Time to thank Rachie81, Leia Belle Organa, ms simmons, dillydill11, and BlackRose421 for reviewing the last chapter!
"Roman Empire?" Stefan asked from his spot on the couch. Elena had a history exam coming up soon, and she actually wanted to try on it instead of compelling the teacher for the answer key.
"476 A.D," she replied.
"Han Dynasty."
"220 A.D." To be honest, she was surprised with herself. Maybe she actually had paid attention in her history classes. Or it was something Stefan told her before. She loved it when he had shared a story about the past back when they were together.
"Holy Roman Empire," he asked.
"Okay, not technically an empire, but 1648."
"There goes your perfect score." He sat up, letting the books they had already plowed through slip off of him.
"What?" She was alarmed. She clearly remembered it being 1638. She went behind him and set her hands on his shoulders so she could peer down at the book.
"The book says 1806," he explained.
Well the book was wrong, Elena said in her mind. She struggled to find an explanation and (shockingly) got one.
"Okay, 1806 may be right, but it was the peace of Scalia that truly ended the Empire, and that was in 1648. Trust me." She pushed his shoulders and stood back up again.
Stefan looked at her strangely.
"Okay, I may or may not have looked up a bunch of history facts back when we were going out to impress you once."
He laughed.
"Don't judge me!"
"I'm not. I was just always wondering how you knew everything about France in the 16th century. Now I have an answer."
She smirked and leaned in to kiss him when a sharp knock came on the door.
"That would be Caroline," Stefan said, standing up and leaving the room.
There was Caroline cock-blocking them again. Great.
Stefan opened the front door.
"You're right. Damon's gone off on a killing spree," she said in way of greeting. She handed him a file and just by taking a few glances at it, he could tell that Damon wasn't like himself.
"One more thing. The victims were found with their heads ripped off and their skin desiccated."
"Damon's feeding on vampires," Stefan realized to his own terror.
"This is my fault-"
"No! Stop right there! This is not your fault. Don't turn this into a guilt trip."
"I need to find him," Stefan replied.
"Okay! I can come with you," Elena said, suddenly appearing in the room.
"Elena!" Caroline said, trying to sound perky, but failing. Was this because of what she walked in on between him and Elena last night? "I didn't know you were here," she finished, her voice falling.
"Stefan's been helping me study," Elena answered.
"Stefan, who doesn't go to college."
"Stefan, who's an expert at history," Elena insisted.
Caroline's phone began ringing. She left the room for a moment and Stefan was left awkwardly alone with Elena.
"That was Tyler," Caroline said when she returned. "I need to go. Good luck with Damon. Bye, Stefan!" She waved. "Bye, Elena," she said with a nod before hastily making her way to the door.
"You know you didn't have to come," Stefan said.
"I told you already," Elena began, "I'm doing this for you, not him. He's hurt me and the people I love way too many times. I don't how you can think he can still be saved."
"It's possible," he responded. "Look, I know he crossed the line with Jeremy, but it wouldn't be the first time he-"
"You mean when he killed Jeremy. Yes, I recall."
"We've never closed him off like this before."
"Okay, it's not that I don't care about Damon. I do. I just want off the crazy, dizzy, emotional rollercoaster that is Damon's redemption." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "You know, I'm kinda hungry. Starving, actually."
"Okay, sure. What do you want?"
"Whatever you're having. But with a lot more salt and chocolate."
"Coming right up." He stood up from his seat on the car's hood. He made his way into the gas station's store.
Elena looked around. Across the street, she saw a grocery store, a poetry café, a bus stop, and a motel.
Hmm, a motel...
She looked at the car. God, she didn't want to ruin it. But it was the only way to get some alone time with Stefan without the threat of Caroline walking through the door mid-makeout.
She opened up the back part of the car and pulled out a random piece. She simply tossed it in and waited for Stefan to return.
"Here, hold this. But be careful, it has grease on it."
Stefan handed her the same part she had ripped out earlier. He continued looking through the various parts as Elena rubbed the grease on herself.
He stood up and looked her over.
"You weren't careful at all," he said, motioning to her now grease stained shirt.
"What?" She looked down and acted surprised. "Crap! I love this shirt!"
"You loved that shirt," he corrected.
"Ugh!" She rubbed her face.
"Now you have grease on your face..."
"What? Ugh!" Okay, the shirt was intentional, not her face. She ran her hands through her hair, but immediately stopped. Now she really did need a shower. "Well, you have grease on you too, so you and I clearly need to change."
He looked at himself. "I guess you're right."
"Hey, I saw a motel down the street. We can go there to freshen up while they fix the car. Just give them your phone number and we can go."
"Fine."
She smiled and reached in to get her bag. She then grabbed his hand.
"Come on, let's go."
"Wait. Let's make a rule"
A rule? What the hell? "Okay..."
"Nothing romantic. We can't get carried away like we did last night," Stefan replied.
DAMNIT! That really ruined her plans. "Okay," she said, trying not to sound sad.
"Promise?"
She nodded. "Promise."
Stefan heard the shower head turn off and the curtain slide open. He took his shirt off and grabbed his towel; ready to take a shower next.
When he slid his shirt off, he noticed that the bathroom door was open a crack. Inside, he could see Elena drying her wet hair. She only had her towel on and her back, which was to him, was exposed. Admittedly, he had already seen even more of her than this before, but it never didn't weaken him. Seeing her like this was making it really hard to keep himself restrained like they had promised.
He heard movement and saw,thankfully, Elena had already slipped on her jeans and was getting her top on. But he was by the door before he could stop himself. He pushed it open and she quickly turned around.
He was kissing her before she could even get a word in.
He shouldn't be doing this, he definitely shouldn't be doing this. But he was tired of being the good brother. He was tired of letting Damon walk all over him and take what he, what Stefan wanted. For a few minutes. just a few minutes, he would take what he wanted.
Elena was always the one that kissed him first. Today, it would be the other way around. He would kiss her. He would enjoy himself. He would get what he wanted, what they both wanted, without feeling guilty about it later for once.
He picked Elena up and set her on top of the sink. She leaned back and they both broke apart to laugh as water began spraying all over the place. She turned around to turn off the faucet and arched her back to press up against him.
"Come back," she whispered. "Kiss me again."
He made a noise he didn't think he'd ever made before and fell back against her, into her, kissing her the way he'd always wanted to, with a wild and total abandon, not ever wanting to stop.
Which was why he wasn't very surprised when her hands went to his belt. She unbuckled it, slid it off, and threw it on the floor. He unbuttoned her jeans and they ended up on the floor as well. There. Now they were both half naked. But Elena, clearly not wanting to be fair or even, unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them off; discarding them in the same way she had gotten rid of the belt.
He pulled away to give her a questioning look.
"What?" she asked innocently. "You need to take a shower anyways. In fact..." She went to the hem of her top and exposed her lacy black bra.
Stefan was speechless. Yes, he had seen all of this before. But it had been so long. Sure, there was that time recently, but it hadn't mattered because he had no recollection of her. Now, it was really him and really her.
"But...you already took a shower," he finally got out.
"So? I doubt I'm going to get in any actual washing in there."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.
She smiled seductively. "Whatever you want it to mean."
He knew exactly what it meant. He let go of her waist and went to turn on the shower head. Stefan put the water almost to its boiling point and turned around to get Elena. But she was already one step ahead of him. She flashed in front of him and pulled him towards her. Eyes closed and trapped in a kiss, she pulled open the curtain and they collided. Elena reached to grasp the slippery wall as Stefan closed every millimetre of space left between them.
Elena was right. They didn't get an actual washing done at all.
Elena relaxed in Stefan's arms. After a hot and steamy shower, they had dried off and put on their clothes...only to immediately lose them again when they approached the bed. She wondered how they would explain the wet sheets to the maid. Well, that didn't matter now. Now, she was happily in Stefan's strong arms.
Okay, they didn't come to this motel to sleep together. They came for a specific reason. It was an important reason...not that she could remember what it was as Stefan trickled kisses down her neck. She exhaled softly in pleasure.
She was surprised Stefan even let them get this far. He usually wanted to stop her. But that was back when she was dating someone else. Who was it again?
Elena gasped, startling Stefan. "Damon," she said, suddenly remembering.
"Hmm?" Stefan tiredly replied.
"That's why we're here. We need to save Damon." She turned in his arms to face him.
He opened his eyes widely, appearing to have remembered. "Crap," he whispered. He rolled out of bed and Elena followed, quickly getting their clothes on.
"I'll get the car. Wait here," Stefan said before going out the door.
Elena sighed and ran a hand through her hair for the umpteenth time today.
It looked like she was going to have to wait a while for her happily ever after.
Elena ran to the doorway. The door was ajar and inside, she saw shards of glass, pools of blood, and Damon in the middle of it all.
"Elena?" he whispered timidly. He turned to face her and she saw to her horror that his mouth was framed with blood.
She was about to step through the threshold when he protested. "Don't."
Stefan slowly came up behind her. "We're here to help you, Damon," Stefan said calmly.
Damon rushed to them and his eyes quickly turned red and were surrounded by veins.
"I'm not scared of you, Damon," Stefan said.
Damon, having faced defeat, walked back into the house.
"Neither am I," Elena said powerfully. She slowly stepped through the door and into the living room, immediately regretting the decision as soon as she did it.
Damon grabbed her by the shoulders and attempted pushing her out of the house, but it was to no avail.
"Goddammit, Elena! What's wrong with you?"
"I want to prove to you that you aren't a lost cause, Damon." Elena heard the crunch of glass behind her and figured out that Stefan had come inside as well. Speaking of glass...
She picked up a sharp shard off of the ground. This would prove whether or not Damon loved her enough. If he could resist, she would believe that he could still be redeemed.
She cut her hand and waved it by Damon's face.
"Elena-"
"You can resist this. Why? Because you love me. And that love is stronger than any craving."
Is it though? Is it really? Elena's mind asked.
Yes! If Stefan can do it so can Damon, she replied.
But Damon isn't Stefan. You found out about that a long time ago.
God, she hated when her mind was right.
"You can do this, Damon."
He slowly turned around and looked down at her hand.
"There you go," she whispered. Huh, maybe this wasn't a bad idea after all.
Or so she thought when Damon came down on her throat and bit her.
"Stefan!" she cried.
I told you! her mind chanted.
Not now! she yelled in return.
"Stefan, please!"
What if he didn't save her? What if this was how he was going to get his revenge on all the things she did to him?
She was having her doubts. Until she saw Stefan cut his wrist.
"Hey, Damon!"
Damon finally parted from her neck and looked at Stefan. He leaned into his brother's wrist and was about to bite before Stefan snapped his neck. Damon fell to the ground with a thud.
Elena herself though was feeling faint. She felt weak. Damon had sucked on her blood a lot longer than she thought.
Stefan's worried look was the last thing she saw before crashing down onto the ground; eventually feeling strong warm arms hold her up.
Stefan noticed Elena beginning to stir.
She gasped awake. He wrapped his arms around her, knowing that she was most likely cold after losing all that blood.
"How are you doing?" he whispered.
He noticed that it took her a few moments to establish her surroundings and to determine who's arms were wrapped tightly around her.
She sighed with relief when she figured out it was Stefan's sturdy arms that held her and not Damon's predatory ones.
She snuggled by Stefan's neck; feeling pleasantry when she realized that her face fit into the crook of his neck like it once did.
"Better," she sighed out.
"Good. Go back to sleep, you need it," he requested, sounding as professional as any doctor.
"I don't want to sleep and not find you next to me when I wake up," she admitted.
He kissed her forehead. "I promise I'll stay here with you."
"The whole night?"
He nodded. "The whole night."
Elena smiled and closed her eyes; relaxing to the soft beat that was Stefan's heart.