#and this chapter

(also I know he has a ring on in the picture but they haven’t exchanged rings yet shhhhh)

She’s panting, the music still pulsing in the background and the bodies are littering the floor around her. She sends a prayer of thanks heavenward that she talked Roman out of heels for the night, it would have made the affair they just concluded much more difficult. Her eyes begin searching for him then, she knows he’ll be standing but she lost track of him during the scuffle (and that’s what it was, she barely got enough resistance to call it a fight, let alone a bar fight). She finds him then, throwing the last punch into his opponent’s face before grabbing the back of their clothes and slamming their head into the table and letting go to let them fall to the floor in a heap. His eyes shoot up then, searching and she starts walking towards him. Stalking almost, she realizes, but it doesn’t matter, she’s made a decision just now and nothing is going to stop her from telling him. A groan that slips into a cry of pain splits the air as she walks, taking extra care to stomp on those unfortunate enough to move as she passes. She’s a woman on a mission and she sees the way Roman’s pupils are blown wide when she finally reaches him. She yanks his jacket to pull him into her and her voice is deep and firm and full of promise as she nearly growls into the lack of space between them

“Yes. Yes I will marry you and I swear to God I’ll never want anyone but you, never think of anyone the way I do of you, never leave your side, never let you go, always have your back and always keep you safe.” Her voice breaks at the end but her eyes never leave his, she vaguely notes that his are now glassy, but she knows her own are too and she can’t help but start gasping for breath as his hands find her face and his eyes crinkle at the corners.

“YES, YES YES!!!!!!”

Both of them are torn from the tenderness of the moment and turn to face the new threat, shoulders pressed together in a unified front before Roman slumps “Oh, it’s just Butcher”.

Butcher’s enthusiasm however hasn’t wavered in the slightest as he barrels his way across the room (no doubt taking the same lack of care to avoid the bodies that Erica did, and nearly careens into them with a (practically shouted) “I’ve taken the class, we can do it now, no need to wait she practically already said her vows!!”

Their brows furrow as one then, and together they glance at one another before looking back to Butch, “Class?”

“Yes, yes,” he assures hurriedly “I’m sure we can find some flowers or something, Hannah will be disappointed not to be a bridesmaid” He’s already walking towards the bar, reaching for the vase behind the counter “But I’m sure she’ll understand given the circumstances” he turns back to them holding the, what appear to be lilies, and walks back to Erica to hand them to her before turning to Roman.

“Well now Roman, that won’t do.” He says with a frown, reaching out to fix the suit jacket of the man in question, dusting his shoulders off before standing straight again and clapping his hands together. “Now, do you, Roman Stanton take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

The spell that had suspended them both during the entirety of his spiel seems broken now and they glance at each other before Erica speaks “But” her eyes search the floor desperately before circling back to him with an open mouth “You took a class to be-

“An ordained minister yes.” Butch cuts in “Hannah said it was cute when I told her I’d done it, it’s been awhile but I shouldn’t need to renew quite yet, should be good.”

Erica laughs then, smile emerging before turning to Roman and raising her eyebrows “Well? Do you?”

“Oh, God yes” the words leave his mouth on an exhale and he’s grabbing Erica’s face to slam his lips into hers. There’s a finality to it, as if it were the last they’d ever share but Butch cuts in with a

“I’m not done” that can’t be ignored and they separate reluctantly. He’s eyeing them both like a parent who’s caught their child with a hand in the cookie jar but they can’t bring themselves to be anything but giddy now, Erica’s looped both of her arms around Roman’s one and tucked herself into his side and he’s holding onto her with his other hand.

“You have to let me finish or it won’t count” Butch says calmly “I read that part over and over, looking for loopholes but it’s the facts”.

They both laugh at this and Roman brushes his nose against Erica’s when she turns to him, a disgusting show of affection he knows but they’re about to be married for God’s sake.

“I do” he breaths out finally, eyes never leaving hers, “forever”. She smiles at him then and it’s filling her eyes, the joy that he knows she feels and then Butch cuts in again.

“And do you Ms. Erica, take Roman Stanton to be your lawfully wedded husband?” She blinks so he adds “I know you already said your vows, but I still have to ask.” By way of explanation.

Her eyes flit all across Roman’s face, his nose, how sharp it is, his eyes, how blue they are, his cheeks, how positively rosy this whole exchange has made them, and pecks his lips as fast as she can before turning to grin at Butch, “I do, forever but twice.” She turns her grin on Roman “Because I’m taller than you, so I have the physical capacity to love you more”. She laughs as she finishes and Butcher can’t hardly contain himself because that’s his favorite of all their inside jokes and he’s literally about to bust from the happiness that he gets to be the one to seal the deal for them both.

“Then I pronounce you husband and--- OH NO.”

Both of them turn worried looks to him, bodies once again tensing for a fight before he manages in a voice full of horror “We don’t have any witnesses!!!”

Roman, ever the problem solver, immediately drops Erica’s hand and turns toward the pile that lays just beside them, “How many do we need?” He inquires pragmatically, already reaching to sort through who is the most conscious at the moment.

“Well, minimum two but if there’s more we could call them the wedding party” Butcher says in a voice that really says he’d rather have anyone else be their witnesses but he can’t bear to let the moment pass.

Roman nods and begins hauling them up one by one to lay against the chairs, pausing before Erica comes along and begins cuffing them together with their own handcuffs. He stops to grab her head and kiss her temple gently, “One mind my love” he starts “and one heart, husband” she finishes, packing the most love into one gaze that Butchers ever seen and he has to shake himself together to start helping Roman with the stacking. It doesn’t take more than a light smack to wake each one, and Butcher shoos Roman and Erica back toward their original spot before giving the four men that are awake a stern glare.

“Your sole purpose here is to exist, get any smart ideas and I have no problem gagging you. It says you have to witness, which only involves your eyes being open, nothing else is guaranteed.”

He turns back to Roman and Erica with a megawatt smile and decides he can abbreviate a little.

“Roman, do you take her?”

Roman pauses, “You aren’t going to do it all again?” he seems almost mournful, his lips merging into a pout.

Butch is plunging ahead, not waiting for anyone to change their mind. “Do you, Roman Stanton, take Ms. Erica to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

Roman pauses again and Butch about has a heart attack before Roman speaks “Can you ask her first this time? Are there rules about the order?”

Butch blinks, not that he knew of, at any rate, if they both agreed then it probably didn’t matter the order. He starts again, “Do you, Ms. Erica, take Roman Stanton to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

She looks to Roman, face full of love, patiently waiting for the reason of his request to reveal itself, “I do, forever and ever.”

Roman smiles back, kissing her cheek before gazing back at Butch with a gleam in his eye, raising his eyebrows urging him to ask the question.

“Do you, Roman Stanton, take Ms. Erica to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

There’s a groan of discomfort from somewhere in the pile before the sound of someone being kicked also occurs and another voice hisses out a ‘Shhhhhh, it’s just getting good’

Roman bites his lip before pulling away from Erica, stepping up into the chair that was forgotten in the scuffle. “I do, forever and ever and ever, because I’m currently bigger than you and have the capacity to love you more.”

Butcher has died and gone to heaven. He’s doubtless there’s anything more beautiful than the scene before him (except Hannah in the morning, hair askance and laid across his chest), Roman is smiling down at Erica like there’s no one in the world more beautiful and Erica is smiling up at Roman with the fondness she’s grown in throughout their relationship. The soft lighting in the room is making them both look like angels, and its only interrupted by the soft clapping that comes from the pile of witnesses. Butch is about to turn a glare to them before Roman hops down to sweep Erica into his arms and he remembers he has one more thing to say.

“I pronounce you Husband and Wife. Now you can kiss”

There’s a ‘Finally!’ from somewhere in the pile but no one gives it any credence and Roman is leaning into her and she’s throwing her arms around his neck and he’s spinning her around and they’re laughing together and Butch knows unquestionably that he won’t see anything more beautiful until he sees Hannah pregnant, and later holding their baby but right now, they’re gorgeous, forever.