hi, everyone! this chapter was fun to write! it's kinda late so i should go to bed but i felt like i NEEDED to post this one, so here you go. enjoy!

Chapter 3 - Pilot

It was 6 AM on September 7th, 2009, and Natalia woke up determined. She had always struggled for control of things, she could barely remember her most recent life but she did remember that the lack of decision in what happened to her drove her crazy.

She took a shower, washed her face, brushed her teeth, did her hair and got dressed. She looked in the mirror adding final touches to her look.

Nattie and Bonnie were fraternal twins - Nat looked the same as she did in her past life. Brown skin, curly dark brown hair. The only difference between her looks were that in her past life she had brown eyes and in this one she had hazel green eyes, identical to Bonnie's.

She tried to wake Bonnie up, but that didn't work out well, so instead she decided to make breakfast.

When she got down to the kitchen, she noticed a blue envelope on the counter. Curious, she sauntered towards it and picked it up. It was titled "For Natalia".

Who was this from?

She opened it cautiously, but a smile broke out on her face when she read it.

Dearest Natalia,

Happy first day of school. We miss you tons.

Dottie wants you to seduce either Damon, Stefan, Klaus, Elijah or Kol, and Cadence wants you to go for all of them. James and Oliver want you to stay single and wear long dresses every day. It's your choice.

Love, your siblings,

James, Dot, Oliver and Cadence.

She grinned as she set it down. She missed them too, not hearing from them for seventeen years was rough, but she knew they were watching her.

Her day was off to a positive start, so now she was less stressed. She put on Marvin Gaye's 'What's going on?' and danced around the kitchen while she made pancakes.

Elena was in the passenger's seat, Bonnie and Jeremy were in the back and Nattie drove them.

Their car ride was nice; Jeremy was going into sophomore year and was excited that he wasn't a wimpy freshman anymore (his words exactly), so he was very chit chatty about that.

Elena wasn't sulking around because Grayson and Miranda were alive and well, so that was a plus.

"Nat, do you think Stefan will be at school?" Jeremy asked.

"I think he will. If not I'll come up with a way to find him." She answered.

"Why do we need him here?" He questioned.

"It's good to have vampire protection."

"Because of Klaus?"

"Among others." She hummed.

Jeremy nodded. Both of the Gilbert siblings and Bonnie's jaws dropped as Natalia swiftly swerved the crow that aimed to hit the hood of the car.

She grinned triumphantly. Damon's home.

Jeremy went off with some of his friends and the Bennett twins and Elena walked down the hall, mirroring the canon scene.

"Major lack of male real estate." Bonnie grumbled.

"Enjoy it while it lasts, Bon. Soon you'll be drowning in hot men." Nattie warned.

"That doesn't sound so bad." Bonnie said with a tilt of her head.

Natalia chuckled dryly. "Hot men who want to use you for your magic."

Bonnie scowled at the thought. "Look at the shower curtain on Kelly Beech. She looks like a hot mess."

"For sure." Elena agreed.

They stopped at Elena's locker and the brunette doppelganger's eyes scoured the hallway, landing on Matt. He looked moody. "Why is he so sulky today?"

"I don't know. I mean, it's not like you broke up with him or anything." Nattie remarked.

"Ew, don't even joke about that." Elena pretended to gag and Natalia chuckled to herself.

She had decided not to tell Elena and Matt about the fact that they were dating in the show - nor did she tell Tyler, Jeremy and Vicki about their weird, dysfunctional love triangle. They were all too much like siblings, thinking about any of them dating was gross.

Bonnie waved Matt over and he slumped over to them. "Hey, guys." He mumbled.

"What's got your panties in a twist, Matt?" Nat asked, gently wrapping her arm around him.

"I dunno. I'm just nervous."

"Why is that?"

He didn't want to answer, but Natalia had this quality about her that always makes you want to spill your soul out to her. She always said the right thing.

"I'm just nervous about the future. I'm just a human, how am I supposed to protect myself? How am I going to protect you guys?" He sighed.

"Matty, don't worry about us. Or yourself. You're going to live a long time - it's kind of baffling honestly. But you're just getting started. You're still going to learn and grow, and soon you'll be great at all this supernatural stuff. Technically, you already have a head start, you weren't even supposed to know about this world yet." She soothed.

He let out a breath and smiled. "You're right. I'll see you guys later." He gave them all a kiss on the cheek and scurried off.

"Well done, Nat." Elena snorted. "I didn't think even you could calm that drama queen down, but I got to give it to you."

"I'm a natural." She shrugged.

Just then, a blonde tornado named Caroline came rushing towards them.

"Hi, guys!" She beamed, giving them each a hug. "First day of school, how exciting is that? I can't wait to see Stefan. He's cute right?" She turned to Nattie.

"He's very cute." She smirked. Caroline squealed and skipped off.

"Let's get to class." Bon said. The girls linked arms and walked down the hall, stopping in front of the secretary's office.

There he was. Bonnie, Natalia and Elena all looked at Stefan's lean back.

"That's him?" Elena whispered. Nattie nodded.

"He's hot." Bonnie commented.

"All I'm seeing is back." Elena said, just like in canon.

"It's a hot back." Natalia and Bonnie said at the same time.

He turned around, gave them a charming smile and kept walking.

"I think I'm gonna faint." Bonnie said breathlessly.

"Look at him go." Elena watched him walk away.

Natalia rolled her eyes, grabbed her friend's hands and pulled them to Mr. Tanner's class.

She sighed tiredly in Tanner's class. During her human life, she was kind of a nerd. She was bullied in high school, and spent most of her time reading up on history or trying to learn a new language. Repeating high school after she did it so thoroughly the first time wasn't fun. She already knew everything they were teaching.

The only thing keeping her from falling asleep completely was Stefan and Elena's 'lustful looks'.

They were gazing at each other nauseatingly. Stefan was even better looking in real life than show though, it was honestly overwhelming. If she was going to have an actual conversation with him he'd need to calm down the jawline.

"…Once our home state of Virginia joined the confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state." Mr. Tanner droned. "People in Virginia's northwest region had different ideals than those from the traditional deep south. Then Virginia divided in 1863 with the northwest region joining the union…"

While Nattie listened as Mr. Tanner talked about the civil war a little too indifferently, she felt eyes on her side. She turned her head to see Stefan staring at her. It wasn't the love sick look he was giving Elena, it was more curious. Like he was trying to figure her out.

It made her shiver. She turned back to Mr. Tanner and she tried to pay attention.

She and Bonnie stood on either side of Caroline as the blonde ranted about Stefan.

"He was so handsome. He's a gemini-"

"Scorpio." Nattie corrected.

"And his favorite color is blue." Caroline sighed dreamily.

"You got all of that in one day?" Bonnie asked.

"Please, I got all that in between the third and fourth period. We're planning a June wedding."

Natalia smirked knowingly. Well, she was a Klaroline fan so she wouldn't be pushing for Steroline, but whatever Caroline wanted she stood by.

The girls sat down at the same table as in the show. Vicki, Matt, Jeremy and Tyler joined them.

Neither Matt or Vicki worked at the grill like in canon. They didn't see the need since they didn't need to take care of bills (Grams helped them out with that, even though they debated against it at first). But Matt did want to start working so he could have some savings.

They started a light conversation as they waited for Elena who would be arriving with Stefan.

Elena was confused when Nattie urged her to go to the graveyard earlier that day. She didn't have anyone to visit, so why would she go? But she listened anyway and ran into Stefan. She 'accidentally' left her diary there, he picked it up and brought it to her house, and now they were walking into the grill together.

Everybody's eyes turned to the pair entering. They approached the table seating Elena's seven excited friends.

"Uh, Stefan, these are my friends and little brother, Jeremy. Guys this is Stefan."

"Nice to meet you." He smiled.

Everybody greeted him except for Caroline and Bonnie who just stared at him, starstruck. Nattie nudged them both for being impolite. They snapped out of it.

Bonnie and Caroline stuttered out, "Hi, Stefan, how ya doin'?" and "Nice to meet you, cutie," at the same time.

Tyler, Vicki and Matt openly laughed at them while Jeremy and Natalia looked disappointed. Elena was embarrassed and Stefan looked amused.

"Sit with us." Natalia gestured to two open seats next to each other.

"So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" Caroline started off the questionnaire.

"Mm-hmm. And moved when I was still young." He answered.

"Parents?" Vicki asked.

"My parents passed away."

"I'm sorry." Elena frowned. "Any siblings?"

"None that I talk to. I live with my uncle."

"Wait, so you do have siblings? You just don't talk to them?" Natalia questioned. She was surprised nobody caught that on the show.

"I have a brother. But we're, um, estranged." He answered, studying Nattie more closely now. She accepted his silent challenge and stared at him just as pointedly.

Caroline cleared her throat, breaking them out of their little staring contest. "So, Stefan, since you're new, you don't know about the party tomorrow."

"It's a back to school thing at the falls." Bonnie added.

"Are you going?" He asked, looking at Elena.

"Of course she is." Bonnie said.

They celebrated their first day of supernatural school at Grams' house with pizza and a movie.

Bonnie and Jeremy were cleaning up the mess they made in the kitchen while Tyler, Matt, Vicki and Caroline were engrossed in an arm wrestling competition. Caroline was the victor so far, which Tyler did not like.

Elena and Natalia were curled up on the couch. Soon, everybody joined the two of them and arranged themselves in a sort of snuggly pig pile. It was comfortable for them.

"Today was so cool." Tyler admitted.

"I wonder if I asked nice enough, Stefan would show me his fangs." Jeremy mused.

"Did you see the way he walked down the hallway? It was like he owned the damn place." Elena said.

"We need him on the football team. He'll lead us to victory for sure." Matt said.

"And he's totally head over heels for you, Elena." Caroline sighed. "You're a lucky ducky."

"I don't know, he seemed to have more of a sexual tension with Nat." Vicki said.

Natalia choked violently on her spit. "Never say anything like that again."

"No, I'm serious! You guys stared at each other for like five minutes after you pointed out that he does have a sibling." Vicki continued.

"You're gonna have an enemies to lovers arc or something." Elena predicted.

Bonnie, who was laying on top of Nattie, turned her head to look at her sister, and the look of disgust on Natalia's face made Bonnie burst out laughing.

"Look at her face!" She wheezed. Everybody craned their heads uncomfortably and joined Bonnie's laughing when they saw Nattie's scowl.

"It's not funny." She grumbled. That made them all laugh harder.

When their hysterics died down, they turned on a movie and they all fell asleep on the couch.

"The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?" Mr. Tanner hummed.

Bonnie looked to her sister for support. Natalia knew she shouldn't give her sister the answer because it wasn't good for Bonnie's learning if she depended on Nattie for everything, but she also didn't want Mr. Tanner to embarrass her.

"Um… a lot? I don't know, like a whole lot." Bonnie answered.

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett." Mr. Tanner said. Oh, hell no. Nattie focused her power on Mr. Tanner's nose. A second later, he sneezed loudly. "Excuse me. Uh, Mr. Donovan, would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded joke stereotype?"

"No, thanks, Mr. Tanner. I'm cool with it." Matt smirked.

Mr. Tanner sneezed again. This time it was followed by a cough. He sauntered over to a box of tissues and blew his nose.

"Sorry I don't-" Sneeze! "Know what's happening to me."

Natalia smiled. A sneezing spell wasn't the worst she could do to him, but she'd leave that for Damon.

Before he could pick on Elena, who was no doubt Mr. T's next victim, Nattie raised her hand.

"Excuse me, Mr. Tanner, may I answer the question? Unless you'd rather continue to try your hardest to embarrass your students even though you're the one who hasn't taught them about the topic you're questioning them about." She raised her brow perfectly.

Tanner scoffed and then sneezed. "Yes, other Ms. Bennett, please enlighten us about this topic, since you seem to think you know more than the teacher."

"Gladly. Also, bless you." The class chuckled. "There were 346 casualties. Unless you're counting local civilians."

"Oh, so close!" He laughed. Sneeze. "There were no civilian casualties, Natalia. It's okay, though. At the end of the day you're just a student."

"Actually, uh, there were 27, sir." Stefan stated, "Confederate soldiers fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in the civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts… Mr. Tanner."

Mr. Tanner's only response was a sneeze and Natalia had never been more satisfied.

At the bonfire, she laughed at a joke Caroline made as they danced together. Caroline spinned Nattie and then dipped her.

"Wow, Care! You've got moves!" Natalia cheered.

"Thank you, thank you very much."

They giggled and then turned to see Elena and Stefan talking to each other. Caroline grew a frown.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Nat asked.

"Nothing. It's nothing. Let's go get another drink." She grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her towards the drinks.

"Hey!" Stefan called and caught up to her.

Nattie turned around, confused as to why he was calling her.

"Uh, what's up, Stefan?"

"Can I talk to you for a second?" He asked. She nodded cautiously and followed him to a more private area.

"Wh-"

"I saw what you did." He cut her off.

"Can you be more specific? I do a lot of things." She sassed.

He threw her a sarcastic smile. "I saw you put a spell on Mr. Tanner. To make him sneeze. You're a witch."

Oh. So she wasn't as smooth as she thought she was.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Okay, so you're a witch and a bad liar."

She scoffed. "I'm an excellent liar, and I'm not a witch."

"I don't believe you." He said stubbornly.

"I don't believe you." She mimicked in a high pitched voice. Wow, he's really bringing out the child in me.

"What are you, a two year old?"

"What are you, a two year old?"

"Jeez." He held the bridge of his nose. Two can play at this game. He thought to himself.

"Jee-"

"I can't hear you!" He shouted as he plugged his ears. "Lalalalala!"

"Stop it." She folded her arms.

"Nope!" He yelled, his ears still covered.

"You just proved you can hear me by responding!"

"No, I was reading your lips!"

She tried to pull his hands off his ears but he didn't budge. They continued to fight for a few minutes. Stefan called it off when she started clawing at him.

"Okay, okay, okay. We're both too old for this." He said, out of breath. "Admit you're a witch right now and I'll leave you alone. I won't tell anyone, I just need to know that I'm not the only supernatural creature in Mystic Falls right now."

She sighed. "Okay, fine. I'm a witch. I guess it's fair that you know. I know you're a vampire."

"I figured. How long have you known? It's not like we touched each other or anything, I thought that was the only way for a witch to know." He said.

"I'm a seer. I had visions about your past, present and future."

"So you know about-"

"Katherine and Damon. Yep."

Before he could respond, an ear splitting scream echoed from the forest.

"Vicki." She gasped. A second later she was sprinting towards the woods with Stefan behind her.

so i've gotten the most requests for kol, stefan and klaus, but again i might just do a reverse harem. i know there was a lot of stefan x natalia in this chapter, but i'm still not sure about a relationship with them. i can say for sure that she'll at least have a solid friendship with all the options, so for now stefan and nat are just friends. buuttttt they might get together. but they might not. i don't know! i'm going to go to bed before i start crying over this. thanks for reading!