Stefan's Hope

Chapter 19: Family Get Together

Everyone is at the Mikaelson mansion and Hope is upstairs coloring in her coloring book. They just got off the phone with Gabby and at the end she was acting strange. Shontae says "that was strange. Why was Gabby in such a rush to get off the phone?"

Alexis says "and we all know she wasn't talking about actual termites. Maybe it was her way of saying-" Brennon finishes her sentence "she wasn't alone." Damon gets up angrily and heads towards the door and Greg asks "where are you going?"

Damon says "I'm going to New Orleans and bringing her back here." Stefan says "Damon don't!" Damon turns around and says angrily "NO! Okay, I don't want her there! She needs to be here with us, where she's safe!"

Greg says "we know! We want the same thing, but Gabby made it clear she wasn't coming back until it was safe for Hope again. Gabby says she's sure she will make it through and we need to trust her."

Damon says "I do! It's those originals I don't trust! Especially considering that one of the enemies happens to be their older brother, Finn." Jontae says "and she did one time mention how her and Finn bumped heads once."

Damon says, pointing at Jontae "exactly! She doesn't belong there. She needs to come home and let the originals fight their own enemies." Alexis smirks "I don't know. She seems very taken with Kol as he does her. Maybe that's also one of the reasons she's there."

That struck a cord with Damon, Stefan, and Greg. They don't want their sister with an original, let alone Kol, of all the originals. He is just as bad as Klaus in everyone's eyes, but they don't get how Gabby sees good in them.

Stefan is actually starting to, but everyone is still processing it. Hope runs downstairs and says "hey look! I'm done coloring. What do you think?" Everyone looks at it and says "I love it!" "Nice!" "It's wonderful."

Hope smiles brightly and says "thank you! So, what are we doing today?" And Erin says "well, today is New Years Eve and we are going to have a picnic. And guess what? Since it's New Years, your curfew today is midnight."

Hope claps her hands excitedly and says "yay!" Elena says "okay, go get dressed. We're all ready. It's you who needs to get dressed. Hurry, if you want to get there in time." Hope squeals excitedly and runs upstairs to get ready and everyone chuckles at her excitement. Erin and Caroline go to help her.

After a few minutes, Hope comes down dressed in a long sleeve bow print top, leggings with sienna slouch boots and her hair in two twists. Stefan looks at his little girl in awe. He thinks She looks so adorable and grown up.

Caroline and Erin come down and say "come on! Let's go!" Everyone gets up and goes to their cars and drives to the park. Stefan and Jontae are the first ones there and they set everything up while Hope plays with her Olaf teddy bear Hayley gave her.

After everything is set up, everyone is here and ready. They come over to Stefan and Jontae and get out their blankets and lay them on the ground. Hope comes over and sits on Stefan's lap and everyone starts eating.

Stefan brought hotdogs, little turkey sandwiches (Hope's favorite), chicken nuggets -of course- and Capri suns. While they're eating, Hope is telling everyone how well Bonnie is teaching her magic.

Everyone hears a voice behind them "well, I'll be damned! Stefan Salvatore?" Stefan immediately recognizes the voice and says in a joking way "oh, you've got to be kidding me!" He turns around and sees his best vampire friend, Bryanna Stoddard.

She smiles at him and he gets up and hugs her and she hugs him back. Stefan and Bryanna were both friends with Lexi and have known each other for 153 years. Bryanna has been a vampire since 1420.