AC here! So apologies for tardiness in posting, however I think it worked out nicely for us to post a chapter today. What's today you ask? Well I'll tell you…after you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for the continued reviews and support, it means so much!

While Val was quickly making the appropriate adjustments to the wedding dress and to the three grey-blackish bridesmaids' dresses which she'd managed to dig up, Sarah checked in with Casey and AJ checked in with Chuck to see how the wedding plans were coming along.

"Yes, Chuck, I'm sure we've got Ellie's measurements written down correctly—"

"—Casey, I swear, they won't clash with your flowers."

"Of course it's something Ellie'd pick out; do you think that after all these years I seriously don't know what she likes—?"

"—I told you, they're a dark gray, almost black, they'll go with anything."

"Six o'clock sharp, we'll be there—"

"—1800 hours, got it."

"See you soon, Chuck—"

"—Bye, Casey."

They both hung up, and shared a tired look.

"This wedding's going to be the death of us," AJ said.

Sarah nodded her agreement. "I just hope Ellie likes it."

"I'm sure she will. So your new mission with Bryce, excited?"

She shrugged. "It doesn't matter what I want; orders are orders."

"Of course it matters. Sarah, I know Bryce Larkin, and he's a nice guy, but he always put his goals ahead of his happiness, or the happiness of others. If you're happy with him, then by all means go with him. But if you're not, then you should stay in Burbank, with Chuck."

"I can't, AJ. I wish I could, but I can't."

"Sarah Walker, don't give me that merde. You can do whatever you want."

Before she could answer, Val emerged from the backroom of her shop with the finished dresses. The girls paid for them and headed back to Burbank, with AJ speeding worse than ever, not that Sarah seemed to mind. It was only when they pulling back into the apartment parking lot that AJ said, "Oh my God, what about the tuxedos?"

"What about them?"

"We didn't get any! But I don't think anyone else did either, I mean they're clothes, and we were in charge of clothes!"

"AJ—"

"I can't believe we forgot! Now we have to drive back to Val's, or just have the guys wear jeans!"

"AJ—"

"This is a disaster! First I wasn't able to stop the pyrotechnics and now—"

"AJ!"

"What?"

Sarah pointed towards the road, and AJ turned. Pedaling towards them was Morgan, and resting on his handlebars…tuxedos! They were wrapped in plastic, to keep them from getting dirty, but from what AJ could tell they'd match the bridesmaids' dresses perfectly.

"Morgan, you're brilliant!" she said, running up to meet him. She threw her arms around him in a hug as he pulled up.

He beamed and let AJ grab the tuxedos, following behind her with his bike. Sarah, who was loaded down with the dresses, brought up the rear. Several of Casey's men were in the courtyard, setting up for the reception and looking supremely out of place in their black unlabelled uniforms.

"Who are they?" Morgan asked.

"Professional party planners," Sarah answered, giving the men a curt nod. AJ winked at the men, and two of them smiled back at her. The third, however, merely scowled. AJ wondered vaguely what had his knickers all in a twist.

The thought left her mind the moment she entered Casa Bartowski. Ellie was sitting in the living room dressed in sweats, looking dazed. Chuck and Mr. B. were sitting next to her, trying to convince her that everything really was taken care of.

"But I don't understand, how can you have gotten together another wedding so fast? That's just not possible."

"Anything's possible for a Bartowski," AJ quipped, grinning at Mr. B. "Isn't that right, sir?"

"Not just for a Bartowski, it seems," he said, looking at the dresses in Sarah's arms and the tuxedos in AJ's. "One of those for me?"

"Si. Here you are, why don't you and Chuck go round up the rest of the men and go change over at my place?" I handed him my keys and the tuxedos.

Giving Ellie a final reassuring pat on the leg, Chuck went with his father, taking Morgan with them. Setting the dresses down in an armchair, Sarah took the spot Chuck had just vacated and AJ sat opposite of her on Ellie's other side.

"Is this really happening?" Ellie asked.

"It really is," Sarah said. "Come on, let's get you dressed before Honey shows up to help."

Ellie gave a weak laugh, then asked, "What about Beth?"

"Oh, she's just taking care of something. I'm sure she'll be here soon," AJ said.

"Is it done?"

"It's done."

"Does it look alright?"

Kate chuckled, giving Beth a tap on the shoulder. "Look yourself, why don't you? You made part of it!"

"I know, but I can't! What if it's atrocious? I'm so out of practice. And I saw the cake up close and so it could look bad from far away. And if it looks bad far away…"

Kate spun Beth around, laughing at the look of shock on Beth's face. "Oh my…damn…we are good."

The cake had four round layers, with lattice work on the second and fourth tiers with a garland flourish on the first and third. Pillars were between the second and third, where Ellie and Devon's wedding topper would go. Kate and Beth had both mixed and baked the batter, with Kate icing the whole thing and doing the garland; Beth working on the intricate purple and white flowers with green vines interspersed in the lattice. Beth knew the cake tasted all right—she snuck a lick of the butter cream icing, and Kate assured her the batter was delicious, raw eggs be damned. All in all, it was time consuming, tiring, and at times, panic-inducing, but they had it done. And it looked awesome.

Checking her watch, Beth gasped at the time. Shit! She needed to be at Ellie's to help get everything ready and put on her dress.

"Kate…"

"—go. The bride needs you. I'll deliver the cake to the courtyard later so it stays fresh. Do you have everything you need?"

"Yep. And I really can't thank you enough. If it weren't for the fact I'm an awesome yogurt worker, I'd totally join you in the bakery business."

"Well if you're ever in need of a job, you just come on over."

"I'll hold ya to that."

With one last wave, Beth hopped in her truck, speeding slightly excessively to reach the apartments. When she got there, she pulled into her normal spot, hopping out of her truck and passing by the setup already happening at the courtyard. She paused to look at the decorations; one of the men passed her by, remarking, "You changed; gotta say though, outfit still fits like a glove."

She shook her head, laughing. "Crawford, right? Thank God John isn't here to hear you say that—I have a feeling he'd be a little more than slightly displeased. The place looks really great; I'm impressed y'all were able to throw it all together so quickly."

"Marines—we're good for more than just fighting in the jungles of the world, facing the baddies. We're also exceptional wedding planners."

"So I noted. Speaking of weddings…I gotta get to the bride before the poor gal has a coronary."

"Then I won't hold you up…though, with your permission, may I ask you a question?"

She looked confused, but nodded at the grey eyed soldier in front of her. "Sure, shoot. Er, go ahead. I probably shouldn't be tellin' trained Marines 'shoot' very often."

"That's for sure; who knows what might happen?" He said with a wink. "In regards to my question, well, what is your relationship with the Colonel?"

"With John? Well…now that, soldier, is a rather long story. He falls under the category of roommate/friend/something."

"You two seemed close."

Beth blushed, shrugging her shoulders. "I can honestly say that's a new development. He's a good man, a fine colonel, and that is honestly all I'll say, cause I somehow don't think John'd be too pleased about others diggin' into his personal life; he likes his privacy. Plus, I'm pretty sure Ellie's on super freak-out mode right about now."

She started walking towards Ellie's door, pausing when she heard her name. Turning, she saw him awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yes?"

"I was just wondering…would a guy like me have a chance with a woman like you?" At her widened eyes, he quickly corrected himself. "Not you, ma'am, Colonel would kill me. But, there's a girl back home; you remind me of her, and I was just wondering if I'd ever have a chance with her."

Smiling, she turned to face him fully. "Crawford, what's your given name?"

"Adrian."

"Well Adrian, I don't know ya well, but from what I've seen you're a hard-working, dedicated man. You obviously love your country and your comrades. You're a fine lookin' fella; any girl would be lucky to be on your arm. And if this lil' gal doesn't give you a chance, then she doesn't deserve you. That answer your question?"

"It does. Colonel Casey's lucky to have found you."

"Not nearly as lucky as I am to have found him. You take care of him for me, won't you? I don't rightly know where I'll be, and I'm not allowed to know where he'll be; I'd feel better knowing someone has his back."

"I'd die for him, ma'am."

Beth heard the rustling of feet outside the door and knew the gals must have spotted her. Before they opened the door, she left the soldier with one last sentence.

"I would too, Adrian, I would too."

The moment she saw Beth approaching the courtyard, AJ made a move towards the door. Blimey, they were cutting it close. Ellie was dressed and ready to go, and Sarah and AJ were both dressed minus the shoes, since AJ had yet to raid her closet for something appropriate and Sarah was going to have to borrow shoes from Beth, who luckily wore the same size give or take half a measurement.

Opening the door, AJ pulled Beth inside, giving her a hug. "How'd the cake turn out?"

"Sorry I'm late—we really cut it down to the wire, but the cake turned out beautifully; Kate was a huge help—she's gonna drop it off right before the reception. How'd dress shopping go?"

"See for yourself," AJ said, stepping back so Beth could see her dress. "Not bad, right?"

Beth glanced over the dark grey dresses, v-neck and backless; nice and flowy. "They look good! I'm impressed you found them; y'all did a good job. Now, I'm guessing…Sarah, you need a pair of shoes, don't you? And AJ, you'd better grab your shoes too; I'll go change real quick."

She grabbed her dress and headed to the bathroom, pausing to give Ellie a hug and kiss on the cheek. "You look stunning, Ellie. Don't you worry 'bout a thing—everything is all taken care of."

"Thanks Beth, I just, how did you guys…"

"—don't even ask. Just know that we're here for you; this is your special day and it's gonna be done your way. Well, this time. See? Some good has come out of a soggy noon wedding."

Ellie gave a soft laugh and nodded.

Soon the bridesmaids were all properly outfitted and Chuck had returned from AJ's apartment to chauffeur the bride. When the rest of the wedding party had cleared out, the girls checked in with the marines one last time before heading towards the parking lot.

In his usual style, Bryce emerged unexpectedly from the shadows. "Ladies."

Beth gave Sarah a look that said 'this is your problem, not mine'. She saw the way he was looking at Sarah; same look Chuck gave her, but Chuck was looking at the whole person; Bryce was simply looking at 'Sarah the Spy'.

"Bryce, fancy seein' you here. Nice day for marryin' isn't it?" Turning to Sarah and AJ, she gave an eye roll the man couldn't see, and nodded toward her truck. "Look, I promised John I'd stop by before I headed to the wedding, he wanted to know how the cake went and everything—meet you at the beach?"

Sarah nodded. "Sounds good—you'll be there in time?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world!" She headed towards her truck, leaving AJ and Sarah to face Bryce.

Hands on her hips, AJ frowned at Bryce. "Y'know, we've really got to stop meeting like this."
"What'd be the fun in that?"

She shook her head, not amused.

"What do you want, Bryce?" Sarah asked.

"I need to talk to you."

"Well, that'd be my cue to skedaddle then," AJ said.

"Not so fast; I need to talk to you too."

Great, just what AJ needed. "If you want to talk, get in the Jeep, Bryce." Turning to Sarah, she added, "You two can talk later. I'll see you at the wedding."

Smiling, Sarah got into her Porsche without comment and drove off.

"Well that was unnecessary," Bryce said.

AJ got in the Jeep, opening the passenger's side door for him. "I don't know, seemed necessary to me. It wasn't really fair for you to sneak up on Sarah like that."

"Sarah's a spy, she knows how to be quick on her feet."

"Sarah's not just a spy; she's a person." Pulling out of the neighborhood, AJ asked, "What do you want?"

"You're Chuck's friend, and you know Sarah's not just a yogurt shop girl. I want you to talk to him, convince him to let her go."

Scoffing, AJ answered, "Like hell. Fake relationship or not, Chuck and Sarah have some real feelings for one another."

"It would never work. She's a spy and he's—"

"A Nerd Herder? Yeah, no thanks to you getting him kicked out of school. Shieße, if you hadn't, maybe he'd be the spy."

"He'd have never made it! Chuck isn't ruthless enough to be a spy, you know that. I was protecting him; I did him a favor."

Pulling off to the side of the road, AJ said, "Get out."

"What?"

"Get out. Now. You can walk the rest of the way to the wedding; I'm sure you can use you superb spy skills to figure out where it's at."

He bowed out, still smiling, and said simply, "I'll see you around."

"Don't count on it," AJ answered as she drove off.

Well that was fun, next chapter it's finally the wedding! And maybe even more interesting what happens after the wedding ;) As always, we'd love your thoughts on the chapter, the series, or even the weather, so please review if you get the chance. And oh, as for what today is, 6 months to the day LB and I actually started writing this here drabble, only a couple of days after we started this whole series. Pretty cool, huh?