AN: I'm so sorry I put you all through this much angst. A decade has passed in the story. So for you math inclined people that's like 520 visits.
It's been a decade, he tells her. Jeremy is playing professionally still, and Caroline visits as much as she can, although it gets reduced to phone calls usually. Jeremy does the same, they're becoming less frequent. He still talks to her once a month. She wonders if he wishes she were dead. It would be easier for everyone, they could have moved on by now. Bonnie is still too freaked out about the fact she's the only thing separating Elena from going out and living her life. And a spell, but that's beside the point.
She's found a coven, Elijah tells her. Stefan was a good lawyer for a while before he faked his death-something that seems to amuse him. Elena wonders why Stefan wasn't a lawyer for vampires, something Elijah voices. She's glad she's not human. She doesn't think she could take waking up in a body she wasn't familiar with. She wasn't happy to be vampire until she got the hang of it. With help from everyone. The playlist he made a few years ago is almost always playing in her room. He adds songs every so often, and she wants to thank him for not letting her go insane. His thumb traces shapes on the back of her hand as he reads more poetry to her. Someday they'll get through all of the books he wants to. He updates her on the world, he tells her Matt is doing well-he got married and has a child. A human life she almost wanted, she thinks. It's not what she wants anymore.
He stays until his flight leaves Monday night, save for a few hours of changing and hygiene and a few calls. She can never tell when she's clean. By the way the room sounds those nights, she thinks he fell asleep in her room. She can hear breathing, and the grip on her hand is looser. She wonders what he dreams about.