Only an idiot wouldn't see that they should go out, and both of them are incredibly intelligent, but neither one will admit they have an itch for the other one.

The way he looks at her...the way she smiles at him...She doesn't smile that way for just anybody.

But they don't listen to my advice.

Damn shame. They're both so stubborn that they refuse to listen.

Too stubborn...and too afraid.

They fear too much a return to the time when they each wore their own wedding bands, because those were hellish times indeed.

Both ceremonies were beautiful, strangely ironic given the state of the marriage soon thereafter. Mallory was gorgeous in her white ball gown, a fairy-tale princess. Her beau was sober for once and the light from the stained glass windows cast beautiful light on the ceremony and the day.

Sam looked ever handsome in his tux, his hands trembling throughout the entire ceremony. And despite the fact that Josh almost lost the ring, he was so happy...Positively beaming...

I've found I often sort of super-impose the two pictures; A wedding for Sam and Mallory. One of the men Jed thinks of as a son and the girl - well, woman now - who's practically our daughter.

But they're both too afraid. Of getting hurt - of hurting each other. And I don't think Leo will be so willing to give his little girl away anymore.

Maybe they can change that.

Maybe one day Mallory will come to visit her father and Sam will sweep her off her feet with his eloquent phrasing and he'll leave work early for a change and take her to dinner and out dancing. And she won't mind that he steps on her toes because they'll be so lost in the music and each other's eyes and they'll not do anything to screw up the relationship, like not call each other.

Maybe. Someday.

I hope. For their sake.

In the meanwhile, I'll just keep pestering them, saying "You have an itch!" until, eventually, they realize I'm right.