Topic: Picture Perfect

Elena

Date: 2013-10-15 11:22 EST
"Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead and through all the years. May happiness be your companion and your days together be good and long upon the earth."

A picture perfect moment, private, shared, loving. White sandy beach, sparkling blue ocean, beaming sun playing on warm skin. Two people, hands entwined, gazing into each other's eyes, soft and tender as the encircling bands of diamond and white gold they now both wore slid close. Their witnesses, a brother and his own fiancee, looking on; their officiant, a venerable man native to this beautiful patch of tropical paradise, far out to sea, away from the bustle and chill of Rhy'Din in the autumn. One hand, one heart, and one last act in a ceremony that would bind them together for eternity.

"You may now kiss the bride."

The setting was perfect, like something out of romance movie or a honeymoon travel brochure. Michael couldn't have asked for a more perfect location or a more beautiful bride. He'd taken his vows very seriously, nervously repeating them back to his bride to be, as well as to the trio who'd gathered to witness. It was only now, at the end of the ceremony, that he finally dared relax enough to smile, reaching to catch his new bride around the waist and draw her close. "It's about time," he muttered, not quite low enough not to be heard by that trio. He smiled, blue eyes shining happily, hardly believing his luck, as he leaned in to brush a soft kiss against Elena's lips - their first as a married couple.

His kiss found his giggling bride - his new wife - as warm and affectionate as she had ever been, curling her arms about his neck to seal the promises they had just shared together. Who would have thought that barely three days ago, there hadn't even been an engagement ring on her finger" And now just look at them ....after years of waiting and struggling, separately and together, finally Michael Donnelly had taken Elena De Luca to be his wife.

As the bride and groom kissed, Anya looped her arm through Tony's, smiling up at her own fiance, the brother of the bride. "I do not think I could have chosen a more perfect way for them to be married," she murmured to him, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. "How does it feel, to be beaten to the altar by your baby sister, milaya?"

One of those witnesses - the brother of the bride - looked on fondly, one arm linked with his own fiancee, the woman he had loved for nearly as many years as Michael had loved Elena and was planning on claiming for his own very soon. He turned his smiling gaze onto that fiancee at his side and leaned close to brush an affectionate kiss against her temple. "We won't be far behind them, carissima," he countered. "Are you glad you came?"

"Did that happen already?" his sweet little ballerina asked with an impishness she could only have learned from close proximity to his sisters. "I must have missed it. Perhaps you should try again." She laughed, rising onto her toes to kiss his cheek as the bride and groom finally broke apart to be congratulated by the native elder who had married them.

He smirked, wondering if maybe she was hanging around his sisters too much lately - especially the sister whose name started with a Mat and ended with an aya. "My sisters are corrupting you," he said as his cheek got kissed, glancing over at his sister and her just barely wed husband. "I'm happy for her. It's been a long time coming," he remarked wistfully.

"What, three days is a long time in your book, big bro?" Elena interrupted whatever Anya might have said in response as she drew Michael toward their obliging witnesses. She was happy, as he wished for her, wanting to spread that around a little as she swooped down onto Anya, wrapping her arms tight around her soon-to-be-sister-in-law.

"Congratulations, little bird," the Russian girl declared warmly as she hugged Elena in return. "It was beautiful."

"More like three years," Tony replied as his sister turned to him and Anya, drawing Michael along with her. Unable to hug his sister as Anya got to her first, he turned instead to his new brother-in-law and offered him a congratulatory hand. "I'm not sure whether to congratulate you or sympathize with you," he joked. "Welcome to the family," he added, on a more serious note giving the other man's hand a friendly shake.

Michael snorted a laugh, as he returned the handshake. "Too late to warn me." He raised his left hand upon which now rested a ring proclaiming him officially off the market. "Thanks for being here. It means a lot to both of us."

"Thank you for inviting us," Anya answered, releasing Elena easily as the youngest De Luca - now the only Donnelly woman - squealed happily and inserted herself between her husband and brother to squeeze the breath out of her oldest sibling. "I hope you will be very happy together, Mischa." Without thinking, she endowed Michael with the Russian diminutive of his name, reaching up to kiss his cheek. "Don't let her give up on that quiet little dream she hasn't admitted to having yet."

Tony wrapped his arms around his baby sister to hug her close. "I'm so happy for you, Elena," he told her quietly. "Thank you for inviting us. I wouldn't have missed this for the world." He hugged her a little longer than was necessary, but hell, he only had one baby sister, and now she belonged to someone else. If she looked close, she might even see tears sparkling in her big brother's eyes.

As for Michael, he grinned to hear Anya endow him with the Russian form of his name. He had always hated to be called Mike or Mikey, but he thought Mischa made him sound rather dignified. He hugged her back, feeling a little shy about it as he really didn't know her at all, even blushing a little. "I won't," he promised. "Thanks, Anya."

Elena

Date: 2013-10-15 11:23 EST
"You are very nearly my brother now," Anya reminded Michael with a smile, brushing her fingers against his reddened cheek. "You will have to get used to being hugged. They are a very tactile family." She winked at him as she offered up this warning, fairly sure he was already pretty accustomed to how tactile his new wife was.

Michael smiled, feeling a little shy of the attention he was receiving from the blond ballerina. Without any family left of his own, he was more than happy to be welcomed into the De Luca family, though he was uncertain how welcome he would really be until he had proven himself worthy of the youngest De Luca. "So long as Rosita doesn't shoot me for running off with her baby," he said, though they both knew Elena had told her mother of their plans before they ran off to be married. He'd never had a sister or any siblings to speak of and welcomed Anya's friendship in a family where he felt still felt like the odd man out.

"I would be more worried that Rosita may lock you both in your bedroom until you can prove you're expecting a baby than that she may shoot you, Mischa," Anya laughed, gently pinching Michael's cheek teasingly. After all, Michael and Elena had at least gotten married first - they'd won at least a year before Rosita started talking about babies from that corner of the family.

Michael laughed, flushing a little again at the thought of babies - a thought that was about the farthest thing from both his and Elena's heads at the moment. "I think we should worry about getting settled first," he said, not wanting to admit how terrified he was at the thought of having children. There was no way he was going to be a child into the world until he was certain he and Elena had matured enough to handle it. Maybe a year would be enough time, maybe not. Only time would tell, and there was really no hurry.

Speaking of that new wife, Elena stayed cuddled into Tony's arms for a longer than long moment, deeply grateful that he had asked to be here for this moment in her life, touched that he had wanted it enough to tear himself away from the ballet for a few short days. "Thank you for being here, Tony," she murmured to him, rising up on her bare toes to kiss his cheek and gently brush a stray tear away. "It means the world to me."

Tony smiled, in no hurry to relinquish the hold he had on his sister. Michael would have her for the rest of his life; he could wait a few minutes longer. He laughed a little at the errant tear, hardly having realized it was there. "God, I'm turning into such a wuss," he said, smiling. "No need to thank me, Elena. I'm honored to be here, and I'm so very proud of you." He gave her another gentle squeeze, sniffling against the threat of happy years. She had come a long way in the last year, and he really was proud of her.

"I'm proud of you, too, you know," Elena told her brother, answering his squeeze with her own before stepping back to look up at him. "My big brother, the ballerino, running his own ballet troupe, and engaged to marry the cutest thing in a tutu since Kermit and Miss Piggy did Swan Lake." She grinned, glancing at Anya briefly before returning her gaze to her brother. "I love you, Tony. Thanks for not giving up on me."

Tony laughed at the mention of The Muppets, unsure how much Anya would enjoy be compared to Miss Piggy. His smile softened as his little sister turned serious. "I love you, too, El. Thanks for not giving up on yourself," he countered, giving her one last hug before surrendering her to her husband.

As the women returned to their respective fellas, both men found themselves wrapped up in the arms of their beloved. Elena curled herself close to Michael, lifting her head to kiss him tenderly. "Okay, so ..." she said abruptly, her grin bright enough to rival the sun as she looked at Tony and Anya, "we'll see you at dinner, maybe? Only I kinda have this pressing rip all my clothes off and make dirty marital love to my husband all over our gorgeous suite thing I should really take care of, like, yesterday."

Anya giggled, hugging her arms around Tony even as she rolled her eyes, wondering how her fiance was going to deal with the fact that his sister was openly blowing them off to, well, blow her husband.

"Not maybe. You have plenty of time to consummate the marriage, and you have to eat sometime. We'll see you at..." Tony glanced at his watch, which said it was half past three. "Six. That should give you more than enough time." He wasn't taking no for an answer. "We have celebrating to do." And it didn't matter to him if the celebrating was done without alcohol.

Michael rolled his eyes, flushing a little again - or maybe he was starting to sunburn. "We'll see you at six," he promised. "I thought I was gorgeous, not the suite," he teased, poking a finger at Elena's midriff.

"You are gorgeous," Elena assured her husband as they moved away, wriggling her fingers in a gentle wave to Anya and Tony. "Just, you know, not luxury hut on stilts in beautiful crystal clear ocean gorgeous. You're my husband, that's heaps better."

"Just so we're clear on that," Michael remarked with a teasing grin as they moved away, leaving the other couple to kill the few hours until dinner in whatever way they wished.

Tony slid an arm around Anya's waist and drew her into his arms. "A little afternoon delight sounds kind of nice. What do you think, tiny dancer?"

"I am not so very tiny, am I?" Anya laughed, looping her own arms around his neck as he drew her close, ignoring the fact that shortly afterward her feet left the sand entirely. Nose to nose, she kissed him softly. "This is a very romantic place, is it not, lyubimaya" It would be a shame if we were to ignore that, I think."

"I agree. It would definitely be a shame," Tony replied, blue eyes shining. He was feeling happier than ever to be there with Anya and his sister, and hopeful that all of their problems were finally at an end. Her feet didn't dangle for too long as he swept her easily into his arms and started toward their own bungalow. "It'll be good practice for our own honeymoon," he teased, and off the two couples went to spend the next few hours in the privacy of their own bungalows, making the most of the romantic setting with the one they loved.

((How's that for a quickie wedding? *snickers* Ubermungus thank yous to all involved!))