The Morning Of...

The house was quiet that morning, quieter than usual. Emily's mom had promised to take the girls for the night, she wanted to give the two young women a night all to themselves.

After a long night spent wrapped up in each others arms and a tangle of limbs, they slept as late as their now trained mommy-bodies would allow them to. Instead of being woken up by the sounds of their baby girls yelling to their moms to get out of their cribs, they were woken by birds chirping and the sun shining in through their bedroom windows. A soft yellow light illuminating the room and grazing over their bodies.

Ali was the first to wake up, immediately melting into the warm, strong arms that were wrapped tightly around her. Her eyes fluttered open to find Emily's face just mere inches from hers. Emily was still fast asleep, looking as peaceful and beautiful as Alison had ever seen her.

Of course, Emily woke up the second she felt Ali stir. Her eyes immediately shot up to find Ali's already staring right back.

"Good morning, gorgeous," Ali said, pulling Emily infinitely closer.

"Good morning, beautiful," Emily replied, reaching up to shove the hair from Ali's face.

They stayed like this for a moment, just taking each other in. Today, everything was going to change between them forever.

"We're getting married today," Ali said, a sheepish smile gracing her face. No matter how many times she had said it the past few months, she still couldn't believe it.

"I know," Emily said, a huge smile breaking out on her face, "but we are already breaking the biggest before wedding rule. Isn't it bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?" Emily asked, causing the both of them to chuckle.

All of those silly superstitions didn't matter to either of them, they had had their fair share of bad luck between them already.

"I've spent way too much time without you already, there isn't anything in this world that could get me to spend one more night without you," Ali said, tears prickling the edges of her eyes. She quickly leaned up on her elbows and pressed a soft, but lingering and sweet kiss to Emily's lips.

But she pulled away all too quickly, and immediately Emily knew something was on the blonde's mind.

"What's up?" she asked, rubbing Alison's free arm soothingly.

"Nothing," Ali said, immediately darting her eyes away, "butterflies is all."

Emily fixed her gaze on Alison, she knew her well enough by now to know that Alison would crack eventually. She always did.

"Are you sure you still wanna marry me?" Alison asked, and immediately Emily's heart broke.

"Do you not want to marry me?" Emily asked around the lump in her throat.

"No!" Alison said, immediately sitting up, "I mean, wait. That's not what I meant. Of course I want to marry you. I'm just asking if you still want to marry me," Alison paused for a moment, "after everything I've done."

Emily sat up, matching Alison. She quickly grabbed both of Alison's hands and held them in hers,

"Why are you asking me this?"

"Because I was awful. For so long, I was just awful. Awful to everyone and," Ali paused again, it was only now that Emily realized that Ali was crying, "I was horrible to you. I was just so scared of everything, and I was scared of you because I loved you so much. And I just lashed out and I'm sorry. You didn't deserve any of that and I will never be able to apologize enough for all of that."

Emily pulled Alison towards her, "Why are you bringing all of this up? We've talked about all of this," Emily said as she pressed small kisses to Ali's forehead.

"Because everything changes today. And I don't think I could deal with having to walk away from you ever again."

"Ali, listen to me. I love you. And I always have, even when I didn't want to love you, you were always the one in the back of my mind, the one that I always wanted to be with. I have wanted to marry you since I was 13 years old. And now here I am, with you, building a life, raising the two beautiful girls that you gave me. And today I get to stand up and marry you in front of everyone we love. Do you honestly not think that that isn't all my dreams coming true?"

"How?" Ali asked, "How can you still look at me like I'm your world?"

"Because I don't know any other way how," Emily reached over and pressed a small kiss to Alison's lips.

"I'm sorry, for everything. For how I treated you, for how I made you feel, for running away when I needed you most, for waiting too long to let myself love you, for crying in our bed on the morning of our wedding."

A small laugh escaped both of their mouths.

"I know you're sorry for all of it. And that makes me love you even more. I have spent so much time waiting for us, and loving you for every second of it. Nothing is going to keep me from spending the

rest of my life with you."

"Thank you," Ali said.

"For what, babe?"

"For forgiving me. For giving me all the time that I needed to figure myself out. And for still being here with open arms when I was ready. For trusting me. For letting me love you like you deserve to be loved. And for letting me wake up wrapped up in your arms every morning."

"Thank you for making all my dreams come true."

They stayed silent for another moment before Emily spoke up again, "But Ali, you need to forgive yourself. I know that everything you did was because you were scared, of what you were feeling, of finally letting someone in, of letting down your walls. I know you did it all because you thought I deserved better than you. But you are all I want, so I want you to forgive yourself. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes," Ali whispered, her voice thick with tears.

"Good, because you're my soulmate. And there is no way in hell I'm letting you leave me ever again."

"I wouldn't survive it if I did," Ali said, tucking a chunk of Emily's hair behind her ear.

"Me either," Emily kissed Alison once more. As upset as she was that Ali was upset by bringing all of this up again, she knew it needed to happen. With all of this out in the open, they were truly ready to spend the rest of their lives together.

"Can we go get married now?" Alison asked, a small laugh escaping her lips.

"Yes, please," Emily said, standing up and making her way to Alison's side of the bed. She quickly grabbed Alison's hands and pulled her to stand up. "But," Emily said, walking backwards towards the bathroom, "I think we need to get cleaned up first."

"I agree," Ali said, the both of them running into the bathroom, sharing kisses and laughter filling the air around them.

And it was in that moment that they knew, they were going to be just fine.