Chapter Eighteen: Forever Yours, Faithfully
Author's Note: So, this is it. The big bad wedding chapter. At least, their wedding that doesn't take place in the hospital. And it's another time jump to the end of January, which means that baby Christopher is close to making his appearance. And it wouldn't be a Glee wedding if there wasn't a little drama (wink, wink). As always, I don't own Glee or any of its characters. The chapter title comes from Faithfully and we all know who sings it ;).
"Oh my goodness, I can't believe the day is finally here!" Rachel said in the bride's room in the church where she getting married in exactly seventeen minutes. Rachel had everything timed to the tee, and everything was going to go off without a hitch. "Now it's going to be real."
"Honey, it's been real for almost a year now." Kurt said, helping Quinn fix Rachel's dress.
Sure, an empire dress with a huge baby bump wasn't the way Rachel planned on having her wedding dress look like, and she definitely wasn't anticipating being pregnant on her big day. But in all honesty, Finn and Rachel had already been married, so they weren't committing some big sin.
"But this time we have everyone here, not just hospital staff members." Rachel said, her smile starting to falter. "Well, most of the guests are hospital staff members. But at least my mom is here this time."
Shelby smiled as she got up from the chair she was sitting in and walked over to where Rachel was standing. "You look beautiful." She took a small package out of her purse. "This is your something old. It was the necklace that my mom wore when she married my dad. And it's time that you get to wear it."
Rachel looked at her mom with wide eyes. "Mom, is it the heirloom?"
"Yes it is. The same one you've been wanting to wear since you were three years old."
Rachel put her hand over her heart and tried not to cry. "Oh, Mom."
Shelby took a deep breath as she tried to compose herself. "I am not allowed to cry yet. So Kurt, or Quinn, or Tina is going to have to put the necklace on for you because I know I will not be able to do it."
Tina quickly walked over to wear Shelby and Rachel were standing, took the necklace from her, and clasped it around Rachel's neck. She stepped back to see how it looked.
"Rachel, the necklace completes the dress." she said, smiling and giving her a thumbs up.
"And for your something new." Carole said, handing Rachel another small package with a pink ribbon on it. "I saw it last night as I was leaving the rehearsal dinner and I knew you needed to have it."
Rachel smiled at Carole and took the top of the box off and gasped. On the inside was a silver charm bracelet. And the charms it had on it already were a small gold star with a pink rhinestone on its center, and four small letters, an F, an R, a Z, and a C.
"The letters represent your family. I put one on there for Zoey because she's—"
"She's my big girl." Rachel said, smiling at Zoey who was running around the room. "Slow it down, Zo. We don't want you to be tired during the ceremony and forget the toss the flower petals."
"Sorry, Momma." Zoey said, running to sit in an empty chair.
"It's okay, pretty girl. I love the bracelet, Carole. Thank you."
"And now, you have something borrowed." Tina said. "This one is from me." She handed Rachel a sparkly clip. "You've had your eye on this since the hospital charity ball. So, because it's your real wedding day, I'm letting you wear it. But I want it back at the end of the night." Tina said, reaching up to clip it into Rachel's hair.
"I'm going to make sure you won't be getting it back." Rachel said, laughing.
"And now, your something blue." Quinn said as Kurt brought out an overflowing blue gift bag. "Half of the things in there are for you, and the other half is for the baby."
"Including, this gorgeous blue quilt that features some messages from all of the people who love him already." Kurt says. "Although, there's not one from Puck. We figured you wouldn't want Chris to ever see what it said."
"Was it that bad?" Rachel asked, grimacing at what Puck wrote. She could only imagine.
"It was something along the lines of Puck telling Chris that if he had any questions about…certain life events so to speak, he should come to Puck instead of you or Finn." Kurt said. Quinn nodded her head in agreement.
"I am going to kill Puck!" She took a deep breath. "No. Not right now at least. Because right now I am going to get married!" Rachel said, clapping her hands. She was planning on jumping up and down, but she knew that wouldn't end well for her or for Chris.
Hiram and Leroy came into the room and both gasped.
"Rachela, you look absolutely breathtaking." Hiram said, going over to give Rachel a hug.
"Thank you, Daddy. You and Papa look stunning. I think Kurt and Blaine did a good job helping Finn pick out the tuxedos."
"I'd say it was all me and Blaine." Kurt said. "Finn did nothing whatsoever."
Rachel rolled her eyes and rubbed her stomach. "Well, is it time for the wedding to start?"
"Yes it is. Mitch asked us to come tell all of you to start getting lined up outside of the church for the processional." Leroy said, holding the door open so the wedding party could exit the room and head for the chapel.
Rachel watched from her spot as her mother walked down the aisle, then as the groomsmen and Finn entered from the opposite side of the church, then as Tina, Quinn, and Kurt walked down the aisle. She felt her breath hitch as all of the people inside the chapel stood up before she entered.
"Please keep me moving at a reasonable pace and make sure I keep breathing." Rachel whispered to her daddy and her papa. She didn't need to be taken to the hospital on her wedding day.
"Will do, Rachela." Leroy said as the music swelled, indicating it was time for Rachel to make her entrance.
Rachel always thought she was going to be the person that would be married to her job. The only husband she'd have is the one delusional patient who thought they were married or engaged, and the only children she'd have are the ones that were lying sick in hospital beds.
Now, here she was on her wedding day, walking down the aisle to her best friend when this time last year, they were barely speaking to each other after the liaison she had with Jesse (who, thankfully, had gotten fired from St. John's and was now working all the way across the country at UCLA). Sure, Finn and Rachel actually were married, but this time she was getting her dream wedding.
Except she never thought she'd be ready to pop when she dreamed of her dream wedding.
"Who gives this woman to this man?" the minister asked.
"Her mother, her father, and I do." Hiram said, winking at Rachel. She gave a slight nod and looked at Finn's shining face.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to once again join Finn and Rachel in holy matrimony. I was told that Finn and Rachel were married back in May, and they wanted this ceremony to celebrate the love they have for each other. And Finn has something he would like to say."
Finn cleared his throat and looked at Rachel. "Never in my life have I loved anyone the way I love you. Life has thrown us some pretty big curve balls, but we've managed to work through them together. You've done a wonderful job with Zoey, and an even better with Penelope, which is amazing since she's a little diva, and I know you can handle anything that comes your way. I can't wait to see what life brings us down the road because I know we will be able to handle them, because we'll be together and nothing is going to break us apart. I love you, Rachel Barbra Hudson. And I'm glad you and I got to do this all over again with all of our friends and family here."
Rachel smiled at Finn through her tears and quickly wiped them away. "Finn Hudson. I don't even know where to start. I never believed in love at first sight, but the first day of our internship at McKinley, I remember looking over at you when Sylvester was talking and I got lost in you. And I'm glad that after everything that happened in our internship year that we're able to be together. Here's hoping that residency is easier for us." The crowd of people chuckled at the start of Rachel's speech. "But I don't want to bore people with hospital talk. Because let's be honest, I can go on and on about it forever. I love you, Finn Hudson, and I'm so glad that you chose to be with me first. And I'm glad we got married, even if it was in a hospital chapel because it meant that I get to spend the rest of my life with you, and that's something I will never take for granted. I love you, and I can't wait to start our family. You, me, Zoey, Penelope, and Chris." Rachel said, not bothering to wipe the tears away. She was allowed to cry, after all. It was her wedding and she was allowing it.
"By the powers vested in me by God and the State of New York, I pronounce you husband and wife. Again. You may kiss the bride."
Finn and Rachel's lips met and the crowd erupted into cheers. Rachel smiled into the kiss, then her eyes went wide. She looked down and saw a small puddle of liquid on the church's carpet.
Chris had decided to come a little early.
She broke the kiss apart and looked around with a panicked expression on her face.
"Rach, what's wrong?" Finn asked, fear growing in his voice.
She lowered her eyes to the carpet and Finn did the same. When he noticed the puddle, his eyes went wide too.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to reintroduce to you, Mr. and Mrs. Finn Hudson." The minister started clapping, as did everyone else.
"Well, now that the wedding is over, Chris decided he didn't want to wait anymore." Rachel said, starting to laugh.
"So, instead of the wonderful reception that Hiram and Leroy planned for us, we're going to go to the hospital." Finn said. He looked over at Rachel who had this shocked expression on her face.
"Finn, I-I-I…I don't think I can do this." Rachel said, fear starting to course through her veins.
Without thinking, he went over to pick her up and carried her out of the church and into the limo.
"Excuse me, sir." He tapped on the glass divider between the back and the front of the limo. "Instead of taking us to the reception, we need to go to McKinley Hospital. Our baby's on his way."
"Of course." The limo driver stepped on the gas and sped towards the hospital.
"It's now or never, Rach." Finn said, squeezing her hand. He felt his phone vibrate and pulled it out of his pocket to see a text from his mom, asking what the parents should do. He responded that they should come to the hospital.
It was time for Chris to make his world debut.
Author's Note: So we'll have the next chapter and then an epilogue. Thanks to everyone who's been reading!