46

"Patrick Joseph Hasham, if you wear a hole in the carpet, YOU are the one who's going to explain it to Zoe" Nick said with a grin. "Settle down mate, everything's under control. I'd never have taken you for a worrier!"

"You can shut up Shultz," PJ grinned back, as he once again patted his breast pocket. Yep, the rings were still there.

"Give me those, you idiot, I'm the Best Man, I'm supposed to have them. And I've just realised something" Nick reached over and extracted the rings. "It's not worry is it?" his eyebrows waggled suggestively, "It's impatience"

PJ mock glared at his best friend before his grin admitted the truth of Nick's comment. "I'm going to tell Zoe you said that"

"I'm not scared of her anymore" Nick said proudly, puffing his chest out. "I've tamed our resident firecracker, she's just a pussycat now."

"And I'm going to tell her you said that too" PJ's grin widened.

Nick went pale. "You wouldn't….." he peered at a now relaxed PJ. "You would, you really would, wouldn't you?" All of a sudden, Nick's grin matched PJ's. "Go on, I dare you. I've been thinking about having another baby anyway"

"Wha….oh!" realisation dawned for PJ.

"Making up is such fun" Nick said with a grin. "Surely you and Margaret have discovered that. You two could give World War Three a run for it's money, and the fall out must be spectacular" He was getting really good at this eyebrow waggling thing.

"Fall out? Who's fallen out" Tom said from the doorway "There's to be no arguments today. Whatever it is, PJ, sort it out! This is your wedding day for goodness sake man! It's not Cooper and McKinley again is it? It's – "

"Boss? BOSS!" Nick finally yelled, having given up hope that Tom would stop to pause for breath. "No-one's fallen out, we were just talking about – er – PJ and Maggie – "

"THEY'VE fallen out? What do you mean, they've fallen out? PJ, what the – "

"Tom! Shut up for a moment, we were talking about sex!" Nick yelled, and in the silence that followed, you could have heard a ladybird smile.

Tom's red face revealed his thoughts on the comment, and PJ was looking anywhere but at either of them. It was one thing to be in love with the girl he saw as a surrogate daughter, one thing to be marrying her – and a whole other kettle of fish for Tom to ever EVER think of PJ, Maggie and sex.

"Yes, well, ok, ah, well then," Nick mumbled. "Nice weather for a wedding then"

OOO

"You're sure? You're really sure? I mean, it's not to late, Dash, you could – the shop's open, I'm sure – "

"Maggie, calm down. You look gorgeous. Stunning. Perfect. PJ will melt into a mushy puddle when he sees you" Dash told a frantic Maggie, who was at this precise moment staring into the mirror, her wedding dress held in front of her.

Truth be told, Maggie loved the dress, it was elegant, simply cut and her all over. She'd known it was the right dress the second she'd tried it on, and she'd had them put it on layby as Zoe, Chris and Dash had dragged her to what felt like every wedding shop in the State. However, nothing had beaten it, and eventually they had returned to the first shop – and the first dress.

"Zoe?"

"Maggie." Zoe eyed Maggie, and Maggie grinned back.

"Chris?"

"Maggie."

"Ok, ok. So, my hair?"

OOO

"Give me those trousers," Tom said from his resident position in front of the ironing board. "Honestly, you're useless"

Nick wriggled out of his fairly crease free trousers, and tossed them over to the Boss. This was truly bizarre. Still, this was the wedding day of the two most crazily stubborn people Nick knew, and if that could happen then having your boss iron your trousers was everyday normal.

And if the love that PJ and Maggie had, if they could find that and hold onto it, then everything must be right with the world form there on in.

"PJ, trousers! The Boss is ironing!""

"This I have to see," PJ grinned, his mobile phone in his hand, photographic evidence obtained and preserved. Tom rubbed his eyes as they came back into focus, and came face to face with his grinning policemen. "Evidence acquired, and sent"

"You did not just send that to Doyle" Tom groaned as Nick grinned.

"Is it my fault if you two won't let me talk to her? I was texting her and it just so happens that my phone has a camera…." PJ smirked right back at Tom.

OOO

The shriek of laughter brought Chris, Zoe and Dash crashing through Maggie's bedroom door. There stood the bride, halfway into her wedding dress, her face red with laughter.

"You have to see this" she said, handing Zoe the phone, and it was only a few seconds before she began to grin. Peering over her shoulder, Dash too caught sight of Tom, apron on to protect his suit, iron in hand and trousers on the ironing board. Behind him stood a trouserless grinning Nick.

"Honestly, that husband of mine is such a conman! He knows how to iron and he's good at it as well!" Zoe grinned, as Chris took the phone from her to see. That and the image of Nick ironing was almost too much. Tears of laughter streamed down their faces as the image was planted in their imagination.

"I'm working on PJ," Maggie admitted. " The most fun thing is getting him out of the trousers to be able to practice – and I cannot believe I said that out loud"

"And I can't believe I just heard it" groaned Dash, " My eyes, my eyes. The image of a trouserless PJ has scarred me for life" she teased.

"Don't you worry, Dash, you'll never get to experience it, that's all for Maggie" Zoe grinned.

"Speaking of which, where ARE you going for the honeymoon?" Chris asked.

OOO

"You have to promise not to say a word" PJ said, as he reached into his pocket. "I mean it. Not a word, Nick, you can't tell Zoe until we've gone"

Tom and Nick both promised, and PJ slowly withdrew the tickets from his pocket. "Great Keppel Island. Took me a long time to decide. I wanted somewhere romantic, and special, but somewhere exciting and – well Great Keppel it is. Apparently you can take moonlit beach walks and the sky is lit with shooting stars. The beaches are warm and secluded, and the honeymoon suite looked gorgeous in the brochure. Mags has no idea about any of it, and I think she's going to love it. At least, I hope she is."

Nick grinned. " She will, what she sees of it"

"Shut up Schultz" Tom grinned back before turning back to the detective. "Oh, and PJ, here, I've been asked to give you this." He handed PJ an envelope. Peering inside, PJ was shocked to see that it contained five hundred dollars.

"Wh – "

"It's from Inspector Falcon Price and Inspector Draper. $250 each. Unofficially of course, but a wedding present all the same. The 'Powers That Be' have agreed to you two – not that they could have stopped you – but still, they don't want to set a trend going. So, the Inspectors thought it best if they gave it to me, to give to you. They're both really happy for you and Maggie, PJ."

"Good grief!" Nick spluttered. "So old Rusty has a heart then, does he? And the Ice Queen melteth?"

"Enough of that, you!" Tom admonished Nick. "Now take these trousers of yours and get dressed. We've got a wedding to go to!"