Semper Fi

Epilogue: Semper Fi

Two Years Later

Olivia stood near her assigned table and smiled adoringly at the scene before her. The room was decorated beautifully with white roses and candles as far as the eye could see. The tables were covered in white linen and centerpieces that she's proud to say she picked herself. She was honored to be included so much in the planning process, a testament of how much her relationship with her stepchildren has progressed. She cherishes her individual relationships she has with each of them.

Music fills the room and the bride and groom take the dance floor. Her breath hitches when she catches a glimpse of Elliot across the room talking with Fin and Nick and he's trying his best to hold himself together. Their eyes meet briefly and she flashes him a comforting smile that he instantly returns.

Today was hard for him although it was a happy occasion. Another one of his children has gotten married. Made the ultimate commitment to another person to have and to hold, love and cherish and to remain always faithful. A commitment she knows all too well. Although it's been two and a half years since her wedding, she made that commitment long before they stood before a judge on a beach in New Jersey and made it official.

Her eyes drift from Elliot to the bracelet she wore on her wedding day made from the Semper Fi medal that he gave to her when they were separated during a time that feels like another lifetime ago. The same bracelet that she presented as a something borrowed just a few hours ago to the bride.

If there was anyone that deserved the ultimate happily ever after it was Elizabeth Stabler and watching her dance with her husband on the dance floor, she got just that.

Despite his efforts to dislike him over the years, Elliot likes Dean and knows he will take care of his daughter. He and Dickie took Dean out the night before and while Lizzie was nervous at her future husband being double teamed and possibly calling off the wedding, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that Elliot would do nothing to compromise his children's happiness. He stood next to Dickie as his best man a year ago when he and Lucy were married but she knows that letting go of Lizzie was just a bit harder for him. He had to just say goodbye to Maureen a few months ago when Jason completed his residency and got a job in Connecticut. It was only a two and a half hour trip away and they had already gone down to visit a few times and vice versa but she knew he would always have issues with any sense of loss when it came to his children.

Olivia almost feels sorry for him but she knows they will both have to do this all over again down the line when the younger children get married. Her eyes scan the room and land on Noah and Eli with Dickie at a table looking as if they are up to no good and although she worries for Lizzie she is amused by the sight. Their little trio, who Maureen dubs "Three the Hard Way" had bonded over the past few years much to the girls dismay. They made it a point to torture the girls and as much as Dickie may have had his doubts about the way things turned out when his parents first divorced, it's his bond with his younger siblings that show what kind of man he has become. A man very much like his father. A man that will be a father himself in four months when Lucy delivers their son.

Lucy and Maureen who have become very close watch Noah, Eli and Dickie closely to see what they are up to and Olivia can't help but laugh at their concern for what they are capable of. Lucy holds Caleb while Maureen holds Violet hoping they don't cause a scene because they are both getting a little tired and cranky. She holds her daughter in one hand and her phone in the other while trying to take a picture of her little sister who today became Mrs. Reynolds.

"Hey Liv, did you get anything to eat yet?" she hears the soft familiar voice ask her.

"No I'm fine," she says her eyes never leaving the dance floor.