Jenna was flicking through the pages of her magazine mindlessly when Elena opened the front door.

"I don't set a lot of rules, Elena. Not with you." She said, getting up from the couch. "I trust you to tell me the truth. Where were you and why did you lie to me about it? I thought that we were closer than that."

"Now is not the time you want to talk to me about lies."

"Don't do that. Don't turn this back on me. I didn't do anything."

"Ok, question: am I adopted? I trust you to tell me the truth too, Jenna. How could you not tell me? I thought we were closer than that." Elena retorted before climbing up the stairs away from her aunt.

"Elena, I didn't... they asked me not to."

"I don't want to hear it." She replied without even turning back to look at Jenna. If she had done, she would have seen the tears forming in her eyes at the thought of hurting Elena with the truth about her parents and having to reveal her deepest and darkest secret to the young girl.

For the next couple of days, both women tried to avoid each other, each wanting time to understand and process what had happened. Jeremy noticed the tension but figured that it would be best to stay out of whatever argument they were having, assuming that hormones were most likely involved and that the problem would solve itself soon enough.

The day of the 50s decade dance was the first time since their argument that Elena and Jenna had managed to have a proper conversation. Jeremy was out and they had the house to themselves.

"Why didn't you tell me, Jenna?" Elena asked.

"Your mom was going to do it eventually. I never thought I'd have to." Jenna admitted.

"If my mom were here right now and I asked, she'd tell me the truth."

"I know." She replied, hanging her head slightly. "I'm just not sure you'd want to know the truth."

"I deserve to know who my real parents are." Elena argued.

Jenna sighed, knowing that she wouldn't let this go until she found out the truth.

"Look, why don't we go to the dance and have a good night and then I promise when we get back I'll tell you everything I know about your birth parents." She reasoned. She knew the magnitude of what Elena was asking her to tell her and didn't want to ruin the young girl's evening when she should be having fun with her friends.

"Ok." Elena agreed, grabbing her purse and leaving the house as quickly as possible.

Later that evening, once the dance had finished, Jenna allowed Alaric to walk her home. She wanted more than anything to invite him inside and postpone the inevitable conversation with Elena but knew that it was best to get it over with. Besides, this was the sort of conversation best had whilst sober. Jenna knew that if she waited any longer she'd probably start to drown her sorrows in alcohol as she had been doing for the past couple of days once Elena and Jeremy were asleep.

She opened the front door and stepped inside their warm house, a pleasant change from the cold January weather. Looking around, she found Elena sat on a stool at the island in the kitchen, nursing what she hoped was just a glass of coke.

"Did you have fun at the dance?" She asked when Elena turned around to face her, having heard her opening the door.

"Yeah." She lied, hoping that she didn't have to expand on the night, given the vampire-related drama that had occurred only a few rooms down from her oblivious aunt and classmates. "I see Mr Saltzman walked you home?" She asked.

Jenna nodded, grabbing an empty glass from one of the kitchen cupboards and pouring herself some water. She had decided to stick to her earlier plan of not drinking any alcohol until she'd spoken to Elena.

"Are you going to tell me about my birth parents?" Elena asked, not wanting to put the conversation off any longer with small-talk.

'This is it', Jenna thought to herself. She nervously looked down, suddenly finding the hem of her shirt very interesting.

"What do you want to know?" She asked.

"Their names, what they were like, how my parents adopted me, why I was given up for adoption in the first place..." Elena listed.

"Well when she had you, your mother was... she was very young." Jenna started. "She was only fifteen. Your dad delivered you and the girl admitted that she wasn't ready to raise a child. She was still in school and alone. Her parents didn't want to know her anymore and your birth father had left her when he found out that she was pregnant. Your mom and dad fell in love with you immediately and agreed to raise you. They'd wanted a child for so long and were having problems conceiving." She explained. "They put their names on the birth certificate and raised you as their own."

"Did she ever say who my real father was?" Elena asked.

"No, only that he was a couple of years older and was going off to college."

"So my mom was just some teenage slut then." She concluded, angrily. "She never wanted me and dumped me on my parents the first chance she got."

Jenna's eyes started to fill with tears at this comment but she took a deep breath and tried not to let them fall.

"It wasn't like that, Elena. She just wanted what was best for you and a chance to live her own life."

"Then what was it like, Jenna? How do you expect me to believe that she cared about me?"

"Because she was always watching over you." Jenna replied.

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do. She only ever wanted to make sure that you had everything you needed in your life. And you got that, with your parents."

Elena thought about this for a moment. It was true; she'd had a good life growing up with her parents. It didn't matter who her birth parents were because the Gilberts were here real family. That didn't mean that she wasn't curious about her biological parents. Half or her was happy that her parents might be alive but another part of her just wanted to meet them and find out why they abandoned her.

"Do you know her name?" Elena asked. "I think I'd like to meet her."

Jenna took a deep breath and looked away from Elena before answering, not daring to see the look on her face when she learned the truth.

"Her name is Jenna." She admitted as she allowed a single tear to escape from her eyes and fall down her cheek.

A/N: What do you think? Is this worth continuing? I'd love to read your comments :) xxxxxx