The Effect of James Whistler, Chapter Ten (complete)
Title: The Effect of James Whistler, Chapter Ten
Author: domfangirl
Starring: Lincoln and Jane, with special appearances by Sara, LJ, Michael, Sofia, and the Sucre family.
Category: Multi-Chapter (10/10)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: It was S3 with Jane added to the mix. Now it’s still set in S3, but it takes into account S4 in various ways.
Author’s Notes: This is it, the end, finally! I started this series, unknowingly, after the first episode Jane appeared on in S2 (Rendezvous). More than two years later, it is finally complete.
Dedication: Any and all Linc/Jane fics are written with happywriter06 in mind and heart. This Vegas wedding stuff is all you, Simone, and I hope it gives you some escape from being Private Benjamin! *hugs* Happy birthday, a few days early!
Previous chapters: The Effect of Jane / The Effect of LJ / The Effect of Lincoln / The Effect of James Whistler, Chapter One / Chapter Two / Chapter Three / Chapter Four / Chapter Five / Chapter Six / Chapter Seven / Chapter Eight / Chapter Nine
Lincoln Burrows was a simple person; at least he liked to think so. He’d never had much, so it didn’t take much to make him happy. The months and years on death row, the fighting for his life, and ultimately running for his life had made him even easier to please, when he really thought about it. All he wanted was his family around him, and a safe place to lay his head at night, and a beer whenever he got the urge.
Well, okay, there was one more thing he wanted that had suddenly complicated his life-a baby with his soon-to-be wife.
He had watched Jane plan a covert operation, bring Sara Tancredi back from the dead, and get them all out of Panama without the authorities finding them; he was also aware that she had been involved in many more dangerous situations before he’d ever known her-things he was better off not knowing about so he didn’t feel the panicky sensation of losing her, even though it was not even a possibility because they were all past-tense stories. But nothing had ever, as far as he could tell, brought her to her knees-albeit figuratively-except the idea of being a mother. Carrying a child, to her, was the most foreign thing he could ask for.
He was strangely delighted to find this chink in her armor, only because it gave him the opportunity to teach her something for once, instead of being the recipient. So he spent the next few days campaigning as to why she would make a stellar mother. He started with the obvious: LJ. Granted LJ had a pair of moms with Sara around, but just the same, he deferred to Jane the way most boys would to the mother who had raised them. He went on to illustrate further by pointing out all her positive character traits, and how those things didn’t just make her a great person, but a potentially wonderful mother. When she’d still looked at him doubtfully, he’d gone to Michael for help, but his brother’s contributions had been clinical-with regard to her hips, which were just full enough to make the birthing process less complicated, and given the givens with her ample bosom, she would be able to breastfeed easily too. Lincoln’s recitation of these facts hadn’t been as clinical, however, and they’d ended up in the middle of their bed, because Jane’s period was finally over anyway.
In the aftermath, as they lay panting together, Lincoln moved off of her to place his hand over her flat stomach. Then he told her something he’d never said aloud to anyone ever before.
“I never wanted LJ, you know,” he murmured. Lifting his eyes from the sight of his sun-browned hand resting over her pale belly to her face, he continued, “When he was coming, anyway. Once he was here, I was thrilled-it was something I could never have known I would feel until I looked at him and felt it. But he was an accident-Lisa wasn’t anyone I cared much about, and it was just one of those things that young, stupid kids do. She was Catholic, and couldn’t see her way around an abortion, but I can still remember the panic of it. The idea of being someone’s father scared the shit out of me. The responsibility, the money-fuck, I can also still remember the pressure to make my child support payments, and the shame when I couldn’t manage it-but there was always LJ. LJ came out sweet, and just got sweeter. He loved me, even when he didn’t see me for weeks at a time, and he took a long time to learn how to be disappointed, so I had a lotta years of freebies. Because I was a major fuck up then. Now, I try to make it up to him without him even knowing it.” He moved his fingers caressingly over her skin, his forefinger rimming her belly button gently. “But the idea of putting a baby inside you-man! It makes me hard, and it makes me kinda giddy. I think about it and it’s like the highest high I could ever reach. I guess this is the way it’s supposed to be-how you’re supposed to feel when you’re ready.”
Her eyes filled up with tears somewhere around the middle of his monologue and he could feel the arrival. They were both getting to the same place, and the sensation robbed him of breath. He loved Jane more than he could comprehend, and the merging of their lives had given him more happiness than he’d even known was possible. Her hands cupped his face and drew him down to her so that their lips could meet. “I love you,” she whispered against his mouth.
“I love you,” he responded. “So, so much.”
“We’re really going to do this, aren’t we?” she asked.
Lincoln hesitated just briefly, his eyes searching hers. “Yes,” he said, more certain than he’d ever been about anything.
*
“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” Fernando Sucre quipped as they entered the hotel near the chapel Jane had chosen as the place they would get married.
“That better not be true,” Jane said, shooting a grin over her shoulder at him. “I still want to be married when I get back to Mexico.”
Lincoln had no idea what Sucre and his crafty brother had done, but somehow they were both able to get over the Mexican border into the U.S. without detection. Now, Lincoln, Jane, LJ, Michael, Sara, Sofia, Fernando, his wife Maricruz, and their little girl, were all checking into a swanky hotel-under fake names of course. Even though Lincoln could travel in the U.S. without fear of arrest, being infamous was almost as bad as being a wanted fugitive, so they all had code names that Jane had assigned to them.
“I think Fernando is just talking about the casinos, right, baby?” Maricruz asked. Lincoln had heard Michael mention to Sara that Sucre planned to make a little cash at the Poker tables if he could.
Sucre shifted his daughter on his hip and smiled at his wife. “That’s right, baby,” he said.
“If you get arrested in this casino, so help me, God, Sucre-I will kill you if you ruin my wedding,” Lincoln breathed rapidly. He hadn’t wanted a procession anyway, especially if Sucre’s motivation for coming had been to get rich quick.
“Aw, relax, papi. I won’t do anything to mess up your weekend. I promise.” Sucre patted Lincoln on the back and exchanged a knowing look with Michael. Lincoln turned his glare on his brother, because he knew they just thought he was ‘nervous.’ Hell, he wasn’t nervous, he was serious, and if anything screwed up his and Jane’s plans, he wouldn’t hesitate to whup Sucre’s ass, baby or no baby.
Jane’s hand slid inside Lincoln’s palm and she tugged him forward so they were standing at the counter and he was forced to put on a pleasant face as a young man checked their reservations and gave them their room keys.
“Nothing’s going to happen,” she said softly as the clerk’s fingers moved rapidly over the keyboard.
Lincoln glanced down at her and then wrapped his arm around her shoulder to hug her to his side. “That’s right, but if something does happen, and it’s that asshole’s fault? I’m going to kill him.”
He flashed a grin at the clerk, acting as though he was joking, but Jane’s fingers reached up and pinched his belly, so he knew she knew he was totally serious.
“Here you are, Mr. And Mrs. Jones.” After the clerk handed them their room card-keys, Jane turned around to pass them out to their group. They had three rooms on the same floor-one for the Sucres, one for Lincoln and Jane, and another for Michael, Sara, LJ and Sofia who were planning to sleep boys and girls only in the king-sized beds. Lincoln knew LJ was still hopeful that at some point Sofia would see things in a different light, but for this three-day excursion, it was still very much platonic.
Although, for tonight, the night before the wedding, the girls were all bunking down together while the boys were kept separate. It was Jane’s idea, not Lincoln’s, but he’d agreed to it because he would really do anything Jane wanted him to do, even when he didn’t really see the sense in it. It was some sort of tradition, and he figured he could let her have that when he was getting away with a wedding in Vegas.
In the elevator up to the sixth floor, Lincoln slid his hand down her back to her ass, cupping her bottom gently and pulling her tightly into him. He wasn’t going to sleep at all tonight, not because he wasn’t with her, but because tomorrow, he was agreeing to be with her forever. He didn’t have any doubts, but panic still seemed to tease the edge of his mind, because a commitment was, well, scary. They were in the back corner, the rest of their friends and family standing in front of them, talking about various things.
Jane pressed her face into his neck, and he felt her take a deep breath. Then her lips skated over his collarbone and she smiled against his skin. “You’re not gonna run out on me, are you?” she asked.
Squeezing her against him, he lowered his lips to her ear and whispered, “Not when you might be carrying my baby,” which was really the wrong thing to say, because it had the same effect on him it always did. Imagining her pregnant made his stomach muscles tighten in lustful anticipation.
Her laughter surrounded him as she shifted so her mouth could find his. “That’s not a good reason to get married,” she murmured against his lips.
He kissed her then as though they were going into the same hotel room together, uncaring of their audience. Sucre wolf-whistled as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened to their floor. Lincoln held up a hand with his middle finger extended and he heard Sara laugh and someone’s hand pushed his arm down. “Not in front of the baby,” Sara said, a note of mockery in her voice.
“Sheesh, get a room!” LJ shouted, his voice trailing off as he stepped off the elevator.
Jane pulled away first, her flushed cheeks and bright eyes enough to make Lincoln wish they were already married. “We have a room, you little punk,” she hollered after her soon-to-be stepson. “But we aren’t headed there until tomorrow. Give us a break!”
While everyone laughed good-naturedly, they all started down the hall towards their rooms. Lincoln and Jane’s was on the left hand side, but the other two were on the right. It was late, they had been in the car most of the day, and Lincoln supposed, he was the only one who didn’t feel ready for bed.
“Say goodnight to your bride,” Michael said as he opened the door to the room he, LJ and Lincoln would be sleeping in.
Lincoln let go of Jane then, but when their eyes met he saw the same nervous excitement in her face that had to be so obvious on his. “Goodnight, bride,” he parroted obediently.
Jane’s smile was full and radiant, and nearly as gut wrenching for him as the idea of getting her pregnant. “Goodnight, groom,” she echoed. Leaning up, she kissed him again, quickly, and then moved towards the door Sara and Sofia were standing near. “Next time I see you, it will be too late to run.”
“You’d catch me anyway, and beat the shit out of me,” he answered.
“True enough,” she shot back, throwing him a flirtatious wink.
“Oh, God,” LJ groaned dramatically. He stepped up, grabbed Lincoln by his arms, and shoved him through the door that Michael was holding open. “He loves you,” he directed at Jane, “and she loves you,” he said to his father. “Now, get to bed!”
As Michael shut the door with a chuckle, Lincoln heard Jane yell, “I can beat the shit of out you, too, LJ!”
*
As it happened, everything went off without a hitch. Lincoln wasn’t required to kill Sucre, or do anything except put on some dress clothes (no tie, of course) and head over to the chapel ahead of Jane so that they didn’t see each other before the ceremony.
Michael and LJ were both in suits, and they both wore ties even though Lincoln told them they didn’t have to. Michael was serving as best man, while LJ had been asked to walk the bride down the aisle. Once they were in the chapel, LJ left to go find the ladies and make sure everything was on schedule.
“Sure could use a beer,” Lincoln mused, glancing at his younger brother as they waited with the officiator and the organist.
Michael arched a brow and then checked his watch. “Linc, it’s 10:30. A M,” he emphasized a moment later, each letter its own distinct sound.
“We’ll see how calm you are when it’s your turn, smart ass,” Lincoln grumbled.
Smiling warmly, Michael reached out and put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “You’ve never had a surer thing than Jane, Linc. Don’t be nervous.”
The sentiment burned in Lincoln’s chest, but he couldn’t help asking for further reassurance. “You think so?”
Michael’s serious side emerged to cover his disdain at Lincoln wanting a beer at such an early hour. “Don't you?”
Lincoln shook his head. “No, I do, I mean, I know Jane loves me. I know she wants this, it’s just…” He shrugged, unsure of the right words. “Sometimes it feels like it’s too much. Like I don’t deserve all of it, you know?”
Michael’s fingers tightened on Lincoln’s shoulder. “Sure, I know. But you do, Linc. You do deserve it. After everything, you’ve earned it.” Michael slapped his hand genially against Lincoln’s back and then straightened his tie-less collar with an inspecting eye. “And Jane doesn’t just love you. She would take a bullet for you. That’s stronger than mere love, in my opinion.”
Lincoln sniffed, sudden emotion welling up with his brother’s pronouncement. “Man, don’t get me started. I want to get through this without blubbering.”
A sharp laugh escaped Michael’s lips. “If there’s one day to let your emotions get the better of you, then today would be the day.” Michael lifted his hands up until his palms rested against Lincoln’s cheeks. “It doesn’t get much better than this.”
Lincoln had a brief flash of a newborn baby being placed into his arms, and he knew he had a good argument for Michael, but he let it go. Today was about putting things in order, and celebrating the fact that making a family with Jane was a purposeful action, not just a random error on his part.
Michael was right, it didn’t get any better than knowing you were doing the right thing. And finally, Lincoln was doing the right thing.
When the first notes sounded on the organ, Michael grasped him by the shoulders and turned him so he was facing the short aisle Jane would walk up. The doors opened and Sucre, his little girl on his hip again, and Maricruz walked in, seating themselves quickly on one of the few pews available. Then Lincoln saw Sara, standing just in front of Jane and LJ. The wedding march began, and Sara moved forward towards Lincoln and Michael.
Lincoln’s throat grew tight, and blinked his eyes rapidly in an effort to be able to see Jane clearly. It wasn’t just that he wanted to hold on to his emotions so as not embarrass himself, he wanted to be able to see her.
Her dress was a simple, sleeveless light brown/weird shade of purple color. The skirt was straight and form fitting, and hit her about mid-calf. It didn’t look like a wedding dress at all-the fact that she had chosen to wear a dress at all caught him by surprise initially. Her hair was drawn back from her face into a fancy kind of bun on the back of her head. She had small purple flowers woven across the top of her head that Sara must had placed there. And her face was positively breathtaking. It wasn’t until LJ deposited her right next to Lincoln and put her hand in his, that he realized he’d never seen her with make-up on before. She had the same brown/purple color across her eyelids, which caused the natural blue hue of her eyes to stand out more vividly.
He must have looked like the whipped pup he was because tears sprang to her eyes and she whispered commandingly, “Stop looking at me like that, you’ll mess up my make up!” She blinked a couple times and then tipped her head back, as if willing the tears to stay within the edges of her eyes. “Sara!” she said urgently, and the maid of honor stepped forward to dab expertly at the corners of Jane’s eyes.
Lincoln laughed because he’d never seen her act so girly in all the time he’d known her. “You’re just so beautiful,” he said softly. “I can’t help it,” he amended when that didn’t seem to help the damage Sara had just tried to repair.
“Maybe we should have taken photos beforehand,” she muttered.
Lincoln pulled her close, wrapping his arm around her waist. “You’re the one who wanted us not to see each other until this moment,” he reminded her. He felt her tense against him, and he wondered if she would lay him out even on their wedding day if he pissed her off. Cupping her face in one hand, he gently ran his thumb under one of her leaking eyes, and didn’t even take away any mascara. Kissing the end of her nose, he added, “It was worth the wait.”
She stiffened in his embrace, not as a preliminary to inflicting pain upon him, but because she took a fortifying breath and dipped her cheek into his palm in a cat-like gesture. “Let’s just get married and not worry about the rest of it, shall we?” she asked, her voice thick with love.
“That’s a good idea,” he whispered and then he kissed her mouth, barely restraining himself from an R-rated, LJ-groan-inducing assault on her because in that moment he wanted her more than he ever had before.
She pulled back, but he could feel the answering tension in her body, the same simmering need that enveloped him, and he loved her more than he ever had before for always being right there with him no matter what he felt.
The marriage officiator interrupted by saying, “I do believe the kissing comes at the end of the ceremony,” which caused everyone to laugh.
Jane pulled herself from Lincoln’s arms and then captured his hand in her own, lacing their fingers. “We’re not very good at doing things in the proper order,” she said, winking at Lincoln before turning her full radiance on the little old man who would pronounce them husband and wife.
Lincoln had to stifle a smile as their pastor seemed to lose his train of thought.
Yeah, causing speechlessness was just one of the many effects Jane had.
Author: domfangirl
Starring: Lincoln and Jane, with special appearances by Sara, LJ, Michael, Sofia, and the Sucre family.
Category: Multi-Chapter (10/10)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: It was S3 with Jane added to the mix. Now it’s still set in S3, but it takes into account S4 in various ways.
Author’s Notes: This is it, the end, finally! I started this series, unknowingly, after the first episode Jane appeared on in S2 (Rendezvous). More than two years later, it is finally complete.
Dedication: Any and all Linc/Jane fics are written with happywriter06 in mind and heart. This Vegas wedding stuff is all you, Simone, and I hope it gives you some escape from being Private Benjamin! *hugs* Happy birthday, a few days early!
Previous chapters: The Effect of Jane / The Effect of LJ / The Effect of Lincoln / The Effect of James Whistler, Chapter One / Chapter Two / Chapter Three / Chapter Four / Chapter Five / Chapter Six / Chapter Seven / Chapter Eight / Chapter Nine
Lincoln Burrows was a simple person; at least he liked to think so. He’d never had much, so it didn’t take much to make him happy. The months and years on death row, the fighting for his life, and ultimately running for his life had made him even easier to please, when he really thought about it. All he wanted was his family around him, and a safe place to lay his head at night, and a beer whenever he got the urge.
Well, okay, there was one more thing he wanted that had suddenly complicated his life-a baby with his soon-to-be wife.
He had watched Jane plan a covert operation, bring Sara Tancredi back from the dead, and get them all out of Panama without the authorities finding them; he was also aware that she had been involved in many more dangerous situations before he’d ever known her-things he was better off not knowing about so he didn’t feel the panicky sensation of losing her, even though it was not even a possibility because they were all past-tense stories. But nothing had ever, as far as he could tell, brought her to her knees-albeit figuratively-except the idea of being a mother. Carrying a child, to her, was the most foreign thing he could ask for.
He was strangely delighted to find this chink in her armor, only because it gave him the opportunity to teach her something for once, instead of being the recipient. So he spent the next few days campaigning as to why she would make a stellar mother. He started with the obvious: LJ. Granted LJ had a pair of moms with Sara around, but just the same, he deferred to Jane the way most boys would to the mother who had raised them. He went on to illustrate further by pointing out all her positive character traits, and how those things didn’t just make her a great person, but a potentially wonderful mother. When she’d still looked at him doubtfully, he’d gone to Michael for help, but his brother’s contributions had been clinical-with regard to her hips, which were just full enough to make the birthing process less complicated, and given the givens with her ample bosom, she would be able to breastfeed easily too. Lincoln’s recitation of these facts hadn’t been as clinical, however, and they’d ended up in the middle of their bed, because Jane’s period was finally over anyway.
In the aftermath, as they lay panting together, Lincoln moved off of her to place his hand over her flat stomach. Then he told her something he’d never said aloud to anyone ever before.
“I never wanted LJ, you know,” he murmured. Lifting his eyes from the sight of his sun-browned hand resting over her pale belly to her face, he continued, “When he was coming, anyway. Once he was here, I was thrilled-it was something I could never have known I would feel until I looked at him and felt it. But he was an accident-Lisa wasn’t anyone I cared much about, and it was just one of those things that young, stupid kids do. She was Catholic, and couldn’t see her way around an abortion, but I can still remember the panic of it. The idea of being someone’s father scared the shit out of me. The responsibility, the money-fuck, I can also still remember the pressure to make my child support payments, and the shame when I couldn’t manage it-but there was always LJ. LJ came out sweet, and just got sweeter. He loved me, even when he didn’t see me for weeks at a time, and he took a long time to learn how to be disappointed, so I had a lotta years of freebies. Because I was a major fuck up then. Now, I try to make it up to him without him even knowing it.” He moved his fingers caressingly over her skin, his forefinger rimming her belly button gently. “But the idea of putting a baby inside you-man! It makes me hard, and it makes me kinda giddy. I think about it and it’s like the highest high I could ever reach. I guess this is the way it’s supposed to be-how you’re supposed to feel when you’re ready.”
Her eyes filled up with tears somewhere around the middle of his monologue and he could feel the arrival. They were both getting to the same place, and the sensation robbed him of breath. He loved Jane more than he could comprehend, and the merging of their lives had given him more happiness than he’d even known was possible. Her hands cupped his face and drew him down to her so that their lips could meet. “I love you,” she whispered against his mouth.
“I love you,” he responded. “So, so much.”
“We’re really going to do this, aren’t we?” she asked.
Lincoln hesitated just briefly, his eyes searching hers. “Yes,” he said, more certain than he’d ever been about anything.
*
“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” Fernando Sucre quipped as they entered the hotel near the chapel Jane had chosen as the place they would get married.
“That better not be true,” Jane said, shooting a grin over her shoulder at him. “I still want to be married when I get back to Mexico.”
Lincoln had no idea what Sucre and his crafty brother had done, but somehow they were both able to get over the Mexican border into the U.S. without detection. Now, Lincoln, Jane, LJ, Michael, Sara, Sofia, Fernando, his wife Maricruz, and their little girl, were all checking into a swanky hotel-under fake names of course. Even though Lincoln could travel in the U.S. without fear of arrest, being infamous was almost as bad as being a wanted fugitive, so they all had code names that Jane had assigned to them.
“I think Fernando is just talking about the casinos, right, baby?” Maricruz asked. Lincoln had heard Michael mention to Sara that Sucre planned to make a little cash at the Poker tables if he could.
Sucre shifted his daughter on his hip and smiled at his wife. “That’s right, baby,” he said.
“If you get arrested in this casino, so help me, God, Sucre-I will kill you if you ruin my wedding,” Lincoln breathed rapidly. He hadn’t wanted a procession anyway, especially if Sucre’s motivation for coming had been to get rich quick.
“Aw, relax, papi. I won’t do anything to mess up your weekend. I promise.” Sucre patted Lincoln on the back and exchanged a knowing look with Michael. Lincoln turned his glare on his brother, because he knew they just thought he was ‘nervous.’ Hell, he wasn’t nervous, he was serious, and if anything screwed up his and Jane’s plans, he wouldn’t hesitate to whup Sucre’s ass, baby or no baby.
Jane’s hand slid inside Lincoln’s palm and she tugged him forward so they were standing at the counter and he was forced to put on a pleasant face as a young man checked their reservations and gave them their room keys.
“Nothing’s going to happen,” she said softly as the clerk’s fingers moved rapidly over the keyboard.
Lincoln glanced down at her and then wrapped his arm around her shoulder to hug her to his side. “That’s right, but if something does happen, and it’s that asshole’s fault? I’m going to kill him.”
He flashed a grin at the clerk, acting as though he was joking, but Jane’s fingers reached up and pinched his belly, so he knew she knew he was totally serious.
“Here you are, Mr. And Mrs. Jones.” After the clerk handed them their room card-keys, Jane turned around to pass them out to their group. They had three rooms on the same floor-one for the Sucres, one for Lincoln and Jane, and another for Michael, Sara, LJ and Sofia who were planning to sleep boys and girls only in the king-sized beds. Lincoln knew LJ was still hopeful that at some point Sofia would see things in a different light, but for this three-day excursion, it was still very much platonic.
Although, for tonight, the night before the wedding, the girls were all bunking down together while the boys were kept separate. It was Jane’s idea, not Lincoln’s, but he’d agreed to it because he would really do anything Jane wanted him to do, even when he didn’t really see the sense in it. It was some sort of tradition, and he figured he could let her have that when he was getting away with a wedding in Vegas.
In the elevator up to the sixth floor, Lincoln slid his hand down her back to her ass, cupping her bottom gently and pulling her tightly into him. He wasn’t going to sleep at all tonight, not because he wasn’t with her, but because tomorrow, he was agreeing to be with her forever. He didn’t have any doubts, but panic still seemed to tease the edge of his mind, because a commitment was, well, scary. They were in the back corner, the rest of their friends and family standing in front of them, talking about various things.
Jane pressed her face into his neck, and he felt her take a deep breath. Then her lips skated over his collarbone and she smiled against his skin. “You’re not gonna run out on me, are you?” she asked.
Squeezing her against him, he lowered his lips to her ear and whispered, “Not when you might be carrying my baby,” which was really the wrong thing to say, because it had the same effect on him it always did. Imagining her pregnant made his stomach muscles tighten in lustful anticipation.
Her laughter surrounded him as she shifted so her mouth could find his. “That’s not a good reason to get married,” she murmured against his lips.
He kissed her then as though they were going into the same hotel room together, uncaring of their audience. Sucre wolf-whistled as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened to their floor. Lincoln held up a hand with his middle finger extended and he heard Sara laugh and someone’s hand pushed his arm down. “Not in front of the baby,” Sara said, a note of mockery in her voice.
“Sheesh, get a room!” LJ shouted, his voice trailing off as he stepped off the elevator.
Jane pulled away first, her flushed cheeks and bright eyes enough to make Lincoln wish they were already married. “We have a room, you little punk,” she hollered after her soon-to-be stepson. “But we aren’t headed there until tomorrow. Give us a break!”
While everyone laughed good-naturedly, they all started down the hall towards their rooms. Lincoln and Jane’s was on the left hand side, but the other two were on the right. It was late, they had been in the car most of the day, and Lincoln supposed, he was the only one who didn’t feel ready for bed.
“Say goodnight to your bride,” Michael said as he opened the door to the room he, LJ and Lincoln would be sleeping in.
Lincoln let go of Jane then, but when their eyes met he saw the same nervous excitement in her face that had to be so obvious on his. “Goodnight, bride,” he parroted obediently.
Jane’s smile was full and radiant, and nearly as gut wrenching for him as the idea of getting her pregnant. “Goodnight, groom,” she echoed. Leaning up, she kissed him again, quickly, and then moved towards the door Sara and Sofia were standing near. “Next time I see you, it will be too late to run.”
“You’d catch me anyway, and beat the shit out of me,” he answered.
“True enough,” she shot back, throwing him a flirtatious wink.
“Oh, God,” LJ groaned dramatically. He stepped up, grabbed Lincoln by his arms, and shoved him through the door that Michael was holding open. “He loves you,” he directed at Jane, “and she loves you,” he said to his father. “Now, get to bed!”
As Michael shut the door with a chuckle, Lincoln heard Jane yell, “I can beat the shit of out you, too, LJ!”
*
As it happened, everything went off without a hitch. Lincoln wasn’t required to kill Sucre, or do anything except put on some dress clothes (no tie, of course) and head over to the chapel ahead of Jane so that they didn’t see each other before the ceremony.
Michael and LJ were both in suits, and they both wore ties even though Lincoln told them they didn’t have to. Michael was serving as best man, while LJ had been asked to walk the bride down the aisle. Once they were in the chapel, LJ left to go find the ladies and make sure everything was on schedule.
“Sure could use a beer,” Lincoln mused, glancing at his younger brother as they waited with the officiator and the organist.
Michael arched a brow and then checked his watch. “Linc, it’s 10:30. A M,” he emphasized a moment later, each letter its own distinct sound.
“We’ll see how calm you are when it’s your turn, smart ass,” Lincoln grumbled.
Smiling warmly, Michael reached out and put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “You’ve never had a surer thing than Jane, Linc. Don’t be nervous.”
The sentiment burned in Lincoln’s chest, but he couldn’t help asking for further reassurance. “You think so?”
Michael’s serious side emerged to cover his disdain at Lincoln wanting a beer at such an early hour. “Don't you?”
Lincoln shook his head. “No, I do, I mean, I know Jane loves me. I know she wants this, it’s just…” He shrugged, unsure of the right words. “Sometimes it feels like it’s too much. Like I don’t deserve all of it, you know?”
Michael’s fingers tightened on Lincoln’s shoulder. “Sure, I know. But you do, Linc. You do deserve it. After everything, you’ve earned it.” Michael slapped his hand genially against Lincoln’s back and then straightened his tie-less collar with an inspecting eye. “And Jane doesn’t just love you. She would take a bullet for you. That’s stronger than mere love, in my opinion.”
Lincoln sniffed, sudden emotion welling up with his brother’s pronouncement. “Man, don’t get me started. I want to get through this without blubbering.”
A sharp laugh escaped Michael’s lips. “If there’s one day to let your emotions get the better of you, then today would be the day.” Michael lifted his hands up until his palms rested against Lincoln’s cheeks. “It doesn’t get much better than this.”
Lincoln had a brief flash of a newborn baby being placed into his arms, and he knew he had a good argument for Michael, but he let it go. Today was about putting things in order, and celebrating the fact that making a family with Jane was a purposeful action, not just a random error on his part.
Michael was right, it didn’t get any better than knowing you were doing the right thing. And finally, Lincoln was doing the right thing.
When the first notes sounded on the organ, Michael grasped him by the shoulders and turned him so he was facing the short aisle Jane would walk up. The doors opened and Sucre, his little girl on his hip again, and Maricruz walked in, seating themselves quickly on one of the few pews available. Then Lincoln saw Sara, standing just in front of Jane and LJ. The wedding march began, and Sara moved forward towards Lincoln and Michael.
Lincoln’s throat grew tight, and blinked his eyes rapidly in an effort to be able to see Jane clearly. It wasn’t just that he wanted to hold on to his emotions so as not embarrass himself, he wanted to be able to see her.
Her dress was a simple, sleeveless light brown/weird shade of purple color. The skirt was straight and form fitting, and hit her about mid-calf. It didn’t look like a wedding dress at all-the fact that she had chosen to wear a dress at all caught him by surprise initially. Her hair was drawn back from her face into a fancy kind of bun on the back of her head. She had small purple flowers woven across the top of her head that Sara must had placed there. And her face was positively breathtaking. It wasn’t until LJ deposited her right next to Lincoln and put her hand in his, that he realized he’d never seen her with make-up on before. She had the same brown/purple color across her eyelids, which caused the natural blue hue of her eyes to stand out more vividly.
He must have looked like the whipped pup he was because tears sprang to her eyes and she whispered commandingly, “Stop looking at me like that, you’ll mess up my make up!” She blinked a couple times and then tipped her head back, as if willing the tears to stay within the edges of her eyes. “Sara!” she said urgently, and the maid of honor stepped forward to dab expertly at the corners of Jane’s eyes.
Lincoln laughed because he’d never seen her act so girly in all the time he’d known her. “You’re just so beautiful,” he said softly. “I can’t help it,” he amended when that didn’t seem to help the damage Sara had just tried to repair.
“Maybe we should have taken photos beforehand,” she muttered.
Lincoln pulled her close, wrapping his arm around her waist. “You’re the one who wanted us not to see each other until this moment,” he reminded her. He felt her tense against him, and he wondered if she would lay him out even on their wedding day if he pissed her off. Cupping her face in one hand, he gently ran his thumb under one of her leaking eyes, and didn’t even take away any mascara. Kissing the end of her nose, he added, “It was worth the wait.”
She stiffened in his embrace, not as a preliminary to inflicting pain upon him, but because she took a fortifying breath and dipped her cheek into his palm in a cat-like gesture. “Let’s just get married and not worry about the rest of it, shall we?” she asked, her voice thick with love.
“That’s a good idea,” he whispered and then he kissed her mouth, barely restraining himself from an R-rated, LJ-groan-inducing assault on her because in that moment he wanted her more than he ever had before.
She pulled back, but he could feel the answering tension in her body, the same simmering need that enveloped him, and he loved her more than he ever had before for always being right there with him no matter what he felt.
The marriage officiator interrupted by saying, “I do believe the kissing comes at the end of the ceremony,” which caused everyone to laugh.
Jane pulled herself from Lincoln’s arms and then captured his hand in her own, lacing their fingers. “We’re not very good at doing things in the proper order,” she said, winking at Lincoln before turning her full radiance on the little old man who would pronounce them husband and wife.
Lincoln had to stifle a smile as their pastor seemed to lose his train of thought.
Yeah, causing speechlessness was just one of the many effects Jane had.