It was probably be painkillers, but despite being shot twice earlier that day, Duncan Freeman felt wonderful. Hope, beautiful shining light of his life that she was, stood beside him and refused to take her hands off him. She had been right by his side and holding his hand when he'd woken up. Since then, her palms had brushed over his shoulder, her hand rested on his arm, her fingers laced up with his own. And Duncan was happy to let her. He never wanted to let her go, knowing how terrifyingly close they'd come to losing each other.

Around the room were all the other very welcome visitors to his hospital room. Grace, his sister, sat nearby and chatted happily with Eloise, his future mother-in-law, and Kimberly, his future sister-in-law. Sam and Danielle, future in-laws as well, were sitting on the other side of him, each with one of the kids on their lap. And Commander Waverley stood between them. Nearly everyone he loved in the whole world was right here. Nearly.

And then, one of the conspicuous missing members of the family walked in. Sergeant Jennifer Mapplethorpe—Jen Buchanan, as they all properly knew her now—finally made her appearance. There was a haunted look in her face that turned his blood to ice. But she immediately smiled upon seeing him. "Hey there, Dunny!" she greeted. The cheeriness in her voice was very forced. Duncan knew her well enough to recognize it. She was tough, was Jennifer, but after almost a full decade working on the same squad and then however many more years being integrated as part of each other's families, Duncan was well aware that she felt deeper than most. She was strong and reliable, but she loved and lost with a ferocious power that few others had been privileged to see.

But Jen came over to give him a kiss on the cheek. Duncan gave her a small hug, careful to avoid his surgical stitches, and whispered, "Nick?" He was desperate for news of his friend and terrified of what new Jen might give him.

She replied, "Getting scans."

He was still alive then. For the time being, Duncan knew that was all they could ask for.

Beside him, Hope started on her nagging again. "Duncan, stop changing the subject," she insisted.

"Not this again," he grumbled.

"No," she snapped. "Today was our wedding day. We missed our big day. I didn't get to kiss you on the altar of my church and we didn't get to dance to that Ed Sheeran song and my perfect dress is ruined from getting drenched in your blood!" Her volume increased with each word.

"Hope, come on." He tried in vain to calm her down, but he immediately realized that his placating tone was the wrong choice.

"Duncan, today is our wedding day! We're supposed to be married!" she shrieked.

At that point, Eloise stepped in as only a mother can. "Sweetheart, Duncan is going to be in here for a while. You can't get married till he's well again. Be patient," she said kindly.

But Hope would have none of that. "I don't want to be patient! I waited enough! Everyone is here, we can get married now! I bet they've got a priest or something they can call to marry us right here, right now."

"Do you really want to get married in your sweats?" Grace teased. Duncan was more glad than he could express that his sister found Hope as delightful as he did. Hope could be quite a lot—too much, sometimes. But both Grace and Duncan had experienced childhoods of loneliness and isolation and prejudice, being orphaned black children in Queensland, and it would take more than a princess like Hope to make them blink. It was sheer luck that Duncan and Grace had found each other again as adults. And it was even luckier that they'd grown up to share the same sense of humor.

"I don't care!" Hope pouted, not giving her usual deference to Grace's jokes. "I just want to get married! Duncan, I want to marry you now!"

He was about to tell her yes. After all, it was his usual reaction to Hope. She was demanding a lot of the time, but it was always over things that were not just for her but for everyone involved, and he enjoyed that she knew exactly what was best. And he loved nothing more than to give her what she wanted and to make her happy.

But then Duncan looked around the room to see everyone he loved looking back at him expectantly. All except one person, who did not look at him at all. Duncan saw pain of a sort he could not quite comprehend on Jen's face. And so he turned back to Hope and said quietly, "Let's just wait till Nick wakes up."

Hope looked as though he had slapped her across the face. Her lower lip trembled and tears welled up in her eyes. She seemed frozen in shock, not bothering to even wipe away those tears when they fell. And Duncan suddenly understood that Hope had forgotten about Nick. Her big brother was her hero. And he was Duncan's best friend in the whole world. He was as much a part of this wedding as anyone else. But in all the drama and chaos of the day, all the worrying over Duncan and the trauma of the interrupted wedding ceremony, Hope had momentarily lost track of the fact that her brother was still unconscious after getting shot and having life-saving surgery of his own.

Duncan took Hope's hand and gave it a squeeze. "It's okay, babe," he said. He looked at Hope and nowhere else. Especially not at Jen. "Just give it a little more time. We're gonna get married soon."

"You promise?" she whispered through a hitched breath.

"Nothing will stop me from marrying you," he swore.

Hope nodded and used her free hand to wipe her tears away before leaning down and kissing him. God he loved the way she kissed him. Like touching a star, an electric jolt of magic every time her lips pressed against his.

The silence in the room was interrupted by Jennifer addressing her children. "Cody, Ella, let's go back to Dad's room, please."

Ella, who had not uttered a single word since Duncan had seen her this evening, slid off her Aunt Danielle's lap and came over to take her mother's hand. Cody was a bit more awkward getting off of Sam, since his green cast was in the way. He used his free hand to take his mother's.

Before they left, Bernice said, "Jen, I'll come by in the morning. I've got to go check back in at the station. And I know Terry wants me at his tonight."

Jen just nodded. She did not give any heed to anyone else in the room, something that was not like her. But Duncan did not take it as a slight. Nick was not out of the woods yet. Duncan had woken up a few hours earlier and felt great. For Jennifer, the nightmare was still not over.