Tuesday, January 21st 2014

Stefan pulled Caroline close and kissed her cheek. "You're brooding."

She forced a smile and quipped, "Isn't that you're thing?"

"I guess I'm rubbing off on you."

At that, she pressed her body up against his more. "I love your body rubbing against mine."

"I feel the same," he then reached down and grabbed her ass. "Isn't that why you asked me to meet you at the motel?"

She let out a long sigh, "When are you going to end things with her? I'm tired of waiting."

Stefan moved, and as he unzipped her pants, he said, "She's about to recommend me for my dream job. Once I have that, I will end things with her."

"Promise?" she asked and then moaned as he touched her.

"Caroline, trust me, we'll be together. Don't you feel what it's like when we have sex?"

"You have sex with Elena, too!" she snapped angrily.

"I've stopped," he half lied. The sex had stopped recently, but he wasn't the one who made that decision. Every time he tried to get intimate with Elena, she would devise an excuse for why it wasn't a good time.

"Bull shit! You fucked her right before the New Year, I know because she told me how 'romantic' it was!"

"And that was the last time," he stated emphatically. "Come on, Caroline, don't get mad. I need you. You have to know that by now. You're all that matters to me."

She pouted but quickly gave in as he teased her body. She moaned and nipped at his earlobe. "Then take me, Stefan. You know I'm yours."

Elena didn't know what to feel at the moment. Her plan was going well, and she was right —they were together right now. She wanted to work out their sexcapade pattern so she could ensure they get caught red-handed, but that also meant that she was currently being betrayed. It still stung a bit, even though she hated them both. She stood in the graveyard, looking down at her parent's graves. "Mom, I won't play the fool this time around."

The fact that they were still dead hurt. Why did she get a second chance to make things better when they didn't? It had taken her just over a week to work out the fact that she must have died. Otherwise, why did everything stop so abruptly?

Standing there she opened her diary and read her notes on Stefan's daily patterns. This time, with her fresh chance, she stalked him from the shadows. He had become her obsession more now than ever in her life.

"A black rose and now a graveyard. I'm getting the theme," Damon said, walking up and startling her.

As she spun to face him, she snapped her journal closed. "It's not 'off brand' anymore?"

He cocked his head and looked at her steadily. "You've changed lately."

"New year, new me," she spouted out quickly.

"It's a little too much," he countered. "No one changes that fast."

"You're imagining things," she pressed. "I'm just the regular old boring Elena." Despite her anger, her confidence was still absolutely destroyed after what she had witnessed and the betrayal she was facing.

"You don't have a boring bone in your body," Damon said, taking a step toward her.

Elena laughed in his face. "I don't do anything remarkable or interesting. My life amounts too…" she trailed off. She couldn't say that her life boiled down to finding out at thirty-one that her husband and one of her closest friends had been sleeping together for years. "This," she said instead, gesturing wide.

She watched Damon get a stricken look on his face and then saw him work to look calm. "You're amazing, Elena. Anyone who matters can see that."

"I don't feel amazing."

He hesitantly reached out and placed his hand on her upper arm. "I'm telling you that you're special…. Please know that there are so many…" She watched as he seemed to force himself to speak. He added, "I need you in my life."

"You don't. I'm just your…" she barely stopped herself in time from saying sister-in-law. "I'm your brother's girlfriend."

He tightened his grip on her arm and said, "I promise you're more than that."

"Oh really?" She challenged him. "What am I?"

"The woman I love," he said, shocking the hell out of her.

"I'm Stefan's girlfriend," she objected.

"You shouldn't be."

Startled by his persistence, she looked at him steadily for a moment. She said, "I don't understand why you're trying to mess with me."

"I'm not."

Hours later, she was still reeling from their conversation. He had never even joked about having feelings for her during the first time going through this life. Why now, the second time around, would he tell her he loved her?

At the end of the story, I was going to recommend that everyone watch "Marry My Husband" on Amazon Prime. Obviously, I love the k-drama there, and it hugely inspired me to write this Vampire Diaries specific story. I didn't work hard to hide my inspiration (I gave my story the same name), and some of my sweet reviewers mentioned that they had caught on to where my idea had come from. So there will be some "spoilers" for my own story (LOL), but I have only picked the bits that worked with the characters in TVD, and while the basic premise (Caroline and Stefan cheating) might be a stretch, once that was done, I have tried to stay true to the other characters.