Baby Just Say Yes

"So tonight's not the rehearsal dinner?" Rayleigh asked Suzie confusedly.

"Ray, honey, the rehearsal dinner's not until the night before the wedding." Brian told her, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She laughed.

"Yes, well, I was watching Pinky and the Brain, so no one let me in on that little fact." She joked. Brian hugged her, and she laid her head on his chest. Jimmy entered the room, blowing a referee whistle.

"NO PURPLING!" He said loudly. "Step away from the young innocent damsel."

"Who said I'm innocent?" Rayleigh asked, laughing. Jimmy looked at her with horror.

"I so did not need to hear that." He told her.

"Rayleigh!" Suzie said loudly, grabbing Ray's attention. Her head snapped in the direction of Brian's mother, and she smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah? Sorry. I kinda got sidetracked." She apologized. Suzie looked at Brian and Jimmy.

"Out." She told them. They saluted her and left the room.

"Good luck." Brian whispered into her ear as he left. She gave him a smile as he left, looking at his butt as he walked out. Suzie snapped, and her head turned quickly.

"Sorry." She apologized again. Suzie grinned, but rolled her eyes.

"We need to talk about tonight." She said. "We need to figure out who all's going to be at the get together tonight. Sit."

Rayleigh sighed, knowing this was going to be boring. Since Brian had asked her to marry him, she'd figured out that the wedding every little girl dreamed of having was not so easy to achieve. She pulled a piece of pink and black stationary off of the table by the phone, and a pen from behind her ear. She started writing names.

"My cousin Cody is going to be there with his wife Ashley. June and Thad are coming up with Britney and Jaden, and so is Julie."

"What about Scott?" Suzie asked. Rayeigh glared at the counter.

"He's too good to come to California." She said. "In short, he doesn't want anything to do with my family."

"Ah. I see." Suzie nodded. "Glad we didn't put his name on the invite then."

"Julie got the message loud and clear." Rayleigh nodded.

"Okay. So is anybody else going to come up?"

"Yep. Shane and Trish are already in town, they're staying at the Hilton for a business meeting and then they're staying until the day after the wedding. Tony and Sheila are coming, but Tyler can't make it because of his school. Donnie and Don are going to be there, too."

"What about your uncle?"

"Gordie and Cheryl are already in town." Rayleigh told Suzie. "In fact, they wanted to stop by the house for awhile if they could."

Suzie beamed. "Of course they can." She nodded. "I know how much you care about him."

"And that's it for my family." Rayleigh sighed. Suzie nodded.

"Alright. Well, on Brian's side, McKenna's going to be here, of course. So is his aunt Aleta and her sons Clinton and Jessen. His cousins Brady and Boston will be there, and so will some other extended family." Suzie told her. Rayleigh nodded happily.

"So do we have the whole thing set?" Rayleigh asked cautiously. Suzie nodded.

"Yes. I suppose you can go see Brian now. He's been waiting rather impatiently in the doorway."

Rayleigh looked at the doorway to see Brian leaning against it, tapping his foot on the floor.

"Come on." He told her. "I want to take you somewhere."

-x-

"Brian, where are we going?" She asked him with a giggle, trying to see through the bandana he'd tied over her eyes. He laughed.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret anymore." He sighed. "You'll like it."

She smiled. "I know I will. Unless it's a place with spiders and clowns, of course."

He giggled mischievously, and she turned in the direction of the driver's seat, though she couldn't see him. "Brian Elwin Haner, Jr.," she started. "If I even hear a clown, you're not getting any any time soon."

At this he lost his composure, and burst into laughter. "Trust me, Ray." He said. She sighed, and waited out the rest of the drive in silence. When he stopped the car and opened his door, she went to pull off the bandana, but he stopped her.

"No. You can't yet." He told her, walking around the car to open the door for her. He picked up her hand and led her across some uneven ground, and finally pulled her bandana off, letting her see the view. She gasped involuntarily and looked at him, seeing his smug grin.

"Told you ya'd like it." He told her. She hugged him and kissed his cheek.

"Yes, I do." She whispered. He kissed her hair, and pulled her to the ground with him as he sat down on the sand.

"I love you, Rayleigh Anne Coslov." He told her, brushing the hair off of her face as the wind blew it into her eyes. She looked at him and put her hand on his cheek.

"And I love you, Brian Elwin Haner, Jr." She told him, kissing his neck. "And I must say..."

"Yeah?" He murmured.

"You are the most sincere man I've ever met."

"Then you haven't met many men." He joked. She laughed, and hugged him.

-x-

Later that night, Rayleigh stood in front of the closet in hers and Brian's room, trying to decide what to wear. She didn't really want to dress down, because this was the first time both extended families were to meet each other, and probably one of the only times. But she didn't want to dress up, either, because that wasn't really her style. Brian walked into the room to see her standing there frustratedly, and he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"Need help?" He offered quietly, kicking the door shut with his foot. She nodded.

"Yeah. I have nothing to wear." She told him. He looked at her incredulously.

"What?" He asked her humorously. "I have been kicked out of the closet to make room for your clothes, woman."

"You have not." She argued. "You've just been temporarily displaced."

He laughed and shook his head, and then pulled out a dress and some boots, and she smiled.

"I wonder why I didn't see that." She asked. He rolled his eyes.

"Because you don't see through my eyes." He explained, patting her shoulder and leaving the room. She smiled and pulled on the clothes hastily, and then brushed her hair quickly, knowing Brian really didn't have much patience. She smiled, knowing the effect she was going to have on him, and walked out of the bedroom and to the living room, where Brian suddenly stopped talking about whatever it was he'd been rambling on about.

"Can't you wear a jacket?" He asked her. She looked at him confused.

"We're in California, Brian. It's warm."

"B-but--"

"He's worried you're going to attract the attention of someone other than himself. I call it the Peacock Syndrome." Suzie said, walking into the room. She started laughing. Suzie did too.

"Mom!" Brian said. "Sh-she--"

"She'll be fine, Brian. And with you around, I'm sure no one is going to hit on her." Suzie told her son. "Now let's get going, we don't want to be late."

-x-

Once there, Rayleigh grabbed Brian's hand, and he looked at her. "You nervous?" He asked her. She nodded.

"There's only a few in my family who know what...he did." She explained. "And a lot of them are going to wonder where he's at."

"It'll be fine." Brian reassured her, stroking her hand. She sighed, but nodded. They got out of the car, but then she grabbed his hand again as they walked into the large dance room of the Hilton Hotel in downtown Huntington Beach. Everyone stopped talking and all eyes were on them when they stepped in, and everyone started clapping. Rayleigh blushed and hid her face in Brian's shoulder, and he laughed.

"I've never known you to be shy, Ray." He whispered. She pinched his arm, making sure no one could see.

"I've never been put in this situation before, Bri." She explained. He laughed, but led her to a table, where they sat down. A waiter walked up to them.

"And what would the couple like?" He asked. She mocked him, and Brian tried his hardest not to laugh, though it didn't work.

"The couple," Rayleigh said finally. "Will order separately. I'll have a burger and fries."

The waiter gave her a shocked look, but wrote the order down on a piece of paper. "And...a chocolate shake. With sour cream and ranch sides."

Brian laughed, and gave the waiter his order, a steak with a potato and a coke.

"Hey, girl." She heard a familiar voice from behind her. She grinned, knowing exactly who it was, and she turned around.

"Uncle Gordie!" She said excitedly, hugging him. "I missed you so much!"

"It's good to see ya, kid." He replied, hugging her. "So how's things goin'?"

"Not bad, how 'bout yourself? How's the ranch?" She asked him. He smiled.

"Brandings aren't the same without you. Dusty misses you."

She blushed when her uncle mentioned Dusty. He'd been in college when she'd been a kid, and every summer when she'd visit his ranch in North Dakota, Dusty had always been there, since he'd been a close friend of Gordie's son Cody. And he'd also been her biggest crush. The only reason she'd ever done brandings in the first place was because of Dusty. Gordie laughed at her look and then looked at Brian. "Well, it looks like you've got a keeper."

"He's a good guy, Uncle Gordie. Brian, meet my uncle. Uncle Gordie, meet my fiancee, Brian Haner."

They shook hands, but Rayleigh could tell from the look Gordie was giving Brian that he wanted to have a fatherly talk with him later. She knew that Brian wouldn't back down; he wanted her family to like him just as much as his liked her. Again, all talk in the room stopped, and all eyes left her to stare at the person who had just walked into the room.

"Why, hello, Rayleigh. Long time, no see." Her father's cold voice said, pristine clear in the dead silent room.