Thank you, Hannah (grahamlecter) for Beta-reading my story and finding my mistakes so that I can fix them.

Since I only get comments from a dozen or so of the readers, I hope you're all enjoying these chapters. (I'd love it if all of you reading it would drop me a line). Thank you, though, for taking the time to check out my stories.

(Watch for the /*/ coming up in this chapter )

That's to let you know when to read Wedding Plans, Parts 2 and 3, Vincent's, It's A Date, and The Pink Sweater (in Side Stories)

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Chapter 41 - Wedding Plans

By the time they got home Sunday night, it was late, so they left the luggage by the door and went upstairs. After getting ready for bed, both were asleep within minutes.

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Susan stretched and yawned. As she turned over, she noticed Spencer was awake. And he was smiling. She propped herself up on her arm and kissed him. "Good morning, Love. How did you sleep?"

He smiled wider, sliding his arms around her, pulling her close. "I slept great, with you beside me." He spoke low, his voice rough with need and his breath warm on her skin. "I have something for you." He slid his hands down her back as he kissed her.

She shuddered. "Oh, my, that feels good. Please tell me you don't have to get out of bed to get it." He took her hand off his chest, pulling it down under the covers between them. Susan grinned. "Ooh. Thank you, Love, I know just where to put this."

Closing his eyes, Spencer uttered low, guttural sounds of appreciation, kissing her, whispering in her ear…

/

Susan lay against his side, reveling in the bliss and humming while kissing his neck. That tickled and made him laugh as his hands roamed over her back, up to the nape of her neck, and he kissed her again, making her tremble.

"Mmm. Thank you for that gift, Love. That was exactly what I wanted." She laughed, her voice low and sultry. "Except for eating, can we stay in bed all day? There's nothing else I want to do today… or need to do."

"We don't have to stay in bed; we can do this anywhere in the house." He chuckled. "Boinking like bunnies."

"Ooh, yeah. I'm glad you like that one."

"We could watch a movie while we're having breakfast… later." Spencer pulled the blanket up over them. "I need more of this."

"Hmmm, a movie? Let me guess... Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure?"

"How did you know?" He arched an eyebrow and grinned.

Susan sat up, leaning over him, with one hand on the bed by his head, the other gentle on his chest. "A lucky guess. Now, consider this for a moment. What if it was Doctor Who copying Bill and Ted... using time travel? Hmm? What do you think?"

He pressed his lips together and shook his head, trying not to laugh. "Mmm… no. Are you getting up?"

Susan laid back down. "In a bit. Right now, I wanna bask."

Sliding his hand down her arm, he kissed her, long and slow. "Bask away. If you had a tv in here. We wouldn't have to go downstairs."

"My grandmother used to say couples should never have a television in the bedroom; it's a distraction."

"Hmm. Good point."

/

He turned off the tv as the movie ended. Spencer sat, silent, his left arm propped on the arm of the couch, with his head resting against his palm. After a few minutes, his lips puckered, twisting to one side, and his brows flattened over his eyes.

Susan glanced up, saw the look of concentration on his face, waiting for him to say something. His other hand rested on her arm, his fingertips absently drawing circles as he sat with his legs stretched out on the chaise, and his ankles crossed. She lay on her side, along the back of the couch, using a sofa pillow to rest her head next to him. She knew he didn't like having to admit he was wrong about something; she didn't either. Turning onto her back, she looked up again.

After another silent moment, he cleared his throat and spoke quietly. "If I were in my apartment, I'd be alone, sitting on my sofa, reading. I definitely prefer this. Though it's still difficult to believe you're here with me… or that I'm here with you."

"I feel the same way, Love." She slid the back of her hand up over his chest, near his heart.

"I'm happy." Spencer closed his hand over hers, holding it there. "More than I could ever have imagined. Don't take this the wrong way, but if I weren't here, I know you'd be fine." He saw her eyes fill. "I'm not saying I'd leave." Shaking his head, he smiled. "Now that I've been to paradise, I wouldn't be happy anywhere else." He rubbed her palm with his thumb.

"Paradise, Love?"

"Mm-hmm. In your arms."

"Only my arms?" The corners of her mouth turned up, her voice low.

"Well, in your arms, with you in mine, and me… deep inside you. Paradise." He sighed and smiled.

"Mmm. Well, paradise is nice, especially with you in it." Susan turned again, onto her side, facing him. With her elbow on the sofa between his thighs, she held his hip, pushing his shirt up and pressing soft kisses on his skin above the waistband of his pants.

Spencer sucked in a breath. "Ooh, that's nice. There's nowhere else I'd rather be." His hands slid over her shoulders, to the back of her head, his fingers in her hair. "Mmm. As much as I like this… mm-hmm, I really like it, please stop, for a moment? There's… something I need to tell you."

Susan sat up, setting her hand on the arm of the sofa, next to his elbow, studying his troubled expression. "What is it, Love?"

"I was wrong... 90, well, hmm, 80 percent wrong." He pursed his lips and scowled.

"Wrong about what, Love?"

"About Bill and Ted. I'll say… 80 percent. The only thing the movie has in common with Doctor Who is the basic time travel theme and the general shape of the box. There. I was wrong and I admitted it." He gave her a small smile.

"So, I'm 20 percent wrong, then." Susan smiled lightheartedly, waving her other hand to dismiss his apparent anxiety. "It's… only a movie."

"You weren't wrong." He laughed, then cleared his throat. "There's something else I've been wanting to tell you."

"Oh? What is it?"

"I had a dream about Maeve, and it made me think of the letters she and I wrote to each other." Susan didn't say anything, and her expression didn't change; she simply listened.

He had a sad smile as he spoke. "In one of her letters, Maeve told me she had been alone for so long; she wanted to be with… someone. She started writing to me after she read an article I wrote, about the possibility of people having a genetic predisposition to criminality, for the Journal of Behavioral Psychiatry."

"I received a few letters, too, for the articles I wrote…"

"What Maeve didn't tell me is she was engaged to… someone at the time, though I didn't find out about him until after she was abducted by her stalker." He sighed. "In the dream, she told me you're the one I'm meant to be with." Spencer smiled, seeing her eyes welling up again. "You're so strong, Susan. I know you'd be fine without me—"

She cut him off, shaking her head. "—No, I wouldn't, Love—" Tears slid down her cheeks.

He said softly, "Please, Sweetheart… let me finish?" holding her face in his hands, wiping her tears away with his thumbs, and he kissed her. "Maeve broke off her engagement with… his name was Robert Putnam around the time I wrote back to her." He let out a long sigh. "On the phone with her, I still found it difficult to be completely comfortable, but with you…" He kissed her again gently, "... with you, it's like breathing. I don't even have to think about it. My point is… Maeve was looking for someone… while you were waiting for me. The thought of losing you terrifies me, but I promise I will do everything I can to make sure that won't happen."

She got up onto her knees, leaning against him, unable to speak, trying not to cry, and kissed him.

Spencer held her close and whispered, "You've ruined every unintentional plan to live the rest of my life alone."

She nodded as more tears slid down her face, but she was smiling. "Sometimes it feels like you're reading my mind."

"I was awake that night and heard you say it. I figured you needed to say it… out loud."

"You need to understand, Spencer. For several years I wasn't sure if I'd ever see you again, and I filled up my life to keep busy. And I started thinking of this… condition of mine as a curse. All my friends were falling in love at one point or another and some, over and over. The only time I'd feel that spark was when I dreamed about you or thought about you. Wondering where you were, what you were doing, all the while angry with myself because I wasn't brave enough to stay and talk to you after that lecture. I was so scared to say anything... because I thought if I did, you would think I was some crazy stalker and reject me. I couldn't bear that."

"I'm here now." He wiped away her tears and kissed her again, tenderly. "Like you said, better to think about what could be, instead of what might have been."

"Mm-hmm. Being with you… I feel… alive. I can feel my heart pounding, and you take my breath away. That electric feeling went from a three, thinking about you, to a ten, easy… being with you."

Spencer grinned. "Ten? Wow. I get it, I do, and I feel the same way, not the shaking, but the feeling of being alive. And I wondered where you were, too." He shook his head and sighed. "I thought I knew what love was… what it felt like… before you. I was so wrong. But we're here now. And that's what matters."

"That means a lot to me, Love."

"Well, since you didn't date much… I think I can safely assume you were never engaged before?"

"I've never been engaged… before you, but I have had two marriage proposals from total strangers. Obviously, I said no to both. One was a much older man, at the gallery show in New York. The other was a firefighter at the Spring Fling a few years ago."

He kissed her gently and whispered, "I'm glad you said no. Hmm, I have an idea what we could do now."

Susan said playfully, "Laundry?" She gestured to the luggage sitting in the foyer. "Most of its clean; it only needs to be put away."

He laughed, shaking his head. "Later. We have all day. Do you realize I still have four days off?"

"You do, but I don't. I have class tomorrow." She kissed him. "When you go to work, I'll teach my classes, but when you're off, I can get subs at the center, so I can spend more time with you."

"Sounds good to me. Now that we're home, we can plan our wedding. What's the soonest date we could get married so that our out-of-town family members and friends can be here?"

"Hmm, a month? I'm sure we could make plans while Marsha makes the travel arrangements."

Holding her snugly, Spencer asked, "Next month? April 18th or the 25th?" They both said, at the same time, "The 18th."

Susan chuckled. "I'll put it on the calendar."

"We're getting married." He grinned and kissed her again.

She melted into the kiss and shuddered, softly whispering against his lips, "So many calls to make... later…"

/*/

They spent the rest of the day and the next morning making plans and phone calls for the wedding. And after her class on Tuesday, Spencer took Susan out on a date.

On Wednesday, they slept in late, and when they finally came down to eat, it was nearly lunchtime. Afterward, they relaxed while Spencer went over his notes for the next day's presentation.

He heard his cell phone ring. It was upstairs, charging on the dresser, and he was sitting on the sofa with Susan. She was reading, with her head on a pillow next to him, and he didn't want to get up yet.

Spencer noticed she was still on the same page of her book, after nearly 20 minutes, and he touched her forehead gently with the tip of his finger. "What's going on in there? Still thinking about our incredible date last night? Or is it more wedding details?"

She laughed and set her book on the coffee table. "Oh, yes, last night was wonderful, but no, it's other… stuff. I'm going to promote Darby to Director and give her a raise since she actually runs the Center. I'll stay on as Executive Director, since that's more in line with what I do there, besides teaching as a volunteer."

"It sounds like you've got it all worked out."

"Mm-hmm, it's been simmering on the back burner for months, while I've been trying to figure out a way to make it happen. Now, with the sale of the stuff from the sub-basement, my share should easily cover Darby's raise and the salary of a new Assistant Director. Ooh, or… I could split the Assistant into two part-time positions. I like that idea better. I still need to talk with Stan, since he handles the trust for the center. All the additional overhead costs need to be factored into the budget."

"I understand what the center means to you, and I know you don't want to let it go completely... not that I would ask you to."

"Thank you, Love." Susan got up onto her knees and kissed him, sliding her arms over his shoulders. "That means a lot to me. All my classes start after ten… well, the staff meeting is at nine, on Fridays, but that's after you have to leave for work. We can set the alarm to wake up a little early, to spend some quality time together." His arms went around her waist.

He laughed as his eyebrows arched. "Quality time? Sure. It's no wonder I feel so good around you… all that... quality time."

"And there are nooners." She smiled at the puzzled look on his face. "A popular expression for lunchtime quickies. I've learned a lot of terms from Lizette… and in class from my students."

"Wait… you mean come home for lunch and sex?" He grinned, waggling his eyebrows. "Hmm, that would be nice."

"Hence the term nooner. When you aren't away on a case."

/

After lunch, Susan went to teach her dance class. Her friend Jinny was supposed to fill in for her but called earlier and left a message to say her son was sick, and she had to stay home.

Spencer went upstairs to check his phone and saw he had two missed calls. One from Emily, reminding him he was due back to work on Friday, not Monday. He sent a text back, thanking her for the reminder, letting her know he didn't forget and that he would be there. The other message was from Jennifer. Her voice sounded strained. "Spence? Can we talk?"

He wasn't ready to talk to her yet, so he deleted the message and sent a text:

I'll be in the office on Friday.

The only woman he wanted was Susan. He yearned for her, ached, and burned for her. And next month, on the 18th of April, he was going to marry her.

He still intended to apologize to Jennifer for raising his voice but wanted her to understand his love for Susan, the way he saw it, without telling her about the image that popped into his head at the cafe. She probably wouldn't believe that part anyhow.

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