❪ 𝓢𝑰𝑿 𝓕𝑬𝑬𝑻 𝓤𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹 ❫ ⚰️ ˖ ׁ ⁩ 𓂃
𝚃𝚅𝙳  ⸻  ✸ 🔮⭑.ᐟ
❝ 𝖪𝖨𝖢𝖪 𝖧𝖨𝖲 𝖠𝖲𝖲, 𝖩𝖤𝖱𝖤𝖬𝖸 ❞

✦ ╮ 𝟎𝟑. ❝ 𝖥𝖱𝖨𝖣𝖠𝖸 𝖭𝖨𝖦𝖧𝖳 𝖡𝖨𝖳𝖤𝖲 ❞ ── .✦

𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐀 𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐃 after her uncle, him making his way towards where Elena and Bonnie were standing.

She didn't want to come into school today, but Jeremy had texted her to meet him before school and just as she was about to go look for him, Stefan forced her to follow him.

"Good morning, Elena. Good morning, Bonnie." Stefan greeted the two best friends.

"Hey, um, I gotta find Caroline. She's not answering her phone." Bonnie says, still feeling uneasy around Stefan.

The Bennett girl didn't understand why she had a bad feeling coming off of Stefan when she touched him the night before because whenever she touched Anastasia, she didn't get that same feeling. "So, I'll see you guys later."

"Bonnie, wait..." Elena calls after her best friend.

"She doesn't like me very much." Stefan tells his girlfriend.

"She doesn't know you." Elena said, "She's my best friend. She's just looking out for me. But when she does, she will love you."

"Doubt that." Anastasia says, squealing as Stefan pinches her rib cage, "Ow, you dick!"

"Here's what we're going to do. Are you free tonight?" Elena asked as Stefan moves to stand in front of her, "Both of you?"

Stefan looked at his niece, who shrugged her shoulders, "Yes."

"Perfect. Dinner, my house. 8 O'clock. You two, me and Bonnie. You two will spend some quality time and she'll get to see what a great guy you are. Mission accomplished." Elena tells the two of them.

"Anastasia, look out!" Matt's voice sounded from behind and she turned around just in time to throw her hands up into the air, catching the football that was soaring through the air towards the three, Stefan making sure she didn't fall, "Dude, Ty! You almost hit her!"

Tyler looked at them wide eyed, "I'm sorry!"

The green eyed Salvatore girl glared at the boy a little ways away from her, shoving the football against her uncle's chest, "Throw this at him and make it hurt!"

Stefan chuckled at his niece before he arched his arm back and threw the football towards Tyler, making him stumble from surprise at the throw.

"Dichkead!" Anastasia called out to Tyler, mumbling under her breath, "Someone needs to knock his ego down a few sizes."

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐖 was insane. ❞ Elena says as she, Stefan and Anastasia walked down the hallway together. "I didn't know you played football."

"I used to. It was a long time ago." Stefan answers, throwing his arm around his still fuming niece.

"So why don't you try out for the team?" Stefan asks, causing Anastasia to snot.

"Yeah, I don't think so."

"So, you don't like football?" Elena asked her confused, stopping at her locker.

"No, I love football. I think it's a great sport." Stefan explains to her, "But in this case, I don't think football likes me. You saw Tyler out there, and we both know how Matt feels."

"They don't know you. To them you're mysterious, loner guy." Elena says, "Wouldn't hurt to be a part of it. Make some friends."

"Says the girl who spends her alone time writing in a cemetery." Anastasia butts in.

Elena swatter her arm playfully, "Hey, come on. There's more to me than just gloomy graveyard girl. There's a whole other Elena that you two have yet to meet. She was into everything, very busy."

"Hey, Elena." Jeremy walks by the three, grabbing Anastasia's arm and pulling her away, "Bye, Elena."

"Is something going on between the two of them?" Elena asked.

"Well, she does seem to be stuck on her phone a lot more since they started to hangout." Stefan shrugs as the bell rings.

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐑 two ended in ... anyone got anything? Miss Juan? ❞ Mr. Tanner asks his class before answering the question himself, "1945."

"Psst." Elena leaned over her desk, getting closer to Anastasia but looking straight towards Stefan. "FYI...our team sucks. They could use you."

"Can't." Stefan tells her.

"Pearl Harbor." Tanner speaks.

"I'm a loner." Stefan says.

"Miss Gilbert?" Tanner called out.

"Hmm?" Elena turns her head to look at him.

"December 7, 1841." Stefan answered for her.

"Thank you, Miss Gilbert." Mr. Tanner says, causing a few people to laugh.

"Anytime."

"Very well. The fall of Berlin Wall?" Mr. Tanner asked.

Anastasia, not wanting her uncle to have all the fun with their history teacher answered, "1989."

"We're good with dates, sir." Stefan says after seeing the surprised look on Mr. Tanner's face.

"Are you two? How good?" Tanner looked between the two. "Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act?"

"1964." Stefan.

"John F. Kennedy assassination." Tanner.

"1963." Anastasia

"Martin Luther King." Tanner.

"68." Stefan.

"Lincoln." Tanner.

"1865." Anastasia.

"Roe vs. Wade." Tanner.

"1973." Stefan.

"Brown vs. Board." Tanner.

"1954." Anastasia.

"The Battle of Gettysburg." Tanner.

"1863." Stefan.

"Korean War." Tanner.

"1950 to 1953." The uncle and niece spoke in sync.

"Ha!" Tanner exclaimed, pointing between the two of them. "It ended in '52."

"Uh, actually, sir." Anastasia says, "It was '53."

"Look it up, somebody!" Mr. Tanner says and everyone pulled out their phones or textbooks to look for the answer, "Quickly!"

"It was...." A dark skinned male spoke up, looking down at his phone, "19....53."

Mr. Tanner looked between the two as they shared the same smirk.

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐃𝐈𝐃 the two of you know all of that? ❞ Elena asked as they were walking out of class."

"Years and years of crossword puzzles." Anastasia tells her.

"It's a loner thing." Stefan joked.

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 joining? ❞ Anastasia sat next to her uncle on the bleachers as he overlooked the boys running around on the football field.

"Possibly." Stefan looked over at his niece, squinting his eyes due to the sun.

"Well," She stands up, putting her bag over her shoulder, "As your niece, I think you should do it. And not just because Elena told you that you should join. I think you should join the team because you've been playing football for a hell of a long longer than any of them, literally, and because it's something that you like doing. That, and because I want to see what it does to Lockwood."

Stefan chuckled, watching her bounce down the bleachers, "Where are you doing?! I'm your ride home!"

"To watch Elena and Bonnie at cheer practice!" She called back.

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐆𝐎𝐓 𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐌 for one more? ❞ Anastasia asked Bonnie, who sat on the grass alone while she stretched.

"You want to join the cheer team?" Bonnie asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Hell no." Anastasia tells her making Bonnie laugh loudly at her facial expression as she said it, "I'm flexible and I've cheered before, but you will never catch me wearing a skimpy cheerleading outfit to prance around in for a bunch of football players who think their dicks are as big as their egos."

Bonnie went to reply, but Elena walking towards them causing her attention, "Oh, my god! You're here." She stood up to hug her.

"Yep. I can't be sad girl forever. The only way to get things back to the way they were is to do things that were." Elena says before looking at Anastasia, "Are you trying out?"

"Hell no." She repeats, "I'm just here to watch bimbo's fail at what they think they are good at."

"Oh." Elena turned back to Bonnie, remembering about the dinner that was planned, "And you're coming over to dinner tonight."

"I am?" Bonnie asked, confused.

"Mm-hmm." Elena did the splits on the ground, "You, me, Stacie, and Stefan."

Bonnie gave her a look.

"You have to give him a chance." Elena tells her best friend.

"Tonight's no good." Bonnie says, "Have you seen Caroline? I texted her like a hundred times."

Anastasia let out a laugh, holding her hand out for Bonnie to slap which she did, "Good job at changing the subject."

"Don't change the subject, Bonnie Bennett." Elena tells her. "You're going to be there."

"Fine. I'll go."

"Good."

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐋𝐘? 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 is Caroline? ❞ Bonnie asked.

"I don't know." Elena shrugged after taking a sip from her water bottle.

"Try calling her again." Anastasia says as she sat in the grass with her head tilted back as she basked in the feeling of the warm sun on her skin.

"Uh..." Elena points in the direction of a blue car pulling in, Caroline in the passenger side.

"Oh, my god." Bonnie says as she turns to see what Elena's looking at, "That must be the mystery guy from the grill."

Anastasia opened her eyes and glared as she saw who they were talking about.

"That's not a mystery guy. That's Damon Salvatore." Elena tells her as the three girls stood up.

"Salvatore? As in Stefan?" Bonnie asked, "Ellie?"

"I got the other brother." Caroline walks up to Elena, "Hope you don't mind. Sorry I'm late, girls. I, uh, was busy. Alright, let's start with the double pike herkie hurdler, what do you say?"

"I'll be back." Anastasia told the two girls, walking up to her fathers car, "What the hell are you doing, Dad?"

"I'm just having fun, Princess." Damon smirked at his daughter, looking at her over his sunglasses.

"Fun my ass." She glared at him, "Do you enjoy seeing me hate you?"

"Light blue, the 60's, The Outsiders, Kol and Sunflowers." Damon stopped her in her tracks.

"Nice try, Dad." She says, not making a move to turn to look at him, "But I've never told you about Kol to know who my best friend is. You know why? 'Cause you're never around long enough to know."

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 tryouts? ❞ Damon asked his brother as Stefan walks into his bedroom, "Did you make the team? Very Emerson, the way you reveal your soul with so many..."

Stefan uses his speed to snatch his journal from Damon's hands.

"....adjectives."

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asks him.

"I've come to apologize. I've been doing some thinking, some soul searching, and I want us to start over. We need to put the past behind us. You're my little brother, and if you want to live a normal, happy human life, then I want that for you. Maybe I can do it, too. That I can learn to be a non-living living person. Maybe there's hope for all three of us." Damon says, "And I can take care of my daughter."

"You know, it doesn't have to be this way, Damon." Stefan tells him.

"Of course it does. I saw Elena today, btw. That mean's 'by the way'. She was at cheerleading practice. She looked so perky in her little short shorts." Damon taunted his brother, "Just...Simmer down, I didn't go near her. I've got my own cheerleader now. Ooh, that reminds me...I gotta run. I have a date. Sweaty palms. Wish me luck." He turns around, finding his daughter standing in the doorway, arms crossed over her chest, "Honey! Hey!"

"Uncle Stefan." She looks past her father, towards her uncle, "I"m going to Elena's early. I'm gonna go see Jeremy before Elena kicks him out of the house for dinner tonight."

"Okay. I'll be over there later on, kiddo." Stefan tells her.

She nodded her head and walked out of the room.

Stefan walked around his older brother, "That was me. Taking care of your daughter."

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍 he had the decency to think that he was going to try and answer the questions I asked him as if I didn't know Uncle Stefan didn't tell him. ❞

Anastasia paced around Jeremy's bedroom, ranting and raving to him about her father, who he didn't know what her father, because she had told him that Damon was another uncle that she hadn't seen half her life. "I mean, really? Can he be more stupid?"

Jeremy chuckled from his place, stretched out across his bed, "I think you need a nap and some alcohol."

She huffs and throws herself onto his bed, curling up into his side, "I need a vacation, that's what I need."

Jeremy laughed, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and let her lay her head on his chest, "Come on. We'll take a nap until Elena tells me to get out of here before you Uncle gets here."

"That sounds great." She mumbled, already drifting off to sleep at the sound of his heart thumbing against is chest.

The Gilbert boy lets out a sigh, looking up at his ceiling as he held the girl, he was already starting to develop a crush on close to his heart, "What are you doing to me, Anastasia Salvatore?"

────୨ৎ────

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐀 woke up, Jeremy was no longer laying in his bed or heard anywhere in the house. But she did hear Elena, Bonnie and her uncle downstairs.

A few minutes passed before she finally decided that she would actually get out of the human boy's bed and make her way down the stairs.

She ignores the conversation currently going on between the three and tapped Stefan on his shoulder.

Stefan moves his chair back just enough so that she could sit on his lap and curl up to lay against his chest, something she had been doing since she was old enough to walk on her own.

Using one of his arms, he wrapped it around her waist and kisses the top of her head, "Have a good nap, kiddo?"

"Yeah." She mumbled, closing her eyes and putting her face in the crook of his neck.

"She gets clingy when she's sleepy." Stefan tells the two girls.

"Why don't you tell Stefan about your family." Elena tells her best friend after a moment of silence from Anastasia coming down stairs.

"Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad." Bonnie tells him.

"No, about the witches." Elena says, making Anastasia per up but she didn't move her head from her Uncle's neck. "Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches. It's really cool."

"Cool isn't the word I'd use." Bonnie says, moving her food around on her plate.

"Well, it's certainly interesting. I'm not to versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic Druids that migrated here in the 1800's." Stefan spoke to Bonnie, "Anastasia's mom actually has a lineage of witches too. Her mother was a Flower."

"My family came by the way of Salem." Bonnie tells him.

"Really?" Stefan asked, "Salem witches?"

Bonnie chuckled, "Yeah."

"I would say that's pretty cool." Stefan said.

"Really?" Bonnie looked at him in surprise, "Why?"

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity." Anastasia says, looking at her.

"Yeah, they are."

Anastasia shrugged, "I learned about it. Had to have some kind of knowledge about my mother's side of the family."

Before anymore could be said, the doorbell went off.

"I wonder who that could be." Elena says, pushing her chair out and walking toward the front door.

"Surprise!" Caroline exclaimed once Elena opened the door, "Bonnie said we were doing dinner, so we brought dessert."

"Oh."

"Hope you don't mind." Damon gave er a friendly smile.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked his brother, walking to the door after getting Anastasia to sit in his seat rather than on his lap.

"Waiting for Elena to invite me in.." Damon says.

"Oh, yeah. You can..."

"No, no, no. He can't, uh...he can't stay." Stefan says, trying to get Damon to leave, "Can you, Damon?"

"Get in here." Caroline tells Damon.

"We were just...finishing up."

"It's fine." Elena tells her boyfriend before looking at Damon, "Just come on in."

Damon smirked at his brother, walking over the threshold of the front door, "You have a beautiful home, Elena."

"Thank you."

"I need another nap." Anastasia huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, "A permanent one at that."

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐈 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team. ❞ Caroline grinned as everyone now sat in the living room of the Gilbert house, "Tyler must be seething. But good for you. Go for it."

"That's what I always tell him." Damon speaks up, "You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it."

"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today." Caroline says then looks over at her, "It's only because you missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routine."

"I'll wort with her." Bonnie speaks up, "She'll get it."

"I guess I can put her in the back."

"You know, you don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena." Damon tells her.

"And you don't seem like the type of person to stay out of anyone's personal life." Anastasia spits at her father, "But yet, here you are."

Caroline ignored the green eyes Salvatore. "Oh, it's just 'cause her parents died. Yeah, I mean, she's just totally going through a blah phase. She used to be way more fun. And I say that with complete sensitivity."

"I'm sorry, Elena. I know what it's like to lose both your parents. In fact, Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we've ever cared about die." Damon tells the girl.

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon." Stefan says, hand subconsciously going to hold his niece's in comfort.

"Oh, you know what, your right, Stef." Damon said, jaw clenching as he watched his daughter and brother, "The last thing I wanted to do was bring her up. Mm."

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒, but he's just having a really hard time. You have to understand that they were each other's first. You know, like, from the sandbox. ❞ Caroline says as her, Stefan and Anastasia were sitting in the living room.

"That's a nice scarf." Anastasia speaks up, having been eyeing the scarf since the blonde showed up.

"Mm. Thank you." Caroline says, "It's new."

"Can I see it?" Stefan asked, "I mean, would you mind taking it off?"

"Oh, I can't." Caroline tilts her head to the side.

"Why not?" Anastasia asked her, "Are you okay?"

"Um...All I know is that I can't take it off." Caroline tells the two.

"What are you three kids talking about?" Damon walked into the room.

"Ellie was just commenting on her scarf." Stefan tells his brother.

"Hmm." Damon eyed his brother and daughter before looking at Caroline, "Hey, you know, um, Elena and Bonnie are finishing up the dishes. Why don't you go see if you can help?"

"Does it look like I do di-,"

The front door comes open and Jeremy rushes up the stairs, Anastasia standing up from her place on the couch.

"I'll be home later, Uncle Stefan."

────୨ৎ────

𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐒 𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐃 around a roaring fire as they prepared for the start of the football game, people cheering.

Anastasia sat on a tailgate of some truck, Jeremy next to her as both of them passed a beer bottle between the two of them.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait. Let's be honest here." Mr. Tanner spoke, "In the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us! But that is about to change. We've got some great new talent tonight starting on the offensive line, and I'm gonna tell you right now, it has been a long time since I have seen a kid like this with hands like these."

"Is it just me, or is Tanner a dick?" Anastasia blurted out, causing Jeremy to snort beer up his nose as he was going to take a sip.

Jeremy laughed, wiping at his nose, "It's not just you. He's a dick."

"They have been waiting for us to put a check in the win column, I have only one thing to stay to you.....you Timber Wolves are hungry. And the Central High Lions are what's for dinner!" Mr. Tanner finished his speech.

"Don't look so down." Tyler walked towards the two sitting on the tailgate, "You can have her when I'm done, and then we can switch. Vicki for this pretty little thing sitting next to you."

Hearing Tyler talk about Anastasia made Jeremy more angry then talking about Vicki, so he did the only logical thing he could think of, Jeremy punches Tyler which sent the two boys fighting.

"Tyler, stop it! Tyler! Tyler, stop! Stop it! Stop, you're hurting him!" Vicki tries to get Tyler to let go of Jeremy.

Anastasia on the other hand, "Kick his ass, Jeremy! Kick his ass!"

Stefan ran over to them, "Hey, he's down! Enough!"

Tyler punches but looks totally surprised when Stefan didn't even flinch.

"Jeremy, no!"

Stefan shoves Tyler out of the way as Jeremy came up behind Tyler with a broken beer bottle in his hand. Raising his hand in the air, the bottle cuts the palm of Stefan's hand.

"What the hell, Jeremy?" Elena walked over to her brother, "Put your head up, you're bleeding."

"I'm fine!" Jeremy exclaimed, pushing her hands off of him.

"Yeah, you smell fine."

"Just stop okay?" Jeremy tells his sister, walking passed both her and Vicki.

"Jeremy!" Anastasia called after him, looking towards her uncle, "Are you-,"

"Go, kid." Stefan nods his head in the direction the human boy had walked off in.

Anastasia runs off in the direction Jeremy had gone off to at human speed, "Hey, Jeremy!"

"What?!" He snapped, turning sharply to look at him. "Are you here to try and scold me too?"

She steps back slightly, "No, but tilt your back. I have some wipes in my car." She pushed in in the direction of her car, which she had drove instead of riding with her uncle.

"This is your car?" Jeremy looked at the slick black Camaro in awe as she opened the trunk and dug around in a bag that she has stuffed in the back in case of emergencies.

She laughs at the look on his face, shutting the trunk and leaning him against it, starting to wipe the blood from his nose and mouth, "Yeah. Uncle Stefan bought it for me last year for my birthday."

"Can I drive it?" He asked.

"Yeah, no." She shakes her head, laying the now red ripe on the black surface of her car and grabbed another one to get the rest of the blood, "I won't even let him drive it."

"One day can I drive it?" He asks.

Anastasia paused her movement for a second before holding the wipe to the boys nose and titling his head back to stop the bleeding, "Maybe one day."

"You know, I really want to kiss you right now." Jeremy suddenly says, moving his head to look at her, "But I'm going to hold myself back for two reasons. One, because my nose is still gushing blood."

"And the second?" She asked softly, both of them staring into each other's eyes.

"Two, because I'm still a little strung on Vicki and I want to see if my feelings for you will lower the feelings that I have for her." Jeremy tells her.

Standing on her tiptoes, the Salvatore girl pressed her lips against his cheek and let them linger for a moment before she dropped back to the heels of her feet, "There's something to hold you over until then."

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐀 be able to play? ❞ Matt asked Stefan as they walked with the rest of the football team and Tanner.

"Oh, yeah, I'm good." Stefan tells him.

"Uh, what you did back there....you had Jeremy's back." Matt says.

"Ah, he's a messed up kid." Stefan said, "Somebody's gotta look out for him."

"I know. This week at practice I was a dick." Matt said.

"Had your reasons."

Matt shook his head, "No excuse. Good luck tonight. We're lucky to have you. Hey, Ellie. "

"Hi, Matt." She waves at him slightly before he walked way.

Anastasia goes to tell her uncle good luck, but another voice speaks before she had the chance to.

"Isn't that nice? Stefan joins a team, makes a friend." Damon says, "It's all so "rah, rah, go team, yeah!"."

"Not tonight. I'm done with you." Stefan said, "Both of us are done with you."

"Nice trick with Elena. Let me guess...vervain in the necklace?" Damon asked, I admit, I was a bit surprised. It's been a while since anyone could resist my compulsion. Where'd you get it?"

"Does it matter?" Stefan pushes his niece behind him.

"Guess I could just seduce her the old-fashioned way. Or I could just..." Damon paused, "...eat her."

"No." Stefan speaks, "You're not gonna hurt her, Damon."

"No?"

"Because deep down inside, there is a part of you that feels for her. A part of you that cares about your daughter. I was worried that you had no humanity left inside of you ; that you may have actually become the monster that you pretend to be."

Anastasia watches silently behind her uncle.

"Who's pretending?" Damon asked.

"Then kill me." Stefan tells his brother, his niece looking up at him in shock for even saying such a thing.

"Well, I'm...I'm tempted."

"No, you're not." Stefan said, "You've had lifetimes to do it, and yet, here I am. I'm still alive. And there you are. You're still haunting me and incompetent to take care of your daughter. After 145 years, Katherine is dead. And you hate me because you loved her, and you torture me because you still do. And that, my brother, is your humanity."

"Salvatore!" Mr. Tanner walked around the corner, "What the hell? We've got a game to play!"

"If that's my humanity...then what's this?"

"Dad, no!" Anastasia yelled, but it was too late.

Damon rushed over to the history teacher, biting into the flesh of his shoulder.

"No!" Stefan yelled.

Damon dropped Mr. Tanner's body, turning to his brother and daughter, the latter with a speak of fear in her eyes, a few of her father. But in that moment, for just a split and short second, he didn't care, "Anyone, anytime, anyplace."

────୨ৎ────

𝐉𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐘 𝐒𝐀𝐓 on the grass after Anastasia went on the look for her uncle, his thoughts racing about the green-eyed girl kissing his cheek.

A coke can was pressed to his head as a figure crouched down in front of him.

Vicki looked at the boy, "It wasn't for the drugs. But I see the way you look at the new girl. I've seen it since you bought her drink at The Grill. And I think you should go for her, even if it's gonna hurt me in the end."

"Vic-,"

"I'm serious." Vicki tells him, "I liked you Jeremy, but I'm too messed up and strung out on Tyler. So, get your girl before it's too late. She'll make you so much happier than I ever could."

────୨ৎ────

𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐀 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐒 against her uncle, head on his chest as him and Elena talked.

"What kind of animal could be doing all this? Why would it come out of the woods and attack someone in the middle of town?" Elena asked.

"I don't know. I don't know." Stefan says, running his hands through his niece's hair.

Elena grabbed his hand that wasn't going through Anastasia's hair, "I was so sure that you cut your hand. I saw it."

"I'm gonna be fine." Stefan tells Elena, "I'm gonna be fine, okay? We're fine. That's all that matters."

────୨ৎ────

𝑰 𝑻𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑮𝑯𝑻there was hope that somewhere deep inside, something in Damon was still human, normal. But I was wrong. There's nothing human left in Damon. No good, no kindness. No love. Only a monster who must be stopped. I just don't want Anastasia to feel anymore pain at the hands of her father. I need to protect her.

Stefan stopped writing in his journal, turning his chair to look over at his niece who was fast asleep on his bed, the thick white comforter tucked tightly under her chin and in her fist. He got up from the chair and walked over, crouching down next to his bed.

Brushing her hair out of her face, Stefan leaned down to kiss her forehead, whispering, "I am always going to protect you, Anastasia."