Chapter One: The beginning
* So just to give you a little background...I'm basing this fanfic on the movie Pearl Harbor. All rights to this go to the makers/creators/writers/owners/ and actors of the movie Pearl Harbor and the television show The Vampire Diaries. Hope you enjoy! *
Stefan swears underneath his breath. The letters on the eye chart just keep switching back and forth; he can't keep a hold on them.
"It's going to be fine," Damon tells him from behind. Stefan turns around to meet his gaze. Damon's encouraging look only last for a moment before an impish grin spreads across his face. "Just seduce her," his eyes glint as he nods towards the nurse doing the charts. Ahead of them, a pretty brunette sits at a table, making notations as each man in line carefully reads the letters off the eye exam chart. "I'm sure she'll do anything for you if you just take off your shirt...maybe dance on the table..."
Stefan just shakes his head. "Seriously?" He hisses, cutting Damon off. He turns back towards the charts, his worried look staying firmly in place. Despite his best efforts, the letters start to swim again.
"Fine, fine," Damon sighs. "It's only because I'm your best friend that I'm even deigning to go through this for the fiftieth time." He starts running through the letters on the bottom line methodically, if not a bit sarcastically. "A, O..."
But then he's interrupted by the call of the brunette nurse.
"Next," she says. Stefan freezes for a moment before Damon shoves him from behind and he stumbles forward. Before she can even tell him instructions, Stefan darts into the list, frantic he'll forget.
"A, O, I, Q.." He rambles on, only pausing for a moment, but Damon quickly whispers the next letter at him from behind. "P, R, B"
"Slow down, soldier," the nurse interrupts. She barely looks up from her chart; he watches as her pencil scratches across the paper. "Read the line above the bottom one, and from right to left this time."
...
Damon holds his breath as Stefan squints warily at the chart. Great. Just great. He is going to leave Damon all alone in this war, and only because he can't read a simple eye chart in order to pass his medical examination.
"T," Stefan says. Then, giving another skeptical look, he suddenly blurts out "J. No it's definitely J."
The pretty brunette behind the desk raises her eyebrows at Stefan. She doesn't look like the type to be pushed around. He briefly entertains the thought that she won't fall for the sob story Stefan's about to tell, but the thought doesn't last long. They always fall for Stefan; Damon tries not to be too bitter about it. They had gotten into fights about girls before, but they hadn't lasted long. None of their fights ever did. The fact was, Stefan had stuck by him ever since he could remember. They were friends, the kind of friends that nothing could separate.
"P," Stefan continues hesitantly. "Rrrr, no. No, it's...it's..." Damon watches as the nurse continues to stare. Stefan really is failing at this. He holds his breath, but then Stefan launches into a heartfelt monologue as if on cue.
"It's not what you think it is," he blurts. "I can see, really. It's just that sometimes, " he gives the chart a hateful glance, "sometimes the letters just get mixed around, that's all."
The nurse bobs her head to look at his chart. "It says here that you barely passed the written exam," she reads skeptically.
Damon takes this as a cue. He has to do something. If Stefan's charm was failing, then they were really in trouble.
"Yes," he says, stepping forward, "but he did pass it." He tries to keep his words optimistic, but they come out more snarky than he intended.
"Soldier get back in line," she orders. "It's not your turn." The words aren't harsh, just sort of matter of fact. He thinks maybe he had saw a hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth as she said them, but he can't be sure.
She sure is pretty. Maybe, if she passes Stefan, he'll find her afterwards and talk to her. Get her name.
"Listen," Stefan begins, "I know what this looks like, but when you're flying, you don't need letters or numbers or gauges. It's all feeling..."
Damon stops listening somewhere in the middle of Stefan's sickeningly heartfelt speech, instead staring intently at the nurse. At Stefan's words, her face is beginning to soften, her eyes beginning to warm.
She is indeed beautiful.
When Stefan finishes his story, the nurse glances down on her charts once more. Then raising the stamp on the table before her, she presses it down on his chart before handing it back to him.
"Next!" she calls again. Stefan glances down at his charts. For a second, Damon feels a fleeting sense of panic. If Stefan didn't pass...but then Stefan leans closer to the nurse and says a heartfelt thank you. His eyes are shining with pleasure. So she passed him then.
Stefan turns around, sliding past Damon. "Think I'll go for her just like you said," he whispers in Damon's ear with a grin. Then he saunters off to the next station.
Damon sighs as he steps forward. Figures. The only girl he'd had the desire to go after since Catherine and Stefan had already laid claim to her. Oh well. It was probably too soon anyway.
God forbid he got his heart broke again.
Her eyes meet his for a moment. Big and wide and a deep, lasting brown. He feels a twinge inside of him.
"Read the bottom line," she says to him, all business.
So he does. He speeds through the letters, grinning wryly the whole while. Its not like he has them memorized or anything.
She raises her eyebrow when he hardly has to glance at the eye chart, but she doesn't say anything. She just stamps his files and beckons him forward.
He reaches out to grab the chart, his fingers brushing hers. She glances up in surprise, and he shoots her a pointed stare, the smile dropping off his face.
"Have a good day," he says quietly, and then he leaves her there, still looking up at him with a question in her eyes.
Stefan's girl and all. He snickers to himself. Probably a good thing. If not, he might have been tempted to dance on the table for her like he had proposed to Stefan.
And that would most likely be frowned upon.
*So what do you guys think? Leave me a review and let me know how I'm doing!*