Chapter 2

It'd only been a year and a half, but Stephanie was head over heals in love with Colton. Which really was a good thing considering they were standing on the front porch when he said he had something to show her. He'd then gotten down on one knee and asked her to marry him.

"Colt," she spoke. "I really would like to marry you, but there's something I need to tell you first."

"You're not like a hundred year old woman disguised as a beautiful young woman, are you?" Colton asked, a serious sort of look on his face but a joking light in his eyes as he stood back up.

"No," Stephanie laughed. "It's just that the last time I tried to tell a boyfriend this, it backfired and he broke up with me."

"I don't think anything could change how I feel about you. I will, however, be really creeped out if you're really a hundred year old man in disguise."

"No," Stephanie shook her head. "I really am a woman who hasn't yet reached her 'mid-life crisis'."

"Oh good," Colton joked. "What is it then?"

Stephanie took a deep breath. Just over five years since finding out and it was still one of the hardest things she ever had to do. "I can't have kids," she finally spoke after a few moments of silence. She had been looking to his eyes as she spoke, but quickly looked away, fearing what she might see and how he might react.

"Steph," he spoke, taking her hands in his. She looked back up to him, "I don't care that you can't have kids. I just want to be with you. And there's always adoption if we decided we want kids."

Stephanie let out a large breath she didn't realize she'd been holding in. "I love you, Colt."

"I love you too, Steph," he said, leaning forward so their lips met in a kiss. "And besides," he started when they broke apart. "I understand the whole not being able to have kids thing."

"Explain," Stephanie prompted.

"Well, you know my Aunt Judith, right?"

"Of course, how could I forget the woman whose first name is my middle name."

Colton laughed. "Yeah, that's right. Well anyway, my Aunt Judith was told she would never have kids."

"But she has five."

"She and Uncle Mike adopted. So, now that you've gotten that off your chest, Stephanie Judith Tanner, will you marry me?" he asked, once again getting down onto one knee to repeat the whole process over again even though it was unnecessary.

"Yes."

Colton stood to kiss Stephanie once more. He took the ring out of the box and placed it on her ring finger; its new home. "Shall we go in and tell everyone?"

"Well, the kids should be in bed or at the very least in their rooms, but we can tell DJ and Kimmy."

Colton smiled as they entered the house. The lights in the living room were dim, but the couple could tell that the lights in the kitchen were on. "Deej, Kimmy, you in there?" Stephanie called.

"Yeah," the two voices called together. "Hey," they greeted when Stephanie and Colton entered the kitchen.

"Hey. I have exciting news; Colt and I are engaged."

"Congratulations!" DJ exclaimed, standing up and rushing forward to give Stephanie a hug. She turned to Colton next. "Did you talk to dad? Tommy always told me he had to go through a strict screening process before he could ask me to marry him."

"Oh trust me, it was great fun," he replied sarcastically.

"Wait. You actually talked to my dad about this?"

"Yeah. I mean, I thought I better even though we're both adults and you haven't lived with him for years."

Stephanie placed a kiss on his cheek. "How do you feel about a small ceremony in a couple weeks?"

"Not to be cheesy or anything, but as long as I get to marry you, it doesn't really matter to me."

"Wait. Where would you two live?" DJ asked.

"Uhh–"

"If it's okay with everyone, I was actually thinking maybe I could move in here and help with taking care of the kids. I mean, you've said your Uncle Jesse and Aunt Becky did that."

"Well, you'd probably still be in the basement. Kimmy's got the attic."

"That's fine. Then I could sell my couches and everything from the apartment. I'm sure there's some college kids around here who would want it."

"Jackson might be able to use it next year," DJ suggested.

Colton considered the idea. "I could give him a discount since he'd be my nephew or almost nephew by then."

DJ laughed. The four adults spent a little while longer talking before Colton left for the night. He'd be returning early the next morning to share the news of his and Stephanie's engagement with the kids.

CHCHCH

Saturday morning was usually everyone's day to sleep in. Being seniors in high school, Jackson and Ramona usually slept in until almost noon.

Max and Tommy on the other hand were usually awake by 10, meaning DJ was up by 9 in case her boys got up before their usual time. At 9:30, there was a knock on the front door. It was Colton.

"Is Steph still asleep?"

"Yeah. And so is everyone else," DJ whispered in reply to Colton after their initial greeting.

"Ohh," Colton also dropped his voice to a whisper, realizing that DJ wanted everyone else to stay asleep. They moved over to the couch and watched TV for about fifteen minutes until they heard loud footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Morning Mom," Max called.

"Morning," Tommy added, following his brother down the stairs. It was more common than not that Tommy and Max got up at the same time on Saturday once they started sharing a room.

"Morning boys. Are Jackson and Ramona still asleep?"

"I think so," Max reported.

"Let's try to keep it that way."

The boys nodded and went to join their mom and Colton on the couch. They watched TV for a little while. "Why are you here already?" Max asked turning to Colton.

"Well, I woke up early and was just so excited to see your Aunt Stephanie that I decided to come over here early."

"Then why are you here and not in her room by her?"

"It's Saturday. Just because I couldn't sleep in doesn't mean she has to be up too. And I'll probably wait a little bit longer to go wake her up," Colton explained since the show had gone to a commercial. "What do you boys think about getting breakfast? Are you hungry?"

"Yes!" both boys exclaimed simultaneously jumping up off the couch.

Colton followed the boys to the kitchen to start making breakfast, "Can you boys watch the pancakes for a few minutes, I'm going to see if Stephanie's awake."

"Okay," Max agreed.

CHCHCH

The basement bedroom was dim as Colton made his way down. The little light that filtered into the room allowed Colton to see that Stephanie was still laying in bed sprawled out across it. "Steph," he spoke softly as he made his way across the room. "Stephanie," he said a little louder when he got closer to the bed. "Steph, I'm making breakfast with your nephews." Colton sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Hmm. What? Colt?" she muttered in a sleepy daze. "What are you doing here?"

He laughed. "We figured this out last night. I was coming over and we'd tell your nephews and Ramona that we're engaged."

"Oh, right." She reached up to brush her hair out of her face and flipped her blankets off. She headed over to her dresser to find a clean set of clothes for the day. "You can head back up stairs. I'll be up in a few minutes."

"All right. See you then," Colton placed a quick kiss on her cheek before heading back up to the kitchen where he took over watching the pancakes again. The smell had made it up to the attic as Kimmy came down the stairs. She got a cup of coffee and sat down at the table.

"Colton, what are you doing here already?" Kimmy asked.

"You were there last night, remember?"

"Oh yeah, right."

"What is it?" Max asked.

"Your Aunt Stephanie and I have something to tell you once everyone's up," Colton explained.

"Oh, okay," Max nodded.

"Morning everyone," Stephanie said, coming up a couple minutes later as Colton got the first round of pancakes done cooking. "Oh, a Mr. Chef," Stephanie joked, going over and kissing Colton on the cheek.

"I smell bacon. Where is it?" Jackson asked coming down the stairs from his room.

"Yeah," Ramona agreed, following right behind him. "Colton? What are you doing here so early?" She asked when her eyes landed on him after looking around the room. Stephanie was getting herself some coffee and started back towards the table as Ramona spoke. "Wait. Last night, did you two–"

"No," Stephanie cut her off. "There are little ears around so don't even think about it," she added, motioning with her left hand. "I asked him to be here this morning."

However, Ramona had stopped listening. Her eyes had landed on the new ring Stephanie wore and her eyes were wide as she made eye contact with Stephanie.

"Shh," Stephanie held a finger up as a warning for Ramona to keep quiet. She nodded in response and helped to finish getting things ready for breakfast. After a couple more minutes, everything that was cooking for breakfast was ready and everyone was able to sit down to eat together.

As they ate, Stephanie and Colton shared several quick glances and small smiles whenever their eyes met. The boys at the table took no notice of this as they were more concerned with eating than anything else. DJ, Kimmy, and Ramona on the other hand, saw the looks the two shared.

"So, I guess those of you who don't already know are wondering why I'm here so early on a Saturday morning," Colton spoke after clearing his throat once everyone was mostly finishing up their breakfast.

"Yeah," Max nodded.

"Well, Steph and I have something to tell you all, though I'm pretty sure half the people in the room already know," he trailed off. "So anyway, last night the two of us got engaged."

"You're getting married?" Jackson asked.

"Yeah," Stephanie answered with a smile.

"Awsome. Finally, a cool uncle."

"Does that mean you'll be moving out, Aunt Steph?" Max asked with a sad look in his eyes thinking of not getting to see his aunt every day.

"Actually, I'll be moving in," Colton answered.

"Yay!" Max cheered.

"When are you two getting hitched?" Ramona asked.

"We've only been engaged for about twelve hours; give us some time," Stephanie joked. "We're just thinking a small ceremony fairly soon though."

Colton nodded in agreement.

"Can I be in the wedding?" Ramona questioned.

"Well, I was thinking that DJ would be my maid of honor. But you and Kimmy could be bridesmaids."

"That would be awesome."

"And Jackson, Max, since I don't have any brothers to be my best man, would you like the share the job of being my best men?"

"Yes," they answered together.

"And Tommy," Colton began, standing up and making his way over to the youngest Fuller boy. "Would you like to be our ring bearer?" he asked, getting down to be eye level with him.

Tommy smiled and nodded his head vigorously.

"Awesome," Stephanie spoke.

After that, everyone began to clear the table as they had all finished eating by that time. Once the table was cleared and everything was taken care of, Stephanie and Colton made the engagement facebook official after calling their families to let them know.

They set the date for the wedding just over two months later.

The weekend following, Stephanie, DJ, Kimmy, and Ramona went to find the dresses for the wedding while Colton, Jackson, Max, and Tommy went to get fitted for suits. A cousin of Colton's had a daughter who was about the same age as Tommy and would be the flower girl.

CHCHCH

Two months later, Danny walked Stephanie down the aisle and Michelle was even able to make it back from New York for the wedding. The had a small ceremony with just their families and a few friends. Afterwards, there was a small reception before they headed off to their honeymoon; a week free of responsibilities.

A/N: First, I'm terribly sorry that I took so long to update again. The last few months were hectic but I should hopefully be updating more over the next couple months. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'd love to know what you thought or any constructive criticism you may have for me about it.

Thanks for the review, favorites, and follows from the first chapter. Anyway, thanks for reading,

-CrazyHayniac