A/Ns: This chapter was named after two of my favorite songs, the first one is by Reba and the other one is by REO Speedwagon; obviously, both have the same name.
This is the Lu and Jonas wedding chapter. This means that though they'll play a big part in the chapter, it'll still contain a lot of Andy and Milo as well, since they're the main focus of this fic. Please don't be mad that this wedding isn't as elaborate as the 4chapter wedding for Andy and Milo.
Chapter 45:
Keep On Loving You
This is set on Thursday May 25th 2006.
''I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance,
A church filled with family and friends.
I asked him what kind of a wedding he wished for,
He said one that would make me his wife.'' Author Unknown
Third Person's POV
''Is there anything I can help with?'' Marc asked. He was standing in the doorway of one of the guestrooms in his soon to be stepfather's beautiful mansion. Said room was still a bit of a mess and he knew that the maids had been cleaning all day to get everything in order, Jonas was just now doing the finishing touches - checking everything yet again.
''No, that's okay,'' Jonas told him, ''I think we're all done. Plus, your mom will almost be back from the airport and I'm sure she'd much rather have you downstairs meeting the family you never knew you had than helping me clean,'' he jokingly added.
Jonas would never admit it, but he was pretty nervous to be meeting Alejandro Reyes' family. He had already met the man himself, but meeting Lu's apparent stepmother and half-siblings seemed to be stressing him out as well.
Both men slightly jumped at the sound of a car honking outside, ''that must be them,'' Marc said as he and Jonas made their way downstairs and opened the door for Lu and her newfound family.
Marc took in a deep breath; the family on his grandfather's side looked familiar. It was like he had seen them a long time ago, only to get reacquainted with them now. Seeing Lu and Alejandro stand next to each other, he immediately knew where that feeling came from. He had seen lots of old pictures of his mom's mother, and always felt that they looked alike, but now he could recognize a lot of her features in her father as well.
There was a moment of silence and everybody looked back and forth between each other, not sure how to behave since none of them had ever been in a similar situation.
Jonas cleared his throat before opening the front door a little further, ''come on in,'' he told everybody, effectively breaking the silence and the awkwardness that came with that.
As they all made their way into the grand foyer, Alejandro took the lead. He stood with his wife and children on one side, Lu stood on the other side with Jonas and Marc. ''This is my wife, Amaya,'' he told Marc and Jonas. He had already introduced Lu to his family. ''And these are our children: Valerie, Junior and Kelly,'' he pointed to each 'child' as he mentioned their names.
''It's nice to meet you,'' Marc told the man, extending his hand only to be pulled into a hug. After a moment of hesitation he hugged the older man back before hugging the rest of the family as well - literally being welcomed with open arms.
''And this is my fiancé, Jonas,'' Lu added. He had wrapped an arm around her. Their wedding was only two days away and it had made them feel closer to each other - feeling that after surviving planning the whole ordeal, they could survive anything together.
Friday May 26th 2006.
The rehearsal dinner was in full swing when Isaac Rey, Jonas' brother, clinked his wineglass with the small spoon which had been next to his plate just moments before, as he stood up he looked around the room, ''I'll save the big speech for tomorrow but I figured it would only be right to say a few words now,'' he said as he stood up straight - his tall stature towering over everybody else.
''For years I saw my brother invest all his time in building his company to where it is now, never taking time off to date and maybe meet the one. All of that changed the first moment he saw you, Luisa. He told our mother, and I quote: 'do you see that girl? I'm going to marry her one day.' Of course, nobody took him serious... including me. I figured he had just fallen head over heels and this relationship would end as quickly as it began.
'But he proved all of us wrong. When after a month they were still together I knew she must be something special. And when I met her, I knew in an instant the same thing Jonas had known all along... Jonas, Luisa, you two are as perfect for each other as two people can possibly be and here's to you,'' he finished, raising his glass. He took a sip and the rest of the people followed suit.
Lu and Jonas both stood up, ''thank you Isaac,'' Jonas told his brother before turning his attention back to Lu for a moment. ''Lu and I would like to thank everybody who made the trip out here, we are really glad you could all make it. Hopefully tomorrow will go as smooth as it did today and Luisa, I can't wait to finally be your husband.'' He told her with a smile.
Lu smiled at him before standing on her toes so she could kiss him on the lips real quick.
Hearing the soft music coming from the TV, Andy leaned into Milo's body, curling up next to him. The credits, to the film they had been watching for the past two hours, were rolling and all she really wanted to do was sleep, which is what was becoming increasingly harder these days. ''At what time do we have to be at the church tomorrow?'' Milo asked her as he grabbed the remote and turned the DVD player off.
''I think I have to be there at 10,'' Andy responded. ''But you can probably come later, I don't know what time it said to be there on the invitation,'' she added.
As a bridesmaid she had to be there a bit earlier than him.
''I'll go check it in a minute,'' Milo responded, nuzzling his face in her hair. If it were up to him they'd spend more time together like this, but it seemed like they were always either working or wrapped up in some argument that - in retrospect - wasn't even all that important. He absentmindedly stroked Andy's stomach, feeling Daniel move under his touch.
''You looking forward to the wedding?'' Andy asked him, feeling increasingly tired. They had started watching the movie after they'd come back from the rehearsal dinner and it was nearing midnight already.
''Yeah, it should be fun,'' Milo told her. ''I wonder what it'll be like to dance with you, y'know, with you being...''
''The size of a blimp?'' Andy asked him - finishing his sentence before looking down at her stomach as well.
Milo laughed, ''I was going to say 'being eight months pregnant', but both work,'' he joked.
Andy lightly slapped his arm, ''hey! This belly is only going to get bigger these last couple of weeks, so you better get used to it,'' she told him.
''I don't mind,'' Milo said, ''to me you look just as beautiful as you always have. All I mean is that I wonder what it's going to be like to dance with you like this.''
''Well, we don't have to dance,'' Andy told him. ''I'll probably be tired anyway, so we might not even get a chance to.''
Milo smiled down at her for a second before getting up from the couch, going over to the stereo he looked at a few CDs before putting one on. After a few seconds soft music came from the speakers. He made sure it wasn't loud enough to wake Lizzy and Kayla who were both asleep upstairs, ''may I have this dance?'' He asked Andy, extending his hand to her.
Andy chuckled before taking his hand, standing up from the couch.
''Just in case you're too tired to dance tomorrow we'll just have that dance now - and otherwise it can just be a practice run for tomorrow, so we can get used to it,'' he told her as he pulled her close.
Andy buried her face into the crook of his neck, trying to relax and just sway to the music. She had noticed that she had more contractions when she was stressed or tense so she was hoping this would relax her enough that she wouldn't have any contractions during the night.
Saturday May 27th 2006.
''Okay, all buttoned up,'' Kayla said, looking Lu up and down, admiring the beautiful white dress.
Lu was looking in the mirror, it kind of shocked her what seeing herself in the dress made her feel. It had been different when she was just trying it on in the store; she now understood what Andy had meant a few months earlier about making it feel real.
She'd been feeling conflicted for a while now, but even more so these last couple of days. Marrying Jonas, marrying someone with the amount of money he has... It made her feel like she was betraying her old friends, the people from her old neighborhood and maybe even her patients.
What if they felt like she could no longer sympathize with their everyday struggle, barely scraping by... Or with what they were going through; not having the money to get all the medical attention that they need? Would they not trust her with their problems because they felt she simply couldn't possibly understand?
Pushing the thought to the back of her mind, Lu turned around to look at Kayla.
"I'm going to go get Marc," Kayla said. Lu nodded at her. She knew it was traditional to have the bride's father walk her down the aisle - and that was possible with Alejandro there - but she wanted Marc to walk her down the aisle. He had been the only family she had had for a long time, she had him when there was no one else and he had always been the most important person in her life.
"What time will Jesse be here?" Lu asked Andy who, along with Lizzy, was sitting on one of the two couches in the church's dressing room.
Andy looked up from her phone, she quickly glanced over at Lizzy who was reading a book, before looking at Lu, "I don't know, she was supposed to be here already," she told her work partner.
"Okay," Lu responded with a nod. Neither Jesse nor Lizzy was in the wedding party but they had both been invited. Taking a deep breath, Lu turned her attention to the teenage girl, "what are you reading?" She asked Lizzy.
Looking up from her book, Lizzy answered, "It's for school. We have a dance coming up in a few weeks to celebrate the end of the year. They're making us read a book about all the dangers that are 'out there in the real world', she said, partly quoting the title of the book itself.
Lu laughed, "they're doing that now?" She didn't remember schools making them read that back when she was in high school. "What subjects are there?" She asked.
"Ehm, alcohol, drugs, I just finished the part on unwanted and teen pregnancy and I'm currently on date-rape drugs and rape itself," Lizzy responded.
Andy looked up from her phone, putting it away as she looked at her youngest daughter who was slightly red - just like most people would, she felt uncomfortable talking about the subject. Andy felt like she should say something, anything... But nothing came out.
Lu noticed the look on Andy's face and took a step towards Lizzy, sitting on the edge of the couch as comfortably as her wedding dress would let her, "what do you think about what you've read so far?" She asked the 13-year-old, ignoring the building tension in the room.
Lizzy shrugged, "I don't know." She answered honestly, "I mean, this just sounds like stuff that happens on TV, not in real life. Not like something that would ever happen to me."
Lu glanced over at Andy, silently asking permission to continue talking about this subject. She knew that Andy had avoided it ever since her own rape, partly because she thought Lizzy was too young to know about this kind of stuff, but if she was reading about it than maybe one day Andy could tell the girls what had happened. And talking about something like this helped Lu forget about her nerves about the wedding.
Andy gave Lu a quick nod, giving her permission. "You know, rape is very common, more common than most people think," Lu told the girl. "It happens to approximately 1 in 4 women," she said.
"Do you know anyone that has had that happen to them?" Lizzy asked after a moment of hesitation. She felt uncomfortable but was too curious to change the subject.
"Yes, I do," Lu responded, not wanting to go into specifics about any specific patients or friends. "In fact, it has happened to me," she added after a few seconds.
Lizzy looked up at her stunned, Andy remaining quiet. After a few seconds Lizzy turned to look at her mom, as if silently wondering what to do with all this new information.
Before Andy could respond, the door opened and Kayla, Marc and Nick all walked in. As Andy slowly let out a sigh of relief she watched Nick take Lizzy back with him so he could show her where the girl could sit.
''Why don't you and I go to Lana? We only have a few minutes left,'' Kayla told Andy. Since they were the bridesmaids - with Lana being the maid of honor - they could just wait in another room while Marc and Lu talked before the ceremony started.
After they left, Marc turned to his mother with a smile. ''How do I look?'' She asked him.
Marc smiled at her, ''you look beautiful, ma,'' he told her. ''I just cannot believe you're getting married,'' he added.
Lu bit her lip, ''I can't believe it either. I'm really happy though.''
''And I'm happy for you,'' Marc responded. ''You deserve it and Jonas is a great guy.''
On the sound of the soft, instrumental music, Kayla first walked down the aisle, taking her spot on the left side of the marriage officiator. After her followed Andy and then Lana. The music stopped and another song started as everybody in the church stood up to watch Lu and Marc walk down the aisle. Jonas had a soft smile playing on his lip as he watched her. He couldn't believe the day was finally here - most people waited longer than them before they got married but to him it felt like they had already taken too much time.
Glancing over at his mom, Marc could see the shocked look on her face at the amount of people in the church. He knew that she and Jonas had meant to keep the whole thing a small affair but it appeared people had invited themselves. After kissing his mom on the cheek, Marc smiled as Lu took her spot next to Jonas.
''Who represents the family in blessing this marriage?'' He heard the marriage officiator, reverend Cornelius, ask.
''I do,'' he said.
Revered Cornelius smiled as he started the ceremony, ''we have come together, family and friends, in the presence of God, to uphold Jonas and Luisa as they make their vows of marriage.'' He looked at Jonas who was going to say his vows first.
''This is a glorious day, but if I could pick just one day to last forever, it might not be today. It might just be the day I first laid eyes on you. Your exuberance for life, your concern for others, your utter lack of vanity, your inner goodness... all came washing over me in an instant. And I knew right then that you were the one I needed to spend my life with and there hasn't been one moment of doubt since,'' he told Lu, glad he had been able to remember what he wanted to say.
''When I first met you, Jonas, only one word came to mind: annoying,'' Lu chuckled for a second before continuing: ''it seemed that everywhere I looked; in the cafeteria, in the chat room, in the clinic, you were there. And as time went on I began to realize that was kind of a good thing. You are always there, there with your gentleness, there with your understanding, there with your patience, your heart and soul. Your generosity of spirit overwhelms me. I love you forever.''
''May I have the rings please?'' Reverend Cornelius asked and he got handed them by Marc.
Slipping the ring on her finger, Jonas said, ''Luisa, I commit my entire being to you. To love, nurture, challenge and support you through all of the changes of our lives.''
''Jonas, I commit my entire being to you. To love and nurture, challenge and support you through all the changes in our lives,'' Lu said as well.
A wide smile spread on the reverend's face, ''Jonas and Luisa I pronounce you husband and wife!'' He told them.
Taking Lu into his arms, Jonas captured her lips in a kiss, their first kiss as husband and wife - while the rest of the people in the church cheered.
''Come on,'' Milo said, taking Andy's hand in his. ''Don't you want to at least have one dance?'' He asked her. He had been practicing for this - not just the night before - and he knew that despite her pregnancy she didn't mind dancing.
''I don't want to,'' Andy told him, not getting up like him. She was watching Lu and Jonas dancing on the big, wooden dance floor and that was more than enough.
''Are you too tired?'' Milo asked her as he sat back down next to her.
''No, just worried about Jesse. She should have been hours ago,'' Andy told him. She hadn't been able to have her phone with her during the ceremony but had had it with her since they had left the church and gone to the hotel for the reception. It wasn't like Jesse to be late and she was starting to get worried.
''You still haven't heard from her?'' Milo asked, slightly surprised. As Andy shook her head he put his arm around her, ''I'm sure she's fine.''
Andy looked over at him, ''if she's fine than why isn't she here?'' She asked him.
Before Milo could respond Andy's phone rang. Digging it out of her pocket as fast as she could, Andy looked at it. She let out a sigh and her shoulders slumped. ''It's not Jesse, just the ER. If I have to go take care of an emergency, just let Lu and Jonas know I'm sorry and that I'll be back as fast as I can,'' Andy told Milo as she got up to take the call.
Milo gave a nod and watched her walk away to the lobby. He could still see her as she took the call and couldn't help but watch her.
''Where's mom going?'' He heard Lizzy ask and turned around to look at his stepdaughter.
''The hospital is calling, if there's an emergency she might have to leave,'' he explained. As the thirteen-year-old nodded he turned back to look at his wife. Her face had gone pale and one hand was clasped over her mouth in shock.
As Milo shot up from his chair and rushed over to her he just knew that something was wrong.
''Can you listen to the words I've been aching to say, that I go where the lights pull me, and you, my love, are the stars.'' Tyler Knott Gregson
Because of a request I got I'm going to start working on another multi-chapter story soon, alongside this one. The other story will be focused on Peter and Kayla so keep an eye out for that.
Anyways, please review!
