The Wailing Woman {Stefan Salvatore

{1} memories

Lately Stefan couldn't stop thinking about her, he knew his thoughts would only bring him pain but he and Damon promised they would never forget her, he thought that after a hundred years he would have moved on but he still thought off her more often then he should and he knew Damon did as well.

He was holding her diary from 1863 in his hands, the beautiful black leather cover still smelled like her. She always insisted that the boys had to come with her to pick her perfume; she said if they liked it then the whole world would like it. This book smelled of Stefan's favourite, just the two of them went to pick this particular one because Damon had joined the war and she was running dangerously low on her favourite accessory.

Stefan was stood still in the middle of the library; he flipped open to the middle of the book and smiled at her familiar writing, always cursive and always neat. His eyes skimmed over the page but halted when he saw his name, he wanted to know what she thought of him, what she thought of the world. But he still couldn't decide whether he should read it.

Damon was wondering around the house in search for his brother, needing to talk about his latest supernatural problem. When he found Stefan and saw the book he held in his hand, his heart jumped a beat and he needed to clear his throat to try and rid it of the lump that was forming.

Stefan spun quickly and looked at Damon, Stefan opened his mouth to speak but no words formed, he felt like he needed to explain himself to his brother, he needed to explain why he couldn't let her go.

Damon didn't need an explanation because he too had been once staring at her diary wondering whether to open it or not. His gaze lifted from the diary to his brother's watery eyes and saw his open mouth.

"Can't let her go, huh?" Stefan knew the underlying message meant Damon had been exactly where he was, he let out a small laugh, even if you could call it a laugh; it was more of an exhale with raised eyebrows and a feeling of relief.

"I want to read it, but I can't"

"You know brother, true love lasts forever" and with that Damon left.

Damon's word cut Stefan like a stake to the heart, Stefan still loved her. For one blissful moment he forgot about being a vampire, he forgot he was dating Elena but he remembered his first love, everything she did, how she smelled when she wore his favourite perfume and how it was tragically beautiful.

Stefan never told her and she never told him. He thought it was time to tell her, in fact he knew it was time to tell her. The only way he could do that was to visit her grave; he hadn't seen it since her funeral. It brought him too much pain. He couldn't go empty handed, so he knew he had to give her flowers because if he didn't he knew she would haunt him for eternity.

---

Damon sat alone at the Mystic Grill, nursing a glass of bourbon. Memories he tried so hard to forget came flooding back. His mind then flickered back to Stefan. His brother must have been hurting if he was considering reading it. When she died Stefan swore he would never read it, he didn't want to hurt even more knowing everything that could have been.

A certain memory came to Damon; it drew a smile from him. Funny how something that caused him so much pain gave him happiness now.

Elena was sitting at a booth with Bonnie and Caroline, listening to Caroline dribble on about how she needs a new man in her life, not really paying attention because her focus was on a lonely Salvatore. Her feeling toward him were wrong, she was in love with Stefan but couldn't stop thinking about Damon.

She excused herself from the table and seated herself next to Damon. He still had a smile on his face and thought nothing could ruin his mood, and then came the questions. Elena didn't mean to ruin his mood but it was odd that he was happy, it was suspicious.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Did you kill someone?"

"Why are you drinking by yourself and not with Ric?"

"I'm just thinking of an old friend" Damon finished his bourbon and walked away, he needed to be alone, he needed to talk to her. So he also headed to the graveyard, it had been quite some time since her had visited her. He only went to see her when he needed help, but it never quite panned out considering she was 6 feet under. But Damon always felt an odd calm when he just sat with her and and breathed in the familiarity.

---

When Damon reached the graveyard he was shocked to see Stefan. He knew Stefan hadn't been to the grave since her funeral, his eyes flickered down to the sunflowers Stefan held in his hand.

"How is it brother, that she still holds us together even in her absence?"

Stefan came rushing at Damon and hugged him. Something the brothers did rarely, but this time they both needed it.

After a manly hug, they walked over to the Salvatore crypt. She wasn't a Salvatore but she was close enough to being family. Her parents were more than happy to let her rest in there; they knew how much it meant to the boys.

Stefan placed the flowers next to the gravestone, touching lightly on her name. It felt good to not feel alone in missing her. He would have given her the world if he had the chance.

"Daisy Strongmore, 1846-1864, God gave his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers"

Damon picked this quote; he didn't want something pointless on her gravestone. He always looked up to her; she was so strong until the very end. He placed his hand on Stefan's shoulder,

"Let's go brother"