AN UNEXPECTED LOVE AFFAIR - PART 2
Fan Fic Season 2 TV-Vampire Diaries
Writer's note: I have nothing to say on this chapter…Because I can't say anything! (LOL)…Except, like always: humour, sexy scenes, and the unexpected! But, I can tell you that we are heading toward an 70'-80' disco dance at the Lockwood's in the next chapter, and you'll feel a bit of that energy in this one…Time to put your dancing shoes and remember the good old disco time!
Take into consideration my dear readers, that I just been hired for a new full time/day job…That will put a slower pace on my writing of my three fan fiction stories. But, rest assure that I will finish this story for sure. So be understanding and patient with me. Thanks.
Song choices: No more tears (Enough is enough) / Barbara Streisand and Donna Summer
Extract from my DELENA story:
"Whisper of the past"
Chapter 8: Somebody to love
Underground, early morning, next day
The man stepped out of the industrial elevator that brought him and two of his vampire men into Alex's underground. He signed them with his hands, silently, to follow his steps, while stepping into the narrow and dark corridors, before arriving in the middle of an open underground space/room. He stopped, while signing his man to hold back their walking pace behind him, hearing the loading of weapons. He held his hands above his head, while smirking.
"I come in peace!" He said out loud, before seeing a man getting out of his dark hiding space.
Alex's vampire man approached him, while locking his stare in the man's and noticing his none heartbeat.
"He's a vampire!" The thug screamed into the empty space, making others show their faces, with their weapons in their hands.
"Now, gentlemen…We all know that your weapons won't be of any help against the vampires that we are…There is no need to get upset!" The man sarcastically said, while gesturing with his hands in negation, and smirking to them, before adding. "I'm just here to meet your boss…I heard quite a few extraordinary stories about him, and your crusades as the terrorizing biker group of vampires…And, WOW!I am quite fascinated actually."
"Why would he be interested in meeting you?"Bill sarcastically replied, while showing his face out of the shadow, while limping with his injured leg toward the intruder."And you would be disturbing him; he is busy watching his favorite program on television right now…You see he's a big fan ofI love Lucyre-runs!" Bill added to the intruder, hearing Alex's men bursting into laughter at his joke.
"Ah…I'm a sucker for good humor!"The man replied, while smiling, and shaking his head, before adding. "You must be his right arm man, in all his glory?" The man added to Bill, with a sarcastic humor, and a smile plastered on his face, while crossing his arms in front of his chest, and taking a few steps himself, to reach him. "Well, make him interested then my friend, I'm not in the habit of being patient!" The man added to Bill.
"Well, then you could take your ass out of here…And go see if you can find him elsewhere!" Bill answered him, while hearing Alex's men bursting into laughter a second time.
"Or I could rip your leaver into pieces in a second!" The man responded, while bending his head near Bill's, and angrily adding as an order. "Make him show himself to me, now!"
"It's very hard that someone would be able to make me do something that I don't want to do!" A cold and ordering voice exclaimed loudly, making the man raise his head and smirk at Alex's appearance, in top of a steel platform.
Alex came down the steel stairs, while approaching the man's standing position, before placing his body in front of his, and locking his cold-icy stare with the stranger's.
"Who are you, and what gives you the idea that you can enter my world without any consequences, while thinking that you will have the slimmest chance to get out of here without me slicing you into pieces?" Alex asked the man in front of him, while placing his hands on each side of his waist.
"Who wants to know?" The vampire man sarcastically replied to him, while approaching his face at a near inch of Alex's.
"You worst nightmare…" Alex responded to the man, before lowering his head and spitting on the man's boots. "…Oh my bad, I can be so clumsy sometimes"He added to him, while smirking at the man.
"Mm…" The man mumbled to Alex, while looking at his soiled boots and raising his stare back in Alex's. "You're so arrogant now…So pretentious…I like it!"The man added to him, while taking a few walking steps around Alex, before coming back in front of him, and continuing. "You can simply call me Klaus!"
Chapter 7
"IF THE TRUTH WERE KNOWN"
Caroline nervously poured herself a cup of her morning coffee, dropping some of the liquid on the kitchen counter by accident, before passing a wet cloth to clean the spill, stopping her task at hands a few seconds later, while putting both of her hands on the edge of the counter, lowering her head, closing her eyes, and counting silently to ten. She almost did not sleep the previous night, and the sun was slowly rising at this present moment, it was not even six o'clock in the morning.
The two past days of hiding herself away from both Stefan and Tyler had put her nerves to the limit of tolerance. Caroline had managed to keep herself busy at the bakery shop, and making excuses to Tyler as why she was so busy, and could not play her charade in front of Stefan, for the time being. She dropped the content of her cup in the sink, before directing her walk toward the fridge, thinking that after all, a fresh orange juice would be better for her nerves.
As for Stefan, he was for the most of the time, out of the house, seeking/searching, while tracking every move of Tyler, and trying to find out if Klaus was still in town and most of all, what was his present need and purpose with Tyler? She was more than happy for the free time she was granted away from him…Especially that each time they had bumped into each other in the house, he was looking at her with this intense glare and unbearable smirk that meant: I know you want me…I'm patient, I'll wait for you till you'll give what I want!
If this was not stressful enough, her last conversation with Rose had truthfully made her more anxious than ever! Elena was not mistaken when she had told her that Rose was a special child, gifted with supernatural faculties. Caroline had received the news that Rose knew about Damon being her father, like a tone of bricks on her head.
She reached for a glass on a kitchen cabinet shelf, before pouring orange juice in it, and drifting to a very recent past memory event…
Damon's bedroom, two days ago
(…)
"What do you have there?" Caroline asked the little girl, before taking the wooded frame away from her hands. "Oh…A picture of your Uncle Stefan." Caroline said to her, with a smile, while noticing Damon standing beside Stefan, before seeing Rose nodding her head once more.
"Yes…" The little girl said to Caroline "…But not just Uncle Stefan, Aunty Caroline." She added while shaking her head in negation.
"Yes, I see there is another man with your Uncle Stefan on the picture…It's his brother, his name is Damon…He went away to travel the world, sweetie." Caroline explained to Rose, while caressing her hair and looking at the picture of the two Salvatore brothers. There was no need for her to explain anything to the little girl. Elena had never talked about Damon to Rose, and therefore, she thought, it wasn't her place to do it either.
"I know…" Rose responded to Caroline, while nodding her head. "…He's my father!" Rose added in exclamation to Caroline, making her almost jumped out of her skin, while raising her sight on her, and loosing all the colors in her face.
"What did you just say?" She mumbled almost incoherently.
"The man in the picture with Uncle Stefan, Aunty Caroline…" Rose repeated to her, while pointing Damon with one of her little fingers and nodding her head. "…He is my daddy!" She added, while leaving a mouth open, speechless Caroline at her side.
Caroline closed her eyes for a split second to fully grasp what she just heard from Rose's mouth, before reopening them, and kneeling on the floor in front of the little girl, sliding her hands on the little girl's thighs.
"What makes you think, sweetie, that…That Uncle Stefan's brother is you daddy?" Caroline asked her, while locking her eyes with Rose's.
"He is…" She simply responded, while staring at Caroline, shrugging her little shoulders and blinking her eyes, acting like this question was already a known fact to her.
"Is it your mummy who told you?" Caroline asked her, still in amazement that the little girl always knew that fact from the start.
Rose shook her head in negation, before lowering her sight on the frame, and passing her little fingers on her daddy's picture.
"I know, Aunty Caroline!" Rose responded to her.
"So…You know that Stefan is really your real Uncle, then?" Caroline said to her, more as a statement to her, than to the little girl.
"Of course, he is my real Uncle, Aunty Caroline…" Rose responded to her, while giggling and putting her hands in front of her little mouth, to hold her laughter.
"Ok…" Caroline responded to her, while shaking her head still in complete shock, before closing her eyes. She needed to think for a second; clearly it was obvious that Rose was gifted, and able to see things that normal human being would not discover so easily. Now she needed to convince the little girl to keep this bit of information hidden from Stefan, till Elena's return. If ever Stefan would find out about Rose being his real niece, she would be toast, and he would never understand her motivation for keeping Elena's secrets, and hiding them from him. "Sweetie…" Caroline said to her, while caressing her hair, and smiling. "…You want to play a funny game with your Aunt Caroline?" She asked the little girl, while seeing Rose nodding in approbation, before adding. "Can you just keep this little secret between us for now…We'll make a big surprise to your Uncle Stefan later, Ok? We'll tell him that you are his real niece, and that his brother Damon is your Daddy?"
"But, he's my Uncle Stefan, he knows that!" Rose exclaimed in anger to Caroline, while pouting and punching her legs with her little fists.
"Oh, sweetie…Of course, he knows!" Caroline responded to her, while holding Rose little hands together. "But you see, it's a bit complicated, and difficult to understand for a little girl…You are his little mouse, he loves you so much…But, he doesn't know that you are his real niece yet…Can you imagine how happy he'll be when he'll find out! He'll be sooooo happy!" Caroline exclaimed to Rose, while smiling at her, and adding for herself in her head: "And I'll be so dead!"
"Can I still call him: Uncle Stefan, Aunty Caroline?" Rose asked Caroline.
"Of course you can...But don't talk to him about your Daddy Damon for now, ok? Pinkie swears?" Caroline asked her, while showing her little right finger to her, before holding it with Rose's little one.
"Pinkie swears, Aunty Caroline…" Rose responded to her, before asking. "…Do you know when my Daddy will be back?"
"No, I don't, sweetie…" Caroline responded, while shaking her head, smiling timidly to Rose, and caressing the little girl's head. "…Your mummy is trying for find him!"
"I know!" Rose responded to her, with a big smile on her face, while jumping away from the bed, carrying the picture frame in her arms, before being stopped by Caroline.
"Sweetie, come here…" Caroline called her, while seeing Rose come back toward her, before opening the back of the frame to take the picture, and folding it in two. "You have to promise me that you will hide this picture for now, OK?"
Rose nodded her head to her, before taking the folded picture in her hands, and rushing out of the bedroom. Caroline rose on a standing position, before closing her eyes, and putting a hand over her mouth; preventing her screams….She was in more trouble that she could have ever imagined!
Caroline got back to reality, before shaking her head, and taking a sip or her orange juice, while taking a few steps toward the kitchen window, and closing her eyes to feel the warm of the sunrise one her face.
Elena had certainly put more responsibilities on her shoulders that she could have ever imagined! Day after day, this all situation was harder and more difficult for her to handle, the lies were adding up, and the truth could not be found anymore. And how would it be possible to tell Rose that her father had become a monster, and that he would probably never be back in her life?
Stefan entered the kitchen, while stroking his eyes to help him wake up…Taking unsteady silent walking steps to reach the kitchen counter and the coffee maker, with only a body towel wrapped around his waist to dress himself…It was very early in the morning, near 6:00 a.m., he just took a quick cold shower to wake him up, and had decided to go downstairs to make himself a cup of coffee…The house was still very quiet, and Caroline and Rose were probably still sleeping. He did not see Caroline standing in front of the window at first sigh. He poured himself a cup of coffee, before turning and finally noticing her, before reaching her standing position.
"Morning…" He murmured near her left ear; making her jumped out of her skin, turn around in a hurry, while hitting with her left elbow the cup of coffee that Stefan was holding in his right hand, before seeing the hot brown liquid being spill all over his lower body. "Damn it!" Stefan screamed from the top of his lungs, before getting rid of the wet-burning towel, and throwing it on the floor.
"Oh my God…I'm so sorry!" Caroline exclaimed to him, while putting one of her hands on her chest, and looking at him with an open mouth expression, before adding. "I did not hear you…I was in my thoughts…and…Are you burn? And, oh my God you're naked!" Caroline mumbled almost incoherently to Stefan, while lowering her sight, blushing, and turning her head suddenly.
"No, I'm not burned…One of the ups of being a vampire: speed reaction!" He answered her, while shaking his head, before adding in a mocking tone of voice. "And yes, at the present moment, I'm naked! Not like you did not see me naked before, Caroline?"
"Well…" She mumbled, while avoiding looking at him, before taking a kitchen towel in her hands and handing it, without facing him.
"What do you want me to do with this?" Stefan asked her, while taking the small kitchen towel in his hands.
"Put it in front of …You know!" She responded to him, while gesturing with her hands.
"I don't think that this…" He said to her, while showing the small kitchen towel. "…is going to cover what ever you want to cover, Caroline!" He mockingly answered her, making her sighed in anger, taking back the kitchen towel from his hands, before reaching for two others in a drawers, and knotting them together.
"What are you doing?" Stefan asked her, completely dumbfounded, before bursting into laughter. "Are you making me a plaid skirt?"
"There!" Caroline replied, while ignoring his say, and handing the improvise towels-skirt to him. "Put that on you!" She ordered him, while facing the counter, rolling her eyes, and crossing her arms in front of her chest.
Stefan took in his hands the towels, while placing them around his waist, with the biggest smirk on his face, before taking a few walking steps to reach her standing position, sliding his head near hers, with his hands placed on each side of his waist.
"So…" He started murmuring in her left ear, his lips placed on top of her lobe. "…You seem a bit on edge, cupcake...Problems? Is it because you feel so drawn to me that you can't even control yourself when I am in front of you, in my birthday suit?" Stefan mockingly asked her, while giggling.
"Oh…" She mumbled angrily, while pushing herself away from him. "…You're so full of yourself, Salvatore!"
"I'm joking; Caroline…You're as tense as a violin string, for God sake!" Stefan told her, while gesturing with his arms, before adding. "I told you that I will not touch you anymore…" He said to her, while leaning his back on the kitchen counter, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "…Till you'll beg me to do it!" He added, while smirking at her.
"Well…that is not going to happen! I told you, it was a one night thing between us…And, that we should stay friends!" She mumbled to him, nervously, and almost incoherently, while rinsing her glass in the sink. "…And why are you walking naked in the house so early in the morning?"
"I was not naked!" He responded to her, while bending his upper body to pick up the stain body towel on the kitchen floor, before showing it to her, and adding. "I was wearing a body towel, while coming into the kitchen, very early in the morning, to pick up a cup of coffee…When suddenly; I was almost burned by you in the process! It's so early that I thought that you would still be in bed, and I know for a fact that Rose is still sleeping!" He explained to her, while putting the soiled towel in top of one of the kitchen chair.
"I couldn't sleep…" Caroline replied to him, while shrugging her shoulders, filling a cup with fresh coffee, and handing it to him.
"Thank you…" He said to her, while taking the cup in his hands, and taking a sip of the hot beverage. "…I couldn't sleep, either!" He confessed to her, before putting the cup on the counter, and stroking his eyes.
"You find something?" Caroline asked him.
"I think that Klaus left Mystic Falls, for the time being…I've been tracking Tyler almost none stop…And, except from that time where we heard him talk to Klaus on his cell in your bedroom, nothing out of the ordinary happened…" Stefan told Caroline.
"You think he left for good…" She questioned him.
"Nope…I think he left for whatever reason that would help him pursue his Machiavellian plan… But…" Stefan added to her.
"But…" Caroline repeated after him.
"Our previous thinking that Carole could have been compelled by Klaus could be a possibility…." Stefan started explaining to her, while crossing his arms on his chest. "…Tyler has been watching her like a security dog almost 24/7!"
"He's protecting his own mother, Stefan!" Caroline said to him, while shaking her head, and adding. "I told you that he wouldn't play with us that way for any reason."
Stefan lowered his sight on the kitchen floor, while avoiding looking at Caroline in the eyes.
"Stefan…" She called him, before seeing him raise his sight and look at her. "…Tyler is a lot of things, but a traitor is not one of those things! I'm sure he is trying to find a way to get free of Klaus, like we are! We have to talk to him; we have to let him know that we know about this forced alliance!"
"Absolutely not…" Stefan responded to her, while taking a few walking steps to reach Caroline standing position, before bending his head near hers. "Caroline, it is our only way of having an upper hand on Klaus. I'm not about to throw it by the window, only because you're having a soft spot for Tyler!"
"It's more than a soft spot, Stefan…" Caroline angrily responded to Stefan, before adding. "..I…I love him!" She added to him, while raising her chin to look at him in the eyes. Well, technically she was not lying to him, she thought…she loves Tyler, but she is just not in love with him.
"Mm…Love, really?" Stefan mumbled to her, whilebending his head near hers, and locking his eyes with hers. "…That is probably why you've been hiding in your work the last few days, to avoid seeing him?" He added to her, while winking.
Caroline closed her fists in anger, before turning on herself and directing her walking steps toward the fridge.
"Isn't it time for you to go dress yourself, and start you day?" Caroline said to him, without answering him.
Stefan smiled, grabbed the body towel on the chair, before throwing it on his right shoulder, taking a few steps to reach her standing position in front of the kitchen counter, before slowly sliding the back of his hands along the length of her arms, making her close her eyes, and feel a range of goosebumps hitting her body in delectable waves of pleasure.
"I'll put the stain towel in the wash basket, and keep the kitchen towels skirt as a souvenir…To remind me how much you were disturbed by my naked presence near you!" He murmured near her left ear, making her lower her body on his naked chest, before opening her eyes, while feeling cold suddenly, and turning on herself to find herself alone….Stefan had obviously left the kitchen.
Stefan dried with a towel, the drops of sweat on his forehead, before throwing it on the floor, while taking in his arms two weights and alternately elevating them with his forearms, while keeping an eye on Tyler, who was practicing his boxing.
Stefan dropped the weights, before taking his sport bag, and directing his walking steps toward the shower/restroom of the training center. He pushed the door, before dropping his sport bag near a locker, and passing his t-shirt over his head, before being pushed on the lockers doors, and attacked by Tyler.
"What is your fucking problem, Salvatore, you've been following every of my moves since a couple of days?" Tyler screamed in his ears.
It took a split second for Stefan to take a grasp on the situation, before pushing Tyler with his vampire strength and speed on the bench in front of them, while putting his right forearm on Tyler's throat, while holding him in a lying position.
"You really want to play this game with me, Lockwood? Because, if you do…I think you have a poor chance of winning against me today!" Stefan angrily screamed in Tyler's face.
"Let go of me, Salvatore!" Tyler ordered him, while trying to push him away, without succeeding, before adding. "Maybe not today…But, I bet at the next fool moon, it could be a new game!"
Stefan locked his eyes with Tyler's, before pushing him on the floor, and straightening his body in a standing position.
"You're threatening me, Lockwood?" Stefan asked him, before leaning his back on a locker, and crossing his arms in front of his chest, while watching Tyler getting up, and opening a locker to take a bag from inside.
"It depends, Salvatore…If you stop watching my every move, maybe we could even try to be civil to each other!" Tyler responded to him, while taking a bottle of water, and drinking.
"Now, you're dreaming big!" Stefan responded to him, in a mocking tone of voice.
"That's what I'm thinking also!" Tyler sarcastically answered him, while closing the locker door, before adding. "Now…Stop following my every step, stop believing that you could for a second win Caroline again…And maybe, I'll be willing to spare you at the next fool moon!"
"Still sound like a threat to me?" Stefan said to him.
"What is your game, Salvatore?" Tyler asked him, while putting his face at a near inch of Stefan's. "Watching my every move, to report to Caroline? Hoping that I could be unfaithful to her? It's not going to work…You were the jerk five years ago who left her alone and depressed, not me! She'll never go back to you, she learned from her previous mistake!"
Stefan lowered his sight to look at the floor, before tilting his head, and smirking.
"Who knows what could happen, Tyler…And what already did?" Stefan answered, while shrugging his shoulders to Tyler. "I noticed that you were passing a lot of time with you mother these days, and not Caroline…Problems, Tyler?"
"Seriously, Salvatore…You're watching me and my mother? What is your damn problem? Wow…You are really fucked up in the head! Now, I'm warning you! Stay the hell away from me and my family!" Tyler screamed at him, while grabbing his sport bag, and heading toward the showers.
Yap! Tough Stefan, while watching Tyler entering the shower facilities, Carole Lockwood was definitely a bargaining chip in Klaus's hands.
Caroline took the cupcakes out of the industrial oven, while sliding the plate on the island table, and wiping her hands on her apron. She heard the bell of the front door rang and screamed:
"I'll be with you in a second!"
"No need!" Stefan answered her, while entering the back kitchen of the bakery.
"Hi!" She said to Stefan, while washing her hands in the sink.
"Hi!" Stefan answered her, while taking a few more walking steps to reach her standing position, before dropping his sport bag near the kitchen island.
"Where's Rose?" He asked her, before leaning his back on the counter, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"At my mum's, making apple pies…" Caroline told him. "…You've been training?" She asked him, while taking a look at the bag placed at his feet, while taking a bowl of frosting from the fridge.
"Let just say I've been training in the company of Tyler!" He responded to him, while winking at her.
"Did you find something new?" She asked him, while taking a spatula in her hands.
"Nothing much…Except that you must be right with your theory about Carole being compelled by Klaus for one of his purpose…Though, I can't get what he would gain by using her?" Stefan explained to her, while shaking his head in disbelief.
"Bargaining chip and also being able to lure Tyler under his authority, perhaps?" Caroline said to him, while shrugging her shoulders.
"There's something else…And I can't put my finger on it!" Stefan responded to her, while staring in the emptiness of the room, before turning his sight on Caroline, smiling while looking at her in the process of frosting a previous batch of cupcakes. "You're good at what you're doing, and what you accomplished the last past five years…You should be proud!" He honestly said, while smiling at her, making her raised her head to look at him in surprise.
"Thanks…" She answered him, while smiling back at him, and blushing. "I did my best!" She added to Stefan, while shrugging her shoulders.
"What you're making there…" Stefan asked her, while nodding in direction of the bowl that she was holding in her hands.
"Actually…" She responded to him, while tilting her head, and raising her chin proudly. "…It's a new recipe of frosting that I made: Double fudge chocolate delight!" She added to him, while taking a bit of frosting to her mouth, before realizing that she had put frosting every where on her hands and on her chin. "Oh my God, look at me…I have frosting everywhere!" She said to him, with laughter in her voice.
"Can I taste it?" Stefan asked her.
"Sure!" She answered him, before seeing him take her right hand in his, bringing it near his mouth, and slowly licking the chocolate from her hand, before entering one of her finger in his mouth, and tasting her, making Caroline startled on surprise, and feeling a wave of delectable chills hitting her.
"Stefan…" She murmured to him, as a warning, without being able to move a muscle.
"Mm…" He murmured back to her, while bending his head near hers, and passing his thumb on the trace of chocolate at the corner of her lips. "….You managed to put chocolate everywhere!" He added to her, while locking his eyes with hers.
"I…I always do that…" She mumbled to him, at the same time she was closing her eyes, feeling the tip of his tongue licking the chocolate at the corner of her lips, before feeling his lips crashing on hers, while being pulled in his arms, with his arms encircling her waist.
"I'm so sorry; no one was in front of the bakery…I thought you would be in the back kitchen…But, if I am disturbing you in a bad moment…I present you my apologies, maybe I could come back later?" They heard a feminine voice calling them, before detaching their lips, and turning their heads to see Carole Lockwood standing at the entrance of the kitchen.
"Carole…" Caroline exclaimed, while gently pushing Stefan away from her, before asking. "…What…What is bringing you here?"
Caroline glared a quick moment at Stefan, before saying:
"An invitation actually...To a 70-80' disco event/dance that will be held one week from today, at the Lockwood's mansion, naturally…" She explained to them, while nodding her head, and staring in front of her.
"I…I never heard of this event before today?" Caroline replied to her, while looking at Stefan.
"It's an extravaganza of the moment, actually…" Carole replied to her, before adding. "…I would really like for the both of you to be present."
"Carole…" Stefan said to her, while reaching her standing position and locking his sight in hers. "…Who decided of this event?"
"I…" She mumbled to him, while shaking her head, and not knowing what to answer.
"It's ok…" Stefan added to her, while putting a friendly hand on her left shoulder, before adding. "…We'll be there!"
"Perfect! Around eight O'clock then…I will see you there!" Caroline said to them, while nodding her head, turning on herself and asking. "And by the way…What about the little girl, Rose is it?"
"My mum will take care of her in my absence." Caroline responded to her, while crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Perfect!" She added to them, before smiling and leaving the kitchen.
"Stefan…" Caroline called him nervously.
"Mm…She is totally, completely, compelled…She saw me kissing you, and not Tyler, and she said nothing!" He responded to Caroline, before adding. "And, for a strange reason Klaus wants for us to be at that dance!"
"What are we going to do?" Caroline asked him, suddenly very nervous.
"Put our disco shoes and go to the event!" Stefan responded to her.
Boarding house
Caroline put the last washed plate on a kitchen shelf, before closing the cabinet. She turned on herself and noticed Stefan who was watching her with a smile on his face, while leaning his right upper body side on the arch door, with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"Need help with the dishes?" He asked her.
"No, thanks…I'm almost done!" She answered him, while drying her hands on the kitchen towel. "Where's Rose?"
"Playing hide and seek, at the moment, to delay her time to go to bed." He explained to Caroline, before hearing her laugh. How much he loves to hear her laugh, it was always the highlight of his day.
"She has a way of always delaying that moment, and it's getting harder to put her to bed, with each passing day…" Caroline told him, while cleaning the kitchen counter, before seeing a small tornado passing by Stefan standing position, stopping in front of him, passing her tongue to him, and running toward the back kitchen stairs, while screaming to him:
"You can't catch me, Uncle Stefan!"
"I just want to tell you, little mouse…That I will, not only catch you, but eat you alive also!" He screamed back at her, while hearing her giggle, and rushing on the stairs. "I'm going to put her to bed…" He said to Caroline, while turning and winking at her, before adding. "…You want to come?"
"No thank you…But go and kiss her good night for me, and don't forget to make her brush her teeth…I still have the oven to clean." She explained, while showing him a wet cloth in her hands.
"Ok, see you in a bit…" He answered, while smiling to her and rushing upstairs.
Caroline felt a lump in her throat, she raised her right hand, while sweeping away a tear from her eye …This was for sure one of her secret hidden fantasy…And even if she knew that it would never be possible, being able to share it for a short moment with him and Rose, was like experimenting for a short brief moment the realization of one of her past human dream: a family!
"Got you…" Stefan screamed to Rose, while grabbing the little girl by the arms, and throwing her on his right shoulders, like a small bag, while tickling her. "…Now, you're going to bed!"
"No, Uncle Stefan, let me go!" Rose screamed from the top of her lungs, while giggling.
Stefan pushed her bedroom door, before dropping Rose on the floor.
"Now, go put your PJ and brush your teeth….I'll open your bed and wait for you!" Stefan ordered her to do, while slapping her bottom.
"Can you read me a story before I fall asleep?" Rose asked him, while turning on herself, and giving him the puppy eyes.
"The puppy eyes, really?" Stefan said her, before putting a PJ in her hands, and turning her body around, while pushing her toward her adjacent bathroom. "Go!"
"I'll go fast-fast for you to read me Snow white!" She replied to him, while rushing into the bathroom, and closing the door behind her.
Stefan shook his head, while smirking, and taking a few walking steps to reach Roses' bed. He pushed the comforter at the far end, while opening the bed sheets, placing the pillow, and taking a sitting place on the mattress, with his hands on the Snow White illustrated children book, before opening the first pages, and suddenly thinking that this moment seemed so perfect to him….This being: him, Caroline & Rose…The kind of life he wanted for himself back in his human days, in love with a woman, and with child.
He opened one page of the children book before seeing a folded picture fall on the wooded floor, bending himself to take it in his hands, before startling and recognizing a picture of him and Damon.
The bathroom door opened, and Rose stormed out of the room, before running and jumping on her bed, reaching a sitting place beside Stefan.
"Can you read me the story of Snow White, Uncle Stefan…Please?" She asked him, while tilting her head, and putting her little hands together as a prayer.
"Sure, sweetie! But what is this?" Stefan asked Rose, while titling his head himself, showing the picture, before caressing her hair and smiling to her.
"Aunty Caroline told me that it was ok for me to take it…Are you mad?" Rose asked Stefan, with a very serious expression on her face.
"Of course it is ok, sweetie….And no, I'm not mad…But, I could give you a picture of me if you wanted? I know you don't know my brother Damon." He responded to her, before seeing her shake her head in negation, and taking back the picture from his hands, while holding it near her little chest and heart.
"I want this one…" She responded to him.
"Why is that picture so special to you, sweetie?" Stefan questioned her more, while caressing her cheeks.
Rose put a finger in top of her little mouth, while signing to him that it was meant to be kept a secret.
"Oh… it is a secret?" Stefan said to Rose, while nodding his head and putting a finger in top of his own lips, while imitating her own gesture, before adding. "…Ok, I should not ask, then?"
Rose shook her head one more time, while keeping her little finger on her lips.
"It's a secret between Aunty Caroline and me!" Rose told him.
"Ok, it's between you two…I won't ask again then!" Stefan responded, while winking at her, and adding. "So…Snow White, it's your favourite story?" Stefan asked Rose, while kissing her forehead, and turning the pages.
"Yes…" Rose responded to him, while nodding her head.
"Why is that, sweetie?" Stefan asked her.
"Because, of the seven dwarfs…And Snow White…And the apple….And the prince…and…." Rose started enumerating all the "whys" to Stefan, making him smile in amusement, while turning the pages of the book. "…And also because my mummy Elena was reading this story to me all the time…" She added, while nodding his head.
Stefan startled in complete shock, while freezing all his gesture, loosing his smile in a second, and slowly raising his stare at Rose.
"What did you just say?" Stefan asked Rose.
Caroline filled two cups of hot coffee, and directed her steps toward the fridge to take some milk from a shelf…She felt happy tonight…Even if everything was so wrong and that they were basically in danger with Klaus, tonight it was only her little fantasy world, with Stefan & Rose, in a little heaven…She turned the sound button of the old retro radio on the counter, before listening to an old disco song of Donna Summer and Barbara Streisand, while singing the lyrics, and dancing around the table.
"It's raining, it's pouring, my love life is boring me to tears…After all these years…No sunshine, no moonlight, No stardust, no sign of romance, we don't stand a chance…I always dreamed I find the perfect lover…But, he turned out to be like every other man…Our love, Our love…Enough is enough, I can' go on, I can't go on, no more no…Enough is enough…" She sang from the top of her lungs, before startling hard while feeling Stefan presence behind her, turning on herself, with a hand in front of her chest. "Oh! You scared me to death…I was singing, like a stupid fool while listening to this old 80's song…I made coffee for us…" Caroline said, while smiling at him, before loosing her smile. "Stefan?" She asked him.
Stefan took a few walking steps to reach her standing position, before locking his teary eyes into Caroline's, while standing lividly and silently in front of her.
"Are you ok? You're scaring me?" Caroline asked him, while putting a friendly hand on his left upper arm, before being pushed away. "What…What's going on?" She asked him, while shaking her head and taking a few steps backward, feeling an uneasy feeling hitting her suddenly.
Stefan shook his head in disbelief, while passing a nervous hand through his hair, before placing both of his hands on each side of his waist.
"How could you?" He asked her, while looking at her with a glimpse of hate in his stare.
"What are you talking about?" She asked him, with a trembling voice, while expecting the worst.
"How could you?" He repeated from the top of his lungs, while pointing a finger at her. "How could you play me for a fool like this?"
"I don't understand?" Caroline told him, while sweeping the tears that were filling her eyes, and running on her cheeks. She knew…She knew what was coming!
"Who's Rose? Who's her mother? I want to hear the truth from you own mouth… And don't you lye to me this time…Because you've been lying to my face quite enough since I came back! Damn you, Caroline!" She heard him screamed at her, before closing her eyes, feeling the tears running fluently on her cheeks, and hearing the last lyrics of the song that was still playing on the radio: Enough is enough! And indeed, apparently it was!
Do not hate the writer of this fan fiction story (LOL), for her numerous cliff-hangers, remember that she is writing this wonderful story for you all! (Winking)
Always a pleasure to read you all, and to respond to you!
Till the next chapter, keep safe!
