A/N: Thanks to TessaStarDean for helping me with my mental road block on this one.
You know my disclaimer drill.
--
Danny whizzed into the bullpen of the NYPD to Flack's desk carrying two coffee cups. "Here, hold these for a sec," he said as he handed the coffee off to his friend.
Once Flack had the cups securely in hand, Danny smacked him on the head, then reached to take one of the cups back.
"Damn, Messer," Flack said rubbing his head, "what was that for?"
"For telling Stella I had a ring. You know when she gets excited, she has a hard time keeping things like this to herself."
"She ain't gonna tell Lindsay."
"You better hope not. Otherwise you don't get to be my best man."
Flack touched his chest in mock hurt. "Oh, ya got me in my weak spot."
"You know Stella will probably be maid of honor, right?"
"So?"
"So everybody knows that the wedding party spends more time together than the bride and groom on the wedding day. Last minute prep, pictures, dancing…"
"Okay, got it. I'm gonna go talk to her. Your surprise will remain a surprise if I have anything to say about it."
Danny laughed as Flack rushed from the bullpen.
----------
Flack found Stella sitting in the break room with Lindsay, drinking coffee.
He took a deep breath before walking in. "Afternoon, ladies. Hey Stell, think I could talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure." She started to stand and excuse herself but Lindsay stopped her.
"You guys stay. I have to get back to work." She refilled her coffee cup and left the room.
Flack sat next to Stella, keeping a respectful distance. "So here's the thing. Danny is about to kill me because I told you that he got a ring for Lindsay. He's worried you might get excited and tell her."
Stella smiled and put her hand on his arm. "Don't worry. I'm very excited, but I want it to be a surprise for her."
"Good. Cause I'm pretty sure Danny already imagined a hundred ways to torture me slowly if I ruined this for him."
----------
The next five months flew by with preparations for the upcoming Messer-Monroe wedding.
Lindsay and Stella were constantly going over reservations that needed to be made, dates to be set, fittings, cake tasting, decorations. There wasn't a single detail they left out. They were also constantly on top of Danny and Don to make sure they were getting their things done, although their list of to-do's was much shorter.
At the fifth month, with just one to go before the wedding, every day was filled. Between working hours, there was plenty to be done.
Danny and Lindsay sat at their kitchen table one night looking over the seating arrangement. They weren't going to have a big wedding; they wanted to have family and close friends, and spend the rest of the money on a great honeymoon, figuring they probably wouldn't get another vacation for a while. They looked at the diagram of the banquet hall with little stickers on the tables.
"What if we put our folks at this table," Danny pointed, "and your siblings at the one to the right. That way the family would all be close together. Then we could put everyone else like this." He peeled a few of the post-it notes from the chart and moved them around. "See, that way everyone would be happy."
"That looks pretty good. And the extra seats here and here will give people some wiggle room if they need it." Lindsay sighed. "How have we been looking at that for all these weeks and only just now getting it done?"
"Because we've been looking at it for weeks."
"Right." She folded it up and stuck it back in the folder with the rest of the wedding stuff they had collected and pushed it across the table. "Not too late to elope, ya know. Forget about all this crazy planning and be done."
Danny chuckled. "You want this wedding," he reminded her. "You'll kick yourself for the rest of your life if you don't have a beautiful white gown and your family and friends there with you." He kissed her cheek. "That's why we decided not to draw out the engagement, remember?"
"I know." She kissed him back on the cheek, then rested her head on his shoulder. "But if I decide I never want to leave the Bahamas after all this, don't judge me."
Danny laughed. "We'll stay forever if we have to."
--
The week before the wedding, it was all they could do to hold everything together.
Monday afternoon, Stella and Lindsay went for final fittings at the bridal shop, then took the dresses back to Stella's place. Tuesday, the men went to the tuxedo shop and did the same. Wednesday, the final orders were double checked for the cake, flowers, and dinner, putting everyone in bed after midnight. Thursday and Friday, Stella and Lindsay had requested off work. They were going to see that everything was in place before Saturday afternoon.
Friday night, Danny and Lindsay agreed to bachelor/bachelorette parties, but agreed that there would be a limit of how much alcohol everyone in the wedding party would consume. Their day was going to be perfect.
Before they left for their respective parties, they kissed outside their front door and said goodnight; Danny was going to stay with Flack after their party.
They headed off in separate directions to meet with their friends, already waiting for them downtown.
Lindsay and Stella walked into a chic lounge-style bar a little before 9 pm. They met with several friends already sitting on a large couch in a dimly lit corner of the room. When they ordered the first round of drinks, they asked the waitress to stop serving them alcohol after 3 drinks and start bringing sodas. She glanced at Lindsay's left hand and winked. "Congrats on the big day, honey." She left and returned a few minutes later with their first round. The women talked and laughed for the rest of the night without a care.
Several blocks away, Flack had taken Danny to a sports bar. TV sets mounted all over the room gave plays of every game, there were pool tables and dart boards scattered throughout the room, and plenty of tables. They sat down and ordered their first round of beer before jumping into a game of pool. As they played, laughs and jokes and crude humor flew about the room. As a few friendly bets were made, the night drew on.
--
Saturday morning, every face was smiling. With everything finalized, there was nothing left to worry about except saying "I do." Stella helped Lindsay get ready after they ate breakfast, then they made their way to the church. As Lindsay stood in front of the mirror in her gown, she could only smile.
Stella approached her and put her arms around her. "This is it."
Lindsay took a deep breath. "Wish me luck."
"You don't need it. Go get married kiddo."
With one last hug, they were out the door. Lindsay smiled as Flack took Stella's arm to walk her down the aisle. Then she saw her father, offering his arm out the same way, and she grinned. "I finally did it, Daddy. I found my prince."
"I always knew you would, princess." He kissed her on the cheek and nodded to the doorway. "Shall we?"
When the doors opened, everyone stood. And Lindsay walked with her father down the aisle of the little church. When they were halfway to the altar, Lindsay finally had the courage to look to where Danny was standing. And he nearly took her breath away.
He was smiling so brightly, hands clasped loosely in front of him, shifting his weight on the balls of his feet just a little. He was nervous too.
When Lindsay's father released her arm at the altar, he kissed her cheek once more, and shook Danny's hand before taking his seat.
Danny and Lindsay stepped forward together, slipping their hands together as the minister began to speak. Danny mouthed a quick 'I love you' and everything was an amazing blur after that.
As the final words 'you may now kiss the bride' were spoken, their eyes lit up. They did it. As they kissed, the minister pronounced them man and wife once again and everyone clapped.
They rested their foreheads together for a moment, smiling, before holding onto one another and walking back up the aisle.
--
An hour later, everyone was gathered in the banquet hall down the street. The couple had taken their first dance as man and wife, and were continuing to dance as everyone joined in.
Lindsay rested her head on Danny's chest for a moment before looking up at him again. "This is the best day ever."
He kissed her before pulling back and smiling. "I think they would agree too." Danny pointed off to the side and turned them both a little to she could see what he was grinning about.
Flack was leading Stella onto the dance floor, pulling her cautiously close while the slow music played.
Danny smirked after a minute. "Think we should cut in?"
Lindsay swatted him playfully. "Danny, let them have their moment. Besides, as much as I love Don, I'd rather be dancing with you."
"Yeah, but one of us really needs to convince one of them to make a move. Today is about as romantic as it's gonna get, right?"
"Finish this song with me," Lindsay said simply and placed her head back on Danny's chest.
When the song was over, they kissed and walked hand in hand toward Stella and Flack. "Mind if we cut in?" Lindsay requested.
Non-verbal exchanges were quickly made and they all began dancing the next song with new partners.
"Congratulations Linds," Flack smiled as he took her hand. "You two are gonna have an incredible life together."
"Thanks. And I just wanted to say thank you so much for everything you did to help with all this chaos. We really couldn't have done it all without you and Stella here to help us out."
"Glad I could help. You two deserved this. Everyone deserves this."
They continued dancing silently for a minute before Lindsay caught him glancing over at Stella. "You could have this one day too, ya know. If you just take a chance." She looked over to where Stella was dancing with Danny and smiled, then looked back up into Flack's eyes. "All it takes is that first step. The rest is pretty much history."
At that, the song came to a close, Flack hugged Lindsay and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you for the dance, Mrs. Messer."
Lindsay chuckled as they walked back toward Stella and Danny. They resumed dancing as they were before and Lindsay smiled as Danny snaked his arms around her waist. "What did you say to her?"
"Nothin'," Danny admitted. "I knew you'd be able to come up with something a whole lot better than I could in the span of a song."
Lindsay rolled her eyes, but before she could say more, Danny pointed over her shoulder.
"Am I right or am I right?"
Several meters away, Flack and Stella had stopped dancing, and Danny and Lindsay looked over just in time to see Flack lean forward to capture Stella's lips in a soft kiss. Even from across the floor, it was evident the two were blushing, but it was obvious that neither cared. They both smiled after the short kiss was broken and resumed their slow sway to the music. Stella leaned close into Flack's chest and rested her head on his shoulder as they moved in time with the rhythm.
Smiling back up at Danny, Lindsay did the same. "Today couldn't have turned out any better if we wished for it. I love you Danny Messer."
Danny hugged her close to his chest and kissed the top of her head. "I love you too, Lindsay Messer."