Crying Lightning
Disclaimer: I don't anything or anyone from the vampire diaries.
When I wake up I feel hot and stuffy, and I realize I am still wearing my clothes from the day before and that Elena and I have obviously fell asleep and stayed like that through the whole night.
I glance at the digital clock on her bedside table to read that it's 7am and sigh tiredly. If I'm going to make it in time for school I need to leave soon to go home and shower and get changed.
"Elena," I run my hand down her arm, watching as she sleeps peacefully, hating to wake her up and bring her back to feeling pain and hurt. She cried herself to sleep in my arms last night and it broke my heart. I don't think I can handle to see her crying again. It's just not right. "Elena baby, you need to wake up." I lean down and kiss her forehead before brushing some hair out of her face and I watch as her eyelids flutter open slowly to reveal her beautiful dark eyes. "Hi," I smile softly at her and I watch as she forces a smile back but I can tell she is struggling.
"Hey," she yawns and slowly sits up. "What time is?"
"7am," I tell her and watch as her eyes widen "We slept all through the night." We stay silent for a moment and I watch as Elena looks down at her hands, lost in thought. "Hey…" I reach out and grab her hand in mine. "Stupid question I know, but are you feeling better today?"
She shakes her head and I watch as her eyes start to glisten with tears and I immediately pull her towards me and wrap my arms around her tightly. "Hey I'm sorry," I cringe at myself for being so stupid.
"I just feel like my entire life has been a lie." She cries into my shoulder and I run my hand through her hair soothingly.
"No it hasn't." I tell her firmly. "I know it's a shock, but your parents…they raised you, they brought you up, that's your Mom and Dad. No one else unless you want otherwise."
"I don't even like John and he's…he's…he's my…" she stutters out not even being able to say the words out loud.
"Ssh it's ok," I kiss the side of her head and we stay like this for a while before eventually I pull away slightly. "We need to get ready for school."
Elena shakes her head "I think I'm going to skip today."
"Are you sure? It might help take your mind off it? Plus it'll get you out of this house."
"No I really don't feel up too it." She tells me while climbing out of bed and pulling off her t-shirt and swapping it with a new one before pulling a jumper on top.
"Ok," I tell her simply "Then I'll stay here with you."
"No, Damon." She sighs tiredly.
"Why not? I don't mind…Monday's suck anyway. A day full of Science, Geography, Math and Social Studies? Yuck."
"You heard what Alaric said, you need to improve your attendance if you want a better chance of getting into NYU. How can you do that if you're skipping school every other week?"
"What's one day?"
"And the rest," she rolls her eyes slightly and I sigh.
"Ok fine, I'll go to school. But at least let me bring you lunch?" I offer and I sigh disappointed when she shakes her head.
"You don't need to baby me, Damon. I'm not a doll, I'm not going to break I just want to be left alone." She mutters in annoyance.
"That is not what I'm doing, you just got some big news, you're upset, and I just want to be here for you." I frown "Just like you were there for me with all the drama in my life."
"You mean all those times you told me to leave you alone and that you hated me?" she snaps at me coldly and I freeze. When did this turn into an argument? "I haven't been shot or accused of murder, Damon."
Ok. She's going there. I can deal with this.
"Ok, you want to be left alone. I get it, Elena." I sigh and search around for my jacket before pulling it on and walk towards her and stand behind her as she rummages through her cupboards by her dressing table. "But you don't need to push me away to do it, ok?" I place my hands on her shoulders and lean down to kiss her collarbone. "I'll see you after school then, if that's ok?"
I feel her shoulders sag underneath my fingers and she nods her head and I squeeze them for a second before letting out and turning to leave, stopping when Elena turns around and calls my name just as I get to her bedroom door, for once not having to climb out of the window since Jenna actually knows I'm here for once.
"I'm sorry for what I said. I don't mean to take it out on you," she looks at me guiltily.
"Don't be sorry, Elena. You can take it out on me as much as you like, shout at me, call me every name and curse word under the sun, you can even hit me if you want too. I love you; nothing is going to change that." I tell her seriously and offer her a small smile which she returns and I can see that it is genuine. "I'll see you tonight." I say before leaving the room.
After I go home, shower and change, I walk to school since I am avoiding Stefan at all costs so can't steal a ride and it's weird being here without Elena's arm looped through mine or holding onto my hand.
My first two period classes are boring and I can't even skip because I need to improve my attendance for college applications. I can't concentrate; my mind is on Elena, hoping that she is ok and that she will get past this.
"Damon!" I turn around in the hallway between my second and third period class to see Bonnie hurrying towards me. "Hey," she greets me with a smile and I nod my head as we start to walk to class, the two of us sharing chemistry together. "Is Elena ok? Jeremy told me what happened."
I shrug, unsure of how to answer. I'm not mad at Jeremy for telling her, I know Elena would want to tell her and Caroline about it so at least that is one less thing she has to worry about. "She's upset, and confused and lost." I explain dejectedly "She feels like her life has been a lie. I keep trying to make her feel better, but I'm not sure if I'm even saying the right things. I mean, what are you supposed to say to someone in this situation?"
"I don't know," she shakes her head sadly. "I might go round there after school; do you think that'd be a good idea?"
"Maybe. I offered to skip school with her today but she wanted to be left alone, it might do her good though to be around her friends. Take her mind off things." I answer honestly. I don't want to overcrowd her and push her, I'm sure Bonnie and Caroline will know how to cheer her up more than I do anyway.
"Yeah, I'll fill Caroline in and we'll go over straight after school." She agrees and we have to cut the conversation short as we walk into chemistry.
I take my seat on our lab desk, looking at Elena's empty one next to me and when Miss Flemming comes in and says we will be working on an experiment today I groan because I will have to work on this by myself.
I gather up the correct equipment and get started silently, I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone or work with anyone else. I just want to get this day over with.
"Where's Elena today?" Miss Flemming approaches my desk and looks at me curiously.
"She's taking the day off, she's not feeling well." I lie casually, wishing she'd just leave me alone. I don't want to talk to anyone.
"Oh, anything to worry about?" she asks concerned and I shake my head.
"Nope, it's probably just a 24 hour bug or something."
"Ok, well tell her that I wish her well and I hope that she feels better soon." She says weirdly before turning around and walking away and I watch her go with a frown.
I take the opportunity to pull my phone out of my pocket and sent a quick text to her, not having had much of a chance to check in.
Hey baby, how are you
feeling? I miss you xx
I send the text then cringe at myself, realizing that it was a stupid question to ask her how she is feeling and I'm not even surprised that she doesn't bother to reply.
The rest of the day goes by slowly and painfully, and I wonder how I even got through a full day of this shit before I dated Elena because today has been unbearable. I spent my free period working on my college application with Alaric, trying to concentrate and not think about Elena for more than 30 seconds is an extremely difficult task.
I could tell that Ric knew something was up though, with Elena, and I'm guessing Jenna must have mentioned something but he didn't seem to know what the actual problem was and I was thankful that he didn't ask me about it.
By the time school finished I felt fed up and anxious to see Elena but since she hadn't replied to any of my texts and Bonnie and Caroline said they were heading over there, I figured she obviously wants space so if that's what she needs then I'll give her it. I decide to decline Tyler's offer of a ride home and choose to walk, I need to clear my head and think of what I can do to help Elena get through this.
The second the doorbell rings I look at the clock in my living room to see that it's almost half three and I know it's Damon coming straight from school. I sigh tiredly while standing up, feeling emotionally drained from my conversation with Jenna today about everything.
We talked a lot, she explained everything to me and answered all the questions that she could, we cried a lot, but we were honest and open with each other and we both apologized for the way we handled the situation. I was wrong to blame Jenna, she was just following my Mom's wishes by not saying anything and then when she died, Jenna didn't know how to approach the subject, if it was even a subject that should be approached. Now that I've calmed down I can understand why she hadn't told me.
Jenna agreed that she would keep my knowledge of knowing that my Uncle John is in fact my biological father a secret for now, at least until I get my head around it and it sinks in. Then I will speak to John; get some answers, about why he gave me up and about who my biological mother is.
That's if I even want to go there. I'm still trying to get my head around that.
I swing open the door open and I'm surprised to see that it's not my boyfriend but Caroline and Bonnie instead, the latter holding a bag full of ice cream and the former with another bag full of DVDs.
"Girls night?" Caroline offers with a smile but I'm really not feeling in the mood for company right now.
"I can't Care, Damon is coming over…"
"Actually…" Bonnie interrupts carefully. "I spoke to Damon at school, he knows we're here." She explains and I frown slightly but step back and let them in anyway. "Thanks," she smiles softly at me and reaches her hand out to touch my arm.
"So, we brought The Notebook, Pearl Harbor Titanic and Romeo and Juliet. All classics! You can choose which one we can watch!" Caroline tells me as she walks straight up the stairs to my bedroom and I can do nothing but follow.
"Whichever," I mumble while sitting on my bed, reaching over to grab my phone to see that I have no texts from Damon to say why he's no longer coming over. Great.
I don't fail the notice the look that Bonnie and Caroline send each other before forcing back their fake smiles and soon Romeo and Juliet is placed into my DVD player and I'm sat between Caroline and Bonnie with a bucket of ice cream between us, and when Caroline wraps her arm around my shoulder and Bonnie takes a hold of my spare hand I realize that this is exactly what I need.
I sneak out of the boarding house after dinner after receiving a suspicious text message from Tyler getting me to meet him at The Mystic Grill. I'm not sure what is so important that we can't discuss over the phone but I follow his instructions anyway.
It's not like I have anything else to do.
I pull my wool hat over my head and then lift my head up as I walk through the dark streets of Mystic Falls. I debate on whether or not to send a text to Elena to see how she is doing but decide against it, I don't want to interrupt her girl's night. It will be good for her to have a distraction.
I finally get to The Grill and walk inside to see that it is pretty crowded, just like it always is around this time of night, and I pull my hood down but keep my hat on as I cross the bar over to the back where the pool tables are and I see Tyler standing talking to someone. It's not until he turns around when I recognize him.
"Damon Salvatore!" he grins at me before coming over and giving me a quick hug. Trevor was always one of my best friends, he was pretty much my right hand man but after everything that happened we never kept in touch, that was mostly down to me though, hell I never kept in touch with anyone.
"Trevor! Man, what are you doing here?" I look over my old pal, because I haven't seen him since Katherine's funeral and that was a long time ago. He went away to college with Rose, both of them lucky enough to not be involved in that night. "It's been way to long."
"I have some news," I notice that his eyes shift to Tyler who places down the pool cue and I frown as they motion me to follow them out into the back. We walk out of the fire escape door into the back of The Grill and watch as Trevor walks around to check that no one is about before walking back towards me.
"What is it that's got you so paranoid?" I ask curiously.
"Can you remember Pete Sharpe?" Trevor asks me as he pulls out a cigarette and holds one out to offer me but I immediately shake my head to decline and watch as he lights up his own.
Elena doesn't like it.
"Pete Sharpe?" I muse and then it hits me. "Yeah, he was in our class, right? He was friends with Klaus?"
"That's the one. Anyway, he also goes to college at Duke, so I've seen him around a few times and we agreed to call a truce. He wasn't involved in that night just like me, and so we held no real grudge against each other once High School was over." He explains and I frown.
"What's your point?" I ask impatiently.
"He's getting there," Tyler tells me while glancing around.
"So yeah, his roommate shares a class with Rose, and today he told her that Pete had an old friend visiting and that he was staying at their apartment. He said that he was from Mystic Falls so she might know him," Trevor continues and my heart starts to pound when I think I start to realize where this is going. "He said his name was Klaus."
"He's just two hours away, Damon." Tyler steps towards me with a wide excited smile. "He's in North Carolina! We've got him!"
I let the words sink in and my heart is pounding hard and fast against my chest. I know where Klaus is.
I've found Klaus.
"If we go now, we can get there before midnight." Tyler tells me excitedly "Trevor has his car and Rose knows Pete's address, we can finally make him pay for what he did to us!"
My head is in a frenzy. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to think.
"Come on man, let's go!" Trevor pats me on the back and goes to walk up the stairs but stops half way when he realizes I'm not following. "Damon? What are you waiting for? This is our chance to make that bastard pay!"
"I…I can't." I shake my head because as much as I want to find Klaus and kill him, I can't leave the state right now.
I can't leave Elena.
"What do you mean you can't?" Tyler asks me in disbelief "This is our chance, Damon!"
"I can't leave Mystic Falls right now," I defend myself pathetically. "It's not a good time, I need to stay here."
"Damon!" Trevor walks back down the stairs towards me. "This is Klaus! This is the guy who killed your girlfriend! He shot you! He tried to kill you! He tried to kill Tyler! He set my house on fire and made my family lose everything! You chased this guy around the country for months and now that you've finally found him it's not a good time?!" his voice rises in disbelief, anger and frustration.
"It's not! I can't just shoot off in the middle of the night to North Carolina!"
"Why the fuck not? What the hell has happened to you Salvatore? Since when did you lose balls?"
"Fuck you man, you don't know anything!"
"Damon!" Tyler interrupts. "Don't be stupid about this, let's just go! Come on we're wasting time!"
"No!" I shout at him in annoyance. "I can't go right now!"
"Jesus Christ," Trevor runs his hand through his hair. "You're not the only one who wants to end Klaus, Damon! Think about all the lives he's ruined! How can you not care?!"
"I'm not saying that I don't want to end him, Trevor!" I hiss furiously and take a step forward so we are toe to toe. "I hate him! I want to ruin him! But I can't fucking leave Mystic Falls right now, ok?!" I snap at him because how dare he say that I don't care. Of course I care!
"Is this about Elena?" Tyler asks.
"Who the fuck is Elena?"
"His girlfriend."
"What? You have a girlfriend?" Trevor looks back over at me and lets out a dry laugh. "Jesus Christ, Salvatore. Has she got you on a leash or something? You'd think you'd learn from Katherine to not let another chick steal your balls! Fuck her! You can't let a piece of skirt ruin this for you! This could be your only shot!"
I push him immediately and he stumbles back. "Don't you fucking dare compare her to Katherine! Elena is nothing like Katherine!" I spit out at him angrily.
"No? Look at you! You're whipped! Last time you were manipulated like this you ended up with a bullet in your stomach and a dead girlfriend who was fucking your worst enemy behind your back! Don't make the same mistake, Damon!"
My fist lands in his face before I can even think about it and before I know it we're in a brawl, fists flying everywhere between us, punches hitting any part of each other's bodies that we can reach and it takes Tyler a good couple of minutes to tear us apart.
"What the hell is wrong with you two!" he shouts at us furiously and I wipe some blood from my lip as I pant with anger "We're on the same side for fuck sake! We aren't each other's enemies! We were a family once! You two used to rule Mystic Falls together! We all want the same thing here, so how about you cut the dramatic bullshit and lets just get on with this plan and get our revenge on Klaus once and for all?!"
I feel like a scolded school child and I glance at Trevor who is looking at the ground guiltily.
"Now go on, apologize!"
I stay silent and watch as Trevor lifts his head up and sighs loudly. "I'm sorry man; I shouldn't have said what I said."
"No you fucking shouldn't have!"
"DAMON." Tyler glares at me.
"Fine." I huff "I'm sorry for hitting you, I shouldn't have done it. Lockwood's right, we're on the same side, you're my friend." I hold out my hand and watch as Trevor shakes it with a smirk on his face, a matching one growing on my own. "But I still can't go to Duke with you. I'm sorry, but I need to stay here. Elena needs me."
I watch as Trevor and Tyler glance at each other for a moment before Trevor nods his head and sighs. "Alright. I get it, you've moved on."
"It's not that," I explain quickly "I still hate Klaus with every bone in my body, but I'm happy for the first time in my life. I could even fucking go to college," I let out a dry laugh. "I can't leave Mystic Falls right now, I have school and Elena. I don't want to screw that up, she's the most important thing in my life and I wont fuck it up by running off in the middle of the night to another state without a word, it'll break my probation conditions and I can't risk getting caught and losing her."
I watch as Trevor looks at me for a moment before smiling slowly. "You love her."
"I do." I nod my head in confirmation. "And I know you'd be the same if it was the other way around and Rose needed you by her side."
"I would." Trevor nods his head in agreement and looks over at Tyler. "So what do you say, Lockwood, you still up for it?"
Tyler glances at me, almost like he is waiting for my permission and I nod my head. "Go ahead, Ty, as much as I want to be in on this, I can't go, and you're right, this could be our only chance to get Klaus. I trust you both to do a good job."
Tyler nods his head and we fist bump before I give Trevor another quick, manly of course, hug.
I watch as the two of them walk up the steps and then Tyler stops and turns around to face me. "You say you can't come because you don't want to leave Elena, right?" he calls out to me and I nod my head slowly with a confused frown, unsure of where he is going with this.
"Well…" he begins and glances at Trevor briefly before continuing. "What if we bring Klaus to you? We bring him right back here to Mystic Falls." He smirks at me and I watch as a knowing smile crosses Trevor's lips.
"This is where it all started…" Trevor agrees and I take a couple of steps forward.
"This is where it can all end." I finish in agreement, a smile growing my lips.
I huff as Damon's cell goes straight to voice mail yet again. I glance up at the front door of the boarding house, feeling stupid for even coming here but since my boyfriend has decided to go AWOL and not answer his calls or texts I didn't have a chance so I'm stuck here on his doorstep at half 11 at night, not even being able to knock in case I have to face Stefan, or worse, Giuseppe.
I try to think of what I have done that could get him to give me the cold shoulder. I know I haven't really kept in touch with him much throughout the day but that is just because I was busy talking things through with Jenna. I thought he would understand that.
When I asked to be alone this morning, I didn't mean all day, and when it was my two best friends who turned up on my doorstep after school and not Damon I was a little disappointed, despite enjoying my night with them in the end.
I'm about to just give up and walk home, it's getting late and I'm exhausted but a car light shines brightly as it comes up through the driveway and I squint while standing up, trying to work out whose car it is but it's unfamiliar.
I watch as the back door opens and Damon jumps out, he goes to walk around the car but stops when he sees me. "Elena?" he calls out into the darkness, a confused frown on his face but he quickly glances back to the car and then over at me again. "Just give me a sec baby." He holds his arm out telling me to stay there and I watch with a frown as he walks to the front passenger window which opens and I see that it's Tyler sitting there, but I still don't recognize the guy driving.
I watch as Damon talks through the window with them quietly, every now and then he glances back at me before his attention is back on them. It takes a minute but eventually he steps back and pats the car before turning around and walking towards me, the car quickly driving off.
"Hey," he greets me and leans forward to kiss me cheek. "What are you doing here?"
I shrug and tighten my jacket around me from the cold "I tried calling you…"
Damon frowns slightly and pats his pocket to find his phone before pulling it out. "Ah, shit," he holds his phone up "Battery must have died, sorry baby I didn't realise." He runs his hand down my arm before kissing my forehead.
"That's ok," I smile slowly at him, glad that he wasn't avoiding me and when I look up I gasp when I finally notice the cut on his lip and a small red bruise under his right eye. "What happened?" I ask worriedly as I run my fingers along his face, inspecting the damage.
"Ah, nothing to worry about. I just had a run in with some of Kol's boys, you know how it is." he smiles down at me and I frown wishing that my boyfriend didn't just have to run in with someone to get a beating. I thought this stupid gang stuff was slowing down these days.
"Who was that?" I ask, sensing that Damon was wanting a change in subject and motioning to the now empty spot where he was just dropped off at.
I watch as his mouth opens slightly before shutting again before he finally speaks. "Just an old buddy of mine, he's visiting for the night, so we just went to hang out at The Grill." He motions me to follow him inside and we walk up quietly to his bedroom, Damon shutting and then locking the door behind him.
"Oh, is that why you didn't come over after school?" I question and watch as he pulls his hat from his head revealing his messy dark hair and pulls his hooded sweatshirt over his head.
"I figured you wanted to spend some time with your girlfriends." He mumbles while turning his back to me as he leans down and kicks off his shoes.
"I'd have rather have spent time with you…"
He stops and turns around to face me and I bite on my bottom lip nervously, wondering why he seems so tense and shifty.
"Sorry," he walks towards me and I sigh contently when he wraps his arms around me. "I should have at least called you to let you know, I just didn't want to push you…"
"It's ok." I nod against his chest before leaning back and placing my hand on his cheek. "I just missed you."
"I missed you too," he smiles softly at me before leaning down and kissing me slowly. I sigh against his lips as he eventually pulls away and pushes a strand of hair behind my ear. "Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah," I nod my head honestly. "I talked over at lot of things with Jenna today and it's helped me get my head around a few things."
"Good," he smiles softly at me before stepping back and walking over to his drawers and pulling out a t-shirt. "I'm glad. Are you staying the night?" he questions.
"Only if you want me to?"
"Of course I do," he turns his head behind his shoulder and sends me a quick smile before digging through another drawer and pulling out some shorts before walking towards me and handing me them. "Here you go, you can change into these and we can just relax for the rest of the night?"
"Thanks," I smile gratefully and lean up to kiss him quickly. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
We both get changed and I watch as Damon plugs his phone on charge on his bedside table before we both climb underneath the covers and he turns on his TV, giving me the remote to let me decide what to watch.
I settle on a Friends rerun, knowing that Damon doesn't really watch TV so he would just agree with anything and I snuggle into his side and sigh contently, happy to be wrapped up in his strong arms and I giggle in all the right places as each episode goes along.
I don't fail to notice Damon checking his cell phone every two minutes though and I lean up and look at him curiously. "You ok? You've been checking that thing none stop for the past hour."
"Yeah, sorry, just waiting to hear back from Tyler about something." He mumbles while putting his phone back down.
"Anything important?"
"Nope, nothing for you to worry about, beautiful." He smiles down at me before leaning down and kissing my forehead and I stifle a yawn as I lean back down under the covers.
Damon must notice how tired I am before he takes back the remote and turns off the TV before switching off his bedside light. He wraps his arms around me and I nuzzle my face into his neck, my head resting on his pillow as he pulls me closer and it doesn't take long for sleep to overtake me.
Unaware of all the thoughts and plans running through my boyfriend's head that keep him wide awake.
So I'm not really sure what to think of this chapter, it feels a bit 'meh' to me. Not my best that is for sure! I hope you all still liked it though, and it wasn't too much of a disappointment.
Thanks for reading/reviewing/all those alerts! means a lot!
Until next time :)