How Does it Feel

Chapter Twenty Four

Disclaimer: Well, let's see here. The show doesn't belong to me and neither do the characters that appear on the show. The various small roles in here whom don't appear on the show do belong to me, and I make no profit off of my fiction.

A/N: Alright, so I know that currently on the show Maureen is only 20- but my story has bypassed the show and is in the spring/summer of 2005. I am assuming that Maureen would be a year older by then, but I don't know for sure. Nonetheless, as of now Maureen is 21.

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Two days later:

Olivia woke up early that morning- it was, of course, the eve before her wedding, there was much to do. The sun was barely peaking over the horizon when she slipped out from under the covers, away from her sleeping husband-to-be, and quietly made her way out of the bedroom. First thing she did was start a pot of coffee and turn on the news- the weather would be in the early 70's and there was no sign of showers. After the coffee had finished she made two cups, one for her and the other for Maureen, who was sleeping in her sister's room. As soundlessly as she could she made her way into Kathleen's bedroom and gently shook Maureen awake. The twenty-one-year-old college student groaned and tried to roll over on the blow-up mattress she was sleeping on.

"Maureen," Olivia whispered. "Come on, wake up. You said you'd come with me to pick up the flowers and dresses."

"Five more minutes," she begged, pulling the sheets over her eyes. For what reason, Olivia was unsure, it was still dark outside and in the room.

"I made coffee," Olivia informed her. "Get your lazy butt up."

The covers were lowered and Maureen's face appeared, she glared at her enervated. "What time is it?"

"Almost 6," Olivia managed to hold in her laughter at the annoyed look that manifested on Maureen's face when she realized just how early it was. "Oh, don't be such a baby- we have to be at the shop at 7, and you want to take a shower, don't you?"

Maureen grumbled something incoherently and scooted herself out of the bed, throwing the blankets behind her haphazardly. "Fine." was all she said as she sulked out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen with one thing on her mind- a hot cup of coffee.

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The arrived at the flower shop five minutes after seven. Maureen was fully awake by then and her earlier disdain for being awake at such an ungodly hour had long since dissipated and the excitement of the day had taken over. She was nearly bouncing off the walls- which might have had something to do with the fact that she had three cups of coffee at the house and then one on the way to the shop. Or, it could have just been because her father was getting married the next day and she was going to be the maid-of-honor. Olivia figured both were good reasons and left it at that.

The rehearsal was scheduled for seven o'clock that night- exactly half a day away. But until then Olivia had her plate full. After she dropped the flowers off at the church, she and Maureen had to drive across town to pick up the bridesmaids dresses, as well as her own. Once that was done they would have to pick up the tux's and then take those back to the church as well. They finished with that around 11:20, whereupon they went out for lunch.

At 11:42 her cell-phone rang. Looking at the caller ID she saw that it was Elliot and answered on the second ring. "Benson." it had become a long-time habit of hers, since most of the time when her phone rang it was somebody from work, she needed to sound professional. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to change it, they had decided to leave her last name the same, at least while at work. It would become way too confusing to have two Stabler's, especially when they were partners.

"Hey, babe." he greeted. "Where are you and Maureen at?"

"We stopped to get some pizza real quick. How are things back at the house?"

"Kathleen just made the kids something to eat- they've calmed down for food, thankfully. They're just excited for the rehearsal tonight. Although, Kathleen was a bit upset that you didn't wake her up this morning."

"I tried," Olivia told him. Which was the truth, she had shook Kathleen for nearly five minutes before letting Maureen try to wake her. Neither one had any positive results, it was like the girl was dead to the world. "She just wouldn't wake up for anything."

"Get's it from her grandfather," he said with a sigh. "I told her you probably did. Anyway, how is everything? Good, I hope."

"Everything is fine, hon. The dresses are all the perfect sizes, as are the tuxedos. The flowers are the right color and type. So far, so good." Which was something different. So many things had gone wrong in the previous month that Olivia was sure the wedding would be a disaster.

"That's a relief," he told her with a sigh. "Well, don't let me interrupt your lunch. Just call back when you've got everything done."

"Alright," she agreed. "I'll talk to you later."

"'K. Bye, Liv. Love you."

"I love you, too." she replied before hanging the phone up and taking a bite of her pizza. She and Maureen still had a long day ahead of them.

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It was nearly six o'clock before they got everything done and at the church. Luckily they were there because she had only about an hour until the rehearsal began- not nearly enough time to get everything sorted out and ready. Thankfully they had decided to forgo the wearing of the dresses and tuxedos, so she wouldn't have to waste her time changing. Still, the rest of the bridesmaids would be arriving soon thereafter to receive their dresses, as would the groomsmen.

Half an hour before seven there was a knock at the room that she would be getting ready in the next day. She called out to whoever it was, allowing them to enter, and leaned back in the chair she had been sitting in. It had been a long day for her, she was nearly exhausted. It was amazing how she could go days without sleep while working, but when it came to planning her own wedding it took all her effort.

"Hey," a gentle voice called from the other side of the room. It took less than a second for her to recognize the voice as Elliot's and she looked up at him with a tired smile.

"Hi."

"You had a tough day?" he was only asking for confirmation of what he already knew to be the truth. How could running around the city from sun up to mid-afternoon not be tough?

"It wasn't that bad," a lie- they both knew it.

He slowly made his way over to her, then pulled her out of her chair and into his arms. "Did Maureen talk you into staying at her dorm tonight?"

Olivia chuckled softly, "Actually, she did. Tradition, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah. She's big on that for some reason." he kissed her briefly, "I'll miss you tonight."

"I'm sure the guys will keep you busy with whatever they've got planned." she pointed out to him.

Elliot groaned in response, "Oh yeah. I'm sure whatever they're planning is going to make me just as miserable as whatever Maureen is planning."

"Oh, God," Olivia said with a groan of her own. "I forgot about that.... Can't we just run off and elope?"

He shook his head, "Only half a day, babe."

She nodded, "Yeah... half a day."

Maybe there was only half a day left- but, knowing Maureen it would be the longest half day of her life.

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Olivia turned and looked over her shoulder, sending a very nasty look to her step-daughter. Well, she was almost her step-daughter- in a couple of hours. But that didn't particularly matter at the moment, she would be killing Maureen all the same, step-daughter or no. Pulling something like this! She had suspected, but... her first act as step-mother would be to ground her!

Oh... damn. She couldn't do that, Maureen was already in college.

"Come on Olivia," the 21 year old said, sending her a devilish smile. "This is your last night of freedom, have fun."

She grumbled something about having more fun if Elliot was the one giving her a strip-tease and turned back around. Maureen had set up a bachelorette party for her, because "every woman needs one before she gets married... it's tradition". Tradition her right foot, she was sure Maureen had set this up as much for her self as for her future step-mother. Nonetheless, Olivia did have to admit the man that they had hired was very nice looking... as long as he kept the thong on everything would be ok.

Oh... and there went the thong. Olivia could feel her eyes widen and she turned back around and looked directly at Maureen, "Maureen Diane Stabler- you better have not requested that!"

Maureen smiled but didn't reply. So she had requested that.

A few minutes later the man finished his... dance and went off to change, or rather to get dressed. Olivia was finally free to have a chat with the young woman. Maureen smiled at Olivia as she walked towards her, "Have fun?"

"It was certainly... interesting."

"I thought the badge was a nice touch." she stated, taking a sip of her drink.

"It was the only thing he was wearing!"

"Yeah..." she agreed, "I know."

Olivia had to laugh, so maybe she wasn't mad at Maureen. She was a college student, who could blame her? "Thanks for this though. You didn't have to throw me a party, I would have been fine with just staying home."

"And let Dad and the guys have all the fun? Heck no, and besides Maggie helped me plan everything."

Olivia looked across the room at Elliot's youngest sibling, the thirty-three year old smiled at her and waved, a knowing look dancing in her eyes. Olivia waved back, laughing and turned to look at Maureen once more. "I wonder what Munch has your father in to...."

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Elliot sighed and grabbed a beer from the bar, thankful that the stripper had finally finished her... act and gone off to get dressed. His eyes darted around the room and fell upon the man responsible, of course he didn't know for sure if Munch had planned the entire bachelor's party, but he had a pretty good idea that he did. Munch flashed him a knowing smile and motioned for him to come over and talk with him and Fin. Elliot nodded and walked through the crowd of men towards the two.

"Munch, you know I didn't want a stripper." he stated, taking a swig of his beer.

"Yeah," he grinned. "I know you didn't."

Ah ha. Elliot knew it. "What time is it?"

"It's almost midnight." Fin supplied, glancing at his watch. "I hope you don't think you're leaving this early. We've still got over an hour booked."

"I'm not leaving," he assured him. "I was just going to call Olivia and see how things are going over there."

"Uh huh," Munch said in his normal skeptical way. "Or did you want to check up on her and make sure she's not having a better time than you are?"

Elliot scowled. He did.

"I'm going to find my dad... I'll talk to you guys later."

"Yeah, bye."

Elliot once again began walking through the crowd of people, searching for his father. He came upon the man, talking to his brother-in-law- Amy's husband. It was no secret that neither man enjoyed the others company, and it looked like nothing had changed.

"Oh boy..." he sighed, walking over to the two in hopes of calming things down.

He had a long night ahead of him.

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Olivia managed to make it to Maureen's dorm-room at half after one, she had to order the girl to take her because she had to wake up at seven the next morning in order to get things for the wedding ready. Maureen finally figured that once Olivia was asleep she wouldn't have to hear her obsess over her fear that something was going to go wrong and thus ruin her wedding, so she agreed to leave.

Maureen was a senior so she had her own dorm, and thankfully the room was big enough for her to have a couch that turned into a bed so sleeping arrangements would be no problem. She had opted to let Olivia sleep in the actual bed and take the couch, since Olivia was the one who was getting married later that morning.

Neither woman bothered to change out of the clothes they had been wearing, both were dressed simply, just jeans and t-shirts, so they would both sleep comfortably. Olivia was used to sleeping in regular clothes, she had done so many times in the crib at work. Same with Maureen, the girl had fallen asleep in her day clothes many times, most times at her desk while studying for an exam. So, both would sleep easy. And they did, almost instantly.

Back at their home Elliot was just slipping into bed himself. He had spent most of the party trying to cool things between his father and brother in law down, to no avail, and was worn out from arguing with the two. Instead of changing into something else he simply took off his shirt and laid down. It wasn't long before he too was sleeping.

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Things were hectic the next morning. Olivia woke up just before seven and rushed to get changed and headed towards the church. She was wearing jogging pants and a button up shirt so that she could change without messing up her hair. Maureen too had dressed similarly to her, although the shirt was more warranted in her case since her hair was actually long enough to where something could actually be done with it. In Olivia's case her's would be flipped out like it normally was. It would be covered by her veil anyway.

They arrived at the church at just after seven thirty and Olivia went straight to work. She made sure all the bridesmaids dresses were there and accounted for and the flowers were still alive. Everybody would be arriving to get ready at nine o'clock and the wedding was scheduled for noon. At around 8:45 Kathleen and Lizzie found their way into the dressing room and Maureen started on Lizzie's hair while Kathleen went to reassure Olivia that everything on her father's end was going smoothly.

By nine thirty everybody had arrived and had started on their hair. At just after ten thirty they were getting out their dresses and putting them on. By eleven o'clock everybody was ready and the only thing left to do was their make-up, which by 11:15 they were all finished with that. After that they just had to wait.

It was going to be a small wedding, only family and friends- and of course the co-workers who had decided to come. Which Olivia would be surprised if a third of them showed up. All in all they were expecting at the most 75 to a hundred people. The church had room for nearly 500. But Olivia didn't mind, she preferred a smaller wedding anyway.

At fifteen til Olivia was starting to get nervous. In her mind she could see thousands of things going wrong- the worst being Elliot coming to his senses and not being at the end of the isle when 'here comes the bride' began to play. The girls noticed her uneasiness immediately and crowded around her, reminding her of how much their father loved her and how happy they were that she was going to officially be their stepmother. A few minutes before twelve they all got into a line in front of the doors that lead into the sanctuary. And then at twelve the doors opened and Amy's youngest daughter Victoria and Olivia's cousin Bradley went down the isle.

After that Maureen walked down the isle, then as the bridesmaids started walking down after her Olivia looked over at Cragen, "This is it." She whispered with a smile. "Thank you for doing this, Don."

"I'm honored to, Liv. Now be quiet, we're next." he winked and looked ahead, Kathleen, the last of the bridesmaids was starting down the isle. In a few seconds her cue would begin.

And then there it was. The utterly annoying "dum dum dum dum" of 'here comes the bride'. Taking a deep breath she began to walk down the isle, and towards her future.

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Elliot held his breath as the doors to the sanctuary opened- in any minute Olivia would be walking down the isle towards him. But first the flower girl and ring barer had to go, then the bridesmaids and groomsmen would follow. Last but not least Don would escort Olivia down the isle before he would hand her off to Elliot.

The familiar, yet annoying, tune of here comes the bride suddenly began playing and Elliot focused on the front of the sanctuary, where Olivia and Don appeared in the doorway. When Olivia saw him she smiled and they began to walk down the isle.

He took a deep breath and waited for them to make it to the end of the isle. They finally made it to the end of the isle and Cragen let go of Olivia's arm and Elliot took his place.

This was it. He was getting married.

That's all folks!

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A/N: Alright so this is the last official chapter. Don't worry though, I could never end it there. There's going to be an epilogue coming sometime soon (when I write it, of course). So, anyway. Let me know what you think.