elseworldexiles | Hello, I'm your wife. Allow me to introduce myself.

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Hello, I'm your wife. Allow me to introduce myself.

She sat at a table set for two at one of her father's favorite restaurants. The candles, flowers, place settings and linens were all arranged just so. As is she, she thinks, in her brand new dress and shoes, her nails freshly manicured, her hair trimmed and styled.

I might as well be one of the decorations.

A small thought as she plucks at the hem of the tablecloth.

She's waiting to meet the man she's going to spend the rest of her life with. She's less than excited. Matter of fact, she's downright nervous...if not a little scared...but she can't let any of that show, what with the dutiful guards lurking in the corners. She also figures any smidge of potential romance is utterly destroyed by their presence.

She sighs, glancing down to check her watch without being too obvious about it, then takes a sip of water...and waits.

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She smiles some then turns her attention to the waiter.

"Chicken lettuce cup for me, please, and wild mushroom puff pastries for the gentleman."

"Wild mushrooms?" The smile becomes a little more genuine. "Do you like to go hiking?"

Maybe we can have something in common after all.

"I've never gone, but I do like being in our gardens."

The very idea of getting out of the city and away from her family brings an unexpected light to her eyes.

"I love to go rock climbing," he confesses, drawn out by that light in her eyes, against everything prudence would require. "Getting out in the middle of nowhere, just me and the mountain face...."

He has spent a lifetime schooling his expressions, but he can't completely hide the longing for solitude. And why shouldn't he relax a little? This meeting is for public consumption, after all. It's grist for the rumor mill. "I could teach you," he offers, "if you'd like. Or ... if you're not into that kind of thing, maybe we could just try a day trip upstate."

She could write a book about observing people and the telltale signs they give when they aren't paying attention, or think no one else is. What she sees from him as he talks calms her nerves before she realizes it, softens the edges of her face.

Again, she finds herself smiling, this time a little more honestly.

"I've never really been out of the city, so I don't know what I would like."

She hadn't meant to admit that much and blushes, lowering her eyes.

The awkward silence is brief, thanks to the timely arrival of the waiter, who deftly places the lettuce cups in front of Lorna and the wild mushroom puff pastries in front of Alex. "Thank you," the future groom says quietly, then picks up a pastry and gingerly bites into it. Pleased, he breaks into a more genuine smile. "Hey, this is good. You know your food."

"Just don't ask me to cook it."

She chuckles softly before taking a dainty bite of her chicken.

There are things she'd like to ask him. What does he expect from a wife? What female members of his family would he like in the wedding party? What are his ideas on children? Eek! All of those questions suddenly become stupid and trivial as she watches him from beneath her lashes.

The wild mushroom pastries are good enough that he can pretend they are his sole focus for the moment, though he studies her with every bite.

She's pretty--no, she's lovely. It could be worse. Unless....

"You know," he says quietly, "I don't ... we can...." Alex sighs, tired of toying with his fork and setting it beside his plate. "Look, I know I'm not who you expected to marry. Neither one of us has much choice in this, but we can choose how to behave to each other. So...." He's blushing and knows it, but can't stop it. "If you'd rather be more like ... friends ... that's okay. I don't--" He swallows, unable to say, I don't want to force anything. That's my family's way. Not mine.

Her brows had lifted as he starts and stops over and over again, then blinks, setting her own fork quietly down to the side of her plate.

She can't help the brief glance she gives to the silent guards, but her smile is more relaxed, more open when she looks back to him.

That's...sweet.

"Let's try this again. Hi. I'm Lorna."

This time, his smile reaches his eyes. "Hi. I'm Alex. It's nice to meet you, Lorna."

She resumes eating her appetizer with another shy smile for him.

"So what do you do...other than climb rocks?"

Could that be a bit of a smirk in that smile?

"I like to sculpt. I'm not very good, but I enjoy it. I like studying geology, going to museums about it, that sort of thing." Boldly he adds, "Anything that gets me away from ... crowds."

Maybe she'll understand that the crowds he hates most are related to him.

Oh she understands what is meant when one says that word with that tone of voice. She's heard it in her own enough times, so she gives him a knowing, a daring, covert smirk before taking another bite.

"Do you like the Museum of Natural History?"

"Sure. Would you like to go there some time?"

Too eager. He settles back against his chair. "Uh, that is ... if you want. Or if we have time." One corner of his mouth curls in a rueful grin. "They're keeping us busy, aren't they?"

She nods a little, wrinkling her nose.

"But part of keeping us busy is spending time to get to know each other. So, yes, I would like to go."

She loves museums in general, but this one in specific, though she sometimes feels bad for the animals that died to be there.

"I'd like that. Oh--" He turns as the waiter approaches again. "Um, yes. I'd like the ... uh...." A quick study of the menu ends in a relieved expression as he recognizes something he likes. "I'll have the lemon garlic lamb, please. Lorna, what would you like?"

"The fresh roasted chicken breast, please."

Her eyes flicker to Alex, then back to the waiter.

"And a bottle of Pinot Grigio, please."

Wine? Okay.

"I don't drink very much in public," he half-warns, half-apologizes to her. "I don't like losing control."

Especially because he's never been quite sure just how many implants Forge has installed in him ... and what Forge might do with his body if he ever got too drunk.

"It's a very light wine, and we don't have to drink the whole bottle."

I can't believe I'm going to say this.

"So long as it's chilled, it keeps quite nicely...for another day."

She clears her throat and blushes.

He likes the blushing. His sister-in-law never blushes. Neither does his niece.

He's beginning to like the green hair, too. "I'd like that."

He'd like it a lot. Spending the rest of his life with this woman doesn't seem so bad after all.

She surprises herself when she realizes that she'd like that too. She can't believe she's actually going to have to thank her father. This Summers son is not the monster she was expecting. Far from it, actually. She wonders what it would be like if next time his kiss went a little east of her cheek, then blushes again at that impertinent thought, and focuses on her place setting.

Fortunately, the wine's appearance at their table saves her.

The wine is shortly followed by the entrees, and as Alex's knife cuts into his lamb, he is struck by a horrid realization.

"You're not what I expected," he says, barely moving his lips.

She had taken a moment to just enjoy the aroma of her chicken before cutting into it and taking a bite.

Alex's question brings her attention back to him and her brows lift.

"Oh? What did you expect?"

It isn't as if I haven't been in every newspaper or on every channel at one time or another.

He continues to wield his knife and fork, speaking with the minimum of lip movement. "I didn't expect to like you." There is the barest suggestion of a sigh. "I'm sorry. That you're getting dragged into this family stuff."

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Hello, I'm your wife. Allow me to introduce myself.

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