A/N: I hope all of you are now happy. Since it's been almost 6 months since I updated this story I feel like I owe you all an explanation. My co-beta Betsy had just returned from the dark and unknown and we started to write this story again. She was one of the best betas that I have had (along with Sara!) She was starting to help me write when she disappeared again never to return (I found out later that she moved to Ohio and hasn't been heard from since). This story wouldn't have come this far if it hadn't been for her. She was the master behind my ideas that practically wrote this story. She'd write ½ and then I'd write ½ or I'd get an idea and she's write it down. I want to dedicate these last four chapters to her. I feel horrible about not updating this story at all but little by little this story is slowly starting to get completed again. I have 10 credits this spring semester and it's almost done with. Yet, I have to put everything on the back burner because of my relocating within in the next two months will disrupt everything.
A/N: I do hope that everyone enjoys this chapter. If you don't please don't flame me when you do a review but let me know what you didn't like or what you really did like. There is more to come when I get the chance. I know all of the people who have been begging for more so don't worry more will come. Also some of the quotes are actually used from Season 7 when Kevin/Lucy were getting their plans underway.
A/N: Read the disclaimer on the front chapter and u will understand why I'm not rich and why The WB is!
A/N: This chapteris dedicated to Betsy!
2 months later…April 1st, 2003
"You what?" Lucy yelled at him.
"I'm going back to Buffalo for a few weeks"
"Why? For what?"
"Why? Because I bought a house before I fell back in love with you Lucy and for what is because I need to get the house ready for sale again"
Lucy rubbed the back of her neck. "You're going to leave me here for a few weeks to plan OUR wedding with my crazy mother?"
Kevin shot Lucy a sexy smile and she instantly started to melt. Every time he smiled like that she grew weak in the knees.
Kevin ruffled his hair and sighed. He knew it wasn't a good idea but he had to get it over with before all the madness started. Wait, actually before all of the madness got out of control.
"I'm sorry Luce I really am" he told her, wrapping an arm around her waist "but if I don't go now I won't have time and I'd like to start looking for a house after we get married"
"Are you saying you're embarrassed to live in the garage apartment for a while?"
"No, that's not what I'm saying"
"Then what are you saying? It's not like we have to LIVE with my parents" Lucy replied twirling around and glaring at him.
"Lucy, listen to me. I have nothing against your parents. Really. It's just that I have to go back home and take care of some things before we get married"
"Well then I'll come with you" Lucy exclaimed.
"No, you won't. You are still in school and I refuse to have your dad kill me for letting you skip classes."
"He won't kill you Kevin." Lucy giggled. "He'll murder you but he won't kill you"
"Oh, gee thanks I can't wait" Kevin replied sarcastically.
"Why do you have to do what he tells you to do?" Lucy pouted, frowning at Kevin.
"I thought we talked about this already?"
"No, YOU talked about it I had to listen to it" she muttered.
"Look…I promised your dad that as long as we were married you'd stay in school" he told her.
"I'm glad I had a say in MY life" she exclaimed. "Did I get a say in your life? I don't think so Bucko!"
Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Bucko? Where did that come from?"
Lucy gave him an angry look. "I don't think you're all that funny. Now how do I tell my mother to leave me alone?"
"When my mom won't leave me alone I just flat out tell her to leave me alone." Kevin told her.
Lucy just glared at him "Well goodie for you and your perfect mother son relationship. Now, If you'll excuse me I need to leave before my psychotic mother hunts me down" she told him and stomped up the stairs towards her room in the attic.
"Oh great" Kevin muttered under his breath as he walked down the hallway and turned the corner to go downstairs when he ran into Ruthie.
"Oh, Hi Ruthie"
"Hi Kevin. What's wrong with you and Lucy? Are you two still going to get married?"
Kevin lifted his eyebrow. "Yes Ruthie, Lucy and I are still going to get married. Nothing is going to change that"
"Even my psychotic mother?" Ruthie asked, giving him a sly smile.
Kevin chuckled. "Even your psychotic mother"
"Whose psychotic mother?" Annie replied leaning up against the bathroom door.
Kevin gulped and then looked at Ruthie who had a big grin on her face.
"Busted" she murmured to him ask she walked past him and went into the Hello Kitty room.
"So who's the psychotic mother that you and Ruthie were talking about?" Annie inquired giving Kevin a good long, cold hard stare.
"I…uhhh" Kevin stammered.
"That's what I thought" Annie snapped. "Now, have you seen Lucy? I want to show her these wedding invitations that I planned on ordering"
"I…umm I haven't seen her all day" Kevin lied looking down at his shoes.
"I don't buy that. Now let me try this again Kevin. Have you seen Lucy?"
Kevin rubbed the back of his neck. Pissing Annie Camden off was one of the things he mentally remembered never to do again.
"She's upstairs" He replied.
"Thank you" Annie said shortly brushing past him when she stopped and turned to look at him.
"Oh and Kevin?"
"Yes, Mrs. Camden?"
"The next time you feel you have the need to say things about me in front of my daughter. I'd appreciate it if you would say them to me instead of her" she told him before disappearing upstairs towards the attic.
"Great" he muttered to himself as he walked down the stairs. "Just what I needed to do…piss of my soon-to-be in-laws months before the wedding" and with that he exited the Camden home and headed towards the garage apartment so he could start to pack for his trip back to Buffalo.
As Kevin was shoving clothes into his suitcase, he looked down as the 1812 Overture blared from his Motorola phone that was in his pocket. Digging around for a moment, he pulled out his phone and flipped it open.
"Hello?"
"Hey, bro!"
Kevin sighed. In his current mood, he wasn't really up to dealing with Ben.
"Hey Ben."
"You sound like you're in a crappy mood. What's up?"
"Nothing's up."
"Oh, come on, something's up."
"Ben, I just told you, nothing is up."
"Tell me."
"Ben, leave me alone."
"Tell me."
"Ben, I swear --"
"Tell me."
Kevin took a deep breath, and concentrated all of his energy on not punching something. "Why are you calling?"
"I just wanted to double check when you arrived. I'm picking you up from the airport."
"Hold on." Kevin checked his other pocket, and found the piece of paper with his flight information. "Ok, I'm arriving at 6:03 PM on flight AC882. Got that?"
"Yep," Ben replied. "So tell me what's wrong."
"How are things with Eryn?" Kevin asked, desperate to change the subject.
"Oh." Ben was silent for a moment. "It's fine."
"Fine?"
"You know. She's cool. We hang out, eat food, you know."
Kevin rolled his eyes. "Ben, you've been dating her for awhile. When are you going to take things further?"
"Take things further?"
"Do I have to spell it out for you? Jeez. Are you planning on proposing?" Kevin heard Ben choke on the other end of the line.
"Proposing? What?"
"Well, it is the next logical step."
"Kevin... no. I mean, Eryn's great, but we're not... she's not..."
"If you aren't planning on marrying her, what are you doing?" Ben sighed, but didn't respond.
Kevin checked his watch. "Look, Ben, I didn't mean to freak you out. We'll talk about this when I'm in Buffalo, ok? It's just... I don't know, maybe being with Lucy has really brought this into the light for me, but I think that if you're not with "the one" you're just kind of wasting your time in a serious relationship. Maybe you need to think about what you really want."
"Uh huh," Ben muttered. Kevin's eyes narrowed; he swore he could hear a TV in the background.
"Just be on time to pick me up, Ben."
"I'll be there. Bye Kevin." Kevin sighed, and hung up the phone.
Apparently, today was his day to piss everyone off.
"Going to the chapel and we're gonna get married" Lucy sang looking at herself in the mirror
"Gee I really love you and we're going to get married" Annie could hear Lucy singing in the attic bedroom as she reached the top stairs.
"Luce?" Annie said knocking on the bedroom door.
"Yeah?" Lucy replied still staring at herself in the mirror.
"Here, I managed to grab a few pamphlets while I was at the china store yesterday and marked on the pages what color, and kind that you and Kevin should get." She told Lucy, walking over and placing the pamphlets on Ruthie's bed. "Oh and I grabbed an order form for the invitations we decided on as well"
"Uhh…thanks I think" Lucy muttered turning around back towards the mirror.
Annie paused at the end of the bed and put her hand on top of the bedpost. "Luce, have you started to think about your wedding dress?" she asked.
She saw Lucy's eyes light up in the mirror before she turned around with a big smile on her face.
"Oh my god! I found the perfect dress last night at David's Bridal when I went shopping with Betsy and Shannon last night. It's so pretty mom you should see it! It's a strapless satin A-line gown with beaded crystal bodice" Lucy exclaimed sitting down on the bed and grabbing one of the pamphlets Annie had set down.
"That's nice sweetie" Annie replied sitting down opposite of Lucy. "But I was thinking that maybe you could wear my dress."
Lucy wrinkled her nose "Your dress? Wasn't that Grandma Jenny's dress when she married Grandpa?"
Annie nodded her eyes shining with tears of sadness. "Your grandma gave it to me to wear on my wedding day to your dad and told me that when I have children that I'll pass it down for them to wear"
Lucy gave her mom a half smile and glanced down at one of the open pages of the china pamphlets where a gaudy looking pattern jumped out at her.
"Well…erm…thanks but I was hoping that I could wear my own dress. Kevin said I could spend as much as I wanted and I did fall in love with the dress at David's Bridal" Lucy stammered.
Annie's eyes narrowed "You mean you don't want to wear your grandmothers wedding gown?"
Lucy shook her head "No, I would like to wear my own dress" she squeaked.
Annie pursed her lips together. "Is there anything else you'd like to tell me while I'm up here?"
Lucy glanced down back at the china page and to the opened invitation page and gulped. "Well I don't really like the china you picked out and the invitations are WAY to expensive since we are only sending out about a 100 of them"
"Only 100? I had about 300 guests on the list"
"300?" Lucy exclaimed. "Kevin and I talked about this. We don't want a large wedding we want a small wedding"
"What about all of the people at the church? They have seen you grow up since you were born"
"I know that mom but I still don't know half of them. Kevin and I feel really comfortable having only a 100 guests."
Annie's eyes widen "Are you serious?"
Lucy looked up at her mom "Yes, I am serious" she said in a small voice.
Annie stood up "Well I see how it is. Well then Lucy Michelle why don't you plan your own wedding and let me know how it goes. If you need help remember I'm downstairs. Also remember that I have helped plan many weddings in my lifetime plus my own." She snapped walking out of the room and down the stairs.
Lucy groaned "What have I done?" as she flopped on the bed, picked the phone up and dialed Kevin's cell phone.
"Hello?"
"Kev?"
"Luce? Are you ok?" Kevin asked sounding worried.
Lucy sighed. "It's hopeless, my mother quit she won't help me. I can't plan a wedding in less then six weeks, not unless we want to wear sweats and eat fast-food."
Kevin chuckled. "Hey that's fine with me I'll make sure to pick up a white sweatshirt and a black pair of sweat pants before I come home"
"This is all your fault! You told me to tell my mom how I felt!" Lucy exclaimed sitting up on the bed.
Kevin started to laugh "I didn't tell you to tell your mother that you hate everything she's done. I didn't tell you to alienate your mother. Just go and talk to her. But this time, talk to her. Don't just explode your feelings all over her. Remember. She has feelings too. And you may be the bride. But she's the mother of the bride. And this is the first wedding she's had a chance to plan for one of her children."
"Yeah but—" Lucy tried interrupt.
"There are no buts Luce. You made your mom feel awful just now."
"Wait! What do you know? All you want to do is not be one of those stupid modern grooms who do not want to be involved in every detail. You don't want to look at fabric swatches and you don't even want to help me to approve the menus or a band. Basically, you just want to show up. The rest is up to me." Lucy cried out in frustration.
Kevin laughed "Yep"
"This is not funny Kevin Kinkirk" Lucy stated.
"I think it's funny"
"Stop being such a jerk" she screamed into the phone before she slammed it back into the cradle.
Kevin heard a dial tone and looked at his phone. Sure enough Lucy just hung up on him.
"I guess it really is my day to piss everyone off" he muttered to himself as he threw his phone on the bed and continued to pack his suitcase.
"Ben?"
Ben blinked, and looked up from his sausage and pepperoni slice. Yeah?"
"Are you ok? Sweetie, you haven't even touched your food." Eryn was looking at Ben, concern evident in her blue eyes.
Ben gave her a weak smile and forced himself to take a bit of his pizza. "Nothing's wrong I'm fine."
"Okay," Eryn replied, and went back to eating her chicken sandwich. Ben chewed his pizza, which tasted like sawdust. Why was he thinking so much about what Kevin had said to him? Eryn was great. He and Eryn were great together.
Kevin didn't know anything, with all this "is she the one" crap. Ben tried not to think about Kevin. It didn't help that at the table next to him and Eryn, four cops were enthusiastically digging into a platter of wings.
Okay, Ben thought to himself. Don't think about Kevin. Don't think about Kevin. Think about... Ben's eyes darted around the room, looking for a distraction.
His gaze landed on a picture of an airplane. Ben blinked. He could do this. He could focus on airplanes. Airplanes. Airplanes. Flight attendants. Mary.
"Damn it!" muttered Ben.
"What?" Eryn was staring at him from across the table.
Ben realized he had spoken out loud. "Uh... I was just saying... uh... Mindy?"
"My name is Eryn," Eryn said, glaring at her boyfriend.
"I know," Ben replied, slightly irritated. "I mean, Mindy is standing over there. She's my brother's ex-wife." Ben gestured towards where Mindy was chatting with another woman near the restrooms.
Eryn craned her neck around to look. "Which one is Mindy?"
Ben tried to duck down. "Don't be so loud, she might... oh, crap. She did."
Mindy had caught Ben's eye and was now walking over enthusiastically. "Ben!" she squealed, arriving at the table.
"Mindy," Ben said, trying to be pleasant. He wasn't succeeding.
"I can't believe it! Little Ben Kinkirk! How old were you the last time I saw you?"
"Twenty three," Ben replied, trying has hard as he could not to roll his eyes.
Mindy giggled, and sat down across from Ben next to Eryn. "So. How's your brother?"
"Engaged," Ben replied, a huge grin spreading across his face.
"He's -- what?" Mindy stared at Ben; for once she was speechless.
"Oh, yeah. Kevin can't stop talking about how this girl is the one, she's perfect, and she's the best thing that's ever happened to him, he's never known love before..." Ben couldn't stop smiling. This was far too much fun.
"I see." Mindy was quiet for a moment, and Ben crossed his fingers that she would just leave.
Suddenly, however, Mindy's face lit up. "Well, I should congratulate him!"
It was Ben's turn to be speechless. "Wha?" "I need to congratulate him on getting married! Give me his phone number." Before Ben could formulate a response, Mindy had whipped out a pink cell phone and was rapidly hitting the buttons.
"Just tell me his number, this way I can call him tonight.
"I... I... I don't know it," Ben stammered.
Mindy blinked. "You don't know your own brothers phone number?"
"Er, no," Ben replied, feeling the familiar traces of panic staring to creep in.
"Well, don't you have it on your cell phone?" Mindy snapped.
"I don't have one," Ben muttered, unconsciously moving his hand over to cover the pocket with his phone.
"Ben, what do you mean? You do have a ce--"
"So, Mindy, this has been great, but we have to go," Ben said, standing up and shooting Eryn a dirty look.
"Really, we'll have to randomly bump into each other again sometime." Ben threw three twenties on the table, and started rapidly walking towards the door.
Eryn and Mindy both jogged after him, struggling to keep up with his long stride. Exiting the restaurant, Ben automatically unlocked his car and gestured for Eryn to get in.
She did, giving him a puzzled look, and Ben practically dove into the driver's seat. He started the engine, but was interrupted by a tapping on his window.
Sighing, he rolled it down. "What now, Mindy?"
"Here, take this," Mindy said, shoving a piece of paper towards Ben. "It's a letter to Kevin. Give it to him, ok?"
"Sure," Ben responded, making a mental note to burn the letter as soon as he got home. "Goodbye, Mindy." He rolled up the window before she could reply, and ignoring Eryn's curious stares, drove as quickly as possible out of the parking lot.
Mary stuck her mail key in the appropriate box and opened the small door. Grabbing the stack of mail that was in her box she shut the door and turned the key to lock it.
"Junk, Junk, Junk, bills, bills, and more bills" she muttered to herself climbing the stairs to her second floor apartment.
"OH! A letter from Lucy!" she exclaimed ripping it open and sitting at the top of the stairs before entering her apartment.
Mary quickly scanned the letter and screamed up and down with excitement when she saw what Lucy had to say at the end.
Kevin and I finally picked a date. I know you are excited but don't hurt yourself. I'm gonna need you here to calm me down. Mom is already going nuts and I don't know how much more I can take. April 21st is the date. If your not there we aren't getting married…how can we marry each other when one of the people who forced us to reconnect wasn't there?
"April 21st that's almost three weeks" Mary muttered to herself, standing up from the stairs and brushing the dirt off of her jacket. "I'll have to ask Wilson if he wants to come"
Stopping in front of Apartment 4C she fished her apartment keys out of her pocket and opened the door and gasped.
Around her small apartment were dozens of red rose petals that were on the floor along with tons of small-lightened candles.
"What the--?" she started to ask out loud when Wilson walked around the hallway corner.
"Wilson?" she questioned.
Wilson gave her a smile and got down on one knee. "Mary, I have known you for so long. You have been a great friend, girlfriend and a wonderful mother to Billy. There's nothing I would ever change about our relationship…except for one thing."
"What's that?" Mary whispered barely able to see straight with the tears pouring out of her eyes.
"Marry me. We belong together and I love you." he told her producing a small ring size box in his right hand and opened it up. There set in behind a gold background lay a 1/2 carat three-stone diamond Ring in a 14K white gold with Platinum.
"Oh Wilson" Mary replied breathlessly as he placed the ring on her left hand.
Wilson cracked a smile. "Oh Wilson what?" he pressed.
Mary gave him a soft kiss on the lips. "Of course I'll marry you" she replied.
Wilson gave her another kiss on the lips. "Do you want to call your parents now or later?" he asked.
Mary brushed the long dark black hair out of his face and caressed his cheek. "I got a letter from Lucy today. She and Kevin have set a date"
"Really? When?"
Mary gave him a strained smile. "In 20 days"
"Are you serious?" Wilson asked standing up.
Mary nodded. "She wants us to come. I know I can get the time off if I talk to my boss now but I wanted to know if you and Billy wanted to come and be my dates?"
Wilson thought for a moment. "I don't know," he admitted honestly. "Let me check my schedule at work and if I don't have anything major planned around that weekend we'll come"
Mary gave him a soft smile and sat on the couch. "Do you want to call your parents? I mean we could call mine but if we go to Lucy's wedding I'd rather tell them in person"
Wilson nodded. "Yeah, that's a great idea. Actually let's go pick Billy up from daycare, grab a bite to eat and then come back and let my parents know"
"Good Idea" Mary replied standing up from the couching and walking into her bedroom to change her clothes and to take her mind off of one person.
Ben Kinkirk.