A/N: Hey guys! I can't decide whether or not to add another chapter after this one...well, whichever way, hope ya like!

"Holy crap. Holy crap. Holy crap. What am I doing. What. Am. I. Doing."

"Dude, chill out! This is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, remember?"

"Well then why do I feel like you said the exact same thing to me when I went through with it the first time?"

"I was lying the first time."

"And you're not lying now, huh?"

"Of course not. I gave up lying."

"When?"

"This morning. Tada! Oh, look! Your hair's done. And if I may say so, you look even hotter than usual."

"Gosh, Malon, thanks."

"You're welcome, Zelda. Now look in the mirror."

With a heavy sigh that might have been appropriate if she had just been asked to clean up some cat vomit, Zelda turned around and looked at her reflection in a full-length mirror. Her modest wedding gown had previously been worn by her grandmother, the only family member aside from siblings who Zelda had ever trusted, and who had sadly passed away when Zelda was only twelve. She had not felt worthy of wearing the dress for her marriage to Marth, but wearing it now felt just so very right. The sapphire earrings were from Terra and the elegant silver necklace from Vivien, and they were all indeed quite beautiful, but still all of that could not bring a smile to Zelda's face.

"For crying out loud, Zel," Malon sighed impatiently. "You're not walking to the guillotine, you're getting married tomorrow to who is perhaps the most perfect person to have ever graced this world with his presence! Geez, d'you—do you even get it?! Snap out of this mood!"

"I'm trying," Zelda insisted, grabbing two fistfuls of the wedding dress as if about to rip it apart. "The Goddesses know I've been trying, Malon, but it's not easy. What I'm doing here, it's so… it's so something out of a fairy tale, just not me at all. And if I'm really going to go through with it, I have to shut the door on that first part of my life." Without another word to Malon, Zelda turned and headed out of her bedroom, down the stairs that would lead to the main floor of her house. Walking in the wedding dress felt like second nature to her. Stopping in the kitchen, she got a key out from the silverware drawer and made for the first room in the front of the house.

It was a room that, eons ago, Link had tried unsuccessfully to get into. Sitting across from the area where Megan practiced the piano, this room had matching double doors and large, intimidating handles to get inside. It had been a while since Zelda had entered it, but she felt like she was back in some kind of sanctuary when she did. For two or three solid minutes, she sat in the sole chair in the room, her eyes closed in meditation, wanting just to feel peace—a peace that was slowly achieved and quickly disturbed by a knock on the door.

"Zelda?" It was Malon. "Link and Megan just got back from Impa's, and he wants to talk to you."

"Well, to do that, he'd have to come in here, which is impossible."

Malon sighed in annoyance again. "And why's that?"

"I'm in my wedding dress. It's bad luck for him to see me."

"Oh, come on!"

The door creaked open; Zelda had forgotten to lock it again. She stood up, and the door closed behind who had just entered. "Malon, I mean it—" Zelda turned around and the words got stuck in her throat as she saw that it was Link who had come in, not Malon. His expression was one of concern; he seemed not to even notice what Zelda was wearing, only her devastated countenance.

"What is this about, Zel?" he whispered.

She weakly took a hold of her dress again, looking piteously back at Link. "Just superstition. You're not supposed to see me in it… Marth did. Before we got m-married, he saw me in my dress."

"You know that isn't why things didn't work out between you," Link said, and Zelda nodded silently. "Zel, please. You and I… I don't think either of us saw this coming, but this thing we're doing …we're doing it for the right reasons. Not because anyone told us to, or because anyone told us not to. We aren't kids anymore, either. We're responsible adults, totally capable of making this decision of our own free will." He smiled slightly. "Sure, both of our mothers needed a bit of a talking-to, but …in the end, what's right for you and Megan and I—that's all we need to worry about."

"You're right," Zelda said. "And I know you are, it's just that sometimes, I feel like it's so… gimmicky, you know ? Like I'm a little girl playing dress-up." She smirked and sat down again. "Not that I would ever really know what that feels like; it wasn't a very common game in my house growing up." She noticed that Link's gaze had now shifted, and he was studying the room more closely than when he had first entered, remembering that it was the one he'd tried to get into months ago.

He could see now why she would keep these doors locked: the room was utterly depressing. It was painted wall-to-wall with a deep gray color, while all the furniture looked as if it had come out of a funeral parlor: dark, black, and draping. It felt almost like being in a prison, or a mad-house. And then there were the pictures! Two black-and-white photographs, enlarged and placed on either side of the one window in the room; and then there were two paintings on the opposite end.

"Who…is that?" Link asked hoarsely, looking at the photographs.

Zelda, not bothering to stand up, replied, "Greta Garbo. Sad, isn't she? There was this one movie she was in… can't remember the name of it, but she said, 'I want to be alone.' And so the media sort of really took off with that, calling her an elusive, bitter movie star, but really in real life, that's not what she said at all. She said 'I want to be left alone.' And obviously, that's a big difference."

Shrugging, Link asked, "What's the difference?"

"The difference…" Zelda stood up to go stand behind him, looking critically at the photographs. "The difference is that in the movie, her character was depressed and disillusioned with the world and with everybody, and actually planned to kill herself." She felt Link stiffen next to her, and so she slipped her arm through his. "She didn't go through with it, though, because suddenly a man entered her life and convinced her that she had every reason to live. The real Garbo, though, she just wanted people to let her be. She was tired of the media attention and the glamour and the overbearing fans—people that were always gossiping, always obsessing, always scrutinizing …she just hated it, and eventually she quit the movies and went to live alone."

"So which one are you?" Link asked. "Garbo, or the character she played?"

Her shoulders drooped slightly. She had never considered that question. "I don't really know. A little of both, I guess. I know how it feels to be followed around and speculated about, and I really hate it. I hate it a lot. But I was also saved, in a way. I was trudging through my life, just going through the motions, and killing myself at work every day because I thought that was all that was important. And then you came in, and I just hadn't ever met anyone like you. Before you…" Zelda nodded at the photographs of Garbo before turning her back on them. "She was the only one who understood."

Link turned on his heel and pointed Zelda in the same direction. "The only one? How about Frida over here?"

"Oh, right," Zelda murmured, laying her eyes on the only color in the room, which was supplied by the two paintings of Frida Kahlo's that she had acquired. "See that one on the left? It's called Without Hope, which I guess would also be a pretty good title for how I felt about my life for an inexcusably long duration of time. And the other one… The Broken Column, I believe it's called …well, that one speaks for itself, I guess. Both of these freaked out my sisters when I saw them, so I guess that's why I had them shut away in here, so only I could see them. All this pain, all this self-inflicted injury, it just spoke right to me and horrified everyone else. What do you think of them, Link?"

"Uh…well…it's a bit graphic, yes," Link coughed uncomfortably. "And I don't know if it suits my personal taste, but… it definitely makes you think."

There was a long silence between the two of them. Then, slowly, Zelda walked to the door, leaving Link in the center of the room. She turned around so that the paintings and the photographs were all in her peripheral view. "I don't need them anymore," she said in a quiet voice. "I came in here to… to say goodbye. They don't really help me, I don't think they ever did. Standing here, now, I can appreciate why I sought out the comfort and solidarity of their personalities, but I don't think it was wise of me to get as involved with them as I did." Finally starting to smile a little, Zelda said, "Frida had a pretty terrible marriage, and Garbo… she stood up a man at the altar and never got married. I've already had one bad marriage, but I don't think I'm going to get Garbo's cold feet."

"I know you won't," Link said, and hoping immediately afterwards that that hadn't sounded too weird or possessive. "I know you won't let me down, Zelda." He stopped when she seemed satisfied, and another silence loomed over them. Link then noticed a sizeable harp sitting in the corner of the room—it was so large, he wondered how he hadn't noticed it at first. "Oh, wow …do you play?"

Zelda surveyed the instrument for a moment. "Not anymore, I don't think," she answered. She opened the door and prepared to exit it, but left enough time for Link to leave first. It closed loudly behind them, echoing a bit in the large entryway of the house. "That chapter," Zelda said, locking the door, "is definitely closed."

They both jumped when Malon, who'd been standing in the hallway, literally bellowed at the top her lungs, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! IT'S BAD LUCK FOR HIM TO SEE YOU IN YOUR WEDDING DRESS!"

-----------------

The next evening, for what felt like the first time in her life, Zelda thought she had had a perfect day. Everything had gone without a hitch. She would later find out that several dozen reporters had been waiting outside the church to get the inside scoop of the surprise wedding of the country's hottest lawyer, but Zelda's brothers had forcefully seen to it that the journalists left. It did seem very strange to a lot of people that all of a sudden and out of no where, Zelda Cleverly was getting married—to a nanny, no less. It was even more of a shock to the family members who hadn't been able to go to Vivien's for Thanksgiving and had not even been aware of Link's relationship with Zelda, let alone of his very existence.

But not of that really mattered, because no one could ever remember seeing Zelda so exuberantly, so sincerely happy. The smoothness of the ceremony reassured her immeasurably; so much so that she forgot to be embarrassed by her sudden outpouring of emotion. Honestly, she could not for the life of her recall ever having experienced such a myriad of feelings in such a relative short amount of time. She was afraid to trust how excited and happy she was, just talking to and smiling with Link …her new husband. Husband! Wow. It was a strange thing to process, but it only took one look at him, one look at Megan, to know she had just made the greatest decision of her life.

There was only one thing Zelda wasn't sure how she felt about, and that was the fact that Clarissa had not come to the wedding. On the one hand, she was glad her mother hadn't showed up, because she worried that all they might do was argue. What fun would it be if Clarissa were just to glower in the front the whole time? But still, there was the part of Zelda that just wanted her mom to be there, to be supportive, and to be happy for her. Was that really just some fantasy, or could Clarissa Cleverly actually be physically capable of doing such things? Either way, Zelda couldn't dwell on it for too long. She wasn't going to let it ruin what was possibly the only perfect day she'd ever had.

Zelda, who'd been quite afraid that she might throw up during the ceremony, was so relieved not to have done so that in retrospect, it may have been with a bit too much ardor that she kissed Link to seal the deal. This had sent her daughter into a cheering/ applauding frenzy, which at first seemed irreverent until everyone who had congregated there joined in. Because of the sheer size of her family, Zelda's invitees seemed to have dominated the church, but this wasn't to say that Link hadn't had his fair share of guests as well (Schreiber sat with his crowd, as to help make it look like he had more friends). In addition to his well-meaning but still-uncomfortable mother, several of his best friends from New York had flown over for the weekend.

This included his best friend and also Best Man who was named Shad. Something of a rather bookish fellow, Shad was nonetheless still quite cute, and Malon had been trying all day long (with varying degrees of success) to catch his eye. Finally she just wound up approaching him before the reception began, and discovered that Shad was so unused to women checking him out that he'd assumed Malon had just been squinting his direction due to some dust in her eye. With her flirtiest and most winning laugh, Malon made him promise to dance with her as soon as the traditional bride-and-groom dance was over.

Terra's oldest son was the deejay, making her (and Vivien) feel more than comfortable storming his table and taking the microphone before Link and Zelda had even gotten up from their seats.

"We really had to pull Zellie's leg to get her to do this," Vivien told the assembly of family and friends. "Because as some of you may know, she's not big on dancing. And according to Megan, neither is Link. But I ask you, what is a wedding reception without the bride and groom having a special dance together to kick things off?"

"BO-RING!" Megan shouted on cue.

"That's exactly right, young lady," Terra said, stepping in front of Vivien as everyone chuckled appreciatively. "And so I'm afraid that we had to insist. Zelda? Link? If you please…"

Laughing along with everyone else, Link grinned and stood up, extending his hand to his wife. "C'mon, Zel, what do you say?"

Although she appeared more than terrified at the prospect, Zelda took his hand. She didn't leave her seat, though, as she said, "I will kill them."

"Zelda, you've stared murderers, thugs, rapists, and drug dealers in the face without so much as a smidgen of fear," Link said, sounding almost exasperated. "But you won't dance with me?"

"In front of all these people?" she whispered.

"Just once," Link said quietly, patiently. "I promise, that's it."

Finally, to general applause, Zelda took his hand and followed him out to the floor. "I know you said you had no preference, but I didn't even want dancing at this reception, it's too loud," Zelda said through her teeth, though she too was beginning to smile. "But Malon wouldn't hear of it."

Vivien took the microphone back from Terra. "Okay, Zelda, I know you're going to think that this is so cheesy and so awful and so 1980s, but we knew that you weren't about to pick a song yourself. So we did it for you. This is the song Terra and Jim danced to at their wedding, and as you can see, it's really worked for them. All right, you two!"

Zelda chuckled to herself in embarrassment as Terra's son hit the music. "Oh, my Goddesses. I can't believe I have to dance to this song."

It was "Eternal Flame," by The Bangles, which had in fact been Terra's favorite song for years—and her sisters always teased her for it. Link had to smile as well, not sure why he knew the lyrics, but able to whisper them along once they started to play: "Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling…"

Can you feel my heart beating, do you understand?

Not wanting to close her eyes, Zelda accepted Link's hand and hesitantly took a step. She fixed her gaze on his, and suddenly, it was as though he was the only other person in the room. It was a sweet song, really. Or really, it may just have been the power of the memories it gave to her that made Zelda feel as if she was about to tear up. Terra had always sung it around the house, and now, Zelda was dancing to it with someone who loved her more than anybody else in the world. The lyrics were starting to come back to her, as well—with her head as close to Link's as it was, she could whisper them into his ear, attempting to follow the tune:

"Say my name, sun shines through the rain; a whole life so lonely, and then you come and ease the pain; I don't want to lose this feeling…" That's when the first verse kicked in again, but Zelda spoke a little louder into Link's ear: "I don't ever, ever want to lose this feeling. If someday I am upset, or sad, or questioning any aspect of my life …I want to come back to this moment, and remember how I feel now."

Malon had planned on doing some sort of catcall during Link and Zelda's first dance, but now, actually seeing it, she wouldn't have done it for a thousand dollars. The moment was just too sweet and unbelievably precious to ruin with something so uncalled for. She hoped that someone had a camera and was recording this dance, but even still, Malon knew that no image caught on film would truly be able to capture the pure and palpable ardor that Link and Zelda were exuding.

It felt as if the song was over far too soon; Terra and Vivien walked back down to the dance floor, leaving it up to the deejay to choose some more contemporary and appropriate tunes. As soon as "Eternal Flame" had ended, Link and Zelda moved hand in hand back to their table. For them, it was much more enjoyable to watch the others dancing than to continue participating in it themselves (although Megan did manage to drag Link out a couple of times, most notably for the cha-cha slide and "Brown Eyed Girl"). Malon in particular seemed to be having way too much fun for Shad, who appeared to be getting increasingly alarmed that a girl could be so forward.

"Where did you meet Shad, anyway?" Zelda asked.

"We worked on the paper together," Link answered, barely unable to contain his hysterical laughter as Malon got more and more into the dancing and Shad looked more and more frightened. "I don't think he's ever been around a woman as… uh, unique as your friend."

Zelda smirked, lifting her glass of champagne and saying, "Well, maybe when he's had as much to drink as she has…"

There was one cutesy tradition Zelda refused to give in to, which was the bride and groom feeding each other the first bite of the cake. This turned out to be a nonissue anyway, because several of her nephews—left unattended for only a few moments—had taken it upon themselves to test out the cake for their beloved aunt. Though the boys' parents were mortified, Link and Zelda just laughed it off, insisting that it was not only no problem but actually something of a relief.

Terra's son put on "Single Ladies" while his mother forced a bouquet into Zelda's hands and insist she throw it to all the… single ladies. Merely to humor her sister, Zelda took the flowers and tossed them over her head. Something of a small fight ensued as various relatives and friends attempted to catch them—not including Malon, who was on the other side of the floor doing the Single Ladies dance. When the scene had cleared, it turned out to be Megan who was holding the bouquet, looking confused at her own success. Everyone had a good laugh over that, except for a few drunken friends of Link's who insisted they would die if that little girl got married before either of them.

"How about the garter?" Vivien whispered excitedly into Zelda's ear.

She blushed in response to this. "I'd really prefer not to do that, Viv." For the first time that day, Zelda permitted herself to recall her first wedding. Marth's disgusting leer as he took the garter off her leg still haunted her. Her expression communicated this to Vivien without words, but Zelda also couldn't help noticing the slight disappointment present in her sister's face. "Well," Zelda sighed. "I did already do my part …I guess it would be weird not to let Link do his."

So, to nearly everybody's great astonishment, Zelda sat on the chair that Vivien had set up for her and held her leg out for Link. Biting her tongue at the genuine surprise in his face, Zelda pulled her dress up the slightest bit and tried tacitly to convey to him that he should just get this over with. He felt a bit strange taking Zelda's garter in front of her large, hulking brothers, so Link was in no less of a hurry to get it done. However, he couldn't help but notice what an incredibly nice leg he was taking the piece from… anyhow, Shad ended up being the one to catch the garter, and he paled noticeably when Malon "yoo-hooed" him from the other end of the hall.

For the next dance, Link finally convinced his mother to accompany him to the floor. Zelda was more than content to just sit there and watch them, but her own daughter would have none of that. "Come on, mom!" Megan said, suddenly showing up out of nowhere in her pink, stylish dress. "Dance with me!"

"Oh, honey, I don't think I should."

"Mom, please?"

It was hard to resist those big blue eyes for too long. Zelda resignedly stood up and followed Megan to the dance floor, wondering if it would be possible to hold a conversation with her over the incredibly loud music. Being a kid, Megan wasn't exactly what you would call a graceful dancer, but Zelda found herself having too good of a time to feel embarrassed by her own clumsy moves.

"What're we doing after the party, mom?" Megan asked.

"Um—you're going to be spending the night at Uncle Jack's. Won't that be fun? Aunt Terra and Aunt Vivien and their families will all be there, too…"

Megan's smile broadened. "Okay! You and Link will be there too, right?"

Zelda couldn't tell if she was blushing, because she was already red-faced and hot and from all the dancing and crowds of people. "Um …no, not tonight. We're going to be staying at that really nice hotel we drove by yesterday, remember? In town? And then tomorrow Link and I are… going on…"

"The honeymoon?" Megan offered, and Zelda nodded weakly. "Mom, why do you look scared?"

"I'm not scared," Zelda said a bit tersely, the way she used to always respond to an attack on her courage. Immediately she softened her expression and her voice upon seeing that she had sort of taken aback her daughter. "I'm not scared, Megan. I'm just not sure what to expect."

Megan didn't really know what that meant, but whatever it was, she was sure that her mother was more than capable of handling it. The song ended, but Link managed to get Impa to dance with him once more; Zelda, though, offered up Schreiber's son to replace her, as he was about Megan's age. (This meant that they refused to actually dance together, being afraid of cooties, but they did their best to appease the bride by at least not running away from each other.)

By the end of the night, Malon had finally plugged the Best Man with enough drinks that the two of them were to be found making out in a corner of the room, apparently with no intention of stopping any time soon. Couples and families began to leave, until at last only a handful of the Cleverlys were left. Jack, Terra, and Vivien had no trouble rounding up their kids, as most of them had fallen asleep, but Megan was reluctant to leave her mother.

"What if you don't come back?" she finally blurted out as Zelda tried to get her to go with Terra. "What if you and Link choose to just stay away forever and not to come back for me?"

Link decided to field this one. He got down on one knee, taking Megan's hand and looking her very seriously in the eye. "Listen to me, Megs. Nothing could ever stop your mother and me from coming home to you. Not a team of a thousand horses, not a group of giants, and not a hundred stormy seas. We're going to come back."

"I promise, it'll feel like no time at all," Zelda said. "Megan, you don't have to worry. It's not going to be like it was before. I will be back, I swear." She straightened up, firmly grasping Megan's hand. It felt a bit strange walking the girl to Jack's car. Normally, the blushing bride ought to have been clinging to her mother for support and encouragement, but as Clarissa hadn't shown up (and Zelda never would have clung to her anyway), she was holding onto Megan's hand as if her life depended on it. Somehow, Zelda succored strength from the unassuming, innocent glow now emanating from the comforted girl's spirit. And she would really need it.

Zelda's sister Deborah was the sister-in-law of the manager of the hotel that the newlyweds would be staying at. This had gotten them a bit of a discount on the bridal suite, but not even the assurance that they had saved money could keep Zelda's nerves from working overtime. Her heart thudded in her ears, far more loudly and anxiously than it had during the actual wedding or reception. At least she was no longer in that wedding dress; it was much easier to at least try and relax in normal clothes.

For his part, Link appeared to be calm—but on the inside, the enormity of what had just occurred was just sinking in. He had thought to put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on their door handle (though he hoped that, considering what suite they were in, that should have seemed obvious). But what would Zelda be expecting? Unbeknownst to him, she had been completely celibate for nearly four years. Likewise, Zelda was also unaware that Link had actually never slept with someone in his entire life. And now, to be doing it with possibly the most beautiful woman alive?

It was nearly 2:00 in the morning when they were both ready to go to bed, and both of them already felt totally exhausted from the day's goings-on. Zelda felt an onset of panic when the last light was turned out, and they were plunged into semi-darkness, with only the moon streaming in through one slit curtain.

They were lying side by side in the bed, and as Link very slowly put his arm around her, Zelda almost physically felt herself calm down. He kissed her hair, and at the same time, she slipped her hand onto his chest, underneath his shirt. They met in a kiss that began slow, but soon built up in intensity, all this pent-up passion finally unleashed.

Zelda could tell that Link was waiting for her tacit permission before trying anything himself. With a trembling hand, she tugged a bit on her own robe before planting a kiss on his neck. That was the green light. With every kiss and every caress, Zelda felt her fear ebbing away. This was only the perfect ending to a perfect day.