Wedding books were easier to understand than wedding magazines full of jargon, but only just. Every single bit of print literature she picked up said something different. Ghost was glad they were getting the actual marriage out of the way. There was no way on earth even a simple wedding could be put together in two weeks.

At least the book she had helped her know where to go to get the marriage license and what documentation she needed before hand. Ghost ended up waiting in line for about 20 minutes despite the fact that she had an appointment. There were all kinds of people there, mostly women. It seemed a common task to leave the license to the wife-to-be.

Once she was in to see the clerk, it was simple enough. Forty dollars, Sebastian's passport and newly procured baptismal papers as well as Ghost's birth certificate and social security card was all the documentation it took. No blood test required. Thankfully they'd outlawed the human-only movement for marriage.

They needed to both sign the paper in front of the judge come wedding day. And bring a witness.

She was pretty sure she knew who the witness would be.

-----

"Don't you have a purse?" Labored as he was carrying the marriage certificate and Ghost's wallet and phone he still felt the need to ask.

Ghost held up her empty hands. Even in her day to day clothes she never carried a purse. But today was special. She was dressed with Sebastian in mind, in the shirt that Sebastian had sewn her and with a white skirt that hugged close in the hips and flowed out into a rather full shape that stopped at the knee. A patterned taffeta made her slip.

Her dad had the gaul to ask about her undergarments and she had not sufficiently answered his question. More than likely even Sebastian would not know the answer at the end of this day. There was no need to burst her dad's sulking bubble, though.

There was need, however, to hug the man and turn them both into air. They'd re-materialize a block or so from the courthouse just so no one thought they were there to bomb the place or something equally ridiculous. Father and daughter took a seat on the hard wooden bench outside their assigned courtroom waiting for Sebastian and their time in front of the judge. Her dad eyed one of the many other couples there, the woman was in full term and looked fit to burst out any moment with one or more babies.

He nodded to a surly looking man sitting between the pregnant woman and a nervous looking fellow. "You too, huh?"

Ghost elbowed him, hard, and then tried very, very carefully to imagine herself all alone in a pleasant waiting room, like the one in the Iris Clinic.

Two weeks ago, he had thought he had a lot of preparations to do for the opening of the clinic. Add court visits, wedding plans, and baptisms into the mix and time passes very quickly indeed. It had all been a blur of activity and quite suddenly it was the official day, the day he and Ghost were to go to the courthouse to be legally married.

Everything that happened in this country required proof. Meticulous documentation of the goings on in people's lives seemed more important than the actual events themselves in the eyes of the government. Even being born required a certificate to prove that it happened, simply being alive was not proof enough. Sebastian wouldn't be surprised if people also got certificates to prove they were dead at the other end. In the past two weeks he had been baptized, and now had a certificate to prove that he was a Catholic. Nothing about him had changed, other than the fact that a priest had splashed some water on his head, yet he had a certificate that was proof of something. After today he would have proof that he was married, but really, would that certificate change anything?

Things wouldn't really feel different until after they had the ceremony, scheduled for a couple weeks after the grand opening of the clinic. That didn't mean he wasn't still nervous. There were the usual groom nerves, which made him wonder what the future had in store for them. Then, on top of that was the sneaking suspicion that something would go wrong; someone would decide that a mutant or an immigrant couldn't get married, or he wouldn't have the right papers even though he was certain they had done everything they needed to do, or someone would decide that the marriage wasn't real enough and he would get deported anyway.

He woke up before the first rays of the sun had even begun to lighten the sky to its morning rose and no matter how he tried, he could not fall asleep again. Giving it up as a hopeless clause, he had spent the wee hours of the morning screwing in face plates for outlets and rearranging the plants in the clinic waiting room. He would have liked to hang the pictures that would be decorating the walls, but the hammering would not have been very polite thing to do while his roommate was still asleep. When it was light, he got dressed in his nicest suit; a soft three piece light grey wool one with a light blue tie. He even managed to scrape up a blue tie pin from the box at the bottom of his wonder-filled trunk.

Even with taking his sweet time to get ready, he still had time to waste before leaving. He adjusted the plants in the clinic once again and paced several times. Finally, it was time to go. He decided to drive, simply because it would take longer than walking with New York traffic and parking figured into the equation. Even so, he arrived plenty of time before the appointed hour.

It was hot in the waiting area outside the courtroom. September hadn't done much to decrease the sticky heat of summer that clung to the courtroom, and ceiling fans did even less. Couples of all ages sat with their witnesses on the hard benches, then peeled themselves off of them again when their names were called.

It took him a moment to locate the Swifts, and at first he thought he had beaten them there. Then he saw the familiar white head of hair that belonged to his future wife. Ghost looked beautiful in the top he had made. It fit her even better than he had expected, and it made him smile that she had thought to wear it today. She and her father were seated on a bench near a pregnant woman and the two men accompanying her. It may have been his imagination, but when Sebastian walked up, he thought he saw the grumpy looking man shoot Mr. Swift a sympathetic look. Sebastian shot a questioning look Ghost's direction. Had he missed something here?

Ghost was rather excited thinking about the soon to come opening of the Iris Clinic. She was proud of the place just as she was proud of her store and Sebastian and even Garrett. It was going to be wonderful and an asset to the community. There was no way they could deport Sebastian now. The thought made her smile vacantly in the pregnant woman's direction. The pregnant woman in return picked up her marriage license and started fanning herself. If Ghost was hot at all, it didn't show.

"You have it right?" Suddenly anxious that her own paperwork was missing she asked (for maybe the tenth time today) to see it. Satisfied that it wasn't rumpled and was indeed safe, Ghost looked up to see a very dapper Sebastian. She felt a tad out dressed, but they hadn't really discussed what they would wear. In fact this was all still settling in Ghost's mind. She was sure there were other things they had neglected to chat about.

A smile for Sebastian as he took his seat and a reassuring smile to her dad who was starting to look a little wilted. "Did you get the rings resized?" She was pretty sure they didn't have to have rings for a courthouse wedding, but it was best to be prepared in case.

The courtroom door opened and a couple walked out hand in hand. The judge rolled out after them, a simple looking man with a vibrant green tie who had several bits of information stacked in his lap. One leg stuck out of his wheelchair weirdly in a fresh white cast.

"Jenine Riley and Donald Edens? Soon to be Mr and Mrs Edens?" The pregnant woman pushed herself to her feet. Donald hurrying to her far arm since the surly witness had taken the one closest to him. The judge twirled his chair to point his leg at Ghost and company next. "You must be the future Mr and Mrs Csendes. Here." He handed a clipboard to Ghost. "Go ahead and pick your vows unless you prepared your own. You're up next."

Maya glanced at the sheet rather surreally as the group waddled, walked, and rolled into the courtroom. There were at least four different sets of vows there on the worn paper. The most smudged must have been the most traditional. It was plain to see where nervous fingers had run along under the lines of text. "Preferences?" She handed the clipboard to Sebastian. They were all rather similar: all ending in "until death do us part" or "as long as we both shall live."

Sebastian patted his pocket and nodded to answer Ghost's question about the rings. The jeweler hadn't seemed to think he could get it done in a week until Sebastian had suggested that another jeweler down the street probably could; they had been finished in four days.

“We have all the correct forms and papers?” he asked as he sat down on the bench next to his white haired fiancée. He was unaware that Ghost had already checked ten times previously. He'd been having nightmares about missing paperwork for days.

“You look beautiful, by the way.” His blush at saying such things in front of Ghost's father would perhaps go unnoticed in a room full of heat flushed people. A hand sewn silk top and white skirt seemed to be the perfect thing to wear to a somewhat informal wedding. As for himself, he didn't feel as special as Ghost looked. He wore his old fashioned suits quite often, a throwback to the days when men wore suits every day and tuxedos when they wanted to dress up.

He wasn't seated for long before the courtroom door opened to emit a newly married couple and their judge in a wheelchair. He was tempted to offer to fix the man's broken leg, but he seemed to be so busy making sure everyone got where they needed to go that he didn't get a chance. When the man handed Ghost the clipboard he almost expected there to be another form for them to fill out, instead there were several different versions of vows on the paper.

“I didn't know they did vows at a courthouse,” he admitted as Ghost handed him the clipboard. He would have written his own if he had known. The traditional ones always seemed so morbid with their promise of separation at death. And thus far it had never been his death.

His eyes scrolled down the page. Til death do us part, til death do us part... He turned to the second page. After a moment he pointed one out to Ghost.

“This one doesn't seem too bad”

I, (name), take you, (name), to be my (husband/wife), and these things I promise you:
I will be faithful to you and honest with you;
I will respect, trust, help and care for you;
I will share my life with you;
I will forgive you as I have been forgiven;
and I will love and honor you all the days of my life.

“What do you think?”

It was all sort of surreal, but she liked it that way.

Ghost knew that is she could snap out of it. She could be very in the moment, but if she did she knew it would start with her shoulders. They would tense as she waited. She would start to flap her foot or play with the air currents, but worst of all she would feel mounting anxiousness. There was no reason to be anxious. It was a life altering decision, yes, and one she had made rather hastily, yes, but she was determined to see it through. To be the one to save Sebastian. And to have a permanent tie to him. She was right, she had made her decision. There was no turning back now.

Ghost's dad sighed and pulled out the marriage certificate for Sebastian to see as the clipboard was handed back to her. Paperwork? Check. Vows?

"It's sweet. I approve of this choice." And it certainly meant more that he would honor her even after she had dissipated into thin air. That was another check off the list. The rings were a check as per Sebastian's pat. All that was left was to wait.

A warm and moist hand made its way into Ghost's. She looked up to see an even more moist set of father's eyes. >"Thanks. For letting me be here." It was definitely a hug moment so she pulled her hand out of his so that she could hug him. His wrinkly, cheap suit was dampened in some areas from the heat.

"Shhh. Hey, you should be here. I'm just glad you wanted to..."

>"You are your mother's daughter."

It was almost unintelligible from the blubbering, but it was enough of a compliment that Ghost's eyes were now watering too. She hugged him tighter as the next grouping of courthouse wedding goers were taking their seats. Was their time almost up?

"I'm still your daughter too."

The courthouse door opened and the pregnant woman and her groom came out smiling before their witness and the wheelchair judge. Maya squeezed her dad one last time and let go of him. She dabbed at her eyes, afraid her makeup might have run, before se slipped the vows under her arm, stuck a cool hand into Sebastian's hand and her other hand in her father's. She stood and the judge offered his hand to Sebastian's free hand.

"Nice to meet you folks. License?" Ghost's dad held it up. He didn't even seem to begrudge the asking. "Alright, let's go in and have the ceremony, shall we?"

They waited and the reality began to set in, especially for Mr. Swift. What was a wedding without a little crying? Sebastian smiled at the father daughter pair as they shared a heartfelt moment. He had been there before. The unicorn man pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to his soon to be father-in-law. Mr. Swift would be needing it more than he would today.

And then, it was time. The Edens reappeared hand in hand and their witness and the judge followed them out. They were up. Sebastian stood and felt Ghost slip her hand into his. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. Sebastian looked at the judge's proffered hand, then took it in his own. The judge looked surprised at the feeling of cold that spread down his arm and into his leg. Sebastian kept kept his hand grasped just a bit longer than was perhaps normal.

“Nice to meet you, sir. I hope your leg feels better soon.” An amused smile accompanied his statement.

The judge looked at his own leg with a funny expression on his face, “Thank you, I think it is feeling better already. Please, follow me.”

Hand in hand the three of them followed him into the courtroom. It was a large room with rows and rows of benches as if it were used to having many more than one witness to the proceedings that happened within. There was even an aisle down the middle for them to walk down. There was no music to walk by except for what they imagined for themselves.

At the end of the aisle the judge took his place behind a table that had been set up in front of the tall official podium. This wasn't a criminal trial, so there wasn't really a need for the pomp and circumstance of the judge towering over everyone. The table was decorated with a simple bouquet of white roses and everything the judge needed was right there. The three took their places in front of the table. Sebastian kept Ghost's hand in his own. If her father kept holding the other one, she couldn't tell from where he was standing. This was it, the big moment.

The judge smiled up at them, “Everyone ready? Unless you'd like to skip it we'll start with a short reading.” Sebastian smiled over at Ghost then nodded to the judge.

The judge cleared his throat then began, “This reading is a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning entitled Sonnets from the Portuguese, number fourteen.

“If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
'I love her for her smile, her look, her way
Of speaking gently, for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee, and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.”

Sebastian approved of the poem. It seemed particularly fitting to speak of eternity thus.

The judge continued, “At this point, I ask that all three of you sign the marriage license.” Sebastian stepped forward and took the pen first. He scrawled his name in tightly looping letters on the line the judge indicated. Ghost was next, and Sebastian handed her the pen. Finally, Mr. Swift scrawled his name on the third empty line, pen in one hand and Sebastian's handkerchief clasped tightly in the other.

“Next, we shall read the wedding vows. If you would like to exchange rings, you may do so directly after that. Sebastian, we will start with you. Take both of Maya's hands and repeat after me.”

They faced each other and repeated the vows line by line as the judge spoke them. They had already signed the paper that bound them together legally, but this was the part where they bound their spirits together with their promises. This was the part when it felt to Sebastian that the marriage truly became real. As he spoke, it seemed to Sebastian that the world was very small. The courtroom existed not at all, the judge only in voice. The world contained only himself and Ghost and he spoke his vows quietly and confidently as he looked into her eyes.

Ghost took her turn and Sebastian took the rings out of his pocket and slipped the smaller of the two onto Ghost's left ring finger, “With this ring, I thee wed.” He then handed her the other one so she could do the same.

“By the power invested in me, by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Sebastian raised his eyebrows just slightly at Ghost. Apparently the kissing part was included in the courthouse wedding too. As he leaned toward her it occurred to him for the first time that being within two inches of each other in height was very convenient for kissing. Neither had to bend down to reach the other one. He tilted his head just slightly and reached up to put his hand at the side of her face as he gently pressed his lips to hers.

Ghost squeezed Sebastian's hand when the spot at her ribs where the bullet was lodged tingled cold. She had expected the judge to come out of this wedding more whole than he imagined, but it was nice to see it happen not to her... He wiggled his toes in wonder before accepting their chosen vows and passing the clipboard to the next couple in line.

He didn't need it, but the judge wheeled his way down the aisle still in his chair. No doubt he would be walking later that night if he wanted. A squeeze of the hand brought Ghost back to the moment. She glanced over to her silently sobbing dad and gave him another squeeze in return. He seemed puzzled and weepy, but wasn't able to decide on just one emotion to display.

It took all three of them to make it to the end of the aisle. The poem was sweet, Ghost was sure, but if she were asked to repeat it or even describe the topic she would be unable. The butterflies in her chest were merciless. When it was her turn to sign they flittered down her arm and into her fingers making her signature a bit on the wobbly side.

But when it was time to let go of her father's hand and put both hands in Sebastian's things quieted a little. Meeting his blue eyes with her honey ones was like finding an anchor in all of the chaos. Here was her landmark when ghosting. She was no longer lost in the nebula.

She was glad to have someone to repeat after and that her vows came second otherwise she might not have gotten them straight at all. But she poured her heart into every word and put every word carefully into her heart. Her hands weren't shaking anymore by the time she slipped the ring, Emmett's old ring, onto his slender finger. "With this ring, I thee wed."

“By the power invested in me, by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

His hand came to her cheek, not to restrain but to guide. Did he realize? This was their first kiss, their first official planned out date. She tried not to think about it. Left or right or noses in the way or horns... Somehow they made it lip to lip. Maya thought her heart was trying to jump out of her chest and into his. Was it loud enough for the whole courthouse to hear or just her?

Maya opened her eyes a married woman, ring on hand, husband not two inches away. Her dad clapped her on the back hard enough that another kiss was a very near thing, but then he was scooping her up into a hug. >"Congratulations, kiddo. You too, Sebastian. Take care of her." And then he was scooping Sebastian up into a hug too. Maya hid her smile behind a hand with a heavy ring on it. This would take some getting used to.

There was no rice tossed, no pop of confetti, nothing was really there to mark the moment, but it still felt special. Now she understood why every couple had walked out hand in hand.

There was no fanfare of trumpets, no tintinnabulation of wedding bells, no herald to shout the news to the world. They were married and there was only the beating of their own hearts to provide music for the occasion. It was enough.

Sebastian came away from their first kiss grinning from ear to ear. Mr. Swift swept his daughter up into a hug, then hugged him too. Sebastian clapped his father-in-law on the back as he returned the hug, he felt like he was part of a family again. “I will,” he promised.

Then it was his turn to hug Ghost. He scooped her up and spun her all the way around in a circle. He felt like he could dance until morning, but it would hardly be fair to the next couple who waited outside for their turn if they occupied this space the entire day. He set Ghost back on her feet and kissed her again, on the cheek this time.

“Your chariot awaits Mrs. Csendes, where would you like to go?” A joyous twinkle had made its home in his clear blue eyes and seemed content to stay there indefinitely.

Sebastian looked so very happy that it was contagious. Not that Maya wasn't happy too, but he was actually grinning and twinkling. It was a good feeling to make someone else that happy. He even hugged her dad back. And then came to scoop her up. She whooped and laughed as he spun her around, her legs and skirt swinging like a silent bell around opposite of his swinging tail.

It was a good feeling. To be loved. Her feet may have been put back on the ground, but it never felt like it. Maya looped her arms through Sebastian's and gave him a good hug before accepting her kiss on the cheek.

“Your chariot awaits Mrs. Csendes, where would you like to go?”

Mrs. Csendes. She'd signed the forms and was a Mrs now. So much was new and different in such a short time. "Oh! I have something for you." She had to work at extricating her arms, but eventually she was there. A hand touched the small of her back and Maya questioned her dad with a look. >"We can continue the festivities outside. I'll grab a cab home, you take your phone and keys and stuff and you two... ahem enjoy the rest of your night."

They made it back out into the hot and stuffy hallway and now Maya looked like she fit with her pink flushed cheeks. With one last wave her dad picked his way through the waiting crowd and made his exit. Maya waved toward his back despite the fact that he did not turn to see it and let Sebastian guide her toward the parking lot toward the chariot, Sebastian's old boat of a car.

She fished around in the waistband of her skirt for something and once she had it wrapped it tightly in her fingers so that Sebastian would not be able to peek. "I know we didn't exactly figure out where we would stay... so I took the liberty of getting us a room at the Mansion... uhh together." She opened her hand and laying there against the band of her ring was a shiny silver key. "I know you don't want to leave Garrett alone, but I also don't know if I can just leave the Mansion forever just yet. Maybe we can stay there on the weekends?"

She'd already moved boxes in to the room. All that was left of her girl's room were the things she had used to get ready this morning and the scant decorations she had up on the walls.

Sebastian liked the way her white skirt swooshed around opposite his tail, like two halves of a circle complete only when put together. Better yet was the sound of her laughter, which completed the ceremony better than any wedding bells ever could have. He was glad that in spite of how everything had just tumbled together this could still be a happy occasion for both of them.

>>>"Oh! I have something for you."

“You do?” He loosened his grasp so she could disentangle herself, but before she could reveal what it was her father reminded them both that other people were waiting. thank

Outside the courtroom doors they said their goodbyes. And cleared their throats. Side effect of the crying earlier, most likely. “I'm sure we will. Thank you for being here with us today,” Sebastian shook Mr. Swift's hand before he made his way out to the street to catch his cab.

He and Ghost went the opposite way toward where his big old white Buick was parked. He had bought it at a used car lot in Alaska, his first purchase in the New World, and it had served him well ever since he had driven it across Canada and into New York. It was a sturdy machine, built back when they built machines to last, but it still had modern conveniences like seat belts, windows that rolled down, and a heater for the winter. It even had an AM radio built into the dashboard. All it was missing was tin cans and old shoes tied onto the back for the day.

He watched curiously as Ghost rummaged around at her waistband. She couldn't have anything very large if she could fit it into her clenched fist. The unicorn shifter tilted his head to try and catch a glimpse of it, but she was too quick to close her fingers. She explained first, then opened her hand to reveal a key.

“Having a weekend retreat at the mansion sounds like the perfect solution.” It would mean a little breathing room for all of them and they didn't have to choose between their homes or the people that lived in either place. He took the key from her hand and his key ring from his pocket. It had once had only a car key on it, but it was steadily gaining companions. The new key joined them, shining brightly on the end of the row.

“Thank you,” for everything. Not just for the key or the room, but for the promise of a new life and the willingness to share it with him. Sebastian looked down, fiddling with the keys until he found the one for the Buick. He turned it in the lock to open it, got in, and leaned across the seat to unlock the passenger door as well.

He took a deep breath to process everything as he waited for Ghost to take her seat. It felt like so much had already happened, and yet the day was still relatively young and he still had lots of energy. The excitement had gotten into his bones and he felt twitchy, like he was ready for anything.

He grinned and twinkled at her, “I don't know about you, but I feel like dancing today. Would you like to maybe go over to the mansion to have a look at our room, and then go out for dinner and dancing afterwards?”

“Having a weekend retreat at the mansion sounds like the perfect solution.”

She glowed happily in response. Maya had been worried that he wouldn't approve for whatever reason. Not that she had done a lot of work to get the key and move her things, but that her heart was still at the Mansion. She still had X-men business to attend to before she moved out entirely, if she ever did move out entirely. Ghost had the distinct feeling that Sam would try to staple her to the Mansion floor if she did ever try to leave for good.

"It's actually not too far from Garrett's old room. Heh. But not too close. And no windows." She had held out in her girl's room for as long as she could simply for the fact that it had a window. She would mourn its loss in the middle hall. Garrett was lucky to have an outside wall and window in his room.

Maya waited patiently at her door for Sebastian to unlock it and took her place in the bucket seat. Old cars were great since they had a lot of leg room. This old car, however, had a manual shifter and a really, really heavy door. It was sort of like a solid steel tank in the shape of a car. "I think this is my first time riding in your car." Unless this was the car she had bled in? She glanced over her shoulder at the back seat. No blood stains. There were a lot of firsts today.

When she turned back to Sebastian he was still grinning like a school kid. Her own face answered in kind. She would have had to try not to. Dancing? At least that was something they'd managed before. "I would love to go dancing! Uhm - not the booty rubbing kind, but the Valentine's Ball kind. Right?" The 'dancing' she'd seen at the night club had more looked like an excuse to rub up against someone in public than actual steps. Just the thought of Sebastian trying that made her tee-hee behind her hand.

"To the Mansion!" To a room of boxes and empty walls. Ah well. They would figure something out... next weekend maybe.

No windows? That was unfortunate, but perhaps unavoidable. “I'm sure we can still make it seem like home with some artwork on the walls or something.”

It would be worth it, to have a place where Ghost felt at home, too. It would also give him a chance to lean more about that part of her life, to meet all her friends and acquaintances. Some of them he had seen before, but there always seemed to be some disaster or other strange circumstance that got in the way of proper introductions. Like the first time they had met at the attack on the bookstore. The glance to the back seat meant that she was probably thinking of the same circumstance, but he was fairly certain they had been riding in someone else's car then. He wasn't positive, but that had been one of the less important details that day.

His grin became slightly confused at her answer to his query about dancing. “Booty rubbing kind? I'm not familiar with that. Is it a newer style? I was thinking more like the Saint Valentine's Day Ball.”

He concentrated on safely pulling the car out of its parking space and into traffic. He'd been to the mansion a couple of times before, but he'd never actually driven there. Once he'd ridden in a taxi and another time he had been magically transported there, or however he had managed to travel when he'd woken up in someone else's body. He couldn't help but wonder if that person still lived at the mansion and if they would ever meet.

“Let me know if I start going the wrong way or anything,” he requested. He thought it wasn't too terribly far from here, perhaps a couple minutes if the traffic was right. Then again, they could get lost and be driving for hours. “Would you tell me a little about your friends at the mansion? Who are they and what are they like?”

Ghost nodded along with Sebastian. Her husband Sebastian. Wow. That was sort of funny sounding... but she was sure they could make any place comfortable enough to be called home. Really, Ghost could sleep just about anywhere.

She watched Sebastian shift the tank into gear. Ghost imagined driving a car wasn't too complicated except when they had gear shifts like this one. Oh dear. Yet another car she wouldn't be able to drive. "You'll have to teach me how to drive stick some time." Not that she technically knew how to drive normal, but... well, it didn't look all that bad.

"The style of dancing these days is not exactly pretty. I think it's just an excuse to rub on each other. It's... yeah. Really awkward. I don't like it. I would much prefer something like Valentine's day." Though for posterity's sake some day Ghost would have to take Sebastian to a night club like Sam had done for her. He had to see it to believe it.

“Let me know if I start going the wrong way or anything,” Slightly panicked Ghost vigilantly watched out the window.

"I don't usually come at street level. I've ridden the bus quite a few times, though." Oh brother. She hoped they could get there. The fact that Sebastian might not know how to get there had never occurred to her. "We can always call someone and I know it's North from here." That was about as good as it got, though. "I think I'll recognize it if we're close." The problem was, of course, that they were not close. Not at all.

“Would you tell me a little about your friends at the mansion? Who are they and what are they like?”

Still glued to the window ever vigilant for clues, Ghost answered. "Well, I don't know who you've met and who you haven't. There is Sam, Cold Steel. He is an ice manipulator and we've been on missions together before. Once to Hawaii even. I hit him with a baseball bat once. It's kind of funny now, but I was really worried when it happened. And I gave him a kitten for Christmas last year. He really likes animals."

"Then there is Shin. Tetsuya Shinbo. He uhm... uses triangles? He works with me at the Full Circle along with Aurum. He's a Mansion Greeter."

"And Katrina. She's Fourteen? I think. She lives on the girl's hall with me. And Calley, who-- well, I don't really know where he lives, but we've had some adventures at the Mansion. When Calley is a cat he's really quite regal, you know." Was that stop sign familiar? She glared at it as they passed.

“It's not to terribly hard to work out the car itself. It's the traffic that gets difficult. Especially in a city this busy.” Like that driver that didn't think he needed to stop before taking his right turn on red. Or the taxi driver that cut them off abruptly only to swerve back into the other lane again after passing just a single car.

“Err, sorry,” Sebastian apologized as he had to slow down rather quickly to accommodate the crazy taxi cab.

North, huh. He tried to catch a glimpse of the sky through the tall buildings, but the position of the sun was obscured by the tops of the sky scrapers. He thought they were going North. Iris Clinic was sort of west from here? And they had turned right after leaving the courthouse, which would put the mansion roughly in front of them, he thought. If they ever got that far. Cars were slamming on the brakes right and left, and traffic was slowing to a crawl. There were no sirens that he could hear, so it probably was just the normal rush of the days traffic that bogged things down.

“Maybe I should have driven the Suburban instead. The flashing lights would have come in handy today,” he was only halfway joking.

Ghost glued her eyes to the signs and the landmarks while he watched the traffic. He listened too, to her descriptions of some of the mansion residents. He tried to commit the names to memory; it would be easier when he had faces to go along with them.

Traffic halted completely for a minute, then just barely started to inch forward again. This was a happy day, yes, but even on a day like today the other traffic was enough to fray anyone's nerves.

“I think it might honestly be faster to ditch the car and walk there,” the unicorn man sighed, trying to measure their progress against the pedestrians on the sidewalk. The people on foot definitely seemed to be moving quicker than the people in cars.

Traffic was the number one reason why Ghost had yet to sit behind a wheel. It took a lot of trust in other people to drive a car. And after watching the way other people were driving, and grabbing on to the door for dear life, Ghost wasn't sure that driving was a responsibility she wanted. Besides, when one could fly, what was the point of driving?

Ghost ducked to cover the budding smile, a natural result of the wistful look Sebastian gave to the pedestrians that were fast outstripping their inching movement.

"If you would like, I can ghost us to the Mansion. I can navigate from above much better than down below and I did promise to take you one day." Though if they ghosted they couldn't bring her things to the clinic unless they borrowed a car from the Mansion or something. And then they would have two cars... and Ghost couldn't drive.

"Is it bothersome? That I can't drive? And that I know nothing of saving live medically? Will I need to learn some things to fit in your life?" There wasn't much Sebastian could do to mess up her book business excepting him starting something violent and bloody on the premises. Somehow she didn't worry about that.

And one other thing... "Does it ever bother you? That my hair is shorter than yours?" In older days, wasn't that a bad thing for a woman to have short hair? She'd kept it short because... well, because it was different from when she was young. Short hair helped her feel a little bit grown up somehow.

"Ahhh!" It wasn't a cry of pain, but it was surprise. Ghost was pointing to a sign. "We're kind of close. 20 minutes by bus if traffic were good." Though... it wasn't. Her offer to ghost them both was still standing.