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Someone for everybody and there— just introduced as a Mr. and a Mrs— was the living proof. Despite the previous interruption, the couple was all pride and smiles now from what Noel could tell. The crowd cheered and Noel as the Ranger couldn't help but clap too, even throwing in a 2 fingered whistle for enthusiasm's sake. They'd made it through the part where they had to behave. Should be a little bit more smooth sailing now, right?

Noel stood, only mildly alarmed at Michael's treatment of her ankles. He let her grab his arm and further steadied her body by grabbing her hip. "Lead with y'r hips." She'd had to practice before she left the apartment, too. Now Michael was having trial by fire and she didn't envy him having to deal with the cooshy carpet runner in the middle aisle.

And then, of course, there were still usher duties. He took the poke in stride until it hit him that now Noel was that usher. "Aw shoot." Which grannie was his responsibility? He asked Michael to point her out and then went for the side aisle to go fetch, climbing over the Wahls to get there.

"Sorry. 'Scuze me." Noel retrieved his flapping jacket and buttoned himself together just in time to offer a polite arm to his responsibility. "Allow me, ma'am."

"I thought you might have forgotten about me." Granny bat her eyes at him and Noel hesitated before smiling. She could lie now. So she did.

"I would never. Though, I admit I wasn' payin' much attention when they explained where t' go f'r photos. Would you escort me all th' way since we're likely t' be missed if I take a wrong turn?" Flattered, Granny Renfield chortled as Noel escorted her down the aisle.

She was a tough old boot, but her negotiations were fair. For the low price of one dance at the reception, she'd tell him where to go. Noel met Michael's eyes as they passed and mouthed 'good luck'.

Granny Renfield's deal seemed far, far less fair when the photos were right out on the front lawn. They'd return inside with the core wedding party once the rabble had cleared out to the nearby community center for the celebration.

Noel went where the Ranger was instructed. He stood and angled himself to make the Ranger look trim from years of training when taking photos as a woman. He stood up straight and did his best to not be weird when she smiled as him. It sure felt weird. It was more than just the jokes and ribbing congratulations, he realized. It was the fact that she didn't know how serious they were. She was so used to her power and the constant sensory feedback that now she was feeling adrift and untethered. Being in not-her-body and being treated as not-herself certainly didn't help.

"You're awful quiet today."

Noel smiled at the man, Bird or Blair. B-something was what they'd called him. She was getting them all confused, now.

"Got things t' think about." Were they supposed to pretend to be each other, still? Noel wasn't entirely sure how the Ranger acted in these kinds of situations.

B-man snorted and slapped him across the back. "Then maybe you shouldn't have gone in for that elective surgery." He gave the Ranger a quick once over and shook his head in disappointment. "I wouldn't've guessed you were so insecure."

Wh- what kind of surgery was he supposed to have had!? Noel could tell she'd made the wrong response by face or posture because the whole party, even Winny, devolved into laughter as the non-essentials were dismissed to the reception.

Yes. (S)He absolutely found this funny. (s)he nodded to that effect, a face of pure innocence that was suddenly free from care and bras. And getting ribbed through something flat and metal in his coat. And seeing her own face be annoyed about muffins. And hearing her own voice piqued about her amusement. It was all cumulatively more funny than any one thing.

He had to cover his mouth or else her man chuckles threatened to become full on guffaws. Weddings were sober events, at least at this point. (S)He was not going to be the reason this one got called off.

And then, an idea dawned across Michael Hunter's face. A terrible, wonderful idea. Noel was starting to realize why he was carefree and reckless.

He leaned down to whisper, but didn't dare lean in too close. He had to see how a real good lie landed.

"I love-” She choked, weirdly unable to come up with anything that would immediately satisfy. Noel so rarely lied, it wasn’t like she had a few in her back pocket waiting for the chance to whip them out. "I love golf. Golly, Nashville music sounds like- like angels? Man, this is harder than I thought.”

He puffed his cheeks out in a bit of a pout, keeping an eye toward the front just in case when something else graced her brain in realization.

"Oh! Duh! The weapons are in case of ninja.”

For a moment, she forgot everything else. Not a real forgetting, just a lack of aplomb in the face of lips and tongue and teeth. She already knew he was trouble, but the Ranger was going to have to account for his… soft hair and skin?

Michael’s body sat up rather abruptly, leaving Noel to look down at herself. It was an embarassing face, an indecorous moment to see, let alone one where she wanted to be caught out-of-body. Because surely, exactly that’s what had happened.

His cheeks flushed as Noel realized that the wedding had been rather interrupted. The bride had even paused before making it to the altar, and it seemed an apology was in order so that they could all move past their moment of indelicacy. Noel would rather pull her gun and shoot her way out, even knowing the quantity and quality of what was around them. But the Ranger… he wasn’t nearly so shy.

She cleared his throat. ”Don’ stop on accoun’ a us. This looks important.” Gone was the Bwoston accent. She honestly couldn't tell the difference since the way she was talking had been based on what her memories were used to. Noel just hoped she did a proper enough Ranger impression to move the focus off of them and back where it belonged.

The piano music had never stopped, so the bride, despite turning a few colors, continued. Noel wouldn’t be content until the woman made it all the way to the priest, but in the meantime, he rolled his lips in on themselves— a decidedly Noel gesture— while helping her body sit up. If she was in here… then…

”Michael?” She mouthed the question to her own body rather than straight out asking it. They were in enough trouble as it was…

The woman stopped at the altar, handed off her bouquet, and slapped the groom hard on the arm before taking his hands, an air of ‘This is your fault and if you mess this up again, so help me God, I will end you’ grim determination on her face.

“Dearly beloved…”

Oh? She looked amazing?

”Yeah. Me an’ awl fifteen of my fetuses apparently.” Snickers from the row ahead made Noel bop one of them right on the balding spot. This was like going to church and babysitting the kids who couldn’t seem to stop being trouble. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was in this, but it became rather clear in the short time that Michael had been gone that Noel was one cheek of the butt of a few jokes. Michael was, of course, the other.

He scooted closer and Noel realized that may have been a bit loud for the beginning of a wedding where all the important people were being given their importance. She breathed in and out in the long way of meditation or yoga, rather than spitting fire like she wanted to. She also moved to snake her arm underneath his jacket, only her hand boinked against something solid. A magazine or a… knife?

”Whoy is everyone ahmed to the teeth heah? Includin’ me?” Noel moved her leg on top of the Ranger’s so that the slit of her skirt exposed knee, thigh, and just the barest peek of kydex.

It had been set out along with her clothes, so she put it on. Noel certainly hadn’t expected everyone to be wearing one. Or more than one, as she felt in the Ranger’s jacket.

Noel hadn’t been denied phone privileges, but knowing that SUPER was likely interested in what she had to say, she’d kept her communications with Michael brief. He knew she was okay. She knew he was okay. They bths till had jobs, somehow. He also knew she’d be back today. It was only a 3 hour flight spent white knuckled through polar vortex turbulence until her Texas “vacation” was officially over.

It’d been just about a month since she’d last been in New York. A month and ten years, from her recollection, since she’d walked freely through the streets.

Now she just had to pick up the threads of a life she didn’t quite remember. Her notes indicated that there was a wedding upcoming, otherwise she might have stayed in Dallas longer. Michael had mentioned that he’d recovered their animals and had mostly moved them both from their Haven residences into a temporary apartment over BlacTac. An apartment together.

She was supposed to double check the apartments for any last few things and get ready. The timing was tight after flight delays. She would have to leave her stuff at security and then meet Micahel at the wedding itself… apparently he was in it.

The Noel of the future seemed a bit more comfortable with herself, or maybe she’d had more experiences with dresses than the Noel of now. Her memories had enough to help her know what went where. Thank goodness. If the collective memory of some 20-odd women wasn't enough to help her shimmy into the various undergarments, holster straps, shapewear, shoes, and dress itself, she would have been in trouble. And make up. Make up was a requirement for looking spiffy, right?

The security guy whistled when she left a box and her duffel with him. Her cabby asked for her number. By the time she arrived at the church, Noel was flustered from the attention and more than ready to see Michael already.

Her dress was a brick red with a downright modest teeshirt style neckline and cap sleeves. It was tight enough up top that it had taken more than one undergarment to make everything all smooth. The back was buttoned which had been absolute torture to manage alone, a task made even more confusing when thre was a large section of her back left purposefully exposed. The skirt was of a length that made it feel a bit more formal, but then slit high enough that should she need to run (in those heels? hah), she’d be able to.

”You made it.” An usher offered his arm to her before she’d even finished signing the guest book. His eyes did a full sweep and he managed a gallic shrug without retracting the offer of his arm. ”You’re on the groom’s side unless you know Winnie.”

”I haadly know why aym hea, onnestly.”

Where the guy had taken near everything in stride before, when Noel opened her mouth and a hard Boston accent came out, he tripped over himself to get her moving toward the doors and into the church proper. He was suddenly and obviously delighted.

”Oh this is gonna be good.”

Noel adjusted her ear protection before she checked the chamber, the magazine, took aim with both hands in place and both eyes open, and pulled the trigger. Shooting was something she’d managed to keep a tight hold of no matter what skills passed through her possession. Proving herself at the range was simple, and seemed to allay some regret or worry that her superiors had been harboring. She was sure to be careful, precise, and exact in her discipline, displaying everything she’d been taught.

It was much the same for basic hand to hand, deductive reasoning, observation recall, and offensive driving. They assessed where she was in skill, if it was up to par, and whether she needed skill refreshment. Her hand to hand seemed rusty, but Noel’s driving was the worst of the lot… that was, until she entered Mother’s testing.

Noel was sure that without the powerful psychic, she would have been treated worse than she was. As it was, there was no need for a polygraph or anything. Mother had gone through Noel’s thinking before and during her escapades. She had related it all on Noel’s behalf, including (embarrassingly enough) her past and re-budding relationship with the Ranger.

That's what she called it. "Re-budding."

Because of Mother, SUPER knew that Noel was earnest in wanting to be here. They’d offered no offense in her collection and she had offered no resistance when they all flew to Dallas together for Noel's official reassessment. She was glad, otherwise the line up agents that had arrived at the cabin looked downright lethal.

It bothered her that the Ranger had been sent elsewhere. That wasn't the original plan, but they had forfeited their allowance for togetherness, apparently, when they left the original SUPER plan.

Now, it was time to shore up her weak skills and clean up her mental hygiene so Noel could get back to New York, and back to Michael.

I have selected the most suitable mental replacements for you. Mother did not hold onto Noel’s pulse, Noel had to walk fast enough to keep her wrist in connection. These women have all volunteered to share their experiences with you, don’t worry.

Noel did the mental equivalent of a cringe. She wouldn't have said anything out loud, but then this conversation was all in her head. Nothing happened without Mother noticing.

Yes. Women. You really need a woman’s perspective for your past instead of this hodge podge of little boys. I understand your preference is strictly heterosexual, but you also must work on disassociating yourself from the people you work with.

This should help you differentiate what you take in, if we build your history with female experience. The experiences you will find are not all... good. But they are all important.

For each woman that Noel met, they introduced themselves and shook hands. Noel received a paper with a list of suggested memories and she got to work.

Noel had pulled out the laptop to nowhere and tried to type out the day's events fast. She didn't plan on having any memory meltdowns, but protocol was her new best friend, her armor, and Noel tended to trust her past self (and now her “future” self) more than she trusted herself in the moment. It was important enough to take the time to get it done.

Ranger tossed out a question of his own that interrupted the flow of her fingers over the keyboard.

Did she have a favorite color? An image popped up unbidden so that must have been it.

”Yellow. Like sunflowers. You?” She added that to her notes too and saved and sealed the deal. The fire looked okay where it was. Probably no more cabin fires expected tonight. Noel blew out her candle and made her way by firelight into the dark and cold of the bedroom.

She hissed at the cold sheets stealing the warmth from her legs when she climbed in, and was surprised to find skin when she reached out toward the Ranger. Err. No. Toward Michael. She definitely kept her shirt on.

”Mikey makes you sound like a kid.” She was stuck on the name thing. ”Mike sounds like… like a mailman?”

A whole body shiver had her insisting with her hands that they find a way to snuggle close, spoon size promises be damned. She was a heat leech with fingers chilly from typing. Once they’d finally settled, Noel had her head on his pectoral with their legs a tangle and arms and chilly fingers tucked around.

She never could have imagined it. Her. In a bed. Like this.

They weren’t even married.

”Why stick together?” She realized that after she’d asked it, her thought plucked out of the internal dialogue in her head probably needed some context. ”I’m going back to SUPER. I don’t know if they’re in the right, but I don’t know what else to do. So when we leave here… if they’ll still have me, I’m going. But, when we walked out, I hadn’t decided. We could have gone our own ways. Why… didn’t we?” It was a question best asked in the dark. A bit of her insecurity showing, perhaps, since they hadn’t discussed it at all. They’d just acted together as a unit. Why? Because some paper said they had before?

They’d been partners for a long time. Noel didn’t have a lot of long term in her memory.

Was it bad to want some? Was it really possible? It seemed to work for a while according to her notes and then… whatever happened had happened.