A/N: I don't own anything. If I did, Stefan would be mine. Elena who? Katherine who? Tee Hee. But sadly, I just have to settle with SE being endgame. Haha. =-)) I should know, KW, JP and I are close and I have been bribing them. Kidding. =-))
This turned out to be cheesy (damn hormones) but whatever. My friend's sister is getting married and we are looking for wedding songs and Runaway and Greatest Story Ever Told got stuck in my head.
I have a hate/hate relationship with grammar, so forgive me if I made so many of them. We never did see eye to eye, but let me solve a math problem, I will be happy to help you. Lol. Now I'm rambling. =-))
Greatest Story Ever Told
The weather could not have been more perfect. The sun, which is peeking though a couple of clouds, is shining brightly. A light breeze is present, making the temperature cool. Stefan smiled, grateful that the weather is cooperating with them.
He had been standing outside the Salvatore Boarding House for some time now, escaping the chaos within. He let out a contented sigh. He didn't think it was possible, but the day that he had only been dreaming about had finally come. With all the things that they went through – his HB addiction, her parents, his ex-girlfriend, his brother, her curse, his past -, he didn't think they would be able to overcome it, but they did. In fact, their relationship had grown stronger and their love has grown deeper.
"You're not planning to change your mind, are you?" Stefan groaned and turned towards the direction of his brother's voice. Damon walked towards him, a smirk plastered on his face.
"No, I am not."
"Good. Because even though I am your best man and I should support you and all that crap, I am more scared with Bridezilla and her minions to help you out. You're on your own on that one." Damon joked, stopping beside his brother.
"How are they in there?" Stefan asked.
Damon rolled his eyes, "Even after almost 2 centuries of being un-dead, I still don't get the logic why women cry in weddings."
"Stefan! Damon!" a child of about 4 years shouted, interrupting the Salvatore Brothers. They both chuckled when they saw her frantically waving at them, amazed at how a large voice can come from something so small. She picked up her skirt and run towards them. Stefan bent down and quickly scooped her up, placing the little girl on his hips.
"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked, tucking a strand of her brown hair at the back of her ear. "Where is your Aunt Bonnie? I thought you're not supposed to go anywhere without her?" He added using his grave voice, mimicking Jenna. She just giggled in response, her eyes full of mischief.
"I wanted to show you my dress." She squirmed, indicating that she wanted to be put down. She picked up her skirt and twirled, showing off her yellow dress to her two uncles. She specifically asked, demanded, that her dress be similar to Belle. That shouldn't surprise them since her favorite movie is Beauty and the Beast.
"You look beautiful sweetheart." Stefan complimented the little girl.
"Just like a princess," Damon agreed.
She beamed, smoothing her skirt and making sure that each fold is in place. "And guess what? I have been practicing my flower girl walk all day yesterday. Lena said that I was the best flower girl she has ever seen. Want to see?" She proceeded to show them her walk without waiting for their reply, humming a little song while doing so.
"Emily!" Bonnie cried, spotting the little girl with the Salvatores who she had been searching for a while now.
"Oh no!" the little girl cried, eyes wide. She quickly ran behind her Uncles trying to hide from her Aunt.
"There you are. I thought I told you stay inside," Bonnie said, using her stern voice, peering down at her.
"I just wanted Stefan and Damon to see my dress," she mumbled. "I'm sorry," she said once more, biting her lower lip and looking at her aunt with her doe eyes.
Stefan and Damon both laughed. "Oh no, she's using her puppy dog eyes," Stefan quipped.
Bonnie sighed and runs her hand through her brown hair. The girl has them wrapped around her little fingers. "Well, you could have asked for permission first before running off like that. Come on then, let's go inside. Elena wants to see you."
Emily's eyes lit up and quickly made her way towards Bonnie. Bonnie grasps Emily's little hand, afraid that she might run off again. She turned her attention to the two guys and informed them, "You two better get inside, we are about to start in a few minutes and Caroline is already freaking out."
"We will be there in a minute. Thanks Bonnie," Stefan replied. Bonnie smiled and turned towards the entrance of the building.
"Wait," Emily exclaimed, making Bonnie sighed. Emily freed her hand from Bonnie's grasp and run towards Stefan, hugging his right leg. "I love you. I'm glad you're marrying Lena," she said, looking up to him.
Stefan smiled. "I love you too," he replied, kissing the top of her hair. Emily smiled and run back to Bonnie and practically dragged her aunt inside.
"I love you too Damon!" Damon shouted towards Emily, making Stefan chuckle with Damon's childishness.
"And then there were two," Damon muttered. "So is this the part where I give you sage advice or things like that?"
"Or not," Stefan said. "Damon, it's ok…"
"No," Damon cut him. "Let me say this, I mean you are only going to get married once, right?" Stefan glared at him. "Geez, just making sure."
"What do you want to say?"
"I … I just want to say that I am happy for you. I know we didn't have exactly had the best relationship since we became un-dead but you're my little brother, and contrary to popular belief, I just want what's best for you. Elena makes you happy and you make her happy, it's a win-win situation for all. It took me some time to realize that but I do now."
"Damon, thank you for that. Wow! You actually said something nice about me."
"Yeah, well don't get used to it."
"Okay. Just let me arrange this part over here. Don't move," Jenna said to her niece while arranging the flowers at the back of her hair. "Done!" Jenna exclaimed after a few minutes. They were inside in one of the guest room in the Salvatore Boarding House, which serves as her preparation room.
Elena stood up from the dressing table and faced Jenna. "How do I look?" Elena asked her aunt.
"Perfect," she replied, teary eyed. "I wish your mom is here to see you now."
"Me too," Elena replied, a sad smile gracing her lips. She walked to her aunt and gave her a hug, "Thank you for being here, Jenna."
"Now, you're really making me cry and ruining my make-up," Jenna grumbled good-naturedly, while wiping away the tears from her eyes.
"Knock, knock. Can we come in?" Bonnie said while peaking inside the room. "I hope we are not interrupting?"
Elena and Jenna turned to the direction of the door and smiled. "Of course not, Bonnie. Come in."
"Lena!" Emily squealed, stepping from behind. To the trio's horror, she started running towards Elena and her white dress. Luckily, Jenna intercepted her before she can do some damaged to Elena's dress.
"Emily, be careful." Jenna admonished her overly enthusiastic sort-of-niece. "We don't want to ruin Elena's dress, do we?"
"Nooo," she replied in her grave voice, shaking her head. Jenna laughed. Emily never ceased to make her laugh.
"Elena, you look amazing," Bonnie gushed at her friend, walking towards her best friend. "Stefan will have a heart attack when he sees you."
Elena blushed and hugged her friend. "I don't want that. Although, heart palpitations are acceptable," Elena replied, which causes the adults to giggle. Turning to the youngest in the group, Elena asked "What do you think, Sweetheart?"
"You look beautiful, Lena. Just like a princess," Emily said, nodding her head at each word.
"Come here and give me a hug," Elena said, bending down and hugging her little sister.
Apparently, her uncle-slash-biological father impregnated an old girlfriend back then and never shared that little information to the Gilbert family, not even to Grayson, his bother. Unfortunately, Emily's mother died while giving birth to her and little Emily grew up under the care of her mother's old Aunt, with John being allowed to visit as much as he can.
Imagine their surprise when little Emily and her Grand-Aunt came to town to attend John's funeral last year. But Elena understood why he did it though. He did not want Emily to get exposed to the supernatural things that seem to surrounds the Gilbert Family and Mystic Falls. He just wanted to keep her safe.
Now that the more dangerous supernatural stuff has been resolved and since majority of Emily's mother side of the family are living in the other side of the country, Elena has managed to convince Emily's Grand-Aunt to move near Mystic Falls so that Emily may get to know her father side of the family. And in that short amount of time, she has already wormed her way in their heart. Although she loves all of them, her favorite has always been her Uncle Stefan, much to the chagrin of Elena, Jeremy and Damon. The trio has been fighting for second place ever since.
"Elena, you look beautiful" Caroline squealed, standing from the doorway of the room. "And I am not saying this because you're my friend."
Elena smiled at her friend and step towards Caroline and hug her. "Thank you." She turned towards Bonnie. "Both of you. I got really lucky during that fateful day in kindergarten when we all wore that same yellow sundress," Elena muses as both Caroline and Bonnie look at each other and smiled.
"But I bet you weren't feeling that way at that time. I know Caroline wasn't. I remembered Caroline throwing a tantrum and wanted to go home because she wanted to change her clothes," Bonnie teases the blonde vampire.
The three friends laugh thinking back of the time when they first met.
"Okay," Caroline clapped her hands. "Let's get you married to the love of your life. Chop chop! Let's move and get into positions."
After final hugs from the bride, her entourage went out of the room and took their positions at the entrance of the library of the Boardinghouse.
Elena stared at herself in the mirror and let out a giddy laugh. Today is the first day of the rest of her life and she could not wait for it to start. She exited the room and made her way towards the stairs. She carefully descended the staircase where Jeremy is waiting at the bottom.
"Hi," Jeremy greeted his sister."Nervous?"
"Yes, among others," she replied with a smile. She wrapped her arms around her brother and whispered, "I love you."
"I love you too," He replied. He kissed his sister in the cheek. "Stefan's lucky to have you."
A few seconds later, the opening of chords Runaway started to play.
"That's our cue. Let's make an honest woman out of you."
"Very funny."
Stefan smiled when he heard the opening chords of Runaway, indicating that the ceremony is starting. Caroline entered the room first, wearing a red tube dress. As she made her way in front, she caught Matt's eyes and she smiled shyly. Ever since Matt learned about her little secret, they began talking again and are slowly rebuilding their relationship. It is not an easy journey considering that her own kind turned and killed his sister and there is also the time where she dated his best friend but they are making progress.
Beside Matt is Tyler. She gave him a small smile and he returned it, albeit a little sad. She and Tyler have grown closer, bonding over death and uncontrollable urges and being newbies to the supernatural world. At one point, their feelings have grown into something deeper and took a chance with each other but it never worked between them. Being natural enemies, he being a werewolf and she a vampire, they are constantly putting each other at risk and both of them have volatile personalities with uncontrollable emotions at times. And also the little fact that Caroline still loves Matt.
Next came Bonnie, wearing a Venus cut red dress. Bonnie's personal life have been eventful, to say the least. She and Jeremy have developed a deep friendship during the past years but they never took that leap. Jeremy tried numerous times to take that step but Bonnie would always shut it down. It's not that Bonnie does not like Jeremy; in fact the reason why she will never take that step is that she really likes him a lot and valued his friendship. She does not want to risk losing his friendship over a relationship with no certainty. But there are days, especially days when things are especially good between them, the what if thoughts seem to linger more than the usual.
The past year, death has once again visited her. Luka had died helping them defeat Klaus and his team of vampires. It was a devastating blow for her because she has grown closer to him, learning things from each other and being able to share her fears and apprehension to someone who understands what she is going through. It was hard but she was able to get through it with the help from everyone, even Damon.
Yes, she and Damon have somehow become civilized towards each other, most of the times anytime anyway. There are still days, especially when he is being a jerk more than the usual, where she would give him a couple of aneurysm just for the fun of it but she does not have the urge to kill him anymore. She did not know when exactly they have become from greatly disliking each other to tolerating and respecting each other to actually liking each other. It could be the time she save him from a pack of werewolves he had somehow offended, or when he saved her from the vampire who wanted to turn her or maybe during the time where he and she just sat outside the Salvatore Boarding House in silence on the day Luka died.
Emily soon followed, throwing flowers on the ground as she slowly made her way towards the front. As she reaches the front of the room, she looked up to Stefan expectantly. Stefan gave her a wink and grin, showing his approval. She beamed and stood beside Bonnie as Caroline has instructed her.
Next came Jenna, wearing a spaghetti-thin strap red dress. Alaric, who has been requested by both Stefan and Elena as their officiating minister, look on to his fiancée and gave her a wink. She giggled in response. Surprise was an understatement when Jenna finally learned about the town's supernatural secret and worse, her family and boyfriend are in the middle of the whole thing. Elena and Alaric did not want to tell Jenna about the supernatural things that have been happening to their town, but as Jeremy and Stefan and Damon have pointed out, it would be more dangerous for her if she remains ignorant about these things. At least with her knowing, she could protect herself. One positive thing that resulted of her knowing is that Alaric was able to come clean about him and Isobel and her true nature. It's true what they say; the truth will set you free. Telling Jenna the truth, Alaric was able to free himself from his past and let go of the bitterness. They have grown stronger as a couple and they are planning to get married in a year or two.
Stefan seemed to forget to breathe when he saw Elena entered the room. Elena always, always takes his breath away. Most days, he still can't believe that this beautiful woman could love him unconditionally, accepting his flaws and dark past.
As she slowly made her way to him, her eyes met his smoldering green ones and she felt a shiver run up her spine. She can feel a blush creep onto her cheeks. Even after all this time, he can still make her feel like an 18 year teen, falling in love for the first, with sweaty palms and butterfly in the stomach.
Jeremy shook Stefan's hand and gave him smile then he stepped back and stood beside Damon. With the things that have been happening to them, Jeremy was forced to grew up fast. He began to learn to be accountable of his decisions and be able to accept things he has no control over. He is making decisions because of what he believes and not because what others tell him.
"Hi," Elena whispered to Stefan as he she took her place beside him.
"Hi to you too," he whispered back.
Alaric began the ceremony, "Hi, everyone. I think all of you would agree with me that no one deserves a happy ending more than these two. We have seen them struggle and fought hard for this relationship and there are times that I thought that they would not be able to get past but they have proven me wrong time and time again. They were able to defy the odds and as cliché as this sounds, true love do really conquers all. " Alaric smiled the couple. "You can say your vows now."
"You're not gonna be sad forever, Elena. I can still remember when you said that to me. I was at a point in my life where I thought nothing is gonna be okay again but you came strutting in with your soulful eyes and leather jacket and promising to take away my pain abd I don't know why but I believed you. Years later, with all the things that we have been through and we will be going through, I still believe you. Pain and sadness seem nonexistent when I have you. I love you Stefan. It's always gonna be you and me." Elena gave him a watery smile as he reaches to her face and wipes the tears away. Elena then turned to Bonnie and took the ring that will symbolize her love for Stefan. She slipped the ring through his ring finger and kissed his hand as he caresses her face.
"When I saved you that fateful day, I never thought I would be saving myself in the process. All my life, I always believe that I deserve to live in the dark because of what I have done, because of what I am. But you came knocking in my life and made me believed otherwise. You accepted me and love me without any conditions and made me believe that there something good in me, something worth loving. You gave me a second chance in having a normal life, well as normal as it can be, and for that I am always grateful. Elena, I am deeply, hopelessly and utterly in love you and I plan to spend all eternity showing to you just how much." Stefan then slid the ring to Elena's ring finger. Elena gasps when she saw the ring. It was an antique ring with an emerald diamond at the middle with white diamonds at each side. She knew it was Stefan's mother's ring. She looked at him and whispered, "I love you."
Alaric cleared his throat, feeling like an intruder. "Well, I guess by the power invested by me by the state of Virginia, I now pronounced you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."
Stefan gently cupped Elena's face and softly kiss his bride. Both seemed to forgot the people around them and they only stopped when they heard Alaric clearing his throat again. They broke apart from the kiss and laugh. They turned towards their family and friends, and they were introduced for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. Salvatore.
FIN
PS I run out of steam so I ended it here. And the song that inspired this is not even in the story. LMAO. There should be a couple more scene but I cut it. Sigh. Blame my disease (laziness). I have a couple more song inspired ficlet.