Notes: A post-Sacrifice story, with a few filler scenes towards the end of the ep. After that episode, I just wanted more. So I started writing more. And then I saw 'By the Light of the Moon' and... yeah. Kind of underwhelming. I call do-over.
This will probably be a another short wip (I don't really do long series, they don't go well with my short attention span). There will be some Stefan/Katherine, and Stefan/Elena, just warning you now.
Conversations in Cars
...
They left Slater's apartment behind, stepping over the gory remains of Elijah's victims. Trepidation was heavy in the air as they took the stairs down to the street, having been left with the distinct impression that they were safe and well when they shouldn't be.
Elena looked along the alley, into the deep shadow cast between buildings where Rose had parked - the black SUV was gone. With some reluctance she turned to see the smug satisfaction on his face.
"Looks like someone needs a ride." His eyes barely lighted on her, busy assessing their surroundings. "Let's get the hell out of here; you can thank me in the car."
"For what?"
"Fine, you can be pissy with me in the car."
He was herding her over to the camaro, which was parked at a haphazard angle to the curb not far away. With no other choice, she let him hustle her into the passenger seat before flashing around to take his place behind the wheel.
Her mind raced, going over what had just happened, trying to make sense of it. Her eyes fixed on the side of Damon's face as he manoeuvred through late-afternoon traffic.
The moment she opened her mouth to speak he flipped the radio on, music loud enough to discourage conversation filling the car. She wanted to talk, but he wasn't in the mood to listen, his mouth set in a grim line belying the casual ease with which he drove.
Of course, he couldn't answer her questions any more than she could, and beyond that she had nothing to say to him. Nothing civil, anyway. With a sigh, she sank lower in her seat, resting her elbow on the window ledge and her head in her hand. It was a long, silent trip back to Mystic Falls.
...
The news that Stefan was now trapped in the tomb did not go over well.
He dogged her heels all the way through the woods; since finding her back in Richmond hours ago he hadn't been more than a few feet from her side. It was beginning to look like the only possible way to keep her from doing anything else completely insane.
"Now we're not going to do anything hasty, are we?" he said as they approached the old ruins of the church. "Let's not overreact here - the tomb spell comes down, it goes back up again, we've been over this a time or two by now."
"Glad to see you're so worried about your own brother."
"I'm saying there's no point panicking or doing anything stupid." He suddenly dodged in front of her, blocking her path and forcing her to meet his eye. "Right?"
She took a steadying breath and nodded once, showing her compliance. Seeing this he relaxed his stance, prepared to go down to see Stefan now that she was calmer. Elena took this as her chance to dash around him and throw herself down the narrow steps, yelling Stefan's name.
He took a moment, casting his eyes skyward. The stupidity of this day continued unabated.
In a flicker of speed he was down at the tomb entrance, yanking Elena back just as she was about to go where he couldn't follow.
...
After his chat with Stefan, Damon retook the stairs back up into the quiet woods by night. Elena was there, her back to him, she'd barely made it a few yards from the top of the stone stairway.
"We are going to get him out of there," she said without turning around.
"That's the plan."
"Oh there's a plan? Of course there is." She rounded on him. "So what is the plan now, Damon?"
"Bonnie knows the spell, we just have to get her a little more juice. Find another witch, maybe get that chick from the masquerade ball back here - whatever it takes, we'll get it done."
"Find another witch, that's it? That's a crappy excuse for a plan you've got there. Are you kidding me?"
He shrugged. "Just seems like kind of the day for that sort of thing, doesn't it?"
It was a quiet trip back to her house, his only accompaniment the return of her aggrieved silence.
"Think you can make it up to your room without trying to get yourself killed again?" he said while they took the steps up to the porch.
"You're trusting me to go inside my own house by myself?"
"For now." He returned her sour look mildly. "And Elena? Don't go back to the tomb, hm?"
"You're going back tomorrow, right?" she challenged immediately. "You'll have to take blood to Stefan. I'm going with you."
"Nope."
"Then I'll go back on my own. You can't watch me every second."
It was the wrong thing to say. His expression hardened.
She didn't have the market cornered on stubborn.
"I shouldn't have tried to go in there, okay?" she admitted. "I won't do it again, but I need to see him. Damon, we have to make sure he knows we haven't just abandoned him down there."
"With Katherine."
"This isn't about her."
He was watching her carefully. "No, I guess it's not."
"Tomorrow, we'll go back."
"Sure."
She thought he was agreeing too easily. "You promise?"
"If you promise not to go back there on your own."
"Fine."
"Fine."
There was a hint of amusement on his features. He was looking right through her.
She couldn't be trusted to keep that promise any more than he could. Right now they were the two least trustworthy people in the world. Because she would say or do anything if it meant her friends and family were safe, and he would do the same if it meant that she was.
At least they knew where they stood.
"I'm tired," she said.
He started backing away, down off the porch. "Been a big day, get some sleep. Everything will look brighter in the morning."
"I don't need you to lie to me, Damon." She turned her back on him, opening the door to go in.
"Elena, if today has proven anything, it's that you have absolutely no idea what you need."
She felt his eyes on her back until she closed the door.
...
Inside, she quickly took the stairs up and went straight into the bathroom, locking the doors before turning on the shower and stripping off as the water heated up.
She stayed in the shower for a long time.
After a while spent standing under the pounding spray she sank down to sit on the shower floor, hunched against the back wall. She wasn't crying, just sitting. So long as she was in here she wouldn't have to see Jeremy, who would want to apologise again for getting Stefan stuck in the tomb. She wouldn't have to talk to Jenna and pretend once again that nothing was wrong, another lie to pile on top of all the other lies. She wouldn't have to answer her phone when Bonnie called, distraught because she hadn't been strong enough, or Caroline, wanting to know if she was okay.
She didn't want to deal with any of them - the people for whom she'd been so determined to die today. She'd failed them all, and no one seemed to understand that. The one person she suddenly needed badly to have on her side had spent the day berating her and bullying her and making foolish, unnecessary attempts to save her life when it was the opposite of what she wanted.
She'd never been more at odds with Damon. There was something almost sad about that, but she refused to dwell on the lingering sense of loss she felt sometimes lately when she thought of him - it was only as incomprehensible as her feelings for him had ever been. All except one. She focused on the anger and frustration simmering inside her, let it finally drive her up and out of the shower, then into her bedroom where she shut the windows firmly and locked them. The anger was all she had left, and it would keep her going for now.
...
When her alarm went off she got up wearily, exhausted after a night of fitful half-sleep.
She made it to the bathroom, but when she emerged a few minutes later she found she'd reached the extent of her drive, and sank back down on the end of her bed.
She was still sitting there ten minutes later, listening to the sounds of Jenna and Jeremy moving around the house carrying out a typical morning routine.
She missed his entrance somehow, but that was typical too. One second she was alone, the next Damon was there. She looked automatically towards the window, but found it still shut tight.
"Jeremy let me in," he said.
She realised her bedroom door was standing open behind him. Well that answered that question. She could only assume he'd been outside all night, but didn't bother asking.
"What are you doing?" he spoke again when she didn't respond.
"Nothing. I'm doing nothing."
"I can see that. Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"
"What's the point?" She lifted her eyes to his. "No really, calculus somehow seems even less relevant than usual when I'm going to be dead sooner rather than later."
"Mm, I love the smell of fatalism in the morning. Get up, Elena. Get dressed, go to school. If there's no point to anything, then why the hell not, right?"
"Fine." She dragged herself to her feet. "Because everything will be just fine if I listen to you, of course."
"Think we established that yesterday, yes."
"I make one decision and everything turns out worse. Jeremy's almost killed getting the moonstone, Bonnie almost kills herself trying to get him out of the tomb, Stefan gets himself locked away forever. We lose Rose, who was a strong ally and the only person we know who knows anything about any of this - our only connection to the Originals not counting Katherine. Guess I should have just stayed in bed yesterday."
"Elena -"
"No, you were right. Forget it. I'm going to school." She crossed to her closet and opened it, staring blankly at the contents. "Any ideas on what I should wear? I'd hate to pick the wrong jacket and end the world as we know it."
"Well now you're being a little overly dramatic. Fine." He elbowed her out of the way, flicking through her clothes, and from right at the back where things she never wore but hadn't bothered getting rid of resided, he produced a tiny pair of denim cut-offs and a bright red halter top. "How about these?" he smirked.
"Fine." She grabbed them, stopped at her dresser for underwear, and headed into the bathroom where she changed and brushed her hair mechanically, emerging after a few minutes to find him lounging right by the bathroom door.
"You're seriously going to go out like that?"
She turned to find him idly checking out her legs, his expression amused, and suddenly the tide of anger she'd been coasting on all morning rose up and broke over her. "What?" she demanded, hands flung out. "What, Damon? Am I entertaining you? Isn't this outfit hot enough for you? Tell me. If you want so badly to make all my decisions for me then please tell me! Tell me what I should do now." Her voice broke and she once again fought back the tears she'd been denying herself since last night.
He came forward, approaching her like she was some wild animal that might flee at any second.
"Tell me what to do," she insisted bitterly. "Since you're so sure you're right about everything."
She closed her mouth tight on a gasp when he took her wrist in his hand, and then the other. She thought he was going to pull her towards him and her stomach dropped as her eyes fell away from his to land on his chest, waiting. But he just manoeuvred her around, forcing her to step back until the her legs met the edge of the bed and he gave her a small push to make her sit. He let go, but remained leaning over her. She couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes.
"Go to school, Elena. Call Caroline or Bonnie to come pick you up, and then go to school. You can find something else to wear first, if you want. You look a little like a cheap hooker right now, but I've always had a soft spot for cheap hookers so you really don't need to change on my account. I'll pick you up after school, and we'll go see Stefan. That's what you wanted, right?"
Remembering Stefan, she came back to herself a little. "Yes."
"Then we don't have a problem, do we?"
Gently, he brushed her hair back behind her ear. Then the light touch was gone and she blinked slowly, expecting him to have disappeared when she looked up. Instead he was casually sauntering out the door the regular way, and she realised he was right - it really didn't matter either way. But at least the anger was still there. She needed it now more than ever.
...
Walking through the woods again. How many times had their feet traced this particular path this past year?
Elena walked a few paces ahead of him. She had changed clothes, it turned out, before heading off to school. It was vaguely comforting on some level to see her usual jeans-sneakers-tee combo after the erratic behaviour he'd been witness to in the past twenty-four hours.
Her meltdown in her room that morning had left him unsettled, he didn't know what to do with an Elena so clearly on the brink of losing control - anger and apathy at war in her eyes, tension and weary resignation spelled out across the hunch of her shoulders, her bowed head. But if she was glaring at him from behind perfectly straightened hair while trudging along in her favourite old chucks then she couldn't be that far gone.
"What are we going to tell him?" she broke the silence suddenly. "Nothing's changed, he's still stuck down there."
"Try and keep up, Elena," he taunted, as much to provoke some sort of reaction from her as because - it was just what he did. "Bonnie's all over it. She said something about that new witchy boyfriend of hers - thinks he might be able to help. Stefan'll be out in no time, don't you worry."
"Are you lying to me right now?"
He looked sideways at her, considering. Another truth or another lie - he settled on truth, since she'd probably worked it out for herself by now anyway. "Yes. Are you going to lose it again?"
Her jaw tightened. "Just tell me."
"Breaking the moonstone curse is our priority whether you like it or not. If Bonnie is going to burn herself out on anything right now, it'll be that, not another failed attempt to bring down the only barrier keeping Katherine from wreaking havoc on the world again. Stefan is screwed. But I will get him out of there, I'm not going to leave him down there to rot forever with Queen Bitchzilla herself. You'll get him back, and the two of you will live happily ever after, just as you were always meant to. It's just... kind of way down the bottom of the to-do list, after 'break the curse', 'save your ass', 'take out a few supremely powerful Originals', 'save the world', and 'look good doing it', m'kay?"
"No, none of this is okay."
"I know. But it's what Stefan made me promise, so there you go."
She froze, and he walked on without her a little way before looking back.
"He knows he's not getting out?" she said quietly.
"Well, yeah. A real trooper, our Stefan. Come on, we'll go see him and you can have your hallmark moment, and then we can go focus on things that actually matter."
The ruins were just up ahead, and he made for the stone steps, hearing her slowly begin to follow. He was halfway down to the underground room before realising she'd stopped again. He looked back to see her there, unmoving, at the top of the stairs.
"What's wrong?"
She shook her head mutely. After a moment, she sank down in place, seating herself on one of the narrow steps.
"Really? After all the fuss?" No response. He sighed. "Suit yourself," he muttered before continuing down below ground.
"Knock-knock," he called as he reached the tomb entrance, peering along the dim passageway. "Special delivery for a Mister Stefan Salvatore."
"What is it, Damon?" Stefan appeared from the darkness, arms folded over his chest.
"Nice to see you, too. Brought you something to read." He reached into the bag slung over his shoulder and produced a thick novel, which he tossed to Stefan.
"Ulysses? You shouldn't have. Really."
Damon couldn't restrain his smirk - not that he tried very hard. He knew Stefan hated Joyce. "It's long," he offered.
"And that's very reassuring, thanks." Stefan examined the book as he carefully said, "That's not all you brought."
His gaze moved up to meet Damon's, and then flicked past him towards the stairs. Damon shrugged back at him as if to say, what are you going to do? It's Elena. After a moment, Stefan nodded slightly, conceding the point.
"You're right," Damon said aloud. "I also brought this." He drew out a plastic bottle filled with blood. "Not sure if you want it, thought I'd leave it up to you. Your cellmate might shiv you for it, anyway."
"I don't mind sharing," Katherine said as she came slinking out of the shadows. "Probably won't be as sweet as my last meal, of course. There's really something about that Gilbert blood, hm? I know you must have had a taste, Stefan. What about you, Damon, have you tasted Elena yet? No? Well she'll come around, give it time. We've all got plenty of it on our hands, don't we?"
"Could you go be incredibly transparent somewhere else?" Damon said tightly. "Trying to have a conversation with my brother here."
"Just because you think you know my intentions, doesn't make what I'm saying any less true. But sure, I'll go, it's a big tomb. And I do love seeing you boys getting along - you know the last thing I ever wanted to do was come between you."
Both men stared at her until she had wandered back into the darkness, a guileless smile playing at her lips.
"Take the blood," Damon said, thrusting it across the barrier. "We don't need you weak right now, and going cold turkey could reverse all the good work you've been doing with your diet lately."
"Thought it was up to me," Stefan said lightly, but took the bottle nonetheless.
"Screw it. And here, guess this one's for her." He grabbed another from the bag and tossed it over. "'Cause let's face it, she's really not the sharing type."
"No, I'm not." Katherine was back beside Stefan in a flash, her hand closing over her share of the meal. She wasted no time ripping the lid off the bottle and taking a long drink. Her reaction was almost amusing to watch, her face contorting in disgust as she obviously wavered between swallowing and spitting the blood out. Finally she managed to keep it down. "What is this?"
"Half-and-half, a Stefan special."
"It's half animal blood? Is that why I feel like I just licked three-day-old road kill?"
Stefan had opened his own bottle and calmly sipped from it. "It's not that bad, actually."
"It's pig, hit up the local butchers," Damon offered.
"Huh. Blends well."
"You know what they say about the other white meat."
Katherine's revulsion had not abated. "I didn't think I could vomit, I haven't in half a millenia anyway, but I'm seriously considering it right now. How could you do it, Stefan? All this time. We're vampires, we feast on life itself, we don't wallow at the bottom of the food chain. It's obscene."
"Little over-dramatic, don't you think?" Stefan said mildly.
"No, she's right Stefan," Damon interjected, "I wouldn't touch that stuff with a ten-foot barge pole, and asbestos-lined safety gloves. So hey, Katherine, do enjoy your meal. Stefan, it's been real. I'll see you when I've got news. You need anything else? Stake? Earplugs? Something to gird your loins? Just say the word."
"We'll be fine."
"Speak for yourself." Katherine thrust the half-full bottle at Stefan as she turned away. "I'm not hungry enough for this yet - it's all yours. Bye Damon." She gave a little wave over her shoulder. Then she raised her voice to call out, "Bye Elena!"
"Don't bring her next time," Stefan said under his breath.
"She needed to come. She's losing it, Stefan, and I am not exactly the poster child for mental stability myself so this is hardly in my wheelhouse," he hissed back, leaning as close to the barrier as he dared. "I can't fix what's wrong with her, I can barely manage to keep her from getting herself killed and that's only just without resorting to physical violence. I'm one temper tantrum away from shaking her till her teeth rattle, Stefan."
"It's uh, it's funny, Damon, you coming to me with girl trouble."
"Cute."
"Just a thought, but did you try talking to her, instead of ordering her around and threatening her?"
"Been there, done that, over it. The softer, kinder Damon is taking a back seat because let's face it, I'm really, really good at giving orders and threatening people. Not to mention hand-holding and ego-stroking is a little counter-intuitive when I'm watching that Elijah guy, back from the dead did I mention, ripping out hearts and taking names."
Stefan pinched his nose. "Don't tell me these things when I can't do anything, Damon. Could you maybe just deal with it? And by that I mean, grow up, and talk to her."
With a shake of his head, he started to back away. "Taking relationship advice from my baby brother. What is the world coming to? Oh, here." He paused long enough to toss the backpack across the barrier, where it landed at Stefan's feet. "Rest of the care package. Be good, Stefan. Don't have to much fun down here."
Back up the stairs, then, stooping briefly as he neared the top to take hold of Elena's arm and pull her up beside him. She allowed herself to be led away from the steps but then shook off his hold.
"So what was that?" he said.
"I couldn't... How am I supposed to look at him when he's stuck down there, maybe forever, and it's my fault?"
"I can see how that would be awkward. Next time I'll just come alone, and everyone will be happy, hm? So... how much of it did you hear?" he added carefully.
"I didn't hear anything that surprised me."
"Elena -"
"And I don't want to talk to you."
"Aw!" he whined in mock disappointment. He was the recipient of a stony glare. "What? I don't want to talk to you, either."
A minute or so of silence passed while they traipsed back to the car.
It was Elena who broke first. "Have you heard from Rose? Have you called her?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Why would I?"
"Aren't you and she..."
"What?" he said as they came out of the trees onto the road.
"Nothing, forget it. But you should call her. Find out where she is."
He shook his head shortly. "Don't need her. She's unreliable, a loose cannon."
"She's a loose end. She knows everything we know, and she's out there, and we don't know what she's doing."
He pointed at her over the roof of the car as he opened the door. "Now that's the kind of mercenary thinking I can get behind."
"If it's mercenary you want -"
"Don't even bother." He slid behind the wheel, smiling tightly over at her as she got in beside him "Nice try, though."
They pulled onto the road. Elena drew one knee up to her chest, heel digging into the edge of the seat.
"You still haven't given me a single reason why it isn't an option," she said quietly.
"You ending up dead? Not an option. Weren't you not talking to me? I was enjoying that."
"You live, Stefan lives, hell Katherine will live. If the alternative is everyone including me getting killed by the Originals, then it's logical. It's smart. You're a fan of smart."
"I'll give you a reason. Because we don't have all the information, Elena," he bit out, enunciating every syllable nice and clear for her benefit, "This Elijah dude, what's his story? He had his chance at you and he didn't take it. I don't know what that's about, you don't know, and until we do, throwing yourself in the path of the Originals with no idea of the outcome isn't logical, it isn't smart, it is, in fact, dumb. It's dumb, Elena. And that you can't see that just confirms how seriously you have lost your grip on reality."
"Who cares? I'm the doppelganger, everyone has a plan for me - even you and Stefan and Bonnie... My life isn't my own, I have no say in any of this. So what does it matter, Damon, if the end result is the same."
His foot slammed onto the brake so hard she flew forward in her seat. He could have put out his arm and prevented her painful collision with the dashboard but if she was going to neglect to put on her seatbelt and then sit there being completely infuriating then as far as he was concerned she deserved a few bruises.
"What the hell?" she cried as she pushed herself back into her seat, looking around to see them stopped in the middle of the deserted road.
"That is a monumental load of crap, Elena, and you know it. It matters - you look at me," he spat harshly, demanding her full attention. "It matters."
"Why does it matter?" Her eyes searched his face and the question changed. "Why do I matter to you?"
It was his turn to avoid her gaze, his hands returned to the steering wheel where they gripped tightly. He started to drive again. "Because - hey, if you go ahead and succumb to your fate on my watch I will never hear the end of it from Stefan."
She watched the side of his face until he pulled up at her house a few minutes later, idling on the curb.
Finally, she sighed. "You're lying, Damon. You're lying to me, and if you honestly believe what you just said then you're lying to yourself most of all."