I do not own any of the characters and am just taking them out to play.

Chapter 23

The day had finally arrived. Today, she would marry String! Cait still couldn't believe it. The past two weeks had just flown by as she planned the wedding with Dom, Michael, and Marella's help.

The night before, the rehearsal dinner had gone well. They had practiced the wedding ceremony and then Dom had fixed dinner for everyone. They had stayed up late celebrating the upcoming wedding. Everyone had gone home and gotten a good night's sleep so they would be ready for the wedding.

Everyone that is, except for Cait. She had not slept the night before the wedding. She still couldn't believe that she and String were getting married. She had stayed up most of the night worrying about something happening to stop the wedding. Now that the day was here, she would soon be able to stop worrying.

AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW

The helicopter bringing Cait out to the cabin arrived just before 4. She was immediately rushed into the house by her mother and sisters to get dressed. Nicky was off somewhere with Dom doing who knew what. It seemed that everything was ready.

Cait looked in the mirror and adjusted her veil. She could hear the music playing off in the distance.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," she said.

Her father came into the room. "Cait, you look beautiful!" he said as he walked up to Cait and took her in his arms.

Cait started sniffling, so her dad said, "You'd better stop that or you'll ruin your make up." Then he pulled out a handkerchief and gave it to her.

"You know that you don't have to marry him if you don't want to. Your family will always love you no matter what," he added quickly.

"Dad, I love him and I want to marry him," she smiled at him as she said it. "Let's go and get this done."

Just then there was another knock on the door. "Come in."

The door opened and Marella came in. "Are you ready?"

Cait turned with a big smile and said, "Yes, I've been ready for a long time."

AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW

Cait waited inside the cabin as her sisters and Marella went out ahead of her. Finally it was her turn.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at her father and said, "It's time."

"Yes, it is," he answered her back.

They started out the door and down towards the dock where String was waiting with Nicky, Dom, and Michael.

AWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAW

String watched Cait from the dock as she came out of the cabin. She was beautiful! It seemed like he had waited for this day for his entire life. Now it was here. Soon she would be his wife.

He kept his eyes on her as she started to walk down towards the dock. Smiling the whole time as he held Nicky, he said, "Here comes Mommy! Isn't she beautiful?"

Nicky just giggled as he said, "Boo-tee-full!"

Hawke patted Nicky on the back and said, "You'll understand when you get older and you're standing here waiting for your bride!"

Hawke kept his eyes on Cait as her father brought her to him and stood beside them. The minister started the wedding and asked who gave her to be married. Her father proudly said, "Her mother and I do." Then he kissed her, gave her hand to String, and went to stand next to his wife.

Cait was beaming as the ceremony progressed. Finally, the minister concluded the ceremony and said, "I would like to present Mr. and Mrs. Stringfellow Hawke!" Now Cait knew that her dream had come true as she and String started to walk to greet their guests. She was married to String. They would still have some obstacles to overcome with String still being in the wheelchair…

Cait stopped walking. String noticed that she had stopped so he turned around to look at her.

She looked at String and sobbed, "You can walk!"

String smiled as he pulled Cait back into his arms. "Yes, I wondered when you'd notice!"

"I guess that I was so caught up in the moment that I figured everything was back to normal. I didn't even think anything of it," Cait said as the tears continued to flow down her face.

"Well, we can put that wheelchair into retirement. We won't be needing it any longer."

"How?"

"I was determined that I would stand at my wedding to you, so Connor and I have been working on getting me to the point where I could walk for the past month. We worked tirelessly from the time we got up in the morning until we collapsed at night. That's why I wanted him here to help me and not you because he was stronger than you were and he could punch me when it was necessary! You wouldn't have punched me."

"Punched you?"

Hawke laughed, "Yes, it came to that a few times when I couldn't do what he asked. After punching me out, he got me so mad that I did it. That was the only reason he agreed to come back—as long as he had the opportunity to hit me when he felt it was necessary and it was necessary a couple of times."

Cait settled her head back on String's shoulder as she said, "Remind me to thank him."

Cait looked back up at String and said, "I love you, Stringfellow Hawke!"

"I love you, too, Caitlin Hawke!" String said as he kissed her.