Chapter 25: Fire and Ice

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, Within Temptation, or these lyrics.

"And I still …/ … you and I"- Fire and Ice, Within Temptation

Finding Rachel in the study surprised Trigon. He didn't expect to find her looking out the window in the study. "What are you doing in here?"

"I've just been watching the neighbor's guests show up for their party. I've been doing this all week, watching the whole neighborhood decorate for Christmas."

He gathered some papers off the desk. "You're not still moping about that boy, are you?"

"His name's Jason, and no I'm not moping. I just have nothing to do and I liked watching the lights go up. I'm not really into these people but like I said, I have nothing else to do."

"Why don't you do something with your friends?" suggested Trigon. It just occurred to him that he hadn't seen any of her friends around.

"No, they're all doing something else." Having turned back to the window, Rachel rolled her eyes. Like he cared. She didn't think he ever really wanted her to have friends. She guessed she didn't have to worry about that anymore. They finally got the message. It wasn't as if they gave up easily. They kept calling, even coming over to see if she was all right. Rachel just shut them out. She had to, after what they did. She couldn't let them close again. She was sorry she had to push Jinni away. Rachel knew she had nothing to do with all of that but she was done with friends, all friends. Rachel was right; friendship wasn't worth the trouble.

Trigon realized his daughter has had to sacrifice a lot for him. Normally her discontentment wouldn't bother him but he wanted to show a positive front. He suggested, "Why don't you put up our trees?"

"Really?" Rachel turned around and looked at her father. "I thought you said we weren't going to have any trees this year; that you were too busy. And what about Laura? Didn't she say something about decorating for the new year's eve?"

"Well, I changed my mind. Besides, it would probably look weird to be the only house in the neighborhood without something up for the holidays. As far as Laura decorating? This isn't her house, it's yours."

Rachel started to perk up. A smile slowly spread on her face, "So I can decorate the house?"

"Yes, just don't go crazy. I don't want the place to look like a damn winter wonderland. I don't want you putting a bunch of shit outside, just the two trees, if you must, and maybe a few decorations inside." As he left the room, he muttered to himself, "Damn, just like her mother. She always wanted to decorate everything."

Trigon went to his office and Laura was away visiting some friends or something. Rachel never knew where she went but she didn't care. Sometimes she wondered if her father knew where Laura went. Oh well, that didn't matter. Rachel was alone and she could decorate for Christmas.

Rachel turned on the radio. Finding a good station, she turned it up. Her hair was now long enough to pull her it back into a short ponytail. Pulling it back, several wisps of hair fell forward, framing her face. She practically laughed at her excitement. Decorating for Christmas has always been magical for her.

Rachel pulled the trees and decorations from the basement. She set up one tree in the dining room. That was the "formal" tree and viewed from the street. That tree matched the formality of the dining room. It was formal enough if they had a client over for dinner. They didn't often have clients over but Rachel wanted be safe. She didn't want to make any mistakes so close to Christmas. She set the boxes of decorations next to the tree. There were gold and burgundy with the occasional olive green ornaments. Rachel plugged the white lights into a timer since they rarely entered that room.

The other tree was set up in the family room. It was in the corner near the fireplace and was more casual. It would be silver, white, and shades of blue, with small amounts of lime green, and plum. She planned to decorate the trees in the same manner. Rachel liked that they'd look completely different even though they'd be decorated similarly. One tree would be fire and the other would be ice.

With the trees lit, she set to decorate them. She was meticulous about it. She undid and re-draped the garland multiple times. Finally liking the way it was, Rachel smiled to herself.

Rachel continued by adding the ornaments, all while singing along with the Christmas carols on the radio. Her last step was to add the icicles, her favorite ornaments, to the blue and silver tree. With glitter all over her, Rachel stepped back and smiled.

Both trees were loaded with ornaments. She probably couldn't put another one on if she wanted to. The trees were beautiful, they sparkled and shined. Her friends would be shocked to see her so into the decorations. As far as they were concerned, she didn't believe in anything. But they weren't apart of her life anymore, so it didn't matter.

Christmas morning was quiet in the Roth household. At their leisure, father and daughter got up to a stress-free breakfast of pancakes. Rachel wondered where Laura was and asked about her.

"She thought she'd give us the morning, you know, just the two of us." Trigon hesitated a moment before continuing, "Um, you get along alright with Laura, don't you?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Laura had helped her after a beating but she also seemed to blame Rachel for getting abused. Sometimes, Rachel didn't understand the woman.

"How would you like having Laura as a stepmother?" He was going to marry her? Rachel didn't think they'd get married so soon. They've only been dating a few months.

"Um, yeah, that'd be …good." Rachel didn't know what else she could say. She knew that he'd already made up his mind to propose to Laura. Rachel knew he was only asking her opinion as a formality. He wouldn't change his mind if Rachel said no.

Rachel forced a smile on her face, "Congratulations." Things were about to get a lot more interesting. If Laura was her father's wife, then she'd have a say in what Rachel could or couldn't do. She hoped Laura wouldn't convince her father to send her away to that boarding school.

After they exchanged gifts, Trigon said, "I know things have been bad for awhile. I know you've had to put up with a lot and you've given up much because of me."

Rachel shrugged, "That's okay."

He sat next to his daughter on the sofa. "No, it's not okay. I've hurt you more than I've meant to. But you have to understand how hard it was for me to lose Angela. I ended up taking my anger out on you and I'm sorry."

That surprised Rachel. He's never admitted to doing anything wrong before. The closest he's ever come to apologizing was after they came home from the police station last month. He apologized for Laura and for thinking she turned him in. But he's never apologized for hurting her.

She listened in silence as he continued "What happened last month has showed me things have to change. I'm going to get help with my anger. It might take awhile but I promise things will get better. With Laura becoming part of our family, we'll all have a chance for a happy family." He leaned over and gave her a hug. Closing her eyes, Rachel hoped what he said about controlling his anger was true because if it was, then this was the best gift she'd ever received.

That evening, the dining room table lit up with candles. The room looked very romantic. The tree added to the jovial and festiveness of the room. Trigon had catered an elaborate meal. Tonight was going to be perfect. When Laura came home, her eyes lit up.

Rachel didn't know if she suspected anything. Were there signs of a proposal? The teen wondered if, after dating someone long and moving in together, was marriage the expected next step? Had Laura been expecting his proposal? If she didn't get it, would she have left?

After dinner, Trigon got on one knee. Laura looked surprised. Rachel was surprised. She hadn't expected her father to propose that night. She thought he'd do it later, after the new year. What was the hurry?

Trigon pulled a small box out of his pocket. "Laura De Mille, will you do me the honor of being my wife?" He opened the velvet covered box, presenting Laura with a large diamond ring.

Laura's sparkling eyes went from the ring to Trigon and back again. "Trigon?"

"Will you marry me?"

"Yes! Yes, of course! You're exactly what I've always wanted."

After putting the ring on Laura's finger, the newly engaged couple kissed. Embarrassed by that, Rachel looked away. It just occurred to her that she'd have a stepsister. Rachel knew nothing about her future stepsister, except that her name was Gemma. She'd never even seen a picture of the girl. She'd have to remember to do some research about her future stepmother and stepsister.

"Rachel, come here," Laura interrupted the teen's thoughts. Rachel went over to her father and Laura. She couldn't remember seeing Laura so happy.

"Congratulations."

Laura pulled Rachel into a hug, which Rachel didn't like. But to go along with the moment, she hugged her back. After the hug, Laura held Rachel by the shoulders at arms length. "If you want, since you don't have your real mother in your life, you can call me mom if you want."

Rachel looked to her father, "Um …uh …if it's okay, can I keep calling you Laura?"

"Of course, what ever you want." Laura went over and sat on Trigon's lap. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

If that was true, Laura wouldn't be nuzzling up to her father. Rachel understood that they were in love. They'd just got engaged after all, but did they have to practically make out in the dining room?

"I'm, um, uh, I'm going to go to my room. Merry Christmas."

In her room, Rachel flopped on her bed. She couldn't believe it, her father was getting married. He was getting married. He just proposed to Laura. He'd only mentioned marriage that morning. She couldn't believe it.

She sat up suddenly, deciding to look up her future stepmother. She read the computer screen. Laura De Mille was born in France to American parents. She was about Angela's age. It seemed that Rachel's father liked younger women. Both of his wifes, ex and future, were around ten years younger than him.

Rachel read further, Laura was an actress and sometimes she was a teacher. She never married but took a break from acting when she had a daughter. Rachel stopped reading. According to this, Laura's daughter, Gemma, was close to Rachel's age. That meant she was in high school. So why wasn't she with Laura?

Breaking glass and a loud squeal came from downstairs, making Rachel jump. What happened? She hurried down stairs and was shocked to see them laughing while they picked up a broken glass. She broke a glass and got scars on her arm. They break a glass and they're laughing? Sometimes life wasn't fair.

"What happened? Are you two okay?"

"Yeah, we're okay. We got a little carried away with our toast."

"Well, I'm glad no one got hurt. I'm going to go back upstairs." Rachel turned to leave the room.

"Rachel, wait," Laura dropped the fragments of glass in the trash. "We have great news. We're getting married."

"Um, yes, I know." Did they forget that she was there when they got engaged?

"We know you know that. What we're saying is, we're getting married before the new year." Trigon and Laura couldn't stop gazing at on another.

"What? There's just six days left of the year. How can you get married so fast? Isn't there a lot of planning?"

"Not if we go to Las Vegas and elope." Laura was giddy. She practically danced around.

"Las Vegas? Elope? But dad, I thought …" Rachel didn't know what she thought. She never expected her father to be in a whirlwind romance.

"It's okay. This works out perfectly. We'll be married before the end of the year and we won't have the expenses of a wedding. Everything is taken care of there."

"That's right. They have so many types of weddings there. We can have which ever type we want. What do you think, Tri, should we have a goofy wedding or an elegant one? We could be stereotypical and have Elvis at our wedding."

"It's your first time walking down the aisle, we can do whatever you want. But I have a feeling you want it to be as elegant and elaborate as it can be."

Laura laughed. "You know me too well. I should look online for what type of wedding we'll have. Oh, I should also look to see what stores have for a wedding dress. It needs to be something I can buy here. I'm sure they have something in Las Vegas but I don't want to risk it."

"Don't forget to look for something for the wedding night," Trigon called out to his fiancée. Laura giggled as she went upstairs. Rachel wrinkled her nose and frowned, she didn't want to think of their wedding night and what they'd be doing.

Trigon chuckled at his daughter's expression. He understood. No one liked thinking of their parents in bed. "You okay with all of this?"

"Isn't it a little fast?"

"Maybe, but it's what we want." Father and daughter hugged. Rachel wasn't used to so much hugging. It didn't feel normal. She wasn't a huggy type of person. "Oh, did you want to be there? Laura and I were thinking it would just be the two of us. But if you want to be apart of this, we can make adjustments."

"Oh, um, no," Rachel had kind of assumed that she was going too, but she didn't really want to be part of the wedding. She just thought that they wouldn't leave her home for longer than a night. "No, I'm fine with staying home."

"Good, that means we can have a honeymoon right after we're married. But I think while we're gone you should stay at a friend's house. You know what, maybe over the summer, we can go on vacation as a new family? Maybe we can go to France and Laura can show us where she grew up?"

"Okay, um, dad, what about Laura's …"

"Trigon?" Laura called with a sing-songy voice from the stairway.

"I better go see what my fiancée wants."

"…daughter?" Trigon left his daughter to go to his future wife. Why wouldn't anyone talk about Laura's daughter?

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