It had been three months since life had returned to (somewhat) normal for Elena Gilbert, since she had come back from Frederick's house of horrors and resumed her relationship with Damon Salvatore. Though Meredith was still in the picture, posing as a home-schooled teenage girl so she could date infatuated Jeremy, though Stefan skulked around the enormous boarding house like a sullen ghost, and though Katherine remained one big question mark, Elena still managed to be blissfully happy with Damon.
Until events took a turn for the worse.
But on this Friday, the last day of school before winter break, Elena was looking forward to the last bell and Damon picking her up after school. The day had lasted about six years, with students and teachers alike looking forward to the week-long February vacation. Stefan in particular had grated on Elena's last nerve; he had taken to following her around school and kept staring at her during the classes they had together.
"Why can't you just be nice to him?" Bonnie asked now as she and Caroline walked with Elena to her locker after the last bell. "He loved you, you know, and now you're ignoring him like he's nobody."
"But Elena tried to be friends with him," Caroline argued before Elena could even open her mouth. "Remember all the times she talked to him? He's just in a funk." She smiled craftily, fluffing her blonde hair. "He just needs to meet somebody new and get over Elena – no offense," she added hastily, but Elena shook her head as she put some schoolbooks into her locker.
"No, you're right, Caro," she replied, unloading the rest of her schoolbag. "And Bonnie, I really tried to be friends with Stefan, but he just won't listen to me." She snuck a look at Caroline, who was fixing her makeup in Elena's locker door mirror, then continued in a lowered voice. "And remember – he wanted me to have sex with both him and Damon?"
Bonnie sighed as she watched Elena close her locker and the three girls resumed walking, this time toward the side entry that led out to the student parking lot. "I know…I just think it's sad that Stefan is so alone." She made a face as they neared the big double doors. "And Damon is so…Damon."
"That's not fair," Caroline told Bonnie as she pushed the door open, letting in a blast of cold air. "He's really changed since he started dating Elena." She shrugged. "Even I think so, and I hated him – hey!" she shrieked as Matt ran up the stairs to pick Caroline up and kiss her.
"I started the truck ten minutes ago," he explained to Caroline as he put her back down. "It should be toasty in there now, let's go." He turned to Bonnie and Elena. "Do you need a ride home, Bonnie? Elena, Damon's waiting for you in the lot."
"Of course he is," Bonnie muttered darkly under her breath before smiling at Matt. "No, thanks, I have my car."
Elena gave her friend a what's with you? look before saying goodbye to Caroline and Matt, promising to get together for a double-date during the break. As the happy couple walked down the stairs towards Matt's truck she could see Damon's big black Hummer idling in the parking lot, waiting for her, and she smiled before turning back to her friend.
"Bonnie, I really don't understand where this is coming from," she told her. "Lord knows I've tried with Stefan, and you know how great things are with Damon." Bonnie gave her an exasperated look.
"I've heard this all before, Elena, and I'm just saying that people – especially vampires – can't change overnight." She raised an eyebrow. "Remember how obsessed he was with Katherine? You can't tell me that just disappeared. And remember – "
"Okay, I'm going to leave now," Elena said in a loud voice, cutting Bonnie off. "I'll call you tomorrow and we can figure out what time we want to go to that movie you've been talking about." She turned and walked down the stairs, leaving Bonnie behind, and as she reached the bottom the Hummer had pulled up right in front of her, Damon reaching over to open the door for her. When he grinned at Elena, she felt her heart skip a beat as she smiled back…
…but after she climbed up into the SUV, she turned and looked out her window to see Bonnie still standing at the top of the stairs, staring after her.
Later that night, after Elena had eaten dinner and Damon had drank his, they were sitting next to each other on the leather sofa in front of a roaring fire, the lights dim and snow starting to fall outside the windows of the great room. She smiled, resting her head on his chest as his arm came around her.
"This is nice…I feel like I'm in a movie," she breathed as he kissed the top of her head.
"What kind of movie are we talking about here, Elena?" Damon teased. "One of those – naughty movies?" He shifted her body so she was sitting on his lap, then kissed her, slowly and beautifully, and she sighed his name against his mouth as her eyes closed. Her arms snaked up around his neck while his hand tightened on her waist, and he lifted his mouth from hers.
"Elena," Damon whispered, "there's something I want to ask you – "
"Well, don't let me spoil your moment," a sarcastic voice said from behind them.
Surprised, Elena bolted upright, vaguely aware of Damon saying a very bad word very quietly, and peeked over the back of the couch to see Stefan, a glass of amber liquid in his hand as he stumbled towards them. She sucked in her breath; he was very, very drunk. Damon gently shifted Elena from his lap back onto the sofa before standing up.
"C'mon, man, I'll help you upstairs," Damon said to his brother, moving around the couch toward Stefan, who didn't seem to want any help at all. Instead, he focused on Elena, who was watching from the general safety of the sofa.
"I bet if I sat there with you, you wouldn't be kissing me," Stefan slurred before clumsily taking a long swig of what Elena had figured out to be alcohol; she could smell the fumes even though Stefan was still a good distance away. "You bitch, I fucking love you," he continued, words all garbled and indistinct. "I love you, and you're with him." He gestured with his glass toward Damon, who was standing near him, concern evident in his expression, in the way he held his hands out toward his brother, as if not sure exactly how to handle him, with gentleness or ruthlessness.
"Stefan, you're drunk," Elena said softly, pain pricking a thousand holes in her heart. It hurt her to see her former boyfriend and Damon's brother like this, full of sadness and jealousy. All attempts by Elena and Damon to talk to him, to help him through this had been soundly rebuffed, as she had told Bonnie. Neither of them knew quite what to do with Stefan, who was stubbornly holding out hope that Elena would realize her mistake and come back to him.
Damon reached out to grasp Stefan's arm. "Let's go, Stef," he urged his brother, turning him in the direction of the staircase. Stefan shook Damon's hand from his arm, glaring first at him, then at Elena, who was still motionless on the couch, before stalking unsteadily out of the room. They both listened to his footsteps as Stefan stomped up the stairs and slammed the door to his room; only then did Damon turn back to Elena, shoving his hands in his pockets as he slowly made his way back to the sofa, blue eyes stormy.
"Are you alright?" Damon asked, coming to stand in front of her, and she nodded, eyes downcast. He reached out and curled his fingers under her chin, lifting her face up so he could make eye contact with her, and even though his cerulean eyes were troubled, he made an effort to smile slightly at her.
"I know you, Elena," he said softly to her. "You're feeling all guilty over this, and listen to me – it's not your fault. How Stefan acts and what he does is not your fault. It's just typical Stefan martyr stuff."
She let out a breath, her hand reaching out to wrap around his arm and draw him closer; she slid her arms around his hips, resting her cheek on his stomach. One of Damon's hands came up to stroke her hair, the other rested on her shoulder.
"I love you," she murmured against his shirt. He made a noise in his throat, reaching down to lift her up by her arms so he could hold Elena to him. As he did so, she remembered something.
"What were you going to ask me?" she inquired, pulling back a little so she could look into Damon's eyes. He shrugged and shook his head, kissing her briefly on her nose.
"I was going to ask if you wanted to spend the night," he said after a moment, but even as Elena nodded she had the feeling that wasn't really what he was going to ask…but as he kissed her lips that thought totally flew out of her mind….
…and later, as they lay in Damon's bed, they were so wrapped up in each other that they never heard Stefan's window opening just long enough for someone to come inside.
Stefan had been unsteadily pacing in his room, feeling alternately sorry for himself and furious at Elena, finishing his drink and then throwing the glass right at the wall, though he felt no satisfaction when it shattered.
How dare she, he kept thinking to himself as he grew angrier and more upset. How dare she be happy, how dare she not be with me, I love her more than Damon, I'm better for her than Damon, how long is she going to hold leaving against me? Finally, after about a year, he sat down on the side of his bed with his head in his hands, pulling his hair so hard it actually hurt, feeling like he had drowned and all that was left was the discovery of his body washed up on shore. How ironic is that, he thought wryly, I'm already fucking dead and I feel like I want to die.
Ironically, that was when Katherine showed up at his window, one minute just a reflection in the windowpane, the next a presence standing right in front of him, bringing the wintry smell of snow from outside and a seductive smile with her. Stefan stared at her, wondering if this was just some trick of his drunken mind, when she reached out and touched his face with her small, cold fingers.
"What's the matter, lover?" she asked Stefan, who thought to himself God, she looks so much like Elena it hurts. "Nothing," he answered out loud, grabbing her hand and shoving it back towards her as he stood up. "You shouldn't be here, you should go."
Katherine smirked at him knowingly, taking another step forward so the front of her body brushed his. "Is that what you really want, Stefan? Do you really want me to go?" Her hands reached out again, this time to grasp the front of his shirt, pulling him down to her. Stefan closed his eyes and kissed her, pretend it's Elena, pretend it's Elena running through his mind over and over like a scratched CD.