Title: Yesterday to Tomorrow: Chapter Sixty-one, Twelve Days
Rating: NC-17 [violence, swearing, nudity, sexual situations]

Summary: Judith settles in with Chris and Alyssa. The countdown begins.

Previous Chapter Blood's Thicker Than Juice

Current Chapter Twelve Days

Next Chapter Everything Settled

Even though she looked like her mother, Judith was nothing like her. Alyssa decided that by the time they reached the house. She was sociable, chatting with the kids as much as she did Alyssa. And the air of superiority, holier-than-thou-ness that Alyssa associated with her mother, didn't touch Judith at all. She was truly and absolutely genuine. And Alyssa already liked her.

In the ride from the airport and the following dinner, which Chris had thoughtfully ordered instead of trying to cook himself, revealed more about who Judith was. She and Alfred did not live in Spokane Valley, but rather in Coeur d'alene, Idaho, some hours away. The wedding invitation had been sent to her by their paternal grandparents. She ran a little clothing boutique; her father a fishing tackle store. She wasn't all that religious, but he attended Mass all the time. She had never married or even truly been in love and had no intentions of ever having kids. She was settled in who she was and didn't apologize for it at all.

With the kids settled in bed, Chris and Alyssa settled on the sofa, Judith on a nearby chair. There was still a tad bit of tension in the room, but nothing that any of the adults thought all that much about. At least intially.

"You know, I have to admit I was far more nervous meeting the two of you than I expected," Judith claimed, sipping a glass of wine. "More because of your social stature than anything else. I mean I knew from reading about you, Chris, that you were down-to-earth and Alyssa couldn't be anything else to have stuck with you for ten years. But I still didn't expect it to be anything like this at all."

He smiled, sipping his Diet Coke, "Just because I'm in a rock band doesn't mean we go around snorting lines all the time."

"That's only on kid-free weekends," Alyssa joked.

Judith snorted, "Yeah, because I'm sure you get so many of those."

"Not many," she agreed. "With Vicky living in Paris, it's not easy to be without the kids. Sometimes Brad and Selene will take them for a few hours, but lately any time we have hasn't really been much of a focus on anything but... wedding crap."

"Eh, call it all off and elope," she grinned.

"Too late for that. The Cardinal is marrying us," Chris claimed.

Judith stared at them for a moment, "But I thought you weren't having a Catholic wedding."

"We're not. He's marrying us outside of the Church," Alyssa explained.

"How's he getting away with that?"

"I donated about a million to a church charity," she replied. "That silenced the Vatican."

"You did?" Chris and Judith said in unison.

Alyssa nodded, reaching for Chris's Coke, "Yep. But it was an anonymous donation, love. So people won't suddenly be claiming you've gone church-y on us."

He smirked, relinquishing his can, "Always thinking one step ahead."

"More than that. Had you looked through all of the book, you would have known of the donation, Chris. It was one of the early things I did," she claimed.

"Really?"

"And before you start to worry, only half of it was your money. The rest of it came from my account," she stuck her tongue out briefly before draining the rest of his can.

"Because I was so about to get worried," he declared, taking the empty can from her and standing. "Anyone else need anything?"

"You're really lucky," Judith commented after Chris left the room.

Not entirely sure what she was talking about, Alyssa asked, "How do you mean?"

"Chris obviously adores you. At first I thought it was a marriage of convenience. He going through a midlife crisis and needing a young wife, and you just not wanting to be alone," she explained. "But I can tell the two of you really love each other."

She smiled crookedly, "He's my perfect match. Ever since that day he walked into the deli..."



A hand slidding over her bare stomach caused the corners of Alyssa's mouth to twitch, "Chris, the kids are home."

"How come you think sex when I touch you? Maybe I just want to hold you while you sleep," he argued.

"Then you better tell the rest of your body that," she proclaimed, turning on her side to face him, her hand resting on his hip. "Or maybe I should look into sleeping in clothes again."

"No no no no no no," he shook his head, his hand moving up to push hair from her eyes so he could see them in the darkness. "I like my au natural Alyssa."

"I can tell," she teased.

"Hey now," he replied.

Alyssa moved forward and kissed him softly, "Not tonight."

"Why not?" he pouted.

"Because we'll be wed in twelve days, Chris. We're abstaining until then," she declared.

"What!? Why?"

"To make our wedding night more special."

"What? Why?" he repeated.

She kissed his nose, "And I want you to last alllllll night."

Chris frowned, "Because I've so been the one minute man with you."

"You were the first time," she teased.

"Oh now that's not fair. I don't even remember the first time," he retorted.

"Exactly. You have a lot to make up for."

"Bitch," he grinned.

"But you love me," she kissed him again.

"I'd love you more if you'd—"

"Not a chance. Go take a shower, Chris. So I can get some sleep. Got a lot to do tomorrow," Alyssa pulled away from him.

He pulled her back to him, "I'll behave. I promise. I can wait twelve days for you. Hell I've waited ten yea—"

"Not really."

"Oh whatever, Alyssa," he grinned. "I only count the times I remember. Oh god do I remember them."

She giggled, "My poor, horny, husband-to-be."

"Can you blame me? You're beautiful. Positively glowing," Chris declared, pausing for a moment. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

"Nope," Alyssa answered. "We're not doing that for awhile."

"What? Why not?"

"I'm not ready for a baby. We have enough going on, love," she stated. "Toni and Nick are enough of a handful that I don't want to add to that yet."

"But—"

"When the time's right, I'll go off birth control again. But not until it's right."

"But—"

"Go to sleep, Chris," Alyssa instructed.

"But—"

"Shower or sleep, Chris. Your choice."

"Fine, fine," he pulled her close to him once more, nestling his head on hers.



"Mommy?" Toni asked, looking up from where she sat on the floor. "Is there gonna be ice cream at the party?"

Alyssa smiled, "Sorry, sweetie. Cake."

"I like cake too," she declared before going back to playing with her toys.

Looking up from the book, Judith stated, "It's rather ingenious to include the kids in everything. I've never been to a wedding reception where there's a separate area for the kids to play and whatnot in."

"Had to do something. The kids are a very big part of our life," Alyssa claimed. "Nick's the hardest one to figure out what to have him do, since he's only a year and a half old. He's not really a part of the ceremony, but I'm sure he'll not want to leave our side. Even if his grandma's there, Nick has separation anxiety."

"Probably because his birth mother left hi—"

"Probably," Alyssa cut her off, not one to talk about Vicky in front of the kids. "But we'll figure something out."

"What's on the agenda today?" she shifted the conversation.

"We have to go pick up the favours, check in with the florist who is totally a god to me now, check on Chris's wedding present, and pick up the girl's headpieces since they weren't the correct size when I got them last week," Alyssa replied. "Ugh, I should have called the car an hour ago."

"Just because you don't drive, doesn't mean I don't," Judith stated. "You got a car around here?"

"Yeah," she replied cautiously. "You sure about that? LA streets aren't anything like—"

"I can handle it."