Yet again, Stefan was alone in the giant house he co-owned with his brother, drinking a bottle of scotch. He was halfway through the bottle and still felt the head-splitting ache behind his right eye. He needed to feed, and although he had gone out earlier, the two deer hadn't seemed to suffice. It was the stress, he knew it, and it was taking a toll on him physically and mentally. He had exhausted any idea, and almost what hope he had left, to get Elena's humanity back.
It didn't help that the only experience he had with the humanity switch involved a particular blonde by the name of Lexi and a lot of blood shed, neither of which he had readily available to him, nor did he want Elena to have to live with the guilt of taking innocent lives. Elena's whole persona was based on love and compassion, if he got her back after a mass blood shed, he would probably lose her just a quick.
He had thought vainly at first, that Elena's feelings for Damon could quite possibly push her back. Of course, logically, he knew that any feeling other than pure animalistic lust was left in the changeover.
After Damon's and his run in with Elijah and Katherine, Stefan spent a few days researching Elena's family tree. Looking for a great aunt or long lost cousin, someone familiar to her to get her to realize there's still blood family somewhere who at least somewhat cares about her. Of course, that all turned up blank, what with her biological mother and father's shady pasts, and little lead to go on from her mom and dad's side. He sighed, rubbing his forehead in a last attempt to make the pain go away, he was going to have to find a blood bag. If he kept this up, the local blood banks would start to notice how scarce a supply they now have.
Getting up to go to the fridge, he walked past the front door, which opened to show Damon.
"So, what's the plan brother?" Damon asked walking into the house, throwing his car keys on a nearby table. He'd been gone for a few days; Stefan hadn't seen him since they parted ways in Pennsylvania, and, Stefan was none too happy about this. He knew that this was a typical Damon move, whenever stuff gets too heavy; he leaves for a few days and acts reckless. Maybe because he was so desperate to get Elena back that this bothered Stefan more than usual, or maybe the headache that pouring over books and journals by himself in hopes to find family, left him with a bad taste for Damon's run-away style.
No surprise Damon's plan for Elena had failed, and although Stefan never expected it to, any possibility of Elena returning to her usual self was well worth the try of a less than great half-cooked idea. Of course, Damon's questioning of a plan meant that Damon had thought of another one.
Stefan went back to where he was seating and poured him some more scotch, no way could he drink a whole blood bag in front of Damon.
"Plan? Oh I thought that was you're department, what with her being your girlfriend and all. I was planning on just sitting back and watching it all happen," he said sarcastically, "but oh wait, your amazing plan failed didn't it?"
"Ick, someone forgot to tell me that broody Stefan was back," Damon said, rolling his eyes, which landed on a football nearby. On impulse he picked it up and threw it at Stefan, who knows, maybe he was hoping it'd knock that stupid amused smirk of his face.
Naturally, Stefan caught it.
"A football? Gee Damon, I didn't think that was quite you're style, don't you usually go for some innocent sorority girls?" Stefan tossed it back.
"Need I remind you that this is one of the many trashy remains of a crazy party you decided to throw here courtesy of Elena."
The two of them threw the football back and forth a few moments, both of them thinking of the situation they were in.
"Please tell me you have a plan," Damon finally said.
"I was under the impression that we were still using plan 'Show Elena how awesome it is to not have her humanity in hopes she'll want to turn her back on' maybe the second times the charm?"
"Touchy, touchy little brother"
"We have to show her why it's worth feeling," Stefan said in all seriousness, "she has to choose for herself that she wants to experience emotions."
"So what? We buy her a puppy? Oddly enough I don't see that working out," Damon said, at a loss for any idea as to what would make Elena want to flip the switch on again, hell he barely wanted to have his humanity switch on.
"There has to be something," Stefan said trailing off as he heard a noise coming from the front door. Next thing he knew, Elena was standing in front of the two of them, luggage in both hands.
"Hi boys, mind if I come in? Didn't think so," she said walking over to the glass of scotch Stefan hadn't finished. Setting down her luggage, she sat down on the couch and chugged the remaining liquid down. Grinning deviously, she asked the one question that both simultaneously shocked and made the Salvatore brothers smile with an idea:
"So which one of you dapper gentleman is taking me to prom?"
"Alright, so I will go handle to principal, meanwhile you need to do damage control with the committee in the gym," Caroline told Klaus. It was after school the day following her request for a favor from him. She had been in constant contact with him through out the day, explaining to him the materials she needs as well as the people he's going to have to help her deal with. Unsurprisingly and annoyingly enough, Klaus had interjected his thoughts on her comments. Though she'd never tell him, a few of them weren't so bad, and she had even given in to her suggestion for who the replacement band should be, though she had never heard of them. She guessed she trusted that after living a thousand years he'd know what good music is, and at any rate she had a lot more problems to deal with.
"Yes, yes, flash them a smile, sweet talk a few of them, and the rest shall follow, am I missing anything love?" He picked fun of her, he had been told over and over again what it was exactly he would do, and how he would do it. He had also been told that he was under no reason at all to start, as she said, "handing out million dollars bracelets and ponies," to anyone, and to, "fight any fairy-tell fetish urge." Not that he would dare cross her when she was in a mood like this, but when it came to getting Caroline what she wants, he'd buy them all much more to get them to play along with her idea. She could be ever bit as demanding as he could be, one of the many traits he admired about her.
"You're doing it again, can you just… just go to the committee, okay?" She was beyond stressed out, and not to mention a little bit nervous, after all she was the one who was going to try to talk the principal out of what he thinks is a "perfectly good prom." Okay, so she had tried talking to him once today already, not that Klaus needed to know that, no she was perfectly capable of doing some stuff on her own.
She had spent what part of her day that wasn't preoccupied with listening to teachers rant on about their topics or discussing prom matters with Klaus, prepping a presentation to give to the principal. She just knew she could talk him into letting her change the theme her plan was flawless.
She arrived at the principal's office at her scheduled appointment time and knocked before going in, she could hear that he was alone.
"Caroline, to what to I owe this second visit of the day?"
She went into her spill, explaining in great detail how the theme of gambling was much too inappropriate for a high school, how it promotes spending money crassly, as well as how gambling is always associated with sex, which is again, a highly inappropriate idea that would upset the parents who help pay for this. Then she went on and shot down the band set to play, explaining to him that not only are they tone deaf, but there main songs feature themes of violence and hardcore partying. The latter she actually had no knowledge of, like she'd ever want to listen to a band named after a fungus, but she knew that anyone who agreed to a measly $200 for the night couldn't be good.
In the end though, she didn't win out.
"Listen, I agree with you on all those points, but it is just a dance after all, and you only have two more days at any rate…" Caroline wasn't listening to him; she was too busy looking at a piece of paper that looked very much like an expense report. Judging by the looks of it, this year's prom was saving the school hundreds. Damn it all, there was no way she could compete with that low budget... Unless, ugh she was so going to regret this.
"Listen, Mr. Nitashi, I understand your concern, however I forgot to mention the most important part: I've actually found a donor who's willing to give the money to change the theme. You see, it's a parent of someone who goes here, and he is very concerned about the whole gambling thing." That got his attention.
After a few more minutes of talking logistics, he relented, explaining that if no more money was to have to come from the school, she could go ahead with her plans.
Well, that was the easy part, she thought to herself, now all I have to do is explain to Mr. Hybrid that the couple hundred and a few strings I needed has now blown to a full thousand. She walked to the gym, which caught her completely by surprise: it was almost empty. He had actually managed to change their minds, from the looks of it, in a few short minutes. She hated him even more at that thought.
"I figured we should go ahead and get it cleared out as I had no doubt that principal would say yes to you," she had to fight the urge to punch him, he was just so smooth.
"How'd you convince them so fast? I thought it'd take a little longer with the girl who dreamt up this whole idea."
Truth be told he simply walked in and offered them each $100 to ditch what they were currently working on and tear it all down. From what he gathered, none of them much cared enough to turn the offer down.
"They drove a hard bargain but in the end they caved," he said allusively.
"I'm not even going to ask, and anyways, you're kind of the sole sponsor of this dance now…" she said that last part quickly.
"I didn't quite catch that last part love."
"Um well, you're now the sole sponsor of this dance."
"Lovely, then might I suggest a more fitting theme for lady like yourself."
Yep, she was already regretting this.
"And that would be?" She didn't quite know if she wanted to hear his answer.
"Le Jardin de me amour," he gave her a wicked grin.
When her mind immediately conjured up a picture of the two of them at a candlelight dinner in a garden, she finally admitted to herself that she was in way over her head. Not only did what he said sound way hotter than it quite possibly should have, she found herself longing for that date.
My,my, we are in trouble.
I want to thank the people who followed this! I got over 350 views in a day (that's NEVER happened in my history of fanfic). Also I got to 2000 words! A new personal best for a chapter! So, comment if you'd like I'll try to have the next chapter up soon!