Disclaimer: The characters of the Vampire Diaries do not belong to me. Don't sue.

Stefan stared listlessly as he watched Maria scurry around, disappearing down the cellar with three bottles of Damon's best bourbon. It was little past seven and the meeting was at nine. He chewed his pencil as he thought of a name for the meeting that was going to be held. It wasn't a council meeting because the Fells were not coming. Also the current mayor and the originals were not a part of the founding families. Alaric was somewhat of an exception since he was representing the Gilberts until one of them turned twenty one. Each member family on the council had a role in keeping Mystic Falls' dirty little secrets, well, secrets. The Fells were always reporters, the Lockwoods were mayors, and the Gilberts were scientists, the Forbes were sheriffs and the Salvatores were industrialists-bankrollers of sorts. It was not a law. It wasn't even conscious decision. It had just been that way since the council was first formed. And now, for the first time, the mayor was not a Lockwood, and the gilberts were too young to represent. This meeting was definitely not a founders' council meeting, but Stefan couldn't quite put a name to it. Oh well, he shook his head to clear his thoughts and stopped chewing on the pencil in favor of twirling it between his fingers. He hissed softly as he shifted on the dining chair that had absolutely too little padding and stared longingly at the couch. What he wouldn't give to be lying face down on that couch right now.

"Can I get you anything to drink, Stefan?"

Stefan jerked his head up to see Maria with an expectant look on her face. He hadn't noticed her come back up from the basement. She was holding two bottles of wine that she was most probably going to clean. How much alcohol did they need down there anyway, Stefan mused, then scoffed at his own question. With Damon and Klaus and Alaric in the same room, probably much more.

"Stefan?" Maria prompted when the boy was not forthcoming with an answer

Stefan shook his head. "No. I'm fine" he stated glumly

"Your friends will be here soon" Maria tried to cheer him up

He nodded, absentmindedly watching her disappear into the kitchen before calling out for her. "Maria?"

"Hmm?" she poked her head around the door

"Where's Damon?"

"I don't know. Maybe in the shower" she answered. "Why?"

Stefan cursed their soundproofed rooms. "Nothing" he answered

"You sure you don't want anything?" Maria pressed

"Yes Maria. I'm sure" Stefan said. As soon as she disappeared back into the kitchen, Stefan stood up and after a long rub at his backside, knelt on the chair. He sighed in relief. Much better. He glared hatefully at the notepad before him and wished for the millionth time that it would go up in flames as he picked up the pencil and continued to write. Damon was a sadistic bastard, Stefan thought as he wrote line number eighty seven. 'I will never manipulate my brother in order to throw a party in his absence, putting my life in danger, ever again' Stefan wrote. The sentence itself took three lines and he had to write it some seven hundred odd times. Why couldn't Damon simply come up with 'I will never throw a party again' or 'I will never endanger my life again' instead of that long sentence? Stefan worked himself up so much writing that particular line, he accidentally broke his pencil, and angrily hurled it against the wall. He enjoyed only about fifteen seconds of freedom before two pencils were placed on the table.

"You break any more pencils and you will be sleeping on your stomach for a year" Damon spoke softly into his ear. "Understood?" Stefan's eyes widened momentarily before his head bobbed up and down in a nod. He hadn't heard his older brother come down. "I can't hear you nod, Stefan"

"Yes Damon"

"Good. There's a car coming down the road. One of your friends will be here in a few seconds. So try and cheer up, hm?" Damon said, ruffling Stefan's hair. The younger Salvatore ducked and glared up at his older brother. "Oh don't give me that look. It's your own fault you're kneeling on that chair instead of comfortably sitting" he stated in his usual Damon way as he chewed on a sandwich he had snagged from a plateful in the kitchen, leaving the rest in front of Stefan before disappearing back up the stairs.

Alaric arrived first, with Jeremy, Matt and Elena in tow. Elena looked longingly at Stefan, and he knew immediately that she had been grounded. He also noticed Matt's slight wince as he sat down and the tell-tale signs of Jeremy's blood shot eyes. He raised an eyebrow at Matt, to which the boy shrugged, not wanting to say anything in front of his guardian that might put him into more trouble. If Stefan wanted answers he would have to wait.

Tyler arrived with Mason next, a somber look on his face and an expensive looking backpack strapped to his back. Stefan suddenly realized that Elena had something similar, and Alaric had been holding one just slightly larger than Elena and Tyler's. Whatever it contained probably was for both Matt and Jeremy. What was up with that anyways? Stefan mused. Did they have homework or something he didn't know about? He watched as Tyler tried to lean against the pillar in lieu of sitting, only for his uncle to grab his bicep and plop him none too gently on the couch beside Elena, before starting to converse with Alaric.

Elijah and Klaus came with Kol and Rebekah some ten minutes later. They also had the same confusing backpacks-or at least Rebekah did- Kol refused to carry his, leaving it to Elijah to bring it in. the twins made a beeline for the other unoccupied couch, despite all the single chairs available. Stefan found out why when Kol immediately sprawled out on the couch on his stomach, his head in his sister's lap, sniffling every now and then. Ah, that was why.

Bonnie and Caroline arrived last with their parents. They got to the boarding house at the same time. The blonde had a look on her face like she was about to shatter into a million pieces or burst into tears any moment. The look was so foreign on her face Stefan didn't know whether to be amused or sympathetic. Bonnie on the other hand looked slightly guilty-about what he couldn't tell- as she sat beside Stefan on one of the dining chairs.

The teenagers sat morosely, staring at nothing in particular and in silence while their parents and guardians wrapped up their conversations and pleasantries. Damon had returned sometime between Mason's arrival and the Sheriff's, and was now in a snarkfest with Klaus. Stefan looked at the clock and saw they had a little under ten minutes left before the meeting begun.

"We'll be down in the basement" Alaric's voice cut through Stefan's musings. "You will sit here and finish your punishments…"

"Wait. What?" Tyler interrupted

"Don't you have lines to finish Tyler?" Mason asked his nephew exasperatingly

Tyler blushed. "Yes, but…"

"But nothing. You will sit here and continue writing" his uncle finalized

"That goes for you two as well" Elijah directed to the twins. Only Rebekah nodded. "Kol?"

"Yes Elijah" he whispered

Confusion must have been apparent on all nine teenage faces because Liz took pity on them and explained. "You are all writing lines as part of your punishment. Jeremy being the youngest of all of you is writing two hundred lines. We agreed to cut him some slack. You…" she turned to the other eight. "… On the other hand, should know better. Elena, Bonnie and Matt, you each have three hundred lines to write. Caroline and Tyler, on account of being supernatural and because it'll take a lot more for your punishment to sink in, you both have to write five hundred lines. Stefan, while you're vampirically older than Caroline, you are still younger than Kol and Rebekah. It wouldn't be fair to have you write the same number of lines. You get seven fifty and they have to complete a thousand lines each" she looked at their resigned faces. "Understood?"

Stefan now had an idea of what the strange backpacks were for. If they had to write this much, it was probably filled with notepads and writing materials. Kol started to mutter something darkly before Rebekah clamped a hand over his mouth.

"What was that Kol?" Elijah asked

"Nothing" Rebekah answered for her brother quickly. "He didn't say anything"

"For your backside, I sure do hope so" Elijah said before glancing at his watch, an action that did not go unnoticed

"Okay" Damon begun. "We have to go now. Maria would bring you some snacks in a couple of minutes" he turned to Stefan. "Be good"

"What happened?" Stefan asked, after they had been quiet for almost two minutes. "I noticed only the boys had a real dislike for sitting" he added with a touch of bitterness in his voice

"Don't think we got off easy" Elena almost retorted. "Caroline is banned from extracurricular activities for two weeks". The boys winced, feeling a great swell of pity for Caroline. She chaired all the school committees. This was worse than any spanking she could receive; probably even worse than death in Caroline's opinion. "Bonnie's magic is suspended, unless it is life or death situation. She can't even light a candle unless her life depended on it. Literally"

"What about you?" Kol asked

"I'm grounded" Elena replied simply, though her tone and Jeremy's scoff said there was more to it

"That's not too bad" Tyler said

Matt waved at Tyler while shaking his head simultaneously, and Jeremy mouthed to him to stop talking as Elena turned a hard glare towards the werewolf. Tyler fortunately realized it was a delicate topic and raised his hands in surrender. "Sorry"

Another silence dragged on for what seemed like forever before Caroline broke it. "My mum said she was disappointed in me" she stated somberly. "She never said that to me before. 'Disappointed'. It hurt when she said it. Right here" she ended, putting a hand over her heart.

"It's okay Care. She'll get over it. She loves you very much, you know that" Bonnie tried to comfort her best friend

"What happened to you anyway?" Jeremy asked Kol. "You look like you've been kidnapped and tortured for a week"

"He may have talked himself into multiple spankings" Rebekah provided

Elena's eyes widened as Matt whistled. "Are you some kind of masochist man?" he asked. "I couldn't stop promising the sun and moon just so Alaric would stop and you talked yourself into another one?"

"Yea, that was pretty stupid Kol" Bonnie said at the same time Stefan muttered maybe he couldn't help it

They all swiveled to look at Stefan as he fidgeted. "Stefan" Caroline prompted

Stefan shrugged. "I may or may not have called Damon a dick…" there were collective gasps and 'oh man's. "… and may or may not have gotten switched for it"

"Jesus man. What the hell got into you?" Matt asked

"Lack of common sense and self-preservation, I'm sure" Rebekah said. "Kol called Elijah-and I quote- a self-righteous sadistic prick. I'm still wondering how he's still alive"

"He strapped me so many times I think I accidentally called on my mother to save me. I am not getting on Elijah's bad side again for at least a century" Kol lamented

"You always say that"

"Shouldn't we start writing?" Tyler asked. "I've only got about seventy lines and I so don't want to go over my uncle's knees again. I swear it was like he was pressing red hot coals tonto my butt"

"Yeah you're right" Jeremy agreed. "My ass can't take any more punishment"

Amidst the sounds of zips being pulled open and pens and pencils spilling out, Stefan spoke. I can't believe Alaric didn't spare you. You're his baby"

Jeremy blushed as Elena spoke. "Oh he went easy on him. Matt got way more. But he also stays within his sight. That means he sleeps with Ric now. He has to go to bed when he says and can't get out of bed until he says"

"Oh" was all Stefan could muster

Jeremy and Tyler pulled out chairs from the dining table beside Stefan and started to write. Caroline brought her knees to her chest in one corner of the couch, the raised knees providing a makeshift table for her notepad. Elena occupied the other corner, her body turned slightly as she wrote on its arm. Kol raised himself up long enough to grab his and Rebekah's supplies, the few seconds allowing his sister to stand and rub away some lingering sting in her backside. He returned almost immediately, draping himself back over Rebekah's lap and starting to write. Rebekah in turn used his back as a table as she also begun writing. Bonnie settled herself in the single armchair by the fireplace, writing in a similar position to Caroline except her leg was swung over the arm, and Matt settled for the floor. He lay on his stomach on the plush Persian and joined his friends in their collective punishment.

"This is insane. My hand is starting to hurt and I barely have ten lines" bonnie lamented

"Three down, nine hundred and ninety seven to go" Kol said snarkily. "At this rate I am sure I will be done with my thousand lines by the end of the month"

"Don't forget to account for the science project we have to submit in about ten days, preparations for the founders' ball five days after that, and the PTA meeting in three weeks. Including all this variables, I predict that the earliest time you'll finish is six weeks" Caroline provided glibly. Everyone looked at her in shock. "What? I chair all the committees in school. I practically planned these things"

"Uhm, Care, did you say PTA?" Matt asked nervously

She nodded, missing the look of absolute horror on the boys' faces.

When they came up from the basement a little over three hours later, the parents and guardians almost burst into laughter at the scene before them. Klaus actually did laugh before pulling out his phone and taking several pictures to tease Kol with later.

The kids had fallen asleep, and while that in itself was not funny, how they were sleeping was. In an obvious, albeit failed attempt to take some pressure off his burning bottom, Stefan had sat facing the back of the chair, with his legs above him over the backrest and his head on the dining table. Damon winced at the position. His little brother's neck was going to be his worst enemy come morning. Tyler had pushed three of the dining chairs together haphazardly and lay face down on them, head hanging off one of the chairs. Jeremy was probably the only one of the boys who had fallen asleep in a somewhat normal position. He lay with his head on his arms but he had moved back so much he was practically hanging off the chair. The less said about Kol the better as his upper body cascaded from the couch onto the floor but his lower body still stubbornly remaining on the couch in a position that would put a contortionist to shame. Rebekah had slid down, with her head now on the armrest of the couch and one leg on Kol's thigh and the other a few inches from his face on the floor. Matt was asleep in a reverse position to Kol, his back on the floor and his legs up on the couch between Caroline and Elena. Caroline's legs stretched out over Matt's and crossed at the ankles, and Elena was curled up in the opposite corner, her head resting on the back of the couch and facing Caroline. Their positions were probably the most comfortable in the room. Bonnie was in the same position in the armchair, except now her head hung over the other arm.

"How long do you think it'll take?" Alaric asked Elijah as he buckled the seatbelt around Kol's slumbering form. It had taken a few minutes to pack up the writing supplies and wake the teens. Surprisingly, with the exception of Bonnie who muttered something so dark Mason swore the temperature had fallen a few degrees, the girls woke themselves up long enough to trudge blearily into their respective parents' cars. The boys on the other hand, couldn't be bothered to open their eyes. Mason had to haul Tyler over his shoulders, Alaric picked Jeremy up nodding his gratitude to Klaus when he lifted Matt off the floor as he was free since Elijah was handling Kol.

"Two, maybe three, days" he answered, pushing the door shut. "If Kol makes it past three hundred lines, I'd make him cut school for a week". Alaric's eyebrows rose in surprise. "He won't even make it to two fifty lines Mr. Saltzman, trust me" he added as he drove off, Mason following closely behind. Liz and the mayor had left about ten minutes prior.

Damon stood by Alaric on the porch as he also made to leave. "How's Stefan?" Alaric asked. Damon had attempted to wake Stefan, only for the boy to fall out of his precarious position onto the floor, a sickening sound reverberating through the room as he hit his head on one of the chairs of Tyler's makeshift bed. To their amusement, he just turned over and continued sleeping. Damon hadn't bothered to wake him then, just lifting him up in a bridal carry and vamp speeding to his room

"He'll live" he answered simply. "I gotta be in Washington in a couple of weeks. I don't even know why yet. Will you come with me?"

"How about…"

"They can go stay with the Mikaelsons or mason"

"Okay, sure" Alaric replied. "You know; I could get used to this new responsible version" he teased

"We'll see" Damon smirked

Alaric shook his head and drove off.

Since it began with Damon and Alaric, ii thought it fair to end with them as well. So, this is the end. Sorry it took so long to update, I was busy trying to graduate. I may or may not write a sequel (that PTA meeting have got the boys quite rattled, hasn't it?) but for now, please read and review.