"Why did you keep me waiting?"

Alice stared with a sly smile at her boyfriend and now fiancé as he held up the shining ring towards her. This was obviously not the reaction he had been expecting for he looked perplexed, which was a good thing. She had to keep him on his toes after all, otherwise things would become dull, and they couldn't have that.

"Of course I will marry you, why wouldn't I? It's not like anyone else is here offering me a ring."

The Frenchman stared up at her with a wide smile and eyes that matched, used to her wit and sarcasm by now. He simply slid the ring onto her finger tenderly before kissing her lovingly under the stars of the secluded park, a spot that he had planned out to the very last petal falling from the trees above them which made the lovely appearance of snow. He was just a hopeless romantic like that.

The circumstances of their meeting were strange to say the least. She was a nurse, just starting out in a London hospital and he was on vacation in England, where he had gotten so amazingly drunk that his friends were worried and took him to the ER. When he had finally stopped puking and sobered up, he started to flirt with her, and after hours of begging she finally gave him her number, just to shut him up long enough to do some lab work. After he was discharged he began to call her relentlessly until she gave in again and agreed to go on "one" date. To her surprise he was not terrible company all together and she even found that she had a good time.

After that day he took her out on dates around the city, and even when he went back to Paris they somehow kept up a long distance relationship. He was crude, flirtatious, and obnoxiously romantic, but he was the only man who was ever patient with her, and stuck with her through their arguments. Even when she was yelling at him he remained as calm as ever and was quick to heal the rift between them with a kiss, or when they were in separate cities, a loving picture sent through email, usually some nice artwork or a book cover he thought she might like. Why he stuck with her those first few months of arguing Alice had no idea but a part of her would forever be grateful that he did. Finally, their arguments ceased and only turned into debates, with neither of them getting angry or upset, or at least she did not get mad. It was comforting, to have someone like that in her life. Alice soon realized that she loved this, she loved how patient he was with her, she loved how he didn't leave her even when she probably deserved it, and finally she slowly realized something.

She loved him.

Of course, the rest was history, with her now having her veil and white dress fussed over by her Hungarian friend Elizebeta, Mika, her Japanese friend, and of course her brother was there to give her away since there was a lack of father or mother in the family. The church was non-denominational since she couldn't figure out if she was Protestant or Catholic anymore.

"Oh you look so cute Alice!"

"Ja! Very cute!"

Alice flushed a tad as she gazed at herself in the mirror, her friends behind her in blue dresses that her more fashionable friends had picked out for themselves. Alice's hair was up in an elaborate braid riddled with hair pins that had crystals and pearls on them by the insistence of her friends. Her dress in comparison was more elegantly simple with just off the shoulder sleeves and an A-line skirt. She was not a fashionista by any means, but she picked up on this terminology when people would persistently ask her what style her dress was in and she never had an answer, and trying to describe it was horrific when it came to her friends that were much more fashionably inclined.

Now that she was finally ready Alice awaited the sound of the brides march.

She waited.

By thirty minutes she was worried.

By the time an hour went by she was ready to kill him.

Finally the bridal march played and she "walked" to the alter; it was more of a warpath.

Francis was there, looking a bit scared with his two friends behind him, almost cowering behind him in dirty suits.

They stood in front of the priest and he cleared his throat as he looked at the annoyed bride and the apologetic groom. Luckily in that short walk Alice had managed to blow off most of her steam, and was now only looking for an explanation.

She had been worried.

A part of her had believed that Francis had finally left her, but now that she could see him there she could be properly annoyed.

"….Should I wait to begin?'

"Ahem….Oui….Alice…Don't kill me, but I might have been trying to find a new…set of rings…. because I lost them at our bachelor's party…"

Alice looked at his two friends and they waved nervously, obviously in fear of her wrath, they couldn't read her moods like Francis could.

"…..Our bad…."

Alice took a deep breath to slowly calm down a bit more and looked at the men.

"….How did you lose the rings?"

Francis rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, looking extremely worried, possibly in fear for the wedding, or worse, lack thereof.

"…..Well….It involved a pig-"

"Let's just get on with the ceremony before Francis faints."

Francis gave her a relieved look as the pastor (also looking very much relieved) began.

After that the shaky start ceremony was short and sweet and Alice had to resist the urge to sneeze throughout it all, the perfume of a ridiculous amount of red roses assaulting her nose. Somehow they had found two new rings that were exactly the same as the last and they were able to exchange them as Francis eventually stopped looking so deathly pale. Finally after the sealing kiss was made they were released to the reception to go get drunk before the honeymoon, something Francis could use to steel his nerves after that stressful morning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bright sun shone down on Alice as she rested with her new husband, watching through sunglasses as he applied suntan lotion. Around them the sea lolled peacefully, and seagulls cawed to each other above them, obviously coordinating an attack on some poor beach goer's picnic lunch.

This island in the pacific was beautiful, the perfect destination for people who were used too much milder climates such as London and Paris. Alice didn't think she had ever experienced this much sun, certainly not in England where it rained constantly. Therefore she had a large tube of sunscreen resting beside her on the sand of the beach to cover the areas that her one piece swimsuit didn't, she didn't relish the idea of being burnt to a crisp, her husband on the other hand….

"Francis…..Why are you putting on suntan lotion?"

The Frenchman looked at his new wife and showed her the bottle with a triumphant flair. Alice regarded it critically and quirked an eyebrow at the cheerfully smiling sun with sunglasses that the company had decided to use for the cover. A very poor decision if you asked her.

"I would just die if I did not at least try to get a tan while we are here, I don't intend upon looking like I spend all my time indoors with my nose between a book…"

That sly comment was obviously directed towards her as she was predictably pulling a book out of her waterproof bag. She could only roll her eyes at him, feeling a sense of foreboding as the smiling sun seemed to stare at her, mocking her for her prudence at putting on sunscreen.

"Watch it you, another crack like that and I will be forced to throw away your tanning lotion."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Mhm you don't know what I will or will not do."

"I would love to find out."

The comment was said in such a way that made a rosy tint rise to Alice's cheeks and she literally buried her nose within the pages of her book.

"Francis!"

Her new husband only laughed at her discomfort and held her close to him as they passed the day under the sun. There was no one else on the beach really and it was nice having the area to themselves, meaning that Francis could steal a kiss every now and then without Alice dying from embarrassment. Throughout the day they had a picnic, Francis insisted on going in the water with her, making her utterly soaked of course and just when she was about to kill him they took a walk down the beach as he collected seashells that he thought he could use to make necklaces.

By the time they went back to their suite Alice was exhausted but also glad to have had such a pleasant day, without even a single argument. Peaceful tropical islands mellowed out even her it seemed, even though they had a rather good track record by this point in their relationship.

The next morning was rainy, but the sun had done its job already. Alice sat on the bed that morning lathered aloe on her pitifully red husband. She had tried to warn him…..

"Francis….We are white, we don't tan…."

"But the bottle sAiD- OWWWW!"

Alice winced as her hands went over a practically burnt part on his back. He was about the shade of the lobster that they had eaten the night before, and the only part of him that was not red was the area covered by his swim shorts.

"…Sorry love. Now all there is to do is just wait for the old skin to fall off."

"….As in peel away...That will look hideous!"

Alice sighed as she stared at her terror stricken husband, this would be her life now. She found that instead of being annoyed, she felt a sense of duty almost. Francis needed someone to balance him out, and make sure he did not try to cover up a peeling sunburn with foundation to preserve his appearance.

"If it will make you feel better we can stay in the hotel for a bit, but it won't be that big of a deal. Don't be a primadonna love.""

"….I suppose so mon cher. At least let me hold you while I subjected to this torture…."

Alice rolled her eyes at his dramatics but did as asked, letting him hug her, even though it hurt him too touch her with his red arms by the grimace he made. Despite this, he seemed happy. They sat there on the bed for a few moments, Francis happy to just hold her and stroke her hair a bit, it was like soft gold.

"….Francis what does losing the wedding rings have to do with a pig?"

Under all of the redness she could have sworn she saw him turn pale, as if she had spoken of a great monster. Even his hand halted on its trip down her hair.

"….Let's not speak of it."

Somehow after a day she finally managed to coax him out of the hotel room and back out into the island. Of course this time he wore a wide brimmed hat, sunglasses, sunscreen and she only just managed to keep him from putting on pants and a long sleeved shirt.

"Francis, sunscreen will be enough, I don't want you getting burned again but I also do not want to have to carry you to a hospital when you collapse from heatstroke.

"….At least then I would not look like a stop sign…"

Alice quirked an eyebrow and he sighed, shrugging off the pants.

"Then we are going to a restaurant that has a roof and real wine, not that cheap stuff that the last place we went to served. "

"Fair enough, but I thought the wine was fine."

"That's my proof; you have no taste when it comes to fine wine."

Alice rolled her eyes and only sighed as he laughed at her annoyed expression and pecked her lips sweetly.

"You look so cute when you are annoyed."

Alice only frowned more, prompting him to wrap his peeling arms around her and draw her in to nestle his nose into her neck.

"You love me."

"….."

"Come on, you know you love me mon cher."

"…..Your nose is pointy. Also, we are going to be late for dinner."

Francis just laughed and wiggled his nose like a bunny, feeling satisfied when a small laugh escaped from her lips.

"And you are ticklish."

A few more wiggles of his nose and Alice had no other option but to smile, even if it was a small one by most standards, but when it came from Alice it might as well have been a wide smile.

"Oh alright I don't drink a lot of "fine wine", so no, I do not know that the wine at the other place was cheap. Now will you stop tickling me with your nose?! It's undignified.."

Francis laughs softly and wiggles his nose a bit more for another laugh and then kissed her neck quickly, just enough to make her flush, which was just as amusing as making her laugh.

"Alright, I am finally done mon cher."

This was the start of their life together, and it would only get more complicated as they went along, but at least Alice knew that she could count on Francis and his annoyingly pointy nose.