Standing Tall

Rebecca hit snooze on her alarm for the third time, not wanting to get out of bed. The sun peered through the slit in the curtains. She ran her hand over the pillow next to hers and remembered that he hadn't been there the previous night. She heard her bedroom door creak open, followed by footsteps approaching the bed. There was a faint smell of vanilla.

"Becks...you up yet?? I brought coffee. Figured you'd need it," Lindsey said as she sat down at the end of the bed.

"Why is the sun shining?? And whose idea was it to go out last night?" Rebecca groaned as she sat up and took the mug from her best friend.

"Uh, the sun is shining because it's supposed to. Would you rather it be raining today? And I'm going to blame Er and Tiff for planning your bachelorette party for the night before your wedding," Lindsey chuckled.

"Ugh...thank God there won't be a next time," Rebecca managed a smile.

"There better not be," Lindsey smirked, "I wonder how the guys are doing this morning."

"I can almost guarantee that they're not even awake yet. They seemed like they had more to drink than we did. But God help them if they're not at the club on time," Rebecca threatened.

"Don't worry. We've got it all under control. But if you don't get out of this bed and take a shower, we're not going to be on time," Lindsey said as she pulled the comforter off of Rebecca.

"Fine....I guess I should...cause...IT'S MY WEDDING DAY!" Rebecca shouted as she climbed out of the bed, trying not to spill her coffee.

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In spite of how much alcohol Scott had consumed at their joint bachelor/bachelorette party, he woke up an hour before his alarm. He sat in Kimmo Timonen's kitchen, scrolling through Philly.com on his phone and sipping coffee, debating whether or not to call Rebecca. He knew she would probably have a hangover and wouldn't want to get out of bed, but he wanted to hear her voice.

It had taken every ounce of restraint he had not to sneak out of Kimmo's house and drive to theirs and crawl into bed with her. But he promised her that he would wait to see her at the club. She wanted the first time they saw each other on their wedding day to be the most memorable thing in their lives.

In a year and a half together they had already had quite a few memorable moments. The moment he would see her in the dress she claimed was the 'most perfect dress ever' would leap frog over most of them.

"You're up already...I thought for sure I'd have to throw a bucket of water on you to get you up after last night," Johanna, Kimmo's wife, said as she entered the kitchen.

"Nope. Too excited to sleep. But you may need the bucket for them," Scott said as he motioned his head towards his teammates that were strewn throughout the living room. "Thanks for putting us all up, I'll make sure they clean up the mess before we all leave."

"It's no trouble Scott. You know we'd do anything for you, you're family. All of you," she smiled as the sounds of men snoring filled the air.

Scott kissed Johanna on the cheek and excused himself. "I'm gonna call Rebecca and see if she's up yet."

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Rebecca stepped out of the shower, dried herself off and wrapped the towel around her body. She wiped her hand across the mirror to remove the fog. She looked at her reflection as she ran a comb through her wet hair. Just as she began to daydream about what Scott could possibly be doing at this moment she heard her phone ringing from the bedroom. She dropped the brush on the counter and ran to the nightstand to answer it before the voicemail picked up.

"Good morning beautiful...," Scott said.

"Morning handsome..." Rebecca said as she tried to catch her breath.

"How did you sleep?"

"Fine...I didn't want to get out of bed though. My head was pounding. You?"

"I didn't sleep much. I can't sleep without you next to me..."

"Well, except for road trips, you won't have to worry about that after today," she said as she sat down on the bed.

"I know," he smiled. "What are you doing right now?"

"I just got out of the shower. Sitting on the bed in a towel...wishing you were here..." she smirked to herself.

"Oh babe...that's so not fair..."

"I'm sorry...I just can't help myself. I'm imagining you in your tux...I bet you're going to look like James Bond."

"Oh, just you wait. You'll run down the aisle to me," he joked.

"I don't know about that. It's my moment in the spotlight...the only time that the focus will be on me when we're together. I've got to soak it up as much as I can," she laughed.

"Not true...you're always in the spotlight. I'm Shrek compared to you," he laughed.

Rebecca heard a voice in the background. "Is that Claude? What did he say?"

"He said I'm Shrek whether you're with me or not," Scott said as he kicked his friend who had spent the night on an air mattress on the living room floor.

Rebecca laughed heartily. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh."

"That's alright. You can make it up to me later."

"Whatever you want sweetheart," she responded.

"That's what I like to hear. Alright gorgeous, I gotta go. It's time to get these bums in gear. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Absolutely. I love you Mister Hartnell."

"I love you too, soon-to-be Missus Hartnell."

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"Becks! Come on! We're going to be late meeting the girls for breakfast. I told them we'd be there by eight-thirty," Lindsey shouted from the bottom of the staircase.

"I'll be right down. Just need another minute," Rebecca answered as she stared at the dress hanging on the closet door. The minute she walked out of that room the day would start...the day she would marry the love of her life.

She ran her hand down the front of the gown, remembering the night they met....

"Hi...I'm Scott," he said with his hand extended for a handshake.

"I know. You were just here like ten minutes ago."

"Yeah well, you said you weren't impressed by us, so I figured I'd introduce myself again," he smirked. "Do you mind if I sit here?" he said as he pulled out the barstool next to her that Lindsey had just vacated.

"It's a free country. Do what you want," Rebecca snarked.

"So...what brings you out tonight?"

"My friends. They think I've been trapped in my house too long," Rebecca said as she sipped what was left of her drink.

"Trapped eh? Are we talking chained to the walls trapped or just hermit-type person trapped?" Scott asked with a smile.

"Hermit. I don't get out much because of my son," Rebecca answered.

"Nice, you have a son? How old?"

"Fifteen," Rebecca responded.

"Fifteen?! There's no way you're old enough to have a teenager. I would have guessed you were like twenty-five," he said with shock in his voice.

"Nope. Definitely not twenty-five anymore. That was a decade ago... " Rebecca said as she stirred the ice in her glass.

"Would you like another drink?" Scott motioned to the bartender for a refill of their glasses. "Wow...you do not look your age at all."

"Uh, thanks," she said as she took the freshly filled glass from the bartender. "I guess my parents are to thank for that," she smiled.

"Yes! A smile! I can go home now...my work here is done," Scott laughed.

Rebecca rolled her eyes and sipped on her drink. She didn't know why she was talking to him, she didn't even want to be there. More imoortantly, why was he talking to her? It's not like she had given off any signals that she was interested...she had blantantly told them that she wasn't. But talking with him was better than sitting at the bar alone waiting for Lindsey to stop flirting with whichever one she had her arm around so that they could go home.

A moment of silence between them was broken when the crowd in the bar erupted into cheers as the Phillies had managed to score a run. "You're not a Phillies fan either?" Scott asked.

"I'm not a sports fan. I don't understand any of it," Rebecca responded.

"Oh, well, the game is almost over...unless they manage to stage a comeback. But I doubt they will," Scott said.

"If you say so. I'm just waiting on Lindsey...she's my ride," Rebecca said, not really sure why she offered up that information.

"Where's home?" Scott asked, immediatley regretting the question.

"Springfield. It's about twenty minutes from here."

"Oh okay. Well, I could drive you home if you don't want to wait for your friend..." Scott fidgeted with his beer bottle while he looked her over trying to figure out if she had been offended.

"No, that's okay. I'll just wait for her. Thanks though, " she said, amazed that he could be that brazen to think she'd allow him to drive her home.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like a creep. Just wanted to be nice and offer you a way out. I don't know about your friend, but she and Schenner are looking pretty cozy over there," he said as he motioned across the bar to where Lindsey stood, being gropped by the guy she just met.

"Oh great. Sorry, I'm going to have to pull her out of here before she decides she's not going home. It was nice talking to you. And thanks for the drinks," Rebecca said as she stood up and extended her hand.

Scott shook her hand and said, "You're quite welcome. I hope we'll run into each other again someday."