Hey guys once again, glad you liked the new character :)! Thankyou guys for reviewing, Kumiko Katawa, DoubleKK, Rachelly.


20. A marriage and a pink parade

Karen hurried out to the farm in her new purple overalls, it was her first day starting on the farm with Matty. He greeted her in his own pink overalls and flashed her a grin.

"Karen, you look simply divine in pink." He told her, looking at her outfit with approval. Karen grinned and finished tying up her hair in a pink scrunchie.

"Doesn't everyone?" She commented with a grin. Matty chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"They sure do... Let's get to work then shall we?" He asked, handing her a bag of pink seeds.

"What're these?" Karen asked opening the bag. Matty smiled and leaned towards her as though about to reveal a big secret.

"A special hybrid of late bloomers." He said tapping his nose, indicating that he wouldn't reveal any more. He took a lighter pink bag for himself and began to hoe out patches in the ground to grow them.

"Aren't those strawberries?" She asked curiously, recognising the pink bag from her parents' shop.

"Yep." He said spreading them over the ground.

"Then don't grow them now, they don't grow in fall." She told him worriedly. Matty smiled secretively again and continued to sow the seeds.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing." He told her with a grin. He began to hum as he spread the seeds happily, doing a little dance.

"So what's with all the pink and red stuff?" She asked as he took out a bag of tomato seeds.

"I'm planning something, with Popuri." He said, continuing to dance.

"Would you care to share?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips. He shook his head and grinned sweetly. Karen frowned jealously, she liked the fact that he had other friends, but she didn't want him and Popuri to have secrets without her. "Why not?"

"Sweetie, you know I'd share if it weren't for your own good. You'll enjoy the surprise if it stays a surprise." He said kissing her on the cheek sweetly.

"A surprise?" Karen asked excitedly, now she really wanted to know.

"Yes my little sweet pea, a surprise for the whole village. I only included Popuri because I need her special expertise, you understand?" He said, continuing to smile at their secret. Karen pouted and folded her arms.

"Oh tell me..." She whined, batting her eyelids and looking up through her lashes at him. Matty tapped her on the nose and mouthed "no".

"Fine, fine. Let's just get growing." She told him. They finished scattering the seeds and growing some more grass and then Matty handed Karen a list of errands and some money.

"You go buy these things, then meet me in the inn. We're going to pick some furniture for this place from a catalogue." He told her. Karen grinned happily, their plan was to make the farmhouse into a cool house and crash pad for Matty. So they were going to pick out the coolest furniture they could find. She felt honoured that she was the one he shared this task with, she didn't know why but she felt the need to be his favourite.

"Okay, I'll get the stuff on the list... brush, clippers, milker, cheese maker, butter maker, yarn maker. This'll be expensive..." Karen told him biting her lip. Matty nodded, but grinned too.

"Worry not my little cherub, see I earned lots of money before I came here, I had a really cool job as a hairdresser, plus my family gave me loads of setting up cash too." He said smiling.

"Oh wow that's great! Wait a minute... this is all animal stuff? Are we getting animals?" Karen asked excitedly, she had always wanted animals on the farm, but she hadn't been able to get any because of the time and effort one had to put into them.

"Well we're not going to use the milker on you now are we..." He joked, Karen wrinkled her nose and looked disgusted and offended.

"Oh God no! Forget I said that, I didn't mean that!" He said quickly. Karen tried hard to keep frowning but failed and burst out laughing.

"Whatever." She said. She then took the money he handed her and set about buying the stuff. All the items she needed would come from the blacksmiths and thankfully it just happened to be open.

"Knock, knock." She said sweetly as she walked in. Saibara was busy making Jewellery and Gray was cleaning the back of the shop. When Karen entered Gray's big, blue eyes lit up and he put down his broom.

"Why, hello Karen. What can I do you for?" Saibara asked kindly in his gruff voice. Karen handed him the list smiling sweetly.

"We need everything on there. We're getting animals!" Karen told him excitedly, her jade eyes shimmering. Saibara nodded and took the list from her looking over it. He accepted the money and pinned the list to a notice board at the back.

"Is that so?" He asked smiling. "Well that's great news. How is the farm coming along anyway?"

"Oh it's so great, Matty's such a great partner." She said grinning. A look of jealousy appeared on Gray's face before he forced on a smile.

"Yes, yes. You seem a lot happier lately Karen, Matty sounds like a great kid." Saibara told her. "But speaking of great news, Gray has some..."

"Oh really?" Karen asked curiously, shifting her gaze to the boy in the blue hat. Saibara nodded and elbowed Gray to speak. Gray looked at the floor shyly and mumbled something incoherent.

"Speak up boy!" Saibara ordered and Gray looked up angrily.

"I said, I'm getting married." He said. Karen smiled, Saibara seemed generally happy for him for once. Gray however didn't seem as happy with the news, which Karen found odd.

"When did you propose to Mary?" Karen asked grinning, leaning on the counter ready to lap up the romantic details.

"Well I didn't." Gray admitted, adjusting his cap so that it covered up more of his face.

"You didn't?" Karen asked in wonder. Gray shook his head and shuffled his feet.

"Yeah, the boy was too much of a coward." Saibara said gruffly. Gray shot him a cold look and then looked back at Karen shyly.

"Mary suggested that we'd been going out for a while and that we probably should... and I said it sounded like a good idea and bought her the feather." He told her nervously. Karen forced a smile. That sounded less than romantic. But then she felt a twinge of guilt as she realised that it might be partly because of his small infatuation with her.

"I'm so happy for you Gray!" Karen said, throwing her arms around him. "So when's the big day."

"Winter 5th, so we have a chance to plan. She wants a wedding out on Mother's hill when it's snowy." Gray said unenthusiastically.

"That sounds so romantic." Karen said dreamily, wishing she'd had an idea like that for her own wedding.

"Yeah." Gray said, agreeing automatically with Karen. Saibara smiled and patted Gray's hat proudly. He then handed Karen a bag with the tools she'd ordered.

"Right, I'll deliver the cheese, butter and yarn makers once they're done." He said and Karen nodded.

"Okay see you around and congratulations Gray!" Karen said, smiling sweetly as she walked out of the door, leaving Gray blushing furiously.

Karen put the tools in the tool shed and then sat at a table in the inn where Matty greeted her happily with a kiss on the cheek.

"So did ya get the tools?" He asked after ordering them both a diet coke.

"Of course. But guess what! I have gossip." She told him, he rested his head on his hands looking intrigued.

"Gray and Mary are getting married!" Karen told him happily. Matty clapped his hands together and exclaimed, "no way!"

"Yes way. Gray didn't propose though, which I think is kind of unromantic, they decided together." Karen told him. Matty nodded understandingly and looked into her green eyes.

"Its cos of his teeny crush on you, huh?" Matty said knowledgably. Karen nodded slowly, with a sigh. Matty had now been caught up on everyone in the town's entire life stories, thanks to hours on the farm with Karen and more girly sleepovers than necessary.

"Yeah. I guess so, but once they're married he'll get over it." Karen told him, trying to reassure herself.

"Totally." He assured her with a smile. She knew he was just saying that to stop her worrying but she appreciated it all the same. He then pulled out a couple of thick catalogues and placed them on the desk.

"I got my parents to send me these, since you can't receive them here. These have the niftiest things this side of Jupiter." He told her, flicking to a page showing a giant poster of Barbie.

"Right let's get picking." Karen said. Matty grinned and handed her a red pen while he selected a pink one for himself, they both then leaned over catalogues and the things they liked received a big circle.

"Oh my gosh, look at this fluffy pink rug!" Karen said. Matty looked over and his electrifying blue eyes lit up.

"Gotta have that," he said drawing a large circle around it. "Ooh a pink fridge, tick!"

"Oh wow, lava lamp... in pink and purple."

"Definitely," he said, giving the lamp a tick.

"Giant pink, extra-luxury, dream bed," Karen read, her eyes lighting up.

"Oh yeah," Matty said, giving it a large tick, earning a giggle from Karen. They then picked the very best from each of the catalogues and decided on the final items they would purchase. Matty then handed Doug the list to send off to the catalogue and sat smiling at Karen.

"What?" She asked giggling. Matty shook his head and grabbed Karen's hand.

"We now have the officially coolest furniture around. How does that make you feel?" He asked sounding like a journalist.

"Like I'm on top of the world!" She said, cheering happily. Matty smiled, satisfied by her answer and then he tickled her.

"Good, cos it's gonna be the coolest place ever!" He told her. She laughed, almost falling off her chair trying to avoid him tickling her.

"Now that's not fair, you're not ticklish." She pouted. He smiled and ceased his torture. Suddenly the door opened and Rick walked in looking stressed.

"Karen, there you are." He said, wrapping his arms around her in a hug and kissing the top of her head.

"Beep, beep, beep." Matty said. Karen frowned and looked at him curiously. Rick frowned too and then let go of Karen.

"I'm gonna go and get a drink, would either of you like something?" He asked, they shook their heads and watched as he went over to order.

"What was the beeping?" Karen asked smiling. Matty raised his eyebrows and looked over at Rick.

"That was your husband, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, why? Haven't you had a chance to meet him yet?" Karen asked, following Matty's view over to Rick.

"No, not really... He seems to avoid me a little. I think I've seen him." He said smirking.

"What's up?" Karen demanded, watching Matty smirk.

"It's nothing... it's just my gaydar must be on the fritz or something because I could swear that man is gay..." Matty said, laughing. Karen raised her eyebrows and looked over at Rick.

"No way, he's my husband!" She told him, hitting him gently on the arm.

"My mistake." Matty shrugged rubbing his arm.

"Yeah, my husband isn't gay, okay?" She told him, Matty nodded and she relaxed. She wondered though, if Rick had been surrounded by other gays might he be? She shook her head and dismissed the thought, she was pretty sure he'd know if he liked the opposite sex. Rick returned with his drinks and the three of them had an awkward conversation about the weather. Karen noticed that Rick wasn't quite comfortable with Matty and that he was a little jealous. But his jealousy was completely unfounded and he tried to hide it as much as possible. Karen was glad he was making the effort, maybe they could save their marriage after all.

A few weeks passed and Karen finally saw what they had been growing on the farm. There were entire plots of pinkcat flowers and a huge number of strawberry and tomato plants. They harvested half the produce and the other half they put in the newly arrived cupboard and fridge ready for whatever Matty wanted to use them for.

The farmhouse looked amazing now and Matty had finally moved in, which made farm life easier. They had painted the walls a fabulous light pink colour but left the floor wooden. All the furniture was pink or red and they had painted red hearts all over the wall to match. A giant, pink bed lay in the corner and even the bathroom was pink.

Karen often ate lunch there and stayed over whenever she didn't want to go home. She had discovered that Matty was an excellent cook and knew that he would definitely win the cooking festival. Matty discovered that Karen was the most terrible cook ever and knew that she'd lost every cooking festival ever without her even telling him. The house was a truly perfect haven, and Karen was never happier than when she was there.

She was amazed at how much Matty had improved her life, finally she was truly happy again. Everyone in town was in a buzz over Gray and Mary's wedding and Ann was becoming depressed that she and Cliff were the last couples left unmarried. Everyone was planning the wedding and Matty had promised to cater for the wedding without Karen's help, although she protested that she could make the cake without it exploding. But Matty refused to take that chance.

Matty finally revealed that his and Popuri's plan was a party that would be happening on Valentines day, just a few days after the wedding. She and Matty planned to go to the shop and buy their first animal, a lovely little sheep. They headed over to Barley's and picked out a beautiful fluffy lamb, which Matty named affectionately "Fluffy". There had been much argument over the name, but Matty finally insisted that his name was the best. They put their new lamb in the barn and took it in turns to groom her, as they both loved that job. Next they planned to buy a cow and Karen insisted that she should get to name it. The farm was thriving.

On the day of the wedding Karen somehow found herself being forced to deliver the food all the way to the top of Mother's hill. So a few hours before the wedding Karen and Matty picked up huge boxes of food and hauled them up the mountain through a thick layer of snow. Karen had managed to convince Matty to let her carry the cake, and he had to carry the rest.

"Remind me again why agreed to do this..." Karen said, taking a deep breath and forcing herself another step up the hill.

"Because you love me." Matty told her with a smile from in front of her. He walked up with great ease as she struggled behind him.

"That's true." She agreed as they took the final steps to the summit. Karen took a deep breath in, the view was beautiful. Mary was right, it was the perfect place and season to have a wedding. The entire mountain looked like an iced wedding cake and the snow glittered beautifully, like magic.

"Now this is where I should have got married." Karen said as she put down the cake on some tables Zack had set up earlier.

"Nah, for me it's Vegas all the way." Matty said with a grin. Karen made a face, trying to recall exactly what kind of place Vegas was.

"Vegas... isn't that like a huge gambling place?" She asked curiously, wondering why anyone would want to have a wedding in such an unromantic place.

"Yeah... ish. But to have a wedding in a cool chapel in a place where you can have a honeymoon as well sound cool. Plus you can have like an Elvis theme or something." Matty said spreading the food delicately on the table. He had such a talent for presenting food, everything looked fabulous.

"Now Elvis I've heard of. But Vegas sounds so unromantic, not for me." She said wrinkling her nose. Matty shrugged, at least he liked his idea.

"That's about it. Now let's go and sort out your dress." He said wiping some snow off his hand.

"And yours." Karen said cheekily. Matty looked at her with his icy blue eyes sarcastically. She smiled, he looked sweet when he found her funny. They headed down the hill together and Karen managed to throw some snowballs at him with exceptional aim.

After Karen had changed into her frilly blue dress she twirled in front of a mirror. She wondered what happened to all the other dresses from the weddings she went to, she had kept her own wedding dress but she never kept the bridesmaid ones. All she knew was that she gave them to Carter, she guessed there must be some storage at the back of the church. Matty walked in wearing a bright pink suit, making her giggle hysterically.

"Did you get permission to wear that?" She asked, adjusting his bowtie a little.

"Yep! I asked Mary and she laughed and said it would add colour to the wedding." He said with a proud grin. Karen raised her eyebrows and nodded.

"I guess so, you're gonna stand out like a sore thumb... a sore pink thumb." She told him, eyeing his pale pink ensemble. He pretended to laugh and then looked at her boredly, indicating that he was not at all amused.

"Well anyway, shall we go? I told Rick I'd meet him at the wedding." She said, stroking her dress. She frowned a little, Rick did seem angry about her spending all her time with Matty. But she had much more fun with him than Rick who was just so darn boring.

They headed up the hill in their nice clothes, being careful not to trail them in the snow. When they arrived they quickly took their places in the wedding.

"This is my third wedding if you count my own." Karen whispered boredly. Gray kept glancing over at her and then blushing, making sure she couldn't feel any more awkward than at that wedding. She knew she shouldn't have come while Gray still had feelings for her, but his feelings couldn't be any more than a minor crush, right?

During his vows he seemed to be talking directly to Karen, thankfully Mary was looking at the grounds and appeared oblivious. She had to admit though, Gray looked adorable in his little black tuxedo and for once he wasn't wearing his "uma" hat. She had never seen it off and had begun to wonder if he even wore it in the shower. To Karen's relief the actual wedding part didn't last too long, everyone seemed desperate to get out of the cold.

The after party lasted even shorter and there was no music to dance to, Mary insisted on listening to the beauty of nature. So everyone sat around eating cake as they watched Mary looking around enthusiastically at all the nature. Karen spotted Gray edging towards the bar and followed him to the buffet table.

"Congratulations Gray!" She said smiling, Gray looked back at her sweetly. His big blue eyes seemed to twinkle with happiness, but they also held some regret.

"Yeah, Mary's... a great girl, Karen. But..." He said awkwardly. Karen quickly shook her head and patted him gently on the back.

"I know Gray, but you did the right thing... the healthy thing." She said convincingly. He nodded and looked back at his slice of cake as though it could offer him condolence.

"Well..." Gray said awkwardly, Karen smiled and leant down to kiss him on the cheek before walking over to Matty. He had already began to clear away the plates and uneaten food.

"Please tell me I'm not on cleanup duty." She begged, her green eyes shining pleading. Matty gave her a lopsided smile and shook his head.

"No, 'cos nor am I. Ann and Doug promised to do that... so we're free to go." He said clapping his hands together. Karen breathed a deep sigh of relief, she hated washing up more than anything and she was perhaps even worse at that than cooking.

"Cool, so let's go back and watch TV or something, kay?" She asked hopefully. She'd like nothing more than to curl up on the sofa in the warm with Matty and watch one of his favourite soap opera DVDs. He smiled and leant down to kiss her on the top of her head, being a lot taller than her he found it easy to do this.

"Sorry sweetheart no can do. Me and Poe still have to plan this party." He said apologetically. Karen looked at the floor, crestfallen. She hated that he would rather spend time with Popuri than her, just because they were planning something together.

"Oh, okay then... I guess I could go home and spend some time with Rick..." She said, a frown emerging on her face, oh how she loathed spending time with Rick.

"That sounds like a good idea you know sweetheart. You're so gonna enjoy this thing me and Poe are planning, Kar." He told her with a grin. She forced a smile onto her face and turned away to meet Rick. He was surprised to hear she wanted to spend the afternoon with him, but it was a good idea.

"Oh Karen this is great, we never spend time together anymore!" Rick said happily, as he skipped home a couple of metres in front of her.

"Yeah, great." She said, her teeth gritted together tightly.

"You okay honey bunch?" Rick asked, sounding almost concerned. She nodded and followed him home where hours of watching the discovery channel would take place, with questions in between like "which came first the chicken or the egg?" Oh how Karen loathed the discovery channel, Rick and all his bloody questions.

Valentines Day arrived in Mineral town with a huge buzz about the party Matty and Popuri were throwing. Apparently it was a Valentines ball and everyone had to wear pink. Karen was borrowing a bubblegum pink dress off Popuri who seemed to own basically nothing but pink. The dress was, in Karen opinion, hideous. It was her belief that it should be stomped on, spat on and then put through a shredder. But it was the least frilly pink dress Popuri owned so she had to make do. They met at the square at three o' clock and stood waiting for Popuri and Matty to make a small announcement. Matty cleared his throat and Popuri began to flush pink with stage fright.

"Welcome everyone to the first, and possibly last, ever Valentines Ball! Popuri and I have been planning this for ages and we thought it'd be a great chance for us all to be pink for a day!" Matty announced happily, gazing proudly at his audience. Karen could spot the glint in his eye, the theatrical glint of a natural actor.

"Yeah... um just enjoy." Popuri said in a high squeaky voice. There was an uproar of chatter until some music was turned on from a stereo that was plugged into a super long lead coming from the inn. Karen grinned at the mass of pink, absolutely everyone was dressed in pink, which she just couldn't get enough of. Even Zack who was a beefy man was wearing a pink shirt and pink trousers. The mass of people looked like a giant ball of bubblegum or cotton candy stuck to the floor of Rose square. Karen spotted Matty bounding up to her with the hugest grin on his face. As he came nearer she realised just how much makeup he was wearing: foundation, pink eyeliner, bright pink blusher and pink eye shadow.

"So what do you think?" He asked, his eyebrows raised in anticipation.

"Amazing, just amazing. My gosh, everyone looks so pink!" She said smiling. Matty grinned and led her over to the buffet table to show her the pink food.

"We have pink strawberries, pink grapes, pink grapefruit. Pink cake, pink ham, pink sandwiches, please don't ask how we did that. Look at all the pink food." He said helping himself to a pink biscuit.

"Matty, it's all fantastic." She told him, helping herself to a slice of pink cake. Matty grinned from ear to ear and hurried off to make sure everything was running smoothly.

"Karen, wanna dance?" Rick asked hopefully. Karen bit her lip, she didn't want to but... hell it was Valentines Day.

"Why not?" She said with a shrug, Rick grinned as he led her out to dance. He had timed it just right so a slow song came on as they entered the dance floor and he looked at her slyly. She raised one eyebrow to show that she was unimpressed, but she had to hand it to him, it was good timing. He placed his hands on her back and she placed her head on his shoulder, she never remembered them ever dancing like this. They danced slowly and for once Karen didn't completely want to throw up, it was strange but somehow the romantic atmosphere made things better. But could they ever be the same?

"Rick..." Karen said, her breathing slow and gentle as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Hmmm?" He asked calmly. He was enjoying her company so completely, for once they were together when they weren't fighting and she wasn't repulsed by him.

"Are you happy?" She asked. The brutal question, he knew what was coming next. She wasn't happy, he knew that but for some reason he'd thought there marriage would work anyway.

"Yes, when I'm with you, I'm always happy." He told her. He knew it sounded so corny, but it was true, truer than she could ever know. She lifted her head off his shoulder and looked deeply into his blue-grey eyes. She looked sceptical, how could he possibly be happy when they were living a lie?

"Are you really?" She asked, hoping that he would tell the truth.

"Yes Karen, honestly. But seeing you unhappy makes me sad." He said, looking at the floor avoiding her eyes. He'd done it now, he'd given her the perfect chance to tell him that he was right, she wasn't happy and it was over. But she hesitated, unsure of what to say, how could she break his heart when he was happy?

"I am happy." She lied. She just couldn't break his heart on Valentines Day, she couldn't tell him that it made her feel unclean the thought of being with him. Rick smiled, he knew she was lying, but he preferred the lie. He'd rather be with her as a lie than be without her and face the bitter truth.

"Then I'm happy." He told her smiling. She gave him a nod and rested her head back on his shoulder, she would try to be happy. They danced slowly, even when the song ended and a fast one came on, they just couldn't part and face the crushing reality that as soon as they stopped dancing the peace would die again.

"We'll be okay, Karen." Rick said letting her go and taking a step backwards. He gave her hands a reassuring squeeze and turned away.

"Maybe." She whispered softly to herself when he had walked away. She looked over and spotted Matty trying to get Kai to dance with him. She grinned, for now she could be happy as long as Matty stayed by her side. He was her rock, the only thing keeping her from falling off the edge. She watched him try and flirt with Kai and giggled, yeah she was happy.