Dinner with Morgan, Marcus, and Kyle was nothing short of wonderful, Stephanie couldn't help but think. Understandably, Morgan had about a million questions for Kyle about who he was exactly, considering how she had just witnessed him practically getting mobbed by fans in front of the restaurant. Kyle explained (rather modestly, in Stephanie's opinion) what it was he did for a living and why some people may recognize him on occasion. Morgan seemed fascinated by that, and she continued to question Kyle about his work while they waited for their food.

"So you became famous just from playing classical music?" Morgan asked for about the sixth time, idly stirring her glass of water with her straw as her eyes stayed trained on Kyle. She shook her head incredulously. "I'm sorry, but that just seems so crazy to me."

"Yeah, I s'pose it is. Although it's really only musicians and music students who recognize me," Kyle said fairly. "For the most part, I can operate in the world pretty normally."

"Do you think that the BBC special being made about you is going to increase your fame to the general public at all?" Marcus asked curiously.

"I don't know. I haven't really thought about it," Kyle said, frowning pensively before looking over at Stephanie.

"It's definitely going to make me more famous, that much I know," Stephanie humorously. The others laughed.

"That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest," Kyle smiled warmly at her. "You played fantastically, Steph."

"I know I'm not a musician or anything, but I agree that your violin playing in that video was better than I'd ever heard it before," Morgan said earnestly, and Stephanie couldn't help but blush and smile. "Actually, Marcus and I were wondering..." Morgan glanced over at Marcus, who smiled and nodded at her. "We were wondering if you would like to play something at our wedding reception?"

Stephanie stared at her friend, her eyes wide. "Are you serious?"

"We are," Marcus confirmed with a wide smile. "We have a live band setup for the reception, but we think it would be really special if you played a song for all of us. That is, only if you want to."

Stephanie felt herself tear up slightly as she smiled. "I would be honored to play a song for you guys," she said sincerely. To her embarrassment, she felt tears fill her eyes as she let out a sniffle, and she giggled slightly, wiping her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm getting all emotional here."

The others laughed. "Aw Steph, it'll be alright," Morgan smiled indulgently, reaching over to take Stephanie's hand in her own and squeezing it. "Save your tears for the wedding next week. That way you won't be the only one crying... I promise, I'm going to be an absolute fire hose that day."

The others laughed, and soon the waiter arrived with their dinner. They then spent the rest of the evening eating their delicious food while talking about the wedding and what still needed to be done before the big day.

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

The rest of the week passed by in a blur. While most of the details of the wedding were already planned out, there was still a lot of coordinating, decorating, and setting up to do at the reception hall, which was a beautiful country club near the Massachusetts Bay Harbor. Stephanie, Marcus's sister Tish, and Morgan's sister-in-law Jess were her only bridesmaids for the wedding, so their help was necessary to get everything set up. However, Jess was going to be staying in New York with her husband (Morgan's brother) Aiden until the day before the wedding due to the fact she was eight months' pregnant and not allowed to move around that much. Morgan had been understanding about it, but Stephanie couldn't help but feel bad for her since she was clearly very stressed out trying to get everything ready in time. Stephanie and Tish did their best to help out wherever they could, but most of the time it didn't feel like enough.

Kyle, at least, was a wonderful help throughout the week. He understood that Stephanie couldn't spend time with him every minute of every day due to her demanding bridesmaid duties, so he made himself useful whenever he could. He ran errands, picked up decorations, even helped out Marcus with a tux fitting, and bought himself a nice suit for the wedding at the tailor's while he was at it. Morgan constantly expressed throughout the week to Kyle how thankful she was for him and his help, and Stephanie couldn't help but fall for him more and more after seeing how kind and considerate he was.

And at night, when the two of them could finally be alone together, Stephanie could show him how much he meant to her.

In addition to all the planning, Stephanie was beginning to prepare what violin piece she was going to play at the reception. She had a large repertoire of music she brought back from London (a large amount of it gifted from Lydia), and she sifted through countless pieces of music, trying to find the perfect one. She debated on a classical piece, which would undoubtedly sound more impressive than a contemporary one, although she wondered if people would think it was a bit pretentious. A contemporary song might have been more of a crowd-pleaser, but the music for it was often very simple, and Stephanie wanted to play something a bit more challenging for her best friend's wedding. It was all becoming a bit frustrating.

"...Well, that certainly is a problem," Kyle said amusedly to Stephanie as he watched her sit in the middle of the living room, surrounded by her music. It was the night before the wedding, and Stephanie was stressfully sorting through all the sheet music she had, hoping the piece she would play would jump out at her. "Perhaps you could pick a piece out of a hat?"

"This isn't funny, Kyle," Stephanie grumbled, flipping through a nearby Shostakovich piece. "I honestly don't know what to play, and I only have tonight to practice! I have a million things to do tomorrow before the wedding, and I want to be able to be there for Morgan, and I also want to perform my piece well, and so I'm really stressing out about all of this...!"

"Steph, it'll all be okay," Kyle said soothingly, moving over to her with two mugs of tea in his hands, and he handed her one. "Here, have some tea and relax."

Acquiescing, Stephanie took the mug from him and took a sip of the warm liquid. She took a few deep, soothing breaths, and after a few seconds she began to feel a bit calmer.

"Now, I'm going to pick out a piece of music, and that's what you're going to play tomorrow." Kyle stated definitively.

Stephanie whipped her head to look at him. "Wait, what? Kyle, I don't –"

"It'll be fine Steph," Kyle insisted. "You're overthinking this – you're never going to pick out a piece to play when you're this stressed out. You need to just close your eyes and allow me to make this one decision for you so you can stop torturing yourself about it. I'll find the piece you're going to play and then you can focus on other things. Sound good?"

Stephanie hesitated for a moment before finally letting out a sigh, obediently closing her eyes. "Alright."

Stephanie kept her eyes closed for what felt like a very long time, so long that she was starting to wonder if Kyle had left, but she could vaguely hear him shifting some of the papers around. She decided to take some deep breaths and sip her tea while she waited for him to choose, and she did actually feel herself relax a bit.

"...Here you go," Kyle said after what felt like ten minutes. Stephanie blinked open her eyes and took the music he handed her.

"All of Me by John Legend?" she asked incredulously, glancing over the sheet music before looking back up at him. "Seriously?"

"What, did you expect me to pick something classical?" Kyle asked amusedly. "All of Me is a very romantic song, and it would be a perfect piece to play on the violin at a wedding. Morgan and Marcus are sure to love it."

Stephanie grimaced slightly. "I guess so. I s'pose I was just hoping for something a bit more challenging."

"You'll have plenty of opportunities to showcase your talents in the future," Kyle said with a humorous smile, shifting over so he could slip his arm around Stephanie's waist. She laid her head on his shoulder. "But tomorrow should be about Morgan and Marcus. I think they'd really like it if you played this piece for them."

"Will you play piano accompaniment?" Stephanie asked, shifting her head so she was looking up at his face. "I think this piece would sound even more beautiful if you were playing with me."

Kyle chuckled, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'd be honored, sweetheart."

Stephanie smiled back, and for the first time in days, she felt truly at peace with the world

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

The day of the wedding had finally arrived, and everything seemed to be going smoothly.

So far.

"Marcus's family just arrived at the church, and everybody seems to be getting in their seats," Jess entered the side room where Morgan, Stephanie, and Tish were waiting. After a hectic morning of getting everything ready for the wedding, the big moment was finally here, and the ceremony was about to start any minute now. "Aiden's going to come by to let us know we can start, and then he's going to walk you down the aisle, Morgan."

"Are you sure there's nothing I'm forgetting?" Morgan asked fretfully, pacing the length of the small backroom in her beautiful beaded lace wedding dress. "The flowers? The runner? Does everyone remember the order we walked down the aisle for the rehearsals?"

Morgan's dress

"Everything is ready, Morgan," Tish said soothingly, placing her hand on her arm. "I think you're just nervous."

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Morgan said agitatedly, picking up a tissue and lightly dabbing at her forehead. "There's just so many people out there... I'm afraid I'm going to trip over my feet or something while I'm walking down the aisle."

"Just focus on Marcus at the altar and everything will be fine," Stephanie said assuredly. "All you have to do is walk up to him, stand there, and repeat whatever the minister tells you."

"God, I forgot I had to speak," Morgan groaned. "Why didn't Marcus and I just go to the courthouse like you and Aiden did, Jess?"

"Because I was already five months pregnant," Jess said humorously, running her hand over her swollen belly. "You don't really have that excuse."

"True," Morgan agreed. At that moment, someone knocked on the door and Aiden poked his head inside.

"It's time, sis," he said, and he looked over her entire ensemble before smiling widely. "Wow. You really look beautiful."

"Oh God, please don't. You're going to make me cry," Morgan said, her eyes immediately filling with tears. Tish, Jess, and Stephanie immediately went to her, giving her a big group hug. The four women all held each other for a few moments, chuckling emotionally.

"You're gonna do great, Morgan," Stephanie said confidently as they all finally pulled away. "We'll see you out there."

"Okay," Morgan took a deep breath, quickly wiping a finger underneath her eye. "Let's go."

All of them made their way to the narthex of the church, where the groomsmen were all waiting for them. Morgan hung back with Aiden as Pachelbel's Canon in D began to play on the organ, and Stephanie lined up with the groomsman she was walking with, who was one of Marcus's cousins. Tish and her groomsman walked ahead of them, and Stephanie and the cousin began to walk down the aisle together.

The church was packed, and Stephanie felt all eyes on her and the groomsman as they walked. Immediately, Stephanie noticed Kyle sitting in one of the front pews, looking at her with a wide smile on his handsome face. He winked at her, and Stephanie couldn't help but blush and smile back – he really did look handsome in his new suit, and she couldn't wait to spend time with him at the reception after the ceremony.

Stephanie noticed someone else out of the corner of her eye, however, and she glanced over at them, her smile immediately sliding off her face.

A man sat relatively alone on the far end of one of the pews, barely noticeable. But Stephanie noticed him, and while he had grown a beard since she had last seen him, his reddish blonde hair and blue eyes were unmistakable.

Leon was at the wedding.