To Be Or Not To Be » Stefan Salvatore

Chapter 18 - The Price of a Cure

When Skye Mikaelson woke up to the shrill ringing of her phone, she was prepared to be annoyed.

Mornings weren't her thing. Never had been. Some days were better than others, but most of the time, she stayed in bed past ten without a hint of guilt.

She wasn't one of those seize-the-day-by-waking-up-at-dawn kind of people.

But the moment she heard the voice on the other end of the line, whatever sharp remark had been sitting on the tip of her tongue vanished like a wave retreating from the shore.

Because if there was one person who could wake her up at this godforsaken hour and get away with it, it was Stefan Salvatore.

Not that he'd ever find out just how much hearing his voice made her day a little better. She was an independent woman and all that.

Still, the news he delivered sent a heavy weight sinking to the pit of her stomach. It wasn't as bad coming from him—maybe because he didn't have to call her.

Yes, they needed her help, but Stefan had still chosen to reach out. Had still wanted to tell her himself.

And that meant something.

She wanted more than just friendship with him, but she knew better than to rush it. What he had with Caroline—easy, effortless—that's what she wanted too. Love, to her, wasn't about fiery passion or fleeting attraction. It was about trust. Loyalty. A foundation strong enough to hold the weight of something real.

Her last relationship had been built on that belief, and every future one would be, too.

For Skye, there was no other way to love.

Call it naïve, but she believed in love. In happiness. And to her, the two always came hand in hand.

But none of that mattered right now.

What did matter was that Elena had stabbed her own brother in the throat with a kitchen knife.

That had been the lovely wake-up call.

Damon had filled Stefan in—apparently, Elena had started hallucinating. Had seen Connor, one of the Five, instead of Jeremy. Which meant the hallucinations had begun.

Skye had hoped Elena wouldn't suffer the same way Nik had. But here they were.

Luckily, Jeremy had been wearing his resurrection ring. That alone was the reason she wasn't more panicked.

She didn't understand what it was between them—not quite romantic, not entirely platonic—but it was something. Something unspoken. Something real.

And Jeremy felt it too. They just hadn't had time to acknowledge it. Not with everything else happening.

There were bigger things to worry about.

Stefan picked her up from the house she sort of shared with Rebekah—though at the moment, it was mostly just hers.

At least after last night, she and Stefan had settled into something comfortable. There was no hesitation in their interactions anymore. No walls, no pretending.

And despite his worry for Elena, it didn't change how he was with her.

The car ride was filled with quiet conversation.

She tried explaining what had happened to Niklaus when he'd slaughtered the original Brotherhood, but the truth was—she barely knew. He hadn't exactly been forthcoming about it. She had been daggered a year later, and by the time she woke up, the storm had already passed.