Two and a half weeks until wedding:

Squid's Mom is back home, and has not had a single drink since she got out of the hospital. Even though her and Kandy got off towards a rough start they not get along fine. Everyone is busy with the wedding and getting everything ready. So far almost everyone has RSVPed.

"Did you call the caterers?"

Squid rolled his eyes. It was getting late and he was tired.

"Yes I called them! Now can we go to bed?"

Kandy rolled over wrapping her arms around Squid and putting her head on his chest.

"I'm sorry I just want things to go alright! I am just getting a little stressed out."

"Did you call X-ray and let him know when rehearsals are?"

"Kandy stop!"

"Sorry! Ok we're going to sleep!"

Squid fell asleep almost instantly, but Kandy was awake much later going through the details in her head.

I have the dress…Squid called for the food…the church is all set…and X-ray is coming for rehearsals…the bridesmaid's dresses will be ready in a week…

This went on for another hour until she finally fell asleep.

The next morning

"Kandy! Kandy wake-up the church just called and they wont let us have the wedding there we need to find another place!"

"WHAT?"

Kandy sat straight up and looked wildly at Squid.

"You have to be kidding me!"

"I am! Ha-ha you should have seen your face!"

Kandy was less than amused.

"That wasn't funny! You know I'm stressed out about it!"

"I'm sorry."

Squid kissed Kandy and then told her to come downstairs he had made breakfast for her. When she got downstairs she found the table covered with food. There was a single red rose sitting in the center.

"What's the occasion?"

"There isn't one; I just wanted to let you know how much I love you."

Kandy loved it when he surprised her with little things like this. It always made her feel so special and loved.

"Kandy I was thinking about the wedding reception. Do you think this will be big enough?"

Squid looked around the room. He was right, Kandy's house was not a small house but it might not be able to fit everyone.

"Oh it will be fine! It is summer, so we can the people go outside!"

"Oh right."

One week until wedding:

Kandy walked down the stairs and stopped at the bottom when she saw five familiar faces.

"Oh my god!"

Kandy ran and hugged each other the members to d-tent.

"I can't believe you guys are here! Why are you all here? What is going on?"

X-ray smiled his cool confident smile and laughed.

"Because our two best friends are getting married. Duh!"

"But…the wedding isn't for another week!"

This time Magnet spoke.

"We know, but we were talking to Squid and he said you were getting stressed out and so we thought we would come and help you get ready!"

"Thank you guys so much! I was getting so stressed! Things are happening so fast!"

The next two days were so much fun. All of d-tent was back together. This was when Kandy was the most happy. They always had so much fun; it was like they were little kids again. They would talk all night and well into the morning everyday.

"Didn't I tell you guys that Kandy and Squid were going to get married?"

Everyone shook their head.

"X-ray lay off it! You have said this like two million times! I know you totally called it, but you don't have to keep telling us!"

Everyone laughed. X-ray took a lot of pride in hooking up Kandy and Squid even though he really didn't do anything to get them together.

"Well I know you're thankful because I am your best man!"

"Yah but that's 'cuz you're also my best friend."

"Hey how come we don't get to be in the wedding?"

Magnet and Zigzag looked hurt. Kandy hugged them both then looked at Squid.

"Take it up with him. That is his half of the wedding; unless you want to be brides maids…then you can be mad at me because I won't let you wear a dress."

"Look you guys…I wish I could have all you guys as my best man…but I can't."

"And why not?"

Armpit looked at Squid like he was crazy.

"Armpit, you can only have one best man!"

"Says who?"

"I dunno."

"Why can't you have more than one? I know it isn't normal, but when have you ever been normal?"

Squid laughed and shook his head.

"You guys are crazy!" He put a lot of emphasis on crazy. "But now that I think about it… I guess all you guys should be my best man…err...men."

"Yay! All of my boys get to be in my wedding!"

Kandy smiled and danced around the sitting room.

"Oh no! We need to get you guys tuxes!"

Magnet flew around and faced Kandy.

"Are you trying to tell me that I have to wear a tux!"

"Mmmhmmm!"

Magnet shook his head and crossed his arms. He always looked very casual, but Kandy thought that he might dress up for the wedding. Maybe if I am real nice I can get him to wear it…

"But Magnet, you're so attractive I bet you look super sexy in a tux!"

Magnet turned slightly red.

"Nice try Kandy, but it isn't going to work. You know I hate wearing those things!"

"But will you please wear one…for me?"

Kandy moved closer to him and batted her eye lashes. Everyone was laughing, but Magnet has always had a little bit of a crush on Kandy and so he had a soft spot for her in his heart.

"Well…FINE!"

"Thanks Magnet!"

Kandy threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. This made him turn bright red, and everyone noticed; including Squid. He always thought there was something between them, but he trusted Kandy so he never brought it up.

"Kandy stop you're making it hard to breathe!"

"Sorry."

"Don't be sorry…I just think it is hard to breathe because Maggie has a little crush on Kandy."

Everyone except Squid laughed. X-ray was almost on the floor laughing.

"Don't you think you're a little old for that Magnet?"

"I don't have a crush on her!"

"Shut-up you do!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

Squid was getting tired of this so he changed the subject, but everyone knew what he was doing because they had just eaten.

"Anyone hungry?"

"Squid don't get mad just because Magnet use to have a little bit of a crush on your future wife!"

Magnet was now such a deep shade of red he was bordering purple.

"Armpit shut-up!"

"You guys leave him alone! He didn't have a crush on me! We were just friends!"

"…Sure…"

"So what all did you get me for our wedding?"

Kandy smiled and winked at them all. She always wanted to know what people got her. She hated it when people kept secrets from her. Zigzag and Magnet looked at each other and smiled.

"We got you something I think you are really gonna like…let us go get it…"

They both ran upstairs into their room. They came back with a black puppy with a big red bow on the top. Kandy screamed and grabbed the puppy.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" She hugged Magnet and Zigzag.

"Jeeze finally you gave that thing to her! It was peeing on all my clothes!"

Armpit made a face, but X-ray just laughed at him. Armpit tried to make him stop, but his plan backfired.

"It's not FUNNY!"

Now everyone was laughing.

"Fine…be that way!

Late that night

"So what are we gonna name it?"

Squid rolled over and pet the puppy that was rolling around on their bed playing with Squid's sock.

"I dunno…how about Squid?"

Kandy gave him a look, but then smiled.

"No…this puppy is way too cute to be a Squid."

"Why did they have to give us such a big one?"

"Because they know Newfoundlands are my favorite kind of dog."

Squid rolled his eyes.

"We can't have dogs in the dorms."

"I know we will just have to get an apartment."

"You mean live together? Just you and me…alone…unsupervised…in an apartment…"

Kandy laughed and kissed him.

"We will be married by then."

"Exactly…so we can do whatever we want! YES! I love this puppy!"

Squid rolled on his stomach and pulled of his sock and gave it to the dog. He began to play with it.

"What are we gonna do with it while we are on our honeymoon?"

"I don't know I'm sure Magnet will be happy to watch it."

"Ha-ha! Good idea Squid."

"So have you figured out who is gonna walk to down the aisle?"

Kandy looked down at her hands her smile vanished from her face.

"I asked Ryan to do it, and he said he would be happy to."

"Great!"

"Yah…"

Kandy's 'yah' didn't sound too happy.

"What's wrong?"

"I just wish I didn't have to ask people. I just wish it was my mom walking me down the aisle. She always said Kelly, when you get married I am going to be there in the front row! I bet he will be really cute! Then she would kiss me and say 'Just don't forget about your mother once you're with prince charming ok?' I could never forget her…"

Kandy's eyes watered. She looked away from Squid. Even though she loved him she still found it hard to cry in front of him. She didn't like to show him that she was weak. Squid stopped playing with the dog and moved closer to Kandy. He kissed her cheek.

"Your mom will be there in the front row."

"How do you know?"

"She loved you…she would never miss this."

"I wonder what she would think about us getting married so young. She would probably say 'Pumpkin, as long as you love him and he treats you right it is fine with me."

Now Kandy was crying.

"I really miss my mom. I loved her more than anything; she was always there for me. I wish she was here right now. She would know just what to do. She would make sure everything was perfect for the wedding. You would have loved her Squid. She would have loved you too. It's a shame she never got to meet her son-in-law."

Squid didn't know what to say. Kandy had never talked this much about her mom. Whenever to topic came up she would change the subject. He hated to see her crying, but he was slightly relieved that she was finally talking about what happened.

"I bet she was an amazing person."

"She was! She was the best. She was strong, she always thought about others and she made everyone laugh. She could walk into a room and make things seem brighter. You have no idea how it felt when they died…"

Kandy's eyes went glassy and she looked straight ahead. She looked like she was in a trance.

"I just thought they were having one of their fights…I never thought that would have happened. But when I heard that gunshot I knew something really bad had happened. I ran downstairs and I heard another. That is the worst sound. It makes you feel empty inside. You can hear it over and over again ringing in your ears. I ran as fast as I could and I saw my mom lying on her back…she was bleeding so badly."

Kandy was sobbing. She came out of her trance and she wrapped her arms around Squid and held on to him for strength.

"I didn't know what to do. She was still alive! She looked up at me and said Kelly, I love you more than anything that in the world. You are an amazing person and I will always be with you. I knew she was dying so I cried and I cried. I held her and cried! She died in my arms. Maybe if I would have gotten up and called an ambulance she would have been saved and she could be here now! It is my entire fault! She wanted to leave my dad, but I always talked her into giving him another chance! I always had faith that he would stop hitting us and start loving us again…but it never happened."

"Kandy, it's not your fault. You didn't know what was going to happen. You were scared it would have happened to anyone!"

"I loved her so much Squid! She was everything to me. I had lots of different friends and some time we were would get into fights and not me friends for a while, but no matter how mean I was to my mom she always loved me and was my friend. What if she wouldn't have wanted us to get married? What is she is looking down at us and shaking her head. What is she is mad?"

Kandy was crying so hard she began to shake. Her breathing became unsteady and harder with each breath. She knew this feeling she knew what was going on. She was having a panic attack. It happened when she was over come with so much grief that her body just shut down. Each breath became harder until everything went dark.

Kandy's body dropped to the floor and she began to shake. Every movement was choppy and unexpected. Squid tried to hold her down so she wouldn't hit anything, but it was too hard. Soon yells of pain came from her mouth.

"No! Levántese la llamada una ambulancia! ¿Canto que usted ve que ella está muriendo?"

Squid leaned over her and tried to shake her and wake her up, but it didn't work. She remained on the ground twitching and speaking in incoherent Spanish phrases.

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