So you'll either love me or hate me after this chapter, I say no more.
Reviews:
Marlastiano: :)
immortalblossom: you're welcome hun! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this one.
Silentmayhem: Thank you so much, the stone will come to play later in the story, as will Damon, for now this story is focusing on Alex and Stefan... for now.
xenocanaan: Thank you!
Angelicsailor: Stefan is the most romantic, no one can up his game.
LenaMiaH: Bem, Jeremy receberá ajuda. Posso garantir isso. E Jenna também tem uma amiga, porque Alex é legal assim. Stefan é o cara mais doce de todos, ninguém pode superar sua doçura. Eu fiquei brava com o show quando eles convenientemente esqueceram que Stefan era o cara mais fofo do mundo quando ele não estava sendo o Estripador. E acho que ele terá que contar a Alex em breve. A moonstone é o menor dos problemas de Alex no momento, porque para Klaus, a moonstone é inútil sem um doppelganger. Outra coisa que posso lhe dizer é que Alex não é um doppelganger nem é parente da família Petrova. Ela é completamente humana, mas sim, seu conhecimento a coloca muito alta no mercado.
Mari Wollsch: :D!
Millianna07: Thank you so much for reviewing, I can tell you that Stefan is Alex's only love interest in the story, I'm allergic to love triangles or squares or hexagons or any other geometrical figure. And well, I hope you like what I've got planned. It's going to be Epic ;)
~But you get ready, you get all dressed up
To go nowhere in particular
Back to work or the coffee shop
It don't matter because it's enough
To be young and in love
To be young and in love~
- Love, Lana del Rey
We returned to New York three days after the service. I had gained a pen pal in the form of one Jeremy Gilbert and a sort of friend in Jenna Sommers, Zach had introduced me to the woman the day after the service since she had seen me talk to Jeremy, I ended up telling her my story and we had exchanged telephone numbers and had called each other quite a lot in the month that passed after the visit to Mystic Falls.
Stefan had moved in with me during that month, it was the most logical thing as he already spent so much of his day with me, and we had established a routine already. He woke up first and made coffee, the smell of said coffee lured me out of my sleep and dragged me to the kitchen where we decided what to make for breakfast while enjoying our coffee, after breakfast we took Ghost out for a run, then back home, shower and lunch, usually going out since cooking lunch could be a hassle, then take Ghost out again for a walk and usually eat dinner outside unless we were feeling like cooking dinner.
It had been the most domestic that I had been since ever. I couldn't remember my life ever being so easy going, so normal that sometimes I forgot that I was actually sleeping with a vampire. With a very wickedly talented vampire. We enjoyed ourselves, perhaps a little too much, but we were on that honeymoon stage of our relationship, in which everything was new and always a pleasure to discover. And Stefan was practically a saint to put up with someone as complicated and damaged as I was, but he rarely complained and was always there to pull me back whenever life got too hard or to offer advise whenever Jeremy Gilbert asked something that got me in one of my most depressive moods.
The kid and I were actually helping one another cope, I had advised him against drugs and alcohol, citing my own personal experiences and how it only made the pain worse in the long run. I advised him to find a new hobby, to get new friends do a sport, to talk to Jenna, as she was suffering too. Although I couldn't say that it was one hundred percent working, I could say that it was a start, and that was all that mattered at the moment.
The moonstone that I had stolen from the Lockwood house had been safely stored inside an old jewelry box that I owned and shoved into a corner of my closet. Until I decided if I wanted to join the drama that came with Katerina and the Originals, I decided to forget about it, it was for the best, since I was not a vampire or anything like it at the moment.
I often wondered if Stefan would ever tell me what he actually was, my main fear was that one day he was going to compel me to forget him and that he would just leave, he was altruistic enough to think that living without him was probably better for my own self. So I had one semi-rational fear. I had nothing else to lose since my entire family was dead and I was holding on to a vampire boyfriend that had no idea that I knew what he was.
My main problem was that I didn't know how to breach the issue without putting myself in danger. I couldn't just accidentally cut myself while cooking, as much as I loved Stefan, I didn't know much about his self control, nor did I knew his feeding schedule, what if I caught him extremely hungry? I liked my head attached to the rest of my body and I was realist enough to not put myself in danger over some notion that true love was going to save me from Stefan killing me on a bloodlust induced frenzy. I couldn't do that to him either, because if I ended up dead, I'm sure that he was going to end up depressed as fuck. So the only thing that I could do was wait until he decided to tell me, if he ever did.
But it wasn't like I was really bothered by the fact that Stefan was a vampire, or that he was hiding that from me, Stefan could have been a ninja turtle and I would've been fine with it, I loved him. I loved Stefan Salvatore. I loved Stefan.
"Alex, hey," Stefan's voice brought me out of my thoughts, he was waving his hand in front of my face, an amused look on his face.
"What?" I asked dumbly.
Stefan smiled at me, "What has you thinking so hard?"
His question was completely innocent, I had gone through a life changing revelation, I loved him. I hadn't say it back to him back in Mystic Falls and he hadn't pressured me, I needed my time and he knew, but here he was, sitting at our kitchen counter, Ghost napping by his feet, looking like he had always belonged there.
"I love you," I said bluntly and his eyes widened almost comically, "I love you," I repeated more for his sake than mine, "I love the way you wake up extremely early in the morning, I love the fact that you remember how I like my coffee and that you're not annoyed when Ghost slobbers all over your shoes and shirts, I just hadn't realized that every little thing that you did only made me fall in love with you and I'm an idiot for not telling you before and I-"
The rest of what I had planned to say to him was cut by Stefan pressing his lips to mine, I hadn't noticed that he stood and rounded the counter or how he had been so fast, but he was kissing me like if our lives depended on it and I realized that I wouldn't have had it any other way.
"I love you too," he assured me, and I realized that for the first time since I had woken up after the accident, all was well.
Stefan decided that a trip was needed to celebrate, and I couldn't complain, what surprised me was that Zach had come to New York to pick up Ghost and promised that he would keep my fur baby safe and happy in Mystic Falls. Stefan being Stefan refused to tell me where we were going but assured me that I was going to love it.
After a two hour flight we reached Chicago, I was interested as hell about the place, because I remembered that most of Stefan's life in the 20's had been spent in the city breaking havoc. It also confused me because Stefan hadn't mentioned anything about his vampire ways to me, but Chicago had been an important city to him, so I was trying to enjoy the ride.
"You're going to love it, the architecture, the museums, the theater," Stefan was saying as we made our way from the airport to the hotel.
I was looking out of the window of the rental, it was not Stefan's red Porsche, but rather a black sleek Range Rover. I had to say that I was really excited as I had never visited the Windy City before. It had been in my plans, but due to my untimely death and consequent relocation and trauma regarding the death of my family and loss of friends, I had never really gotten to it. But here I was, in a rented SUV with Stefan, I looked at him.
"I trust you have an entire schedule for us," I said with a smirk.
"You bet, there's so much that's changed since I lived here," he said and abruptly stopped himself.
"You lived here? For how long?" I asked, actively ignoring his slip.
"A couple of years ago, I was younger and stupid, the entire thing is a haze, you could say that I was trying to have some fun," he said and winked.
I threw my head back and laughed, "Stefan Salvatore having fun? I hope no one called the cops on you."
"Naah, it was not my best behavior, but I didn't get arrested," he told me with a charming smile.
We arrived to the hotel and we were quick to ditch out bags and the car and began walking around. Stefan had booked us a five stars hotel in the middle of the city, so everything was more or less at walking distance and the weather, despite it being summer, was not that bad. The first few days we visited museums and important buildings, including the majestic Sears Tower. Stefan had brought a camera and snapped many pictures of us and then many pictures of me, mainly covering my face or laughing.
I was pleasantly surprised by Lincoln Park, it was not Central Park by any stretch but I loved it all the same, we had spent an entire day sunbathing at one of its beaches, just enjoying each other at leisure. In between memorials, the zoo and everything else that the Park had to offer we had to return twice after our initial visit to be able to see it all.
Chicago was a dream, Stefan had assured me that we could stay for as long as I wanted, and since I wanted to see as much as possible our trip spanned for two weeks. By the end of the second week, I could say that we had visited and eaten through most of the town.
"There's this bar, I saw the sign a couple of days ago and I was surprise to see that it was still open, so perhaps we could go in the afternoon before its full," Stefan said with a small smile.
He knew that I avoided bars with all my strength, after getting my life pieced together I had almost cut off the alcohol and the bars from my life, drinking only socially or small amounts with Stefan. I had been 'clean' for almost three months now.
"Of course," I said and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, "I mean, I've dragged you through this city, the least I can do is go to this bar with you, besides, I don't dislike bars."
"No, you just avoid them like the plague," he said as he pulled me into a hug, I squealed as he moved me and he laughed.
"I think I've had enough bars to last me a lifetime," I grumbled against his chest.
Stefan laughed and pressed a kiss to my hair, "Think we can go after lunch?"
"Perfect, now lets go, I saw a restaurant that looked pretty enough," I said and began dragging him through the busy street.
There was a vintage sign that read Gloria's at the entrance. To be honest it looked cozy enough. Stefan led me inside, a hand pressed to the small of my back, something he did for reassurance whenever we went somewhere that could trigger a reaction from me, or when he wanted to establish that I was his and so not available to date other guys.
"I mean, it was pretty enough, but I've cooked better pasta," I said as we walked towards the bar.
"Dessert was really good," he said and I had to nod, the churros had been fantastic.
"Fine, I'll give them that and the pink Sangrias was fine, I guess," I shrugged as he pulled a seat for me.
"You hated it," he told me, his serious vampire look in place.
I laughed and nodded, "I hated it, lesson's learned."
"Stefan Salvatore," said a feminine voice approaching us, "look at you."
Stefan and I looked up, a dark skinned white haired woman approached us, she looked to be in her forties.
"Gloria?" he asked in astonishment, I could see in his face that he was sort of regretting visiting the bar.
Gloria approached us, from behind the bar and shook Stefan's hand and then mine, I smiled at her.
"You're not going to introduce us?" Gloria asked, sounding like a reprimanding mother.
"Ah, sure, Alex, this is Gloria, owner of this fine establishment, Gloria, this is Alex, my girlfriend," he said with a small smile directed my way.
I smiled back at him and then returned my attention to Gloria.
"You've cleaned up yourself quite well, Stefan," she said with a smile, "Can I bring you something?"
Stefan and I exchanged glances and I nodded at him.
"Two beers, please," he said, Gloria looked at me and then at Stefan again before she went to get the beers.
Had I been less caught up in the fact that I had just met a really old witch, I would have noticed the other presence at the bar, and it wouldn't have taken me by surprise when an accented voice spoke behind me.
"Hello there, may I join you?"