Not much to say...so here's another chapter. Enjoy the wedding!

Chapter 5: Quite The Wedding

Ann's POV

I walked numbly and gingerly to the bride's room. This was it. I was getting married. At 17, my father was not happy. No, no, that was a complete understatement. You don't even want to know what kind of words he used. But, he liked Cliff anyway. He said as long as we were happy and loved each other, that was the important thing.

He's one to talk, I mean, Dad got married at 19 and in 1979 he had my older half-brother Gray. Then, my dad's ex-wife left. I never knew about her except her name was Delilah Ray. Then, he met my mom, Carrie, and had me at 29 in 1989. It's 17 years later, Dad! Bah. Anyway, all this morning he was crying. Heck, I was crying...not just 'cause I was happy.

"Ann, let me just tighten this little--" Karen nearly choked me as she tied the dress in the back.

"OW!" I squealed.

I could see Karen frowning in the mirror. "Well, hold still." She then put a foot on my back and pulled tighter. Geez, how tight was this dress? I was only 118 pounds and this dress must've been for someone sooo much smaller.

"...Karen..." I gasped. "Can't...breathe...!"

It was bad enough I wanted to puke from this wave of unknown nausea (probably from the nervousness), but now I couldn't breathe. Urgh, that Karen. What with her perfect 130 pound body that was toned, and shiny skin, and flowing hair. Why did Karen give me this dress again? Because my dad wouldn't let me use my mother's. If one thing was for sure, I'd make my dad let me give my mother's dress to me. It would be for my own daughter's wedding...if I had a daughter in the future.

I felt her loosen just a little. Thank the Harvest Goddess.

"GEEZ, Karen!" I ranted.

"Well, this was my mother's dress. She was tiny." Karen couldn't help but smirk at my disadvantage.

Karen walked across the room to go and grab something. I stared at myself in the mirror in jaw-dropping shock. I didn't mean to sound vain, but I looked gorgeous! Who was that in the mirror? Popuri did an excellent job on enhancing my curls to go with the veil. Mary picked out the simple yet elegant veil, Claire let me wear a stunning diamond necklace, and Elli put on the lightest makeup, since she knew wearing it bothered me.

"Yay!" Popuri clapped. "You look so pretty, Ann! I can't wait until me and Kai's wedding."

I smiled. "When is that by the way?" Popuri just shrugged at me.

"Okay, Ann," Karen announced. "Here are some high heels."

"No, no, no! I am NOT wearing heels! I'll break my ankle!"

"C'mon, you are not wearing your sneakers to the wedding. Take advice from the maid-of-honor," Karen joked.

"True," I reasoned. "Okay, fine. I'll wear them."

I slipped the heels on my dainty feet. The heels actually weren't half that bad. In fact, they were pretty comfy! And the heels weren't too high and pointy either. This is great!

All of us girls got up and literally screamed out girlishly.

Knock knock on the door.

"...Ann?" It was my dad's voice. "Everything all right in there?"

"Yeah, Dad. We're fine."

It was silent for a moment. "Hm. Okay, hurry up, it'll start soon," he said hastily.

I took in a deep breath out shakily. The nausea made an unwelcome return. My legs were shaking as I slowly walked out of the hallway down the aisle. Stupid shaky, nausea-ness!

"Good luck, Ann~!" Popuri mouthed to me in the pews. I faked a smile back. I felt like crap.

I saw Cliff in a sauve, saucy-looking tux. He looked very handsome. His usually untidy short ponytail was gone and he had a tad shorter, tidier hair. Still cute though.

"You are glowing," Karen mouthed to me. "...you look pale."

Oh, gee. Thank you Karen. I inwardly rolled my eyes. I think my nausea was noticable. Craaap!

I barely heard Carter when he began the "joyous of days" kind of stuff. I was entranced with my Cliffy. He looked at me with a mixture of nervousness, happiness, and worry. Why was he worried? I quickly adverted my gaze to the crowd. They looked at me with worry too. What was with everybody...?

"...Do you, Cliff LaRue, take Ann McCoy to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Carter said.

"I do," Cliff grinned. Then it was my turn.

"...do you, Ann, take Cliff to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

I felt really faint and dizzy. Something just hit me hard. "...I do..." I said faintly.

Then, it increased. My legs completely buckled and before I fell with a thud, I felt strong hands grip me firmly yet gently. Gasps were heard in the crowd. I looked wearily at him. "...Cliff..." I said weakly. I could barely keep my glassy eyes open.

"Ann?" Cliff stared at me wide-eyed with a twinkle of worry in his eye. He was shaking. "Are you...o-okay?" he said.

I shook my head slowly. "Help..."

My father must've realised by now I wasn't just fainting out of nervousness. Because he was shouting my name. It almost scared me...the shouting. The softest noise would sound harsh to me.

I could taste something really bad in the back of my throat. Puke? No. It tasted more like...iron. I had the urge to cough. When I saw what came out, I almost screamed. Blood. Craaaaaappp! What a wonderful way to start off the wedding.

"A-Ann hold on!" Cliff cried, his voice nearly breaking. He then slowly swooped me up in his arms.

I heard Carter trying to calm the crowd down. It just sounded like mumbling to me. I closed my eyes as everything went dark...

Cliff's POV

I paced up and down in the clinic halls. How long did a checkup take? I kept trying to calm myself down, I knew Trent could take care of her.

Doug looked at me solemnly. "Don't worry. Trent'll take good care of her."

I shot him a grateful look, which he returned with a smile.

"She should be fine," Karen said enthusiastically.

"H-how could she be fine?" I mumbled. "H-how could coughing up blood...exactly be...o-okay?"

Karen dropped her positive attitude and then shrugged.

The doctor emerging from behind the curtain almost spooked me. I could feel my heart rate increase.

"How is she?" I blurted.

"Conscious," Trent replied blankly.

"W-will she be okay...?"

Trent nodded. "Yes. I believe she has over-worked herself at the Inn yesterday. She's exhausted, so she needs to rest for a while."

"What about the blood? How can you explain that?" Doug stated.

"Well," Trent began. "I'm not exactly sure how to explain that. We will keep an eye on it though. The blood seems harmless."

Doug let out a sigh of relief and relaxed his tight expression. He sat back down.

"There is...something else," Trent announced.

"What?" I said.

Trent hesitated for a second and then sighed. "...Ann is with child."

I couldn't quite believe it for the first time. I-it seemed so unreal.

"What?" My voice was shaky. I wanted to cry, not only out of worry, but out of happiness.

"She is with child," Trent replied. "I suggest she should take it easy. Baby's not due until January. Congrats."

Trent sounded so grim about this. I just stood in the hallway, staring at the curtain until it finally hit me. I was going to be a dad. I looked at Doug. He just stared straight ahead with his mouth open and a shocked expression. Karen had wide eyes and looked at me strangely. Gray was there too, silent, but he was there. He seemed to look like he wanted to kill me. As if, I had done something wrong.

I did do something wrong. But...I was still it's father, and I'm still clueless as to what to do. But I'll learn. Like I have everything else.

OMG! I did think sleeping together before the wedding wasn't exactly a 'good idea', Cliff. Took you a week later to figure that out? Sheesh. Well, hoped you enjoyed this exciting chapter. I know it's kinda sucky right now, but it should get better! I'm sick...sick with writer's block. *cough*