~ Shards of Sapphire ~

"Hey, Damon. Whatcha reading?" Stefan asked, in a faux-casual tone that his brother immediately saw through.

Damon made a show of turning the page and not glancing up from his book as he answered.

"Carmilla."

"Why?" Stefan asked, nonplussed.

Damon finally looked up.

"It's a classic."

Stefan just stared at him for a few long moments.

Damon sighed and said, "Why don't you stop beating around the bush and just say whatever you really came down here to say to me?"

"Okay," Stefan said slowly. His lips quirked into a few odd shapes before he finally managed to spit out the question that was bothering him. "Where's Rose tonight?"

Damon's expression said that's clearly none of you business, but aloud he said only, "Out in the woods."

"What? Why's she out there? It's the middle of the night! Did something happen that I should know about?"

Damon sighed again, more dramatically this time, and set his book down beside him on the couch.

"First of all, brother, she's a five hundred year old vampire who can take care of herself, and anything in those woods should be more scared of her than she is of it." He paused, and his brother gestured for him to go on. "Second of all, nothing happened that you need to know about, and if you don't want to know about what's going to happen, I suggest you go back to your room and put on your noise-canceling headphones and some bass-heavy music. Now, do you really want me to answer the rest of your questions or do you get the picture?"

"At this point, I'm not entirely sure I really want to hear the answers. On the other hand, I still don't understand why Rose is out in the woods in the middle of the night and you're apparently just sitting here waiting for her to get home."

"You really want me to tell you?"

"I am dying of curiosity."

"Okay. You asked for it." Damon checked the time on his phone. "It's due to start raining about six minutes from now. Rose is out in the woods barefoot in a pretty white dress, and about nine minutes from now, she'll show up at our door - soaked from the rain - and I'll let her in."

"Oh, so... this is a kinky sex thing?"

"No," Damon said, and from his tone it was obvious that his brother's conclusion upset him. "It's not a sex thing. It's about the romantic fantasy of... a peasant woman running away from something in the woods at night in the rain and showing up at a stranger's door begging for help, only to find out later that he's a vampire... you can see where this is going, right?"

"So, just to get this straight, this little scenario does end with you guys having sex."

"Shut up about the sex!"

"What? You guys bang all the time."

"Stefan, seriously, shut up."

"Why are you embarrassed now? It's not like you don't know that I know you-" Stefan cut himself off as all the pieces clicked together in his mind. "Wait, wait. Oh my god, this whole caught-the-rain thing is the two of you role-playing the romantic vampire-turning that she didn't get to have in real life?"

With a deep sigh, Damon admitted, "Yes."

The following awkward silence was broken by the sound of the weather outside escalating.

"And there's the rain," Stefan said.

"Now will you please go to your room and not ruin this for us?"

"You know what, I think I'll just go... sleep somewhere else tonight. You two have fun with your weird role-play thing."

"Go out the back door."

~oOo~