I own none of the characters of October Road

Eddie sat on the bench, surrounded by the beautiful Las Vegas scenery with the woman he loved sitting on his lap, dumbfounded. "Janet I…umm…I…What?" He could not believe that Janet had just asked him to marry her. He never, in a million years would have thought that she would be the one to propose.

"Eddie I want to marry you." She could feel her confidence fading.

"You know I love you more than anything right?" He softly asked her with tears forming in his eyes. She nodded, to afraid to speak. "Sweetheart I can't marry you."

"But…"She had to take a deep breath to keep from sobbing. "But you just said that you loved me more than anything."

"That's exactly why I can't marry you."

"You're not making any sense."

"I can't marry you knowing that I'm going to make you widow in a few months." He snapped.

"That's ridiculous." She snapped back. "Widow is just a word Eddie. When you die, married or not it's still going to hurt like hell because I love you."

"It's won't be fair to you. You deserve to marry someone that can spend a lifetime loving you, not the few months that I have to give."

"I am so tired of people telling me what I do and do not deserve. I deserved to be married to someone that loves me with his whole heart. That someone is you Eddie Latekka or at least that's what I thought and that's why I asked you to marry me." She stood from his lap and went to the curb to hail a cab with him following meekly behind her.

They got into a cab and rode in silence back to the hotel, each of them staring out their respective windows with tears rolling down their cheeks. Janet's reasons for getting married made sense to him but he just couldn't bring himself to say yes and he had no idea why because he truly did love her.

When they got back to the hotel they continued in silence up to their room. As soon as they walked in Janet grabbed something to sleep in and headed straight for the bathroom while Eddie sat alone in the bed feeling like an ass and he just felt worse when he heard her crying from the other side of the door. He slowly made his way over to the bathroom and knocked softly on the door. "Janet sweetheart?"

"Go away." She yelled.

"Please." He begged. "We need to talk about this." Suddenly the door flew open and she stormed out fury burning in her blue eyes.

"I think you have said all that needs to be said." She fumed. "Apparently I am good enough to help you complete your list and screw but I'm not good enough to marry."

"JANET" He shouted, furious with her that she said such horrible things. "That is not true."

"Well that's what it sounds like to me. You asked me to be with you so you could complete your list and die happy but when I ask you to give me one thing to hold on to after you're gone – one thing that will make me happier than I have ever been I can't help but feel that all I am is your friend with benefits." He walked over and tried to take her hand but she stormed away from him.

"Janet you are not just a friend with benefits. I love you so damn much that it hurts."

"Then why won't you marry me?" She whispered tearfully.

"Sweetheart, marriage should be a happy time. Do you really want your first marriage to be sad and miserable?"

"How can I be sad and miserable with you?"

"I'm dying Janet. How happy can you be with my death looming over you?"

"I'll be happy because I'm with you. With this list of yours you made the choice to make the most of the time you had left. You could have chosen chemo and lived those extra few months and been sick but instead you chose to end your life happy. I had a choice too Eddie. I could have chosen to walk away from you but I didn't. When you die it's going to be the worst day of my life and even though I know how badly it's going to hurt I want to stay with you because it makes me happy but being married to you would make me even happier. Eddie when your gone I want the memory of our wedding. When I start to really miss you I want to pull out a photo album and remember the happiest day of my life." He began to sob quietly. "When people ask I want to proudly tell them that I was married to the most wonderful man in the world; that I had the privilege of being Mrs. Eddie Latekka." By the time she finished her miniature speech she was sobbing as well. She took him in her arms, held him tightly and for the first time since he had told her of his death sentence they sobbed together.

Forty-five minutes later they had both calmed down and they were lying on the bed just holding each other. They both had been hiding their fear and sadness from each other and it was starting to take its toll on them emotionally. When his sobs subsided he knew that he would not deny her what she wanted from him. "J." He whispered into the darkness.

"Yeah?"

"I would be honored to marry you." She was silent. "Janet?"

"I don't want you to do anything that you don't want to." She mumbled into his chest.

"Janet, please, baby, look at me." She raised her tear filled eyes to meet his. "Before I fell in love with you I never wanted to get married but you changed that. From our first date I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, which turns out isn't nearly long enough. One of my first thoughts when I got the bad news was how much I regretted waiting so long to see what was right in front of me for years. My second thought was the sheer disappointment of not being able to marry you. I was so insanely jealous of an unknown man that you will eventually fall in love with after me, the man that you will marry and have babies with. I wanted to be that man Janet. I wanted it more than anything and now because of your bravery and love I will get half of my wish. Believe me when I say that I want to be your husband more then anything so if you'll still have me I want to marry you." She answered him with a passionate kiss. "So is that a yes?"

"It's a yes." She was positively glowing with happiness.

"So when do you want to do this?"

"Right now or tomorrow."

""You want to get married here, in Vegas?" She nodded. "You're a girl. Shouldn't you want a big poufy dress, lots of flowers and girls standing next to you holding flowers?"

"Those girls are called bridesmaids Eddie."

"Okay whatever. Don't you want those?"

"I don't need any of those things. All I need to make my wedding perfect is you standing next to me as my groom. You've said it Eddie we don't have a lot of time and I don't want to waste a minute more not being your wife." Eddie grinned.

"If it's okay with you can we wait until tomorrow?"

"If that's what you want."

"I want my parents to be here. Mom would never forgive me if we got married and she wasn't here. I need to give them this."

"Of course Eddie. They are your parents. They should be here for their son's wedding." She smiled softly at him. "What about the guys and your sister? Do you want them here too?"

"I really do but things are hard for everyone right now and I know that my boys can't afford a plane ticket out here. Especially since we aren't giving them any notice. Mom's got plenty of frequent flier mileage from flying out to see Katie all of the time so she should be able to get free tickets for her, dad and Kate. Most of these wedding chapels will give us a DVD and when we get home we'll have a party and show it to them."

"I'm sorry Eddie. I know that you want them here." She suddenly felt very bad for rushing him into this. "Look we don't have to get married here. We can have a small ceremony when we get home so your friends can be there."

"Hell no Janet. You've got me all pumped up and excited to have Vegas wedding. Like you said the only thing I need for a perfect wedding is you as my beautiful bride. We are getting married tomorrow here in Vegas understand me?" She nodded. "Good. Now what about your mom? Do you want her here?" Janet snorted in response. "I take that as a no."

"That would be correct."

"J, she's your mom."

"Even if I wanted her here she wouldn't come." Janet and her mom were never close and when her dad died they grew even further apart. The day after Janet graduated from high school her mom took off to Washington D.C. to work as a lobbyist and Janet hadn't seen her since. "She couldn't find the time in her busy schedule to come home when my appendix burst and I almost died last year so I'm sure my wedding wouldn't even register on her radar." She told him bitterly.

"She's your mom Janet. You should at least call and tell her about the wedding. What she does with that information is her choice." She shook her head. "I know you Janet and I know that you'll regret it if you don't call her."

"Fine." She conceded. "Let's call them."

"You first."

"Fine." She huffed. She grabbed her cell and dialed the number.

"Put in on speaker so I know that you actually are calling her." She did as he requested and after three rings her mom's voice mail kicked on.

"Hi mom it's me. I just wanted to let you know that I am in Las Vegas and I'm getting married tomorrow. If you would like to come please call me and I'll give you the information. Okay. I'll talk to you later. Bye." She hung up the phone and looked at Eddie. "Happy now?"

"Even though you are acting fine I know that it bothers you that she isn't in your life."

"I'm used to it." She lied and he knew it but he chose not to press the issue. He would save it for another time. "Okay now you call your parents." Smiling Eddie grabbed his cell phone, dialed his parents and put it on speaker so Janet could talk too.

"Hey mom it's me and Janet. You're on speaker."

"Is everything okay?" As always Laura was worried about her son.

"I'm fine mom. In fact I'm great. Can you have dad pick up the extension?"

"Hang on." Eddie reached over and took Janet's hand while his mom called his dad to the phone. "Okay we're here."

"Mom, dad, Janet and I are getting married." Laura squealed and then burst into tears.

"Congratulations son. Janet welcome to the family." Jack said tearfully.

"Janet sweetheart how did he propose? Was it romantic? I want all the details."

"Actually mom Janet proposed." Eddie told his mom.

"Way to go." Laura responded. "So Eddie give me the details." Eddie and Janet spent the next few minutes telling his parents the details regarding their night on the town ending with the proposal.

"I know that this is short notice but we really want you and Katie here with us when we say our vows." Eddie said softly.

"No matter what we have to do son, we will be there. We wouldn't miss this for the world." Jack told his son.

"One more thing." Eddie added. "Please don't mention this to the guys. I want them to be here but none of the can afford to fly out here and if they found out that I'm getting married they will try to come out here and end up putting themselves in debt over it and I don't want that to happen. We'll have a party when we get home and show everyone the DVD."

"Don't you think you should let them make that choice Eddie?" Jack asked

"I know what their choice will be. It cost me over two hundred dollars for one ticket out here and I booked a week in advance. Can you imagine what it will be booking only a day in advance? Owen has a family and he needs all the cash he can get. All of Nicky's money goes to paying back his student loans and into Best Friend Windows and Ikey is an idiot who can't save money and lives paycheck to paycheck. I don't want to put pressure on them."

"Have you looked at any rings yet?" Laura asked.

"Probably tomorrow. I just want a simple band." Janet answered.

"Don't buy one. I have Eddie's grandparent's rings I was planning on giving them to him before…anyway I'll bring those with me. Janet if the ring doesn't fit we'll get it sized."

"Laura I can't take a family heirloom."

"Nonsense. Eddie's grandparents left those rings to him to give to his wife and as of tomorrow that will be you so those rings belong to you." Laura said firmly.

"Janet you can't talk mom out of it." Eddie told her wisely.

"Okay, fine." She relented.

They talked for a few more minutes before they disconnected. When Laura hung up the phone she turned to her husband with a determined look in her eyes, a look that Jack knew well. "You're going to tell the guys aren't you?" Jack asked her.

"Damn straight I am. There is no way I am letting my son get married without his best friends by his side. I don't care what I have to do but I will make sure that Eddie is surrounded by the people he cares about on his wedding day." Picking up the phone she began making the necessary phone calls to make sure that her son and his fiancé had the wedding day that they deserved.

--

Eddie and Janet spent the rest of the night planning their wedding. After talking to his parents Eddie called Katie who was ecstatic. She didn't really know the woman that her big brother was in love with so Janet and Katie spent over an hour getting to know each other. They were fast friends by the time the phone call ended. During the time that Janet was on the phone Eddie went to the hotel lobby and got as much information on Vegas weddings as he could. He returned to the room with a hand full of brochures on wedding chapels.

"What about this one?" Eddie asked. They were on their bed, Eddie was sitting up and Janet had her head in his lap with the brochures spread out around them.

"I am not getting married by Elvis Presley."

"Come on babe, it's a Vegas tradition."

"I'll think about it if you consider getting married by Captain Kirk from Star Trek."

"Tell me you're kidding." Janet burst out laughing.

"Of course I'm kidding. If I'm not willing to let Elvis marry us what makes you think that I want Captain Kirk to marry us. I want something simple yet normal."

"I know. I only grabbed those for fun." He bent down and kissed her softly.

"I can't believe that I am in Las Vegas planning my wedding. I feel like such a cliché but I love it."

"You're going to be a beautiful bride."

"You're biased."

"No. I am seeing clearly." This time she reached up and pulled him down for a kiss. "I love you." He whispered when they broke apart.

"Come on we need to focus."

"Yes ma'am." He replied, drawing another giggle from her.

"Wow I'm not even married yet and I have this wife thing down already." Eddie laughed as they focused on the task at hand.

Two hours later they had called numerous chapels but was unable to find one that was available for the next day so they agreed to wait until the following day and booked Janet's favorite chapel. For a reasonable rate the chapel would take care of everything. The only thing the happy couple had to do was show up.

"Were your parents mad about the delay?" Janet asked coming out of the bathroom. Eddie had just hung up with his parents.

"Not a bit. In fact mom actually seemed excited." He patted the spot on the bed next to him and she crawled in next to him and into his arms. She had never felt so safe and loved as she did when she was in his arms. "What kind of dress are you going to buy- a real one or just a regular one"

"I don't need to buy a new dress. I packed a nice dress that I can wear."

"That is unacceptable. My fiancé is not getting married in an old dress."

"Hey! My dress is not old."

"You know what I meant. You need to buy yourself a new dress."

"Eddie..." Janet began but he interrupted her.

"I'll give you my credit card and you can go shopping tomorrow with Mom and Katie."

"I am not letting you buy me a dress. I can afford my own." She said stubbornly.

"I know you can but since I don't have to buy the rings I have some extra money."

"Eddie you're already paying for the wedding, which in reality should be my job so I'll agree to buy a new dress but I'm paying for it."

"Janet sweetheart, please let me do this for you." He begged her and she couldn't deny him.

"Fine." She relented. Eddie grinned smugly and Janet stuck her tongue out at him.

"How pissed off to you think the guys will be when they find out that we got married without them?" Eddie had been worrying about that all night.

"Honestly, I think that they will be angrier that you didn't give them the choice about coming out here then the fact that you didn't tell them. Some male pride thing I think."

"Maybe I should call them and tell them."

"Maybe you should but not tonight. It's late."

"Yeah you're right. I have a better idea of something that I can do tonight."

"Oh really?" She raised her eyebrows and he attacked her lips. "Not quite sure what you have in mind Mr. Latekka."

"I guess I'll have to make myself more clear." Laughing he pulled her tee shirt over her head, tossed it across the room and planted his mouth on her breast.

"I love you." She breathed out as her cell phone rang. "Ignore it." She begged.

"It might be my mom with her flight information." He reached across her and grabbed her phone. "It's your mom."

"Like I said, ignore it."

"Janet she called you back. Give her some credit." Sighing she grabbed the phone out of his hand and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Hello Janet it's your mother." Janet rolled her eyes.

"Speaker." Eddie whispered. She flipped the setting to speaker and answered her mom.

"Hi mom."

"I got your message and I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to make it to your wedding. You should have given me more notice and then I may have been able to work something out."

"Mom we're in Vegas. It was a spur of the moment thing."

"Are you pregnant?" Janet had to bite her lip to keep from crying.

"No mom, I'm not pregnant."

"Then why are you rushing into a marriage?"

"Because we are in love."

"Love is over-rated. Who is this guy you're marrying?"

"Eddie Latekka."

"That name is familiar. Do I know him?"

"No you don't." The two women sat in silence until Eddie broke the silence.

"Ms. Meadows I'm Eddie your daughter's fiancé. I'm sorry that you can't make it to our wedding."

"Well if my daughter would have planned this in advance I might have been able to make it." Eddie had a strong desire to tell this woman what he thought of her at this very minute but he held back for Janet's sake.

"We are going to be in D.C. as part of our honeymoon in a week. I would very much like to meet you. Is a week enough notice to fit us into your schedule for lunch?" Janet shot him a glare but he ignored her.

"A week is enough notice for lunch. Call me when you get into town and we will make the arrangements."

"Great. I look forward to meeting you."

"As do I. Goodbye Janet."

"Bye mom." As soon as the call was disconnected Janet laid back in bed, facing away from Eddie. He lay next to her, wrapped an arm around her waist, brushing her bare breast with his hand.

"I'm sorry sweetheart." He whispered, placing soft kisses on her naked shoulder.

"I told you that she wouldn't come." She mumbled tearfully.

"I know you did. I just thought that since it was your wedding she would want to be here."

"If she really wanted she could be here." She whispered so softly that Eddie barely heard her. "She just doesn't want to be here."

"My sweet Janet, she has no idea what she is missing. You are an amazing woman who doesn't realize how lucky she is to have such an awesome daughter."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For loving me when my own mother doesn't."

"Oh sweetheart. It's a pleasure to love you and your mom loves you in her own self absorbed way." He held her tightly as he tears increased.

"When you die…there will be no one left that loves me." Her sad words brought tears to his eyes. He rolled her over so he could look at her.

"Don't say that. Hannah loves you and the guys love you. Since we are getting married you are inheriting a family that will love you and if it matters even though I'm not going to be with you physically as long as you remember me and the love that we shared then in a way I'll still be loving you." Janet reached up and pulled him down to her chest and hugged him tightly.

"Of course it matters. You have no idea how much that matters it me. I'm sorry Eddie."

"For what?" He tried to pull away from her embrace so he could look at her but she wouldn't loosen her grip.

"I shouldn't be going on like this when you're…this is supposed to be a happy experience for you and I'm ruining it." He pried her arms away from his neck.

"Janet you did not ruin anything. Just because I'm dying is no reason to keep anything to yourself. I love you Janet and dying or not if you're hurting, scared, mad, happy or lonely I want to know about it."

"But you have so …"

"I'll make you a deal. You share with me I'll share with you okay?" She nodded slowly. "That's my girl." He began kissing her tears away until she was smiling again. "Now where were we before we got interrupted?"

"I believe that you were getting ready to make love to your fiancé."

"That's right." He looked deeply into her eyes. "I love you." He told her. Her eyes filled with tears as his lips descended on hers. They made love slowly and tenderly that night, whispering their words of love and devotion to each other in the darkness until they both fell into a deep sleep wrapped tightly in each other's arms.

Thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated and encouraged. Thanks in advance. :)