A/N: I tell you guys! I start these songfics and they just go spinning out of control so I can't get them to meld with the song anymore. This one was originally a Maureen and Liv centric story on Maureen's wedding day set to a song called "Pearls," by Shannon Brown. I killed Kathy and I still couldn't make it work! So I'm leaving Kathy dead (she's more likable and less interfering that way). This is pure fluff and a one-shot. R&R! Kisses, Kinsey
He couldn't believe the day was finally here. All he heard for what seemed like an eon but was actually only about six months was how many days until Maureen's wedding. His little girl was getting married. The boy she'd met at Columbia, Brett, was a great kid. He'd been there for Maureen through her mom and dad's divorce, then her mom's death in a car accident the following summer. If he had learned anything from his relationship with Maureen's stepmom, it was that old adage that what didn't kill you would make you stronger. As if he could conjure her up by thinking about her, his beautiful wife appeared at the top of the steps leading up to the sanctuary from the church basement. Her wavy hair framed her gorgeous face and her light green mother-of-the-bride dress fit her perfectly.
"Hey, Mr. Stabler," she said, stepping up to where he was. Her heel caught on the top step and she went crashing into him.
"Well, hi there, Mrs. Stabler," Elliot laughed, and reached out to catch her.
"Sorry. Your wife isn't the most graceful creature these days," Olivia explained as he righted her again.
"I'm sure my son isn't any help," Elliot smiled as he ran his hand over Olivia's eight-month-pregnant belly.
"You're right," she laughed.
"So what's up? How's Ree?" he asked.
"I was just coming up to tell you she's almost ready," Olivia explained. "She wanted me to see how you were holding up." Olivia took his left hand in hers and rubbed her thumb over the platinum band she'd placed there a year before.
"I'm good," Elliot squared his shoulders and smiled. "Tell her I love her," he said.
Olivia smoothed a wrinkle out of his tie before heading back downstairs. "I will," she said.
EOEOEO
"How was he?" Maureen asked when Olivia got back downstairs.
"Oh, you know your dad," Liv squared her shoulders to impersonate her husband. "I'm good. Tell her I love her," she said gruffly, earning a giggly grin from her stepdaughter.
"Well, I'm glad he's not nervous," Maureen said.
"Ree! Don't be nervous! Be excited!"
"Were you nervous when you married Dad?"
"Nope. And that's why I don't think you should be nervous to marry Brett. Your dad and I have talked about how much of ourselves we see in you and Brett." Olivia took a seat on the couch in the church nursery where Maureen was getting ready.
"Like what?" Maureen settled in and laid her head in Olivia's lap, her hear pressed to Olivia's stomach to hear her baby brother moving around.
"Well," Olivia stroked Maureen's blonde hair. "You're best friends, like us. Brett's been there with you through some really bad stuff, and we all know your dad and I have gone to hell and back," Olivia smiled.
"And you'd both go back again," Maureen added.
"Mhm," Olivia agreed. "And your dad and I love each other unconditionally. We've gotten into some pretty big fights over the years, but we've always ended up better for it. Remember right before I went to Oregon?" Olivia asked.
"Yeah, Dad didn't think you guys would ever talk again," Maureen said.
"Yep. Neither did I. But when I woke up in that hospital as Persephone and my roommate said I'd been muttering your dad's name in my sleep… I just knew I had to spend the rest of my life with him. Your dad makes me feel whole, Ree. All the bad stuff with my mom and all the crap I've dealt with in my life… just goes away when your dad looks at me."
"Wow. You're right. That's totally how I feel about Brett," Maureen said.
"So see? Nothing to be nervous about," Olivia reassured her.
"Thanks. Liv?"
"Yeah, sweetie?"
"I just… I really want to tell you thanks for… for how much you've been there for all of us. When Mom died… you never really forced yourself on us as a Mom. You were just… there if we needed you. And all of us appreciate that so much," Maureen said.
Olivia's eyes welled up with tears. "Thanks, Ree. I love you guys so much. All four of you are as much my kids as this one," Olivia laid a hand over her stomach.
"I never thought I could love you as much as I love my mom, Liv, and I tried really hard not to. I guess I felt like I would have been betraying her memory. But I feel as much like you're my mom as my mom was."
Olivia's eyes spilled over and she reached to the end of the couch for the box of Kleenex she'd set there.
Maureen sat up and took a Kleenex, she was crying too.
"Oh no you don't," Liv said. "We can't have a bride with ruined makeup," she laughed.
Elliot chose that moment to holler down the stairs. "Hey Ladies! People are starting to show up. Dickie and Brett and the girls just got here too!"
"Send the girls down, Dad!" Maureen requested.
"Okay," Elliot answered. Soon after, the beautiful faces of Maureen's sisters and Olivia's other two stepdaughters Lizzie and Katie appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
"Why are you guys crying?" Katie asked.
"You're not dumping Brett, are you Ree?" Lizzie wondered.
"No, ding-dong, I'm not dumping Brett. Liv and I were just having a big heart to heart and we both started crying," Maureen explained.
Lizzie and Katie nodded in understanding.
"You guys look great!" Liv spoke, complimenting the girls on their bridesmaid dresses.
"Thanks!" Katie said. "Liv, can you help me with my hair?" she asked.
"Of course, honey," Liv grabbed a handful of bobbie pins and set to work on Katie's blonde waves.
"Can we come see our lovely Stabler women?" Dickie requested from the top of the stairs.
"Who's we?" Lizzie asked.
"Me and Dad, stupid," Dickie teased his twin. "I know Brett isn't sposda see Reen!"
"God! Just checking!" Lizzie huffed.
"Can it, you two. You're 18," Olivia said, slipping into "mom mode." "Come on down, guys," she said. The next thing she knew, her handsome husband and stepson were downstairs with them.
"Holy cow! Dickie did your dad make you get a haircut?" Olivia asked.
"Yeah," Dickie replied sheepishly. "He said he'd let Father Pete kick my ass in church if it was hanging in my face."
Olivia laughed. "Hmmm. An ass-kicking by a priest. Good thing you cut it, probably."
Elliot laughed and wrapped an arm around his wife. "Hey baby," he said, kissing her softly on the lips.
"Gross!" Dickie squealed like a nine-year-old. His sisters nodded their heads in agreement.
"Jesus. You guys are all adults," Elliot reminded them.
"Yeah, but you're still our parents!" Dickie replied.
Maureen snuck a glance at Olivia. "Yeah. No making out with Mom at my wedding," she said.
A/N: So? What do you guys think? Y'all want to go to the wedding? How about the reception? Want to meet Brett? Let me know! I'll write it if you want to read it! XOXO, Kinsey
