Note [IMPORTANT]: I know this is long, but bare with me; you won't regret it. On June 17th when I post chapter fifteen I will be doing a huge Q and A that will be published within the context of chapter fifteen. If you have any questions about this story now is the time to ask! I will answer EVERY SINGLE ONE. Send them to me as a review, PM, or tumblr ask (my url is perplethezombie . tumblr . com) (remember to tell me it's for the Q&A if you send it to me on tumblr!) I WILL NOT be doing this again until I post chapter 29, unless I end up getting more than expected. Alright? That means you have maybe two weeks or less to send me questions. I have A LOT more to say but will continue at the bottom so that you can get on with this chapter... So without further ado,

Ciel wasn't sure where he thought they were going but was a bit surprised when they pulled up to his townhouse. Sebastian opened the door and offered Lizzie a hand down, which she accepted gracefully. However he all but lifted Ciel down from the carriage, and Ciel's cheeks felt suddenly very flushed.

"What are you even doing here?" he hissed, quietly though so that Lizzie wouldn't hear him.

"It's my duty to protect and follow you everywhere, is it not? This is no exception."

Ciel scowled. "Very well. But keep your distance from me. That's an order."

A terrible smirk crossed Sebastian's lips, and Ciel wondered what sort of trap he had just led himself into. "Yes, my lord."

"Ciel, this will be so much fun! Just the two of us for the next few days…" She grabbed his hand, pulling up to the house with a soft peck on the cheek.

When they reached the door they found a note, written in hasty scrawl with messy drawings on the bottom.

Lord Ciel and Lady Elizabeth,

We hope you have great fun on your honeymoon! To ensure you the utmost privacy Agni and I have cleared out for the week. We can't wait to see you again soon!

Prince Soma and Agni

Ciel rolled his eyes. Sebastian pulled the note from the door and folded it neatly into his pocket. He then pushed the door open, holding it for Ciel and Lizzie to enter.

The townhouse was nowhere near as large as his manor, but the reduced size was sort of nice and much easier to control, especially now that he only had Elizabeth to worry about.

"I'm sure you two want to spend as much time together right now as possible, seeing as the master will need to be back to work as soon as we arrive back at the manor. So I suppose I'll leave you two and start on dinner. I'm sure you know where your bedroom is."

Ciel was sure it looked like something out of one of Lizzie's romance novels as he stared after Sebastian, forgetting the girl standing next to him. "Ciel…?"

"Oh... ah, yes, Elizabeth?"

"Aren't you going to take us to our room? I want to change out of this dress."

Our room.

"Yes… I'm sorry." He started toward the stairs, Lizzie trailing just behind him. He showed her to what would be their bedroom for the next few days. When he made to leave so she could change she caught him by the hand, however, her fingers trembling.

"You can stay, if you'd like. I don't mind."

Ciel's face felt hot. "Don't be silly. I should go check on things anyway, right now, so-"

"Just leave that for Sebastian," Lizzie insisted. "Please. Stay."

Ciel, though reluctant, closed the door and went to sit on the bed, staring straight ahead at the wall dully, only half-aware of Elizabeth.

This obviously did not please her.

"Ciel," she said, "could you help me with the ribbon on this dress?"

Ciel blinked, glancing over at her. "Of course," he said, standing. The ribbon in question was lacing up the front of the dress and Ciel not at all eager for it to be removed. However he did as was requested, fiddling with the bow until it came undone. He was about to sit back down when Elizabeth turned her back to him and held up her hair. "And the buttons?"

How complicated could this be? Ciel sighed, unfastening them quickly and rushing away to hopefully discourage Lizzie's odd behavior.

It was all but odd, however. He knew the purpose of his being here right now, but was not at all pleased and had less than no interest in the subject. If anything, he was the one being odd.

After she had slipped off her dress and hung it up Elizabeth started to talk again – could she not stay silent for more than five minutes? "How long until you think supper will be ready?" she asked.

"Knowing Sebastian, not long. I should have told him not to make anything. We ate before we came here, and I'd much rather just rest tonight."

"We could ring for him and inform him now, couldn't we? Before he starts?"

He was probably already done. "That won't be necessary."

Lizzie sighed and Ciel glanced up. She was pulling a simple green silk dress from her trunk, holding it up in front of herself in the mirror. She was only wearing her underclothes, and even with her back to Ciel he felt as if he could see far more than necessary. His cheeks were burning badly.

"What do you think, Ciel?" Lizzie asked. "I like this one."

"It's nice."

She glanced back at him, concern apparent. She folded the dress back up and drew out her nightgown, pulling it on and walking to the little bell to ring for Sebastian.

Ciel frowned. The butler was there in seconds, standing in the doorway. "Yes, my lady?"

Elizabeth smiled sweetly. "We'll be skipping supper tonight," she said. "If we need anything we'll ring, alright? But don't disturb us, please."

Sebastian's pleasant expression faded and he glanced over at Ciel, crimson eyes scrutinizing. "Yes, my lady." And then he was gone.

Ciel winced when Lizzie sat next to him on the bed, her hand wrapping around his softly. She kept her eyes down, half hiding behind her springy blond curls. "Ciel… are you unhappy to be here?"

"Of course not," he said, on reflex. "Just as I said earlier… I haven't been feeling very well."

"What can I do to help you feel better? I don't want you to be ill on our first night as husband and wife."

Ciel shook his head, pulling away his hand. "I just need to sleep, Elizabeth. I'm sure I'll be fine in the morning."

This clearly wouldn't do. "We want to keep with tradition, however, don't we? And it's traditional to-"

"Don't say it," Ciel said, surprising himself with his own squeamishness. Lizzie's cheeks flushed.

"I'm sorry… It's just that… I'm so happy. I'm so, so excited to finally be your wife, to be Elizabeth Phantomhive. And I want our lives to start. I suppose I might be being a bit overly expectant, or maybe a bit dramatic, but Ciel… I love you. And after seeing my brother and his family so happy today… I just want you to be like that, Ciel. And I know you're not quite… family orientated, but I'm sure you'd be an amazing father, and-"

"I know, Elizabeth," Ciel interrupted. "But let's not rush into things. Tonight I just want to rest." And tomorrow night, too, if things don't go his way. And the night after. He felt uneasy at the realization that "I'm tired" wouldn't be an acceptable excuse forever. Eventually he would have to give in.

"I'm sorry… You're right." She laughed timidly. "Tonight we can just sleep."

Ciel smiled a bit. "Thank you," he said,

"I love you, Ciel."

He hesitated for what was probably far too long. "I love you too, Elizabeth."

.

Sebastian sighed. He supposed that all the ingredients he'd already used in the process of cooking dinner would go to waste. Oh well. He started to clean up the mess, relieved by the knowledge that Bard wasn't there to spill or explode anything.

However there were much more pressing matters unsettling his conscious.

It's quite natural for newlyweds to engage in intimate activities the night they're married. However the thought that his lord… his master could be, at that moment…

He shook his head. He would know if such a thing were to occur, as he was constantly aware of where Ciel was and what he was doing.

But just because it wasn't happening now didn't mean it wouldn't later.

Sebastian, so preoccupied with his own thoughts, nearly dropped a spoon down the garbage shoot. He felt instantly irritated by his own stupidity. Being stuck in a human body in for such an extensive period of time was taxing and dull. However, that was sure to be changed soon.

Sebastian was very careful about the things he does. He has plenty of time to think things through and be sure they will be perfect. Small mistakes – like dropping a spoon in the trash – were to be expected, but in matters as thoroughly considered as this little game of his…

He laughed softly. It had been fun up until now, but it seemed they were close to a turning point.

Note [IMPORTANT]: LOTS of updates! I wish I could just post this on my tumblr or dA, but I don't know how many of you would see it so please just endure... This is a lot of really important stuff so I'd appreciate if you read it. (I'm just going to underline all my main points, so if you want just go through and read all the underlines, at least!) I updated my profile so now it actually has useful info on it. I'll just sort of summarize what it says here, but if you want more info on any of this go check it out. But basically it says you can contact me at my dA, tumblr, or here if you wish (links on profile, but I use this username everywhere; if you Googled "PerpleTheZombie" I'm sure you'll find me) I'm always taking requests for one-shots. ALWAYS. So if you ever want anything, message me anywhere and I'll do my best. It may be delayed, though, because I'm a terrible procrastinator. But I suppose that's sort of a contradictory statement considering I'm posting this a day early, huh? (unimportant: About that, I have a school trip tomorrow and won't be home until 5:00 and since it'll be a Friday and I'm going to be exhausted I plan to flop face-first onto my bed and sleep until who-knows-when.) Anyway, onto the next order of business. Guys, I know that you're here for SebaCiel, but please lay off the Lizzie hate. I happen to really love her character and think she and Ciel make an absolutely adorable couple. If I could have had things my way this would be fifty chapters rather than thirty and there would be way more of that pairing. However, I restrained because I DO NOT want to have shipping wars. I knew I had to pick one or the other, and SebaCiel won, even if just by a bit. On that same topic, I will tell you now that there is nothing explicit or sexual between Sebastian and Ciel in this fanfiction. And as much as I appreciate the reviews, I'd like it if I quit getting messages saying "I wish they'd have sex already! I want Lizzie to die!" or stuff like that. So please stop. Nonetheless, I really do appreciate the feedback. Thank you all so much for the reviews and messages. I'm sorry I haven't been replying to the reviews, but I'm terribly lazy and just cannot personally thank every person who reviews. I read every single one, though, and will always reply to PMs and tumblr asks! So if you ever want to talk, just drop by and say hi. I will chat for hours if you'd like. Which reminds me... if I did a live chatroom would anyone want to come talk? It would not by video chat, though, in respect of peoples' privacy so no one feels like they can't because they don't want to show their face.

I'm sorry for all that, but I really needed to post it. I'd really appreciate if you all go follow me on deviantART (perplethezombie . deviantart . com) and tumblr (perplethezombie . tumblr . com) so that I won't have to post these here. I've been debating having a tumblr blog exclusively for That Butler, Beautiful Chaos, so if you think you'd be interested in that please, please, please let me know!

So I guess that's pretty much it.

I really love you guys and all your support... I would have burned out on proofreading and posting every chapter a long, long time ago if it wasn't for you guys. So thank you for that! *blows kisses* So I hope to talk to you all soon, and don't forget about the Q and A!