thirty eight

hey guys, sorry for the wait, school got a bit over-whelming. I have like 3 exams that count towards my GCSE at the moment, so I've got to prepare for them at the moment (ew), BUT ANYWHO HERE YOU GO WITH THE NEXT UPDATE ((also sorry if there are any mistakes i'm exhausted and it's like midnight so yOU'RE WELCOME))

// chapter thirty eight //

I was so not ready to do this.

I'd been standing outside the door for a good ten minutes, every now and then reaching up to knock but then my courage would disappear and I'd just stand there.

Taking in a deep breath of air, the cool crispness burning the back of my throat, I reached out my hand for the fifth time and went to knock on the pale wooden door of the house. My hand was halfway to knocking when the door was ripped open, causing my hand to freeze in mid-air, and a pair of arms sprung forward and pulled me at inhuman speed inside the house, engulfing me in a crushing half-hug, half death squeeze. I let out a yelp of surprise as Stefan slammed the door shut out after me, his arms tightening around my slightly smaller frame while his eyes darted in every direction possible.

"Damon! She's back!" He screamed into the empty hall, causing me to frown in confusion. They'd been waiting for me?

Like I understood the fact that I'd been missing for about a week and they were obviously waiting for me to come home, but how did they know when I was coming home?

I didn't have a long time to dwell in my confusion before our older brother practically flew down the stairs and ran up to me, immediately taking my face in his hands and studying me carefully, all whilst Stefan still had me wrapped up in his arms.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did they do anything to you? How do you feel? How many fingers am I holding up?" At that I scowled, reaching up my arm to swat his away not appreciating the condescension.

"Guys I'm fin-" I didn't even get to finish my sentence as Damon frowned, releasing my face and darting out the door, leaving Stefan and I alone in the hall once again. What the hell was happening? I thought they'd be happy to see me and would be worried, but this was ridiculous. I was just wandering in my thoughts for a moment when I grunted, Stefan continuing to tighten his grip.

"Stef," I called out, patting his shoulder gently as best as I could, "you can let go now."

"No," he said quickly, burying his face in my shoulder. "You might run off again."

I stiffened, head turning to scowl at the side of his face as he remained hidden. "I didn't run off, thank you very much." I defended myself a slight feeling of offence washing over me at the fact that they thought I'd just run off and leave them.

"Wait," he said, pulling back and staring at me. "What?" His eyebrows scrunched in confusion. I stared back at him, trying to ignore his continuously tightening grip on my shoulders as I remained silent. A few moments passed before he began to grow impatient. "Brook, what the hell are you talking about?" he ground out threw gritted teeth. I scowled at him, the familiar and more impatient side of my twin coming out in full blast while I continued to stare in silence. I wasn't about to rat Liam and his family out for the sake of my brother's being able to sleep at night because they suddenly knew what happened to me.

They could just take some sleeping pills.

"Brook," he pressed the tone of his voice demanding and slightly whiny. I pushed at his shoulders, pushing him away from me as I rolled my eyes.

"Jeez, Stef, chill a bit, will you?"

"What do you mean, 'you didn't run off'?" he called after me as I kicked off my shoes and rolled my shoulders as I walked past him, just wanting to crawl into bed and argue about this tomorrow. "Brooklyn Salvatore!" The use of my full name caused me to freeze at the top of the stairs, my eyes staring at the carpet on the floor and my hand gripping the banister tightly in my grip. I shot him a glare over my shoulder.

"Stefan Salvatore!" I mocked, turning to face him as he pinched his lips into a thin line. He opened his mouth to retort and I just about prepared myself for a massive rant about my 'safety being in jeopardy' and how they just 'worried about me' a lot, when Damon burst back into the door, panting slightly as he shook his head at Stefan, hands on his hips as he wheezed a little. 

"Lost him," he huffed, his head still shaking in annoyance. "God dammit."

My eyes widened and I froze, my foot pausing as Stefan stared at Damon with an equally annoyed expression. "Uh," I laughed nervously, "lost who exactly?"

Even though I tried to sound as innocent as possible, my brothers snapped their eyes up to me, looks of knowing on both their faces.

"Oh, just, uh," Damon stuttered, obviously not aware that I was standing right there within ear shot. "The milk man..."

My face dropped into one of disbelief, surprised that was the best he could come up with. He was a better liar than I was sometimes and our parents had often given him lectures about how badly he was influencing me and that I shouldn't be exposed to lying like he did. But he did me a favour, got me out of a hella load of trouble back in the day. The amount of times I had thanked him for giving me excuses for missing homework and for being late was countless and I honestly don't know how I could have survived most of school without him or Stefan. "The milkman? Really?"

"Yeah, obviously, He forgot to drop off our milk yesterday." He continued, hands still on his hips as he tried to sass me and act like he was telling the truth. But as soon as he said 'obviously' I scoffed because it was the worst excuse he's come up with so far.

"That's funny," I commented, placing one hand on my hip as the other rested on the top of the bannister, giving him a fake-confused face. "Consdering we don't have a milkman." I raised an eyebrow as he shut his mouth, pulling it into a thin line as he looked at Stefan for help. But Stefan just looked away, muttering something like 'you idiot' under his breath as he turned away from Damon, almost ashamed at him for that awful lie.

"He's new?" Damon offered, face screwing up in hopefullness but I just stared at him, my face void of any emotion as we all waited in silence. "Okay, fine!" He finally conceded, throwing his hands in the air and turning around slightly. "Wow, you caught me, congratulations!" He exclaimed sarcastically, shooting me a smirk. "How did you know I was lying?"

I wasn't quite sure if his question was rhetorical or not, but I decided to answer anyway. Smirking I said, "Learnt from the best."

The smile on his face was a mix between being proud and being annoyed that he had taught me so well. "Indeed you did." He nodded, turning to go and walk into the kitchen. "Moving on," I walked down a few steps, cocking my head to the side as they watched me from the living room. "What the hell happened to you?"

At that, I turned on my heel, immediately starting to race upstairs before I heard a sharp "Oh no you don't!" and was grabbed around the waist. Before I could protest or even attempt to get out of their hold I was thrown lightly onto the large velvet sofa of the living room with Stefan and Damon staring down at me with their arms firmly crossed. I shrunk into the cushions slightly.

I knew it was long time coming, but I'd tried to put it off as long as possible. I simply stayed silent, my fingers playing with a fraying edge of one of the cushions as my brothers burning glares continued latched onto me.

Stefan cleared his throat, a clear indication that he wanted me to look up at him but I ignored him, not wanting to explain what happened because I knew exactly what was going to happen.

"Brook," he pressed, his arms relaxing slightly as he cocked his head and leant down slightly, trying to catch my eyes. "We just want to know what happened. You were missing for a week, for crying out loud, we were worried sick."

"Yeah, I know." I grumbled, sighing slightly.

"Then talk to us."

I chewed on my lower lip, fingers continuing to play with the edges of the cushion. It was silent for a while as I tried to pluck up the courage to come up with an explanation.

Just as I thought I'd found the right words, the front door was slammed open and a familiar brunette stood in the doorway. At the sudden slam, both Stefan and Damon leapt in front of me, Stefan growling lightly as Damon held a hand behind his back to stop me from getting up. I rolled my eyes, pushing myself up as the brunette screamed, "BROOK!"

"ELENA-" I went to scream back, stopping mid sentence with a grunt as Elena threw herself at me, her arms locking around my neck as she hugged me tightly.

"Oh my God, I'm so glad you're okay! When I couldn't find you, Caroline and Bonnie were freaking out. Dylan was going to set out a search part-"

"Who's Dylan?" Damon asked gruffly from the side, raising an eyebrow at me from the side.

"Boy from school?" I offered weakly, my arms hugging Elena back as she froze, realising what she had said before continuing her explanation.

"I thought you were dead, oh my god, don't you ever do that again, or I'm going to kill you, vampire or not."

I chuckled slightly at my best friend's statement, hugging her back tightly as I realised how much I had missed her during my little 'vacation'.

"Liam better have taken good care of you or I swear to go-"

"Liam?!"

At the sound of two very angry voices, the two of us both ceased spinning for a moment. Elena and I both froze as soon as the words left her mouth, and I clenched my teeth, glad that as Elena and I were spinning in our hug, that my back was to my brothers.

"Shit." I muttered weakly.

"Who the hell is Liam?" Damon ground out dangerously, his eyes growing darker as he clenched his fists tightly. I knew that the question was definitely rhetorical this time, because he knew exactly who Liam was.

Panicking slightly, I quickly pulled away from Elena and turned to my brothers and rested one of my hands on her shoulder, the other placing delicately on my hip and quipped, "You know what? I have no idea what she's talking about, maybe she's been having a little too much to drink, am I right?" I said, turning to Elena and raising my eyebrows. She was just nodding along with my idea when Stefan stared at me, his cold eyes glaring right at me. And as soon as he looked at me like that, all my courage and sarcasm disappeared.

His arms were crossed and I even saw his foot gently tapping impatiently. I knew that look. God knows, I'd seen it so many times before. Whenever I did something that Stefan didn't agree with or like, he had that look. The 'I'm your older brother, what the hell are you doing?' look. I hated that look.

"Okay, fine." I hissed, clenching one of my hands into a fist as I stared straight back at my twin, knowing fully well that he was trying to guilt trip me into admitting it. "You caught me red-handed."

"What the hell are you thinking?" Stefan hissed back, slamming one of his hands back onto his forearm as he glared at me. "He's dangerous, Brook!"

"You don't know him, Stefan! He's not as dangerous as you all make him out to be." I defended Liam, stomping one of my feet in defiance, causing Stefan to raise an eyebrow at my words.

"WOAH, WOAH, WOAH," I sighed quietly and turned to Damon, "You've spoken to him before?"

Staying quiet for a moment, I decided not to answer that, knowing the two would only explode even further. At my silence, Damon threw his hands into his hair, turning around and letting out a blow of air in an attempt to calm down. Elena was about to interrupt and try to help them both calm down but I simply shook my head. She just gulped and began to walk back, knowing that I needed to sort this out with them by myself. She motioned her hands up, silently telling me she'd wait for me in my room before lightly jogging up the stairs. I watched after her, the silence engulfing the three of us once again

It didn't last long before he turned to me with angry eyes and an accusing glare. "Did I or did I not, tell you specifically not to talk to him? Hmm?"

Not answering again he groaned in annoyance at my new found silence. I just looked down at my shoes, feeling slightly guilty for not telling my brothers about Liam. They were only trying to look out for me. And with the whole Klaus being back and something apparently going on with Tyler and Alaric, they were already under a lot of stress and having to look out for their baby sister and make sure she stayed out of it all just added to that. And I wasn't exactly the easiest person to deal with. I didn't want to stay on the side lines and just watch, I wanted to get into it and actually do something to help. Not just sit there twiddling my thumbs like an absolute noob.

"How long?"

I looked up, my thoughts dissipating as I met the disapproving glare of my twin brother. Chewing on my lip slightly, the guilt only swelled at the sound of his voice. He sounded so disappointed and sad. "Hm?" I murmured quietly, still not having the guts to say something to either of them. They definitely knew how to get under my skin and really make me feel guilty, I swear to God.

"How long? How long have you been talking to him?" His voice was firm yet gentle. He sounded curious but I knew deep down he was trying not to explode.

"About a month or two." I mumbled weakly, fiddling with my fingers as I avoided his gaze.

"A mon-" He gasped, his eyes suddenly widening. "Okay, no, seriously, what the hell are you thinking, Brooklyn?" He snapped, his voice suddenly going from calm and collected to angry and irritable.

"I don't know, Stefan!" I snapped back, throwing an arm in the air in exasperation, watching silently as Damon leant against the fire place with his back to us as he took deep and calming breaths. "He's really not that bad."

"He's dangerous, Brook." Damon shouted darkly from across the room, his hands gripping the fireplace tightly as he still didn't turn to look at us.

"And how would you know that?" I challenged, narrowing my eyes.

I saw his jaw twitch in frustration. He did that all the time when I was younger, whenever I argued with him over something he thought he knew better. But he remained silent for a moment, judging whether or not I was going to continue this fight or not. Hell if I was giving up just yet.

"Don't argue with me on this, Brook." He warned, shaking his head as he clenched his jaw tightly. When I went to retort he closed his eyes in aggravation. "Please."

At that, I was slightly taken aback, raising my eyebrows as I looked at Stefan confusedly. Since when did Damon say 'please'? Oh wait...he didn't.

I felt a little flustered at his sudden plea and simply open and closed my mouth a few times, unsure of what to say as he turned his blue gaze to me, silently pleading me to put this to rest for the moment.

"O-Okay," I stuttered, pulling my sweater tighter around myself. 

He sighed in relief, running a hand through his hair as the tension that had built up in the room gradually began to dissipate. I felt suddenly relaxed now that we all weren't yelling at each other and at each other's throats.

There was a moment of silence and I licked my lips nervously, my eyes wandering around the room before landing on the small bottle of whiskey on the table. My eyes darted up to Damon questioningly. A small smirk spread across his lips and he scoffed lightly, slowly walking over to the table. I watched with a small smile as he poured the amber liquid into three of the smaller glasses that were spread across the wooden table. Placing the lid of the crystal bottle back on, he reached down and grabbed two of the glasses, extending his arm to offer both Stefan and I a glass in a small sign of surrender.

"Ignoring the argument for the moment," he began, shooting me a brief glare before smiling once again and nudging the glass into my hands, "let's have a drink, shall we?"

I shook my head at him, looking over to Stefan for approval. He glanced down at the alcohol for a moment, swirling around the glass before looking up at me, giving me a small smile and tilting his glass in a cheers. Knocking back the drink, I let out a noise of gratitude just as my brothers both swallowed it as well.

"Thanks guys." I said, smirking at the two as I gently placed the glass on the table. "And on that note, I shall be hitting the sack." I lied, knowing that Elena was going to want to talk when I headed back to my room. Dammint, what does a girl have to do just to sleep around here?

Stefan glanced over to me for a second, a brief look of concern covering his features before he walked over and embraced me in a quick hug.

"We're glad you're back."

I smiled and buried my face into his shoulder, the comfort of my twin's embrace welcoming and familiar.

"He's right, sis." Damon called out, pouring another glass of the drink back into his glass, raising it to his lips as our gazes locked. "It's good to have you back."

Smirking at him, I released my grip on Stefan hesitantly, knowing fully well that what they both meant was 'we're going to kick whoever took you's ass.'

I saluted the two with my right hand. "Adios, brochatchos'." And I slipped out of the room, ignoring the looks that crossed both of their faces as I disappeared.

It didn't take me long to climb the stairs and plod down the hall before I threw open my door and slammed onto my bed, a sigh of pleasure slipping past my mouth, slightly muffled. I heard Elena laugh as she joined me on my bed, crossing her legs as she leant against the headboard.

"How'd it go?"

"Dear God, don't get me started."

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So there you have it, my minions. It's finally out that Brook knows about Liam, oOOOH. Hope you all enjoyed it, because I've been writing this chapter for about 2 and a half hours believe it or not. I may or may not have got distracted with staring at Damon while trying to find a gif but that's besides the point bc I have a question to ask you;

so you guys have been asking me what Brook looks like quite a lot and of course, I have an image in my head but obviously I can't just whip up the perfect person that looks exactly like her in my head. So I want you guys to give me a few people (famous obvs like actresses or singers or whatever floats your boat) so we can have a face claim for brook and I can maybe make some manips lmao

((oh and I have a cover thread if any of you are interested in wanting a cover idk i'M SORRY))

For the next chapter:

- 65 votes

- 30 comments

oh yeah and that gif is basically the 'dafuq' expression that I imagine Damon to have during their little spat lolz

ily guys i really do, you guys are amazing and i love hearing from you guys so much

stay absolutely swegalish my lovelies

- Emma