Remember Me

Chapter Seven

Remember Me- Chapter Seven

Three weeks later...

"So, tomorrow's the big day. You're going to be a married man soon." Elena commented, glancing out towards the seaside resort that Stefan and Audrey had picked out as the venue for their wedding. They were all settled in for the night as Elena walked the beach and stumbled upon Stefan who was sitting all by himself, watching the waves roll in and crash against the dark brown sand.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked her, not turning to look towards her as she took a seat beside him.

"Well," Elena paused, sitting down and brushing off the sand from her khaki colored shorts.

"I saw you out here and thought I'd join you." She replied softly, exhaling as she thought about how things could have been. Years ago, this could have been the two of them. Yet, Elena shook the thought from her mind. He's happy now, without you... She reminded herself silently as Stefan finally turned to glance over at her from the corner of his eye.

"Do you ever think about how things could have turned out between us? You know, do you think about the house we would have lived in and the jobs we would have been working had we stayed together?" His question lingered in the air as she licked her bottom lip. God, she had thought about it multiple times. It had taken Elena years to attempt to move on from him and the hurt she had caused. Although, she knew that there was still a lot of unspoken pain in their newly formed relationship.

"Years ago, you had crossed my mind nearly every day. And then one day, you started to cross my mind less and less." She shrugged her shoulders back, placing her hand on top of his in the sand as she felt him move his own hand and curl his fingers around hers.

"But, seeing you now with Audrey. Stefan-." The small gesture of their hands in such close proximity made her heart skip a beat as Stefan cleared his throat and locked his saddened looking eyes upon his ex-fiancée. His tone of voice was tired and sounded strained when he finally admitted. "I'm worried that marrying Audrey is going to be a mistake, Elena. I'm worried that it's going to end up like my marriage to Rebekah did. I mean, we both know how that one ended. She was jealous all the damn time and we hated each other in the end." She watched him shift his weight around nervously, his eyes darting away from her and focusing in more on the crashing waves in front of them. Talking about Audrey in front of Elena still seemed a bit odd. However, he knew that she was trying to understand, trying to make the best of their new status of being " just friends."

Stefan felt the sudden soft touch of her hand as she caressed the top of his knuckles and intertwined their fingers together. It was gestures like these that she needed to stop herself from doing. Yet, she couldn't help it. She couldn't help not touching him or being near him now in his time of need.

"I don't think that you and her will end up like you and Rebekah," She paused, because what she was about to say next was going to be one of the hardest parts of this whole thing. It was going to mean that she was slowly accepting the fact that they'd probably never be together again.

"Audrey isn't Rebekah, Stefan. She's warm and kind. She's a good person and the way she loves you and Ben. The way that she's taken care of my son. I really respect her for that. So, I don't think that you two will end up like you and Rebekah did. I think you'll both have a very happy marriage." She commented, not daring to look at him as she quietly thought about what had happened to Rebekah Mikaelson and if she'd ever moved on from everything she had put Stefan through. She wondered for a brief moment if Stefan had invited his ex-wife to the wedding as well.

Stefan smiled, placing his head against Elena's shoulder as he grabbed her hands into his own and kissed her knuckles, skipping over her engagement ring. "Who would have thought that we'd ever be here, you and I?" He asked her, feeling her body tense up at his question.