In which the guys meet at Monroe's to get ready...

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, but with a chill wind from the north. The weather report said that it would be clear all day, and it would warm up in the afternoon. Nick and Sean showered and shared a leisurely breakfast before picking up some doughnuts and coffee and heading to Monroe's house. While the official meeting time was noon, the guys decided to meet a little early to help keep Monroe's parents from driving the groom crazy. Anticipating problems, Nick, Hank, and Sean were all wearing their glocks, their badges in the pockets of their suit jackets, and Nick and Monroe were carrying small daggers from Aunt Marie's trailer. Monroe had actually asked Nick for the loaner, mumbling that he knew it was probably bad form, but he didn't want to be in a position of not being able to defend himself or his new wife. Nick was more than happy to oblige, as he, Hank, and Sean had planned to come armed anyway just in case.

Nick rang the doorbell, balancing a couple of boxes of Voodoo Doughnuts while Sean carried a carton of coffee. Alice answered the door, a towel wrapped around her head, dressed in a light blue dress made of some shimmery material. She smiled widely as she held the door.

"Good morning, boys! Don't you both look handsome this morning!" She clapped her hands when she saw what Nick was holding. "Doughnuts from Voodoo! I love Voodoo!" She lowered her voice. "Did you get an Old Dirty Bastard? Those are my favorite..." Nick laughed and nodded, and the Blutbad matron clapped her hands again. Nick put the boxes down on the table, and fished out a yeast doughnut frosted with chocolate, covered with Oreo cookies, and drizzled with peanut butter. Alice made a high-pitched squeak, whipping the towel off her head before bustling off to the kitchen to grab some plates and coffee cups.

"Umm, Alice? Where's Monroe?" Sean asked before helping himself to a doughnut, a vanilla frosted doughnut covered with Fruit Loop cereal. Alice sighed.

"Bart said he wanted to talk to him. They've been talking for nearly an hour, but so far they've only raised their voices three times..." She shrugged before taking a big bite of her doughnut. "Oh, why can't we have these in New Hampshire?" she muttered, her mouth full. Nick heard a door open above them, and Monroe came down the stairs followed closely by his father. Both looked quite dapper in their suits, and Bart was smiling slightly. Nick was pretty sure that was the first time he'd ever seen the older Blutbad smile. Monroe was smiling as well, and smiled even wider when he saw the doughnuts.

"MINE!" he called, reaching over his mother to grab a chocolate Voodoo Doll doughnut. He grabbed a maple frosted one with a slice of bacon on it and handed it to his father. "Look, Dad, Nick got you your favorite!" he commented before biting the head off his, careful not to let any raspberry jelly drip onto his suit. Alice handed them both plates.

"So what was that all about, boys?" she asked. Monroe put his plate down and showed his mother the sleeves of his suit jacket. Alice looked like she was about to cry, wrapping her arm around her son's waist.

Monroe showed Nick and Sean, a pair of old silver cufflinks shaped like the heads of wolves. Bart nodded slightly.

"It's a family tradition. The oldest son receives them on his wedding day." Bart took a big bite of his doughnut. The doorbell rang, and Monroe went to answer.

"So you won't be causing any trouble today?" Sean asked Bart so quietly only Nick could hear. Bart paled slightly and shook his head before shoving more doughnut in his mouth. Monroe came back into the room with Hank and Bud, and they each grabbed a doughnut as well.

"So how you holding up, Monroe?" Hank asked as powdered sugar landed on his suit jacket. Alice handed him a napkin. Monroe took a deep breath in as he sat next to his mother with the rest of his doughnut.

"I'm ready, but I'm just really worried she's going to change her mind and go all runaway bride on me..." Nick rolled his eyes and gave Monroe an exasperated look; so did everyone else.

"SHE WON'T," six voices said in perfect unison, but Monroe looked unconvinced.

"Yeah, well I won't believe that until she's standing in front of me. And even then, not until I'm sure she's not just saying goodbye or something..." Alice slapped her son sharply up the back of the head. "Ow! Mom!"

"I'm sorry, honey, but you get a Gibbs slap. You're being ridiculous! She will be there, and you're going to get married and it'll be wonderful..." she sighed, "Nick, can you call the girls and check on her?" Nick was slightly taken aback by Alice taking charge like that, but pulled out his phone and called DeEtta. He pressed the button to put it on speaker.

"Hey, Nick! What's going on?" DeEtta yelled into the phone as loud music blared in the background. "Monroe's not chickening out, is he? Because Rosalee is bouncing off the damn walls, and I'd hate to have to tell her he can't go through with it..."

"No, he just wanted to make sure Rosalee wasn't getting cold feet..." DeEtta let out a good-natured little shriek. "HI, NICK!" Rosalee yelled into the phone with a giggle. "Tell Monroe I can't wait to see him later! But we gotta go now! BYE!" The line went dead, and everybody looked up at Monroe.

"Doesn't mean anything," he whispered. Alice made to take another swat at her son when Bud stood and put a hand on Monroe's shoulder.

"Monroe," the Eisbiber said quietly, "she wouldn't leave you now. She can't. Don't forget you share... something... very strong." Monroe looked at his shoulder where Bud's hand was squeezing, and Nick remembered; the mark. Their emotional and blood bond. Apparently in all the last-minute wedding stress, coupled with the Juliette situation, Monroe had forgotten the promise he and Rosalee had made to each other as the sun rose over the Las Vegas Strip. The Blutbad sighed, and put his much larger hand over Bud's.

"Okay. Yeah. Doesn't mean somebody else might not try to keep us apart... but you're right. She's mine and I'm hers." He nodded. "Okay." He smiled widely. "Okay! Let's rock and roll! We're meeting our photographer at Mirror Lake in about 45 minutes, so we should get going..." Alice clapped her hands and scurried away to get her purse while Bart excused himself, heading toward the bathroom. Monroe stood, and gave Bud a big hug.

"Thanks for that, man," he muttered quietly as Bud nodded. "And thanks for not outright telling my parents we already marked each other." Bud punched Monroe in the shoulder.

"With everything that's happened, I figured you might have forgotten. So I thought I'd jog your memory. Now let's get this show on the road!"