Vampire Diaries Imagines

Learning About You - Alaric Saltzman

I had been at the gym all morning with Stefan, like every Friday. It was now noon and I had just gotten to the school to have lunch with my fiancé, Alaric. We have done the same routine for two years now. When he heads out to work on Friday mornings, I would head to the gym with one of my brother's. The two of us would work out or train for a till around lunchtime when I would go to the school to have lunch with Ric.

When I got to the school, I signed in at the front office and said hi to the ladies in there before getting my pass and making my way to Ric's classroom. I could see him through the small window in the door and it looked as if he was grading papers which was nowhere near unusual, he's a high school teacher. But this time he looked as if he was a little frustrated. So I gave him another minute before knocking. He looked up from the stack of papers in front of him and when he saw me through the window he smiled. A moment later he opened the classroom door.

"Hey." He said and kissed my head. "I'm glad to see you."

I smiled back at him. "Yeah? Why is that?" I asked as he let me inside.

"Because that tells me it's lunchtime and I only have three hours left of dealing with these hooligans and one of them is spent with my favorite person." He said, pulling up another chair to his desk.

Sitting down, I placed the bag of food that I had picked up from the grill on my way over onto his desk, which Ric separated. "Been a long day?" I asked and started to open the food trays.

"You have no idea. Gave them all a test yesterday and the only one to actually pass, and not with a C, was..."

"Stefan?" I asked, cutting him off slightly. He nodded and raised his eyebrows as he took the first bite of his food. "Figures. Little bro was always the smart one."

"Smart?" Alaric joking asked. "Just because the three of you lived through a good portion of what I teach, doesn't make him smart. It just means he was actually able to retain the key information he needed to pass my class when no one else can. God knows that both of your brothers are lacking any other time."

I laughed and nodded. "I mean you're not wrong but he had been through high school half a dozen times and college four. He's got the book smarts but the everyday life stuff? Kiss that goodbye as you throw it out the window driving down the highway. You aren't ever going to see that again."

Ric laughed. "Same can be said about Damon."

Nodding again, I said, "He's a special kind of something. I think that stems from being father's least favorite child, which I never understood. The firstborn should be the first to be loved but obviously our father didn't quite get that memo. But nevertheless, he's picked up a thing or two along the way as well."

The two of us ate slightly for a minute before Ric spoke up once more. "What about you?" He asked.

I scrunched my eyebrows together and gave him a confused look. "What do you mean? What about me?" I asked as I wiped my mouth to get the burger sauce off.

"I mean, I'm being pretty biased because I'm engaged to you but I do believe that you were the one that got all the brains between you Salvatores." He explained as he took a sip of his drink.

"So what you are asking me is if I gained more than my brother in the century and a half that we've been alive?" I asked and he nodded. "Well, I guess book wise, sure. I have a doctorate in history and literature."

"So it'll be Dr. (Y/N) Saltzman, huh?" He questioned with a smirk. "You never told me that."

I laughed slightly before saying, "Well I'm not the only one. Damon does too. He just doesn't talk about it much. We actually did that whole thing together in the eighties." I explained. "It was supposed to be a whole brother sister bonding thing. Got to spend time with my big brother and got a degree out of it."

"The more things I learn about you, the more interesting you become to me." Ric said with a big smile.

Smiling back at him, I said. "You say that all the time."

"I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true." He said and popped another fry into his mouth.

"Okay. I believe you. But other than that everything I have ever learned has come from standing on the sidelines of Damon and Stefan's lives and learning from them. Feeding wise, Damon taught me that you can control it. Stefan taught me that animal blood can service you until you can get the real thing in a humane way, unless you're like Stefan and when you feed on human blood you lose your shit. Friend and family wise they both taught me there are some people that are better standing in the dust cloud behind you but the people worth keeping around are the ones you hold on to and never let go. So, yeah, I've learned a lot along the way but I wouldn't necessarily say that it makes me smarter than my brothers, but that's just my opinion because I'm me."

"Well, I would." Alaric said. "You all have come a long way, I'm sure. But it seems as you accepted what came to you as it did and watched from the side as they made their mistakes so you didn't make the same ones."

"Oh, don't get that twisted. I made some of the same mistakes that Stefan and Damon did but I was able to learn from them a lot faster than they were. I've switched my humanity off before and even though I felt free during that time, I hated the person that I had become."

"What made you turn it back on?" My fiancé asked.

"In the end, it took both brothers and over 10 vials of vervain injections." I stated as I finished the last of my burger.

"Why so drastic measures?" Ric questioned.

"If you had seen me back then, you would understand. I couldn't be reasoned with." I explained and sat back in the chair I was sitting in. "Damon tried everything he could before getting Stefan involved. It took over ninety-six hours and I tried to leave I don't know how many times, not getting very far each time and by the end I had been chained to a chair."

Ric crossed his arms and leaned back in his own chair. "When did all of this happen?"

"Umm... the 1940s I do believe."

"Wow. I didn't know that." He said with raised brows.

"Not really something I got parading around the world being proud about, I can assure you." I said and then the bell rung. "It's been an hour, already?" I questioned with a pout.

"I guess so. But best believe aren't done talking about all the other things you have yet to tell me. When I get home, I'm going to learn about a lot more of just the things you've told me in this hour." He said with a smile. "And I want to know everything else too."

"Everything?" He nodded at my question. "Good thing it's Friday because there's a list of things I don't tell anyone."

"I meant it when I told you I will always accept everything that you ever have done, do and have yet to do. Just go on home and I'll bring dinner home with me." He said and stood from his spot, walking around his desk. I stood from my chair as well and nodded. Ric kissed my head. "I'll see you when I get home."

I nodded again and said, "I'll be waiting with that list."

Just then Stefan walked into the classroom. "List of what?"

I laughed at his question. "Oh, just the list of Salvatore family recipes. He's family now. Time to let him in on it all."

"I mean sure." Stefan said with a smile. "Just not the Alfredo. That one stays between me and you." He said and pointed at me.

"Especially the Alfredo." A playful smirk placed itself only face. "I have to go. See you at home, baby."

"See you at home, Dr. Salvatore." Ric said with an identical smirk as the one I had.

"She told you about her doctorate?" I heard Stefan ask him as I walked out of the classroom and the smile on my face only grew.