Ninja turtles

“It’s nice to be alive. WELL, undead I guess.” She chuckled awkwardly. “I don’t suppose you have any tips for me?” He would know after all, from her understanding. “Full House? I could see that. All San Francisco and family.”

“What?” Stefan looked at her properly now, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. “I’m human now, just learn how to control yourself basically.” What else could he tell her? “Exactly. All the Salvatores and such here, it could be that show.”

elena let a sympathetic smile lift at the corners of her lips, and nodded —- of course it wasn’t easy to adjust, it was a brand new world almost, things had changed —- time had inevitably passed, and it wasn’t going to be easy to pull yourself out of the ground and just slot back in to life. especially when he’d not been human for over a hundred years. “ it’ll take time —- but you’re not alone, stefan. we’re all here for you.” she murmurs, sitting down beside him. there’s a laugh that leaves her at his words, and she nods. “ we definitely did good —- ” she paused, leaning forward, and wrapping her arms around him in a hug. “ i never thought i’d see you again —- i’m so glad you’re back. you saved my life and i never got to thank you when i woke up.”  

Stefan leaned into the hug and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a small squeeze. “I was just doing what needed to be done, Elena.” He said quietly into her ear. “Damon needed you and I wasn’t going to let him sacrifice himself so when you woke up, it would’ve been without him.”

           it takes everything he has not to scream at the nurse.  he’s slept for a freakin’ decade.  he was dead.  he doesn’t need anymore rest.  maybe if his brother wasn’t visibly weakened he might have said as much.  by some miracle, he keeps his lips pressed tightly together until the nurse is gone.  

      “ i shouldn’t be surprised. “  it’s the first thing that pops into his head.  it’s not exactly how he pictured this moment but then again, he’d NEVER pictured this moment.  with cade’s hell destroyed, as well as the other side, he’s never considered a future where he’d see his brother again.   “ the dead have been popping back up like whack-a-moles lately. “  he starts listing them off on his fingers.  “ jenna sommers, john gilbert, vicki donovan…”  he pauses.  “ enzo. “  another pause, a smile.  “ elena. “     because stefan didn’t know.  he wasn’t here;  he didn’t see her car go off wickery bridge again, feel that loss of losing her once again with  N O T H I N G  they could do to get her back.   “ this hobo chic look you’ve got going on though … now that’s new. “   his lips twitched, a smirk teasing features.  “ looks like the universe decided to give you a RE-DO on the happy, human, life. “  

“Wow.” Stefan couldn’t quite believe that more people had been popping up, besides him. “Elena.” That got a small smile out of him, he was happy for his br- wait a second, Elena had come back to life? He turned his head to look at Damon. “What do you mean by that? She did come out of her coma, right? When I sacrificed myself.” It was way too early for details but Stefan was determined to get more information out of him despite having just literally crawled out from the ground. “I’ll have to start shaving again won’t I?” Lots of things he would need to start doing again. “One downside to that, my wife is still a vampire. That means she’ll outlive me while I get old and die properly this time.”

Breaking free from the kiss, she rested her forehead against his, the tears still streaming down her face. “I have never needed you more than I need you now. I can’t believe you’re really here.”

“I’m here.” Stefan put his arms around her and pulled her into a hug, just holding her, burying his face into her neck to feel her familiar warmth he hadn’t felt in many years. 

“I’m sorry, who?” he asked, visibly shocked. Had Grace actually succeeded in bringing him back from the dead? “I… I thought you were dead”

“No? I’m obviously stood in front of you.” Stefan raised an eyebrow at the other. “I guess I came back from the dead not long ago.” That was still odd to say.

“a pudding cup? that’s all? well it’s no wonder you fainted.” she sounded more like the parent than the daughter in that moment, but she didn’t care. she was finally meeting him and he was mortal. “so what’s it going to be? sandwich or pizza?”

Stefan just groaned some. “Why are you taking care of me? Shouldn’t that be my job?” He asked, clearly not trying to deny anything now. “The pizza sounds good.”

                “well holy CRAP.” it was a holy crap moment because woah. stefan salvatore in the very flesh. “it’s kinda crazy to see you, cause long time no see is a super yeah. it’s– wow.” the last time she saw him he tried to save her life. he failed, but she didn’t blame him. 

Stefan chuckled a little at her reaction. “Good to see you wandering around. I guess this... whatever it is seems to be good for us previously dead lot, right? It’s a feeling a little bit Full House though.”

He straightened up a bit, instantly protective of Grace as he moved to the middle of the door frame, so there was no way he could pass through him. “Could I ask who you are?” he questioned, trying to not sound like a dick but with what she was - he couldn’t risk either hunters hurting her or her hurting innocents.

When Gabriel blocked his way, he simply raised an eyebrow. “I’m her... father, Stefan Salvatore.” It was weird to say that.

“mhm.” she said, then furrowing her brows. “so.. you’ve passed out more than once since being back? i think maybe you should see a doctor, make sure you don’t have the flu or something.. but in the mean time i put some water there next to the bed and you should have some kind of food, i could order a pizza or make you a sandwich.” 

He was going to say something else but when she mentioned food, his stomach growled loudly. “I.. think we’ve just solved the problem. Last time I ate was a pudding in hospital.”

“stefan!” she shouted, he fell before she could even register what was happening. the blonde moved finally and scooped her father into her arms, he felt like a feather and she supposed that was the new found strength. after vamping to her shared place with gabe, she lay stefan carefully on the bed and had a bottle of water waiting on the bedside table for him and when he woke? she would definitely be forcing some food on him. after a while he shot up in the bed and she stood from her chair, coming a little closer. “hey… you’re alright.” she assured. “you passed out and i uh, i brought you back to my place. take it easy we don’t want you to pass out again.” 

Stefan looked up at Grace when she spoke then looked around again, clearly slightly confused for a moment. “W-what? I passed out?” Letting out a sigh, he sat himself up against the headboard. “I don’t know why this is happening.” Stefan did feel silly though. 

she wasn’t going to hurt him, she would never. especially since he was human now. control was… difficult, but being faced with her father she had a good reason to reign it in. “no. i died in 1888 as a human, i came back a few months ago and died all over again with my boyfriends blood in my system a couple nights ago, i was a siphon so now –– i’m a heretic.” 

Heretic was the last thing he heard before he suddenly leaned forward, fell off the stool and collapsed right there on the floor of the library. The next time he woke up, he was in an unfamiliar bedroom and quickly sat up. “What the hell?”

“When I told you she was dead, she was.”  Lips pursed together, “She hasn’t been back for very long.”  Valerie had truly been upset when she’d spoken to him,  “Someone killed her Stefan, when she was young.  They tricked her into think they had information about us, and then killed her.”  It really did feel good to be able to talk to someone about this, “I wasn’t lying.”

Stefan had to sit himself down now as he couldn’t stand up any longer. “Great.” He muttered then ran his hand through his hair. “I can’t believe this, I’ve been back less than five minutes and it turns out the kid that I thought was dead is roaming San Francisco.” 

“your guess is as good as mine, but she did because here i am. caroline and damon seem to believe me, i’ve been spending a lot of time with them. why else would caroline send for your journals from mystic falls just to give it to me?” she asked, controlling her emotions was out the window when he implied she wanted money, her black veils appeared under her eyes and she clenched her jaw hard. “i don’t want your money, stefan. i wanted to know you.” she breathed, trying to reign herself back in as her eyes went back to their usual shade of emerald. 

Stefan frowned when he saw the familiar black veins. “You’re a vampire? Is that how you’re still alive?” He stayed where he was sat as the world just slowly began to swim again.

@cfsalvatore

He had been unable to sleep, staying up and trying to figure out how in the ever loving hell he was going to do this. He had turned her and he knew that it was his responsibility to make sure she didn’t go full ripper. But his attention was quickly interrupted as he heard a noise and quickly looked up. Quickly realizing that it was the door, he stretched a bit before getting up and heading towards the door. “Hello?” he said, opening it to see a completely random man. “Do I… Do I know you?”

Stefan frowned at the man who had answered the door. “I was looking for Grace? Does she live here? That’s what I was told, that she lives here.”

“You’re becoming an old man, Stefan Salvatore.”  She joked, before dropping the smile from her face and becoming more serious.  “You remember how I told you that our child hadn’t survived?  That’s not exactly true.”

Stefan just nodded. “I know, she approached me and told me who she was. Now begs the question Valerie... you told me our child was dead we shared a moment through it I held you because you were so upset, did you know she was still alive back then?” His tone took a hard one now. “Because that’s called.. oh ya know, lying.”

“I knew you seemed different.”  She couldn’t help but laugh when he said that everything hurt.  Obviously he wasn’t dealing too well with being human, but there was something more important on her mind, “Stefan….”  She started, a short sigh leaving her lips.  “There’s something I really need to tell you.”

“Pain meds, yay.” Stefan shook the bottle in his pocket sarcastically. “Shoot, things can’t get any worse than they are right now.”

“Gotta say,” he commented. “Never though I’d find myself in San Francisco if it weren’t for the dead returning.” The male took a sip of his whiskey as he looked over at the male next to him. Jesse quickly motioned the bartender over  and told him to put the next drink of the person beside him on his tab and to bring the other male a refill. “If it weren’t for the chance at seeing my daughter again,” he spoke again was the bartender left. “I would still be in Tennessee with my sons. What brings you to this beautiful golden state?”

@cfsalvatore

Stefan was drinking water, not being able to bring himself to try alcohol while he was on pain killers so he sat there and glanced at the man beside him. “I was resurrected here.” He took a gulp of his water. “I don’t know how it was possible or why, but here I am.”