Strong [A Barson Fan Fic]

- 30 -

Rafael knew that he didn't want to see Olivia until she was walking down the aisle towards him, but he at least needed to talk to her. So he texted Chloe and set up a meeting with his fiancee before the wedding.

"Rafa?" Olivia asked softly, as she reached her hand around the door before finding Rafael's hand.

"Hey, love. How are you doing?" Rafael questioned, as he felt Olivia's hand shaking in his.

"I'm not doing great." Olivia admitted weakly.

"My mother told me about what happened this morning... how Sophie doesn't want to stay with us anymore." Rafael frowned.

"She doesn't want to stay with me. I don't think she has a problem with you." Olivia sighed as she closed her eyes tightly. She wanted to be looking at her fiance and hugging him right now, but they made a deal and she didn't want to break it on their wedding day.

"Baby, we just need to forget about this all for the day. In fifteen minutes, I will be waiting at the end of the aisle... waiting to marry you. We can figure out what to do as a married couple, okay?"

"Ez copies everything that Sophie does... what if he starts to hate me too?" Olivia sniffled as she tried to stop herself from crying. She didn't want to ruin her makeup before even saying her vows to the love of her life.

"Ezra will not hate you. You are his absolute best friend and he loves you more than anyone else." Rafael replied quickly.

"I just wish that everything would get better. That nothing bad would happen for the rest of our lives, but I know that won't happen... I have to fix my makeup. Can you go check in on Ez?" Olivia sniffled.

"Of course. Now, baby... I love you more than anything else. Soon we will be married, and I cannot wait for that. Okay?"

"I love you too."

///

Olivia walked herself down the aisle as she continued to think about Sophie and her mother. All she could think about was all the bad happening, and not all the good. Like today was supposed to be a good day. Today was supposed to be the day she completely separated herself from the last name and monster that raised her. But instead, that was all she could think about.

She also felt weird since she didn't have anyone that was like a father figure who could walk her down the aisle and give her away. She was alone.

Olivia barely got halfway down the aisle when Ezra started to scream her name and squirm from Catalina's arms. He quickly ran down the aisle and threw himself at his mother.

"Ez." Olivia laughed softly, as she looked up and saw that her fiance was also laughing.

"Mama, I missed you." Ezra smiled.

"I missed you too, Ez... but I'm kinda doing something right now." Olivia spoke.

"I help!" Ezra exclaimed, before reaching his arms up to his mother. Olivia felt like in this moment, Ezra was meant to walk her down the aisle, even if he was being carried in her arms.

"Okay, love. Hold these." Olivia replied softly, before passing her son the bouquet of flowers. Ezra held onto them tightly as Olivia lifted him up and pressed soft kisses to his hair, before she continued her walk towards Rafael.

Once she got to the stairs, Olivia passed her son and her bouquet to Chloe. Then she grabbed Rafael's hand before walking up the stairs.

"Are you okay?" Rafael breathed, and Olivia nodded.

"Ezra made everything better... you make everything better. And before we start this, I just want to thank you for everything. And that I love you so very much."

"I love you too, Olivia. Now, are you ready to be my wife?" Rafael questioned, and Olivia nodded.

"I am more than ready."

///

The ceremony was long, but so very beautiful. Olivia and Rafael both cried as they said their vows, and Rafael didn't miss a beat when Ezra started to fuss and insisted on being held by him for the rest of the ceremony. Once the ceremony was over, Olivia and Rafael took Ezra outside and they took a few minutes together as a family.

"I cannot believe that we are married." Olivia smiled, as she and Rafael hugged each other and of course Ezra, who was still being clingy.

"Liv, I knew from the moment we met that we would end up here. And I'm so thankful that you picked me to be your life partner and the father to this little goofball." Rafael smiled, before stepping away from his wife and looking at their son.

"It wasn't a hard decision, Rafa. Now, we really need to go and take pictures. Oh, and I need to call the sitter to check in on Soph." Olivia sighed.

"Babe-"

"She may hate me, but I'm still her big sister and I want to make sure she is okay. I'm kinda hoping that she might miss me after today and would want to come to the reception. Cake and dancing can be very inviting." Olivia spoke softly.

///

After pictures were taken with all of the family members, everyone went to the reception hall. Dinner was eaten, the cake was cut and passed out, and everyone danced. Olivia called the sitter, but she found out that Sophie still didn't want anything to do with her, so she wasn't there for any of it.

Olivia went outside towards the end of the reception to get some air since her dress was heavy and making her sweat, and as she was just about to call the sitter again to ask if she could talk to Sophie before bed, her name was spoken.

"Detective Munch." Olivia spoke nervously, as she looked at the detective. She was confused why he was there, and honestly really worried.

"I got a call from your mother, and then a call from your sister."

"Sophie called you? About what?" Olivia asked weakly. Olivia didn't know why Serena thought Detective Munch would help her, when he hated her, but she was less concerned with that and more concerned with Sophie's call.

"About how you are being mean to her, hurting her, not letting her talk to your mother." He frowned.

"I'm not hurting her or being mean to her, Detective. I took my phone away from her this morning because she was talking to Serena and she isn't supposed too. I never lay my hands on her in a bad way." Olivia explained.

"I believe you, but I have to take you down to the precinct to question you about this... and CPS is already going over to remove your sister from your care."

"N-no! She won't make it in foster care!" Olivia cried.

"I know, and I hope that if we talk through everything, that she can be returned back to your care. Okay? So we need to-"

"This is my reception, Detective Munch. I can't just leave in the middle of it. And we leave for our honeymoon at midnight." Olivia whispered.

"I don't want to take you in tonight, but if you work with me then this won't get worse. Okay?"

"Yes, sir. Let me go talk to my husband..."

///

Olivia left Detective Munch in the hallway of the reception hall before going in and finding Rafael on the dance floor with a group of his younger cousins. Olivia approached him hesitantly, before pulling him away from the group.

"Hey, babe. Are you okay?" Rafael questioned, and Olivia shook her head as tears slipped down her cheeks.

"Detective Munch has to take me to his precinct. Sophie called him and told him that I hurt her. CPS is taking her away, and I might be in trouble because she's lying about me... so I gotta go before things get worse. I love you." Olivia whimpered.

"What? Are you being arrested?" Rafael questioned rapidly, and Olivia shrugged as she wiped a tear from her cheek.

"I don't know yet. Just, enjoy the rest of the night and I'll contact you when I know what's happening."