As soon as it was over, Edward took my hand and led me out of the courthouse.

"Where to now?" I asked.

"We're supposed to meet the company later at the restaurant. For now, I think we need to get the proper rings." He mumbled as he led me towards the car, with Jake following closely behind.

As we reached the car, we turned to Jake.

"Well, I don't know about you guys but I want to spend some time with Tan before having to meet with everyone else. I'll see you guys later." He said before heading to his car.

Jake smiled at us before waving and driving off.

"So, rings?" I asked Edward.

He nodded.

"Where?" I asked as I got into the driver's seat.

"Going the direction of Camp Pendleton. There's a jewelry store located a few miles before there." He instructed.

I did as he told me, humming under my breath as I drove.

Forty five minutes later, he told me to pull a right, and we arrived at the store.

I parked across the street, and followed him in.

He walked through the store silently, scanning the cases with a look of concentration.

I figured he didn't want me bothering him, so I went to look at the cases in the opposite direction.

"Is there something in particular that you are looking for?" A man asked, causing me to jump.

I shook my head, "Not really. Do you have any opal jewelry?" I asked him curiously.

He nodded, gesturing to the case next to us."Those are the only ones we have at the moment." He said.

I quietly thanked him, before moving to look at the two rows of opal rings that they had.

A dainty silver ring, with a white opal surrounded by small rhinestones caught my eyes immediately.

"How much is that one?" I asked.

He looked over at the case, pulling the one I pointed to out. "Forty five ninety five." He informed me.

I smiled, realizing I had just gotten paid. "I'll take it." I told him.

He nodded, smiling as he gestured for me to follow him to the register.

Just as I was about to pay Edward interrupted. "What are you doing?" He asked.

I looked at him, "I'm buying a ring. What's it look like I'm doing?" I mumbled as I pulled out the money.

He shook his head, before turning towards the man. "Could you give us a minute please?" He asked.

The man nodded, as Edward pulled me in the direction he came in.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"The ring." He pointed.

I raised a brow before leaning over to look at what he was pointing at. It was a thick band surrounded by diamonds. Too flashy for me.

"That's massive." I told him.

He nodded, "Do you want something smaller?" He asked, surprised.

I nodded. "I like simple." I whispered.

He nodded, "How about that one?" He asked, pointing at the sapphire ring.

"It's nice." I agreed.

It was a sapphire stone that was oval with a thin gold band. The sapphire had three small diamonds on either side of it, but it looked nice. Like small leaves surrounding a flower.

"Do you want a matching band?" He asked.

I shrugged. "As long as it's simple." I whispered.

He nodded, before the familiar man behind the counter appeared.

A few minutes later, he made his way back over to me with a satisfied smile.

He paid for the rings, along with the one I was trying to get earlier. Handing it to me as we exited the store.

I smiled, sliding the ring onto my middle finger.

"I could have paid for that." I told him as we walked back to my car.

"You're my wife now. I can handle buying you the rings." He replied, looking down at his watch, frowning.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"We spent too much time in there. It's time to meet with the company." He informed me.

"Oh great." I mumbled as I drove away from the curbside.

We reached the restaurant faster than I would have thought. The parking lot was semi full, but I found a spot near the entrance.

"Here." He mumbled, reaching for my left hand.

I raised a brow at him, watching as he slid both rings onto my ringer.

"Now, it's official." He mumbled to himself, as he pulled out his ring.

I snatched it from his grasp before sliding it into his finger. "Now, it's official." I repeated, giving him a smile.

He gave me a small smile, before getting out of the car.

We walked in slowly, both of us lost in thought.

The company and their significant others were already there as we walked in.

Edward immediately intertwined our hands as we did.

The arrogant one gave us a raised brow before his eyes looked down at our hands.

"So, Masen got lucky after all." He commented, smirking in our direction.

"They got married." Jacob informed them as Tan gasped rushing over to me and pulling me into a hug.

I hugged her back immediately, trying to comfort her as she tried to keep her emotions in check, but she wasn't doing a great job of holding them back and she was practically projecting them to me.

As we let go, I looked up to see Alice standing next to the blonde quiet one from the night at the bar. Waving at me with a wide smile.

"So, this is Jasper?" I asked as Edward pulled out my chair.

She nodded, smiling as she sat down.

"That's Mike and his wife Jessica." She introduced, before turning to the arrogant one, "That's Tyler and his wife Lauren, and you already know Jacob and his girlfriend, Tanya." She said, pointing.

"Ah, so the arrogant ass does have a name." I mumbled as Edward elbowed me.

"Be nice." He whispered.

I bit my lip, holding back what I wanted to say before nodding in response.

"Okay, enough of that shit. Drink up, boys! Here's to the second platoon, baby!" Tyler cheered, holding up his beer, causing all of them to stand up and cheer.

"Shipping out tomorrow." Jasper said with a cheesy grin.

"On one." Edward said as they clacked the glasses together.

"Click it! Get in there." Mike said.

"No shit!" They all hollered before grunting like gorillas.

I rolled my eyes but placed a smile on my face in case anyone was looking my way.

"Whoo!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Mike said. "And to the newlyweds!" He teased, elbowing Edward.

"Adorable." Tyler said, jeeringly.

"Ah!" Jake added teasingly as they all congratulated Edward as he looked down, smiling shyly.

"Considering you guys hated each other…" Jasper commented amused.

"Look at you, guys." Tanya said, smiling at me.

They all continued to cheer as he sat down.

"Thank you." I said, smiling genuinely

"Newlyweds!" Mike continued to cheer along with everyone else.

"Dude, I can't believe you married her…" Lauren commented, as we all turned to look at her. "and you're shipping out the next day." She adds with a disbelievingly fake laugh.

I looked away, biting my tongue as Edward grabbed my hand and looked at me.

"How are you doing?" Tanya asked me quietly. "You know, a-about them leaving soon?" She added quietly.

I smiled as she looked down to move a piece of her curly hair behind her ear. "I'm kind of freaking out." She tells me, shyly.

I nodded, "Yeah, it's, um… extremely surreal. I'm going to miss him so much." I tell her, attempting to sound sincere.

She nods and looks back at Jake, "I know Jake is nervous. So, I'm trying extremely hard to be brave. But he's my favorite person. That's a problem." She says tearfully.

"Oh, uh…" I mumble, trying to comfort her.

"Sorry. I'm a mess." She says, whipping her face.

"Don't worry, they'll be okay. And what's more, we have each other here. So, if you need anything, you've got my number." I tell her, giving her a small smile as she nods.

Before she can say anything else a glass clinks, catching all our attention. "Come on, get 'em up. I'd like to make another toast." Tyler says.

Everyone around the table slowly lifts their glasses and waits.

"This one is to life, love—" He says as he smiles at Lauren. "And hunting down some goddamn Arabs, baby!" He says, banging on the table loudly as the room of people turn to him wide eyed. "Whoo!"

I frown at him in disgust.

"Really? Oh boy." Mike said, chuckling as he set down his glass too.

"Yeah!" Tyler said as he sat back down.

I scoffed, and rolled my eyes at his generalization and set my glass down, annoyed.

"You got a problem with that?" He asked, looking directly at me.

I looked around, before looking at him.

"Yeah, you." He said, tilting his head.

I laughed in disgust, "It's just, Arab is an ethnicity, and you're making it sound like you're hunting down everyone of a certain ethnicity. Which sounds kinda problematic." I pointed out.

"Yeah, Bells, he gets it. He's just —stirring the pot." Jake told me.

I gave him a look of disbelief before looking back at Tyler.

"Thank you for the sensitivity training. All right, Black? I'm out here serving my country. What are you doing?" Tyler asked, pointing at me, as he got to his feet.

"I don't know. Apparently, I'm telling a Marine he shouldn't be hunting down Arabs." I retorted in disgust and anger.

Edward sighed from his seat next to me, shaking his head in exasperation.

"Okay. No. No." Jake said.

"Let it go." Lauren said, pulling on Tyler's arm.

He shook her off, and looked back at me, "And what exactly would you like us to do, huh? Go over there and teach them pronouns?" He snapped.

I narrowed my eyes at him, before feeling someone's gaze on me, I turned to find Edward staring at me.

I gave him a look in disbelief, when he opted to stay quiet, I turned back to Tyler to respond. "How about starting with knowing who your actual enemy is, and not making disturbing generalizations. How about that?" I snapped, standing up too.

"You watch your tone. Mase, get your girl, man." He said, looking at him.

"Tyler stop." Lauren begged, pulling at his hand.

"Excuse me?" I ground out, almost wanting him to come at me. "No. He doesn't 'get' me." I growled.

"Yeah, he does." Jake mumbled, causing me to narrow my eyes at him.

"That's enough. Both of you." Edward said, deadly calm.

I turned to give him a disbelieving look, only for him to look at me with the same deathly calm stare. "Sit down." He ordered.

"Do what the man says." Tyler jeered.

"Now." Edward told me.

I sighed, clenching my fists at my side, before lowering myself into my seat, chuckling in disgust.

"Thank you." Tyler says.

"You too, man." Edward says.

I sigh, trying not to let my annoyance get to me, before scoffing. "God, I just love nuanced conversations like these." I say indignantly, taking a sip of my drink.

Edward bangs his hand on the table, before getting up and storming off, shocking everyone sitting at the table.

I looked at Jake, who inclined his head in Edward's direction.

Fucking hell. Now he was going to argue with me again. In public, yet again.

Great, just great.

"I should --go check on my husband." I quietly say, excusing myself from the table, and heading out to follow Edward.

I can still hear them talking as I walk away.

"What the hell was that?" Jasper mumbles.

"Oh man. Those two are fiery." Mike comments causing everyone at the table to laugh.

I roll my eyes at their antics, as I exit the restaurant. I look around, for a moment before finding Edward leaning against the pier's rails.

"You're this mad, really?" I asked as I approached.

"Yes I am." He said, without looking at me.

I sighed and leaned on the pier, turning to look up at him. "Why is that?" I asked.

"You know what he meant. Okay, it's all bullshit bravado. And look, Tyler is a dick. But I… I don't think you understand what we're preparing ourselves to go and do. Is it really worth ruining everybody's night over?" He asked me.

I scoffed, "I'm pretty sure I wasn't the one who ruined everyone else's night. I'm sure it was your friend shouting, 'Kill all Arabs'." I told him, pointing in the direction of the restaurant.

"What, cause you were gonna have the best night if he didn't say that?" He asked sarcastically. "Sitting at a table full of people you feel superior to." He added in the same condescending tone.

"Yeah, well, not being a racist troll is kinda superior though, isn't it?" I asked, rhetorically.

He sighed, before turning to look at me, "Okay, yeah." He agreed, "But without guys like Tyler, do you really think this country would be safe from terrorists?" He asked me, rhetorically.

I opened my mouth to respond only for him to continue ranting, "No, look, and you preach, 'The future is female'. But how do you think those women feel in Iraq? You live in this bubble. And I can't stand it." He told me, before turning back to look forward.

"No. You're right." I say, dryly. "Because the obvious solution is guns. Send over a bunch of men with guns!" I snap back.

I watched him tense for a moment before sighing and turning towards me.

"They can see us. Come here." He said.

"What?" I asked, frowning at him.

"I said they can see us, come here." He repeated.

I scoffed, moving away. "Yeah, well, couples fight, dude, nuh--" I began to say.

He exhaled in exasperation, "You are so goddamn stubborn…" He mumbled before he moved closer to me and pulled me into a hug, causing me to gasp in surprise and stiffen.

I sighed, before reaching up and wrapping my arms around his shoulders.

His hands felt warm on my waist. It was an amazing contrast against the cool sea breeze that swirled around us at the pier.

"Working through our differences." He whispered a moment later. "Okay?"

I sighed, squashing the need to pull away so soon.

"Are they still looking?" He asked me, quietly.

I glanced over to the restaurant, allowing the wisps of my hair to hide the fact, before nodding in response.

"Mm-hmm." I mumbled.

"Yeah." He whispered, while I slowly began to relax against his hold. "Keep holding me." He added.

I sighed, as I felt his chin, and cheek rub against my temple.

"So in love." He mumbled a moment later.

I nodded, staring blankly out to sea, as we stood there.

Finally after what felt like eternity, he relaxed, "We're good." He sighed.

"Yep." I whispered as I felt his arms fall from my waist, and I slowly unwound my arms from his shoulders. "Good." I mumbled a moment later, as we slowly separated.

Our eyes connected for a second, and then quickly flickered away.

A moment later we both walked back into the restaurant.

The rest of our time there, I sat rather passively, pointedly ignoring the looks I knew Tyler was throwing my way.

Finally after what seemed an eternity, it was time to leave.