Author's note: Clay owns himself and his own name. I only wrote the words to the story.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Day Eight - Friday, December 30

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
About nine, after most of them have finished breakfast

Will stumbled into the kitchen about half awake, mumbling something about needing a cup of coffee. Smiling indulgently, Patricia poured a cup and handed it to him. Will took a swallow and grimaced as it went down his throat.

"If it tastes that bad," Kate teased from her seat at the kitchen table, "then why do you drink it?"

"The caffeine. I need the wakeup."

Both Clay and Kate made faces, exchanging them with great amusement at Will's distaste of mornings in general.

Will continued to drink his coffee, slowly becoming more and more awake with every gulp. Suddenly he got a better look at the arrangement of the table - Clay and Kate sitting next to each other holding hands, Kim next to them, and Sarah and Ruben chatting quietly at the other end of the kitchen table. What is this? he wondered. Every other time I see her any more, she's talking with Ruben... or with someone else. Just yesterday he had asked her about it - why it seemed that she was flirting with him. Sarah had immediately responded that she wasn't flirting with Ruben - she told Will that Ruben wasn't her type and that she was just talking and being friendly. Sure looks like more than just 'being friendly' to me. Will simmered until he couldn't take it any more. "Sarah - a moment."

Sarah turned from her conversation with Ruben at the thinly veiled anger in his voice. Somehow she knew that she wouldn't like what he had to say. "Sure," she responded, giving Kate a shielded glance as she grabbed her crutches and hopped along after him.

Will led Sarah away from Ruben and the others just outside of the kitchen into the main room. Placing his hands on his hips, he began his angry tirade. "You said you wouldn't treat me like she did and you'd never lie to me 'cause you have no time or patience for lies. And you're standing there looking me in the eye telling me you're not interested in making time with Ruben." He glanced at the other singer. "Tell me how that's not lying when I saw you flirting with him again."

Knowing that he was completely serious about what he said, Sarah frowned. "You can choose to believe me or not. I was just being nice to the man since he is Clay's friend and best man. He's a nice guy. But I'm a one-man woman... and if you don't want to be that man, then fine. I'll find someone who does want to be that man." Slowly heaving an agonized sigh, she muttered under her breath. "Even if I wanted you to be that man."

What? Will blinked at her. "What did you say?"

"Nothing."

Why do women say "nothing" when it never is? He shook his head. "You said something. You wanted me to be what?"

"Nothing," Sarah insisted. "Nothing that concerns you anymore, anyway." Unable to control her tears any more, she quickly hobbled away as fast as she could manage on her crutches.

Kate put her hand on Clay's arm. "I'd better go with her," she breathed. Clay nodded, and Kate hurried after Sarah as the tiny woman fumbled her way up the stairs to their shared room.

Will stared after the two women as Clay walked over to stand beside him. "Did she say what I think she just said?"

Clay studied Will's puzzled expression. Will may have been his friend, but at the moment he had little sympathy for Will's possessive behavior. "That depends," he told Will evenly, "on what you thought you heard."

"That she really wants me to be that man!" Will exclaimed. "Her man!" Clay shrugged, and Will scowled. "You're no help." Shaking his head with amazement, he whispered to himself. "You are one very frustrating and complicated woman, Sarah Daniels... and I wish I wasn't falling in love with you."

Ruben waited until Will put on his coat and went outside before turning to Clay. "Dawg, I swear that I didn't know the two of them had a thing. I don't move on another man's girl. If I had known..."

"It's okay, Ruben," Clay nodded reassuringly. "I believe you."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, Ruben," Kim patted his arm. "You were just being nice."

Meanwhile, Sarah hobbled into her bedroom with Kate close behind. "That... that... that..."

Kate frowned thoughtfully. She had never seen Sarah this head over heels with anybody, and Kate didn't want to see it just fade away like so much smoke. "That what?"

"That egotistical, self-involved, hyper-jealous, infuriating..." Not taking a break in the slightest, Sarah continued full-steam ahead. "...sweet, kind, handsome, wonderful jerk."

Boy, she does have it bad. Kate raised an eyebrow. "Nice reversal."

Sarah stormed around the room as best as one could on crutches. "Kate, why does he have to be so... argh!!!"

"Is that 'argh' with one 'r', or two?" Kate asked sweetly. Sarah made a face at her, and Kate's expression softened. "Sorry, Sarah. You know that I always try to lighten things with humor."

"Ooooh..." Sarah grumbled. "Kathryn Joy Kirche, you are not helping matters."

"Sarah... I am trying to help. I'm trying to let you talk out your feelings." Kate chewed on her lip. "Why does he frustrate you so much?"

"He just does... and right now, so do you." Sarah turned on her best friend. "You have it all. You have an awesome man to love who loves you back. And here I am in love with a man who doesn't trust me, doesn't believe me, and doesn't even seem to believe in me."

Kate's eyes widened at Sarah's words. "In love with - Sarah, are you talking about Will?"

Sarah made an annoyed noise with her mouth. "Who else? Katydid... that dream is never going to come true at this rate."

That dream?? Kate's jaw dropped. "Which dream are you talking about, just to be sure I've got the right one in mind?"

"The wedding dream, what else?" Unexpectedly Sarah broke into tears. "Kate... I saw his face. I saw it last night. It's Will, it always has been." Sarah flung herself across the bed, inconsolable.

Well then... Kate took in a deep breath at this new revelation. The more often Sarah had a given dream, the more likely it was to come true. And for many years of her life, Sarah had been having one particular dream over and over again... that of her own wedding. Only she had been veiled, so she hadn't seen a single face in her wedding dream. Until six months ago, when she had started seeing familiar faces in familiar roles... Kate's dad was in the role of giving away the bride, while Kate herself had been maid of honor. And Clay had been serving as best man... which told both Sarah and Kate that somehow Clay would have a role in Sarah meeting her future husband. Will did indeed fit the physical description of the man that Sarah had seen through the veil - so for Sarah to tell Kate now that the groom's face was Will's practically sealed up future events. But only if the two could get through this argument... Carefully she sat down beside Sarah on the bed. "Is there something I can do for you?"

Sarah shook her head. "I just need to be alone."

Kate repressed the urge to sigh. "All right. I'm going downstairs for now. Clay and I will be heading down to the courthouse to get our license, but I'll keep my phone handy in case you need something, okay? Just give me a call." When Sarah did not acknowledge her further, Kate put her hand on her roommate's arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. Leaving the room, she closed the door behind her.

Very slowly she descended the stairs, thinking about the mess she had created. But had she really created it? Did she merely encourage what was supposed to be? And how could they fix it now?

The others glanced up as Kate returned to the kitchen. "How's she doing?"

"Upset," Kate admitted. "And Will?"

"Same," Clay nodded. "He went for another walk. We'll have to wait until he's back before we can go get our marriage license."

"Mm," Kate grunted. Finally heaving that sigh, she continued. "You know that wedding dream of Sarah's that I told you about?" When Clay nodded, Kate elaborated. "Last night she said she finally saw the guy's face. It's knucklehead."

Clay smacked his forehead with his hand. "Nice to know this, after they have another argument..."

"Yeah." Kate scowled. "We didn't exactly have any ideas how to get them together in the first place - how are we going to get them to make up?"

"Well," Clay mused, "we obviously have to wait until they calm down. Then we can help them remember what it is about the other that they like so much. Once they remember what attracts them to the other person, then we can work them towards talking it out and forgiving each other."

Kate smiled warmly as she sat back down beside him. "Have I told you," she began, taking his hand, "what a wise, mature man you are?"

Clay blushed. "Not yet this morning."

"Well, then..." Kate kissed the back of his hand as Ruben and Kim exchanged an impish grin.

Clay's cell phone rang, interrupting them. He pulled it out of his pocket and frowned deeply at the name that displayed on the caller ID screen. Holding up one finger, Clay walked out of earshot and answered the phone.

Kate raised her eyebrow at the thoroughly irritated expression on Clay's face as he spoke to the caller. This doesn't look good...

"Kate? Helloooo, earth to Kate!"

"Hunh?" Kate asked, shaking out of her reverie.

"You." Kim cocked her head to the side. "You alright? You looked a bit distracted there."

Kate glanced back over at Clay, who was talking animatedly with his hands in a manner that told Kate her fiancé was not happy. "Um..."

"Kim," Ruben began, pointing at Clay. "I think that's what's got her distracted."

"Oh my gosh." Kim frowned as she saw how Clay was heatedly pacing in a small patch of floor in the living room, talking angrily to the caller. "Kate, I can see why you were distracted."

At last Clay hung up on the caller with a vicious poke at the "end" button. Kate moved towards him, hastening her steps when Clay made a motion to throw the phone across the room. "Clay!" She ran to his side, gently running her hand over his tense shoulders as he seethed but brought the arm holding the phone down. Never had she seen Clay this angry - and it worried her. "Is-is it something you want to talk about? Can you talk about it?"

"Oh, he'd be all-too-happy if I talked to you about it..." Clay muttered, clenching his teeth in order to keep from blowing up.

Oh really? Kate took a deep breath. Considering Clay's anger, this was a serious call about a serious matter. No matter how much Clay would rather ignore the issue, she knew she had no choice but to hear it now. Hugging him warmly, she smiled patiently at him. "You need to tell me anyway." She gave him a questioning glance. "Who was that?"

Clay closed his eyes, still fuming. "That was my lawyer."

As a general rule, Kate didn't trust lawyers any farther than she could throw them. She had only ever known one lawyer that she trusted - a family friend from her church that she had known for years. Kate would trust him with anything... the few times that she needed legal paperwork done, she had gone to him. "That doesn't sound good..."

"Several weeks ago I let him know that I was hoping to get married over Christmas break, asking him to make preparations to add you into all the important paperwork... everything I could think of plus some that he could think of." Clay scowled. "Shortly before I left to come here, he called me and told me that he had drafted up some paperwork for you to sign - a prenuptial agreement." Heaving an angry sigh, Clay continued. "I told him in no uncertain terms that I was not going to make you sign any such agreement that I never asked him to make, that I trusted you completely and he'd better get used to the idea that you were going to be a part of my life whether you signed the papers or not."

Kate nodded slowly, thinking deeply. Oddly enough, she could see the situation from several different viewpoints. She could understand the viewpoint of the lawyer - his client was a hot commodity with a lot of big assets, and the lawyer wanted to protect his client (even if only to protect his own interests). She could also understand - and appreciate - Clay's viewpoint. It was obvious that Clay did trust her completely, and wholeheartedly believed that their marriage would last and stand the test of time. From his viewpoint, he didn't need a prenuptial agreement when he loved her completely and trusted her as much as he did. Now if he had come to her with the paperwork in hand and had tried to talk her into signing it, she would have indeed been irritated and badly hurt with the implied lack of trust. Having just come from one peacemaking attempt, Kate was still in a patient and negotiating mood. "Tell you what, honey," Kate began gently. "No matter what his motives are, he's trying to act in your best interest. Did you bring that paperwork with you?"

"Unfortunately," Clay grumbled. "I barely picked it up from his office before I had to catch my plane. I still have it, because I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do about it." He scowled. "Too bad I didn't have it when I was trying to housebreak Raleigh - it would have come in handy on the floor."

Kate snickered at Clay's attempts to salvage his sense of humor. "I have a couple of thoughts on how to handle the situation." When she paused, Clay turned to look at her. "We have to head into town today anyway to pick up the marriage license. After we look it over quickly here at the house to see if we have any questions, why don't I give a lawyer friend of mine a call and arrange for us to stop in and show him the paperwork? That way I have someone I trust looking it over to give me an expert second opinion, and if you're in the room listening to his explanations of everything, you'll have an expert second opinion. If it's something that both of us can deal with, I'll sign it in the presence of my own lawyer. If it's not, you can take it back to your lawyer after we've married and tell him where to shove it."

The last phrase cut through Clay's anger with a healing balm that little else could. Clay laughed warmly, the tension melting out of him with every passing minute. "I never thought I'd hear you say that, Kate honey... but it does my heart good. Tell him where to shove it, indeed..." Giving her a gentle smile, his eyes belied his earlier anger now turned to hurt. "This wasn't my idea," he insisted.

"I could tell..." Kate said dryly, giving him a reassuring smile of her own. "Your reaction was too strong." Wrapping her soothing arms around him, she laid her head on his chest and held him close.

Clay sighed deeply as he pulled her into his embrace. "Why can't people just let us be...?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In the backyard and around the barn

Will circled the barn for the fifth time since he had left the house for some much-needed fresh air. Once in front of the large set of double doors again, he blinked with surprise to see a black lab bounding through the snow. I don't remember seeing a dog around this place. Slowly Will extended a gentle hand to the dog, who eagerly trotted up to him and gave the hand a sniff. Deciding that Will was all right, she sat down beside Will with a pant as Will scratched her ears. Walking out of the house, Arthur crossed the yard to join them. "I didn't know you had a dog," Will said.

"We don't," Arthur informed him. "That's the neighbor's dog, but she's over here as much as she is over there. Name's Penny."

"Penny, hunh?" Will smiled down at the lab, who sauntered over to Arthur to collect a vigorous ear rub. "Loves attention."

"Yeah, she'll go to anyone she thinks will pet her." Arthur petted Penny for a minute before speaking again. "Lots of dogs are that way. They're so eager for love and affection that they'll go to whoever will scratch their ears or their bellies or whatever. But they always know their master... the one who really loves them no matter what. It doesn't matter who's around, who's trying to give her a biscuit - she'll always be our neighbor's dog, and her heart will belong to him." Giving Penny one final pat, he stood back up. "Some women are like that too - so starved for love and acceptance that if a guy flirts with them they'll flirt right back. But when they find someone who really loves them... then they'll know the person they want to give their heart to."

Will gave Arthur a thoughtful look. There was something about the older man's manner that told Will there was a lesson to be learned here.

Arthur placed his gloved hand on Will's shoulder. "Sarah's had a hard life, Will. She didn't know any real love until she was seventeen, so she likes the attention that the guys give her." He nodded knowingly. "But she's a smart woman. She knows what kind of man she wants and needs, and she won't settle for anything less in her life. Once she finds that man she might still flirt with a guy from time to time... but she'll never cheat on the man she loves." He gave Will's shoulder a fatherly pat. "Try to have some patience with her and give her another chance. I doubt you'll regret it."

Sighing heavily, Will gave the matter some thought. It didn't take him long to realize that he had again acted like an idiot with Sarah. While it was true that she was a flirt, she had proven her loyalty in all of her dealings with the Kirche family. And Will, for some odd reason, had doubted that kind of loyalty would be extended to him. He sighed again, knowing beyond a doubt that he owed her another apology. Only this one needed to be even better than the last one, if he stood a chance of winning her back. "Thanks, Mr. Kirche. I appreciate that."

Will walked back to the house and into the kitchen, glancing at the two lovebirds seated alone at the table. Clay sat with his arms crossed, a slight scowl on his face as he halfway listened to Kate reading aloud to him from some papers in her hand. It took Will all of two seconds to figure out that it was some sort of legal paperwork, and he walked through to the living room to give them a few moments of privacy. He briefly took off his coat - who knew how long those two would be going through that. Will shook his head with a sigh. Clay had been quite upset when he had heard his lawyer had drafted a prenuptial agreement, and as Will had passed through the kitchen it didn't look like he was much happier now. Will sat down in one of the chairs, musing thoughtfully over what he could do to apologize to Sarah and make up for his earlier behavior.

By the time the couple came out to the living room with their shoes and coats, Will had come to his own decision of how he planned to apologize. "You two ready?" he asked.

"We are," Kate agreed with a smile, squeezing Clay's hand. Will noted curiously that the paperwork was in neither Clay's nor Kate's hands - it was probably in the small black satchel that Kate now carried over her shoulder. "Which vehicle do we want to take?"

"We can take ours," Clay suggested, and the three of them walked out the front door to the SUV.

The drive to the Kearney courthouse took very little time, and shortly the three of them were in the office of the Clerk of the District Court. Clay and Kate walked up to the counter with Will just behind them. "We would like to speak to Jeanne Carlson," Clay told the wide-eyed office staff member.

The young college girl walked towards one of the back office. "Jeanne," she called out, her voice sounding much too excited for Clay's comfort, "Clay Aiken wants to speak to you."

Clay groaned, letting his head fall as he closed his eyes. "Dear Lord, we didn't need this..."

"Eeehhrrrr..." Kate agreed nervously. "Yeah, I'm not quite sure I trust this one to keep her mouth shut without a bribe or a threat." She heaved a deep sigh. "Good thing I know Jeanne - the two of us should be able to figure out what our leverage will be."

"You know the clerk?" Clay asked with surprise.

Kate nodded. "Welcome to Nebraska, where everybody knows you... and knows your business, sometimes before you do." Clay flinched, and she continued. "Well, at least in a place this small. It's not quite that bad in Lincoln or Omaha..."

"Small town schoolteacher," Clay whispered. "I should have thought of that."

Squeezing his hand, Kate winked at him as a middle-aged lady with gray hair and glasses entered the room carrying a small file folder. "You let Jeanne and me work on this. We'll make it happen."

Instantly Jeanne took both of them in with her serious brown eyes and smiled. "Ah, yes. I've had your file prepared for quite some time now, Mr. Aiken - and it's been under lock and key. Shall we?" Jeanne indicated a small conference room off to one side, letting the couple go in first before following and shutting the door behind them (Will standing just outside the door to keep an eye on things). "I think everything's here..." she began.

"Jeanne," Kate interrupted gently, "how much do you trust your coworker's ability at confidentiality?" She nodded slightly to indicate the young girl in the other room.

Jeanne gave a slight snort. "I don't. But she and I have an understanding that if I ever hear of her spreading details about what she finds out in here, it will be her job."

Clay whistled. "Very credible threat."

Jeanne nodded. "So far it's worked, but I'm skeptical about this. She's known around the office as an incurable Claymate."

With another groan, Clay put his face in his hands. "We don't need this on the day before our wedding..." he mumbled under his breath.

Poor Clay - there has to be something I can do. She reached over and gently squeezed his knee reassuringly. A devious smile crossed Kate's face as she raised an eyebrow. "So you know that she responds reasonably well to threats. How well does she respond to bribes?"

"I'm listening," Jeanne said quietly.

Kate beckoned Jeanne closer. "If she can keep her silence that she even saw us at all until Monday, then we can provide her with a personalized, autographed photo of Clay... which I will bring in to her myself once he flies out that day. No silence, no photo. And feel free to remind her my brother works for Army intelligence and hint that he can find out whether she had talked or not in ways she'd never know."

Jeanne slowly nodded. "That's a bribe she'll take. I'll tell her about your little proposal when I prepare the final versions of your marriage licenses."

"Yes!" Kate cheered, reassured that the girl would keep her mouth shut. "I am goood..."

Clay covered his mouth to hold back the giggles threatening to let loose. "Blackmail artist. My wife-to-be is a blackmail artist."

She grinned wickedly at Clay. "Top-notch blackmail artist trained by the best - my mother..."

"Kate," Clay chuckled at last, "you'd better hope your mom doesn't hear you said that."

"Oh, she'd admit it," Kate nodded as Jeanne pulled out the documents they needed from the file folder and spread them on the table. "It's an art form we've cultivated for times of desperation."

"Which this is," Clay noted dryly as he grabbed the closest form.

Jeanne got the remaining information needed from Kate and quickly left the room to remake the license forms, letting Will slip inside. Clay glanced around the room at the art hanging on the walls, fidgeting nervously as Will stood watch at the door to the room. Not wanting to pass the time idly, Kate reached into her satchel and pulled out the prenuptial agreement. Since I really didn't find anything wrong with these... Opening up her pen, she turned to the last page to sign and date the form.

"Hold it - Kate!" Clay's hand quickly clamped onto hers, stopping her from even touching the pen to the paper. "What... what are you doing?" he questioned.

Kate shrugged. "Clay honey... you heard at the house what was in here. I know that you are mad at your lawyer for taking this upon himself without your permission, and you have every right to be... but there's nothing wrong or bad in this paperwork. In fact, I find the agreement quite generous, really." She smiled gently at him. "I don't have any problems with it at all. And it's far more important to me to know that your family and your friends and your business associates trust me. If my signing a simple document will do that much more to assure them that I love you for you, and not your fame or your money or anything else like that... then fine, I'll sign it because I do love you and care for you... and want your loved ones to have a little peace of mind that I can be trusted. Will that work for you?"

Clay's jaw dropped as Will gave a low whistle. "Clay... marry her as soon as possible. You'll never find another woman like this as long as you live."

Oh my... Taking her face in his hand, Clay gave her a short but highly passionate kiss on the lips. "I love you..." he breathed when at last he ended the kiss.

Her eyes glazed and unfocused, Kate burbled unintelligibly for a moment. Finally she tapped her lips. "D-Do... Do that again..." she begged.

Will rolled his eyes as Clay leaned in to give Kate another kiss. "I don't believe you guys..."

They were still kissing when Jeanne walked back in the room. She cleared her throat, and the couple broke apart. Knowing that addressing their business directly would help them recover faster than anything else, Jeanne placed the paperwork on the table in front of them. "Your application for the marriage license is completed and good to go. The rest of this gets filled in tomorrow at your wedding, and the pastor submits it to us to be filed."

"Thank you," Clay said hoarsely as Kate quickly grabbed the paperwork and placed that in the satchel. "Thank you for everything."

"You're welcome," Jeanne told them with a smile. "And don't worry about Stef - she understands me perfectly."

From the clerk's office the three drove over to the office where Kate's lawyer friend held his practice. As Clay had requested, Kate had waited until the friend briefly went over the paperwork with the two of them before she signed it. It was exactly as Kate had suspected - the prenuptial agreement showed her every bit the respect and generosity that Clay would have shown her had he drafted it himself. Clay didn't look any happier as she signed it, but with one more reassurance that she was willing to do it because of her love for him he agreed to live and abide with her decision. Besides, it was not as if they would really need it - Kate was equally sure that their love for each other would stand any test that was sent their way.

"I have a request for y'all," Will said as they left the lawyer's office. "You mind if we stop at a flower shop on the way back? I want to pick up something for Sarah... say I'm sorry and tell her what an egghead I was to say all that stuff back at the house."

Clay and Kate cast a hopeful glance at each other. "Of course."

Once the trio stopped at a florist, there was some debate over who was going to go in and purchase the flowers. Equally as stubborn as her best friend, Kate put her foot down. "Will... I know that you feel that you should make the purchase. But it's the whole fox-chicken-corn in a boat crossing a river problem - how do you get the job done and still keep your wares intact." When the two men gave Kate puzzled looks she abandoned that analogy and explained without it. "This is a one-person job, and neither of you should do it because we can't split the two of you up without setting up a potentially sticky situation. So we keep you guys together out here and send me in. I'm the obvious choice to do this little solo errand since I don't need guarded at all."

With a snort, Clay gave Kate a sideways glance. "And how many times this week alone have you been recognized, darlin'?"

"How many times would I not have been recognized if I hadn't been called by name or standing by your side?" Kate retorted. "I'm going in, guys - end of debate, quit arguing with me. Will... tell me what you want and give me enough cash to cover it so that you can still say you made the order and you paid for it. I'm just the messenger." She held out her hand expectantly to Will, making it clear she was not going to take no for an answer.

Will chuckled as he pulled out his wallet. "You got a headstrong one."

Clay nodded. "I noticed that." He smiled. "I wanted a woman who was her own person..."

"You got what you wanted."

Kate leaned into the front seat long enough to kiss Clay on the jaw. "I love you too." Taking the money and the order from Will, Kate went into the flower shop. Fifteen minutes later she came out with a large glass vase full of red roses in her hands and an amazed expression on her face. "Okay... maybe I am getting to be recognizable..." she admitted. Giving her head a sharp shake, she buckled her seat belt as the guys waited for the story. "I wasn't with you, I didn't drop my name, and I paid cash... and the lady at the desk still told me, 'Congratulations, Kate. Tomorrow you're doing what every woman in America wishes she could be doing - marrying Clay Aiken'. She knew full well who I was, and more, she knew about tomorrow!" Kate glanced at Clay. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Clay snickered, blushing slightly at the woman's words. "Was her name Ann, by any chance?"

"Why...?" Kate asked, confused as to how he knew.

"This is where I ordered our wedding flowers from," Clay confessed, pointing towards the florist shop. "Nothing more than that." Smiling as relief slowly started to cross Kate's face, Clay pointed in the general direction of the farm. "Let's get back home so that Will can smooth things over with Sarah."

Within a short while the three had returned to the farm and had re-entered the house. Ruben grinned up at Will as he walked into the house with the bouquet of flowers. "Lookit Will, man. He's ready to do this right."

"Darn straight I am."

"Best of luck, man."

Will glanced at Ruben, noting by the sincere expression on his face that the singer finally seemed to accept that Sarah was his woman. Provided that she still wanted to be. "Thanks."

"One problem," Kim informed Will. "Sarah hasn't come out of that room since she went into it. I went to check on her earlier, and she was working away at the desk. I only got a few words out of her before she chased me off."

Kate grumbled. "Not surprised. Her parents were workaholics. When she gets upset, she buries herself in her work the very same way they used to do out of sheer habit."

Kim and Clay exchanged a thin-lipped look. "Tell you what, Will. Ruben and I will distract the couple for a while looking at the marriage license while you slip up and give her that apology."

Will nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me."

"Just a minute." Kate put a hand on Will's arm to catch his attention. "If I am to guess, I would say that she needs some reassurance that you see her for who she is, that you respect and cherish her. Here's my thought. Make sure she knows in the gentlest way you can manage that she's in control of the situation. You respect her privacy and her wish to be alone... but you also respect her enough to know that her feelings were hurt and that she deserves an apology. Say what you want to say... but make sure you listen, really listen, to her feelings and her thoughts. And accept them. Empower and validate her, Will. Those two things are some of the things she craves most but people never give her."

Clay took a deep breath as Will walked up the stairs with the flowers. "Wow," he breathed, taking Kate into his arms. "You're amazing, you know that?"

Opening her mouth to protest, Kate realized that she wasn't quite sure what to say. "Uhhh..."

"Yes, you are, honey," Clay told her as he pulled her closer and kissed her gently on the lips.

Sighing warmly when they embraced after the kiss, Kate hugged Clay tight. "One more day..."

"One more day..." Clay stroked her hair. "Music to my ears."

Kate had barely pulled the marriage license out of the satchel when Will came back down the stairs with the roses still in his hands. He shrugged, a lost look in his eyes. "She wouldn't say a word to me. I knocked, I talked nice, I told her I was ready to listen to anything she had to say to me... but she didn't say a single word to me."

"Oh no..." Kim moaned.

Heaving a deep sigh, Kate glanced at the stairs. "Maybe I can talk to her." Leaving the others in the living room, Kate walked up the stairs to the room where Sarah was holed up working. She knocked lightly on the door. "Sarah, I wanted to see how things were going for you. Is everything all right?" Kate asked gently. Hearing nothing, Kate knocked again. "Sarah, it's just me, and if you can spare me five whole minutes, I'll let you get back to your work." When Sarah still didn't respond, Kate scowled. "Don't make me use the secret passageway in the kitchen, Miss Scarlet. You know I'm just concerned about you."

Sarah opened the door and immediately hopped back to the desk. "This isn't the study."

"You're using it as one," Kate retorted, shutting the door behind her to give them some privacy. She sat down on the bed next to the desk. "Although I think I know the answer, I'd like to hear from you how you're doing."

"I'm working."

"How... not what," Kate answered.

Heaving a huffy sigh, Sarah grumbled. "What do you think?"

"I already know what I think," Kate said, "but I'm asking you."

This time Sarah's sigh was slower, much more agonized. "I'm upset. I'm hurt. I don't know if I can trust him to see the real me or not."

Kate nodded. "It's a risk, yes. But isn't it a risk worth taking?" When Sarah didn't answer, Kate continued. "I presume you know he was trying to apologize a few minutes ago."

"I need some more time to work," Sarah told her, continuing to work on her files. "I haven't spent nearly the time on my work that needs to be spent, and these kids deserve better than that."

"You aren't Superwoman," Kate told her. "You can't rescue every child from his nightmares."

"Maybe not," Sarah snapped, "but if I can make a difference to one child, then that's one less child who will go through a life of neglect like I did."

Again Kate nodded. "And I've seen you make a difference in the lives of several children. But if you're going to be at your personal best, you need to take an occasional break. Even a vacation from time to time. Between your injury and my wedding tomorrow, you have two good excuses this week to take just a bit of time off. For your own sanity and strength - or if nothing else, for the kids." Kate shrugged. "You can even take a little bit of time out to listen to Will's apology and see for yourself if you think he's sincere before deciding whether you want to work some more or come down and spend some time with everyone."

Sarah continued to make notes in the file she had spread out on the desk. "Maybe later."

Kate stood back up and crossed over to the desk. "Will you at least think about it?"

"I'll think about it," Sarah answered automatically.

She's almost - or every bit - as stubborn as I am. Kate wrapped her arms around Sarah's neck in a sisterly hug. "You're still my vewy vewy best friend, even when you're being a pain in the butt."

"Yeah yeah..." Sarah muttered, patting Kate's arm. "Thanks, Katydid. Now scram."

Kate pulled the bedroom door shut behind her, silently heaving an annoyed sigh at Sarah's stubbornness. As soon as she rejoined the others in the living room, Kate reported. "She's in a mood. Who knows how long she'll wallow in it before she decides to be sociable again."

Clay frowned. While he needed a bodyguard at the local grocery store, he wasn't sure he wanted to have Will along in his present state. "Kim, mind if I borrow your bodyguard for a while? I need to go to the grocery store for some things for this weekend."

"I don't mind," Kim insisted. "Ask him."

Within minutes Clay had pulled together Ruben, Payton, and George. "We'll be back shortly," he informed Kate, giving her a light kiss on the cheek. "Anything you want for your bachelorette party tonight, while we're there?"

"If we need to go," Kim informed him, "we'll take Will."

Kate nodded. "And maybe Andrew. He's big enough to add to the intimidation factor."

Kim winked at Clay. "We have a few more ways to make ourselves unrecognizable than you."

Clay knew exactly what she was talking about - glasses, hair, and hats. With their long hair, the women really did have the camouflage advantage. "All right. See you later." Clay placed a quick peck on Kate's lips and headed out the door.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The wedding rehearsal, at Kate's church

Clay and Kate walked into the church sanctuary hand in hand, Will, Kim, and Payton right behind them. Their families and other friends had also arrived, gathering down in the front. "Hard to believe," Clay whispered as they joined them, "that in less than twenty-four hours we're going to be married."

Kate wrapped her arms around Clay's waist, snuggling close to him. "In some way it feels like a dream... some sort of surreal dream."

"Hon," Clay laughed awkwardly, "my life's a surreal dream." Stroking her hair, he kissed her temple. "And I'm welcoming you into it with open arms."

"Clay man," Ruben chuckled as he nudged Clay's shoulder, "are we ever gonna pry you two apart?"

Clay faked a laugh then immediately turned mock serious. "No. Never again."

"Believe it or not," Sarah told him as she hobbled to her spot, Kim following behind her with a big paper bag in hand, "for most of Tuesday and Wednesday, they weren't so cuddly."

"You're pullin' my leg," Ruben insisted.

"Afraid she's not," Kate confessed as Pastor Sullivan entered the room and came down front. "We were trying to keep a discrete distance for our own sanity."

Laughing warmly, Ruben nodded with understanding. "If it has anything to do with what I found on Clay's neck, then I get it."

"Clay's neck??" Sarah asked with a raised eyebrow. "Katydid, did you give him another love bruise Monday night?"

"Go away." Kate frowned up at Clay. "With friends like ours..."

"Who needs tabloids?" Clay finished.

Stifling a giggle, Kate shook her head. "Right."

"All right, I'm here!" Sally exclaimed as she burst into the room and hurried down the aisle, her husband Josh following behind. "Let the party begin!"

Oh my - Clay choked back a laugh, burying his face in Kate's hair as he quaked with the efforts to keep his giggles silent. She definitely knows how to make an entrance.

Kim's eyes widened. "Who is that?"

"That," Kate said dryly, "is my cousin Sally and her husband Josh. Actually, she's a cousin by marriage - yes, she's a very colorful person, but I love her dearly. We've been close for years, in spite of the fact that there's about fifteen years age difference between us."

Kim watched as gregarious, extroverted Sally greeted Arthur and Patricia warmly, talking with liberal use of hand gestures. "She's... interesting..."

"That she is." Suddenly noting Will awkwardly standing close to Sarah, who was ignoring him entirely as she chatted with Brett and Ruben, Kate sighed. "I thought I got it through her thick skull this afternoon that it was going to be worth listening to Will's apology..." she mumbled to Clay.

Clay glanced over at the two. "It's kind of hard for her to hear Will's apology when she didn't leave that room hardly at all this afternoon."

"And the few times," Kate acknowledged, "that she had any company, she spoke briefly to them and shooed them away - except for Will, who she wouldn't talk to at all."

"You tried," Clay shrugged. Smiling lightly, he turned back to Kate. "Oh, and honey? You know who it was who showed Will the errors of his ways?" When Kate shook her head, he smiled again. "Your father... after he said he wasn't going to help us fix them up."

"Dang..." Kate whistled. "Nice, Dad..."

Seeming to know that they were talking about her, Sarah turned back to Kate and Clay. "Oh, Katydid," Sarah said quietly, catching Kate's attention. "We want to give you some practice holding a bouquet for tomorrow, so..."

Kim reached into the sack and pulled out what she had been carefully hiding from Kate in the SUV. She had taken a ruler, taped a couple of paper plates to it, and covered the paper plates with gift bows and dangling ribbons. Solemnly handing the "bouquet" to Kate, Kim smiled. "I know this looks nothing like the beautiful bouquet Clay ordered you, but you'll just have to use your imagination."

"I think I can handle that," Kate nodded.

Sarah winked at Kim before talking to Kate again. "While I was working on social services stuff this morning, this is how Kim used her time - preparing a few last-minute things for tonight."

"My my my..." Kate whistled. "You went to some work for this... Thank you."

Pastor Sullivan called the group to order, taking a brief moment to figure out who was present and to line up the wedding party. He went over the wedding verbally first, running through the logistics of the entire service before calling for a walk-through of the entrances and exits. Clay and Kate walked down the central aisle first before their wedding party followed. After sending Alyssa down the aisle, Ruben carefully escorted out Sarah before Brett escorted Kim after them. For the sake of protocol, the families practiced walking out as well - in spite of the fact that the entire congregation was going to consist of just them. In fact, everyone attending the wedding was already here at the rehearsal. With that done, they lined up to practice the entrances. Pastor Sullivan led Clay, Ruben, and Brett from the sacristy to the front to wait for the ladies, and in turn Kim and Sarah walked down the aisle to be met by their escort up front. Once more Alyssa was sent down the aisle, and everyone watched as she walked most of the way before slipping into the pew to sit with her mother Holly. After that Arthur escorted Kate down the aisle to where Clay would meet up with them, and the three of them practiced that little exchange before Clay brought Kate back up front.

Satisfied with these proceedings, Pastor Sullivan quickly ran through the parts of the service for the group. He gave the briefest of instructions, mostly for the couple, keeping it short, sweet, and relevant. "I think that about covers it," he told them at last.

The group piled back into their respective vehicles, driving all the way across Interstate 80 to Grandpa's Steak House on the southeast corner. "Oh my..." Kate breathed as she and Clay entered the party room festively decorated with their wedding colors. "You went to a lot of work here."

"Some," Clay admitted, "but most of the credit for setting up this weekend goes to Sarah and your mom. Your mom planned tomorrow's reception meal, and Sarah planned tonight's prenuptial dinner. They offered to make all the arrangements since they knew I'd need help from someone who lived here."

Kate nodded. "Someone who knows the local businesses and has both time and opportunity to negotiate the details."

"Exactly."

Frowning slightly as Will once more tried unsuccessfully to catch Sarah's attention, Kate groaned. "She's still ignoring him?"

Clay nodded, sighing softly as Will returned to his seat discouraged and annoyed. "And each time she rebuffs him, they each get a little more somber."

"You're noticed that too, hunh?"

"Who wouldn't?" Clay snorted. "Neither one of them have ever tried to hide what they were thinking or feeling about each other."

Kate shook her head. "Some things, but not others." Turning to meet his eye, Kate explained. "How long did it take us to admit our feelings for each other?"

"We told each other 'I love you' for the first time your last night in L.A. That was Monday night."

"We admitted our love." Kate smiled. "When did we admit we were interested in each other?"

Clay took a moment to think about it. "We didn't really admit it that first day we met - at least not in words, until I asked you to be my girlfriend." Clay looked back into her eyes. "That day there was just something... there, where we expressed how we felt about each other without saying a word."

Slowly Kate nodded. "But how long had you felt that way about me and said nothing?"

"Um..." Clay mumbled, biting his lip sheepishly.

Sensing his guilty embarrassment, Kate decided to come clean first. "I've been smitten with you since American Idol - from the first moment you came on the screen I could sense there was something special about you, but I didn't figure out exactly what until I saw the first interviews that showed your love and compassion and faith. Then I could easily see that you were someone special... someone very special, and I fell hard. Even though I didn't believe for a moment that you would see anyone special in me, I decided to write you because I believed you needed the support." Kate smiled. "You needed to know that people believed in you and were rooting for you to succeed. You needed to know that someone cared about you and was praying for you."

Clay blinked with surprise. "You believed that I wouldn't ever respond... yet you still sent me cards and letters, almost every week. Why?"

"Because you needed them," Kate answered simply. "Don't ask me why I believed that, but I did."

"Kate..." Clay breathed, "you have no idea how much your cards and letters meant to me. I may not have gotten them right away, I may not have gotten them on a regular basis like you hoped I would... but I got them, I read them and saw your heart in those cards and letters. And I liked what I saw." He reached up and caressed her cheek. "I got in trouble with a lot of people for responding, but I knew without a doubt that it was the right thing to do. To this day I can't figure out why I felt that way, but I did." Clay shrugged. "Then we started getting to know each other better and became friends... and I started falling."

Kate took his hand, threading her fingers in between his. "So all that time we were getting to know each other and building our friendship, we had the hots for each other and were just too chicken to say anything."

Clay nodded. "Looks that way." He gave the matter a moment's thought before offering his theory. "I know the reason I never said anything was because I figured a special lady like you would never feel the same way about me. Is that the same way it was for you?"

"Yeah, it was... but God obviously had other plans for us. That's probably why everyone around us kept encouraging us to talk and get together - they could see how much we really cared about each other." Clay agreed with a grin and she squeezed his hand gently. Indicating Will and Sarah, Kate smiled. "It's obvious to the two of us and everyone else that they are crazy about each other... but because of the rocky start they had, it wasn't so obvious to them. Each one of them hid their feelings for each other for a while."

Finally understanding, Clay turned back to her. "Do you think they might still be hiding their feelings for each other now?"

"If they're afraid of getting hurt," Kate answered, "yes."

Clay made a face. "I wish there was something we could do about it."

Kate sighed, considering Will and Sarah thoughtfully. "If Sarah hasn't given him a chance to apologize by the time we get home, I am taking matters into my own hands."

Clay's eyes widened. "Is that wise?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Kate admitted. "All I know is that they've been moody for half or better of what should be a happy and joyful week. I'll be darned if they're pulling this at our wedding."

Chuckling under his breath, Clay nodded. Kate normally wouldn't act like the so-called demanding diva, but under the circumstances he couldn't say he blamed her. "Let me know if there's any way I can help. We're in this one together, love. Always and forever."

Arthur stood at his seat and caught everyone's attention. "Before we begin the rest of the evening, we'd like to open with prayer. Pastor, if you would be so gracious to handle this one, I'll get tomorrow's."

"Certainly, Art." Pastor Sullivan prayed for blessings upon the couple, the family and friends gathered for tomorrow's festivities, asking God to be present at their gathering. He also gave thanks for the food and the hands that prepared it before giving the Amen.

Shortly after the prayer, the wait staff started bringing in the food to the group. During the meal Clay and Kate kept stealing glances at each other, much to Kim's amusement. "Guys, you're getting married tomorrow. You don't have to be so shy about how you feel about each other."

"But Kim," Brett said as he gently tapped her arm. "I don't know if you've noticed, but Kate's parents are doing the same thing."

Kim looked over at Arthur and Patricia long enough to discover they were indeed eyeing each other. "Oh my. It looks like Kate comes by it honestly."

Kate studied the way her parents were exchanging loving glances. "I wonder if they're going to sneak out to the barn again tonight..."

Clay snickered. "I'm staying away from the mistletoe this time."

"Chicken."

Chicken? "I don't need any mistletoe to steal a kiss from you, honey." Clay wrapped his arms around Kate and pulled her close, giving her a noisy kiss on her earlobe as she squealed at him. "But that's not why I said I was staying away from the mistletoe. How badly do you want to catch your parents getting romantic with each other under the mistletoe?"

"I'm used to them," Kate shrugged. "It's not that big of a deal any more."

"All right." Clay nodded, knowing that angle wasn't going to help him get any sympathy. But he thought he knew what would... "Pretend my dad was still alive. How would you feel if you caught my parents getting romantic with each other, hm?" Kate blanched, then covered her mouth with a hand as she started to redden at the idea. "Ha!" Clay exclaimed. "Now you understand how I feel."

"If they escape to the barn," Sarah told them, "they escape to the barn. The two of you are going to be joining the ranks of the rabbits in about twenty-four hours."

Clay flushed bright red as Kate scowled at her. "Sarah Caelin Daniels..."

Kim and Ruben exchanged a curious glance before turning back to her. "Kate, now you gotta tell us the story," Ruben suggested slyly.

"Story?" Kate asked innocently. "What story?"

"The thing about rabbits."

Kate continued to maintain her air of innocence. "What makes you think there's a story?"

Kim gave her a come-on look. "This is you and Clay. There's a story."

"It's not our story!" Kate responded defensively, and began to explain.

Within moments of Kate telling the story behind her family's rabbit joke history and how Clay had caught her parents getting frisky Friday night, Kim and Ruben were laughing uncontrollably. "Oh my gosh... poor Clay... poor, poor Clay... Now I know why..." Seeing Sarah's warning look, Kim clamped her hand over her mouth, holding back a new fit of giggles.

Kate raised her eyebrow at Sarah, who raised one right back at her. I smell a Sarah prank afoot. She leaned towards Clay. "Hon..." she whispered, "we're going to have to watch our backs on this one."

Clay studied Sarah, Kim, and Ruben in turn. Yeah - we're not going to get off lightly with our friends. "I don't know how much we can do," he whispered back, "if they've already got something started..."

"True..."

Finished with dinner, the couple decided to hand out a few tokens of their appreciation and love to their families and their friends. Placing her gift to Clay on the table beside her, Kate grinned as she watched everyone open the gifts that they had received. Unfortunately with the short notice, Clay had done all the work - but she marveled at the good taste he had shown in selecting gifts. She snuck a glance over at him, smiling warmly as she noticed him taking in the sight of everyone opening their appreciation gifts. "You're amazing, did you know that?"

Clay grinned back at her as he took her hand in his and squeezed it fondly. "I seem to remember you telling me that from time to time." Retrieving a tastefully tissued gift bag from his other side, he placed it in front of Kate. "I got a little something for you too, honey, something that you should be able to use at the wedding. Or at least that's my hope."

Kate's jaw dropped, as she stared speechless at the bag. Finally she blinked. I don't know why I'm so surprised about this - he's shown that he's ready to spoil me rotten any moment. "Well... that makes two of us, love." Kate put her own brightly wrapped package in front of Clay.

"Honey," Clay began as he studied the package, "what did you do?"

"Don't open them yet."

Clay and Kate both glanced up with confusion at Sarah, also holding a brightly wrapped gift approximately the size of a hatbox. "This is for the two of you. It's a group project - I put it together, but your families and all your friends contributed in their own special way."

Taking the box from Sarah, the couple shared a warm smile. Carefully they opened the gift as a team, alternating between taking off bow and ribbon, or opening the ends of the paper. Finally Clay placed the box on his lap and lifted the lid, allowing Kate to reach into the box and pull out its contents. "Oh my - " Kate exclaimed as Clay placed the empty box to the side. "Clay..."

"Oh my goodness." Clay blinked as he studied the cover of a beautifully-bound scrapbook, a cover with a photo cover attached which contained a full-length photo of Clay and Kate in their formalwear from the move premiere last summer. With slightly shaking hands he opened the scrapbook to the title page.

"Look, honey!" Kate exclaimed, pointing to the heading as Sally came up behind them to lean on Kate's shoulders and peek over them at the scrapbook. "Our Story. Isn't this cool?"

"Wow," Clay breathed, noting another photograph of the two of them from the premiere - one of Kate giving him a light peck on the lips. Our first kiss, he remembered, smiling to see the caption labeling it as such. He turned the page, noting that the first handful of pages were of the two of them as they grew up - Clay's pictures on the left-hand side and Kate's on the right-hand side.

"Sarah, this is absolutely amazing! You've put a lot of work into this." Sally smiled over at her. "I'll bet there are thousands of Claym... I mean, fans, that would pay you big bucks on eBay to get their hands on what you've freely given these two out of love."

Sarah shook her head. "Not happening."

"Good for you, Sarah." Sally kneaded her cousin's shoulder. "Cous' and the 'Voice' here need all the privacy they can get. But then again, look at what my attempt at giving them some privacy did for me. The Clayton is marrying my cousin tomorrow, and I only found out yesterday morning."

Kate snorted and patted Sally's hand. "I only found out last Saturday, and I'm the bride."

"Nothing like advance notice..."

"Hey, it had to be super-secret and planned quickly," Kate said sharply, "if we wanted to have any privacy at this wedding. I am choosing to understand why Clay went about it the way he did."

Hiding a pleased smile at Kate's expression of her trust in him, Clay briefly closed his eyes for a moment before opening them to look back at the pictures. "I love this!" Clay exclaimed, continuing to page excitedly through the scrapbook. "You know, honey, I've never seen any baby pictures of you until now."

"That's fine with me," Kate nodded, her nose wrinkling with distaste.

"Aw..." Finally through with the "growing-up" section, Clay turned the page. Noting that the title read, "The Meeting", he knew that they would be seeing more pictures of them together. He winced at the first picture that greeted his eye - the picture Will had taken of the two of them on the floor of the limousine, shortly after Kate had accidentally knocked them over. "Oh no..."

"The limo picture?" Kate moaned. "Why am I not surprised..."

"WHERE did that picture come from?" Sally asked, leaning almost all the way around Kate. "Kate my dear, you do realize that you are living every Claymate's dream in that picture right there. I'm surprised they didn't put you on the shuttle for that one."

"That one," Will informed her, "is from my private collection. My pictures don't go on no Internet. Now in the lovebirds' photo album... that I could handle."

Kate covered her bright red face with her hand as Clay cast an uncertain glance at Sally from the side of his eyes. "Thanks a lot, Will," Kate grumbled.

Will chuckled and held out his hand in a thumbs-up gesture. "Any time, Kate."

"I have a funny feeling," Kate echoed as she gently tapped the page, "that the rest of our 'magic' moments are in there too. Sarah's had full access to my photographs from the trip, and between Kim and your mother and my mother, Sarah's also had access to their pictures and the Internet..."

"Oh no..." Clay groaned. "I'm not so sure I want to keep looking if the rest of them are there..."

"The REST??" Sally glanced up at Patricia. "Just how many more pictures like that do they have?"

"Too many." Patricia smiled wickedly at them. "Sarah's little project was just one more reason I've been your Internet watchdog, sweetie."

Clay glanced at Patricia before turning back to Kate. "Internet watchdog?" he asked.

Kate nodded. "She knows that I don't have the time with my teaching to monitor half the stuff people post on the web sites about you - so she's been doing that for me. She has been very carefully keeping her fingers on the Internet pulse of your fans, seeing those that treasure and respect you as well as those who don't... those who have done little more than make an object out of you."

Clay wrinkled his nose. "An object? What do you mean?"

Quickly, sharply Kate shook her head. "You don't want to know. Trust me, Clay - you don't want to know. And believe me, you deserve so much better than that. But as long as you're in the public limelight... there's very little we can do about it." Kate gave his cheek a light kiss. "I came to the conclusion a long time ago that we can't do much more than continue to stay true to what we know, our own faith and morals, and give the best example we can. Those who have eyes and ears will see and hear what we're really about. Those who don't... won't, and all we can do is pray for them."

Sally beamed with pride at Kate's words. "Eloquently put, my dear!"

Patricia smiled. "You've decided to pick and choose which struggles you wish to engage in, Clay, and that's one of the things about you that I respect. You're choosing to make a difference in every way you can and ignore the people who have nothing good to say about you."

The smallest of smiles barely turned the corner of Clay's mouth as he thanked Patricia, and Kate knew that he appreciated the words of his future mother-in-law more than could be expressed by a mere thank-you. Unfortunately, there was no way that he could completely ignore everything. Some things affected him whether any of them liked it or not. The difference was in where Clay drew his strength - he continued to pull his strength from his faith in God, and from the love and support of his family and friends. And Kate gave him as much strength and love and support as she could spare, and it was obvious to her how much it meant to him. Tomorrow she would become his wife... her self-assigned task to love him, support him, and believe in him and accept him unconditionally was all the more critical now. It would now become her duty, a duty she would be all-too-happy to assume. Leaning up to kiss him warmly on the cheek, Kate brought the discussion back to the subject at hand. "But she's apparently been gleaning some of the best pictures out there to be included in this scrapbook."

"That's right, honey," Patricia verified. "Regis and Kelly, the movie premiere, your question-and-answer period the other day in the classroom - and some of Clay's better solo pictures - they're all in there."

Sarah nodded towards Faye. "And of course your mom provided a handful more from your time in L.A. Loved the wrestling match with the water hose, Katydid."

Clay giggled as Kate made a face. "Thanks, Sarah..."

"Anytime, Katydid."

"Now these are cute pictures of the two of you in the back seat of the limo." Sally pointed to the picture of Clay and Kate on the floor. "Were they all taken on the same day?"

Slowly Clay nodded, seeing for the first time a pair of photographs of them in the back seat of the limo - one of Clay handing Kate the roses, and another of the two of them holding each other as they rode to Clay's L.A. home. When did Will take these? He hadn't remembered seeing the flash or hearing the click of the shutter like he had for the first picture... but he didn't mind that now, considering what had come of the pictures. "Our first day in L.A."

"How soon do I find pictures of the water hose?"

Kate chewed her lip in thought. "That would have been the next day, after we toured the recording studio, and after Kim and I went dress shopping."

"All right." Sally tapped Clay's shoulder. "Keep turning. This I have to see."

Not entirely sure he wanted Kate's cousin Sally to see more embarrassing moments from their time together in L.A., Clay gingerly turned the next page. Glancing through photographs of their tour through RCA Records, Clay turned another page. "Oh no..."

Kate giggled at the pictures from the Aiken/Studdard family barbecue the two men had held in Clay's back yard, most notably the picture of Clay in the cooking apron. "I am sooo glad she included that one..." Gently tapping his cheek, Kate grinned at him. "I still say you needed a chef's hat."

Clay stuck his tongue out at her before glancing back at other pictures from the barbecue. "Well, we have pictures of Ruben and me grilling on this page, our families eating on this page... which means..."

"Unh-hunh." Kate nodded as Clay turned the page to a spread with several photographs from their water fight turned wrestling match on the lawn. "Yeow..."

Sally laughed warmly, playing with Kate's hair. "My, my, MY! Those ARE classic pictures! You're lucky those haven't hit the Internet... uh... or have they?"

"No," Kate shook her head.

"Oh, that can change in a hurry," Sarah said sweetly.

"Don't you dare." Kate pointed at Sarah, who plastered a cheesy grin on her face.

Clay turned the next page, chuckling warmly at seeing photographs from their morning with Regis. "Speaking of classic pictures..."

Sally tapped a picture of Clay sharing a joke with Regis during the first part of the show. "I remember hearing that you ended up co-hosting that show. Boy, I regretted not taping that one and by the time I found out about it, I couldn't find a decent video clip to download from any of the fansites."

"I'll make you a copy," Patricia told her. "Believe me, you'll want to see it."

"Thanks, Trish. I owe ya!" Sally happily replied. Clay turned another page, and Sally did a double-take at seeing a picture of when Kate had knocked over Clay after his first song. "Oh my heck!!! So you're the infamous debacle queen!"

Kate's eyes grew the size of quarters as Clay burst into delighted laughter. "I'm what??"

"The infamous debacle queen!" Sally replied, ignoring Clay's helpless giggles. "I remember reading about the Regis interview that Clay had brought his new girlfriend to the show and how she had tried to debacle him on the set in front of everyone. Now I have to see that video!! What a hoot!"

"I did not try to debacle him on the set!" Kate protested as more of the group started laughing. "He sang me a very beautiful song, and I went to hug him." She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. "I just... went to hug him a little too enthusiastically... and we ended up on the floor. Calamity Kate rides again."

Sally nodded knowingly. "Well, that I believe... I know all-too-well about you and your gracefulness."

"Or lack thereof..." Kate muttered under her breath.

"Which is how we ended up on the floor of the limo," Clay told her, gasping for breath.

"Well," Sally shrugged. "That explains everything." She slowly shook her head. "I bet you never thought you'd see the day you were hanging out with Regis Philbin."

"No kidding," Kate agreed. "He plays a mean game of blackjack."

Sally laughed loud and warm. "Sarah, remind me to pry that story out of her at the bachelorette party later. Go on now - I want to see more of your pictures."

Clay turned the page to see more pictures of the two of them on Regis's couch being interviewed. Turning another page, he laughed warmly at seeing pictures of the two of them and Regis with the animals from Exotic Animal Rescue Society. "Honey, look - we have a picture of you getting kissed by the tiger."

Kate squealed with delight. "Oh, that was sooo much fun!" She pointed at another picture. "And you with the monkey! The two of you were so cute."

Sally grinned as she tapped the picture. "Now I saw the monkey picture on the boards. Even funnier than the picture of you with the sock monkey from Atlanta in 2004."

Sighing gently at his newly-discovered fan, Clay turned to the next page in the scrapbook... more pictures from the movie premiere. He smiled at the pictures of the two of them walking down the red carpet in their formalwear, eyes riveted to each other as if their very breath depended upon it. "Oh my goodness, to see this couple staring at each other that way, you'd say they had it pretty bad."

"Clay," Brett snorted, "you still have it pretty bad. You're getting married tomorrow."

Kate gently smoothed a finger over a copy of the same photograph of her stealing a kiss at the premiere - that quick peck on the lips. "Our first kiss..." she sighed.

Kim shook her head gently as Clay continued to page through the scrapbook. "As many times as you've kissed, I'm surprised that there are only the two occasions that have been caught on film."

Clay chuckled. "Give us time."

Sarah held up her camera. "We can start remedying that now, if you'd like."

"Cute, Sarah," Kate snorted.

"Aw," Clay teased. "You just want to keep it between the two of us."

Kate raised her eyebrow at him. "And how much opportunity has anyone had to take pictures of us kissing when we've been together physically in the same place for two weeks out of the two and a half years we've known each other?"

Clay frowned, knowing that was the exact reason. "I still say you - " He was cut off immediately when Kate gently turned his face towards hers and kissed him on the lips. Fine with me... he thought as he pulled her closer.

A snap or two of the shutter later, Sarah put her camera back down. "There - another kiss for the scrapbook. Now we just have to get them to stop kissing..."

"Good luck," Kim nodded, pointing to the couple still exchanging sweet affections.

Sally poked each of them on a shoulder, still taken by surprise that it was her cousin Clay was marrying. "Don't make me go get a bucket of ice water to dump on you two."

Clay broke the kiss with a sigh. "Fine..." he muttered and turned back to the scrapbook.

The pair finished with the pages that Sarah had created (complete with additional commentary from Sally) and put the scrapbook back in the box. Sarah had intentionally left a handful of blank pages for them to add more picture pages later. Finally it was time for the two of them to open their gifts to each other. "Ladies first," Clay told Kate gently.

Blushing lightly, Kate carefully dug into the gift bag to find out what Clay had given her. She blinked in surprise when her fingers found two small velvet jewelry boxes. "Clay... what have you done now?" When he didn't answer, she pulled out the two boxes and placed them on the table. She peeked into the sack to see if that was all. Ah - the card. She placed this too on the table. "What should I open first?" Clay pointed to the card, and she quickly opened it. "Oh - " she exclaimed as a small sheet of paper fell out of the card.

"Read the card first, then that," Clay told her as she picked up the paper.

All right. Kate read the card slowly, letting Clay's choice of verse sink in fully to savor the meaning and sentiment behind it. She smiled gently at him. That was beautiful. "Thank you, sweetie." Opening up the sheet of stationery, Kate glanced at its contents. Oh my gosh - Clay wrote me a love letter on the eve of our wedding? Clay honey... Reading this even more deliberately than the card, Kate let the words of Clay's heartfelt writings roll through her mind, tasting their flavor and trying to grasp the emotion behind the free-style prose.

Clay watched closely as Kate read the letter he had written just this afternoon after their return from downtown with all their legal paperwork signed. After Kate had shown the depth and sincerity of her love for him by choosing to sign that accursed prenuptial agreement, his heart and his mind had been full of many things... and this is how he had chosen to get them out. Clay had poured out his thoughts and emotions to her, telling her what a treasure she was and expressing how blessed he was that she was his lady... soon to be his wife... assuring her that she was the answer to many prayers, only some of which were his own. He ended the letter by promising to love her the rest of his life. Clay had been careful to say the rest of his life, not the rest of hers. At last Kate folded the letter back up and returned it to the inside of the card, placing it back into the gift bag for safekeeping. For the briefest of moments Clay wasn't sure it had made an impact on her - then he heard a delicate sniffle from Kate. He gently touched her arm with his hand, and she glanced up at him. Sure enough , there were tears running down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, honey," Clay apologized. "I didn't mean to make you cry."

"Please don't apologize, Clayton Aiken," Kate told him firmly as he brushed the tears away. "Don't ever apologize for showing me your beautiful heart. I'm the one who's blessed, Clay - blessed beyond measure, and don't think that I'll ever forget it for a minute!" Closing her eyes as the two of them embraced warmly, Kate laid her head on his shoulder as they held each other close.

"Hey!" Brett protested. "You guys still aren't finished!"

Clay chuckled at his brother's impatience, continuing to hold Kate close as she opened the earrings one pair at a time. "We are a sentimental couple, Brett. Get used to it."

"Ohmygosh..." Kate gasped as she opened first the box containing the pearl earrings, followed by the box containing the diamond earrings. "Clay... you-you..."

"I didn't know which ones you'd rather wear tomorrow with your dress," Clay explained, "so I bought them both. But I know you - I bought something plain and simple and versatile so that you could wear them to any of the other special events we go to in the future."

Kate nodded. "You know me all right. And considering the size, I'm sure they weren't cheap. Oh my gosh, Clay..." She slowly shook her head. "Thank you, Clay honey. Wow. I don't think I can top that."

Clay winced, knowing that this was the first of many gifts, a "teaser" gift, with the others to be opened sometime tomorrow after they were married. He hadn't decided when he would spring the rest of them, but they would come eventually. "I guess I'm going to have to open your gift to find out." He opened the card first, feeling his own eyes mist slightly at Kate's own choice of sentimental card verse. She had also chosen to write a fitting scripture passage in the card - Genesis 2:18. (The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." NIV) Lightly Clay dabbed at his eyes as he put the card off to the side in order to grab the gift. After removing and discarding the paper, he opened the box. "Oh my gosh!" he exclaimed as a small folded up sheet of paper fell out of the lid of the box. He opened that first, noting that it was the carbon copy of a check stub addressed to the Bubel-Aiken Foundation. Kate had donated a fair amount of money to his charity as her wedding gift to him. Clay smiled at her - she knew him entirely too well. "Like you say, honey - the way to this man's heart is through his stomach, or in this case, his kids!"

Shrugging, Kate leaned her cheek on his shoulder. "I was kind of at a loss for what to get you, honey. I always am." She smiled gently. "You want and need so little - which is a refreshing change of pace from so many guys nowadays." Giving a gentle snort, she mumbled. "About the only thing of any real value I have to give you is myself - my heart and my soul and my body."

Wrapping one arm around her waist, he pulled her close. "That's exactly what I want and need. I want you, I need you... and only you." He grinned and stroked her cheek. "You're the right size, shape, and color. Couldn't fit me any closer."

Kate giggled lightly as Clay kissed her on the forehead. "You always did know how to sweet-talk me. All right, all right... just open the token gift, already."

Obeying in good humor, Clay opened the jewelry box and his jaw dropped at what he saw. Inside the box was a solid gold ID bracelet with the initials "W.W.J.D." engraved on the front in bold letters. Carefully he pulled the bracelet out of the box to study it closer, turning it to appraise it from every angle. There's writing on the back, too. Clay pulled it towards his eyes to read the finer print on the back. "Today, Tomorrow, Forever Yours. All My Love, Kate" he read aloud.

"I know it's nothing fancy," Kate apologized, "but it's thmfjpt - " The last of her words came out in a muffled jumble as Clay boldly covered her mouth with his own, the bracelet still clutched in his hand. "Mmm," Kate mumbled as she pulled him closer, enjoying every moment of the stolen kiss.

This time Kim snapped a picture of the couple with her camera. "One more moment for the scrapbook..." she quipped.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
On the way back to the house

Clay drove the SUV containing his fiancé, his bodyguard Will, Kim, and her bodyguard George back to the house. Kate glanced at the two bodyguards talking low and quiet in the very back before lowering her voice. "Will never got Sarah to hear him out, did he?"

"Not to my knowledge," Clay admitted.

Kim leaned up to whisper with the others. "She's still ignoring him... and it's taking its toll on her mood. She was doing her best to be cheerful for you tonight, Kate, but you could tell her heart just wasn't in it at all."

"I know." Kate sighed. "I told you at dinner, hon, that if she doesn't give him the opportunity for him to apologize, I'm taking matters into my own hands."

Clay made a thoughtful face. "I know... and I'm inclined to agree with you. What did you have in mind?" he asked.

Kate snorted. "March her down there and make her stand still while he apologized. I can't make her listen, but I can make her give him the opportunity to be heard."

"Brave words," Kim told her.

"They are not ruining our wedding with their fighting."

"Fighting?" Kim exclaimed. "Who said anything about fighting?"

Clay groaned. "You should have seen them when we first got here. There was shouting, there were snide and sarcastic remarks - "

"Some of those remarks," Kate stated, "were plain cutting."

Clay nodded as Kim gaped. "There was name-calling..."

"Of course Christmas Eve," Kate snickered, "there was that mistletoe..."

"Mustn't forget the mistletoe..." Clay giggled.

Kim rolled her eyes. "Sounds like they're an interesting couple."

"Do you have any ideas how we can get them back together?" Clay asked.

"No," Kim shook her head. "I don't. How did you get them together?"

"Um..." Kate chewed her lip. "We didn't. The snowstorm did."

"Mmm," Kim mused thoughtfully. "Sounds like we just need to lock them in a small room together and not let them out until they've made up."

Clay laughed. "That's probably something we should do only as a last resort."

"Last resort?" Kate raised her eyebrows. "Who are you kidding? It sounds like a plan to me."

Finally the family and friends arrived back at the house, prepared to enjoy a couple of nice gatherings. "I know this would not be your first choice of locations for bachelor and bachelorette parties," Patricia acknowledged to Clay and Kate and their attendants, "but in the interest of secrecy and security it will have to do. Fortunately it's a big house - one group can be upstairs in the den, one group can be downstairs in the basement."

"Which place we go," Kate responded, "depends on what the groups plan on doing. There's more room in the basement," Kate informed everyone, "but it's going to be a lot colder down there." She frowned, giving Clay a thoughtful look. "I guess we should figure out who all is going to be at our parties."

Andrew did a quick head count. "Clay, Ruben, Brett, me, the three bodyguards..." He glanced at Clay's brother Jeff. "You coming? Okay, that's eight of us. Nine or ten, if Dad and Josh decide they're coming."

Arthur shook his head, knowing that his presence would make the gathering awkward at best for Clay. "I'll pass," he said simply. Sally's husband Josh too quickly passed up the invitation.

"Eight, I guess. How many do you have?" Andrew asked Kate.

Kate turned towards the ladies, and Kim spoke up. "Kate, Sarah, myself are three, Amy and Holly if they want, and Sally and your mothers if they want."

"Count me in, all the way," Sally told her cousin. "I wouldn't miss this for all the pizza in Sicily."

That's a new one... Clay blinked and turned to Kate with an odd expression on his face.

Seeming to understand the question on his mind, Kate leaned to whisper into his ear. "Brooklynese Italian background."

He nodded with satisfaction. And that would also explain the trace accent I hear in her voice.

"I need to take care of the kids first," Holly informed them, "and then I'll join you."

Amy smiled. "I can help you. It will go that much quicker."

Patricia slowly smiled, exchanging a nod with Faye. "The mothers will be there."

"Looks like we have eight," Kim stated. "Our numbers are the same."

Sarah gave Andrew a wry grin. "With two chilly-willies in our group, we'll suggest that you guys take the basement."

"Two?" Clay asked with confusion. He remembered Andrew's accusation that his wife was cold-blooded, but for the life of him Clay couldn't figure out who the second person would be... unless it was his own Kate, with her tiny physique.

Sure enough, Kate raised her hand and wiggled her fingers. "One thing I do not mind about the fact that I'll be moving to California... I will finally get away from these winters."

Clay giggled. "I know one person who will never join the polar bear club..." Kate made a face and stuck her tongue out at him. Hmmm... Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her close. "Sounds like fun to me."

"Gack, no," Sarah choked as Kate blushed and buried her face in his shoulder. "I just ate." She hobbled over to the couple. "Better let her go, loverboy. The parties are about to start."

"Not just yet," Kate told her, nodding at Kim. Kim nodded back, and put a restraining hand on Will's shoulder. Quietly Kate addressed Sarah. "I couldn't help but notice that you haven't said as much as a single word to Will."

"Why should I?" Sarah asked her irately.

"Because he went to the trouble of getting you those roses on the kitchen table," Kate informed her, "and really does want to apologize to you. Now I know that I have my own stubborn streak, so I'm the last person to talk here... but you are going to hear his apology. You are going to stay here and listen to him until he's through with what he has to say to you. I'm not saying you have to agree to marry him or raise his children or anything, but I am determined that the two of you are at least going to be civil to each other this weekend... and by civil I mean nicer to each other than you started out your association. Got it?"

Sarah scowled, heaved a huffy sigh and finally shook her head dismissively. "Fine." She met Kate's eye. "What, are you afraid I'm going to ruin your wedding or something?"

Kate raised her eyebrow in return. "You two do add that wet-blanket effect that it otherwise lacks, yes... but it's more than that, Sarah, and you know it." Kate took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Sarah... I want to see you happy. And when you were with him this past week, you seemed happy."

"Having the right man is not what ultimately makes a woman happy," Sarah retorted.

"No, it isn't," Kate agreed, "but it sure helps." She put a gentle hand on Sarah's shoulder. "Talk to him, okay? He really does care a lot about you. We'll be in the den." Kate walked back over to Clay and wrapped her arms around him. "Just think, hon - less than twenty-four hours, and we'll be man and wife."

Grinning warmly at her, he wrapped his own arms around her. "Less than twenty-four hours..."

"Try not to party too hard." Clay rolled his eyes, and Kate giggled. Giving him a gentle goodnight kiss, she turned to go with the group of women into the den.

Kim smiled as Sarah remained in the room, shyly avoiding Will's eye. "She's willing to hear you out. Go on, Will. You can do it." Kim walked past the two of them into the den to join the others.

Will waited until they were the only two people in the room before saying anything. "I got you some flowers," he began awkwardly. "Those roses in the kitchen are for you."

"I know, Kate told me," Sarah replied quietly. It really was a thoughtful gesture on his part.

"I was a total jerk this morning," Will continued. "You said that you don't have time or patience for lies... and I doubted your words. I mean, if I wanted proof that you don't lie, all I would have to do is ask Kate or someone else in her family." He sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "But no - I didn't. I opened my dumb mouth and said something stupid, and it took a talk with Mr. Kirche before I saw that. You'd think that after the talk we had on Monday I'd have figured it out."

Sarah glanced up at him, her expression puzzled. He was rambling a bit, and she wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about. She could tell he meant what he was saying - if she could ever figure it out.

"I'm sorry I got jealous that you were spending time talking with Ruben and Brett. I wanted to be the one spending time with you, and when I saw you spending time with them I thought you would rather spend it with them than me. Especially Ruben." Will shrugged before going on. "I mean, he's a successful big-name recording star and one of the American Idols - why would you stick with me when it was obvious he was interested in you. You even told me that you weren't interested in him, he wasn't your type, and I still didn't believe that you'd prefer me over him. I'm sorry I doubted you, and I'm sorry I took it out on you. You deserve better."

"Yeah, I probably do," Sarah admitted. "And yes, I am a flirt. I know your last serious thing was with a girl who cheated. But I'm not her. I said I wouldn't do that. You have to trust me. I'm a one-man woman. I might look at the menu, but I'm not gonna order off it." She sighed gently. "I am sorry that you were hurt though."

Finished with their apologies, the two of them fell silent. Shortly Will gave her a hopeful smile. "Does this mean I win you back?"

Sarah pretended to ponder his question. "I don't know," she teased. "I think there should be some sort of penance paid."

"Penance?" Will asked, the surprise evident in his voice. "You mean the flowers didn't do it?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of a kiss," Sarah confessed quietly.

Will grinned slyly. That was more his idea of penance. "You got it, Princess." Since she was still on crutches, he leaned down to place a gentle but warm kiss on her lips.

"Will, are you - " Ruben appeared at the door of the kitchen. Taking in the two with a glance he grinned wickedly. "Oh - you're doin' the kiss and make up thing." Turning back the way he came, he returned to the basement stairs. "He'll be down in a few minutes - they're takin' a make-up and make-out break..." he called out as he started the descent to rejoin the others.

The two broke the kiss with a laugh. "I guess I'll see you in the morning," Will told her. "You'd better get going, if you're gonna play half those pranks on Kate."

"Believe me," Sarah winked, "you'll hear all about them later."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Downstairs

"Don't know what kind of hen party those gals are planning on throwing my sis," Andrew teased Clay as Ruben came back down the stairs, "but I hired a stripper."

Clay's eyes bulged at Andrew's jest. "Please tell me you are not serious. Because if you are, I'm boycotting my own bachelor party and crashing the ladies'."

"I'm completely serious, bro," Andrew informed him. Clay turned towards the stairs, and Andrew clamped a hand on his shoulder. "Just a minute, just a minute..."

Ruben stayed exactly where he was in front of the stairs, blocking Clay from going up. "'Sokay, man. I know what he's got in mind."

Swallowing nervously, Clay turned back around to face Andrew. Andrew grinned wickedly and grabbed a big, black wheel-like contraption from a nearby shelf, shoving it into Clay's arms. "There ya go, big guy - here's the stripper I hired for you." Clay blinked, a blank look on his face as his brother Brett snapped a picture. "Paint stripper, Clay."

Obviously relieved, Clay laughed for several minutes before stopping abruptly and shaking his head. "For a while I thought you were serious."

"I was, Clay. I really did hire you a stripper... just not the kind that most guys see on the night before their wedding. I know you better than that." Andrew grinned. "Just pulling your chain, bro."

"Good," Clay told him firmly. "There's only one woman I want to see naked, and... um... well..." He trailed off, his eye taking on a dreamily wistful expression as a light pink colored his cheeks.

"Three guesses who he's thinkin' about," Ruben guffawed as Clay blushed more deeply, "and the first two don't count."

"Yeah, I can tell by the look in his eye that he's thinking about her even right now." Andrew waggled a finger in Clay's face. "You be nice to my sister, understood?"

"Of course," Clay replied. "She's an amazing woman who deserves good and wonderful things. She deserves to be loved and cherished for the rest of her life. Only God can help me be the kind of man she wants and needs me to be."

A slight smile turned the corner of Andrew's mouth. "I wouldn't have it any other way." He addressed the whole group. "I had a handful of things in mind to keep us busy." He picked up a videotape and nodded toward the TV. "For starts, I got a movie to watch."

"A movie!" George exclaimed as the guys gathered around the TV to claim seats. "What kind of movie? Action? Adventure? Comedy?"

Andrew shook his head. "Action-adventure, no. Comedy - well, maybe. It's a girly movie, just for Clay," he winked at Clay.

Clay groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. I'm going to sneak out of this party yet.

Quickly Andrew started the movie, and within moments it became apparent what he meant by a "girly movie" - it was a home movie showing clips of a little girl, clips that were obviously years or even decades old. Brett was the first one to catch on. "Is this Kate?"

"Yep," Andrew nodded. "I said it was a girly movie. A movie about a little girly that Clay's marrying tomorrow. I heard him say how he'd never seen any baby pictures of my sis, and I thought I'd fix that."

Smiling warmly as scenes from Kate's childhood played on the screen, Clay finally started to relax. While it was clear that Andrew still liked to pull the occasional fast one, it was also clear that he knew his soon to be brother-in-law and his tastes in fun and entertainment.

After about ten minutes Andrew shut off the movie. "I know the rest of you guys would be bored with much more of that, so we'll turn it off for now. Clay - there's more where that came from. In fact..." Andrew picked up another scrapbook he had placed off to the side. "On the way home I had Mom tell me where I could find Kate's baby book. We can get the others started in a poker game, and you can either join them now or later as you want to look this over."

George nodded. "Poker sounds good. What's the stakes?"

Andrew snorted. "Not money. Bad idea." He pulled out several bowls and several bags of M&M's. "Here's the stakes. I'll open up the bags and everyone bets in M&M's."

"Aw, man," Payton complained, "I don't know if that's a good idea or not. Some of us can't eat the winnings, and some of us will eat up our cash flow before it ever gets onto the table."

The others laughed - everyone know that he was talking about Clay and Ruben respectively. Taking the teasing in good humor, Ruben gave Payton a fake punch to the stomach.

Clay's eyes lit up as he accepted the scrapbook from Andrew. "Maybe since I shouldn't eat the M&M's you guys should go ahead and start the game without me. I'll sit at the table with you and glance this over while you guys play a few rounds."

"There's nothing stopping you from playing, Clay," Andrew told him. "We're just not going to let you eat any of the candy. We don't want to move the ceremony to Good Samaritan Hospital."

"'Sokay, man," Ruben grinned, reassuring both Andrew and Clay. "We bought plenty of other food today. If Clay really does get the munchies, we'll find him somethin' else to eat." He stood and walked over to the refrigerator in the corner. "I might raid some of it now." Opening the door, he started searching the refrigerator's contents. "The chips and cookies and things are over there," Ruben pointed towards a table where several bags sat ready, "but there's veggies and dip and fruit in here."

Clay immediately turned his head at the mention of fruit. "Ruben, don't eat any of the fruit and stuff that's still in the sack. That's off limits."

"Off limits?" Ruben asked with surprise. "Why's it off limits?"

"Er, uh..." Clay began sheepishly. "It's for Kate and me tomorrow in case we get hungry later," he offered weakly, convinced his excuse was lame at best. He really didn't want to admit the truth.

"Whatever you say, Clay. Dawg," Ruben exclaimed as he pulled a couple of small reusable plastic containers out of the refrigerator, lifting the lid of each one to cast a wary eye at their contents - green and blue respectively. "What's with all the pudding we bought earlier? It's all different colors, man. I thought you just bought straight vanilla, not a rainbow."

A different color entirely, namely red, started creeping up Clay's face. "Aaahhh..."

"Let me see." Andrew peeked in the refrigerator around Ruben's shoulder. "Hunh! All sorts of different colors, just like the finger paints Holly makes for the kids."

"Finger paints from pudding?" Ruben asked, incredulous.

"Yeah. Our squirts are forever sticking things in their mouths that they shouldn't. So Holly and Kate are always looking for activities for them that are edible. This is one of their favorites. They loooove the pudding finger paints. We never know if more paint ends up on the paper or in their mouths. Holly said she got the idea from Kate." As soon as he said it, Andrew understood completely and started snickering. "That explains it..."

Will and Payton exchanged a knowing look as Clay's blush deepened. "Fun with food..."

"Hunh?" Brett asked, clearly even more confused than Ruben started out the conversation. "What do you mean, fun with food?"

"Wedding night," Jeff said simply.

With that simple statement, Brett knew exactly what purpose his brother had for the pudding. "Really." A sly smile crossing his face, Brett glanced at Clay. "And your fans think you're so innocent... if they only knew..."

"I'm going to be married in a matter of hours," Clay protested, giving Brett a dirty look. "I'll be able to start doing those kinds of things."

"But the ideas you're coming up with!" Brett teased, elbowing Clay. "People would have a heyday with this knowledge!"

Clay scowled. "There's a big difference between 'inexperienced' and 'ignorant'. Tomorrow might be my first attempt at it, but I'm not going into it without knowing something about what I should be doing. Or having some ideas to make it a little more fun..."

Brett smirked. "Make sure you keep track of what you learn for when I get married."

Rolling his eyes, Clay stifled a sigh. "I'll keep a journal."

"Maybe I should post this on the message boards," Brett suggested.

"Don't you dare."

"Oh, why not?" Brett asked, grabbing Clay's laptop and opening it up. "It wouldn't be the first time I've posted under an assumed identity."

Clay walked over to stand behind him and read over his shoulder as he opened an Internet browser window. "Please don't tell me you're still posting..." When Brett shrugged, Clay groaned. "How many times do I have to tell you - "

"It's alright, Clay. No one suspects a thing." Brett pulled up the web site in question. "They're some pretty nice people. There are some good Christian ladies and men out there. I loooove hanging around the Dawg Pound."

"I like reading what the Clay Dawgs have to say," Clay nodded. Clay "Dawgs" were Clay's fans who were male and not ashamed of either their maleness or their Clay fandom. Some of them were as macho as it came... He always got a kick out of the things that the Dawgs (and the occasional stray woman, including one who jokingly called herself a poodle) posted in their thread.

"I get a kick out of them." Brett glanced up at Clay. "Speaking of the Clay Dawgs, have you read OlMass's Strange Story of the Bowers That Pee? It's a hoot."

"No," Clay admitted. "Where's that?"

"It's in the fan fiction section."

"Oh my gosh! You're still reading the fiction??" Clay asked, making a face at the idea.

"Yeah," he acknowledged. "Some of it's tasteless, smutty junk. You don't want to read that. But there's a couple on here you would like... ones that recognize your faith and your morals and write you from that angle."

"I am not reading any of that," Clay told him firmly.

"Too bad, you're missing out on some good stuff..." Brett suggested. He pointed to the screen. "There's even one fan who's started writing about the romance between you and Kate."

Just what I wanted to hear... Clay groaned. "How bad is it?"

Brett grinned at him. "It isn't. It's surprisingly accurate. She compiled everything she had heard about your week in Los Angeles and wrote about that. New York, the premiere, you getting sighted at Disneyland - she wrote it all up." Raising his eyebrows a couple of times, he went on. "She's even decided to write about the two of you eloping." Giggling as Clay's jaw dropped, he nodded. "Seriously - she's been posting this since last summer. At this point she has you guys getting engaged over Christmas break, you proposing on bended knee in front of the fireplace..."

"Oh my gosh!" That was a little too close to the truth for Clay's comfort...

"Her last post was the Christmas Eve proposal, and I'm dying to see where she takes it from here." Brett clicked on the link and scrolled through the posts on the page.

Clay felt himself torn between the feeling of eerie-ness over the idea that this story was written about him versus the morbid curiosity of wanting to read this for himself over Brett's shoulder. "Has she hinted when she's going to have them marry?"

Brett nodded. "She has, and I've been baiting her a little. A while back I told her to take a nice, long break from writing over Christmas to enjoy the holiday with her family. My hope was that she wouldn't post anything that she would want to go back and redo once word got out about you and Kate marrying tomorrow." He shrugged. "She's determined to be as accurate as she can - she's been known to redo an entire post if she feels it didn't do her characters justice or if her facts are really off. I've already found some small mistakes, but nothing too big."

That, at least, was a relief. "Then you've talked to her?" At receiving an affirmative nod from Brett, Clay asked another question. "So when does she say that she's going to have them marry?"

"She would rather have them marry just after the school year gets out so you could go to Haiti as husband and wife, but I suggested in a private message that she might wait on writing any more until she knows what happens between you and Kate over Christmas break. You know from seeing those pictures from Kate's classroom last Friday that your fans are quite happy to pass on any and all news they find out about you, so I knew that word of your marriage will get around quickly once it happens." He grinned wickedly up at Clay. "And no, I did not plant the idea in her head or even hint that you were planning all this. I know better than that."

"Still..." Clay shook his head sharply. It was spooky, if you asked him. "Never thought I'd hear me refer to myself in third character."

"You do get into the story all-too-easily," Brett admitted. "After you discuss the characters and plot enough times you get used to the idea of discussing yourself in third character. And believe me, since I'm in the story, I have."

"Brett," Clay snorted, "I don't think I could ever get used to it. Have you told Kate about this?"

"Heavens, no. She'd be even more embarrassed than you are." He gave his brother a sideways glance that suggested he was up to complete and total mischief. "I think I'm going to wait until Sunday and post that I heard a rumor you guys got married on New Year's Eve and see what happens."

"You wouldn't." Clay stared at Brett for a minute and knew that if he really decided that was what he wanted to do, he would. "Brett - don't."

Brett eyed his brother again. "So how were you planning on telling people that you and Kate got married over Christmas break?"

"Um..." Clay began.

"Especially," Will broke in, "with that girl down at the Clerk of the District Court's office knowing that you two were there applying for a marriage license."

After a moment's thought, Clay sighed. And yet another angle I didn't consider. So what issues did I consider when I planned this wedding? Clapping a hand on Brett's shoulder, Clay nodded. "Give us our wedding night in peace and quiet, and then you can send your writer friend a message about the 'rumor'."

"On one condition," Brett informed him. "Once you get back to L.A., I am going to send you copies of what this woman wrote for you to read in your spare time. Seriously, Clay, I want you to read it. I really think you'd like it."

Ruben started pulling other food items out of the refrigerator. "I don't know about you dawgs, but I'm hungry. Let's get some food and get this game on the road."

Clay grinned as Ruben and the other guys started putting together plates of food for themselves. So far he was enjoying his bachelor party - but he couldn't help wondering what kind of party the ladies were throwing for Kate...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, upstairs in the den

Kim and Patricia laid out the supplies for the first event of the bachelorette party - scissors, glue, old magazines, and background papers for scrapbooks. "This activity's going to be a little different. We're going to create a 'scrapbook' for Kate and Clay. But you can't write anything. Any words have to be taken from those magazines right there."

Patricia held up a hat. "I have the different themes for each page on different pieces of paper in here. We're going to work on pages in pairs, and everyone should grab one slip of paper for now. As each team finishes a page they can return to the hat to draw another theme."

"Found poetry!" Kate exclaimed. "You mean we're making a found poetry scrapbook?" When Kim and Sarah nodded, Kate made a smile of approval. "That's kind of different. I like it."

"And while we're working," Sarah suggested, "I think that every one of us in the room should give Kate one piece of advice, whether it is something they learned themselves or heard from someone else, that she can use with Clay in the bedroom."

Kate squawked, immediately clapping a hand over her mouth as the other women in the room laughed. The bride-to-be blushed as the hat with the scrapbook themes was passed around.

"Kate," Faye giggled lightly. "It's all right. You are going to be married to him."

"I know," Kate murmured, "and I'm looking forward to finally taking that last step as his wife. I mean, I know that God created the gift of physical intimacy for spouses and has made it well and good... but the idea still takes some getting used to. Especially if you've grown up with a cross-your-legs attitude."

Faye placed a warm arm around Kate's shoulders. "You've waited just for Clay, Kate honey, and he appreciates that. Your relationship will be all the more special because you did." Faye hugged her. "I couldn't be any more pleased to get a daughter-in-law like you."

Kate smiled as she returned Faye's hug. "Thanks, Mom. I consider myself fortunate to have all of you as my family."

"I want to give you this as a tip..." Faye began, sharing her information with Kate.

The job of sharing tales and pieces of advice went around the room of women until only Sally remained. Kate's gregarious cousin grinned wickedly. "Have I got the story for you."

Immediately Kate recognized the twinkle in Sally's eye. "This ought to be good."

"This is a true story," Sally began, "that happened last spring to Josh and me. One night we realized that we had the entire house to ourselves - our eldest Martha was out with friends and our youngest Joe was working late." She nodded at several of the knowing snickers the others were passing. "You've got it - carpe diem. And we seized every moment. We had a fire going, put on some romantic music, lit a lot of candles... and started doing what two married, consenting adults would do in the same situation." She snickered. "Unfortunately, just as things were starting to get good, Martha came home to grab a few things."

Kim laughed aloud. "Oh no!"

Sally nodded. "We barely heard the key in the lock and knew we had to do something. Josh turned off the music as I put out the candles, and since our clothes were in the bedroom all the way past the front door, we had to find somewhere else to hide." Casting an amused glance at Patricia, she smiled. "Your amazingly intelligent nephew suggested the garage. It worked; Martha and her friends didn't see us." Sally snickered again. "In fact, it worked too well. Martha saw that the garage needed to be locked... and actually remembered to do what we had told her again and again to do."

"She locked you out??" Sarah howled.

"Locked us naked in our garage with two locked cars, set the burglar alarm, and left to go back out again with her friends," Sally affirmed as the rest of the women laughed openly. "Our car keys were - where else? - in the house. Since we didn't want to give the neighbors the impression that we were starting a nudist colony, we scoured the garage for something to cover up and found the box of Christmas decorations." Once again that wicked grin returned. "Josh's sense of humor took over at that point, as he started to make crass jokes about where he could put the decorations on himself."

Amy giggled. "I can only imagine..."

Kate raised a single eyebrow. "I bet he hung that stocking with care..."

Breaking into hysterical laughter with the rest, Sally doubled over breathless. "Ooooohhhh, cous', that was perfect. I'll have to tell Josh that one." Finally gaining enough composure to finish the story, Sally continued. "He grabbed the tree skirt and I wrapped myself in garland, and we sprinted across the lawn towards the bedroom window. Unfortunately since it had rained earlier that day the lawn was wet and muddy, and we left quite the interesting mud trail on the way up into the window. We were covered with mud and grass clippings, but we were back inside the house." As the other women kept giggling, Sally shook her head. "We turned off the alarm and resumed where we left off - starting with a shower."

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Kate chuckled. "That one was a doozy. I love it."

Once the ladies were finished creating the scrapbook pages, they put them together for Kate to share later with Clay. Kim glanced at the clock. "The only other things we really had planned were either to watch a lot of mushy, romantic movies or talk a lot about relationships. But we both agreed that this is the best time to give each other facials and do our nails and things like that for tomorrow." Hearing a less-than-delicate snort from Kate, she pointed at her. "I know you're a no-muss-no-fuss sort of girl, but we are going to work on you whether you like it or not."

Making an embarrassed face, Kate shrugged. "It's not a big deal, really."

"To you, maybe it isn't. But it's still your wedding tomorrow, and every woman deserves plenty of pampering for her wedding."

Kate relented with a sigh. "I suppose I can deal with a little of the foofy-frilly tonight for Clay's sake..." she agreed. "Just as long as you don't go overboard. I'm a natural-look kind of gal."

"We know," Sarah told her, "and we planned accordingly." Bringing out a bag full of cosmetic supplies, Sarah pulled a pair of fingernail clippers, some files and emery boards, and a brand-new bottle of clear nail polish. She held up the polish for Kate's approval. "Work for you?" At receiving Kate's thumbs-up gesture, she made a motion at the bag. "Everyone go ahead and look. I know we won't do hair and makeup until tomorrow, but all my nail products are at your disposal. And if anyone wants to be bold and try a new look with the makeup I have, feel free to do that too."

"That's very generous of you, Sarah," Sally told her. "Thank you."

"I know we're going to put a very natural look on Kate tomorrow," Kim stated, "but if she's game, I think we ought to have fun with it tonight."

Kate snorted again, knowing her fiancé's opinion about high-maintenance, materialistic women. "And hope Clay doesn't see the results..."

As soon as Kate had washed her face and her hands and her feet, the others gathered around her. Quickly delving out the tasks, they started working on turning Kate into the next Cover Girl. Amy and Holly started preparing Kate's nails, having bonded earlier over Alyssa and Alexander. Meanwhile, Kim, Sarah, and Sally took over the task of putting makeup onto Kate while Patricia and Faye began to help each other out with their nails.

"We're all in agreement that we shouldn't put anything too dark on her, right?" Sally asked.

Sarah nodded. "Washes her out."

"That's what I've heard both of them say," Kim said.

Kate smirked up at Kim. "Look at this pale complexion and tell me that a lot of really bright color will do anything for it."

Taking a moment to study Kate's freshly-cleaned face, Kim quickly shook her head. "No."

"Bear with me a moment, Katydid," Sarah told her, putting her hair into a clip and moving it away from her face and out of their way.

"That reminds me," Kim held up a finger. "What are we going to be doing with her hair tomorrow?"

"'We' are not going to be doing anything," Patricia informed her. "I've made appointments with one of the local beauty salons where a friend of mine from church works. With as many of us as there are going to be, they were kind enough to give us a huge block of time and a group rate."

Faye glanced up at Patricia. "So they're in on the secret?"

Patricia nodded with a slight smile. "Only my friend is completely in on the secret. I am paying her directly with the understanding that the size of their tips depends not only on their skill as a beautician, but on their level of confidentiality."

"Alright, Ma!" Kate cheered. "I told Clay this morning at Jeanne's office that I learned my blackmail techniques from the best."

"This morning?" Faye asked, knowing that this was not an idle mention. "What happened?"

"Clerk of the District Court has a Claymate on her staff," Kate told her. "I told Jeanne that if the girl keeps her silence until Clay's on the plane Monday, I can get her an autographed picture."

Faye smiled, giggling lightly. "Good for you, Kate honey."

"I'll be darned if Clay is going to all that work keeping this whole wedding thing secret this far only to have it blown at the last minute by some office assistant with a big mouth." Kate scowled. "Some of my high school students have more tact than that girl did..."

"So in other words," Kim summarized, "we can do anything we want with your hair tonight."

"Not anything," Kate qualified. "No cutting, and no dye jobs. Nothing that can't be washed out and totally redone in the morning."

"Deal."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In the kitchen

The guys came up the stairs and filed past Arthur and Josh one by one. Pausing briefly at the kitchen table, Clay glanced at Arthur sitting there conversing with his nephew. "You guys all right? You weren't bored up here or anything, were you?"

"Naw," Arthur admitted. "We're havin' a good time just jabberin'. It's kind of nice to catch up - we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like."

"How are you related to Dad again," Clay asked Josh, "so that I can figure out how we'll be related?"

"We'll be cousins," Josh told Clay. "I'm Kate's cousin, the son of her mother's sister."

Nice to know that. Clay had heard Kate explain the family roll call before - once you started counting extended family, hers was a fair size. Arthur was number two child of four, and Patricia was number four of five... only one of whom was a male. He had heard Kate's tales about her family, including prying from Kate a few stories about her aunts to see how deeply ingrained the family gift of discernment was. "Since I drew the short straw for the couch tonight," Clay said to Arthur as the women's party also disbanded, "I was wondering if you have either some sort of blankets or sleeping bag I can use out there."

Arthur nodded and stood. "We have a couple of sleeping bags in the basement. Let me go grab you one to use tonight."

"Thanks, Dad," Clay told him. "I appreciate that."

Within a short time of Clay's family and Kate's cousins heading back out to the motel for the night, Clay had prepared his sleeping bag for the couch. Giving everybody passing by hugs and goodnight greetings, he waited until they had all gone upstairs before going over to Kate still standing shyly at the door to the den. Once over there, his eyes widened at her made-up face and hair and knew why she was acting halfway bashful. Although it was a very good job that added some color to her complexion, the look did not fit the Kate he knew at all. Oh really? Raising an eyebrow at her, he snickered when she rolled her eyes. "This was not my idea," she groused.

"Somehow I'm not surprised - it's not you."

Kate scowled. "That much is obvious..."

But it was just makeup and just hair - Clay understood Kate well enough to know that she'd have it all washed off before her head ever hit the pillow. Tonight it was nothing more than a conversation piece, and tomorrow he'd get to see the Kate he was more familiar with... only looking a lot more stunning in her wedding dress. "Well..." he began, taking her into his arms.

Kate grinned at him and wrapped her arms around him. "Well indeed... very deep subject."

Clay snickered. "Just think - tomorrow's the day. Tomorrow's our wedding day."

"Tomorrow..." Kate sighed, snuggling close to him. She held him tight, listening to the beat of his heart for a moment before replying. "Tomorrow we become Mr. and Mrs. Clay Aiken."

"I like the sound of that," Clay mused. He gently kissed her on the top of her head.

Heaving a sigh, Kate looked up at him. "But until then, I suppose we have to say goodnight again."

Clay nodded. "We say goodnight knowing what tomorrow holds." Their eyes meeting to share a loving gaze, Clay and Kate leaned closer to exchange a fond kiss.

"All right, you two," Sarah teased as she worked her way towards the stairs on her crutches. "Better call it a night so that you can get some real sleep."

The couple broke with annoyed sighs and groans. "Fine," Kate growled as she leaned up to place another kiss on his jaw. "I'm coming." She took one last glance at Clay. "Have pleasant dreams..."

Clay grinned warmly, a sly look in his eye. "I will. I'll be thinking about tomorrow... especially tomorrow night." Catching a suggestive wink and eyebrow waggle from Kate, he chuckled as she slipped up the stairs. Crawling into the sleeping bag, he heaved a contented sigh and curled up to go to sleep.

About an hour later, Andrew walked back through the living room with Ruben and Will following behind. He quickly fell silent and tiptoed over to Clay as he lay asleep in the sleeping bag on the couch. Andrew lightly poked Clay, waiting for him to stir but pursed his lips when Clay hardly moved at all. "Sound sleeper."

"He is," Ruben whispered. "Clay can sleep anytime, anywhere."

"Really? Let's test that theory."

"Hunh?" Ruben asked.

A wicked grin crossed Andrew's face. "Clay needs another duct tape picture for his scrapbook..."

Go to the next day, Day 9 (December 31)

Go to yesterday, Day 7 (December 29)

TITN series

Home