Zelda sighed nervously as the car rolled to a stop outside of Peach's mansion. Ike held her hand from his spot behind the wheel, the engine of his pride and joy rumbling with obvious power even as it idled. She glanced to him and he gave her a grin, closing the gap between them for a soft quick kiss. "I'm here," he said reassuringly, "and I'm not going anywhere."

"Goddesses I hope father isn't here," she breathed and Ike chuckled.

"And miss a chance to see his favorite person in the whole wide world? Come on," he grinned and opened his door, the little creak making Zelda tilt her head. She watched him walk around to her side, curiosity getting the better of her.

"You know," she said carefully as he opened her door, holding out a hand to help her, "that door squeaks right?"

"Yep," he said with a nod.

"Why don't you fix it?" she asked and he shrugged.

"Always creaked when Dad drove it," he said and she smiled sadly at him, squeezing his fingers. "Are you ready for this girlfriend?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," she said with a scowl and he shook his head as they neared the front door, him raising a hand to knock.

"Zellie! I-" Peach froze mid excited word, eyes landing on Ike and widening. "You-you brought-"

"So nice to see you again Peach," Ike said with a charming smile in place on his lips, stepping past Zelda's stunned sister with a determined look in his eyes. "Mario!" he greeted the round man in a red dress shirt who beamed at him.

"Ike! My god man it's been too long!" they shook hands, grinning like old friends and Zelda let out a shaky sigh of relief.

"I know it's been a few days, we never set up our registry or anything," he said and Mario let out a loud laugh.

"Don't worry, I've got a rough draft going, we'll just add a few things and-"

"You," Ganondorf's voice boomed out, silencing the crowd. Zelda turned, looking to see Ike already striding towards her father.

"Sir," he said, hand outstretched, face guarded.

"I thought this," Ganondorf motioned between Zelda and Ike, "was over."

"It's not, not by a longshot," Ike said firmly.

"You're not good enough for her," Ganondorf stated and Ike smirked confidently at him.

"I know that," Ike said, hand still held out between them.

"I don't approve of this," it was a subtle and veiled threat, one that made Zelda roll her eyes.

"I don't care," Ike's voice was firm, unwavering. Zelda watched them stare each other down, both so set in their ways. Finally, for the first time in her life since Ganondorf adopted her, she saw him cave. His hand reached out and shook Ike's, a tiny smile threatening to be seen on his lips. "Who knows sir," Ike said when the handshake was finished, "I might win you over one of these days."

"Don't push it," Ganondorf said, this time the small smile slipping as he turned to Zelda. "Well come here," he held out his arms and Zelda stepped over to him, happily hugging him with a glance at Ike. It wasn't perfect, but it was a start.

XxX

Dinner passed with polite small talk. Rosalina talked about some doctor she had met, how they had a second date planned, and how he insisted she buy a new dress for the occasion with his credit card. Peach shrieked out at a random point about a positive home pregnancy test, at which Mario paled slightly, and Palutena spent the remainder of the meal regaling Mario and Ike with tales of when the girls were little and all the trouble they would cause.

"I had days when I wondered what possessed me to adopt three girls!" she laughed and Ike chuckled next to her, eyes looking to Zelda with amusement.

"You were a troublemaker huh?" he asked and Zelda gave an indignant sniff.

"Peach always started it," she said and Peach scoffed.

"Please, Rosalina always did, I got blamed. The pink nail polish on the wall was so her, not me."

"I hated pink!" Palutena pointed out with a huff. "Why would I cover my bedroom wall in it?"

"That..." Zelda cleared her throat and sipped her water, "was actually me. I was getting Peach back for ripping Pandabear."

"YOU!?" Peach shrieked and Ike laughed. "I got in so much trouble for that!"

"Ike m'boy," Mario stood up and motioned to the doorway with a nod of his head, "I think it best to let the sisters quarrel."

"Me too, before the bloodshed starts," Ike stood up and Zelda looked up at him.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked and he chuckled.

"I had enough fights with Mist growing up to know when to back away from squabbling women," he said and she shook her head, him leaning over and pressing a soft kiss to her temple.

"To the mancave!" Mario declared and Ike followed him out of the room, Ganondorf standing silently and moving like a shadow behind them. "I got these cigars in and..." A silence fell over the women, Peach letting out a giggle to break the ice.

"Daddy seems to be warming up to Ike," Peach said and Palutena nodded.

"About time, best man any of you have brought around since Peach met Mario," she said with a smile at Zelda. "He's a nice young man I like him."

"Has he told you he loves you yet?" Rosalina asked an Zelda shook her head.

"I think he does, but he's just-"

"Being a man about it?" Peach interjected and Zelda shook her head with a little laugh.

"He'll hopefully say it soon..." she stood up, curious as to what was going on in the 'mancave'. "Peach?"

"Hmm?" she responded casually as she sipped on her blindingly pink lemonade.

"Do you still have the mancave bugged?"

"You have listening devices in your husband's chillroom?" Palutena asked with a laugh and Peach shrugged.

"It's Peach," Rosalina pointed out with a smile, "of course she does."

"I don't have it bugged anymore," Peach said with a sigh as she stood up. "Mario found it and scolded me for being so nosy."

"Mario scolded you?" they all asked in unison and Peach laughed.

"Yes, he does that from time to time," she said and Zelda shook her head, finding it hard to imagine Mario ever fussing at Peach over anything.

XxX

Finally the night with her family ended, and Zelda was pleasantly surprised to see her father and boyfriend shake hands without veiled threats and clipped tones. They made it back to the car and Ike sighed heavily as he turned the key. "I remember telling you I never wanted to do that again," he said with a look over at her. She returned the look with a toothy smile.

"You did it because you love me," she said and he hesitated, hand poised over the gearshift. "I-I mean you-"

"I didn't want to say it in the car in front of Peach's castle over here," he said as he turned to look at her, seriousness carved into his expression, "but yeah, I do."

"What?" Zelda was pretty sure her heart forgot to beat and her lungs forgot how to breathe as he turned to her, a hand coming up to touch the side of her face gently.

"Zelda," his voice was soft but powerful, his eyes focused on hers, "I love you."

"I love you too," she breathed and he closed the gap between their lips with a swift but air-stealing kiss. As he pulled away she remembered how to breathe and said to him all in a rush, "Do you wanna spend the night?"

"Define 'spend the night'," he said with a flirty grin and red flooded her cheeks.

"Well I don't have a headboard to break..." she said and his grin grew lustful.

"No but you have a mattress that could use a good breaking in," he said in a low voice that sent a shiver of anticipation down her spine.

"How fast can this car go?" she asked and he shot her a look as he put it in drive, the tires squealing on the smooth concrete as they lurched forward.

XXX

This is the end! I really want to thank my amazing and lovely reviewers from last chapter: concisponci (for every chapter of everything I ever post ever), FireEmblemNerd (I think you're right behind her on the list of most reviews), CowTits the Udderly Glorious (that name made me laugh and I had to tell about twenty different people who then gave me weird looks...), CallMeDecaffeinated (I'm never decaffeinated, I pity you), and my lovely Guest lilpup (I'm glad to be bookmarked twice!) Seriously, you guys have no idea how awesome the alerts make me feel. And a big thank you to all of you who have followed and favorited over the course of the story. Hugs for all my readers! As this is the last chapter, let me know what you think! I will always be posting more Zike, so (shameless self promotion here) check back soon! Thank you all so much for reading. Much love, Leigh