She heard the front door shut, so he was really gone. Now she realized what she had just done to him.
"Being close to me is already so difficult for him and now I twist the knife in the wound. I really shouldn't have freaked out so much!"

She couldn't stand being in the house any longer. She needed to find him so she could apologize for sending him away.
Quickly she pulled on some clothes and left the house. Rain had set in so she quickly jogged to her car. Once she was on the road she felt much better, she needed to do something.
When she arrived at the mansion she saw a faint light coming from one of the windows on the 1st floor.
That was a good sign.

She rang the doorbell and waited to hear steps coming closer. She now realized that she didn't really know what to tell him exactly and she wasn't sure anymore if he'd listen to her at all.
'He has every reason to be mad with me" she thought.
Still no one had opened the door.
She rang the bell again, but Stefan didn't come to let her in. She felt tears coming.
'I cant lose you too. I need you'.
Devastated she walked back to the car. She didn't feel like going home where she'd be reminded of what had just happened.

So a few minutes later she found herself driving to mystic falls' cemetery.
The rain hadn't stopped that's why she was soaked as she reached her parents grave.
Like every time she read the words that were craved into the stone 'In memory, Grayson Gilbert, Miranda Sommers Gilbert, loving parents'
and like every time tears ran down her cheeks.

In everyday life when she was occupied with lots of things she didn't feel the loss that much.
But here at that special place all the grief that she normally suppressed came rushing to the surface.
With hands cold from the rain she plugged her earphones in and picked the song "Big yellow taxi" from her ipod.
They had always listened to this song when they were driving in the car together.
Pictures popped into her head, pictures of a carefree, happy time.
She started shaking as the tears now streamed hot down her cheeks.
'I cant go on without you. How could you leave me here all alone. And Jeremy needs you too. I want my family back'
she slowly sank down on her knees and sat down in front of her parents grave.
She didn't care about the wet grass. Right now she didn't even fully feel it.

Elena didn't know how much time had passed, she only knew that the song had replayed itself many many times.
She looked at her watch, it read 2.15 am. That meant she only had 6 hours of sleep left before her alarm clock would start ringing.
She pulled herself together and got up from the muddy ground.
Her eyes burnt from all the crying and now she also felt the cold coming from her wet clothes.
She needed to change her clothes before she'd get seriously sick. With stiff legs she left the cemetery and walked to her car.
Once she was in the car the rain became a soft drizzle before it stopped completely.
"That figures", she thought grimly.
She had planed to drive straight home but as she passed the drive way to Stefan's house she simply had to bend off.
The light was still on but this time it didn't give her much hope.

Once again she rang the old doorbell.
"Stefan please open the door".
Nothing happened.
Crestfallen she sank down to the ground before her tears set in again.

~***~

Suddenly low steps came towards the house. Slowly she picked up her head.
"Elena what are you doing here?!", it was Stefan. He sounded concerned.
She didn't know what to say, she was afraid that the wrong word would make him disappear again.
He stopped a few steps away from her, it was clear that he didn't want to scare her again. Though she was here he didn't know for what reason.
Maybe it was to say her final goodbye to him.
Only now he noticed her wet clothes and her slightly shaking frame. It took him all his strength not to sprint to her to take her into his arms.
"What happened? Are you OK?",
His voice was slightly shaking at the end.
"Don't worry about me Stefan", she slowly tried to get up, her legs were shacking now. In one swift movement he was by her side to help her get up.
Once she was standing safely leaned against the wall he retreated immediately.
That one touch had been enough to send goosebumps down her spine. His smell was all over her.
"Stefan I'm here to apologize", she started.

He looked at her in surprise.
"I don't expect you to forgive me. And I totally understand it if you say that I've hurt you enough and that you don't want to see me again.
That's more than understandable. But please just let me explain myself".
She was shaking even more now and it wasn't only due to the cold. She felt so hopeless and broken-hearted.
"Maybe this is the last time that I see him. And once he is gone I'm finally all alone and there's no one left to help me get through everything.", she tried to fight back her tears.
He shouldn't see her like this.
He felt so hurt by her pain and he knew that he was the cause of it.
"I know that I've pushed you away again and again. I'm so sorry that I've been so cruel tonight when I sent you away. ... The fear just came over me.
Still I should've trust you... Maybe you deserve someone else Stefan", he hadn't said a word, he'd only stared at her in silence. In disbelieve.
"He doesn't even have anything left to say to me", she felt it all crushing down on her.
She needed to go, she couldn't spend one more moment in his presence with knowing that she'd never be with him again.
Elena turned around and headed for her car. But before she was any close to the car Stefan's arms were around her and pressed her securely to him.
"No, please don't go!"
She didn't try to flee from him. Shes sank down into his arms exhausted.
"Elena what's wrong?",
She didn't say anything.
Then he picked her up and quickly carried her into the house.

He had told himself not to touch her or come any close to her again unless she told him to. But he couldn't leave her out there, could he?
Once they were inside he carried her up to his room were he carefully placed her on his bed.

"Elena please say something", she looked into his eyes full of concern.

She didn't understand why he had brought her here.
"I'm OK. Stefan I.. look I'm so sorry and all",
"Sshh it's fine. Just tell me how long have you been in the cold? You're shaking!", he took both her hands into his to rub them warm.
"I don't know. I was looking for you, but you didn't open the door. So I went to my parents grave.
I don't know how long I've been there and then I came to your house. It must've been around 2.30 am".
It was past 3 am now.
"But why didn't you go home with your wet clothes? You could've come to me tomorrow".
"I needed to talk to you first", she simply said.
"I feel so bad about what I did. And I thought you were home, I saw a light".
"Oh I think I left it on when I left the house. I'm sorry Elena I didn't expect your visit. And not in the middle of the night".
"So you didn't open the door because you weren't there and not because it was me who was standing in front of your house?!",
He looked surprised.
"No, no, of course not! I'd never do that", he gently stroke her hands and gave her a warm smile.
She felt much better now that she knew that he still wanted to see her or at least let her explain everything.

"But you have to put these clothes off our you'll get really sick.
You can have some of mine, OK?", he said while he got up and walked to his wardrobe.
"And perhaps I should run you a hot bath too so you'll warm up faster".
He turned around again to Elena and gave her a pile of clothes.
She already put off her sweater and her shoes.
"This is really nice of you Stefan, but I can go home too".
"No no no. Of course you can stay at my house tonight. Even more as this is my fault.
"I don't think it's your fault, but thank you anyway". She said with a slight smile on her lips.
"You're more than welcome".

I know its not a very long chapter, but I wanted to upload it anyway. I'll try to write more in the next few days :)

Hope you all like the story so far, If you have any improvement suggestions or if you enjoy reading it, feel free to click on the green button down here: