𝟐• 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 | 𝐓𝐕𝐃

NINE

Aurelia groggily opened her eyes as she slowly woke up to the sound of several things moving around downstairs. She rubbed her eyes, before heading to the bathroom.

When she had walked out, she saw someone moving around a speaker set. "Um..." She began, when he turned around to face her. "Oh, Stefan." She said, continuing to walk down to the stairs. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Liz is coming home today, and Caroline told me to set up an entertainment set without waking you up." He said. "The last thing, I wasn't able to do, was I?" She shook her head.

"I got..." She looked at her phone. "Seven hours of sleep." She said. "Yeah, I woke up because I chose to." She then blinked several times. "Wait, I just remembered something."

"What?"

!

"Aunt Liz!" Aurelia ran down the stairs. "Oh, two days is too long without you." She pulled Liz in for a light hug. "I missed you."

"Aw, I missed you too." She said. "How are you? Now that you've slept in a bed that's not from a college or a hotel?" Aurelia smiled.

"Better." She said, as Stefan approached them.

"Hey." He said, as Liz looked towards the living room.

"What's this?" She asked. Aurelia looked at the entertainment corner.

"Well, Stefan volunteered to move your entertainment center in here, so your favorite chair will be accompanied by that." She said.

"Yeah, I hooked up the surround sound to your DVD player and I left a universal remote on the table, right there." He gestured to the table.

"I was looking through shows and stuff, and I found one!" Aurelia said, excitedly.

"Oh, which one?" Caroline questioned. Aurelia grinned, pulling her with her.

"Thanks, Stefan. Guess it never occurred to anyone to just move my chair." Liz said, as Stefan forced a smile, looking at her in slight concern. "What? Never seen anyone with stage four cancer yet?" She asked.

"Actually, no, I haven't. One of the few perks of starting over every few decades: real life never actually catches up." He said, as the sisters came back, Caroline with a huge smile on her face.

"Here." Aurelia said, handing a box-set to her. "It's one of my favorites!" Liz looked at the boxset.

"Friends?" Aurelia nodded, before taking her coat.

"So, if you start friends now and go in a binge-watching spree, I should get back in time for the Monica and Chandler wedding." She said with a smile, before looking at Stefan. "Stefan, you know how to laugh, at sitcoms, right?" She asked. Stefan eyed her.

"Opinions vary- wait, what? Are you leaving?" He asked. She nodded.

"That's what I remembered." She said. "I did some research, and I'm going to go get some more opinions." She said.

"Where's research taking you?" Liz asked. Aurelia took her keys.

"Duke."

"Duke?" Caroline said.

"Duke."

"Duke?" Stefan asked in surprise.

"Duke." All three people looked at Aurelia weirdly.

"You know what?" Stefan said "I'll come with you." He said. She stopped, looking at him.

"I was gonna take my bike—"