CHAPTER 20 – THE REAPING

-Elena-

I know Stefan so well and I can still feel our gravity and he's hurting. He's ashamed and he's upset and for the life of me I can't stop my feet from taking me to the door.

"Where are you going?" Damon calls to me as I pull the heavy wooden door open and I'm chilled from the cool air and my eyes lose focus from the sudden change from light to dark… and I'm hit with that sharp, deep rooted frequency that I only feel with Stefan – angry Stefan.

"Let me talk to him, okay?" I try a quick smile, but I'm so unconcerned with keeping up my Katherine charade right now that I have no idea if he even heard me before the door shuts and I'm running out towards Stefan.

I know he hears me. He's walking with those wide determined strides and completely square, tense shoulders – "Stefan! Stefan, wait!"

He stops dead in his tracks – almost mid-stride – turning to me with those burning green eyes and his perfectly shaped jaw flexed to the limit.

"Stefan… I –"

Interrupting me in a loud burst, he nearly yells at me, "What!? What are you doing, Elena!?"

I freeze. Stopping quickly in the packed gravel with the cool night air going unnoticed due the fizzing of our gravity against my skin. He said Elena. He knew. Stefan knew it was me… the whole time. And now, under his heavy, hateful glare – those burning green eyes of his are honestly hurting me with the fury that I see in them.

I watch his perfect white teeth take hold of his perfect pink lip, his brow dip lower, crinkling the skin between his eyebrows… waiting for me to answer. My mind is blank. My heart is in my throat and even with Stefan looking at me like he hates me I know that he still knows me, loves me – he feels me, the same way I feel him. Our gravity still remains. And like so many times before, my reaction is completely out of place and so incredibly wrong for the situation…

I want to smile. I want to wrap my arms around him and graze my smiling mouth against the warm skin of his neck and fall into his embrace and inhale his clean, Stefan scent – the fact that I know he's raging only reminds me of how his body heats with anger and I'm suddenly chilled to the bone and dying for his warmth. "Stefan."

"The makeup! You're hair!" Stefan shakes his hands at me – fingers wide spread, flexed. His voice loud, but obviously restrained from reaching a full on yell. Each word is bringing me down from my temporary high – from the joy of knowing that even through all of this Stefan and I are still connected by our frequency. "What is this, Elena? What did I just walk into?"

"Stefan, I was…" I was going to do what you asked me not to. I came over here for vengeance. I came over here without thinking about my appearance and without thinking about Stefan's only request… let him handle telling Damon. Ashamed of myself – of my very childish reaction to Katherine's very childish goading – I once again stay silent for too long.

When he steps back, opening the driver's door, I step forward and reach out to him – I'm met with a disgusted frown. A look that tells me that the last thing he wants is my hands on him. I hear Damon step out onto the walkway – watch Stefan's glassy eyes cut to his brother who is most likely staring at us with a very confused expression.

"Go on. Get your revenge." Stefan says quietly, an undertone of both fear and callousness as he looks down my body, then back to my eyes, adding, "Do you what you have to do…"

I just stand there. I watch him drive off. Frozen. Cold. Terrified of what he thinks he's seen.

"What was that?" Damon's suddenly next to me and his voice startles me, causing me to flinch away from him. "Relax," He says, rubbing my arm with the back of his fingers, a concerned look in those cold blue eyes, "it's just me, Katherine."

"Damon!" I groan, rolling my eyes at him and moving away from his unnerving touch – frustrated by this entire mess and the fact that even after eight years he can't tell Katherine and I apart. "I'm Elena!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

-Damon-

Bonnie: We found the base board color, but only in gallons. Buy? $8 more.

Katherine will be back sometime late tonight and if everything goes right, I'll have the bedroom next to ours completely finished and ready for her to decorate. The baby has become our only topic of conversation and I remember her oohing and aweing over a nursery in one of the hundred magazines that she flips through – all whites and creams and sage green. Laying the dark hardwood will be the worst part, but Bonnie and Elena are coming over to help paint, so at least I'll have a couple of extra hands.

Damon: Can't you work your 'magic' and just take it?

Eight dollars is a lot of money for me right now – Hell you can't even buy diapers for eight bucks!

I know what you're thinking – Stefan's check. Right… He walked in on me kissing Elena and even through he knew that I thought she was Katherine, I wouldn't doubt if he canceled that fucking check the minute he drove off. I would have.

Elena said she would handle it – explaining to Stefan my mistake in identity – but something isn't fitting right. I mean, I get that they aren't on the best of terms right now, but even Stefan the martyr would have laid into me for kissing her… I plan on getting some more information from Elena when she and Bonnie get here with the paint.

After he tore out of here, leaving tire tracks in my front lawn mind you, Elena stayed and explained the best she could. Without thinking about her up-do and the heavy make-up, she had come over to ask me if I'd mind keeping Allie and Grayson when the editors she works for come up to take her and Stefan out to dinner next weekend.

I wasn't expecting anyone – let alone Elena – so when I saw the hair and I saw the ruby lips, I did what I always do and I kissed them. It was awkward for a while, but Elena and I got a lot of shit out on the table. From how honestly sorry I am that I kept quiet about my relationship with her mother – er, mothers – all the way to her apologizing to me for the Bonnie head trick in Thailand and the stunts she pulled way back when I was trying to win her over from my baby brother

I already knew that she felt bad about it – over the past couple of years Bonnie and I have become pretty decent friends now that I'm not a vampire and she's not a bitch all the time. One night, not long after we all turned out human, Katherine and Jeremy called it a night early and left Bonnie and I with a decanter of Hennessy and a big fire in the fireplace and everything pretty much came out. Everything I already knew I guess… all except for Bonnie's giggled, "I can't say I blame her… you would be a very hot distraction."

I like to blame it on the fact that not many people say even almost-nice things about me, but sometimes, out of the blue, I think of her saying that – all glassy eyed and lips wet and glowing skin in the fire-light, and I can't help but feel some pride.

Bonnie: No Damon. We can't steal it! Elena and I would not do well in jail…

I'm about to respond with a flirty text about my handcuffs or that I think she'd look pretty damn sexy in one of those orange jumpsuits, but the pounding of heavy boots up the stairs stops me as I recoil from the vision of Stefan's big ass feet scuffing up my floor.

I know it's Stefan – no one else I know would come in uninvited and unexpected has feet that big or less regard for my antique hardwood.

I type out a 'just get them then.' and look up just as he comes into the empty bedroom to find me sitting cross-legged in the floor. Something about his 'helping with a project' look cracks me up as I look him over and my laugh echos between the hallow walls of what will soon be my child's bedroom.

"What?" Stefan's voice is only half serious as he brushes down the lumberjack-like plaid button up shirt. "We're painting and ripping up the floor…" He almost laughs when he adds, "this is the proper attire, Damon."

I guess I'm finally learning to keep my rabid thoughts to myself, because even though I want to give him shit about his sudden change in plans, I toss him a crow bar instead – I'm just happy he's here… I can use a break later on to find out about last night's Elena/Katherine debacle, as well as who Caroline roped into driving around looking at wedding locations.

-Bonnie-

Elena is texting on her phone as I finish up our fast food order, reminding me of the time once more as we slowly creep up towards the window to pay.

"I won't be able to stay long… my appointment with the realtor is at two." She says absentmindedly… still texting.

Elena and I have loaded up my SUV with things from Damon's list – two different shades of cream paint, a white, a sage green, about six different types of brushes, plastic for the floor, special painters tape, buckets, edgers, rollers, pans, pan liners and so on and so forth… on top of that, Elena and I pitched and bought some lunch since we're about three hours late.

I've been really good! I haven't asked her about the all night laptop sessions, or the disappearing act last night, but when I try to hand her one of the bags of food so I can grab our drinks from the window person, Elena is yet again typing away on her Iphone and it just goes all over me… and by 'it' I mean thick, ugly, green jealousy!

Finally she sees the bag out of the corner of her eye and after a bit of careful balancing and rearranging, we're on our way to the Salvatore house and I'm about to burst!

"So…" Isn't that how any and every bitchy conversation starts? "Are you going to tell me where you were last night… or do I have to guess?" I sure hope that my voice didn't come out as crass as I'm feeling.

Elena laughs, tucking her phone back into her bag, "Last night… wow, what a mess that was!"

I just know she's going to say she was with Damon. I just know it.

"I went to see Damon…" Of course you did, Elena!

"oh?" Fake surprise through a very false smile… I'm possessive over Damon. Wow, look at how the world has suddenly flipped! I HATE DAMON -I remind myself silently.

"Yea… I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, I do… I was going to get back at Katherine by ruining things with her and Damon, but the second I stepped into the house I regretting coming at all… I mean, who would I really be hurting? Damon."

I nod, shrug – still tense from what I fear I'm about to hear. "And you two have really got close again, huh?"

"Who?" Out of the corner of my eye I see Elena frown at me, "Damon and me? Uhh, no."

"Elena…" I say her name like I say the names of kids in my class – that stretched out I know you're lying you little turd way.

From her loud, almost shocked response, I know that Elena gets exactly what I'm suggesting "Bonnie! No, not at all!"

-Elena-

I don't know if I should be angry that Bonnie actually thought that I'd 'swing back to the older brother' or if I should just laugh. I mean, I don't have a great track record, but that was like a decade ago! After explaining in detail about my 'late night laptop sessions' and my 'relentless texting' – to Pepper, I should add – Bonnie and I ride in silence for the last bit of the drive to the boarding house.

By the time we pull to a stop, I'm fully aware of the irony of this whole ordeal… my husband & my best friend both believe me to be so weak-willed that they think I'd run to Damon at the first sign of problems. UGH. I guess my reputation needs repaired even more so than I'd realized.

"Are we okay, Elena?" Bonnie asks, putting the transmission in park and flashing me her round, puppy-hazel eyes and wide smile. "I didn't mean to be offensive… I just…"

I guess I'm getting tired of having this bad reputation, because instead of defaulting to my same ole 'yea, we're fine', I open my mouth to tell her just how hurtful it is to know that she was convinced that I was spending hours chatting with Damon and that I'd snuck off to see him last night – but before I can actually wind myself up to the point that I can confront her, Damon is at the front door.

Bonnie rolls her eyes at his aggravated expression, stepping out of the drivers side and holding up a coke as she says, "We're late – true. But, we brought lunch!"

Grabbing the bags of food, I step out of the car and get a strange… sensation, maybe? I can't think of the word… but it's that chest pressure, storm-is-a-brewing feeling.

"It's been three hours, Bonnie!" Damon groans, swinging the door open for us, then coming to start unloading the painting supplies, giving me a quick nod as he passes. "You'd better have filet migion in those bags and Cristal in the cups!"

It's good that he and I talked last night… I mean, it's bad that Stefan left thinking I was going to sleep with Damon. And it was really bad that he walked in and caught Damon kissing me, but like I told Damon, just as soon as I finish up with the realtor at my parents' house, I'm going to go to his apartment and explain.

"Elena?" Bonnie calls to me and I realize that I've been in a daze… standing at the threshold of the front door, bags in one hand, the other against my chest. "Are you okay?"

It's like I can't breathe all of a sudden… not easily at least. If you could imagine being squeezed by a strand of silk – or nearly crushed by warmth… I don't know how to explain it. And what's more I don't know why I –

"Elena," Stefan's deep, soothing voice slips into my ears and right into every single nerve of my body just as my eyes find him, stepping into the foyer. "Are you alright?"

I'll blame the hard cut of his sweaty chest and the flexed, shadowed muscles in his arms, but his name gets caught in my throat. With my Greek God of a man standing there like that, arms crossed – slightly dirty, sweaty from work, a shirt tied around his waist; what should be an easy word, a word I've said a hundred thousand times in a hundred thousand ways, sticks to my vocal chords and tangles with my tongue. The croaking sound that escapes my mouth when paired with my hand on my chest and the big eyed, surprised look on my face must be the same type of expression one has when suffering a heart attack and within seconds, Stefan, Bonnie, and Damon are all fawning over me and ushering me to take a seat.

Embarrassed – or maybe ashamed by the incredible want I have for him – I keep my eyes on the floor as they dote around me and I repeat "I'm fine. I'm okay. Really. I'm okay. I'm fine." Over and over until they finally disperse a bit – all but Stefan. Stefan stays near – stays close enough to keep that frequency tight against me and my skin tingling for his touch. Without looking up, I sense his eyes on me and like the dumb girl I am, I sit up straighter, toss my hair over my shoulders in that casual – hey, I'm sexy – way, crossing my legs and tugging at the short jeans shorts that I thought I'd be wearing to paint… not to be caught up in his green gaze.

"You're chicken filet." Bonnie smiles, handing me a wrapped up sandwich and my Dr. Pepper. "Sorry, Stefan –" She turns to him and when I feel his eyes leave me, I find the moment of relief I need to look at him.

Have I mentioned that he's absolutely gorgeous?

"We didn't know you were here –" Ugh Bonnie! Like he's just put a puzzle together – my choking in his presence and the fact that he surprised me by being here – Stefan's eyes cut to me for the slightest of seconds, before returning to Bonnie and a soft, half smile forming from his lips. "We would have got you something."

I watch him lick his lips – an attempt to get rid of that knowing smile, fully aware of the affect he has on me – then begin to turn away from me, towards the kitchen, as he says, "It's okay – I can round something up I'm sure."

"Or, uh – um." I'm an idiot. Ugh. Get it together, Elena. "I wont eat all of this and the fries…" That half smile turns to a full-on grin, "…we can share...ya know, I mean. If you want to."

I'm probably just reading into his evergreen eyes and the way he says it, but I shiver from the way my imagination runs away with itself, twisting his words, when he looks right into my brown eyes gazing up at him like he's a God, and says, "Of course I want to."

-Stefan-

After spending twenty minutes sitting very close to her, with Elena's warm skin brushing against mine, the aroma of her shampoo bringing forth memories of the many many nights I've slept with my face buried in her long, soft hair, and sharing a small order of fries and half of a grilled chicken sandwich over short, shy glances and soft smiles, I'm hungry – and I mean that in every way you can possibly define it.

As we worked, Damon explained the mix up – and though she told him she'd come over to discuss him babysitting for us next weekend, there is a certain look of shame that holds Elena's face when she's guilty… it's a look that I am all to familiar with unfortunately – and it was the look that she gave me as I confronted her last night. So, she may not have been here to pretend she was Katherine, but she wasn't making a friendly visit either.

"Oh Elena! It's twenty til!" Bonnie shrieks, looking over Damon's shoulder and checking the time on his cell phone. "You need to go!"

As if we'd been in some secluded bubble, the instant Elena jumps to her feet, I feel detached from her… our moment of reverie found over a fast food lunch dissipating into reality.

"Damon, I am so sorry!" Elena sighs, slipping her messenger bag over her shoulder. "I really want to help but I'm supposed to go see a realtor about a um," Looking down at me, it's like we reconnect – just a little bit – when she says, "a house."

"Elena!" Damon grunts her name, wiggling his eyebrows at her like he does, "I've got like six hours to get this done and your running out on me!"

His frustrated begging doesn't seem to bother her in the least, heading towards the door sending back another quick apology – our already weak gravity getting only more fragile as she goes.

"We can get it, Damon." I try to sound cool – like I'm not really disappointed that she's leaving. Disappointed that I'm not going to be able to spend a few hours with her – feeling the push/pull of her body and mine. I mean, I know we wouldn't be able to talk – really talk about us and what's going on, not with Damon and Bonnie here – but I just enjoy being near her. I love her to the point that her presence settles me in a way that no alcohol ever could. "It won't take more than a couple hours now that we finished the floor."

"Keys!" Bonnie calls with a smile and I notice that she and Damon are sitting closely – almost, too close. When she moves to her knees to toss Elena the keys she almost loses her balance and falls into him – his hand steadying her hip the only thing that keeps her from it.

I spend a moment recalling the last time I noticed their close proximity – their inside jokes, their playful banter – pulled from my memories of my last good day with Elena by her very voice saying my name.

"Stefan…" When I look to her, she's doing that school-girl stance thing she does when she knows she's cute and she knows she's got me wrapped around her finger. "Do you want to come?"

Do I want to spend some alone time with my wife as she gives a look over to the house that I know she's dreamt of spending her life in… of course I do. No matter how angry I am or how hurt, I love her.

***MORE TO COME***

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