FOREVER AND EVER AFTER - A STEFAN SALVATORE LOVE STORY

CHAPTER-35 : THE RETURN

TIME SKIP (A FEW DAYS LATER):

A lot has happened since the founders' day. Venice's father and Elena's parents were dead. The postmortem reports said that their necks were snapped, probably during some accidents but Kevin, Elena, Venice, Jeremy, Alaric and few others who knew about vampires knew that it's not an accident but they were killed by the tomb vampires. The Mayor of Mystic Falls, Tyler's father was also dead because, the council members who got the vampires when the Gilbert device was on thought that the Mayor was a vampire too when he collapsed due to the effects of the device. 

A lot has changed during the past few days. Many lost their father, mother, husband, family or friend. Their whole world just stopped when they get t know about it William McLean's and Grayson and Miranda Gilbert's funeral took place. While Kevin, Elena and Jeremy were going through the pain and sorrow due to their loss which was clearly visible to everyone, Venice mostly kept silent, looking out for her family and friends. She didn't even shred a single tear during William's funeral. It's like as if she's anything but a void of emotions, clearly not knowing how to react. She mostly kept herself locked in her room but made sure that Kevin, Elena and Kevin were doing good.  She didn't want to face them or any others but couldn't help caring about them.

Alaric's now the legal guardian of the McLeans whereas Jenna's of the Gilberts. And, on the bright side, Caroline's now doing good, thanks to Damon who sneaked into the hospital every night and made sure that's she's got very minute amount of his blood in her system so that she could heal her injuries, but not dramatically fast.

Stefan and Damon had showed up daily at the McLean residence to make sure that Venice was doing good. Damon made more frequent visits to The Gilbert residence than Stefan. Venice avoided most of their visits and that's how, she ended up in her dad's room, which sh's been deliberately avoiding since the funeral. That's when she kept looking at every details of the room, which clearly had too much William and Lauren in it. That man clearly loved his wife till his last breath and didn't even remove her belongings from their place. It's like she never died and now, when Venice went into her room, it's like he never died. She accepted the fact that she lost her mother when she was a kid but she couldn't accept the fact that William's no more. The room had both feminine and masculine touch which was designed by William's and Lauren' tastes. There, on the nightstand was the picture of Lauren and William's that was taken during their wedding in a frame, both looking happily at each other with lots of love and adoration in their eyes. Then there were pictures of baby Kevin and baby Venice beside each other on the same night stand. Then there were pictures of William and Lauren which were probably taken when they were in their school and college, pictures of William and Lauren along with Kevin and Venice when they were kids, pictures of Kevin and Venice when Kevin held Venice, being all overprotective big brother, a picture of William, Kevin and Venice which was taken when they went on a small trip to London, 2 years ago and a pictures of Kevin and Venice.

Venice scanned through every detail of the room, more keenly than before. Tears started pooling in her eyes. At that moment, she realized that she's missing her father and can't stand as the stronger one anymore. She realized that she's afraid of loosing someone else, whom she love. She sank down onto the floor, beside the bed and hugged her knees and sobbed quietly. 

The room's door immediately opened and Stefan rushed towards her. Never in his life had he thought that he'll see her like this, broken down, weak and vulnerable because, she was the strongest woman he's met, till now. Sure, William's death took toll on everyone but it took more toll on Venice than what she made everyone see. He sat down beside her and pulled her closer to him. She buried her face in his chest and sobbed quietly. Stefan just kept caressing her face, hair and her back, saying soothing words, trying his best to provide her more comfort. That day, she ended up falling asleep in his arms, in her dad's room while she was crying. Stefan carried her to her room, bridal style and laid her on her bed, covered her in the sheets, kissed her on her forehead and sat beside her, on her bed. Stefan wasn't pretty sure when William told him that something's bad's gonna happen in Venice's life. But he was pretty sure that it happened and something told him that this was not the end of it.