"Shouldn't she be here by now?"

Marcus watched in amusement as his fiance looked about ready to jump out of her skin, pacing the area in front of the baggage claim doors. "Babe, her flight just got in – she'll be here in a few minutes," he said calmly, leaning against a nearby wall and crossing his arms.

Logan International Airport was fairly busy at this time of morning, but Morgan ignored Marcus as she gazed over the tops of people's heads, hoping to see her best friend's fiery red hair amongst the masses. "I haven't heard anything from her, though," Morgan said fretfully, wringing her hands together. "She told me she would text me once her plane landed, but she hasn't yet..."

"Then text her and tell her where we are," Marcus said reasonably. Immediately, Morgan whipped out her phone and began to text her friend, and Marcus chuckled, shaking his head to himself.

Marcus knew that Morgan had been in a constant state of nervous excitement all week, both due to her best friend returning from her months-long trip in London, as well as with all the stress of last-minute wedding planning she had been trying to navigate. Marcus tried to help wherever he could, but Morgan and his sister Tish seemed to want to do everything themselves. He was fine with that, since he probably wouldn't know what to do anyway, but it was hard seeing his bride-to-be so stressed out all the time.

While Morgan was busily texting on her phone, Marcus looked past her and noticed Stephanie's red hair walking toward them through the crowd of people. He grinned, pushing himself off the wall.

"Babe, there she is."

"What? Where?" Morgan's face shot up and she immediately scanned the crowd for her best friend. Moments later, Stephanie appeared before them, and the two women shrieked with joy.

"OH MY GOD!"

They immediately embraced while jumping up and down, causing Stephanie's violin case to swing and accidentally knock Morgan in the back. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Stephanie laughed, pulling away slightly so she could tuck her violin under her arm. "I didn't mean to smack you there."

"Oh, that's okay," Morgan brushed off, pulling Stephanie back in for another hug. "It's so good to see you again! I want to hear everything about your trip to London!"

"I'll be sure to tell you everything," Stephanie laughed, squeezing her friend back. "You know, yours is the first American accent I've heard in months, apart from myself. I was almost afraid I was going to come back sounding British!"

"You should be so lucky."

An unfamiliar British voice spoke up from behind Stephanie, and Morgan pulled away to see a good-looking guy approach them, smiling. He was carrying a suitcase in his hand as he moved up to stand beside Stephanie, looking down at her with an affectionate expression on his face. Morgan felt momentarily stunned.

"Um... Steph, who's this?" she said, glancing between the two with raised eyebrows.

Stephanie smiled and seemed to blush as she looked at the man beside her. "Morgan, Marcus... this is Kyle. Kyle, these are my friends who are getting married later this week."

"It's a pleasure to meet the two of you," Kyle said kindly, reaching forward and shaking Morgan's hand before shaking Marcus's. "Congratulations on your approaching nuptials."

"Thank you. It's a pleasure to meet you too," Morgan said, giving Stephanie a sly smile. "I'm so sorry, Stephanie didn't mention she met a guy in London who was coming back with her to America."

"You mustn't blame her. I sort of decided to surprise her at the airport," Kyle explained, grinning down at Stephanie beside him. "Thankfully, she agreed to let me be her plus-one for your wedding next week."

"Of course - you're more than welcome to come for the wedding with Steph," Morgan smiled at him. "I'm looking forward to getting to know you... and also grilling Stephanie for not telling me about you while she was in London."

Stephanie and Kyle both laughed as Marcus checked his watch, moving over to Morgan. "Babe, we have to meet with the planner in an hour."

"Oh right. Sorry guys, we can't really stay too long to chat," Morgan said, smiling at her fiance before turning back to Stephanie and Kyle. "We just came to pick Stephanie up from the airport and drop her off at my old apartment before we went and grabbed dinner later. But I suppose both of you could stay there for the time being."

Stephanie blinked, surprised. "I'm sorry, what? Your old apartment?"

"That's right," Morgan said, smiling brightly. "I figured since you sold your condo before leaving for London, you needed a place to stay for the time being. Marcus and I are currently living at his apartment, and I still have the lease for my old place. I figured why let it go to waste?"

Stephanie stared at her friend for a moment before a smile broke out across her face. "That would be perfect, actually. But are you sure? I was just planning on staying with my mom for a bit until I was able to find a place of my own..."

"Oh please, it's no trouble at all," Morgan waved off, grinning. "And it's even better now since Kyle's with you. It's probably better that you guys don't stay with your mother, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I doubt your mum would fancy a stranger staying at her home with her beloved daughter, Steph," Kyle said fairly. Stephanie giggled.

"Good point. Thank you, Morgan – I think we'll take you up on your offer of staying at your apartment."

"Awesome," Morgan nodded with a grin. "Now let's get a move on. Marcus and I need to get going, and we want to beat the traffic."

"Aye aye, captain," Stephanie giggled.

With that, the four of them gathered up Stephanie and Kyle's luggage before heading out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fortunately, Morgan's old apartment happened to be in the same complex as Marcus's, and they were able to get all the luggage upstairs into her place pretty quickly. Morgan and Marcus had to leave soon to meet with their wedding planner, but promised to meet Stephanie and Kyle at a nearby restaurant for dinner later that evening.

"We got reservations at Vicaria for 6 o'clock," Morgan said to them as she and Marcus began making their way out the door. "It was originally going to be for three people, but I can call and ask if we could change it to four."

"Oh no, that's alright," Kyle said quickly. "You don't have to change your plans on my account. The three of you probably want to catch up with each other anyway after all these months apart."

"Oh please, it's no trouble," Morgan waved off, smiling. "This'll actually be a great opportunity for Marcus and I to get to know the new man in Steph's life."

Stephanie blushed before glancing over at Kyle, who smiled back at her. "I suppose that'll be alright," she said, smirking.

"I promise to go easy on him," Morgan grinned, but the next moment her smile faded. "Kyle, I don't know if Steph told you about...well... her reasons for going to London in the first place?"

"Babe," Marcus said, a warning tone to his voice.

"Yes, I told him all about Leon," Stephanie acceded. "He's aware of everything that happened between us."

"And I will endeavor to do everything in my power to make sure Stephanie knows I would never do what he did to her," Kyle said firmly, walking over and slipping his hand around Stephanie's waist. They smiled at each other, Stephanie's heart pounding in her chest.

"I'm glad to hear it," Morgan said with a sincere grin. "But seriously Steph – I think you should know I've been hearing through the grapevine that Leon has been telling people he's planning on coming to our wedding."

Stephanie's heart dropped, and dread immediately clenched at her stomach. "What? But he doesn't have an invite."

"He could technically come if he's someone's plus-one," Marcus pointed out. "I don't know who on earth would want to bring him, but Morgan and I will make sure he doesn't get anywhere near the venue."

Stephanie didn't say anything, though she suddenly felt sick to her stomach at the idea of Leon coming to her best friend's wedding. Why on earth would he do that, if not to try to cause a scene? Perhaps he was going to grovel at her feet and beg her to take him back? The idea of it both sickened and pissed her off.

Kyle tightened his arm around her waist, as if reassuring her everything would be okay, and Stephanie felt a bit calmed by his presence by her side.

"Thanks for letting me know," Stephanie said to Morgan. "And thank you for taking measures to make sure Leon doesn't crash your wedding, but I think I'll be okay."

"Let him try something," Kyle said firmly, pulling Stephanie closer to him and looking over at her. "I won't let him come near you, Steph. I promise."

Stephanie felt both amused and touched by his protectiveness, and she couldn't help but smile lovingly at him. "My hero," she teased affectionately. Kyle chuckled, leaning forward to kiss the tip of her nose.

"Always."

"Marcus and I need to get going," Morgan said amusedly, watching them. "We'll leave you two lovebirds alone. See you later tonight for dinner?"

Kyle and Stephanie both agreed, and Morgan and Marcus said goodbye before heading out the door. Once they were gone, Stephanie and Kyle looked at each other.

"Not even two hours back in America, and I already have to deal with my ex-boyfriend," Stephanie sighed, shaking her head. "I'm sorry you have to deal with all this garbage so soon."

"Hey, it's not your fault," Kyle said comfortingly, pulling her in for a hug. Stephanie willingly went into his arms, wrapping her own arms around his waist. "And for now, we can take comfort that it's just a rumor. He may not even end up being an issue."

"Yeah, I hope you're right," Stephanie said, feeling slightly comforted by that thought. She rested her forehead against Kyle's shoulder as he gently rubbed her back with his hand.

"Did you want to go unpack our things now?" he asked quietly after a few moments. Stephanie pulled away to look up at him.

"I actually had something else in mind," she said, a small suggestive smile on her face.

Kyle stared at her with wide eyes, realizing what she meant. "Right now?" he asked, trying but failing to hide his excitement. Stephanie giggled, nodding.

"Yes."

"But... is your friend okay with that?" he asked, suddenly looking a bit unsure as he glanced toward the bedroom. "On her bed?"

"It's either that or on the couch," Stephanie grinned, and she grasped his lapels in her hands before pulling him in for a deep kiss.

Kyle immediately kissed her back with an equal amount of ardor, both of them clearly happy to finally be back at this point in their relationship after so many weeks apart. Kyle didn't hesitate to pick Stephanie up in his arms and carry her into the bedroom, kicking the door closed behind them once inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kyle and Stephanie spent most of the day together in the bedroom, getting reacquainted between the sheets, but also succumbing to jetlag and falling asleep for several hours after their activities. They woke up about two hours before they were supposed to meet up with Morgan and Marcus, so they were able to unpack some of their luggage before showering and changing for dinner.

Morgan and Marcus were going straight to the restaurant, so Kyle and Stephanie ended up taking an Uber there since Stephanie's car was still with her mom. Neither of them minded as they sat together in the back of the Uber, cuddling and kissing like a couple of high school sweethearts. Stephanie felt a bit embarrassed at first, since the Uber driver was probably watching them right now, but she was able to push it out of her mind. She didn't know how much time she was going to get to spend with Kyle after the wedding was over, so she was going to savor every moment she got to have with him.

The Uber pulled up to Vicaria, and Stephanie saw Morgan and Marcus waiting for them near the front doors. Kyle stepped out of the Uber first and stood there politely holding out his hand for Stephanie to take. She couldn't help but blush and smile as she took his hand and helped her step out of the car, as if she were a member of the royal family. She stood before him and smiled.

"Why, thank you Mr. Lancaster," she said, and Kyle gave her a radiant smile that made her heart pound.

"You're very welcome, Miss Ryan," he said respectfully, bringing her hand up and kissing her knuckles like a gentleman. Stephanie couldn't help but giggle.

"Oh my God, Kyle Lancaster!"

Stephanie and Kyle both looked over to see several young people on the sidewalk stopping to stare excitedly at Kyle. One of the girls in the group clasped a hand over her mouth and bounced up and down on her feet.

"Kyle Lancaster, we are such big fans!" one of the guys in the group said excitedly to Kyle. "We go to Berklee and we study your performances all the time! Can we please get a picture with you – nobody at school is gonna believe it!"

Kyle smiled kindly at them. "Yeah, of course you can have a picture."

Stephanie agreed to take the picture for them, and they spent the next minute or so posing for several shots of the whole group. Stephanie ended up taking several pictures with all the students' phones, and Kyle graciously said goodbye to them all before he and Stephanie were finally able to join Morgan and Marcus at the door.

"Hey guys," Stephanie grinned at them. Morgan and Marcus, who had clearly witnessed everything that had just happened with the students, were both gaping at Kyle in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, did I miss something?" Morgan sputtered out, glancing between Stephanie and Kyle. "Who exactly are you, Kyle?"

Stephanie, amused, smiled proudly. "Didn't I tell you? Kyle is one of the most famous concert pianists in the world. He's the one who I performed with on that BBC Instagram video."

Marcus sputtered out an incredulous laugh. "Uh, no. You didn't mention that little fact."

"You have a lot of explaining to do at dinner," Morgan pointed at Stephanie. "C'mon, let's go inside. I don't want to be late... even though we apparently have a celebrity in our midst."

Smiling in amusement, Stephanie and Kyle followed her and Marcus into the restaurant.