Clarity: A Klaus' daughter fanfic

Chapter 26

 I woke up the next morning beside Ross, I couldn't help but feel something was off, even if this was the exact thing that I had wished for a thousand times.

"Mmm. G'morning." He mumbled against my neck

"Morning..." I whispered. I sat up only to notice what little (or lack of) clothing I had on, instinctively I covered up with the sheets and stood up. I put on underwear and a pair of skinny jeans vampire speed, and then started looking for my shirt.

"Hey! Why did you do that for? I liked you so much better laying here besides me" Ross said, as he sat up.

"Well, I can't stay that way all day" I muttered not really paying attention to the conversation as I fumbled a pile of clothes for a shirt to wear.

I ended up wearing a hoodie, not really in the mood for anything tighter.

I took his hand and ran out of the house.

-----

It was awfully quiet in the Mystic Grill, probably some town event, again. I'd check on that later. After a cup of tea we walked out, hand in hand only to bump into Tha Rippah, as my jerk father would say.

"Amber! What a pleasant surprise." Stefan's voice sounded weirdly cheery.

"Stefan...how awkward!" I mumbled that last part but he surely heard it "Why is it surprising?"

"Well I'm sure you know your father left town last night," I frowned, quite confused " but judging by the look on your face you didn't know...speaking about awkward... I'm here on Doppelganger babysitting duty" He was right, I didn't know. Amongst the other things I didn't know there was also how I felt about Stefan watching me hold hands with Ross and why I cared that my father left town and didn't tell me (although it was probably for that fight we had but nevertheless)

"Well Stefan, it was nice to see you" I smiled ready to walk away but he raised his eyebrows at Ross "Oh right, umm Stefan this is Ross." I stared at the floor as they shook hands.

"Oh, peanut butter guy, right?" He asked teasingly. I way or may not have told Stefan about some of my past romances before our little fall out.

I nodded and walked out with Ross before things could get any more embarrassing for either of us. When we were out of Stefan's hearing range Ross opened his mouth to talk about it but I interrupted him "No comment." He nodded and we kept walking.

....

We were walking through the woods quietly, I was to busy thinking. Ross was so much better in my memory, I didn't know which of us had changed, maybe it was both, I was sure that the joy of seeing each other after decades was what fueled last night's passion, I was sure he felt the same way, I was sure neither of us felt the same and we didn't want to face it.

I wasn't planning on it, I was still happy for having him there, holding my hand as we walked silently, the only sound being the dry leaves that crunched under our footsteps.

As I said, I was happy, I wanted to keep ignoring that feeling, nagging at the back of my mind telling me this wouldn't-couldn't- be the same, but Ross new better, he was way too honest to keep it that way. He's so honest, I thought, that's why I loved him.

"Amber," he stopped walking, so did I,

"We, Me, I mean...Us..." my breath hitched, my insides crumbled, I knew it was coming, that didn't mean I was ready for it "This doesn't feel...real. Not anymore...I" A knot formed in my throat, my eyes tingled and my ears rang, stupid crying, "It's just been...so long." I swallowed as an effort to sweeten the sour taste in my throat, but it just made it drier. "Don't get me wrong, I missed you so much, and seeing you,''-he fixed his hair and avoided my gaze- "seeing you was the best thing," his eyes glistened and his hands came back to mine and held them tighter, I could tell he was shaking a little "I had imagined it over and over again for years when I was on the other side, maybe- just maybe- we set the bar too high, being there, alone for decades just made me think so much about what this would be, and it's not like that"

I couldn't do much except nod, I knew what he meant, I just couldn't express it.

"Please-please tell me you understand." He whispered, letting my left hand drop, I quickly brought it up and brushed the hair off of my face.

I inhaled sharply and tried to speak up "I do, I do I just- it's still hard, even if I completely understand."

"Thank you, I feel like we're so different now, both of us."

"Yeah," my voice was so quiet I wasn't even sure he had heard it, even with his supernatural wolf ear.

" I love you, Amber," his voice cracked, I wanted to wrap my arms around him and not let go until he was smiling again, but that wouldn't be so smart considering the circumstances.

"I love you too" I couldn't bring myself to look into his eyes again, not until he spoke up.

"But maybe dead things, should stay dead." I stared into his eyes, not knowing what to say, he walked away and I just stood there like and Idiot. I was standing alone in the woods too concentrated on trying to hold back my tears to process what he said. Dead things should stay dead, He wasn't talking about himself, he was talking about us.

Just a few tears, I told myself, just a few. Hell, that's so much easier said than done. It started as a few, silent tears streaming down my cheeks and then sobs came and the whole 'sliding down a tree dramatically until you're on the floor'.

Fucking humanity, I'd be so much better without it. But then I thought about it and how it made me change the way I looked at Stefan, I thought about how no humanity would change me. Not than anyone would care...Klaus left...Rebekah barely knew me...Stefan didn't care... I had no one else.

Stefan, on the other hand, had a brother and friends and a Doppel-girlfriend. Stupid doppelgangers, everyone wants one, I wonder how they're still not on the cover of every magazine...

Stefan clouded my thoughts, him and his no humanity shit.

Think of the devil and he has to arrive right? Well fuck me.