Lights and Sirens

Midnight Blues

It had been an hour since Stefan had left Matt and Gabby's house and he was walking down the unfamiliar streets of the city. Stefan was thinking about everything: New York, Nancy, and most defiantly the new situation with his brother. First impressions on Casey and his family was positive and it was so positive that it made him consider his future with them. A little over 24 hours had passed since Matt and himself had met and it had put Stefan in one of the best moods he had been in for ages. Just the way they met was so unique and helped the bonding of them both kick into action in an instant.

He came to a crossing on West Blackhawk, waiting for the light to turn red he watched as the traffic sailed past. Chicago was completely different to New York, it was more surreal and defiantly more of a city that you instantly felt like you could talk to everyone. The floor was still wet as the small amount of snow that had fallen before he'd left his brothers house, the temperature had begun to drop and he could now feel it as he walked along Lakeshore Drive. He tucked his scarf into his parker jacket and pressed on into the chilling wind. To his right he could see the soft ripples on the water as the gust swept through the city. Forty two hours Stefan had been in the city and it was already beginning to feel like home, things had been majorly up in the air since his arrival: the building collapse; meeting his brother, and now the argument had with his mother. He sighed, another thing he needed to fix, great! Stefan took a moment to thing about what had happened when his brother first opened the door to their slightly angered mother. Not a good idea, he told himself as he carried on walking into the headwind. He ran his hands though his hair as he tried to keep it out of his face so he could see the traffic as he came to another crossing. Without even realizing it he had begun to head in the direction of his mothers house, this too he contemplated. Still, he continued on his way knowing that there was things that needed fixing between him and Nancy, not just for his sake but for Matt, Gabby and Jamie to. From what Casey had told him, he and Nancy had never had a good relationship even when he was a kid. Stefan rolled his eyes and sighed again, he wanted to be there for his aging mother however, on the other hand Matt and his family where slowly taking the lead in importance. Not just because Matt saved his life because he really thought that there was a connection there.

Stefan rounded the corner of his mothers street, it was all too familiar now. He could remember the very first time he came to Chicago. Nine years ago Nancy was released from jail, after not seeing her for the whole 15 years that she was in there he stayed with his uncle Jack, his fathers brother. He would never forger the first time he saw her after she got out, he was 29 and never left the city he was born in. He remembered the cab journey form the airport; he remembered walking up the steps and onto the porch of her house and most of all, he remembered the look on her face when she opened the door. Since then he hand made regular trips to see her, each time he saw thing that where changing about her. He was worried about her - she never went to the doctors; she would stay at home a lot and her memory was going, even Casey agreed and he tried to stay out of her life as much as possible.

Scanning the numbers of the houses he reached the right one. '2094' was etched into the slate just to the right of the front door. Just like he always did, Stefan maneuvered himself around the creaky old black gate that lead to the path that was overgrown so much that he had to trudge through the tall grass. He climbed the stairs and looked over his shoulder into the blackness of the street before he returned his glance back to the tatty, paint stripped door of the small house his mother owned. He reached up and pressed the doorbell, which to his surprise still worked. The shuffling from inside told him two things; one, his mother was home and two, she was drunk. The door was yanked open and the fatigue pained face of his mother appeared around the side of the door. "Ahh Stefan, my darlin' - come in, come in!" she gestured as her son walked cautiously towards her.