Faal was still floating, although he had managed to come a bit closer to the ground since the court house... although the champagne wasn't helping.  The roof top patio was crowed with well wishers, friends and family, and they'd already had a few too many toasts. Faal was very glad he was Fae and alcohol took a bit more and a bit longer to effect him then it did most.... Lex was leaning on his arm
and kept giggling every time someone came over to hug them and gave their congratulations. He'd noticed some of the women eyeing them for  quite some time now and knew they were plotting on how to drag Lex off...

Lex had also noticed the shifting looks, Aiyla, Alandra, Regan and Rue kept shooting in his direction and there was no way he was going to give them a chance, hopefully. He'd had to take off the high heels after a while, so was running around in his stocking feet. Lex also noticed Saffron kept looking in their direction. Lex lowered his glass, looking back at Saffron when he caught his eye, and raised an eyebrow, but Saffron quickly looked away again. Lex sighed.

"Surely you're not tired already, love... they'll never let us escape so early. It's only been... two hours? " He pulled Lex against him, wrapping his arms around his waist. "Especially since we get to be alone for the next day and a half without any one ' dropping in' while they're all busy with the final preparations..."

"At least they're taking care of the final preparations...but did you know Jasmine wants to come get me at seven am..." Lex muttered, leaning against Faal. He noticed Auron had moved over to speak to Saffron, but Regan cut off the view as she approached, she was carrying another glass of champainge and before Lex could protest, switched his half empty glass for the full one. "You do realize, I
got all this champainge from the Lion's Gate, so you'd best drink it before Mike finds out I'm pilfering from my own stock." She said with a grin.

Faal chuckled. "You do realize that if you get us all drunk we're going to need more than a day to recover enough for the royal wedding." 
Regan smiled mischieviouls and wiggled her eyebrows."Mayeb we're just making sure you two have no energy to escape BEFORE the royal wedding.." She laughed as she slipped away. Lex sighed and leaned his forehead against Faals chest, the champagne glass held carefully away so it wouldn't spill. "I wouldn't put it past them, you know." Faal said. "The women in our families have proven to be
 quite devious at times..."

Lex was looking at the glass she'd brought him. "Why do I suddenly get the feeling it's drugged?" He muttered softly, before reaching to his side and putting the glass on the table. "If only we could get away with slipping out the back..." He looked at Faal with a slight smile. Then said softly. "I haven't had a chance to tell you how handsome you looked..."

Faal blushed slightly and flipped a length of hair over his shoulder. "I remember you admiring a similar outfit one day while we were out.. and you're always letting my hair loose and playing with it... I'm glad you liked it." He said, raising Lex's finger to his mouth and gently kissing them. "You are beyond words. When I saw you walk in the room I thought you couldn't possibley be real, that you
must have been a dream to have looked so perfect....I also thought i was going to faint.. I must have a humoungous bruise on my arm where Estehl pinched me." he chuckled softly.

Lex blushed but wondered vaguely what Faal would think of him in the gown. "I guess I owe Jasmine...she picked an excellent shop...although she kept trying to talk me into getting a dress..." He said, laying his head on Faal's shoulder. "But you did look very handsome and I think, if it wasn't for Dad, I wouldn't have been able to walk that distance..." He curled a strand of Faals' hair around his:
fingers.

Faal wrapped his arms tighter around Lex. "If I didn't think they'd make us suffer worse at the next reception, I'd sweep you off your feet and take you home right now." He gave a sigh and stroked his fingers over a bare shoulder." But I believe this is the lesser of two evils... dman .. spoke too soon." he said as Rue approached with a mischievious look in her eye, Chaos at her side.

We're not interrupting are we?" Rue asked sweetly. Lex gave her a look. "I know that look, Rue..." "What look?" She asked innocently. "I just want to steal you away for a few minutes, promise..." She added. Lex took a breath, bit back the retort, let the breath out and asked, "Why?" "Because...one I'd like to talk to you...two, Jasmine wants to talk to you..." Rue said. Lex rolled his eyes, but
Rue had already grabbed his arm. "Come on, just a few minutes...beside, you'll have all day tomorrow to have Faal to yourself." She said. "Excuse us, Faal." She added, before dragging Lex off.

Faal fought the urge to argue and try to stay with Lex.. he knew any attempts would only make it worse later on. He'd been warned about some of the 'repercussions' they could deal out for the royal wedding and reception... He picked up Lex's abandoned glass of champagne and took a sip as he turned around.. if he couldn't see Lex being dragged away, maybe he wouldn't be so tempted to go after him..

Rue dragged Lex off, toward Jasmine, Aiyla, and Alandra. She glanced over hershoulder to see if Chaos was staying to talk to Faal or following. As they went, they passed Saffron who actually seemed to be approaching Faal and Lex caught sight of his father actually smirking as he wtched Saffron. "Uh..." Lex attempted to dig his heels to stop. "Saffron is a big boy...And I'm sure Faal can put up
with him." Rue replied, getting a better grip on Lex's shoulders and steering him on.

Chaos resisted the urge to congratulate Faal yet again and left him to sulk in Lex's absence. She'd done her part in running back up for Rue's kidnapping, in case Faal had resisted. She smiled and turned, her eyes seeking out Auron.         Faal spotted Saffron when he was just a few feet a way. The look of grim determination and... something else on the mans face made Faal suddenly gulp the
 remains of the champange.

Auron settled down near by in a chair, and was waiting for Chaos, one eye on Saffron. He'd told the boy just to go and talk to Faal, and after a bit of protesting, Saffron had agreed.
Saffron took a breath, reached Faal's side, and contemplated what to say, then said the first thing that came to mind. "Er...glad everything went okay,..."

Faal set the glass aside."thank you. I hope you haven't changed your mind about being my second.. er.... best man at the next ceremony. It really would mean a lot to us..."
 Chaos slipped into her chair and took Auron's hand in hers as she stole a kiss. "I can't believe one of our kids just got married.. the second youngest... just got the two older ones now.. Dev will be a while longer yet i think.."she said with a smile as she watched the four year old dancing with Lily Rose....

"Yes, well, I think he's already decided." Auron said, watching the two young children himself. "And I think Lex is still in shock to be honest...but I'm happy for him...Its just Saffron i'm worried about..." He stroked Chaos' fingers with his thumb.

Saffron shook his head. "No...I mean, I haven't changed my mind. I know it would mean a lot to Lex...I just haven't told him yet..." Faal gave a sigh of relief and smiled. "I'm glad, but don't worry if you don't get a chance to tell him.. I rather think the look on his face when he sees you there will be more then enough to tell you how he feels about it."

Saffrom looked back at Faal, silent a moment, then shook his head. "You hope. Lex and I aren't exactly on the best of terms for a pair of brothers..."
Lex tried to focus on what Aiyla was rambling on about, but he'd been watching Faal and Saffron.

"No, Saffron, I don't hope.. I know. Lex may not be good at  talking to people or telling them his feelings about them, but he does love you. He's just a very shy and private person, especially about personal things. He's sad the two of you haven't been able to bond closer, he wishes it were different. He wants so much for you to accept him as he is. And he'll probably be very upset with me for
telling you all this... "

"It's not tht I don't...I mean, I'm happy he's himself, really, I am...it's just..." Saffron trailed off not even sure what he was trying to say himself. "I'd rather him be happy,  then anything...and I don't think he would have...married you if he wasn't..." Saffron shut his mouth again, downed the scotch in his hand and cast a forlorn glance around while trying to get his thoughts together.

Faal watched Saffron for a moment. "Would you perfer if we spoke in private?" he asked. "I know for a fact our apartment is empty.. and as far as I know still furnished if a tad dusty.  Plus it's only a short walk."

"Maybe it would...be easier to speak in private." Saffron said, with a gesture. He was watching Lex, who for once seemed totally relaxed and was smiling as he talked with the women. He was holding Maya who had appearently begged for him to hold her.

Faal gestured for Saffron to lead the way. "Mind if we stop off at the bar on our way... I get the feeling that we could both use another drink."  He happend to catch sight of Lex and felt his heart suddenly full to bursting.

"Don't mind at all." Saffron muttered into his empty glass. He turned his eyes away from Lex and sighed, but didn't catch Lex looking in their direction. Lex's smile had faultered a bit, and he was watching his brother and Faal quizzically, until Maya grabbed an earring and tugged hard.

Faal gave Lex a reassuring smile but he wasn't sure if he saw or not. The two men paused long enough to grab a fresh drink each, Faal switching to scotch, and then they headed for the stairs.  Faal looked over his shoulder at Lex before they headed down, wanting to make sure he was alright...

Lex had seen Saffron and Faal heading down the stairs and started to distangle himself from everyone else, when Regan grabbed his arm. "LEt them talk..." She said softly in his ear. Lex sighed, letting Regan drag him back.
Saffron followed Faal silently, mulling over things, once in the hall, away from everyone else, he said softly. "Look, I know I probably came off as a right jerk before hand...it wasn't that I didn't like you...or didn't like you being with Lex...it's just...Lex..."

"Has been through too much and is a delicate soul and promotes incredible feelings of protectiveness... especaially from a big brother." Faal said stopping and turning back to face Saffron.

"Yeah..." Saffron agreed, already taking a drink. "Well, for the most part...besides, I know much his saftey means to...well everything...But I shouldn't be so...overly protective as Regan puts it..."

Faal leaned against the wall and regarded Saffron. "You are speaking to someone just as guilty on that charge.Lex just inspires it from us. I tried very very hard to NOT be over protective.. I stood by and let insults fly until I couldn't stand to see Lex hurt anymore. All I wanted to do was stop the hurt before it started, but no one can do that. We just block as much as we can and help pick upthe pieces..."

Saffron took a large drink, swallowed then sighed and met Faal's eyes. "To be perfectly honest, I don't think...the hurt is ever really going to stop for him...I mean yeah, we can block as much as we can but...this is Lex we're talking about...to many of the wrong people are interested in him...we can get rid of one, but then some one or something else pops up...There's always...some one in the
shadows waiting..." He was kicking himself, unbeknownst to anyone, he knew he'd done a bad thing recently... "Look, maybe it would be better if I didn't stand as your best man..." he muttered.

"I thought you said you weren't going to back out?" Faal asked , his eyes narrowed as he watched Saffron. "There's something you're not saying Saffron.. tell me."

Saffron drained his glass, shifted uncomfortably, and had to look away. "I don't know, if Lex has ever mentioned to you...that one line that's drawn between him and I...When I was 14 and...serving my stint in hell, I was told I'd be betrayed some day...in the worst possible way...I didn't know until I met Lex that it was supposed to be Lex who'd betray me...the three years that I've gotten with mybrother, I've tried over and over again, not to even think about that warning...but I couldn't shake it...I know Lex would never intentionally do something...but..."

Faal frowned then looked down at his untouched glass and offered it to Saffron. "This warning...was it a prophecy? I'd like to hear it... I know form experience that prophecies  can be very conveluted things that more often then not turn out to be selffullfilling..."

Saffron absently accepted Faal's glass. "I don't know if it's a prophecy, Arcanina never said....She's brought it up more then once...The last time I was there she brought it up, inquiring how things were between Lex and I...Let me ask a question...can something like this...be...completely turned around?" He realize that probably made no sense and drained the second glass.

"That depends... if it's a prophecy, the best way to stop it is to ignore the prophecy, I think. Prophecy's come to pass because people believe in them and take steps to avoid it or promote it... for instance...  I heard of a mortal king who was told that his unborn child would cause his death... so as soon as the child was born he grabbed the babe and ran outside... tripped over a rock and broke
his neck.. if he had ignored the prophecy..." Faal shrugged. " That tends to be the way with the majority of them.  But  if its not a prophecy.. then how do you know its legitamate?? Some random seer told Arcania to pass on a message about something over a dozen years in the future??" he sighed shaking his head. "I don't know Saffron.. I seems more like someone was trying to ferment discord
    between you two... "

Saffron groaned. "Yeah...that's what I was afraid of..." He muttered. Then groaned again. "Lex is going to kill me..."

Faal chuckled. "No he won't... we just won't tell him." he said, giving Saffron's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. " you know.. this is a tad over whelming for me... I went from having no family.. to having a brother and three sisters.. to having  three brothers, four sisters,  a mother and father.. all be it, 'inlaw',  and a 'wife'... "

"Welcome to the family..." Saffron muttered, partly dry, partly good natured. "I imagine it's a bit over whelming for Lex as well..." He decided to leave off on the subject of the warning, and couldn't exactly tell Faal that Lex probably WOULD kill him when Lex found out what Saffron had done...

Faal gave Saffron's shoulder another squeeze then a pat. "thank you, Saffron.. really, thank you. I won't tell LEx about this warning.. he doesn't need to know what someone told you when you were a kid.. he's got enough on his plate, and so do you. Let's leave this here with us."

"Yeah...that's a good idea...look, I apologize for being a total ass..." Saffron gave an sheepish smile. "But you really should get back to Lex, before the girls drive him crazy..." Saffron glanced back at the stairs. "And...you know, congrats and all..."

Faal chuckled. " Thank you.. and you'r right. I think Lex has languished long enough. And as sappy as this sounds... I miss him. " He chuckled and gestured for Saffron to lead the way and followed along behind, his mind already dancing through ideas of what to do when he finally got his 'bride' home...

At seven am sharp, Jasmine appeared on the house's doorstep, ringing the bell. A tad impatient, but they had a lot to do before the wedding, and she had told Lex she'd be after him at seven am.
Lex on the other hand, did not want to get up, for one he was far to comfortable and warm, for two, who's to say they'd actually gotten a lot of sleep the night before. He could hear the door bell even
from upstairs and proceeded to cover his head with the pillow, groaning.

Faal gave a low growl and curled himself closer around Lex. "Ten to one that's a certain sister in law of mine..."he said, cracking one eye open. "I don't suppose she'd take the hint and go away if we ignored her...."

Jasmine drummed her fingers on her arm, then pressed the buzzer again. If they kept her waiting much longer, she was going to just walk right in. She was hardly patient to wait when they had so much to do.
"I don't wanna get up..." Lex muttered from under his pillow. "But then you know her...she's lively to come busting in..." He moved the pillow to look at the clock. Seven Am was WAY to early
for Lex.

Faal sighed and lifted his head, then propped himself up on one arm to look down at Lex. With another sigh he leaned down and gave Lex as long and drawn out a kiss as he thought Jasmine would wait for, then slipped out of bed and pulled on the  silky lounge pants he'd discarded on the floor the night before. "I'll go stall her as long as I can love..."

Lex sighed. "Gods, we should've just eloped. Shuoldn't hav told ANYONE and just eloped..." He muttered, shoving the hair out of his face and watching Faal head for the door, before slowly detangling himself from the blankets.
Jasmine had had enough, with out futhrer thought she took the spare key from her purse, unlocked the door and walked in.

Faal was at the top of the stairs when he heard the click of a key in the lock and groaned. Somehow he doubted Lex had given out a key, and since he KNEW he hadn't... "Good morning, Jasmine... breaking and entering now, are we?" he called out as he was walking down the stairs. He was wearing nothing but the pants and his hair was  no doubt a mess.. and he suspected he had pillow creases on him
somewhere.. but he figured anyone who would wake someone up this early in the morning didn't deserve the effort.

"Perhaps, and maybe I'll feel like explaining it to the cops later, but at the moment...I told Lex I'd be here at seven sharp. There's to much to do to delay it much longer..." She replied tartly, already starting up the stairs intent to retrive the 'bride' "You guys had a whole day to yourselves, SURELY you didn't stay up last night!" She gave Faal a look, pausing long enough to look him over then rolled her eyes. "Evidently, I was wrong." She said with a snort. "Lex! Get your cute little ass down here!" She called, starting up the stairs again.
Lex groaned, already half dressed. If the day started out like this...

Faal sighed and leaned against the wall as Jasmine stalked past him. "Your attitude smacks of retailation for something done to you on your wedding... don't torture the poor boy.. this is supposed to be a happy day.. it can't be happy if he's being run roughshod over by a batch of pushy harpies..." he said, adding a grin so she'd know he was at least partially joking. " Come on, love... time to
get this over with so we can run away together..."

"Harpy now is it?" Jasmine growled, eyeing him. "You just wait, Ellander!" She pointed a finger at him.
Lex put his hair in a pony tail, pulled on a sweater over his jeans and went out into the hall. "Easy, you two...I might be a tad resentful if blood gets spilled..."
Faal jogged up the stairs past Jasmine and scooped Lex into a hug. He leaned down for another kiss. "Next time something big pops up, I'll take your advice... you were right, we shouldn't have told anyone..." He shot a michievioius look at Jasmine. "SOME people just have a natural talent for sucking the fun out of everything and turning it all into a chore..."

Jasmine shot him an unamused look. "I haven't even BEGUN to make this difficult yet!" She hissed. Lex had to giggle softly, before kising Faal back. "I suppose," He said mock dramatically, "I'll see you in a bit...think you can handle a couple hours with out me?" Jasmine rolled her eyes. "I'm sure he'll manage just fine." She remarked, grabbing Lex's arm.