Disclaimer: TVD belongs to whoever receives the royalties and that sure as hell isn't me. I just pretend while I'm writing.
Summary: It starts as the taste of him hits her tongue and before all is said and done, tears and blood have been spilled and lives have been lost... but most importantly none of them will ever be the same.
Elena's journey to realization that she's in love with the other brother. AU from the moment Damon forces his blood on Elena. Prequel to Unsuccessfully Saying Goodbye, but can stand alone.
AN: This is it, the very last chapter so I hope you enjoy and maybe decide to read the sequel with the same title as this chapter. Thank you all for sticking with me through this strange little ride, it's been a helluva lot more fun with you guys around!
oOo
Unwillingly Succumbing to Truth
oOo
unsuccessfully saying goodbye
oOo
She's being shaken gently by the shoulder. Her doe eyes flutter open and the world seems to pause as she looks into the endless depths of his impossibly clear blue eyes. Everything is so very clear in that moment; as crystal as the colour of his eyes. She smiles drowsily as waves of her memories flood her system and really, in that moment, it's all she can do.
"I'm leaving." He states nervously and that's her cue to get up and get ready to follow him to the ends of the earth and into the deepest recesses of hell if that's where he's going.
"OK." She says sitting up and stretching long tanned limbs tiredly because frankly she's still having a bit of trouble speaking. After all, this is the beginning of a new chapter; their chapter.
He gazes with glacial eyes at her longingly. "This is goodbye." He emphasises and she has to stop herself from smacking him hard for saying such a mean and spiteful thing. He can't just leave her behind.
She tosses her blankets aside and they spill to the floor in a puddle of soft down and cotton. "No." She says getting up and opening her well filled closet not wanting him to see how furious he's making her.
"No?" He questions her as she crouches down searching the floor of her closet in search of her favourite shoes. How is it possible that he's not getting that she can't... wont... doesn't want to be anywhere but with him?
"No." She echoes distractedly not finding much of anything in the dark closet. She stands up pulling dresses and shirts of their hangers... only the ones that have him looking at her in that longing and appreciative way, like she's the only woman in the world.
"I didn't want to leave before seeing you." He says sounding a bit irritated which makes little sense since he's the one trying to leave her and not the other way around. Well, he's not getting away that easily.
"OK." She says clenching her jaw trying to keep her cool and not start yelling profanities at him as she moves sluggishly over to her dresser. She did just wake up.
"OK." He repeats with raised brows as she angrily yanks her underwear drawer fully out of her dresser. She's just going to bring all of it. "Could you just stop and look at me?" He's says sounding exasperated which stops her dead in her tracks... GOD he can be such an idiot.
"Yes." She says as she turns towards him wide-eyed and questioning as she balances the drawer on her hip. His eyes bug out slightly as they ogle the silk, satin and lace threatening to spill to the floor in an erotic mess, making giggles gather and threaten to spill from her lips.
He shoots a funny look her way... unfortunately it's not funny ha-ha, but rather a funny suspicions of lunacy sort of look that effectively kills the giggles in her throat. "Are you OK?" He asks grimacing at her as if he's waiting for her to... she doesn't know what, but whatever it is, it's bad.
"Yes." She looks at him wondering what the hell has gotten into him all of a sudden.
He searches her eyes intently. "Have you been compelled?" He asks and the scales tip over to irritation at the sudden drop of his mental capacity.
She rolls her eyes and points at her vervain necklace. "No." She deadpans wondering if maybe he needs a good slap in the back of the head to kick-start his brain or something.
"No?" He inquires stupidly as if he's not only lost his mind, but also his hearing.
"No." She says with a glare and then unceremoniously dumps the contents of her underwear drawer into a duffel-bag. This isn't getting them anywhere and according to him they're leaving.
He swallows thickly and gives her one of those delicious looks of his that she isn't sure he's aware that he's doing. "What are you doing?" He asks warily and narrows his eyes.
"Packing." She says slowly as she pulls the most meaningful photos off her mirror in case they'll be gone for long.
"Packing?" He almost squeaks which makes the giggles start tickling the back of her throat once more. He's so adorable sometimes it just about kills her.
She turns to look at him with eyebrows raised trying her damnedest not to giggle at him... not with. How is he not getting this? "Packing." She restates and shoves the photos into her diary that she gingerly tucks into the duffel-bag.
He unnecessarily draws a breath. "Why?" He asks stupidly looking like the awkward teen she can't imagine him ever being.
She scoffs mockingly because, seriously, what the hell could she possibly be packing for if not to go with him? "Cleanliness." She deadpans as she grabs her makeup-bag, brush and deodorant.
"Are you going somewhere?" Again he spouts another dumb ass question that has an answer as clear as day.
She doesn't even bother looking at him to answer that one. "Yes." She's pulling out tops and pants and shoving them into her bag... it feels like she's forgetting something important though.
He rubs at his temples looking like he's getting a headache. Who knew vampires got those? "Where?"
She shrugs and attempts to close her now overstuffed duffel, after all she's not the one who decided that they were leaving in the middle of the night. "Wherever." She answers not caring where they go as long as they're together.
"Wherever? Can you be more specific?" He mocks clearly irritated and rolls his eyes and suddenly all of it seems impossibly funny to her. He's SUCH an idiot!
She turns to look at him with an amused expression. "Wherever you're going." She clarifies hoping that he's finally getting it.
"You're going back to sleep." He says resolutely so apparently they'll be driving for a while so she better bring a pillow.
As if on cue she yawns. "OK." She picks her quilt up of the floor and folds it neatly so that she'll be able to carry it along with all the other stuff she needs to bring.
"Like I was saying. I'm leaving." He says gloomily which she's just going to ignore because he's being such a stubborn ass-hat and she's too tired to deal with it right now.
She tucks her quilt, pillow and teddy - mustn't forget him - under her arm and slips her bare feet into a pair of black and white classic high-top Chucks. "Ready." She smiles up at him drowsily wondering what adventures he's going to take her on.
He looks at her with a pain filled expression... as if he's dying. "You're staying; I'm leaving." He says slowly as though the words are physically torturous to utter.
She frowns and grabs her overstuffed duffel-bag. "No." She says firmly being careful not to show just how furious his reluctance to understand her is making her.
He chuckles awkwardly and rubs the back of his neck. "No?" Not this again.
"NO." She says leaning closer and articulating unnecessarily while glaring fiercely through a haze of fatigue. She's going and that's final!
"I'm not coming back." He restates and she hadn't actually been expecting that, but she's made her choice and that's him.
She frowns a bit at the new information, maybe they can meet up with everyone somewhere else then. "OK." She says as her arms start to ache so she puts down her things at her unlaced Chuck clad feet.
"Goodbye." He says sadly swallowing thickly and she's just going to ignore that... her toothbrush! That's what she's forgetting. Morning breath is so not attractive.
She holds up a single slender finger. "No. Wait." She says before disappearing into the bathroom to retrieve the almost forgotten, but vital item. "OK. Ready." She says stuffing the slender purple thing into her purse once she returns.
"Ready?" He questions with knit brows and thankfully he's finally accepted that she's going with.
She narrows her eyes for a moment trying to think of anything else she might be forgetting. "Right." She says as she realizes that she better make sure the rest of them don't think she's been abducted... again. She removes her vervain necklace, no need to wear the damned thing any more, scribbles on a sticky note for Jeremy and grabs THE ring-box off her desk. "Just a sec." She says and disappears into the bathroom with the sticky note to leave it on the mirror for her wonderful baby brother to find.
She returns with her hair messily put up into a large black butterfly clip. He looks so warily apprehensive when she emerges out of the bathroom that she can't help but smile at how adorable he can be.
"Lets go." She says while picking up her discarded things once again. She doesn't miss the way his whole being lights up as she does so.
Then he looks hesitant. "What about Stefan?" He questions and she wonders if he still hasn't understood that it's him that she's chosen.
She shrugs non-committally. "What about him?" She counters. Sure she cares about the other Salvatore and most likely always will, but he's just not IT for her... not like the raven haired boy so deeply embedded into her very being.
He shifts his weight uncomfortably. "He's not coming." So apparently he hasn't gotten it.
She shoots him an you-can't-be-this-thick look. "I know." She answers and he looks about ready to have a heart attack.
"Your family and friends?" He asks as soon as he seems to have recovered from his almost dying of shock.
"Will understand and be missed." She supplies easily knowing that they all understand, that although she doesn't want to leave them, she will never again veer from her beloved vampires side... her beloved vampire... she really likes the sound of that.
"Why are you leaving?" He questions and that must be it. Of course he understood that she was leaving with him, he just didn't understand why.
She chuckles knowingly. "You." She answers truthfully feeling a bit silly for not having understood what the fuss was about, but it's his own fault for deciding to do this in the middle of the night.
"Me?" He says as if it were the most ridiculous and unbelievable reason in the world. "Elaborate." He pleads so helplessly that she wants to reassure him.
She looks at him fondly. "You're leaving ergo..." She lets the sentence trail off wanting him to finish it so that she'll be sure he actually understands.
He frowns cutely at her looking like an angry little boy in very much need of a hug or two. "Ergo?" He asks with a cocked eyebrow and an irritated glare.
She bites back a smile seeing him look so infuriatingly adorable. "... ergo I leave..." She tilts her head to the side and smiles sweetly. "... with you." She adds, but he doesn't smile back he looks confused at best. She really likes him like this; cute and clueless.
"Why?" Again with that word, he's beginning to sound like a broken record.
She rolls her eyes while still smiling sweetly. "I need you." She answers as honestly as she possibly can without getting into declarations of undying love and forevers that might scare him away.
He huffs tiredly clearly having misunderstood her. "Danger's over. You're safe."
She tries to hand him her bag so that they can leave; so he'll stop doubting her. "I know." She says, but that's not the point.
His eyebrows shoot up to his hairline and his crystalline eyes sparkle. "Then why?" He says that damned word again.
Her mouth forms a silent oh realizing that she'll have to elaborate. "I need you, not them." She says matter-of-factly.
He sighs looking like he's misunderstood her yet again. "What do you need me for?" He says and she's starting to wonder if he's trying to milk this whole thing to its limits.
"Everything." She looks at him with all the affection and undying love she has for him, trying to convey her wishes for their collective forever to him by sheer will.
He just stares at her, thankfully blinking every once in a while so that she knows he's still alive... well, undead.
She shoves her bag at him willing him to take it with her perfect twin pools of chocolate. "Lets go." She says and moves towards her bedroom door. Enough's enough.
He just stares dumbfoundedly and follows. Once they've made their way out and into his beloved Camaro he asks. "Everything what?"
She gives in to her impulses and kisses him passionately, the instant fire he conjures up within her catching her off guard and leaving her a bit breathless. "Everything." She purrs seductively and snuggles into his side where she knows she belongs.
He smiles softly and turns the ignition. "Everything." He echoes and drives off into the night and a future she can't wait to share with him.
oOo
AN: And there it is; the very last chapter of UST and the alternative intro to USG. Please let me know what you think of the fic, dear reader, even though you haven't reviewed before... it would mean the world to me if you do.