AN- For all those who favorited, alerted and reviewed the story, Thank you.
Hopefully you will like this chapter...I was to write more but then felt it made sense to end it here. Rest to come soon; in fact, I'm afraid the story will get longer than originally planned because I seem to have taken a slower pace than I had thought I would take. Let me know if you want me to fasten it.
Once when Stefan was seven; Damon, just entering teenage hood and thinking that he could take the world, had taken him fishing by the lake…
What had happened had been a source of nightmares for a couple of months after.
Even today, he could sometimes feel the dread swell up inside him like it had that day.
How was he to know?
Stefan's scream for help had initially left him paralyzed with fear. In a matter of seconds his younger brother, who had been slowly getting closer and closer to the edge, had been swept away into the water, his small frame trying desperately to keep himself afloat.
Damon hadn't known what to do and even though the memory was hazy he remembers the clenching of his heart as he had shouted in panic, "Stefan."
Without another thought he had jumped into the water only to realize that it was too damn cold and that he wasn't that great a swimmer as he had always prided himself to be…But his little brother was still crying for help and it hadn't seem to matter…
Stefan had come out alive but unconscious and with hands that trembled Damon had shaken his motionless body in utter panic, "Stefan, Steffy…Steffy get up."…
He suddenly opens his eyes, the sound of her entering the house waking him up.
He smiles at her in a greeting of sorts and is greeted in return by an anxious look and a ghost of a smile which disappears as soon as it comes.
He still takes it as a start.
She stops at the bottom of the staircase and he waits for her to say something.
"Can I come with you next time you go visit Stefan?" She asks quietly.
He contemplates for some time and then nods, as long as she was not going there alone, "If that's what you want."
She nods and takes two steps up the stairs before stopping again, "Damon?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you." And she continues to make her way up.
He silently and intently watches her go…
The love of one woman had once destroyed whatever bond he and his brother had shared. He doesn't know how the love of this one was going to affect whatever little was left of it.
The voices from the kitchen make her stop to peer inside. The scene inside is an unusual one, but given the changes which have been taking place, not a shocking one.
Jeremy is seated on top of the counter casually biting into an apple while Caroline is at the stove, very painstakingly trying to toss pancakes.
It is what Damon is doing which holds her gaze.
He is laughing, openly, at something her brother had said. He mockingly picks up a knife and is threatening Jeremy with it while her brother just continues to shake his head with laughter.
There is a comfort level between them she hadn't noticed before. And Jeremy looks…Happy. After such a long time that she finds herself smiling at them.
How can she blame Damon for 'killing' her brother when he turns out to be the one who saves him as well?
Damon picks up her scent as she enters and the smile drops from his face…
"Bloody technology." He mutters instead, shifting his attention back to the Food Processor he was trying to work. The thing had way too many buttons. Cooking was far easier in the 1800's.
"It's not like you time travelled, "Elena puts in and he notes that the hostility in her voice is absent. Atleast for today.
"You've seen things evolve." She continues, steeling the apple from Jeremy.
He smirks at her, "True. True." He says wisely. "From petticoats to Bikini's…Yes I have definitely seen things evolve."
She rolls her eyes at him, "what are you guys doing?"
"We decided to cook you break…" Caroline looks at her watch, "well…brunch."
Sleep doesn't come easily to her. Her head feels like it has been banging on a wall for a while and her stomach is knotted into several little questions she doesn't like acknowledging.
It has been a month today. A month!
She had seen Stefan last week. Damon, as promised, had taken her with him to visit him.
Of course there had been the general banter, "how about you keep your excitement at bay kid and remain behind me?"
"I'm not a child Damon."
He turned to look at her then, his eyes taking a teasing look as they slowly, very slowly, roamed over her body. He stepped closer and Elena stood her ground even though a flush started to creep up her neck, "Oh, trust me Elena. I have noticed that."
His eyes, God! Did he have expressive eyes, suddenly became serious, losing a bit of their shine as he leaned in even closer, "but I'm still much much older to you." He straitened back and Elena found herself releasing a breath she did not she was holding, "so you'll have to obey me."
With that he was gone and Elena had to follow him.
Seeing Stefan had been a turmoil, to say the least.
He looked… healthy even somewhat perkier than she had known him.
She had looked at Damon in confusion. Apparently the steady blood supply he had been providing Stefan with was laced with a good amount of human AB +ve from his private collection.
It had dislodged her. Somehow she had expected Stefan to look a mess, desperate to come out, desperate to escape the company of Katherine.
She understood the relief she felt, she even understood the jealousy, but disappointment?
Why did seeing Stefan okay, knowing that Damon was doing all he could do to keep him alright, make her feel disappointed?
Was it because it left her with nothing to hold against Damon? Or was it because it made her realize that Stefan could do without her? Or was it much more deep seated?
Was she feeling weird because…She refused to even think about it, let alone acknowledge the feeling.
There was no way that there was a part of her which had realized that she could do without Stefan as well ….
There are days when they do sit at the same place at the same time. They are too quiet for his taste, so he often breaks the silence with one of his excellent one liners.
Mostly Elena has a reply in hand, sometimes she just sits quietly.
He doesn't mind…
What has bought the change in her, he isn't sure, but it's nice to have her slightly less drowned in teenage angst…She seems acceptable to him on some days and he can live with that.
Like today, she is sitting with her eyes closed, seemingly enjoying the warmth of the fire, while he sits beside her, nursing a drink, his eyes steadily watching her.
Her face is etched in his memory, of course it is…He had been obsessed with that face for past 145 years…But no, it was the differences that he notices the most.
Elena's lips don't curl in a snarl ever, even when she is being her most sarcastic self, they only lift in a slight smirk…Her smile is genuine and reached her eyes…Her eyes…Her eyes are the most different…
They light up when she is happy, they dim when she is upset, they cloud when she is confused, they are black, but they are not dark…They hold a life in them…
That day when he had foolishly, stupidly, under some insane, weak moment had told her that he loved her …He had intently watched her eyes.
And had not been able to read them…He wasn't sure what he saw in them. Curosity? Confusion? He wasn't sure…
However, he was sure of one thing he had not seen in them…Revulsion.
He doesn't know if that makes him stupid to make her forget; given it was not revulsion, there might as well have been a chance…
What was he thinking? Damon shakes his head clear; Stefan is still in the tomb. It was his duty to get him back.
Without a word that alerts Elena he leaves to go visit Alaric. Tonight they have to go meet some out of town witches to work out the tomb spell.
He will bring Stefan back, he silently promises Elena as he leaves.
So? I hope Elena is not getting OOC…She is just very very confused and trying very very hard not to fall for Damon…Do review.