Dealings done

It's done.

Married.

Again.

If you had asked me even six months ago whether this would have happened, I'd have laughed.  Though, in truth, Simon and I had talked about getting married just to enhance our covers on Dragon's Egg. Then it was just for the cover.  Wouldn't even have had to sleep together - not that I'd have minded.  While Haley was adorable and snuggly, a Beagle was no substitute for a Person to keep you warm at night.  Besides.  She snores.

Simon, fortunately, doesn't snore.  But I knew that already.  There were a lot of things I could have known, but consciously chose not to.  I've had an extensive file on Simon for some time, left filed, safely encrypted, and unread, by choice.  When he started courting me I started compiling information but, as time went on, I came to the conclusion that he was actually serious about us and that some things were best left unknown.  Which is probably why his dress uniform was a bit of a surprise.

I'd known Simon was part of the Intel community all along, though I hadn't pressed to find out exactly which unit was home.  I knew it was Alliance, rather than criminal or Indie, but not whether it was LEO, or MilInt, or State, or one of the even more obscure branches.  It was probably in the file.  Though my own unit was deep enough that I'd have to have been actively looking to find it - and I wasn't actively looking into Simon's past.

When I saw him at the alter, a lot of things came together.  His dress uniform was impeccable, perfectly tailored, and authentic.  My Spook turned Gentleman Farmer was a Fleet officer, rather than Ground Forces as I was.  But he also ranked me.  Several grades, in fact.  Ranked Silvermane too.  And Taggart.  Fact was, he was awfully young to be an Admiral with that many pips.

No wonder Grandfather had been willing to go along.  Simon was a ranking officer from a well placed family.  While my folks had been willing to accept Sabrina because I loved her, I doubt they'd ever been able to reconcile my getting hitched to someone with a Frontier background.  Except Uncle Elsoph, who couldn't have cared less about her background.  He loved her because she understood what he was about.  With Simon, they saw it as marrying closer to my station.  Not that I cared about station, but I understood the concern.

Dragon's Egg's small church was about right for the ceremony.  There weren't a lot of people in attendance.  Mostly local friends and a few who dropped in when they heard the news.  Silvermane sent a team from her personal body guard unit to provide some unobtrusive security, since there was no way I was going to let those Cerberus obez'yan be my honor guard or provide security.  That their leader "tripped" and almost dumped cake on Simon's uniform kind of reinforced that decision.  Fortunately, he and his team didn't manage to ruin the event for anyone.

My girls were surprisingly well behaved, though I think Lily was a bit taken aback when she realized she wasn't the one getting married.  But at least Abby gave her the bouquet when she caught it.  She and AuroraBlue didn't fight in public at least.  That they were both there was a kindness.  Though I did miss x0x0, and would have been happy if someone from my family had actually been on hand to "give me away."  Though that would happen at the second ceremony, on Ariel, when it finally happened.

The thing was, the wedding was ultimately more for show and to give the folks on Dragon's Egg something to smile about.  I'd decided to go through with it and marry Simon in spite of any misgivings.  The Shepherd's ceremony was right shiny, actually.  Some pretty words.  Vows that, in some cases, almost made me giggle.  Us standing initially on the wrong side, in part because the first time I got hitched I was the one in the Uniform.  It was all good.  Everyone happy.  Even me.

We didn't stay over long at the reception.  Neither of us had time of a real honeymoon just yet.  Too much to do, too little time.  But the wedding night would be . . . interesting.   While I would have preferred to have our first night doing more than actually sleeping be before we were wed, I was willing to train him up right.  Just had to hope he had the stamina and enthusiasm to make up for a lack of experience.

More then for cover
Affection growing to love
Married once again