White Rose

Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries. Obviously.

Author's Note: I'm a big Delena fan. But this story features some strong Stelena, and an oblivious Elena and Stefan. The reason for that is that it is following canon. I don't think Elena is fully aware of the fact that Damon loves her. She and Stefan still don't quite believe Damon is capable of love. So, this one is gonna be angsty.

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Elena woke up to the sunlight streaming through the curtains of her room. It felt unreal, waking up safe and sound in her own bed, warm and strangely cheerful, as if nothing could possibly be wrong in the world.

Last night, they had defeated Klaus.

Everyone she loved was safe, and Elena allowed herself to revel in that feeling. In the last two years there had been very few moments when someone she loved was not under threat of death.

Just then, she registered the presence of something foreign on her pillow, and discovered a single white rose, just barely opened, lying perfect and unadorned beside her. She frowned, a moment of terror passing through her at the idea that someone had been in her room while she slept. The danger was gone, wasn't it?

She chastised herself for the moment of panic – Stefan must have left her the rose. She smiled and picked it up, putting it to her nose and delighting in the fact that it had a scent. Sweet, just like Stefan. She remembered their happy celebrations last night and bounced out of bed, deciding to go and visit the boys that morning.

She put her beautiful rose in water before heading off to the boarding house.

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Elena practically floated into Stefan's arms as he answered the door. He embraced her warmly and they stood for several moments wrapped in each other's arms.

She pulled back and looked at him, all healed up and good as new after last night.

"I'm so glad it's over, Stefan," she confessed. "I just want things to be normal again."

He smiled, but there was an edge of sadness in it somewhere.

"What's wrong?" she asked, that panic from this morning flaring again.

He didn't answer fast enough for her.

"Stefan-" she pleaded, begging for an answer.

Something was wrong, she knew it in her bones.

"Stefan, tell me, please!"

He sighed, and met her eyes with his own.

"It's Damon," he told her.

"He's gone."

Elena reeled.

"What do you mean gone?" she demanded.

"He's left town. Permanently," the younger Salvatore told her, running a hand through his spiky brown hair in frustration.

"But… we just defeated Klaus last night. How could he leave?" she asked him, forlorn. She had been looking forward to seeing him this morning. It was one of those things she felt slightly guilty about, after all, he had killed her brother, and countless other people, and she knew how insecure Stefan got about them, but she couldn't deny that she had gotten used to having Damon in her life. She cared about him, whether she liked it or not. She didn't want to examine that feeling any more closely than she had to, given that she was dating his brother.

"He took off shortly after the battle was over," Stefan told her, sounding depressed. "This is what Damon does – shows up, wreaks havoc and then leaves."

"I really thought this time was different - that he might stay," he confided to her. "I feel like I just got my brother back and now he's gone again."

"Did he say why?" she asked, trying to make sense of this sudden jolt that had her world spinning off its axis yet again.

Stefan pressed his lips together and nodded.

"The whole Katherine thing. He wanted to get away from the bad memories."

Elena hated that bitch with everything in her. She could cheerfully drive a stake through her heart right now for what she'd done to Damon. She wanted to inflict severe pain on Damon too, for leaving her, especially without saying goodbye…

"The rose," she whispered to herself.

"Rose?" Stefan questioned, not understanding.

"There was a white rose on my pillow this morning. I thought it was from you," she told him.

He shook his head. "Damon's way of saying goodbye."

"As opposed to actually saying goodbye," she snarled, pacing. "I thought for a moment it might be some sort of threat or message from Klaus – are you sure it was from Damon?"

Stefan smiled sadly.

"Damon has a thing about roses," he told her. "They were our mother's favourite flower."

"You've never talked about her before," Elena noted curiously.

"I was very young when she died – too young to really remember her. But she and Damon were extremely close. He loved her very much," Stefan told her.

"The fact that he gave you a rose, that's a very high compliment coming from him."

Elena thought back to the first rose Damon had given her, back at the Founder's Party the previous year. She hadn't understood then what the gesture had meant.

"Damon doesn't always communicate in a way other people can actually understand," Stefan told her ruefully.

Elena nodded, biting her lip. She pulled Stefan into an embrace, trying to control the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.

Damon was gone. The morning that had started so promisingly now seemed grey and colourless.