Author's Note: Okay guys, this one took a while because

a) this is the second to last chapter and that surprised/depressed the heck out of me. The last chapter is more like an epilogue (although it's a helluva epilogue if I do say so myself LOL) which will get posted when my review count says 440 (*evil grin*)

and

b) since it could "technically" be the last chapter, I wanted to get it just right. Well, I should say there was certain...um...parts that I wanted to get right. Like the stuff that gave this chapter a "M" rating. Yes, people, you read that right...there is M rated material ahead! You have been warned! There is other content in this chapter, but after a certain point there is a "Bow Chicka Wow Wow" song in the background (okay, I pictured more like a Barry White song but you get my point).

As always...and maybe even more this time (wink wink)...ENOJY!
~JP

True North
By Jaclyn Parker

"He felt now that he was not simply close to her, but that he did not know where he ended and she began."
~Leo Tolstoy
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Carly could feel the shivers of anticipation up and down her spine as she watched Jack slide the key card in and out of the electronic panel with a resounding beep. He turned to her, pushing the door open, and she gave him a small smile. Before she could say anything, Jack had swept her into his arms and was carrying her over the doorway.

"Jack, put me down before you hurt yourself." Carly said, but she was laughing as clung to his neck.

"What? You doubt my male prowess?" Jack said and Carly rolled her eyes.

"No, of course not, Darling. However, I do doubt your ability not to drop me when you finally notice the bucket of chilled champagne and hors d'oevures by the coffee table." Carly said, nodding her head in the direction she talked about and his eyes followed her movement.

Sure enough, Jack's eyes lit up at the sight of food and he placed her on her feet before moving to check out their bounty.

"How'd you know I was hungry?" Jack asked as he popped a cheese and pepperoni covered cracker into his mouth.

"Jack, you're a man. That means that you're always hungry." Carly laughed and then accepted a nice juicy red grape as he offered it to her. She noticed a blinking red light out of the corner of her eye and turned her head towards the room phone in the living room area of the humongous honeymoon suite. "We have a message. I wonder who it could be."

Jack quirked an eyebrow and shrugged. "Why don't you play it while I pop open the champagne?"

Carly nodded and lifted the phone to her ear. Hitting the voicemail button and then the one for speakerphone, she placed the receiver back in the cradle as a familiar voice floated into the room.

"Hey Carly, it's Monique."

Jack froze mid-way through lifting the champagne bottle out of the ice filled bucket and looked at Carly. She merely looked back at him, just as confused as he was.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the wedding in person. By the way, thank you for thinking of inviting me. I would have loved to have been there but I actually had a last minute meeting with the head honchos at corporate about your new label. I know you, Carly, having worked with you all those months and saw your work ethic when it came to your designing. If you were going to accept the offer, you would have done it mere days after it was presented."

At Monique's words, Jack studied Carly where she was standing by the end of the sofa, her hands gripping the arm as she now stared at the phone in silence. As radiant as she still looked, a little bit of the light in her eyes had dimmed. While Jack wanted nothing more to comfort her, he didn't know if he had any words to help heal the loss of her designing dream yet again.

Even though this was one of the happiest days of Carly's life, she couldn't help the momentary wave of sadness that washed over her. It was true that she had already made the decision to stay in Oakdale, despite Jack's words earlier about the family being okay with moving to California. While she didn't doubt his or the children's sincerity, she knew that they would all lose something by leaving Oakdale, something precious and unexplainable. Carly didn't want that for any of them, including herself.

"So, like I said, I had a meeting this evening with the corporate leaders and after a very long debate it seemed that they were prepared to let you loose. However, someone…A-K-A yours truly…happened to mention that your talent was too good to let slip through their fingers on a stupid geographic technicality and that someone else might not see the problem as they did. Apparently the thought of you being snatched up by another parent company was enough of a slap on the head to make them see reason. They agreed to let me call you to propose the new deal."

At the words "new deal" both Carly and Jack's heads snapped up to look at each other, their eyes wide.

"Your own label, full creative license, and the only traveling you would have to do would be to Los Angeles one weekend, every other month. It would be all expenses paid trip in order to go over progress reports for any new collections or designs and you would be having a routine bi-monthly budget meeting with the accounting department. Oh and, of course, you'd need to join us for the New York, L.A., and Chicago fashion weeks. When you find a base of operations in Oakdale, I've already requested to be your L.A. liaison, which they said will be approved seeing as how we well we've proven we work together."

Monique let out a laugh and the sound of champagne being uncorked came through the speaker.

"We both know what your going to say so may I be the first to offer congratulations, Carly Tenney…or should I say Snyder? Either way, you've got it all now girl! Enjoy your wedding weekend and I'll talk to you on Monday!"

The message clicked off and Jack turned slowly to look at Carly, but panicked momentarily when all he saw was the top of her blonde head over the high arm of the sofa. He rushed over to see her sitting on the floor, wedding dress and all, leaning up against the couch and staring straight ahead blankly.

"Carly?" Jack said softly and knelt down on the floor next to her. "Honey?"

"I don't…I'm dreaming, aren't I? This whole day, the wedding, the message on the machine; everything is just a dream and I'm going to wake up and it's going to all be gone." Carly murmured and Jack smiled, brushing the back of his knuckles down the side of her face.

"No, Baby, this is real. We're real."

Carly looked at him and the sheen of tears in her eyes along with the heartbreaking mix of disbelief and fear was nearly his undoing.

"Carly, this has been a long time coming. You deserve this." Jack tried again but Carly just shook her head like a petulant child.

"But that's just it, Jack." Carly said, her eyes flashing. "I don't deserve it…any of it. At least...not until I confess something to you."

"Carly…" Jack started to say but she placed her fingertips over his mouth.

"Let me say this, okay? You had your five minutes earlier, let me have mine."

Jack saw that she was completely serious and although it was with reluctance, he nodded.

"Jack, this past year, I enjoyed watching you fight to get me back. I enjoyed it a lot more than I should have. And even though a lot of me turning you down was to keep you from finding out about my pregnancy, there was a small part of me that enjoyed watching you have to deal with that rejection."

Despite the fact that Carly's hand had long slipped off of Jack's mouth, he stayed silent allowing his eyes to reveal his hurt and confusion. Sighing, Carly struggled to find a way to explain what she was trying to tell him.

"I think I was glad that you were finally feeling what I had felt all those times you felt that we needed to be part. It wasn't right, I know that, and I'm ashamed of how it sounds. But it wasn't until you proposed that first time, a few weeks ago, that I really sat down and began questioning why I was still saying no. And in doing that I finally figured something very important out."

Carly took a deep breath, twisting her new rings around her finger as if needing something to ground her before she spoke.

"Every time that I felt that you were placing the blame for the things that had gone wrong in our marriage squarely on my shoulders, I was subconsciously doing the same thing to you." Carly said, shaking her head at her self. "I kept thinking, 'oh, if Jack had only been a little more patient' or 'if Jack had been a little more understanding' or 'if Jack had only let me explain why I did what I did'. But I realized, now, that all that line of thinking was, in reality, a way to help excuse my behavior in my own mind. I know that I've apologized in the past for things like Nick Kasnoff, and my diagnosis, and most importantly Simon. But what I don't think I have ever said was how I am truly sorry for how my decisions during those...situations...helped to destroy what we had. And I'm not talking about just our marriage, Jack. I'm talking about the damage it did to the trust and deep bond that I had with my best friend."

At this, Jack gave her a soft smile and reached out to squeeze her hand. Giving him a small smile in return, Carly sighed.

"I don't know if you know this but I tend to not look before I leap off of some pretty monstrous cliffs."

For the first time since she started, Jack spoke up.

"Carly, I never wanted that cliff jumping girl I met and fell in love with all those years ago to disappear." Jack said, smiling at her.

"The adventurous side of you just makes me love you more, even during the times that it also manages to infuriate the hell out of me. And I understand that when certain situations come up that threaten the ones you care about, especially your family, you are used to feeling that it is all up to you to fix things because growing up you've ingrained the thought that you only have yourself to rely on in the end. But all I ever wanted was for you to know that, that is not true anymore. I know that for the first half of your life you rarely got a fair shake from anyone, especially the law, so it's just easier to break the rules than risk losing out to them. But, Honey, I swear to you that if you just let me in on those times when you feel like you have no where else to turn, I can promise you that I will help you move heaven and earth to help it turn out okay. We make a pretty great team, in case you've forgotten."

At Jack's words, she was encouraged enough to give him one of her infamous impish looks.

"So basically, what we've just settled here is the fact that I'm still going to leap off cliffs on occasion. It's just that, now, I'll be more receptive to listening to you when you tell me to throw a rock over first to test the waters below."

"If you want to put it that way, yes." Jack said, chuckling at her analogy before becoming serious again. "And for the record, one last time, I don't blame you for anything that happened between us in the past. Not anymore and not ever again. What's done is done."

"So, I don't blame you and you don't blame me. Where does that leave us?" Carly said, reaching up to gently stroke Jack's cheek with her index finger as her eyes searched his.

"How about a fresh start to the rest of our lives?" Jack said, capturing Carly's hand in mind movement.

"Sounds perfect." Carly replied, tears of relief welling up in her eyes as he turned her hand over to a kiss to her palm.

Leaning over, Jack kissed her lips before getting to his feet again. He gently pulled her up from the floor too and turned her by the shoulders in the direction of the bedroom part of the suite.

"Okay, you go get out of that stunning beautiful dress before I tear it off of you and I'll get to opening up the bubbly."

Carly laughed and gave him a devilish look over her shoulder as she did as told. In the midst of checking out the expensive label on the bottle of champagne, he listened to Carly tell him from the other room about the scattered vanilla scented candles and rose petals that their thoughtful friend had ordered placed about. He was just about to start untwisting the gold metal cage around the cork of the bottle when she yelled out to him.

"Jack, come look at this!"

"Oh for the love of…what is it now? I can't take many more surprises tonight." Jack said, hurriedly placing the champagne back in chilled bucket and heading into the bedroom.

Carly stood by the large king sized bed, holding a small light green shopping bag in one hand and a large manila envelope in the other. Handing Jack the envelope, Carly proceeded to peer into the shopping bag, before immediately closing it back up again.

"What's in it?" Jack asked, but Carly just shook her head and pointed to the envelope.

"Open it up."

Jack gave her an odd look but his curiosity was getting the better of him and he tore into the manila packaging and pulled out a written letter. Scanning it quickly, his eyes widened and he began to read out loud.

"Dear Jack and Carly, imagine my horror when Molly informed me that neither of you have ever really had a honeymoon. So we put our heads together and determined that we needed to rectify that immediately. Enclosed you will find that you have been booked a private house at the Big Sky Ski Resort in Montana for the first week in December."

Carly looked at Jack in shock, who stared back before shaking his head and continuing to read.

"Yes, we knew that you wouldn't want to be away from the kids for a week, especially with Emmy being so young so we booked a three bedroom with an additional master suite. We were assured that the suite is very private so you will actually get a honeymoon. Enjoy it because you both deserve it. Love, Lee and Molly. PS, if you think this is too much, just remember that you are doing us a huge favor come the New Year."

Jack finished and after a long moment of thought, looked at Carly.

"What favor?"

Carly just blinked and shifted as she finally slipped her long forgotten heels off in an effort to stall. Jack fought a smile when she suddenly became two inches shorter but, at the shifty look she wore, he repeated his question.

"Carly, what favor?"

"Um, did I forget to mention that I said Mattie could stay with us when Lee and Molly go on their honeymoon to the Bahamas?"

"Mattie…with us…in our house…five kids…three teenagers?" Jack sputtered, feeling slightly faint as he began to imagine what that was going to be like.

"Don't worry, Jack. It's only a week." Carly said as she slid by him towards the bathroom, kissing the underside of his chin.

"A week?" Jack echoed, his eyes widening as he watched her start to disappear into the bathroom. Suddenly realizing she was leaving the bedroom he tilted his head in confusion. "Hey, where are you going?"

"Oh, I dunno, Jack, it's a bathroom so naturally I thought I'd head in there to write a concerto for the Chicago Philharmonic." Carly said, quirking an eyebrow and a small smile playing on her lips.

"Smartass." Jack said, rolling his eyes and Carly laughed softly. "How about I finally pop the champagne while you…um…you know…whatever?"

"Sounds like a plan." Carly said, laughing again. Then, just before she closed the door, she eyed him up and down. "Oh, and G-man?"

He turned to look at her from where he was about to head back into the living room in order to retrieve that poor lonely bottle of champagne.

"Normally I love you in your dress blues but right now…I'd love you even more out of them."

With a wink, she shut the bathroom door and left Jack to continue into the living room with a dopey grin on his face.

Within five minutes he had stripped out of his dress uniform, placing it neatly folded on one of the two comfortable looking armchairs by the large picture window in the bedroom, and changed into a nice pair of long, black, jersey cotton pajamas pants that were slung low on his hips. After lighting the candles around the room and turning the bed covers down, Jack padded over to the ice bucket that he had now placed on the small table set conveniently in between the two armchairs. He had just uncorked the champagne and finished pouring two flutes full when he heard the bathroom door open behind him.

"Perfect timing, Beautiful."

Turning with the glasses in hand, whatever else it was that Jack was about to say flew completely out of his head as he stared at the vision in front of him.

Carly stood in the doorframe of the bathroom, lit by the glow of the candlelight in the room, wearing nothing but a satin babydoll nightie and her blonde hair now curling softly around her shoulders.

White with an stylish black floral design, the nightie was cut in what was known as a flyaway style so that it was open in the front to expose the stomach and let the matching string bikini underwear peek through. But what immediately caught Jack's attention, once he could begin to focus on minor details again, was that the entire thing was only being kept together by a nice little drawstring bow of black ribbon in the valley between Carly's breasts.

Carly, for her part, had been stunned to see the contents of the small green bag that waited on the bed. Recognizing it immediately as a gift bag from the new lingerie shop on Fernwood Street, she also remembered that the nightie she now wore had been one of the designs that she had liked when checking it out with Molly a few weeks back. But after the fallout of the dismissed proposal, she hadn't seen the point in buying it. But upon seeing it again, she had to admit that it was a beautiful piece of negligee that was just her taste.

Only, Carly was still slightly nervous in wearing something this revealing only four months after having given birth. Rationally, she knew that her stomach was just as flat as her pre-birth body thanks to a combination of the hospital's bandaging, her daily jogs with Emmy, and natural genetics. But underneath it all, Carly was still a normal woman and sometimes when she looked in the mirror all she could see was a stretch mark here or that extra pound or two there.

"Well…what do you think?" She ventured to say, fidgeting with one of the black spaghetti straps holding up her lingerie.

"Mmmm," Jack just murmured as he put the champagne flutes down on the table and headed in her direction, never taking his eyes off her once.

"Jack?" Carly said, as he made his way over to her with a look in his eyes that sent her pulse racing.

He reached her in record time and purposely pulled her to him, taking her lips in a hungry kiss that quickly left her clinging to him. When they finally had to break apart for air, she dipped her head back and eyed him with desire darkened eyes.

"I guess that means you approve?" Carly asked breathlessly, her fingertips digging into his upper back as she held onto him tightly.

"Mmmm," Jack hummed again loudly as he bent his head to attack the soft spot behind her left earlobe.

"Jack, what about the champagne?" Carly said, spying the discarded glasses over his left bicep.

"Mmmm mmmm." Jack grunted, shaking his head, before moving from the spot on behind her ear to the actual earlobe itself.

"Well, that's just great. I've reduced…you…to a….caveman." Carly said, suddenly finding it hard to finish forming complete sentences herself as he kept up his tingle inducing actions.

At her words, Jack abruptly stopped and before she could say anything else he had swept her into his arms and deposited her firmly on the bed with a slight bounce. When she settled, her head landed on one of the ultra soft pillows with her golden hair fanned out around her. Jack immediately followed her onto the bed, straddling her thighs lightly and planting his hands on either side of her shoulders. He leaned down into her face so that their noses were touching and grinned.

"Bed good. Clothes bad."

Carly let out a burst of laughter feeling her heart swell with even more love for this man, who could make her laugh with the stupidest jokes. Her laughter soon caught in her throat as Jack's lips quickly found their way to that spot on her neck that caused her to involuntarily shudder with pleasure. He continued to alternately kiss and nibble his way down her chest, skimming the creamy swells of both her breasts as they strained against the bra cups of her negligee. He let his index finger draw a line from the bow to just below her navel and then followed it with a blazing trail using his tongue and lips.

Jack's entire body had shifted during this slow and seductive process so that he was now easily situated in between her open legs. After toying with the thin strings that made up the sides of her underwear just long enough to make her squirm, he proceeded to pull them down. As he slid the satin panties along her long lithe legs, he kissed every inch of new flesh that he encountered along the way on either side. Finally he reached her feet and wiggled his eyebrows up at her when he managed to fling the tiny scrap of satin through the doors of the bedroom and into the living room like a slingshot.

Carly couldn't help the soft breath of laughter that escaped her and waited eagerly for him to come back up to her. Except he surprised her and, instead, settled himself on his stomach between her legs again, kissing the sides of her knees. She was mystified until she felt his mouth move to begin to nibble at the inside of her thighs and his fingers deftly found their way to the center of all her heat.

Carly's own fingers stretched down to try and thread their way into his hair but upon realizing that it was beyond her reach, they found compensation in the bed sheets by her sides. Bunching the fabric up under her fists, she found she couldn't help the automatic bucking of her hips that happened as she felt Jack's hot breath on the inside of her thighs accompanied by his skillful fingers. When she felt his lips turn upward in a smile against her skin, she wanted to reprimand him for being so smug and taking so long to get to where she really ached for him. But as he began pressing light kisses closer and closer to her warmth, Carly found herself becoming less and less annoyed. And when he finally placed that one long-awaited kiss to her center, she instantly forgave him for everything she could think of, ranging from making her wait that extra five seconds to buying her a toaster for her birthday four years ago.

Carly's body positively pulsated for more but when Jack pulled away, it appeared that the one kiss was to be the end of it. Silently, Jack made his way back up her body to stretch out and lie on his side next to her. She looked at him in slight confusion and more than a little frustration.

"I want to see your face." Jack said simply, nuzzling the side of her head as his fingers danced across her stomach. Again they played with the bow at the center of her chest, but this time he began to slowly pull the strings. Finally the negligee came undone and helping her slide it off her shoulders he tossed it over his head, only pausing to make sure he had missed any of the lit candles.

"You know, taking that off of you, was like unwrapping the most perfect wedding present in the world." Jack said tenderly and pressing a deep kiss her lips, his hand dipped back down to the place on her body that was throbbing for his touch.

Any reply that Carly was going to give was cut off immediately as he used his fingers to play her body like a well tuned instrument. If she had been able to think more clearly…or at all, for that matter…she wouldn't have been surprised that he knew her body and what she liked as well as he did. No man had ever been able to bring her to the heights of pleasure that Jack could every time they made love. Finally, his fingers hit that perfect spot and Carly was flung up among those proverbial stars. Her hips lifted clear off the bed as she gasped out his name, with one hand still clutching the sheets by her side and the other coming up to grip onto his forearm like a lifeline.

Upon coming back down to Earth, Carly was vaguely aware of Jack murmuring endearments in her ear, some of which caused the post-climax flush over her body to turn into a light rose colored blush. She opened her eyes to see him staring at her with so much love and tenderness in his face that, for a moment, she was breathless for a completely different reason.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" Jack whispered to her and with a shaking hand, she reached up to cup his cheek.

He turned his face and pressed kisses from her palm up her forearm to the inside of her elbow. Her skin and nerves were extra sensitive from her release and Carly couldn't help the shiver that went through her. And yet, as beyond wonderful as the experience had been, her body seemed to know that something essential had been missing. Shifting her leg, her thigh brushed up against the front of Jack's body and the hardness it found there sent a resounding "ping" deep inside of her.

Gathering more strength by the second, Carly boldly reached down to brush the back of her hand along the front of Jack's pajama pants. His sharp hiss of breath made her eyes twinkle and that impish grin to reappear. Never taking her eyes off his face, she let the fingertips of one hand skim the waistband of his pants, tickling the smooth plane of muscle she found there.

Like Carly, Jack rarely found the time to have scheduled work outs but due to the line of work he was in, he kept himself in very good shape. Of course, it didn't hurt that he had found himself spending more time in the gym in the past few months working off the pent up sexual frustration from being around Carly day in and day out. In fact, Jack was probably in almost as good a shape now as ever was.

Carly was finding that fact out for herself as she shifted slightly so that she could get better access to his pants and gently began to tug the material that clung stubbornly to his hips. The lower it got and the more Carly could see of that delicious "V" that formed Jack's groin area, the louder that damn "ping" got inside of her.

"Carly, baby, we can rest a moment. We have all night." Jack said, truly meaning it even though the lower half of his body was basically screaming at him to shut the hell up.

It didn't really matter because, of course, as she tended to do more often then not, Carly just took his words as a challenge.

Unashamedly ignoring his statement, she enthusiastically helped divest him of those soft cotton pajama bottoms, her nails tickling him in all the right places while doing so and sending lightening bolts of pleasure to his brain. As soon as the pants had joined Carly's clothes on the floor, she slid one of her hands in between them to wrap around him firmly.

When she began to administer seductive payback on him, Jack's eyes closed in gratification but after a moment or two, he reached down and stilled her hand's movements. Opening his eyes he looked at her and shook his head, conveying how incredibly close he was to losing it with her touch.

Not wanting to ruin it for him but also not ready to relinquish control, Carly let go only to gently push him on his shoulder so that he was lying on his back. Straddling his hips in a movement parallel to how the night began, she copied his actions further by giving his neck and chest the same kissing and nibbling treatment he had done for her. Only, Carly added her nails to the mix, alternating between raking them over his skin with firm pressure and gliding them with a feather light touch. It had been a tried and true method that drove him crazy in the past and, if his moans were anything to go by, it definitely still worked.

Jack's hands moved upward on her body, caressing her as they skimmed over her ribcage and up to cup her breasts. Carly willingly pressed them further into his hands and then, leaning forward slightly, she reached back to position him. Jack's hands slid down to grip her waist and as she hovered over him, they locked eyes. Without any verbal exchange between them, she began to sink down at the exact moment he applied pressure to her hips.

Carly gasped when he entered her, pressing down as she spread her knees a little farther apart on either side of him therefore inviting him even deeper. Jack moved slowly at first, wanting to make it last, but her soft moans and the insistent demands of her hips matching every thrust he gave, urged him to move faster. The two of them rocked together with ever-increasing need, mouths coming together passionately as they roared towards release.

Finally, Carly sat up on his body and, arching her back, she pressed one hand to his chest and one behind her on his thigh to brace herself. Pushing her pelvis against his as though trying to meld her body to his own, she moaned his name aloud, convulsing on top him as she toppled over the edge of happy oblivion and pulling him with her. Wave upon wave of ecstasy rushed through her and by the tight grip Jack had on her hips, along with the near reverent sound of her name on his lips, Carly knew that it was just as powerful for him.

When their bodies calmed down at last, Carly cracked her eyes open to find herself draped over Jack's chest, her nose pressed into the hollow of his throat as his strong arms held her to him tightly. A few moments later, Jack finally found the strength again in order to move out from underneath her and when he tapped her backside like a wrestler tapping out of a pin, Carly just grinned lazily.

Unlike the last time they had made love, where she had held onto him like a vice grip when they were done, this time Carly willingly obliged by sliding to the side and landing on the soft bed. Deep in her mind and her soul, she no longer had any fear that he was going anywhere other than the bathroom.

As soon as Jack had finished, Carly took her turn while he wandered around the room blowing out all the candles. He paused only to throw on a pair of deep green boxer shorts from his overnight bag and to set the alarm on the nightstand to wake them around ten.

A moment after he had climbed into the bed, Carly emerged from the bathroom again, this time wearing a matching pale pink and cream lace bra and panty set. Noticing that the lower half of the underwear was in the boyshort style he liked so much on her, he gave her a smile that let her know it was just as sexy to him as the negligee she had come out in earlier. Even though Carly rolled her eyes, as she slid under the covers to join him in the bed, she did so with a smile.

Right away, Jack pulled her into his arms, holding her slender form against him. When her bare legs tangled with his and her warm body molded into his side, he was pretty positive that he had never been so happy in his life. Carly kissed his chest drowsily, just over his heart, and he leaned down for a long lingering kiss.

"Happy, Mrs. Snyder?" Jack asked, gently running his fingers through her tousled hair.

"Mmmm," Carly hummed blissfully, causing Jack to laugh.

"Now who's speaking caveman?" He said, receiving a small lethargic swat on the chest in return.

"Okay, Funny Man, we cave dwellers better get some sleep." Carly said, yawning and stretching her very sated body. "Big brunch plans later this morning."

"Yeah, good point." Jack said, glancing at the clock and reading the late hour. While half of him was cringing at the time, the other half couldn't help but be very self-satisfied about how long it had been since they first started making love. Another thought along those lines crossed his mind and he couldn't help the wicked grin that spread across his face.

"We might have to get up later to meet everyone, but when we go on that honeymoon trip, I claim one whole day in bed with you. The kids can watch Emmy; they owe us."

"For what?" Carly asked, lifting up momentarily to stare at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I dunno yet, but I'm sure between now and the first week in December something will come up." Jack deadpanned.

Carly laughed and happily agreed. As the thick blanket of sleep surrounded them, she gave a soft sigh.

"Jack, our wedding …this whole thing…was amazing." Carly said, snuggling deeper into his side. "Thank you."

"Hmm, you're very welcome." Jack murmured into her hair, pressing a quick kiss to it as he felt the tug of sleep envelop him.

"There's only one small problem." Carly said, yawning again and she could feel Jack's confusion radiate from him.

"And what's that?" He asked, furrowing his brow deeply even though she couldn't see from her position on his chest.

"Now you have to try and top it for our 50th anniversary." She said and laughed when his fingers dug into her ribs tickling her.

"I'll get right on that." Jack said as her giggles faded away.

When Carly turned onto her side he immediately spooned behind her, pulling her so close that she could feel his heartbeat on her back. A final sigh of contentment escaped Jack before being followed by the familiar soft snores that let her know that he was already fast asleep. Shifting to pull his arms tighter around her stomach, she entwined the fingers of her left hand with his own.

The pale moonlight glinting off their joint wedding bands was the last image that Carly saw before she drifted off into sleep right behind her husband.