I hope you enjoy my take on "Life of the Party!' Some of the scenes have been split and pasted back in a different order from the show, but I tried to stick as close to it as was convenient. It picks up where my last story "A Fear of Falling" ended. Enjoy!

Peggy stepped slowly in time with the music, just as they had rehearsed. A veil covered her face, the bouquet in her hands fragrant and lovely. She gazed down the aisle and smiled when she saw Freddy, so dashing in his suit. He reached out his hand to her and she took it, the congregation taking a seat as the priest began to speak.

"If anyone can show just cause why this couple cannot lawfully be joined together in matrimony, let them speak now or forever hold their peace," the priest droned as he scanned the room over his spectacles.

Peggy squeezed Freddy's hand, trying to dispel her nerves as they waited.

"I object," came a male voice behind her.

"And I."

"And I"

Peggy was mortified, three objections? What on earth could be wrong? She whirled around to see who had spoken. Standing dispersed among the crowd she saw her brother Michael, Dr. Wilkes, and Daniel Sousa.

The priest eyed the men thoughtfully, then looked at Peggy with a critical eye. He addressed the speakers. "Please state your reasons."

Michael stepped forward. "Peggy, this isn't what you want. Is this man truly the love of your life?" Peggy looked up at Freddy uncertainly, all her confidence seeming to drain out of her. Love? Hadn't she loved someone before? Was it Freddy? She couldn't remember.

"Peg," he continued, "You want more than this. You were meant to fight." Slowly he faded until he was gone.

Jason stepped forward next. Peggy's face felt hot, the whole Church was witnessing what should have been a very private conversation. She forced herself to look at Jason.

"Peggy, I know you haven't known me for very long, but we work well together. Doesn't everyone deserve one chance? Let me take you out for dinner and dancing, and then you can decide."

Peggy was about to shoot back how absurdly inappropriate it was for Jason to be asking her on a date during her wedding ceremony, but he faded quickly from view. She looked around startled, her eyes resting on Daniel.

"And you?" she spat sarcastically, "What do you have to say for yourself? What reason could you possibly have for ruining my wedding?"

Daniel looked at her steadily and said simply "I love you."

Peggy flushed in embarrassment. She turned quickly away from Daniel to look at Freddy, but he was no longer standing next to her, in his place stood Daniel, looking elegant in his tuxedo. He reached his hand out to her, "You look so beautiful," he said with emotion. Embarrassment forgotten, Peggy smiled and reached out to take his hand, only to find that it passed right through Daniels. She tried again, reaching to touch his shoulder, but he had no substance whatsoever.

The wedding march began to play, and Daniels eyes followed movement at the back of the church. He smiled a huge, happy smile. Peggy followed his line of sight and there, looking radiant in Peggy's wedding gown, stood Violet. All eyes were trained on her, the beautiful bride walking down the aisle to be forever wed to Chief Sousa. Peggy felt sick, and looked down to see what she was wearing if Violet had her dress. To her horror, a rebar was stabbed through her abdomen, staining her white gown a crimson red.

"PEGGY!"

Peggy sat bolt upright in bed, gun trained on the source of the sound, wincing as the gaping wound in her side protested such a sharp motion. Her vision was blurred from sleep, but she recognized the outline of Jason Wilkes at her bedside, it was still dark.

"Don't do that," Peggy said breathing heavily, "I could have shot-" as she blinked her vision cleared and she realized her arm was sticking straight through Jason's ghost-like head, "Howard." She rolled her eyes at the portrait on the wall behind him.

"There's something I have to show you," Jason said excitedly, completely unfazed.

Peggy groaned, falling gingerly back to her pillow and pulling the covers back over her head.

"I think it could be really important." Jason said to her blankets.

"Give me two seconds," Peggy said, her voice muffled. She pressed her fingers to her bandages, pulled back the blankets and examined them. Her fingers were red.

"Blast," she muttered to herself, "Bleeding again."

Jason looked mortified. "I'm so sorry Peggy I wasn't even thinking. Can I help you, do you need me to change your bandage?"

Peggy gave him a withering look. "Jason, you have no mass. You'll only pass right through me. Besides, I am perfectly capable of changing it myself. I will meet you in the lab."

Jason left looking chastened. Peggy watched him go guiltily. Doesn't everyone deserve one chance? Jason's words floated back to her. "Not everyone, I should think not," she grumbled to herself, a number of highly unsuitable men flashing before her eyes. She paused a moment, softening. If anyone deserved a chance, Jason did. Especially if they could make him solid again, the whole not being able to touch thing was an issue that needed to be resolved. She felt a twinge of regret for brushing him off. "Well that's what you get for helping to ruin my wedding," she muttered, throwing her bare feet over the side of the bed and shaking her head slightly to clear what was left of the dream. She carefully shifted herself off the bed and gathered what she needed. She found her slow pace maddening. She didn't have time for this. She sat cautiously at her vanity and began to awkwardly bandage her wound. The angle was difficult, she needed a second pair of hands to do the job justice. Sighing, she tied off the bandage and viewed her handiwork in the mirror. Shoddy at best, but it would do.

In the lab, Jason was pacing, clearly excited. Peggy tugged her robe more closely around her and came close to see what he was looking at.

"Jane Scott's tissue sample?"

"Yes, but watch," Jason said and he began to move his hand around the glass container. A dark shape pulled free from the sample, and followed Jason's hand wherever it went.

Peggy came closer, fascinated. "The Zero Matter, it's drawn to you!"

"And I to it," Jason replied mesmerized, "It's almost as if-" Jason flinched and cried out as suddenly the zero matter pressed through the glass and into his hand.

"Jason!" Peggy instinctively reached for his hand and grasped it, to her surprise. It was solid, warm and real. Shocked, they both stared at each other, a magnetic pull circulating between them for the briefest moment before her hand dropped right through him again. Jason stared at her face for a moment more in clear disappointment, slowly bringing his hand up to brush her cheek with his fingers. He passed through her without so much as a breeze to evidence his passing. His face crumpled, and his image began to flicker.

"Jason…"

"Peggy…" Jason's voice began to flicker and fade. Peggy knew the Zero Matter was drawing him away, she remembered from their late night talks that he was struggling to concentrate. She drew closer to him quickly, willing him to look at her.

"Jason focus on me, don't listen to it!" He flickered, his face panicked, until he became completely invisible, but Peggy guessed he could still hear her. "Jason! Come back!" For a few agonizing moments, Peggy was alone in the lab.

Jason suddenly appeared back in place in front of her. She exhaled forcefully and sat down heavily on a lab chair.

"What happened?"

"I-I don't know, I was somewhere else and-" Jason seemed to be in shock, he grasped the edge of the table for support.

"It's alright," Peggy said softly, reassuringly, "You're back now."

Jason's head snapped up. "No, it's not alright, I can't fight it anymore, I've lost control Peggy." His face looked desolate, like he was ready to give up.

"We'll fix this." She leaned toward him but he stepped back out of her reach.

"No! No, I am at the whim of some dark force that we have absolutely no understanding of!" He began to pace in an agitated manner. Peggy watched him with an arched eyebrow, his pessimism irking her. She was tired, she was in pain, and this man did not seem interested in working to solve the problems in front of him but merely in identifying the obstacles. She knew he was afraid but she did not understand this reaction to it.

Jason continued his laundry list of foreseeable problems, "I could disappear forever at any moment and we would have no idea how, or where-'

"Well what do we know?" interjected Peggy with forceful irritation. "Your work at Isodyne was in containment research. You built the housing unit for Zero Matter. Perhaps you can do something similar for yourself."

"That won't work." Jason said turning his back on her.

"Why?"

Now it was his turn to be irritated. "Because I have no mass! There's nothing to contain!"

"But if you did-"

"If I did we wouldn't be having this conversation!"

They paused, each of them collecting their tempers. Peggy leaned back in her chair, looking contemplative and Jason gradually quit pacing and turned to face her.

"The Zero Matter from the tissue sample… It made you solid." Peggy said thoughtfully.

"Yes, temporarily."

"If you could replicate that, even briefly, do you think you could build a containment chamber for yourself?"

Jason looked stunned, and then thoughtful. "Yes," he said incredulously, "Yes I think that might work. But that means we have to get our hands on some Zero Matter."

Peggy sighed inwardly, another obstacle, yet the solution was so obvious. "Well as far as we know there's only one place in the world where we can find it. Whitney Frosts blood."

Jason looked dumbstruck, "Peggy, we can't-"

"Jason!" Peggy voice was sharp, even she heard it. She swallowed, then tried again. "Jason," she said, softer this time, "I'm afraid I'm quite worn out, I don't mean to be short. Will you be alright if I sleep a few more hours, get my wound looked at and then get Chief Sousa in here to help by morning? I feel certain we will think of something."

"Of course Peggy, you should rest," Jason said, soothed by her calm words. "I'll get started on the containment chamber, I have faith that we will figure out how to get the Zero Matter." He smiled at her, she knew he was trying to apologize and put on a good face. She rewarded him with a big, albeit tired smile.

"I'll see you in a few hours then Jason. Thank you for showing me this, I think we will make some real progress. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

As she turned away from him, the smile slid off her face. She pressed her palm into her side with a grimace, she was bleeding again. Any other day she would perhaps have handled herself with more grace, but Peggy found herself maddened by the fact that she, an SSR agent and a code breaker, had to coach a physicist into solving a problem directly related to his field of work in the dead of night only one day after being stabbed through her middle. She should be sleeping. She should be on painkillers.

That isn't the life you chose for yourself, she reminded herself. This is part of the job.

Finally, she made it back to her room. She ripped some clean bandaging off the roll, tied it hastily to her side, and fell into an exhausted and dreamless sleep the moment her head hit the pillow.