"You're getting married?"

Janette remained seated on the dark leather couch, hands in her lap, and forced herself to stay composed. Nicolas, in contrast, had abruptly left her side and backed away towards his piano. Through their link, she could feel what she knew was a small portion of the much larger upheaval that was occurring within him. Janette quickly glanced at the coffee table where two empty wine glasses and a full bottle rested. She had known this was going to be a delicate subject with him. Between their own marriage and separation, then later Nicolas' marriage to Alyssa and her death that very same night, Janette knew that a wedding day was not always viewed by him as a happy occasion. Compounding the problem, she knew, was Nicolas' tendency to reach an immediate, and often incorrect, conclusion simply because he did not wait to hear everything. "No, Nicolas," she gently began.

Nick's retreat was stopped when he bumped into the side of the grand piano. "You said that you're planning a wedding," he gruffly reminded her.

"I am planning a wedding," Janette explained as she gracefully rose up from the leather seat, "arranging everything for another couple." She slowly glided over to him, relieved that he had not moved away as she got closer.

Nick watched Janette approach him, mesmerized as always with her and how she moved. He silently chided himself for having jumped to that conclusion, then wondered why she had visited. She rarely came over to his loft and definitely not without a reason. The only thought he could come to was, once again, Janette was trying to coax him back into the Community. "And do I have a part to play in that arrangement?" he tentatively asked, convinced she would want more than just his physical presence, but his direct involvement.

"I came to extend an offer to attend the ceremony."

Nick eyed her narrowly. His first inclination was to stay out of Community gatherings, wanting to keep his distance from other vampires and from that lifestyle. He also recalled LaCroix's words about his own wedding to Janette. "Why?" he suspiciously asked.

"So that I am not alone," Janette partially answered. "It is unlucky to be unescorted at a wedding."

"Hmmm. And here I thought it might have been to talk them out of what will inevitably become a ruination."

"You do not mean that mon chéri," Janette replied while reaching her hand towards his, confident what Nicolas had said was only due to his current raw emotional state. She could sense their connection vibrating more as her hand got closer. She finally touched his skin, her gloved fingers just beginning to skim over his, when Nicolas abruptly flinched. To her dismay, he quickly moved away from her again, and out of her field of vision. She remained where she was and suppressed her own emotions so Nicolas would not pick up anything, which could agitate him more. After a few moments, she noticed movement in her peripheral vision and turned to see that he was now sitting on the piano bench, staring blankly at the keys. Eventually, Nicolas placed his fingers on the instrument and began to softly play. Janette listened for a while, recognizing the piece as one he often played for her, then went over to sit next to him on the bench. "We were not completely destroyed by it."

Nick had shifted so there was space on the bench for her, which resulted in having to concentrate more and extend his reach further than usual to strike the correct keys. "We built …," he began, then stopped. "We tried, but …." Nick quickly glanced at her before refocusing on his finger positions, though even that activity didn't distract very long from the memories that were surfacing. "Was there really any part of being married to me that you liked? Any part you actually miss?"

Janette let him play a little while longer, then gently placed her left hand over his right one. Nicolas did not pull away from her this time, though he did stop playing. "There were some parts," Janette answered as she stroked his fingers.

"How many years had I asked before you finally agreed to marry me?"

Janette smiled, remembering his various attempts. "At least twenty, I believe."

Nick turned to face her. "I did keep up a long and determined siege," he said, with a lopsided grin.

"And you were so overjoyed when I said I would." She lifted her hand off of his and gently touched the smooth piano keys. "That is the same amount of joy I see in this couple."

"So what type of wedding are they wanting?" Nick asked as he placed his hand on Janette's, his thumb stroking the side of her covered hand. "Obviously a religious Church wedding is out of the question."

"They want a vampire wedding."

Nick tilted his head, brow furrowed in slight confusion. "Well, of course, since they're vampires, that would make it a vampire wedding."

Janette slightly shook her head. "No, the bride and groom are both mortal and will remain so."

"What? Then why are you-"

"Come," Janette coaxed as she rose, gently encircled Nicolas' wrist, and guided him back to the leather couch. Settling down, she reached over for the bottle of bovine blood she had brought over. This one had not been easy to acquire and was very expensive. Smuggled out of the slaughterhouses in Kobe, Japan, it was rumored that, when alive, these few prized cattle were kept happy and relaxed with daily massages and drinks of beer while listening to classical music. And if she was going to drink animal blood for Nicolas, it would be the best she could get.

Nick watched as she opened and poured out a dark red liquid from the bottle into an empty wine glass. Janette handed the full glass to him, but he immediately placed it back down on the table. "Why are you arranging a mortal's wedding?" Nick couldn't believe she had that close of a relationship to a mortal that one would ask her to help with such an event.

Janette began to fill the other glass. "They came to me because they liked the ambiance of the nightclub and it was where they had first met each other."

"So you know them?"

Janette shrugged as she put the bottle back down. "They were obviously customers at some point."

Nick leaned slightly back into the leather cushion. "And the others, the Community? To bring that many mortals into-"

"The Raven is hardly a lion's den," Janette interjected. She took a deep breath. "Well, maybe," she conceded. "But if someone wants to use the space .…"

"But why are you agreeing to such a thing?"

"Well, why not?" Janette huffed. "The normal patrons do not leave as big a tip as you might think and these mortals have agreed to pay. Alma, of course, is ecstatic. She's always wanted to decorate for a wedding, and it's not as if our kind have many of those."

Nick remembered when LaCroix had lectured him about the pointlessness of a wedding, of declaring to be forever committed physically and emotionally to a single vampire other than one's maker. That maker/offspring bond, LaCroix had insisted, was never to be usurped by another, could never be equaled by another bond. It was a lesson he couldn't agree with, especially when Janette was near. Vampires had the urge to not be tethered to others, but to freely wander: it was the only way to survive. Yet he felt that urge to wander, not alone, but by her side. So he had continued with the wedding. Over the following decades he had never felt trapped or overwhelmed by Janette, though she had apparently felt that way with him. And then one day she had wandered away without him. "Well," Nick flatly replied, "there is a reason we don't normally wed."

"And," Janette continued, having detected his emotional shift and hoping to distract Nicolas from returning to the turmoil from earlier, "you can charge a lot for arranging such a wedding since not many venues or businesses want to be associated with this type of theme. So," she hesitatively ventured after pausing, "will you agree to come?"

"When is it?"

Janette steeled herself for the reaction she knew Nicolas would have. "Saturday of next week."

"No," Nick growled. He slid along the couch to the end furthest from her. "How could you agree to arrange a wedding on that date and then ask me to be there with you?"

Janette felt their link chaotically vibrate as he moved away. She also saw the flecks of crimson before his eyes closed and he turned from her. "It was the date they wanted-"

"You couldn't convince them to select a different one?" Nick interrupted.

Janette stifled her sharp retort to the assumption that she run her business around his emotional turmoil and that others should also adjust their schedules to him. "No," she calmly explained instead, "they had an arrangement, an engagement period of exactly one year and one day. That is why they insisted on an evening wedding, and it had to be that night."

Nick forced himself to calm down and tried to concentrate on something. Scanning around the loft, he focused on the wooden display case which, until recently, had housed a painting of Janette. Inspired by Schanke's reconciliation with Myra and the healing of that rift, he had realized he needed to do the same with Janette. So now she had the painting he had kept from her for so long and they had come to a better relationship. "A handfasting?" Nick took a few deep breaths, then looked back at her. "Been a while since I've heard of that." Nick looked down; all he ever wanted was to make Janette happy and here he was lashing out at her, unraveling the new headway they had been making. "I'm sorry for the way I acted," he apologetically stated.

Janette slid closer to Nicolas. "I understand." She reached over to get his wine glass and handed it to him. "So, will you come?"

As Nick accepted the glass again, he was more aware that the liquid wasn't human and that she intended to drink the animal blood as well. Such a gesture meant a lot to him, considering that she and LaCroix often tried to tempt him back to human blood. Nick knew this meant that she had not come over to fight him, but accept him and be with him. And he enjoyed being with her, and if that meant attending a wedding …. "Alright, I'll be there."

"Thank you, Nicolas."

"It will be an interesting way to spend the anniversary of our wedding," Nick said with a sad smile as he raised the glass to his lips.