Bastien dances with Caro. She cries, and beside me so does Stéphane. I try not to laugh at them. The dancefloor opens up to everyone when they are done. Stéphane is the first one out there, hugging Caro. I trail behind, apparently not fast enough because Bastien bolts to me and drags me along. We nearly slam into Stéphane, just barely avoiding tripping on Caro's train and damaging it. Caro huffs out a sigh, one that is more forced than anything I've seen from her in the past twenty-four hours. Bastien cannot resist ribbing them immediately, with their tear faces.

"It's just..." Bastien mocks sobbing, like Stéphane. "My baby sister is all grown up!"

"You're the baby," Caro rolls her eyes. "My little Sebbie."

We laugh at him and Bastien glares, "you're lucky I don't have red wine on hand."

Soon enough, more people are joining the dancefloor, and we're flooded with bodies and musk and floral notes and I wish I smelled citrus and the smoke of cedarwood. I manage to slip out of my siblings grasp, looking over the tops of heads to find one just a bit taller than many of the other guests.

Finally, I find him. Reid and I nearly collide into each other.

"Sorry," I manage. We haven't been able to talk to each other in well over six hours, maybe even closer to eight. The morning was so busy I didn't really have time to take him in.

His suit is navy blue. He didn't drive up in it, so I didn't notice the colour until now. His tie matches my dress, raspberry, and I think I must have mentioned the colour to him or there's been some sort of strange series of coincidences that led us here.

"Sorry? Why are you apologizing?"

I blink, looking back up at his face. He doesn't look tired now. I'm sure that even beneath all the make-up I'm wearing my face is red. If not from the heat of all these bodies in this barn in May, then from the two glasses of wine I had with the dinner. I blink again. Focusing on him. My eyes must be tired. I haven't been looking at my computer screen all day though.

"You were stuck with my brothers' dates all day," I explain my insistence on feeling guilty about something.

He shrugs, "Mylène speaks more English than I expected. Khadija also isn't your brother's girlfriend, I don't think. She was flirting with a groomsman before the wedding. She said she met your brother through her brother, Tahir, who's also in the military."

I purse my lips and nod, "I'm not surprised. I mean, it could have been his girlfriend, but there was a fifty-fifty chance she was lying. Don't ask. And don't tell either."

Reid opens his mouth and then closes it.

If my suspicions are correct, then both my brothers have secret partners hiding out somewhere. Unlike Bastien, my secret date doesn't hide a real date somewhere behind it. At least, I don't think it does.

"Well, they were both kind people to spend most of the day beside," Reid offers the smallest of smiles. "And your speech went very well. From what the others at my table said, Caro seemed to really enjoy it. I should have paid more attention to her expressions."

"Reid, distracted?" I furrow my brow. "I can hardly picture it."

He opens his mouth to speak but then doesn't finish his sentence.

The song switches, and then people start to shout. It's some popular square-dancing song I don't know. Reid doesn't either, even with that entire vast memory of his. We get caught up in the crowd, trying to copy the people in front of us. Reid is slow and not very dexterous despite his dance training. I can't stop laughing as he tries to dance. I catch on eventually, but he's still slow on the uptake. Then the song switches and we dance, and then we dance again and again. Not slowly and properly like we were taught, but at least with some quicker moves. Only the occasional touch when he takes my hand and guides me through a pirouette. Lost in the crowd it is easier to smile and laugh. It goes on for hours, into cake cutting and Caro's bathroom runs. I'm only dragged away by duty. That is, until I'm so thirsty that the dizziness is from spinning and dehydration rather than liquor. I go over to the bar to get us more drinks after what feels like eons.

"Hey," Bastien bumps into me when I get up there. His skin is flushed, his tie loose and the top four buttons on his shirt are undone. So much chest is exposed that I'm surprised I can't see his naval.

"Heard you have a secret boyfriend," I say, not quietly, but the music is playing quite loudly behind us.

He stuffs a little pastry in his mouth. I didn't end up grabbing any desserts. Bastien chews on it while I order drinks for me and Reid. And one for Bastien so he doesn't pester me when he is done.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Bastien rolls his eyes. "Maybe I'll bring him as a date to your wedding to Reid."

I bump into him back, a bit more aggressively, but my little brother is taller than me and thicker and he just laughs at me.

"He moving with you to Sweden?" Bastien asks.

I shrug, "I just said that to piss off Caro. I don't think I'm going to go."

"You know, Colette Spencer doesn't have a good ring," Bastien shrugs. "I just can't decide if Colette Bouchard-Spencer is worse."

That makes me laugh. So, he genuinely does think Spencer is Reid's last name. I shake my head, grabbing the drinks as they come and leaving Bastien dumbfounded at the bar.

The night gets hotter and heavier. Right after Caro and Cletus cut their cake, a slow song comes on. It's the first one in a long time. One that Reid and I can't boogie or swing too, one that demands a quiet elegance.

Reid offers me his hand. I take it. His skin is rougher than last time, but I suppose he has been in the field more. His hand curves to the smallest part of my waist and rests so gently. I let him guide me. We don't step, it feels more like we glide together. My one hand rests on his chest, since according to the dance instructor that's a more relaxed position. It feels relaxed. All the energy from the night, the bright lights and heavy smells, it all seems to slow. The singers voice is breathy. Every time I inhale, I'm aware of how my chest moves, how my entire body shifts between his hands.

"You've still been practicing," I manage.

He nods, "during cases, there's usually enough space in my hotel room to at least follow the moves on my own. Although, it has been more difficult without a partner there."

I feel my cheeks heat up. The most recent drink we finished must be hitting me more and more. I don't feel the lolling head of intoxication. In fact, I don't feel drunk at all. Often, on New Year's Eve and nights out with the team, it feels like I'm fighting for sobriety. The alcohol usually puts me at ease or at least makes intolerable situations feel more relaxed. Right now, I'm regretting having a third drink even though I'm barely tipsy.

Right now, I actually want to be in this moment. I want to smell the slight coconut of his hair. The low, gold-tinted light of the barn makes the features on his face fuzzier. I want to see the stubble on his face, the light colour in his eyes when the sun hits it just right. Even the feeling of his hand on my side, which feels like an exposed electrical wire sending pulsing tingles up my back through the base of my spine, I want to feel that too.

"You really think my speech went well?" I ask, looking up at him.

Reid nods. He leads me into a spin, and then I come back to him.

"I know you were nervous about it. Sometimes, I think you sound like you're performing when you speak. Not that you are disingenuous..." he trails off, biting his lip for just a second. "I just mean, I think you are very aware that you are being perceived by everyone. Usually in crowds you become more closed off. More agreeable perhaps, but cagier, and not really yourself. At the end of your speech, it kind of felt like it was just us."

My stomach feels light. I worry he can see the pulse leaping out my neck.

"And Caro," is what I manage to stumble out.

He smiles, but only barely, "and Caro, of course."

The song switches back to a louder, faster song. Reid excuses himself to grab a drink. The bouquet toss happens, and I get dragged into the crowd as an unmarried woman. I don't try to catch the bouquet, obviously. Never in a million years would I reach for it. Then again, I don't avoid it either. If it comes to me, that is what it does.

It doesn't. It goes to my left, and I'm nearly elbowed out of the way as some of Cletus' more aggressive cousins vie for it. I look at Caro, watching as she giggles at the crowd of women trying to tackle each other. Cletus leans over and kisses her temple. For once, he makes me smile, but I scowl when I catch it.

After that, I don't have more than two alcoholic drinks but that is over the course of three hours. My body starts to feel exhausted toward the end of the night. The final dance is the last slow song of the night, and I pair up with Reid again.

I try not to yawn. I'm so tired. I lean in closer, letting one of my hands sneak around his neck and resting the other alongside my head against his chest. He wraps his arms around my back. Each individual finger clutching me close to him. It's the liquor, as little of it is in my body. That is what I convince myself. That is this feeling, like a fireplace. That is what I feel against him.

"It's a long drive home," he whispers to me.

Shit. I totally forgot that I gave Cletus' family the hotel card. I'm not drunk, but I shouldn't drive like this. He's had a few too.

"I totally forgot," I groan. "Shit."

"Cletus' mother gave me their keycard," Reid offers. "It's in the same hotel. Apparently, they only had a standing shower and Cletus' father has some mobility issues and needed a tub."

I sigh out in relief. At the very least, we are lucky in that regard. Somewhere to sleep tonight that is comfortable and in town.

I pull back just to take his arm and hold it in front me. Even with one grip on me, the warmth doesn't leave. His fingers are so close to my chest. I blink twice to refocus on the watch on his wrist. My phone is in the rental car, I think. Maybe it's in Reid's pocket. I could have checked.

"It's late."

He says it before the time has actually registered in my brain. I was too busy thinking about sticking my hand in his trousers.

"Yeah," I barely manage.

According to his watch, it's well past midnight. At this rate, we won't get back to the hotel until closer to one in the morning.

I rest my forehead against his chest just for a second, before pulling back to look up at him, "it was so kind of you to come. You didn't have to be here."

"I had a good time," his voice becomes quiet, but I can still hear him even over the loud music.

No one else could I bet, no matter how close they tried to stand to him. Even if they turned their head in close and let his lips brush against their ear. Reid and I, our proximity doesn't map out linearly onto space. We're always close.

When the song ends, we all head outside. They hand out sprinklers to us all, and a few of the people working the wedding run around with grill lighters ready to help us light them all. Once everything is ready and in place, we stand in the dark together outside the barn leading a path toward the parking lot.

Reid stiffens beside me. I feel the back of his knuckles brush my hand. I slip my hand into his, holding on tightly. His hands are still warm. Even out in the cold, where I can feel myself start to shiver. Even at night on a farm, where he was taken, where all sorts of bad things began. Hopefully when the good marriage of my sister begins.

We all light up our sparklers and watch as Caro and Cletus leave the barn and head for the limo ready to take them off. People cheer and shout as they make their way down. Caro smiles. Cletus grabs her halfway through and kiss her, and people cheer even louder. I can't stop smiling while I stare at them.

She looks so happy.

My little sister Caro is so happy on her wedding day. It was about her, as it was supposed to be. I did it. Even though tomorrow is the anniversary of the worst day of my life. Even though the day was so chaotic and she had to be sewn into her dress and Bastien made fun of her and Stéphane for crying and our mother wasn't here for her and our father is long dead. She had a good wedding day.

Reid's hand squeezes mine.

And I finally start to cry.

~~~~~

The burn is so so slow. Like, this is chapter 50 goddamn it, and you've all been led astray once again. But, as always, they are too cute it makes me nauseous. Also, I changed Estelle's faceclaim. Much happier with it now!

Anyway, a favourite moment so far? I'd love to hear about it mwahaha.