"Okay, so wait..." Blake came back to the table with two fresh cups of coffee. So far, she had heard all about the wedding, including the graveyard confession before it and everything that had come after. What she hadn't heard was a single word about how all of it had happened in the first place. Setting the cups down, she slid back into the booth, tucking her body up close to the Mayor's as she propped her elbow on the table and dropped her head into her hand "Just how long has all of this been going on?"

Doris shrugged. "For awhile."

Blake frowned, looking at her sarcastically. "You can do better than that."

"Okay... a long time." She sighed. "It's been coming for a long time."

"How long?"

The Mayor pursed her lips. "Definitely since Gus died." She rubbed her thumb idly against the tabletop. "But if you want my opinion... something was there even before."

"Before?" Blake sat back, surprise showing clearly on her face. "But... I heard about some of what went on between the two of them. They were horrible to each other. The fights... the backstabbing... that terrible incident up at the cabin. Everyone thought they hated each other!"

Doris laughed softly. "And yet, they still couldn't seem to stay out of each others orbit." She sipped her coffee, her eyes far away. "Natalia taking care of Olivia for Gus's sake. Olivia allowing it for Emma's. Any excuse to be around each other... any reason to argue..." She set her cup down with a sigh. "The opposite of love isn't hate. It's indifference. And if there is one thing those two never were to each other... it's indifferent."

A small smile curled the edges of Blake's lips. "Passion." She whispered.

"It can turn on a dime... and love is incredibly easy to mistake..." Doris' voice trailed off as she thought about her own relationship with Olivia. The animosity... the dislike... Swallowing, she finished quietly. "...for something else."

There was silence for a few moments.

"Give you a penny."

The Mayor glanced up, her breath catching at the kind look on the other woman's face. "What?"

"A penny." Blake smiled and patted her hand, letting her touch linger for a few seconds. "For that thought. It looked like a good one."

Doris laughed. "Oh it was. That thought right there is definitely worth at least five dollars."

"Whoa... that's steep."

"You gotta deal with inflation."

"As Mayor, shouldn't you be working for a better economy?"

"Hey," Doris spread her arms in supplication. "I'm a little tied up with the Gay agenda at the moment!"

The redhead laughed. "And why is that?"

She hung her head slightly. "I sort of... brought it on myself."

"How?"

"I was... kind of the catalyst that brought Olivia and Natalia together."

Blake's eyebrows rose. "This I have to hear."

"Well... once upon a time there was this little girl... a little girl who wrote a paper about her family for a school project..."

Blake grabbed her arm. "The My Two Mommies project?" Her jaw dropped slowly. "That was Emma??"

Doris nodded.

"And you... " Confusion filled her features. "You... spoke out against it. On television, if I recall."

"I did."

"Why?"

"Politics... position..." The Mayor sighed as she brushed her hair back from her forehead. "All the wrong reasons."

"Well," Blake picked up her coffee and took a long drink. "Seems like they forgave you."

"Oh, it's been a long road." Doris laughed. "It helped my cause that Olivia needed someone to talk to when Natalia almost kissed her."

The redhead choked slightly. She sat her coffee down and grabbed a napkin to dab at her lips. "Natalia?" She blinked and shook her head. "Natalia? Natalia made the first move?"

"You gotta watch out for those quiet types." Doris smirked.

"Why?"

"Uh... Because...?" She looked around in confusion. "They're sneaky?"

"No!" Blake rolled her eyes. "Why did she come to you for advice?"

The Mayor opened her mouth... and then closed it. Pursing her lips, she looked down at her watch. "That... is a story for a completely different time and place."

"So..." Blake shrugged gamely. "Name it."

"Name what?"

"The time and the place."

Doris studied her for a moment. "Dinner. Tonight. Eight o'clock?"

"It's a date." Blake's smiled faltered slightly. "I mean... it is... isn't it?"

"A date?" The mayor felt the faint fluttering of butterfly wings in her stomach. "Yeah... yeah I think it is."

"Okay." The redhead nodded shyly before taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders. "So tell me about this almost kiss... and don't skip any of the good parts!"

* * * * *

Frank did a double take as he looked in the window of company, his mouth dropping open when he saw Blake Marler sitting with Doris Wolfe.

Only she was doing more than sitting with Doris Wolfe.

She was practically sitting on Doris Wolfe.

He watched as Blake laughed at something the other woman said; watched the way she leaned into her, his teeth grinding together when she placed a hand on the Mayor's arm and squeezed.

"What the hell is wrong with all the women in this town?" He growled under his breath. Was there something in the coffee? Some kind of... gay flu going around? He closed his eyes tightly, remembering how glad he had been when the Mayor had agreed to perform his wedding ceremony. Only all she had done was babble and stall, giving Olivia time to further weaken his fiance with her fake display of tears; pretending all she wanted for Natalia was for her to be happy.

His face turning red with anger, Frank reached for the door, only to pull up short when his cell phone began to ring. He yanked it from his pocket and flipped it open. "WHAT??"

"De...detective Cooper?" A male voice on the other end of the phone stammered. "This is Patrolman Michaels."

"Why are you calling me?"

"You... you told us all to be on the lookout for that car... the one registered to..."

He heard the pages of a notebook being flipped.

"Uh... Natalia Rivera?"

A good cop would have remembered the name. Of course, a good cop would have also known why he was looking for her car.

"Yeah?" He rubbed his forehead as he tried to hold on to his anger.

"Well... I found it. It's parked outside of a mini-mall over on Devlin Avenue."

"Devlin? What the hell is she doing over there? That's all the way across town."

"I don't know, Sir. But did you want me to pick her up?"

"No!" Frank felt his jaw pop as he looked in the window and saw Doris lean across Blake's body as she playfully grabbed for a piece of muffin from the redhead's plate. "No... This is a... delicate situation. I'll head over there. You just stay put and if she leaves, you follow her and call me back."

"Yes, Sir...Do you-"

He snapped the phone closed without saying goodbye, his temperature rising as he watched Blake pluck a piece of hair from Doris' cheek, moving it slowly back behind her ear. He looked from the door to his phone and back again. With a sigh, he shoved the phone in his pocket and pulled out his car keys. "Later." He mumbled to himself as he rushed to his car. "Definitely later."

* * * * *

"Okay..." Natalia collapsed on the couch, picking up her glass of champagne and sipping from it as she sighed tiredly. "I don't think I ever want to take my clothes off again."

"I don't think Olivia would be happy about that." Ashlee giggled. "You'd have to wear a lot of skirts..."

Natalia stared at her with wide eyes before breaking down into giggles herself. "I think you've had too much champagne, Ashlee."

"No... I haven't... I've only had..." She picked up the bottle, swirling it around as she tried to peer through the dark green glass. "...I've only... I've had..." She blinked and looked at Natalia in confusion. "What was the question again?"

"Okay!" Natalia took the bottle away from her. "You drink anymore and you're going to be no help to me whatsoever."

"Have I been any help to you so far?"

"Well..." Natalia's lower lip pouted slightly. "Of course you have."

"Really?" Ashlee stood up and carefully made her way over to one of the dresses hanging on the wall. "I liked this one." She pointed at it, her mouth quirking oddly. "You said it was too 'poofy'." She stumbled to another a few feet away. "Liked this one too." She took a sleeve in each hand and held them up, looking at the dress wistfully. "You said it looked like it belonged at a square dance..."

"I never said that!"

"Ahh, right." Ashlee waggled a finger at her. "Your actual words were 'I don't think I could pile my hair high enough to do it justice."

Natalia flushed bright red.

The blonde moved two dresses down. "And this one..." Her forehead furrowed in confusion. "What was wrong with this one again?"

"The... The front..." She pointed half-heartedly. "You'd... be able to see my belly button."

"Right!" Ashlee shrugged. "Still don't think Olivia would have objected." She held up her hand to stop Natalia's protest. "You've basically vetoed every single dress I've suggested and picked..." She waved her hand at the three gowns hung from the mirrors surrounding the dais. Her nose wrinkled. "Picked three of the most boring I have ever seen."

Natalia's eyebrows rose. Okay, so Ashlee was an honest drunk. "What's wrong with the three I picked?"

The blonde looked at her like she was crazy. "Well, first of all, none of them are white! Wedding dresses are traditionally white!"

"Yeah, well..." Natalia sighed as she blew her hair off her forehead. "I was thinking... seeing as how this is my third trip down the aisle... that maybe white wasn't the best idea."

"What?" Ashlee came over to the couch, flopping down on her hands and knees to stare into the brunette's eyes. "Why?"

"Because white... white is for... new brides."

"New brides." She repeated before shaking her head. "Tell me something... is Olivia different?"

"Different than what?"

"Than the other two." Ashlee rolled her eyes, trying not to smile. "Different than Gus... or Frank?"

Natalia didn't hesitate. "Yes... of course she is."

"How?"

The brunette opened her mouth to answer and then stopped, her eyes narrowing as she really thought about her response. "When..." She took a deep breath. "When I married Gus... it was all about what I thought I wanted. What I thought was right. I wanted to give Rafe the father he never had... the life he deserved."

"Did you love him?" Ashlee asked softly.

"Yes."

"Like you love Olivia?"

Natalia hesitated, a gentle sigh escaping before she actually answered. "No."

"And Frank...?"

"No." She shook her head. "I wanted to... I wanted to love him. And I did... but... not the right way."

"So..." Ashlee lowered herself onto the couch when her arms started to shake with fatigue. She laid herself out flat, her voice slightly muffled by the cushion pressed up against her face. "The first two were for all the wrong reasons." She angled her head back to look at the brunette. "Why are you marrying Olivia?"

Natalia couldn't have stopped the smile that lit up her face even if she had wanted to.

"MMhmmm..." The blonde laughed. She waved her hand at Natalia as she laid her head back down. "Verbal... more verbal... you're hurting my neck..."

"I..." The brunette felt her cheeks begin to burn and ache from the width of her grin. "She makes me happy. And I love her."

"Okay," Ashlee made a noise that sounded like it came from something halfway between a horse and a goat. "So for the first time... You're getting married for no other reason but that you love her and she makes you happy." She picked up her head and threw Natalia a goofy smile. "I think that makes you new." She sighed happily and squirmed around on the couch. "It's just so sweet! I think it would be criminal if you didn't wear white. I mean... go for everything... all the tradition you can. Really cram it in this time. Because it's your last. You say what I'm seeing?"

"It is my last," She agreed softly.

"Exactly! So I say... get the five-tiered cake and throw the bouquet! Let Olivia pull off your garters and toss them to the ushers, because trust me... every one of those guys is going to be fantasizing about just how wild that honeymoon will be... you know... since you waited and all..."

It was Natalia's turn to choke on her champagne. "Waited?" She said weakly.

Ashlee sat up quickly, looking at her with slightly unfocused eyes. "Oh you have to wait, Natalia!" She gestured wildly. "I mean... this is it. The real deal. The honeymoon you've waited for...well... forever..." The momentum of her hands caused her to lose her balance and Natalia had to grab her by the shoulder to keep her from tumbling off the couch. "It would be soooo romantic." She swooned a little and the brunette got ready to catch her again but Ashlee remained upright, a slightly sarcastic look taking over her features. "I mean really, Natalia... it's only four days!"

"It isn't the days that would be the problem." Natalia mumbled. But honestly, Ashlee had a point. If she wanted to do this right...

Shaking her head she turned back to the young woman. "I think right now we need to focus on the dress. Since you have so eloquently persuaded me to go with white, it looks like we're going to have to start all over again."

Ashlee groaned loudly and climbed to her feet. "Wait!" She held her hands out in front of her. "We still have one left." She pointed to the black bag still hanging on a hook in the corner.

"Ashlee..."

"Come on, Nat!" The blonde threw her arm around the smaller woman's shoulder. "One little peek wouldn't hurt... right?"

Natalia sighed. "Alright!" She threw her hands up in the air before turning to walk over to the valet case. "But don't get your hopes up. I doubt Ms. Davina and I share very similar taste in clothing." With a long sigh, she reached out and unzipped the bag, using both of her hands to slide the case open.

For a moment, she was completely silent.

Then she whispered. "Oh my god."

"What?" Ashlee rushed up to look over her shoulder, her mouth dropping open as she got her first look at what the bag had been hiding. "Jesus..." She said breathlessly. "We just wasted a lot of time didn't we?"

"Oh yeah." Natalia laughed, stretching out her fingers to run them down smooth white, silk and lace covered buttons. "A whole lot of it." Smiling happily, she pulled the dress all the way out from the bag and held it up to her body, astonished to find it exactly the right size and almost the right length. A quick fitting and a few minutes with a needle and she would have the dress she had always dreamed of. Her cheeks rosy, she turned to look at herself in the mirror, her eyes glazing over slightly as she imagined Olivia's face as she walked towards her down the aisle...

"I told you to check that one first!"

"You know. I think you have better things to be doing than saying I told you so."

Ashlee threw her a snarky grin. "Like what?"

"Well... since it seems that I've chosen my dress, you should probably be thinking about what you're going to say to Amy on the way out."

Not even her very proper upbringing could stop her from laughing when Ashlee's smile quickly faded.