Title: For the Rest of Our Lives

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except maybe the idea.

Prompt: Wedding

…

Megan stared at Regina, not even daring to blink let alone move any limbs.

Regina was frantically moving about her and John's bedroom, digging through the closet, the dresser, and several boxes that no one would have ever guessed were under the bed. She pulled out ties, shirts, earrings, shoes, make-up. Megan had never seen her move so fast. And this included the time when her sons had her triple booked with sports games and school functions all in the same day.

"Uhm...do you need any help?"

Regina offered Megan a strained smile.

"No, honey, but thank you for offering. I promise there's a reason I called you in here. I just need to—"

"Mooooooom!"

Caleb, the youngest McGowan boy, came barreling into the room and plowed himself face first onto his parents' bed.

Megan tried to hide her laughter. It wouldn't do to fluster Regina even more than she already was.

Caleb was in a suit but had his red tie knotted around his chubby hands.

Megan heard Regina groan and quickly said, "I'll help him so that you can finish...things."

Regina sighed and went into the bathroom, her lavender dress making loud swishing noises.

Megan bent down in front of Caleb, struggling in her own dress that matched Regina's.

She had been hearing about Regina's baby sister's wedding for over a month now. She just hadn't been informed that she would be participating in the wedding until a few days ago.

Megan slowly undid Caleb's tie with a barely repressed sigh. She really wished she could sit this particular McGowan event out. It was strange hearing about all of these plans and relatives that she had never met before and it made no sense for her to be filling in as one of the bridesmaids, but at Regina's worn and pleading face she really couldn't say no.

Caleb cheered once his hands were free and tried to make a break for it, but Megan's reflexes were faster and she caught him around the waist.

"No way, you have to let me put it on you now."

He made a face. "But it's too tight!"

She smiled. "Yeah well, so is this dress but I'm still wearing it. Now hold still."

Megan went through the motions of tying the fabric around Caleb's neck—while compensating for his squirming—and tried not to think about how embarrassing she probably looked.

Aside from Regina, Megan, Caleb and Ian, the other boys had piled into the van with John and were already at the church. It was a challenge for her not to ogle at how nicely the older boys cleaned up. Now she was going to have to stand in front of all of them in the most elegant dress she had ever worn, looking very much not-Megan-like.

Megan blew a loose strand of hair away from her face. Regina had stayed behind to finish getting ready—since her morning consisted of getting all of her boys ready—and it wouldn't help things along if she felt the need to redo Megan's elaborate hair style.

She stood up, warning Caleb to keep his suit clean as he ran from the room. Regina emerged from the bathroom, haphazardly hooking one of her heels onto her foot.

She did a quick turn for Megan's approval. Megan smiled. "You look great, Regina."

Regina smiled at her, taking in the younger girl's appearance.

"Oh, honey...you look so beautiful."

Megan blushed, catching her appearance in the mirror behind Regina.

They were both wearing the long lavender bridesmaids dresses and they each had their hair done up in a twist that Megan never could have recreated on her own. While she favored her hair being up and out of her face, Megan couldn't help but wish she could wear it loose today. Her dress was sleeveless and exposed a good portion of her back and shoulders and she just knew her rowdy roommates would zone in on every inch of skin that was shown.

She stood up, smoothing out the creases and wishing that it wasn't so tight as she faced Regina.

"So, are we ready?"

Regina grabbed her clutch. "Yes, we just need to grab the boys and go. Oh! Don't forget your shoes!"

Megan watched as Regina picked up a sky-high strappy pair of shoes.

She wondered how long it would take for her ankles to snap.

…

Regina swatted the back of Ian's head with her purse as they rushed down the church hallway, urging the younger boys to move faster.

Megan hurried behind her, awkwardly shuffling her feet. She had already tripped three times in her shoes. Twice on the way into the car and once in the parking lot. She had already accepted that she was probably going to trip and stumble her way down the aisle and have to endure teasing from the McGowan boys later.

Regina was licking her hands and smoothing down the boys' hair as they went. They groaned and complained about her being gross.

"I didn't think you were going to make it!" John yelled, grinning at them as they approached.

Regina shot her husband a tired smile. "I didn't think we were either."

Evan and Finn emerged from one of the side chambers. Evan whistled lowly.

"Well, don't we look nice?"

Caleb blew a raspberry and made to run out of his mother's reach. Megan bolted from behind Regina and grabbed his arm.

He huffed in annoyance.

John laughed and took Caleb from Megan's grasp.

"Your sister is down the hall waiting for you. And you boys are coming with me."

Regina and John hurried down the hall, leaving Megan alone and under the scrutiny of Evan and Finn.

Evan was grinning from ear to ear, eying her figure.

"Damn, you look great!"

Megan could feel her ears burning red.

"Thanks, you guys look...really nice."

Evan scratched the back of his head modestly while Finn gave a small smile, not quite looking at her. Megan frowned.

Do I really look that bad?

Megan breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Sean round the corner. He was significantly easier to deal with than his younger brothers were.

Evan smirked at the flowers in Sean's hands. "What happened? You get tricked into being the flower girl?"

Sean whacked Evan upside the head. "They're for you three."

He handed a small flower to both boys to pin to their coats and then passed a bouquet over to Megan. She wiped her sweaty palms on her dress before she took it, gripping it tightly.

Sean sighed and loosened his tie. "Almost time to get this over with."

The next ten minutes were full of movement. Megan stood still, watching everything unfold.

She saw the familiar McGowan faces mixed in with all of the people she didn't recognize from the bride and groom's families. Then she was being pushed into a line with the other men and women in matching outfits.

She glanced around at the line-up. Evan was in front of her, holding his arm out to a girl that Megan thought was his cousin. She held her bouquet in one hand and slipped her other into his arm.

Megan blinked at all of the other people in front of her. Each bridesmaid was accompanied by an usher.

"So, it looks like we're stuck together."

Megan glanced to her right, seeing Finn in line beside her.

She blushed and prayed that his wording wasn't meant as an insult. "I feel sorry for you then. I can barely walk in these shoes."

Finn glanced down at her feet, trying to suppress a grin. "Really?"

"Yeah. I almost broke an ankle at least three times on the way here."

He offered her his arm and a gentle smile. "Well, if you fall I'll go down with you. Then we can both look stupid."

Rather than feeling embarrassed, she smiled and took hold of his arm. Then the music started up.

One by one the couples started moving down the aisle until there was no one left standing in front of Megan and Finn.

She took a deep breath and started forward.

Okay, no big deal. We're moving slow, I can use Finn for leverage...there's no way for me to fall.

Some greater force must have hated Megan that day because just as she was reassuring herself, she stumbled.

Finn grabbed her upper arm to hold her up, glancing at her with a concerned look.

You okay?

Megan passed him a subtle nod, fighting to control her wobbling.

Fortunately no one seemed to notice her slip-up. They also didn't garner any unwanted attention when Finn casually removed her hand from his arm so that he could slip it around her waist.

She could feel the muscle in his arm flexing around her to help keep her steady and now she was wobbling for a whole different reason.

He squeezed her just a bit tighter as they ascended the steps up onto the platform at the front of the room. He held her for a second too long to make sure she was steady.

And as they pulled away from each other to go stand in their respective corners, Megan boldly reached out and squeezed his hand as it slipped from her body.

It was one quick movement, nothing for anyone in the audience to overlook. Nothing to hint at the fact that these two were somehow connected to each other in a big way, but it was enough to make Finn stare at Megan from across the platform.

She met his eyes briefly to shoot him a grateful smile. He returned it with his own bright smile that made her feel like falling over again.

The wedding march was a perfect excuse to tear her gaze away from him.

Megan kept her gaze firmly on the bride and her slow strides down the aisle, but she could still feel Finn's eyes on her. When she reached the steps, Megan chanced another glance at him.

He was still smiling at her and this time there was something in his gaze that she couldn't look away from.

His lips parted and she thought he was going to try to say something to her.

And then the bride promptly tripped and fell flat on her face.

…

Author's Note: I don't know how I feel about this. Some of the prompts that I have give me elaborate scenes to write about, and others just make me think of short, inconsistent things. I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway!