Aftermath

Part 20

I set down the final bottle of booze and stepped back from the table where I had just set up the bar. I smiled, it looked good. The food was going to be here in half an hour, and the guests would arrive in an hour. Cristina was upstairs getting dressed and ready, and everyone else who lived in the house was as well. Besides Derek. As Owen's best man, Derek had left earlier to go to Cristina and Owen's apartment to get Owen ready. 

I made my way up to the master bedroom. Cristina was in the bathroom so I slipped on my dress and knocked softly at the door before opening it. I frowned when I saw my person sitting in the edge of the bathtub, not ready at all.

"Cristina?"

"I never gave you any crap about your Post-It," She said, not looking at me.

"What?"

"When you wanted to marry Derek, on a damn Post-It note, I supported you. When I want to marry the man that I love, what do I get from you? Crap. You try to convince me not to do it,"

I was silent, and sunk down to sit beside her on the bathtub.

"You're my person. I need you to support me in this. This is huge. I care what you think, Mer. If you think this is an absolutely horrible idea, maybe I need to rethink it too," 

"No. Listen, I was out of line. You're right, I need to support you. I just wanted to make sure you're okay. I'm sorry, Cristina, I'm sorry,"

She finally looked up at me, a hint of a smile flickering at her lips. She reached down behind the tub and pulled out a bottle of tequila, which looked like had already been drunken out of. She handed me the bottle and I took a swig before handing it back to her. 

"So, are you ready to get dressed?" I asked. 

She stood up and pulled her dress of the hanger, which I helped her change into and zip up. For the next thirty minutes I pulled her hair into an elegant yet simple updo, and brushed light makeup onto her face. In turn, she curled my hair while I did my makeup. 

"The food should be here any minute, then people will start getting here. I'm going downstairs to make sure everything gets done,"

Cristina nodded, putting final touches on her appearance and pulling out strand of her curly hair here and there. 

I went downstairs and had the caterers set up food, playing hostess when people started arriving. Alex, Lexie, Jackson, April, and Carolyn came downstairs soon after the food arrived.

I had been tasked with introducing my mother-in-law with all our friends from the hospital, while waiting for my husband to arrive with the groom. That was truly awkward. 

Luckily I only had to do it for twenty minutes, when I heard the front door open and my eyes were met with the gelled, dark hair of my husband followed by the orange of Owen's. Sighing in relief, I made my way over to them.

"Thank god," I whispered to Derek when I reached them. 

He leaned down to kiss me. When we pulled away, we stood for a minute, taking each other in. Damn, that man looked really really good in a tux. 

"You look stunning, Mer," He observed. 

"Thank you. And you look very sharp in that suit," I replied, reaching up to straighten his tie.

He was about to kiss me again, but I stopped him with a hand on his chest. 

"Listen, I left your mother over there all alone, you need to go talk to her. And Cristina's ready when you are, so I need you to help me get people into their places,"