Hi everyone,

This could be the last chapter, unless you want to go to Puckworld one more time.

This is finally wrapping up one long plot thread, and rounding some things up neatly enough, before I get onto the sequel.

I hope you enjoy what I've written.

TFG

Chapter Thirty-Seven

The day of the wedding dawned bright and beautiful. And, as everything had been so well organised and had gone so smoothly, there was very little to do. There were the usually last-minute preparations, such as reorganising the seating charts due to last minute cancellations, and a last minute change of decorations due to the florist running out of one particular flower. But otherwise it was a relatively calm day.

Getting out of bed, Wildwing was almost starting to look forward to the wedding. He had not gotten any panicked calls since Thursday night, after the rehearsal dinner. He had managed to avoid all the other members of the wedding party on Friday, especially Amanda, Phil's teenage niece who had a very disturbing crush on him. He really didn't understand why any human would have a crush on him, and having to interact with someone who did made him feel very uncomfortable.

He even managed to have a very relaxing breakfast, followed by a solo work out on the ice. It was only disturbed when Nosedive and Grin came in to decorate the rink as they would have done for a wedding on Puckworld. They put the ribbons, and bows with small bouquets of flowers and plants around the rink, with the 'floating' bowls of bright coloured live plants on the ice. These would almost float on the frozen, moving slightly around the ice.

It was rather heart wrenching to see, as Wildwing had begun to fantasise about what his wedding to Ella would have been like. And, unfortunately, Nosedive had chosen the colours that he would have chosen for his own wedding.

Not that the younger drake and Grin would have known this. Wildwing had never talked to anyone about this, keeping this fantasy to himself so that it couldn't be broken down or shared.

The two though, looked so happy with themselves. They both understood that Phil and Diana wouldn't take a symbolic skate around this ice, but they wanted to do something that they at least recognised. Even Tanya, who was the only one of the Ducks who had been married, came up and helped decorate the ice while talking about her own ceremony. She almost seemed happy to recount how her husband had tripped over one of the floating bowls because he was too busy looking at her instead of where he was going.

He supposed it helped that Tanya knew that her husband had died. He was one of the first to die during the initial onslaught, having been shot by a hunter drone and then have the building they were in collapsing on top of them. Tanya was left for dead in the lab that she had been working in that day with him and had crawled out of the rubble to see the monitor towers destroying everything around her. That had given her the drive to fight the Saurians.

Most of the other Ducks had similar stories of why they had fought so hard and ended up on the Strike Force Team. Malory had been training new recruits at the military camp she had been stationed at when the training squad was literally mowed down in her sight. She had tried to save some of them, but had been shot at multiple times only to be saved by Canard who had been visiting the base that day. The two of them had been some of the founding members to the Resistance.

Grin, who had once been a passivist working with underprivileged children, had become a commando because of the children he had once worked with. They were all captured as he was running a hockey practice session. The hunter drones had then, under the command of a Saurian Captain, opened fire on all the ducklings saying they were not worth the time to transport. Grin had broken free, destroyed the robots and killed the captain, and then led the children to safety on the outskirts of town. That was how he found the Resistance.

No one really knew what Duke's motivations were for abandoning crime and joining the Resistance. Nosedive had tried to ask, but Duke had merely walked away from the curious drake. There had not been another attempt to ask him. The only person who now probably had a chance of knowing was Roxie.

It was a very depressing train of thought for a day that was supposed to be about thinking of the future and the love that two people were about to declare to one another. When Mallory had finally come up to also help finish up the ice, Wildwing realised that this was their way of putting some things to rest. Most likely a future that they would never have.

"It looks really good guys, I'm sure Diana will appreciate it. I'll remember to tell them about it, and the boys will probably persuade them to do it," Wildwing said with a sad smile, looking at his team decorating an Earth location for a Puckworld custom.

Around midday, a delivery of wedding items was brought into the Pond. One of the larger rooms was being used for the actual ceremony, and it did have a glass wall that looked onto the ice. Wilding did inform the wedding designer to change the layout of the room to highlight the large window facing the ice.

The wedding designer, a very tall and thin woman named Toni, absolutely agreed. Obviously envisioning how great an extra-terrestrial wedding culture photo would look in her brochure. But, also acknowledging how much better the view of ice would be rather than the view of the parking lot.

The group of movers managed to change the boardroom into a lovely wedding venue, with a beautiful central aisle leading to a floral rectangular arch that framed part of the window. The aisle was made from a white carpet, with the chairs having a white covering over them. The chairs at the end of each row was joined with pink and silver ribbons and decorated with small bouquets of lilies and pink roses.

Seeing the colour scheme, Wildwing asked for some extra flowers to be taken down to the ice and added to the decorations on the rink. That way, the two schemes were linked to each other. He could see that Johner and Roxie had joined the decorating on the ice, with Nosedive and Tanya directing their human counterparts as they added the flowers and ribbons to the floating bowls.

The wedding designer then moved to the largest room, which would be the reception venue. All of their furniture was moved out of the room while rented wedding furniture was moved in. There was a bar set up in one corner of the room, which had a bright menu board and seemed to be very well stocked. They were going to have a cocktail reception before the actual reception as the newly married couple was whisked away for wedding photos.

There was a large dance floor set up in the middle of the room, with colourful lighting around it. A stage was also set up for the live wedding band, who happened to be the band from the Birdcage. They were performing at the wedding as a favour to Roxie, only accepting a fraction of what they would normally charge. And Lola, she would be performing for part of the wedding, in full drag but more modestly dressed for the occasion.

There were several round tables set around the room, with white table clothes and pink runners. The tables were then set with silver charger plates and had a large centrepiece with pink roses and lilies, around beautiful silver candles in large glass vases. The centre table, where Phil and Diana, and the rest of the wedding party would be sitting was next to the large windows. It looked the grandest out of all the tables and also the most conspicuous. Only Wildwing would be sitting there out of the Ducks, the others had their own table with Johner and Roxie.

Not long after the furniture started arriving, the bridal party arrived. Wildwing could see that they had all had their hair already fixed in their complicated undoes. They were all wearing bridal sweats that were either white, in Diana's case, or pink for everyone else, with their role on their t-shirts.

The women then went to one of the offices, which had been set up as a dressing room. The dresses had already arrived, a long with all the accessories and were hanging in the portable wardrobes. There were dressing tables and chairs already set up, plus a little fridge with water, orange juice and champagne already chilling.

The women spent the rest of the afternoon in the dressing room, their laughter and music echoing down the hall. It sounded like they were all having a lot of fun together. On several occasions, Mallory and Tanya dropped in to join in on the festivities, after they had finished decorating the ice. All the females bonding over wedding details, which seemed to be a common female bonding experience the multiverse over.

Walking to his office, Wildwing hoped to get a little bit of work done away from all the wedding stuff. But, was already grabbed by Johner who told him he needed to get dressed and take part in some male bonding things.

With a groan, Wildwing made his way to an office on the other side of the stadium. It had been turned into a dressing room for the grooms party. Diana had insisted that it be as far away from her dressing room as possible to stop Phil trying to sneak a look.

That tradition had to be explained several times to the Ducks. As surely, they thought, they had seen each other several times before the wedding, which was why there was a wedding, so why would that be bad luck. Everyone had given up trying to explain it, as the more they explained it, the less sense it made to them as well.

When Wildwing walked into the room he was instantly assaulted with the flash from a camera. He knew that there was going to be several photographers, plus a lot of disposable cameras, but he didn't think he had to worry about opening a door and being blinded. The photographer, Derek, instantly apologised saying that he got super nervous as he was a huge fan. He then started to talk to Wildwing in a way that reminded him of Amanda.

He was then given a black t-shirt that said 'Groomsmen' on the back, similar to what Wildwing had just seen the bridal party wearing. He quickly changed into it, trying not to roll his eyes, as the men talked and joked over what was going to happen.

They were all given drinks, Diana's sons getting sodas while the rest got a frosted glass of ale, to toast to the wedding. They had to toast several times for the best photo, much to the boy's annoyance. After that, they had to start getting ready for the wedding.

Now it was Wildwing's time to get annoyed. It was hours until the actual ceremony and he had no desire to be stuck in his tux for any additional length of time. Not that the tuxedoes were awful or cheap, due to Phil's connection to the Ducks, Johner had managed to get them a huge discount on designer suits, as long as several photos of Wildwing in that suit was released to the press.

Each member of the grooms' party was wearing a light pink bow tie and cummerbund, which matched the colour scheme that Diana had decided upon. And it was a real bow tie, that needed to be tied. Wildwing had enough trouble with regular ties.

Before he could embarrass himself with being unable to tie the bow tie, Kevin, Diana's youngest son marched up to him and asked to tie it for him. He had recently learned how to tie a bow tie to look handsome for his mother's wedding. This was part of the reason for the real bow ties rather than the clip-ons.

Graciously, and secretly rejoicing, Wildwing accepted the help of the six-year-old boy. Kevin smiled brightly, ran quickly to pull his step stool closer, climbed up and tied the tie for the sports star. Wildwing could hear several clicks of a camera and knew that that photo was going to be released to the press soon.

Not that he minded. All the Ducks loved working with children, except for Mallory who scared children slightly. That was why they ran a hockey summer camp for underprivileged children. As well as working with various children's charities over the years. It had been one of the things the Ducks had become very well known for.

As well as saving the world from total domination by the evil Saurians. But not many people knew about that, only top government officials from various countries.

After they were all dressed, they had their hair styled by a professional. The poor man looked completely confused looking at Wildwing's mane, until the drake took pity on him and waved him off. He knew how to do his mane himself and did not need to have a shave, so he let the professional work on the other men in the room.

Once they were ready, the photographer took them through various staged photos, having taken many candid ones earlier. They took a few in the carpark, next to the bar, next to the rink, toasting each other, plus many more. It was shocking how many photos were taken, knowing that several were just going to be discarded. And there were still several more photos to go.

It was making Wildwing wish that Phil had either never asked him to be a groomsman, or that another drake was asked. That way he could have someone else to share his pain. He was sure that on Puckworld they didn't have to go through so much for a wedding. But, then again, he was never part of the wedding party, only a guest.

That was a question that got asked several times that afternoon. What were the wedding traditions on Puckworld. He had explained about the first skate together, which was why the rink was decorated. The photographer asked Phil if they were planning to take part in that, as it would make a beautiful photo. Other Puckworld traditions got explained as best as he could.

Weddings were far brighter in colour, with jewel colours being the primary dress colours of the bride as well as the bridesmaids. The bride was often given away by a member of the family that she had a special bond with and they weren't exactly given away. They asked to join the family together, so they were part of a bigger family. There was still a lot of dancing, and drinking and merriment, but there was also lots of skating.

For the ceremony, the two had their hands tied together in eternal unity, asking the Great Mother to bless their union. The mothers of both the bride and the groom were also asked to present traditional gifts at the alter for healthy, happiness, love and fertility.

It seemed to be more inclusive and more matriarchal than on Earth. But, from what the Ducks had witnesses, many things were that way.

"What about the wedding night?" Ross asked, elbowing his brother who rightly shushed him. The children of his bride were present after all.

"You were expected to celebrate your union, in a physical way," Wildwing answered as conservatively as he could, knowing that Diana's three sons were now listening. It once again, made Wildwing wish that he had no part in the wedding.

Then again, Johner had no part in the wedding, but he was still there. Having to run back and forth between the men and women, delivering messages and updating Toni. Hopefully, he was getting paid overtime for this.

As time was getting closer to the actual ceremony, the other Ducks were downstairs getting ready. After they had decorated the rink, they had all gone about with their own tasks. Both Tanya and Roxie had gone back into the lab to work on something that they refused to give details about. Mallory had sat and read a book about famous generals on Earth. Nosedive had started to work on some of the coursework that had been sent to him with Grin, who had a surprising great ability in structuring critical reviews of texts.

Duke had been the only Duck that had been unaccounted for during the day. He had not taken part in decorating the rink and had not been seen all day. He had come out to see what was happening on the ice, but had left before anyone noticed him.

He had always remembered the way his sister had referred to her boyfriend. He was the drake that she was going to marry. And, after all this time, Duke had realised that he would not have been welcomed at that wedding.

Over the last few days, Duke had been reflecting on his life quite a lot. He blamed his early morning Jacuzzi male bonding session for this. If he hadn't had to listen to Wildwing wax poetic about the girl he left behind then he would not be thinking about the only other person he actually cared about when he lived on Puckworld, other than himself.

The day that he and his sister had finally stolen the Mallar Emerald had been a whirlwind of a day. That was the day that the Saurians had invaded and life had changed forever. That day, Duke had realised that he had completely ruined his sisters' life, he had forced her back into a life of crime because he wanted her to be with him. He had completely ignored what she wanted and guilted her, tempted her into returning to him.

When Lex had called him to let him know that Ellie had gone to the police, he knew that she was planning to turn herself in. And, most likely, turn him in as well, destroying the Brotherhood once and for all.

But he didn't have any anger against her, he finally realised what he had done to her over the years. He had stopped her from having a life due to his own pride. When their mother died, he should have dropped her off somewhere so that she could be adopted into a normal family and live a normal life, instead of being dragged from place to place and then being arrested.

That day, he had decided that instead of Ellie going back to prison, he would take the fall. He was finally going to do what was right by his sister and let her live her life without the shadow of the L'Orange family and the Brotherhood.

He was about to call Duiken to let him know what was happening and what his decision had been when the Saurians hit. He saw that they hit downtown Central City hard, which was where his sister was.

The terror that Duke felt at the thought of his sister being hit by one of those devastating lasers because of him was something that he would never be able to cleanse from his mind. If he had not made his sister steal the Emerald then she would have been safe somewhere else.

Using their skills as master thieves, Duke and Jesh managed to get back to the Downtown Central City Police Department. All the while, they were trying to get in contact with Lex and Rick, who they couldn't get in contact with yet. The phone lines seemed to be completely down, and they could not connect at all.

He will forever see the destruction of the last known location of his sister in his mind. A place he put her. There was a giant hole in the building and the surrounding buildings. Bit of buildings falling down, and water spraying everywhere from broken pipes.

Walking in, he could see bodies everywhere, that had not been killed by either falling debris or the giant laser that ripped through the building. These people had been herded together and executed with smaller, powerful lasers.

He was terrified that one of those bodies had been his beautiful twenty-year-old sister. One who had not lived the life she should have because of him and had been in the line of fire because of him. Then he saw the trashed bodies of the red robots, that had been cleanly slashed with a blade, showing that his sister had at least survived the initial onslaught and had gotten out.

He had wanted to follow the path of destruction laid by his sister, but more robots suddenly appeared in the station and began shooting. One of the shots hit Jesh and went cleanly through his arm, causing his friend to fall to the floor. This then set off some of the detonators that he carried.

Duke only just managed to get them off of Jesh and thrown at the robots before they went off. The building shook as a result of the explosion, threatening a collapse. The two drakes knew they had to go, and leave the search for another day.

The two had managed to seek out the Resistance and instantly joined. They might have been thieves but they never wanted their world destroyed. And with Duke's connection to the underworld, the Resistance was able to build up an underground network.

Unfortunately, some in his profession didn't think the same as he did. Some were trying to get a better foothold on the world by helping the Saurians, his former colleague Falcone being one of them. Duke had sent out the message that any member of the Brotherhood found to have betrayed his own world would meet their end at his blade. And he had kept up that promise, having executed at least five former members of his Brotherhood.

When asked why he had joined the Resistance and fought so hard, Duke would brush off the question, merely saying it was the right thing to do. In reality, he was keeping his ears open about any information on his sister. He had heard rumours of a female swordfighter who was part of intelligence gathering in another Resistance base.

The only person Duke had confided in about his sister was Canard, when the younger drake had asked him to be part of the Strike Force that was going to take down the entire Saurian Occupation. It felt selfish, and Duke admitted it, that the only reason he was there was to prove to his sister that he could be better than what he had been.

He then showed Canard a picture of his sister, telling him that she went missing during the first wave. Duke did notice a strange look come over his young commander's face, but he didn't say anything, only wishing him luck in finding his family member.

Thinking back, Duke didn't know what he would do after the Saurian Occupation ended. He only hoped that he could build a life with his sister and make up for every wrong he had done to her. But that wasn't meant to be. He was now stuck forever in another dimension with no hope of ever speaking to his sister again.

That was his one regret, not making it up to his sister before he left. It was probably his karma though, as he had done so many bad things that he didn't deserve to have that peace with her. He was sure that she had made it through and only hoped that she was now proud of him for helping to save their world.

That was why Duke was so sure that he didn't deserve to be as happy as he was at that moment. The night of the rehearsal had been a huge turning point. That night when they got back to the Pond, he and Roxie had made love to each other.

It felt completely different to him, like she was fully opening up to him. He was sure that she had even admitted her feelings to him, that she had actually moaned out that she loved him. Though he wasn't sure.

Duke had also admitted that he loved her in the thrill of the moment. But, during those times, he often reverted to his first language rather than speaking Mallarish, which was very similar to English. He was sure that he had moaned out he loved her in Rouenin, several times, and not just during love making. He had held her close and whispered it in her ear.

During those whispers he had told her that he wanted to be with her forever, that he would gladly stay on Earth for her. That he wanted to have a family with her and have a normal life with her. But it was on in Rouenin, so Roxie did not understand a single word.

Even on Friday, they had still been very loving to each other. Roxie refused to admit to anything out loud, but she was showing him that she did really care about him. And Duke hoped that he, after everything he had done to redeem himself, could finally have love.

The day of Phil's wedding, Duke had changed into his suit as Roxie was in the shower. He was in a very smartly made designer suit. He had not been given the same tuxedo that Wildwing was being made to wear, so he was able to match his tie, pocket square and cufflinks to what Roxie was wearing. Not that he told her, as she had not actually shown him her dress.

When Roxie came out of the bathroom, Duke was already dressed and ready to go. His tie was slung around his neck, untied, and he was sitting on the bed tying his shoes. She was, once again, wearing her underwear. It was black lace again, but no stockings this time.

The dress that Roxie had chosen to wear was a deep plum, silky plunge dress with a slightly flared skirt. It fit her really well, and the plunging neckline showed off just enough cleavage to tease him but not enough to be vulgar at a wedding. Her hair was up in a very complicated updo, that he still had no idea how she did. It was rolled and pinned at the back, with several colourful tendrils dangling down.

"You look amazing, Roxanne," Duke said from his perch on the bed.

At the mention of her name, rather than any of nicknames, Roxie turned around and looked at her alien lover. He seemed to look content and relaxed, and didn't look like he was trying to initiate sex, which was when he usually used the name 'Roxanne'.

"Thanks," Roxie said, turning back around to apply her make up .

She had gone fairly neutral for her make up that day. Her eyeshadow was quite light, with a shimmery light berry lipstick and some blush on her cheek bones. She then strapped on her sparkly, strappy black heels that she was very comfortable in and would be happy to dance in all night.

"Think you need a little more sparkle there, Roxie," Duke said from right behind Roxie, startling her as she didn't notice him moving around.

"I hate that you can move like a ghost. It's not the pearls again? They were really pretty, but they weren't me," Roxie said with a small sad smile.

"Nah, think this is more you, Angel," Duke said, opening the box in his hand to show a beautiful amethyst floating necklace, that contained several of the gemstones and would definitely decorate her exposed neckline. There was also a matching bracelet of silver and amethysts, with matching dangling earrings.

"Thank you, they're beautiful. But, how did you know to make them purple?" Roxie asked as she put on the earrings and let Duke put the necklace on her.

"I have my ways. Gotta spend my time doing something when I'm not practising. Maybe going somewhere new. I was thinking, how about Grasse?" Duke asked, fastening the clasp before moving onto the bracelet.

"As in a garden? Don't think that'll work well underground," Roxie said, totally confused as she spritz her signature perfume on her wrists and neck.

"As in France. The home of perfume. Then, maybe Nice, Paris, Bordeaux? Got a couple of months still until the start of the season, so should be able to take a few weeks to wander around France and visit some beautiful places."

"Don't think anyone else would like that. And Phil wouldn't like to visit a place that doesn't have a profitable hockey culture," Roxie replied, turning back to the mirror and not noticing the look of mirth on Duke's face.

"I meant, just you and me, Roxanne. We could fly out, first class of course, and then stay in some beautiful five-star hotels. What do you think?"

"Um, I'm, I'm not sure, I um, I think we better get going. The ceremony starts soon," Roxie stuttered out, almost jumping from the chair and running from the room.

Duke knew he should have expected that kind of a reaction, especially springing it on Roxie like that. Yet he had hoped that she would not suddenly be terrified of being on a vacation with just him. It was frustrating, every time he thought they had moved forward Roxie would instantly slam on the breaks and stop.

"Fuck," Duke yelled to his empty room. He then took a very deep breath, tied his deep plum silk tie and walked out of his room.

The rest of the Ducks were not waiting in the common room this time. As they were just having to walk upstairs rather than drive anywhere. This meant that no one had to be a designated driver or organise a car. They could all drink and be merry.

By the time Duke had made his way to the room where the ceremony was taking place, most of the seats had already been taken. Wildwing was standing at the door with Johner, who was helping to seat the guests. He could see that his captain was already looking pretty irritated, probably because of the sheer number of guests that were asking him to take a photo with them already.

"Hey there, Wing, Johner, how you both doing?" Duke asked with a shit-eating grin on his face, having already figured out the answer.

"I will never help Phil with anything, ever again. You don't need me to show you where to sit right?"

"Nah, I can see Grin already, should be able to find everyone. Have a great day, Wing," Duke said, laughing at the look on his captains face and slipping away.

Walking down the aisle and ignoring the looks he was shot by the other guests, Duke managed to quietly slip into the empty seat in the second row next to Roxie. He could see that she was next to Nosedive, who was next to Mallory, then Tanya and Grin on the end of the row.

Wildwing would have to stand up front at the aisle, and Johner was going to be sitting in row in front of them, in the front row. He would be next to Phil's parents and only living grandmother. He was so integral to most of the ceremony, that everyone was going to demand that Johner get paid for his time, or at least a huge bonus.

Looking around, Duke could see most of the staff of the Mighty Ducks franchise, along with their families. And an entire two rows were taken up by the younger, human hockey players of the franchise. He could also see two photographers going around and snapping pictures and was sure some were going to end up in the paper.

"So, what's going on?" Duke asked Roxie, who didn't jump this time, as he had already tried to take her hand to let her know that she was there.

"Well, we're all waiting for the grooms party to show up. Then the wedding march will happen and the ceremony will begin. So, it's just a waiting game," Roxie said as she gestured around the room, pointing out the two entrances.

The officiant was already standing under the arch, looking through their notes. The officiant was a member of the church, which Diana attended. It had been a little bit of an argument about having the ceremony in a church compared to the Pond. It was Diana who suggested the compromise of having her reverend be the officiant at the Pond, as it was going to be difficult to transport everyone from the church to the Pond for the reception. And Phil would rather spend that money on their honeymoon to Hawaii.

After a few minutes of waiting, the music began to strike up. Everyone's heads swivelled behind them as Ross, Phil's brother strolled down the aisle, looking remarkably smug. He even winked at Roxie and the photographers, but not his own wife on his journey to the arch. He stopped next to the small podium that was decorated with flowers and waved around the room, acting like it was his wedding.

Next came Phil, looking quite handsome in his designer suit and light pink bowtie. He had managed to lose some weight in preparation for the wedding, his gut not as protruding as it used to be. And Diana had made him cut off his ponytail, which everyone was very thankful for. He to, stopped next to the podium and waving around the room, looking a little nervous.

Then, they watched as the rest of the wedding party began their march down the aisle. The first one was Kevin, Diana's youngest son, who was carrying a fluffy pillow with the rings on it. He looked absolutely adorable in his designer tux with the tiny bowtie. His blonde hair gelled back on his head, looking very confident on his way to the arch.

He was followed by his slightly older brother Jamie, who was escorting his aunt, Diana's youngest sister, down the aisle. The bridesmaids were wearing light pink, tea-length dresses with an off the shoulder neckline.

Then came Wildwing, who was escorting Phil's eldest and favourite niece, Amanda. The Ducks tried not to laugh at Wildwing's face as he was photographed by everyone in attendance as well as the photographers. He looked so uncomfortable with the blushing teenage girl hanging off his arm and gripping tighter as they made their way down the aisle.

Next down the aisle was Diana's other sister, who was her matron of honour. She was walking by herself, carrying his pink and white bouquet, with a large white ribbon across her waist. She strode down with her head held high, and when she arrived at the podium, she went to the opposite side of the podium to the Phil and his groomsmen, creating a gender divide. The two boys stood with their future stepfather, who had a hand on their shoulders, looking at them with such pride.

Finally, the wedding march sounded, causing the Ducks to jump. They were not expecting that music, and it was Roxie hitting Duke that got the group of aliens to stand up, as everyone else was standing. They all looked to the entrance of the room to see Diana framed in the doorway on the arm of her eldest son.

Diana's dress was a very light, mother of pearl pink, A-line full skirted dress. It was a strapless dress, with a bejewelled belt around her waist. Her hair was up in a classic updo and her makeup was very minimal, but she was absolutely radiant.

The two made their way slowly down the aisle, with Diana looking towards her future husband then down at her smiling son. She looked so happy, as did her son. It was a beautiful moment that was captured on the dozens of cameras that were taking photos.

Once at the aisle, the priest stepped forward and started his service. When he asked who was giving this woman for matrimony, Eric, Diana's eldest son, puffed up his chest and declared that he did. He then kissed his mother's hand, who then bent down and kissed his cheek, and put the hand in Phil's hand, who clapped the boy on the shoulder in a very fatherly gesture of pride.

That was when Johner started to sniffle loudly, fighting back his tears. Roxie reached forward and whispered that he was a sap, before she sat back and realised that Nosedive and Grin had also started crying at the gesture.

The wedding was rather short and sweet, at least the priest's sermon was. It was when it was time for the vows that they reached a slight hiccough, with Phil bursting into tears when he was going through his vows. He even had to take a moment to calm down before he started again.

"Sorry, I'm, okay. Diana, I never thought that I would be able to find someone that I would love as much as I love you. You have made me into a better man, always encouraging me to do more. You have allowed me the honour of being a father to your boys, who will soon also become my boys. Thank you for coming into my life. I can't imagine a life without you now, you've changed me forever and I can't wait to spend forever with you," Phil said, tears streaming down his face and causing everyone else to cry as well.

"Phil, I didn't think that love would happen for me again. I had my sons in my life and that was what I was living for. Until you came into my life and I realised that I was missing something. You've become part of our family, being a true role-model for my sons and becoming my soulmate. I doubt forever will be long enough, and I am just so thankful to you in our lives."

As Diana recited her vows and they exchanged rings, Wildwing's heart ached for the life that he would not have. While Duke reached out and took hold of Roxie's hand, and held it tightly, with Roxie squeezing back as she began to cry lightly.

The reverend then declared that Phil and Diana were husband and wife, and that they should seal their union with a kiss. The two smiled as they leaned in and had a somewhat chaste kiss to the applause of everyone in the room. The wedding party then made their way back up the aisle as people began to throw paper confetti and flower petals over them.

The guests were then directed to the larger room for the reception by Johner and the reverend. The former then helped Phil's elderly grandmother to her feet and walked her up the aisle, trying to ignore the older woman as she pinched his cheeks. And not the ones on his face.

The wedding party were downstairs taking some more photos, Phil and Diana had changed into skates as Wildwing took them through the traditional first skate. They were to be linked with the ribbon that was supposed to have bound their hands together, but since they didn't do that, he told them to just hold hands. They then took a lap around the rink as the wedding party threw links of ribbon over them, symbolising their eternal love for one another.

After that, they took several different photos in the ceremony room, with different combinations of the wedding party, as the guests enjoyed the free drinks in the other room. After they were done, they walked into the reception room to great applause. Not just because dinner was going to be served, but because it was traditional.

After dinner was served and eaten with gusto, the speeches begun. Luckily for Wildwing, he didn't need to give another speech as Phil's brother didn't want to share the spotlight with another groomsmen. Diana's children still got to give their speech though, which had its own photo presentation.

After cutting the cake, and taking a lot more photos, the actual party began. Phil took Diana out into the centre of the dance floor, leading her through the stiffest waltz that anyone had ever seen. But at least he didn't stand on her feet or dress, so that was a triumph.

When the dance floor opened up, Kevin, the little six-year-old came up and asked Roxie for a dance. She had accepted and the little boy tried to lead her in a waltz with a giant smile on his face. Roxie then had to dance with the other two brothers as well.

The band was actually really good, as it was the band that usually performed at the Birdcage. And when Lola, the drag queen who owned the Birdcage took the stage, it became a whole different party. Everyone was so merry and drinking a lot, that they didn't notice Wildwing as he slipped out of the party.

The drake had managed to avoid dancing for most of the night, only dancing with members of the bridal party, Diana and Roxie, along with a few of the little nieces. He didn't particularly want to dance with anyone who might take it another way.

He had felt very uncomfortable when Mallory had trapped him into a dance. Especially when she moved closer and begun to insinuate how good they would be in a relationship again, now that the Saurians were gone. He was very aware of how they looked and how many photos were being taken that night.

As soon as he could, Wildwing slipped from Mallory's arm and escaped the room. He thought about heading to his office to hide, but instead found his way down to the ice. It was still decorated for the first skate and looked great. The pink and white flowers really looked great on the floating bowls.

Wildwing had taken a large glass of champagne with him, along with a bottle, when he escaped. So, he stood next to the ice, drank from the bottle after he finished his glass, and imagined what his first skate would have been like with Ella.

He was very happy in his self inflicted misery when he was disturbed by the voices of Roxie and Duke coming down to the ice. The two didn't seem to notice him, as they were still arguing as they came into sight. Wildwing stood as still as he could, as he didn't think he could escape without those two noticing that he was there.

"Come on Roxie, why won't you just say yes?" Duke said, grabbing hold of Roxie's arm and stopping her escape.

"To the vacation? It'll just be the two of us, what would people say?"

"Who cares!"

"I do!"

"You afraid of admitting what we are? You afraid of admitting that you have feelings for an alien?"

Roxie didn't say anything to these questions, she just stared at Duke after she pulled her arm from his grip. Both did not look like they were going to back away from their staring contest until Duke let out a huge sigh and continued.

"Fine, you know what, I'm not afraid. Roxie, I love you! And I want this! I want us, I want us to be us and for everyone to know!"

"I, I can't do this Duke, I really can't talk about it right now. Can't we just continue the way we are?"

"What hiding from everyone? Sneaking into my room? It's been three years, and I'm a terrible person and even I know I don't deserve this. And neither do you! Don't you want to be open and honest with everyone, and move forward?"

The look of terror that came over Roxie's face was hard to miss, even from across the ice. Roxie had obviously realised that Duke meant marriage, not just being public in their relationship. And the look on Roxie's face almost broke Wildwing's heart again, so he could not imagine how Duke felt.

Roxie then stepped back, muttering that she couldn't, she then turned around and went back upstairs. This left Duke to stand alone next to the ice, staring after the girl that he loved, who obviously loved him back but could not imagine a future with him.

That was when Duke looked up and finally saw Wildwing standing next to the ice holding the bottle of champagne. For a few moments the two just stared at each other, trying to figure out their next moves. And then, Duke shrugged his shoulders and walked over to Wildwing.

The older drake then grabbed hold of the bottle of champagne and took a significant swig before handing it back to his team captain. Who also took a very large swig from the bottle as they both looked out over the ice.

"Thinking about your girl again?" Duke asked after they had passed the bottle between them several times.

"Yeah. Trouble with Roxie again?" Wildwing asked, even though the answer was obvious.

"Pretty much all the time. I asked her to go on a vacation with me and she freaked out. I was planning on proposing during it. Got the wrist band and matching ring for her and everything."

"That serious?"

"Didn't think I've ever loved anyone as much as I love her. Didn't think I'd ever deserved to love someone as much as I loved her, after what I did to my sister. I ruined her life; I don't deserve to have a happy ending."

"That's not true. Everyone deserves to love, and have someone love them back. Look at Phil, who ever thought that would happen."

"That's true. So, why aren't you opening yourself up to love again? I mean, it's been what, seven years, since you last saw your girl, right?"

"Because I gave her my whole heart, and I never got it back. It's not healed by itself and doubt it ever will. I hope though, that she moved on. That she found someone else and is living her life. I don't want her to go through life alone. But I'm never going to stop loving her."

The two drakes each took another drink from the bottle of champagne, with Wildwing finishing it off. They then both stared out onto the ice in their gloomy thoughts, watching the floating bowels twinkle slightly in the darkening stadium while the sounds of merriment and joy filled the air.

I hope you enjoyed that, and I hope I did those relationships justice. I have a feeling that Roxie and Duke's relationship has gotten to breaking point, with both in love with each other but one wanting more. As someone who has dated someone who was Muslim, and I definitely am not, I can relate to Duke a little, my ex felt ashamed of dating a non-muslim, as he felt our relationship would not be accepted by his family. I was only referred to as his friend.

starrat: thanks for the continued reading.

Palacegirl: Yep, he figured this all out far too late to do anything. the planned sequel, Resist, is only going to be on Puckworld, but I have a feeling I will be continuing the Earth story into something else.

TFG