The Sleeper Train from London to the border of Scotland should have provided ample time for sleep. For someone as excited as Katrina Clarke, however, it was a wonder she wasn't asleep on her feet when she stepped onto the platform in the cool dark of the early morning. There was nothing open at six a.m., and a brief nap in the station's heated waiting room took them to around nine, when breakfast could be procured before they set about locating their intended destination.

Gretna Green, the infamous village where English elopements had taken place for almost three hundred years, welcomed them with open arms - though the hotel could not accommodate them until after midday, they were provided with a room in which to change for the ceremony so hastily arranged, and witnesses were easily selected from the volunteers on the staff. By the time their slot at the Famous Blacksmith's Shop came around, Kit was bouncing on her toes with excitement, delighted to be here with Rand, so close to the moment for which she had been longing for almost a year.

Somehow, Rand had managed to get at least a few hours' sleep. Though he was as excited as Kit, he was at least a little more reserved about it. He was glad he'd decided on the train, which allowed them both to get a little rest and enjoy the ride. Separated so that they could change, he emerged in a dark blue suit, crisp white dress shirt, and light blue tie. It was a long way from the drab military uniform Kit had always seen him wearing when he was a ghost, but something the modern day Rand was accustomed to wearing in his job as a lawyer. He had a couple of simple gold bands tucked away in a pocket for exchanging during the ceremony and someone had insisted on tucking a white carnation into his lapel.

As he had pointed out the day before, Kit had a vast number of dresses in her closet, and it had only taken her about an hour to choose which she was going to pack. It didn't seem to take long to dress, either - the navy chiffon cocktail dress swayed about her knees, wrapped about with a warm white wrap to keep the chill from her bare shoulders. Simple gold earrings and suede shoes to match her dress completed what could have passed for any occasion's dressing up. She stepped out shortly after Rand, her eyes going straight to him with unabashed admiration as she looked him over. "Excuse me, I wonder if you could tell me where my fiance is?" she asked teasingly. "He's exceedingly fond of a threadbare bathrobe."

He could have reacted any number of ways, but instead of answering her seriously, he played along with her game, gaze moving over her approvingly and admiringly. "I'm not sure, but I'd say he's a very lucky man. Since he seems to be missing, would you mind very much if I take his place?" he teased back, offering her an arm, a playful smile on his face and twinkle in his bright blue eyes.

Her eyes swept over him, shining with affectionate warmth. "I think you will do very nicely," she assured him, giggling as she took his arm, rising up onto her toes to kiss his cheek. "You look very handsome, love. Female lawyers all over the country are going to swoon with jealousy when you go back to work and reveal that you're married to someone who chops up wood for a living."

"And you are the loveliest creature I have ever seen," he returned the favor, smiling as she kissed his cheek. In a short while, they'd be sharing their first kiss as husband and wife. He chuckled a little at the mention of female lawyers. "Hardly," he said in reply to that. Even if she was right, he didn't care. He only had eyes for one woman these days. "Nervous?" he asked, his own insides tied up in nervous but excited knots. One didn't get married everyday.

"Butterflies," she admitted, hugging his arm warmly as they set off on the short walk from the hotel to the Blacksmith's Shop, their witnesses trailing along behind them, chatting quietly. "Good butterflies, though. I almost can't believe it. And that you did all this in secret!"

There was a time when he might have blushed at such a compliment, or more accurately, at her pointing it out in public, but that time had either passed or he was simply too happy today to embarrass that easily. "You don't feel like we're rushing things, do you?" he asked, more for her benefit than his. The part of his soul that had known her since she was a child certainly didn't think so. He'd known nearly since last Halloween that he loved her and saw no reason why to wait any longer.

She shook her head, brushing her cheek against his shoulder - one woman, at least, who didn't believe in wearing make up for any occasion. Why should she paint a face he had already seen in so many forms over the months" "We've waited so long," she murmured softly, hugging a little closer to him in the chilly breeze that brushed them as they crossed the green. "I don't feel this is rushing at all."

All of this was just a formality really, a legality, since they had already pledged their hearts to each other, but he couldn't help being just a little old fashioned about such things. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and he wanted to make it official. "I feel like I've been waiting for years," he told her quietly, as she hugged herself against his arm, his words for her ears alone. No one else would quite understand what he meant by that when he'd only just met her a few weeks ago.

"Only a few more minutes," she promised him, knowing that, though their friends might complain at missing a wedding, the simple joining they were about to perform was theirs alone, sealing a promise made a long time before she was even born.

Unsurprisingly, the Famous Blacksmith's Shop was host to several weddings as they walked in, their anvil priest - the registrar - smiling to greet them as they took their place, waiting their turn as guests filed out of the smallest room in the building in the wake of another happily married couple.

"Do you think it's too corny' Too kitsch?" he asked, uncertainly as they took their place in line to wait their turn, hoping it didn't seem too much like a McDonald's for weddings. At least, it wasn't Las Vegas; he wanted their wedding to be romantic, not tacky. Of course, he knew the history of the Blacksmith's Shop, and thought it fit them perfectly. What better place to elope to, after all"

Kit raised her brow, wondering just why he seemed so very nervous. It wasn't as though they weren't already as married as they could be without making it official, after all. Or perhaps this was a shade of Isabelle that couldn't be banished until they passed the anniversary when everything had gone wrong. "Love, you're talking to a woman who is mildly obsessed with Jane Austen," she pointed out affectionately, ignoring the indulgent smile on the face of the registrar standing there with them. "And even if it is corny, it's our corny." Her smile faltered for a moment. "You are sure, aren't you?"

Rand reached into his jacket pocket to withdraw a pair of simple gold bands, one a little bit larger than the other. He took her hand in his, his gaze softening with loving affection as he looked into her eyes. He'd gone over what he was planning on saying multiple times in his head while on the train, but now that they were there, ready to speak their vows and become husband and wife, everything he'd planned on saying went straight out of his head. "Kit, I..." he stammered, drawing a deep breath to steady his nerves.

"Kit, my dearest love, you are the part of me that has always been missing. You are what makes me wake up each morning. You are my last thought as I fall asleep each night. You are the sun and the moon and the stars. You are beauty and kindness and everything that is right in the world. You are like the loveliest of flowers and your touch is like the gentlest of breezes. You are everything to me. There are no words that can express all that I feel for you. I love you with all my heart and soul, just as I always have and always will. You have redeemed me and saved my soul, and for that, I shall always love and cherish you. Take me for your husband, Katrina, and I swear to always care for you and love you until my last dying breath. This I swear with all my heart and mind and soul."

Blue eyes gazed up at him, glistening with tender tears. Kit had never heard anything so beautiful in her life, knowing deep in her heart that he meant every word. Rand knew her, inside and out, saying all that truly needed to be said in that quiet speech. And yet, she had to say something, struggling to find the words to share with him her own heart at this very special moment. Her hands tangled in his as she looked up at him, breathing deep as she blinked away those happy tears.

"I was all alone when you came back to me," she heard herself say, her voice so soft it was a wonder anyone but Rand could hear her at all. "If it wasn't for you, I'd still be alone, but I wouldn't know what it was I was missing from my life. Now I know. I know what it is to live every day wrapped in the love of a man who woke up my heart; I know a little of what it would be like to lose you, too. It was only a few days, but it almost destroyed me. You are everything I could ever want, everything I will ever need. Your strength, your compassion, your intelligence, your wit ....I won't last another day without being a part of your wonderful soul, Rand. I don't ever want to know what it is to be without you. I love you with everything that I am. I will love you and care for you every day of my life, until my last breath. I'm yours. Always."

The tears in her eyes were mirrored in his even as he smiled softly at her, deeply touched by her words but, more so, by the feeling behind them, knowing she meant them with all her heart. There was nothing more he could add to that, except to offer her one more thing to make it official. He drew the smaller of the two rings out and slid it onto her left hand. "As this ring has no end, neither shall my love for you."

There was something beautifully final in the gentle slip of that band about her finger, a feeling settling over her that she had been unconsciously yearning for, without ever truly knowing it was what she wanted. Her own fingers took the larger of the bands, smoothing her thumb over the metal lovingly before she slid it onto his finger. "I will always be your loyal friend, your truest love. I swear it."

As she gazed up into the eyes of the man she loved more than her own life, the sharp ring of hammer against anvil rang out, the age-old declaration to everyone who could hear it that another loving couple had been joined. "By the power invested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife."

He had no doubt that what she swore was true, no thought of Isabelle and her betrayal in his mind. It was, in all truth, another lifetime ago and could not touch them here or ever again. He smiled through the tears that clouded his vision as he met her gaze - happy tears, tears of joy, his heart swelling until it felt like it might burst with happiness. He wasted no time taking her into his arms and kissing her with all the love and fervor he felt in his heart for this gentle woman who he'd watched grow from a small child into the beauty he held in his arms.

With their witnesses - whose names she really should get at some point - breaking into applause, Kit went willingly into her husband's arms, her kiss hardly suitable for a newly-wedded woman but sharing the tender adoration she felt for him with every beat of her heart without shame. Somewhere in the background, she heard another anvil strike, and knew that another couple had sealed their promises in this time-honored way, her lips curving in a smile that quickly turned to joyful giggles as she pressed into Rand's arms. "We did it," she laughed happily. "You can't get rid of me now."

"Why would I ever wish to be rid of you? I love you. I have loved you for a very long time," he told her quietly, smiling warmly back at her, even as he was aware another couple was getting married in another room of the famous place in which they stood. "What shall we do now, Mrs. Nichols?" he asked, with a slightly playful grin on his face, wondering if she'd like to consummate the marriage right away or do a little sightseeing first.

She beamed up at him, nuzzling close for a long moment. "Oh, I think we should sign the register, Mr. Nichols," was her impish reply, amusing the three who were stood near them, doing just that themselves. "We have the rest of our lives to decide what happens next."

"You are brilliantly practical, my love," he teased back, touching a kiss to the tip of her nose, as they waited for their turn at the register. He was pretty sure she knew that was not what he'd meant by his question, but he let it go for now. She was right - they had the rest of their lives to enjoy each other but only a few days in Scotland.

There was something wonderful about signing her name Katrina Nichols for the first time, just as there had been something wonderful in the air ever since he had surprised her the morning before with the news that they were going to be married so soon. The only cloud was the need to tell her mother at some point what had happened, but Kit refused to even think about that today, turning to thank the registrar and their volunteered witnesses as she handed Rand the pen.

He did the same, signing his name beneath hers, smiling a little to read her name there, sharing his. She belonged to him now, and he was never going to let her go, not without a fight. Thoughts of her mother were far from his thoughts, though he wished his own mother - and father, as well - could have lived to have met her. He thought they would have adored the woman he had chosen to share his life almost as much as he did. Once the registry was signed and the registrar and witnesses were thanked, there was nothing to do but escort her from the place to take their first steps out into the world as Mr. and Mrs. Randal Nichols.