hey it's good to be back home again

[somanyadjectives]

[It's been a while since Stefan has been back in Mystic Falls, but he wasn't going to miss the twins graduation. He knew that coming home was going to be complicated. He was bringing his girlfriend to meet people. He was bracing himself for Damon's judgement about him dating a vampire slayer the entire ride from the airport.

What he hadn't expected, was getting ambushed at a gas station while filling up his car by a hunter.

According to Damon, there haven't been hunters in Mystic Falls in years. They knew that the school would be a beacon, but they also took precautions for that to protect the kids. Most hunters understood that they were trying to reduce deaths, rather than concentrate them. This isn't to say that Mystic Falls is perfect, but they're doing better than they used to.

Stefan doesn't kill him. He's caught off guard enough that he doesn't immediately go for the kill, and Buffy catches the hunter off guard enough that the guy decides to retreat and regroup rather than push his luck against a slayer and a vampire. This isn't, unfortunately, before he manages to plug Stefan with a few wooden bullets. And those hurt like a mother.]

Gotta love coming home.

[He groans as he sinks back against the car, trying to keep an eye on their surroundings, before glancing down at the bleeding holes in his shirt.]

I liked this shirt.

Comments

[attainathons]

( Buffy heard from minute one that Stefan's brother had changed, and Stefan had been the more famous brother, anyway. The Ripper of Monterey. She may have had a certain reaction to Stefan, too, touring what might have been a haunted castle. (It wasn't.) And it was less "Get out" and more, "Shut. Up." It's not like Stefan said anything.

Buffy has tangled with her fair share of vampires, yes, in that way, but she doesn't have a type, thanks. Remember Satsu? So, anti-type that she's not admitting she has. Types can be circumstantial, and Spike is her own thing she only speaks to her closest friends about. And barely at that.

Like it goes with Buffy, fighting on the same team and offering him a temporary position with them turned into late work nights and weeknights. Fighting turned to flirting. And there wasn't anything that Stefan held back. Buffy didn't have to adjust. It was an adult relationship. To simply put it, she feels like she's baking - but the baking is ongoing. Maybe she'll never be cookies. She's a work in progress.

And so is Stefan.

The months move quickly (the year?), that Buffy accepts the invitation to see his nieces graduate. She even promises to keep her slaying to a minimum. Strictly graveyard - and that's only if she needs to.

The flight is long, but she spends it on Stefan's shoulder. Or, she reads up on one of the ops currently going. She promised to keep work to a minimum. It doesn't count on the plane. She's only woken up one time from Willow's telepathic link to her and Xander. And to good news.

While Stefan gasses up the rental car, Buffy goes inside to pay. And then she grabs a magazine. And a candy bar. Oh and two bottles of water.

Coming around to the side pump again, she drops her bag when she sees Stefan in combat. The hunter tries to run off, but Buffy's there in a second, trading her own blows. At one point, she's hit, hard enough to knock her back a few steps. And that's when the hunter empties a clip into her boyfriend's chest.

The hunter rushes off and Buffy rushes to Stefan's side. )

I bought you this shirt.

( Not that it's the biggest concern she has. The way he seethes, she knows.

She lifts his shirt up, the blood soaking most of the front quickly. Yeah, this top's a goner. )

Hell of a welcome wagon. ( Delicately, she touches around Stefan's wounds. ) Did he use wooden bullets? Come on, you need to be on your back. We have to get those out. Right?

( She tries cradling him and helping him down to the ground. She's not the most versed in Stefan's magical vampire line (that's what Willow calls it, the line of vampires created by magic). While Willow draws her power from the Earth, the witches Stefan knows draw power from their ancestors, the Earth, conduits. She's still keeping up with the differences. )

a call | to elena gilbert

[unforgivably]

( The busy doctor gets a voicemail. )

Stefan and his new girlfriend, Buffy were attacked at a gas station. I'm meeting them at the house. I still haven't memorized your schedule, I should apologize, but instead, I'm just going to tell you, call when you get this. You know where we'll be.

[braveandstupid]

[The next morning, as promised, once she's well-rested and feeling her most human, she makes her way out to the gas station in question to do some investigating for herself. It's not hard to find the spot where Stefan was shot - there's blood on the pavement where the car had been sitting the night before.

She glances around, trying to see where the hunter's car might have been hiding, before making her way into the convenience store to she if she can persuade the clerk into letting her see the security tapes.

It's not going well. When the convenience store door opens again, the person who enters likely can hear her almost pleading:]

Please. I just heed a quick look to see if I can get a license plate for my insurance.

[somanyadjectives]

[After Elena's text, Stefan finds a moment to excuse himself again and steps to the side to make a phone call. It makes sense that she'd ask him to do it, he just hopes that Katherine actually picks up her phone.]

[toomuchheart]

[And, out of nowhere, because I do what I want, a man in a trenchcoat appears on Damon Salvatore's doorstep.

He doesn't make a move to knock on the door, or anything that an ordinary person would do, he just appears, stands there and waits.

Because that's not suspicious at all.]