Author's Note: Just thought I would write a bit of fluff as a belated holiday gift/New Year's present to the people who read my fanfics. I'm still working on the other stories, but here's something to tide you over for all the waiting. This is just a one shot, and purely just for fluffiness. Thank you for reading and now onto the FLUFF! Hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Drop Dead Fred and I'm not making any profit off of this story.

Surprise Ever After

"I don't see why we need her for this," said Fred, pointing at Lizzie as he paced inside Natalie's bedroom.

"Because you promised!" Natalie stomped her foot, her unruly locks bouncing in a mimic of the action.

"Did I?" he asked. "It could've been a troll. You know they're known to dress up as people and make awful promises like this just to ruin everything."

"That's a wolf, Fred," she answered, arms crossed. "And I'm sure." The glare he received reminded him of stone.

"Yeah? Well what if I promised because I thought you'd forget?"

"Still counts."

"Still counts!" Fred pitched his voice higher, rolling his eyes, and flipping his hands up in a mocked impersonation of Natalie. His charge simply stuck out her tongue, inciting Fred to do the same.

"So strange…" said Lizzie as she moved to stand beside them. "Even hearing just half the conversation, it's like watching old memories." Her gaze focused in his direction, and Fred could see just how hard she concentrated in hopes of seeing him. The look made his whole body squirm.

"Yech! See, I told you she'd get all sentimental on us," he said, scrambling to the bed, and out of Lizzie's line of sight. He shuddered and brushed at the front of his jacket as though it would somehow rid him of his mess of feelings. "DIS-GUS-TING!" he spat, but frowned when he noticed the smell of Lizzie's perfume. The sweet scent felt downright obnoxious as it tugged at recesses within himself that left him queasy. His hand moved over his stomach.

"I don't care," answered Natalie. "We're going to have fun."

"More like you." He rolled his eyes.

Why couldn't Nat have just forgotten that stupid promise? he asked himself. Did she have to be so much harder to distract than all the other children he was use to? Mud pies had failed, promises of telling her all about the pigeons was a dead end, even offering to tell her more about how he knew Lizzie had been no help. For the life of him Natalie had a memory like a steel trap. A fart could let off in there and it still wouldn't open to let anything out. He didn't know how, but he wanted to blame Fartpants.

"Is everything alright?" asked Lizzie.

"Yeah. Fred's just nervous."

"I am NOT!" he cried. "This game is stupid, boring, and it's going to kill me!"

"Don't be so dramatic," Natalie said.

"Hello? Have you met me?"

"You're weird."

"And you smell," he countered, leaning back against the dresser to sulk.

"Nervous about what?" asked Lizzie.

"About nothing, which you'd know, Snotface, if you weren't deaf!" Fred scoffed.

And if I had a decent interpreter, he thought with a roll of his eyes.

"We're going to play wedding." Natalie bounced, thrusting a bouquet of Barbie dolls tied together with a scarf into Lizzie's hands. "Sorry we didn't have any flowers. Don't ask."

Fred noted Lizzie's look of shock.

"Uh… What?" Lizzie blinked several times.

"I'm marrying you and Fred."

Fred wiped a piece of snot on Natalie's cheek, causing her to squirm and wipe her face.

"Excuse me?" Lizzie felt the blush warming her face and she didn't know if she were relieved or not that she couldn't see or hear Fred. That notion still did not stop her from wanting to disappear. "Natalie, it sounds like a lot of fun, but maybe I should get back to preparing lunch, and you and Fred can find something else to play?"

"But I'm not hungry yet, and I wanna play this. Then after we can play house and I can be your baby. Now move closer." She motioned for them to stand in front of her, but all Lizzie and Fred could do was turn redder and redder.

"Sweetie, I don't know if this is the kind of game Fred likes playing. How about hide and seek?" Lizzie suggested.

Oh yeah, that's great, Fred thought. She'll leave me all alone again in a stupid shed all night.

Natalie shook her head at Lizzie. "Fred baked one of my dolls into a mud pie. He also got me in trouble by flushing all my underwear down the toilet and clogging all the pipes. Daddy wouldn't believe me when I told him Drop Dead Fred did it, and neither did the plumber, so he owes me."

Lizzie's jaw dropped. "Ah… well that's a new one… Okay. Well, wedding it is. At least it's just pretend, right?" Smiling, she cleared her throat and stepped before Natalie.

"Dearly beloved," said Natalie with a delighted smile. Fred rolled his eyes and popped over to stand beside Lizzie in a spark of green. "We are gathered here to marry Drop Dead Fred and Elizabeth…" Natalie wrinkled her nose and whispered to her imaginary friend, "What's her last name?"

"Cronin," he answered.

"Got it. To marry Drop Dead Fred and Elizabeth Cronin. We will now exchange the vows. Lizzie, you get to go first." She grinned up at her and whispered, "And make it extra sappy. He deserves it." She winked.

Lizzie blushed, her mouth falling open ever so slightly as she struggled to find the words to say here. "Umm… Drop Dead Fred… I have always cared—"

"Sappy!" Natalie chided.

Lizzie inhaled deeply, afraid to say the words she had always wanted to tell him for fear he would reject them, tease her, or roll around in complete disgust. But maybe this was her chance? After all, he would only think they were playing a game… The thought broke her heart, but at the same time it made it pound so fervently to reveal the truth.

Shivering, Lizzie knew what she had to do.

"Alright… Drop Dead Fred," she said, guessing once again where his eyes would be. "God, this is so hard to say… so here goes… Fred, I love you." She paused as she half expected to see something thrown across the room, but when nothing happened all she could do was shake under the weight of her emotions.

"I have since I was a little girl," she added, "when you first found me curled up under my bed, scared and alone. I never felt a doubt about that, and my feelings grew when you came back to me as an adult… They changed into a different love. One that can't forget your face, or the way you made me laugh, or the way your nose crinkles when you get that glint in your eye that tells me you're up to something. You saved me from myself, Fred, and made me whole… and though you terrified me and pissed me off, I realize now that's only because you showed me who I was; I was afraid of myself; not you. God, I miss you, Fred…" Lizzie stared at the empty space before her, leading off memory to where she thought his gaze would be, and unknown to her Fred looked right back.

Shock consumed him, and for the longest time all he could do was stare, wanting to believe that what Lizzie had just confessed was part of Natalie's game, but he knew his Snotface too well for that. He knew that look in her eye when she spoke about anything from her heart, and the sight of it now sent a rush of chills through him, leaving him weakened and confused.

Natalie cleared her throat. "So Elizabeth Cronin, do you take Drop Dead Fred as your husband forever and ever?"

"I…" Lizzie choked trying to get out her answer. "I do." She lowered her gaze to the floor, suddenly feeling the need to run, but reminded herself that it would be over soon enough and she could just avoid babysitting for the next few weeks, and possibly get herself some therapy.

"Fred?" said Natalie. "Your turn." She grinned at him and he gulped.

"I… Well, this is silly, Nat, she can't even hear me!"

Natalie gave him a look. "I don't care. Your turn."

"You know, you're the tiniest instigator of a shotgun wedding," he muttered, rolling his eyes, as he shifted uncomfortably in his stance. He could feel his body warming under the pressure and the closeness of Lizzie. He didn't like this. For one, he barely understood what his feelings were for his friend, and second he was certain they were ones he wasn't suppose to have. He also couldn't even begin to process what she had just admitted either. Did she really love him?

Inhaling, he tried to think of something before Natalie prodded him again. "Snotface," he began, "you know you're alright… for a girl." He winced at his words.

"Come on, Fred. You can do better than that, it's just pretend," said Natalie.

"Right…" Pretend. He cleared his throat and looked at Lizzie, glad she was still interested in watching her shoes and not in his general direction. Seeing her eyes would make this impossible.

"'lizabeth, I don't even know where to start. You've got me feeling things I can't even put into words, which is probably good since you've gone deaf." He laughed, but seriousness took over despite himself.

"I don't know if you remember when I said I was a loner on a doomed space mission to Venus… I suppose you do, since it's kinda hard to forget that day…" He took a deep breath, fidgeting with his fingers. "Turns out that part of what I said was true, I just didn't know it yet."

Smiling softly, Fred stared at her. "You're my Venus, 'Lizabeth, and I'm doomed because now you can't even hear a word I'm saying, and I think I love you." Fred felt the tears burning his eyes as the words finally found their way to his lips and he stared in shock at the admittance. This whole time since saying their goodbyes he had never realized what he felt for her and fear suddenly spiked inside himself.

Blinking, he tried to hide his tears and calm himself.

"Then do you, Drop Dead Fred, take Elizabeth Cronin to be your wife forever and ever?" asked Natalie.

Fred exhaled, feeling the weight of just how heavily he wished his answer could come true now, and how terrified he was to admit it. "I do."

"Then I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride!" Natalie beamed.

Fred shook his head. "Nat, she can't even see me. Why don't we just skip ahead and—"

The warm and familiar touch of Lizzie's hand holding his stopped him, and he saw Lizzie staring straight at him with tears on her face.

"Snotface?" His voice broke and she nodded. "You can see me?" A smile broke over her face and she continued to nod. "How?"

"I don't know, but I heard everything you just said."

Fred's face flushed, but before he could answer, Namby Pamby appeared, wand poised at the ready as she greeted them.

"Hello!"

"Namby Pamby? What're you doing here?"

"Attending your wedding, which you neglected to invite me to!" she said, placing her hands on her hips.

"It's just a game Natalie wanted," Fred answered.

"Oh, Fred." She shook her head. "Nope. Nope it's not. Don't you know?"

Fred's eyes widened and he exchanged a look with Lizzie. "Know what?"

"You're an imaginary friend. An imaginary wedding is a real wedding!"

"Wait a minute, are you saying I actually just married… That he and I?" Lizzie pointed between her and Fred.

"Well close enough. You two just need to kiss and seal this deal as far I last heard. That's why you could see him after you declared your intent."

"But we were just playing," said Natalie. "Lizzie didn't mean it."

"Poppycock!" said Namby Pamby. "If she didn't mean it, she'd still be blind and deaf."

All eyes went to Lizzie, bringing her to blush.

"Snotface?" Fred was at a loss for words and he reached out to take her hand, which she pulled away in her embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry, Fred. We can just forget this happened, and—"

"But, Lizzie, do you love Fred?" Natalie asked.

"I…" Lizzie looked at everyone who was watching her. "Alright. Yes, I do. I meant every word, but I know how this ends; I know Fred. I've accepted he could never… feel the same."

Fred, noticing the swell of emotion in her voice felt like he could hardly breathe.

"It's okay," Lizzie lied, trying to smile through her pain.

"Really?" said Namby Pamby, shooting her gaze at Fred. "He could never?" Her eyebrows lifted with accusation and Fred squirmed, doing everything possible to avoid eye contact with everyone.

"Hmm, well," continued Namby Pamby, "if you seal this marriage, it means Lizzie will have to become one of us. Rules and all that state so. That's why I was sent down to warn you both before you kissed and ended up with a huge surprise!"

Fred and Lizzie looked at one another in shock.

"And if we don't kiss?" Lizzie asked.

"Then the window of opportunity will dissolve in twenty-four hours, and you and Drop Dead Fred will be made to forget one other. Sort of a packaged deal to not leave anyone with broken hearts."

"That's horrible! I would never want to forget Fred!" Lizzie shook. The thought was unbearable; Fred was a part of her. If they did that, she would lose more than him; she would once again lose herself.

For the moment, Fred watched her, afraid of what her answer would be to his question, but he could not bear to wait for it. "Snotface…" he whispered, causing her to look back at him. His heart beat even harder. "Do you want me- to marry me, that is?"

"Fred, please you don't have to ask. I know your answer." Lizzie tossed the Barbie bouquet onto the bed.

"If you think that then maybe you are still deaf. Give me an answer."

Lizzie's eyes widened, a smile spreading over her lips as it finally clicked that what he'd said in his vows had been real. "Oh my god…" he whispered. "I must be dreaming…"

Fred smirked, the words reminding him of when he'd returned from the jack-in-the-box. "I can pinch you later… Do you want to marry me?"

Coyly, Lizzie stared into his eyes. "If you'll kiss me."

"Great, but promise me two things first." Fred grinned.

"Name them."

"I get to give you your imaginary friend name, and we get to haunt your mother."

Lizzie snorted. "Deal."

"Alright then," he said, glancing to Namby Pamby and Natalie. "You two better turn around, and no peeking."

When the two of them were safe from spying eyes, Fred inched closer to Lizzie, gently taking her hands into his own trembling grasp. "I love you, Snotface," he said, before leaning in and kissing her softly on the mouth, making her his forever.