The Owl Gilbert

3:3: Welcome To Chicago

I'm in my bed asleep and moan, and turn over, cuddling up to someone's chest and smile "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 four in the morning. "Four am. Seriously?" I ask and look at him. "Do you really have nothing better to do at four am?" I ask. "Fine, don't come with me to bring Stefan home." He says and looks at me. "See you later, then." 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 Ellen. Ooh. Put these in the yes pile." He says, holding up my Captain America 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 from Elena." I say, looking at him and he smiles, and walks off, and I sigh.

Damon and I are on a Highway to Chicago as he's driving and I'm looking out the window. "I sure hope we find him, because it would suck if the last memento of Stefan was that crappy old necklace Elena wears." 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 and he rolls his eyes, and I take the journal, looking at the road. "Eyes on the road, grandma." I say and open it. "Fine. Back to my game. Tell me if you see a Arizona 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 he 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 I 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 Stefan dash 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 Adam 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 and Elena are alive." Stefan says. "What are you talking about?" Damon asks. "They were supposed to die in the sacrifice and they didn't. Now Klaus can't create any new hybrids. His witch is seconds away from figuring that out. Tell Adam to go home and tell Elena 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 I 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. To Elena and your friends." 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 and Elena are 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." I say. "And what do you expect if I do? Huh? It's never going to be the same, Adam." He says. "I know that it's never going to be the same." I say. "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 Elena? That's half her life." He says. "Elena can't give up on you, Stefan. We won't." I say. "Yes, you can. It's done. That part of my life is done. I don't want to see you or her. I don't want to be with her. I just want you to go." He says and turns around, and walks off.

I'm in the car and see Damon get in and shuts his door with his right hand as I'm crying. "You okay?" He asks. "Just drive." I say.