Present Day
Virginia Beach,Virginia
Roman and Elena were now side by side, at some point during his story they had made their way into the kitchen. Roman leaned forward and braced his hands on the kitchen
counter, a look of complete dejection on his face.
"That son of a bitch took my brother!".
Elena looked on, her eyes filled with sorrow, she saw Roman close his eyes, fighting to keep his emotions in check, but one stray tear managed to drop from the corner of his eye.
Elena felt so bad, but what had she expected. Damon's death was of course a touchy subject and her curiosity had...well not killed the cat, but in this case had definitely hurt it.
Elena reached up and gently wiped away the stray tear from Roman's face with her thumb. Roman opened his eyes and turned his head to her, a bit stunned by her tender touch.
Elena's voice was full of sympathy, "I'm sorry. I know what it's like. Klaus killed my aunt".
Roman nodded in understanding. Elena's eyes downcast to the ground in sadness, remembering the events of the sacrifice, they stood in an uncomfortable silence for a few
minutes, each unsure what to do next. Eventually Roman pushed off the kitchen counter with a sigh, a bit annoyed by the sadness that now filled the room.
"Let get outta here".
Elena looked up at him, her brows creased in confusion, "What do you mean?".
Roman walked past her to the front door and grabbed the dark blue hoodie he had given her at the hospital and tossed it too her, he then grabbed a dark red one and put it on,
"I mean let's go somewhere...get outta the house for a while, the cloaking spell go's two miles in each direction, so as long as we don't go past a certain point, we'll be fine".
Elena nodded, but she was still a little anxious, "But where would we go".
Roman shrugged, "Anywhere, doesn't matter. I don't know about you but I'm getting a little stir-crazy being cooped up in here".
Roman turned around and walked out the front door. Elena stood there for a moment, before she heard him call back.
"You comin".
Elena glanced around the house she had been stuck in for days and decided she could definitely agree with him about going stir-crazy so she slid on the hoodie that was of course
two sizes too big for her and followed Roman out.
Roman and Elena were walking side by side down the street. Roman had stopped and bought Elena ice cream at a shop a few blocks away from the beach house, they were
walking along this strip of town that had various hotels and shops for tourists, although there weren't very many people around at the moment because of the chilly weather.
Elena and Roman were just engaging in random conversation.
"Mmmmm, thanks for the ice cream".
Roman gave Elena a crooked smile, "You're welcome, best place in town for it".
Elena nodded, "why didn't you get any yourself then?".
Roman shrugged, "Human food is one of those things I have to be in a certain mood for".
Elena chuckled slightly, "Yeah I know what you mean".
As Elena and Roman walked along, Elena started to think about how she hadn't really done something like this in a long time, but her thoughts were interrupted when she realized
Roman was talking to her.
Elena turned her head toward him, a little embarrassed that she wasn't listening, "huh..I'm sorry, I kind of spaced out".
Roman smiled, amused by her, "I said that I was thinking about how, despite the things we've told each other, I'm surprised that I never caught your last name".
Elena's eyebrows rose, a little surprised herself, she had never said her last name had she, "Oh, umm...Gilbert".
Roman hummed, "You mean like the founding family Gilberts".
Elena nodded before she glanced at Roman curiously, "Wait they're still Gilberts in Mystic Falls?".
Roman's face scrunched like he was unsure, "Truth be told I wouldn't know if they're still
any. I don't meet enough people. I just keep to myself most of the time".
Elena gave a knowing look, "Yeah Bonnie told me you were shy. What's up with that?".
Roman shrugged, "I don't know. I man I never used to be, but over time...after certain events. I just became more and more withdrawn and eventually it turned into this thing
where, when push comes to shove I can always do what's needed but being social is probably the hardest thing for me nowadays unless I'm comfortable around you".
Elena looked at him, a bit puzzled, "But if you're not social then how do you get comfortable around people?".
Roman chuckled, "Yeah, that's the catch 22 of it, but when I met Caroline, she always got me through", Roman Glanced at Elena wonderingly, "Do you know her...Caroline Forbes?".
Elena nodded, "Yeah, Caroline's one of my two best friends in the world".
Roman smiled, "Yeah, she was my best friend too, still is I guess, but she got married and had kids a while back, so I don't see her much, but when she was around she was pretty much the sole reason I had a life, she would drag me places, talk to people for me, she was almost like my wing man or woman in her case, never would have gotten laid again if it wasn't for her".
Elena stopped, almost choking on the bite of ice cream she had from her cup, she glanced at Roman, her eyes wide as she tried to look annoyed, but you could tell she was trying
to not laugh. Roman grinned wide at her reaction, he enjoyed making her laugh.
Elena smacked him on the arm playfully, "Okay, moving on!", they went back to walking, silent for a moment before Elena spoke again, glancing at Roman curiously, "But you seemed to get comfortable with me pretty quick".
Roman stopped at turned to Elena, he was contemplating,neither were sure if what she said was suppose to be a question or just a simple statement, but Roman decided to
answer any way, "Well...that night when I helped you with Markus at the grill and you saw what I was, you didn't run screaming from me...like most would have. I just felt something different about you, like I could just be content around you".
Elena's eyes widened, she was taken aback by his statement, she searched for a response, but couldn't find one, but before she could figure it out she noticed Roman glance up
behind her, his expression becoming suspicious.
Elena's eyebrows creased in concern, "Roman what's wrong".
Roman's jaw ticked upward, pointing Elena in the direction he was looking, "That look right to you?".
Elena turned to look behind her, across the street she saw to men, they were looking around, seemingly making sure no one was watching them, obviously missing her and
Roman, but then they turned down an alleyway.
Elena turned back to Roman, she shook her head, "Looked a little funny to me, but who knows, they may have just been looking to see if they were going the right way".
Roman nodded, but Elena could see on his face that he wasn't fully convinced. Though after a moment Roman turned and was about to walk away, but then all of the sudden his
head snapped up, his eyes wide, it was like he had heard a sound inaudible to the human ear. Before Elena to comprehend what was happening, Roman took off running across
the empty street to the alleyway.
Elena called after him, a shriek in her voice "Roman!".
Roman stopped in front of the alleyway. Elena heard him yell out angrily, "HEY!". Before he rushed down the alley and out of her sight.
After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Elena rushed across the street after Roman, incredibly worried. Right as Elena reached the front of the alleyway she saw both of the
men who had went down it a minute ago come literally flying out in front of her, each crash landing with a thud, though they each got up as quickly as they could and took off
running in the opposite direction, clearly frightened. Elena's eyes widened in shock, she finally turned and peered down the alley, she gasped as she saw Roman helping a lady up
on her feet, she had a nice cut on her forehead, those men must have attacked her. Roman was right to be suspicious of them, he helped the lady to her feet, she was clearly
disoriented. Roman cupped her chin and made her look into his eyes, his voice now commanding.
"Do everything I say", the woman nodded at him. Roman bit into his wrist and put it to her mouth, "Drink", She complied, one he was sure the lady had taken enough to heal her, Roman took his wrist away, he took a second to wipe the blood from her forehead with his sleeve, before completing his compulsion, "All right...you never saw me or the girl tonight, nothing happened, if anyone asks you why you were late, you tell them that you took a wrong turn, now get to wherever you were going and do not look back".
The woman turned and began walking away, sure enough not looking back to notice Elena and Roman. Roman turned to Elena, who was just watching, a bit stunned. Roman
sighed, he was clearly a bit disappointed by the whole ordeal,he began walking out of the alleyway. As Roman went to walk past Elena she grabbed his arm,stopping him in his
tracks, he looked at her questioningly, she looked back at him in wonder, awe filled her voice.
"You...you helped her, for no reason!".
Roman's expression turned to confusion, he thought for a moment before responding, shaking his head, "I wasn't aware I needed a reason to do the right thing".
Roman turned and began walking away. Elena watched him, completely dumbstruck. All of the sudden she felt an incredibly warm feeling engulf her entire body for him and as she felt it, only one thought entered her head.
'Uh oh'.