Within Temptation

Chapter Thirty-Four

Well, Katherine and Elena finally have a semi decent conversation for once in this chapter. So, it gets pretty interesting. And, I hope you all like the update. :)

Within Temptation- Chapter Thirty-Four

"I am so sorry that I'm late." Elena told him, walking into the restaurant as she looked down at Stefan. The menu was in his hands, two half empty wine glasses sat beside him. One was filled with her favorite red wine and the other was filled with sparkling water. He had taken a liking to the fizziness of it, ever since he had promised himself that he'd never pick up a drink again.

Stefan felt her lean down and kiss his cheek, sliding out of her jacket as she slide into the seat across from him, giving him a sincere and apologetic look. "I've been waiting for two hours." He told her flatly. He wasn't that upset, he was just a bit disappointed since he had wanted to make the dinner a special and memorable one for them both. However, Elena had been held up by something that she said, that she'd tell him all about once she saw him at dinner.

"So, where were you?" Stefan asked, waving the waiter off as he quickly told her that he had already ordered for them both.

"I met her, Stefan." Elena said, her eyes glowing with hope and surprise as he gave her a confused look.

"Met whom?" He asked, watching Elena pick up her water glass. Placing it down and chewing on the ice in her mouth before she replied simply. "My aunt, Jenna. My mom's sister. That's why I was late. I just left her shop about an hour ago. I'm sorry that I didn't even really have time to change." She explained, pointing down to her lack of formal and nice attire as she pulled her flat ironed hair to the side and smiled up at him with a gleeful expression.

"I take it, the the meeting went well." He said, looking at her as she nodded and then sighed out a breath, closing her eyes and taking a moment. Elena looked so distant to him as she stared out past the group of people that had just walked into the overly priced Everest Restaurant that had a view of nearly all of downtown Chicago. She had gotten so lost in the moment that Stefan had to place his hand over hers, shaking her out of her trance for a bit. "Elena…" His voice trailed off when she finally looked up at him.

"Talking with Jenna made me realize a lot of things. Mostly, that I made a mistake with Katherine. I've been trying so hard to push her away and make her look like the monster in all of this. But, she's not and I'm an idiot for having done what I did. Jenna, told me that Katherine didn't have it as easy as I thought she did. She watched our parents fight all the time, she watched our mom fall apart and carry this burden of having me be adopted just because she wanted it all to be a secret. Katherine was sent off to boarding school at a young age because my parents thought that it was better that way. Because, every time they looked at my sister. Even though they loved her, they just didn't know how to be parents to her until she was older and went to college." Elena concluded, hearing Stefan exhale as he leaned back into his chair. He didn't know about that part of Katherine's life because she never really spoke about it.

"She tried to kill you, Elena." Stefan tried to point out as Elena looked down at her hands, quietly speaking.

"I know and it's all so messed up. And, I won't ever forgive her for it. Although, I guess I can only hope that she's realized her mistake. But, I tried killing her too. Emotionally. What we've been doing to each other, isn't fair. Katherine wanted to get at me physically and I wanted to get at her emotionally. Needless to say, we did way worse to each other. Both emotionally and physically hurting one another. It's not fair and it's not right. As a family, none of this is right or okay at all.." Her voice trailed off as she felt Stefan's hand on top of hers, his gentle touch taking her out of the funk that she was in.