Welcome back to the Devereaux Legacy! First, please excuse the over-brightness of the first two or three slides. I found out that batch editing in Paintshop Pro is a crock and it brightened the pictures to where they almost look like a Saturday morning kid's cartoon >.<

Anyway, in the last chapter, Bella carried out her mission from Lillian to seduce Quinn (which really didn't take a lot of arm twisting on Quinn's part). She also gave Quinn a list of story links where Rhys is shown in the worst possible light. Seeing as Quinn was already upset with Rhys when his father forbade him to be engaged to Bella...well all that information just made things worse.

Erin feels strangely drawn to Puck, but she doesn't know why yet. Puck, on the other hand, obviously does but he's avoiding his fate for the time being because he feels guilty over his choice, his choice which he thinks led to his father's banishment to the Punished Realm.

That's pretty much the main highlights of what happened in the last chapter. If you are a new reader, I really, really suggest you at least start at the beginning of Chapter 6 because otherwise none of this will make sense. For everyone else, I hope you enjoy!

~*~*~

The summer after graduation was filled with a flurry of weddings.

And, of course, a flurry of "other things" as well, most notably bringing in the next generation.

Unfortunately, while everyone else in Pleasantview seemed to be happy, 100 Legacy Lane, the Devereaux house, was filled with tension.

Shortly after graduation, Quinn moved in his fiancée, Bella Goth. When Eden tried to gently say something about perhaps waiting until it was a bit closer to the wedding, Quinn threw in her face that she and Rhys had always stressed that they always said that he could have a live-in lover.

And so Bella moved in, and she didn't waste any time making digs towards Eden about her age and reminding everyone that she's young and fertile and that she would be the mother of the next generation.

Bella moving in made things around the house a whole lot more tense. Quinn hovered over Bella whenever Rhys was around, and even when Bella wasn't present, Quinn could be found glaring at Rhys.

That made things rather difficult as he worked at the stores with his father.

To be fair to Rhys, he did try to find out, on multiple occasions, what was wrong with Quinn, but his attempts were constantly shot down.

Needless to say, this usually put Rhys in a foul mood, which led to Rhys and Eden bickering, and downright fighting, far more often.

Unfortunately, the results of the more frequent fighting led to hurt feelings lasting longer and amends even longer in coming.

Erin, for her part, managed to avoid a lot of the tension at home due to the fact that she did everything she could to be out of the house. Between her new job as an intern at the Pleasantview courthouse and socializing with her friends, she was a busy girl.

Of course, when it came to socializing with her friends, she found herself in Puck's company more and more as the days went by. Not that either of them minded.

She did do what she could to help with her brother's wedding preparations, which is why she, Eden, and Bella were at the wedding boutique picking out new dresses for Eden and Erin to wear...

Erin clapped her hands as Eden stepped out of the dressing room wearing one of the many red dresses she had selected for Quinn's wedding. "I think I like that one best."

Eden smiled. "You've said that about every dress I've tried on."

The red head laughed. "And I mean it. I'm jealous. As a red head, I'm banned from wearing red and pink. It is my curse."

Eden rolled her eyes with a smile. "Okay, 'Anne Shirley,' don't let your father hear you talking like that." She turned back to the mirror. "I really do like this dress. Maybe--" she was cut off by Bella making a sound in her throat. She turned to her future daughter-in-law. "Of course, seeing as it is your wedding, you get the final say on everything. So, what do you think of this dress?"

Bella slowly looked Eden up and down before saying, "Oh, well, I do think it is a very nice dress and I think that you're so incredibly brave to wear such a bold color."

Eden raised her eyebrows. "Brave?"

"Oh, yes, you see, whenever I see a woman your age wearing such a striking color, it always looks so desperate. Like it's a woman who refuses to age gracefully and so they attempt to cling to their youth in such an undignified manner. But..." she looked at Eden up and down again and smiled sweetly. "Well, of course you seem to pull it off."

Eden unconsciously ran her hand over her glossy black locks, thankful that she had just had her hair dyed recently.

"What the--" Erin began to say but Eden made a slight gesture with her hand to cut her daughter off before nodding her head slightly at Bella.

"You know something? I believe you are right. Red is a very bold color to wear and it probably isn't appropriate to wear to someone else's wedding. It is about the newly married couple and I wouldn't want to be the person who takes attention away from them. It is their day after all." She turned to the mirror and plucked at the skirt. "I like this style, though. Maybe a different color would suffice."

"Blue would bring out your eyes," Erin said. Her lips were pressed into a line when Eden glanced at her in the reflection of the mirror.

"Green," Eden said decisively. "For years your father has been coordinating with me by wearing a red tie to go with my red dress. But he always looks good in green. Maybe I should coordinate with him."

"No matter what age he is, Rhys will always look good in green," Bella gushed. "I don't know who else can look as good as him in that color!"

"Uh, there is Quinn of course. You know, my brother? The one you're going to marry?" Erin said slowly.

Bella faltered for a moment before smiling widely. "Well of course he does," she said cheerfully. "That just goes without saying!"

Erin and Eden exchanged another look in the mirror but didn't say anything else on the matter.

~*~*~

Eden wiped the tears from her eyes as she stared at the hateful green dress in the mirror. She had never thought of herself as old. Granted, elder hood was still a couple of years off, but her twenties were long gone. She had thought that she was aging well, but the remark that Bella had made about women Eden's age looking desperate by wearing bold and bright colors struck a chord with her.

Oh, she knew that Bella was only saying that to make Eden look bad. Eden was a very perceptive woman and her perceptiveness was a big reason why she and Rhys got along so well and why they had been, for the most part, happily married for over two decades. If she would have been a more high strung person she probably wouldn't have been so lucky. But she wasn't, which is why Eden knew not to press certain issues no matter how nice it would be to hear certain things from time to time.

But Eden's perceptions about Bella were more troublesome. She knew what Bella was trying to do, and she didn't appreciate it. She didn't appreciate that the woman was trying, in a very pathetic attempt of course, to steal Rhys away from her. She wasn't worried, not at all. Even without Rhys' earnest declaration of "I wouldn't fuck Bella with a stolen dick," she knew it wouldn’t work. She trusted Rhys, and she knew he appreciated her trust and would do whatever he could to maintain it. Having someone trust him was still something of a surprise to him, even after all these years.

The troublesome thing was Quinn and his feelings. Quinn refused to talk to her, or Rhys, about the "Bella Issue" (as she and Rhys privately referred to it). Quinn's animosity wasn't subtle and that was adding more stress upon an already stressful situation. All Eden wanted was to have a peaceful household where everyone got along and loved each other. And they had that for a while, especially after her mother died.

But now Bella was threatening to be even worse than Mary. Worse because it wasn't just her and Rhys she she was attempting to harm, but Quinn as well. And there was nothing Eden could do about it, not while Quinn was acting the way he was. And so, Eden did what she could to maintain the peace, but she found herself breaking down in private tears more often. Especially when Bella said and did what she could to make Eden feel like garbage.

The sound of the front door slamming and heavy footsteps stomping up the stairs caused Eden to run into the bathroom and wash the tears from her face. She took a few deep, calming breaths as she heard Rhys stomp into their bedroom and slam the door.

"Ede? Are you in there?" he called out.

"Yeah, just give me a second," she called back. She took one final glance in the mirror, regretfully realizing that she didn't have any time to reapply her makeup. She bit her lips in an attempt to bring color to them and she walked back into the bedroom.

Rhys was leaning against the door with a fierce glare. "If that woman dies in a fire tomorrow, I swear I will be the happiest man on the face of the planet. I actually got Quinn to say more than three words to me at the store today, and then she comes in, makes fucking googly eyes at me, which caused him to start slamming everything around and leaving early. I swear, she's worse than your mother ever was and let me tell you, I danced a pretty jig on her grave when she kicked it."

"Rhys..." she said gently.

"Yeah, yeah, okay, whatever, sorry," he said waving off her chiding tone. "You know what I mean though. And the worst part about all of it is that she's going to outlive me. I have to deal with her for the rest of my life and it pisses me off."

Eden sighed. "If she died tomorrow, you would be sad for Quinn."

"It would only be for show. I really, truly mean that. Gah! I just know she said or did something that gave Quinn his fucking attitude towards me. I just wish I knew what it was."

"We both know what it probably was."

"Well, if he would just let me explain--" his words cut off as he noticed what she wearing. "What's up with the dress?"

She looked down and plucked the skirt. "This...this is the dress I'm wearing to the wedding."

"Ugh, don't remind me of that. Why is it green and not red? You always wear red."

She shrugged. "Change of pace. You have that nice green vest and tie, I figured it would be a shame to waste it."

She looked away from him as he held her arms and looked at her face. "You've been crying," he stated.

"No I haven't," she protested feebly.

He rolled his eyes with a disgusted sigh. "Yeah, okay, whatever. Fine. Don't tell me. That'll just be two people in the house who don't talk to me. Whatever. I don't care." He flopped down onto their bed.

Eden stood next to the bed and sighed. "I was just feeling a little old is all. I was realizing that we're probably going to be grandparents soon and..." she trailed off with a weak laugh. "Well, I actually had this strange wish to have more kids and realized that wasn't going to happen." She shrugged. He made a noncommittal sound and she plucked at her skirt again. "Rhys, do you wish we would have had more kids?" she asked hesitantly. Talking about kids, and the act that creates them, usually perked him up.

"Why are we even discussing this? We can't have more kids even if I wanted them, so there's no point in wishing that I could have ten kids and twenty grandkids. I have bigger things to worry about than past disappointments that I can't change," he responded peevishly.

She jerked her head back as if she had been slapped. She swallowed heavily and she willed the tears not to fall from her eyes. "Well," she said, her voice cracking. She cleared her throat and began again. "Well I'm so sorry that your life has been such a 'disappointment' for you here, Rhys." She spun on her heel and marched to the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

"Oh what-fucking-ever, Eden. That's not what I meant and you know it," he said from the other side of the door.

When she didn't respond, she heard him stomp away and slam the bedroom door behind him.

They didn't talk to each other again until the next morning.

~*~*~

Cassandra knocked on the door hesitantly. She had debated long and hard whether or not to come to the Devereaux's house. She was convinced that it was they who had persuaded Bella not to invite her to the wedding. After all, Alexander had been invited, why hadn't she been?

Of course, she could have just as easily called the house, but she was also rather curious to see what the place looked like inside.

She grew irritated and knocked again, surprised that nobody had answered the door yet. She thought the house would have been teeming with servants, or at the very least a butler. When still no one answered the door, she gave a vexed sigh, convinced that they knew she was standing on their porch and were just avoiding answering it. She knew they were the type. Hadn't Alexander always said things like that about them?

As she was about to leave in a huff, she saw, through the windows, someone walking around in the back of the house. Determined to give the person a piece of her mind, Cassandra stomped her way to the backyard.

When she got there, all she saw was the gardener digging around in the dirt and playing with the flowers. She watched her for a bit and realized that the gardener wasn't doing anything particularly useful with the flowers and she spent more time sniffing the blossoms and digging around in the dirt some more.

"I'm assuming that nobody is home then?" Cassandra asked the woman. "I've been pounding on the door for quite some time."

The gardener gave a start and jumped swiftly to her feet, a guilty look flashing across her face. It was then that Cassandra realized it wasn't the gardener at all, but a rather dirty and unglamorous looking Eden Devereaux.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Eden said. "I've been back here all afternoon. I didn't hear you knock." She gave Cassandra a friendly and hopeful smile. "Cassandra Goth, right? It's very nice to actually meet you." She held out her hand to shake Cassandra's but immediately withdrew it and hid her hands behind her back, the guilty look appearing on her face again. "Sorry, my hands are kind of dirty."

"Is my mother here?" Cassandra asked abruptly.

Eden shook her head apologetically. "No she's not," she said as she habitually adjusted her glasses. It explained the smudge of dirt on the movie star's face. "She should be back soon though. You're more than welcome to stay and chat if you would like. Just, uh, just let me finish something real quick and then I’ll make us some tea."

Eden knelt down and smoothed out the dirt in the flower bed. Cassandra watched in confusion and asked, "Don't you have a gardener or something?"

Eden laughed slightly. "Yes, but he only comes once every three days. Of course he's the one who is responsible for how nice the place looks. I just..." she trailed off with a shrug.

"You..you just like playing in the dirt?"

"Well, that makes me sound childish. But I will admit that I find it soothing to putter around with the flowers, even if I am just moving around piles of dirt," she said with a grin.

Cassandra couldn't help but grin back. She found Eden's candor refreshing. Then she remembered that this was not just any Devereaux, but the head of the entire Devereaux family and she schooled her face back to neutrality. She's probably the one who made sure I wasn't invited to my own mother's wedding, she thought vehemently.

A few minutes later, Cassandra was in the kitchen as Eden served the two of them tea, biscuits, and preserves . Unable to restrain herself, Cassandra asked, "I thought you had maids and butlers and stuff. Why are you doing all of this?"

Eden let out a very undignified snort. "Do you want the truth? I always tell magazines and stuff that I value my privacy so that's why we don't have much hired help other than the gardener. And that's actually true. But the real reason why we don't have them is because my husband and children are, and I use this term lovingly, neat freaks. The butler that we did have quit in frustration after he had walked in on Erin, Quinn, and Rhys all crammed in the bathroom fighting over whose turn it was to clean the toilet."

Cassandra smiled and for a moment wished that she could be friends with the other woman; she didn't have any friends outside of her family. She gave an inward, reluctant sigh. "Ms. Devereaux--"

"Please, call me Eden."

Cassandra dismissed Eden's interruption. "I would like to know why you and your family insisted on not inviting me to my mother's wedding. You invited my brother and his wife, why didn't you invite me? Why have I not been included in any of the wedding preparations? She's my mother. And I know that she doesn't remember who I am or anything like that, but I really would have liked to get to know her again."

Eden looked surprised. "You weren't invited?"

"No I wasn't."

Eden sighed. "I'm sorry, Cassandra. I'm not in control of the guest list, Bella is. I..I'm sure it was an oversight. She should be home with Quinn in a bit. Maybe you can ask her then?"

Cassandra's face fell. "Every time I try to talk to her, she gives me this blank look. You don't know what it's like to have your parent right there and have them not recognize you."

She looked down in surprise as Eden placed her hand on her arm in a comforting manner. When she looked up, she saw that Eden's face looked both sad and sympathetic. "Actually, yeah I do," she said quietly. "I know the feeling very well."

Before Cassandra could respond, there was a commotion at the backdoor and Rhys Fitzhugh strode into the kitchen. He threw his arms wide and called out in loud, boisterous voice, "Honeeeeey, I'm hooome!" And then he grabbed Eden around the waist and dipped her down for a kiss.

"Ah, I see you've been 'gardening' again," he said in a teasing tone when he released her. "What has 'that woman' done now?"

"Rhys..." Eden said as she glanced at Cassandra.

Cassandra had remained tactfully silent during the outward display of affection, but when Rhys looked at her blandly, she clenched her jaw. "I was asking why I wasn't invited to my mother's wedding," she said.

He slung his arm over Eden's shoulder. "We have had absolutely no say so in their wedding plans even though we are the ones who are paying for everything. Can't get married here, oh no! It's not good enough, gotta have the huge reception hall and the gigantic guest list. So instead of harassing my wife--"

"She wasn't harassing me, Rhys," Eden interrupted gently, but he carried on.

"--maybe you should ask our son's fiancée." He didn't notice that Quinn and Bella had entered into the kitchen behind him and had heard Rhys' rant.

"Ask my fiancée what?" Quinn asked. "And why shouldn't she want to have a nice wedding. And it's my wedding, too. Don't I deserve something nice once in a while?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rhys shot back.

Quinn glared at Rhys but before he could retort, Bella gave Cassandra a disgusted look. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

Cassandra fidgeted with her hands nervously as all eyes turned towards her. "I was told that you are in charge of the invitations to your wedding and I--"

"And she came over and we cleared up a misunderstanding," Eden said smoothly as she moved to stand next to her. "There was an oversight, but we made sure that she is indeed invited. You invited Alexander after all."

"Alexander Goth?" Bella asked with her eyes wide. "But of course I invited him; he's the mayor. I'm sorry, are you his assistant or something? Either way, I'm sorry. But the seating arrangements have already been figured out and there isn't any more room."

Cassandra felt her throat tighten. "Alexander is my brother, remember? You're our mother."

Bella's face crumpled. "Why does everyone insist that I have children when I'm not old enough? Do I look that old? Am I so old and worn out and frumpy looking? How positively awful that I should be confronted with this sort of thing right before my wedding!"

She turned towards Rhys in an attempt to cry on his shoulder and Cassandra noticed that Rhys visibly cringed away from her and took a step back. Quinn glared at him and gathered her mother into his arms.

"Come on, Bell," he said gently. "You're tired from shopping and dealing with all the wedding preparations. Let's go lay down."

As the younger red haired man led a sniffling Bella out of the kitchen, Rhys made a disgusted sound and stormed outside, leaving Cassandra and Eden alone once again.

Eden sighed softly and turned to the other woman. "There's plenty of room at the reception hall, Cassandra, you can sit with us if you would like," she said with a smile.

"No, it would be wrong. If there is no room--"

"Nonsense. The number of place settings we paid for is greater than the amount of people who are showing up. There's plenty of room for one more."

"That..that's awfully kind of you, but now that I think about it, it probably wouldn't be right for me to go. I haven't a thing to wear, no hair appointment, and I especially don't have a date. I..okay I'll be honest. I came here angry and I was going to demand an invitation because I thought it was your fault I wasn't invited. I wasn't planning on showing up or anything, I just felt that it was my right. That..that just seems really silly now. I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? You do have every right to be there." Eden looked her up and down with a contemplative look, which made Cassandra feel uncomfortable. "You know what? You're about my size," Eden said. "You can borrow one of my dresses because I have a ton of them that I can never wear again because I'm 'too old' to wear such a 'bold color.' But I think you would look really nice. And as for a hairstylist? Well, let me tell you about my very good friend Achilles who, if I recall correctly, is also in need of a date for the wedding..."

Cassandra grinned happily as Eden threaded her arm through hers and led her upstairs.

~*~*~

The day before her brother's wedding, Erin found herself at Puck's apartment. The two of them had spent a companionable afternoon together, but the more she talked about the upcoming wedding, the more irritated she became.

"I feel like such a failure at this entire 'legacy heir' business."

"Why is that?" Puck asked as he idly perused the internet. "You have the drive and determination to do what it takes to see your family succeed."

"Well, except for the getting married and or having a kid part."

"The entire thing sounds so archaic."

"It is," she agreed. "Well, except for the 'and or have a kid' part. I think that's an addendum that my parents added because they don't want to force us into unhappy marriages. But either way, my parents are still insisting that I don't step down from being an heir quite yet."

"Well that's a good thing, right?"

"I suppose, except for the fact that I feel like I'm drifting."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, like, I feel like I'm supposed to be with someone, but because I'm not, I feel sort of out of balance. It sounds so weird to say that, like I'm all dependent upon some guy. But it's like everyone I've been with feels sort of off. Not right. Do you know what I mean?"

A brief look of guilt flashed across his face. He cleared his throat and asked, "Nobody felt right?"

"No. No one! I was told, by my mother, that when I found the person I'm supposed to be with that it would feel right. Like a good fit. And I thought I found someone like that, once, a long time ago, but at this point I think it was only my imagination. Ugh! And now I'm starting to sound like one of those sappy women in a romance novel. A badly written one at that! It's incredibly frustrating, especially when there's someone that really like, but I don't know if he likes me back." She gave him a pointed look, which he didn't seem to notice.

The two of them were silent for a bit, the only sound was the clicking from Puck's mouse. Finally Erin heaved a huge sigh. "Puck, we're friends, right?"

"I'd like to think so, yes," he responded hesitantly.

"Okay, then as my friend, can you do me a huge, huge favor?"

He looked over at her warily. "What's that?"

"Oh my God, you look like I'm asking you to be my baby daddy or something! Of which I'm not, unless of course you would like that because then I think we might be able to work something out--"

"My God, Erin!"

She moved to a kneeling position and continued on as if she hadn't heard his protest. "Anyway, the huge favor I'm asking you is can you please come with me to my brother's wedding? I know you hate going to huge social functions, which is why I didn't ask you before, but my usual standby, Matt, who was always cool about doing these sort of things with me, is dating...well...you know who he's with."

"He's with Christina. You can say it. It doesn't bother me because I want her to be happy."

"Okay, good. But I just can't be the only person there who doesn't have a date. Weddings are depressing enough, this one especially! I'm asking you, as one of my best good friends, to please come with me so I have someone to talk to. Please?"

He glanced at his work calendar, blinked, and laughed ruefully. "You know, I originally had to work tomorrow. But now I remember that someone asked to switch days with me and now I have both tomorrow and the day after off." He shook his head and chuckled again.

"Fate works in mysterious ways," Erin said with a nod.

"No, not that mysterious. Fate is being very obvious about what she wants right now."

"What?"

"Nothing." He sighed and looked at her with a smile. "Yes, Erin, I will accompany you to your brother's wedding as long as I don't have to do the chicken dance or anything like that."

She squealed with delight and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you! You're the best, Puck!"

He ducked his head shyly, but he couldn't hide his pleased expression.

~*~*~

The day of the wedding Puck found himself standing in front of Erin's house fidgeting nervously with his fingers. He was half tempted to hail the taxi that had just dropped him off but he fought against it. Part of him was glad that he was going to this wedding with her, but another part felt a twist of guilt in his stomach. If only Papa would have told me, he thought, maybe we could have figured something out.

He heaved a sigh and squared his shoulders. It's only a wedding. It's not a date, he told himself firmly. He pushed his guilt to the side, determined to think about it later, and walked up to the front door.

Before he could knock on it, the door was thrown open and a red haired man, who Puck assumed to be Erin's father, stood before him with a scowl.

"Who the hell are you?" the man asked gruffly.

Puck swallowed. "Uh, I, um," he stammered and looked down at his feet. Because he did so, he didn't notice the other man's lips twitch in amusement.

"Well whatever it is you're selling, we don't want any."

He was about to protest when he heard Erin's voice call out, "Dad! I told you not to tease him! Leave him alone!"

The man turned and shouted up the stairs, "Well maybe if you and your mother were done getting ready, I wouldn't be left to my own devices. Idle hands and all that." He stood back and allowed Puck to come inside. As Puck walked passed him, the man whispered, "I'm watching you."

Puck chuckled nervously but he saw that Erin's father's face looked very serious.

Thankfully both Erin and Eden came out of one of the upstairs rooms and appeared at the top of the stairs.

Puck felt his eyes drawn to Erin's long legs as they disappeared up into her short skirt. He suddenly realized that he knew exactly, in detail, what her dress was covering. He also became acutely aware that that wasn't really a revelation he should be having while standing next to Erin's father. Before he could stop himself, the word, "Wow," exhaled out of his mouth.

"Yeah," the other man said. Puck looked over at him and saw that he was staring at his wife with a fond half smile.

The brief moment of camaraderie between the two men passed when Erin said, "Damn, Puck, when did you get so hot?"

Erin's father looked at him with a smirk. "Yes, Puck, please do tell. When did you get 'so hot?'" Puck hung his head with a sigh.

"Rhys..." Erin's mother said as she stepped into her husband's arms.

"What?"

"You know what." She turned to Puck and gave him a warm smile. "Puck, it's nice to see you again. I see you've grown up very well."

"Thank you, Ms. Devereaux, it's nice to see you again, too," he responded politely, very aware that Erin had threaded her arm through his.

Eden waved her hand. "Please, just call me Eden. And this is my husband, Rhys Fitzhugh, and I'm sure he's properly introduced himself to you, yes?"

Puck glanced at Rhys and said, "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Fitzhugh."

With another smirk, Rhys responded with, "It's nice to meet you too, Puck. You can call me Mr. Fitzhugh."

"Oh my God, Dad! Stop! You're not funny," Erin protested, her arm tightening around Puck's.

Rhys began laughing. "Yes I am. I'm friggin' hilarious. You just don't appreciate my sense of humor." All laughter suddenly disappeared and he said, "But Puck does, don't you, Puck? By the way, would you like to see my gun collection? I have a lot and I like to clean them. Often."

"Okay, Dad, enough. We have to get going! Because if we don't, I know you're just going to do this all day." Erin began to pull Puck towards the door.

"You'll understand when you have kids someday. Are you planning on having kids, Puck? Are you planning on impregnating my daughter?"

"The limo's here, Dad. Let's go!"

As Puck walked out the door with Erin, he heard Eden whisper, "Why do you tell boys that you have a gun collection? You know you don't."

"Yeah, but they don't know that!" Rhys said with a laugh.

"Is you dad always like this?" he whispered to Erin.

"Only with guys he thinks I like," she said as she slipped her hand into his.

"Oh..."

As they walked towards the waiting limousine, he heard Rhys saying, "Erin's got a boyfriend. Erin's got a boyfriend," in a sing song voice. He had a feeling that it was going to be a long and uncomfortable day.

But he also didn't let go of Erin's hand.

~*~*~

"Wait, so you're saying that the dimension, mini-verse or whatever you call it, the place you came from, you're saying that I'm a man there?"

"A good looking man if it helps any."

"I..I don't know how I feel about that."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"I really wish we could tell people."

"Just a couple more weeks and then we can, I promise."

"Well you want to know what the worst part about playing Edmund Cummings was? I was actually a real and for true vampire while I was filming the movie, but it was determined that I didn't look 'realistic' enough, so they liberally applied glitter all over me. After the series was complete, I was forced to take the Vamprocillin-D potion because the rest of the real vampires thought I was a disgrace to their kind, like the dumb ass glitter was my fault or something."

"You know, I never noticed this before but Alexander looks an awful lot like my Dad."

"Oh man, Ede, let's not even joke about that ass being related to you more than he already is. Bella is his mother, which makes Quinn his step-father, so Alexander would be like a step-grandson or something about that. I would rather think of far more pleasant things."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Well, like the empty coat check area and the fact that I could have sworn I saw you putting on thigh high stockings earlier..."

"So...this isn't going to be all weird or anything like that, is it?"

"Nope. Chris and I are happy together, much like I'm sure you and Puck are happy together."

"Um...we aren't together."

"Oh. Well this is awkward..."

…

Fun times were had by all at the reception. And if there were people who were not happy by the thought of Quinn and Bella getting married...

They had the decency to either pretend to be happy for the sake of appearance...

Or at the very least, they kept their grumblings and glares to a minimum.

After the dinner, toasts, cake cutting, and first dance of the bride and groom, Spencer, who had designated himself as the unofficial emcee of the event, grabbed the microphone and said, "Alright ladies, you know what time it is. Can we get the lovely bride out here for so she can toss the bouquet?"

All the single women let out playful cheers as hey rushed out to the dance floor.

Erin went out on to the floor good naturedly. She wasn't terribly anxious to go for the bouquet, but tradition was tradition and she was, after all, a single female.

She gave a wry grin to no one in particular as Bella shut her eyes, spun around, and tossed the flowers over her shoulder.

A moment later, Erin was quite surprised the the flowers had landed directly in her hands without her even reaching for them. She shrugged it off with a smile as the other women gave her a few playful hisses.

As she walked back towards Puck, she noticed a peculiar expression on his face that she didn't understand. "Well, it looks like I'm going to be the next person who gets married. Now all I need is a guy who wants to marry me and I'll be set."

Before he could respond, they heard Spencer's voice calling for all the guys to come out onto the dance floor for the garter toss. Puck gave Erin a panicked look. She rolled her eyes and gave him a nudge. "It'll only be for a second. I had to go out there, so you do too. Hey," she said in a teasing voice, "maybe you'll get lucky. Most of the single guys out there are my mother's ex-boyfriends, who I doubt will fight very hard to get the garter seeing as it would mean that they'd be 'hooked up' with her daughter."

"Wait, what?"

"Nothing. Never mind. Just go!"

Puck looked incredibly unenthusiastic as he stood behind all the other men who were waiting for Quinn to toss Bella's garter belt. When it was thrown, Erin watched it sail through the air. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, it seemed to shift in midair and it landed directly upon Puck, who was one of the only people in the room not watching it. As all the men pounded him on his back in a congratulatory manner, Erin could have sworn that she saw his lips move, forming the words, "I knew it." However, when she walked towards him with a grin, he returned it and held out his hand to begin their dance as the 'next bride and groom.'

"Well there, now that wasn't so bad, now was it?" Erin teased after they had danced for a bit. "And you even got to dance with your date and not someone you barely know. Like I said before, Fate works in mysterious ways."

Puck gave her a skeptical look. "And like I said before, it's not terribly mysterious. Fate is being very obvious about what she wants."

"You act like you know her personally."

He gave a nervous laugh. "Maybe I do."

"Oh really?"

Suddenly he dipped her down for a kiss. "Yeah, I do," he said huskily. He then abruptly stepped away from her and off the dance floor.

Erin was convinced that people were looking at her as she watched Puck weave through the tables and out of the ballroom. She absentmindedly touched her lips as she watched him go through the door, then, avoiding the gaze of other people, she followed him.

When she entered the lobby, she saw him sitting on one of the couches, his head in his hands. "That's twice!" she said as she placed a hand on her hip.

"What's twice?" he asked, looking up at her.

"That's two times now that you've surprised me with a kiss!"

"I didn't know you were keeping count," he muttered. He stood up and walked towards the door.

"Well, yeah, I am, and what's worse is that both times I never got a chance to actually kiss you back! So it's not like either of them count as a real kiss."

Puck turned around shyly. "You..uh.."

"Yes, I actually want to kiss you back," she challenged. "I like you, okay? I have for a while. I think we would be good together and I'll admit that I was a little bit jealous of your girlfriend. But we're both single and we're already friends, so we know that we're good in that department. I am more than curious to see what we're like at the next level. Aren't you?"

In two steps, his lips were upon hers and as she kissed him back, that click, that feeling of rightness, went through her stomach.

The next thing she knew, she was leaning against the fish tank running her hands up his chest and through his hair. When their lips parted, she whispered, "Come home with me. Or hell, we can get a room here. There's a whole floor reserved for the guests. We--"

A panicked and guilty look crossed his features and he pulled away from her. He took a deep breath and whispered, "No. I can't."

"What? Why not? Okay, maybe--"

"No, I'm sorry. I can't," he said again as he turned away from her and walked out.

She stomped her foot in frustration. "Why not?" she called as the door shut behind him.

~*~*~

Puck breathed the brisk fall air with a shaky breath and he walked to the curb, hoping to catch a cab back to his apartment. However, despite the fact that it was a Saturday and it wasn't even midnight yet, there wasn't a cab to be found. He waited a few moments, half hoping that Erin would come out, but at the same time he was dreading her to come out. He knew if he saw her again that his resolve would break.

He was also at the point where he wasn't sure why he had such resolve to stay away from her.

He sighed again, realizing that he wasn't going to find any sort of transportation, so he began walking. His apartment was only a mile or so away. He thought that the walk might be able to clear his head a bit.

As he walked down the road, there was a rumble of thunder. He cast a glance up at the sky, jutted his jaw forward and continued walking.

The sky suddenly opened up and rain started to pour down. He stopped in his tracks and shouted up at the sky, "I thought I had free will!"

The only response he received was a bolt of lightning touching ground near him. He began to walk faster.

He was outright running by the time the hail began to fall heavily down upon him.

By the time he reached his apartment, he was completely drenched. As he stepped inside, he flicked the water that was dripping from his sodden hair off of his face. Before he could even think to change out of his wet clothes, he was confronted with a couple of visitors who, of course, didn't need to pay attention to the locks he had on his door.

"Ugh, yeah, it figures you'd be here," he said somewhat irritably.

"I'm so sorry, Puck," the woman sitting on his counter said contritely. "I owed your mother a favor from a super long time ago. I honestly thought she was going to ask for something more than just a simple thunderstorm."

"It's okay, Gaia," he said as he eyed his other visitor who had yet to acknowledge his presence. He sighed and turned on the lamp next to him.

"Okay, well, then I'm going to go back home. I just wanted to let you know again that I'm really sorry. I didn't know that they were going to use me to force your hand in something. I hope your clothes aren't ruined."

"They aren't ruined," Atropos said serenely. "And you aren't forcing his hand."

Gaia looked at the older man, then glanced at Puck. She shrugged and disappeared, leaving the two men alone.

Atropos stood up and smiled. "You think you're being difficult," he said.

"I 'think' I'm being difficult?"

"Yes. You think. You aren't being difficult. You're being predictable. But we are curious as to why you would want to deny your own happiness."

"But I did defy you. I didn't hook up with Erin. I dated Christina instead despite all the ways you were throwing Erin at me."

"You are wrong. We planned for you to date Christina. How else would she have met Matthew Grunt if not while on a double date with him and Erin, hm?"

Puck rubbed his forehead. "I really wish you guys would butt out and let me live my life."

"So then live your life, child."

"Oh my God. You know what will make everything so much easier? You guys just telling me everything so then I'd know what kind of things I can expect!"

"You know we can't. Life would cease to be an adventure if you knew everything. Not to mention that it would be a rather horrible fate to know--"

"But I already know it!"

"To a point--" Atropos cut in.

"--And what's worse, the path that I chose ended up causing my father's banishment to the Punished Realm!"

The old man cocked his head and gave him a curious look. "Is that what you think? Is that why you seem so insistent in your attempts to 'defy' us?"

"I can't think of any better reason."

Atropos sighed. "Puck, child, your choice isn't what caused your father's banishment. It was Oberon's choice. He did it for you. And now you are attempting to let his sacrifice be in vain."

Puck stared at the old man, his mouth agape. "Yeah..but..I..."

"You do not have to feel guilty. Besides, this path is a lot happier. In the long run, of course. It wouldn't be a journey if it did not have its ups and downs. If you would have chosen the other path, you still would have gotten married to Erin Devereaux. But both of you would have been pawns of the Reaper office. And Erin's life would most certainly not have been happy, as I'm sure you can imagine. Neither would your children's lives."

"So..so I--"

"So you should stop worrying about what you know. There was a reason why you could only see so far. Had you chosen the other path, then, yes, more would have been revealed. But now you don't know everything that Mortality has in store for you. Live your life, Puck. Be happy. And by the way, your mother wants grandchildren...as does your father."

Puck looked away, embarrassed. "I think it might be a bit too soon to be discussing grandchildren. Erin's probably mad at me and--" his words were cut off by the sound of someone knocking at his door.

Atropos simply smiled at him before disappearing.

There was another knock at his door and he hesitantly walked over to it, his heart racing. He turned the doorknob and opened the door, not needing to look out the peephole to see who it was.

He took note of Erin standing before him, her hair and clothes both perfectly dry. "How did you get here so fast?" he asked.

Erin raised her eyebrows and glanced at his damp clothes. "I took a cab. Why didn't you?"

"Because there wasn't a single one in sight during my entire walk home. The rain was a nice, ironic touch."

"Really? Because as soon as I stepped outside, there were like ten cabs. As for the rain, well, it must have only lasted a couple of minutes because the skies are clear now."

Puck looked up at the ceiling. "Alright! Alright! Fine! I get it. I'll do what you want!" When he looked back at Erin, he saw that she was viewing him askance before she stepped inside.

"You're crazy. That's what it is isn't it? All this time, that enigmatic part that always intrigued me about you was just plain insanity. Figures."

"No. Well, yeah, kind of, but not in the way you think." He sighed. "Okay, can you please sit down? This is going to take a long time to explain."

"Well so long as there's an apology in there for ditching me at the reception like you did," she said as she sat down.

He leaned against the wall across from her as he tried to think of the best way to start. "Do you believe in fate and destiny?"

"As in our lives are scripted and we have no choice? No."

"Well, you'd be wrong."

"You know, this is a really crappy way to begin an apology," she said idly.

He sighed. "Alright, let me explain."

He talked for a long time. He told Erin about the Reaper Office's experiments and how they wanted 'Living Reapers' to get rid of the requirement of death to become one. He told her about Oberon, who was a Reaper, and his mother, who was one of the aspects of Fate. He told her that while his sister, Bottom, mainly inherited Reaper powers from Oberon, he himself had gained abilities from both of his parents. He told her how when he was younger, he never had to worry about getting hurt and how he could see symbols over people's heads and he could somewhat interpret what those symbols meant. He told her that he had two paths to chose from, and because the Grim Reaper, when he came to collect his friends the night they all died, scared him, he ended up actually choosing a different path than the one the Reaper Office wanted him to take, which ended up leading to his father's banishment and his guilt over that. He told her about how he went to Titania and had everything stripped from him: his immortality, his elven lifespan, his Living Reaper powers, as well as the ability to see images over people's heads.

Erin, who was normally a very chatty person, remained fairly quiet and only asked questions to clarify some points. When he was done he looked at her hesitantly.

"You do realize that all of this is among the craziest things I have ever heard," she finally said.

"Yeah, I know," he whispered. "I knew you probably wouldn't believe me."

"Oh, I didn't say that I didn't believe you. Come on, just try wrapping your head around the Multi-Verse Theory and how my grandfather, father, and half-brother are all the same age and married into the same generation and how I have an aunt, a niece, and a nephew who are all the same age as me. You want to talk about weird, well there you go. And that's just the tip of the iceberg." She laughed when he raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, you'll get used to the idea. Anyway, you aren't immortal anymore then?"

"No, I'm just human."

"You do realize saying 'just human' is rather offensive."

"I'm sorry," he said. "It's just, well for all my life there's been a certain mindset. The way my sister talked, I could tell that becoming essentially human was a worse crime than giving up all my 'super special powers.'"

"So...did you see things over my head?"

He looked away and nodded. "Yeah. A lot of it was the same as everyone else's. Tombstones, meaning the death of loved ones, I'm assuming grandparents. Green smiley faces meaning you made friends. Things indicating you'd do well in school. They were always muddled together but there was always one very clear and certain one that shone brightly."

"Oh? What was that?"

"Wedding rings."

"So I am going to get married! Good to know. But now after you've explained all of this crazy stuff, it still doesn't explain why you've been so hot and cold with me."

Puck cleared his throat. "Because, well, those rings shined bright and, uh, well, there was a face next to the rings, which usually wasn't very common for me to see."

Erin cocked her head. "You know who I'm going to get married to? My God, Puck! I've been complaining to you about how I know I'm supposed to get married but the guy is taking his sweet ass time about showing up in my life. Why couldn't you have just told me?"

"Because I think it would have been really weird for me to come right out and say, 'Hey, Ere, I've known since I was about ten years old that we were going to marry each other. That's why you've been drawn to me, and me to you.'"

Erin jerked her head back in surprise. "You? I'm going to marry you?" A pleased smile spread across her face for a moment before it turned angry. "You mean you've known all this time that we were going to get married and yet you did your best to avoid me, dated someone else--"

"Which was apparently supposed to be planned--"

"And now that we're both available and I've made it very clear that I'm interested and it seemed to me that you were also interested, you still push me away."

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Is the thought of being with me all that horrible? Do you hate your so-called 'Fate?'"

"No," he said feebly. "Not even close. I just--"

His words halted when she stood up. "I need some time to think. This is a whole lot to take in, you know."

"I understand," he said as she turned towards the door.

Suddenly she turned around and planted a huge kiss on his lips. When they broke away she said, "Surprise kisses, while exciting, aren't nearly as good as one that involves both people kissing, are they?"

"Uh..no. No they're not," he admitted.

When they pulled back from their shared kiss, he smiled. "I thought you had a lot to think about."

"I'm very smart and I can think very fast," she replied. He smiled, but shifted uncomfortably. "What's the matter?" she asked.

"Well..my clothes are still sort of damp, but now they're also becoming kind of itchy."

"Ah. We'll have to figure out what we can do about that," she said with a grin.

~*~*~

(To be continued in Part B.)