Forever Is Not Enough

Union

1864 - Mystic Falls, Virginia

Miranda Gilbert was a beautiful woman in life and in death. She had some blessings that many lacked. She married well and birthed two beautiful children for her husband. It was she who ensured they were both educated in science as well as the arts. She made certain they were classically trained on the piano. She taught them both how to make pastries as well as the art of conversation. She did her best to pass on her traits, along with her love, before her sickness, which struck her down like a lighting bolt splits a tree in half. It was so sudden and strong a force of nature that no one could have prevented it, even if they had seen it coming.

Oddly enough, it was her mother who was on Elena's mind as she slid her fingers lightly up Damon's arms, past his neck and up into his hair. He was close to her now, looking into her eyes, and she could feel a rush to her fingertips. Her mother, of course, had instructed her, though not always plainly, in the duties she would have as a woman on the first day she bled. Elena had learned about running a household, entertaining at parties, caring for the children, and, of course, her responsibilities in the bedroom. Her mother sat her down and gave her an opaque description of what would happen once she shed the white dress. Elena was horrified, to say the least. The first time will hurt the most, her mother said, and you will endure it that night and many more nights after. When she looked up at Damon, though, she didn't see anything that needed to be endured. Her mother's words weren't making sense anymore - not with Damon.

His eyes were as piercing as ever, but it wasn't their blue she saw; it was the lines around them. Wherever he had been when he was gone had darkened his skin, and the sun had carved lines into the corners of his eyes. It didn't make him look worn as much as it made him look older - like a man. It was as though he wore everything he had seen out there on his face. She drew closer and kissed him tenderly, but only because she couldn't sit under his gaze for another second. She couldn't let him see how nervous she was.

Her thoughts were drawn to the last time they were alone like this, and this time she didn't think of the bruises that covered his torso, but she thought how different everything was now. At the time she had been so careless, so free. She still had champagne running through her veins and all she could think about was how he was leaving her for an old tent and a gun, and soon. There certainly weren't any thoughts of her mother. That night hadn't been that long ago, but she felt like she was still just a girl, then. The thought crossed her mind she might still be a girl now, and he had been a boy not too long ago, but they were changed now. She had seen her brother die and she had watched Damon follow behind him. He had watched hundreds die. He had killed. She didn't know if she was yet a woman, but he couldn't find any childhood left inside him.

It was still very early in the morning, but no one had yet stirred from their beds, so every move either of them made was made carefully. They acted as if one squeaking floorboard would alert everyone to where they were and what they were doing.

Damon forced himself to move slowly. He didn't understand it, but he could feel Katherine's blood racing through his veins. The mixture of that, along with the desire he felt, made him shiver a little. Elena ran her hands all over him as if to learn every plane of his body. She traced and retraced over every muscle and bone until his impression was burned into her fingers. The feeling of her just-barely-there touch raised goose bumps across his skin. He too, was feeling his way through the unfamiliarity of it all. At school, boys talked of women all the time. He wasn't practiced, but he was knowledgeable.

Never let a man see your naked body, Elena heard her mother say. It will only encourage him. This played over and over as she stripped off the layers of her clothing. First, her dressing gown hit the floor, and Damon's hand roamed the newly naked territory of her arms. He helped her undo the ties at the neck of her nightdress, pulling them slowly and to the side so he wouldn't have to break his lips from hers. It was awkward at first, as they both tried to tug the ties out of the knots and keep close in their embrace. It was Elena who broke away, smiling and blushing. Never saying a word, she pushed him backwards so he was sitting on the bed. She undid the rest of the ribbons herself, opening the front of her nightdress to reveal her bare breasts. She smirked a little as she watched him watch her. He had a look in his eyes that was unlike anything she had ever seen on any man. It was the engrossed fascination of an artist watching his muse. He would widen his eyes just a bit, but never dropped his gaze from her body. She let the gown slide to the floor and she stepped out of it, towards him.