CHAPTER 39: THE END OF THE AFFAIR

Klaus's Car

There were some things people might not know about vampires. Like, as long as they drink enough blood they can eat regular human food. And, just like everyone else, vampires need to sleep. And that's where Stefan Salvatore was now, in deep sleep in the backseat as Natalie was left awake as Klaus was driving them somewhere she had no idea where was. She was currently looking out the window, her gaze studying the nigh sky as she tried to ignore the presence of the original hybrid.

"Now what is happening with you and Stefan?" Klaus asked her as he was driving.

"None of your business." Natalie answered, not even moving her head to look at him.

"It might not be, but are you sure falling in love with you dead sister's boyfriend is a good idea?" the blond male questioned.

Natalie took a deep breath, trying to ignore his questions. "None of your business." she repeated.

"Personally I prefer you with someone else. You don't remember but you were quite close back in the day." he told her, revealing some more of her past, something she's been dying to know about.

Natalie finally moved her head, turning to look at him. "What do you know about back then?"

"Oh, I know everything. From your family to how you died." he smirked, glancing at her for a moment before looking back at the road.

"Can you tell me?" the brunette asked, a frown on her face, being desperate to find out about how it all began.

"I can, but I think what I'm planning might be easier." he responded.

"And what's that?"

"I'm going to get your memories back."

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Chicago

The next day, Natalie and Stefan was still very awkward. They had no idea how to act around one another, and Stefan had a harder time as he had to convince Klaus that he was as emotionless as possible without actually turning it off. Klaus was incredibly amused by the whole situation, although not really knowing what happened.

"Welcome back to Chicago, Stefan." Klaus told the younger vampire as the two and Natalie walked out of his car.

"What are we doing here?" Natalie asked, confused as to why exactly Klaus would choose to go to Chicago of all places.

"I know how much Stefan loved it here. Bringing back memories of the good old ripper days?" the hybrid asked Stefan, smirking at him as he saw the other vampire's confused face, as if asking how he knew that Stefan spent those days in Chicago.

Stefan shrugged it off, knowing he had some kind of reputation in the vampire world, some people must have known he was being all ripper-y in Chicago. "Blacked out most of them. A lot of blood, a lot of partying. The details are all a blur."

"Well, that is a crying shame. The details are what make it legend," Klaus said before putting his 'story-telling-voice' on. "Word was the ripper of Monterrey got lonely, so he escaped to the city for comfort. It was Prohibition. Everything was off limits then, which made everything so much fun. Chicago was magical."

Stefan rolled his eyes at Klaus's intrusiveness. "Yeah, well, I'll take your word for it. Like I said, I don't remember most of it."

"Going to get down to business, then?"

"Why am I still with you? We had our fun, your hybrids failed. I mean, don't you want to move on? And why the hell did you bring Natalie with us?" Stefan asked, his facial expression hardening as he mentioned Natalie's name.

"We're going to see my favorite witch. If anyone can help us with our hybrid problem, it's her," the hybrid told Stefan before his gaze shifted to Natalie. "And she's the only one I know that might be able to help us with our other problem." was the last thing he said before leaving Natalie to answer any questions Stefan might have.

"What other problem?" he asked, turning to look at Natalie confusedly.

And that's when Natalie started debating of whether or not she should tell him. On one hand he might find some way to help her, but at the same time she had no idea how he would know how to do that. And he was kinda being an asshole. "Don't worry about it." and then she took a step to follow Klaus.

But Stefan grabbed her arm, not about to let her go without having a little chat with him. "When we talked- or rather when you talked to me on the phone, what you said... is it true? Do you mean it?"

Natalie closed her eyes for a moment, her mind going through all the possibilities of how this might end up with how her response might be. And how she would be able to respond to it. But somehow she had to very different answers to that question, and each to very different versions of Stefan Salvatore. "Yes, I did."

Stefan's lips involuntarily tugged up at the answer, knowing that she felt the same way, although he was frightened of telling her because of Elena and the fact that Klaus might hear and find some way to use Natalie and his love for her against him.

And Natalie took a deep breath, not wanting to continue the response, but wanting to be honest with him, knowing that even if he might not be the Stefan she grew to love, he still deserved that much. "I did. Notice the past tense. Because, you know what? After I got over the shock of seeing you again, you know what my first thought was? 'Who the hell is that? Because that's not the Stefan that I know and love'. And when he comes back, then we'll talk."

And with that, Natalie walked away, leaving Stefan who wasn't able to hide the sadness he felt even with all the acting he'd been doing that summer.

But he was able to hide just how heartbroken he was.

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Gloria's Bar

Klaus took them to a bar.

A freaking bar.

It was supposedly where the witch Klaus showed large favoritism to was, and it definitely looked like Klaus wasn't the only one who recognized it as Stefan looked at the place with large eyes, as if he couldn't believe the place was still there.

"Looks familiar, doesn't it?" the blonde male asked the younger vampire.

"I can't believe this place is still here." Stefan responded.

"Well, I can believe it because I've never been here before." Natalie told them, looking between them weirdly.

And then the voice of an unfamiliar female rang through the room. "You got to be kidding me." And there was Gloria, a beautiful witch who was able to slow her aging down the past ninety years.

Klaus smiled as he saw that she noticed his presence. "So a hybrid walks into a bar, says to the bartender..."

But Gloria was not amused. "Stop. You may be invincible, but that doesn't make you funny."

"Amen to that." Natalie raised her eyebrows in acknowledgement.

Gloria ignored Natalie's comment and turned to Stefan. "I remember you."

"Yeah. You're Gloria. Shouldn't you be...?" Stefan trailed off, not really knowing how to ask without sounding rude.

Luckily, Gloria didn't really care if he was being rude to her because she knew she could kick his ass if he wanted to. "Old and dead? Now if I die, who's going to run this place, huh?"

"Gloria's a very powerful witch." Klaus told them, as if it wasn't obvious.

"I think we kinda got that. You know, seeing as you told us you were taking us to see your favorite witch, and since you're kind of a power-hungry jackass it was obvious that she was powerful. We're not stupid." Natalie showed her smarts, making Klaus sigh in annoyance.

"I can slow the aging down some. Herbs and spells. But don't worry, it'll catch up to me one day." the dark-skinned witch told them before turning to look at Natalie curiously. "Now who might this be? Your girlfriend?" she asked Klaus.

"No!" all three of the non-Gloria people protested, finding the idea completely revolting. And then all gazes turned to Stefan who just then realized that he reacted to that too, and looked away awkwardly. And once Natalie realized why he might have protested, she looked down, just as awkwardly, if not more.

"Stefan, why don't you go and fix us up a little something from behind the bar?" Klaus asked, amusement clear on his face.

"Yeah, sure thing." Stefan agreed, happy that he got an opportunity to get away from the awkwardness surrounding him and Natalie. And so he was walking away from them.

"You look ravishing, by the way." Klaus told Gloria, using his charms to get what he wants as usual.

But Gloria wasn't so easily deceived. "Don't. I know why you're here. A hybrid out to make more hybrids? That kind of news travels."

"Well, that's one of the reasons," Klaus said, glancing at Natalie. "So what am I doing wrong? I broke the curse."

"Obviously you did something wrong. Look, every spell has a loophole, but a curse that old...We'd have to contact the witch who created it." Gloria dropped the bomb that made Klaus glare at nothing in annoyance.

Natalie was confused to say the least.

"Well, that would be the original witch. She's very dead." the original hybrid told the witch information she was already aware of.

"So not just slightly dead but very dead. Wow," Natalie commented sarcastically, but then seeing the looks both Klaus and Gloria give her. "I'm shutting up now."

"I know. And for me to contact her, I'll need help. Bring me Rebekah." Gloria commanded, confusing Natalie even further as she had no idea who that was.

"Rebekah," Klaus repeated his little sister's name. "Rebekah is a bit preoccupied."

"She has what I need. Bring her to me," Gloria said before continuing Klaus's second mission. "Now what was the other thing you wanted?"

"Remember back when I told you all about Natalia? Well, I finally found her. Now I need you to get her memories back." Klaus answered.

"It's not that easy. I don't know what blocked her memories so I don't know how hard this might be." the dark-skinned witch responded, making Natalie annoyed with the fact that they were just acting as if she wasn't here.

"What do you have to do then?" Klaus asked.

Gloria shrugged, not being completely sure, but going with what sounded most likely to be the answer. "I think I'll have to go through her mind."

Natalie's eyes widened at the response. "Can I please have a say in this? Because if I'll ever trust a witch to go through my mind that honor won't go to someone I met five minutes ago. That honor would go to Bonnie Bennett. And is your name Bonnie Bennett? I don't think so."

"Fine. If you don't want your memories back then I can't help you." Gloria lied, moving closer to her as she knew that if she didn't follow Klaus's commands she would probably end up without her head.

"Thank you." Natalie smiled slightly, happy that someone was at least listening to her.

Gloria smiled back warmly, and it was straight afterwards she put her hands on either side of Natalie's head as she chanted a spell to get into her mind.

And Natalie lost consciousness, although Gloria held her up. "Wow, she has a weird mind. Really weird."

"Can you get her memories back?" Klaus asked, glancing at Stefan to make sure he didn't listen to any of it. Which he wasn't.

"No, I can't. But the original witch can." Gloria answered, taking her hands off of Natalie's head, letting the reincarnation fall to the ground.

"Isn't there anyone else?" Klaus asked, trying to hold back his anger at the response, being certain that if anyone could do it, it would be Gloria.

"No. Which is why you need to bring me Rebekah."

▹▹▹

Storage House

Gloria was a powerful witch, which means that her power may take time to override. So, Natalie had to wait hours before she regained consciousness. And when that finally happened Klaus told her to stay outside as she was a surprise for someone.

And it didn't take too long before a wide-eyed Stefan walked out. "Ehm, Klaus wants you to come out."

"What's going on?" Natalie asked.

"Just- just go out there." Stefan shook his head, his eyes wide at the things he just remembered about his friendship with Klaus in the 20s, and his relationship with Klaus's sister at the same time.

Natalie frowned at Stefan's response and how he was acting, but nodded nonetheless. And as soon as she took a step, she was in a tight embrace of an unfamiliar blonde. "Natalia!"

"New reincarnation, who this?" Natalie asked, standing incredibly awkwardly as she didn't return the hug.

"See, I told you she doesn't remember anything." Klaus spoke up, making Natalie's gaze shift to him in confusion, having no idea who that was.

"But she's still Natalia and I am so happy that you're back!" Rebekah squealed, not even slightly easing her grip on the slightly shorter girl.

"And I still have no idea who you are. So I would appreciate it if you'd let go of me, please." Natalie groaned out as Rebekah squeezed her one more time before letting go, studying the the brunette's features as she hadn't seen anything but Klaus's sketches from the 10th century.

"And speaking of her not knowing who you are, now the reason you're here. Gloria tells me you know how to contact the original witch." Klaus told her.

"The original witch?" Rebekah repeated questioningly.

"What do you have that Gloria needs?" the hybrid asked his sister, trying not to just force it out of her as he was getting tired of these reunions.

Rebekah rolled her eyes before her hands traveled up to her neck to grab something, only to find that it wasn't there. "Where's my necklace? What did you do with it? I never take it off!"

Natalie jumped at Rebekah's loud voice, but Klaus seemed unaffected by it, seemingly used to it, but he did look like he was growing angrier and angrier by the second.

"I don't know. I didn't touch it." Klaus dismissed, glaring at his sister angrily.

"We need to find it, Nik. Now, I want it back!" Rebekah complained loudly, Natalie was really surprised at it.

"Tell me that's not what she needs, Rebekah!" Klaus yelled, his anger from his werewolf gene getting through as he exclaimed it louder than Natalie wanted.

Rebekah only glared at him before speeding over to the coffin she was in not even ten minutes ago, searching for the necklace, which happened to be the only thing she had left from her mother. But she didn't find it.

"I'm guessing this is not good." Natalie commented, glancing between the siblings cautiously.

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A/N: Sorry that I didn't really do a lot of the episode but I didn't really know how to write with all the flashbacks and Damon and Elena coming was really hard to put Natalie into and I'm just sorry.

This might be a little worse than usual because I'm sick and I was basically sneezing and coughing through writing this, so now you have an explanation.

Votes and comments are greatly appreciated.