This FF story is finished, hoped you enjoyed it and thanks for reading and the feedback!

C.J. peeked over the edge of the loft and saw the skunks still snoring in one huge pile underneath the ladder, right where they would step if they were foolish enough to try and come down.

"They look so peaceful don't they?"

Matt agreed, as long as the critters stayed asleep.

"If we go down there and we startle the nest of them, we'll get a full dose."

She knew that and she knew he didn't want her inhaling the noxious fumes due to her pregnancy. No one knew if a fetus could be harmed by its mother inhaling skunk perfume but maybe they shouldn't take any chances.

"Maybe we could call someone…on your phone."

Matt sighed.

"I left it in the bedroom…what about your phone?"

She ran her hand through her hair.

"I think I left it too."

So they were truly trapped up in the barn loft with no means to communicate. He had offered to sacrifice himself by going down and diverting the skunks' attentions which would mean he'd get sprayed but she vetoed that one quickly. She wasn't sharing her bed with him if that happened and it proved too difficult to remove the smell.

"Houston…I'm fine…you're fine and we've got some snack food left…"

He stroked her hair off of her face.

"I could spend the whole afternoon with you up here," he said, "and not complain but if the others think we're missing, they might worry."

"They might send out a search party that might hit the barn."

He sat down and drew her close to him.

"That might take a while so why don't we pass the time together?"

Chris looked around the kitchen where Butterfly sat keeping one eye on her cooling pies and another on her camera where she examined some footage she had taken. Chris looked over her shoulder.

"What are those?"

Butterfly smiled and rolled her eyes at Chris.

"They're skunks, what else do they look like?"

"They live in the barn?"

Butterfly nodded.

"A whole family of them even babies," she said, "Aren't they cute?"

Chris grimaced.

"Until they spray you," she said, "I had a dog growing up who got sprayed by a skunk and stunk up the house."

Jed came by along with Dan.

"Everything's battened down," he said, "How's the dinner coming along?"

Chris looked up at him.

"Nearly finished…C.J.'s stuffing was waiting for her but no one's seen her or Matt for a while now."

Dan smiled after kissing his wife.

"They're probably off by themselves somewhere," he said, "You know how they are with each other."

Chris shrugged.

"You're right…we'll be lucky if they surface in time for dinner…I guess I'd better go check on Daniel."

Dan put his arm around her shoulder.

"I'll go with you darling."

Butterfly watched them go and shook her head at the strange behavior of adults. If she had wandered off somewhere to lip lock with some guy, and didn't turn up by dinner time, she'd have a posse sent after her. Then when she turned up, would come the lecture and then the grounding. But Matt and C.J. wander off to do that, and then the attitude was more nonchalant. Life was just filled with these double standards, she discovered, not that she really wanted to hang around Carter. She had pretty much written him off when she had been back in Texas, never hearing from him and then he comes onto her in the barn as if he wanted to pick up where they left off.

Maybe she should just forget about guys for a while until they straightened themselves out and just focus on her movie making instead. She thought that sounded like a plan as she left the kitchen.

C.J. lay back on the blanket where naturally they had wound up again, after he kissed her and one thing led to another like it usually did. After all, how could she had wound up in this condition otherwise? Matt had drifted off, snoring softly but he had been tired, been working very hard in the past few months. He would have been working even harder if she hadn't put her foot down fearful that he might take sick again like he had the previous Thanksgiving.

She had spent a nerve wracking night sitting by his bedside after flying in as quickly as she could find an empty seat on the plane. Before she had gotten the phone call from Roy at the hospital, she hadn't been sure she would be flying in for the holiday, her therapy had left her feeling so raw, which meant she didn't want to be around anyone. Chris and Dan had invited her along with Rhonda but she had hedged on actually going to their house for the holiday. While trying to make the final decision, she had gotten the call that Matt lay deathly ill beneath an oxygen tent from some virulent pneumonia.

After catching a shuttle from the airport to the hospital, she had just dropped her luggage in the ICU waiting room and spent every minute of the precious allotment of time she had been afforded each hour that passed that he survived. They had pumped his body so full of medicine including antibiotics but it didn't seem at first he would respond. But she had taken his ashen hand in her own and had squeezed it so he would know she held onto him tightly.

By morning, his fever had broken and it had been Thanksgiving so she had stayed with him when he awoke seeing her there and his eyes had widened, surprised. As if she would ever have been anywhere else. She stayed as long as she could by his side, seriously she had but the fear she harbored towards L.A. and the memories stored there had been overwhelming, and she came close to losing her own breath.

Now a year later, he lay asleep, his breathing coming so much easier. The year since then had been arduous and tough but it had brought them together as a family, the two of them bonded together to be joined by their first child. She had been surprised that she had flunked a pregnancy test when he had been out of town on business and she had to survive a 72 hour bank hostage crisis to be able to share the good news with him.

Matt stirred next to her and he reached his hand up to stroke her shoulder, the one that bore the tattoo she had gotten to cover the scar.

"I fall asleep again?"

She chuckled.

"You wore yourself out again," she said, "Seriously; you need to stock up on that energy by the time the baby arrives."

"If he's anything like his mother, most definitely."

She smiled at him, the man with the endless endurance and strength who had her rock every much as she had been his when he had needed it.

And she still needed that strength with the trial looming ahead…the time for her to tell her story. The testimony was expected to take several days including cross-examination and Matt and she had discussions with the prosecutors about it on every aspect ranging from security from any threats to keeping a pregnant woman comfortable. Before he fell asleep, he had told her that the trial date might be as early as next month possibly around their wedding date.

"Do you want to change it?"

She thought about it and shook her head.

"It will be fine Houston," she said, "We'll be fine…we can fit the honeymoon around it if necessary."

They had planned to spend at least part of it in the Caribbean island where they had stayed for a period of time and had made lifelong friends. Then during the New Year's holiday they would fly to Colorado to do some time on this ranch. The weather would be freezing, the climate horrendous but they didn't plan to spend much time outside of the guest house anyway.

But she hoped that the happiness of her wedding day, the one long awaited to the man who had waited for her would carry her through the arduous conditions of testifying about the most painful chapter in her life and that she would be able to unwind afterwards with her husband.

She couldn't wait for it all to be over with, the men to be put away for life and for her to start her married life with Matt as they awaited the birth of their baby. She lay down putting her head on his chest where he stroked her hair.

"I can't wait for the honeymoon…"

She chuckled at him.

"I love you Houston…"

He threaded his fingers through her soft hair.

"I love you too sweetheart…"

They got dressed after they looked one more time and didn't see any signs of the skunks and after she buttoned herself up and he pulled on his boots, he helped her down the ladder, and together they returned into the house.

When they entered, they thought everyone would fire questions at them about where they had been all this time but Chris just rolled her eyes at her and told her the stuffing was awaiting its final preparations. So that's what C.J. focused on as they all made the final preparations for the sumptuous dinner that would bring them all together as one big family.