Xxxx
Elena heard Damon outside of the door rummaging through his closet. She was nursing a glass of whiskey and soaking in his tub. She had opted for a bubble bath and chose a random playlist on her phone.
Currently Sail by AWOLNATION reverberated off the stone of the bathroom floor.
She made the mistake of closing her eyes because almost immediately she was thrown into another memory. Stefan was thrusting inside of her from behind as she lay atop Damon who was also sliding into her front.
She must have dropped her glass in the waking world because a shatter then a rush of cold air brought her eyes snapping open. Damon was standing at the tub, eyeing the shards of glass scattered across the grey stone.
Her eyes, still glazed and lazy from the intense memory, met his. He clenched his jaw a few times before letting his eyes drop to the swell of her breasts peeking out from the diminishing suds.
She shifted in the water, gasping a little as the water stirred between her legs. She felt her breathing quicken as she fought to tamper down the intense arousal that always stuck around after a memory.
She groaned and let her head fall back onto the lip of the tub in resignation, "This is too hard Damon," her speech was a little slow from the alcohol.
"Which one?" he asked, knowing she would understand that he wanted to know about the memory.
This time she didn't speak as if she were Katherine, "You were both inside of me. Both of you."
He breathed out slowly and clenched his jaw again. She held her hand out to him, eyes pleading. He closed his eyes and covered his mouth with a hand, thumbing his cheek bone roughly as if to gather his thoughts.
Finally he pinched the bridge of his nose and stated in an exhausted tone, "I almost forgot about that one…"
Without further pause, he shed his clothes, keeping his eyes locked on hers, and slowly submerged himself into the bath water. The ripples in the water gave away the tremble that quivered through Elena's body as his legs brushed against hers. His feet nudged against her sides and he stilled, watching her nod her head to the music as if her body wasn't quivering against his touch under the water.
"What is it like Elena?," Damon asked above the music. Elena, reaching up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, replied, "It's like touching someone, learning how they feel inside of you, what they smell like, taste like…but then knowing it was never really between you. It's a memory that is as real as any of my other memories but I know it didn't happen to me. "
Damon nodded slowly and reached for the bottle of whiskey that sat beside the tub. He took a long gulp before returning it to the floor.
Elena continued in a rush as if she'd been bursting to let the words tumble from her mouth all along, "It's almost tortuous to wake up and still feel like these things happened. My body feels it all…and then I wake and it's not there, it's not real. It leaves me feeling like I've lost something."
Damon hooked his feet on her sides and brought her forward in a quick sloshy motion. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and brought her to his chest. She returned the gesture and allowed herself to embrace the eldest Salvatore.
He spoke into her hair in the gentlest voice she'd ever heard him use, "I'm going to give you a memory that won't be hers."
She nodded, breathing him in and feeling a jolt hit her belly like a pulse of adrenaline.
He ran his hands down her slick back and then back up again to grasp her shoulders and push her slightly back to meet her eyes, "I don't want to hurt my brother but sometimes we approach things differently. I know I can help you."
She nodded again, "I don't want to hurt anybody."
Before she could say more, his hand drifted under the water and trailed down her inner thigh. Her body tensed up but he continued and took no time in plunging a finger gently but forcefully inside of her. She arched and fell into his chest with a loud, "God…"
"Shhh," he whispered, leaning his cheek on her head. She grasped his shoulders, fingernails digging into skin.
"You're in control here. This is no dream, no borrowed memory. I want you to take control and make this memory with me," he murmured into her hair.
His middle finger was very still inside of her, and she was very still against him. The song set the beat to her rhythm she started against his hand. Slow and sure, she slid along the length of his finger while keeping her eyes locked on his.
"Another," she whispered shakily.
He eased a second finger inside of her, hooking slightly into the spongy flesh. She bit her lip and let go of his shoulders to grasp the sides of the tub. She started up the rhythm again, clenching around his fingers and wishing she didn't know how good a different part of him would feel inside of her instead.
"Something that I would say to you that you won't find in any borrowed memories of hers is that I literally hurt when I see you in pain," Damon said.
She stopped her movement to peer into his eyes, something she rarely opened herself up to doing. Looking into his eyes too long always made her uncomfortable in the way he seemed to touch something she wasn't ready to acknowledge…something only the sire bond had urged her to face.
It was even harder after Denver.
"This has been fucking torture," he added, his voice hoarse behind the honesty.
She saw the Damon from Katherine's memories then. The open honesty on his face was beautiful despite the reasons behind it. He looked hopeful and broken all at once.
She slid off of his fingers then, realizing she needed this more than a release at his hands. He placed his palms at her waist and let his forehead fall to press against hers. Their skin was moist from the humid bath, but cool to the touch.
Her fingers crept up his chest and rested flat against the thrumming of his heart. She felt him swallow thickly.
"I shouldn't have been so harsh to you before…when I first learned you shared her," Elena admitted quietly, pressing even harder into his forehead with hers.
Their ears perked at the sound of Stefan walking down the hall, surely to check on Elena in her room.
"You ready to get out?" he asked, pulling away from her without addressing her statement.
She nodded, muttering a yeah and toweled off quickly.
Xxxx
Damon remained in the bath, watching Elena pull a robe around her body that he eyed almost greedily as he was entirely sure he'd never be privy to view again. Between the three of them, guilt seemed to take precedence over everything else. It's because they all loved one another too fucking much.
She left the room without a word, though he knew even without turning around to watch that she glanced back at him before exiting.
It wasn't but maybe five minutes later that Stefan entered the bathroom to crunch over the glass still glittering across the floor. Damon didn't have to look up to know he wore a Stefan-esqu scowl. He couldn't help but sneak a peek anyway.
Sure enough, the younger Salvatore stood with his arms crossed and his lips pressed in a tight grimace.
"C'mon Stef, not tonight," Damon muttered dejectedly.
Instead of the tumble of biting words he expected to come up like vomit from his brother's mouth, Stefan shed his clothes with a heavy sigh and sunk into opposite side of the tub.
Damon murmured, "Ouch," at the swirl of red rising from Stefan's foot in the already cloudy bath water. He grasped Stefan's ankle to lift his foot from the water, a good sized chunk of glass embedded in the heel.
Damon squeezed his brother's heel and plucked the shard, flicking it back onto the floor. Stefan grunted a little as Damon propped Stefan's foot on his knee, waiting for it to heal. Once the wound closed, Damon jerked his knee to let his brother's foot plunk back into the water with a heavy splash.
"Can you wash your fingers please," Stefan demanded in a dull tone, head propped on the lip of the tub and eyes cast towards the ceiling.
For a moment Damon thought he was referring to the blood that ran down his fingers from his brother's wound, but a shift in the air brought the strong scent of Elena to his nose.
"Yeahhh…about that…" Damon started, grabbing the bubble bath and pouring a copious amount to his fingers.
Stefan held up a hand to stop him from further explaining, "Just…can we just all keep our hands to ourselves until this all blows over. Please."
Damon sighed, staring at the underside of Stefan's chin. He nudged Stefan's thigh with his big toe and said gently, "Hey."
Stefan heaved an unnecessary sigh and rolled his head forward to connect eyes. He looked tired. They all looked tired.
"It won't happen again," was all Damon could say.
Xxxx
Katherine tried dialing Elijah for the thirtieth time that evening. She had spent most the day pacing on the front entryway, gnawing her nails to the nubs, thumbs on perpetual redial.
Startled was an understatement when her phone was whizzed out of her hands and Damon zipped to the driveway, calling out, "And why are you trying so desperately hard to reach Mr. Elijah?" He held the phone out and feigned shock, "thirty one outgoing calls. Pathetic K, even for you…"
She clenched her jaw and stormed over to him, snatching her phone from his prying little man hands. She knew she was being careless but the desperation was getting to her. She was nervous and she hated being nervous and still at the same time. Every muscle in her body screamed at her to run and save her ass.
Damon of course, a regular Private Dick, was quick to note her discomfort.
He folded his arms and leaned on one foot, cocking his head to the side, sneering, "You're scared. Spill it. What are you so nervous about Katherine?"
She tossed her hair and jutted out a hip, crossing her arms in the same fashion, "You know even all that soap doesn't cover up her smell. You reek of pussy."
Damon stuck his fingers under his nose and took an exaggerated whiff, "Mmmm, don't I know it. Premium shit right here…smell familiar?"
She slapped his hand rather hard out of her face when he waggled his fingers under her nose.
"Hey, ouch. Uncalled for, lady," he kicked at her ass as he walked past, calling over his shoulder in a sing song way, "I will find out. Easy or hard way…"
