"I can't believe you made me breakfast on your wedding day!" Payton exclaimed as she began to tuck into the breakfast he had made for the two of them the following morning.

After getting to sleep quite late last night, Payton had woken up just before 7 to make sure she was over to her Dad's apartment at Whitmore just after 8.

It had been hard to leave Stefan that morning, just like it was every morning, whether she was off to class or he was going somewhere, it was always difficult to just leave him and not want to be with him all the time.

But he had bigger problems than her before he got to the wedding later that day. Like the fact that his brother was planning on taking the cure to be a human again with Elena.

Stefan wasn't happy about it and clearly Elena needed more proof before she allowed Damon to do this. So Stefan was going to talk to Elena before he would integrate Damon and this was of course all before the wedding later on.

"Well, I wouldn't want to be spending this wedding breakfast with anyone but yourself." Alaric smiled lightly back at her.

"I guess when you're doing bottles and changing diapers I'm not going to be so lucky to have this." She joked putting some bacon into her mouth.

"Well, I mean you can still come over for breakfast, but you can also help out with the whole changing diapers things." He laughed back.

"I think I'll pass on that," Payton told him with a smile, before going on to ask, "what time are you getting ready?"

"Well, Matt and Tyler are coming over within the next hour." He answered after taking a sip from his coffee.

"Together? She raised her brows up at him with surprise.

After last night she was surprised to hear the two would be coming together. The fight had been pretty intense.

"Should be. You know what they're like, they'll fight, but they make up in no time. They're like brothers." Alaric pointed out to her in amusement.

"Well, I guess I will find that out very soon when you grace me with a sibling or two I should say." Payton smiled lightly, still getting used to the idea of not being number one anymore.

"I'm still trying to get my head around it to be honest." He admitted to her.

"Well it is pretty insane!" She laughed, shaking her head as she sat back in her seat, "I'm going from being an only child to having two mini Alaric or Jo's running around. Plus you haven't exactly looked after one baby let alone two in nearly twenty years. It's going to be a shock I think!"

"I know. It's going to be a massive shock!" Alaric agreed with her.

"What are you going to do about moving away then?" Payton found herself wondering, out of curiosity but also fear.

"Uh, we haven't really talked about it yet." He answered her uneasily.

"Well, this apartment isn't exactly big enough for two adults and two babies." She remarked.

"I know. But we'll figure it out, won't we?" Alaric tried to see the positive, but he couldn't ignore the fact he picked up on her concern.

"I'm sure you will." Payton breathed, forcing a smile onto her lips, she wanted to be happy for him, but she was honestly preparing herself for him leaving.

"We can talk about it after the wedding." He told her with a small smile.

"Alright." She nodded back, going to pick up her own coffee cup.

After their breakfast, Payton had grabbed a shower and freshened up, whilst Alaric was busying sorting out some last-minute bits before Matt and Tyler turned up a little while later. It was awkward seeing the two again after what happened last night, but thankfully they were all putting their personal differences aside for the wedding.

"Ok, we got suits," Matt said to them, as they came into the living room, Matt hung the suits onto the back of the door and Payton came out of the bedroom when she heard them come inside.

"I got the rings," Tyler announced, getting out one of the ring boxes and opening it up.

Payton folded her arms as she came to stand beside her Dad, who was now holding up a piece of paper which he had been writing the past few days, "And I got the vows."

"So what do we do now?" Tyler asked turning around to face them.

"You three can apologise to one another," Alaric suggested before they could do or say anymore.

"Why do I need to apologise?" Payton frowned, looking back at her Dad, not understanding what she had done.

"For what happened last night. Yes, you might have not done anything in particular, but the three of you allowed your emotions to get the better of you." He explained.

"My bad," Tyler raised his hands up in defence, before coming closer, "I guess I just didn't want history to repeat itself and Matt to hit on you."

"It's fine. He was drunk. It doesn't bother me." She swatted her hand away from him.

"Yeah, but it was embarrassing and I shouldn't have done it. I was a dick." Matt admitted to himself and the others.

"Well let's just forget about it, shall we? We all had way too much to drink and clearly we all had some unresolved feelings to work on," Payton said to them, before going over to the bar cart and saying, "let's have a shot for old times sake."

The four of them sat in the living room around the coffee table, Matt and Tyler sat beside each other on the couch whilst Payton and Alaric took the two armchairs, as Tyler finished off pouring the drinks and began to hand them out to the group of them.

"To Alaric Saltzman, who after today, will have sex with only one woman for the rest of his life." Tyler made his toast to the groom, causing Payton to pull a disgusted face.

"Uh, Tyler, hello? I'm sat right here." Payton reminded him with an unamused expression, as she took the shot from him.

"Your Dad has heard about your antics on more times than not." Matt teased her.

"Exactly! This is my payback," He chuckled lightly.

"Seriously, just one," Matt went on to say to Alaric, as they all held their shots in their hands.

"Not that chicks are throwing themselves at an occult studies professor..." Tyler mocked the guy.

Payton began to smirk at that remark, enjoying how easy it was for them to just joke around with each other, it definitely did feel like old times and the kind of times she had been missing out on lately.

"But yeah, actually, you should probably lock this down while you can." Matt teased him once more.

"Remember how great it was when you were fighting?" Alaric reminded the two guys.

"Sorry, full moon tonight, feeling extra dickish," Tyler announced, causing Payton to realise she had completely forgotten that it was, knowing Tyler would find it even more hard to not trigger his curse, hopefully Matt wouldn't pick a fight with him anymore otherwise this would be a disaster.

"And what's your excuse?" Alaric questioned Matt.

Before the two guys could answer, their phones went off at the same time with their text tone, causing Alaric and Payton to share a worried look, thinking that if Matt and Tyler were both getting a text at the same time, then it usually meant that something bad had happened.

They all couldn't help but feel on edge, it was what they were used to and it was such an important day. None of them wanted anything to go wrong.

"What? What is it?" Payton asked them both anxiously after they read the text.

"Wedding day chores," Matt answered her, as they slipped their phones away.

"Courtesy of Caroline." The two guys added at the same time in a more than unimpressed tone.

Payton shared them a small amused smile, knowing that very much did sound like Caroline, she was probably in her element right now leading the wedding and putting everyone in her place. She wondered if things had been different between the two of them, then maybe she would be apart of Caroline's get the wedding ready party. Caroline would have probably put her in charge of the drinks and food.

But Payton was kind of glad she was here with her Dad, helping him get ready because it was going to be their last couple of hours of just the two being a family. After today, she was no longer going to be the only Saltzman, someone else was going to be apart of the Saltzman's and in a few months, another two would be joining them.

"Karma," Alaric remarked at how the boys were now roped into Caroline's duties for the day, as they all lifted their shots, "sweet, sweet, Karma."

"Good luck," Payton added before they all downed their shots.

After downing a couple more shots, the guys went to head out and Alaric went to go take a shower, leaving Payton to go catch Matt at the door before he had the chance to leave, "Can we talk quickly?" She asked hopefully.

"Uh, sure." He nodded, allowing Tyler to go wait in the car for him and staying back to talk to Payton at the front door.

"Look, I don't want last night to be weird between us. I can see you're hurting and angry especially towards Stefan. So I don't care if you took it out on me or whatever, I just want you to know that whether I'm with Stefan or not, I'm still going to 100% be there for you and you'll always be my best friend." She told him.

"And I appreciate that, P. I'm sorry for hitting on you. It was wrong for me to do that. I shouldn't have taken it out on you." He apologised.

"Honestly it's fine! I'm going to need you today so make sure you're not late." Payton warned him with a smirk.

"I'll be there." Matt smiled back at her, before going to take off and go jump in the car with Tyler.

With her Dad showering, Payton decided to make a start on her hair, she didn't really know what to go for other than she knew she didn't want to do anything out of the ordinary for herself. So she began to curl the natural waves she had in her hair to create more of a bouncy and tighter curl.

Once she had finished that, Payton began to tie her hair into a ponytail that sat in line with the top of her ears, she wrapped some hair around the ponytail and pulled a few strands around the side of her face to frame it. She sighed slightly at the nerves that had started to bubble inside her stomach at how real this day was now beginning to feel.

It wasn't the fact her Dad was getting married or that it was to Jo.

It was the fact that their little family of two, the family she had known for most of her life and more recently the past couple of years, wouldn't be theirs anymore and she would have to share him. Plus she was so anxious for him.

Payton didn't want Jo to turn out to be like the rest. Although she knew she was far from like the rest, Payton couldn't shake it off because she was so protective of her Dad and his happiness that she couldn't bear to see him broken again by another woman.

Payton had been busy getting ready for the past hour when she heard a light tap at the door and her Dad appeared behind it, "Hey."

"Hey." She smiled back at him through the reflection of the mirror, as Payton put the mascara wand she had in her hand down.

"How's it going?" He asked her.

"Yeah great," Payton nodded, turning around on the stool to look at him and going to ask, "what about you? How are you holding up?"

"Ah, I'm ok, nervous. But that's to be expected." Alaric shone her a nervous smile.

"Well, it's not like you haven't done this before." She teased, trying to lighten the mood.

He chuckled lightly back at her, before going to say, "I know but this time, this time it feels different."

"I know," Payton nodded in agreement, she had sensed that a few weeks back, "but you deserve this. You've been through so much."

"I'm just so glad you're here, P. After everything, who would have thought we'd both be back here happy?" Alaric sat down on the edge of the bed next to her.

Payton leant over and grabbed his hand, "I know. And I really hope you, Jo and the babies will be safe, even if it does mean away from here."

"We'll definitely figure something out. I don't want to be apart from you but I can't ignore the fact that we're in danger here." He told her squeezing her hand back.

"I know," She sighed slightly, before pulling him into a hug, "I know."

They spent the next couple of hours finishing getting ready before they jumped into the car and headed over to the venue, which was being held in a barn in the woods just an hour out of town. Payton and Alaric both shared the same nerves on the ride there, both of them silent deep in their own thoughts, anxious for various reasons.

Alaric headed off to go check on a few things, leaving Payton to go try to mingle with some of the guests, although she didn't exactly know anyone. She went over to the drinks table, where she picked up a glass of champagne and took a small sip out of it. Payton drew in a nervous breathe before she turned her head and spotted Elena and Stefan talking across the grass in front of the venue.

Payton felt a warm feeling hit the pit of her stomach pushing away those anxious feelings she had about today as she took in the sight of Stefan in his suit, looking just as handsome as he always did and if not more. She sighed lightly at the sight of him, thinking how damn lucky she was right now to have the people she had in her life and to be experiencing seeing her Dad get married again with them all.

When Elena headed off, Payton watched Stefan turn and his eyes came to met with her own, a grin fell on his face at the sight of her, before he came over to her, the smile never leaving either of their faces as they came to embrace one another.

"Hey." He greeted her, also holding onto a drink as he wrapped his arms around her and held onto her.

"Hi." She responded back in a warm tone, sinking into him, grateful he was here now.

"How are you doing?" Stefan then asked her when they broke apart and he leant down to peck her cheek.

"Nervous," Payton admitted, rubbing her lips together unhelpfully, taking a sip from her champagne flute.

"That's understandable." He assured her knowing how her fears of Alaric's past marriage effected her.

"I know, I just feel guilty that I shouldn't be feeling so much anxiety about my Dad marrying someone new." She sighed lightly, finding it so easy to open up to him as always.

"You shouldn't feel guilty. I'm sure your Dad understands. This means a lot to you both considering the past. I'm sure he feels a huge amount of pressure to make sure his new wife isn't like his old one and what he did to you." Stefan tried to calm some of the unease she felt inside.

He was always so good at that and it almost felt natural for him to do it.

"Yeah I guess you're right," Payton nodded in agreement, taking another sip from her drink, "what about you? How are you doing?"

"Ah, well I really had to work on Damon." Stefan admitted to her.

"Oh really?" She was surprised, wanting to know more, "what happened?"

"He just got angry. He thought I was doing it because I was scared of losing him and Elena which I am," He explained to her, as she nodded with a sad look, "but Elena wanted me to show him what a human life could be like with her, the rawness of it and what could go wrong."

"That sound's pretty brutal. I guess he just continued to get angry with you?" She presumed.

"I told him that he has to want to be human for himself not Elena." Stefan concluded.

"Well that sound's pretty reasonable. He can't exactly reverse it once it's done." Payton pointed out.

"Exactly! I know Damon and I know how much he loves being a vampire." He added.

"You and I both." She sighed slightly, thinking of all the bad things he had done.

"You look amazing by the way." Stefan said to her looking back at her with a smile.

"Thank you," She nodded back at him, drinking some more of her champagne, a smirk crawling over her lips, "as do you. You and those damn suits."

"Sorry," He chuckled, knowing what it did to her, "I guess I'm just preparing myself for the real thing."

"The real thing?" Payton frowned back at him with a smile.

"Yeah, when it's our turn." He smiled back at her.

Before anymore could be said on that matter, Alaric appeared from behind them after having come across the lawn to speak to them, clearly he had come at the perfect moment, "Payton," Alaric said breaking her hold on Stefan and round to look at him, "can I talk to you?"

"Yes. Sure." Payton nodded, wondering what it was about, but since this was his day, she wouldn't question it.

"I'll catch you later," Stefan said to her planting a peck on her cheek once more, before allowing her her to head off with Alaric.

Alaric's eyes caught with Stefan's, who gave him a nervous nod back, before he turned back to Payton who was heading across the lawn to go talk to him.

They began heading toward's the inside of the barn where the ceremony was being held, her unease soon returned as she walked further inside and away from Stefan, it was almost like he was so good at easing her that when she was apart from him, she instantly felt her old feelings return again.

"What were you two chatting about?" Alaric asked curiously.

"Oh nothing really! Just about the whole Damon and Elena thing," She went on to say, as Alaric raised his brows, "oh god, do you know?"

"You mean about the cure?" He presumed.

"Yeah that," Payton nodded back, before going on, "Elena and Stefan aren't convinced he really wants it."

"What does Damon think?" Alaric asked thinking he had a conversation last night with his friend about it. But clearly things had progressed since.

"He's annoyed at the two of them in true Damon style." She told him.

"That does sound like Damon," He agreed with her, before going on to ask, "what were you guys chatting about before I interrupted?"

Payton felt her cheeks flush slightly at his question, knowing it wasn't exactly appropriate, "Uh, just about the future I guess."

"What about it?" He smiled lightly.

She shrugged back nervously, "I guess just when it's our turn."

"Your turn?" Alaric wondered further, thinking maybe Stefan was planning on asking Payton sooner than he thought he would.

"Yeah like when it's our turn to get married." Payton smiled back nervously, before downing the rest of her champagne to calm her nerves.

He could tell that the idea of that made his daughter nervous. But he couldn't quite work out whether his concerns were completely true right now. She wasn't giving too much away. So Alaric hoped that if Stefan was going to do it sooner than he imagined he would, that he was a 100% prepared for the girl to go either way with her answer.

"Don't drink too much...I'm going to need you to keep a sober head until the party later on." He warned her teasingly.

"Oh don't worry...I'll be on my best behaviour." She promised him with a smirk.

"I told Jo you'd come to see her before the ceremony begins. I hope that's ok?" Alaric asked her nervously.

"Of course," Payton nodded, sending him a reassuring smile, "I'll go find her now."

"Thanks, P." He leant across and pecked her forehead, before allowing her to head off.

Payton managed to locate Jo in one of the private rooms of the barn, she was getting ready in front of the mirror, applying the finishing touches to her makeup, she looked surprised to see Payton turn up but grateful that the girl had taken some time out of her day before the ceremony began to join her.

"Payton," Jo quickly got onto her feet and went to greet her, but was met by Payton's taken back look, "oh..."

"Oh," Payton repeated, before bursting into a shocked grin, "my god...you look incredible, Jo!"

"Thank you." She smiled lightly back at the young woman.

"Wow, my Dad is a very lucky man," Payton told her step-Mom to be.

Jo flushed lightly with colour, before going to say to her, "I'm so glad you came to talk to me. I'm so grateful to have your blessing."

"Of course," She nodded back at the older woman, as Jo retook her seat back on the chair in front of the dressing mirror, "I know I haven't been made a massive effort to get to know you or whatever, that's mainly my fault, but I know how much you mean to my Dad and I know you're one of the good ones."

"I just want to make him happy and protect him," Jo assured her.

"I know. And for that, I'm so grateful. It's been a long time coming but I'm so glad he has met someone like you," Payton informed him with the same light smile, as she added, "and I guess I have you to thank for bringing me two siblings."

"He told you?" The older woman beamed back.

"Yeah, last night . I hope that's ok."

"Of course it is. I hope you're ok with it."

"Well, it will take some getting used to, but I'm sure I'll be fine with it. I can't wait to spoil them, to be honest." Payton laughed lightly.

"You will be a great sister," Jo told her with a cheesy grin.

Meanwhile Alaric was heading over to grab Stefan after he had already interrupted his conversation once that day he was now coming to find him again now especially since Payton was busy talking with his wife to be.

"Hey," Alaric said coming over to him, as Stefan turned away from some guests and looked at Alaric, "mind if I grab you?"

"Uh yeah sure," Stefan nodded back, before smiling at the guests and then turning to walk along with Alaric, "everything good?"

"Yeah everything's fine as it can be when you're getting married again." He chuckled lightly.

"Yeah Payton is nervous too." Stefan informed him with a small smile.

"Yeah I know she is. I'm glad she's got you to help keep those nerves at bay. This is a big deal for us. It's been us two for so long now." Alaric explained with a light sigh.

"Are you really going to be moving away?" He asked the guy knowing how uneasy Payton was about the idea.

"Honestly, I don't know. And I hate having to tell her that and even come to the decision because of Payton," He expressed his unease, as Stefan nodded back, "I would hate to be apart from her again but I also know I can't just ask her to pack up her own life and come with."

"I think it will probably take sometime to figure out how you can make it work." Stefan responded back.

"Yeah I'm not looking forward to it to be honest," Alaric sighed lightly, before shaking his head, getting off track, "so uh, you know our little conversation last night?"

"Yeah?" Stefan looked back slightly nervously.

"Are you going ahead with it?" He asked the guy.

"Yes." He nodded back less nervously now.

"When?" Alaric pressed further, as Stefan gave him a sheepish look, which quickly made Alaric come to the conclusion, "tonight?"

"I hope to, I mean, I plan on doing it tonight," Stefan began to explain to the guy, "it's just a case of when. I don't want to do it in front of everyone nor do I want to take the spotlight off you and Jo."

"I like how you've got it all planned. It's your moment," He tried to encourage the guy, even if he was worried for his daughters answer, "let's hope it goes the right way, huh?"

"I hope so." He smiled lightly back at him, before Alaric squeezed his shoulder in assurance and then began to head off.

Coming out from speaking to Jo, Payton came back outside, trying to look for any sight of her friends or Stefan, but instead her eyes fell onto Caroline's from across the lawn. It was the first time Payton had seen her since the girl had helped Tyler to stab Matt and she had continued to ruin Payton's life by turning her ex into a vampire, switching her boyfriend's humanity off and all the other shady things she had done.

She knew she'd be here that day and she was fine with it, but now she was in her presence and seeing her, Payton felt all the hurt and anger hit her hard.

Whilst, Payton felt all the anger and the hurt, as she stared back at Caroline, wondering what the hell was going to happen, whether they would be able to both get through this avoiding each other or whether they should just have it out there and then.

She didn't want to forgive the girl or welcome her back in her life just yet.

Payton wasn't ready to do that nor did she really know she would even welcome the girl. She hadn't thought about it. Payton had been avoiding thinking about it because she wanted to keep in her little happy bubble of seeing her Dad get married and having Stefan back by her side.

Payton had barely a chance to think when she saw Caroline plucking up the courage and was now walking towards her, she felt her body freeze and tense up, knowing if she turned around now and walked inside, it would look seriously bad on her end for purposely walking away from her ex-best friend and she knew she couldn't do that no matter how hurt she was.

"Payton, hi." Caroline broke the silence once she reached her as she came to stand in front of her, her voice was quiet and uneasy, finding this just as hard as she was.

"Uh, it's good to see you." Payton found herself saying, not sure she even believed herself when she did said that but she didn't want to be rude.

Caroline was a little taken back by her words, as she went to go apologise straight away, "I'm so sorry for what happened."

"Uh," Payton breathed, looking back at her nervously, knowing she didn't want to forgive and forget right now, "thanks I guess."

"I'm sorry what I did to Mason and what I made Stefan do. I shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have used them to upset you."

"It's Mason you should be apologising to." Payton told her in a sharp tone.

"Uh yeah, of course, I know. I should do that." Caroline awkwardly agreed with her, not realising Payton would hold such a grudge, but she shouldn't have been so shocked, she really had pushed her friend over the edge.

"Good." She said back bluntly.

"I never wanted to hurt you, Payton." Caroline tried to apologise once more.

Payton couldn't help but scoff, "Don't. You knew full well that you were hurting me. You knew you wanted to. It started way before you turned off your humanity."

"I know! Like I said I am sorry!" She tried to defend herself, getting upset herself now that Payton was being so stubborn but this was Payton after all.

She was the queen of being stubborn.

"Look, I don't want to do this, especially not today on my Dad's wedding day, so I think we should save this conversation for sometime in the distant future," Payton said to the girl, knowing she was being harsh, but she really did not want to do this right now and go over shit that happened, she wanted to enjoy her Dad's wedding day and be happy, "I hope you have a good time. I have to go make a quick phone call."

She didn't even give Caroline a chance to answer, before going to turn away from her, pulling her cell phone out of her purse that sat on her shoulder, she heard Caroline sigh from behind her. Payton knew she could have handled that better and been more sincere, but she couldn't ignore her feelings right now, they were still hurt and it was true she didn't want to talk about this there.

Heading away from Caroline, Payton dialled Matt's number and waited for him to pick up, wanting to see where he was, seeing as she hadn't seen him show yet and hadn't heard from him since this morning. Payton had seen Tyler he had been inside setting up the seating arrangements. Matt had promised her he would be here for her, she wanted him to be there, her best friend by her side whilst her Dad got married.

When there was no answer, an awful feeling washed over Payton, worried where he was and what had happened to him. Maybe she should have asked Tyler earlier on where Matt was. Payton was growing concerned that something awful had happened, as they could never be too sure these days, especially when she knew he had been working with Enzo and had been so damn upset and angry lately, but she wanted to tust that everything was ok.

But she just couldn't. Not in this town or supernatural world.

Quickly she typed out a text to him, hitting the send button fast and sighing after she did.

'Where the hell are you? Call me!"

Heading off, she went to go find Alaric again, wanting to check in with him and try to put her own anxiety to ease, she found him in one of the backrooms of the venue, he was going over his vows when he saw her come in, noticing the worried look on her face.

"Hey, what's up?" Alaric questioned her.

"Uh, it's nothing...just Matt hasn't shown yet and I'm worried." Payton explained.

"He'll show! Don't worry. He's probably been wrapped into some wedding day duty for Caroline." He tried to put her mind at ease.

"Yeah maybe, speaking of Caroline, she came over to talk to me." She informed him uneasily.

"And?" Alaric raised his brows up.

"I was a bitch," Payton admitted with a loud sigh, "I mean, I don't want to have this conversation with her at my Dad's wedding, I don't even want to have the conversation with her at all at the moment. I'm not ready."

"Well you can't blame the girl for at least trying. That's got to mean she wants you in her life again, right?" Alaric tried to make her see the positive side.

"I suppose so," She shrugged unconvinced, "I'm just not sure I want her back yet."

"Well, that's your decision. No one is going to force you two to be friends again until you're ready."

"Thank you for always being so understanding," Payton thanked him with a small smile, but it soon faded when she focused on the churning feeling in the pit of her stomach, "I just can't ignore this bad feeling."

"What do you mean?" He asked her with confusion.

"I just can't shake this feeling like something awful is going to happen." She admitted to him uneasily.

"The worst that could happen is that I'm going to mess up my vows or you'll get so drunk that we will be carrying you back." Alaric tried to joke with her, hoping the bad vibes wouldn't be her declining Stefan's proposal.

She shone him a small smile and sighed lightly, completely oblivious to her boyfriend's plans, "I hope you're right."

A little while later, Payton headed into the venue with her Dad whilst he waited at the top of the aisle and greeted the celebrant who was taking the wedding service. She anxiously brought her phone out and looked down at the lack of messages and calls she had from Matt, who Payton was still worrying about and wondering where the guy was.

Plus she had lost Stefan. She hadn't seen him since before her Dad had interrupted their conversation and she was wondering where he had ran off to.

Was everyone going on disappearing acts that day?

Caroline came storming into the venue and spotted Payton stood at the front of the seating area, looking uneasy and quickly went up to her, not even caring they were on bad terms right now, "Have you seen Elena and Damon?"

"Uh, no. I haven't seen Elena since earlier and I haven't seen Damon at all," She answered the girl, sensing something was wrong by her urgent behaviour, pushing aside their drama from earlier on, because clearly she wasn't the only one who was sensing bad vibes, "what's going on?"

"They're both missing! I bet they're cuddled in a hay bail somewhere." Caroline grumbled.

Payton frowned slightly at the image of that, before going on to ask, "Have you heard from Matt?"

"No, I haven't. Nor have I Bonnie. I'm sure they're just stuck in traffic or something." The blonde girl tried to come up with some reason because right now she was more concerned about Damon and Elena, who were the best man and bridesmaid of Jo.

"Do you want me to come with you to find Elena and Damon?" Payton suggested, wanting to be helpful even if it meant going against her wishes of not being her friend right now.

"No. You stay here. I'll find them. They couldn't have gone far." Caroline responded, before quickly taking off again.

Payton turned toward's her Dad, who caught her eye and gave her a look of confusion, in which she shone him a small reassuring smile, not wanting him to worry that more and more people were dropping like flies so close to the ceremony beginning.

Plus he was probably more confused at the fact that she had just told him moments before that her and Caroline weren't on good terms but had just caught them talking like normal.

Before the ceremony began, Payton quickly went out front to go make yet another call to Matt, in which this time she left a voice mail, "Matt, seriously, I'm worried. You and Bonnie both aren't here yet. Please call me when you get this."

Coming back into the venue, Payton breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Caroline going to take her seat and Elena and Damon waiting in the wings, which meant Jo would be showing any moment now and she didn't want to ruin the surprise of the dress, so quickly made her way back to the front where her seat was.

More relief washed over her when she saw Stefan sat at the front waiting for her, she was so glad he was back and going to be by her side just like she had wanted.

Coming over to him, Stefan turned his head to look at the girl, a smile crawling across his face when he saw her, "There you are."

"There you are," She repeated with a light chuckle, "I was worried you'd gone missing too."

"Who's gone missing?" He asked with concern.

"I just can't get a hold of Matt." Payton answered him.

"I'm sure he'll turn up," Stefan tried to assure her, as he took her hand in his own, "are you ready?"

"For what?" She frowned back at him slightly as she squeezed his hand.

"To see your Dad get married." He pointed out.

Payton sighed, turning to look back at her Dad who looked nervous but excited right now, as she smiled back onto Stefan, "I think so yeah."

Suddenly the music began to play, everyone's heads turned round to see the start of the ceremony, Payton and Stefan kept their hands intwined as they stood side by side at the front, an excited feeling in the air.

Elena and Damon began to awkwardly walk down the aisle, looking somewhat dishevelled and out of synch, clearly they had been up to god know's what before walking down the aisle. The two joined Alaric at the front of the stage, as Jo waited in the wings with her Dad who had surprised her by showing up at the wedding.

As Jo began to head down the asile, everyone got onto their feet and turned around to watch Jo and her Dad walk down the aisle, in the moment Payton felt her heart tighten, the love she felt in the room, for her Dad, for this woman who was now going to become her step mom, she couldn't believe that her Dad had gotten to this point.

She felt so happy for him. Payton was thrilled for him. And she was happy for Jo to have a man like Alaric in her life.

She could feel the tears threaten to prick her eyes, but Payton held it back, not wanting to ruin her makeup or cry before the ceremony had barely started.

Payton would save her tears for later on, when they would be drinking, having speeches and she could embrace her Dad again.

Once Jo had reached Alaric, everyone got back into their seats and turned to face the happy husband and wife to be, Jo's Dad now leading her over to Alaric and going to retake his seat on the other side of the guests.

"Welcome family and friends on this beautiful evening of the wedding of Alaric Saltzman and Josette Laughlin," The celebrant began to say, addressing them all and the couple who were busy smiling at one another, "Josette and Alaric have prepared their own vows."

Jo turned round to Elena and handed her the boquet, before turning back to Alaric and the two of them held hands, facing one another preparing themselves for the vows.

Alairc began first, causing Payton to feel her nerves to grow more, she really hoped he wouldn't mess up, "Neither one of us should be here right now. Both of us have spent our lives dodging fate and beating the odds,"

Payton felt the tears return back hard, knowing how damn true that was, Alaric shouldn't have been alive right now, but he was and he was very much alive, happy and about to marry the woman he should have married years ago. She was so grateful to be here to see it.

"But because we did," Alaric continued on, as Payton held the tears back, "I got to meet you, the most beautiful, hilarious, intimidatingly brilliant woman I have ever known. You inspire me. You've shown me that happiness..."

Payton found herself turning her head to look at her boyfriend beside her, their hands were still entwined, she knew Stefan wanted to assure her through this whole thing, knowing she would be feeling nervous and having him close to her was exactly what she needed right now.

But looking back at him, she couldn't quite believe how much she was in love with this man.

Stefan went to look at her, as Alaric went on with his vows, "...is actually something that I can have in my life. And so,"

Payton looked back at him, feeling her heart begin to pound as she took him in, the love and admiration she had for him, the feelings of being safe and home when she was around him, she wondered if she would ever reach this point with him, where they would be standing at the aisle, saying their own vows, then she would be the luckiest girl on the earth to have him.

Stefan lightly smiled back at her, when she didn't break her gaze off him, he squeezed her fingers lightly, causing her to tearfully smile back at him, before shaking her head in amusement at how easy it was for her to get caught up in his eyes, before she turned back to the wedding in front of them, Stefan also doing the same, the two of them beaming from ear to ear right now.

The love that was bouncing around the walls of this wedding because of Alaric and Jo was clearly rubbing off on everyone else as well.

Alaric got out the ring he was giving Jo and held it in his fingers, "I promise to be with you and love you and to dodge fate with you," he began to slid the ring onto her finger, "for the rest of our lives."

A teary Jo looked up at her husband to be with awe and tried to hold back the tears, as they both grinned at one another, everyone around the room sharing the same emotional smile on their faces, just happy and relieved to see such a beautiful moment between two people, especially those who were so used to pain and suffering.

"Josette?" The celebrant encouraged the bride to go next.

"Oh god," Jo began to chuckle lightly, going to wipe under her eyes, as everyone broke out into the same chuckle, "that's a tough act to follow,"

She drew in a shakey breathe, before she began her own vows, "Here goes. Alaric Saltzman, you are..."

Suddenly Payton her eyes widen when she saw Jo jolt forward, her body tensing up and the sound of flesh tearing broke out throughout the once quiet venue, she felt an awful feeling wash over her when she saw blood begin to seep out from Jo's stomach on her wedding dress.

"Jo? What is it?" Alaric asked in panic as his wife continued to jolt around.

Everyone began to gasp amongst the crowd, confusion and fear radiating through the room quickly replacing the once happiness and joy that was screaming around them. Payton felt herself almost begin to get up to rush over and see what was happening, but as always, Stefan held her back in protection, not wanting her to get hurt.

Jo suddenly began to scream and collapsed onto the ground, causing Alaric to quickly catch her and gently ease her down onto the ground, the blood getting more on the white wedding dress, as Elena gasped loudly in horror and Payton felt her heart begin to break at what the hell she was witnessing in front of her eyes.

Suddenly a face they all wished they could have forgotten appeared behind Jo, carrying a bloody knife, Stefan immediately found himself grow more protective over Payton beside him, he put his arms out in front of Payton to try to protect her, standing in front of her now, as the gasps and horrified screams echoed around the ceremony room.

"Oh, my god! No, no, no, Jo!" Alaric began to shout down to his wife, as he held her in his arms with the celebrant trying to ease them down.

"I was gonna wait till the death do us part bit but it seemed a little on the nose," Kai said to them in a wicked tone, causing Payton to go leap up and go be with her Dad, but Stefan managed to stop her in her tracks and stand in front of her protectively, not wanting her to risk herself for this man, especially as Jo lost consciousness in Alaric's arms, causing her Dad to yell out no in pain, and the other man to turn to the crowd and say, "Am I right?"

Jo's Dad quickly rose to his feet and went to act quick on this man, when the young man held up his hand and within an instance, Payton felt an incredibly painful throb go round her head, a pain she recorgnised from the day's of witches knocking her out.

She couldn't believe this was happening right now, it was too good to be true that anything could go swimmingly for them but she was in so much pain to even think properly as she clutched her head in agony, the yells and screams of the guests painful.

It literally felt like her head was about to combust. She was in so much agony right now.

"Miss me?" Kai questioned the guests, before going on to say, "no?"

He began to raise his hand down, as he went, "Oh well."

Suddenly the glass from the windows and chandeliers near by smashed, the glass flying through the air, causing everyone to suddenly fly to the ground, some getting wounded by the glass, others getting knocked down by the powerful motion and others finding the ringing in their heads way too much to cope with.

Payton felt her body surge down onto the ground, Stefan's once protective stance in front of her being thrown to the other side of her, causing a massive piece of glass from the window to fly down straight into her stomach, causing her to feel a painful stab to her abdonm to hit and within seconds, she felt her whole world go black as she went unconcious from the fall.

Author note: Happy Friday and new upload day! :)

Eeeek! I actually had the wedding scene written way over a year ago now and when I changed the direction of this story a few months back, I had to rewrite some of it, but even then I still absolutely loved reading about the wedding. I still feel gutted for Alaric in the show that he never got his happy ending with Jo.

Special thanks to Adela and AB0918 for reviewing the last part. I'm so glad you are loving the story and you're looking forward to where the story is headed :)

I'd love to know your thoughts on this one!

Will Payton be alright after her fall?

Will Stefan be able to pop the question?

Was Payton right to be cold towards Caroline?

Thanks so much.

Best wishes always,

guiltypleasurexo