Deep in my heart I'm concealing things that I'm longing to say
Scared to confess what I'm feeling, frightened you'll slip away

The day dawned in a peculiar way. The sun's appearance was merely a cameo. No sooner had its rays dusted the ground when enormous, angry looking storm clouds came rolling in. The sky was soon a dark shade of gray. The winds began to pick up speed and strength ever so gradually. But as of yet, there was no rain. It simply growled and darkened, but nothing more. A strange look for what was assumed would be a day bathed in light.

Blake Marler couldn't help feeling cross. The weather and the atmosphere it lent was provocation enough. Her romantic heart was unnerved by the squalid look of a day that was about to become a dear friends anniversary. Usually Blake would have welcomed the clouds and the fact that they took away some of the summer heat and she would have curled up at home and read or played board games with her children. But she, instead, was standing just to the side of a very pale and anxious looking Harley Cooper.

"No, no," Harley made a frantic gestures with her hands. "The flowers on the right side of my hair are all crooked. My head looks completely lopsided."

"Oh, they are not," Blake insisted, reaching up to fiddle uselessly with the white flowers woven into Harley's golden tresses. "I swear we have been arranging and rearranging these stupid things for over forty minutes. Are you still not satisfied? Don't tell me you want to start all over again, sweetie. You really do look beautiful. Just stunning."

"I'll bet I do," Harley through her a sardonic look. "I'm standing here in my slip, Blake. I haven't even put on the dress yet."

"Minor technicality," Blake clasped her hands together and started glancing around. "Where is the dress? Is it downstairs?"

"Oh no ..." Harley groaned. "My dress! I forgot. I bought this dress, and it had a no-return policy. But when I brought it home, Cassie noticed it had a tiny stain on the left side around my knee. She took it to dry clean it using the Beacon's service and I completely forgot yesterday that I needed to pick it up. And I was right there, too! Why is this happening to me."

"Relax, deep breaths!" Blake urged. "I will run and go get it. No problem."

"No, you can't do that!" Harley grabbed her arm. "You have to run and tell them I'm running a few minutes behind, but that I will be there as soon as possible."

"You still have time, Harley," Blake checked the clock. "Two hours or so."

"Just let me do it," Harley insisted. "I'll just slip something on and grab it."

"Make sure, then, that it's something that won't ruin your hair as you pull it off!"

"Yes, sir."

Blake rolled her eyes. "If I didn't know any better I'd think there was another reason your so keen on making a visit to the Beacon."

"Blake," Harley cautioned. "It's my wedding day. I couldn't be happier."

"Yeah, I can see that," Blake said sarcastically. "Happy Harley."

Harley through on something that was in her closet, and started to walk outside. She let out a yelp. "Blake! It's really windy! My flowers!"

"Uh-oh, we should have thought of that ... um ... here, put this over your head!"

"Blake, this is a plastic grocery bag."

"Just do what I tell you to do, okay? Go! And hurry! I'll run and make sure no one is dying to get the bash going early, and I will go pick up your bouquet while I'm at it. See you back in just a teeny bit, okay?"

Harley ran outside to her car, bag on head, and tried her best not to drive too fast. The last thing she needed was to get arrested on a day like today. The gray clouds left her feeling uneasy and she was trying hard to determine if she put any kind of faith in signs. Was this a sign? She wasn't sure. It went back and forth in her mind, and she wondered if perhaps the sun might break through soon enough and show her the way once more. She was again trying hard to ignore the little voice in her head that was jeering at her, telling her that the only reason she wanted to be the one to get her dress was because she might get to see Mallet one more time before the ceremony.

Harley strode up the Beacon desk, and trying to look as inconspicuous as possible started glancing around the lobby. She couldn't help herself. She was half-expecting him to swagger up with an easy grin and pin her in a corner.

"Can I help you?" an impatient desk clerk demanded.

"Er, yes, Cassie Winslow had something dry-cleaned for me. I've come to pick it up."

"Name?"

"Harley Cooper." And with a jolt, she realized she might be going by Harley Aituro from now on, which she might have dealt with, but in her heart of hearts she realized what that actually meant was Harley Spaulding. Spaulding! Again.

The clerk went away, and came back carefully carrying her white dress. It was a simple but elegant cut. It had some light beading near the neck and waistline. It was strapless and fell down into a soft, gauzy skirt that touched the floor. Harley ran her fingers unconsciously over the material. She looked at the clock on impulse, and decided she would run up to Blake's suite and change. Harley pulled out her keys, found the one, and shoved it nervously into the door of Ross and Blake's master suite. She shut the door carelessly behind her, and threw her dress on the bed. She took off what she had been wearing, and tossed it on the floor. She stood, again, in her slip, and began struggling to get her wedding dress on properly.

"Oh, come on Harley," she chastised herself. "You can reach around and do this. Come on, gah!" Harley groaned as she spun in circles trying to get the dress to pull on straight. "Where's Blake when I need her?"

"Well, at the moment I would guess Blake is running around ordering people on last minute errands."

Harley's eyes popped out of her head. "Mallet! What are you doing here?"

"Blake called and said she left her gift for you here on accident, and asked me to come pick it up on my way. She assumed you were already heading back to the Bauer house. I was going to go find someone to let me in, but I tried the door just for fun ... and what do you know?"

"Yeah, some coincidence," Harley frowned, wondering just what Blake was thinking calling Mallet instead of Cassie or anyone else to come get her gift. Harley paused for a moment to take in Mallet. He was looking very dashing in a black tuxedo. Tall, clean, and handsome, he just stood there looking at her rather comically. He was emptying his pockets, too. She tried not to grin, as he pulled out his wallet, a pair of handcuffs, a pack of gum, and a bunch of scrumpled up papers and flung them casually onto the bed.

"Do you want some help?" he finally asked, looking at her askew dress.

Harley gave up. "Yes, come help me. Please help me. That is, if you're done dumping your garbage all over the mayor's bed."

"You look so beautiful," Mallet said, as he began to straighten out folds in the back and pull it down so it hung gracefully against her. "But I didn't expect anything less."

"Thank you," Harley muttered, trying to ignore the sensation gripping her as his hands brushed so lightly against her frame. "You cleaned up really nice yourself. I mean, I'm not saying that your usually dirty or anything like that, I just - "

"Thank you," Mallet smiled, though she had her back turned and didn't see. The dress now hung the way it was meant to, and she whirled around to face him. She looked visionary. Her eyes were sparkling, but Mallet didn't realize that it was his appearance that had caused the twinkle. He sighed. "We better get going. Gus will be waiting. And if it was me ..." His voice trailed off and he became quiet.

Harley took a step closer. "If it was you ... then what?"

"I ... would ..."

"Oh, excuse me!" a voice said from the door, causing both Mallet and Harley to look around almost guiltily. It was one of the Beacon's many maids coming to clean up the Marler suite. She looked flustered at having interrupted them.

"You're fine, don't worry," Harley said.

"I should have knocked, I'm sorry," the young woman said, taking a step backwards out the door. But suddenly she smiled. "Congratulations. I hope you have a really nice Honeymoon here. I'll come back ... a lot later. I love your dress. Bye." She slammed the door enthusiastically, and was gone.

Mallet and Harley simply stood there, frozen, for many seconds afterwards. Each was lost in their own thoughts and at a complete loss of what to say to the other. Mallet finally broke the silence, his voice very emotional. "It's time to go, Harley."

"Go?" Harley echoed, her voice was as empty as Mallet's was filled with emotion.

"Come on, Piglet. I don't want you to be late for your special day," Mallet said gently.

Harley walked up in front of him, her eyes threatening to tear up, and held out her arms. They embraced tightly. Harley was blinking furiously, and Mallet eyes were shut tight. Harley grabbed his face in her hands and stroked his cheeks. "I ... love ..."

"What, Harley?" Mallet said sharply. "You love? Gus? Because I know that one by heart. Let's see. You love arts and crafts? You love old movies? Macaroni? The mountains?"

"I love you," she blurted. "You are always complaining that I talk and talk ... won't you just shut up for a minute and let me say anything? You're unbelievable."

"Oh my ..." Mallet's voice trailed away leaving him standing there, stupefied. "This is not funny. I don't think you should joke about things like this right before you're about to be marrying the ... who was it?" He snapped his fingers, and cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah, your soulmate? Your true love? The love of your life? Is any of this ringing a bell?"

Harley looked at him quizzically. "You have to be kidding me. Are you deaf? Did you not understand what I just said?"

"I just don't get you, sometimes, Cooper," Mallet protested. "Is this your way of showing you have cold feet? I mean, for months now all you've been letting me know is that you once loved me. You once cared. But that I was your past. I was just a relic! Yesterday you admitted that there were some feelings. Maybe even some feelings of desire, but you never let on that you still were in love. No matter how I tried to convince you or myself, you kept shooting that down."

"I lied!" Harley threw her arms in the air in total disgust. "I was lying. I was confused, Mallet. You know how confused I felt. You just show up out of nowhere and start pushing all the same old buttons again. You come along and save me when I need saving and you made me feel again. I was so empty when I had to leave everything behind and thought my life was basically over. You reminded me how to hope, and how to keep holding on. I remembered that I couldn't turn my back on things."

"This may be true," Mallet held up a hand. "And doubtlessly I have been loving you from the sidelines this whole time, and trying to help you whenever you needed it - simply to convince myself that this was enough. I could just spend the rest of my life lending you a hand or shoulder when you needed it, and simply go through the motions for the rest of living."

"I would have never wanted that for you," Harley pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. "I wanted you to be free and happy. I didn't want you to feel this way."

"I can't help it," Mallet said, softly. "I love you more than I love anything that has been, is, or ever will be. A feeling like that never just dies. It lingers. You taught me what the word love really means. So don't use it carelessly back on me now."

A smile touched the corners of Harley's mouth. Her eyes were sad. "Why didn't you come after me? When I left you all those years ago? Why didn't you try to stop me?"

"I wanted to stop you with everything in me," Mallet's eyes stared off into the wall, as if it were a gateway to a flood of memories. "But I had to let you go. I didn't deserve you. And I didn't think you wanted me to come for you. Hence, the letters."

"Yes, those letters," Harley whispered. "I found myself alone one night, and found them. Frank had had them, as you know. I read a few of them. I don't think I've ever read anything so beautiful or so depressing in my life." She continued to smile. "I think I knew then. I think I even knew before then, but I had just pushed it so far away that I didn't recognize it."

"What?"

"That I still love you." But her voice faltered slightly, her nerves acting up again. The guilt now, about what she might do to Gus had started to fill her with apprehension.

Mallet still looked unsure, in turn. "Harley. What about Gus? You are supposed to marry him in less than an hour. You can love both of us, maybe, but you can't be in love with both of us."

Harley's cell phone began to ring with a carefree chirp. Yes she loved Mallet. Was she in love with him as he had said? Harley started to reach deep inside of her heart. She started to say something, changed her mind, and reached for her phone. Her lips pursed together tightly when she read the name on the caller I.D. With hesitance she raised the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Mommy, is that you?"

"Zach, sweetheart, it is me! How are you doing honey? Did Gus let you borrow his phone?"

"He's not in here, I just picked it up because I wanted to call you."

"Oh, okay baby, what do you need?"

"Why aren't you here yet? I'm waiting. You said I could see your dress."

"You'll see it soon. I will be coming. Don't you worry."

"I'm so excited! I love you."

"I love you too, Zach. Bye."

Mallet was looking very uncomfortable as he stood with his hand shoved hard into his pockets. His face looked drawn and he seemed to be thinking a thousand things at once. "You've got a wonderful kid there, Harley."

"I know," Harley tucked her phone away, gritting her teeth. "And I promised him a family, didn't I?"

"You did," Mallet nodded. "So I guess this is it."

Harley rubbed her hand up her arm. "You wouldn't ... want to ..."

"Want to what?" Mallet looked at her meaningfully.

Harley shook her head. "Nevermind. I made a commitment, didn't I? A choice?"

"You did choose, Harley," he exhaled. "You chose a long time ago."

"My kids ..." Harley gestured weakly.

"They are expecting to get a new father today," Mallet said firmly. "Gus." Mallet walked up to the door and swung it open. He then stepped aside to let her exit first.

"But Mallet, I told you that I love you. I guess that you don't want to hear that. You want to play the martyr this time and save me."

Mallet gave her a firey glare. He cupped her face in his hand and kissed her fully and soundly. She began to fall against his body, when he pulled back just as quickly as he had come. "All I'm trying to do is help you. Here, let me help you out some more." He stepped over to Ross and Blake's big bed, picked up the handcuffs he had strewn on it and held them up.

"Oh, no, Mallet!" Harley moaned. "Not again! What is this going to solve? Chaining us together again?"

"Ah, I'm not chaining you and I together," Mallet said with all the flourish of a seasoned magician. He took the handcuffs, unlocked them, and clasped one around his right wrist tightly. He took the other one and snapped it firmly around one of the sturdy oak legs of the bed. He sat there, looking quite outlandish, and smiling on top of it all. "I'm chaining myself to the bed."

"Now if we were under different circumstances," Harley said silkily. "I would be highly interested in the fact that you just chained yourself to a bed. But right now all your doing is driving me crazy."

"That's the whole point," Mallet confirmed. "Now go. Go get married." He tossed her the key to the cuffs. "The way I see it, it's back in your hands. I can't run after you now and make a scene at the wedding when they ask for objections, and you don't have to feel guilty over any feelings you have and think you have to stall the ceremony. After all is said and done, you can make up some wild story that will surely delight Blake to no end and give her the key so she can let me loose after everything is said and done. So good luck. Bye."

Harley cupped the tiny key in her hands, and stared at it. Her phone started to ring again. She looked down and now it was Rick's phone. "I think it's Jude this time," she sucked in a breath through her clenched teeth. "All right Mallet. If you want to do crazy things and mess with the cosmos, that's your deal. If you don't want to believe I mean what I say and want me to go keep my prior engagement, that's just fine. My children are counting on me, and so are many others."

Mallet smiled knowingly. "Don't trip down the aisle."

"You know me," Harley said. "No pain, no gain."

"I wish I could give you more. But I could never live myself wondering if one day you would look back regretfully at what you threw away, on what is supposed to be the happiest day of your life."

She couldn't look at him anymore. She slammed the door behind her, and leaned against it, breathing hard. Her blood ran cold and she was flooded with countless feelings. Hugging the tiny key close to her heart, she walked away down towards the Beacon stairway.

------------

Mallet sat there on his haunches trying to come up with better things he could have said to her as she was leaving. Some final, reverberating piece of wisdom that would have guided her way always. "I give you," he said in a very deep voice. "my spell of protection. It will be with you always, my apprentice. Take it and go forth." He spent a few more seconds trying to get himself to lighten up. This wasn't so bad. He had done the right thing (right?) and tried to entertain himself by thinking of the hopefully large stack of files Frank would leave on his desk for him to immerse himself in tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning ... Harley would be off somewhere on her Honeymoon.And all those things he had wanted to tell her ...

What are you, an idiot? She told you she loved you.

Yes. But did she really, truly mean it?

Of course she did! She wouldn't just let things pop out like you assumed she would.

But it was probably out of guilt. That maid made her remember our wedding and feel guilty. She wanted me to have a crumb or two before she left forever.

My word, man! Are you loony? Why do you have to over-analyze every single little thing? It's love. It's pure and it's simple. And yet, it's crazy and you can't justify all the bits and pieces of it by using logic or deduction. You can't second-guess it and force it aside.

It took Mallet perhaps only around three minutes (or roughly 183 seconds) of arguing with himself to realize that this was not his brightest idea. He pulled against his self-created bonds in frustration, and kept reminding himself that he forced both himself and Harley to let go for the greater good. He pulled and realized with disgust that he had emptied out anything from his pockets that would have let him pick the minuscule lock. And the cramped sitting position he had put himself in here next to one of the bed legs wasn't exactly comfy. He flopped onto his stomach, his arm dangling upwards ridiculously, and started to scan the floor for something he could reach for.

He saw, glittering a little ways from him, one of Harley's hairpins had fallen out. It lay there on the floor resting on top of the stubby stem of a small white flower that had also come loose from Harley's locks. It mocked Mallet with it's simple beauty and the promise it had held of resting atop Harley's head as she took her vows. Groping for the pin, he stretched out as far as he could and even tried to use one long leg to brush it closer to his hand. It was all to no avail. Mallet was stuck.