Notes:
Recommended song:
All this time - One Republic (as suggested by fictional at heart)
Forever yours, faithfully - Journey
Wonderful tonight - Eric Clapton
"Dave!" Olivia called out, holding her arms out to the beaming older man. "Thank you so much for this, there's no way we could have managed all this without you."
Rossi embraced her and kissed her cheeks, "La mia bellissima figlia! Ah, I have missed this face, all the emails and phone calls in the world just don't measure up to the real thing. And Melina, just as beautiful as your mother, you just keep growing don't you!"
"Thank you Mr. Rossi." Melina murmured to the floor, shuffling her feet.
"Now now, none of that mister stuff with me anymore principessa, you can call me Nonno."
"Nonno?" Olivia asked on Melina's behalf, feeling the small fingers tightening in her own.
"That's the Italian name for grandfather," Rossi said with a broad smile, sparkling eyes relaying his joy as he looked past them, "so, where is the groom?"
"I... don't actually know, Spencer's been surprisingly superstitious about today, can't see the bride before the wedding and all that."
"Ah, I see." Rossi pulled his phone out and dialed from memory, "Derek? He's with you?" ... "Perfect, I'll take the ladies upstairs to get ready, you can use the garage suite, but if you guys show up late or anything less than sober I will be burying you in the backyard." ... "Not a minute later or I'll be pouring a new patio by morning!"
Olivia returned his smirk briefly. "If you need help digging… Is JJ here yet?"
"She's upstairs, I'll show you the way if I may?" Rossi offered her his arm and they ascended the staircase together, Melina trailing behind them. "Now, I don't want to impose, but I was thinking, if you wanted…" uncharacteristically nervous he paused on the landing halfway up the staircase, rubbed the back of his neck. "Your father isn't here to walk you, and I thought, if you'd like someone to, I…"
Olivia's eyes watered and she bit her lip and nodded, finding her voice weak when she said, "would you?"
"It would be my very great honor." Rossi said, offering her his handkerchief and pressing his own eyes to dispel the tears. "Don't cry now or I'll never make it down the aisle! I never got to do it for Joy you know, and that brings me to the other thing… I, well, I invited Joy and Shawn, and Kai their son, on your behalf. I know you don't have family around, and well, if you'd like to, we'd very much love to consider you both as part of the family."
"Like a dad for Mum?" Melina's voice came from just behind them, louder than it had been in Rossi's presence yet.
"Yeah," Rossi said a little tearfully, turning and dropping to one knee to take her hand in his, "do you think that'd be okay?"
Melina looked momentarily overcome, wide-eyed confusion washing over her. "Can old people get adopted too? Would we have to live here? This house is sooo big but there's no barn for the horses."
Olivia smiled, patting Dave's shoulder as he stifled laughter into his palm. "We're not moving anywhere honey, Dave is asking if we want to be part of his family, you could have a granddad, sort of like how daddy's mum is going to be your nan now."
"So, I'd have a Nan and a Nonno?"
"If you want," Rossi said gently.
"I think… that would be okay." Melina whispered, hiding her face behind her hands and peaking between her fingers.
A voice from above called out. "Don't make me cry, I just did my mascara!"
"Sorry JJ." Olivia called.
Hand in hand in hand, they ascended the remaining stairs and Rossi delivered them to a gorgeous dressing suite and the care of JJ where they were soon joined by an exuberant Penelope.
Derek stood up with Reid and Penelope was the first to make an entrance down the aisle in a gorgeous lavender gown embellished with appliqued hydrangea blossoms.
Oohs and aahs erupted as the children entered. Melina, in a princess dress of deep royal purple, carrying a small decorative wooden box, Henry beside her, wearing a matching boutonniere and shy grin, with something clutched in both his hands. They sat on the steps of the dais in front of where the two men stood and the color of Melina's dress was mirrored in the velvet rich colour of Spencer's waistcoat.
Lilacs spilled from the bouquet, softly scenting the air as Olivia appeared in a wonderfully draped one shoulder gown, Rossi looked every inch the proud father as he walked arm-in-arm down the aisle with her. Spencer blinked rapidly as he finally caught sight of his bride, both his smile and his tears echoed in several faces around the well dressed backyard including his mothers, near the front.
It was a blessedly lucid day for Diana to watch her son get married. She waved at Melina and smiled, then catching sight of the bride, held both hands to her throat, mouthing the word 'beautiful' and causing her son to tear up even more at her apparent awe.
Olivia kissed Rossi's cheek and stepped forward to take Spencer's hand, nearly tripping on the last step and laughing as he caught her elbow and together, they turned to face the crowd. "I just can't help falling for this man."
A ripple of laughter echoed through the gathered witnesses and Spencer's hand ceased to tremble in hers. The ice broken, the rest of the ceremony was much more relaxed, and several loud sniffles could be heard as the vows were spoken. Spencer's short, sweet, and written and revised thirty-four times and now printed on the inside of his skull. Olivia's were less so, but every ear that heard them speak understood the depth of both hearts here joined.
"Olivia, it is my solemn vow that from this day forward I will spend the rest of my life learning how to a friend and a husband to you and a father to our children, and I will keep practicing at loving you as long as there is life left in me."
"Spencer, I love you, so much…" Liv laughed away the catch in her voice and continued, "I'm just winging this, so forgive me if I don't get it right at first... I love you Spencer, and I will keep practicing at it, as you say, until we reach perfection or death. It was my choice to love you from the beginning, as futile as I then believed it to be, and now, nothing will prevent me from making the sober choice to keep loving you as long as I live. I promise to fight for you, and fight for us, and even when we fight, I promise that I will always be on your team."
"Rings?" The officiant asked.
Melina jumped, elbowing Henry as she did and they stepped up together, Henry holding his hands out to show a key on a chain. Spencer knelt to take the key and used it to open the delicately carved box. A velvet inlay displayed two simple bands of gold.
He whispered "Thank you." and was rewarded with a shrug from Henry and a quick kiss on the cheek from Melina.
Rings, 'you may kiss' and the music signaled a change as their names were proclaimed.
Joined. A family.
The official ceremony now over, Rossi rose and turned to those gathered and said in a loud voice, "Olivia and Spencer, if you could lead the way over towards the tents, dinner will be served in," he checked his watch, "forty-five minutes, so feel free to mingle, the bar is open of course, and the patio will be cleared for dancing later, so keep that in mind when you're going in for thirds on the cake."
Olivia and Spencer raised their joined hands and smiled as they exited the rows of seats. Cheers, hoots and hollers followed, increasing in volume as Derek and Penelope danced down the aisle to an up-tempo pop song, gesturing for everyone else to join in as they went.
Hotch and Beth were among the first to congratulate the new couple. The smile lines around Hotch's eyes were the first thing Spencer noticed, but Olivia was seeing something else.
"Nice ring. And I must say Beth, you are absolutely glowing…" Olivia said with a questioning smile at the apparent baby bump.
"I wasn't going to say anything, but since you asked... Yes." Beth said with a fond smile, Hotch wrapped an arm around her, settling his hand proudly on the side of her belly. "There might just be another wedding invite in the pile of cards over there."
"That's fantastic! Hotch, I'm so happy for you!" Spencer said, his voice pitching up with joyful exuberance, clapping the older man on the shoulder and smiling wide enough to nearly burst. "How's Jack?"
"He's even more excited than we are I think." Hotch said with a low chuckle.
"Melina was the same, it took a minute for her to warm up to the idea, but once she'd decided…" Spencer shook his head.
"Wild horses couldn't slow her down." Olivia completed the thought, pressing her palm to his lapel and looking at him fondly. "And you won her over almost immediately."
"Yeah, well she still kind of thinks I'm the knight from your books, that might have something to do with it." Spencer said with a bashful shrug.
Rossi joined the small circle and directed his attention to Olivia. "Now that the errant knight has finally returned to his queen, perhaps you'll let me talk to my agent about getting those books published, hey?"
"I…" Olivia blushed at his raised brow, "fine, when we get back, we can discuss it."
"I'll bring the champagne." Rossi said confidently, taking her free hand and tucking it into his elbow. "Now, don't give me that look, your work is fantastic and withholding it from the wider world is just cruel. Speaking of, if I can steal you for a second, I'd like to introduce you to a few people."
JJ and Will took Rossi and Liv's place in the circle, hugging and shaking Spencer's hand respectively.
"You realize he's going to insist on having you over for every holiday from now on." JJ said with a chuckle. "You're the in-law in that family, and you know that patent leather Italian sole runs deep."
"I am beginning to see that." Reid said with a side-smile, looking over at his wife giving Rossi's daughter a hug.
Other daughter, given the proprietary smile Rossi was giving them both.
Wife. His Wife. The truth of those words were still sinking in and he felt momentarily drunk with its implications. If he could have seen this end, this only right and good end, and the more beautiful by far beginning now, if he could have seen it all those years ago… The Spencer Reid of eight years, four months and seventeen days ago hadn't believed love like this was possible, certainly not for him. It existed only in storybooks and a very few -probably rose colored- biographies.
But now, standing here, surrounded by his friends, his family. Doctor Spencer Reid, husband to Olivia, daddy to Melina. He was a believer.
Happy Ever After may be a dream, but he truly believed that there was no future they could not face together.
"Earth to Spence," a voice brought him back to himself, Beth and Hotch had moved on and JJ was grinning at him. "I was just saying, whenever you want to have a date night let us know, Henry and Melina have been planning a movie night sleepover for weeks now."
"What JJ's not saying, is it's a two sided deal- so long as you return the favor." Will said in his customary low drawl.
"I hope you aren't trying to usurp my position as best Auntie ever! I get Meli for the next two weeks, and we have big plans!" Penelope bustled in, giving Reid a once over and fixing his lapel flower. "Gorgeous, every one is gorgeous. Reid, I have decided that I forgive you for the hot mess of the last few years. But I need you to know this, if you ever break either of my girls' hearts, I will have to pull out the big guns."
"Big guns, you weren't talking about me, were you?" Luke smirked, shaking Reid's hand and turning back to keep Garcia in his line of sight.
"I. Was not." Penelope said slowly, grinding out every word through pursed lips.
"Well, if you ever need any… I don't know, back up, with babysitting, I'd be down to help out." Luke said with a shrug. "I'm pretty good with kids."
"Are you suggesting I can't take care of my favorite niece on my own? That I- I! might need backup? I will have you know that it's not the first time I've babysat, I know what I'm doing!"
"I wasn't saying you didn't- I just- I thought…" Luke looked flustered and chewed on his lip as Will, JJ and Reid collectively abandoned the two of them. "I… Look, do you want me to be honest Penelope? Really, really, honest? Because you might not like what I have to say."
"I never like what you say and I always want honesty." Garcia said shortly, turning her nose up at him as though expecting an insult. "Hit me with it, give me the worst, I've got thick skin, I can take it."
"Okay, well… here it is... I like you. A lot." Luke said, pursing his lips when Garcia's jaw dropped. "And I've been trying to find excuses to just be around you, and if you're not interested, I get it, if you don't want me around, I'll give you all the space you want."
"You, ah, you…" Garcia gulped and seeing his disappointment as he began to turn away, laid a hand on his upper arm, "no, don't… I…"
"I… what? I'm an idiot? I already know that, its not like you haven't been telling me that everyday since we met."
"No! You…? You- you, like... me?"
"I didn't stutter, did I?" He was looking at her, his expression softening away from the previous dejection and back into a slow smirk.
"No. I just… I didn't, I don't…" Garcia managed to pull herself together, gripping the sleeve of his shirt. "You- this- me… I mean. This is a surprise, a good surprise, I think… I don't know what to do with myself right now, but… maybe, we could… See where this goes?"
"I would love nothing more."
"Now this is what I call a party!" Derek walked up with a wide grin, wrapping an arm each around Penelope and Luke and laughing. "Are you finally learning to play nice with Alvez- Babygirl?"
"I don't know about that." Penelope said, trying to sound disgruntled but unable to keep it up as the traitorous smile overtook her face.
"Don't start now, I don't think I'd even recognize you if you were nice to me." Luke said with a grin as Penelope stared him down, her jaw dropped in outrage. "Hey, I was joking!"
"He looks happy, doesn't he." Derek said, looking at Spencer and Olivia on the lawn chatting with Emily, Tara and Alex Blake. Melina had run over and was now holding Spencer's hand, hiding behind his long legs and shyly smiling anytime the adults paid her attention.
"Yeah, they do. They look really, really happy." Penelope said with a sniffle, wrapping her arm around Derek's waist and feeling Luke's warm hand rest gently on her arm. She sighed loudly leaning against Derek and fanning her face. "I love happy endings!"
Notes:
And so do I, dear reader. I hope this story brought you just a little bit of light and hope, and perhaps, even a little faith in Love.
Happy every after-
They lived.