Vampire Diaries: Season 6 - A Matter Of Life & Death
Chapter Three: The Calm Before The Storm
Disclaimer: I own nothing, except my story line :)
Damon opened his eyes, unsure of what exactly to expect.
There he was, same spot, still dark, woods everywhere. Did it work?
He reached his arm to the side, and as he swiped his hand across the grass he knew he was alive. The spell worked, he was alive and breathing, and could feel the grass on his fingertips for the first time in months.
"Bonnie?" he called out as he slightly turned his head to the right.
"Yeah" she answered, her tone of voice slightly weakened, "is it over?"
"I think so" Damon said as he still couldn't stop himself from clenching the grass in his hands, "you feel alright?"
"Yeah, my heads kind of throbbing a bit though" Bonnie answered as she tried to pull herself to a sitting position and Damon did the same, "How do we know if we're really alive or not?"
Damon looked over at Bonnie, he could hear the blood pulsing through her neck; and the sound was causing his hunger to rage, "Oh we're alive" Damon said with a sarcastic tone, "and I need to feed, like asap"
Bonnie narrowed her eyes at him, "Well don't look at me, I'm not volunteering"
"I didn't say you were" Damon snapped back with his familiar arrogance, "I'll be right back, wait here"
Bonnie's face furrowed, but before she could even answer, he was gone.
She waited for a few minutes, eventually pulling herself to a standing position. Her entire body felt weak, and she wasn't sure how long she'd actually be able to stand with the dizzy spells coming on one after another.
Within ten minutes, Damon was back, wiping his mouth of blood as he gave Bonnie a devilish grin.
"God, I've missed that" he said with a snarky smile and Bonnie gave him a disgusted look.
"You didn't kill who ever that was, did you?" she asked, almost annoyed that they'd been alive no more than fifteen minutes and he'd already done something horrible.
"Nope" Damon answered, confidence in his voice, "Just enough to get me up and running, then compelled her to forget". Bonnie crossed her arms and shook her head, "What? I had to test it out, make sure I've been rewired again properly" Damon joked, but Bonnie didn't find much amusement in his humor, "Oh lighten up, we're alive"
"Yeah, about that Damon" Bonnie said as she placed a hand on one of the trees to help keep her balance, "As Jessenya was doing the spell, I saw Grams… She was panicking, and she just kept saying that I'd made the wrong choice"
Damon rolled his eyes, "Well of course she'd tell you that. You witches don't believe in anything unnatural; i.e. coming back from the dead; so it wasn't like she was going to give you a friendly farewell or something"
Bonnie crossed her arms, "Damon I'm serious! She was trying to tell me that something bad is going to come of this, I can feel it"
Damon rolled his neck, not really wanting to deal with all the pessimism at the moment, "Well there isn't much we can do about it now; what's done is done"
Bonnie didn't say much of anything in response; but deep down she knew there'd be consequences for what they agreed on, she just didn't know what.
Damon could tell by the expression on her face that she was extremely worried, and finally decided to acknowledge that she may possibly be right, "Alright, alright, so maybe there might be something bad to come of it all; but can we please, just put it off for tonight" he lifted his hands into a praying position, "I'd really like to get to my house and see Elena, and I know you can't wait to see Jeremy's face when you walk towards him"
Bonnie looked at Damon with wide eyes; her serious face eventually turning into a small grin as she thought about hugging Jeremy again, "Okay fine" she said with a smile, "C'mon, lets go"
"You don't have to tell me twice" Damon said with a massive smirk on his face and the two eagerly started to walk out of the woods and towards the direction of the Salvatore house.
XxxX
After not long, Bonnie and Damon finally reached the front of the house, where the two stopped and paused for a second to take in the moment. It was late, and as the dark night surrounded them, and the house sat there in complete darkness, they couldn't help but feel relief, that for the first time in three months, they would return and actually be seen.
"Ready?" Damon looked over at Bonnie through the corner of his eyes, and Bonnie gave a small nod and a half smile, "Just do me a favor, try and be as quiet as possible; the only person I want to know that I'm back right now is Elena, and Jeremy obviously; but Stefan and Alaric, I'll see them in the morning. But for tonight, I just want to be with Elena, without anyone else"
"Okay" Bonnie whispered and gave a small smile, she agreed. It was the middle of the night, and if there were anyone she'd like to spend the first couple hours of being alive again with; it was Jeremy.
"Okay, let's go" Damon said as the two of them slowly opened the front door, carefully slipping inside and closing the door quietly behind them.
"Remember, as quiet as possible" Damon whispered as he slowly crept off and up towards the stairs, eventually disappearing in the dark hallways.
Bonnie took a deep breath before slowly walking towards the living room. As she approached the archway, she saw Jeremy sleeping peacefully on the couch, with one arm hanging off the side as a journal rested on the floor beneath it.
She slowly walked towards him, smiling as she watched him lay there asleep; almost feeling guilty to wake him.
She quietly knelt down and brought her hand to his forehead, gently swiping a few strands of hair from his face.
It felt so good to actually touch him again, and to feel his skin beneath her fingertips.
"Jeremy" she whispered, holding her hand on his face still, gently massaging her thumb across his cheekbone.
Jeremy lethargically shifted around a bit; his eyes opening just slightly.
At first he'd blinked a couple of times, wondering if he was dreaming as he saw a somewhat blurry face in front of him, a face that looked a hell of a lot like Bonnie.
Suddenly his eyes opened even wider and the expression on his face grew more and more confused with each blink, "Bonnie?" he said, his voice almost shaky.
Bonnie smiled and she could feel her eyes beginning to swell a little with tears as she nodded, "It's me Jeremy, it's me"
Jeremy quickly realized that he wasn't dreaming, that this was in fact real; that Bonnie was actually knelt down beside him and he wasn't just imagining things. He reacted suddenly, pulling himself to a sitting position and extending his hands out, placing them on the outside of Bonnie's arms.
"Oh my god, this is real. Bonnie, how did you? When did you? Oh my god" a million thoughts ran through his mind; but he stopped himself and pulled her into a massive hug.
Bonnie clenched onto him as tightly as possible, never ever wanting to let go again.
"I- I" Jeremy couldn't get the words out, he was so shocked to see her, "I can't believe you're here"
He pulled back, his arms still held on tightly to Bonnies, and looked at her face, studying, making sure he wasn't hallucinating. Bonnie smiled at him, her teeth appearing through her lips, as she felt nothing but absolute joy.
"I can't believe it either" she said as she lowered her forehead onto his, their eyes within mere centimeters from each others, "I've missed you so much"
Jeremy's lips pressed onto hers with complete and utter passion, and his heart was almost beating out of his chest, comprehending that this was actually happening.
"This is unreal" Jeremy whispered in between kisses as he felt tears falling down each of his cheeks.
XxxxX
Damon slowly crept up to his bedroom door, careful not to wake anyone as he moved through the hall. He stood there for a few minutes, listening to the faint sound of a pen as it glided across paper.
Elena was awake, and obviously writing in her journal.
He had to admit; he didn't expect her to still be awake, although, not having to interrupt her from some much-needed sleep was also a bonus. He slowly turned the knob; but within seconds it stiffened, and his face furrowed in confusion.
"I don't want to talk to anyone. Just go away!" Elena shouted and Damon couldn't help but allow a small grin to appear on his face.
In that moment, he tested another one of his most favored vampire qualities… transporting… and it worked.
Suddenly he was inside his bathroom, the room lit dark with nothing but a dim light peering through the doorway. He ever so quietly approached the door frame, and stared over at Elena, who was sitting next to the window; sure enough, with her pen and journal in hand.
"What are you writing about?" Damon whispered softly as he leaned up against the doorframe; a smile on his face.
Elena's jaw stiffened and she slowly lifted her head up from her journal, hesitant to even turn around, her heart felt as if it froze inside her chest.
After a mere second of overwhelming shock, she spun around and her eyes met his. Instantly melting every single emotion within her being.
"Damon?" she asked in a soft whisper, her eyes beginning to fill with tears as she remained sitting in the same spot. In her head she questioned whether she was really seeing him, or whether it was just a figment of her imagination; a hallucination overcoming her visibility and impairing her perceptions.
Damon couldn't help the warm smile that remained across his lips as he inched towards her. The moment he'd waited three months for, the seconds he longed for.
"It's me Elena" he gently placed his hand on her cheek, and Elena closed her eyes tightly, releasing a few tears as his touch electrified through her, "it's real" Damon assured, his fingertips caressing her skin as she placed her hand over his on her face and slowly opened her eyes again.
Suddenly with quick movement Elena was standing in front of him with her arms wrapped around his neck, hugging him tighter than she'd ever hugged anyone in her lifetime.
"How- how are you here Damon?" she asked through happy tears as her face buried deep inside the crease of his shoulder, taking in the familiar and very missed scent of him.
"It's not important right now Elena" his arms wrapped just as tight around her and his face buried deep into her hair, "what's important is that I'm here, and I've missed you more than you know"
Elena let out a cry, the feeling of seeing him again was completely overwhelming her heightened emotions, "I- I thought I'd never see you again" she wept.
Damon smiled and gently released his grip, placing both his hands on Elena's face as he pulled her directly in front of him, "You gotta' have a little more faith in me Elena" he joked as his thumb gently swiped the tears from her cheeks and he leaned his forehead against hers.
A smile cracked across Elena's tear soaked lips as she allowed her hands to travel up and down Damon's forearms, still trying to convince herself that this was actually real.
"Damon you don't understand what the last three months have been like without you" she said staring into his eyes, the pain still so fresh in her mind, "I felt like I lost a part of me, like my soul died along with you"
Damon stared at Elena for a few seconds, his emotions hitting a peak as she expressed her pain to him. It was taking a lot out of him not to cry tears of joy along with her; but instead he just wanted to savor the moment right then and there, the moment they'd thought would never come.
"I know," he whispered before kissing Elena softly on the lips; his eyes closing as their energy spread from within each other and into the kiss, "but I'm here now, and that's all that matters" he whispered in-between kisses and it only intensified the emotion building up inside both of them.
Elena's hand traveled to the back of Damon's neck as the kiss deepened and grew more passionate; both their tongues fighting for dominance as the fervor went into overload.
This lasted for a while, intense kissing and the passion of their reunion completely consuming the moment; however, that's as far as it led. The moment was too emotional for anything more than that, no matter how badly their bodies urged to be one again.
Eventually ending up, still fully clothed, lying across the bed, Elena found comfort in Damon's arms, the way she used to before everything happened. She hadn't stopped looking into his eyes for even a second, and neither had he. It was as if they hadn't seen each other in centuries.
"God I've missed this" Damon whispered as his arm held tightly around Elena's waist and his other hand reaching over to caress the strands of her hair.
Elena smiled, her eyes lost in his, "What happened?" she asked with a hint of hesitance, "that night, you were supposed to be behind me Damon, what happened?"
Damon looked at her, feeling a sense of guilt as he remembered assuring her that he would be, "I- I finally did something… unselfish, for once" he widened his eyes sarcastically; but Elena's face just grew in curiosity.
"What do you mean?" she asked with a soft tone.
"Sheriff Forbes" Damon gave a half smile, "she was pinned down in the back room, if I didn't stay and try and help her, she would of never made it out of there alive"
Elena's face furrowed with even more curiosity and then softened when the reality set in that Damon put someone else ahead of him, "I didn't know you did that" she smiled, "You saved her life"
Damon shrugged, "I must have mistakenly put Stefan's hero hair on that day" he joked and then followed with a sarcastic smirk.
Elena smiled, placing another soft kiss on his lips, "I love you Damon"
Damon smiled, the tip of his nose touching hers, "and I love you Elena"
The two remained quietly like that for a few minutes, something they kept doing every so often for a while. The moment was unlike anything they'd ever experienced before. The pure joy of knowing that they were together again.
Elena finally broke the silence, her curiosity growing as there were so many questions she had for him, "Did it hurt? When the other side disappeared?"
Damon shook his head lightly, "No. It just kind of happened. One second we were in the woods, a flash of light occurred, and then all of a sudden we were just here; but not here" Elena tried to understand what he meant but it wasn't easy to do, and Damon continued, "I'll have you know though, Bonnie and I, we had some real quality time bonding while dead" he said with a sarcastic chuckle but Elena suddenly widened her eyes in response.
"Oh my god Bonnie" she said as she knelt up on her elbow, "is she – did she come back or whatever with you? Is she here too?"
Damon nodded and gave a reassuring smile, "She's downstairs with Jeremy, and I'm sure they are having a very long awaited reunion as well" Damon joked raising an eyebrow, "You'll see her in the morning; but for tonight…" Damon pulled Elena even closer to him, "we agreed to spend our first night undead, with our very missed significant others" he smiled and kissed Elena on the forehead, "So for the remained of tonight, you…" he leaned over her slightly, placing a kiss on her chin, "Elena" his lips traveled down to her neck, "are mine".
Elena smiled. As much as she couldn't wait to see her best friend, she had to admit, she was enjoying the night just as it was. Her reunion with Bonnie could definitely wait till morning.
And with that, she smiled and playfully flipped herself on top of Damon, returning the kisses without any debate.
There wasn't many hours left of the night; however, neither Damon nor Elena were concerned. There wouldn't be much sleep being had that night.
XxxX
The next morning came quickly and despite the happy reunions that took place in the hours proceeding, there were many more that needed to occur. Damon and Elena shared a very sleepless and intimate night, cherishing the hours alone they'd spent together after such a painful three months. Bonnie and Jeremy spent a while together as well, eventually drifting off to sleep together, wrapped in each other's arms on the couch.
Alaric awoke in the guest room, as he did everyday since his return. He'd also been staying at the Salvatore house. There weren't many other places for him to reside, Elena and Jeremy's house was gone, and following his death, his apartment was eventually vacated and rented out, so his options were somewhat limited.
As he made his way down the stairs and towards the kitchen, he passed the archway of the living room and the sight of Jeremy cuddled and sleeping closely with an unknown female made him stop dead in his tracks.
His face furrowed as he tried to get a better look. The girl looked an awful lot like Bonnie, and as he tiptoed closer his eyes widened with confusion. Either Bonnie was mysteriously and miraculously there, in the living room, or Jeremy found yet another doppelgänger.
Trying to process what he was seeing, he instead backed back out of the living room as quietly as possible and decided to head up to Stefan's room and tell him to come down and take a look for himself; reassure him that he wasn't in fact going crazy.
As he made his way up the stairs and knocked on Stefan's door, he was quickly invited inside, finding a fully awakened Stefan sitting at his desk writing in his journal.
"Hey, uh, I think you need to come down stairs and take a look at this" Alaric said, "Call me crazy, but Jeremy is sleeping with a girl on the couch who strangely looks a lot like Bonnie"
Stefan looked up with a raised eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"
"Exactly what I just said" Alaric answered, "I'm not kidding"
Suddenly a voice appeared behind them, "No brother, he's definitely not kidding"
Both Alaric and Stefan spun around to find a smirking Damon standing in the doorway with a pair of loose pajama pants and a white t-shirt.
"Damon?" They both said in unison, and Damon found himself chuckling a little.
In a flash Stefan was out of his seat and in front of him, greeting him with a brotherly hug.
"How- when? You're back?" Stefan said after hugging his brother, his face totally confused and relieved at the same time.
"Geez, did anyone around here have faith that I'd get back here one way or another?" Damon scuffed, and Stefan couldn't help the enormous grin that formed on his face.
"I-" Stefan hugged him again, "I can't believe you're here"
Damon smiled, "Alright Stefan, let's not get to overly brother-like" he joked, "it's not our style"
Stefan let out a small laugh, "It's nice to see you've still got your sense of humor"
Damon scoffed and then rolled his eyes, "Of course"
Just then, Alaric walked over, a massive smile on his face as he held a hand out towards Damon.
"Ric" Damon said with a smile as his hand met his and pulled him into a hug.
"It's nice to know you're back Damon" Ric said and then retreated, "and for the record, I knew you'd figure out a way" Alaric said with a smirk.
"And that my friend" Damon nodded, "is why we click so well"
Alaric laughed, and Damon looked towards a still confused, yet relieved Stefan.
"Brother, we've got some talking to do" Damon said as he narrowed his eyes at him and then looked over at Ric, "Could we have a second?"
Alaric nodded and then gave a pat on Damon's shoulder before exiting the room.
After Ric left, Damon walked into Stefan's room, making himself comfortable on the chair and stretching his feet up to rest on top of the desk.
"Damon I'm glad you're back, even if I am a little hesitant to know how" Stefan said with a smile as he took a seat on the bed.
"Did you really think I wouldn't figure out some way?" Damon said with a confident expression, "I mean, c'mon, you know me better than that brother"
Stefan laughed and then shook his head, "I don't know Damon, that was a pretty intense night; and honestly, I thought that was the end. Once Bonnie died… I didn't think I'd ever see you again" Stefan took a deep breath, the pain flooding back into his memory, "and as much as I hate to admit it" Stefan joked, "it killed me"
Damon's eyes focused on Stefan for a few seconds, hesitant to respond at first. Expression of feelings with him and his brother wasn't something he was that used to.
"I know" Damon finally responded, his voice a little pained, "I saw you. I saw everyone. I was here, watching you all deal with it; you just couldn't see me"
Stefan's face furrowed, "You we're here?"
"Yep" Damon answered, "I saw you go into your emotional rages in here, I saw Elena slowly dying in my room, I saw Jeremy endlessly searching the family journals for some kind of answer on how to bring Bonnie and I back… I saw it all"
Stefan looked down, "Elena?" he asked, referring to her most darkening time.
"Mhm" Damon nodded, "Trying to kill herself? Yeah, I saw the whole thing. That's pretty much the point when I became more determined than ever to get back here."
Stefan nodded, "It was pretty scary" he said as he remembered, "I'd never seen her so depressed, so hurt"
"I know" Damon said, as if he was ashamed. Like it was his fault entirely.
Silence lingered for a few minutes before Stefan finally spoke again, "I'm glad you're back Damon" he looked up at him, "Seriously, I want you to know that. It's been an extremely rough couple of months"
Damon nodded, finally not trying to persuade the conversation towards a more sarcastic one, "Feeling's mutual Stefan" he said with an affirming nod.
It wasn't the most sentimental response; but for Stefan, he knew there was meaning behind it.
"So" Stefan said, trying to change the tone, "how'd you guys do it? You and Bonnie, how'd you get back here?"
Damon narrowed his eyes and then swallowed, "We made a deal with someone" he answered, "some witch"
Stefan's eyebrows creased, "A witch?" he asked confused, "A dead witch with powers? How is that even possible?"
"Don't ask me" Damon shrugged, "All I cared about was that she was able to bring me back, I didn't really ask her much questions in regards to that, all I know is she'd been dead for like four centuries or something, so she said she figured out some loopholes"
Stefan thought about it all for a few seconds, "So, you made a deal?" he said, his eyes narrowing in on Damon, "And what exactly is your end of this deal?"
Damon bit the inside of his cheek briefly; looking at Stefan and he instantly knew it wasn't going to be an answer he wanted to hear.
"Well…" Damon started, and eventually led into a long conversation where he explained the whole thing to Stefan, and what he needed to do; leaving out one minor detail, the part where Elena's soul was the end result if he did not keep his end of the bargain.
XxxxX
Elena, Jeremy, Alaric, and Bonnie all gathered in the living room as Stefan and Damon talked upstairs. They all shared a very heartwarming reunion, and both Elena and Bonnie shared many tears and hugs as a result.
The four of them enjoyed their long awaited reunions, and didn't bother to interrupt Stefan and Damon upstairs, figuring they were having some much needed brother time.
In the midst of laughs and relieved excitement, the door bell rang and Elena, for the first time in months, got up to answer the door with a smile gleaming across her face.
As she opened the door, she saw an older woman, who appeared in her late fifties or so.
"Uh, Hi" Elena said with a confused look, "Can I help you?"
The woman stared at Elena, her face almost astounded by the sight, "Elena?" she asked.
"Yes, that's me" Elena still looked confused, "Do I know you?"
The woman smiled, "No, you don't know me; but my name is CeCe, and I'm afraid we need to talk" the woman's smile dampened to a more serious expression, "I am your birth mothers aunt… your great aunt"
Elena's face was completely lost at this point, "I'm sorry, what?" she said as she tried to process what was just told to her.
"Elena, I am very sorry to just show up and spring this on you; but please, may I come in and talk with you?" the woman urged, "I'm afraid you are in great danger"
Elena's face stiffened as she looked at the woman with wide eyes.
And just when she thought things were looking up, she thought.
XxxxX
Hey everyone :)
Again, thank you so much for the support/ reviews/ follows/ favorites so far, I'm glad there are so many enjoying this fic!
So, at the request of some reviewers, I put a nice little conversation between Stefan and Damon in there, to show that Stefan was hurt over losing his brother. In no way did I want it to seem as if he was fine, because I don't think he would be. So I hope that did it a little justice.
Also, a special shout out to Silver Luna, for the creation of CeCe. I had to change a couple of things regarding her character, and you will see them in the next chapter; but, regardless, she was an awesome submission and I hope I do her justice :)
So again, thank you for reading, and please review! Let me know your thoughts on both Jeremy/Bonnie and Damon/Elena's reunions!
Until next update… Xxx
