"She did it."
"I thought Amanda was kidding."
Olivia and Fin stared in shock at the four-foot-tall ice-sculpted lovebirds sitting on the table under the awning. "Bets on how long those'll last?" Fin wondered. Phoebe reached out a finger and poked the sculpture.
"From what I know of Serafina Carisi, it wouldn't dare melt without her permission," Olivia replied with a shake of her head. "Not until after the ceremony, anyway." She squeezed Noah's shoulders. "What do you think of that?"
Noah cocked his head sideways, studying them. "I think if they moved it, they'd have more room for cupcakes," he decided.
"A man with his priorities straight," Phoebe laughed. She linked her arm through Fin's. "Do you wish we'd gone through with this?" she asked him.
"No chance. This is….a lot."
"Hey, there's Uncle Sonny!" Noah ducked out from under his mother's hands and ran over to Sonny. "Hi!"
"Hey, Noah," Sonny greeted him, ruffling his hair.
"Isn't that the same suit you wore in court last week?" Fin wondered.
Sonny shot him a Look. "Ha. Please don't let my mother hear that, I swear to God she spent more on these rentals than I make in a year." Sonny knelt down in front of Noah and reached into his trouser pocket, pulling out a box. "Think you could hold onto these for me and walk 'em up the aisle for me?"
Olivia gasped, and Sonny grinned at her. "If your mom says it's okay, anyway."
"Can I, Mom?"
She nodded. "Of course you can!"
"And that reminds me that I better go check on my partner," Fin noted. At Sonny's look, he stared right back. "Just 'cause she's marrying you doesn't mean that's changing, Carisi."
"I would hope not," Sonny replied. "I think she's upstairs. Second door on the right," he added. As Fin left, Sonny turned to Olivia. "You clean up nice, Cap," he told her.
"Haven't had much chance to dress up with a kid at home," Olivia replied. "Maid of Honor seemed like a good reason." Olivia was dressed in a pale purple dress that matched Sonny's tie. The dress came down to her knees and she offset it with a pair of summery sandals with chunky heels.
"You look great, Liv," Sonny assured her. "We appreciate you standin' up there with us."
She smiled. "I wouldn't have missed this." She glanced up the aisle where Jesse and Noah were talking enthusiastically. Jesse was in a purple lace dress, holding a white basket with flower petals in it. Noah was showing off the ring box. "I'm going to go make sure he remembers he's supposed to take care of those."
"Ah, yeah, please." Sonny ran a hand through his hair, mind suddenly full of scenarios in which Father Duffy asked him for the rings and he had no ring to give.
"Don't worry, Counselor," Olivia said, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "I take care of my people."
Most of Sonny's coworkers, including Jack McCoy, were seated on the groom's side. Sonny gave a nod to Nick Amaro and his family, sitting a few rows behind Olivia. Kat Tamin and her fiancée were seated on Amanda's side as well. On his side, Sonny spotted Mrs. Buckley and her husband, the 8th floor office staff, and a few of his friends from Fordham. The young piano player from their church, seated at a rented keyboard, started an instrumental, and Sonny spotted his mother and father standing near the back, and moved to go escort them to their chairs.
"Proud of you, son," Dominick Carisi, Sr. told Sonny. "Straighten that tie." He reached up and adjusted the Windsor knot.
"You look just fine, Sonny," Serafina told him, shooting her husband a Look. "And I've seen your bride to be this morning, and she looks fabulous as well." She smiled, suddenly emotional. "It's gonna be a beautiful wedding."
Fin turned a corner and was about to head up the stairs when Amanda appeared at the top. "Oh, Amanda. Wow."
Amanda's dress was sweet and simple, very Southern. A simple white, V-neck short-sleeved dress with a flared skirt that fell to her knees. She had dressed it up with a pair of strappy white sandals and simple jewelry. "Stay right there," Amanda said, "in case I fall down the stairs in these things."
"You'll be fine," Beth Anne Rollins reassured her. "We're not gonna let you fall." Before Amanda could start down the stairs, Beth Anne tucked a Cherokee rose behind her daughter's ear and pinned it with a bobby pin. "A little bit of 'somethin' borrowed," she said. "A piece of Georgia to walk down the aisle with you."
"Yeah, okay, Mama, I gotta get going," Amanda said. "They're gonna start without me out there."
Fin laughed. "I'm not sure since we didn't actually go through with it, but I don't think you can have a wedding without a bride," he said, offering his arm. Beth Anne floated down the stairs behind her daughter and out the back door, and Amanda didn't miss the tears in her mother's eyes.
Amanda looked up at Fin. "Thank you again, Fin," she said.
He smiled. "I got you, partner."
"Rafa."
Rafael Barba hesitated only a split second before turning to face Olivia. "Liv. You look incredible."
She nodded. "So do you."
"What are you talking about? This is what I wear everyday," Barba shrugged. The tension between them was awkward; but both were too professional to let it get in the way of the moment.
"Think that's our cue," he noted, as the music changed. Barba offered Olivia his arm, and she slid her arm through his. The two of them walked up the aisle, playing for the camera as the photographer snapped shots of them making their way to the front. Rafael walked Olivia over to her side of Father Duffy and then moved to stand off Carisi's shoulder. "Nervous?" he whispered.
"What? Nah," Sonny brushed it off.
"You're bluffing."
Sonny swallowed. "Maybe a little."
The music changed, and the nerves disappeared, just like they did at closing arguments, or when a cross was going really well. The back door opened and Fin escorted Amanda down the stairs and up the strip of grass. Everyone stood up and all eyes turned.
Amanda kept her eyes on Sonny as Jesse held Billie's hand on the way up the aisle. Noah followed after, rings, Sonny was pleased to note, securely in his hands. The girls walked over to Olivia and she turned them to face the crowd, and Noah stood in front of Sonny, handing him the ring box. Sonny barely noticed-his eyes were on Amanda, halfway up the aisle. Fin walked her up, gave her a hug, and then found a seat next to Phoebe.
Sonny took Amanda's hand. "Hi."
"Hi."
Father Duffy moved through the ceremony at a decent pace, and the ceremony went off without a hitch. "By the power vested in me by God and the Church, I pronounce you man and wife." He looked at Sonny. "You may kiss your bride."
Sonny grinned, pulling her close and dipping her into a deep kiss, eliciting cheers from most of the 1-6 that were present.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Father Duffy said, "presenting, for the first time in public, Mr. and Mrs. Dominick Carisi, Jr."
The piano player struck up a recessional, and Sonny scooped up Jesse in one arm as Amanda swung Billie onto her hip, and the family made their way down the aisle to applause.
Lunch was a pasta bar. Chairs were moved to tables and Serafina and Dominick Sr. directed the crowds through the line expertly. Sonny had shed his suit jacket and put it over Amanda's dress in case of spills. He was thankful Jesse and Billie's dresses were purple. Several times, lunch was interrupted because people kept clinking glasses to get the newlyweds to kiss. "Mommy," Jesse whispered after the second or third time, "you and Daddy Sonny should kiss like the puppies in Lady and the Tramp!"
After Amanda and Sonny had cut their cake and cupcakes had been served, Sonny tapped his glass a couple of times and stood up. "If I can get everybody's attention," he called. "I ah, didn't want to make a big speech-"
"Closing arguments!" one of his Fordham classmates yelled, and laughter rippled through the crowd.
"Yeah I try to save it for the courtroom," Sonny shot back. He looked at Phoebe and Fin. "You know, the last wedding I was at, I was supposed to officiate. I was supposed to get up and talk about marriage and all that, but it ah, it didn't happen." He turned to Amanda. "But I worked so hard on the thing that I kept it, and I wanted to read it again, 'cause I think it's relevant." Sonny grinned, pulling a well-worn piece of paper from his breast pocket. "A partnership is a lot like a marriage: You fight, then you make up. But at the end of the day, you always have each other's backs. And if you had to, you'd take a bullet for each other. A bond like that, that never goes away."
Amanda furiously tried to brush tears away. Barba leaned over from his chair, handed her a handkerchief. Sonny looked down at her. "You told me once that you'd be fine if I was right beside you. Amanda, I plan on being right beside you, and Jesse, and Billie, for the rest of our lives."
Amanda recalled someone asking her once-Have you ever been with someone who loved you so much they'd do anything to protect you? Someone who would take a bullet for you?
She stood up, slipped an arm around Sonny's waist. "I got you, too," she promised him.
And amidst cheers and clinking of glasses, Mrs. Amanda Rollins kissed her husband again.
Author's Note: Full disclaimer; I'm not Catholic, and apparently you can't have Catholic weddings outside in New York City at least not from the research I did (but you apparently can in Montana and in Baltimore, MD), but we're just gonna say they got dispensation from the Bishop and we're golden. 'Cause, you know, fanfiction.
Amanda's dress is based on an actual dress I saw in a photo of Kelli Giddish, looked like she wore it to a fundraiser thing for what I think is Mariska Hargitay's charity. It was super cute!
I thought long and hard about Sonny's Best Man and Barba seemed the logical choice, although, you know, tension with Liv because this is post-Wheatley trial and "A Final Call At Forlini's Bar." Sonny doesn't really do guy's night or anything with any of the SVU main guys on the show unless he's UC, and he doesn't seem all that close with Tommy or Tony, so, I went with Barba.
