They have planned for this day to come but that was months ago when they were still married. Army Wives had been canceled and it was said that if/when it was canceled that her character, Meredith, would return to The Vampire Diaries and maybe become a regular on the series. It was yesterday at three PM when she received the call from Julie Plec informing her that her character would make an appearance in episode five so she should hop on the next flight to Atlanta as soon as possible. She has heard the rumors flying around about Paul and Phoebe but decided to not pay attention to that, she knew that things would be awkward and people would look at her differently and that was something that she was not prepared nor excited for. Her flight left at six so she took a shower and changed into something comfortable for her four hour trip from Los Angeles to Atlanta. She wasn't sure on how long she would be there so she packed enough for a few weeks making sure to pack a few sweaters and coats, because it can get freezing there during October. Looking around the house one more time making sure that she got everything she needed she left the house and took a taxi to LAX. When she arrived to the airport she ran into a few fans and took pictures but refused to take off her sunglasses, she was exhausted and knew she didn't look a bit decent. An announcement was made telling the people in the airport that the flight to Atlanta was leaving soon so she signed a few more pictures and walked in the direction of her plane. The plane took off and reality set in, she did not know if she would be able to handle this but she is an actress it is her job to act; she has been told that she is good at what she does so she would apply it to real life. Taking in a deep breath she watched the black ground turn into blue skies and white clouds.

There was a soft tap on her shoulder and she lifted her eyelids.

"The plane has landed sweetie."

"Oh, thank you ma'am."

She shifted in her seat and sat straight up to look out the window and she was indeed not in the air anymore. She let a few people pass her when she was leaving the plane not really wanting to leave but she was unemployed and she needed the money. She swore that she was going to get dizzy waiting for her bag to appear on the conveyor belt, no matter how many times she has been in this place it never sat well with her. Exiting the taxi cab she was faced with the hotel she was going to be staying in, she almost told the driver to take her to what used to be Paul and hers apartment but luckily caught herself in time.

Opening the door to the suite she walked to the window to get a look at the view, The Ritz-Carlton always provided her with the most beautiful views and she had to snap a picture of the morning sky with her phone. After a deep breath of fresh air she walked in the room to unpack. She stuffed her clothes in the drawers and sat up everything she needed in its appropriate place. Her call time was at one thirty so she slid in a nap before she set out.

Stepping onto set felt strange, usually when she would come here it was to visit Paul and maybe even shoot a scene or two so everything felt backwards. She found her trailer luckily avoiding the stares of the crew and got settled pulling out her script for a refresher before going in front of the camera. Her first scene was with Ian, they shared a hug and she put on the best smile that she could.

"How's it going?"

"It's going good, I was surprised when I got the call, I'm wondering where they're going to take Meredith."

"Hey, if you stick around Damon too long you might be a vampire."

"I'll keep that in mind." They laughed.

Feeling good about her scene she made way to the crafts table hoping to get a quick bite before lunch. When she was about to walk in the trailer she halted and saw the person that she was hoping to avoid all day, Paul, but he was not alone. He was currently talking up Phoebe Tonkin and Torrey wondered why she was even there, trying to avoid an awkward situation she quickly turned around and hurried to her trailer. Tears started spewing down her face and she couldn't control them, seeing Paul was harder than she would have thought and she did not know how she would be able to make it through the week knowing that this would not be the first time she would have to see him. Pulling herself together she stepped out the trailer for lunch, she was starved so she filled her plate up with everything that smelt good. Sitting at an empty table, not in the mood to socialize with the cast, she pulled out her phone to check the messages that she missed. She had a message from her sister, Maryelle, she put the phone up to her ear finally taking a bite of the side of french fries on her plate.

"Hey Torrey just seeing how you were doing, call me if you need anything, love you, bye."

After erasing the message she called her sister to let her know that everything was going fine, she made sure to not say the word "good" because that is what everyone says when they are feeling like crap. She had a few laughs thanks to her sister and hung up the phone now checking her social sites, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, nothing new was going on as far as she could tell so she gave all her attention back to her food. After feeling stuffed she threw what was left in the garbage and carried her water in hand planning to go to her trailer for another review secession of her lines. Turning around she halted; dead in her tracks, paralyzed, because she saw him, and this time he saw her.

Paul's POV

He remembers it like it was yesterday, Julie came up to him privately telling him that his ex-wife would be returning to the show. She told him that Meredith was needed in a storyline and he understood, he had heard the news about Army Wives being canceled and he felt for her. He knew what it was like to be out of a job and he was glad that she had something for her they may have been broken up but if he was honest with himself he was glad that he would be able to see her again. He knew that this day would be coming but he was hoping that Torrey and he would be on better terms and actually talking to each other. Sure, they chatted a few times but it was never longer than a minute, he talked to her while she was in Haiti for her new film and wanted to make sure that she was well. Lifting himself out of bed he started his routine which consisted of a shower, a change of fresh, baggy, clothes and of course; his hair. Flicking off the light to his apartment he drove himself to set and was greeting by Ian who looked like he had a late night with a bottle and walked to his trailer. It did not take him long to get into character, playing Silas came naturally to him and he loved to be the bad boy every once in a while. Everyone who watched the show and saw his interviews knew that he loved playing Stefan but hated him brooding and crying all the time. Thinking that he left his phone on his chair after filming a scene with Nina, he made his way back to the filming location. He heard a laugh that he loved, it sounded so familiar then he saw her, he saw Torrey standing in front of him talking to Ian about something that made him heard that sound that used to make his world stop spinning. He had to admit that she looked good and well and he smiled at her, there was a vibration on his chest coming from inside the pocket of his jacket and he pulled out his cell phone to see the name Phoebe pop up on the caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Hey Paul, it's me I was wondering if you could use a little company on set today?"

"Uh yeah, sure come over."

After hanging up he made his way back to his trailer to tidy things up for when Phoebe arrived. He wouldn't call her his girlfriend or what they had was anything too serious but he was seeing her and enjoyed her company. They met through Claire Holt and ever since they hit it off, he liked her personality and humor and enjoyed spending his time with her. There was a knock on the door he went to answer it and was faced with white teeth and beautiful eyes, they shared a hug and Paul welcomed Phoebe inside.

They started talking and somehow Torrey popped up, he wanted to tell her that she was on set so that she wouldn't be surprised or shocked if she might have seen her walking down the halls. Phoebe wanted a little snack so they made their way to the crafts trailer sneaking in a little snack before they chow down during lunch time. He was in the middle of telling her a story about an embarrassing moment that happened to him when he was in a restaurant when he saw Torrey from the corner of his eye quickly turn around and speed away. He held back his sentence processing what happened until he saw Phoebe staring at him questionably he shook his head and returned to the story gaining a laugh from the brunette.

He had one more scene to shoot before lunch and he couldn't wait to get it over with, it was an underwater scene, he was not a big fan of water so pretending to drown in a box never came easy to him. He joined Nina, Kat, Ian and Phoebe at one of the lunch tables, he saw Torrey taking a seat at one of the other tables when he was walking in and wanted to see how she was doing but she was busy talking on the phone. He heard that intoxicating laugh of hers and he wondered who was on the other end of the line, everyone's voices faded away and his focus was on Torrey. He made sure to not stare at her or in her direction because he did not want his cast members to notice his lurking but Torrey had his undivided attention and she didn't even notice. Finishing his plate he went to go throw away what was left of it and he halted and stared into those deep, chocolate brown eyes, he saw her and this time she saw him.

Mutual POV

They stood there for a while staring into each other's eyes, frozen. Torrey could feel that all eyes were on them so she found the movement in her legs and walked pass him offering a tight lipped smile as her hair followed along behind her. Paul followed her out with his eyes and looked over at the table he was just sitting at and saw everyone quickly return to their meals acting as if they didn't see the exchange. He sat his tray on top of the trash can and hurried after Torrey, he looked around and saw her heading for her trailer and he started a light jog to catch up with her, he hasn't seen her in a while and wanted to see and talk to her.

"Torrey!" He chased after her.

She turned around and saw Paul now walking up to her. She did not feel like talking to him now she needed time to get used to seeing him around first.

"Hey can we talk?" He said catching his breath.

"Yeah, what's up?"

They started walking again towards her trailer and neither one of them knew how to start. There was a silence between them with nothing but the sounds of nature surrounding them.

"So how have you been?" Paul opened.

"I've been good."

He knew how she was doing he saw the Instagram posts and twitter updates she looked like she was doing great without him. Yes, he un-followed her on Instagram but not because he wanted to be a jerk but because he couldn't look at her face, he was trying to move on and seeing that beautiful smile every day would be hard for him to do that. Soon after she reciprocated but he still did check up on her every once in a while and sometimes he wish that he didn't. In all her posts she was smiling and hanging out with family and friends and he was glad but deep down it did hurt to see her having a great time without him. He however didn't know how she was feeling on the inside, emotionally sure you can smile in a picture all you want but that does not mean that that is how you feel on the inside.

"You?" She looked over.

"Great."

Torrey nodded her head walking at a steady pace she knew that he would be great since he was seeing someone else and it angered her. The last thing she wanted to do was fight, when they decided to split they talked about being friends but did not know if they would commit to that or not, not because they did not want to, but because they knew how hard it was going to be. They had a deep love and that is hard to transform that into friendship without being jealous or still have that feeling nagging at you that you made the wrong choice. She would like nothing more than to be friends with Paul but she knew that it would be difficult but she was willing to work on it if he was.

"I don't want to beat around the bush but I'm sure that you've heard about Phoebe."

That name stung her; the last thing she wanted to hear was her name.

"Are you two dating?" She swallowed hard.

"Yes and no."

"What is that supposed to mean, Paul?"

He could tell that her structure changed and he made sure to be careful with his words.

"We're just friends but it could possibly turn into something more."

She looked past his shoulder not wanting to look him in the eye, she could feel the tears swell in her eyes and tried to push them back.

"Two months. Two months Paul we were together for six years and you get over me in two months. Do you have any idea how much that hurts me? How much it makes me feel like crap, how much it makes me wonder if what we had was real, because it was real on my part. How could you do this to me?"

Tears were rushing down her face like a stream and Paul cursed himself for making her cry, he hated to see her upset; it pained him. He did not mean to find someone else so quickly it just happened and he could not take it back. He had no idea of how Torrey felt, how much it hurt her to see him and Phoebe together but he could imagine that if it was the other way around and Torrey was seeing someone else that he would no doubt punch that man in the face. He wanted to tell her that what they had was real and that he does love her and that she would always hold a place in his heart no matter what but he could not formulate the words. Torrey stared in his eyes waiting for an answer but when she knew that she was not going to get one she shook her head and closed the door to her trailer leaving Paul standing there full of emotions. He walked up the stairs wanting to knock on the door and comfort her but knew that it would not be the best of ideas so he walked away. Walking into his trailer he saw Phoebe sitting on the small couch he gave a smile and kissed the apple of her cheek.

"I have to film in a few minutes are you going to be okay here?"

"My mom called so I'm going to meet up with her for a while." Phoebe was not sure if she should ask but decided to anyway, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm good, see you tonight?"

"It's a date." She smiled.

Paul walked her out before heading back on set, he saw Torrey talking to Candice she seemed better from the last time he saw her but he could not help but feel horrible. Candice saw him staring in their direction out of the corner of her eye there was a rumor spreading around that they got into a huge fight outsidebof Torrey's trailer she usually did not pay attention to rumors but this one seemed legit due to Paul's staring and the puffiness under Torrey's eyes that she did her best to cover up with concealer. She focused her eyes on Paul and gave him a smile and small wave he returned the action and Torrey turned her head to see who Candice was waving at. When their eyes met they held their gaze until the director, Josh, called his name ready for him to shoot the next scene, he looked back over at Torrey who still held her gaze on him and walked away hopping in front if the camera.

ᗓᗓᗓᗓ

After a cold shower (and not for the reason you might think) he ran his fingers through his hair and plopped his back on the bed. All throughout dinner he could not focus on the gorgeous woman in front of him his mind was solely on Torrey and no matter how hard he tried to shake it she kept finding her way back in his mind. He felt horrible he could tell that Phoebe knew that something was going on and he apologized for it and gladly she understood.

"If my ex showed up I would be acting the same way."

He wanted to ask her about if her ex-husband showed up how would you be acting but kept that to himself. For the rest of the night he kept his attention on her and had a good time getting to know her, the night ended with a kiss and they drove their separate ways. He found himself scrolling through his contacts and landed on the contact "T" he stared at the contact not knowing why, he did not want to call her but something was nagging at him so he quickly threw the phone to the side and closed his eyes shutting off all thoughts.

Chapter End.

A/N: This is MY take on Paul and Torrey's relationship/breakup this is how I would THINK that things might go down. I have no personal relationship with either one of them but I do watch/read their interviews both when they are together and when they are not so I do "know" them in the slightest. Some of the stuff I write is based on true facts/events but nothing in particular to this chapter besides Army Wives being canceled and the pending relationship between Paul and Phoebe. I just thought that I let you know that before this story goes any further. Make sure to leave a review for me and I'll update soon!

XO

Ashlyne.