ALWAYS LOLA // KLAUS MIKAELSON OH

A STRONG WOMAN

"We were warm and shivering, and young and ancient, and alive."

THERE WAS NO GRACE IN LONELINESS. Lola realized, now for the first time, that there never had been. There could be grace in love and in death, but there was no grace in loneliness.

And she was lonely, continuously so. Damon left her to her own devices half of the time, so now she had been speaking to the older members of the Mystic Falls community for at least half an hour.

"How is the project developing business, miss Arends?"

"Very good still, sir. Thank you for asking."

"Has the crisis had no effect on your income?"

"We build good buildings sir, so no."

A loop of the same conversation, over and over again. Politeness without any kindness. The riddle that her life had become. She saw Elena wall back into the church.

"Where's Damon?" she asked when Elena got to her, Elena frowned.

"He's outside, I think. That's where I saw him last." Lola nodded and thanked Elena, then she started to walk outside.

The grass was beautifully green and it gave Lola the same feeling she had felt the day that she first arrived in Mystic Falls and had seen the grass in the Forbes's yard. This feeling that maybe this time, everything would be alright. The Salvatore brothers were standing somewhere in the middle of it all, engaged in a heated conversation. Lola could feel the tension from all the way over here.

"She's starving, Stefan! She hasn't been able to keep the blood down for days." Damon yelled at his brother.

Stefan looked confused, "what are you talking about? She told me she was fine."

Damon was triumphant in his next sentence, but since he hadn't realized that Lola was right behind him, he wouldn't be for very long.

"Well, then she lied. Your four-legged protein shake was a bust. The juice box is a no go. She can't even keep my blood down." Lola stopped dead in her tracks, Stefan looked at her over Damon's shoulder.

"You let her drink from you?" Damon had turned around in a flash at the sound of her voice. His lips turned downwards. Lola's body filled itself with this anger that she had never felt before.

"You fucking let her drink from you?" now she started to push him backwards, and he let her. He knew he had messed up. Stefan didn't even try to interfere.

"Lola, I-" then he cringed as Lola's hand set on fire and bound to his skin, melting away some of his suit and porcelain skin.

"Lola," Stefan said as he looked around to see if anyone had noticed, "calm down."

"I asked you one thing-" she kept pushing him, "- I asked you to tell me if you loved her more than you loved me." She stopped her efforts of physically hurting him and just stood there and stared at him. He looked away.

"I know what it means, Damon. Even if Elena didn't." Stefan started to walk away, because he knew what it meant, too.

"This isn't for you, Damon. It's for me. Because you realized way too late that I am not just a toy to be played with. I am not that girl anymore." Damon sighed as he looked at her. He wasn't trying to apologize, because he wasn't sorry for doing it. It was this moment that defined their relationship as ended.

She started to walk away with her hips swaying and it was only then that she felt the tears coming up, the tears she suspected had been there all along.