Closer than Most 4
Damon tried to contain his smile as he strolled through the boarding house with a cup of coffee. Since becoming human, he realized that he couldn’t handle day drinking if he wanted to be coherent the rest of the day. So coffee became his new alcohol. He was actually enjoying the quiet of the house. He let his mind wander to his date with Elena the night before. He was still bitter that he didn’t get to kiss her. He had been fighting with himself the whole night to not take her in his arms and just feel her skin again or the way her body curved against his. Everything about her drove him crazy, the way she laughed, the smell of her hair, the light in her eyes. She was back and she was still his Elena. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw her so carefree and happy.
He was- very rudely- pulled from his thoughts of Elena when he heard the front door kicked open and the slammed shut. He watched Stefan enter the house in a rush.
“Hello, brother,” Damon said from his spot near the window.
“What is she doing back?” Stefan demanded, walking into the living room.
Damon turned back toward the window before answering, “I could ask you the same question.”
“What was she doing with you?” Stefan asked, his voice getting anxious.
“If you must know, we were on a date,” Damon said with a smirk that he kept in place, even when Stefan grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him into a nearby wall. His bones didn’t appreciate it much, but his features didn’t portray it.
“What does she remember?” Stefan demanded, still holding Damon against the wall. Damon pushed him off with relative ease and took a few steps away from him.
“As far as I can tell, she remembers nothing. I don’t know how she is back,” Damon said, “Unless your compulsion wasn’t strong enough.”
“We need to send her away again,” Stefan said as he paced the length of the floor.
“No way in hell,” Damon spat, “She’s back for a reason. She chose to come back.”
“She chose to leave,” Stefan said in the same tone, “She chose to leave vampires behind.”
“Incase you didn’t remember, Stefan, I’m not a vampire anymore,” Damon snapped at him before downing the rest of his coffee. “I think somebody is just jealous that witches don’t like presumptuous douche bags.”
“I can kill you so fast, Damon,” Stefan warned, but it held no threat.
“But you won’t, because no matter how awful you’ve become, you still can’t kill your own brother,” Damon said as he watched Stefan walk out of the house. He didn’t bother turning around at Damon’s words, but Damon and Stefan both knew they were true.
---BREAK---
Elena flopped down into one of the booths at the Grill after a long morning of job hunting. She was finding it hard to concentrate all morning. The man in her dreams was taking on all new characteristics. His hair was still dark, almost black, but now his eyes were a piercing blue, his voice was soft, like velvet, and his lips looked impossibly soft. The man in her dreams was slowly turning into Damon and it was driving her crazy. She’d only known him for a week and she was acting like she was in love with the guy. She couldn’t believe how one guy had gotten past all her walls so easily.
She let out a heavy sigh before picking up the menu and searching for something to eat for lunch.
“Long day?” The voice startled her so much that she jumped and dropped her menu. She looked up to see Stefan sitting across from her. Instead of her heart calming down, it only sped up.
“Stefan,” she said a little breathlessly, “You scared me.”
“Sorry,” he smiled sheepishly.
“Can I help you with something?” She asked suspiciously. She still had a bad feeling about him, but now that she was sitting across from him, he didn’t seem as bad as she thought.
“I saw you sitting over here alone, so I thought I’d come say hi and apologize for being so rude last night,” he said with a shy smile. He was an attractive guy. His green eyes were gorgeous, but they held no real emotion.
“Oh, um,” she stuttered, not expecting him to say that, “It’s fine.”
“Forgive me if I’m speaking out of line, but I’d stay away from my brother if I were you, he’s bad news,” Stefan said seriously. Any kind thoughts she had about him immediately flew out the window.
“I really don’t think that’s any of your business,” Elena said as she started to rise from the booth. She slung her purse over her shoulder and turned to leave.
“Elena, wait,” Stefan said as he reached out and caught her arm. She spun to face him and tried to rip her arm out of his grip, but it was unbreakable.
“Let go of me, Stefan,” she hissed in a low voice, glancing around the room to see how many people were around in case she needed to make a scene.
“Has he told you about Katherine?” Stefan asked. The name stopped her heart. It was like she had heard it before, but that wasn’t possible.
“Who the hell is Katherine?” She snapped at him.
“Damon’s first and only love,” he said in a sad voice, “We both loved her.”
“He can tell me whenever he wants to tell me, like I said, it was one date,” Elena sneered as she ripped her arm from his grasp. She turned on her heel and walked away, but froze when the words left Stefan’s mouth.
“You look just like her,” he said.
She swiveled her head around to glare at him. She narrowed her eyes and took a step closer to him.
“I don’t know what kind of stunt you are trying to pull, but I am not Katherine nor will I ever be, you got that?” She snarled at him before she turned and walked right out of the restaurant and not stopping until she was in her car and on the road. She was fuming the whole way home. How dare he make assumptions about her and Damon, they only went on one date? But why did their relationship feel so much deeper than that?
She pulled up to the empty house, silently thanking the universe that Ric was staying with Meredith for the night, because all she wanted to do was curl up with a chick flick in her pajamas and block out both Salvatore brothers and whatever family drama they were dragging her into.
She couldn’t help but feel a connection to both brothers. And she felt a connection with the name Katherine. She was surprised at the amount of hate that swelled in her at the mention of that woman’s name. The confusion was overwhelming. She didn’t know who those brothers were, but maybe Stefan’s warning held some truth. Maybe Damon was dangerous, but maybe Stefan was too.
Just as she settled into the couch and pressed play on her movie, she heard a knock at the door. She ignored it, hoping whoever it was would just give up, but they certainly did not. The knocking only got louder. With a groan, she pushed herself off the couch and slowly made her way to the door before ripping it open.
She was not prepared for the sight of Damon clad in all black leaning against her doorframe. Her heart backflipped in her chest and she tried desperately to calm it. How could he be dangerous when she reacted so strongly to his mere presence?
“What do you want, Damon,” she said with more anger than she intended. Her conflicted feelings were giving her a headache. Not to mention the fact that she was now starving as a result of skipping her lunch.
“Sheath the claws, kitten. I’m looking for Ric,” Damon said with his hands up in mock-surrender.
“Well he’s not here,” she snapped.
“Are you ok?” He asked, his eyes were soft and they made her weak in the knees. But then Stefan’s voice echoed in her head.
“Who is Katherine?” She asked suddenly. His face was shocked and she swore she saw some color drain from it.
“What? Who told you about her?” He asked quickly, worry evident in his eyes.
“It doesn’t matter, who is she?” She snapped.
“Elena, let me explain,” he said, he took a step forward, but she responded with a step back, ready to close the door on him. The panic on his face almost made her rethink her anger, but this guy had already weaseled his way into her life and behind her walls, she wasn’t going to let him hurt her.
“You know what? I really don’t care what you have to say. I’m not her, I will never be her. I refuse to be a replacement for someone you and your brother fought over,” she hissed before she slammed the door in his face. If she was being strong and not letting someone destructive in her life, why did she feel like she just had part of her heart ripped out?
---BREAK---
Damon stood there for several minutes processing what just happened. Did she remember something about Katherine? Did Stefan tell her about Katherine?
He never thought he’d have to deal with that just yet. He knew eventually that she would have to be let in on the secret of what she left behind. He was not looking forward to that. Not that he had a plan. She just strolled back into his life like it was no big deal. He wasn’t yet ready to see her after she left, but the universe thought he was. He wanted to wait a while and then go find her at her school, sweep her off her feet, and then one day- one day in the far future- he would tell her about what she was compelled to forget. And all of it would happen far, far away from Mystic Falls and the supernatural entities that it possessed.
Now he hit a severe bump in the road and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. He stewed about it the whole drive home, slowly getting angrier and angrier. He just got her back. How could he lose her so quickly and to something he fully intended on explaining to her, but later, much, much later?
He stormed into the boarding house and saw Stefan with a smug smile on his face. In that instant he knew that Stefan had told her. He didn’t think twice about being human when he lunged at his brother. He knocked him and the couch over onto the ground and pinned Stefan to the floor.
“What did you say to her?!” He yelled in his face. The fury inside him was making him see red.
“Just that we have a history of falling for the same girl,” Stefan shrugged from the floor. Damon unclenched his fists and got up off Stefan, realizing that Stefan could win easily in a physical battle.
“Clearly,” Damon scoffed as he walked over to the liquor cart to pour himself a drink.
“I told you to stay away from her,” Stefan said in a warning voice.
“Why do you even care?” Damon demanded after downing a few gulps of his favorite bourbon.
“I’m just trying to protect her,” Stefan said.
Damon laughed humorlessly, “That’s rich, Stefan. Considering the last time she needed protecting you claimed it wasn’t your job anymore.”
“It wasn’t until she came to me begging to forget all about you and ever meeting you,” Stefan said viciously.
Damon’s temper flared and without a thought he walked over to his brother and punched him right in the jaw. No words were said as Damon stalked up to his bedroom and slammed the door shut.
---BREAK---
“I like you now, just the way you are,” she whispered with teary eyes. Her heart was breaking right down the middle. Half of her heart was still in love with Stefan, but half of her heart was falling for the man who was dying in her arms. Damon.
She scooted down his body so she was level with his face and she pressed her lips lightly against his. His lips were wet with sweat and he remained motionless under her, but she knew he felt it. She pulled away and saw the corners of his mouth twitch upward in the smallest of smiles.
“Thank you,” he whispered, his voice was hoarse from the pain he had endured.
“Well it’s me you should be thanking,” she heard herself say, but it actually wasn’t her at all. She turned quickly and saw herself standing in the doorway with a satisfied smirk on her face. Katherine. The name bounced around in her head as if it had been said out loud. They spoke briefly about why she was there and where Stefan was. But her final words echoed in the room.
“It’s ok to love them both. I did.”
Elena woke with a start. She looked around her dark empty room and found nothing out of the ordinary. Her hair was sticking to her sweaty face and her heart was still beating furiously in her chest. It was a dream unlike any she had, but the scene felt so familiar. She tried to grasp the memory, but it was quickly fading into the dreamy sequence her mind conjured up. It felt fuzzy, but one thing remained fully intact and clear as day.
Katherine.
In her dream the woman was a mirror image of herself. They had the same everything, voice, hair, body. Nothing was different except for the way the other woman held herself. She strutted instead of walking, smirked instead of smiling, and her eyes were as cold as ice. She was the spitting image of Katherine and the idea was preposterous, but yet somehow her mind wasn’t that surprised, like it was an everyday occurrence.
Her words bounced in Elena’s head on repeat and at full volume. It’s ok to love them both. I did.
She was not Katherine. She would not love them both. Hell, she didn’t even love one of them. But after her dream, she was determined. She would never be Katherine.
She could never be Katherine if she didn’t love either of them.