A/N: well this is embarrassing...it's been an insanely long time. Oops.

I also bring terrible, terrible news (for some of you maybe) – I have lost every ounce of inspiration for my multi-chapter fics. I have ideas, but every time I go to write them I just can't get it right. I've tried and tried, but nothing is happening right now. So I'm finally announcing it; both The Shifters and Call Day are on indefinite hiatus, until further notice. I just can't.

On the bright side I have a new one-shot for you? You probably actually don't much care.

This one is set after the season finale (holy freakin' shit I haven't properly fangirled about that yet to you guys have I ODHBFPIEWBASz nxSnsD) and it works best if you listen to the song FIREFLIES by RON POPE. I know you probably won't do that but hey if you do, it's a great song and it's where I got this idea from.

I still love you guys by the way, I feel awful for neglecting all of my stories. I don't even have a valid excuse now, I just suck.

So you know, here you go.

Disclaimer; I own nothing you recognise, it all belongs to somebody else.

Apologies for any spelling and/or grammar mistakes. Time has not improved my writing/editing skills.

It's dark by the time we leave the restaurant. It's warm, mid-July, and the heavy, humid air makes her grumble. We can both of us smell the storm to come, but she's more worried about the way her hair is already swelling and she shoots me a somewhat embarrassed gaze through large, hot-whiskey eyes while she tries to smooth the strands against her scalp. I laugh and curl an arm around her waist to pull her into my side under the dull orange streetlight glow.

"I had a good night," She says, unfurling herself from my grip and twining her fingers with mine. I smile, wide and cocky, but filled with all the sincere pleasure it gives me to do right by her. Finally.

"Then we should do it again," I reply, and she nods in the affirmative, but I can see her attention is already waning, eyes dancing with a kind of glee only she is capable of; she breaks into a breath-taken kind of grin and points across the street.

A verge just off the road remains unlit by artificial bulbs, and yet lights flicker on and off in the darkness. Before I have time to comment she has removed her heels, grasping them in one hand, and she takes off across the road and into the darkness, her grin fixed in wonder. I watch her for a minute before I follow.

The grass is long here, and it's already dew damp, water soaking into the bottom of my trousers. She's laughing now, skipping back over to me. Her dress isn't long enough to wade through the grass, but dew drops collect on the hem as she moves, dancing to the soft swish as the hot breeze shifts the tall blades. Around us, thousands of fireflies flash in the darkness, like a parade of private stars in our own personal night sky. And the look on her face as she watches them, catches a few on her palm and giggles as they fly away, shines more than any full moon I've ever seen.

The thunder breaks first, followed by a sheet of warm, stagnant water falling thick and fast from the clouds. I think she's going to complain, and I'm ready to rush her home and into the dry, but she takes me by surprise. Her small giggles turn into a full, gleeful laugh and she throws her heels to the grass, and turns her hands and face to the sky, letting the rain patter her cheeks and palms, soaking her humidity-frizzed hair

She's breath-taking in a way I can't even put into words; I watch her spin in the downpour while the rain slicks my hair to my forehead, and I see her eyes light with humour when she stops to look my way. I'm content to just watch her; it's been a long month since Stefan left and Jeremy came home and it I'm still not used to seeing her this genuinely happy.

The flow of her dress is clinging now, and even though I know it's impossible, I worry she'll get sick if I let her stay out in it too long, but I don't want to drag her away from this, away from her moment. I hear her laughter again and pull myself to the present. A firefly, bright in the midnight darkness, is buzzing in front of her face and she's scrunched up her nose, crossing her eyes to watch the insect for a moment before it zips away into the night. She meets my eyes and moves over, slipping her arms around my waist and kissing me before I even have the chance to object. Not that I ever would have.

I tangle one hand in her sodden hair and smile, and I know she feels me making a face at the feel of her drenched body pressed into mine because she chuckles, low and throaty, as she pulls back to rest her forehead on mine.

It's still raining and every inch of me is saturated, and she's in the same state, but we don't move to go home yet. The Boarding house will be exactly as we left it; with Jeremy stretched out on the couch watching a movie he doesn't really care about and pretending he isn't as tired as he really is. I know when we get home we'll have to throw a blanket over the boy, and Elena will pour him a glass of water to leave by the couch while I re-light the fire to make sure he's warm enough. He'll mumble something about being fine, that he's going to watch the end of the movie before he goes to bed, but I'll turn off the tv anyways because we both know he was asleep when we arrived.

But right now, she's still wrapped around me in the rain and the fireflies are dancing like stars and there's thunder rumbling overhead, and there is nowhere in the world I would rather be in this moment than right here, with her.

"Let's go," She breathes against my mouth before she pulls away and runs, feet still bare, off deeper into the grass. I laugh at the shouts of encouragement she throws over one shoulder and move to pick up her abandoned heels before chasing her. The fireflies follow as we get further and further from the town lights and they seem brighter here, as though the sound of her laughter, the raw happiness she's exuding is giving them all the strength the need to keep burning. The rain is only getting heavier, the water colder, the thunder louder.

I catch up to her after a little way and throw my arm around her waist, pulling her to the ground beside me. We laugh together, and we kiss, and sheltered in the night, guided by the flickering lights, I lay my body on hers and let my hands fall where she guides them until she's making noises only the thunder can drown out.

There is some kind of disconnect between microcosm and macrocosm; we're as gentle as we've ever been while the rain lashes our exposed skin and the thunder booms overhead. If there is some kind of turmoil bringing on this onslaught, it has nothing to do with us.

It's a little later, when we're lying in the long grass, her head tucked under my chin, my hand trailing lazy patterns on her hip, that she whispers her quiet 'I love you'. We don't say it often, just when it needs to be said, and every time she says it I feel every fibre of my being floating. I echo the words back to her, smiling down at the top of her head, and curl my arm tighter across her back, pulling her closer into my side. Around us, tiny lights flash in an endlessly black sky.

And we stay there in the rain until the last firefly disappears into the night.

A/N: So there you go! Short and sweet, I think? You be the judge!

Drop me a review and let me know!

Thanks in advance.

Much love,

Someone x