"Is it really necessary to have the snake in the wedding?" Caroline asked Kol. She and Kol and Bonnie were sitting in their backyard making plans. Caroline had a pen and pad of paper in her lap and was making notes.

"Yes, it is necessary to have Steve in the wedding," Kol replied. "He's the nearest dearest thing to me that isn't Bonnie. I'm not gonna leave him out."

"Help me!" Caroline pleaded with Bonnie. "Please."

"Relax, Caroline," Bonnie told her. "Steve's not alive. He's stuffed."

Caroline's jaw dropped a little. "Was that remark supposed to make me feel better?"

"Well, I hope it would," Kol replied. "Isn't your present problem with Steve that you were afraid he would get loose and terrify everyone?"

"Maybe," Caroline replied, eyes narrowed. "Just how would you plan to have him in the wedding? As a decoration, or something?"

"No," Kol shook his head. "I'll put him around my shoulders. It'll be my way to impress people."

"I don't know," Caroline told him. "If people are staring at you and the snake, they might not pay as much attention to Bonnie, and-"

"I don't mind," Bonnie told her. "Really. People always say that the wedding day should be about the bride, but if Kol wants to wear a snake, I don't mind. Let him do it."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Fine," she replied. "He can bring the stupid snake."

"And you promise you won't complain about it," Kol finished.

"Do I really have to promise that?" Caroline asked Bonnie. "I don't know if I can."

"Caroline, please," Bonnie told her firmly. "Whose wedding is this? Ours or yours?"

Caroline sighed. "Yours, of course. But a snake? Really?"

"We told you he's stuffed," Kol replied, running his fingers through his hair. "We told you again and again. And if you keep going on and on about it, I'm gonna stop feeling so patient."

"Fine," Caroline put her hands up. "The snake stays." She wrote something down on the list and proceeded to the next item.

Eventually, they got the details figured out and Caroline took the wedding announcement to the newspaper office so that it could be put in the paper and everyone would know about it.

"It's about time you got here!" The Ringmaster snapped at the young man whose job it was to bring him his paper every morning. "What took you so long?"

The man's eyes were downcast. "There's something in there you probably won't want to see," he replied quietly. "I was just trying to spare you."

"Give me that!" The Ringmaster snatched it away from the man, his face growing red with frustration. "Where is this article you didn't want me to see? Tell me now."

The guy shut his eyes and sighed. "Society section, last page. She has a whole page just devoted to her. She must know somebody."

"Go away and let me read in peace!" The Ringmaster ordered. The guy gave a yelp and ran off, and the Ringmaster was left to his paper. He turned to the last page as he had been told and let out a growl. There they were, splashed all over the back page for all to see. Not too careful on either of their parts, but very lucky for him. He gave the photo of them a long look and then wrote down the address of the venue where they were going to be married, then threw the paper away. He never really liked reading the paper in the morning. But making his lackeys think he wanted it just gave him a chance to yell at them when they didn't bring it fast enough. It was a good start to his day that he wouldn't let go of for the world.

"Hey, Rogers!" He called. A nervous-looking young man approached door. "Yes?" He replied. "What can I do for you?"

"Make a note somewhere that we have an event to attend next week," the Ringmaster answered. "A wedding. Being that it's for one of our former colleagues, I wouldn't dream of missing it."

The young man nodded. "Yes, sir. I'll go do that right away." He stood by the door until the Ringmaster looked away, and then he ran like hell as far away from the man as he could. It was the best way any of them knew how to deal with him and it was also the safest.

"You know, Caroline," Bonnie said as she tried on wedding dresses. "The big announcement in the paper was sweet, but really unnecessary."

"Why?" Caroline asked. "Don't you want everyone to know that you're gonna be married?"

"Actually," Bonnie replied, "we were kind of hoping to keep things kind of small. Maybe just me and him and possibly you and his brother."

"I don't know if I feel like going with his brother," Caroline replied. "Maybe I'll just come by myself."

"That's what I meant," Bonnie replied. "I wasn't saying you had to come with his brother. Just that you would be there and he would be there. That's all."

"Oh," Caroline nodded. "Okay. You need me to come zip you up?"

"Yes," Bonnie nodded. "Please." Caroline zipped up the dress and Bonnie looked at herself in the mirror. The dress she had on was the fifth one she'd tried on. It had spaghetti straps and a tiered skirt with alternating layers of lace and silk. "I like this one," she said, turning to Caroline. "I think this is the one I want."

"Good," Caroline nodded, taking her notepad out of her purse and checking "Wedding dress" off her list. "Now we can move on to the next thing."

Bonnie groaned. "And just how many 'things' are left on that list of yours?" She asked. "A hundred? A thousand? We've been walking around all day. I think we should take a break now."

Caroline looked at her watch. "All right," she agreed. "We can spare ten minutes. That's enough time to at least get a coffee."

"Well, gee," Bonnie told her. "Thanks for that."

Caroline smiled. "You're welcome," she replied.

The night before the wedding found Klaus and Kol sitting alone in a bar. "So," Klaus said, hoisting up a beer. "You get married tomorrow, brother. Are you ready?"

"Yes," Kol nodded. "I think I am. I made a huge mistake letting Bonnie go the first time and now that I've been given a second chance with her, I'm more than ready to take it."

They clinked glasses and Klaus said, "To the two of you, then. Best of luck in the future and all the hope in the world that you don't fuck things up again."

"Oh, well thank you," Kol said sarcastically.

"No, I mean it," Klaus replied. "I wasn't trying to be funny."

"Oh," Kol nodded. "I suppose I deserve that," he replied. "But I'm certain I have no reason to mess things up any more. When it's time for me to walk down that aisle tomorrow, I'm going to be ready and nothing will stop me."

And he was, standing at altar the next day, eagerly awaiting Bonnie meeting him. She stared down the aisle, taking a deep breath and thinking that soon, she'd be married to him. Then the organ started up, but as Bonnie took her first step to go down the aisle, she felt someone grab her from behind, with one hand around her waist and another over her mouth. A few seconds after that, another person grabbed her feet. They picked her up, carried her away, put her down on a sofa, then, she felt a pain in her head and knew no more.

The organist had played Bonnie's intro several times and she hadn't appeared. People were beginning to speculate that Kol had been jilted. Finally, he cleared his throat. "No need to worry, folks," he said. "I'm sure she's here somewhere and has a very good reason for being late. If you'll excuse me, I think I'll go try and see what that is." He strode out of the main room which was full of people Caroline had invited that neither he nor Bonnie knew and proceeded to look for her. Finally, he heard a voice that was chillingly familiar.

"Looking for someone?" He drawled. Then, he appeared as if out of thin air. It was the Ringmaster, looking very smug.

"You!" Kol whispered angrily. "I killed you!"

"You tried," the Ringmaster nodded. "And you gave a good effort, but sadly for you, it wasn't good enough. It made me annoyed and when I get annoyed, someone has to answer for it."

"Where did you put her?" Kol asked, speeding toward him and putting his hands around the man's throat. "Tell me, now. I swear to you, if she's been killed-"

At this remark, the Ringmaster burst out laughing. "Killed?" he finally got out. "Why would I kill her? She'd be no good to me dead. No, see, my purpose in coming here today was not to kill her. It was to kill you."

Kol grinned. "I hate to disappoint you, but really, I'm as difficult to kill as you are."

Just then, the Ringmaster raised his hand and sent Kol flying into a wall. This process was repeated a few more times until finally, Kol didn't move again. That's when two more of the Ringmaster's men took him to the same room where Bonnie was being held.

She opened her eyes just as they were bringing Kol in.

"What?" She asked woozily. "What did you do to him?"

"Don't worry, dear," the Ringmaster said calmly. "Soon, he'll be dead and then you won't have to think about him any more."

Those words cleared Bonnie's head better than anything else could have, and she suddenly found the strength to sit up. "No!" She said firmly. "Let him go!"

"I think not," the Ringmaster replied. "Not when he tried to cross me. No one crosses me and lives."

With a grunt, Bonnie launched herself off the sofa and onto the Ringmaster's back. They tussled, knocking things over and making a bunch of noise. Bonnie thought for sure that the wedding guests were going to come looking for the source of the noise any minute now, even though she sincerely hoped they wouldn't.

The Ringmaster was surprisingly strong and that meant that as they fought, he and Bonnie were very well-matched. Then, out of the corner of her eye, Bonnie noticed one of the goons sitting in the corner, looking nervous. She remembered hm from the circus. He was reasonably nice.

"A little help here?" She called to him. "Please? How do I kill him?"

The man said nothing, Groaning with frustration, Bonnie blindly stabbed her finger at the man's chest, hoping that a strong jolt of magic would destroy his heart.

Suddenly, there was a large flash of light in the room and a shriek as the Ringmaster's body glowed and convulsed, looking as if it were conducting several volts of electricity. This went on for quite some time until finally, the light cleared and Bonnie found herself staring down at the Ringmaster's charred and contorted corpse. Bonnie looked at it for a few seconds, flinched, got up and ran over to put her arms around Kol, who was just coming to.

"Are you all right?" Bonnie asked him.

Kol groaned. "I thought-I thought you didn't want to get married to me."

"No," Bonnie assured him. "I do. It was only because I was taken by the Ringmaster that I didn't come down the aisle. But I'm ready to now. If you're not, however, we can hold things off until you feel better. I don't mind."

Apparently, someone did, though. "What in hell is going on here?" Caroline demanded, throwing the dressing room door open. "People are getting up to leave!"

Bonnie gave Kol a little jolt and soon he sat up, good as new. "Catch whoever you can," he said. "We're finally ready to get married." He looked down, relieved that Steve the snake was still near him and not harmed in any way.

Caroline sighed. "All right," she said. "But you better mean it this time." She left, Bonnie made the corpse disappear, and without their leader, the Ringmaster's henchmen had no reason to stay. They left and Bonnie and Kol were alone in the room.

"You ready?" She asked.

"Yes," Kol nodded. "If you are."

They picked up the ceremony from where it had left off. Though there were far fewer people to watch her now, Bonnie didn't mind. She made her way down the aisle, she and Kol told each other "I do," and after telling Klaus and Caroline goodbye, went off on their honeymoon knowing that this time, they were going to live happily ever after.

The End.