"Are you alright, Steph?"

Stephanie had kept her face buried in Kyle's shoulder and her arms wrapped around his waist for a while after Leon was escorted out, and she didn't want to move. Being in Kyle's arms like this felt too good, and the fact that he had so fiercely defended her against her awful ex-boyfriend made her more reluctant to let go of him.

He was truly her knight in shining armor.

"...Yeah, I'm alright," Stephanie sighed after a moment, shifting her face over so she could look up at Kyle. He gazed down at her with a soft, sympathetic expression on his face. "How are you?"

"I'll be fine," Kyle assured her. "It's going to take a lot more than that to frighten me off. I'm only concerned about you."

Stephanie gave him a soft, tender smile. "Thanks."

"He's gone, Steph."

Stephanie looked over to see Morgan approach them, looking understandably upset. "I'm so sorry he came here and started harassing you. I have no idea how he got in when we were so careful about security. But rest assured, if he comes back here we're calling the police."

"It's okay Morgan. This isn't your fault," Stephanie said, finally pulling away from Kyle so she could face her. "I appreciate you guys getting him out of here, though. I'm sorry he had to ruin your big day."

"Are you kidding? That asshole didn't ruin anything," Morgan rolled her eyes. "He's going to have to try a lot harder than that."

"Well, let's hope he doesn't," Stephanie said sardonically, folding her arms. She glanced over at Kyle, and noticed he had an odd expression on his face as he gazed off into space. After a moment, he met Stephanie's eyes before grimacing slightly, not saying anything.

"Marcus and his dad are coming back over here," Morgan said, glancing over her shoulder at her husband and father-in-law walking back from the building's entrance. "I think that means Leon is gone."

"Good," Stephanie nodded in relief. "Hopefully he stays gone."

Stephanie looked over at Kyle again, and once again, she noticed he had that odd expression on his face. It was as if he were warring with himself on something, and Stephanie frowned slightly, feeling concerned.

Is he alright?

"Kyle?" Stephanie asked quietly, placing a hand lightly on his arm. His eyes met hers, and the unreadable expression on his face flickered slightly as he frowned at her. "Is everything okay?"

Kyle gazed at her for one more moment before glancing over at Morgan, who had begun moving toward Marcus and her father-in-law to speak with them. Without a word, Kyle took Stephanie's hand and walked them over to a nearby corner of the room, where they were in relative privacy. Stephanie allowed him to lead her there, feeling her heart pounding anxiously as she wondered what was going on with him.

Why isn't he saying anything? Did Leon's presence make him rethink his decision to come to America with me? Did this whole experience ruin his view of me?

Stephanie was desperate to know, and it was eating her up inside knowing that he was upset about something she couldn't fix.

"Kyle, I'm so sorry you were upset by Leon showing up," Stephanie said immediately once they had stopped and Kyle faced her. "If there's any way I can make it up to you, maybe I could talk to Marcus and he could –?"

"I love you."

Stephanie froze, staring at him in shock. That was the last thing she expected to come out of his mouth. "What?"

"I said that I love you, Steph," Kyle said firmly, stepping toward her and staring into her eyes, and Stephanie felt her heart rate kick up. "I feel like I've loved you for a long time, but I didn't realize until this moment that I needed to tell you. I want you to know that I love you."

Stephanie continued to stare at him with wide eyes, wanting to say so much to him but finding herself at a loss for words. "Kyle..." she whispered.

"It's okay if you don't feel the same way," Kyle went on, grimacing slightly. There was a certain vulnerability in his expression that made Stephanie's heart melt. "And I'm sorry if you feel it's too soon, but I wanted you to know. I think you're amazing and beautiful and smart and strong and so incredibly talented, and I don't want to go another moment without telling you how I really feel about you. I love you, Steph."

"Kyle," Stephanie whispered, taking Kyle's hand in her own. She gazed into his eyes, her heart full of a powerful emotion as she smiled at him. "I feel the same way. I love you too."

Kyle stared back at her, as if hardly daring himself to believe her words. "Really?"

"Of course I do," Stephanie insisted emotionally, feeling tears fill her eyes as she smiled up at him. "When I told you I was going back to America, it nearly broke my heart when I thought you didn't want to be with me anymore. I can't tell you how happy I was when you surprised me at the airport and came with me here – as much as I tried to rationalize with myself that I was okay with leaving you in London, I knew in my heart that I didn't want to say goodbye to you. I never want to have to say goodbye to you."

Kyle smiled, his face conveying all the love he felt toward her, and he reached forward to cup her face in his hand, running a thumb along her cheek and causing her to smile again. "I hated the fact that you were leaving. I'm so sorry that I hardly spoke to you in your final weeks in London, but I was convinced that I could forget you. I thought that our paths were never going to cross again and that I could just leave you behind. Needless to say, I failed in that thought process – I couldn't leave you anymore than I could leave one of my limbs."

Stephanie giggled, tears filling her eyes as she smiled at him. "I know what you mean. I love you so much Kyle."

Kyle let out a breath that almost sounded relieved, and in a moment he had pulled Stephanie in for a passionate kiss. Stephanie immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, wanting to convey all the love she felt for him with her embrace. Kyle smiled against her, running his hand up her back as he opened his mouth against her, and Stephanie happily deepened the kiss, tightening her hold against him and never wanting to let go.

The rest of the world melted away, and nothing else mattered but each other. Stephanie was completely fine with that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thankfully, most of the wedding attendants had no idea that an unwanted visitor had briefly crashed the reception, and the rest of the night commenced as normal. After the meal, Marcus and Morgan cut the cake, and they smashed it into each other's faces, causing everyone in the room to laugh. And once Tish and Aiden (Marcus's best man) gave their respective speeches, the dancing began.

Kyle didn't hesitate dragging a smiling Stephanie onto the dance floor as a Beyonce song began to play, and the two of them laughed and cheered along with the other wedding guests as they danced to Crazy in Love. Kyle wasn't shy about putting his hands around Stephanie's waist and pulling her close, pressing his body up against hers as they danced; Stephanie wound her arms around Kyle's neck and pressed her forehead against his, unable to keep the wide happy smile from her face as they gazed into each other's eyes.

Being a part of Morgan's beautiful wedding, as well as being so close to the man she was so deeply in love with, made Stephanie feel like she was on top of the world. She wished she could feel like this forever.

The Beyonce song soon turned into a slower song, Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran, and everybody broke off into pairs. Of course, Stephanie and Kyle stayed together, and they both smiled as Morgan and Marcus made their way onto the dance floor together. Everyone at the reception hall hooted and cheered upon seeing them, and a couple people even clinked their glasses with their cutlery. Morgan and Marcus took that as their cue to kiss, smiling against each other, and the room erupted into cheers.

"They're so beautiful together," Stephanie smiled at her best friends dancing together. Morgan was smiling widely at her new husband, and Marcus gazed at his beautiful bride with his heart in his eyes. "I'm so glad I got to be here for their big day."

"I'm glad too," Kyle agreed. "Otherwise my trip to America would have been completely in vain."

"It's hard to believe I would have missed this day if I had taken that spot in the string quartet," Stephanie said, grimacing to herself as she shook her head in disbelief. "I would still be in London right now and getting ready to travel around Europe."

"And I would have been preparing to go on my next tour," Kyle stated. Stephanie looked up at him, frowning slightly.

"You're still doing that, though," she pointed out. "Your tour isn't happening for months, and you were never planning on sticking around here very long anyway."

Kyle frowned back at her, looking almost annoyed. "Steph, I love you – I want to be wherever you are, not touring around the continent and staying in unfamiliar places every night just to play the piano. Being with you is so much more important to me, and I would hate to leave you when things between us are going so well right now."

He spoke so earnestly, and Stephanie felt her heart pound in her chest when he said that. She couldn't help but smile softly at him. "Performing is part of your job, though, Kyle. I could never ask you to give that up for me."

"There will always be other performances, Steph," Kyle said firmly. "Or even masterclasses I could teach. Perhaps Juilliard could take me back in a teaching capacity – that way I could be closer to you here in the States. There are endless opportunities for me and my career."

"You have an amazing career going for you, Kyle," Stephanie said truthfully. "And it's incredible that you get to share your talents with your adoring fans all over the world. But I don't think it's a good idea for you to forgo an amazing opportunity like your tour for the possibility of maybe getting similar opportunities here in America. That doesn't exactly make good business sense."

Kyle gazed at her, his face falling into a heartbroken frown. "Then what are you saying?"

Stephanie sighed. "I'm saying that you staying here in the US doesn't make a lot of sense... especially when it's me that doesn't have a job anymore or a home to go back to."

Kyle froze, their slow dance coming to a complete stop as he stared at her. His frown had morphed into a look of shock. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that three months ago, I left everything behind to take a chance and go to London," Stephanie explained, gazing into his eyes so that she could convey her sincerity. "It was a crazy risk, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat because it was what led me to you. And that's exactly what I want to do."

Kyle continued to stare at her, as if hardly daring to believe what she was saying. "You're saying you want to live in London with me?"

"If you'd like me to," Stephanie said, smiling slightly while giving a small shrug. "Before I left, your uncle had actually offered me a part-time job at Lancaster's to start training me as a luthier. I had turned him down since I was heading back here, obviously, but I think I could take him up on his offer if I were to live in London on a more permanent basis."

"And you'd get to work with music everyday too," Kyle pointed out, the restrained excitement in his voice making Stephanie smile. "But what about your friends here? Morgan and Marcus?"

"I won't break the news to Morgan and Marcus today," Stephanie said, glancing over at the newlyweds with a small frown on her face. "And it'll be hard, for sure, but I think in the end they'll understand. This is what I want to do."

"You know I would never ask you to do something you weren't 100% certain about, right?" Kyle asked her seriously, and Stephanie looked back over at him. "Because I would hate it if you were to uproot your entire life for me if you had doubts..."

"I don't have doubts," Stephanie said confidently, and she knew she was being sincere. "I want to be with you Kyle, and if that's going to be in London, then that's where we'll go. As long as I have you and Lydia and your uncle's music shop and my violin, I know I'll always be right at home."

Kyle continued to gaze at her, all the love in the world reflected in his eyes, and the next moment he pulled Stephanie into his arms, pressing his lips to her in an exuberant kiss. He lifted her up in the air and spun her around in a circle, causing her to laugh and some of the wedding guests around them to hoot and cheer.

Kyle pulled away from her lips but still held her in his arms, smiling widely up at her, and Stephanie couldn't help but beam widely back. Her heart was full of so much love and excitement for the future, and she could hardly believe that this was real.

She was going to live in London with Kyle, and nothing in the world felt more perfect.