Disclaimers: Elena Gilbert, Stefan Salvatore and friends, along with the Vampire Diaries I - IV belong to L.J. Smith. Everything else is mine. No harm intended or money made from this fic.
Notes:
~ Chapter ~
::Thoughts or telepathy::
_emphasis or italics_
~ Two ~
The next day's-end found Elena standing, head bowed, before the white gravestone with the simple engraving: _Gilbert_. Cool evening breezes lifted locks of hair that tickled her face.
She had already laid a small bunch of wildflowers on Honoria Fell's reposing marble figure.
A question Matt had asked her days ago came to mind. Stefan had gone to retrieve his car; Damon and his sexy black Ferrari had disappeared. She and Matt had been seated comfortably together on the couch, drawing a jaundiced look from Caroline. "So, what was it like, the afterlife? Do you remember anything?" he had said quietly while the three girls were discussing the merits of Keanu Reeves versus Brad Pitt.
::Do I remember?:: Elena shivered suddenly. She brushed impatiently at a strand of hair, as if to shoo the thought away, and knelt, placing a hand on the headstone. "I'm back here again, Mom, Dad. But things can't be the way they were before... well, you know. So I'm going to go away with Stefan, to where no one knows us. I don't know when I might be back, if ever, so this is goodbye for a while," she said softly, running her fingers along the smooth edge of the marker.
"I've been spending a little time with Margaret. Telling her about you both, giving her your love, being the big sister I never really took the time to be, before. I wish she could have known you..." she went on wistfully. "Robert and Aunt Judith are wonderful, but they're not _you_." Her fingers trailed across the surface of the marble and over the engraving. _Gilbert_. Someone had told her once that the name meant a promise, a pledge.
Heavy warmth settled about her shoulders. Elena covered Stefan's hand on her shoulder with her own in thanks. They spent some minutes in silence as Elena said her goodbyes to her parents.
Finally, Elena gathered the cloak Stefan had placed about her shoulders and let him help her to her feet. They made their way, in the twilight, across the cemetery, past the crumbling old church building, across the new bridge that had replaced Wickery Bridge and to the Gilbert – now the Maxwell – house.
* * *
Elena hugged her sister tight. When her eyes opened, the lapis depths were dark with sadness.
"How about I read you a bedtime story?" she asked, deliberately keeping a light note in her voice. "I don't think I've done that..." In too long? Enough? Ever?
"Yes!" the five-year-old image of Elena said. She pulled a thin hardbound volume off her bookcase and gave it to her big sister, then climbed into bed. Elena tucked the covers around her snugly, then opened the front cover and began to read _Snow White and Rose Red_.
She almost hated to see Margaret's eyes drift shut and her breathing even out. Long after Margaret was fast asleep, Elena sat and gazed at her peaceful angelic face.
::You learned to appreciate your gifts and blessings, not to take things for granted::, she thought. ::Too late, usually.:: Elena promised herself that she would not in future. A little voice in her whispered that it would make her soft, while another expressed skepticism at the promise.
She resolutely squelched both and turned to Stefan, a shadow perched on the maple tree outside Margaret's window. He had been keeping Aunt Judith away and making sure she didn't hear any sound out of Margaret's room.
"Could you..?" She trailed off, a lump in her throat. He nodded, then his expression unfocused as he altered Margaret's memories. Elena would only be a dream to her. Margaret's big sister hoped that the dreams would be enough; she didn't want her to ever feel that she was not loved.
Stefan offered her a hand to help her climb out the window. She paused to carefully draw the curtains and shut the windowpane before climbing down the tree.
On the ground, Stefan awaited her, his leaf green eyes shadowed and unfathomable. She stared at him for a moment before throwing herself into his arms and letting his woolen sweater soak up her quiet tears. He held her wordlessly, cradling her gently, with moonlight filtering through the maple branches, for a long while.
* * *
"_Surprise!_"
Elena hid a smile and blinked as the lights came on and four people jumped out from behind furniture at her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Stefan open his eyes very wide and attempt to look astonished. ::You're overacting,:: she thought at him and his eyes slid to her momentarily.
On her part, she clapped her hands over her mouth to muffle a laugh and emitted a small shriek as if in excitement when she managed to without choking.
"Oh my gosh, you guys!" she exclaimed. She rather thought she was doing a good job pretending but noticed Meredith, arms crossed, a small smile playing on her lips.
"You knew," she surmised dryly and shot a glance at Bonnie, whose glowing smile was subsiding. Caroline rolled her eyes and Matt looked mildly disgusted. "I think you need to work on your shields, Bon. Or perhaps learn to control your emotions," Meredith went on.
"Hey, how do you know it was me? It might have been any of you! Right, Stefan? You could read any of the others' minds?" the petite redhead protested.
Stefan opened his mouth to reply but Caroline chimed in, "But yours being the most psychically powerful mind among us, it would be logical for him to have picked it up from you instead of the rest of us mental mutes."
"Speak for yourself," Matt murmured. Fortunately, Caroline was standing on the other end of the room and didn't catch that comment.
"And besides," Bonnie went on in her own defense. "We Celts are an emotional people. You can't blame me for my heritage!"
Elena shot Stefan a _look_ for spoiling the surprise and held up a hand. It took a moment for her friends to fall silent.
"Thank you," she said simply. "This was very good of you all." She stepped forward and hugged them each in turn: Bonnie, Meredith, then Caroline and finally Matt.
She looked around, one arm around the tall blonde ex-quarterback and smiled around the room. "Now, let's party!"
* * *
The six of them were lounging about, having put away most of the pizza, chips, sandwiches, salad-rolls and Jell-O that had been laid out on the coffee table. Stefan personally thought it odd to be drinking wine, given that menu, but Caroline had handed Matt a bottle of expensive vintage after the last of the soda was consumed.
Meredith and Bonnie had left the room at that point, escaping Caroline's slightly catty lecture on how to open a bottle of dry red. Matt had sent Stefan a pointed look. Stefan had been wondering if the blonde had been seeking commiseration, assistance or if the look was meant to convey accusation when the two girls had reemerged with six tall crystal wine glasses.
The cork finally came off – narrowly missing the Forbes' crystal chandelier, Stefan noticed – and Matt filled their glasses with exaggerated care. Stefan gallantly served the girls their drinks, then held up his own glass. Five human faces turned to him. Open, warm, accepting. Stefan thought that this was a headier vintage than what he held in his hand.
"A toast," he said quietly. "To all of you whom I have come to know since I arrived here last year. May your lives be as rich as you have made mine." He raised his glass high and the rest mimicked his gesture. "To friends, present and absent."
"To friends," they echoed. All sipped from their glasses, but Stefan added a silent toast to one missing individual in particular before he drank. _To you, brother._
He settled down beside Elena, close but not touching. They exchanged a glance. ::Well done,:: he heard her say in her mind. He felt his expression soften then she turned back to listen to what Bonnie was saying about a book her Druid cousin had sent her.
Talk was winding down, replaced by the silent, easy companionship of a group of people who had been through a lot together. Even Caroline fit in, the closeness from the girls' early years reasserting itself.
The clock chimed twice and Meredith, Bonnie and Caroline got up, saying that it was time for the girls' slumber party to get underway. Elena hung back, laughing as the teenage blonde and the five-century-old vampire good-naturedly stepped out the front door.
Later, back in the Flowers' boarding house, Stefan lay on his back, hands clasped behind his head. Reaching for sleep and pushing away the nagging thought that had been on his mind for days now: Elena was human again. And someday, he would lose her.
::Idiot,:: he mentally kicked himself. ::After everything that has happened, after everything that you've been through to get here, to be together, you worry about her living out her mortal span and leaving you alone in the world? Unworthy!:: he shouted at himself. He flipped onto his side and thrust one hand under his pillow. But the fiendish thought would not give him peace and while he slept, eventually, Stefan tossed in troubled dreams.
* * *
It was late afternoon when they gathered again. Stefan shook Matt's hand gravely and accepted hugs from the girls. Elena hugged Caroline, then Matt, then Bonnie and Meredith, holding them close and feeling tears sting her eyes. "You take care, now," was said with heartfelt intensity more than once. "Stay in touch."
Finally, Stefan slid into the driver's seat of his Porsche; the very one he had been driving that first day to Robert E. Lee High School. Elena paused for a final glance around, one foot in the car. Autumn sunlight slanted through the leaves in the woods behind the boarding house, turning the world golden. Elena took a deep breath and got in. She looked out the open window and waved at her lifelong friends till they rounded a bend and fell out of sight.
Notes:
~ Chapter ~
::Thoughts or telepathy::
_emphasis or italics_
~ Two ~
The next day's-end found Elena standing, head bowed, before the white gravestone with the simple engraving: _Gilbert_. Cool evening breezes lifted locks of hair that tickled her face.
She had already laid a small bunch of wildflowers on Honoria Fell's reposing marble figure.
A question Matt had asked her days ago came to mind. Stefan had gone to retrieve his car; Damon and his sexy black Ferrari had disappeared. She and Matt had been seated comfortably together on the couch, drawing a jaundiced look from Caroline. "So, what was it like, the afterlife? Do you remember anything?" he had said quietly while the three girls were discussing the merits of Keanu Reeves versus Brad Pitt.
::Do I remember?:: Elena shivered suddenly. She brushed impatiently at a strand of hair, as if to shoo the thought away, and knelt, placing a hand on the headstone. "I'm back here again, Mom, Dad. But things can't be the way they were before... well, you know. So I'm going to go away with Stefan, to where no one knows us. I don't know when I might be back, if ever, so this is goodbye for a while," she said softly, running her fingers along the smooth edge of the marker.
"I've been spending a little time with Margaret. Telling her about you both, giving her your love, being the big sister I never really took the time to be, before. I wish she could have known you..." she went on wistfully. "Robert and Aunt Judith are wonderful, but they're not _you_." Her fingers trailed across the surface of the marble and over the engraving. _Gilbert_. Someone had told her once that the name meant a promise, a pledge.
Heavy warmth settled about her shoulders. Elena covered Stefan's hand on her shoulder with her own in thanks. They spent some minutes in silence as Elena said her goodbyes to her parents.
Finally, Elena gathered the cloak Stefan had placed about her shoulders and let him help her to her feet. They made their way, in the twilight, across the cemetery, past the crumbling old church building, across the new bridge that had replaced Wickery Bridge and to the Gilbert – now the Maxwell – house.
* * *
Elena hugged her sister tight. When her eyes opened, the lapis depths were dark with sadness.
"How about I read you a bedtime story?" she asked, deliberately keeping a light note in her voice. "I don't think I've done that..." In too long? Enough? Ever?
"Yes!" the five-year-old image of Elena said. She pulled a thin hardbound volume off her bookcase and gave it to her big sister, then climbed into bed. Elena tucked the covers around her snugly, then opened the front cover and began to read _Snow White and Rose Red_.
She almost hated to see Margaret's eyes drift shut and her breathing even out. Long after Margaret was fast asleep, Elena sat and gazed at her peaceful angelic face.
::You learned to appreciate your gifts and blessings, not to take things for granted::, she thought. ::Too late, usually.:: Elena promised herself that she would not in future. A little voice in her whispered that it would make her soft, while another expressed skepticism at the promise.
She resolutely squelched both and turned to Stefan, a shadow perched on the maple tree outside Margaret's window. He had been keeping Aunt Judith away and making sure she didn't hear any sound out of Margaret's room.
"Could you..?" She trailed off, a lump in her throat. He nodded, then his expression unfocused as he altered Margaret's memories. Elena would only be a dream to her. Margaret's big sister hoped that the dreams would be enough; she didn't want her to ever feel that she was not loved.
Stefan offered her a hand to help her climb out the window. She paused to carefully draw the curtains and shut the windowpane before climbing down the tree.
On the ground, Stefan awaited her, his leaf green eyes shadowed and unfathomable. She stared at him for a moment before throwing herself into his arms and letting his woolen sweater soak up her quiet tears. He held her wordlessly, cradling her gently, with moonlight filtering through the maple branches, for a long while.
* * *
"_Surprise!_"
Elena hid a smile and blinked as the lights came on and four people jumped out from behind furniture at her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Stefan open his eyes very wide and attempt to look astonished. ::You're overacting,:: she thought at him and his eyes slid to her momentarily.
On her part, she clapped her hands over her mouth to muffle a laugh and emitted a small shriek as if in excitement when she managed to without choking.
"Oh my gosh, you guys!" she exclaimed. She rather thought she was doing a good job pretending but noticed Meredith, arms crossed, a small smile playing on her lips.
"You knew," she surmised dryly and shot a glance at Bonnie, whose glowing smile was subsiding. Caroline rolled her eyes and Matt looked mildly disgusted. "I think you need to work on your shields, Bon. Or perhaps learn to control your emotions," Meredith went on.
"Hey, how do you know it was me? It might have been any of you! Right, Stefan? You could read any of the others' minds?" the petite redhead protested.
Stefan opened his mouth to reply but Caroline chimed in, "But yours being the most psychically powerful mind among us, it would be logical for him to have picked it up from you instead of the rest of us mental mutes."
"Speak for yourself," Matt murmured. Fortunately, Caroline was standing on the other end of the room and didn't catch that comment.
"And besides," Bonnie went on in her own defense. "We Celts are an emotional people. You can't blame me for my heritage!"
Elena shot Stefan a _look_ for spoiling the surprise and held up a hand. It took a moment for her friends to fall silent.
"Thank you," she said simply. "This was very good of you all." She stepped forward and hugged them each in turn: Bonnie, Meredith, then Caroline and finally Matt.
She looked around, one arm around the tall blonde ex-quarterback and smiled around the room. "Now, let's party!"
* * *
The six of them were lounging about, having put away most of the pizza, chips, sandwiches, salad-rolls and Jell-O that had been laid out on the coffee table. Stefan personally thought it odd to be drinking wine, given that menu, but Caroline had handed Matt a bottle of expensive vintage after the last of the soda was consumed.
Meredith and Bonnie had left the room at that point, escaping Caroline's slightly catty lecture on how to open a bottle of dry red. Matt had sent Stefan a pointed look. Stefan had been wondering if the blonde had been seeking commiseration, assistance or if the look was meant to convey accusation when the two girls had reemerged with six tall crystal wine glasses.
The cork finally came off – narrowly missing the Forbes' crystal chandelier, Stefan noticed – and Matt filled their glasses with exaggerated care. Stefan gallantly served the girls their drinks, then held up his own glass. Five human faces turned to him. Open, warm, accepting. Stefan thought that this was a headier vintage than what he held in his hand.
"A toast," he said quietly. "To all of you whom I have come to know since I arrived here last year. May your lives be as rich as you have made mine." He raised his glass high and the rest mimicked his gesture. "To friends, present and absent."
"To friends," they echoed. All sipped from their glasses, but Stefan added a silent toast to one missing individual in particular before he drank. _To you, brother._
He settled down beside Elena, close but not touching. They exchanged a glance. ::Well done,:: he heard her say in her mind. He felt his expression soften then she turned back to listen to what Bonnie was saying about a book her Druid cousin had sent her.
Talk was winding down, replaced by the silent, easy companionship of a group of people who had been through a lot together. Even Caroline fit in, the closeness from the girls' early years reasserting itself.
The clock chimed twice and Meredith, Bonnie and Caroline got up, saying that it was time for the girls' slumber party to get underway. Elena hung back, laughing as the teenage blonde and the five-century-old vampire good-naturedly stepped out the front door.
Later, back in the Flowers' boarding house, Stefan lay on his back, hands clasped behind his head. Reaching for sleep and pushing away the nagging thought that had been on his mind for days now: Elena was human again. And someday, he would lose her.
::Idiot,:: he mentally kicked himself. ::After everything that has happened, after everything that you've been through to get here, to be together, you worry about her living out her mortal span and leaving you alone in the world? Unworthy!:: he shouted at himself. He flipped onto his side and thrust one hand under his pillow. But the fiendish thought would not give him peace and while he slept, eventually, Stefan tossed in troubled dreams.
* * *
It was late afternoon when they gathered again. Stefan shook Matt's hand gravely and accepted hugs from the girls. Elena hugged Caroline, then Matt, then Bonnie and Meredith, holding them close and feeling tears sting her eyes. "You take care, now," was said with heartfelt intensity more than once. "Stay in touch."
Finally, Stefan slid into the driver's seat of his Porsche; the very one he had been driving that first day to Robert E. Lee High School. Elena paused for a final glance around, one foot in the car. Autumn sunlight slanted through the leaves in the woods behind the boarding house, turning the world golden. Elena took a deep breath and got in. She looked out the open window and waved at her lifelong friends till they rounded a bend and fell out of sight.