[Why she stays with Nik after everything is complicated, to say the least. She had promised always and forever a thousand years ago and mostly stuck to it. It hasn't gotten her much in the end, but it's the only sort of life she knows.
Still the weeks she had spent here alone before Nik showed up had been freeing. This is the secret she keeps for herself.
At the request, a smirk tugs at her lips.]
No promises.
[It surprises her, how gentle he is. It's not what she's expecting and it catches her off guard. But she recovers quickly, letting a hand come up to the back of his head as she pulls him in closer, deepening the kiss as her lips begin to part.
It's familiar and not all at the same time. The last time Stefan kissed her he had been trying to trick her, still hiding Elena from her and Nik. At least this time they're on the same page, for better or for worse.]