Author's Section:

Well. Now we're here. The finale! I'm not gonna keep you guys waiting any longer, and I'm speaking to the polite people who ALWAYS read my top sections first before reading. *sniffle* The thought of people like you.. make me so happy!

Go! Read before you guys drown in my tears of happiness!

-AuraPen

Time Setting: 7:34PM

Setting: Ballroom with plenty of guests. And I mean PLENTY.

"Welcome!" Blade greeted Katie and Gallatin with a nervous smile. He was wearing a black tuxedo with a dark blue bowtie, and he kept fidgeting with it.

(AP: Just so everyone knows ((or already does)), I have absolutely NO sense in fashion. If you can picture him in something better with a bowtie ((must have a bowtie, 'cause bowties are cool)), go for it.)

"Hello, Blade." Gallatin said. Katie stifled a laugh when she realised Blade's bowtie now looked ridiculously loose. Nicole spotted the bowtie and come on over, shoving her tray into Katie's hands.

"Here. Now, stop doing that." Nicole huffed, grabbing his bowtie and adjusting it until it was near-perfect. She took back the tray of food and he attempted to move his hand towards it but decided against it when Nicole threatened him by raising a hand, looking like she was about to slap him if he did that. Sliding his hand back down by his side, he realised Katie was asking him a question.

"So, when does my shift start?"

"You? Oh, no, we've got enough helping, thanks." Blaster Blade lied. Nicole and Mariah were sharing half Katie's shift.

"I see.. And who's your date?" Katie looked at Nicole.

"Not me!" Nicole laughed. "How could you think that?! It's a red-haired breeder named Akane!"

"Blade? Blade?" They heard a familiar voice behind Nicole, and she emerged. She was wearing a nice beige dress that went down to her knees and had puffy short sleeves. (AP: Again, you can try to imagine her in something better. But it better be a dress. A short one.) She hugged the legendary knight and pecked him on the cheek. Nicole backed away, laughing as Blade hugged her back awkwardly, a clear mark of red lipstick left on his face.

"I'm going to leave you guys alone… Enjoy your night!" Nicole disappeared into the crowd, and Blade walked away with Akane dragging him to the food tables.

"Let's go." Gallatin offered his arm to her and she took it gingerly, leading him through the sea of people.

-Later-

"Ahem," King Alfred tapped the microphone and everybody became silent. He cleared his throat. "I trust you all had a splendid day today?" Murmurs of 'yes' were heard. He clapped his hands together.

"Fantastic! Now we shall have the Valentine's Dance. Remember everybody, it's just slow music, so there's no specific dance to be performed." As soon as he finished, the couples moved to the dance floor. Akane beamed as Blade placed his hand on her waist and his other intertwined with hers. They swayed together slowly as the music started, and Mariah and Nicole snickered at his panicked expressions when she rested her head against he chest. Gallatin took Katie's hand. Smiling, he asked,

"May I have this dance?"

"I.. I can't." Katie saddened. "I never learned. I'd probably fail at it."

"We're just going to be moving side to side, it's not that hard." He told her, as he moved her left hand to his shoulder. He grabbed the other and placed his right hand on her waist, and he could feel her stiffen like a board. He had danced with countless women many times before and this was all very simple.

"Come on." He smiled, already stepping side to side. Katie followed slowly, looking down at their feet.

"Ow." He grunted as she stepped on his foot.

"S-Sorry."

"You're looking down at the ground, aren't you? Don't." He tilted her chin up and moved his hand back to her waist. Mariah 'd'awwed' as she ate a cupcake from the tray she was carrying. Nicole smiled at her friend, but laughed when Blaster Blade had to dip Akane. Everybody turned to look and he was very flustered.

"His face is so red!" Gordon laughed heartily. Other knights joined in. Blaster Blade tried to shoot a glare in his direction but Akane made him face away from Gordon.

"Oh! Look!" Mariah pointed out. Blaster Blade lifted Akane into the air, and Katie felt a pang of pity for the knight, whose face clearly said, 'HELP ME I'LL DO ANYTHING!'

"Who's everybody commenting on?" Gallatin asked.

"On Blaster Blade's dancing with Akane. He looked so red when he lifted her up into the air and had to dip he- A-Ah!" She was cut short as Gallatin dipped her, and murmurs of 'aww' filled the room.

"S-Sir!"

"Is something wrong?" He smirked as he lifted her back up again.

"N-No.." Katie blushed as they continued dancing. "But.. it isn't like you to act like this."

"Maybe I'm just being a bit more daring today." He answered as he spun her. Katie wondered what he meant as they continued to dance together.

Time Setting: 8:45PM

"Alright, now I shall announce the couple of the evening!" King Alfred said aloud on the microphone. He winced when it made an unnaturally loud sound afterwards, and Gancelot adjusted a dial on the sound mixer backstage, chuckling to himself. King Alfred mouthed his thanks to the knight as Mariah came up to him with a box full of papers and she shook it. "This box has been filled with votes of the couple who should be the couple of the evening." Down in the crowd, Nicole crossed her fingers next to Blade and Akane. Akane and Blade did the same, but Akane was hoping for a different couple. Them.

"Please." They whispered in unison.

"The couple of the evening is.." King Alfred stuck his hand into the box and moved it around. Pulling out a slip of paper and unfolding it, a twinkle of humor shone in his eyes as he grinned.

"Blaster Blade and Breeder Akane!" Blaster Blade's jaw dropped as Akane dragged him over to King Alfred so they could recieve a crown for Blade and a beautiful tiara for Akane. Nicole clapped and made a 'I'm-not-helping-you-outta-this-one-I-deserve-this-moment' look to Blade who looked to her for help.

"And now, the couple of the evening shall dance alone! Everybody will stand on the sidelines." The couples did as told and Akane walked to the center of the room. Blaster Blade followed, and Marron gave him a rose to hand to Akane for the dance.

He gulped.

Time Setting: 9:36PM

Setting(s): Corridor and balcony overlooking the kingdom

"That was quite the evening." Gallatin commented as they headed back to their respective quarters, which were both in the west wing of the castle. Blade took the wet cloth from Nicole and wiped his face, cleaning away some lipstick from Akane. He couldn't be seen like that.

"Yeah, I guess it was." Blade sighed. Nicole had told him that it looked like a Mission Failure for them, and this had gotten him down. They were so very close the two times they tried, they just.. argh.

"You sound sad, Blaster Blade." Katie said, looking at the knight. He shook his head quickly, waving his hands in front of him.

"No! No, no, merely just tired, you see." He lied to her. "Lots of dancing and t was quite loud in there before the dancing. Really messes with one's head and body."

Suddenly, he spotted an empty balcony.

"Hey.." He stopped the group.

"Yeah, what is it?" Nicole asked. He was looking over at the balcony and she got the message.

They were going to have one last try.

"I need to go get something, can you two wait here?"

"Why can't we simply just head back to my quarters?" Gallatin asked with suspicion.

"Because I have something I need to tell you two."

"Here?" Katie folded her arms. "What could it poss- HEY!" She called after them when Blaster Blade and Nicole had already stiffly started walking away, and Gallatin sighed.

"I suppose we should wait here."

"Maybe on the balcony?" Katie suggested. He nodded, and together they went outside. They could hear the distant ball still going on, and the brightly lit ballroom could be seen from where they were. They stood together awkwardly as they waited.

"Katie?" Gallatin finally broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Yes, Master?"

"Tell me what couples do again."

"They hug, hold hands, have deep conversations and enjoy the other's company."

"You forgot one."

"Oh, and they.. um, kiss."

"..Katie, we never did get to kiss." Gallatin reminded her. "We hugged, held hands, and did quite a lot of things but we never kissed."

"I know.." She sighed, facing Gallatin. She was startled as his warm arms embraced her again, and instinctively she did the same around his neck, the light-headedness slowly coming back to her as she was surrounded in Gallatin's scent. Nicole and Blade tiptoed back to the scene and they gasped that their little plan did work.

"Yes!" Blaster Blade whispered, silently hi-fiving Nicole. "We did it!"

"Hope they don't notice us." Nicole whispered back.

"I can hear you guys back there." Gallatin smiled, and Blaster Blade and Nicole's eyes widened. "You two mind?" A bit upset but excited, they left again, running off to tell King Alfred and Mariah what they had seen.

"They could have stayed, you know." Katie chuckled, finally getting the picture of what they were trying to do.

"I didn't want them to ruin our special moment." He said to her. They pulled away a bit from the hug, and Gallatin tilted her chin up again, a soft smile on his lips. Katie blushed at the close contact again.

"Gallatin.." She whispered as she slowly closed her eyes. Their lips connected, and they kissed passionately in the moonlight.

Epilogue

Time Setting: 7:46PM

Date: 15th Feb 2014

Setting: The tavern (Don't really have a name for it. But I'll have another 'tavern' one-shot soon enough. But for 'On Cray' only.)

"And there ya have it." Blade grinned. Bedivere shook his head in amazement as he slid over a pouch of gold coins. Blade grabbed it and put it in his vest pocket.

"How did you even manage to do it?" He asked. Blade leaned back in his chair and drank some of his drink.

"I dunno." He shrugged. "I actually wasn't expecting this to turn out the way I planned."

"Ahem." He turned his head to find Nicole with an open palm and King Alfred beside her.

"Yes?" He asked, fully turning in his seat.

"Well?" Nicole said.

"Well what?"

"We deserve some." King Alfred answered.

"Wait, what?"

"We helped too, ya know." Nicole wriggled her fingers, but Blade didn't budge.

"But-"

"Blade." King Alfred sternly said.

Nicole rolled her eyes as Blaster Blade reluctantly handed over three quarters of the coins in the pouch, sulking as he did.

Author's Ending Section:

N'aw… *shakes head and smiles* In all my days of date-fixing on MCL, this has to be one of the best ones I have ever written. Well, not fixed, but you guys know what I mean, if you play 'Fix the Date' and have written in it.

I hope you enjoyed it, CrystalShard3, it took a lot of work, effort, focus and imagination. I kept putting it off when I had other things to do, but a gift like this is really important to me.

The truth behind the title: Operation LIP stands for 'Love in Public'. It waqs originally supposed to be called, 'Operation KIP', which was 'Kiss in Public', but I decided against it. Why? Well.. I suppose it was.. too specific for the story.

Welp. I've now gotta focus on King Alfred and Salome's date and 'The Christmas Performance'. Man, I might not even be able to finish it.

But I'll try.. for you guys.

Anyways, I'll see you all very soon.

-AuraPen