SEASON ONE — EPISODE NINETEEN
"𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙣"

‧˚꒰🍷꒱༘‧—

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'✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹ AFTER THE SMALL DANCE, Stefan promised Brooke that he would go home and have a hot shower, and he promised that he wouldn't cause any more harm on anyone. And, Brooke believed him, she trusted him more than most people, why wouldn't she?

The sun had set in the sky as she entered the Lockwood mansion, noticing Bonnie stood in the main reception with Caroline, the two laughing about something. And once Caroline noticed Brooke approaching, the blonde's eyes lit up with excitement, "Oh, my God, Brooke! Guess what?"

"What?" Brooke asked with a grin as she stopped beside Bonnie, waiting expectantly as the two girls practically bounced up and down enthusiastically.

"I won Miss Mystic Falls!" Caroline gushed, clapping her hands with a giggle and Brooke's eyes widened, though she wasn't exactly shocked.

"I knew you would, congrats!" Brooke rushed forwards and wrapped her arms around her best—friend, the two embracing for just a moment before Caroline suddenly pulled away. A few other girls approached to congratulate the winning princess, leaving Brooke and Bonnie stood there like pawns to the left.

But, as Brooke watched her best—friend laugh with other girls, Bonnie's eyes were elsewhere. The Elliot girl felt a hand nudge her arm and she looked towards Bonnie, who nodded towards Damon and Elena stood at the entrance, worried looks on their face, "They were talking about Amber." Bonnie muttered quietly and Brooke's brows furrowed together, and that was when she remembered that Amber knew, Amber knew the truth.

Damon and Elena left the mansion and without hesitation, Bonnie rushed after them with a look of concern. And like a leash was attached to both of them, Brooke followed her lead, almost tripping over her own heels as she tried to catch up to the Bennett, "Could you walk any faster?" She huffed, the cold air hitting her face as soon as she stepped onto the porch.

They made their way down the steps towards the forest in front of the large house where they could barely see Elena and Damon running into the woods. Brooke could heard a scream of a girl surround the woods and she slowed down as she approached Bonnie, Damon and Elena, her eyes wide.

Then, the tears began to fill her green eyes as she saw the scene in front of her, "Stefan!" Elena cried out as she came to a stop, closest to the Salvatore and Amber, the girl who'd screamed and had been caught in Stefan's clutches for the second time that day, fell to the floor as Stefan let her go.

"Stefan. Come on. Get control. Come on." Damon tried, taking a cautious step towards his brother, whose eyes were dark with veins slithering down to his cheeks. Blood spilled out of his mouth and down to his chin, but even as he looked over at his best—friend who had tears in her eyes, he couldn't control a thing.

It was all too much for his brain to comprehend. Damon took so many steps that he managed to touch Stefan, his hand on his younger brother's shoulder but like mentioned before, Stefan wasn't himself, he had no control. The aforementioned vampire grabbed ahold of Damon's suit blazer and threw him into the air, the older brother's slamming into a tree.

And as much as Brooke would've liked to celebrate that moment of victory, seeing Damon be defeated, she couldn't find even an ounce of joy in that moment. A single tear spilled down her cheek as Stefan began to storm towards Damon, and that was when she had enough.

Brooke rushed forwards, standing just beside Elena, "Stefan, you promised me." Brooke sobbed, her heart aching as Stefan's head snapped in her direction, having grabbed his attention, "You promised me you wouldn't do this." She continued to cry, remembering just half an hour ago when he looked her in the eyes and gave her his word that he wouldn't harm anyone else that night.

Stefan's eyes slightly softened as he listened to her words, as everyone listened, her words filled with emotion, pain, just a ton of sadness nobody expected Brooke to express. Bonnie, Elena and Damon had never seen such a side to her, they'd never seen her cry with such hurt, they were surprised.

But, Brooke couldn't have cared less, her eyes trained on Stefan, who looked like he was going to rip his own head off, clearly hating on himself. And just like that, he was gone, running off into the woods without a word.

"Brooke?" Elena muttered, watching as Brooke stared in the direction that Stefan had disappeared to. She blinked a few times, finding herself back in reality and she sniffled up her tears, putting up that wall she usually built.

"Hm?" Brooke turned, an eyebrow raised and Elena inched forwards, placing a hand on Brooke's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked, her eyes also filled with fear after what had just occurred.

"Am I okay? Seriously, Elena?" Brooke scoffed and abruptly turned, walking away from the group with a frown upon her face. She rushed back into the mansion in search of her brother, knowing exactly where he'd be.

"She's like a sister to me, if you hurt her—" Nathan's warnings towards Alaric by the bar were cut off as Brooke approached, her arms crossed over her chest with a saddened look on her face. The man didn't even time to mutter a word to her before she threw her arms around him, holding him tight as she cried.

Her sobs were quiet into his suit jacket and Nathan froze, but only for a moment before he immediately wrapped his own arms around her. He exchanged looks with Alaric, who nodded understandingly despite his own concerns and strolled away in search for Jenna.

Nathan rubbed his sister's back comfortingly, resting his chin on hers as she sobbed for reasons he had no idea about, he even felt his own eyes watering. She'd been through so much, even more than he knew, "Who made you cry, Brooke?" He questioned, his voice quiet and she sniffled, pulling away to look up at him.

"Nobody, I just miss Mom." Brooke cried deeper as she mentioned her Mother and as Nathan looked into her watered orbs, he hadn't seen her cry so hard since their Mom actually died.

"Shh, it's okay." Nathan instantly pulled her back in for a hug, bending down to bury his face in the crook of her neck, tears flooding his blazer, "I miss her too, Brooke, I miss her too." He whispered, his voice gentle and despite his slight tipsiness, he was still able to comfort her enough.

That night was spent cuddling on the couch watching old movies with popcorn, they even watched with videos with their father in it considering their hatred towards him. And Brooke cried herself to sleep in her brother's arms, her sadness caused not only by the loss of her Mom all those years ago, but also worries towards Stefan.

He broke her promise, but she forgave him... He was just going through a bad stage, right?

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BROOKE WAS SPREAD ACROSS THE COUCH A FEW DAYS LATER, her eyes glued to the TV as she forced her mind to think about nothing. Of course, it was impossible, she tried to switch her emotions off like vampires could, but humans weren't so blessed with such powers.

Nobody had called her, texted her, left her a voicemail, nobody cared. Only Nathan had concern for his sister, making sure he checked in every few hours whilst he was at work. She had a shift that morning, but she called in sick and thankfully her boss believed her lie.

Brooke sat up as her mind raced with thoughts about her best—friend, about everyone. Her eyes then snapped to her cell, but she knew better — if she tried to ring Stefan, she knew he wouldn't pick up. If Elena knew something about Stefan, she'd call her cousin, right? Damon was a pointless thought, he couldn't care less about anyone never mind Brooke.

And just as she sat up, deciding that she wanted to check on Stefan, a knock erupted at the front door. She stood from where she was sat and dragged her feet tiredly over to the door, unlocking it using the chain before swinging it open to see Caroline stood on the other side, a box of cookies in her hands.

Meanwhile at the Salvatore Boarding House, Stefan was locked in the basement cell thanks to Elena and Damon pairing up to capture him. His face was buried in his hands, sat on the dirty floor with his knees propped up near his chest.

Damon strolled into the small hallway, poking his head around the corner of the bars, rolling his eyes when he noticed Stefan still in a mood. Damon had assumed he was still upset about feeding on that girl, about losing control and while that was partially true, Stefan couldn't get the memory of Brooke crying out in front of him, disappointed in him, angry towards him.

He couldn't get the words out of his head, 'You promised me.', she said, 'You promised me you wouldn't do this.' The words repeated in his head over and over for hours until Damon began to speak, "Brought you something to eat, 100 percent Stefan—diet approved." Damon shook a bottle of squirrel's blood in his hands, a smirk on his lips but when he didn't receive a reply, his smirk dropped, "You know what'll happen if you don't eat, you'll get all rotting and crusty."

"I'm not hungry." Stefan muttered under his breath, clearly feeling sorry for himself because he and everyone else knew he was always hungry, that was the reason Brooke now hated him — but really, she didn't.

"Pfft. Of course you are." Damons scoffed, rolling his eyes in disbelief, "We're eternally hungry. Take it." Damon placed the bottle on the window frame in the door, pushing it to the edge but Stefan stayed sat on the ground, his face facing the ground only now, his hands were hanging, held together between his knees, "The human blood should be gone by now. You wanna explain why you're still in here feeling sorry for yourself?"

"I broke her promise." He whispered, though Damon heard every word and he rolled his eyes for the second time, letting out a chuckle.

"Don't beat yourself up about that, I'm sure she'll forgive you. Now, drink up." Damon pushed the bottle with a strong force, causing it to fall just a few metres away from Stefan and the former slowly looked up from the dirt to the bottle of blood, her eyes darkened momentarily. But, it didn't last long before Stefan looked back down at the dirt miserably, "Fine. Starve. What do I care?" Damon walked off, his eyes on his shoes because deep down, he did care.

Back at the Elliot's trailer, Brooke was sat up on the kitchen counter in her pyjamas, her hair tied back into a messy bun and she swung her legs, watching Caroline move around the kitchen like a mother doing her daily chores, "You'd be a good Mom." Brooke spoke up, her expression straight and Caroline spun around, smiling wide.

"You're so right! I can't wait to have little Mattie Juniors running around." Caroline gushed, causing Brooke to grimace, squeezing her eyes shut in disgust.

"You don't seriously think you guys are gonna last." Brooke deadpanned, fiddling with her rings out of habit, though in the back of her mind, she couldn't stop worrying about him.

"Shut up, Brooke. I do not need your negative vibes right now, okay? I just wanna eat this pasta and have some cookies and watch a movie." Caroline sighed heavily, her hands hovering over the counter as she thought about what to do when her eyes lit up with realisation and she span around, moving towards the stove to stir the pasta cooking in the pan.

"Sorry." Brooke muttered, her eyes now focused on her hands as she felt herself slipping into a blanket full of dark thoughts. What if Stefan was dead? No, she'd know, right? But what if he is? She should go and see. No, she can't, she can't just go over. It was eating her up inside, "How's Bonnie?" She suddenly asked, trying to distract herself.

"Oh, she's still crazy, per usual, even without her Grams. But, she's hanging in there, I guess." Caroline smiled as she dipped her finger in the pasta sauce, placing it in her mouth and her eyes lit up, "Yum! This is my dad's recipe, he's become such a good cook lately. I think his new boyfriend's rubbing off on him."

She received no response, but she was too focused on the food to even realise.

Then, snapping her out of her thoughts, Brooke's phone rang from the couch and Caroline's ears perked up at the sound, "Don't worry, I'll get that for you!" Caroline began to make her way towards the living room but Brooke quickly hopped off the counter, speeding over and snatching her phone from Caroline's hand.

"That's okay."

"Oh—" Caroline was taken aback by Brooke's eagerness to answer the call herself, she didn't even look at the caller ID before she pressed accept and pressed it to her ear.

"Hello? Stefan?" Brooke asked, hopeful.

"Brooke, it's Elena." Elena's voice sounded down the line and Brooke's hopeful expression dropped to a disappointed one, "This is about Stefan, though. He's asking for you." Elena explained, a slightly confused tone in her voice but Brooke couldn't care less.

"Where is he?" Brooke questioned, beginning to pace as Caroline just stood there, bewildered by the entire situation.

"In the cell in the basement. Damon and I locked him in there last week." Elena explained, sucking in a deep breath, ready for her cousin's wrath.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Brooke snapped, rushing over to the front door to pull her non—heeled boots on. Caroline attempted to ask questions but ended up being ignored.

"I didn't want to bother you, I know you're going through a lot. I also didn't think you'd care that much." Elena shrugged, she knew Brooke cared but definitely not as much as she did, definitely.

"Well, I do. I'll be right over." Brooke ended the call as she pulled on her jacket, not even sparing a glance back at Caroline, who was getting sick of being ignored.

"Hey!" Caroline yelled, stomping her foot and Brooke looked over, bags under her red eyes — the Elliot girl was clearly sick, "Where are you going? You need to get some sleep, Brooke. It's almost nine." Caroline took a step forwards, reaching out to touch her best—friend but before she could, the front door swung open, revealing Nathan.

"Oh, hey, Caroline." Nate grinned in the blonde's direction and Caroline instantly blushed, her eyes trailing down the man's body in his builder's uniform, "Where are you going?" Nathan turned to his sister, noticing her in her shoes and jacket, although she was still clad in her pyjamas.

"Just on a walk. I need to clear my head." Brooke lied, her eyes flickering between the two before she squeezed past him and stepped outside, rushing into the forest without letting them get a word in. Her feet moved faster than her body as soon as the trailer park was out of sight, beginning to run through the woods towards the Salvatore Boarding House, which wasn't as far as she expected it to be.

On the way, she couldn't stop thinking about why Stefan was asking for her, about what he was thinking about — the answer was obviously Elena, she was the love of his life after all, but she still wondered if he felt apologetic for what he'd done, after what happened.

She wiped her tears as warm lights began to appear through the trees and her legs moved even faster than before, carrying her all the way through the courtyard and to the front door. Brooke ran a hand through her hair after urgently knocking on the door using the palm of her hand.

Elena had opened the door, smiling softly but Brooke just stood there, tears in her eyes. The girl looked a mess compared to the Gilbert, her matted hair pulled into a bun, which had loosened after running so fast, she was clad in her pyjamas and she hard the darkest eye bags Elena had ever seen.

"Can I see him?" Brooke asked, not wasting any time on hello's or how are you's, they were pointless.

"Yeah." Elena stepped aside to let the broken girl in before closing the door and leading her to the basement, where Brooke had been before all those months ago.

Stefan, still sulking, hadn't heard the interaction upstairs, assuming it was just Elena coming to check up on him when he heard the lightest of footsteps approaching, "You know, Damon hasn't fed me vervain in a while. I could be at those bars in a flash, and you'd be dead." Stefan spoke up, finally looking towards Elena whilst Brooke just stood to the side, listening.

Without the blood for strength, most of Stefan's heightened senses had weakened a ton.

"Yeah, you could... but you won't." Elena sighed, shaking her head lightly as she watched her boyfriend in such a state.

"Please just go away." Stefan pleaded, his pained voice causing Brooke's heart to ache, "I don't want you here." Stefan continued before he lowered his head, his eyes back on the dirt.

"Okay, enough of this stupid sulking nonsense, Stefan." Brooke stepped into his line of sight through the little window and at the sound of her voice, Stefan's eyes snapped back up.

"Brooke?" He stuttered just slightly, shocked to see her after so long. He assumed she hated him after what he did, breaking her promise... betraying her... And while it did hurt her deeply, he was being dramatic.

"In the flesh. I mean, you did ask, did you not?" Brooke's brows furrowed as she glanced over at Elena, who nodded in confirmation but it was more Stefan's confirmation that she needed.

"I did." Stefan replied, his eyes moving away from her as if to avoid eye contact.

"You gonna tell me why?" She raised a brow, waiting impatiently for his reply and Elena just leaned against the wall by the door, listening.

"No. You should just go." Stefan suggested, slipping back into that depression phase he was in only a minute ago and Brooke scoffed, every miserable bone in her body vanishing. She was now pissed.

"So, you're telling me I ran all the way over fucking here? In my pyjamas? Worried sick about you? I mean, look at me, Stefan. I'm a wreck." Brooke told him, her eyes glaring towards him but he refused to look, he refused to see the outcome of his actions, to see how much his actions affected her. He didn't want to see how much he'd hurt her.

"I'm sorry." Stefan replied, his eyes now on the ground again like he'd done for days and Brooke shook her head, glancing over to Elena, who shrugged, unsure of what to do.

"He's been like this for days? Has he eaten?" Brooke asked her cousin, who stood up straight with her arms crossed over her chest, shaking her head.

"There's a bottle of animal blood in there but he's been refusing it." Elena explained, concern written all over her face but Brooke was locked in, being all worried and frightened wasn't going to help Stefan at all.

"Where's Damon?"

"He said he went out with Alaric Saltzman." Elena showed her confusion as well as Brooke, who scrunched her face up momentarily before shrugging it off, knowing there was more important matters — aka, Stefan.

"Right, okay." Brooke nodded before her hand clutched onto the lock, unlocking it and stepping inside of the cell, causing Stefan's head to snap back up.

"What are you doing? I could hurt you." Stefan spoke, his voice pained as he finally looked at her, the state she was in and while she was putting up that strong barrier, coming off as if she wasn't fragile, as if she wasn't breaking down everyday, he knew that she was hurting too.

"Oh, come on. As if I haven't been hurt enough. If you wanted to kill me, you would've done it already." Brooke's eyes flicked down to the bottle of blood lying on the dirt ground and she bent down, picking it up, "You gonna drink this?" Brooke asked, holding out the bottle to him but instead of replying, he just stayed silent, looking away from her.

Then, suddenly, she smacked him atop the head with the bottle, chewing on the inside of her cheek and his head snapped up, anger bubbling up inside of him but she didn't let that get to her.

"I will force it down you like a mother with vegetables." She warned, lifting her brows curtly as she continued to hold the bottle out to him and abruptly, Stefan stood from where he was sat, his face in hers. And that was when Elena thought the best idea would be to enter the cell.

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