Family Affairs: 2

"Hey Em?"

Emery fiddles with the twirled piece of hair framing her face before turning around to the bride herself. Her first sort-of sister-in-law's wedding was a slightly nervous affair since the woman in question herself was a bundle of nerves. This soon to be sister-in-law's is definitely a much more relaxed event, which considering who the woman's marrying is a good thing. It leaves a lot of room for fúck ups.

Not that no-one is saying they don't have faith in Eli Carter, it's just that...well...he did insist on doing it 'traditional' in one sense, and that sense was (unfortunately for Ivy) having his bachelor party the night before the wedding.

"Do me a favor sweetie, and go and check he's still alive and well...on this island."

Em suppresses a giggle and happily agrees. She really is dying to know what the boys have been up to.

Eli in typical Eli fashion insisted on doing one aspect traditional and that is having his bachelor party the night before the wedding. Ivy on the other hand, in typical Ivy style, scheduled it around her work and had it a month before. The one thing they did agree on about their respect night's was strictly no strippers. Surprisingly, it was a rule that Ivy said Eli brought up and insisted upon.

Em travels up the elevator to the floor they're all on.

At her knock the door is opened almost immediately and rather than one of the older Carter men, she's met with her own Carter.

"Hey baby," she says greeting him with a chaste kiss.
His hands go around her waist, keeping a hold of her even as she tries peering around him.
"Well hi there. You look great Honey Bee but what are you doing here? Ivy hasn't run away has she?"

Emery's eyes go wide at that as she laughs. Funny since she'd come to check the other half of Ivy hadn't wandered off.
"No, no, she's almost ready. She asked me to come and check that you guys are still alive and that Eli's not done anything crazy."

Dane gives her a grin and pulls her inside, closing the door and caging her against it.
"Dane? Um, baby, I don't think now is a good time to-"

"He's gone to find Ivy. And Mason, dad and Ade are all still getting ready in dad's room. So we have some time. More than enough if the bride and groom are delaying the wedding themselves."

Instant lust. Emery is free to give into the possibility of it knowing that they're alone with some time to spare. However, she along with the rest of them have just had their make-up done and her dress is perfectly wrinkle free at the moment. Ivy would kill her if she messed all that up. Well, not really. At least not Ivy, but maybe Rachel. The woman may be sweet but if things are not on schedule-oh boy. If that does happen, she may love Dane but she's definitely letting him take the fall for that.

"We've got to be careful of my hair, makeup and dress though, okay?" she warns.
His lips pull into a devious smile as they descend down onto hers.
"Hair, makeup, dress, got it baby. But it's not me that would mess it up. In fact, why don't you hold that dress up for me to make sure, Honey Bee. And I promise not to even touch your hair."

Challenge accepted, Emery tugs up the long, light blue, chiffon dress grinning at the sight of her suited up man sinks to his knees before her. His hands trail up her thighs, snagging the tiny scrap of underwear she has on and slipping them down. Knowing they're pressed for time, he wastes no time and presses his mouth to her pússy. Em, tilts her head back before remembering her hair! The laugh that bubbles up is overtaking by a moan as she concentrates on trying to stay upright.

****

Meanwhile

Eli pushes his way into the room, hoping his soon-to-be wife won't notice the slight discoloring of his skin. Thankfully the tux covers most of it and the ássholes left his face alone but really what kind of dícks color their brother's/friend's skin pink with Coolaid before his wedding night? Maybe he'll be lucky. Maybe they can have sex with the light's off tonight. Yeah right. No way he's going to miss out on seeing any of Ivy in sexy wedding lingerie. Hopefully she won't be too distracted or put off by the bright pink stain of his skin (including his pénis). Okay so perhaps insisting on having a bachelor party before the actual wedding was a bad idea.

"Tinks?" he whispers entering the room.

Ivy doesn't bother getting up from chairassuming that it'd be one of the girls or Rachel but when she hears hernickname being called, she knows it's him.

"Eli, what are you doing here?!" she gasps.
She's never been too traditional of a girl, thus the beach wedding and tea-length wedding dress but everyone knows that the groom's not meant to seethe bride before the wedding. She may not be very superstitious but she'd rather err on the side of caution when it comes to it.

"Hey, I really wanted to see you," he states closing the door and crossing the room over towards her.
Naturally with those words, Ivy goes on edge. She swears to God, if he starts to balk now she'll killing him. She'll kill him and drag the bastard out for the ocean to deal with.

"Why what's going on? You're dressed so you're not bailing are you? Is it the caterers? Have they messed up something?-"

He cuts her clean with a firm kiss that turns more passionate than either of them were anticipating.

Ivy drops back to her heels, the kitten heels the maximum height of heels she can comfortably walk in. Her lipstick's probably smeared despite being a long-lasting liquid one but she doesn't care all that much. It can be reapplied.

"No no, everything's fine. I just wanted to talk to you."

Still not any better. Ivy steels herself for whatever's about to come.

"Okay," she says slowly.

"It's nothing bad, I just didn't want you to freak out too much."
Ivy feels much more relief at that. At least this means that whatever it is, is fixable or inconsequential. It's not like Eli's having second thoughts or changing his mind.

"Well don't say that," she retorts, "that's not reassuring."
"Okay sorry. Um, so I may be a bit pink."

Ivy gives him a strange look before that turns to confusion. He doesn't look too pink. He's definitely not blushing. Not that he has anything to blush about.

"What?" she asks.

"Last night, when I went to bed, the bastards coated me in red Coolaid," he explains, "also...um, there was a woman that..."

Ivy had felt relief until that point. The mention of a woman however has her heart stuttering. She'd thought she was over that insecurity of his fidelity especially since he's never done anything to make him doubt him since their 'breakup', early in the relationship. He's always introduced her to his female work colleagues and even when there'd be a few brave (stupid) women who would hit on him in front of her, he would politely but firmly refuse them. She's never gone so far as to stalk his social media or go through his phone, but he's never taken any measures to hide it all from her.

Because of all that it's a secret fear she carries around with her always. While the little creature does sometimes rear its head, most of the time she's able to ignore it and those times when she can't logic and reason works well.

"We agreed no strippers," she whispers.

"She definitely wasn't a stripper," grimaces Eli, "but it was not like I wanted to. The guys strapped me down."
Ivy's eyes go wide in horror before narrowing in disbelief and she spits out with a sarcastic edge, "they strapped you down and made you have sex with a woman?"

"What no?! Ivy why would you think I? No, they um...made me get a..."
Ivy misses the last bit he says which he mumbles. But she's pretty sure he said wax. They've played with wax before, more of a tester and while she didn't mind it, she wasn't a big fan of it. It didn't do much for her or for him so they hadn't bothered trying it again after. However, he'd been the one wielding the wax not the one sampling it. Despite that, she can't imagine why his brothers and friends would have some Domme do that to him.

"Repeat that again for me. What did she do?"

"Wax," he mutters louder, "she was a fúcking beautician. The bastards made me have a full Brazilian."

She certainly wasn't expecting that and possibly because of that she bursts out in laughter. Even after she gets over that shock, Ivy's still laughing.

His arms wind around her waist, anchoring her to him even as her upper body is pushed away in laughter.

"It's not funny, babe," he smiles, "it fúcking kills. I don't even know how people go through that. Not worth it. Totally not fúcking worth it. I swear Tinks, please never think you have to do that."

She laughs again because isn't that just ironic?
"Well it may be a little too late for that. The surprise is ruined now I suppose."
Ivy watches in amusement as the conflicting emotions run across his face. She can tell on one hand he's definitely excited about that but with the newfound realization that beauty takes pain, the excitement is rivaled by that.

"Goddammit," he murmurs.

"So that was it? You're pink and hairless?"

He shifts his weight, his grip seemingly tightening around her which swirls the atmosphere back into a serious one.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Are you sure, sweetie?"

There's a slight pause before he exhales slowly.

"Okay, yeah, you're right. I really just...just wanted to see you before."
Ivy nods her own hands coiling around his shoulders, "any second thoughts about this?"
"I mean, is Vegas still an option," he mumbles under his breath which being so close to him, she catches.
Grinning Ivy replies utterly serious, "always. We can leave now if you want or call it off and go later?"

"No, no, that's fine. It's just that, well, Tinks you know I'm not big into announcing affection in front of everyone right?"

She nods. She does know that and she's glad. Ivy herself feels uncomfortable with large amounts of public displays of affection herself. A little bit of hand holding, light pecks, the arms around each other, that's all fine for her and it's all the stuff that Eli does naturally anyway. But apart from that she likes the slight independence. Having someone constantly glued to you is annoying and she hates it. But she suspects that in this instance he means verbal displays of affection. Again like with the gestures, she personally, likes his nicknames, the teasing comments, the more friendly than super romantic comments publically. Privately he can be verbally affectionate but definitely more so in the bedroom and she loves that about him.

This however, a wedding-their wedding­- is the place for public declarations of love. So she can see how he'd be nervous about it, hell, she's nervous about it. She doesn't exactly want to be all gushy and sentimental in front of everyone.

Which is probably the reason why they've decided not to do their own vows. That's not to say though that there isn't a lot that Ivy has to say to him or feels for him.

"I know, sweetie. I'm the same remember?" she kindly reassures him.

"Yeah, but you know I do love you though, right?"
Hearing that will never get old for Ivy. It will never get meaningless because every single time he says it, even in the passing, it squeezes her heart in nice way.

"I love you too."

"And I know there's times where we don't see eye-to-eye or we get annoyed at each other but those really are just surface emotions, Tinks because just beneath it I love you. I always will. You're it for me baby. There will never be anyone that can give me even an ounce of what you can. To me, you really are the most beautiful woman in the world. And I know I don't say that enough to you Ivy but sometimes when I catch you laugh, or smile or even when you get those little creases at your eyes yelling at me, I'm reminded of it.-"

"Eli stop, you're going to make me cry, baby."

"I want you to know this, Ivy. This day, this moment, even if I forget to say anything like this again, I need you to know that this is truly how I feel about you and always will. I thought I was happy and content in my life before I met you but being with you makes me realize how much happier I am with you. It actually gives me a future I can picture and look forward to and I am so grateful that you give that to me. But it's not just the big picture things either Ivy, it's the small stuff as well. I notice it and I do appreciate it.

So I guess what I'm basically saying is I love you, don't ever leave me and thank you."

The last part manages to push back the tears welling up in Ivy's eyes as she releases a short bark of laughter.

"Eli," she drawls, "you're an idiot but I love you."
"Thanks Tinks," he replies steeling another kiss.

"Okay, so my turn," she states, "you ready?"
Eli smiles, taking a mocking inhale and straightening his back, "yep."
"So first of all ditto-"

He bursts out laughing at that.

"-But I can't...I really can't express how grateful I am for you, Eli. After everything with my mom and...well, everything. Thank you for uplifting me when I feel down, for being my rock and for making me smile more in the short time I've been with you than I have in my life before. You said, I make you think about the future but you let me live in the moment. You think I'm beautiful and you make me feel beautiful. And I know you already know you are incredibly hot but it's more than just your physical beauty, Eli. I love your soul. I love how you make every day interesting and special and I love each and every one of those days with you. I cannot wait for us our future together and I hope it stretches on forever."

As soon as the last word has taken flight from her lips, she's squeezed into a bone-crushing hug which she squirms at.

"Aw, Tinks. Look at you getting all sweet and soft like a marshmallow fairy," he coos.

Ivy gives him a soft slap at the lapels of his tux.
"Like you can talk Pillbury Doughboy," she retorts.

He gives her that one (mainly because it's true). Their sappy moment however is ceased as he tilts her chin up and meets her lips with his. This time it's not quick peck. The lipstick is well and truly smeared off and neither of them care.

His hand slips from her waist, to just under her dress, making him even more grateful the dress she picked out is a shorter style. But before he can reach her soft spot, the door is burst open and of course, it's his mom.

Crap!

Ivy squeaks and darts back as Eli mentally groans in frustration having been so close to touching that sweetness.

"Eli! Honestly. You can resume all that after the wedding. Now shoo, go. It's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding and look what you've done now. You've ruined the surprise of the wedding dress," scolds his mother, practically pushing him out of the room.
"But mom-"

"Nope, out you go. And darling, please, fix your hair."
And just like that Eli is faced with the front of the hotel room door. Goddammit. His mom and timing. Sure he loves her but sometimes...sometimes...he wants to (just a little bit) kill her.

*****

The surprise of the dress is definitely not ruined.

Eli hadn't concentrated too much on it when they had been talking but now as she walks towards him, he's hit with all of it. And there's not that much because she's a tiny thing but she looks so different but so much like herself that it certainly takes his brain a long time to process it.

Her hair is still the bob haircut with the natural soft waves she has and straight side swept bangs to frame her heart shaped face. She's wearing makeup but it's again soft and makes it seem like she's not wearing that much. Her dress is simple and knee length but it's not one of those lace 50's style dresses. The skirt while voluptuous enough to balance her doesn't overcome her and the thick band across her waist, highlights it's narrowness.

 Her heels are short and she carries a bouquet of pink lilies, red roses and white orchids which was an order the florist certainly gave her a bizarre look to and tried to gently talk her out of it; but then again, the florist didn't know the hidden story behind those flowers. Those where the first types of flowers he gave her, trying to win her over. Of course, she's going to carry them now, completely won over by him beyond any shadow of a doubt. Plus, she hopes it'll make him smile seeing them.

As she nears, Eli's able to barely tie his eyes from her to catch the flowers. Doing so, he glances up to her wondering if they were actually picked on purpose. The gleam in her eyes say yes and that's definitely when he knows. Totally and completely worth it.

****

Mason glances across to see his twin brother doing some resemblance of a dance with his new bride. They may be twins they've certainly been like night and day growing up. Eli had always been the more extroverted one speaking to his brother he knows they've both got the same ideologies, similar hopes and dreams and now, they both have women that they love to the ends of the Earth and beyond. He's happy for Eli, he truly is. They may have started off differently, Eli being blindsided with it while Mason was completely ready for it, but here they are now.

Mason draws Katy in a little closer, inhaling the faint scent of the ocean.

"I guess we're next," mutters Katy smiling at him.

Mason assumes she's talking about weddings and shrugs, "I suppose so. But we don't have to rush do we?"
"No, we don't have. And we should probably save up too."
"Don't worry about that," replies Mason.
That causes Katy to look at him with concern because while they do well they're not exactly rolling in it. She's a high school teacher and while he manages the club and has some shares, she'd rather save that for something else, like their kid's college tuition or a rainy day.

Mason recognizes that look instantly and knows he needs to explain, "my mom never had a big wedding and after didn't want one. So instead, my parents decided they would save some money for our weddings."
Katy's still not thrilled by that. She loves Rachel and Zach but taking money from them seems...weird. Even if Mason is their son and they have specifically given it for him for wedding use.

"I don't know honey; it just doesn't feel that good to me to do that."
"Okay how about a compromise? We only use it if we go over budget," he bargains.

Katy thinks about that. She's a mathematician. Numbers are kind of her things, sticking to a budget in that case should be no problem and besides, growing up, her family lived on less than half what she does now. She's fairly sure they can create a fabulous wedding and not go over.

"Deal."

*******

"Thank you for keeping your speech nice today."

Adrian drops his cufflinks and spins around to face his wife as he unbuttons his shirt.

"Oh I didn't do it for him. I did it for Ivy. Besides, I already got him good for his bachelor party," smirks Ade and Sam debates whether she should even ask or not.

After a minute of wondering she settles on not to bother asking. Whatever it is, she is not dealing with it. Ade and Eli are big boys and if they want to carry on their silly brother rivalry then she's not going to get in the way of that.

Besides, today has been exhausting. She's super tired and the heels have been killing her back. A sure sign of getting older because she can't remember them doing that when she wore a pair for her wedding the whole day.

She slips them off, curling her toes into the plush carpet. Thankfully Ivy had decided on long, light blue chiffon dresses for the bridesmaids and they could each pick out their own neckline and whatnot. Since halters tend to balance out her hips, Sam had gone for that which means now, she only has to tug on the material and unzip, to allow the dress to puddle at her feet. It also means she can get away without wearing any shapewear stuff because the dress already gives clean lines.

He slides in behind her, his arm winding around her waist and tugging her back as he kisses the column of her neck.

Sam's head rolls back onto his chest, allowing herself to relish in his touch. While one palm snakes down and slips into her panties, the other draws down the cups of her strapless bra and holds one perky breast in his palm. The nípple is already hard, spearing between his fingers. Her pússy too is slowly dampening and Ade supposes there really is something about weddings that just make people in love hórny.

Saying that though, tonight he feels in the mood to be more gentle. To make slow, sensual love rather than the wild, fierce séx they both enjoy so much.

"I'm going to fúck you slowly tonight Princess. Keep you on that edge for what will feel like hours, darling. Right until you go crazy, until you can't take it anymore and then I'll let you come with me," he promises to her.

Sam's breath hitches ever so slightly and Ade feels her grow wet enough for him to slip a digit inside.

Before he can though, she jerks his hand out of her underwear.

"No," she demands and Ade's left a little confused.
"Okay, sure I suppose we can do wild if you want," he appeases.

He's a little tired but if it's kinky sex his woman wants then he's going to deliver. Besides, he's pretty sure he remembers packing a vibrátor which Sam collected from Ivy's bachelorette party. They could definitely have fun incorporating that.

"No, I meant I don't want to have sex tonight. Or do anything else. I'm tired. I just want to go to bed," snaps Sam.

Her mood swing throws him off completely for a moment. That has never happened to them before. She has always, always, been down for getting intimate. Even when she's not feeling it, he can usually warm her up.

She's never made any excuses for not having sex. Isn't this how it starts though? The martial problems.

No, no. Maybe she is just tired.

Yet...how can she be that tired when they've had pretty much the same day. Arguably Ade's also had less sleep considering he was at Eli's bachelor party last night whereas Sam, presumably, got her full 8 hours in.

He tags her by the bicep as she unclips the bra and is ready to stalk towards the bed. Spinning her around she crashes into him and naturally his eyes dart down to her beautiful breasts. Clearly she's still aroused because her nípples are still hard. But the areolas...
And that's when a sudden thought hits him.

"Sam," he drawls, "have you got something to tell me?"
A very irritated Sam squirms slightly in his hold, confused, tired and now annoyed by him.
"Yes, I want to go to sleep," she snaps, "look just go take a cold shower or something. I'm tired."
"Not that," he replies rolling his eyes, "think hard, maybe something to do with us?"
Sam pauses for a moment but her brain comes up blank.
Rolling her eyes she says, "um, that you're really starting to piss me off now."

Ade gives her a level look. Is she seriously that unaware? Sure her workload has picked up but surely she can't have forgot that there's a full box of tampons in their bathroom cabinet back home unused still.

"Sweetheart, when was the last time you had a period?"

If Ade had a camera he would definitely capture the wide eyed look of Sam in that moment. He can tell her mind is counting back and slowly it draws to the same conclusion he has.

"Oh my God," she whispers, finally relaxing in his arms.

"You didn't know, did you?" he gently asks.

"No, I...I completely forgot last month that I hadn't..." then gazing up and meeting his eyes she expels, "Ade what if?"
"Tomorrow morning, I promise I'll go get a test before we leave for the airport."

Sam's heart is racing at the possibility. Since their baby conversation, she'd imagined herself pregnant countless times. But it had always been something for the future. And now...now that future is here and she's in part terrified and in part excited.

She tries to tell herself not to get too ahead of herself though. It might not be true. They are basing it off speculation at the moment. They need a test to confirm it. But she can't wait until the morning.

The realization has got her hyped up and she needs to know now.

"I can't wait until the morning. Let's go get one now, please?" she begs.
"Princess, it's almost midnight," exasperates Ade.
"There'll still be some 24 hour stores open. Or a gas station. Really any test will do, they all measure the same thing anyway. Please, Ade. Please? I need to know now. Please babe."

What another 180 things have taken. He sighs, running a hand across his face as he knows he'll have to get used to these midnight runs to shops. May as well start now. Besides, truth be told, he desperately wants to know now too.

"Fine," he exhales, "I'll go see if I can find some. Drink some water and don't pee."
Sam beams at him, giving him a quick kiss to the cheek before she hugs him tight.
"Thank you."

30 minutes later and Sam is close to falling asleep when Ade returns.

10 minutes after that, they have 5 different tests all lined up and all of them have one result-pregnant.

"Ade," she whispers.
"Yes?"
"I'm pregnant."
"I know."

They both turn to each other the news really sinking in. Sam is not one to get so emotional she starts to cry but those tears well up in her eyes and she can't help a few slip down her cheeks.

Ade doesn't say anything. He doesn't need to. Turning her into his arms, he holds her tight as they both share the same feelings of joy. They still have a long way to go and Sam more than him, will have a lot of adjustments to make but they're doing this.

They are having a baby.

Ade kisses the top of her head and says the only thing they can do for now, "come on, let's go to bed."     

A/n so I can't really think of a good one for Dane and Emery so I might skip theirs and do a Mason and Katy chapter. Anyone have any issues with that? Also, yes we are slowly getting into the babies stage. :) 

But guys, let me know if you want to see something in particular with any of them! Or if there are any other people from any of the books you would like to see have a chapter.