One year later…
"You see that one over there?" he points his finger up to the sky and draws an imaginary line with it.
"The one that looks like a letter M?" she follows the same pattern with her finger like he did before.
"Yes, that one." He reaches for her hand and intertwines their fingers, resting their hands on his chest.
"I see it." She breathes dreamily, caught up in her thoughts, how her hand perfectly fits his.
"It's the Cassiopeia." He says, "She was a queen a long time ago, she was one of the most beautiful women in the world but her vanity led to her downfall."
"That's not a very happy story then."
"Not all stories have happy endings, Elena." He whispers, turning his head so he could look at her.
Still eyeing the constellation she says, "Do you think ours will have one? A happy ending, that is?"
"Yes." He says without hesitation.
Elena averts her eyes from those beautiful stars and her gaze falls first on their locked hands then on his lips and finally on his eyes. Stefan smiles in return which makes her stomach flutter and sends her heart racing. He always has that effect on her, and she thinks that there's nothing in this world that could make it disappear.
"What makes you so sure?" she asks, ignoring the thumping of her heart.
"Doesn't all fairy tales have a happy ending?" he answers her question with a question.
Elena raises her eyebrows in astonishment – "You think our story is a fairy tale?"
"I do," Stefan answers solemnly, then his lips curve into a mischievous smile, "We already have all the components – a beautiful princess." He raises their intertwined hands and kisses her knuckles. "Prince Charming." He says and Elena giggles. "The bad guy who wished nothing but misery upon us and who we so easily defeated." Stefan locks her eyes with Elena's.
Suddenly the air grows a bit colder and the playfulness from Stefan's eyes disappears.
Elena turns her head back to the stars, "I thought everyone in a fairy tale had a happy ending." Her voice is sad, "But in ours…" she doesn't end her sentence but Stefan knows exactly what she means.
"Ours is a different kind of fairy tale." Stefan's says quietly.
"How so?" Sometimes his mind goes into places Elena doesn't understand, but that is a part of him she never would change.
"We fought together, we fought for each other. We saved each other." He says and Elena finally understands what he is getting at.
"And in fairy tales, there's usually only one person doing the saving…" she finishes his thoughts.
"Exactly." He agrees, happy that she understands him so well.
They lie there in silence for a while, admiring the beauty that the night sky offers. Only the occasional hooting of an owl breaks into their serenity.
Stefan suddenly takes their intertwined hands and raises them up in the air – "Do you see that one?" He draws a pattern with their hands.
"I do." Elena sighs, going over the star pattern again, now with her leading their hands.
"That's the Andromeda." Stefan says, "She was the daughter of Cassiopeia."
"What happened to her?" Elena asks, curious to know.
"Her mother boasted that she was more beautiful than the sea-nymphs, so Poseidon sent a sea monster to destroy the city they lived in and as a sacrifice to the sea monster, Andromeda was tied to a rock."
"That's awful." Elena frowns in discontent.
"She was saved by her future husband, Perseus." He raises their hands again and draws another imaginary line. "He's over there."
"How do you know all of this?" she asks, squinting her eyes at the jumble of shining dots. For her, they all look like a one big mess.
He smiles ruefully, "I've had a lot of time on my hands."
Elena accepts his answer with ease, knowing what he meant by that.
"Do you ever miss it?" Elena asks, not knowing what came over her to even ask.
"Miss what?" He responds, although he knows what she meant by that question.
"Being an angel," she whispers, a bit afraid of his reaction.
"Sometimes, yes," Stefan answers truthfully and he can instantly feel her eyes on him, he's guessing it's not the answer she was expecting.
"But then I look at you and I am reminded of how lucky I am to have you, how lucky I am that I can spend a lifetime with you and I wouldn't trade that for anything." He adds, turning his head slightly so he could look at her expression.
Elena smiles a little, the smile reaching her beautiful chocolate eyes. She sighs in content, cherishing the moment between them.
Elena knows that they have a lot of obstacles to overcome, but she is sure that time will heal those wounds as well. Sometimes she sees him looking at her with worry in his eyes, like he's afraid that she's going to run from him and she knows that sometimes she looks at him the same way. They are both still broken to a point where no person should be, but they both know that their only medicine is each other.
Without one another they'd be lost, even the slightest breeze would sweep them off their feet and getting up from that would be nearly impossible if it weren't for the support they get from each other.
The last year has been tough on both of them. Dealing with the consequences of Jeremy's and Damon's death was hard, but in their grief they both learned a lot about themselves and each other. Stefan and Elena now both know how fragile life is and how easily it can be blown out, like a flame of a candle and they intend to live life to the fullest, even if it sometimes seems unfair to the people that they have lost, because guilt is a powerful feeling and trying to conquer it may as well be like climbing Mount Everest.
You look up, expecting to see the peak but all you can make out are clouds and fog and when you start to climb that mountain you feel like you're out of air and the only feeling is the one of despair and the want to quit. But Stefan and Elena know that all it takes is offering a helpful hand to the one who is at a lower point, encouraging each other to take that necessary extra step, because sometimes one step is the only one you need to destroy what destroys you.
And when you reach the top - breathing heavily from exertion, wanting nothing more than to lie down and never stand up again, but you can't do that because the one thing that keeps you from falling into pieces is the knowledge that you conquered something nearly impossible - you see the sun rising from the east and you try to breathe the already sparse mountain air with every breath feeling like the last, but you don't care, because you know that at that moment the only thing matters is not that you suffered through extremities, not the fact that you're so tired that you could sleep for the next week but the fact that you overcame one of the biggest obstacles of your entire life.
That is what Elena and Stefan do every single day. They thrive, blossom and conquer. And they have better days and worse days, but every single day brings something new to them. And whether it is good or bad they always know that they have each other, no matter what and that is the most important thing.
When Stefan and Elena met, they didn't know how much they would influence each other's lives. For her, it was just a strange coincidence, for him a duty, knowing what had to be done even though at that time it felt wrong, yet so right.
They broke each other down to million pieces then assembled each other back into whole again, although some of those pieces didn't fit anymore so they had to borrow bits from each other, building themselves up again. And sometimes they both wish that they didn't need those pieces of each other so badly.
"What are you thinking about?" Stefan asks, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.
"Everything." She says simply.
"Everything?" he echoes, "That's a lot to think about."
"I know, but is that a bad thing?" her voice is soft like the flapping of a butterfly's wings.
"No, it's not." Stefan agrees.
A minute passes.
"Come with me." Stefan says and stands up, offering her his hand.
"Where?" she wonders.
"To have our happy ending."
Elena smiles and gladly takes his hand and so they both leave the night sky behind them with the past that will always be the silent passenger, haunting them until the end. They know that living in the past will get them nowhere, it will always remain, be with them, and it cannot be erased. So they choose to look into the future with clear eyes and a clear mind and with the hope that one day this fairy tale will truly have a happy ending.
So here it is. Wow. What a journey it was. I didn't realize how attached I had grown to this story until I started to write the epilogue... it's kind of impossible to describe the feelings I have right now...
I wish I could give each and every one of you a big hug and a box of chocolates, because without you - and I won't get tired of repeating this - I wouldn't have made it. Seriously. Thank you so so so so so so so much!
We'll see what the future brings, with this story I discovered that I really enjoy writing and I already have a few ideas for a new story. We shall see. :)
Until next time!