CHAPTER 37: THE BIRTHDAY

The Gilbert House

In most stories you hear about someone's perception of time. How at one point it may have gone so fast that you didn't even notice that it was over. Then there were the ones where you'd hear how slow they felt it. As if every moment felt as long as an hour, those were usually the ones where they were going through pain or something equally hurtful.

Natalie Saltzman felt neither of these. She felt every moment as long as it was, which might have been the greatest torture of all. The safety of knowing how long everything would last and how long it would be hurting her was somehow something that hurt her even more.

Because for a whole summer, Natalie Saltzman felt every moment of Stefan Salvatore's absence as a torture she could not escape, but at the same time, it could go too fast for her as times at the normal speed she was used to because she had no idea how it would turn out when she finally saw him face to face again for the first time since she did the unthinkable. Kissing her sister's boyfriend.

It was because of those actions that Natalie tried to avoid spending time with Elena and Damon alike. Her guilt was eating her up inside every time she saw her sister's face. But after Caroline told her that whilst Damon was on his death bed Elena kissed him, she almost felt as if what she did was okay. But she knew that just because it would be hypocrisy on Elena's part, Natalie would not allow herself to become such an unreliable person in the doppelgangers life after she lost basically every part of her family. Of course, Natalie's lost plenty of family herself, but Elena definitely lost more.

But the huntress wasn't ignoring Jeremy, and he did notice his cousin/kinda sister's (they stated that she was as much their sibling as they were to each other that summer, but Natalie wasn't sure if they meant it) strange behavior.  "Hey." he greeted.

"Hi, Jer." Natalie greeted back with a small smile.

"So, are you gonna tell me why you've been avoiding Elena all summer?" he asked her.

Natalie's eyes widened as she realized that her actions were finally revealed. "I have no idea what you're talking about." she lied.

"You're too smart to play dumb." Jeremy narrowed his eyes at her.

"Are you telling me that I'm smart or that I'm an awful actress?" Natalie frowned.

"Both. But you're great at changing the subject." the 16-year-old retorted.

"Obviously not good enough." Natalie muttered to herself annoyedly.

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "But why are you ignoring Elena? You've barely talked to her at all this summer. You have to today at least, seeing as it's her birthday."

"Yeah, well, it's my birthday too. And I command you to leave me alone." Natalie grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"It doesn't work like that." Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest as a sign of challenging her.

Just then, Natalie was saved by the text. Because Matt texted her at that exact moment.

Jeremy should really get to work, he's late again. And happy birthday btw.

He's just the sweetest.

"Yeah, well, you need to get your ass to work. You're late again, Matt texted me." Natalie smirked as she realized that Jeremy couldn't interrogate her anymore.

"Well, maybe he'll fire me." Jeremy shrugged indifferently.

"Aim high, Jer. Aim high."

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Natalie walked down to the kitchen only to catch Elena standing and talking with Alaric, and was, of course, about to sneak back upstairs to avoid her older twin.

But then the stairs creaked.

Natalie cursed under her breath as Elena and Alaric turned to look at her, turning their heads simultaneously. If that wasn't creepy, Natalie had no idea what was.

"Hi," Elena greeted, a soft smile on her face. "Happy birthday."

Natalie gave a smile back, although this one was really awkward as flashes of her and Stefan's lips being collided went through her mind. "Yeah, thanks. Happy birthday to you too."

"So, I just talked to Caroline and she said that she was shopping for our "small" party but she managed to talk to her mom. There's been three animal attacks in Memphis lately and it could easily be Klaus which means that Stefan's with him so we might have a chance to find him." Elena told her sister with a smile as she had no idea that it definitely did not help Natalie's mood.

"Uhm, great... I guess. Can I go now?" Natalie asked, taking one step after another backwards as cautiously as she could. 

"Why are you in such a rush?" Alaric asked from behind the counter, taking a sip of his coffee.

Natalie's eyes widened like a deer caught in headlights. "Ehm, I have stuff do. Best friends to contain. Parties to keep small. Bye."

And with that, Natalie Saltzman was ran so she could avoid them.

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The Mystic Grill

Natalie had a lot of spare time during the summer break. A lot. And most of that time was occupied by either Caroline Forbes or Bonnie Bennett. But mostly Caroline. And the blonde noticed the way her best friend was avoiding the company of both Elena and Damon, which annoyed her immensely, because she was very against the idea of Elena and Damon as a couple and if Natalie hung around them more they might feel less compelled to make out.

So, just as Jeremy did, Caroline was going to confront her.

And what would ever be a better time to do that than when they were both sitting together at the Grill whilst Caroline was waiting for Tyler.

"Now, tell me, why the hell have you been ignoring Damon and Elena all summer?" the Forbes girl demanded answers.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Natalie shook her head, trying to keep herself from making eye contact with her best friend.

"You've been ignoring them and their search for Stefan this whole time and I'm sick of it," Caroline said sternly, and as she saw Natalie about to open her mouth and tell her a lie she cut her off. "And if you're even thinking about lying to me right now, remember that I'm your best friend and I can read you like Alison read Emily that beautiful passage in that book." she said, referencing to their shared OTP, AKA Emison from Pretty Little Liars.

"You just had to bring up Emison, didn't you?" Natalie groaned. "Fine, I'll tell you. But you have to promise to never tell anyone. Ever."

Caroline frowned, looking very confused at Natalie's demand, but she nodded to show that she agreed with the terms, really wanting to know everything she could learn.

"What would you say if a certain person that I'm not supposed to have feelings for came up to talk to me, and then I got really sad because he was saying goodbye and I sort of totally kissed him. He was there and I really needed to let him know how I felt at least once so I thought "we'll just make out, but no, I can't, this is wrong", but then it felt really good to kiss him and I kind of totally just made out with him, but I swear, I didn't plan to do it. Now I feel terrible." Natalie rambled nervously.

"And the person we're talking about is...?" Caroline trailed off in question.

Natalie hesitated and looked Caroline sadly. "Stefan..."

"Oh my god!" Caroline exclaimed. "You and... Stefan? You kissed him? And he kissed you back? Wait, he came and said goodbye to you? Oh my god, how did this happen?"

"I know it's shocking and really, really bad. And that is why I need you to tell me what an awful person I am." Natalie told the blonde pleadingly.

Caroline sighed, trying to get out of the shock and overall surprise she felt about this subject so she could comfort her slowly-gliding-into-insanity-best-friend. "Actually, you're one of the least awful people I know."

"But you get why now, right?" Natalie asked sheepishly, really hoping that she'd still have her best friend's support.

"Of course I do," Caroline told her, flashing back to the time when Tyler kissed her when she was still with Matt, and couldn't help but tie those situations together. "But she has to find out once, right?"

"Not if I have anything to do with it. I just want everything to be okay. But it won't, because Klaus will come back. I know he will." the brunette told her best friend.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because of me. He wants me."

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The Salvatore Boarding House

As one would expect Natalie to do, as soon as she told Caroline those words, she ran away. Caroline didn't even get to process the words before the huntress was gone. And she didn't show up to help the vampire, the doppelganger and the werewolf decorate for her and her twin's birthday party but she just showed up when it was party time.

And by that time, Caroline got to assume that it was some weird twin of the doppelganger thing that made Klaus want to return to Mystic Falls just to get Natalie.

So as she walked into the Salvatore Boarding House and heard the multiple "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"'s the blonde walked up to her without asking the questions that Natalie's been dreading.

"You like?" Caroline asked before noticing the shocked look on Natalie's face as she looked out on the large crowd. "Don't answer that."

"No, I love it, Care. But I just don't think that Elena'll be a big fan." Natalie told her best friend sheepishly.

"Oh, god, I do not want to be there when she sees this." Caroline sighed.

"To get through that, I need the answer to one question. What are we drinking?" the huntress smirked.

Blondie the vampire's face brightened up as she linked her arms with Natalie, about to get drunk.

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It wasn't long after they found a few (many) drinks each that they ended up at the place that would be the stoner den of the birthday party. And weirdly enough, that was where she found Matt and Jeremy sitting together and being all druggy-ish without necessarily being druggies. If that makes sense.

  "Oh...the Stoner den. Buzzkill." Caroline shuddered.

Just then, Matt walked up to them with a smile, being awfully happy whilst ignoring Caroline as subtly as he could. "Hey guys."

"Hi, Matt." Natalie smiled at her friend.

And he really surprised her by leaning in and kissing her cheek quickly. "Happy birthday."

Natalie stood frozen in place with wide eyes as she was really surprised at his actions. Like, really surprised as she thought he was still not over Caroline and that it was probably something really weird of him to do. But he might have been doing it to make the blonde jealous. "Ehm, thanks?"

And Matt stumbled away.

And that's when Natalie noticed Elena scolding Jeremy as she was taking in his status as she was scared he'd go back to his old druggy faze.

But she had more important things to worry about as Caroline stared after her ex-boyfriend sadly. "He hates me."

Natalie rolled her eyes at Caroline's deduction of why Matt was behaving the way he was. "He doesn't hate you. He hates that he's not screwing you."

Caroline's eyes widened as she heard the last statement. "Oh my- Natalie!"

"What? It's true. If I were into girl, I'd be all over you right now." Natalie smirked, looking Caroline up and down in approval.

Caroline let out a laugh in shock. "How much have you had to drink?"

"Maybe a little too much."

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Caroline and Natalie split up not long after and Natalie was just dancing around the Boarding House with some stuff from Damon's stash, but unfortunately, she danced past Alaric and Damon.

"I am every parent's worst nightmare. I am the chaperone teacher from hell," Alaric told Damon, but when Natalie danced past him, he grabbed the drink out of her hand. "But for you only, Nat, I'm the parent chaperone from hell."

Natalie frowned. "Why do you hate me?"

"Because you're ignoring me." Damon broke into the conversation, giving the huntress a pointed look.

Natalie's eyes widened for the thousandth time that day. "Is that Alison DiLaurentis over there? She's a girl from my class. Got to go." she lied, running away.

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It wasn't long until Natalie needed to take a little break from the party, as it was proving to be too much for her at the moment, so she walked up to the only room that she knew everyone was compelled to keep out from. Damon's room.

And not long after she got there, Elena walked in, seeing her twin sitting on Damon's bed sadly.

"Natalie?" she asked, confused as she saw her there, after her having been avoiding both her and Damon, she didn't think she'd end up in Damon's bedroom.

"Hey. You hiding?" Natalie asked, trying to push back the guilt once again, knowing that she was going to have to face Elena on a daily basis, and she needed to start getting used to it.

Elena frowned, confused as she noticed that Natalie might actually be trying to make conversation. "I was just looking for Damon."

"Let's just hope he's here so he won't miss the cake and Caroline won't be doing something Caroline-ish." Natalie joked, smiling slightly at Elena, who wasn't amused.

"I think I'm gonna pass on the whole cake thing." Elena shrugged, placing herself on the bed, next to the other brunette.

"You can't, Elena," Natalie sighed. "It's our birthday, which means that it's like the start of a new era and once you've made a wish and blown out the candles, you can finally get on with your life." Natalie told the slightly elder girl softly, trying to be as reassuring as possible and accidentally slipping in the part about getting on with her life as a love-struck part of her added.

"Is that what you all want me to do? Just get on with my life?" Elena turned her head towards Natalie, a sad look in her eyes as the love she had for Stefan shone through, as she did love him, truly, madly, deeply. And just because she was confused with Damon in the picture didn't mean that Stefan would ever mean anything less to her.

"I just don't think anyone wants to see you like this." Natalie sighed sadly, realizing the pain that Elena felt that summer. She had been more focused on her own pain to notice how Stefan's absence was affecting everyone else, because it was affecting them just as much and when she wasn't there to help lessen the pain, Natalie understood that she just made it even worse for them.

"You haven't even seen me. You've been too busy avoiding me!" Elena snapped, her doe eyes now giving her twin the evil eye.

"I haven't been avoiding you," Natalie lied. "And I'm not telling you to give up, you shouldn't, but you have to admit that you kinda just letting your life pass you by, I haven't been around much and even I noticed. And isn't Stefan the one who wanted to make sure that you lived it?"

"You want me to make a wish? I just wanna know that he's alive. That's it! That's my wish." Elena exclaimed desperately, standing up looking at her sister with a sad grimace. And just as she walked away, she noticed something in Damon's closet as it was slightly open, and went to investigate further by opening it completely.

"What's all that?" Natalie asked as she noticed that it was full of post-it notes and cut-outs from the newspaper hanging down as she saw the handwritten notes saying stuff like names and other things that seemed majorly important.

"It's Klaus. Damon's been tracking him without us." Elena told her, her eyes wide as she looked at everything there, trying to connect the dots that Damon seemed to already have connected.

"I know why wouldn't tell me, since we haven't talked much, but why wouldn't he tell you?" Natalie asked taking only a moment to glance at each note and cut-out.

"I don't know."

▹▹▹

The Gilbert House

Natalie left Elena to confront Damon, thinking that he might be gentler with the girl he loved on the subject then the girl who's been ignoring him the past few months. And when she came home to the place that had been beginning to feel like home she saw something that made her very confused.

Alaric was packing.

"What are you doing?" Natalie asked her father.

"Ahh. I'm not going to stay here any more." Alaric shook his head.

"We're not?"

"You are, I'm not." Alaric said, only confusing his daughter even further as she had no idea why he would cause such a drastic change in their everyday lives.

"What? Why?" Natalie breathed.

"I'm not a role model. You know, I drink too much, I say the wrong things. You know, I encourage bad behavior. At school I can pull it together and I've always tried to pull it together for you, but lately in my own life...You know, the way I miss Jenna, it's just, I'm really not any good to anybody right now. I'm sorry, Nat. You're eighteen. You can do all this alone now. You can do it better without me." Alaric tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach, turning around with his bags and walking out.

And when that door shut, a tear went down Natalie's face. Her and Alaric hadn't lived apart since him and Isobel married over 15 years ago. And now that someone who had been in her life as long as she could remember wouldn't be there as much as he used to she felt heartbroken. After Isobel, Jenna and John and maybe Stefan she didn't want to lose anyone else. Especially not her dad.

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Later that night, Natalie was alone in her bedroom, sitting down on her bed as she scrolled through her contact list on her phone sadly. Jenna was still there. John was still there. Stefan was still there. Her thumb hovered over his name for a few seconds before deciding that it was better not to. She already tried to call him so many times but she was actually more afraid of him answering then him not. Because she had no idea what she would say. And maybe it would even be Klaus picking up the phone and that was the last thing she wanted.

But just as she put her phone on her bed, it rang. Natalie was too lazy to check caller ID, so she just picked up.

"Hi?" there was no response. "Ehm, hello?"

She stayed quiet for a few seconds before she heard breathing. It was shaky breaths, as if someone was trying not to cry. And it also sounded strangely familiar, as if something she hadn't heard in months but she couldn't remember what. But then it hit her, something she hadn't seen in months.

"Stefan?" she heard the person on the other side suck in a breath and she took that as a yes. "Stefan, I need you to hold on, okay? You're gonna be alright. I promise."

Natalie let out a shaky breath of her own as her gaze went to a picture of her and Stefan on her dresser, in which they seemed so happy and free. They were neither at this time. Natalie let the tears build up in her eyes as she finally realized the answer to a question she'd been asking herself ever since he left. It was an answer that she was now able to answer as she heard a sound he made, which made her feel closer to him even if they were so far apart.

"Stefan... I- I love you," Natalie stuttered, as she finally got the answer of the question of whether or not she loved him, as he already knew that he loved her. "And you don't have to feel the same way, just know that I love you. There's someone here who loves you. Hold on to that," her gaze strayed to a picture she was able to sneak-take of her, Stefan, Elena and Damon. "Hold on to us."

But Stefan's mind drifted to a completely different us.

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A/N: Season 3 is officially on a roll! But if you were looking for happy Natalie moments then you shouldn't stay for season 3. My goal in season 3 is to make you guys cry at least once. In the season finale I'll ask you guys and I'll see if I succeeded in my mission.

I just changed around a little on the playlist, so if you want some spoilers then you should definitely check it out because it's really easy to see where we are now and where we're headed, so do check it out.

Votes and comments are greatly appreciated.