AN:

Okay, my bad, it's already May, and this isn't the last part as it got super long again. Don't worry though as I'll upload it later or by tomorrow.

For now, please enjoy this little chap ^.^


~oOo McLain's Secret Admirer Part 7: A Strong Bond oOo~

Smiling, Kitty clears her throat on the mic. "Yeah, hi. As you all know, or if you don't, my name's Kitty. I'm the maid of honor and the best friend of the bride. I want to start off by saying that every once in a while, two people meet, and you know it's meant to be. You know instantly that the stars have aligned, and their paths would bring them together regardless of what the World or the Ghost Zone may throw their way. This was clearly the case over 4 years ago when Ember and I first met." She grins at the bride.

Ember grins too, remembering the day she first met her best friend. That day is one of her top 5 most interesting days in the Ghost Zone.

Kitty continues. "Funny thing really, the first time I met Ember was the day that her future husband spoiled Johnny and my plans to make his sister as my host."

Danny facepalms, while Jack, Maddie, Jazz, and a great number of the guests all had questions marks.

Kitty laughs, continuing her tale. "Anyway, long story short, I was pissed. And because I was soooo pissed, I shot the first ghost I saw, which was by the way, none other than the Ghost Zone's rock n roll pop diva princess, Ember freaking McLain."

Hearing her full self-proclaimed title, Ember couldn't help the wide smirk lighting up her face, while the other humans and ghosts couldn't exactly piece together how the two got to be best friends, or even friends for the matter, including the groom.

"After a long and very memorable cat-fight, Em and I went over to get a drink and had an interesting discussion of a certain you know who. And let me just say at by how Ember spoke about him, I knew then and there that she had a thing for the guy even though she doesn't know it yet at that time." She winks at Ember, who in turn slightly blushes and scowls.

Hearing this and seeing the redness on the ghost diva's cheeks, Danny's eyes glow green. "Him? Who's this him you had a thing about?"

Ember just looks at him and raises an eyebrow. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me." She smirks. "Baby pop, are you...jealous?"

"No." He frowns, crossing his arms. "Why would I be jealous? Who said anything about being jealous? I'm sure I'm not jealous. Are you?"

She raises her hands. "Okay, okay. You're not jealous. Chill, dipstick."

"Good." He looks back at Kitty, mumbling to himself. "I'm not jealous."

Ember hears it, and she smiles to herself in amusement at how cute and adorable her baby pop is acting. "You really are dense and clueless as they say."

"Huh?" He looks back at her questioningly. "What do you mean?"

She lets out a smirk. "What I mean is that you're so clueless that you can't even see that the guy I had a thing on is you, baby pop."

His eyes widen. "Uh...really?"

"Yeah, really." She kisses his cheek. "So get that lovestruck grin off your face."

He smiles, touching the lingering kiss on his cheek. "Whatever you say, my flaming angel."

Back at the bridal party table, Kitty purrs at seeing how cute the couple are acting together. She then lets out a happy giggle. "Anyway, Ember and I may not have been childhood friends, never played dress-up, or imagined what our weddings would be like as little girls. We don't have any memories to speak of until when we were...well..." She coughs. "Ghosts." She coughs again. "But none of that matters because I feel like I've known her my entire afterlife. We know more about each other than we probably care to, and that's because we can share anything without passing too much judgment. We laughed together, cried together..." She pauses for a moment. "Er...or maybe that was just me..."

Ember laughs at that.

Kitty laughs too. She then looks at the piece of paper in her hand, and then at Ember. "I want you to know that I wrote this speech for like...50 times over." She grins. "I just couldn't think of anything perfect enough to describe just how much I love you. And I totally have no idea how to squeeze in everything I wanted to say to make it all fit on this one page." She chuckles for a moment, but then turns serious all together. "But I will say this. You are the best girlfriend a ghost girl could ever ask for. You've always been there for me even when I felt so alone whenever Johnny flirts with other girls."

"Aw, Kitten." Johnny frowns beside her. "I thought we were over that."

Kitty doesn't even spare him a glance as she continues her dedicated speech to her best friend. "And I will always, always be there for you, Em, just as you had for me." She starts to tear up. "I don't know where I would be without my best friend. But I do know that standing here today on your wedding day is exactly where I'm supposed to be."

Ember starts to tear up as well, but she holds it in, mumbling to herself. "Without you, Kitty, I would never have found my happiness in the first place."

Danny weaves his fingers in hers, smiling lovingly at her. The ghost diva looks at him and reciprocates the smile.

Kitty wipes away a stray tear on her cheek. "Anyway, where were we?" She looks at the paper her hands, and then at the groom. "Ah, Danny. I really don't know how you two first met, as I wasn't there. But at least I was a witness to the start of your relationship so that counts, right?" She grins. "And it all started when Ember and Skulker—"

Skulker he lifts his head off the table and suddenly says, "Please, just skip that part." He then puts his head back down on the table to sulk more.

Kitty looks at the metal-man ghost. "Oh, sure...umm...okay..." She rubs the back of her neck, and then looks back at everyone, drumming her jaw with her fingers. "Now, where was I? Ah! Okay, it all started when Em received a single white rose in front of her doorstep from a super mysterious secret admirer, POPSICLE17. It's a good thing too that I went to visit her too or else she might've thrown it in the trash or something."

Ember slightly sinks in her seat. "You have no idea."

Danny looks at her incredulously. "What? You were gonna throw away my gift in the trash just like that?"

"What can I say? I'm Ember McLain." She shrugs. "Besides, I didn't know it was you." She then looks at him with a raised brow. "And how can you expect me to just fall for a random stalker after having her heart broken the day before that."

He scratches his head. "Well...I guess...when you put it that way..."

Back to the maid of honor, Kitty continues her address. "After two weeks of receiving these gifts and letters from her secret admirer, Danny AKA POPSICLE17 finally asked her out on a date." Kitty lets out an excited squeal as if hearing about it the first time. "Okay, so at first, Ember was like, 'No way, I wanna stay single FOR-EH-VAH!', and I was like, 'Yeah way, I'm gonna guilt trip and pester you until you go on that date.', and she was like, 'Ugh, fine, I'll go on the date.', and I was like, Yes!', and then Ember was all suddenly shy-like, complaining to me what will she wear, and..."

As Kitty goes on rambling about stuff, Ember slowly slides back down on her seat again, sighing. "Ugh, this is so embarrassing."

"That's just what best friends do, flame," Danny says, "You just have to roll with the embarrassment that comes with it."

Ember glares at him half-heartedly. "Hmph. Well, I hope you die from embarrassment when it's your turn."

Danny looks at her incredulously, not really sure if she is mad or faking mad. But before he could make a reply, Kitty suddenly addresses him. He looks back at the maid of honor.

"Danny, I'm really glad you left that rose in front of Em's doorstep. If you didn't, she would've probably spent her days cooped up inside her realm for who knows how long." Kitty then smiles sheepishly all of a sudden. "Anyways, I never did tell you two, but I kinda stalked you guys on your first date."

Both Danny and Ember raise their brows.

Kitty continues. "Hehe, why I am even saying this, I have no clue. I just...remember thinking how perfect you two are together when I first saw who Em's secret admirer really is, and I was right, as always, how you two complete each other."

Ember smiles at that, and leans her head on the halfa's shoulder. Danny takes this as a sign that she really isn't mad and wraps his arm around her waist.

"As her Husband, I understand that you are her very best friend, and I am willing to pass that torch because I know you make her happy." The biker chick holds the paper to her dead unbeating heart with both hands. "I know that she loves you more than words can describe…and I also know that I will never have to worry about you taking my place as her partner." Kitty raises her glass. "If everyone can raise a glass now and join me in congratulating the very beautiful bride and handsome groom on the day we have all been waiting soooo long for! Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

"Cheers!" The newly wed raise their glass.

After Kitty takes her seat, the guests continue on their main course, a delicious three double cuts of rack of lamb, coated in an aromatic blend of fresh herbs and spices and served with a bouquet of fresh seasonal vegetables and golden fried potato croquette.

At seeing the delicious food in front of him, Tucker immediately wolfs down his precious meat. Sam on the other hand had a different plate served to her altogether because—duh—she's a vegetarian!

As everyone enjoys his or her dinner with some of them even finished, Tucker smuggles more meat and continues to wolf down without break.

Sam suddenly elbows him at the side.

"Ow!" Rubbing it, he pouts at the goth. "What's that for, Sam?"

"Tucker, stop stuffing your face with that. It's making me hurl just sitting beside you."

"Well, excuse me if I don't have the same taste in food as you do."

She rolls her eyes. "Anyway, aren't you forgetting something? You know, like a certain speech by the best man."

His eyes widen. "Ah! Oh, yeah! I got so distracted by this sweet meat that I totally forgot all about it." Standing up, Tucker taps his glass with a spoon, getting everyone's attention. When he gets it, he clears his throat. "On behalf of Ember and Danny, I'd like to thank everyone for attending this beautiful wedding today. I'm the best man, and my name is Foley, Mayor Tucker Foley if you don't already know, " he says in a very smooth voice, winking at some of the ghost and human girls, to which he is greeted by silence, followed by some cricket-like sounds, making him wonder where those crickets came from anyway. He then shakes his head, continuing his speech, and grins. "I've known Danny since first grade. Wow! That's a long time! Back then, we were more interested in superheroes than girls. I was Superman, and Danny was Batman."

Ember raises a brow at Danny. "Batman?"

He rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, Tuck wanted to be superman, so I always ended up as Batman."

She lets out a smirk. "Well, Batman suits you 'cause you ended up lovestruck with a former bad guy, right?"

"And I'm really glad I did." Danny grins, kissing his Catwoman on the cheek.

Tucke continues. "By fourth grade, it was video games rather than girls. But, sure enough as the seasons change and teenage hormones kicked in, there came a time when we were more interested in girls than anything else. I remember Danny getting gah-gah over girls. There was Paulina, Valerie, Sam..."

As Tucker lists off the girls Danny had a crush on or those who had a crush on him, Ember raises a brow at how many the tech geek listed off.

Danny on the other hand just rubs the back of his head, fighting off the small blush on his cheeks. He then notices Ember crossing her arms with a frown, to which he immediately pulls her closer as if on instinct, sitting her on his lap as he wraps his arms around her waist.

"Wha?" Ember blushes at the sudden act and quickly looks around to see if anybody noticed them. When nobody didn't, she twists her body to face the halfa with a glare, only find him grinning for one moment, and then the next has him kissing her passionately on the lips.

The ghost diva lets out a moan. Luckily, nobody noticed them—coughs, except for a certain time master of course, coughs—as they are busy listening to the best man giving away sweets deets about the hero halfa's love life. And just as the couple finishes their kiss, the mayor finally comes to the most important part.

"...and finally, there was the Ember McLain." Tucker looks at the newlywed with the couple looking back at him with slightly flushed cheeks, though the mayor just thinks of the two being embarrassed. "The two didn't meet in a cafe, or bumped to each other on the sidewalk, or even chatted in an online dating site. No, they met in a typical setting for a cheesy high school romance story…that is a school. That's also where Danny first found out that she's a ghost...I think." He rubs the back of his head. "Back then, I was uh...too busy worshiping Ember, ehehehe." He chuckles. "Ember actually only went to school to make the students worship her further by casting a spell on them, and then ordering them to attack Mr. Lancer."

The ghost diva scratches her cheek as the memories of what she did back then comes to mind. "Heh. Good times."

Chuckling, Danny leans down and nuzzles his nose on the side of her neck, the air coming out making her shiver in delight.

"B-Baby pop." She pants.

Danny smiles at the thought of his wife getting excited at the sensations he's giving to her. He's kinda getting excited too.

Tucker continues. "After a few loses to Ember with all her fire blasts and love spells and all, Danny finally manages to stop her mind controlling concert from going global, thus saving the world yet again from evil ghost-doers alike." He grins. "But that's not the last time he encountered the musical siren as she tried a few times to get back and rock the stage, namely hijacking the radio to mind control the adults this time and dressing-up as a hot pirate."

Danny smiles and pulls her closer. "You really looked good as a pirate, Em." He then blushes, mumbling. "I k-kinda wish you'd dress-up more often. I like it when you wear dresses and other..." He clears his throat. "O-Outfits..."

Hearing that, Ember could only smirk, looking behind to see his face. "Oh, I've got better suits to parade around you, baby, namely one that's called my birthday suit." She kisses him and lightly pats his cheek, laughing at his face as she moves back from his lap to her own seat and leaving the halfa quite red in the face.

"I l-love you, Ember." He whispers under his breath.

She smiles widely, laying her head on his shoulder. "Love you too, baby pop."

Back to Tucker... "I'm not really sure when it started, how Danny feelings for her grew. But I just knew there was something going on if Danny would even go far as to..." he sighs, "To try and end someone."

Some of the guests are taken aback by that statement. Others find it shocking, as the thought of their hero trying to kill someone is simply outrageous.

Grunting, Skulker looks angrily at his drink, mumbling to himself. "I could've won that hunt."

Danny on the other hand just looks down guiltily. Ember gently takes his hand in hers. "You've never did tell me what exactly happened."

Danny is silent at first, but soon he looks back at her, squeezing her hand in assurance. "It's okay, Ember." He smiles, though somewhat forced. "The important thing is that it didn't happen, okay."

"Oh...okay." She smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes. "I'm sure you'll tell me someday."

He only nods. And with a whisper, he says, "You're too important, Ember."

She hears it of course and whispers back, squeezing his hand, "I know." She then looks at him and strokes his brow, before moving to cup his cheek. "You're important too, y'now." She smiles. "After all, you are my afterlife, Danny."

"Ember." He looks at her, seeing the deep love and affection she has for him. He places his hand over hers and gives a grateful smile to his one and only. He kisses them soft and chaste, conveying his love to her as well.

Tucker rubs the back of his head. "I won't go into the details, and I don't want this speech to make everyone sad. But because of this event, Danny finally realizes his true feelings for Ember. He cared deeply for her, and he would do everything to keep her safe and make her happy." He lets out a wide happy smile. "And just like Kitty said, it all started with a white rose." He then raises his glass. "May today be the beginning of a wonderful new and long-lasting chapter in Danny and Ember's lives...or uh...afterlives, whichever suits both parties fine. And may they always love, honor, and cherish each other, just as they do today. Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

And with that, the mayor of Amity Park retires to his seat, but not before giving the halfa another and more personal raise of his glass to his long-time best friend.

Danny emulates his gesture, a strong bond of friendship that will last forever.

~oOo To Be Continued oOo~