Honeymoon Romance

By owlhero

Rated T

A full moon's glow was trying to penetrate the nippy fall breeze cocooning the building in its grasp. The gargoyle statures watch guard with darkened teeth and claws as the lights of jack-o-lanterns shine against the night below. They waited for the darkness to envelop them and bring the world back to its natural and terrifying state.

Among all this was a room.

There were rose pedals on the ruby red satin bedsheets.

The curled forms slept, just waiting for human movement to dislodge them.

There was glistening champagne in the ice bucket.

Water droplets ran down the glass as zebras run from lions towards hopeful safety.

An air of expectation in the room.

Of completion. Of the next step. Of passion and hearts beating in paired rhythm…

Of the unexpected.

Stillness layered the room.

A high pitched voice obliterated the perfection of it all.

"Marion, isn't the bride supposed to carried by the groom, not the other way around?"

Emma Tutweiller looked toward her new husband as she stood at the entrance. His head barely above the door handle. His feet shadowing the door hinges. A look of embarrassment and annoyance sketched on his face as he looked up toward his blushing wife.

The still white dressed woman put Moseby down, who straightened his suit as he regained his composure.

"Thank you, Emma. I did not realize I could not lift you until your feet stayed on the floor."

"Marion, its not your fault you were given the height and strength of a garden gnome."

Moseby looked back at Emma with a glare a certain pair of twins would know so well. But the glare lost its muscle as his wife smiled at him. A subverting smile. He proceeded to unload the luggage cart and its cargo into the suite.


"Marion, would you please stop acting like a Tipton manager for one night, please?" Curtains were moved, drawers opened by the husband's hands. His investigation thwarted by his partner's medusa eyes. Her red snake hair expanded by the excitement and stress of the day. Her spouse paralyzed for a second at the sight but shook himself.

Marion Moseby moved toward the king sized bed Emma was in, her face cleaned of its former gorgon features. Her face revived the beautiful angel silhouette he saw as he lifted the veil earlier the same afternoon in the church. A slightly pointy nose jointed against a face of chocolate brown eyes framed by flaming red hair.

Graceful from the days of practice of being a showgirl with skin toughened by Vermont winters.

Not right for everyone but perfect for him.

"I'm sorry but I wanted everything to be perfect for you. Both of our's luck has not been for the best with love." The man smiled and grasped the woman's hand tightly as he slid into the bed.

The pair's misery. One from work. The other from heartbreak. Both free from their misfortune and responsibility for the moment. All their attention on each other. The two adults blocked everything that was unimportant at the moment.

The lights in the room flickered on then off completely, bathing the room in the moon's light.

"Well, that's odd. Then again it's a full moon tonight so weird things do happen." Emma's voice broke the darkness.

"I'm going to see Esteban about this." But the husband was stopped by the wrapping arms of his new wife around his arms. Her nails touching his goosebump covered chest.

"Never mind" Moseby paused at the forceful touch of the bride and the covers magically placed themselves over his darkened form.

"You know in the darkness, you never know what could happen?" The teacher's voice sang with humor into the shorter figure's ear.

Moseby smiled in the dark as his wife's touch reminded them of the whirlwind day they had.

"Thinking of something?" Emma's voice shifted his focus to the present.

Moseby nodded then realized she could not see his nodding in the dark.

"Yes, today and other things." He could almost feel his newlywed's amusement and exasperation touching his soul.

"I am the only one who thought the priest looked a little weird?"

Moseby chuckled at the question.

"No. He was a little too pale for my liking. Almost like he had not seen the sun in days. Add fangs and he's Dracula. His skull was poking through his face."

A shudder was heard in the darkness.

The lights switched back on in the room and Moseby turned over to face his wife.

"See? Everything's fine."

Moseby rolls his eyes "I am just worried the twin tornados had something to do with it."

"Please, I know for a fact, both are in college. Carey said so herself. That's why we waited to have the wedding so long." A chilling smile appeared on Tut's face. "If those two had interfered in my wedding or honeymoon in any fashion, getting a passing grade in a class would least of their worries.

Tutweiller's eyes blazed as she continued.

Let's just say it involves all those cats I used to own. Maybe several pounds of fish or catnip too."

Moseby thought he heard evil laughter from the depths of her voice and his soul quaked.

The companion diverted his attention to looking around but only by moving his eyes, so as to not inflame his consort. He saw a bowl with candy in it and put it in between them.

The bowl of chocolate heaven broke the woman's gaze. She looked down and smiled at the obvious bribe.

"Food to calm the beast?"

Moseby nodded submissively, handing a piece to her with a hesitant hand.

Emma accepted the gift and leaned forward and kisses her husband on the cheek.

The heartbeat of one person slowly calmed after the contact.

"There's a note in the bowl….It says Passionate Love Candy. Make your romantic nights even more so."

"Let me see that" Tutweiller gave Moseby the note, who laughed out loud at the ridiculous notion.

"REALLY! …I don't believe it. "He looked at his wife and both shrugged their shoulders.

The crinkling of paper and crunching of cocoa filled the room and the bed as the two humans enjoyed the guilty pleasure. They only stopped once or twice at the off taste of the chocolate but not enough to stop eating.

"Oh, let's not forget the reception" The red head told the man as they continued their remembrance.

"Ugh… that spider. Why did that spider have to crawl across the head table?" Moseby's shoulder sagged as he finished.

The married couple's eyes told the story.

How a young woman could tear apart a reception with a simple scream. And it only got worse from there. In front of a full sitting crowd of friends, family, VIPs and strangers.

The young woman grabbed a metal serving tray from a random server.

Champagne glasses falling to the floor, shattering. Little rainbows in each backless mini mirror. The bubbly liquid ran along the floor, trying to hide in the wooden crevices.

The serving tray slammed against the table, annihilating the offending arachnid. Screams of "Die, Die, Die" echoed in the room as limbs and eyes splattered against the padding as enzymes covered a small spot on the tray's underside.

Then after she finished her attempt to wipe out all spiders, London Tipton proceeded to terrorize every last server, cook, or bust boy with threats of firings and drove the restaurant owner to tears by threatening to buy him out and throw him out onto the streets.

Only with Moseby pulling the young lady back from the scene was an international event averted.

"It figures with all the drama both of us have dealt with, our wedding would never be perfect."

"Yes between our parent, jobs and lives, we were destined to have a crazy wedding" Moseby said with a begrudging smile.

"Having my mother making a comment about marrying a short man almost made me want to disown her. And that's after all the time she spent mocking me about never finding a spouse" Tut responded. Her voice rising to another stress level while her hands wringed one of the blankets on the bed. Her hands relaxed as she looked at Moseby.

"Hey, my mother was begging me to get married, every day of my adult life" responded Moseby.

"It does not matter now, we are married now. No one can take that away from us" Emma utters with a smile. An uncanny one. Unrecognized by her betroved.

Moseby leaned toward Emma and wrapped his arms around neck and slowly his gazed buried itself in her chocolate brown eyes as their lips contacted. No fireworks, just the pure essence of two souls in romance. Nothing existed for the pair except their beating hearts, firing neurons and the glorious contact of their skin. One did not want it to end. But it did. The slightly colder air around them, a chasm between their mending souls.

"Bonne nuit, mon amour" The French words melted Tutweiller's heart as she remembered the previous times Marian used the romantic language when they were alone.

Precious. Essential. To her.

Emma Tutweiller's last visible sight was of Marian Moseby's hand inching towards the controller for the lights on the bedside table.


HAAAAAAAA!

A girlish scream woke up every human, animal and creepy crawler in the Tipton Hotel.

In Marian Moseby's midst was not his beautiful wife, not his love, or his bride but a zombie.

With dried blood on its face, gray fraying ligaments and pink stretched muscles showing underneath ripped skin.

Teeth stained red and rotting gums reflecting off a blackish- brown mouth. The nose, a jagged mountain among the flaked off skin, showed the pointiness of the protuberance.

Its patchy hair not even covering the thinning skull. A gap showed whitish gray brain matter. Eyes black as night with its irises locking onto Moseby's life form. The whites of the eyes practically dripping out of the eye socket.

A hand reached out to him. White bones flashing into view through the tissue and the blood.

Marian fell backward off the bed backward, stars in front of his eyes as his heads bangs against the floor. His feet in the air, spread apart.

His vision cleared. A nauseating sight. The thing staring down at his fallen form with a deformed facial expression, its mouth moving.

But that's impossible. Zombies can't speak.

As he retreated backward from the decaying vile object, Moseby's elbows created dents in the thick carpet. Rug burns being ignored.

His back against the wall, sweat on his brow as hell's reject slowly but surely staggers off the bed. Haphazardly, the undead moved toward the almost retching man on the floor. A clear view of the muscles, ligaments and tendons working as it swayed toward its dinner.

A sound came out of its damaged vocal cord. Eerie. Unnatural. A moan.

Moseby watched in horror as he realized he could be a barely married man, unable to have any children of his making. Dying before having a fulfilled life and growing old with his wife. Tears started to accumulate around his eyes.

Human instinct kicked in and kicked out the unfocused fear. Eyes looked around for a weapon. Found one. A sword used as a gaming controller but now as the last defense of life.

Fingernails appeared in his vision and used the blade of the synthetic sword to thrash against the limb of his destruction.

"Don't touch me! Don't touch me! DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Anger raged in his blood as the former manager stood, willing to fight till his last breath.

The zombie retreated in shock as if confused by the cornered mammal's response. The undamaged limb again advanced forward.

This time in conjunction with a sound. An impossible sound. A name.

"Marian?"

The man ignored the name, the question, only focusing on his continued existence.

Again the name was spoken. This time with emotion, perverted by a zombie.

"MARIAN!"

SLAP!

A hand sized mark appeared on Marian's face. His eyes rolled in the back of his head for an instant. His mind baffled over the confusion of the situation…When does a zombie slap somebody?... with the freight train adrenaline rush in his blood with his heart pumping precious blood through his still active corpse.

His eyes cleared.

Impossible…

In front of him was his beautiful redheaded wife. Tears started to run down his face. The sword dropped to the floor as his hands lifted themselves toward Emma Tutweiler's face.

"Emma, its really you?" Moseby's voice was a mixed of happiness, confusion and incredibility.

"Why Marian, who else would it be?" Emma's voice full of shock and amusement.

"I thought you were a zombie?"

"A zombie?... A zombie!" Marian flinched as the woman's screech abused his eardrums. " I know I don't look beautiful without makeup on, but a zombie is severely pushing it. You' re starting to talk like London does."

"I'm sorry" Moseby said with a sheepish smile. "I woke up and all of a sudden, this image of a zombie appeared in front of me and I just got scared. I still don't know why it happened."

"A nightmare maybe?...But…" Emma's voice was cut when both adults heard voices outside the suite. Whose door was mysteriously open a crack…


"This is easily the most ridiculous and insane thing you have ever come up with…Trying to get rich by looking for gangster treasure is one thing, putting blue dye in a swimming pool is another. Heck, even pushing me into a hallway with nothing but a thin bath towel is trivial compared to this… Oh by the way, butt naked for the whole world to see for a few precious seconds." The boy rose to crescendo at the way with his dagger eyes staring his target of sibling contempt, annoyance and even love.

"Cool off, bro. " Zack could not help but smile at the memories the two of them pulled off at the world and each other for years. "It was just candy. "

"You gave them chocolate that was past the expiration date."

"A few days past the date. No problem."

"Try a few months past the expiration date. It says on the package. Where was it, at the bottom of your trunk?" The staff in his hand swung forward with every point for emphasis. The striped curved tip inches from the forehead of the other twin.

Zack, shifted his eyes to the ground, ran his hand through his hair wig and swallowed "Um, Yeah."

"Unbelievable. You always forget the details. They could gotten sick or worse. What if they died, we could have gotten in such trouble. Even we didn't, the guilt would have been terrible. Dare I ask why you gave them the chocolate?

"Well…" Zack adjusted his black leather jacket and put his hands into his pockets. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cody's right eyebrow start to rise as he delayed.

"I thought they needed help in the love making department."

Cody's eyes widened slightly at this but Zack continued.

"I mean they are both pushing 40 if not over, so they need all the help they can get."

By now, Cody was leaning against the wall, shaking his head with his eyes focused on the ground with his right hand on the headdress on his head.

Typical Zack…

A resigned smile appeared in his face.

"I don't think they need help…" Cody smile went to a full grin as he looked at his twin "…from twins whose combined experience in that department equals one of them if we are lucky."

"Really I thought it would be the other way around" Zack shot back. "Especially with me."

Cody thought about Zack's cockiness. "I severely doubt that. You have issues keeping relationships, so I don't think you went all the way with any girl. Especially with that costume. There's the hair, the jacket and the faux leather pants. Oh by the way, you are missing the guitar, by the way. You talk a good game but do you know how to finish? " Cody started to laugh as Zack's face fell, his spiky hair flattened out and his jacket started to fade.

"Hey, that's low. Watch yourself, King Tut." But Cody laughed louder. Zack raised his voice to reach over Cody's commotion. "We still to figure how to fix everything especially after that girlish scream, which sounded strangely like Moseby."

Cody finally regained his royal dignity.

"I agree…" But he was interrupted.

"Oh don't bother…"


Both twins jumped back at the sight before them.

If looks could kill, both boys would be dead and buried. As a matter of fact, both appeared shrunk in their Egyptian Pharoah and 80s rocker costume before the two adults as two night-clothed lovebirds stood before them.

"Huh… hello, Mr. Moseby, Mrs. Tutweiler- I mean Mrs. Moseby, what are you doing?" Cody finally stuttered out. His voice was closer to a 5 year old then his 18 year self.

"I'm not sure…" the phrase slithered out of Moseby's mouth as he looked at his two favorite hooligans but his wife finished it.

"But it seems as through we heard two menaces confess to their crimes. " Both adults slowly started to circle the two young men in their midst.

But the Cobras looked at their prey, wondering the best way to dissect the costumed menaces.

Zack tried to pay attention to both of his former wardens but failed due to their circular movements. Something akin to fear or worry darted into his mind as he looked at the expressions on their faces. He forced himself to speak.

"Well…em… as you see… I was trying to help out…" started Zack but the new Mrs. Moseby finished for him.

"But you failed miserably causing my husband to think I'm a zombie!" Blood was in her twitching eyes "What's next? Stranding us on an island? I mean I've already had to deal with a spider crashing the reception. If one more thing happens to us, the person who does it is going to pay."

Cody flinched at the mention but the teacher caught the movement.

"Cody, you would not know anything about it? Would you?"

Cody fidgeted as his interrogation started.

"Possibly?"

"Cody?" Zack yelled at his twin. "How could you?" True shock and humor in the shorter twin's voice. "I did not know you had it in you."

His twin answered. "The spider was from a lab at school and I was responsible for it. I am so dead." Cody voice started to higher and faster as he continued. "I must have left the cage it was in open and it crawled into my backpack. I was there to give my congratulations to you when it must have escaped."

"Seriously, you could not have come up with a better explanation than that?"

Cody's head fired up at the red head's tone. Shocked at the viciousness coming from a person he thought knew well.

Her eyes. Ghosts from the past. Things beyond what he had seen before.

"Emma, I believe him" Moseby says. "It sounds like a very reasonable explanation…

"But he's the nice one right? Really? How much trouble has he caused you on his own, Marion?"

Marion looked at Cody for a second, who had this perplexing look on his face, his eyes on the man's wife.

Memories arose as he remembered all the trouble Cody caused.

"Cody has caused his fair share of mischief but he still has promise and actually tries to set things right" Cody smiles at this. Marion continues.

"Or at least tries to contain the damage. Either way, he has made my life interesting."

"That may true of Cody but of this one?" Emma points to Zack. "As I can recall, he's a walking, talking disaster zone waiting to happen."

Something hit Moseby in the pit of his stomach.

"Well, its true Zack does cause trouble, he does have his heart in the right place. Whether its his brother or Maddie, its there."

"Still, he's always trouble. Whether its in the classroom not paying attention or destroying property on the ship or the hotel.

Moseby stayed silent, something in the back of his mind nagging him.

Esteban rushed down the hall toward the group. He briefly looked at the group then focused his attention on the married couple and lowered a piece of luggage.

"Its one of your bags needed for your honeymoon, sir. It was left downstairs in the lobby. I wanted to make sure you had it. "

"Thank you Esteban." Moseby smiled at the former bellhop, now manager, who left.

Emma dived toward the luggage.

"Finally, I was wondering what happened to my luggage with my clothing in it? I just hope nothing was damaged."

Zip. The bag opens. A smile appears on Emma's face. Then…

BANG!

Smoky particles appeared in front of her eyes.

"What the …cough… happened?"

Tears rolled down her face as her sight dropped down to the contents below.

Her voice broke at the disaster.

Her little white dress with thin straps, her prom queen crown and her pink turtleneck were laid on top of the pile. But…

They were covered in thick black dye destroying the silk and cotton fibers. The fake metal of the crown was tarnished. The shininess gone. The hope gone. Nothing more than a dim piece of metal trash ready to be melted down into something better. Ordinary.


Zack started to sweat profusely as he realizes his heart racing ear pounding mistake.

I never should have put that dye pack into her luggage….

His T-shirt sticking to his chest as he witnessed the transformation of Emma… (No, its Mrs. Moseby…it's weird thinking of her like that…Hey mind, get back on track, you are getting in trouble here!)… an average looking teacher into a harbinger of death.

Her eyes could curve up the strongest soul. Her smile could freeze the heart of the warmest child. Her face was bloodchilling. Each crease on her face, etching a path closer to true evil. Darkness surrounded her eyes making the brightness even more distinct, drawing in every source of light and warmth. Her hair could torch the whole city down to its foundations.

He half expected to see her in a comic book with space black endless wings sprout from her back and see her flying above them, stalking them until their deaths or until the end of time, whichever came first. Razing civilization as she goes on her warpath.

Zack could feel his entire body shaking with barely maintaining control of his bowels as the scene refused to be absorbed.

"ZACK!"

His head flashed over to his left, seeing something he rarely saw.

Cody shaking, blood completely drained from face, the area around his eyes ashen, swear drenching his entire head. His blond hair faded.

"ZACK! Let's Go!"

Hands shook Zack into full rushing consciousness. Sights and sounds overloaded his mind. His head swerved as he struggled to get back under control.

Slow motion cameras took over his sight as he watched who he thought was Emma Moseby push Marian against the wall. His head bouncing against the wall. In the same motion, her left hand was opening the glass and metal door which held the fire extinguisher and something else….

Zack's feet had other intentions as the walls became a twisted camouflage throw up of beige, deep green and wood.

He barely heard Cody siren sing to keep running with maximum terror in his matching eyes.

Both dropped elements from their costume as they ran. One dropped curved staffs and the other a hair wig, hopping the lightened weight could increase or at least maintain the distance between them and the deranged woman behind them.

Something told Zack to look back. Maybe it was morbid curiosity. What saw almost broke him completely…

It was Emma Moseby. Their former teacher, newlywed bride and now psychotic chasing them down the long hallway with an axe in her hands.

Zack could think of only one thing to do besides running. A desperate thing. But what else could he do…

"Mrs. Moseby"… panting…"We are really, Really"…panting… "REALLY SORRY."

The newly revealed crazy teacher responded screaming….

"You two nearly destroyed my reception and my wedding night, why don't we have a conference about this, you know teacher to pupils. Oh wait how about my cats too? They would love to meet you…"

Both twins only ran faster as they heard this, their last hope dashed as they continued to run from their executioner. The crazy cat lady had made her name true. The males tried to delay death for every single cherished second they could.

What they did not know and could not was the fact London Tipton was not at the Tipton this night. As a matter of fact, they was no one else (besides themselves) on this floor or any of the 5 floors below except for the random staff member. Five floors between any protection, any witnesses or hope.

Both twins looked at each other and the elevators thinking the same thing.

"Come on…Come on!...you darn elevators! You are never there when we need you." Both twins kicked the doors after their shared outburst. Breaths came rapid and short as they turned back and their hearts stopped as they saw their purser coming closer.

Their only chance was the stairs. Those concrete mechanisms of foot travel and stress. Now only if they could get down them all with losing their heads or any limbs…..Or be scratched to death by nearly hairless cats.


Moseby woke up to stars in his eyes.

Not again….

But his brain functions shoved themselves into overdrive as he remembered events from that day and night.

His marriage and the white dress and the black tux. His mother, Beulah Moseby, crying her eyes out as the wedding march played as the pair walked out of the church.

The reception with the wedding cake that twice as wide as the head table and the glass swans decorating the tables with flowers. The sunlight poring through the stained windows of the hall.

The dancing, the cake to the face, the throwing of the bouquet… Finally the wedding night….

His heart broke as he remembered begging and grabbing his bride as she tried to go after the Martin twins. He remembered the demon eyes holding her hostage as her hand made contact with his chest. The shock as he realized what she was trying to do. The broken nails in the air as she moved over him as he slipped into unconsciousness.

What did I wrong?...

All the heartbreak and bashing I received in my life from being a work alcoholic to being cheerleader a ballet dancer and a nerd, I had to pick a closet nutcase to marry.

His face dropped as he remembered the shiny object he saw his wife (his eyes teared up as he thought of this) pull of the emergency cabinet as he started to fade into darkness.

"Oh my god… the boys..."

He could hear their screams as the axe impacted upon them. The blood gushing from their youthful forms. The end of their troublemaking but wasted lives.

So much trouble for me…but I still cared for them…Like my own children in some respects.

But now, they were in danger. Being attacked by the woman who thought he would grow old with. Now she was running around the hotel acting like the reincarnation of Lizzie Borden.

His mind was now warring over itself how to act. His wife or the twin tormenters?

Oh to choose… he knew he had the responsibility to act and a way to stop it. A metallic object. One which he kept only for extreme emergencies.

Eventually a judgment was ruled. A decision was made.

His heart lost and his soul and his conscience won.

In the end, what else was there to do?


Here's my first Halloween one shot.

I am not sure if anyone has written this pairing in this way before since I have not read all of the Moseby-Tut stories yet.

What do you think of it?

I would not mind hearing your opinions of how I wrote Emma especially since I have never wrote a female character in such a way before.

And yes I left the cliffhanger on purpose. To allow the readers to think about the ending and the story as a whole.

I keep getting an idea of maybe continuing this or morph it somehow into a full length story. We shall see?...