Liberty inched back out of the crowd that had miraculously gathered around her within seconds of the announcement. “I don’t---ouch. Sorry, that’s your foot. I---” Dom grabbed her around the middle, pinning her to him. She breathed a sigh of relief as she heard his familiar voice in her ear.

“Where are you going? You just stepped on that old lady’s foot. She‘s bleeding and crying and carrying on. You‘ve caused quite the disruption.”

“That wasn’t an old lady,” Liberty argued. “Old ladies don’t get in line for catching the bouquet.”

“I beg to differ, love, but that old lady with her walker and hat tipped astray is most definitely old…and in the group to catch the bouquet.”

“I don’t WANT to catch it,” Liberty wailed at last, turning around in his arms and burying her face in her hands.

“So that’s why you’ve caused her leg to be amputated?” Dom whispered humorously against her hair. “That’s why you were edging out of the way as if you were the only one alerted there was a fire in the building?”

“Dom, please, can we just go? You’ve had your cake---” she paused, watching as more women gathered in the middle of the room. “We could just go up to the room and, you know, make more good use of it.” She tried to put on her huskiest voice, but Dom wasn’t having it.

“You don’t want to catch the bouquet? Isn’t that what all women DO want? Isn’t that the only reason they even go to weddings in the first place?” There was an amused sort of look in his glimmering eyes as he spoke.

“Not this woman,” Liberty replied, still burying her face in his chest.

“That implies that you don’t want to get married next. And I, as your current beau, am rather offended.”

“Don’t be. It’s nothing personal. I just hate being the center of attention. You know that.”

Dom pulled her out to arms length and surveyed her. She looked tired, meek and oddly frightened. “Have you had bad experiences at weddings before?”

“Emmm, no, not really. You know, regular stuff.” Liberty gestured blandly. The group of women were now gathered, and no more were joining, so it was just about time.

“Did you catch it once and some really ugly bloke caught the garter and felt you up?”

“Yes,” Liberty gulped. “It was bloody awful. He was all sweaty and drunk and I was seventeen and completely humiliated. It was my cousin’s wedding.” She shuddered. “They thought it was FUNNY. Me being groped by some slimy old man.”

“How old was he?” Dom asked, sounding angry in spite of himself.

“Probably late forties. Can we go now?”

“Yeah,” Dom answered, nodding. “Sure. Let me just tell Orlando---”

Liberty grabbed his arm as he made a move to walk off, “Nooooo, you don’t. You’re not leaving me fending for myself one foot away from a group of angry and determined women just as Raya’s about to throw it. You’re staying put.”

“Honestly, love, I don’t want to catch it.”

“See what I mean? Neither do I.”

Dom heaved a great sigh and shook his head, smiling fondly. “You’re completely mad, you know that?”

“I’ve been told,” she muttered just a hush went over the crowd followed by a lot of screams. Then, suddenly, there was a rustle of clothing and Liberty had been jerked out of Dom‘s grasp; she lay sprawled on the floor, her arms thrown out in front of her. She looked down. She was holding a bouquet of beautiful, fluffy roses.

Looking up at Dom, she noticed he looked completely astonished as he pulled her to her feet, the roses clutched in one hand.

“Oh God,” Liberty breathed, falling against him and closing her eyes. “Who caught the---”

Dom cleared his throat, “Em. Well. No one. Yet.”

Liberty looked hopeful, “Maybe Raya won’t do that traditional thing of the woman who caught the bouquet having to have the garter put on her by the man who caught it.”

“Well, she wouldn’t seem the type, would she.”

“No,” Liberty agreed, nodding feverishly. “No, she wouldn’t. And even if she does do it, maybe you can just pop along and catch it yourself?”

Elijah was standing a few feet away from them, blushing insanely, a little blue lace thing clutched in his fist. “Oh good GOD,” Liberty said under her breath.

Dom laughed, “Well. At least he’s your age.”

“Not. Helping.” She pushed herself off him and turned to Elijah, who wouldn’t meet her eye.

“AH!” Raya said from the podium. “Now if you’ll all turn your attention back to me…thank you. Orlando and I would like to thank all of you so much for coming. I’m not very good at making speeches---”

“Ha ha!” Orlando laughed, slipping his arm around her waist. She glared at him and turned back to the awaiting crowd.

“ANYWAY, we’d just like to thank you and say goodbye. We’ll be going now.”

“Are you going to disappear like Bilbo?” Billy cried excitedly from the middle of the gathered crowd.

Both Raya and Orlando laughed. “No, sorry, Billy. Thanks everyone!” She waved and Orlando stepped in front of the mic.

“I, of course, am not a good public speaker either…” he waited while several people chortled appreciatively and then continued. “But thank you all from the bottoms of our hearts. This has been a night to remember…a wedding of a lifetime…the most memorable time of our lives---”

Billy cleared his throat loudly, “Orlando. Raya’s waiting in the car for you.”

Orlando blushed, uttered a hurried thank you and then ran from the room, after his bride.

“Hmmm. Remind me to thank Raya later,” Liberty said as she and Dom made their way upstairs in the elevator.

“Yes, well, you’ll have to remind me to get in her good graces.”

“That’ll take an awful lot of work.”

“I’m up to the challenge. Even if it kills me. I mean, look at you! You’re getting along with Anaka!”

“Getting along with is such a harsh statement. It’s more like her allowing me to breathe her air, and me being okay with that…and pretending she doesn’t exist at other times.”

“Still.”

“There’s no still,” Liberty laughed. “You and Raya, whether either of you realize it, are friends. You’re just not seeing it.”

“How so?” Dom inquired, watching as the elevator slid open; the two of them stepped onto the fourth floor.

“Well. You spend a lot of time together…”

“That doesn’t constitute friendship,” Dom pointed out.

Liberty shrugged, “Even so. You’re friends-in-law.”

“I want more,” Dom pouted, opening the door for her. She slid through briskly.

“What, you want to marry her?”

“No. You know who I want to marry.” He sat on the bed, tugging his tie off and then unlacing his shoes. “Which reminds me. You had until the end of the reception to answer me.”

“I’m not sure how to exactly.” Liberty was untying her hair in front of the mirror and unwrapping her necklace.

“A simple ‘yes’ will do.” He pulled his socks off and gazed at her. “Unless it’s a no, in which case why don‘t you just let me down easy.”

“Well, am I saying yes to marriage or…living together?”

“Actually, I think it’s a package deal. Saying yes would mean quitting your old life and starting a new one with me. Marriage will be considered later on down the road.”

“I do like the idea of a new life,” Liberty pondered, starting to unlace her corset and letting out heavy breaths every time it loosened.

“Want some help with that?”

“No,” she laughed. “I know you. You won’t give me proper thinking time if you’re pleasuring me.”

“You say that as if it’s a bad thing. Why must you THINK so much? You’re just like Elijah.”

“I guess,” she allowed, sighing heavily and kicking her shoes off. “Dom. I love you, you know that. I want…I want everything you do.” She turned away from the mirror to look at him. “I just want you.”

Dom’s whole face lit up. “So,” he said cautiously, standing up from the bed. “Is that a…yes?”

“I believe so. It sounds like it, at least.”

“WOOT!” he hollered, jumping around. “New lives. WOOOOOO! I do like my old one,” he considered, ceasing his jumping. “But oh well. I’d rather have an old ball and chain.”

Liberty chuckled, “You won’t have one if you keep calling me that.”

He shrugged, picked her up and tossed her onto the bed, “How many kids do you want?”

“None right now.”

“Dogs?”

“Eh.”

“Cats, then?” he questioned, walking towards the door.

“Meh.”

“How about a parakeet?”

Liberty giggled, “I don’t know.”

“Hampsters are good.”

“Had one once. It died. Very sad.”

“What about a goldfish?”

“Too boring. Plus, I’ve had about sixty all my life and they’ve all committed suicide.”

“FISH have?”

“Sure. They’re depressed creatures.”

“Odd. What about a penguin?”

“I’ve always wanted one. But you can’t domesticate one, just like you can’t own a Billy.”

“We could adopt Billy.”

“He’s older than us.”

“Good point. Do you want to have a white picket fence?”

“Never thought about it.”

“Spring wedding or winter?”

“Dunno.”

“You’re very noncommittal for a girl who has just caught a bouquet at a wedding.”

“I didn’t mean to catch it. And you haven’t even proposed to me.”

Dom turned off the light, plunging them into darkness except for the street lights below. “Yet.”