fic: i open myself one stitch at a time [tvd, jenna(/alaric)]
Title: I open myself one stitch at a time
Disclaimer: Not mine in any way, shape, or form.
Fandom/Characters: Vampire Diaries, Jenna(/Alaric)
Word Count: 382
Requested By: tosca1390
If someone asked Jenna to describe her issues with men in one word, that word would be trust. In her younger, more foolish days, she'd trusted too soon, too deeply, and lie by lie, the betrayals stacked up until Jenna didn't even know what the word meant. There was nothing left for her to give.
And then her sister died. And then she was suddenly the guardian of two grief stricken teenagers. And then she met Ric.
And.
Suddenly, Jenna found herself wanting to trust again. She wanted to open herself up to this man and to have him open himself to her, and for them to risk themselves in the way that can only happen when you trust the other person completely.
Jenna opened the door. Ric never did.
Which is why the revelation that Ric had been keeping such a monumental secret from her -- vampires -- is such a betrayal. Because it wasn't supposed to be like that with him. It was supposed to be different. Ric was supposed to be better than Logan and John and all the other losers and assholes Jenna had ever dated. He was supposed to be worthy.
He wasn't.
"Why?" Jenna asks, staring at him with pleading eyes, begging him to give her some reason, any reason that would excuse it. That would make it better.
"To keep you safe," he says, and Jenna doesn't know whether to punch something or to cry.
One thing she needed from him, one asked for lie, and he couldn't even give her that? She shakes her head. "That's not good enough, Ric."
He nods, eyes sad. She wonders is they're a lie, too. "I know."
"You don't," she says, shaking her head. "You should leave."
Ric nods again, and heads for her door. He pauses, his hand hesitating over the door knob. He looks back over his shoulder? "Jenna?" he says, and it sounds equal parts prayer and question, and it pulls at something deep inside her. "I really do love you."
She doesn't let herself look up from the floor.
Ric leaves. Jenna cries.
*
In the morning, her eyes are red and puffy, and there's a hole in her chest where Ric used to be. She tells herself it's for the best.
It's a lie.
Disclaimer: Not mine in any way, shape, or form.
Fandom/Characters: Vampire Diaries, Jenna(/Alaric)
Word Count: 382
Requested By: tosca1390
If someone asked Jenna to describe her issues with men in one word, that word would be trust. In her younger, more foolish days, she'd trusted too soon, too deeply, and lie by lie, the betrayals stacked up until Jenna didn't even know what the word meant. There was nothing left for her to give.
And then her sister died. And then she was suddenly the guardian of two grief stricken teenagers. And then she met Ric.
And.
Suddenly, Jenna found herself wanting to trust again. She wanted to open herself up to this man and to have him open himself to her, and for them to risk themselves in the way that can only happen when you trust the other person completely.
Jenna opened the door. Ric never did.
Which is why the revelation that Ric had been keeping such a monumental secret from her -- vampires -- is such a betrayal. Because it wasn't supposed to be like that with him. It was supposed to be different. Ric was supposed to be better than Logan and John and all the other losers and assholes Jenna had ever dated. He was supposed to be worthy.
He wasn't.
"Why?" Jenna asks, staring at him with pleading eyes, begging him to give her some reason, any reason that would excuse it. That would make it better.
"To keep you safe," he says, and Jenna doesn't know whether to punch something or to cry.
One thing she needed from him, one asked for lie, and he couldn't even give her that? She shakes her head. "That's not good enough, Ric."
He nods, eyes sad. She wonders is they're a lie, too. "I know."
"You don't," she says, shaking her head. "You should leave."
Ric nods again, and heads for her door. He pauses, his hand hesitating over the door knob. He looks back over his shoulder? "Jenna?" he says, and it sounds equal parts prayer and question, and it pulls at something deep inside her. "I really do love you."
She doesn't let herself look up from the floor.
Ric leaves. Jenna cries.
*
In the morning, her eyes are red and puffy, and there's a hole in her chest where Ric used to be. She tells herself it's for the best.
It's a lie.