Let's not jinx it but I think I've found a rhythm with this story. Cooperative muses are such a nice thing. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! You guys rock.

Ooh Baby do you know what that's worth
Ooh heaven is a place on earth
They say in heaven love comes first
We'll make heaven a place on earth
-Belinda Carlisle's 'Heaven On Earth';

Fear wasn't allowed to be part of the job because it had a way of sinking into your skin and causing irreparable mistakes. Danny Messer stood in the hallway of the Manhattan apartment building trying to be anything besides afraid as he watched her. She had a confidence, an air of invincibility, as she stood with her gun drawn in her left hand as her right hand pounded against the door, "NYPD, open up!" He watched as her eyes flicked to her partner, "was that a window opening?"

"Let's go." Flack replied as Austin swung her body around, the sole of her boot slamming just above the doorknob causing it to bust away. She entered first leading with her gun, Flack followed close behind, and Danny brought up the tail end.

She broke away from the group upon seeing their suspect trying to shove his window up, "FREEZE. NYPD. Stay right there, Mr. Peters."

Mr. Peters, an overweight male in his mid-forties wanted for extortion and murder, paused with his hand resting on a lamp that was sitting on the stand next to the window. His eyes met Austin's for a split second before he hurled the lamp at her. Her shoulder took the hit and she charged the man, grabbing his wrist and attempting to subdue him. For his part, the old man tried to land a punch on her which she missed with a Matrix like back bend before landing a hit on the man's own jaw. He staggered for a moment before collapsing to the floor where Austin promptly locked him into her handcuffs. Leaning against the man to keep him on the ground, she blew her hair from her face and looked up at the men, "You think you guys can handle it now that I did the hard work? I was supposed to meet Stella twenty minutes ago."

"Yeah," Flack shrugged with an eye roll, "sure. We got this."

"You sure?" Austin asked, hauling the suspect to his feet, "Wouldn't want to leave you hangin' partner."

"Get outta here," He pointed toward the door, "pain in my ass."

She handed Mr. Peters off to Flack and sauntered over to Danny. She kissed his cheek and gave him a wink, "I've gotta go meet Stella to go look at dresses then I'm heading over to Lindsay's for the night. Don't wait up. I might just crash there. Oh, and make sure you take Elvis out after dinner."

He made a face as she walked off and Flack made a whipped motion with his free hand, "Shuddup, I'm a kept man."

–

The bistro was bubbling over with people but Stella had managed to snag them a table. Austin shoved her way through the crowd and collapsed into the seat across from her, "Sorry I'm late."

"It's okay," Stella smiled at her over her iced tea glass, "I ordered you a coke and that sandwich you're so fond of."

"You take such good care of me." Austin smiled and rest her bruised knuckles against the ice cold glass.

"Looks like you saw some action," Stella smiled and scooped some ice from her water glass, wrapped it in a napkin, and pressed it against Austin's knuckles. She cradled the younger woman's wrist in her hand as she inspected the hand for any real damage, "so, Rocky, what do you guys have planned so far?"

She smiled and pulled her hand back, resting the ice against it. Stella was always taking care of her. They had met five years prior when Austin was fresh out of the academy and Mac Taylor had taken her under his wing. The two had clicked right of way and Austin counted Stella as a mother figure, someone who was stable when she was spinning chaotically, and that's why she had chosen Stella to go dress shopping with her, "Well, we're getting married in the park. Flack's going to stand up with Danny and I'm gonna ask Lindsay tonight if she'll be my maid of honor. I'm hoping I can talk Mac into walking me down the aisle... and I have a special favor to ask of you."

"What's that?" Stella asked as the waitress brought their food around.

"Well," Austin chewed on her lower lip, "I was hoping that you maybe might want to be seated with the mothers but if you don't I understand and maybe I can-"

"Austin," Stella rested a hand on her forearm, "you're rambling, sweetheart."

"Right," Austin shook her head, "I was just... I want you to be part of the ceremony. You and Mac both. So, would you please do me the honor of sitting with the mothers?"

"Of course I will," She smiled, "and I promise not to cry too much."

"Good." Austin mumbled around a mouthful of turkey, "will you help me talk Mac into walking me down the aisle?"

"Honey, you're not gonna have to do much talking. He'll be bawling and saying yes before you finish asking him."

"Won't that be a sight to see."

When their food had disappeared and the bill was paid they took off down the street. Austin's arm tucked into Stella's as they giggled and talked about everything under the sun but nothing of real importance. They were walking past a window display for a wedding store when Austin veered off the sidewalk and yanked Stella into the store with her, "C'mon, let's check this place out."

"I thought you said no official bridal shops, Austin," She sighed and followed her into the store, "that you didn't want to pay out the ass for something you're only wearing once."

"Doesn't hurt to look. Get ideas and stuff."

Her jaw slacked, "My God, Austin Hawthorne, you're a real girl!"

"Shut it, Geppetto."

They spent two hours going through dresses and pulling out ones acceptable for trying on. Austin had tried on so many dresses that she was near tears from the frustration of it all and was close to calling it quits for the day when she spotted it. In the back of the store, hanging in the 'gently used' section was the dress she had been dreaming of since she was eleven years old. The one that had been sketched in the margins of her notebooks and dreamed about in dreams where she married Kevin Bacon. She grabbed it off the rack and rushed to the dressing room.

"Oh my God," She mumbled, twirling around in it and looking at herself in the mirror, "oh my fat baby Buddha."

"Aust?" Stella called from the other side of the door, "Let me see it. Get your butt out here."

"Stell," She spoke softly, her hand resting on the doorknob, "it's perfect."

She stepped out of the changing room with tears in her eyes. The off-white gown stopped just below her knees, tied around her neck, and had a green ribbon around the middle that matched the color theme Austin had picked out perfectly. She spun around and looked over at her friend, "So?"

"I," Stella mumbled around tears, "that's... you... that's the dress."

"Don't cry," Austin rushed to her, wiping the tears from her face before getting engulfed in a hug, "Save the tears for the wedding woman or we'll both turn into emotional hair-brained wrecks and we can't have that happening, can we?"

"Oh you just have to ruin an emotional moment," Stella chuckled and pulled back, her hands resting on Austin's shoulders and looking her in the eye, "you are going to make the most beautiful bride in the world, Austin Grace. I'm so very proud of you and Danny and love you both very much."

"This is not helping me not cry, Stella."

"Deal with it."

–

Austin sprinted up the steps to Lindsay Monroe's apartment; her arms were loaded down with shopping bags so she kicked the door until Lindsay opened it. Her friend stood before her in a pair of sweats and what she was sure was Adam Ross' University of Phoenix sweatshirt, "Did you buy out all of lower Manhattan?"

"Wedding stuff." Austin shrugged, "Can I stow my dress here? Danny's a snoop and this marriage is not gonna be jinxed before it even starts."

"Sure." Lindsay rolled her eyes and took some of the bags from her to store in the closet, "so did you find invitations that you like? Because if you're getting married in three weeks... we needed to send them like a month ago."

"Got 'em." She grabbed the bag from the stationary store and collapsed at the kitchen table, "so tonight we need to fill all these out so I can drop them in the mail tomorrow. We've got to pick out music so we can make a list for Hawkes. Oh, and I need you to try on your dress because if it needs to be altered it's gonna have to be this week."

"Well I've got..." Lindsay paused on her way to the stereo, "wait, what? My dress?"

"Well," Austin grinned at her, "you can't go standing next to me in your birthday suit, Monroe. Not supposed to out shine the bride and what not. Plus, it's kind of illegal and probably would be a little cold."

Lindsay's jaw was somewhere near the floor when her mind finally caught up with her, "Are you askin' me to be your maid of honor?"

"Well, I was tellin' not askin' but I guess if don't want to dance with Flack no one could really blame you."

"Austin," She fell down on the couch, "that's like... a really big thing. Don't you have some other friend who should be it? I mean, I would be honored but shouldn't it go to a friend you've known longer. Your best friend?"

"I don't think Flack would look good in hot pink tulle." Austin shrugged, "now come help me fill these out woman."

Lindsay jumped off the couch and hugged her friend around the neck, "I would love to be your maid of honor but tell me you didn't really get me a hot pink tulle dress."

"Do I look that cruel?" Austin asked, "That's the color of Flack's tux."

They sat together listening to music and filling out invitations for almost an hour when Lindsay stopped writing long enough to stretch her fingers and dial for pizza. When she sat down in her seat again, she pulled her left knee to her chest and rested her chin on it, "So... if I'm gonna be your maid of honor you're gonna have to tell me the official Danny and Austin story."

Austin chuckled and turned the page in her address book, "What do you want to know? I thought you would know most of it by now."

"Never heard it from the horse's mouth," She shrugged and wrote another address on an envelope, "Be girly, Austin, tell me how you met, when you knew you loved him, all the gooey stuff."

"Geesh, between you and Stella I just can't catch a break today." Austin sighed and ran a hand through her tangled brown locks, "Danny and I met when I was five and he was seven. Uhm... he and my brother were the same age and met on the way to school one day. Danny was over one afternoon and... I was so mad because Andrew had tossed my doll in the washer and her hair hand tangled around the softener cup. I was tearing him a new one when Danny went in the backdoor to our old laundry room, untangled the doll, and handed her to me..." She paused for a laugh, "I don't think I even said thank you. I just chucked the doll at my brother's head and called him a moron."

"And that was that?"

She shook her head, "We hung out more after that. Danny's house was just two down from mine so we were always together. Andrew and Danny and I was their tag-along. Then, uh, when I was about eight some stuff started happening. The police force was taking a bad rap and my dad was part of it. He started drinking and got real mean. So, I spent a lot of nights running away to Danny's house. The more we were together the closer we became until I couldn't remember a moment in my life that didn't have him in it."

"Aw," Lindsay smiled, "he was your Dawson."

"Don't start that Dawson's Creek crap." Austin chuckled, "What was your next question? Oh right. When did I know I loved him? Danny and I had dated off and on through middle school and high school. The summer before I turned sixteen, Danny had been drafted for the minor leagues and was leaving me. My brother had already left for California at that point so Danny was basically all I had to keep me sane even though I was dating Flack at the time. It was a real rough year that first year he was gone." She glanced over at Lindsay who was hanging on her every word, "when I was seventeen I managed to graduate a year early... Danny was on his way home a few weekends later and I was butting heads with my dad really bad. One thing lead to another and I had my occipital bone broken and was locked in the basement overnight... when I came to the next morning Danny was kicking in the basement window and pulling me out. We hadn't talked in almost a month, I was still dating his only other best friend, and well... I just probably wasn't much worth saving but he saved me anyways. Took me to the hospital, sat by my bedside until I was released a week later, and put me up in a tiny apartment in the city. That's when I knew he loved me and I loved him. I had always loved him... but that moment... it was defining. He did all these things he didn't really have to do because he loved me that much."

"Remind me to hug him the next time I see him." She sniffled, "I wish someone loved me that much."

"What are you blind? Adam Ross thinks you hung every star in the sky." Austin chuckled and tossed a piece of tissue paper at her, "He would die a fiery painful death before he let something happen to you."

"Yeah, well," She shrugged, "I guess we can't all have love stories like that."

"Like Adam and your's is any less beautiful?" Austin shook her head, "Lindsay, not every man is a white knight on a frickin' horse but I think a man who can humbly let you kick his butt at Mario Kart is a pretty close second."

"Anyways," Lindsay chuckled and swiped at her tears, "look at us."

"This is the second time I've cried today and that's two times too many for me." Austin laughed and wiped her tears on the back of her hand, "I am gonna be a mess come the actual wedding day."

"So," She smiled, "You got any more planned? The checklist almost completed?"

"Almost," Austin smiled back, "Mac's walking me down the aisle, Michael is seating the mothers and playing ring bearer, Flack is Danny's best man, you're my maid of honor, Hawkes is handling the music, Dallas is the flower girl. Danny's got some friend from college who became a pastor and is willing to wed us for a free meal. We've gotten the permits and stuff for the park. I've got to rent tables and chairs and the like. Oh, and you and I are getting ready here because you're closest to the park Danny's mom has some connection with a caterer and that's really it for now. I've got to order flowers and the boys are getting fitted for their tuxes next week."

"You are a force to be reckoned with Austin Hawthorne."

"Do me a favor and make sure that's my epitaph."