Chapter 9 Undercover
The three of them left the building and got into Tank's car for the day. Lester was sitting in the back, giving Stephanie the coveted shotgun position. Tank looked in his review mirror and noticed Morelli was tailing them in his car.
"Morelli?" Stephanie asked, not recognizing the vehicle trailing behind them.
"Yeah." Tank parked the car in the city hall lot. Tank, Stephanie, and Lester entered the back entrance to the building so Morelli would not be able to follow them.
"What are you two going to do?" Lester asked.
Tank came up to Judge Nicholson's office door and knocked.
"It is open," the Judge announced, permitting them to enter his office.
"Hey, Judge, how have you been?" Tank asked as Stephanie and Lester followed him into the office.
"Okay, Tank. Please, tell me you are finally collecting the favor I owe you," Nicholson asked.
"Yeah, I came to collect," Tank said. Nicholson looked relieved.
Stephanie grabbed Tank's hand. The two looked at each other. Stephanie stared into his eyes, asking if he was sure about getting married. For the first time, getting married didn't make her want to run.
Having seen her approval of his plan, Tank said, "The little lady and I want to get married; can you help us out, Judge?"
Lester's mouth dropped open, unable to slam the blank expression over the shocked one.
"Sure, you two just need to fill out the paperwork." Judge Nicholson gave Tank and Stephanie the application for the marriage license. He waived the standard three-day wait period to perform the ceremony in his office.
The two of them filled in their personal information and signed where indicated. Tank handed the paperwork to Lester. "Please?" he asked his friend. Lester signed where it indicated the witness's signature, then passed the paperwork to the Judge.
The judge took the paperwork and said, "All right, we will make this short because I need to get back to the courthouse. Do you Pierre Sherman take Mrs. Stephanie Plum to be your wife?"
"I do," Tank said.
"Do you Stephanie Plum take Pierre Sherman to be your husband?" the Judge asked.
"I do," Stephanie said with a smile on her face.
"Do you to have a ring?" Judge Nicholson asked.
"Yeah," Tank took out the rings they used for their undercover work.
Tank put Stephanie's wedding band on her hand and then her engagement ring. Tank gave Stephanie his wedding ring.
Stephanie put his ring on his left hand. Her hand shook as she pushed it over the second knuckle.
"If anyone has any reason why these two should not be married, please speak now?" Judge Nicholson asked.
"No? Good. You may now kiss your bride." Tank cupped Stephanie's face and gave her a long-overdue deep kiss.
"Okay, you two get out of here and have a good honeymoon." Tank held Stephanie's hand as they walked hand in hand out of the Judge's office.
"What did you guys do? Ranger will have a field day with this," Lester said. After they exited the building, they saw Morelli walking up the street towards them.
"Cupcake, what is going on?" Morelli asked.
Tank and I got married, Morelli, and you will leave us alone. You will not show up to dinner at my parent's house tonight or any other night in the future. Got it?" Stephanie asked.
"Yeah, we will see about that, Cupcake," Joe said as he left the three of them. Joe couldn't believe his Cupcake had married another man.