**A Month Later In The Bridal Room**
"Oh Cassie! You look gorgeous!" said Mercedes fixing her dress.
"Thanks! I'm glad that I decided that my brides maids wear the soft green strapless dress," she said smiling, remembering the day in the dressing room.
Cassandra's wedding dress was a white, long sleeved, sequenced dress with a six foot long, silk train. Her brides maids, Mercedes, Emalia, Mariah, Linden, Coreene, Nicole, and Angel were all wearing soft green, strapless, silk dresses that reached the floor.
Isabella, her maid of honor, had on a soft yellow, spaghetti strap dress that reached the floor. She had refused to wear any other color than yellow.
The flower girls were to be Nicole's younger sisters, Allison and Michelle, and the ring bearer, yet again, was to be Nick's younger brother, Aaron.
"I can not believe that I'm getting married!"
"Neither can we!" they all said together.
"And I want to thank you, Mariah, for the house in Arizona."
"Well, you know, our grandfather left it to one of us, and since I'm in California, and I'm not interested in relocating, so I hope you guys have fun!" said Mariah.
"Oh we will!" Cassandra said hugging her.
"You know Cass," said Isabella, "it's so weird to think that my younger sister is marrying her true love before me!"
"I'm sure that you'll marry A.J. someday!" Cassandra said smiling.
"Yeah, maybe."
"Hey Nick buddy, you're tying the knot!" said Brian.
"Yes I know! I can't believe it!"
"Well neither can I! My little buddy, getting married."
"Well, you already have!"
"Yeah well-"
"Okay guys, are you almost ready?" said a guy coming in.
"Yup," Brian said. Brian was the best man, and A.J., Jonathan, Kevin, Matthew, Howie, Anthony and Andrew were the ushers. Nick was wearing a tuxedo, with a green silk tie and lining. Brian and the ushers had tuxedos with blue silk ties and lining, except for A.J. who had a yellow silk tie and lining.
"This is it," said Jonathan patting Nick on the back. "You ready?"
"I'm about as ready as I'll ever be."
"You ladies ready to go?" a man said knocking on the door.
"Yup!" said Mercedes.
"Hey good luck girl!" said Nicole. "I'll see ya at the end."
"One last hug you guys. The last time that I won't be married!" said Cassandra forming a group hug, before they left.
Cassandra waited alone in the bridal room. She stared at herself in the mirror. "I guess this is really what you want, isn't it?" she said to herself. "There's no turning back now. This is what you've always wanted and you've gotten here with the perfect guy. I guess you just always thought that the perfect guy that you would be marrying today, would be Bobby." She took a deep breath and let it out.
The music started and the flower girls walked down the aisle. Nick was already waiting at the end of the aisle. Brian and Mercedes walked down first, followed by A.J. and Isabella, Emalia and Kevin, Nicole and Jonathan, Coreene and Matthew, Angel and Howie, and Linden and Anthony. When Mariah and Andrew took hands, they were very timid, but decided to put their feelings aside for a while.
Then Cassandra came to the door. When she saw Nick, all remnants of Bobby left her mind, forever. This is what she wanted, this is where she wanted to be.
When Nick looked up and saw her, he felt faint. She looked so beautiful, and before long, she would be solely his. To him it seemed like it took her forever to walk down that aisle, but before long, she reached him and took his hand. They looked into each other's eyes, and already knew what the other was thinking.
About forty minutes later, the priest looked up at Nick and Cassandra.
"Do you Nicholas, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"
Nick smiled and said, "I do."
"And do you, Cassandra, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"
She too smiled, and said, "I do."
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." Nick lifted the vail from her face and took her face in his hands.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you too," she said and kissed him. This kiss meant something more to them then any other kiss that they had shared. It was the greatest bonding kiss, because with it, they were bonded for life.
This kiss wasn't just a playful one, they weren't just making out, they weren't just in a dressing room, or on the beach, or on the couch in the living room. They were in front of all of their friends and family, declaring their love for each other for the rest of their lives.
About four hours later, the cluster of friends were all on the dance floor in the reception hall. Every table had light colored carnations on it and they were all gathered around Nick and Cassandra, dancing and talking. Linden tapped Cassandra on the shoulder to get her attention.
"Hey Cassandra, I guess that you know about my miscarriage before, huh?" Cassandra nodded her head. "Well, you guys, can I tell you something?"
"Yeah, hey guys!" Cassandra said, and Isabella, A.J., Andrew, Mariah, Mercedes, Brian, Coreene, Matthew, Angel, Howie, Jonathan, and Nicole turned their attention to Linden and Anthony.
Linden grasped Anthony's hand tight, and took a deep breath.
"I'm pregnant again!"
"Oh Linden! Congratulations!" everyone said.
"Yeah, and this time, we're keeping close watch on this baby!"
"Oh Linden that's great," said Mercedes. Cassandra took a look at Nick's watch, then at him. He nodded his head.
"Hey guys," started Cassandra, "we're gonna take off. We have a plane to catch."
"You're leaving, tonight? Now?" Isabella asked wide eyed.
"Yeah," said Cassandra. "I swear that we'll be back! Keep in touch you guys." She started crying. "I love you all."
"Don't Cassie! You'll make me cry! Just like our eighth grade graduation!" said Isabella. Cassandra hugged all of her dear friends, and so did Nick. Then two happy newly-weds said their good byes to the entire hall, and slowly walked out to the car and their awaiting life together.
When Nick and Cassandra had finally found the house, by using the directions that Mariah gave them, they were relieved.
"I thought we'd never make it!" said Cassandra. They both got out of the car and went up to the door. Nick unlocked the door and carried Cassandra over the threshold of the door. He kicked the door closed with his foot and carried her along the hallway and up the stairs.
They found the master bedroom, and closed the door. Cassandra kicked off her shoes, still in Nick's arms. He gently set her down on the bed and kissed her softly. She threw off her vail and adamantly took down her hair. Nick took his jacket off and gazed into her eyes.
Both of their hearts pounding, harder, faster, and louder then they ever had.
"I love you," said Cassandra.
"I love you too," he said holding her tighter. He reached behind her dress and pulled on the zipper.
"It really is a beautiful dress, you know," he said grinning.
"Yes, I know," she said, grinning back. She pulled on his tie and started to unbutton his shirt. "This really is a very nice tux on you, you know."
"Yes, I know," were their last words before Nick leaned down and kissed her.
**Two Months Later, In Nick And Cassandra's House In Arizona**
"Oh look Nick! A letter from everyone back home!" She read it and then looked up at Nick. "Nick, I wanna go back home."
"What do you mean? I thought that this was your dream?"
"It was. We've been out here and this is great. Really! But I miss everyone back home. I miss seeing everyone each day. We're out in the middle of nowhere with no one that we know around. Why can't this be the place that we visit together? I wanna go back home." Nick only stood there looking at her. "Well Nick?"
"No," he simply said.
"No what?"
"Just no."
Isabella ran through the door of the house crying hysterically. She didn't know where to go, all she knew was that she needed some space, someone to cry on.
"Isabella! What's wrong?" Emalia asked. Isabella went over to Emalia and laid her head down on her shoulder and cried.
"Ask A.J.!" she screamed. Just then A.J. burst through the door, and ran down into the living room.
"Stay away from her!" yelled Emalia. "I don't know what you did to her but-"
"Isabella! Talk to me!" he yelled.
"Don't even think about speaking to me you bastard!" Isabella said staring him straight in the eyes. There were daggers coming from her eyes and A.J. could feel them in his own eyes.
"What? What happened? What did I do this time?"
"You know damn well what you did! I saw you with Lucy! I saw you kissing her! Again! Right in front of me this time! I can't believe you, I could just kill you right now!"
"Isabella, that's not what it was at all! I was-"
"I know what you did! Well I've got news for you, and you're not gonna like it!"
"Nick?"
"I have dropped everything for you so that you could move out here to follow your dreams about living the perfect life in Arizona. This house was given to you in the most ideal spot in this state. I have given up everything for you for the past two months now, and just when I've learned to accept this all, this huge change, you want to drag me back to our old lives? I thought that we were starting a new life together? Away from our old lives."
"We are. Not only has Arizona been my dream, but being married to you, forever, is an even bigger dream, it's just that I really want to go back. I miss everything, everyone. I miss sleeping in my own bed. I miss sleeping in your bed. It's just not the same. I didn't think that I would ever miss it, but I do, and I want to go back. What's the difference where we live, as long as we're together?"
"Cassie, I love you, with all of my heart and soul, but we can't just pack up and leave when we've just gotten everything the way that we want it. We've worked so hard to get everything just perfect for both of us. Yes I agree, as long as we're together, but don't you remember our old lives? We could never be alone. Never. We were always being walked in on, or pulled away from each other. Something would always happen, and I do not want to go back to that. These past two months, you have to admit, have been the best that we've had. We can fly our beds out here if that's all that matters to you."
"Nick I love you too, and you mean more to me than anything. That is not all that matters to me, but I can't get away from the fact that I'm not happy here."
"So finally being alone with me, and I mean really alone with me, isn't good enough for you? What haven't I done to make you happy?"
"Nick, you're twisting my words!"
"Then fine, go! Leave when things start to get a little tough, just like you did before. Are you going to leave me again? For how long this time? Six months? A year? Forever?"
"Nick that's not fair! You know damn well why I had to leave, and you promised me that you had accepted that!"
"You just don't get it, do you Cassandra? Tell everyone that I said hello."
With that, Nick went upstairs. Cassandra took a deep breath and sighed. She didn't know why Nick was acting like this, he never had before. She could feel her eyes well up with tears.
"This is exactly what I was talking about to myself. I told myself that I didn't want to go into this knowing that he could doubt me, but no. I blinded myself from that fact that that actually could happen. I didn't want to believe it. And now that I didn't listen to myself, I may have made one of the biggest mistakes in my life."
Being done talking to herself, she grabbed her purse and walked out the door.
"Okay, what's your news, Isabella?" A.J. inquired.
"Since obviously you haven't gotten over Lucy, I've moved on as well. I'm not even sure that you ever loved me. Ever!"
"That is so not true-"
"I'm fed up with these games that you've played with my heart. You've toyed with my emotions from the beginning, and you're not going to toy with any of my emotions anymore!"
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying, that Austin and I are getting married, and you can't do anything to stop it! I won't let you hurt me ever again, and neither will he!" With that, Isabella ran out of the door, slamming it behind her.
"Oh God," A.J. whispered.
"I think she's really serious this time A.J." said Emalia.
"Yeah I know, but what can I do?"
"Nothing. She's gone A.J." A.J. slumped over on the couch and buried his head in his hands.
"A.J.?" said Nicole.
"What?"
"I have an idea of what to do now." A.J.'s eyes lit up at this new hope, but soon looked depressed and hopeless once again at what Nicole would say.
"A.J., it's time to let go."