A/N – "Thoughts"

Chapter 23 – Reflecting On Fairy Tales Gone By

Miranda and Lizzie were still standing near the bar, talking, and sipping on glasses of wine as they watched the bouquet and garter tosses. When Amanda caught the bouquet, Miranda snickered as she imagined the look on her son's face and Lizzie teased her a little.

At the moment, with a small smile, Miranda was looking across the room at her table, watching her husband and youngest daughter. Glancing at her, Lizzie noticed her smile and followed her line of sight. Her own smile appeared on her face as she too watched Natalie gesturing wildly as she talked excitedly to Gordo about something.

"What's up with Nat?" Lizzie asked.

Snickering, "There is one thing you learn very quickly in the Gordon family," Miranda told her with a sarcastic grin.

"What?"

"They love desert," she said laughing and pointing off to the side.

Lizzie looked over and seeing the wedding cake, started laughing too. Lizzie was very familiar with Gordo's tastes for sweets, as he was often the one who finished off most of her baking, and wasn't surprised that it had passed on to his children. "How do you know that's what they're talking about?"

"Three words," Miranda said, "Daddy's little girl." Putting her empty wine glass onto the bar, she walked over. Lizzie did the same with her own glass and quickly fell into step. "This one," Miranda said, referring to Natalie, "as some kind of radar that tells her when there's cookies, cakes, and stuff around," she joked and Lizzie snickered.

Nearing the table, they could hear Natalie's voice now. "You see it Daddy? It was this big!" she said gesturing vertically with her arms, though over exaggerating a bit. Gordo just grinned at her, getting a kick out of it. "I wonder if its chocolate or vanilla." Then her eyes went wide as she thought of something, "What if its both?" Looking back at it, "I wonder how they made it? Its too big for a regular oven, like Mommy's got." Gordo's smile widened as he listened to her ramble on about the cake. "It kinda looks like three different cakes on top of each other," Natalie said.

"Like I said Daddy's little girl."

Hearing her mother's voice, Natalie spun around and looked up at her, "Did you see it Mommy?" she asked excitedly. Miranda grinned down at her and nodded. "It had three levels, with frosting." She quickly looked over at the cake and then back at Miranda, "Can I have some?" she asked with pleading eyes, "Please."

Miranda smirked at her and Lizzie snickered softly. "I'll take her," Lizzie offered. It was times like theses that she missed Rebecca being younger.

"Can she?" Natalie asked her mom, getting more excited by the moment.

"Go," Miranda said after pretending to give it some thought. Just as Natalie turned to leave, Miranda quickly added, "One piece, I don't need you getting sick."

"Ok Mommy," Natalie said absentmindedly and continued to walk off with Lizzie towards the cake.

Gordo chuckled softly, "You do know she's gonna have more than one piece."

"I know and its your fault," Miranda said sarcastically to him.

"Hey, its not all my fault. I believe she got her cunning and devious side from her mother." Gordo watched for a moment as a proud smile appeared on Miranda's face. When he laughed, she glared at him for a moment but then started laughing as well.

As the laughter slowly died down, Miranda looked down at Gordo with a smile, "You really got start wearing a suit more often," she told him as let her eyes wonder over him. Gordo had on a tailored black suit with a white dress shirt, a black and silver striped tie, and a pair of black dress shirts.

Pulling at the collar and stretching his neck, "I hate wearing suits."

"Put you look good in them," she said back as she sat down in the seat next to him, "Plus, it comes with a built in leash." Miranda then grabbed Gordo's tie and used it to pull him over to her so she could kiss him. As Miranda pulled back a little, she smirked, watching a familiar expression pass over Gordo's face. "Later."

"Promise?" asked with a smirk of his own.

Letting of the tie and her finger tips trail down his chest, "Oh you better believe it." Miranda giggled a little as Gordo gave her his trademark half smirk and she moved her chair closer to him, so that they were now sitting shoulder to shoulder. Gordo rested his arm on the back of Miranda's chair and started to gently run his fingers through her hair.

"You don't look so bad yourself," Gordo whispered in her ear.

Miranda had on a black pant suit with thin white pinstripes running along it vertically and a peach colored blouse underneath the jacket, along with a pair of simple black heels. Glancing at him, her smirk widening, "I told you later," she told him sarcastically and they both started laughing again. Slowly looking around, Miranda's smirk turned into a genuine smile, "You remember our wedding? I was a nervous wreck."

Gordo snorted at her remark, "Ever since we got together, you've made me a nervous wreck," he said under his breath but loud enough for his wife to hear him.

Miranda gasped at him and slugged his thigh, which made Gordo wince. As he rubbed his leg, she went to hit him again but Gordo quickly grabbed her arm, "If I didn't love you so much, I hurt you permanently."

"Oh come on," he said as he struggled with her for a moment before pulling her into his side where he wrapped his arm around her to keep her there. "In New York, I give you a place to stay and then the next morning, you scare me half to death."

Snickering under her breath, "Oh but you enjoyed the McGuire's Christmas Party," she teased back.

"Of course I enjoyed kissing you. I've always enjoyed that, I've never denied that," he said with a laugh, "But then when I came back after the movie was done."

Miranda watched the smile vanish for a moment as he remembered what happened when he came back from New York City. She frowned a little and then cupping his chin, turned his head to her and kissed him. "Gordo," she told him; that was one moment that she really never wanted to remember. For a brief moment she questioned her feelings for Gordo, something she didn't care to remember, ever.

Gordo's mouth twitched into a smile, "But you came around."

"And how can anyone forget your proposal," Miranda said as she rolled her eyes.

"Me?" Gordo said defensively, "You're the one who scared the crap out of me when you started crying."

Looking at him, "Why do you always flip out whenever I start to cry?"

"I don't flip out…but….out of the three us," he said meaning the old trio of Lizzie, Miranda, and him, "You were the always the strongest and while you did get upset, you rarely cried. So when you did lose it and get really emotional, I didn't know what caused it or how to stop it. It was like that time you went on that crash diet in Junior High, I didn't know what to do." When Miranda smirked at him, he glared at her, "But I think I'm getting better." Miranda just giggled a little and elbowed him in the ribs. After sitting there for a moment, in a comfortable silence, Gordo grinned a little, "Well at least Caitlyn's man didn't have to fight anyone."

"Yea, my knight in shinning armor," Miranda said sarcastically, "You talk about me scaring you, do you have any idea what you did to me the night before our wedding?" she snarled. Gordo's blue eyes looked directly into Miranda's brown ones, "Your lucky your cute." Gordo smiled and they kissed again.

Suddenly Miranda started laughing, "But you've lost it too. Remember when Jason was born."

"Please," Gordo said with a smirk, "I wasn't scared of that, I was scared of what you were yelling at me when you were in labor. One of my personal favorites, if I ever touched you again, you'd castrate me and beat me like a piñata." His smirk widened, "And then when Natalie was born, you damn me to hell and said a few other choices words in Spanish that I'm not sure I want to know what they mean." Miranda was trying hard not to laugh but was failing miserable as she kept snickering under her breath as Gordo's grin kept widening.

As usual, Miranda and Gordo were enjoying themselves, teasing each other and the playful banter back and forth. Getting lost in their own little world, Gordo smile widened as his wife's dark eyes sparkled mischievously. "I was thinking," Gordo started but was cut off by Miranda.

"That can't be good."

Glaring at her for a moment, "As I was saying…I have a few weeks off coming up and was thinking we should go on a vacation." With his arm still on the back of her chair, he threaded his fingers through her hair and gently toyed with her long raven hair. "Just the two of us. Kinda like a second honeymoon."

Miranda looked at him with an arched eyebrow, "And what exactly would we do with our children?" she asked, "You know those little people who depend on us to take care of them."

Smirking, "Jason's old enough to spend some time alone and Kate and Ethan will be next door to make sure nothing happens with him and Amanda. Maria has been wanting to go spend some time with Gaby and the new baby and your mother is gonna go visit in a bit, so Maria can go with her."

"Seeing as you've been planning this out for awhile, what about Nat?"

"A certain best friend of ours as offered to take care of her."

"So where are you taking us?" Miranda asked with a smirk, "Back to Hawaii?"

Gordo shook his head, "Technically, I'd be going back but for you it'd be a first time and you were supposed to go but ended up not being able. We are gonna spend two weeks in Italy," he snickered softly as the reaction on Miranda's face. While she had enjoyed visiting her family in Mexico, she had also regretted not being able to go to Rome with them. "We're gonna visit Milan, Pisa, Rome, and Syracuse. How's that sound?"

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Miranda lips turned into a wide smile, "Incredible."

"Only one condition though," Gordo told her.

Miranda pulled back a little and looked at him with "Oh, and what's that?"

"You can't fall for some wanna be famous pop star," Gordo told her with a smirk and Miranda started laughing.

"Deal."

That night, after the ceremony, Lizzie and Gordo were sitting on lawn chairs on the deck, enjoying the night. Inside, Miranda was trying to put Natalie to bed as she was finally coming down from her sugar rush.

As he sprawled out in his chair, Gordo noticed Lizzie looking up at the night sky, absentmindedly twirling her hair around one of her fingers. He smirked a little, "Even after over forty years, some things never change." Clearing his throat to get her attention, he snickered softly as she looked at him, "So what are you thinking so hard about?"

"Nothin really," she answered with a small chuckle. "Just been thinking about some stuff." Returning her eyes to the stars, "I can't believe its been almost a year now." Kicking off her heels and stretching a little, "Trying dating again and now the wedding, its just…its just got me thinking about stuff."

Gordo could tell there was some deeper but wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about it or if she wanted to didn't want to talk about it with him. "If you want, I can make myself scarce when Mir comes back. Give you girls sometime to talk."

Lizzie looked over at him surprised for a moment and then smiled softly at him, "Gordo," she said softly, "I know I've been leaning on Mir a lot lately and it does seem like we keep you out of the loop a lot…but, that's only trivial, girl stuff, you know my real secrets. The dark stuff." Lizzie reached out and rested her hand on top of his, giving it a small squeeze, "I sometimes forget how much you care about me and trust me its mutual." Taking a deep breath, "I guess I should tell him." "I…I was planning on leaving Todd a few days after he died," she said so softly, Gordo almost missed it.

"You were gonna what?"

"Things were getting worse and I was gonna try a separation. See it if it knocked some sense into him. But now," Lizzie stopped as she reached up and wiped a tear away.

"What did you do now?" Miranda's voice came from the doorway.

His head whipping around, "Me?" Miranda grinned as Lizzie started laughing. "Why is it always me?"

"Cause you're a guy," Miranda said as she pulled over a chair and sat down with them, "So what were you talking about."

When Gordo looked a little apprehensive about saying, Lizzie smiled, "Its alright she knows." As she looked at her two best friends, she felt a little jealous; she wanted what they had, being together for almost twenty years and were still madly in love with each other.

"By the way Liz, thanks for getting Nat some cake," Miranda's words were dripping with sarcasm, "Could you not find a bigger piece? Or one with more frosting?"

Lizzie laughed again, "Come on, my little girl isn't so little anymore. I need someone to spoil."

"Well you'll get your chance soon and this time you get to clean it up." Miranda smiled at her, "By the way thanks."

"No problem. It'll be fun having her around," Lizzie than grinned evilly, "It'll be like having the Gordo I always wanted. Still annoying with useless facts no one could care about and stubborn but likes shopping and other girly stuff." Both women giggled softly and Gordo just rolled his eyes.

As they settled down, they sat silent for a few moments, just enjoying the night. After a bit, Gordo broke the silence, "Do you know how many summer nights we spent outside, just looking up at the sky, talking." He smiled a little as he started thinking back on some of those nights.

"I miss those times," Lizzie said and Miranda quietly nodded her agreement. "I think the last time we did it was our last night together before Gordo went away to college."

"Yea, right before we…" Gordo trailed off.

Lizzie smirked at him as she knew what he was going to say, "But you seemed to have landed on your feet," she teased, "Though I gotta admit, the two of you surprised the hell out of me. I mean I would've thought Gordo would get with Kate before you, Mir."

Miranda pretended to be hurt, "And why's that?"

"The way you two used to be constantly at each other's throats about everything." Lizzie than laughed out loud and grinned evilly again, "Though now it makes sense. All that aggression towards each other…it was all misguided, pent up, sexual frustration. Which explains why you two can't keep your hands off each other now." Miranda laughed with Lizzie and Gordo rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her.

"You know Lizzie," Miranda shot back, "you were wrong."

"Bout what?"

This time Gordo grinned, "I know, there's so many things."

"Shut up Gordo," Lizzie shot at him. "What was I wrong about?"

"Fairy tales can be real," Miranda told her with a small smirk, "They may not be the kind in books and movies but they're what you make of them." Smiling a little, she reached out and slipped her arm underneath Gordo's and slid her hand inside his. Lizzie snickered as she watched them, she didn't mind being proven wrong about this. Part of her was happy that they were together but another part just missed having someone like that in her life. The three of them fell into another silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

Through marriages, kids, other commitments, and just growing up, it was rare now a days for just the three of them to get a chance to spend time together like they did in the past. It was something they all missed.

As Miranda stretched her legs out in front of her and tightened her grip on Gordo's hand, she looked over at his profile as he looked up at the starry sky. She snickered softly as she could hear him muttering under his breath the constellations. "My king," she thought sarcastically, "Even when we're relaxing, the wheels are still spinning," she joked to herself.

Watching for a moment, "Its amazing and weird what love will sometimes do. It may not be like the books but I'm not complaining," she thought and as she rested her head against his shoulder, she quickly added, "Well more then normal anyway."

Feeling her laugh to herself, Gordo looked down at her for a moment with a questioning glance. Miranda just grinned at him and before looking back up, he just rolled his eyes at her with a smirk. "Things may not have turned out the way I expected," Miranda thought as she continued to watch her husband and old best friend, "but I'm not complaining. Its kinda weird how love and life play out. Someone you never thought of like that could end up being the love of your life." Smirking to herself, she looked out into the darkened backyard, giving it no more thought, and just enjoying the moment.

A/N 2 – This pretty much ends the Fairytale Collection. I'm not going to say I'll never write another sequel but right now, I have no desire to. I can't believe how this story line grew from one single scene, the airport scene when Miranda and Gordo first meet in the first story, that was replaying in my head for almost a year, into this epic of six stories. I appreciate all the support and reviews I got.

supergirljen – Where ever you are, lol, thanks for convincing me to post this and for the help early on.

tormented soul – We think way too much a like, heh. Thanks for the help and putting up with me bugging you to beta this damn thing.

Jennifer10 – I really appreciate your help on getting this final story done. I'd probably still be stuck on Todd's death if it wasn't for you. One last thing…KABOOM! (Inside joke)

hockeylover and PinkPrincess1 – Thanks for helping too, like with details about certain stuff, and dress descriptions. I appreciate it.

brie, Elementals, RTds9, Aubhin, GFMarshall, and everyone else who's reviewed – Thank you. It helped keep me motivated, especially during this story when it kinda felt like no one was reading it.