Sam's jaw dropped and Mercedes choked.

Married today?

Artie seemed unfazed. "You see, the thing you don't know about me is that I just so happen to be ordained and have been performing marriage ceremonies for the last twenty-five years, up until my retirement yesterday." He took the young couple's hands and put them together. "Plus I believe in love. I've been happily married to my amazing wife for forty years and at six tonight I'm being collected to go and join her. We've just bought a house and moved to Sea Sector 4 to be near my son and daughter in law who are expecting their first child any day now. My wife's already there and I've just been tying up some loose ends and paperwork. That's what the stuff in my bag was for. TinaMai and I came here to get married too, forty years ago. She was from Sector 31 and as you can clearly see, I'm not."

Without meaning to Sam's eyes drifted towards his wooden leg and when he looked up he saw Artie watching him curiously. "You've heard of Sector 31?" Sam did but didn't want to let on that he had also heard about the stories of torture and cruel killings there, but then he didn't need to.

He nodded and spoke softly. "I met a girl from there once. She was even shorter than Mercedes with jet black hair which was bone straight all the way down to her waist and very unusual eyes."

"Exactly. It was love at first sight for me when I saw TinaMai. I'd never seen anyone like her before in my Sector. But her parents had already arranged a 'promised' marriage for her. It had been set before she was even old enough to speak but to go against it would bring shame and on the family. And to attempt to be with someone else when a marriage had been arranged is punishable by death."

Mercedes gasped and Artie nodded. Sam held her hand tighter. This was something she wouldn't find written in any of her books. "There's also the minor detail that not being from that Sector and falling in love with someone from there is also punishable by death. We tried to run away together but somebody betrayed us at the last moment. We were caught entering the Transit Highway, taken to her Sector and sentenced without trial. TinaMai was sentenced to beheading. As a citizen she had a right to a speedy death. I wasn't quite so lucky. I was roughed up then given the traditional Death Sentence for Treason. We were immediately separated and I resigned myself to my fate. I didn't know that someone had helped TinaMai to escape. But instead of running she came back to save me. And somehow, with sheer will, determination and physical strength she did. Eleven days into my death sentence."

"Eleven days?" Mercedes looked confused.

Sam squeezed her hand comfortingly. "I'll explain it to you later." He looked at Artie's wooden leg again and the two men shared a mutual look of understanding. Few knew of the Death Sentence for Treason. Until this moment even Sam had thought it an Urban Legend but the wooden leg of the man before him spoke the bitter truth.

Death Sentence for Treason was particularly slow and cruel form of torture where they kill you slowly by removing body parts piece by piece. One per day. Sam did the mental calculation. Eleven days… that meant, starting with the right leg, it would have been one toe per day for the first five days. Day six would have been the foot from the ankle and day seven would have been the rest of the leg below the knee. Days eight through eleven would have been toes on the other foot. No wonder the man had poor balance. He shot Artie a look of sympathy and the old man acknowledged it. If he hadn't been rescued it would have continued, second leg to the knee, then fingers, ears, nose, hands to the wrist, arms to the elbow and so forth. This was the point where people started dying. But the whole time they would be kept on drips to prevent the two things which could speed up the process of death, infection and shock through exsanguination. Apparently the surgeons performing the amputations prided themselves on keeping their victims alive as long as possible. He'd heard stories of men with no limbs praying for the release of death. Sam couldn't imagine a worse way to die.

Yet somehow Artie was smiling as he continued, "But the thing about my TinaMai was that she was a total badass. A true ninja, even though she says in her Ancient Language I would be the ninja because it means 'a person who can endure'. Luckily she had Perception and hid me on the Outside while I gained a little strength. Do you know of the Outside?"

He looked directly at Mercedes and she nodded emphatically.

"Apparently up to 80% of the people with Perception are female."

Mercedes continued to nod. "That makes sense. We're the ones most likely to want to get away!"

"I suspected that's how you got here. You guys appeared from nowhere!"

The car slowed and stopped outside a large gray building. "We're here." Artie looked at them intently, "Sam and Mercedes, do you truly want to get married today?"

Without even looking at each other they squeezed hands and nodded. "YES!"

He grinned at them. "Well in that case, come with me."

Sam held the door for him as they exited the vehicle and they followed him through the entrance and into an elevator to the third floor.

"Mr Abrams!" A beautiful woman with tanned skin and long dark brown shiny hair immediately stood as soon as she saw him. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to check and see how this place is running without me."

"With all due respect sir, you've only been gone a day. There's still some of your leaving cake in the fridge!"

"Good. I'd have some but we've just eaten. Santana, this is Sam and Mercedes. They're going to be married this afternoon."

She frowned. "By who?"

"By me!"

"But you're retired!"

"But still ordained."

"Are you sure-"

"Ms Lopez, I could walk into this office thirty years from now as a crippled bent over old man and still have the authority to perform marriages here. Now stop wasting my time and tell me, are there any rooms free?"

She checked the appointment book in front of her. "Yes. There's one."

"Right, well I'm giving you the rest of the afternoon off!"

"But you can't-"

Artie raised one of his crutches at her. "And who's here right now to tell me I can't?"

The woman who was Santana suddenly pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and grinned wickedly. "Artie you surprise me! Where was this commanding version of you hiding all these years?"

"I don't know, but I like it. And I think it's only fitting I go out with a bang."

Santana was already reaching for her bag. "Well thanks for the afternoon off…"

"Wait! I'm not sending you home to start scissoring your girlfriend early! This young couple have just arrived and are going to get married. I need you to take Mercedes home and do whatever it is you girls do to get ready for special occasions. Oh and find her something pretty to wear."

"But sir, they look like they've just arrived! They won't have any of their paperwork done!"

"Their paperwork is fine. I'll personally fast track it. Now hurry up and get gone! I'm leaving this Sector for good at six so this wedding has to happen at five!"

Sam's heart skipped a beat and he saw Mercedes check her watch. 'Two and a half hours!' She mouthed the words and all he could do was grin stupidly at her before recollecting himself and turning back to Artie. "But we don't even have anywhere to stay yet!"

"Don't worry about minor details! It's all in hand! Mercedes, just go with the lovely Ms Lopez and she'll sort you out, I promise."

For the first time Mercedes' expression held doubt and fear at the strangers. "But my bag-"

"Just take the personal items you need. We'll take the big bag."

Santana was already pulling her out the door and she tried to reach up and kiss the still shell shocked Sam but Artie pulled him back. "None of that now! You'll have plenty of time after the wedding." He shot Sam a huge wink and with the couple barely scraping fingertips the girls were gone and he was suddenly left to the mercy of a man he'd only just met.

An later, Sam wasn't ashamed to admit that he'd cried. He simply didn't understand human kindness because it was something that had never been shown to him before, but seeing the kindness, generosity and selflessness of another person, a stranger who owed him nothing again made him assess his priorities and see what had true value. It also again made him reflect on the idea that someone was indeed looking out for them.

Artie Abrams belonged in the category of Angel in the same way that Mercedes did. People who did things for others with no expectation of getting something back. And Sam had no idea how or why he did it.

The first thing they'd done when the girls left was complete the needed paperwork for the marriage license and certificate. Sam used the information he knew, and the information he didn't know he made up. When it came to his name, he wrote down Sam then had to stop and think. What was that name Mercedes had said the spirit family were called. Artie watched him as he paused but said nothing. Sam blushed. "I- have problems with writing. I normally just write my first name on stuff…"

"You need to but both names on these."

Evans!

Sam had remembered just in time. But his face still burned. "I- I can't write so well. Um… How do I spell Evans? I always get jumbled in the middle so I just write Sam…"

Artie helped him to spell out the letters and if he was in any way suspicious he didn't let on. Hell, the man had run from Secor 31. There's a good chance his name wasn't Artie either.

Sam looked down at the unrecognizable name that he'd just written, thankful that he hadn't automatically started to sign as Aleks. He wasn't that other person anymore and hadn't been since they'd first ventured Outside. Sam Evans was now official in writing and would remain forevermore.

Weeks' worth of bureaucracy was sorted within moments. Artie had opened a drawer in his already cleared desk, pulled out an official stamp and slammed it down in all the correct places as well as signing all the parts that needed signing. It was official!

Then they went shopping. It felt good for Sam to finally use his cash. Their first stop was for him to have a professional close shave and haircut. Once it was done he barely recognized himself. Removing the beard took years off him, but the lines that Mercedes commented on around his eyes were definitely there. Suddenly worried that the barber might remember him he fed the man a story about being on his way to the next Sector to meet a lady friend and needing to look presentable before he got there. If the man was ever questioned he hoped he'd be remembered only as passing through. Next stop was to buy a suit, and he took the liberty of purchasing a few other items of clothing while he was there. Sam had plenty of cash to flash and totally made the day of the taxi driver who he commissioned for the entire trip to wait for them and store the purchases while still running the meter. Then they headed to a jeweler for rings. He'd just found a matching set that he liked when he realized that Mercedes wouldn't want his money used for her ring. She probably wouldn't make a scene, but she wouldn't be happy either and he wanted nothing that would make her anything less than ecstatic.

But how was he going to do this? He had nothing of personal value! Then he remembered the comment of the man at the barbershop about the hole in his ear. He still had his father's ring in his lobe! Yes he'd sworn never to remove it, but this was for someone he loved. His father would understand. "Are there any pawn shops nearby?"

Artie thought for a moment then led him down a small alley. The man in the shop watched as Sam took the flesh tunnel ring from his ear, leaving the gaping hole. Handing the still warm piece of metal to the man was hard but it had to be done. After examining it for what felt like an eternity the store owner opened a small drawer and pulled out some simple wedding rings. "You can choose one of these."

Only just realizing that he didn't know her ring size, he picked what he hoped to be correct then thanked the shop owner so profusely that the man gave him a free ring box to go with it. Next stop was groceries. Artie grinned with a sly wink. "Despite what you may think, you are going to have to eat at some point over the next few days, if only to keep your energy levels up!"

"But I still don't even know where we're staying!"

"You're staying at my place."

"But-"

"It's empty at the moment. My wife and I have already moved to the next Sector. The place is fully furnished and you can stay there as long as you need."

What the-

"Artie I can't-"

"Yes you can, now take this cart and hurry, we now have less than an hour! I'm going to sit here and wait for you because my leg's tired."

With no time to argue Sam flew around the grocery store. Living alone helped him rapidly home in on essentials. He grabbed eggs, milk, sugar, flour, butter, syrup, bacon, tomatoes, salad, chicken, ground beef, rice, pasta, juice, coffee and a couple of jars of ready sauces, a loaf of bread, chocolate, chips and cookies before running back and grabbing some fruit and a tray of prepared oven ready vegetables. Artie was impressed at his speed but Sam's previous life had been all about getting in, grabbing what was needed then getting out fast. Plus he'd been craving pancakes for weeks and fully intended on making them for Mercedes for her first breakfast as his wife.

Then it was back in the taxi to Artie's house. The ride was amazing. They drove right up to the beach then turned off and headed up a small hill with a cute house half way up.

"This is it!" Artie was looked at his watch with a concerned expression. "We're really short on time. I'll give you the mini tour then you have fifteen minutes to shower and dress before we need to head back to Sector Center and get you guys married!"

"Cool." Sam still stood, staring in amazement. "And we can stay here? Are you sure? It's big! How much do you want for rent?"

"Not that big. Only three bedrooms. And no rent. You're not earning yet."

"But-" Sam's hand was already reaching for his money.

Artie simply shook his head and tapped his watch. "Thirteen minutes!"

Sam turned to head to the shower, preparing for his second round of argument about payment when an amazing idea struck him. "Are you only allowed to perform weddings at your office or can you do them anywhere?"

"Anywhere. Why do you ask?"

"It's just that Mercedes is really religious and even though I'm not, I'm sure she would've loved to be married in a religious building. Failing that, I think that it would be a really nice gesture and it would save time to get married here, outside by the Sea. We came here because she wanted to see the Sea and it would be fitting to do something like that. She could come here, do the ceremony, then you can take her cab back to Sector Center while we stay here."

He could see Artie running the plan through his head and looking at his watch. "Okay... That might just work… We can't do actually on the beach because my wooden leg and crutches don't fare well in sand, but we can head to the top of the hill, the view there is amazing. Get yourself in the shower and I'll call Santana!"

Sam was washed, dressed in his brand new suit and back out in record time, stepping forward to meet a smiling Artie. "Looking good! Apparently your girl was already dressed and waiting. Someone's definitely eager! They're already in a cab on the way up so we need to get moving!"

Sam followed Artie up the short walk to the top of the hill and the view at from top took his breath away. The sea, the beach, the grass and the trees, all were in view. He couldn't wait to paint it. But first he needed to see Mercedes. All the running around had been fun but now he was suffering from acute separation anxiety. They'd been together all day every day for so long that being apart from her felt wrong. Even though he trusted Artie and knew she was in safe hands, he still didn't like being away from her. It was easy to understand why she'd been ready so early. She was probably going through exactly the same feelings he was!

The sound of a car engine in the distance signaled their arrival. "They're here!"

Sam swallowed and his heart raced. He'd worry about paying for the house later. Right now his Angel was coming and he could think of nothing else but having her back safely in his arms.