This is an AU Fic for Piece By Piece, following events as Adam and Chris, and Carlos and Nick, get married. This work follows Finding In Front Of Me and generally lives as an AU to Falling Into Place. As such, this contains spoilers for those three works, so you should read them first.
Adam and Nick look up from their video game as Carlos bursts through the door.
"Baby! We can get married!" Carlos looks out of breath, like he ran up the stairs to the apartment instead of taking the elevator.
Nick laughs, standing as Adam pauses the game, and going over to Carlos and kissing him. "Not quite yet."
Carlos looks confused. "What? But I thought the ruling today meant it was allowed."
Adam shakes his head. "You'll have to ask Chris when he gets here later, because he understands this stuff better than I do, but I think the ruling was something about standing, so it goes back to the lower court to uphold their ruling and actually overturn Prop 8, I think."
Carlos seems to slump in Nick's arms. "Chico. What does that mean? Is it going to be another three months?"
Nick shakes his head and kisses him. "I don't think so. This part should be pretty quick, like another few days, so we can start confirming vendors and stuff."
Carlos nods, and Adam wonders if he should bring up the spur-of-the-moment suggestion that had come up in their mutual plannign discussions again, but Carlos beats him to it. "So, uh, were you still serious about wanting to get married the same weekend, chico?"
Adam shrugs. "I can't speak for Chris, of course, and I still really don't want to encroach on your big day or anything..."
Carlos and Nick both shake their heads. "We're not getting married the same day, dude," Carlos says. "You're not stealing our spotlight or anything. Besides, you're right that we'll have a lot of overlap in our guest lists, and it would be nice to make it so people could just make a long weekend of it instead of coming out here twice."
"Still." Adam still feels a bit guilty about having suggested it in the first place. "I think you and Nick care more about this than Chris and I do. We're having a wedding mostly because Chris' mom would have killed us if we didn't. He and I would have gladly just go to City Hall and get married without any of the pomp and circumstance."
"We still could," Chris says, walking through the door, but looking a little guilty about it. "Sorry. Normally I would knock before barging into your apartment, but the door was open, so..."
"Our apartment is your apartment, dude," Carlos says, and Nick nods in agreement. "You have keys for a reason. You're always welcome over any time."
"Still." Chris shrugs. "But, uh... we could still go get married this weekend once the stay is lifted. And then have a smaller wedding later to appease my mom."
"Is it terrible if I say I really like that idea, dude?" Adam isn't sure why the thought of being married sooner appeals to him so much, but he thinks part of it may be how long they've been engaged.
"We either have to invite my parents, or keep it a secret from them until the wedding, though. So either Carlos and Nick are our witnesses or something, or we call up our parents and get them up here this weekend or something."
Adam thinks for a bit. As much as he likes the idea of getting married now, he's pretty sure he wouldn't be able to keep a secret until the wedding, and that his mom would also be fairly upset if she found out. "No, we should probably invite our parents, dude. Plus Carlos and Nick, I guess."
Chris nods. "I'm going to call Janet, then. It might not be realistic for her to come down on such short notice, but I'd like to at least give her the opportunity."
"Sounds like a plan, dude." Adam finally realizes he's still holding the controller, placing it down and moving to Chris and kissing him. "Let's get married."
"You're going to sandwich our marriage and wedding between yours, chico!" Carlos says, and from the joy in his voice, Adam knows he means it as a good thing.
"I guess we are," he says, smiling at Chris before gently kissing him.
"By the power vested in me by the state of California, I now pronounce you spouses for life. You may kiss each other."
Adam and Chris both move at once, their lips meeting in the middle. Adam can hear Chris' mom squeal, but he closes his eyes and focuses on the feeling of Chris -- his husband! -- in his arms and against him instead.
He doesn't open his eyes again until they break, and he's breathless despite it being only a quick kiss. He can see Chris' parents and Janet beaming at them.
"You got married, Chris!" Janet exclaims when Chris turns to look at them, and he moves to her, wrapping her up in a hug.
Adam turns to his own family. His mom and Carlos are both crying, his dad is looking proud, and Nick is looking at him with joy as he rubs Carlos' back.
"Congratulations, chico," Carlos manages as he wipes his eyes.
"Thanks, dude. But uh... we should probably go and let the next couple have their turn."
"Take your time," the commissioner says, smiling at them. "It's a big moment."
It is, but Adam doesn't want to monopolize the time and resources today, especially given that Saturday ceremonies were unusual and there was limited space in city hall. He gently places his hand on Chris' shoulder, who breaks his hug with Janet. "Let's let some other people get their moment, too."
"Um... I guess that's our cue?" Carlos says, and it takes Adam a second to realize what he said.
He turns back to Carlos and Nick, and Carlos is blushing furiously now as Nick kisses his cheek. "Dude... what?"
"I hope you don't mind us, um... co-opting your commissioner and your spot for a bit, but unlike you, I don't have parents, and Nick says his won't care, so we thought maybe we'd get married today, too," Carlos says. "As long as you don't mind being our witnesses."
Adam can hear Chris' mom squeal again, and he's sure he's grinning the biggest grin he ever has, now. "Dude." He grabs Chris' hand in his. "Let's do it."
Adam doesn't think he lets go of Chris' hand the entire time they're sitting at the restaurant afterward, even as they eat, and he suddenly realizes it reminds him of when Chris had paid him a surprise visit years ago, and that gives him a warm and fuzzy feeling all over again. He releases Chris' hand, putting his arm around Chris' back instead, and enjoying the way Chris leans against him as he chats with Janet and his mom.
He glances next to him at Carlos and Nick, who seem to similarly wrapped up in each other, and thinks to himself with some amusement that they did end up having the double wedding they'd all thought was a horrible cliche after all, at least in some sense, but he thinks he wouldn't have had it any other way.
"Did you and Chris have any wedding plans yet?" Adam's dad asks. "Are you still thinking you want to do it?"
Adam nods. "Yeah. Chris' mom would never let us hear the end of it if we didn't."
"I'd also love a wedding," Adam's mom says, smiling at him. "But I would never ask you to have one on my behalf. So I'm kind of glad she wants one."
"Well, I guess it would only be fair to get married with Em and Dimitri in attendance, too. But we were thinking something really small."
His mom nods. "That would be nice. She would have come, but this was a little too last minute for her."
"It was really last minute for everyone. I'm glad all of you made it."
His mom squeezes his shoulder, and he looks around the table, surrounded by loved ones and next to his husband (!) and feeling content.
"Stop me if this is a weird time to talk about this, given we're literally holding each other after sex right now, but um... did you have any thoughts on wedding party?"
Chris' hand doesn't stop moving against Adam's chest, and Adam can feel Chris smile against him. "It's a fine time to talk about it. I hadn't really thought much about it, honestly. I assumed Janet would be my best... woman. But I didn't have any thoughts beyond that."
Adam nods and kisses Chris' head. "So I was thinking Carlos and Nick. But then I thought I should probably include my sister, and it might be weird to have unequal numbers of people in our wedding parties. Did you have two other people in mind?"
Chris seems to think. "I could ask Jake as my second. Third would probably be either Nikhil or Hannah, but I'd feel strange excluding either of them. Do you, uh, have a fourth?"
Adam thinks, starting to be amused by the situation. "Not really? I guess a couple friends from med school, but I'm not really as close to any of them as I am to Nick. I honestly wasn't even planning on inviting them to the wedding, because we were thinking a small guest list." He stops. "Okay, this is silly, right?"
Chris chuckles against him and kisses his chest. "A little."
"It's our wedding and we can do whatever we feel like. Including having an odd number of people in the wedding party."
"Yeah." Chris shifts to look up at him, and kisses him gently. "We can."
"Still, five feels excessive for a small wedding. How do you feel about just Carlos and Janet? Nick and Em would understand."
Chris nods in agreement. "I like that, if you're sure you're okay excluding Nick."
"Well, it's not like the party does very much, right?" He stops and thinks, actually unsure of what the duties involved.
Chris doesn't seem sure either, because he just shrugs. "Well, it's our wedding, so we can do whatever we feel like, including having the wedding party not do much."
Adam smiles and kisses Chris again. "Hear hear, dude."
"I love you," Chris says, snuggling back against Adam's chest.
"I love you too," Adam says. "Husband," he adds, because he likes the feeling the word gives him.
Chris smiles against him.
"Welcome home," Adam says as Chris walks through the door. "Sorry if you tried Carlos and Nick's first."
Chris just smiles. "I did, but Nick said you two were separately dealing with some wedding stuff today."
"Yeah. We got off into a tangent about wedding plans this morning and I figured I should make more of a concerted effort at it." Adam indicates the papers in front of him. "I pulled out all the ones that seemed good to me and annotated them with things like venue capacity and price. We can look at the others too, of course, if you want."
Chris shakes his head, coming up next to Adam and kissing him, gently. "No, I trust your judgement." He looks over the papers. "Can we just... go with one of the smallest, cheapest options? I still don't really want to make a big deal of this, especially since we're already married now."
"Maybe that means we should figure out our guest list first?" Adam pulls out a sheet of paper where he'd started putting down names.
"Yeah, uh... one second. I have some stuff in a google spreadsheet." Chris heads into the bedroom and returns with his laptop.
Adam looks it over. He's expecting Janet, her boyfriend, Jake, Nate, Hannah, and Nikhil, but the inclusion of James is a little surprising to him, although it makes sense when he thinks about it. Chris and James had always chatted through undergrad and even afterward. "You're sure you only want to invite nine people, dude?"
Chris shrugs. "I thought we were keeping it small. Do you have a lot more than that? I always have relatives I could start adding."
Adam looks over his scribbled list, containing just his immediate family and Carlos and Nick. "I actually only have six, and most of them were already at our marriage ceremony, so."
"I guess we're just not social people like Carlos and Nick are."
Adam laughs, putting an arm around Chris and pulling him in for another kiss. "We're not, but I think that's just fine."
Chris nods in agreement.
"Okay. Then we're looking at venues that support fifteen people. Sorry, seventeen, since that includes us, and assuming everyone comes."
"Let's get married on a boat," Chris says suddenly, seemingly staring off into space. He shakes his head. "Sorry. It was just a thought."
Adam shuffles around the pile for the sheet with information about the city cruises. "No, actually, I really like that idea. I think it's super easy with that few people, too."
Chris nods. "So that's settled?"
"Yeah." Adam kisses him again. "I think that handles the officiant and food too, so we just need the photographer. Do we want a videographer?"
"I think my mom would insist on both."
Adam laughs, then shakes his head. "I love you, and I love your mom, but she's... something."
"She is," Chris says, but he's looking at him with such affection that he has to put down the paper he's holding.
"Okay, if you keep looking at me like that, we're going to have to do something about it."
Chris smiles softly, taking Adam's hand. Adam stands and allows himself to be led to bed.
"Well, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to follow that speech," Adam starts, wincing a bit at the sound of his own voice over the speakers. "So I'll just start by congratulating Carlos and Nick."
He kicks himself internally. That was not the way this was supposed to start. He thinks he really should have practiced this more.
"In case any of you don't know me, I'm Adam, and I'm both Carlos and Nick's best friend, although if you asked Carlos he'd probably say that we're more than friends. Carlos is like a brother to me, and not just because he was my big brother at the frat in college."
That wasn't how that was supposed to go, either. He decides just to wing it.
"Carlos just said that he wouldn't have graduated without me, and okay, that might be true." That gets some chuckles. "But my college experience would have been a miserable slog without him. Carlos injected such joy and passion into everything he did, and that really bled over into my life, as well. And he cared -- cares -- about people in a way that so few do... so deeply and completely. I still remember one of the first things he said to me... 'there's more to college than classes and homework and office hours'. And he was right, but it took him to help me see that."
He glances over at Carlos, who's wiping away a tear at the memory as Nick pulls him against him. He takes that as a good sign.
"So just like he says he needed me, I needed him. He took care of me... he was like my mother away from home, in some sense, making sure I didn't get buried too far into my studies." He takes a deep breath, trying to bring it back. "But the point of all of this is that he did it again, in med school, which in a lot of ways was worse than undergrad. And he did it for Nick too. Since the moment I dragged Nick back to the apartment with me, Carlos was caring and affectionate in that way that he is, without being pushy. I think it was obvious to me then how much the two of them needed, and complemented, each other, even if it took me a bit to realize it. It's been such a privilege to see their relationship develop and their love grow, and I continue to be in awe about how perfect they are for each other. I think it's obvious to anyone who sees them together even for a minute to see how perfect they are for each other."
"Kiss your boyfriend, Adam!" Dan yells from somewhere. Adam ignores him, picking up his glass instead, and the room follows suit.
"So I don't think I need to toast to Carlos and Nick's relationship being long and lasting, because I think it's obvious to everyone who knows them how much that'll already be true. Instead, I'd like to toast to Carlos. To thank him for the impact he has had on my life, and on the lives of every one of us here, and how he continues to fill every day and everyone here with joy and passion just by being himself." He can hear Dan snicker, and thinks he probably could have phrased that better, but his mom seems to be crying again, so he supposes the point got across anyway. "To Carlos," he says, raising his glass.
"Hear hear," he can hear Nick say loudly next to him, and even without looking, he knows that Carlos is crying.
"I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may kiss each other."
Chris smirks as he moves in for a kiss, and Adam laughs to himself about how they've already been married for a year. Still, he wraps Chris up in his arms as they press their lips together, wanting to put on a good show for the camera, but also just always loving the way that Chris fits against him.
And the ring is new, so that's nice, too. They'd wanted to save that bit of tradition, at least, for the wedding.
"You got married, Chris!" Janet says when they break, grinning this time, and Chris does laugh this time.
"We did," he says.
"Should we take some pictures before we get on the boat?" Adam's mom asks, and the photographer nods.
The photos are fairly quick, given the pre-ceremony shots they'd already done, and James surprises him by agreeing to shots of the entire group. Then again, he isn't sure he really ever understood James, and he seems friendly enough, so he isn't sure why he's surprised by it.
When Chris' mom seems satisfied, he takes Chris' arm in his and leads the group onto the boat. They have a private room in the back, and he picks a random table. Carlos sits on his other side and slaps an arm over his shoulders.
"Now you two are doubly official, chico."
"Yeah." Adam turns the ring around on his finger, liking the way it feels.
"This is great. Everything is great. I don't know why, but this wedding just feels very... you. Very you and Chris, I mean."
"Well, it's our wedding, so..."
Carlos ruffles his hair. "I think just because it's so... understated, but nice. You two have always been more quiet and introverted, but you're kind of perfect for each other like that, so I'm glad you didn't let Chris' mom talk you into a big boisterous event or something. That wouldn't have felt right, even if you said you were mostly doing this for her."
"Well, if I wanted a big boisterous event, all I would have needed to do was invite Dan," Adam says, grinning.
Carlos shakes his head, but he's grinning too. "God. I don't regret inviting him, I guess, because he was such an important part of my journey, but he's... a lot. Most of the time."
"No, in retrospect, I'm glad we did this," Adam says, growing serious again. "Not everyone we cared about could be at the civil ceremony, and after the speech you gave yesterday about family, it just made me think how much I'm glad we have this opportunity to celebrate with our families and the ones that we love."
"Chico..." Carlos seems to be getting choked up. "You're... you're the most important person in my life, you know that?"
"I think Nick is the most important person in your life, dude."
"Well..." Carlos seems to have to think about that one, which surprises Adam. "Okay, maybe. But other than my husband, you're the most important person in my life."
"Same, dude." Adam pulls him into a hug, and Carlos wipes away a tear behind his back.
"So just... thanks, chico. For everything."
"Same, dude. Same."
"It's a big ask, Em. You should feel free to just say no, outright."
Chris squeezes Adam's hand. He's not sure why he'd picked the reception, of all places, to bring it up, but Em had started talking about babies, which had reminded him of the conversation he and Chris had had.
Emily nods. "Honestly, I'm honored that you'd ask. But I think I need some time to think it over? And to talk to Dimitri, of course."
"Of course. Just... don't feel any pressure or anything, okay? We can always adopt."
Emily grins. "Yeah but imagine a little Adam and Chris running around. Well, I guess me and Chris, but you know. You and I are basically the same thing." She ruffles Adam's hair and he bats her hand away.
"Really, though..." Adam still feels guilty about asking.
"Okay, stop. You're going to overthink this like you always do. It's definitely not a 'no' right now. I just need some time and discussion to decide, okay?"
Adam nods, satisfied with that. "Okay."
"Now go mingle. The cruise isn't too much longer."
She turns Adam around and pushes him in the other direction, and he lets Chris walk him over toward Janet and James, who are chatting, and Adam vaguely remembers that Janet does acting, too.
"You okay?" He needs to ask, even though Chris hadn't seemed phased by the conversation.
Chris nods. "Yeah. It would be nice, but you're right that it's a lot to ask. We can always adopt."
"I love you," Adam says, meeting Chris' eyes.
Chris smiles. "I love you, too."
Adam bursts through the doors to the labor room. "I'm sorry! I had to get someone to cover and then there was traffic and..."
He stops at the sight of his mother holding Emily's hand with Chris on her other side. Emily is looking at him with what looks like rage.
"I hate you!"
"Honey, you're almost there," Adam's mom says as she wipes Emily's brow with her free hand.
"No," Emily says, looking over at Chris, instead. "I hate you!"
"She doesn't mean it," his mom says, looking a little frazzled but sympathetic, as Chris looks taken aback. "It's just a lot right now."
Emily yells, and the doctor nods. "Just one more big push for me, Emily. You're doing great."
She does, and Adam can feel his heart stop in anticipation before a baby's cry fills the room.
"Congratulations," the doctor says. "It's a girl."
He and Chris already knew that, of course, but hearing it now still causes a swell of emotion in his chest. He makes his way next to Chris and puts an arm around his back, pulling him against him.
The doctor swaddles the baby and hands him to Emily, who rests him on her chest and smiles softly at him. "Well, hello there. I'm your aunt and mother and some other fun but fucked up combination of things."
"Emily!" Adam had forgotten his mother was standing there, but she immediately looks guilty. "Well, given that you just gave birth..."
Emily looks up at Chris and Adam, smiling now, looking a little guilty. "I don't actually hate you. She's precious, and I'm beyond thrilled I could help."
"Dude. You..." Adam isn't sure how he can express the appreciation he feels.
"Want to hold her?"
Adam can feel his arms shaking as he takes the newborn -- their daughter! -- in his arms. Chris clings to Adam's arm, tightly.
"Hi, Rachel," he tries, liking the way the name sounds already. "Rachel Anne Christiansen-Prewitt."
"That's a mouthful," Emily says, smiling as she closes her eyes. "But it's nice."
Adam pushes aside the logistics for the next few months running through his brain, instead focusing on the infant in his arms and the feel of his husband next to him.
And he feels like he's overflowing with happiness.