Surprises...

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Lee watched Madeleine hugging Mocha closely for a couple of seconds.
"I chose that one because she reminded me of you," he said softly. "See her eyes? They're this brilliant blue colour; they're just like yours- they're beautiful."
There'd been so many there. So many cats, all sitting, mewing and squirming around each other. But the farmer had picked this one out, before Lee had even a proper chance to look.
"This one! This kitten will make her happy."
He'd barely glanced at it. "What about the others?"
"You look, then," the farmer smiled. "But this will be the one you buy."
Lee had looked. The tabby cats had flooded around him; a mass of brown, grey and ginger; green eyes, amber eyes, brown eyes gleamed at him from the ground.
But no other kitten had those eyes.
"See?" the farmer laughed, as Lee lifted the small kitten from his hands. "Didn't I tell you? No cat has eyes like those."
And Lee had smiled in return. "Nobody has eyes like her."

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine looked up from Mocha to Lee, smiling, her eyes sparkling, her cheeks blush pink and her heart melting at the compliment.
"You're very sweet," she said softly. "I'm surprised my head hasn't swollen to several times its size thanks to you."
Her head hadn't swollen, but Lee had the extraordinary ability to make her heart melt like butter when he said things like this. Madeleine had been complimented on her eyes before, but Lee said things like this in a tone filled with sincerity and affection, and it made Madeleine ... just melt.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"So, I'm not the only one getting a fat head," Lee laughed, breaking out of his revery. "We make a right pair we do; saying nice things until one or the other's head explodes, and then where will that leave us?"
Six feet under?
"Well, it won't be pretty," he muttered, shaking his head.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine laughed, her eyes following the movement of Lee's hair as he shook his head.
Had she ever seen anything that dámn cute?
"Wait until we're married, and we start arguing over what colour to paint the living room, or something," she smiled. "We'll deflate each other's heads soon enough then..."
She grinned as she was brought back to Cecelia and Shaun talking about flowers.
"I really like red and white roses," Cecelia had mused thoughtfully, leafing through a magazine.
Shaun had looked up at her from his paper. "Red and white?"
"Yeah, it'll look pretty."
He'd shaken his head. "Sisi*, that's really back luck, red and white flowers."
"Oh, whist," Cecelia had responded, laughing. "You're so superstitious, you are."
"Seriously, Sisi, let's not go for that."
"Madeleine, tell him he's being silly."
She'd replied with, "No, actually, he's right, that's one of our superstitions, but it's really well-known - most people have heard of it. It's a sign of death."
"Oh, come on, guys," she'd laughed. "That's really stupid."
That was one thing she hadn't learned by that point. Gypsies take their superstitions seriously, and you don't dismiss them lightly. Ever.
"Why not just pick one of the colours?" Shaun had suggested.
"Oh, you thingy, seriously..."
It'd been okay, though. They'd argued for a few minutes, then started laughing at themselves and kissed and made up, but some of the insults had been pretty harsh, as far as Madeleine was concerned...

(* deriving from Ce-ce, it just looks better written down as Sisi)

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Arguing with Maddie… over paint? He’d never heard of anything so bloody stupid- and this, he realised, was probably were the problem lay. As the guy, Lee’s official duty was to not care about all that household crap; as the girl, Maddie’s official duty was to care too much about all that household crap, then, as she fussed around him, would turn and demand why he didn’t care, and, well…
Okay, it was stupid, but it happened.
It probably would happen.
See, this was the real problem marriages faced. Forget adultery, forget debts, forget unforeseen pregnancies, forget a sudden change in sexuality, forget rebellious kids and forget watching your wife getting too fat for you to love her anymore.
The stupid arguments were the secret killer of marriages.
And the only way to get around them was to just keep reminding yourself how much you loved her.
Even if she’d put on a few pounds in the past few months or so…
“Hooray for us,” Lee said weakly. “Well… ahem… never mind when we’re married- what about how we get married? Any more ideas on that front?”

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Mocha started pawing at Madeleine's wrist, gently pushing the charms on the bracelet that hung there, a present from Shaun and Cecelia two birthdays before.
"No, I've no ideas," Madeleine said, biting her lip. "I've been wondering - church wedding or not? I mean, no one in my family is especially religious, so it doesn't really matter to them... what would you prefer?"
Honestly, the decisions that would have to go into this. It was just one day, and there were a million different things to be planned out... this was probably the big one to be sorted out first though. Madeleine believed in a higher being, sure, but it was a different type of higher being than any organized religion offered, though she took different things from different religions, as she'd lived in so many places with so many different cultures. So, to her, it didn't really matter much whether she got married in a church or not.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"I..."
Oh, no. Take a step back, Lee, re-evaluate your idea of marriage.
What part of it was Maddie’s official duty as the girl to care too much about all the little insignificant details did she not get?! And how was it that suddenly, Lee's throat had gone dry; and a million different scenarios were flicking through his head?
There wasn't just church, there was... there was...
Beaches. Paris. Town halls. Forests. Orchid Hill.
More. Way more than that.
A thrill of horror ran down Lee's spine.
Perhaps Jude wasn't so far off with this 'Maddox' thing.
And if Maddie was Maddox... what the hell did that make him?!
"Maddox- I mean, Maddie," he said, a little desperately. "Er, I really don't think I'm cut out for this... planning thing."

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Did he just call me Maddox?
"Hey, don't sound so scared," Madeleine frowned up at him. "It is your wedding day too, you will have to have some input - and you'll be fine, we'll work it out together, okay?"
Mocha had now moved off Madeleine's lap onto the bed, sniffing around the edge of the throw.
"I'll make it a bit easier for you," she said, smiling again. "Do you think that your family will want a church wedding?"

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"Please," Lee shook his head. "Let's not involve my family in this. It's going to be complicated enough with just us."

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine laughed. "Well, we'll have to make the decision on our own then, which is probably just as bad. We've got time to decide, though..." she added, absentmindedly stroking a purring Mocha, who was still studying the throw with interest.
Time enough. They probably wouldn't get married until their final year, at least, so they had literally a few years to make all the important and unimportant decisions. And of course, Madeleine had Olivia and her grandmother behind her, who would be prodding her and forcing her to make decisions early, so between those two forces, quite a lot of stuff would get done...
Madeleine wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
"You know, we should probably decide when before how..." she tailed off as Mocha sprung onto her lap again, surprising her slightly. She scratched behind the cat's ear, glancing up at Lee again. "Thank you again for Mocha, by the way," Madeleine smiled. "She's really awesome."

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"I may live to regret it," Lee said softly, but then, tentatively, he put out his hand towards the cat.
Mocha stared at it for a couple of seconds in disdain, then, seeming almost to heave and sigh, she hopped down between Lee and Maddie, and permitted him to pet her.
Lee was silent for a few seconds, a feeling of revery washing over him as he stroked the cat's smooth, silky fur.
"When you became the Maddie cat, you weren't much bigger than her."

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine laughed at that, watching Lee pet Mocha.
"Well, small person, small cat, it's in proportion," she grinned, seeing the light from the window reflect off the small collar. "God, that seems like forever ago..."
In many ways, it did seem, and was an incredibly long time ago. But in some ways, it seemed like a very, very short time ago. The knife-sharp pain she'd felt then could still be summoned back so easily, and at only a thought...
She shivered, before looking back at Lee and the cat.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

That Lee...
That Lee he'd been really was a forever ago.
He seemed so distant now. Lee could hardly remember himself, then; because now, he was so very much back where he belonged; back here, with Maddie... If he tried to imagine it, what it was like, the best he came up with was... confusion. The unfamiliar faces he'd met along the way couldn't be unfamiliar anymore, because now that he had his memories back, their strangeness was gone, and Lee was completely at ease with them again. Lee wasn't sure of what he'd been; when everything else is stripped away, and it's just you... you're not you, you know?
That Lee... he might've been a completely different person.
And the truth was, Lee would never be able to say for sure.
But one thing, he thought, glancing up from the cat, and back at Maddie (who, he was slightly surprised to see had been watching them both), had never changed.
He'd been in love with her the whole time, anyway, hadn't he?