Shane awoke the next morning to his fiancee's butterfly touch. She had such delicate hands that belied a great strength in them. Fluttering his eyes open, he saw her watching him, with that gentle sweetness that had made him fall in love with her in the first place. Without saying a word, he pulled her in for a kiss, slow and tender; Shane could feel her awaken against him as he did so.

Twisting so that she was beneath him, her red hair forming a halo around her face, he cupped her cheek in his palm as he pressed his body into hers, reveling the way the tips of her breasts were tickled and teased by the light fuzz of dark hairs on his chest; the sensation of it made her breathe long and deep, pushing her breasts against his body even more. His lips ran over her skin until they found hers, lush and full.

Alexis heard his deeply satisfied sigh as they kissed and she let her thighs fall open for him, to cradle him. Just the feel of him against her like this, taking their time and enjoying each other's bodies, reminded her that every last late night phone call, every game of email tag, even the wish-you-were-here Skype conversations were all worth it when the prize at the end of the day was Shane Weaver. She combed her fingers through his hair, stroked them down the back of his neck and gasped a little when she felt his fingertips brush her hardened nipple.

'I remember this spot,' Shane murmured, kissing her more deeply this time, adding a little tongue to it while he toyed with that little bump of sensitive flesh ripe with nerve endings. 'You really go wild for me when I touch you here.'

He continued to alternate his fingertip and thumb there as he kept his lips on hers until she was finally sighing breathily in his ear for him to use his hands on her elsewhere; being an astute sort Shane knew exactly what she wanted and so he slipped his hand between their bodies and brushed his fingers over her, just the lightest of touches. Her moan in his ear, a strangled sound of pleasure, made Shane feel like a god; he'd barely touched her and she was whimpering already for him, and once again, surprising him with even more taunting dirty talk as she asked for him to use his tongue on her.

Moving down the bed, Shane kept his hands on her thighs to keep them apart, and when he nipped at that slick, animal-scented flesh, she cried loudly for him, then cut herself off.

'There are other people in the house, we need to keep it down,' she hissed, breath coming in pants.

'Are you telling me or reminding yourself?'

'Both.'

Shane nodded, and despite the fact he wanted to kiss and suckle right where he was, he knew what he really wanted to do would make everyone a little embarrassed with Alexis' loud reactions to it. So he slithered up her body, watching his fiancee's eyes pop wide as she felt the hard length of him against her tender heated lips, and without another thought, he reached for the condom still left on the bedside table from the night before.

'I want to watch you,' she murmured.

'Watch me?'

'I don't want to help I just want to watch.'

Alexis kept her eyes on his body as Shane rolled on the condom, only letting them finally close when he took her hand and closed it around him to help guide inside She arched her hips up against his, setting the rhythm for them to love each other this morning, and when she felt the silk crest of the orgasm rise up side her, Alexis knew what it was to truly love her lover.

Spent and satisfied, Shane rested his head against her shoulder, felt her finger-comb his hair. 'Every time,' he mumbled against her skin.

'Every time?'

'We get better every time we do it.'

'Think of it as honeymoon practice.'

'Now those are words I like to hear.' Shane lifted his head, thumped his chin between her breasts. 'I was thinking about this a little bit about the ceremony. How would you feel about meeting my rabbi, doing a little crash course on what happens prior to the day of the rehearsal dinner or when we meet with him to talk about what we want in the ceremony.'

'I think that sounds like a good idea,' Alexis replied honestly. 'It'll be tricky, though for me to schedule the time-'

'Hey, I didn't mean like next week, we can do it this summer when you're on vacation,' he reassured her with a little laugh. 'Speaking of which, we are still on vacation and I think I know what we are all doing today.'

'Oh?'

'Yep.'

'You think today's the day?'

'I do indeed.' Shane levered himself off of Alexis, dealt with the condom before going to their ensuite to take a leak. Discreetly, he shut the door behind him; it was a habit he'd learned to fix when he was first living with Alexis as one of her biggest pet peeves was people who had conversations while one was on the toilet. He waited until he was finished and had washed his hands before returning to the bedroom, only slightly disappointed when he saw Alexis had put on her swimsuit and was tugging her wetsuit out of her suitcase.

'Samn, I was hoping you'd do that naked,' he told her, tugging on his own swim trunks.

'Nope, not a chance.'

'Why?'

But Shane had his question answered for him when the door was nudged open and Andrea was there with Nessa in her arms, squirming around like a little jellyfish. 'There's your noisy aunt and uncle, Nessa, but don't go thinking you're getting a cousin from them any time soon.'

'Hi, sweet pea.' Alexis smiled at Nessa, and the baby kicked like a mule, accidentally nailing Andrea just above her groin; the new mom let out an 'oof' as the foot connected against her body.

'Sweetheart, I thought you were done kicking me in the junk now that you're no longer inside Mama,' she groaned good-naturedly. 'Eh, my little darling. You can go to Auntie Lexy for a moment since Mama has to pee now.'

Alexis held out her arms for little Nessa and wasn't surprised when the baby immediately reached out her chubby little hands to grab at Alexis' hair. 'Mumumum,' Nessa gurgled happily, tugging the auburn locks lightly. 'Mumumum.'

'I know, just like Mama's, right?'

Then her heart did a little hiccup when Nessa put her head on Alexis' shoulder and said in a sweet voice, 'Mumum.'

'Oh, honey.' She tried her best not to sniffle but it was to no avail and a few little tears escaped her eyes.

'Here, Nessa, you come sit over on our bed.' Shane plucked the baby from Alexis' arms and nestled her on the centre of the king-sized bed before wrapping his arms around Alexis. 'It's okay, Alexis, I've got you.'

'I...sometimes things still set me off like that,' she told him, shuddering as she fought for control. 'But it's mostly gone now.'

'Like right now or in general?'

'Both. Oh, goodness,' she sighed and swiped at her eyes just as Andrea emerged from the bathroom.

'Alexis, sweetie, what happened?'

Shane explained it and Andrea simply nodded patiently as she picked Nessa up from the bed. 'Shane, don't take this the wrong way, but bugger off with my husband. Go get the cooler ready for the boat.'

'What about my wetsuit?'

'We'll bring it down. This is a girl thing,' Andrea said firmly and Shane left, but not before giving Alexis' forehead a little smooch. When he was gone, Andrea gave her friend - her new little sister - a sympathetic look.

'Don't worry girl. You've still got a little bit of those post-partum hormones in your system.'

'Which might explain how I went so horny-devil on him last night,' Alexis mused, reflecting on how brave she'd been to wear no bra or panties under her dress for her date with Shane, 'and then so sniffly right now.'

'Or it could be that you are simply someone who likes hearing herself be called 'Mumum' by a little one,' Andrea pointed out. 'Not to knock your schooling but I've seen a lot of med students get a little bit hypochondriac. They've got bloody everything wrong with themselves.'

Alexis laughed. 'So basically you're telling me things happen and the best thing to do is just roll with it?'

'Basically. Right Nessa?'

'Mimimim.'

'She says, Auntie Lexy, stop worrying, you're gonna be the best mama ever when the time is right. Well, the second-best.' Andrea grinned, looked up at Alexis. 'How you think I'm doing so far with my engagement surprise?'

'I think you are awesome.'

'And just you wait, Nessa, when you are a little bit bigger, you'll get to come under the water with us too, just like we're doing today.'

'Sisisis?'

'Oh, you're right Nessa.' Alexis slapped her thighs dramatically. 'We better find Uncle Shane's wetsuit so he isn't skinny-scuba-diving with us, huh?'

'See, I could see not wanting to have anything on a boat this size for the wedding, but what's wrong with a yacht?'

Shane looked around at their fishing vessel and wondered if singing one of Quint's songs from Jaws would be highly inappropriate, then looked back at Alexis, who'd tipped her sunglasses down at him.

'I'm giving you the rehearsal dinner on the cruise around the damn Statue of Liberty, Shane, don't push it,' she warned him with a smile. 'Or I'll cut you off.'

'Not all men are driven by sex, you know, we do have jobs that don't require us to hump like monkeys.'

'Oh, sweetie.' Alexis pursed her lips at him, batted her eyes in a picture of innocent sweetness. 'I didn't mean sex, that would be punishing me too when I did nothing to deserve it. I simply meant your cookie fund would be cut off.'

'You mean no pepernoten? For how long?'

'Until I decide you've been punished enough.' But Alexis winked at him as she said it, and Shane grinned, tickled Nessa's tummy as the baby looked around. 'Don't worry they'll be back soon enough.'

'Mumum. Sisisis.'

'I know, angel-cakes, I know. They looked pretty silly in all that gear, huh?'

'Bubub.' Nessa pointed to the gentle lapping waves. 'Bubub?'

'That right we blow bubbles in the water, and...oh look, look I think they're coming back!'

Beneath the crystal clear waters where their dive boat was anchored, Shane could see the two dark forms of humans coming towards the surface ten feet from the starboard gunwale. When they surfaced, Nessa clapped her hands and shouted, 'Bubub!'

'Hey, how's my little starfish?' Daniel called out, grinning at his little girl in her life-jacket. 'You see Mama and Daddy coming back?'

'Dididid.'

'Were your babysitters behaving themselves?' Andrea teased as Alexis began to outfit herself with the rented tanks. 'You made sure they weren't corrupting my baby girl?'

She climbed the ladder and gave Nessa a wet and salty kiss which made the baby splutter and giggle, then helped Alexis with her equipment; when they were done, she took Nessa from Shane while Daniel helped his bro with the same gear. A quick check of compressors and regulators and Alexis and Shane were doing the long-walk jump into the ocean, bobbing there for a moment and then heading under the water.

It was so soothing and thrilling at the same time, Shane thought, turning to look at Alexis and grin around his mouthpiece as they made their way towards the stone and coral form twenty-five from the boat's anchor. There was so much beauty here, and it could be deadly, yet it was silent and tranquil, exactly what they'd both yearned for in the last month.

Moving towards the northeast corner of the rock-form, Alexis darted down to the sandy bottom where she used her waterproof camera to snap pictures of colourful coral and fish and other sundry sea creatures when she spotted something peaking out of the edge of the sandy bottom. Gently fanning the sand away she lifted it up and saw it was a perfectly-shaped conch shell, pale yellow with green and brown flecks on the edges.

Shane caught up to her, saw what she'd found and motioned for her to give him the camera. He snapped the picture, knowing it would send RJ into a jealous frenzy when he saw it. Then, because he was feeling particularly romantic he picked up a piece of driftwood and scratched a message in the sand while Alexis babied her shell. He poked her in the arm, made the universal hand gesture for pictures and snapped the image. Once he was done, Alexis took the stick of driftwood from him and wrote beneath it, which Shane photographed as well.

I love you Alexis

I love you Shane