A/N: Have you seen the stills for 3x14? I nearly passed out. This is based on those, a rumour about an unexpected kiss in the episode and a song called "Baby, Can I Hold You" by the wonderful Tracy Chapman. It really is a beautiful song, about real love and real relationships. I highly recommend you listen to it. I thought of the lyrics as soon as I saw the still of Stefan holding Elena as they dance.
All That You Can't Say
"Did you get one too?"
Elena didn't have to guess what Caroline is asking about as she looked down at the elaborate invitation that had come through her door early in the morning.
"Yes. I don't know what to think."
"Are you going? Everyone's talking about it. Even my Mom got invited. The whole town is going to be there."
"I don't know, Caroline. It's from Klaus. He can't be trusted. There's some kind of ulterior motive. There has to be."
"I think we should go. Maybe it's just a party."
"Caroline…"
"I mean, we could use some fun, right? And if something is going to go down, well, we might be better off there than not knowing and staying at home clueless."
"It's a bad idea. I just have this feeling…"
"Please, Elena?"
Damon called her.
"Ric just told me you're going to Klaus' party."
"Yes. With Caroline."
"Are you insane?"
"She's not serious?" Stefan's voice spoke up from the background.
Elena rolled her eyes. "You guys do not dictate what I do. I'm going to this party and you can't stop me."
There was a pause. Elena guessed Damon was conversing with Stefan. She could hear hushed, rapid whispers but couldn't make out what it was that was being said. She sighed pointedly.
After another moment, Damon spoke up. "We're coming with you."
The newly renovated mansion was nothing short of magnificent. The ostentatious decoration transcended anything Elena had seen in the town before. The driveway was lit with antique lamp posts. A sea of trees covering the front grounds was illuminated with lights wrapped delicately around the greenery. Horses and carriages were coming to and fro, some parked outside, drivers, beasts and landaus all embellished in splendour. The horses pawed impatiently at the ground and tossed their heads, their gold tack clinking. A skilled band was already playing inside when Elena and Caroline arrived. A hum was in the air from the excited chatter of arriving guests, like bees hovering over nectar. Damon and Stefan had followed behind in Stefan's car. Stefan had parked outside of the mansion grounds and the men had walked the path to the house following the coach that carried the ladies.
They presented their invitations at the door and stepped inside. The interior of the manor was just as lavishly adorned as the outside. It was only on the inside that the size of the house could be seen. It was enormous. A staircase spiralled up from the entrance hall and seemed to climb and climb and never end.
"Good evening, Ladies."
Klaus had appeared in front of them. He looked positively regal in his supremely tailored vintage tuxedo with an imperial white bow tie and waistcoat. He bowed to the girls and gently took Caroline's hand in his own and kissed it, looking up into her eyes with apparent reverence. He reached for Elena's hand to do the same but she pulled back with a look of loathing. Klaus smiled, somewhat amused and esteeming of her cold insubordinate manner. He straightened up and eyed Damon and Stefan, looking faintly amused at their presence. "Damon, Stefan." He greeted them. "I wasn't aware the two of you had been invited." He commented smoothly with a hint of derision.
"Someone had to escort these ladies to the event. Would you expect them to take themselves?" Damon sneered.
Klaus was unfazed at Damon's snark. "Of course not," he replied calmly, with a feigned tone of indignity that Damon should consider him so ill-mannered. "But I would have gladly made escort arrangements for them myself. However, since you are here, I hope you enjoy yourselves." He bowed again to the girls. "Excuse me, my dears." He sidestepped the four and went to greet the Mayor who had just arrived.
The evening was tense. It felt as though a time bomb was ticking. The group were sure that something was going to go down but they didn't know what or when. It was unnerving, especially to see other guests so relaxed, so ignorant of Klaus' scheming nature. Time progressed slowly, Elena's anxiety for an expected disaster clouding her head. She didn't spend much time on the floor and kept the drinking to a minimum, taking the odd glass of champagne if only to stay part of the scene.
Klaus' interest in Caroline worried Elena to no end. Caroline seemed confused at his attention, but all too acquiescent, in Elena's opinion, of Klaus' wish that they waltz together.
It was as Elena watched Damon twirl with Liz Forbes that Stefan materialised beside her, making her jump and spill the champagne in her glass onto the floor.
"Probably for the best. You're not very good at holding your drink, no pun intended." He said, entertained.
Elena set down the glass on a nearby surface. "I haven't been drinking much, just holding one for the sake of appearances." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He was gazing at her, his eyes traveling down her body and then back up, meeting hers. Elena wasn't sure what she should say or do and it was so strange and unfamiliar to feel that way around Stefan. There was so much that ought to be said that hadn't been because facing some of what had passed, talking about it was something they couldn't bring themselves to do without the promise that things would improve.
"Sorry" is all that you can't say
Years gone by and still
Words don't come easily
Like "sorry," like "sorry".
He takes her hand before she can break the silence of the moment.
"Dance with me."
She begins to protest, make some excuse but he pulls her to him abruptly and it startles her now she's suddenly pressed up against him, hip to hip with his arm around her. He loosens it a little; she can pull away if she wants but she finds she doesn't want to. She tightens her grip on his left hand and clutches his right arm in response and he increases his hold again. He looks straight into her eyes and she thinks if he wasn't leading them she would be paralysed under the intensity of his gaze. She's rooted to the green of his eyes like the trees outside that shared the colour were rooted to the ground. Her lips are slightly parted in fluster and she's stunning with the slight gap between the pink bee-stung flesh, the matching colour of the blush in her cheeks, the shine of her brown irises. Their eyes are locked, trying to say what they are too scared to speak aloud, trying to read words they can't hear, wishing it was as simple as print in a book.
"Forgive me" is all that you can't say
Years gone by and still
Words don't come easily
Like "forgive me, forgive me"
Elena slowly presses her lips together before she speaks as they sway.
"I thought you didn't care about anything but revenge these days. Now you want to dance."
"I didn't realise not caring means I can't enjoy a dance with a beautiful woman."
But you can say "Baby,"
"Baby, can I hold you tonight?"
Elena blushes, drops her eyes from his and it makes him smile because she never did get used to him telling her she's beautiful despite that he told her often. He hates that she doesn't see how beautiful she is, yet loves her for it all the more.
Maybe if I told you the right words at the right time
You'd be mine
She looks back up at him with confused eyes.
"You hate dancing. It doesn't make any sense."
He pushes her out and spins her then quickly pulls her back into his body again, so quickly and skilfully her chest heaved with breathless excitement. She can feel every part of him, smell him at the skin of his neck as he slides his hand down to her lower back, pressing her against him and lowers his head to murmur in her ear, "Does this make sense?"
She doesn't respond. They both know the answer. Nothing has ever made more sense, seemed more real, felt more natural than being this close again. It was like coming home from being lost in a desert. They can't see anything but each other's eyes, can't hear anything but the beat of each other's hearts, feel anything but the touch of each other's bodies. It's all them and only them as they twirl and step and glide across a seemingly empty dance floor.
She doesn't know much right now, isn't sure of anything right now except that she's never wanted anyone so much in her life as she wants him in this moment. Wants him in every way she can have him.
"I love you" is all that you can't say
Years gone by and still
Words don't come easily
The music pauses and so does the dancing, They stare at each other, trying to figure out this scene, trying to find control of feelings they know and understand but can't communicate. Then Caroline is suddenly at Elena's side, saying something in a stressed manner: Elena's not really sure what; she can't hear. She just lets Caroline take her hand and lead her blindly outside to talk.
Like "I love you, I love you"
Stefan watches them go and then turns and leaves the floor to get himself a drink. He's aware of Damon watching him but he deliberately avoids his brother's eye and takes a martini from the bartender. He leans back against a wall at the edge of the room and watches the rest. Klaus is mingling with people, making new acquaintances, keeping up old ones, working the room. The band starts up again and people continue with their dancing, absorbed in their own selves, quote happy to be involved in Klaus' selfish, diabolical schemes, just as long as no one told them.
When Caroline returned but Elena didn't, Stefan set down his drink and ventured outside into one of the gardens that he'd seen the friends disappear to. He found Elena standing there, her arms hugging herself to keep warm.
He stops a few feet away, staring at the back of her as she faced away from him, staring pensively into the darkness with a furrowed brow.
"What are you doing? Get inside, it's cold."
She turns slowly and looks at him for a long moment before replying.
"What are you doing?"
He wasn't sure what she meant although he thought he knew. She clarified it for him without prompt.
"One day you kidnap me and feed me your blood, tell me you don't care what I think about you, another day you're paying me compliments and asking me to dance with you. I don't know if you're coming or going. So how about you clear it up for me?"
There was a beat before he answered, looking her in the eyes, meaning what he was about to say.
"It doesn't matter what I think or feel, Elena. It's over for you and I. There's no going back. So I've learned not to care."
"You're a liar," she stated angrily.
He turned away and started to walk back inside which pissed her off. She stepped after him.
"Don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you! Hey!" She lunged and grabbed his hand, pulling him around to face her again. She didn't plan it, she didn't think about it, she just did it: she kissed him hard.
But you can say "Baby,"
"Baby, can I hold you tonight?"
He didn't even have a chance to think. She was talking and then suddenly she was there, her lips on his, her hot breath on his face and she was all he could see, feel, hear, smell and his response was nothing but a chemical reaction exploding inside of him as he grabbed her face and kissed her aggressively.
It stole her breath away. It wasn't lengthy, it was quick and heated and unlike any kiss she'd shared with him before, full of something she couldn't define, of things they couldn't say, of feelings they couldn't express any other way than in this impulsive antiphon.
Maybe if I told you the right words at the right time
You'd be mine
Stefan stopped and leaned his forehead against hers and just breathed; his lips moist and parted. Elena wasn't aware of how much her chest was heaving.
"Baby, can I hold you tonight?"
He finally stepped back and looked at her. It reminded her of the look he'd had in his eyes when he'd caught her falling off the stands on the football field, like he knew what he felt but didn't want to feel it, tried to keep it at bay.
He shouldn't have done it. He should have stopped and thought because now his brain is still telling him that he can't be with her but his heart is screaming otherwise and he takes another step back because he doesn't have it together after that kiss, his composure. And because it scares him when he's not in control, he walks away, leaving Elena just standing there, watching him leave.
She knew he'd walk afterward. She knew he was scared. But she'd got what she wanted, proof that he still cared. His kiss gave him away.
Maybe if I told you the right words at the right time
You'd be mine
You'd be mine
You'd be mine.
A/N: Opinions would be so appreciated for this. What do you guys think of using songs in stories? Does the way I've done it work? Do you hate it? Be totally honest, because I don't mind at all if you have negative comments about any aspect of it - it helps me to become a better writer. And does anyone spot the parallel with the kiss? Thanks, lovelies!