Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own anything regarding to Four Brothers. I do however admit to taking the characters and using them to satisfy my own sick amusement.

So Much

"We loved with a love that was more than love."-Edgar Allan Poe

She was shaking, her palms were sweaty, and she felt an extreme urge to vomit. The funny thing was, she couldn't have been more happy. The complicated mixture of emotions were making her head dizzy and she just wanted this done and over with so she'll just finally be able to breathe normally. These short and shallow breaths could not be good for the baby. The least someone could do is come up here and spend some time with her and make her feel a little more at ease, but they all decided it was best to leave her alone with nothing to take her mind off the looming ceremony.

She sighed as she lifted her uncomfortably heavy body from the armchair and walked over the window seat. Perhaps looking at the church courtyard garden would provide her some distraction, god knows she needed it. It was garden that had always been her favorite part of this entire church. Her father's church. It had been her playground when she was little, imagined fairies made their homes in tulips and daffodils and would come and dance with Maddie to a symphony only they could hear. Her playground later became her solace from the stuffy church as she grew older. Organized faith was never her thing, so she would escaped his sermons on Sunday and come out to the garden with her latest book. Jack would sometimes jump the back fence to keep her company. Evie couldn't get him in a church, even if she tried her hardest. The pair of them found a haven in that garden and that's really where they should be married. Not under this stifling roof, filled with memories of her father.

The moment she walked in this morning, the feeling of him was over-powering. It was almost like she expected him to round the corner in his robes and tell her the sermon is about to begin. He would give her that disapproving look, willing her to stay and listen, as if it would actually stop her from sneaking out. It was odd that she felt his presence more strongly here than any other place, even their home. Obviously he spent most of his time here, this church became his life, and it inevitably consumed him. Maddie pitied him now, more than ever. He had never allowed himself to get to know who she had become and he never gave her a chance to love him, and no matter how hard she wished on a star, he'd never be there to marry her like she had always wanted him to be. Her eyes burned as she looked across the room, catching a glimpse of a girl in white with tears threatening to fall from her eyes. It took her a spilt second for it to register that it was her reflection, in the full length mirror, that she was staring at.

Maddie felt compelled to get a closer look and moved towards the mirror, as if some unknown force was pulling her in. Trusting her eyes became difficult when she came closer. It was hard to believe that girl staring back at her was really her. It took gently tracing her fingertips over the cool, glass image for her really to have faith in the fact the beautiful girl was her. Her hair had been gently curled and allowed to freely cascade down her back and over her shoulders. The veil was combed into a crown sculpted out of braided hair and small white flowers. A few loose tendrils fell around her cheeks, framing her delicate face, which was highlighted nicely by a light dusting of make-up. The dress she had chosen was simple, but suited her almost perfectly. She had been a bit hesitant about the low sweetheart neckline and thin, spaghetti straps, but now she could see they worked well, showcasing her best features. The floaty, chiffon material was gathered in the front and hung from a broach in valley between her breasts to camouflage her growing stomach. Her mother's locket adorned her neck and completed her. As some would say, She was a vision, but all Maddie could see, for the first time in maybe her whole life, was that she was, indeed, pretty.

This realization made her hold her head a little higher than usual and boosted her low confidence as she walked back to her perch on the window bench. It's a wonder what a little sprucing can do. She felt more worthier, special even. It was a wonderful feeling.

She really couldn't wait to see Jack's face, actually, she wouldn't mind seeing him at all. She was kidnapped by Charlie and Sofi nearly two days ago and Maddie missed Jack more than she knew she would. Sleep didn't come easy when he wasn't by her side and his arms around her. Her dark circles were easily covered by make-up. It took a lot of self-control not to walk out of that door and going in search of him, but she was pretty sure they locked it. They weren't stupid.

Her hands shook as the nerves returned. Looking at the clock made her frown and scowl at it. She had to wait twenty more minutes! Indignantly, she turned from the clock towards the window again.

The sun was starting to hang low in late-June sky, casting a warm, orange glow over the entire courtyard. The sight was gorgeous and urged her more vehemently to change her mind about the locale of the wedding, but she knew it was too late and a change would just make things more difficult for everything and everyone involved. She sighed and stared longingly at the scenery before her eyes. If only. Her eyes slowly began to drift, until they fell on a figure near the back entrance.

It was Jack.

She had a most intense feeling she was right. And with a little squinting and her face almost pressed against the glass, she made out untamable and nearly unmanageable, sandy hair and a rumpled tux. She smirked at the sight of him chain smoking, even if he had promised to quit not too long ago. It comforted her knowing he was just as nervous as she was, though he did have a far worse way of dealing with it.

He suddenly turned in her direction, his eyes catching hers. She smiled, but ducked quickly afterward.

Maddie wasn't superstitious by any means, but she really didn't want to tempt fate by looking at him again. Instead, she went to sit back down on the armchair that she was left on. The temptation being a little less stronger at this vantage point. She now wished time would go faster. Her nervousness and anxiousness had increased upon the mere sight of him…

She let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the door unlocking and opening.

It was almost time.

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Jack was on his fifth cigarette in only fifteen minutes and all the nicotine he was pouring into his system still couldn't stop his hands from shaking as he went to light it. Smoking usually calmed his nerves and helped him relax, but it just didn't seem to work this time. He really wasn't supposed to be smoking, either. Seeing as he had quit a week ago. But this morning he was at his worst in a while and blew up at Daniel, demanding that he hand over the pack he somehow knew he had hidden in his suit jacket. With the pack in had, Jack had soon rushed out here and lit his first one as quickly as he could. His first drag did nothing. And now on his fifth cigarette, he still didn't feel effect. His nerves were too powerful to be drugged. He sucked the thing down to the filter and tossed it to the ground, extinguishing the tip with the toe of his boot.

His poor suit had fallen prey to the monster that was his nerves, too. Jack had given up on the suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his white button-down and pushed them his elbows. The black tie had to be loosened at the top and buttons at his neck undone. He left the gray waistcoat alone and in it's place. Pinstriped dress pants completed the more than disheveled ensemble. Jack was sure his hair matched, after all the times he had ran his hand through it. He took comfort in the notion that Maddie never really liked his hair slicked back.

He sighed as he brought another cigarette to his lips. Jack obviously wasn't going to be continuing on the tobacco-free path, at least not today.

Jack honestly didn't think he would ever make it to this day. He never thought he was cut out to be husband, let alone a father. The idea still frightens him more than he would ever let on. He finally understood it was really happening and all this was actually real. It so was tangible to him now, he could almost feel it under his fingers. This wasn't supposed to be in hand of cards life had dealt him. Really, what woman in her right mind would ever marry a degenerate without the slightest idea who his real parents were and marked up track record? He thought no one would, and then Maddie came along and Jack couldn't see anything past his pure need to be with her. The rest really didn't matter as long as they were together. Jack was walking down the road less traveled, by the likes of him at least, and with Maddie's hand in his.

His nerves had soothed as he gazed out into the garden.

The place held so many memories, good and bad. Jack could clearly remember the days following his less than triumphant return from his year on the road. The struggle between keeping things platonic with Maddie and fighting the urge to just grab her by the shoulders and kiss her out of her good sense, and leaving her speechless was nearly unbearable at times. Being in the garden alone with her made it all the more harder. Summer was the worst. Her long, dark hair was lightened by the sun and curled around her body making her look like sprite, no an angel. She was far too sweet and innocent to be a mischievous sprite. Freckles lightly dusted her nose and cheeks. She was a little less modest in the summertime, trading her jeans and cardigan sweaters for light sundresses trimmed in lace. If only he had known about her feelings, the garden would have had much more happier memories. Instead, it was filled with equally shared looks of longing and time wasted. Still, He knew it would have been a much better place to hold the ceremony. It so much meant more to both of them than that building of brick ever did.

He dropped his seventh cigarette to the ground, and almost automatically went to pick another out of his stolen pack.

The sun was swaying low in the sky. It had been his idea to have an evening wedding. He didn't know why, but it was something about dusk that made everything so much more special, magical even. The garden was looking more and more perfect by the second. Too bad it would cause too much of an inconvenience to switch the venue and would be sure way to make the newly appointed Minster angry.

Anyway, Maddie wanted to give something to her father. He didn't know why, he never gave her a damn thing. Jack knew that was more than untrue, but he liked to be bitter towards the man. No amount of money in the world could make him forget the fact he virtually ignored his daughter for most of her life and then he commits the most selfish of acts. Maddie says she forgives him, but he barely can forgive himself for ignoring her when they were children. He just can't forgive a man who made her feel so alone. He just couldn't.

He inhaled deeply on his cigarette. Jack knew he really shouldn't be angry on his wedding day, but it was just something about this place. It was fucking overrun with feelings of Andrew Fitch and it unsettled Jack more than it should.

It was a relief when his mind finally wandered again. Jack wondered how Maddie had been holding up for the past two days. He was simply a wreck. A wreck who was much too lost and forlorn without his girl. Jack was more than sure Bobby would call him pathetic if he ever found out how he missed her so bad that he slept with her favorite robe wrapped around his pillow, just so he could smell her. It was sad and he was a sap. He just knew it. It was like a rehash of the year without her, but worse. She was his now and he never wanted to let her go. Not even for a few days. It's been killing him and he had to restrain himself from wildly searching the entire church for her when he stepped foot on it's grounds.

He sucked harshly on the end of the cigarette instead, quietly reminding himself to be patient. It won't be long now. The sun had slowly begun to retreat into the horizon, waiting for the moon to come and take it's place in the sky.

Jack thought it was about time to turn around and head back up to the groom suite to make himself slightly more presentable. He turned and took a step, but the feeling of eyes upon him held him back and made him turn around.

His blue eyes scanned the garden for any sign of human life. Jack sighed in frustration when he came up empty-handed. 'It's just my nerves getting to me' he thought to himself, as he moved to climb the small set of stone steps again. Then, out of the corner of his eye, a flash of white halted his steps and held him, once again, in his spot.

Running his eyes over church, instead of the garden, he spotted the culprit.

Maddie sat, peering down at him with a smile gracing her small lips, in a high window that over looked the courtyard.

Their eyes locked were in a moment. Gray melding with blue. A smirk slowly crept upon his lips, but then suddenly she ducked from view. At first, this baffled him, but then he remembered why they had been separated for just about two days. 'Fucking superstitions.' he cursed in his head, but his lips were still curled at the corners. He saw her and that was all he needed to get him through the few grueling moments left.

Jack flipped his wrist around and took a peek at his watch just to be sure of the time. It was closer than he thought. Anxiously, he ran his fingers through his nearly unruly sandy mop, making it stick up even more than before.

'Now, all I have to do is figure out how to sneak back up to the room without being seen…' he thought. ' That shouldn't be too bad.'

He took another look around the courtyard and bolted up the stone steps, silently hoping no one would notice him running through the quiet halls of the church.

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Maddie's eyes widened when she caught her first glimpse of who was sent to get her. Bobby shuffled unceremoniously into the room, his head bowed down low so he couldn't meet her eyes. She sighed and stood up. Maddie didn't get why he was the one upset with her. Wasn't it him who kissed her not so many weeks ago? If anyone should be upset, it should be Maddie.

"Time to go, Kiddo." he said, keeping his voice light.

Maddie scoffed. "Don't call me that." she said snappishly. She wasn't about to let herself get upset today, but with him here it was beginning to seem ridiculously hard not to.

"Call you what?" he asked, obviously pretending to be oblivious.

She shook her head, walking over to the door in a huff. "You know very well what, Kiddo. I'm not a kid anymore and I expect not to treated as such." Maddie was appalled at the way she was acting. She wanted desperately to somehow get outside of her own body and slap herself. This wasn't her, but a little voice inside her head kept telling her it was fine, that he more than deserved it.

"Whatever, Mads… You'll always be a-"

"Don't, don't you even dare… You and I both know what happened, so don't pretend like it didn't." she cut him off angrily.

He chuckled lightly. Maddie really couldn't find the any humor in the situation at all and continued to send him a hard glare. "Oh, that is what this about." he remarked.

"Yeah, that…"

"I can't believe you're still mad over a little mistake." he said, playing it cool, calm, and collected. So unlike Bobby, that Maddie saw right through his act, and continued to glare pointedly at him.

"So now it's a mistake. I see…" she remarked coldly.

"I don't you want to bring this up on you're wedding day…"

Maddie narrowed her eyes, lifting up the skirt of dress, and marched over to him determinedly. "Yes. I want to bring this up on my wedding day… I want to clear the air between us or else I don't know how I can get up there and marry your brother." she said, putting a particular emphasis on the last word.

"There's nothing to clear-" Bobby started, but cut himself off when he noticed the intense glower he was receiving from the petite woman in front of him. He had to quickly backpedal. "I mean… We don't need to talk about it." But he didn't think that sounded any better, and by the looks of it, neither did Maddie.

"Bobby, I'm giving you this one chance, and only one chance, to explain to me why… That's all I need to know." she explained, trying to keep her voice level and calm.

He's been in plenty of sticking situations, most of them were life threatening. He had dodged bullets and took down one of Detroit's most powerful gangsters, all the while keeping his cool. Sure he'd been scared, but he never let it show. But now, Bobby Mercer was nervous and at a loss for words, he simply didn't know how to get out of this one. He knew this is exactly why he had never let himself get involved. Bobby never allowed himself any sort of emotional attachment to anyone other than his Ma and his brothers. Sure, Charlie had slipped in quietly and without him realizing it, but he'd never been more thankful for that. And Hope, who couldn't resist that kid. But he pretty much fucked that over - times ten.

And then there was Maddie. Bobby didn't know where he placed her in his life. Somehow the lines became blurred and he just stumbled over them without looking and keeping himself together. Bobby didn't love her, not in the way he loved Charlie, but he did love her. This is what stumped him and keep him staring blankly at her as she stared expectantly up at him.

Maybe he wanted her, like you always want that thing you just can't have. Or maybe he was just lonely, upset and was reaching, in the wrong way. What ever reason it was, he just couldn't figure it out. This is exactly why he stayed away from situations like this. Bobby didn't understand. The complexity of emotion was something he never understood, so answering her question was near impossible, at least from his line of vision.

He cleared his throat a few times. Scratched his head a few more. Even shuffled his feet. Anything to stall actually speaking. But Maddie soon started to grow impatient and that was made pretty clear by the expression on her face and the way she held her body. Bobby let out a slow, overly calculated breath and spoke. "To be honest, I have absolutely no fucking clue…"

"Well, that's comforting." she remarked sarcastically.

Bobby knew he was going to receive this kind of hostile reaction, he was even ready for it, but still, he couldn't keep himself from glaring right back at her.

She just raised an eyebrow, and sighed. "Is there anything that you do have some sort of idea, or even an inkling about?" she asked.

"All I know are the stone, cold, hard facts, sweetheart…" he admitted. "And that's all I think I'm ever gonna know."

Maddie opened her mouth to come back with a quick retort, but she shut it slowly, thinking hard on what she was going to say next. She chewed on her lower lip for a few moments more, before opening her mouth to speak again. "Facts. I want to know them." she said simply and resolutely.

He paused for a moment and only a moment before speaking. "Well, for one, I know my brother is hopelessly and ridiculously in love with you, and it's clear that you feel the same. I know I'm stupid for trying anything with you in the first place. And another thing, I love Charlie and I want to punch myself repeatedly everyday for being me and letting myself fuck it up."

Maddie couldn't keep from smirking at the last statement. It was as if she was silently saying, 'Well, duh! You're just too thick to realize how obvious it is.' But she kept her mouth shut and let him continue.

"And I know that I have no clue how I feel about you and that's the honest-to-god truth. I'm sure I'll never know… You'll always remain that question in my mind. And this is where it gets hard - Can you accept and deal with that? Because I'm willing to. I know I'm not willing to continue to screw around with my life, and I'm most definitely not willing to inevitably screw up my brother's… So, could you, no - can you?" Bobby stared at her unblinkingly with something burning intensely in his warm brown eyes.

Maddie was taken aback by his openness, but then she remembered she was what drove him to it in the first place, but his usual dead on honesty was still there. It was something so strange, but at the same time, familiar. Slowly, but surely, a smile crept upon her features as her anger and frustration dissipated. Maddie knew she'd never get clear answer from Bobby, but the air around her was free and that's all she wanted, really. "Yes." she answered finally.

Bobby nodded. He began to feel that same sort of relief that Maddie seemed to be feeling, but he knew it'd never be over, not totally… But for the moment it felt nice to have something settled. Bobby smiled once more at her, before setting out to go get ready for the ceremony.

That was until Maddie called him back. "W-where are you going?" she asked in this sort of helpless voice that nobody could have refused.

Bobby turned back, walking slightly more into the room, and looked at her. "Going to sit down in the pews. It is almost time…"

Maddie's eyes lowered and she was chewing on her lower lips. Gone was the fierce and argumentative woman, left in her place was a completely different, but not foreign entity, that shy, nervous girl Maddie could never quite shake, no matter how hard she tried. "Well, I was wondering - well, hoping, that I would have somebody to walk me down… Since you know, my dad…" She trailed off, biting down harder on her bottom lip.

"Do you want me to get Lucien?" Bobby asked, getting her meaning through it all.

She shook her head. "No, no… He's really come to mean so much to me, but… I don't want him. Bobby, will you…?" she asked, hardly completing a sentence.

He balked at her question. When he first came here, she seemed ready to kill him and now, she was asking him this. "No, I mean… Why not Lucien? You can't-…"

"Bobby. I've been meaning to ask you this for a while now. I just didn't now when to bring it up, and then…" she paused as if wondering if she should even bring it up. "that happened and I was sure it would never work out…But now it can, if you will."

"But, why me?" he asked, speaking his though aloud.

Maddie lifted her head to meet his eyes. "Because, even when you don't realize it and I know I don't make it seem like I do, but I admire you more than most people I know and I've always loved you like the older brother I never had. We don't get along most of the time and we can fight like cats and dogs, but I know that it doesn't really mean anything because we mean something to each other. And that's why I'd like you to walk me down that aisle…" She finished with a hopeful look in her gray eyes.

"We're complicated, you know that?" he asked.

She nodded. "We've always been that way."

He sighed and held out his arm, grinning. "Well, let's go, kiddo."

Maddie didn't need to told twice, and she walked over to him, hardly keeping her excitement and nerves down, and looped her arm through his.

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Jack stood, hardly breathing, at the altar in front of possibly everyone that had ever know him or Maddie. His eyes scanned the crowd nervously- the act hardly calming his nerves. He'd never admit to anyone, but he had a small case of stage fright and the amount of people scattered throughout the pews made him almost as nervous as the thought of what he was about to do.

His only reprieve was Daniel, who was sitting just three rows away from him, from time to time giving him odd looks and thumbs up with a crazed smile on his face. Then the curly-haired brunette, who must have been his girlfriend or at the very least his date, sitting next to him would slap him in various places and quietly reprimand him. Jack chuckled lightly as Daniel would secretly smirk at the girl.

Charlie sat in the row in front of Daniel, only a few people from the end. Hope sat on her left with her arms stubbornly wrapped around herself, seemingly in the middle of a silent tantrum over something. Charlie smiled at her daughter's attitude, shaking her head and looking away. It was then that she started to look as nervous as Jack and he wondered why -

His thoughts were interrupted by a high-pitched shriek and his, and hundreds of others, eyes focused on Angel as he tried to calm Sofi down over something he must have said, making her almost cause a scene. They not so silently squabbled over something or other, Jack hardly cared - Angel and Sofi fought more than actually be in a relationship.

His eyes moved over to Jerry and Camille and the girls. Jerry hand his wife's hand tucked neatly in his own as she smiled appraisingly at him. Jack smiled as well and watched as Amelia had turned around in her spot and was animatedly talking to Hope, who was obviously out of her bad mood, and clearly ignoring the glare her younger sister was sending her. He sighed, and once more scanned the crowd.

In a surprising turn of events, Lucien walked in late and with Allegra hanging off his arm. They both sent a smile and a little wave his way before slipping into one of the back pews. Jack smirked to himself, imagining Maddie's face when he pointed them out.

His nerves became shot to hell once again and it didn't help that everyone was already seated and had started to quiet down. Jack hated the silence. It buzzed in his ear like a fly, making him constantly aware of it's presence.

Jack more than welcomed the gentle tune coming from the piano.

It was only after that he realized the piano signaled the start the ceremony.

Now his nerves were really shot to hell.

Jack tried to calm him breathing and looked straight ahead at the aisle. He knew he looked like a nervous wreck. Not remembering to straighten up before he went out, his clothes were still a mess with his sleeves still rolled up to his elbows and his suit jacket nowhere to be found. But there wasn't time to worry about it then. The wedding march began and Jack's mind went blank.

Maddie had come slowly walking down the aisle in white.

Jack hardly noticed Bobby at her side, his focus solely on her. She looked just as nervous as him, if not more. Her gray eyes were wide and she was breathing so deeply Jack could see the rise and fall of her chest despite the distance. He watched as she moved achingly slow up towards him, then she altogether paused in the middle of the aisle. Jack had flashes of her turning on her heel and running, his nightmares come to life. He was relieved when she sighed and started to walk again.

At the moment she reached the alter, Jack let out the breath he must have been holding the entire time. Maddie turned towards Bobby and silently thanked him before practically running up the small set of steps.

She finally stood just barely two feet in front of him and all Jack could think about was snatching her up and never letting her go. He refrained, obviously, and settled for holding her hand as the turned towards the minister.

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"Can't we just run away now?"

"No."

"But, why?"

"Jack, You know why."

"Yeah, I know, but it doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Suck it up, Mercer."

"Whatever you say, Mrs. Mercer…"

"I like the sound of that."

"That's funny, I do too."

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Their first dance was a terrifying experience for Maddie.

She clung desperately to Jack as he moved them around the small and empty dance floor. It must have been the people watching. She had always hated being the center of attention and today was more than testing her limits. Jack's eloping plan seemed like a perfect idea. Pity they were married now.

The dance dragged on as she knew it would, but Jack did his best to keep her mind of it by whispering little things in her ear. Most of them were things she had to bit her lip to keep from laughing right there in the middle of the dance floor. Some were sweet and almost had her crying instead. And then were the ones that made her blush and want to slap him for telling her them in public.

Her favorite, though, was when he sang along with the song in her ear.

"Just you and I in the sweet unknown. We can just call each other our home…" It was barely above a whisper, but he was so close she had felt his hot breath upon her ear, sending a pleasurable shiver down her spine.

Nothing seemed truer and she wanted nothing more than what those lines promised.

Her vision blurred after that and holding on to Jack became a necessity. It was only after the song ended and Jack took her aside to ask her if she was okay that she realized she had been crying.

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"Can I sit here?"

Charlie looked up and was caught in a familiar, but long absent gaze. Bobby stood above her, gesturing to the empty seat beside her with a smile that could be called nothing but awkward. It was his smile that made convinced her that this was some sort of peace offering, a truce possibly.

"Yes." she acquiesced politely.

He sat in the chair almost immediately, almost tripping over himself to do it. It made this all seem sincere and actually real to Charlie. If he was… Well, if he acted like Bobby then she probably wouldn't have let him near her.

The silence between them was excruciating.

Charlie was very close to working up her nerve to speak to him, but he beat her to it. "You know, I actually thought about asking you to dance, but I know I'm not twinkle toes like the fairy out there." He nodded in Jack's direction, who had kept Maddie, very much against her wishes, out on the dance floor.

This was awkward. They both knew it, but that didn't stop Charlie from retorting. " I probably would have turned you down anyway. I value my feet." She smiled genuinely at him as he let out a small chuckle.

Silence hit them again, but this time it was a little more bearable and was quite the bit shorter.

"I missed you." Bobby admitted quietly.

Charlie turned and caught the honest look in his eyes. "I missed you, too."

"Why did we let this get all fucked up?" he asked.

Charlie's eyes had begun to burn and soon, she knew, they would be watering. "I don't know." she choked out. "Because we're two stubborn idiots who won't admit when we're wrong."

A warm, calloused hand wound around her cool, smooth one.

"Can we start over?"

"We can try."

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"So did he bring you here to prove that he wasn't gay?" Jack conspiratorially asked the curly brunette at his side.

"No!" Daniel shouted, his arms flailing around dramatically. "I did not bring Elise here to prove I wasn't gay to your severely twisted mind!"

Jack cracked up laughing while Elise looked at him with a mixture of interest and mild horror. "Is he alright?" she asked Daniel.

"Don't worry about him, love." Daniel said, glaring in Jack's direction. "He's more than a little retarded. Maddie only married him out of pity."

That made Jack stop laughing.

"I am not retarded and Maddie didn't marry me out of pity! Tell her, Ma-…" He looked at his other side, but his wife wasn't there. She seemed to be stomping her way over to where Allegra and Lucien were seated. "Maddie!" Jack yelled, running after her.

Daniel came up beside Elise and wrapped his arm around her waist as they watched Jack dodge person after person and obstacle after obstacle to stop his pregnant wife from killing her friend. " I told you this wedding would be free entertainment."

She only nodded as they watched disaster unfold.

"You!" Maddie shrieked pointing at the blonde that finally sat in front of her. "How dare you! With my Lucien!"

"Hey!" Jack piped up at the 'My'. And decided maybe he didn't want to help.

"Maddie… Calm down." Lucien began in a soothing voice.

Her head snapped in his direction. "H-How could you?! Sh-she's… She's my age!" she exclaimed in outrage.

"Maddie…" Jack decided, finally, that it would be best if he clamed her down. "I think we should-…"

"I'm so…" she said as she shook her head. "so ashamed of you." And then she turned on her heel and walked in the opposite direction from where she came from.

"Pregnancy hormones. You understand." Jack said to a stunned Allegra and Lucien right before chasing after his more than peeved wife. "Maddie!"

Elise turned her head and caught Daniel's mischievous green eyes. "You were right." she smirked. "Free Entertainment."

Daniel smiled brightly down at her. "All we need is some popcorn."

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Maddie flounced herself into their bed and into Jack's arms, freshly showered and into comfortable pajamas. He gladly wrapped his arms tightly around his sleepy wife.

Wife.

Jack knew he would never get tired over ever hearing that Maddie was finally his in every way he could possibly imagine.

She looked up at him in their embrace with a grin. "You know my name is Madeleine Elizabeth Mercer now." she said innocently.

"Say it again."

"Madeleine Mercer."

He began to trail kisses down her neck and over collarbone.

"Again." he mumbled against her skin.

"Maddie Mercer." It came out as little less than a breathless whisper.

A button was loosened at the top of her nightgown, quickly followed by another one.

"Again."

"I'm yours. I've always been." she said finally.

Maddie hoped in the back of her mind that they would get enough sleep to catch their flight to Paris in the morning.

He captured her lips hastily and forcibly before moving lower.

Teeth scraped along her sensitive skin and a moan escaped her lips.

Maddie didn't think about much else after that.

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A/N: Well… -blushes- I am really, really sorry for taking a tremendously long time getting this chapter up! There's a whole long explanation, but I won't get into it here. I hope I haven't lost my readers…

P.S. Thank you ALL for sticking with me this long!