The sunlight felt incredible against her skin as she began to wake, so pleasantly warm. As a matter of fact, she seemed to be only surrounded by warmth in this moment, but that was fine by her. The light streaming in through the window was warm, but he was warmer. She never wanted to leave, ever. She would happily spend the rest of her life in this old, creaky, dusty bed. She'd contently stay here and die here, so long as it meant he never stopped touching her the way he was. His caresses now were vastly different compared to last night: softer, lighter. She could feel his fingertips ever so gently travel down her spine, then along her hip, up her waist to her shoulder. Not wanting to ruin this moment by exposing her consciousness, Elena tried to hide the grin threatening her lips. She remembered vividly, not even five hours ago, his hands right there, on her hips, gripping them tightly, feeling like they were coated in lava as he forever burned his imprint back onto her skin.
She tried to keep her breathing steady and calm as he then moved his hand down to entangle with hers, their joined fingers the only thing between their close bodies. This was perfect. Absolutely perfect.
"What's your favorite color?" he asked out of the blue, his voice raspy and sounding like dripping honey all at once.
Now knowing that her cover was blown, Elena opened one eye briefly and then shut it again, smiling and crinkling her nose. "How'd you know that I was awake?"
"Because we're linked," Stefan joked, placing a kiss on the tip of her nose. She giggled and finally opened both eyes, simply staring at him. His depressed mood from last night seemed to have faded, and for that, she was grateful.
"I don't think it works that way," she smiled, running her thumb along the back of his.
"Of course it does," he laughed. Stefan's gaze then turned to their entangled hands, a large smile present on his face. "When I sleep, you sleep. When I'm awake you're awake. When I am kissing somebody you're kissing somebody." He placed his lips against hers for example. He was being so goofy, and she loved every second of it. "We have no independence whatsoever."
"Liar!" Rolling her eyes, Elena brought her free hand up to his hair, tousling it a bit. "Why is your hair wet?"
"I woke up a little while ago and took a shower," Stefan admitted, his eyes on hers, alit with more energy and life than she'd ever seen before on him. He still liked waking up before her, she noticed. "My god, Elena. Do you know how amazing showers are? Like, seriously. They're the best. My favorite thing to do." He paused for a moment. "No, not my favorite thing to do. My favorite thing to do is what we did last night." With that, he leaned in close and nuzzled her neck playfully for a quick moment before rolling on top of her, though she could not stop laughing.
"You're like a puppy today," she stated, not knowing what had gotten into him, but she liked it. She definitely liked it. Elena closed her eyes as he began to place slow kisses along her neck, heating her body up in a matter of seconds. "You know," she began slowly, distracted by whatever incredible thing he was doing to her neck right now, her hands absently running along his back, "if we're linked, that means that when you're showering, I should be showering. You broke the rules this morning."
After hearing her words, Stefan abruptly pulled away, his eyes going wide as they gazed into hers. His pupils seemed to have dilated just with the idea. "People do that? At the same time?" She giggled and nodded. "My two favorite things at once! Love it, let's go."
Stefan was already getting up when Elena pulled him back down, their accidental lip collision quickly turning into a long, heated kiss. "No," she whispered against his mouth as she reached for the towel hanging loosely around his hips. "Let's just stay here for a while."
Stefan lightly nodded in agreement and happily let himself get lost in her once again. He had to agree with Elena; staying in bed for a while sounded like a pretty good plan, too.
…
The water felt like heaven against his skin as the suds from Elena's shampoo cascaded down her back onto his hands. He watched for a moment, mesmerized by the way the bubbles shifted from her skin to the backs of his palms. He then resumed to rubbing her back, placing his lips on the side of her neck to give her slow, teasing kisses there. Sensually, Stefan pushed her soapy hair off of her shoulder to give himself better access. He tasted the soap on his lips, but he didn't mind all that much. "I love you," he whispered. "Thank you."
Elena didn't know exactly what he was thanking her for, but was far too relaxed to ask. "That feels nice," she muttered, her cheek against his forehead as he brought his hands around to her stomach. She pulled her fingers through his. "It's green, by the way," she said after a comfortable silence.
"Hmm?"
"My favorite color," she replied, her eyes half closed. "You asked me what my favorite color was this morning. It's green." He still did not detach his lips from her neck; it was quite distracting. "What's yours?"
"You know what my favorite color is," he mumbled between kisses. Elena giggled.
"Do you?" she teased.
Stefan then stopped his kisses and looked at her, waiting for her to turn her attention on him as well. It took her a moment to collect herself after his teasing, searing mouth had been against her skin, but she managed to maintain eye contact. "I don't think I have one," he confessed, stealing a kiss from her lips. He did not have a favorite color. "But I really love the color of your eyes."
"Brown?" Elena laughed and modestly looked away, blushing at his compliment. She kind of hoped that he would brush it off due to the hot water in the shower, but based off of his raised eyebrow and 'you know you are beautiful' look, she made the conclusion that he had, in fact, caught it. Instead of mentioning it, Stefan merely chuckled and gave her yet another kiss. "Actually," she corrected, "your favorite color is periwinkle."
He crinkled his nose in disgust. "What an obnoxious name for a color."
She could not keep herself from laughing. Some things never changed.
"Tell me more about yourself," Stefan requested after Elena's giggling fit had died down. "What's your biggest dream?"
Elena's stomach fluttered with the question. God, she loved him so much. She loved him for the genuine interest he took in her. She loved him for the way he looked at her like she was the only girl on the planet. The way he held her. The way he kissed her. "I'm living in it," she answered, earning her a skeptical look from Stefan. Elena giggled again –she seemed to be doing a lot of that lately—and stood up on her tip toes to briefly place her lips on his. "I've always just wanted to be happy. After my parents died," she began with a deep exhale, "I wasn't sure if that would ever even happen again. And it's hard, because I'm not happy all of the time. No one is. I think about them and I miss them so much, and I think about how my mom will never go to our wedding, and my dad will never walk me down the aisle. They missed so much. And sometimes I just stop and ask myself if they'd be proud of me after all of the things I've done."
Her chest ached with the words, and Stefan immediately pulled her closer to him. "Your parents would be so proud of you," he whispered to her, so quiet that if they were in a crowded room, only she could hear.
She pressed her face against his warm chest as the water fell over them, his arms around her tiny frame. He kissed the top of her head and she continued, looking up at him now. "But despite everything, I'm happy, I am. I didn't think it was possible. I was dead inside until I met you. You showed me how to live again. And when I lost you," she said shakily, "I died inside again. Somehow you put me back together. And right here, like this, it's the best feeling in the world. It kind of gives me hope that no matter what happens, no matter what life throws at me, I have one thing that I know will always find me. A beacon of light." Elena looked up at Stefan with a light smile.
He returned her grin and placed his forehead against hers. "You are beautiful," he stated matter-of-factly. "If your parents were here, they'd be so proud of you. You are a strong, beautiful woman."
I love him, she thought to herself for the thousandth time that morning. "They would have liked you."
His face lit up with those words. "You think?" She nodded and his smile grew. "Even now, when I'm a broken, memory-less, babbling idiot?"
"Yes, even now," she promised, her hands clasping behind his neck. "I love you."
"I love you, Elena. So much." It was true; he couldn't imagine a world without her. After another kiss, and another, and okay, one more, he pulled away. "Thank you, for last night. I was a confused, insecure mess and—"
She cut him off by crashing her lips to his. "You're welcome," she said. "We're in this together, no matter what."
He smiled and nodded in agreement. "No matter what." After a much longer make-out session, the water seemed to be turning cold, not that they had any intentions of getting out any time soon. Stefan was the one to pull away again, a thought toying with his mind. Elena made a whining sound, and he laughed in response. "You mentioned our wedding. You want to get married someday?"
"Yes," she stated. "I want to marry you someday. I want to have children with you, grow old with you…" She trailed off, remembering when Stefan had once made those plans for them if they both ended up human. Such beautiful words that she had heard through Rebekah while being sired to Damon. But she would not let herself think of that now, because it was true. She wanted it now. All of it. The white picket fence, the golden retriever, pancakes on Sunday mornings.
"Sounds perfect," he agreed, pulling her against him and attacking her neck with kisses that made her body melt.
Less than two years ago, when Elena had thought about the future, she'd been terrified. Now, she welcomed every new moment with open arms.
The following week passed by very smoothly. The four of them got settled into their little New Jersey town. Damon had already made a "payment" on their rooms for the entire month, payment meaning half compulsion, and half actual paying, because Stefan and Elena felt guilty.
Katherine's advances on Damon continued, though he mainly tried to brush them off, putting all of his attention on Stefan for once. Elena had to admit, she was surprised by Damon's newfound protectiveness over his brother. She figured that since Damon now had a real chance of losing Stefan, it had hit him like a ton of bricks. Still, it surprised her; she could not deny the fact that she still held a bit of residual bitterness over how he had so thoughtlessly hurt Stefan when she was sired, but she told herself that it was just as much her fault as it was his and pushed those feelings aside. He was helping now. That was all that mattered.
Elena never had asked Stefan how he felt about his brother now, but based off of his tense shoulders and clenched jaw whenever they were in Damon's presence, she assumed he was trying to overlook it. Stefan was trying, Damon was trying, everything seemed to be actually coming together for once.
"Punch me," Damon said, crouching down low, knees bent in a predatorial stance. They were at the beach now, just as they had been every night this week. Elena was lying across the sand, staring up at the sunset while Damon practiced fighting skills with Stefan. Katherine was beside her, unfortunately. Elena tried to ignore her presence.
"I'm not going to punch you," Stefan complained, earning a snicker out of Katherine.
"You think he'd want to punch him," the vampire stated, her voice dripping with amusement. Elena rolled her eyes. "When we get attacked, Stefan has no chance."
Elena swallowed thickly. "I think he'll be fine. He knows my life is at stake. He'll put up a fight."
"Aw, how sweet."
As much as Katherine tried to hide it, Elena could sense the slightest hint of jealousy in her doppelganger's voice. Now, Elena was the one to smirk.
Stefan was hers, completely. Katherine no longer even posed as a threat. This past week had been wonderful and absolutely memorable. It made her giddy inside when she realized that she was actually making new memories with Stefan. He didn't need the old ones. They would make so many new memories that they'd make up for every single lost one. And she'd told him this, many times. It never failed to make him smile.
Although the town was quiet and far from luxurious, it felt like a vacation, and she loved the idea of vacationing with Stefan. Every single day, she'd wake up in his arms, visit shops along the beach with him, sit with him on the beach as he practiced with Damon. After that, they'd all go out for dinner and then Elena and Stefan would go back to their room while Damon and Katherine continued to walk around and do whatever it was they did. They never really asked; by the time dinner was over, they were too preoccupied with… other things. And then the morning would roll around and it would happen all over again.
She loved him. So much.
Standing up and brushing the sand off of her hands, Elena made her way over to the boys. "I'm going to go change into something else for dinner. I'm all sandy."
Immediately, Stefan's attention turned to her as he made his way over to his sand-covered girlfriend. "I can go with you," he whispered softly, running his hands along her arms.
Elena smiled. "I'd love that."
"But our session isn't over!" Damon complained, dramatically rolling his eyes. Stefan shook his head and waved a hand at his brother as they made their way off of the beach down the sidewalk.
They spent a few minutes discussing small things, walking hand in hand, Elena's bare feet feeling pleasantly hot as they strolled along the concrete.
"Excuse me?" A voice took Elena and Stefan out of their pleasant moment. Not recognizing the voice, she turned her head only to meet an unfamiliar man's eyes. He was paler than anyone she'd ever met before, dark circles beneath his bright blue eyes. His hair was brown and graying, though he could now have been a day over twenty five.
"Can we help you?" Stefan asked, turning to Elena who also seemed to be on high alert. The man gave them a warm smile.
"You make a lovely couple." Stefan tightened his grip on her hand, stepping in front of her protectively.
Elena swallowed, feeling a bit intimidated by his presence. He was dressed in long sleeves and cargo pants in the middle of summer. "Thank you," Stefan said curtly.
The man tilted his head and smiled, his eyes on Elena specifically. "I was actually looking for someone."
"I'm sorry, I don't think we can help you," he replied, tugging on Elena's hand as they began to walk away, hurriedly. She kept her gaze straight, afraid to look back. She gasped when she felt a tight, iron grip on her arm.
"Actually, I found them," the man said, an ominous smile curling onto his chapped lips. Before either Stefan and Elena could register what was happening, the strange man pushed Stefan away from her, charging at him. Immediately, Elena watched as Stefan clenched his fists and began to charge right back at the man, throwing a hard punch straight to his jaw. He did not even fall back. Instead, he grabbed Stefan by the shoulders and slammed him to the ground, smashing his head roughly against the sidewalk.
"Stefan!" she shouted. Elena let out a blood curdling scream, one that surely could be heard throughout the block. She could feel tears stinging at his eyes. Don't be dead, don't be dead, please don't be dead, she thought over and over again as she took a split second to evaluate the situation. Wait. She was alive, which meant that he was still alive. They were linked after all. Thank god!
Then, the man turned to her, a grin playing at his lips, and Elena realized there were bigger things to worry about. "Don't take him," she pleaded, now panicking. "Please don't take him. I was cured too! He cured me! It's me you want, not him."
The pale man simply laughed, taking one step closer to her. "I'm assuming that's Stefan. I wasn't aware of your story." He laughed wickedly and gestured to the unconscious young man at his feet. Elena clenched her fists. "Well, why not take both, hmm?"
The words resonated through her ears, shook through her brain, and then vibrated through her body before she started running. With a racing heart and an aching body, she glanced at Stefan once more before deciding that maybe, just maybe he'd wake up and run while she was distracting their attacker. And so, she ran faster than she ever had before. It was no use, though. He was faster.
She felt a sharp pain at her neck before everything went black.
By the time Damon and Katherine arrived, Stefan and Elena had already disappeared.
AN: Oh no, where did they go? What will happen from here? Will Stefan be okay? Will Elena be okay? What is this vampire going to do to them?
Please leave a review; you know how much every single one means to me. Please just take a few seconds to let me know what you loved, hated, or what you'd like to see. Your thoughts and opinions are what keep me writing this story. Thank you!
Xoxo,
Sara
