MATT DONOVAN.

Since the second Matt left, Sofia felt a whole in her chest. There was something missing, someone. She had tried to fill that void, but nothing worked. The second his lips touched hers, that whole was once again filled. Sofia pulled away from the kiss, leaning her forehead against his and smiling brightly. “I love you too. So much.” She sighed happily, leaning back as she remembered where they were. “But maybe we should get out of the airport.” She said, but Sofia leaned closer to kiss him one more time. “I really missed you.”

Oh, right, they’re in the airport. It’s funny how when Sofia enters a room, the entirety of Matt’s world seems to narrow to the color of her eyes and the sound of her laugh. Everything else whites out, completely irrelevant. “Right, you’re right.” He chuckles, grabbing the handle of her bag before she can protest and using his free hand to hold hers. “I missed you too, Sof. I love living here, and college is great, but something’s been missing.”

“I guess it is.” Sofia smiled brightly as Matt pulled her close. It had been naive of her to think that she would easily move on, that she could do it. One look at Matt and whatever thought of moving on disappeared. Sofia didn’t forget that she thought once he would be safer without her, but that was the last thing in her mind as Matt leaned down, pressing his lips to her. All she could do in that moment, all she wanted to do, was kiss him back.

The entire airport - hell, the rest of the world - melted away as they kissed. Matt hadn’t realized just how big of a hole Sofia had filled in his life until he’d left for New Mexico, and it wasn’t until now that he managed to remember what it felt like to have that filled. Nothing mattered in that moment but the fact that he loved her, and she was here. “I love you, Sofia.” He mumbles against her lips. “I never stopped.”

“Yes, a vampire. Believe me, I was surprised too.” She chuckled. It had been weird for her too. Hell, it still was. But if Will was happy, so was she. Sofia nearly corrected Matt when he said they were all happy. Her siblings were happy, of course, but she wasn’t. There was someone missing. She smiled slightly when he said things were great, half expecting him to say he had moved on. But what he said next caught her off guard. Her heart was beating faster than before after his words and she couldn’t help but be honest with him as well. There was no point in hiding it anyway. “Well…” She took a deep breath. “My siblings are happy… But I’m not. Not since you left. You not being around is kind of a really big problem for me too.”

“I can imagine.” Matt wasn’t sure what kind of answer he was going to get from Sofia after telling her how he felt, and he couldn’t help but sigh in relief when she admitted that she had missed him just as much as he’d missed her. “Then I guess it’s a good thing you came out here, huh?” He asks, his hands finding hers and pulling her closer. Here, with Sofia in his line of sight and her hands in his, things feel more right then they have in months. She was the missing piece, the one part of his past he couldn’t move on from, and now she was here. He leans down, pressing his lips against hers without a care for anyone who might be watching.

It felt good, really good, to be in Matt’s arms again. It wasn’t enough to make all of her months of missing his disappear, but she wasn’t going to complain. Even though she was happy having his arms wrapped around her, Sofia pulled away to answer his questions, before it could become awkward. “I’m doing okay. Everyone is fine. Will has definitely changed his thoughts about vampires. I think he’s dating one. Maddie is doing well too, she’s happy. Other than that I don’t think there’s anything new. Not with me anyway.” She replied. “What about you? How is college life treating you? Going to many college parties?”  Sofia asked, but what she really wanted to know was if he had moved on like she asked him to.

“Will? Dating a vampire?” Matt can’t help but be a little incredulous, considering Will had never seemed like someone who wavered in his beliefs. He thought he would have a tough time convincing Will not to murder his friends just for being vampires, so the fact that he was now seeing one was difficult to wrap his head around. “I’m glad you’re all so happy.” He smiles, trying not to think too hard about the fact that she didn’t mention anything about her seeing anyone. “It’s great here, honestly. A little drier than I’m used to, but everything’s great.” He stops, realizing that it’s stupid to try and keep this in. Sofia’s going to figure it out soon enough, anyway. “Everything’s great, except you weren’t here. I tried, I really did, but... everyone here isn’t you. Turns out, that’s kind of a really big problem for me.”

Oh, how Sofia had missed those beautiful blue eyes. She tried to forget them, she tried to find in other eyes a distraction from the memory of Matt’s, but nothing had worked. No one had ever looked at her again like Matt did. No one had been enough to help her forget Matt. “It’s good to see you too.” She said, hesitating for a second, before moving forward and pulling him into a hug. They weren’t dating anymore, but they were friends, right? It shouldn’t be weird if they hugged. Except Sofia was still in love with him and her heart was beating loudly against her chest.

Matt doesn’t balk when she approaches him, opening his arms and wrapping her in a tight hug. The amount that he’d missed her felt like a physical ache, one that he felt in every part of his body and so often that it might as well have been constant. It eased when he finally got her back in his arms, though not completely - she was here, but as a friend. For all he knew, she’d been able to do what he couldn’t and had found someone new. It wouldn’t be right of him to grab her and kiss her here in the middle of the airport, no matter how badly he wanted to. It took him a moment to tamp that down, but he was perfectly content to stand there in silence with her in his arms. “So, how are you? How’s everyone back home? Anything new I should know about?”

Sofia lasted a good amount of time without seeing or talking to Matt. Months of constantly missing him. She didn’t want to be that girl that couldn’t live without a guy, but she missed him and it was pointless to deny that. So she swallowed her pride and called him, telling to herself that she just wanted to make sure she was safe. Hours of conversations, a plan and one plane ticket later, and Sofia was walking with her bag in hand at the airport, looking for the pair of blue eyes she still loved. When her eyes finally met his, a huge smile formed on her lips and she couldn’t walk fast enough towards him, finally stopping only a few steps away from him. “Matt Donovan… Long time no see.” @donovanmatt·

Matt had done his best to try and move on, per Sofia’s request. He’d made friends in New Mexico, plenty of whom had tried to set him up more than once, but it had never felt right. Despite putting everything he had into starting this new life, something felt like it was missing. Or it had, until he finally saw that familiar face striding towards baggage claim, where he had positioned himself the second they had updated the flight information. In that moment, it was like the last piece finally clicked into place. “You can say that again.” he says, not bothering to stop the grin that feels permanently plastered to his face. “It’s good to see you, Sofia.”

It broke her heart to say those things, it hurt like hell to let him go, but she knew it was the right thing to do. It is kind of a relief to hear that he knows why she’s saying those things and it takes all of her self control to not close the distance between them, kiss him and keep him there with her forever. “I guess that’s what people mean when they say that they love you more than anything.” She replied with a sad smile before sighing deeply.  “I love you enough to know you’ll have a better chance in life if you go and I’m so in love with you that I want you to have that chance, even if it’s without me.” And because she couldn’t stand the possibility that her job would be the death of him. “If we’re supposed to be together we’ll find each other again, but until then you’ll pack your things and you’ll go to college.”

Matt has tears in his eyes as Sofia speaks, knowing that she’s right, but hating it all the same. “Someday, we will. Find each other again, I mean. And there’ll always be room for you with me out in New Mexico. But until then...” He pulls her in, kissing her one last time. He wants to freeze that moment and stay in it forever, but he knows it’s not possible. If he’s being realistic, he knows that this kind of opportunity won’t come twice, which means he has to take it. “I love you, Sofia,” he says, pulling away and giving her one last look. “Goodbye.”

“I love you too.” She replied sadly. It took her only a second to decide what she was going to do, maybe the exact amount of time that it took Matt to decide to jump in front of her and save her life. “But… Matt, we would never work in a long term. I’m a hunter, you are not, it’s only a matter of time until I have to move away from Mystic Falls and then what? You’ll follow me around? No home, never staying too long in one place, no stability. I love what we have, but it wouldn’t last much longer anyway.” She shrugged, surprised at how stable her voice was even though she was lying. “I can’t quit my job and I can’t let you quit your future because of me. You should go to college, you should find another girl, one that won’t have a dangerous job.”

Matt frowned as Sofia spoke, her words taking a moment to sink in. He’s hurt at first, before he understands what she’s trying to do. “You’re breaking up with me so I’ll go.” He says, letting out a sigh, stepping closer to her as he feels his heart begin to break. She’s lying, but she’s right: Sofia’s not going to stop hunting, and he wasn’t built to be one. He’s wanted to go to college for years, and now that the opportunity’s been provided to him, it feels almost impossible to say no. “That just makes me love you more, you know.”

Sofia sighed heavily. Of course she needed Matt and of course she wanted to be with him, but she knew Matt deserved a better chance in life, one he would never have in Mystic Falls. “Matt… Maddie and I will be fine and Caroline would probably tell you to go too.” She replied. “What everyone needs is for you to go.”

“I’m not just going to leave you, Sofia. You’re my girlfriend, and I love you.” Sacrificing things he wanted for what other people needed was second nature at this point, but it hardly bothered him anymore. “When things calm down, I’ll try again.”

Sofia smiled as told her, feeling genuinely happy for Matt, but her smile turned into a frown when he said he could go. “Wait, what do you mean you can’t go?” She asked. “You can definitely go, you have to go, Matt. What is stopping you?” She asked, even though she instantly knew the answer to that.

“With everything going on here, I can’t go,” Matt protests. “You and Maddie are still grieving over your parents, Caroline’s mom just died... everyone still needs me here. I can’t just up and leave.”

“Full scholarship? I’m going to need more details than that.”

“What is it?”

It wasn’t hard to hear that things wouldn’t go back to normal, because she knew herself they wouldn’t, especially now when she didn’t even know what her normal was anymore. There wasn’t anywhere that she could even call home anymore, because the people that made it one were no longer here and those people were the ones that made her feel safe. Her parents were the ones she could have always turned to, even if it was just for a hug she couldn’t bring herself to ask for. The fact that she heard that he had moved on, eventually, did bring her a small glimmer of hope that she didn’t have before. She gave him a faint smile in return as she looked at him, when he said he would be there to help her she felt a single tear roll down her cheek that she very quickly wiped away. Now pulling her hand away from his, she turned her head so she wasn’t looking at him face on and she stayed silent, so she could take a moment to compose herself.

Matt didn’t resist when Maddie pulled her hand away, giving her the minute she needed to pull herself together. He didn’t that she was this raw, this emotional, but he knew that she minded, and that was what was important. Maddie wasn’t one for wearing her heart on her sleeve or having deep, heartfelt conversations, and Matt knew that. He knew they’d pushed far enough for one day, and he didn’t want to try to pressure her into any more of the conversation. Though he was ready to keep going if she needed, he simply sat in silence and waited.

When he reached out to take her hand, she didn’t pull away, she let him and she looked away, trying to keep her focus on anything else. She couldn’t understand how she could learn to deal with everything that had happened and was happening, but Matt made it seem that she would and she believed him. She did. She just didn’t know how she would get there. She was trying so hard to be strong, but it didn’t help, it didn’t ease the pain. “I keep…” she breathed out slowly, “I keep pushing people away because it’s easier for me to ignore everything and…” she didn’t know why it was easy to talk to Matt, but he was one of the closest friends she had and she felt comfortable. “I’ve been drinking to.. to help me sleep and if I don’t–” she took a deep breath in, “If I don’t…” she smiles, but there was only sadness behind it, “I can’t think straight.”

Matt was glad Maddie was opening up to him, but he hated that she was having such a hard time. “When my sister died, I pushed everyone away, too. My dad left us when we were kids, and my mom... well, Vicki and I were pretty much on our own from day one. She was all I had, and when she was gone, I didn’t think things would ever go back to normal. And to be honest? They didn’t.” It was true: there was still a hole where his sister was supposed to be, one that he didn’t think would ever completely go away. “I have a new normal now. And it doesn’t have my sister, which sucks sometimes, but it does a lot of things I didn’t have before, too.” He gives her hand a little squeeze and offers her a smile. “The drinking and the ignoring, it only works for so long. Eventually you’re gonna learn how to deal without that stuff, and I’ll be here to help.”

“Name’s Shawn.” He stated looking him over. He wasn’t here to intimidate the guy, he just wanted to chat to him, whether or not they got along afterwards depended on the way the conversation went. “Friend of the Will, Maddie…Sofia.” Slumping down into the chair to make himself comfortable he nodded his chin towards him. “Heard you got a nasty hit by jumpin’ in front of Sofia, right? You gonna do that every time with her? Cause she was pretty pissed about that.” 

Once Matt had his name, things clicked into place: he’d seen a few photos of the guy, and all of the Browns had mentioned him at once time or another. “Oh, yeah, I’ve heard your name from them before.” His posture relaxes for a moment before he chuckles at Shawn’s words. “Only when it’s a fatal one she won’t be able to dodge in time. She mentioned that part, right? Where she would have died, and all I got was a glorified scratch? Or did she leave that bit out?”