All the things I want - a Stefan Salvatore fanfic. [ON HOLD]

Chapter Twenty-three.

A few days had passed, and the day of her father's funeral was finally here. The day that Aurora had been dreading, the one where people would come and empathetically touch her shoulder, repeatedly say "he's in a better place now" and ask her how she was feeling. Even if they couldn't even give a flying fuck.

Sure, he was in a better place. Whatever the hell that means. Aurora sat scrunched on one of the chairs in the entrance hall of the Lockwood mansion in a black dress as she watched her mother, Sheriff Forbes and Damon engage in what seemed like a heated conversation, from the glimpses she had been able to hear.

"I want to know exactly who's responsible for killing my husband." The words 'my husband' felt like a stranger to Carol Lockwood's mouth and to Aurora's ears after hearing her refer to him as Richard for her entire life.

"I'm looking into it but you have to be straight with me. Is there any reason Richard was affected by the vampire device?" Liz treaded lightly on the thin ice.

"What are you implying? That he was one of them?"

"No, no. No one's implying that." Damon interrupted.

"Your deputy screwed up, plain and simple which makes you responsible." Carol spat.

"Your husband is the one who helped John Gilbert execute his idiot plan in the first place." The sheriff countered.

"Someone got my husband killed."

"And someone got my father killed." Aurora spoke up behind her mother, causing the three of them to turn and look at the fragile girl on the chair with shocked expressions, given that this was probably the first time they heard Aurora speak after her father's death.

Damon cleared his throat abruptly. "We're all on edge here. You've suffered a great loss. The whole town has. We have to stick together, okay? Trust each other, we'll get through this." His words caused the three grieving women to fall silent.

Footsteps could be heard going up the stairs; great, the first of the many guests, Aurora thought. Tyler, who had been out of earshot of the conversation (thankfully) froze...which triggered Aurora's curiosity. She clambered out of the chair and made her way to her brother.

"So the black sheep returns." the oldest Lockwood spoke as the anonymous guest walked through the door; Aurora let out a breathy laugh before sprinting to him and flinging herself onto her dear uncle Mason.

"You're here. You're here. You're here." She whispered into his shoulder, trying to hurriedly blink back the tears that were swarming in her eyes. Uncle Mason placed a firm hand on her head and wrapped the other around her back, placing a kiss on her shoulder in return before gently placing her back on the ground. He smiled a sad smile at her and patted her on the back. No words were spoken, yet he said so much to comfort her. Her uncle turned to Tyler.

"Tyler, good to see you again. You've grown."

"Yeah, it's only been a couple of years after all." Her brother shrugged before welcoming an embrace with Mason. Aurora realised now that as sad as this moment was, it brought a sense of unity to it. Here we all were, the Lockwood family putting all the feuds aside to gather for Richard Lockwood's death. After all, there is good in everything.