Fic: I'll Be Yours
Title: I'll Be Yours
Pairing: Damon/Elena, Stefan/Elena and Damon/Elena/Stefan
Rating: M
Word Count: 4,000 +
Summary: Written for the DE Holiday 2012 author2author exchange at tvdmixing for i_paint_the_sky who prompted an OT3 dealing with an Emphasis on the idea that it really is okay for Elena to love them both, as long as she is honest about it in ways that Katherine wasn't.
Author's Notes: Had my wisdom teeth taken out so I was on some pain killers when I wrote this. It probably shows :) This turned out longer than expected with scenes before New Years so I hope that is ok!
Damon was stroking Elena’s hair absently while she poured over a chapter in Stefan’s journal. It was something she had started doing in secret but didn’t have the energy to pretend she wasn’t doing anymore.
“Damon?” her voice called to him over his thoughts.
He looked down at the top of her head that rested against his chest and hummed a response. She placed Stefan’s journal neatly in her lap and tilted her head back so that she could see the underside of his jaw.
“Did you two ever have her…together. I mean…” she stumbled over the words, knowing he had long grown tired of her inquiries concerning Katherine.
“Did we ever sleep with her at the same time you mean,” Damon stated, letting his fingers drop away from her hairline.
She nodded and pushed off of his chest to turn and bring her knees to her chin and peer into his eyes. Damon stared at her for a while as if calculating his response…or his avoidance.
“You did, didn’t you,” Elena cocked her head, though her voice was anything but accusatory.
Damon nodded slowly, keeping his eyes locked on hers.
Elena dropped her chin, chestnut hair cascading around her heart shaped face. Without lifting her head she peered up through locks of hair, asking softly, “did you want to?”
Damon looked away, the moonlight crashing along the sharp lines of his face. He swallowed hard before answering ever so softly, “I wanted her to be happy.”
“Did it make her happy?” Elena prodded.
Damon smiled a little at that and looked at her sideways before answering in that same hushed tone, “Katherine Peirce doesn’t know how to be happy.”
Xxxx
Damon shut the door to his bedroom, leaving Elena to her bath. His thumb immediately found Stefan’s name in his phone and he clenched his jaw as he waited for his voice.
A crackle and a breath indicated Stefan had finally picked up after a week of trying to get through. Damon slid down the wall, eyes closing and choked out the hardest words he’d ever had to say, “You need to come back.”
He heard Stefan swallow thickly and breathe out long and slow before Damon continued, “She won’t stop pushing for information about Katherine, about our past…together.”
Stefan finally spoke, heavy and dull, “I can’t do this again.”
Damon gripped the phone tighter, squeezing his eyes shut as he stated, “I can.”
His statement wasn’t a challenge, it was a request. He was asking his brother to fill in the missing puzzle piece to the Petrova curse once again. From Tatia to Katherine to Elena, the hearts of brothers were never spared.
Without the love of both, the Petrova woman was forever torn. Perhaps it was being a Doppleganger; a copy of a person already given the chance to love and live and sin and make it right only to tear it down again. It was living with not only the same face and olive colored skin but with the intricate cells that made up the brain that carried each woman. It was possible that unlike identical twins, these woman shared something more unnatural…paranormal even…they shared the same desires.
Damon could hear Stefan chuckling in that way that let him know there was nothing to laugh about and he knew his brother would come.
Xxxx
Elena wobbled on one foot as she struggled to answer her cell while securing her high heel.
“Where are you?” Damon barked over the phone.
“I’m just going to have to meet you guys there, not quite ready,” Elena muttered, straightening in front of the mirror in her bathroom. She wiped at the blood that stained her lips and had stained the white dress she had planned on wearing to the party that night.
She had fed on a man she’d been compelling to meet her every evening behind her house. She’d picked him out of a crowd of men hassling a waitress at a bar a month earlier when she’d been out with Bonnie. It was something she did on her own now, neither brother involved in her eating habits. It was one of the many unspoken rules of their relationship. Feeding together left out Stefan and never was one left out of anything of importance. That was Elena’s rule.
So, the blood had come a little quicker than she anticipated and, in turn, ruined her dress for the evening. She had to settle for something much more revealing but at least she could finally find a reason to wear Damon’s Christmas gift. It was a sparkling silver mini tube dress. Mini being the operative word. Though, it did sit rather nicely atop her breasts and made her legs look as if they went on forever.
Once the blood red was wiped clear from her lips, she decided she rather missed the color and smeared on some deep crimson lipstick and blotted quickly before dashing down the stairs. The loud clomping of her silver pumps on hardwood as she rushed out the door brought her brother’s attention to her attire.
“Don’t you need a jacket?” Jeremy asked, grimacing a little as she paused at the doorway. He, more than anyone else she knew, was put off by the idea of the Salvatore brothers sharing her.
She looked down, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, “Well, no…I don’t…”
“Get cold. Right, I forget sometimes…” Jeremy muttered, eyes flicking down her body before turning his attention back to his cell.
She sighed and watched him for a moment before flashing with vampiric speed towards her car.
Xxxx
The club was vibrating with music and laughter. It was decorated in a winter theme of snow and ice so every surface had an annoying layer of fake flakes that seemed to stick to everything. Damon flicked one off of Stefan’s shoulder before nodding towards the bar area.
Stefan waved over the bar tender as the brother’s took a seat on the opulent stools. He ordered bourbon for them and a tall glass of merlot for Elena. She always liked to start off with a nice and warm wine buzz .
Damon rolled his eyes over his glass of bourbon as a blonde eyed the brothers hungrily. Stefan just smiled and eyed the crowd. Damon followed his eyes when he noted his brother’s lips part slightly and gaze soften.
Elena entered the room and turned heads as she always did, but beautifully never noticed. She had grown a lot since turning and falling into the role of shared lover. Where a child once walked, now a woman sauntered. Her eyes unwavering and stride sure and steady, she made her way into the middle of the pulsing bodies.
Stefan stood to motion her over but Damon stilled him with a hand to the chest, “I want to watch her for a moment.”
This new creature she had become was an unrelenting fascination of Damon’s. Where Stefan reveled in her sweetness and compassion of the Elena they both knew, Damon was like a moth to a flame when it came to her “darker” side. Though, there was nothing dark about Elena no matter how much she tried to convince them through fangs and blackened eyes as she rode atop their bodies.
The music moved through her as she came closer, still unaware of their presence. She moved slightly to the beat pounding around her as she found her way to the other end of the bar. She tried in vain to summon the bar tender as men flocked to her side.
Damon handed the glass of wine to the bar tender and told him where to deliver it. Elena smiled, knowing their eyes must be on her as she took a long sip of the burgundy liquid. Her eyes gravitated slowly towards theirs at the precise moment the music transitioned into a seductively slow descant. She nodded towards the dance floor and gulped the last of her wine before walking in that Petrova way towards the dance floor. One foot crossed in front of the other in a criss-cross of swaying hips and flexed calves.
Damon’s hands were at her hips, lips at that spot behind her ear, “You look ravishing m’dear.”
She arched a little into him before turning to face the sharp features of the eldest brother and wrap her arms around his neck, “like the dress?”
He smiled into her lips as he spoke into her mouth, “love it.”
She pulled her lips from his just before he was able to plunge his tongue against hers, “And why isn’t he out here with us?”
Stefan stayed propped against the bar, answering, “Because he enjoys watching. You know that…”
Elena smiled at him, jutting her lower lip out in a faux pout before Damon spun her around.
They got lost in each other and in the music as they often did when the mood was just so. Stefan only moved when Damon leaned his mouth towards her ear and spoke just loud enough to reach his ears too, “Dance with my brother so I can go feed. I’m starving.”
She continued moving to the music and the cool air that hit her skin in Damon’s absence was quickly filled with the warmth of Stefan as he pressed his body to hers.
“You look beautiful Elena,” Stefan said against her temple.
She snorted and looked up at him, “it’s ridiculously short, please be sure to staple the hem to my legs a couple glasses of wine later.”
Stefan smirked and shrugged a little, “I don’t think we’ll stay much longer anyway. Damon just wanted an easy snack before we head over to the party.”
It was Elena’s turn to smirk, “What, you really think Klaus would throw a party without a certain kind of party favor?”
Stefan shrugged, smiling down at her, “Yes, well, Damon prefers the residual buzz of alcohol on his party favors…not opiates.” Elena laughed at this, nodding in agreement. Klaus had a knack for bringing in tall blondes to serve cocktails and offering wrists pulsing in opiate tinged blood. It was his signature “drink”.
It had been Caroline’s idea to throw a New Year’s Eve party and when the Salvatores immediately shot down the idea of using the boarding house, Klaus could hardly resist an excuse for a party and a brownie point.
Damon appeared suddenly behind her, breath hinting of the coppery scent of blood. “We ready?” he asked, voice light and airy.
Xxxx
As expected, tall blondes dressed in nothing more than short white tuxedo dresses and impossibly high stilettos, carried around trays of champagne.
Damon grabbed a flute of bubbling liquid and downed it in one swift gulp, tossing the glass over his shoulder as they stepped into the main room.
Elena unhooked her arms from the brothers to step forward a little to take in the room. She had to hand it to Klaus, he had learned a thing or two about orchestrating the perfect atmosphere in all his years on this Earth. The room had been cleared of its’ ancient knick knacks and replaced with plush white couches. The room was incredibly dim except for the glowing pink, purple, and blue sheets of light cascaded down the walls.
The music was definitely geared to please the guests who would be indulging in Klaus’s signature drink. Elena could already feel her mood shift to that of the room; sensual…free…infinite.
She glanced back at Damon, that newly awakened part of her glistening, a smile stretched across her face. He smiled back, eyes reflecting the colors cascading around them. Her eyes slid away from his and met Stefan’s who eyed her in that way she never knew was adoration or apprehension. It was a constant battle.
When she turned back around, Klaus was standing in front of her, his lips curled in what some might find an endearing smile.
“Elena and her plus two, so glad you could make it,” his eyes twinkling as he switched his gaze to lock onto Stefan’s, “all of you.”
Elena didn’t have to turn around to know that Stefan’s jaw was clenched as he responded in an even tone, “Wouldn’t miss it.”
Ever since their trio “came out” Klaus never hesitated to hide his interest in the development of their relationship. He tended to drop names such as Tatia and Katherine and threw in something he dubbed -the “Petrova doppelganger brother-snatchers curse”. He would always cock his head to the side and end with, “It’s all very interesting indeed,” as if he knew something they didn’t.
Klaus clapped his hands together and leaned forward a little to announce in his best host voice, “Elena, Damon, please help yourselves to these fine ladies you see about you. They have taken a healthy dose of pure opium…like the kind we had in-“
“-The twenties. Yes, we know,” Stefan interrupted stepping forward to place his hand on Elena’s lower back.
Klaus shrugged a little and continued, “And don’t think I’ve forgotten about you old friend, follow me.”
He started to walk away and when he sensed nobody budged behind him he turned around and held his hands up in mock defeat, “Did you come here to stand about, or are you here for a good time? Elena?”
Xxxxx
Stefan was seated in the middle of the white couch staring at the lights against the wall when Damon finally found him.
“Wow, look at you…” Damon smirked, kneeling down in front of him to place his hands on Stefan’s knees.
“Knew the bourbon tasted off…” Stefan admitted, licking his lips.
Damon stood to plop down on the couch next to his brother, draping an arm behind him. He took a sip of his drink and stated, “Elena told me to knock the drink out of your hand but I figured you’d enjoy a little warmth tonight.”
Stefan hummed a small chuckle, “She’s sweet. Katherine would have made the drink herself.”
Damon sighed and removed his arm from the back of the couch to rest his elbows on his knees.
“You have got to stop doing that,” Damon murmured, eyes fixed on a spot between his feet before lifting them to peer at Stefan.
Stefan dropped a hand to Damon’s knee and squeezed lightly before standing, “Working on it…”
Xxxx
Comparing Elena to Katherine was inevitable. First it was a physical comparison and when she had woken up nestled between the two brothers after their first time together, she had asked the questions she had always wanted to ask. Somehow it became easier to ask these things now that it was the three of them.
She asked them if she looked the same down there and if she felt the same, smelled the same. They hesitated, protested, paused too long and in the end admitted.
Then came the personality comparison. She would pop out questions in the silences of car rides or as they stepped out of the shower. Did Katherine laugh at all of Damon’s jokes and find Stefan’s voice soothing? Did she love poetry, did they ever see the same kindness in her eyes, was she passionate about anything?
Damon was always the first to answer, his tone clipped and shoulders tense. He didn’t beat around the bush anymore even when he knew it would sting. “Katherine was a cold hearted bitch…” and after a long pause he would admit, “but sometimes there were holes and a kindness was revealed that is everything that you are, Elena.”
Stefan’s admissions were always soft and thoughtful but Elena ended her inquiries one starry night when his honesty burned like the whiskey in his throat, “It’s different for me Elena. You were mine as a human and the likenesses were only skin deep. Now…” His voice trailed off and her throat had tightened up so painfully she didn’t dare speak.
He never finished his sentence but he didn’t have to. Damon had tucked her in that night into Stefan’s bed, the sounds of water splattering from his shower in the distance. Elena had reached out to grab his wrist as he had turned to leave.
“How is this going to work?” She whispered, not because she was trying to be quiet, but because she could barely form the words.
He sat back down on the side of the bed and ran his index finger along her hairline, “Just be you.”
She knew she could have questioned Damon further and made him dissect every last part of what went wrong and what went right with their arrangement with Katherine but she couldn’t bring herself to do that to him.
Now, as Elena sunk her teeth into the neck of the blonde who offered her champagne, her mind was dancing around thoughts of Katherine. The silver platter of glasses had crashed to the marble floor as her fangs snapped out and hands snatched her prey.
The party was in full swing just beyond the double doors but Elena had to sneak away, though she had caught Damon’s eye through the crowd. He nodded and took to finding Stefan, an unspoken agreement between them. It was a constant balancing act of Elena’s vampire side and old human self with Damon, always in the middle like the binding glue to an age old story book.
She knew she was behaving improperly, slamming the waitress into the wall like this. She knew she was like a toddler at a dinner party, her chin and lips smudged with dinner. “Sorry,” she breathed when she released the woman, though she knew the blonde had already been compelled to smile and accept the monstrous acts from the party guests.
“Have a nice night,” the woman murmured, tucking a strand of Elena’s hair behind her ear and letting a finger trace down her cheek. Elena flinched from her touch and ducked her head to walk quickly past and into the bathroom to clean away the evidence.
The opiates hit her hard and she gripped the sink, cursing herself for taking too much in. For a moment her face doubled in the mirror and Katherine stared back at her.
“Just let me be happy tonight,” she hissed at the reflection.
Xxxxx
Damon stood close to Stefan as the guests were urged to gather towards the large television that hung in a corner. The countdown had begun and everyone chanted along with it.
He scanned the room, eyes darting back and forth, hoping Elena was done with her midnight snack so to speak. He chuckled a little at that but sobered once he spotted Elena pushing through the crowd to join them.
At five seconds until midnight Elena locked hands with both brothers and nestled in between them.
hree seconds remaining and Damon noted the coppery smell from Elena’s mouth and the pained look it caused Stefan. A touch of blood remained at the corner of her lips, almost blending into her crimson lips.
Elena, unknowing, tilted her head up to kiss Stefan as the last second ticked by and the confetti snowed down. Damon moved quickly to intercept, taking her chin with his hand, his lips grasping hers and cheek brushing his brother’s.
His tongue swept her mouth, tangling with hers and when he pulled back he licked at the last drop from the corner of her lips. Her eyes floated open, knowing her mistake upon his sudden and out of order intrusion.
Stefan’s fingers threaded into her hair and he brought his lips gently to hers. Her mouth, still wet from Damon’s, slid open as she breathed an apology into his open mouth.
Damon plucked confetti out of their hair as they all three leaned against one another and the time ticked by unnoticed.
Xxxx
Elena hadn’t made love to Damon without Stefan since Stefan’s return a year ago. The youngest brother had fled once she had turned and confessed her feelings for the eldest brother. Upon his return they all knew without many words what would and wouldn’t work.
Elena was Stefan’s and she was theirs. Elena loved them both equally but for it to work the brother’s had to love each other more. She came second to their brotherhood whereas Katherine came before it.
After making love to Stefan after the New Years Eve Party, both their hearts and skin bursting from opiates and apologies, she came to Damon wrapped in Stefan’s sheets.
She sat on his lap and watched the fire crackle and listened to his teeth crunch at the ice from his drink.
“You messed up tonight,” Damon stated, wrapping an arm around her middle and bringing her head to his shoulder.
She wrapped the sheet around her nude body tighter, nodding under his chin. His thumb ran little circles absently over her thigh but remained silent in his thoughts.
Elena’s hand slid up his chest to snake around his neck. Her lips opened and pressed into his throat, finding the lazy vampire pulse. It quickened under her touch and his thumb stilled. Her tongue swept over the fluttering pulse and her lips quivered slightly as he swallowed thickly.
“Elena…” he whispered, “you’re about to mess up again.”
She moved to straddle him, hands clasped behind his neck and hair hanging like a canopy around their faces. When she said nothing but just stared sadly into his eyes, he placed a quick kiss on the tip of her nose and stood, carrying her up the stairs. Her legs locked tightly around his waist, the sheet tangling around them.
He placed her lightly against Stefan on the disheveled bed and crawled in next to her. Stefan pulled her tighter against him, pressing a kiss into her hair.
“Happy New Year,” Damon murmured to them both, eyes sleepy with alcohol.
“Happy New Year,” Stefan breathed back.
Elena remained silent, letting her eyes drift shut even though she felt she could stay awake for another year.
“Are you happy Elena?” Damon’s voice pulled her eyelids open.
She had to think about it, and was grateful the brother’s allowed her the pause to do so. She thought about the pain of losing Stefan and the pain of gaining him back only to lose what could have been with Damon. She thought about the pain of getting turned down the first time she tried to make love to Damon when Stefan had gone out for the day. She remembered the pain behind Stefan’s eyes when she wiped the blood from her mouth when he came home too early one night.
But then she thought about the happiness she felt when Damon sat her down one night to tell her Stefan was coming back to be with her…them. She remembered the happiness that washed over when Damon surged deep inside of her and Stefan urged her to come with his lips on hers. She thought of tonight when Damon polished her vampire side for Stefan, making her shiny and new for his brother.
Elena Gilbert knows how to be happy. But more importantly, she knows sacrifice. To have each brother worship at her alter and to take what she wants would fill her desires, but how could she be really happy knowing that they weren’t?
Elena Gilbert knows sacrifice and she does it happily and willingly every day. It brings her more happiness to see the brother’s lock eyes and smile at each other after she sighs after an orgasm than it would to be a vampire lover all fangs and consuming desire with Damon. It brings her more happiness to see Stefan scoot over in bed to make room for Damon each night she’s with them than to spend all day in Stefan’s arms with the sweetness of an epic human love.
“Yes, I’m the happiest I can be,” she finally admitted, reaching out to bring Damon’s lips to hers and arching back to press firmly into Stefan.
As Damon shed his clothes and Stefan tossed her sheet to the floor, she closed her eyes and smiled. Katherine didn’t know what she was missing…
Pairing: Damon/Elena, Stefan/Elena and Damon/Elena/Stefan
Rating: M
Word Count: 4,000 +
Summary: Written for the DE Holiday 2012 author2author exchange at tvdmixing for i_paint_the_sky who prompted an OT3 dealing with an Emphasis on the idea that it really is okay for Elena to love them both, as long as she is honest about it in ways that Katherine wasn't.
Author's Notes: Had my wisdom teeth taken out so I was on some pain killers when I wrote this. It probably shows :) This turned out longer than expected with scenes before New Years so I hope that is ok!
Damon was stroking Elena’s hair absently while she poured over a chapter in Stefan’s journal. It was something she had started doing in secret but didn’t have the energy to pretend she wasn’t doing anymore.
“Damon?” her voice called to him over his thoughts.
He looked down at the top of her head that rested against his chest and hummed a response. She placed Stefan’s journal neatly in her lap and tilted her head back so that she could see the underside of his jaw.
“Did you two ever have her…together. I mean…” she stumbled over the words, knowing he had long grown tired of her inquiries concerning Katherine.
“Did we ever sleep with her at the same time you mean,” Damon stated, letting his fingers drop away from her hairline.
She nodded and pushed off of his chest to turn and bring her knees to her chin and peer into his eyes. Damon stared at her for a while as if calculating his response…or his avoidance.
“You did, didn’t you,” Elena cocked her head, though her voice was anything but accusatory.
Damon nodded slowly, keeping his eyes locked on hers.
Elena dropped her chin, chestnut hair cascading around her heart shaped face. Without lifting her head she peered up through locks of hair, asking softly, “did you want to?”
Damon looked away, the moonlight crashing along the sharp lines of his face. He swallowed hard before answering ever so softly, “I wanted her to be happy.”
“Did it make her happy?” Elena prodded.
Damon smiled a little at that and looked at her sideways before answering in that same hushed tone, “Katherine Peirce doesn’t know how to be happy.”
Xxxx
Damon shut the door to his bedroom, leaving Elena to her bath. His thumb immediately found Stefan’s name in his phone and he clenched his jaw as he waited for his voice.
A crackle and a breath indicated Stefan had finally picked up after a week of trying to get through. Damon slid down the wall, eyes closing and choked out the hardest words he’d ever had to say, “You need to come back.”
He heard Stefan swallow thickly and breathe out long and slow before Damon continued, “She won’t stop pushing for information about Katherine, about our past…together.”
Stefan finally spoke, heavy and dull, “I can’t do this again.”
Damon gripped the phone tighter, squeezing his eyes shut as he stated, “I can.”
His statement wasn’t a challenge, it was a request. He was asking his brother to fill in the missing puzzle piece to the Petrova curse once again. From Tatia to Katherine to Elena, the hearts of brothers were never spared.
Without the love of both, the Petrova woman was forever torn. Perhaps it was being a Doppleganger; a copy of a person already given the chance to love and live and sin and make it right only to tear it down again. It was living with not only the same face and olive colored skin but with the intricate cells that made up the brain that carried each woman. It was possible that unlike identical twins, these woman shared something more unnatural…paranormal even…they shared the same desires.
Damon could hear Stefan chuckling in that way that let him know there was nothing to laugh about and he knew his brother would come.
Xxxx
Elena wobbled on one foot as she struggled to answer her cell while securing her high heel.
“Where are you?” Damon barked over the phone.
“I’m just going to have to meet you guys there, not quite ready,” Elena muttered, straightening in front of the mirror in her bathroom. She wiped at the blood that stained her lips and had stained the white dress she had planned on wearing to the party that night.
She had fed on a man she’d been compelling to meet her every evening behind her house. She’d picked him out of a crowd of men hassling a waitress at a bar a month earlier when she’d been out with Bonnie. It was something she did on her own now, neither brother involved in her eating habits. It was one of the many unspoken rules of their relationship. Feeding together left out Stefan and never was one left out of anything of importance. That was Elena’s rule.
So, the blood had come a little quicker than she anticipated and, in turn, ruined her dress for the evening. She had to settle for something much more revealing but at least she could finally find a reason to wear Damon’s Christmas gift. It was a sparkling silver mini tube dress. Mini being the operative word. Though, it did sit rather nicely atop her breasts and made her legs look as if they went on forever.
Once the blood red was wiped clear from her lips, she decided she rather missed the color and smeared on some deep crimson lipstick and blotted quickly before dashing down the stairs. The loud clomping of her silver pumps on hardwood as she rushed out the door brought her brother’s attention to her attire.
“Don’t you need a jacket?” Jeremy asked, grimacing a little as she paused at the doorway. He, more than anyone else she knew, was put off by the idea of the Salvatore brothers sharing her.
She looked down, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, “Well, no…I don’t…”
“Get cold. Right, I forget sometimes…” Jeremy muttered, eyes flicking down her body before turning his attention back to his cell.
She sighed and watched him for a moment before flashing with vampiric speed towards her car.
Xxxx
The club was vibrating with music and laughter. It was decorated in a winter theme of snow and ice so every surface had an annoying layer of fake flakes that seemed to stick to everything. Damon flicked one off of Stefan’s shoulder before nodding towards the bar area.
Stefan waved over the bar tender as the brother’s took a seat on the opulent stools. He ordered bourbon for them and a tall glass of merlot for Elena. She always liked to start off with a nice and warm wine buzz .
Damon rolled his eyes over his glass of bourbon as a blonde eyed the brothers hungrily. Stefan just smiled and eyed the crowd. Damon followed his eyes when he noted his brother’s lips part slightly and gaze soften.
Elena entered the room and turned heads as she always did, but beautifully never noticed. She had grown a lot since turning and falling into the role of shared lover. Where a child once walked, now a woman sauntered. Her eyes unwavering and stride sure and steady, she made her way into the middle of the pulsing bodies.
Stefan stood to motion her over but Damon stilled him with a hand to the chest, “I want to watch her for a moment.”
This new creature she had become was an unrelenting fascination of Damon’s. Where Stefan reveled in her sweetness and compassion of the Elena they both knew, Damon was like a moth to a flame when it came to her “darker” side. Though, there was nothing dark about Elena no matter how much she tried to convince them through fangs and blackened eyes as she rode atop their bodies.
The music moved through her as she came closer, still unaware of their presence. She moved slightly to the beat pounding around her as she found her way to the other end of the bar. She tried in vain to summon the bar tender as men flocked to her side.
Damon handed the glass of wine to the bar tender and told him where to deliver it. Elena smiled, knowing their eyes must be on her as she took a long sip of the burgundy liquid. Her eyes gravitated slowly towards theirs at the precise moment the music transitioned into a seductively slow descant. She nodded towards the dance floor and gulped the last of her wine before walking in that Petrova way towards the dance floor. One foot crossed in front of the other in a criss-cross of swaying hips and flexed calves.
Damon’s hands were at her hips, lips at that spot behind her ear, “You look ravishing m’dear.”
She arched a little into him before turning to face the sharp features of the eldest brother and wrap her arms around his neck, “like the dress?”
He smiled into her lips as he spoke into her mouth, “love it.”
She pulled her lips from his just before he was able to plunge his tongue against hers, “And why isn’t he out here with us?”
Stefan stayed propped against the bar, answering, “Because he enjoys watching. You know that…”
Elena smiled at him, jutting her lower lip out in a faux pout before Damon spun her around.
They got lost in each other and in the music as they often did when the mood was just so. Stefan only moved when Damon leaned his mouth towards her ear and spoke just loud enough to reach his ears too, “Dance with my brother so I can go feed. I’m starving.”
She continued moving to the music and the cool air that hit her skin in Damon’s absence was quickly filled with the warmth of Stefan as he pressed his body to hers.
“You look beautiful Elena,” Stefan said against her temple.
She snorted and looked up at him, “it’s ridiculously short, please be sure to staple the hem to my legs a couple glasses of wine later.”
Stefan smirked and shrugged a little, “I don’t think we’ll stay much longer anyway. Damon just wanted an easy snack before we head over to the party.”
It was Elena’s turn to smirk, “What, you really think Klaus would throw a party without a certain kind of party favor?”
Stefan shrugged, smiling down at her, “Yes, well, Damon prefers the residual buzz of alcohol on his party favors…not opiates.” Elena laughed at this, nodding in agreement. Klaus had a knack for bringing in tall blondes to serve cocktails and offering wrists pulsing in opiate tinged blood. It was his signature “drink”.
It had been Caroline’s idea to throw a New Year’s Eve party and when the Salvatores immediately shot down the idea of using the boarding house, Klaus could hardly resist an excuse for a party and a brownie point.
Damon appeared suddenly behind her, breath hinting of the coppery scent of blood. “We ready?” he asked, voice light and airy.
Xxxx
As expected, tall blondes dressed in nothing more than short white tuxedo dresses and impossibly high stilettos, carried around trays of champagne.
Damon grabbed a flute of bubbling liquid and downed it in one swift gulp, tossing the glass over his shoulder as they stepped into the main room.
Elena unhooked her arms from the brothers to step forward a little to take in the room. She had to hand it to Klaus, he had learned a thing or two about orchestrating the perfect atmosphere in all his years on this Earth. The room had been cleared of its’ ancient knick knacks and replaced with plush white couches. The room was incredibly dim except for the glowing pink, purple, and blue sheets of light cascaded down the walls.
The music was definitely geared to please the guests who would be indulging in Klaus’s signature drink. Elena could already feel her mood shift to that of the room; sensual…free…infinite.
She glanced back at Damon, that newly awakened part of her glistening, a smile stretched across her face. He smiled back, eyes reflecting the colors cascading around them. Her eyes slid away from his and met Stefan’s who eyed her in that way she never knew was adoration or apprehension. It was a constant battle.
When she turned back around, Klaus was standing in front of her, his lips curled in what some might find an endearing smile.
“Elena and her plus two, so glad you could make it,” his eyes twinkling as he switched his gaze to lock onto Stefan’s, “all of you.”
Elena didn’t have to turn around to know that Stefan’s jaw was clenched as he responded in an even tone, “Wouldn’t miss it.”
Ever since their trio “came out” Klaus never hesitated to hide his interest in the development of their relationship. He tended to drop names such as Tatia and Katherine and threw in something he dubbed -the “Petrova doppelganger brother-snatchers curse”. He would always cock his head to the side and end with, “It’s all very interesting indeed,” as if he knew something they didn’t.
Klaus clapped his hands together and leaned forward a little to announce in his best host voice, “Elena, Damon, please help yourselves to these fine ladies you see about you. They have taken a healthy dose of pure opium…like the kind we had in-“
“-The twenties. Yes, we know,” Stefan interrupted stepping forward to place his hand on Elena’s lower back.
Klaus shrugged a little and continued, “And don’t think I’ve forgotten about you old friend, follow me.”
He started to walk away and when he sensed nobody budged behind him he turned around and held his hands up in mock defeat, “Did you come here to stand about, or are you here for a good time? Elena?”
Xxxxx
Stefan was seated in the middle of the white couch staring at the lights against the wall when Damon finally found him.
“Wow, look at you…” Damon smirked, kneeling down in front of him to place his hands on Stefan’s knees.
“Knew the bourbon tasted off…” Stefan admitted, licking his lips.
Damon stood to plop down on the couch next to his brother, draping an arm behind him. He took a sip of his drink and stated, “Elena told me to knock the drink out of your hand but I figured you’d enjoy a little warmth tonight.”
Stefan hummed a small chuckle, “She’s sweet. Katherine would have made the drink herself.”
Damon sighed and removed his arm from the back of the couch to rest his elbows on his knees.
“You have got to stop doing that,” Damon murmured, eyes fixed on a spot between his feet before lifting them to peer at Stefan.
Stefan dropped a hand to Damon’s knee and squeezed lightly before standing, “Working on it…”
Xxxx
Comparing Elena to Katherine was inevitable. First it was a physical comparison and when she had woken up nestled between the two brothers after their first time together, she had asked the questions she had always wanted to ask. Somehow it became easier to ask these things now that it was the three of them.
She asked them if she looked the same down there and if she felt the same, smelled the same. They hesitated, protested, paused too long and in the end admitted.
Then came the personality comparison. She would pop out questions in the silences of car rides or as they stepped out of the shower. Did Katherine laugh at all of Damon’s jokes and find Stefan’s voice soothing? Did she love poetry, did they ever see the same kindness in her eyes, was she passionate about anything?
Damon was always the first to answer, his tone clipped and shoulders tense. He didn’t beat around the bush anymore even when he knew it would sting. “Katherine was a cold hearted bitch…” and after a long pause he would admit, “but sometimes there were holes and a kindness was revealed that is everything that you are, Elena.”
Stefan’s admissions were always soft and thoughtful but Elena ended her inquiries one starry night when his honesty burned like the whiskey in his throat, “It’s different for me Elena. You were mine as a human and the likenesses were only skin deep. Now…” His voice trailed off and her throat had tightened up so painfully she didn’t dare speak.
He never finished his sentence but he didn’t have to. Damon had tucked her in that night into Stefan’s bed, the sounds of water splattering from his shower in the distance. Elena had reached out to grab his wrist as he had turned to leave.
“How is this going to work?” She whispered, not because she was trying to be quiet, but because she could barely form the words.
He sat back down on the side of the bed and ran his index finger along her hairline, “Just be you.”
She knew she could have questioned Damon further and made him dissect every last part of what went wrong and what went right with their arrangement with Katherine but she couldn’t bring herself to do that to him.
Now, as Elena sunk her teeth into the neck of the blonde who offered her champagne, her mind was dancing around thoughts of Katherine. The silver platter of glasses had crashed to the marble floor as her fangs snapped out and hands snatched her prey.
The party was in full swing just beyond the double doors but Elena had to sneak away, though she had caught Damon’s eye through the crowd. He nodded and took to finding Stefan, an unspoken agreement between them. It was a constant balancing act of Elena’s vampire side and old human self with Damon, always in the middle like the binding glue to an age old story book.
She knew she was behaving improperly, slamming the waitress into the wall like this. She knew she was like a toddler at a dinner party, her chin and lips smudged with dinner. “Sorry,” she breathed when she released the woman, though she knew the blonde had already been compelled to smile and accept the monstrous acts from the party guests.
“Have a nice night,” the woman murmured, tucking a strand of Elena’s hair behind her ear and letting a finger trace down her cheek. Elena flinched from her touch and ducked her head to walk quickly past and into the bathroom to clean away the evidence.
The opiates hit her hard and she gripped the sink, cursing herself for taking too much in. For a moment her face doubled in the mirror and Katherine stared back at her.
“Just let me be happy tonight,” she hissed at the reflection.
Xxxxx
Damon stood close to Stefan as the guests were urged to gather towards the large television that hung in a corner. The countdown had begun and everyone chanted along with it.
He scanned the room, eyes darting back and forth, hoping Elena was done with her midnight snack so to speak. He chuckled a little at that but sobered once he spotted Elena pushing through the crowd to join them.
At five seconds until midnight Elena locked hands with both brothers and nestled in between them.
hree seconds remaining and Damon noted the coppery smell from Elena’s mouth and the pained look it caused Stefan. A touch of blood remained at the corner of her lips, almost blending into her crimson lips.
Elena, unknowing, tilted her head up to kiss Stefan as the last second ticked by and the confetti snowed down. Damon moved quickly to intercept, taking her chin with his hand, his lips grasping hers and cheek brushing his brother’s.
His tongue swept her mouth, tangling with hers and when he pulled back he licked at the last drop from the corner of her lips. Her eyes floated open, knowing her mistake upon his sudden and out of order intrusion.
Stefan’s fingers threaded into her hair and he brought his lips gently to hers. Her mouth, still wet from Damon’s, slid open as she breathed an apology into his open mouth.
Damon plucked confetti out of their hair as they all three leaned against one another and the time ticked by unnoticed.
Xxxx
Elena hadn’t made love to Damon without Stefan since Stefan’s return a year ago. The youngest brother had fled once she had turned and confessed her feelings for the eldest brother. Upon his return they all knew without many words what would and wouldn’t work.
Elena was Stefan’s and she was theirs. Elena loved them both equally but for it to work the brother’s had to love each other more. She came second to their brotherhood whereas Katherine came before it.
After making love to Stefan after the New Years Eve Party, both their hearts and skin bursting from opiates and apologies, she came to Damon wrapped in Stefan’s sheets.
She sat on his lap and watched the fire crackle and listened to his teeth crunch at the ice from his drink.
“You messed up tonight,” Damon stated, wrapping an arm around her middle and bringing her head to his shoulder.
She wrapped the sheet around her nude body tighter, nodding under his chin. His thumb ran little circles absently over her thigh but remained silent in his thoughts.
Elena’s hand slid up his chest to snake around his neck. Her lips opened and pressed into his throat, finding the lazy vampire pulse. It quickened under her touch and his thumb stilled. Her tongue swept over the fluttering pulse and her lips quivered slightly as he swallowed thickly.
“Elena…” he whispered, “you’re about to mess up again.”
She moved to straddle him, hands clasped behind his neck and hair hanging like a canopy around their faces. When she said nothing but just stared sadly into his eyes, he placed a quick kiss on the tip of her nose and stood, carrying her up the stairs. Her legs locked tightly around his waist, the sheet tangling around them.
He placed her lightly against Stefan on the disheveled bed and crawled in next to her. Stefan pulled her tighter against him, pressing a kiss into her hair.
“Happy New Year,” Damon murmured to them both, eyes sleepy with alcohol.
“Happy New Year,” Stefan breathed back.
Elena remained silent, letting her eyes drift shut even though she felt she could stay awake for another year.
“Are you happy Elena?” Damon’s voice pulled her eyelids open.
She had to think about it, and was grateful the brother’s allowed her the pause to do so. She thought about the pain of losing Stefan and the pain of gaining him back only to lose what could have been with Damon. She thought about the pain of getting turned down the first time she tried to make love to Damon when Stefan had gone out for the day. She remembered the pain behind Stefan’s eyes when she wiped the blood from her mouth when he came home too early one night.
But then she thought about the happiness she felt when Damon sat her down one night to tell her Stefan was coming back to be with her…them. She remembered the happiness that washed over when Damon surged deep inside of her and Stefan urged her to come with his lips on hers. She thought of tonight when Damon polished her vampire side for Stefan, making her shiny and new for his brother.
Elena Gilbert knows how to be happy. But more importantly, she knows sacrifice. To have each brother worship at her alter and to take what she wants would fill her desires, but how could she be really happy knowing that they weren’t?
Elena Gilbert knows sacrifice and she does it happily and willingly every day. It brings her more happiness to see the brother’s lock eyes and smile at each other after she sighs after an orgasm than it would to be a vampire lover all fangs and consuming desire with Damon. It brings her more happiness to see Stefan scoot over in bed to make room for Damon each night she’s with them than to spend all day in Stefan’s arms with the sweetness of an epic human love.
“Yes, I’m the happiest I can be,” she finally admitted, reaching out to bring Damon’s lips to hers and arching back to press firmly into Stefan.
As Damon shed his clothes and Stefan tossed her sheet to the floor, she closed her eyes and smiled. Katherine didn’t know what she was missing…