missing here;
\
Night, her breathing soft as rose petals. She shifts, sending her still wet hair branching out like tentacles across the surface of her pillow.
"Can't sleep?"
She jumps, nerves electrified. Her mind tugs at the image of Stefan, but he's so far away she can't remember what he looks like anymore.
"Maybe because you keep talking to me," she whispers, turning until she can see the shadowy outline of his body. Although she tries to make her voice sound irritated, she's just too tired to form a sophisticated retort; yawning, she watches the crack of light squeezing through the space between the door and the wall hit his face, illuminating sculpted sky blue eyes.
"Sorry." He sounds like he's rolling his eyes.
"Sure you are."
Sleep presses in on her, and it's too hard to keep her eyelids open. They droop like curtains. Moments pass, she listens to the ticking of the clock, then hears his soft snores. Heart aching, her fingers reach behind her, hardly daring to attempt.
"He can be saved." She can almost hear Damon's voice through his sleepy noises, the memories crashing, overwhelming. "Even in his darkest place, my brother still can't let me die, so I figured I owed him the same in return. I'll help you bring him back."
She knows he'll keep his word. Stefan will be back one day, and she'll have to let go of this. Her fingers skim over the skin of his bicep, her cheeks darkening, eyes storming behind closed lids. Unwillingly, this became something more than it ever should have, and she hates herself for making such a horrible mistake.
"Yes, I worry about you. Why do you even have to hear me say it?" How stupid she was to ask such a question, after seeing the turmoil in his eyes, those beautiful eyes. Her neck flushes, remembering his soft touch, gentler than she's ever known it. She didn't think him capable of such humanity. "Because when I drag my brother from the edge and deliver him back to you, I want you to remember the things you felt while he was gone."
Her eyes burn, lips burn with the memory of his kiss, and cheeks burn as tears drip salty trails down her skin. Her fingers creep down, brushing along his chiseled arm, finally reaching his hand. Fingers interwine, and thank god he's asleep so she can treasure his touch without the accompaniment of a sexual innuendo.
She doesn't know what will happen to this when Stefan returns, and it shouldn't matter.
"Know what you're doin' there?" "It's okay to love both of them, you know." "No...I d-don't."
She doesn't see the sapphire eyes watching her from the other side of the bed.
-fin]
