Be Your Everything

Pacing back and forth, Erica tried to calm herself but there was just too much going on in her head. The dress she was wearing swished lightly with each turn she made and all but wore a path into the old carpet in the room as she walked across the room, paused, and then turned to make it back to the other wall. Her heart raced in her chest and she tried to take deep breaths to settled down but it didn't seem like anything would work. She was just too nervous to actually try and calm down. And it wasn't helping any that Charlie wasn't back yet. The other girl had left only moments before to get something that she had forgotten, only it seemed like ages instead of just moments. There was light music playing in the background, but even that wasn't helping. She just needed the other girl to tell her that everything was going to be fine and that she had nothing to worry about. Whenever she actually got back that is. She thought she would never have to rely on anyone ever again, but Jack and Charlie had proven that wrong. But after nearly five years of knowing them, she didn't realize that she depended on them that much. What she wouldn't give to see Jack just so she could get one of his amazing hugs to calm her down. But it wasn't good luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding.

The door to the room opened and Erica stopped just as she was about to take another step, bare feet sinking into the soft carpet as she turned to see who it was. Thankfully Charlie walked in with a huge smile on her face as she held up the bobby pins like a prize and shut the door behind her.

"I finally found them!" She said happily as Erica managed a small smile and turned to face the mirror she had been standing in front of before Charlie had left. "Took me nearly forever but finally got them."

"So who'd you manage to find to borrow some from!?"

Charlie looked in the mirror and smirked as she caught Erica's eye. "Alex."

"Your fiancé!?" Erica frowned, making Charlie laugh behind her where she was finishing pinning her hair back.

"Surprisingly yes, don't ask me why or how he got them but he did. All I care about is that I found some before you have a heart attack before your wedding."

Erica just blushed and looked away from the mirror as she allowed her friend to finish her hair. It was only six months after he had proposed to her that they were getting married. But neither of them could wait and all their friends had been amazing at helping get everything ready. Erica didn't have any of her family at the wedding so Charlie had stepped in as her adopted big sister and helped her with everything that her family would have done. At first, as they had begun to get everything planned for the wedding, she started to get worried, thinking back to Tony and how horrible everything had been before she had moved. Started to have second thoughts and worried that she wasn't good enough or too broken to deserve someone like Jack. She hadn't told any of this to anyone, kept it bottled up. But one of the bad things of being with Jack for so long was that he could read her like a book. After a few weeks of keeping it all to herself, he finally confronted her about it and she told him everything. Her worries and doubts, that maybe Tony would come back and stir up more trouble. That she wasn't good enough for him and that her bad luck would follow her and she would manage to mess things up.

But Jack just kissed her, telling her that every bride went through this and that it would go away. And it had. One reassuring smile and a bear hug from Jack and all her worries went away and she forgot about all her doubts. Her tall, dark, and handsome prince saved her once again and she could never thank him enough for it.

"You look gorgeous!"

Erica's eyes focused on the mirror in front of her and blushed. She smoothed the skirt of her white dress down even though it was pinched and supposed to have slight precise wrinkles in it. It was the dress she had always dreamed of having. Even when she was engaged to Tony, she hadn't had the dress she wanted. Not that she even bought the dress she had decided on. She had left Texas the day she had been planning on buying the dress. The other dress was huge and dumb and she could barely breathe in it. The only reason she had picked it was because it was that her mother demanded that she got. That it was more about appearance that actually liking the dress she would wear. That was right before she came to her senses and realized what a huge mistake she had made and that very day grabbed all her things and left. After that it seemed like the rest was a dream. She had met Jack the day she arrived in Baltimore and the rest is history. It was her happily ever after.

"Thanks," she mumbled with a blush.

She turned away from the mirror not wanting to see her reflection anymore and smiled slightly at Charlie.

The older girl pulled her in for a huge hug and Erica could hear her laugh lightly in her ear. "I know you're nervous but everything will be fine. Its just Jack. Everything will go smoothly once you see him. It was the same thing that happened with my sister-in-law when she got married. She told me that nothing else mattered once you saw him smiling at you. And I'm going to be right there next to you the whole way. I won't let anything happen."

"Thank you Charlie, for everything."

Charlie gave her one last squeeze before they let go of their embrace and Erica turned to face the mirror once more. There was only seconds left before they needed to be at the church doors and Erica watched as Charlie took her turn at the mirror and smoothed down her knee-length plum halter dress she had picked out for being maid of honor. She and Jack had decided to keep the wedding party small, even though they knew a lot of people to fill in the spots, and only had Alex and Charlie standing up for them. But that was all they needed. After all, Jack and Alex were best friends and Alex was the one to tell Jack to put all his previous worries of past relationships aside and ask Erica out. So naturally he was going to be picked as best man. And Charlie was of course her future husbands best friends girlfriend, at the time they met at least. But Erica had never imagined that they would become as close as they had. She could truly call Charlie her best friend. Even before she moved to Baltimore she had never trusted anyone as much as she did Jack and Charlie so when it came time to pick the wedding party, Charlie was a clear choice.

Charlie gave her an encouraging nod and then walked to the door and opened it. The hallway outside was empty and Erica took a deep breath and slipped on her heels before taking a steps forward, preparing herself for what was ahead. She was even more nervous than she had been before and kept repeating what Charlie had told her over and over in her head with each step.

Nothing else will matter once you see him.

The closed doors that led into the church came into view and the only sound was of her heels clicking against the floor as she made her way toward them. This was it. The moment she had been waiting for for so long. Just behind the doors was Jack and then all her worries would go away. Charlie gave her one last hug as the wedding march sounded in the church and the doors opened. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to settle the butterflies in her stomach before she opened them again. The first thing she saw as her eyes opened and she took the first step down the aisle with Charlie standing next to her, arms linked, was Jack.

After that, everything else melted away.

It was only she and him, looking at each other with nervous smiles as she continued down towards him. He looked dashing in his traditional black tux and bow-tie and briefly wondered who had tied it for him since he always managed to screw it up. But that thought quickly flew from her mind as she reached the end of the aisle and Charlie let go of her arm and Jack stepped forward to take her hand.

"Hi," he whispered.

"Hi,"

"You look beautiful,"

All she could do was blush as he led her up the steps towards the pastor and stood in front of him as he greeted everyone and let them be seated.he began talking, but she couldn't focus on anything. She couldn't believe she was there at that moment, standing next to the most perfect man in the world and about to be announced as the new Mrs. Erica Barakat. It was still a shock to even think about.

"And now the bride and groom have decided to say their own vows, Jack, you may go first."

Jack cleared his throat and took each of Erica's hands in his. "Eri, I its been a crazy ride so far, and I can't wait to see what else the future has to offer us. I knew you were the one as soon as I saw you standing in that aisle at the grocery store. You seemed so different from anyone I had ever met before I even went to talk to you. But as soon as you turned and gave me that look as I gave you that cocky comment and you just rolled your eyes and turned to ignore me, I knew you were the one. We're just starting a new adventure, but I'm glad you're the one who's coming along with me. I know we'll have good times and bad, we already have. But we got through them, and I know we'll continue to overcome them, because I love you. And I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. I promise to be your everything, and love you no matter what."

He smiled shyly and slipped the ring on her finger and gave her hand a squeeze after. There was no denying that Erica was crying. He was so sweet and adorable and she felt like she had just fell in love with him a thousand times more. She knew that she had made the right decision on letting him in and allowing her walls to break down. It wasn't a easy thing for her to do, but she did. For Jack.

"Jack, I love you so much. I thought that when I moved I would never allow myself to fall in love again, but you changed my mind. You fixed me, you made me realize that even though the past does hurt, that it doesn't always have to stick with you. That if you're willing, you can let it go and move on to brighter things. You're my brighter thing. I wouldn't be who I am today without you in my life. And I can never thank you enough for that. You are my rock, my everything, and I will love you forever and am so glad to begin this journey with you. I know that whatever may come our way, as long as I have you, nothing else matters and we can get through anything."

Jack sniffled, holding his hand out and she slipping his ring on his finger. She couldn't help but laugh lightly as she saw a tear escape and never expected him to cry. She had only seen him cry a handful of times, and never thought that he would cry during their wedding. She had thought he would be bouncing off the walls, unable to stand still until they were pronounced husband and wife and were walking down the aisle together. But even after all these years he still managed to surprise her.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may now kiss the bride!"

Before she could even think to move, arms were around her, pulling her close and kissing her with more passion than she had even thought possible.

After they parted, not wanting to make it a full make out session, everyone in the room clapped. She met Charlie's eye next to her and gave a small smile in thanks for the pep-talk she gave before the wedding. And she had been right, everything was fine. Everything was better than fine. It was perfect.

They walked down the aisle, first steps as husband and wife. The doors to the church was already open and they walked through and stopped a few feet down and saw Charlie and Alex making their way towards them. Charlie got to her first and pulled her in for a huge hug once again.

"You did it! You survived! I'm so happy for you guys!" The older girl all but yelled as she finally let her go. Alex and Jack also parted from their hug. Which was actually a legit hug not one of those 'bro hugs' that guys usually gave each other.

"Congrats Erica, I'm so glad you finally did it! We've been waiting for you to get married for forever."

"Yeah now you two need to get your asses moving! Charlie and I planned on having babies at the same time and need you to get married so it can happen soon." Erica teased, finally being able to give payback for all the teasing she shad received the last few days.

Charlie's blush was hilarious and all three of them smiled as Alex pulled her to his chest. "So you want to make babies!?"

"Oh my God, I hate you," she muttered, looking at Erica with a glare.

"Hey! You can't hate me! I just got married! You need to be nice to me on my special day."

"Whatever princess, why don't you stop talking to greet your guests like a good little bride." Charlie teased as she and Alex moved out of the way so the line forming behind them could congratulate the couple.

---

"Alright everyone, it's now time for the newlyweds to have their first dance as a married couple." The DJ announced.

Erica turned to see Jack already standing beside her, hand reaching to help her up and she took it gently and allowed him to guide her to the dance floor. The music started as they took their positions, facing each other, and taking the first steps. She could feel everyones eyes on her but she didn't care, all she as focused on was the man in front of her, holding her close and leading her around the floor. It still felt like a dream, being there, in her dream dress, with the most perfect man in the world. She was just waiting for her alarm to wake her up and she look around to see she was in her old apartment back in Texas. But its been nearly four years and either this was the longest dream she had ever had or it was actually real.

And she was leaning more towards it being real since the lips touching hers as soon as the music ended felt more real than anything else. There was more clapping and cheering, and some shouting, which she expected was coming from Alex, Charlie, the rest of the band and crew, and Jacks siblings. The crazy bunch she called her friends. But she wouldn't give them up for anything in the world.

The floor was opened to everyone as a upbeat song came on and Jack pulled her close to continue dancing as more people joined them. She laughed as she saw Alex and Charlie doing some weird moves that they called dancing while also finding Flyzik talking to the DJ. Probably requesting bunch of Disney songs to annoy everyone with.

After a few more dances, Erica finally persuaded Jack off the dance floor after that interesting dance he just did with Alex. They needed to go and actually socialize with more people than just their friends and close family and thank everyone for coming. But in doing that, it also meant that it was one more step closer to having some alone time together and going on their honeymoon. Erica loved everyone who was there, but she was looking forward to time with Jack too and was excited and nervous for their honeymoon.

---

They covered themselves from the falling rice that everyone was throwing in the air as they walked between the two lines of people that had formed as they headed out to their car. It was already packed with their bags for their honeymoon and so they just had to survive all the yelling people and get into the car and go spend their first night as a married couple together alone.

At the end of the line stood Charlie and Alex with the rest if the band, Jacks siblings and parents there behind them. Erica smile widened as soon as she saw the other girl and pulled her in for a huge hug as Jack did the same for Alex.

"Thank you for everything," Erica whispered to her friend. "You are amazing."

Charlie rolled her eyes as they finally let go of each other, knowing the boys would start making fun of them. "Oh please, its not a big deal. I'm just glad that you two finally tied the knot, you took long enough to get engaged as it was. At least the engagement didn't last as long as you dating did."

"Hey! You will never let that go will you!?" Jack asked as he grabbed Charlie and started to tickle her and make her squeal and struggle to get out of his grip.

"Jack can you let my girl go so she doesn't die before we get married?" Alex asked.

Jack snorted, "Yeah whenever that will be. You two always complain that we took too long but you two got engaged before we did even though you didn't tell anyone that you were until weeks after we got engaged."

"Hey! We didn't want to steal anyones happiness. It was right before Rian got married and we didn't want to spoil that and then you guys announced you were engaged. Besides we were ok with keeping it to ourselves for a while before everyone found out and went nuts and overbearing like usual." Alex replied, pulling his girl closer and wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.

Erica playfully rolled her eyes as she watched the other couple. "So you wait until nearly a month after our engagement to say that you've been engaged for two months."

"It was only a month and a half at the most, don't be dramatic."

Alex rolled his eyes and smack Jack lightly upside the head. "Ok, our engagement aside, aren't you two supposed to be somewhere in a hour?"

"Or right, sex! I can't believe I nearly forgot about that." Jack said making Erica blush and everyone else laugh.

"You're impossible," she mumbled as Jack just pulled her close and kissed her cheek. "And who says I'm even having sex with you tonight!?"

Her husband fake gasped, wearing a shocked expression. "You wouldn't!"

"You really want to see if I will or not?"

"No,"

"Then stop embarrassing me and say bye to everyone, I want to spend the rest of the night with my husband."

"Having sex!?" Jack asked happily.

"Maybe,"

She got a pout in return but she ignored him in favor of saying bye to everyone. They left the goodbyes to Charlie and Alex for last, whispering another thanks to them. Which they just waved off and told them to get going and go have fun spending their first night as a married couple.

They waved to everyone once more before Jack opened the door for Erica and helped her get her dress inside before gently closing the door. He got in also and then put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb heading to wherever they were going. He still hadn't told her what he planned for their honeymoon even though he knew that she hated surprises. They were both quiet as he drove, both of them thinking about the day so far and about their future. And Erica might have also been thinking about where exactly Jack was taking her.

As Jack stopped the car at a red light, he reached over and laced his fingers with hers and smiled shyly. "I love you Mrs. Barakat,"

"I love you too Mr. Barakat, until the day after forever."