Marie stood in front of the mirror, Stein's hands resting lightly on her shoulders as she stared at the image that was reflected back to her. She had two eyes. Two virtually identical eyes. Whatever had been causing the cat's eye to not reflect the light correctly had obviously been corrected; there was no odd glare to her left eye.

And she could see out of it. It wasn't a simple prosthetic; Stein had created something that allowed her to actually see. Tears welled up in the woman's eyes as she stared in the mirror. She watched, fascinated as they fell down her left cheek, her hand wonderingly touching them.

"Franken… I don't know how you managed to figure out what no one else has, but thank you…" Marie said awkwardly, "I don't know what I ever did to deserve this…"

"You were you, Marie." Stein said, his hands slipping down her sides to rest on her hips as he let his chin rest lightly on her shoulder. "It suits you, you know. Your eyes are beautiful; you deserve to have two of them to show off to the world."

The uncharacteristic compliment made her spin to face him. Stein smirked down at her as he took advantage of the situation to kiss her. "Have I made any progress?" He asked.

She smiled up at him and pulled him down for another kiss before answering, "You still have a way to go."

They had the wedding three months later. Azusa stood with Marie and Spirit stood with Stein; Lord Death himself walked (floated) Marie down the aisle to give her away. Stein stood tall in front of Justin Law, his hands itching to reach up and turn the screw in his head, to pluck at the stitched tux he wore, to do anything that would help relieve the sudden nervousness he felt.

Murmurs ran through the crowd as Marie came down the aisle, her eye patch long gone. Her dress came down to her shins in the front and trailed a good three feet behind her. They had forgone having a ring bearer and flower girl; Azusa and Spirit were holding the rings.

Stein took Marie's hands in his own as Justin Law began the ceremony. "We are gathered here today to witness the joining of two people, Franken Stein and Marie Mjolnir, whose hearts and souls are already entwined as one. They now desire to profess before the entire world their intention henceforth to walk the road of life together."

He turned to Marie. "Do you, knowing this man's love for you and returning it, vow to accept him as he is, with all his flaws and weaknesses, and to help him overcome them until death shall separate you?"

Marie stared into Stein's eyes, her breathing quick. "I do." A blush rushed across her cheeks and she had trouble not looking away as Stein smirked at her.

Justin then turned to Stein. "Do you, knowing this woman's love for you and returning it vow to accept her as she is, with all her flaws and weaknesses, and to help her overcome them until death shall separate you?"

Stein didn't hesitate. "I do."

"The rings, please." Justin said, looking to Azusa and Spirit. They handed the rings up to Stein and Marie.

Stein slipped the ring on Marie's finger as she slipped his on his finger, and surprised her by speaking. "I, Franken Stein, take you, Marie Mjolnir, to be my wife, to be my friend and love, beside me and apart from me, in laughter and in tears, in conflict and tranquility, asking that you be no other than yourself, loving what I know of you, trusting what I do not know yet, and ask that you accept me the same."

Marie was overwhelmed and could only nod as tears threatened to ruin her carefully applied makeup. Stein was still smirking at her.

"You may kiss the bride."

He pressed his lips against hers and she flung her arms around his neck. "I love you, Franken."

There, in front of everyone, Franken Stein finally repeated her words. "I love you, Marie. It seems I found the reason for you to stay."

Marie giggled as they walked down the aisle. "Yes, you did. I'm so glad you did."

A/N: Ta-da. It is over… such a fun journey getting here. Thank you all for reading and reviewing, I'm glad that so many people like it so much!

A special thanks to modest giant; her Strangeness & Charm (check it out!) story made me rethink how I had went about Heart Shaped Stitches, and was a huge motivating force behind this story. Another big thanks to XStrawberryDuckFeathersX- the grammatical tips have improved the quality of my writing, so thank you.

I don't own Soul Eater.