DISCLAIMER:: rizzoli and isles belongs to tess gerritsen and turner network television.
A/N:: here it is, the sequel. i told myself i wouldn't post anything until i had at least 5 chapters typed up and ready to post, just to be safe, but this morning, as i was starting chapter 16 i thought, whoops, i forogt to post. i love this chapter even though weddings aren't really my forte. read, enjoy, and review
-/-
Jane Rizzoli adjusted the tailored suit jacket and turned to view herself in profile in the floor to ceiling mirror of the changing room at the church. It wasn't often that Jane cared enough about her appearance to warrant such scrutiny, but today was different, special. She needed to look her best, for Maura.
"Don't you look handsome?" Frost came up beside her in the mirror with a teasing lilt to his voice.
Jane's lips tightened to a thin line. "Being in a relationship has made you cocky. Don't think I'm beyond clocking you just because we're in a church."
"Give it a rest Rizzoli." Korsak came up on her other side and adjusted his tie.
Jane stared at the three of them in the mirror. "We certainly make a trio, don't we?" It wasn't often that the three homicide detectives got a break from the turmoil of the Boston crime beat, and an even more rare occasion that it was for a joyous event such as a wedding.
"Yeah, we do. Funny, I didn't think either of you cleaned up this good." Frost jumped out of the way just as Rizzoli's fist sailed through the empty air where he had just been.
Jane finally turned away from the mirror. If she adjusted her jacket one more time, it would drive her over the edge… if she wasn't there already.
"So, Korsak, did you see Maura?" Jane tried to keep her voice casual.
Korsak shook his head, obviously not buying it. "She looks beautiful Jane. You should see her in her dress. And she doesn't seem nervous at all."
Jane smiled brightly. "She always does know just how to wear a dress." No, she wouldn't be nervous. Being up at an altar, looking elegant, this is her territory. It's going to be me who spends the whole time fidgeting. Two years may change a lot of things, but it couldn't change that.
"I'm going to go check on the girls. It's almost showtime." Korsak departed the room with a quick smile for Jane.
"And I'm going to go check and make sure the minister and the guests are ready. Are you gonna be okay?" Frost looked at her with genuine concern.
Despite the ball of nervousness that had taken up permanent residence in her stomach, she found herself nodding and smiling at him. "I'll be down in a few minutes."
Frost lingered a second longer, testing the honesty of her statement and then nodded, leaving her alone in the room.
She fell into a chair with a deep sigh.
There was a knock on the door.
Jane frowned. "I mean it. I'm okay. Stop being so paranoid."
The door opened, but it wasn't Frost who slipped in. "I wouldn't call myself paranoid. I think suspicious is more accurate."
Jane had to practically hold her jaw up so it didn't drag on the floor. "What are you doing here? You do realize this church is filled with the majority of the Boston Police Department?"
Patty Doyle smiled. "I like a challenge."
Jane leveled him with a disbelieving glare.
"It's her wedding day." He shrugged as if his presence was an unavoidable fact of life.
Jane couldn't argue with that. There would be hell to pay if he hadn't showed.
"There's a nice little balcony on the upper level that's not very visible from the pews. I'm watching from there."
"She'll be bummed you can't walk her down the aisle. I know she wanted that."
"Korsak will make a fine replacement."
Jane was quick to catch the momentary flash of emotion across his face. The sorrows of a man who regrets the life of crime he's led. Regrets so deep she knew she'd never fully grasp their magnitude.
-/-
"Janie!"
Jane froze in mortification as every set of eyes in the room looked towards Angela Rizzoli and then followed the woman's line of vision to where Jane had just entered the main hall. No, that crazy woman is not my mother. I don't know who she is. She's obviously mistaken me for someone else. Pay no attention to her.
When Angela Rizzoli saw that her daughter was very blatantly ignoring her, she bustled down the isle towards her.
Jane retreated a few steps back out of the main hall. Angela Rizzoli was known to get a little loud and she didn't want all the wedding guests to hear what her mother had to say.
"Ma, you are in a church. Think you could tone it down just a little?"
Angela scoffed. "I'm mother of the bride. I have every right to…"
"You are not mother of the bride."
Angela Rizzoli glared disapprovingly at her daughter. "In the absence of her real, good-for-nothing mother, I am."
Jane sighed. She'd already tried to argue this point several times and hadn't made any headway on the subject with her. It was best just to let it go. The last thing this ceremony needed was an angry mother of the bride.
"Have you seen Maura?" Angela smiled brightly. "She looks stunning."
Jane couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. "Of course I haven't. The 'groom's party' had to stay on the other side of the hall, you know that. No seeing the bride or the maid of honor. Not until the ceremony."
"Speaking of ceremony, do you think you two could get to your places?" Jane didn't notice Frank Rizzoli had joined them until he spoke.
He grabbed Angela and led her down to their seats in the front pew.
Jane went straight to her place by the altar. Frost was already there, in position. He looked relieved once he saw her, but she could still see the twinge of nervousness in his gaze that surely mirrored her own.
It only took seconds for the three of them to appear, though it seemed like an eternity to Jane. The maid of honor first, and behind her, the bride on the arm of the stand-in father, Korsak.
Maura was the only person Jane had eyes for, and she had no control over the sparkling smile that graced her own face. It was involuntary; an automatic reaction to Maura's very presence.
The minister's daughter started to play Wagner's Bridal Chorus on the organ and Jane felt her heart skip a beat as Maura came up the aisle, keeping a slow pace with the classical bridal march.
"I was just thinking…" Jane's gaze dropped in momentary contemplation of the words she was about to say. She lifted her gaze and Maura saw determination in her eyes. "Will you marry me?"
It was the question, the moment that had changed Jane's life forever.
As the bridal party reached the altar, Korsak lifted the veil and kissed the bride-to-be's cheek.
The audience took their seats.
"We are gathered here today to witness the union of Barrett Dustin Frost and Erin Dacey O'Bryan."