Best Dressed

Excitement bubbles in Lena's chest as her mother pulls the car up in front of one of the many bridal shops in San Diego. This was the first of most likely many shops they would be visiting today, but Lena was determined to find a dress today. She knew that today would be stressful with her mother, but she wasn't going to let the stress or her mother ruin one of the most exciting days of her life.

Inside the bridal shop, Lena suddenly feels overwhelmed by the number of dresses in such a small store. Row after row of white and ivory dresses; made of lace, chiffon, satin, and more. There were short dresses, long dresses, floor length dresses. Some dresses had long sleeves, short sleeves, or no sleeves at all. How was she going to decide between these dozens of gorgeous wedding dresses?

"Stephanie, won't you please reconsider?" Sharon begs her daughter for the millionth time this morning.

"Mom, I made my decision." Stef tells her mother - also for the millionth time.

"But you would look gorgeous in a white wedding dress." Sharon whines.

"Mom, I am wearing a suit." Stef argues. She and Lena had many long discussions about what Stef would feel most comfortable wearing. Stef had never been a very girly girl growing up. She was a strong and confident police officer - and she wanted to feel that kind of strong and confident while she was marrying the love of her life, instead of feeling awkward in a very feminine wedding dress.

"Can't we just go look at some dresses," Sharon asks.

"No, mom." Stef says sternly. "There's no point in looking at dresses because I won't be wearing one."

"Are you trying to break my heart, Stephanie?" Sharon asks, making a pouty face. Stef knew that her mom wasn't completely serious, but still the words reminded her of her father.

"You're welcome not to attend," Stef says, her voice tired from the discussion.

"Over my dead body!" Sharon exclaims. "You could stand at the altar butt naked and I would still be at your wedding."

Lena was exhausted. She had been wedding dress shopping with her mother for almost six hours now. They had been through five bridal shops and, every time Lena found something she thought she looked gorgeous in, her mother always had something negative to say. This was nothing new to Lena; she'd been dealing with her mother's criticism for all of her twenty-six years.

Today that criticism was grinding her and pulling her down. She was supposed to be finding a dress that made her feel beautiful as she married the love of her life. But right now, as she tried on her twelfth wedding dress of the day, all Lena could see were the flaws in herself that she knew her mother was surely going to point out.

"Are you sure you want to go with the ivory color?" Dana questions her daughter.

"I like it," Lena replies, studying her reflection in the three-part mirror in front of her. She liked the way the ivory color complimented her light brown skin, versus the way that the plain white material made her seem washed out.

"This lace seems too busy," Dana comments, running her fingers along the floor length material.

"It's not busy," Lena defends. "It's lace. It's classic." Standing tall, looking at herself in the mirrors, Lena feels regal, beautiful, untouchable. "This is the one." She states, not leaving any room for argument.

"Are you sure? There are a few other stores we can look at." Dana says skeptically.

"No, this is the one, mom." Lena can see herself walking down the aisle to Stef in this dress, cutting their wedding cake in this dress, enjoying their first dance in this dress - starting their lives together in this dress.

The seamstress takes a few more measurements before Lena changes out of the dress. The car ride back to her apartment is awkwardly silent with her mom. But Lena couldn't let her mother talk down to her anymore. Today, she had made a stand for herself on something so important to her and it had felt good.

Sharon raps her knuckles against the plain white door of the condominium.

"Sharon," her ex-husband greets in surprise. Surely, she was the last person he expected to see at his front door this morning.

"We need to talk," Sharon tells Frank, stepping past him to let herself in.

"What's this about, Sharon?" Frank asks gruffly.

"Our daughter is getting married, Frank." Sharon says matter-of-factly

"To that woman," Frank rolls his eyes.

"Lena is a lovely woman. She loves Stef, and Stef loves her." Sharon replies. "I know how things went down when she came out to you. You crushed our daughter. All her life, she has wanted nothing more than your approval."

"I can't approve of the lifestyle she's choosing," Frank argues. "I didn't raise her to be like that."

"You need to let go of whatever expectations or god that is keeping you from letting go of this homophobia you're harboring." Sharon tells him. "Your daughter almost died when she got shot. And you barely stayed at the hospital long enough to make sure she made it out of surgery. If you don't come to this wedding, you risk losing her forever. So you better put on a nice shirt and drag your saggy ass to that wedding."

"How was dress shopping with your mom?" Stef asks Lena as the curly haired woman plops on the couch beside her, instantly laying her head into Stef's comforting lap.

"About as well as you can imagine," Lena sighs. "She had a problem with every dress I tried on. But I think the biggest problem was that I was the one in them."

"I'm sorry, baby." Stef says, stroking her future wife's curly hair soothingly. "Did you find a dress?"

"I did," Lena says with a smile, thinking about her wedding dress again.

"I can't wait to be married to you," Stef tells Lena, looking deeply into her chocolate brown eyes. The blonde woman could scarcely believe that such a gorgeous woman had agreed to marry her, to spend the rest of her life with her.

A/N The wedding is getting closer!