Sorry for the delay. I kept writing and writing, wondering why it took such a lot of time, until I realised I had written a block of text that was three times as long as my usual chapters. And it didn't feel finished yet.

So, I quickly decided to cut it in two, and here you have the first part.

/Feudor

… and moving into the afternoon

Eventually, the newlyweds emerged at the top pf the steps outside the church, receiving the cheers, camera flashes and thrown rice of the audience gathered below.

After a suitable pause, they descended the steps and took up their positions at the spot designated by the official photographer in front of all the impressively professional equipment. There then followed a complex choreography of different photo-shoots, with the couple, the flower girls, the maids of honour, and with different sets of parents and relatives.

The photographer, a slim woman with a blond pixie-cut, handled everything with military precision, more or less aided by the more frantic and nervous Miss Flores. After a while, the latter looked as hot and flushed as if she had run five laps around the church.

Slim Possible walked up to where Ed Lipsky and Elena Diodova were watching.

"Impressive camerawork," he said. "Is that a hired photographer, or is it also a friend of the couple?"

"Not friend," said Elena. "More acquaintance."

"Yeah, seriously. More of a former foe."

"Really?"

"Yeah, that's Adrena Lynn. She used to be a professional stuntwoman with her own cable tv show, until Red caught her cheating. And then things got worse, seriously."

"Lynn went prison, lost job. Never work in tv more, so decided to switch, behind camera."

"Well, she must be very good at it to be able to afford that equipment. That's a digital Hasselblad on the tripod. And a professional Canon with a huge telephoto lens. Not to mention all the lighting gear."

"She good, but mostly, she discrete."

"Yeah, seriously, with her criminal past, she has some reputation in shady circles. She'll do photo shoots for anyone, and they trust her not to tell."

"She take family photos of the mob, the Yakuza, the Triads, the Russkies, the Colombian drug barons, the lot. They pay, knowing she don't talk."

"Oh!" Slim was a bit anxious at all these underground connections. "Will she come as a guest at the party?"

"Not guest. Photographer only."

Whatever her dubious connections, Lynn worked efficiently and the crowd watched. Wade started irritating everyone by flying another camera drone overhead, but this one was quickly taken out by the pig-tail blond. She jumped up and struck it clean out of the sky with her bat, which had evidently been temporarily returned to her for just this purpose. The assembled guests cheered and the blond and her escorts did high fives, until Wade just calmly opened a big case and picked up another, identical drone.

Despite all the professionalism, Slim noted a certain stiffness between different groups of relatives.

"Is it just me, or do different parts of Shelley's family not like each other all that much?"

"That is, seriously, true. The family of Shelley's mother hates her father and his folks. And it's mutual."

"They not approve of marriage between Natascha and Patrick."

"That's sad."

All the photos having now been taken, it was now time for the newly-weds to make their way to the party. One of Ed's vintage cars drew up by the curb and the driver got out.

"Oh! A Bentley Blower," Slim exclaimed. And it was, in fact, a 4,5 litre supercharged Bentley with the classic Le Mans bodywork in British racing green.

"She sure is, seriously," Ed said. "It is my most treasured vintage car, and I'm seriously nervous about letting the ladies drive it."

The ladies in question, however, did not seem nervous at all, bickering about who would get the privilege of driving. The argument came to a standstill when Kim jumped into the driver's seat while Shelley collected the keys from the driver. I didn't end until Kimmie realised that the manual four-speed gearbox was fully unsynchronised, and that she would have to double de-clutch every gear-shift. At that point, she gracefully surrendered her place to Shelley, who did not seem as daunted by such a technological challenge.

Shelley started the engine, which emitted a characteristic snarky gurgle. Everybody waved and the car pulled away with expert handling. Ed sighed in relief.

A number of guests walked away to get their own cars. Joss, who had changed back to her working clothes, went to get her bike. Miss Flores started arranging the transports for the rest of the guests to the Lakeside Manor, where the dinner and party were being held. Limousines from Motor Ed's Rental Service queued up at the roadside and Zita checked off the passengers embarking on a clip-board.

"Do you have a ride?" Ed asked Slim.

"Not really, I thought I'd just get in line ..."

"Come with us, instead, seriously. We are taking Drew and Wade also, but there's plenty of room. And I think you will like Doris."

"Doris?"

In answer, Elena produced a remote control and a headset.

"Go, Doris," she said, and lights started showing green on the display of the remote. "Start, pull out of spot, go right, second left, stop when you see us."

There was the rumble of a huge V-8 starting and a bright red Cadillac Eldorado, the model with the huge fins, began making its way towards them from the parking. Elena stepped up to the curb and the car came to a smooth stop beside her. Nobody was in the driving seat.

"Wow," Slim said, "That's a beauty! Self-driving, too?"

"Yes. We not have permit to drive her like that, though, so hope you not tell GJ guests."

"Of course! I don't really have any permits for using my robot inventions either."

"Da. You build horses, right?"

"Among other things, yes."

"Get in! We should talk."

Drew, Wade and Slim got into the back seat, while Elena choose shotgun and Ed got behind the wheel.

"Good afternoon, Ed," the car said. "Are you driving?"

"I'll drive, Doris, seriously."

"You drive," the car confirmed.

"That's really impressive," Slim said. "Is it a full AI?"

"No," Elena answered. "More like advanced smart phone assistant with improved interface and connections to self-driving car technology, on-board diagnostics and really good navigation system. Let me demonstrate. Doris, status please."

"Everything is fine. We have a three-quarter full tank. Oil pressure is good. Water temperature is fine. Weather is dry and sunny, temperature 73 degrees Fahrenheit, 23 Centigrade. Windscreen washer fluid level is low."

"Good. Remind me of water when we get gas next time, Doris."

"Will do." The car paused for a while, then had a question. "Where are we going?"

"We are going to Lakeside Manor. It's on the Clearwater Drive, just on far side of Westerton."

"I've got it. It should take about 39 minutes. Do you want me to drive?"

"Yeah, why not, seriously. Tell me when we are five minutes out."

"Okay. I drive."

"You drive, Doris."

Ed let go of the wheel and relaxed in his seat.

"Are you going to market this technology at all?" Wade asked.

"No. We small company. No resources to get security approval and show quality of production. Could sell it, of course, but then we need spend money on patents and stuff."

"I see. Just like Load & Lipsky. We though we'd manufacture hovercrafts, but it was too much of a hassle."

"Yeah," Drew said, "because a hovercraft has no aerodynamic properties at all. A power failure or other major problem and it will drop like a stone. Nobody would want to buy an aircraft like that."

"So that's why we formed Load & Lipsky Industrial Lifting, using the hovercraft technology to manufacture a sort of mix between drones and cranes…"

"Ha! Crones, seriously! Or Dranes!"

"No, Ed, definitely not. But as you know, those are a success. You can lift heavy stuff in difficult places without having to erect a big-ass crane, and all the construction companies want some. Maybe you could adapt your tech to do something different. Managing intelligent homes, maybe."

"Don't know. Does not sound very exciting. Better have as hobby project, just for us."

"Yeah, seriously. We have plenty of more fun things to do, what with the E&E Rods and Restorations, the Motor Ed Rental Services, and the Ellipse musical technology and sound equipment…"

"We could use more people. Slim, you interested?"

"Wow. Thank you for asking. But why do you think I could help?"

"Well, Drew says you build robot horses …"

"And Wade say you can do electrics, programming and metal work."

"And you seriously like vintage cars, am I right?"

"Sure. But I also have a farm to run, in Montana."

"Get caretaker. Come try for a time."

"Well, it would be nice to be closer to my little brother and his family. And to Joss, of course."

"So, come by the shop when we are sober again, next week, and let's talk! Seriously?"

"Sure," Slim said after some thought. "Sure! I would like that!"

"Good. Now, about relatives. What about your side? The English guests don't seem too friendly with you Possibles?"

"No, that's unfortunately true. A real long-term conflict. Anne's family did not approve of James as a husband, nor did they like their career choices."

"Rocket scientist and brain surgeon? What's not to like, seriously?"

"You'd be surprised. But start with Shelley's family, please."

"Okay then."

"Her mother's family from tsarist Russia. Dukes and Duchesses, landowners, very rich," Elena said. "Only thing that matters is old family, noble ancestors."

"Yeah. They got out before the revolution, though. Moved to Paris, but didn't get much of their fortune with them. They thought New York would be a cheaper place to live, seriously, so they came over."

"Still, today, money all gone. Only got stuck-up attitude left."

"And I take it Shelley's father's family is not nobility?"

"Opposite. They poor crofters in Ireland. Came over to escape starvation. But, sharp business minds. Made fortune as bankers and businessmen. Now into finance and politics"

"So they have the money that the mother's side of the family feel they should have had, but no … refinement?"

"Could say that. Natascha's family would rather starve than eat else than caviar and champagne. They listen opera. They talk posh. They have stick up their back."

"Yeah, and the McGoohans are newly-made millionaires. They can afford whatever they like, seriously, but they like burgers and bad American beer. They like country and western. They have trouble eating with a knife and fork."

"Okay. I can see why they would have different views of, well, everything."

"They really hate each other, seriously!"

"Well, I guess our situation is somewhat similar. Anne's parents are old-fashioned Oxford scholars. Her father is a professor of history, specialising in pre-Roman Britain. Her mother is a professor of archeology, focusing on the Etruscans. They live, breathe and eat oak-panelled studies. They think the first household item you should get when setting up a home is a set of sherry glasses. They dine at the college high table. And they very much dislike the applied sciences. They think it is something a monkey with a slide rule could do just as well. So, James being a rocket scientist doesn't impress them much. And they are disappointed that Anne didn't go on to be a professor of linguistics, like they had hoped. Focusing on the study of dead languages, of course. And they are very, very British. They still think of the US as the colonies."

"Ah. That explains a lot. So we really have four different sets of families that would seriously not like each other. The Brits wouldn't like the Russian nobility crowd, and they wouldn't be impressed by the bankers and politicians, either. And you farmers and scientists wouldn't really agree with any of the others either, I guess?

"No," Slim sighed, "you're probably right. Kimmie and Shelley will have a tough time trying to be accepted by anyone. It doesn't help they are a same-sex couple and that Shelley used to be a super-villain."

"I think we should change that," Wade said. "I think we should show all of them that both Kim and Shelley have qualities and connections they should be proud of."

"How would we do that?" Drew wondered.

"Well, I have drawn up a diagram of meetings we should try to arrange. All designed to make the relatives feel a connection."

Slim and Drew leaned forward, looking at the large schematics Wade spread out in his lap.

"Interesting. Very interesting! But how will we make this happen?"

"We ask Stacey and Kelley to help. By the way, Slim, do you sing?"

"Sing? Well, a bit. And I play the banjo and the guitar."

"Excellent, seriously! We will do a few hard rock classics with an impromptu band, and if you like, you could joins us for some country songs to please Patrick McGoohan!"

"It be good. Is me on bass, Joss and Ed on guitars, Possible twins on keyboards, and man called Barkin on drums! And all equipment first class, from our Elipse company!"

"Well, alright! Let's get everyone in a good mood, making acquaintances they really like!"