Hello, my lovely readers. As I promised this is my first Thursday update to get us through the TVD/TO hiatus. I hope you like it! You might also want to check out my first crossover event for TVD/TO called "The New Old Fashioned Way" it's my tribute to Christmas - if you haven't already. Please, review if you have time. Your opinions mean a lot to me and they're why I continue to write my stories.
Chapter 12: Stefan's Birthday
"Boys, stop throwing the ball in the house." Giuseppe Salvatore's voice rang down the hall as Stefan threw a football down the stairs. I caught it and threw it to Damon, who was standing at the door.
Opening the door, Damon grinned. "Hey, Stef. Your friends are here." He hollered up the stairs at Stefan, who was staring, not at the people, but at the brightly wrapped packages.
"Presents!" Stefan screamed, careening down the stairs. Barreling into Elijah and Katherine, Stefan jumped up and ripped the present straight out of a surprised Katherine's hands.
"Rude," Rebekah called, folding her little arms over her chest.
"Whatever!" Stefan snapped at the nearly four year old. "When it's your turn you'll be worse."
"Presents," Kol yelled, pushing his way in between his sister and Stefan. He grabbed the present out of Stefan's hands. He shook it next to his ear. Frowning, he held the present in front of his face, "Not cool," he muttered and shoved it into Stefan's hands. Kol ran off toward the kitchen to find the cake, followed by Jeremy Gilbert, Matt Donavon and Tyler Lockwood. Stefan ran after his friends.
"Did they have chocolate already?" Katherine asked, horrified as she stared at Elijah.
"Chocolate!" Elena exclaimed, excitedly as she appeared beside her sister. "Damon!" Running over to him, her long, pink hair swung down her back.
"Hey, brat," Damon called, taking her hand as they headed for the kitchen.
"Where's Caroline?" I asked looking out the door.
"Who cares?" Katherine replied, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I'm here. That's all anyone needs to know."
"Really, Kat?" Sage shook her head as she and Finn walked in the door. "Not every day is about you." Striding purposefully through the foyer, Sage looked angry.
"How dare you talk to me like that?" Katherine yelled, grabbing Sage by the arm. "I left you in charge of that school full of little brats and now you think you have the right to talk to me like that. You just wait until next year, little girl. Then you'll be on my turf. Again."
Glaring up at Katherine, Sage sneered. "Somehow, Kat, I don't think you have any idea how irrelevant you have become within the last couple of years." Ripping her arm away, Sage walked toward the kitchen.
"What is wrong with her?" Katherine asked the empty air, frowning.
Finn coughed loudly. "You left, Kat. You just left her alone to figure out the whole thing by herself. Now, she's you. Let's just say she's not exactly grateful to be the new queen." Shrugging, Finn walked away.
Spinning to face Elijah, Katherine's mouth formed a wide O. "What does he mean I abandoned her? I trained her. She knew what to do. I just went to middle school…"
"Did you ever call her or stop by her house to say hello?" Elijah inquired, his eyebrows furrowing.
Katherine thought about it, staring at the ceiling and then she sighed loudly. "Damn, I knew I forgot to do something this summer and for the last month. Oh, well. Things happen. People are busy. I have dances to prepare for and tests to take." Smiling slowly, Katherine wrapped her arms around Elijah's neck. "And dates to go on."
Smiling down at Katherine, Elijah pressed his forehead to hers. "Lots of dates to go on and dances to go to."
I rolled my eyes. Peering outside, I looked for any sign of Caroline. Groaning, I walked back into the house and shut the door. Following Elijah and Katherine into the kitchen, I plopped on a chair as Stefan came to sit down next to me. "Want to open one of my presents?" Holding out one of his presents, Stefan smiled at me.
It was strange to me how the little boy could go from a whirling dervish one minute and the next minute he became attentive to other people's pain. Taking the present, I returned the smile. "Thank you, Stefan." I looked down at it and recognized Katherine's present. Unwrapping it, I was surprised to see that it looked like a book.
Opening the book, I found blank pages. Kol came to stand beside me. "Lame," He exclaimed. "I don't want any lame presents on my birthday." He declared.
"Rude," Rebekah yelled at Kol and shoved him out of the way. "Why is the paper blank, Nik?"
"You suck," Kol snapped, shoving Rebekah back, hard and knocking her down. This resulted in Rebekah getting up and tackling Kol.
"You're not supposed to fight girls," Stefan told Kol.
"She's not a girl. She's Bekah. And Bekah is a brat." Kol declared, shoving his hand over her face and squashing her nose.
"Ow," Rebekah cried out as Kol shoved harder. I went to grab my brother when the doorbell rang. Forgetting everything else, I ran for the door.
"I'll get it," I screamed at the top of my lungs as I ran into Damon's father. "Oops."
"Hello, Klaus." Giuseppe greeted with a wide smile. "Are you enjoying the party?"
"Yeah, it's great. Someone is at the door." I told him in a rush, trying to sidestep him to get to the door.
"Don't worry. Lexi's got it. Go ahead and go back to the party." Giuseppe turned me around and began to walk me back to the party as I tried to peer back toward the people, who were being greeted at the door.
"Ow," Kol was crying as I walked into the kitchen. My jaw dropped as I saw Stefan punch my little brother in the mouth.
"Hey!" I yelled, running over. "What do you think you're doing?"
"He hurt Bekah!" Stefan yelled, glaring at Kol.
"What? They were just messing around…" Peering around toward where Bekah was sitting, I noticed Katherine removing a bloody tissue from my sister's nose.
"And he insulted my journal." Stefan declared, folding his arms over his chest, glaring at Kol.
"It's a stupid gift!" Kol snapped, rubbing his mouth. "And you hit like a girl."
"Let's open some more presents." Finn called. "And try not hitting anyone else. Here, Stefan, this one is from Sage and me." He held out a silver wrapped package to the younger Salvatore.
"Yes, because our present isn't something you give your girlfriend." Sage muttered taking a sip of her Coke.
Katherine turned around and glared at Sage. "My present is not lame. Stefan likes to write. Don't you, Stefan?"
Stefan looked at Katherine and shrugged. "I like football."
"Traitor." Katherine snarled, slamming her cup on the table and causing soda to pour over her hand. "Damn it," she yelled.
"Language," Lexi called from the doorway as she and Caroline walked in.
"Caroline," I shouted, jumping to my feet.
"Good job, Kat." Sage giggled, watching as Katherine tried to clean up the mess. Katherine snarled and then threw her drink in Sage's face.
"Bitch," Sage yelled.
"Language," Lexi yelled at the two girls as Katherine lunged and tackled Sage to the floor.
"Oh!" Elijah cried when he tried to pull Katherine away and Sage kicked him in the stomach.
"Elijah!" Finn cried in alarm. He did not seem worried about his girlfriend. Soon, I saw why as she rolled on top of Katherine and began to choke her.
"Go, Sage," Damon cried with a wide grin.
Stefan sighed and began to unwrap the present. "Ninja turtles!" He cried, delighted. "Thanks, Sage."
"Glad you like it, kid," Sage called as Katherine gasped and flailed beneath her.
Just then Giuseppe started to come into the kitchen. "Is everything alright?"
Lexi hurried over. "No. Everything is great. Go enjoy the adult company."
The doorbell rang again. "Lexi, can you get that?" Giuseppe asked as Lexi looked at Katherine, who was losing the fight.
"Sure," Lexi hurried out of the kitchen and I went to help my brothers pull Sage off of Katherine.
"Sage," Finn whispered to her, holding her arms down and she visibly relaxed.
"You're insane," Katherine croaked as she rubbed at her neck.
"Katherine," Elijah warned resting a hand on her shoulder as he helped her over to a chair far away from Sage.
"I'm ready for round two whenever you're ready," Sage taunted with a grin.
"Enough!" Lexi called as she stepped into the kitchen. "Stef, sweetie, why don't you open some more presents and we'll have some cake." Picking up a gift at random Lexi handed it to Stefan.
Jerking the paper off Stefan inspected the bottle. "Hair gel?" Elena sighed and buried her face in her hands as Katherine giggled.
"It's for your beginning super hero hair. Come here. I'll fix it for you." Katherine waved Stefan over and pulled him into her lap. Squirting some of the substance into her hands. She ran her hands through the six year old's hair and shoved it upward into spikes. "There you go. Now, you're ready to go save a kitten or something."
The next present was from Elijah. He began to cough discretely "I hate Damon." Unwrapping the slim object. Staring at the magazine Stefan opened it wondering what was so cool about the magazine.
"Whoa!" Stefan's eyebrows lifted high on his head. "Lijah, there are naked ladies in this." He held out the magazine for everyone to see. Lexi snatched it out of his hands in horror.
Damon began to laugh until his face turned red and he choked. "Mine is next." He yelled getting up to grab a box and handed it to his little brother. Stefan unwrapped the gift and then opened the box. There was a gray leotard inside. "Congrats, Stef, Dad said you can join us for ballet class next week." Damon announced proudly folding his arms over his chest.
"What?" Stefan shouted. "No! I will kill you for this." Jumping up from his seat he tackled his brother and they began to roll around on the floor.
"What is wrong with you kids today?" Lexi yelled just as she saw Rebekah trying to climb on top of the table to get at the cake aided by Kol. When the little girl began to slide off and fell on top of Caroline, who began to cry, Klaus was instantly by Caroline's side making sure both girls were fairly unharmed.
"Open my gift," Kol called. "And then cut the stupid cake already. Bloody hell."
"Language," Lexi yelled exasperated with the antics of the kids.
"You're not my mother," Kol snapped at her.
"Yeah, cause your Mom is nuts." Katherine muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Bitch," Sage muttered as loudly.
"I am going to kick your ass," Katherine yelled, flinging herself at Sage.
"Oh, my God," Lexi yelled.
"Cake!" Kol screamed at the top of his lungs.
Elijah had had enough; he walked over to the counter and grabbed the cake. Jerking out a butcher knife, he began to cut the cake into slices and placed one on a plate for each of the guests. Handing one to Stefan first, then Kol, followed by the rest of the guests until he walked over and sat two plates on the floor next to Katherine and Sage, who were pulling each other's hair.
Performing all of this with a blank face, Elijah took his plate and walked out the back door. Stefan, Caroline, Damon, Elena, Rebekah and I followed him out. "Lijah, what's wrong?" Stefan asked sitting beside my oldest brother.
"Nothing is wrong, Stefan. Everything is right with the world." Elijah replied looking at the sky and not touching the cake.
"Mother is crazy," Rebekah whispered to me.
Before I could reply Elijah's head whipped around. "Mother is not crazy. Katherine was angry and she lashed out. That is all. She knows nothing of our mother's sanity and she should not have spoken of it in the presence of others." Glaring at Rebekah until her lower lip wobbled Elijah deflated. "Come here, Bekah."
I watched Elijah, who always seemed like the rock in our family, begin to unravel at the seams. He always made life look easy. That is why Elijah was the one person I wanted to be like when I grew up. Somehow I believed that I would always fall short of what I perceived as my brothers' perfection but that did not mean I would not try.
Right now, I could see the performance failing. As it turned out Elijah was not flawless. He was a human being, just like me and he was capable of hurting others. He was capable of hurting those closest to him. If he was capable of doing that kind of harm to his family what was I capable of?
"Klaus," Damon called to me. "Man, wake up or I'll eat your cake. I already ate half of Lena's piece."
"What?" Elena looked down at her plate and frowned at the remnants of icing. "Damon!" She shoved him knocking him over.
"Here, have mine," Elijah handed his piece of cake over to Elena who looked surprised.
"You don't want it?" Elena asked my brother, her eyes wide.
"No, I don't. I think I shall go home. Good-bye, everyone." Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Elijah walked away.
"Why is he acting so weird?" Damon asked me, picking up a fork and beginning to dig into the piece of cake in front of Elena.
"Hey," Elena protested just as Rebekah got up and stuck her hand in the piece of cake. My sister then shoved her hand in her mouth.
"Good," Rebekah exclaimed.
"That was mine," Elena snapped at Rebekah. Taking her hand Rebekah placed her fingers in the icing and then began to make sloppy smiley faces on Elena's cheeks.
Damon began to laugh when Elena turned to him. Grinning, Elena stuck her finger in the icing and began to decorate Damon's face. Rebekah laughed and licked Damon's cheek. "Agh, baby germs," Damon teased, tickling Rebekah.
Elena rolled her eyes at Caroline cutting her cake into little squares being careful not to get any on her dress. "I dare you to switch your ballet costume with Stefan's." The Gilbert girl exclaimed.
"I dare you to eat that grass right over there." Stefan pointed to a spot two inches from Elena. Gritting her teeth, Elena ripped out some grass and began to chew before she threw up.
"Good job, brother," Damon rolled his eyes as he patted Elena's back. "I dare you to perform your new dance moves during the next football game." He told his little brother.
Stefan stuck his tongue out. "You suck."
"Not as much you do," Damon retorted.
"It's my birthday," Stefan yelled.
"So, what?" Damon scoffed. "You are still my annoying little brother no matter what day it is."
"I can't wait for your birthday." Stefan told him.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm shaking in my sneakers." Damon grinned at his little brother as he leaned back on his elbows. He jumped slightly when Elena licked the icing off his other cheek. "Okay, kid, I get you like me. Down girl. You're a little bit young. Besides I like older girls."
"Why?" Elena asked pouting.
"Because I'm not supposed to." Damon told her like it was obvious.
"Do you like older girls?" Caroline asked me.
"No, I like you," I told her smiling as she laid her head on my shoulder.
"My birthday's next," Caroline whispered to me dreamily.
"I know," I told her, and I planned on making sure that Caroline had a great birthday party even if I had to dare everyone in the club to behave during it.
Okay, so there was a spot or two of violence in this chapter but parties tend to bring out the worst in people at times. All those emotions and a sugar high can be a bad combination. The next chapter is Caroline's birthday, which Liz Garza is helping me with some cultural details, which is super exciting. If anyone else has any culture themed birthday themes you would like to run by me, feel free to review or pm me with details.
Thank you for reading, reviewing, faving and following. Thank you Liz Garza, klaroline4everlove, WeasleysGroupie, redbudrose, whispererofdreams, Clarity23, ferrylis, klaroline-lovegames, Hediionannita, KlarolineMyMockingjay, If We Burn You Burn With Us123, Teambarbievampire22 and Sissymac.
Love,
LL