connection (greta/stefan)
connection
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Pairing: Greta Martin/Stefan Salvatore
Rating: PG
Warnings: spoilers for the finale, blood & some gore
Summary:
Notes: for razycrandomgirl. My belated birthday present to this marvelous person.
The first time he sees her, he’s outside on the boarding house’s steps. A bottle of Jack Daniels and cranberry juice in his hand, Stefan stretches his legs with a sigh. He spies someone walking across the lawn and frowns when he can’t hear anything. Just a dark, small figure strolling on the grass.
There a sense of familiarity but he’s unsure why. He recognizes the person as a female. Sitting up, Stefan places the bottle down.
“Hey!” he calls and she pauses.
In the next moment, she’s in front of him, staring down with accusing eyes. He breathes in sharply as she cocks her head to the side, a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth. Something glides against the surface of his skin, something cool and not unwelcome.
She’s gone when he makes a move to touch her. There’s no trace of her and Stefan would rather like to believe he’s having delusions than seeing actual ghosts.
--
The second time, he’s arguing with Damon. His older brother likes to pretend he knows what’s best for the newly turned Elena. (“You don’t even know what’s best for yourself, how would you know what’s best for anyone else?”) Damon brings up things from the past again, about Stefan’s uncontrollable bloodlust and tendencies to slip. And it just snowballs itself from there.
He doesn’t know who made the move first (he has a feeling it was Damon-it’s always Damon) but his older brother’s hands are somehow around his neck and Stefan’s gripping his wrist, successfully breaking it. Damon hisses and charges him, smashing him against the wall and Stefan feels his ribs crack. With a cry, he throws Damon off him, clear across the room and he collides against his mirror. He flashes over to him, ready to grab him by the collar but stops short.
Shattered pieces of glass are everywhere. Stefan stares down and stumbles back as someone else looks back at him. It’s her. Her dark curls fall over her shoulders as she sways subtly. She seems amused, as if the sibling fight is something humorous to her. Maybe it is.
It’s like he’s trapped. That strange feeling returns-the familiarity. This time, he feels security and it’s a stark contrast to the rage he felt only moments ago. It floods him and there’s that cool touch again.
He’s suddenly being pinned down against the floor, locking gazes with his brother. He thinks Damon might snap his neck until there’s someone screaming.
It’s Elena.
Damon gets off him in moments and is already yelling accusations. Stefan blinks back to the broken pieces and the ghost is gone again. Elena’s there, instead, standing before him and shaking. She hates them fighting. (“Don’t you know that? Then why do you two keep doing it?”) She links her arms around him and he’s embracing her, not missing the scathing look Damon tosses him.
--
The third time, he’s desperately tearing Elena away from Matt. There’s a shout from somewhere and he’s pretty sure it was Bonnie. A chunk of flesh is torn from his neck and he has to force blood down the blond’s throat. Elena is still in primal mode, breathing heavily and eyes darting from face to face, as if distinguishing who is next.
Bonnie has her pinned against the ground until Caroline can hold her. By then, Elena releases a horrifying scream. He shuts his eyes for moment because this is all his damn fault. When he opens them, Stefan gasps as his ghost stands right next to him.
Again, she looks somewhat pleased. He’s confused and angry but that feeling washes over him and he takes a breath. She nods in some acknowledgment and he looks back to Elena. He spies Bonnie flickering her eyes over to the ghost and back to the thrashing brunette. He frowns but thinks nothing more when his vanishing friend leaves once again.
--
The fifth time, he’s really just needing a friend.
Elena blames him. And she probably should because he said it wouldn’t happen. She’s quiet about it, doesn’t look him in the eye and refuses to listen to his advice. Damon gives him the hardest time. Taunting him, mostly. And Stefan thinks that maybe he deserves it this time.
He’s staring at the ceiling, contemplating leaving. It’s something Damon would do. It’s something he always does when he’s not getting his way. Maybe it’s a good idea.
Something cool and soothing grazes his skin and his eyes cut to the ghost across the room. She tilts her head to the side and raises an eyebrow in question. There’s no amusement in her features, just curiosity. Stefan keeps his gaze on her, afraid she’ll disappear this time. Sitting up, he crawls to the end of his bed and crouches there, watching her.
“I don’t think I know you.”
Her mouth twitches into a small smile. Stefan briefly grins. There. Relief seems to seep into the room and he relaxes a little. He remembers being told about ghosts and how they can influence how you feel. It sounded disconcerting before but Stefan doesn’t really mind right now. He’s a bit desperate at this point.
She moves like a human this time. Graceful and quiet, she sits next to him and he ignores how the bed doesn’t dip or there’s no physical reaction at all. “It wouldn’t matter.”
“Why not?”
Her hand reaches out suddenly and he flinches. Fingertips skim over his brow, down to his jaw, tracing the line of his lips. Her touch is chilling and pleasant all at once, whispers along his skin. He thinks that he could catch her wrist in his hand, hold her there, just to prove she’s real.
“It’s Greta.”
“Greta,” he parrots quietly. “Stefan.”
--
The seventh time happens weeks later.
He’s slipping into the deep end and he can see the alarm in Damon’s eyes. Elena can’t see it. She’s always been blind to those sort of things, he figures. Even as a vampire, she still can’t understand. He knows the others get it right away. Caroline had gone to him after the third hopeless victim.
“It’s got to stop, Stefan,” she whispers, as if he’ll react in a violent way.
Like he’s an animal.
Maybe he is.
Damon doesn’t try to stop it and he wonders if Elena has anything to do with that. When Bonnie figures it out, she warns him she won’t hold back. He doesn’t really have anything to say for that. He’d rather be fought against than people grow complacent. So he doesn’t stop.
Blood trails down his mouth as he leans against a tree trunk. Stefan throws an arm over his eyes and releases a breath and it comes out as a sob. When he looks up, there she is, staring down at him, pitying him. He cries out in frustration and stands, hitting the trunk and hears a crack. Glancing back, Stefan finds she’s still there.
“What do you want?”
“I’m not sure,” she answers. Stefan frowns and studies her, pausing. “I’m not sure why you can see me. Or why I can’t connect with my brother and father…”
Something passes in her eyes and he can’t catch it in time.
“I think we might have meant once,” Greta’s brow crinkles in thought, “Or maybe it was only your brother. I think he killed me.”
Stefan’s shoulders drop in defeat. Another problem of Damon’s has come and thrown itself in his face. Again. He sighs out and shakes his head. “I can’t do this.”
“I wouldn’t care, you know,” Greta says, evenly.
“Care about what?”
“That,” she gestures to the blood that covers his mouth, staining the clothes he’ll have to burn later.
Stefan doesn’t move. He’s suspended in the fantasy of acceptance. Who was she to him before? Why was she haunting him? And why did it even matter? He narrows his eyes when she shrugs. Did she know about him? He lost his humanity. There was no accepting that.
But he moves to touch her suddenly but when he blinks, she’s gone.
--
The eleventh time, he doesn’t notice at first.
Stefan doesn’t think that finding your friend with their teeth inside someone’s neck is the greatest sight to stumble upon, but he thinks Bonnie’s taking a bit too far when she holds him against the ally wall, breaking a few of his bones. When they heal, she does it again. He’s starting to wonder who the real the morbid one is.
When Bonnie’s done healing the individual, she offers an amnesia spell and sends him away. Turning back to him, she glares venomously. “I told you.”
“What are you going to do, Bonnie? Kill me?”
The words sound familiar but he doesn’t want to remember. Her face is stone, still using magic to pin him against the building. And, suddenly, she smirks and drops him and he groans at the impact. Her hands rest on her hips and she stares at him expectantly.
“You shouldn’t be doing this in the open.”
Stefan stares up at her in question. “Then maybe you could suggest a few places.”
Her eyes dim a little and she looks down the alleyway. “Klaus wasn’t that clumsy.”
His first instinct is to find offense in anyone comparing him to Klaus. But he mulls over why she would be. Stefan’s eyes roam over her figure and he frowns.
“Greta.”
She smirks again and gives her new vessel a spin. “The wonders of the afterlife.”
“You can’t do that to Bonnie.”
Her nose crinkles. “Isn’t she the one who broke my spell?”
Stefan runs a hand through his hair. “So you were a witch.”
“I am a witch,” she corrects and then considers him. “I can hear them sometimes. I haven’t moved on.”
“I’m not helping you-”
“I’m not asking you to.”
--
The sixteenth time, Stefan starts getting used to it.
They walk together and he finds a strange comfort in knowing no one else can see her but him. She is his friend and no one can steal that away from him, nothing can touch her. There’s only one other person who knows about her and that’s Bonnie and she is wary but doesn’t voice anymore thoughts. He thinks that means mostly everyone is giving up on him.
The two of them discuss things. Greta begins to recall things from the past and he takes that as a sign she’s going to leave soon. She tells him how witches are connected to earth, no matter what. Nature has chosen them as guardians, almost.
“I wonder what happens to vampires after death,” he murmurs.
Greta’s dark eyes search his face before chuckling. “Witches created vampires, right? They have to be a part of nature somehow. Maybe you’re allowed to serve the earth with us.”
“I don’t think so,” he says and ignores the look she gives him when he states, “We’re monsters.”
--
The last time, he somehow knows he won’t be seeing her anymore.
He’s laying on his bed, finding no strength to get up today. Damon and Elena have left somewhere and he finds himself not really caring. They’ve excluded him from their world and the others are too afraid to involve him in theirs too. It’s okay, Stefan justifies, he’s a monster. It’s natural not to want someone like him.
The bed suddenly dips and Stefan briefly wonders how that could be, though he knows who it is. When he turns his head to look at her, she’s staring up, hands folded over her stomach.
“I was lonely, I think,” she says in an even tone. “I think I needed a connection. I could have haunted your brother but I didn’t. I wanted something else.”
“You’re all set to go already?” he says like it should be a joke but it comes out more as if he’s complaining.
Greta nods and offers a spiteful smile. “Watching you self destruct…it made me think about my life.” She meets his eyes as she says, “I remember seeing you once. You looked…sad, I guess. Like now.”
Stefan scoffs. “I always look that way.”
“I know,” her voice sound suspiciously amused again and he turns to see her with a satisfied smile. “It was nice.”
“What was?”
Greta turns her head to them and they lock gazes. Something stirs in his chest and he has a hard time ignoring the disappointment rising. “My in-between thing with you.”
He doesn’t really think before he’s reaching for the hand upon her stomach. And when his cold flesh rests over hers, Stefan doesn’t question why she’s tangible or why they’re suddenly moving closer. He rests his chin on her head and it feels even better than the other times. That soothing and powerful comfort washes over him and he sighs out.
Hours pass and they just lay there. He doesn’t care and he has a feeling it wouldn’t matter to her either way. Sometimes, Stefan thinks he would have liked being a witch. Having a purpose is better than being driven by dark urges. Maybe that’s why she chose him. Maybe he needed that connection too.
When he’s sure it’s time, when that reassuring feeling begins to fade, he places a kiss upon her head and she glances up and smiles.
Stefan closes his eyes and can no longer feel her touch.
--
a/n
--
I should get my writing privileges taken away, lol. The video that inspired this pairing:
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Pairing: Greta Martin/Stefan Salvatore
Rating: PG
Warnings: spoilers for the finale, blood & some gore
Summary:
Notes: for razycrandomgirl. My belated birthday present to this marvelous person.
The first time he sees her, he’s outside on the boarding house’s steps. A bottle of Jack Daniels and cranberry juice in his hand, Stefan stretches his legs with a sigh. He spies someone walking across the lawn and frowns when he can’t hear anything. Just a dark, small figure strolling on the grass.
There a sense of familiarity but he’s unsure why. He recognizes the person as a female. Sitting up, Stefan places the bottle down.
“Hey!” he calls and she pauses.
In the next moment, she’s in front of him, staring down with accusing eyes. He breathes in sharply as she cocks her head to the side, a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth. Something glides against the surface of his skin, something cool and not unwelcome.
She’s gone when he makes a move to touch her. There’s no trace of her and Stefan would rather like to believe he’s having delusions than seeing actual ghosts.
--
The second time, he’s arguing with Damon. His older brother likes to pretend he knows what’s best for the newly turned Elena. (“You don’t even know what’s best for yourself, how would you know what’s best for anyone else?”) Damon brings up things from the past again, about Stefan’s uncontrollable bloodlust and tendencies to slip. And it just snowballs itself from there.
He doesn’t know who made the move first (he has a feeling it was Damon-it’s always Damon) but his older brother’s hands are somehow around his neck and Stefan’s gripping his wrist, successfully breaking it. Damon hisses and charges him, smashing him against the wall and Stefan feels his ribs crack. With a cry, he throws Damon off him, clear across the room and he collides against his mirror. He flashes over to him, ready to grab him by the collar but stops short.
Shattered pieces of glass are everywhere. Stefan stares down and stumbles back as someone else looks back at him. It’s her. Her dark curls fall over her shoulders as she sways subtly. She seems amused, as if the sibling fight is something humorous to her. Maybe it is.
It’s like he’s trapped. That strange feeling returns-the familiarity. This time, he feels security and it’s a stark contrast to the rage he felt only moments ago. It floods him and there’s that cool touch again.
He’s suddenly being pinned down against the floor, locking gazes with his brother. He thinks Damon might snap his neck until there’s someone screaming.
It’s Elena.
Damon gets off him in moments and is already yelling accusations. Stefan blinks back to the broken pieces and the ghost is gone again. Elena’s there, instead, standing before him and shaking. She hates them fighting. (“Don’t you know that? Then why do you two keep doing it?”) She links her arms around him and he’s embracing her, not missing the scathing look Damon tosses him.
--
The third time, he’s desperately tearing Elena away from Matt. There’s a shout from somewhere and he’s pretty sure it was Bonnie. A chunk of flesh is torn from his neck and he has to force blood down the blond’s throat. Elena is still in primal mode, breathing heavily and eyes darting from face to face, as if distinguishing who is next.
Bonnie has her pinned against the ground until Caroline can hold her. By then, Elena releases a horrifying scream. He shuts his eyes for moment because this is all his damn fault. When he opens them, Stefan gasps as his ghost stands right next to him.
Again, she looks somewhat pleased. He’s confused and angry but that feeling washes over him and he takes a breath. She nods in some acknowledgment and he looks back to Elena. He spies Bonnie flickering her eyes over to the ghost and back to the thrashing brunette. He frowns but thinks nothing more when his vanishing friend leaves once again.
--
The fifth time, he’s really just needing a friend.
Elena blames him. And she probably should because he said it wouldn’t happen. She’s quiet about it, doesn’t look him in the eye and refuses to listen to his advice. Damon gives him the hardest time. Taunting him, mostly. And Stefan thinks that maybe he deserves it this time.
He’s staring at the ceiling, contemplating leaving. It’s something Damon would do. It’s something he always does when he’s not getting his way. Maybe it’s a good idea.
Something cool and soothing grazes his skin and his eyes cut to the ghost across the room. She tilts her head to the side and raises an eyebrow in question. There’s no amusement in her features, just curiosity. Stefan keeps his gaze on her, afraid she’ll disappear this time. Sitting up, he crawls to the end of his bed and crouches there, watching her.
“I don’t think I know you.”
Her mouth twitches into a small smile. Stefan briefly grins. There. Relief seems to seep into the room and he relaxes a little. He remembers being told about ghosts and how they can influence how you feel. It sounded disconcerting before but Stefan doesn’t really mind right now. He’s a bit desperate at this point.
She moves like a human this time. Graceful and quiet, she sits next to him and he ignores how the bed doesn’t dip or there’s no physical reaction at all. “It wouldn’t matter.”
“Why not?”
Her hand reaches out suddenly and he flinches. Fingertips skim over his brow, down to his jaw, tracing the line of his lips. Her touch is chilling and pleasant all at once, whispers along his skin. He thinks that he could catch her wrist in his hand, hold her there, just to prove she’s real.
“It’s Greta.”
“Greta,” he parrots quietly. “Stefan.”
--
The seventh time happens weeks later.
He’s slipping into the deep end and he can see the alarm in Damon’s eyes. Elena can’t see it. She’s always been blind to those sort of things, he figures. Even as a vampire, she still can’t understand. He knows the others get it right away. Caroline had gone to him after the third hopeless victim.
“It’s got to stop, Stefan,” she whispers, as if he’ll react in a violent way.
Like he’s an animal.
Maybe he is.
Damon doesn’t try to stop it and he wonders if Elena has anything to do with that. When Bonnie figures it out, she warns him she won’t hold back. He doesn’t really have anything to say for that. He’d rather be fought against than people grow complacent. So he doesn’t stop.
Blood trails down his mouth as he leans against a tree trunk. Stefan throws an arm over his eyes and releases a breath and it comes out as a sob. When he looks up, there she is, staring down at him, pitying him. He cries out in frustration and stands, hitting the trunk and hears a crack. Glancing back, Stefan finds she’s still there.
“What do you want?”
“I’m not sure,” she answers. Stefan frowns and studies her, pausing. “I’m not sure why you can see me. Or why I can’t connect with my brother and father…”
Something passes in her eyes and he can’t catch it in time.
“I think we might have meant once,” Greta’s brow crinkles in thought, “Or maybe it was only your brother. I think he killed me.”
Stefan’s shoulders drop in defeat. Another problem of Damon’s has come and thrown itself in his face. Again. He sighs out and shakes his head. “I can’t do this.”
“I wouldn’t care, you know,” Greta says, evenly.
“Care about what?”
“That,” she gestures to the blood that covers his mouth, staining the clothes he’ll have to burn later.
Stefan doesn’t move. He’s suspended in the fantasy of acceptance. Who was she to him before? Why was she haunting him? And why did it even matter? He narrows his eyes when she shrugs. Did she know about him? He lost his humanity. There was no accepting that.
But he moves to touch her suddenly but when he blinks, she’s gone.
--
The eleventh time, he doesn’t notice at first.
Stefan doesn’t think that finding your friend with their teeth inside someone’s neck is the greatest sight to stumble upon, but he thinks Bonnie’s taking a bit too far when she holds him against the ally wall, breaking a few of his bones. When they heal, she does it again. He’s starting to wonder who the real the morbid one is.
When Bonnie’s done healing the individual, she offers an amnesia spell and sends him away. Turning back to him, she glares venomously. “I told you.”
“What are you going to do, Bonnie? Kill me?”
The words sound familiar but he doesn’t want to remember. Her face is stone, still using magic to pin him against the building. And, suddenly, she smirks and drops him and he groans at the impact. Her hands rest on her hips and she stares at him expectantly.
“You shouldn’t be doing this in the open.”
Stefan stares up at her in question. “Then maybe you could suggest a few places.”
Her eyes dim a little and she looks down the alleyway. “Klaus wasn’t that clumsy.”
His first instinct is to find offense in anyone comparing him to Klaus. But he mulls over why she would be. Stefan’s eyes roam over her figure and he frowns.
“Greta.”
She smirks again and gives her new vessel a spin. “The wonders of the afterlife.”
“You can’t do that to Bonnie.”
Her nose crinkles. “Isn’t she the one who broke my spell?”
Stefan runs a hand through his hair. “So you were a witch.”
“I am a witch,” she corrects and then considers him. “I can hear them sometimes. I haven’t moved on.”
“I’m not helping you-”
“I’m not asking you to.”
--
The sixteenth time, Stefan starts getting used to it.
They walk together and he finds a strange comfort in knowing no one else can see her but him. She is his friend and no one can steal that away from him, nothing can touch her. There’s only one other person who knows about her and that’s Bonnie and she is wary but doesn’t voice anymore thoughts. He thinks that means mostly everyone is giving up on him.
The two of them discuss things. Greta begins to recall things from the past and he takes that as a sign she’s going to leave soon. She tells him how witches are connected to earth, no matter what. Nature has chosen them as guardians, almost.
“I wonder what happens to vampires after death,” he murmurs.
Greta’s dark eyes search his face before chuckling. “Witches created vampires, right? They have to be a part of nature somehow. Maybe you’re allowed to serve the earth with us.”
“I don’t think so,” he says and ignores the look she gives him when he states, “We’re monsters.”
--
The last time, he somehow knows he won’t be seeing her anymore.
He’s laying on his bed, finding no strength to get up today. Damon and Elena have left somewhere and he finds himself not really caring. They’ve excluded him from their world and the others are too afraid to involve him in theirs too. It’s okay, Stefan justifies, he’s a monster. It’s natural not to want someone like him.
The bed suddenly dips and Stefan briefly wonders how that could be, though he knows who it is. When he turns his head to look at her, she’s staring up, hands folded over her stomach.
“I was lonely, I think,” she says in an even tone. “I think I needed a connection. I could have haunted your brother but I didn’t. I wanted something else.”
“You’re all set to go already?” he says like it should be a joke but it comes out more as if he’s complaining.
Greta nods and offers a spiteful smile. “Watching you self destruct…it made me think about my life.” She meets his eyes as she says, “I remember seeing you once. You looked…sad, I guess. Like now.”
Stefan scoffs. “I always look that way.”
“I know,” her voice sound suspiciously amused again and he turns to see her with a satisfied smile. “It was nice.”
“What was?”
Greta turns her head to them and they lock gazes. Something stirs in his chest and he has a hard time ignoring the disappointment rising. “My in-between thing with you.”
He doesn’t really think before he’s reaching for the hand upon her stomach. And when his cold flesh rests over hers, Stefan doesn’t question why she’s tangible or why they’re suddenly moving closer. He rests his chin on her head and it feels even better than the other times. That soothing and powerful comfort washes over him and he sighs out.
Hours pass and they just lay there. He doesn’t care and he has a feeling it wouldn’t matter to her either way. Sometimes, Stefan thinks he would have liked being a witch. Having a purpose is better than being driven by dark urges. Maybe that’s why she chose him. Maybe he needed that connection too.
When he’s sure it’s time, when that reassuring feeling begins to fade, he places a kiss upon her head and she glances up and smiles.
Stefan closes his eyes and can no longer feel her touch.
--
a/n
--
I should get my writing privileges taken away, lol. The video that inspired this pairing:
Click to view