Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries is the property of the CW. No copyright infringement is intended.

~ X ~

She sat up with a gasp, lungs screaming for air they didn't need to breathe, shivering from a piercing cold her body was normally immune to. She immediately recognized the signs. She hated this. It was the reason she feared the true death. Death, to her, was not the dreamless black unconscious void that a daggered Original floated in. Death was the marrow in your bones feeling like frozen solid chunks of ice, the little blood circulating in your body like ice water, flesh burning with the excruciating pain of tissue thawing from frost bite.

She smelled the heavy, heady, coppery scent long before her vision returned. The source was near her nose, and as her lips felt the pressure of a tube being forced between them she sucked in. The first drops sent her into a frenzy, and she blindly snatched with both hands feeling squishy plastic between them. She put her head back and squeezed the bag draining every last drop. As the milky film cleared from her eyes, she spotted another bag in her lap, plastic stopper already ripped off. She flung the first blood bag from her and seized the second one.

Halfway through it, her burning thirst semi quenched, she allowed her eyes to wander. Her still clouded vision spotted walls, tools, and cars. Garage?

Her vision cleared with the second bag, and she spotted him, standing quietly next to a waist high tool bench, watching her, arms hanging limply at his sides. He carried a huge pack on his shoulder.

When he saw her eyes focused on him, he spoke in staccato bursts, pointing to the table.

"Three more bags of blood, money, bag of clothes."

"Three weeks since you were daggered."

"Klaus doesn't know I stole your coffin."

"Might have a week head start."

"Don't know if or how often he visits your coffin."

She rested her forearms on the sides of the coffin and looked around. She had been right. It was a garage. "Why? Why wake me?" Her deep curiosity was evident in her voice.

He shrugged. "I owed you. I betrayed you. It was the least I could do."

She sighed, looking down. "I don't buy it. I killed your girlfriend." She missed the tightening of his jaw when she said that.

She pushed herself gracefully up and stepped out of the coffin. "So why did you steal me and not just pull the dagger out and run, but stick around too? I could easily kill you." The last sentence was accompanied by a challenging stare.

He met it and acknowledged the truth of her words with a bob of his head. He thought for a moment before speaking. "I guess I wanted to . . . . . needed to tell you that I did care for you. Back then. The person I was then—" he stopped again, and she got the impression he was trying to choose his words carefully "—did love you." He hastened to add. "I'm not that person now, but I did."

She didn't want to think about the implication of his words just then, so she created a diversion by pointing at the bag slung over his shoulder. "What are you up to?"

"On a mission for Klaus." Stefan didn't elaborate.

"Doing what?" She probed, smoothing her clothes, frowning at the blood stain over her heart.

"Finding the weapon." He spoke reluctantly.

"So you can save your precious Elena and turn her human? You won't be with her you know. Klaus will kill you this time. He doesn't take betrayal well." Rebekah couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice.

A human wouldn't have caught it, but she wasn't human, and she was looking straight at him. She picked up the little wince at the mention of Elena's name, the flick of muscle in his cheek. She studied him now, seeing for the first time the tired lines in his face, the dullness in the usually bright green eyes, the downward turn of the mouth, and the slumped shoulders. He looked beaten to her.

"So, all is not well with Elena," she said thoughtfully.

Stefan didn't meet her eyes, staring instead at a spot on the floor, as he said in a deliberate monotone, "Elena and I broke up. She's with my brother." He looked up at her then, a twisted smile on his face. "Go ahead and gloat. You've earned it."

The searing pain in his face wiped out any desire she had to rejoice. She was too familiar with this particular brand of pain to reap any satisfaction from his misery.

She walked over to the table, ignoring the money and blood, and opened the bag containing the clothes. As serious as the situation was, she still had a moment of amusement when she saw he had included her favorite lipstick, a blow dryer, and a wet wash cloth in a plastic zipped bag. As she pulled out a pair of jeans and a top she quietly asked, "So do you still intend to retrieve the weapon and return? He will kill you, you know."

He just shrugged. "Don't really care."

She reached back and unzipped her dress, pulling it over her head. She unzipped the plastic bag and pulled out the washcloth. He shifted the weight of the bag on his shoulder and started to walk out.

"Wait," she requested.

He stopped and turned, standing silently while she quickly washed off the blood and slipped on the top and jeans.

She walked up to him, standing face to face, one hand on his forearm. "Did you really love me, or are you saying that because you feel sorry for me?"

His voice was quiet as he spoke with a simple sincerity and dignity. "At that time I loved you. I don't want to lie and say I love you now. I . . I . . I can't explain it. You never existed, and I lived a whole life, was another person, fell in love." He waved his hands helplessly. "And then suddenly you and a whole other life were magically there. I hated the ripper. I remembered nothing good about myself in those times." He shook his head. "It was easier to just shut you out. Live the life I was living now."

He was silent for a moment, remembering. "But then when Klaus spoke to you like that. And I heard your pain . . . I had to let you know . . You deserve to be loved Rebekah. You were loved."

She searched his eyes and then slowly reached in to kiss him. He returned the kiss after a moment's hesitation. Not a passionate kiss, but a true, caring kiss.

That kiss told her all she needed to know. Her pupils dilated, and she used all the power at her command. "You were compelled by Klaus to forget me. You wandered aimlessly for years, but he finally broke the compulsion. He got mad and daggered me, but you found me and rescued me from my brother. You haven't seen your brother in years, and you hide from him. You don't remember anyone you've met in the last three years. You don't think about it. You haven't been in Mystic Falls in years. You only think about me."

He stood still for a moment and then looked at her and blinked. "Rebekah!"

Her heart warmed at the delight in his voice. "Finally! I found you."

She smiled tremulously. "You did, and you'll never lose me again. I promise you."

~ FIN ~