FBI Damsel: Foreign Affairs

Twenty-Five: The Best Part of Being a Family

In an old county jail, groups of people gathered together in their best dress.  Who would think to have a wedding in an abandoned jail?  Ah, yes, Victoria Harper.  No one else was strange enough to get married in a place where criminals did their time.

The music started and the bride began to walk down the aisle.  Everyone stood to watch the beauty.  Valerie took one look and gasped, grasping onto Andrea’s arm.

“Ow!  What?  What is it?”

“It’s my dress!  She’s wearing my dress!”

“No, you had a pure white dress.”

“No, I mean I picked out that dress!  She told me she hated it, but she’s wearing it!  Oh my God, I feel so special right now!”

“And right now you’re interrupting her special day, so hush, honey,” her husband Harold whispered.  Valerie now gripped his arm and held in her excitement to a broad grin. 

Everyone smiled as the bride made her way up the aisle, grinning in a way that only the groom had ever seen before.  The room was relatively bare, with a set of barred doors on each surrounding wall.  Valerie and Simone had taken care to attempt to add red and blue ribbons so the room didn’t look so dull, with the jail’s white and grey. 

Victoria walked down the aisle on a strip of red-white-and blue cloth.  She hadn’t picked any colors for the theme of her wedding, so Andrea went out on a limb and picked the American flag as a theme.  Either the bride hadn’t noticed or she didn’t care, because her eyes never showed any signs of disgust.  Normally they would show some inkling as to what she was feeling.  Not today.  Today she only cared about the man standing alone at the altar. 

“This is a whole new side to her we’re seeing,” Eddie explained to his girlfriend.  She’d been shocked to see Victoria, always described as a hard-ass with nothing but a scowl on her face, smiling like a blind child seeing fireworks for the first time.

“It’s kind of weird.  I don’t know if I like it,” Parker added.  Eddie nodded in agreement.

“Hush, you two!” Simone hissed from behind them.

“What are you going to do?  Send me home?” Eddie challenged.

“No, I’ll-“

All three received ‘The Eye’ from a certain Helena Moore on the other side of the room.  She sat with her third and current husband, a man from Wall Street.  The two were always working, therefore a perfect match.

Andrea sighed, squeezing her husband’s arm in excitement as the couple began exchanging vows.  “Doesn’t Mitch look handsome?”

“I guess.”  Heath shifted uncomfortable.  His son was asleep in his arms, and was beginning to get heavier with every passing minute.  He looked at his wife, trying to hint to her quietly that she should take him.  Her eyebrows scrunched together.

“No,” she mouthed.

“Please?” he begged.

She rolled her eyes.  Before she could take him, Simone tapped his shoulder and pulled the sleeping baby into her arms.  She adopted a boy a few years ago, but he was already nearing his teenage years.  She couldn’t just hold him in her arms anymore while he slept.

“Is anyone just paying attention to this wedding?” Harold asked his wife.

Valerie looked around, startled.  “I was, until you asked me.”

“Oh.  Sorry, babe.”

“Hush.”

Victoria remained fixated with her husband’s stare.  They were smiling wider than the Cheshire cat.  The man performing their vows, an old officer that owed her a favor, droned on until his lines were finished.  They kissed.  His book slammed shut and he walked off, hoping to escape back to his lonely life, glad he no longer owed the vindictive woman any more favors.

“Who would’ve thought these two would ever end up together?” Vaughn asked his wife.  She stood next to him, smiling and clapping.

“I don’t think anyone did.”

“They’re so perfectly un-perfect,” Parker stated.

“That’s what makes them so perfect!” Brittany, Eddie’s girlfriend, replied.  The best friends recognized the look on her face.  Eddie had about six months before they started arguing over when she was going to get her ring.

Victoria and Mitch held hands, turning to face the small crowd for the first time.  A handful of people stopped clapping, but the majority continued putting their hands together.  Helena’s phone went off first.  As she reached for it, shots rang out through the jail.  Everyone dived, the Agents reaching for their guns.  The bride lifted her dress, revealing a gun strapped to each well-toned leg.  Her husband took one and they stood to take down their assailants. 

Helena nodded once the gunfire was over.  Andrea and a few family members were the only ones still crouched on the floor.  The only injury to their side was a bullet scraping to Vaughn’s leg.  

“How is it you know these things are going to happen?” Mitch asked.

Victoria shrugged.  “I piss off a lot of people.  Why wouldn’t they target me on the happiest day of my life?”

He smiled.  “This is still the happiest day of your life?”

“I guess,” she shrugged playfully.

“Only with this unit,” Helena’s husband muttered from the floor. 

Andrea stood, uncurling her body to reveal her unharmed baby boy.  Heath wrapped his arms around his small family, grateful they were all right.

“Who was it this time?” Parker asked.

“Who cares?  It happened.  It’s over.  We’ll have locals come clean up the mess,” Eddie answered.  “I believe we have a reception to get to.”

“I need a drink,” Brittany exhaled.  Eddie kissed the top of her head. 

And, as difficult as it was to believe, they continued on in this pattern for the rest of their lives.  Forever looking over their shoulders, but walking ahead with confidence.  Someone would have their back.  Always.

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this is the end.  I know, it's short, and it's kinda crappy, but this story doesn't need a cheesy ending.  I could've gone on for years writing stories of this group, but it was time to put them to rest.  Maybe I'll come back a few months, possibly even years later and add on to this chapter.  Give it a better ending than this.  But, for now, this works for me.

Thanks for reading this story, especially if you started with the original Damsel!  I hope you enjoyed it and will continue to read my other stories.  Perhaps this even inspired some ideas of your own?   <3 XDee