CHAPTER 13: ISOBEL

Mystic Falls High School

Natalie, Stefan, Elena and Alaric were in the history classroom. They were all visibly shaken. Each one more then the previous.

Stefan was the one who wasn't that affected. He was worried, sure. But the matter didn't affect him personally. Then there was Elena. She was shook to her very core. She was scared, worried, slightly hopeful. But, mostly, she had no idea how to feel. Alaric was confused. It doesn't sound that bad, but he was confused in the worst way possible. The way that all the bad and nauseating feelings he could think of all mustered into one, but still were so far apart, that he was confused about how to feel.

Natalie had it the worst. She knew that it was coming. She wasn't stupid. Every sign leaded to it, and every moment had told her it would happen. But she wasn't ready. But at the same time, she knew that she was never going to be ready. So as she felt the emotions pile onto one another, she kept a blank face. She couldn't decided if she was angry, sad, happy or hopeful. Maybe, she wasn't meant to decide. Maybe she was supposed to live in this eternal circle of darkness and confusion. But she couldn't. She wouldn't let herself.

And neither would Stefan.

At that moment, the door opened and all the faces in the room turned to see who it was, Thankfully it was exactly who they were hoping for. Damon Salvatore.

"Damon, thanks for coming." Alaric sighed.

"Sorry, I'm late, dog ate my..." Damon trailed off jokingly before his eyes wandered over the mixed emotions on the others' faces. "Uh, never mind. What's with all the furrowed brows?"

"I saw Isobel last night." Alaric admitted bluntly making Natalie wince at her mother's name.

Damon's attention was quickly seized as he looked over at Alaric. "Isobel's here? In town?"

His eyesight wandered over to the brunette twin sisters in the room, whom where both looking at the ground before he looked at Alaric again. "Did you ask her about about Uncle John? Are they working together?"

"No." Alaric shrugged.

"No, they're not?"

"No, I didn't ask."

Damon closed his eyes in annoyance at the male hunter. "What about the invention?"

"Didn't ask." Alaric responded.

"Does she know about the tomb vampires?"

"I don't know."

"Did words completely escape you?"  Damon question sarcastically.

"No, I was a little too distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask any questions." Alaric retorted as he narrowed his eyes at the vampire.

Damon rolled his eyes before he looked between Elena and Natalie worriedly. "What did she want?"

"She wants to see us." Natalie spoke up, her voice cracking, but not enough for anyone without supernaturally enhanced hearing to hear it.

"Alaric is supposed to arrange a meeting. We don't know why or what she wants." Stefan elaborated, looking at Elena and Natalie worriedly.

Damon's eyes didn't move as he kept his gaze glued on Elena, even though he was talking to both her and her sister. "You don't have to see her if you don't want to."

Stefan looked between his brother and girlfriend, clearly confused of this act of kindness, worry, emotion, that was so uncharacteristic for Damon. Of course he noticed the way that his brother cared for Elena, if not he wouldn't have done the small acts of bravery he'd done, but as he looked between the pair, he realized that the connection between the two went deeper then he thought.

"We don't really have a choice." Elena sighed sadly, her eyes incredibly interested in the floor.

"She threatened to go on a killing spree." Natalie elaborated quietly.

"Oh, I take it, that's not okay with you guys." Damon joked.

"I want to do it. I want to meet her. If I don't, I know I'll regret it." Elena convinced herself, forgetting about the other person this would affect.

But Stefan didn't, so his eyes travelled to an exhausted Natalie. "Natalie? What about you?"

"I- I- I don't know. I have to." she shrugged and leaned back.

▹▹▹

Mystic Grill

"Are you ready?" Elena asked Natalie softly as the twins sat alone on a table, waiting for their mother to to arrive.

"No." Natalie sighed. "But I'll never really be ready, so now's a good time as any, I guess."

In that moment, Isobel Flemming walked to their table, her eyes looking between her two daughters, but resting on Natalie for just a moment longer, just as Natalie's were glued to her.

"Hello, Natalie, Elena." she stated.

"Mo- Isobel." Natalie cut herself off, internally cursing at herself for her slip up.

Isobel forced her gaze off of her youngest daughter and over to Elena. "You look just like her, it's eerie."

"You've met Katherine?" Elena asked, tilting her head to the side.

"She found me after I turned. Genetic curiosity, I suppose. She would be fascinated by you." Isobel answered, completely ignoring Natalie, whose eyes were on Stefan, who was standing by the pool table. He saw the panicked look in her eyes, wanting nothing more then to go and get her out of there, but he couldn't.

Natalie forced her gaze away from Stefan and onto Isobel. More importantly on her blue lapiz lazuli necklace. "Is that how you walk in the sun?"

Isobel looked at her, smiling ever so slightly. "Katherine helped me obtain it."

Natalie took a deep breath, closing her eyes for just a second and raised her chin confidently, trying to convince herself to be confident, that her mother didn't have as much control over her life as Isobel might think. "Who's our biological father?"

"Not important. He was a teenage waste of space." Isobel brushed it off.

"A name would nice." Natalie raised her eyebrows at her.

"It would, wouldn't it?" Isobel retorted, "You ask a lot of questions. Well, I guess that's one thing that didn't change."

Natalie looked down at the reminder of the fact that Isobel raised her, that she was her mother. That it was real. Elena noticed it and decided to take over.

"Why did you compel that man to kill himself? Right after he told us to stop looking for you." Elena asked her tone of voice slightly harsh at the woman who was already able to hurt her sister, without saying anything hurtful.

"Dramatic impact." Isobel answered, a smirk gracing her face as she looked between her daughters. "I wish it would have been more effective."

"Does human life really mean that little to you?" Natalie questioned harshly, appalled by who her mother has become.

"It means nothing to me." Isobel smiled coldly. "It's just part of being what I am."

"No." Elena shook her head, Isobel looking at her in confusion because of her response. "I know other vampires, that's not true."

"You mean your boyfriend over there by the pool table? Stefan Salvatore?" Isobel quipped, making the twins and Stefan make eye contact in alarm. "Why Stefan? Why didn't you go for Damon? Or are you both enjoying them like Katherine did?"

Elena and Natalie exchanged looks of discomfort, shock and confusion. Natalie didn't even have any romantic feelings for either one of the Salvatore Brothers, definetly not both. Neither of them knew exactly what Isobel meant, but the female vampire did. She saw the way that Stefan looked at both Natalie and Elena, and she saw how Elena looked at both Stefan and Damon, she saw the way Damon looked at Elena, and she saw the way Natalie looked at Stefan. Most of them just hadn't come to terms with their feelings.

"Why did you want to meet us? I'm guessing it's not just to catch up." Natalie broke the awkward silence.

"Because I'm curious about you two." Isobel half-lied, only to see the girls give her looks of disbelief. "The real reason is: I want what your uncle wants. Jonathan Gilbert's invention."

"How do you know my uncle?" Elena asked, a frown evident on her face.

"I used to spend a lot of time here when I was younger. John had a crush on me for years. He was the first one that told me about vampires." Isobel answered, her voice monotone as she was careful not to let anyone see emotion.

"So, what made you want to be one?" Elena asked, leaning closer to her mother, staring heatedly in her eyes.

"It's a very long list of reasons, Elena. All of which I'm sure you've thought about."

"No." Elena shook her head.

"That was your first lie. It's inevitable, you're going to get old, Stefan won't." Isobel stated the obvious, but it was still enough to make Stefan and Elena exchanged sad looks. "Forever doesn't last very long when you're human."

"Sorry, but we don't have what you're looking for." Natalie snapped, grabbing Elena's arm, ready to walk out of the bar/restaurant. But Isobel wasn't about to let that happen and grabbed Natalie's arm.

"Sit down and tell your boyfriend to walk away." she said, shoving Natalie down in her seat harshly, making Elena sit down in fright. "I want the invention."

"We don't have it." Elena said.

"I know that. But Damon does and you're gonna get it for me." Isobel said, her gaze solely on Elena.

"He's not gonna give it to me." Elena dismissed.

"Then the blood will be on your hands." Isobel smirked before getting up, ready to leave. "It was nice meeting you, Elena. It was great seeing you again, Natalie."

▹▹▹

The Gilbert House

Natalie had no idea how to feel.

Elena had already walked away from her sister, trying to work on her own emotions, knowing that she felt sad, disappointed.

But Natalie didn't know. Was she supposed to feel happy, for seeing her mother again? Or was she supposed to feel angry because she didn't contact her until she needed something? Or was she supposed to feel sad because of who she's become?

So, she stood in the middle of the living room, her facial expression void of any emotion, as she tried to figure out which one to feel.

Stefan walked in, seeing the blank expression, worry being the one on his face as he looked at her.

She looked up at him unemotionally, thinking he'd do the exact thing she didn't want him to do. That he'd make her talk about it. That he thought it would all be better if she just let her feelings out.

But that's not what he did. What he did surprised her even more.

He slowly, but surely, wrapped his arms around her comfortingly. She didn't say a words, she didn't move a muscle, but he knew that it was exactly what she needed.

Her arms hesitantly travelled up his back and ended up gripping his shirt tightly as she released all her emotions into that one grip she had on him.

And it was that moment that Stefan Salvatore realized that all the feelings he had about Natalie Saltzman wasn't all as 'just friends'.

▹▹▹

Mystic Falls High School

"Hi, Natalie. You remember Tyler, right?" Caroline asked as she walked up to the hunter, with the Lockwood boy himself behind her.

"Hard to forget the guy who made out with his best friend's mom, and then punched said best friend." Natalie smiled sarcastically.

"Not my finest moment." Tyler scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I bet you don't have a lot those." Natalie sassed.

"Well, basically, he's hot, you're hot, you should make out." Caroline shrugged.

"Caroline, with all due respect..." Natalie sighed. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What?" the blonde frowned. "I just think you guys would be cute together."

"So do I, by the way." Tyler added, making Natalie glare at him.

"I'll just leave you two alone for a while." Caroline winked at her two friends.

"So, did you hit your head?" Tyler asked, a small smirk gracing his face.

"What?" Natalie frowned in confusion.

"You know, when you fell down from heaven?"

"No, but I scraped my knee pretty hard when I climbed out from hell." the brunette girls retorted before turning around and walking away from the boy.

▹▹▹

Natalie was bored,

She wasn't just like, 'I'm kind of bored, I want to something' bored. She was 'oh, please kill me now, I'm so freaking bored' bored. That wouldn't last long, as the moment she turned around, she found Isobel Flemming standing there.

"M- Isobel." Natalie cut herself off again. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm still your mother, Natalie. I want to be a part of your life again." Isobel sighed, tilting her head to the side.

"There's a slight problem with that... I want you gone. Preferably on the other side of the earth." Natalie narrowed her eyes.

"And there you gave me your first lie since I've been back. If you didn't want me in your life, why would you have helped Alaric search for me these past two years?" Isobel smirked.

"Because I'm over it. I'm over you. I have a short list of people I care about here, and you're not included." Natalie snapped.

"Right, you've made friends with Elena's friends. I've been doing some reading, let's see if I got this right." Isobel smirked and looked over at Bonnie Bennett, who was walking not far from them. "There's Elena's witchy best friend, Bonnie. Gonna stay away from that one." Her gaze travelled to Jeremy, who was calling someone. "Oh, sad little brother, Jeremy." She looked over to where Caroline was working on the float for the parade. "And there's Caroline. Obnoxious Caroline. I got all of my info from her by the way. She had no idea who I was and she wouldn't stop yapping. Oh..." She looked over at Matt who was carrying something, undoubtedly doing Caroline's bidding. "And there's Matt, friend, Elena's ex, yappy's future ex. Lots of connections there."

"Matt and Caroline are not involved with any of this!" Natalie snapped as she realized the threat her mother was supplying.

"They're involved with you and Elena, aren't they?"

"Get the hell out of here before I stake you myself." Natalie threatened.

"No, I have some friends here too. Look, you see that man over here, standing next to Matt by the Float?" Isobel asked. Natalie's eyes scoured the area by her friend before landing on the one Isobel was talking about. "His name is Frank, he's very handsome and he's also quite handy and he'd noticed that the axles are a little rusty which is very dangerous. So, all you have to do is apply a little bit of pressure and... "

"No!" Natalie yelled out as she realized what Isobel was doing. Frank quickly jumped onto the trailer, making it crush Matt's arm.

Natalie was about to run to them, but Isobel grabbed her arm harshly. "See how easy it is for me to hurt the people you care about?"

"And you're doing this just because of Jonathan Gilbert's invention?" Natalie asked desperatly, glancing over at where Caroline and Tyler were fussing over Matt.

"Hand it over and  the fun will be stop."

"Fine, I'll convince Elena to ask Damon for it!" Natalie sighed in defeat.

"You better do that before I kill your little brother." Isobel smirked before vanishing.

And taking Jeremy with her.

▹▹▹

"You have to convince him!" Natalie exclaimed as Elena stood in front of her.

"He won't give it to me!"

"I think you're underestimating how much Damon cares about you." Natalie put her hands on her hips.

"Just- just... why me?" Elena asked, tilting her head to the side as she looked up at her younger sister.

"He cares a lot for you, Elena. And she took Jeremy, you gotta do this." Natalie sighed, putting her hands on Elena's shoulders.

"Wait... Emily Bennett spelled the invention. Maybe Bonnie can remove the spell! that way it won't be harmful to vampires!" Elena's eyes widened at the realization.

"Elena Gilbert, you are a genius." Natalie smiled widely.

"You wanna come with? Both Bonnie and Stefan are coming."

"No, I'm gonna call Caroline, ask how Matt's doing." Natalie smiled slightly.

"Okay, say hi from me." Elena waved before walking away.

▹▹▹

Outside The Mystic Grill

It was night time by the time that Isobel was supposed to meet up with her daughters to get the invention.

Caroline hadn't stopped ranting about her worry for Matt as she talked to Natalie, so in the end, Natalie had to hang up so she wouldn't be late. What she didn't know was that Caroline was talking for another ten minutes before she realized that the brunette hung up.

"Where's the device?" Isobel asked as she walked up to meet her twin daughters.

"Where's our brother?" Elena asked, making Natalie smile slightly for calling him their brother.

"This isn't a negotiation. Where is the invention?" Isobel snapped.

"Where is our brother?" Elena repeated annoyedly.

"Do you really think I came alone?" Isobel asked, right before her minions, Frank and Cherie, walked up behind the twins.

"Well, I hope you didn't think we came alone." Natalie smirked before Stefan and Damon walked up behind Isobel.

Isobel sighed in defeat. "For God's sake. Call home."

"What?" Elena asked stupidly.

"Call home and ask to speak to your brother Jeremy."

Elena quickly picked up her phone and had a short conversation with the Gilbert boy.

"You were never gonna hurt him." Natalie sighed, hope rebuilding inside of her at the thought of her mother still having some humanity left.

"No, I was going to kill him. Don't look for any redeeming qualities in me, Natalie. I don't have any." Isobel raised her chin up defiantly.

"But you took a risk with Damon. How did you know that he was gonna give it to me?" Elena jumped in, her phone call with Jeremy having ended.

"Because he's in love with you." Isobel answered indifferently.

Stefan and Natalie exchanged looks before their gazed fell on the uncomfortable pair. Stefan looked upset, Natalie was surprised. She knew that he liked Elena, but she didn't know he was fullblown in love with her, just as Stefan knew they had a deep connection, but didn't stop to think that it was in the romantic department.

"Thank you." Elena finally said after a long pause.

"For what?" Isobel asked, clearly confused.

"For being such a monumental disappointment. It keeps the memory of my real mother perfectly intact." Elena snapped.

"Well, unfortunately, I don't have that luxury." Natalie smiled sarcastically.

"Goodbye, Elena, Natalie. As long as you have a Salvatore on each arm, you're doomed. Katherine was smart. She got out. But we all know that you're not Katherine."

▹▹▹

The next night, about twenty four hours later, Natalie was in the exact same spot. She came back there, sadness evident in her eyes as she looked down at the ground.

"I totally get it. You, as a vampire hunter. Saving people, it's good." Isobel smiled softly.

"What do you want?" Natalie shook her head, not having the energy to be mad.

"I'm leaving, I just thought I'd say goodbye."

"Why? You couldn't be bothered the first time."

"You hate me. Good." Isobel sighed as she took a step closer, to meet her daughter's eyes.

"Of course I hate you!" Natalie snapped. "You were my mother! You were my entire world when I was younger. And when you disappeared it left a hole in my life, that has been ruining it for years!"

Isobel closed her eyes for a moment, trying to keep the emotions down as she saw the tears forming in the younger brunette's eyes. "I was a different person back then."

Natalie shook her head and pulled a knife out from the inside of her jacket and threw it on the ground and dragged her vervain bracelet off of her wrist and turned to her mother.

"What are you doing?" Isobel frowned.

"Well, I'm weapon free, and I'm vervain free. So either kill me or compel me, but I hope you'll do neither. Because I don't believe for a second that you don't give a crap about me." Natalie sighed, a tear sliding down her cheek.

Isobel's own eyes filled with tears as she cupped her daughter's cheeks. "This was a choice I made. To become a vampire. And that's something that I'm going to regret forever, because it made me lose the most important thing in my life. You. And as much as I don't want you to hate me, you have to. But that's just because I love you, Natalie. It's because I love you that you can't remember this. It's because I love you, that I'm going to try to protect you." Isobel compelled her.

And after Natalie blinked, she couldn't remember the conversation at all.

A/N: So, another sucky chapter! Yeah! But Stefan is realizing his feelings for Natalie which is always awesome.

So, a question for you guys:

If I made a Caroline Forbes fanfiction, would you guys read it?

That's all, thanks for reading.

Word Count: 3443