Us Against The World

Vows and Cravings

What time was it? I stared blankly at the watch my father had given me for my twenty first, Christ it was just coming up six am and here I was freezing my ass off watching some Somalians planning God knows what attack on this country. At least I wasn't on my own this time, Dimitri was with me though I got the feeling neither of us were giving the job detail the full concentration it deserved – he had finally asked Beth out and she'd decided that he would have to wait twenty four hours for an answer. I was convinced that he was counting the remaining eight hours down minute by minute, if it wasn't for the fact I knew what it was like to be that crazy about someone I would have laughed at him, the man was desperate for an answer and was planning what to do if she said no, which I had been told by Chloe when I'd mentioned it was never going to happen. They were both crazy about one another, and I think every member of the team was quietly relieved that Dimitri had finally done something about it. Harry had joked though that Aeryn was really the only girl in Ds heart – I had a feeling that she did own about seventy percent of it in all reality.

I was watching every movement the men made, remembering every face, every interaction they made as they moved around the disused office – yet in my mind I was trying to plan out words of romance and devotion, I was working out my wedding vows. I had two books in front of me, as I sat with my feet propped up on a table, my eyes staring out at the six men who I dearly wished would just go home and let me go back to my own bed. One of the books was filled with poetry, the other a pad filled with failed attempts to get the most important thing I was ever going to say written down.

"Lucas, it's easy – you say I love you, stick the ring on her finger and kiss her, job done."

I looked over my shoulder at the younger man and shook my head, like it would be that easy – though he had a point, we were getting married because we loved one another so why couldn't I just say to Chloe that I loved her and we walk away as Mr and Mrs North? Oh yes, because she'd string me up and I wasn't getting on the wrong side of her – though after the other bight in the kitchen, well it might be worth getting her riled again. Or not... because there was never a guarantee of what mood my gorgeous girl was in.

"You have met my fiancée haven't you, the Mother of that adorable little girl you're a godfather too? She's tiny, heavily pregnant and likely to make me spend the rest of my life sleeping on the sofa bed which, was not designed for someone over five foot six, if I don't come up with the perfect set of vows? Which is why, you're taking over for half an hour so I can at least try to get one line or two down so I won't be lying when I get asked by Chloe if I've written them yet..."

I sat there for maybe ten minutes before the words started to flow...

I Lucas, take you Chloe to be my wife, my partner in life and my one true love...I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward for as long as we both shall live.

It needed more but the words that I had finally written down seemed so right for Chloe and I, they could have been vows I had made that night I had seen her for the first tome because I had already laughed and cried with her and God, I loved her with every breath I took and I knew I always would. There was something I had said to Chloe a long time ago, a quote that had made her cry with happiness, I would have to find it when I went either home or to the grid. I read back what I had written, I had done it – bar the quote I wanted to use, I had got the words right. To say I breathed a sigh of relief was putting it mildly, Chloe had been going on about our vows for over a week now, informing she had written hers over a month ago. She had broken down in tears when I had made the mistake of saying I hadn't written mine yet, an hour later she had ordered me to the sofa bed in the spare room – I was forbidden from using the comfortable large sofa downstairs because I would sleep... I shook my head at the memory, I could have been on the most comfortable bed in the world with Egyptian cotton sheets that night and I wouldn't have slept because my girl was upset.