THANK YOU to those who reviewed...Diego, Utopia, kenshinroks2111, Reasonable, LovelyLadyJem, FMA4EVER, IdiotAmerica56, Fleur-de-leise, RoseZephyr, and ladyclaire 4161...you have no idea how much it helps! I decided to give you guys a little weekend treat...enjoy!

RoseZephyr pointed out that it's SHAUN, not SHAWN...i feel so stupid. I knew that. Honestly I did. Hopefully I've fixed it...

"No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever."

-Francois Muriac


Arkarian

Athens is gorgeous and festive. It's warm, with a breeze that carries the scent of freshly baked bread. The marketplace is bustling, packed with people who are laughing or ageing, having fun, or in a hurry to get home.

"The whole thing is so perfect, it just makes you want to hurl, doesn't it?" the ever-eloquent Rochelle puts in.

Isabel sighs happily and snakes an arm around my waist. "It is sort of wonderful isn't it?"

I press my lips against her hair. "You have no idea."

"Where's Dillon?" Ethan asks, looking around.

"Oh he's probably off somewhere-" Rochelle starts, but she's interrupted but a rather loud clatter behind us and yelling is a familiar voice. "Causing trouble," she finishes, looking like she wishes she hadn't started. We all turn slowly around and there's Dillon, running as fast as he can towards us, with two big dogs chasing him. Their owner is obviously the angry vendor of the pile of brass pans and pots that Dillon has managed to knock over.

Suddenly, the two hounds, which are admittedly pretty large, stop and seem to perk up their ears in another direction. Neriah's come to greet us. Dillon sprints and hides behind the immortal as the dogs trot up to sniff her curiously.

"Glad to see you can defend yourself, Dill." Ethan claps his old friend on the shoulder. "Demons and Wrenbeasts are no problem but these dogs were scary…"

"Shut up, Ethan." Dillon says, now bright red. "They should put up a sign or something, like a warning: 'Disturb the brass, we bite your-'"

"Welcome to Athens," Neriah says quickly. "Want to see your rooms?"

Matt appears next to her, arm around his girlfriend's shoulders. It's kind of startling to see him just pop up like that, but Neriah seems used to it. Matt's a different person now. Here he wears his power like a well-fitting coat, and seems so far from the discouraged, self-berating boy that I first knew.

He smiles, though, and his dark eyes twinkle the same way. "My Neriah's worked so hard on these rooms- I swear it was royalty coming instead of just you lot."

Neriah blushes and whacks him. "This is SPECIAL! Ethan and Rochelle don't get married every DAY-"

"Ouch! Have you been taking lessons from Isabel?" Matt squeezes her good-naturedly. Isabel makes a scoffing noise, but I kiss her head again to let her know that I think her hitting is cute. Except when directed at me. Matt knows Rochelle and Ethan's wedding better than anyone-probably even Isabel- because Ethan asked him to be best man.

Ethan and Rochelle's room is first. Neriah was going to be old-fashioned and make them both have separate rooms, but Ethan convinced her that having one bedroom would really just be easier.

The room has one big bed, which is circle shaped with fluffy pillows. The carpet is lavender, and so soft to walk on that you feel like you're sinking. The walls are light blue, with incredibly realistic clouds painted on them. Upon closer inspection, I see that the clouds are actually moving, as if the bedroom actually is in the sky. There is a collective ooooh-ahhhh from the girls, and even Matt looks impressed. There's a dresser in the corner, with a large television and special hooks marked "Bride" and "Groom". On the dresser is a framed picture of Ethan and Rochelle together, then a smaller one of Gabe. It's a cute picture, one obviously taken when they weren't looking. They're sitting by the creek next to my mountain, Rochelle leaning between his legs, his arms around her. She's obviously laughing at something that he's just said, and he's grinning slightly foolishly at her.

Rochelle looks dangerously close to tears and throws her arms around Neriah, who is her Maid of Honor. I think Isabel said there were two (don't ask me why…guys don't find this a very big deal). Gabe wanders over to look at his picture, wrinkling his little nose and making Isabel laugh hard.

The place a few doors down is Shaun and Laura's room. It looks rather like their room at home, I suspect because Neriah didn't want to shock Laura too badly. Soft, gray carpet and a queen size bed with a black wire headboard. Gabe's room is tiny and adjoining, with a race car comforter and what looks like every toy imaginable. His adoptive grandparents have agreed to watch him for the weekend.

Finally, it's just me and Isabel who need a room. Neriah smiles at Isabel's impatient bouncing. "And finally you two…viola!"

"Oh, man…" Isabel breaths. The room looks like a honeymoon suite. The walls are gold; the bed is large and fluffy, with heart-shaped pillows. "Arkarian…" Isabel tosses a pillow at me. Her eyes are shining. "Do you remember this?"

Boy, do I. This is the room that the Citadel dropped me and Isabel in the first time we were ever on mission together. Before I knew that she loved me too, I mean, and that she could look past the blue hair and purple eyes. "But how…?" I ask Neriah.

"Isabel told me about it," she shrugged. "She sounded like she wanted it back."

Isabel blushes a dark red. "That was a long time ago! I never said that!"

Neriah just giggles. "Remember- 7:00 in the atrium."

The bachelor/bachelorette parties are tonight, rehearsal dinner tomorrow, and the Big Event Saturday. Isabel has pretty much gotten this whole thing planned down to how many cups of ale Lord Penbarin is allowed to drink.

When Neriah finally leaves, I corner Isabel with a grin. "So you requested this room, eh?"

"No!" she cries. "I didn't!" She buries her face in my chest.

"Isabel…" I try to coax her up. "Come on, aren't you going to look at me?"

"No."

I'm about to say something about how far we've come since the last time we were here, but I kiss her hair instead. Her head flies up.

"Okay. You got me." She says, and drags my lips down to hers. "Do you think-" kiss "that this wedding" kiss "will go as planned?"

"I think," I say warmly "that you've planned it beautifully. It is, however, Ethan and Rochelle we're talking about here."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?"


Sorry for the shortness, but at least it's something, right? It's a transition chapter that needed to be written...please review anyway? Until next time,

-HaLo