𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙀𝙏𝙀𝙀𝙉
ミ★ ( lion and the lamb, act one ) ★彡

     Being at Bonnie's Grams' funeral reminded Hazel a lot about being at her own parents' funeral last year. It brought up a lot of feelings that Hazel wasn't ready to confront; feelings that she had been pushing away since her parents died—emotions like guilt, anger and pure anguish. She felt guilty about being a survivor from the crash, and she feels guilty that it's partially her fault that Grams was now gone. If she just hadn't let Damon drag her into that cave; if she hadn't of screamed when Pearl bit her to cause Stefan to run in, knowing that he wouldn't come out; if she had just been brave enough to tell them to not go along with their stupid plan in the first place; maybe Grams would still be there for Bonnie, and Bonnie wouldn't be experiencing some of the worst pain in her life.

     Having lost her own parents, Hazel knows how it all feels to grieve someone you love so much. All you do is think about them. You think about good memories and how much you cherish those, and you think about the bad memories and how you wish you could change it; how you wish you didn't say that stupid thing or pick that stupid fight, or how you wish you didn't walk away in that moment and just hugged them. Everything reminds you of them. Every place, every song; they just stay on your mind permanently and you can't help but just cry. You know they don't want you to be sad, but you miss them so damn much that all you can do is cry your eyes out at every reminder of them. Your heart pangs every time their face flashes in your mind and sadness overcomes you instantly.

     Bonnie had experienced loss before with her mom walking out on her and having to be raised by her dad and Grams—although she thought she was crazy up until a few months ago because of the whole witch ancestry thing, to which she now massively regrets because it came to be true—but, she had never experienced grief of a life, and it happened to be the person in her family she had become closest to. Hazel tries to be there for her and offer her support and guidance; but, she can't guide someone on how to handle grief as everyone copes differently.

     Bonnie had left town after the funeral and was staying with extended family to handle her grief. Hazel doesn't blame her since everything around town reminded her of Grams and she can only imagine that being there was feeling claustrophobic almost. They spoke every now and again, and Bonnie asked her questions on how she coped with the loss of her parents, but, Hazel doesn't believe the way she coped was deemed necessarily healthy. Hazel shut everyone out and barely spoke or ate and is still extremely traumatised by the accident, and the guilt consumes her on a daily. Hazel doesn't want Bonnie to follow in her footsteps, and she thinks it's hypocritical of her to suggest otherwise when she couldn't even do that for herself.

     The whole thing eats her up and she feels like she's back in the same place she was after the accident. She struggles to sleep or eat, and she shut out Elena and Stefan because she selfishly blames them for what happened even though she blames herself more. Her head is a mess and her heart hurts for Bonnie.

     Elena has been trying to make up for what happened, and Hazel can see she feels equally as guilty and sad for what happened. She knows it's partially her fault that Grams used too much power because she didn't want to betray Damon again and she pushed for them to let the Salvatores out of the tomb. Then she feels awful for her betrayal towards Hazel and conspiring with Stefan against Damon behind her back. It blew up in her face and it makes her realise that she needs to gain the courage to tell her about the adoption soon or she'll lose Hazel forever. She's just so scared to.

"Tickets for the raffle are now on sale. All proceeds benefit the annual Founder's Day celebration." Carol Lockwood announced through the microphone on the stage of the Mystic Grill.

Hazel can't help but chuckle and shake her head as she, Elena, Matt and Caroline stand at the hostess' stand at the front of the Grill, "I can't believe they still do this thing every year. It's so icky." She comments, running a hand down her face as she notices all the moms have made a line for raffle tickets. Every year, Mystic Falls holds a fundraiser where they auction off dates with the most eligible bachelors in town. It's almost sad the way the women eat it up every year and the men feel so uncomfortable standing up on stage while being sent to the highest bidder.

"You say that every year." Elena replies with amusement.

"That's because it still happens every year." Hazel snorts, "I swear the same guy has been there for the last five years. If he still can't secure a girlfriend by now, there's no hope." She shakes her head again before turning to Matt, "Anyway, how's working here been, Matt? I hope they give you a good discount for putting up with all of this." She gestures to the set up that was surrounding them for the event.

Caroline laughs, "He gets paid tips with compliments." She jokes, "He's already been hit on, like, thirty-five times. He's total cougar bait."

Elena smirks in amusement, "Impressive."

"More like embarrassing." Matt corrects.

Caroline laughs and sees Kelly enter the Grill, "Hi, Mrs. Donovan." She says nicely and Hazel can't help but blink in surprise as if Kelly Donovan was a hallucination. When the heck did she get back, and what happened this time for her to return?

Kelly only glances at Caroline with distaste and looks at Elena and Hazel with some confusion as to who was who, so, she settles for looking behind them rather than at them and hopes for the best, "Oh... Elena, honey." She smiles. She's still so unaware about which twin is which, but, she knows she likes Elena because Matt loved Elena.

Elena smiles, unaware, and hugs her, "Hi, Kelly."

"Long time, no see." Kelly replies with a look of relief on her face as if she got away with not knowing who she was talking to, while Caroline and Hazel share a bewildered look about their interaction as if her and Elena were lifelong best friends, whereas Kelly couldn't even spare Caroline a glance and she's the one dating Matt.

The two pull away and Elena asks, "How are you doing?"

"Oh, same old." Kelly replies before sending her a pout, "Oh. Matty tells me you broke his heart."

"Mom." Matt interjects uncomfortably, and sternly shaking his head at her because his new girlfriend was right there.

"Just kidding. Calm down." She tells Matt before turning back to Elena, "He found his rebound girl." She remarks and glances over at Caroline while Hazel's jaw goes slack. Kelly has always been oblivious to the way she acts and how it affects others, and it's clear she has a favourite of her son's partners. Kelly then reaches into her purse and extracts some money to hand to Caroline, who takes it with a small smile that doesn't reach her eyes because she's hurt by Kelly's remark. She's already insecure about the history with Elena and Matt, and to hear from his own mother that she thinks she's just his rebound girl only solidifies it, "Oh. Here you go, sweetheart. However many that'll buy."

Caroline places the money in the tin and gets the tickets while everyone shares uncomfortable looks between them, although Kelly hasn't picked up on that and continues to ramble, "I just hope I don't get bachelor three. I dated him in high school. Not impressive—in any way." She whispers and Matt shakes his head in embarrassment while the twins give her an awkward chuckle out of politeness. Caroline hands Kelly her tickets and she takes them, "Very exciting."

Kelly walks off and Hazel turns to her best friend with a tight smile, "What the hell?" She can't help but ask, missing the fact that Elena and Alaric were staring at each other.

Caroline slumps, "She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you." Matt tries to make her feel better but the looks from both Hazel and Caroline tell him that they aren't buying it. He sighs, "You know my mom. She's... complicated."

Caroline sends him a flat look before shaking her head and turning to Hazel to change the subject to something other than her monster future mother-in-law, "Have you spoken to Bonnie yet?"

Elena shakes her head while Hazel nods, "Briefly." She says while Elena looks surprised to hear that since Bonnie has been dodging her calls since the funeral, "She's... so sad and I don't know how to help her—I'm no poster child when it comes to how to handle grief. I hid away from the world for months."

"Yeah, but, because of that, you two know how she feels better than anyone else." Caroline reminds her softly, "I'm just worried. I want her to know we're here for her."

"I think she knows." Hazel shrugs timidly, "She just needs to feel it."

      It was later in the night and Hazel was sat at one of the booths with a milkshake in front of her and had just finished a bite when Stefan slid in to the seat across from her. She looked up at him curiously because she hasn't spoken to him since the tomb incident since she was preoccupied with feeling betrayed and Grams' funeral, and she just wasn't too sure what to say to him. She loves him and she's grateful that he came to save her from Pearl and Anna, but she can't let go of how many times he's hurt her. He's lied to her and kept things from her and it's hard to let that go. How can you be with someone if you don't trust them completely?

     "Hi." Stefan says.

     "Hi." Hazel replies cautiously.

    "How are you doing?" Stefan asks.

     Hazel picks up one of her utensils to play with the leftovers on her plate by pushing them around to do something other than look at him, "I've been better." Flashes of what happened in the tomb cross her mind. Within a 24-hour timeframe, she had been kidnapped and attacked twice, and found out the people closest to her had been lying to her and colluding behind her back. And on top of it all, Bonnie's grams got caught in the crossfire because of it.

A tense awkward silence falls over them once again with Hazel's refusal to open back up to him, and he sighs, "Look, I... I wanted to apologise to you." He starts and Hazel looks up at him slightly, "I'm sorry for going behind your back with Elena to try and get Damon out of town, and I'm sorry for putting you in some really crappy situations these last few weeks. It's not fair to you, and I'm so sorry that you've gotten hurt so much because of me."

Hazel isn't sure what to say, but she can see that Stefan is being sincere in his apology. His eyes are soft and his body language is almost pleading her to forgive him. She's hoping it isn't just words and that he won't repeat everything they've been through, and she tries to ignore the whole 'fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me' mindset. She takes a few moments to consider what he's just said to her, slightly punishing Stefan as she takes a painfully long time to reply before pursing her lips, "Stefan..."

     "Let me make it up to you." He interjects quickly, taking her by surprise from how quick and confident he was. She blinks at him and he notices her stiffen so he softens his body language further to not scare her, "Sorry. I just... I really want to regain your trust again." He tells her softly—pleadingly again, "You were the best thing to happen to me and I ruined that. I'll do whatever it takes to get you to trust me again."

Hazel's eyes softened. It's not that she doesn't trust him at all—she just lost a bit of trust. She knows everything he did was to protect her. Yes, it sucked that he lied to her, but he was trying to keep her safe, "You don't need to worry about that, Stefan." She assures him, slightly reaching out to touch his hand. She said the same thing about Bonnie—she just needs to feel her betrayal and hurt, and she needs others to let her feel it so she can move on. She needs to take her own advice, "I mean, I understand why you did it. It just hurt a lot, and I'm allowed to feel that. You haven't lost me completely, I'm just processing. So, just let me feel that... okay?"

     It was then that Stefan sees it. A ghost of a smile playing on her lips. It's not a full one, but my God he missed seeing that smile. It could light up the whole planet in his eyes with how bright it is. Caroline was right: Hazel is warm, like a golden light surrounding him, drowning out the darkness that he feels inside.

     "Can I take you out on a date sometime soon?" Stefan asks and she looks shocked at the request. A date feels so human and normal compared to what they've dealt with since they met; she misses that part of them. Stefan's demeanour turns to an almost shy version of himself because of her reaction, "I know I've messed things up and I probably don't deserve it, but, I'd love to take you out on a date—a proper human date with no vampires or supernatural nonsense. I just want to get us back to normal stuff like school and homework, and nice dates with my girlfriend on the weekends."

Normal sounds like a dream to her. Her life has been the opposite for so long now that she almost doesn't remember what it feels like to focus on school and homework, and crushing on the mysterious new guy who luckily feels the same way as her. Instead, her life has been filled with vampires and witches, and she has a doppelgänger whom is centuries older than her and Elena—that shouldn't feel normal.

"Okay." Hazel agrees, catching Stefan by surprise considering he thought she would need to be persuaded a little more, "I'll think about it."

The auction had begun with Carol Lockwood introducing each of the bachelors on the stage while Hazel sat at one of the tables with Elena and Jenna, her aunt anxiously hoping she gets Ric. She's seen them around town and how flirty they are with each other, and Hazel thinks it's sweet—she should have someone like that, and someone completely unlike Logan Fell, "And what do you do, bachelor number three?"

      "I'm a plumber." Bachelor number three replies with an anxious laugh and Hazel thinks back about what Kelly Donovan said about him. To be completely fair, he has been up on stage for a number of years in a row, and she wonders if what Kelly said had anything to do with his repeat attendance or if something else happens to be the issue.

      "Well, isn't that wonderful? We could always use more plumbers." Carol replied and the crowd laughs as she moves to the next bachelor, which happened to be Ric, "Moving on. Number four, Alaric Saltzman—wow, that's quite a mouthful." Carol laughs at herself and the twins nudge Jenna with a laugh, "What do you do, Alaric?"

      Alaric laughs at Carol's joke and leans in to the microphone, "I'm a teacher at Mystic Falls High."

      "Oh, beauty and brains, ladies. This one's a keeper." Carol addresses the crowd before turning back to Alaric, "What do you teach?"

      "History."

      "History. Oh, well, give us a fun fact about Mystic Falls—something crazy." Carol requests excitedly and Hazel does say that Carol does very well at these sorts of things, and she's impressed she can get this type of engagement with the resources at hand.

      Alaric looks over at Damon and Damon places his hand up to his ear, sarcastically anticipating a response, "Uh, well..." He trails off nervously.

     Carol pulls the microphone away, "He's probably saving the best stories for his date." She says to save him and Hazel cringes slightly. She moves down the line, "And last, but, not least, Damon Salvatore. We don't have much on you."

       "Well, I'm tough to fit on a card." Damon replies and Hazel scoffs. How do you put sociopathic, homicidal, sarcastic, arrogant prick on a card and still make it desirable for a partner? He's right, it is tough to put on a card.

      "Do you have any hobbies, like to travel?" Carol asks.

      "Oh, yeah. L.A., New York." Damon answers and Hazel isn't surprised to hear that he's travelled considering how old he is, "Couple of years ago, I was in North Carolina. Near the Duke campus, actually. I think—I think Alaric went to school there. Didn't you, Ric?" Damon turns to look at Alaric, who does the same, "Yeah, 'cause I—I know your wife did."

       Hazel looks confused as to why he'd say something like that, and why Stefan all of a sudden came rushing over to them, "I had a drink with her once. She was—she was a great girl. I ever tell you that? Cause she was... delicious." Damon continues and Elena's mouth hangs open, her eyes filled with tears as she stares at Damon.

      Jenna looks over at her and Hazel places a hand on Elena's shoulder, "Are you okay? What's going on?" She asks.

      "I just need some air." Elena chokes out as she gets up and walks past Stefan, out of the Grill, who follows after her.

      "What was that all about?" Jenna asks Hazel.

      "I have no clue." Hazel answers truthfully before leaning over to whisper, "Did you know that Alaric and Damon had a weird history?" She clocked it from a mile away, and everything Damon said clearly had another meaning, but, she wonders why he chose to target Alaric like that in public.

      "No." Jenna answers, "I don't even think he knew that."

     By the time that Elena had come inside, Carol was announcing the winners of the raffle. The first two had already been announced and given to some ladies that were very eager and very drunk by the time the night was coming to an end, and Carol was reaching for a raffle ticket from the bowl for the third bachelor, "And bachelor number three goes to 37458."

     "Are you okay?" Hazel asks her younger sister when she joins her back at the table.

     "Yeah. Sorry. I got my period. I don't want to talk about it." Elena says shortly, as if the conversation is to end then and there, and Hazel sends her a weird look because she's never seen her react like that to a period—then again, Hazel isn't really the one to take notice on Elena's period comings and goings.

      "Okay."

      "That's me." Kelly announces as she stumbles towards Carol with her ticket in hand and a drink in the other.

      "Ah. Kelly Donovan. Lovely." Carol replies with a tight smile. She's honestly more amused that Kelly was even there. Kelly takes the ticket from Carol, "You and the plumber should have so much fun."

     Kelly walks over to Caroline to claim her prize, "Congratulations, Mrs. Donovan."

      Kelly stares at her blankly for a moment before speaking, "Okay, just stop. Stop trying so hard." She says and Caroline's face falls, "This thing you're doing, this nice thing, it's fake—like you; like your mom. And for some reason, Matt fell for it, but, that doesn't mean that I will. I don't like you, okay? So, tell plumber boy I'll be at the bar."

      "Okay." Caroline says with hurt all over her face as she walks off.

      Carol then grabs another ticket for Alaric and reads the number, "37649."

      Many of the women in the crowd make disappointed sounds. Jenna raises her hand, "That's me." She says with a smile and Hazel lets out a small excited squeal as Alaric blushes.

      "Congratulations." Carol says as Jenna walks up to her and takes her ticket, "And bachelor number five, Damon Salvatore." She pulls out a ticket while Alaric walks over to Jenna who hands her ticket to Caroline, "37552. Would you look at that? What are the chances? Me." She says and the women groan because they missed out on a bachelor. Carol looks around for Damon to notice he had left, "Where'd he go?"

Hazel only makes a face of confusion as she watches Alaric leave the Grill in a haste moments later, leaving Jenna standing on her lonesome with a look of disbelief. What the hell is going on?