Until This Lie Do Us Part

Chapter 17

WARNING! There is a dark flashback scene in this update. It is in italics, so you can skip it if you'd like.

Stefan felt his heart pound so hard against his chest that he thought it would break through. Stefan's plan had never included Derrick finding Elena. He had planned on keeping him from finding her. "What ... how ... why hasn't he grabbed her or something yet?" Stefan stuttered, forcing his question out.

"He's being cautious. He knows about you, Stefan. He knows that she has people around her now, that she's not on her own. But he's been at her school campus. And he's been to Mystic Falls" he explained. "That's all I know right now. But I have a feeling his stalking isn't for nothing. I think he's going to try something" Sampson said.

"So what do we do?" Stefan asked, almost frantically. "Call the police?" he suggested.

"No" Sampson said, shooting his idea down immediately. "Derrick's uncle is a police chief in the state. Nothing's going to stick and it will only put Elena in more danger."

Danger. Stefan was well aware that Elena was in danger, but hearing someone else say it made it more real. "What do I do then?" Stefan asked, changing it from everyone's responsibility to his own.

"You keep Elena within eyesight. If you can't be with her at some point, find someone who can. We have to wait him out. The more we learn about him, the better prepared we will be to create a plan" Sampson said. "I'm sorry for calling so early, but I wanted to get you up to speed. I'll be in touch soon."

Before Stefan could reply, the phone went dead. Stefan pulled it away from his ear for a moment and just stared at it. How could he have been so stupid to let her go to school by herself? Or work? And now, there wasn't a thing he could do but wait. More waiting.

Stefan quietly let himself back into his bed, careful not to wake her again. He faced her, watching as she breathed in and out slowly, nothing bothering her. He brushed a loose, tangled strand of hair out of her face, placing it behind her shoulder. He imagined her face, occupied with bruises. How scared she must have been right before it happened. How hard she must have lied when people noticed.

He watched her for another hour before sleep overcame him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Good morning!" Caroline sang, coming into their room with a tray filled with coffee and muffins. Stefan and Elena both shot up out of surprise, rubbing their tired eyes. Caroline stopped halfway inside the room, becoming hesitant. "You two aren't naked, are you?" she asked cautiously.

"No" Elena answered, turning to look at Stefan who seemed to give her an apologetic expression.

"Good" Caroline smiled, bringing the tray to them. "So I thought since today was our last day here, we could all take the horses out for a ride" she suggested.

"Sure Caroline" Stefan said, taking a sip of his coffee. He grimaced at the taste of her fancy, good-for-you coffee.

"Really?" she asked excitedly. "I'll go wake Alaric and tell him to get ready!" she said, bounding out of the room and down the hall.

"So horseback riding?" Stefan asked Elena, turning towards her.

"Sounds good. But we only have two horses" she mentioned.

"We can ride double" he informed her, taking a bite out of a muffin. "And these are really good" he said. He pulled off a piece and fed it to her before kissing her. He felt the need to be romantic all of a sudden. Caroline's cautious question about whether or not they were naked was fresh in his mind.

"Stefan" she mumbled, pushing against his chest. "We have guests" she reminded. Stefan either did not hear her or was ignoring her. She figured it was the latter when she watched him move his coffee to the nightstand. Elena quickly moved hers over as well, figuring the muffins could fend for themselves on the bed. "They could walk in" Elena said, somewhat protesting when his lips left hers and began sucking lightly on her collarbone. "Let's move this into the shower" she suggested, knowing it was too late to back out now. Her body was already craving his.