BULLET PROOF.

Ha, that's been stuck in my head. So there isn't too much in this chapter, just a memory dream that I wrote from the first time I wrote this story. But better.

A teeny bit AU here, such as the kiss from 'I Do' never happened. Sorry. Don't worry, it kills me too.


A couple of days passed and in between work, sleeping, hanging out with friends, eating, watching movies, taking care of the puppies that grew bigger each day, some job hunting, dealing with Walter and of course buying a couple of baby things, nothing felt better than three days off of work for the young couple.

The night before their three day break Ryder had come home with the puppies and smelling spaghetti from the kitchen. He walked in more and found Marley putting the finishing touches on his plate, though Ryder wasn't in the mood for food. He slowly crept up to Marley and snaked his arms around her, leaning his head to the side and kiss-pecking the crook of her neck. Marley laughed and playfully pushed him off of her and said they could "kadoodle" later. Although Ryder wanted to 'kadoodle' now, rubbing his hands up and down on her sides. She promised him kadoodling later, "After dinner and a bath."

In the morning Marley awoke to someone brushing up against her. She turned and found Ryder's nose puffing against her shoulder blade with his arm wrapped around her waist and his knees bent in the gap behind her own legs. She grinned then kissed the tip of his nose gently before turning back to her first position and stared at the wallpaper.

She began to think back to when they officially became a couple.


Summer began. The New Direction's kids decided to go and hang out at a local park, both the kids staying at the school for another few years, the new-graduates and the first graduates. Marley and Ryder were getting there a bit late as they were stopping by to get something to eat first on the 100 degrees weather day.

Ryder and Marley decided the night before over text that they'd get ice cream first then walk from there to the park to meet up with the friends. Ryder said he'd meet her in front of her house and walk with her there. She agreed.

The past several months had been hard for Ryder. His crush and his love for Marley grew every day since they met and even when she was with Jake he had a hard time keep his love covered up for her. When Marley and Jake broke up, Ryder wanted to jump in and take her off her feet. He did, with a date at Breadstix, but then Marley told him the next day that she wasn't ready to date yet...followed by singing and dancing to Billy Joel in the hallway. He wait for her, she was worth it. He felt, now, like she was fallen for him these days and he was just standing there with his arms opened for her.

Marley, on her side, had fallen in love with Ryder. It was always there, she was just blindsided by everyone around her. How he cared for her was beyond a dream. He treated her not only like a normal person but like a Goddess. A beautiful Goddess. He called her cute, pretty, gorgeous and beautiful everyday (even while with Jake) and she felt like she was in paradise when he said that. Or when he spoke in general. She felt like she had found her soul-mate. She wanted a break from dating, but now she felt like she was ready and she wanted her new boyfriend to be Ryder.

Ryder waited outside for Marley as she said goodbye to her mother and put her shoes on. Ryder, dressed in a light blue shirt with dark jeans on and sneakers, took a tip of his water bottle when the door opened and Marley came out the front door of her home. Ryder couldn't help but smile at the beautiful girl walking towards him. She had on this short sleeve, knee cap length white lace summer dress with a brown belt around her waist and her favorite brown boots.

"Hi Ryder." She greeted him with a warm smile. "Ready?"

"Yup." He said.

They talked the entire way to the ice cream shop. Inside Ryder got his favorite; mint ice cream with rainbow sprinkles and caramel fudge. Marley ordered a cookie dough ice cream with hot fudge, chocolate sprinkles and whip cream with a cherry on the top. After they left Marley handed her cherry onto Ryder's ice cream cone. "I know you like them."

"Thanks. So what's for the summer? Any plans?" Ryder asked her.

"I don't know really. This summer I want something amazing to happen. Something awesome, something fun and something new." She admitted, biting into her ice cream. "I heard that they're doing Cinderella at the Lima Community Theater for a summer performance and after I saw them do The Sound Of Music last year, I've wanted to do that and now that I've got a lot of confidence to go out and perform, I'm going to audition."

"Sounds like you've found your fun for the summer. When are they?"

"Auditions?" He nodded. "Two weeks from today, so I have to find a perfect audition song and practice it. Could you help me find a song?" She asked turning to him.

"Of course, how could I say no?" He said. "I'll help you on Monday, deal?"

"Deal!" She smiled. "I can't wait. My Mom was telling me that doing that will look good to art schools and I'll have a better chance at getting in."

"That and volunteer work. My Dad's friend knows this guy at a newspaper company that offers internships to high school students and, well, since it's not paid; that's volunteering. I guess." Ryder told her. "Hey we can be the greatest journalist on this damn planet!" He laughed.

"I'm going to be a singer, not a radio talker." She laughed.

~X~X~X~X~

Down at Lima Park the duo saw the time and realized they, somehow, got there earlier so they decided to take the longer route to meet up with their friends at the large, empty stage that they used for their outdoor theater concerts in Lima. The longer route consisted of passing by a gazebo, a playground and a fountain that usually had ducks swimming around this time of the year. Sometimes geese too. After Ryder took another lick of his cone he turned up and saw the gazebo passing coming up. There were people surrounded by it and a band playing near the crowd.

Upon reaching the gazebo the two teenagers saw that it was a wedding taking place. The newly weds were exchanging their vows and the two teens decided to stop and watch the vows take place, then continue on their journey. The man and his bride both said their vows to one another, with tears in their eyes, and at the end of the the vows the priest announced the new man and wife, where then the bride and groom shared their kiss.

"Aw isn't that sweet?" Marley asked, gazing at the couple. "They're so in love!"

"Hmmm." Ryder muttered, taking another lick of his ice cream. He saw the bride turn so her back was to the wedding party. "What's she doing?"

Before Marley could answer, the bride tossed her bouquet of flowers over her head. It flew across the other single women, though Marley caught it in her arms and smiled. The others clapped, with some whiners, then the party broke up and began to leave the scene.

"What was that?" Ryder asked.

"When a bride tosses her flowers all the single ladies go after it. When one catches it, she's the next one to get married. It's just a funny, silly wedding idea that they made up a million years ago," Marley answered, smelling the violets in her hands. "These are nice."

"They're not peonies though." Ryder pointed out. "Those are better."

"You know what sucks? My last name is Rose and yet I'm allergic to roses. Of all the flowers in the world!" Marley giggled. "Come on let's keep going."

~X~X~X~X~X~X~

The two of them strolled down the dirt path, passing by a local pool that neither of them ever planned to swim in. Marley didn't feel comfortable in swimsuites, as of now, whereas Ryder said "Little kids piss and shit in that pool."

"Oh like you never peed in a pool?"

"It was my own kiddie pool. I'm a only sibling so I did all kinds of shit in that thing. What about you?"

"I never had a pool, silly. And if I went to a pool it was with my Mom at a YMCA where every ten minutes they took all the kids to the bathrooms. Literally, every ten minutes. Or individual of course." She answered. "I want a pool. Not a huge one like Sugar has or a small one, a nice one. Family size I guess."

"Kiddie pools are better."

"You're not shitting in my kiddie pool, Ryder!" Marley laughed, then making Ryder laugh.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~

Further down they passed by a playground with Moms and Dads and their children playing around on the play-set, the monkey-bars and the sandbox. When Ryder saw the monkey-bars he handed Marley his ice cream cone and ran over to climb across them. Ryder entertained the children for a start, as well as some parents. When he finished climbing two little girls, maybe eight or nine years old, each grabbed a hand of his and dragged him over to a grass field where the children set up were playing Red Rover. Marley walked over to watch. After all the kids and Ryder said their names, in order to play the game right, everyone began. Ten minutes into the game Ryder's name came.

"Red Rover, red rover, send Ryder Lynn right on over!" The kids on the other side chanted.

Ryder, tuning to Marley and grinning, began to run over. He purposely pretended to not able to break the chain and get stuck on that side. After another ten minutes when the last kid was caught the kids cheered until Ryder and his big mouth opened. He smirked at Marley. Oh no, she thought.

"Red rover, red rover, send Marley Rose right on over!" He shouted.

Marley, giggling, ran but knew she wouldn't break the chain with two ice creams currently still melting into her hands. Ryder caught her by her waist, picked her up and spun her around. "Fine, fine! You got me" She giggled again. Ryder settled her down and took back his ice cream cone. "Come on I don't want to be late."

"Bye kids." Ryder said.

"You're such a big kid." Marley said.

"Yeah well if I wanna be a Daddy someday, might as well be one who's got a kid-heart inside." Ryder explained.

"You'll be a great Daddy. Better then my own." She told him. Ryder had a gawk expression on his face. Marley's Dad? He left when Marley was three months old. "Duh, Ryder. Mine left. You'd never leave."

"Oh okay." Ryder smiled. "You'll be a great Mommy though."

"I know." She smiled.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~

Fifteen minutes passed swiftly. They had reached the fountain, not too far from their meeting spot, where they spotted ducks and geese in the water swimming happily.

"I wanted a pet duck when I was little." Ryder told Marley. "I wanted to name him Lu-Lu."

"I like dogs better." Marley said. "I want five of them. Two Collies, a cocker spaniel, a papillion and a St. Bernard. Their names, in order, will be Todd, Charlene, Joni, Butterfly and Mozart."

"Three dogs; all beagles, named Snoop, Snoopy and Snoop Dogg." Ryder smiled. He then just had to ask her the question he had in his head all along. "Hey Marls, can I ask you something?"

"Sure." She said, stopping in her tracks to face. "What is it?"

Ryder shifted his feet a bit and bit his mouth. "Marley, do you like me?"

"Well you are my best friend." She said with a small smile. "Why ask?"

"No, no... I mean... shit, um... Do you like me more than a friend?" His eyes got soft and locked eyes with her baby blue eyes. "Like more than a friend, more than a best friend?"

"Oh," Marley blushed. She knew the answer but her words choked up. "Well, yes. I do. I do like you, a lot a lot." She said. "I mean—"

"Marley I know that your breakup with Jake was a while ago and I know that I've given you time to get back to yourself, or something like that, even though it was a mutual breakup. But I've just wondered that if you were going to date again, like soon, if... well we're best friends and I like you a lot. A lot a lot. And I think you're the most amazing girl in the world." He grinned. "Marley I have good family values, I go to Church, I'm not ugly and I care about you a lot and when I'm not with you I feel like my soul is screaming at me. My soul is screaming 'Ryder, go after her! You belong with her!'. Marley I can be that guy. That guy who's a best friend and a boyfriend and can always make you feel better when your upset, leave short little notes or messages for you, hold your hand in public for the world too see and when we're sleeping if you get hungry in the middle of the night, you call me and ask me to make a sandwich and bring it over to your house. I'd do it. I'd do it for you Marley. You deserve the world and I while I can't promise that, I can promise I'll be here for you. Always."

Marley could feel her cheek turning red, her heart melt and tears of happiness in her eyes. "You'd do anything for me? Anything?"

"Yes." Ryder nodded, then saw some tears slipping from her eyes. This worried him. "Marley, what's wrong? Did I come out too strong? Too soon? Or not at all? I'll understand if you just want to be friends, but it dosen't mean I wont' stop caring or checking up on you or even—"

"Ryder?" She asked in a soft-loud whisper.

"Yes?" He asked in the same tone.

Marley grinned, the tears of happiness slipping from her eyes more and more. "Kiss me."

Ryder stood there for a second, unsure if it were real or not if she had said the words 'kiss me' right now. He gawked a bit at her, head titled to the side.

She repeated it. "Ryder, kiss me."

Yep, he heard it clearly that time. Ryder leaned forward, leaned down, and pressed his lips against Marley's. Her soft, rose colored lips matched perfectly with his lips. Almost as if they were made for one another and nothing else. They deepened the kiss until neither of them could breathe and needed to catch some air. They moved their faces apart, but kept their noses touching and both grinned. A second or two later both of them dropped their ice creams on the ground. Ryder lifted Marley up off the ground and kissed her while Marley wrapped her arms around Ryder's neck and pushing herself forward for the kiss.

After what felt like a lifetime they pulled apart. Ryder put her back on the ground and Marley kept close to him. "So it's official now, Marley?" He asked her.

She nodded. "It is. Ryder, I know it's early to say this but its true, I've felt it for a long time, I love you."

"I love you, Marley Rose." Ryder said placing a soft kiss on her forehead. "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. My soul says it all the time.


Marley felt some stirring and found Ryder placing a kiss on her cheek. She turned and faced him with a smile. "Hi."

"Morning," He smiled. "What you thinking about?"

"Nothing." She said. Then an idea. "Ryder, would you do something for me?"

"Anything," Ryder said. Marley turned her body so that she was facing him. "What is it, love?"

"Kiss me." She smiled.

Ryder, grinning, leaned in and kissed her. After a few seconds he pulled back. "Anything else?"

"No. That's it." She smiled, grabbing his hand in hers.