By quarter to ten, Giselle had been and gone and all the girls had purchased a little something to please both themselves and their men in bed; they'd gotten into the shooters, mai-tais and beer once more, and

'And then we had just enough time to get our scrubs back on before anyone noticed we were gone.'

'Damn Andrea,' Lindsay giggled, her head reeling already from the shots they'd consumed. Three already, not including the beers she'd downed with her appetizers. 'Never thought you'd have a moment like that with Daniel.'

'When you're pregnant and constantly horny hormonal, you'll understand,' Andrea told her. 'Who's next?'

'I think it's time for a sweet one,' Lanie snickered. 'Lindsay's cheeks are as red as Sloanie's shooters.'

'That's just the booze. I get red in the cheeks all the time when I drink.' But Lindsay wasn't going to protest the decision after she'd shared some very hot moments with Adam, including the first time they'd fooled around in the shower and when they'd been busted when Shane had called Adam just as he was getting a blowjob from Lindsay and he was almost at the point of no return.

'I have one,' Alexis grinned sloppily. She'd also gotten into the shooters with her bestie, but as she had a lower tolerance for alcohol. 'I don't even know this one, because I was waiting for this moment.'

'This momen'? You knew we were gonna get married, Lexie?'

'I surely did.'

'We all knew it, baby,' Lanie added dreamily, nursing her third mai-tai.

'Wait-wait-wait.' Andrea waved her hand; the words came out as a single stream. 'We're getting off topic. What's the moment you want to know about Lindsay and Adam?'

'I wanna know about their first kiss,' Alexis sighed dreamily.

The women all ooh-ed appreciatively, and Lindsay polished off her beer, reached for a fresh one. She was well and truly on her way to being shit-faced and she didn't give a damn. 'It wasn't until our third date. It was the first time he came down to visit me at Princeton and we were supposed to go to see a special double feature of Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns but something happened...I don't remember what, but something got said and we ended up going for a long walk instead and I told him about everything that happened to me.'

'What did he say?' Sloan asked sweetly, her chin propped on her fist as she listened intently.

'He didn't say anything at first, and I asked him to say something, anything, even if it was to tell me that he didn't want to be involved with such a bas...basket-case. I wasn't going to be offended because it was something I'd become accustomed to dealing with over the previous year.' Lindsay paused, wet her whistle with more beer. 'He just looked at me and gave me the sweetest smile, and he touched my cheek and said, I don't now how to say it without sounding like a total cheese-ball but I know there is something starting between us so the last thing I'm going to do is put any pressure on you.'

'Oh, Lindsay.' Lanie gave a little sniffle.

'I started to cry because he was the first man who didn't cringe away from what I had to say, or think it meant I would be an easy lay. He just held me close, and stroked my hair so tenderly.'

'That's so beautiful,' Andrea breathed. 'Did he kiss you then?'

'We held hands out of the park,' Lindsay continued. 'It was the most contact I'd had with a man beyond a cursory hug in a year. I told him that and he told me he genuinely meant it, that whatever I needed to work through would be our priority together. He stayed over and we were lying in bed together watching a movie instead of going out, and we ordered Chinese food, and...and we just laid there together and he said close your eyes. So I did and then...oh, then it was like magic, my doves. It was so wonderful, that first kiss. He was so sweet and shy about it, and he asked me if it was okay, and I whispered yes it was. Then we were kissing again and...I fell asleep in his arms.'

'Damn, girl.' Sloan reached for the tissues, dabbed her eyes which had filled up. 'I thought we were gonna make you blush, I didn't think you're gonna make us c-cry like little children.'

'Blame me,' Alexis warbled, reaching for the other tissue box and blowing her nose with a magnificent honking sound. 'I'm the one who asked the question.'

'I know a better one to help put the mood right back on track,' Lindsay said with a little smile. 'Ask me about the first time he said he loved me.'

'Oh, no,' Andrea sighed, 'I think we all might dehydrate.'

'Yeah, from sweat because it's such a hot story.'

'Okay, there she is coming back to us now,' Sloan smiled. 'What happened?'

'We'd talked about it, as always, and I knew I was going to be ready for that step around our six months but our schedules were just way too crazy. There was the court case for Charlotte McGyver and I had finals, so we agreed it would be when we took our holidays in the summer together. Then Andrea and Daniel lent us the same house we're getting married in.' Lindsay took an extra long pull of her beer. 'We'd spent the day on the beach, playing like children in the surf, then we were drinking ginger-beer on the porch in that swing-rocker, Andrea.'

'I like that one too,' she said with a grin.

'And he said it was a near-perfect vacation, so I took his hand in mine and said I knew of something that would make it perfect. I held his hand and we went inside to the bedroom, and we undressed each other slowly, and it was so hot. We had music and candles, and every girl should be treated like that on their first time.'

'You'd had sex before him though, right?' Lanie inquired, reaching for her mai-tai.

'Oh of course, I hadn't been a virgin since my second month of my freshman year in undergrad,' Lindsay laughed; oh that had a been a good night too, 'but Adam was the first one and only one I'd been with since I was attacked. It was almost like being a virgin again because I was so scared I'd do something that would make him rethink our relationship. I'm sure Lili could relate to that.'

'Meredeth could a little too,' Andrea added. 'She was dealing with night-terrors coming back to her when she was first dating him.'

'Yeah, and the first night we met her, she had one in Richard Castle's guest room.' Lanie remembered that night well, the looked of panic on the usually-cool Javier Esposito's face. 'And look where she and Espo are now.'

'Well, the way Adam and I burn up the sheets, I'm surprised I don't have a hitch-hiker for the wedding,' Lindsay chortled, and Alexis took this opportunity to get them back in the mood for the party games.

'Which reminds me. When you and Adam do the bouquet and garter toss, you know you're going to be caught between dying of embarrassment and complete orgasm, right?'

'Oh yeah, but then, it reminds me of the little show I gave him on our on year anniversary.'

Before she could tell the tale, the intercom buzzed and they all looked around at each other, dumbfounded as to who might be calling on them until Sloan burst out 'Pizza!' and she took off with Alexis for the door to go and fetch their food. Lindsay let her shoulders slump down, as though she were drained from the stories. 'Andrea?' she asked her friend still seated at an angle from her.

'Yes Lindsay.'

'Do you think it makes me whory, or...or overcompensating to talk like this?'

'No, of course not. Why would you think that?'

'Because you all know what I've been through and-'

'And you didn't start fucking everything with a dick to regain your sense of self,' Andrea concluded. 'It's not...hmmm...you're the exception, Lindsay. You didn't act out, you turtled in and that has led us here, to you marrying a wonderful man in less than a week's time. And tomorrow we are gonna get you so sexified and pretty your going to send his blood pressure through the roof when he sees you on Sunday.'