Jack had not seen this coming. He was usually he one planning elaborate surprises for his wife, but she had turned the tables on him for their first anniversary. He had wanted to protest and dote upon her instead, feeling that she deserved it after giving birth to their children and dealing with so much more than he did, but he knew better than to argue. The week before their anniversary had been torture, but he had occupied himself with taking care of the infants and making certain his business hadn't imploded in his absence while she planned.

He had let her borrow his teleporter to take care of everything, so when the time finally came for her to transport them to their destination, he was about to burst at the seams with excitement. It only grew once he took in their surroundings. When he looked out the window of their room and spotted the metal tower in the distance, he was over the moon. Everything started to piece together, and he realized there was no other place he'd rather be. This was where it had all began with them. It was where he had proposed, too.

He remembered their first rendezvous fondly. She had been bored, and he had dropped everything to entertain her. Their form of entertainment had involved breaking and entering into the very monument he was gazing upon now, but it had been so much more than that. It was the moment he realized how strong his feelings were for her. He had told her things that only one or two other people knew, opened up in ways he didn't think possible. Trust had been difficult for Jack after everything that had happened with his former occupation, but he had found himself trusting her without questioning it. Looking back on it now, he realized it was that night he had really started to fall for her.

Less than a year after that, they returned, and it was Jack who had planned the surprise. He made it appear spontaneous by suggesting the trip over breakfast, but he had been thinking it over for weeks. He had purchased the ring a few months before, and it had been a miracle that his own impatience or her curiosity hadn't ruined the surprise. The plan was to propose in front of the haunted house or the castle, whichever they reached first. One spoke to her love of horror and the other was ridiculously cliche; he had a feeling she'd love either. Naturally, after weeks of planning and subduing his own urge to spoil the surprise, he barely made it half an hour before he was dropping down on one knee to ask her to marry him. He only had himself to blame for goading her when she'd said, "I'll love you forever and you'll be my best friend," when asking if they could eat dinner at the castle. It had turned into her asking him to promise the same thing, and there had been no denying that she had given him the perfect opening. "How's this for a promise?" he had asked as he bent down on one knee. In his defense, the haunted manor was technically in their line of sight at the time.

So much had changed since then. It was bizarre to think that the span of time from then to the present was just over a year. They had turned their engagement party into a surprise wedding, which their friends really should have seen coming, and now they were the proud parents of beautiful twin daughters. In hindsight, the months of attempting to conceive felt like years, so it sometimes threw him for a loop that so many things had happened in the span of a year. That was the norm for those that experienced the things they did, he figured, and he knew he wouldn't have it any other way. They wouldn't have fallen for one another had it not been for all of the insanity, and both would have been lying if they said they didn't enjoy their more psychotic sides.

The crazy amount of expensive goods in their hotel room the next morning was evidence enough of that. The first time they had been here, they had painted the town red (and black), so it was only fitting that they bent the rules this time. With the birth of their daughters, Wade and Harley had been subdued and had grown quite bored. It was just another thing that added to their stress levels, and quelling the urges of their insane counterparts had been beneficial for them as well. Jack couldn't remember the last time he had slept that well. This trip, meant to celebrate a year of marriage, was so much more. It was a way for them to reconnect and remind one another of what had brought them to this point. He felt as if he had been neglectful of her as of late and had a feeling she might feel the same way, so this trip was also a way for him to make certain she knew just how much she meant to him.

When he woke up that morning, he had teleported back home to grab her gift while she was distracted. He was able to return before she noticed and place her gift among their spoils from the night before. His intention upon approaching her had been to guide her over and see if she would notice the voice print of his wedding vows among the jewelry and discarded attire from the night before, but even he couldn't predict where his mind might go next. The sight of her, more beautiful than ever, led him to act on impulse and ask her to dance. When she eventually did find the print, her reaction told him it had been better to leave it for her to find instead of simply handing it over. Surprises and quick planning were what they did best, after all. As much as their lives had changed in the last year, he was comforted in knowing that some things remained the same.