CHASING PERFECTION

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Hello everyone! So before reading a story, you may want to know a few things about it first. This story is set on season 1 and hopefully will continue until season 6 and onwards, it depends on how you guys want me to continue. It will follow through each episodes, with a few modifications and add-ins, while including an OC Alexandra Gilbert. She is the younger twin-sister of Jeremy. With her being dragged into the mess, I daresay that this story will contain more twists especially when she starts to get drawn together with the icy-blue eyed vampire: Damon Salvatore. Like I said, although it will follow story line from the show, there will be a few modifications and add-ins which will make the fic different from other sisfics that has been done in this site!

Note — This story is a rewrite of four chaptered fic under the same title. There were a few issues and I decided to rewrite and revise them with the help of my beta. This fic will soon contain more filler/original scenes, so make sure to never miss a thing!

Disclaimer — I don't own anything. Only the original characters, cover and anything you don't recognize.

Special Thanks — Slinky190 for willing to brainstorm and discuss about the plot points & Pandorathefirst for willing to be my beta for this story. Seriously thank you guys, this story will be nothing without the two of you!

Check out theroseofgilbert . tumblr . com for bios, pictures, gifs, Q&As and other stuff from the story.

Chasing Perfection
Season One
Chapter 1: Pilot

It was an early Monday morning when summer has sadly and officially ended. Alex slowly woke up because of a bright light that shone in through the windows. There was a familiar figure standing next to her bed, it was her older sister, Elena. Alex yawned, still sleepy and decided to go back to sleep.

"Hey, Alex, wake up. It's time for school." Elena whispered while shaking her shoulders to stop her from going back to sleep.

Alex mumbled quietly while trying to stop her sister from waking her, because her body was desperate for more sleep. She groaned and buried her head underneath the blanket to avoid her sister from shaking her shoulders again. It felt like she had a sleepless night, and it was way too early to wake up in such condition.

Elena sighed and once again shook her sister's shoulders to wake her up. "Alex, come on, we are going back to school. You don't want to be late for school, do you?"

It seemed like her sister won this time. Alex finally gave in and stiffly sat up on the bed, throwing the blanket off of herself. She squeezed her eyes to make them get used to the light, and saw her sister smiling. She couldn't help but to mirror the smile while slowly moving from the bed to tie her hair in front of the mirror where she saw the reflection of herself.

"Summer ended so fast," Alex let out a deep and frustrated sigh while looking for outfits in her wardrobe. "I still need my summer break." She turned away from the wardrobe to look at Elena.

"Yep, but… let's move on," Elena paused herself for a few seconds. "You know, bad things happened during summer, but I think we should get over it, Lex. It's a new day." She smiled at her sister reassuringly.

"Yeah, I know." Alex replied. She indeed had to move on. She knew it would be difficult, no, not simply difficult, but extremely hard. Especially hard, because it was about her parents; the two people who were there for her since she was just a baby.

Knowing her sister has left, Alex quickly made her way to the bathroom, before time somehow managed to slip through of her hands, which eventually made her late for school.

A few minutes later, Alex walked downstairs, heading to the kitchen along with her sister. They saw Jenna, who was busy in the kitchen. Ever since their parents died, Jenna has been the only person they could count on. She was always that person who would be busy just for them. "Hey, girls. Enjoy your coffees," their aunt, Jenna, automatically turned around when she noticed her nieces were there in the kitchen. But she was expecting someone else to be there as well. "Where's your brother?" She asked, furrowing her brows.

Both sisters exchanged glances before noticing, that Jeremy was walking past them reluctantly, as if he had no energy at all; just like his twin, whenever she woke up, but he was even worse than her.

"Well, the boy is here." Alex tilted her head making a face at her twin brother who was rolling his eyes sarcastically, and she replied with the same gesture. Her leg moved toward the table as she grabbed one of the served mugs. "Nice manners you have, twinnie, is walking past your sisters like nobody was standing there the best way for you to start the day?" She asked with false pain in her voice.

"Good morning to you too, kiddo." Jeremy greeted her with a weird and creepy grin which was enough to irritate her. He then hugged her for merely three seconds, and grabbed her mug and drank the whole thing in one. "It tastes nice."

"Excuse you, Jeremy Gilbert!" Alex glared at her twin, but she only received a light shrug and bitter ugly smile from her brother and it got on her nerves. "This is how you treat your twin sister?" She asked in disbelief.

Jeremy rolled his eyes again, taking his bag and put it over his shoulder, ready to leave for school before he received more scolds and flames from his twin sister. "I'm going to school now," he said to avoid the topic, his legs begun to move toward Alex and gave her a tight hug and ruffled her hair. And then spoke half heartedly before walking away to the door. "See you."

"See you, creepy man," Alex replied while watching him walk away.

"Hey, you are gonna be okay, aren't you?" Elena grabbed his arm knowing that he had been avoiding her most of the time, and whispered to him. Jeremy stopped for a few seconds and turned around only to reply her with "don't start." and then left the house quickly.

"He'll be alright, 'Lena. Don't worry." Alex convinced Elena while looking at her, feeling sorry for her and tried to think of a way, to make her sister feel better. She knew this family was no longer functional after their parents' death, but she tried to make it better, she always did.

"I don't know, I think he hates me." Elena and briefly looked back with a quiet frustrated sigh, grabbing her mug and drinking her coffee silently.

Jenna turned to see her nieces, wondering if they were okay with the new life without their parents. She also noticed that her nephew was troubled, unlike his twin sister who was still there to try comforting her older sister and fix everything.

"No, it didn't seem like he hate you. He is just troubled, Elena." Alex replied with a long sigh. "Maybe he was just furious that you don't like the idea of him dating Vicki Donovan." She tried to reason.

"Isn't it you who doesn't like her?" Elena frowned at her sister. Her face twisted between anger and irritation of hearing Alex not defending her in this case. She was feeling slightly hurt, disillusioned and disappointed at the same time.

"Well, okay, I don't like her. But you used to date this chick's brother and he didn't mind. Now you hypocritically disapprove of him being close to your ex sister in law?" Alex was definitely defending her slightly-older-twin brother right now, her voice was stern, and her gaze looked different. She took a deep breath and felt a twinge of guilt inside her heart for a few seconds after realizing that she was insulting her sister. And now she placed her palm and grabbed a fistful of her hair frustrated. "I, uh, I'm sorry. I'm becoming emotional randomly again, I'm really sorry, Elena." She said pleadingly.

Elena let out a deep breath, knowing her younger sister was also still a little bit mentally troubled after everything, just like her twin, despite the different ways of showing it. Not long after their little debate, they heard a car's horn outside their house. "I think that's Bonnie. Come on." Elena said while finishing her coffee together with Alex before they hugged their aunt.

"Bye, aunt Jenna." Alex said slinging her bag over her shoulder and grabbed two bottles of freshwater, one for her and another one for her sister.

In the car, the sisters once again waved at Jenna before leaving with their best friend. Bonnie smiled and started driving and headed to their school immediately. Elena was sitting on the front seat next to her friend while Alex sat on the back, leaning on the window and looked at the road through it. "Elena," she called her older sister softly, "Sorry."

"It's fine. Don't bring this up again." Elena turned back and smiled at her sister, as if she had forgot the whole conversation they had in the kitchen.

Alex smiled responding to her sister. "Alright."

"Is everything okay between you two?" Bonnie slightly glanced at both sisters, half-smiling, but still busy driving the car.

"Yeah," the youngest sister answered awkwardly, giving a slightly bitter smile. "Just a little family matter."

Suddenly, their conversations were cut off when a black crow hit the car. Bonnie quickly hit the brakes as the tires screeched loudly, and she stopped the car at the edge of the street. "Are you okay?" Bonnie asked, a little bit of panic evident in her voice because of what just happened.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How about you, Bonnie?" Elena asked back, concerned and then looked at her younger sister in the back seat, she seemed a little bit more panicked than they were. "How about you? And Alex, are you alright?" She asked worried.

"Totally." "Yeah." Both Alex and Bonnie replied at the same time. Elena only nodded at their answers.

"What the hell was that?" Alex gulped and almost freaked out—it was like her heart was no longer beating regularly. Her eyes were filled with shock.

"I think that was a bird. It came out of nowhere, I didn't see it coming." Bonnie informed, trying to calm both of them down. She breathed out once again, leaning her head onto the small pillow on the seat and restarted the engine and immediately drove them all to school. "We should really get back on the road before it's late." Bonnie concluded.

Alex got out of the car, grabbing her bag while sliding it on her shoulder, as she linked her arms with her older sister before they walking into the school-building together with their best friend, who drove them here. They smiled. It was actually good to be back to school after a long summer break, because there will be loads of gossips, parties and events that were waiting for them, and that was Alex's favourite part about school, the reason why she loved it.

When the two were walking down the hall, an athletic guy came behind them and covered both of Alex's eyes with his hands. Elena turned around and was about to inform her sister about the guy, but he mouthed her not to tell Alex since he wanted to give her a surprise. "Who is this?" Alex asked while rubbing his hands, and she could only hear her sister's playful giggle. "Tyler?" She guessed.

Tyler finally let his hands away from her face, laughing softly at his girlfriend before cupping her face while rubbing it and led his lips onto hers. "I've missed you," he spoke softly after the kiss. Elena only smiled and backed off with Bonnie. "I will be with Bonnie. See you guys," she waved them goodbye.

"Okay, see you, 'Lena!" Alex literally half-shouted as she saw them waving their hands at her. She managed to wave back and continue walking with her boyfriend, Tyler along the hallway heading off to somewhere.

Bonnie was still smiling. "They are like the cuties I usually see in movies," she commented, accompanied with a light chuckle. "They look cute together."

"Agreed." Elena giggled while still walking along the hallway until they reached their lockers, where she saw someone she knew for a long time; her ex-boyfriend—Matt—and she waved at him. Too bad he ignored her. Elena could see how hurt he was in his eyes, before he shut his locker and walked away. "He hates me." She groaned, turning back around, avoiding finding him again, after he left a while ago.

"That's not hate. That's 'you dumped me, but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits.'" Bonnie contradicted her, saving her from feeling guilty and everything else. Behind them, they heard their familiar bestfriend's voice; Caroline. She looked beautiful with a wide grin, blonde straight short hair, natural but pretty make up and modern blue blouse that completed her perfect appearance.

"Elena! Oh my god." She literally exclaimed while coming closer to pull her bestfriend, Elena, into a hug. "How are you? Oh, it's good to see you." She let go of her and then turned to Bonnie. "How is she? Is she good?"

Elena looked at her bestfriend, and said. "Caroline. I'm right here. And I'm fine. Thank you."

"Really?" Caroline frowned slightly, "How about Alex?"

"Yes. Much better," Elena replied, "And she is fine too. Thank you again, Caroline."

"Oh, you poor thing." Caroline pulled her in for another hug to give her some support, between knowing and not knowing that she was acting about being fine. "Well, I gotta go, see you guys later?" She asked as she started walking away.

Both Elena and Bonnie nodded with a bitter smile plastered on their faces. "Yeah. See you."

The two best friends eventually continued walking together and passed by the administration office only to see someone was signing up. "Whoa, who's this guy..." Bonnie wondered as her eyebrows rose, watching him from the back. Elena followed Bonnie's gaze into the room, seeing the back of a tall, dashing and masculine guy standing near the administration table. "He is hot, isn't he?" Bonnie added without looking at her best friend yet while Elena's attention suddenly turned to her brother who was sneaking into the bathroom like he was hiding something.

"I'll be right back." She said, between aghast and anger, while walking into the male bathroom to get to her brother. That was extreme, but she couldn't just let him be.

"Please be hot, please be hot." Bonnie chanted, still looking at the back of the guy in the office.

Several guys were surprised to see Elena entering the male bathroom instead of the female one, but she ignored them all and immediately caught Jeremy using eye drops. She held his face—pinching his cheeks together in one hand—and looked directly into his eyes. "What have you done?" She asked protectively while still scanning his eyes to see if he was high. "Great. It's the first day of school and you're already stoned!" She said angrily.

"No, I'm not. I haven't done anything!" Jeremy denied, staring at his sister weirdly, trying to push her away from him but with no intention of harm.

"Where is it? Jer, tell me! Is it on you?" She kept asking questions, looking at him in a way that he didn't like, patting him down.

"Stop, all right?! You need to chill, all right?" Jeremy yelled sarcastically, this was the reason they didn't get along like he and his twin sister. She was protective and it was over the line. And he didn't like it.

"Chill? What is that, stoner talk? Dude, you are so cool." With full disgust, she hissed while patting him down once again, making him more upset.

"Stop it! I don't have anything on me, okay? I'm good! Are you crazy?" He asked getting angrier than she was.

"Good what? I gave you summer pass, but I'm done watching you destroy yourself. No, no, no, you know what? Go ahead, keep it up. But just know that I'm going to be there to ruin your buzz every time, got it?" She poked his chest angrily.

Jeremy was still watching how his sister talked, it was kinda annoying but he knew she was doing something she thought was right. He rolled his eyes, trying to escape but she was still blocking his way. She was still worried about him doing something bad or even worse. "Jeremy, I know who you are. And it's not this person, so don't be that person. And listen... if I know you're doing something real bad, I will make sure to give your twin a chance to watch over you and that's it." She said, not budging.

With that, she released her hands off his cheeks and glared at her brother like he was going to die within seconds in her arms. That didn't bother him, yet, he growled angrily while making his way leaving the bathroom. "I don't need these, I'm okay, I told you."

She sighed while rubbing her arms, and began to leave the male bathroom as well but unfortunately was bumping into this guy she saw inside the administrator's office. "Whoa," she said in aghast before he could say anything. She literally started to blush so bad that her face looked like a fully ripe radish.

"Uh, pardon me. Is this the men's room?" The guy asked with a charming friendly smile while staring into her eyes and he thought she looked exactly like someone he knew in the past but somehow different at the same time, yet he didn't regret coming here.

"Yeah, uh, I was just, um, it's a long story." She nervously replied, hanging on every word while smiling back at the guy—unfortunately she had to go. When she was going to shove past him, she failed as he went that way, unintentionally blocking her way. Understanding she needed to leave, he made a way for her before she left with one last glance for him. "Thanks," she mumbled, still slightly blushing.

"Let's see who is moving on," Alex suddenly came out of nowhere with a smirk plastering across her lips, teasing her older sister. "So, a new guy, huh? Nice." She said approvingly.

"Shut up Alex," Elena hushed and defended herself. "We only bumped into each other and apologised, that's it."

"Just kidding!" She replied with an amused grin, holding a few books in her arms while heading to their classes together before stopping in front of a door. "I gotta go, my class is here. Bye Elena, love you." She smiled at her sister lovingly.

"Love you too, Lex," Elena smiled back.

Local Cemetery

Elena walked to see her parents' graves while holding four pieces of flowers. Her gaze turned to their grave stones where her parents names were written, and suddenly, she felt the hole inside her heart again, feeling the great loss of her parents. She smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile, it was a sad and bitter one, knowing that they were gone from hers, her sister's, and her brother's life forever. She placed two flowers on each grave before sitting nearby and opened her diary and wrote in it.

After writing in her diary, she saw a crow that was sitting on her parents' grave stones and fog started to ascend around the cemetery. She stood up, looking around and suddenly saw a figure standing behind a tomb which really frightened her. She stared to run but she didn't see the root of a tree that was in her way and she tripped and fell, her leg was slightly injured and when she got up, she saw the guy that she bumped into earlier today, was standing in front of her.

"Are you okay?" He asked while tilting his head slightly. Her face turned into a happy expression and she was blushing slightly, when she saw the new guy. "Were you following me?" She asked, breathless.

"No. I, uh, I just... I saw you fall." He stuttered, still looking at Elena.

"Uh-huh, and you just happened to be hanging out in a cemetery." Elena stated suspiciously about his statement.

"Well, I'm visiting, I have family here." He informed her with a gentle voice.

"Woah. Tactless. Uh... I'm sorry." She gulped before she continued talking, "It's the fog, it was creepy and there was this... this bird, and it was all very Hitchcock for a second. That is the bird movie, right, the Hitchcock?" She rambled on nervously.

There was a long pause, a moment where her eyes locked with his, but she broke the silence with an introduction of herself, being slightly nervous when her eyes met his. "I'm Elena." She introduced herself with a shy smile.

"I'm Stefan." He countered with a small chuckle, he lifted his hand up to Elena's hair, and pulled a leaf out.

Her eyes flickered to his fingers where he wore a big silver and blue ring with an S in the middle. "Thanks... Uh, nice ring."

"Oh. Um, it's a family ring. I'm kinda stuck with it. It's weird, huh?" Stefan chuckled while rubbing his ring.

"No, no. It's just, I mean, there are rings and then there's that." She explained tersely as he decided to ask something to change the subject.

"Did you hurt yourself?" He asked concerned.

"Hmm?" She asked, confused.

"Did you hurt yourself?" He asked again.

"Oh. I don't know. Uh," She rolled up her jeans and found a bleeding wound, which caused Stefan to turn around, since his face started to deform into something inhuman. No, he can't be like this in front of her—it's a secret he needed to keep from everyone, including this girl, no matter how she looked like someone he knew in the past. "Oh god. That is not pretty." She said but was confused when she saw Stefan suddenly turning around and looking away. "Um, are you okay?" She asked him, slightly concerned.

His eyes started to change. He was still trying to calm himself down and resist his blood craving at the moment. "You should go, and take care of that." He breathed.

She looked at her leg again and then she looked up only to notice Stefan wasn't there any longer. "Really, it's noth—" She stopped.

"Stefan?" She called out but no answer. Knowing that he left, she sighed and decided to go home to bandage her wound.

Arriving home, she was welcomed by her aunt with questions about her leg that was wounded. She immediately grabbed a bowl of hot water and a piece of cloth. "What happened with your leg, Elena?"

"I tripped and fell. Where is Alex?" She asked, diverting the attention away from her leg.

"I thought you're going to the grill with her," Jenna looked at her niece and down to her leg, seeing the wound on it, and immediately dipping the cloth into the bowl of water, rubbing it onto her wounded leg.

"She is at the grill?" Elena winced when the cloth touched her leg. "And no, I didn't go there... only the cemetery. I think I should see Alex."

"You're wounded." Jenna reminded her, gesturing to her wounded leg.

"It's okay, Aunt Jenna. I just want to check on her. Please?" She looked at her aunt with her puppy eyes.

"Alright, does it feel better?" Jenna asked calmly while she kept cleaning out the wound. Her eyes weren't focusing on her niece when she replied. "Yes, it's—"

Elena was cut off when she heard that someone was knocking on the front. Hearing this, Jenna immediately dropped the bowl on the table and checked who was coming. "I'll go check on it, you stay here." She declared, opening the door only to see a young male was standing in front of her, with a charming smile. It was Stefan. "Excuse me, is Elena Gilbert here?" He asked politely.

Jenna made no reply but started smirking and immediately called out her niece to come over. "Elena!"

Hearing her name, Elena stood up on her own and slowly but surely, approached her aunt and stood right next to her. "What is it?" She asked.

"Sorry, I wanted to apologise for me disappearing earlier. I know it was... strange." He explained calmly, receiving a shy smile again from her as soon as Jenna left the two alone in their own world.

"No worries. I get it, blood makes you squeamish." She joked.

"Um, something like that. How's your leg?" He gestured to her leg that was injured a while ago.

"It's fine. Barely a scratch. How did you know where I lived?" She asked suspicious, narrowing her eyes at him.

"It's a small town. I asked the first person I saw. Um, I thought you might want this back." He said, handing Elena her diary.

"Oh, I must have dropped it. Thank you." She smiled shyly while brushing a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"Don't worry, I didn't...read it." Stefan assured with a smile on his face, gesturing to the diary book.

"No? Why not? Most people would have." Elena asked with a teasing grin, trying to broke the awkward thing between the two of them. Stefan looked down at his feet, "Well, I wouldn't want anyone to read mine."

"You keep a journal?" She asked another question with a flat expression waiting for him to respond.

"Yeah, if I don't write it down, I forget it. Memories are too important." He shrugged.

"Yeah. I'm just gonna... umm, you don't have to stay out there." Elena told him while running upstairs to her room. Stefan was scanning the door, somehow he couldn't enter the house. "I'm fine. Sorry, were you going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I'm going to check on my sister and probably meet some friends. Do you wanna come?" She asked.

Both of their eyes met and locked again, her brown eyes were staring at his, very carefully and unknowingly. A smile rose on both of their lips. It was almost too perfect. "Sure." Stefan let out a chuckle as she smiled. "Okay." She said, still smiling.

Mystic Grill

Alex leaned back on a chair at the grill. Beside her there was her boyfriend and around her were her friends. They were all discussing random topics that came out from their minds that time. At the same time, she captured someone suspicious wearing a black shirt who just entered the grill and walked to the bar making her curious. "Alex?" Tyler called, making sure that she was actually fine because he was aware that she didn't pay attention to the conversation anymore. "Uh, yeah, sorry." Alex gulped looking at him, aghast, worried.

"How's Elena doing?" Matt questioned, his face was twisted in hope but his voice sounded like he was worried.

"Her mom and dad died. How do you think she is? She's putting on a good face, but it's only been four months." Bonnie replied and this time turned her face to see Alex who was frozen for a few seconds.

"Oh, guys, come on. Not this conversation again." Tyler rolled his eyes while comforting his girlfriend, rubbing her back gently. He eventually kissed her on the head. Alex looked up at him, with a shy smile playing across her lips.

"Okay, I'm sorry, but has she said anything about me?" This time Matt asked the sister with a hopeful look.

"Oh, no. I'm so not getting in the middle. You pick up the phone and call her." Alex replied simply holding her hands up while shaking her head, trying to convince him to call her sister instead of keeping asking about her to any of her friends and then ignore her whenever she was around.

"I feel weird calling her. She broke up with me." Matt protested.

"Well, then. You should give her more time." With that, Alex let out a deep sigh and grabbed a glass of tequilla, forcing the content down, before she noticed Elena who came with the new guy, and was looking around like a lost puppy.

Matt stood up; they could feel that he was tensed. "More time huh?" He hissed walking over to his ex girlfriend and her new friend or boyfriend, perhaps.

Alex raised her brows, looking around again and searched for the guy she saw earlier but he was gone without a trace, she didn't even notice. Where the hell did he go?

"Hey, I'm Matt, nice to meet you." Matt came to them while introducing himself, he felt awkward, but he had to face this.

"Hey. Stefan." Stefan replied calmly, introducing himself back in return.

"Hey," Elena greeted as soon as they were done introducing themselves.

Matt looked over his ex, returning her greet, before leaving them. "Hey."

"Well, that was awkward." Alex commented, her eyes were watching Matt in worry, wondering if he would be fine with all these things. Then her eyes met with the new guy's eyes that were watching her the whole time, she leaned back as he came closer to sit. He thought that she also reminded him of someone he knew in the past. She looks exactly like Serene, he mused.

"So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" Caroline questioned and it distracted his thoughts. Stefan immediately turned to her and gave an answer. "Mm-hmm. And moved when I was still young."

"Parents?" Bonnie questioned tersely, being extremely curious about this new guy.

"My parents passed away." Stefan replied.

"I'm sorry. Any siblings?" Alex wondered.

"None that I talk to. I live with my uncle." Stefan replied still with his charming smile he usually showed in front of the girls.

"So, Stefan Salvatore, if you're new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow, right?" Caroline asked after glaring at Elena whom Stefan was smiling at, she was just insecure about Elena and her popularity amongst the guys.

"It's a back to school thing at the falls." Bonnie explained to Stefan with a smile but he didn't move his gaze from Elena yet. "Are you going, Elena?" Stefan asked, ignoring everyone around him, smiling over and over again.

"Can't miss it." Elena faked a pout and giggled.

Alex watched how her sister interacted with Stefan. It was so different. There was this feeling she had about them being together and she thought they were romantically being involved. She couldn't help but to smile at their cuteness, resting her head onto Tyler's chest as he was still accompanying her, although he actually wanted to leave.

After an hour of getting her make-up and hair done, Alex was trying to decide what to wear for the party. There was her older sister in her room, drying her hair while looking at Alex who was holding a dress out while looking into the full length mirror. "Did you look into his eyes?" Alex said unbelievably while rolling her eyes and started getting changed into her party outfit.

"Who?" Elena asked while slightly looking at her younger sister, and guessed. "Matt?"

"Yeah." Alex said, adjusting her pretty, party dress.

"Not really, why?" Elena asked.

"He looks like he is hoping to get you back."

"Nope, he doesn't." Elena held her hands up before walking to the door and headed to her own room, but saw someone athletic was already standing in front of the door, surprising her. "Oh, Tyler. You scared me. My heart almost stopped beating."

"Sorry," Tyler smiled. His jaw suddenly broke open when he saw his girlfriend in that dress, that wasn't too long before he rushed toward her and hugged her. "Look at you." He smiled playfully to tease her.

"I'll be in my room." Elena smiled seeing them together.

"Wait, who are you going to the party with?" Alex stopped her sister before leaving, her hands were still on Tyler's shoulder.

"Bonnie." Elena answered with another smile. "You can go."

Nodding, both Tyler and Alex quickly walked down the stairs and left the house to his car, heading to the party venue that wasn't far from the area. When the car was away from the house, she could see another car stopped in front. "I think that's Bonnie." Alex said tersely while looking back to the road.

"Yeah, although she hoped that Stefan would pick her up or maybe her ex would come." Tyler scoffed driving ahead to the venue and she rolled her eyes, hitting him on the arm. "Tyler!"

"Hey! Alright, sorry. I was just kidding, you know me." Tyler said, giving a flat nonchalant expression but still pleading for her to forgive him for what he said.

"You are not cool, Ty. Stop making jokes about her, she is my sister."

Tyler nodded and chuckled softly, and begun to pinch her cheeks with his right hand while his other hand was on the stirring wheel. "Tyler! Stop pinching me! Ty!" Alex laughed softly but then her happy expression faded when she saw a man in black was standing in front of the car. "Ty, watch out!" She shrieked.

He stopped the car immediately by hitting the brakes, luckily they didn't hit anything, so they didn't get hurt after all. "Are you okay?" Tyler questioned in concern. "Who was that? Where is he? Did we actually hit him?"

"I have no idea... and yeah I'm okay. Are you?" Alex breathed out uncomfortably, rubbing his shoulder.

"Yeah, let's get back to the road." Tyler stated while driving away onto the road.

When the two arrived at the venue, they got out of the car, seeing a few teenagers were already crowding the area which was already decorated with bright lights and several drinks served on the tables. -"I'm gonna get some drinks. Wait here." Tyler smiled while walking away, grabbing two glasses of drinks a little bit farther from where she stood.

"Hey." Someone came beside her with a simple masculine look as always, and the charming friendly and kind smile most women would fall in love with. Alex let out a heavy breath since he had scared her with his silent and quick approach. "Next time, don't do that, ever again."

He looked down to his shoes and then immediately looked up with another charming smile. "Yeah, sorry." He chuckled and narrowed his eyes. "Have you seen Elena?"

"She's on the way. I came way too early." She shrugged lightly and smiled at Stefan. "You know, she was in a rough shape."

"Yeah, I know. She looks uneasy, unhappy. I think I can help her with that." He said nodding lightly. "I'm going to get myself a drink. Have fun."

"Okay." Alex smiled watched him walk away from her as Tyler approached. She was really amused at the fact that Stefan was all the good guy, and he'd never been the bad guy like what she thought at first impression. "You're talking to the guy who was the reason of Matt being upset? Really, Alex?" Tyler protested.

"Don't start." She sighed looking deeply into his eyes.

"Let's just get out of the crowd. I'm bored here," he told her while handing her the cup of drink and pulled her hand into the woods and both stopped near the big tree. "You know what, I feel worried about you. Are you fine with everything? I mean all the dealing with your parents stuff, are you okay?"

Alex gulped down the drink—looking up to the sky as she did so. She only nodded answering his question since she didn't like talking about it.

"Woah, you finished it real quick," he smirked and started kissing her, slowly and softly, but the innocent kiss soon turned into a passionate and deep one. But they stopped when they heard a voice of a crow nearby, and seen the fog that encircled them. "What the hell?" Tyler backed off, looking around.

"Someone help!" They both heard a familiar voice call out and the crowd was very noisy talking about something that has happened, until Alex realized that it was her sister's voice.

"That's my sister, come on, Ty!" She said, grabbing his hand and making their way to leave the woods, to go back to the crowded venue. They saw Jeremy and Elena were carrying Vicki. Matt, Vicki's brother, came over and helped the two with carrying his little sister. Tyler was also panicked, "Wait, Alex. I think I should help them."

She nodded approvingly in concern and still watching from the back.

"What happened?" Matt questioned, and a second later he yelled as if being extremely worried about his sister. "What the- somebody please call an ambulance!"

Alex eventually shoved past everyone to see Vicki and gasped in shock. "Oh my god.. it's her neck! Something bit her. She is losing a lot of blood."

"Vicki, come on. Open your eyes, look at me." Matt was alarmed and upset seeing his sister like this, being weak and hurt especially bleeding severely.

Stefan could smell the blood of her neck pouring from the open wound when he saw the bite mark. He took note of the mark as his mouth fell open, running away from the party, heading to the boarding house where he saw Zach was sitting at his desk.

"What's going on?" Zach asked casually looking at his uncle who was really in panic.

"Someone else was attacked tonight, Zach, and it wasn't by me." Stefan clarified frustratedly and run upstairs to his room quickly, and slammed the door shut behind him. There was obviously another vampire in town, but he hadn't encounter the vampire yet, his mind was all about the bite mark on the girl's neck. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted when a crow appeared, landed on one of the beams on his ceiling and when he turned around, he was shocked to see a figure standing there on the other side of the doorway with a playful smirk was playing on his lips.

"Damon." Stefan announced.

"Hello, brother." Damon purred with a smirk, walking into the room as the crow disappeared when Stefan and Damon stared at each other.

"Crow's a bit much, don't you think?" Stefan asked.

"Wait until you see what I can do with the fog." He wiggled his eye brows but ended up glaring at his little brother in front of him.

"When did you get here?" Stefan asked bluntly.

"Well, I couldn't miss your first day of school." Damon joked while started to explore the room and stopped near a shelf, running a hand on each books therein. "Your hair's different, I like it."

"It's been 15 years, Damon." Stefan replied tilting his head when Damon rolled his eyes in sarcasm.

"Thank God, I couldn't take another day of the 90s." Damon smirked playfully and raised his brows before continuing to talk to his brother. "That horrible grunge look? It doesn't suit you." He scoffed while walking around the room. "Remember, Stefan, it's important to stay away from fads."

"Why are you here?" Stefan asked the question clearer by raising his voice like he was retorting. Damon looked at him with a playful look and answered Stefan's question like it was so simple. "I missed my little brother."

"You hate small towns, it's boring, there's nothing for you to do." Stefan announced calmly watching his brother walking near to the shelf again.

"I've kept myself busy." Damon smirked.

Stefan nodded, slipping his hands into his pocket. "You know you left that girl alive tonight, very clumsy."

"That could be a problem... for you." Damon said lowering his voice and glared darkly at his brother before he could even answer.

Stefan shook his head, irritated at how his brother was calm with all the troubles he made for the past weeks. "Why are you here now?"

"I could ask you the same question. However, I'm fairly certain your answer can be summed up into one little word," Damon paused walking closer to his brother with a dangerous smirk started to appear on his lips. "Elena."

Alex and Elena both sat there watching the paramedics carry Vicki into the back of an ambulance van as Matt was there inside the van before it left and blare the sirens. Tonight was terrifying—the party was forcefully stopped because of the incident. Everyone left as they were told to except for them who were Vicki's friends. They were still sitting in the small wooden cottage, Caroline was sitting across their seat, not wanting to join them in particular but she could still see and hear them clearly.

"Hey, we're gonna go to Mainline Coffee and wait for news." Bonnie informed the rest of her friends. They were shaken about what just happened to one of their friends—although Vicki was actually a friend with bad habits, they still consider her as a friend. "Well, I'm gonna take Jeremy home." Elena replied, standing up, looking at everyone.

"Guys, there is no way I'm psychic." Bonnie announced carefully. "But whatever I saw, or I think I saw, I have this feeling..."

"Bonnie, what?" Alex looked at her, Tyler beside her started to look at Bonnie as well while still rubbing his girlfriend's shoulder gently. There was a long pause, the group were curious about what Bonnie will answer.

"That it's just the beginning." Bonnie finally replied, but with a scared look on her face, causing Alex and Elena to exchange looks at each other, terrified. Beginning of what?

Back to the Salvatores residence, the argument was still up as Damon paced the room slowly while his brother was busy watching him around. "Elena?" Damon creased his brows. "She is a dead ringer for Katherine."

Stefan walked a little bit closer, still watching his brother's moves.

"Is it working, Stefan? Being around her, being in her world, does it make you feel alive?" Damon mocked with an evil grin.

"She's not Katherine." Stefan clarified carefully, hanging on each word.

"Well, let's hope not, we all know how that ended. We gonna need tissues again, brother." Damon looked at the ceiling but then turned to Stefan in an instant. There was no reply.

"Tell me, when was the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel." Damon changed the subject, wiggling his eyebrows at him.

Stefan responded by rolling his eyes, scoffing at his brother who tried to provoke him. "I know what you're doing, Damon, it's not gonna work."

Damon grabbed him, immediately turning Stefan to face him. He knew exactly how to provoke the short-haired younger guy, or to annoy him to be exact. "Yeah? Come on! Don't you crave a little?"

"Stop." Stefan warned, raising an eye brow.

"Let's do it, together." Damon hit him again on the shoulder. "I saw a couple of girls out there."

Stefan gasped as his brother smacked him again.- "Or just, let's just cut to the chase. Let's just go straight for Elena and maybe… Alex too!"

Impatient and angry, Stefan suddenly shoved him back, exclaiming in anger. "Stop it!"

"Imagine what their blood taste like!" Damon said, half-shouting, watching his brother turned. It was almost there, Damon was almost successful provoking him, and this time he purred playfully. "I can."

"I said stop!" Stefan yelled as his eyes turned a deep crimson, black veins popping around them and his fangs clicking down—he growled while launching himself at his older brother, pushing Damon and both were thrown through the closed window—landing hard on the concrete ground but Stefan realized he was on the floor alone, Damon wasn't there. The younger vampire pulled himself up with a loud groan escaped his lips.

"I was impressed." Damon said standing near a bush across Stefan. "I give it a six, miss on style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the face." He made a goofy growling noise to mock him with a chuckle. "It was good."

"You know, it's all fun and games, Damon, huh? But wherever you go people die."- Stefan walked over to him taking his time when Damon shrugged slowly. "That's a given."

"Not here," Stefan shook his head, showing his authority. "I won't allow it."

"I'll take that as an invitation." Damon muttered, wiggling his eye brows playfully.

Stefan sighed loudly. He was almost tired of all these. "Damon, please, after all these years can't we just give it a rest?"

"I promise you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word." He smiled evilly, walking closer and gave out a very playful look over his brother.

Now he won, Stefan knew his brother won. "Just stay away from Elena."

Damon flickered down scanning his brother and suddenly burst out of laughing. "Elena? Oh baby brother. She isn't the one that I want. I want the younger Gilbert. Who's that? Oh, not Jeremy of course. His twin… Alex. she took my breath away."

"What do you want from Alex? Stop making troubles, Damon." Stefan's eyes narrowed, pleading his brother not to touch any of the Gilberts, and the uncomfortable feelings started to haunt him.

"Why don't you tell her that you have a brother? You want me to tell her myself?" Damon laughed playfully. He liked to annoy his younger brother. "By the way, where is your ring, Stefan?"

Stefan's eyes flickered down to his finger as he rubbed it with another hand; the ring was no longer on his finger, it was missing but he got the feeling that Damon was just playing around with him.

"Oh yeah," Damon shook his head, acting as if he was concerned, he made a fake worried face. "Sun's coming up in a couple of hours and, poof! Ashes to ashes."

Stefan gulped, and was about to say something before he heard his brother laughed at him.

"Relax." Damon walked over to his younger brother and held the ring out in his hand. "It's right here."

As soon as Stefan took the ring, he immediately put the ring back on his finger properly before Damon grabbed him by his neck as his face turned into his vampire face. Growling, Damon threw Stefan across the yard and caused him to land on the ground, and then Damon vamped over to him in just a second.

"You should know better than to think you're stronger than me," Damon warned his younger, weaker brother on the ground. "You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people, I wouldn't try it again." He threatened and smirked as he heard the door opening. "I think we woke Zach up," he scoffed, and started to walk away.

"Sorry, Zach." He apologised, then whistling an up-beat tune before he left the area.

Back in the party venue, as most of the people already left, Elena spotted her brother who was sitting on the other beam of the small cottage's fence, while Alex was still talking with her boyfriend, Tyler.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked. "I called Jenna, and she's on her way. Alex will go home with Tyler, they might be late, well, you know them. And those people in uniforms, last time I checked, they're the police. People are going to stop giving you breaks, Jer."

Jeremy still didn't seem to care and continued drinking the beer in his hand.

"They just don't care anymore. They don't remember that our parents are dead, because they've got their own lives to deal with. The rest of the world has moved on. You should try, too." She suggested with a low voice as she crossed her arms looking at her messed up brother.

"I've seen you in the cemetery writing in your diary. Is that─ is that supposed to be you moving on?" He asked sarcastically and turned his dark glare to her. He lost his parents, and now he didn't want to lose the girl he loved, he didn't want to see anyone else dying.

"Mom and dad wouldn't have wanted this. They obviously don't want to see you like this, Jeremy."

"Just leave me alone." Jeremy said and started walking away.

Meanwhile at the hospital, Matt was sitting on the couch in Vicki's room where she had been resting after the incident—and a minute later, he was aware that she woke up, gasping.

"Vicki… Hey. Hey, it's okay. You're gonna be okay." Matt assured her while caressing her hair gently.

"Matt—"

"Hey, don't try to talk, okay? You're fine." He tried to comfort her—and himself, of course. It was worrying to know that his sister was still gasping, terrified about the incident. But he knew he couldn't blame her because he knew she was still in trauma.

"…Vampire."

Alex threw herself onto her bed, dropping her bag beside her and wondered about what just happened today. It was strange, yet terrifying. She couldn't help but keep recalling the incidents. She glanced toward the door when she heard her sister made slight noises outside. She left her room and followed Elena downstairs, and saw her opening the door for Stefan.

"I'm sorry it's late but I needed to know that you were okay?" Stefan looked at her, and then at Alex behind Elena. He greeted her. "Hello, Alex."

She only sent him a kind, polite smile in reply.

"You know, for months, that's all anyone's ever wondered about me…" Elena shrugged her shoulders and let out a small sigh. "If I'll be okay."

Alex looked at both of them while listening to their conversation.

"And what do you tell them?"

"I tell them that I'll be fine."

Alex started to speak to help her sister to answer his question. "Well, she doesn't want too many people to worry about her."

"Okay... do you ever really mean it, Elena?"

"Ask me tomorrow." Elena replied tersely with a half-smile. "It's warmer in the house, we can talk. Would you like to come in?"

"Yes." Stefan smiled back while slowly walking inside the house.

"Um, hey, I'll be in my room." Alex said to both of them while heading to the staircase. "Night, Elena and Stefan. Have fun."

"Night." Elena nodded with a warm smile.

Stefan also smiled to the younger female who was going upstairs. "Night, Alex. See you tomorrow."

AN — Good or bad, reviews will always be very loved, it will encourage and help me a lot to continue the story. :D

Don't forget to visit theroseofgilbert . tumblr . com for pictures, gifs, etc that is related to the story. You can also interact with Damon and Alex when they're online!

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Do you wanna see the outfits that Alex wear? Then you are more than just welcome to visit my polyvore! My username is summerhuntress. All outfits are there! Feel free to follow if you have an account.

~ To Be Continued ~