chapter four — family ties
[ season one, episode four ]
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"Wait, so you saw the cut and the blood on Stefan's hand and suddenly it was gone?" Laura asked Willow as the family sat around in their kitchen. "Yes. And I know he's a vampire okay, I remember the stories mom used to tell us about their healing, almost as fast as us, if not faster. And if Stefan is one, Damon is one, I know it." Willow explained as she fiddled with the cuffs of her cheer jacket. After they arrived home, they began the conversation right away, she didn't have time to change.

"But, Willow, what if they're something else?" Derek asked. Ever the skeptic Willow thought with a roll of her eyes. "What else could they be?" Willow remarked. "Look, we will pause this conversation for right now. It's late and we all need some sleep, so we'll revisit this conversation at a later date, alright?" Laura intervened once she realized an argument would break out. "Fine." Both Willow and Derek grumbled before Willow stood up from the stool she was on and headed to her room to get ready for bed.

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The next day, Willow had gone over to Elena's with Bonnie to get ready for the Founder's Park dance together. She and Bonnie were going together since Elena's going with Stefan and Caroline's going with Damon. At the moment, her and Bonnie were going through nail polishes as Elena went to the door. Tyler was coming over to pick up the Gilbert things for the Founder's Party. "Delicate Flower versus Naughty Vixen?" Bonnie asked Elena as she walked back into the kitchen.

"Tough call. Can we mix them?" she asked, moving around the kitchen. "Look at you, getting all pretty for your date." Willow cooed. Despite knowing what Stefan was, Willow knew she couldn't tell anyone, it wasn't her business. "You seem happy-ish." Willow commented. "I am-ish." Elena said, smiling before sitting down beside Bonnie and in front of Willow. "Tonight's gonna be a good night but don't let that stop you telling me whatever it is you wanted to tell me yesterday as soon as you walked in the door." Elena said as Willow looked up from looking at her nails.

"What if I tell you in the morning? I don't wanna ruin the night." Bonnie said. Willow sighed, looking back down, painting her nails red but Elena wasn't having it. "Bonnie, out with it." she demanded, making Bonnie hesitate, before she sighed. "Okay, but it has to go in the vault because Caroline will kill me if it gets back to Damon that she squealed." she said and both Elena and Willow crossed their fingers.

"Apparently, Stefan has a very interesting back story." she confessed. "Uh-huh." Elena responded. "Do you know what happened with his ex-girlfriend Katherine?" Bonnie asked. "I know that they both dated her and that's why they have issues." Elena rescinded and Willow's eyes' widened. "Both of them?" she asked. "Yeah, they both dated her. Only, she chose Damon and that drove Stefan mad so he did horrible things to try and break them up." Bonnie answered.

Willow looked between Elena and Bonnie, wondering why Caroline told Bonnie and not Elena and why Bonnie even believed something that came from Damon Salvatore. "He manipulated Katherine, filled her head with all these lies until finally, it worked and she turned against Damon." she continued. "That sounds like one person's side of the story, meaning Damon's." Elena remarked and Willow had to agree.

"I just wanted you to know." Bonnie shrugged. "Anyway, his past relationships are none of my business." Elena added. "Well, unless he's a calculating, manipulative liar. That is your business." Bonnie added, painting her nails. Willows sighed, she didn't feel like listening to them fighting. "Bonnie..." Willow trailed off, "Stefan is none of those things." Elena responded. "Yeah? How do you know?" Bonnie asked and Elena didn't answer, not knowing how to answer.

Later on, Elena, Bonnie and Willow were in Elena's bathroom, getting ready, doing their hair and makeup when Elena's house phone rang, causing Elena to leave the bathroom and get it. Willow walked out and leaned on the door frame, watching as Elena answered the phone. "Hello?" she asked. "Hi, Ms. Lockwood," she greeted, "what do you mean? It is?" she asked, and Willow tilted her head, confused. "Are you sure? 'Cause I saw it I–" Elena said, stopping, listening to Carol Lockwood.

"Let me check. Mm-hmm." Elena hummed, breathing deeply, "I will find it and bring it." she said before, getting up, "Okay. Bye." she said, walking past the bathroom as Bonnie walked out, having heard the conversation. She looked at Willow confused, but she just shook her head. "What's wrong?" Bonnie asked but Elena didn't ask, just stormed into the hallway, and Willow assumed going into her brother's room.

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"Ready?" Laura asked as she, Willow, and Derek stood out front of the Lockwood's house. "Yeah." Derek responds gruffly, making Willow nudge his side with her elbow. "At Least pretend you want to be here." she said and Laura laughed as they walked to the door of the house, where the Lockwoods were greeting guests. "Wills has a point Der." she said, and Derek nodded, fixing his suit. "I know," he responded.

"Laura, Willow and Derek. It's so nice to see you three." Carol said, smiling at the Hale's. "Hi, Ms. Lockwood." Willow said, smiling at her. "Thank you so much for inviting us, Carol." Laura said, shaking her hand, but Carol waved her hands, dismissing the comment. "It's not a problem." she said before the Hale family walked into the house.

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Willow was standing with Elena as they looked at the Gilbert stuff that Elena had donated when Stefan walked over to them. The couple shared a smile before Elena looked back at her parents' wedding rings. "Your parents?" Stefan asked and Elena nodded. "There's a lot of history here." she said as Willow walked around, she came across the original founder's guest registry.

"The Founding Families of Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural Founder's Council Celebration." Elena read out, as she stood beside Willow. "Wow. look, it's the original guest registry," she said, shocked. "Look at all these familiar names." she added before reading some out. "Sheriff Willian Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood." she laughed before Willow noticed something.

"Does that say Damon Salvatore?" she asked, looking at it closely, Elena leaning to have a look as well, shocked as they gave Stefan a quick glance. "And Stefan Salvatore?" Elena asked. "The original Salvatore brothers." Damon said, entering the room with Caroline. "Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually." he added. "We don't need to bore them with stories of the past." Stefan said, trying to dismiss Damon's story.

"It's not boring, Stefan. I'd love to hear more about your family." Elena said, looking at Stefne lovingly, and Willow wished she was anywhere but here. "Well, I'm bored. I wanna dance, and Damon won't dance with me." Caroline complained. "Mm-mm," Damon hummed. "Could I just borrow your date?" Caroline asked Elena, meaning Stefan. Willow looked down at her heels, wide-eyed, shocked that Caroline would even ask that, "Oh, uh..." Elena laughed nervously. "I don't really dance." Stefan denied.

"Oh, sure he does. You should see him. Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk, he does it all." Damon corrected, smirking. "You wouldn't mind, would you, Elena?" Caroline asked, but it didn't sound like one. "It's up to Stefan." Elena said, smiling tightly as Willow looked between Caroline and Elena, like a tennis match. "Well, sorry, but I'm not gonna take no for an answer." Caroline said, grabbing Stefans wrist and dragging him on to the dance floor. "I'm gonna find Bonnie." Willow said, making an excuse to leave.

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Bonnie and Willow had been hiding out when Elena joined them, she explained what had happened between her and Stefan. "This is my fault. I planted doubt. I'm a doubt-planter." Bonnie said sadly, but Elena waved her off with a shake of her head. "It's not your fault." she said. "I just, I feel terrible, because I said that I wouldn't get in the middle of it and then that's exactly what I did. I got all snotty." she added but before either girl could respond, Carol Lockwood walked up to them. "Elena, honey, there you are." she said, like she had been looking for Elena all-night.

She sat down on a seat beside the girls, looking directly at Elena. "I noticed the watch still isn't in the collection." she said, and Willow furrowed her brows, why was she so desperate for a stupid watch? She thought "Oh, um, I'm sorry, Mrs. Lockwood. I, um, I couldn't find it." she said and Willow could tell she was lying, even if she couldn't hear her heartbeat. "I guess, It-It's still packed up in my parents' stuff somewhere." she added. "I see. Well, please let me know if you do find it." Mrs. Lockwood said, smiling. "Okay," Elena breathed, smiling before Mrs. Lockwood got up and walked off.

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"I swear my brother is the most antisocial person on the planet." Willow complained. She had found her brother, standing in a corner, not talking to anyone while Laura walked around and talked to people. Elena laughed as they walked into the bathroom where Caroline was, fixing her earrings. "Hey," they greeted her. "Hey." Caroline responded. "So how are things with Stefan?" she asked as she picked up her lip liner to touch it up.

"Great. Just great." Elena responded, touching up her lip gloss as Willow fixed her lipstick beside her. "Really?" Caroline asked, not believing her. "Well, my radar must be off," she added, causing Willow to roll her eyes as Caroline leaned forward and fixed her lipliner. "'Cause I was getting all sorts of other vibes." she added but neither Elena nor Willow responded because they had both seen what seemed like unusual marks on Caroline's neck.

"Care, what are those?" Willow asked. "Hmm?" Caroline hummed in question, confused as Elena moved between Caroline and Willow and went to move her scarf, but Caroline became all fidgety and shoved her off by moving her shoulder. "D-don't." she said, and Willow frowned before reaching over and moved the scar, using some of her strength.

Both Elena and Willow gasped once they saw a bite mark on her neck. "Oh, my god, Caroline, what happened?" Elena asked, shocked as Caroline moved, making the scarf fall back in place. "Nothing, okay?" Caroline denied. "That is not nothing!" Willow hissed. "Did somebody hurt you?" Elena asked. "No, okay, it... nothing, it just..." Caroline stuttered before going back to fixing her lipliner. "My mom would kill me." she added.

Elena noticed something under Caroline's jacket, so she moved it off her shoulder and found another bite mark. "Did Damon hurt you?" Willow asked, all for hurting Damon back. "No... of course not." Caroline denied shakily and as Willow was about to move her jacket again, Caroline slapped her hands away. "Just leave me alone, okay Elena, Willow? God." she snapped before leaving the bathroom. Willow and Elena shared a look before they left the bathroom, Elena moving to find Damon while Willow moved to find her siblings.

"Der, Laur." Willow said, rusing to where they stood outside, "Hey Wills– hey what's wrong?" Laura asked, changing her tone once she noticed Willow's panicked expression. "Damon's been feeding off Caroline." she informed them, making their faces fall. "What? How could you know that?" Derek asked, "Because Elena and I just found bite marks all over Caroline, who seemed freaked out by us looking at them." she responded.

"We need to go. Now." Laura said, becoming serious. "It's not safe to talk about this here," she added and the other two nodded before the Hale siblings walked away but as they were doing so, Willow spotted Caroline standing by herself. "Care?" she called out, and her siblings looked as she walked over to the blonde.

When Caroline turned to her, she saw her crying, making her frown. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Yeah," she breathed heavily, moving her hand to her neck. "I'm fine." she added, but Willow could tell that was a lie. "What happened Care?" Willow asked. "I'm fine." Caroline responded, breathing heavily, on the verge of tears. "No, you're not. You're shaking. Care, what..." she trailed off. "I'm fine. I'm fine." Caroline repeated, breathing heavier and trying not to cry.

"Come here." she said and Caroline fell into her arms and Willow hugged her, looking over at her sister and brother, and they nodded so Willow walked over to them with Caroline in her arms, "Hey Caroline, you want some famous Hale hot chocolate?" Laura asked and the blonde nodded.Caroline had ended up staying the night, Elena had texted Elena so, and explained how she had found Caroline, and then Elena was glad Caroline was taken care of.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
i'm so sorry. it's been awhile.... again. i've been so preoccupied with my pretty little liars books that i've neglected this one and many others. but here is a new chapter <3 | this chapter isn't great, but i'm working on the next one right now !!