Speed could feel the presence of the woman before he saw her. He'd been alone on that level of existence long enough now that he could sense the tiniest thrumming she caused, running through him as she approached.

"You seem to be ready now?"

"Almost," he said. "I know she's ok now but I, uh, I never said goodbye."

The woman nodded, understanding, and receded, leaving him to walk into the building by himself. He found Calleigh, alone for the first time that day, in a back room. She sat quietly, staring at herself in the mirror that was in front of her. She had a contented half smile on her face.

He stood to one side of her, watching as she absently turned her head this way and that, checking her hair, her makeup, her earrings. She had always looked good in white.

He cleared his throat and she seemed to cock her head the tiniest bit, as though listening for something. He knew she couldn't really hear him, but he spoke anyways.

"Calleigh, I want to say first that I'm sorry. I wish things could have gone differently. However, they didn't and…and I'm glad you're happy. Second…I love you."

Just then, another woman, wearing the lightest of pinks, burst through the door.

"Calleigh, it's time!"

Calleigh grinned, standing up to embrace the other woman excitedly before they left.

Speed nodded to himself. "Yeah, I'm ready."

X

The wedding was a spectacular Catholic affair, complete with Mass. As Calleigh and Eric knelt in front of the altar, they barely heard a word the priest was saying, they were too busy passing secret glances and whispers to notice there was an outside world.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife." They had said their vows and now Eric tipped her chin up to seal them with a kiss. They both laughed as they pulled apart, amazed that they had finally made it. It had been worth the wait.

The reception was chaotic. After entering and being announced for the first time as "Mr. and Mrs. Eric Delko," so many people swarmed them to congratulate and talk to them that they were quickly separated. Since the dinner was buffet style rather than a formal sit down affair, the dancing started almost immediately and Eric and Calleigh didn't meet up again until someone raised the cry for them to dance together. They met in the center of the dance floor and, as the music swept them up, she leaned into him, head on his chest. After a moment though, she looked back up at him.

"I love you Mrs. Delko," he said when he caught her eyes.

She matched the grin on his face. "I love you, Mr. Duquesne."

They both laughed, having made the names part of a private joke between them months prior. Just then, Calleigh saw something she had to point out.

"Look at that, Ryan and Valera are dancing together," she said.

"So they are. Maybe they aren't as dense as we thought," Eric said with a laugh.

"Maybe not. You know, he asked her to come with him and, technically, I think that counts as a date, so…"

He groaned, knowing what was coming next.

"…I think you owe me some money," she finished.

He laughed and then leaned down to cover the smirk she was giving him with a kiss. They both blushed as those around them started clapping and whistling, but that didn't stop them. The boundaries had already been broken and there was no way they were ever going back.

FINIS

A/N: Well, how bout that? Done. Makes me realize why I went on a two-year hiatus from writing fanfiction. But seriously, I enjoyed writing this story and I enjoyed entertaining you all. Now, I'm not going to say I'm never going to write fanfiction again, but with the new semester and all, I will say that I probably won't be writing any continuous stories anytime in the near future (even though this story has given me the urge to write about Ryan and Valera…where are they headed after the wedding, hmm?) However, my love for E/C runs deep and I heartily enjoy throwing these two together, so I shall continue my fanfic pursuits in my LiveJournal ) where I've already written a few naughty vignettes. My LJ is friends only but these entries are public so they should be right at the top (username: Meowmix1066) However, should they somehow get lost, they are also linked in my memories as E/C ?usermeowmix1066&keywordE/Cvignettes&filterall

I am a major review whore so any feedback is always welcomed :)

Interesting (perhaps) tidbits:

I made Calleigh Catholic on purpose. I had a scene in my head of having her attend Midnight Mass with Eric which, in my humble opinion, would have been incredibly romantic since the church would be all pretty and there would be the air of mystery that seems to surround the Catholic ceremony, especially on Christmas Eve. However, the scene never panned out and I was stuck with a Catholic-for-no-reason Calleigh. Ah well, at least it was a Catholic wedding, lol.

Chapter 10 was the bane of my existence. At one point while I was writing it, Calleigh saw a psychiatrist who told her to take some mandatory time off. She was then going to head to Louisiana where I think I would have gotten into a whole mess of backstory that I didn't want to deal with in this story so I nixed it.

Speed was originally supposed to play a bigger part than he did. There's no real explanation for why he didn't except that I still wanted fluffiness in this story. If I had put more Speed in, it would have downed it too much.

Horatio went to the wedding with Yelina. Yeah, come on, they're meant for each other. I only put the Rebecca thing in cause I needed to have something that was starting around the same time as Speed's death so Calleigh wouldn't notice it. So, since the timing between the end of Chapter 10 and the Epilogue is at least a year (maybe more,) Horatio had plenty of time to drop Rebecca, explain himself to Yelina and sweep her off her feet or whatever it is that Super!H does to women.