A/N: Thank you all for reading this story! I'm currently participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, so if I'm slow to reply to PM's, that's the reason why :) But it's all for this story, so no worries about slower updates. Anyway, not much to say about this chapter, except enjoy! I had fun writing it ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).

Days

The day before

Cilan

Friday, December 27th

Cilan unfolded the last chair and put it into its place at the end of the row, and then took a moment to breathe and wipe his forehead.

"You okay there, Cilan?" May's voice rang through the hall, looking at him from the other end of the room where she and Iris were attaching ribbons to the chairs he had been putting in neat rows all morning. They only had today to decorate their wedding location, because tomorrow was the big day already.

"I'm okay," he puffed, smiling slightly when he realized his voice belied his words. "I'm glad that this was the last chair!"

That was no lie. While Cilan didn't consider himself a weakling, he also knew he didn't have much physical prowess to boast about. Iris had insisted that she could help with setting out the chairs as well, but he had put his foot down and done it himself. Iris had already done more than enough for the wedding, so it was time to make himself useful.

"I can believe that." May laughed while Iris shook her head. May had arrived early this morning and Cilan had to admire her enthusiasm, because he couldn't imagine that she had gotten much sleep on the plane.

The girls had done well with the decorating, Cilan thought to himself as he sat down on that last chair. The wedding arch stood front and center, decorated with a huge amount of white flowers and ribbons. White drapes hung on the walls and several flower arrangements were strategically placed throughout the hall.

"It's looking pretty, don't you think?" May approached him, proudly looking around. Iris was still busy attaching ribbons to the chairs.

"Absolutely," Cilan praised. "You girls have done amazing work."

He knew it hadn't been easy for Iris, especially not the last few days. He had been stuck in the restaurant with the holiday rush, and had been of absolutely no help during the final preparations. With the exception of a few short phone calls, he hadn't even spoken to Iris.

"I'm very grateful you were here to help, May," Cilan said, smiling genuinely at her. May flushed and waved his thanks away.

"It was nothing, really," she said. "It was fun and it was great to see Iris more, too."

"Nonetheless, I'm happy you helped us, and I'm sure Iris is, too," he said.

May beamed.

"Hey, you two, stop blabbing and start helping!" Iris called, and May almost jumped while Cilan actually did jump up from his chair.

"Naturally," Cilan said, briskly walking towards her with May on his heels. He mentally scolded himself. He already hadn't had much time to spend with her these last weeks, and now he was lazing his precious Iris-time away.

Cilan and May joined Iris in putting a ribbon on each chair, and then worked together to put the sound system in its correct place. When that, too, was done, Cilan allowed himself to plop back on a chair, seeing that the girls were doing the same. May pulled out her phone and started fiddling with it, while Iris closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, making Cilan straighten up in worry.

"Are you-?"

"I'm fine," Iris snapped, before smiling apologetically at him. "I'm fine," she repeated calmly, and he nodded.

"It looks good," Iris said after a moment, and Cilan nodded in agreement.

His stomach rumbled and he flushed. They had all skipped lunch in order to have the hall ready before his deadline of three o'clock, because then he'd have to go back to the restaurant for the evening rush. Not even being almost married could excuse him from work.

"It looks amazing," May said. "I can't believe you're getting married tomorrow!" She beamed at them and Cilan gave her a weak smile.

He himself had no clue where the time had gone, either. So many things were happening at once, and he would be glad when this wedding was over.

Well. He meant that in the best way possible. It would be nice to spend time with Iris without the wedding being a constant topic of conversation.

"Yeah, I can't believe it, either," Iris said, and something in her voice made Cilan's heart drop.

"Well, it's true," she said defensively when she caught him looking. "If you'd told me last year- even three months ago that I'd be marrying you, I'd- well, it's kind of unbelievable, right?"

"I suppose you're right," he said, placating. "But circumstances changed, didn't they?"

He smiled softly at her, and Iris smiled back at him, though her eyebrows stayed furrowed.

"You two are so cute," May said happily, and Cilan almost cringed when he realized that he had momentarily forgotten her presence. He should have been more careful with what he said, no wonder that Iris still looked upset.

"I'm sure it'll be a wonderful wedding," May continued, oblivious, "I'm so excited for it! I was a bit worried about the food, to be honest, but everything seems to turn out perfectly!"

Cilan opened his mouth to respond when his phone buzzed, and he hastily took it out of his pocket. Seeing Cress's caller ID, he picked up in confusion. It was just two o'clock, it should be an hour more before he had to get back to the restaurant…

"Hello?"

"Cilan! Oh, it's such a relief you picked up! Are you almost done with the hall?" Cress's voice was pitched higher than normal and Cilan felt his concern levels rise.

"We're just finished, actually-"

"That's good to hear!" Cress continued on quickly, which didn't do anything to ease Cilan's worries. Chili was the one who usually interrupted people.

"Look, Cilan…" Cress's voice took on an apologetic note, though the panic didn't lessen. "I'm really sorry to interrupt, but could you come back sooner-" A retching sound was heard in the background, and Cilan winced. "-Chili's sick," Cress finished.

"Oh dear-"

"Yeah, he's been sick all day, but he didn't want to worry you-" Another retching sound was heard, followed by comforting words from Cress. "-but he can't work like this and the restaurant is in no way ready…"

"Of course I'll come! Right away!" Cilan said, concern in his voice. How horrible! It was terrible to be sick, and why did it have to happen now- "I'll be there as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Cilan, thank you," Cress said. "And I'm so sorry, it's really a horrible timing- but thank you, and I'll see you in a bit!"

"Yes, see you." Cilan ended the call, heaving a sigh. Resignedly, he explained to Iris and May why he had to leave.

"That's horrible!" May gasped loudly, clapping her hands over her mouth.

"Oh, that's really unlucky," Iris said, frowning. "Do you want to postpone the wedding?"

"No way!" May said quickly, looking shocked. "You can't just postpone the wedding simply because Chili is sick- I mean-" she continued in a calmer tone, "-everything is already ready and people came all the way from Kanto and… well, you just don't postpone a wedding!" She laughed sheepishly, while Iris watched her with narrowed eyes.

"May is right," Cilan said, straightening his jacket as he prepared to leave. "We can't postpone the wedding." He forced a smile on his face. "And maybe it's not that bad, maybe Chili will feel better tomorrow…"

"Oh, I hope so!" May said, while Iris nodded quietly. "Well, anyway, everything is finished here, so we should get going, too, Iris."

"Yeah…" Iris said, following May's example in getting up from her chair.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine," Cilan said, seeing her set shoulders and pursed lips.

She straightened and looked him in the eye. "I'm fine."

Perhaps sensing the moment, May started walking towards the exit, giving Iris and Cilan a moment alone.

"That's good," he said, dropping his voice. "I'm nervous, too, you know."

And he was, a bit, but not nearly as much as Iris seemed to be. At least, he thought her recent behavior was due to nerves, and he blamed himself for not having spent enough time with her lately to properly speak about it.

When she didn't say anything, he took her hand and squeezed it. She surprised him by pulling him into a hug and wrapping her arms around him tightly.

"We can do this," Cilan said, stroking her hair.

Iris pulled back from the hug. "Yes, we can do this."

He gave her his most encouraging smile and then leaned down to press a kiss on her lips.

"C'mon, we should go, I have to check on Chili and I'm sure May is going to keep you busy, too," Cilan said, taking her hand again. Together, they walked outside.

May already stood waiting with his Tropius, who she was borrowing to fly back to Opelucid City. Iris released her Dragonite and climbed on after a last squeeze of his hand.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said in goodbye.

Iris nodded, smiling slightly at him. "Yeah. Wish Chili the best from me."

"Oh, from me, too," May said quickly. "See you tomorrow, Cilan!"

He waved at them as the Pokémon prepared to take off, and as soon as they were gone he hastened to his car. The hotel where they had rented the room for the wedding was on the other side of Striaton City, and with the icy rains these last few days, he had chosen to go by car. It was very fortunate for May and Iris that it was dry now.

Cilan drove back home, parked his car and then hurried inside through the backdoor. He entered the Gym part of the building and then went up the stairs to the first floor, where they had their own rooms. As he ascended, he noticed that it was disturbingly silent in the building.

Cilan's hand went to his Poké Ball when he realized that he hadn't seen any of their Pokémon, either.

He had not taken two steps in the living room, when-

"Surprise!"

Chili and Cress jumped out from behind one couch, and Stephan and Ash appeared from behind the other. Brock came from the kitchen, followed a few seconds later by Cameron, who immediately ran up to Cilan and threw confetti in his face.

"Surprise!" the brown-haired man yelled, and Cilan could only splutter as he tried to regain his bearings (and get the confetti out of his mouth).

Pansage jumped into Cilan's arms and made him stagger back, and Panpour and Pansear ran around his feet.

"What is this?" Cilan looked at Chili. "I thought you were sick! And-" He turned to Ash and Brock. "-And I thought you'd arrive late tonight!"

Ash grinned and shrugged, as Cress explained, "Well, obviously we had to tell you something to get you here."

"It's your bachelor party, man!" Stephan clapped him on the shoulder.

"Bachelor- but- the restaurant-"

"It's closed," Chili said. "You didn't really think we were going to make you work the day before your wedding?"

Brock laughed at Cilan's overwhelmed expression, and he put an arm around his shoulders.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of everything. It'll be an awesome party!" Brock guided Cilan to the couch to sit down.

Pansage laughed and patted Cilan comfortingly on his chest, before climbing off to find Pansear and Panpour.

"Cake, cake, time for cake!" Cameron cheered, and Chili appeared from the kitchen with a huge plate with a cake on it. Or- two cakes?

"Chili!" Cilan squeaked, seeing that the two chocolate bombes were meant to resemble breasts in a lacy pink bra.

The guests laughed while Cilan turned bright.

"Brock actually wanted to go without the bra-" Chili said slyly, which caused the tanned man to splutter.

"That's not true!"

"Well, actually…" Ash started.

A discussion broke out among several of the guests whose idea the boob cake had or had not been, and Cilan could only watch the chaos that had taken over his living room. Pokémon were running around, people were talking loudly, and confetti and streamers were strewn everywhere.

Cress put a hand on Cilan's shoulder. "You okay there? We thought you deserved a little fun, with how busy you've been lately."

Cilan shook himself out of his daze and smiled- no, grinned at his brother. "Thank you."

Before he could say anything else, Ash and Cameron had started cheering, "Cake, cake, cake!" and were quickly joined by the rest of the guests.

Stephan pushed a knife in Cilan's hands and although still flushed, Cilan moved to cut the cake, encouraged by the cheering and clapping of his friends.

"I see I'm not getting out of this one." He laughed. "Well, then, I suppose it's… party time!"

A/N: Thank you very much for reading! I completely rewrote the original draft, which featured only Iris and Cilan and some talking after they had finished decorating. So I thought this was a lot more fun, plus a bachelor party! I'll leave it to your imagination what happened at the party XD And yes, May was totally in on it :P Your reviews encourage me to keep writing, so please keep them coming!

Thank you!

Recommendation:

Pokémon: Missing In Action by C3L35714. FFN. A finished, short multi-chaptered story about Ash's disappearance from the known world, his friends' reactions, and of course the eventual reunion. Pretty funny story!

If you have a story you'd like me to recommend, let me know!