CHAPTER 55: HEART OF DARKNESS

The Salvatore Boarding House

Finn Mikaelson was dead. Sure, Natalie didn't really know him, but there was the fact that everyone thought that the originals were still linked and they'd kill all of them. Finn, Elijah, Klaus, Kol, Rebekah. All of them. But when Bonnie was forced to unlink them (and they killed Finn), they noticed that only one died. Well, more than one died, seeing as it was revealed that every vampire from an original's sire line would die, meaning that if every original was killed, every vampire would be killed. Luckily, none of the Mystic Falls gang were descended from Finn's bloodline, which was very lucky for them.

But then they found out that one of the last remaining white oak stakes was hidden by Alaric's evil alter ego, the killer and vampire hater. But then Damon and Elena went to pick up Jeremy so they could figure out which sire line they all descended from and not die. Leaving Stefan and Natalie back to babysit.

Originally, Stefan kept himself upstairs, allowing Natalie to barely notice he was there (which she was very pleased about because of her not feeling obliged to blurt out a confession about sleeping with Kol). So Alaric was reading in the basement, Natalie was sitting inside the cell, babysitting him in complete quiet.

But as Stefan finally walked downstairs, Alaric started speaking. "Do you know how hard it is to fall asleep when that is what you're supposed to do?"

Stefan sent Natalie a small smile in greeting, thinking that they were on better terms now that they had that one day of bonding over searching for stuff to help Alaric out (kinda), but her eyes only widened and she turned away but he shook it off and turned back to Alaric- "Well, look, I know it's not easy so-" he held up a bottle of whiskey. "Damon suggested that I bring something to help speed up the process."

"What the hell." he shrugged, sitting up as he out his copy of Moby Dick down. But then he glanced at the 17/163 year old vampire in front of him with an offering look as he grabbed the bottle. "You know, I'll feel decidedly less pathetic if I don't drink alone."

Stefan smiled at him as he grabbed a chair and placed himself next to Natalie. He grabbed a glass that he brought with him, allowing Alaric to pour some whiskey into it. "Oh, I am one step ahead of you."

"My tu-" "No!" Natalie was cut off by both the males at the same time, making her pout as she lowered herself on her chair and glared at her father, still not wanting to look at Stefan all too much.

"So, road trip, huh?" Alaric brought up Elena going to Denver with Damon, as mentioned before, to find out where Rose was descended from, since she sired Katherine, who sired Stefan and Damon, who sired Caroline and Bonnie's mom.

Stefan shrugged, not really wanting to talk about Elena exploring her feelings for Damon at the moment. "Yeah, I needed to stay here."

The almost insane man shook his head slightly, wanting more of an answer out of him than that simple thing which gave him almost nothing. "Why? I mean, why you? You know, it doesn't take much to babysit me while I sit here waiting for a psychotic break. Natalie's probably enough."

"Well, unfortunately, we only have a limited amount of time." the vampire responded, his gaze on the floor now, knowing that what happened if they ran out of time wouldn't be pretty.

"First of all, I take offense to you not thinking that I'll be able to do what has to be done after the limited amount of time," Natalie started, Stefan smiling as he heard her break out into one of her Natalie-ish comments. "Second of all, limited amount of time before what?"

"Before we have to resort to other methods."

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After that awkward moment, the three didn't really have much to talk about. But after a while, they knew that Elena and Damon must have gotten to achieve something, anything, during all this time being away, it having been hours.

"I assume they've got Jeremy by now?" Alaric assumed, looking between the two others in the cell with wondering eyes, as if asking if they've heard anything from either of their siblings.

Natalie shrugged before crossing her arms over her chest, suddenly regretting her choice of clothing being a t-shirt in the cold cell. "I don't know, probably. There's no info from them yet. But who knows what will happen, especially seeing as Jeremy has a ring and those are really messed up it seems."

"Who knows? Maybe his alter ego is a pot smoking, hippie pacifist." Alaric joked, snorting at his own failed attempt to be funny, not knowing that he should probably keep the jokes to others, like his daughter or best friend.

The brunette female frowned, a thought suddenly showing up as she remembered hearing something a while ago, not really remembering who told her, but someone did. "Wait, I thought he'd already been a pot smoking, hippie pacifist."

"No, just pot smoking." Alaric corrected her with a smile, Natalie humming in remembrance. "But I can't say I thought my alter ego would be so hostile and militant."

Stefan however, saw all the sense in the world in the situation, being all convincing about understanding everything as much as pre-dragged-out-of-town Stefan. "That actually makes perfect sense. Your wife left you to become a vampire and your girlfriend was killed by one." Natalie smiled at the way he spoke, even if he was talking about her late mother and kinda aunt, remembering him from how he was before, seeing him coming back to that.

The hunter sighed, leaning back against the wall as the memories of both Isobel and Jenna streamed back to him, the two women he had loved so much, only to both die. "You must really hate me. Here I am, the failed hunter and father slash drinking buddy of vampires."

"Ah, he's too judgmental." Stefan waved it off.

Alaric shook his head at Stefan refusing to acknowledge the fact that he actually could hate him, just like every other vampire in town. "The thing is, he's me. I'm not compelled, I'm not possessed, there's no humanity switch. What drives him is me."

Natalie then decided to speak up, defending her father from himself, as she loved boosting up the confidence of people she cared about. She liked seeing them happy. "He's not you, Dad. He's this part of you, that dark part that everyone has but most try to suppress, just... magnified. But he's not all you are."

But then a British accented voice rang through the basement, one that Natalie hadn't heard since he walked in on her and Kol having that very heated after conversation. "Well, this is depressing, isn't it?" Stefan stood up as he heard Klaus' voice and the hybrid showed them a white oak stake in his hand. "Oh, and I found this upstairs. Now, by my count, there should be one more."

"Yeah, well it's gonna take a little more time." Stefan informed in, standing his ground against one of his worst enemies, the one that he was really itching to kill.

Klaus narrowed his eyes at the much younger vampire who still thought that he could be a match to him. "Why? Because we're waiting for that one to pass out?" he gestured towards Alaric spitefully. "No thanks. I think I'll just kill him."

As much as Natalie hated it, she knew she had to speak up when she saw Stefan trying to frown his way out of the conversation, just like he used to. "But then you won't know the location of the other stake."

"I'd think you'd be a little more interested in trying to keep us alive, love," Klaus commented casually, Natalie sighing at him just saying as something that could be explained by their ties to each other. "Especially after your little rendezvous with my brother." And there it was.

For a moment everything went quiet, but then a low gagging noise from Alaric was heard, him not wanting to hear about his daughter being engaged in such activities. But then a noise of disbelief was heard from Stefan and Natalie turned to look at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. He stared at her back with almost the exact same expression, although he looked more betrayed and angry than scared and sad.

Natalie then glanced between the three men (Klaus smirking obnoxiously as usual), and saw the different looks on their faces and let out a noise that could almost be mistaken for a sob if you didn't see her face being more shocked still than in a crying position.

She pulled herself up from her chair slowly, and then she started walking up the stairs, still not going very fast. But when she finally got up, then she ran like hell.

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The Gilbert House

Natalie was able to be alone and wrapped in blankets for a while, even if she knew (and dreaded) that Stefan would come by sooner or later, and it was most likely sooner. All she saw was his face when he found out, he didn't say anything and she had no idea how he'd actually confront her about it. She knew he wouldn't just leave it hanging, something Natalie most likely would have done if it was the other way around. He'd come and he'd ask, and she'd need to answer.

Once the doorbell finally rang, she knew that it was time. She tried to ignore it, acting as if it wasn't ringing until it was impossible for her to even let the music from her ear plugs out-loud it. Then she finally had to walk towards the door, and she took a deep breath before gathering the courage to open the door. "You know, most people would have taken not answering the first twenty times as a hint."

"Why did you do it?" Stefan blurted out, being more blunt than he usually was as he walked in the door, not caring about being rude because he didn't ask to be invited in. Natalie rolled her eyes and entered the living room, but he just followed her. "Why did you do it with him?" he asked once again, not really knowing what she did, just that she did something.

"You know why." Natalie muttered, and if he wasn't a vampire he might have had a hard time hearing what she said.

"No, I don't! Maybe it's just weird to me, seeing as you've told me you loved me before. Maybe you're not in love with me and I'm just placing whatever we have on a pedestal you don't think it should be on, but I thought you were." he responded, pursing his lips together afterwards as he stared right at her, waiting for her response.

"Maybe that's why I did it! Because I didn't just want to be the girl who's in love with you but you're not in love with me!" she exclaimed, finally bursting out with what she really thought and a reason as to why she was so open to the possibility of her and Kol.

Stefan frowned at the outburst, not expecting that response. "Is that it? You think I don't love you?"

"I know you don't love me. I think that you don't even like in that way." she spat in return, not even being able to look at him at that moment as her gaze immediately went to the roof of the room as a way to show her annoyance at the whole situation.

He shook his head at her trying to deny that he even had any feelings for her, which was not true. He realized that he loved her months before she told him. Months before she realized she loved him. "If I didn't like you, why would I have kissed you again the night left? If I didn't like you, why would I have called you to help me hold on when I was in Tennessee. If I didn't like you, why would I have been so betrayed or even jealous by you doing whatever you did with Kol? If I didn't like you- you know what? If I didn't love you, why would I do this?"

And with that, he grabbed each side of her face, pulling her towards him as their lips were smashed together with Natalie's eyes still wide open in surprise as he closed his eyes in an attempt to savor the first kiss they had shared in so long as his hands slid downwards, towards her hair. Her eyes finally fluttered close as tried to savor it as well.

But then he pulled away, knowing that breathing was still necessary. Their noses were still touching, even though he was taller than her so the tip of his nose was touching the bridge of hers. Their gazes were still interlocked as his his hands slipped down on his sides, sliding out of her hair. 

As soon as he no longer had any physical contact with her, she looked down for a moment as she shook her head slightly in confusion before looking into his eyes again. "Why- why did you do that?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry." he apologized, not knowing why he was stupid enough to do that. He probably just ruined every and all chances he'd ever have with Natalie.

"You don't have to be sorry, Stefan," Natalie sighed, frowning sadly as she looked up at him again, recalling him questioning her being in love with him before he kinda confessed his love for her. "Of course I'm in love you. No matter how much you deny it, you're still a good guy."

She lowered herself on the couch, her face in her hands as he sat next to her. Wondering what they were gonna do next.

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A/N: Another update. Somehow. STATALIE KISS, FINALLY. It's almost been a season since their last kiss, so it was about time. And I won't update the next few days if you were hoping for that because of the, like, two hours between this update and the last, because I have math mock exam/midterm, I don't know, it's confusing.

But next chapter will be worth waiting for. Natalie/Elena showdown, Statalie may or may not share a passionate moment or two or three or more (you know, during what Caroline may have created), crying, Datalie moment, even more crying.

Votes and comments are greatly appreciated.