MONSTER, stefan salvatore [2]

Because

CHAPTER 49: BECAUSE

The Salvatore Boarding House

While Stefan's humanity being back was a huge reason for happiness, they still had another emotion-less vampire on the loose that, thanks to no-humanity Stefan, had gone off the rails and started killing people left and right by flipping coins. 

So, Natalie, Damon, Elena and Stefan sat in the parlor of the the Boarding House where Stefan said he had come up with something to do. "First step, convince her that my humanity is still off. I'll tell her that my run-in with our mother had no effect on me, and I want to keep the party going."

Damon smiled widely, although sarcastically as he looked at his younger brother. "Ah, look at that! Saint Stefan has a plan. Let me guess- whoever's holding the kitten gets to talk about their feelings?"

"Torture her until she breaks," the 166-year-old corrected, looking surprisingly nonchalant about the whole ordeal.

The older Salvatore brother raised his eyebrows, looking impressed at his new problem-solving abilities. He probably could have remembered back when they had spent days torturing Natalie and Elena to get them to turn their humanities on. "Sold."

"Hi, hi," Natalie broke into the conversation, her chin resting in one of her hands while the other was waving around one of Damon's bourbon glasses filled with blood poured from blood bags. "It's me, Natalie, the only smart person in the room. And obviously the only one who's memory is still intact. I'm not trying to offend you by reminding you of your amnesiac days, Stefan, but the last time we tried to get her humanity back she snapped and went on a killing spree."

Stefan glanced down at his feet for a moment as she was sitting there speaking about Caroline, and he knew he had to tell her about him and her but he wasn't sure how. "Well, she's not gonna find out this time."

"See? He'll be convincing," Damon assured his best friend, who only sent him a raised eyebrow in return, not seeming to be totally on board with believing in anything he'd say. It wasn't because of what happened with Kai, she was almost completely over that. It was mostly because she thought he was an idiot. 

Elena seemed to be having the same doubts as her twin sister, but nonetheless decided to go with the hypothetical idea of her believing him. "Fine, say she believes you- How do you know she's gonna even want to see you again?"

Damon had a bitter smirk on his face as he sent Stefan a glare, because he knew what he'd done and he knew that it was not fair to Natalie and so he was pissed off at his baby brother. "Oh, she'll want to see him."

Stefan sent a glare in return to his brother before sending gazes to the twins, both of them looking very confused with frowns on their lips. "Damon... Shut up!"

But his brother's glare only fueled his own as it became meaner and his voice became harsher. If he wasn't going to tell Natalie, he was. "I mean, it's a bit of a tricky bet for you, isn't it, brother? She's gonna expect a lot."

"What am I missing?" Natalie asked, pushing herself up into a straighter sitting-position instead of the one where her back was bent for a comfortable rest for her chin in her hands. She put the glass of blood on the table, sending her boyfriend a questioning look. 

"Nothing," he responded quickly, immediately regretting it. Because if he said it was nothing now, he was going to be yelled at even more when he was finally going to tell her, which was supposed to be right before he left to meet Caroline. 

Elena's eyes widened as a hypothesis ran through her mind, and one that made her glance at Natalie sympathetically as she prayed she wasn't right. "Hang on a second. Did you and Caroline-"