co-written by RatedrKjErIcHo

Amber stood in the living room of her house a few weeks later waiting on Holly to get there. She was having lunch with her to start some wedding plans. And of course, Holly was Elaine's ride. She sighed as she looked at her watch and smiled when Teddy walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Someone is impatient to get down the aisle." He said in her ear.

"I just want to make sure that you're mine before someone tries to steal you away." She said as she leaned up to kiss him.

"Don't worry about that. It could never happen." Ted said. "Have you talked to Randy about being one of the groomsmen?" She pulled away from him when he said that. "Babe, we talked about this. You have to talk to him sometime."

"You could talk to him at work."

"He's your brother. You should talk to him." She sighed.

"Hey, hey." Holly said walking in with their mom.

"Hey, Hol, mom." Amber replied.

Ted smiled at them. "I will leave you guys to your wedding plans." He got his keys and headed out.

"Okay, girls let's get this wedding planned." Elaine said as she walked over to the kitchen table. "Sit girls. We have lots to discuss."

Amber and Holly both sat down and Holly noticed the look on Amber's face. She knew instantly that they'd been talking about Randy when she and her mother had arrived. She could see on Amber's face that it annoyed her to no end that Randy was being so stubborn. But what she couldn't see was the exact image mirrored back at her.

"Have you talked to your brother lately?" Elaine asked her oldest daughter.

"No. He is the one being stubborn. Why can't he see that I love Ted and we are going to be happy together."

"Because he wants to protect you. He knows what it's like to be a cop and how worried a cop's wife is. He just wanted to protect you from that."

"But I'm a big girl. I can make my own decision and only I know what I can deal with."

"I know." Elaine agreed. "Just give your brother time. Now, we have wedding plans to discuss."

"Well, I want Holly to be my maid of honor."

"Thanks sis." Holly smiled as her phone went off. She smiled when she saw it was Alex. "Excuse me." She said before walking into another room. Amber rolled her eyes. She didn't know if she trusted Alex. He was nice. A little too nice. And she was worried that Holly was just jumping from relationship to relationship. The way she always had.

"Mom, what do we actually know about this Alex guy?"

"He's a nice guy and he likes your sister."

"But what do we KNOW about him?"

"You know what I think? I think that you're so against this because Randy is so for it."

"I just want to protect Holly. She went from Josh to this Alex guy. I mean we don't really know everything about him."

"He works out with Randy. He's in advertising and he's nice. I think maybe Holly has finally found a good guy who her brother approves of. You should be happy for your sister. You know she's not as strong as you and Randy. She needs being in a relationship"

"Like I need a hole in the head." Amber said.

"Amber, be happy for your sister. She' s happy for you." Elaine replied as Holly walked back in.

"Sorry, Alex wanted to know if we could meet later." Holly smiled sitting back down at the table. "So, where are we in the wedding?"

"I want to talk about the ceremony."

"Alright. Where did you want the ceremony and date and time?" Elaine asked.

"We were thinking this fall. Maybe at the country club. Ted's family are members there."

"I think a fall wedding in Texas is perfect." Elaine replied.

"How about October?" Holly suggested. "October is always beautiful for a wedding in Texas. It would be perfect Amber. Remember Jessica's wedding? It was beautiful."

"Yeah, it was beautiful. October would be nice and we could be married before the holidays."

"Exactly. So, October?" Holly smiled. October had always been her favorite month for a wedding. She always hoped she could be married in October.

"Yeah October at the country club perfect." Amber smiled.

"Okay so what date in October?" Elaine asked.

"How about October 25? It's in late October and the weather is perfect plus it's close to Halloween and you can do Halloween theme stuff." Holly said excitedly.

"That's so much more you than me." Amber said. "I do like the late October thing though. Maybe around the 20th?"

"Okay." Holly replied. "You don't have to use all Halloween things. You can just have two pumpkins out front with your names on them. It would be perfect."

"Holly, respect your sister's choices. It is her wedding. When you have your own, you can have what you want." Elaine said to her daughter.

"You're right, mom. Sorry Amber."

"No problem. Let's get some more details." They began to look through things as Amber was making some choices.

Randy and Alex were working out in the afternoon. Randy wanted to know how things were with Holly so he invited Alex to work out.

"So, Alex, how are things with Holly?"

"Good. She's a fantastic girl. She's worried about you though."

"Me? Why?"

"This whole fight with Amber."

"Amber and I are complicated."

"That's what Holly said. She thinks that she is partly to blame for things."

"She's isn't. Amber and I have been butting heads since forever." Randy sighed. "I just wanted to protect her from the life of a cop's wife. It's hard to be a cop's wife."

"Yeah I'm sure it is." Alex replied. "They are meeting today to go over wedding plans." Randy sighed. "Amber wants you to be in the wedding but she's afraid to ask you. Or too stubborn. And it's obvious you love your sister. So maybe you should be the one to make nice. Why don't we all get together for dinner? You and Dena, me and Holly, Amber and Ted."

Randy thought for a minute. "Yeah let's do that. I need to talk to Amber anyway."

"Good. I know it will make Holly and Amber happy."

"Alex, I'm glad you and Holly are doing well. She's a great girl and she deserves someone who will appreciate her and be good to her. All the other guys she has dated were losers. "

"I'm glad you introduced us. I really like her. I can see a future with her."

Randy smiled. "Great." They finished working out and headed home.

"Well, girls, I think we made some progress today. We can finish up another day. I promised dad I would be home." Elaine said hugging Amber. "Talk to your brother."

Amber nodded as she showed Elaine and Holly out. Holly dropped Elaine off at home and headed to her apartment. She headed in and started to get things out for dinner. She was cooking for Alex. She had worked out the day before at her new gym. Alex suggested she leave training with Dave and train at another gym. He made a compelling case and she agreed to stop training with Dave.

She put the chicken in the oven just as the doorbell rang. She smiled when she opened it to Alex. "You're early."

"Well." He said before kissing her. "Randy and I finished up working out and I wanted to see you."

"I'm glad." She smiled at him.

"I talked to Randy today. I got him to agree to dinner with us and Ted and Amber. Just to clear the air and squash this whole silly argument. Is that alright? Maybe tomorrow?" Holly looked at him for a minute. "What?"

"You did that?"

"Yeah, you've been so stressed out lately. I just wanted to help take some of the pressure off of you. And I know deep down Randy loves you both equally."

She smiled and kissed him. "No one has ever done that for me before."

"Holly, I love you. I deserve everything."

She realized that was the first time he had ever said that to her. "I love you too."

He smiled. "Well, I guess we finally said the words. So, we're pretty exclusive now."

"We have been exclusive. I haven't been with anyone but you since our first date. Have you been with someone else?"

"No. I have only been with you."

"Okay." She smiled.

They had dinner and just spent some time together. They had the plans to have dinner with Amber and Randy the next day. Holly hoped her siblings would bury the hatchet and Amber's wedding would be good.

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