The Vampire Diaries(BxB)

3: Chicago

I'm in my bed, asleep, and moan, and turn over, cuddling up to someone's chest. "Stefan." I say, smiling. "Mm. Rise and shine Sleepyhead." Damon says, and I moan, and look up at him, as he smiles at me, with his hands behind his head, and I scream, gasping, sitting up, and pull my covers over myself. "What are you doing?! Get out!" I exclaim. "You know you were dreaming about me." He says, and looks down, and back up to me. "Explains the drool." He says, smiling, and I smack his chest, and sigh. "Ugh. Oh, my God." I say, touching my forehead with my right hand, and put it down, and look at my alarm, and see it's five thirty. "Five thirty am. Seriously?" I ask, and look at him. "Do you really have nothing better to do at five thirty am?" I ask. "Fine, don't come with me to bring Stefan home." He says, and looks at me. "See ya." He says, and looks forward, and gets up. "Wait. Wait, wait, wait. What? What are you talking about? Where is he?" I ask. "Windy City." He says. "He's in Chicago?" I ask, and he smiles and nods. "Well, how do you know?" I ask. "It came to me in a dream. I was naked. You would have loved it." He says, smiling. "Or maybe, oh, Stefan, ah. Stefan." He says, and I roll my eyes. "Start packing." He says, and walks over to my mirror. "Is he okay?" I ask, moving to the edge of my bed, and he opens my underwear drawer. "Well, let's just say he's not there to meet Oprah. Ooh. Put these in the "yes" pile." He says, holding up my Batman boxers, and I get up, and walk over to them, and grab them with my right hand, and put them in the drawer, and shut it. "They were a gift." I say, looking at him, and he smiles, and walks off, and I sigh. Damon and I are on a Highway to Chicago in my Camaro, as he's driving, and I'm looking out the window, touching my necklace with my right hand. "I sure hope we find him, because it would suck if the last memento of Stefan was that crappy old necklace." He says. "It's an antique, Damon. Like you." I say. "Hm. Read this." He says, and I look at him, as he's holding a journal with his right hand, and I take it with both. "Paints a pretty little picture of Stefan's first experience in Chicago." He says, and I open it, and look at him. "It's Stefan's journal." I say, and close it. "I'm not going to invade his private thoughts." I say, and hold it in my left hand, offering it to him. "You need to be prepared for what you're about to see." He says. "I've seen Stefan in his darkest periods. I can handle it." I say, and look forward, and he takes it. "Here's one." He says, and I look at the journal, and then forward, shaking my head. "March twelfth, nineteen twenty two." He says, and he has the journal on the steering wheel. "I've blacked out days. I wake up in strangers' blood. In places I don't recognize. With women and men I don't remember." He says, impersonating Stefan, and I look at him. "Ahh! I'm shocked!" He exclaims, and looks at me. "Stefan's not a virgin?" He asks. "Nope." I say, smiling, and he rolls his eyes, and I take the journal, looking at the road. "Eyes on the road, old woman." I say, and open it. "Fine. Back to my game. Tell me if you see a Florida plate." He says. Damon and I are walking down the hall of Stefan's apartment building. "Stefan could live anywhere in Chicago and he chose this?" I ask. "There used to be an all girls high school around the corner, but it shut down for attendance issues. Weird." He says, and we approach his door. "If you're trying to scare me into giving up and going back, it's not going to work." I say, and he looks at me, and put his left index finger to his lips, and shushes me, and puts his hand down, and breaks the lock open, and opens the door, and we walk in, and I look around. "Here we are. Stefan's second personality home." He says. "He obviously hasn't been here." I say. "Tour is not over yet." He says, and I hear a click, and hear him by a shelf next to the fridge, and pulls the door back, as I approach him, and see it's dark, and he looks at me. "Come on." He says, and turns back around, and he walks in, and pulls on the light, as I approach him, and see a bunch of alcohol. "Stefan hid his alcohol. What a monster." I say. "Look harder." He says, and I walk in, and look around, and see a whole bunch of names written down on the wall. "It's a list of names." I say. "Mhm." He says. "These are all of his victims?" I ask. "Still handling it?" He asks, and I hear him walk off, and I look at him. "What were you doing in the nineteen twenties? Paving the way for women's liberation?" I ask. "I was around. Chicago's a big city. Stefan was a cocky ripper douche. But I could avoid him and still indulge in a few Daisy Buchanans of my own." He says, as I approach him, as he looks at me, smiling, and I have my arms crossed, and roll my eyes, and he begins to walk off. "Where are you going?" I ask. "His old stomping ground." He says. "I'm coming with you." I say, walking towards him, and he stops at the door, opening it with his right hand. "No." He says, and I stop. "You stay here and whip up an actual plan. I'll come back when I find him." He says, smiling, and walks off. I'm sitting on Stefan's bed, reading his journal in both hands. "April, nineteen twenty two. Lexi found me last night. Dragged me off the train tracks. Thinks she can make me care again." I read to myself, and turn the page with my right hand. "June, nineteen twenty four. Lexi's driving me crazy. More Animal blood, more misery. " I read to myself, and turn the pages with my right hand. "Nineteen thirty five. Cravings are there, but it's easier. Lexi's on to her next project. Getting me to laugh." I read to myself, and smile, and close the journal with my left hand, and hear footsteps, and flinch. "What a charming little homestead." Klaus says, and run to the hidden room, and hide, and hear the door be kicked down. "Do you feel that? Is anybody here?" Klaus asks. " It's been vacant for decades. People must break in all the time. Why'd you bring me here?" Stefan asks. "Your friend, Liam Grant, the one who drank his wife's blood. I never could figure out why you wanted his name. And then you told me your little secret. It was all part of your special little ritual." Klaus says, and I look to my right at the wall, and see Liam Grant's name. "To write it down." Stefan says. "And relive the kill.. over and over again." Klaus says, and I hear footsteps, and the hidden room door opens. "You believe me now?" Klaus asks, and I hear footsteps walk in, and Stefan and I look at each other, and I give a small smile, and he gives one, too. "Look what I found." He says, and I hear footsteps, and he grabs a bottle in his left hand. "Nineteen eighteen. Single malt. My favorite. Let's go and find someone to pair it with." Klaus says, and I hear footsteps, and see the hidden room, close. I'm hiding behind a wall, holding a Vervain Dart in my right hand, and hear footsteps, and see the door open, and it's Damon, holding a bag in his left hand. "Finally! I called you an hour ago!" I exclaim, approaching him, and he tosses me the bag. "Make yourself presentable. I know where Stefan's going to be tonight." He says, smiling, and walks over to the chair, and sits down. "I told you that I was practically discovered by Klaus and you're worried about what I'm wearing?" I ask. "I had an hour to realize what a bad idea it was to leave you here alone, process it, and move on. Are you okay?" He asks, and I nod. "Yeah." I say. "Ok, good. Get dressed. You're all road trippy and gross." He says, and I take a step forward towards him. "So you know where he's going to be?" I ask. "Yes, with Klaus. So I'll distract Klaus and you deal with Stefan." He says, and I nod. "Ok. Thank you." I say, and he stands up, walking over to me. "But you're going to have about five minutes tops before that hybrid freak rips my heart out. So please, tell me you can do this." He says, and I nod. "I can do this." I say. I'm waiting outside, and see Damon vampspeed to Damon to a car, and holds him by the collar. "What is wrong with you?!" Stefan exclaims. "What is wrong with you?" Damon asks, and knocks Stefan's hands off. "You kill Andie one day, you save my life the next. What are you good, bad? Pick one!" Damon exclaims. "Klaus almost saw Ethan today. You have to get him out of Chicago." Stefan says. "He's not going anywhere until he's got you checked into vampire rehab and on the mend. Trust me. I've tried." Damon says. "He is the key to everything. Klaus can't know that he's alive." Stefan says. "What are you talking about?" Damon asks. "He was supposed to die in the sacrifice and she didn't. Now Klaus can't create any new hybrids. His witch is seconds away from figuring that out. Tell Ethan to go home and forget about me." Stefan says, and Damon looks at me. "Tell him yourself." Damon says, and Stefan looks at me, as I look at him, and Damon turns around, and walks off. "You shouldn't be here." Stefan says, approaching me. "Where else would u be?" I ask. "What do you want? Damon won't be able to distract Klaus for long." He says, and I touch the right side of his face. "Come home." I say, and wrap my arms around his back, and I raise the Vervain Dart with my right hand, and he dashes in front of me, and grabs my right wrist, hard, as I gasp. "How much clearer can I make it?" He asks, and I feebly drop the Dart. "I don't want to come home!" He exclaims, and pushes me back, after letting my wrist go. "Klaus is obsessed with siring these hybrids. The second he knows you're alive, he'll figure out why it's not working." He says. "Look, I know you're trying to protect me, but I can't let you do it. Come with me, Stefan, please. We need you. Something is coming." I say. "And what do you expect if I do? Huh? It's never going to be the same, Ethan. And what's coming?" He asks. "I don't know what's coming. I know that it's never going to be the same. "I don't think you do. I've left bodies scattered from Florida to Tennessee. Innocent people. Humans." He says. "Lexi found you like this before. In the Twenties. And she saved you." I say, nodding. "And you know what I did after that? I spent thirty years trying to pull myself together. To a vampire, that's nothing. To you? That's half your life." He says. "I can't give up on you, Stefan." I say. "Yes, you can. It's done. That part of my life is done. I don't want to see you. I don't want to be with you. I just want you to go." He says, and turns around, and walks off. I'm in the car, touching my necklace, and Damon gets in the car, and shuts it, as I'm crying. "You okay?" He asks. "Just drive." I say.