Chapter 13
A/N: Final chapter Thank you guys so much for your support of this story and I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
If you enjoyed this story please check out some of my other stories too.
Rachel and Finn had told their parents about their engagement the day after graduation and they'd been surprisingly supportive. In fact, the only person who hadn't been supportive was Quinn. Oh, she said she was, but she refused to come to the wedding or even help Rachel pick out her dress. Rachel would have had Quinn as her maid of honour, but now she was stuck as to who to choose. Sure, she had Glee friends now, but she didn't exactly have a best friend. Eventually she decided on Mercedes, who'd become a much better friend of hers this year.
So here they were at the bridal shop; Rachel, Mercedes and Rachel's bridesmaids (the other Glee girls plus Katy- Kurt would have been there but as Finn's best man he had to be helping him). Rachel was letting the girls pick out their dresses as she and Mercedes scanned for the perfect wedding dress.
"Rachel!" Rachel made a 'huh' noise as she turned around to see Mercedes standing behind her, holding four or five dresses. "I said, do you want to go try these on?"
"Okay, sure." Rachel thanked Mercedes and then took the dresses into a changing stall. She changed into the first dress- a light pink strapless one that went down to her knees at the front, but was brushing the floor at the back. It looked beautiful. She pulled the curtain out and strutted out, posing in front of the girls, who had turned the shop into a bomb site with their relentless hunting for bridesmaids' dresses. They were all smiling appreciatively… until Rachel's heel got caught on the train and she fell forwards onto Tina and Brittany!
"Maybe you should just stick with the shorter dresses, hobbit," Santana suggested. "I mean, you're tiny, so finding a dress even shorter than you are is going to be quite a challenge, but I have faith that you can do it!"
"Um, thanks?" Rachel giggled a little and then pulled Mercedes back to the stall. Her maid of honour took all the floor length dresses back (which was three of five) and handed Rachel some new shorter ones in exchange. The next dress was white. It had a detailed floral design on the bodice and a straight skirt that clung to her body. As she paraded in front of the girls Santana said she liked the dress but everyone else declared that it wasn't very Rachel, Katy adding that it was 'too sexy' for her. Well that was insulting!
Rachel trooped back to the stall twice more with no luck. There was two dresses left on hangers. The first was peach and had a sparkly leaf design bodice and a multi-layer puffy skirt. The second was white and had a plain bodice with a longer puffy skirt- it was clearly fifty's inspired. Rachel liked them both so she tried the first one on and showed the girls- to which their reactions were- "wow", "gorgeous" and "that's the one"- and then the second. The girls loved them both but Rachel decided on the peach dress. The dress was $140 but luckily her parents had agreed in advance to pay eighty percent of it. Rachel got the matching perfect peach shoes from the same shop and then she helped the girls pick out their dresses. Mercedes, Sugar, Brittany and Katy had wanted pink dresses but Santana and Tina wanted cream or white, or even better black. Rachel suggested they put away all the dresses and think of colour schemes to go with peach. The girls came up with lots of options but they all decided on short, light teal dresses with dark teal sashes together (as maid of honour Mercedes' was a dark teal dress with a light teal sash).
As the girls were sat in a coffee shop later that day, the dresses safe in their cars, Rachel's phone buzzed. Picking it up she saw Quinn's picture and excused herself from the girls.
"Hi," Rachel said awkwardly- things hadn't been the same between the two of them since they'd had the argument about the wedding.
"Rachel, I just wanted to say how sorry I am," Quinn said. "I don't agree with this, but it's your choice, it's your life, and if this is what you want to do with your life then I'll support you." Rachel found herself smiling as she clapped a hand over her mouth. "And Finn. And come to the wedding."
"Yay!" Everyone in the coffee shop turned to look at her. "Thank you so much, Quinn! You don't understand how much it means to have your support. Okay, meet us down at the bridal shop- I'll text you the address in a minute. We can get you a dress!"
Quinn giggled down the phone at her stepsister's excited tone. "I'll be there."
Rachel hung up and quickly sent the address to Quinn before running back over to the girls and pulling them away from their half-finished coffees.
"What's going on?" Tina asked and Rachel explained how Quinn had agreed to come to the wedding.
Mercedes jumped up and down with excitement. "Oh, Rachel, Quinn has to be your maid of honour!"
Rachel shook her head. "No, Mercedes, you supported me from the beginning and I've already given that title to you."
"But Quinn's your sister," Mercedes argued.
Katy leant forward from her iced drink and input, "I'm Rachel's sister too and I didn't get this option." Sugar ruffled her hair.
Suddenly Rachel had an idea, "What's stopping me from having two maids of honour?"
"I'm in!" Katy declared and they all giggled, Rachel tickling her little sister.
Mercedes smiled. "Okay."
They all cheered and grabbed their drinks before heading to the cars. "Vámonos!" Santana shouted as she took Brittany's hand and pulled her girlfriend to her car.
They got Quinn a dress to match Mercedes'- dark teal with a light teal sash- and then went to the florists to pick out an arrangement to order in advance. Rachel's flowers would be light shades of pink and white with a peach ribbon, and the girls' would be blue, teal and white, with white ribbons.
Rachel was lying on her front on her bed with a notebook in front of her. Mercedes and Quinn were sat on the floor saying "yes" or "no" as Rachel went through the wedding list, ticking off the ones they said yes to- location, invites, flowers, food, dresses, officiator, shoes, transport- they'd booked limos for the wedding party- and entertainment- the alumni and current New Directions would be performing. The only thing left was hair- Rachel booked it for that day (to talk with the hairdresser and choose a hairdo)- and seating- they were going to work on that later- so now the three girls could relax… and gossip.
"I hear you and Sam are going to the wedding together Mercedes," Quinn said in a teasing tone.
Mercedes blushed. "Yeah, I hope that's alright, Quinn, I know you two dated for quite a while."
"Are you kidding?" Quinn said in a fake furious tone. "You dishonoured the girl code Mercedes!" Then all three of them burst out laughing as Quinn added, "I'm kidding."
"I think you two make a really cute couple," Rachel said. She got off the bed and dragged over the model of the wedding location- the park where Finn had taken Rachel for their first 'actual' date as boyfriend and girlfriend. They were going to put up three marquees- one for the ceremony, one where they would all eat and one to serve as the dancefloor. There would be a long table at the front for the wedding party that consisted of their families and the New Directions and then smaller tables scattered around the room. Rachel took one of the chairs and wrote 'Mercedes' on it. Then she took another and wrote 'Sam'. At the head of the table were two chairs saying 'Finn' and 'Rachel'. On Rachel's side there were chairs saying 'Quinn', 'Blaine', 'Noah', 'Katy' and so on. Rachel took Blaine's chair and moved it to Finn's side, next to the one saying 'Kurt', then moved everyone else's down one space and put Mercedes' chair next to Quinn's, and Sam's between Mercedes and Puck. "Looks good. Unless you want space for a date Quinn?"
Quinn shook her head. "I'm steering clear of that for a little while."
Everything was perfect as the wedding march music swelled and the wedding party made their way to the front of the marquee. The guests were all seated. First came the flower girl Annette- Rachel's cousin- and then the ring bearers Kyle and Jordan- Finn's cousins- and then the bridesmaids made their way down the aisle with the groomsmen, in twos. First was Rory and Sugar, then Joe and Brittany, then Mike and Tina, then Blaine and Katy, then Puck and Santana, then there was a pause before Finn walked down the aisle with his parents, and yet another pause before the best men- Sam and Kurt- walked down the aisle. Everyone fell absolutely silent as Rachel walked down the aisle between her parents, Mercedes and Quinn behind her helping with her train that she'd eventually decided on. She looked stunning and Finn wanted to kiss her right there and then- damn tradition saying he had to wait for the "I do's".
The wedding was a mix of their customs and so it was a little confusing but none-the-less beautiful. Still, Rachel couldn't get rid of the flipping and burning feeling in her stomach.
"If anyone has any reason why these two may not be joined in holy matrimony then speak now or forever hold your peace," The priest said after a few minutes. Rachel stared at her white hands that were clutching Finn's. There was just silence. So the priest continued.
"Stop!"
Rachel suddenly shouted and there was an audible gasp throughout the marquee.
Finn went pale. "What's wrong?"
"Finn," Rachel suddenly felt like she was on show, all these guests staring at her. She just wanted to talk to her fiancé. "I love you so much."
"I love you too-"
"And I want you to know that I'll never, ever, ever stop loving you. You are the one for me, I've always known that. But I'm not ready to get married." Rachel took Finn's hand and he wiped the tears away from her eyes. "I'm not losing you. I still want us to go to New York, and I still want us to be together, but I think we should wait to get married."
Finn touched a strand of her hair that had fallen from her perfect updo and then stroked her face. "I love you and that's all that matters." At this he dipped her for a kiss and then took her in his arms and they ran to the food marquee, the others running along behind them.
Later that night after the eating and drinking was done, most of the guests went home but the entire wedding party stayed to dance the night away despite the wedding being off. After Finn decided to go grab them some drinks, Rachel grabbed Quinn and pulled her stepsister, who'd spent most of the night chatting to Tina and Judy, onto the dancefloor.
It was a fast-paced song and the two of them giggled as they bopped up and down and danced badly.
"This is fun!" Quinn shouted over the loud music.
"Yeah," Rachel had pulled her hair out of it's tight style earlier in the night and now whipped it behind her back as she let it cascade down her back. "Not exactly how I planned for my wedding to go, but I honestly don't think it could have gone any better."
"No?" Quinn asked and Rachel shook her head.
"I think Finn and I really need to explore the world and explore ourselves before we commit to each other on that level, but just because the wedding's off, don't think I'm going to be returning those gifts." She gestured behind her at the wedding gifts with a giggle and then added, "Just kidding."
"You really do seem more alive," Quinn observed. "More happy, I think this is just what you needed."
"I do too," Rachel smiled. "Oh, sis, you should really try having one of these failed weddings, it really gives you a zest for life!" They both chuckled and hugged.
Finn had come back over but Quinn took Rachel's arm quickly. "I know you're going to be busy doing stuff I don't want to think about with your boyfriend," She grabbed a gift from Rachel's pile of them. "But you should keep this." Rachel gave her an odd look and tore open the paper. Inside was a gorgeous necklace that must have cost a fortune, and a piece of plastic? "It's a metro-pass from New York to New Haven," Quinn explained. "I got one for myself from New Haven to New York too. I know we will be seeing each other at holidays and stuff, but we've grown a lot closer recently and I don't want us to only have that when we come home at the holidays."
Rachel suddenly leapt at Quinn and engulfed her in a hug. "Thank you so much, Quinn."
The two girls smiled at each other, knowing that they had come a long way with getting to know each other and becoming family, and yet that they had only just left the station.