Without Angela’s involvement, the wedding planning actually went very smoothly. Pam couldn't believe how much easier it was as she thought back to dealing with Roy’s mother during her ill-fated first attempt at a wedding. The second time was a piece of cake as she and Jim had a fairly simple ceremony with little planning or parental interference.

Elizabeth had stated emphatically from the beginning of the planning process that she liked the idea of simple, but somehow had gotten more elaborate as time went on. "After all", she kept saying, "I’m only getting married once."

"Easy for her to say," Jim said to Pam one night as they navigated the sea of invoices spread across the bed. "I've got two more kids to marry off!"

"Don't worry, babe," Pam tried to assuage his fears of having to forego retirement in order to afford the expense, "Ben will likely get married skydiving or scuba diving and it’ll only cost us the price of a round of drinks for everyone at a bar afterwards. And Annie keeps telling me she's never getting married because boys are losers."

Jim smiled. "She's my favorite child."

"Jim!" Pam tackled him and pushed him back against the headboard.

"If you're trying to punish me, Pam, you've clearly forgotten how to go about it," he said, eyes twinkling as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck.

She pretended to try to get away. "I think I have some things to tell Elizabeth about marriage that might change her mind about this whole wedding thing."

Jim clutched his chest. "Ouch! How can you be so cold? Do you know how many girls I had to beat off with a stick while I was waiting for you to get your act together and realize I was your one and only?"

Pam giggled. "Who? The vapid cheerleader? The weird chick from corporate? Yeah, they were really competition for me. Yawn!"

"Oh, Beesley, I thought you would mellow over time but you are still so cruel!" he reached to tickle her. She eluded his hands and was attempting to tickle him back when they heard a knock at the door.

"Mom? Dad? You guys decent?"

Jim smiled and called out, "Barely! You'd better hurry up and come in before your mother tears my clothes off!"

Elizabeth entered the room with trepidation, one hand covering her eyes. "I'd better not see anything that's going to traumatize me. Again!"

"Oh, Beth, there's nothing traumatic about two people who love each other!"

"Whatever, mom. I'll be the judge of what traumatizes me!" she plopped down on the bed next to Pam.

"What's up, sweetie?" Pam reached over and fondly stroked her daughter's hair which had the same unruly quality as her father's.

"I just spoke to Rob. His mother wants to meet with us again. Seems she's had a change of heart and she wants to be at the wedding."

"What happened?"

"I don't know! Rob was sketchy on the details but I think his father talked some sense into her. He didn't want to miss his son's wedding."

"Dwight talked some sense into someone? Hmmm. What's that like?" Jim mused.

"Dad! Come on and be nice now."

"Honey, they're the ones who called us heathens!" Jim winked at Beth.

"Actually, Jim, only Angela called us heathens. Dwight wanted to stay!" Pam added.

"For the free food..." he replied.

"Right, but the important thing is he wanted to stay!"

Elizabeth waved her arms to get their attention. "Okay, parents! Let's focus here. How am I supposed to deal with that woman interfering with the biggest day of my life?"

Pam patted Beth's arm. "Sweetie, she hasn't done anything yet. We'll deal with problems as they arise. Now go get some sleep. You promised me you wouldn't go all bridezilla on us and with 3 weeks to go, now is not the time!"

"I know, mom. You're right. I’m going to get a good night’s rest and I’m not going to think about it now." She hugged her mother and her father. "'Night you guys."

As she closed the door, Pam looked at Jim and said, "Angela is getting involved. What the heck is gonna happen now?"

Jim pondered for a moment and replied, "I can't even imagine. But like you said, we'll deal with it if and when it happens. Anyway I think you're trying to distract me from what was going on when we were so rudely interrupted by our ungrateful offspring!" He lunged across the bed and began tickling her again.

She shrieked with laughter as he pulled her close and said, "Now about all these clothes you have on..."

"Jim! Behave!" but she was pulling him closer too.

He tugged at her shirt and teased her, "Angela is right. Green is kind of whorish. I think you should take it off..."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes as she heard the laughter coming from their room. But despite trying to block out thoughts of what her parents were probably doing, she still hoped that she and Rob would still be that happy after 30 years together. She drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face, thinking dreamily about her future.

**************************

Angela walked briskly into the reception hall. "I thought we were going to the church?" she looked at her son.

"No, mom, I said we were going to the place where we were having the ceremony."

"So which church are you using?"

Elizabeth and Rob exchanged a look. "Mom, listen to me, we're not having the ceremony in a church. We're getting married here. Outside. In the gardens. You saw the flowers - it's lovely there."

"You're not getting married in a church? That will not do, Robert."

"Well, mom, the wedding is in 11 days so I think it will do," he said wearily.

"Don't take that tone with me, young man! Dwight, tell your son to respect his elders!"

Dwight was eating a sample of the cake Beth had brought from the bakery for them to try. He continued chewing, spraying crumbs from his mouth as he dutifully intoned, "Respect your mother, Rob."

Angela glared at Dwight and snatched the fork from his hand. "He's your son too. Don't you have anything to say? And don't talk with your mouth full!"

Dwight looked at her as he took his time about swallowing the tasty dessert and then smiled. A smudge of frosting spread from his lip across his cheek. "Angela, we've done the best job we can to raise Robert. Now he's a grown man, he wants to get married, we should respect his wishes."

Go dad, Rob smiled to himself. Then braced himself for the fireworks sure to follow. They didn't come.

A tear dripped from Angela's eye. "You're right, Dwight. He's always been a well-behaved boy. We've instilled good values in him. We have to trust that he'll continue to live by those values and maybe even positively influence the heathens - I mean Halperts!" She corrected herself and smiled sweetly at Elizabeth.

Rob started to protest but Beth gently placed a hand on his arm to stop him. She moved towards Angela and said quietly, "Thank you for being so understanding," and she hugged Angela.

Angela looked like a deer caught in headlights with arms stiffly by her side in Elizabeth's embrace. She softened a bit and patted the girl's back once. "There, there dear. You must come from a family of... huggers."

Elizabeth smiled and stepped back. "As a matter if fact, I do! We're a crazy bunch of huggers and heathens, us Halperts are!” She glanced at her watch. “Rob and I are supposed to meet with the coordinator now. Would you and Mr. Schrute like to look around at the gardens? We shouldn't be long."

Rob and Beth searched for the coordinator for several minutes but couldn't find her anywhere. They were passing through the kitchen when they heard peculiar noises coming from a small office. When they opened the door, they were greeted by the sight of Rob's parents sprawled across a desk. Angela appeared to be licking Dwight's face and murmuring something about tasty frosting. Her skirt was hiked up around her waist and.....

Rob quickly shut the door and shot Elizabeth a horrified look. She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him away. Giggles were already starting to escape her lips and when she pushed through the door leading outside she erupted into a fit of laughter.

Rob continued staring, slack-jawed, at nothing. Eventually his gaze fell on her and he too started laughing. He picked her up and twirled her around, kissing her, loving her laughter.

When they finally came up for air, he stroked her hair fondly and chuckled, "Well, at least your parents and my parents are still hot for each other after all these years!"

She giggled as she looked deep into his eyes. "That bodes well for us, don't you think?"

"Absolutely!" he agreed and he swept her up into another kiss. "I love you, Beth."

"I love you too, Rob," she sighed softly, her arms draped around his neck. "Hey. Question. Is it too late to elope?"

Immediately his hands moved down to tickle her. She shrieked and ran away, laughing all the while. He had a huge grin on his face as he chased her into the garden yelling after her, "Oh, you are so dead, Halpert!"

******************************************

It was a beautiful wedding, even Angela had to agree. Near the end of the reception, Jim was standing by the bar looking across the room at his daughter and her husband. He shook his head and a tear dripped from his eye, not for the first time that day, as he saw how radiantly happy she was.

Dwight approached him holding a plate from which he was eating his third piece of cake.

Jim nodded at him. "Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you. How did you do it, man?"

"To what are you referring Jim?"

"What did you say to Angela to get her to change her mind about being here today?"

"Oh, I didn't say anything." Dwight smirked slightly. "I held out on her!"

"Excuse me?"

"I withheld from her. You know," he glanced around to make sure no one was nearby and whispered loudly, "I didn't give her any of the 'Schrute magic'."

Jim’s eyes flew open wide. "WOW! If you're saying what I think you're saying, I definitely did not need to hear that!"

"True story, Jim. She can't go without me for more than a few days so I just outlasted her."

Jim felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Pam standing there. Her face was pale and her mouth was open slightly. Clearly she had caught at least part of their exchange. Dwight shrugged and walked off, happily munching on his cake.

"Jim, did he just say what I.... No, you know what? Never mind!"

"Yeah. Probably best to just let that go, Pam. Although I'm not sure I'll be able to look Angela in the eye. Ever!" 

She giggled and hugged him, facing the dance floor. "She looks really happy, doesn't she?"

He held her, kissing her hair. "Yes, she does. They both do."

"I'm so glad for her but I still can't believe our daughter, out of all the men in the world, fell in love with a Schrute. Do you think this is karma paying you back for all those pranks you pulled on Dwight?"

He raised his eyebrow at her. "I pulled on Dwight? I believe you were involved in a good number of those pranks, Beesley!"

"So this is my fault now?"

"Not totally, but I think you should acknowledge your share of the blame!" he teased her.

"Duly noted." she gave him a quick kiss. "I must confess, I'm glad she's keeping her own name. I just get a shiver when I think of Angela and Elizabeth both being called 'Mrs. Schrute'. Am I being silly, Jim?"

He laughed. "Maybe, but I know what you mean! Especially now that I know Angela can't go more than a few days without..."

She immediately clapped her hand over his mouth. "Ewwwww! Jim! Just stop talking right now!"

He grinned wickedly at her. Just then, the DJ announced the last dance.

He held out his arm. "Shall we, Mrs. Halpert?"

She smiled. "We shall, Mr. Halpert!"

Elizabeth grabbed the microphone and she and Rob stood facing the guests.

“We just wanted to thank you all one last time for coming! Rob and I are so happy and honored you could be with us today. We also want to acknowledge our parents and thank them for being such great role models for us. Thanks Mom and Dad! I love you guys so much.” She choked up and handed the microphone back to Rob, made her way over to Jim and Pam and held them both tightly. Rob followed suit and hugged Dwight and Angela.

The crowd circled around the happy couple as they swayed together for their last dance. Jim held Pam and they both cried a little, one last time, as they watched their baby leave for her honeymoon.

As the party broke up, Angela made her way over to them. She was actually smiling.

“I just wanted to apologize again for my behavior,” she said quietly.

Pam looked at Jim and said, “There’s no need to apologize, Angela. Everything worked out and the kids had a beautiful day!”

“Yes they did. I shouldn’t have judged the child from the sins of the parents.” She said sweetly.

Pam was willing to just let her comment slide when the smile disappeared from Angela’s face and she grew serious. “However, I might have more to say when the grandchildren arrive.”

Before they could ask her what she meant by her comment, Angela turned abruptly on her heel and walked briskly away. She grabbed Dwight, who was happily involved in yet another piece of cake, and left. Dwight waved goodbye as he was swept along in Angela’s wake.

Jim turned to Pam. “Wow! She is really wound up tight!”

Pam couldn’t help but giggle as she whispered in mock horror, “Jim, there’s going to be a whole new generation of Schrutes and we are going to be their grandparents!”

Jim laughed, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it! Come on, grandma, let’s go home and get out of these clothes.”

She leaned up and kissed him. “Now that’s the best idea you’ve had all day!”
 

THE END............for now!