𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙒𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙔
ミ★ ( lion and the lamb, act one ) ★彡

     Hazel opens the door to see Stefan on the other side with a bouquet in his hands. It had taken her a few days, but she had eventually given in to the thought of giving Stefan another chance. It's somewhat pathetic that she's given in so easily, but he's hard to let go—he's her first love, she gave him her virginity and she sees somewhat of a future with him. She can't just give up now when they've come so far already... and it doesn't help that he has that romance level stare that sucks you in so effortlessly—it's hard not to give in when staring into his eyes. She knows she's just welcoming the cycle to start all over again and opening herself up to the possibility of being disappointed once more, but she can't help but excuse his actions; because everything he did was to protect her.

"You got me flowers." She awes genuinely with a smile. Peonies, her favourite. Roses are lovely, but, there's something about peonies that just make her heart flutter.

She steps aside to let Stefan in, "I figured it's a date, why not do it right?" He replies as he steps inside and they walk towards the kitchen, "I would have driven too but you're the one with the car."

"You know, you think that for someone who was around when the car was invented you would have one." Hazel remarks as she grabs a vase to put the flowers in water, "And that's saying something coming from the girl who is afraid of being in cars."

"Oh, I have one. I just never drive it." Stefan points out and she looks over at him with intrigue that she wonders what car he has, "And I think you're doing great around them after everything you've been through."

Hazel smiles appreciatively as she turns the tap on, "You know, it's not too late to cancel."

"Why we would do that?" Stefan asks in confusion and worry that she wants to cancel.

Hazel shrugs, "I don't know, it just seems surreal. Like maybe we weren't meant to get to the normal part." She replies. Maybe they're not meant to be the classic high school couple that she read about in books since she was young that goes on cute dates that are slightly awkward. She's accepted that they're messy and have a weird history, and that the supernatural is a part of who they are.

"That's exactly why we're going to do it." Stefan replies as he takes the vase out of her hands and places it on the kitchen island, "We're going to go out, have some fun and try to remember that we don't have to be so serious, and get back to a place that we're happy with." He tells her and Hazel gives him a half smile to see that he's trying to make it up to her after everything that's happened, "Listen, when I decided to stay here and to get to know you, it was so that I could do things like this—bring my girlfriend flowers, take her out on a date, and try to be normal."

Hazel nods in understanding. He, too, just wants to be normal. She understands that. She then exhales, "Are you ready?"

Hazel and Stefan were at the Grill when they ran into Caroline and Matt, who had also happened to be on a date. They ended up deciding to eat together and it turned into a classic high school double date filled with a slight amount of awkwardness as no one knew how to speak apparently, "So, Matt, how do you like working here?" Stefan asks, trying to make conversation.

"It's not that bad. Wait staff is pretty good and they can't keep a bartender to save their lives." Matt answers awkwardly. He never thought he'd end up making small talk with someone he's known his whole life and her weird boyfriend, along with her best friend that happens to be his new girlfriend. Stefan and Hazel share a look knowing that the last bartender they had was Ben, who ended up being a vampire that is now buried somewhere in the woods after trying to kill them all, "I actually put my mom up for a job."

Hazel's eyebrows raise, "How has that been, having Kelly back?" She knows the last time they spoke about his mom was when Vicki disappeared, and Matt wasn't all that happy about how little she cared. Hazel will always have that small amount of hope in her that Kelly will turn things around—as does Matt—but, they both know it's futile.

Matt shrugs, "You know, same old Kelly. She's trying, sort of." He answers and Hazel can see how uncomfortable Caroline is at the mention of his mother, who definitely hates her.

Hazel looks over at Stefan, "Kelly and my mom were best friends growing up. That's how Matt and I first met; he, Elena and I shared a crib together."

"You're kidding." Stefan scoffs in disbelief.

"No, we have known each other our whole lives." Matt says and Hazel sends him a smile, "Best friends and all that. Hazel even tried to give me a best friend locket when we were seven to prove it."

Hazel laughed at the memory, "He wouldn't take it because it was girly." She shook her head, "I tried to be nice and give him the purple one, but, he still hated it!"

"Because it was purple!"

"Better than the pink!" Hazel retorted.

Caroline lets out a small laugh. She knows the story and she can't be insecure about Hazel and Matt's friendship because she knows it's always been platonic; and she knows Hazel would never do that to her unlike Elena who sometimes can't see past her own nose—it's not her fault she's always everyone's first choice. Hazel is usually quite amazing at filling awkward silence when she wants to because she's so personable and always has a good story to reminisce about. Caroline looks over at Stefan, "Hazel used to give everyone best friend lockets. It was her thing."

Stefan smiled at Hazel adoringly, "I kept ours. I didn't want to lose it." She says as she holds up her bracelet to show that her pink best friend charm was clipped on, whereas Caroline wore hers around her neck. Amongst them, also had the charms for the one with Elena and Bonnie also. What can she say, she loved her friends.

They all hear the sounds of giggling and glasses clinking messily together, and they turn their heads to watch Damon, Kelly and Jenna drinking together, "You got to be kidding me." Matt scoffs to himself. His mom was supposed to be there for a job, not drinking the supply away. He sighs and shakes his head.

"You know what?" Stefan says, "Let's go play some pool and give them some distance." He suggests, standing up from the booth and grabbing Hazel's hand to lead her towards the pool tables, and hopefully place some distance between them all.

Matt and Caroline agree and walk over with them, with Matt setting up the pool table, "At least they're having fun?" Caroline tries to be optimistic as she watches them down shots and laugh amongst each other.

"They're drunk." Hazel laughs.

"Remember when Hazel's parents busted us here after the homecoming?" Matt recalls.

Caroline lets out a laugh, "Oh, my God, yes!"

"We were wasted." Hazel laughs at the memory as she explains it to Stefan, who watched with amusement, "It was the first time I ever got drunk. I blame Matt."

"Her parents got seated at the next booth." Matt adds in.

"And Matt and Caroline were pretending that I was choking so Elena and I could get away." Hazel shook her head.

"Except their dad was a doctor, so, he jumped up to save her." Matt laughed.

"And I ran, slipped on the wet floor and bit it in front of everyone." Hazel blushed and Caroline laughed because it was exactly something that Hazel would do in that situation. She turns to her best friend, "Do you remember that? Three stitches, a hangover for days, and I was grounded from seeing Caroline and Bonnie for a week."

"Worth it!" Caroline sang, "It was our first party as high schoolers. I wanted us to have that experience."

"And we had that experience alright. I have the scars to prove it." Hazel grins and Stefan is glad to see that light in her again that had been pushed down, "I'm gonna go to the restroom. Can you come with, Caroline?"

"Sure." Caroline agrees as she places her pool stick down and they head towards the restroom.

Jenna then spots her niece and her eyes widen as she ducks down, "Quick. Hide. We're not here." She whispers to Kelly.

Kelly does the same, "Why? Where'd we go?"

"Children under our care. Five o'clock. This is not good." Jenna says.

Kelly turns her head and sees them, she sighs knowing she had been caught drinking instead of working, "Damn!"

     Matt and Stefan were left at the pool table, "Is there anything you're not good at?" Matt asks after Stefan sinks another ball, winning the game.

"Double dating." Stefan answers and Matt chuckles, "This is all kind of new to me. I usually keep to myself. I don't always fit in."

"That's because you're that guy."

"What guy?"

"The guy who seems like he has everything, so the people that don't, kind of run the other way." Matt explains as he sets up another game for them.

"Is that what I seem like?" Stefan asks as he sits on the edge of the table.

"Pretty much." Matt answers with a short nod.

Stefan nods his head as he thinks about it for a second, "Hm. What a dick!"

Meanwhile in the restroom, Hazel was washing her hands while Caroline was behind her, "What am I supposed to do, Hazel? Kelly hates me!"

"As mean as this is going to sound, Kelly is a woman who hasn't let go of the past yet. She's still living in the days where your moms fought and can't see past all of that to notice how wonderful you and Matt are for each other." Hazel states as she wipes her hands dry, "It's going to suck and it's going to take time, but, she'll come around hopefully when she sees how happy you make Matt."

Caroline's eyes soften and she sulks slightly, "You think so?"

     "I know so." Hazel confirms firmly.

Caroline then raises an eyebrow, "What about you and Stefan? Are you going to be someone who doesn't let go of the past?" She asks and Hazel blinks at her like she doesn't know what she's talking about, "Come on, Hazel. You keep doing this on-again-off-again thing but everyone can see how much you still care for him. Are you going to forgive him so you can be happy or are you going to keep torturing yourself?"

Hazel is stunned silent. She really isn't sure what to say to Caroline because she has no idea. She agrees that she's leading both herself and Stefan on and providing mixed messages on what she wants (does she want to still be with him or does she just want to remain friends for her own sanity and safety? She still hasn't decided) and she does agree that being with Stefan makes her happy—he is her first love after all. But, what's love without a little risk?

Hazel holds out her hand, "Come on." She softly whispers, not giving an answer and Caroline takes it, knowing that she's gotten into her head with her hard hitting questions as they leave the bathroom together, and back out to the restaurant area to go back to their dates when someone catches Hazel by the arm.

     Hazel's anxiety shoots up the second she realises it's a stranger that has her by the arm and not someone she knew while Caroline stands protectively beside her, "Katherine?" The stranger refers to her as and if she wasn't already on edge, this person has pushed her way past it now.

Her heart was racing at the mention of the older doppelgänger, but, she tries to play it off by placing a sympathetic smile on her face despite the tension in her body that was screaming at her to get away from him as fast as possible, "I'm sorry, you have the wrong person."

      The man looked at her like he didn't believe her but Caroline thankfully steps in and says, "Hazel, come on!" She ushers and starts to pull Hazel away from the creepy guy.

      "My mistake." The man says and Hazel tries to shrug the entire encounter off as they return to the pool table with Matt and Stefan, ignoring the feeling of him staring at her from afar.

     "How's everything going?" She asks as she tucks slightly into Stefan's side, the Salvatore male placing a protective arm around her waist instinctively.

      "Matt's cheating." Stefan says with a smirk on his face and Hazel smiles, glad to see that they were getting along. She knew they had some weird tension when Stefan first came to town because Matt thought he was into Elena, and his jealousy turned into protectiveness when it came to light that Stefan actually liked Hazel; but, thankfully, Matt saw what Hazel saw: pure intentions and a caring soul.

      Matt laughs, "No need, I'm awesome."

      Stefan hears the way that Hazel's heart was racing and the way she slightly trembled beside him and he looked down at her, "Everything okay?"

      Hazel places a smile on her face, "Everything's great." She answers as she pulls out her phone and writes him a text message to show him.

That man over there just called me Katherine.

     Stefan reads it and his eyes widen in alarm, looking around at the guests from the Grill to see who she was talking about, but found no one from his past that would've known Katherine. They were already gone.

     So much for normal.

      Stefan parked Hazel's car in front of the Salvatore Boarding House and the Gilbert girl lets out a sigh of relief to see that they were far away from the Grill and that creepy stranger that had mistaken her for Katherine. If he knew her, he had to be a vampire; and he had to not be a good one from the way his touch made her skin crawl and the hair at the back of her neck stand up.

     Shortly after Stefan realised that the stranger wasn't there, he had decided to take their outing elsewhere—somewhere he knew that the stranger wouldn't dare to come for her, like his own home. He could protect her there since he would have no clue about the layout or what protection incentives he had installed. He just knew he needed to get Hazel out of the Mystic Grill, and fast. Stefan looked over at her, seeing the way she was still anxious from the encounter and he frowns, "So, you didn't recognise him—you haven't seen him before?"

     Hazel only stares forward as she shakes her head, her arms crossed over her body protectively. They had spoken about the encounter briefly when they first got in the car but Hazel had zero answers for him. She had never met him, she had never seen him and she hadn't heard of him until him grabbing her in the restaurant, "No, there was nothing familiar about him at all."

      The Salvatore vampire pursed his lips. He needs to do something about this situation before it gets out of hand, "Right, let's call it a night. Okay? I'll send Matt and Caroline home?"

      Hazel shakes her head again, this time in refusal, "No, the whole point of the night was to not have to deal with this stuff." She gently argues, looking over at him finally, "We need to get through one night. One normal night."

      Stefan looks for any type of uncertainty in her eyes, but all he can see if determination, "You're sure?"

      Hazel purses her lips, "No, I'm not sure, but, I don't know what else to do." She says truthfully before sighing, "Look, if there's another vampire in town, he'll still be here tomorrow. We'll deal with it tomorrow."

      "Okay." Stefan agrees as Matt and Caroline arrive in his truck, parking his car behind Hazel's and the two of them end their conversation to get out of the car and greet them.

     The four of them walk inside almost immediately and enter the living room. Caroline's eyes are wide as she looks around; almost identical to the way Hazel was when she first visited the home, "This is much better than watching Damon visit cougar town." She turns to Matt, "No offence."

      Matt cringes at the image that'll forever be burned into his brain, "Don't remind me." He then looks over at Stefan, "Man, I've always wanted to see what it looks like in this place."

      Stefan looks around and shoves his hands into his pockets awkwardly, "Yeah, I guess it's a bit much." He observes. The house is old and grand, and has centuries old artefacts and books—to any regular human, it would be seen as a museum or a place that needs to be historically protected.

      Matt continued to look around in wonder, "Yeah, my entire house could fit in here... like twice." He cringes again at the reminder of the difference between their families' tax brackets.

      Caroline's eyebrows furrowed together, "I feel like I've been here before." She thinks out loud and Stefan and Hazel share a quick glance between each other while the doppelgänger shifts uncomfortably on her feet, "It's weird."

      "Do you guys want to watch a movie or something?" Hazel changes the subject because she doesn't want Caroline to think too hard about if she's been in the Salvatore home; because she had when she was being compelled by Damon.

      Suddenly, Matt's eyes spot something, "Whoa! These are great!" He exclaims as he walks towards Stefan's miniature cars collection.

     As if he's embarrassed, Stefan rubs the back of his neck as he admits, "This is uh... a little hobby of mine."

     "I did the entire Mustang series when I was nine." Matt tells him.

     "You like cars?" Stefan asks, realising a subject where they might have in common.

      Matt scoffs slightly, "It's an understatement."

      "Come with me." Stefan requests and leads them all to the garage where he unlocks the door and opens it, showing a car covered by tarp, "Prepare yourself, my friend."

     Stefan removes a tarp from a car and the wind is nearly knocked out of Matt's chest when he sees the car. His eyes are wide at the red Porsche that was just sitting in his garage like it was any old car, "Wait, how do you have this?" Matt asks, in shock as he slowly walks closer to it.

      "Got passed down through the family." Stefan answers and opens the car's door for Matt to have a look inside. Hazel doesn't know much about cars, but she could tell from Matt's reaction that it had to be nice and expensive.

      Matt's eyebrows furrowed and he's lost for words while looking over the car, "Why don't you... I mean... why don't you drive it?"

     Stefan shrugs, "Well, it doesn't run." He answers, "I mean, it's not that I could figure out."

     "Why would you keep a car that doesn't run?" Caroline asks.

     "Be more of a girl right now?" Matt remarks jokingly and Caroline laughs in agreement. She also has no clue about cars.

      "Hey, want to come take a look at this for me?" Stefan asks Matt as he walks over to the hood of the car and opens it for Matt to have a look at it. Matt seems to know about cars, and maybe he knows how to fix it.

      Matt walks over and looks over it, "Hazel, remember the old Camaro your dad used to have?"

      Hazel nods. That car was her dad's other baby beside her and her siblings, "Of course."

"I built and rebuilt that engine twenty times." Matt says. Hazel thinks back at the times that Matt was over helping her dad with the car and how much her dad loved Matt because of it. It was because of their shared love of cars which gave Matt his blessing to date Elena, and Hazel's heart pangs at how much she wished her dad was alive to meet Stefan. He would've loved him.

"Wow." Stefan comments with an impressed tone.

"I don't like sports cars." Caroline suddenly speaks again, "They're too hard to make out in."

"It wasn't that bad." Matt comments and an uncomfortable silence fills the room at the reminder at Elena and Matt's past relationship, and no one feels it more than Caroline as she leaves the garage with Hazel following after her. Matt sighs. He keeps ruining this date, "I'm sorry, man."

"No, no, no. Don't worry about it. You and Elena, you guys have a history and ignoring it doesn't do anybody any good. I know that, Hazel and Elena know that and Caroline knows that." Stefan shrugs, "My advice? Tell Caroline how much she means to you. She needs to know that no one else matters as much as she does."

Matt nods in agreement. That's what he needs to do, "She's good with you—Hazel." Matt says, "You know, I wasn't sure, but, she's happy and I'm glad." He admits and Stefan smiles appreciatively to have his approval before Matt sighs, "Alright, let's take a look at this."

Meanwhile, Hazel had just caught up to Caroline outside, "Caroline..."

"I don't want to talk about it." Caroline snaps, "You're going to think I'm being ridiculous."

      "Caroline, it's okay. You're allowed to be upset." Hazel assures her. She understands that it's an uncomfortable reminder that her boyfriend has had a past with her best friend—that same best friend that shares a face with her other best friend that stands in front of her, "No one is thinking that you're being ridiculous at all." If anything, she agrees with Caroline for walking out and being upset at Matt's comment. It was weird and uncomfortable to be reminded that Matt used to make out with Elena in their dad's sports car while he's on a date with Caroline.

      "And insecure and stupid." Caroline scoffs at herself before turning to face Hazel, "But, that doesn't change the fact that Matt's always gonna be in love with Elena, and I'm always gonna be the back up."

      "You're not the backup and Matt isn't in love with Elena anymore." Hazel insists. It was obvious from tonight how into Caroline he was—he could barely keep his eyes off her until he saw the cars and he's been smitten with her ever since they started hanging out. Matt has barely spared a glance Elena's way since Caroline came into his life in a romantic sense.

      "Yes, I am. I'm Matt's Elena back up; I'm Elena's Bonnie back up—"

      "—You're not my anything backup." Hazel interrupts to remind her before she can continue, although she can understand completely where she's coming from, "You're my person, Care."

      Caroline's eyes soften at the reminder. She shouldn't be taking it out on Hazel. It isn't her fault that Elena is everyone's first choice; Hazel knows that better than anyone, "Of course. I'm sorry." She whispers and Hazel half smiles at her while Caroline walks over to pull her into a hug, "You're my person, too, Haze."

      As they pull away, Stefan and Matt pull up in the Porsche. They get out of the car and Matt has a wide and proud grin on his face, "Piece of cake!" He says, looking at Caroline, who still looked upset at him.

      Stefan looked in between the couple, "You know what? Why don't you guys go ahead and take it for a spin?" He suggests.

       Matt's eyebrows shot up, "Really?"

       "Yeah." Stefan insists.

       Matt looks over at the blonde girl, "Caroline?" He asks and Caroline hesitantly nods before getting into the passenger seat and the two drive off with Stefan and Hazel watching them go.

Stefan looks over at Hazel, "You alright?"

Hazel sighs and nods, "If it's not vampires, it's girlfriends."

Later, Damon Salvatore and Kelly Donovan enter the Salvatore Boarding House after a big night of drinking up the liquor supply at the Grill. After last call was called by the bartender, the two of them wished to continue the party back at Damon's while Jenna had decided to go home—wanting no part of whatever was about to happen next; she knew Kelly and she thinks she knows enough about Damon Salvatore to put together that whatever was happening at the Salvatore Boarding House was not going to be PG rated. Damon made himself a drink, takes a sip, and hands it to Kelly.

She takes the glass from his hands and looks at him through her thick mascara covered lashes, "Now that you've got me here." She takes a drink, "What are you gonna do with me?"

"I'm going to..." Damon trails off with a hoarse voice as he approaches her so that they're face to face, "I'm going to do this." He kisses her and pushes her up against the wall as they make out drunkenly.

Kelly's tearing at Damon's clothes and deepening the kiss as Caroline and Matt enter the house and interrupt them, "Mom!?" Matt is horrified, and if he thought the image of them at the Grill was bad, this was much worse and something that would stay in his nightmares forever.

"Damon!?" Caroline exclaims with the same tone.

Kelly's eyes widened when she saw her son standing there, seeing her in a compromising position with someone she had just met—not a motherly thing to do, "Oh, my God, Matt!" She pushes Damon off of her and scrambled away from him as she continues to mutter, "Oh, my God."

Hazel and Stefan walk into the room as Kelly is grabbing her things and making a run for the door, only leaving little to the imagination for what could've occurred moments prior to them entering the room. Caroline and Matt look at each other awkwardly and Matt points in the direction that Kelly just left in, "I got to..."

"It's fine, just go." Caroline says in defeat but is also still in shock for what she just saw.

"I'll take her home." Hazel tells Matt.

Matt nods in appreciation and hands Stefan the keys to the Porsche, "Thanks, man."

He quickly leaves after his mother, leaving Caroline, Hazel and Stefan to look at Damon, who only drinks his bourbon in response, not a single care in the world of what just happened.

     Sensing the rising tension between the brothers, triggered by Stefan's annoyance at Damon, Hazel bites her lip awkwardly, "Let's... um, let's go home, Care."

      Caroline also can't help but want to get out of there as soon as possible, "Yeah, let's go."

      "I'll walk you out." Stefan offers and the two girls and him walk out of the house and towards Hazel's car. Caroline gets into the passenger seat when Stefan goes up to Hazel.

      "I'm sorry that I'm bailing."

Stefan understands why she is, and he doesn't blame her. The fun atmosphere that was in the air despite the awkwardness was gone all because Damon was caught making out with Matt's mother, "Just wish you let me drive you home."

"Normal people don't have chaperones or bodyguards or baby-sitters." Hazel pointed out with a raised eyebrow, "We're normal tonight, remember?"

"I know. I just get so worried about you."

Hazel blushes slightly at his protectiveness, tucking her hair behind her ear, "I know, and I appreciate it. But, I can't live every minute afraid that someone is gonna come after me." She replies. She should be more aware of her surroundings, but it's a fine line with her; if she's too aware, she'd go out of her mind with second guessing her every move or every person she came in contact with, "I'd go insane constantly looking over my shoulder. It's just... it's not living."

"Okay." Stefan reluctantly agreed, "Call me when you get home safe."

Hazel nods and reaches up onto the tops of her toes to press a kiss to his cheek. Progress, he thinks as he opens her car door for her and Hazel smiles appreciatively as she gets into the driver's seat. She had a really nice time on their date. In a way it was exactly what it was supposed to be—sweet, fun and slightly awkward. He bends down to look into the car, "Bye, Stefan." Caroline says quietly, a half smile on her face.

"Goodbye." He closes the car's door and watches them leave before he goes back inside.