Of All the Gin Joints in All the World

"Turn off the lights, and turn off the shyness,

'Cause all of our moves make up for the silence,

And oh, the way your makeup stains my pillowcase,

Like I'll never be the same,"

-Fall Out Boy

"She doesn't love you, you know," Stefan heard, as he placed his gin and tonic on the countertop, and folded his hands.

He sighed and continued staring off at the television that was playing in the background, drowning out the noise of this annoying bar, and the relentless Original Vampire sitting right next to him.

It was all Rebekah could talk about- Elena. She wanted to know everything about her, despite Klaus filling her in on anything she needed to know. She knew she was a doppelganger, she knew she was beautiful, and she knew she wasn't dead.

She also knew Stefan was still in love with her, and that this Damon Salvatore character was as well.

She wanted to know what made her so special- especially when it came to Stefan not being able to return her feelings, because he was stuck on this silly little human.

So she dug, most days- asking questions, and getting non-answers when Stefan skated around the inquiries, and begged to talk about something else- anything else.

But it always came back to this- she needed to know.

"Is that one of your super senses? Your being able to tell how other people feel towards me?" he asked, a bit gruffly, and the blonde didn't break her gaze.

Her big blue eyes, her sunkissed hair, that peach skin, and those full red lips- he couldn't help but turn to face her when he felt her eyes continuously burning a hole through him.

She was beautiful, no doubt- probably one of the most beautiful beings he had ever seen in his hundred-plus years on this Earth. She was graceful, she was cunning, she was his once upon a time; and he was hers.

She still believed he was hers.

"The Stefan I met back in 1920 wouldn't be fawning over some girl- some human-he would've been on to the next best thing," Rebekah quipped and he scoffed.

"I'm not that Stefan anymore, Rebekah."

Not entirely, anyway. True, he didn't enjoy the killing, but he did enjoy the lust.

The blonde pouted in her usual way before she threw a tantrum, but she didn't yell, to his surprise. She simply kept her eyes on his, forcing his green eyes to reconsider his last statement.

Did he want to be that Stefan, again? The care-free, cocky, party animal who didn't waste his time obsessing over things, or people, that couldn't engage him, right way? Did he want to be the Stefan who didn't give a damn about Elena and what she was inevitably going to do with his brother, while he was here, being the super hero in the background? Did he want to be the Stefan who remembered what it was like to enjoy blood and Rebekah's company, as he fell deeper and deeper in love with her, because she accepted him for what he was?

"Maybe you should be- because this Stefan's boring," she answered bluntly, seemingly reading his mind, as she stood up from her seat, and her heels clicked against the wooden floor.

Stefan sighed as she slowly walked over to his stool, and stood behind him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and nestled her head near his ear.

She smelled like a mixture of champagne and pomegranate, and her smooth hands glided across the skin of his neck, and down the front of his chest, threatening to sneak beneath his shirt.

She hadn't being drinking, but she was behaving as if she had been.

His undead heart began racing, and he could sense Rebekah's grin, even though he couldn't see it.

"Don't you remember what you felt for me in Chicago, Mr. Salvatore? What do I have to do to have you carrying a torch for me, again?" Rebekah whispered lightly, with her thick accent dragging out every single word, as they replayed over and over in his mind.

Her voice was smooth and seductive- not like Katherine's, but something far richer.

He did remember, and it haunted him as he tried to put the pieces together in his mind- Katherine and Elena were not the only women he loved. He loved Rebekah, too- probably with the most passion, and undoubtedly with the most fire.

Katherine was his first love- she was his first everything. She taught him the game of cat and mouse, and he quickly became indebted to the way she made him feel. Being with Katherine taught him devotion, and devoted, he was, as he died to "save" her life.

His first love story sucked.

Elena was another story- she became his first innocent love. Virtue, romance, trust, and selflessness- he learned it all while he was with her. Stefan was convinced this was what the books talked about when they spoke of true love- what he and Elena already experienced in their short, but hectic relationship was real.

So why was he second-guessing it? What did Rebekah mean to him?

She stood for recklessness and she didn't stand for rules- she was his whirlwind romance. Elegant in the way she swept him off of his feet, and sexy in the way she heightened and ignited everything inside of him, when he met her. She taught him to live free, or kill trying. She taught him that he liked intensity, and he craved attention, no matter how hard he tried-and was still trying- to fight hers.

"I'm not sure there's anything you can do," he lied, and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure I could just compel you," she said quietly, dragging a finger across his ear.

"What would be the fun in that?" he asked dryly, though he felt more and more intrigued by the passing second.

Rebekah slowly unraveled her arms from around his, and crossed them, as she stood there in a signature scowl, while he turned his stool around to finally face her.

She may have been the Original, here, but he was apparently the one with all the power.

It made him smile, and Rebekah pursed her lips. The next thing he did even puzzled himself, as he took her hand, and rubbed his thumb across it gently. He pulled it up to his lips, and kissed her skin softly.

Her hard expression seemed to soften, and he continued, as he kissed a trail up her arm, before she quickly swatted him away.

"I thought you wanted me to be more affectionate?" Stefan asked, and she glared at him.

"You're being mean."

"How?"

"Because you're being a tease."

Stefan slightly acknowledged that- he was teasing her and he was enjoying it. He didn't want to talk about Elena or think about Katherine, or do anything Rebekah was forcing him to do while they sat in this bar.

Tonight, he wanted to be Fun Stefan. If she wanted 1920 all over again, she was going to get it.

"Forgive my rudeness, Rebekah," he said genuinely, because he knew she could sense it if he was lying.

His apology seemed to satisfy her, as a quaint smile appeared across her lips as she studied him, and he only stared back, awaiting her response.

"Kiss me, Stefan. And do it like you actually mean it, this time," Rebekah requested, and he bit his bottom lip as he registered her words. "Unless you're afraid it'll change things between you and Elena," she added a bit tauntingly, and he rose an eyebrow.

"Why would it change things?" he asked curiously, and she moved in closer towards him, as their faces were about an inch apart, and she spoke lowly.

He knew exactly why it would change things- if he kissed Rebekah, and he actually meant it this time, he was in danger of falling faster and deeper into something he could no longer control.

"Because the torch you were carrying for me never burnt out," she said softly, as his eyes followed the curve of her lips.

He suddenly felt like their was a magnetic pull between them as he sat there; his eyes drowning in hers and suddenly captured by those golden streaks.

Stefan placed a hand on her neck and traced his sight across her skin; admiring the way her shimmery gray blouse seemed to make her blue eyes look a little less bright, and a lot more smoldering. He admired the way her locks fell exactly to the nape of her neck- carefully tucked behind her ear.

Her eyes were pulling his back to hers.

Rebekah stood there, contemplatively, as his fingers stroked her skin and he felt little shockwaves running through his tips the longer he did this. Resistance was damn near painful.

"I'm sure that it has burnt out," he denied, and her eyebrow rose softly.

"Prove it."

Stefan exhaled a deep breath, and slowly pulled her in closer, to where his forehead was slightly against hers, and the sweet scent of champagne and pomegranate became even more overwhelming as it intoxicated him. He'd never felt so powerful, yet so weak, before, and he couldn't fathom what it was about her that did this to him, every single time they had these "talks."

He knew he was pushing it, getting so dangerously close just to prove a point- it was like he was creating his own death wish; signing right on the dotted line.

His fangs ached, his chest skipped as he tried to control what he was feeling, though he knew there was no such thing as "control" around Rebekah.

This was unbearable.

Stefan suddenly inhaled her lips into his, and Rebekah sighed against him, draping her arms around him easily, as he finally gave in and gave her what she wanted-because it was what he wanted, too.

His tongue ran across her mouth before it entwined with hers, and she gripped onto him tighter, though he was the one who desperately needed some leverage.

Kissing her was everything he remembered- raw, uninhibited emotion, and he quickly remembered why she was the most intriguing of the three, as she pulled her lips away from his, and forced him to draw her back in for another kiss- and another, and so on.

She was baiting him- and he was taking it.

He fingered her blonde locks, then caressed her perfect cheek bones, quickly become more and more inebriated off the kiss. Stefan felt like his world was on fire, but he didn't give a damn about it- all he cared about was this, in this very moment.

Her lips against his, her hand on his cheek, the other tightly grasping at his collarbone- he felt wanted; he felt alive.

When Rebekah's lips parted from his, he still gripped onto her curls, breathing slowly as he looked into her eyes, and she grinned at him, before chastely kissing him again.

"Let's go," he said, a bit urgently, as he rose from his chair, and she giggled when he grabbed her hand, and they quickly escaped the bar, barely able to keep their lips off of one another.

Rebekah taught him passion.

A/N: Hello, all! So, I emailed the characters dept. and they FINALLY added some of the new season 3 people (including Rebekah) for our lovely amusement- I am so excited to be able to write fics for her, now! Anyway, this was just a one shot (because seriously, I have so many stories haha) and I felt like writing about something I think Stefan feels for her that he doesn't feel for Katherine or Elena yet. Agree? Disagree? Too hot or bothered to think? Haha R&R! :)