CHAPTER 52: 1912

The Police Station

And it seemed like nobody could stay out of trouble without Natalie supervising them. Damon went out and turned Bonnie's estranged mother into a vampire to make sure that the originals survived, making sure Elena did as well. And then it was her dad, who had went home to his new girlfriend, Dr, Meredith Fell, and ended up getting arrested. Apparently, he pulled a knife on her and that made him a suspect when it came to the murders in Mystic Falls.

Once she finally got to the station to see him and hopefully get him out, she ran into Damon, who looked as if he had just gotten out of there. "Were you just-?"

He cut her off, knowing that she was just worried for her closest family member. "Ric's fine. Sheriff wants me to stay out of it."

Natalie scrunched her nose up at the though of Damon just leaving Alaric behind because of what Sheriff Forbes told him. "Somehow, I find it hard to believe that you will."

"Seems just as good a plan as any." he shrugged nonchalantly, not really knowing what else he was supposed to do that would make Alaric's case stronger.

"Woah, what happened to you? You're Damon 'meddling jerk' Salvatore." Natalie reminded him, thinking that he might figure something out, he always did, even if he ended up getting someone else killed. But at the same time, Alaric wasn't Elena, so he wouldn't go to as great lengths for him to be safe.

"Well, I guess I could rip out Dr. False Accusation's throat. Maybe her tongue. You know, I could chew it up into little tiny pieces and feed it to the squirrels." he then mimicked a squirrel-chewing-sound, which only let her respond with her famous eye-roll.

"Shut up." she groaned, bumping his stomach with her elbow.

He smirked at her as she seemed to give up on him helping. "Guess me staying out of it suddenly sounds like a good idea, doesn't it? And now is probably a good time to apologize for lying to you last night."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. If I were you, I'd give Bonnie a call." Natalie gave him a cold look, even though it saved her sister and she wanted her to be safe, she didn't want it to go on Bonnie all the time, because she was a very good friend of hers.

He nodded in agreement with a false look of sympathy for the Bennett witch. "I know, you're right, her and her mom must be really hurting right now. Should I send lasagna?"

"And now you're back to being all Damon-ish." she sighed, closing her eyes in annoyance, because even though he could be a good person once in time he was still the most annoying person she knew (other then herself).

"I'm Damon-ish, you hate it. The Earth is back on its axis."

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Mystic Falls Hospital

Natalie knew that if there was one place to locate the bitch who got her dad locked up so that she could maybe, perhaps convince her that she made a mistake. Or she'd just kick her ass. She ended up in the parking lot, and Meredith spotted her, realizing that this wouldn't be friendly, but it was unavoidable.

"I'm due in surgery. Whatever case you're gonna make against Alaric, make it quick." she said, ignoring that this girl's last parent was in jail for something she was very sure he didn't do.

"I don't need a case, he didn't do anything!" Natalie exclaimed in refusal to believe that her father, the man she looked up to for so long, was a cold-blooded killer who killed people like her best friend's dad.

Meredith rolled her eyes at her just not wanting to see any other side of the case but her own. "How do you know? Sure you live with him, he takes care of you, but do you really know anything about him?"

"I know everything, he's my dad!" the huntress snapped, narrowing her eyes at the know-it-all in front of her, who thought that she could ever know more about her own father than she did.

Meredith sighed in annoyance, pulling a strand of hair behind her ear as she really just wanted to let this teenage girl realize that the person she had painted out to be perfect her whole life may not have been so perfect after all. "Let me tell you what I know. He was arrested for fighting four times before the age of 21. When he was at Duke, his future wife, Isobel, filed a restraining order against him. Twice. Although, then she married him, so I guess that says more about her."

"First of all, do not talk about my mother like that," Natalie spat, even though Isobel had done her fair share of bad stuff, she loved her mother, she'd never stop as she was once even more important to her than her father. "And second, maybe he wasn't perfect, maybe some misunderstandings happened, but that does not give you the right to blow things out of proportion."

"Am I? How would you know? You've put him on a pedestal for so long that you didn't realize that he was a borderline alcoholic so you never thought to dig deeper." Meredith reminded her as if you were supposed to run background checks on you parents.

Natalie let a glare form and walked closer to the doctor with the most threatening gaze she could muster. "You and I both know that he is innocent, so the only question here is why you're doing this?"

"You date vampires, Natalie. It shouldn't come as a shock to learn that your father is a murderer." Meredith said softly before walking away, not giving Natalie a chance to explain that she hadn't ever actually dated a vampire, but she had to roll with it.

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Meredith's Apartment

On a quest to find more proof of Alaric's innocence, Natalie dragged Matt with her as a partner in crime to break into Dr. Fell's apartment because he's Matt and he never really did anything, so she thought she should take him with.

She was currently picking the lock of door to the apartment so they could search through it, and Matt was awkwardly standing behind her with nothing to do. "If you can do all this by yourself, why am I here?"

"Well, you haven't really had much to do lately, you know, other than having Rebekah obsess over you, so I thought I'd bring you along, and, it also goes by quicker when you bring a friend." the brunette smiled at him as she opened the door quietly, so nobody that might be around would be call the police on the them.

"Thank you?"

"You're welcome. And I have no idea how long Meredith is going to be in surgery so we should probably hurry so she doesn't pin the murders on us. Because it kinda seems like her favorite hobby." she muttered the last bit bitterly, not quite over it.

The two entered the apartment, turning on the lights so they'd get a better look. They began to walk to bookcases, shelves, drawers, anything to find anything at all that might help them. Matt then decided to speak up about not really knowing why they went there in the first place. "Don't you think the police already combed through this place? She handed over everything she had."

"Oh, Matt. Sweet, innocent Matt. There's something called lying and deception, and I have a feeling she's knows a thing or two about it. Because, as you know, she's a Fell. And as a founding family member-" Natalie opened a closet, turning on the lights and pushed some stuff away and knocked on a panel in the back, finding it to be hollow. "She has some skeletons in the closet."

Matt entered the closet as well and pulled the panel out, giving them access to whatever was in there, which was a cardboard box full of files, and he handed a few to his brunette friend. "Brian Walters. Bill Forbes." he listed a few names he recognized.

Natalie then pulled a folder out of the box and showed it to Matt. "Alaric Saltzman."

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They searched through the file, looking through whatever information she had on him that could either help Alaric or give them a case against Meredith, both were outcomes they'd be very happy with.

Natalie frowned as she recognized some things from whatever she'd been told, and saw they were real. "She's got everything on him: medical records, old court documents."

Matt decided that maybe searching through the box would bring out a few more answers or clues. Which was correct because he picked up a ragged, old journal and handed it to Natalie. "What's this?"

She grabbed it from his hands and looked at the familiar design of it and opened it just to see familiar handwriting. "An old Gilbert journal. My dad was obsessed with these for a while."

"Why is an old Gilbert journal in her closet?" Matt asked confusedly, as a Fell usually didn't have any rights to Gilbert heirlooms, and the journals could be considered heirlooms if you liked the insane type. He got a shrug in response as she began looking at the first pages as Matt searched through the box and file once more. "Didn't you say the medical examiners time of death was between one and three a.m.? Because the county coroner's office says that's wrong."

Natalie was about to grab the paper when the sound of footsteps became louder and louder, an indication for it coming towards them, especially since they were in someone else's apartment. Natalie's eyes widened and without even thinking about it, she grabbed Matt's arm and ran back into the closet to hide from the incoming doctor.

The door opened, and Meredith did enter the apartment, sighing as she put her take-away cup of coffee and her keys on the kitchen table. She did hear some kind of sound, but she wasn't completely sure where it came from.

Matt looked over at Natalie with widened eyes, opening his mouth to say something, but then the brunette put her finger over his mouth to silence him, because she had no idea how he'd even come up with the idiotic idea of speaking so they'd most likely get arrested for breaking and entering.

But then they heard the sound of the front door being opened and closed. Matt sighed in relief at the hope of them finally getting out. Natalie was shaking her head rapidly, knowing he was about to do something completely and utterly stupid, and she was right. He quickly turned the lights in the closet and pushed the door open.

And there was Meredith with her death stare.

"Matt?"

"Yeah?"

"You're an idiot."

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The Police Station

Meredith did call the police on them, what else was she expected to do? When people break into your home, that's a normal reaction, but the blond boy and the brunette girl didn't appreciate it. The duo of people who were pretty worried about what a certain Sheriff might do when she walked into the room was glancing at one another as that exact thing happened.

Liz drove her hand through her short, blonde hair as she gave Matt and Natalie hard looks. "What were you thinking?" she demanded from them, the harshness in her voice making Matt flinch.

Natalie, however, was ready to go for a more diplomatic and lovable approach by acting weirdly polite. She was never polite. "I know we had no right-"

"No right? You broke the law." the Sheriff hissed, sending the girl she did care for an angry look, but knowing she shouldn't yell at her too much as her daughter wouldn't be very pleased with her best friend and out of the two, Caroline was definitely the scariest.

"We found something that clears him! It gives him an alibi in the Brian Walters murder." Natalie stated, wanting nothing more than for him to just get out and make them be able to just keep going with their usual supernatural-induced problems.

Liz looked at her desk for a moment before picking up a piece of paper, identical to the one in Meredith's closet. "You mean this? A letter from the county coroner's office correcting the error in the time of death of Brian Walters. Meredith Fell received it today. She brought it to me several hours ago, full of apologies for accusing an innocent man."

Matt finally gained the courage to ask question that he was really wanting the answer to, which could probably help if they got the answer at all. "Why would she have a copy hidden in her closet?"

"I can't ask those questions, Matt, because the very fact that you broke into her home to find it. Do you know how much I'm already protecting both of you?" the blond asked, looking between the two, being a little less angry.

Natalie sighed as a guilty expression overcame her face and she looked at the Sheriff with sorry-eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Just...get out of my office and go home. Please. Alaric will be released as soon as the letter is authenticated. Go." Sheriff Forbes ushered them out, not knowing that behind their chairs, Natalie and Matt were making a little trade. Matt was giving her a Gilbert journal in exchanged for nothing, really.

And then they left.

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The Gilbert House

Alaric had been home for a few hours now, and after Natalie kept babying him, he was finally left alone, only to realize that he needed to see her again anyways as she was downstairs reading a Gilbert journal as he was walking downstairs, desperate for a cup of coffee.

"Hey, I was gonna make some coffee." he said, looking at her with an offering look, knowing that she liked her coffee once in a while as well.

She shrugged, looking back at her father as she pulled her blanket higher up on her body, trying to get as comfortable as possible, and blankets were one of her favorite things in the whole world. They're just so cozy. "I'm good. Gonna head to bed in a few."

He glanced back at her for a moment in hesitation before walking over plopping down next to her on the couch. "Hey, listen, Nat, the uh- the Sheriff told me about everything you did today and while I appreciate it, I don't want you getting in trouble because of me. Okay?"

"You're one of the very few people I'd get in a lot of trouble for, appreciate it." she smirked, and he smiled in return as he knew her, and she knew him, they both appreciated one another, that's one thing that made them such a good team.

His smile faded as he looked at her face, and couldn't help but compare it to when she was just a little kid who didn't know how to pronounce words correctly, and then he realized how much he screwed up with her. She was an eighteen year old with major abandonment issues, stuck in a very weird love triangle with her sister and a vampire, and she's been doing her best to shut people out for so long. "Well, still, I'm the one who's supposed to look after you, even if I suck at it."

"You and I both know that we never worked like that. We take care of each other. We're a team." she smiled. And another wave of thoughts went through his head, contradicting his previous ones and for another moment, he couldn't help but think how much he did right with her. She was strong, emotionally and physically, every loss she suffered through was somethings she was able to get through, even with her issues, she was always there for people who she cared about, not even caring about her own safety 60% of the time as there were always the people she loved.

"We've always been a team,"he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, allowing her to lean her head onto his as he looked at the old book on her lap and decided to change the subject. "What are you reading there?"

"Old Gilbert journal."

"Any juicy family secrets?" he teased her, knowing that the Gilbert's had their fair share of those, and the only families he knew with more were the Salvatores and the Mikaelsons, and they were pretty messed up.

"It's hard to tell. I mean, at first I thought it was Jonathan Gilbert's journal, but it ended up being his granddaughter's, who apparently went just as crazy as he did. It's times like these where it's so exciting to be biologically a Gilbert. You know, all those great genes." she muttered bitterly, not really feeling for going insane any time soon.

"Well, at least you have something to look forward to."

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Meredith eventually showed up at the Gilbert house as Natalie was reading through Samantha Gilbert's journal, and they were both reading/talking about insanity, and it was something eerily similar with the situations.

I don't feel like myself. I'm losing time. As though I'm going mad. she read. And then she though about the murders lately, her father had told her that he had been losing some concept of time as though it was suddenly morning after remembering it being night, and then the murders had been carried out by their weapons, and then she decided that she should go down in the kitchen, knowing her dad was down there with his coffee, and she could tell her his theory.

But then there was also someone else with that theory who was explaining it to him. "You wear a ring that lets you cheat death, Ric. How many times can you die before it changes you? I think you're sick and I want to help you. This has happened before, almost 100 years ago."

One of the floorboards creaked as Natalie stepped on it, making the pair turn their heads to look at the teenager with widened eyes. "Natalie." Alaric breathed, knowing that she heard it and he didn't want her to think about something he though was bullocks.

"Dad, I think she might be right."

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A/N: Trying to keep the updates weekly, but at the same time, I'm a stressed teenager who doesn't know that your time shouldn't be spent watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier on Netflix at 1AM. Oops.

Votes and comments are greatly appreciated.