the bells keep ringing in my ears [THE event]

[Melanie Aldridge]

Melanie had never been this nervous in her life. She wasn't worried that she was making a mistake and she wasn't getting cold feet - not at all. She knew that Conner was all she wanted for the rest of her life, but there were so many things that were happening that she hadn't realized the full aspect of it until this moment, as she stood in her wedding dress, eying herself in the full length mirror cautiously and with anxiety as she tried to fix a mistake in the dress. Making her own wedding dress was the one thing she had insisted upon for the wedding - because everything else was pretty simple. At least, the way Melanie had made it. Simple yet beautiful. The problem was she hadn't exactly given herself enough time to make it. Although there had been plenty of weeks before the wedding she had no idea how much time the planning and preparing would take, much less the fact that during that time she was trying to spend time with her soon to be husband. Husband. There was that word. It made her melt to think it, and especially when anyone had said it to her. Conner was the most amazing person she knew. He had been rather calm (at least appeared to be) and very easily swayed whenever she asked him if she could do something for the wedding. He let her have at it and trusted in her that it would be amazing. This was something she enjoyed - designing her dress, planning an event, and then putting it together by decorating and coordinating. He seemed happy just to see her enjoy herself, and that was something she was glad about. He didn't show sign of concern when she made a decision and most the time he told her whatever made her happy. That was how he had always been with her - telling her to do what she wanted, letting her decide, just because he was happy when she was. And she felt the same. No matter how their wedding was or where they ended up living, she could be happy in the knowledge that she was with him, and that he was happy.

There were two things that Melanie was nervous about, and they had nothing to do with him saying 'I do' or someone objecting. No, one was for her tripping, at least in her words and ruining the moment, and then her real fear - the one she was most scared of or more nervous for. This was that of their wedding night. She had never been with anyone before and she was afraid she wouldn't be up to standards. Mostly her fear was that somehow it could lessen her in Conner's eyes. Although this was irrational, it still made her nervous. She felt at ease and safe knowing how things would be with him, but the thing was, she was scared. She'd never been through it before, and it wasn't something you talked openly about. Marriage was different - you brought it up and everyone put in their advice even if they had never been married, even if they had only witnessed marriages. But when you brought up the night of the wedding, no one was as eager to help there. Nowadays most if not both people in the couple had already been with someone at least once before hand. With Connerand Melanie, neither of them had ever been with anyone. It was new territory, unfamiliar and scary, but something they could take on together - that was the thought that comforted her. She wasn't really scared of being bad or anything like that, she was just nervous that she would do something to mess up that moment, or end up freezing up. Mostly she was afraid of not knowing what would happen.

Melanie wondered that since now they were going to be married, if Conner would finally be able to tell all the other secrets involved in his world as a werewolf. He would tell her when he wanted to and he felt he could, not before - that was what she told him, but still she felt curious to be a part of this world too, this part of him. She wanted to understand and have a glimpse of it so she could finally feel like she had the whole thing, the whole deal. There were so many questions that had gone unanswered, especially ones that would probably seem silly to him, but made sense to her since she knew nothing of the very thing she believed he had understood for most if not all his life. She also wondered how it affected their relationship in areas they would be exploring this very night. She didn't know if they changed anything, or how it worked, because this was a whole new world to her. It was bad enough she had no idea of much in the first place, but adding in the factor of her husband being a werewolf made this that much more harder to be able to understand. She really had no idea what to expect when you added in that factor to the whole idea.

Melanie shook her whole body as though her anxieties were real things that had gotten on her and she was shaking them off and after doing so peered for a long time at herself. She looked in the mirror, looking herself up and down, only with her eyes and smiled. This was the last moment she would be Melanie Aldridge, the last moment that she would ever be alone. Nothing made her happier. Seeing her in her dress and holding her simple white rose bouquet, she was happy. She knew that the moment she stripped herself from her wedding dress she would also be stripping herself of her previous identity. It was a switch she was all too happy with. Most would think that you should never fix something that wasn't broken, and Melanie's old self wasn't broken, but it had been cracked. The only thing different from who she was now and who she was about to be was that she was going to be complete, fixed. All the hardships of her past no longer mattered because the future shined brightly in her eyes encompassing her in a brilliant glow. The glow was that of happiness. She smiled to herself as all of this unfolded in her mind, and she felt warm, not from the heat outside, but from the idea she had within. Not a moment later she heard the violin beginning the entire ceremony - it would lead the rest of the quartet in beautiful music until she was just about to take her steps outside and onto the carpet that led to the alter. Melanie had decided for an outside wedding on the La Push beach at the time the sun was just beginning to set. The wedding should run perfectly so that just as they are saying their vows, the sun will be at level with the water and half gone, giving a brilliant glow to the entire wedding party. The only other light will be that of candles burning on tall white posts, and small white Christmas lights that were draped over the backs of chairs and the outside rail that had been placed for the wedding. And then in that moment, as the sun finally sets, they will kiss and finally be married. The rehearsal a few days before had ensured that she had picked the perfect time for just the effect she wanted. She only hoped it would work even better with the decorations and chairs set up. The rehearsal had only been the wedding party on the sand without anything else so she had no idea how her placement of it all would make it appear, but she hoped it would be just as she imagined. This moment was important to her, although she hadn't spent much money. Her wedding cost little and she was happy of that since it had been her very intention. It was true, the wedding was only one day and shouldn't matter, and it didn't in sense of money at all, but she wanted this moment to be remembered because it was their first moment together in an entirely different way. Although, if anything went wrong, Melanie wouldn't care, as long as the wedding had happened - even if not by plan, if it happened, that was what mattered, that and that they would be married. The day didn't matter, but the marriage meant everything - meant they would be together forever, by official means. She was excited and terrified at the same time, not knowing which was the more powerful, but either way she knew she loved Connerand being his wife was the most spectacular idea in the world and she assumed the practice of it would probably a thousand times better than the idea appeared to her. She would have to wait and see though.

She didn't have long to wait because she was by the door waiting for the song to start for her walk down the isle. And then after a moment, the music changed, more beautiful and slower but in a way that showed it was time. She was thrilled as she heard it, beaming even. It was time. She was finally going to be Melanie Hale. She smiled and the doors opened leading to the wedding, to the alter - to her future.

[Conner Hale]

Being nervous was not an emotion Conner Hale was accustomed to. For the most part he was used to being calm, collected, cool as a cucumber, his face like a mask. In the past, this had convinced many people that he was a mindless thug. After all, what else could explain his emotionally dead expression? Thing was, they simply didn't understand that this was his form of a mask. He got hurt, angry and happy, just like everyone else, only he didn't wear his emotions on his sleeve like everyone else. Only now, Conner was anything but cool and collected. In fact, the term "scared out of his mind" more or less summed up his emotional state, and it actually showed on his face (which was a rarity in of itself). Two factors accounted for why he was nervous. One of them was the large crowd which was currently spread out before him, most (but not all) of their eyes trained expectantly upon him. Spread out amongst the chairs on the sand were practically all of his packmates, some of them winking or smirking or just looking. Conner never had been good with lots of people, it was not his forte. All the eyes trained on him was rather unsettling for him, and he probably would have been sweating buckets if... wait, there was no reason why he wouldn't be sweating buckets. Lucky for him though, he wasn't, and only the faintest traces of perspiration appeared on his forehead, and his hands were only the slightest bit clammy. Which was lucky for him, he would have hated to have ruined his Tuxedo, or do anything which might ruin the picture Melanie had in her head for this wedding. All of it looked pretty picture perfect to him, the waves crashing on the beach behind him, the lights on all of the seats and on the posts. It was beautiful weather too, not a cloud in the sky and surprisingly warm for La Push weather. Which, he didn't doubt, the wedding guests appreciated. Personally neither the weather nor clouds in the sky could make this day any different for him. Cold or warm, he didn't care, so long as Melanie was comfortable, he was comfortable.

The other factor that contributed to Conner's nervousness was that there was an awful lot he had to say, and he absolutely dreaded messing any of it up. It would be just his luck for her to make the walk and for the ceremony to proceed, only for him to blank out and stutter like a buffoon when it came time for him to say his vows. To mess up everything and ruin this moment in front of all the people who were staring up at them. To single-handedly destroy all of Melanie's hard work and make this a horrible memory for her. That was what could scare Conner Hale. There was not a worry in his mind in regards to vampires or something coming to crash his wedding. For once, his mind was not otherwise occupied with otherworldly concerns. For once, his concerns and worries were entirely mundane. Something which he had not been able to claim for such a long time it seemed like an age. After all, Conner's worries had used to be so much larger and more complex than the worries of other people his age. While other people had worried about getting a job to pay taxes and pay for rent, he had worried about watching over and raising his blind younger sister. When other older brothers had only had to worry about their sisters boyfriend treating her poorly, Conner Hale had had to worry about his sister's boyfriend trying to take a bite out of her. And finally, while some people might be afraid that their loved ones might get murdered or hit by a train, Conner Hale worried every day that his darling Melanie would get attacked by the horrible night terrors he fought to keep at bay. And yet today, here he was, worrying about normal things like a normal person. Now wasn't that an odd idea.

And as he stood there, staring at the faces of his packmates, a new worry came to mind. A new worry, one that hadn't quite occurred to him until he'd noticed it was slowly getting darker. A little worry about tonight. The wedding night. Just the thought of it made a slight color rise in Conner's cheeks. While one might think that someone as mature and grown-up as Conner might have already "lost it" so to speak, he hadn't. Being the honorable, old-fashioned fellow he was, he hadn't even brought the matter up the entire happy year Melanie had spent with him. Not even once had he tried to move any further than a kiss, even if a less than savory part of his head had wanted a little bit more. His fellows would probably tease him for being so embarrassed about the whole thing, but he couldn't help it. The entire concept of.. that particular act made Conner go red and clam up. He wouldn't know what he was doing, and she didn't either, really. Which was slightly comforting, but not enough to banish his worries.

While some grooms might consider bolting while at the alter, the prospect of being bound to one woman and one woman alone finally dawning upon them at that very moment (and causing a little bit of panic) no such thoughts went through Conner's mind. Sure he was more scared than he had ever been in his life, more scared than he had been when Clary had been kidnapped, more worried than he had been when he'd found Melanie in the forest half-dead (the day they'd met would be an interesting story to share with future generations), but that didn't mean that he was going to bolt. Such a suggestion might have even angered him. To do so would question his love for and his devotion to Melanie, and that was something he simply would not abide. Making the choice to be with Melanie for the rest of his life was not something he regretted. He'd made up his mind the moment he'd laid eyes on her the day they had met. Without saying a word she'd taken his heart and made it her own, and he would never, for as long as he lived, want it any other way. His heart was hers, utterly and completely and that was all. Today was simply a day to confirm this fact, to show the rest of the world how he felt for his Melanie. They had already been bound in ways normal, mundane people weren't bound in. In ways that only they and other werewolves and their imprints were bound in. Today was just a ceremony, one day that would mark the formal beginning of their eternity together, but in his heart that day had already happened the day they'd met. But for the sake of appearing "normal" and abiding by the rules of normal man, today was a required ceremony. It broadcasted the fact that she was his and he was hers to the world at large, the gold bands that would forever be on their fingers providing tangible proof of the link that bound them. Not that a few words or a piece of metal could truly encompass his feelings for her. Nonetheless, Conner had lost plenty of sleep from working overtime in order to raise the money needed to buy her the diamond he'd already gotten on her finger. He'd lost even more sleep to buy the wedding rings which he had spent extra money on to get engraved inside the band. It was only a piece of metal, but it felt important anyway. While a mere ring couldn't bottle his feelings up, it did a pretty good job at expressing a tiny bit of them, at the very least. As he stared out across the rows of seats, his gaze sliding from guest to guest, a strange calm started to settle over him. The nervousness in his features slowly began to melt away, replaced by a slight smile, a glow of pride in his eyes and a bit more confidence over all. He straightened slightly, squaring his shoulders as his eyes fixed on the doors that separated him from his future wife. Well, perhaps they weren't really "doors" given that it was simply a tent, but they were technically doors nonetheless. As the music slowly began to start up, the crowd shushing each other and falling into a respectful silence, Conner's eyes remained on the doors, and it was as if the crowd was melting away. With each note that the band played, he was getting closer and closer to seeing her face, and that provided all the courage he needed to stand tall and smile while the musicians played. He was not afraid of this day (how could he be?) and he didn't want any of his guests to think any differently. After all, they needed to understand that Conner Hale was no ordinary groom. He didn't have second thoughts. Not when it came to the future Mrs. Melanie Hale.

And then the music reached the point he'd been waiting for, and the doors swung open. In that very moment, it was if the crowd disappeared and all that he could see in the world was Melanie. His gaze softened immediately, and there was nothing but love and utter devotion in his gaze. The slight smile became slightly more pronounced as he took her in. She'd never looked more beautiful, which was a feat he'd thought would be impossible. Though he probably should never have doubted his Melanie, not even for a moment. For a moment, he wished the band would pick up the tempo a little. Each beat seemed to take an eternity.

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(( Wedding guests coming here later. ))