by Sable Sylvan
“Damien...you saved my life,” said Crystal. “I can’t ever do anything to pay you back for this.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” said Damien. He reached into his pocket. “It’s funny, isn’t it...we had that whole conversation about how I need to tell you things before some disaster happens...and right before I was going to tell you something, this happens. Well, I’m not going to let that change my plans.” Damien pulled out a small black box.
Crystal immediately knew what it was. Her heart was racing for two reasons now. She reached out and held Damien’s free hand.
“Crystal...I meant to do this properly, and get down on one knee, but, I’m not exactly able to do that right now,” said Damien. “So let’s do it now.”
Damien popped open the ring box. Inside the box there was a gorgeous gold-banded diamond ring. There were six diamonds, pear cut, three large, on the top, and three small, between the three large diamonds. The diamonds were arranged in the form of the star lily, the same symbol that marked both their chests. “Crystal Wordsworth...over the last month, you turned me from a bear with the heart of a frog — no offense, Niles — to a bear with the heart of a prince. Now, will you make me the happiest bear prince alive and do me...the great honor...of becoming...my wife?”
“I do,” said Crystal, wiping tears of both stress and joy from her eyes. “Oh, Damien, I do!”
The entire crowd clapped. Crystal kissed Damien deeply and held his hand as the EMTs who were on site moved the large ball off of Damien’s legs.
***
Damien woke up the next day to the sound of beeping hospital equipment. He opened his eyes and looked around. His legs were in casts, but he could still feel them. He looked around: there, in a chair by his bed, was Crystal, asleep, in last night’s clothes. He pressed the call button, and a nurse came over.
“What’s going on?” whispered Damien.
“Good morning, Mr. Dixon,” whispered the nurse. “We gave you some pretty heavy meds last night, it might’ve affected your memory. What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Asking that woman over there to marry me,” said Damien. “And her saying yes.”
“Your fiancée has waited with you ever since you came to the hospital,” said the nurse. “The EMTs at the party moved this giant...disco ball, according to the chart, off of your legs. You were rushed here by ambulance, and she came with you. You insisted she be allowed to stay with you. She hasn’t left your side, except for when we had to take x-rays, and when we took you in for surgery.”
“Surgery?” asked Damien. “So what’s going on down there?”
“Somehow, you only ended up with a three piece comminuted fracture on one leg, and a stable fracture on the other. The three-piece fracture, it was in three large pieces that we realigned in surgery. You don’t have to worry too much about anything at all, just follow the doctor’s orders,” said the nurse. “You’ll need to be here for two weeks, under observation, but then, we’ll set up a plan to get you back home. You may not be able to work for twelve weeks, but this will all be behind you shortly. You’re a really lucky man, you know that?”
“Yeah, I know,” said Damien, but he wasn’t thinking about the nurse. No, he was thinking about the woman who had stayed with him all night. “Was there a phone with my things?”
“Yes, it’s charging, I’ll fetch it for you,” said the nurse.
In a few minutes, the nurse had the phone in Damien’s hands, and a few phone calls later, Damien asked the nurse to wake up Crystal.
Crystal woke up after the nurse shook her a few times. “What’s going on?” she asked, and then she saw Damien, eyes open. “Damien!”
She walked over to him and kissed him, but was careful not to touch him too roughly. “Damien! I was so scared. How are you feeling?”
“I’ve been better,” said Damien. He took Crystal’s hand in his. The ring he’d given her was on her finger and fit perfectly. “I couldn’t remember much about last night...but the one thing I’m glad about? That I didn’t just dream up you saying ‘I do’ to my proposal.”
“Of course I said ‘I do’,” said Crystal, sitting back down by Damien. “I love you, Damien, and you could propose to me from a quarantine room, and I’d still say ‘I do’.”
“Really? You’re that in love with me?” asked Damien.
“How could I be anything but that in love with you?” asked Crystal. “Damien...we’ve had our ups, and we’ve had a few downs, but you’re the man I want to spend the rest of my forever with. I’ve never doubted that.”
“That’s all I had to hear,” said Damien with a smile. There was a knock at the door and Crystal went to answer it.
“Niles?” said Crystal. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for two reasons,” said Niles. “First off, gifts from your aunt and from your cousins.” Niles was carrying a giant set of get well balloons in bright pink with a matching teddy bear, and there was also a brand new e-reader kit.
“Your cousins got you an e-reader? That’s nice,” said Crystal.
“No, if I know my cousins...they got the biggest, pinkest, tackiest balloon set in the store,” said Damien. “The e-reader’s from my aunt.”
“Second order of business?” asked Crystal.
“That’d be taking you home, miss,” said Niles.
“No frikkin’ way, I’ve gotta stay with Damien,” said Crystal.
“You can’t stay here for the two weeks I’m going to be under observation,” said Damien. “Crystal. Trust me. I’ll be fine. You can visit me, but you’ve gotta go home and live your life, sugar.”
“Alright, but you have to call me,” said Crystal. “And if anything, and I mean anything, goes wrong...you have to let me know.”
“Come over here, princess,” ordered Damien. Crystal walked over to Damien’s bed. “Listen. You’ve got to be strong, for me, and keep living your life. I’m gonna be out of commission for twelve weeks, but you know what that means? You can come over and visit me whenever you want after work, on the weekends, whenever. We’ll have take-out and watch bad movies together, and I can’t take you anywhere fancy, but we’ll still have each other, even when we’re not face to face. You got that?”
“I do,” said Crystal, pulling up Damien’s hand and pressing it to her cheek. “Damien...I love you. And fine, I’ll go back with Niles. But Damien?”
“What is it, my love?” asked Damien as Crystal walked over to the frog shifter.
“Do me a favor...and don’t break any more bones,” said Crystal with a smile before blowing her prince a kiss.
On the way back to her apartment, in the back of Nile’s limo, Crystal thought about the amazing month she’d had. Yes, there had been tears, but there had been more kisses and smiles than sorrows. She’d kissed the bear enough times to turn him into a prince. There was a mystical land just a few hours south of the big city that held delicious fruit and big bad wolves. There were secret cabins in woods, with heart shaped tubs and stars that were invisible just two hours north of that spot. There was the grand-aunt that could transform into a goose and played matchmaker and Mother Goose and a frog shifter that liked to get his sticky tongue and fingers on everything to help that goose out. There was love, and it came in all shapes and sizes, but in the end, everyone was part of their own little fairy tale...and now, she was too, and she had her own happy ending.
Epilogue
One Year Later
It had been a hectic year for both Crystal and Damien. Damien’s leg healed up within four months, but he was still careful with it, and didn’t get into any fights or treat it too roughly, even in his shift. Crystal’s article for the Golden Ball had won a local journalism award, and she was being taken more seriously in her office. Although Damien had offered her a position at Asher Lumber, Crystal decided to keep her work and private lives separate, or at least, as separate as she could. Damien and Crystal ended up moving in together, but not into her apartment, or into the Asher
Manor. They got their own place, to make it their own. While Damien hibernated with his family, Crystal occupied herself with travel, and she started a travel and politics blog. People came for the beautiful pictures and stayed for the discourse on important issues.
Crystal had met the rest of the young Asher and Dixon boys, as well as their brides, and they all got on so well that a few ended up becoming her bridesmaids, their husbands her fiancé’s groomsmen, but of course, Tangie was her maid of honor, and Damien’s best man was single, so once he saw Tangie, all bets were off. The two had amazing chemistry and were making eyes at each other at every event they were at...just as Crystal and Damien had hoped.
On the day of Crystal’s wedding, she walked down the gorgeous outdoor stairs leading down the labyrinth, her cream ball gown hugging her torso from her bosom to her hips, before flaring out into a cupcake style skirt. The cream gown had a small but important set of details...miniature champagne diamonds had been embroidered through the dress, shining in the sunlight like Crystal’s namesake stone. Her hair, in a braided up do, had small glittery champagne diamonds interspersed throughout the locks, and as she walked down to the well, where the officiant and her soon to be husband were waiting, there wasn’t a dry eye in the garden, where their closest friends and family were sitting for the relatively small intimate ceremony. The reception would be larger, but they’d purposely chosen the house for its sentimental value, rather than its luxury appeal, and they were having the real wedding on the spot where they’d first met.
Crystal approached Damien and held out her hands for him to take. Damien was wearing a gorgeous light grey suit, which was perfect for the season, and well-tailored so it wasn’t too casual. They held hands as they listened to the officiant, and finally, it came time for their vows.
Damien went first. He cleared his throat and spoke from memory, but most importantly, from the heart. “Crystal...from the moment I met you, I knew you were the woman who would forever change me and my life for the better,” started Damien. “I have never felt the way I feel for you towards anyone else. You fill my every waking moment with joy, and I only hope that, in dreams, I am privileged enough to see your beaming smile. You are the prism that makes my life into a vivid rainbow of experiences, and you are the only person I want to walk that rainbow with, hand in hand, heart in heart. I promise to love you, to cherish you, and to honor you, for as long as we both shall live.”
Crystal’s eyes were welling with tears. Damien had stared straight into her eyes during his vows and she promised herself she was going to do the same. She didn’t bother wiping the tears, as it would do no good, for more would surely soon well up in her eyes and need wiping as well. “Damien...you’re the man who has made my life infinitely more interesting for having been a part of it. I told myself I would never fall in love in Seattle, and well, to be fair, I didn’t...I fell in love in Port Jameson, a world only you could have shown me, a world that helped me love you even more. We’ve been together through thick and thin, through hard times and through good, and I would weather a thousand storms with you. I promise to love you, to cherish you, and to honor you, for as long as we both shall live.”
“You may now exchange the rings,” said the officiant.
Damien and Crystal had chosen matching bands. Both were plain gold, but held a secret. Inside the band of Damien’s ring, Crystal’s star lily tattoo had been etched in fine detail, and for Crystal’s band, Damien’s mate mark had been etched. This way, they would both have a part of each other with each other at all times.
“And now...you may kiss your mate,” said the officiant.
Damien pushed back Crystal’s veil and saw that her eyes were filled with tears that matched his own. Crystal, in flats under her dress, couldn’t quite reach Damien, so Damien lifted Crystal up for the kiss, sweeping her up into his arms as he kissed her deeply, in front of their most beloved and dearest, who were throwing white and yellow and pink rose petals up into the air on this rare sunny Seattle day.
Damien put Crystal back down and the couple led the wedding party up into the ballroom which had been transformed for the evening. There was a large buffet area with tables, a DJ rather than a band, and rather than gold decor, there were vibrant and colorful floral arrangements everywhere...but instead of roses, there were star lilies in each table’s centerpiece. The doors were opened, and the rest of the guests streamed in, some hitting the dance floor first, others hitting the buffet.
Crystal and Damien sat down at the head of their large table. People made toasts, some laughed, some cried, but through it all, Crystal and Damien just held hands, tired from a long day, from a long year, but truly happy to be together. They really didn’t know about half of what was going on, but the videographers that had been hired were taking ample footage that they could review later.
As the event turned into less of a wedding reception and more of a party, Damien leaned in to Crystal and whispered, “Wanna do something crazy?”
“Yes, of course,” said Crystal wickedly.
“Then come with me,” said Damien.
He took Crystal by the hand, and they snuck out of the party, up the stairs, into the secret wing of the house reserved for family only. They walked to Damien’s room. Damien opened the door.
“I had the place redone...for us,” said Damien.
Crystal looked around. The room, which before, had been filled with ragtag furniture and worn linens that Damien hadn’t found time to replace, was now more luxurious than any hotel room.
The room now had a cohesive theme, and that theme was, ‘vintage luxury’. There were lots of large plum toned swaths of fabric in the room, from the rich shag carpet to the curtains over the window and the large canopies over the bed. There was replica antique furniture, in white wood with gold details, and the bed was larger than the queen size bed that had occupied the room before. It was a custom bed, larger than a king sized bed, and it was covered with white and gold sheets and matching white, gold, and purple pillows, in many textures of fabric, from rich quilted and tufted twill to soft velvet and sensual rough sequins that changed from gold to white when one’s finger brushed over the top of the pillow. There were large plush throw blankets on the bed, which Crystal couldn’t help but touch. The lighting was now soft and warm, as if the room was lit by candle light. It was really a love nest, rather than a bachelor pad.
“So what do you think?” asked Damien.
“What do I think?” asked Crystal looking around. “Damien...you read my mind, it’s absolutely perfect!”
“I’m glad you think so,” said Damien. “What’s your favorite part about the room?”
“I don’t know, it’s all so amazing, what’s yours?” asked Crystal.
“The fact that you’re in it,” said Damien, sitting down on the bed next to Crystal and pulling her in tight for a kiss before whispering in her ear, “Now how about we break this bed in?”
“Right now? During our own frikkin’ wedding?” asked Crystal.
“Yes, is that too naughty?” asked Damien.
“Of course not, let’s get to business!” said Crystal. She stood up and Damien gently helped her out of the wedding dress. Crystal stepped out of the dress and posed for Damien, twirling before she took out her veil headpiece and the pins in her hair, shaking it all loose. All she was left in was her gorgeous bridal lingerie set, which she’d spent hours picking out, but which right now, she only saw as a barrier between her and what she wanted: Damien’s big, fat cock. “I think those photographers got enough pics of nice Crystal...now, are you ready to meet bad Crystal?”
“Oh, definitely,” said Damien. He got up from the bed and took off his suit jacket, before unbuttoning his shirt to expose his mate mark. It was still as multifaceted as it had been the day Crystal had changed him and tamed him. He undid his pants and briefs and dropped them, but he didn’t even bother stepping out of them. He just got behind Crystal, who was already bending over on the bed, kneeling and ready, and unl
eashed his shaft, pressing it against Crystal’s softness and feeling her wetness and taking that as his personal ‘go’ sign.
Damien and Crystal had made all kinds of love before, but this love, this was a primal love, the opposite of the civilized, chaste kisses they’d given outside for the camera. No, this was something that had more akin with lust than with innocent virgin love. This was the desire a man had for a woman and a woman for a man, that two people had that could only be met with a joining of bodies, not a mere joining of hands.
Damien took the flimsy white and blue fabric in his hands, the only thing keeping him from his mate’s honey pot, and with an audible roar, ripped it away so that the bit of fabric was left in his hand, not over her opening. He tossed the scrap of fabric aside. Damien gripped onto Crystal’s hips and pressed into her, hard, moving into her with one motion, filling her fast.
“Oh, Damien,” moaned Crystal. She could tell just how horny he’d been all day given that he was already rock hard and most likely already on the edge of orgasm. She bucked her hips in his hands, back up against Damien, riding him while he was behind her, while she was beneath him, and she heard him groan and felt him shudder. She knew just how Damien liked it, and she was about to show her husband a damn good time.
“Crystal, fuck, keep going,” moaned Damien, holding onto Crystal and moving with the rhythm she set, with every press against his crotch, pushing into her, and overtime she bucked her hips forward, he matched by bucking his hips back, so that each motion was accentuated and amplified by the motion of the other.
“God, Damien, you feel amazing,” said Crystal, as Damien pressed in and out of her, his thick cock making her wetter by the moment. She reached back and undid the hook on her bra, slipping her bra off half for her own comfort, half to show off her amazing curves.
