It was the day before their wedding and Harry awoke first, as usual. This would be the last time that he would wake up next to his fiancé. She was going to a hotel tonight, so that he didn't see her before the wedding. Ruth had told him that she didn't want to risk any bad luck when Harry had scoffed. So the next time he woke up with her, with any luck, she'd be his wife. And he couldn't wait. Harry would have married her as soon as he proposed, but she had wanted a proper wedding. As she had never been married before he could understand that, and he wanted her to have a special day. But he didn't really care about the church and the cake and the dress. It meant nothing to him. However, making Ruth happy meant the world to him, so he'd happily marry her in a ceremony that she wanted.

He watched Ruth sleep and felt incredibly content. He knew she was naked under the duvet but he only felt a distant longing for her body. He simply wanted to look at her. In these moments in the early mornings he got to drink her in as slowly as he liked. And he appreciated every second of it. She was so astonishingly beautiful and why this woman wanted him was a mystery to him, but he didn't mind. He knew that she did want him, and that was the important thing. Her eyelashes were fluttering slightly but he knew she was miles from waking up properly from experience. So he kissed her forehead softly before he got up and had a shower.


A few hours later Harry was downstairs cooking breakfast when Ruth appeared in jeans and one of his old shirts, a smile on her face. Her skin was still slightly damp from her own shower and he thought that she had never looked more desirable. He turned back to the scrambled eggs so he wouldn't pounce on her and pin her to the kitchen table while he made slow and languorous love to her. "I thought I'd open a bottle of champagne to start celebrating our fast approaching marriage. I was waiting for you to get up."

"Its ten in the morning," Ruth said, a hint of criticism in her voice.

"And it's the day before our wedding," he countered. "And I don't know about you, but I'm not planning another one."

Ruth smiled at him and kissed his cheek as she got a bottle out of the fridge. Their fridge looked very much like an alcoholics with the amount of booze they were keeping there, but she refused to think about it. She handed the bottle to Harry as he plated up their breakfast and she got the glasses out of the cupboard. Harry poured them both a glass and then held her face softly. "To us," she said easily.

"To us," he repeated. Smiling they clinked their glasses together, and Harry's promptly shattered into a thousand pieces, scattering all over the floor and cutting his hand. "Please don't let that be an omen," he murmured.

"Don't move," Ruth ordered as she got the dustpan and the first aid kit to get the glass splinters out of his hand, leaving Harry standing helpless by the sink. She was back in a moment and quickly got the glass off of the floor before taking his hand in her own. "That's going to hurt."

"Its not deep," he said as she found some tweezers.

"No, I know, but it looks like a paper cut. Hurts more than it should do."

"Ow!"

"Don't move your hand," she repeated calmly, getting another splinter out.

"Well it hurts," he complained and hissed as she removed another bit of glass.

"It'll hurt more if I leave the glass in there," she said, concentrating. "Anyway, you've been shot. This can't be worse."

"Yes, well I wasn't conscious for very long and they gave me drugs for that," he said darkly.

"Are you comparing a cut on your hand to a gunshot that nearly perforated your lung?" Ruth asked with a raised eyebrow. Harry smiled bashfully at her but stayed silent. "Try and eat your scrambled eggs left handed while I do this." Harry ignored that, instead focusing on her face. She was close to him with her eyes looking down. He could see every movement of her eyelashes and every contour of her face. A small drip of water was working its way down her neck and under the collar of her shirt. He could see the slight movement of her pulse and all of a sudden he wanted her desperately.

"I think that's it," Ruth said, putting a plaster on his hand. When she'd finished, he pulled her body to his, her back to his chest. She turned to face him a moment after feeling his erection against her bum.

"Does breaking glass turn you on?" she asked with a smile of amusement.

"No you do," he said firmly, kissing the back of her neck while smelling her hair. He pulled her tight against him and she could feel her own arousal starting from how much he clearly wanted her. The scrambled egg was ruined and the bacon was going cold but she didn't care. Sod breakfast, all she wanted was him. Just as she was about to turn and tell him this, the doorbell rang and he groaned.

"We have to answer it," she whispered, disappointed. "Everyone's driving here for the wedding tomorrow."

"I know," he said. "You answer the door and I'll get myself… straightened up."

"A cold shower might do the trick," she teased as she hurried to answer the door and she heard Harry going upstairs.

Opening it, she was a little pleased and a bit anxious to see her mother and David standing there. She gave her mother a hug as it had been a long time since she'd seen her and smiled at her stepfather.

"You're down early," she said as she moved aside and let them in.

"David wanted to get a head start," Elizabeth replied. "How are you?"

"Nervous, excited, happy. I feel everything," Ruth said honestly.

"Cold feet?" her mother asked sitting in the kitchen.

"No," she said honestly. "I'm worried about the weather because we have an outdoor marquee for the reception, and I'm abnormally worried that there will be something wrong with my dress, but cold feet? No. Do you want a drink?"

"Coffee please," David said.

"I'll have champagne if you're starting early," Elizabeth said, noticing the mostly full bottle. Ruth smiled and poured four glasses, waiting for Harry to come back downstairs. It wasn't long before he emerged, looking unruffled and easy going much to Ruth's private amusement.

"You must be Harry," Elizabeth said, giving him the once over, her eyes running from head to toe.

"And you must be Ruth's mother. I'm delighted to meet you," he said politely.

Elizabeth shook his hand and smiled at him. Ruth breathed a sigh of relief as clearly her mother wasn't starting with criticism and giving Harry a chance. Harry seemed to sense this too and he smiled at David who was sipping champagne behind his wife. Harry shook hands with him too, and over the next twenty minutes or so there were several awkward silences.

When the doorbell rang again Ruth jumped up to answer it gratefully. A beaming Catherine appeared holding a bag with presumably her bridesmaid dress in it. "Hiya!" she said almost bouncing. "Bringing my dress for approval," she added as she went through to the kitchen. She paused seeing a full house before hugging her dad. But the ice was broken and conversation broke out between them. After a while it was no longer forced or stilted and Ruth was immensely enjoying the company of her family.


Thanks for the reviews so far, hope this is keeping up to standards. If you have a chance please leave a review, and I'll get the next chapter up as soon as its written. By the way, between 1st and 8th of November I'm in Greece so I won't be updating at all. Sorry to disappoint. :)