End of the chapter 4:

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 sweather 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".

~***~

He left his room but came back after a few minutes.
"Here is a towel for you, everything else you need is in the bathroom. Make yourself comfortable and if you should need anything else just call me OK?",
He gave her a big dark blue towel .
"Thank you Stefan. I think a hot bath is exactly what I need right now".
Elena grabbed the towel and their hands touched for a millisecond.
She looked back into his eyes, he didn't look angry, he had a warm smile on his face.
"I... I see you later", she said and walked to the bathroom.

When she came back from the bathroom she saw Stefan sitting on his bed with a couple of photos in his hands.
„How was the bath? You look better now", he said, looking up for a moment.
„I feel better. Thanks again for everything. That bath was just heavenly", she said with a small smile on her lips.
She stood in front of his bed and couldn't really decide if she should join him on the bed or better get going, though he had said she could stay.
„Hey what's wrong? Come, sit down", he said and patted to the other side of the bed.
He put the photos away, „You said you wanted to talk to me?" , his face was severe as he looked her straight into the eyes.
„Yes look", hesitantly she sat down on the edge of his bed.
„I'm sorry for what happened earlier and I don't know why I got so scared, I know it may be hard to believe this now, but I do trust you and",
at that point he interrupted her abruptly, „Don't be so hard on yourself, it's normal for you to be scared of me,
I belong to something evil, something that probably shouldn't exist", his voice was a low murmur now.
„An instinct as old as mankind warned you about me, I can't be angry about this".
Now she interrupted his prologue, „No Stefan it's not that easy! You are different to ...others of your kind",
she still had trouble pronouncing the word vampire. „You never gave me any reason to fear you. This was my fault, and don't you interrupt me again",
she said half smiling as she noticed that he was about to say something.
„I want to be with you. But I'm scared. I'm scared of losing you. I.. I can't take another loss right now, you know?
I'm scared to let anybody inside, to get hurt again. It's easier to stay away from everything".
These were her innermost feelings and she had just put them into words for the first time.
She put her arms around her knees and her head rested on them now.
She looked small and fragile.
„I know what you're feeling. But you can't keep on running from everyone that means something to you, trust me leaving them is more painful",
she saw a deep sadness in his eyes as he seemed to travel back in time in his mind. „When someone is important to you, it's always worth the risk".
He gave her an assuring look.
„Maybe you're right. I just wish I wasn't so scared. I wish everything was still so much easier", her eyes became glassy.
Slowly Stefan crouched towards her and placed on of his hands on hers.
„If you let me, I'll be here for you. I promise". A small tear ran down her left cheek.
„Thank you", she moved closer to him until their bodies touched and he gently put an arm around her shoulder.
As she was now cradled into his arms and as she could smell his exelent cologne she felt happy and sad at the same time.
She knew that his words were true and she really wanted to be with him, with all her heart.
„I'm glad I'm here with you", she whispered into his chest.
„Me too", he pressed her closer to his body and placed a soft kiss on her head.

After a few minutes they slowly broke apart.
„What time is it? I feel dead tired", Elena said.
„Past 4 am. Let's get you some sleep. Just make yourself comfortable",
he placed a sweet kiss on her cheek, almost touching her lips, before he got up.
„Have a good night", he said and was about to walk out of his room.
„Hey don't be silly, that bed is big enough for both of us!".
Elena said.
„You sure?",
She looked around the bed as if to make sure that it was big enough for two people.
„Yeah pretty sure", she laughed and as he was still not really moving she grabbed one of the pillows and threw it at him.
„Come on, I'm getting old here".
With his vampire skills he caught the pillow without even looking at it and was right next to her on the bed in less then a second.
„Woah that was fast", she said honestly surprised. „I don't wanna fall asleep next to a wrinkeld old lady", he said grinningly.
„If you start being rude I do have to force you to sleep on the couch after all", Elena countered.
It was the first time this evening that Stefan saw her actually happy and not so worried. He loved to see her smile, it made him feel good.
„Okay, okay, I promise, I'll behave", he answered with a smile.
They both crawled under the covers and Stefan switched off the light.
For a moment none of them said a word, it was completetly silent in the house. The only sound came from the wind blowing against the windows.
Elena felt warm and safe here.
„Stefan?",
„Mhmm?", he turned his body towards her.
„You need something?"
„No, I was just wondering about something. Before you said you didn't want to fall asleep to an old woman or something like that,
so does that mean that your're... actually sleeping at night?",
She heard a low chuckle coming from him.
„Sure, what else is there to do at night?"
„Haha"
„Seriously, we can sleep, but we don't need as much sleep as humans do,
though tonight I'm pretty tired too and I might just fall asleep in the next few minutes", he added grinningly.
„I hope that's not because of me",
„Of course not, just had a long day. Hey are you cold?",
he noticed her shaking very slighltly now.
„Just a little"
„Come here", he crouched a little towards her and put an arm around her.
Quickly she pressed her body next to his.
„Sleep well", he whispered into her ear.
„You too", she turned her head and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
He squeezed her even closer to his side and let her lay her head on his chest.
„I'm here for you, love", he murmured half asleep.

A faint light was streaming from the windows into Stefan's bedroom. Slowly Elena woke up.
Disorientated she rubbed her eyes, sat up and looked around the room before she realized where she was.
Stefan was sleeping peacefully next to her. He looked so content, without any worries. Elena couldn't help smiling happily at him.
"He's really asleep, just like a normal person. I wonder what he's dreaming", now that the shadows of the night had disappeared she felt much better
and all her fear about losing him and about him being a vampire seemed far away...
But she was still tired, she had no idea how late it was, but it looked like it was still early in the morning, probably shortly after sunset.
Her head was aching badly so she decided to go back to sleep again. Slowly she lay down again next to Stefan.
He was breathing evenly and all his sorrows seemed to have completely disappeared.
"It must be the first time that I see him so carefree. I wish I could take away some of his pain".
She had to think about his Loss with Lexi. She knew very well what he was feeling but she didn't know what to do to make that feeling go away.
"Perhaps it's better if we take it slow".
She kept watching him a little more until he subconciously rolled over to the other side of the bed and put one arm around Elena before he snuggled up close to her.
She felt his warm body close to hers. Perfectly happy she placed her hand on his and their fingers entwinded automatically.
With a big smile plastered across her face she took in his perfect scent before sleep took over again and she just fell asleep in his arms.

Yeah I know it took me ages to update...
I hope you like this not so dramatic chapter. :)

I don't know if I should continue writing this story or start something now. Anyone still interested in it??