Jude had been awake for hours, staring up at the ceiling, deep in thought. If he'd been asked at twelve where he thought he'd be in sixteen year's time, he wouldn't have been able answer. He'd've aged out of the system, probably never graduated high school, no end of unfortunate endings would've been expected by him. Looking back, it all seemed so far away now.
Here he was, twenty eight years old, next to his soon-to-be husband, his daughter, to his knowledge, asleep in the next room. He couldn't help but think about how every part of his life had brought him here. If he'd never found that dress hanging in his foster father's cupboard, if Callie and Brandon had come and rescued him. It frightened him how if things had gone even a little differently, he would never have met Connor, or his family for that matter.
He felt a hand land itself on his arm, and a soft voice that pulled him out of his head.
"How long have you been awake?" Asked the voice, still scratchy from sleep.
Jude looked to his right to see Connor smiling at him.
"Not long."
Connor huffed a laugh, he knew what that meant. Jude had been awake for ages.
"You should've woken me up."
Jude shook his head, "because we all know how well that works out. Grumps," he pushed Connor playfully.
"What can I say, I'm not one of those freaky morning people."
"Hey," Jude smirked, "you're marrying a freaky morning people."
Connor sat up excitedly, "today," he grinned, suddenly wide awake.
Jude followed suit and pushed himself up off the mattress, "today," he confirmed with a smile.
"You ready?"
"More than ready."
Before Connor could say anything else, the two of them heard whispering from the other side of their bedroom door. The whispering was quickly followed by a small knock and the creaking of the hinges.
'Go on,' they heard, 'take it into them.'
Jude watched as a small girl padded across the room with a tray.
"'Pee wediday daddies," she beamed, almost dropping the tray onto Jude.
He slide the tray over to Connor and lifted the little girl onto the bed with them, "thank you very much, Princess." He placed her in the middle of the mattress.
Connor looked down at the breakfast before him. Two omlets, orange juice, coffee. "And who helped you make all of this, Gracie?" He asked her brightly.
"My untea ."
"Your auntie helped you? Which auntie?" Connor asked.
"This auntie," Mariana poked her head around the door. "You've got yourself a great little chef!"
"How did you -" Jude began.
"I have a key, remember?" Mariana held up a large, glittery keyring, attached to a small bronze key.
"Right," he nodded. "Thanks so much for this, it looks great."
"Not everyday my baby brother gets married. I'll leave you three alone."
With Mariana gone, Jude turned his attention back to his daughter, "did you have fun being a chef today?" He asked her, noticing her little hat and plastic apron.
She nodded furiously, "Ima sef."
"Yes you are, a very good chef," Connor chipped in, between bites.
After breakfast, Jude and Connor made their way over to the family home. Upon arrival, they had split off into two groups and Gracie had been whisked away by various aunts and uncles. Jude, teamed with Lena, Connor with Stef. Everyone else buzzed about the house. Each of them getting ready for the big day.
Both of them had been kept apart from the moment Jude's mothers had let them in. Although they'd argued that it was only bad luck to see the bride before the wedding, his mothers had insisted on keeping the two separate.
As Connor fiddled with his tie, Gracie appeared behind Brandon.
"She won't settle down for her nap," Brandon stated, clearly exasperated by the small child.
"Pappy!" Gracie shouted, running towards Connor, arms outstretched.
Connor ditched his attempt at tying his tie, letting it hang loosely around his neck as he scooped up his daughter.
"You're supposed to be sleepy," he said, raising his eyebrows at her.
"Nooo!" She giggled, pushing her hand at his cheek.
"Yeess," he mimicked. Sighing, he put her down and lowered himself to her eye level. "Okay, well if you're not sleepy, then why don't you take this to daddy?" He scrawled a note on a scrap of paper and gave it to her.
Gracie took the paper and proudly held it up to show Brandon, before taking him by the hand. Gracie carried the message to Jude as if it was the most important thing in the world, stopping at nothing, undeterred by the various obstacles and family members.
"Daddy!"
Jude turned at the sound of her voice and placed his hands on his hips. "You're supposed to be sleepy." He echoed and threw his eyes to Brandon.
"She won't settle!" He explained, again.
Gracie rushed into the room and thrust the paper at her father, who took it from her and unfolded it.
'Miss you,' it read. Jude rolled his eyes and picked up a pen from the pot on his old desk. 'Sap,' he wrote underneath.
"Can you take this back to papa?
Brandon gawked at Jude as he was lead back down the hall.
Connor took the note back from her and laughed at Jude's reply. 'You know you love me,' he added, before handing the paper back to his daughter.
After six or seven messages a piece, dragging her Uncle Brandon from room to room had apparently become too much for Gracie's little legs, as she finally lay down about half way between the two rooms.
"Finally," Brandon groaned, lifting her off the floor and taking her to his sisters' old room to tuck her into Callie's old bed.
"She's asleep," he mentioned to Callie, who was on her way back to Jude.
"Good, we don't need a tired flower girl."
When Callie returned to her brother, Jude couldn't help but think to himself how grateful he was to have her. She'd always shielded him from as much as she could when they were kids. She'd come so far from the damaged girl who'd first been brought to the Adams Fosters.
Jude grabbed her into a hug, resting his head on top of hers.
"What's this for," Callie asked, voice muffled against her brother's suit jacket.
He gave a squeeze, "have I ever thanked you?"
Callie pulled away to look at him. "Thanked me for what?"
"For everything. Protecting me when we were kids, bringing me here."
"You don't have to thank me, it's what I'm here for."
He shook his head, "you should never have had to do any of it."
Callie shrugged, "there's a lot of stuff neither of us should have had to deal with. But given the choice, I'd do it all again to see you here."
"Isn't it weird how normal this all is?" Jude commented, turning his attention back to the mirror.
"Kinda, yeah," Callie agreed, "I didn't know you thought about it."
"I don't usually. It's just today. I mean, I'm gonna be married, Callie, to Connor."
"I'm proud of you, Jude."
Connor continued to fiddle with his clothes, his tie wasn't right, his boutonnière was crooked, there was a mark on the front of his shoe. As he desperately tried to fix his outfit, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"You look fine, love," Stef assured him.
Stef moved his hands away from his tie and fixed it for him. She adjusted his boutonnière and wiped the mark off his shoe. "We'll need to make a move soon, you ready?"
Connor drew in a deep breath, "yes."
"You'll be in my car, Jude's with Mama," Stef reminded him, still adamant to keep them apart. "Ten minutes."
With that, she left to wake Gracie and wrestle her into her dress. Luckily, it didn't take too long to dress the little girl, and Stef was able to hand her off to Jesus.
It took a good thirty minutes to load everyone up into various cars. Even after years of practice, getting five siblings, two mothers and now, a child, ready for the same time had not become any easier, but everyone was determined to get to the venue on time.
As everyone hurried out of the house, Connor waited behind. When he deemed that the whole family was outside, Connor took out his phone. A smile briefly crossed his face at the sight of his lock screen, Jude and his baby girl on holiday last year, but it quickly faded when he opened his contacts.
He chewed at the inside of his lip as he scrolled through the list of numbers until he found the one he was looking for 'Dad'. His thumb hovered over his name, until he could bring himself to press it.
Connor shifted from foot to foot, waiting for someone to answer the call. When the ringing finally stopped, his breath hitched slightly when he heard his father's voice.
"Hello," Adam's voice came over the phone, but before Connor could get his greeting in, the message continued, "this is Adam Stevens. Leave a message."
The beep from the answering machine sent Connor's heart sinking in his chest. He closed his eyes and began to speak, "Dad...it's Connor. Look, I know things haven't been great with us, but please Dad," tears welled, "it's my wedding. I know I'm not the son you wanted me to be, but Jude makes me so happy, Dad. I don't want to beg you, but plea-" the answering machine cut him of.
On the other side of the door, Jude had been listening. He had no end of family attending the wedding today: two mothers, two sisters, two brothers, a daughter, his dad. His heart broke for Connor. Connor's mother was, as always, busy, and Adam had never responded to the invite.
Jude frowned and continued on his way to his Mama's car, before Connor even knew he was there.
"Hey, Mama?" He asked, taking his seat on the passenger side. "Can we make a stop on the way?"
"I dunno bud, we've not got that much time."
"It won't take long," he promised and gave her the directions.
When they reached the familiar street that had been Connor's childhood home, Lena knew immediately what Jude planned to do and watched him sprint up the driveway to the front door.
Jude banged loudly on the door, "Mr Stevens," he called, "Mr Stevens, I need to talk to you!"
He pounded his fist on the door until it finally opened, a large man standing in its frame, eyeing Jude in his suit.
"You never replied to the invite," Jude stated, crossing his arms.
"I'm not coming," Adam stared down at Jude.
"So you're not going to be there for you son on one of the biggest days of his life," Jude demanded.
"Listen you," he jabbed a finger at the smaller man, "I put up with you two playing house, but you better count me out of this stupid charade."
"Charade?" Jude scoffed, "we've been together since high school. It's no lesser than your marriage, how's that going by the way?"
Adam stiffened.
"Look," Jude attempted to soften his voice, "I don't like you. You don't like me. But if you care about your son at all, you'll get your ass dressed and see him at the end of that isle."
Jude started back down the drive, "it's at the Anchor Beach hotel," he threw his words bitterly over his shoulder as he made his way back to the car.
"Do you think he'll come?" Mariana asked from the back seat, when Jude climbed back into the car.
"If he doesn't, I'll never forgive him," Jude answered, foot bouncing in the footwell.
They arrived at the venue with just ten minutes to spare and rushed to hall.
"The rest of them are already inside," Stef announced, practically pouncing on them as soon as they came into view. She grabbed Jude by the shoulders and steered him towards the door, "you wait here, I'll fetch Connor. Lena, if you could fetch Gracie and get everyone lined up."
Jude fidgeted where he waited. Callie buzzed around him with her camera, having been taking photos of the day. She managed to snap a picture of Jude's face when he saw Connor appear from the other end of the corridor and quickly moved to take one of Connor, who'd yet to see Jude.
When Connor finally looked up and caught sight of Jude by the door, he felt butterflies. Jude could've sworn his heart skipped a beat. Their eyes were glued to each other as Connor walked to meet him.
"You look amazing," Connor commented, over the clicking of Callie's camera.
Jude nodded furiously, unable to find his words, "so do you," he managed eventually.
Jude took a step towards Connor and linked their arms together and nodded to his siblings, all of whom had been paired off together, along with a few of Connor's college friends, to form their procession.
The grooms watched as their little girl scattered petals down the isle. More throwing petals at the isle if they were honest, but she was doing a great job.
"Here we go," Connor grinned.
"Here we go," Jude echoed.
The music quietened as the group reached the end of the isle and the grooms looked over the crowd. The room filled with family and friends.
Connor's smile faulted for a second when he looked at the empty seat in the first row of chairs, but when he looked back at Jude, it didn't seem to matter as much.
The officiator took his place between the two of them and greeted the crowd before him. "Ladies and gentleman," he began, "I would like to take a moment to thank you on the behalf of Mr Connor Stevens and Mr Jude Adams Foster, for gracing them with your presence on this special day, as the two of them begin a new part of their lives together."
Jude stared into Connor's eyes, the officiator's speech background noise to the thumping in his chest.
"And now I believe the two of you have written your own vows," inquired the officiator. "Mr Stevens?"
Connor fumbled in his pockets for his cards, forgetting he'd passed them to his best man before the ceremony. Before he could panic however, his best man shoved them into his hand with a look that told Connor he was an idiot.
"Jude," he breathed, but before he could continue, he heard the creek of a door at the back of the hall.
Everyone in the room looked back towards the noise to see who had arrived late. A tall, aged man in a black suit and tie stood at the back of the hall, looking directly at Connor. As he caught his son's eye, Adam Stevens nodded and moved to take a seat with the back row of other guests.
Connor smiled hopefully, before turning his attention back to Jude. "I stand here today, before the people that matter the most to us, because I have been lucky enough to fall in love with my best friend. If you'd have asked me when we're were kids if we'd be here, our beautiful family, I'd've said it was a dream, but to be here now and know it's real. I can't wait to see what other dreams will come true for us." He paused for a moment to catch himself before his voice choked. "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you, Jude. I love you."
Jude blinked away a tear and sent it rolling down his cheek and reached for his own cards, which had been kept safe by Jesus. He looked down at them in his hands and opened his mouth to read from them, before he changed his mind and cast them aside.
Connor tilted his head, confused.
Jude stood quietly, gathering new words.
"Connor," he began, "growing up was not easy for me. I won't stand here and relive it as I tell you this, because this is the happiest I've ever been and those memories have no place here, but I will tell you this: each and every heartbreak, each and every obstacle and moment of sadness in my life set me on a path. A path that lead me to my family," he looked out at his mothers, "and a path that lead me to you. And if I could travel back and tell me at six years old that one day I'd find someone I was so in love with, that I'd spend the rest of my life with, those years wouldn't have been so unbearable, because knowing what I know now, I'd know there was someone amazing waiting for me when I found my anchor."
"The rings, please," the officiator asked as the grooms wiped the tears from their eyes.
Gracie, who'd since swapped her flower basket for a small cushion on which two rings lay, stepped up to her fathers.
Jude and Connor collected their rings and each bent down and kissed the top of her head.
"Connor, repeat after me," instructed the officiator, who proceeded to reel off the speech.
I, Connor Stevens, give you this ring as a symbol of my love to you and as a promise to you that I will always be faithfupl and hold you as part of my soul."
Connor slid the ring delicately onto Jude's finger.
"And Jude, if you could repeat after me," the officiator repeated the speech to Jude, as he had to Connor.
"I, Jude Adams Foster, give you this ring as a symbol of my love to you and as a promise to you that I will always be faithful and hold you as part of my soul."
"By the power vested in me by the law of California, I declare you husband and husband. You may now kiss the groom," he directed to both of them.
The two of them came together in a kiss. Even now, it still sent sparks through the two of them.
As they pulled away, the officiator announced, "I present to you, for the first time, Misters Connor and Jude Adams Foster."
The room erupted in loud applause, cheers coming from the majority of the room. In the back row, Adam stubbornly clapped along with the rest of them, still unsure about the whole event.
Connor lifted Gracie onto his hip and the three of them stood for a few photos, before he passed her onto Jude and walked over to Adam.
"You came," he smiled.
Adam cleared his throat, "yeah, I uh...had a change of heart, I guess." He glanced over Connor's shoulder at Jude.
Connor followed Adam's eyes to see his husband chatting to some of the guests. "There's room for you at the reception, if you want. It downstairs, in the ballroom"
"You took his name," Adam changed the subject.
Connor stood straighter, "I did."
Jude sauntered over to join the two of them. "Mr Stevens," he greeted, offering his hand.
Adam reluctantly accepted it, "Jude."
"I see you made it," he said knowingly.
"Yes, well. Congratulations."
"Thank you." Jude bounced Gracie on his hip, "Princess, you remember grandad, don't you?"
Gracie gave a small wave and his her face in Jude's shoulder.
"She looks lovely," Adam commented.
Jude thanked him again and the group fell into silence.
"Well," Adam said eventually, "I'll see you downstairs, son."
As Adam departed, Connor nudged Jude, "I don't know what you did, but thank you," he kissed Jude's cheek.
Kinda felt like writing a fluffy Jonnor fic. Don't usually post the same fits both here and on ao3, but I thought I'd stick this one on here too. Hope you liked it, thanks for reading.