I finally found a fragment of light at the end of the tunnel. I needed to give this short story more closure and I needed it to end on better terms. And although there are no lyrics in here and this isn't related to the song 'Ashes And Wine' in any way, it is a continuation of that storyline. Rather, it's the first half of the rest. A final part will follow.
After Elena's and Stefan's fake fight at the Grill (meant for Caroline's ears) Damon senses his opportunity and of course acts on it. Meanwhile Elena senses that maybe the fight wasn't as fake as she'd thought it to be.
Ashes And Wine
Part Two
'Why are you giving her so much power over our relationship?' Elena's voice was demanding, desperate. Stefan's reply came quickly. 'This is the reality of our situation!'
Too quickly. As if it had been sitting on the tip of his tongue for weeks already, waiting for the right moment to be let out.
'Reality sucks!' Elena ground out, then paused to take a shaky breath. 'This is what she wants. She wants us to fight. She wants to get between us.'
She said it as if pointing out the obvious would help. As if it would make it any less real. As if it would change Stefan's answer.
It didn't.
He lowered his head and raked a hand through his hair. 'She already has, Elena.'
He didn't look her in the eyes, didn't look at her at all.
Not even when she grabbed her jacket and left.
Damon kept sitting with his back towards his brother for a short while, mulling over the fight he'd just witnessed, and for a moment there he felt glad that he wasn't in his brother's shoes right now.
For the last few days, weeks really, Damon had secretly wanted nothing more than to be his brother. He'd wanted to be the one Elena enjoyed spending time with, enjoyed laughing and joking with, enjoyed being with.
He'd wanted to be the one with her.
But he hadn't been and – according to Elena's more than clear words – he never was and never would be. He'd never be the one she wanted.
He'd never be the one she'd throw her arms around and kiss with a desperation as if the world would stop moving if she didn't. He'd never be the one to hold her and kiss her and love her, never the one she'd come running to, never the one who'd make her heart sing in joy.
But, Damon stood up and left the Grill without a glance to where his brother was still sitting, he'd also never be the one to crush Elena's hopes and dreams, her entire heart, with one single sentence.
She already has, Elena.
And Damon would never be the one to fall for Katherine's manipulations again, to fall into her traps. Not now, not again, not after everything.
He wouldn't be the one.
But Stefan was obviously the one stupid enough to fall for it. To fall for her, again.
He was obviously the one to break Elena's heart with the truth.
And for once Damon didn't envy his brother.
For once Damon was glad he wasn't Stefan. He wasn't the one.
Instead he would be the one to pick up the pieces of Elena 's heart and try to mend them back together. He would be the one to make her see that although, yes, Stefan had been right in stating that this was the reality of their situation, it didn't have to be bad.
Reality sucks, Elena had said, and maybe she was right. Maybe reality did suck. Maybe it was cruel and ugly and not the best scenario in the world right now and maybe it prompted you to run the other way and leave everything behind.
But Damon wouldn't be the one to do that.
Because it was real and… he wouldn't be the one to walk away. He couldn't.
And he knew that neither could she.
When it's real you can't walk away.
That was the reality of their situation. And Damon would be the one to make her see: He'd live by this truth for all eternity.
With that thought in mind he made his way over to Elena's home and entered her bedroom through the open window.
All the way home the earlier conversation played over and over in Elena's head. She couldn't shut it out, the words just kept on repeating themselves like a broken record playing in her mind. They branded themselves into her ears, into her brain.
This is the reality of our situation!
Elena tried to remind herself that everything she and Stefan had said hadn't been real. They'd decided to stage a fight so that Caroline would pick up on it and would carry it on to Katherine.
None of it had been real.
'Then why does it feel more real than anything else right now?' A voice suddenly piped up in Elena's head. 'Why did the words come so easily, so readily, over your lips? Over Stefan's as well? Why didn't you have to think hard and long first about what to say to make it as believable as possible?'
Elena tried to ignore the voice in her head. She entered her home and, without looking for or calling out to Jenna and Jeremy, she slowly trudged up the stairs. Shredding out of her jacket she left it on the banister and went straight for the bathroom.
The cold water that she splashed onto her face didn't erase the prickling feeling at the corners of her eyes. 'No!' Elena thought determined and, fingers digging into the edge of the sink in a hard grip and straightening up, she threw a glare at her own face in the mirror. 'I will not cry over this! It wasn't real! None of it was real!'
She knew that Stefan would be here soon. And then they would kiss and hug and reassure each other that this, the kisses, the closeness, the love, was real. And nothing else.
They would crawl into bed together, holding each other tight, and they would close their eyes and shut out the room, the night, the rest of the world, till the bright morning sun would come heralding another day.
Elena loosened her grip on the sink and let her arms fall to her sides. Before she turned towards her open bedroom door she sent one more look at her reflection in the mirror.
And she pretended not to see the truth in there.
This is the reality of our situation.
TBC
I know that this doesn't solve anything. But I hope the conversation I have in mind for Elena and Damon will do. Tell me what you think of this and also, if you know what you'd like to happen next when Elena and Damon talk, let me know. I could use a few pointers.
