a/n:this is a huge milestone for me and I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a bit accomplished. For my 100th fic I really wanted to do something special. Some of you might not like this, and I can understand it- but when most tv shows reach their 100th episode they do a special flashback thing, so I'm trying my own twist on that. I will be going back and creating scene to shot fics (minus the full smut) for most of the important Delena moments. There are some scenes I've already done for previous fics, but I'm excited to get into the minds of these characters a little more. I do hope you enjoy. Happy Reading.
Back to the Beginning pt 1
(Damon's POV)
I had to admit, that even while my human body got me much further with the ladies, my talent for shifting into the crow held its temptations. The mere freedom of flight alone was enough to keep me in this form, along with basic invisibility. I could go anywhere I wanted virtually unseen. When I landed on the headstone of Grayson and Miranda Gilbert, I knew that I was going to get my first real look at their daughter. At Elena…at Katherine's doppelganger. And that, she most certainly was. The generation she'd been born into had taken quite a different take on fashion and hair, and while I found myself recognizing her for what she was, I was looking at an almost entirely different person. She just sat there, writing in her diary but the emotions she was keeping secret from the world, the inner thoughts she allowed only the page to see- they were clear in her eyes in this unsheltered moment.
It was clear what she was thinking about, what she was feeling I couldn't help wanting to reach out to her. I could remember how soft Katherine's hair felt, how gentle her skin was beneath my fingers. I wondered if she felt the same. I wonder if she would supply the same delicious pleasure moans in ecstasy. She looked up as the bird call came almost involuntarily. "Okay," she smiled slightly, looking right at me. "hi bird." Ridiculous, the first words she would say to me and I was covered in feathers. I called out to her again, almost before I realized it. How foolish of me, when she wouldn't even know who I was had I been in my human form. "That's weird." She muttered, trying to get back to her writing. The fog I used for protection began to appear around her and she set the journal on the ground, looking for the source.
She was getting just a little more than weirded out as she stood, waving her arm at me. "Shoo!" The first of many rejections she would supply me with, though neither of knew that just yet. "That's what I thought." She said to herself, turning around- only to find me watching her again from the marble wings of a statue.
Watching me with wide, frightened eyes she knelt to grab her bag before quickly moving to the tree line of the forest. I knew the fog was too thick for her to clearly make out my face, so I allowed my true form to appear, my body hidden mostly behind a statue of an angel. The irony was not lost on me. She stopped, glancing back and her eyes searched for me. I moved quickly into hiding just as she took off green cover of her diary caught my eye and I wondered what to do with it. The air hummed with the presence of my brother and I knew this was not the way I wanted to see him.
The fog was beginning to dissipate so I left, knowing that soon enough I would get my chance to introduce myself properly.
(Elena's POV)
I was surprised to find that the door was unlocked, even more that it was slightly open. Almost as if someone wanted me to come inside. "Stefan?" There was no answer, so I came forward, taking in more of the house as it was presented to me. "Stefan?" The rooms and hallways were mostly dark, even though the tall windows in the den were open. It was intimidating, but beautiful and welcoming at the same time. I thought I heard something or someone behind me so I turned back to the still open door. At first there was nothing and no one, and I thought perhaps I imagined it. Just as my nerves began to settle, a black crow similar to the one I saw in the graveyard swooped in over my head. I ducked out of the way, trying to follow it, but the long, warmth length of a body blocked my path. I looked up, locking on startling blue eyes. He was intimidating, but had a masculine beautiful and I found myself drawn to him almost instantly.
His eyes were unreadable and I felt the need to explain myself. "I'm sorry for barging in. The door was…." When I glanced back over my shoulder, I was surprised to find that the door was tightly shut. "open."
His gaze was steady, as if he was looking deep inside me. If he blinked I didn't notice it, but then it was hard to notice much else when the very smell of him was clouding my judgment. "You must be Elena. I'm Damon, Stefan's brother."
I thought back, wondering if I'd missed that piece of information. I was sure I would never be able to forget someone like him, so why hadn't Stefan mentioned him? "Stefan didn't tell me he had a brother."
The tiniest smile curved the corner of his lips. "Well, Stefan's not one to brag. Please, come." He held out his arm, guiding me into the den. His fingertips brushed against my shoulder, but just barely. "I'm sure Stefan will be along any second."
"Wow, this is your living room?"
"Living room, parlor….Sotheby's Auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste." I hadn't exactly pictured Stefan living in a messy apartment like a bachelor, but I'd never envisioned this. "I see why my brother's so smitten." I'd been hit on by enough guys to know when someone was attracted to me, and I'd been around the block enough times to know when there was undeniable attraction between two people, but this was Stefan's brother and there was just something about him that had me on edge. "It's about time, for a while there I never thought he'd get over the last one. Nearly destroyed him."
"The last one?" I wasn't sure if it was just simple confusion in my tone, or the slight jealous hint that he noticed, but he explained a little further.
"Yeah, Katherine…his girlfriend." Now that, I was certain he'd failed to mention. I gave a short shake of my head and Damon smiled. "Oh, you haven't had the awkward ex's conversation yet."
"Nope." I felt a little embarrassed that I didn't know what he was talking about, and that when Stefan did decide to tell me something was clearly a painful memory for him, I would already have a handle on the whole idea- however bleak that handle was.
"Oops." He looked away, not sounding very sorry at all. "I'm sure it will come up now." I glanced up at him, wondering just what he was thinking. The edge he had me on, was the edge of my seat. Standing next to him should have fine, almost relaxing but it was like waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like at any moment all hell would break loose. What was it about him that had my guard up? "Or maybe he didn't tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound. We all know how those relationships end."
What he said made sense, but I felt like there was something more to him, perhaps to the story that he was leaving out. He seemed almost too cynical to simply be a protective older brother. "You say it like every relationship is doomed to end."
His eyes did that thing again, made me think things I shouldn't, wonder things I never had before. "I'm a fatalist." There was a slight shrug to his tone, and then a faint smirk. "Hello Stefan."
He looked pissed, a sight I hadn't seen on him before. "Elena," he spoke to me but his eyes were on Damon. "I didn't know you were coming over."
"I know, I should've called. I just-"
"Oh don't be silly." Damon stepped forward, cutting me off. "You're welcome anytime…isn't she Stefan?" when he got no answer, he turned back to me. His smile was quite charming if I let myself sink into it. "I should break out the family photos, or the home movies. But I have to warn you…he wasn't always such a looker."
I found myself smiling back, Stefan's dismissive tone cutting me off before I could speak. It was like he was almost an entirely different person with his brother around. "Thank you for stopping by Elena, it was nice to see you." Still, he was refusing to look at me and I wondered if I'd overstepped some line coming here, or was it just the fact that I'd spoken with Damon that upset him?
It was obvious that he didn't want me here, and while I was never one to be told what to do, I felt my survival instincts forcing me to move away from the obvious brotherly tension that was brewing. "Yeah, I should probably go." It was only Stefan's obvious displeasure at seeing me that had me turning back to smile at his brother. "It was nice to meet you Damon."
He smiled, bowing slightly. When our hands touched I nearly jumped, the shock between our bodies tingling up and down my spine. He seemed unaffected if he even felt it, so I kept my face straight, saying nothing. "Great meeting you too Elena."
I was even more charmed when he pressed his lips to the back of my hand, such an old fashioned gesture warming me slightly. I turned to leave, ignoring the pull to stay I felt. "Stefan?" his eyes were still trained on his brother and even when I repeated his name he didn't look at me, just moved slightly out of the way so I could pass. Was it me he was mad at, or Damon? It was clear he wasn't going to pay any attention to me, so I left- not glancing back at Damon even though something inside of me wanted to. I wouldn't really be that fickle to go for one brother because the first one ignored me. However, even when I'd closed the front door behind me, I found myself leaning against it, waiting for my heart to stop beating so erratically. My skin still tingled on the sport where Damon had pressed his lips to my hand.
(Damon's POV)
"Surprise!" Caroline's chirpy voice was already grating on my nerves heavily, but she was my key into nearly every house in this damn town, her blood was fairly delicious and as long as she behaved herself I would continue to deal with her. "Bonnie said you were doing dinner, so we brought dessert."
"Oh."
"Hope you don't mind." I could tell Elena was a little shocked, but she played her part and smiled sweetly, stepping aside so Caroline could enter. I knew however, that it wouldn't be that easy for me to get in, and thanks to the invisible barrier holding me in place I stayed still.
As if on cue, baby brother came around the corner, a perfect brooding look set in stone on his face. "What are you doing here?"
The answer to that question was not one I could speak aloud in front of the girls, nevermind him. "Waiting for Elena to invite me in."
She smiled, gesturing for me to come forward. "Oh yeah,"
"No, no, no." Stefan shook his head, his eyes hard. I saw the confusion flash across her face, recognized the same expression from the day we met. Baby brother had to chill out a little or she was going to get even more suspicious. "He…he can't…he can't stay." She looked at me as if hoping I would give her some hint as to what was going on. "Can you, Damon."
Stefan and I shared a look and I found that once again it would be marvelous if I could use my compulsion on him. Thankfully, Caroline saved me, proving her worth to live another day. "Get in here."
"We're just finishing up." Stefan tried again, but Elena dismissed him- her stubborn streak working to my advantage.
"It's fine, just come on in." her smile was sweet and warm and for a moment she reminded me of Katherine. At least the show Katherine put on for the world. When she'd been out in public she'd been cavity sweet, always smiling with gracious manners, but I knew that as soon as you got her behind closed doors she turned wanton and wild.
Looking at Elena now, I wondered just how far the apple fell from the tree. Smiling, I felt the threshold release and stepped through, careful not to brush Stefan as I slid through the opening between them. I was in, one step closer… "You have a beautiful home Elena."
"Thank you." She smiled, looking down at the dessert in her hands almost desperately. I glanced at Caroline and without hesitation, she took the dish from Elena and moved into the kitchen, chattering about something at a million miles an hour. I blocked it out, knowing I would have to listen to more of it later and turned to smirk at my brother. If we'd been in a cartoon, I was sure there would have been smoke coming out of his ears.
A little while later, I found Elena in the kitchen- thankfully alone. "One more."
She ran her fingers through her hair, turning to smile at me. "Oh, thank you." As she reached out for it, I let it drop a few inches, 'miraculously' saving it a foot from the ground. She laughed, clearly charmed. Her smile hit me, nearly stabbed right to my soul but I only smirked. "Nice save."
"I like you," I said, pointing at her and walking over to the dishwasher. Over time I'd learned the way to a woman's heart could take many paths, but helping with the clean up was always a safe bet. "you know how to laugh." It was true, even now her laugh was still ringing in my ears like a siren's song and for the first time in a long time I found myself aching to make someone laugh. "You make Stefan smile, which is something I haven't seen in a very long time."
There was a slight hint of sadness in her eyes, but it was gone before I could decide if it was for herself or him. "Earlier, did you mean Katherine?"
"Mhmm." I took the plate she was trying to load and set it for her.
"How did she die?"
"Fire." I remembered that night, could never forget it. The smell of the church going up in flames as I watched, my very insides burning as I began my transition into the monster Stefan would later force me to become. "Tragic fire."
"Recently?"
I couldn't very well tell her it had been over a hundred years ago, so I tried a pained smile and leaned back against the counter. "Seems like it was yesterday."
"What was she like?"
That question always hurt a little since it caused him to think about her. Elena must have noticed the flash of pain over my face because her features softened, surprisingly making me feel quite comfortable. "She was beautiful, a lot like you in that department." Understatement. Of. The. Century. "She was also very complicated, selfish…at times not very kind, but very sexy and seductive."
She thought for a moment, smiling knowingly as she handed me a yellow plate. "So…which one of you dated her first?"
I smiled, laughing and quite impressed she'd figured it all out so quickly. "Nicely deduced." I bent to close the dishwasher. "Ask Stefan, I'm sure his answer differs from mine." I watched her walk to the island, admiring the long lines of her body. She was small, but sturdy and I was sure that with a little working out she could have been quite the threat. She wasn't meant for this town, this life she'd been stuck into, but I doubted she was ready to accept that yet. There was an entire world she didn't know about yet, even though it was right under her nose and I didn't have the dead heart to tell her the truth. At least, not yet. "I'd quit cheerleading if I was you."
"Why do you say that?"
I moved to sit on a stool, folding the napkins with her, even though under different circumstances, Damon Salvatore would never be caught dead folding laundry. "Oh, I saw you at practice. You looked miserable."
"You saw that?" she sighed, the charade apparently up to at least me.
"Am I wrong?"
"I used to love it." she sounded like she was trying to convince herself instead of me. "It was fun…but this year is different. Everything that used to matter doesn't anymore."
"So don't let it." I said quickly, glancing up at her. "Quit, move on. Problem solved. Ta da!"
She laughed a little, looking back down. "Some things could matter again."
"Maybe, but seems a little unrealistic to me."
She nodded, her expression thoughtful. For a moment, it looked like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, but whatever thoughts she had running through her mind were quickly pushed away when she looked back up at me. "I'm sorry…" her apology confused me for a moment, but I listened anyway, wondering what she could possibly be sorry for. "about Katherine. You lost her too."
No one had ever said that to me. Not ever. I wanted to thank her, to say something back. Hell, for a tiny moment I wanted to tell her everything, for if she could get me as easily as that, what wouldn't she be able to understand but then the Bonnie girl came into the room and stole Elena's attention. "Sure." I wasn't dismissed from the room, but I did need space so I excused myself and left the kitchen. Any plan to simply fuck the girl that looked like Katherine, perhaps release a little frustration had been tossed out the window, at least for the moment.
Later that night, when I was sitting up in bed unable to sleep I found myself unable to resist poking into her dream. It was basically what I had expected, her silly school girl fantasy of making out with my brother. At first, I stood in the shadows of her room, watching like the sick pervert I was, but when she pulled her shirt off, and Stefan moved to remove his, I interfered. Her reaction, when it was my face, my body beneath hers shocked me a little. She screamed, crawling off me and moving quickly away. I'd have been lying to say that didn't hurt and quickly I pulled out of the dream, relinquishing the control of her brain back to her. So, she could flirt with me and smile at me in the kitchen, but she couldn't indulge in a little fantasy?
Losing myself in thoughts of my own, I decided that changing her mind on that simple fact, that earning a new reaction all together would be my new goal.
The next night, I found her in the nearly deserted parking lot. I was never one for watching football, my only desire to be here was to prove to myself that her reaction would not be the same in real life. The shock, that's all her dream had been. Even still, I could remember the scream and the fear in her eyes. This time, she wouldn't resist me, this time I would have the upper hand. I moved silently, stopping directly behind her. When she turned from slamming the door down, she gasped- nearly running into me. "You scared me, what-what are you doing here?"
I lowered my voice conspiratorially and smirked. "I'm hiding from Caroline."
She played along, an excellent sign for me even though I could tell she was less than impressed. "And why is that?"Apparently the dream was effecting her just as much as me. Before the moments we'd shared had been flirty, if not all light but there was something different about this girl now. Perhaps Stefan had said something, told her something about their past.
"I needed a break. She…talks more than I can listen."
"That could be a sign." She hinted, and I got the distinct impression that she wanted me to go away, or at least that she wanted to escape. It was such a drastic change from dinner last night.
"Well, she's…she's awfully young."
"Not much younger than you are." She contradicted, and I tried to hold back a laugh.
If only you knew… "I don't see it going anywhere in the bigger picture." I clarified, hoping that my 'honesty' would soothe over whatever damage had been done to the little thing we had going. "I think she'd drive me crazy."
"Caroline does have some really annoying traits, but we've been friends since the first grade, and that means something to me."
Shit, this is not working. Throwing the best friend under the bus….probably not the best idea. What was the silly saying girls used? Chicks before dicks? "Dually noted." I straightened up, hoping I sounded sincere. "I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. That's not my intention."
"Yes it is. Otherwise, you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say."
Damn. This girl really had me figured out. I wasn't sure if that was still impressive or getting to become slightly annoying. "You're right. I do have other intentions…but so do you."
"Really?" her tone was daring, and I just couldn't help falling for it. I just prayed that she would fall for it too. "I see you, you want me."
"Excuse me?"
She sounded pretty damn convincing, I even paused for a moment. Perhaps compulsion was going to have to be the answer here. "I get to you, you find yourself drawn to me…you think about me even when you don't wanna think about me. I bet you've even dreamed about me." That struck a nerve in her but she didn't speak, and to my surprise she didn't deny anything. I focused all my strength into the compulsion, making sure our eyes were connected perfectly. "And right now, you want to kiss me."
She didn't move, she didn't blink and I was sure that I had her under my control. I leaned forward, feeling quite cocky about everything when suddenly the white hot pain of her slap registered on my face and I had to hold off from staggering back. Sure, I was strong, but there was something to be said for a girl that could slap. I was right, she did have some fight in her. "What the hell?" I was almost to shocked to listen to what she was saying but there was something about her that held my attention. "I don't know what game you're trying to play with Stefan here, but I don't want to be part of it." I reached up to massage my chin, amazed at just how much that had hurt. "And I don't know what happened in the past, but let's get one thing straight; I am not Katherine."
I wasn't sure how it was possible, but that had only made me want her more. I suppose I was a sucker for punishment, and the sick twisted side of me was in for whatever punishment she could give. A few hours later, I found myself sneaking into her room, relieved to find that she was asleep. Like this, she was calm and beautiful. My stinging face found it a nice contrast to the fiery vixen I'd discovered in the parking lot. If I'd thought Katherine was complicated, I was about to be surprised. Surely, a woman that had a few hundred years on this one held more baggage than a simple teenage girl, but there was definitely more to Elena than what met the eye. I reached out, unable to help myself from finally feeling her skin. It was even softer than I'd imagined.
I considered reaching into her subconscious, seeing what she was dreaming about now, but her heart beat had already begun to pick up; a sign that she was awaking. With one last glance I moved to the window. This girl was certainly going to make my undead life more interesting.
a/n: I can't promise that EVERY Delena moment will be covered, but I will do the important ones. If you're enjoying this and want more please let me know. If you would like to see the banner I made for this fic go to my livejournal account petrova39. I think you'll all really like it
