Hey guys! Here's the next chapter, hope it's not too bad!Sorry, I know I keep saying this but my story is #1 in spy school right now and it has 3,595 views, so sorry, but I'm reeeally, reeeally excited. THANKS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I feel like this fits for obvious reasons, so it's here. Enjoy! i hope.

The Ritz-Carlton
Plaza 1
3:00 PM
Friday
June 19th

Erica's POV:
We got dressed and came to the rehearsal lunch. Everything went well and Ben and I met with the people planning our wedding. We talked about everything, but we forgot about the parties before the wedding with our closest friends and family. I had totally forgot Ben wasn't an only child like me. He had an older brother, an older sister, a younger sister, and oh yeah he has two more younger brothers. 5 siblings! That's crazy, but also pretty cool. I remembered meeting his younger siblings Gabe, Kiley, and Ava at Spy School, but I'd never met Griffin and Ashley. Not Ashley Sparks like you may have thought. It's Ashley Ripley that he's related to. Gabe, Kiley, and Ava are really great. They're nice, caring, and smart, not to mention loyal for days. They were just like Ben in many ways but I still liked Ben more. Obviously. 

I was curious so I asked him, "So what's the order from oldest to youngest?" 

He answered saying, "It's Griffin (21), Ashley (20), me (19), Gabe (17), Kiley (16), and Ava (16). Kiley and Ava are twins though. Kiley always talks about how she's older which annoys Ava into saying 'Only by 5 and a half minutes!' It's pretty funny honestly." I couldn't help but giggle. 

"So you have 2 older siblings and 3 younger ones? Your house must be chaos on the weekends!" 

"Yup, and just before I graduated my parents told me they're spies too!" 

Really!?! That's awesome! 

"Yeah, I figured that was probably the case if all 6 of their kids are great spies/spies in training."

 I giggled again. Why do I act like this?  Why do I act like this around him? STOP! What was that!?! You know why! Because you love him! It's just still relatively new, so it'll take some getting used to. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was just an old habit, not completely gone quite yet.

"That's why they were at the party when I told you. Apparently the Ripleys are the second best spy family, dating back to Solomon Ripley around the same time as, the one and only, Nathan Hale. The only family better than us is the Hales, no surprise there though. I mean I do know the most amazing Hale of them all though." He said with a fun accent and fancy tone in his voice."In fact I saw her today." Yeah, no kidding, I was literally with you all day you little weisenheimer! (@Alpha12321 remember when you called Ben that in the comments of a Berica story and I promised to unexpectedly us it? Well, there we go! Mission accomplished. Ladies and gentlemen, we got 'em! Lol, I was literally dying as I wrote this because I was so proud, tbh. Sorry, I'll shut up now! Byeee!)  "Catherine."

I was shocked, but realized he was joking pretty quickly. I scooted away and punched him, gently, ish. I mean, I could definitely hit harder so... 

"Owwwww! Okay, okay, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, it's obviously you my love." I blushed. Did he call me "my love?"  Awww!!! My heart melted. 

I whispered, "Darn right, but you forgot one part." 

"Huh?" 

"I'm also the luckiest Hale you doof!" 

"Dang straight."

He laughed his amazing, sweet laugh and I couldn't have been happier, or so I thought. He took my hand and pulled me close. He started to dance and soon,  he sang a Tik Tok song that he knew I liked. It was called "Make You Mine." I joined and sang danced with him. I thought people were around but, I thought, 

Tough cookies. Screw them! I don't care! This feels so right and there's no chance I'm messing this up. 

Oh my god I still remember that moment, though. The song ended and he pulled me into his arms. He lifted me up and spun in circles. He carefully set me down and hugged me. He set his chin on the top of my head. After standing and hugging for quite some time, he looked down and stared at my eyes. He kissed my forehead and whispered, "I'll die a happy man, as long as I have you with me for the rest of my life." I kissed him and ran my hands through his soft, golden hair. 

Dear god I love him!  

He told me that he cared about me with everything he had and I felt sooo happy. 

"As could I. And as do I." I said. 

I heard wolf whistles and someone say, "Ahem..." We looked up to find my grandpa watching us, along with everyone else. My face grew hot and I blushed. 

"Oh... uh... hi?" 

"Well... we came to tell you to get ready because the wedding starts in 20 minutes." He seemed annoyed. 

"Aha, thanks? I guess?" 

"See you later babe?" 

"Yup, love you Ben!" 

Love you more than you can imagine. 

I went to get ready. At 3:00 exactly, the wedding started. I stood right next to my mom, and Ben next to my dad. I didn't catch all of it, but I caught both of them happily say "I do." Which was the part I really cared about besides them being together again and happy. Afterwards we went to the ballroom and danced our hearts out. We had an amazing time. I asked Ben what he thought and he felt the exact same way as me, but he was excited mostly because he knew how much I'd wished for this, and it really happened. 

Yesss!!!!!! 

My parents were finally back together and married, while goofy little Ben was my fiance like I'd always dreamed against my will when I was younger. 

Life couldn't get better, could it? 

I was sure it couldn't, but boy was I wrong, for the most part, at least. It would get even better, but only after it got worse, naturally.

Little bit of a cliffhanger! Sorry. First comes parties, dress shopping, then the wedding and we get more into the action and the mission. Then, you'll find out what she meant by better after bad. Later!