A/N: This seems to be the only fic that I'm able to update regularly. Probably because it's short, so you guys are lucky.
He knows that look. He's seen it before. Directed at Elena. Stefan knew that the Original was fond of Katherine back when they'd met but still found his thing for Elena creepy. He would later find out from Caroline that when he and Klaus had told him about their love for the same girl that they had left out a small detail. Her bloodline. Then it all made sense. What he was seeing now on the other hand didn't. He knew it wasn't a stretch. Once he got to know the blonde he realised she was much more than a shallow neurotic control freak. She was loveable and charming. He just would have never imagined the two together. He could see her changing in front of him, she was growing. He didn't know if it was because of Elijah but either way he couldn't help but smile.
When she told him all about Elijah's first love, after whispering to him that it was a secret and making him pinky promise not to tell anyone, he noticed just how different she had become. As she told him how his affections were once for a girl who looked just like one of her best friends she never showed a hint of anger or jealousy. Just sadness for his loss. She did admit to him that the detail about Tatia being the beginning of the doppelgangers came a while after discovering Elijah's feelings for her. She told him she had been in a bad state the night he told her and didn't want to upset her more. She smiled at that. She kind of liked that her thought she was so breakable still. It just made him more mesmerized when she would win in a fight between the two of them. He had started to teach her some self defence at her insistence. She made him swear that he wouldn't tell the others about their friendship. She either missed or ignored the look he shot her when she referred to it as that. He was the only one who knew. Although she had caught her mom looking at her weirdly lately but that could've been anything.
He found her in their basement searching frantically for blood bags. When he finally got her to stop moving he took in her dishevelled appearance. Hair tied up messily. Eyes puffy and red. He held her tightly to him as she cried silently into his shoulder. Her inaudible whisper of her break up with Tyler clued him in. They stood in that spot for nearly an hour just holding each other. It was another two hours before she spoke. She came into his room where he was lying on his bed reading. She curled up next to him. She told him it wasn't because of Elijah. It was Klaus. He had no idea how extensive his obsession with her had become. Damon had told him about the dress but she failed to mention about the rest. They had used her as bait and distraction. She should've told them no. It had gotten complicated. They were playing a game and she was losing.
She told him that she could only remember pieces of the night before. Her brain's attempt to block out the pain. Elijah had found her. She was in the woods crying. She woke up in her bed the next morning, her mom by her side.
She left Stefan's bed, and the boarding house, sometime during the night, whispering goodbye to him and placing a kiss on his cheek. She was expecting a much harsher warning. He simply told her to be careful.
A/N: Thoughts?