I'm in Love and it's a Sunny Day

While it was her birthday Tiffany had trouble getting out of the 'serving' mentality and couldn't help but go about asking if anyone would like a drink while blushing over the compliments and well wishes. This was hardly her usual scene and where it not for Polly and Emma ganging up on her she'd still be busy going in and out of the kitchen to ensure everyone was well and truly comfortable. Instead she was left feeling rather overwhelmed at all the presents people where bestowing on her, "Oh my Lord.." she had to catch her breath after opening a envelope from Ianto that had a gift voucher for over a thousand dollars at Harvey Norman.. 'I must make sure I give him a extra large coffee from now on, on the house' she thought to herself at the unexpected generosity. Everyone was being so wonderful to her that she was sure there had to be something odd going on. Yet apart from the odd gift that utterly baffled her like a horrible handbag made out of what looked like genuine crocodile leather (yes even Tiffany had her limits) there was the usual cute gifts and useful gifts and she couldn't help but feel a bit overcome with emotion just looking at them all. To think when Basil had organised for her to move Tiffany had been in fear that she would be utterly alone and know nobody at all and yet here she was with so many friends that she did not know what to do with them all?

"Oh you have all been so kind.." Tiffany started to say when she had run out of gifts, she was starting to feel a bit teary from the perfume and aprons Gerard had given her, how lucky she was to have him. "Now I really must.." she started to say when she noticed that she hadn't quite run out of boxes. Her heart thudded, she felt her chest tighten as she undid the wrappings with shaky hands. No this was not possible, this would never happen.. no, the suspicion as to why so many people just 'happened' to be watching them was nothing to do with anything at all. She didn't even dare open the box as she held it against her chest, Gerard on his knees before her.. ever the gentleman her mind added, he was talking and while it was all too much for her to take in she knew the words, the ones she'd repeated to herself what seemed like a million times in the mirror in wish for someone, someone to one day say them to her.

In her daydreams it would be on a moonlit mountain, or a castle overlooking the sea, just the two of them with none but the stars to look on and her dress (a size 8 of course) rippling in the breeze. If she blocked out the noise of the dogs, the sound of surprise and cries of support along with the high pitched whinging of a certain Welsh woman it wouldn't have changed a thing, she was here and OMG she was getting married! There was so much planning to do!!
..wait, hold up, first things first.. "OMIGODSYesOfCourseIWill!" poor Gerard, but she only gave a moment for him to slip the ring onto her finger.. HER FINGER!!..before pulling him into a bone crushing hug. "I'M GETTING MARRIED!!" She might well have been short of breath, red of face and very MUCH not a size 8, and rather then being alone on a moonlit castle instead she found herself surrounded by friends but none of that would make Gerard Hunter Q.C. anything but the man of her dreams. "I have to tell my Mum, ohgod and update my Facebook and oh Mel.. that other thing that you use.. something about chickens?" Oh yes Tiffany couldn't wait to let everybody know, it would just show her Dad and brother's right for not turning up that she, Tiffany Fumberger .. no wait, scratch that.. the TO BE Tiffany Hunter was going to marry a wonderful, charming and yes, okay rather well off Barrister who was no less then a Queens Council, lets see Paula and the other girls at the next school reunion top that!

Gerard was unaware of the suddenly called meeting of the "Protect Ianto from his Nutso Sister Society" just off the patio on the other side. Nor was he aware of where Marcus was in proximity to the stockpiled shed or the offer Mel was making to Chloe about the Vespa tune up which would lead to further tales involving hills, speed and Marcus getting phone calls at some future date. Gerard was not aware of the thoughts his cousins Ethan was sharing about permanency for him and Mel or Emma's combination of happiness and loneliness.

All Gerard was aware of was that this was worse than waiting for the jury's verdict and seemed to be taking longer than any jury he had ever tried a case in front of. Until

she

said

yes!

Once the realization fully hit him, he was on his feet, slipping the ring out of the box she held and onto her finger. Did she grab him into a hug? He grab her? He had no idea and didn't care. They were engaged. She had said yes.

She had said......... Ooops!

Pulling Tiffany close to him, he caught Robert Ashton's attention among those who were surrounding the happy couple. "Shed, contents, think you could get Mel to dispose of them quickly?" Wouldn't do to have Marcus entering it now that Marcus had been proven right.

Anton had started popping corks off into the trees and pouring champagne and sparkling apple juice for everyone and someone else yelled something about exploding golf to celebrate. Gerard had no idea who, he was just very very happy and sharing it with family and friends. Somewhere in all the celebration, he whispered in Tiffany's ear "I love you"

Around this point, Chloe was feeling two things. Bored and uncomfortable. Well less uncomfortable and just rather awkward. It was really awesome that Tiffany had said yes. Now it wasn't just a proposal. It was a successful one. There was going to be a new couple here soon. Would she keep her last name or take his? It wasn't important, she supposed. She was just curious. And it gave her something to think about. Something trivial and distracting. And not how she'd still not even had a crush on a boy and she was practically a woman by now.

Chloe opted to do something else. She could use the excuse of letting the lovely couple be alone. That would work, right? And right on time, she realized that Bertrand was not near her. Oh boy... did he run off again? He was always so fond of doing that. It'd be a little annoying if it wasn't so interesting. Bertrand had this impeccable habit of finding the most interesting things to do. She just loved that goat, she did.

Therefore, she went around searching for Bertrand and found him standing around. The crowd obscured her vision for a moment so she did not see who her goat was near until they were pretty much a few feet away. That made her pause. Ianto? And Bertrand was being calm? It was probably because Lady MacBeth was doing so well. Hm... did she go make small talk? Too bad Olivia had disappeared on her. Oh well.

Talk about a good day, Mel breathed a sigh of relief as things where made official. More importantly it wasn't her getting asked 'the big question'... though she was avoiding her Mum's eye in the knowledge that it was only a matter of time before the 'your next' questions started. One in four, Mel thought as she pattered Ashleigh's head. One in four marriages ended in divorce and her mother wondered why she didn't want to hang her heart on such a statistic? Okay there was that and the fact that it made her feel like she was letting the 'team' down.. though it seemed the team had long since disbanded into motherhood, marriage and long term relationships. She'd always known she'd be the Auntie and the 'Professional Bridesmaid' as her friends had dubbed her after Uni. Mel had a horrific thought for a moment that if Tiffany was getting married no doubt it would mean she'd have to wear pink... gross! "I'd better see what Dad wants.." Mel said to Ethan at the sight of her Dad heading their way, whatever he was up to Mel didn't know but she couldn't not give Gerard and Tiff a hug each in congratulations before being called over to help deal with the shed situation. Mel was still under the impression that the whole thing was just some big ruse to tease Marcus with the threat of a rabbit or something. Mel didn't know all the details, sometimes it was better to not be in the know.

With Ashleigh safe with Ethan Mel grabbed the keys from inside to unlock the shed unsure of what to expect when it opened. "Hey Chloe wanna help with some rabbits?" she asked not knowing just how many rabbits they where dealing with. It couldn't be more then a half dozen right? Which then lead to the question of what to do with them? The rule at home had always been to shoot on sight. It wasn't nice but on a herb farm there was no limit to the amount of damage a established warren could do. Maybe a spell would do? Funny how being on holidays tended to get her rather lazy about magic.. except when it came to doing the dishes..or more not doing them. Juggling wand and the keys she pushed the shed door open only to recoil at the smell and scratching noise.. just what on earth had Gerard been doing? "Dad.. just how many ra..." that was when something small, brown and scared out of it's wits barreled though the gap.... it was just the beginning as a torrent of rabbits started fleeing the shed. "Ohhell..." she could hear the screaming already, Marcus was not going to like this one bit! Waving her wand around she silently cast a charm to blow away the foul air, the floor of the shed was covered in round black pallets.

Her Dad was more immune to the smell, inside the shed she could hear him cursing and swearing to high heaven as he discovered that the hinges on the cages he'd picked up from their aunt's had rusted though. So that was how the rabbits had gotten out! Wincing at the thought of all those rabbits in the wild, it was a disaster all right!

Olivia was going to kill her Dad, she'd been promised something involving a game with explosives and instead everyone had crowded around to watch Mr Hunter propose to that woman from the cafe. Like there was any suprise to be had, considering the way she'd seen the two of them making loveyeyes every time she'd gone to the cafe it had gotten to a point where she'd started going to the one down the road just to avoid the chance of walking in when Mr Hunter was there. That and she felt a bit guilty for not taking his class all year, she had a spare unit this year because she'd already done her NEWT in Astronomy last year and now there was no excuse not to take his class. Olivia wasn't sure what she was going to fill that class with, it would have been nice to do Alchemy again but there was no-one to teach is. The curse of changing schools she guessed. At least that stupid redhead wasn't going to be there next year, that was a plus though Olivia realized she'd started to run out of enemies and classmates in general as Storm had graduated and there was really just her and Chloe left of the ones who had transferred last year.

Thinking of Chloe reminded her that she'd forgotten to grab her present out of the car, Olivia had come into the responsibility of having money by wasting it as often as possible, but knowing that she was going to New Zealand for Christmas had at least given her some forethought. Getting the keys off her Dad she grabbed her old mobile phone out of the back seat, she'd meant to wrap it last night but had forgotten and so she jammed it in her pocket and used her new phone to send a sms, she'd had a old sim card lying around from when she'd tried swapping to Virgin only to find that the signal wouldn't work at her old house. While the old phone had been good for texting it was a few years old now and she'd wanted one with a touchscreen, so the new android sidekick was much better. It had always amazed Olivia that Chloe didn't have a mobile phone, apparently it was just one of those things in the wizarding world that they where just backwards about everything. Either way as she walked she was buying typing out a message on the keypad.

Merry Xmas! Sorry I forgot to
wrap it but now we can text :-)

Now she just needed to find Chloe. Usually this was a matter of searching for a goat as one would usually not be that far from the other but walking though the people she found the Bertrand with Ianto and that girl who looked like she'd had a broom stuck up her arse so far it was coming out the other end. Pity that she was kind of pretty too. Olivia sighed, why couldn't she keep her thoughts straight and normal like everyone else? Every time she'd had those kind of thoughts they had wound up being a disaster. She'd been stood up, hurt, dumped and it seemed the only person who hadn't left her was stuck forever as her best friend and nothing more. It wasn't fair, but that was hardly surprising was it? Thinking about all this she almost ran right into the person she was looking for. The problem with no being able to talk was it made explaining things rather more difficult, should she just give Chloe the phone and hope for the best? Now Olivia was embarrassed, maybe it was a stupid gift, after all most of the people she saw where walking around with fancy iPhones and who would want a second hand phone that didn't even have a touchscreen? Clearly she should have thought about this better.

Ianto smiled and Claped with the group as the affirmative was given and now they were engaged and Ianto was very pls they seamed happy unlike most of the people he knew that were engaged including his sister tamika who had taken to glaring at him now with his fire dragon on his shoulder happily munching on some lovely chocolate that Ianto was continue to provide.
Ianto was happy to be here and hoping to loss his sister so he could learn more of the Muggle rights of passage that come with engagement parties and birthday.
" Tamika pls try to look happy and not offend anyone for at lest and hour so I can say hi to all my friends before you get us trown out" Ianto gave her I'm you big brother look that he had really gotten good at over pass few months.
It was then he saw the nice young lady from the video store and gave her a wave in his most friendliest way knowing that she didnt talk he didn't try to make his way over to talk to her.
Ianto heard the comsion over by the shed where some thing was going on so he decided to leave his rather annoying sister to get by by herself and go see if he could help for no other resign than he would not have to listen to tamika talk about how Muggle it all seamed here.
" I will be attending to help the other by the garden house if you need anything tamika" ianto gave small bow to his sister Ianto used his formale tone as to insure tamika could not object to anything so as to keep the peace for now so he could enjoy this party.

It was clear that Tamika didn't belong, everything was telling her that she was above these people who didn't even seem to know how to behave by the casual greetings and general disorder, didn't they have elves to deal with the arrangements? Tamika took a moment to remember that these where Muggles and lower class Wizards who she had been taught to consider as mudbloods and blood traitors, why it was impossible to tell which was which. "I thought you would be pleased for me to be here against all this.. disorder. You wanted me to understand well here I am taking a interest". She spoke the words as if each was a personal affront, it was Ianto's fault that she was here in this stupid country with these blood traitors who did not even dress like proper wizards. If only their parents knew she was assured that they would be appalled!

By the way Ianto had spoke of them you'd have thought they would have been a bit nicer, but nobody seemed to want to talk to her, good. She didn't want anything to do with traitors of their kind. "I cannot believe you went to such bother for these people" Tamika said in typical pot-calling-the-kettle-black, she of course had made no such effort, her assumption that even here in the middle of nowhere they would at least make a effort to celebrate in proper fashion with a ball and dance had lead to her choosing her outfit to fit in, instead she looked like she'd walked straight out of costume shop. Little would they know that her gown was from the 2010 line of Matacore enchantments, Miss Proust had been kind enough to let her 'borrow' from the store. Sadly nobody had told the pets that which was why as she watched the people crowd in on something Tamika was utterly unprepaired to deal with the attack that was coming her way by the bladder of a certain dog. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she squealed kicking out at the dog who just missed the pointed tip of her boot. "Disgusting animal.. stupid Muggles can not even train them properly!" Tamika ranted as she tried to shake pee off the end of her dress. This was not her day, looking over at her brother she winced and took a step away at seeing that horrible dragon sitting on her brother's shoulder. "Why should I be happy?" Tamika asked as she watched people getting excited because apparently someone was getting married. Great, because what she really needed was a reminder of her own situation that she was avoiding. "Ha, I bet they will regret it within the year" a sneer of disapproval as she fumbled around in her purse, finding her wand she did her best to remove the stain from the dogs as her brother just walked off on her, HE WALKED OFF ON HER!! Ianto clearly had no manners at all, no wonder since these people had been so rude to not even give a proper welcome and reception.

It was almost as if they where avoiding her entirely. Well two could play at that game and so taking a glass of whatever it was the others where drinking Tamika stood away from the others, at least the drink seemed quite good? Bubbly and refreshing, Tamika had not had champagne in a long time, red wine was the current fashion and while some of the avant-garde wore by lighter drinks Tamika had always considered it unsophisticated. She couldn't see Tamsal Blackhorn drinking anything but blood red wine. Yet there was something to be said for this drink, she decided that she would have another and if it took getting ill to take Ianto's attention away from these people well she would do that. Yes she was that petty. It was either that or admit that she didn't belong here, if she didn't belong here and she didn't belong with her husband-to-be just where did she belong? Eying her brother her heart sank, he seemed to know his way around these people, goading her even that he was going to go 'help' with whatever was causing all the shouting. Tamika of course would not help... or so her brother assumed. "I will assist you brother, we all know how your spellwork is after all" Tamika stated before finishing her drink in a quick gulp and following on in the direction of the others. So what if she didn't belong and it wasn't proper, Tamika was petty enough that if helping annoyed her brother she would do so in a hearts breath, it was better then standing around by herself like some kind of social outcast.