Wedding Bells

"What. Are. You. Doing."

He grinned, gripping her hand tighter.

If she was not mistaken, she currently wore her murderous glare that promised the recipient an excruciatingly painful death if they did not comply with her demands. Her glare was a warning for him to start finding the nearest emergency exit, and the last thing that he was supposed to do was raise an eyebrow and grin at her.

"Relax." He put his other hand around her waist and pulled her closer to him, until she nearly leaning on him. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear. "I promise you, this is going to a lot of fun."

His hot breath on her ear was turning her face a ripe shade of red, not unlike his hair. She saw that half of the audience had noticed the transformation of her face into a cousin of the tomato fruit, and gave a dry smile.

"The thing that promises the most fun on my mind now is waiting for this thing to end so that I can shred you with my shamshir."

He cooed softly, insistently holding her in his embrace. "Ooh…someone is feisty today…" He smirked, he leaned closer beside her ear, so that his words sent a surprisingly pleasant shiver down her spine. "Did I tell you how much I like it when you're annoyed, furious and all?"

She frowned in annoyance. Did he not know how much she detested how he continually hit on her in the middle of a huge crowd? Somehow, his face doesn't change colour when he makes scandalous advances. Unfortunately, as proven half a minute before, her face turns a deep shade of red.

He smacked her waist gently with his hand. "Now, stop complaining and dance." He paused for effect. "Oh, and remember, sway a little."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes in agony, only because Tana was giving her a kind smile and a double 'thumbs-up'.

Why had she not taken her father's suggestion and ran away for her marriage ceremony? Now she was stuck here waltzing for the next three hours.

Simply for the sake of being unique, Joshua had insisted for the wedding to be carried out at night.

Gerik disagreed. "Joshua just has a low tolerance level, he needs things to be done faster otherwise he would probably…umm never mind…"

She never managed to figure out what 'never mind' was, because whenever she tried to bring it up, Gerik guffawed with laughter, Colm raised his eyebrows in knowing amusement, Tana had a blanker look than her and Tethys lifted her scarf to her mouth to stem the coughing fit that was sure to follow.

She tried to ask Joshua. After listening, he walked out of the room and returned half an hour later. She never knew what truly happened, but she did see with her own eyes a very bruised and battered Gerik the day after.

"Marisa." Her father had strode in while Tana was putting the weird powdery things on her cheeks.

"Father." She bowed her head, only to get some the red powder on her eyes, which caused a uproar amongst L'Arachel, Tana and Tethys.

He ran a critical eye over her dressing, before nodding solemnly, tapping his silver-tipped cane on the carpet. "Not bad. Not very practical. At least that fool cares about you enough to dress you well."

He had started calling Joshua 'that fool' ever since Joshua won him in a duel using his killing edge against his shamshir.

She wondered when her father would stop being sore and actually call Joshua by his name or 'son-in-law'.

"Done!" L'Arachel declared in a flourish of the make-up brush, spraying pink glitter everywhere.

Hesitantly, she looked into the mirror Tana placed on her lap.

I look…dazzling…

Two heavy silver combs held her hair in place, with several loose curling strands framing her face. Tana had excelled herself with the makeup. Her complexion actually, for once in her life, looked completely flawless, and there was a natural rosy tinge on her cheeks. Her lashes were longer than what she had remembered them to be, and they curled upwards prettily.

"You…look like your mother…" Her father sighed.

She looked up in surprise. Her father made it a point never to mention her mother in front of her after she died during childbirth giving birth to her little brother.

"Come on!" Tethys helped her up gently. "It's time, and we certainly don't want to keep your eager husband-to-be waiting!"

Before she could silence Tethys with a glare, all of them had already burst out into laughter.

She heard the shuffling of feet as everyone stood up to welcome her grandiose entrance.

Peering through the veil, she saw Joshua staring fixedly at her. A blush rose onto her cheeks.

Moulder was the bishop in charge of their wedding again. This time, he was tiptoeing precariously on nearly a dozen lightning tomes. A thin sheet of parchment lay before him.

She knew Joshua had gone to find Moulder and apparently, according to Gerik, burnt all of Moulder's speech for this wedding into ashes.

Moulder looked positively distressed as he glanced at Joshua once she reached the altar. Joshua narrowed his eyes and nodded.

Moulder mopped his forehead with his sleeve and blessed their marriage in five seconds, then asked them each to say 'I do', which took another five seconds, and finally asked them to exchange their rings, which took ten seconds.

They were swiftly pronounced husband and wife in a total of less than a minute.

Without waiting for Moulder's cue, Joshua flung her veil from her face, grabbed her and kissed her firmly on the lips.

Once the initial shock wore off, her cheeks started burning.

The church was full of 'ooh's and 'aah's and catcalls, and wolf-whistles, and tremendous amounts of cheering headed by Gerik.

Heck, that man could be enlisted as the head of the cheering squad.

In her sweet but embarrassed euphoria, she clearly heard Lord Innes commanding loudly, "Wilson, don't look."

She could hear the crowd timing the length of the kiss, their voices increasing in volume and excitement as the kiss dragged on.

She could hear Moulder faint.

Nobody noticed.

When they finally pulled apart, both of them were red in the face and very much breathless.

The crowd roared and cheered, demanding an encore.

An encore? For heaven's sake!

Ignoring the chaos he had caused, Joshua took her hands in his and held them tightly. "Marisa…" He tipped her head so that she was directly staring into his eyes. "I love you…"

She was nervous. Very nervous.

Or rather, she was scared. Terrified, in fact.

She waited anxiously, jumping at every noise outside the door. He would return once he settled the lodgings of Lord Ephraim and Tana, who wanted a larger room to accommodate the twins that they had brought along.

Was she dreading the inevitable? Or was it anticipation?

First times were never easy.

Standing on the balcony, she breathed in the crisp night air, feeling the cold wind caressing the soft skin of her arms and legs.

"Cold?" A pair of warm arms engulfed her in a tender embrace.

She jumped, surprised by his silent entry. "Oh…not really…" Sighing, she shifted in his embrace and relaxed against his chest.

She could hear the rapid pounding of her heart. If she could hear it, he definitely could too.

"Marisa…the moon's beautiful today…"

She peered up at him in surprise. Was he not going to launch into one of his eloquent speeches that was surely going to make her blush till next morning?

She was even more surprised to see him actually looking intently at the moon in the sky.

Curiously, she shifted so that her head leaned against his chest and she could get a clear view of the moon. It was a giant round orb in the sky, like a milky pearl, shining softly without flaws in its complete radiant glory.

"I guess…"

He was silent, and it was beginning to scare her.

"Joshua…Are you alright…" She turned around so that she stood facing him.

He smiled, a little sadly, as though he was reminiscing a sorrowful memory. "Marisa…promise me…next time…tell me whatever you are feeling and thinking…so that I know what you want…" He grasped her hands and rubbed them gently. "I don't want there to be any secrets between us…I…I don't know what I'll do if you ever disappear again…"

Closing her eyes as she rested her head against his chest, she nodded. She was secure, safe, warm and serene in his embrace. There was nothing more that she could ever have wanted. She would be more than happy to tell him all her secrets and listen to all of his.

Vaguely, she could hear him whispering gently as he stroked her hair. "We could sit like this every night if you like…telling each other of our secrets…baring our hearts to each other…in one embrace…"

She smiled as she drifted lightly towards sleep.

There was nothing more she could have ever wanted.

Fin.