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Wedding 1 – Keeping the Ceremony Civil, part three

"Well, what did the two of you decide?" Shego asked a week later as she sat down with Felix and Justine.

"We kind of agreed we didn't have to resolve it right now," Felix told her.

"You're right - we don't know the future," Justine seconded. "In a few years one of us may have a change of heart."

"And if neither of you do?"

"We don't know the future, remember?" Felix reminded her. "I didn't want kids immediately. Let's adjust to life with just the two of us first."

"And, for the sake of argument, Justine agrees to a child or you keep an accident, and it's a girl?"

"She's going to college on a basketball scholarship," Felix told her.

Shego looked at Justine, who smiled and shrugged, "There are no accidents. Just people who get careless. Fortunately, I'm never careless. If, however, I am the victim of product failure Felix will teach her basketball. But I am not letting him near my pills."

"Felix?"

"I think we reached as good a compromise as we could. We want to get married."

"We love each other. That should be what's most important," Justine said.

"Should be," the pale woman agreed. She hesitated, she couldn't raise the question she really wanted to ask. They were both good people. Justine was the smartest person she knew, with amazing confidence about her scientific abilities – but insecure over her looks and lack of social skills. Felix was warm, smart, charming, witty, and sincere. But when people saw him they saw the wheelchair first. Shego had not believed Kim's confession of how hard it had been for her to accept Felix as a person. Did the two love each other for their mutual strengths, or were they frightened and holding on to each other, afraid no one else could love the person they were? Shego decided the question could not be asked and turned to an easier subject. "I've got two for today. Easy one first. Well, maybe an easy one. What's happening as far as last names after the wedding?"

"I'm taking her name," Felix said solemnly.

"What?"

"I'm going to be Mrs. Renton," Justine told Shego.

"So there'll be two Dr. Rentons in your lab?" Shego asked.

"Maybe," Felix said. "since she isn't worried about her errant son any more my mom's dating again. She's got a steady guy now. I think they're serious."

Shego looked at Justine, "I'm not trying to talk you out of it, but somehow I saw you keeping your name."

"It would take too long to explain," the tall woman answered. "I thought about keeping Flanner-"

"And it would have been fine with me if she had," Felix insisted. "I put in an order for a kid."

"Not going to get him," Justine reminded him. "Anyway, I just wanted to let the world know how much he means to me."

Felix beamed, and Shego breathed a sigh of relief, "So I don't need my whistle on that one?"

"No," they agreed.

Shego took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "Okay, another biggie. Felix, Justine has strong feelings about religion."

"I'll say."

"Do you agree with her?"

Felix hesitated.

"Tell her you do," Justine prodded.

"Don't put words in his mouth," Shego warned.

Felix tried again, "Look, I—"

Justine spoke up, "He agrees with me."

"I can put you in the corner, young lady," Shego warned. "Felix, what's going on?"

"You know what you said about not knowing the future?"

"Yeah."

"You're right."

"That's nice to know. I suspected as much. Now, if you don't mind, what in the hell are you talking about?"

Felix sighed. "We were a church going family. Dad was a deacon. After the accident I gave up on God. What kind of a God lets a good man like my dad be killed like that? For a year or two after the accident I was really bitter and angry."

Justine reached over and took Felix's hand as he talked. Shego noticed the gesture, and the smile on his lips at her touch.

"Really early in our relationship Justine and I were talking at the student union in California. I can't even remember why it came up. But I told her I'd given up on God."

"See," Justine interrupted, "that's what I meant."

"Second warning," Shego threatened. "You speak out of turn again and I'll put you in the corner… Or over my knee. I'll give Felix his choice."

Justine closed her mouth tightly.

"But you said I was right about not knowing the future?"

"Yeah. Sometimes those Sunday school lessons come back to me. I don't think God is a big guy sitting on a throne somewhere. I don't think he makes a lot of stuff happen, he leaves that to us. Why he allows bad stuff to happen… I don't know. I wouldn't let it happen if I were God, but I'm not. And there's not just bad stuff in my life. There are the good things too… Are they all just accidents?"

Shego raised a hand to quiet Felix, "We've got to give Justine a turn. She's about to boil over."

"Good things?" Justine sputtered, "What good things?"

"I wasn't killed in the accident. I wasn't left in a hospital bed for the rest of my life. Maybe even the fact Mom wasn't with us in the car. The friends I've made. Meeting you. You loving me."

"I refuse to be an argument for the existence of God!"

"He's telling me his opinion, his feelings. He's as entitled to his opinions as you're entitled to yours."

Justine fell into something of a sulky silence.

"So, your feelings may be changing… What are you doing about that?"

"I've been back to church with my mom a few times lately. I don't know if I've really comfortable there yet, but I want to go more."

"What do think about Justine's views?"

Felix shrugged, "That's the way she was raised. Most of us don't move very far from the way we were raised."

"That doesn't make it right," Justine protested.

"True enough," Felix agreed. "But that could be said for you too."

"Married life," Shego announced. "Justine, you don't believe in God. I assume you would like Felix to agree with you. How much would a husband going to church bother you – scale of one to ten?"

The thin woman protested, "You can't quantify something like that."

"You can try."

"I'm not sure. At least a four, maybe a five."

"Could you learn to live with it, or would it get on your nerves?"

"I don't know the future, remember?"

Shego laughed. "I can't argue. But guess."

"I guess I could learn to live with it."

"Felix, same question."

"Well, I've known Justine's opinion for years. And I still want to marry her. I think on a bother level probably not more than one or two. Yes, it would be wonderful if she went to church with me, but I'm not going to pressure her."

"She wants a civil ceremony. Does that bother you at all?"

"Not a bit. I don't care if we're married by a head hunter from Bora-bora with a bone stuck through his nose."

Shego turned to Justine, "You want me to look into that option?"

"Pass. Did you get the phone number of the judge for me?"

"Oh, thanks for reminding me." Shego pulled a slip of paper from her pocket. "Home phone. She says call between six and eight most weeknights. Leave a message if she's not there and she'll get back to you."

The three sat around and talked for a while after the meeting. "I feel like a total failure," Shego confessed. "I don't think anything was resolved."

"Well, it wasn't," Felix agreed. "But you got us talking honestly with each other. That's the important part."

"Well, I want you two to know that you've been an inspiration to me."

"Really? How?" Felix wanted to know.

"There are a lot of people who couldn't believe Kim and I got together. We're so different. But after talking with you two? Hey if you can pull off married life it'll be a piece of cake for Kim and me. I'd appreciate it if the two of you could stay together."

When James Possible had purchased the old Kringle house for Kim the realtor had promised him gentrification had started in the neighborhood. The improvements had not been obvious at the time. Now other old homes were being renovated while new homes went up on some empty lots. Felix and Justine's modern ranch-style occupied a former empty lot only a couple blocks from Possible manor. Felix or Justine stopped by every day to check on the contractor's progress. They set the date for the ceremony on the third weekend in August.

Felix and Justine suggested ten, and the judge countered with eleven for the time of the wedding. On weekends Alice Armstrong didn't like to get out of bed before ten. She rarely performed marriages, and even more rarely performed them outside her office at the courthouse. But she thought her firm might hire Shego after law school and wanted the green woman to know she owed Alice a favor some year when the judge dropped something especially nasty on her desk.

Justine might have settled for the three minutes it might take to complete a civil ceremony, but their friends insisted Felix and Justine have a little more than the bare minimum.

Justine felt no need for a wedding dress. The dress she bought, like the woman herself, was somewhat severe and practical. She didn't require a bride's maid dress for her witness, Shego. Felix and Ron wore suits.

"I don't normally wear the robe outside the courthouse," Judge Armstrong explained before the ceremony. "But for a friend of Sharon I will."

The judge had Felix, Justine and their witnesses sign the license before the ceremony. "I'm not going to hunt you down during the party if there's one afterwards." She inhaled deeply, "And it smells like there will be."

"How can I sign as witness if I haven't seen them married?"

"Sign, Ron," Felix told him.

Neither Monique nor Bonnie made it back to Middleton. Zita was there, looking forward to her own place in the near future. Felix's mom was there, of course, along with two men from the lab in the Research Center where she and Justine worked and a third man who never left her side. Vivian Porter attended, with the two men from Dr. Renton's lab jockeying for a position close to her. Justine's parents were there, stern and taciturn. Kim wondered if Justine had been an accident or an experiment for the two of them. Felix invited a dozen of his closer friends from classes at the U. Kasy and Sheki weren't certain how a wedding could take place in their own home, but insisted on wearing the dresses purchased for them when they served as flower girls for Monique's wedding. With Justine's permission Kim also bought them two small baskets and filled them with flower petals. The two ran around the loft, pelting guests with flower petals until Alice indicated she was ready to start the ceremony and Kim almost managed to get the pair under control.

At eleven Ron addressed the crowd, "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears, I come to bury Felix, not to praise him… Oh, wait, my bad. It's the wife's job to bury. I'm here to praise him.

"There aren't many guys who can claim to have found the perfect woman for them. And every body has a different idea of what the perfect woman is like. I had an Irish guy in one class who insisted the perfect woman has a flat head and is short enough you can rest your glass of beer on her head-"

"Ron," Felix hissed, "focus."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Anyway, not a lot of guys can claim to have found the perfect woman for them, but in Justine my buddy Felix has found the ideal woman. She's got a good job out at Middleton Research so she can support him in the manner to which he has become accustomed and she doesn't object when Felix and I have the occasional all-nighter with Zombie Mayhem three or some new video game. I-"

Shego coughed, "Uh, Ron, I need to say something."

"Ah, man. Don't stop me now. I'm on a roll."

"Sorry," she said producing an official looking envelope and handing it to Ron, "but I need to serve you."

"Serve me?"

"A restraining order. About those all night video game sessions with Felix? He's a married man now, has responsibilities to his wife. Once Felix and Justine move into their new house you won't be allowed within fifty yards." Shego looked over to Justine and gave her a wink. The thin woman gave her a slight smile and nod of the head.

Frowning, Ron opened the envelope and read the letter inside. "What is it," Felix demanded, looking worried.

Suddenly Ron started laughing. "Well, the first part says we shouldn't throw any all-nighters without warning Justine first. And then," Ron held up three slips of stiff orange paper with printing on one side, "she gave me three 'get out of deep shit free' cards."

"What will you sell them to me for?" Felix demanded.

Ron held on to his prizes tightly, "Not for sale. The letter says they're non-transferable."

Justine spoke up, "They're for all the wonderful meals I've had here the last couple years."

"But there are only three," Shego reminded him. "The two of you might try avoiding situations where Ron would need to use one of his free passes."

"Learn to cook," Ron whispered loudly to Felix, "it's the way to her heart."

"And the way to mine," the judge growled, "is to pay attention. I'm here for a wedding."

The couple turned to the judge, who asked, "Felix Renton, do you take Justine Flanner as your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do."

"Justine Flanner, do you take Felix Renton to be your wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward?"

"I do."

Alice told Felix to repeat the vows as she gave them to him a phrase at a time.

"Justine, I take you to be my lawfully wedded wife. Before these witnesses, I vow to love you and care for you, as long as we both shall live."

Justine repeated the vows also, and the judge declared, "I now pronounce you husband and wife," as their friends cheered.

Ron had prepared an elaborate luncheon following the ceremony. The Flanners slipped away soon after eating. The other guests and friends spent a couple hours with champagne toasts to the couple and conversation. An exception to the champagne toasts was Judge Armstrong, who had been promised a bottle of good Scotch.

In the mid-afternoon most of the guests walked or drove over to Felix and Justine's new home and helped them move in and arrange furniture. Shego drove the judge home, and made it back in time to help with the last details of the move. Felix and Justine ordered pizza and had a housewarming party for their friends.

Kim and Shego left early, to take the twins home. They guessed that Ron might be the last guest to leave, and that Justine might have to threaten him to get him out.

"What a contrast," Kim remarked on the walk home. "Could it have been any more different from Monique's wedding?"

"Nope," Shego agreed, swinging Kasy up on her back for a piggy-back ride. "Simple and practical. Perfect for Justine."