I was really married to the idea of this story being only three chapters, but I changed my mind and decided to add a fourth and final chapter. This was an idea I originally had for the third chapter. That chapter was running long, though, so I cut it. Thanks for reading. (:

Sam was startled awake by a series of tiny pops against the bedroom window. Feeling slightly disoriented, he looked at the clock on the night table. Bright red numbers screamed that it was 11:25 p.m. The popping stopped, and he was on the verge of chalking it up to squirrels in the tree outside when he heard the sound again. Groaning, he dragged himself out of bed and walked slowly to the window, expecting to see the beady eyes of some nocturnal creature staring back at him. Instead, he was greeted by the sight of Andy standing in their front yard, poised to throw a handful of pebbles his way. Hoping to avoid a third assault, Sam flipped the lock quickly and opened the window.

"McNally, what are you doing?" he called down, choking back a laugh when he saw the determined expression on her face.

"Come down," she hissed, motioning for him to join her outside.

"Something wrong with your key?" Still on the edge of sleep, he scratched his head as he stared down at her in confusion.

"Sam, please," she pleaded. "Oliver's in there, and I don't want him to know I'm here."

"Okay," he sighed, sliding the window back into place. He briefly wondered why she hadn't just called him on the phone to ask him to come outside but then answered his own question as he walked downstairs and noticed it on the coffee table in the living room. Picking up the phone, he saw four missed calls from Andy.

Oliver was snoring peacefully on the couch, seemingly undisturbed by the phone calls. Sam shook his head as he slipped out onto the front porch to talk to Andy.

"I didn't know you called. My phone was downstairs," he explained when he came face to face with her.

"S'okay," she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder, breathing in deeply. "Is Oliver asleep?" she mumbled.

"Yeah. He's out cold on the couch." Sam wrapped his arms around Andy, holding her against him tightly.

"I thought he was staying in the guest room," was the muffled sound that came from Sam's shoulder.

"He fell asleep watching TV, and it was easier to just throw a blanket on him and call it good. The guy insists on staying over to keep me company," Sam mused, "and then he falls asleep on the couch after one beer."

When a full minute passed and Andy gave no indication of relinquishing her hold on him, Sam pulled back and studied her face. "Hey . . . what's wrong? Why aren't you at the hotel?"

Sighing, Andy looked down at the ground and then back up at him. "It's my Mom," she admitted slowly.

Sam remained quiet, but he could already feel the anger percolating inside of him as he waited for her to elaborate. It was a familiar feeling he had every time Claire's name came up, which thankfully, wasn't that often. For Andy's sake, he was glad she had her mother back in her life, but more often than not, that meant Andy was left feeling disappointed when Claire didn't come through for her.

"It's nothing, really," Andy continued even though it was obvious to Sam that it wasn't "nothing." It was significant enough to drag her out of her hotel room the night before their wedding, so it had to be something. When he'd left her there with Nash earlier in the evening, excitement had been rolling off of her in waves. And now she was standing on their front porch looking solemn and subdued—the exact opposite of what he wanted her to be feeling the night before they got married.

"This is Claire we're talking about. It can't be nothing," he reasoned. He linked one of his hands in hers as he walked her over to the porch steps. Settling on the middle step, he guided her down beside him with their joined hands and leaned back against the stair above him. And then he waited, knowing Andy would have something to say eventually. He was just thankful that it was a warm July night and not the middle of winter.

"You're right. It's not nothing," she admitted finally, turning toward him. "With Claire, it's never nothing." Andy smiled wryly as if she were resigning herself to the fact that her relationship with her mother would always be complicated. "She called earlier. It was just a quick conversation; she said she wanted to see if I was ready for tomorrow. We were having a normal talk, and it was nice," she recounted wistfully. "Then all of a sudden she sort of started implying that she was disappointed about not being given a bigger role in the wedding planning. I got the impression that she was really upset about it," Andy told him, letting her shoulders sag as the words came out of her mouth.

"She said that to you?" Sam asked, his tone thick with disbelief.

"Not exactly those words, but it was strongly implied," Andy answered, looking down at the ground. "What was I supposed to do? She's been back in my life for what, three years? And even now, she's in and out. I call her and then I don't hear back from her for weeks, if at all. I don't see her for months at a time, but suddenly, I'm getting married and she wants to be involved in what's going on in my life?" When Andy looked at Sam briefly, her eyes betrayed all of the confusion and hurt she was feeling. "The funny thing is that I would've asked her to be more involved if I thought she'd be at all interested."

Although Sam was making a valiant effort to keep the mood light for Andy's sake, he was seething on the inside. Claire was unbelievable. After bailing on Andy years before, she finally had a chance to rebuild the relationship, and she was wasting her opportunity. Sam's main concern-to be honest, his only concern-was that she was hurting Andy in the process. When it came to the day-to-day things, Claire just didn't get it. He watched her disappoint Andy every time she cancelled a lunch date or said she was too busy to meet for a Saturday afternoon at the mall. When it came to the big life events, Claire wanted to step forward and play the loving, involved mother, but what she didn't seem to grasp was that Andy needed her mother around for the regular, everyday life experiences, too.

Even though all of that was on the tip of his tongue, Sam didn't say it. He knew it would only make Andy feel worse, and that's not what she needed from him right then. Instead, he said, "Sometimes weddings bring out the worst in people."

"Oh yeah?" she asked, looking over at him with a surprised expression. "What do you know about weddings? This is your first one, right?" she teased him.

"First and last," he confirmed. Then, with a shrug, he mumbled, "I may have read it in a magazine."

"You mean a wedding magazine?" She asked with a laugh.

"Maybe," he said hesitantly. Then, with a sigh, he added, "They're all over the house. There was one on the kitchen table, and I flipped through it during breakfast one morning last week. It had an article in it about this type of thing."

"And you read it?" she asked, a skeptical expression overtaking her face.

"Yes, I read it, McNally," he responded gruffly, impatient to move past the image of him poring over a wedding magazine at the breakfast table. "And it's a good thing I did because now we know how to deal with this situation."

"Okay," she said as her mouth curved up at the corners. "What did it say?"

"Let's see . . ." he recalled, rubbing his chin and wishing he'd read the article more closely. "The gist of it was that as much as your friends and family care about you, when it comes to weddings, sometimes even the nicest people in your life turn into train wrecks. Some of them are overly-excited and just want to be a part of things; some of them are jealous and want to make it all about themselves. There was this one bride whose sister got so wasted at the reception that she stood up on a table and told everyone she was in love with the groom."

Andy was staring at him with wide eyes, struggling against the urge to laugh. "No way. That didn't happen."

"Today's Bride, June issue . . . read it for yourself if you don't believe me," he said smugly.

"Okay, so what did this article say to do?"

"Just suck it up," he suggested, receiving a playful punch on the arm and a deep laugh from Andy.

"Suck it up? You read that in a wedding magazine?"

"I'm paraphrasing, but yeah, that's basically what it said," he laughed. "Look, I think it's important that we just focus on ourselves. Tomorrow is about us. And if someone wants to drop passive aggressive hints that they don't like something about our day, we can't let it pull us down. Just keep your eyes on the prize," he informed her.

"I'm assuming you're the prize?" she asked with a grin.

"Yep."

Andy giggled, knocking her leg against his. "I really love you," she told him as she squeezed the hand that was still holding hers. "You know that, right?"

"Yeah. I suspected as much." Sam aimed a small smile Andy's way as he let go of her hand and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She automatically leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"You're always there when I need you, and you know exactly what I need even when I don't," she continued. "I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here with me. I mean, Sam, I just feel so lucky to get to go through the rest of my life with you." He could see the gradual return of her enthusiasm from earlier. As long as she stayed off the phone with Claire for the next twenty-four hours, Sam figured she'd be okay.

"Me, too," he said as he kissed the top of her head. "Well, I'm relieved. I thought you came here to tell me you were having second thoughts."

"No, you didn't."

"No, I didn't," he agreed. Sam grinned at her as she lifted her head off of his shoulder and looked over at him. "We both know you're not letting a guy as amazing as me slip through your fingers."

Andy's laughter was cut short when her phone rang. She fished it out of her pocket, wincing as she looked at the caller i.d.

"I was hoping you wouldn't know I was gone," she said into the phone as soon as she answered.

From beside Andy, Sam could hear Traci's voice pouring out of the receiver at a fast clip. Like a child being scolded, Andy held the phone to her ear, waiting for a chance to speak.

At some point Traci must have stopped to breathe because Andy explained, "My Mom just got me so worked up, and I needed to see Sam for a few minutes." Traci started up again, which prompted Andy to interrupt. "I'm not spending the night, Trace. Trust me."

Andy pulled the phone away from her ear and handed it to Sam. "She wants to talk to you," she explained with an apologetic look and a shrug.

"Nash," Sam said evenly as he put the phone to his ear.

"Swarek. It's almost midnight on the night before your wedding," she informed him in a tone that made it clear that she thought this should mean something to Sam.

"Yeah, yeah. I know what time it is. Thanks for the intel."

"Just put the Mrs. in the car and send her back to the hotel," Traci said curtly.

"Take it easy, Nash. She came over because she wanted to talk. So we're talking . . . ." He looked at Andy and rolled his eyes, prompting a muffled laugh from her.

"Just tell Andy it's almost midnight and she needs to get out of there, okay?"

"Why do you keep saying that? What happens at midnight? Are we worried McNally's gonna turn into a pumpkin?" he joked.

"You need to brush up on your fairy tales," Traci laughed, beginning to lighten up. "Cinderella doesn't turn into a pumpkin. The carriage does."

"Well, I'm not big on fairy tales, so why don't you just cut the crap and tell me what you're talking about?"

The sound of a loud sigh came through the earpiece and then, as if she were talking to a three-year-old, Traci explained, "After midnight, it'll be your wedding day, and it's bad luck for the two of you to see each other."

"Are you serious?" he asked dryly.

"Just do it," Traci said with authority. Sam knew she was using her "mom" tone on him. He actually felt sorry for Leo every time he heard it. It wasn't easy to ignore Nash when she went into full-on mom mode. "And be careful. She's slippery."

"Slippery?" Sam questioned with a raised eyebrow as he stood up to usher Andy back to the car.

"Yes. Tricky, sneaky, whatever . . . . Just make sure she gets in the car and heads for the hotel. I don't want her doubling back and sneaking into the house to spend the night with you."

"Why would she do that?"

"I don't know," Traci answered in frustration. "I specifically told her not to go over there to see you. And what does she do? She waits until I fall asleep and sneaks out of the hotel room."

"Sounds like her," Sam agreed, letting out a low laugh.

"And I'm pretty sure she took my car," Traci muttered. Sam smiled as he looked at Nash's car sitting out in the street in front of the house.

"Relax. I'm sending her back right now. And we still have ten minutes until midnight."

"Thank you," Traci breathed.

"No offense, but if we only have ten minutes left, I'm not spending them on the phone with you. Have a good night, Nash. It's been a pleasure."

"I mean it, Swarek. Ten minutes," she admonished him just before the line went dead. Sam handed the phone back to Andy as they started down the walkway toward Traci's car. "So you gave Nash the slip?"

"I didn't think she'd ever fall asleep," Andy groaned.

"She's taking the whole Maid of Honor thing pretty seriously," Sam observed.

"She's been really great, though, hasn't she? I feel bad that we gave her such a hard time just now . . . ."

"Nah," Sam said, dismissing her concerns. "I'm sure she'll find plenty of ways to torture you in the fall when you're in her wedding."

When they reached the car, Sam opened the door and boxed her in with one hand on the door and one on the roof. As he edged into her personal space, an intense expression settled on his face. He was feeling nostalgic, knowing that when Andy got into the car it would be the last time he'd see her before the wedding. As they stood on the threshold of their future, he couldn't wait to start the next chapter with her. At the same time, he found himself looking back at everything that had brought them to that point, from riding around in a squad car with her during the early days of their partnership to moving into their own home together and everything in between. With their new beginning came a sort of ending to the "them" they had always been. As excited as he was about their future, that feeling of nostalgia was enough for him to want to keep her there just a few minutes more.

Sam leaned toward Andy and kissed her lightly several times before guiding them into a more lingering kiss. Although he knew it had to happen, he didn't want to let her go. He realized she must have been feeling the same way because her arms slid up his back and pulled him against her firmly, giving no signs of leaving him either.

Finally, Sam broke away and looked at his watch reluctantly, noting that it was 11:58 p.m. "Get in before this thing turns into a pumpkin," he warned her, tapping the roof of the car. "I don't want to have to explain something like that to Nash."

"All right, all right. I'm going," she insisted, looking much more like the Andy he dropped off at the hotel than the one who showed up on the front lawn thirty minutes before. "Love you," she tossed over her shoulder. She got into the car and looked up at him with a huge grin on her face.

"Love you, too," he said as he shut her door and stepped back onto the curb.

A short time later, Sam had settled himself back in bed when his phone beeped, indicating an incoming text. Picking up the phone, he read: Can't sleep. Too excited.

Try, was his response. He smiled to himself as he drifted off, knowing she'd be asleep in minutes.