Ok once again bending the story a little bit… Caleb is still alive and married to Julie… I just needed him in the story to walk her down the aisle; cus there was a monsoon the first time.
Disclaimer: don't own Chapter 14: Goin' to the Chapel

Kirsten had always wondered what had set her apart from Sandy's other girlfriends in the past, especially Rebecca. What was it that made Sandy fall so madly in love with her that made him forget Rebecca completely for all these years? She had thought about it a lot when they were first married and still in Berkeley, but after the birth of Seth it slowly faded from her thoughts. She trusted that Sandy loved her more than anything for whatever reason it may be-- and she never questioned it until Rebecca came back, and started to make things fall apart. Although it may have been temporary and eventually it passed, the thoughts, which felt like ghosts of terror, slowly crept back into her thoughts.

Rebecca had been a smart woman, Jewish, from the Bronx, a liberal, and she was adored by the entire Cohen clan, especially Sophie. She was beautiful, and ambitious, and Sandy had always pictured them together-- without a doubt. He loved her, but there was no passion between the two like there was between Sandy and Kirsten. Between those two, there was always something electric, from the get-go, a spark. Kirsten was the total opposite of Sandy. She was wealthy, his family barely got by. Sophie Cohen represented everything that Caleb Nichol stood against, and vice versa. Kirsten, the blond-haired blue-eyed Presbyterian had fallen head-over-heels for the crazy eye-browed Jewish kid with the deep New Yorker accent-- and she didn't care. Because she loved him.

Sandy always thought that this beautiful and intelligent woman from a bubble world with a desire to break free from it was the most amazing creature that he could ever understand. Beneath her perfectly applied make-up and faux smile was the pain and suffering that tore at each of her heart strings, and she built up towering walls around herself. Sandy saw through those cemented bricks like glass. He saw her, the stressed and crying girl that always felt inadequate of the bar she was expected to be standardized to. He saw beyond her complete and total out-of-his-league appearance to the lonely and beautiful girl that was waiting for her missing piece to come along. From that spark that had formed between them from the beginning, both knew that he was her missing piece. Neither one could understand life without their better half. Neither one wanted to.

Yes, Sandy had loved Rebecca, but he never felt the passion and romance that he craved with Kirsten. Somewhere deep inside them both, the spark between them had ignited into a flame that had survived over twenty years. They could understand that they were together for a reason, and that being together was the only way that they would ever be happy.

Kirsten was lying in bed thinking about these things as she had woken up on that Saturday morning in April. Sandy's arms were around her, and she could feel his steady breath on the back of her neck. She found his hands with hers, and laced them together. Sandy woke up, and noticed that his wife was awake already, holding his hands in hers. He silently left a trail of kisses down the side of her neck and on her shoulder, tightening his arms around her and bringing her closer. She closed her eyes, relishing in his touch. "Morning." He whispered into her ear.
"Hi." She whispered in a small voice back to him, trying to contain her smile for what the day would hold. She could not wait for the vow renewal today, and vacation with just the two of them for another two weeks.
"Are you excited for today?" Kirsten asked.
"Of course I am. But I'm even more excited for tonight." Sandy said, a smile creeping across his face.
"Hey!" Kirsten replied- playfully elbowing him in the ribs.
"I love you honey." Sandy said, sucking up and swooning to his wife, but with a true statement.
"I love you too." Kirsten replied, buying his act. She turned around in his arms, and wrapped hers around his neck, kissing him slowly and passionately. He reciprocated, lovingly, and let his hands slowly roam about her body, clad in her black silk nightgown.

There was a knock on the door. Seth's voice called into the room.

"Mom! Dad! It's D-Day! Time to get up. You guys are supposed to be in separate rooms anyway, according to the girls. I'm coming in but say "I" if there is anything beyond a PG rating in there."

"I!" Sandy called without hesitation, as he pinned Kirsten down onto the bed and kissed her neck and collarbone, but she pushed him off.

"Seth its fine-- your father doesn't know what he's talking about. Come in." Seth entered the room with is hands over his eyes, for precaution.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaat?" Sandy whined rolling over, off his wife as Kirsten got up out of bed, revealing her silk nightgown that clung to her perfect figure. She shortly exited to her closet, and returned with her bathrobe.

"Seth." Kirsten scolded.

"What mom?" Seth replied, not moving his hands from his eyes.\

"Everyone is fully clothed and no physical contact of any sort happens to be going on currently." Kirsten said in a monotone voice, crossing her arms.

"Ok…" Seth said, and removed his hands from his eyes. "Dad has to come with me and Ryan and do guy stuff. Mom, you're going with the girls and Julie and do whatever… you women…do. So yeah. Dad comes with me." He said, motioning towards the door, and waiting for his father to emerge from the bed.

"Just give me a minute, son. I'm going to grab a quick shower and I'll be down in a minute," said Sandy, pulling himself out of bed, and walking towards the bathroom.

"Ok hurry up though, Summer's pissed at me already." Seth said, walking out the door, mumbling to himself. Kirsten smiled at Sandy, and walked over to him, giving him a peck on the cheek, and turned towards her wardrobe again.

"Wait- where are you goin?" Sandy said, grabbing her hand. She turned around and he brought her close to him, slipping his arms around her waist, and stealing a kiss.

"Honey-- we need to get going. We'll have plenty of time for this later…" she said, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"I'll hold you to that." he replied, stealing another kiss.

"I'm gonna get dressed. You get in the shower." Kirsten directed.

"Will you come with me?" Sandy said, sticking out his lower lip.

"Nooo we don't have time! Seth will skin us alive." Kirsten said, trying to contain her laughter as Sandy tickled her.

"Sooo-- we brought him into this world-- we can take him out." Sandy said, quoting Cosby.

"Like I said, get in the shower- we can do that later." Kirsten said, slipping into the closet and pulling on a button-up blouse, and a pair of slim-fitting jeans, and flats.

She pulled her hair up, dotted on some concealer, applied lipstick and sprayed some perfume on her chest. She went downstairs, and was greeted in the kitchen by Seth, Ryan, Summer, and Marissa.

"FINALLY! Where's dad?" Seth asked, sipping his coffee, and passed his mother a mug.

"Showering. He'll be down in a minute." Kirsten replied, pouring herself some coffee. They heard a honk from outside.

"Oh the limo's here! We better go!" Summer announced, giving Seth a quick peck on the cheek, and pushing her purse up onto her shoulder. Marissa followed suit, and Kirsten put down her full mug of coffee, and followed the girls outside. The stretch limo picked them up and headed down the driveway, along the coast. "Julie! Hi, how are you?" Kirsten said, hugging her friend.

"I'm good, congratulations!" Julie said back.

"Thanks. I'm so excited for today! I'm looking forward to that deep tissue massage"
-
The girls enjoyed a relaxing day at the spa, complete with massages, mud wraps, tanning, as well as getting their hair, make-up and nails done. Summer called Seth to tell him that they were on their way to her house to finish getting ready separately from the guys, so that they could avoid breaking any superstition. By 5:30 all the girls were ready for the 7:00 ceremony at the chapel. Summer, Marissa, and Julie all wore their silk wine-colored dresses with their hair down and slightly curled. Kirsten wore a beautiful wedding gown, with a silk bodice and a-line skirt. Her hair was down, and stole more than its fair share of light with is glossy blond texture and soft curls at the ends. Her simple veil went to the middle of her dress.

"Kirsten you look beautiful." Julie commented.
"Oh, thank you, Julie, I'm just so excited!" she said, hardly able to contain a smile.
"You're glowing!" Summer added. Kirsten laughed, and put a hand to her blushing cheek.
"This is going to be so fun!" Marissa said.
"I know! I'm just glad it's a new year, I'm home, and last year is far behind us"
"I know, I was worried about you." Julie said, putting a comforting hand on Kirsten's shoulder.
"Me too." Kirsten said, looking down. "I'm just glad it's over." she forced a smile. Marissa and Summer looked lost, but decided not to ask questions. Everything was obviously better now.

-
"Dad! The limo's here. It's 6:00. We gotta go." Seth called, directing traffic that included Caleb, Jimmy, Ryan, Sandy, and himself. The five guys climbed into the limo, and headed in the direction of the chapel.

-

Kirsten sat in a small room in the back of the chapel, by herself, putting in her earrings. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" She answered, turning around to see who it was. Sandy quietly tiptoed in, a sheepish grin painted across his face, as he caught a good look at his bride. Kirsten rolled her eyes.
"Sandy! What are you doing! If the kids find you in here they'll kill you!" she warned her voice barely above a whisper.
"Guess what. We're the parents-- we ground them! So I don't really care." Sandy replied, wrapping his arms around her waist, and kissing her softly.
"You look beautiful." Sandy said, pressing his forehead against hers.
"You don't look so bad yourself." she replied.
"I just wanted to say Happy Anniversary… and Happy Birthday… and Happy Valentine's day… and Happy Chrismukkah… and Happy Halloween… and any other holiday that gets me kisses." Sandy rambled between short, sweet kisses that he planted on her lips as he held her hands. Kirsten started to giggle, as her husband went on. "Let's get married!" he said excitedly.
"Oh, I would, but I'm already getting married to this other guy today… see he's smart, and funny, and very, very sexy." Kirsten said, playing along.
"Oh- I don't think he'd mind." Sandy said, planting another kiss on her lips.
There was another knock on the door, and Caleb let himself in.
"Kiki, you- SANFORD! Out!" Caleb ordered- pointing his son-in-law out the door. Sandy rolled his eyes at his wife, kissed her cheek softly, and left the room slowly, much to Caleb's dismay.
"Kiki, why did you let him in? You're not supposed to talk to him until after the ceremony! Bad luck"
"Dad. We have been married twenty-one years. Not too worried about it."

"Fine. I'll talk to him about that later"
"Dad, don't worry about it. At our first wedding he snuck in too- but that time, you weren't here to stop him…" Kirsten said, just to make Caleb angry. Caleb shot her a look.
"Let's just go." he finally said.
"Fine by me." Kirsten said, as she took one last look in the mirror, and grabbed her bouquet of flowers, and headed out the door, into the foyer of the chapel. Ryan, Marissa, Seth, Summer, Jimmy, and Julie were already out there, waiting. The music started to play, as Ryan and Marissa made their way down they aisle together, as the soft music played. Kirsten could not see the altar behind all the people yet, as she looked over Julie's head, and around Seth's elbow, trying to see Sandy standing next to the minister.

"I can see him. He's there-- with a smile the size of the Pacific Ocean across his face. He looks happy, Kiki." Caleb said, not looking down at his daughter, but looking straight forward, and avoiding any emotion in his voice. Kirsten looked up at her dad, who was obviously trying to steer clear of eye contact. She looked down at her feet for a moment, and then squeezed his hand.
"I love you dad."
"I love you too honey." Caleb said, finally turning to her, and kissing her cheek.
"Sandy loves you too." he added.
"I know." she said, smiling at the thought of her husband.
"Good." Caleb said, squeezing her hand again. Seth, Summer, Jimmy, and Julie had all processed down the aisle, Caleb and Kirsten were next.

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Ok this is kind of a part one of two chapter… I guess. I will tie up some of those loose knots later-- remember we got the whole ceremony, reception, and two weeks of kandy vacation to go! Plenty of time for romance, fluff, chatting, not chatting, angst… whatever your heart desires! Please review& tell me what you want. Remember, Democracy!