All I Need (Vampire Diaries/Captain America Fanfic)

6. The Best Kind of Love Story

"So do you like him?" Caroline asked me. It had been 2 hours since Steve left but he was still the sole conversation topic.

"No." I said. "All I actually know about the guy is that he's Captain America. I'd be an idiot to go there with him."

"Even though he's really hot?" Bonnie grinned.

"You haven't even seen him," I sighed. We were all lying in Caroline's bed, trying not to wake up her mom who'd come home just after Steve left. Oh, and did I mention, her mother is the Sheriff of Mystic Falls. A sheriff with a vampire daughter, oh the irony! But I'd been informed that Liz Forbes was the coolest Sheriff we could have. She was willing to keep her daughter's (and by extension, my brothers') secret as long as we didn't kill anyone.

"I looked him up," she said, tapping on her phone for a second and showing me a picture of the guy that was already making me regret coming back to Mystic Falls.

"Aw, he is cute," Elena said. "Last time I only saw the back of his head."

I rolled my eyes and laid back, my head resting on Elena's lap. "It doesn't matter. I'm gonna compel him to forget all about me."

"What?" They said in unison.

"You can't do that!" Caroline added. "A supernatural love story is, like, the best kind of love story."

"OK, change of subject please?" I begged. I hadn't thought about compelling Steve until the words came out of my mouth, but it was obviously the right thing to do. Which probably meant that, knowing me, I wouldn't do it.

"Can I ask you something?" Elena asked, looking down at me.

"Go for it."

"When your boyfriend told you that he didn't want to... turn, how did it feel?" she asked. Without warning, I entered a flashback, 40 years prior.

...

I was 122 years old, he was 47. We'd been together for 12 years when I decided it was time to bring up the awkward subject again. We had a gorgeous house, a joint bank account, and there was a ring on my finger. Wasn't this the logical next step?

"I can't," James said, not making eye contact with me.

"What do you mean? Of course you can!" I argued.

"Baby, the vampire thing works really well for you. But you didn't choose it, your brother did this to you. I can't make that choice."

"Would you rather I turned you without your permission?" I asked, only half-joking.

"I'd rather you respected my wishes," he said. I climbed into bed next to him and he wrapped an arm around me.

"I can't accept the fact that you're going to die one day," I said. "I don't think I can live without you."

"You've done it for over a hundred years," he reminded me. "And don't worry, I'm not planning on leaving you anytime soon."

"You can't control it," I said. "You could walk outside and get hit by a bus."

"And you'll find me and give me some of your blood," he said, speaking from experience. I gave him my blood at every opportunity, just in case. The last time I gave it to him was for a paper cut and he thought it was hilarious.

I sighed deeply.

"I know you're upset-" he started.

"I'm not upset," I corrected. "I was upset when that slut at the Dairy Queen was flirting with you. This is different. Worse."

"I'm sorry," he said. I got out of bed and started pacing the room.

"Why would you date a vampire James? You didn't even consider that I might want you to turn one day?"

"I dated you because I fell in love with you. The same reason I asked you to come to Georgia with me, the same reason that I proposed to you. I love you Rena."

"Just not enough to be with me forever," I scoffed.

"Isn't the rest of my life enough?" he asked, exasperated. "I never want to be with anyone else Rena, I just don't want to be a vampire. I don't want to live forever, or to have to survive by drinking blood. I just want to live out the rest of my impossibly human life with the woman I love."

I dropped it, getting back into bed with him. The truth was, turning him felt like a contingency plan. He would never leave me for someone else if I made him immortal. We'd have an epic love forever, nothing would ever change.

But he didn't want forever. And I loved him too much to force him to take it.

...

"It hurt," I admitted, finally back in the room.

"Did you want to break up with him?" Elena asked. I could sense the worry in her voice.

"Even if I wanted to, I didn't. Because I loved him," I told her, hoping to be reassuring. "It always mattered, but it wasn't a deal breaker.

"Even though he didn't want to be with you forever?" she asked.

"When you're in love the way that we were, even forever wouldn't have been enough," I said.

"Are you thinking of... turning?" Caroline asked. I could sense Bonnie tense slightly.

"I don't know," she said. "I want to be with Stefan forever, but I don't know if forever is... for me."

"Look Elena, you're dating Stefan," I reminded her. "He's the kindest, most understanding guy on the face of the earth. You don't have to worry about him, he'll probably never even ask you to turn."

"But he wants me to?" she asked.

"He's never been in love like this before," I told her honestly. There was Katherine. But she'd been compelling him to love her. There had also been a few other girls, but he'd loved no one like he loved Elena. "He probably wants it to last forever."

Elena went silent, contemplating my words until the silence became drawn-out and awkward.

"Let's have a party!" Caroline said suddenly, her excitement was obvious.

"Why would we have a party?" Bonnie asked.

"Do we need a reason?" I asked, high-fiving Caroline.

"You are officially my new best friend," she said to me. "Finally somebody gets me!"

"We can have it at the Salvatore house," I offered. "That way, we can go completely crazy."

"I'm only up for this on one condition," Elena said. "Serena has to invite Steve."

"OK," I said easily. "If you promise to stay away from Damon."

"I can do that," she said. Her tone sounded unsure.

But I couldn't worry about that right now. I had a majorly epic party to plan. A party so amazing that all of our problems would immediately disappear.

But I was way too old to believe that.

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Thanks so much for reading! The next chapter will be up next Saturday!

I've also started a new story called 'Someone In The Crowd' which is a Paul Wesley social media fic. I'd love it if you could check it out!

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