(Mid-September 2007)

"Okay Jace, I'll give you a call when we get back into town." Emma heard Justin say into his phone. "Later." He closed the cell and shoved it back in his pocket.

"That was Jace, I gotta call him when we get back from Florida. Remind me." He took the duffel bag that Emma was carrying and lifted into the back of the Expedition.

"What makes you think I'll remember?" Emma stared at him, a smile on her face and her hands on her hips. She watched his toss the heavy bag into the car as if it weighed nothing.

"Because you're good like that." He shut the door and stopped to give her a peck on the lips before walking back up the front steps and into the house. They were getting ready to head to LAX to catch a flight to Florida.

"We have to go pick up your mom right?" Emma followed him, making a mental checklist of everything they had to get done before they went to the airport.

"Yes. And we have to stop and drop off the dog at Lance's."

"Right." Emma replied. "Riley! Are you ready?" Emma yelled loud enough so that she was sure Riley would hear her and Justin playfully cringed and covered his ears, laughing as she shoved him. "You get your daughter then."

"Riley Sweetie! Come on we gotta go! We're gonna go get Gramma Lynn and then go meet Gramma Molly and Grampa Jim." Justin shouted and soon enough Riley made her way down the stairs and met them in the living room. She was towing her Elmo backpack and stuffed bear along behind her.

"Whatcha got there?" Justin kneeled down and took the backpack from Riley and peeked inside to find a couple small toys and another stuffed animal.

"I helped her pack a carry on yesterday when you were at JC's." Emma smiled when Justin looked at her strangely.

"Okay then." He clapped his hands together and stood up after zipping the bag up again. "Lets hit the road."

Justin picked up Riley while Emma put a leash on Scout and he followed her out the front door making sure to lock it behind him. He buckled Riley into her car seat and then got in the drivers seat and headed in the direction of Lance's house.

"Thanks again for taking the dog." Justin stood with Lance out on his front porch while Emma had gone inside to go to the bathroom.

"It's not a problem. So, you're going to meet the parents huh?"

"Yea." Justin laughed nervously, rubbing a hand over his buzzed head.

"I still can't believe you're engaged." Lance chuckled and then Emma came back out the front door.

"I told you that you should have gone before we left the house." Justin joked and stuffed his hand in Emma's back pocket as she stood next to him. She pinched him in the side and smiled politely at Lance.

"Blah, blah, blah. Thanks Lance." She said.

Lance laughed. "Your welcome." He replied.

"Ready now?" Justin asked.

"Yup!" Emma tugged his hand out of her pocket, said goodbye to Lance and then headed back to the car. Justin shook his head and smiled at his friend.

"See ya later Man." Justin said.

"Good luck!" Lance called after him and Justin got into the car and they dissappeared down the road to pick up Lynn.

A few hours later they had landed in Florida, made a quick stop to drop off their things at Justin's mom's house in Orlando and then Emma directed them to her parents home.

"Daddy!" She unlocked the front door and called out, waiting for an answer.

"In the den Hunny!" She heard her father reply. She turned and stood in front of Justin. Lynn was holding Riley standing near the door and patiently waiting to be introduced to Emma's family, but Justin hadn't even met them yet and so she was going to allow Emma to introduce him first.

"You ready?" She asked him softly.

He nodded and gulped. All of a sudden he was very nervous. Lynn smiled at her son, he was normally so in control but right now he kind of looked like he wanted to hide in a closet or run far far away.

"Okay." Emma took his hand and kissed him quickly on the lips and then pulled him along behind her towards the den. Lynn followed with Riley.

Emma stepped into the room and smiled as her parents turned to look at her. Her father, Jim, was sitting in an armchair reading the paper and her mother, Molly appeared to be knitting a blanket of some sort. It was all very Norman Rockwell. Molly stopped what she was doing and hurried over to hug her daughter.

"Oh Hunny, how are you doing?" She kissed Emma's cheek and hugged her tightly and by then Jim had come over and did the same.

"I'm good. And... this is Justin." Emma wasted no time making the necessary introduction. Justin held out his hand and Jim shook it firmly and then much to Justin's suprise he pulled him close and hugged him.

"Welcome to the family Son." Jim said.

"Th... thanks." Justin stuttered a little taken aback by such a warm welcome. Molly hugged him next and then imediately picked up Emma's left hand to admire the diamond on her finger.

"Impressive." Molly laughed a little.

"Mom!" Emma laughed too and it seemed like the initial tenseness surrounding Justin melted and he remembered his mother and daughter were standing behind him.

"This... is my mom, Lynn." Justin took Riley out of Lynn's arms and she was welcomed by the other parents.

"And this must be Riley." Molly said, clearly excited. She approached Justin and tickeled the little girls sides. Justin told Riley who the new people were and Riley warmed up to them suprisingly quickly and soon enough she was on the floor running around investigating the rooms of the unfamiliar house.

Lynn, Justin and Emma sat down on the couch and Emma's parents returned to the chairs they had been sitting in earlier.

"So, this is all very exciting. Have you started planning anything yet?" Molly glanced at Emma and Lynn.

"No Mom, I know how much you want to help so... no." Emma answered.

"Oh good. Well then what do you say tomorrow we go looking for dresses."

"That sounds like a marvalous idea." Lynn clapped her hands together and agreed with Molly.

"But, we havn't even set a date yet." Emma reached for Justin's hand and protested a little. He made sure to stay completely opinion-less. Joey had given him grand advice to not get involved. Wedding planning was a woman's area of expertise and all he needed to do was get a tux and show up.

"Nonsense. You're going to need a dress no matter what, it can't hurt to take a look and get some ideas can it?" Molly replied and Lynn nodded in agreement.

"Now what about Bridesmaids and Groomsman?" Molly asked and Lynn shook her head to indicate that she had no idea what they had in mind.

Justin felt it best to put in some kind of input here and said, "Trace is going to be best man." He looked at his mother and she nodded and then he looked at Emma's parents "Trace is my best friend, and then JC, Joey, Lance and Chris are going to be ushers." He said. "They were in my... band, group ya know."

Molly nodded, "Okay so Emma my dear, you need 5 bridesmaids."

"I want Jen to be my maid of honor, and I'll probably ask Heather, Kim, Sara and Amy to be bridesmaids."

"Well get to it dear." Molly replied and then pointed a finger at both Justin and Emma "And for heavens sakes you two... set. a. date."

"Do you have that dress on yet?" Molly knocked on the dressing room door while Emma was struggling to get into the fifth dress of the day. Lynn was sitting in one of the chairs with Riley on her lap and Justin had gone golfing with Jim for the day.

"Do you need any help?" one of the attendants of the store asked tentatively.

"No, I've got it. I just... don't like it." Emma opened the door and came out of the room and the mom's 'oohed' and 'aahed' like they'd done for every dress.

"You don't like that one either?" Molly asked.

"No. Would you just let me take a look. I know you mean well Mom, but this is supposed to be fun for me too." Emma dissappeared back into the dressing room and then reappeared a few minutes later dressed in her jeans and t-shirt.

For the next half hour she walked among the racks of dresses and pulled out a few that she wanted to try on and then she returned to the dressing room. Lynn and Molly took their seats again and waited for Emma to come out.

"Oh my God!" Molly and Lynn both gasped when Emma emerged. "That is the dress." Molly said immediatly.

"Justin will hit the floor." Lynn agreed.

"You look pretty!" Riley added in her two cents.

Emma stood in front of the mirrored walls and spun around smiled at the white lace that she was wearing. She loved this dress.

"See, I told you to just let me look. This is the dress. I'm positive." Emma said.

"Wonderful." Molly agreed. "Now what about a veil?"

"Beautiful shot Sir." Justin said after Jim had taken his first swing on Hole 9.

"Thank you. How long have you been playing golf Justin?"

"About 5 years I think."

"You know Son, in some ways, a marriage is like golf." Jim turned to look Justin square in the eye "Sometimes your game will improve, sometimes you'll get worse but it really depends on how much work you're willing to put into it."

Jim stepped out of the way and motioned for Justin to take his shot. "I want to know that you're going to take care of my little girl Justin. She's very important to me and if you break her heart I might have to get creative with this golf club." He held up his club and then stuck it in his bag.

"I assure you Sir, that I love Emma and I have no intention of breaking her heart. I know that, I've made some mistakes." He said referring to what had brought Riley into this world "But great things have amounted from those mistakes and seeing Emma with Riley just shows me even more how much I want to spend the rest of my life with her."

Jim stared at Justin for a moment, letting his words sink in and silently judging his tone and when he was satisfied that Justin had been sincere he smiled. "Thats what I like to hear." Jim threw an arm around Justin's shoulders and patted his arm. "I like you Boy."

Justin smiled. He'd passed whatever test it was that Jim had been giving him. The men continued about their golf game like old frat buddies and returned to the house later on that evening laughing like they'd known eachother for years.

Emma smiled when she heard Justin and her father come into the house laughing over some joke one of them had made and she rushed through the house to meet up with Justin in the kitchen.

Jim kissed his daughter on the side of the head and passed by her towards the living room where his wife and Lynn were fussing over Riley.

"How did it go?" Emma asked Justin, hugging him and then kissing him hello.

"I should be asking you that." He smiled. "Did you find a dress?"

"Yup!" Emma smiled "But you can't see it for months so that ends that discussion. What did you and my dad do?"

"We played golf and talked." Justin said, his arms wrapped tightly around Emma and he was just tall enough to rest his chin on the top of her head. He face was buried in the hollow of his neck and she closed her eyes wrapped her arms around his waist and breathed in deeply.

"Talked about what?"

"Just stuff. Nothing you need to worry about." He assured her. "Come on." he stepped back and reached for her hand and they walked into the living room.

"Daddy!" Riley lit up at the sight of him and ran towards him. He dropped Emma's hand and bent down to lift her into his arms and kiss her cheek.

"Hi Baby Girl. How are you?" He asked.

"Good. Emmy's dress is preeeeetty" Riley affirmed.

"Shush Riley, you can't tell Daddy about my dress remember?" Emma stepped up close to them and caught Riley's gaze.

"Oh yea! Is a secret!"

Justin laughed and squeezed Riley tighter until she squirmed to be let down.

"Well dears, are you ready to get going?" Lynn stood up and looked at her son.

"Sure. We'll see you for dinner tomorrow right?" Emma looked at her mother and father and they nodded.

"Okay. Love you Mom, you too Daddy. See you tomorrow."

She followed Justin, Lynn and Riley out to the car and they headed in the direction of Justin's home.

"Today was good." Justin said. He was laying in bed next to Emma later on that night after Riley had been put to bed and Lynn had retreated to her room as well. The television echoing softly throughout the room but they weren't really paying attention to it. Emma was cuddled up next to Justin her head resting on his bare chest, her eyes peacefully close.

"Emma?" His tone lowered and he waited for an answer but she gave none. He adjusted a little and saw her eyes closed and he smiled tenderly. He leaned forward and kissed the top of her head and then clicked off the tv. He tossed one arm protectively around her waist and then soon fell asleep himself.