As always special thanks to supergeek17 for the ant language and all her help with this story, I don't think I could have finished it without her encouragement and help.
Also thank you to everyone who has reviewed or added this story to their favorites or alerts list it means a lot to me.
Well here it is, the last and hardest chapter to write, I swear I was blushing the whole time I wrote the end of it. I hope everyone enjoys it, if you've read this far please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the story.
It was the day before Valentines Day and Zoc was still spending all of his time working on the potion. Ann had just gotten home and decided she couldn't wait any longer to see him so she headed to the basement and used one of the extra shrinking potions that were kept hidden in the basement then headed into the nest.
As Ann got close to Zoc's home she could hear him muttering something that she was sure it was a good thing she couldn't understand, then she saw a potion bottle suddenly shatter against the wall. She hesitated a moment then peaked inside, any anger she had felt about not seeing him since Friday instantly disappeared when she saw him. He was sitting in a chair, with his elbows on the table, his face in his hands and his antennas drooping, making him look completely exhausted and depressed.
"Is this potion really worth getting this upset about?" Ann asked as she walked into the room and over to Zoc.
Zoc looked up at her, "I just wanted to have it done before tomorrow, sort of as a wedding present, what type of wizard am I if I can't figure out how to properly make two simple potions."
"Two?" Ann asked.
"Yes, one was more for you and the other was more for me." Zoc told her.
"And you haven't been able to get either one to work?" Ann asked.
"No," Zoc said picking a fire crystal up off of the table, "I got the one to work that's more for me within the first two weeks." He told her, his grip tightening on the crystal until it shattered.
"Zoc I don't care whether you get these potions to work, all that matters to me, is that by this time tomorrow we will be married." Ann told him, pulling him to his feet and wrapping her arms around his neck, "The only thing that might upset me is if you keep worrying about these potions all night and you're too tired to stay awake to get married tomorrow. So don't worry about the potions, I'm sure you'll get them to work eventually." She told him.
"I just feel guilty that I haven't been able to get the one to work for you." Zoc said.
"You've done the best you can, that's all that matters, as long as I can fall asleep and wake up in your arms everyday for the rest of my life that's enough for me." Ann told him then kissed him. After a moment she pulled back and said."Just try not to work on the potions too much longer."
Zoc sighed, "Alright, I'll try." He said kissing her one more time before letting her go.
"Good and you should probably be spending more time making sure you have a good supply of extra potions." Ann told him smiling.
"You won the trip?" Zoc asked.
"Yes, we are going to Egypt for a month in May." Ann told him excitedly hugging him.
"I knew you could do it." Zoc told her.
After saying good bye Ann headed back to her house, she was just coming up the basement stairs when someone knocked at her door.
"Mary, what are you doing here?" Ann asked when she got to the door and opened it.
"I'm here for the wedding; you didn't think I would miss my best friends wedding did you?" Mary asked.
"How did you get time off from school?" Ann asked.
"I just called in sick and told them I was sick with something horribly contagious and since I've never taken a sick day or even been late for a class they just assumed I was telling the truth." Mary told her.
"You're horrible, but I'm thrilled that you're here." Ann said.
"So where's your ant?" Mary asked.
"Working on some potion that he won't tell me what it's for." Ann told her.
"Well I'm sure if he's taking time away from you to work on it he thinks it's something you'll really like." Mary said.
"How do you know its something for me?" Ann asked.
Mary hesitated for a second then said, "I just assumed if he was putting that much time into it, it must be for you."
"What do you know about this that you're hiding?" Ann asked suspiciously.
"Okay, I called on Friday to let you know I was coming and Zoc answered the phone." Mary told her.
Ann stared at Mary shocked that she would lie to her, "That's kind of hard to believe considering Zoc would never answer my phone." Ann told her.
"Okay fine, he called me and needed some help with something." Mary admitted.
"Help with what?" Ann asked.
"Help with something I can't tell you about because he swore me to secrecy before he would tell me. All I can tell you is you'll probably like the potion he already has done and you'll like the other one once he get's it to work." Mary told her.
"He actually told you what the potions will do? He wouldn't even tell his sister that." Ann told her in disbelief.
"Well, like I said he needed my help with something, just please forget about it for tonight, you'll find out about it tomorrow as long as he doesn't decide not to use the one he already has until he get's the second one to work."
"Fine I won't bring it up again." Ann said reluctantly.
Ann and Mary spent the rest of the evening discussing the wedding as well as Mary's own wedding that she was still planning.
The next morning Ann woke up to Mary sitting on the side of her bed and bouncing up and down.
"What do you want?" Ann asked pulling the covers over her head.
"You're getting married today; don't you think you should get out of bed?" Mary asked.
"I'm not getting married until this afternoon and as late as we were up talking last night I think I deserve to sleep in." Ann told her.
"You have slept in, it's almost ten o'clock." Mary told her.
Ann shot up glancing at the clock, "It's that late and you hadn't gotten me up yet?" Ann asked.
"Like you said, we were up late last night and I thought it would be better to let you sleep in than to have you too tired to stay awake on your wedding night." Mary said with a mischievous grin.
"Good point, not that there's much that will happen." Ann said.
"It'll still take him half the night just to get you out of this thing." Mary said holding up a corset that had been sitting on a chair in the corner of Ann's room. "Anyways knowing that you can't have sex gives you one less thing to be nervous about, right?" Mary asked.
"I guess so; still it would be nice if we could." Ann said.
"Would you have still agreed to marry him this soon if you could?" Mary asked.
"Of course, what difference would it make?" Ann asked.
"I don't know, just like- well like if you were ready to let him see you naked and stuff, but not sure you were ready to actually have sex and since you knew you couldn't have sex anyways you agreed to go ahead and marry him. If you could have sex would you have wanted to wait longer to get married?" Mary asked.
"No, I'd be ready for it, if we could, not that it matters since we can't." Ann said.
"I was just curious. So let's get you ready for your wedding." Mary said.
A couple of hours later Hope and Elnora had shown up to help Ann get ready.
"Are you sure this won't hurt you?" Hope asked.
"I'll be fine; I'll let you know if it's too tight." Ann told her.
"Either that or she'll just pass out from not being able to breath." Mary said.
Hope looked uncertainly at Ann. "I'll be fine, human women use to were these all the time, anyways grandma's wedding dress was made to be worn with a corset, I don't want to take any chances of damaging it. Now just slowly pull the laces tight, I'll tell you when to stop." Ann told her.
Once Ann had the corset and petticoats on Mary did her hair then Ann walked over to a glass display case she had set up in her room and carefully took out her great, great, great grandmother's wedding dress. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, what if something happens to it?" Ann said as she looked at the dress.
"It'll be fine, it's been well cared for and the material is still in almost new condition. It's one of the best preserved pieces of clothing I've ever seen, as long as you're careful it should be fine and if anything does happen to it I know some people who are experts when it comes to cleaning and repairing antique clothing." Elnora told her.
"Alright." Ann said still a little nervous about wearing the dress.
As they help Ann get the dress on Mary said, "I was wrong."
"About what?" Ann asked.
"About it taking Zoc half the night to get you undressed, it's going to take him all night. I don't think I have ever seen so many buttons on one dress." Mary said.
"They didn't have zippers back when this dress was made." Ann pointed out.
"Well I'll bet who ever invented zippers came up with it on their wedding night when they ended up to tired to do anything else by the time they got through all the buttons." Mary said.
They had just finished getting Ann ready when someone knocked at the door and Mary ran to answer it, while Ann and Hope stepped into the sitting room just incase it was someone other than Lucas.
Ann was shocked when Mary led not only Lucas, but also a man into the sitting room. "Mary, who is this and what is he doing here?" Ann asked a little shocked that Mary had let him in and that the man didn't seem at all surprised to see Hope.
"I'm so sorry, I meant to tell you he was coming this is my fiancé John." Mary told her.
"And you told him about the ants?" Ann asked getting a little upset.
"Yes, but Zoc said it would be alright as long as I was sure he could be trusted, which I am." Mary told her, "Please don't be angry with me, you'll understand later, I promise."
Sighing Ann said, "Alright, I guess if Zoc thought it would be alright I can't get mad at you for it." Ann said.
"Good, now let's get going, I want to see the nest and I'm sure John and Elnora do too." Mary said picking up a full length cape for Ann to put on over the dress.
When they got to the basement Ann called Zoc and he came and shrunk them all and they headed into the nest. They were about half way through the tunnel that led to the nest when Ann noticed that Zoc and John had dropped behind the others and looked like they were whispering about something, what ever it was Zoc looked disappointed.
"What do you think they're up to?" Ann asked Mary as she started to slow down.
"I don't know, I'll go see." Mary said stepping away from Ann and heading back to Zoc and John.
Ann was just about to follow her when Lucas asked, "So how are your magic lessons going?"
"Fine." Ann replied watching over her shoulder as Mary walked up to Zoc and whispered something to him, a look of relief crossing his face.
Lucas suddenly grabbed Ann's hand as she started to try to get back to Zoc again. "Can you show me, can you make the ring glow or something?" he asked looking at her ring.
Ann made the crystal glow for a second then glanced back over her shoulder to see Mary walking quickly to catch up with her.
"So, what were they up to?" Ann asked.
"They're just talking that's all." Mary said.
"Yeah, talking about something you don't want me to know about." Ann replied.
"You'll find out soon enough." Mary told her.
Once they got into the nest Zoc left them and Hope and Ann gave the others a quick tour of the nest before they went to Hope's home where Mary made a few last minute adjustments to Ann's hair and helped her get the veil on just right.
"Are you ready for this?" Mary asked.
Ann grinned at her, "Absolutely." She replied.
"So what are ant weddings like?" Mary asked as they headed to the meeting chamber.
"From what Zoc has told me, it won't be much different from a human wedding; vows, now pronounce you husband and wife, kiss the bride and then a huge reception. The biggest difference will be a crystal that the groom carves with an image that will remind the couple of something special or important that's happened in their relationship. It sort of takes the place of rings which ants don't usually use, but since we already have my great grandparent's rings that we found in the safe we're going to use them." Ann told her.
"So what did he carve onto the crystal?" Mary asked.
"I don't know yet, the bride doesn't get to see the crystal until the wedding." Ann told her.
When they came up just outside of the meeting chamber, May and Lilly ran over to Ann. "Zoc said to give these to you--something about a human tradition?" May told her as she handed Ann a bouquet of pink roses, ones that matched those on her dress.
"They're perfect," Ann breathed as she looked at them.
"What are they for?" Lilly asked.
"Honestly… I don't know how the tradition was started, but human brides usually carry a bouquet when they walk down the aisle," Ann explained.
"Are you ready?" Hope asked.
"Yeah, just a little nervous," Ann replied, taking a deep breath. "How many people are in there?"
"Pretty much the whole colony--we tend to use a wedding as an excuse to take a day off," Lilly told her.
"Great," Ann said, only marginally sarcastic. "Okay I can deal with that… I hope. Lucas, you have the rings right?"
"Yeah, but are you sure I'm not too old to be a ring bearer? Don't they normally have little kids do that?" Lucas asked.
"Lucas, does it really matter? This isn't exactly a normal wedding," Ann pointed out.
Lucas considered Ann's argument. "Good point."
"Okay-- give us a minute to get to our seats and then you come in," Hope instructed before leaving.
"Okay," Ann whispered, then turned to Elnora and asked, "You've done so much for me already, Elnora, but if I may, I'd like to ask one more thing of you."
"And what is that, dear?" Elnora replied.
"Walk me down the aisle?" Ann requested.
"I would be honored to," Elnora told her, taking her arm and smiling proudly.
A minute later, they walked into the meeting chamber. Ann looked around at the huge crowed that had gathered and then looked straight ahead, trying her very hardest not to think about how many ants were there. She couldn't help but smile softly when she saw Zoc standing at the end of the aisle, on the old pocket watch. A pedestal stood next to him, about as high as Ann's waist, with a dark green crystal sitting on it; the head of council stood behind the pedestal. As she got closer, Ann realized the crystal had a carving of the Lincoln memorial carved on it, the place they had first admitted to loving each other, the place where it all began.
When they had joined Zoc at the front of the council chamber, Ann handed her bouquet to Elnora, who stepped off to the side. Zoc took her one hand as they both put their other hand on the crystal as they said their vows, all in fluent Ant, but a very human twist:
"Qa jami, Zoc Veneficius, il ipsai'a kachim ilimsai'ah, zhemil xaiqilmeh, shegihl sahlmali'oh?" Do you, Zoc Veneficius, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?
"Qaizhil," Zoc breathed, not looking away from Ann's dark brown eyes. Her dark brown eyes, which were now growing very, very misty. "I do."
"Qa jami, Ann Rochelle Harrison, il homai'il kachim ilimsai'ah, zhemil xaiqilmeh, shegihl sahlmali'oh?" Do you, Ann Rochelle Harrison, take this ant to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, 'till death do you part?
"Qaizhil," Ann answered, feeling her heart speeding up. "I do."
At this point, the couple exchanged rings. Somehow, Ann managed to keep her hands from shaking as she slipped the antique gold band on the last finger on Zoc's hand; Zoc, conversely, had far less luck-- his hand shook terribly as he slipped the gold band on Ann's left ring finger, next to her engagement band. As he completed the task, he looked up at Ann with warm ice blue eyes and smiled; Ann smiled back, determined not to cry… at least right away.
"Tyi mah ehdial shi riqamai Homai'il Iri'a--" And now in the name of the Ant Mother--
"Mah ehdial shi riqamai Zhaisyira-Qam…" Zoc softly corrected, so that only he and Ann knew-- In the name of Great-Grandmother…
"--Si giriah ipshira qolamay tyi ilimsai'ah. Jami yao gurio zailiramirishi." I now pronounce you married. You may kiss the bride.
Very gently, Zoc pulled Ann close him and drew her face to his. As he pressed his lips to hers, Ann could feel her heartbeat echoing in her ears like an ocean, and felt nothing but utter happiness.
The reception reminded Ann so much of the first snow celebration-- more food, music and dancing than she had ever deemed possible. "So how long will this last?" Ann asked her new husband-- how strange it was to be able to say that!-- after a couple of hours of dancing.
"Until the musicians are too tired to keep playing, just like the first snow celebration-- although the bride and groom can disappear anytime they want to," Zoc said with a mischievous grin.
Ann felt her cheeks warm slightly as she smiled and said, "We should be getting Lucas home before his mother decides to call his friend's house and finds out he's not really there."
"Very true," Zoc agreed with a single nod. "We should gather all of our human guests though; I doubt we'll want to be interrupted later to make them bigger so they can go home."
"You're probably right-- I'm sure we'll be busy later," Ann replied, kissing him once, passionately, before they split up to look for Mary and the others.
"It's time to go," Ann said when she found Mary.
"Why? I'm having fun--this is awesome!" Mary announced eagerly, high from the exotic festivities and environment.
"Because if you don't leave now, you'll be spending the night the size of an ant--Zoc and I are going home," Ann told her.
"Ohh, that's why," Mary replied knowingly, with a dash of suggestiveness thrown in just to make her childhood friend squirm. "I guess we can leave, then, if you're that impatient to enjoy your first night as Mrs. Zoc Veneficius."
Ann turned a brilliant shade of pink. "More like more nervous than I've ever been in my life… and a little impatient," Ann admitted with a small smile.
"If you can't have sex with him, what is there to be nervous about?" Mary asked.
"The facts that no one has seen me naked since I was seven; that I've always been terribly modest; and that the guy I'm married to isn't even human, so I don't have the first clue how he'll react to seeing me naked," Ann explained, ticking the reasons off on her fingers.
"You'll be fine--you might have a lot of explaining to do, but you'll be fine," Mary reassured her. "I'll go find John and meet you by the main entrance."
A few minutes later, after they had all been rounded up, everyone headed back to Ann's house. "I'll call you tomorrow before I leave town," Mary told her.
"Okay, I'll talk to you then," Ann said, hugging her friend goodbye and thanking her once more.
"I don't want to see you at work for the next week--even if you can't get out of school that long you still deserve to have as much extra time together as possible since you won't get a proper honeymoon until May," Elnora told her.
"Okay, I'll see you in a week then, and thank you," Ann replied gratefully.
Ann shut the front door after everyone left, then gasped as Zoc caught her around the waist and pulled her back against his frame and started kissing her neck. "You're in a bit of a hurry, aren't you?" Ann gently teased, smiling as she reached up to run a finger along his antenna. "Are you going to tell me what those potions are for now?"
"Not until I get you out of that dress," Zoc announced as he suddenly scooped her into his arms and carried her upstairs.
"What exactly is this potion that I have to be undressed to use it?" Ann asked, quirking an eyebrow as Zoc opened the door to the master bedroom.
"You'll see," he replied mysteriously as he set her down next to her bed and took her hand in his, using the crystal on her ring to light a few candles that were set up around the room.
"Either way, good luck getting me undressed-- you're gonna need it," Ann told him wryly.
"The longer it takes me, the more time I have to enjoy your shoulders," Zoc replied. Very gently, he kissed her and slowly worked his way down her neck to her shoulders. In one fluid motion, he was behind her, planting delicate kisses on her uppermost back and shoulder blades. Slowly, he started unbuttoning her dress while continuing to kiss her neck and shoulders, his antennas gently stroking her hair and cheeks.
"Wonderful," Ann breathed as she gently kissed the tips of his antennas.
Once he had slipped the dress off of her frame, he started in on her corset, kissing farther down her back as he unlaced it to expose more of her back, his antennas curling over her shoulders and stroking them, as well as the top of her chest and sending chills up and down Ann's exposed spine. Somewhere along the way, the antique silver pin that held Ann's hair in place clattered to the floor, and her dark hair fell around her shoulders and face.
Zoc finished with the corset and moved onto the petticoat, untying it and sliding his hands slowly down her hips, dropping the last of her clothes around her feet.
Very gently, he turned her to face him; Ann tried not to squirm under his fascinated blue eyes. Finally, he announced tenderly, "You are the strangest… and yet most beautiful woman I have ever seen." He gently pulled her into his arms and kissed her, his hands wondering gently over her bare skin.
After a few moments, she pulled away just enough to look up at his face. "Well, Zoc, you've gotten me out the dress," she teased. "Now will you tell me what those potions are? Why did you tell Mary about them, but no one else?"
"She wasn't the only one who knew what they were for," Zoc admitted. "Lucas and John knew too."
"Why? How did they know?" Ann asked.
"Lucas knew because I… used him to test the one I got to work on," Zoc admitted.
"You were using Lucas as a guinea pig?" Ann asked incredulously. "What exactly does the potion do?"
"Mary said you would be alright with it, but if you're not we don't have to use it yet," Zoc said in lieu of an answer to Ann's query.
"What are you talking about-- what does the potion do?" Ann asked almost impatiently.
"Do you remember the night when you were working on your report, and I said I was going to finish going through my great-grandfather's potions?" Zoc lead in.
"Of course," Ann replied.
"I found his formula for two potions: one to turn a human into an ant, and one to turn an ant into a human," Zoc told her, running his hands through her thick hair.
"Unfortunately I haven't been able to get the one to turn me into a human to work."
Ann smiled widely and asked, "Y… you're telling me you can turn me into an ant?"
"Yes," he replied, smiling warmly.
"So we can… properly celebrate our wedding night?" she asked as she ran a finger over the patterning on Zoc's right arm. Zoc's single nod confirmed Ann's query, and her face lit up. "Well, where's the potion?"
Never looking away from Ann's face, Zoc reached behind him and picked a potion bottle up off of her dresser. "How did you get that in here without me noticing?" she asked, arching her eyebrow a bit.
"I brought it here, after I took you and the others into the nest," Zoc explained.
Ann carefully accepted the bottle from Zoc. She hesitated and asked, "Do you have something that will reverse this? I really don't think showing up to my classes as an ant would be a good idea."
"Don't worry," Zoc reassured. "It wears off after a few hours."
"I assume you have more than one bottle, then?" she announced, looking up from the pale green potion.
"Enough to last us tonight-- probably tomorrow," he theorized, "and I can make more while you're at school the next day." He told her.
"Good." Ann said as she uncorked the bottle and, taking a deep breath, drank the potion. She closed her eyes as dizziness washed over her; her whole body seemed to tingle, and she suddenly started to stumble backwards.
Zoc was at her side in an instant. "Plant your legs a little farther apart," Zoc said as he grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling.
Ann opened her eyes, and realized the potion had worked. Gasping very softly, she spread out her four legs until she felt more balanced, and looked over her shoulder at Zoc. "How do you walk like this without falling on your butt all the time?" she asked.
"Once you get use to it, you shouldn't have a problem," Zoc told her, smiling warmly.
"I hope you're right," Ann said, then suddenly thought of something she couldn't help asking: "If I'm an ant now, does… does that mean we could have children?"
A sad look touched Zoc's face as he said, "No-- that's why Mary, John and Lucas knew about the potion before you. Mary came about a week ago and we used the potion on Lucas. She took a blood sample for John to check. As it turns out, the potion only changes your appearance;genetically, you're still completely human. Mary said it wouldn't have made any difference either way-- even if you did become pregnant, the pupa would have been killed as soon as the potion wore off."
"That's what John was telling you on the way into the nest, isn't it?" Ann asked sympathetically.
"Yes," Zoc confirmed, crestfallen.
"Well, what did Mary tell you then?" Ann questioned. "Whatever it was, it certainly seemed to cheer you up."
The mere memory of Mary's words was enough to raise Zoc's spirits significantly. "I had asked her to try to find out if it would have made any difference in your decision to go ahead and get married if we could have sex," he explained. "I didn't want to wait until tonight after we were married to tell you about the potion if you weren't ready for that; I didn't want you to feel we had t--"
Placing one of her three fingers on Zoc's lips, Ann smiled softly. "You're so sweet and considerate and absolutely wonderful-- you should have know that it wouldn't have made a difference to me," she told him. "I do have one question, though."
"What is that?" Zoc asked.
"How do ants make love?" Ann asked.
Zoc flashed Ann a debonair, mischievous smile. "I'll teach you," he murmured, pulling her into the first of the many passionate kisses exchanged that night.
Please leave a review and let me know if anyone would like to see a sequel to this. I have the first couple pages written, but it's going slowly, so it may not be posted right away, but if enough people are interested in it I'll try to put some more effort into it. Also any suggestions of things to happen in the sequel are welcome, I have a basic outline of what will happen with a few major events like the honeymoon in Egypt planned and a few other things, but need to flesh it out a bit more, so if anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them. If anyone wants to know when I post the sequel either send me your email address in a privet message and I'll let you know or add me to your author alerts, the sequel will be the only other story I will be posting under this account, everything else I have written is under the user name Christiana Anne and is mostly Transformers fics.
Thank you again to everyone who has reviewed.