It's Just Nerves...

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine frowned. How could she define perfect?
"Perfect is indefinable," she said quietly. "I can't. I just... I don't know, I just don't know how well your parents will react to your choice - I know I don't know them, but I'm not very conventional. I don't... I can't cook! I'm not a homemaker, I'm the one who goes out and fights for things, I'm not maternal - I just... I'm not making any sense."
Even in her own head, she wasn't making sense. It was just babble.
"And there's another point," she added, knowing that she should just stop talking. "Marrying me will just put you into greater danger - you're a target. If this war is still going on when we get married, you'll end up being a bullet magnet. Even if you do think your parents will like me - they're not going to like that."
Okay, shut up now. For everyone's sake. Please.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"Maddie," Lee frowned. "I'm already a bullet magnet. I'm the cousin of the Head of the Spies; I'm friends with Head of the Carers; I'm in love with the Head of the Warriors, and frequently see the Head of the Academics. Merely being a student at Orchid Hill puts me in danger. My parents know that. They mayn't like it, but they've accepted it. They know my being here is the right course for me to take. Maddie, you're proof of that-"
He took a breath; catching himself mid-babble, before he went too far, and stopped making sense. He gave himself a moment, then looked at her and smiled.
"Maddie, my parents trust me," he said slowly. "And they trust that I know what I'm doing. Because of me, they know they can trust you."

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine tried to let herself be reassured by his words and his smile - she really, really did try. But the nerves were still hard to shake off, though she knew that there was no point in his telling her it would be fine, because she would still be anxious about it.
Just shut up and suck it up, Madeleine.
"Okay," she said, nodding. "Okay. I'll take your word for it, but I really can't stop being nervous."
After all, he should know. He'd been anxious when it came to meeting her parents... and Madeleine could only imagine what he'd be like before meeting Shaun, knowing what he did know about her relationship with him -
Oh. She still needed to tell Lee about Shaun's message.
If she was honest, Madeleine still couldn't really wrap her head around all this. Shaun had contacted her. Shaun had sent a message to her. Shaun was never going to contact her again.
And that last bit hurt too much for her to dwell on it.
"Oh," she added softly, looking up at Lee. "Em... Shaun... got into contact with me. Through Tamika."

[Kira & Lee Norris]

... heh?
"T- Tamika?" Lee blinked, confused. "You mean Will's friend?"
He'd spoken to Tamika before, but he'd seen her around before, and would know her face if he saw it.
But what did-?
She was... she wasn't a medium?
"Maddie, what do you mean?"

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine glanced away from his confusion, and towards the fireplace.
Shaun had been a firebender. He'd told her a story about how he'd once relit the fire in the common room, and ending up setting the rug on fire.
There were a lot of things that he'd done that Madeleine wished she'd seen. Carving a mustache into a cherub, getting detention for sliding down a banister...
"Tamika's a medium," said Madeleine, quietly, turning her gaze back to him. "Shaun gave her a message to pass on to me about our engagement."

[Kira & Lee Norris]

... aw, crap.
Lee felt his legs turn to jelly, and stumbled backwards a little, colliding with a chair, and sinking into it. He hadn't expected his stomach to suddenly start swirling with nerves- it was like when he'd met her parents, only worse.
This was Shaun.
Her brother.
And Lee knew just how close Maddie and Shaun were. Shaun's opinion of him... well... it mattered one hell of a lot.
"When?" he said slowly.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine watched his reaction, worried. There was no need for him to be so nervous, so scared. Shaun liked him!
Although, to be fair, Madeleine had yet to tell Lee about her out-of-body experience, so Lee wasn't to know that. But still, he shouldn't be so worried...
She knelt down beside the chair he was now sitting on, and rested her hand on his. "It's good," she said, allowing herself to smile. "He said... congratulations, and that we're doing the right thing."
The right thing... see? Her mum may not know it, but Shaun sure as hell did. And seeing as Shaun was the one of the two of them that knew the whole story, Shaun was the one with the best informed opinion.
Therefore, Shaun was who she was listening to.
"He also said welcome to the family," she added, with a grin.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Lee felt the jelly melt away in a few short seconds flat. In the next five, Lee was on his feet, and pulling Maddie into a rib-crushing hug.
He laughed weakly, kissing her curls. "Wow! I can be such a hypocrite!" Letting go of her, he stepped back, shaking his head. "Sorry, Maddie. That just..."
It just...
He didn't even understand himself why that piece of news had provoked such a powerful reaction in him.
So he just smiled.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

She smiled, reaching forward and brushing away a lock of his hair that had dislodged itself as he shook his head away from his eyes.
"No, I know."
And she did know. If Shaun had sent word that he disapproved; well, it wouldn't have made Madeleine call the whole thing off, and it wouldn't have made her doubt what she was doing... but it would have a huge impact on her. On everyone involved, really. Because Shaun had to agree. He'd never comdemn what she was doing, as long as she was happy, but if he'd told her that he didn't think it would turn out well... well, she'd be living in fear that she would screw it up, and instead of proving him wrong, would probably just have turned it into a self-fulfilling prophecy...
"Oh, and you know Cecelia, his fiancée?" she added, with a laugh. "She sent a recommedation: blue for the bridesmaids."

[Kira & Lee Norris]

He laughed weakly. "Oh, god. Wedding plans? Do we have to take her word for it? It's just... Bethany would hate to be deprived of the chance to dress them in lavendar or silver."
Bethany.
His sister.
It felt strange- unfair, really- that Lee's own sibling was going to be alive for this. Bethany would sit; a proud sister-in-law, whilst Lee would never gain a brother-in-law; at least, not one he would ever be able to meet. And if Maddie and Lee ever had children, they would only know their Aunt Bethany.
They'd never see their Uncle Shaun.
And if Bethany and Jason had kids, those would be their cousins.
Shaun and Cecelia never got that chance. Uncle Shaun would have no children, and there would be no cousins from the Baudelaire side of the family.
It was stupidly, stupidly unfair.
And Lee hated it.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

"We can listen to both of them," Madeleine smiled. "Make an informed decision after listening to both of them... personally, though? I hate lavender."
It was her grandma's favourite colour. Nana Magda was a great fan of lavender in all its forms. She painted her walls lavender, scented her rugs and fabrics with lavender, filled her garden with lavender...
And of course, she loved to dress the young Madeleine in all things lavender whenever she was little and near the stately house in Lylis Glen where she lived. And needless to say, Madeleine hated the bloody colour, and all the pretty little dresses and shoes that Magda liked so much...
She was willing to bet this was why she wore mostly dark colours these days.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"I was naming random colours," he laughed. "I've no idea what my sister will want the bridesmaids to be dressed in. She might take one look at you, and come to exactly the same conclusion as Cecelia. But, one thing, Maddie..." he bit his lip, "er, don't cave if she starts talking about a double wedding."

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

A ... double...?
"Em, I won't - I promise," she said cautiously. "She wouldn't really..."
Well, there was the thing. Madeleine didn't actually know Bethany, so she couldn't make assumptions on what she would and wouldn't do. But a double wedding...
It was a little tacky.
"Would she?" she asked, weakly.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"She might," Lee bit his lip. "Sometimes, she gets over-enthusiastic about things; and begins to babble non-sensically about them. Just be warned, yeah?"

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

"Warning taken," she said, silently praying that wedding plans would not make her like that - not that she wasn't prone to babbling already, but babbling about dresses and flowers and colour schemes and...
Eugh.
Cecelia had been like that. When she and Shaun were simply going out, she'd been really sensible and fun and great craic... then wedding plans took over her brain.
And that wasn't even the worst of it. She and Shaun started talking about possibly having kids and oh God was that fun... baby names and the like and...
Madeleine suddenly felt a pang. Cecelia had had all these plans and she'd never got to realise them...
She was so lucky that she could get to realise these things. She shouldn't moan about being taken over by wedding fever, she should dream for Shaun and Cecelia...
"I don't really know a lot about Bethany," she said, looking at Lee again. "You've told me things, but I don't know much. What's she like?"