In the end, Anya drove home ahead of Christian and Merethyl, ostensibly so that she could lead Christian to the home she shared with Tony and a decent parking space. She really wanted to hear the conversation in the car behind her, but she wasn't cruel enough to put either one of their friends in the backseat of her own car with Sofia. She had also forgotten to call Tony and warn him about guests, which meant that the three of them walking up the path toward the house was going to come as something of a surprise. It certainly wasn't a mystery, not with Sofia yelling at the top of her lungs for her papa as Anya unlocked the door to let them all inside.

"Papa is in the kitchen!" Tony called upon hearing his wife and daughter arrive home. He couldn't very well miss little Sofia calling for her Papa at the top of her lungs, after all. Though her language skills were still lacking, she seemed to enjoy hearing herself yell for her Papa every chance she got. From the sounds and smells emanating from the kitchen, it seemed Tony well cooking dinner and doing a pretty good job of it. Christian smirked over at Anya and held a finger to his lips to keep his and Merethyl's presence there a secret so as to surprise his bon ami.

Laughing a little, Anya bent to let Sofia crawl at speed toward the kitchen, rolling her eyes at Christian's little subterfuge. "Incoming, milaya," she called to her husband, warning him about the baby, at the very least, and turned to pull her coat off.

Confused as to why they were being quiet, Merethyl played along until she could work out what was happening. She hadn't socialized with humans very much since coming to Rhy'Din; she had a feeling this evening was going to be something of an education for her.

Christian helped Merethyl off with her coat, before removing his own, handing both to Anya to do with what she wished. It sounded like Sofia had found her father, as the voice from the kitchen exclaimed, "Oh, who is this little cherub wandering into my kitchen?" Tony swept the little girl into his arms to smooch her cheek loudly. "Did you miss your papa while you were out with Mama, bambina""

Predictably, there was the sound of loud kisses from the kitchen in answer to Tony's query, making Anya laugh as she opened the closet to put Christian and Merethyl's coats inside. "She was desolate without you, mi amore," she teased her husband, gesturing for the others to come with her as she headed toward the kitchen herself. "Until Irina gave her a handful of popcorn to pass the time."

"I believe it!" Tony replied with a chuckle. There were few frowns or tears in this household these days, especially with little Sofia around to bright their days and warm their hearts. "Popcorn!" Tony echoed with a tsk. "She will ruin your supper. At least she's not giving you candy yet." All of this was said to the little girl in his arms, who only blew raspberries at her papa, because she could.

Christian offered Merethyl a reassuring smile and taking her arm, drew her toward the kitchen behind Anya. "I hope you have made enough for guests, mon ami!" he declared as he and Merethyl made themselves known.

Grinning, Anya waited until Christian had brought Merethyl into the room and allowed Tony to see them wrapped about one another before turning to her husband with an impish smile. "We have much to celebrate, milaya," she told him, stealing Christian's thunder purely because she wanted to see Tony's face up close when the bomb dropped. "They are to be married. Is not that a wonderful surprise?"

Tony's mouth dropped open in undisguised shock. It wasn't so much seeing Christian and Merethyl together in his kitchen that shocked him as the news of an impending marriage. "Married?" he echoed, looking between the trio, with Sofia balanced against his hip. His apron declared, "I don't need a recipe. I'm Italian!" and was splattered with telltale tomato sauce, as if the smell emanating from the kitchen wasn't clue enough. "It's certainly a surprise," he said. "When did this happen?"

Christian exchanged glances with Merethyl, his face flushing with color that was only in part due to excitement. "Today," he replied, leaving the details out for now.

Having found her place tucked under Christian's arm once again, Merethyl smiled up at him, the affection shining in her eyes. She had not resumed her glamor, the white-blonde of her hair and paleness of her skin no longer so much a concern to her, it seemed. "After Irina left us in rehearsal," she added softly, biting her lip in amusement at the shock on Tony's face.

Anya, on the other hand, didn't even try to hide her own amusement at her husband's reaction as she reached out to pull Sofia's coat off her. "I found them all over each other in the rehearsal rooms," she told him cheerfully, tweaking Sofia's nose just to make the little girl giggle.

"No, I mean ..." Tony blinked as Anya took Sofia from him, stammering a little as he tried to form words following his state of shock. "I mean ..." He gestured between the two of them. "When did you become a couple?"

Christian flushed further, an almost shy smile touching his face as he looked to the elf on his arm. "Today, but it's been building for a while."

Tony gave Anya a questioning glance as if to ask, "What's going on?"

"We were ....shown the way," Merethyl said quietly. It didn't exactly clarify anything, but in Rhy'Din, it certainly went some way to making sense of the suddenness of the announcement.

Anya met Tony's eyes with a shrug and a smile. "You seem very happy together," she said to the other couple. "When are you planning to marry?"

Anya's question brought a small frown to Christian's face. An hour ago, he'd been ready to get married right away, no doubt in his mind that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Merry and he didn't want to waste a minute further. It was these questions from Tony and Anya that had him hesitating, not because he was having second thoughts, but because he knew how sudden it must all seem to them. Still, he knew what he wanted and he knew he wasn't going to change his mind. He looked to Merethyl, knowing without asking that she felt the same way. "Soon," he replied - the sooner the better.

"Well," said Tony with a resigned sigh. "It seems we have a lot to talk about but first ....This calls for a celebration." He went to the wine cooler to find the perfect wine to toast their friends. Yes, he had a wine cooler. What respectable Italian did not?

Tony's obvious wariness about how suddenly all this was happening dulled Merethyl's smile for a moment, before she recalled how cautious humans could be about their engagements with one another. She hugged a little tighter to Christian, sure that at some point someone was going to ask him whether she'd cast some kind of spell on him.

Anya glanced at the other couple with a gently encouraging smile. "A celebration is definitely what we should have this evening," she nodded confidently. "And I am fairly sure I have wedding magazines left over from our wedding somewhere in the house."

Christian chuckled at the Russian gypsy comment, which he knew Tony had made more to tease his wife than anything else. He hadn't been in Rhy'Din very long and wasn't really sure what to think. As far as he was concerned, it was all a mystery, but a mystery with a silver lining. "It wasn't a love potion or a spell," he pointed out. "My feelings haven't changed. I was already in love with her before the vision." He gave Merethyl's hand a squeeze as he spoke, as if to reassure her that this wasn't just some fleeting notion that would evaporate with time. "It was you and Irina who put us together, but what grew between us had nothing to do with anyone but us." He knew if anyone would understand it would be Tony and Anya, who had been dance partners before they were lovers, as well.

"Well, whoever it was has obviously done you a very good turn," Anya congratulated them with a smile. "It is very inspiring to see, even if we did not have the first idea that you even thought of one another in this way. I am very happy for you both. And a wedding!" She clapped her hands, entirely too feminine at times. "I do not know about elven ceremonies, but would it not be beautiful to combine both your faiths into one ceremony?"

"My faith," Christian echoed with a rueful chuckle. "I'm not even sure what I believe anymore!" Rhy'Din had shaken him to his core, not necessarily in a bad way, but for a man who had been raised a staunch Catholic, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to believe in anymore.

Tony smiled at Christian's confession. He, too, had been raised Catholic, as many Italians were. "I still believe God created the Heavens and the Earth, and Rhy'Din is part of the Heavens," he pointed out with a shrug.

Anya glanced over at Merethyl, who was conspicuously keeping her mouth shut, and reached out to stop the religious conversation. "Perhaps I should have said cultures," she chuckled. "There is more to that than faith, and to be honest, religion is an argument waiting to happen. So no intimidating Merethyl with talk of only one God, da""

"Oh, no!" Tony interjected. "What I mean is I believe there is one Creator who created everything. Other than that, it's all open for debate." Of course, even this clashed with some other beliefs and on Rhy'Din, where anything was possible, his theory could be both right and wrong at the same time. It was confusing, to say the least. He and Anya had had this discussion many times before and never seemed to be able to come to any conclusion, but Tony seemed to have reconciled it all in his mind, at least.

"I'm not sure any of that matters," Christian interjected. "I'm not even sure if a ceremony is necessary. It won't change how I feel, but it's seems we should do something, shouldn't we?" he asked, uncertainly, turning to Merethyl. "What are elven ceremonies like?"

Drawn into the discussion, Merethyl wisely kept her own belief in the pantheon of the Seldarine quiet. "Our ceremonies are held beneath the sky, in places of natural beauty," she told them softly. "Often at dusk, or at dawn. We invoke the elements as witnesses, and there is often a binding of hands. I have never seen a human marriage ceremony, but the elven binding is ....it is more a confirmation of promises already made in private."

"That doesn't sound too much different from a traditional Catholic wedding," Tony said, except for the lack of a church setting and the confirmation of promises already made. "A traditional Catholic wedding takes place in a church, and the vows are made in witness of everyone present," he explained.

"It doesn't matter," Christian interjected again, looking to Merethyl with a soft smile that said he only wanted to please her. "I am ready to say my vows right here and now, if I could."

The loving gaze that was returned to him almost seemed too intimate to be witnessed. Anya cleared her throat a little awkwardly, taking a sip of her wine. "It is something to celebrate," she said thoughtfully. "Perhaps with friends?" In other words please, please don't rush into this on the very day you've decided on it.

"Slow down, Romeo," Tony added with a laugh. He didn't expect or want them to take years, like he and Anya had, and he certainly didn't want them to repeat their mistakes, but he thought a little time and planning, at least, was in order. "We're talking about the most important day of your lives. It deserves a little more ceremony than that."

"A week?" Merethyl suggested sweetly, the only sign that she was teasing in the ingenuous expression she sent in the direction of the De Lucas. Hopefully Christian would catch that tease, or Anya was going to have a heart attack.

For all that it seemed they were rushing, Christian knew Merethyl well enough to know she was teasing, and he grinned back at her. "At least, a week," he agreed with a wink.

Tony laughed, catching the look between the two, though he wasn't sure if Anya would catch on or not. "It will take at least a week just to make the arrangements!"

"Yes! The arrangements!" Anya latched on to that idea quickly. "The venue, the officiant, the guests, the food, the music, the clothes, these are all things that will have to be arranged. Some of them you cannot rush, you know?"

Merethyl bit her lip as she smiled, glad the men, at least, had understood her tease. "A garden, no need, the two of you, I can cook, the sounds of nature, and naked," she answered Anya's list of suggestions with an open grin.

The Russian woman narrowed her eyes at the elf, and gave up, leaning back with a sigh. "If you get married naked, I want pictures."

"Yes, the two of ..." Christian started, glad he and Merethyl were on the same page there, but then she said something that took him completely off guard and his mouth dropped open as he turned to gape at her. "Naked"! I would think you would prefer to keep that view for yourself, or are my tights not tight enough for you?" he teased.

For the first time since any of them had known her, Merethyl erupted into bright laughter, clutching her stomach as she rolled on the couch, absolutely enchanted by the look on Christian's face as he challenged her. Unable to keep from chuckling herself, Anya glanced at the men with a wide grin. She had a feeling she was going to like Merethyl.

Tony laughed along with them, relieved to find the ice melting. It seemed Irina was right all along. He wondered if she should moonlight as a matchmaker, or maybe she had some gypsy blood after all.

Christian only look all the more comically shocked by his intended's laughter. "You're not serious, are you? We aren't getting married naked, are we?"

Gasping for breath, Merethyl finally managed to drag herself upright to gently touch Christian's cheek, still fighting back giggles. "No, melamin, I would not do that to you," she promised him. "But now we know each other's hearts, we do not have to wear those silly things in the water any longer, do we?"

"Swimsuits," Christian corrected with a sigh of relief. She really had him going there for a moment. "They are called swimsuits, mon amour. And no, we do not need to wear them in the water any longer, unless there is someone around who might see. I do not wish to share the view with anyone," he told her, leaning in to touch a soft but brief kiss to her lips, almost oblivious to the two witnesses on the couch.

"Ahem," Tony cleared his throat to remind them they weren't alone. While the pair amused him to no end, there was still a lot to discuss and plan, and the night wasn't getting any earlier. "Why don't you two go home, sleep on it, pick a date, and then we'll start making arrangements," he suggested.