SEASON ONE — EPISODE SIX
"𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙄 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡"

‧˚꒰🍷꒱༘‧—

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'✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹ BROOKE HAD SENT CAROLINE SEVERAL MESSAGES, and had called her a dozen times only to receive nothing in return, so she headed to her house, extremely worried about her. She knew Liz wouldn't mind if she just walked in, but she knocked on the front door anyway.

The door opened moments later, revealing Sheriff Forbes in her full uniform, a small smile appearing on her lips, "Hey, Brooke. Caroline's upstairs." The older woman, who'd given Brooke her middle name, moved aside so Brooke could step inside.

"Thank God." Brooke let out a sigh of relief, pulling her shoes off and placing them where all the other shoes were. She respected the home, it was where she was a lot of the time when her father disappeared, "Is she okay?"

"I went up to see but she was being... you know, Caroline. She hates me." Liz shook her head, visibly facepalming after she'd closed the door and Brooke also shook her head, scrunching her brows. The brunette took a step forwards and placed her hand on her non-biological aunt's shoulder.

"She doesn't hate you, Liz. I suppose you just don't bond as much anymore, and maybe that's why you aren't as close. She's gonna be distant because she thinks that you hate her, some mother-daughter bonding might do the trick." Brooke smirked, winking at the pretty woman with a giggle and Liz laughed, nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, you're probably right, I'll see what I can do. Thanks, Brooke." Liz smiled at the shorter girl, who nodded and rushed off into the hallway, up the stairs. Brooke knocked on Caroline's bedroom door with her knuckles, and she chuckled to herself at the sound of Caroline's groan, so she entered, closing the door behind her.

"Cinderella, it's me." Brooke tilted her head with a sympathetic smile at the sight of Caroline lying on her bed backwards, a purple blanket draped over her. She resembled herself when her mother died, she was depressed, "Aw, babe." The brunette climbed onto the bed and slid under the thin blanket, wrapping her arms around her best-friend, spooning her from behind.

"Why can't someone just love me?" Caroline began to sob quietly, wiping her eyes roughly and Brooke shook her head, embracing her tighter.

"I love you, Caroline, loads of people love you. Bonnie, Elena, Matt—" Brooke began to list off the people who loved Caroline to pieces, but she cut her off.

"No, B!" Caroline spun around, facing her and that was when Brooke noticed the tear stains trailing down the blonde's cheeks and her bloodshot eyes, "A boy! Why can't a boy just love me? Am I really that unloveable?"

Brooke immediately furrowed her brows, shaking her head, "No! You are loveable, just because nobody's realised yet doesn't mean you aren't. I'm literally into girls, and if you were too, I'd totally go for you. You're not only gorgeous, but you're so funny, and sweet. You care so much for your friends and that's what makes you loveable. Don't ever doubt yourself!"

"But, how come nobody wants me? I thought Damon wanted me but really he just used me for Elena. Why does Elena get everybody and I get nothing? What does she have that I don't? Is it because she's prettier than me? Am I—" Caroline rambled on but it was cut short when Brooke placed her hand over the blonde's mouth.

"Caroline, my love, listen to me, okay?" Brooke stared into her eyes and slowly removed her hand from her lips, her tone firm but still sensitive, "People come and go, Damon's a dick, but he won't bother you again, okay? Sometimes, life isn't just about boys and once you realise that, they will all come along, begging for your attention."

Caroline nodded slowly, understanding what she was saying and a small smile appeared on her lips, showing that she acknowledged her best-friend's words. Brooke helped Caroline turn back around, her arms around her again, "Can we just... lay like this for a while?"

"Of course, rest your eyes, sweetie." Brooke nodded, burying her face in her blonde locks, taking in the strong scent of lemons. She smiled, caressing the back of Caroline's hand with her thumb, hearing the sound of her breaths slowing down, notifying Brooke that she was falling asleep.

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IT WAS AROUND TWO IN THE MORNING, that was when Brooke's phone buzzed four times in her back jeans pocket. Her eyes fluttered open and she immediately reached into her back pocket, seeing four messages from Stefan.

Stefan — Hey, Brooke, we have a problem. Elena knows, she found out and now she's in denial, would you be able to help?

Stefan — Brooke, are you all right?

Stefan — Sorry, I forgot it was 2am.

Stefan — Speak to you in the morning.

Brooke — Where are you?

Stefan — Why are you awake?

Brooke — Your fucking notifs now tell me where you are. This is important.

Stefan — I'm at Elena's on the porch. Do you want me to pick you up?

Brooke — No

Brooke stood up from the bed, and smiled at the sight of Caroline fast asleep on the bed, peacefully snoring. Luckily, she was light on her feet, so it wasn't hard to leave the Forbes house without causing a disturbance and the distance between there and Elena's house wasn't far, it took her approximately eight minutes to walk there.

When she approached the house, Stefan was leaning against a pillar, looking more miserable than she'd ever seen him, but she didn't care, she was pissed. She rushed up, and when he looked over, she was already close enough to shove him roughly, but he only took a step back, too strong for her to push.

"What the hell is wrong with you? How does she know?" Brooke hissed, her voice aggressive yet quiet in case she woke up anyone in the Gilbert family and Stefan stared at the floor in shame, shaking his head a little.

"I don't know, I made it too obvious." He responded, clearly upset with himself and Brooke let out a heavy sigh, visibly facepalming. She chewed on her bottom lip in attempt to ease the nerves, but it was impossible, she was just too worried.

She took a step back, and she walked over to the porch steps, taking a seat with her knees up to her chest, "Did you explain it to her?" The brunette asked after hearing him sit down beside her and he shook his head.

"I wasn't able to, she's terrified of me, Brooke. She thinks I'm a monster." Stefan buried his face in his hands, disappointed in himself for more reasons than one and she looked over at him, a sympathetic smile making its way onto her lips. Hesitantly, she lifted her hand and placed it on his shoulder, rubbing the leather of his jacket in attempt to comfort him.

"It's only because all she knows is the myths. How about..." Brooke looked away from him, her vision distant as she stared into the starry night sky, trying to come up with an idea and when she moved her head back to look at Stefan again, he was now sat up, his eyes on her intently, "How about I try to convince her to talk to you, to hear you out? Would you like me to do that?"

Stefan immediately nodded, eager to speak with Elena and show her that he was far from the monster she thinks he is. He was nothing like Damon and he was prepared to prove that. He grinned at the Elliot girl and leaned forwards to hug her in gratitude, she froze for a moment when his arms wrapped around her, Brooke wasn't one for physical touch with people she hardly knew.

But, after some thought, she realised she knew Stefan a lot more than most, heaps more than Elena did. So, carefully, she lifted her slender arms and wrapped them around his torso, resting her chin on his shoulder, relaxing in his arms. The silence was reassuring for both of them, the moon beaming down on them and the cold breeze flowing through their hair, it was peaceful.

It never lasts.

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THE NEXT MORNING, Brooke found herself stood at the Gilbert house's front door. She was improvising, she had not a single clue what to say to Elena, or how the younger girl would react, it was a mystery, but she'd find out. With a heavy sigh, she knocked on the door and it opened shortly after, revealing a tired-looking Elena.

"Oh, hey, Brooke." Elena put on a smile, masking how she was really feeling to her cousin, who could see right through the mask as if it was invisible. Brooke rolled back and forth on her heels, sending Elena a tight-lipped sympathetic smile as she stepped inside, the Gilbert closing the door behind her.

"Elena..." Brooke squeezed her eyes shut, her hands interlocked in front of her as she attempted to build up the courage in order to admit that she already knew about vampires before Elena had found out the night prior. With one deep breath in and out, she spoke, "I know about Stefan and Damon, I've known about them."

"Uh, what? What do you mean, Brooke?" Elena glanced around, making sure nobody was around and she leaned forwards just an inch, lowering her voice to a whisper, "About the vampires?"

"Yes." Brooke nodded, eyes wide and Elena took a step back, trying to process the extra information that she hardly needed, "I need to go to work, could you drive me? I'll explain everything on the way." The brunette tilted her head, pouting her bottom lip and Elena rolled her eyes, nodding.

"Let me just grab my bag." Elena told her, running up the stairs and she came back down around a minute later, leading an anxious, nail-biting Brooke out the door and to her car. Once they were in the car and on the road, Brooke cleared her throat, pushing some hair behind her pierced ear.

"So... I found out at the football game when Jeremy cut Stefan's hand, I saw it heal. Yes, they can heal almost immediately." Brooke glanced over at Elena's face, and the Gilbert seemed calm from the outside but she assumed she was panicking on the inside, which was a good assumption, "Stefan should be the one explaining this, please just hear him out. He would never hurt you, he cares about you way too much. He'd never hurt anyone, trust me, Elena."

Elena glanced over at Brooke, blinking a few times before she nodded hesitantly, staring back at the road. She gulped, unsure of what to say or do, she was nervous to say the least and she began to chew on her bottom lip when she heard Brooke pull out her phone, clicking on Stefan's contact.

With one small movement, the cell was pressed up to Brooke's ear, "Stefan? Hey, so I'm with Elena, she's agreed to talk to you at The Grill right now. Bye." The call seemed one sided as Brooke ended the call after two seconds, and she shoved the phone back in her jeans pocket, watching as they entered the town square.

"Uh... How much do you know about... them?" Elena nervously looked at Brooke, she felt safe with her cousin but the fact that she was about to sit across from her boyfriend who she'd just learnt is a vampire made her want to dig a hole in the ground and stay there forever.

"Pretty much everything, well not everything, but mostly everything." Brooke shrugged, she didn't know for sure if Stefan had left things out or not, which she was sure he probably did but she was sure that he'd tell Elena everything he'd told her, especially the fact that he had dated a girl in the 1800s who is an exact replica to Elena.

"Mhm, okay." Elena nodded, trying to convince herself that everything would be perfectly fine but there was something, and maybe it was Brooke's nervous fidgeting, that made her feel extreme fear.

Once they pulled into the small row of car parking lots, they could both see Stefan sat in one of the tables at the front of The Grill already, nerving them both all the more. The cousins turned their heads as Elena turned the engine off, giving each other a knowing look and Brooke took a deep breath before exiting the car, dusting off her black jeans after closing the passenger door.

This was going to be a long day.

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