The Vampire Diaries

"Ah, that's cool." She replied with a small smile, "You're house nice?"

"Wanna come check it out? Watch a movie or something?"

Camila nodded enthusiastically in response to that, "Yeah, sure... I only can for a few hours though, I have work later on." she explained quietly.

"Don't worry I'll get you there on time" he grinned getting to his feet and offering her a hand up.

((She human?))

(( I think so, either that or a witch and she doesn't know it, I haven't quite decided :L ))

"Mm, you better. I can't afford to miss work." She replied, taking his hand with a grin.

((Haha okay))

Matteo grinned pulling her to her feet and leading the way.

(( We haven't done the classics Vamp/Human story since Mal and Trin so I think it might be nice if she's entirely normal ))

Camila followed him silently.

((Sounds good to me xD))

Matteo lead her to the house and inside without a word.

Tatia sighed and frowned deeply. "If I could walk id kick his arse into gear for you."

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Eri held her hand out to him.

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"You won't."

Camila stepped inside and glanced aroud.

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"No you wouldn't," Astrid whispered quietly, "He needs people to be gentle with him, he's jumpy. Needs gentleness, not yelling and nagging…"

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Tamara let out a small sigh, nodding.

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Karl took her hand.

"Well this is it" he told her walking deeper into the house, where they'd be able to smell things baking and such.

Astrid just smiled a little bit at her mothers laugh, whispering, "Shorter hair suits him more, gives him more confident too. It's long at the minute, as you would imagine it'd be after he's gone through, but once he's feeling good enough to cut it…. It's like I'm one step closer to having him back, y'know?"

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"About three, four months." Karl replied quietly.

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"How're things with you and Adam?"

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"It's lovely, smells great." Canola grinned. "My grandmothers house used to smell like this constantly."

"Strained..." Olivia whispered. "Still. I realised the other day that things have been strained for longer than they haven't. We were only together around a decade before Kol went missing, and they're been strained since. If I'm being honest... Some times I feel like if it weren't for Zosia and Cole I'd have walked."

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Tatia just nodded at that. "You're lucky, I've been asking Nik to grow his hair for years."

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"And you're okay, one hundred percent with it?"

Matteo laughed quietly. "That would be my mom. She uh does a real lot of baking when she's not painting...it's kinda like a small business for her."

"What's been making them strained?" Tamara asked with a small frown.

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Karl nodded in response to that, "Yeah, I am."

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"I think lucky is the wrong word to use in the circumstances," Astrid pointed out quietly, "He went through hell, he won't tell me what exactly he went through but when he snaps he let's it slip. His fingernails got ripped out, he got skinned, had vervain shoved down his throat, injected with wolfs venom. I'm probably missing out some of the other things he said." Astrid whispered.

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Camila just nodded in response to that.

Tatia sighed in response to that.

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"He won't open up. Hasn't done for a while... Can't remember the last time he told me he loved me, can't remember the last time he held me, slept next to me in bed rather than as far away as possible. Didn't even ask me to put my engagement ring back on. Christ... When Cole was a baby. I thought he'd walk out on me we were that bad."

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Eri nodded and kissed his cheek.

"So what would you like to do?"

"Have you spoken to him about it?" Tamara asked quietly.

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Karl kissed her on the lips in return.

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"He has awful night terrors though, in first few days when he did get sleep he woke up screaming. That was awful because he wouldn't let me hold him.  Last night when I heard him tossing and turning I went in, he was sweating and shaking, I was so relieved when he let me hold him…. He calmed down, stopped shaking, relaxed…. Actually slept."

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"Movie?"

He nodded his head leading her upstairs to where his room was and opening the door for her.

Camels headed into the room silently.

"Of course not. He'd bite my head off."

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Eri kissed him back deeply.

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Tatia frowned as she listened.

He clicked on the light and pushed the door closed behind him. "There's uh a bunch of movies over there on the wall if you want to pick one."

"When he woke up and saw me there he freaked out a bit, but I think he was too tired to put up to much of a fuss... After some raised voices he kissed me, then we spoke for a little while and he fell back asleep next to me. I called Eri, asked her to come around to talk to him today - he's pushing people away, but people don't seem to understand that he's doing it because he's hurting and he doesn't want to hurt them, they're taking what he's saying to heart when they shouldn't be. When they need to be patient with him and talk to him and be there for him even if there is a door separating you, even if he's yelling at you to go because he needs to feel supported and loved for him to start to relax and open up. It works too, just being there, because he's getting better around me, he let's me sit next to him now, hold his hand… last night proved how much he appreciates people just being there. Then Eri walked out crying because Kol lashed out, then Karl yelled at Kol - hit a nerve with him…. Kol's drank himself to sleep now."

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"Maybe you need to talk to him."

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Karl pulled her closer.

Eri wound her arms around his neck.

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"Well at least he's making a small improvement, mm? Baby steps."

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"No. He'll make out like it's all in my head or something."

Astrid nodded in response to that, "When we first found him a Hope and Zacarias tried to break his neck to get him home, I had to break Zac's wrists when he went to do it to stop him. I don't know why people are finding it so hard to understand that none of us know what he went through, but it wasn't nice and violence and yelling and not supporting him is just going to make it worse. I don't understand why it's so hard for people to her there head around the fact that he needs people to try and b a little more caring and understanding at the minute."

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"You need to talk to him though,"

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Karl pulled her closer.