*2 year time jump*
Rhiannon's POV
I held Billie in my lap, petting her nervously as I kept my eyes on the clock. I watched as Josh fidgeted with his hair in the mirror. His eyes landed on me,
"Do we need to bring her with us?" He grinned,
"She does help calm me down, but she is terrified of the twins" I laughed, referring to Jake and Sloan's little ones.
"I help calm you down too I hope." He said coming over and placing a kiss on my forehead.
"Of course you do, this is just such a big deal." I said, placing Billie on the couch so I could stand, Josh took both of my hands.
"The worst that can happen is they say no, and if thats the case we have other options we can pursue." He reassured me, running his thumbs over the back of my hands. I nodded and wrapped my arms around his waist, "Are you ready to go?"
"Ready as I'm going to be." I sighed as I slipped on my shoes. We got in the car and headed to Jake and Sloans house a little outside of Nashville. We pulled into the driveway and walked to the front door, never knocking always welcomed we walked in.
"Where are my favorite niece and nephew!" Josh shouted as he walked into the kitchen,
"Shh!" Sloan hissed as she threw a dish towel at him "They are taking a nap, so they aren't complete little shits later."
"We aren't even to the terrible 2's yet and they are already a handful" Jake laughed as Josh handed him the towel Sloan had thrown at him. The boys walked outside to start the grill and I felt Sloan staring at me,
"What?" I asked leaning on the counter
"Whats got you freaked." She asked plainly, giving me a glass of water,
"Nothing" I replied avoiding eye contact
"Thats a lie, you're too quiet." She said as she crossed her arms. I sighed as I walked out the back door of their house,
"Josh, can we do this now? Sloan is already grilling me and I don't want to wait." I said as I wrapped my hands around his arm.
"Do what?" Jake asked as he turned around,
"We just need to talk to you two about something if thats ok," Josh said, sitting down on the patio furniture and pulling me into his lap,
"Of course, anything." Sloan said as she and Jake sat in chairs across from us. Josh held my hands in my lap, and I glanced down at him, silently begging him to do the talking. He gave my hand a little squeeze and then started to speak.
"So, as you know Rhiannon has been on fertility treatments for the past year, but we have had no luck even with those." Sloan nodded with a neutral face, "But what you don't know is that about a year ago, before we started her treatments we had the egg retrieval procedure as a precaution, or as a plan b." He paused looking to me, I knew even he was struggling to find words. "It is looking at this point like our only option to have kids of our own is if we have a surrogate." His words trialed off
"Yes." Sloan said abruptly,
"What?" Jake, Josh and I all asked at the same time,
"Thats what you're asking right? If I will carry your guy's baby?" Sloan asked, Jake was still just staring at her in shock,
"Well, potentially babies.." I finally spoke, "We would want to implant 2 embryos just for better odds,"
"My answer is still yes," She said confidently,
"Baby, maybe we should think about this..are you sure?" Jake asked, knowing he could speak freely in front of Josh and I.
"What is there to think about. I love Rhiannon, and I love Josh. If I can help them get the family they so desperately want, that they deserve, I'm doing it."
"Alright then, I'm on board too." Jake shurgged. Josh and I looked at each other and tears instantly started to well in my eyes, as well as his.
"So when do we start?" Sloan asked,
"I mean its your uterus" I laughed, wiping away my tears, "But we were thinking as soon as possible.." I said softly,
"Even with the wedding in like a month and a half?" Jake questioned. I grinned as I looked down at the ring on my finger, "You are both already so busy,"
"We will make time," Josh said as he rubbed my back. "Plus you know it's basically just a reception." Josh and I had decided that we weren't public ceremony type people. We had had a private ceremony months ago, just He and I and the officiant. So technically we were already married, we had just finally got around to having a party to announce it and celebrate our love with friends and family.
"Lets do it then" Sloan said as she stood up. I instantly jumped up and pulled her into my arms, sobbing and thanking her over and over. Josh hugged Jake and thanked him as well, making some joke about Sloan being mean when she was pregnant before that made us all laugh. We spent the rest of the night discussing the details of the whole ordeal and making sure Sloan was completely informed on everything. The next week she had undergone the procedure to have the embryos implanted. We were informed that it was possible to loose one, or both, but we kept our hopes high. The doctor told us that Sloan's next visit would be in 6 weeks to either confirm pregnancy or confirm they hadn't been successful. This would mean we would find out after the wedding, which was fine. They advised her not to take home tests because it could give false positives and false hope. Josh and I took a deep breath, knowing these would be the longest 6 weeks of our lives. Luckily we had wedding planning to keep us busy.
*Time Skip to Wedding Day*
I stood still as Sloan finished buttoning the back of my dress. Looking out at the beautifully decorated venue through the window. Josh and I had decided on a summer reception, there was a glass building that had multiple long tables surrounding a dancefloor. There were fairy lights strung everywhere they could be strung and lots of flower arrangements with earthy muted tones.
"Would you hold still," Sloan said, "Why did you put so many damn buttons on this thing?" She laughed. I had designed my dress along with Sloan and Kenzi's dresses as well. Sloan's was a dusty rose color and Kenzi's was a dusty turquoise. My dress was a white slip style dress underneath with a fitted embroidery overlay with bell sleeves. Josh's only request was that I wear my natural wild curly hair, so I obliged of course. My makeup was done by Kenzi and she gave me a very natural dewy look. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Sloan opened it and Jake stepped in carrying both River and Danny was carrying Reed.
"We are ready when you are" He said referring to me and the ladies.
"And you all better hurry because Sam is down there trying to entertain the guests" Danny laughed
"River! Look how pretty you look!" I gasped as she grinned, "And Reed, you look very dashing" I said poking his little nose. They were only 1 and a half but gosh they were the cutest ever.
"I think we are ready too," Sloan said as she looked me over one more time. I nodded as she and the rest of the group started to head downstairs.
"Jake can you send Josh up here?" I asked as he walked off, he gave me a thumbs up. Josh and I were supposed to walk into the reception together, This was also the first time seeing him in my dress. For our private ceremony I had just worn a simple white dress. I heard a knock at the door and I nervously said "Come in,".
"Wow" he said as he froze and stared at me, I felt my heart swell. That was what he had said the first time he ever saw me, the first day at the first venue.
"You like it?" I asked as he started to walk closer, He shook his head in disbelief as he looked me over,
"I cannot believe I scored you" He laughed, "You look like something out of a dream, I've never seen anyone so beautiful" He said as he pulled me into a kiss. I draped my hands over his shoulders, pulling back to look him over.
"I must say, you look amazing yourself," I said with a smile,
"You're just saying that because you made this suit." He smirked back at me,
"I'm serious, you always look handsome, but you look exceptionally handsome today" Said as I gently pulled him closer by the lapels on his jacket. I had made him a almost khaki colored suit. He insisted on no dark colors since it was a summer wedding.
"Thank you love." She said as we once again locked lips, "Ready to head down?"
Josh's POV
"If you're asking if I'm ready to show you off and party with our friends, the answer will always be yes." I said as I took her hand and headed downstairs. We made our way to the glass building and everyone cheered when we entered. Rhiannon and I made our way over to our table, which consisted of us, Jake, Sloan, Danny, Kenzi, and Sam. We all sat and ate our entrees while we reminisced on memories we all shared together. Some from tour, some childhood stories, anything really. After people were done eating and started to dance Rhiannon made are rounds to different tables, catching up with family and friends. We spent most of the night slow dancing in the middle of the dance floor, despite the speed of the song that was playing. I wanted to just hold her forever and the more I thought about it the more I couldn't wait for our future.
"I love you" I whispered in her ear,
"I love you," she whispered back, kissing my jaw.
"It's getting late, you wanna get out of here? Our flight is kind of early?" I paused, "Plus I can't wait to see what you've got on under that dress." I felt her grin against my cheek.
"Yeah, lets start telling people bye" She said as she broke away and started heading towards the tables. We got back to our table last, giving hugs and we started to walk to our car and Jake stopped us,
"Hey, me and Sloan need to talk to you before you go, we got you guys something" He said as he handed us a box. Sloan stood next to him, trying to hide her smile as she held his arm.
"We told you guys not to get us anything! You are already doing so much for us." Rhiannon said as I took the box.
"Just open it." Sloan urged me. I opened the box and my hand went to cover my mouth. I instantly felt tears forming as I handed the box to Rhiannon,
"Holy shit! Is this real?!" She shouted as she inspected the ultrasound picture in the box,
"It is, we went yesterday." Sloan paused as Rhiannon and I stared at her, "It's twins" I crouched to the ground overtaken by emotion as I started to sob. Rhiannon was also crying but had wrapped Sloan in a hug. By the time I stood, Jake had wrapped me in a tight hug
"Congratulations brother" He said with a smile as he patted my back. I tried to catch my breath as I turned to Rhiannon. She had a beaming smile on her face as she excitedly wrapped her arms around me, happy tears streaming down her face.
"We love you guys so much, thank you so much for doing this for us." I finally choked out
"Of course," Sloan said pulling me into a hug.
"What is the due date?" Rhiannon asked excitedly
"January 31 will be 40 weeks, but I delivered a month early last time...so probably the beginning of January." Sloan grinned. Rhiannon and I just kept looking at each other in disbelief.
"Josh! We are going to be parents!" Rhiannon squealed as she jumped into my arms. Seeing her this happy after all we had gone through trying to get pregnant over the past year was making me the happiest man alive, that and the fact that I had twins on the way. I couldn't believe it.
"Well, you two get out of here." Jake said,
"Yes, have the best time on your honey moon" Sloan chimed in,
"We will," I replied as we gave one last round of hugs. As they walked back to the reception Rhiannon wrapped me in her arms once again, hugging me tightly as we just soaked in this moment. Both of us were blubbering messes when we pulled away, causing both of us to laugh softly.
"I can't believe this is happening" She said as she wiped tears from my face with the pad of her thumbs,
"Me neither" I said as I pulled her in for a kiss, "I love you so much"
"I love you more" She replied, "Now lets get out of here, my feet are killing me" She said as she slipped off her heels and walked towards the car. We got into the car, giving the driver the address for the hotel when Rhiannon reached for her bag.
"I have something to give you" She said quietly. I gave her a confused look as she handed me her tiny little black notebook. "Go ahead, you can look in it." I started flipping through the pages, each with a date and an entry. "I started writing in that the day we started dating, and I've been writing in it almost every day. Just writing things you did that made me fall more in love with you, things I saw that reminded me of you, some poems, memories good and bad. I just wrote to you, every day." She said as her hand landed lovingly on my thigh. I flipped to random pages, the day we went to the planetarium, the time we went skating, her first christmas with me, moving in together. My heart ached when I saw the page that had been torn out, the page she had wrote the note to me on the day she had lost her first pregnancy. She had written the day before about how much she loved me and how lucky she was to have me. She realized and leaned her head over on my shoulder, I turned more pages, the day I proposed, the day we had our ceremony, pages and pages filled with all the reasons she loved me. I felt tears coming to my eyes once again as I turned to her,
"Josh, don't start crying again or I will too," She said softly as she pulled me into a hug,
"How are you going to give this to me and expect me not to cry Rhiannon" I said playfully, "But in all seriousness, this is the best gift anyone has ever given me and I will cherish it forever." I said as I tucked it close to my heart. I pulled her towards me, kissing her passionately as she draped her legs over my lap. "But can you put it in your bag so I don't loose it" I added quickly. She giggled and took it, placing it back in her bag. We went back to kissing and stealing touches the rest of the car ride, and I was dying to get her into that hotel room. We got to the hotel and up to our room, and I picked her up.
"Josh!" she squealed,
"I'm supposed to carry you through a doorway right? Or something like that?" I grinned as she laughed,
"I guess so," She smiled as wrapped her arms around my neck. I kicked open the door and walked in, placing her on the bed and hovering over her as I peppered her neck with kisses,
"Now, lets get you out of that dress."
*I just wanted to post my inspiration for Rhiannon's dress*