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The offer of the wedding cake might have just been a brief topic in their previous conversations, quickly forgotten once Pendour and Encke had turned their thoughts to water and adventure and sudden, unexpected Transcendence, but it had never been a joke. Sadie had remembered it with a start, weeks and weeks later, in the middle of brushing her teeth.

The rest of that day had been spent making arrangements, breaking out a little of her own artistic talents, texting ahead to make sure her friend would be home, and, well. In the end, she was standing outside of his house holding a large box. It was covered in filigree swirls and had the word congratulations printed across the front in gold calligraphy.

Looking at the door, it felt a little weird thinking that the last time that she'd been here had been years ago, back when she'd been recovering from the eye and she'd barely had the confidence to leave her bed.

She wore a much easier smile now, although today was awkward in a slightly different way. The box took both hands to hold, and she didn't want to put it on the ground, which meant she couldn't really text that she was here, or properly knock. She could only kind of bump around with her elbows, looking for a doorbell.

"Hm?" Richard looked up from his book--a fantasy re-telling of the Hound of the Baskervilles--and focused in on Ignacio's nails after a moment of realizing what he'd been asked. "Oh, they look pretty good. Did--" The doorbell then also registered, and Richard watched as Ignacio swept off toward the front door. He slipped the bookmark in to save his place and set his book to the side, shifting out of his seat at Ignacio's enthusiastic greeting.

Richard also ignored his father and the way Luke chuckled and went back to his laptop and the spreadsheets therein. Coming up behind Ignacio, Richard raised a hand in greeting and, with it, a smile.

His guesses were right: she had brought them a wedding cake. His eyes widened so much they nearly sparkled, and he had to resist immediately reaching out for it.

From what he could make out of it, it did look very tasty.

Ignacio glanced between Sadie and Richard and realized before she spoke that it was the wonder of actually meeting each other officially, snickering when she called him Ignacio's elusive husband. He shot her an apologetic grin--maybe he should have done a better job of dragging Basiluzzo along with him when he was on a patrol that ran him headlong into Pendour--before glancing back at Richard. "I call him Arra," chirped Ignacio, merrily, taking the box from her almost the moment she offered it.

"But I'll let him introduce himself!"

He pecked Richard's cheek with a kiss and marched the cake right back by his father-in-law's office toward where he assumed Richard would guide Sadie in.

The Bell Family never quite got the hint about the fact that there were fewer of them in the house. Plenty of space in the dining room, he was sure.

-- Maybe he should actually put the final coat over his nails--

"Arra," murmerd Sadie, testing out the sound of the name in her mouth. It was nice, she decided. "Arra. I like that. It's nice to meet you." She gave a soft, pleased, smile when he winked at her, and a shallow nod.

When she looked back up, she found that Ignacio had vanished, and she stepped through the door frame to peer after him. "Ignacio," she called after him, her tone switching to something that was light and teasing. "You can't just distract me with your husband while you eat all the cake." She shook her head at Richard, eyes laughing. "Even if he is really nice. Some of it's for him, and I at least need pictures of the thing first."

She made sure that the door was closed gently behind her, then she padded down the hallway, following the two of them.

Unlike the two of them, she stopped in her tracks to blink at the man who was peeking out of a room that looked like an office. "Um, hi?" she said, because this was really starting to be a lot of people she didn't know. "Do you like cake?"

Richard flushed, pleased and embarrassed by the compliment in equal measure. With a chuckle, he offered over his shoulder, "he's just like that, honestly. He... probably won't eat all the cake?"

Probably.

He was not surprised to see his father showing interest in their guest, but he did glance back over his shoulder to make sure that Sadie didn't get bowled over by the originator of the family's generally gregarious nature. Luke stayed in his chair, for now, having rolled it toward the doorway. He also stayed seated, but gave Sadie a broad smile and warm wave of his own.

"Hello! I'm Luke, Richard's dad." He glanced down the hallway. "Make yourself at home! If they're not feeding you real food, let me know and I'll whip something up, alright?"

In all honesty, she was probably correct to not put it past him, but this was important. Besides, he had said he would share it with Richard and Sadie. As much as he could enjoy impulsively making a point, he also had standards--

And he was easily distracted, anyway. He half-worked on his nails and half-watched Richard and Sadie, realizing that he might have overcoated one section and undercoated another in a process once the both of them arrived. "Ah, sorry about Luke," he said that pointedly, looking around the both of them as Sadie made her way toward the cake just to take a harder look at his father-in-law. "Dad's harmless."

... And an infinitely better father than any father he had ever had.

Ignacio pushed the thoughts aside, turning instead to the --

His eyes just about became the size of saucers, sparkling at what she had spent the day to make for the both of them. Two layers of cake, gorgeous little swirls, and buttercream rose details that he would have never had the patience to replicate and -- the topper. His mind jumped back online with a gasp, and Ignacio brought his hands up toward his chest and just about wriggled in glee.

Was his expression a bit misty?

Maybe.

"Sadie, this is gorgeous. You didn't have to go all out like this-- Arra, you see us?" he pointed to the clay figures at the top of the cake as if Richard couldn't see them with his own eyes. "Us. You even took the time to add the freckles!"

There was a break in his gushing for laughter, and he made sure to add, "Cake's gorgeous too, of course. How did you get the buttercream roses looking so crisp?"

Sadie's cheeks flushed rose-petal pink and her gaze flicked down. "Oh," she said. "Um. I bought the cake? Not that you're not worth something handmade. I've just never made a wedding cake before, so I thought maybe I should get some professional help."

She could chop vegetables and stir pots and generally cook just enough not to starve as a person living alone, but whipping up layers of frosting and confection was, really, a little scary.

"I made these guys, though," she said, and gave the small clay Ignacio a pat on the head with her finger. "Polymer clay and some YouTube tutorials. Oh, and, um, being an artist."

Was that bragging? She didn't want it to be bragging, but making pretty things was what almost all of her training was in.

"Anyway, congratulations." Her smile was soft, even as she stepped back for a second, letting them look at the cake without her in the background. She did pull her phone out to take a picture or two, as promised, but put it away quickly.

"It's chocolate."

"You still put work into picking it out and making sure we'd like it," Richard agreed with a warm smile. He turned toward the cake topper Ignacio was showing him once Sadie was done taking pictures--he wanted to make sure he didn't mess up her shot, okay--and took his turn turning it over and over in his hands. "And yeah, this is definitely going someplace safe." Handing it back to Ignacio, he laughed at the quip about his father.

Richard turned to walk around to the utensil and cutlery drawers. Ignacio wasn't wrong. His dad would absolutely love to get involved on the cake-eating, especially with a new person sitting in the kitchen eating it with them! But Luke was polite, and Richard didn't think his dad would just slide on in without an invitation.

Now, watching forlornly from the hallway like an abandoned golden retriever, on the other hand--

"I think as long as we save him some, we'll be okay." Richard fetched the knife and made his way back over. "And don't leave the dishes for him to do. Y'know, standard polite things." He offered the knife to Ignacio handle-first. "Do you want to do the honors?"