some guys think they can't be winners

[beanchaointe]

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[braveandstupid]

[She takes a deep breath as she glances over and nods.]

Everyone's okay. They all made it back safe and sound. And Bonnie came back too.

[Which she's very happy about, and honestly if she hadn't had to work she would just be hugging her best friend tightly because she missed her. So much.]

[praevaricatio]

We've never met. Though, she and my husband have formed a tenuous... something. ( David tends to rankle his allies as much as he draws them close. Where Ezra has the charm and the darkness beneath it, David's honesty and blunt sharp-edged whatevers seem to win him more friends in the long run. ) I'm not able to walk through doors and be anywhere, so I've stayed more local. I took more shifts. I took this shift. I heard a rumor you had a clean bill of health. Thought maybe you'd be back earlier.

( A faux, faux rumor. )

[braveandstupid]

Well, I had to at least pretend that I was majorly injured.

[She would have been back to work sooner if she could have been.]

But the break's been good. Sometimes it's nice to have some room to breathe.

[praevaricatio]

I don't know what that is, but maybe that's by design.

( After everything with the demon in David's body, David's family, and finishing premed with David in tow, he didn't stop. Being a doctor makes it easy to run a mile a minute. )

Please, tell me what it's like.

[braveandstupid]

Honestly, kind of boring?

[Not that spending time with Dean is boring but she's always liked having purpose. Telling her that she can't perform hers make the days so much longer than they have to be.]

But I did bingewatch some terrible reality TV. Caught up on my reading.

[praevaricatio]

Not Real Housewives of Tahoe.

( Common ground, again? How long had it been since they'd discussed their guilty pleasures. A man can hope things can thaw. )

[braveandstupid]

They draw me in every time.

[Maybe it's because she needs to see people be dramatic about nothing as life and death as her life can often bring her way. Maybe it's a spell cast on anyone who happens to watch an episode.]

It's clearly witchcraft.

[praevaricatio]

My mother knows witches in Tahoe. You're not too far off.

( Is he sharing? ) We summered there.

[braveandstupid]

Really?

[She's going to give him some grace and assume he's talking about his real life now, not his cover life.]

I've never been that far west.

[praevaricatio]

( Considering she believed he was an East Coaster because of his cover, this does probably track as something real. )

Mystic Falls all your life?

[braveandstupid]

I've been to spots on the east coast. New York, Atlanta. DC for some school trips. Mom and Dad took me and Jeremy to Disney World when I was twelve.

[But she's never been to California. Never really strayed further than what the east coast had to offer.]

Bonnie and Caroline are the big world travelers.

[praevaricatio]

Bonnie keeps tripping over my husband, who is also the world traveler of the two of us. But, it comes with his territory. He is the one person in his coven who can turn any door into ... any door.

( Giving information, that sounds right. They don't usually advertise an ability like that, especially outside of the coven. )

[braveandstupid]

Wow.

[That explains how he comes and goes so quickly.]

Ever used those powers to whisk you away on a fancy romantic vacation?

[praevaricatio]

More than a couple of times. When I let him. He usually insists. I'm a bit of a workaholic.

( But, his husband pulls him out of that. Always has. )

We saved each other without knowing it. He thinks I saved him, but, he really saved me.

[braveandstupid]

Good.

[She does smile softly at that, because those are good kinds of feelings to have.]

I'm glad you have him.

[praevaricatio]

I don't know who I'd be without him. Does - that sound sappy? It sounds sappy.

( He is the more sentimental of the two of them, but David is very tender when alone with Ezra. Prickly with everyone else. But, that's David. )

[braveandstupid]

[She shrugs, because if anyone can appreciate a little sentimentality, it's Elena Gilbert. She always has been a little bit in love with being in love.]

If you can't be sappy about your partner, who can you be sappy about?

[praevaricatio]

The romantic comedies I'll never admit to liking.

( And your partner. Speaking of sentimentality and sap. )

Elena, I am sorry. You were never just a job, or a goal. You were my friend.

[braveandstupid]

[Her face softens a bit at that, because as much as she thinks she can believe him, she's been burned before.]

You were mine too. But ... it's a lot, when you suddenly find out someone you thought you knew actually had this whole other life. And being the doppelganger hasn't exactly brought a lot of sunshine to my life.

[She needed some time to process.]

[praevaricatio]

David, sap alert again, is my sunshine, but saving him, choosing him, and marrying him brought the Colony, and its obligations, and its' assignments. Turning them down would be witch treason, which is why, after one too many toes out of line, I was relocated. To you. I didn't look at it like I was watching you, Elena. I barely checked in. David knew, of course. But, I work overtime at leaving you off the Colony's radar. Harvey... was not our intention. And even he isn't a member of the Colony. They're his client. It's better that Harvey was sent than anyone else.

( It's a lot of information, he knows, but she deserves to hear it. )

How about this. Ask me any questions. I will answer honestly. We do have... ( He checks his watch. ) Ten more minutes?

[braveandstupid]

[She considers for a minute, before shaking her head.]

Honestly, we probably shouldn't be having this conversation in Radiology.

[A beat.]

But maybe we can get coffee after? And talk about it then?

[It's also designed to buy her some time, to make sure that she's asking the right questions. Not choosing those questions carefully has bitten her in the ass in the past.]

[praevaricatio]

( Ezra may tailor his answers, he still has an oath to hold up, until they can bring the Colony down. Or, at least improve its' practices. But, he can accept a break. )

We don't have to talk now. Now, we save patients. Or, map out just how to save the patient. If the patient needs saving. And then, coffee.

( And the nat 20 on reading the radiology findings, which, let's be honest didn't have to be rolled because he studied for exactly this, but, sometimes dice know what's up. )

[braveandstupid]

[The dice are just here to validate all his neuro skills. But they'll go back to saving lives for a little while, and when their mutual shifts end, Elena is waiting at the door, hands tucked into the pockets of her jacket.]

Want to head to the Grille?

[praevaricatio]

( Like old times. He nods, turning the lights off in his office. )

How was the rest of your shift?

[braveandstupid]

It was good. No super crazy cases, which is always a bonus. I tend to prefer straight forward broken bones and stiches.

[No life or death stakes with cases like that.]