Thanks for the reviews, and a special thank you to Philadelphia for being so honest. I'm glad that you see what I was trying to do now. ;)
This final chapter (I know, I suck, but it had to end sometime!) is dedicated to Tahti, for coming up with the idea (I was going to end it last chapter), and egging me on. It's probably not exactly what you had in mind, but hopefully, it's just as good, if not better! ;)
Chapter 20. I Do
Jack was the first one awake the next morning, tightening his arms around Kate and drawing her as close to his chest as he could without waking her, smiling into her hair when she adjusted to his movements as if they were an extension of her own. He was sure that he'd never felt as complete as he did basking in the afterglow of what was easily the most perfect day of his life; he was pretty sure he could die right then without regretting a thing, even their decision to let nature take its course.
While the memory was still etched into his brain, and he doubted that it would ever leave him, he couldn't help thinking that a child would make what had happened between that much more meaningful; he understood now why she hadn't wanted to safeguard against it.
The thought of welcoming a little piece of them, of that night, in nine short months filled him with warmth; he was still grinning when she stirred, stretching languidly as she copied his expression. "What're you smiling at?"
"Nothing," he told her with a coy grin as he brought his hands up to her face, pulling her down for a long, morning kiss.
He let go of her when her stomach rumbled vocally, and he realised that aside from the snacks that they'd been offered on the plane, neither of them had eaten since before the hearing.
"I'm starving," she admitted as she sat up with the covers drawn to her chest, her cheeks flushed pink, and he couldn't resist teasing her by saying, "That can't be good for little Marc."
Her whole face turned scarlet, and she ducked her head, hiding behind a mess of tousled curls, but he saw her hand drift to the place where the sheets covered her belly, as if she too had already begun to prepare herself.
Even though he was mostly kidding, and it was too early to matter, he knew that making sure she was well fed couldn't hurt. The healthier she was, the better their chances. "We can go down to one of the restaurants and get breakfast," he told her, fumbling for his jeans, "They should have a buffet," but she caught his wrist, drawing his attention back to her.
"Or we could just stay up here and order room service," she added with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows, grinning as she dragged him back into bed with her, forcing all thoughts of getting up out his head.
They stayed in bed for most of the morning, getting their money's worth out of the room, but even so, Jack was eager to explore the rest of the hotel. After promising to resume their private celebration after dinner, he managed to convince Kate to get dressed and come down with him to the lobby, where they inspected the one hundred foot long aquarium neither of them had paid much attention to on the way in, before checking out the casino, shops, spa, and garden and dolphin habitat, agreeing to spend more time on each later.
They were both starving again by then, so, since aside from their court clothes (which Kate playfully suggested they burn), they hadn't thought to pack anything besides jeans, they went to one of the more casual restaurants, which offered a buffet of ethnic foods.
As he sat with her at one of the open booths along the walls, taking in the Spartan décor and kitschy stripped carpet, it occurred to Jack that this was the first time he'd ever been able to share a meal with her, and feel completely at ease, without having to worry about boars or Others or the future, or lack there of. It made him realise how much he'd missed it; how much he'd missed being normal; and how much he wanted it keep doing, for the rest of their lives.
He wasn't sure what made him say it exactly, any more than he was sure of what had convinced him to bring her of Vegas, all he knew was that he wanted her to agree more than he'd ever wanted anything in his life. "I've been thinking," he told her, keeping his voice conversational so that he could pass it off as a joke if she didn't, "and I decided that if you're gonna have my baby, you should marry me too."
She put her fork down, and glanced up at him, her eyes twinkling with amusement, and he couldn't tell whether or not she knew he was serious. "That's a bit medieval, isn't it, Jack?"
"No, it's not," he explained, knowing that he hadn't said it out of some old world sense of decency, any more than she'd said that they should risk getting pregnant because she wanted to have sex, "not when I mean that if there's a baby, I want of us to be a family."
"And if there's no baby?" she asked, teasing him, though her expression had an underlying seriousness, and he could tell that she was thinking about what he'd said. She just needed to know that he was in it for the right reasons.
"I still wanna spend the rest of my life with you," he confessed, and she smiled, her eyes shining as she agreed, leaning forward to kiss him over the table.
"We've got a couple of hours before we go back to the room," she said with a coy grin when she returned to her seat. "If you want, you could make an honest woman out of me."
"You don't wanna wait and have a proper ceremony?" he asked her, having already dismissed the idea of a quickie wedding as insane. He was pretty sure that his mother would disown him, especially after learning that his bride was an ex con – almost – and he thought that she might want her father there, to walk her down the aisle.
"I don't wanna wait," she agreed, kissing him again, adding, with an impish grin, "Think of what a great story we'll have to tell little Marc."
"All right then," he said, beaming at her, deciding that he could almost get used to this new, moment to moment way of living. It was liberating, to say the least, though he knew that things would probably return to normal as soon as they got home. "But I'm gonna have to draw the line at having an Elvis Impersonator perform the ceremony."
As it turned out, they didn't need an Elvis Impersonator; after asking around, they found a chapel away from the Strip called The Chapel of Flowers, that held small, intimates ceremonies as well as elaborate traditional weddings.
Even though it was just the two of them, they decided to dress for the occasion; while Kate went to search for a dress, insisting on upholding the tradition of not letting him see it, Jack bought a new suit, one that didn't carry such mixed memories with it. He wanted them to have a clean slate, just like he'd promised her on the island, and somehow, ridding themselves of the past seemed like an integral part of that.
They hadn't had time to choose a song; even if they had, Jack couldn't think of one that did their love justice; so they settled on Pachebell's Canon in D, and after changing into her simple white dress, her curls pinned loosely on the crown of her head, like a halo, Kate made the slow walk towards him, looking so beautiful, and yet still so much like the woman he'd fallen in love with that he wanted to cry, and not from anger, or fear, this time. If he wasn't already crazy about her, enough to marry her, he was sure that he would have been after seeing her like that.
She stopped when she reached him, squeezing his hands; as the celebrant began to speak, Jack couldn't take his eyes off her, or her off him. He could see that she was fighting back tears of her own; she almost lost it when he said, "I do," and again when it was her turn, swallowing hard before answering.
They were both feeding off the raw emotion the other was projecting; he wasn't sure he would be able to get through his vows without succumbing to it, but as he began to speak, his gaze locked on hers, the rest of the world faded away, and it was just the two of them, confessing their love for each other, this time with no confusion, and nothing to separate them.
"I Jack, take you Kate, to be my wife, loving what I know of you, trusting what I don't…" he began, knowing that couldn't have expressed himself better if he'd tried; it was as if those words had been written for them, for him.
While they'd decided to use traditional vows, they'd agreed to personalise them as best they could by each selecting their own; as he spoke, she beamed at him, and he knew that this was exactly what she'd been hoping to hear, that he loved her regardless of all of the mistakes that she'd made.
When he finished, she took a deep breath and started with, "I Kate, take you Jack, to be my husband, my partner in life, and my one true love," but she didn't make it much further than that before the flood gates burst, and she began to cry, covering her face with her hand.
"I'm sorry," she choked out; "It's okay," he told her, shifting it away gently so that he could see her face, surprised, and relieved, when she whispered, "I know".
He could see then that she was smiling; as he ducked his head, bringing his lips down to meets hers, he heard the celebrant joke, "Maybe we should just skip to the part where I tell you to seal the promises you've made with a kiss," but Kate pulled away from him, shaking her head.
"No, I want to finish," she said, closing her eyes to get her tears under control. "Where was I…?"
"I will cherish our union…" the celebrant prompted her, and after repeating this, she continued, "…and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you, cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad…" here she faltered again "…regardless of the obstacles we face. I give you my hand, my heart and my love, from this day forward, for as long as we both shall live."
By the time she reached the end, they were both crying openly; when the celebrant told him to, Jack slipped the ring onto her finger, next to the diamond one he'd bought her at the hotel. She did the same for him, fumbling with the matching gold band, her hands shaking, and then the celebrant pronounced them husband and wife.
There was no one there to congratulate them, but as they floated out of the chapel, elated, still clinging to each other's hands, Jack wouldn't have changed it for the world.
"I thought yesterday was the most amazing day of my life," he told her as they headed back to the hotel to start their honeymoon, "but now…"
He grinned at her, and she grinned back, her eyes still damp as she pulled him in for their first real kiss as husband and wife. "I'm gonna have to agree with that…"
Next chapter: As some of you already know, this time around, the epilogue will have slight twist: I'm going to switch perspectives and bring back a character most of you will have forgotten about... ;)