Until This Lie Do Us Part

Chapter 16

Alaric smirked. "You are totally falling in love with her. And not just because you would pay all that money to save her life. But because you are getting so defensive" he explained. "You totally are falling in love with her" he laughed.

Stefan stood up abruptly, set to argue. "You don't know what you're talking about. I don't love Elena. And I'm never going to!" he spat at him.

Alaric stopped Stefan before he could storm off. "Don't be all angry, Stefan" he said. "She's a nice girl. I say it's about time you let yourself be happy" he shrugged.

"The only one I have to keep happy is Elena. So she doesn't take off before the six months are up. I do not want her to stick around for longer than that. Got it?" he asked with an edge to his voice. He then stormed off, wishing he had gone with Caroline instead. At least she would only tease him, something that was safe and wouldn't get his feelings all jumbled.

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Stefan didn't know how long he had been laying down in his room. At least an hour when his phone began to ring. "Hello?" he asked.

"Stefan Salvatore?" the voice asked.

Stefan sat up immediately. "Speaking" he said, listening closely.

"This is Sampson, the private investigator. Your brother contacted me and told me you were interested in my services and to contact you" he informed.

"That's right" Stefan answered. "How soon can you start?" he asked, tightening his grip on the phone.

"I've already started" Sampson replied. Stefan was a bit surprised by this bit of news. He hadn't even paid him. "Your brother gave me the down payment. He said you would take care of the rest."

To say Stefan was surprised was an understatement. Surely Damon had an ulterior motive. "I will" Stefan assured him. "Have you found anything yet?" he asked cautiously.

"No. I'm working on locating Derrick at the moment. From there, I will track him. Tap his phone lines if I can. Find out where he frequents, who he is with. I will collect as much information as I can" he informed. Stefan nodded. "I will contact you as soon as I find something" he said.

"I appreciate it" Stefan said. And then the line went dead. Stefan set his phone down and closed his eyes. Now it was just a waiting game. And Stefan hated waiting.

His bedroom door pushed open and he could hear her footsteps cross the floor to him. "Alaric said you were up here hiding" Elena said, sitting down on the bed next to him.

"I'm not hiding" he said, opening his eyes and looking at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked. When Stefan didn't answer her, she turned and lay down beside him, using his arm as a makeshift pillow. "Friends pry into your life because they care" she mentioned quietly. Stefan wondered what exactly Alaric had said to her. "We all get irritated with our friends once in a while."

"You and Bonnie?" Stefan questioned, catching Elena off guard. He had remembered her name.

But Elena quickly recovered and laughed. "Especially me and Bonnie. And girls are the worst because half the time, we won't let the other one know that we're irritated. And that just makes everything worse" she told him.

"Did you tell them about me?" he asked quietly.

Elena was again caught off guard, but she answered him. "No" she said. There was a long pause before she continued. "They wouldn't understand. I just thought it would be better ..." she began, only to be cut off by him.

"I want to meet them" he blurted out quietly. "You know everyone I'm close to. I want to meet the people you are close to" he told her.

Elena sat up. "Why?" she asked, concern coloring her voice. It would just lead to problems.

"Because" he said, leaving it at that. Elena blew a breath out, clearly uncomfortable with the idea. "What, are you embarrassed for them to meet me?" he asked, a small smile appearing as he tried to lighten the mood some. Elena remained silent and Stefan guessed what was running through her mind. "You didn't tell them about me, did you?" he asked.

"They wouldn't agree with what I've done. And my brother would blame you and he's not a whole lot of fun when he thinks someone is using me" she explained.

"We don't have to tell them about our arrangement" Stefan said, sitting up. He really wasn't quite sure why he wanted to meet them. Maybe it was partly because Elena was so against the idea. "They can come stay with us. You talk it over with them and see what their schedule looks like."

Elena sighed. She missed her brother and her friend terribly. But she also knew that it would be disastrous for them to know about Stefan. But he was persistent and if she had learned anything about him, it was that he always got what he wanted. "Fine" she said. "But if he punches you, you can't say I didn't warn you."

Stefan smiled. "They will love me" he said, wrapping his arms around her. "This might throw people off of our trail too, you know. Bringing your family to visit" he added.

Elena hadn't thought about it like that. "We should get back to your friends" she said, pulling his arms off of her.

Stefan groaned. "Would it be impolite to tell them to get a hotel? Or better yet, go home?" he asked, standing with Elena and facing her. She shook her head, hiding her smile. They heard Caroline yelling from down the hall, followed by a loud shatter. Stefan sighed heavily and rested his forehead against Elena's. "That sounded expensive" he whispered.

"Let's just hope that it didn't shatter against Alaric" she grinned, tilting her head some to kiss him. "Come on. Before she breaks something else." Elena grabbed his hand, leading him out.

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They had survived the night with Caroline and Alaric by keeping the conversation light. Dinner was peaceful and Caroline had even apologized for trying to hit Alaric with a glass vase. Then they had stayed up late watching a movie and playing cards. By the time they drug their feet up the stairs and into their rooms, Stefan was asleep as soon as his head hit his pillow.

An hour later, his phone began buzzing on his nightstand. He cursed under his breath, smacking his hand against the surface, trying to find it. Elena began to stir as Stefan grabbed the phone and checked the number. His heartbeat jumped from its resting state and began beating rapidly at the sight of the number flashing across his screen. "Stefan?" Elena murmured, opening her tired eyes.

"Just someone from the company. Go back to bed" he whispered, kissing her forehead and tiredly crawling out of bed. He shut the door behind him and answered. "Hello?"

"Stefan. This is Sampson. I am calling with an update" he said.

Already? Stefan couldn't believe it. A million questions came to mind. "Did you find him? Is he looking for Elena?" he spit out in a quiet, hurried tone.

The line went silent for a moment, though it seemed like minutes to Stefan. "He's found her."