Waking Up In Vegas

Chapter 23

Elena's P.O.V.

You know that feeling you get when you're scared?

The one when your heart races against your chest, like at a million miles a minute. Yeah, well. I'm there, stilling nervously in the airplane seat. Our first class tickets finally came through and Stefan was even able to get us a seat near the exit windows and I'm thankful for it, a small thing that allows me to relax a bit.

He's got his eyes closed, head leaned back and a slight relaxed smile on his face as he exhales, grabbing my hand into his. "We're going to be fine." He reassures me, clasping his hands against mine tightly, not even looking at my face.

How the hell does he even know? That I'm scared. Okay, scared doesn't even cover the damn feeling that's slipping into my thoughts. I'm panicked about the media, once this flight stops and we're back home on the ground...The stories that they'll post are going to be flying off the shelves..I can see the headlines in my head now..."Millionaire Stefan Salvatore, has romantic excursion with backstabbing ex-fiancé in Paris!"

"Ex-Fiancé, Elena Gilbert takes Millionaire for all he's worth..In the beautiful backdrop of Paris, France."

Those are just a few of them that seem to be running around in my head when I hear Stefan clear his throat and glance over at me, this sleepy smile on his face as he takes his fingertips and brushes my cheek with them. "If you're worried about the media..Elena, don't be. Once we get back home. Things will be crazy because I bet you money that, that same bitch that wrote on those articles about us, is at it again. But, once someone has a nice little chat with her...They'll stop and you'll have your job back, working for Caroline Forbes-Mikaelson." He tells me as I turn towards him, closing the magazine that's sitting on my lap.

"You would go and talk to her...You would talk to Ashlynn for me and fix all this crap?" I ask him, hearing as he exhales and feeling when he tightens his grip around me hand.

"Of course I would. I'm your boyfriend after all! I'll fix it. Now, just close your eyes and relax because your right about one thing, that airport is going to be a shark tank full of media once they get word that I'm on this flight." He says, leaning over and kissing my cheek as I smile at him, placing my hand on his face and smiling. Stefan's right, I shouldn't worry that much..Now, that we finally have each other..We'll be fine.

XXXX

Stefan's P.O.V.

10 Hours and 30 minutes later...That's how long this damn flight has been and that's considered the 'shortest' time. Seriously? My body is about to give up on me as I get up and turn around, throwing an exhausted look in Elena's direction, who's face is pressed up against the glass of the window seat that we moved into when we had to switch planes for the rest of our flight.

I swear that I can hear her snoring a bit as she slowly starts to wake up from our red eye flight. She's mumbling something to herself as she finally jolts awake when I throw my unused paper cup at her. "Hey, sleepy head! Wake up...We're home!" I notify her, hearing when she groans and nearly peels her face away from the cold window, leaving a small smug of drool against it.

"Damn that must have been some dream you were having. By any chance was it about me?" I ask, watching as her face blushes a hint of red and she puts her finger against her lips.

"Shh...I don't want everyone knowing..all the things I was doing to you in that dream..Let's just say that you were really enjoying it." She comments, slowly getting up from her seat, unbuckling the seatbelt from it and stretching a bit once she gets up fully. I smile at her and hold out my hand towards her.

"You ready for this?" I ask her, grabbing her hands firmly into mine as she gives me a bashful smile and nods.

"Baby, whenever you're with me..I feel like I can conquer the damn world! So, yes..Let's go and put a rest to this madness." Elena says, as she grabs onto my hand and I ruffle the top of her head, pulling her against me as I kiss her warm cheek. "Okay. Let's go for it." I tell her, watching as she follows me outside the airplane, our carryon bags in my hands as we both make our way out of the plane and towards the terminal.

XXXX

Elena's P.O.V.

I watch as we walk over to the baggage claim, holding onto my purse, sunglasses over my eyes as Stefan pulls our bags from the carrousel with a huge grunt when he pulls the black suitcase towards him, placing it on the ground as he looks over at me.

"Jesus! Elena, what did you pack in here...a dead body? The room service guy, perhaps? He kept giving you those seductive eyes and was like 'Dammnn!' When you opened the door in nothing but my t-shirt on." Stefan says with a wink, pulling the bags behind him as I feel my face redden at his words.

"No! It's just a few things I picked up to bring home with us. I don't know...souvenirs." I tell him with a shrug of my shoulders as he lets out a laugh, throwing his arm over my shoulder and kissing my forehead.

"Aha...But, sweetheart. I'm not taking the fall for this one, once the headlines read 'Stefan Salvatore's girlfriend brings home dead body of hot room service guy!' I'm definitely going to need to call up my best attorney, to save your little cute butt." Stefan says in a joking tone as I slap the back of his head, watching as he tries to dodge me. But, he quickly fails at it.

"Oh, please..We could go to jail together, You'd look hot in an orange jumpsuit." I tell him, the pit in my stomach growing as we walk down the escalator and see a man in a suit standing in the middle of a large crowd. "All joking aside..Maybe we can role play..I can be the guard and you can be the inmate..once we get home." I tell him, whispering against his ear, hearing as he laughs and takes a step off the escalator, waving at the guy in the suit.

"I can't wait...You'll make a hot guard." Stefan tells me with a wink, a sparkle in his eyes and then suddenly it's gone, the playfulness in his tone is wiped away as he turns towards the guy whose holding a sign with his last name on it in his hands.

"Mr. Salvatore?" The man asks, looking over at me, eyeing me up and down as he smiles and Stefan nods, turning back towards me and grabbing my hands into his own. Giving me a knowing look.

"Yes. Hey, here's an extra $20. If you get us into the limo without having to answering a lot of questions from the media storm outside. I can see them now, and from here..It's not going to be pretty." Stefan comments, exhaling deeply and holding onto my hand tighter as we both hear the man agree and before we know it. We're out the door and facing what feels like a million cameras in our faces.

XXXX

Stefan's P.O.V.

"Mr. Salvatore, Miss Gilbert? Paris together...How does it feel to be back in the states?" One of them shouts at us. I turn to my side and watch as the driver place our bags quickly into the trunk of the limousine. I'm irritated that the story is already out, probably with more lies than truths and god knows what else.

"Miss Gilbert, Is it true that you slept with Stefan just for his money?" Another one of the photographers shouts at us, taking a few rapid pictures of Elena as she puts her head down and clutches onto my hand even tighter than before.

"Of course not!" Elena responds in a quiet tone as I push my way past the crowd and their cameras. Feeling the pressure of everyone on us as we finally get to the door of the limo and I open it, shoving one of the pesky photographers back a bit as Elena slides into the seat first.

I smile to myself and turn to wave at them all as I hear them continue shouting questions, false accusations at us both and then it finally all seems to stop when I close the heavy door behind me and sink down into the leather seat of the limo. But, my whole body goes numb when I look over at Elena and then in front of me.

He's got a magazine covering his face, a grey suit on that looks like it's Armani as he sits with one leg over the other one, an ice cold bourbon sitting near him. Laughing a bit to himself as he places the magazine that I notice quickly is one of Caroline's in his lap. "Tsk, Tsk...You two go to Paris for about a week and you come back with a storm of media following you. Nice touch, little brother..True Salvatore fashion. I give you an 8 for effort on trying to answer the questions..But, here's one that I really want to know. So, How was Paris, Stefan?" Damon asks, a mischievous grin on his face as I rub my hands over my eyes and glance up at him. My jaw is tense when I smile widely and pull Elena closed towards me, kissing her cheek and then turning back towards Damon. A glare directed at my brother when I respond quickly with the best answer, I've got. "Just fine."