Stephanie tied the bonnet onto Tristan's head even though Tristan didn't seem to appreciate it. She was wearing a pink, frilly bonnet to match her white and pink dress that she was wearing to the wedding. They figured if she had a short nap before the wedding, she wouldn't be too fussy and would be able to sit through the wedding.

"Aww, isn't my little girl the most precious thing you've ever seen in your entire life?" Chris said, adjusting his tie as he walked into the bedroom, "Stephanie, can you fix this, its uneven?"

She looked over, "No, its not, you just think it is, its fine."

"You sure?" he asked again.

"Very," she responded, then stood Tristan up on her little legs, "How does she look?"

"Someone's going to upstage the bride," Chris said, "You look beautiful Trist."

Tristan smiled and Stephanie kissed her cheek. Her and Chris had successfully avoided talking about the kiss any further since it had happened last night. She didn't want to forget it, had felt something in his kisses, this all-powerful feeling that she just couldn't shake off, but it was better that way, at least for now. Things were still too up in the air...and Chris was still too involved with Victoria.

She couldn't force his feelings to change, even though hers had. If she could go back to when Chris had told her that he had loved her, she would've followed what she knew to be true, that Chris was what she really wanted. She realized it too late and now they were only friends. She kissed Tristan's cheek again, reassuring herself that she was doing the right thing.

"Can you hold onto her so I can get into my dress, then I have to go see Lita and make sure that she's getting ready? She's getting her hair done right now so I have a little time."

"Sure," he said, taking Tristan from her arms, "Are you going to be a good girl during the wedding?"

Stephanie walked into the bathroom with her dress bag and unzipped it. Lita had really picked some tasteful dresses for the wedding. She had forgone her usual edgy style for a more subdued theme to her wedding. The dress was a light brown, almost tan color but shiny and it was a simple spaghetti strap a-line cut dress that ran to the floor with a slight flair at the waist. She tried to zip it up and found that she couldn't get it all the way.

"Chris," she said, walking out of the bathroom slightly, "I can't zip up my dress, can you do it for me?"

"Yeah, hold on a sec," he said as he went to put Tristan in her carrier for a moment.

He walked over to Stephanie and found that she had only zipped up the dress half way and the rest of her back was exposed. He caught sight of her strapless bra and his breath caught in his throat and he swallowed hard. Stephanie pulled her hair out of his way, exposing her bare neck and he had the urge to kiss her neck and inhale her scent, which he knew to be a mixture of strawberries and baby powder. He had gotten the essence last night when he had kissed her. God, how he had wanted to kiss her, and then she had invited him to, but it had only ended with...well, with nothing really resolved. Maybe it was just better to let sleeping dogs lie.

"Chris, the zipper," Stephanie said, wondering what the hold up was.

"Oh, sorry," he said and zipped it up quickly lest he get anymore ideas as to what he really wanted to do to her. They were all very X-rated and he shook his head of those thoughts.

"Okay, I'm going to take Tristan with me, and then drop her off with Shane so he can take her to the ceremony, I guess I'll see you at the church?"

"Yeah, you'll see me at the church," Chris said, then went over to pick up Tristan, "Bye Trist, be a good girl ok, I'll see you at the ceremony and I love you."

"Chris, you'll see her in like forty-five minutes, you're not going away for a year," Stephanie laughed as Chris set Tristan back in her carrier and handed her over to Stephanie along with Tristan's bag.

"I know, so I guess I'll see you two later, I'm going to see how the groom is doing. You know, give him the pep talk."

"How are YOU capable of giving a pep talk when you've never been married?"

Chris rubbed his chin, "Good point, well, I can at least give him the fatherhood speech right?"

"That you can do," she told him, "See you in a while."

Chris watched as the two of them left and went to get his cuff links from the bathroom. He put them on and then left the room as well, heading down to where he knew Matt was getting ready. He knocked on the door and Jeff answered the door with a lazy smile as he let Chris into the room. Matt was sitting on the bed, wringing his hands and Chris looked to Jeff for an explanation.

"He's nervous," Jeff said simply, "Hasn't even spoken in the last twenty minutes."

"I have too," Matt cut off, "Hey Chris, you look nice."

"Well I didn't want to look like crap for your big day."

"I'm nervous."

"Yeah, I kind of got that vibe from you, not to mention Jeff actually telling me you were nervous. You shouldn't be nervous, today is going to be great, you're going to get married to the woman you love and it'll be great."

"Yeah, but right now, I'm freaking out, and I need a distraction."

"Distraction? You want a distraction, here's one for you, I think I'm still in love with Stephanie," Chris said, sighing as he sat down heavily next to Matt.

Matt and Jeff exchanged a look of knowledge before Matt turned to Chris, "Still?"

"Yeah, I never told you guys, but I told Stephanie I loved her...back when, and she turned me down, and...I don't think those feelings ever went away. I kissed her last night. I mean, she wanted me to kiss her, so it was mutual and all that, and I don't know, I just, I felt it still there."

"I told you," Matt said, "I knew it, everyone knows it."

"I don't think she loves me back though," he said, "I can't stand the fact that I feel like this, after everything, I don't want to get rejected by her again. And after the kiss...well, I told her that I didn't want to forget the kiss and she basically, well, she basically said that we should, so I'm trying, but I think I'm still in love with her, and then there's Victoria, and I think I'm falling in love with her, and I'm so damn confused."

"Well, this does take my mind off the wedding," Matt said, "Don't you think you should take that chance?"

"We're not like you and Lita, Matt. You knew that she would probably return your kiss. You've told me that you knew you were right. Stephanie and I, there's a lot of stuff that went down, and I don't know, I don't know what would happen if I told her about this."

"Yeah, but what if you never tell her and you have to hide these feelings with Victoria. Maybe your settling for Victoria."

"Man," Jeff said, "You know, the worst Stephanie can do is say no, you know, its worth the shot at her."

Chris tightened his ponytail, "She tried to take Tristan away from me. There was never any chance that Tristan was Hunter's, it was always just me. She...wanted to...she wanted me to sign away my rights to Tristan, not be involved, give her up basically..."

"She WHAT!" Matt exclaimed, "How could she do that to you, to her child's father?"

"Matt, she corrected it, she's apologized for it about a million times and we cleared it up...I just...I'm afraid I guess. There's just this delicate balance with me and Stephanie, and with Tristan its almost like, one false step and I could lose everything."

"I didn't know she had done that," Jeff said, shaking his head, "I mean, God..."

"You guys, don't hold it against her alright. She made a mistake, but she fixed it. She was just scared because of what happened with Hunter. She doesn't like what she did anymore than you did."

"Maybe you should back off," Matt said, "I mean, now I see this situation and its just really volatile, maybe it is better if you just take it down a notch."

"Yeah, but, then there she is, and...but I don't know how she feels."

"Stay with Victoria," Jeff said, "But keep an eye on Stephanie, you know, in case you do see something."

"Thanks," Chris replied, "Now that, that's over with, I say that we should head to the chapel and get our friend here married."

"Sounds like a plan."

Stephanie smiled as she saw Lita get her necklace clasped on her. She was going to make a beautiful bride. She had been a beautiful bride once upon a time. Of course that wedding had been a sham and never actually made it through. And she had ended up married to Hunter. She frowned sadly as she thought about the fact she had never had an actual wedding.

"You alright Steph?" Trish asked as she adjusted her straps.

"Yeah, I just miss Tristan."

"Oh yeah, that whole separation thing."

"You can say that," Stephanie said, "But you look beautiful Lita."

"Thanks," she said, "I think I'm ready to go to the church now. Hey, me in a church wedding, who'd have thunk that?"

"Not me," Trish piped in, "But it'll be all beautiful and special and most of all romantic. And Stephanie and I will have to stand forever doing nothing."

"Great, make me feel bad on my wedding day," Lita said as she grabbed her bouquet, "My mom is waiting down by the limo, so we should probably go."

"Alright, I'm ready, you Steph?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

Chris watched as Matt made his way to the front of the church. Jeff was escorting Trish down the aisle and he was escorting Stephanie, whenever they decided to get here. Matt was nervously tugging on his tie, waiting for the signal to be given that Lita had arrived. Finally the limo pulled up and Stephanie and Trish got out, laughing about something as Stephanie held the bouquets and Trish held Lita's shoes. Next, Lita herself got out as her mother held her train for her. Stephanie and Trish walked up the steps, Trish giving Jeff a light kiss.

"You two look beautiful," Jeff told them, "The dresses look great on you. Don't you think Chris?"

"Yeah, you both look hot," he added. He glanced over at Jeff who just smiled in his direction. Chris gave him a dirty look as Stephanie went to stand next to him.

"So how's Matt?"

"I think he'll be fine once he actually sees Lita."

"Yeah, that's good," she said. They stood there a little awkwardly, looking at Jeff and Trish, who had decided that they wanted to spend their time before the wedding making out. Stephanie looked over to Lita who was putting her shoes on as her mother talked to her about something.

"This should be really nice," Chris said idly.

"Yup, it should be," she answered, "Really nice."

"Ok, guys, I'm ready," Lita said, grabbing her bouquet from Stephanie. Chris went over and opened the door to signal to the musicians that they were ready. He walked back over to Stephanie as they waited for their cue.

Finally they got their cue and Stephanie held her bouquet in one hand as she linked arms with Chris with her other. She looked at him and smiled and he pushed some of her hair out of her face, not wanting her to think she looked bad out there or anything. The doors opened and they both put their best faces forward as they walked down the aisle together. It was definitely weird, being in a church, hearing wedding music as they walked down the aisle.

Stephanie looked to her left and saw Shane holding Tristan as they looked at her. Stephanie gave the baby a big smile and Shane lifted up Tristan's arm and gave her a little wave. Chris looked over to see that and he smiled too before seeing Victoria, who was also smiling. He suddenly felt guilty, considering he had kissed the woman who was hanging on his arm right now. But with that guilt was a feeling of no remorse. He didn't regret what he had done, he just wished he had had better timing about it. He let go of Stephanie's arm as they reached the front and went to their appropriate sides. Matt smirked at him as Chris walked past and Chris just looked at his feet.

The wedding didn't take too long and before they knew it, the reception was in full swing and everyone was having a great time, eating and laughing and talking to one another. Stephanie was sitting with Tristan in her lap. Lita's cousin was going to take the little girl as soon as the meal was over, but Stephanie had wanted to hold onto her as long as possible.

She ate a bite of her food and looked over at Chris, who was making funny faces in Tristan's direction as she tried to reach out for him. He took her from Stephanie's arms and held her up over his head, still making funny faces at her as she looked down at him happily.

"Hey you guys, my cousin said she's done with her dinner so if you want to hand Tristan over, she's taking the kids back to the hotel," Lita said as she walked over to them.

"Ok, thanks Lita," Stephanie said as she and Chris stood up. Chris handed Tristan over to Stephanie as he picked up her bag and car-seat that they had kept with them. They took her over to Lita's cousin who took Tristan in her arms. Stephanie was a little hesitant to give up Tristan, but did and watched as Chris took the car-seat with him to install in the car.

She stood there and watched as Matt and Lita shared in their first dance together. They looked so much in love it made her kind of sad. She watched as various couples went out on the dance floor as well and almost envied them because she was alone. She looked down at her shoes, not used to being such a wallflower. This was definitely an unenviable position to be in, and she kind of wished she had gone back to her seat, but now there was an entire dance floor between her and her chair and circumventing the dance floor was kind of useless as she saw people talking everywhere.

"You want to dance Stephanie?"

She looked up to see Kurt standing there, "Sure Kurt, I'd like that."

She let Kurt lead her onto the dance floor and resumed the positions that they had last night. Chris walked back into the room, searching for Stephanie since she wasn't where he had left her. He scanned the dance floor and saw her dancing with Kurt. Chris sighed and watched her. He had been planning on asking her to dance, maybe have a little talk with her about...things. He sighed and stared at them for a moment.

"There you are," Victoria said as she walked up to Chris, "I've been looking for you...let's dance."

Chris smiled at her, and let her lead him onto the dance floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he wrapped his around her waist as he pulled her closer to him. She let her head rest against his chest. Chris could see past her while they were dancing and saw Stephanie still dancing with Kurt. She caught his eye as they turned towards his direction and he gave her a small smile. She smiled back before going back to talk with Kurt. Chris slowly migrated over so they were standing next to Kurt and Stephanie.

"Hey you two," Stephanie said, "Having fun?"

"Yeah," Victoria said, "What about you two?"

Stephanie looked at Chris, "Yeah, I am."

"Hey, how about we switch partners," Chris chimed in. Stephanie shrugged and nodded, as did Victoria and Kurt.

Stephanie took the few steps over to Chris and let him wrap his arms around her. She tensed a little as she felt his touch and just wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. Chris took in his breath sharply, not expecting her warm, soft hands to touch the sensitive spot right below his hairline. He looked down at her and caught her eyes.

"Hi," he said, not thinking of anything better to say.

"Hey, was Tristan ok when you left?"

"Yeah, she pouted a little, but I think she'll be fine."

"Good," Stephanie whispered, "I was a little worried."

"She'll be fine," he reassured her, "Perfectly fine."

"I know."

He stared at her. He was sure then, he loved her. He still loved her so much that it hurt him to think that she didn't love him back. Why didn't she love him back? He could make her so happy that it would consume her, he could make her feel loved beyond anything else she had ever experienced. Why wouldn't she just let him have her, make her happy?

Stephanie looked up at him. She thought back to the kiss they had shared and how she had felt while he was doing it. She liked to think that he felt something too, but it was too risky to take the chance. He would probably reject her if she told him how she was feeling. He had every right to, after the way she had treated him before, it would be fitting for him to reject her.

If only they could both be sure...