By the time we finished the memorial service it was late, as I walked with Karen to her cave where we would be staying. Before we arrived Jerry stopped us.

"Hey I got your gift." He said.

"Jerry you didn't have to." Karen said.

"Yeah but I wanted to," He said and took out a package wrapped in bubble wrap and crepe paper. "I thought you might like it." Karen opened it. Inside was foot high and foot wide crystal dagger. Engraved in it were the words Karen Lanley and Erik Bishop, Married on this day February 8th 2008. It was set so that the dagger could be stood up anywhere. Karen smiled.

"thank you Jerry." She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Well," Jerry said. "Thought you could use something nice on your wedding day, cause your not getting anything from this loser." he laughed at his own bad joke. "Sorry that was bad, well good luck you two. I know that you're a good couple, I…"

"You saw Becky and Robert dancing didn't you?" Karen asked.

"Yeah, I," he looked near tears. "I care for her a lot you know, and I worry that Robert will break her heart again. I know that you two think she wasn't hurt by it but she was, she gave him part of her and… I don't know all the details about what happened but something hurt her… I don't know if it was him or her but, I've never seen so hurt as when he broke up with her, I mean I know he didn't do it to be hateful but… I just don't want to see her hurt again." Karen patted him on the back.

"Jerry you have to tell her, if you don't let her know how you feel then you'll always regret it, you need to make your move Jerry."

"I think I'll go do that now," He turned to leave.

"You two have fun now, and put that thing somewhere where you won't break it in you 'festivities'."" He walked off laughing. We walked on and were at Karen's cave just before sunset. There was already a fire going. Karen closed the door, leaving the smoke vent open. She looked in the room and gasped. In the middle was a large double bed. It seemed to be carved out of the local trees, there was a note on it. Karen took it off and we read it together.

Karen and Erik

Congratulations, here is the gift from the colony to you. It is a bed stuffed with the leaves of an Ofo tree these leaves are leaves that will never rot. It is the last of my artifacts from my home world. The head board was made by one of my patients who happened to be w wood carver, as you can see he can make in a few days what it would take humans a few months to make. I hope your marriage is everlasting and joyous,

Sincerely yours

Hortnana

I looked at the headboard. Carved into it was a Dragon and a Phoenix the details were incredible. Karen stared in awe.

"Wow," She said. "This will make sleeping a little easier huh?"

"Yeah," I said. "It will." Karen stepped closer t me and looked me in the eyes. We stared at each other like that for a few minutes then kissed. We held the kiss for a long time then Karen ran her hand down the side of my face and kissed my neck.

I in turn kissed hers. She stepped back and slid off the straps of her dress letting it fall to the floor. I stood and looked at her body. In the firelight she seemed to glimmer, she looked like a goddess. I felt unworthy to touch her. I saw her appendectomy scar. She had her appendix out when she was 12, most scars are left over from an extraordinary part of someone's life, her scar was left over from a normal part.

Gazing at the rest of her body I saw that she was perfect. From her head to her chest to her toes, there were no flaws, everything added to her beauty. I slipped out of my own clothes and kissed her. We backed up and fell onto the bed. It was incredibly soft. We began to make love, in my Catholic upbringing I had been told of the "one flesh" marriage, I had always assumed it was a nicer way of describing the physics of sex.

But when I was with Karen there, that night, I couldn't tell where I ended and she began. We were truly like one, time stood still to me, for the second time that day I could only see her. But now I could smell her and feel her as well, the experience was incredible, being so intimate so close to her.

I heard her heavy breathing match mine and I knew she felt the same way I did.

"Erik." She whispered softly into my ear.

"Karen." I responded. And kissed her stomach. How long we lasted is a blur, but when we were done I knew that we had both equally enjoyed the experience. After we had cleaned up we changed into the night clothes that Rachel had bought us for our wedding. They were very comfortable and "at the top of the fashion list" whatever that meant. We both laid down in the same bed letting it's softness put us both to sleep.

I woke up a few hours later with the common feeling of dread in my stomach. The fire had died down but I could still see Karen's face. It calmed my nerves, but I needed to touch her. She was breathing gently so I wrapped my arm around her gently and kissed her forehead. I kept my arm around her as I went to sleep. My night terrors haven't bothered me since that night.

February 9th 2008

8:31 am

I woke up early that morning. I had to tell Jade something before she left. I kissed Karen's forehead and left. I stopped by my old cave first to pick up something Jade had been sharing Marco's hut and I saw her leaving the hut with him in tow. He gave her a kiss before parting with her and returning to his hut. I heard him say

"And I do not snore!" Before he closed the door. I waited on the bridge for Jade to come. She seemed surprised to see me.

"Shouldn't you be with your bride." She said.

"Yeah, but already had a fight over who's gun we were going to use to kill Visser 1 so she kicked me out." Jade laughed.

"I'm really happy for you Erik ." She said.

"Oh and thanks, I mean if it weren't for you I wouldn't be around for this wedding." I said subconsciously feeling the shrapnel still in my stomach. (morphing just fixes the injuries made by bullets and other projectiles it doesn't remove the bullets, Karen still has a bullet in her right leg.)

"And vice-versa."

"Yeah," I said. "Look Jade, I need to tell you something." She sighed

"Can't be good news can it?"

"not really, Jade I am going to attack the Yerk Pool soon . I am going to try and get the Animorphs to help but even if they don't I'm going in. I, I don't want to live this way much longer, I just can't do that to Karen, I want our marriage to be as happy as possible. When we get in we're going to plant C-4 and detonate. I don't know it will effect the ground above it so." I took 5 syringes out of my pocket. "This is a special tranquilizer drug, it will knock a person out for 1 day. I want you to use this on your family and get them to safety. Keep them tied up until your sure they're not infested then wait outside until we're done, you should know when your done and before you ask I'm not letting you come on this mission. We need redundancy in our fights and if you don't survive we'll be in trouble we need to keep at least a few people alive."

Jade took the syringes and put them in her pocket. I couldn't read her eyes but I was sure she was going to go through with it. She gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Be careful," She said. "Don't die on me, you still owe me 5 and I don't know who to pass that debt on to."

"I will." Jade walked over the bridge and away from the colony halfway out she was joined by Robert. Again it was just us and the Animorphs.

I am going to give out a beltated thanks to me lamb for giving me some of the inspriration for this book, and Lilmaniac for allowing me to use her well crafted characters, and to everyone else who reads and reviews this book, your input is greatly aprcaitied.