A/N I hope that everyone had a great Christmas. I'm home for a couple of days and then I'm off again for New Year. Hope your all having fun over the festive season.

Marissa's plan takes shape

Skip frowned as he reached for his phone. He was running late to go and collect Cait and he didn't need something else to hold him up. "Yep?"

"Skip?" Marissa asked … not sure if she had actually managed to find and copy the right number from Ryan's phone and unfortunately he hadn't said enough for her to recognise his voice. She'd had to forgo the pleasure of sharing a shower with Ryan this morning just so she could look for the number and she couldn't remember Skip's surname so she'd just had to keep her fingers crossed that Taylor, S was the correct entry.

Skip recognised the sweet voice instantly. "Marissa? Is that really you?" he asked all his haste instantly forgotten.

"Yeah. It's me." she answered relief washing over her. She knew that she would have always been able to get Skip's number from Annabel but she was the last person that Marissa wanted to know about what she was planning. "I hope that it's not the middle of the night or something over there but I didn't really have any other time to call you."

"No it's fine. It's Saturday evening. I was just going to pick up Cait and take her out to dinner."

"That's lucky. I had to wait until Ryan had left before I could ring and it was a bit difficult getting him out the door." She explained.

"It's fine. What can I do you for?" he asked still surprised by the call.

Marissa hesitated. She wasn't sure just where to start.

Skip smiled as he waited for her to begin. Obviously what ever it was … she was nervous about it. "Look … I'm sorry … I know that I said that whenever you got tired of him that I'd be waiting … but I'm afraid that you took too long and missed your chance. I'm with Cait now." Skip explained teasing her.

Marissa burst out laughing. That was just what she needed to put her at ease. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. But that's not really why I called."

"That's disappointing. I rather liked the idea of being able to turn down a beautiful woman. It would make a change from having them turn me down." He laughed. "But if that's not it … then what can I do for you?" he asked.

"Okay … Well ... Are you sitting down?" Marissa asked.

"No. Do I need to be?" he asked.

"Well maybe. I have some pretty big news. But first how's your Dad coming on?" she asked.

"He's doing really well. They've moved him in to the rehab ward already and he's coming along in leaps and bounds. But what's this big news? Let me guess. He's got you pregnant and now you want me to talk him in to marrying you?" Skip teased.

Marissa couldn't help but smile. She thought about saying 'No – He's married me and now I want you to talk him in to getting me pregnant ' but she thought better of it. When she was ready to put those plans into action she wouldn't need help from any outsiders. That would be between her and her husband. "No … close but not quite."

"So you are married?" Skip asked - more as a statement than a question.

Marissa was stunned. "How did you know?"

"I live in Sydney – not Outer Mongolia. Let's face it – you two are hot gossip." He laughed. "I saw it mentioned on the news."

"Wow. I have no idea how this stuff can travel so fast. And even why they seem to think that our lives are so interesting?"

"The fact that you both look like movie stars probably helps." Skip suggested. "What am I saying? One of you may very well be a movie star."

"Let's not get carried away here." She replied. "But back to why I called. I need your help."

"Fire away."

"Firstly … This is completely confidential."

"Okay. My lips are sealed."

"You see … we sort of did the Las Vegas quickie last weekend and now that everyone knows it's caused a lot of problems with Ryan's family because they weren't included."

"I don't see how I can help you with that?" Skip said puzzled. "Plus it's not just his family that weren't invited. Hint hint."

Marissa smiled. "I know. And I'm trying to make it right. That's what this is all about. Is there any chance of you leaving your Dad for a few days?" she asked.

"Sure. He doesn't really need me around anymore. The rest of the family are here. I've sort of been feeling a little guilty about still hanging around and missing work but I'm not ready to leave Cait just yet. She's a school teacher and only has few more days left until the end of term and then I was hoping to convince her about the beauty of LA and talk her in to coming back with me."

"How about the beauty of Europe? Come and join us?" Marissa suggested.

"I'm sure it's lovely at this time of year. But I feel a bit guilty about missing any more work."

"What about if this was a paying job?"

"What are you talking about? You've totally lost me." Skip said.

"I'm going to try to organise another wedding as a surprise for Ryan and this time I want all of our nearest and dearest there. I was hoping that next weekend you could bundle them all on to jet in LA and fly them out to Venice." Marissa suggested.

"Another wedding?" Skip asked surprised.

"Uh huh. In Venice." Marissa replied.

Skip smiled as the full impact of her idea hit him. "Consider it done. Maybe we'll make it a double." He teased.

"Are you joking?" Marissa asked.

"No. I'm not. I'm just not sure if Cait would agree just yet. I still need to work on her a bit. And I'm enjoying the 'work' too much to rush it." He laughed.

Marissa smiled. She was sure that he would never change. "So you're not upset about Annabel?" she asked.

"Far from it. It was the best thing that ever happened. I actually rang her and thanked her for being such a slut. It let me out of any obligation. I mean … she was a good fck but that's all it was … whereas Cait is not only better at it but …"

"I really don't need to know." Marissa cut in.

"Sorry … I sort of think of you as one of the boys now."

"I hope that Ryan never thinks of me as a boy." Marissa replied.

"The way that Ryan looks at you is definitely not the way that he looks at boys. I always enjoyed hanging around the two of you because I knew that it was only a matter of time before he would actually perfect the art of undressing you with his eyes and make it a reality. I was keen to be part of the audience when he finally managed to do it." Skip laughed.

"Skip! Does Cait know what you're really like?" Marissa asked.

"Yep. And I don't need you embellishing it any for her. I'm scary enough on my own."

"That's true. And she's still with you?"

"I'm hoping that she'll be with me forever." Skip replied … this time with no mirth in his words.

"Whoa. So you weren't joking about the double wedding?" Marissa asked.

"Yeah I was. But in a while maybe … we'll have our own wedding. And I've already decided that it will be on the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. So Ryan better get over his fear of heights in a hurry. I can't have my best man pass out during the ceremony."

Marissa laughed. "You just need to keep him distracted and then he doesn't even notice."

"I think that I'll leave that up to you." Skip replied. "I'm sure that you have ways of keeping him distracted."

"I may have a few ideas." Marissa replied thinking that none of them would be suitable for a wedding on top of a landmark bridge. She wasn't sure just how Ryan would take this news. But she also knew that he would be their in a moment once Skip asked.