"Why don't you put down my mother's number?" Martin suggested with a smirk as they filled out the paperwork a few minutes later.

"I almost put down my mother's cell number." She grinned as she whispered in his ear. "Oh, and I'm going to put down my apartment number as your contact number. I don't want you to have to deal with any of this. You have an important position to concern yourself with. All you need to worry about is showing up in a tux."

"Lil," he shook his head with a smile, "stop it. I am capable of helping you with this and working. You are just as busy as I am and I don't want to abandon you with our mothers. Besides, I want to be involved in our wedding." She relaxed against him as he put his arm around her shoulders and smiled as they began the task of planning their wedding.

Jack looked up from the magazine he was reading at the gate with a smirk. "I was beginning to think your father had you reassigned."

Martin laughed slightly. "Not yet. Lily and I started making wedding arrangements."

"Now the fun begins. Everyone is going to have an opinion about what you should do, how you should do it, and nothing you say is going to matter. She may say that she wants your input now, but trust me, she's never going to do what you want."

He laughed again. "I'm pretty sure that neither one of us will have a thing to do with this wedding. It will be overdone very well by our mothers no matter how much we protest."

Jack smiled. "At least you're a realist. What about after the wedding? Have you two decided what city you are going to live in?"

"We've got a year to figure that out."

"Good luck with that." He went back to his magazine.

A month later, Martin awoke to the sounds of the city coming alive below his bedroom window. The April morning air was crisp and he pulled the blankets as high as he could without covering Lily's head, grateful when she rolled closer to him, her face nuzzling against his neck, allowing him to cover his exposed shoulder, and he sighed with a smile. She'd arrived late the night before without warning and with a look of sheer exhaustion.

"Hey there, Beautiful." Martin smiled when he opened his apartment door and only received a tired smile in response as she walked in. "Long trip?"

"Long day." She dropped her bag by the door and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Promise me when we're married that we will move somewhere my mother can't find us."

He laughed. "Sweetheart, something tells me there is not a place on this earth that Andrea Anderson can't reach."

"Please don't say that. I've been on the phone with her all day, minus three hours for the meeting I had to go into, discussing the most minute of details of our wedding. Actually, it wasn't a discussion, it was a battle, and she was winning. To listen to her, you would think we were getting married in three weeks instead of next May. Do you know how close I came to telling her to do whatever the hell she wanted?"

Leaning down, he kissed her softly just to keep from laughing. "I'm sorry, Honey."

She kissed him again. "Don't be sorry, just help me forget."

Helping her forget had been the easy part after being apart from her for two weeks. Her creamy skin had felt like satin against his, her long raven locks like strands of the world's finest silk in his hands, and, as they moved, their bodies were in tune like a well-rehearsed symphony, creating a perfect harmony. Their final crescendos had been impeccably timed, both able to enjoy the others, with Lily's coming first. He always allowed hers to come first, though, loving the way she always called out his name, and allowing her passion to carry him over the edge.

Lily began to slowly swim awake to the gentle feel of Martin's hand in her hair. She loved it when he would run his long nimble fingers through her hair. It was a soothing motion that was always able to relax her and make her smile. "Good morning." She kissed his neck. "What time is it?"

"Good morning." He kissed the top of her head. "It's morning."

They shared a laugh. "Seriously, funny man, what time is it?"

"It's early. I know that." He continued to smirk as she laughed again. "Do you really have to know? To see the clock, I'd have to let go of you and roll over."

"Then, by all means, I'll accept early. I just got warm."

"Exactly." Martin kissed the top of her head again. "What time is your train?"

"Sunday afternoon."

"Since it's only Thursday, I think you have time."

"I think so. What time do you have to be at work?"

"Later."

"One day," she sighed, "that will be the only answer." Suddenly, her smile was gone and she felt his arms tighten around her. "Why does this discussion always make me want to quit my job and live off my trust fund?"

He laughed and kissed her shoulder. "Because it makes me want to call my father and request a cushy D.C. assignment."

She started laughing harder. "I'll quit, you can spend the rest of your life indebted to your father, and we will both live miserably ever after."

Their laughter was infectious, each feeding the other, as it always had been, and it wasn't long before Martin felt tears in his eyes and he kissed her in an effort to catch his breath. "I think we've got problems, Lil."

"Tell me about it. Last week, I humored my mother and went looking at Georgetown townhouses as though we were going to become the perfect Beltway couple."

"Can you just see me with my shirt unbuttoned, an ascot around my neck, and a cardigan on sitting in some overly dark study drinking brandy and discussing the latest polls?"

"While I readied myself in a designer wool suit and white gloves to go meet the ladies at the club." She placed her hand on his chest. "Promise me we will never become that couple."

Leaning down, he kissed her again. "I promise we will never become that couple." His laugh faded to a smile. "Though you almost did become part of that couple." She looked at him confused. "With Toad."

"You mean with Todd?" She smirked and corrected him.

"That's what I said, with Toad." He grinned as she laughed. "You two had the perfectly decorated Georgetown townhouse while you two were in law school. Complete with the wood paneled study with fireplace and brandy snifter."

"Maybe, but I never had the wool suit and, if you remember, I went running from there screaming."

"Yeah, what was it about his ring that was different about mine?"

"You have to ask?" He didn't answer her. "Mainly, time. I was twenty-one when Todd purposed. All I could see was ending up like my parents, trapped in a loveless marriage from a young age because it was politically beneficial. I was beginning to feel suffocated and then I saw you." She smiled and touched his cheek. "I don't know if you know it or not, but we were supposed to be married years ago."

"I knew it. I just fought it because I knew I was never going to do what our parents wanted me to do."

"I figured." She looked away. "Sweetheart, don't feel guilty, please, but you were one of the big reasons as well. I saw what you did, actually having your own life, and I suddenly realized that I had always done what Senator and Mrs. Anderson had expected of me even if it wasn't what I wanted to do. The night I came to see you at Quantico six years ago, when you said what you said, something inside me snapped."

"I know." He smiled and kissed her. "And believe me, I don't feel guilty about telling you to take your life back. I know because of that I lost you for six years, but I would do it all over again. That night, Lil, you were dying inside because you were dreading the possibility of spending your entire life trapped with Toad in the Georgetown townhouse." She smiled and shook her head. "That's better."

She laughed. "Why do you insist on calling him Toad? You hadn't even met him until we started dating. He really is a good guy."

"I have always called him Toad, Lil. Mainly because it gets you to smile, but also because of the way he treated you. Honey, he took you for granted. The man was so stupid to not realize what he had until you were gone." She kissed him with a smile.