「 . 𖦹˙—⋆ 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 」
⤿ 𝘋𝘌𝘈𝘋𝘓𝘠 𝘉𝘐𝘙𝘛𝘏𝘋𝘈𝘠𝘚 🪦 ˖ ࣪. ࿐
𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 ┆𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦
❪ ﹆ ━ 162 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴 ⋆⭒˚.⋆ ❫

❝ we're not — he 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 my mother, stefan! ❞

          𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒 down brightly on the seventeen-year-old that was laid on a patch of green grass, the warmth of the rays raining down on her tanned skin as she listens to the sounds of all the cars driving by and the planes that flew across the clear blue skies.

It was a feeling that she missed and craved all in the same way.

A feeling that she longed to be able to actually feel again.

"What are you doing, kid?"

Charlotte's eyes snap open and she's met with sight of the roofed living room that encased her every second of the day. There was no longer that warm feeling of the sun, she couldn't feel the grass between her fingers, and she couldn't hear the loud cars as they drove by.

A frown tugs at the corner of her lip when she realizes that she had never been outside — instead she was laid out in the living room floor of the home that she shared with her mother and her mom's boyfriend.

"Imagining what the sun feels like." Charlotte sighs, sitting up to cross her legs as she looked up at the man who was leaning against the entrance of the living room with his arms crossed over his chest.

Lee raises his eyebrow at the brunette teenagers, watching as her slim fingers tugged at a loose piece of thread hanging off the rips of her jeans, "Are you packed and ready to go in a few hours?"

"Packed? Where are we going?" Her eyes narrow as she tilts her head, trying to think of a trip they had planned but came up empty handed.

"Seriously? Your mom has reminded you everyday for the last week and a half." Lee chuckled, "The two of you are going to New York, girls weekend? But you guys are stopping off in Mystic Falls tonight. You know....for Stefan's birthday? That's tomorrow......,"

Charlotte's brown eyes light up with the realization that she would be seeing her "uncle" again after so many years.

It was hard for the vampire and her mother to do anything seeing as they didn't have daylight rings or any form of protection against the sun.

The one thing that she hated about being a vampire; not being able to remember what it feels like for the sun to actually hit her skin.

"You better go back and get your stuff ready before you girls head out." Lee moves to help his daughter up, laying a kiss on the crown on her head, causing her to let a smile Grace her lips, "Go, kid."

She nods, moving around him and heading up the stairs so that she could get to her bedroom to gather everything she would need. She knew they wouldn't be in Mystic Falls or the big city for long, but Charlotte had always been an over-packer and packed way too much.

"Charlotte Grace! You better be up there packing!" Her mother's voice filled her ears and she lets out a groan.

"I am, mom!"

▭

          𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐏 in a chair placed in the parlor of his home, waking up as the book that rested on his leg falls to the floor with a thump.

Standing up and stretching, the sounds of giggles rang out which caused him to turn in the direction that it came from.

Slowly walking away from his place, his head snaps over in the direction where a door slams shut, more child-like giggles filling the air.

The wind blows from an open window, the cream colored curtains flapping along with the invisible air.

Making a move to close the window, he spins around as he feels like there's someone standing in the room with him. He takes the time to look around for the source of where the giggles and noses were coming from, calling out for his brother.

"Damon?"

"Stefan." A feminine voice sings, dragging his name out.

Spinning around to the living room, Stefan's knocked to the floor with a groan before he's quickly flipped over and a body lands on top of him, blonde hair creating a curtain around his face as the vampire hisses in his face as she straddles his hips.

"Lexi?"

Lexi's face changes back to normal, showing off her beautiful features as she smiles down at him, "Hi."

"What are you doing here?" He asks as the vampire uses her strength to pull them both to their feet.

"How could you even ask that?" Lexi looks at him in disbelief.

Stefan laughs, pulling her into a tight hug, "I missed you."

"Happy Birthday." Lexi smiles warmly, "We wanted to be here to celebrate with you?"

A look of confusion passes over Stefan's face as he titled his head to the side in question just before a heavy weight lands on his back.

"Happy Birthday, Uncle Stefan!" Charlotte's cheerful voice fills his head, an even wider smile breaks out on his face as his "niece" hugs his neck tighter, placing a playful kiss on his cheek.

▭

          𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂 𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 the Salvatore Boarding house as the brunette vampire lays across the foot of Stefan's bed, her IPod in hand as her mother's laughter filled the room, Stefan poking at her.

Lexi laughs, fighting Stefan away, "Stop! I don't know, okay? If some freak shot at me with wooden bullets, I'd bail in under sixty."

"And why is a news reporter hunting vampires?" Charlotte lifts her head to look at the two.

Stefan shrugged, nudging the younger vampire with his foot, laughing as she threatened to break his toe, "I don't know. I don't know who knows about us. I mean, that guy did. There could be others. Hey, do me a favor? While you're here, please, be careful. The boy of you."

"Yes, sir." Charlotte salutes him before going back through flicking through the music of her IPod.

Lexi lets out a groan, "Why stay? Charlie and I are heading to New York for the weekend. Little mother-daughter trip. Bon Jovi in the Garden, "Wanted Dead or Alive", its our theme song! It'll be a blast!"

"Yeah!" Charlotte sits up, crossing her legs, "It'll be like the old times!"

"Like old times?" Stefan raises an eyebrow, "You mean, when you pranked the tour bus?"

"Hey! We don't actually know that it was me!" Charlotte tries to defend herself, but sighs at the looks shot to her by both her mother and Stefan, "Okay, fine! It was me! But Tico was in on it!"

"Do you think that he would actually remember us?" Stefan asks the two as he puts his shoes back on, "That was a pretty crazy weekend, huh?"

Lexi smirked, moving around Stefan's room, "We can make him remember us. Come on, let's go. I mean, what's keeping your here."

Charlotte sends a teasing grin in Stefan's direction, "He already told us."

Stefan smacks her gently on the leg with a smile, "Her name is Elena."

"Well, let's hope she's better than the last game you got all sprung over." Lexi teased her best friend as she waves around the picture of Katherine hung on to for some unknown reason.

He takes the picture from her hand, "You didn't even know Katherine."

"Cause if I did, I'd kick her ass, little bitch."

"Speaking of little bitches." Charlotte stands up from the bed, "Where's Satan in leather?""

"Inflicting misery somewhere."

"As always." The teenager rolls her eyes at the thought of the Salvatore brother that she didn't like.

"Uh-huh."

"Hey, um, you two gonna be okay here?" Stefan turns to as the two, glancing between the mother and daughter, "Alone? I got some things I gotta take care of."

"As long as you close the curtains so I'm not confined to this one room."

"Well, it's not exactly like we can go anywhere." Lexi points towards the window where the curtains were drawn as it was now daylight outside, "And you and Damon are the only ones with these nifty little daylight rings."

"Which I would kill for." The teenager sighs before pausing as Stefan and Lexi turn to look at her, "I wasn't serious."

Lexi giggled before looking back at her best friend, "I have a mood ring from '75." She told her hand up, "Trade ya?"

"Hey! I gave you that!" Charlotte pouted, an offended look plastered on her face.

"And I cherish it all the time, sweetheart."

Stefan looks between the two with a smile on his face, having missed the banter that came along with having Charlotte and Lexi in the same room together, "Doesn't work that way and you both know it."

Lexi groans, "Yeah."

"Hey, Lex, Lottie." Stefan smiles as they both look over at him, one with a much more innocent look on her face than the other had, "I'm really glad that you both came here."

"Awe, he's big softly!" Charlotte giggled as she moved closer to the two, throwing her arms around his waist to hug him.

"Okay, what are we doing for your birthday?" Lexi questions, smiling at the the lover her best friend had for her daughter as he hugged her back, "It's not every day a guy turns 162-years-old."

Stefan groans loudly, "Really?"

"Oh, yeah."

"I tried to get her to stop and buy you a cake, but she wouldn't do it."

"The stores were closed!"

▭

          ❝𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 me breakfast?❞

Stefan cracks an eye open, taking in Charlotte's hunched over figures as she leaned over him and close to his face, her hair pulled up into a messy bun sitting on the top of her head to keep the dark brown strands from falling into her face.

"Aren't you physically seventeen? Can't you make your own breakfast?"

"I could...," She trails off before jutting her lip out in an adorable pout that none of the adults in her life could ever say no to, "but you make the best French Toast. Please, Uncle Stefan? Please, please, please, pl—,"

"Okay! Okay!" He laughs, putting her off as he quickly grabs her arm and pulls her to rest in between him and Lexi, "Let me brush my teeth and I'll make you french toast."

"Yes!"

▭

          ❝𝐒𝐎, 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐀 girl.❞ Lexi smirked as she looked over at Stefan, "Have you had sex yet?"

"No." Stefan denied, laughing at the look of disgust on his niece's face as she kept eating her Toast.

"Sex always works." Lexi tells him, "I mean, you'll rock her world so hard with your vamp sex she'll be yours forever."

"Yeah, but see, this isn't about...sex or — or compulsion. Or any of our tricks." Stefan explained to the blonde as Charlotte tries to drown out the conversation going on between them, "She has to want to be with me. On her own terms."

"Wow. That sounded all mature and grown-up." Lexi tosses her daughter a blood bag, "Char, catch."

"Well, I'm not getting any older."

"Oh. Ha, ha." Lexi stabs a straw through the blood bag in her hand as Charlotte chooses to just sink her teeth in the side of hers, "Want some?"

"No." He denied, standing up from the couch, "Thank you."

"Relax. We didn't kill anyone for it." Lexi tells him, "This phlebotomist I went out with a few times, he's my supplier. Oh, don't judge, okay? Listen, I tried the animal diet. Lasted three weeks. Charlie, she tried it, and it lasted even less."

"Doesn't matter 'cause if I started again, I'd just...I don't know."

Lexi sighs, "You could stop."

"Lexi, I'd never judge you." Stefan tells the blonde, glancing over at her brunette daughter, "I wouldn't judge her either."

"I'm just jealous of your restraint. I have none." Lexi smiled, "I delight in hedonism. Speaking of, what are we doing tonight?"

"Funny you should ask." Damon chooses that moment to walk into the living room.

"Well, I wasn't asking you."

"There's a party, at The Grill." Damon continued, "You'll love it. Banquettes, tacky wait staff. All of Stefan's friends."

"Yeah, I don't want a birthday party."

"Well, it's not for you. It's a party, party. No one's gonna know it's your birthday." Damon tells his younger brother, "Caroline's throwing it."

"Damon, stay away from Caroline."

"We're friends. It's cool." Damon says, causing Charlotte to raise an eyebrow, "It's important for the town to see us out and about like normal folk. We need to blend. Ugh. I prefer mine at 98.6."

Lexi looks at Stefan with a shrug, "Let's go."

The brunette turns to look up at Stefan, a glossy look in her eyes and a pout on her lips, "Please, Uncle Stefan? Please?"

He looks down at her, shaking his head as he looks down at her, "Why do I always fall for the innocent look with you?"

"Because you love me."

▭

          ❝𝐈'𝐌 𝐀𝐋𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐘.❞ Lexi comes out of Stefan's shower, wrapped in a fluffy brown towel as Charlotte and Stefan laid around the room, the brunette Brandon having taken a shower before her mom.

"I can't believe you think that we should go to this thing." Stefan comments as he stands up from the chair he was sitting in.

"It's not like I'm asking you to run outside, midday, without your ring." She smiles at him through the mirror before spinning around, "I mean, seriously, it's a party."

"A party that Damon wants us to go to. Yeah?" Stefan looks at the two girls in his bedroom, "So my question is, why? I think he's up to something."

"Who cares? I mean, what can he possibly do in front of all those people in a public place?" Lexi asked him.

"Plan our deaths." Charlotte shrugged as she didn't look up from the book that she was reading.

"We're not dying." Lexi rolls her eyes at her overly dramatic daughter.

"He knows how to keep a low profile, believe me."

"Okay, so he'll behave. Come on. One day a year we get to you. One day that you're not brooding and existing in your own head."

"It's my birthday, yeah?" Stefan asked jokingly.

"It's our day!" Charlotte exclaimed.

Lexi nods along to her daughter, "She's right. And that guy that jumped naked in the Trevi Fountain and got drunk on the torch of the Statue of Liberty? That guy can take a break from all his worrying for one night and go to a stupid party. So quit your whining....," She moves behind him and smacks him on the ass as she pushes in towards his bathroom.

"Fine." Stefan holds his hands up in surrender, turning to look at the two in his bedroom, "You two are a dangerous duo to mess with when together."

"And don't you forget it!"

▭

          𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐒 𝐀 Metallica song under head breath as she walks back towards the stairs, going back to Stefan's room when her ears pick up on the sound of a car door shutting outside right before the door bell rings.

"It's open! Come on in!" She calls out as she turns to jog towards the door, gasping as she stopped in her tracks at the familiar face of the girl that Stefan carried around but by being able to listen to the girls heart beating in her chest, confusion filled her body.

"Uh... who are—,"

"Charlie! Who was at the door?!" Lexi called out to her daughter as she came around the corner still wrapped up in the towel since she had left her clothes downstairs in her bag. "Oh, my God. How, uh, oh."

"You can — you can see her too, right?" She asked quietly, not taking her eyes off the brunette standing in front of them.

"Uh-huh." Lexi nodded, in the same amount of shock that her daughter was in. "Who—,"

"Uh, I'm Elena." Elena introduces herself, looking between the two of them.

Charlotte is quick to turn around, slapping a hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing loudly like she wanted to.

"Who are you?"

"Lexi." The blonde introduces herself, "And this is Charlie."

The brunette vampire turns back around, smiling at the girl as she still tries to keep her laughter at bay, "We're friends of Stefan's."

Elena is taken back as she glanced over at Lexi, who was wrapped in just a towel, "Is he here?"

"He's in the shower. Um....do you wanna wait?"

"No." Elena's voice is quiet.

"We'll tell him that you stopped by." The seventeen-year-old sends her a cheeky smile, hands sliding into her ripped jeans pockets.

"That's okay." Elena tells her before she turns around and walks out of the house.

"She totally thinks you slept with Uncle Stefan." Charlotte finally laughs, dodging the hit from her mom as the blonde flies up the stairs, "Best part of this trip!"

"Hush or you're grounded!"

▭

          ❝𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄 serious emotional damage.❞ Lexi sits cross legged on Stefan's bed as she checks over her make up in a small hand-held mirror, both her and Charlotte having listened to Stefan's explanation about Elena.

"No, it's not what you guys think." Stefan had his hand tucked in his jean pockets, "She's not Katherine."

"Then they're related because they could be twins, Uncle Stefan." Charlotte shrugged, trying the strings to her converse.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Lexi questioned, "You — you didn't find out?"

"No, maybe I don't wanna know." Stefan shrugged, "I have, I have no desire to tie Elena to Katherine."

Charlotte and Lexi both send him the same look.

"Okay, yes, yes. The — the resemblance is what drew me in but that's it. Katherine and Elena may look the same on the outside but on the inside they are completely different."

"That's what they all say."

"Oh, so Elena's not a raging bitch, then, huh?"

Stefan smiles, "No. No, Elena is....Elena's warm and she's....she's kind and she's caring and she's selfless. And it's real. And...honestly, when I'm around her I...I completely forget what I am."

"Oh, my God." Lexi stares at her best friend, "You're in love with her."

"Yeah. Now I am."

"Wow." Charlotte grinned as she walked towards the bedroom door, "And now she thinks you slept with mom 'cause she came in while mom was in a towel and you were showering."

▭

          𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐍𝐃 daughter walk into 'The Grill', both of them looking around as Damon walks up to them. The brunette rolls her eyes, bumping harshly into his shoulder as she disappears into the crowd.

"Where's my brother?" Damon questions the blonde, glancing over his shoulder at the brunette who had been quick to blend in among the other teenagers that Caroline had invited.

"He said he'd meet us here." Lexi tells him.

"Buy you a—," Damon trails off as she walks by her.

▭

          𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄 𝐏𝐔𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐑 way past teenagers dancing with each other, looking around her her mom and Stefan when she bumps harshly into someone.

Just as she moves to tumble to the ground due to the impact of the hit, hands shoot out to wrap around her waist stopping her from actually making contact with the dirty floor.

"Shit! I am so sorry!" The owner of the hands looks down at her with wide eyes.

"No, don't worry about it." Charlotte shakes her head as she looks up, locking eyes with a brown haired, dark brown eyed teenager, "Seriously, don't worry about it. I was just looking for my sister and Stefan."

"Stefan Salvatore?" He asked in confusion, "How do you know Stefan?"

"Oh, my sister is his best friend and we're here for his birthday." She tells him as he lets go of her waist and she holds her hand out, "I'm Charlotte Branson...why did I just tell you my full government name? I go by Charlie, though."

He smiles brightly at her, "Jeremy Gilbert." And shakes her hand. "Uh, can I buy you a drink?"

"Aren't you a little too young to be buying drinks?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

Jeremy laughs, "I mean, a non-alcoholic drink?"

"Right." She laughs, "Yeah, sure. But just until I see my sister and Stefan."

"I'll keep you company."

▭

          ❝𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐄?❞ Stefan leans down to ask Lexi, not having seen the brunette vampire since his arrival at the Grill after his quick trip to see Elena since she had stopped by the Boarding house.

"Oh, I haven't seen her since we — found her." Lexi lets a smirk overtake her face as she notices her daughter sitting at a table across from a boy, the two of them laughing and talking with each other, "Right over there with that puppy eyed boy."

"Boy? What boy? She's not allowed to date." Stefan's head snaps over to where Lexi was pointing, "That's Elena's little brother, Jeremy."

Lexi tilted her head, "Hmm, he's cute. Way better looking than the last guy she was dating. He was a bit of a dick. Plus, I didn't see her as the type to date someone named Andrew. I wanted to rip his fake eyebrows off."

"She's not allowed to date!" Stefan calls over his shoulder as he makes his way towards the table where the two are sitting.

"Typically uncle behavior!" Lexi calls after him with a laugh, leaning against the pool table as she watches them.

"Lottie." Stefan's hand clamps down onto her shoulder as he stands behind her, smiling down at both her and Jeremy, "I see you've met Jeremy."

"Oh, yeah. We bumped into each other, literally." Charlotte laughs as she looks up at her "Uncle", who nodded.

"I was just keeping her company until you and her sister got here." Jeremy informed the Salvatore boy who had been dating his sister.

"Thanks. Rematch in pool?" Stefan raised an eyebrow as he looks to the teenage girl, "Fifty bucks I kick your ass again."

"Oh, you're so on." Charlotte laughs as she stands up from her chair, turning back to Jeremy. "Thank you for the drink, and for keeping me company."

"Yeah, it was no problem." Jeremy smiled and paused, "Can I — uh, could I get your number? Maybe we can keep in contact? You know, long distance friends."

Charlotte nods with another laugh, pulling her phone out to give to him as he does the same. The vampire is quick to add her number into his phone, hanging it back to him, "It was nice meeting you."

"Didn't I tell you that you couldn't date anyone for a while?" Stefan wrapped an arm around her shoulders as the two of them walked away.

"I'm 150!" She looks at him in disbelief.

"Then no dates until you're 250." He says as they come to a stop in front of the pool table where Lexi was laughing at the two of them.

"If I can make it that far." Charlotte playfully rolls her eyes as she grabs a pool stick, "Tomorrow's not promised, you know."

"Wise words from a person who's ass I'm taking fifty from." Stefan smirked as she turns around to squint at him.

"You're on."

▭

          ❝𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 practicing?❞ Stefan looks over at Charlotte as she makes another solid ball fall into one of the pockets.

The brunette vampire shrugs her shoulder, "Mom's boyfriend bought a pool table for our house. I play with him all the time."

"More like she scams him of his money." Lexi laughed as Stefan took his shot, none of them noticing that Elena watched from a distance.

"Miss." Charlotte bumps her hip into his, knocking him off balance and making him miss.

"Oh, that's how you want to play?" Stefan smiles widely at the girl, passing Lexi his pool stick and wrapping his arms around Charlotte's legs, turning her body to where she was hanging from his arms upside down.

Loud laughter leaves her lips as she grabs onto his ankles so that she wouldn't fall, "Put me down! Put me down!"

"I'm going to get shots!" Lexi calls out through the loud laughter of her daughter as Stefan slowly lowered her to the ground so that she could get back to her feet.

"Bring me one!"

"Not old enough!"

"Not old enough physically, but old enough year wise!"

▭

          ❝𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐅 tequila.❞ Lexi leans against the bar while looking around, catching sight of Elena talking to a few teenagers that she more than likely went to school with, "Make that four."

The bartender looks up at her, "I'm gonna need to see some ID."

"No, you don't." The blonde looks up at him, focusing on the way his pupils dilate.

"That will be, uh—,"

"Free."

"On the house."

"Thanks!" Lexi's voice is cheerful as he pours the shots before she takes them off the bar and makes her way towards the girl who shared the same face with Katherine, "Ah, the famous Elena."

Elena turns around, here voice hard, "Towel girl."

"I've been called worse." Lexi tells her with a shrug of her shoulder, holding out a shot glass to her, "Here."

"I didn't know that you guys could drink."

"Oh, yeah. It helps curb the cravings." Lexi tells her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "But makes for a lot of lushy vamps."

Elena gives a short laugh, "You know, I've never seen Stefan drunk. He always seems so....,"

"Uptight?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah." Elena nods, pointing towards her with a sarcastic smile, "But not with you. Or the girl he's turning upside down."

"Well, that's the benefit of knowing someone for over a hundred years, and then watching your daughter grow up." Lexi tells her, "You can just be yourself."

"Yeah, he can't be himself with me."

"Well, not yet. The first step was him telling you. The rest comes with time." Lexi explained to her.

"You seem so sure." Elena frowns as if Lexi had experienced it.

"The love of my life was human." Lexi smiles softly at her, "He went through what...I imagine you're going through. Denial, anger, etcetera. But at the end of the day...love really did conquer all. But what really sold the two of us on it, was that he managed to love my daughter just like she was his own."

"Your daughter?" Elena tilts her head with a confused look on her face.

Lexi nods her head in the direction of the pool table where Stefan and her daughter were messing around, Stefan trapping her in a headlock and messing up her hair, "I found Charlie when she was just five-years old. Stefan's always checking up on her." She paused, "Are you gonna drink that?"

"Oh, uh, go for it." Elena hands the shot to her, watching as she quickly drinks it, "I'm scared."

"But you're here." Lexi tells her, "'Cause you're crazy about him. I get it. I mean....what's not to love?"

The both look back over at Stefan hits the pool balls with the pool queue in his hand.

"Listen, take it from someone who has been around a long time. When it's real....you can't walk away." Lexi says in a soft tone before shooting back the last tequila shot.

"Hey, Lexi." Elena calls out, the blonde turning back to her. "It was really nice meeting you."

"Mom, Stefan is cheating!" Charlotte whined as Lexi walked back over to them.

"I'm cheating? You were pushing me out of the way!"

"Oh, whatever! I'm going to the bathroom." Charlotte tells them before walking away from the two of them.

"Thank you." Stefan smiles at his best friend.

"You weren't supposed to be listening." Lexi smiled over at her, "I was feeling epic. Whatever....thank you."

"For?"

"Treating Charlie like she's actually your niece...like she's my real daughter."

"She is your real daughter, Lexi. You're the only mother that she will ever know." Stefan says to her, "And I'm grateful that I'm a part of her life."

▭

          ❝𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖, 𝐈 was thinking.❞ Stefan spoke up as the "teenager" took a turn at yet another pool game between the two of them, "If you ever wanna give your mom and Lee a few days to themselves, you can always come back and visit. We can even take a road trip for a few days."

"Yeah, I think the road trip is out of the question...you know, can't really walk in the sunlight."

Stefan chuckled, "Right, yeah, I forgot." Stefan laughs as he catches sight of Elena walking their way.

"Hi." Elena takes his pool stick in her hand as she smiles at him.

"Hey. You came."

"I couldn't miss your hundredth-and-whatever birthday." Elena joked with him.

"162." Charlotte spoke up unintentionally, awkwardly looking up at Elena and Stefan looked at her, "I'll just be...not here."

▭

          𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐒 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 over to Elena and Stefan after he motioned that it was okay for her to come back over, but she stops as a group of police officers being lead by a short blonde haired lady storms towards the bar where her mom stood next to Damon.

"Uncle Stefan....,"

"What are you doing?"

"Thank you for the Vervain. Now, if you'll excuse me."

"Oh, my God." Stefan grabs Charlotte's arm, pulling her along with him.

"What is it?" Elena asked, confused as she follows behind the two vampires.

"Excuse us. Sorry." Stefan pulls the brunette towards the front entrance but two police stop them from leaving.

"Can't go out this way."

"Come on. Back way."

"Uncle Stefan, what the hell is going on?!"

Gun shots ring out just as the three run out the back of The Grill, coming around the corner to see Lexi making her way towards the blonde lady before Damon appeared in front of her, staking her through the heart.

Stefan quickly pulls his niece against his chest, muffling the mix of a scream and cry spilling from her lips and covering Elena's mouth to stop her screams from escaping her lips.

"Why?" Lexi croaks out, staring into the crystal blue eyes of her killer — Stefan's brother — with the thoughts of only her daughter crossing her mind.

"It's part of the plan." Damon whispers to her before moving a little closer, "You're daughter may just be next." And he pushes the stake deeper into her chest, until her skin turns grey and veins appear all over her body.

The brunette sobs into Stefan's shoulder, her entire body shaking at the sight of her dead mother laying on the hard, cold concrete just a few feet away.

"Are you okay?" Damon turns to the Sheriff.

"Thank you."

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          ❝𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐍. 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐍!❞ Elena chases after the vampire, him holding Charlotte up as she continued to cry for the loss of her mother.

"He killed her." Stefan turns around, keeping a tight grip on his niece, "He killed Zach, he killed Tanner, he turned Vicki. I have to kill him."

"No, you can't do that." Elena protests, trying to stop him from leaving.

"Why are you trying to save him?!" He asked, looking over at her in disbelief, "Elena, he's never going to change! Don't you see that?! He's never gonna change."

"I'm not trying to save him. I'm trying to save you! You have no idea what this will do to you." Elena tells him, "Please, Stefan!"

"Everywhere that I go, pain and death follow. Damon follows me. No more." He shakes his head, "Especially, when he truly hurts the people that I care about. Charlie can barely stand! She just watched him kill her mother!"

"Stefan, please, please, just — just talk to me." Elena begged, still following him, "Let me be there for you. Talk to me."

He shakes his head, pain in his voice and tears in his eyes, "No. You were right to stay away from me. Come on, Lottie. Get in the car."

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          𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 𝐇𝐈𝐌𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅 a shot of bourbon, a smirk slowly appearing on his face as he turns towards where Stefan is standing in front of the window, "Told you I'd take care of it."

Stefan moves quickly, punching his brother in the face as both of them start fighting each other, Stefan throwing Damon across the room.

Another figure appears over him a stake in her hand but just as she goes to stake him, Damon brings his legs up and kicks out, sending Charlotte flying across the room and into the bookshelf behind her.

Stefan quickly grabs Damon, using his speed to hold him against the wall.

"Come on, I did this for you, to get them off our trail." Damon grunts out.

"You never do anything for anyone but yourself." Stefan says, holding Damon in place as Charlotte picks the stake back up and throws it towards him, watching as Stefan stabs the stake through Damon's stomach.

Damon groans out, "You missed."

"No. You saved my life, I'm sparing yours." Stefan tells his brother, "We're even. And now we're done. Charlie, upstairs."

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          𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐒 Charlotte paces his bedroom, the brunette running her fingers through her hair harshly. "Char—,"

"I'm going to kill him!" Her voice is harsh as she cuts him off, anger coursing through her veins.

"Hey, hey, we're not killing anybody."

"We're not — he killed my mother, Stefan!"

The Salvatore boy flinches as she doesn't call him 'Uncle Stefan' which lets him know that she was really pissed, "I know, Lottie!" He stands up and puts his hands on her shoulders I know. And I'll handle it, but I need your help."

Charlotte stares up at him, angry tears in her eyes as she stares into his pleading ones, "Fine."