Author's Note: So I haven't fallen off the face of the planet. YAY! I'm in my second semester of my freshman year of college and I'm just now finding the balance with time management. Also, it's very difficult to write a love story without have the proper real life stimuli. So I had a huge writers block for a long time. However, I'm back now and I think that this chapter is wonderful. No wedding in it. That's the next chapter, but there's a lot of character thought and such in it. So enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: I still don't own Meet the Robinsons.

Today was the day. This was it. Today was the day that Kolbie Charles ceased to exist and she became Kolbie Robinson. It was bittersweet in a way. All she'd known all her life was Kolbie Charles. All that Kolbie Charles had known all her life was abuse and pain. All Kolbie Charles knew was poor. All Kolbie Charles knew was that she was not worth enough. All Kolbie Charles knew was that death was always just around the corner. All Kolbie Charles knew was bad. That was until she met Wilbur Robinson. All Wilbur Robinson knew was joy and love. All Wilbur Robinson knew was rich. All Wilbur Robinson knew was worth. All Wilbur Robinson knew was family. All that Wilbur Robinson knew was the opposite of what Kolbie Charles knew. Kolbie Robinson was a new person. All that Kolbie Robinson would know is love. All that Kolbie Robinson would know is support. All that Kolbie Robinson would know is the future. Not the past. The past was for Kolbie Charles to dwell in.

That was if Kolbie could make it through the wedding. Scratch that, if Kolbie could make it to the wedding. She'd been sitting on the bed of her hotel room for an hour, just staring at her refection in the mirror. She couldn't see the beautiful woman that Wilbur saw. All she saw was a scared child. She wasn't scared that she was going to get cold feet; no she knew that she loved Wilbur and that she wasn't going anywhere. She was more concerned with him leaving her. Maybe all the things that she'd told him about her past were finally going to sink in and he was going to realize just what he was dealing with, and when he did. He would leave. That terrified her.

There was a banging at the door, an urgent banging. "Kolbie?" It was Jackie's southern accent that came from under the door. "Kolbie! You wedding is in four hours. Four hours. We have to do something with all that thick, black hair on your head. I'm sure that you haven't brushed it. Then you have to eat and then make-up, Kolbie!"

"It's open," she called back in a quiet voice. She wasn't sure that Jackie had hear her, and maybe she hadn't, but the door knob twisted and in she and Mel walked. Jackie seemed to let loose a sigh of relief to find that Kolbie was sitting in a white fluffy robe and her hair was wet. Great, she'd showered. That was one less thing that she and Mel had to talk her into doing. "I'm sorry, guys."

"You don't have cold feet, do you?" Jackie asked, her voice full of panic. She and Wilbur had been friends for far too long. If Kolbie was going to back out of their wedding, she needed to tell him now. "Do you?"

"No," the raven haired girl replied. "I don't."

"So, what is it?" Mel asked as she sat down beside Kolbie.

Kolbie hesitated for a moment. These were her best friends, the best friends that she'd ever had. She should keep secrets from them. However, she didn't like to burden others with her issues. She'd always had that mind set. "It's nothing." She exhaled deeply and looked at her reflection in the mirror again. "Okay, I'm ready."

Jackie sighed, glad that Kolbie didn't have cold feet and that Wilbur was finally going to get to have her as his wife. However, she and Mel knew that something wasn't quite right with their quiet raven haired friend, but instead of pushing t they left it alone. No need in obsessing over it now, she'd talk about it if she wanted.

Wilbur exhaled sharply as he buttoned his white shirt. He looked at the refection staring back at him. He wasn't the same man that he was last year. Far from it actually. Before he met Kolbie, he was a boy. He cared only about himself and his needs. The things that he wanted where the most important. His friends were also important to him. but they came in a hierarchy. The person whose opinion always matter the most to him was Jackie's, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Then there was her on-and-off again boyfriend, and his best friend, Matt. Then everyone else. However, when he met Kolbie, his whole world changed. He was no longer there center of her universe. She was. She was what made him smile and what got him going in the morning. Her safely was the most important thing to her. Showing her that she was loved and that there were people that cared for her. He needed her to see that she didn't have to deal with the abuse that her father constantly placed upon her. She was worth more. She was beautiful, and he needed her to see that. He needed her to see that she was worthy of so much more than she had. The shift had been subtle to him, however, to his parents the shift was obvious and sudden. From the first night he talking about her to his parents, when he called her mysterious, they knew. The shift was obvious to Jackie as well. She saw it in his eyes on the first day that he'd talked to her and she heard it in his tone when he talked about her.

"Getting cold feet?" Matt asked as he pulled his 'burnt orange', as Jackie called the color, vest over his white shirt. He'd heard Wilbur's sharp exhale and was concerned. He, like Jackie, had grown to think of Kolbie as family. If Wilbur was thinking of backing out, he needed to let her know.

"Nah," Wilbur replied quickly as she straightened his tie, the same color as his friends vest and tie.

This orange color was the only color that Kolbie had picked for the entire wedding. She said that the orange color looked good on him. After that Jackie and Mel selected the other colors, they'd gotten her approval on the colors, but that's all. Kolbie, unlike most brides, had minimal activity in the wedding. She'd picked the color, that was her contribution. Wilbur on the other hand, picked the venue. He was never one for a classic wedding, he wanted something different. So after a lot of searching and many conversations with a wedding planner, he found the perfect venue.

"You ready for this?' Matt questioned as he pulled on his black blazer.

"More than you know," Wilbur replied as he slapped his friend on the back.

Kolbie had always been fond of Jane Austen. She loved how she wrote and more importantly she loved a good love story. However, it wasn't just the story that interested her. It was the way that they lived. The mansions that the characters resided in always sounded so beautiful. Of course, with the way that she grew up, a clean living room would have sounded beautiful. That was the intrigue to her. She'd never had a home that could even compare to the immaculacy of that described in a Jane Austen novel. So when the hover-limo that Wilbur had for her came to a stop outside of a large Elizabethan style mansion, her heart stopped.

"Wow," Jackie breathed as she stepped out of the limo. "Someone really loves you."

Before them was a large manor built in a tan colored stone. The building was three stories tall with large windows. There was one set of stairs on each side of the door, one for men and one for women. The stairs were made of a darker type of stone. A stone that was a dark shade of aluminum. At least that's what Kolbie decided the color was. Behind them was a very expansive green space. The lawn was well kept and beautiful manicured for the big day. It was perfect day outside. There was a light breeze, but it was sunny. A perfect day to get married. Inside, she could see people rushing around seating up chairs for the reception. She and Wilbur had both agreed to an outdoor wedding, mostly because Wilbur had suggested it more than once. Kolbie would do anything for Wilbur. So an outdoor wedding was no big deal for her.

Wilbur was pacing now, as he watched the workers set up for the wedding in the backyard. The chairs were in perfect lines. The grass was a perfect shade of green. Everything was perfect, and yet he was pacing. He was anxious. He was nervous. He pushed his hands into the pockets of his pants and exhaled roughly. He was worried. He was worried about her and how she was taking this and what she was doing. She was the one that was skittish and constantly nervous. He was terrified that she would run. His fear was irrational, because he knew that she wasn't going to run. He trusted her enough to not leave him today, or any day.

Kolbie had been ushered into a bedroom on the second floor, one that looked away from the backyard. She'd been primped by Jackie and Mel and now all that was left was to put on her dress. However, she was in the same position that she had been in this morning. She was sitting with her legs crossed in a chair and she was staring that the white dress before her. She should have been in the dress already, but she couldn't make herself do it. She knew that she wasn't getting cold feet, but she didn't really know what was happening to her. She was just stressed for no reason.

She twisted her engagement ring around her finger and that when it hit her. This was the only day that she'd been without Wilbur since she'd turned eighteen. "Jackie," the raven-haired girl called to her friend who was dressed in a strapless brown dress. The dress wonderfully complemented her eyes and her skin tone. Wasn't there a rule against looking more beautiful than the bride on her wedding day?

"Yes?" Jackie replied as she continued to apply mascara to her eyelashes.

"Get Wilbur."

"Wilbur," Jackie called as her southern accent rang through the halls of the wedding venue. "Wilbur!"

The man in question stuck his head out of one of the many doors on the first floor and then grabbed his friend's arm. He pulled her into the room gently and closed the door behind him. The room he was in had a large window that looked over the backyard. Guests were starting to arrive. The vast majority of the guests were Wilbur's family, because Kolbie had none that they knew of. He'd been watching as all the people that he had grown up knowing filled in. Wilbur had been spending the past half an hour being angry with the way that Kolbie had been brought up, and he would still have been doing so if it weren't for Jackie's shouting.

"What is it?" he asked glad for the distraction from his angry thoughts.

"Kolbie asked for you," Jackie said.

"Where is she?" he asked on his way out the door. His tie hung loosely around his neck as he ran up the stairs. "Where, Jackie?"

"At the end of the hall on the right side of the house," Jackie called up the stairs.

There was a knock on her door. Kolbie's ears pricked, no one had knocked all day. So she knew exactly who it was. She stood and walked to the door. Before opening it she slipped a piece of fabric under the door and told him to tie it over his eyes. He didn't ask why, just did as told. When he said that he had completed the task that she'd given him, she opened the door to him. However, when she did she closed her eyes. For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to look at him. It was bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony, but was it bad luck to see the groom? She didn't want to risk it. Being in his presence was actually more comforting that she thought it would be. She felt relaxed as soon as she'd opened the door.

Although she hadn't said anything, he knew that she was there. He knew that whatever the reason she called for him, his visit had done what it need to do. He heard Kolbie exhale roughly, before he could ask if she was okay, she laughed. He was confused to say the least. Wilbur reached up to take off his blindfold, however he decided against it. She had given him the blindfold for a reason and he didn't want to upset her.

"Okay," she said through her fit of laughter. "I can do this." Wilbur reached out clumsily and after a moment of feeling gently swatting at the air between them his hand found her cheek. He brushed his thumb over her cheek gently and then inhaled, but before he could open his mouth to speak she shushed him. "Save it. I'll see you later."

Wilbur sighed and then backed out of the doorway. He pulled the door shut behind him. Once the door was closed he took off his blindfold. He was glad that his presence had comforted her, and in a way her presence had comforted him. While most would be concerned with thoughts of her doubting her ability to marry him. He wasn't. If he was concerned about that, he would he shallow. After everything that she'd been through, all of the loss and abuse, marriage was a step that she had to be sure of. He was glad that she was sure. That meant that he could go into this with no doubts and not feeling that he had pushed her into anything.

After casting one last look at the door, he headed back down the stairs into finish preparing himself for their wedding.