Lips of an Angel
A/N: The idea for this Janna one-shot hit me literally about two seconds after I watched episode 3x06 "Smells Like Teen Spirit." The final scene between Jeremy and Anna in his bedroom was amazing but it felt incomplete, ya know? I know that if I were spontaneously able to physically interact with the spirit of the man I loved and had lost again that I wouldn't just hold his hand… ;-} So I'm sure y'all can guess where this is going, right? The Shakespeare quote used is a dialogue with the second speaker's part set off in italics to differentiate who's speaking—this quote felt especially fitting to me as do the lyrics from the song that gives this fic its title. ;-}
Disclaimer: I own no part of TVD with the exception of the first two seasons on DVD and the soundtrack, although I'd happily buy the rights to Jeremy and Anna so that those two could finally be together for more than 7 episodes at a time! I also don't own any part of Hinder's "Lips of an Angel," the lyrics of which are listed in bold in the story.
Rating: Mature (language, sexual content and dark themes)
Written While Under the Influence of: Hinder-Lips of an Angel, Celine Dion-It's All Coming Back to Me Now, Hinder-Better Than Me, Florence + the Machine-Cosmic Love, Brad Fiedel-Conversation by the Window, Longview-Further, The Righteous Brothers-Unchained Melody, Ryan Star-Losing Your Memory, Mat Kearney-All I Need, and Aerosmith-I Don't Want to Miss a Thing.
"...And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;
They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.
Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged.
Then have my lips the sin that they have took.
Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again."
—William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene V
Jeremy Gilbert had barely finished leaving his third message on Bonnie's voicemail when he heard her speak.
"I shouldn't be here…"
He glanced across the room to find Anna leaning against his dresser like his own personal fallen angel: all dark denims and a torrent of raven curls, beautiful brown eyes downcast as though she was the one who'd done something wrong. Jeremy supposed he could blame her for the fact that his girlfriend was pissed and ignoring him, but it wasn't like Anna had forced him to spend the day talking to her. She'd only appeared because he'd wanted her to and even then she'd just been trying to help. It wasn't Anna's fault that he'd been looking for an excuse to talk to her again ever since Damon and Katherine had used him to pump her for information on Mikael. Or that his heart jumped every time he saw her now, and not out of fear but excitement.
Jeremy forced his expression to stay neutral, like he wasn't happy to see her—although the insistently beating organ in his chest attested quite clearly that he was. "Yeah, no kiddin'," the teen muttered, sarcasm leaking into his words.
Well at least Anna and Bonnie agreed on something right now…
Her eyes flicked toward him as he flopped tiredly onto the foot of his bed, tossing his cell aside on the mattress. "No," Anna began, pushing off the bureau and stepping closer, "I mean I shouldn't be here, Jeremy. Why are you thinking about me when you're calling her?"
The plea in her voice tore at him, and the fact that she echoed the same thoughts trooping through his own head at that very moment was suddenly more than he could take.
"I didn't think I was," Jeremy snapped, focusing an intense dark brown stare on the specter before him. "All right? Look, I don't know, okay? I don't know what I'm doing, Anna." The anger melted out of him as he watched her face fall, and he dropped his hands heavily on his thighs instead of reaching out and taking her into his arms and apologizing like he really wanted to.
Frustration and inadequacy surged through him and he found himself speaking again, fumbling for something—anything—to make this right and erase the hurt expression from Anna's face. "The problem is I…I don't think I can stop thinking about you." The confession was out his mouth almost without his permission, but it felt obscenely good to finally say it aloud.
He couldn't take his eyes off Anna as his words washed over her, entranced by how her full pink lips gently parted, a gasp escaping before she lightly bit down on her lower lip and then replied in the softest voice he'd ever heard, "I can't stop thinking about you either."
A smile tipped her lips and the urge to cover her mouth with his own nearly overwhelmed him.
Instead, Jeremy blinked rapidly and looked away, trying to make sense of the emotions running rampant through him. Desire and guilt, happiness and shame all whirled together into an incomprehensible mass in his gut. He felt the mattress dip beside him as Anna's light weight settled on it and turned to face her.
"What are we going to do?" Jeremy almost begged, hoping that Anna had an answer because he sure as hell didn't.
He knew exactly what he wanted: Anna, but that didn't seem to make a difference at this point. She was a ghost that he couldn't even really touch, and then there was Bonnie—his very much alive girlfriend. He wasn't free to be with Anna even if by some miracle they did find a way to have a physical relationship.
Not for the first time since Anna had reappeared in his life Jeremy cursed himself for so thoroughly fucking things up. He should've fought harder for her that night in the Grill, should've looked for a way to get her back after they took her from him, and never should've tried to force himself to move on with Bonnie so that he wouldn't feel so alone without Anna…
Well my girl's in the next room
Sometimes I wish she was you
I guess we never really moved on
Movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention and he glanced over to see Anna had silently lifted her hand in lieu of a reply. A bitter laugh tore through his lips at her mirroring his own action from just days prior when he'd invited her to touch his hand. She smiled in encouragement, hand still raised and waiting for him. Always waiting for him to be ready…
Jeremy shifted to fully face her and tentatively lifted his own hand, bracing himself for the odd sensation of touch without substance, flesh without warmth or texture. But just as his fingertips met her outstretched fingers, he froze.
He'd felt that. And not in the sense of he could see Anna so he knew that her hand was touching his like last time. No, he felt her. Warm, soft and there, skin to skin against him.
Her touch echoed through him like a shot as Jeremy jumped in surprise and looked at Anna, her wide eyes staring back into his. Their gazes simultaneously dropped to their joined hands in confusion. He slowly let his fingers slip between hers and the digits immediately interlocked, holding onto each other's hand like it were life itself—which in a way it was.
"Do you…feel this?" Jeremy choked out, staring at Anna who still hadn't taken her eyes off their linked hands.
"What's going on? I can feel you! How can I feel you?" She finally tore her gaze away from their hands and turned to him wide-eyed, confusion and wonder painted across her gorgeous face, still disbelieving at the feel of his hand on hers.
Breathless chuckles escaped them both as they marveled at their hands entwining beyond the pale of death.
His heart just about stopped as a smile broke over Anna's face—the sort of smile that the first time she'd favored him with it had made him feel like he'd lived his entire life in the dark and had just that moment seen the sun—and he couldn't help himself.
Jeremy lifted his other hand, letting his fingers gently run through her tousled black curls, the breath whooshing out of his lungs at the familiar sensation of her soft locks against his skin. Her eyes closed at his touch, head turning into his palm as his hand slid down to cup her heart-shaped face. Without even thinking about it, she kissed his thumb as he reached her chin, almond brown eyes flying open in alarm when she realized what she'd done.
"Jer, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…" Anna began but he cut her off, pressing his mouth hungrily to hers.
It's really good to hear your voice saying my name
It sounds so sweet
Coming from the lips of an angel
Hearing those words it makes me weak
She gasped in surprise and he took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, tongue slipping into her mouth desperately. He might've been able to stop with just a touch of her hair and joining of their fingers—take that as the last goodbye and find a way to move on with his life—but the moment he felt her lips on his skin, there could be no goodbye or stopping after that. A deep groan tumbled from his lips as her tongue shyly brushed against his, the sweet taste that was uniquely Anna blocking out all other thoughts but of to get closer.
And I never wanna say goodbye
But girl you make it hard to be faithful
With the lips of an angel
Jeremy tore his hand from hers as he reached for Anna, the other embedding itself in her long hair to urge her closer. He moaned his approval when she climbed onto his lap, legs straddling his hips as her arms wrapped around his shoulders. His free hand snuck beneath her denim jacket, feeling along her curves as he reveled in the heat of her body pressed against his. "God, I've missed you, Anna," Jeremy whispered against her lips, pulling back to meet her dark gaze with his own.
"Well I don't come back from the dead for just anyone," she joked, brown eyes sparkling.
A grin curved his lips as he just held her against him, hoping that if this were a dream he never woke up from it.
"So what happens now?"
"I don't know, I'm still trying to figure out how I was able to feel your hand and now we're…"
"There're probably consequences to a human and a ghost doing anything, right?" Jeremy asked, still not making a move to put any distance between them.
"Most likely," Anna replied with a nod, pressing her forehead against his.
"So we should probably stop while we're ahead, at least until we figure out what might happen if…" he trailed off, the smell he always associated with whatever shampoo or perfume Anna used, cherry blossoms, filling his head.
"We should," she agreed, tightening her arms around his shoulders.
"Absolutely," the word had barely passed his lips when they attacked each other again, mouths melding, tongues stroking, hands groping—desperate to sear the feel of the other into their own skin.
And I never wanna say goodbye
But girl you make it hard to be faithful
With the lips of an angel
They were flying on pure instinct, Jeremy's hands pushing her jacket from her shoulders, not sure if he actually could undress a ghost but unable to even think about stopping. The moment her jacket hit the floor, Anna was reaching for the hem of his T-shirt and he lifted his arms to help her remove it. He closed his eyes as her hands trailed over his bare chest, sliding so slowly down his muscled torso that it was actually painful. With a growl, Jeremy captured her lips again, one hand cupping the back of her neck as the other traced the length of her spine and slipped beneath her shirt, assuring himself that it wasn't just her jacket he could take off.
He gathered the fabric in his hand and began pulling it up her back, Anna retreating from the kiss and raising her arms as he whipped the long-sleeved shirt off over her head. Jeremy stared at her in amazement, sitting in his lap clad in a tiny black lace bra and jeans, long dark hair curling over her shoulders and emphasizing her perfectly porcelain skin—just like the first time all those months ago that they'd made love in this exact same spot for the first time.
"I love you, Anna," Jeremy confessed, brown eyes staring seriously into hers. "I should've told you that a long time ago." He swallowed a lump in his throat as he voiced the thing he'd regretted most since the day she died.
Her gorgeous eyes brimmed with tears and he wiped away those that spilled over with his thumb. "I love you, Jeremy Gilbert. I've never loved anyone like I love you, not in over five hundred years." She took a deep breath and crushed her mouth to his, arms squeezing his shoulders to the point of bruising.
It's really good to hear your voice saying my name
It sounds so sweet
Coming from the lips of an angel
Hearing those words it makes me weak
At that moment his cell began to ring on the bed next to them, the ringtone and who it was assigned to unmistakable. Without taking his lips from Anna's, Jeremy groped over his sheets for the phone and when his fingers closed around it, lifted his arm and flung the device in the direction of the bathroom, a satisfied smile curling his lips when he heard the plastic smash against something hard and break.
And I never wanna say goodbye
But girl you make it hard to be faithful
With the lips of an angel
Jeremy slid a hand up her back, fingers seeking the clasp of her bra and nimbly unfastening it. Her gaze met his and never wavered as he slowly slipped the scrap of lace off her shoulders, Anna wetting her lips with her tongue as he discarded her bra on the floor beside the bed. He allowed his gaze to travel over her bare breasts for just a moment and then kissed her again, hands moving to caress the revealed flesh.
She gasped into his mouth as his wide palms enveloped her breasts and teased her pebbled nipples, fingers tangling in his short locks and pulling urgently. Her hips began unconsciously rocking against him, the steady movement provoking him to grind his hardness in time with her heat.
Growling low in his throat, Jeremy let his lips trail from her mouth over the point of her chin and down her neck, tracing the length of the pulse throbbing beneath her skin with his lips—too lost in the moment to wonder why a ghost would have a pulse. He scraped his teeth lightly over her skin, grinning as Anna's hand pressed against the back of his neck urging him closer. Jeremy paused at the base of her throat, sucking hard at the hollow between her collarbones and then pointedly biting down—determined to leave a mark. If tonight was just a one-time thing, then he wanted to at least have a physical reminder of it.
Anna apparently had a similar idea as her fingernails dug into his back, scoring perfect red lines from his shoulder blades down to the small of his back and forcing a groan out of him.
Jeremy kissed his way down to her chest and languidly took one of her nipples into his mouth, tongue dancing across the sensitive flesh. Anna arched into him and he glanced up to see her biting down on her lip to contain a scream of pleasure. Feeling a wicked smirk tug at his lips, Jeremy lightly bit down on the pink point in his mouth, satisfied when she yelped in surprise. He continued teasing her breasts until the need to move things further became too great.
Sliding his hands down her stomach and curling his fingers around the back of her thighs, he stood, easily supporting Anna's weight as her legs encircled his waist. The teen turned and gently laid her across his bed, retreating from her embrace and focusing his attention on her jeans.
As he unfastened them Anna wriggled out of her boots and lifted her hips from the bed to help him remove the clinging fabric. Her hooded gaze watched as Jeremy's hands moved to his own jeans, popping the button and lowering the zipper before he slid them down his legs and stepped out of them, leaving them both clad in only their underwear.
He quickly climbed back onto the bed, Anna's arms reaching out and pulling him down on top of her. Their lips met in an open-mouthed kiss, a gasp echoing between them as their bare chests met, hard and soft mashing against each other.
Jeremy rose on his elbows and, keeping his eyes locked on hers, let one hand slide down her body, stopping at the top of her panties. She nodded and his fingers slipped beneath the band, dragging the lacy fabric slowly over her thighs and down her legs. But before he could even think of touching her core, he felt Anna's hand flit down his back and grip the waistband of his boxers. In the blink of an eye, she'd yanked them down to his knees and he kicked them the rest of the way off.
Bracing his arms on either side of her head, Jeremy positioned himself between her legs, Anna's hands tracing a burning path across his chest to urge him on. He leaned down and kissed her, tongue brushing hers as he pushed into her tight warmth. Neither of them moved for a moment, just savoring the connection but soon urgency won out and Jeremy pulled back a fraction and thrust back in as far as he could go, earning a soft gasp from Anna.
He slowly built up the intensity, loving every sound and move she made, until she curled her legs around his hips and bucked against him, begging for more. Jeremy immediately shoved harder into her on the next stroke, sliding one of his hands beneath her thigh and hiking her leg up higher around his waist to hit her at a new angle. Anna tossed her head back on his pillow, neck straining as she barely managed to keep from screaming his name.
Groaning, he attacked the pale column of her throat, kissing, licking and biting every inch of flesh he could reach, Anna's hands sliding up to grip the spot on the nape of his neck that drove him crazy.
Somewhere in his brain warning bells were going off, his conscience screaming—in a voice disturbingly similar to Elena's—that this was wrong and that he needed to stop, but Jeremy Gilbert no longer cared about right or wrong, or even basic human decency as long as he had Anna. Instead, he kissed the woman he loved and pushed deeper into the slick warmth of her core, feeling more at home in this one moment than he had ever since she'd left.
"Jeremy...I..." Anna gasped, eyes fluttering closed as she writhed beneath him.
"Look at me, Anna. Please let me see you," he panted, never stopping the steady rocking of his hips.
Her dark brown eyes flew open, locking on his.
"I'm yours, forever. No one else's. Just yours."
Jeremy sealed his words with a kiss, their eyes never leaving each other's gaze.
The passion between them exploded, driving them faster and harder as the need within them built to a painful pitch. Sweat bathed their frantically moving skin as gasps and moans echoed louder and louder throughout the room.
In the moments just before they reached their peak, Jeremy pulled Anna's hands from the back of his neck and pinned them down on the mattress, his fingers entwining with hers for the second time that night in a symbol of their love just as potent as their lovemaking. He stretched her body taught against his and held her there as their climax washed through them, his gaze unblinking.
They stayed like that until their breathing slowed and sleep began to tug at his eyelids, but Jeremy fought to stay awake for fear of waking to an empty bed, instead of Anna beside him.
Seeming to read his thoughts, she freed one of her hands then reached up to cup his cheek and whispered, "I'll always be here, Jeremy. As long as you want me, I'll be here."
"Forever," he immediately replied. "I'll want you forever."
"Then go to sleep and I'll be right here beside you when you wake up." She lightly kissed his lips to reassure him.
With a sigh, Jeremy rolled them so that Anna was on top of him, pressed tightly against his chest, concentrating on thoughts of the woman he loved as his eyes closed. Things could never go back to the way they were before, he knew that, but he'd do whatever it took to keep Anna with him this time, to hell with consequences.
And I never wanna say goodbye
But girl you make it hard to be faithful
With the lips of an angel
A/N: Well, what'd y'all think? Yes, it got sappy at parts but hey, they're my favorite couple and if anyone deserves a fluffy, happy ending it's those two. And yes, I also had Jeremy realize he still loves Anna and say it an episode earlier than he does in the show but come on, it was oh so obvious that Jeremy loved her even before he said it.
So how'd y'all like the lyrics? Did they add to the story or were they distracting? As to the bit of Shakespeare at the beginning, all I kept thinking the entire time they touched hands in those last few eps was that line about "palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss." ;-}
The ending lines were intended to be ominous and I'll tell you why—3x07 "Ghost World" gave me an idea for a sort of bookend to this one-shot. So if you liked this and want to see me give Ghost-Anna and Jeremy another shot, speak up! Reviews will get my little fingers typing like Speedy Gonzales on crack! lol
Please review and let me know what you thought!
Thanks for reading!
Sassy18