For Sinthia, Wedding Plans

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It still felt like something from a dream. Illya had proposed to Sinthia a couple of months before. Surprising her with a Faberge ring at her work. The date they had chosen was only a few months away.

"Avi, buddy, hold still just a little longer," Illya told the dog and petted him before pinning the tuxedo's hem so it wouldn't interfere with the dog's tail. It would come down just to his hips. He had the dog up on his work table, so he didn't have to bend down to work. The fabric was a fabulous silver silk brocade. Far too expensive in most people's view for a dog's tuxedo but how many times would he and Sinthia get married. Luckily for the tall Russian, his furry friend liked Illya enough that he actually was very patient with being fussed over. Illya carefully placed the pins, "You are being such a good boy."

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Sinthia had been walking around as if she was walking on clouds since Illya had proposed, nearly glowing with happiness. She was truly happy: in a city she enjoyed, doing what she liked, with a man she loved from the bottom of her heart. She'd been shooed out of the apartment for the afternoon, sent to get a few odds and ends from the fabric store for Illya; he needed buttons and extra pins, and a few other little bits which she'd gladly gone to fetch.

As she opened the door she called out for her boys, setting her keys down and kicking off her shoes. "Illya, I'm home!" she called, following it by clicking her tongue for Avalon to come to her.

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Illya jumped when he heard her come in and Avi bounded off the table and out of his work room before he could stop the dog. "Crap!" He went after him swearing in Russian and saw the Borzoi greeting Sinthia by the door.

"Surprise?..." he said.

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Sinthia couldn't help the giggle at Avi bounding out of the room with Illya, forever ready to come greet his human with face licks and nuzzling her. She buried her nose in his fur and kissed the dog's head before pulling back to look at the little jacket he had on. Obviously it was something Illya was making in beautiful silver silk.

"What are you wearing, boy?" she asked out loud, looking up at her soon-to-be husband. "This is handsome, Illya. Planning to make our boy part of the ceremony?"

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"Of course, so I'm making tuxedo for him," Illya admitted abashedly. "It was meant to be surprise."

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"It's lovely, Illya," she said, looking up from where she knelt on the floor petting their dog. "I love that you're making him part of this too. I couldn't get by without him very well at all."

Sinthia kissed Avalon's nose and rose up to kiss Illya as well. "Not black?" she asked. "Isn't black more formal?" she teased, knowing that her lover would have paid attention to the fact that she hated wearing red or black, and disliked greatly being around those colors as well, part of her past life that she couldn't ignore.

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Illya kissed her back. "I know what he means to you. We could not have wedding without him." He hugged Sinthia then let her go to kneel down and carefully remove the tuxedo jacket. "Perhaps, but we are not traditional wedding. And it will match mine." He held it out to show it to her. And it would match her dress. Which he was still working on. It wasn't traditional either and he was using a beautiful dove gray silk.

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Sinthia smiled as he explained and took off the slim jacket, letting Avi shake out his fur. "Oh, love. Thank you, this is...perfect. Everything you're doing for this is perfect."

She was overwhelmed and couldn't get out many words through a throat that was rapidly closing up with tears.

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"I'm glad you like it," he bent down to kiss her. "I love you and I want everything to be perfect." Their wedding would be small and intimate. That didn't mean that it would be unfashionable. They had invited maybe twenty people in all. Mostly from Sinthia's work.

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"It will be," she assured him, winding her arms around his waist. "It will all be perfect, because it's us."

She didn't mind it being a very small wedding, just her friends and the few of his that they both liked and knew, allowing the setting to be intimate. She trusted Illya completely with designing her dress, and she hoped he trusted her with their vows.

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"You make me so happy, you know?" he kissed her again. "Let me go put this away. Did you find buttons?" He asked, taking Avi's tuxedo jacket back to his work table. He laid it carefully on the table next to the sewing machine.

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"I did, and I even found the right kind," she chuckled, handing him the small bag of her purchases from the store. "I think it's a beautiful coat on Avi. He'll like being part of things with us."

She let Avi lean against her legs, ruffling his ears as she talked with her fiance. "I wrote some things down if you wanted to look at our vows," she said. "Pierre told me to go home, I was too nervous to concentrate on work today."

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"Excellent," he took the bag. She had even found the exact color gray of the embroidery silk he needed for her dress. "This is perfect." He set the bag on his worktable. "I would love to read them."

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Sinthia kissed his cheek and went to go get the papers she'd been writing on all afternoon; they had corrections and plenty of editing marks on them by now, but around all those were lines of script she'd kept.

"I was thinking about what we'd say to each other," she began, "And I wanted the words to be personal and reflect us. So I wrote vows...I hope you don't mind that. And like them." Sinthia handed over the sheets for him to read.

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"I don't mind. I think this is great idea," He accepted the pages and sat down on the couch to read them. Illya read the words between the scribbles and the editing. "Sinthia, these are beautiful." He kept reading, a tear threatening to fall from his eye. His bride to be wasn't the only one getting emotional. In a little over a month, they would be saying these vows. "I like this, 'while we both wish it, I give you that which is mine to give'."

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"It...it isn't perfect," she said. "I'm still working on them. But these are things I can promise you, and you can promise me."

She joined him on the couch, curling up beside him and laying her head on his shoulder, tucking her hair out of her face behind an ear. It was growing out, but still short of her shoulders. Sinthia had been leaving tiny hints of hair clips around the apartment, and was planning to ask Illya for his help designing one. "And I will promise them to you, in five weeks."

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He smiled softly when she curled up next to him and put her head on his shoulder. "It will be perfect for us. Even if words aren't perfect, meaning will be." Illya took a deep breath as a twinge of anxiety went through him. "It is only five weeks."

The wedding wasn't going to be very traditional or very formal. A friend of Illya's who had an amazing garden, was doing the flowers; another friend of Sinthia's was making the cake. Pierre, Sinthia's supervisor, had offered the large meeting room at Christie's auction house for the wedding. He took a deep breath and let it out.

"There's so much to do." But it was well after 8 pm now and he had been working on things all day. "But I will work on them more tomorrow." He turned his head to kiss her forehead. "I love you so very much."

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"You should put these down, and we should have dinner and rest for the evening. Everything that needs to get done will get done," she assured him, kissing his cheek.

"Not getting cold feet?" she asked, finger-brushing his hair out of the way. "I love you too. What do you say to pizza?"

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"OK," he set the papers down on the coffee table. "You are right. I am just a little nervous." Illya sat back and put his stockinged feet up on the coffee table. "Cold feet? No. Pizza? Yes."

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"It's okay," she soothed. "I'm nervous too, just...I know that we're happy now, and getting married won't change that. It will just mean one more piece of paper."

Sinthia dug out her phone to call in an order for pizza, laying in Illya's lap. "Have you been designing anything else for this wedding?"

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Somehow, knowing she felt nervous too, made Illya feel a bit better. "And excited. Yes, it is just a piece of paper. But it means so much to stand up before our friends and declare it."

That made him laugh, "You know me too well. I have ideas about everything."

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Sinthia laughed, shaking her head gently. "Why don't you tell me about your ideas while we wait for the pizza. Maybe it will make you less nervous."

She loved feeling comfortable with Illya, relaxing on their couch as he talked. It was blissfully quiet, but content for her. She'd had enough excitement lately.

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"Well, I was thinking of favors. Like having little egg shaped chocolates decorated like Faberge eggs," he said excitedly. He loved relaxing with her too and telling her all his ideas.

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"That would be very pretty," she answered, laying her head back and smiling absently. "They can get very intricate now, you know, with chocolate. There's that shop down the street from work that makes filled chocolates, I bet they could do eggs."

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"I have walked past that shop. They have some beautiful chocolates in their display window," he smiled and ran his fingers through her hair. "Do you want to talk to them tomorrow?"

The reception would be immediately after the wedding in the same room. It actually had a wooden floor that would be perfect for dancing. "I'm thinking maybe DJ instead of band, unless you have your heart set on having live band."

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"If you come with me," she said, looking up at him with a soft smile. "We can talk and show them your sketches, and taste chocolates. And then come home and make love all evening," Sinthia murmured, lacing her fingers with his.

"I don't have my heart set on a band at all. I like recorded music just fine. But I'd like something...older for the ceremony. Not digital."