Friday night - Matt had left and Verminious was in bed, allowing Pat to rant to their mother about the sub-par wedding plans her little brother and his bride-to-be had come up with. "COUNTRY MUSIC!" she emphasized, "they want to play country music at their ceremony! Lucky I talked them into inviting Uncle Burt and Aunt Maria to perform for the ceremony. They can have their country music at the reception."

Old Mrs. Snaptrap was not terribly interested in the whole business, but she nodded sympathetically for her daughter.

"And then there's the ring,..."

The older rat interjected, "That reject's not giving my ring to Ms. Mina!"

"No, no," Pat waved her arms, "but he can't afford a diamond ring, and she says she's okay with just the gold band! I've never heard of a girl saying yes without a diamond ring right from the start!"

The next day Francisco accompanied the two Snaptrap siblings back to the tudor, to calculate a total cost for Mrs. Rodentius. During the drive, the bull gator (A.N. I think that's what male gators are called, correct me if I'm wrong) repeatedly stuck his hand in his pocket, as though to ensure whatever was in there had not fallen out. When the three arrived, Lucia let them in and commented that Francesca was in the kitchen. Francisco went looking for his girl while the weasel led the rats into the living room.

"Thaddeus and I have come up with a list of songs for the reception, Bose," Lucia pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket. "There is country, pop, jazz, oldies, you and Bose pick."

"Thanks, Lu," said Snaptrap, taking the list and looking it over as he sat down on the couch. Pat and Lucia each took a seat in the wooden armchairs either side of the couch. Thad was already in the room, at the far end, tuning a guitar while reclining in an easy chair. Mina came in and sat next to Snaptrap, greeting him and his sister with kisses on the cheek.

After a half-hour of discussion, Francisco teetered into the room dizzily, his face covered in red lip-marks, a goofy smile on his face. "Hm," smirked Lucia, "I didn't know Chesca wore lipstick!" The rats all snickered as they watched the bull gator sink into another easy chair with a happy sigh.

"She said yes," he murmured dazedly. The others straightened up in surprise, turning to look towards the doorway. Francesca stood there bashfully, holding up her left hand in the other. A plastic ring from a gumball machine was on her ring finger. Mina and Lucia jumped up and ran to the female gator's side, embracing her and chattering in Spanish. Jacinta, Juanita and Josie all appeared seemingly from nowhere and joined in the group hug, once in a while a Bandita breaking off to shake Francisco's hand.

Snaptrap walked over to his friend smiling and clapped him on the shoulder, "Congratulations, buddy!" The hedgehog suddenly burst out a string of Spanish, to which Francesca replied no. "What did she say?" Snaptrap whispered loudly to the male alligator.

Francisco had been slowly coming out of his daze, now he straightened up looking slightly embarrassed. "Cinta suggested a double wedding, but I think Chesca and I would prefer to have our own," he explained.

Snaptrap shrugged, "Whatever works for you."

A short while later, everyone was seated and watching as Mina pulled out her cell phone to call her mother with the estimate for the wedding. Britney Rodentius, most of them knew first-hand, was selfish and stubborn. If the plans did not sound traditional enough to her, she might renege on her promise to contribute. After two rings, the phone picked up and an elderly female voice said, "Hello?"

"Hi Ma, it's Mina. I've got you on speaker," the bride-to-be greeted. Everyone chorused, "Hello, Mrs. Rodentius", even though Mina's parents had been divorced for some time.

"Well," sniffed the older rat, "I suppose the only reason you called was to tell me how much money you need." Mina stifled a groan - she called her mother at least once a month to catch up and had invited her to visit a week ago, but Britney liked to try to guilt her kids. "Is your brother planning to come home anytime soon?" the old rat continued.

"Yeah, Ma, soon," called Thad, "but not today. Traffic's gonna be murder wit' ever'body goin' home."

"Are you sure you're not Finny in disguise?" joked Snaptrap. "You sound just like him." The younger rat grinned amusedly.

"So how much is this marriage going to cost me?" called Britney.

Pat cleared her throat as she looked over her notes, "I've got an estimate of $1003 to pay for catering and a minister. My brother's planning to invite the whole family, the party and ceremony will be at the house, a friend is making the cake, there's no diamond ring, and your daughter's intending to wear her evening dress rather than get a white gown." Snaptrap and Mina both gave Pat a look that was between a glare and dead-pan.

"Young lady," scolded the old lady, "you simply must wear a white dress. Everyone does."

"Yes, Ma," sighed Mina tiredly, figuring her mom would not see her until the wedding and she could bluff and say she had forgotten to go shopping.

"Adjust your total, miss... misss..."

"My name is Pat, I'm Verminious' older sister," she introduced herself as she recalculated the wedding costs. "I'm not sure what your budget for the dress would be, but I suppose you could find a decent secondhand gown for $500 or so."

"I'll give you kids $750 this week," announced Britney before she hung up.

"Hello?" said Mina pointlessly to the dial-tone before putting her phone away.

"That went well," said Josie sarcastically. "Your mama's a real peach!"