A/N: Firstly, thank you for all the kind, encouraging reviews on my last story, they really meant a lot. Secondly, I apologise for the delay in publishing this. University coursework has been keeping me very busy and finding the time to write at the moment is difficult. This fic is acompanied by the lyrics of "Wonderful Tonight". My favourite version of this song is Eric Clapton's but the lyrics i have used are from the version by Damage, which is a close second. Being a bit of a perfectonist, I'm not very pleased with this story, but I hope you enjoy it. I certainly look forward to this episode (and only one week until 2x17, w00t!)
Eric Clapton plays softly in the background from Stefan's record player as he dresses while Elena showers. When dry and in a t-shirt and some shorts which Stefan loved because they offered a great view of her legs, Elena dropped a box of clothing on Stefan's desk with a sigh. He turned his head to look at her from where he was standing in front of his mirror, fixing his tie.
She met his gaze. "I do want to go to this." She said, knowing what he was thinking. Looking back down at the box, she added, "It's just I left the outfit stuff to the last minute." She grimaced.
Stefan finished his tie and crossed the room to her side, gently touching the small of her back with his hand. "It's not too late to cancel."
Elena smiled to herself in a slightly exasperated way at his constant worrying and turned to face him, crossing her arms with a grin. "You just don't want to dance and you know that I'll make you."
Stefan ducked his head a little, smiling. "If you want to dance, I want to dance." He reached up his right hand to hold her cheek, caressing her soft olive skin with his thumb. "It's just that, given these messages from Klaus and all other things considered, maybe we should just be staying at home."
Elena lifted her arms and clasped her fingers around the back of Stefan's neck looking seriously at him. His hands wandered down to rest on her waist.
"I'm not going to let any of this get to me, Stefan. Klaus is coming to get me, whether I lock myself in here with you or whether I go out. I'm not going to hide from him. I'm not going to let him stop me from living my life and doing all the things that I would normally do. And..." Her eyes travelled down his body, taking in his suit. "You look really hot. I want to show you off."
Stefan smiled, looking Elena up and down. "I could say the same to you."
Elena smirks. "You ain't seen nothing yet."
Stefan wiggled his eyebrows. "Oh, I have." He began to consider how late they could get away with being to the event when his ears picked up approaching footsteps and he realised that Damon was on his way up to their room. Elena remained unaware and leaned up to stand on her tip-toes kissing Stefan passionately before he could mention it. A small noise escaped him. Damon could wait.
But the elder Salvatore arrived at the doorway and Elena reluctantly broke the kiss and turned. Damon was dressed in his usual black but his shirt was ominously retrospective. Elena struggled not to laugh when she spotted the leather trousers. Stefan raised an eyebrow. Damon made no reaction to seeing the kiss and he spoke before the lovers could.
"I'm coming with you. So is Ric. If Klaus does show up at this thing, we'll be prepared for him."
Stefan scoffed. "You think you and Ric are going to stop Klaus, if he shows?"
The tension between the two brothers was still tight from their earlier disagreements. It did not pass Elena unnoticed and she thought she knew why Stefan wasn't pleased to hear that Damon intended to chaperone them. Apparently, Damon was thinking along similar lines.
"Don't be so bitter, Stefan. I'm not doing it to steal time with your girl."
Elena could feel Stefan tense behind her but Damon disappeared quickly before things could escalate.
Elena turned and rubbed his arm. "Who cares about chaperones. We'll have fun. We'll dance and kiss, dance and kiss. Doesn't matter who's there." She leans up to whisper in his ear. "And I'll reward you when we get home."
Stefan groaned but Elena quickly stepped away with a smug smile and took two dresses out of the box, holding them up in front of her. "Now, the purple, or the orange?"
It's late in the evening,
She's wondering what clothes to wear.
She puts on her make-up and brushes her long brown hair.
Stefan read at his desk, absent-mindedly humming to the playing music as the familiar words of Hamlet filtered through him. Elena was in the bathroom still in good spirits, though Stefan was sure that it was an effort. Every now and then when a song played with lyrics that she recognized she sang along, out of tune, in her adorably terrible singing voice and made Stefan grin.
He was in his chair, rocking lazily on its back legs when Elena finally emerged from the bathroom after what seemed like a good hour. At the hollow sound of heels on the wooden floor he looked and clutched the edge of his desk so as not fall backward out of his chair. Elena smiled at him knowingly and stood in front of his full length mirror to tighten her high ponytail, giving Stefan a marvellous rear view. Unable to stop himself, he walked up behind her and placed his hand on her hips, pushing her hair gently out of the way with his chin and kissing her neck, following with his eyes the neckline of her dress that came to a head below her breasts.
"Mmm." Elena sighed and leaned back into him. She could feel how aroused he was through his trousers as he lowered his hands, taking the hem of her dress in them where it ended at her legs. She stopped him there, grabbing his hands and pulling them back up against her stomach, giving them a squeeze. "If you start that up, we'll never make it to the dance." She turned in his arms. "How do I look?"
He cups her face in his and kisses her. "You look stunning."
And then she asks me, do I look alright?
And I say, yes, you look wonderful tonight.
They arrived at the party with Damon. Stefan and Elena travelled in Stefan's car and Damon followed behind them in his own. Ric met them in the car park. Elena felt like a politician with the three men surrounding her like bodyguards. She thought that it was over-the-top, but she loved the three men for it and gave Ric a grateful kiss on the cheek when they got inside.
We go to a party
Stefan spotted Caroline waving at them from the centre of the room. He smiled to himself at her extravagant outfit (as if it would be anything less). He thought she looked rather like a flamingo though he didn't say it as he approached. Caroline's wrath was to be feared. Instead, he noted the heads of the people they passed turning at Elena and his eyes shone with pride as he looked at her.
And everyone turns to see
This beautiful lady who's walking around with me,
And then she asks me do I feel alright
She caught his gaze. "Are you okay?"
He tightened his arm around her waist. "I'm fine."
And I say yes, I feel wonderful tonight.
The dance turned out to be rather fun. To everyone's surprise, nothing went wrong and the dreaded showing of Klaus never occurred, proving Damon and Alaric's precautious guarding to be fruitless. Stefan and Elena danced away together, often with Caroline and Matt joining in. Once, Stefan made an excuse for he and Elena to leave the dance floor for a while, insisting on a drink, but actually pulling her into a secluded spot behind and enormous tribute to the Beatles so they could make out. Much to Stefan's annoyance, Caroline found them two minutes later and frogmarched Elena back onto the dance floor, ignoring the look of irritation that Stefan shot at her as he followed. When Caroline insisted on a dance with Stefan, he left Elena in Damon's company and didn't even get too bothered that Damon got a dance with Elena out of it. Despite his concern about Damon's feelings for Elena (though he knew Elena did not feel the same way) Stefan was glad he could trust his brother with her protection. So he didn't mind a dance with Caroline and when she criticized him for his lack of foot movement, she reminded him so much of Lexi that he laughed out loud.
The music took a slower turn later in the night and the lovers enjoyed some quiet slow-dancing, completely absorbed in each other, moving out of synchrony with everyone else, people and even music becoming a distant buzz, Stefan could not tear his eyes away from the warmth in Elena's own.
I feel wonderful because I see the love that's right in your eyes
And the wonder of it all is that you just don't realise how much I love you.
They didn't speak for a while, foreheads pressed together as they swayed past midnight and into the early hours of the morning but Stefan started to feel Elena's fatigue when the clock passed two. He didn't suggest they go home, he knew she'd say something when she was ready and she did.
"How about we leave to go somewhere with a bed?"
"Are you sure we've done enough dancing?"
"Yes, smart-ass. But you stay if you want to. Guess I'll just have to back to mine alone and lock my doors and windows so no-one can get in..."
She began to move away but he spun her back to him and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they walked slowly away from the crowd
It's time to go home now
And I've got an aching head.
They passed Caroline and Matt on their way out of the building. Caroline gave Elena a sneaky smirk that Stefan pretended not to notice and mouthed "Call me." Elena winked at her.
They were quiet as Stefan drove them home. He handled the steering wheel with his left hand and held Elena's hands with his right while she leant her head on his shoulder, watching the blur of night lights and colours pass by the windows as if a they'd been photographed at a shutter speed that was too slow for the energy of the night. He thought to himself that it was times like these when her fatigue caught up with her and he wondered if he'd be carrying her to bed as he saw her eyelids flutter but she lifted her head when they reached his home and she unbuckled her seatbelt. He turned off the ignition, unbuckled his own and was outside the car, opening her door before she had unwrapped the belt from around her. It made her smile and she looked at him as she had done all evening, a look full of so much love and that always made him feel like his body is seeping into the earth while his eyes, heart and soul pour into her.
She started kissing him as soon as they were through the front door, her hands in his hair, on his face, pushing his jacket off of his shoulders as they clumsily made their way to his room. When they reached the stairs, he just picked her straight up and climbed at a human pace with her legs wrapped tightly around his waist. The other clothes came off quickly when they got to his room and he stepped into the shower with her so they could clean off at the same time because he knows that she's tired although she wouldn't admit it if he asked her.
So I give her the car keys
And she helps me into bed.
Afterward, he turned off the lights and they crawled into bed, lying on their sides, sharing the same pillow and speaking to each other with their eyes the words that their mouths don't say. Then she shuffled into him and presses a kiss to his lips before tucking her head into his shoulder against his neck. He wrapped his arms around her, securing her in place as he always did.
"I love you."
"I love you."
And then I tell her as I turn down the lights,
I say, darling, you were wonderful tonight.
A/N: I have a bunch of other stories in the works, including a couple of Stefan/Damon pieces, a multi-chapter angsty Stefan/Damon/Elena story and a story about Stefan's tattoo. I'm also always up for suggestions and if you have ideas about how I can improve or any particular scenes/ stories you'd like to read, please let me know!