Who: Elena Gilbert, Stefan Salvatore, Katherine Pierce and Klaus What: Tricking Stefan and Katherine and making a deal with Klaus. Where: The woods, Katherine's place When: Now Warnings: Violence, possible language but overall safe
She hated avoiding Damon. The fact was she was never very good at it. Even back in the beginning when Damon had been a harmless acquaintance she found she could never quite shake him. Things were different now though. She found herself watching him in the rec room, sitting silently between Caroline and Bonnie as she watched Damon play poker with a couple of guys. She saw him laugh and smile, she watched him like this for a few minutes before she turned her attention to Jeremy. Bonnie had gotten up and was whispering something into his ear that made him smile. Elena felt herself glow with pride before she got up and excused herself.
There was a clock ticking in the background somewhere, Elena could hear it even if it was a silent countdown. She had ninety minutes to make sure everything went exactly as planned. She was going to get Stefan to take her to Katherine and when the time came she hoped he wouldn't be expecting an attack from her. She knew that Stefan was a much older vampire than she was so even though she was extremely fast now, he was faster. She would have to take him completely off guard. Which meant her being herself should be enough. Even if she had broken his heart she had never broken his trust. Not until now.
She wouldn't let herself thinking of the irreparable damage that she was probably going to do to Stefan. She had already hurt him and the ultimate betrayal was months later when her and Damon stopped keeping their feelings a secret and included everyone in on them. She could still see the look on Stefan's face. He tried to hide it and he'd done a good job of it and pretty quickly. But there was a split second where something shifted in his dark eyes before he covered it up. Elena knew him too well, she knew that she was hurting one of the people that she loved. And now she knew she was about to do it again. This time it was his trust she would break by leading him out into the woods and using him as bait to trick Katherine.
She felt terrible about it. But at least Stefan would be alive to hate her. If all of this went the way it was intended to then Stefan would wake up in the woods with a headache and Elena and Katherine would simply be disappeared. The thought of what Klaus exactly wanted to do to the two of them wasn't entirely clear but Elena was positive that it was going to be excruciating. It was going to hurt and maybe she deserved it after proving some theories entirely right. When it came right down to it, Elena could be just as manipulative as Katherine or Isobel ever were. Some things just run in the family.
She hoped that Klaus could keep quiet about her location. The deal was that he and Rebekah wouldn't harm any of them again. She already knew that they would fight back. Damon and Stefan would definitely fight back. Chances were that Bonnie and Caroline would fight too. She wanted to protect them, she wanted them all to be safe and that had been the reason she had even made a deal with Klaus. She loved all of her friends with a fierceness that had only been amplified after her transition into a vampire. But if she had to only pick one, pluck one person up and stick them in an impenetrable bubble that ensured their safety even through Armageddon. That person would always be Jeremy. They were blood and even if they were supposedly cousins, he would always be her baby brother to her.
Forcing a half smile to her face she was only a little surprised to see Stefan exiting Faith's cell. She had wanted to ask him about her but never had the chance. She didn't want him to think she was sticking her nose into his relationship. All she wanted was for him to be happy.