A/N: Johann Schiller wrote "It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons." In this case, it's mothers and daughters.


A knock on the door interrupted Alexis and Rick's moment of reminiscence. Jim poked his head through the opening and below him, Jo's mess of hair appeared.
"Hello Alexis" he greeted her. The lines around his eyes deepened as he smiled. "You look magnificent!"

Jo slipped from his grasp and ran towards her sister.
"Grandpa's right, Lexi!" she said, her eyes bright and awake. "Can I have the dress when you're done? Daddy says I can't get married yet, but time passes faster than you can blink…"

Both Jim and Alexis laughed. Rick sighed in defeat. Jim turned towards him.
"Can I talk to you for a second? There appears to be a problem with the music…" he started as Alexis tried to explain to Jo why she couldn't have the dress yet. Rick made eye contact with his older daughter and she signaled with a small nod of her head that he could go and she would take care of her sister. He mouthed a 'thank you' across the room and ushered his father-in-law through the door. "A problem, you say…?"

When the door closed behind the men, Jo stepped back from Alexis and twirled around the room, examining every inch of it with her alert eyes.
"What's that?" she asked and pointed to a piece of blue fabric on the table by the mirror. Alexis walked over and held it up between her fingers.

"It's a garter. It goes around your leg like this." She held it to her thigh.

"What is it for?" Jo asked and Alexis frowned.

"Basically…nothing" she admitted. If you really thought about it, it wasn't worn out of purpose but rather out of tradition. "You throw it into the crowd after the wedding, just like the bouquet. The single boys try to catch the garter and the single girls try to catch the flowers."

Jo was unfazed.

"Why would you do that?"

Alexis sighed. That girl had questions…

"It's supposed to bring you luck."

Jo raised her brow and looked at her sister with an exact copy of Kate's expression of 'Uh-huh, if you say so'.

Alexis was just going to elaborate on the origins of wedding traditions when the door opened and the rest of the family's females came rushing in.

"Darling, we have to hurry, the ceremony will start in 30 minutes" Martha urged and only then acknowledged Jo's presence. "Hey there, kiddo" she greeted, her face immediately brighter, all signs of precipitance gone in the blink of an eye.

"Grams!" Jo squealed and almost tripped over her own feet in the haste of reaching her grandmother.
"You look like a dead leopard!" she exclaimed joyfully, completely oblivious to the concerned gaze her mother shot her from the side. Martha took it as a compliment and pulled the girl into her arms.

"Are you having fun?" she asked and Jo nodded fervently and then turned in Martha's grasp to point at the garter.

"Lexi says you putitaroundyourleg and throwitaway and the boys havetocatchit. Cannihavun?" she blurted and then opened her eyes wide in anticipation. Martha looked from Jo to Alexis, back to Jo and then settled on Alexis.

"What did her father feed her this morning?"

Alexis shrugged her shoulders and tried to look innocent, which didn't work very well even though she was dressed in beaming white. "I was just telling her about wedding traditions."

Kate provocatively cleared her throat and opened her mouth for the first time since they had entered the room. "That reminds me…we brought you something."

Alexis looked at the woman she had come so close to in the last ten years that she considered her a mother. Her expression shifted from amusement to pure love. They simply looked at each other, unheard words passing between them as their adoration seemed to visibly fill the air and make it flutter and glow like the summer wind outside the window.

Martha took the small second of silence as her cue to dramatically produce a small item from her lurid purse. It was a silver jewelry box, time-worn but still shining.

"Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue and a Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe" she chanted and winked at Jo, who watched with prying eyes.

Alexis slowly stepped closer, her hands twitching to open the box, but instead hanging loosely at her sides. Her grandmother reached out and took her left one into her right.

"This is something old" she told her and placed the box in Alexis' smaller hand, squeezing it gently before letting go.

Everyone in the room held their breath as Alexis opened the box with a quiet click. "Oh grams…" she sighed when her gaze fell to the silver bracelet with the two heart-shaped diamonds in the center. "You didn't have to…"

"Nonsense, Alexis" Martha shrugged it off. "It has been in this family for over 80 years now. Now it's your turn."

Jo peeked into the box. "It looks pretty" she decided and Alexis smiled.
"Yeah, it does. Can you help me put it on?"

Jo nodded and swiped her hands on the skirt of her dress. With careful movements, she took the jewelry out of the box, tested its weight in her hand and held it close to her face to gaze in astonishment at the delicate diamonds.

"Is this for good luck, too?" she asked as she fastened the bracelet around Alexis' wrist.

"Yes, for good luck and a happy and long marriage" her mother answered. "You have to wear something new - that's her dress - and something old - that's the bracelet."

Jo giggled. "So when I get married and wear Lexi's dress, the dress is something old and I have to find something else that is new?"

Kate tried to mask her surprise, but didn't quite succeed. Her poker face didn't work on her daughter.

"What?" Jo asked and Kate looked helplessly at Alexis.
"Did you put her up to this?"
Alexis shook her head. "I think it was Dad."

Martha made a dismissive motion that incorporated her entire upper body. "Anyway, let's not waste time. You also have to wear something blue, so here is the garter, my lady…" She bowed gracefully and grabbed the blue lace garter from the table and handed it to Alexis.

"Following the old Victorian tradition, you should also wear a sixpence in your shoe" she declared, looking around for her purse. She found it and pulled a coin from its pocket.
"It's an original sixpence" she said proudly with a nod at Jo. Then she smirked and put her hand to her mouth. "I bought it on Ebay!" she fake-whispered.

After the coin had been safely tucked into the left shoe and the garter was in place on her thigh, Alexis looked up at Martha again, curious as to what would be the borrowed item. She had asked before of course, but had never gotten an honest answer. Her grandmother unexpectedly hugged her.

"I'm so proud of you, kiddo. You're a grown woman now" she whispered into her ear. "Be happy!" she told her and pulled back, waiting until their eyes met. "Be happy, my love" she repeated, squeezed her shoulders and stepped back.

Alexis didn't know what to make of it. Her expression was torn between surprised, confused, emotional and thankful. Martha smiled softly and nodded her head towards Kate. Alexis' gaze shot over to her, her body turned.

"Something borrowed…" Kate whispered and walked closer until she came to a stop right in front of her. She took Alexis' hands into her own. "I love you, Alexis, as if you were my own" she told her honestly and tears dwelled in the younger woman's eyes. She had known why she had chosen waterproof mascara this morning.

"You're family" Kate went on and released Alexis' hands. Her own went up to her ears. "When I married your dad, you gave me these" she said and touched her fingertips to the earrings she was wearing. "Let me do something for you in return" she said and her hands went to her neck until they found the thin chain.

She lifted it up around her head and Alexis began to tremble. "No, Kate, I couldn't…"

Their eyes locked and Kate used her exercised 'Don't argue!' stare. She lifted Alexis' hand and let the necklace drop into her palm.

Jo's quiet muttering of "That's grandmother's ring!" wasn't enough to break the spell the two women seemed to be under. Another silent conversation was going on, their emotional turmoil clearly portrayed in their faces, not needing to be masked for these immediate surroundings. Kate broke the silence first, her voice shaky.

"I want you to wear this today. It would mean a lot to me."

The tears that had been waiting on the brink of her lashes spilled down the younger woman's face.
"It would mean a lot to me, too."


A/N: I've never written a story as cheesy and stereotypical as this one. Apologies to all who are offended by that. I can't even look at myself right now. Unfortunately I cannot be sued should you get cavities or a sugar rush from this fic.
Review? It would mean a lot to me. They turn bad days into great days and good days into days compareable to wedding days. Not that I would know, cause I'm not married. Yet.