Emmanuel went with River the next day to meet with Jae and his team to check the house out. Nothing seemed to be missing from what River could tell, and they didn't find anything dangerous or left behind in the rooms that had been ransacked. River was glad to see that the basement had been left alone, but he hadn't let Jae come down with him. Jae raised an eyebrow at that but River just explained it was kink stuff and didn't want to talk further on that with a colleague.
Once they were sure the house was safe, River and Emmanuel worked on cleaning the place up and putting it back in order.
Around that same time at work, Jae and River were throwing ideas at each other. Jae hadn't realized that the saliva and hair had come back different from each other, and it raised a lot of questions about why two people might be working together like this. Jae commented on it being odd that two men would team up like this, as usually when two people get together to commit a crime like this, it's a man and woman who are romantically involved.
"Maybe they were?" River pointed out, slightly uncertain. "Romantic. We can't say for certain right now, though their...sexual tastes might rule each other out as a sexual partner."
"Pedophiles still do have sex with other adults," Jae pointed out. "They usually have trouble with erections and such though. So, if they have a relationship with an adult, it's usually fraught with sexual dysfunction. I'm almost positive they weren't romantically involved if at least one of their tastes is for little girls. Though...if one of them likes little girls, we can't rule out the idea that the second person might have had his eyes set on one of the other children. It might have just worked out that they could only grab her."
River's mind shifted to Vinny, not sure how he felt about all of this. He knew he'd have to find a way to get a DNA swab from Vinny, but he also knew asking for it would insult him.
Then his mind was occupied with other work and the wedding for the next two months. They had a whole night out playing games, drinking, and being rowdy for the bachelor party. River was glued to Emmanuel's side most of the time, though Chuck was able to coax him into playing games against him. It turned out River was pretty good at video games, and even better at Dance Dance Revolution, which was fantastic to watch him kick Chuck's ass at.
Krysta was extra bossy during the rehearsal, but she was in a better mood once they got to the dinner. They had a relaxed night of talking and eating, and then went off to get sleep for the wedding. River and Emmanuel didn't have sex that night so that River's back wouldn't be achy the next day. It was always a good ache, a reminder that he had been used the night before, but they knew better than to go hard right before an event like this. So they each used their mouths and hands to get the other off and then fell asleep together.
Chuck was a ball of nerves the next day when they got to the venue to get ready, not wanting anything to go badly because he wanted the day to be perfect for Krysta. River immediately went into best friend and best man mode, doing what he could to take the stress off of Chuck.
"You have us, so use us as you need to," River told Chuck. "If I need to go and tell the event coordinator things, or go and set something up, or take something to the bridesmaids, we can do that. All you need to do today is relax and enjoy, okay?"
Chuck smiled at River. "You're the best."
"You're right, I am," River agreed, which earned the chuckle he had hoped it would. Emmanuel managed to stay out of the way for the most part, only really getting involved in anything to help River. His sister hadn't really had much to say to him after the mending of the friendship between River and Chuck.
Once Chuck had gone down to stand at the front of the church, Krysta came out every bit the vision of beauty in white lace. Her blonde hair was half pulled up in an intricate bun that held her veil in place. She made sure that everyone was ready in the order they would walk out in while people continued to go into the venue, but she stopped to give each of her brothers hugs since she had missed them earlier in the day.
"I made sure to seat you and River next to each other at the head table," Krysta whispered to Emmanuel when she got to him.
Emmanuel smiled warmly and whispered back, "Well, we'll try not to do that there! You look angelic today!"
Krysta laughed when she got his joke about the head table. She straightened his tie on the tuxedo, making sure it looked perfect before fiddling with his boutonniere. "You clean up nicely yourself."
They talked in low voices for a little longer before Mr. Long came over to take Krysta's arm so he could walk her down the aisle. He gave his foster son a pat on the shoulder in greeting before River told everyone to get ready as the music changed. River made sure everyone was in line correctly before he gave Krysta a nod of the head and walked up to his own spot by the maid of honor. He gave Emmanuel a wink as he went, then took the arm of the maid of honor like he was supposed to.
The ceremony was beautiful, and Chuck teared up as soon as he saw Krysta walk down the aisle. Luckily, River had thought ahead and had a handkerchief for him to use to wipe his eyes with. By the time the vows were done, there was barely a dry eye in the church.
River wasn't able to look at Emmanuel because of where they were standing in relation to each other, but the vows made him a little wistful as he thought of their relationship. He had come to the conclusion a while ago that he probably wouldn't get married, mostly because his choices in crushes and partners kind of sucked. With Emmanuel though, everything seemed to be changing. He felt more secure in what they had going on, and he was starting to see things that could be rather than just what was.
Emmanuel was passively enjoying the ceremony and actively appreciating watching River be butch today. He was beginning to recognize the feelings growing inside himself and they terrified him a bit. The last time he had loved anyone, things had ended painfully and he had vowed not to get that entwined with anyone again, but he just couldn't help it with River.
After the ceremony, everyone who wasn't in photos went off to the cocktail hour while the others stayed for the posed photos. River was accustomed to posed photos thanks to his family, but he found photos were a lot more fun when he was next to Emmanuel. He stood next to the maid of honor for the big group photos, but when it was just the groomsmen, River inevitably ended up next to Emmanuel.
Once the photos were done, they made their way to the hotel where the reception was being held in the ballroom. After the bridal party was announced and at their seats, the bride and groom were announced to a standing ovation. River slipped away from the table to whisper to the DJ for a moment, who gave a nod like he had been ready for this. River took the microphone once the bride and groom had sat down, and both of them looked a little surprised to see River standing there with it, like they weren't sure what he was doing.
"Good evening, everyone, and thank you so much for being here to celebrate the bride and groom tonight," River said with a sly smile. "Speeches aren't quite yet, which is why the bride is looking at me like I'm about to steal her spotlight. Chuck asked me a while ago about something, but I told him I wasn't sure if I could pull it off. Well, Chuck, I did."
Chuck's face immediately lit up at that and he grabbed Krysta's hand to look at her with an excited expression, though Krysta still looked confused. River only let that confusion last for a tiny bit longer before he said, "In honor of love and friendship, I am very happy to introduce one of my best friends, Trevor Lars, together with his co-star from Extracurricular, Keri Hart, to sing a medley of love songs for the blessed couple."
At that, Krysta turned to look at River in surprised awe. He gave her a quick grin before he handed the microphone back to the DJ and went back to his seat to watch the show. Chuck had asked him a while ago if he could talk Trevor into doing this. Trevor and his husband Alex had been invited to the wedding, of course, but getting him to perform was a much different thing than just attending. Trevor was usually pretty clear that he wasn't party entertainment, since he was well known now and quite the star.
Still, for his small group of close friends, he'd go out of his comfort zone if they asked him to, and River had asked. So Trevor came out in a dark blue suit with a sapphire vest while Keri came out in a blue velvet gown. They performed a romantic mix of music from The Greatest Showman, which was one of Krysta's favorite movies. The performance was masterful, and the two of them had so much chemistry together as they sang the songs, interspersing dancing where they had practiced. It was pretty simple choreography but it worked perfectly and it was something Trevor could do even after his injury.
When they finished, with Keri in a dramatic dip that Trevor held up, everyone in the ballroom jumped to their feet to applaud. Theo caught River's eye from across the room and gave a nod. Both of them had recorded the performance so Trevor could do his social media thing. It was part of the deal when Trevor said he would ask Keri to help him with this.
Chuck came up and gave Trevor a hug, thanking him for the performance. Trevor happily gave Krysta a hug as well, telling her congratulations. River grinned when Chuck made his way over to him, a bright smile on his face as he said, "You sneaky little ass."
River gave a shrug, though it was mostly for show. He laughed as Chuck hugged him and thanked him for talking Trevor into it. Krysta gave him a hug too, a genuine one, and a kiss on the cheek, which was a first for River in his relationship with her. They'd always had a vaguely distant friendly vibe between them, but not close. Definitely not close enough to hug, but he rolled with it, telling her he was so glad she liked the surprise. Even Krysta's parents came over to thank River for making their daughter's night, which was a great feeling and awkward because it was also, technically, his boyfriend's parents too, and he wasn't sure if they knew that yet.
While they were talking, Emmanuel slipped up behind River and twined his fingers through River's. His parents looked briefly at their connected hands and went smoothly back to the conversation as if nothing untoward had happened. At some point, they made their excuses to go find a close vantage point for the cake cutting that was scheduled to happen soon.
