Song inspiration: SEVEN DEVILS / FLORENCE + MACHINE & SHOW MUST GO ON / QUEEN

WHISPER OF THE PAST

AN UNEXPECTED LOVE AFFAIR - PART II

COMBINED "FINALE CHAPTER"

By Lovely Vero

AN UNEXPECTED LOVE AFFAIR

Caroline & Stefan crossover story

CHAPTER 9: "We are family"

Stefan Salvatore pushed the door of the antic costumes store of Mystic Falls, while ringing the little bell attached to its door frame.

He approached the cashier counter, while sliding his hands in his jeans pockets, and scattering the store while looking out for the owner.

"Hello…" He exclaimed, while waiting patiently for someone to appear.

A sexagenarian, with salt & pepper hair, and small glasses on the tip of his nose appeared in front of him, while asking to Stefan Salvatore:

"Yes, may I help you?"

"Yes, hello…You surely can, my name is Stefan Salvatore…I called couple of hours ago, to reserve a 1970' disco costume?" Stefan said to the man.

"Oh yes, Mister Salvatore! Of course…For the Disco party at the Lockwood…I presume?" The man asked him, with a smile.

"Well…You presumed right!" Stefan answered the man, while raising his eyebrows and shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh! I don't see much enthusiasm for a young man?" The older man replied to him, while hiding his hilarity behind one of his hands.

"Let just say that I saw my share of Lockwood events!" Stefan replied to the man, while smirking.

"I do understand…Can you come in the back store, for you fitting of the suit… I think I find the perfect one for you!" The man said to him.

"Sure…." Stefan replied to the man, while following him behind a curtain.

Five minutes later he was sliding the curtain of the dressing room, while taking a couple of steps to reach the mirror in front of him.

"Oh God…" He exclaimed loudly to himself, while rolling his eyes to the ceiling, catching his own reflection on the mirror on feet. John Travolta in all his disco glory was certainly standing in front of the mirror, in this glittering two pieces suit. Unfortunately, he had no other choices but to attend this Lockwood event with Caroline, Rose's safety was in stake…Especially with Klaus back in town.

"I would prefer to be caught dead, torture, or having my head ripped off from my body than having a brother, who's dressing like you?" Stefan heard a voice say to him, making him startled in surprise, while feeling a range of shivering hitting his entire body, before very so slowly raising his head, and seeing Damon reflection.

"Damon…" He exclaimed in shock, while staring into Damon's eyes in the mirror.

Alex swallowed a lump in his throat, while keeping his stare into Stefan's.

"The name is Alex…" He simply replied to Stefan, while sliding a hand in one of his jeans pocket, before taking his pack of cigarettes and lighter.

"Right…Alex!" Stefan mumbled nervously in his teeth, before passing a nervous hand in his hair.

"Cigarette…" Alex asked him, while handing the pack to Stefan, seeing him shake his head in negation, and lighting one for himself before taking his first puff. "I compelled the store man…It should give us a little time to discuss." He added to Stefan, before sitting on a chair, while putting his dirty left biker boot on another one, before sliding his sight on Stefan's costume, while smiling.

"Ok, sure…" Stefan replied to him, while nodding his head and fixating his brother. His brother, DAMON, which he lost all contact for the past five years, was sitting comfortably in front of him - HIM who was dressed in the worst replicate version of 70' clothes, he thought before bursting into nervous laughter, while stroking his teary eyes with his right hand. If someone would have told him that this was the way that he would one day be face to face with his brother again, he would have burst into laughter, exactly like now…But then again, it was Damon! Who better than him to ridicule him!

"Hey man…If the clothes fit you, who am I to judge!" Alex said to him, while smoking very slowly his cigarette, and smirking at Stefan.

"Why are you here?" Stefan finally asked him, while leaning his back on the wall behind him. "And where is Elena, what have you done with her?"

Alex raised one of his eyebrows, while staring at his cigarette in his hands.

"She's alive and safe…That is about all that you will know!" He simply answered Stefan, while raising a quick glare at him. "I needed her, therefore: I keep her – As simple as that!" Alex added to him, while raising his chin to his unknown brother.

"Ah this is priceless!" Stefan said to him, while shaking his head, with a sarcastic laugh, before biting his lips in anger. "Isn't it what you always did? You needed Elena, and you did whatever necessary to have her?" Stefan asked Alex.

"I don't know? Ask your long lost brother Damon Salvatore!" Alex responded, while challenging Stefan. "You got me mix with somebody else!" He added, before asking. "Where's the child?"

"The child…" Stefan asked him dumfounded.

"Elena's…." Damon explained.

"She's safe…That is about all that you will know!" Stefan said to him, in a tit for tat response, while staring back into Alex's eyes. "What do you want Alex?"

Alex slowly rose on his feet, before throwing the cigarette on the floor and stepping on it, while reaching Stefan standing position.

"She's not!" He simply replied to Stefan.

"What you mean?" Stefan asked him, while putting his hands on each side of his waist.

"The child is not safe!" He added to Stefan.

"How can I trust you, Alex? How do you know that?" Stefan asked him, while trying to find a sign of truth in his eyes.

"A certain Original named Klaus paid me a courtesy visit…" Damon started to explain.

"Elena? Did he?" Stefan mumbled nervoulsy to his brother.

"I told you, she's safe…The child, not so sure…" Damon continued explaining, before adding. "…For what I could understand of this fucked up situation: A certain Sacrifice is supposed to take place, and Elena was one of his pawn to assure its success!"

"Yes…" Stefan simply replied, while nodding his head in approbation of Alex's saying.

"Well…apparently, she is not anymore!" Alex explained more to Stefan, while raising one of his eyebrows.

"Rose?" Stefan said to Alex, more as an affirmation than a real question.

Alex nodded his head in approbation to him, before seeing Stefan pace back and forth in front of him.

"Klaus…Bastard!" He mumbled angrily in his teeth, while passing a nervous hand through his hair. "What does he want to do with her?"

"Your guess is as good as mine…I guess she is now the magic pawn in his Sacrifice stuff…" Alex responded to him, while shrugging his shoulders, before adding. "I have no idea…I'm kind of new in this Jimbalaya fucked up spell stuff!"

Stefan raised his head to look at Alex, while smirking, making Alex crossed his arms in front of his chest, while staring at Stefan.

"What is so funny, man?" He asked him.

"Nothing…" Stefan replied to him, while lowering his head to hide his hilarity. "It's just…It's just that …This is something that my brother would say!" He added to him, before rising his head and stare in his.

Alex kept quiet, while avoiding looking at Stefan in the eyes, before turning on himself and taking a few walking steps toward the exit of the room.

"I'll stay here…And watch her for the time being!" Alex simply informed Stefan.

"Wait…" Stefan begged, while seeing Alex turn on himself and staring at him. "…Will I see you again?" He asked him.

"I'll be around…And I'll make contact with you when necessary." Alex replied to him, before leaving Stefan completely lost, dumfounded…but hopeful. His brother Damon was coming back to him…He could feel it in his guts!

Caroline had cried her share of tears since last night, and she was not particularly feeling well this morning either. Stefan knew! He knew the all truth now, and saying that he took it the wrong way was not even accurate…He was angry as hell at her! And, as much as she understood why - As much she knew inside of her that she had being doing the right thing also. Now, she had the most of right to be angry at him for leaving her for these past five years, and treated her like he had done last night!

She was standing in the kitchen; with a load of fresh clean clothes, while folding them on the kitchen table, when she heard screaming coming at her from the entrance of the house: "Caroline…Caroline!"

She raised her head in surprise, before seeing Stefan burst into the kitchen, noticing her standing position near the table, smiling heavenly to her, before taking a few more walking steps, passing his hands/arms around her waist, raising her in the air, and making her twirl.

"Oh my God, Caroline…" He exclaimed, while gluing her body to his, and sliding a hand in her hair, before closing his eyes.

Caroline froze on spot. Not even a couple of hours ago, he was giving her the cold shoulders and now, he was taking her in his arms. What was going on?

"Stefan…" She mumbled to him, while trying to detach herself from his embrace. "…Let me go, I can't do this…I can't go from cold to hot in a second!" She added to him.

"No, no…You don't understand Caroline…You don't!" He said to her, while detaching himself, and taking her face in his hands. "It's Damon…I mean Alex…He is back! My brother is back!"

"What?" She exclaimed to him, completely dumfounded. "What you mean he is back, where's Elena?'

"I don't know. He said to me that she is safe somewhere." He replied to her, while nodding his head.

"And you believed him?" She replied to her, while pushing herself away from him.

"Yes, I did! He's my brother, Caroline…And I felt for the first time since five years that he is coming back to us!" He said, while grabbing her shoulders, staring into her eyes, and smiling.

Caroline smiled for the first time, while feeling a sigh of relieves hitting her entire self. If what Stefan was saying, true, that meant that Elena was safe and alive, and Alex was maybe on his way to regain his memory.

"Why did he contact you, why did he come back?" She asked him, while grabbing his forearms with both of her hands. "Stefan…Answer me?"

Stefan lowered his sight away from hers, while loosing his smile.

"Klaus find him...I mean, he find his private lair!" Stefan informed her.

"Oh my God, Elena…" Caroline exclaimed.

"She's fine…" Stefan replied to her, while nodding his head.

"Then what…" Caroline asked him, while starting to shake like a leaf. "..Stefan?"

"He told Alex…I mean, Damon…That he don't need her anymore for the Sacrifice!" Stefan told Caroline.

"Oh that is so great! But, why….How…Stefan…" Caroline asked, while seeing him lowering his sight away from hers.

"He wants Rose!" Stefan finally admitted to her.

"No…No…How does he know about her…" She asked to him, while shaking her head from right to left, before adding. "…How did he find out? How is this even possible? Stefan?" She screamed at him.

"I don't know…" He simply answered her, while shaking his head. "…But we'll keep her safe with my brother!"

"How do you know that Alex will keep her safe?" She asked Stefan.

"Because it is his daughter, Caroline…And, You can call me crazy…But, I am sure that deep down inside of him he knows it!" He told her, while locking his eyes with hers, to which she nodded her head to him, before taking a few walking steps toward the exit of the kitchen.

"I'll go pick Rose at my mum's…We need to watch her more carefully now." She said to Stefan, while avoiding talking to him about last night events.

"Caroline?" He called, before seeing her turn and look at him. "About yesterday night…" He added to her.

"Don't …" She simply replied to him, while shaking her head in negation, before leaving him alone in the kitchen.

Stefan turned his stare to the window, while taking a few walking steps to stand in front, while putting both of his hands on each side of his waist.

He's been a jerk to her lately…He only realized now that she was put in front of an impossible decision of respecting her friend wishes and keeping Rose safe or telling him the truth. And he did not know how she could ever forgive him, or how he could ever forgive himself for hurting the woman that he fell in love with…

(….)

Caroline kept her stare in his for a few moments, while feeling tears rolling on her cheeks…She needed to think, she needed to put a space between Stefan and herself. She passed beside him, while pushing the kitchen door open, and storming out of the room, taking rapid walking steps toward the parlour room.

"Don't think of even pushing this issue under the rug, Caroline!" He screamed at her, while pushing the kitchen door open, and following her steps.

"No, I wouldn't dare think of that, Stefan!" She screamed back at him, before adding. "It is more your thing to do!" She added to him, while entering the parlour room, and pointing an accusation finger at him.

"Oh, this is priceless Forbes! You are the one who kept this fucking truth from me, and for weeks now…And somehow, I am the bad guy in all of this!" He screamed at her, while pacing back and forth, and gesturing nervously with his hands.

"I did what I had to do for my friend, Stefan!" She screamed back at him, while sweeping her tears away from her face. "I owe her this much! She wanted to go after Damon…She wanted to try to make him remember!" She added to him, before crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"You owed her that much? And, what did you owe me? Mm…What Caroline…" He asked her, while pointing a finger at her.

"I understand that you are angry Stefan, but I thought of Rose safety first!" Caroline lashed out at him.

"Her own safety against her own uncle…Are you kidding me? Who are you trying to fool, Caroline, really?" He asked her, while passing a quick hand though his hair. "How is this even possible, we're vampires, we can't procreate?" He mumbled angrily in his teeth.

"I'm not fooling anybody, Stefan…I kept her wish to keep quiet for two months…She begged me to do it!" She screamed at him, before adding. "I don't know…It has to do with the spell put on Damon while being a human for a short moment…"

"Elena was never the brightest in taking decisions…" He whispered in his teeth, while continuing to pace back and forth in the room.

"And yet, you were hung up on her for years…" She mumbled in her teeth, while biting the inside of her cheeks.

"Oh right! Now I get it…" Stefan burst at her, while taking a few walking steps to reach her standing position. "Your jealous self orchestrated this all messed up follow up of events to get back at me!" He added to her, in despite.

It only took a split of a second for Caroline's right hand to reach his cheek, leaving him speechless over the slap she just gave to him.

"Well…At least, I haven't slept with another man before leaving town for five years!" She said to him, while raising her chin in the air in a confrontational gesture.

Stefan raised his hand to his cheek, while feeling his jaw hurt, before nodding his head.

"I deserved that!" He replied to her, before raising his sight at her. "But, I haven't slept with Elena…" He added to her.

"No, maybe not…But if I hadn't walked on you two in Damon's bedroom, you would have!" She said to him.

"No, we wouldn't have…" He replied to her, in a calmer than reality tone of voice.

"Pff….Of course you wouldn't!" She replied to him, while turning her back at him.

"No…Because I…" He said to her, before loosing the worlds.

"Because what?" Caroline asked him, without turning to face him.

"Nothing…" He mumbled in his teeth, while shaking his head.

"That's what I thought!" She replied in anger, in a low whisper, more to herself than for him.

Stefan raised his sight to look at her, taking rapid steps to reach her standing position, before grabbing her shoulders forcefully, crashing his mouth on hers, while taking her by surprise, and for a few seconds, stopping her to react to his embrace.

Caroline froze for a short moment, while grabbing his upper arms, and trying to push him away from her, but without succeeding. He forced his kiss on her, before sliding his tongue between her lips, while deepening the kiss, rubbing his hands frantically on her body, creating a range of shivers on her spine, while lowering his lips on her neck and devouring her skin, at the same time he was delicately cupping one of her breast through her clothe.

It took all that she had, but she was finally able to push him away from her, making him raise his sight at her in surprise.

"That is your solution, Stefan? Having sex with me…While avoiding the elephant in the room?" Caroline exclaimed in anger to him, while gesturing with her arms.

"Caroline…" He murmured, while handing his right hand to her.

"Don't "Caroline" me…You took advantage enough…" She said to his face, while crossing her arms in front of her chest, in a protection mechanism.

"I'm sorry…" He whispered, while shaking his head.

"You always did that, you always put everything under the rug…While expecting everybody to follow you in your little fantasy world, disregarding the feelings of others!" She busted more into his face.

"Caroline, please…" He said to her.

"Well, no more, Stefan…I'm not a little girl anymore, I've grown up!" She screamed at him, before storming out of the parlour room, with tears running on her cheeks.

"Damn it!" He screamed, while punching his fist in one of the wall.

Welcome to the 70' at the Lockwood Mansion,

It's your DJ here, with the best disco in town

It's time to move, and it's time to groove, let's disco!

They both, Stefan and Caroline, entered the Lockwood mansion, while hearing the DJ voice welcoming the crowd from his microphone, with the song of Bad Girl from Donna Summer hitting the speakers as the background, before walking toward the terrace, while seeing a gigantic colorful dancing floor placed in the middle of the big backyard.

Sure thing: a lot of polyester around! She thought to herself, while smirking and glaring at Stefan for a few seconds. He had put hair gel in his hair and was wearing a white two 70' pieces suit, on a black silk shirt. If she had encountered this hunk back in the 70', she would have jump his bones in not time, she thought, while turning her head to forbid him to see her smile.

Stefan took the opportunity that Caroline was looking elsewhere for a few seconds, to take a look at her: a golden, glittering dress, her hair put in a loose bun, with big golden loops on her ears, and golden platform high heels shoes. She was breath taking of beauty tonight! But unfortunately, he had probably lost her for ever after his behavior of last night.

"You want to dance?" Stefan asked her, while swallowing a lump in his throat.

"With you, not particularly…I'm only here for Rose and Rose only…" She answered him, while raising his chin in the air.

"I thought it could be a way to put a front for everybody else…" Stefan added to her, while coughing nervously.

"I could dance with Tyler! That would put a nice front also, what do you think?" She asked him, while turning her head to look at him, raising one of her eyebrows, and crossing her arms in front of her chest in a confrontational gesture.

She was mad at him! She was mad as hell….But he needed to try to ease her anger, she deserved so much than this!

"Well, I don't see why we couldn't forget about everything for the time of a dance, just for five minutes have a little bit of fun!" He told her, before grabbing her left hand in his, and walking toward the dance floor.

"Stefan, let go of me…" She mumbled angrily to him, while being dragged behind him, at the song sounds of Disco heat.

"Nope…" He answered her, while reaching the dance floor, grabbing her waist, and pulling Caroline in his arms. "Now Disco dance…" He ordered very seriously to Carline, before seeing her raise her sight at him, and burst into laugher a minute later.

"Oh my God…" She exclaimed, while twirling in his arms. "…Where did we reach that low point?"

"I have no idea…" Stefan replied, while laughing with her, and raising one finger in the air in the imitation of John Travolta.

"Oh please stop!" She begged him to do, while bending her upper body up front, in contractions of laughter.

"What you don't like my perfect dance interpretation?" He asked her, while smirking, and taking her back in his arms.

"You're actually good at this…" She said to him, while Disco hustle some moves with him.

"You forget that I was alive and kicking as the vampire Disco dancing King back in the days!" Stefan replied, while winking at her, making her laugh even more.

"Caroline…" they heard Carole Lockwood calling her.

"Yes?" Caroline asked her, while turning and facing her, taking a few walking steps with Stefan at her side, to leave to dancing floor.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt your dance…But I have the biggest favor to ask you my dear." Carole said to her.

"If you could both excuse me…" Stefan said to them, while slowly leaving their sides.

"Of course, Stefan…" Carole replied, while smiling politely to him.

"Ask away Carole, if I can help, I will certainly …" She replied to her, while smiling, and scattering her surroundings, always in search of an upcoming danger, especially with Carole Lockwood not being herself these last past days.

"Well…A female singer was supposed to present herself for the entertainment part of the evening…And there is no sign of her anywhere!" Carole explained to her, while rubbing nervously her hands together, and scattering the crowd.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear, Carole…But, don't worry too much, the DJ is actually very good!" Caroline replied, while smiling and nodding her head to her.

"Oh Caroline, would you be an angel, and at least sing one song to save myself from this catastrophe?" Caroline asked her, while putting her hands together as a silent prayer gesture.

"What? But I can't …I don't know what to sing?" Caroline mumbled nervously to Carole, while being dragged by her in direction of the stage.

"Oh I'm sure you'll be fine, Caroline…It's probably just the nerves talking now…" Carole replied to her, while pushing her last victim in front of her. "…I know that you very often sang in the past at Mystic Grill, this is not very different, you'll see!" She added to Caroline, while nodding her head.

"Alex?" Stefan called in a low voice, while walking toward the Lockwood garden, scatterings his surroundings, before seeing a dark shadow coming out from behind a very high bush.

"You were not followed?" Alex asked Stefan.

"No…" Stefan replied to him, while shaking his head, before adding. "Though, it should be me who ask you this question."

"Not a single one of these rich people would have notice a bum like me, or give me the time of the day!" Alex replied to him, before adding. "They'll think that I am the gardener or something."

All the colorful lights went all off on the dance floor, creating a range of "Oh" And "Ah" among the invitees, before re-opening with a single spotlight directed at Caroline. Stefan raised his head in total surprise, before turning his sight to the stage, while seeing Caroline take place in front of a microphone.

"You know that chick?" Alex asked him, while lighting a cigarette, and taking his first puff.

"It's Caroline…" Stefan said to Alex, while putting both of his hands on each side of his waist.

"Oh, ya…The vampire Barbie blond chick that Elena spoke to me about…Friend of hers…If I remember correctly..." Alex replied, before seeing Stefan smirking at him. "Ok man, what is so damn funny to you now?'

"Oh…I'm sorry…" Stefan said to him, while shaking his head and continuing to smile, raising his head while looking at the night sky, before adding. "It's not so much what you said, but the way you said it…" Stefan added to him, while seeing Alex stare at him, before continuing in a murmur. "…It's nice to have my brother back, even if you don't believe in it!"

Alex turned his sight away from Stefan, while blushing, and taking nervously several puffs of his cigarette.

"So, you're bedding the blond chick?" Alex asked Stefan.

"No way that your manners would improve a bit by the end of this evening, you think?" Stefan asked him, while knitting his brow.

"Nope…" Alex answered him, in a mocking tone of voice.

"I'm in love with her!" Stefan confessed to Alex.

"Wow!" Alex replied, while raising his head to look at Stefan.

"Don't smirk …Please don't smirk!" Stefan said to him, while shaking his head, and seeing Alex smirked back at him.

"Hi, everyone…" Caroline said to the crowd, before adding. "…So, my name is Caroline, and I will sing a song tonight in honor of this wonderful event, and as a thank you gesture to the Lockwood family!" She added, before hearing the crowd applause, while smiling at Tyler who was standing with his arms crossed in front of the stage, with a big smile plastered on his face. "I'll like to dedicate this song to an old friend of mine: Stefan Salvatore!" She added, while raising her chin in the air in a confrontational gesture, with the biggest devil expression on her face, before adding. "This song is for you, Stefan…I can really see you now, but wherever you are, I hope you can hear it…You were not able to understand what I tried to explain to you before, but I guess this will make things clearer to you now!" She added, before turning her sight in direction of the DJ, while nodding her head to tell him to start the background music.

"Wow! Impressive…" Alex said to Stefan, while smirking, crossing his arms in front of his chest, before adding in sarcasm. "No chick ever sang a song to me, before! You have to love this boring Pleasantville little town!"

First I was afraid I was petrified
Kept thinkin' I could never live without you by my side;
But then I spent so many nights
Thinkin' how you did me wrong
And I grew strong and I learned how to get along

And so you're back from outer space
I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face
I should have changed that stupid lock
I should have made you leave your key
If I'd've known for just one second you'd back to bother me

"That's your girlfriend?" Alex asked him, while raising one of his eyebrows, opening his eyes widely, and pointing a finger in Caroline's direction. "Singing: I will survive you to you?" He added to Stefan, before lowering his head, while retain his need to burst into laughter. "Oh man…And I thought that I was bad with women!" Alex added, while shaking his head, and giggling, before slapping Stefan's back with his right hand, as a mocking gesture, making Stefan roll his eyes, and biting his lips. The vampire man beside him was name Alex, but it was still Damon 100%!

Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
Do you think I'd crumble
Did you think I'd lay down and die?
Oh no, not I. I will survive
Oh as long as I know how to love I know I'll stay alive;
I've got all my life to live,
I've got all my love to give and I'll survive,
I will survive. Hey hey.

"Damn, she's mad at me, and I am freaking mad at myself for hurting her that way…All of this is my fault!" Stefan mumbled angrily in his teeth to Alex, before turning on himself several times, and realizing that he was alone, no sign of his brother beside him. "Alex?" He whispered several times, without being answered.

"Wow! Salvatore!" He heard a voice calling him, before raising his sight to see Tyler, who was walking on the grass toward him, with both of his hands in his pants pocket. "I think you reached a new low…" He smirked in the face of Stefan, while nodding in direction of Caroline.

"Get out of my way, Tyler…" Stefan said to him, while trying to pass beside him, but without being able to it, with Tyler standing in front of him.

"No, Stefan! You get out of my way!" Tyler replied to him, while putting his left hand on his chest, to hold him immobile.

I'm not that chained up little girl who's still in love with you,
And so you felt like droppin' in
And just expect me to be free,
Now I'm savin' all my lovin' for someone who's lovin' me
Go on now...

"Let go of me, Tyler…" Stefan warned him, while turning his head and staring into Tyler's eyes.

Wild and noisy applauses come just as Caroline finished the song, making her salute the crowd in gratefulness.

"Or what, Salvatore…" Tyler asked him, while staring into Stefan's eyes. "…You realize that she is over you, you are here only as her pity friend for the night!"

In a time of a few seconds, Tyler was grabbed by the back of his shirt collar, while being projected to the other side of the garden, before landing unconscious on the ground.

"You can't freaking be my brother!" Stefan heard Alex say to him, while seeing him shake his head to him, before hearing him add: "No brother of mine would let that earthworm treating him that way!" He added to Stefan, while gesturing with his arms in direction of Tyler's body.

"Well…Mister Hulk Hogan! If you had given me two seconds before throwing Tyler into the bushes…" Stefan replied to Alex, while putting both of his hands on each side of his waist, before pointing a finger at Alex's chest. "…Mister "Biker" man! Superhero of the day…" Stefan added in anger to his brother.

They both stare angrily into each other's eyes for a short moment, before bursting into loud laughter, bending their body in two, to hold their contractions of laughter, before straightening their upper body, and passing a hand on their faces.

"Gosh, Bill would never believe in a million years where I am standing now…A 70' disco nightmare with Polyester everywhere!" Alex said to Stefan, while shaking his head in disbelief and staring at the Disco dancing floor.

"Who's Bill? The bearded man I encounter a few years ago?" Stefan asked him, while raising his head and looking at his brother.

"Ya…he's been there for me the last few years…" Alex responded to Stefan, while nodding his head, coughing and avoiding looking at Stefan in the eyes.

Stefan stared at his brother for a few moments, before nodding his head.

"I would have been there also, if only….But….Well, I'm happy you had someone with you…Alex!" Stefan said to him, while lowering his head.

"Cigarette…" Alex asked Stefan, while putting one in the corner of his lips, before handing the pack to Stefan.

"Why not…" Stefan replied to him, while taking one in his hand, before lighting its tip, and taking a puff.

"He's here!" Alex said to Stefan, in a more serious tone of voice.

"I know…" Stefan answered him. "Rose?"

"She's been brought to the safe place that we agreed …By the chick in the police uniform…" Alex replied to him. "…So, you know what you have to do?" Alex asked Stefan.

"Yap…Hope all of this will work!" Stefan replied to his brother.

"It has to…" Alex replied to him, before turning on himself, and starting to leave.

"Alex…" Stefan called him, before seeing him turning around. "…Hopefully, I'll see you later?" Stefan asked him, hoping that this would not be the last encounter with his long lost brother.

"Hopefully…" Alex replied to Stefan, while nodding his head to him, before disappearing.

"Well…If it is not my ripper friend!" Klaus said to Stefan, while crossing his arms in front of his chest, titling his head, and smirking at him, before adding. "It's been a long time, mate!"

"Yes…It's been, Klaus!" Stefan replied to Klaus, while taking the last steps on the terrace stairs, before reaching his standing position, and throwing his cigarette on a nearashtray, making Klaus raising an eyebrow at his gesture, while suspecting. "What are you doing back in town?" Stefan asked him, while crossing his arms in front of his chest, and raising his chin.

"Ah, dear Stefan…Always so in touch with all your human emotions…" Klaus mockingly answered to him, before adding. "…Well I've been graciously invited to this joyful event…Though, I still believe that the 1920' were way more fun than the 70'….You remember don't you….But this put aside…You know, time for a Sacrifice and all!" Klaus added to him, while smirking.

"Oh ya…The Sacrifice…" Stefan smirked back at him, before adding. "…Not very interested…" He added to him, while trying to pass by him, before being held in place by a firm grip of Klaus on his left forearm.

"Well…Get interested…Or maybe you brother Alex could be interested at your place?" He added to Stefan, while staring into his eyes, before turning his sight to the ashtray and raising one of his eyebrows. "You really think that I am a fool?" He added to Stefan.

"Well…You don't want me to tell you the answer to this, do you?" Stefan answered him, while smirking at him.

"What do you think I've done to you in the past five years?" Klaus asked him, while tilting his head, and smiling sadistically.

Stefan felt a cold shiver hitting his spine.

"Look in my eyes my dear friend…." Klaus said in a whisper, before compelling him. "…You'll find the little girl, and you'll bring her to me, now!" He added to him, while seeing Stefan nodding his head to him, before pushing himself away from Klaus, and directing his walking steps toward the exit of the manor.

"That's my boy!" Klaus said to himself, while looking at his departure.

"Where's Stefan?" Tyler asked Klaus, while reaching his standing position, and passing a hand on the injured corner of his mouth, that was bleeding.

"Following my orders…" Klaus responded to him, before turning his sight to Tyler. "…His brother is in town!"

"Damon?" Tyler said out loud, in a dumfounded moment, before closing his fists in anger. "Damn it…That explains why I find myself unconscious in the bushes!" Tyler added to him, before continuing. "…You don't seem too nervous about it?"

"Well…They probably did not see this part of the story coming…" Klaus said to Tyler, in a sarcastic tone of voice.

"What? Oh…Come on Klaus, don't hurt Rose, she's just a kid!" Tyler begged Klaus, while shaking his head.

"I would change your tone of voice toward me, if I was you, Tyler…" Klaus said to him, while angrily looking at him. "…Or you mother could suffer from the sudden change of behavior coming from you!" He added madly at him.

"I'm sorry…" Tyler replied to him, before bending his head in respect in front of him. "…So, what is your master plan this time, Klaus"

Klaus turned his head to look at Tyler in the eyes, before smirking maliciously, taking a few steps to reach the granite ramp of the terrace, sliding his hands on it, while scattering the spectacle of the evening in front of him.

"It took me many years to finally being able to compel Stefan to the ultimate end game!" He explained to Tyler, before adding. "I compelled Stefan to bring me Rose, when the time would be right for the Sacrifice…And then I made him forget about it…All about this beautiful niece that he didn't even knew existed….At any price necessary, he has to bring her to me, now….Even the price of fighting his brother till death would occur…We have reserved for us: front row seats to the best gladiator fight in all time, my dear werewolf friend…The Ripper killer will fight his brother the Beast till death will separate them! Now we just need to "Knock on wood", like the song playing now…And wait for Damon Salvatore to be killed by his own brother – See, I was ten steps ahead of them all!" Klaus explained deviously, while smirking, to an open mouth – shocked Tyler.

Chapter 10

"THE SHOW MUST GO ON"

Final combined Delena / Staroline chapter

Empty spaces - what are we living for?
Abandoned places - I guess we know the score…
On and on!
Does anybody know what we are looking for?

Another hero - another mindless crime.
Behind the curtain, in the pantomime.
Hold the line!
Does anybody want to take it anymore?
The Show must go on!
The Show must go on!Yeah!
Inside my heart is breaking,
My make-up may be flaking,
But my smile, still, stays on!

Whatever happens, I'll leave it all to chance.
Another heartache - another failed romance.
On and on...
Does anybody know what we are living for?
I guess i'm learning
I must be warmer now..
I'll soon be turning, round the corner now.
Outside the dawn is breaking,
But inside in the dark I'm aching to be free!

The Show must go on!
The Show must go on! Yeah,yeah!
Ooh! Inside my heart is breaking!
My make-up may be flaking...
But my smile, still, stays on!
Yeah! oh oh oh

My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies,
Fairy tales of yesterday, will grow but never die,
I can fly, my friends!

The Show must go on! Yeah!
The Show must go on!
I'll face it with a grin!
I'm never giving in!
On with the show!

I'll top the bill!
I'll overkill!
I have to find the will to carry on!
On with the show!
On with the show!

"The Show must go on" from Queen

Alex underground quarters- Twenty four hours prior

"I can't believe this!" Bill screamed, while slapping, with his right hand, the cup that Elena was holding in hers, scattering its content on the cement.

"Well, thank you, thank you very much. You just spilled my dinner on the floor!" She screamed back at him.

"Elena, I'm too angry at you and Alex to even being able to articulate how much at this present moment." Bill replied to her, while pacing back and forth and passing a nervous hand over his beard. "In a way I could understand that you would go to such extreme to save your daughter. But, I don't understand why Alex would do it!"

"Are you kidding me, Bill? He always wanted this. His goal was to attain this ultimate challenge!" Elena repied to him.

"No, you're mistaken." Bill said to her, while shaking his head and adding. "He loved the humanity that he was seeing in you, he was able to feel his own through you, Elena, especially, since he lost his memory of who he was before." Bill explained to her, before continuing. "And you had to make a decision that will change both of your life."

"I can't leave my daughter without a mother and a father, Bill. You should understand that fact better than anybody else!" She screamed at him.

"But, you could still die Elena. And, I do understand, when Klaus killed my family in front of my eyes, I felt my heart being ripped from my chest, believe me…But, the decision you took will change forever your relationship with Alex. You'll be resentful to him one day." Bill tried to explain to her.

"No, I won't be resentful! This would have happen sooner or later." She replied to Bill, while gesturing with her hands. "Please, Bill, we have to go back to Mystic Falls, we have to fight at Alex's side…Please, you weren't able to save your own family, maybe we can try to save mine?" She begged him, while putting her shaking hands, on his right forearm.

"Are you flirting with me, Elena?" Bill asked, while raising one of his eyebrows in suspicion.

"I would rather put my hand in an aquarium full of Piranhas…" Elena replied, while smirking.

"That's what I thought." He replied to her, while smirking back at her.

"Please…" She begged him more.

Bill stared at Elena's eyes for a short moment, before nodding his head.

"Ok, pack your bag, we're leaving." He responded to her, before adding. "We'll leave the men here for the protection of the children!"

"Thank you!" She exclaimed, before jumping into his arms and hugging him.

"I hope Alex won't kill me for this?" Bill murmured, while hugging her back, without knowing that two wondering ears were listening to the entire conversation between them.

Roberto pushed Samantha away from the open door of the refectory.

"Roberto." The little girl called, before being pushed, by the teenager, against the underground wall, with a hand covering her mouth.

"Keep quiet, Samantha." Roberto whispered to her.

"We need to go save Alex. He is like a daddy to me, Roberto." Samantha told him, while staring at him with her big eyes.

"No, not "we"- "Me"…You'll stay here!" Roberto told her, with an angry stare.

"Roberto, please, Alex is everything for me, I need to come too…Please?" Samantha asked him, with teary eyes.

Roberto closed his eyes, while sighing to calm himself down. What was he suppose to do now?

Caroline scattered the crowd while turning on herself several times, without finding Stefan. She moved away from the mass, while taking a path toward the Lockwood gardens. She suddenly felt a hand covering her mouth, and projecting her toward a garden wall. She pushed the attacker with her vampire speed on the ground, before being pushed back, one more time, on the wall.

"Not bad, for a vampire baby girl, but certainly not good enough!" Alex said to Caroline, while keeping a solid grip on her throat.

"Damon?" Caroline mumbled between her trembling lips, while staring at him with wide open eyes.

Alex stared at the blonde chick for a short moment, while swallowing a bump in his throat, before releasing her, and sliding his hand in his jeans pocket to take his pack of cigarettes.

"You got the name confused, Blondie" He responded to her, while lighting one.

"Right…Alex, isn't it?" She mumbled nervously, while rubbing her throat and smiling timidly at him. "You changed, your hair is longer, and you're dressing with a rocker – biker edge now." She said timidly to him.

"I'm not into fashion, I couldn't say!" He responded to her, while taking a puff of his cigarette and staring at Caroline.

"Course you're not." She said, while rubbing her hands together. "How's …How's Elena?"

Alex raised his stare at her, while suddenly throwing his cigarette on the ground, before stepping his biker boot over it, without even finishing the rest.

"Alive." He responded to Caroline.

"Well, you did not get a better attitude while loosing your memory, let me tell you!" She suddenly said to him, while rolling eyes, and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Alex narrowed his stare on her, making her blush and stand straighter than usual.

"Have we ever been friends?" He asked her, while shaking his head in disbelief and adding. "I mean, Damon Salvatore, was he ever your friend?"

"Not really." She replied to him, while shrugging her shoulders, before adding. "We were neither friends nor enemies."

"That's what I thought." He replied to her, while rolling his eyes.

"What that means?" She asked him, in anger.

"No disrespect, but, we are not exactly coming from the same cloth fabric, Blondie!" He replied to her.

Caroline shrugged her shoulders, while staring at him.

"I am Elena's friend though, I just…I just need to know that you did not hurt her?" She asked once again.

Alex raised his sight to look at Caroline, before sighing.

"Physically, no., except for the tattoo, but she was compelled to not feel anything." He shrugged his shoulders at her.

"What you mean the tattoo?" She exclaimed in total shock.

Alex shook his head one more time, while dismissing her saying with a hand gesture.

"Nevertheless, Elena was able to pass through your thick ego skin!" Caroline replied to him, while raising her chin in the air, in triumph.

"Don't push it, Blondie. Where's Salvatore?" Alex asked her.

"Who?" Caroline asked him dumbfounded, before rolling her eyes. "You mean, your "brother" Stefan? I thought he was with you?"

"No." Alex responded to her, while raising one of his eyebrows in suspicion, biting his lips, and grabbing her arms in anger. "I thought he was with you!"

"He's not." Caroline answered him, while shaking her head. "We talked on the dance floor, we mostly argued, and then I sang…Where is he now?" She asked Alex, while suddenly panicking.

"I should have known that you would be back in town sooner or later, looser like you never stay away long enough!" They both heard Tyler, address himself to Alex.

"Oh look, it's the mummy rich boy again!" Alex said, while smirking at Tyler, and taking a few walking steps toward him, before being hold immobile by Caroline.

"Alex, don't." She said to him, before adding. "He's not worth it!"

"Wow! Caroline, you are finally showing your true colors!" Tyler busted at her.

"You're despicable Tyler. You betrayed me and you betrayed Elena and all your friends. But most of all, you betrayed yourself!" She lashed out at him.

Tyler closed his fists in anger, while staring at Caroline.

"I protected my mother; Caroline. Klaus would have killed her. You should understand that part, you protected Rose." Tyler explained to her.

"But you sell your soul to him!" Caroline screamed back at him, under the annoyed look of Alex.

"And you sell yours to the Salvatores, let just say that we are even." Tyler responded to her, with a mad glare.

"God Tyler, all of this because of your stupid jealousy?" Caroline asked him, while gesturing with her hands.

"No! All of this is because I love you, Caroline. That is the part you did not understand before. I never ceased to love you, but, you choose this low life Salvatore instead." Tyler replied to her, while hitting his chest with anger.

"Cut out the drama, rich boy! Where is he now?" Damon asked, while narrowing his glare at him, like a predator would do in front of his prey.

"Tyler, please?" Caroline begged him, before adding. "I beg you, if not for me, do it for Rose."

Tyler lowered his head for a short moment, before rising it back up and shaking it.

"He's been sired by Klaus to bring Rose to him!" He confessed to her, while avoiding looking at Caroline in the eyes.

"Oh my God, Tyler!" Caroline exclaimed, while putting a hand over her mouth in total shock.

"And, there is more." Tyler continued saying, before closing his eyes, and stumbling on the ground, in front of a mouth open – speechless Caroline.

"What did you just do?" Caroline screamed at Alex, in total shock.

"I shut him up!" Alex responded to her. "He was getting on my last nerves!"

"You killed him?" She asked him, completely dumfounded.

"No!" Alex busted at her. "I just made this earthworm sleep for hours! Seriously, Stefan Salvatore is way better than this jerk, no wonder you chose my brother over him!" Alex added to her, while rolling his eyes, and grabbing her hands in his, before dragging Caroline away from the gardens.

"We can't leave him like this!" Caroline shouted at him, while turning her head to look at Tyler unconsciousness.

"Watch me!" Alex answered her, while walking toward the exit of the Lockwood Manor.

"Now, you have no idea what he was going to warn us about?" Caroline added to him.

"Don't give a fuck about what he was going to say!" He lashed out at Caroline. "We need to go find Rose at the safe place where your mother took her, or it will be too late!"

"They are not there." She murmured to him, while closing one of her eyes, in expectation of his fury.

Alex stopped his pace in the middle of the parking, before turning on himself.

"What do you mean they are not there? Stefan gave me the specific location of their safe whereabouts?" Alex asked her, while holding her shoulders and shaking Caroline.

"I changed it; I changed the safe place at the last moment. I don't know why…It's not that I did not trust Stefan…I… I just listen to my guts as for Rose safety!" Caroline explained to Alex.

Alex face illuminated with the biggest smile and sparkles in his eyes.

"You're a freaking genius, Blondie!" He exclaimed to her.

"You're not mad at me?" She asked him, completely dumfounded.

"Mad at you? Are you crazy, baby. This is a genius move! And you are less stupid that I thought you were!" He added to her, before taking a small trail toward the forest, with Caroline following his every step.

your"Hey! Watch mouth!" She screamed at him, while stumbling several times on branches, before stopping her walking pace in front of Alex's Transam car, opening her eyes widely in front of the skull design on the hood.

"That's your car?" Caroline asked him, while opening her eyes widely.

Alex opened his passenger door, while sitting rapidly on the driver seat.

"Get inside the car!" He ordered her, before seeing her take place on the passenger seat. "Phone your mom; tell her that we're heading toward their location!" He told her to do, before starting the engine on a grinning of the wheels.

"They are at the chalet of my father; I'll tell you how to get there." She nodded her head to him, while clinching her hands on the dashboard. Gosh, He was driving fast! "And, Alex…"

Alex turned his head to stare at Caroline.

"Rose will be fine, I know that you are worrying about her, I can see it in your eyes!" She told him.

Alex lowered his sight away from hers, while keeping his stare on the route. He was not worrying about Rose; he was scared to death about her! He had promise Elena to keep her safe.

The up-beat tempo of a Britney Spears rang tone was suddenly heard in the small binnacle, while startling Caroline.

"My phone is ringing?" Caroline said, while seeing Alex turn his head to look at her.

"I'm not deaf, answer it, it could be him." Alex said, while nodding his head to her in approval.

"Caroline?" Elena murmured, in Bill's cell phone, while putting a hand over her mouth, feeling tears rolling on her cheeks, she had missed her so much.

"Oh my God, Elena, Is it really you?" Caroline said, while putting a hand over her chest.

"It's me, Caroline, it's me! How are you?" Elena asked her.

"I'm ok, I'm with…" Caroline started to say to her friend, before seeing the cell phone being taken away from her hands. "Hey!" Caroline screamed at him.

"You have two seconds, woman, to tell me what the hell you're doing?" Alex busted in anger, into Caroline's phone.

"Alex, please calm down!" Elena murmured to him, while closing her eyes.

"Where are you?" He asked her, before adding. "Who gave you access to a phone?"

"Bill…It is Bill's phone!" She answered him.

Alex closed his eyes, while groaning with anger.

"Please, Alex, I need to know where Rose is. I need to come for her…Please, let me know where you are heading. What is going on?" Elena asked him.

"You're a stubborn woman, Elena Gilbert. You're lucky that I don't have my hands wrapped around your pretty little neck, or my hands in top of your beautiful bottom at this present moment!" Alex warned her.

"After what you did to me the other night, it would not change anything, would it?" She said to him, while timidly smiling.

Alex blushed, while shaking his head and biting his lips. She had to remind him of that.

"No, it would not change anything." He admitted to her, while smiling in front of a mouth open Caroline. "I'm still wondering if the over the top speech about your feelings for me, the day I left, was genuinely truthful." He asked her, while tapping his fingers nervously on the starring wheels.

"It was." She whispered to him, while blushing, in front of a smirking Bill who was keeping his sight on the route.

"Bill is beside you?" Alex asked her.

"Yes, but Alex, where are heading up North, near Mystic Falls now, and we need to know your location, and I need to know what is going on?" Elena begged him, before adding as a threat. "If you want any kind of relationship with me, we need to trust each other."

"Bargaining chip, and hit below the belt?" Bill questioned Elena, while blinking an eye at her, to which she passed her tongue back at him.

Alex sighed in anger, before closing his eyes.

"Stefan Salvatore was compelled by Klaus to find Rose…She is apparently his first goal now. We're heading toward your friend chalet. Rose is there with the Police chick!" Alex explained to Elena.

"The police chick, who are you talking about?" Elena repeated, while raising one eyebrow, before realizing. "Oh…You mean Liz? Caroline's mother? We can arrive at the same time that you will." She said to him, while turning her head to look at Bill, before adding. "I know where it's located we used to go in the summer time when we were children."

"No! You can't!" He screamed at her, before adding. "Pass me Bill!" He added to her, to which she closed her fists in anger, while biting her lips. "Now!" He screamed, before hearing Bill's voice in the phone. "That wasn't your brightest idea to be Elena's driver!" Alex said to him.

"Well, it can't certainly beat the one you had with Elena before you left." Bill replied, tit for tat, to his friend, making Alex wince at his remark.

"We'll talk about that problem later. Now, to put you up to date: Stefan Salvatore was compelled by our friend Klaus to find Rose. Rose is presently in a safe place with her mother's friend in a secret, up North whereabouts, that he should know nothing about, but we could be mistaken. Listen Bill, wait for me there, and don't do something stupid, do you hear me!" Alex warned Bill.

"Well, I'll see what your new girlfriend has to say about it." Bill answered Alex, while smirking.

"You are playing with my nerves now, you know that?" Alex replied to his friend, to which Bill smirk even more.

"See you there, Alex. And, don't worry; we'll save your daughter!" Bill replied to him, before closing his cell phone.

"I'm starting to like you." Elena said to Bill, while crossing her arms in front of her chest, before adding very sarcastically. "And I don't like it at all!"

"What's not to like, Princess?" Bill answered her, while giggling.

"Rose?" Stefan called the little girl's name, while opening the door of the chalet. He had always known about the second secret whereabouts of Caroline, Always! He just kept it in a place in his mind that was working under Klaus's compulsion.

"Stefan?" Liz called him, while standing from her sitting position in the living room, before walking toward the main entrance. "Is it you?"

"Yes, it's me, Liz? Where are you? Where is Rose?" He asked her, while carefully walking toward the living room, before seeing Liz walking toward him in the small entrance corridor.

"We are watching TV in the living room." Liz responded, before walking toward him. "Look at you Stefan, you look smitten in your 70' disco costume, but, I don't understand? The dance is already finished? It's quite early, don't you think? And where's Caroline?" She asked him, while standing in front of him.

Stefan narrowed his stare on her, before grabbing her right forearm.

"What's going on, Stefan?" She asked him, in total shock.

"Step aside, Liz, and I swear that I won't hurt you." He very calmly ordered her to do.

"Let go of my arm, Stefan!" She asked him, in a firm tone of voice.

"Step aside, Liz, and everything will be fine." He repeated to her.

"Uncle Stefan, is that you?" They heard Rose calling him from afar.

"I don't think so, Stefan." Liz said to him, while shaking her head and adding. "Something is apparently wrong with you. We should wait for Caroline, and…" She started explaining to him.

Stefan grabbed forcefully her shoulders, before pushing her on the wall, while hitting her head, seeing her fall unconscious on the floor at his feet a second later.

"Uncle Stefan!" Rose shouted in shocked, while seeing her Aunt Liz unconscious on the floor.

"Come here, Rose." Stefan ordered her, while staring at Rose with colder than ice eyes, before handing his hand to her.

"No, you are hurting Aunt Liz, go away!" She screamed, before storming toward the inside of the house, with Stefan running after her.

Alex stepped out of his car, while putting a silent sign of a finger on his lips to warned Caroline, Bill and Elena who were getting out of their own truck. They had parked the car and truck at a safe distance of the chalet, but you could never be sure of anything regarding Klaus. Even if technically, this hiding place was known to be safe.

Elena ran to Caroline, before hugging her.

"Oh my God, Elena, are you alright?" Caroline murmured to her friend.

"I'm ok." Elena whispered to Caroline, while caressing her blond hair.

Bill walked toward Damon, before taking his pack of cigarette and lighting one, while seeing Alex narrowing his glare toward the forest.

"You think it's safe?" Bill asked him.

Alex shook his head to him, while putting his hand on each side of his waist.

"I'll go toward the forest, go inside with Elena and her friend!" Alex ordered him.

"But, your daughter could be inside?" Bill told him.

"She's not, Bill, I can feel it." Alex replied to Bill.

"I'll go with you then." Bill informed him.

"I don't want you involved in this, Bill!" Alex busted at him.

"The day you saved me from dying, and turned me as a vampire after Klaus had murdered my all family, I was already involved, Alex." Bill replied to him, while passing a nervous hand on his beard.

"Go inside with them. Elena is too weak; she has no idea the time it takes to process it." Alex told Bill, before asking. "Did you feed her?"

Bill nodded his head, before turning on himself and taking a few walking steps to reach Elena that was walking toward them.

"Go with Caroline inside, Bill, I'll be with you in a minute." She asked him, with an imploring gaze.

"If you are not inside in five minutes, I'll come and get you!" Bill warned her.

"Ok." She replied to him, while nodding her head.

"Go inside the house!" Alex ordered Elena.

"Are you going to continue to give me orders till the end of time?" Elena asked Alex, while sliding her hands on his chest.

"There is a high chance of that." Alex replied to her, while locking his sight in hers, before sliding his arms around her shoulders, and hugging her. "Oh, Elena, what have I done to you?" He murmured near her ears, while kissing her hair.

"Oh, Alex…" Elena whispered to him, while sliding her hands in his hair. "I love you!" She added, making him startled in surprise.

"Don't say that." He responded to her, while shaking his head.

"Why? It's the truth. I simply fell in love with you all over again, and you know it now. You know it since our last night together." She whispered more to him, while sweet kissing his lips.

Alex gently pushed her out of his embrace, while searching in her eyes for a prove of her say, when he find it, he lowered his head, before crushing his lips on her, rubbing his hands all over her body.

"I knew that one day you'll be the death of me, woman." He whispered in top of her lips, while sliding strands of her hair behind her ears. "Now, go inside, ok?" He ordered her, while gently pushing Elena away from him.

"Don't you want to see your daughter?" She asked him, completely dumfounded.

"I…I just want to look around, to see if everything is safe." He responded to her, with a smile.

"Ok…" She said, while nodding her head, before walking toward the house and turning on herself to look at Alex one more time.

"It's safe, you can come out!" Roberto murmured to Samantha, who was hiding under a blanket in the back of Bill's truck.

"Where's Alex?" Samantha murmured to him.

"I heard him talk to Elena, he's heading toward the forest…I'll follow him." Roberto responded to the little girl.

"I'll go with you!" Samantha whispered back to him.

"No! It's too dangerous for you to be following me!" Roberto said to her, while pushing her back in the truck.

"But, I'm scared Roberto, I don't want to be here alone all by myself." She sniffled, while passing her little hands over her eyes to stop her tears, making Roberto roll his eyes.

"Ok, but you have to hide behind me, do you understand?" He asked her.

Samantha shook her head in approval, before getting out of the truck with Roberto behind her.

"Mummy, are you here?" Caroline called her, while pushing slowly the front door of the chalet, with Bill on her footsteps. "Rose, it's me sweetie, Where are you?" She continued calling, while seeing Bill signing to her to continue to talk, while making his patrol along the wall.

He suddenly lowered his sight to a dark corner of the corridor, before nodding his head to Caroline; attracting her sight in direction of a body that was lying on the floor.

"Mum!" Caroline exclaimed in shock, while rushing at Liz side, before kneeling and raising her head, feeling a heart beat while placing her finger over the pumping vein of her neck, and sighing with relief. "She's alive!" She informed Bill, while raising her sight to look at him, to which he nodded, and continue to search the house.

Elena entered the house, while rushing at Caroline side.

"What happened?" Elena asked her, while putting a friendly hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know, but she's alive. He did not…I mean, Stefan would never kill her!" Caroline mumbled in shock, while passing a nervous hand through her hair.

"Where's Bill? Where's Rose?" Elena asked her.

"I don't know." Caroline replied to her, while shaking her head and adding. "He is in the house, looking for her. You think that Stefan got to her?"

Elena shook her head in disbelief, before rising on her feet, rushing to the kitchen, while taking a glass on the counter and a cloth. She filled the glass with water and wet the cloth before rushing back toward Caroline, while handing them to her.

"Stay here, I will find Bill!" She said to Caroline.

"Rose, I know you are here…Come out from where you're hiding. I'll find you eventually!" The sired Stefan screamed into the forest, while turning on himself, and groaning his frustration.

Rose crawled on the ground full of leafs for several minutes, hiding behind several trees, before rising on her feet and running in front of her.

She stopped, while bending her upper body to catch her breathe, before feeling an arm encircling her waist, lifting her in the air, with a hand over her mouth. She screamed under her assailant's hand, but without any success of being freed.

"Shh…" She heard in her ears, before being turned to face him, by two strong arms. "Hi!" Alex murmured, while staring into her eyes and smiling timidly.

Rose little face illuminated in the time space of seconds.

"Hi Daddy…" She responded to him, while passing her little arms around his neck and sliding her head in the hollow of his left shoulder.

Alex closed his eyes, while feeling a range of intense emotions hitting him all at once. He knew now, he knew while hugging this little girl that she was his. He had always known in a sense, but now, it was even more real to him.

"Ok." He whispered to her, lost of words, while putting her down on her feet. "Are you hurt in any way?"

"Nope…But, Uncle Stefan hurt Aunty Liz, and I had to run away from him, why would he want to hurt me?" She asked bravely to Alex.

"You did well by running away. You uncle is kind of sick." He responded to her, while sliding a hand on her hair, before kneeling in front of her. "Listen to me, sweetie. You need to run now, ok? As fast as you can and go back to the house. You mummy is waiting for you there." He told her to do.

She nodded her head, before exclaiming:

"Mummy is back? I'm so happy! But what about Uncle Stefan, he is not feeling well…And I don't want him to be alone!" She honestly said to Alex.

"I'll take care of him. Now go!" Alex ordered Rose, while pushing the little girl with his hand on her back. She nodded to him, one last time before running toward a range of tree in direction of the chalet.

Stefan heard the sound of footsteps on leafs, before taking off toward the same path, before being pushed away with one strong hand placed on his chest to hold him immobile.

"Hey man!" Alex exclaimed to him, before adding. "Are you in some kind of a hurry? Can we chat?"

Stefan narrowed his sight on Alex, like a predator on his prey, without answering him.

"Cigarette?" Alex asked him, while handing his pack to him.

"Get out of my way!" Stefan ordered him to do, while fixating a point behind Alex.

"Ah, come on, we just met, you and I, and we are getting to know each other…So, this is the way you are speaking to me now?" Alex mocked him, while lighting his cigarette and taking a puff.

"At last…" They heard a voice calling, before turning to face Klaus who was walking toward them, with a few vampire men behind him. "Gentleman, you are right in time!" He added, with a smirk on his face.

"Let me go, Bill!" Elena warned, while passing beside him, before being retained by a firm grip on her right arm.

"I don't think so Elena." Bill responded to her.

"Let me go find my daughter!" She screamed at him, while raising her chin in the air, in a confrontational gesture.

"You're not strong enough to handle this, not right at this present moment. I'll go and you'll stay here with your friend and her mother." Bill answered her, while putting a bag in her hand. "Drink, it's been hours already!" He added to her, while nodding his head.

Elena stepped away from him, while sighting angrily at him, ripping the bag with her teeth, before taking big gulp from it.

"Elena?" She heard Caroline calling her, before turning on herself, and putting a hand over her dripping mouth. "Oh my God, this can't be true!" Caroline exclaimed, while putting a hand over her mouth, in total state of shock.

Rose ran as fast as she could through the big alleys of trees, before feeling a grip on her left arm pulling her forcefully behind several bushes. She screamed, but the screams were put to silence by a hand over her mouth.

"Shh…" She heard in her right hear. "My name is Roberto, I am a friend of Alex, and I don't want to harm you in any way."

Roberto released Rose, and turned her body around to make her face him.

"Hi! Are you Rose?" He asked her, to which she nodded her head.

"Hi!" Samantha said to Rose, while approaching her. "I'm Samantha. We are friends of your dad!"

"Hi!" Rose said to both of them, while starring at Samantha and smiling at her. "My daddy told me to go back to the house, and to stay there. My uncle Stefan is bizarre now, he is acting all different and he hurt Liz!"

"Ok, where is Alex? I mean where is you daddy?" Roberto asked her.

Rose pointed her little finger toward a trail of trees.

"Ok, Rose & Samantha, you need to run back to the house and stay safe. I'll go find Alex and bring him back with me, with your uncle Stefan, ok?" Roberto told the little girls, before rising on his feet, and running toward the trail.

"You want to stay here, follow him, or go back to the house?" Samantha asked Rose, while taking her hand in hers.

"What do you want?' Rose asked, while smirking at her, to which Samantha giggled, before nodding her head and blinking an eye at her.

"He turned you?" Caroline screamed at Elena, while gesturing nervously with her arms and hands. "Bastard, he is! Why would he do that to you, Elena?" She questioned her.

Elena lost all the colors in her face, while swallowing a lump in her throat. She was hopping to delay this moment between them.

"Why in hell would you do something like that, Elena?" Caroline busted in her face.

"Because, Caroline. I realized that since my birth, and as doppelgangers it was my destiny to be a vampire. The supernatural world will always be a part of my life, and I need to protect Rose." She responded to her.

"Alex obviously took advantage of a bad situation, Elena." Caroline added.

"Caroline, please. It's not what you think at all." Elena responded, while shaking her head and taking her friend by the shoulders. "Listen to me, it's the other way around, I asked Alex to turn me. I begged him to do it!" She confessed to her.

"So, now…It's Alex, it's not Damon anymore?' Caroline asked her, while raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"It's the same!" Elena responded to her friend, while shrugging her shoulders, blushing and turning on herself, before dropping the empty blood bag on the counter.

"No it's not, Elena! What he has done to you? You used to be so against turning as a vampire, you would have said no to Damon, and now you did it for Alex?" Caroline asked her, before taking a few walking steps to reach Elena's standing position, raising her t-shirt with her hand while starring and nodding her head toward the tattoo.

"I did it for my family Caroline, and that includes Damon." Elena responded to her.

"Then why is it Alex's name written in permanent ink in your lower back?" Caroline asked her, while making Elena blush.

"Don't do this, Caroline?" Elena asked her, while shaking her head, and trying to retain her tears. "It's more complicated than you think." She added to her, while lowering her head, grabbing, with both of her hands, the kitchen counter.

Caroline closed her eyes, while sighing, and putting a friendly hand on Elena's left shoulder.

"Who am I to judge?" Caroline said to her friend, while lowering her sight and adding. "Look at me, worrying about Stefan, and what Klaus could have done to him. I'm afraid Elena, Stefan would have never attacked my mother this way before, whatever Klaus did to him, it's bad enough to make him change. At least, Alex found his way back to you."

Elena turned on herself, and stared into Caroline's eyes.

"Stefan will find his way back, we'll make him come back. He'll come back to you!" Elena told Caroline, before scattering the kitchen, and exclaiming. "Where's Bill?"

"I don't know he was here a short moment ago." Caroline responded to Elena, while eyeing the place herself.

"I need to go." Elena exclaimed, while taking a few steps toward the entrance, before being retained by Caroline, with a solid grip on her right forearm.

"No, you don't!" Caroline told her. "You just turned, Elena. You are experimenting every emotions with a higher intensity, you're not ready to go against Klaus!" Caroline explained to her.

"Let go of my arm, Caroline! Alex, Rose, Stefan and Bill are outside…I have to go, I need to find them!" She warned her friend.

"Then, we'll find them together!" Caroline reassured Elena, while nodding her head.

"Well, isn't it a lovely gathering: Two lost brothers, who finally found each other. As for us, my dear Alex, I believe we were meant to meet again." Klaus shouted, while approaching him.

"I was not especially looking forward to it, Klaus. What can I say, I have the tendency to always been around low life asshole like you!" Alex responded, while grinning at him.

"Stefan, Mate…You're going to let your brother talking to me in that tone of voice?" Klaus asked, while maliciously putting a friendly hand on Stefan's left shoulder. "Where's the child?" Klaus demanded.

"I had her, but, she ran toward the forest again." Stefan responded to him, in a sired tone of voice.

"Then you don't have her! Well….That is so unfortunate, because you see…If the person that I want the most is not deliver to me in the next hour, I'll have no other choice but to get rid of innocents bystanders." Klaus explained to them, while pacing back and forth, and signing one of his vampire men to bring one hostage.

The vampire man got back while dragging behind him Roberto, who was kicking arms and legs to fight the solid grip the man had on him.

"Damn it!" Alex mumbled angrily in his teeth, while closing his fists in anger.

"Your young friend seems to want to fight you battle, Alex. The noble thing to do would be to let him, what do you think?" Klaus smirked, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Alex took several steps to reach Klaus standing position, before being held immobile by Stefan, with a hand on his chest.

"Alex!" Roberto screamed while trying to free himself, but without being able to make a move.

"Now, see what happens when you trying to double cross me, Alex. I get bitter and furious, and between you and me, you don't want to see me furious!" Klaus warned him, before adding in an anger one of voice. "Because you see, in my world: The show must go on…And to have the show started, I need to have Rose!"

"Funny, you don't want to see me furious either!" They heard a voice addressing itself to Klaus.

Klaus and his men turned toward the dark shadow that was walking toward them from behind the trees.

"Ah, your right hand enforcer man just arrived!" Klaus exclaimed, while smirking even more. "You're quite a popular man, Alex. He would also be willing to die to save you."

"Not only to save him." Bill responded to the Original, before adding. "But, more to take my revenge on you!"

Klaus turned his head toward Bill in surprise, while taking a few steps to reach him.

"And what would be your business with me, mate, other than your friend Alex?" Klaus asked him.

Bill swallowed a lump in his throat, before raising his sight in Klaus's.

"My business with you would be the deaths of my entire family." Bill replied to him, before adding. "Five years ago, you killed my wife and my two young boys, before burning my farm down, and leaving me to die!"

Klaus startled in surprise, while raising one of his eyebrows.

"I killed a lot of humans in my life time, mate…I have no recognition of your family, and to be frank your little sad story won't prevent me of sleeping at night!" Klaus responded, while smirking and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Bill raised his stare at him, before nodding his head in obedience, turning on himself and suddenly storming into the direction of the vampire who was holding Roberto, pushing Roberto on the ground before entering his hand inside the thorax of the vampire victim, pulling the heart out of the dead body.

"Alex!" Bill screamed.

"On my way…" Alex replied to him.

Roberto fell on the ground while hitting his head on a rock. Alex took the opportunity to push his brother out of his way, while hitting him in the stomach. Stefan retaliated by crushing his right arm in his back, pushing him on the trunk of a tree, before raising a tree branch in his right hand, and lowering it a second later on Alex chest.

"Now, new brother of mine…Is it a way of taking time to know the new me?" Alex mumbled in his teeth, before freeing himself, and pushing Stefan on the ground.

"You want to try with me, mate?" Klaus asked Bill, while storming into him, and pushing him on the ground, before rolling in the leaves with Bill at his side.

Rose and Samantha growled on the ground, before pushing bushes to see the battle that was taking place under their eyes.

"We need to do something, Rose?" Samantha murmured.

"No, you need to hide here, I'll do something. I need to help my daddy!" Rose responded to her, while putting a finger over her mouth, signing Samantha to keep silent.

Rose turned her head to look at the spectacle, before seeing her mother appear with her aunty Caroline at her side.

"Caroline, look out, the vampire at your right!" Elena screamed at her, before pushing an vampire assailant herself.

Caroline turned on herself, before grabbing the left arm of the vampire man, and passing his body over her head, before hearing the vampire hitting the ground behind her, now completely unconscious.

"See now, you're starting to get on my last nerves!" Alex said to Stefan, while rolling on the ground, with the killer machine that his brother had become, on top of him. "No chance, that you could regain your un-sired self anytime soon?" Alex asked him, while struggling to hold his hands away from his chest. He was not in need to be heartless!

Caroline turned her head and saw Stefan in top of Alex. She rushed at their sides, before grabbing Stefan by both arms, liberating Alex of Stefan's grip on him, before rolling on the ground with him on top of her.

Stefan reached for the branch tree, before forcefully entering it in Caroline chest.

"Stefan, please!" She implored him, while trying to push his hand away. "Look at me, I beg you…Look at me…It's Caroline, don't do this!" She cried her heart out to him.

Stefan stared in her eyes for a moment, before pushing the branch deeply into her chest, making Caroline gasp for air.

"I'm going to die if you continue, Stefan!" She begged him, while feeling tears rolling on her cheek.

Stefan froze for an instant, before closing his eyes, and snapping out of Klaus sired bond, while pulling the branch out of Caroline chest.

"Oh my God, Caroline, what did I just do?" He exclaimed, while taking her in his arms and caressing her hair.

"I'm ok…I'm ok…" She repeated, while putting her head in the hollow of his right shoulder.

"I can't loose you…I can't never loose you!" He repeated several times, while kissing her forehead.

"Elena!" Alex screamed, while throwing a branch stick to her that she grabbled quickly before entering it into one of Klaus's vampire man.

"That's my girl!" Alex screamed at her, before turning on himself and loosing his smile at the sight of Klaus and Bill fighting.

All that followed happen in a surreal moment, like time had stopped for a few minutes. Rose was approaching the battle field, while hearing her mother screamed to her to run and leave. She closed her eyes, and started her supernatural transition, she re-opened them a moment later, but their colours were now coal black, she raised her hands to the sky, creating several thunders and intense lightning in the night sky, with heavy guts of wind.

"What is happening?" Caroline asked Stefan, while raising her head to the sky.

"I don't know? It's Rose!" Stefan screamed, while covering Caroline with his body.

"Elena?" Alex screamed to her, while scattering the surroundings before finding her near a tree, before kneeling in front of her trembling body to protect her from the exterior elements.

Redit in tenebris abyssi
Redit in tenebris abyssi
Redit in tenebris abyssi

Rose recited several times this incantation while pointing her hand toward Bill and Klaus who were fighting to find death.

Klaus struggled his way to victory, while putting his enemy on the ground, pushing his forearm on his throat, and holding Bill immobile under him, before raising a wooded stake in his right hand, and in one last struggle to win, plunging the tip in his heart, killing Bill in a manner of seconds.

"No!" Alex screamed from the top of his lungs, while seeing the dead body of his friend, before hearing Rose screamed:

"Deos te oro!"

All their surroundings went totally pitch black, making them unconscious for a few minutes, a dead silence filling the quiet forest, with only the noise of a calmer wind to fill the empty space.

Alex opened his eyes the first one, while straightening his body in a sitting position, raising his head to look at Elena who was still unconscious, before putting her head on the trunk of the tree. Then, he crawled to reach Bill's death body, while taking his friend in his arms.

"No…" He murmured, while feeling tears running on his cheeks, before holding his friend near his chest. "No…"

Elena woke up, while slowly opening her eyes, and turning her head from right to left to have a sense of reality. She finally rose on her feet, while putting a hand on her mouth, forbidding herself to scream. She took a few walking steps to reach Alex, before putting a friendly hand on his right shoulder.

He angrily raised his head at her, before shouting:

"Don't touch me!"

"Alex, I am so sorry." She whispered to him.

"I said don't touch me!" He repeated to her, before rising on his feet in his vampire speed, pushing her forcefully against a tree, with a hand placed on her throat. "This is your entire fault!" He screamed at her.

Stefan took a tree branch in his hands, before hitting Alex's head with all his vampire strength, seeing him fall on the forest ground a second later, completely unconscious.

"Why did you do that?" Elena screamed at Stefan, while rushing beside Alex lying position and kneeling at his side.

"I did that, because Alex was attacking you, Elena!" Stefan screamed at her, while passing a nervous hand through his hair.

"He would never hurt me, Stefan, never, and it is not like I could die!" She burst at him, while holding Damon's head near her chest. "He was just devastated of loosing his best friend." She explained.

"Well, it is as well! We need to have him under control Elena, if you still want to have Damon come back to you? Come back to us?" He asked her, while bending his upper body, with his hands on his knees, before sighing.

"How can we make him come back? Regain his memory?" She asked Stefan, while caressing Alex hair.

"If we need to, we'll contact Elijah again, and his warlock friend, Charles, but, I want my brother back...Don't you want him back, Elena?" He asked Elena.

Elena kept silent, while closing her eyes and feeling tears rolling on her cheeks.

"Where's Klaus?" Caroline asked, while reaching Elena and Stefan position.

"He literally vanished under our eyes." Stefan explained, while nodding in direction of Rose.

"Rose!" Elena screamed, while rising on her feet and rushing toward her daughter.

"No! She is in some kind of transition state…Don't call her, Elena." He warned her, while retaining her in his side.

"Elena…" She heard the voice of a little girl calling, before turning her head to see Samantha walking toward her.

"Samantha? What are you doing here…Oh sweetie, come here." She called her, before kneeling and hugging her. "Are you alright?" She asked her, while caressing her hair.

"Yes, I'm ok, Elena...Is Alex alright?" Samantha asked her, while staring at the unconscious body of Alex.

"He'll be alright." Elena responded, while nodding and hugging her more.

Stefan and Caroline rushed toward Roberto lying position, before sensing his blue vein on the left side of his neck.

"He's alive!" Stefan shouted to Elena.

"Thank God." Elena murmured, while closing her eyes.

Rose stood motionless, with her stare lost in the forest, before scattering the surroundings and walking toward the lying dead body of Bill, kneeling at his side and sliding her little hand on his chest. She closed her eyes, and a bright white illuminated light enveloped her and Bill's body.

Alex opened his eyes, while feeling a sharp pain hitting his temples; he straightened his upper body in a sitting position, before scattering the room from where he was lying.

At first sight it seemed that he was in the middle of a dungeon, sitting on a bed camp. He rose on his feet, while suddenly putting his hands on each side of his head. Son of a bitch! His brother had probably hit him with something to knock him out. He scattered the place, only to see his bed and a chair near the opposite wall.

He sat back on the bed, while closing his eyes as the memories was coming back to him…Bill! Oh my God, Bill! His only friend was dead and gone for good now. Elena? Where was she? Was she the one who hit him and put him in this locked dungeon?

"Are you hungry?" He heard a voice asking him, while showing to him a blood bag though the bars of the dungeon door.

Alex raised his head to look at Stefan, while shaking his head in negation.

"I'm …I'm sorry, Alex." Stefan sighed, while looking at his brother, before leaning his head on the door. "I had no other choice; you were getting violent with Elena. And, if I have to pass the next ten years with you in this cell, I will, till you regain your memory, till my brother is back in my life." He explained to Alex, without hearing a sound as a response. "Alex, please say something?" Stefan begged him.

"So, the past five years, you basically search for me, through all the States of America?" Alex asked Stefan, while reaching for his pack of cigarette, and lighting one.

"Yes." Stefan nodded to him, while raising one of his eyebrows in suspicion. Why was he asking him that question now?

Alex got on his feet, while taking a few steps to reach the dungeon door, and a few puffs of his cigarette.

"You left the woman that you loved behind to search for me, which of the two was it: Elena or Caroline?" Alex asked him.

"I will always love Elena; don't ever ask me not to." Stefan responded to him, before lowering his head, closing his eyes and saying. "Caroline…I was in love with Caroline. And I love her still, even more than ever." Stefan added.

Damon approached the door, while locking his eyes with Stefan's.

"Then how can I hate you, brother? Who would give five years of his life to find his brother like you did? Who would do that?" Alex asked him.

"Technically, I have the eternity in front of me, so it was not too much of a lost." Stefan answered him, in an attempt of making a joke.

"You're so bad at making jokes!" Alex told him, while shaking his head.

"Ya, I know, you were always telling me that in the past." Stefan answered him, while smirking.

"No one ever did that for me. No one that I remember..." Alex confessed to him, while throwing his cigarette on the floor and stepping on it. "So, if you want me to rot in this hole for the next five years. I guess I can do that for you." He added to Stefan, before turning on himself, and walking toward the bed-camp, while closing his eyes.

Stefan sighed in relief, before opening the lock of the dungeon, and saying.

"I think that there is something that I can do for you also." Stefan told him, while pushing the door open.

"I don't want blood." Alex repeated to him, while shaking his head.

"But maybe you want to see me?" Alex heard a voice calling him, before turning on himself, and freezing on the spot, while opening his mouth in shock. "Bill? But…You…You were dead…I hold your body in my arms?" Alex said to him, completely astonished, while taking a few walking steps to reach him, and hugging him in his arms. "Oh, man…You're alive!"

"I'm alive, Alex, I'm alive!" Bill exclaimed, while hugging Alex and closing his eyes.

"How…How can it even be possible?" Alex asked him, while slapping his face as a friendly gesture.

"Well. It seems that you have a special daughter, with special faculties." Bill answered him, while grabbing his neck, and smiling back at him.

Alex smiled back to his friend, before loosing it, and staring into Bill's eyes.

"You're human again; I can hear your heartbeats." He said to Bill, with total amazement showing on his face.

"Yes, I am human again." Bill answered Alex, while feeling tears filling his eyes.

Alex turned his head toward Stefan who was leaning his body on the doorway.

"We have no idea what is happening with her." Stefan said to Alex, while shrugging his shoulders. "Rose was conceived under a spell, it seems that she is able to make miracles." Stefan added to Alex, while shaking his head in disbelieves, and shrugging his shoulders.

Alex turned back his sight to look at his friend.

"I'm so happy you're back." Alex confessed to him.

"Like wise man, like wise!" Bill responded to him, while hugging him one more time.

"I need to remember now, don't I?" Alex murmured into Bill's left ear.

"You need to do whatever is possible for you to do for you family, Alex. I was not able to do it for mine, do it for yours." Bill murmured into Alex's ear.

Elena was standing in front of the window in the parlour room, with her sight lost into the rain that was falling in front of her eyes.

Stefan entered the living room, with his hands in his front jeans pockets.

"Where is Rose?" Stefan asked Elena.

"She is with Samantha. Caroline is making sandwiches in the kitchen for them." Elena replied to him, without any emotions in her voice.

"It's funny…" He said to her, before sitting on the right arm of the sofa, while staring at Elena. "…I always knew that my brother would be the one who would get you to turn to prove his love for him." He confessed to her.

"That was not the reason, Stefan. I did it as a safety precaution for Rose, more now that I know that she is a special child." She replied to him, while keeping her stare in the rain.

"But, we both know, Elena, that this is only one of the reasons." Stefan replied to her, tit for tat, while seeing her turn on herself to stare at him. "You did it because you felt ashamed for abandoning my brother all these years…That was your way to show your love to him, Damon, Alex…Take your pick." Stefan said to her, while locking his eyes into hers, rising on his feet, and crossing his arms over his chest.

Elena lowered her sight away from his for a short moment, before raising her eyes back into his.

"You always knew me so well, Stefan." She whispered to him, while feeling tears rolling on her cheeks.

Stefan reached her standing position, before taking her in his arms, and hugging Elena near him.

"It's going to be ok, Elena, we have him back with us, now…And Rose is safe." He whispered to her, while caressing her hair.

"I'm afraid, Stefan. I'm afraid for Alex, and for Rose…I have no idea what kind of supernatural power my daughter has? She was able to send Klaus to another dimension. Tell me what that means?" She asked him, while crying on his shoulder.

"I know." Stefan responded to her, while pushing her at arms length, before raising her chin with his right hand, to make her look at him. "But, they are alive, Elena, and they are here, with us. That is the best outcome that we could have hoped for." He said to her, while caressing her cheeks, and wiping her tears with his fingers, before seeing her nod her head at him.

Stefan reached to pick his army bag under the bed, before putting it on the bedspread, while turning to reach a couple of t-shirts in one of his drawers.

Caroline entered his bedroom, while leaning the right side of her body on the wall.

"You're leaving?" She asked him.

Stefan turned to look at her.

"No, not right away, not before my brother regain his memory." He answered her, while placing other clothes in the inside of his bag.

"So what is the rush of packing your clothes then?" She asked him, while taking a few walking steps in the bedroom, and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"As for Alex regaining his memory, it's a question of days; I guess. I'll contact Charles Brownston in England tomorrow. Maybe, if everything fails, he'll be willing to come and see if he can reverse the spell?" Stefan answered, while shrugging his shoulders, and avoiding looking at her.

"So, you'll keep avoiding looking at me in the eyes, and talking to me till you leave again, then?" She asked him.

Stefan closed his eyes, while sighing and shaking his head.

"Don't do this, Caroline." He said to her.

"Ah, this is priceless, you are telling me: Don't do this Caroline? No, don't do this Stefan! Don't, for the thousand of times, put everything under the rug, like you always do!" She shouted at him.

Stefan closed his firsts in anger, before turning on himself and facing her.

"I almost killed you mother, Caroline. Then, I almost abducted my own niece, if that was not even enough; I almost killed my own brother. Therefore, I don't think that I am putting anything under the rug this time to tell you the honest truth!" Stefan screamed back at her, while hitting his chest with his closed right fist.

"Stefan, listen to me." She asked him, while sliding her hands on his neck and face, forcing him to look at her. "None of this was your fault, none! You were sired to obey Klaus's orders. And even then, you managed to snap out of it. You managed to come back to us, to me!" She murmured at him, while raising herself on her tip toes, closing her eyes, and leaning her forehead on his.

"I'm no good for you, Caroline" He whispered to her, while closing his eyes.

"Let me be the judge of that, Stefan." She murmured back to him, while caressing his face with her hands.

Stefan got a firm grip on her wrists, before gently pushing Caroline's hands away from him.

"Don't." He told her, while shaking his head.

"So, that will be your way of handling everything, once again…By leaving?" Caroline asked him.

Stefan raised his sight into hers, feeling tears filling his eyes.

"What do you want me to do, Caroline? You have your life here. You're an intelligent, independent woman, who doesn't need a jerk like Stefan Salvatore at her side. A woman who obviously wanted nothing to do with me, and who lied in my face about her relationship with another man" He said to her.

"You left for five all years! And then one day, out of the blue, you came back, and you wanted me to throw my arms around you like nothing had happened, before like I should have forgot the fact that you abandoned me five years ago. I had to protect my heart, Stefan. I was afraid, could you understand that?" She asked him.

"Maybe Tyler was the man for you after all?" He added.

"Oh you got to be kidding me? Well, he is not!" She burst in anger into his face.

"He could be, if given the chance." He continued.

"He betrayed me, and he betrayed all of us!" She replied to him.

"Not like I did not do the same." He shrugged, before adding. "He is in love with you, Caroline."

"Well, I don't love him!" She replied angrier than ever, while crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"I want you to be happy, Caroline, be happy for me, ok?" He told her, while nodding his head, and adding. "I'll stay till my brother is back, then I will leave. I did enough damage as it is." He added to her, before loosing his eyes in hers, and in a last urge of passion, crashed his mouth on hers.

Caroline stood in his arms in surprise, with her eyes opened for a short moment, before returning his kiss, while encircling her arms and hands around his neck, deepening her kiss by sliding her tongue between his lips, making him groan with satisfaction and desire, before seeing him shake his head, and detaching his lips form hers, while pushing her away.

"No." He murmured to her, before turning on himself and storming out of the room, while leaving her speechless.

The door of the dungeon was suddenly opened, and the little girl took a few walking steps inside to reach the man who was lying on the bed camp. He startled in his sleep, before straightening his body, striking his eyes, and staring at Rose.

"What are you doing here?' Alex asked her, in complete shock.

"Hi, daddy…" She responded, while smiling at him.

"You can't be here." Alex warned her, while shaking his head.

"But, you are my daddy, why can I be here with you?" Rose asked him, while taking a sitting place on the bed, beside him.

"Because, it's not safe for you to be here, Rose, you need to go back upstairs." Alex told her, while caressing her hair.

"It's always safe to be near you, Daddy." Rose responded to him, while nodding her little head.

"Oh Rose, you're so special." He said to her, while caressing her cheeks.

"Of course I am special; I'm a part of you and mommy." She responded to Alex.

Alex smiled, before shaking his head, and passing a nervous hand through his hair.

"You know why I am confined in here?" He asked the little girl.

"Yes, because you can't remember who you were before you left mummy." She explained to him.

"That's right, and I don't want to hurt you, Rose." Alex confessed to her.

"I can make you remember now, Daddy. It's time." Rose said to Alex.

"I wish you could, sweetheart." Alex responded to her.

"But I can Daddy; I can do anything I want, like sending the bad man away. I am the key to the door of your memory, you didn't know that?" Rose said, while titling her head to the right, to a shocked and speechless Alex.

"I'll have to go back to the underground, Elena; I can't stay away much longer." Bill explained to her.

He was standing in the middle of the parlour room with Stefan, Caroline and Elena by his side.

"Aren't you afraid of showing yourself back there as a human, Bill?" She asked him, while keeping her arms crossed over her chest.

"Elena, when are you going to understand that we have a code of honour there? Even as vampire bikers, I'm not afraid to go back there alone, I'll be fine. And I have to bring back Roberto and Samantha with me." He informed her.

"If you want I can go with you?" Stefan asked Bill.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'll be fine." Bill responded, while nodding his head in a thankful way to him.

"You shaved your beard. Only for that; you look more human to me." Elena mocked him.

"Be careful, Princess. I still can hurt you, even as a human." Bill responded to her, while pointing a finger and blinking an eye at her.

"I can't doubt that…" She responded to Bill, in a mocking tone of voice, before adding. "..I'll have to thank my daughter for turning you back as someone that I can tolerate now."

"Please, do that…" He responded to her, while smirking at her.

"What is the underground?' Caroline asked Bill, before taking place in an arm chair.

"The underground is a safe place for the children who were physically abused or left alone on the street. Alex took them under his wink." Bill explained to Caroline, while nodding his head.

"Wow! Damon did this even without remembering who he was." Caroline exclaimed in shock, while staring into Elena's eyes.

"I guessed his soul stayed the same." Bill responded to Caroline.

"My brother found a way to hold on to his humanity. Even in the past, he always did." Stefan said, before adding. "My offer still stands if you want me to go to this underground with you/"

"I think Damon will go to the underground with Bill." They heard a voice addressed itself to them, while turning to face Alex at the entrance of the parlour room, with an open speechless expression on their faces.

Damon swallowed a small lump in his throat, while fixating his stare into Elena's.

"But I'll need to shave before; my present look needs to be updated." He added to them.

"Damon?" Stefan questioned, while taking a few walking steps to stand in front of him. "How did you get out of...?" Stefan mumbled still in complete shock.

"Hey brother, looking good…But, please loose the 70' look it does nothing for your complexion." Damon responded to him, in a mocking tone of voice.

Stefan took one more step, before hugging his brother in his arms.

"Oh my God, you're back!" He exclaimed, while detaching himself, putting both of his hands on Damon's face, before saying. "You're back…What happened?"

"Rose happened. She was the Pandora box, Stefan." Damon replied to him, before adding. "Without my daughter, I would have never remembered the past."

"Do you remember the five past years?" Caroline asked him.

"Hey Blondie…Yes, I do remember." Damon replied to her, before nodding and turning his sight at Bill, while handing his hand to him. "And, I certainly do remember my best friend."

"Hi stranger…" Bill responded to him, while taking his hand in his.

Caroline turned to look at Elena, who was standing immobile with a teary and empty sight fixated on Damon.

"Elena?" Caroline murmured to her, while reaching her standing position and putting a hand on her right forearm. "Are you ok?" She asked her.

Elena turned her veiled eyes toward her, before storming out of the parlour room with a hand placed over her mouth.

"Elena?" Stefan screamed at her, while turning to face his brother. "What are you waiting for? Go to her!"

"I'll go see her." Damon said to his brother, with a calmer, almost indifferent tone of voice. "Though, I highly doubt I am the man that she really wants to see." He added.

Elena was standing in Damon's bedroom, while drowning her sight at the rain that was falling through the French door of the balcony.

"Well, the decor did not change." Damon exclaimed while entering his own past bedroom, and taking a few walking steps to reach his man dresser, before opening a drawer. "Wow, even my clothes are still here! I guess I was not forgotten by all." He sarcastically said to her.

"Don't do this!" She murmured to him.

"Do what, vampire Elena?" He asked her, with a resentful tone of voice, while getting rid of his dirty Van Halen T-shirt, and throwing it in a waste basket, directing his walking steps toward the bathroom, before opening the water faucets and sprinkling his face, before looking at his reflection in the mirror. "I guess I'll need to cut my hair very soon." He added to himself, while still very annoyingly avoiding speaking to her, before turning his head toward Elena and lowering his upper body to avoid a projectile that was coming his way, hitting violently the mirror, and breaking it in pieces a second later. "You know what they say Elena? If you broke a mirror, you'll have seven years of sadness; could it be that you will be missing Alex this time around?" He lashed out at her, angry as hell.

"Go to hell, Damon!" She screamed at his face, while gesturing with her hands and arms.

"No, you go to hell, Elena! I was in hell already for the past five years, where were you all that time?" He screamed back at her.

"I was crying my eyes out for you!" She shouted at him, while feeling the tears running on her cheeks, and closing her fists in anger.

"Well, you were obviously not crying enough, Elena. Maybe, you'll cry more for Alex!" He responded to her.

"Then, I'll be crying for you, because Alex is you!" She shouted more to his face.

"No, he is not me! He's the man that you fell in love with while forgetting everything about me!" He responded, tit for tat, while pointing a finger at her.

"You don't know what you're saying." She responded to him, while shaking her head and passing the back of her hand on her wet cheeks, before crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't!" Damon responded to her, while raising one of his eyebrows. "Well, let see, sweetheart!" He added, while forcefully grabbing her left arm and dragging her behind him toward the big mirror in the bedroom.

"Let go of me, Damon!" She screamed at him, while trying to free herself, but without being able to succeed.

"What? Just when the fun is starting? I don't think so, Elena!" He responded, before turning her body in his arms, raising her t-shirt on her lower back, where the tattoo was showing, while pushing her nearer the mirror. "What do you see Elena? Is it my name that you see? Mm…I don't think so!" He screamed at her, before pushing her out of reach.

"You did this!" She screamed back at him, while pointing a finger at him. "You, Damon…Not anybody else…"

"You think? Funny that my name is not tattooed on your back then, Elena…If I did this!" He replied, while raising his chin in the air. "And what else did I do? Oh yes! I turned you as a vampire…Well; I don't remember that you ever asked me to turn you when we were together!" He added to her. "What? Did the cat ate you tongue, Elena? You're not screaming anything back at me?"

"You're disgusting!" She busted at him, while sweeping the tears away from her face.

"Oh ya? Why? Because you would prefer Alex to be here, I supposed?" He screamed at her, before grabbing her arms, pulling her in an embrace, while holding her wrists, with her firm grip of his left hand, behind her back, and lowering his face at a near inch of hers. "What? You're dreaming that Alex would hold you this way?"

"Let go of me, Damon!" She screamed, while trying to free herself away from him, but without succeeding.

"You like it rough, if I remember correctly, Elena?" He asked her, before crashing his mouth on hers, forcing her lips apart, while invading her intimacy against her will, before pushing her toward the wall behind them, kissing her with the salvation of man desperate to taste what she was refusing to him.

He rubbed his hands all over her body, abruptly, forcefully…She was his, and his only! Elena tried to push him away, but he was too determinate to win this battle, and she was too weak to even try. Finally, he stepped away from her, while passing the back of his right hand over his mouth, and narrowing his sight on her with disdain showing in his eyes.

"Once a whore, always a whore, Elena…" He lashed out at her, before feeling her right hand slapping him across his face.

Damon raised his right hand to feel his cheek, while looking at her with an angry stare.

"Say it!" He screamed at her.

"Screw you!" She responded.

"I said, say it!" He repeated several time, before seeing her crack under the pressure.

"I hate you! I hate you for leaving me for five years. I hate you for leaving me with our daughter, with no one but myself to take care of her…And I wish Alex was here!" She screamed from the top of her lungs.

They stood face to face; his eyes locked with hers, while leaving the silence fill the empty space between them for a short moment.

"Exactly what I wanted to here from you, Elena…" He said to her, before turning on himself, taking one clean t-shirt from the open drawer, before dressing himself, walking toward the bedroom door. "…I'll talk to Rose. I'll explain to her that I need to go back to the Underground with Bill to bring Samantha and Roberto. We'll find a suitable arrangement for the custody of Rose at my return." He said to her, before storming out of the room.

Elena put a shaking hand on her chest, while letting herself drop on the floor, before putting her head in her hands.

Stefan walked on the sidewalk toward the bus stop that was located in front of one of the bench of the Mystic Falls Park. He dropped his army bag and backpack at his feet, before stroking his eyes, and passing a hand on his bearded face. Funny how life is sometimes, several weeks ago he had taken the same path but in reverse. He had arrived by bus, had walked the streets of Mystic Falls toward the cupcakes bakery of Caroline, then he had entered inside, he had seen her behind the counter after five years away from this town, and had fallen in love with her all over again! But, she had never known that part.

He closed his eyes, before sighing, and sliding his hands in his jacket pockets. His heart was breaking in hundred of pieces right now, in bitter sweet feelings. Bitter because he was leaving Mystic Falls for several months, yet –and for the second time, and sweet, because his brother Damon was finally back. Sweet, because Klaus had been send to another dimension that none of them knew about except from his adorable niece, Rose. And finally bitter, because he was leaving behind him the woman he fell in love with.

He felt a presence standing beside him, but he did not open his eyes, probably a traveler in line that was waiting for the next bus out of the city. Then he heard the music coming from the I-pod:

Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
Do you think I'd crumble
Did you think I'd lay down and die?
Oh no, not I. I will survive
Oh as long as I know how to love I know I'll stay alive;
I've got all my life to live,
I've got all my love to give and I'll survive,
I will survive. Hey hey.

Stefan opened his eyes, before turning his head to the left and seeing Caroline standing by his side.

"Caroline? What are you doing here?" He said to her, completely dumfounded.

"I am waiting for the bus, while listening to music." She answered him, in a sarcastic tone of voice, keeping her stare in front of her, and smirking. "I truly hope this is the way to dress when someone goes on the route on an adventure, because, I tried to put all my stuff in this, way too small, bag, and I had to seriously re-evaluate what I would take or not!" She explained, very seriously, to him.

"Caroline, what are you doing?" Stefan asked one more time.

Caroline turned her head, while locking her eyes with his.

"I'm coming with you." She murmured to him.

"What do you mean, Caroline, no you're not, why would you do that? I'm no good; I only brought pain into your life since I came back to Mystic Falls. I abandoned you five years ago, and I almost killed my own niece and brother since then!" Stefan replied to her, while passing a nervous hand through his tangled hair.

"But, you were under compulsion, it wasn't you fault, Stefan…And, don't you know why by now?' She asked him, before raising her hands to touch his face.

Stefan swallowed a lump in his throat, while closing his eyes, and taking within the intense feeling of her fingers on his face, then he took her writs in his hands, and pushed her away.

"Don't do this to yourself, Caroline, you deserve more!" Stefan mumbled, very nervously, to her.

"I deserve "you", Stefan Salvatore." She whispered to him, before rising on her tip toes, and very so slowly kissing his lips. "You know why? Because I love you…" She murmured near his lips, before drowning her sight in his.

"Listen to me, young man…" An old curious man, who was sitting on a near bench, said to Stefan. "…If you don't kiss this young lady, I'm going to do it for you!"

Stefan turned his head to look at the man, before shaking his head and smiling.

"Caroline…" He whispered, before pulling her nearer to him, and crashing his mouth on hers, while sliding his left hand in her hair, on the enthusiastic applauses of the old man and some passer-by on the street.

Caroline giggled under his lips, before locking her eyes with his.

"I don't understand, how can you do this? You can't leave your bakery, and what about Rose and Elena?" Stefan asked her, while caressing her hair.

"I close the bakery for the rest of the summer. I just want to be with you, Stefan. As for Rose, I love her, I will always love her, and she'll be a part of my life, and a part of yours, but, she is Damon's and Elena's daughter, it's their responsibility now. I left them the Boarding house…" She explained to him, while passing her arms around his neck, before adding. "…And I understand if you can't be in love with me for now, but I would love to just leave this town with you!"

Stefan bent his head backward, before bursting into laughter.

"What's so funny?" She said to him, while loosing her smile, and trying to push herself away from his embrace.

"No, come back here, Caroline!" He exclaimed, while bringing her into the warm of his arms, burying his head in the softness of her left shoulder. "Do you have any ideas by now how much I love you: Caroline Forbes?"

"What?' She mumbled, while turning her head to look at him in the eyes, in complete shock.

"Oh, my beautiful Caroline, I always loved you!" He murmured to her, while cupping her face in his hands, and slowly kissing her.

"Mm…." Caroline mumbled on top of his lips, before detaching her lips from his and saying. "…But you left me five years ago?"

"Yes, I thought I was not good enough for you, and I needed to go after my brother. Plus, I was a coward, not able to face my feelings at that moment….You changed me, Caroline." Stefan explained to her, while sweet kissing her lips, in the middle of every sentence. "I love you Caroline Forbes…I always did…And always will!"

"I love you too…So much!" She exclaimed, before crashing her mouth on his lips, while hearing the engine of the bus, and seeing it stop in front of their sidewalks standing position.

"Well…Don't stand there kissing!" The old man said to them, while adding. "Take your luggage, and go marry each other in Vegas!"

Caroline and Stefan turned their heads to look at the old man, completely dumfounded.

"Now, that is not a so bad idea!" They heard a fourth party exclaimed, while turning their head to see Damon.

"Damon?" Stefan said, totally surprised.

"Brother…" Damon said to him, while nodding his head and smiling at Caroline.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked him.

"Well, I heard that my brother was heading on an adventure trip. So, I'm here to wish you well, and telling you that I will wait for your return in Mystic Falls. One day soon, I hope." Damon explained to him, while rubbing nervously his hands together.

Stefan took a few steps to reach Damon, before throwing his arms around him, and hugging him.

"Missed you Bro…" He said to him, while feeling tears filling his eyes. "Could you ever forgive me?' He asked him.

"There's nothing to forgive!" Damon replied to him, while hugging him back, and closing his eyes. "Thank you for never giving up on me." He added to him, in an almost none perceivable whisper.

Stefan pushed himself away from the embrace, before putting his right hand around Damon's neck.

"Always brother…God, you're a pain in the ass!" He added in a laugh, with Damon and Caroline laughing with him.

"And you like me that way." Damon responded, while smirking and blinking an eye at him.

"What are you going to do this summer?" Stefan asked him.

"Take time to cut my hair." Damon responded, with a sarcastic tone in his voice.

"Good idea!" Caroline exclaimed, while giving their bags to the driver of the bus.

"Hey Barbie…" Damon called her.

"What?" She asked him, while turning on herself, with a hand place on her hips.

"Take care of my brother, would you?" Damon asked her, while nodding his head.

"Always…" She answered, before hugging Damon. "Is this meaning that we are friend now?" She asked him.

"Hell no!" Damon responded, while blinking an eye at her, and watching them climb the bus stairs.

"Bye…" Stefan said to Damon one last time.

"Bye brother…Take care!" Damon answered him, before seeing the sliding door of the coach bus closing in front of his eyes.

The engine started, and the bus rolled away from his sight on the street.

"Ready to go Alex…Damn it! I mean, Damon?" Bill screamed at him, from the other side of the street.

"Yap…" He answered, before walking toward Bill, Roberto and Samantha.

Damon knew only one sure thing about his future: He needed to figure out which of Damon or Alex he was now?

"So, Miss Forbes, what about Vegas, are you up for it?" Stefan asked Caroline, while caressing her head that was resting on his right shoulder.

"I'm up to being with you anywhere." Caroline replied to Stefan, before raising her head, and sweet kissing his lips.

"I like this idea." He replied to her, with a smile.

"Mummy…" Rose called Elena.

"Yes sweetie?" Elena responded to her, while shaking her head to get back to reality. She had been staring at the kitchen window since hours now, with a cup of fresh blood in her hands. Since the moment Damon had walked out of her life, once again…Even, if this time she knew that it was only temporary.

Elena kneeled on the floor, in front of Rose.

"I love you, even if you are a vampire like daddy now!" She said to Elena.

Elena smiled, while passing a hand on her teary eyes.

"Oh sweetie, I love you too!" She replied to her, while hugging her daughter.

"Mummy…" She asked more.

"Yes, Rose?" Elena asked her, while caressing her hair.

"You think that daddy will come back?" She asked.

"Oh sweetie, for you always, he'll be back after driving Roberto and Samantha to their home…He would move mountains for you!" Elena replied.

"But I meant for you? Will he be back for you?" She asked Elena.

Elena closed her eyes for a moment, before reopening them, and swallowing a lump in her throat.

"I don't know, Rose…I don't know…" She honestly replied, while taking Rose back into her arms.

"They felt asleep." Bill mumbled to Damon, while turning to look at Roberto and Samantha, before putting a cigarette on his lips. "You want one?" He asked Damon.

Damon shook his head in negation.

"Right…I'm sorry…I don't know what you like or don't like anymore." Bill said to Damon, while throwing his own cigarette by the window. "Actually, I don't even know if I should smoke again, now that I could die from it!"

"If it is any consolation, I don't know what I like or not either!" Damon replied, while timidly smiling to Bill.

"Man…It must be hard for you, is it?" Bill asked, to which Damon shrugged his shoulders.

"I need to figure stuff out…" Damon replied to his friend.

"In other words, you need to figure your true feelings for Elena Gilbert?" Bill said to him, while raising one of his eyebrows.

"I know my feelings for her, they never changed. And, even when I lost my memories, I was always thinking of her! She's in my blood, Bill." He answered him.

"Then, be with her!" Bill exclaimed, before adding. "Thank God each day that you still have her in your life…I'll never be with my wife and children again, but, you still have your family, Damon."

"I know…" Damon replied to him, while keeping his stare on the route.

"Do you still love her, because, if the answer is yes, Damon…You need to fight your way back to her!" Bill said to him.

"She wants Alex now…I saw it in her eyes!" Damon mumbled angrily in his teeth.

"So? Where's the problem? That's you! Alex is a part of you, Damon…If you don't know that already…You need to examine yourself in the mirror!" Bill exclaimed to him, while shaking his head in disbelief, before adding. "Do you still love Elena? Does Damon Salvatore still love that woman?"

Damon turned his head to look at Bill, before passing a nervous hand trough his long tangled hair, but without answering him.

Elena gently pushed Rose away from her embrace.

"Mummy…Everything is going to be ok, you'll see!" Rose told her, while passing her little hand over Elena's wet cheeks, before adding. "Do you still love Daddy?"

"I love Elena more than life itself, Bill; she is my brightest light in the darkest night. I wouldn't be the man that I am now without her!" Damon said in a whisper, while closing his eyes.

"I love Damon more than life itself; sweetie. Your daddy is my light in the darkest night. I wouldn't be the woman than I am without him!" Elena said in a whisper, while closing her eyes.

Believe one thing my dear readers, this crossover combined chapter was the hardest thing I had to do since I started to write on this site, and this on so many levels…Technically, by the numerous scenes and characters…And emotionally, because I was saying goodbye to a big chapter of two stories.

From the bottom of my heart thank you, thank you, thank you…To all my dear readers, for your unconditional love of Too much noise in the bedroom / Whisper of the past / An unexpected love affair / An unexpected love affair part II….Sigh, I'm an emotional wreck right now…It's ridiculous, I should no be emotional like this.

I've grown a lot as a writer in the past two years. I started writing the first chapter in December 2010. I still have a lot to learn, but I know that your love and dedication for these four stories helped me give the best that I could.

Please note: A third sequel named: "Black roses", following "Whisper of the past" will come this autumn for Damon & Elena, including Rose and Samantha.

Sending you several hugs and wishing to all of you a beautiful summer 2012!

Lovely Vero.