Chapter Text
Ashlyn blew out a deep breath as she straightened the suspenders on her shoulder. She and Ali had decided that they wanted a more beach styled wedding. It wouldn't be strictly a suit and dress event. Ashlyn donned a tan pair of tailored slacks, light brown dress shoes, a powder blue dress shirt, white suspenders and a white tie. Her hair was pulled in a tight bit loose bun and her makeup was light. She fixed the watch over her wrist and snorted when Pinoe stared at her.
"What's up Pinoe." Ashlyn said, hoping that the bleached blonde couldn't hear the overexcited tone of her voice.
"Oh nothing, I just expected you to be more...I don't know, nervous." Pinoe said as she tucked in her dress shirt. Contrary to popular belief, Pinoe was actually her best man rather than her brother Chris. She loved her brother but Pinoe was her partner in crime with so many things.
"I'm nervous but not because I'm gonna marry Ali, but at the fact that I might end up tounging my wife-to-be in front of all of you."
"Oh puhlease, you two might make baby number 3 out there if no one stops yall." Pinoe said with a waggle of her eyebrows.
Ashlyn swatted at the woman, "You're disgusting Pinoe."
"And you love me that way. Now do you have anything for me to give to ya sexy baby mama?"
"First of all, Ali will murder you if she hears you call her baby mama. Secondly, yes I do." Ashlyn warned and pulled out a small white box. "I think she'll like it."
"Will do Cap." Pinoe took the box and proceeded to leave before stopping in the doorway. "I can't call her baby mama bit you can call her Snoogy Woogy? Well that's not only not fair but it's tasteless."
"Just give her the present Pinoe. Jeez"
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"Oh Sweetheart, you look beautiful." Deb gushed as Kyle finished up Ali's hair which was hanging down in loose curls, with some hair from the sides pulled towards the middle of the back of her head, held in place by a diamond hair piece and little faux diamond beads scattered in her dark tresses.
"Thank you mom." Ali smiled earnestly, she tried not to cry at her mother's words, since less than 10 minutes ago, Grandma Harris, Tammye, Deb and Syd all managed to make Ali ruin her makeup, thus her reapplying it later.
"Okay Sweetheart I'm gonna get my seat." Deb said with a kiss to her cheek before slipping out of the room.
Pinoe entered just as Deb left and stopped dead in tracks. "Well aren't you a looker." She grinned and placed the box in Ali's hands. "It's from Ashlyn, so if you have something to give her, now's the time to do so."
"Yes I do. Although I feel like we might've got each other the same thing." Ali admitted while picking up a white box that looked similar to the one Pinoe just brought in.
"Eh I'm sure she'll love it." Pinoe reassured before leaving.
"Ooo what'd she get you." Kyle asked while putting the finishing touches on her hair.
Ali awwed as she opened the box and lifted the necklace from the box. She opened the slim rectangular shaped locket and immediately fanned her eyes. "Yup, we got each other the same exact thing."
"Now that's just dang stinking cute." Kyle gushed as he looked at the family picture of Ashlyn, Ali, Anna and Andrew. Each parent had a child in their arms as they leaned into each other with their foreheads touching with nothing but love in their eyes for each other and their children.
"I can't wait to marry her Kyle, like I've never been so impatient like this in my life." Ali admitted.
"Well you're in luck, because it's time for you to get married." Kyle said with a kiss to her cheek.
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Ashlyn stood with her hands held in front of her waiting for Ali to walk out. They hadn't seen each other the night before and that was enough to make Ashlyn yearn for her woman.
The flower girl proceeded to throw flowers, a little too enthusiastically, down the lush green grass aisle. The little girl was about to empty the basket of flowers on Ashlyn's feet until Abby reached over and grabbed her niece, placing her on her lap and giving the thumbs up. The entire scene brought rich laughter from everyone's lips, it was quickly quieted down when everyone stood and turned to see Ali being led up the aisle by Mike.
Ashlyn's heart was stuck in her throat as she watched her dad lead one of the loves of her life up to the altar. She watched her dad let Ali go and return to his seat as Ali took her hand to stand in front of her. "You're beautiful, actually more than beautiful." Ashlyn said in awe as her eyes eyes took in the dark haired beauty. Ali wore a long flowing, but tight around the bust and contoured around her torso with a minimal amount of embroidery. The dress only trailed a little bit behind Ali as she stood, and Ashlyn couldn't help but grin when they both wrote their identical necklaces.
"You don't have to butter me up, you know. We're already getting married." Ali teased but lifted Ashlyn's hands up to kiss her knuckles.
"I'll butter you up for the rest of our lives together. And once this guy gets us married, there's no going back, you're stuck with me forever."
"Wouldn't have it any other way Green Giant." Ali grinned before quieting down for the ceremony to start.
The man officiating their wedding started, time seemed to fly as the words flowed from his lips. Both Ashlyn and Ali said the things they were supposed to before getting ready to state their vows in the presence of their families and friends.
Ashlyn cleared her throat as she dug into her pocket to pull out a piece of paper. "Ali, I've never really fallen in love before. I've never known when and with who I'd make a family with. I was happy with baseball. I was happy with games and championships. I was happy being with friends and family but then I wasn't happy with that because I met you. I met you and my entire outlook on life changed. You made me stronger Al, you make me a better person. You and our children give me everything to wake up in the morning. I want to be yall knight in shining armor, to love you all, to care for you and protect you. I will always be here for you and our children. I will always be here."
Ali nodded with a smile. "Time to put your vows to shame, Harris." She teased which made Ashlyn jokingly hold her hand over her heart in mock pain. "Everyone knows my story, everyone saw how I lost hope. I thought I was the problem, I thought I couldn't love therefore I couldn't be loved. I thought I wasn't worth anything, I thought I was forever broken. I was afraid of anything really, but you made all of that seem like less than a sliver of doubt. You are the driving force of why I'm better today, you have seen me at my worst and have brought me to my best. You made love and life seem great and possible again. You broke me out of my shell and now we have friends, families and and children of our own. I would be a fool to let this slip away from me. My heart belongs to you and our children. I am 1000% committed to our family and to you. And I will spend the rest of my life making sure you all know I that I love yall."
As Ali finished, there wasn't a dry eye in crowd. Even the man officiating had a large grin on his face before resuming. The words finished and the end of the ceremony was here. Both women said "I do". Ashlyn cupped her cheek and laid a hand on her waist before leaning down and kissing her wife deeply. Their kiss went on for quite a bit which garnered cheers and catcalls which the newly wed couple ignored. They separated and raised their hands up with large grins on their faces.
"We're married!" Ashlyn yelled in excitement which made their twins giggle loudly from the front row filling the area with laughter.
Ali leaned over and kissed their cheek as they walked down to the beach with the photographer awaiting them. Ashlyn quickly rolled up both the sleeves of her dress shirt and slacks before hoisting her wife up in her arms, letting this be the first of pictures to be taken. The photographer loved it and encouraged them to continue as if he wasn't even there, soon plenty of pictures were taken of them alone as a couple before Chris brought over their babies. They each took a child, they wanted to make sure that their children were a big part of their special day even if they were too young to remember it.
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The newlyweds came into the large gazebo; which held their reception, introduced by Ginuwine's Pony. Ashlyn grinned but shook her head as she knew this was Pinoe's doing. The bleached blond and the entire Senators' team and staff gave the couple thumbs up as the danced a bit scandalously to the music.
"Those idiots would pick this song." Ashlyn said as she pulled out Ali's chair for her.
"Well it wouldn't be normal if they didn't play some kind of raunchy song." Ali replied.
The reception started off very well. The bar opened quite quickly so when the cake cutting came, there were a bunch of semi-tipsy hungry individuals. Pinoe and Syd were practically the life of the party despite it not being their own wedding, but they made sure to tone it down after getting looks from almost everyone there.
As the reception went on and the guests get their fill on food and drinks, the dance floor lit up and the dj started a slow song for the father-daughter dance. Ali was about comment on how technically there was only one father, until Grandpa Harris held out his hand to his new granddaughter-in-law.
"I think it'd be okay if I steal this dance?" Grandpa Harris asked with his hand outstretched and smiled so sweetly it brought tears to Ali's eyes.
Ali nodded and took his hand, allowing him to lead her onto dance floor. She placed her hand into his and laid her head there as well. "Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me, Sweet Pea." Grandpa Harris reassured with a kiss to her hair. "You're a part of this family Sweet Pea. And I'd be a fool not to get this dance with you."
"Well then I'm glad that this is an added perk to being a Harris now." Ali grinned as they continued to sway slowly to the music. Just as the song ended Ali felt a hand on her lower back.
"Mind if I cut in, Gamps?" Ashlyn smiled and took over as her Grandpa moved over. She leaned down and kissed her wife. "I'm sorry your father couldn't be here."
Ali shook her head. "Don't be. I have everyone I love, right here. So I'm happy. I'm perfectly happy."
Ashlyn kissed her forehead before pulling her closer. "Sooo, how was our wedding, wifey? Was it everything you dreamed of?"
"I think we did alright." Ali teased, "I mean, drunk baseball players in one corner. The baby and children's corner. The, no offense, but older people's corner with all the bingo paper and our resident pervert Pinoe being a weirdo."
Ashlyn laughed and pulled Ali closer. "Okay, I can agree on that. But I'm just happy I can finally call you my wife."
"You do realize that since we're married, we're now baseball's new power couple?"
"Heck yea, now we just have to find a ship name with Snoogy Woogy or Short Stack with Green Giant. I'm positive we can come up with something." Ashlyn teased back.
"Hmmm nah, I think they'll be hideous either way." Ali said with a head shake. "I think I just like family more."
Ashlyn rubbed her chin as if she was thinking long and hard about the proposed name. "Just the right amount of cheesiness, cuteness and I think we've got ourselves a winner. Family is an incredible name." Ali gave her loving look before joining their lips in a slow kiss as they moved to the music.
The song ended and the dance floor slightly emptied as some stayed on the floor and other went back to their tables. Ashlyn led Ali over to the children's table before picking up both of their children and jerking her head over to the doorway.
"Join me on the beach?"
Ali nodded, "Of course."
The family made their way over to a small circular shaped garden gazebo that overlooked the ocean. Inside there were padded seats with two piles of thick blankets to ward off the cool Florida night air. Ashlyn made sure both Ali and their children were situated first before joining them.
"Now I think this is everything I could've wished for. I love our family, friends and the party but some down time like this snuggled into our time, it's absolutely perfect." Ali whispered, so as not to wake their babies. Ashlyn agreed with unspoken words and continued to look into the large expanse of blue Florida water They say there for a while just soaking up the scene and serenity that surrounded the area, before Ali spoke up.
"Do you remember when I broke down crying one time about my ex-husband?" Ali asked and continued when Ashlyn gave her both her undivided attention and nodded. "You remember me saying that you were the reason why I was able to fight through my insecurities?"
"I will always remember Al."
"I know we should keep the theme happy tonight, since we just got married and all. But everyone in that building, along with you, have my heart. You all were instrumental to me even being able to think about having children, giving love a chance and saying 'I do' to you." Ali smiled and took Ashlyn's hands in her own and placed a kiss on her knuckles. "I know that things won't be rainbows and sunshine from here on out, and I know dam well not to expect perfect because you, our children, our families and friends are enough for me to always feel grateful and like a million bucks." She chuckled softly and continued to rub her thumb over Ashlyn's knuckles. "I just want to say thank you. I know you're going to tell me that I shouldn't, but I will anyways. Thank you for being my spirit and being the reason why I changed my life. Thank you Ashlyn Michelle Harris, I love you."
Ashlyn brought Ali in for one of the most deepest and passionate kisses she could muster. Letting her feelings be conveyed in the intimate gesture as her tounge slipped into Ali's mouth. They were all of inseparable for a few minutes as they reveled in the feeling of absolute love before both broke apart for air.
Ashlyn placed her palms over her wife's cheeks and rubbed them gently with her thumb. "Al, you're the reason why I fought so hard to make sure you could make it out quite and survive. You gave us two absolutely beautiful children so we could make our family. Our love knows no borders and is forever unconditional. So I want to tell you thank you. Thank you for continuing to fight, thank you for finding your happiness, thank you for making me stronger. Thank you Alexandra Blaire Krieger for being all my reasons why."