Sincerely Yours [Stefan Salvatore]

[60. A New Era]

[4x01; Growing Pains]

Lucy looked down at the canvas in front of her; her pallet of watercolors was to the left, her mason jar full of water right above it, and her selection of paint brushes to the right of the canvas. Stefan was across from her, his things assembled in an exact mirror of hers.

She could feel him staring at her but she ignored it, twisting her lips thoughtfully as she stared at the blank canvas. She had no idea what she wanted to do or if she actually wanted to paint. What she wanted was be there for Elena but Joel, Damon, and Stefan quickly put a stop to her plan.

It frustrated her but after they explained that Elena would have to learn to control her blood lust, she understood. She wasn't happy about the fact that Elena would wake up as a vampire and she wasn't there to offer her support. Still, it wasn't about her and if staying away would help Elena, she would.

Lucy leaned forward, picking up her paint pallet and the one in front of Stefan before standing up to put them back with her other paints.

"You don't want to paint?" Stefan got to his feet, collecting the mason jars full of untouched water.

"No, I don't," Lucy shook her head while stacking the canvases back in the piles with the others.

Stefan was a blur as he sped into the bathroom and dumped the water. He appeared a second later and sat at the foot of her bed. She didn't like the look of concern he was giving her; she was grateful that he was worried for her but felt like he thought she would break.

But she wouldn't. Sure, Alaric died but everyone else lost him, too. And Elena...Elena had died and now she was gonna be something she never wanted to be. Her emotions would be all over the place so Lucy needed to be strong for her.

"Lucy..."

"I'm fine, Stefan," she told him quickly; she didn't believe her words and neither did Stefan. "Look, I can grieve Ric when Elena's okay."

Stefan gave her a small smile and stood up, walking over to her and wrapping her up into a hug. He kissed the top of her head as she leaned her forehead against his collar bone, whispering a quick promise of his love.

Lucy leaned away from him with a weak smile. "I love you, too," she said quickly before sighing heavily. "Will you do something with me? I don't think I can do it by myself."

"Of course I will," Stefan nodded. "What is it?"

"I need to arrange a place for Ric in the Gilbert plot," she told him, her lips twisting sadly. "and I have to order a headstone."

Stefan nodded and kissed her forehead. He admired her so much; she was being so strong when faced with everything that was going on in her life.

-

Because they were outed to the town council, Lucy and Stefan made sure they were inconspicuous and quick as they set up Alaric's grave. It was a quick process as Lucy arranged to the last spot in the Gilbert plot to be dug up for Alaric with the owner and caretaker of the cemetery. When they were done, they went straight to the place who made the headstones for the rest of the family members who had died.