❝don't leave me again❞ 

STEFAN PACED BACK AND FORTH THROUGH ELENA'S ROOM, WAITING FOR HER TO GET HOME. He wiped a hand over his mouth, sighing out his frustrations.

He tensed when he heard her voice, calling out to see if he was there. Her footsteps echoed up the wooden staircase, and he turned to face her as she stopped in the doorway.

"Elena, I'm so sorry," He shook his head at her as she approached him, already fixing him with a worried look. "I know you didn't want Jenna to know, but Klaus was here, and I couldn't leave her alone with him."

"I know, Stefan," She shook her head, recalling the fear in her aunt's voice. "You kept her safe, that's all that matters. She's staying with Andie tonight, just to process things. I tried to tell her what I could, but I barely scratched the surface."

Stefan nodded, then looked away, his eyes glazing over as he remembered the events from earlier.

"Stefan? What's wrong? Did something happen?"

He bites his tongue and swallows around the lump in his throat. "It's, uh, it's Rosemary."

Elena furrows her eyebrows at him. "Rosemary? As in Damon's wife?"

He nods. "Yeah, she's, um, she's alive. And I don't– she's alive, and she's– she's helping them. She's helping Klaus," 

Elena's eyes widen in surprise. "She's helping Klaus? But, why? She doesn't even–" Elena's voice cracks and she steps away from Stefan as fear settles in her bones. "She doesn't even know me, Stefan."

"I know, I know. But I'll never get her to go against Damon, she'll kill me first," Stefan reaches for her, but she pulls her arm away with a flinch that he mirrors at her response to him. "Elena, I'm not going to let them hurt you, okay?"

"Why?" She whips around, her brown hair flying out as she faces him with teary eyes. "Stefan, everyone is trying to kill me right now. Okay, Caroline is trying to kill me. Caroline. She was my best friend!"

Elena's lip quivers and she clenches her fists at her side in frustration. "Bonnie almost died trying to save me. If you keep fighting them, they'll just kill you all."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take, Elena."

"Well, I'm not!" Her exclamation makes Stefan flinch backwards, but she looks at him unapologetically. "Why would I want everyone I love to die for me? So I can be stuck here alone? I'd be miserable if you died, Stefan, why can't you see that? Just let them kill me, please."

"Elena,"

"No, Stefan, I'm tired," She swipes a hand out, wiping the tears away from her cheeks. "We are severely outnumbered, and no matter how much power Bonnie has, they could easily just break her neck and be done with it. I'm not letting you die for me."

He shakes his head, his eyes fogging up. "What are you saying, Elena?"

"I'm saying that I'm going to let Klaus do the sacrifice, and none of you are going to stop me. Just let me save you guys, for once."

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈•ﾟ｡ 

"Rosemary, where are you going?"

Damon eyed his wife as she gathered her things, ripping her clothes out of his closet, taking her things out of his bathroom. "Rosemary, look at me!"

She faced him, tears in her eyes. "What, Damon? What do you want from me?"

"I want to know why you're leaving! What happened?"

"Nothing's happened, Damon," She sighed, shaking her head disappointedly. "I just had a few realizations."

"Do you mind sharing them with me?" He scoffs incredulously, though his heart pounds nervously against his chest.

"It's been two hundred years, Damon," She sighs again, like he should already understand how she feels. "We aren't the same people anymore, and I should've known better than to assume you'd be the same man I married."

His heart drops to his stomach, and a wave of nausea hits him at her words. "Rosemary, what are you saying? That– that you don't love me anymore?"

"I don't know, Damon,"

"No," He shakes his head, ignoring the way his voice trembles. He steps towards her, frustration seeping through his fear. "You can't just leave without a real explanation. You can't just leave me again."

"I'm sorry, Damon. I wish things had been different," She grabs her bag off the floor and walks towards the door, and Damon watches her go as a tear skitters down his cheek.

"Ro, you can't– you can't leave me again! I need you, okay? Whatever I did, I'm sorry, please just stay," He rushes after her as she walks through his door, but in his attempts to run after her he's stopped by an invisible barrier that's trapped him in his room.

"Rosemary, wait!" He slams a fist against the door jam, his voice breaking as she walks down the stairs with his heart in her hands. "Rosemary, come back!"

At the base of the stairs, she turns and looks up at him. "Damon, stop,"

He shakes his head. "Come back!"

"Damon, stop. Damon... Damon!"

His eyes snap open, immediately landing on the figure hovering over him. He blinks a few times, clearing the haze out of his vision to see that Rosemary's leaned over his side, staring down at him worriedly.

"Ro?"

"Damon, you were having a nightmare," She brushes his hair off his forehead, and he drags his hand from underneath his blankets to wrap around her midriff that's clothed in one of his shirts.

"You're here," He shakes his head, sighing out in disbelief. "You didn't leave."

"No, no," She whispers, laying back down beside him and palming his cheek to turn his head her way. "I won't leave again, I promise. I'll always be here."

He nods, biting back his emotion. "Stay with me,"

"Of course, my love," She smiles somewhat shakily, and he wraps his arms around her and pulls her flush to him, shamelessly burrowing his face into the curve of her neck and shoulder.

Rosemary throws a leg over his and shifts to adjust comfortably in the bed, sighing when she relaxes into his hold. She turns her head slightly, and presses a kiss to his temple. "I'm right here. I promise. I'm not leaving again."

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈•ﾟ｡ 

Elena sighs as she brushes her teeth, spitting the minty foam into her sink and rinsing her mouth with the cold water from her faucet.

She tucks her straight hair behind her ears and turns the light off in the bathroom, trailing aimlessly back to her bedroom. Her eyes ghost over the window, and her eyes soften with pity as she recalls her conversation with Stefan earlier. He was so defeated when she made him leave, it practically broke her heart to say what she had, but she wasn't going to sit by and let him go on a suicide mission when it was her they wanted, and no one else.

Her eyes dart back to her bed and she walks over to it, pulling back the comforter.

As she slides into bed, her eyes shift to her nightstand where her lamp is still providing a soft yellow glow through the darkness of the night.

A new object sits on the nightstand, a small glass bottle, corked shut. Her fingers reach for it, and the piece of paper it sat on. Dark eyebrows furrow as she makes out the scribbling handwriting, but her heart pounds with anticipation. 

Bonnie might have found a loophole. Won't know for sure, but we had to try. – Jeremy 

A small, hopeful smile grows on her face, and she eyes the liquid in the bottle with little hope.

With a sigh, she tucks the note and the bottle into her nightstand drawer, and turns her light off, looking forward to a full night's sleep.

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈•ﾟ｡ 

author's note; this chapter got sad idk how

edited and published; 12.4.23.

- liz