SEASON ONE — EPISODE FOUR
"𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙"

‧˚꒰🍷꒱༘‧—

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'✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹ "YEAH, I'M 161 YEARS OLD." Stefan told Brooke and she scrunched her brows, scooting herself backwards, causing Stefan to chuckle, "What? Intimidated by my old age?"

"Definitely. That's kinda gross, actually." Brooke grimaced, and Stefan laughed again, finding the girl to be rather funny, unsure of how he missed her grade A sense of humour. He tilted his head, smirking out of amusement.

"How so?" Stefan questioned and Brooke brought her knees up to her chest from where she sat on the floor against the door, picking at the skin around her fingernails out of habit. She used to pick at her nails and nail-beds a lot after her mother died, she wasn't sure why but sometimes it caused pain, sending her a slight sense of comfort.

"Well, you're like ancient and you're dating Elena, who is still a minor, if you remember or do you have dementia? Wait... can vampires get dementia?" Brooke tilted her head to the side, mindlessly biting her nails as she watched him laugh to himself, the corners of her lips slightly upturning. She felt proud of herself for being able to make him laugh so much, she never realised how funny she could sometimes be, or maybe Stefan was just easy to find things hilarious.

"No, they can't. We can't procreate either, and we'd be in horrific pain if we consumed or came into contact with this specific herb. Speaking of, I have something for you." Stefan reached into his back pocket, and Brooke watched curiously as he pulled out a pair of earrings in a plastic bag, holding it up.

They weren't like any other earrings Brooke had seen before, they were unique. Silver studs with dark blue gemstones in the centre, and there were small diamonds lining around the main gemstone, making them shine.

"These have vervain inside of them, vervain is a herb that can stop vampires from compelling you. I can't touch them or they'll burn me, but I do suggest putting them on if you want to be safe from being controlled." He held them out to her, leaning forwards and she took them from him with a small smile on her face, thankful that he was looking out for her.

Brooke opened the bag and poured the earrings out into her hand, making sure they wouldn't fall onto the floor. She placed one of them in her lap as she put the other in her ear, she had three piercings on both ear lobes, and she had four cartilage piercings, "Is Damon a vampire, too?" Brooke asked, putting the backing in and Stefan adjusted himself on the bed.

"Uh, yeah. We both were turned by the same person at the same time. She was... her name was Katherine." Stefan nodded, he might as well just tell her everything, he trusted her with it all for some reason that he had no idea of. Plus, she already knew so much, so why not?

"Katherine? She gave you her blood? Who killed you? Was that too many questions?" Brooke rambled, feeling a lot like Caroline in that moment. She didn't know why she was so nervous, but she supposed it was because she'd just learned that vampires exist.

Stefan chuckled lightly before shaking his head, "No, not at all. Uh, yes, she gave us both her blood in secret and we both were shot by our father when we were trying to save Katherine. He had captured all of the vampires in Mystic Falls, and we both loved her." He explained and Brooke dropped her hands from her ears, slouching her shoulders a little with a small sad smile on her lips.

"Did she die?" Brooke tilted her head, her elbow propped up on her thigh and her curled fist under his chin. Stefan looked down to his hands, fiddling with his ring again and Brooke took notice of his hesitation, instantly changing the subject, "What's the ring for?"

He looked up, a smile arising onto his face, "It's a daylight ring made by Emily Bennett. I can't go in the sun without it." The Salvatore chuckled a little for absolutely no reason at all, her aura just made him feel more positively than usual. Something he'd never felt before.

"Oh, so the myths are real. Also, Bennett? As in Bonnie?" Brooke sat up straight at this, wondering if the witch theories were actually real. Everything was coming together, everything, and she couldn't lie, it definitely scared her at least a little.

"Yes, Bonnie comes from a line of witches. Her grandmother is a witch, I knew her a while back." Stefan smiled at the memories and Brooke nodded, her face showing curiosity. She pushed herself up from the ground and approached him, shocking Stefan a little, but he stayed silent despite the fact that he was clearly a little worried.

She sat down beside him, criss-crossing her legs as she stared down at her tiny rug in the middle of the room, and Stefan moved a little to give her some space, "The whole world is a lot bigger than I thought. Are ghosts real too?"

"I'm not sure about that, actually. I just know that vampires and witches exist." Stefan nodded at her, and she smiled awkwardly, throwing herself backwards onto her bed, her arms spread out.

"I'm tired now. This is too much information. I won't tell though, your secret is safe with me." Brooke lifted her finger to her lips, gesturing that she'd keep quiet and Stefan chuckled, leaning back beside her. She let out a heavy sigh, staring up at the ceiling when she turned her head to look at the side of his face and as if he could sense her eyes on him, he turned too, looking into her bright hazel eyes, "Do you love Elena?"

Without hesitation, Stefan nodded, "Don't tell her." He muttered with a worried expression and Brooke giggled, turning again to look back at the ceiling.

"I want to know what you love about her. For me, it's how caring she is towards the people that she loves. And, yeah, sometimes she can be really mean but she never means it, which just sums her up as a person. She isn't judgemental, nor is she actually mean. I love her." Brooke sighed heavily, turning her head once more, locking eyes with him again and he placed his hand on his chest, going over what to say.

"I love her because she's selfless and sweet. The opposite of Katherine although they look exactly alike." Stefan scoffed under his breath and Brooke furrowed her brows, confused as to what he meant, "They're doppelgängers. Katherine's her ancestor. They're identical." He explained, knowing she was probably confused.

"Is that what attracted you to her?" Brooke questioned further, wanting to know what really caught Stefan's eye because it seemed as if he was interested by her the second he came back to Mystic Falls. She needed to know that he wasn't just with her because she looked like his first love.

"I'm gonna be honest, yes. But that isn't why I like... love her." Stefan corrected himself and Brooke smiled, happy for her cousin. She looked back up at the ceiling and yawned, stretching her arms above her head. She was still in her cheerleading uniform but she was way too tired to change.

"Just don't hurt her, okay? She's been through a lot... and she deserves... happiness." Brooke's eyes fluttered closed and she began to fall asleep, unable to keep her eyes open after such an eventful night. Stefan chuckled quietly once he heard her soft, quiet snores surrounding the room and he pushed himself up off of the bed. Careful not to disturb her, he lifted her up bridal style and placed her under the duvet where it was warm, knowing the Elliott couldn't afford to keep the AC running overnight.

He tucked her in and smiled at her before he quickly left, making sure to be quiet as he passed by Nate's bedroom, having heard him walk in just over an hour prior. On his way home, he grinned to himself, knowing that he'd just scored himself a new best-friend with a great personality.

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THE NEXT MORNING, Brooke had woken up at around seven in the morning, still clad in her cheerleader uniform and her hair a mess in the ponytail she kept in. She sat up, rubbing the smudged mascara around her eyes and she saw both her leather jacket and her bag on the end of the bed.

She'd assumed Stefan had brought them to her whilst she was asleep, meaning that Nathan didn't lock the door when he came in early hours. The youngest Elliot pushed herself up and out of bed and left her room, heading for Nathan's. She knocked on the door lightly, and shook her head in disbelief when she didn't hear any response.

Walking away after deciding to let him sleep in considering it was his day off — he always had Saturday off — she decided to head to the bathroom to quickly shower. She usually showered on nights because Nathan always showered on mornings, but considering the circumstances, she changed it for that day.

After showering, she pulled on a long-sleeved black turtleneck shirt with some black flared jeans, and her pair of black boots. She left her hair to air-dry and headed to the kitchen, grabbing a breakfast bar before she left the trailer, locking the door behind her. She had pulled on her red leather jacket and bag that Stefan had kindly brought to her before she left.

That was when she realised she had five missed calls from Caroline, and two from Matt. First, she rang Matt, knowing that Caroline's call would take quite a while due to her constant rambling, but Brooke never minded. She pressed the call button and placed the cell up to her ear, waiting to hear his voice on the other line.

"Brooke? Are you okay?" Matt asked, his voice sounded genuinely worried and Brooke smiled as she strolled down the path, "Vick told me you were ill."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I left my stuff at school yesterday." She explained, staring at the trees as she entered the cemetery of Mystic Falls, "I just had a little headache, don't worry." She laughed a little, making her way towards her mother's gravestone when her jaw dropped, "Oh, my God..."

"What happened, Brooke? Hey! Answer me." Matt panicked, only hearing silence for a moment which worried him, until he began to hear quiet sobs, "Brooke? Where are you?"

"Who the fuck defaced my mother's gravestone?" Brooke yelled in anger and she got down onto her knees, her sadness now turned to violence as she aggressively wiped all of the dirt from atop the gravestone. Matt now knew where she was and he dropped everything, heading straight for the cemetery.

When he arrived, he found Brooke sat beside Mary Elliot's gravestone, her knees pulled to her chest and her face buried into her hands. She wasn't crying, and she didn't seem distraught, she seemed peaceful from afar, either way, when he approached, her leaned down and wrapped his arms around her.

She flinched, not knowing who it was until she heard Matt's voice, "Hey, it'll be all right." He smiled into her hair, the scent of coconut entering his system and she sniffled a little, enjoying the comfort. It wasn't often that she received hugs, so when it did happen, it felt special.

After a little while, they pulled away and Matt pushed himself up, looking at the defaced grave. He bent over, looking at the deep scratches in the indenting and his finger traced over it. Brooke watched as he did so and her eyes widened, locking with Matt's as she realised that she knew who had defaced her grave.

Brooke didn't understand why he would want to do that, though. There was no reason for him to, maybe it was to get back at Stefan for giving her the vervain because yes, she knew about Damon compelling her. Stefan had told her everything and to be fair, she was pissed at the dark-haired man.

Stefan had warned her to stray away from his path, so she listened, knowing it was better to just avoid Damon instead of confronting him about all of the horrible things he's done.

But now, she was angrier than she'd ever been before and Damon Salvatore needed a wakeup call for scratching the letter 'D' onto her mother's gravestone, and not only that, but trashing it too.

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