ALMOST IS NEVER ENOUGH | TVD [3]

VII • DEATH AND THE MAIDEN

seven. death and the maiden

Salvatore Boarding House

Stefan Salvatore is asleep in his own big queen-sized bed while having nightmares about his wicked doppelgänger, remembering the torture of helplessly drowning over and over again. How only dark, ice cold water was surrounding him for so long that he became numb to the unbearable agony of trying to fight for his breath, for his own immortal life, to somehow reach for safety; his lungs were filled with water, all he could do was struggle while fighting the urge to switch off the remaining part of him that is human. Although he didn't, as he's able to hear Rosie's soft voice whisper his name and his eyes open as he suddenly wakes up, relieved that the entire thing was only a nightmare. Rosie is in their shared bedroom, having just opened the curtains to let the sunlight shine in, holding a steaming mug of coffee.

She smiles at him, "Morning. I made coffee. How did you sleep?" Hopefully, alright, even though she seems to be able to sense that he isn't, considering how many several times he muttered her name while he was long asleep. Hence the purpose as to why she made his favourite type of coffee earlier.

Her traumatized ex-boyfriend slowly sits up on the bed, "Ohh...Not great." Considering he remained to dream about the unbearable torture all over again throughout the night, how he tossed and turned in bed uneasily.

"First night back in your own bed. Not as comfy as Tessa's couch, huh?" Rosie teased as an attempt to lighten up the mood for the poor young man.

"If we're going to talk about Tessa, I think I'm going to need that caffeine." Stefan takes the mug and has a sip, "So, uh, what's with the wake up call?" Not that he minds, considering it would be nice to wake up seeing her the first thing in the morning once he opened his eyes. How lovely she always is, hence he really doesn't want to speak about Tessa or anyone else now.

His own amnesiac ex-lover initially hesitates to express her deep thoughts, "I miss you, so much. I feel like when you lost your memories...I lost a friend, and I was thinking instead of just describing how much we meant to each other, maybe we could just start fresh, you know. Hi, I'm Rosie." Again, much like how they did this the two previous years ago under a false identity because she was trying to retrace her memories of her own past life.

"I was driving back to you." Stefan suddenly informed her in recollection of what happened from three months ago before he drowned in the quarry; the night of the high school graduation, how could he forget? The love of his life rejected the cure of immortality because she only wants to be with him.

"What?"

"The night I took Alexandra to the quarry, I said goodbye to Lexi, and then I wanted to come back to you, to restart our lives together." He recalled; Stefan and Rosie, it all makes sense to him again. It's always going to be the both of them eventually, together...All I see is Stefan and Rosie. Even Klaus Mikaelson said it once, how the Salvatore brothers were always fighting for Rosie Kartwright's precious affection, only for her to choose Stefan in the end. He remembers well now that Damon is now with Elena, the sire bond...