Fairytale Ending
by adlyb
Disclaimer: I own nothing except these words.
Summary: Klaus takes his girl and his hybrid and gets out of that one pony town.
Spoilers: Through 3x05, The Reckoning
Rating: T for now, but will become R in later chapters
Warnings: I'll be adding more warnings as I update, but for now, hostage situation/explicit violence/gratuitous angst
The morning after she runs into Tyler in the library, the sound of the tray table's wheels rattling against the hardwood floor of her bedroom wakes her.
She opens one eye and peers at Stefan from under her lashes. Morning sunlight pours through her window. The room is very bright—it must be already mid-morning.
Stefan is late. Usually, he's here well before the sun has reached such a height in the sky. There is no use in wondering why. He won't tell her, and she won't ask. Not today, when things are just starting to look up, when she might look forward to seeing Tyler and having a friend again.
He uncovers the tray, revealing a steaming plate of scrambled eggs, grits, bacon and toast. Neither of them has ever mentioned it, but he still remembers exactly how she likes her grits, that she prefers strawberry jam to raspberry, that she takes cream but no sugar in her coffee. It's a little thing, that he still cares enough to see to all of these little details, but all she has anymore are little things.
She stretches like a cat as Stefan pushes the tray into position over her lap, aware of his eyes on her as she eases the sleep from her limbs. She smiles when he does not look away.
"You look… pleased this morning," he notes, still hovering over her. "Should I be suspicious?"
She rolls her eyes at him. "Why bother? You know I've been painted into a corner. No where to run, no way out, and the lives of everyone I love are on the line if I so much as try."
He eyes her as he hands her her vitamins. "That's when you're at your most dangerous."
She scoffs. He has to be pulling her leg. "What, are you afraid of me, Stefan?"
"I know you too well not to be."
The admission stuns her.
"You're exaggerating."
"Am I?"
"Yes! Every choice I've ever had has been pre-ordained. All I've done is react. That hardly makes me a threat." She picks up the jar of strawberry jam Stefan has brought in for her toast and struggles to unscrew the lid as she answers him.
Stefan gently takes the jar from her hands and opens it for her. "That might be true, Elena, but that's not the whole truth." He holds the open jar out for her. The sweetness of the preserved strawberries wafts into the air around them. "You've always been so clever about finding a loophole—or tearing everything apart to make one, if you have to."
With a description like that, he could be talking about Katherine.
She laughs, incredulous and a little bitter. "Like when? When I let Klaus sacrifice me? Even though he killed Jenna to do it? Or are you talking about when he kidnapped me, and made sure everyone who would look for me would think I'm dead?" Just talking about any of this is winding her up, making her feel angry and impotent. She furiously slathers jam over her toast, using the task as an excuse not to look Stefan in the eyes. "I'm not planning anything, Stefan. I'm not… I'm not as strong as that."
"Says the girl I saw mortally wound herself so she could dagger an Original."
She clutches the butter knife in her hand. It's true. If she closes her eyes and concentrates, she could imagine the instrument she holds is that deadly weapon instead. It had been cool and light in her grasp. Not at all how she'd imagined it would feel, to wield the power to slay giants in her fist. "You're reinventing history," she mumbles. "You make it sound more daring than it actually was."
"Elijah thought you were bluffing. Most people would have been."
"I didn't have a choice. I had to do it to save you and Damon."
"Exactly. You had no choice." He leans back against her windowsill and crosses his arms. He speaks low and even, so reasonably, like they aren't talking about a time she had risked everything for him. Like he hadn't been the one to hold her in his arms and save her afterwards. "Like I said," he continues. "That's a dangerous position for anyone to put you in. It's hard to say what you'll do when you feel desperate."
"Why bring all this up? If you're so worried I'm plotting something, then wouldn't it be better to watch me without letting me know you're onto me? Or better yet, to tell Klaus?" She can't quite keep the hope out of her voice when she asks him these questions— the hope that Stefan is bringing this up because he really still cares about her.
"Klaus told me to protect you. If you do have some scheme cooking, you're going to wind up getting hurt, which kinda goes against my objective."
"Oh."
"So if you are planning something… I suggest you put it aside."
"Because I'll get hurt, and Klaus has ordered you to keep me safe."
He points his finger like a gun and shoots at her. "Bingo."
"I see."
They're both silent while she picks at the remainder of her breakfast. A month ago, she would have lost her appetite after this conversation, but now she finds it hardly affects her at all.
"Are you going to finish that?" he asks after a while, pointing to her toast. She doesn't protest as he takes what's left and licks the stickiness off his fingers, one by one.
It wasn't so long ago that he'd have been in bed with her, sharing sticky kisses and caresses. Coming up with code words and secret messages for each other.
Maybe she should be plotting something.
A/N: Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!
So this was originally just the first part of chapter 5, but I'm posting this as a mini-update because the chapter was running pretty long, and I wanted to update sooner rather than later. (There is A LOT of K/E in the next chapter, so be patient, relax, and enjoy the Stelena until then!) The next part will be out SOON though!
Thank you thank you thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers. You all are so sweet to leave me your thoughts, and I have so much fun talking TVD with you all.
To my reviewers who haven't left signed reviews:
To the guest who wanted to see Elena find a picture of Tatia in Klaus's library: I actually explored that in my other multi-chapter, After the Fire, But Before the Flood. If you haven't read it yet, go have a look!
kristin: I'm going to keep hush on where this particular fic is going, but I do have similar ideas to what you suggested percolating, and I'm sure I'll write something along those lines sooner rather than later!
Salera: Thank you for your very sweet review and your encouragement!
anna: Well, I'm not going to do a Klaus POV in this fic, because a lot of the tension comes from Elena not quite knowing what's going on behind closed doors, and not knowing where she stands with everyone else—and also, you'd see the ending coming like a mile out if I reveal too much with a POV! But if you are interested in a Klaus POV, I wrote from his perspective in a few of my fics—my multi-chapter, After the Fire, But Before the Flood is about half from his POV, and my two oneshots, Turn Around (But Nothing's There) and The Last Time are entirely his perspective. And as for whether Elena is expected to have any children… well, it will come up eventually, right? As promised above, Klaus is going to be quite a bit in the next installment, so yes, lots of interest and involvement from him!
Karen varner: Come talk to me on tumblr! My inbox is always open, either anon or signed in, and I love talking TVD (and that goes for anyone). My tumblr handle livlepretre