It was Nick's first time being with Ashley's dad without her presence since he had asked him for his blessing on their wedding. But even so, Nick was slightly nervous. He had met Ashley's dad a month before the actual proposal when she, Nick, and Ellis had taken a trip to Mr. Haner's ranch out in Llano, Texas.

"Daddy, this is Nick." Ashley smiled.

Ashley's dad walked up to Nick, surpassing him in height.

"Allen Haner." The tall man extended a callused hand.

"Nicolas Barretti." Nick shook his hand back, trying to make the shake as firm as possible.

Did he just see the man crack a smile?

"You ever been on a ranch before, Nick?"

"No, sir."

Allen laughed, then looked down at Nick's feet. "Well, where'd you rough up those boots at then, son?"

"Oh, uh," Nick looked down at the black cowboy boots on his feet that were almost too small for him. "Ellis let me borrow these." He chuckled.

"Where is that son of a gun, anyway?" Allen turned to his daughter.

"He should be 'round here somewhere." Ashley shrugged.

Just then, the young man came pulling up in his truck. He jumped out with a big grin on his face.

"There y'are, Ellis!" Allen exclaimed.

"Well, shoot, sure is nice to see y'again, Mr. Allen!"

They slapped each other on the back with a hug.

People didn't intimidate Nick, and neither did guns. People with guns didn't seem to bother him either, but Ashley's dad didn't bring his heart rate down, that was for sure.

He was a nice man, though. Ashley had his eyes, and Nick was pretty sure that they once shared the same hair color, but Allen's was darker and was now streaked with grey.

Now, he was sitting on Ashley's back porch with the man, along with Ellis, the same place he had been months ago when he brought up his intentions to ask Ashley to marry him.

Allen and Ellis were talking about whatever, but Nick's mind was stuck on one single thing, as his gaze was stuck on one same spot on the glass table outside.

"Nick,"

He jumped hearing his name. "Sir?"

"What'sa matter with you, son?"

Nick shrugged. "I'm not sure, I guess I'm just caught up in thought."

"You gettin' cold feet, Nick?" Ellis chuckled.

Nick just rolled his eyes. That would never happen. But could it be something else?

Nick tried to shake the thoughts out of his head.

Then, all three of them turned their attention to the sliding glass door as Ashley and Zoey came walking out.

"Hi, Daddy." Ashley gave her dad a hug.

"Hey, Mr. H." Zoey waved with a grin.

"Hey, Zoey!" Mr. Haner got out of his seat to hug Zoey. "It's been a while since I seen ya, girl."

Zoey laughed and took her place at the table next to Ellis.

Ashley stood behind Nick.

"So, how did things go today?" Allen asked the girls.

"Great." Ashley smiled.

"The dresses are GORGEOUS." Zoey beamed.

Ashley raised her eyebrows at Zoey and she made the motion of closing an imaginary zipper across her lips.

Ellis just laughed.

"Well, that's good, sweetie, I can't wait to see 'em."

"Shoot, y'all.." Ellis shook his head. "I can't believe the wedding is only two weeks away."

"Ellis!" Zoey hissed, slapping him lightly on the arm. "You're gonna stress them out!"

Nick and Ashley laughed.

"Don't worry, Zo. It's good he gets used to that for the future."

"Oh, OKAY." Nick rolled his eyes and laughed.

But sure enough, two weeks later they were facing the day they'd all spent months planning for, as it came faster than expected.

Ashley had spent all day running around, making phone calls, and checking to see that everything was as it should be, until Zoey and Rochelle forced her to take a break.

Finally, evening had arrived, and Ashley was seated in front of a large vanity in a black satin robe. Zoey was in front of her brushing on different shades of eyeshadow and pink puffs of blush, stopping and giggling every now and then.

"Ashley," she smiled moving out of the way. "You're so gorgeous."

Ashley slowly opened her eyes to see her reflection.

She had shimmery nude shades of shadows on her eyes, just a hint of eyeliner on the edges, and her lashes had been flared up and out to top it all off. Her cheeks were tinted with rose, but no one could tell if it was just the makeup or if it was really Ashley.

"Thanks, Zoey." She smiled a little now seeing her face.

Rochelle then walked over and reached out to gently pull the pins out of Ashley's hair, when Sam suddenly flew out of the adjoining room.

"Wait!"

Everyone froze.

Sam walked over and slipped the pins from Ashley's hair letting her natural waves cascade over her shoulders.

"Leave it like that." Sam grinned.

"What?" Ashley exclaimed. "I can't go out like this, this is my natural hair! Sam, you've gotta be joking!"

The tall girl shook her head, still smiling. "Nicky likes it that way."

Wide-eyed Ashley frowned at her worried reflection in the mirror.

"It is gorgeous, you know." Rochelle said meeting Ashley's eyes in the mirror.

"Really, it is." Zoey nodded cheerfully.

Ashley was still frowning. "I guess you can leave it." She shrugged. "I just don't see it."

They slipped the robe off of her and helped her into her dress which she had only seen on her the day she bought it.

She slowly turned to look at herself in the mirror and froze.

Gorgeous white hung all over her naturally tan skin; the dress was strapless, had a sweetheart neckline, and the skirt had a twisted ruffle on the side, keeping it slim, but not too skinny.

Ashley was gorgeous, and maybe she didn't see it how others did, but she was definitely beautiful.

Rochelle pinned two pieces of her hair back which she bumped forward, making a rest for the clip that held the veil.

Ashley felt like she couldn't breathe as she watched all of this happen so quickly.

Meanwhile, in the other building, Nick couldn't be still. He was nervous, anxious, excited, happy, basically every emotion possible.

"Nick, you gotta calm down." Ellis threw a hand on his shoulder. "Y'Look like a horse gettin' branded."

"Ellis, I-.." Nick shook his head. "I just can't help but think it finally hit her."

Ellis cocked his head to the side and frowned.

"That she.." Nick's voice lowered as did his eyes. "That she realized she deserves so much better than me."

"Quit talkin' like that, Nick, that ain't right." Ellis shook his head.

"Yeah, Nick." Francis said buttoning his vest. "Things are gonna be fine. Y'all are great together and you're about to get married, so quit bein' so negative and go out there and shine!" The biker slapped him on the back.

After multiple deep breaths, hand shakes, and sets of jumping up and down, Nick slipped out and took his place in front of the wooden backdrop covered with white roses. Coach laid a hand on his shoulder and nodded, and Nick simply prayed no one would notice how nervous he was.

The music switched and the color coordinated pairs began to descend the aisle.

First was Zoey and Ellis, wearing pink.

Then Hayden and Francis, wearing blue.

Last were Rochelle and Louis, wearing purple.

There was a small period of time in which they all took to break off onto either side of Coach, and then the music switched again, but it soon faded, drowned out by the sound of Nick's heartbeat slamming in his ears.

Everyone slowly rose up.

Ashley came walking out from around the corner, one hand looped through her father's arm, the other holding up the front of her dress so she could walk, slightly revealing the same black and blue boots she had worn on her first date with Nick.

Everyone was speechless aside from a few gasps and "Oh!"s, and a few people even had tears in their eyes, and then finally Ashley's dad placed a kiss on his daughter's cheek and sat down as Ashley went and took her place at the altar next to Nick.