Disclaimer: The characters of The Vampire Diaries and Twilight are the property of L.J Smith and Stephanie Meyer. I just borrow 'em

Stefan dropped the last note of Fur Elise amidst a very deep sigh. He and Edward were home alone. The other Cullens had gone to school and Esme and Carlisle were both at work. He sighed again as he glanced towards the couch, where Edward was just casually flipping through a magazine.

"I know. I'm bored as hell too. No need to be so mopey about it" he said without averting his gaze from the book. "I swear if you play Fur Elise one more time, I will throw both you and the piano out the window, and that's saying something"

Stefan ignored the threat as he walked over and plopped himself beside Edward. "How long until we can return to school?"

"A little under two weeks" Edward answered without missing a beat, still flipping through the magazine

"We've been on suspension for only a week? It felt like more" Stefan moaned. "Maybe we should go visit Jacob" he said brightly

"We're not allowed outside the house"

"I think we can handle a little sneaking out"

"We live in a house filled with vampires Stefan. They'll smell the outside on us in a heartbeat"

"Let's play a game then. I'm sure I can find one of Jasper and Emmett's numerous video games around somewhere"

"We're grounded until further notice. No electronics"

"Well, Carlisle's not home. I'm sure we can get our phones form his office for a few minutes, at least catch up on…"

"It won't work" Edward interrupted swiftly

"Oh, come on. Live a little. We'll put them back long before he gets back. He will never know" Stefan practically begged

Edward flipped another page, and still without looking up, answered. "I assure you Stefan, dad will know if we go snooping around his office"

Stefan huffed and pulled the infuriating magazine out of Edward's hands, crumpling it and throwing it out the window. "I don't hear you coming up with any suggestions. All you have done so far is shut down all my ideas and read that stupid magazine. I mean come on Edward, aren't you bored? I feel like committing suicide just for something lively to do"

Edward was the one who sighed this time. "I'm not trying to be annoying Stefan. It's just, snooping around dad's office when you are grounded is a sure way of ending up over his knee with a blistering backside. I always get caught every time I try. Every time. This is the voice of experience speaking bro. don't try it"

Another heavy sigh. "Well what if we go outside for a while? Breathe some fresh air"

"I already told you Stefan. We are not allowed…"

"… to leave the property" Stefan interjected. "Last time I checked, Esme's garden is on the property"

Edward turned to Stefan with a speculative look. "Where are you going with this?" he asked tentatively

"Nowhere' Stefan said innocently, raising his hands in the familiar gesture of surrender. "It's just that we've been cooped up in here for over a week and I want to see the garden. Like I said, we need some fresh air"

"So it has nothing to do with us staying in the garden for long enough to get the garden smell on us and then running off into the forest because the garden and forest smell similar?" Edward said with an eyebrow raise that looked so pretentiously serious Stefan had to fight to keep the grin off his face

"Maybe?" he shrugged instead, watching as a large smile broke out on Edward's face

"Man, you are really good"

Stefan shrugged again. "I had good teaching and learning materials. Damon's not an easy person to sneak away from"

"Come on. We have about five hours before the others get back from school" Edward moved towards the door. "You coming?"

"I thought you'd never ask"

"This is a bad idea Stefan" Edward mumbled from behind Stefan. "It wasn't part of the plan"

"Oh come on, live a little Eddie. We still got a couple of hours before anyone gets home and notices we're gone. Besides Alice and Rosalie are volunteering for the Halloween party at school. I don't even know why they are doing that now. It's over two weeks away" Stefan muttered in reply

"How do you know what Alice and rose are doing?"

"It's on their phone"

"You were able to get Alice and Rosalie's phone away from them for more than ten seconds?" Edward asked incredulously. "How did you manage…" he trailed off when he saw the look on Stefan's face. He gasped. "You didn't. You hacked their phone?" he asked in a whisper

"Damon taught me a few tricks. Besides, it's no big deal. It's not like I was spying on them or anything. And why are you whispering?"

"You're whispering too"

"Well you started it. Now come on, we have barely three hours before we have to head back. Your mother would be home at two. Let's make the most of it, yea?"

"Oh yeah" Edward crooned. "If we can't get electronic privileges at home, we can surely get some here. Try to keep up Stefan, God of War isn't going to play itself" he said smugly as he brushed past Stefan, all recent conservations slipping from his mind.

"Keep up? I'm going to enjoy kicking your ass Cullen"

"Keep talking Salvatore"

Two hours later, after a multitude of games with Edward narrowly leading the score, the boys decided it was time to head home. With vampire speed, they could head into the forest, spend enough time jumping from tree to tree and roughhousing to get the forest smell on themselves, and then make it back home with no one the wiser. It was a fool proof plan, and it would have worked too, if not for one tiny unprecedented detail. After spending so much time in the mall and having fun, they failed to notice the vast reduction in the population of the mall, and a foot outside the game room told them why.

"Shit" Stefan all but exclaimed

"We are so screwed" Edward lamented

"No kidding" Stefan added, looking at the bright sun outside while simultaneously pushing Edward into the shadows behind him. No wonder the mall had been deserted so quickly. It was a rarity for the sun to come out so beautifully in Forks, and every one took advantage of it. "Wait, that means…"

"Yes Stefan. The others are back home right now. Everyone. They already know we're gone" Edward completed dejectedly

"Shit" Stefan cursed again.

Carlisle dejectedly dropped the phone. "That was Billy Black. They are not there. They were never there". He looked at his children again. "Can any of you think of a place they could be?". All he got was four heads shaking.

Carlisle had made it home almost an hour ago to an empty house. There had been no sign of Edward or Stefan. He barely had time to panic before Esme arrived, and now he had to calm a panicking wife. Esme had stayed home to wait for the other kids while Carlisle searched every bit of their rather large property for their two delinquents. As vampires, they could see and hear over long distances, making Carlisle's search for the boys rather useless as he knew very well they were not there. But the action of searching calmed Esme and so he searched. It was only for a short while though as about ten minutes after Esme's arrival, four cars screeched to a halt, Alice jumping out of hers before it had fully even stopped.

"Did you find them? Do you know where they are?" she had asked quickly

Carlisle had shaken his head. "No. And they left their phones too"

"Okay, uh, we'll make some calls. Call some friends from school. Maybe… I don't know…" Rosalie started

"I'll call Alaska" Emmett announced to incredulous looks. "What? They may have gone to the Denali coven, who knows? It won't hurt to try"

"That is not a bad idea. You do that Em. I'll call Billy. They may have gone to see Jacob"

"We know if Eddie is seen in the sun by humans, the Volturi will come. But what about Stefan? He burns in the sun, right? What will happen to him?" Jasper asked

Carlisle stiffened. He had completely forgotten about Stefan's need to stay out of the sun too. "Stefan is not affected by the sun. A witch made him a ring that allows him to walk in the sun without burning to a crisp"

Esme saw the way her husband had stiffened before answering. She knew what he was thinking. "Have any of you seen Stefan without his ring before?" she asked her children. "I mean, does he take it off every night and put it on in the morning or something? Or is it constantly around his finger? I don't know" she gave a small sob as she threw her hands up in frustration. "What were they thinking?"

"I don't think he takes it off" Jasper tried to soothe his mother. "I've never seen him take it off Ma. I'm sure Stefan is okay. They're both okay, wherever they are"

"This is a bad idea" Stefan grumbled

"You got a better one?" Edward asked, remembering using those exact words when Stefan had suggested the mall. Why hadn't he taken his own advice?

"No. But…"

"No buts. Just give me the damn shirt"

"It won't work. You need to be fully covered Edward. Come on, we're in a mall. I'm sure we can find something"

Before Edward could say anything, Stefan had disappeared down one of the aisles. The population in the mall had reduced again drastically in the last five minutes, leaving it practically empty. He fumed silently as he waited for Stefan to return from wherever he had disappeared to. They were in so much trouble. He could already feel phantom twinges in his backside in fear of what awaited them when they got home. He was so lost in thought he didn't hear Stefan come back.

"Here, put these on" Stefan said, throwing some articles of clothing at him. "I compelled her to forget. Just put them on" he said to Edward's questioning look. "I know we don't have any money left, we didn't take enough. Besides, we are already in so much trouble, a little stealing won't do any harm"

Edward could not argue with his reasoning as he put on the hoodie and gloves. He had to agree this idea was better than his. He pulled up the hood. "Now what?"

"You are not showing any skin apart from your face, right?" Edward nodded. "Good. Lean into me slightly. When we get outside you hide your face in my shoulder, all right? If anyone asks, you're sick and I'm taking you home. When we get to the forest, we'll run the rest of the way, okay?"

Edward nodded again. "Okay. But we can't go into the forest. It's a sunny day in Forks. Almost every adult human being is outside enjoying the day. What do you think they'll say when they see two teenage boys, one supposedly sick enough to need help walking, heading towards the woods?". He waited for realization to dawn on Stefan before he continued. "We're taking a cab"

"Yeah, okay" Stefan agreed.

They walked slowly to the entrance, before Edward hid his face into Stefan's shoulder. They had to go about a hundred yards before they could hail a cab, breathing a collective sigh of relief as they slid into the backseat. It hadn't been that bad, considering they only had to talk to two concerned mothers. Stefan quietly gave directions to the cab driver as Edward laid down with his head in Stefan's lap, keeping away from the windows. It didn't take long to get home. They could hear quiet murmurings from inside as Stefan asked the cab driver to wait so he could get his 'sick cousin' inside and get his money.

Oh oh. The boys are in trouble and Stefan's about to receive his first spanking from Carlisle.