Note- Thanks to everyone who is still reading and reviewing this. Maya asked for some flashbacks, so this chapter has some mini ones.

Chapter 19- Nice Day for a White Wedding

That Saturday night Luke's Club was shut down for the wedding. Only people who knew about Scorpio's Eight could come because the crew was never seen in public as a group. They were all known to frequent the bar but, with their reputations, people figured that was for the cheap booze or back room gambling.

If anyone asked what tonight was about Luke would lead them to believe it was a illegal Monte Carlo event with craps and Baccarat games being played.

The guest list included the crew and Laura, Bobbie, Tony, Holly, Jagger, Stone, Anna, Mac, Felicia, Georgie and Maxie, Robin, Patrick, Lulu, Gia, Skye and Coleman. They were all either family or fellow criminals.

Emily was dressed in a very short, strapless white dress. It was the polar opposite of the Vera Wang designer gown she would wear at St. Timothy's in the morning.

Everyone was laughing and joking until Robert called out "Time to do this damn thing. All right, you know the drill. All quiet in front of the outsider. Not a peep and that means you Jackal."

"Aw, Boss, I know that...do you think The Jackal would compromise such a wondrous and magical occasion as the day that Romeo and his Runway Girl make their holy union of souls? I never would..."

"Lulu," Luke said

Lulu looked at her boyfriend, who stood next to her with his arm around her waist, "Jack."

"Yeah, Spence?"

"Silence," she said.

The priest was brought in blindfolded, and more than a little nervous. Robert had paid him- through a wire transfer- more money than the church usually saw in three months of Sundays but for that he had to don a bandana over his eyes, stand in a deserted alley, and be picked up by two silent men. He didn't even know the true identity of who he was marrying, so the union would be less than legal in the eyes of New York State and the Lord. But the man who brokered the deal didn't seem to care.

The priest was hoping to just get out of here alive tonight. He swore he would never walk on the criminal side of town again if he did. He would just have to figure out a different way to pay for new choir robes from now on. He couldn't stop shaking as the music started.

It wasn't the typical Here Comes the Bride, instead he heard:

This Romeo is bleeding
But you can't see his blood
It's nothing but some feelings

this old dog kicked up

It's been raining since you left me
now I'm drowning in the flood

You see I've always been a fighter but without I give up.

I can't sing a love song like the way it's

meant to be

I guess I'm not that good anymore,

but baby that's just me.

And I will love you


And I'll be there forever and a day

Always


I'll be there till the stars don't shine
Till the heavens burst and
the words don't rhyme


And I know when I die

you'll be on my mind


And I'll love you

always

Lucky couldn't help but grin from ear to ear as Emily started down the makeshift aisle toward him. Everyone who knew them best, and loved them anyway, was there and he knew this night was more than he deserved to get in his life.

But she never failed to make him feel that way. Since he was just thirteen years old he had loved her. Unlike The Hitter, who had tried to kill his need for Carly in the bed of other women only to find out he never could, Lucky hadn't ever been with anyone else but Emily. And he didn't wonder what he had missed a bit.

He knew what he had, those brown eyes that trusted him and thought he was actually a good man, that was his fuel to survive this world. He couldn't imagine who he might be if she hadn't walked up to him on the first day of Junior High and said "Don't be sad."

"I'm not. What would make you say that? I don't look sad, do I??"

"You're new, right?" she had asked.

"Just got back to town, actually."

"I was new last year. And believe me the kids around here are evil. You better stick by my side."

And then she headed off to the cafeteria for lunch and he followed. He stuck right by her side for every day after that- working hard to keep her from being sad just like she had done for him- until they made it to this point and she was taking his hand and mouthing "I love you, Lucks."

(If you told me to cry for you
I could


If you told me to die for you
I would


Take a look at my face
There's no price I won't pay
to say these words to you
Well, there ain't no luck
in these loaded dice


But baby if you give me just one more try
We can pack up our old dreams
and our old lives .

Always


And I'll be there forever and a day

Always


I'll be there till the stars don't shine
Till the heavens burst and
The words don't rhyme


And I know when I die,

you'll be on my mind


And I'll love you

Always) ( Bon Jovi)

The song ended, the priest started to speak, his voice shook a little, " We are gathered here tonight to join the lives of Romeo and...um...right, yes, Runway Girl...it is not everyday that two people such as these find each other in this fast paced and dangerous world we live in but when they do it is surely...a blessing of God. This union today is the start of many years of joy, happiness, and facing their struggles together for today they become one, instead of two..."

Zander hated when people rambled like, he felt, this priest was now.

He hadn't been in a church since that time in Key West when the whole con went to hell and Robert was shot. It was the only time they spilled blood on a job, and it was what led Robin to her ultimatum that her parents get out of the life for good.

It had almost been the end of Scorpio's Eight that night. So Zander, Spinelli, and Carly found this empty little white church, broke in, lit candles and begged God to save the man they all thought of as a surrogate father.

Meanwhile, Luke got drunk. Mac and Anna paced outside the surgical unit. Jason got revenge for them all and put a round of bullets in the man who had shot Boss.

Gia had caught the first plane down there , and when she got to Zander he could see in her eyes she was hoping his days of conning were done for good. He had always felt like a hell of a lucky bastard for even getting her to fall for him in the first place. Every other woman before her bought his stories about being a blue collar everyday average joe, but Gia never believed a word of that.

They were in Jake's when he spotted her. His eyes couldn't look away, his feet moved to her side on their own accord. He ordered some shots and set one in front of her. "Hello, thief," he had said.

She looked him up and down. "No, from the looks of you... that is more your style."

"Oh, really? Well, the moment I saw you, you stole my breath away."

Gia burst out laughing, then downed her shot and his.

Zander introduced himself and said that he worked in a warehouse. She leaned in close and asked "Uh-huh, now what is the real story? I can see hell in your eyes...you cause this world a bunch of trouble, don't you?"

He didn't admit it then but, in time, she came to know her first impression was dead on. By then though he was so deeply in love with her that every time she dumped his sorry ass , he simply worked overtime to win her back. Zander knew a good thing when he saw it, and Gia Campbell was the best he had ever laid eyes on.

"Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to honor and cherish in good times and bad..." The priest was asking Lucky.

Carly winked at Jason with a look that said That will be us soon, Hitter.

When he was younger, Jason never expected to get married. He never expected to live to see thirty, truth be told. And The Hitter certainly never expected to be able to tame Sweet Caroline. Whether he had done that now or whether that was simply impossible, he knew he could never let Carly walk away from him again.

He didn't just count the days that she was away, he had counted the seconds.

Jason never thought he would love her like this. It had been just a business thing at first. The con required them to pretend to be married. It was shortly after she ditched Jagger and Florida to hunt down the Spencer side of her family. She demanded a spot in Scorpio's Eight but Luke told her to forget about it. She threatened to bring down the law, and her wrath– which was worse- on them if they didn't let her in.

So Boss concocted a test. The Hitter would be stuck with pretending to be her hubby for one weekend in New York. If they could con someone out of 1 million dollars and not break their cover, she was in. By Saturday night they had the money. By Sunday morning, they were in bed together having the wildest fake honeymoon ever in the known history of time.

"Don't think I like you," she had said right after screaming his name at the top of her lungs.

"Nah, I would never think that."

"Good. Now ...don't you freaking stop."

He grunted the question,"Do you...think...I could...?"

Jason had gotten hooked on her quick. She was like a drug, his favorite kind of high. But they never called it love. Nope it was sex and thrills, grifting and gunning, finding suckers and sucking them dry. It was a version of heaven on earth that only a con man could love, and they both did.

"Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love and to cherish in good times and bad..." the priest asked Emily.

Bobbie smiled at her husband. Tony was a law abiding, upstanding doctor, like Robin and Patrick. They were the only ones in the room- besides the still quaking with fear priest and Mac's kids- who weren't straight up criminals of some sort.

Bobbie had done it all back in the day. She was Luke's first partner in crime. He put his baby sister to work picking pockets at six and, later, she loved him for that. It taught her to never wait for a man to give her what she wanted out of life. But she had retired years ago, to raise little Lucas who was now off at college and had no clue that most of his family was wanted by the law in all fifty states and three other continents. Those cops were looking for people with different names, though, different hair color, different accents. They would never connect the dots, because Robert made sure they couldn't.

"You may now kiss your bride."

Lucky pulled Emily close, and she came into his arms laughing with joy. "Hey now, Romeo, you're mine."

"I always was, baby."

His lips came down on hers and the kiss was hotter than should be witnessed by others. Soon they heard groans from the crowd, and Lucky pulled away. Emily gave him a You are so bad look.

Jagger and Stone stepped forward and escorted the priest back to the car. They were in charge of bringing him to and from the ceremony.

As soon as the priest was gone, the room exploded in cheers and congratulations.

Holly yelled "Pour the champagne!"

The glasses were passed around and Luke gave a toast. "To my son, who is an even better thief and liar than I am, and his lovely bride- the prettiest angel faced girl in all of Port Chuck- I wish you all the best this crooked low down world has to offer! And, remember, if they won't give it to you...there's no shame in taking it by any means you can think up. To Lucky and Emily and happy friggin ever."

"Happy friggin after!" everyone yelled