The day had come to move out of the Salvatore house. Caroline would need to start construction soon if the place was really going to work for her school. They were all granted a chance to say goodbye out of respect. Everyone that the house had meant something to. Damon, obviously. Bonnie and Caroline, too.
Finally, Elena stepped forward."Do you want me to go in with you?" Damon questioned softly, giving Elena's arm a gentle rub. By the look on his girlfriend's face, he knew this was going to be hard for her. "Thanks, Damon," Elena gave him a grateful smile, "But I need to do this alone." Damon nodded understandingly, and watched as Elena took the first few steps onto the porch. Elena paused for a moment in front of the house. Just a few feet from where she stood, had been where she and Stefan had their first kiss.
I met a girl. We talked. It was epic. But then the sun came up and reality set in. Well this is reality, right here.
Elena's eyes lingered on the spot for just a moment longer. She suddenly became all-too aware of her staggered breaths. Her heart racing. She hadn't even stepped foot in the house yet, and she was already struggling to keep from crying. She finally mustered the courage to walk through the front door, smiling a bit at the memory of one of the first times she stumbled in. She'd ran right into Lexi, who'd been wearing nothing but a towel. Poor Stefan had gotten so flustered when Elena later brought it up. Elena's feet moved slowly against the ground she'd walked on a thousand times before. She'd memorized the pattern in the carpet without realizing. Elena instinctively moved to the couch in the center of the room, and stared into the fire. The familiar touch of the fabric was comforting, even as she remembered the many times she'd sat there to cry. There were happy memories too. When Stefan was struggling to control his blood lust, Elena let him drink from her- just a tiny bit- on this couch. Then she'd promised him "It's you and me, Stefan. Always."
A tear escaped the corner of Elena's eye, and she didn't bother to wipe it away. This couch is also where Stefan's corpse had once laid. After his heart had been ripped out, after he had died the first time. Elena still remembered how her heart stopped when she walked in and saw Caroline crying over Stefan's desiccated body. But he had come back that time. This time...he wasn't coming back.
This room was where she'd accepted him as he was for the first time. It was where she told him not to hide. This room was where she broke up with him for the first time. Where she simultaneously broke both of their hearts. It had been the hardest thing she'd ever done. Elena finally stood up and slowly made her way to the stairs.
First, downstairs. To the cellar, where she had been forced to keep Stefan more than once. Where she had brought him back from his worst, and he hers. I won't love a ghost for the rest of my life , she'd told him. It was funny. Because now, he really was a ghost. And she couldn't stop loving him anymore than she could stop breathing.
Elena walked away from the dark place,
hating the memories there. They were dark, sad, scary memories. She felt as though the ghost of Stefan were following her as she made her way back to the first floor, into the library. This was where Stefan had told her about her being adopted. Where he had told her that he loves her for the first time. It had been a bitter sweet moment, and Elena was eternally grateful that it was with Stefan.
Finally, she worked up the nerve to move upstairs. The stairs she and Stefan had slowly climbed their first night together, ever once breaking apart. Down the hallway, into Stefan's bedroom. The simple sight and smell of the room sent Elena into tears.
Most of his clothes and diaries were now in boxes, but she couldn't stop herself from reaching out for one of his old hoodies. Her favorite of his clothes. It still smelled so much like him. Elena slipped into the hoodie, wrapping her arms around herself in hopes that it would simulate the feeling of Stefan's embrace. The bed. She'd laid there so often in Stefan's arms. It had been where she felt the safest. It was the warmest, most loving place in the world.
Elena allowed herself to climb onto the bed, for just a moment, and rest her head on the pillow. Close her eyes. And for just a few moments, she could pretend that it was years ago. She was still with Stefan. He was simply downstairs, getting her a cup of water. He would be back soon. But when she opened her eyes again, she knew Stefan wasn't coming. He would never be back. He was gone. Elena walked through the house one last time, not bothering to remove Stefan's hoodie. She took in her surroundings with a deep sigh. This was her home. This was her sanctuary. And she truly hoped that it would be one for the kids who lived here someday as well. But it wouldn't be the same. They would never know.
They would never know that in this house, a boy and a girl fell in love. That just outside, they had their first kiss. That inside, they had many more. That they'd fought each other, fought for each other. That they had laughed, that they had cried. That they had loved more passionately and beautifully than anyone had ever done before. They would never know just how special this house was. And Elena was okay with that. It was her little secret. Hers and Stefan's. It belonged to them, and always would.
You and me, Stefan. Always.