Should they talk about Isobel?
He is tracing the curve of her hip when these words spill from his mouth. The moment is divine. She is melting into his touch, but just like that the feeling shatters. Those words send shivers through her body, and she feels herself turn cold. She rolls away from him, sitting up and flashing a look of disgust. Why bring her up? As far as she's concerned, they have no relationship besides that of DNA. End of story.
But that's not the end, is it? He sits up as well, knowing that he's upset her but also knowing it had to be done. Not once in all of these nights has she mentioned her. It was time. He knows it's a sensitive subject, knows that she doesn't want to think about her, but it's necessary. Isobel is her mother.
At that, she moves further away from him, ending up at the foot of the bed. Isobel is not her mother. Her mother is dead. Isobel is merely the woman who gave birth to her. Now, cut it out.
But he can't. He won't. He knows she needs to release all of this, let it flow from her, but she's just so damn stubborn. She won't let it go unless by force. So he forces her. Like it or not, Isobel is her biological mother. No matter what happens, mother and daughter will be forever intertwined.
That's all it takes.
Isobel may be her birth mother, but other than that, she has absolutely nothing to do with her life. She was never there. Her mother was the one who raised her, who feed her, who cared for her. She helped her with her homework and took her to soccer practice. Her mother was the one who held her hand, the woman she turned to, always and forever. Even now.
Even when she is dead.
What did Isobel ever do for her except carry her for nine months? Giving birth to a child does not a mother make. It's all the little things that count. And there are no little things where Isobel is concerned. She threatened to kill her. She tried to kill Stefan. She lied. She murdered with abandon. There are no redeeming qualities to this woman. She is evil, pure and simple. She is Katherine just decades later.
What she hates the most is that their blood, Isobel's and Katherine's, flows in her veins. She is their inheritance. They are her ancestors. Their story is her story.
And that burns her.
How could she possibly be related to people like this? She imagines this is what he must feel. No matter how much she wants to distant herself from the atrocity of it all, she is still tied to them. Their crimes are her crimes. She can never fully break away.
She damns her blood. She wishes she could drain herself of it, but that is an impossibility. She is stuck with it.
For life.
She is burdened with the knowledge that her biological parents are a sadistic vampire and a conniving son of a bitch. What does she do with that? How does she prevent that from drowning her?
But she can't lie. Not about this. Not to him.
It hurts. It all fucking hurts. She went from having two loving parents to having two monsters. Her birth parents want nothing to do with her. Neither of them cares about her. Both want her boyfriend dead. And both are willing to kill her to do it.
Isn't that just the most pathetic thing he's ever heard?
She sighs and lies down again. She's tired of this. Tired of caring. Tired of hurting. For just a few minutes, she wants peace.
And him.
He moves from his position on the bed and lies down next to her, resuming tracing her hip. He knows how devastating all of this is to her. He knows he's not really one to talk, but she shouldn't consider their sins her sins. He knows he can't take any of this away from her. He knows that nothing he says will make it all better, but please remember.
They are not their parents. They are better. They love more and hurt less.
He knows they have the problem of taking everyone else's issues onto their own shoulders, but sometimes they need to remember that other people's shit is just that.
She closes her eyes and breathes in the peace that he brings her. She lets herself fall into the feeling of his fingertips on her hip. She loves him.
And right now, that's the only thing that makes sense.