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"This is ridiculous." Scarlet muttered around the stylus she was chewing on. Honestly, how was this so hard? Surely it wasn't supposed to be. It had all seemed so straightforward when she and Wolf had decided to get married. You find a church, you get an officiant, buy enough food to feed an army, and boom, partners for life. Simple. Scarlet frowned at the massive stack of fliers and checklists and sample invitations that filled their kitchen table, not to mention the guest list. No one, apparently, had mentioned that simple formula to Emilie. She must've brought them half the wedding boutique's stash of vendor business cards. "Maybe we should elope."

"Emilie will murder us both if we do." Wolf said casually and lifted first one swatch of cardstock to the light streaming through the bay window, then another, squinting at the subtle difference in the pale, creamy tones. "And if by some miracle, she doesn't…Iko will."

"Ugh. I know." Scarlet let her head drop to thunk against the hated layers of paper. It was mind-numbing. And if it was up to her, they would've traipsed downtown and had a civil ceremony that lasted all of five minutes and which it would've been acceptable to wear jeans to. However, it seemed that intergalactic heroes didn't get the option of planning their own weddings when they had a grateful village chomping at the bit to do it for them. "So would half the village."

Giles had already claimed the honor of catering the affair. A local wedding boutique had sent a card offering their congratulations and a certificate for the dress of Scarlet's choice free of charge. Three different churches and four event venues were immersed in a battle for the honor of hosting the wedding of two revolution heroes. The major newsfeed networks were already clamoring for a date and location to send their journalists to, while the gossip sites were buzzing with speculation regarding style trends and the names on the guest list that Wolf and Scarlet hadn't even started on, let alone finalized.

Scarlet felt a slight pang at the thought of the list, absently brushing her fingers over the empty sheet of paper with one side marked "Bride" and the other "Groom." There were many reasons they hadn't started it yet. Too little time, too many other details, but the biggest reason was clear as a bell.

There was nothing like making a guest list for making you realize how few people you had to put on it.

Other couples had lists bursting with friends, with family. They had the friends, certainly, but…family? Distant relatives and close-knit kin, uncles and aunts, cousins and siblings. Fathers. Mothers. Grandmothers. All the things that neither Wolf, nor Scarlet had anymore, and that they didn't particularly want to think about if they didn't have to.

"You know, my parents got married in the lumber sector next to ours. My mother always said the woods were the prettiest place for a wedding, with all the pine trees and the wildflowers." Wolf's eyes had drifted to the guest list, locking on the blank space under "groom" that should've held his mother's name. He swallowed hard and looked away. "She…she would bring pinecones home on their anniversary, so the whole house would smell like pine. Nostalgia, I guess."

Scarlet curled both of her hands around one of his and arched a speculative brow. "You know…we have woods."

"We also have seven other locations fighting over us. And I doubt the film crews would be thrilled with hiking through the back forty."

"Like that's a bad thing?" They'd both had their picture taken more than enough times while working on the antidote distribution team. Keeping the vultures away from their wedding was pro, not a con. "Besides…even heroes deserve to make their own decisions once in a while."