A/N: Thank you so much for all of your fantastic reviews! :] The last chapter should be posted next week... unless it turns out I need more time to choose an ending... I have way too many ideas at the moment haha
& As I'm sure everyone suspected, Stefan is not really dead. I'd be too scared of Katherine's reaction to that lol
Beta: arabian – Thank you so much! :]
Warning: A bit of Klaroline... but with a twist ;)
Disclaimer: TVD belongs to L.J. Smith & CW.
Chapter 21
It was so, so strange, because he couldn't feel the pain at all. His eyes widening from pure shock and from the subconscious realization of what was happening, what it meant to have a stake run through him, through his heart.
It felt like falling in love... a little... It felt like losing someone... a little... He wondered if it felt a little like drowning too...
In the absence of pain he could focus on remembering all those feelings that rushed to him like a storm of memories. Strangely enough, he could only watch the images flicker across his mind, impossible to reach, impossible to hold.
Stefan's eyes darted to Elena and even if he couldn't feel the physical pain, he could feel a different kind of pain at the sight of dismay and despair in her eyes. She looked so frightened and bereaved and he wished he could tell her not to... And on the edge of his vision he could also see his brother's eyes, as clear, as wide as he remembered them from all those years and years and-
Stefan collapsed to the floor. It was dark and he thought there should be a rule that forbade dying in darkness.
"No rules, Stefan. Don't you remember? No rules."
How strange, he thought blankly before the silence washed over him like a sable sea, how strange that he should die with her voice resonating in his head.
Elena's scream caught in her throat when along with everyone else she was pushed backwards by a gust of wind that suddenly erupted out of nowhere interweaved with Bonnie's strong voice, chanting the words.
The stake in Stefan's chest was glowing, the glow spreading over his entire body as well as Klaus' who tried to remove his hand from the stake, but from the expression on his face it was clear that he couldn't.
Jeremy looked around, noticing the spelled circle disappear and he leaped forward followed by Caroline and Matt.
The wind intensified and Elena felt Damon's arms close around her to keep her from being swept away. She felt the tears gather in her eyes and roll down her cheeks and on an impulse her hand shot up seeking his. She wouldn't be able to consciously acknowledge the thought, but a part of her feared, while expecting and understanding it all along, that at such a moment he wouldn't be able to devote any attention to the gesture. Nonetheless, when his fingers closed around hers almost crushing her hand, she felt a twinge of indescribable relief, selfish as it was, and she held on to his hand, watching Bonnie through half-lidded eyes, through the wind, the dust that suddenly appeared obscuring everyone's vision.
And then as suddenly as it had begun, everything stopped.
Stefan and Klaus were both lying motionlessly, remnants of silvery dust falling over them.
Bonnie fell into Abby's arms and Jeremy scurried toward them. Matt and Caroline approached them as fast as Damon and Elena got to where Stefan and Klaus were. Hastily, Damon pulled the stake out of Stefan's chest and threw it away. Elena's frantic gaze darted between Stefan and Bonnie.
"What happened?" Caroline asked in a shrill, desperate voice, noticing Bonnie's eyelids fluttering open as she tried to gather enough strength to speak.
"Are they dead?" Matt asked, glancing over at Stefan and Klaus, meeting Elena's frightened eyes that seemed to glaze over at his question.
"No," Bonnie managed to choke out, blindly reaching for something to prop herself into a sitting position.
Elena and Damon looked at each before their eyes shifted to Stefan again.
Bonnie opened her eyes, momentarily distracted by Jeremy's hand clasping hers. Then she lifted her gaze, tilted her head to the side and said in a barely audible but calm and steady voice:
"They're human."
Damon squinted against the sunlight pouring through the windows, illuminating the interiors of Stefan's room.
Bonnie didn't know how much time it'd take for Stefan to wake up, so they were watching over him in shifts since the night they had brought him home.
One day had passed, now the second day would begin and even though Stefan's breathing was steady and Meredith had confirmed his state was a state of a person casually asleep, not even comatose, everyone had started to worry, especially since late last night Sheriff Forbes had called to tell them that Klaus had woken up in his jail cell.
An all too familiar sound of a hasty intake of breath caused Damon to turn around from the window.
Stefan sat up in bed, gasping for air. He blinked several times, his head bent down as he was trying to catch his breath over and over again.
Soundlessly, Damon slowly approached the bed, watching Stefan with attentive intensity.
Stefan held his head in his hands but must have caught a sight of movement out of the corner of his eye because very abruptly he looked up. Damon stopped at the foot of the bed. For a moment they just looked at each other and for a split second Stefan abstractly expected to hear their father's sharp voice drift to him through the half-open window.
"Good morning, brother," Damon said at last in a slightly strident voice, a ghost of a smile flitting across his face.
Stefan looked at him with his brows furrowed. "What happened?" he asked and then slightly shook his head. His voice sounded strangely quiet to him, almost as if it was muffled.
"Klaus stabbed you," Damon said after a pause.
Stefan nodded slowly. "I remember that." He looked up. "Did Bonnie..." He rubbed his eyes, slightly annoyed by how pale all colors seemed. "Is Klaus dead?"
"He's..." Damon squinted, considering the question for a moment, "incapacitated." He decided on the answer at last, flashing Stefan a brief smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, remaining filled with a curious glimpse of worry instead, and that disconcerted Stefan most of all.
"Last time he was supposedly incapacitated-" Stefan started grimly.
"Yeah, I know," Damon said, averting his eyes from him for a second. "But it's different this time. Liz got all his evil deeds from across the country piled up on her desk, so he probably wouldn't have gotten out of prison for the next thousand years... if he had a thousand years to spare."
Stefan blinked and frowned, apparently trying to figure out the meaning of the words on his own. "You mean his and mine deeds," he said dejectedly after a pause in a low, hollow voice.
Damon rolled his eyes and almost groaned finally losing his calm demeanor. "Really? That's your first thought after what I just said?" He asked, giving Stefan an incredulous look. "Not to mention your first thought after waking up?" He added in a slightly different tone.
"How long have I been unconscious?" Stefan asked, suddenly uncertain of his own memory. There were so many thoughts rushing through his head it was difficult to make sense of them all and Damon's explanation concerning Klaus was still echoing dully in his head, not making much sense, which he was sure was the effect of the pain-
He blinked again.
"Almost two days," Damon replied carefully. "That must have been one hell of a long night for you," he added quietly in an oddly thoughtful tone that made Stefan shift his gaze back to him.
"Yes... It kind of feels that way," Stefan answered slowly, feeling like he was missing on the meaning of his own words; as if he managed to endow them with meaning he was yet to understand. "What do you mean Klaus is in jail?" He asked, pushing the bed cover slightly away to find the source from where he felt the pain radiate.
"Oh, you know. These things always get out of control," Damon spoke, attempting to sound casual, but his eyes followed each of Stefan's movements and expressions with great intensity. "It turns out Bonnie got a bit creative with the notion of balance."
Having moved the bed cover aside, Stefan stared down on his bandaged chest as if it was the strangest sight. "What did she do?" He asked barely above a whisper, raising his hand and brushing his fingers against the bloody stain marking the layers of bandages. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered why he couldn't smell the scent of blood at all.
"She..." Damon wrinkled his forehead and inhaled, "turned him into a human."
Stefan's hand froze in the air, inches away from his heart.
"The original spell," Damon continued, "required a vampire to kill a human in order for the vampire to become human. But Bonnie managed to tweak the spell a little, so it would work for any species killing a different species." Damon trailed off for a second, watching Stefan stare down on his hands as if they belonged to someone else. "So that's why it worked for a hybrid killing a vampire."
The room was still and silent and Stefan's gaze wandered around the floor, following the sun rays all the way out of his room's windows. "But I'm not dead," he said in an oddly detached, indifferent voice that nonetheless trembled a little.
Out of the corner of his eye he could see Damon's lips twitch into a faint smile. "No," Damon said just as quietly but his voice seemed to reverberate in the room like a sound. "I suggest you hunt Bonnie down about the details," he added in a somewhat lighthearted tone, but his eyes were still serious when Stefan looked him straight in the eye.
They looked at each other and Stefan marveled silently at how a look could feel like a journey. He was plummeting into the past, falling all the way down to some indefinite, abstract beginning with a house white like a book not yet written, gardens so green and the sun above so bright... and then he was being sucked back into the present, through the darkness and moments of such intense beauty he hardly believed they were real. Everything was falling into place, the last minute of a movie, the last second of a race.
"I think I'm hungry," Stefan said in a strange voice, with a strange expression on his face. His room looked strange to him and there was that strange gash in his chest that for some strange reason hadn't healed itself yet.
A shadow of a smile passed across Damon's face again. "There is a bunch of people demolishing the kitchen just now in hope of fixing you the best breakfast of your life, so why don't you freshen up and meet everyone downstairs?" He said with a mixture of seriousness and humor that made Stefan's mind spin even more than it was already spinning.
Glancing at Stefan over his shoulder, Damon slowly made his way toward the door.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Stefan asked in a low, uneven voice, his eyes fixed on an unidentifiable point in space.
Damon turned toward him. "Yes," he answered immediately, his eyes full of light and concern that he quickly turned into mild amusement when Stefan shifted his gaze to him. "I'm afraid you'll finally have to graduate from high school."
Grabbing her purse from in front of the mirror in the hallway, Caroline hastily pulled the door open.
"Oh my God!" She exclaimed almost tripping over her own feet at the sight.
Tyler gave her a tentative smile. "How are you?" He asked softly, his eyes wandering greedily all over her face.
Caroline stared at him for some time in silence, conflicting emotions fighting for dominance before she apparently made her choice and shook her head with a humorless snort.
The smile on Tyler's face faded into a hesitant frown.
"How am I?" Caroline asked, widening her eyes at him in amazement. "How am I?!"
Tyler blinked, automatically stepping aside when she just stormed passed him, heading for her car.
"Caroline!" He called after her with mixture of astonishment and dismay.
Without turning around Caroline got into her car, slammed the door shut and drove off.
"Are you sure it's a good idea, leaving him alone in his room?" Jeremy asked, taking the frying pan from Bonnie. "What if he freaks out?"
"He might when he tries these," Damon said, giving the plate in Elena's hands a meaningful look.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "This is the best souffle you've ever not eaten," she said indignantly.
"I meant it as a compliment," Damon said defensively, following Elena to the table. "After all, it must taste delicious," he said with a smirk, "if the taste of the cook is any indication," he added, wrapping his arm around her waist from behind and nuzzling her neck. She giggled.
Bonnie rolled her eyes, glancing at them over her shoulder. "I don't envy you having that on a daily basis," she muttered, looking back at Jeremy who slid the chopped vegetables onto the frying pan.
"At least I don't get killed anymore even if I do walk in on something," Jeremy replied smilingly.
Bonnie didn't look amused by the joke.
"One thing I still don't understand," Damon spoke in an exaggeratedly thoughtful voice, sauntering back toward them.
"Only one?" Bonnie arched an eyebrow at him.
Damon smiled briefly. "How did you know Klaus would kill Stefan, of all people?"
Bonnie smiled, placing the frying pan on the stove. "I didn't."
"You didn't?" Elena glanced at her in surprise while looking around for a dishcloth.
"I knew Klaus would kill someone either to punish you for refusing to kill Jeremy, and of course I knew you wouldn't do that, or in a fit of rage for a different reason. But I had no idea who he'd kill," Bonnie said with a small shrug. "Anyone he'd have chosen would've remained or become human."
"You mean there was a remote possibility it would've been me?" Damon asked in mock dismay, snatching the dishcloth before Elena grabbed it and moving it just out of her reach every time she tried to take it from him.
"To be honest that was my first bet," Bonnie admitted with a small smirk. "Although either of you would've probably been a waste of the spell," she said under her breath, shifting her eyes between Elena and Damon who stuffed the dishcloth into his shirt, forcing Elena to reach into it to get it out. "Considering your kinky ways, you would've probably become vampires again on the very same evening."
Elena widened her eyes at Bonnie in half-hearted offense. "Well, I'd like to remind you that our... ways made Klaus' plan impossible to execute to begin with."
Jeremy laughed under his breath, grabbing coffee cups and taking them to the table. Bonnie smiled as well.
"What?" Elena demanded, confused. Damon took her hand in his and placed a folded dishcloth over it. She shot him an amused look and he kissed her on the cheek.
"I made that up," Bonnie said with a sigh and a complacent smile, leaning against the counter. "The fact that you drank vampire blood didn't mean that you couldn't go through re-transition. I just made sure much earlier that Klaus believed there was such a rule."
Elena blinked, still looking puzzled.
"You're just that predictable, Elena," Damon offered with a smirk. "Even Bonnie knew you'd munch on me the first chance you got."
Elena hit Damon playfully on the shoulder.
"That was too dangerous," Jeremy said, returning to the kitchen. "Getting into Klaus' head? Letting him into yours?" He shook his head in amazement. "Only you could come up with something that crazy."
"It was a bit of a challenge, yes, but clearly nothing I couldn't handle," Bonnie said, thrusting up her chin with pretended haughtiness before giving Jeremy a simple, happy smile.
"But you still needed some sort of insurance," Jeremy said with a smile on his own alluding to what Bonnie had told him earlier, explaining that should the worst had happened, his involvement was meant to keep her from toppling over the edge. He wasn't quite sure what to make of that just yet, and he suspected Bonnie didn't either, but it still made him strangely joyful to simply think about that.
Bonnie only smiled at him in response.
The bell interrupted them and Damon went to open the door.
"Maybe I should go check on Stefan?" Bonnie proposed, looking between Jeremy and Elena. "Explain everything to him first. He's probably in shock and after all, it's my... well, fault, so-"
"I'm not in shock," Stefan said with a weak smile, walking into the kitchen. "I just feel... a little strange." He looked at Bonnie and then slowly shifted his eyes to Elena.
She smiled in genuine relief, a half-happy, half-sad grimace, and went to hug him. When she drew back, Damon had already returned to the kitchen with Meredith.
"I came to check on you and here you are out and about," Meredith said, giving Stefan a warm smile.
Elena glanced at Damon who held her gaze for a second before proceeding to search for something in the cutlery drawer with that irritating expression she thought they were done with. Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Elena turned to the toaster and pushed the button ignoring the already ready toast. When they popped up a moment later they were burned. She sighed and glanced at Damon who glanced at her but then went back to rearranging spoons and forks.
"Wow. I didn't know this amplification thing applies to cooking skills too," Jeremy said, giving the toast an amused look. Elena looked at him questioningly. "You're worse at it than ever," he said and quickly jumped away to avoid being smacked with a dishcloth.
"Mom?" Caroline walked into the Sheriff's office, glancing around the empty room with an impatient sigh.
Turning on her heels, she was going to leave the building when a voice coming from the cells stopped her in her tracks.
"I believe your mother just went out for lunch. She should be back soon."
Taking a single step into the direction of the corridor Caroline said dryly. "Thank you for the information."
"I was hoping you came to visit the vile prisoner."
Caroline didn't even know why she stopped walking again. And she truly had no idea why she turned to look at him. Maybe it was because it was a gratifying sight, seeing Klaus helplessly human and safely behind the bars.
"I have better things to do than visiting everyone on death row," she said unsmilingly. He was sitting with his back against the prison cell, not looking at her, a small smirk playing about his lips.
"I wasn't bluffing about that bloodline thing, you know," he said, squinting into the distance.
"We know that," Caroline said dismissively. "Bonnie's already found a way around it."
He smiled. "I'm glad to hear it," he said with irritating amount of amusement laced into his tone.
"I hope you don't mind if I don't share the details with you," she said sardonically and whirled around to leave.
"Why did you keep the drawing?"
Caroline froze, cold shivers running up her spine and she was sorely tempted to start hitting her forehead with her purse repeatedly. She really hoped he hadn't noticed the drawing falling out of her purse. Lost in angry thoughts it didn't even cross her mind to dismiss the question.
"I just completely forgot about it," she said through her teeth, turning away with a firm intention to really leave this time.
"What about my last wish?" Klaus asked in a sincerely curious tone.
Caroline snorted out loud. "Your what?"
"You've mentioned, and you're most likely right, I'll end up tied up to that fancy chair you lovely contemporary people invented so I think I deserve a last wish?"
"Well, as a matter of fact you don't deserve anything at all, except..." she trailed off in mock-consideration, "to die," she concluded darkly. "Maybe." Not really knowing why she was even talking to him at all, why she was still standing here looking at him and feeling mildly annoyed by the fact that he wasn't looking at her, she said (not knowing why she was saying it either). "OK," Caroline said with a grimace. "So what do you want? A cigarette? A doughnut?" She asked with a shadow of an ironic smile, crossing her arms over her chest.
Klaus laughed soundlessly and she frowned at the disconcerting impression that he laughed because he really thought she was being funny. She opened her mouth to add something sharp and leave, at last, but then he stood up, not without difficulty because of his feet being chained together and also clasped to the bars of the cell.
She stared at him, suddenly terrified when for a split second before it happened she realized he was going to look at her.
Leaning his also handcuffed hands against the bars he looked at her with a flicker of a smirk. "A kiss."
Tossing her head backwards a little Caroline laughed sourly. "Not funny," she said, holding his gaze for a second before averting her eyes. A part of her was wondering why she didn't turn around and leave. But the other part, that part she hardly seemed to have met, told the first part to shut up. "And you're awfully cheery for someone who after living for a thousand years is going to die in a few weeks," she added sternly, attempting to change the subject.
Klaus smiled briefly, that most intriguing kind of smile a person could smile, a smile that betrayed nothing because it wasn't a smile at all. "Maybe I'm bored by now," he said with a small shrug, his eyes dancing around her face in a way that for some reason irritated Caroline to no end.
She wanted to retort, but realized that the retort she had in mind would rely on what he had told her and bringing up any of their previous conversations was the last thing she wanted to do. "Lucky you, then," she said instead, glaring at him, "you won't have to suffer from boredom for much longer."
He tilted his head to the side, his attitude unchanged. "What about my last wish?" He asked, undeterred, watching her.
Caroline's expression faltered a little. "What about it?" She asked in a blank voice, mentally stomping her foot at her own behavior. She didn't know what she was waiting for. What she expected to happen. She seemed to know less and less of anything with every passing moment. "I enjoy you."
"The spare key to this cell is in one of the desk's drawers," he said, his eyes fixed on her.
Caroline snorted mirthlessly. "Nice try. You want me to open the cell?" She shook her head in disbelief.
"It's hard to kiss through the bars," Klaus said simply, seemingly offended by her suspicions. "And as you might have noticed I'm thoroughly chained. Not to mention that you can compel me not to leave this cell. If that's what worries you," he added as an afterthought in a low voice, regarding her with increased intensity.
Huffing in humorless exasperation Caroline strolled across the corridor and back into her mother's office. She couldn't understand why she was still here, discussing something completely absurd. It made no sense. She was inwardly screaming at herself, trying to extinguish that ridiculous flicker of... meaningless excitement was the closest to a definition she could come up with. She drew a breath. It would've been merely ridiculous if it wasn't so severely wrong.
Her eyes widened at the sight of the key in her hand. She stood leaning over an open drawer trying to remember the moment she had decided to approach the desk. Her mind was blank and she couldn't remember a thing. What the hell she was doing.
It was his fault. It was because he was implying that she was scared and she wasn't scared. She was being brave for a long time now. And she wasn't doing things that somebody else wanted her to do. She was only doing what she wanted to do... which wasn't the most reassuring conclusion, she thought grimly finding herself in front of Klaus' cell again, glaring daggers at the lock.
Her eyes darted to him when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. But he didn't move, merely turned his head standing where he was standing before, looking at her with that strangely curious expression. Like I was a bug under the microscope, she thought firmly. Like I was strong and beautiful and full of light, the memory flashed across her mind like a stupid shooting star. She was grateful the grinding sound of the key turning in the lock at least managed to deafen the words in her head a little.
Caroline stepped inside the cell, hoping her mother wouldn't walk in here right now. It would've been pretty much completely impossible to explain to her mother, or to anyone else for that matter, what she was doing. She didn't have the faintest idea what she was doing herself. Or maybe she did. It was just a flight of fancy. An anecdote she could tell at a boring party. Right. Like there was anything funny about kissing a monster.
She was suddenly paralyzed by the realization of what she was about to do. She tried to calm down by telling herself she could still walk out and forget about it. It's not like anyone would believe Klaus even if for some inexplicable reason he'd decide to tell anyone that she almost kissed him.
But the almost part became invalid soon enough because as Caroline was struggling with her tumultuous thoughts, Klaus took a step toward her, suddenly looking utterly serious, almost solemn, almost reverent and she was beyond certain it was all a ruse, so she was looking at him, staring at him searching his face for that smirk that was surely there, hidden somewhere in his startlingly deep, sad eyes with all those stories she didn't care about, because they couldn't possibly justify such cruelty, such evil-
"Caroline..."
She suddenly realized she liked her name. It sounded like a melody, like a song.
With the chains restricting his movements and her standing rigid and still, the scene seemed to Caroline decidedly, soothingly unreal.
She was still looking at him when he closed his eyes. As long as she kept her eyes open she could run, she thought dully. As long as she was aware of her surroundings she was able to turn around and leave. As long as he didn't kiss her yet-
But he did.
It was dark when she closed her eyes. There was nothing she could hold on to. And he was kissing her so maddeningly slowly the ground was beginning to slip from under her feet, faster and faster, and so she had no choice but to blindly reach out with her hands and hold on to something, anything, even his shoulders if there was nothing better to hold on to. She didn't want to fall, so even if the only anchor was poisonous she was going to hold on to it.
No one had ever kissed her like that. It was a dreadful, silly, ominous thought, she could tell even if she couldn't think, because her mind was a blur, her heart a thornbird, her lips betraying her more... and more... and more...
She felt like she was a bundle of threads that were tightening inside of her, breaking her bones, suffocating her, threatening to destroy every cell, every thought, every emotion-
She opened her eyes for a split second, meeting his gaze, what a grievous idea, what a horrible mistake, she thought feverishly, fighting for breath. He kissed her again.
And suddenly all the threads broke loose, everything was gone, she was free, she could breath, nothing hurt, nothing was wrong.
With a silent scream Caroline broke the kiss and ran out of the cell, closing it with hands stiff from her effort to keep them from shaking. Flashing to her mother's desk she threw the key into the drawer, slammed it shut and blurred out of the room, the building and into the street.
Only when she was outside did she start to breathe. She stood for a moment completely befuddled and then she just started to walk. She passed her car in the parking lot and walked ahead. The day was so bright. Everything seemed so bright that she had to squint. She crossed the street marveling at the brightness of the red light, not even hearing the honking cars. "Caroline..." She stopped in her tracks. Dropped her purse. She smiled, smiled... and then screamed, covering her face with her hands.
Elena waited with great impatience until they got into the car so she could finally start the conversation. Throughout the breakfast she had tried to catch Damon's gaze to reassure herself that she was being paranoid and he wasn't really being ridiculous. But to her increasing aggravation he had kept avoiding meeting her eyes and so she was left hoping it was at least accidental and not deliberate. As if he could ever accidentally avoid looking at her.
"You do realize you're upset for no reason?" She said as soon as Damon started the engine, watching him out of the corner of her eye.
Damon shifted his eyes to her. "What makes you think I'm upset, Elena?" He asked with theatrical amount of confusion in his voice.
"You didn't answer my question."
"And you didn't answer mine."
Elena sighed. "I hug people, OK?" She said and rolled her eyes at herself, finding it impossible to put her thoughts into coherent sentences when he was making her almost shake with annoyance. "It's a natural gesture. When a friend is sad or when a friend suddenly becomes human after a century and a half of being a vampire," she said pointedly before adding in a calmer tone. "I hug Bonnie and Caroline all the time."
To her surprise Damon immediately gave up on his pretend-clueless attitude and retorted sardonically. "You can hug Bonnie and Caroline all you want, Elena."
Elena shifted in her seat so she was almost facing him. "So it is about that," she said with a small snort. "You can't react in such a ridiculous way every time I hug Stefan-"
The scent of burned rubber so intense it almost made Elena faint filled the air along with the screeching sound of the tires grinding against the asphalt. The car skidded to the side of the road and stopped so abruptly the breath hitched in Elena's throat.
Damon got out of the car, flashed to her door, opened it and practically dragged her out of the vehicle.
"Do you mean you intend to keep doing that in the future?" He asked, trapping her between him and the car behind her.
Elena stared at him before quickly regaining her composure. "What? Of course not! That's not what I meant! I just meant that... that, I don't know... that it may happen and in case it happens... I can't believe I'm actually explaining why I hugged someone in a house full of people, with my best friend right next to me and you in the other room," Elena said through her teeth, shaking her head in sardonic bafflement.
"Maybe because it wasn't a someonethat you hugged," Damon said, widening and narrowing his eyes at her.
For a moment Elena wasn't sure if she was more angry with him for being ridiculous or with herself for shivering under the tone of his voice and not from fear of any kind at all.
"So is there like a list of people I'm allowed to hug? Or see? Or speak to?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest, her eyes glimmering with what she hoped was coming across as anger.
A shadow of a smirk passed through his face. "It's a very short list, Elena. And Stefan's not on it," Damon said in a voice that sounded perfectly serious, but there was something in his eyes that almost made her smile. He glanced down to her lips before focusing back on her eyes.
"You're joking, right?" Elena asked, stalling. She could almost see all anger evaporate like steam from the little space between them, but she felt it was important to come to some kind of conclusion before they would proceed to reconciliation.
"Do I look like I'm joking?" Damon asked, his eyes wandering around her face with such intensity she was grateful for being able to lean against the car.
"No," She said sternly and then added before she managed to stop herself. "You look like you want to kiss me."
He blinked and then his arm was around her, his other hand in her hair. "So do you," he whispered before crashing his lips against hers.
She kissed him back without hesitation, sliding her hands over his shoulders and pressing herself closer to him.
"We can't even argue properly for three minutes anymore," Elena whispered in a falsely complaining tone, gasping for air.
Damon smiled against her lips, his ragged breathing ghosting across her skin. "I was doing my best," he said, nibbling on her lower lip before kissing her tenderly.
"So you were joking," she stated with a lingering hint of doubt that dispersed as soon as a lop-sided smile began creeping onto his face.
"I was hoping for a heartfelt apology complete with 'Damon, please tell me how can I earn your forgiveness?'" Damon said, brushing her cheek with the backs of his fingers.
Elena stifled a chuckle, locking her arms around his neck. "Well, don't give up on the idea so soon," she said in the most matter-of-fact tone she could muster, despite her eyes glimmering with utter amusement. Damon smirked, narrowing his eyes at her, moving his hands so they were securely wrapped around her. "You can pretend to be still mad and I'll see what I can do about the heartfelt apology," she whispered with a small smile.
He kissed her, his mouth warm against hers, the kiss both soft and unyielding. There was not a trace of hurry in the kiss and with sudden exhilaration she remembered that they had, quite literally, all the time in the world.
Slowly, Damon drew back and Elena wanted to kiss him again but he shook his head. "I agree to the first part. As for the second... the choice of apology is up to me."
Elena looked away with a smile, pretending to contemplate whether she was going to give her consent.
"Think quickly, Elena," Damon murmured smilingly, lowering his lips to her shoulder and grazing it with his fangs. "Because I'm about to get back into the jealous mode."
"Does that entail tickling me?" Elena asked laughing briefly under her breath.
"Elena," he whispered against her skin in a playfully threatening tone.
"Alright, alright," she said quickly, struggling to stop smiling. She cleared her throat. "So... where did we leave off?" She asked, running her fingers through his hair as he continued nuzzling her neck. "Oh yes. I was saying that I was going to hug whoever I wanted, as often as I wanted..." She trailed off waiting for something to happen. "Damon?"
He trailed open-mouthed kisses across her face before capturing her lips in a soft kiss. "What?"
She raised her eyebrow at him. "This seems more like a fluff mode to me."
"I'm lulling your alertness," he explained in a hushed tone, squinting.
Elena widened her eyes at him in mock-realization, but then smiled brightly and kissed him. He twirled them around and continued kissing her.
"We keep disrupting the traffic," Elena said, amused at the sound of honking cars, but when she actually looked up she noticed that the reason for the commotion was different. She blinked at the sight of Caroline picking up the scattered contents of her purse from all over the crosswalk not very far away from them.
Damon followed Elena's gaze and after exchanging a look they crossed the road and walked toward the traffic lights. Caroline picked up the last item from the ground and stepped onto the sidewalk.
"Caroline," Elena rushed toward her, looking at her concernedly. "What happened?"
"Nothing," Caroline answered quickly, looking between Elena and Damon as if they had been standing nearby all along. "I just dropped my purse."
Unceremoniously, Damon snatched Caroline's purse from her hands but before she had the time to react, he took a packet of issues out of it and handed it to Elena who tugged one of the tissues out of the packet. Caroline looked between them both in confusion.
Elena gave her a comforting smile, reaching out into the direction of her face. Brushing the tissue over her mouth she said the words that made Caroline's blood freeze in her veins. "You cut your lip."