Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight anymore than I own the universe
A/N: Hey…. So really I couldn't wait and I totally wrote this when I was supposed to be starting chapter Thirty Four of bridges.… *grins*.. though I did have to tweak some things… Hope you all… because I wanted this to all be one chapter…it's sort of longish kinda…and I remind you, Carlisle's nephew is also named Mike… he's little…and less annoying than Mike Newton… Read. Enjoy. Review…
Inside Out
Chapter Twenty- Nine - The Wedding
Dr. Carlisle Cullen
I woke up in my bed that morning, though sadly without Bella there, as Rosalie had been insistent on Bella and I being apart the night before the wedding. And so, Rosalie, Lindsey, Bella, Angela, Carolyn and Bella's mother had spent the night at Charlie's. Not ten seconds after my eyes opened, Dan came charging in the room with Jacques not too far behind him and with Mike tailing Jacques and Connor and Luke bringing up the rear. They all seemed in a noisy temperament so I quickly held my finger to my lips to remind them that there was a baby sleeping in the basinet at the foot of my bed. He wouldn't sleep in his crib, he was a little big for it, but it still held him.
Bella had wanted to take Carter with her to Charlie's for the night, but I had told her that I wanted her to relax, and I would take care of him. Besides, even if Carter was only seven months old, he was still a boy, and the boys were staying at the house.
The guys immediately shut their mouths and I got up went to check on him, and thankfully he was still sleeping. I looked over at the clock, and then back at my son. I then carefully lifted him out of the basinet and held him in my arms so that he could be moved, relatively undisturbed downstairs. Not that I really had to bring him, if anything he had a very healthy lung capacity.
"C'mon, Carlisle, the ceremony only waits for the bride, not the groom," Dan said in a hushed voice as we all went down the stairs.
"You don't think she'll wait? We have the baby," Jacques pointed out as I set Carter into his car seat where he would sleep.
"Guys, it's only eight, the wedding isn't for another six hours," I said checking my phone for the time.
"Yeah, but I have to go pick up the tuxes, and your mom's going to be here at ten and then Carolyn's sneaking over to watch Carter in the intervening time between you being outside and Bella arriving, she wants pictures with him," said Dan, "According to the schedule we have to be all ready and outside by noon."
"I knew there was a reason I made you best man," I said and all the guys chuckled a little.
"Yeah, laugh it off," said Dan, "Carolyn and Rosalie made me recite the schedule to them last night at the rehearsal dinner. Especially the part about us leaving at noon."
"Gotcha I said, now go get the tuxes then," I said and Dan rolled his eyes as he led Connor and Luke out the door leaving me with Jacques and Mike.
I finished up my bowl of cereal and took it to the sink as I took a bottle from the fridge and started to heat it up for when Carter eventually woke up, but I really had no complaints about that. I had been instructed to make him get as much sleep as possible, and was threatened by Carolyn and Rosalie, they said there would be harsh punishments for me if he was wailing during the ceremony. As a result, I had tried to keep him up a while the night before so he would sleep in.
The awkwardness of being alone in the room with Jacques, considering Mike had run off somewhere eventually got to me and I walked out into the living room to check on Carter. I hadn't actually spoken to Jacques since my little explosion back in late June, last year. I walked into the room and Mike was sitting on the couch, watching cartoons on the TV, though thankfully in a low volume. It wouldn't have mattered anyways though because as I looked into the car seat, there was Carter, smiling up at me and I picked him up and held him carefully as he gurgled up at me.
"Hey, buddy," I said happily as I walked him into the kitchen and got his bottle, I handed it to him as I set him in his high chair.
"Who's watching the little one while you and the Mrs. are away?" Jacques asked and I shrugged.
"Her mom," I said as I sipped a glass of orange juice.
"Mom's not going to be happy about that," said Jacques, "Did you even ask mom?"
"No," I said, "Because we don't want to come back and have his first words be 'I hate you, Mommy.' Or 'Daddy could have done so much better'. And, we would like him to still be alive when we get back."
"You survived didn't you?" said Jacques and I rolled my eyes.
"With the help of a nanny, yes, I did," I said and Jacques rolled his eyes.
"We're back!" Dan called happily about a half hour later as I held Carter on my lap, sitting on the couch watching TV with Mike, he dropped a small infant sized tuxedo bag next to me, "Here ya go for the boy, it's adorable and little."
"You're such a girl, Dan," Connor teased and Dan whacked him over the head.
"You and Tiffany need a baby," I said as I unzipped the little bag and took out Carter's little tux, "The way she was falling all over him last night, and the way you are around him…"
"Shut your mouth," said Dan, "No way, I'm good with kids when around them for short periods of time…"
"Ok," I said as I stood up and went upstairs to get Carter a new diaper and change him into it.
"Just about done?" Dan asked as he walked into Carter's room later and I was standing there trying to figure out if I had gotten Carter all snapped in, "What are you doing, man?! Go get into your tux, we have to be outside in a few minutes so they can bring Bella in. I got Carter."
"Thanks," I said taking my tux and heading towards my own room to get dressed while Dan scooped Carter up and headed downstairs.
"Hey Carolyn," I said as I hit the kitchen, finally into my tuxedo, she had Carter sitting on the floor with Alex.
"Carlisle!" she said, "Go get outside, you look very nice, steal the comb from Connor and fix that hair, some of it's still sticking up in the back."
"Ok," I said as she quite literally kicked me out the sliding doors into the backyard as we heard car doors slam out front.
Then after everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off, I was finally standing at the front of the little archway covered with flowers. Carter was sitting on Renee's lap in the front row where she sat between Phil and Charlie. I stood there nervously fretting with the sleeve of my jacket until Dan hit me from behind.
"Relax," He said on the verge of laughter, "You're going to make Carter think something's wrong, and he's going to cry, and then Rosalie's going to kill you so there will be something wrong."
"Shut up," I said and Jacques chuckled from behind Dan in the groomsmen line, and the wedding march started.
Carolyn was the first bridesmaid down the aisle, followed by Angela, then Rosalie as the maid of honor. Behind Rosalie was Mike, who was focusing his attention at his feet, no doubt because his mother and sister warned him not to go to fast, with our wedding rings on a pillow. Samantha then ran just about running down the aisle after him flinging flower pedals into the crowd more than in the aisle for Bella to walk on. She turned her little basket upside down and the crowd gathered laughed as she skipped over to stand next to Mike.
The wedding march transitioned, and my father, who had volunteered to open the door for Bella, did so. He slid open the kitchen sliders, for which the blinds had been down to reveal my Bella. She looked utterly magnificent. Half of her hair was tied up into a bun with the bridal combs stuck into it and the other half was curled tightly and flowing off her shoulders. Her dress was long and flowing, but I noticed, it was just short enough that she wouldn't trip if she tried really hard.
I felt my heart break as she smiled at me from up on the porch and dad helped her down the stairs before reaching the bottom and taking his seat next to mom. I couldn't take my eyes off of her as she walked like the angel she was down the aisle. I wondered to myself if she really was going that slow, or if it was just my imagination, but looking at the crowd, it seemed to be just me.
I took her hand and kissed it in a low bow as she reached me, that wasn't in the rehearsal, but I couldn't help myself. She took my arm and I walked her up to the archway where Mr. Weber, the minister was waiting for us.
I couldn't even concentrate on listening to what he was saying, my mind was going a mile a minute. I was on cloud nine until I heard the words that were my cue, and somehow while I was up there in the clouds, Mike had handed me Bella's ring.
"I Carlisle, take thee Isabella, to be my Wife to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, and I promise my love to you," I managed to get out while looking into her beautiful chocolate eyes and not stumble my words, and I slipped the wedding band onto her finger with a wide smile.
"And I Isabella, take thee Carlisle, to be my husband to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, and I promise my love to you," Bella said softly, and I had to restrain myself from lifting a finger to stop a single tear that was beginning to fall as she slip a ring onto my finger.
I looked over to Mr. Weber and he gave me an assuring nod before I took my bride into my arms and brought my lips to hers. I put kissed her with all the passion and love for her that was inside me as I reached up with my left hand to wipe the tear away. The cameras all went off and I pulled away slowly, trying to leave it tender, leaving my hand resting on her cheek. Then let the hand drop to my side as we turned to face the crowd.
"I would like to announce, for the first time," said Mr. Weber, pausing dramatically, "Doctor and Mrs. Cullen!"
We stepped down off the little step in front of the archway and Renee handed us Carter, who we held between us as we walked back up the aisle. We walked right back up into the house, as planned and set Carter in his high chair before I leaned Bella against the wall and kissed her again with passion and love, letting this one last a bit longer considering our new found privacy.
"Hey you kids," I heard Carolyn a few minutes later as she yanked me off of Bella with surprising strength, "There'll be plenty of that on the honey moon, huh? The guests just got settled under the tents, let's go."
"You're really strong," was all I could say as Bella snuck under my arm and got Carter out of his high chair.
"I grew up with you and Jacques," she said dismissively, "I had to be strong in order to survive to adulthood."
I narrowed my eyes at her as Bella returned to my arm, Carter in her other arm.
"Come along, Mrs. Cullen," I said happily as I kissed the side of her head and Carolyn shooed us back outside.
Renee took Carter from us the minute we got over to the tent that held the dance floor and the one which everyone was conjugated around. We walked out into the middle of the dance floor, and the song was still a mystery to Bella as I took her back into my arms and nodded over to the DJ so he would start the song:
I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky
And I swear like the shadow that's by your side
As the lyrics started I kissed my beautiful wife's forehead and started to sway with her around the dance floor. I stared to whisper the words to her under my breath.
I see the questions in your eyes
I know what's weighing on your mind
You can be sure I know my heart
'Coz I'll stand beside you through the years
You'll only cry those happy tears
And though I make mistakes
I'll never break your heart
And I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky
I'll be there
I swear like a shadow that's by your side
I'll be there
For better or worse, till death do us part
I'll love you with every beat of my heart
And I swear
I'll give you every thing I can
I'll build your dreams with these two hands
We'll hang some memories on the walls
On cue, I twirled Bella around and across the floor to where I had arranged Renee to be standing with Carter. I stopped and picked Carter up out of his grandmother's arms to place him between myself and we continued in her dance, tears coming to her eyes with the next verse.
And when it's just the two of us there
You won't have to ask if I still care
'Coz as time turns the page, my love won't change at all
And I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky
I'll be there
I swear like a shadow that's by your side
I'll be there
For better or worse, till death do us part
I'll love you with every beat of my heart
And I swear
And I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky
I'll be there
I swear like a shadow that's by your side
I'll be there
For better or worse, till death do us part
I'll love you with every single beat of my heart
I swear, I swear, oh… I… Swear…
As the song ended I leaned across Carter and kissed Bella as the flashes from everyone's cameras went off all around us again. She smiled as I pulled away from her, taking Carter with me and settling him on my side before kissing her cheek.
I led her over to the dining tent, which was buffet style so everyone could eat when they wanted to, and we sat down, just her, me, and Carter.
--
A/N 2: OK, so really cheesy (Like hold the pizza just give me the cheese) song I know… It's by All-4-One, it's kinda pop-y-ish too if you youtube it or whatever, but seriously when I was just starting to think about their wedding.. I was listening to Pandora… that song came up, couldn't resist… ok so the epilogue, I started it… it's going to take FOREVER…
Well not really just for me… maybe Wednesday or Thursday??? I dunno… I may procrastinate just because it's the last chapter that I can include Carter in (not going for a third one…) though, I do have the first few chapters of a new one ready to post, (It's called Trip Around the Sun) it returns to Vampirism (yay I miss the vampiness with all the AU Human fics…) Haven't decided whether to post that before or after epilogue for this one, but it will be up soon so keep an eye out… I have way too much time on my hands… I know…
Push da button… you know you want to….
