Before:
Months of planning, and long nights of what felt like cold feet led up to the most amazing moment of their lives. They lost a child, two children for Amelia. Addison was dealing with the self-piteous feelings of becoming forty. And through it all, they continued IVF treatments through the wonderful Jake Reilly who seemed to not be able to care less that Addison Montgomery was dating the previously-a-freak-show Amelia Shepherd. He did his job and they payed him.
Their wedding day had arrived. Addison decided it should be traditional, both women wearing dresses, but one would be walked down the aisle first, then the second. Addie chose to go first and be able to watch the brunette in all her beauty come towards her – towards their new life together. She envisioned it, dreamed about it every night, and would wake with a smile on her face. Nothing prepared her for the day of, however. Everyone from the practice had shown up, The Captain, Amelia's mother, and some of Addison's friends from Seattle.
The wedding was held on the beach just outside of Sam and Addison's homes. Addie respected the tradition of not seeing Amelia until the moment everyone else did. She drew back the sheer white curtains to look down at the guests talking by the alter in the sand. There was a long, light blue walkway that would lead the two to where they would be married. She wasn't sure if it was the excitement, or fear of the officialism of starting their lives, but something was causing her stomach to turn and knot. She only hoped Amelia felt the same way.
Violet had agreed to help Addison get ready in her own home while Charlotte was helping Amelia one house over at Sam's. Dawned in the white, satin dress that resembled simplicity, she looked in the mirror and saw that her fiery red hair was standing out. Her breath was drawn in shakily while Violet handed her the bouquet.
"You look gorgeous, Addie." She said, giving the bride a hug.
"Thanks, I feel like I'm going to my death or something," Addison said with a nervous chuckle. She fidgeted with the dress and nodded. "Alright, Mason and the triplets are all ready to be our official kid – people?" She asked, unaware of what to really call the ten year old, and his three year old triplet siblings.
It drew a laugh from Violet's lips. "Yes, they're downstairs waiting for someone to tell them to march out there."
Everything was ready, yet it just felt so uncoordinated. She was dressed head to toe, and there felt like something missing. Addison chalked it up to a mixture of wishing their baby was there, the baby that would've been a month old. She wanted her mother there as well, along with Derek and Archer – two people who never even responded to their invitations.
She sucked it up, rolled her shoulders back and held her head high with her bouquet held in front of her chest. There would never be a time like the now, so she pushed aside whatever unwelcome feelings were trying to tell her otherwise, and followed Violet's lead out of the door, down the stairs, and to the clear Arcadia doors that lead to her backyard. The children had already went down the aisle, Violet and Charlotte had taken their seats, and all that was left was for them to get married.
Addison walked up her patio, where furniture had once been, but was moved in anticipation of the very moment. Her feet were bare, not use in wearing shoes to get them covered in sand. She left the wooden deck and was met with the warm sand that brought on an entirely new feeling of excitement. All of her friends and present family were standing and staring at her as if they were waiting for her to dance or worse – fall flat on her face. She padded through the sand that she sunk into, sparkling tan and white. It complimented the ocean perfectly, the high tide reeling in a mere yard away from the alter and crashing against the sand, leaving a trace of white foam only before the next wave slammed out and soaked it up. Addison pulled her dress up as she met the blue walkway, smiling at her old friends Alex Karev, Calliope Torres, and even Izzie Stevens. The only thing that could break the beautiful smile spread across her lips was the two empty spots next to The Captain, where Bizzy and Archer should've been.
She tried to not let it get to her, ignore it and focus on the one person who mattered more than life itself. Addison took her place at the alter, giving a small wave to Mason, then the music restarted. From the house next door to her own came Amelia. She wasn't on the simple side, she was the half of the couple that always went above and beyond. Addison's eyes were fixated on her as she practically glided gracefully past the deck and onto the sand. Her eyes scanned from the elegant one strapped dress to the beautiful necklace that was placed gently against her pale collarbones. Addison was holding her breath, it seemed like Amelia was taking ages to walk down the aisle, and all the fear and uncertainty had been washed away with the smile that Amy gave, meant for Addie, and only Addie.
They might not have been alone, but watching Amelia made her feel like it was only the two of them there. Addison held her hand out when Amelia came close enough, and she took the invitation hastily, being pulled onto her spot across from Addie into the sunlight. Their friends clapped, adding to the soft roar of the ocean breaking and reeling beside them. She was brought back to reality, yet couldn't take her eyes off the brightened blues of her soon-to-be wife's.
The officiant's voice was droning on and on about God's plans for the two women in front of him. Despite his views on their marriage, he agreed to be there, and support them since he had been around Addison's family for quite a while. Addison had blocked out his words, staring directly at Amelia. She wiggled her toes in the soft, cushion-like sand, hidden beneath the long white train of her dress. Once the officiant asked for the vows, her heart leaped, and fell back down into a faster rhythm. Amelia had cleared her throat and took both of Addison's hands. She was silently melting into the smaller girl's innocent embrace when she started speaking – acknowledging the beginning of their forever.
"I never thought that I could meet someone like you. You are my friend. You are my smile. You are my…everything. You are a breath-taking reflection of God's heart for me and of how he pursued me and loved me even when I didn't love myself. You held my hand in the darkness, and you pulled me out into the light. I love you, and I vow to love you fiercely in all of your forms, now and forever. I promise to never forget that this is a once-in-a-lifetime love, and no matter what challenges might carry us apart, we will always find a way back to each other. I have seen the best of you and the worst of you, and I am choosing both because even if you were to live for one hundred more years, pussycat, I would want to live out all of them at your side—just minus one day so that I would never have to be without you again. I vow to help you love life and to always hold you with tenderness—even on the shoulder of a road in the pouring rain. I vow to have the patience that our love demands even when—especially when—our demons get the better of us. I vow to speak when words are needed and to share the silence when they are not—or at least to try to 'filter' what I have to say. I vow to forever remain within the warmth of our love and to always call it home. I vow to give myself to you in my entirety, for whatever that might be worth, but, most importantly, I vow to give you a family. There will be lots of babies. Eventually. Hopefully. May the love that we share allow us to grow old sharing the same pillow—and with you hogging the covers. I'm sorry, but you do hog the covers. I love you so much, Addie."
The words that took up such a short amount of time to speak, went directly to her heart. Addison released one of Amelia's hands to gently press her finger against the bottom of her eyelid, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to spill. She chuckled nervously, and mouthed to the brunette I love you. She sniffled, and took a deep breath. Many things couldn't make the Forbes-Montgomery woman nervous, but speaking about her love – or any feelings for that matter, did the trick.
"I believe deeply and wholly, that even had you not been my ex-husbands sister, I would've found you. We've been through it all together, the bad, great, and everything in between. I never express how lucky I am to have been graced with your personality, your impeccable brilliance, and your capacity for love that I am honored to have stolen a part of. I hijacked our wedding planning one day – you insisted on it being at that country club that Bizzy loved so much, but I begged for weeks on end for the beach. Obviously, I won. I planned it all out, so I could point to the beach, the sun, all of our surroundings and say the vows I've had in mind since the first moment I fell in love with you. I don't want to dwell on the past, or the bad, because we both know where we've been, and the most intimate thing about our relationship is that we can keep things between only our lips. I want to dwell and divulge and tell everybody about you, and my love for you, and how strange and perfect it feels. So here and now, I vow to have the patients that love requires, to hold you at your weakest, and to show you how much I love you as much as I say it. You are beautiful, I can not ever get tired of looking at you. I never have to question if you're smarter than me; I know you are. You are funny without ever being mean, and I am lucky to love you. You've given me your heart, and I've given you mine. Even after all this time, the Sun never says to the Earth, 'you owe me'. Look what happens with a love like that... It lights up the sky. You are my breath, my life, and my sun, so I begged to marry you at the only place where the sun meets the ocean. I love you, and I can't wait for the rest of our forever."
Watching her lover's blue eyes well up with tears brought them back to her own eyes. The officiant smiled at the couple who had tearfully looked up at him as Mason handed the women their rings. With the special two words each that seemed to sum up the entirety of their vows, they did. They married, and their lips met in a kiss that Addison had been waiting for since the moment Amelia stepped foot onto the beach.
A smile spread across both of their lips as they separated, holding hands and turned to the friends and family who had risen to their feet once more to clap while they walked back down the blue aisle, and onto the Forbes-Montgomery-Shepherds' patio.
And it was still just the beginning.