MONSTER, stefan salvatore [2]

Christmas Through Your Eyes

CHAPTER 40: CHRISTMAS THROUGH YOUR EYES

Whitmore Bar

Natalie and Damon loved Bonnie in their own way, and they both really wanted to get her back. Unfortunately, with the Ascendant being broken, they had to search through many of Alaric's old books to find anything that looked like it that could tell them how to fix it or how to find a new one. 

But, looking through them was quickly getting boring, and Damon was getting a bit tired, which he showed by leaning his head on one of the open books. As his head was turned towards her, Natalie couldn't help but glance over at him and smile every few seconds. After a while, he opened one eye and looked at her questioningly. "Are you watching me sleep?"

She smiled as she shook her head. "No, I'm smiling because I'm thinking about how mad my dad will be when he finds out that you've been drooling all over his books. As if he wasn't mad enough at you already."

"I don't drool," he said sternly, picking his head up. Natalie snickered as she saw a little bit drool left over on his chin, so she grabbed a napkin from the table, holding it up to swiftly take it off. He looked down for a moment as he realized he did, in fact, drool. "Ugh, what time is it?"

She forced the smile away from her face. "Time for daddy dearest to get a new reference library. It's not bad enough that I've had to look through these books for hours only to not find anything that remotely resembles an Ascendant, but I'm also stuck here with you. You're on best friend probation, remember?"

He smiled a bit at her, where she was sitting right by the one light they had decided to turn on, lighting up her face. He then decided to act like he hadn't been the one that had been falling asleep on top of the books. "Well, we haven't looked hard enough. Let's get to it."

He sighed before looking back at the page he had fallen asleep while reading. Natalie didn't look back in the book, only keeping her gaze on him for a while. He didn't even look back at her, but he knew. "Still staring."

She looked down for a momenta as she realized she had gotten caught, and he looked over to see her reaction with raised eyebrows. "It's just... I'm thinking about how weird this is. Us and Bonnie. After everything, I've hated you, Bonnie has hated you. And now, everything has changed. You're here and you're doing everything you can do to get her back, and you have been there for me too."

"I'll always be there for you," he promised, a crooked grin on his face,  because she was right. For years, she had hated the thought of him because he had been the one to kill her mother, and now they were sitting in bar together, as best friends, trying to save another one of their best friends. 

Her phone rang quickly after that, and she was almost happy about it because that meant she wasn't going to look through more books. She quickly felt guilty for feeling happy, because she was doing it for Bonnie. "Hey," she greeted whoever rang, because she didn't bother to check caller ID. 

Her dad's panicked voice was heard, sounding almost as tired as she was. He didn't really sound like the I only slept thirty minutes last night kind of tired, and more like the everything sucks and that's exhausting kind. "Have you seen Jo?"

She wasn't sure why he was being panicked, maybe she had picked up some extra shifts at the hospital, or maybe she needed some time with Liv or Luke, considering she had barely seen them at all for eighteen years. "No, not since yesterday. What's going on?"

He sighed. 

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Alaric's Apartment

Turns out that Alaric and Jo were supposed to have dinner, and Jo was going to a bit late because of her job at the hospital. But she said that she'd only be gone for no more than two hours. There had now been four hours since they had that conversation.