He's not really our uncle," Frankie added. Nick glared at him.

"Anyway, he and our dad went to college together. Frankie is actually named after him. And he's an ordained minister in Vegas."

"Are you suggesting we elope?"

Neither man answered her, but their smiles were telling.

"Our mother's are going to kill us. They were already about to decide on the cake. It may not matter to you, but I'm an only child. My mom's only going to do this once."

"So is this a no?" Nick asked, trying not to sound disappointed.

"No, this is a 'find a way to keep me from feeling guilty'."

"How about this, we get married in Vegas, spend the night at the Wyckoff, spend a few weeks in Iowa, then come back and have a lovely reception for our mother's and all the put out second cousins four times removed we can fit?"

"Sounds perfect," she said, suddenly feeling excited. If all went well, within twenty-four hours she'd be Mrs. Nick Jonas. It sent a wave of butterflies fluttering through her abdomen.

"Tank, can you cover for us?" Nick asked, turning to his brother. Lilly had almost forgotten he was there.

"I can give you a good couple hours before anyone knows you're gone then I'll hold off all the missing posters. Or I could take the reward and get that new amp…" he said, rambling on. By the time he stopped, Lilly and Nick were across the room about to go out the door.

"How rude!" he said jokingly before smiling. "Good luck guys. Have fun."

He said the last part suggestively to his brother.

Nick rolled his eyes before staring his brother down, "Thanks Frank. I think you've taken over the leader role. Tell me, what am I now?"

"The one who talks too much," Frankie said, kind of taken aback by the statement. "Go on, you have an alter waiting."

He and his brother shared one last smile before the door closed, signally the end of a chapter in their lives.

Frankie smirked that knowing smirk. He was the last single Jonas. He was the leader, Nick had said so. The recognition of his older brother could have driven him to tears, but he was too happy to cry.

There was a knock on the door of the apartment. He got up to answer. It was his apartment too after all. He'd moved in with his brother after graduation.

At the door was an amazing girl, no joke. Frankie reached down and pinched his arm, just to make sure. She was still there.

"Um, hey, I'm not sure I'm at the right place. I'm looking for my cousin, Lilly. She told me to meet her here. My name is Abby."

She reached out her hand for him to shake, but he was lost in her deep blue eyes and delayed his introduction for a few seconds, "Uh, Frankie. Your cousin is marrying my brother."

"Hey that's cool! Is she here?"

"Actually, she and Nick went off somewhere," he said, leaning against the doorway for balance.

"Damn, she was supposed to help me unpack. I'm starting at UCLA this year, but my family lives in Vermont, so they couldn't exactly come. Lilly was going to help, but I guess…"

"I could help! I mean, uh, I'm not doing anything, right now, if you needed, you know, a heavy lifter, or something," he said, trying his hardest to be coherent.

"Actually, that would be great, but I'd have to pay you."

"No. A gentleman doesn't let ladies carry heavy things."

"I could pay for pizza?"

"I don't let girls pay for dinner either."

She smirked, "How about this? There's a new movie out I wanted to see. You pay for the tickets, I buy popcorn?"

This time Frankie felt like he couldn't say no.

"Deal"

-FREEDOM-

'Oh Elvis, the things you must have seen last night…' Nick thought as the afternoon sunshine drove into the room.

Nick looked down at the girl in his arms. Lilly was still asleep. She could sleep forever, but he didn't mind. She was his forever anyway.

He pulled her closer to him and smiled. He started humming along to a song he couldn't recall the words to.

He heard her grunt, finally waking up. He watched her face to see the realization cross it.

"Good morning Mrs. Jonas," he said, brushing her hair back from her face.

Lilly's eyes fluttered open, her eyes meeting his, "Morning."

He leaned down and kissed her on the nose. She smiled, wiping the crust from her eyes.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Not long. I was just watching you sleep."

"Creeper!"

"Well, you're the one who married a creeper."

"That's right, we're married aren't we? Weird isn't it? Us, married."

"I know, next we'll have to get a pet. What about a poodle?" he asked, smirking.

"That's not funny," she said, slightly embarrassed.

"I thought it was," he said, still smiling.

"Obviously. I was trying to be all sensual and sexy and you couldn't stop laughing."

"I'm sorry", he said, letting a single finger wander along her jaw. "I made up for it, didn't I?"

She giggled, unable to stay miffed, "A couple times actually."

"Wanna try again?" he said, rolling over to lean over her suggestively. Just as she was about to answer, his phone started to vibrate on the table next to the bed.

"I don't want to get that," he said, leaning toward his lips.

She put her hand between them, "What if it's your parents?"

He groaned, "Why did I have to marry the girl with a conscience?"

Nick rolled out of bed, searching for his boxers which he'd tossed last night. For the life of him he couldn't…found them, on the lamp next to the bed. Huh.

He threw them on and answered the phone, grabbing his jeans off the floor on the way to the balcony. He put the phone between his shoulder and his ear as he tried to get his jeans on without dropping it.

"Hello?" he answered, letting out a huge yawn.

"Good morning starshine, the world says hello! Someone had a late night I assume?" he heard Frankie say, almost seeing the smirk on his face as he said it.

"Is that really any of your business?"

"No, but at least now I know the answer. My brother the sex machine. I hope you're married…"

"Of course, Uncle Frank's kids were the witnesses and everything. We almost went with one of those Elvis impersonators though, just for the heck of it."

"Yeah, they are," it sounded like he was talking away from the phone.

"Who are you talking to?"

"Just mom, she wanted to make sure…"

"How long have you been in the room with her?"

"For the whole conversation. Why?"

"You called me a sex machine in front of our mother?"

"Huh, I guess I did. Maybe she didn't hear it," Nick could hear mumbling on the other side of the line. "Oh, I guess she did. Whoops. I'm gonna go hide in the bathroom now."

He heard the door slide behind him and he turned around to see Lilly in his button-down shirt from last night.

"So that's where my shirt went," he said, thinking out loud.

"Where?" Frankie asked.

"On my wife," he took in a breath, clearly audible from the other side of the world.

"With nothing but your T-Shirt on…It still creeps me out that you guys share clothes. Just please don't start wearing her jeans."

"Lilly, remind me to wear a pair of your jeans home."

She looked up, speaking for the first time since she'd come outside.

"I'm hoping that's not your mother…"

"Frankie"

"Tell him I say hi."

"Lilly says hi."

"Is she right there? Put it on speaker."

"Hey Lilly, your cousin Abby showed up yesterday right after you left."

"Crap, I forgot all about that. We were supposed to help her move into her dorm last night. I have shitty timing don't I?"

"That's okay; she had a big strong man to help her."

"What? Is Joe home?" Nick couldn't help but snicker at his wife's biting wit.

He still turned off the speaker before his brother uttered some choice words.

"Did I mention that Abby stayed over last night? Her roommate hadn't arrived yet, and she didn't want to be alone, so I offered…"

"You're crushing on my wife's cousin?"

"You haven't met her. She's…amazing," Nick could almost hear himself in his brother's words.

"I trust you Tank," he paused. "Did I ever tell you I was planning to ask you to be my best man?"

There was silence on the line for a few seconds, "Really?"

"Yeah, really! Who else would I ask?"

"Kevin, or Joe, or the guy who delivers your groceries…"

"Frankie, you know you're not only my brother, you're my best friend. Did I ever mention that?"

"No…you never did. Thanks bro."

Nick could hear his brother holding back tears.

"Alright Tank, I would keep talking to you, but you're not looking at me the way she is…"

He laughed, "Good, because I'm pretty sure that's illegal and immoral. Have fun Prez."

Before Nick could say another word, the line went dead. He turned around to look at Lilly. She was leaning over the balcony, her hair blowing wildly in the breeze. She looked breathtaking. He took a step toward her and she looked up.

"What were you thinking about?"

"It's nothing. Don't worry."

"If you have to say that it was nothing, it must have been something. What is it?"

"I don't know. It's just, whenever I thought of getting married I thought of that first dance, and how magical it would feel. I guess I had to forgo that with the shotgun wedding but…"

Nick had already gone inside toward the stereo. There was a CD of Debussy in and he pushed play. Lilly had only taken one step into the suite, but he glided right over to her, putting her hands around his neck and putting his around her waist. She shook her head it utter frustration of how easily he could sweep her off her feet.

"Lilly, can you possibly have any idea how much I love you right now?"

"I'm can only hope it's anywhere close to how much I love you," she said, smiling.

He wiped the smirk off her face when he bent down to her ear, grazing the lobe, before whispering, "More."