"You look absolutely beautiful, Chrissy," Helena says, breaking Chris from her reverie where she sits, looking at herself in the long mirror in her Aunt and Uncle's bedroom.
Chris's eyes travel over herself one more time, her white satin suit shining even in the dim lighting. Butterflies live in her stomach, and it's all she can do every time to not text Street to have Luca bring him to meet her at the side door so she can sneak out and they can run away and elope.
"You face bad guys with guns every day, Chris," Deacon teased when the anxiety on her face read like a book. "Weddings are supposed to be fun, a celebration. That's what your family wants to be there for, to witness it and celebrate you."
Like Helena is reading her mind, she sets warm, strong hands on her niece's shoulders and gives them a squeeze.
"We're so happy for you, Chrissy." Helena says, voice soft and proud, in a way that makes Chris's heart melt and all her fears about standing in front of a crowd of people and saying "I do" float away.
Catching eyes in the mirror, Chris sees the tears in Helena's eyes and fights to keep her own from forming when Helena speaks again.
"She would be so happy for you, too."
Helena doesn't need to say a name to know who she's talking about. Chris puts a hand to Helena's and squeezes it back. Chris doesn't know how much her mom really loved her, how much she even could've, and she prefers not to think about it on a normal day, let alone today. Instead, Chris clears her throat and speaks just to Helena.
"Thank you for absolutely everything. I mean it. Everything, Aunt Helena."
They share a watery smile until Chris blinks, clearing her throat.
"Okay, no more tears. Annie will kill me if I ruin my makeup."
It pulls a chuckle from Helena, and Chris stands to give her a tight hug before pressing a kiss to Helena's cheek and checking her phone.
"Sarzo and Tomas said everyone is there and Street is on his way with Luca. Are you ready?"
Helena does a last once over of herself and nods.
"Are you?" She asks, a wry smile on her face that makes Chris blush.
Looking over herself, Chris notices the black of the tattoos and the light pink of scars splashed across her skin, including the last remnants of where she was shot, just noticeable under the lace. Her eyes travel over the pale nude on her fingers, up over the three small gold chains around her neck, gifts from her family and the team and Street that she's collected over the years, and finally to her own face.
Chris looks like herself, she feels like herself, she feels good.
She speaks with a smile she can't lessen.
"As I'll ever be."
"Are you ready, Street?" Luca asks with the biggest smile Street's ever seen as they cruise down the highway. Street taps his hands against his thigh, nodding as fireworks go off in his stomach.
"Hey, Man," Luca continues, looking over at Street when they come to a stoplight, voice much softer. "You guys've waited for this forever. You deserve it."
"What if I—"
"Screw it up? Street, don't play yourself. You know as well as I do that Chris doesn't do anything she's not 100% about."
Street nods, blowing out a breath and smiling himself as a new fire starts within him, one built of excitement and certainty.
"I'm ready. You can't drive this thing any faster?"
"We're off duty. I'm not risking Chris kicking my ass because I made you late to your own wedding. As befitting as that might be." Luca teases, and Street rolls his eyes.
The sun is warm on Street's face where it comes through the open window, and he feels the ring box in his pocket. It feels like a home, a promise, a happy ending he can't believe either one of them are actually getting.
Luca comes to a stop along the curb of the small park. He taps Street twice on the shoulder, telling him to go!
"Sarzo just told me Chris should be here in ten minutes! I'll be there as soon as I'm parked."
Chairs decorated with thin white ribbons sit in neat rows, all facing the few trees that provide shade like a stage. Chris's nieces and nephews, the Kay children, and other kids mill around, coloring at picnic tables and spinning around their parents. An awning with more tables underneath houses food, a small table of gifts, and a set of speakers.
Street's pulled out of his observation by Sarzo, holding his hand out to shake Street's.
"Jim, how are you?" Sarzo asks, smiling.
"Amazing. Best day of my life," Street says, content in knowing that it's true.
"Ah," Sarzo stops in, putting a light hand to Street's tie to tighten it. "Best day so far."
Clapping Sarzo on the shoulder, Street nods in agreement.
"Thank you for helping us pull this together. I know it's short notice, and we didn't want anything big."
Sarzo turns and observes the scene behind him, and then pulls Street in for a tight hug.
"There's a lot that Chris hasn't gotten that she's deserved. You two deserve each other. Now, go, Tomas's waiting for you."
Laughing, Street claps his shoulder once more and then heads off towards where Tomas is standing in a gray suit and holding a microphone.
Their conversation is light, Chris's relatives and other SWAT teammates slowly taking their seats, and then quickly when Sarzo yells at them all that Helena's turning into the lot. Street watches Sarzo go to meet Helena and Chris.
Squeezing his hands tightly, Street can feel the slight tremor that runs through him. But it isn't from fear of having something to lose for once. All he can see ahead of him is the future, so bright and unknown that it makes his heart swell.
And then he sees Chris. She has Helena on one arm and Sarzo on the other, she's walking towards him in a white satin jumpsuit, and none of the future or the past matters. Nothing but her.
People stand, music starts, and from the corner of his eye Street sees the rest of 20-Squad wiping away tears as he takes a deep breath to keep his own clinging to his lash line. Soft music plays and there's the occasional shutter of a camera. Clouds start to cover the sun, and somehow Chris looks even more beautiful in the lower lighting, shining just as beautifully.
The music draws to a close, Tomas pressing pause on his phone, as Chris reaches Street. She kisses her Aunt and Uncle on their cheeks and hugs them tightly, taking to heart what they whisper in her ear in Spanish about love and family and happiness. When they pull back, Chris turns to face Street, her hands reaching out automatically to take his.
"Hi," Chris whispers, voice raspy with tears.
"Hi," Street says back, looking at her like she's the world, bringing a small laugh from everyone else.
"All right," Tomas's loving voice breaks through between them. He looks at both of them, and then tucks the index cards into his pocket.
"We're here today to celebrate the union of two incredible people, my amazing sister Chris, and her partner Jim. In true fashion, both wanted to keep this thing quick, so we're staring with—"
A rumble of thunder interrupts Tomas, who stops to look up at the sky along with the rest of the guests. There's no swirling storm clouds, but a sea of darkening gray that splits into warm rainfall. Guests are quick to cover their heads and grab their bags, the team assessing as if it's a mission to get everyone from where they are to under the awning.
Luca scoops up Victoria and one of Chris's toddling nephews, while Tan, Deacon, and Hondo move chairs with Sarzo's help.
"Chris?" Tomas asks, breaking through her thoughts of shock. The sky opens further, rain falling faster and harder, and Tomas is edging his way towards the awning, too. He looks to Chris and Street for any direction, and then abandons them under the tree as it thunders again.
"How do you want to play this?" Street says, awe on his face from the weather in addition to Chris.
"Last time it rained, I was shot."
Street moves his hands to Chris's biceps, searching her eyes and wondering the pieces that she's putting together.
"I know," Street says, water running down his face. "That was the scariest day of my life."
"I don't want to not be married because it's raining."
Everything slides into place for Street. That's a day he'll never forget, neither of them, but they won't forget this one, either.
"Then let's get married!" Street laughs, gathering her into a hug.
"Please, because I want to kiss you so bad right now."
Chris takes his hand and leads them over to the edge of the awning, standing on the grass. Her, their, family has now taken seats at the picnic tables. All of them fared better than her and Street, who are soaking wet.
Gesturing to Tomas, he walks to meet them but stays firmly on the dry concrete. He nods at them, and then the screech of feedback between the speaker and the microphone takes everyone by surprise, Luca covering Victoria's ears and then one of his own.
"Sorry, sorry!" Tomas calls. "But we're still here to get these two married, so, vows."
Tomas hands Street the mic and then scurries back to his seat, giving them a nod and a thumbs up.
"Chris," Street starts, his free hand in Chris's, tears mingling with the rain, "there's so much I could say. About us, about you, but more than anything I want to say thank you. You showed me what a family is. You've been there when no one else was, and there's no one else I'd want to weather this storm with. I vow to love you through all the things that everyone mentions, and all the things I'm sure they forgot, forever. You're my partner, and I love you."
Street wipes his eyes with the back of his hand and then gives Chris the microphone. She gazes over the guests for a second, taking in all the people she loves more than the world, and then turns to Street.
"You asked me once, a long time ago, if I was happy. I couldn't answer you then, but I can now. Yes, I am. You make me happy. Happier than I thought was possible. I love you."
It's short and sweet, the exchanges happening between their eyes saying more than their mouths ever could. From where he returns to the side of them, Tomas steps back for the photographer to get a clear shot, and then he speaks again.
"You both have the rings?"
Their hands leave one another's to reach into their pockets, each retrieving a small box.
"Okay, Jim?"
Street's hands are shaking so badly, he's afraid he's going to drop the box. Taking a deep breath, his eyes find the sky and he feels the rain on his bare skin again, like it's a new life and he and Chris are about to break through its surface, together.
Chris holds a manicured hand out to him, the small engagement ring glittering on her finger, a permanent piece of her just like her tattoos.
The second the gold band slides onto her finger, Chris understands everything Deacon's ever said about feeling too light without it. She flexes her fingers a few times, but she doesn't need to get used to how right it feels.
"And, Chris?"
Chris focuses on the cool metal in the palm of her hand. She squeezes it, closing her eyes and putting every prayer and wish she's ever had into it, for someone who sees her and loves her through everything, and for all the things she knows they're going to experience to come out stronger.
Breathing out, Chris opens her palm, so the ring catches in the little light there is, and slides it onto Street's waiting finger.
"I pronounce you husband and wife!"
Tomas doesn't get to the part about kissing, Street and Chris already pulling the other towards them and crashing their lips together.
Music plays again in the background, and the cheers from everyone there are undeniable, but it all fades out and stays faded as the pair separates, leaving their arms around one another.
"I love you," Chris whispers, thumb wiping away a tear and then letting Street take over, grazing under her eye. She laughs at the grin he has, how deep and big his dimples are, and the tears he's got, too.
Street tilts his head down again, meeting their lips.
"I love you, too, Chris."
Chris's nieces and nephews rushing towards her breaks them up, and she leans down for hugs where they cling to her legs, laughing. As soon as the littles have been collected and dispersed, 20-Squad awaits, smiles just as proud and goofy.
"We're so happy for you two kids," Hondo says, looking back to blow a kiss to Nichelle. He opens his arms to hug them, and then stops when he remembers they're soaked to the bone.
Annie breaks through the wall, holding out two towels for them.
"There's nothing I don't leave the house with after four kids." She jokes, hugging Chris and Street once they've got the towels around their shoulders, and opening the doors for everyone else to come down the line.
Rain continues to fall as the reception begins, a grill being fired up and loud, happy conversations being shouted over the music. Chris and Street find themselves, somehow, with a moment to themselves at one of the tables near the back corner, save the photographer taking shots when she can. Chris leans her head on Street's shoulder, holding his hand, and then tilts her head up to meet his eyes.
"I never thought rain would mean so much to me," she confesses, making Street chuckle.
"It's good luck on a wedding day, or so I've heard." He says, winking at her. Chris squeezes his hand.
"We don't need good luck. Not a second of it."
"I know, not when I've got you." Street agrees, leaning down to kiss Chris again.
-x-
hello! the long-awaited (not really) sequel to rainy days (i always wind up here with you)! this is the sequel i always had in mind, it just took me forever to write. but since it's not a direct sequel, i figured a series was better. i don't think it's my best piece ever per se, but it is sweet, fun fluff, which we could all use some more of as the weather turns to fall, as could street and chris lol. thank you so much for reading! i hope you enjoyed! comments/kudos always so insanely appreciated, i love you all 3 say hi on tumblr streakyglasses! stay liquid! xo, Allie