The next morning, Elena Gilbert did not want to rise with the sun. Instead, she wished to curl up amongst the blankets and pretend that everything from the past few days had been a nightmare. Though, as it seemed, even her recent nightmares had a bit of truth to them. After staying in bed for as long as possible, she threw back the covers and took a long, hot shower. When faced with her wardrobe, which consisted of the clothes she'd worn the previous day and nothing else, she put on the worn clothes. Nimble fingers worked to quickly braid her damp hair, out of both routine and a need for normalcy. Neither were a comfort.
Thankfully, the living room sat empty. Damon and Caroline nowhere to be seen. Pain rose in her chest at the relief she felt. Unfortunately, the kitchen was not empty. There sat a vampire with a mug of coffee—at least, she hoped it was coffee—and a green-eyed gaze. The two had barely looked at each other during her rescue mission, but now, her cheeks went pink just from proximity.
"Stefan," she said because the silence pressed in from all angles.
"Elena," he said. For a moment they just stared at one another, two people uncertain how to act around the other.
They both tried to speak at the same time. Elena said, "I know what—" just as Stefan said, "Listen, I need to explain—" and then they both just looked at each other again.
Elena finally broke through. "I don't remember, but Damon told me about what happened the night at The Hall."
He nodded, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else, having any other conversation. "I shouldn't have gotten into that carriage with you."
Had they kissed, too? Like she'd dreamed about? Had that feeling she'd woken up with the next morning been true? She couldn't possibly ask without turning the brightest shade of red possible. "I probably shouldn't have invited you," she said, a small smile on her lips, feeling both completely uncomfortable and like nothing really mattered all that much all at the same time.
"I don't know how much my brother told you," he said, hands gripping the edge of the counter in front of him, leaning slightly forward. A similarly nervous energy about him. "But it was never my intention to hurt you."
Elena crossed into the kitchen, pouring herself a mug of coffee. She stood next to him, coffee left to cool next to his white knuckled grip. "It's strange, to have someone tell you something that happened to you that you cannot remember. It's like it didn't happen at all." It was probably not the best way to look at the situation, but how could she offer him her forgiveness when she couldn't remember a shred of the night? When her memory told her she'd passed out on the bathroom floor?
He released one hand from the counter and turned his body toward her. Like Damon, he was taller than her, with broad shoulders. His arms were less defined, and his hair more so. Just like that night, when they'd danced, she found him quite handsome. Though, that didn't seem to matter with everything else going on. Her feelings about anyone's appearance were not first and foremost on her mind. They crossed it, sure. But for the most part, she looked at him and saw a vampire. At least, not one who had lied to her. That had to mean something.
"Still," Stefan said, voice tight as he looked down at her. "I'm sorry. I've been known to have issues with control, especially in… well, certain situations."
Her cheeks flushed, confirming exactly what she was uncertain of. "Right," she said with a nod, averting her gaze.
Holding up a hand he said, "I'm not asking for your forgiveness. I just wanted you to know. That's not usually, uh, how I like for those situations to go."
"And how would you have liked for it to go?" she asked, because nothing really mattered anymore, right? Why shouldn't she have a little enjoyment, a little flirt with the brother of someone who'd betrayed her? When he took too long to answer, Elena smiled the way that a mouse would smile at a cat before it made a quick getaway. "You knew who I was. At The Hall."
This time, he looked away, and she knew she had him. "I did."
She narrowed her eyes but didn't know what to say. She'd never been in a situation—to use Stefan's word, like this one before. Of course, she'd never kissed a man and then forgotten about it, but she'd also never kissed a man and had this awkward, tense months-later conversation. A conversation in which it was revealed that the man had not thought her a stranger at all.
"Why come and talk to me?" she asked, finally.
He looked at her again, eyes softening and she could see that night in them, they way he'd extended his hand for a dance. "Because you looked—" he paused like he was remembering the black dress, Caroline's dress, the way her hair was curled so perfectly. "I couldn't stay away."
A cleared throat interrupted the two of them. "Well, this looks cozy," Damon said, the expression on his face pointed and unreadable. Though it was clear he'd heard the last few words uttered at a low volume by his brother.
Elena turned to him with a smile, because she just couldn't help herself. "Stefan was just giving me a compliment," she said, then furrowed her brows. "You're not familiar with the concept, but it's when you say a nice thing about someone else." Then, she reached out and placed a hand over Stefan's. The tension in the room hung heavy and suffocating for everyone but her. She only smiled, a wordless weapon. "Thank you, for dancing with me."
Then, once again leaving behind a mug full of coffee, she walked out of the kitchen, brushing by Damon on the way out. She thought he might just reach out and grab her arm. It happened so often that she'd gotten used to it, but he just let her leave out the back door.
For a long while, she sat on the back porch steps, looking out over the rolling green backyard and the tree line a hundred feet back. Her mind drifted, leaving behind all the stress and struggle, instead thinking about what grand parties must have been thrown there back in the day. She pictured children running around with dancing ribbons and parents conversing over crystal glassware and endless confections. Inside, someone played the piano, and people danced. How dreamlike, how lovely it must have been. Now, it felt like a cell, a place she was not allowed to leave without supervision.
Not that she tried to leave, but why would she want to? Even tucked away in the country, her life felt at risk. If Klaus was so powerful, what was stopping him from showing up and dragging her away when her vampire friends weren't paying attention?
Leaning back on her elbows, soft sunbeams cascading onto her face, she probably would have fallen asleep—her body and mind more tired than they'd ever been before, if Caroline hadn't stepped through the screen door and onto the back patio.
Caroline sat down next to her, and Elena's moment of relaxation turned back into stress. It hadn't been real relaxation, anyway. Just a momentary lapse in her ability to think about all the things that weighed on her. A calm before the storm, before the impending doom that fell around her.
"I wanted to tell you everything," Caroline said, turning to look at her friend with an anxious smile, brows drawn together with concern so genuine Elena could hardly be mad at her. She shook her head, still disbelieving all she'd had to keep from the brunette. She reached out and grabbed Elena's hand, folding it between hers. "Elena," her voice was a notch more serious now, "Klaus doesn't stop until he gets what he wants, and I," a long pause that held so much worry, "I don't know how to protect you from this. From him."
This was not the reassuring conversation that Elena needed. This only struck more fear into her heart. It was beginning to sink in. This was real. Everything that had happened was real. Klaus was going to kill her for some sick and twisted ritual to achieve immortality, and she would be dead. Her palms started to sweat. She thought about writing a letter to Jeremy. What would it even say? I'm sorry I forgot about our plans to meet up over the summer, if you're reading this, I'm probably already dead?
"I guess," Elena started, sucking in a breath. "I guess if all of this was inevitable, I'm glad that I got to have at least one normal year at college, first." Even as she said the words, tried to be optimistic, she felt her heart sink deep in her chest to a place she could never retrieve it.
Caroline squeezed Elena's hand. "We're going to figure something out, okay? None of us are going to let you die." Elena dropped her head on Caroline's shoulder. An apology didn't need to be uttered between the pair for both of them to know that they were fine.
That was the issue with Elena's anger. Because she was angry that she'd spent the entire year in the dark, of course. Angry that Damon had known and messed with her the entire time, angry that Caroline had lied on multiple occasions when asked directly. But there was nothing to do with that anger. Even if she harbored this anger toward them, they were still going to try and save her—and how could she truly be mad at people who cared enough to keep her alive?
Later that same day, they all sat around a long dining room table in a room bathed in light. Stefan had spent a good portion of the afternoon in the kitchen, cooking a dinner fit for a much larger family, truly a feast that could be compared to the dinners laid of for her father's parties. Of course, those had been made by the house staff, of which the country house had none.
The air had been thick with tension ever since Stefan and Caroline's rescue mission, but it was particularly palpable between the two brothers now, who barely seemed to look at each other. Elena made a mental note to ask Caroline about their history later. She couldn't understand why a pair of siblings could seem to abhor each other so. Caroline and Marcus got along just fine, with minimal bickering, and she and Jeremy had been thicker than thieves. Damon and Stefan, however, their disdain for one another felt raw. She could see in the way Damon glared at Stefan every time he looked in her direction.
In an attempt to break the heavy silence, Elena said, "So, garlic. Obviously not an issue."
Caroline laughed into her glass of wine, and Stefan choked on his bite. Even Damon's lips quirked upward for a second.
"Sunlight, also," she said, pointing with her fork at no one in particular. "Doesn't seem to bother you."
Caroline looked at her like she'd hit her head, and Elena smiled. "What?" Elena asked like it was a completely normal line of questioning. "My friends are all vampires, shouldn't I know something about what that means?"
Damon stood up from the table and grabbed the bottle of red wine off the counter. A cabernet sauvignon, their usual. He filled up everyone else' glasses and then his own. "Ask anything you want," he said, and when she narrowed her eyes on him he continued. "Really."
What other vampiric legends could be referenced? These vampires could walk in the sun, didn't have issues with garlic, could see themselves in the mirror, drank blood—but could do so without killing someone, and could also use their blood to heal others. What more was there to ask?
"Stakes?" she asked, one raised brow. "Bad, I'm assuming. Given what that one did to Klaus."
At her words, Caroline flinched visibly, straightening herself out quickly as if not to draw any further attention.
Stefan stepped in to answer the question. "Yes. Very bad. There are few ways to kill a vampire, a stake to the heart being one."
"Fire and decapitation also work," Damon added on, grimly.
"But Klaus—, he didn't die. And that's because?" This line of questioning had quickly gone from playful back to tense, but she couldn't help herself. These were things she wanted to know, needed to know.
Marcus spoke this time, "Klaus was the first of us. As a result, he's stronger, faster, more… well, durable. We're not sure how to kill him." His words trailed off, quieter toward the end as Elena's face grew more solemn.
"We're not sure how to kill him yet," Damon clarified, looking at Elena with a kind of determination.
"Reassuring," she said, offhand and quiet. "What about Elijah? He seemed to have a plan of sorts." A plan that involved her becoming a vampire. Something that she was absolutely not interested in. Though her friends seemed at least kind of well adjusted, growing old appealed to her in many ways.
"Elijah shouldn't be trusted. He's just as powerful as Klaus, and he has a vendetta against the whole lot of us. Whatever plan he has to take down his brother, he won't hesitate to take us down with him," Marcus explained.
While he spoke, Elena downed the rest of her wine, and Damon was quick to reach for the glass across the table, refilling it for her. She smiled in thanks, but didn't reach for it again. Instead, she pushed the food around on her plate.
"So," she said, not meeting anyone's gaze. "What do we do? What do I do?"
Damon spoke, "Klaus and Elijah can't walk in the sun. A friend of ours, a particularly upset witch," he held up a hand, showing a ring on his thumb that Elena had never noticed before. She spotted one on Stefan too, and a more delicate ring on Caroline. Marcus likely had one too, but his hands were out of sight. "Made us these. They give us that ability. Without them, we'd burn alive."
"What does that mean? We get him out in the sun and he turns to ash?" Elena asked.
"It means we keep going about our lives, Gilbert. We go to class. We pretend nothing has changed, and we plan. We have time. He can't get you during the day. Especially not with us around," Damon explained.
"No Harmon's Great Minds?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.
To his credit, Damon didn't look at her like she was naive. "Unfortunately not. Though, I suppose it should make you feel better to know that the whole thing is a cover for Elijah's scheming. None of those men are half as intelligent as you anyway."
Clearly he'd taken her note on compliments. She raised her glass, sipping it slowly to hide the blush that crossed her features. He'd complimented her before, but it felt different now. Strange, now that she'd felt the way his hands felt against her skin, now that they'd been a hair's breadth away from kissing.
By the time they'd finished eating, Elena had consumed a few heavily poured classes of cabernet, and she nearly slipped to the ground as she stood up from the table. Both Stefan and Damon were at her side in a flash, offering an arm to help her. She saw Damon first, and placed a hand on his outstretched forearm, tossing Stefan a smile over his shoulder.
"I'm fine," she insisted, but he continued to help her up the stairs anyway.
When they stopped outside of the guest room door, she didn't remove her hand from his arm immediately. It lingered for too long, leaving too many words unspoken around them. When she finally pulled her hand away, Damon caught it as it dropped, lacing his fingers through hers and taking a step closer to her.
She didn't take a step backward.
The feeling of her hand in his made all other coherent thoughts disappear. Her head tilted upward, eyes locked on his, once again frozen by him—in a way she liked more than anything. Her heart beat faster, and her eyes searched his, dropped to his lips and back again, trying to determine what he would do, what move he would to make. And if he didn't make it, would she?
He stepped closer again, and she had to step away, her back hitting the wall behind her and her chest nearly touching his. But still, neither said a single word, afraid to break the trance that consumed them.
His fingers, warm despite technically being dead, reached up to caress her cheek. Her lips parted as she sucked in a breath. His thumb dragged along her her jaw, then her chin.
"Damon?" she said, her voice soft and breathy, asking him for what she knew they both wanted. He moved forward, slow and calculated. His lips would have grazed hers if he were just a fraction closer.
He swallowed thickly, then pulled away like it cost him something. Still, he held her hand tight in his. "Not tonight," he said, still unable to decide whether to look at her lips or her eyes. "You've been drinking."
"You've been drinking," she commented, a tinge of sass in her voice, but not enough to cover the desire. "Kiss me."
Damon let out a shaky breath and ran his free hand through his hair. A foot of space separated them, but he closed it fast. Before she could react, he'd dropped her hand and grabbed her waist, tugging her against him. His other hand threaded through her hair and their eyes met again for a second. Elena was nodding when he kissed her.
The kiss was full of pent up desire and it felt like lightning. It felt like waking up, like realizing a part of herself, like seeing everything with clarity for the first time. What had started as a drunken conversation with Caroline that made her question everything about Damon had culminated in this moment, in her hands gripping the collar of his shirt to pull him closer and closer. When he couldn't get any closer, they settled on his shoulders, firm and strong, fingers digging in slightly as their lips moved against each other. Damon didn't let her go, his grip on her waist strong but not painful, his hand on her face tender.
She had to break away to take a breath, though she could have happily continued kissing him. His head fell against her forehead, and they stayed there for some time, breathing heavily and looking at one another. Elena's cheeks turned pink, and they both smiled at the same time in the giddy aftermath of what they'd done. They unwound themselves finally, and Elena left him in the hallway after another chaste kiss and many words unspoken.
Once inside, she leaned against the closed door still catching her breath, cheeks hot and hand on her chest, immediately wondering what the kiss had meant. Her hand came up over her mouth, covering the wide smile that wouldn't drop despite the unfortunate circumstances of the rest of her life. This moment didn't fix anything that plagued her, didn't make those issues go away, but it made her happy, and for tonight, that would have to be enough.
A/N: Absolutely couldn't wait to get this chapter up. I hope you liked reading it as much as I liked writing it! I have the next 9 chapters fully written and ready to go, through chapter 42, and will be posting those while I finish writing the last 3 or 4. So excited to share the ending with you all.