Chapter 40

Saul and Mira (still officially "working" on things, but it's looking pretty promising in Quinn's view) are here. Max and some woman's name he can't remember, but Max seems pretty excited. Carrie and her "attractive" plus one (Quinn is sure the "plus one" isn't more attractive than he is)—but he's happy for her. Dar Adal—alone, of course—as he prefers. Even Lockhart showed up. And Ari Rosen and his wife flew all the way from Tel Aviv to be here today. Quinn is especially happy to see Ari, whose heroism is the reason he gets to marry the woman he loves so much today. He'll never forget it.

He feels pretty overwhelmed by it all—in a good way, for once—and he's really not used to feeling this way. He remembers—during his first argument with Lily—he'd confessed to her that he had no family. And he truly believed that when he said it. But it turns out, he was wrong. He has a pretty amazing family. And they're all here, supporting him today.

And Lily. She is a vision of beauty. He still can't figure out how he managed to convince this amazing woman to marry him. But somehow, he did. Of all of his accomplishments, he considers this to be his most impressive one. Saving her life that morning in Berlin—it feels forever ago—was the smartest thing he's ever done.

Of course, Lily insisted they write their own vows. Which is not exactly something in Quinn's lexicon. He asked Google for help. He is 100% sure that Lily did not ask Google for help. In his defense, he assumes that she's watched enough cheesy films over the course of her lifetime to be able to cobble together the perfect speech for any occasion. But honestly, it doesn't matter what she says today. He knows it'll be perfect. Quinn promises himself that he's going to remember every single moment of this day, and then never fuck things up with her again. No matter what it takes.

When Lily looks up at him on the altar, he sees tears in her eyes, and he knows she's desperately trying to hold them back because she doesn't want to ruin her perfect makeup, and he knows that she knows that he is amused by this as they stand up there together, and they have this entire fucking telepathic conversation, without saying a single word—and it's pretty hilarious to him. Perfect, actually.

Lily's hands are shaking as she opens her vows. "I, um. Quinn." She takes a deep breath and looks up at him. He smiles at her, nodding, encouraging her.

She nods and takes another deep breath. "This day is so personal. And it's strange being so personal in front of so many people because—well, your job, your whole life has been about not being personal in front of anyone." She swallows and steadies her notes. "I asked you to write your vows, and that must have been torture for you," she grins up at him. He grins back, shaking his head. "It's okay if Google did it for you," she adds.

Quinn hears laughter in the crowd.

"Um," Lily clears her throat. "I'm so grateful that so many of our friends and family are here today." She looks out at her parents, at her family, at their friends. "Not many of you probably know this, but I'm here today because Peter saved my life. There was a bomb that went off at a Berlin train station, almost two years ago. He risked his life to save mine. That's who he is," she nods and takes another breath. "He doesn't ever talk about it, which is... well, that's who he is, too," she smiles quietly. "Not many girls get to grow up and marry their heroes, but I did. Which is kind of cool."

She turns back to Quinn, wiping tears out of her eyes. "Well, now it's definitely ruined," she murmurs, laughing despite herself.

"You look beautiful," he whispers back so only she can hear. He kisses her forehead.

She nods and sniffles, and picks up again. "So. I just want you to know what I think you are—which selfless and strong and kind and... there is no one else that I'd ever want to spend my life with. Thank you for marrying me," she whispers. "I love you." She pauses, as he takes her hand and pulls her into him, kissing her head.

"I love you," his whispers into her hair. "Thank you."

When it's Quinn's turn, he feels the need to acknowledge the obvious. "Yes, Google helped me write this," he smiles down at her affectionately.

Everyone—including Lily—laughs.

"Um, there's this movie—Love Actually—you've heard of it?" he grins at her.

She laughs and pokes him in the chest.

"So I finally made it through—awake," he adds. "By myself. To prepare for this," he gestures around him.

Lily covers her face with her hands and laughs again.

"And there's this line in the movie—it felt kind of right for today. 'The thing about romance is people only get together right at the very end.' And that feels kind of right. You go through all of this... stuff; that's the way movies work. You can't get to the good stuff until you've gone through the bad stuff. Before I met you, I only really knew the bad stuff…. Thank you for teaching me about the good stuff. I love you."

The smile she gives him is everything he needs to know that he did okay. That they're okay.

When the priest presents them as Mr. and Mrs. Peter Quinn, Quinn feels a rush of joy and disbelief. The crowd erupts into applause, but all Quinn can focus on is Lily, her face glowing with happiness.

"For the record," she whispers—as they make their way back down the aisle under a shower of rose petals—"I'm keeping my last name."

"You'll be the outcast of our family," he whispers back, grinning and dropping a kissing on her earlobe. "Little Charlotte and Mikey Quinn might not even realize you're their mom."

She laughs and elbows him. "We're not naming our kids Charlotte and Mikey."

"Fine, I didn't think I was going to get a vote anyway," he grins, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close.

Before either of them can say another word, they're surrounded by well-wishers.

It's exactly the happy ending Quinn never thought he'd get—but always kind of hoped for anyway.