"What did I ever do to deserve you two as my groomsmen?" I ask gruffly as Mer works on my collar.
"You're just lucky I guess," Yang pops off at me as she eats out of a box of cereal. The fact that's she's in a dress ready for my wedding to start and popping cereal into her mouth while her feet are propped up on my desk is probably a decent enough example of why we get along. However, I'm still having a hard time believing she traveled across the world to be here for me today.
"Stop fidgeting," Mer commands as she concentrates on her task.
"I can't help it. Did you see Jo?"
Mer nods with a hint of frustration, "Like I told you the first three times, she's here and she looks beautiful."
Yang turns towards me in the desk chair, "I can see why you'd be worried. I keep thinking she's gonna bolt too."
"Cristina," Meredith reprimands before she looks back at me to continue smoothing my jacket over my shoulders. "That girl's not going anywhere."
"I don't know why I couldn't see her last night. Such a dumb rule."
Yang pops another oat in her mouth, "Didn't you see your first wife before your other wedding?"
I narrow my eyes, about ready to fight, "So?"
"And I saw Owen before mine so maybe there's something to that. Just go with it." She stands and walks over to pat my shoulder, "You need all the help you can get."
I can't help it, and smirk at her and feel some tension leave. I just want this part over with, I want to see Jo. I have too many women in my life who all ganged up together to insist that I not find out how Jo will look today. I'm startled out of my thoughts by a knock on the door and Arizona peeks in, "We're ready."
Suddenly I feel sick, anxious sick. And I don't get anxious. Mer comes over and fans me a little with a few envelopes she found lying around. She looks at me with concern, "You okay?"
I catch her gaze and take a deep breath, "She's really gonna marry me."
"Not if you stay in here, she's not," Cristina points out as she comes over to pin on my boutonnière. She meets my eyes as she finishes and hugs me quickly. We don't do this often and it makes the moment seem even greater. With a tight smile, she simply states, "She's the one."
I give a half grin of acknowledgement and nod slightly, "Yeah."
She smiles and pushes me out the door. I follow Mer out to the back yard and then she falls behind me as we approach one of the hospital chaplains that graciously agreed to officiate for us.
I look out over our friends, all seated in different kinds of chairs that don't remotely match. I guess that's what happens when you don't really put much thought into a wedding. Jo and I both didn't care much about how we got married, but finally decided to have a small ceremony with those closest to us.
I look over at Bailey, who is seated where my mother should be. I guess it's only appropriate that she would be my stand-in since my mother can't travel this far. I smile in acknowledgement and she gives me a proud maternal gaze. In her hand is Jo's iPad with Ms. Schmidt on Skype. She fell and broke her hip last week or she would have been here. Jo wanted to postpone and I completely agreed, but I think Sarah was afraid Jo would back out permanently and begged us to go ahead without her. Jo's already declared that we're going to visit her next month so I can also see New England in the fall, which apparently is a big deal.
I hear the guests expressing awe and look back to see Sofia and Zola walking together, slowly dropping rose petals with precision that would make any surgeon proud. When they get to the front I squat down to give them each a high five. Zola stands over in front of Mer and Cristina while Sofia heads over to Jo's side to stand by herself.
Next Bailey comes in and walks quickly to the front, almost stomping as he comes. I bend down again as he walks to me and I pick him up and bounce him slightly. I hear Mer huff behind me, but I don't care. I whisper to him conspiratorially, "I didn't want to dress up either."
He laughs as I ruffle his hair. This causes another sigh of displeasure from his mother so I turn slightly to grin at her, making sure she sees his messy hair. She rolls her eyes and I quickly set Bailey down and he continues to stand by my leg.
I'm so distracted I almost miss Arizona walking down the aisle. She smiles happily at me and I grin back. I hate the circumstances, but I really am glad she stayed with me and Jo for a while. It was rocky at first, but her and Jo really hit it off and became close. And now that her and Callie are back together, we all double date often. I'm really glad Jo was able to grow close to her, especially since Robbins has been so important to me.
Next is Stephanie, who is already looking on the verge of tears. She and Jo have a bet as to who would cry first between the two. I kinda thought that was silly on Edwards part since I'm about seventy-five percent sure Jo isn't going to shed a tear today.
The chaplain motions for everyone to rise and I get butterflies in my stomach. I angle my body to try to see her better, with Bailey mirroring my every move. Finally, she makes the turn at the end of the mismatched chairs and our eyes meet. I can't let out the breath in my lungs as she smiles widely at me, her eyes shimmering slightly with extra moisture. Ben says something to her and she smiles at him as they begin to walk towards me. I can't stop fidgeting with Bailey still mimicking me. I hear Mer say something, but I can't make it out. Everything in me is focused on the perfect creature heading towards me.
Her hair is in a loose bun with flowers pinned throughout. A few curled ringlets frame her face perfectly. Her gown is simple, but gorgeous and it matches her personality perfectly. There's a light blue ribbon around her waist that matches the flowers in her hair exactly. She tries to step over to me, but Ben holds her back and shakes his head with a smile. The chaplain motions for everyone to be seated, "Who gives this woman?"
"Her resident class and I do on behalf of this beautiful woman," Ben motions back to Ms. Schmidt. Jo follows his motions and lets out a small cry, not expecting to see her former teacher watching from her hospital bed in rehab.
Jo blows a kiss at the screen before Ben places her hand into mine. I immediately squeeze and rub my thumb across the back of her hand. She interlaces our fingers and whispers, "Thank you."
I nod in acknowledgement and resist the urge to touch her. I whisper just for her, "You're beautiful."
She beams at me before reaching up to fix my tie. She murmurs quietly with humor in her voice, "I knew you wouldn't get it straight."
I smile slightly while gazing at her intently. She presses the tie against my chest and holds her hands there a fraction longer than necessary. I smirk at her and whisper, "Tease."
She winks at me playfully before turning her attention to the chaplain. I however, can't stop looking at her. When she turns back to me expectantly, I grin. She narrows her eyes and nods towards the official and I realize I'm supposed to be doing something, "I'm sorry, what?"
There are rumblings of laughter all around me being led by Jo, who is shaking her head in amusement. The chaplain gives me a weird look and whispers, "This is where you say 'I do'." I look at him and I feel my lips move slightly, searching for the words. He looks nervous and asks, "Do I need to repeat the vows?" I continue to look at him with what I can feel is a blank stare, because I'm suddenly so overcome with emotion I can't speak.
Jo squeezes my hand and I look at her while still doing what I can only describe as a fish face. My mouth feels full of cotton as I try again to speak. She gives me a playful look and whispers dramatically, "I don't hear anything."
I immediately roll my eyes, and grin, "Shut up." I'm still gazing at her as the chaplain clears his throat and I look back at him guiltily, "I do." I turn back to Jo and whisper sincerely, "I do."
She smiles slyly, "You just swore to wash the dishes every night of our marriage. You realize that?"
There are laughs throughout the backyard that are louder than the earlier rumblings. I look back at Jo and shake my head, "I don't care."
She grins and mouths 'I love you.' Which makes me really glad my solo speaking part is over because I don't think I could say anything else without losing it. She smirks again and squeezes my hand. I watch her throughout the chaplain repeating the vows and feel my heart beat wildly as she turns with a look full of love and strongly says, "I do."
The officiant goes into his talk about the symbolism of the ring as we each turn to get our respective rings to give to each other. I'm really proud of the ring I got. I knocked the engagement ring out of the park according to Jo, so the actual wedding band had to be special too. So I had 'you and me' engraved inside. Jo is always saying that my first proposal was her favorite. So much so that when she proposed to me a few months ago she repeated my words. While the chaplain continues on I tilt the ring for her to see and she lets out a small gasp and looks at me with wide eyes. She then shows me where she did the exact same thing with my band. The urge to kiss her is becoming unbearable and I try to telepathically tell the guy to hurry up. He then indicates we can give the rings to each other and we repeat together, "With this ring, I thee wed."
I can't stop gazing at her and we each say with our eyes everything we decided not to say in front of everyone. And I'm glad we did. The chaplain is wrapping it up as Bailey tugs on my pant leg. I reach down to ruffle his hair again as Jo and I turn for the chaplain to introduce us as man and wife. As soon as he tells me I can kiss the bride, Jo lets out a quiet, "Oh thank God!" and launches herself at me. I pick her up by her waist and kiss her with everything I have while still being mindful of the kids and Ms. Schmidt watching. I pull back slightly and kiss her forehead before setting her back down and wonder to myself what I ever did to deserve her.
