Just Waiting

Part Twenty-Three F, Day 89 – 1 Day to Go

By Relm

Jilas looked to be pretty determined as he stood guard outside Filia's room at the inn. The bride to be was getting ready with the girls and Jilas was just outside standing guard. Given that both Lina and Amelia were in the room with Filia it wasn't really that necessary for Jilas to be standing out in the hall. But since Val had pointed out just how many things could go wrong Filia got a bit freaked out. So Jilas offered to stand watch to help ease some of Filia's tension.

Since Jilas had suggested standing watch while Filia got ready Gravos offered to stand watch outside Xellos' room while he got ready. Filia had been very grateful for her two helpers. If hadn't been for them Filia might not even started getting ready. She was just too freaked out to go to the inn.

Jilas felt pretty good about himself. He always felt his best when he was doing something useful. So even though he wasn't exactly doing too much at that moment he was happy since he made Filia feel safer. Jilas was a person that took his job and duties seriously.

'I hope the boss isn't freaking out too much. It's her wedding day, she should be enjoying it.' Jilas thought to himself while images of his own wedding flashed through his head.

It hadn't been too long ago that Jilas himself had been standing at the altar waiting for his blushing bride to be to walk down the aisle. During the whole Dark Star fiasco Jilas had met another fox beastperson by the name of Elena. Given just how many of his kind had been hunted down it had been very surprising to Jilas to find another of his kind. Jilas had been particularly fond of Elena's son Palou. Palou used to call him Uncle Jilas, however now the young fox beastman called Jilas dad.

When Jilas had originally met the mother and son he had told himself that he stuck around because of Palou. But after Filia requested the Gravos and Jilas distance themselves from Val for a little while Jilas found himself going back to Elena. He hadn't left her and Palou on good terms and Jilas had been afraid that they would hate him. As it turned out his fears didn't need to be heeded. Elena and Palou were happy to have him back even with Gravos in tow. In fact Palou had been delighted to meet his new uncle Gravos.

But when Jilas came back to Elena and Palou he hadn't expected to be getting married. No, Jilas hadn't expected to fall in love. But does one expect to fall in love? No, it just happens when it wants to.

'I wonder if they are in town yet...' Jilas thought to himself. Elena and Palou were naturally invited to Filia's wedding. Filia was quite fond of the mother and son. And Palou and Val got along very well even with Val's accelerated aging.

"Dad!" Palou yelled out in delight breaking Jilas from his thoughts.

"Palou!" Jilas held his arms open as his step son came running towards him for a bone crushing hug.

"Hello husband of mine." Elena greeted her husband with a warm smile.

"Hello yourself darling." Jilas returned the smile. He would have hugged his wife but Palou was still holding onto him pretty tightly.

"How's Filia doing?"

"We had a couple mishaps but things are okay for now. However the boss is pretty nervous." Jilas explained.

"Well if were a golden dragon marrying a monster I would be nervous too." Elena mused. "It makes me wonder if anything bad is going to happen at the wedding."

"That's why me and Gravos-boss are standing watch. We're going to make sure nothing happens to 'em before the wedding. And the boss has that girl Lina Inverse and her goonies helping out to keep things from going south."

"Can I help stand guard too Dad?" Palou asked excitedly.

"Sure! You can help me keep Filia-boss safe." Jilas ruffled his step-son's hair affectionately.

"Nothing bad is going to happen on my watch!" Palou declared with his chest puffed out in pride.

Jilas had to laugh at his. Palou reminded Jilas too much of himself at that age. "How was your trip? There wasn't any problems were they?" He asked directing his question to Elena.

"Mom threw up three times!" Palou exclaimed.

This caused Jilas' eyes to light up with alarm. "Elena is something wrong? Are you ill?"

"Palou sweetie could you give your dad and I a moment alone? I need to talk to him about something important." Elena asked her son while patting him on the head.

"Awwww... Mom! I wanted to stand guard with Dad!" Palou protested while crossing his arms in a pout.

"Just a couple minutes please?"

Palou scrunched his face into a frown as he looked up at his mom. "You're not going to do something mushy with Dad?"

"Well if I am that's probably not something you'd want to see. So go on now, I won't be long."

Palou sighed. "Okay I'll be back in five minutes. But not a moment later!" He declared as he took off down the hall.

"Elena what's wrong?" Jilas searched his wife's face hoping for an answer to appease his growing worry.

"I didn't want to tell Palou yet this as it's still pretty early." Elena stated with a whisper.

This didn't help Jilas; it just made him worry more. "You're scaring me Elena, what's wrong? Please tell me you're not sick!"

"I'm not sick. I've been throwing up because I've been getting morning sickness." Elena explained.

"Morning sickness?" Really Jilas should have known right away what Elena was saying but his brain was still on fear kick so it just wasn't sinking in.

"Oh Jilas you daft little man! You're going to be a father!"

"But I already have a son." Again Jilas wasn't getting it.

"Jilas I'm pregnant."

Jilas couldn't say anything, he was speechless. "You're what?"

"Pregnant." Elena repeated.

"You're pregnant?"

"Yes I am. Are you having problems with your ears?" Elena said with a laugh.

"I can't believe it! I'm going to be a dad again! Palou is going to be so excited! He's going to be a big brother!"

"Yes he is, but we can't tell him yet." Elena insisted.

"Why not? He'll be thrilled to find out he's going to have a baby brother or sister."

"Honey it's too early. I don't want him to know till we're certain that this pregnancy is going to go well. I don't want to get his hopes up just in case..." Elena couldn't finish the end of the sentence. No one wants to believe that they could lose a child but it was a real possibility.

Jilas smiled at his wife and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Alright we won't tell him right now. But we well tell him eventually because this pregnancy is going to be smooth and trouble free." He pulled her close to him wrapping his arms around her.

"I hope you're right." Elena buried her face into Jilas' neck. "I love you."

"I love you too." Jilas titled his wife's face up to give her a kiss.

"Ewww... Couldn't you two have finished up all that mushy stuff before I came back?" Palou exclaimed in disgust.

Jilas chuckled and released his hold on Elena. "Alright Palou we're done. So how about we get to guard duty?"

"Yea!"

"You know we're just going to be standing around and doing nothing right? It's probably going to be boring." Jilas warned him.

"If it's important that Aunty Filia be kept safe then it doesn't matter whether it's boring or not! Because that's the right thing to do!" Palou declared proudly.

Both Jilas and Elena had to laugh. To say that they were proud of Palou was a grave understatement.

...

While Jilas was having a nice little reunion in the hall Filia wasn't having such a great time in her room. Having the perfect dress was one thing but it meant nothing if hair and makeup weren't right. Perhaps her stress levels were affecting things as both the makeup artist and the hair stylist were having trouble getting Filia's hair and skin to co-operate.

"All I want is my hair done up and a natural look on my face!" Filia protested feebly.

"Sweetie we know what you want. But you've got too much hair to put it all up, so trust when me when I'm finished you'll love what I'll come up with." Juan the hair stylist insisted.

"You said that almost an hour ago!" Filia groaned.

"Well I wasn't sure of how to attack this golden beast but now I know for sure!"

Filia frowned which further irritated Sally the makeup artist. "Fil-honey you need to stop moving your head so much! I'm going to end up jabbing you in the eye with the mascara brush!"

"I feel like I have a layer of mud on my face." Filia complained.

"I know but your skin isn't even today. I had to glop on the foundation to hide all the redness and blemishes. You need to stop stressing out or you'll break out with pimples." Sally warned her.

"Oh no I have pimples?" Filia cried out in horror.

"No, not yet. So quit stressing out! Gesh! I've seen some nervous brides but you take the cake."

"Oh Sal she's marrying that monster." Juan exclaimed. "Any gal would be nervous marrying that fiend. He is cute and all but I gotta say I like that turquoise haired monster more. You don't see men like him around too often."

Sally laughed. "Oh Juan I couldn't agree more! He is a dish. I wonder if he's seeing anyone."

"He... is..." Filia answered very meekly.

"Really? Darn. The good ones are always taken." Sally sighed as she applied some eye shadow to Filia's eyes.

"I don't know, the bad ones can be pretty fun too." Juan said with a smirk.

"You're bad Juan!" Sally slapped her co-worker on the arm playfully.

"That's probably why I'm not taken yet." Juan said in a mock pout.

Filia stopped listening to Sally and Juan's chatter as she retreated into her own thoughts. Those particular thoughts were of the very person that Juan and Sally had been just talking about.

De Tanga.

It wasn't an uncommon thing for Filia's mind to travel towards the morose monster priest. She and De Tanga had been through a lot in a short amount of time. Not knowing what had happened to him after the events had made Filia wonder. But since talking to him Filia knew that De Tanga was fine and getting on with his life. And that should have been fine enough for her.

But now as Filia sat there getting ready to get married to Xellos De Tanga was occupying her thoughts for a different reason. She was marrying Xellos a man she had hated for years. There were times when Filia thought back and couldn't remember how she ever ended up engaged to him. But in some warped way Filia had made a decision that had her end up with Xellos instead of De Tanga.

Thinking back on it Filia had to wonder why she would choose the 'bad one' over the 'good one'. If a golden dragon or any enemy of the monster race were to marry a monster De Tanga would make much more sense as he was a neutral force. But Xellos? There was nothing neutral about him at all. There was a doubt creeping up her stomach and spine making her question if she made the right choice. Is she marrying the right man?

'It's just cold feet.' Filia mentally told herself. 'Every bride does this before her wedding. It's natural to be scared and second guess yourself.' Though this justification made sense Filia felt no comfort about it. It just added to the worry and doubt already bubbling away in her stomach.

But when posed the question of why Xellos and not De Tanga, Filia just couldn't come up with a proper answer. She always hated to admit it, but Filia was in love with Xellos. Though Filia never quite understood why she loved him. If she had her choice she would have never. And who would? It's Xellos after all! If it was a matter of choice Filia would never be engaged to marry him. If it was a matter of choice then Filia would have chosen De Tanga for sure. But then the question becomes, did Filia love De Tanga too? Or had she ever felt those feelings at all for Deep Sea's priest? Was she making a horrible mistake?

Filia desperately wanted to talk to someone about this. But who could she talk to? Val was against the marriage as were most of the people in town. In fact the only person she could rely on getting a proper discussion on marrying Xellos was the one person Filia couldn't talk to. That of course was De Tanga who was the cause for this recent doubt. De Tanga was probably the only one there supporting this marriage and not just individual sides of it. Which is strange seeing how it could have just as easily been De Tanga marrying Filia and not Xellos.

'Am I making a mistake marrying Xellos?' Filia wondered miserably with the knots tightening in her stomach.