I still don't own anything, I'm not making any money. Thank you all for reading!

CHAPTER 22

This was it. Wedding day. It was 5:32 in the morning, and I'd been staring at the digital clock for twenty seven minutes now. I'd woken up to the cocktail of belly cramps, heartburn, and my bladder near explosion … sort of like the morning of my last wedding. Last time it had been because I was nervous as Hell and had had way too much to drink the night before. This time, there were no nerves, only excitement, and the discomfort was from being a little shy of eight months pregnant.

Normally, when I woke up like this, Ranger would help me out of bed and to the bathroom. Then he would fetch me something to settle my tummy while I took care of Mother Nature. Finally, he would rub my back or belly or whatever was achy until I was able to sleep again. I love that man.

But, me being the idiot that I am, decided that we couldn't sleep together the night before our wedding. Now, I was seriously regretting that decision.

"Babe?" I heard in a whisper as the door opened a crack.

"Yeah, Ranger?" I answered, wondering what he was up to. Probably checking on me on his way for his run.

"Am I allowed to see you today?"

"Yeah, just not in my wedding dress."

"I already saw your dress on you," Ranger stated confused.

"I know, but that was yesterday and I was your fiancé in the dress. You're not allowed to see your bride in the dress. That's today."

"Okay," Ranger said, accepting my weird rules with a shake of his head. Then he entered the room.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Just wanted to see how you were feeling."

"Kinda yucky."

"Poor Babe," he said, raising his hand to offer the crackers and antacid tablets I hadn't noticed.

Once I took then, he sat himself behind me to prop me up. I tried to sleep sitting up to prevent the heartburn, but I always just shifted down, so I gave up. With his arms wrapped around me, Ranger slowly massaged my belly where the baby had spent the night kicking me. Have I said I love this man?

"I love you," I told him, just in case he forgot.

"I love you too, Babe," he said, not breaking the gentle massaging motion.

"We're getting married today," I whispered.

"Yeah. We are," he agreed. "Nervous?"

"Nope. You?"

"Just happy," he said.

"Gooo-oo-ood," I said, through a massive yawn.

After that, we were silent and Ranger continued rubbing my belly, then moving to massage up and down the sides of my abdomen. The last thing I remember is him shifting his magical hands to rub my sore back, and then I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I found myself still sitting, without heartburn and more relaxed than I had been for nearly a month. Squirming a little, I realized I was still propped against Ranger and he was still holding me upright. From the way his arms were laying, completely relaxed across the top of my belly, I could tell that he was sleeping too. This could not be nearly as comfortable for him as it was for me. I was not one of those lucky women that stayed small while they were pregnant. I'd gotten entirely sick of the question 'Oh, are you having twins?'

"Babe?" Ranger said in a sleepy voice.

"Happy Wedding Day," I said.

"Happy Wedding Day," he agreed, kissing my neck and making me go all gooey inside.

"Ranger," I moaned. "This was the reason you were supposed to stay far, far away from my bed on Pre-Wedding Night and Wedding Day." It turns out Mazur hormones and pregnancy hormones are not a good combinations in me… And it's been getting worse as I get more and more pregnant. Luckily, Ranger doesn't seem to mind.

"Sorry, Babe, I just can't help it," he said, giving my ear a little nip then easing himself out from behind me. Once free, he helped me up from the bed.

"I still don't understand that. I'm massive," I complained.

"Babe," was all Ranger said, letting his eyes go all chocolaty.

"Stop it with the eyes," I demanded, feeling my hormones start whirring.

"Sorry, Babe," he said, snapping back to normal. "We slept late. How about I fix breakfast and then you can start getting ready or you can come with me to pick up Isa?"

"I'll come with you," I said. "It shouldn't take me long to get ready."

I was really excited about seeing Isa. She was one of the four people we had told about the wedding and she was beyond ecstatic when she heard. The other people that knew were Eva, so she'd let us have Isa, Tank and Mare. Tank was going to be Ranger's best man and Mare was my maid of honor. I wasn't worried about Tank spilling our secret. He never said much anyway and had enough practice with all the confidential government stuff. Mare on the other hand, I hadn't told until last night so she didn't have much time to be tempted to gossip and I threatened her with Ranger who she was still a bit afraid of

Once we finished with breakfast, we headed for the airport and were now at the terminal, me sitting and Ranger standing and watching for Isa. I was watching Ranger's face for some indication that he saw her, when I saw the blank face slam down. I had gotten used to Ranger relaxing around me, so I got worried and tried to stand. Before I succeeded though, I saw Isa hurrying towards us, followed by a tall, skinny, perfectly groomed woman I could only assume to be Eva.

"Daddy!" Isa exclaimed as she launched herself at Ranger. After squeezing him as tightly as possible for a minute, she directed her attention to me.

She untangled herself from Ranger and tried to wrap me in a hug, but her little arms just wouldn't reach.

"I missed you so much. And you got a lot bigger," she stated.

"Isa," Ranger stage whispered while running his hand in front of his neck in a 'stop' motion. "That's a bit of a sore subject."

"Oh," she said, giving me an apologetic look.

"Ric?" said Eva, speaking up for the first time and running her eyes across my huge belly. "You seem to have forgotten to mention something."

"No, I didn't. Babe, this is Eva. Eva, this is my fiancé Steph."

"She's pregnant," Eva said, completely ignoring me.

"And right here," I snapped, annoyed by her behavior.

"Of course, how could anyone miss you?" she said sweetly.

"Enough," interrupted Ranger. "Eva, it was a pleasure as always. We'll have Isa back to you by tomorrow evening as promised. Goodbye."

With that, he took Isa's hand with one of his and wrapped the other arm around my back for support as he steered us towards the luggage rack. Once we'd grabbed Isa's bag we headed for the car and were on our way home.

"Can I help you get ready?" Isa asked excitedly, leaning forward from her seat in the back.

"Sure, Sweetheart, I need all the help I can get these days."

"Are you really close to having the baby? Do you think maybe you'll have it before I have to go home tomorrow?"

"I still have a few more weeks to go. We'll try to get you up here as soon as possible once it's born," I said, still unable to believe how close I was.

When we got home, it was a little past noon, so we all had lunch, then I decided to start getting ready. Isa was all excited to help, but first I wanted to take a nice bath and I needed Ranger's help for that. Getting in and out of a tub, even the Batcave's wonderful Jacuzzi tub, was very tricky while massively pregnant.

Once soaking, my mind started to wander towards this evening. It was only when my cheeks started to hurt that I realized I'd been smiling the whole time I was thinking. Sighing with happiness, I let my mind turn off and listened to the soft music I had playing and watched the candles flickering.

"Babe?" I heard near my ear. "Babe, wake up."

"Mmm, no."

"Babe, you need to get out of the tub. You're all pruney. You don't like to be pruney."

That's when I came all the way awake, I realized I was still sitting in the tub and the water had gone cold. I let Ranger help me up, then gave him a kiss before asking something important of him.

"Ranger, do you love me?"

"Of course, Babe," he said, looking concerned. Oops.

"Will you shave my legs?" I asked, quickly.

"Babe?"

"I can't reach and I don't want to get married with hairy legs."

"Only you," he said leaning in to kiss my nose and taking the razor I was offering him.

I'd never had someone else shave my legs and I must say, it was rather nice. And Ranger was very good at it. When we were done, I didn't have any nicks or razor burn, and he even rubbed my favorite lotion into my legs.

"Thank you," I whispered when he was done as I leaned in to kiss him.

We were getting more into the kiss than I would have liked, but I was quickly going beyond the point of caring. Then Ranger pulled away laughing. I didn't see anything funny, so I planted my hands on my hips and glared at him.

"The baby kicked me," he said.

The baby had been so active lately, I didn't always notice when it started moving, but sure enough I could see a little foot causing periodic bumps on my belly and felt another jabbing my ribs.

"Guess he wants you to get out," I laughed.

"So it's a he today?"

"Uh huh," I said. We still didn't know the sex, and I amused Ranger by changing my mind on what it was on a nearly daily basis. "Now out."

"Do you want me to send Isa up?"

"Umm, what time is it?" I asked.

"Two."

"Not yet then. I'm still tired, so I'll take a short nap then start getting around. What time do we need to leave?"

"Around 5:30. It takes an hour to get there and we'll have to go through a quick rehearsal with the priest, Tank and Mary Lou before anyone starts to arrive."

"Okay. Can you send Isa up in about an hour and a half?" I asked as I crossed to the bed.

"Sure, Babe," Ranger told me, tucking me in.

"Thanks," I yawned.

I never heard Ranger leave the room, I was out that fast. These days I was taking Ella's advice, to sleep when I was tired, very seriously. It didn't take me long to learn that if I didn't sleep, I quickly passed from tired to exhausted.

"Steph," I heard with soft taps to my shoulder.

"Mmmm," I said, acknowledging that I was alive.

"Steph, you need to get up. We have to leave in two hours for the wedding."

"Wedding Day," I mumbled, still not moving.

"Sweetheart," I heard Ranger say from somewhere near the door. "You have a lot to learn about getting her out of bed."

"Happy Wedding Day," I said, not opening my eyes.

"You too, Babe. Are you going to get out of bed so we can get married?"

"We can't just do it here?"

"Nope. Sorry, Babe."

"Fine," I said, finally rolling and attempting to sit. I probably wouldn't be so reluctant to get up, if it wasn't so freaking hard. I'm not sure what excuse I'll use when I'm done being pregnant…

Ranger helped me from the bed, then left Isa and I to do our thing. I didn't really have that much to do, just a manicure and pedicure and, hair and makeup. I was going to wait until right before the wedding to get into my dress, so I could stay in my nice comfy sweats. Since there was no rush, Isa and I just hung out. I painted my nails then hers, and then let her do our toes, since I couldn't exactly reach my feet.

I'd kept my hair wrapped in a towel since my bath, so it was still damp. For my wedding to the Dick, I booked an appointment and spent a fortune and half a life time getting my curls tamed into a gorgeous twist. Today, I was just adding gel and letting it curl. It was going to get blown all over the place by the breeze on the beach anyway and I knew from how Ranger has always touched my hair that he loves my curls.

Once Isa and I were done blow-drying my hair on low heat, to prevent frizz, it looked amazing, falling in shiny curls just below my shoulders.

Then, Isa decided she wanted curls for the wedding, but she had Ranger's thick, slightly wavy hair. I had way more practice at fighting curl than I did at causing it, but I gelled her hair and put it in hot rollers hoping that would work.

While we waited on her hair, I did my make-up and put a little on Isa. I wasn't sure how much Ranger would approve, but she wanted to feel grown up today, and some make-up wouldn't hurt

"Are you girls ready?" Ranger asked without looking into the room as I was finishing Isa's hair. I guess he thought the 'not allowed to see the bride' part of the day had started. I wonder how he was planning on making the car trip.

"Just about done," I answered. We were all made up, we just had to get my dress and the sun-dress Isa was wearing so we could change when we got there.

"Alright, I'll be in the kitchen."

Ten minutes later we were all loaded into the car and we were on our way. Ranger held my hand the entire trip, and I could tell he wasn't anywhere near his normal zone. He had a smile on his face and kept taking his eyes off the road to glance at me. Neither of us said much on the way to the beach, but Isa kept up an excited chatter for nearly the entire hour.

The quick rehearsal went by in a blur and before I knew it, Mare was helping me into my dress as I watched confused guests being seated by Tank in the rows of chairs we'd had placed on the beach.

"You look beautiful," Mare said, once I was dressed and veiled and the whole nine yards.

Since it had been even warmer than normal for May, I had picked a light gauzy dress in a soft cream color. It was sleeveless, with a princess cut waistline. From there, it fluttered loosely over my belly and to my knees. None of the full length maternity dresses looked right and they just wouldn't have been practical with the sand…

"Thanks," I replied not taking my eyes from the scene before me.

While I watched, I saw Ranger appear and search out my parents. He was talking to my dad and I saw him pointing to the Inn. We had agreed not to tell anyone what was going on, but I wanted my dad to give me away, so Ranger told him I wanted to talk to him inside.

"Pumpkin?" I heard moments later.

"Hey, Daddy," I said, causing him to turn to my voice. His eyes went wide when he saw me.

"Are you…?" he started.

"Yeah, we're getting married."

"Congratulations," he said pulling me into a hug. "You know, your mother's going to kill you, right?"

"I'm carrying her grandchild. I figure I have a few weeks and by then she'll be over it."

"That's my girl," laughed dad.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah, Pumpkin?"

"Will you give me away in a minute?"

"Sure," he said, pressing a kiss to my hair.

When he stepped out of my line of sight, I saw that Ranger and Tank had taken their places in front of our guests along with the priest. I could hear the buzzing of chatter from inside, but with the first strains of music it died down.

"That's my cue," said Mare, giving me one last hug before stepping outside and beginning her walk.

Once she was in front of the crowd, the wedding march started and everyone stood. I felt a giant smile split my face as Dad and I stepped out the door and started towards the aisle.

"It feels right this time," he whispered to me as we got close. "You'll be happy."

"Yeah," I agreed, not capable of more speech..

I'd met Ranger's eyes and felt incapable of blinking, let alone breaking the stare. I knew he was wearing loose black trousers, a grey shirt and black suit jacket, and I'm sure he looked amazing, but it was lost on me. Unable to break eye contact, I knew he was smiling from the way his eyes were shining and the slight crinkles to the edges.

Then suddenly, Dad was presenting me to the priest and Ranger and I was holding Ranger's hand. The priest began to speak, but I couldn't really make out any words. Soon, Ranger was speaking his vows to me, and I felt myself smiling even more. Somehow, I responded in the right places and before I knew it Ranger was leaning his face in to mine. Then our lips met and the rest of the world disappeared for a moment or an hour, I'm not sure.

We were actually married.

After the kiss, we turned to face our families and friends and face the music. Our mothers were seated on opposite sides of the front row and both stood when we got even with them. They were both wiping their eyes and neither looked mad, so I took that as a good sign.

"Congratulations, Baby," said my mom, making the first move as she wrapped me in a hug.

Gloria did the same to Ranger, then they switched. Mom welcoming Ranger to our family and Gloria welcoming me to hers. After that, mass chaos erupted and everyone was speaking at once, wanting to know all the details.

"QUIET!" boomed Tank.

"Thanks, man," said Ranger, still grinning. "We're having a reception dinner at the Inn and we would appreciate it if everyone would join us."

With that, he took my hand and led the way to the inn, letting everyone else follow or not.

Everyone's shock must have worn off eventually, because they all joined us in the dining room. While we waited for dinner to be served, Ranger and I 'explained ourselves' and everyone eventually forgave us for not telling them.

After dinner, Ranger and I sat back and watched as our families mingled and got to know one another. I cuddled into him as we watched Val and Mare chatting with his sisters and our mothers off at a table talking. Probably we should be a bit concerned about that, but not right now.

I smiled as I saw Grandma approaching the Merry Men and them scattering. The best, was seeing Isa playing with Mary Alice and Angie. She fell right in between their ages, and I had hoped they would click.

Taking my eyes from the crowd, I snuggled myself further into Ranger's chest and felt him wrap his other arm around me.

"We're married," I whispered.

"Yeah," he agreed in a whisper. "Pretty amazing, huh?"

"Definitely," I said. It seemed like a whole lifetime ago when his life didn't lend itself to relationships and I had no desire to ever get married or have children. Then I was struck by an epiphany. "We grew up."

"Yeah, Babe. We did," Ranger said, kissing me softly.

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A/N: I love your feedback, so Please Review! I had so many ideas bouncing around my head for the wedding… let me know what you thought.