The stage was set.

Today was the biggest day of Florence's life yet waking up she didn't feel like it was going to be, it hadn't dawned on her that today was actually the day she was going to get married, an empty space beside her on the bed marked that today was the day, Andrew had left the night before because it was of course bad luck to see the bride on the wedding day.

It was their wedding day, today was her wedding day she repeated to herself as she looked at the sunlight that was just peeking in through the window, today was going to be a sunny day she hoped that meant it would be a good day, Florence wondered why she didn't feel more elated, people always talked about the inner glow and radiance of a bride on her wedding day, looking in the mirror all she saw was a girl with a pale face who looked anxious.

She wanted this day to go well more than anything, to be a day that would be remembered fro years to come, but with mounting worry she was also anticipating Cooper's reaction to seeing Sam after two years, she'd either sob or be furious, or both, probably both.

Florence had decided beforehand that she wasn't going to turn her phone on today, not at all the messages from people would only worry her even more, she didn't need the snake pit writhing in her stomach to get any worse, it was only six a.m, her stylists, makeup artist and her bridesmaids would all arrive at eight, for now she would just sit here in silence trying to get around the fact that after today she would be a married woman.

It wasn't the actual marrying part of the ceremony that scared Florence, as bad as it sounded it was the commitment part that scared her, loving someone till death do them part seemed tragically misguided, you couldn't love someone every single day for the rest of eternity, could you?

Though she'd never told Andrew, Hello Magazine had offered her a ten million pound deal for exclusive coverage of her wedding, she hadn't even be tempted, having a national magazine covering her wedding would have made her anxiety rocket skywards, and this wasn't some public event, this was big, the biggest thing she'd ever have to undertake.

She lay back on her bed, and tried not to think.

"Have you been to many weddings?"

They were in the park under Chase's tree, Levi had gone to his cousin's wedding so they were at liberty to spend as much time here as they wanted to without the fear of being caught.

"Nope, Mum wasn't really into the whole going to places thing, she's a right home bunny, we did go to one but I don't really remember it well aside from the fact that it was boring and there was a clown which terrified me"

Chase laughed.

"What about you?" 

Florence always had to ask, he didn't just give up personal information unless he was prodded gently.

"Me and my brother were quite the double act at weddings, Dad had a lot of family so when we were growing up we went to a lot, we'd cause the most havoc at them, once he drank an entire cup of chocolate from the chocolate fountain and was sick all over the seats of our new car"

It was her turn to smile, Chase didn't talk a lot about his family and when he did the conversations were always light-hearted and never serious, she got the feeling that was the way he wanted to remember his childhood, all laughter.

"Well maybe my wedding will have to be the one wedding you go to in your adult life, I'm not planning on staying in this clinic forever you know"

He looked sad, but managed to hide it with a wry smile.

"I'll be at the front row of the wedding sniffing into my tissue and wondering how my favorite patient ended up marrying a billionaire, I'll try not to say I told you so when she's a success in life"

She wanted to simultaneously hug him and cry at the same time, what she didn't say as she took his hand and closed her eyes was that the only person she could ever imagine saying I do to in this very moment was him.

"Florence sweetheart! It's eight wake up! Everyone's here"

Six pairs of eyes stared back at Florence as she looked around disorientated, she had been so caught up in the dream that she'd slept through five alarms.

Cooper stood at the end of her bed along with Anita, Maria, Simon, Lucy, Fergus and her Mother.

They all looked highly amused at the fact that she was still in bed on the morning of her wedding.

What followed could only have been described as a war, Simon and Anita the makeup artists practically launched an attack on her face, she was plucked, waxed, scrubbed, exfoliated, wiped down and moisturised. She tried to act like she was enjoying herself but all she wanted to do was scream and get back into her nightgown, this wasn't very enjoyable at all.

Cooper and her Mum laughed at her facial expressions from the bed where they were talking hair products with Fergus and looking at the practice shots that Lucy had taken, they seemed to be having a great time, her face had been abused and they hadn't even started on the makeup yet.

Anita began by mixing several tubes together, the primer went on first, then she produced about a million different brushes and began to colour correct, Florence hadn't realised that her face had so many red patches to counteract with green, blemishes to fix and  spots to obliterate, but this part she did like, her face being slowly transformed and the soft brushes being dabbed onto her face. 

Next came the foundation, considering the amount of coats she was getting her face should have felt heavy but it felt as light as a feather. Concealer went on, and then eyebrows which took a very long time, Simon had this eyebrow obsession and she couldn't help her laughter as he talked about the perfect arch and definition, she hadn't known eyebrows were such an art form.

Contouring was a tricky business she was assured, too much and she'd look a completely different skin tone, too little and her "cheeks wouldn't pop in pictures" Florence was dusted with so many different powders and setting sprays, and then with a final spritz of setting spray after two and a half hours of work Simon declared her makeup done.

Everyone in the room was watching her, like they were all holding their breath and she spun around on the chair to face the mirror, and gasped.

The woman looking back at her certainly wasn't any Florence Clarke that she had ever seen, her skin looked like it was glowing, she actually had the glow! Her cheekbones were more defined than they'd ever been and every fault she'd ever found in her face had dissapeared, her eyes looked massive, outlined in white with a pearly white shadow on her eyes and two perfect cat eye's, each cheek was radiant with highlighter and to finish off her look her lips were pastel-pink.

"Oh my god I look..."

"Stunning"

Her Mum came behind her with tears in her eyes, she was lucky her makeup hadn't been done yet, Cooper had decided to bring on the waterworks too, Florence blinked furiously, no way was she going to ruin the hard work of Simon and Anita, she got up and hugged them in turn.

"Darling you are going to be amazing today, I work on a lot of people every day but I have to say you've been amazing to work with, I hope you have the wedding day you deserve"

Simon squeezed her hand tight and for the first time that day she really felt like she could do it, get married and most importantly.

Be happy.