Authors Note:

Why don't you sit back and grab a cup of tea, dears? This is going to be a long read.

R i n g s

Dedicated to Alex

Summary: "You mean you've never even had your ears pierced?" Duncan clicked his tongue at her. "Shame, shame, Princess."

He started going to classes more often when she came to his school. She would sit in the very front of class, and as much as his mind was screaming that this was pretty much suicide, he went up there too. He sat right behind her, and smelling her shampoo was nice, but still not enough. He longed to hear her speak. "Hey Princess."

She didn't turn, but he saw her fidget, even though her eyes were still on the teacher. She didn't want to respond to such a name of course, that he knew very well, but she would have to sometime. He didn't know her real name, but there was no way she could avoid him forever.

"Princess." She bit her pencil but didn't look back.

"Princess." He poked her in the back but she only turned her eyes for a few seconds, then ignored him yet again. She was stubborn, and as much as he might like to say that pretty much wore him out, he could tell that they were the same person somewhere inside. He knew that they could both only take so much shit. Fortunately, all the shit was going in her direction during this one-way conversation.

"Princess." He put his hand in the hole at the back of the desk chair, squeezing her ass, and she turned with a fire in her eyes and disbelief written all over her face. Her cheeks were slightly flushed. He loved knowing that he did that to her. Something about it made him feel better because, hell, he had worked for that.

"What, Duncan?" So she knew his name. He knew she knew his name. Who didn't? OK, stop getting cocky, you bastard, he thought. Right, right. Focus. "First off: my name is Courtney. Second: is there even a point to this whole damn thing?"

Courtney. He liked that name. "Well-"

"Duncan." She cut him off, scratching her head. "Do you realize I'm missing a part of this assignment? Do you realize I could be finishing next week's homework? Do you realize I'm ready to fucking kill you?"

"Well-"

"Duncan, I hope you know this is school." She blinked and pointed to the teacher, who was still ranting on about something- maybe math, maybe science, he really didn't care- and then pointed a finger to his face. "I hope you know that I have work to do. I hope you know you have work to do too. I hope you know this man is trying hard to do his job, and you are disrupting him."

"Well-"

"Duncan I-"

"Cut me off again bitch and I'll tell the teacher you're talking." That shut her up real good, her whole face going blank with silent rage.

He rolled his eyes. "Well, I was just thinking that maybe we could go out and see a movie or something." He shrugged, looking at his desk. "That's my point."

And lord knows why, but for some reason, she made her decision. "Fine." That's right. She said yes. And that changed everything.

See, Courtney wasn't one to disobey the rules, but she just couldn't listen to her parents when they said 'We forbid you to go out with Duncan!' She was fed up. She was only telling them of how Duncan had asked her out, and before she could even say that she hadn't said yes or no, they had totally flipped on her!

I mean, it wasn't as though she really liked Duncan. OK, she kind of did, but only kind of, and only because she was KIND OF going through a stage. She was sure everyone went through it. So she went with Duncan on a date.

And then another.

And then another.

And then a few more.

Before anybody could even explain it, they were going steady. Wow. Just wow. Maybe people were distraught about this. Duncan's mother couldn't be happier. Courtney's father couldn't be closer to a heart attack.

The thing was, both of their fathers had been fighting for who knew how long- 'Like Romeo and Juliet!' Duncan's mother had cooed. Duncan and Courtney had both rolled their eyes at that one. Such a mom.

But really- their fathers were pissed. "Are you kidding me, Duncan? That man, who DARES to call himself a lawyer, protected almost fifteen men who were most definitely NOT innocent!" Duncan's father slapped his badge on the table, chagrin running to his cheeks in anger. "He thinks he's above the law."

Courtney's dad wasn't any more friendly on the whole situation. "The Marino boy, Courtney, seriously? His Dad is the biggest ass-wipe I've ever met. Thinks he's all funny with his sarcasm." He drank his coffee slowly, but his eyes were hard. "He's an idiot for trying to tell me how to do my job."

Ultimately, it got to a point where the father's tried to keep them from going to school just so they wouldn't see each other. "Wow, Courtney, your head feels hot, are you sure you can go to school and make-out with Duncan today?"

It did make everything a little harder, but there was really no way to keep them out of contact forever. While Duncan's dad was raging about what conspiracies Courtney could put in his head, and while Courtney's dad was ranting about how Duncan was probably trying to get in her pants right that second, Duncan and Courtney were out at another place all together.

"I don't know, Duncan." Courtney said, her eyes wide, holding his arm. "Will it hurt really bad?"

The obvious answer and lie would be to automatically say no, but Duncan shrugged. "For like, two seconds. It's ripping off a band-aid." Courtney held her ear in her fingers, feeling the smoothness of it one last time. "It's gonna be fine, Princess. Trust me. My two year old cousin has her ears pierced."

She gripped onto his shoulder tighter as she sat in the chair. The lady with the ear piercing gun with a name tag that said 'Rhonda' sighed. "You're going to have to let go of him so I can-"

"Can't she have some type of contact? She's squeamish." Rhonda rolled her eyes, but didn't make any type of rebuttal. Courtney was sure that this was the moment where she was supposed to throw up.

This had all started earlier that day when Courtney had been walking out of the school building. Duncan had run up to her and decided to get their daily talk in before their parents went crazy as they did each day. He had smiled at her devilishly. "Hey, look at this."

He started to kiss her and, although at first she responded, she felt something weird. Courtney's eyes flashed wide. She pulled away. "What the hell-" Duncan stuck out his tongue, and Courtney saw the fine metal hoop sticking through it. "A tongue piercing?" She raised a brow in surprise.

He nodded. "Yup. You like it?"

She bit her lip. "It's kind of hot." He smirked, throwing an arm around her. "The metal's all cold and your mouth is all warm… like a frozen fire or something."

He snorted. "Frozen fire?" Duncan twirled a piece of her hair in his fingers. "Very creative, sweet heart."

She shrugged, "Piercings' are cool. Almost makes me want one." Duncan stopped short.

He lifted up her hair to reveal her Plain-Jane ears: not a stud in sight! She smacked his hand away, but he was already smirking like a mad man. "You mean you've never even had your ears pierced?" Duncan clicked his tongue at her. "Shame, shame, Princess."

She put her hands up to her ears. "I just… no one ever took me out to get it done is all. And it's not like I'm missing out on anything, right? Tons of people go through life without pierced ears." Courtney stuck out a tongue at him, obviously offended. "Not everyone pierces their whole body like you."

Duncan ignored her comment and started to drag her with him. As she realized what he was doing, she started to struggle. "Duncan, this is not the way home!" She snarled, trying to break free from his grasp.

"Come on, Princess! Just one piercing is all I'm asking for, one on each of your ears!" He gave her a stuck out lip. "I'll pay for it. I'll buy you whatever earrings you want." He waggled his eye brows at her. "We can share studs!" He smiled, loving the idea.

Courtney's whole face was wrapped up in fear. "No! That's bad hygiene!" She yelled, still trying to wrangled herself free from his grip. "Please don't Duncan! I don't want to!"

His eyes widen. "You just said you thought they were cool!"

"But it's gonna hurt!" Courtney tried to cover her mouth but she had already said it.

Duncan's eyes went flat, his eyes raised. "Really, babe? You're afraid to get your ears pierced?"

Of course Courtney couldn't let it go and then they had ended up here. She was practically shaking in her seat. Why was this so scary? Well, of course it would scare her! She had always imagined the ring seeping through her ear, tearing at the skin, ripping her flesh-

"Holy shit!" She screamed, making everyone around the small strip mall store look at her in wonder. "You could have told me you were going to do it then!" Courtney gripped onto Duncan tighter, her breath heaving, and her ear hurting.

Rhonda blew some hair out of her face. "I did. One down." She smiled lazily, but Courtney's lower lip was filling up with profanities.

Duncan removed her hands and moved so Rhonda could get to her other ear. "Just one more, babe." He squeezed her hand, but she gave him a death glare. 'I hate you', she mouthed to him.

He smiled at her. "Love you too, sexy."

She opened her mouth only to let out a loud scream. "OK, you are just being an asshole!" Courtney said, pointing a finger at Rhonda, who got out some Aloe. "You are not telling me when your gonna-" Courtney automatically shut up as Rhonda put the smooth gel on her ears, making them cool down from their originally punctured state. She sighed in relief.

Rhonda pulled out a mirror. "How do you like 'em?" Duncan let out a breath of relief as Courtney took her nails away from his skin to hold to the mirror. She looked at her ears in amazement, looking at the little diamonds in her ears.

"I love it!" Courtney squealed like she was nine years old. She hugged Duncan. "Thanks."

He smirked, winking at her. "Told you piercings are awesome." Rhonda then held out a bill to Courtney, who waved it to Duncan, saying he'd take care of it. His mouth dropped open, but he scowled and handed Rhonda two twenty's. "Too damn much." He said as he and Courtney walked out.

Now you can only imagine Courtney's parents shock at her ears. They said, "Oh, Courtney, those are beautiful, when did you get them?" Courtney smiled weakly, and then told them of how Duncan had gone and got them for her.

Courtney's dad had pounded a fist on the table. "WHAT?"

Duncan's dad wasn't pleased at all either. While Duncan told his mother of how he needed to borrow some cash, his dad was quick to jump in. "I thought you had money, Duncan. Didn't you just work a shift?"

Duncan nodded. "Well then, where did your money go?"

He looked to his mother with a sigh, and then looked to his father, chewing his lip. "I bought Courtney some studs."

His father's eyebrows rose. "You mean to tell me you spent all your hard earned money on HER? You spent money on her when her so rich father could have just done it himself?"

It was a furious time in life.

One of the worst days had to be Valentine's Day of senior year, the night of Geoff's most epic party, the night everyone had been waiting for.

Geoff had made flyers and hung them everywhere- people from school were welcome, people not from school, college kids, cool adults, NO COPS, everyone was invited! The party would be held in a hotel
Geoff and his brothers had rented out, taking all five of the ballrooms and transforming them into a dance club. Geoff almost had tears in his eyes when he first rented the place out- he had been waiting for this moment his whole life: the day he created the most talked about, most remembered, most AWESOME party in the history of the town.

It had been the talk of the neighborhood for the past two weeks. It was official: anyone who wasn't going was officially LAME, in every sense of the word.

So maybe's that's why Duncan was so scared when he heard Courtney shout, "I don't want to go to Geoff's party!" She chewed her pencil, laying her homework that wasn't due for another six weeks on Duncan's bed. They had skipped to his house after school to hang for a bit, and Duncan had declared that she should go out and buy herself something pretty for Geoff's party. Little did he know that Courtney wasn't planning on going to this 'EPICLY AWESOME TOTALLY-DUDE & DUDETTE CENTRAL FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND SEXY PARTY EVER™'.

"What do you mean 'you don't want to go'?" He flopped down on his bed beside her, grabbing her and pulling her to him, closing the distance between them. Courtney pushed herself against him, feeling her heart flutter even though they held each other all the time.

The problem was that neither of them had been able to get close enough to the other lately. They would both be right beside each other, holding each other as close as they could, like now, and it still wasn't enough. Their skin burned with each brush and yet they both wanted more. It was obvious what they wanted- but they couldn't really find the heart to admit it to the other. What if they said something, but then the other didn't feel that way about it?

Courtney wrapped her arm around Duncan and sighed. "Exactly what I said. I don't want to go." It was one of those things that seemed so simple for Courtney, but was actually very complex for Duncan, that he had to toss and turn until he figured it out- and most likely, he would still disagree.

"No, no, you have to go!" See? This is exactly what she meant. She adored him, but he wouldn't agree with her about anything. "You have to come, babe. I mean, not like I couldn't find another date but-"

Slap!

"OK, OK, I deserved that." He rubbed his cheek with annoyance, but then pressed his torso into her, pulled her close, kissing her forehead. She felt her whole face burn red and her breath quicken as he moved to her jaw. "But I don't want to go with anyone but you, Princess."

The way he was nipping on her neck was making her insane, making the thoughts hard to comprehend, hard to disagree with. Oh, he was good. She took a deep breath. "D-do we have to?" She whispered, holding her arms around him shakily.

She inwardly flinched as he bit on her ear, darting his tongue in and out, making her eyes close. "Please." He purred to her, in that deep throaty way that meant he was sincere (or just horny, but whatever, Courtney preferred either).

She nodded her head slowly, giving in, and gasped as he leaped off of her, going over to his desk. She gave him a hard look as the anger seeped through her due to lack of contact and lack of attention. Duncan just snorted and threw her a wad of cash. She looked at him with a raised brow. "Where did you get this?"

He looked at her with a blank frown. "Do you really want to know?"

"Let's not even go there." She said, thinking of how he probably stolen it from a bank or, more likely, from his mother's purse.

Her shoulders tense as he came behind her, turning her head to kiss her. "Go out and get yourself something, babe. You deserve it." She scoffed, about to lecture him on his sexist remarks, but found herself consumed in the kiss. She broke away, putting her things in her bag.

Duncan looked at her, confusion on his face. "Where you going?"

She threw her bag over her shoulder, winking at him. "Out to buy myself something pretty." She said, mocking his deep voice and walking out of the door.

Courtney's parents had been too keen on the whole idea of her going to a party, but ever since she had started dating Duncan, it hadn't been rare for her to sneak out. Although her dad protested, her mother just allowed her to go seeing how she would probably deceive them anyway if they said no. Better allowing trouble than having them dive into it without permission, she thought.

Duncan's parents couldn't care less, but of course, Duncan's mom made a big deal. She knew Duncan had given up some of his money for Courtney, and she decided that she couldn't have her out shining Duncan. She went out and got Duncan a nice, clean, crisp shirt which Duncan actually liked, some new studs (real karats, man!), and gave Duncan the money to get some new shoes.

"Honey," his mother had said, digging around in her purse, "Do you have any money?"

Duncan's dad grunted, pulling out his wallet. He dug around for a second, looking at his wallet in confusion. "Um… I only have a twenty…" As he handed Duncan's mother the money and wondered where all his cash had just slipped off to, he didn't see Duncan snicker devilishly.

Slipped off somewhere. RIGHT.

At the end of the week, Duncan picked Courtney up at eight, promised her back by twelve, though of course wasn't going to have her back any time near that. Courtney told her parents don't worry, we aren't going to do anything, though of course she was really hoping that they would.

And Courtney's parents pretended like they didn't notice that Duncan didn't have a watch, wasn't going to care if her parents wondered where she was, that he probably would not even consider calling them up and telling the usual excuse- "We were tired, and we decided it'd be good to spend an all nighter. Happy?"

And Duncan's mother tried to pretend that she didn't see the look in Courtney's eyes that meant she was nervous, that meant she really, really wanted something to happen but wasn't sure, that meant she wasn't really thinking of birth control or condoms, just of a great night. Duncan's dad also took notice to Courtney's new dress, necklace, and earrings- just where had she gotten the money for all that?

Over all, everyone was lying. Everyone was playing a part in the party of a lifetime.

They had entered the hotel and everything seemed innocent enough- light jazz music playing, large lobby, bright lights and the cleanest carpet EVER. Normal hotel. Then Geoff came out and yelled, "Duncan, dude! Courtney, baby! Party is over here!" He pushed them into a back room, and that was when they were sure this couldn't be real.

The place was crowded. There were hundreds, possibly more than a thousand people bustling through the high-ceiling ballrooms. Ballroom was really not the right word, though. The music was thumping, loud, hard, sending vibrations so thick through them that they had to hold onto each other for balance, and to keep from getting trampled. It was dark, hot, sweaty, smelled of alcohol and men's cologne, the faint whiff of girly perfume, the scent of pure heat and party and the feeling of being alive.

It was scary.

They tried to dance for a little while, but there were so many weirdo's there that it soon became unbearable. As Courtney felt another arm snag around her waist, and as Duncan felt a girl start to grind on him, they both looked at each other with the same expression- Let's blow this Popsicle stand.

As they turned to leave, Duncan weaving his fingers through Courtney's, Geoff ran in front of them, looking drunk. He smiled as all the bodies closed in on them. "WHERE YOU GUYS GOING?" He yelled over the music.

Courtney covered her ears as the bass seemed to get even louder, if that was possible. "We're leaving!"

Geoff held up a hand to his ear, signaling his confusion. "WHAT?"

Duncan sighed, yelling, "WE'RE LEAVING!"

"WHAT?"

"LEAVING!" They both yelled, still not making any one turn or really making any sound over the music. But the goal was achieved: Geoff had heard them.

Geoff raised a brow. "Just like that? You're gonna miss the after party!" After party? Wasn't this party enough?

Courtney tried to talk, but Geoff cut her off. "Here-" He tossed them a pair of keys. "You guys can use my room! The after party won't be as crowded, just close friends! Just come back down in like…" He scratched his head, but laughed as some people started to do the wave in the huge crowd of people. "Like whenever the music stops!"

Geoff was swept off into the big crowd of people, while Duncan looked down at the keys in his hands. Him and Courtney… in a hotel room?

Instead of doing what he thought she would do (e.g.: kick, scream, bite, smack him, etc.), Courtney smiled at him weakly and took his arm, guiding them out of the party and to the elevator. He felt his brain turn to mush. Courtney… was going to a BEDROOM. With him.

Either the world was ending or he was dreaming.

But the push against the wall as they entered the room, Courtney's hot kisses on his face, his jaw, his neck, it was so real. He could feel himself grabbing for her, wanting her, needing her, pulling her to him.

All of this was happening, in the dark of the hotel room, when Duncan stopped.

Courtney realized his hesitation, backing away from him instantly. "Duncan?" She whispered through harsh pants, her lips stained with his taste. "Are you OK?"

He held his head down, so she couldn't see his eyes. "Are you?"

And then Courtney realized what he was asking. This pig, her pig, wasn't going to take advantage of her. He was asking with sincerity, with something that made Courtney's breath catch in her throat. As he found the courage to look back up at her, she found that her heart started to speed up.

Duncan's eyes were clouded: he looked like he wanted to devourer her. He knew how he looked- it was desperation, it was need, it was how much he wanted her to scream his name, it was how much he wanted to kiss every inch of her body, how badly he wanted himself with her.

She took a shaky breath. "Of course I am."

And that was the end of the argument.

It was about four a.m. when Geoff called the room. Duncan felt himself stiffen at the phone ring, and Courtney stirred in her sleep. He snaked his arm away from her bare waist, kissing her forehead before turning to the phone. "What do you want, man?" He grunted.

It was then that he realized how much he was hurting. He rubbed a hand down his back, noticing the long scars that ran along them. He guessed Courtney hadn't been too gentle.

"Dude, the after party?" Geoff yelled through the phone, making Courtney yawn. "What are you doing up there anyway, man?"

Duncan shushed him loudly. "If you wake Courtney up, I'm gonna kill you."

Geoff was quiet for a moment, before a knowing 'OOOOOHHHH' came out of the phone. "You guys do the dirty?" Duncan could hear the smile in his voice.

"Go fuck yourself."

"Hey!" Geoff said in an innocent tone. "I get it, I get it. You know I won't tell anybody, bra. Are you coming down though?"

Duncan ran a hand through his hair. He felt warm lips press to the back of his neck and he smiled. "Yeah, yeah, in like ten minutes."

"Cool, dude, so-"

"Later Geoff." Duncan said, hanging up.

After about 30 minutes more than Duncan had promised, he and Courtney were heading down the elevator. Courtney laced her hands in his as he pulled her close. "I love you." He whispered into her hair.

She felt herself stiffen, but then melt into his touch. "I love you too." And she meant it. It was crazy, but she knew it was true. As he wrapped his hands around her, she had never felt safer, never felt happier.

The after party was a lot more quiet. Just some people from school and a few close friends. They all sat around and talked, but Geoff watched Duncan steadily, looking over to Courtney every now and then. Duncan nodded at him. Geoff smiled. Even though most people would take Geoff's smile the wrong way, he could tell that Geoff was genuinely happy for him, not just for 'making it' with Courtney, but because Geoff recognized the way Duncan looked at Courtney.

He was looking at her like she was the only thing in the world.

Once they both headed back home, Courtney could only feel herself getting jumpy at the thought of what they had done. She tried to steady herself as she entered her house, waving good bye to Duncan.

She tip toed up the stairs, checking her watch- seven a.m. If she could just hurry upstairs-

"Morning, Courtney."

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!

She turned to her father with a fake smile. "Hi Daddy."

He gave her a stern look, sitting at the kitchen table and sipping his coffee while reading the paper. "Have a good time?"

Courtney held back a smile, knowing that this was so not the time to play around. She had to be daddy's little girl, at least for the next minute. "It was alright." 'IT WAS TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME!' would sound too suspicious.

Her dad nodded, making a gesture that said she could go back upstairs.

As she ran back up the steps, she didn't see him stare off sadly as he crumpled the news paper with rage.

Duncan's time at home wasn't any easier. He walked in to see it was almost early morning. Usually his parents didn't care what time he came in and out, but they knew he had been out with Courtney. They were sure to be pissed.

He walked into the kitchen, thinking he could pick up some food to make things seem more normal, but his dad was standing right there, eating some toast. "Great job, Duncan. You wore a condom with her, right?"

Duncan gulped, feeling utterly mad at his dad for talking about Courtney in such a rude manner. "Why the hell do you care?"

His dad shrugged, offering him a piece of toast, which Duncan reluctantly took. "Can't have her ass hole of a father coming around blaming me for shit. And no one wants their son to be a baby daddy, Duncan."

Duncan bit down on his toast with rage. "I hate you."

"Good." His dad said.

It was quite for a moment, the only sound their chewing. "You wore a condom, right?"

"YES DAD!" Duncan yelled, throwing his hands in the air, spitting out some toast.

His dad held up a hand in defense. "Just checking."

Over the next few weeks, things were strained. Apparently, Duncan and Courtney had no thoughts about quitting on each other any time soon.

Their dad's could only see one way out: wait. They realized that there was no way this would last outside of high school and decided they could just let the steam pour out their ears silently as they fumed.

Duncan and Courtney could only see one way out: wait just as well. Once high school was over, it would be done, right? No more family feuds. They could make their own choices.

It had seemed that way, as they made their way out of high school, both of them finding paths that were mildly different, yet led down the same road. It seemed to be a surprise for everyone when they moved in together. Both of their fathers' were full of genuine betrayal.

"You moved in with that 'Courtney' girl?"

"You moved in with that dumb-ass boy?"

Of course, there was no keeping them from doing what they wanted. Just as they had thought, high school really was over; they really were free to do what they wanted. At least for a little while.

For about four years, Duncan and Courtney lived together, fighting almost every day and ending up having make-up sex every night. It was one of those things that they had gotten used to, yet everything still had a thrill. Each day surprised them with more and more craziness. They had always thought things would calm down after a while. They had thought.

"You asshole!" She threw another pillow at him, yelling at the top of her lungs. "You are so. FUCKING. STUPID!" She pressed her face into the bed, screaming, "I hate you!" into the sheets.

Duncan wanted to say something, but Courtney wasn't going to let that happen. She looked to him murderously and thrust a foot at his crotch, as he screamed in horror and pain. As he fell on the bed, she didn't even look at him, shouting, "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" Over and over again.

She couldn't believe him! She had told him that her new job would require him leaving the car here for her- and he had took it! What an ass! She had to take the sub way to work, and do you want to know what happened? What happened when she came in late?

She was fired.

HER, COURTNEY! She was fired! She felt like crying, but was too mad to shed a tear. She was so pissed at him.

He held his now sore spot and tried to face her. "I'm really, really, sorry Princess, but I've got something to-"

"I hate you!"

"Sunshine, it's important, and-"

"I hate you!"

"Prin-"

"I HATE-"

"Would you shut up, woman?"

Courtney's face went soft, tender, and more vulnerable. It was then that Duncan realized just how upset she really was. A tear trickled down her cheek. "I know you really wanted that job, and I'm sorry, but I went out to get something this morning." He held her hand, rubbing his thumb over her palm.

His hands started to shake. Don't be nervous, don't puke, don't faint, Duncan. He sucked in a deep breath. "You know how I didn't buy that new toaster, or that new desk, or that new TV- really am sorry for throwing a baseball bat into it, by the way-"

"Are you trying to make me even more upset, or what?" But there was a hint of a smile in her voice. She looked at him softly, and seeing her eyes he knew this was it. He had to do it know.

"Princess…" He shakily reached into his back pocket, taking his hand away from his crotch (even though pain shot through him like lightning). He tried to bend down on his knee, again feeling the pain but remembering that this was the day he had been preparing for. He opened the small box easily, offering it up to her, looking into her eyes with sincerity. "Will you marry me?"

Courtney's whole body had started to shake as she brought her hands up to her face. Her eyes filled up with tears as she starting choking on her sobs. "Oh my gosh…" He took the ring from the small box, taking her hand in his. She felt her whole throat clench up.

Because you see this stuff in movies and junk, and you always think about how cute and how romantic it was, but when it was really happening to you… all you could feel was the huge pang in your chest, the feeling that eats you alive. Someone wanted her, wanted to be with her, and she had a huge realization when she realized she wanted him to be with her too.

She found herself slipping out a 'Yes,' between her tears, and he slowly put the ring on her finger. She fell into him like a carcass, found her lips latched onto his, and found their clothes on the floor and so much love filled inside her she couldn't help but scream his name, wrapping her arms around him.

She nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck as he planted kisses on her forehead. He was smiling so wide he thought his jaw might bust. He had never felt this happy in his life.

Her clear voice rang through the bedroom as she nibbled on his neck. "What about our parents?"

Duncan felt the blood drain from his face as he face palmed himself. "Shit."

Of course, things weren't ever going to be that easy.

Although Duncan could truly care less what his parents thought, Courtney believed in her dad's approval, and he knew his dad would be no help to that decision. He really wanted to tie the knot, but Courtney couldn't stand the thought of one of their parents not showing up due to their old family feuds. "It's a wedding, Duncan! Our parents need to be there for us."

Duncan was sure he could survive without his parents there, but of course he found truth in Courtney's words. He wanted his mom and dad to be there too, and although he and his dad didn't always get along, it didn't change the fact that it was a big time in Duncan's life and that he needed to be there for him.

Courtney was more openly concerned than Duncan was. Her father couldn't stand Duncan, and he also couldn't stand his father. If Courtney's dad didn't approve, things wouldn't be the same. She'd feel like the marriage was a fluke, like it wasn't right. And that would never work.

So they found their relationship in their fathers hands, now. Seemed to be simple enough, dad says yes, you get married, right?

Well, first you had to tell your parents.

Duncan had informed his mother that her and his dad needed to meet him and Courtney at the local restaurant downtown. Lillian, his mother, was so excited that she thought she might burst. The thought of her little boy being back in town made her want to cry with joy. She was a bit obsessive about him, to tell the truth, but it was her only son. Let me repeat: her ONLY son. Key word being only. She loved him with all she could and even the small thought of getting to seeing him again made her jumpy.

She decided she would go and get those cute shoes she had seen at the mall the day before. Who cared that they were too much for her budget? Her only son was back in town. She felt that the special occasion called for some special shoes, right?

She ran over to the mall and found the store. Usually, she wasn't one to get worked up over little petty things such as shoes, but let me tell you: these were some cute shoes. They were a light teal-ish blue with little bows at the top, and just a bit of high heel. Super cute, she knew, but affordable, they were not. She had been trying to keep on budget, but… the shoes were too cute.

She walked to the back and grabbed the last pair of the shoes- or shoe, may she say. Because at that moment, another woman picked up the other shoe.

Now Duncan's mother wasn't one for a girl fight, but she automatically felt the need to scoff, taken aback that someone would dare think of taking away her cute shoes when she was seeing her only son that night. She smiled slickly at the lady, a darker skinned woman with sharp, green eyes. "Excuse me, but I was about to purchase that shoe to go along with this one."

The woman blinked, not even putting on a fake grin. She sucked her teeth in, chewing her lip. "Funny! I was just about to buy the same shoe." She narrowed her eyes at Duncan's mother. "So if you could just hand it to me…" As the woman reached out for the shoe in Lillian's hand, she found herself stepping back.

"How about I get the shoe, and you wait for next time? I have to meet my son tonight, it's a special occasion, and-"

"I had the shoe first." The lady tucked some hair behind her ear, giving her own shoe a death grip. "So I really suggest you hand it to me."

Lillian felt venom sinking into her stomach. It was one of those things she wasn't going to let go. "I'm seeing my only son, lady, so just give me the damn shoe!" She felt her mouth go dry at the curse word (Duncan's mother was never one to be vulgar, even in the least little bit). "Please." Now she felt better.

But as the woman threw her a glance that said she had no intention of handing over the shoes, Lillian felt herself converting back to her other self, the 'bad' one, she called it (She had always blamed herself for Duncan's troublesome side). She pointed across the room. "I mean, there are tons of other pairs just like it right over there."

As the woman turned her head, Lillian grabbed for the shoe, snatching it from her hand, bolting to the register.

The lady swooped around, yelling behind her, "Give me back my fucking shoe!" It was quite a rush for Duncan's mother, and she felt herself let out a breath as the lady fell on huge stack of clothes, feeling a sense of accomplishment as she rang them up, paid for, and took them home. It was quite a moment for her.

She put on her prettiest dress and got her make-up done. She even encouraged Duncan's father, Alex, to put on a dress shirt. She was ready to see her son. He wasn't all too sure, considering this was 'the Courtney girl.'

Courtney called up her parents and told them to come too, and although Courtney's father wasn't one to like Duncan at all, Courtney's mom nudged him on. It never hurt to get to know someone better.

Besides, it was just dinner.

Or so the two fathers thought.

Duncan and Courtney got off the train, going to catch a taxi first thing. As they drove to the restaurant, Courtney couldn't help but twirl the ring around her finger, amazed by it. She pecked Duncan on the cheek, and as much as he didn't want to, he found himself blushing.

She was going to be his, officially, he didn't give a damn what their parents said or not. It wouldn't hurt to have them attend though. Wouldn't hurt not one bit.

They found themselves standing inside the restaurant, Duncan in a snazzy shirt and brand new jeans, Courtney sporting a short black dress with a red rose near the upper left top. They had both dressed their best, and Duncan had even taken out his piercings for the occasion. They cleaned up nicely.

But neither of them could hide the shake and shivers they got when thinking of their fathers, in the same room, at the same time, at such a close proximity. They would both be pissed, considering no one had told them that the other would be attending. But what else were Duncan and Courtney supposed to do? They wouldn't have even given it a second thought if they had known their worst enemy was coming to dinner.

Courtney's parents, ever the early birds, arrived first. Courtney gave her father a kiss on the cheek, her mother a warm hug. Her mother gave Duncan a small hug as well, while her father just grunted. "Oh, Michael, get over yourself and give the boy a handshake." Courtney's mother urged, and reluctantly, Michael held out a hand to Duncan, who shook it firmly.

They found a few seats and Duncan then excused himself, going to wait for his parents. Courtney looked to her parents, keeping her hands tucked under the table. She couldn't have them seeing the ring yet-she needed Duncan beside her to do it. She couldn't be all alone, because alone her parents made her feel small. She felt like the little girl she had always been to them, and well, that just wasn't her anymore. Not with Duncan.

Duncan chewed his lip as he waited for his parents. Of course, they were fashionably late- Duncan should have expected it, they were his parents, of course they would be exactly what Courtney's family wasn't.

His mom beamed at him, her eyes soft and like melted chocolate as she wrapped her arms around him. "Oh, my little pookie!" Duncan tried to remove her before people started staring, but as she grasped him tighter, he felt himself sigh.

"It's great to see you too, ma."

His dad gave him a pat on the back, as they both stared at each other blankly. But after a few seconds, his dad pulled him in for an awkward hug too. As much as his brain was opposed to it, he hugged his dad back, sighing as a smile came across his face, then coming to his senses and quickly letting go. "Glad to see you're doing good, son."

His mother flipped her hair over her shoulders, looking around the restaurant with excitement. "Now where's that Courtney girl of yours, Duncan? How is she doing?"

Duncan urged them to follow him as he slid around the people in the restaurant, weaving through the aisles as he neared their table. "Well, actually, she's doing pretty good, and we-"

"Are you joking with me?"

Duncan felt his whole stomach drop. He looked over to the table, seeing Courtney's wide eyes, her face in shock, apparently not knowing what to say. Her father's voice had seeped into both of their veins, and now, as the two fathers locked eyes, the tension was evident.

As the silent stare down went on for about ten seconds, Duncan and Courtney were very sure things wouldn't get any worse. They couldn't. There was no way.

And then the worst happened.

"You!" Courtney's mother screeched, pointing a finger at Lillian.

Duncan's mother stared at the woman. She knew exactly who she was. She had fought with her, had won the battle, and seeing her here only made her realize how big of a mistake she had made, meeting that woman at that store, and under those circumstances…

"You stole my shoes!" The tan woman stood, and even as Courtney's father grasped her hand and muttered something about 'Stephanie, don't make a scene', Courtney's mother wasn't hearing it. "Bitch!" She pointed to Lillian's feet with disgust.

Lillian felt her blood boiling at the curse. As we all knew, she didn't like cursing, and felt her whole body vibrate with anger. "I'm a bitch? I saw those shoes in the store DAYS AGO!" She took a spoon from the silverware napkin, pointing it at Stephanie, trying to make a bigger threat (although it would probably mean more if she had picked up a knife or fork, not a spoon).

Stephanie scoffed, and Duncan cringed when he realized this was a Courtney scoff. The type of Courtney scoff that Courtney made before she- "Well then why didn't you get them DAYS AGO you ass hole?" –went off.

"Ugh!" Duncan's mother screeched, getting closer to Courtney's mother and shoving the spoon in her face as they both continued to shout and yell at each other. By this point, the whole table had the attention of the restaurant, but no one seemed too interested in stopping it- it was actually kind of entertaining. Dinner and a movie!

Duncan's father burned his eyes into Michael, Courtney's father. "Your wife just called my wife a bitch!" He growled angrily, his eyebrows raised in the signature posture that Courtney recognized immediately- Duncan always made his eyebrows raise like that before he- "You're a goddamn idiot, you know that?" –went off.

Courtney's father stood, his eyes going crazy with rage as he huffed like he never liked to. He was always one to stay so composed and neat and calm. Now he had a vein popping out of his forehead. "You think you're such a good cop, but the fact of the matter is that you arrested the wrong man, Alex!"

Alex's eyes went wide as he gave him a sneer, pulling on his pants pocket (as though by instinct, reaching for his gun- though he of course didn't have one). He banged a fist on the table as his eyes made contact with his worst enemy. "What the fuck are you talking about?" Duncan and Courtney both tensed up at the word. This was getting out of hand. "Just because you defended him didn't make him innocent! He shot his brother! He admitted to it on a plea bargain!"

Michael rolled his eyes, sighing in sarcastic exasperation. "Well then, why isn't he in jail right now?" At this point, the two men were inches apart, and as Duncan tried to break the fight that was about to begin, Courtney's father pushed him away.

Duncan's dad growled. "Because it was a plea bargain! He didn't get as much time, the bastard!" Now, as more employees's showed up and started to break up the fight, the restaurant was bustling with noise. As the mothers and fathers fought, as the people around them went crazy with talk and shouts, as everything was turning into chaos around them, something made things go quiet.

"Why do you guys have to ruin everything?" The loud screams and shouts started to die down, as the whole restaurant started to turn to the voice. Their fathers turned, Courtney's father holding Duncan's dad by the shirt collar, and both their mothers holding each other's hair in a death grip. All of them went silent as they looked to the voice.

Courtney's eyes were hurt. Her whole face was flooded with tears and was red as a tomato. She was leaning down to Duncan, who had been pushed on the floor and was now holding his head. But her eyes were focused on their parents, rage shooting through her pupils. "Do you want to know WHY we asked you all to come here?"

Every one tried to start talking, but Courtney snapped her fingers, trembling with anger and sadness, making everyone automatically shut their mouths. "Today was supposed to be the day that I invited you guys to come and join me on what is going to be the happiest day of my life." She raised her hand, and their parents gasped.

Really, the ring was quite a sight to see. It glittered in the restaurant dark setting, and was reflected in Courtney's haunting eyes. She wiped her tears off on her sleeve, mad at herself for tearing up. "Well, I don't care anymore! I don't give a damn if you come or not. Because if this is all you guys can think about…" She took her hand, referring to their fighting stances and hard eyes. "I don't want you there."

You could feel every one's throat tighten as Courtney started to whimper, but mentally slapped herself and shoved it down, walking out of the restaurant. Although many people were sitting, standing, watching, the click of her heels was the only noise.

Duncan watched her, and then rose. He gave their parents a hard stare, one that threw curses at them, even at his own mother. "She just…" He shook his head, turning away from them, scratching his head in frustration. "She just wanted you to be there for her, just this once." He chewed his lip. "I wanted you all to be there for us. And you guys do this."

He put his fingers to his temples, as people started moving around, started to chatter on about what had just happened, about how dramatic it was, people saying "Well damn!" or "That was awesome."

The two pairs of parents were silent, though, their mouths zipped tight, none of them knowing what to say. There was so much they could say as an apology, a comfort, but it was all just building up behind their lower lip. What was there to say in a time like this?

Duncan looked up at them one last time. "You don't have to worry about me. But you just made her cry. And… if she doesn't want you at the wedding, you better sure as hell not think about coming. It's up to her. How could you guys…" But he let it trail off, starting thinking about her, worrying about her, oh, god, where was she, was she OK, he had to go get her-

As he walked off, the parents all stood and looked at each other in shame. It was the one time they had all, at the same time, found themselves speechless.

Duncan ran out of the restaurant, looking for Courtney. He saw a flash of brown hair on the sidewalk and looked to see her with her head in her hands. Dragging his hand along his face, he realized that neither of them had been prepared for this. They should have known the night would end like this (although no one had expected something this disastrous and loud), but they couldn't help but have hope that maybe their parents had changed.

He sat by her, and she fell into his arms. He held her close as she started to sniffle in his shirt. He was quiet, letting her wallow for a minute. She then looked at him. "Let's go. I really don't want to talk to them."

"Princess."

"Please, Duncan." She held him closer, choking on her words. "I don't want them at the wedding, Let's just go home." Courtney usually wasn't so easy to give up, but she had been fighting with her parents about Duncan since she was sixteen, she had been fighting with them for six years, had arguing with them for six years, and they still wouldn't let her have what she wanted. They still wouldn't address the fact that she loved him. That it wasn't their choice.

And she was finally giving up on them.

Duncan picked her up, and she steadied herself on her feet. They caught a cab, went back to the hotel room they had rented in the city, and it was probably the worst night either of them had ever had. All they could do that night was hold each other, and even though that should have been enough, it wasn't. All Courtney could think about was her Dad's face, the dislike he had towards Duncan, the fact that he wouldn't be there to take her down the aisle. Duncan could only think of his mother, who had supported the relationship with all her heart, how she had tried to hurt Courtney's mother, how she couldn't keep herself together, how his own father couldn't help but drop the 'f bomb' right in front of Courtney.

If anything, they were more ashamed of their parents than they had ever been. More ashamed of them than they had ever thought possible.

If there was any one more ashamed than Duncan and Courtney, it had to be their parents themselves.

Stephanie could not believe herself. As she and Michael got in the car to go home, she couldn't see to keep the straight face she always could. Her composure fell and she found her face sweeping into a frown as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Michael," She whined, sounding much like Courtney, "Our little girl…"

But Michael shushed her. If anything, he was pissed, at Duncan' father, at Courtney, at himself. "She doesn't want us there." Courtney's mom tried to protest but the look on Michael face made her stop. He had never looked more hurt in his life.

He had never felt more hurt in his life. Courtney had always been the one who watched him do his taxes, who always wanted to come with him during bank meetings, the youngest who would smile at him with a twinkle in her eye, always telling her how she wanted to be a lawyer just like 'daddy'. Having her look at him with such rage and sadness and fire made his whole heart sink. His little girl had just told him he wasn't invited to her wedding.

Stephanie curled her fingers around his own, but still the both of them had never felt colder.

And if you thought they were doing bad, then hell, you hadn't seen Duncan's parents yet.

They were both eerily quite the whole way home, the only sound being Lillian's small whimpers and jerks as she cried her heart out. The tears on her face were unstoppable. She was wreak; it was obvious. She had picked up the old CD case they had in the car and put on some old country blues, singing along through choked sobs.

Alex didn't say a word. He was silent and stiff.

As they entered the house, got in their room and started to change, Duncan's mom held a picture of Duncan, Alex and herself from when Duncan was four. "He doesn't want us at the wedding?"

Alex scoffed. "Well, yeah, Lil. He said we shouldn't come. Want it put any more obviously?" He stripped out of his pants and unbuttoned his shirt, finally throwing himself down on the bed with a thump. After a few moments of silence however, he sighed and turned to see Lillian with tears running down her face viciously.

He grabbed her hand, pulling her towards him and wrapping his arms around her. "It's fine, OK? Everything's alright."

Lillian let out a strained moan, wriggling free from his grasp and turning off the light. "Maybe for you." She whispered, surrounding herself with the blankets. "I just lost my son."

The way she said it, he felt like she was maybe pressing all the blame on him, but as he leaned over to look at her tight frown and red eyes, he realized that was far off. "I hate myself." She whimpered, holding him. He returned the hug and whispered sweet things into her hair, trying to calm her.

But it didn't help much. Things were still cloudy. And everyone still wanted to cry.

For the next few days, things were very, very sucky.

Courtney went on a coffee binge for the week and was shopping for whatever she could manage to get a hold of. As soon as they had gotten back home and to their own city, away from their parents, she called Bridgette and ordered an extreme girls day out. She felt herself calm as Bridgette announced that she would gather all the gal pals ASAP and that a GNO was in progress.

Duncan, on the other hand, was reverting back to his old ways. He told Courtney he was going out with the guys to drink a bit, but well…

"You got the spray paint?" Duncan mused, and all his buddies nodded at him. It was about time that he got his old gang back together. Really and truly, he had tried to stay out of trouble since he had gotten with Courtney, but as though to spite their parents, he had the overwhelming sense to do something horrible. He looked to Geoff with a smirk. "OK. I got the car."

Geoff, DJ, and Trent had been a little reluctant about joining Duncan to get up in their old pranks again, but they couldn't say no. After hearing of how he and Courtney had spent most of their nights crying and holding each other (Duncan would get angry whenever they laughed saying, "You cried?"). Duncan hadn't cried. But he had sure felt like it.

DJ gave him a solemn look. "Damn, bra, this brings back memories." They all nodded at each other, and Duncan gave them all a false smile. They all hopped in the car and Duncan turned up the radio, loud. At first, everyone was a bit apprehensive, but in the few minutes that passed, they all found themselves cheering and singing along to the hard alternative beat.

Duncan smirked to himself. It felt too good to be free again.

Courtney, on the other hand, was realizing how great it felt to have shelter and order once again. She went home and found a message on her answering machine. She had nearly fainted from excitement when she got a call back to a job. The pay was over twenty five bucks an hour, which made her heart melt. Never had she been offered that much money for a job.

She decided it would be best to clean the house before her friends got there. Courtney prided herself in cleaning the house spic and span once a month, but now, with all the thoughts of her mother and father swirling around in her hand, she was finally realizing how dirty everything was! She picked up all her cleaning supplies and felt herself sigh in relief. Life was so much better when things were simple like this. You clean it and it's done. It only everything worked that way.

When Gwen opened up the door to Courtney's town house with LaShawnna, Bridgette, Lindsay, Sadie and Katie in tow, she nearly choked. "What are you doing, using bleach as perfume or something?" The group stood there in bewilderment as no one answered.

"Hello?" Lindsay yelled, her shrill voice echoing through the halls. Nothing.

Katie raised her eyebrows. "Do you think she's dead?"

"That would make a whole lot more sense than her being quiet." LaShawnna chuckled, but as Bridgette ran down the hall to make sure Courtney was OK, the smell got even worse. "Courtney? What'd you do to the house, girl?"

"Huh?" The voice hit all of them loudly. The shrill volume of it was enough to make them all stand straighter. "Is somebody there?" Again, the voice was painstakingly loud, and all the girls tried to yell over it, but stopped as they saw Courtney come out of the bathroom.

Toilet plunger in hand, Courtney looked… sloppy. She had on one of Duncan's old white wife beaters and some red basketball shorts that were stained at the ends. Her short hair was put up in a messy bun atop her head, and hanging from her ears were huge headphones that the girls could clearly hear from. It was very loud, very scratchy, and from the sound of it, she was playing heavy scream music. They heard the tiny speakers say something about liquor, then about fucking someone up until they bled, and then it sounded like an animal was dying.

"What the hell…?" Gwen mused, and really, that was all you could say. Courtney's face was tired, her eyes were red and bloodshot, and she had a few pimples. That was odd because Courtney never had pimples. Ever. "Just what are you listening to?"

"Huh?" Again, her voice seemed to shake the house, but once she took off the headphones, she weakly smiled at them. "Sorry. What?"

Lindsay pointed to the headphones with disgust. "What is that?"

Courtney frowned, biting her lip. She sighed. "I don't really have any music of my own, other than classical, so I decided to listen to some of Duncan's. It's oddly soothing." It was obvious that something was very wrong with Courtney. For one, she had yet to say anything rude to any of them, which truly was shocking. She was also listening to Duncan's music, not her usual Beethoven, and was referring to it as soothing.

Katie shook her head. "We need to get you shopping."

Sadie nodded. "Like, now."

Over the next few hours, the girls threw all of Courtney's cleaning supplies in a closet and tried to get her ready. Once they were done, she was actually looking a little bit like herself- well, except for her face. She still looked really sad and depressed, and it was very, very scary. Courtney was always mad and angry, always curious and filled with pent up emotion, but now, she was quiet and soft, and as relaxing as that was- it was also very worrying. No one had ever seen Courtney so calm in the longest time. It was disturbing.

Gwen chewed her lip as they walked through the mall, shuffling around the crowds of people. Entering the small make-up boutique that was located to the right of them, she turned her attention to Courtney. "Have you been alright?"

Courtney blew a raspberry, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, dude."

Bridgette looked to her friend in horror. For one, Courtney hated it when Duncan blew raspberries. She always yelled at him and ranted about how immature and stupid it was. Another thing: since when did Courtney say dude? It was almost alien coming from the brunette's mouth, and more than a little bit worrying.

Putting a hand on Courtney's shoulder, Sadie smiled at her. "It's OK to be upset."

As thought the words she had said were tainted, Courtney pushed Sadie's hand away from her, making a hissing sound. "Actually, guys, I'm feeling a little sick, and I really need to clean the house, and-"

"Courtney!" LaShawnna yelled, picking up some red lipstick and testing it in a mirror. "You need to calm down, girl. I can barely stand you when you're normal, but this is just wrong."

Courtney gave them all a fake smile, but clutched her stomach in false alarm. "Oh, guys, I think I'm going to be sick."

Lindsay gave her a tough eye-roll. "Even I know you're faking it!" Courtney slumped over in anger, squinting her eyes at all of them and putting out a pouty lip.

"I just want to go… I just want to see Duncan, OK?" They all kept trying to pull her back into the store, but it proved to be useless. Courtney walked out of the store, looking defeated and hurt, and more over just plain not-at-all-like-herself.

Gwen pulled out her cell phone and dialed quickly. It took two calls to get a pick up, but she got something. "Hey, it's not at all a good time now, so-"

"Duncan, you need to come home and get Courtney. She's acting really weird and scary." All of the other girls crowded around the phone and mumbled in agreement, and Gwen took that as a sign to put Duncan on speaker.

Duncan sighed through the phone. "Is she angry?"

"No." They all said in unison.

He paused. "Crying?"

"Nope."

"Screaming, maybe?"

"Not at all."

There was silence on the line as Duncan took a deep breath. "This is really bad." All the girls made small mumbles of agreement, and then they heard an angry growl from the phone. "And will you take me off freaking speaker phone?"

After a quick conversation, Duncan had agreed to come back as quickly as he could- "I'll be there in an hour. I've got some unfinished business to attend to."

Courtney got back home and fell on the bed with a thud, her whole body aching. She sat there for a moment, and then forced her face into the pillow. Maybe she would just stay like this forever- it wasn't all that bad. It was actually kind of comfy, the way that her nose was crushed against the softness and how her breathing slowed tremendously. She then sighed. She was really sad. The best thing she had done all day was plant her face into a pillow. Wow.

In that moment, she really wanted to cry, but her eyes were not having it. She was all out of tears. She drove her face into the pillow deeper, letting out a groan. This was how pathetic she was. This was how lame she was. "Life freaking sucks."

"Exactly." Courtney nearly jumped out of her skin as Duncan flopped down on the bed beside her, knocking her face out of the pillow. He smelled of gasoline and had a huge bouquet of orange carnations in his hand. He smirked widely at her. "But that's why you have me."

She gave him a pouty lip but took the flowers slowly. He gave her a look. "No need for the gentle silence Princess." But she still didn't say a word. She put the flowers up to her nose and took in a sniff, giving him a small smile.

He didn't smile back though. He instead gave her a worried look. "What's wrong, babe? You're being all shy and quiet and you didn't even say anything about the flowers." She gave him a confused look and he rolled his eyes. "You're supposed to be all, 'Duncan, why the hell did you get me ORANGE carnations? I mean, we ARE supposed to be engaged, and that kind of means RED ROSES, because we're supposed to be in love, Ogre!'" She couldn't help but let out a small growl as he mocked her, and he smirked.

Duncan put an arm around her waist, pulling her toward him. "See? There's my girl."

She let out a small huff and finally found the strength to talk. "Can I just… be quiet for today? I'm kind of out of it." Truth was, she had been out of it every day since the incident with their parents, but Duncan just gave her a small wink and nodded, pulling her close. She placed her hands on his chest, drawing lines on it through his shirt, scratching her nails along the length of his collar bone all the way to his belly button.

"Hey Princess?"

"Mmm?"

"It's really hard to stay still with you doing that." She giggled under her breath, glad to have him home. He just kind of made the bad things melt away, and even if she was still a bit sad, the feeling of him beside her made everything a lot more bearable. He gently rubbed his index and thumb over her small earring, smiling at the thought. "I remember when we went to get you these." He whispered.

"Yeah?" She looked up at him so she could see his eyes, which were fixated on her small ear lobes.

He smiled at her. "Yup. It was worth every penny." He took his eyes from her ears so he could make eye contact with her as his eyes darkened tremendously. "You're worth everything."

Courtney felt tears start welling up in her eyes. Guess she did have a few tears left. "Oh, Duncan." She choked, pulling him closer to her and burying her head in his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. "I love you so much."

He pressed his lips to her hair. "I went with some of my guys and spray painted a penis on my dad's cop car. We went and renamed it from 'Metro Police Car' to… well, let's just say something that would make you hit me." Courtney was quiet for a moment before she started laughing, much to Duncan's surprise.

She laughed so hard that she was in tears, bringing her face up so she could kiss him, pressing her lips against his, hard. "What would I do without you?" She whispered against his neck, letting the tears fall fresh. Maybe she hadn't needed a girl's day out, and maybe he hadn't needed a day with the guys. Things were perfect just like this.

Duncan pulled her closer, running his fingers through her hair, shutting his eyes slowly. "I want to marry you so bad." They hadn't brought up the wedding in a week, but it was still burning in both of their minds. Duncan put her hand up to his face, looking at the ring he had spent so much time picking out.

Courtney sighed. She was quiet for a moment, and Duncan wondered if maybe he had upset her. She had been really breakable the past few days. "Why did you get me orange carnations?" Her brown eyes taunted him softly.

He smirked at her. "You were being so quiet… I thought I should piss you off to make you normal again." She punched his arm not all at playfully, but Duncan didn't flinch. "I missed you." His voice was soft and quiet as he looked at her with sincerity. This was the side of him that he hated people to see, the one where he put himself out there and made himself vulnerable. Neither of them were all that good at letting their guard down, so it just made his words that much sweeter.

Words usually betrayed them both. People sickened them. Even their own parents weren't going to listening.

So instead of saying another word, she only pulled him towards her and wished that this was the way it always was. He took her fingers and pressed them against his lips, his smirk filled with lust but his eyes only holding love while connecting with her own as he kissed the ring he had spent so much time picking out. Things usually weren't like this. They weren't always this gentle, weren't always this loving.

But things weren't normal now. Everyone was hurting, things were touchy, but nothing had changed between the two of them. That was the way that they loved it- them, together, the two of them. He unbuttoned her blouse, and she arched into his hands. Any other day, they would have fought, they would have pushed and pulled like they liked to.

She was breakable to him, and he was scarred to her. As he pushed into her, it was with a tender touch. The one thing that stayed consistent was the way his eyes never left hers. They watched each other with intensity, with sadness and love and want and loneliness and hurt. Because the other was there. They weren't alone anymore. They were just the way they were meant to be- together.

Although each kiss was tainted with sadness, it was also abundant with love. Maybe being this way would help the pain subside. Maybe they could do this. Maybe they didn't need anyone else. Maybe.

Days turned into weeks which turned into a month. Courtney had received the job, and Duncan could tell she was a bit stressed about it. See, she usually talked to her mother about things like this, like whenever she was trying to reach for an even higher degree or when she wanted to talk about her period and junk.

But Courtney wasn't talking to her mother. The saddest part was that her mother wasn't doing much to talk to her either. The usual phone calls from 'mommy' that she had received promptly at four each day had stopped, and it was obvious that it made Courtney much more… well, talkative. Duncan was left with the strings of awkward conversations they really shouldn't have been having.

Like right now, as Courtney sat on their bed, pushing back her cuticles and trying to give herself a manicure ("I was going to ask my… mother how to do it at home, but I think I can do it! I'm self-sufficient!"). "So, you see, Duncan, I'm just wondering if leaving this tampon in for four hours is OK. A lot of people tell me that it's fine, they've left it in for six hours before, but the thing is that this is a new brand, so I'm just wondering if that changes things. I mean, this is more comfortable, but which is worse- discomfort, or toxic shock syndrome? I think I know which one I would pick. Think about it. The vaginal canal can only handle-"

"OK, OK, OK!" Duncan jumped up from the floor where he had been trying his hardest to read a dictionary to ease the pain. After a few days of Courtney speaking of her girl problems that really needed to be discussed with girls, Duncan couldn't take it anymore. "I really don't know about the comfort and discomfort of tampons, and I most definitely don't need to know anything about the 'vaginal canal'. I'm still trying to forget what my ma used to tell me."

And then Duncan felt himself sigh. His ma. Courtney wasn't the only one who was missing a mother. Duncan had often received little cards and gifts in the mail from her that he always told everyone was a real bother (although he really and truly loved everything his mother sent him and often kept the items around the house). Those cards had turned into small letters, asking him simple things-

"So how are you and Courtney doing?"

"Do you have enough money?"

"Are you coming to visit soon?"

"I miss you."

Sometimes, his mother really knew how to break his heart. Her small letters left him angry, sad, and just plain torn. He had stopped opening the letters after the first three. Guilt trips weren't going to work on him anymore.

As he turned back to Courtney, who was looking at him with a fierce anger in her eyes, he grimaced. "I'm sorry, OK? I love you to death, but I can't take anymore… vagina talk." He made a puking gesture, and she couldn't help but let out a smirk.

"I thought you liked it when I talked like that." She purred quietly. Duncan rolled his eyes, pulling her towards him. Even as Courtney wrapped her arms around him, he could feel the venom dripping from her voice. "If I call my mom, you have to call yours."

Duncan felt the color drain from his face. "Uh, no way Princess. My ma would slaughter me the second she picked up." And Courtney knew that all too well. Duncan's mother was the queen of guilt trips- she knew how to make you feel as though it was your duty to come and visit her. She made you feel as though it was part of your job description to come over for Thanksgiving dinner and at least six hours each Christmas. Basically, his mom was very manipulative. Courtney had always known there was something she had liked about her. She wished she could master the art of making Duncan obey her, too.

The woman was freaking genius.

So it would be a big no-no to call her anytime soon.

Courtney sighed, pushing him off of her as she grabbed the phone. Duncan smiled widely, realizing that he had won this argument. He yelped when Courtney threw the phone at his head, causing him to fall off the bed in pain. "Call your dad, Duncan. We need to talk to our parents." Duncan rolled his eyes as he grabbed the phone and sent her a glare.

She licked her lips. "Face-to-face." Duncan clicked his tongue at her, believing that it was just a bluff. Her cheeks went bright red as her voice got higher, reaching that squeaky tinge it took whenever she was angry or embarrassed. "I'm serious! Now call your daddy!"

Duncan scoffed, but as he punched in the number and began to dial, he started to realize exactly what he had just done. Oh, god, what was wrong with him? It didn't matter what Courtney said, this was a bad idea, just really bad, it was going to make everything worse, so much-

"Hello, my shit head of a son." Duncan sucked in a breath at his father's voice. This was the voice that had made him feel like such a fool when he was kid, the voice that had left him mad and angry and just over all ashamed in himself, the voice that belonged to the man that he had felt like strangling to death on more than a few occasions. This was his dad. And he was suddenly reminded of all the reasons he hated him. "You finally thought it would be a good idea to call, huh?"

His dad wasn't even half as good at the guilt trip set up as his mother was- that much was obvious. But that was because guilt wasn't exactly his father's game. His dad preferred the rude hatred tone in a conversation, the one that let you know that he thought you were an ass no matter which way the conversation went. "I missed you too, daddy-o."

Duncan could almost feel his father's foul mood wafting through the phone lines. "Oh, dear lord, you're not on that dope again, are you, son?"

He chewed his lip. "I was never on drugs, pop."

"Yeah right. And Celine Dion can actually sing. Good one." Duncan felt himself hold back a smirk. As much as he couldn't stand his father, they both knew that they were more alike than either of them wanted to admit. "I'm sorry, son."

Duncan's eyes went wide, and Courtney gave him a look. Looking down at his fingers, Duncan heard his Dad suck in a shaky breath. "I'm really sorry." And to tell you the truth, that meant a hell of a lot coming from his father. His father, the one who had never comforted him when he was a kid. His father, who had always been way too hard on him and made him who he was today. His dad was saying sorry.

And it stung like hell because he would never say that unless he meant it. "We're coming into town in the next few days, Dad." His dad grumbled out a response, and this usually meant that it was time to end the conversation. But then Duncan said something that made Courtney look at him oddly. "Love you."

His dad was quiet for a few moments. "I… love you too, Duncan." The phone clicked off as the dial rang in Duncan's ears. But he tossed the phone to Courtney with a wry smile.

Courtney rolled her eyes. "That was a Kodak moment, wasn't it?"

Throwing a shirt at her, Duncan stuck out his tongue. "Call your mother."

She rolled her eyes as Duncan walked out of the room, but then looked to the phone shakily. She dialed the number, but wasn't at all surprised when it went to voice mail. Not knowing why, she suddenly felt angry and slammed the phone down on the receiver. If there was one thing she had learned throughout the years, it was that she couldn't depend on her parents.

They packed their bags and got all ready, making preparations, and Courtney didn't tell Duncan of how she had yet to talk to either of her parents. To tell the truth, she still wasn't all that sure if she wanted them at her wedding or not. Each time Duncan tried to bring up the phone call, Courtney would laugh it off shakily or just tell him to shut up, that they had to hurry and get ready to go. In truth, she wasn't sure how she would explain it to Duncan, but she was sure it would come to her sometime.

The only thing that bothered her more than Duncan's awful nagging about the phone call (which wasn't all that awful but left her more than a bit annoyed) was the fact that her mother had yet to call back or even leave her a message. A simple text would even be nice, at least more appropriate than this damn silent treatment she was receiving from her mom. Weren't parents always supposed to be the bigger person?

She shrugged it off and continued packing her clothes.

All the rest of Courtney's friends had been calling her nonstop, much unlike her mother. It was a bit unsettling, yet somehow sweet. Knowing that someone out there was worrying about you enough that they called five hundred times a day and made your answering machine overload was a bit insane, but it also meant that they cared. Or at least that was what Bridgette had said to her. Courtney had called it 'stalker-ish' and 'fucking annoying', but Bridgette was one to see the bright side, am I right?

Duncan had actually been feeling a lot better since his talk with his father. He had been much more cheerful and exuberant, much to Courtney's disgust, if only because she was still so upset and a bit depressed about their situation. When Duncan would smile as he thought of their soon-to-be departure, Courtney would have to fight back the over-powering wish to just reach up and grabbed his neck and wring him back and forth until-

Do you understand what stress does to Courtney? It makes her violent. It makes her much more threatening than a regular angry Courtney. Usually, she would tell you how much she hated you, or how much she couldn't stand you, but now, she was pretty much plotting everyone's bloody demise.

This was the way that the next few days went. Duncan, acting like an uber happy schoolgirl who was getting his pleasure from teasing Courtney to her maximum limit, and Courtney, acting like an psycho on the brink of pulling out a gun in the middle of the supermarket.

No one was really noticing a difference until the day they got on the train.

Courtney had on her favorite pair of jeans and Duncan had just re-died his Mohawk. It was then that Courtney decided it may be better to take the honest approach with Duncan, since she was going to have to admit her faults sooner or later.

Even over the long screech of the train, everyone could hear them.

"WHAT THE HELL, COURTNEY? YOU MADE ME CALL MY DAMN DAD AND YOU CAN'T EVEN TALK TO YOUR OWN PARENTS?"

"THEY DIDN'T PICK UP THE FREAKING PHONE!"

"OH, SO I GUESS THAT MEANS THAT THEY DIDN'T PICK UP THE PHONE FOR A WHOLE WEEK?"

"UGH! WHY ARE YOU SO DAMN DIFFICULT?"

"ME? I'M DIFFICULT?"

"YES, DUNCAN, YOU'RE VERY DIFFICULT! NOW QUIT GETTING IN MY DAMN FACE AND GO FU-"

Thankfully, they were asked to quiet down before Courtney could finish her sentence.

But that didn't make things any easier. "Why the hell didn't you call your parents, babe?" Duncan had a hand on the side of his head, trying to figure Courtney out. She had always been the more responsible one.

Clutching her jacket closer to her, she let out a scoff. "I told you why. My mother didn't pick up. And she didn't even try to call me back." She grabbed a cookie from the food tray and stuff it in her mouth, chewing ferociously. "I mean what kind of a mother does that?" She sighed as she scoffed down another cookie.

Duncan gave her an odd look, but then he smiled. "You always eat cookies when you're upset." She turned her head to face him, giving him a death glare as crumbs surrounded the edge of her mouth.

It was weird, how beautiful she could be. Even with cookie bits running all down her shirt, Courtney had that slight gleam in her eyes, the pout on her lips, her hair shielding her face. Her small fingers reached up to brush the crumbs away from her mouth, but Duncan grabbed her arm and smiled at her. "You're too pretty for your own good, Princess." Leaning forward, he placed a soft kiss on her lips, tasting chocolate chips.

As he leaned back in his seat, Courtney blushed brightly, swallowing the cookie. "I'm not upset." OK, obviously a lie, but she felt embarrassed. The fact that Duncan had the courage to call his Dad, whom he in fact hated creased her, considering that she couldn't call her own non-threatening mother more than once before she totally gave up. Duncan of course wasn't buying it. She crossed her arms. "I'm not going to call her. Not yet."

Smirking, Duncan popped out of his seat and came to push himself close to the brunette. "Whatever you say, sunshine." Even though she squirmed in his grasp for a moment, she ultimately gave up and sighed, wrapping her arms around his torso.

"Sometimes I can't stand you." She grunted quietly. He kissed her hair before muttering about how he loved her too.

Things were better once they got off the stupid train and made way for Duncan's house. At least in Courtney's mind, it was. Duncan couldn't imagine what his mother would be like. If anything, she was going to totally murder him. "What makes you think your mother would be angry with you?" Courtney muttered as they rode in the back of the taxi and she continued to lecture the driver about how she was 99.9% sure that they were supposed to take a right. "She adores you. You're her wittle baby."

Duncan scowled, looking out the window of their home town. "She's probably really pissed at me for not communicating with her for so long. You know, whenever I would come home in the middle of the night when I was younger, she was always sitting out, waiting for me. And no matter how scratched up I was, or how fucked up I felt, she would just say, 'Hi, honey. Have a good time?' And she wouldn't do anything, wouldn't punish me at all." He licked his lips. "And I would feel so. Freaking. Guilty."

Rolling her eyes, Courtney turned to him, ignoring the driver who was now in a yell fight with her. "Don't you get it, Duncan? You're not able to really talk to your mother because you're afraid you'll upset her, resulting in guilt, and you hate guilt. IT'S A RIGHT TURN, YOU DUMBASS!" She grabbed her makeup bag and smacked the man on the back of the head with it. "GET IT RIGHT!"

But Duncan wasn't really paying attention to the abused taxi driver. "I don't care if my mom hates me forever, just as long as she doesn't give me that look." Courtney gave him a raised brow, and Duncan sighed. "You know, the look that girls give you when they want to make you feel guilty. You guys almost look like you're about to cry, and then you're lip trembles, and then you say something really nice, like-"

"Do you want some more cookies, dear?" Duncan sighed as his mother and father sat across from him and Courtney in their house. It was silent except for the harsh ticking of the small clock Duncan had given his mother when he was six for her birthday. And the look was there.

His father was rolling his eyes as his mother gestured back to the tray with Duncan's favorite- snicker doodles. It was tradition that she only make them during Christmas time, and it made Duncan feel even guiltier considering she had made them just for him. Yeah, he knew his mother controlled him all too well.

"No thanks, ma." He gave her a weak smile, grasping Courtney's hand tightly.

His mother folded her hands in her lap, eying Duncan with the look. "So, Duncan, are you gonna-"

"Excuse me." Courtney said quietly. No one had been Courtney much attention through the course of the past fifteen minutes, considering how tense things were. Courtney, on the other hand, was rather at ease. Duncan's parents liked her, as long as her father wasn't brought into the mix, so it was always easy around them. Duncan was a bit pissed at the fact Courtney did better with his parents than he ever could on his own.

She let out an award winning Courtney smile that she used when she was about to lay down the law. Duncan recognized the look and nearly pissed his pants. Not in front of my mom, not in front of mom- "Listen, I understand that you-" she pointed a tiny finger at Duncan's father, who was slouching in his chair- "love to harass Duncan and curse at him often. I find that I like you the most. Your approach to him is great." Duncan's father gave her a small nod, while his mother looked at her, appalled.

"And you-" this time Courtney's finger found it's direction pointed at Duncan's mother- "like to make Duncan feel guilty. And I'm sorry, but that's bullshit."

Duncan's put his head in his hands. No way had Courtney just cursed in front of her. He knew how his mother felt about curse words…

Courtney's face had a prominent frown plastered on it. "See, Duncan is actually a good guy, sometimes, in his rare moments. You guys and my parents were both total assholes at the should-have-been dinner, so don't you dare think that Duncan was in the wrong for ignoring you. I mean, would you want to talk to you after the way you acted? I think not." It was getting worse! Duncan couldn't even look at his mother in fear that her death glare might actually kill him.

"So don't try to make Duncan guilty when this is your own fault! I'm the bitchy one around here and Duncan and I are getting married no matter what. And if you can stop giving Duncan that fake 'oh mommy missed you' routine, I can get this over with. You guys are invited to our wedding. Yeah. So you can be there. We forgive you." Courtney threw her hair behind her ear, the A+ smile making its way upon her face once again. "Duncan, you can stop acting like a baby now."

And before Duncan even had the chance to try and send a rude retort back, he found his lungs being crushed in his mothers overbearing hug. "We're invited! Oh my gosh Duncan thank goodness I thought you were going to turn into one of those kids who hates their mother I mean you can hate your father if you want to but thank the lord you didn't turn your back on your mother and what are the color themes for the wedding I think you should definitely go with-"

Duncan made a small squeaking noise and his mother slowly got the hint, her breath ragged from speaking so quickly. "Oh, sorry dear, I just…" She gave him a soft smile before hugging him once more. "I really am glad you chose to forgive us. I love you."

After getting over the initial shock, he was able to wrapped his arms around his mother and send her a warm hug back. "I love you too, ma. Now will you please let go of me?" His mother back off politely, sitting next to his father once more.

Duncan's dad just gave him an odd look. "I like your fiancé. She seems like the type to kick your ass." Courtney and his father exchanged a smile as Duncan felt his blood boil. "And, son, next time you do something like that to my cop car, I may considering sticking my foot so far up your ass that you won't be able to breathe." Duncan gave him a shaky smile before rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Got it, pop."

Lillian was quick to jump into conversation. "Well, I tried to call once your father said something about you calling, but then the damn phone lines went down!"

Courtney nearly choked on her snicker doodle. "Wait, what?"

Duncan's mother blinked at her, wondering why Courtney was so surprised and worked up about this. "The phone lines went down. It was storming out here, and Alex here got the last damn call before they went down. The whole neighborhood had a power outage, all the way from here to downtown." She saw the color drain from Courtney's face slowly. "Are you alright, sweetie?"

Duncan grasped Courtney's hand in his. "It's OK, babe. There's no way you could have known…"

His mother gave them both an odd look. "What's this all about?"

Running his fingers through his Mohawk, Duncan tried out his best momma's boy voice. "It's nothing, ma." He looked to Courtney, worry written all over his face.

So her mother had never gotten the call. That's why no one picked up. Courtney's face went red. She shoved herself down into the couch, and Duncan knew that things could only get worse.

Leaving was impossible, but somehow the two were able to get out of Duncan's mothers grasp. "Bye, kids! Tell me when the wedding date is! And what the color scheme will be! And the-" She sighed as she realized they weren't listening anymore, but let out a soft smile as she rested her head against Alex's shoulder. Lillian whispered quietly into his ear, "He's lucky I didn't kick her ass for saying 'the s word' in my household."

Alex chuckled. "No shit." She slapped his arm lightly, but neither of them could help but smile.

And now it was Courtney's turn to panic. "No, Duncan, I am not going to talk to my parents!" She slammed him down on the side walk, the sun setting over their features lightly. They had left their luggage back at their hotel earlier, and Courtney couldn't be more disappointed that she had left the pocket knife that Duncan had given as a gift for her birthday in her bag. If there was ever a time she had wanted it, it was now. Maybe she would seem like more of threat than just a bitch. "I don't want to see them! And my mom… No! I refuse!"

Duncan scoffed as his chest met the ground. He couldn't believe her! She had just sat there and lectured his parents while Duncan sat there in utter discomfort and she had the balls to say something so… so… "Hypocritical, much?" He spat.

"Oh, so now we have such a beautiful vocabulary, don't we, punk-bastard?" She growled through clenched teeth. To tell the truth, she knew Duncan was making a little too much sense, and that was what pissed her off. Usually, she could handle it and recognize when she was being unreasonable- OK, that's a lie, most of the time she couldn't- but she could usually keep herself calm enough to not hurt Duncan- that was also a lie, when was she not hurting Duncan bodily? She shook with rage as she stepped off of Duncan and threw out her hand in anger toward him.

Duncan's first thought was that she was going to slap him, and he was surprised when he found that Courtney's arm was rather just staying still, pointed at him. He realized that she was holding out her hand to help him up. Weird, he thought, but he still latched his hand onto hers, pulling himself up.

He smirked at her, chuckling a bit. "Going soft, sweetheart?"

But Courtney wouldn't face him. He started to get a bit worried, and he cupped her chin in his hands. "Hey Princess…" As she turned to face him, she couldn't feel any more stupid about letting the damn tears roll down her face. Duncan's expression softened ten-fold as he pulled her closer to him, wiping her tears with his thumb. If there was one thing that always made him turn into a total wimp, it had to be when Courtney whipped out her tears on him.

Courtney really hated crying. She always had. It was a sign of weakness, and it proved that emotion really could defeat her. But she couldn't help but lean into Duncan as the tears spilled out of the corners of her eyes. He could always make her feel, so much more than she usually did, making her chest hurt because of how much raw emotion was ripping through her. "Don't cry, Princess, please don't…"

Slipping her hands into his, she let their foreheads touch. He intertwined his fingers with hers, closing his eyes as she closed hers too. "I'll go see my parents but… you have to promise to come with me."

Duncan pulled her closer, keeping his hands locked with hers as he smiled down at her. "Babe, I would never bail on you like that." He patted her back, but she punched his arm. He yelped, rubbing the spot on his forearm were a bruise was sure to form later. "God dammit, Courtney, what the hell was that for?"

She gave him a weak smile. "For watching me cry, you idiot." But she kept her hands in his, and he knew that she didn't really mean it. It was just her pride. It was just his Courtney being herself. And he really wouldn't have it any other way.

Courtney's mother answered the door with a soft frown. "Courtney?" Maybe it was because her mother looked so relieved to see her, or maybe it was because Courtney was a total lame-ass when it came to her mom, but it didn't take more than three seconds for Courtney to let go of Duncan's hand and lunged herself at her mother.

Sometimes, it just felt too good to hug her mother. She could remember all the times when she little, when she would come home with a scrape on her knee and her Dad would be at work and Courtney would worry… but then her mother would be there, in the kitchen, home early 'just because'. It was always easier with her mother, and it was too easy to accept her back. "I'm so sorry." Her mother whispered into her shoulder.

And that was when the waterworks started.

Duncan was starting to realize that this was just not his day. He could handle Courtney's tears, but now both of them were freaking sobbing, a collapsed tangle of mother and daughter limbs on the porch, holding each other tightly while making a lot of noise. He stood there, awkwardly, and he had the sudden urge to maybe just whistle and walk away. I mean, what else was there to do at a time like this?

Then Courtney's father made an entrance. Yeah, this just wasn't Duncan's day.

"Why the hell are they both crying? Shit, what did you do?" Why the hell was he blaming him? Duncan's eyes widen as he stuttered out small whimpers of defense, and he was going to get killed wasn't he, and since when did Courtney's dad get so damn tall, and please don't kill me, please don't kill me not my fault I'm just a harmless convict-

"It's not his fault, daddy." Courtney muttered out between sobs, still clutching her mother tightly. "I'm just so sad because I haven't talk to my mommy in more than a month!" And again, the water falls of tears began, on full blast, and they had somehow gotten even louder, which Duncan and Courtney's father had been sure was not humanly possible.

After a few minutes filled with tissues and a lot of people dragging other people inside the house to keep the neighbors from giving them odd looks, they all found themselves sitting around the dining room table. Courtney's father had taken the time to make everyone some coffee, which Duncan was a little too scared to turn down.

But who liked coffee, really? Duncan was afraid to take a sip. It looked gross. "Need some cream, boy?" Courtney's father fired at him then took a large gulp of his black, non-sweetened coffee, frowning at Duncan.

That's what she said would most definitely not be an appropriate response right now, so Duncan just gave him a small smirk. "Nah, I'm good." He took a swig of the coffee and immediately regretted it. Gross. He had the sudden urge to do what cartoon characters did, when they spit their drink across the room, projectile style, but he was a bit afraid he may accidentally spit it in Michael's face, and that wouldn't exactly be good…

"Courtney, we're both very sorry, and-" but Stephanie didn't get the chance to finish her sentence. Courtney's father apparently still had something to say about the situation.

"Why the hell do you want to marry this idiot?" Michael wrapped his hands around the coffee mug tightly, the room going silent. This was the way that Duncan could always remember Courtney around her father- quiet.

"Is he really all that special? He's just some punk, Courtney, I thought I raised you better than that-"

As her chair moved slightly, everyone went quiet yet again. Duncan wasn't much of a fan of awkward silence, but Courtney's face proved that this wasn't the time to make some joke about it. Her eyes were creased, and she turned away from her dad with a scowl. "Sometimes you're so terrible that I can't even look at you, Dad." It was hardly above a whisper. She walked into the other room, not turning around to face any of them again.

Duncan sat his coffee on the table, making a move to get up, but Courtney's mother put her hand on his. "But Princess is-"

At the nickname her mother smiled slightly, but she also hushed Duncan. "Go talk to her, Michael." Courtney's father gave her a glare, but the one she sent back was enough to send shivers up both of the men's spines. Michael abruptly got out of his chair, speed walking down the hall towards Courtney.

Duncan looked to Courtney's mother oddly. "What do we do now?"

Courtney ran past her sister's room and into her own room, the second to last one down the hall. Maybe she was over reacting, but she just couldn't listen to her Dad talk about Duncan like that anymore. Sure, he might have held a grudge with his father, but that was no reason for him to be an asshole about their relationship and just Duncan personally.

She had always loved her father, but as she slumped down on her old bed and took in the familiar smell of her sheets, she could really care less how he felt anymore. Her mother understood her, she had easily apologized, so what was making this so difficult for her dad? It wasn't as though Courtney was in the wrong here- didn't he realize that it was his fault, not hers? Everything was always a big war between them, and in the end, he had always been right. But she just couldn't let it end that way this time, because he wasn't right.

That wasn't who Duncan was.

Trying to ignore him as he walked in the room, Courtney didn't move when her father sat on the edge of her bed beside her. "Hey, C.C." Oh gosh, he really was trying to hit her in the heart, wasn't he? He knew that C.C. was what she had loved to be called when she was little, and he was using it against her. What a 'dad' thing to do. "I know I seem like the bad guy here, but-"

"Well then what are you Dad? If you're not the bad guy, then you better be damn sure you're not the good guy." She hated speaking in these odd puzzles, but that was the way her father worked. He was a lawyer- the kings of talking you into anything- but it's not as though she hadn't learned a few of his tricks from over the years. Once you learn someone and how they work, you start to get tired of it, little by little.

It was quiet for a moment, and Courtney blinked when she heard her dad let out a long, painful sigh. "I just… I never really thought you'd love him that much." For the first time since he had entered the room, she actually turned on her bed to look at him. He actually looked genuinely upset. "You were the first baby I ever held in my arms, did you know that? Before me and your mother had you, I had never held a kid in my arms. And then I got to hold you."

The wind whistled through her bedroom window as her dad turned to face her, looking into her with identical dark brown eyes. "You were so soft and breakable. And I never wanted anyone to break you. So it's just hard for me to accept that you're… that you're really growing up." Her father smiled at her. "You used to say that you shouldn't trust any guy except your dad…"

Courtney realized that this must have been hard for him. All this time she had thought it was because he didn't like Duncan's dad, and yeah, maybe that was part of the reason for all the hard feelings around her and Duncan's relationship, but… she had never suspected that her dad was afraid of losing her. "Don't trust any guy except your dad… and Duncan." She giggled.

Her father let out a scoffed, but he grinned at her. "I never will like him, you know that, right?"

She chewed her lip. "Yeah, I get that and the whole 'father has to protect his daughter' thing, but could you please tone it down a little? Because Duncan is not an idiot. He's sometimes really stupid and annoying and his jokes make me want to shoot him…" She shook her head. "Now you're making me get off subject. The point is that I love him. And I'm at the point where I don't give a shit if you accept it anymore!"

Her father was quiet for a moment before letting a strained sigh. "You are just like you're mother." She was about to get angry again, but he cut her off before it could get to that point. "And I never said that was a bad thing, right?"

It felt really good to grab her father and hug him. It wasn't a sob story like her encounter with her mother, but it was still nice. It was warm- it was safe, and it was inviting. And it meant that things were going to be OK.

"…I wonder what mom and Duncan are doing."

"I'm going to blow your ass up with this grenade, Mohawk-bastard!"

"Oh yeah? Why don't you put your money where your mouth is, lady!"

"Why don't you watch your ass before I kick it?"

"Mom, why the hell are you playing Call of Duty with Duncan? Since when did we even keep that game in the house?"

"Um, Stephanie, when did we get an x-box?"

"That's none of your concern, Michael! Just shut up and watch me beat your little boyfriends butt, Courtney!"

"That's hard talk coming from a lady who just got shot!"

"And that's why I bombed your ass, you green haired freak!"

"…This is so wrong."

"It's OK, Courtney dear, what color do you want for the wedding? Blood red? It'll match Duncan's character once I shoot the Mohawk clean off of him!"

After getting everything settled and getting comfortable back at their hotel, there was only one question now.

"So, um, about that wedding-"

They had no date, no plans, no anything! They had been fighting all this time about even being able to have a wedding- and now that it was accepted, they really were back at square one. And square one really, really sucked.

Where will the wedding be held?

Who's invited?

What's there to eat?

What's the color scheme?

WHAT ABOUT YOUR WEDDING DRESS, COURTNEY?

"Are you sure we'll be able to afford this?" Duncan instantly regretted the question as Courtney shot him the driest look he'd ever seen.

"Are you trying to say that I won't get my dream wedding, Duncan?" Duncan immediately shook his head, not messing with her anymore. She seemed very on edge about the wedding- and who could blame her? Duncan wasn't a planner, and Courtney was stress/panic attack type of person. Things could only get worse before they got any better.

It was time. Time for the epic moment of all epic moments. "I think you mean the month, dear." Duncan's mom piped up. Courtney had to hold back to stop from snapping at her.

Today was the day- "month"- during which she went shopping for her wedding dress.

She was sure it wouldn't take a month. Duncan's mother had to be joking her.

So far, plans for the wedding had been going pretty good. They had a date set, five months from the day their parents had finally accepted it, and now, with only three months left, Courtney was ready to shop for a dress. They had decided to have the wedding in their hometown, but to stay in their home for the time being until the date got closer. It caused a lot of traveling between the two places between both sets of parents- but mostly their mothers, the ones who actually wanted to be involved.

It would have been an understatement to call it an awkward moment when Duncan's mother and her own mother had met up with Courtney, Bridgette and Gwen earlier that day to start the shopping spree. Yes, very much an understatement. Mostly, the two women tried to ignore each other, but that was kind of impossible, since they were both shopping for Courtney.

"Oh, do you like this one, Courtney?" Duncan's mother would hold up a dress.

And then, of course, her mother would bump her with her hip and hold up another dress in Courtney's face. "But you like the one your own mother picked out better, isn't that right, C.C.?"

Then they would get in a tiny little muttering argument and Courtney would snap, rather loudly, nipping it right there in the bud. It came to a point where both mothers had to shake hands and say, "I'm sorry for trying to kill you for a pair of shoes." That was how serious this was getting. But after the initial fighting, they lost most of their bite and started actually working together to find Courtney a dress.

And even though Courtney was stressed as hell because she could just not find the right dress, and because everything was too expensive, and because things weren't just going her way, she couldn't help but smile when she heard the two mothers talking about what they should wear to the wedding, giggling like two twelve year old girls.

It felt good to know that things, at least in the 'motherly' love department, were going to be okay.

But there was still the terrible question that remained- "What are you going to wear?"

"A dress, god dammit!"

"But which dress?"

"I don't fucking know, OK? Just back up for a second, let me-"

"No Courtney, this is too important to just back up about! This is your future, this is your life, THIS IS YOUR-"

Gwen placed a hand over Bridgette's mouth, shushing her quickly. "Sorry," Gwen mumbled to everyone that was staring at them in the Bridal store. "She has a problem with weddings."

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Courtney seethed as the people around them started calming down and Bridgette's breathing turned back to normal.

"She gets overly jumpy about it. It makes her a spazz-o." Bridgette didn't try to deny it. She just gave Courtney a weak smile and threw another dress at her.

But Courtney wasn't too sure she could try on another dress. For the past week, she had been searching, and searching, and searching still, and yet… no luck. Maybe it was the curse that came with all women when they tried to find their wedding dress. But if things kept going at this pace, Courtney wasn't all that sure if she would be able to find one before the wedding. Her breathing started to go ragged as she slipped into the wedding dress quickly, not really looking at it and sighing irritably.

She walked out of the changing room with a scowl. "Well, how do I look?" Gwen and Bridgette turned their attention to her, but then stopped talking all together. "What?" Courtney muttered, wishing they would stop staring at her with their mouths open like that. "Is it that ugly?" Turning to the fullbody mirror to the side, Courtney let out a small gasp.

"Oh…"

It was perfect. It hugged her waist at just the right angle, and it wasn't too poofy or too flat as others had been. There were small sparkles at the top of the sleevless dress, and the bright white of it left her speechless. "That's the dress!" Bridgette squealed. "Just look at how she's looking at it!"

Gwen couldn't help but smile. "You look good."

Courtney couldn't say anything. She just hoped that maybe Duncan might like it as much as she did.

Duncan was so tired of this already. "I have to wear a monkey suit, don't I?" He had wanted to sigh when DJ and Geoff had come to pick him up.

"Guess what?" Geoff had yelled, much too loud. Duncan was sure the neighbors would stare. "We're going shopping, dude!" He had tried to get them all to the mall fast before people started questioning his sexuality. For some reason, no one on their block knew that he lived with Courtney. So seeing all these men around here might not be the best idea at the moment.

"Well of course you have to wear a tux, Duncan. That's a stupid question." Duncan shot DJ a death glare as he was handed yet another suit. "You should probably get rid of that Mohawk, at least for the wedding, too."

Duncan's eyes went wide. "Get rid of my Mohawk…?" Now that he thought about it, how stupid would it look to get married with green hair? He could imagine looking back on those pictures and feeling a little… well, stupid. He hadn't even thought about it until now. "Do you think Princess would like that?"

Geoff snorted. "Dude, who wants to get married to a guy with green hair?" Duncan growled and Geoff held up a hand in defense. "And what I mean by that is everybody! Everyone wants to be with green haired guys! I mean who doesn't want to-"

"Shut up, Geoff."

"You got it, brah."

Practically everyone was involved in this wedding, wether they wanted to be or not. The only people who had yet to give thei contribution to the event happened to be the two people who claimed they had nothing in common.

"You have to help out sometime, pop."

"Daddy, please! You can't just expect me to this all myself!"

Oh, please, papa, daddy, help us!

The two dads were both already tired of it. It had sucked getting prepared for their own weddings- what made anyone think that would want to go through the pain and stress of preparing for another? But their own wives were forceful, and their kids were pleading- there was really nothing else they could do but join in.

"So, I really like the pale yellow, but I really don't know if it would match my skin tone correctly. I mean, I know I'll be wearing my wedding dress, but they people surrounding me need to look good, but still not over power me, because I am the bride… but pale yellow goes so great with Duncan's eyes, and it would such a pretty color for the bridesmaids… and… Dad? Are you listening?"

"Hmm?" Her father mumbled around his coffee mug, his eyes heavy. "Yes, sweetheart, I'm listening."

She smiled at him, sitting by him and sifting through the millions of papers scattered around the table. "Okay, so what do you think-" She held up a pale yellow color card, a rich, dark purple, and a light green that resembled a soft flower petal. "-Sunshine Morning, Drinks at Midnight, or Tree Hugger?"

He raised a brow. "The name of the color is Tree Hugger?" She nodded, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Most definitely not that one…" He looked toward his Courtney, the one that had come over abruptly in need of his help, or so she said. She had seemed desperate for him to make some decision in her wedding. As much as she said that she didn't care what he thought, they all kind of knew that was a bit of a lie. Okay, it was a lot of a lie. She obviously needed her fathers comfirmation on everything to make her feel better about the situation.

"Why don't you just pick whichever one you like most?" The statement made Courtney's eyes widen. Her dad had never once not voiced his opinion on something. "It's your wedding, after all." She felt like she was going to cry, but considering the fact that she had been doing a lot of that lately, she wiped the thought away, settling on smiling broadly at her father. It was her wedding, wasn't it?

"I like Sunshine Morning, personally. It matches Duncan's eyes, and I think it's really pretty."

She realized that she was still trying to back up her opinion, as though her dad would question it and put her down about it like he always did. But she was only met with a silent nod and a grunt of agreement. "If you like it, then it's perfect." Hugging the color card to her chest, she ran down the hall, calling for her mother.

And then the shittiest thing happened.

Alex had not been fond about the wedding, not at all. Mostly because he couldn't believe anyone like Courtney would be dumb enough to marry his idiot of a son, but also because he just hated weddings in general. It was too much hard work on one day that your wife would hold agaisnt you forever. And you would keep living, wondering if maybe that day ruined your life, and then you died. It was a pleasant thought.

Not that his father would ever voice this opinion- he loved his wife, and he also didn't feel like sleeping on the couch anytime soon.

Duncan hadn't really asked for much help for the wedding though. So far, the only thing he had asked for was for him to cover a few expenses. It was actually really odd to see how responsible Duncan was about this wedding, though he knew it probably had nothing to do with responsibility and more to do with the fact that raging bride-to-be Courtney was not someone you wanted to fuck with right now.

But then, Duncan had come with one request that his father just had to refuse. Anything but that. "Pop, you have to. He's going to be at the wedding, and you can't just avoid this forever!" Duncan tried to remember coming to Courtney's debate team practice in high school, but he couldn't really remember how anyone won the debates considering the fact that he had mostly just been teasing her and cracking crude jokes aimed toward her the whole time.

"Why the hell would I ever want to talk to that damn lawyer?" He yelled, sitting back in the seat of Duncan's car. They had been driving out to look at the place where the wedding would be hosted when Duncan had decided to bring up the girl's father. Alex couldn't handle that right now. And no way was he going to apologize to anybody- it wasn't his fault that that guy was an asshole!

Duncan sighed, pulling up to someone's driveway. Alex looked out from the car to get a better look at the place. "So this is where you're having the wedding? I mean it's a nice house, but…" It just looked too normal and a bit too small to have a wedding in. He knew that Duncan and Courtney had quite a lot of people on the guest list, so how they would all fit in that one small house, Alex had yet to descipher.

Not saying anything, Duncan opened his car down and got out, his father following suit. They walked up the porch steps and Duncan rang the doorbell. Just as his dad was about to question the situation, he heard a gruff voice answer. "Be there in a second!" Alex felt his eyes narrow on Duncan. If looks could kill, Duncan would have been murdered by that stare.

"No you didn't you little bitch mother-"

"Hello?" Courtney's father answered the door to see Duncan smiling sheepishly and his father, quietly fuming. "What the hell are you doing here?" He spat, grimacing.

Alex looked to Duncan with hatred. "I'm asking myself the same question. Why am I here, Duncan?" And before both dad's could kill Duncan in their fit of rage, they heard a small voice.

"You're here because you two are going to apologize to one another." Courtney walked out of the door, past her father and too Duncan, taking a hold of his hand. "And if you don't, I will personally kill you both. I'm so done with you guys fighting all the time."

Duncan rolled his eyes. "You guys are like two little kids." The two father's both hissed at him, but Courtney cut them a glare that showed there was no arguing with this anymore. And maybe that was all they needed. Because, before either of them could really think about it, they were shaking hands.

Do you know what it's like to shake hands with your worst enemy? It's horrible at first- their grip is all loose while yours is tight, your palm is a bit sweaty and their's is too dry, you two couldn't be anymore different. But then your kids shoot you death glare and your forced to smile. And you hate every second of it, and you really still hate this person, but then you start to realize-

They're family.

And then you get a little angry and then in denial as the stages of grief pass effortlessly. As then it's over. And then you both give each other a weak smile, and you feel like your going to throw up and you go your separate ways. And your kids just smile because even though you don't know it, something has changed.

Their father's were not going to fight again. And least not at the wedding. A silent understanding had passed through everyone- that as people, they hated each other, and as father's, they hated each other even more-

But as family… they could learn to get along.

And then it was here. The wedding that so many people had dreaded and waited for and cried over and fought over and nearly killed each other for: the wedding was tomorrow. They were laying down for a short while, after getting home from all the wedding planning and having to go to their bachelor and bachelorette parties in about an hour. And Courtney was suffering from the last of her period cramps.

It had just ended yesterday, but she still had tense muscles in her body that ached each time she made a move. She knew she was lucky that this was happening tonight and tommorow, but it would be a lie to say that she wasn't upset. This really sucked. Everytime she tried to reposition herself in their bed, she groaned, clutching whichever part of her body was in pain at the moment. This wouldn't have been a big deal if Duncan hadn't been able to hear and feel her moving around with haste.

He was a bit tired after planning the rest of the loose ends of the wedding. The bed was soft, and the blankets were warm and lush, but every damn time he tried to shut his eyes and get some much needed sleep, Courtney would jerk in her sleep, letting out a small whimper. He had learned over time not to bother Courtney when she was like this- but tonight, it was worse, mostly just because he was much more tired than usual and therefore, much more irritable than usual. He rolled around to look at her, seeing her face scrunched up in pain. "Are you okay, Princess?"

Courtney grunted. "Does it look like I'm okay?" She ran a finger down her face as her body contorted in pain once again. "Just go back to sleep." She mumbled.

Duncan rolled his eyes, pulling her toward him. "Yeah, because it's possible to sleep with you rolling around like that." She tried to make an angry retort, but then Duncan grabbed one of her shoulders, digging his thumb and fore finger into it. "I can deal without a little sleep before our parties."

Usually, this would hurt, but it actually felt oddly relaxing as the muscle untensed in her shoulder. "Do that again." Sighing, she snuggled closer to him as he pressed his hands into her shoulders once more.

They would have stayed like that all night, had it not been for their alarm clock signaling that it was time to depart for their 'last night of fun for the rest of your life' (or so Duncan's father put it).

"You promise not to kiss any strippers?"

"Yeah, Princess, I promise. You have to promise not to kiss any male strippers."

"There are male strippers?"

"Where have you been for the past… forever?"

"…"

"Why are you being so quiet?"

"A male stripper…"

"Why are you smiling like that?"

"No reason."

"Hey! We made a promise! No kissing any strippers."

"…Does that include touching their chest?"

"Princess… no. Don't even play like that."

"Who says I'm playing?"

"That!... That's not funny, Courtney."

"Oh, so are we on a first name basis now that you're not getting want you want?"

"What I want is you and I had better be the only one getting some!"

"…Heh."

"What's so funny?"

"…You said 'getting some'."

"What happened to you? When did you become so dirty?"

"When did you become so squeaky-clean?"

"Since I met you, you idiot."

"Sure, keep calling me an idiot."

"I will."

"The male strippers wouldn't call me an idiot…"

"Will you stop it?"

"The male stripper would probably tell me to not stop, keep going…"

"Shut it!"

"The male stripper would most definitely want it open."

"Princess, please stop, before I have a heart attack."

"I hope the male stripper is dressed like a cop."

"A cop? Do you have something agaisnt criminals?"

"I have nothing agaisnt criminals, I just might have a male stripper agaisnt me…"

"Oh lord…"

The next day, Duncan woke up with a less than horrible hang over. He was usually pretty good about holding his alcohol, so he was sure a few pills would do the trick. He knew that that probably wasn't going to do the trick for his best man, Geoff, who was totally smashed. "Oh man…" Geoff walked up behind Duncan, shaking his head and shutting his eyes tight. "It hurts so bad…"

Duncan snorted. "You would think with how many times you've gotten drunk that you would be able to handle a hangover by now." He passed Geoff a few Tylenol and some ginger ale, patting his friend on the back. "Are you ready?"

"For what, dude?" Duncan shot Geoff a half lidded glare. The blonde, however, just laid on the couch by another one of Duncan's buddies, giggling. "It hurts like… like good ways, bruh."

"For the wedding. Are you ready for the wedding?"

"I'm getting married?" Geoff yelled, waking a few of the people up around the room. "Since when?"

"Since never." The criminal sighed, rubbing his temples. "I'm going to the barber shop." No one questioned him as he left, though he could faintly here Geoff rambling about how he still could not believe that he had forgotten his own wedding.

Courtney walked into the hair salon, sighing as his friends and sister sat around her. "In exactly nine hours and fourty seven minutes, I will be a married woman." She took in a deep, shaky breath. "So I better look like a real god damn princess by the time my hair is done."

Biting his tongue, Duncan closed his eyes shut. It felt so wrong. Like a whole part of him was being chopped off. Like he was losing his heart, his soul, his-

"Thank god you're finally getting rid of that damn thing."

Duncan' s blue eyes flashed open at the voice, a scowl on his face. Geoff, Trent and DJ stood in front of him, flashing him bright smiles and nervous laughter. Trent continued his sentence with a toothy grin, "You know, so that girls won't be all over you anymore." Duncan rolled his eyes but didn't fight his answer.

He heard the sound of the razor stop, and things went still for a second. "All done." The man said, swiveling Duncan's chair around to face the mirror. He gaped.

How long had it been since he lived without his Mohawk? He was twelve when he first got it- how odd that it was gone from his head. He had spent hours and hours working on it, growing it out, grooming it, gelling it up- the more he thought about it, the more upset he was with the whole situation. But then he took another look. He didn't look as scary as he did before. He just looked like a normal guy, excluding the peircings and everything. His dark hair swayed messily on his head, much like it had before- just no Mohawk to top it all off. "I feel like Trent." He muttered.

Trent took his own hair in his hands, frowning. "What's wrong with my hair?" The other guys just shook their head at him.

"Nothing is wrong with your hair, man." DJ said, then he turned to face Duncan. "Courtney's going to love it."

"You think?" Duncan said, running a hand through his newly trimmed hair. It was weird to have all that weight taken off his head. He looked down to the floor, seeing green hair spilling all over the floor. Had he really had that much hair up there? He took another look at himself, trying to fully embrace the change.

Geoff smiled. "You look great."

Courtney looked in the mirror with wide eyes. "Oh, my…" Her hair rained down her face in ringlets. "It's so.."

"Pretty?"

"Beautiful?"

"Lovely?"

She smiled. "… It's awesome." Her wedding was in seven hours and twelve minutes.

She lied and told herself that she wasn't nervous.

Arriving at the wedding hall, Duncan looked around in amazement. The pale yellow, dark purple and white gave off a heavenly feel. How odd. He never thought he'd like those colors together too much. He hadn't until Courtney had picked them out.

The long hall way was already full of guests and wedding gifts scattered the lobby tables. He didn't remember having that many people to invite, but he guessed that with all the family, plus all the friends, plus all the neighbors and people who had helped them out through their lives and the wedding, it added up to be one hell of a crowd. He had never imagined that his wedding would be so popular- maybe it was just because of Courtney. Yeah, it had to be because of Courtney.

And then he saw her. His princess.

She was still wearing her normal clothing, but her hair hung down her face in ringlets. She seemed to glow a bit, her eyes bright and her lips in a wide grin as she spoke to all the people around her. Duncan really wanted to see her, but someone pulled him away, and he only caught her glance once. A look of surprised over took her face as she mouthed the words, Your hair! He smirked at her, yelping as he was pulled through the crowd.

Two hours and twenty eight minutes. She was fully clad in her wedding dress and had her make-up done beautifully. But apparently, she wasn't allowed to see Duncan or something. She made a claim that she had to go to bathroom, taking her purse with her quickly. As soon as she was out in the main hall, she took out her phone and snapped it open.

Meet me upstairs. Hurry b4 the girls snatch me up again :)

Duncan trudged up the stairs in his suit and tie, looking for Courtney. He didn't expect to see her in her dress, but that was exactly what he found. It slid down her shoulders perfectly, the white dress hugging her just right, the lace causing Duncan's face to heat up. "You look beautiful."

She blushed brightly, taking his hands in her. "Your hair… you cut off your Mohawk." She ran a hand through his hair, causing him to shake a little, smiling at her. She felt tears stain her eyes. "I'm so nervous." Whispering, she blinked back tears, gasping as she felt his thumb come up to her face to brush the tears away.

He just stared at her, looking into her like she was the last thing on earth. Something about his stare wasn't intruding, just familiar. It was comfortable. Duncan couldn't help but take all of her in. Because she was going to be his, officially, forever. No one elses. He was going to be able to call her his and not feel over protective because she would be, and no one could tell him otherwise. Not his friends, not his parents- it would just be them, them, together, the way things were supposed to be. He looked to her hand, seeing how that engagement ring was still clad to her finger. Rings. He looked to her ears, seeing the small hoops that she loved looping through her ears. Rings. He had to thank rings. Rings that helped her fall in love with him, rings that help him prove he loved her.

He really did. Never in his life had he ever felt more pain and pleasure and just over all love for anything before. She wasn't sweet but she wasn't sour, and she wasn't soft but she wasn't rough. She was perfect, she was perfect, she was lovely and beautiful and crying and dammit, she was his. She had agreed to be his forever and that made tears run down his face too. "I fucking love you." He whispered, pulling her close.

They shouldn't be kissing before the wedding even got a chance to start, but it was just something gentle, something to hold them over until they could finally be alone. Her eyes were soft, his were warm, and their lips were molded together just the way they were supposed to be.

Their nerves weren't calm, no… but it was still too perfect.

One hour and fifty four minutes.

"Son, I gotta wonder how you came to be such a lucky bastard to get her to say yes."

Twenty six minutes.

"So are you ready to begin the first day of the rest of your life?"

Nine minutes.

"Don't worry, brah, it's going to be fine.

Six seconds.

"Oh, Courtney, don't cry, you'll ruin your make-up, dear-"

Zero.

You know those times when you really, really wanna throw up? Like your whole stomach is willing to die. Right then and there, it's when the pain is just freaking unbearable- a few seconds later, you'll feel fine, really, it's just the sensation- but it still really sucks. It's like you're being punched in the gut so hard that you had to let some things go, you had to let everything out and you can't stop it because it's like acid in your throat and it hurts so fucking bad. You wonder why, lord, oh why do you do this to me, even though everyone has this feeling, the feeling of throwing up. It last for a period of six seconds and usually isn't something people try to remember.

Well, imagine if that feeling was multiplied by ten, plus two hundred, devided by zero, and then shoved down your throat in one big firecracker explosion that left you wanting to run away and cry in a corner because you were just so. Damn. Nervous.

This is how Courtney felt for the entire thirty four minutes and seven seconds of her wedding. I mean, whose wedding takes that long? She had to wonder why they had found it a good idea to hire the slowest preacher in the world, but that was for another time.

She had been much to busy crying. Her fathers arm wrapped around her own, she let out a shaky breath and tried to smile at everyone else, but the only one she could look at was Duncan. He was so handsome, and he looked just as nervous as her, which actually made her feel a hundred times better. He smirked at her from down the isle, making a stupid face and causing her to giggle under her breath. Only he would try to make a joke at a time like this.

As she walked up and took Duncan's hands in hers, she knew everything was going to turn out alright.

He looked down at her soft hands in his, running his thumbs over the tops of her fingers, trying to keep the blush that was showing on his face down to a minimum. She just kept smiling at him, and he couldn't help but realize that this was what they both wanted, this was what they both were meant to be. And it broke his heart and mended it and made his mind spin and made him melt all over just thinking about it.

The rings were placed on one anothers fingers, and Duncan knew for a fact that he would never take that thing off (except maybe to clean it every once in a while- he could picture Courtney now- "You made a commitment to me, not to be unsanitary!"). These rings meant more than just this wedding, then just her and him.

It meant one.

It meant together.

And as she said she took him to be her husband and as he agreed that he took her to be his wife, as those fateful words were spoken- "You may now kiss the bride."-

-He sure as hell did.

And then all the nerves unraveled in her stomach as they walked down the aisle. God, it felt so good to say that! They were married! She was a wife, and Duncan… Duncan was her husband. Wow. She couldn't believe that they had made it this far. Maybe on that first day, when Duncan had asked her out a date, she hadn't seen much in him. It definitely wasn't love at first sight, but she didn't believe in that shit anyway. This, them, it was real. And that was all that mattered.

Maybe they should have stayed longer and let their dance last a bit more than they did, but it didn't seem like anyone was angry at them for leaving early and driving away. They were in love- who could blame them?

As everyone started leaving with them, and their families congratulated them and friends gave out hearty hugs, Duncan and Courtney made way for their car. "We'll see you all in three weeks!" Duncan said, and Courtney laughed.

Their fathers waved, until Courtney's father yelled, "THREE WEEKS?"

Again, it was hectic time in life.

But this time, it was happy.

"Do you remember when I first got you those ear rings, Princess?"

"Yeah… what about it?"

"…I think that might have been the day I admitted to myself that I was in love with you."

And he grabbed her hand, kissing the ring on her finger. "I love you."

She smiled. "I love you too." Winking at him, she looked to her hand again. "And I really, really, love rings."

Ring, ring telephone rings
Somebody says baby what you doin'
I've been wonderin' where you've been
Now and then I think about you and me

There's no use fighting about things
We can't recall
Cause it don't matter girl at all

Just come on home
And baby we'll laugh and sing
And we'll make love
And let the telephone ring

Ring, ring door bell ring
Baby come on in
I got the Allman Brothers on the stereo

I'm glad you came around
I've been feeling down
Talking to Tony and Mario

You know they make good conversation
But girl that ain't no consolation
Cause I got love and baby I'll give you some
And if somebody comes we'll let the door bell ring

Ring, ring golden ring
Around the sun around your pretty finger
Ring, ring voices ring
With a happy tune anybody can be a singer

The sun comes up across the city
I swear you never looked so
Dog gone pretty

Hand in hand
We'll stand upon the sand
With the preacher man
And let the wedding bell ring

-Lobo 'Rings'

Authors Note:

YES! THAT WAS THE 100TH STORY! I hope it met everyone's standards. Just so you know, that was 46 pages long on a word document. Yeah. I worked my ass off on this. So I hope you liked it.

But now, I have new goals! Wow. It feels so odd to say that I'm not just near 100 anymore… but that I'm there. Dammit! I'm just going to have to make more. 200 is the new goal… and it took more than two years to just get 100! Well let's hope it doesn't take that long to reach my new goal.

This has pretty much sucked the life force out of me, guys. I've never spent this much time on a piece of writing… I usually get things out as soon as I type them, but this… this was some hard ass work. So if you would PLEASE review, because I just… I feel like I worked hard on it! I hate begging for reviews, because that's so… not me, but please? For me?

As for the song, I really love that song… it's my mother's favorite, and I just felt that it would really make a good love song for Duncan/Courtney, just because I think of happy times when I think of that song. :) And my angst stuff makes me sad, so I tried to make this kind of happy. :D

This was dedicated to Alex, my most bestest buddy since birth! You read all my stories even though you claim you don't like to read. You really helped me with a lot of plots and different strategies. So, for you, my homey, I give you this. :) Also, as to the question you asked earlier ('Why so cereal?'), you know why. Because dat's how I roll *rolls toilet paper*

Thanks to all of my readers and reviewers! I wouldn't have any drive without you guys! *sobs*

*gives out cyber cookies* YOU GUYS FREAKING ROCK!

First Draft Finished: 1/1/11
Final Draft Finished: 1/3/11
Published: 1/3/11
Fandom: Total Drama series
Disclaimer: Total Drama Island and all its characters are property of their respective owners.
©2010 Cereal-Killa