It made Stefan's blood boil to see Klaus feeding on this innocent girl. She didn't deserve that, no one deserved that. He tried to understand why Klaus took such a liking for her, for her blood, why he kidnapped her just so he could feed on her one more time. It made him wonder why. He was glad he was accustomed to human blood now. If this were happening, say, 10 years ago, he would probably be freaking out, wanting to taste her blood too, taken over by lust and hunger.

But that wasn't the case, so instead of that lust and that hunger he only felt pity. And guilt. Even though he knew he couldn't do anything else to help this poor girl, even though he knew he had already tried to help her and failed miserably, he still felt guilt. It had been a while since he felt guilt over something like this. It was definitely not the first time he watched Klaus feed on clueless, innocent girls. He couldn't put his finger on what made this occasion different from the others; he only knew it was different.

Sometimes Stefan liked to pretend that after everything that happened with Elena he changed, he became the kind of person (if he could still call himself a person) that didn't care about anything. He liked to think that he was tougher, that he didn't have any of the traits he used to have 5 years ago, that he didn't feel anything and that all he wanted was to keep Klaus from killing people and drinking booze and blood. But that was a lie. Probably the biggest lie of his existence. On the outside, Stefan looked like he had practically turned off his humanity. He looked like the only thing he still had from his old self was the "no killing innocent people" rule. But on the inside, he was still the same. He still hoped for a happy ending, for eternal bliss, for something that would make him think that all the pain was worth it.

And seeing this girl just reminded him of that. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, no matter how many people he succeeded in deceiving; it's not true. It's never true, never real. He cared. He felt. Fake it until you make it, they said, but Stefan had been faking it for far too long to believe that he would ever really make it.

He decided he couldn't take it anymore. He left the room, he sat on the couch with a bottle of booze on his hand not even bothering to look for a glass, and he started drinking, hopefully into oblivion.

"I'm done with her." Klaus walked in after a few minutes, making the oblivion task even harder for Stefan.

He breathed in deeply. "Good. Can I take her home?"

"Not yet." He said, wiping her blood off of the corner of his mouth.

Stefan closed his eyes in annoyance. "Why not?"

"I don't know, Stefan. Just not yet."

Stefan was too tired to argue. He took yet another sip of alcohol and leaned his head back.

"You seem awfully angry at my decision to keep her here. Why?"

"Klaus, don't."

Klaus smirked. "What?"

"I hate this." He stood up suddenly, anger bubbling inside of him. "It's been five years. Five freaking years, and you are still trying to turn me into a Ripper again. You try, and you try, and you try, and you know it's not going to work. I am not going back to being that... that thing! I agreed to come here with you because I couldn't be there. I couldn't take Elena and Damon together, I couldn't do it. But that doesn't mean that I've gone completely insane, or that just because Elena chose him I'm giving up on everything and starting to rip people apart!" Stefan realized how loud his voice was, so he stopped for a second, took a deep breath, and resumed his speech. "Just let the girl go. It's not gonna work."

Klaus stared at him, almost blankly, but suddenly there was a flash of anger in his eyes and he started out, voice already louder than normal. "You are wrong, Stefan. This is not a game. I am not trying to turn you into anything. I do not care about you, or your broken heart, or how your brother is currently playing house with your ex-girlfriend. That girl, over there - she's food for me. Like every other human being in this world. Nothing but food. This is not about you, or your silly little love problems. This is about me, and the stupid cold blood bags I have eaten all these days. You are not the boss of me, if anything, I am the boss of you, so you should shut your stupid mouth up and stop arguing with me, or you can leave and find the next Elena doppelgänger to mend your broken heart."

"We had an agreement." Stefan said.

Klaus let out a dry laugh. "Agreement? No. Never. And even if we did, it wouldn't change anything. Not even Elijah can tell me what to do, so do not expect me to obey you. It's never going to happen."

"I can take her. Take her and leave, and you'll never finds us."

"Oh, I will." Klaus said, his face now contorted with anger, his voice harsh and loud. "And when I do, I will kill her, and then I'll kill you, and if I'm feeling up to it I may even find little Elena and kill her too. You do not want to mess with me, Stefan. Especially over a girl whose name you don't even know."

Stefan only stared at him, taken aback by the threat. Not the girl part, not his part, but the Elena part sent shivers down his spine.

"You have two choices here, Stefan. Risk everything for this girl, who will probably tell the world about us, about vampires, before you can even think of leaving this town. Or you can be the good little pet you have been for these past five years and stop arguing. It's up to you."

And just like that, Klaus was gone.

Hours later, Stefan was back on the couch, gulping down more alcohol and thinking about the argument he had with Klaus earlier. He couldn't believe Klaus threatened Elena. Actually, on a second thought, he could, because that was Klaus and he wasn't exactly expecting anything decent from him, ever. He knew they weren't friends, he knew he meant nothing to Klaus and he also knew Klaus meant nothing to him. But up to that day he had never really defied Klaus, so it surprised him to see Klaus going so low as to threaten Elena to keep Stefan on check.

He knew they had a difficult relationship, he knew that they barely even respected each other, but it never crossed his mind that Klaus only thought of him as a "good little pet", it never crossed his mind that Klaus, when defied, would involve Elena and her safety into the play. He thought he was hiding it well. He thought Klaus was sure Stefan was completely over her. But apparently, he was wrong.

And Klaus was right. Why would he put Elena's safety in jeopardy for this girl? This blonde girl who read Twilight books and thought he glowed in sunlight? He didn't even acknowledged that he was also being threatened - all he could think about was Elena. But then again, Elena had Damon. And not only Damon, she had Bonnie, Jeremy, everyone still looked out for her. And this girl was all alone. Did she have any family? Were they looking for her?

Still, he couldn't do it. He couldn't pick a fight with Klaus over something like this. He knew better than to ask why Klaus kept the girl, but there had to be a reason why she was so important. Or, maybe, there was no reason at all. Klaus had always been impulsive. Maybe this was just another one of his impulsive acts, and going against Klaus on this wouldn't work well in the end. He knew something bad would happen. He knew Klaus would eventually get to him, kill him or kill the girl, or even actually succeed in killing Elena. He knew better than to underestimate Klaus.

So he reached a decision: he would do nothing. He would let Klaus be, but he would look out for the girl. He still didn't know Klaus' plans for her, but he knew he would find out soon enough, and he would be there to help her if she needed. Hell, he could even turn her, if she agreed. Tell Klaus he tried to heal her with his blood but it was too late, and she died with his blood in her system if it ever gets that bad. He just wanted to help, to keep this girl, Elena, and even himself safe, to continue living without grief. It had been so long since he experienced grief; He sure as hell didn't want to experience it again.

Patience, Stefan. Just be patient. He thought to himself.

But he needed patience from Klaus and the girl, too. And he wasn't so certain he was getting it.

ruan-san: wow, thank you soooo much! that means a lot to me, thank you!

Review guys! Thank you 3