Chapter 2 - Crystal

True to his word, Diamond's friend Garnet had prepared a beautiful venue for the wedding, on the second floor of the Red Rendezvous. The wedding was a small informal affair, with only their closest friends in attendance.

The view overlooking Twinbrooke Lake was spectacular, but Crystal only had eyes for Diamond, as he slipped the white gold wedding band onto her finger.

Then they shared their first dance together as husband and wife.

As they both drifted off to sleep that night, Crystal couldn't help but marvel to herself at the amazing turn her life was taking, a turn she would never have dreamed of a few short years ago.

After the wedding, they settled into a routine. Crystal would leave the house at dusk. The poltergeist problem was still rampant.

She had finally perfected her spirit locator, after much experimenting.

"I know you are here, spirit! Now show yourself!"

She was becoming quite good at convincing them to move on, and her clients were grateful.

Diamond, meanwhile, was garnering quite the reputation as a crack investigator, even being hired by the local rock celebrity.

"Yes, of course, I will locate your stolen guitar."

He spent his days searching for clues, and staking out suspicious activities.

Until one day, when their lives changed forever. Crystal woke up one morning feeling queasy, and it wasn't long before she discovered she was pregnant. She was ecstatic; they has been wanting a baby for quite some time now.

Diamond's eyes became big as saucers when she told him. This would mean huge changes in their life. They both agreed that it would not be good for the baby to be operating ghost hunting equipment while she was pregnant,  so she agreed to take some time off. Hopefully the hauntings would not get out of control while she was on leave.

As the delivery date loomed, Diamond started taking mainly cases he could work on from home. He set up his home office in the basement, and Crystal loved to watch him work. Hacking data bases seemed so exciting, but Diamond said it was "just routine."

He enjoyed taking time out of his day to play with Crystal's tummy.

"I can hear him kicking in there!"

"You mean 'her', don't you? I think it's a girl." Crystal teased him with a smile.

Then one early morning, Crystal awoke to painful contractions.

"Sweetheart, its time to go to the hospital!"

Diamond completely forgot what he was supposed to do.

"Just grab my bag, and help me to the car." Crystal calmly instructed in between contractions.

Later that day they arrived home with their adorable baby girl. Due to her rosy pink skin, they named her Coral.

Coral was daddy's girl from the very start, and Diamond was smitten, even though he had hoped for a boy.

Coral grew into a beautiful toddler, with Crystal's eyes, and more hair than either of them had ever seen on a baby before.

She loved the toys that Crystal made for her. Her favorite was a little wind-up dog whose feet and tail really moved!

"Doggy!"

She always had to have a hug before Diamond left for work in the morning. Then she would try and grab his hat.

"Hat!" Coral was an early talker, and Crystal and Diamond were terribly proud of her vocabulary.

As soon as he would leave, she would plant herself in front of the TV, and if Crystal didn't intervene, she would sit there all day. Crystal had to put her foot down, and turn it off after Sesame Cow, even though Coral fussed.

"Come on, Sweetie, lets play with blocks now. You can watch your show again tomorrow."

But as soon as Diamond arrived home, she would be in his arms. She really was a daddy's girl.

Too soon, Coral's toddler days were over, and it was time for her birthday.

"Happy Birthday, Coral!"

Chapter 1 - Crystal

Crystal hunched over the library computer, deep in thought. She just knew there had to be a way to make those large spirits reveal themselves, but so far she had come up blank. Perhaps a few more tweaks to her banisher. But it was morning, and people were starting to arrive at the library. Time to go.

She had noticed the young man enter the library a few minutes before she left, but she didn't see him quietly slip into the chair she had just vacated, and pull up her recent browser history.

"What's that noise?" Crystal started out of a sound sleep a few nights later. Peering out her front window, she caught sight of someone by her trash can. He looked suspiciously like the guy from the library, but what with the dark, and fog, and that ridiculous hat, it was impossible to tell. She rapped on the window to scare him off, and he disappeared into the night.

Him again? Was he stalking her? She gave him a suspicious look as she passed him leaving the Science Lab. She hoped she had the right parts now to upgrade her banisher.

"Well, Mayor Lilac, I have concluded my investigation. You have nothing to worry about when it come to Crystal Crescent. She is a genuine ghost hunter, and has come because she heard of our problems with hauntings here in Twinbrooke. It is my opinion that you should try to convince her to stay here permanently, as she could be quite an asset to our town."

Crystal was surprised when the mayor called her down to the town hall.

"Ms. Crescent, Inspector Diamond here has informed me of the good work you have been doing and we so appreciate it, we would like to honor you with this medal. We would like to see you continue your work here, and I am willing to pay you a weekly stipend to keep our town free of spirits. Also, I would like to present you with this deed to the property where you have been staying. It is yours now!"

Crystal was touched by the mayor's words,  but that inspector - so he had been following her! She wasn't sure what to think.

She decided to let it go for now, hopefully she would never see him again. She hung the medal on the bedroom wall in her house - her house, she liked the sound of that. She had never owned anything other than the clothes on her back, and her banisher.

She was no longer afraid of the stigma her profession sometimes had bestowed upon her, so she had taken to hanging out at the park during the day.

"What is he doing here?," she thought to herself. "Hopefully if I ignore him, he'll walk right on by."

But no such luck for Crystal that day.

"Mind if I join you?"

She just shrugged. "I guess." No use antagonizing the mayor's pet detective.

"So, ah.. I was going to head out to the Red Rendezvous tonight. Would you like to join me for a drink?" Was he really asking her for a date? He certainly had some nerve.

"I don't date stalkers."

"Hey, that's not fair." He looked chagrined. "I was just doing my job. And I did get you in good with Mayor Lilac, didn't I?"

She had to admit that was true, but she still had no intention of dating anyone right now, let alone someone she had caught rummaging in her trash can.

"Well, if you change your mind, I'll be there if you want to meet up."

Of course she didn't go to the Red Rendezvous, but the next morning when she went out to retrieve her mail, she noticed a potted plant by the mailbox. There was card attached.

"There's a good movie showing at the theatre tonight. Call me if you want to go.

-Diamond"

She frowned, but she carried to plant inside and set it on the counter. Every time she walked by that pink flower, she thought of Diamond, then she was angry at herself for it, but she kept the plant.

A few days later, when she checked her mail, there was another pink flower, larger this time. And another note:

"I need a foosball partner tonight. Come to the Red Rendezvous tonight to play foosball. No strings attached.

-Diamond"

Crystal sighed. She was pretty stressed, seeing as the poltergeists had been so active of late. Maybe a couple games of foosball might help. And the flower certainly was beautiful. And Diamond had such gorgeous violet eyes...  She stamped her foot, angry at herself. She would just go to play foosball.

The foosball certainly was fun, and Diamond proved to be a surprisingly pleasant guy to hang out with. Maybe she was wrong about him after all.

After a couple drinks at the bar,they headed to the dance floor. As they danced together, Crystal couldn't help thinking how handsome he was.

She didn't know if it was effect of the drinks, or if someone had turned up the heat in there. But when a slow song started,  and Diamond pulled her into his arms, she felt a tingle run through her from her toes to the top of her head.

As the song ended, they were still in each others arms and neither one seemed to want to let go. As their lips met, she knew she was falling in love, and only hoped that Diamond felt the same way.

She needed have worried. After that night, they spent all their spare time together. Diamond even offered to paint the peeling woodwork in her house.

"Your house is.. whiter... than I remember it from when I was a kid. It used to be quite brown." Diamond knew the whole town like the back of his hand.

"I would hope so! It took buckets of bleach to get it this way. I worked for days!" Crystal was fanatical about white.

"Well, your white woodwork is in bad shape, it's going to rot in this fog if it is not painted. How about I do it for you?"

She thanked him with a kiss.

One morning not too long after, Diamond invited her out to the park for lunch. It was a beautiful day, the sun was out, and a gentle breeze wafted through the park. But Diamond seemed on edge about something, he hardly touched his burger.

"Do you remember the first time I asked you out? It was right here."

"Yes, and I turned you down flat!" They could both laugh about it now. 

"Well... ah.. I have something else to ask you today. Crystal, I love you more than I thought was ever possible to love someone, and ... well.. will you marry me?"

 

Crystal was overwhelmed with emotion.

"Yes," she whispered softly. She admired with awe the large diamond. She knew Diamond wasn't rich, he must have saved for a long time for this.

She threw her arms around him.

"I love you so much. Let's get married as soon as possible."

 

At first Crystal wasn't sure about the new paint. Diamond had done everything in pink! But she decided she had better get used to it, since pink was his favorite color, and after a while it started to grow on her.

It was the day before the wedding, and Diamond had stopped by to see her.

"I checked with my friend Garnet at the Red Rendezvous, and the upstairs is all ready for us," he smiled at her.

 

"And I brought you a little wedding present, I didn't want to forget it tomorrow." He pulled out a box with a pink diamond set into the top. "Open it!"

It was a music box! Crystal loved it. The little gnome went round and round to the music, and she listened, mesmerized.

"I can't wait for tomorrow," she breathed in his ear.

"Me either, sweetheart," he whispered back.