Author's note: Big thank you to everyone who's ever reviewed this story and supported me. Here's the last chapter! It's cheesy, but I hope you think it's just as cute as I do.

9th January 2016

Free. Ireland was finally free. After all this, almost two years, she was finally allowed to go home, to the apartment Xav had purchased for the pair of them a couple of months ago (the apartment was all set up for them but Xav had yet to live in it, instead choosing to stay with his mom until Ireland was able to move in with him). Her freedom had been a long time coming, and honestly a part of her had started to believe it would never happen. But it was happening; now, today.

She was no longer in the familiar orange jumpsuit, instead now just in jeans and a t-shirt. She'd never been so happy to have such an outfit.

As she made her way through security and all the official protocols, she thought about Xavier Benedict. He would be outside in the street waiting for her. She knew she'd most likely run towards him as soon as she caught sight of him, that she'd throw herself into his arms and never want to let go of him. Going so long without touching him had been torture considering how physical with each other they usually were – no kissing, no hugging, not even any hand-holding. To be frank, all she wanted was to fall into bed with him and not leave the bedroom for at least a week.

She flashed a prison guard a triumphant smile as she finally left the front doors of the building. That particular guard had been cruel to her from day one and she was amused at the glare he gave her now as she passed him.

She walked through the prison's small car park and towards the gates that led out onto the street, her steps rushed in her excitement. She stood restless on the spot whilst the gates slowly opened, trying to crane her neck to look through the gaps in the fencing so she could see him.

Finally, she stepped out onto the sidewalk, buzzing with energy over finally knowing that she was definitely, no doubt about it anymore, totally and utterly free.

"Ireland."

She spun around to her left when she heard the voice, desperate to see Xav there. However it was Evander, her older brother, that was waiting for her. Evan was dressed in a smart dark blue suit, with a white shirt, and dark grey tie. His hair was gelled into a neat style, his black shoes shining. Leaning against the tall wall encasing the prison grounds, he had a welcoming smile on his face. Evan straightened up and walked towards her, before throwing his arms around her smaller body.

She accepted the hug, her arms going around his waist. After he'd been released, Evan had got permission from the net to visit her every week with Xav – he only stayed for half an hour though, so the couple could have time alone – and they'd grown close in a way they never had been before. She'd always envied Xav for the relationships he'd had with his brothers, but now she had a similar one and it made her so happy.

When they finally pulled away from each other, she started to look around her as if Xav would pop up out of thin air. "Where's Xav?" She asked when she finally accepted that he wasn't here. A wave of sadness overwhelmed her senses. "He said that he'd be here, he promised..."

"Yeah about that," Evan told her in an apologetic tone, "something came up and he couldn't make it. That's why he sent me to pick you up." He put his hands on her shoulders and shook his head. "Don't get upset or angry, he couldn't help it, okay? You'll still get to see him later. You'll get to see everyone later, they're all really excited."

Ireland sighed. She didn't know what had happened for Xav not to be here but she knew that it must have been important for him to break a promise to her. So despite being really disappointed, she understood. At least he had the good sense to make sure somebody was here to pick her up so she wouldn't have to make her own way home.

She looked back at Evan and wondered, "why are you dressed like that?" Evan, who had never worn a suit in his life and looked rather uncomfortable right now, looked so different dressed so smart. She knew that it wasn't for work, as he had managed to get a job as a personal trainer, so she really had no clue what was up with the outfit.

Evan grinned and simply said, "you'll see later. Come on, the car's this way."

When they entered the town of Wrickenridge and Evan didn't take the turning that would lead them to Karla's house, it became clear to Ireland that they had a different destination in mind and that Evan was not going to tell her a thing until they got there.

There ended up being a farm, one that reminded her of a place they'd once lived in when they'd spent a year in Yorkshire, England. A huge red brick barn took up most of her line of sight, with a small two-storey house covered in ivy beside it. Fields sat on either side, and presumably behind, the two buildings. One field had a couple of horses in, another had some cows and sheep. She had to admit that it was a lovely place but it made no sense to her.

"Why are we here?" She asked Evan, undoing her seatbelt and looking across at him.

"This is where Uriel and his family live," Evan informed her, opening his car door. "Just get out and in a few minutes it will all make sense to you."

Confused, and admittedly a little bit nervous about what was coming, she got out of the car and followed him over to the house; to Uriel's house. Evan went straight in and again she followed him, hoping for some answers. Hoping, more than anything, that Xav was waiting for her inside.

The hallway was painted cream, with family photos framed on the wall. Beside the door were five pairs of wellies, all different sizes and colours – one pair were bright pink, another had Spider-Man all over them, and the smallest pair, small enough for a one year old or so, had little pink love-hearts decorating them. It was clearly a well-loved family home.

Evan took her into the living room where a few familiar faces waited for her: Karla sat on a black leather chair, and Georgie and Hazel were sat on the floor with a big make-up box in front of them. Beside them was a baby playmat, with a chubby baby dressed in pink laid on it – Ireland guessed this was Victor and Hazel's newest daughter, Cadence. Then a 12 year old Gracie was walking towards Ireland, dressed in a light grey dress with flowers around the waist. She looked so grown up, Ireland couldn't believe it had only been two years since she had last seen her. Beside Gracie, holding her hand, stood a two year old girl in a matching dress to Gracie's. She looked up at Ireland shyly, her dark curls hiding her face. Instinctively, Ireland knew that this was Ariadne – she was the spitting image of her mother, Hazel.

Gracie smiled a toothy grin and let go of Ariadne so she could wrap her arms around Ireland. Wow, the girl was getting tall. "I missed you so much, Aunty Ireland!"

Ireland gulped to hold back tears and stroked Gracie's hair gently. "I missed you as well. I can't wait to hear what I've missed. You have to tell me about school and everything, alright?"

Gracie pulled back and nodded, taking Ariadne's hand again and leading her over towards some toys in the corner of the room. Ireland looked at the other three women in the room and was surprised to see that they too were dressed up, with their hair and make-up done too.

"What's going on?" Ireland asked slowly. "I don't understand... Where's Xav?"

"Turn around, love," Karla said kindly, a huge smile on her face.

Ireland turned to face the doorway again and saw that a white garment bag hung from the door. Evan met her eyes before pulling down the zipper of the garment bag and pulling the sides back to reveal what was inside. Ireland gasped, eyes wide open in disbelief.

Right in front of her was a strapless lace wedding gown that was form-fitted and curved off at the bottom into a fishtail. Also on the hanger was a floor-length veil with lace decorating the edges. It was beautiful. And it looked to be in her size.

"I don't understand." She didn't know who she was talking to and she didn't take her eyes off the dress. "Please, somebody tell me what the hell is going on before my brain explodes."

"Wedding!" She heard Ariadne exclaim in a happy voice.

"Xav arranged all of this," Evan added. "It was his idea to have it here, he picked out the decorations and the colour theme. Even chose the dress, with Yves' girlfriend's help. You can say no to this, if you want, but just know there's a crowd of people – including Xav – waiting for you outside, and they're expecting you out there in about an hour or so. You'd be ruining their day, really. Plus, Gracie and Ariadne are really looking forward to being bridesmaids." He smirked at her, daring her to say no. "If you agree, you're getting married today, Land."

She spun around to face the others. The shock of this still hadn't passed and she wasn't sure when it would sink in. A wedding. Today. Her wedding... Today. How on Earth had Xav managed to plan all of this without breaking and telling her the secret? Oh, and he knew she hated surprises. "But-" She stammered. "But I haven't even had time to prepare for this!"

"Does it matter, really?" Karla asked, pulling herself to her feet. She looked well, Ireland thought to herself. She looked happy, like she was no longer letting the grief for her Saul weigh her down. "You and Xav are made for each other and I can't imagine either of you with anyone else. He put so much thought into all of this, just to give you a day that you would love. Besides, this is what you wanted, isn't it? To be a Benedict? So what is stopping you?"

"I don't know," she replied, realising that Karla was right. This was a nice surprise and for Xav to do all of this just for her, well, it was so sweet and romantic. Honestly, she didn't know he had it in him. Her lips turned up into a smile and she felt warm inside. God, she was so in love with him. "I guess I'm getting married today then."

"Great!" Georgie squealed, clapping her hands together once. "Well, we don't have much time. You're going to go upstairs and get a quick shower, then Hazel and I are doing your hair and make-up. Evan, you wanna go run and put Xav out of his misery? Tell him that she's going along with it?"

"Wait, he thought I wouldn't?" She asked, raising her eyebrows. It didn't sound like Xav to not be confident of everyone being in love with him.

"He said you might chicken out because you don't like surprises," Hazel said with a laugh. "You should have seen him this morning when he was setting everything up. He was so nervous, bless him."

Ireland scoffed and laughed too, finding herself unable to stop smiling. So, this was why he hadn't been there to pick her up. As far as excuses went for breaking promises, this was a pretty good one.

The ceremony was all set up, on one of the fields on Uriel's land, and they had gotten lucky with the weather – the sun was shining down on them, a light breeze cooling down the air. The wedding guests – Xav's family and friends mainly, seeing as Ireland didn't really have any – were seated on white chairs that had a dark blue ribbon wrapped around the back.

Xav was stood under a trellised arch that was decorated in white lilies and grey ribbon. Dressed in the same suit that all his brothers and Evan were wearing, he stared out into the distance and tried to block out all the chatter behind him. He did hear his mum, Hazel, and Georgie join his family on the front few rows though, which let him know that Ireland would be coming out soon. He'd been planning this day for a year now, constantly changing his mind on everything because he just wanted it to be perfect. This morning he wasn't even sure about grey and blue being the colour scheme, but it was too late to change it now and his family had assured him everything looked lovely.

His leg was shaking, his palms were sweating, and his chest had tightened, making it difficult for him to breathe. He wasn't nervous about marrying Ireland, but he was nervous about seeing her again and seeing her reaction to all of this. He'd put so much thought into it and he was just praying that she liked it. It was all for her, after all.

When the violinist started playing a melody – not the wedding march, but something much sweeter and enjoyable – Xav turned to face the makeshift aisle, heart pounding away in his chest like a drum. He gave a tense smile as Gracie and Ariadne walked down the aisle hand-in-hand, the younger of the two singing to herself which made a few people chuckle. His nieces looked adorable, but Xav was too wound up to give them genuine smiles or thank them as they moved to sit with their parents.

A long moment later, his soulfinder appeared at the end of the aisle. The dress looked amazing on her just like he knew it would, hugging her curves perfectly and giving her an elegant look. Her dark blonde hair was pinned back, the veil secure and falling behind her. She was arm-in-arm with Evan as he led her down the aisle and Xav watched as she looked around to take in every detail. He hoped that all the unfamiliar faces weren't freaking her out, because everybody here was important to him in some way.

Then, she finally looked forward and met his eyes, and the world stopped. Everybody disappeared. It was just the two of them. Xav's entire body relaxed and his face finally cracked into a real smile as he beamed at her, his heart aching with the overwhelming knowledge of how beautiful she was. He just knew then, in that look, that she didn't care that there were none of her family and friends there aside from Evan, that she didn't care because it was all about the two of them and nobody else.

The world returned as she reached his side and out of the corner of his eye, Xav saw that Karla was crying already.

As they said their vows to one another and exchanged rings – matching his and hers silver bands – they didn't look away from each other or stop smiling the whole time. And when they were finally pronounced husband and wife, Xav took that as a cue to finally be able to touch her for almost two years.

He swept Ireland up into his arms, lifting her off the ground slightly as their lips finally met again. Xav had missed kissing her, missed having his hands on her body. Ireland's arms wrapped around his neck when her feet touched the ground again, pulling him down to her. His fingers dug into her hips and he relished in the feeling of her pressed against him.

He didn't know how long they were kissing, just knew that it was Trace that broke them apart, laughing as he did so. "Guess we got a little carried away there," Xav whispered to his new wife, a little breathless. "One heck of a show we gave them though, right?"

Ireland grinned. "Something for them to remember," she laughed. "I waited so long to be able to do that, I don't even care if it made them uncomfortable."

"Good, because I'm not going to take my hands off you all day now whether you want me to or not."

True to his word, Xav didn't let go of her once and Ireland couldn't say that she wanted to complain. Even when everybody was sat at the tables eating, he kept one hand on her leg the whole time, and when they were dancing he made sure their bodies were as close to each other as could possibly be.

The ceremony was being held in the barn beside Uriel's house. It had been completely cleaned out thankfully, and Ireland had been impressed to hear that Xav had chosen on his own how it would be decorated. Fairy lights dangled from the ceiling, glittering. White tables and chairs lined the edges of the barn, leaving plenty of space in the middle for people to use as a dance floor. Each table had the same centrepiece: a bunch of white lilies, with a framed photograph of Karla and Saul on their wedding day. Xav informed her that he'd want to include his dad in the day some way and this had been a good opportunity to have him there and have people remember him.

After dancing for so long that her feet were hurting in her white heels, and being introduced to so many people that she'd lost track of who was who, she finally told Xav that she needed a break. They went over to the head table and Xav took a seat. Instead of sitting next to him, she plopped herself straight into his lap and draped her arms around his neck. Xav's hands went to her waist and he relaxed on the chair, tipping his head back and letting out a long sigh. He looked tired, Ireland thought to herself. Tired, but happy.

He lifted his head again and flashed her a smirk. "So, how did I do? Did you guess the surprise before they told you?"

"No," she scoffed. "I had no idea you'd do something like this! You do know that when I said I wanted to marry you when I was released, I didn't literally mean the day of."

"I know that, but I couldn't stop thinking about how I wanted to marry you as soon as possible and that's when this idea came into my mind. It's okay though, right? I was worried you'd just want us to be on our own today, that this might be too much for you straight away." His voice was gentle and he gave her a concerned look, like he was really was worried he'd made a mistake organising this for today.

"I thought that's what I wanted," she admitted, stroking his hair. "This is so perfect though, I love it. Honest. You've pulled out all the stops which I won't forget. You'll be organising every party that we have for the rest of our lives from now on."

Xav groaned and said, "ah! I knew something bad would have to come out of today. Damn it." He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I haven't told you yet... Tonight we're spending the night in a hotel in Denver, then early tomorrow morning we're getting on plane and heading to Paris for the week."

"Paris!"

"Yeah," he laughed at her enthusiasm. "City of love, and all that. I thought it'd be perfect for us. When we get back, we're officially moving into our new home."

"Ooh, I can't imagine that. You, not living with your mum for the first time ever? I don't know how you'll cope," she teased, before giving him a light kiss on the cheek.

"Nah, mom can't wait to get rid of me."

They laughed together, before one of his hands drifted up to cup her cheek. "C'mere," he whispered. When her soft lips touched his, she marvelled at the fact that she would be able to do this whenever she wanted from now on. There would be nobody stopping them, nobody trying to split them or get them to kill each other, and they had a wonderful future ahead of them.

"Do you think anyone would notice if we slipped away for some alone time?" Ireland asked softly. She bit his bottom lip, smiling when he gasped and his body shivered. It was good to know she could still affect him like that.

"Considering it's our wedding and we're the centre of the attention, I'd say probably yes. I don't give a fuck though, so if it doesn't bother you that when we get back they'll all know exactly what we were up to, then I'm all for getting some alone time. Uriel's house will be empty, and he's got a pretty big sofa." He waggled his eyebrows and gave her a dark look, tongue darting out to lick his bottom lip.

Ireland took in a shaky breath, understanding that he was daring her to do this. Dare or not, she wanted him. She was no longer Ireland Hawk; she was now Ireland Benedict. And God damn it, she was going to make the most of her life to prove to herself that her dad would never have a hold on her and ruin her life again. Her past didn't matter anymore, it was her life with Xav, her husband and soulfinder, that did.

She let go of him and rose to her feet. Holding her hand out for him to take, she said, "we could get caught, you know. It's risky."

Xav linked his fingers through hers and stood up. He had a twinkle in his eye, one full of love and humour. She loved it. She loved him. Xav asked her: "what's life without a little risk?"

THE END

Author's note: There you have it, I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know :)

The title of the story comes from the song The Best of You by Foo Fighters.

I'm already working on the next story in my series, and I plan to post the first chapter very soon. Maybe even today if I can manage it. So keep a look out for it! It was originally going to be Uriel's story but as I was planning it, I didn't feel like what I wanted for him was enough for a full story unfortunately, so instead of doing a short story or including loads of pointless things in it, I'm going to do Uriel's and Yves' story in one. It'll primarily be Yves' story because I have more planned for him, but you'll get plenty of Uriel too, promise :)