Sleeping Doppelganger
DG32173
Sarah: and here's chapter 7, finally! Also, all the info I got on what the flowers mean I got offline. So don't yell if I'm wrong. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 7
Wedding Bells
Damon nervously tugs at his bowtie. Today has been three long months in the planning and it's finally here: the day he marries one Elena Gilbert, soon to be Elena Salvatore. The fact that he's the one who's been granted the hard-earned prize of giving her the Salvatore family name is still a little hard to believe. It's almost too good to be true. Almost.
Stefan sighs. "Relax, Damon," the younger Salvatore brother says. 'She's not going to drop you at the altar. You know as well as I do that she's not like that."
Stefan had held up to his end of the promise the brothers had made each other when they were still human – long before Katherine waltzed into their lives – and agreed to be Damon's best man. Even after a hundred-sixty-three years as brothers, Stefan still doesn't know Damon half as well as his soon-to-be bride does.
"I'm more nervous about whatever she chose to be her bridal attire," Damon says, frowning.
"You mean you never got a peek?" Stefan ask, more amused than surprised.
"Nope. The girls have been very careful to keep it a secret from me. It's been kept at Judgy's place, and I still don't have an invite there," Damon replies.
Stefan chuckles. He's in on the surprise Elena has prepared for Damon. "Damon, trust me, you're going to love it," he assures his brother.
"It feels like everyone in the wedding party is in on the secret except me," Damon complains.
"That's because we are," Stefan teases. "Elena wants to give you a surprise that you can't find out about beforehand. So Matt and Bonnie have been ingesting vervaine so you can't compel the secret from them. And everyone knows you would never dare compel Elena again, not after what she did when you returned the memories you stole from her."
Damon winces at the reminder. She had forced him to sleep on the couch for a week while she took his bed, saying that she was teaching him a lesson about the consequences of meddling with her mind without her permission. He definitely learned that lesson. "You got the ring?" Damon asks, changing the subject. Stefan reaches into his pocket, pulls out a red velvet ring box, and flips it open to show off the simple-but-elegant silver-and-gold ring with a pale blue lapis lazuli gem embedded in the top. Damon sighs in content as he examines the ring he had designed specifically for Elena. He had designed it so that her wedding band could double as her sunlight ring once he turns her. Bonnie has already pre-enchanted it. Engraved on the inside is her new initials and their wedding date.
Stefan smiles, knowing just how much this day means to his brother and to Elena as well. Weddings between two vampires or a vampire and a human last for eternity, and maybe even beyond that. Vampires don't go into marriage lightly and certainly don't do so on a whim. Once a vampire commits themselves to someone enough to marry them, it's like the point of no return. There's no turning back from it. That's why there are so few marriages involving vampires.
A knock on the dressing room door knocks both brothers out of their thoughts. "Come in," Damon says as Stefan closes the ring box and returns it to his pocket.
Jeremy opens the door enough to stick his head in. "Mrs. Lockwood said to let you know it's time for the guys to get in position. The wedding is going to start soon," he says. "I have to get ready to walk my sister down the aisle," he mutters, shaking his head. "I can't believe she talked me into this. Why couldn't Rick do this?"
Damon rolls his eyes. "You know how much it means to her that she be handed away by a blood relative," he reminds the kid. "You're all she has left. It's too late to back out now."
Jeremy rolls his eyes. "Anyways, hurry up and get in position. Now I have to tell Tyler before getting in my own position," he says, shutting the door as he leaves.
Elena's dressing room
Elena sighs as she tries very hard to stand still while her girlfriends do her makeup and hair. "Are you sure he's going to like this dress?" she asks plaintively for the umpteenth time.
"Elena, you're going to knock the air he doesn't need right out of Damon when he sees you," Caroline assures her, grinning her amusement as she carefully crimps her friend's hair. Elena had put her foot down at having her hair curled for this, saying she didn't need to look any more like Katherine than she already does for all that it was thanks to her ancestress that her big day is even happening.
"The town's more snobbish population is going to be scandalized by how much skin you're showing but Damon's going to be eating you up with his eyes. Who knows? He might even get so caught up in you that he drools a little! Imagine that!" Bonnie chuckles as she carefully applies pale blue eye shadow to Elena's eyelids.
Elena chuckles at the image of her soon-to-be husband drooling at the sight of her. "You're right," Elena sighs. "This is Damon. He would love anything I chose to wear because I'm the one wearing it."
But she tugs self-consciously at the ice blue silk gown she had personally designed with Caroline's help. It has a full skirt that flares out from her hips but the torso is a crisscross of fabric that covers enough of her chest to be decent to wear in public but shows an ample amount of cleavage. It's held up by a choker-style collar around her neck and is sleeveless. On her feet are ice blue strappy low-heals with crisscross straps climbing up to her knees. She's wearing sapphire dewdrop earrings that Damon had given her on their one-month anniversary as a couple and around her neck is a heart locket made of gold and studded in sapphires with a sprig of dried vervaine clasped into one side and a picture of them tucked into the other. Just one week after they got together, Damon had insisted that she return the necklace Stefan had given her because he didn't want to constantly look at his girl and see her wearing a gift from his brother. That was when he gave her the locket.
Elena raises her hand to gently stroke the locket, smiling gently at the memory. Bonnie and Caroline roll their eyes at each other. Ever since Elena had gotten together with Damon, she's become a lot more prone to drifting off into space as the least little thing makes her think of something that happened between the two of them. "Earth to Elena," Bonnie says.
"Come in, Elena," Caroline chimes in. "C'mon girl, it's your wedding day. You can't let yourself turn into a space-case now."
Elena chuckles. "Sorry, I was just thinking about the time Damon gave me this locket," she apologizes.
"Wait until after this whole thing is over to zone out into La La Land," Bonnie suggests. "Of course, I'm sure Damon will have plenty of ways to bring you right back to Earth," she adds wickedly. "Any thoughts on how he'd do that, Elena?"
Elena blushes crimson. Her girlfriends are constantly trying to get her to spill the beans on her sexcapades with Damon, wanting to know what he's like with someone he actually loves. To their disappointment, she has kept her mouth tightly shut on the subject. So they started theorizing for themselves what could be happening using Caroline's experiences with him and the superbly sated look on Elena's face after a night with him as clues. But even their wildest theories are far from the truth of the mildest of nights between the lovebirds. Elena had immediately moved most of her things out of the Gilbert house and into Damon's room at the boarding house when they got together. Just three days later, Stefan packed his bags and leased an apartment in the building Alaric used to call home. He was tired of trying to get some sleep while the new couple were at their thing.
Bonnie sighs as her attempt to get juicy details fails yet again. She carefully applies a coat of shimmering strawberry lip gloss to Elena's lips. "Well, your makeup's done," she says, pulling away.
"And I'm done with your hair," Caroline says, turning off the crimping iron and setting it on the table. "Have a look," she continues, carefully turning Elena so that the bride can see her reflection in the full length mirror in the corner.
"Is that really me?" Elena gasps, staring in awe at the young beauty standing between her friends in the mirror.
"That's really you, Elena," Bonnie chuckles. "Now, all that's left is the veil." She carefully retrieves the silver circlet holding the gauzy material that is the same shade of ice blue as her dress.
"And now my nerves decide to show up," Elena says, smiling weakly.
"It's your big day, Elena," Caroline says, rolling her eyes before taking the veil from Bonnie and carefully pinning it in place. She then proceeds to fluff the gauzy curtain, making sure it falls just so. "Today you vow to stay true to a badass vampire for the rest of eternity. Of course you'd have nerves."
A knock comes at the door before Carol Lockwood pokes her head in. She shakes her head at the sight of Elena's dress. "I still don't understand why you didn't go for something a bit more traditional," she sighs.
"Mrs. Lockwood, you know the groom's secret. How can anything about marrying a vampire be traditional? Particularly when that vampire is Damon Salvatore?" Elena chuckles.
Carol sighs in defeat. "You're right. It's just that dress is going to scandalize half the congregation and the other half will want the bride of their wedding to wear something like it," she says.
"If they're going to be scandalized by my dress, just wait until they see the wedding cake," Elena laughs.
Caroline and Bonnie burst out laughing as well while Carol groans. The couple had insisted that their multi-tiered cake to look like a mausoleum in the middle of a graveyard with the bride and groom pieces, miniature replicas of the actual bride and groom, dancing right out front of the door to the mausoleum with tiny fangs on their mouths. "This wedding is going to be the biggest scandal the town has seen yet," Carol complains.
"Just as Damon wanted," Elena chuckles. "Just be glad that I put my foot down on getting married in the cemetery. Damon was so eager for a cemetery wedding."
"You'd have been chased right out of town for that," Carol sighs. "Anyways, I came to tell you it's time to get into place. The wedding is about to start."
"You have the ring, right, Caroline?" Elena asks her vampire friend.
"I still don't see why you didn't ask Bonnie to hold the ring," Caroline sighs, reaching into the pocket of her silver gown and pulling out a red velvet jewelry box. She flicks it open to reveal a simple band of mixed gold and silver. Engraved on the inside of the band is his initials and their wedding day. The bride and groom had agreed that their rings be gold and silver, his simple and hers elegant, as well as have their initials and the date of their wedding engraved on the inside.
"Because Damon would be certain I'd curse it," Bonnie says wryly. "He knows that the only reason I put up with him is because Elena loves him."
"Okay, girls, let's get moving," Carol says. "Sunset is coming and the ceremony is about to start."
Caroline closes the ring box and returns it to her pocket. Then she and Bonnie grab their mini-bouquets of azalea and pink carnation flowers. Elena takes a deep breath before picking up her own bouquet of black magic thorn-less roses and forget-me-nots. She had picked out the flowers and their arrangement for the whole wedding as well as the reception very carefully. The azaleas were chosen for their translation of asking the recipient to take care of themselves. The pink carnations represent that Elena will never forget her girlfriends. The roses in her own bouquet signal she's at the start of a new beginning, the lack of thorns on the roses symbolize love at first sight, and while the forget-me-nots stand for true love. The church aisle she will walk down has a vase of aster (a symbol of love), gloxinia (love at first sight), and lily of the valley ('you've made my life complete') blossoms carefully taped to the outside of each pew on either side. The boys had busted their asses building a wooden arch that the couple will get married under. Woven into the arch are hundreds of black magic roses, orange blossoms (a flower symbolizing marriage), orchids (love, beauty), and magenta zinnias (lasting affection). All the flowers on the arch are actually very realistic fakes. The couple intend on transporting the arch back to Damon's room in the boarding house and situating it right inside the door leading from his room to the hall. The rest of the flowers used in the ceremony are all quite real.
Elena takes another breath to steady herself before following her friends out of the changing room. She sees her brother waiting for her once she reaches her position. "You know, I'm sure that Damon can hear your heart beating all the way at the altar over the noise of this crowd," he teases. "You need to relax. It's your big day, Elena. You're going to scandalize the town and give them something to talk about for years to come. And you're going to marry the perfect guy for you."
"I'm glad you approve of him, Jer," she says softly as she loops her arm with his before clutching her bouquet with both hands.
"Hey, I've been the one trying to get you to see what was right under your nose this whole time," Jeremy retorts. "You look great, by the way. Damon is definitely going to drool a little at the sight of you."
"You think so?" Elena says, blushing.
"Elena, you're my sister and I'm having a hard time not staring," he chuckles. "Damon is going to love this surprise."
"We keep telling her that," Caroline says, rolling her eyes.
Carol Lockwood steps into the sanctuary briefly to talk with the priest, one of the Fells. Then she returns. "Okay, Caroline, you stand here and when the music starts, you walk down the aisle to get in your position," she says, positioning Caroline in the spot. "Bonnie, you wait here until there's a flourish in the music and then it'll be your turn," she continues, positioning Bonnie just out of sight of the door. Then she turns to Elena. "I guess it's too late for you to get another dress, isn't it?" she sighs in resignation.
"Mrs. Lockwood, wearing this dress down the aisle is my wedding gift to Damon," Elena chuckles. "Since you'll be up front, I hope you'll take a quick picture of his face when the doors open to reveal me. He'll have hidden his initial reaction by the time I get close enough to analyze his expression."
"Stefan's already on it," Caroline assures the bride-to-be. "He says he's been waiting to get Damon's initial reaction to the dress on camera from the second he first saw you in it."
"Okay," Carol says, taking a deep breath. "Elena, stay out of sight while the other two are leaving. Then you and Jeremy stand right behind the doors, just out of the way of them opening. The doors will open once the bridal march starts, that will be your cue to walk slowly down the aisle. Just like in practice. Only this time, it's real. Now, I need to find my seat. We'll be starting any minute."
With that, Carol leaves the four of them in the semi-gloom of the hall so that she can be seated when things start. "You better have memorized your lines, Elena," Jeremy chuckles.
"Don't worry. I know them," is the reply accompanied by a slight smile.
Then the music starts. Caroline takes a deep breath before walking through the door. About thirty seconds later, the flourish in the music announces it's time for Bonnie to go down the aisle and take her place at the altar. Jeremy and Elena position themselves just out of the way of the doors. Finally, the bridal march starts and the ushers swing open the doors to reveal us to the congregation and the groom. Elena holds her head high, a small smile on her lips, as she walks down the aisle on Jeremy's arm. All around them, the townsfolk whisper about how scandalous her dress is. She keeps her eyes firmly on Damon. When she gets close enough to see his facial expression, she sees that she was right in that she wouldn't be able to see his initial reaction without someone taking a picture of it. Only his eyes are showing how shocked he is at her outfit: they're as big as saucers and full of surprise mingled with delight.
Finally, Jeremy and Elena stop in front of the wedding arch. "Who is giving the bride away?" Pastor Fell asks.
"Jeremy Gilbert," Jeremy answers.
"Of what relation are you to the bride that gives you the right to give her hand to this man?" Pastor Fell asks.
"I'm her brother," Jeremy replies.
"Very well then," Pastor Fell says. Jeremy presses a kiss to Elena's cheek before releasing her arm to take his seat next to Alaric in the front row. Elena steps forward to stand facing Damon. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to see the joining of this man, Damon Salvatore, and this woman, Elena Gilbert, in holy matrimony." The word 'holy' causes the numerous people in on Damon's secret to bite their lip to keep from laughing. "If there is anyone present who knows why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace." At this, Damon, Stefan, and Tyler all glare fiercely at the crowd, warning anyone who might have been contemplating speaking up to hold their peace or there will be severe consequences. The room is quiet for several long minutes before Pastor Fell continues. "As no one has spoken up, we shall continue the wedding. The bride and the groom have prepared their own vows. Let us first hear the vows of the groom. Damon Salvatore, speak your vows."
Damon smirks. "Elena, you know how many years I spent chasing a dream. When we met, I was still set to see that dream come to fruition. But as I grew to know you, I found myself doubting that dream on many occasions. When we went through the ordeal of bringing about the events that should have been my dream come true, I found that I had been chasing a lie. You had worked so hard to bring the man out of the monster I had been and then you worked just as hard to stop me from turning back into that monster. These past two and a half years have held many trials for us. I confessed my love for you on many circumstances that were not quite right. But now is most definitely the right time to tell you that I love you more than I've ever loved anything in my life and I vow to love you beyond the end of eternity. I vow to keep you safe when danger threatens. I vow to be right at your side during any challenges that come our way. And I vow to love you more than you have ever thought anyone could possible love you."
Pastor Fell turns to Elena. "Now for the vows of the bride. Elena Gilbert, speak your vows," he says.
"Damon, I once thought I knew what love was. But then you came into my life and demolished that notion. I've felt so many different emotions for you since I met you. Hate, fear, friendship, loyalty. And it all culminated into the most intense love I have ever felt for someone. I'll admit, I was frightened by the intensity of it for too long. I ran from it and tried my best to bury it away. But you kept on dragging it right back to the surface. Circumstances forced me to face my feelings for you three months ago. And the past three months since I accepted my feelings have been the happiest I have ever lived. I vow to spend eternity completely devoted to you as your wife. I vow to love you with every fiber of my being for the rest of time, and then some. And I vow that you and I will always be together from here on."
"Present the rings," Pastor Fell says. Caroline and Stefan step forward, reaching into their pockets for the red velvet ring boxes. As one, they flick open the ring boxes and hold them forward. "Damon Salvatore, please take your bride's ring and her left hand." Damon takes a deep breath and does as he's told. "Place the ring on her ring finger and repeat after me: with this ring, I be wed."
Damon carefully slides the ring onto Elena's hand. "With this ring, I be wed," he says.
"Elena Gilbert, please take your groom's ring and his left hand," Pastor Fell says. Elena does as she's told. "Place the ring on his ring finger and repeat after me: with this ring, I be wed."
Elena slides Damon's ring on his ring finger. "With this ring, I be wed," she says.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to present to you Mr. and Mrs. Damon Salvatore! Damon, you may kiss your bride," Pastor Fell says, stepping back.
Damon pulls Elena in for the most romantic kiss the Mystic Falls has ever seen, complete with dipping her over his arm. The cheers are thunderous. Once that's through, it's time for to get in their cars and go to the reception. Damon and Elena run up the aisle to get into his car and lead the much smaller reception party to The Grill, both of them laughing as they get pelted with rice.
Stefan watches them run and realizes that he has never seen either of them any happier than they are now. He makes sure that all the rice in he tosses ends up in their hair. Vampire reflexes has some advantages after all. He smiles wistfully as he and the rest of the bridal party make their way up the aisle after the happy couple. "Way to set the bar high with those vows," Jeremy comments as he falls into place next to Stefan. He examines the vampire minutely. "You don't seem too upset."
"Did you hear them as they were running out of here? They were laughing," Stefan points out. "I haven't heard Damon laugh like that, all carefree and joyous, since I was a kid. She makes him happier than he's ever been. And he's brought out a fire in her I haven't even been able to touch. I'm not going to get in the way of that. Maybe I might be able to find someone who'll make me that happy."
Jeremy notices someone standing in the shadow of an old oak in the churchyard. "Don't look now, but I think someone's here who would love to have that chance again," he says.
Stefan raises an eyebrow and Jeremy nods towards the girl leaning against the old oak. Stefan looks. "I'll meet you at the reception. Make sure they save some cake for me," Stefan excuses himself before heading over to the oak tree.
"Good luck, man," Jeremy calls before going to climb in Alaric's car.
"What are you doing here, Katherine?" Stefan asks.
"Elena invited me," she replies evenly.
"She what?" Stefan asks, surprised.
"Elena invited me to her wedding," she says, reaching into her purse to pull out the black wedding invitation with blue roses in the corners. "Damon wasn't very happy about it, but he couldn't just throw me out for more than just the fact that I'm stronger than him. Elena and I have been playing the role of twins separated at birth for about a week now. I also have an invitation to the reception."
"But why are you even here?" Stefan asks.
"One, I wanted to see my final descendant get married to the vampire of her dreams. And two, I'm here for you," she replies.
"Here for me?" Stefan repeats, confused.
"Yes," Katherine replies. "Apparently, you haven't yet figured out why you were so infatuated with Elena that you mistook it for love."
"And you have?" Stefan demands, crossing his arms.
"I have a pretty good idea. Elena is like the girl I was when I was human. As I said that day three months ago, a lot of things conspired in my life to make me who I am now. I also mentioned that it took me a hundred-and-forty-five years to understand the difference between love and infatuation. A hundred-and-forty-five years. Sounds like a pretty specific amount of time to me," she replies.
Stefan furrows his brows as he thinks about it. But then his eyes widen in realization. "You were infatuated with Damon and in love with me," he realizes.
Katherine nods. "Precisely. But you two were fighting over me, making it difficult to organize my emotions. As you know, vampirism enhances one's emotions to the point they're a little hard to figure out. The only thing I could think of was to escape because you and Damon wouldn't let me alone long enough so I could make up my mind. I kept an eye on you over the years but I also made sure to keep tabs on Damon. I arrived in town the day Damon took your place as Elena's escort for Miss Mystic Falls. You should know, Stefan, I protect what belongs to me viciously. And since Elena is the last of my bloodline, that means she belongs to me as family. The thing at the masquerade? That was me protecting her in my own way. I was protecting her from you and Damon. I could see it was turning into 1864 all over again and I wasn't going to let it happen unless I was around to intervene on her behalf. Where I had the choice of running away from the feud between you two, she doesn't. She has ties keeping her here. She would have ended up getting between the two of you trying to kill each other and she would have ended up dead in a way that she wouldn't have come back from. I wasn't going to take the chance of not being able to protect her from such a fate. I have my own way of protecting what's mine. Now, we better get to the reception if we want to be there in time to see them cut the cake." With that, she turns toward the parking lot and starts making her way down the lawn. "Come on, you're riding with me. Everyone else is already gone."
Stefan sighs, runs a hand through his hair, but obediently follows Katherine to her 2005 Aston Martin DB9 Coupe.