The carriage drew closer to the house. The clearer it became, the more nervous Natalia Salvatore felt.

Mystic Falls, Virginia – 1864

Stefan Salvatore, who was standing right in front of Natalia, relieved her nervousness somewhat, but his fixation was on something else. She scrunched a section of Stefan's pants in her small hands when the carriage came to a halt. Stefan however stepped forward, eager to meet their new houseguests. The door opened and out stepped two women, one who seemed shy and another who exuded the opposite. Natalia, seeing their immaculate attire, dusted off the bottom of her dress and straightened her blue ribbon in her hair. Stefan however, was in a trance. But just enough eagerness was in him to stride over to one of the women.

"You must be Miss Pierce." He calmly said. Natalia remained near the front door, not sure of what to think of their guests.

"Please – call me Katherine." She immediately responded and held her hand out for him to hold.

Stefan gazed at her fondly, and she did the same, though there was something else behind her eyes.

Stefan cleared his throat, a small smile appearing on his lips. Katherine smiled back as she was led towards Natalia.

"Katherine, I would like to introduce you to my sister, Natalia." He motioned towards Natalia, who inhaled deeply before speaking.

"I'm very pleased to have you staying with us." She spoke, looking straight into Katherine's eyes.

Katherine giggled, almost like she heard the funniest thing on earth. "Oh, how charming." She looked back at Stefan. "Would you mind if I get settled in your home?"

"Of course." Stefan replied, gesturing Katherine inside. The other woman followed, as did the men with their bags. Natalia slowly walked back inside her home, when Stefan swooped her up and onto his shoulders.

"Let's go you munchkin!" She laughed as he carried her inside, loosely hugging his neck. She looked back at the carriage slowly disappearing into the distance.

/

Stefan sat in the Salvatore house, glass half full with scotch and staring blankly at the wall. He had felt horrible about what had happened to Monique, and felt even worse that he didn't yell at Enzo a little. Was Matt right? Were his actions today… heartless? It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Not let Enzo get in Stefan's head. He had spent months on his own, not having to deal with all of the problems of his family and friends. Now, that's all there is. And for some bizarre reason, he didn't mind. Maybe he was used to it by now.

Stefan grunted a little and put down the glass. He needed to talk to someone. He needed Caroline. Ever since their confrontation at the hospital, things have been strange between them. He missed her, but he still wasn't sure whether he had feelings for her or not. He was sure she didn't feel anything for him anymore, she made that clear. Thinking about the whole situation hurt his brain more than the scotch did.

She should be back from her vacation today. He thought. Maybe he'd pay her a little visit. Maybe he could finally regain some clarity back in his life.

Stefan placed his glass on the table. He got up and walked out of the house, bound for the Sherriff's. Soon after, the glass slipped off the table and shattered on the floor. A section of the rug was having a drink of scotch now, and so was a blue ribbon, hiding under it.

/

Elena Gilbert sat in the cemetery, feeling defeated and broken. Her hands covered her face, hoping to avoid crying. Unfortunately when she looked back at her hands, they were wet with tears. She shut her eyes for a moment and opened them at the next second, picking up a weighty rock and throwing it at a nearby tree. Damon Salvatore stopped the impact just in time.

"Elena, don't lash out. It's not hopeless, we'll find-"

"Yeah, another way. It's just… god, it's been more and more difficult to rely on hope and belief lately. B-Bonnie's all alone, Kai destroyed the device, Liv and Tyler clearly aren't on our side anymore!" Elena started pacing around but was abruptly stopped by Damon, who held her shoulders to stop her.

"We always find a way. Bonnie said the only thing going for her was hope. I have to believe. We will get her back."

Elena sighed, running her hands through her hair. She picked up a smaller rock. "Just one throw?" Damon smirked and nodded his head.

Elena channeled her anger and tossed the rock as far as she could. The rock flew through the air and landed on the other side of the cemetery. It hit the corner of a small gravestone, surrounded by weeds and covered in dirt. It read 'Natalia'.

I hope you liked it! I've been thinking about this sort of story for a while now and already have bits and pieces to write in the future. But that's if you guys want me to continue! (I may continue anyway, but it would be lovely to have support and feedback) Please review and let me know if you need any clarification on things. If I continue, I'll try and stay as accurate I can to the characters and plot. Thanks for reading and hopefully I'll hear from you guys soon.

- Sam