Part Nine: Phase Four; the Freak-out

Kevin considered his life up to the point where he was affixed to the wall, by manna, as his girlfriend was absolutely convinced that he was an imposter masquerading as himself.

He had proposed to her, with the Farrar-made amulet. She didn't reject him outright but she didn't accept him either. Instead she completely wigged and he found himself manna-ed to the wall. At least she liked the house. She loved it…until she got that crazy idea he was a phony Kevin.

In hindsight she had a very reasonable excuse; in their many long talks, which could and often did include and cover several only marginally related subjects in the same conversation, he had conveyed his thoughts on the matter of marriage. It was useless, too confining and a complete show of posturing and pomp. Surprisingly she had accepted his views and he knew she wouldn't expect a marriage proposal from him. She was seemingly content with their relationship as it was, exclusively dating each other, they acted like a married couple anyways, and was content with the idea that it would probably never change either way. For him to do such a complete one-eighty on the subject could be a sign of something not being quite right. It was only prudent for her to bind him as she tried to figure out what was going on. The amulet lay, gleaming, on the floor. Until she boxed it up in manna, thinking it was some type of power sucking device. Again, with what they did for a living, this was a completely logical safety measure. And then she pulled out the standard issue scanner and began scanning the jewelry.

"Can you loosen the collar?" he choked out, having realized he was losing air.

Legally she had to keep a prisoner somewhat comfortable and so she loosened the energy loop around his neck.

"Call anyone you want to," he told her, "they all know, I've been setting this up for months…"

"You could have replaced them with fakes too," she reminded him.

"Then call all of them, I can't have replaced them all. Someone would have figured out the plot…"

"Fine I will…hmmm, seems okay…gold, silver, Versitium, Tandenite…"

"I am not a crook…"

"Sure you aren't…and you just plagiarized…" she put away the scanner and pulled out her cell phone, setting it on speaking phone and began hitting speed dials;

"Did he finally propose?" that was her mom and dad.

"Took him long enough." Ben and Julie.

"You better have said yes," Max and Cooper.

Verdona's reply was only a squeal that Gwen took as an affirmative on her question.

"That is the most devoted man I've ever met." Aunt Sandra and Uncle Carl.

"Yep, we're in on it." That was her Plumber superiors, flabbergasting her completely.

And, as a last resort, she contacted Argit of all beings.

"Oh yeah, he's been crazy about this," the rat bastard confirmed, "running all over Earth for you. Listen, you're gonna need to stuff for a wedding r—" at that point she hung up.

Cautiously she let him down, hands forward as to be able to ward him off at a moment's notice. "Bunny." He stated his safe-word softly. She slowly lowered her hands, looking from him to the amulet and back, asking unsurely, "You're being serious?"

"Completely."

"No joking around? Not one of Ben's and yours' stupid little bets or something?"

"Nope."

She shifted her weight, biting her lip; he was crushed, she was going to say no and then dump him because he had asked. He was about to apologize, to try to convince her to give him another chance, when she smiled, "Yes, okay."

It was his turn to be unsure, "You sure…if we do this there's no way out; I won't sign the papers needed to…"

She stepped close, wrapping her arms lazily around his neck, "I'm sure Kev."

He smiled; a real smile.

Then his cell phone rang; he opened it and said hello happily…only to hear, "So, Kevin, Buddy…about wedding supplies…"

END