"No, we can't put your mother next to Madison!" my voice filled the room as Fulton jumped a small height at the loudness of my voice.

"Why not?" He asked regaining his composer after the sudden shock.

"Because..." I stammered, "Madison is annoyed easily and I'm sure your mother is going to be a wreck with the wedding and everything." Okay, so it wasn't a great excuse but what was I supposed to say, hey don't put your mother next to Madison because she might not make it to the cake cutting? No that wouldn't work; this was a much better reason.

"Okay, if you say so. Where do you want to put her then?" How about near the exit, I thought in my head. No, don't start now...I've made it this far.

"Let's just put her at the table with your Aunt Lucy and Uncle Craig. That why she has someone to talk to besides Phil."

"Are we inviting Phil?" He asked. I looked away nervously,

"Umm...yeah, I thought they were okay now..." I tried to act like I didn't know that Eve had made up the whole "problems" issue with Phil. Fulton looked at me to a moment and my heart pounded in my chest, did he know that I knew. It was like that feeling when you get caught in a lie and your face heats up. I was ready to confess everything when his face moved into a smile,

"Is everything okay?" He smiled. I let the breath I was holding out,

"Yeah...I just didn't want you to get mad at me for suggesting inviting him. I mean he is your step-father." He smiled again and nodded,

"I know, I just don't know what's going on with them right now but I suppose we should invite him in case everything is okay now." He agreed, making a marker for Phil and seating him next to his mother at the table with his other relatives.

"Have we heard from your family?" He asked still looking at the board. I hung my head for a moment.

"Well, my Aunt Gretchen and her kids are coming...and my Uncle Todd and his wife..." Everyone but my parents. I thought in my head.

"I mean your parents." Fulton cut me off, holding up the two markers for my parents on the board. I sighed heavily and took the markers from his hands.

"Let's just put them off to the side for now." I said moving them to the edge of the table. I stared at the names for a moment before his hand came to the back of my neck.

"Hey, they'll call, okay?" I nodded slightly, feeling his strong massage my neck and I turned back to the board.

"Okay, next person..."

"Charlie and Linda."

"Isn't Charlie standing up with you at the ceremony?"

"Yeah but Connie wants to sit with Guy at the reception so we added an extra chair on for him."

"Then add an extra chair on for her." I said as he looked at the board and then nodded.

"Okay, cool. Next..."

The seating arrangements went on all night and by the time we crawled into bed it was already 2 in the morning and Fulton had to be up in 4 hours. The night was silent with occasional chirrup of the night bugs outside the bedroom window and I slept right through Fulton leaving for work that morning. The morning was peaceful too until I was awoken by the fight that was going on downstairs.

"Can't I ever get any sleep?" I questioned, grabbing my robe and heading for the door. It did seem like deja vu but most days were beginning to feel like that. The only difference was as I came down the stairs the contestants in this battle of wills weren't the same as before. Scott stood on one side of the hall, Portman on the other, staring each other down.

"Guys, please I'm going to look like an old hag at my wedding if you don't let me get any sleep." I reasoned, reaching the bottom step.

"He started it!" Scott pointed his finger accusingly.

"Dude, I think he was hitting on me." Portman said backing off.

"Now why would I go and do a silly thing like that when Madison's..." He stopped short looking at me for a moment and then back at Portman, who made an unknown hand gesture to him.

"When she's so in love with him." He finished as I stared back and forth between the two.

"I thought you were going to California." Portman's face dropped.

"It won't make a difference, I don't belong out there and if I go, I'll just start trouble between Madison and her mother again and I don't want to do that to her now." He said leaning up against the doorway to the living room.

"That's not true, she needs you now the most. It will show my Mother that you're a good guy, to follow Madison out there." Scott yelled at him as the room erupted into a screaming match again.

"Guys! Guys!" I yelled over them, causing them to both stop and look at me.

"You two are acting like children."

"I wouldn't have to if he would just be reasonable!" Scott accused.

"Reasonable? Who's being unreasonable?" Portman shot back.

"You're such a brute!" Scott yelled back as the yelling match continued, I sighed, sitting down on the bottom step of the staircase and watching them argue before noticing a paper sitting on the doormat at the front door. I stood up heading right through the bickering idiots and grabbed the paper, which was face down from the floor, turning it over before screaming at the top of my lungs.

"Okay Tammy, just sit down!" Scott cooed, leading me into the living room as Portman followed holding the paper and reading it feverously. They had stopped their argument the minute I let out the scream to rush to my side.

"How can they print such lies?" I asked, still reeling from the headline that graced the front page of the national enquirer.

"Hey, they talked about me in here too!" Portman said excitedly before his face turned up into a scowl,

"A crazy mad man with a foreign projectile...I'll have them know I brought that in right here in Minneapolis." He frowned, throwing the paper on the table. The headline sat there plain as day and read "Ice Princess cheats on Fiancé with Estranged Partner." and the picture of Scott and I hugging the morning before.

"I mean, it wasn't like that at all. I didn't realize my robe had opened like that! I was excited to see you!" I cried desperate for someone to believe me.

"Sweetie, no one knows better than me that nothing happened yesterday, I mean please, you're not even my type anymore. Oh God, I have to call Viktor!" He said running from the room.

"I mean you believe me, don't you Portman!" I asked, frantic for someone's reassure me.

"Of course...I mean if you were going to cheat on Fulton...you could do so much better!" Portman reasoned as Scott came back into the room clutching his cell phone.

"He wasn't there. Oh god, I hope he calls back before he reads it!" Scott whined sitting on the couch next to me, Portman plopping down on the other side. They both sighed at once, no doubt thinking about Viktor and Madison. Scott looked at Dean with a glare,

"So are you going?" He asked. Dean sighed again,

"I suppose...are you driving?" He asked.

"How else you going to get there?" Scott asked as they both stood up. "Get your bags!" Portman sprinted from the room. The room was silently for a moment before Scott spoke,

"Are you going to be okay?" He asked me. I wiped at my eyes quickly.

"Yeah, I mean we both know nothing happened and Fulton will believe me, there's no reason to worry." I said standing up and heading for my bedroom. I passed Portman on the stairs.

"I'll bring her back." Portman told me as we passed and I nodded slightly, I missed having Madison here to talk to and I could really use her now.

The door closing downstairs woke me later that afternoon, I struggled to open my eyes, the unshed tears creating a form of glue to keep them shut. I rubbed at them a little, sitting up to find Fulton standing in the doorway.

"Hey." I tested to make sure he wasn't mad or anything. Why would he be mad? I questioned my self, rubbing at my eyes again

"Hey." He said back coming into the room farther. I sighed a little from relief. How could I think he was mad at me in the first place? I'm just crazy I guess. He moved towards me, sitting on the bed and talking my hand.

"Fulton about the article." He quieted me with his index finger to my lips.

"Those papers are trash." He said kissing me on the lips. "What do you say we get out of here...go somewhere?" He asked.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" I smiled. He laughed,

"Yeah, like a real date. I figure we haven't done that before." He leaned forward and lipped my again.

"No, we haven't. I would love to go out with you." I said kissing him again. "But first let me get ready."

"You don't have to do the whole make-up, fancy dress thing." He said as I moved from the warm covers.

"Fulton, it's our first date. Give me twenty minutes." He smiled,

"Okay." He said leaving the room as I started to throw things around from the closet to find the perfect outfit. In the end it was a flowing shoulder strap white dress that went to my ankles and a pair of ankle strapped heels. I stepped down the stairs and Fulton smiled, standing by the door.

"I think you're too dressed up to ride in my truck." I laughed,

"Well, there's always my car." I offered, retrieving the keys from the hook.

"You know, I don't like to drive that thing." I smiled, any other man would love to drive a brand new Mustang but Fulton preferred his truck. I would never understand but oh well, I loved him all the same.

"Are you ready?" He asked, holding the door as I grabbed my jacket from the hall closet

"Where are we going?" He smiled mischievously,

"That you are going to have to wait and see."

The drive was short but took forever in my mind, where was he taking me? I wondered, twisting the fabric of my gloves in my hand and stared out the window. The sun was setting in the western sky and I glanced back at the man I would marry in just two weeks time. It all seemed so impossible that we had come so far from the shy 13 year olds we were when we met. This was the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with, the man I would share every one of life's adventures with. Anyone else at my age would be freaking out that they were getting married. Most people would say a person of twenty has barely lived long enough to experience life where I'm ready to share it with someone else. Fulton and I are different though; I knew I would marry him someday the first time he crawled through my bedroom window at 1 in the morning. He had showed me a part of himself that he couldn't show anyone, the vulnerable side. He glanced over at me as I continued to stare at him and smiled,

"What are you thinking about?" He asked.

"Nothing. Just how lucky I am. Lucky that you love me, lucky that you're so forgiving..."

"Uh-oh, what'd you do now?" He joked as I moved closer to him on the truck's seat.

"Nothing...just forgot why I love you so much." I whispered, kissing his cheek and leaving a trace of my pale pink lipstick. I rubbed it off with my thumb and smiled, resting my head on his shoulder.

The lake house came into view and I knew immediately that we were going there. The small light out into the lake was on and Fulton stopped, parking the truck to help me out in the soft grass.

"Doesn't this belong to old lady Miller?" I asked afraid we'd get caught doing something illegal again. I suddenly felt like I was 13 again and sneaking around with Fulton in the middle of the night like we used to.

"It does, but she's letting us use it for the night since I made her all the chairs for her deck at a cheap cost." Fulton smiled taking my hand and leading me down the dock ramp. The small building sat out at the end of a long ramp leading out into the lake and looked to be lit by candles as we approached. Fulton opened the door and a small table set for two was illuminated by candle lit and heated by a small space heater. I smiled, letting him lead me to the table to sit. I noticed it was all furniture he had made and smiled.

"It's beautiful Fulton. Thank You."

"Not as beautiful as you. I love you Tammy." I smiled as he sat across from me and lifted the covers on our dinner. The meal was silent except for the occasional murmur of loving words exchanged and when it was done Fulton stood to take my hand.

"What?" I asked as he led me to the side of the dock facing the frozen water. He smiled and took me in his arms.

"Dance with me?" He asked softly. I smiled, he gently rocked me in his arms and I laid my head on his shoulder, hugging him close to me as the first few notes of the song started from the small CD player he had setup.

"I love you Fulton."

"I love you too. Happy Birthday Tammy."