A/N: Here it is, the last chapter :) I can't believe I actually managed to finish this story before the S4 premiere! Mission accomplished at least as far as timing is concerned ;)
Thank You Note :)
I would like to thank arabian for being the most amazing, helpful, encouraging, fast Beta EVER! Thank you so much, Jennifer :)
& I would like to thank very, very, very much:
22lusy22, ahjland, ailuj14, Aj, Amala Eve, Angeljque, Anna Clara, AnnemiekSalvatore, Arabella, Arnela, Bee, beverlie4055, BHC, bluestriker666, BornForThe70's, carillon14, cherryblossom1031, CloudyDream, Critic, DamonsBourbon, dancingirl87, DefyTheImpossible, DElena all the way, DElena is DEstiny, Deleroux, delena123, delena1997, Delia Blue, dothk, East Coast Captain, El loopy, elmerodeador, emmapetran0990, eternityisntenough, Fee-Sha16, ghysanie, gillasue345, Girl96xoxo, GoSpikey, gottaLoveLOVE, gufsmile, Hairi Esh Mooncake, Hanasc, HassanaR, Heather M, helenamtavares, Holly581, iatak3310, IReadDaily, Jaby, jade daniel, jozac, jukeboxbri, KaceyO, Karolina94, kat st james, Katarina, kfulmer7, Kimberkids, Kittyfantaztico, Kittykat2609, KlarolinexDelenaxx, Kymberleii, lapointe15, Lillie, LokYa, LurveDreamer, LustfulAngel00, Madd Elise, Maia's Pen, Mallory, Mallory Lynn, MarieeSalvatorelover, midnightjen, mlb388, moonandstar331, MorningAngel9, mrs. sam winchester, MrsSeminara, MusicChiller27, MydnytAngel, new lights, nia4n, NinaProdz, NinjaKitten3.0, ohmypreciousgirl, Ohyeahsalvator, parisdamour, PaulaElizabeth, Perfect Pirate Captain, Polia, primadonna001, queen88, QueQuowle, rjjoupa, Sad Olive, scarlett2112, Serene-A-Cordova, Shaneaadialevesque, Shara P, sharpie78, Sk8ernv, skeezixx, snow6835, spygrl007, summergurl48, sweetserendipityxo, thecalisunshine, The Last Ronin, The Tears-Of-Heaven, Tiffanie, Tiffboskie01, TopSecret101, toxicgurl169, UnbelievinglyRandom, vaniaamonteiro, Wicked Empress, Willofthewisp, Windchimes of Maple, WitchMitzi, -Damon-Salvatore.x, xxMidnight-Rain-Melodyxx, Y0uNMcK33, Yourself, and all the Guest Reviewers
for all the beautiful, inspiring reviews! :] *hugs*
& Now I'm going to focus on watching the show and reading fan fiction :) Speaking of, I'm obsessed with How to Make a Better Vampire by arabean & Gleaming the Cube by Deleroux! They are the best, most amazing DE stories I've ever read. I love them to pieces :]
& Let's hope S4 will be more amazing than our battered hearts could ever hope for ;D
Disclaimer: TVD belongs to L.J. Smith & CW.
Chapter 22
"No, Caroline. We're not going to tell Elena anything," Bonnie said decidedly, getting out of the car and shutting the door close.
"Don't you think she should know?" Caroline flung the strap of her purse over her neck and grabbed the boxes from the back seat.
"Do you think she doesn't know by now?" Bonnie arched an eyebrow. "That you're a lunatic," she added levelly when Caroline gave her a confused look.
Caroline huffed in exasperation. "If I knew you'd be so mean about this I wouldn't have told you at all!" She abruptly turned around, securing the boxes piled up in her arms with her other hand.
Bonnie grabbed the biggest box from the trunk. "You only told me because you weren't sure if he was fully human and if it wasn't a werewolf bite," she said in a low voice.
Caroline twirled toward Bonnie, the content of the boxes rattling in her hands. "That's not true!"
Bonnie ignored her. "You said he left you a letter saying he was going to leave us alone?" she said, slightly changing the focus of the conversation.
"I said he left a note saying he was going to leave us alone for the time being," Caroline said through he teeth almost dropping the boxes she was carrying because of all the irritation coursing through her. "And since when do you trust Klaus anyway?"
Bonnie stopped in her tracks, giving Caroline a mildly incredulous look. "I'm just trying to be logical. Unlike some other people trying to pull kissing a frog stunts on serial killers."
Caroline put on the most hurt and offended look she could muster, but Bonnie just continued her previous train of thought.
"Don't you think it will kind of ruin Elena's mood if we tell her about it right now?"
"Don't you think it will ruin her mood more if she runs into Klaus during her honeymoon?"
Bonnie seemed to ponder this for an additional moment or two before saying. "Then we'll tell Damon tomorrow before they leave," she muttered at last, heading toward Elena's house.
Caroline stopped walking, but after blinking a few times, she quickly caught up with Bonnie. "But you're not going to tell him it's my fault?"
"Of course not," Bonnie said, stepping onto the porch. "Killing you would probably make them miss their plane," she said flatly, flashing Caroline a brief smile that she received with an utterly unamused frown.
"This is not my fault!" Caroline argued in a frustrated whisper. "If you just killed him instead of going all epic human justice on him-"
"I'm sorry, Caroline, but no matter how you put it, kissing him still remains a decidedly more of a stupid idea than locking him up in a jail cell!" Bonnie said under her breath, shooting her a look. "Not to mention that locking him up was definitely smarter than letting him out."
"I didn't let him out!" Caroline said helplessly, stomping her foot. "I locked the cell before I left!" Bonnie arched an eyebrow. "I think I did," Caroline whispered brokenly with a grimace. "But I was in such a hurry to leave I might have-" She trailed off and her expression brightened at a lightning speed when the door was pulled open.
"You're half an hour late," Elena said with a laugh, blowing a party whistle at them.
Caroline gave her a radiant smile which quickly changed into a mocking glare.
"Don't think I don't know why you told her to pick me up," she muttered, walking inside.
Elena widened her eyes at Caroline, putting a party hat on her head. "I have no idea what you mean." She turned to Bonnie to do the same.
"She was half-way through booking a private strip show when I caught her," Bonnie said, squinting, exchanging a look with Elena who closed the door, stifling a chuckle.
Caroline rolled her eyes. "I can't believe we're having a bachelorette party in your living room," she said in genuine dismay, looking around. "I failed as a friend," she said miserably, shaking her head.
"It's all about the balance, Caroline," Elena said with a small smile, slumping onto the couch and kicking off her slippers. "You and I are dead, and Bonnie and the room are living."
Bonnie smiled. "Besides, we're going to spend it doing what we didn't have time to be doing for a very long time." She placed the gift boxes on the carpet near the table and sat down on the couch, grabbing a pillow.
"Homework?" Caroline offered wryly.
"Talk," Elena clarified with a smile, pushing a plate with waffles, fruit bowls and whipped cream toward her guests. "We're going to talk."
Caroline sighed, sitting down on the couch next to Bonnie. "OK. But only as long as we stick to relevant subject matters," she said, trying to push all the troubling thoughts aside and brighten the mood to the level appropriate for the occasion.
Bonnie and Elena exchanged questioning looks.
"Like what?" Elena asked, wrinkling her forehead and chewing on a waffle.
"Like you and Damon having sex against every wall of this house."
"Caroline!" Bonnie widened her eyes at her.
Elena coughed, almost choking on the waffle. "Well," she said, quickly regaining her composure, "we didn't, so I think we need to find a different subject-"
"You didn't have sex against every wall of this house or you didn't have sex at all?" Caroline investigated dispassionately.
Bonnie gave her another incredulous look.
"What?" Caroline looked at her, apparently sincerely confused by the tone of her voice. "This is supposed to be a bachelorette party! That's what you talk about at a bachelorette party!"
"How do you know?" Bonnie asked with sincere curiosity. "You've never been at a bachelorette party before."
Caroline shrugged. "But unlike the two of you, I treat my social life seriously," she said, thrusting up her chin. "I watch TV. I know everything there is to know about such things. So-" She turned to Elena.
"OK," Elena raised her hands stopping Caroline before she was able to say anything more. "Let's get this straight. We won't be talking about that at all. I'm not talking about that," she added firmly under her breath in a slightly strained voice.
Caroline squinted. "So you did have sex."
Bonnie buried her face in the pillow. Elena just looked at Caroline.
"Elena, I'm sorry," Caroline said after a moment of silence, as if she was suddenly hit by a realization. "Of course. What was I thinking?" She said with a grimace and for a second Elena and Bonnie thought she really decided drop the topic. "So... have you ever made love?"
Elena threw herself against the back of the couch, wordlessly shaking her head in exasperation, the only audible sound at the moment being Bonnie's laughter muffled by the pillow.
Liz looked around the Grill taking in the usual Friday night crowd, the whirlwind of voices, music, clinking glasses. She tilted her head to the side upon noticing a familiar face occupying one of the stools at the bar.
"Shouldn't you be at the bachelor party right?" Liz asked with a smile flickering across her face.
Damon looked at her over his shoulder, gesturing to the raw of bottles in front him. "I am at tbe bachelor party," he said, squinting.
"And you're celebrating with...?" Liz slightly raised her eyebrows, glancing around the room.
Damon raised a glass. "With the bachelor."
"I see." Liz said with a smile, accepting the silent invitation and pulling herself onto the stool next to Damon. "And why is that?"
"Let me think." Damon propped his chin on his hand, putting a thoughtful expression on his face. "My best, well, my only friend is dead, my future brother-in-law is not legal to drink and my own brother is presently at the stage when he'd rather carve out my heart and make a stew with it," he said, widening his eyes for a second before taking a sip from his glass. "Not to mention that technically he's not legal to drink either."
"Well," Liz looked away before shifting her eyes to him again. "Since you seem to have a moment. I was meaning to ask you... I understand from what Elena told Caroline that you'll be staying in town at least until Jeremy finishes school-"
"This is getting interesting," Damon said, turning more toward her, his eyes sparkling with humor. "Let me guess. Gotham City needs me."
Liz couldn't help but smile. "And how did you arrive at this conclusion?"
"Because I know exactly whose idea it is," Damon said, returning her smile and wordlessly offering he a drink.
She slightly shook her head. Damon shrugged, pouring himself another drink.
"That's not entirely correct." Scanning the bottles, Liz acknowledged in amusement that none of them contained alcoholic beverages.
"Oh, so it's worse." Damon sighed dramatically, twitching his nose. "It's the effect of general brainstorming."
"Something like that," Liz allowed with a smile.
"There's no way I'd pass the psych evaluation, Liz. Sorry."
"Come on Damon," Liz said, suddenly endowing her voice with more seriousness. "What else you'd rather do?"
"You're right," Damon said, slowly spinning the empty glass around on the counter. "Even now, all I can think about," he grimaced in mock-intensity as if he was going to say something deeply emotional, "is that instead of wasting my time in this bar I could be somewhere out there... writing speeding tickets," he concluded with a sigh and then shot Liz a smirk.
"I do mean it, you know," she said, tilting her head to the side.
Damon's brows furrowed.
"And not to brag," she said, sliding off the stool and glancing around the room, "but I'm the coolest boss you can hope for," she said, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
Damon smiled. "I easily believe that," he said sincerely.
"Give it a thought," Liz said in a matching tone, making to walk away, but then she turned around once more as if remembering something. "Oh and that comment about the only friend was you being a bit overdramatic, don't you think?" Damon blinked. "See you tomorrow," she said with a small smile and walked off.
Smiling to herself, Elena climbed up the stairs heading for her room. She pushed the door open and switched the light on-
"Damon!" She jumped up at the sight of him, lying comfortably on her bed with her teddy bear in his arms.
He smirked. "Elena. May I point out that five hours of sleep won't be enough to prepare you for such an intense day and night that awaits you upon the break of the next morning?" He said, grabbing her alarm clock, positioning the teddy bear in such a way that it seemed to be looking at the clock and subsequently dropping dead from shock at the time displayed.
Elena closed the door behind her. "So you came here to make sure I go to bed early?" She asked skeptically, walking toward the bed.
"Well, I thought that I could at least make your bed look more appealing to you," Damon said with a crooked smile.
Elena sat down on the edge of the bed, laughing under her breath.
Damon leaned forward, reaching out and so lightly she could barely feel it, he smoothed out her hair with the palm of his hand while she slowly slid her feet out of her slippers.
"In addition to that, I came here to hear all about your bachelorette party and tell you about my party... and my job interview," he said, resuming his former position.
"A job interview?" Elena asked innocently, scooting to lay on the bed next to him.
He draped his arm around her. "If you wanted me to wear a uniform and... arrest you, all you had to do was ask." He whispered with a lop-sided smile.
Elena bit her lip, stifling a chuckle. "So what do you actually think about this idea?" She asked, looking up at him, her eyes glimmering with amusement but there was also a glint of seriousness in them.
Damon looked away with a mute sigh. "I can't really picture that, Elena," he said with a thoughtful frown, looking back at her.
She brushed his hair off his forehead and ran her fingertips across his face."There are lots of things I couldn't picture, yet here I am," she said with a small smile.
"Do you mean you never pictured me in your bed?" He asked disbelievingly.
She buried her face into his shoulder and laughed. "I didn't actually need to imagine that. I kept finding you here," she said in mock exasperation.
"See? Some dreams come true before you even dream them," Damon said narrowing his eyes at her in a smirk.
Elena leaned in for a kiss, but in the last moment she drew back. "I'm not sure you're actually allowed to be here tonight," she said with exaggerated solemnity, wrinkling her forehead.
"Ah!" Hastily, Damon grasped her shoulders and rolled them over so he was hovering over her. "I did a thorough research and the only thing I can't do is seeing you in your wedding dress before the wedding," he said, brushing his lips against hers. "And I have no intention of looking at your wedding dress tonight. In fact... I don't really want to look at any of your clothes tonight," he whispered into her ear.
"I hope it won't come across as harsh, but you're taking up my time that I was going to devote to packing for my honeymoon trip," Elena said with a small pout, pretending not to pay attention to him undressing her and placing kisses all over her exposed skin.
She felt him smile against her shoulder. "I could help you with the packing," he said beginning to draw back.
Fervently, Elena pulled him back toward her. "On the second thought," she said, unbuttoning his shirt, "I don't really need to pack right now."
"That's what I thought," Damon whispered with a smirk, slowly leaning down and pressing his lips to hers.
"I didn't lock the door," Elena said suddenly, breaking the kiss.
Damon considered this for a moment before getting off the bed. He grabbed a large piece of paper from Elena's desk drawer and wrote something on it. He then wordlessly showed it to Elena who after quickly reading the words, fell back onto the bed in a fit of laughter.
Damon opened the door and taped the piece of paper to it:
"NOT INTERESTED IN GOING TO KANSAS."
Stefan tried to sleep but somehow the sleep wouldn't come. He laid wide awake all night and didn't move even when the morning sun flooded the room. He glanced at his daylight ring on the nightstand before shifting his eyes to the sun rays reaching his feet.
When he heard the silence of the house break into a collection of quiet noises he considered turning on the music to drown all the stifled but strangely distinct sounds he could easily discern. But that would demand getting up and he felt like he couldn't move a muscle, couldn't even blink.
And so, with numb intensity he listened to the sound of footsteps on the carpet, a slight creaking of the wardrobe door being pulled open. There was also the dull sound of opening a window, the humming and splashing of water, more footsteps and brief, soundless noises made by a person getting dressed.
The preparations didn't last for more than an hour after which Stefan heard Damon's room door open and he subconsciously frowned, holding his breath as slow footsteps grew steadily quiet, then stopped, then became more audible again and without any help from supernatural senses Stefan guessed someone's presence just outside his door. For a second, his eyes drifted to the invitation at the table. Then back to the door. He hoped the knocking would never come.
It didn't.
After a moment of complete silence the footsteps resumed again.
Stefan felt like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders when he finally heard Damon descend the stairs and after a couple of more minutes the front door was shut closed, followed by the sound of a car, loud at first and then gradually fading into silence.
Stefan threw his arm over his head and closed his eyes. It had crossed his mind to go to the church today. For a moment he had thought that maybe in fifty years or so he would consider his absence a mistake. But he could not convince himself to go. The very thought hurt too much.
Several more minutes passed and with the greatest effort he sat up in bed-
He froze at the sight and stared at the visitor, his heart rate accelerating from almost non-existent to frantic.
Her brown eyes were fixed on him and without breaking the eye contact with her Stefan, very slowly, afraid of what he half-expected to turn out being just an apparition, slid off the bed and stood up.
She tucked her hair behind her ear and sighed. "I was thinking... I don't know what you'll think about this but... since I have all eternity and you're human... maybe I could spend this one lifetime with you?" She looked at Stefan in silence for a second, determined to retain a serious expression at least until he would say something, but the task apparently proved more demanding than she had thought it would be and soon she burst out laughing, taking a few, agile steps toward the bed.
Stefan's jaw clenched and he angrily turned around.
"You should've seen your face," Katherine said, stopping in the middle of the room and watching him with her head tilted to the side.
Stefan walked away, not looking at her.
Katherine squinted. "Did you really believe it could be her?" She asked with a hint of anger in her voice. "Are you that pathetic? Or did you just get completely lost in that favorite tragedy of yours? Holding on to the illusion which you believe makes you into who you should be, keeps you from being who you are. You can't live your whole life as your own alter ego, Stefan."
Squinting out of the window, then staring frowningly at the floor Stefan finally shifted his eyes to her. "I don't understand what you mean."
Katherine smiled briefly. "Of course you don't. Our story is different," she said after a pause with a glint of something simultaneously childish and dark in her eyes. "It's pure love. You don't get me, I don't get you, yet here we are."
Stefan snorted under his breath, shaking his head in mild exasperation. She tilted her head to the side, watching him with a smile playing about her lips.
"Love? You compelled me-"
She cut him off with an impatient huff. "Do you really think it's possible to compel someone to fall in love? If you could control whom you love, love would just be like everything else," she said, glancing away with a grimace of disgust and for a moment he saw those five hundred years flash in her eyes. "Why would anyone want to live then?"
Stefan briefly widened his eyes at her, for some reason unable to keep irony off his expression and his voice. "I didn't know you had such deep, spiritual beliefs, Katherine."
There was an imperceptible shadow of hurt in her eyes, but she only tilted her head more to the side in response and looked at him with calm curiosity.
"I'm wearing vervain," he said with a flicker of a smile.
Katherine returned the smile but continued looking at him with utmost seriousness. "I have to hand it to Elena," she said after a longer moment of silence as if she had just solved a challenging riddle. "Clever move. She might have just cured you. By dumping you," she added, undeterred by the change of expression on Stefan's face that saddened and hardened at the mentioning of the name. "I don't think you ever lost anyone before," Katherine said almost thoughtfully. "You've never lost me, never lost Damon..." she trailed off, struck by another thought. "That's why I turned him. Did you know? I bet you never guessed that," she said wistfully with a mockingly amused smile that was only grimness and dejection when it reached her eyes. "Did you?" She asked with mocking interest, leaning toward him. "I'll tell you a secret," she whispered in a lighthearted tone, her eyes dark with bitterness. "I turned him because I knew you wouldn't want to see him die." She drew back with a hollow giggle.
Stefan turned toward her, resting his head against the wall behind him. "You think you did it out of love. But you don't know what love is, Katherine."
She smiled, that five hundred year old smile again. "Yes, you keep lecturing everyone on that," she said absently, running her fingertips across the books on one if the shelves. "Yet, it is you who have no idea," she said through her teeth, her eyes lighting up when she turned to look at him. "I'll tell you what love is, Stefan," she said, taking a step toward him. He looked at her with wary eyes but didn't move an inch. He could feel the warmth of the sun on his back. It doesn't burn, he thought while listening to her, it doesn't burn.
"Love is thinking about a baby you'd never see again every time you draw a breath," Katherine spoke in a low, uneven voice. "Love is spending a century and a half trying to get a cheating liar out of a tomb. Love is stomping all over someone's free will in order to save them." She drew an imperceptible breath. "Love is coming here and speaking to you even if you don't give a damn." She waited for a split second and as short as heated was a flash that rushed through her eyes before drowning in the sarcastic expression. "Are you going to the wedding?"
Stefan blinked. "Are you?" He asked with a mixture of disbelief and anxiety in his voice.
"Conscience cleaning for the price of a party?" Katherine said speculatively, pursing her lips and then smirked. "Of course I'm going." she said, her eyes twinkling.
"Didn't know you had a conscience," Stefan said noncommittally.
Katherine shook her head with a coy smile. "Have you ever wondered why you're always ever only being mean to me?"
"Because I hate you?" Stefan offered with a wry smile.
Katherine snorted but then the flicker of exasperation burst into a flame of curiosity and she looked at him, tilting her head to the side. One, two, three steps and she was standing right in front of him. "Why do you hate me, Stefan?"
He looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed, caught off guard and visibly displeased by the question. Turning around, he took a few steps into the opposite direction, but Katherine flashed in front of him, blocking the way.
"I'll tell you why," she said, squinting. "You hate me because of how similar we are, because I remind you of what you're trying so hard to push out of your mind. Of course you also hate me because I left you, because I disappeared," she continued after a brief pause.
"But of course you did it out of love too," Stefan guessed with a flicker of an ironic smile, unable to understand why he was even having this conversation. He felt so tired.
"Yes," Katherine agreed immediately. "I did it out of love. For myself. I had to keep myself safe. I had to look out for myself. I always will." She inched her face closer to his. "But you should understand it well enough," she said, her tone falling to a whisper, "that's what you do. Trying to be in control so desperately. Letting others make their choices, so they could never blame you for anything. You learned that it's an easier burden to bear." She trailed off, waiting for him to say something but he didn't. "I used to think you didn't love me enough. But you just don't love enough as a rule. The problem is... if you don't love too much you don't love enough, Stefan. You have to pay the price. You are the price and you were never willing to pay that. Not with me, not with her."
Slowly, she stepped away from him, turned around and went to the door.
"So..." she said, her hand on the knob. "Do you want to go with me to the wedding?" She pulled a blond wig out of her purse and put it on. Stefan looked away with a mirthless smile, shifting his eyes back to her when she threw a ginger wig at him. "And after that we could embark on an epic journey. Only me and you and white oak. We could track down Klaus and kill him, since he's only an original vampire now and you're conveniently human-"
"I'll give you a heartfelt advice, Katherine," Stefan cut in, his voice blank. "Drop the revenge act. Look where it got me."
"Do you think Klaus had anything to do with them getting together?" Katherine retorted as soon as he had finished his sentence. "When I went to your house with the cure, do you remember? Your little Elena was all over Damon already, snuggling with him in his bed, kissing, telling him how much she liked him. How did it go? Oh yes. 'I like you now. Just the way you are.'" Katherine said breathlessly in her best Elena's voice and then laughed while Stefan stared at her in grim bewilderment. "What?" Katherine asked, noticing his expression. "Surprised they were at it long before your sweet, innocent human girlfriend discovered you had a dark side?" Katherine shook her head in mirthless amusement. "I knew something was up as soon as I arrived in town," she pursed her lips and sighed. "But of course you didn't," she moved toward him, reached out and started walking her fingers up his chest. "Because you're a denial boy."
Stefan gently but decidedly pushed her hand away. "Do you really have nothing better to do than come here and bother me with your commentaries on..." he swallowed, "them?"
Katherine looked at him for a moment and then clapped her hands. "You're right. I bet they don't talk about us quite as much. Let's go," she said, extending her hand before Stefan grimaced yet again at her words.
"Go where?"
Katherine smiled, shaking her head at him. "To the wedding," she repeated patiently. "If you don't go, you'll regret it. Not now, perhaps, but in three hundred years or so."
Stefan smiled ironically. "Did you miss the part when the number of years at my disposal became significantly lower?"
Coming up very close to him she tilted her head to the side. "Well, if you'd ask nicely..."
He snorted soundlessly. "No, thank you.
Katherine tossed her head to the side, smiling under her breath. She twirled around and walked toward the table. Having picked up the invitation, she waved the card at Stefan. "Never say never."
Elena took one more look at herself in the mirror, smoothing the layers of white lace with her palms. She smiled to herself, adjusting the thin tiara holding the veil in place.
She slowly turned around, taking a long look around her room. Her eyes lingered on her parents' pictures, on Jenna's picture. And she wasn't quite sure why but her mind also drifted for a moment to Isobel and John.
"Because he's in love with you."
"...whether you're now reading this as a vampire or as a human..."
She thought it was rather strange how even though they hadn't really known her at all, they had seemed to interpret, know, predict things she would've never considered meaningful or possible at the time and somehow this made her feel like she could think about them, in some vague, opaque, uncertain way, as her parents.
Closing her eyes for a second and opening them again with a sigh, Elena went out of her room and rushed down the stairs.
"Look who slept in," Jeremy greeted her with a chuckle.
Bonnie smiled, looking Elena up and down.
"Is everything OK?" Elena asked with utmost seriousness, looking Bonnie straight in the eye.
"Except for..." Jeremy spoke before Bonnie managed to say anything, " that ink stain over there..."
Elena's eyes widened in dismay and she twirled around in search of a mirror.
"Jeremy!" Bonnie shot him a scolding look and they both laughed. Elena narrowed her eyes at her brother. "You look wonderful," Bonnie said with a warm, reassuring smile and Elena relaxed, smiling back at her.
"How about me?" Jeremy asked, straightening his dark gray suit.
Bonnie barely glanced at him. "You look fine," she said, turning around so Jeremy couldn't see the smirk on her face.
"Fine?" Jeremy looked to Elena for support but she was already heading to the door, her attention focused solely on the veil, making sure she wasn't stepping on it while she walked.
"I don't know if Elena will find it funny," Caroline said skeptically, her eyes fixed at the newly renovated by Matt, old white car with bells and cans tied to the back with red ribbons.
"The 'F' is actually removable," Matt said reassuringly. "There is a 'W' underneath."
Caroline still didn't look too convinced as she looked with raised eyebrows at the NEWLYFED registration plate.
"It's funnier than vampire pajama sets with fang buttons anyway," Matt observed matter-of-factly, keeping a smile off his face.
Caroline squinted. "At least those are practical."
Matt looked back at the car. "Removable 'F' is practical too," he said with a shrug.
They looked at each other and after a moment laughed.
Green, white, red – Damon looked at the traffic lights remembering the night a mere month ago when he had driven across the same streets, finding bleakness in what now seemed eternally bright. What had seemed like colorless shades looming in the darkness were now the most vivid of colors glittering in the sun.
He parked the car on the road across from the church and walked toward it smiling to himself.
Jeremy looked around the church with a confused expression on his face. "I'm pretty sure Elena wanted to invite only the closest friends and I have never even seen half of the people in here. I didn't even know that many people lived in this town," he added.
"Well, if Elena put Caroline in charge of the preparations she has only herself to blame," Bonnie replied, glancing at him with a small smile. Standing near the altar as the best man and the maid-of-honor, Jeremy and Bonnie had the best view of the church. "I thought you were going to walk with Elena down the aisle?" Bonnie asked, when Elena appeared at the entrance of the church drawing everyone's attention.
Jeremy gave Bonnie a mysterious smile. "Yeah, well, somebody else will."
The priest looked at them with a good-natured smile that however seemed to imply they should lower their voices, so Bonnie refrained from asking for an explanation, noting in slight confusion that Elena started walking down the aisle alone.
Glancing at Jeremy, Bonnie tried to figure out the meaning of his words and then suddenly, when Jeremy looked back at her with a smile it dawned on Bonnie what was going on and she smiled as well.
They both looked at Elena and Bonnie wished that like Jeremy, she could see Alaric walking down the aisle with Elena. She shifted her eyes to Damon and couldn't help but smile at the enthralled expression on his face.
"When I touched you I saw a crow... there was fog... a man... It's just the beginning." Bonnie's own words drifted back to her and she drew a slow, deep breath at all the memories that flew across her head. So many beginnings, so many endings happened since that day. Yet the story was far from over. It would never end. It would continue on long after she was gone, across different times and different worlds, a timeless, unpredictable journey. And she was worried.
But then Elena stepped in front of the altar and looked at Damon and he looked at her and Bonnie thought that there was nothing to worry about or be afraid of as long as there was such invincible magic in the world.
The road was dark, dimly lit, the dark shadows of the trees hovering on both sides of it in what looked to Elena liked the most poetic sight. She snuggled deeper in the passenger seat, gathering the veil to one side and resting her head against the window. She looked at Damon, readjusting the angle at which her hand was clasped in his. He turned his head giving her a smile and she leaned toward him but then they heard a loud, gritty screeching noise and the car stopped, the engine going completely silent.
Elena frowned while Damon tried to restart the car several times, but to no avail.
"The revenge of Matt Donovan," he said in a dramatic voice and Elena stifled a chuckle.
"He wouldn't," she said, amused.
"Oh, he would," Damon said. "We should've taken our car," he muttered, getting out of the car.
Elena watched him open the front of the car and after a moment of consideration she got out of the car as well. Her eyes immediately took in the surroundings that reminded her of the night when she was in transition. There was similar scent in the end. There was-
She wrinkled her forehead, scanning the road more closely. She blinked repeatedly at the realization and almost started to laugh, ceasing to hear Damon's commentaries regarding the state of the engine.
What had seemed like a mere impression at first was now a certainty, and she walked toward the forest line, enchanted by the memory and the current coincidence.
"You won't like what I'm thinking," Damon said under his breath. He looked up, his eyebrows knitting in confusion upon noticing that Elena wasn't standing next to him. He quickly looked around.
She was standing a few feet away with her back to him, her head slightly tilted upwards. He smiled pensively at the sight, at the contrast between her white dress and the black sky. He was about to call her name when he suddenly realized the reason for her reverie.
Soundlessly, he made his way to her and slowly draped his arm around her waist whispering into her ear. "So, Elena, did you find everything you were looking for?"
Elena smiled, leaning into a kiss that he placed on her cheek. "Let me think..." She said with a sigh, turning in his arms and sliding her hands over his shoulders. Damon tilted his head to the side, looking at her with a smile. "Love that consumes me..." She pressed a lingering kiss to his lips. "Check," she said with a small smile, squinting. Damon brushed a few strands of hair off her face and tucked them behind her ear. "Passion-" She barely managed to speak the words before his lips captured her in an ardent kiss. "Check," she whispered breathlessly.
"Adventure?" He asked with a glimmer of amusement in his eyes, brushing his thumb across her lips.
She rested her forehead against his and closed her eyes. "Check," she said, images flickering across her mind and she was certain he could see them too.
"And a little bit of danger?" He questioned again.
Elena chuckled and opened her eyes. "Double-check," she said, arching an eyebrow and smiling against his mouth when he kissed her again. "And let's not forget a mysterious stranger with all the answers," she said, drawing back and cupping his face in her hands. "So yes," she said softly in a serious, tranquilly happy voice, "I found everything I was looking for."
"So did I," Damon said in a matching tone, returning her smile and looking at her with so much light in his eyes that she was certain all the lights in the world couldn't compare to the brightness and intensity of his gaze.
But then something strange happened. Something strange...
She heard a noise... like a humming of water underneath... underneath her feet... and in her ears...
Elena blinked.
And coughed.
"Elena?" Damon's voice acquired a note of concern that became more prominent with every repetition of her name. "Elena?"
She coughed again, bringing her hand to her mouth. When she coughed, water spilled out of her mouth falling over her hand. Her eyes darted to Damon who stared back at her with wide eyes, his face contorted in a grimace of bewilderment, fear and despair.
"Maybe if you and I had met first..."
Her eyes were wide from fear and she couldn't understand why these words sounded so clear in her head while everything else was fading away...
...like a dream.
Elena tried to draw a breath and if she could, she would've screamed from the excruciating pain that radiated from her chest onto every part of her body.
But she couldn't scream and couldn't breathe, coughing up water, feeling it in her throat, in her lungs. The more she tried to breathe, the more water kept spilling out of her mouth, the pain numbing her senses, making it impossible to think. She was choking on the water, unable to stop herself from swallowing it which only intensified the pain.
A sudden surge of cold rushed her attention to her feet and in horrified astonishment she noticed that there was water on the road. She looked up at Damon to see his reaction to that, but to her utter dismay he just looked back at her in silence, his eyes so sad, so sad, just like she had imagined them-
No.
He was looking at her as if there was nothing bizarre about the green water raising up from the ground, from the road on which they had met for the first time; the water was slowly submerging their feet, reaching their ankles, moving past their shins, their knees, their thighs.
She couldn't feel it. She didn't feel her clothes beginning to soak. All she could feel was pain. All she could see was his eyes.
"I will see you soon."
His features began to shimmer, as if he was a painted portrait being slowly wiped away by the water. She felt Damon's hand clench around hers and she held on to his hand in frantic desperation, her eyes widening when the murky water rushed past the level of their heads, completely blurring her vision.
And then she could see him no longer. She was twisting her hand in deafening silence, reaching out but finding nothing.
There was only cold water all around her and she closed her eyes tightly shut as a result of sharp pain lacerating her like thousands of daggers, cutting through every inch of her skin.
Behind her closed eyelids she saw herself and Damon standing in the middle of the road again. She tried to hold on to the image, but suddenly it was as if someone snatched the picture away from her and she felt herself falling into more images, running backwards into her most beautiful memories. Him kissing her instead of giving in to Klaus' compulsion. The night on the boat. Him taking care of her throughout her attack of inhuman fury. Running barefooted through the rain and into his arms. Them dancing on the rose petals. The love confession in the fog. The day at the mall.
She was chasing the ever-rewinding tape, watching everything happen in reversed order, unable to stop the mad rush into the direction that was beginning to frighten her more and more with every passing moment, with every breath she could no longer take.
"Elena."
There he was, standing next to her, telling her that he would never let her die-
And then... she opened her eyes.
And then-
It was as if everything stopped, as if the world came to a halt. She had never felt such searing, incomparable, incurable pain in her entire life.
She wasn't breathing. Her heart wasn't beating.
She was in a car. Surrounded by water. The greenish, murky water was everywhere, everywhere around her, filling up the car she was in, filling up the world. And she was drowning in it.
She felt her eyes sting with tears that would never flow now, because-
In that last, agonizing moment that tore her dying heart into shreds she realized, and it was the most painful, the most impossible, the cruelest realization of all, that none of it had ever happened, that she had been here all along, drowning in Matt's truck that had fallen off the Wickery Bridge, dreaming herself to sleep.
And then... and then...
She screamed.
"Elena!"
His voice.
His voice registered in her mind like a solitary star in a dark, silent universe and she thrashed around trying to locate it, praying to hear it again. Death wasn't so terrifying, wasn't frightening at all if on the other side she could still hear his voice. Or if she could, at the very least, die while hearing his voice in her head.
"Elena!"
Suddenly, she could feel his arms around her and the pain was gone. She tossed her head to the side and when she opened her eyes she could make out his silhouette in the dark room... room! His eyes were glimmering with concern in the faint light coming from the window.
Elena gasped and with a broken cry fell into his arms, threw her arms around his neck and held on to him so tightly that he could hardly catch his breath.
"Elena," Damon whispered into her ear, holding her, stroking her hair. "Elena."
She just clung to him more, risking only a quick look around the room. No water. No water. She wasn't underwater. She wasn't in a car.
"Where are we?" She asked in a raspy voice, burying her nose in his hair, inhaling his scent, frantically running her outstretched fingers over the bare skin of his back.
"In a motel," Damon replied in a soothing tone, trying to calm her down by cradling her in his arms as tightly as possible.
"What happened?"
"We left after the wedding, after the party-"
"And then?" She demanded impatiently.
"Our car broke down, on that road where we first met. Elena? Do you remember?"
She couldn't answer, once again overwhelmed by fear but she tried to push it away. "And then?"
"And then we decided to take a walk."
"And then?"
"Then we walked for a while and stopped in this motel to spend the night here. Elena?" Gently, he tried to draw back and look at her, but she refused to move an inch, her arms firmly locked around him.
She touched his shoulder with trembling lips. "And then?"
He slid his fingers into her hair, leaning his cheek against the side of her head, lightly running his fingertips down her back. "Then we made love," he said quietly. "You do remember that, don't you?" he added in hope of making her smile.
But even if she did smile, the smile was taken over by tears that he could feel rolling down her face and onto his shoulder.
"Elena." This time he drew back determined to look at her and understand why she was being like this. He firmly cupped her face in his hands. "Elena. Did you have a nightmare?" He asked, and she grimaced and nodded, causing more tears to escape from her eyes.
He was relieved by her answer a little. "Elena," he said gently, gathering her into an embrace and wrapping his arms tightly around her.
"We were standing in the middle of that road..." she whispered feverishly, snuggling into his chest. "Like we really were. But then there was water... the water was everywhere and when I opened my eyes..." She slightly straightened up, her eyes searching the dark interior. "When I opened my eyes I was... I was in a car, in that car. I was drowning and I thought..." she stammered, choking on her tears, "I thought that none of it had ever happened, that I just dreamed it all while drowning in that car!... Oh my God," she gasped, losing her breath at the mere memory of the feeling and the pain accompanying that realization. "I was so scared that none of it had ever happened, that we never happened!"
He cradled her face in his palms again and kissed her lips before scattering kisses all over her face. "But we did, Elena. It was only a bad dream. This is real."
She nodded, looking at him through her eyes filled with tears, pressing her hands to his cheeks, tracing the outline of his lips with her fingertips. "I know." She drew a breath. "But if I'd have really died then-"
Damon shook his head. "You couldn't have," he said in a low, ardent voice, looking deeply into her eyes. "One would think you ought to remember your vows so soon after the wedding," he said, arching an eyebrow.
Elena smiled through the dried tears on her face. "I do," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.
They kissed and smiled against each other's lips, silently repeating the vows, Elena's voice resounding in Damon's head, and his in hers.
"...and not even death shall ever do us part."