"Are you kidding me?!" Murrue burst out in shock, staring at the little thing with wide eyes. She knew very well what it was, and she had assumed that everyone else would just forget about that certain tradition. It was a small little lacy blue garter, something that she had never seen, or worn, every before in her life, and she wasn't about to start now. "No way. I am not wearing that."

"Oh c'mon, it's a harmless little tradition." Natarle was having a hard time not laughing, the brunette's expression when she caught the flimsy thing was priceless, she wished she had a camera. Erica had left for two reasons, one to get ready and second so she wouldn't have to tell the bride herself. "Erica will be hurt if you don't do it."

"No way in hell."

"Mu's all for it." Natarle tried with a little laugh, trying very hard to control her laughter. She had to admit if she was in Murrue's position she more than likely wouldn't have gotten anywhere near that thing but since she wasn't... She wanted a chance to have a little bit of fun herself.

"Eh? He is?" Murrue was distracted long enough to have a mental image of his wandering hands, and she shivered a little as blood flushed up her neck to settle in her cheeks. If they had been doing that in private, she probably wouldn't have minded at all, but this was different. She knew the traditions, and she wasn't really sure that this was something she wanted everybody to see. She debated inwardly for a few long moments, finally growling, "I'll do it, but only on one condition."

"What?" Natarle asked curiously, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear as she examined her friend.

"You're wearing it when you and Justin get hitched." Murrue said finally, a devilish glint entering her eyes and a big smug smirk stretching across her pink lips.

"What?!"

Murrue snickered, quite amused as her friend turned several colours of pink, darkening to a bright crimson, her violet eyes wide in shock and entire body frozen where she stood. She wondered what made the young woman the most embarrassed, the thought of wearing it to her own wedding, or the idea of a wedding in general. She smiled broadly and repeated her terms.

"I doubt Erica will want to let me borrow it after you." Natarle muttered under her breath, not even managing to have eye contact with her friend now, still blushing to her ears.

"Who knows. Now you ought to go get into your dress." Murrue teased, and Natarle basically fled from the room, so red she would have little trouble being mistaken for a rose. She peeked at herself in the mirror once more and smiled shyly at her reflection. 'Well... Let's go get married.'

Present Day

"Nervous?"

Natarle tried not to smile at the memories that flooded back from that simple word. It felt like she was having a serious case of deja vu, except this time she was the one sitting patiently in the chair while her friends fussed over her make-up and hair. Murrue was having the same issue and she smiled as she idly smoothed out an invisible crease in the plain white dress her friend wore. "Not really..."

"Not even a little?" Murrue asked with interest, pulling away to examine her friend to make sure she was perfect. Nodding to herself, she stepped away and Erica took over with finishing the make-up.

Natarle just shook her head an inch each way so she wouldn't mess Erica up, waiting patiently for her friends to finish their work. She would admit she wasn't a big fan of the getting "dolled up" but her friends were enjoying it massively, so she would endure it for them. When Erica finished, she answered calmly, "I feel just fine."

Erica raised an eyebrow and looked at Murrue suspiciously, before walking across the room to Natarle's purse, opening it and idly pulling out a pill bottle. She snorted with disdain, placed the it back, and pretended to glare at the still calm raven-haired woman. "Anti-nauseant pills? You popped a few?"

"Just one." Natarle defended herself sheepishly, looking down at her bare feet with embarrassment. She had felt ill in the morning ,a cold she was sure that would pass over, but she didn't want to risk it so she'd taken a pill to ease her stomach. It would have been plenty embarrassing if it just happened to heave when she was saying her vows. "I just don't want anything to go wrong!"

Erica snorted loudly, and Murrue had to hide her giggles by coughing. As if she remembered something, Murrue fled the room for a moment and reappeared a moment later, holding an item Natarle remembered very well. The woman blanched white, and almost immediately got to her feet.

"No."

"Oh c'mon, I agreed to wear it if you would, and it's your turn." Murrue reminded the embarrassed woman cheekily, trying her best not to giggle at the expression Natarle was wearing. The poor woman looked ready to jump out the window if she had to get anywhere near the flimsy blue garter. "You know you secretly want to."

"No." Natarle repeated firmly, backing away from the garment with a brilliant red face. She could just imagine how amused Justin would be when she told him about it, and she remembered very well how badly Murrue had been teased after Mu had removed hers. She was not going to let them do that to her. "No way. You are not getting that thing anywhere near me."

"Well technically, we don't want to put it near you, we want to put it on you." Erica spoke calmly but her eyes were dancing with humour, and she looked close to breaking down into a fit of giggles. She took a dainty step forwards and natarle jumped two back, while Murrue also stepped towards the woman. "C'mon, it's not going to bite."

"It's not going to bite!?"

Murrue nearly laughed but the expression on Natarle's face made her stop, though her shoulders were shaking when she tried to take a deep breath. Erica didn't seem to care about that, she was leaning on the window-frame, laughing so hard she was crying. Taking a few more breaths to steady herself, she wheedled, "You promised Natarle."

"Technically I never said I would." Natarle shot back stubbornly, knowing she was right but Erica didn't stop laughing and Murrue smiled smugly anyway. She crossed her arms over her stomach and glared at the advancing women, really preparing herself to jump out the window if it came to that. "There's no way I'm getting that put on me."

"We could always tie her down and make her wear it."Erica suggested casually, looking the soon-to-be bride over with speculative eyes.

"She has to walk down the aisle Erica." Murrue reminded the redhead with a snicker, and the crestfallen look on the woman's face nearly had her in hysterics again. "Though we could drag her down if it had to come to that..."

"I'm standing right here!"

"Oh I know, we're just debating what we could do to you if you make this difficult." Murrue replied pleasantly, looking the woman up and down with the same speculative expression Erica had worn. "So you have two choices, be difficult and we do what we have to, or come peacefully and have no harm done to you."

"I may be in a wedding dress but I can still do some damage." Natarle replied threateningly, squaring her shoulders and glaring at the women challengingly. She meant every word of what she'd said, she wouldn't wear it unless she was dead or dying.

"If you say so..." Murrue was grinning as she kept on advancing, cornering the dark-haired woman with Erica laughing in a very evil way the entire time. "You dug your own grave Natarle..."

"We promise it won't hurt..." Erica added in a sinister tone, creeping even closer...

"Murder!"

Well you, you had me from "Hello".

I felt love start to grow,

the moment that I looked into your eyes, you owned me.

It was over from the start,

you completely stole my heart,

and now you won't let it go.

I never even had a chance you know,

you had me from "Hello".

Murrue watched from the sidelines as Natarle and Justin stood at the altar and exchanged their vows, and she was one of the first to start cheering the moment he kissed her, much to the new bride's chagrin. She couldn't really help it though, she had been so pleased to see that the smile the woman wore was so brilliant it could have lit ORB entirely.

Natarle had given in to the girls' demands and after a few prods and pokes, finally sat down in the middle of the circle and watched with horror as Justin undid his tie and sauntered out of the crowd towards her, wearing a devil-my-care smile. Murrue felt sorry for the woman for one half of a second before she was beside her own husband, whistling and trading catcalls with the rest of the crowd.

She'd closed her eyes as tightly as she could manage, but she couldn't escape the feeling of his hands sliding casually up her leg, the touch so light she wondered if anyone really knew what he was doing under her skirt. She couldn't stop a soft gasp that hitched in her throat when his lips brushed against the wispy fabric but he made quick work of sliding it down her leg before whipping it into the crowd. She didn't pay attention to who caught the thing, but she didn't have much time to focus as he'd picked her clean up off the chair and twirled her in his arms, starting the first dance without pause, and her with no shoes.

Murrue was laughing when she saw how Natarle clearly wanted to break away to find her shoes but Justin wouldn't let go of her to let her. Without pausing, Murrue slid her own shoes off and grabbed her husband's arm before pulling him onto the floor to join the happy couple, and soon the entire dance-floor was filled with swaying couples.

When the song ended, everyone switched partners, and Mu purposely caught Natarle by the hand and pulled her to him, snickering when she rolled her eyes and made a point of avoiding his feet just to tease him. Laughing at this, Mu kissed her on the cheek and announced pleasantly, "Congratulations Natarle."

"Thanks." Natarle replied with a smile, standing on tiptoe to return the favour, knowing she was still blushing from the garter experience. The unrequited attraction she'd felt for him forever ago had faded and changed into a fraternal love, and she felt completely comfortable in his arms as they danced. 'So much has changed...'

"You know... Once... I thought maybe I had something for you.... I realized that it wasn't anything though, once I was on the Dominion... I was just fooling myself because I was jealous..."

The song ended and she found herself dancing with murrue, amazingly enough the two women managed to get through the switch without laughing too hard. Natarle was trying incredibly hard to keep a straight face when they literally slid across the floor, and she told her friend cheerfully, "You dance way better than your husband."

"Oh shit, did he step on your feet?" Murrue asked worriedly, but Natarle shook her head and kept on laughing, causing the same reaction in Murrue, and for fun she playfully twirled the bride and was snickering when Natarle took her turn to dip the brunette, nearly falling over herself in the process.

"I'd say we're more along the lines of friends now."

"Friends? I guess that could work... Murrue."

Another switch took place and Murrue joined back up with her husband who had been dancing with Kira as a joke, and now had Paige in his arms. The little girl was giggling in delight and when she saw her mother almost immediately reached out to her. Laughing, Murrue swept the girl into her arms and began to sway, laughing when Mu took her by the waist and joined his favourite ladies in the fun.

"I'm pregnant, Mu! We're having a baby!"

"She's so beautiful Mu..."

Murrue smiled into her baby's hair as she continued to dance, Paige giggling as each over-dramatic dip and twirl, Mu following pace with his deep laughter. They traded off again at the end of the song, Paige being whisked away by Erica, who had Kira with her too, the both of them laughing when Lacus ended up with Cagalli instead of Athrun like she had been planning. Murrue kept Mu with herself, the two settling back to watch the rest of the dancers with interest.

"She looks so happy..."

"They all do." Mu agreed with a laugh, nodding towards Justin, who was dancing with Lacus now, the man was having too good of a time. He'd already whisked Cagalli into an aerial twirl, which had the blond representative torn between blushing and giggling, waltzed with Erica which had ended with both of them laughing too hard to watch where they were going, and now he had rewarded Lacus with a sound kiss to the cheek, the poor songstress was red to her ears with embarrassment. "He's a real womanizer."

"He's having fun." Murrue told him with a laugh, elbowing him gently in the ribs before adding, "Besides, if I remember correctly, you kissed every single woman who danced with you, Erica included."

"And you kissed every guy who danced with you too, so we're square." Mu chuckled, kissing the crown of her hair as he watched the rest of their friends and extended family continue to dance and enjoy themselves. "Wanna go back in?"

"Nah, Natarle will be leaving soon, might as well stay back..."

The little party began to wind down, and after tossing the bouquet, which Lacus caught again much to her embarrassment, Natarle and Justin made their announcement of their leave. He wound his arm around his bride's waist and the two walked together down the hall to their waiting car, but she couldn't help but look back at her gathered friends.

Murrue had Paige resting in her arms, and was tenderly waving the little girl's hand with a smile on her face, looking so much like a mother, Natarle had a hard time not smiling. 'She's a born mother, it's just how things are...'

I used to wish that I was like her, every single day since I had met her. Even though I was raised to not think that way, when she sat in that chair I wished it was me, that I could be in her shoes even though it was so hard on her... When she fell in love, I only wanted to be her more, out of envy. But when she held that little girl in her arms and I saw how happy she was and she let me hold her... I finally realized I didn't have to be like her anymore. I could have everything she had too, it was a real freeing feeling... Mu has helped me so much too, the man I used to think was such a lightweight had really made me change my mind about so many things. He's a brave, funny, caring, and childish idiot, but he means the world to me, just like Murrue does... I'm blessed to have friends like them, to have a husband like Justin, to be given this second chance at life.

I used to be scared of the future, scared of what I didn't know was yet to come... But now I'm not scared anymore. It's still uneasy, not knowing what's going to be thrown at you, but at the same time, it's kind of fun... I have Justin by my side, and the best friends anyone could ever ask for, I don't feel scared about anything anymore, I can't.

'I'm off to Paris now... With a little secret of my own... Should I tell them...?' Natarle took one last look over her shoulder at her friends, trying to hide the smile that just kept growing on her face at the thought of what she was carrying inside of her now.

Her smile became devilish as they got closer to the car that was going to take them to their next destination, and she leaned closer on Justin as they went. 'Nah. I had to wait until they were back from their honeymoon. They can wait until I'm back from mine.'

One chapter had now ended, and another one was still yet to begin, the future still lay ahead of them, but now it was a brighter one that they all could look forward to.

The End

AN

That tanked, rofl. Heehee. The song was something I nicked from the nets, a country song by Kenny Chesney (?) (bawls) but I never heard of it and the lyrics were really pretty so I thought I'd shoot it up there anyway... Bleh, lol. Thanks to everyone who reviewed this story, or favourited, and my love goes out to all of you! Merci beaucoup mon amis! Hope you enjoyed it!

Sky