Note: If the RR scene seems kinda familiar and you're wondering where you heard it before, well I got some ideas from a GH episode w/ Luke and Lucky ;-) FYI: Just in case you have forgotten, Eve is alive in my fanfic and Livvie is NICE LOL.

The Bridal Shower…

Livvie walked around the living room, making sure everything was in place. She and Serena had spent all morning setting up for Alison's bridal shower with white and pink decorations, the colors of the wedding. The decorations consisted of balloons, streamers, and a vase of flowers. Off to the corner of the room was the refreshment table covered in a white tablecloth. Alison selected to have small muffins, cookies, pretzels, wine (and punch), candy mints, and Alison's personal favorite, angel food cake. Another table for the gifts was by the window.

Livvie looked up when she heard someone walk into the room. "What are you still doing here?" she demanded, somewhat hostile.

Rafe looked around at the decorations. "It looks really nice in here."

"Go away! You're not supposed to be here!"

"Okay, okay, I'm leaving now!" Rafe laughed and headed out the door. Rafe was told that he could not come to the shower; it was for females only. So Lucy planned something for Rafe to do while he was gone.

Shortly after Rafe left, Alison and Lucy came back from picking up a few things for the shower.

"Oh it looks so nice in here!" Alison beamed.

"Oh good, I'm glad you approve!" Livvie said.

"Where's Rafe?" Alison asked.

"Oh don't worry, Rafe is taken care of," Lucy laughed.

"I'm ready to party!" Christina said excitedly as she ran into the living room holding several balloons.

Everyone laughed.

Alison changed into a flowery dress that she had planned on wearing to the shower, and soon after that, the other guests began to arrive.

Livvie greeted everyone at the door, instructing them where to put their gifts and telling them to help themselves with the refreshments on the table. The theme of the shower was "romance," and everyone had thus been instructed to bring some sort of romantic gift for the bride.

Finally, the shower was ready to begin.

Livvie stood up in front and welcomed everyone to the shower.

"Alison told me not to plan any stupid and corny bridal shower games..." Everyone laughed. "…But I had to plan something to do so…" Livvie got out a set of index cards and pens and handed them to Lucy to pass them around. "Okay, I want everyone to take an index card, and on the card, I want you to write some kind of advice to Alison or words of wisdom or inspiration, you know, whatever kind of advice you would give to a bride-to-be. But don't put your name on it or anything. Alison will read these aloud and try to guess who wrote it."

Alison shot Livvie a look. "You're going to make me guess? Livvie!" "

Oh come, Ali, it'll be fun!" Livvie laughed. Everyone played along, taking the cards and writing some words of wisdom to the bride-to-be. When everyone was finished, they passed them all to Livvie. She shuffled them up and handed them to Alison.

"Okay," Alison said as she looked at the first one. "'Cherish the love you had yesterday; that you still have today, and look forward to cherishing the love you shall have tomorrow.'" Alison looked around the room. "Hmm, I don't know who wrote this one!" she laughed. Then, she saw Karen smile. "Karen's smiling, so I'm going to say her!"

Karen laughed. "Guilty."

"Okay, this one says, 'Teach Rafe how to cook so he can make you breakfast in bed and dinner every night!' Ooo, I like this advice! I actually already have started to teach Rafe how to cook!" Everyone laughed. Alison looked around the room. It seemed like something Serena would say. "Serena?"

"How did you know that one was mine?" Serena laughed.

"I guess I'm better at this than I thought," Alison said.

Alison picked up the next card. "Okay, this one says, 'The perfect marriage begins when each partner believes they got better than they deserve.' Hmm, I'm not sure who wrote this one. Sounds like it's from someone who is already married. Eve?"

"Nope."

"Lucy?"

Lucy shook her head. "Yeah, that was mine."

Alison smiled. "You know, that is exactly how I feel too. Sometimes I wonder how in the world I got so lucky."

"Well you don't have to wonder about that, dear," Amanda said. "You're a beautiful and lovely young girl, and you deserve the best."

"Aww, Nana," Alison said and gave her grandmother a little hug.

"Okay read another one," Livvie said.

"Alright. 'Give a man a fish and he'll be fed for a day, but teach a man to fish and you can send him away for a whole weekend!'" The women laughed. "Well, I know Victor is into fishing…Mary, did you write this one?"

"Now that is some good advice right there, Alison," Mary said with a smile.

"But I don't think I want to spend a weekend away from Rafe!"

"Give it a couple of years," Mary said and she and the rest of the women laughed again.

On the next card, there were no words, but only a picture of a two stick figures. It was obviously Christina's. "Hmm, I'm not sure who this one is from," Alison played along. "It's a nice picture though; it looks like Rafe and I."

"That one's mine!" Christina announced.

"It's my favorite one! Thank you, Christina."

The child smiled proudly.

"'Spend every second of every day together as a moment that could never be replaced.' Oh, that's a beautiful one. Umm…" Alison looked around. Only Livvie, Eve, and Nana were left. "Eve?" Alison guessed.

Eve smiled. "You're pretty good at this game," she winked.

Alison looked at the next one. "'Marriage is like a fine wine. As it ages, it gets better. Look at all the good times and leave behind the bad, for there are more wonders you will find in each, as time passes by.'" Alison had no problem figuring this one out. "Oh, Nana, I love that one," she said and gave her grandmother a hug.

The last one was obviously Livvie's, but Alison read it aloud anyway. "'Never underestimate the power of love because love can do miracles which you never thought possible.'"

Alison smiled at Livvie; the two of them were the only ones who really knew the meaning of that statement. Alison felt so happy at that moment and she gave her best friend a hug. "Thank you, Livvie."

After that, everyone treated themselves to the refreshments on the table. Then…

"Presents!" Alison squealed.

Livvie situated herself beside Alison with a book and pen, ready to record all of the gifts Alison received.

"Open me and Serena's first, Ali!" Christina ran over to Alison holding a box. Alison took the box and Christina climbed into her lap.

Alison unwrapped the present to find a box of chocolate. "Ooo! You girls got me chocolate!"

"It's good!" Christina said.

"We looked for a heart-shaped box but we couldn't find one. I guess because it's not around Valentine's Day," Serena explained.

"Oh that's fine, chocolate doesn't have to be in a heart-shaped box for me to love it!" Alison said.

"Me too!" said Christina.

"Thank you, girls," Alison said.

Christina gave Alison a kiss on her cheek and went back to sit by Serena.

"Okay, open mine!" Mary said and handed her a long box.

"Hmm, what could this be, Mary?" Alison laughed. When she opened the box, she found a bottle of expensive wine, decorated with a bow around the bottle's neck. "Ooo! Thank you, Mary!"

"Wine will always put you in the mood for romance!" she said.

"Yes it will!" Alison laughed.

The next gift Alison picked up was not wrapped, but the packaging was nicely done. It was a basket full of goodies from Bath and Body Works. "Oh my god!" Alison squealed. "Who is this from? This is my favorite!"

Eve laughed. "That's from me."

"Eve! Plumeria is my favorite! How did you know?!"

"Well it smelled nice and it was pink so I figured I couldn't go wrong. And you've got everything in there…body wash, lotion, bubble bath…"

"I will *definitely* be using that!" Alison said. "Thank you so much, Eve."

"I'm glad you like it."

"Alright, open mine next!" Karen said and handed her a small package.

"I'm going to guess this a CD," Alison said. "Oh, I was right! Ooo, Frank Sinatra? Karen, he's so awesome, how did you know?"

"Oh everyone knows he sings some romantic songs! I wanted to get you some kind of romantic music and you can't go wrong with him."

"No, you certainly can't! Thanks, Karen!"

"You're welcome."

"Alright, what did you get me, Lucy? I'm dying to know!"

Lucy laughed and handed her a wrapped box. "I think you'll like it."

Alison undid the wrapping and inside were several candles. "Candles! I'm such a candle freak, Lucy, this is perfect!"

"They're aromatherapy candles," Lucy explained. "You've got one for relaxation, one for tranquility, one for romance…" Lucy trailed off.

"I love these! Thanks, Lucy! Okay, Nana, I'm ready for your gift!"

Amanda smiled and handed her a small box. It seemed too light to hold jewelry though. Alison looked at her grandmother in curiosity.

"Well go ahead, open it!" Amanda urged.

Alison opened the box. Inside were two slips of paper. "Oh my god! Gift certificates to the spa! Nana!" Alison got up out of her seat and gave her grandmother a hug.

"I thought you would enjoy those. One for both you and Rafe."

"I love it! Thank you!"

Amanda kissed Alison on the cheek. "You're quite welcome, dear."

"Oh this will be fun!"

"Okay, you have to open mine now; saved the best for last!" Livvie said with a laugh.

"I have to say, Livvie, I've very curious as to what you got me."

"I think you'll really love it."

"It sure is wrapped really nicely." Alison tore off the wrapping paper. Inside was a lot of tissue paper. After digging through the tissue paper, she finally came upon some kind of black silky material. Alison picked up whatever it was and held it up.

"Ooo!" all of the women said. Serena gasped and covered her little sister's eyes. Christina smiled, wondering what was going on.

Alison's face turned beet red. "Livvie!"

"You like the negligee I picked out for you?"

"Yes I love it, but my nana is sitting right here, you know!" she whispered.

Livvie laughed. "So?"

"So…it's kinda embarrassing!"

"Oh you don't have to be embarrassed about that, Alison. I used to have one just like it," Amanda winked.

"NANA!" Alison said, shocked.

"What?" Amanda asked with a straight face.

"Um, okay," Alison said, not sure if she wanted to have that visual in her head. "Um, thanks, Livvie."

"You're welcome!" Livvie laughed.

Meanwhile at the Recovery Room…

"Bob! We're going to need a round of beers here!" Ian called out as he, Kevin, and Rafe sat around the table at the Recovery Room.

Bob brought out their beers. "Hey, congratulations on your engagement to Alison."

"Thank you," Rafe said.

"Nervous?" Bob asked.

"No, not really. Excited though."

"We're giving him marriage advice," Kevin explained.

"I can see why you need the beers then!" Bob joked.

Ian took his beer and looked at Rafe with a matter-of-fact look on his face. "Okay, rule number one…the toilet seat."

"What?" Rafe laughed.

"Do you put it down?"

"Yeah."

"Do you really?" Kevin asked.

"Well, I guess I forget sometimes."

"Always put it down," Ian firmly stated. "Women like the toilet seat down. Alison probably hasn't said anything about it yet, but trust me, two weeks into the marriage, she'll start to nag you about it. I can promise you that. Best to get in the habit now and avoid that whole situation."

"Um, okay."

"Alright, clothes," Kevin said. "I bet you have some shirts that you really love but she's not too crazy about, don't you?"

"Yeah, I think I have a few."

"Well then if you want to keep them, then don't let her get her hands on them, because the first chance she gets, she'll give them away, or throw them away. So if they are missing, check goodwill. Chances are she took them there. And if you can't find them there, I would suggest looking in the ragbag."

"Ragbag?"

"Yeah, the wives like to cut up old shirts and use them for cleaning."

"Oh."

"What else is there, Ian? I know I'm forgetting something major."

"Hormones," Ian said. "Never blame anything on hormones. Her hormones, your hormones…her hormones especially. It's just an all around bad idea."

"Well uh, thanks, guys, I'll uh, I'll keep all of that in mind."

"Well if you do that, then you've got nothing to worry about. You'll have a long and happy marriage!" said Ian as he took a swig of his beer.

Later …

"Alison?" Rafe called out as he walked into the house.

"In here," she called out.

Rafe walked towards the back of the house. It sounded like she was in the bathroom but he wasn't sure. The door to the bathroom was ajar and Rafe saw some sort of flickering light. Candles.

"Alison?" Rafe walked into the room and looked down at Alison.

"I thought you would never get home," she said with a smile on her face.

"What's all this?" Rafe looked around the room. Candles, music…

"Let's just say that the girls got me a lot of nice things this afternoon. So are you going to stand there or are you going to come join me?" Alison whispered seductively.

Rafe grinned. He unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it on the floor. He took off his shoes. Then, he let his pants fall to the floor. Alison grinned wickedly as Rafe shed the remaining items and joined her in the tub full of bubbles.

"This is nice," Rafe said as he rested against Alison.

Alison ran her fingers through his hair. "Mmm-hmm," she mumbled. Then her hands moved to his shoulders and she began to massage him.

"Keep doing that," Rafe said, closing his eyes.

"Nana's sending us to a spa. I think we should go tomorrow. Want to?"

"Whatever you want," was his response, thoroughly enjoying Alison's massaging.

"Good, we'll go then."

Rafe reached for Alison's hands and slowly pulled them away from his shoulders. He wanted to kiss them. He loved kissing her hands. He didn't know why, he just did.

"How was your day with the boys?" Alison asked.

"It was fine. Hey, Alison?"

"Yeah?" Rafe turned around so that he was facing her. "Does it bother you if I leave the toilet seat up?"

Alison had to laugh. "What?"

"I'm asking…does it bother you at all?"

Alison wasn't sure where this was coming from. "Um, well, I guess it bugs me a little, but it's really no big deal."

"Do you like my clothes?"

"I kinda prefer you without clothing for the moment," Alison grinned and began to kiss Rafe's neck.

"Seriously, do you like what I wear?"

"Of course I do. I picked it all out for you at the mall, remember? Oh, that reminds me, there's this blue shirt at Wyndham's; I'm totally buying that one for you!" Alison laughed. "What's with the weird questions?"

"Never mind. Ian and Kevin were just talking about stuff."

"Let's not think about Kevin and Ian anymore." Alison resumed kissing his neck.

Rafe agreed and kissed Alison's lips. They stayed in the tub until the bubbles dissolved.

Rafe got out of the tub.

"Where are you going?"

Rafe got a towel and dried off quickly, eventually tying it around his waist. Then, he got another towel. It was one of those really huge cottony-soft towels. "Come on," he told Alison.

Alison stood up Rafe wrapped the towel around her. He scooped her up. "Where are we going?" Alison asked.

"Where do you think?"

"But we're wet!" Alison laughed.

"Ah, who cares?" Rafe laughed. Then, he carried Alison off to the bedroom…