and he needed to give her the time she needed in order to care for her in the way he wanted.

He could wait. Patiently. For as long as she needed. If it meant she would open up, even for a fleeting moment, he could wait.

"I was just...looking out for him..." She breathed out, voice fragile in a way he hadn't seen since her return to town months and months ago. "I didn't realize I was hurting him so much." It didn't take long for Stefan to deduce that she was either talking about Kol, or Klaus. Considering she had what seemed like a formal relationship with the former, and had a severe conflict with the latter just recently, he'd figured it was one of the two.

He watched her take a deep sigh in, filling her lungs with some oxygen as she raised her head out of the protective barrier her body had formed around it.

"Kol told me he was sick of me." She clarified, her voice ever so slightly calm, compared to the brokenness of her previous statements. Stefan, who, at this sentence, had several questions pop up in his mind— 'they were fine yesterday, what happened today?'—being one of them. Clearly, it was in some way, related to his recklessness with regards to Damon and Jeremy earlier in the day. But how had it lead to saying something so extreme to the woman he loved?

Stefan hadn't the faintest clue.

"We were fine in the morning." Aurelia's words and phrases were intentional, curt, and reflective of the clarity in her mind. That, or she was trying to place her thoughts carefully to sort out the mess her brain was in. "For the first time in so long, we were fine."

That confused Stefan; they'd been dating, or whatever—Aurelia rarely referred to him as a boyfriend—and they were getting along wonderfully. He'd been so protective of her yesterday, ready to rip his own sister into pieces in order to protect her.

"I never told anyone this—" She turned her head to look at him for the first time that night, allowing him to see and absorb the details of her pretty face. She hadn't been breaking down, sobbing, or anything of the sort. But the tip of her nose was tinted red, and that was all he needed to know that she'd shed a few tears, at the very least. "But I was always guilty when I was with him." Her lips curled into a sarcastic smile, one of disbelief and exasperation. "I felt like I was leading him on because he was in love with me, and I wasn't. I knew he knew—but we never spoke about while we were together."

A soft exhale left her lips after that, eyes lightly shut as she tilted her head upwards.

"I guess, he realized somehow—that it was doing no good to us. But when I asked, he said he was fine, that we would be fine, that we'd use our dear friend time to go back to the way we once were." She laughed bitterly. "We were fine in the morning." As she repeated that sentence, Stefan felt as though she was sorting her own thoughts out, trying to believe what she was saying.

"And then?"

"And then he told me how he truly felt—" She paused a second, eyebrows furrowing to contemplate what she just said. "Actually, I don't know. If what he said were his true feelings, or if it was his anger talking. He's never gotten angry with me, but this whole... Silas ordeal—"

"He's after it. Damon's in the basement now because of it." Stefan completed, earning a small nod for her. "Maybe it was his anger talking—I don't know what he said exactly to you—but I know you care about him."

"Of course I do..." She acknowledged. "We have a bond that dates back nearly four centuries. When I met the Mikaelsons, he was the first one I got close to. The first one I met, actually. Barring Rebekah, we were the youngest of the family. There was this sense of... relatability with him." And she looked down again. "One day, he realized that the relatability had turned into love."

She shook her head.

"Now, I don't know what that love has become. I feel like it's still there for me, which is why I felt horrible about the whole thing. But he said that he meant all those cruel words. Again, whether it was him, or the anger, I don't know. It felt so much like his true feelings, but we were fine. It seemed so uncharacteristic of him—not to lash out, but to do it to me." Another laugh. "I feel narcissistic saying this, but he was always kind to me."

She was sad when she spoke again—bitter.

"Maybe I took his love for granted." She commented. "It's not hard to. People take their loved ones for granted all the time. I'm no exception to that."

"Then again," Stefan piped up, attempting to walk the line of solution and comfort—he'd always done it so wonderfully, Aurelia recalled from their 19th century adventures. "Even I know that it isn't uncharacteristic of Kol to let his anger control him. We've all seen it first-hand. No offense, but you Originals—" He wrapped Aurelia in it, owing to her new identity. "Have this slight tendency to lose your temper to suffocating consequences."

"Ouch." She lightheartedly said, nudging him. "I'm opening up to you—be nice." With a small chuckle from him that she mirrored, she looked back at the sky. "I don't know—I was just... surprisingly overwhelmed. In that moment I didn't know where it was coming from. But at the same time, I know him—I should've been able to see if this was something that was really hurting him. If I didn't, and it was hurting him, then I'm probably the biggest idiot in the world."

"I don't think you're an idiot, so..." Stefan pursed his lips. "It must've been his anger." Aurelia threw an unimpressed glance, and he simply shrugged.

"So this entire contemplation I'm having is solved because of your opinion on how intelligent I am."

"Yep."

"Now I'm thinking you're the idiot."

"Rude."

"I guess," With a playful smile, she leaned backwards a little bit, supporting her body with her arms. "I'm not gonna know until he tells me." Defeatedly, she slouched her shoulders slightly, her lips pressed together to contain swirling thoughts from escaping them. She'd projected enough onto Stefan for the night. With all the accusations Rebekah had made about her affinity for the man, she couldn't help but wonder if she was jumping from one to the other whenever she saw fit.

The thought of behaving like Katherine Bloody Pierce only irritated her. At this point, she didn't even know if she should've gotten closer with the vampire seated next to her, intent on listening to what she was thinking about. "I have a feeling that you're not going to stop thinking about it until it's entirely resolved." Stefan's words made her chuckle.

"I don't want to admit this, but you read my mind." She turned to look at him. "You may know me better than I'd previously thought—with all the lore I've unloaded on you."

"We're friends, aren't we?" He repeated what she told him earlier in the day. "I thought friends could talk like this—get to know each other more and more."

"Fair enough." With a deep inhale of air, she sat back up and turned her body towards him fully. "But I don't think I want to talk about this anymore."

"Then we're not gonna talk about it." He assured with a sweet smile, his tone casual—it gave her some peace of mind, realizing that Stefan was a relaxing presence to be around, no matter how she acted towards him. She'd have to owe it to him by watching her behavior—having done less than well in her treatment of him for the last few days, she obviously felt embarrassed, especially when she remembered that she'd agreed to be friends. "Although, I do have one question before we let go of this for now."

"Go on." She encouraged with a wave of her hand.

"Was this the 'not particularly' important thing you wanted to share with me?" A small laugh left her lips before she could stop it, and she shook her head.

"No, this wasn't it, exactly." She replied. "I was gonna tell you that and then bother you to share your stock of alcohol with me so we could—y'know—relax after what we've been through. But then Elena called, and I had that whole thing with Kol."

"So what did you want to tell me originally?" He thought it a good chance to prod a little, hoping that she wouldn't close up suddenly. When he noticed that her relaxed demeanor hadn't changed, he eased his own composure, realizing that it probably wasn't that big of a deal.

"Kol and I ended whatever we had last night."

Scratch that—what the hell?

Stefan looked at Aurelia with surprise, earning a mirrored look from her. "...what." Was all he could get out. Aurelia opened her mouth with utter confusion, then closed it, then opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again, not quite understanding why he was so surprised.

"Well I didn't say it outright—but I thought that was implied!" She forced her stutters down as she spoke defensively. "You know, me saying we were fine and all—"

"I thought you two were already fine before our conversation!" Stefan defended himself as well. The two had begun to raise their volume of speech, but it was lighthearted, playful—Aurelia needed that kind of raise in volume, having had enough of the kind where two people were simply angry with each other. "There's very little I know about the both of you in general! How'd you expect me to just realize?" Aurelia laughed at the look on Stefan's face, which she could only describe as '???'.

"Okay, yeah, fair." She forced out through her laughs. "To summarize, I was unsure about the relation—I don't even know what it was formally—Kol knew, and then we ended things because it was only fair to the both of us. He deserves someone who can love him as much as he loves her. And that's why we were fine in the morning. But then the Silas thing..." And Stefan opened his mouth in realization.

"Ah." He said, slowly nodding his head. "I think I get it now."

"You're so stupid." Despite the insult, Aurelia was giggling, earning a light shove from him.

"Wait, why was that not important?" He suddenly asked. She simply shrugged.

"Because we'll go back to being friends. We were already civil earlier. Him and I usually communicate well—other than some space he'd likely need, and me as well, we're fine, I guess. Unless he meant all he said later."

"You're going back in a loop." He pointed out, and she rolled her eyes, annoyed with herself. "As your friend, I'm supposed to keep you from going crazy."

"Damn." She sucked on her teeth. "But yeah, it was important in some ways, because it means a new chance at a normal relationship with him, one where I don't have to worry about him waiting for me to love him back—but I've had enough of miserable and dreadful partings with the people in my life, and this was something that was less intense."

"Still seems important." And she looked at him, clearly unimpressed.

"Well, okay," She leaned forward, chin resting on her hand, elbow balanced on her folded legs. "Then you tell me why you think it's so important." Gesturing to himself in surprise, Stefan shook his head. "Come on, don't be shy."

"I don't know. I'd think that the end of a relationship is important to anybody."

"I feel like sometimes, some things are meant to end. It's a good thing, but not the end of the world important. I also...didn't feel the world for him. I was comfortable, but there was very little love—the kind he wanted, at least. So it was something that felt right—that steered me in the direction of normal." She commented.

"Fair, but—" He paused a second, allowing himself to think.

Am I letting her on too much?

Did he sound overly surprised about the revelation? He hoped he didn't. She was right. It wasn't that important. Not really. Nope. "Never mind." A disappointed scoff was his response. "Well, considering..." Searching his mind for an excuse was stressful. "The fact that I knew very little about you, and probably still do—anything about your personal life that you share with me feels pretty important. Considering you never tell me anything."

"Hey, you know a lot more than most people. And you had the privilege of knowing who I was when you were human. That's knowledge enough." She huffed stubbornly, earning an amused smile from him.

"I guess I'll never know anything else then. Oh, how depressing!" Feigning utter disappointment in his tone, Stefan made Aurelia laugh out loud again, with his stupid dramatics. As she calmed down a few moments after that, they drew back into peaceful and comfortable silence, looking up at the constellations drawn upon the beautiful black canvas stretched out over them.

"Just be patient, and you might just find yourself knowing more about me than you could ever expect." She said, her voice soft and at ease. "I'll tell you in due time. I think there are just some things that require the right moment to reveal."

"I understand." And he did—he knew he could and would be patient for her, even without her reassurance. If it meant getting closer to her, becoming someone she could trust—he'd be patient. "I'm glad you could tell me this." A soft wind began to blow in their direction, and Aurelia closed her eyes, allowing the gentle caress of air to give her some affection, to kiss her cheeks and nose, and run through her strands of hair.

"I'm glad, too." And she felt hope, something she hadn't expected with him. She hadn't expected to feel optimistic, joyful, relaxed, or hopeful about their friendship. But she could feel it now, almost as though the wind's sweet embrace was encouraging her to step out of her comfort zone, and open her mind and heart to him. To allow herself to hope that she and him would continue on their journey, and strengthen their friendship. "Thank you for listening to me. I know you weren't expecting this all. I wasn't either."

"You don't need to thank me." Stefan admitted, hand on her shoulder. "You needed someone to listen, and I wanted to listen."

Aurelia looked back at him with a grateful smile. "Do you also want to drink now, though? I could do with that bottle of bourbon." Stefan, playfully bowing like a butler, and mumbling something along the lines of, "As you wish, madame.", made her burst into fits of laughter again. "Don't leave me here too long!" She called out to him as she watched his retreat into the Boarding House. He only waved dismissively without looking back at her.

When she turned around to enjoy the breeze once again, though, he found himself sneaking a small glance at her, unable to resist an affectionate smile that felt familiar—it felt like the one he'd give her ever so long ago, in 1864—when he gazed upon her with admiration, and thought of sweet words.

Just as he was now.

I'm not leaving you anytime soon, Aurelia.

"THIS IS NEVER GONNA END." THROWING HIS CROSSBOW down at the kitchen counter with a loud clatter, he sighed deeply and leaned forward, his mind stirring from dilemmas and doubt. "If Kol doesn't kill me first," Elena walked around to stand on the other end of the table, eyes fixed on her brother from worry. "Then Klaus is just gonna force me to kill more innocent people." He looked at his sister, disappointment and guilt etched on his features.

"Jeremy..." Elena could say nothing, unhappy herself about the problem they'd been forced into.

"How many is it going to take?" He asked exasperatedly. "Ten? A hundred?" Massaging the bridge of her nose with two fingers, Elena tried to play big sister to the boy she was so protective of, thinking of any ideas that were viable. They needed to get past this fast—else Kol would ensure the Hunter's funeral within the week.

When it hit her, eyes lighter and lips parted in a moment of 'EUREKA!", she looked towards Jeremy, who could only look at her questioningly. "If you kill an Original Vampire, their entire sire line dies with them. That's maybe... tens of thousands of vampires."

The Hunter's eyes lit up too, and a growing smile made itself appear on his lips.

"Kol compelled Damon to kill you." Recalling the tiresome events of the day, which wound Damon up in the cell of the Salvator Boarding House, under Stefan's care, Elena smirked triumphantly.

Her idea was brilliant. She'd protect everyone she knew from danger. And he deserved it. So she looked at her younger brother, a look of determination burning in her eyes.

"Instead, you're gonna kill Kol."

[][][]

07/20/2024