A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews. It really means a lot to me to get some feedback on these things I churn out. =)

Still in the hospital room, Wilson prepared for his departure. "Unbelievable," he thought. "The one time so far in our marriage that I have to be with her- she expects me to be with her, and I have to leave."

"Ok Mare," he finally said aloud, "you sleep now and I'll be back first thing in the morning. OK?"

"No, not OK. Can't you stay?"

"According to your father, no. He wants you to rest, and so do I. Would you actually get any sleep if I stayed here with you?" he said matter of factually.

"I don't think I'd be able to sleep without you. You know I hate hospitals Wilson."

"But I told your father I'd be out of here in five minutes," Wilson looked at his watch, "and it's been seven."

"Please Wilson," she said making a puppy dog face.

"But your father-"

"Will understand once we explain to him that we're married."

"And I am looking forward to that talk."

"Yeah, me too," Mary said sarcastically. "But don't try to change the subject. Will you stay?"

"Will you sleep?"

"Yes."

"Then yes."

"Good," Mary said snuggling into the bed getting comfortable. She pulls her good arm out from underneath the sheets and moves it toward him.

 "Just take my hand and I'll be out like a light in two minutes."

"Isn't that uncomfortable for you though?" Wilson asked pointing to the arm Mary had flung almost lifelessly over the side of the bed.

"A little bit, but I don't care. This is going to sound stupid, but I can't sleep unless my skin is touching yours."

"That explains your hands under my shirt every night." Mary smiles sheepishly at Wilson's realization. "Can you scoot over without hurting yourself?"

She moves over to one side of the small bed. "Why?"

He doesn't answer her with words, but by getting into the bed beside her.

"Thank you so much." She placed her scatheless arm at the hem of his shirt. "May I?"

"Sure," Wilson said smiling.

Mary's face turned a pale shade of pink as she moved her hand under his long-sleeved shirt and positioned it suitably on his bare chest. She was true to her word, though, and was fast asleep before Wilson knew it. Soon after, Wilson followed her into a deep slumber. It had been a hectic night for the both of them, and they were eager to get some rest.

The next morning, Mary awakened to pain. Her whole body was sore. Her head was pounding like the speakers in a teenagers' car, and her elbow hurt so badly it was almost going numb.

"Guess the medication wore off," Mary mumbled, waking Wilson up with the diminutive sound.

"You're up," he said to her as he sat up. The slight motion on the bed caused her to scream out in pain. "What's wrong?"

"Don't move or you'll hurt me," she warned him. "My whole body aches."

"Are you OK? Do you want me to get someone? I'll get you help," he said frantically.

"No, I'll be all right. I think I'm just stiff. Maybe I should move a little." Mary sat upright, but winced in pain. "See, that wasn't so bad."

"If you say so," Wilson said smiling. "Is there anything I can do for you? Rub your muscles out or something?"

"No, I'll be all right." Wilson picked up Mary's hand. "How's Billy? Did you call?"

Wilson hit his head with his other hand. "I completely forgot. I was going to call my Aunt Jessica last night, but I was so worried about you it slipped my mind."

Mary nodded, but didn't say anything. Wilson noticed her being uncharacteristically distant.

"What's wrong now?"

"My family's going to hate me- us," she said pouting.

"Why? All we did is get married."

"Yeah, married without my father and without telling a soul."

"Well don't blame me. I offered to-"

"I know," Mary said cutting him off. "I'm not blaming you or anyone else," she told him, her eyes starting to tear up with the mere thought of her parents' reactions. She was perfectly content with going through life without telling them that they were married, but she knew that was a bad idea. She had finally decided to bite the bullet and come to GlenOak to tell them, but it still wasn't going to be easy.

Wilson wrapped his arms around Mary gently. She stared deep into his eyes and saw in them that everything was going to be all right in time. He leaned down and kissed her lips tenderly when the door swung open.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lucy mumbled without even so much as half a foot in the door.

"Luce?" Mary said turning around.

"You're OK; I'm glad," she said walking over to the bed. "Good morning Wilson."

Wilson noticed the glares between sisters- each of them appeared to have a story to tell. "Hey Luce," he said, "could you sit with her for five minutes. I'll be right back." Wilson stood up and kissed the top of Mary's head.

"Make it ten," she whispered when he bent down. Wilson smiled and walked out the door.

The pair sat silently for quite some time. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours, each passing tensely with the constant "tick-tock" of the clock above their heads. Mary was waiting for Lucy to make the first move, and Lucy was too angry at the moment to talk to her. Although Lucy had rehearsed in her mind several times the speech she would give Mary when she finally saw her, it had to be altered do to the setting. A hospital room isn't exactly the best place to tell someone off. Lucy concluded it didn't have the right ambiance for her too-harsh words.

"So…" Lucy finally got up the courage to say. "Long time no talk, huh? You know, it's so nice to see you again. When was the last time I saw you? Oh yes, I remember now, the night before you bolted without saying anything to us." Lucy said bitterly.

"Luce," Mary said with a quavering voice.

"Don't 'Luce' me," she said firmly. "You know, if Dad hadn't gone looking for Captain Smith, we would have never found out you left, would we have?"

Mary put he head down in shame as tears rolled down her cheek. Lucy noticed this and stopped herself. She knew she should have gone with a nicer approach.

"Look, I didn't mean to make you cry. I guess I'm just angry you left. You never returned any of my messages- I miss you."

"I'm sorry I didn't say good-bye. I just couldn't stand to be in GlenOak a day longer with Mom and Dad. They were driving me nuts."

"Well, I can understand that. When Kevin moved in, just looking at me told me they wanted me to get engaged right away- its what I'm supposed to do. And now that I'm engaged, they're pressuring me to get married sooner than I want to, and I can tell that as soon as I do that they're going to expect me to have kids," Lucy explained, finally letting her bottled emotions out.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Mary said throwing up her hands. "You're engaged?"

Lucy puts her left hand in the air waving a large diamond in front of Mary. "I tried to call and tell you, but you never called back."

"I've just been kind of busy. Uh…" Mary thought for a second, and then decided to just tell Lucy. "I have something to tell you. I was going to tell everyone together, that's why I'm back, but I wanted to tell you first. I owe you." Lucy's faced turned from aggravated to concerned as she waited upon Mary's news. "Wilson and I kind of, we, uh, we're married."

Lucy's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?" Mary nodded. "Wow. Well, congratulations I guess."

"Thanks," Mary responded warmly.

"For how long?"

"Five and a half months," Mary said apprehensively.

Lucy turned away from Mary. "I didn't know it took that long to get from wherever you are now back to GlenOak."

"We're living in Maryland. Wilson has an aunt there."

"That's nice," Lucy said cordially.

Mary furrowed her brow. "I'm confused. Are you mad at me or not?"

"I'm not really mad- just a little." She verified.

Wilson walked back through the door and over to Lucy. He handed her a cup of coffee and then walked over to Mary.

"I didn't think you'd want any. You could have sip of mine though if you want."

"That's OK, but I know something else you can do for me." Mary said.

"What's that?" Wilson asks.

"Give us five more minutes."

Wilson kissed the top of Mary's head, smiled at Lucy, and headed for the door.

"Wilson," Lucy called out to him before he disappeared out of sight, "congratulations and welcome to the family."

Wilson smiled at Mary. "Thanks Luce," he said sincerely and walked out the door.

"So," Lucy said to Mary once the door closed, all of her usually perkiness now back. "Are you happy with him?"

"Well, he makes me very happy," Mary said turning tomato red.

Lucy smiled. "How did you know he was the right guy for you?"

"The way he looked at me- it just conveys how much he loves me through his eyes. There really wasn't something that told me 'yes, marry him'. I just could never picture myself happy with anyone else besides Wilson."

"But how did you know that your love- both of your love for each other, was going to last forever?"

"Well, let me tell you a story. On our honeymoon, after we, you know, I got this flood of emotions. I didn't really know what to make of them, so I just started crying. Not even crying- full out bawling." A smile came across Mary's face, and the pace of her words slowed to a crawl. "And he got all cute and started asking me if he hurt me, but I was crying too hard to answer. So he held me to him, and I felt so safe and so loved, and so happy. It felt so right."

"That's nice," Lucy said sweetly. "But I don't know if I have that with Kevin."

"You can," Mary replies, "and if that's what you want you will."

Lucy starts to tear up.

"I never thought I'd be this happy with my life. It's almost perfect," Mary said. "But any rate, if it's not Kevin who you belong with, you'll find your soul mate eventually. Just have faith."