Author’s Note: And then there were EIGHT WIPs, because this fic is now COMPLETE! Yay!
***
Everyone within sight was stuffed full of chocolate pudding, leaning back in their chairs and groaning appreciatively at the completion of a good meal. Except Kurt, who was finishing off Sarah’s leftovers. Jane watched him with a warm glow in her heart.
My husband, always ready to eat chocolate—even after he already finished some.
It still seemed strange, yet somehow undeniably right, for Jane to think of Kurt as her husband. She guessed she’d have an entire lifetime to get used to it.
As he set down his spoon, he grinned over at her, making her heart skip. “What?”
Jane leaned in to kiss a speck of chocolate away from the corner of his mouth, turning his head so she could flick her tongue out discreetly against his skin. Kurt gave a low, frustrated growl only she could hear, making her wish all their friends and family would suddenly vanish, so they could have time alone.
“You’re a very bad wife,” he murmured in her ear, his tone of voice making it clear that ‘very bad’ meant ‘sexy as hell’.
Jane gave him a brief but longing kiss, then a second, unable to help herself. She looked down at her empty pudding dish to compose herself, leaning away from him when he nuzzled her neck. “Do you really want to try to make out with me in front of your sister?”
“Most of the time I’d say no. But with you in that dress…” Kurt cocked his head, making a show of being ambivalent about the question, then grinned.
Laughing, Jane pressed her hand against his chest, shoving gently. “Behave yourself.”
“You started it.” He rested his hand over hers and gave her a smile that melted her into mush. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Before they could end up kissing again, the now-familiar sound of a spoon against a glass caught the attention of everyone present.
“Okay, everyone, I know you’re probably sick of speeches by now, so I’ll try not to bore you too much.” Tasha gave everyone a moment to settle down, taking a quick sip of water, then continued, “When I think of Kurt and Jane’s relationship, there’s something Patterson and Reade haven’t mentioned yet, that I think is appropriate to mention on their wedding day. Chances are, they might not agree…”
“Uh-oh,” Kurt said under his breath, his eyes amused.
“On a case not long after Jane came to our team, we came across a dark web hacker named Rich Dotcom.” Tasha gave them both a wicked grin.
Jane and Kurt groaned in unison, to the amusement of the guests around them.
“Seriously. He legally changed his name to Rich Dotcom after making his fortune on the Bitcoin wave, so you can imagine what kind of person he is. And this was the case Patterson mentioned earlier—the one where Jane and Kurt went undercover as a married couple. Anyway, they were supposed to buy classified information from this hacker who’d stolen it, and this guy meets them and straight-up decides his life goal is to be in a thr—” Tasha glanced at Sawyer, and a couple of other kids present, and cleared her throat. “Three-way relationship with Jane and Kurt—even after they arrested him and he went off to jail, and they revealed they weren’t even seeing each other, let alone married.”
She grinned over at the newlyweds. “Okay, so this guy isn’t someone you’d invite to your wedding, even if he was out of prison to come along. But he knew from minute one that these two would end up together. I mean, I guess we all did. But he was much more vocal about it.”
“Were we really that obvious?” Kurt asked her softly.
“If we were, then wouldn’t we have gotten together sooner?” Jane shrugged and turned her attention back to Tasha.
“We crossed paths with him four times, and every time, he was obsessive about trying to hook them up. Who else can say they have their own criminal matchmaker?”
“I would gladly give up that privilege,” Jane added, her voice quiet but emphatic.
Kurt laughed and wrapped an arm around her. “Well, at least he’s nowhere near Colorado.”
“But there was one point he brought up once. I wasn’t here for this one, but I heard about it later. Rich said that whenever something goes wrong, or right, Kurt always looks at Jane first. And once I heard that pointed out, I noticed that it’s true in reverse, too.” Tasha cleared her throat, looking a little tearful. “The love these two have is unlike anything I’ve seen before, and I hope that one day, I can be even half as lucky as you guys.”
Patterson put a hand on Tasha’s shoulder, and she laughed, blotting her eyes. “I guess in conclusion, all I have to say is that if even I can see these two have something special, it must be fantastic. And god knows it took them long enough to get here, so I’m gonna wind up this speech so we can finish the drinking and get to the dancing. To Jane and Kurt!”
As she raised her glass, and everyone else around the room followed suit, Jane smiled over at her husband. “Funny she should mention Rich Dotcom. It was the day we first met him that we first danced.”
“I remember.” Kurt sipped his champagne, eyes appreciatively lingering on her. “Think we can dance more than half a song together today?”
“I’m pretty sure we’re required to.” Jane set down her glass and rolled her eyes. “I mean, unless a gang of armed gunmen show up to the reception.”
“Don’t even say that.” Kurt grimaced at the thought. “With our luck, it will probably happen.”
“No, it won’t. Because today is our perfect day, and it’s going to lead to a perfect night, and then a perfect life.” Jane leaned against him, taking his hand reassuringly.
“Hmm… Tell me more about this perfect night?” he asked softly, kissing the top of her head.
“Nice try, but this is probably the last time we get to hang out with everyone before we move to Denver. As much as I want to get to the wedding night part, I don’t want to end up sneaking out halfway through the evening to start it early. I want as much time with our friends as we can get.”
“Me, too.” His arms tightened around her. “I have the best wife, and the best friends. Even if they don’t give the best speeches.”
“Even after everything that’s happened, I think we ended up pretty lucky in the end.” Jane sighed, contented. “It was worth all the mayhem and heartache to finally get here.”
His stubble tickled her scalp as he rested his chin against her. “Yeah. You’re worth it.”
