You Do What You Have To Do
Chapter 71
By Tee and Danielle

I was on fire.

I couldn't catch my breath no matter how hard I tried.

A hand came on my back and rubbed softly as a pair of lips kissed my shoulder. The breath came back slowly. "Kevin"

"Yeah Babe?"

"Kevin."

I heard him chuckle softly, "Hmmmm?"

I turned around and looked at him, "Damn."
He laughed and held me closer. I snuggled into his chest, "Wow. You said you were going to do it and I'll be damned if you didn't do it."

He had made good on his promise to "christen the house" and we had been through every room now, every conceivable piece of furniture in the house until neither one of us knew any other word except for the other's name. It had taken us a while, but we'd finally done it.

Like my Mom always said, 'You gotta have goals'. Somehow, I don't think this is what she meant though.But hey, we were on vacation, if those were our goals, so be it!

Time had flown by so fast it was almost like one of those old black and white movies where you see everything spinning in a blur and the calendar pages start falling down the screen. That had been our life lately.

Melinda and Sam had been absolute god-sents to Kevin and I all but taking over all the wedding planning. We just had to pick colors, blue and green of course, and get fitted for our tuxes and they had basically taken it from there with the assist from my mom.

It really surprised us that my mom was getting so into the wedding planning. We'd thrown her for quite a few loops lately. First there was our coming out to her, then the fact that we were getting married and then SURPRISE! Kevin had a son and sometime during the next year or so, I was going to be a dad too. I was quite proud of her, she didn't even attempt to smack either one of us. She was just thrilled and pretty much melted to a puddle when Dylan started calling her Nana Jane. Even Max the Dog loved her to bits, it was like she had two shadows these days, her grandson and his bowlegged dog.

Everyone who didn't know about us was told all at once. We pulled that off by having the bar-b-que at Brian's when Leigh was down and inviting everyone we wanted to know, including Trey. Even if he wasn't Kevin's best friend, I still owed him my life. If he hadn't of pulled out all the stops to help Kevin.....I truly did owe him bigtime. We sat everyone down at the bar-b-que and with our bandmates behind us, supporting us, we told everyone what had happened between us and that we were getting married and if they were there, it meant that they were a big part of our lives and we wanted them at the wedding.

Leigh and Trey were shocked to say the least and I knew Kevin was tense about how Trey was going to react. I don't think he could take another important person in his life telling him he was no longer welcome in theirs. I closed my eyes and willed a prayer upwards asking for a good reaction.
Someone must have been smiling down on me that day. Trey blinked his way out of shock and grabbed Kevin in a bone crushing hug, "Well! That answers why you look disgustingly happy lately! And I should hope I'm invited to the wedding! If you didn't I was going to have you two thrown out of the state!"
Kevin gasped for air when Trey let him go and thumped his friend on the back, "Not invited? Man, I'm not doing this without my best man!"
For the second time Trey was speechless and lemme tell ya, that's hard to do to a politician! "B...best man?"

Kevin nodded, "Best Man. So, what do you say?"

"No."

Kevin's jaw dropped and so did mine. It got awful quiet in that backyard.
Trey rolled his eyes, "What the hell! You think I'd say no?! Psssht! Whatever! OF COURSE YOU DUFUS!!!"

Kevin and I both breathed a sigh of relief and I grabbed Howie and AJ near too, "And don't think you two aren't standing up there with us too. You helped him see his way back to me and for that I owe you everything."

They both nodded happily and then the bar-b-que really kicked into gear. We all had a blast! It kinda turned into a stag and doe for Kevin and I, just everyone letting go and having a great time as a big bunch of friends.

My mom had taken care of telling the rest of the Carter clan about us and the wedding. When she told me later on the phone, I was amazed how well she had gone to bat for Kevin and I, defending us to those that scoffed and all it took was one picture of Dylan to melt my grandparents with the promise of another great grandchild in the not so distant future.

In the end, some of the Carter relatives didn't take the news well, but they respected that it was not to leave the family and end up in the press. If they didn't accept Kevin and I, then my mother just informed them that their presence was not needed at the wedding and it was left at that.

Sam and Melinda had chosen the wedding invites and mailed them out to the list we gave them. On it they were simply told to be at a certain meeting place and at a specific time. To stop any leaks of any sort, we would be having a caravan of vehicles driven by a company that Sam swore by. They each had a different route to the main destination so if anyone from the press had somehow gotten wind of what was going on, they would have one hell of a time trying to follow a dozen cars going in 12 different directions. To have a look at the invitation, go here

"Nick?"

I cleared my head with a shake and focused on Kevin, "Yeah Bumpkin?"

"Where were you? You looked like you were a million miles away."

I smiled at him, "I was just thinking about all that's happened in the last two weeks and that this Saturday you and I are going to be standing in front of everyone and getting married."

He leaned over and kissed my nose, making me wrinkle it the way he though was adorable, "Getting cold feet?"

I shook my head, "No. Never. More like a kid a few days before Christmas." I did my best whine "Is it here yet?????"

He rolled his eyes at me, "I don't let Dylan whine. I'm not going to let you whine either!"
I smirked and raised an eyebrow, "Well then, you are going to have to find something to keep my mouth busy then, aren't you?"

His eyes widened at that comment, "Are you...." His hand slid down my stomach and I moaned softly as I arched back against him. He chuckled at me, "Are you trying to kill me, Horny Boy? We gotta save some of this for the honeymoon."

I pouted and picked up the wooden box on the kitchen table by my head, "But look! There is only one left in here. It's going to get all lonely all by itself! Look how sad it looks, Kevin, all alone!"

Kevin nearly choked, "Nick, it's a condom, it doesn't have feelings."

I shook my head and sat up, putting the condom right in his face. On the label it clearly said, "Extra Sensitivity". "Nah-uh Kev, it says so right here. Not merely sensitive, but extra sensitive! We can't let it be by itself, it may try to do itself in!"

The noise Kevin made was a cross between a sigh of long suffering and a groan of frustration, "Ok ok, you win! I can't even argue with that! Hell I can't even wrap my brain around the logic."

I grinned and pulled him down onto the table with me, "I thought you would see it my way." Before he could say another word, I had his mouth otherwise occupied with my tongue.