A/N: This chapter is based around the song, "Untouchable," by Garbage.

To read the original version with song lyrics go to: bitter-solemnity. com /fics /FAR.php (just get rid of the spaces).

"So that's it huh?"

"That's it."

"That's pretty complicated Stephanie."

"No, it's not, not if it's planned right, and trust me, I'll plan it just right."

"Fine, it's your game, play it how you want."

She was getting married in two days. She almost couldn't believe that the time had come for her to marry Hunter. Maybe because she really didn't want to marry Hunter. He was a calculating, conniving bastard, and not the good kind either. But she would go tonight and play the part, play the loving daughter who was excited for her nuptials. She really should just marry him and take all his money for herself. But no, that would be too time intensive.

"Are you ready yet?" Hunter called from the other side of the door.

She smoothed out her dress, "Yeah, I'm ready."

She walked out of the bathroom and Hunter just about gasped. She was looking stunning. He could just imagine what she'd look like in her wedding dress and he couldn't wait to see her walking down that aisle. She would truly be a vision. He walked over to her and kissed her lightly.

"You look beautiful."

"Thank you," she said, "Shouldn't we get to the rehearsal?"

He took her hand, "Let's go and get this over with."

They drove to the church they were getting married at. It was a lovely old colonial church, a ways away from the city, so it was quaint and historical. Stephanie yawned as they walked inside it, where everyone in the wedding was waiting. There were only going to be her and him up at the altar, because they had insisted all eyes focus on them, but their families were there and sitting in the pews.

They stood in the front of the church as the priest went over the proceedings that would happen. Stephanie tried to pay attention, smiling sweetly over at her fiancé, but truth be told, she'd rather be anywhere than here. She wondered what Chris was doing right now. She knew he had a lot to do for the plan, but he had volunteered, seeing as how she was so busy with this damn wedding.

"So that's basically how the ceremony will go," the priest concluded, "And then you two will walk down the aisle."

"Sounds good," Hunter answered, "Steph?"

"Yeah, sounds great, I'm so nervous," she said coyly.

"Oh don't worry, everyone usually is," the priest responded with a chuckle, "You won't be the first bride-to-be who's gotten cold feet."

"I'm sure I'm not," she giggled.

"Come on you two," Linda said, "We're going to dinner."

Stephanie let Hunter lead her out of the church. She could almost picture the wedding now. It made her sick to her stomach. Hunter drove them to a nice restaurant, where she had to dine with the loonies she called her family. Even Shane was there, though he scowled most of the night. Vince and Linda must've forced him to come. She didn't want him here as much as he didn't want to be here.

"So what are your plans for tomorrow?" Hunter whispered to her.

"Oh, Mom and I are getting manicures and pedicures tomorrow morning, then I'm going to my masseuse, you know, to loosen up," she said with a giggle, "Then tomorrow night, I'm just going to enjoy my last night of freedom by myself."

"By yourself?" he asked, "Why?"

She smiled, like hell she'd tell him, instead, she responded with, "Because it'll give me time to reflect on how my life is going to change."

He kissed her softly, "I love you."

"Oh, I love you too Hunter."

The next day, she went with her mother like planned. It wasn't fun at all, with her mother gushing about the wedding and all that. Stephanie pretended to be interested, but she couldn't have been more bored if they made her sit through all of Hunter's matches in a row. Thankfully, the manicure and pedicure only took a few hours and she was finally free from her mother. She gave her mother one last hug before she left and then took off for the masseuse.

She was very tense, according to her masseuse, needed to get the knots out. His hands were heavenly, and if she weren't otherwise attached, she probably would've turned around and tried to hit on the guy. But she had things to think about for that evening. She needed to make sure everything was in order. She wasn't going to be spending the evening alone, far from it.

Chris gathered up the things that he had had to pick up today, and took them out of his car. It was already getting dark, but she had insisted that he park at least a block away so nobody would see his car in her driveway. He walked up to the house, the bag in his hands and got the spare key from on top of her door, unlocking it and walking inside. It was pretty dark downstairs, but he saw a light glow from upstairs and headed up that way.

He walked down the long hallway to her bedroom, where the door was ajar and a light was coming through. He walked slowly, wondering why it was so damn quiet. He almost didn't want to call out and break that silence, but he needed to know where Stephanie was.

"Stephanie?" he called out into the quiet house.

"Chris, you're not supposed to see me yet!" she screamed from her bedroom.

"But I'm practically at the door…and why are you succumbing to silly traditions?"

"I'm not, but I'm naked."

"Then I'm definitely coming in," he said, pushing the door open and seeing the light coming from her closet, "Getting dressed?"

"Yeah," she told him, "Did you get the stuff?"

"Uh huh, got all of it, after this thing is over, we can celebrate all night long," he said with a laugh.

She came out of the closet in a simple white wedding dress. It looked like a slip the way it clung to her skin. It was a shiny fabric, probably silk and was held on by a tie at the top. It clung to her every curve and his jaw dropped. It was the first time Stephanie's appearance with clothes had left him speechless. Her hair hung over her shoulders in brown curls and she had a snow white lily in her hair.

"Wow," was all he could say.

She smiled, genuinely, "Thanks, this was the dress that I wanted to get, but my mother thought it wasn't appropriate…so you know what, screw her, I'll get married in whatever I fucking want. You don't look so bad yourself."

Chris was in a simple black tuxedo, that was freshly pressed and fitted to his body, but he couldn't even thank her because he was still breath-taken by her beauty. He knew Stephanie, inside and out, and she still shocked him from time to time, even when she didn't mean to.

"So are we going to go?" she asked, "Where are we going exactly?"

"Well, since we decided on this weeks ago," he told her, "I booked us a church, I know, cheesy and all that, but well, you know, I think we deserve at least a nice wedding."

"Yeah, but it's pretty late," she said, looking over at the clock, "Oh, it's only 7:30."

"Yeah, so let's get going, I scheduled us for eight, I spent all day getting the church ready."

"But it's only us," she said walking over to him and grabbing their marriage license as he grabbed their rings.

"True, but come on, you know you didn't want to get married in some cheesy ceremony."

"It's just us," she said as they walked downstairs, "We're getting married for revenge."

"Yeah, I know," he told her, "But come on, we have to at least make it believable."

"You're right," she replied, walking down the street to his car.

The ride was fairly quiet, at least for the two of them. They were both nervous, surprising them both. They were getting married to get back at Hunter, at least that was part of the plan. Then why were they so nervous about this? Stephanie looked down and she was actually shaking with nerves. She didn't shake, the world shook, the world was supposed to fear her, so why was she fearing the world?

Chris noticed this and glanced over, "We can back out you know, think of something else…you can just not show up or something?"

"No," she said, "I'm fine."

"I know the idea of marrying me is revolting, being stuck with one guy, trust me, I'm not looking forward to spending my life with one girl, I never thought it would come to that."

She rolled her eyes, "Sorry."

"Well, at least it's you. You wouldn't care if I decided to have an affair."

She swung her head around, "So you'd cheat on me?"

"Well come on, I like the ladies, I never thought I'd be getting married."

"Ok, you can go out and have your fun," she said, rubbing his leg, "But I'll go out and have mine too."

Chris smirked as he felt her rubbing his leg. They pulled up to the church and she looked at it. It was nice enough; she liked it. He got out of the car and ran over to her side to open the door for her and help her out. She didn't know what to expect when she walked inside, fire, brimstone, perhaps, she was the one getting played and everyone she knew would be in there, ready to laugh at her. What was really in there was the last thing she suspected.

All of the lights were turned off and Chris had had candles placed everywhere. They were on the edge of the aisles, up on the altar. It was fire alright, but it was so romantic. When did Chris know how to get romantic? He smiled at her as they walked hand in hand towards the priest. Stephanie couldn't believe the lengths Chris had gone to make this authentic.

The ceremony was relatively short, no special vows or anything. They slipped the rings made out of Kurt's gold medal on their fingers and just like that, they were married. The priest congratulated them and they kissed, though not as passionately as usual. The priest had told them how romantic this wedding had been, and wished them the best of luck. They almost felt bad that this was merely for revenge. ALMOST.

"So it's over," Stephanie said, as they blew out all the candles, "I'm married."

"Yeah, so am I," Chris said, "So what are the benefits of this again?"

"I can fuck you whenever you want now," she said with a smirk, "I could fuck you right here if you wanted."

"In the church?"

"Yes, in the church."

"I know I'm going to hell Stephanie, but I'm not going to be going that far deep," he said, blowing out the last of the candles, "Let's get out of here and you can service me while I'm driving, how's that?"

"No fun," she said, shaking her head as they walked out of the church into the dark night, "Thanks by the way."

"For what?" he asked.

"Marrying me, getting me out of marrying Hunter."

"You would've figured out a way by yourself," he said as they got in their car.

"I'm not so sure, I probably would've married that asshole," she said bitterly, "But now I don't have to."

"You were too good for him anyways."

"Yeah…"

The rest of the night was filled with flowing champagne, and lots of fucking. Finally, Chris's desire for Stephanie didn't have to go unfulfilled. Neither one of them spoke about being married; it seemed almost insubstantial. They didn't marry for love, or even for money, it was simply revenge. But nobody said revenge didn't have its benefits.

Stephanie woke up the next morning, a married woman, though everyone else thought today was her wedding day. She looked over to the man sleeping next to her; the man who she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with. It wasn't such a bad thought, at least she wouldn't end up alone.

"Chris," she said shaking him.

"What?" he mumbled.

"I have to go get ready for you know what."

"Oh," he said, opening his eyes, "You going to be ok?"

"Don't start caring about me now that we're married," she said, "I'm always fine."

She got out of bed, and walked to her closet. Chris just watched her naked form retreat into the closet. She always said she never needed anyone, but he feared that wasn't true, but far be it for him to care, even if she was his wife. Wife, that was such a scary word. Stephanie walked back out in a light dress.

"You'll get my things for me then, the things I want," she said.

"Yeah, I'll get them," he nodded, "You going?"

"Uh huh," she said, "Don't worry, it'll all go off without a hitch."

"It better Stephanie, or you know, things could go terribly wrong."

"They won't, not after what happened, you did the thing right?"

"Yeah, I did the thing, and it's done, and everything," he said, knowing what she was referring to.

"Good, til later then."

She walked over to him and gave him a heart-stopping kiss. She pulled away with a smirk. Today was the day when it all ended, for better or for worse. She glanced one more time at Chris, giving him a wink before leaving. To go pull off this plan once and for all. Or so he hoped.

Hunter was sound asleep when the phone started ringing. He tried to slap it away, but then opened his eyes. Today was his wedding day. He was getting to marry Stephanie today. He sat up quickly and rubbed his eyes, a grin on his face. He laughed at his good fortune and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hunter?" It was Linda's voice, and it sounded hoarse with tears.

"Yeah?" Hunter said, his stomach dropping.

"Stephanie's been in an accident," Linda said, "She's at the hospital right now. It's bad, it's really, really bad."

Hunter was out of bed and into some clothes in ten seconds. He threw the phone down and ran out of his house, jumping his car with his pants still unbuttoned. He tore his way through the streets, trying to get to the hospital quickly. He was beyond worried; Stephanie was hurt and in the hospital. Finally he arrived and rushed in, still dressing himself. The nurse directed him towards emergency and Vince and Linda were already there.

"Where is she?" he demanded to know.

"She's in with the doctors," Vince explained, "They don't think she'll make it."

With those words, Linda sobbed and broke down against Vince. Hunter backed himself into a corner and slid down the wall, crying to himself. Today was supposed to be the happiest day of his life, when had it turned into the worst? He sat there crying for who knows how long, but finally a doctor came through the double doors.

"How is she?" Vince asked, since he was the most composed of the three.

"She's slipping away," the doctor said bluntly, "The internal bleeding is too much, we can't stop it, we wanted to let you know so you could come say goodbye while she's still conscious."

Hunter stood up shakily and his lip quivered. Stephanie was dying and there was nothing he could do. Her parents were stricken and looked as if they were about to faint, or throw up, or both even. Hunter tried to walk, but found his feet heavy, like he was wearing cement boots. He dragged them forward though, since he was getting closer to those double doors. They seemed to swing open by themselves and he found himself through them, and it was so dark.

They were lead to a room, and inside, there lay Stephanie. She looked somewhat peaceful, lying there. Almost like Sleeping Beauty, except her eyes were open. Her blue eyes seemed as cold as ice, showing how far gone she really was. They were glassy and they stared through him. She had some bruises on her face, but other than that, she looked fine, but just because she was fine on the outside, didn't mean she was fine on the inside. He walked over and grasped her hand. The cold hand of death was already upon her as he felt her chilled hands.

"Steph?" he said, trying to sound hopeful, "Hey there baby."

She looked up at him, "Chris…."

Hunter scowled, "What about him?"

"He was my only friend, and he's gone," she said, her voice soft, like a cool summer's breeze, here one moment, drifting away the next.

Hunter felt terrible, he had lied to her and manipulated her, but he had thought it was for good reason. Now, he wasn't so sure. They were just friends. Nobody had ever seen them kiss or anything, and he should've trusted Stephanie. All his lies and sins were coming to the surface as she lay there dying.

"Stephanie, I came up with a whole stupid plan to get you two apart, I'm so sorry," he said as he started to cry.

"I know," she whispered, "I know, it'll be alright."

"I should get the priest up here and he can marry us, I want to marry you so bad."

Stephanie managed a smirk, "Can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Just…no," she said, thinking about her husband, wherever he was. She wished he were here to see her.

"I love you Stephanie."

"Mom, Dad?" Stephanie said, turning her head slowly, "I want to say goodbye."

Her parents walked over and she looked at them. Now that she saw them, and knew how much they loved her, she felt bad for what she had done, what she was doing. They had been good to her, even when she didn't deserve it. Now that her time was here, she was sorry she had hurt them, even though they didn't know it.

"Bye Mommy, bye Daddy," she said with a sad smile.

"Goodbye my love," Linda said, kissing Stephanie's forehead, "You be good ok?"

She nodded, "I love you Mommy."

"I love you too."

"Bye Daddy, don't go too crazy in the business ok," she said, with a small smile, "Give the people what they want."

"I'll try Princess."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Her heart monitor started to slow down, and they could see her slipping away slowly. She gazed at them all sadly as she heard it. Hunter was holding her hand tightly, willing God to not let her go. This wasn't supposed to happen; they were supposed to be getting married, in a church, they were supposed to be happy. She wasn't supposed to do this.

"I love…" Stephanie choked out, "I love C-"

"Stephanie, don't talk, I know you love me," Hunter said, kissing her one last time.

The heart monitor beeped continuously.

Stephanie was dead.