Elena
She woke up and stretched groggily. She was lying tangled up with Caroline and Bonnie. She sat up and wandered through to the kitchen to grab some blood. She still wasn't used to the normality of drinking blood but it was getting better.
She remembered her encounter with Stefan the previous day and sighed. She should probably apologise. Then she remembered. He's snapped her neck, staked her and most likely enjoyed it. She scoffed.
She returned to the living room and smiled at the scene before her. It was so normal. There was a pile of DVD's in front of the television and blanket and pillows were strewn everywhere. There was empty pizza boxes and a mostly finished bottle of whisky courtesy of Caroline.
She was glad vampire's couldn't get hangovers. She flipped on the coffee and dug out some aspirin for Bonnie. Her head would be killing her when she woke up.
"ELENA! Oh shit. Sorry Bon!" Caroline's bubbly voice woke Bonnie. She could tell by the groaning that she had been right. Massive hangover for the witch.
"Here." She handed her a cup of coffee and some aspirin. She felt bad, but hey, she'd never get a hangover again. "Care? Will you look after her?"
Caroline looked stricken. "I can't Elena. Do you think I could talk to you about something?"
She was leaving. She knew it and she didn't want to hear it, but she had to.
They closed the door on Bonnie who was sleeping soundly in Elena's room and returned to the living room.
"I'm leaving Elena." Caroline spoke quietly, as if scared of her reaction.
"I know."
"You do?" she replied shocked.
"Course I do Care. So does Damon. We both knew you'd leave and we also both know who you would leave with."
"You're not made at me?"
"I'm not mad. Confused, yes, but not mad. Do you have feelings for him?"
Caroline fidgeted nervously.
"You see? I understand. Remember when you said, when you insisted I had feelings for Damon?"
Caroline burst out laughing. "Okay, yeah. You understand. I doesn't mean everyone else will though."
"Do they need to? Just promise you'll keep in touch."
"I promise."
She paused. She was planning to leave as well, they would both be leaving. It would be so different.
"I'm leaving too Caroline."
Caroline's eyes widened. "No! You can't-" she broke off and rolled her eyes. "Wait, I can't argue. Why?"
"The same reasons as you I guess. I want to see the world. I want to travel. I want to see everything. With Damon he's different. He's adventurous. Dangerous. Passionate. His love his different, it's wild and all-consuming. "
"He's who you need. He doesn't need to be completely good. He just needs to be who he is. I want to have what you've found Elena. I want to find love with someone who will fight for me. You have that, and you found it completely by accident and ran like hell when you realised it."
"Whether it's with Tyler or Klaus or a completely different person – you'll find it Care."
She was hugged tightly by her best friend.
"Well, when you're travelling around the world and I'm travelling around the world we're bound to meet up every so often aren't we?"
She laughed and smirked. "And I'll be calling you no stop."
"I'll miss you Elena, don't forget me?"
"Never! I'll miss you too, Care. You leaving soon?"
"Soon, and we both know my soon is different from your soon."
She giggled. "I need to go."
She hugged her friend tight, knowing she could disappear whenever she wanted.
"I'll stay here and look after miss hungover."
She waved goodbye.
Was it goodbye? Would she ever see her again? Of course she would, but when? Should she be sad? Mixed emotions overwhelmed her as she drove towards the Boarding House.
She didn't bother to knock, when was it ever locked?
She pushed open the door to see a familiar sight. A Salvatore hunched over on the couch tipping a glass of bourbon in his hands.
The figure lifted it to his lips and flung it back. He cringed and gasped as the hot liquid burnt his throat.
Stefan then.
"Hey."
He turned around. She didn't want to talk to him but she had to.
"What?"
"I know I hurt you Stefan." She paused, unsure of how to continue. "But you left me. You left me here and I still loved you. You almost killed me and I still loved you. You tried to turn me unwillingly and I still loved you. I loved you through everything, but I didn't realise until the moment I opened my eyes that I don't love you the way I love Damon. He changes me. Makes me question everything. You-" She look in his gaze. He didn't look hurt or angry, sad or confused. He sat with a look of resignation on his face. "You're love is pure. It was what I needed at the time when I found you. I needed a someone strong and powerful. You were what I needed at that point in my life."
"Elena, stop."
"No."
She couldn't stop. She had to make him understand she wasn't like Katherine. She wouldn't toy with them both. A couple years with Stefan, couple with Damon, continuing for eternity.
"I love you Stefan, like a brother; a friend, but I don't love you the way you want me to."
He stood, his face blank before he broke into a hesitant smile.
"Friends." She smiled tentatively at him.
"Friends."
"You and my brother are friends?" He shook his head at the girl's ridiculous ability to forgive everyone. Hell, she'd forgiven him and he'd killed her brother.
"Yes."
"We started out as friends." He wasn't used to this. This feeling of vulnerability. Elena would always love Stefan, he was her first love. It was like the way he would always love Katherine, never enough to go back, but enough to wish them happiness.
"We did, but key difference: You made me work. You can't look at me straight in the eye and tell me we had a easy friendship. Every time it fell apart we had to work to fix and there is no way in hell I am ever letting you go."
He was shocked. She'd pinpointed his worst fears and obliterated them.
"Ah, Gilbert, you are under the impression that I would ever want to be let go." He grabbed her around she waist when she tried to prod him in the ribs. "I love you, Elena."
She smiled, her brown eyes sparkling. "I love you too." She kissed him lightly as she buried her face in his neck.
"I meant it."
He didn't say anything when she stopped after that. He made a slight noise of questioning, prompting her to continue.
"Take me away, Damon. Show me the world."
"You meant that?" He assumed she'd only been half serious.
"Yes." She kissed his earlobe.
He loved this girl. She was spectacular. How was it possible for someone to be like her? He would love her forever if she let him.
"Marry me."
He had never been the one to think about settling down. When he'd been human he'd dreamed of a wife and children, now he dreamed of being with her forever.
"What?"
"Elena. Marry me." he kissed every inch of her he could reach. "Now, I'm going to avoid being clichéd and I won't tell you how I have waited my whole life for you. I won't tell you that I love you. I won't tell you that you're the only one I'll ever love for eternity."
She looked thoroughly confused and shocked. 'Ha' He though triumphantly. You weren't expecting that were you?
"I won't tell you, but I'll think it."
She still hadn't answered his question which worried him slightly. He captured her lips sweetly and pressed his forehead against his.
"Marry me." he pressed kisses down her neck while murmuring how much he loved her.
She brought his face back to meet hers.
"Yes."
He laughed and his face lit up with a genuine smile he'd only rediscovered recently. He took her in his arms and crashed his lips to hers.
Passion exploded between them, unexplainable and wild. Raw, fierce hunger and a love that ran so deep they hadn't be truly aware of it until that very moment. In that moment he knew. He knew that he would be whatever she needed him to be.
From that moment on they would be together. Yes, they'd fight but he would never let her go to sleep mad. He would keep her up and they would scream all night at each other's idiocy and stupid decisions.
If there was such a thing as soul-mates he had found his. His was Elena Gilbert. His love for Katherine – whether it had been compelled or not was nothing compared to what this nineteen year old girl made him feel.
Elena Gilbert made him feel alive.
A/N: Wow. It's done. Don't worry though - there will be an epilogue! Do you all like the way I ended this?