taxonomites | 013 ━ [ visual ] / [ location: elena's house ].

The sheets were soft; much softer than those on his own bed or anything he had access to on Serenity. They weren't the fine silks that Katherine's bed was lined with, either. Yet, the feel of them against his skin was familiar to him somehow, and in the bleariness of morning, Stefan couldn't quite place it.

He stirred, rolling over instinctively towards the warm body on the other side of the bed. Still sleepy-eyed, he smiled at her. "Good morning."

Elena stirred at the familiar words and voice, putting her hand on her forehead to push the hair that had fallen in her face as she'd slept out of her face. Blinking as things came into focus, she turned to the other body occupying her bed and smiled, pleased to see him. "Morning."

Stefan held that smile for a moment longer until reality set in and who he was in bed with clicked. His eyes widened. "Elena."

Elena's eyebrows knit together in confusion for a moment, wondering why he was surprised, and then everything came back to her in a split second and she sat upright with a start, eyes going wide and a hand clapping over her mouth.

"Stefan," she said breathlessly once she removed her hand. "What are you -- what are we -- what happened? Do you remember?"

He sat up, too. "No." Last he could recall, he was crawling into his own bed at the boarding house. He couldn't remember how he even got to Elena's, let alone what they did or did not do. "Do you?"

"No," she replied with a shake of her head, absently feeling around to make sure her clothes were still on. Not that she didn't trust Stefan and not that they weren't sleeping together anyway, but she didn't like that she couldn't remember it if it had happened. "Just going to bed last night."

Similarly, Stefan was lifting up the covers with and peering under the sheets to make sure he still had pants on. Check. Thank God.

He slid out of the covers and stood-- Or he tried to, but the silver chain that had thus far gone unnoticed pulled taught between them, catching him off guard. Stefan stumbled and fell awkwardly over the side of the bed.

Elena was concentrating on not panicking when she suddenly found herself jerked violently to her side, landing face-down on her bed as Stefan fell over the side. "What the--" And then she saw it -- the chain glinting in the early morning light that connected them by the wrists.

The chain wasn't what Stefan's eyes were on. "Elena..." They were on the bright red recording light on the tablet.

It recorded a few more seconds of footage, then cut off the feed.

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Elena nodded, looking back at him and not bothering to put on a brave or smiling face. She didn't it at all. Keeping this up was becoming exhausting, taking its toll on her emotionally, and she wondered every so often whether or not it would ever end, if he'd ever find enough information about the sun and moon curse to be satisfied with ending this. If he even wanted to end it anymore.

No. She wasn't going to let herself think about it. She couldn't, or this would be much worse for the two of them.

She swallowed hard to fight off a sudden, strong urge to cry, then nodded again, her expression a little less angry and a little more sad. God, when had she become this person, someone so willing to bend her own moral code and lie to everyone, including herself? When had she become okay with letting herself be treated like this?

"Okay."

Stefan tugged on her hand suddenly, drawing her into a hug. He felt bad -- worse than bad, like some sort of horrible person for putting her through this emotional roller coaster and asking her to lie. She was lying about so much for him, from his being a vampire to what they were doing behind everyone's backs. It was too much to ask of one person, he knew that, but what other option was there?

Tell the truth, he knew to be the answer. Stop doing this thing with Katherine and step back, return to his place among those who stood against her instead of with her like something resembling an ally to her cause. He wasn't and he knew it. They both knew it. When did he become this person so capable of deception and asking people of things he would deny someone who'd ask them of himself? He doesn't like the person he is now, but he's too caught up in everything to simply call it quits. It's not that easy anymore.

"I'm sorry," he said into her hair, near her ear. "I'm so sorry."

She wants to tell him to stop all this if he's so sorry, end it so that they can start on trying to get things to feel right and normal between them again. For a second the words are at the back of her throat and heavy on her tongue, and she considers pushing him back and speaking them out loud to him.

But they're lost in a sob, and she just hugs him tighter, as if he'll disappear, be attached to Katherine instead, if she lets him go.

"I know," she says after a few moments. Tears fall, but she's not inconsolable, just accepting. She hates this, but it's routine by now, and sobbing isn't going to solve anything. But she's not going to tell him 'it's okay', either.

Thing is, Stefan knows he should stop. He's known it for a while now, but he's purposely ignoring logic and reason, shutting his person off from anything of the sort when he should be listening to all those little voices in the back of his mind that are whispering to him, telling him that this is wrong. It's all wrong.

He kisses her forehead and rubs her back soothingly with the hand that's not chained to hers. "We'll figure this out."

And yet, it feels like a hollow, empty promise. Whether he means the glitch or this whole mess in general is up in the air.

Elena nods as she pulls back, taking a deep breath and wiping away the few tears she'd let fall. She doesn't feel very reassured by his words, but there isn't anything more solid for her to cling to right now. So she'll put on a brave face, pretend that she's okay with this, pretend that she understands why he's still doing this and ignore her own suspicions. By the time she looks up, the only evidence that she was crying is that her eyes look a little too bright.

"Yeah," she says with another nod. She sighs, then looks at the chain, then her bedroom door. "Should we head downstairs?"

"Is Jenna home?" He pauses, listening carefully to the sounds of the house to see if he can tell. There's nothing that sounds distinctly like Jenna moving about or a person, so he can't answer his own question.

Stefan nods all the same. "Yeah. I'll make you breakfast, if you don't mind having to shadow me around the kitchen."

"I don't know," she answered after listening for a moment. "I don't hear her. If she is, she's not awake yet." She started to move to get out of bed, then rolled her eyes before settling back down. Charlotte joined them on the bed, poking curiously at the silver chain that connected them.

Elena began petting the cat before looking up at Stefan with a tiny smile, recalling the other times he'd done that for her. "I'd like that. I've missed your cooking."

Edited 2011-08-08 05:37 (UTC)

"And I've missed--" You, but somehow, that didn't feel appropriate and it made his stomach knot up. "--cooking for you."

He slid off the bed, careful not to accidentally yank her down along with him. Stefan was going to have to be extra mindful of his strength and speed as to not accidentally hurt her.

"Come on, let's go downstairs." He held out a hand to her, the one that was linked to hers.

013 ━ [ visual ] / [ location: elena's house ].

next time you find you wanna leave her bed for mine;

next time you find you wanna leave her bed for mine;

next time you find you wanna leave her bed for mine;

next time you find you wanna leave her bed for mine;

next time you find you wanna leave her bed for mine;

next time you find you wanna leave her bed for mine;

next time you find you wanna leave her bed for mine;

next time you find you wanna leave her bed for mine;