Pulse

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"What do you mean when you say that you have butterflies in your stomach?" 3-year-old Piper asked, picking at the flower crown on her head, so much so that several once-plump roses had started looking pathetically bald.

"I mean. Did you eat them?" she asks again and Siobhan had to physically stop the little one from plucking petals from the top of her head.

"It means...that I'm excited," Siobhan found herself saying. "And nervous," she added, patting down her dress for the thousandth time with one hand, the other holding a bouquet of daisies.

"Pip, it's almost your turn," Siobhan said, directing the wobbly kid towards the entrance of the church.

"You can't eat butterflies!" the little one protested, and her words echoed through the silent congregation, finding their way to Chase right at the front.

He curled his lips into a smile and then laughed, knowing full well what Piper must've meant, his growing adoration for Dylan and Alexie's first child never ceasing.

He turned to look at the happy pair seated in the front row, Alexie clutching her growing belly, second baby on the way, and beaming from ear to ear. She mouthed a "Congratulations" and Chase nodded, his smile now permanently etched on his face.

"You've got this," Chase heard a whisper from behind him and turned to look at the handsome 19-year-old, dressed in a suit that Chase had picked out for him.

It hadn't been an easy recovery for Liam and he spent the first three months in the intensive care unit but Chase was there for him every step of the way, finding him to become an integral part of his life and almost like the little brother he never had the chance to have.

Now in his first year of law school, Liam far exceeded the 10% survival rate his attending doctors had issued him and Chase couldn't have been more proud of the fine man he had the privilege of growing alongside for the past 3 years.

"Did you have butterflies for breakfast too?" Liam laughed when he saw how antsy Chase was and then both of them were silent when Siobhan emerged from behind the doors, glowing in the bohemian wedding dress she got from a thrift store.

Julien and Kelsey were seated along the row behind Dylan and Alexie and this moment was special especially for Julien because of the unbreakable bond he shared with the couple.

Julien remembered the age-old adage and turned to look at the groom, rather than the incoming bride.

Everyone knows how resplendent the bride would be no matter what she wears and how she's done her hair. But the groom's reaction says it all.

Chase began crying in spite of his overwhelming joy and Julien watched as Liam squeezed his brother's shoulder comfortingly.

"You okay?" Kelsey asked when she saw that there were tears in Julien's eyes too. "Yeah," he said, smiling, realizing that he had missed his AA meeting for the first time.

His journey these past 3 years hadn't been an easy one and it was always a constant struggle between the bottle and his freedom but ultimately, he managed to stick it out—sober for 3 years now.

He knew that his journey was far from over and every morning marks a new day to make the right decisions but he also knew that he had good people in his court who acted like anchors, rooting him down whenever the waves of life got far too overwhelming.

And he was looking at two of them now, two of the people in his court, about to start a new journey of their own.

Chase grinned, looking at his bride-to-be as he began saying his vows.

"One thing I know about being a doctor is how you can't plan for that life-threatening illness 8 years down the road or the accident that's about to happen tomorrow. Life happens as it should. And another thing I realized that you can't plan for... is how love finds you. My love found me during my first year of med school, drenched in blood and completely exhausted from a complex neonatal surgery. And my love continued to find me in the darkest, scariest moments of my life but also some of the best moments of my life. Siobhan Ouellet, you've been there with me through these times and I'm excited for you to be with me through it all in this lifetime. With this ring, I take you to be my wife," he said, slipping the ring on her finger.

"No other person I'd rather do life with than this man right here. Stubborn as he is, he's got a heart of gold and he cares for people in a way that I can always continue to learn from. During these past 8 years, we've just had a sliver of what's to come and I'm truly excited for all that life has to offer. Chase-Miles Desjardin, Dr. Smiles, love of my life, with this ring, I take you to be my husband," Siobhan grinned as they were both pronounced man and wife.

Then, the pair looked ahead and saw the people who had been by their side from the beginning. Colleagues who turned into friends, family members who were there every step of the way and friends from different pivotal moments of their lives.

And in that very moment in time, they had everything and they had nothing. They had everything they could possibly need, and nothing, not a single thing was out of place.