Kate was abruptly wrenched from sleep by the alarm on her phone. She felt something—someone—shift beside her and remembered where she was and what had happened the night before, smiling to herself just a little. With his arm still draped over her waist, she rolled to retrieve the offending device and groaned when she saw the time: 9:15 a.m. They had to be at brunch in 45 minutes.

Turning to face her new husband, she saw that he was still sleeping, though how he could manage to sleep through her obnoxious alarm was a wonder to her. Softly smiling, she traced senseless patterns on his arm with her finger.

"Rick," she whispered, trying not to jar him out of sleep as she had been. It clearly wasn't going to work. "Rick," she said, tapping his forearm.

Grunting, Rick squinted his eyes, planted his face in his pillow, and gently pulled on Kate's waist, encouraging her closer. Deciding that she didn't need the full 45 minutes to get ready, Kate snuggled into him and said, "Rick, we need to get up."

Finally opening his eyes, Rick raised his head, looked at her through the fog of sleep that lingered and said, "Don't wanna. Too comfortable." He laid his head back down and pulled her just a little closer, burrowing himself into the bed.

Kate chuckled and ran her fingers through Rick's hair. "I know, but we have to. Don't you want to say goodbye to Alexis before we leave for our honeymoon?"

His eyes shot open at that. He rolled over, groaning at the loss of warmth from his position and from his new wife, who was smiling at him. Running a hand down his face, he said, "Yeah, I guess you're right. What time is it?"

Checking her phone once again, she said, "9:21."

"How long will it take you to get ready?" He was laying on his back now, trying to keep his eyes open.

She looked at him for a moment before sliding over to him and laying her head on his chest, wrapping one arm around his waist. "I don't know, 15 minutes, maybe?"

Rick grabbed Kate's hand with her phone and clicked the top button; the screen lit up and displayed 9:23. "That means," he said, "that we have a good 19 minutes to snooze."

"Mmmm," Kate purred, snuggling into him after setting her alarm just in case.

It was a good thing she did, too, because she jumped out of a half-sleep when she heard her phone. Apparently, Rick hadn't been able to fall asleep, because when she turned the alarm off and looked up at him, he was grinning down at her.

"Were you watching me sleep?" Kate asked, amused. She sat up, knowing that if she didn't, she would blow off brunch altogether.

Rick's brow furrowed. "A little. Is that creepy?" Before she could answer, Rick continued. "Because I wasn't trying to be creepy. I'm just still a little in awe about us. And you looked so peaceful, kind of like an angel and I just. . ."

Kate laughed at how panicked he looked. While it was just a little weird, it was also sweet. In her mind, his fear of being a creep showed that he wasn't actually a creep, just genuinely thought she was pretty. Because of this, she leaned down and placed a kiss on his lips. Smiling at him, she climbed out of bed and said, "I told you last night you could stare away."

And with that, she glided away from the bed and into the bathroom, leaving a stunned Rick to contemplate the mystery he just married.

XXXXXXXXXX

At 10:00 on the nose, Rick and Kate walked into the small room set aside for their brunch. Before they could even be seated, the three other people in the room stood and approached the newly married couple. Martha made her way to Kate and pulled her into a tight hug, one that surprised Kate; Alexis ran to her dad, laughing as he pulled her in tight and swiveled them around. Jim approached the group and kissed her daughter's cheek, shaking Rick's hand while Alexis smiled and waved at Kate.

The greetings were over and the group was standing at the door when Kate spoke up.

"Shall we?" She indicated to the table where some rather lovely china had been laid out and was awaiting food. They sat down, Rick and Kate seated next to one another at the head of the table, and servers brought food…delicious food.

Conversation flowed easily between the five of them until their plates were cleared away and another server came in with an envelope. All were silent as Rick took the envelope and the server left.

"Where do you guys think you'll go?" Alexis asked, seemingly as excited as they should be.

"Uh," Kate pondered, "I don't know. Hopefully somewhere warm and fun."

Rick's fingers flirted with the seal of the envelope as he added, "Yeah, like Fiji, or, OOH!, Madagascar!"

Alexis and Martha rolled her eyes, Jim looked at him like he was crazy, but Kate just smiled at him. "I could go for an African adventure. Open it and find out."

Looking at her with the excitement of a six year old who had just been told he was going to Disney, Rick ungracefully ripped the envelope and pulled the card out. Before Kate had a chance to look at it, though, Rick slapped it to his chest.

He looked at Kate, smiling, and said, "I hope you like tequila, Kate, because we're going to Cabo."

She beamed at him, her tongue poking through her teeth, as the other two women 'ooh-ed' and 'ahh-ed' and her dad just grinned.

As the three others were gathering their things, blissfully unaware, Kate leaned over to Rick and whispered, "I love tequila." He visibly tensed up and stared at her as she effortlessly walked over to Martha and hugged her. Rick watched as Alexis joined, also hugging Kate, and the three women chatted. He smiled.

Jim startled Rick by putting his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Rick, I don't think we've had the chance to talk just yet."

Shaking his father-in-law's hand, he said, "No, sir, I don't think we have."

There was an awkward pause until Jim finally began talking. "Listen, Rick, I don't know what made you volunteer for this experiment, but, to me, it suggests that you're serious about committing. At least, that's why Katie volunteered for it." Rick gave Jim his full attention, already showing a great respect for the older man. "Anyway, I don't want to sound like the crazy protective father, but she's my little girl and she's been through enough hurt in her lifetime."

Rick nodded solemnly. "Just, please, don't add to that list, Rick. Please make her happy."

Offering a soft smile, Rick shook the man's hand again, hoping to convey the genuine warmth he felt, and said, "That's the plan, Mr. Beckett." With that, both men looked at Kate, who was still talking to Martha and Alexis animatedly, looking for all the world like she was actually a happy newlywed, not someone who had just married a stranger.

Finally, Jim, Martha, and Alexis left and Rick and Kate made their way back up to the hotel room.

"So, we have an hour before we have to leave," Kate said. "Any ideas on how to kill the time?"

Smiling slyly at her, Rick said, "Two words: hot tub."

Kate chuckled as they made their way into the elevator and up to their room. They spent the next half hour in the hot tub, laughing and joking, then ran back upstairs to pack and jump in the car in enough time to catch their flight. If the hot tub was any indication, this was going to be a fun honeymoon.