Caroline jerked Stefan away from Bella and placed herself in front of her cousin. "That's enough, Stefan! What the hell is wrong with you?"
Bella didn't acknowledge what was happening in front of her, she didn't even seem to be paying attention. The part of her brain that was still working after Stefan's revelation was racing.
Vampires.
How? That question kept repeating in her mind. How? How was this possible? How could Stefan Salvatore be a vampire? Bella stared at him as he was arguing with the other people in the room. She took in his dark skin, his green eyes, and the glass of alcohol in his hand. His eyes… they did the same thing that Caroline's did, which meant that her cousin was also a vampire.
She laughed. The voices in the room died as they all turned to look at the giggling brunette. Bella had her face buried in her hands and she was almost crying from laughing so hard.
"Of course," they finally heard her say. "Of course this is happening. Of course danger-magnet Bella would find vampires again."
"Again?" demanded Caroline, worried that Bella was finally losing her mind.
"Yeah, Care, again," Stefan said, zipping around her and grabbing Bella's arm, jerking the sleeve up. "You really aren't observant, are you, if you were able to miss this shining beacon."
Elena, Caroline, and Matt, who she had just realized was also there, stared at the mark on her arm in confusion. "Um, what is it?" Elena finally asked.
Stefan continued to stare at Bella. "It's a bite mark from a Cold One, which is another kind of a vampire." Bella vaguely realized from the noise the others were making that they had been as unaware as she was that there were two species of vampires. "Their kind is venomous; if they bite you and don't kill you first, then you turn into one. The fact that she has one and is still human should be impossible."
Bella knew he wanted an explanation from her but she honestly had nothing to say to him. She had no idea what was going on, she was still covered in blood, and she had just seen these people try to stake Finn- "Oh my god," she whispered. She looked up at Stefan. "Finn. You guys tried to stake Finn. Is how you kill your kind of vampire? If it is then that means Finn is… and Rebekah…"
"Yeah, they're vampires," Caroline said softly, trying to be reassuring but still confused at what was going on. "That's why I tried to warn you away from them."
"Well that's pretty hypocritical," Bella automatically responded. "Considering you're a vampire and all." She felt like she was going to break apart at the seams at any moment. Despite all the new, unwelcome knowledge she was receiving, all Bella wanted to do was go find a Mikaelson, any Mikaelson, because this was all too much. She had almost died and she just wanted to not be here.
As if in answer to her thoughts, Elena's phone rang. Turning away from the group, Elena pulled it out of her pocket and instantly answered it after seeing who was calling. "Bonnie," she said, the relief clear in her voice. "Where have you been?"
Whatever was said in response made Elena pale slightly and she pulled the phone away from her ear, pressing a button on it. "You're on speaker," she whispered.
"Good," came Klaus' voice and Bella automatically relaxed slightly, something Stefan took note of. "I'm sure you can guess why it is I'm calling?"
"What did you do to Bonnie?" Elena demanded.
"She unharmed. For now. Sadly, I can't say the same for poor Damon. My sister is such a vengeful creature," Klaus mocked. "Can't really blame her for that though, it's the Mikaelson way."
"What do you want?" Stefan asked, keeping his gaze locked on Bella.
"I would have thought you'd be smart enough to figure that out for yourself, but I guess not. According to my brother, you and your little friends managed to get your hands on some white oak stakes. I want you to bring me all the ones that you happen to have in your possession and in return we'll give you back your brother."
"And Bonnie?" Caroline asked, fists clenched.
There was shuffling on the other end of the line and Klaus spoke again. "You'll get your witch back once we have Bella."
Bella started slightly even as Caroline growled, "I'm not going to give you my cousin!"
"Then expect to get your friend back in pieces," he hissed.
"You would do well not to test us," came Elijah's voice then, obviously having taken the phone from his brother. "The Bennett witch will be returned to you once we have seen that Isabella is alive and unharmed for ourselves."
"Do you really think I would hurt my own cousin?" Caroline asked, offended.
"One of you did stab her," Elijah pointed out coolly.
"That was an accident," Matt finally spoke up, looking sadly at Bella. "I didn't mean to hurt her."
"Be that as it may, you did hurt her. And should we find out that you hurt her any more than you already have, you'll see just why my siblings and I have such a fearsome reputation." His tone sent shivers down Bella's spine. "If you think the damage we've done so far has been terrible, then you will tremble when you see just what we can do when truly enraged."
"Fine," Stefan broke in before Caroline could continue protesting. "We'll be there in ten minutes." He snatched the phone from Elena and hung up.
"Uh no, we won't," Caroline told him, stepping in front of him. "You're not taking her anywhere."
"Do you want Bonnie back alive, or not?" he asked, expression hard.
"Bonnie is a powerful witch," Caroline argued. "Despite whatever previous experience Bella has had with Cold Ones or whatever, she's still human."
"They won't hurt her," Elena said softly, stepping towards Caroline with a pleading expression. "They seem to care about her. Just let them see that she's fine and then we'll get Bonnie and Damon back and everything will be fine."
"Just because you were fine with sending your brother off when things became to troublesome doesn't mean I'm willing to give up a member of my family." Elena flinched at Caroline's venomous tone and Stefan shifted slightly, seeming to Bella like he wanted to shield her from the anger directed towards her.
"That's not fair," Elena responded, eyes large and tragic. "I had to do what was best for him; it was for his own good. You tried to do the same thing with Bella when you tried to compel her."
"What now?" Bella asked, leaning forwards. "What's compulsion?"
"Yeah, well, you did what you thought was best for Jenna and look how that turned out."
The others ignored her. "Elena's right," said Matt. "It seems like Rebekah at least is actually friends with Bella. I don't think she'd let her get hurt."
"You stay out of this," Caroline ordered. "You stabbed my cousin, you don't get a say."
"Well how about me?" Bella almost shouted. "Do I get a say?"
Four heads snapped her way. "What?" her cousin asked dumbly.
"It's my life," Bella said when she was sure she had their attention. "It's my life and I get to decide what I do with it and I want to go with Stefan to the Mikaelson's house."
"Bella," Caroline pleaded, appearing in front of her a second later like magic, making Bella jerk away from her in shock. "You don't know what you're saying, you don't know what they've done."
Bella gave a choked, bitter laugh at that. "You're right, I don't know what's going on. I have no fucking clue what's happening because no one's telling me anything but I do know what I want. And what I want is to go see Rebekah and Klaus and Elijah; I don't want to be here, especially not when he's here." She nodded her head towards Stefan. Normally, Bella wouldn't be so blunt but she could almost feel the metaphorical cracks spreading and she was desperate.
"See, there you go," Stefan said and the disappeared out of the room before reappearing moments later with a black duffle bag and grabbing Bella's arm, jerking her up. "Your cousin wants to go, so off we go."
Caroline looked like she was seconds away from attacking Stefan before she took a deep breath. "Fine, but I'm coming with you."
Stefan shrugged. "Whatever you want." He turned to Elena and Matt and ordered, "You two stay here till we get back."
Bella was dragged unceremoniously out to Caroline's car and thrown into the backseat, the bag placed on her lap as Stefan and her cousin climbed into the front seat. "I still think this is a bad idea," she heard Caroline mutter.
"No one cares what you think," Stefan snapped at her. "Besides, it's not like this is the first time you've placed Bonnie's safety over Bella's- don't act like you have some sort of moral high ground here."
Turning to stare out the window as the car moved faster than the posted speed limit, Bella tuned out their words. It wasn't as though anything they were saying was going to be all that important.
Pulling into the Mikaelson's drive, Stefan parked behind what Bella thought was Bonnie's car before her door was suddenly opened and she was being dragged again, out of the car and up the stairs. Bella stumbled, out of sorts by how quickly Stefan was moving. She'd been around vampires before but they spent most of their time pretending to be human. Stefan wasn't.
Throwing open the door, Stefan pulled Bella through the door and down the hallway with Caroline close on their heels. Entering one of the manors many side rooms, Bella began to choke on the smell of blood that permeated that air. She was slightly horrified to see Damon hanging from the ceiling with what looked like bear traps clamped around his wrists but she wasn't as disturbed as she thought she should be. "Klaus!" Stefan shouted. "We're here! Let's do this!"
Klaus, Rebekah, Elijah, Finn, and Sage instantly appeared in the room, surrounding the group. "I was hoping heroic Stefan would make an appearance," Klaus sneered, looking over the group. His gaze softened when it landed on Bella. "You alright, love?" he asked softly.
She slowly began to tremble as she shook her head. "No," she whispered.
Rebekah stepped forward before abruptly stopping as Stefan's grip on Bella's arm tightened and she winced. "Here's the white oak stakes," he said, tossing the bag at their feet. "Where's Bonnie?"
"In a moment," Klaus said, smirking at Stefan with a look in his eyes that promised pain. "Have to check and make sure you delivered on the first part of our deal." Elijah moved forward then and picked up the bag, ripping it open and counting how many stakes were inside.
"There are seven here," he told his younger brother.
"Let's be certain there aren't any more left, shall we?" He started to walk over to Damon before pausing and glancing back at Bella. "Finn, might you escort the girls into another room? There's no need for them to see this."
"No," Stefan stated, pulling Bella closer to him before smirking at the hybrid. "If she's going to be hanging out with you guys then she should see just what you're capable of."
Klaus' jaw clenched. "You're pushing your luck, little Ripper," he warned. He stared at Bella for a moment before his eyes hardened and he turned back to Damon. "But so be it." Striding up to Damon, he grabbed his jaw with one hand and forced him to look at him. "Leave."
"Niklaus," Elijah warned, sharing a worried look with his sister at Bella's rapidly paling countenance.
Against his will, Damon started pulling his wrist of the snares, skin peeling away and bones making an awful snapping sound. Bella tried to stumble away at the sight of it but Stefan's hand forced her to stay in place. It was the sound of Damon's screams that finally broke her, and she sank to the floor, shaking all over.
"Bella!" Caroline kneeled on the floor next to her cousin, who had finally been released by a shocked Stefan.
Caroline was abruptly thrown away from Bella, who was whisked out of the room by Rebekah with Finn following close behind. Rebekah moved her friend upstairs to her room and Finn immediately shut the door so Bella wouldn't be able to hear Damon's screams anymore. "It's alright," she whispered, sinking to the floor with her arms wrapped tightly around Bella. "You're alright." Bella couldn't even respond, she was trembling so violently. "I'm so sorry," Rebekah choked out. "I'm so sorry, Bella."
After hearing Rebekah and Finn shut themselves away with Bella in her room, Klaus turned back to Damon. "Alright, stop, stop, stop, before you hurt yourself." Looking back to take in the horrified expressions on Stefan and Caroline's face, who he was surprised to see was just sitting where Rebekah had thrown her staring at him in horror instead of chasing after Bella, Klaus said, "Well, seeing that he can finally be compelled." He grabbed Damon's jaw again and asked, "How many stakes are out there that can kill my family?"
"Twelve," Damon groaned, hanging his head in shame. Stefan's eyes shut as Caroline stood up, ready to fight back against the sure-to-be-enraged vampires.
"Twelve! Really?" Turning to face Stefan again, Klaus continued. "So, not seven then."
"You made sure to keep ahold of just enough to kill each Original Vampire," Elijah murmured, moving to stand beside brother as Sage slid behind Stefan.
"You really shouldn't have lied," she hissed.
"We'll get you the other five," Caroline promised. "Please."
"Yeah, that'd be nice," spat Klaus. "Or, since you lied, maybe I'll just compel Damon here to attack your dear witchy friend and let her deal with him. Seems she's still holding a grudge for what happened to her long-lost mother."
"What is wrong with you?!" Stefan demanded.
"What is wrong with you?" Klaus returned, voicing rising in anger. He wanted to rage at Stefan for what had been done to Bella, for hurting her, but couldn't bring himself to show how much he cared. He didn't know why he did but there it was. Changing tactics quickly, Klaus taunted, "Do you really have no appreciation for me? I have given you someone to hate, to loathe, a target for all of your anger so you don't have to turn it on yourself. I have given you purpose, as your friend." He laughed as he watched Stefan grow enraged. "I really think you should be thanking me."
Stefan moved quickly, pulling a white oak stake out of his sleeve and moving to attack Klaus but Sage was quicker. She grabbed Stefan by the neck and slammed him into a wall, the stake falling out of his hand and quickly snapped up by Elijah. "You and I still have some unfinished business," she hissed.
As Elijah threw the stake into the fire, Klaus sneered, "Well, there's one down, only four more to go."
Caroline raced to stand in front of Klaus, forcing him to look away from the beating Sage was inflicting upon Stefan and into her tear-filled eyes. "Klaus," she begged. "Please. I promise you we'll get you the stakes. Please don't hurt them."
Klaus stared at her, unmoved, until Elijah moved into this sightline and cleared his throat. In the near silence of the room, Klaus could hear Bella sobbing upstairs and his sister's desperate attempts to comfort her. "Fine," he finally hissed. He nodded at Elijah and moved to release Damon from the traps as Elijah reappeared with an unconscious Bonnie in his arms. "Bring us the stakes," he warned the group, glaring at Sage until she let go of Stefan and almost tossed Damon at his brother. "All of them. Or I will wage a war against everyone you love."
"What about Bella?" Caroline asked, arms wrapped around Bonnie, who had been abruptly roused by Elijah handing her over.
"She remains here," Elijah stated. When it looked like she was going to protest, he continued, "This is a limited-time offer. Leave."
Stefan moved first, grabbing at a lingering Caroline. "We'll be back," she finally warned, tearing her eyes away from Klaus and carefully leading Bonnie away.
"You better," Sage warned, obviously angry that she wasn't allowed to kill Stefan as she wished to.
As soon as they heard both cars driving away, Klaus and Elijah raced up the stairs and into Bella's room. They stopped in the doorway, surprised at what they found there. Sitting in a chair by the window was Bella, with Finn kneeling at her feet and holding both her hands. "It's alright," he was telling her softly. "You are safe, Isabella. Focus on the feel of the floor underneath your feet and the warmth of my hands in yours. Rebekah is right here as well, you are alright."
Finally managing to stop shivering, Bella kept her eyes locked with Finn's as she continued to follow his instructions. After taking several more deep breaths, she finally whispered, "Are you okay? I know Elena shot you earlier."
Finn stared at her in stunned confusion for a few moments before answering slowly, "I am perfectly fine. Are you alright? We were very concerned when we realized you were injured trying to help me."
"He stabbed me," Bella whispered, the horror of what had happened finally settling in. "Matt stabbed me and then I woke up and I was fine but I could still smell the blood." Klaus couldn't keep himself from growling at the expression on her face even as Rebekah almost hissed in anger, but Bella didn't even seem to hear them. "I thought I was dead," she confessed. "But then I woke up and nothing was making sense and Stefan…" she shuddered.
"You are safe," Finn repeated soothingly, squeezing her hands. "Rebekah is going to help you shower and change now and then we will answer any questions you have, alright?"
Bella slowly nodded her head and Rebekah stepped forward. "Up you get, love," she whispered, slowly reaching out and helping Bella stand, beyond relieved that she hadn't flinched away from her touch. She didn't know what she'd do if Bella decided to hate her after everything that had happened. Pulling her into the bathroom and away from the prying, concerned eyes of the rest of the Mikaelson family, Rebekah turned Bella around so that she could unzip the back of her dress.
Letting it drop to the floor, all thoughts of modesty seemed to fly out the window as Bella stared down at her unblemished stomach. She hadn't been able to check earlier, seeing as how she was wearing a dress, but she'd just assumed that they'd stitched her up and given her high-grade painkillers. Instead, they had done something, had healed her somehow, and it was like nothing had ever happened. For some reason, that was almost worse than if she'd been left with some sort of permanent reminder.
"Bella?" Rebekah whispered. She didn't respond, just turned to look at her friend with a lost expression. Not knowing what she could say to make it better, Rebekah asked, "Do you need any help showering? Can I get you anything? Would you prefer to take a bath instead?"
It was odd, Bella faintly thought, to see Bekah seem so out of sorts. She was usually so confident, so unlike Bella, that it was almost disconcerting to see her this way. "I'm okay," she finally croaked. "I just want to shower."
"Alright." Hesitating for just a moment, Rebekah reluctantly left the bathroom.
It took almost a minute for Bella to remember how to move her legs without someone else helping her along. Stripping off her bra and underwear, Bella tossed them into the corner of the room where her former outfit lay crumpled and turned on the hot water. Even though it was far too hot to be comfortable, she couldn't be bothered to try and adjust the temperature; she just wanted to be clean again.
She refused to think about what happened all through her shower. If one good thing had come from the Cullen's leaving her, other than the fact that she came here and met Rebekah and her family, it was that Bella had become skilled at blocking out unwanted thoughts or memories. At that moment though, it felt like all her thoughts were unwanted. The Cullen's had tainted her old life- her time in Forks and even her childhood in Phoenix had been infected by the supernatural when James had ransacked her childhood home and dance studio. Then she'd come to Mystic Falls, a place she'd only been too a few times in her life only to meet more supernatural beings. She just wanted normal. She'd thought she'd had that with Rebekah and the rest of Mikaelson's but now she didn't know what to think.
Did everyone being vampires really change anything? Or did it just add another facet to everything? She'd seen and acknowledged that Caroline and her friends hated the Mikaelson's for some reason ever since she'd come here. The fact that some of them were vampires didn't really have to change anything in regards to that. But now Bella was feeling a little insecure on top of everything else. Did Rebekah really just befriend her like Caroline had implied at the beginning of their friendship in order to use her to get back at her cousin? Did they really care about her or was she just a tool? Sure, they had spent time and money on her but when you had unlimited amounts of both, wasting some in order to fool some human wouldn't seem like such a huge loss.
Bella immediately felt like trash after thinking like that. How could she think so little of the people who had taken her in and been nothing but kind? It wasn't as though they spent all their time rubbing Bella's relationship with them in the faces of her cousins and their friends. They had been nothing but respectful of Bella's thoughts and feelings, never pushing her too far or doing anything to make her truly uncomfortable. Maybe they teased her more than she was used to, but it was good-natured and helped her feel more like she belonged.
Climbing out of the shower, Bella was surprised at find some clean clothes set on the counter for her. She hadn't even heard anyone enter the room and she blushed, hoping it had been Rebekah and that the steam had kept her covered. Slipping on her underwear and a dark blue t-shirt, Bella was even more surprised, but also overjoyed, so see her favorite pair of sweatpants. When Bekah had seen them, she'd threatened to burn them and when they had disappeared from her room she'd figured that her friend had kept her word. It seemed that she had just kept them hidden so that Bella wouldn't fall back on wearing them every day.
After she'd finished dressing, Bella turned to leave and caught sight of her bloody clothes and all her hard-won, yet apparently false, control shattered. Before she knew it, her breaths started coming out shallow again and she sank to her knees next to toilet as she began to dry heave. It was like the smell of her own blood was surrounding again even though she knew that she'd washed all traces of it off her.
There was no wound. It will be as if I never existed.
That was her greatest fear. That everyone would leave her again without a trace, as though they hadn't made a mark on her life and she hadn't had the slightest impact on theirs. As though she hadn't mattered and never would.
A hand was on her back and the scent of Elijah's cologne surrounded her. "Isabella," he murmured. "Everything is alright, you are alright."
She didn't know how long they sat there, her desperately trying to regain control of herself and him sitting beside her trying to help her with soothing words and a hand rubbing gently up and down her back. Once she'd finally managed to regain her breath, she sat back and slumped into his chest. "Sorry," Bella whispered.
"No need to apologize," he told her, having pulled a wet washcloth from god-knew-where and was using it to gently wipe her tear-stained cheeks. Bella might have felt more ashamed if she didn't feel as though she had just finished a marathon. "You have had a very trying evening."
"I don't know if I can do this," she admitted.
"Do what?" he asked, voice still gentle and free of judgement. It made her feel comfortable enough to be honest with him.
"The whole supernatural thing again. It almost killed me last time and I don't know if I can survive a second go of it."
Elijah shifted away slightly and cupped her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. "I told you that the Mikaelson's will always stand with you. I give you my word that, no matter what you do tonight, we will not be disappointed or upset with you."
Bella shuddered. For the first time in her life, she truly felt safe. No matter what she said or did, she would still have people standing with her. "I want to talk to everyone," she finally decided.
He smiled at her, looking almost relieved by her words for some reason. "Well then, we should go downstairs before Rebekah and Niklaus decide to come barging in." Bella hummed in agreement and leaned against him as he stood them both up. Pulling out one of black jewelry boxes from earlier, he handed it to her. "Here."
She stared at it in confusion before remembering that it was the box holding Rebekah's bracelet; Bella's own bracelet was still resting comfortingly on her wrist, she'd refused to take it off even to shower. "What do you want me to do with this?" she asked.
Elijah smiled at her and began guiding her from the room. "As you were the one to pick it out, it is only fitting that you present it to Rebekah."
Bella shook her head and tried to hand it back to him. "You bought it though, you should get the credit for it."
"I believe my sister would love it more if you were the one to give it to her," he murmured and then they were down the stairs and in the family room where everyone was gathered.
Rebekah immediately stepped towards them before stopping and the look on her face almost broke Bella's heart. She stepped away from Elijah and threw her arms around the blond girl. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "Sorry I scared you like that."
Releasing a small, shuddering breath, Rebekah carefully hugged her back. "It's alright, I understand."
"Nice to know one of us does at least," Bella joked and the tension in the room eased. Once Rebekah had pulled away from her, Bella turned to see Klaus studying her intently. He had an air of indifference about him but his eyes told a different story; he looked as though he expected her to attack him, as though she was going to turn away from him after proclaiming him a monster. It hurt her almost as much as Rebekah's fear had and she instinctively moved to hug him as well. The way he tensed against her almost made her think that she had made done something awful but then his arms gently, hesitatingly, came up around her.
"You okay, love?" he murmured into her ear.
"Yeah, but this isn't exactly how I planned for the day to go."
Stepping away from her, Klaus gave her his normal, charming smirk. "Well, we do live to defy expectations."
"You should stop doing that, it's very disconcerting for us mortals."
He shrugged. "What's in the box?"
Bella glanced down at her hand, having forgotten she was holding anything. "Oh, this is for Rebekah; we found it when we were out shopping earlier." She held out the box towards her friend.
Seemingly started, Rebekah took the box from her and hesitantly open it. "It's beautiful," she said with wide eyes. "You got this for me?" she asked Bella, looking strangely hopeful.
"Yes," Bella said slowly, brows furrowed. "Well, I found, I guess, and then Elijah bought it."
"Once Isabella pointed out that it would be perfect for you, I purchased it," Elijah broke in. "I would not have thought of getting it for you on my own though; Isabella has a similar one."
Rebekah understood what he was actually saying and beamed at Bella. "I love it! Show me yours."
Klaus had already spotted the bracelet once Elijah had mentioned Bella also owning one and lifted her hand up, studying the charms and lingering on the wolf charm. "Strangely fitting," he muttered before letting go.
Slipping her own bracelet on, Rebekah moved to Bella's side and pulled her over to the couch. "We should sit."
Once everyone was seated, Bella looked around and took in the tense looks on everyone's faces, including Sage. "I don't know where to start," she finally admitted.
"What do you wish to know?" Finn asked her, standing against the opposing wall with his girlfriend, as though he was trying to keep himself separate from the group.
"Are you all vampires?" she finally went with. "Stefan said they were vampires and I assume Damon," she shuddered, "I hope he's one as well."
"We are," Elijah answered, glancing over at his younger brother for a moment. "Did Stefan tell you anything about our kind of vampire?"
She shook her head. "No, just that you were vampires and I assumed by the fact that they tried to stake Finn that that particular myth was true for you guys. I just… why? Why would they do that?" Bella turned to Rebekah, still holding tightly to her hand. "You said that Finn only visited you guys here in town for a few days at most so why would they try to-" her throat tightened and she couldn't force out the words.
"That is a long story," Rebekah told her, also glancing over at Klaus.
Bella stared down at her lap, picking at a loose string on her pants. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to but please, tell me something. Tell me anything. Just help me figure out what's going on here. I got stabbed earlier and now I'm fine and I just want to know why," her voice broke. "Why is this happening? Why am I here? Why aren't I dead?" She looked up to lock eyes with Klaus. "Why did you save me?"
He leaned towards her, elbows resting on his knees and fingers interlinked by his chin. "The Salvatore brothers and your cousin are vampires from what is known as the Original vampire species and my siblings and I are the first of that species- we are the Original family."
After he was silent for a beat, Bella said, "If you're pausing for dramatic effect then I suggest you move it along because that means nothing to me."
"We are the first vampires in existence," Rebekah stated simply, still feeling a bit hesitant.
Bella blinked. "If that's the case, then how the hell do you not know who Dora the Explorer is?"
Elijah knew then that Isabella would be just fine.
(A/N): ... hi. How's it going?
This is a nice surprise right? Didn't have to wait long for this bad boy. However, now I'm dead inside so we'll see how this goes. This story is also being updated along with The Clock Don't Stop because I guess those plot bunnies are now working together. Yay.
To all those who sent such kind well-wishes my way and who told me that real life comes first: you all beautiful and nobody deserves you. I am unworthy of your graciousness.
This chapter is unbetaed because Hannbells is going through some rough times so I didn't want to bother her. Which means that when I go to visit her next week she may kill me out of hurt/annoyance so everyone think happy thoughts!
All familiar pieces of dialogue has come from season 3 episode 18 "The Murder of One" not from me. I take no ownership of that.
Until next time, darlings! Please leave a review on the way out!