CHAPTER 07 - Discovery

I had sweet dreams and I had not had such pleasant and serene dreams for a long time, not since before I began to see the ghosts of Anna and Vicki…so, when I dreamt of Stefan and I overlooking a huge waterfall, probably Niagara, or somewhere like that, and we were happy and we just found it beautiful and we were both at peace there, I was calm during my sleep.

It was not to be, however, as before I should have been, I was awakened by a high-pitched, livid scream.

"Jeremy!"

I sat up bolt upright in a second at the uninvited voice of my sister, who was standing at the foot of Stefan's bed, where he and I had been lying still naked and our hands had found each other's in our deep sleep. Elena's outburst had also roused him and he sat up with a worried and slightly afraid look in his eyes as he took in her aggressive and angry stance.

Elena looked back and forth at the pair of us in bed, occasionally glancing pointedly at items of our clothing scattered around the usually neat bedroom. Her glare rested on Stefan, "Stefan, why is my brother naked in your bed? And why does downstairs look like an earthquake zone?"

I repressed a smile at her choice of words, as they did show that on some basic level we were related, that we thought alike, but I wasn't about to let her take Stefan down for something that I had begun.

Stefan was clearly struggling for the right words to explain what had happened between us, so I rescued him, "Elena, it really is none of your business what went on this morning," her eyes were nearly popping out of her skull, but I did not let her respond, "All that I will say is that Stefan and I belong together and we are together, so deal with it, and leave me alone. I am no longer any of your concern."

She winced at my words that hit a nerve. "Jeremy, it is my business when my younger brother and my ex-boyfriend are naked in bed together!"

Stefan saw his opportunity to prevent the situation from becoming an all-out shouting match between Elena and me, "Elena, just go downstairs please for a while. When we've gotten dressed, you can shout at me, not your brother, until you're happy,"

She did not look at all happy, but she quickly turned on her heels, her hair flying back, and left the room.

Stefan looked at me with relief and said comfortingly, "Don't worry; I won't let her rail at you. This wasn't your fault at all and we shouldn't feel sorry that we had sex."

I got out of bed and found my underwear and my jeans and slipped them on with irritated movements. It was so bloody typical of Elena, to come in and spoil something that was important and so special to me…I smiled as it hit me that this time, for once, I wasn't on my own in the conflict with my sister – this time, Stefan was right there with me.

We went downstairs once we were both decent and found Damon already pouring himself a tumbler of bourbon, which he did whenever a serious problem affected his life, evidently Elena had told him of our now discovered tryst, if he hadn't already guessed it from the state of his living room. He observed us descending the stairs together with a surprised, yet not angry look, in contrast to Elena, who was sitting back in the large armchair facing the stairs appearing prepared for battle, which I was determined that she would lose – this time we each had a Salvatore brother to protect us, only I didn't need mine to protect me, just to love me.

Damon and Elena's relationship had always been dependant on her need for protection and someone to stop her from being stupid and doing the right thing for everyone else, for if Damon had not on countless occasions stopped her from giving herself over to the people who had killed everyone, I would not be a vampire and I would not have felt so alone because the people who mattered would still be alive.

I strode ahead of Stefan towards my sister, resolute that the battle of wills would be between the Gilberts this time, not the Salvatores because as I saw it, Damon did not blame Stefan or judge him for what had transpired between us, he just seemed surprised that after two centuries of knowing his brother, he had never expected a homosexual side to come out. Why couldn't Elena be the same way with me and just leave it be?

"You two have some big explaining to do…" Elena said in an almost threatening tone.

Stefan graciously declined to reply, leaving me to fight my own battles, "I don't have anything that I have to explain to you!" I retorted with venom seeping out of my words.

Elena was taken aback by the angry and resentful manner of my reply and more gently said, "Jer, I don't know what it is that's made you hate me so much, so just tell me what I've done to deserve you hating me, because you're all the family I've got and I can't stand to see you like this," her voice began to break.

"You don't know what you've done? You have no idea, do you?" I flashed in front of her, gripping the arms of the chair and invading her personal space. Damon did move to stop me but Stefan stopped him, knowing I wasn't about to physically harm Elena.

"You absolute selfish bitch, you're so self-involved you can't even see past your own troubles and issues. I don't know how you can say I'm the only family you've got left, because you don't really care for me, you just care about your own guilt and how things end up for you! Everything you've done has left me without someone I loved – my parents, my aunt, my uncle, all three of my girlfriends! You couldn't even stop at that, you even had to take my humanity away from me."

I took a breath and apart from my angry pants, the room was deathly silent. "Have you seen Caroline recently? Did you hear about what I did to her because I'm a ripper of a vampire? I nearly killed her! I nearly took her life! The vampire Jeremy was completely at ease with killing his best friend, but what remains of the humane Jeremy hates himself for doing such a thing! And you, you have no idea what that kind of self-loathing feels like because everyone was so occupied with making sure you never felt that kind of emotion that you don't feel any sense of responsibility that everything bad that's happened in this town, happened because of you!"

Once I had finished my rather longwinded rant, you could have heard a pin drop. I glared into Elena's eyes, which were brimming with tears and she uttered only one amazed, overwhelmed and utterly aghast sound as if I had just winded her.

I felt Stefan's gentle hand rest upon my shoulder, "Come away, Jer, just leave it,"

I stayed where I was, face inches away from Elena's, for a second longer and then I withdrew to stand beside Stefan. Damon with a sympathetic expression went over to Elena and pulled her up into his arms, comforting her as she began to weep.

Stefan and I just stood back, watching the moment between our siblings before us, until Elena's crying ceased and she slowly turned away from Damon to look angry and bitter at Stefan.

With a rare malice, she said to him, "What have you made him think? What have you done to him?"