Title: Love Walks In
Author: raindroproses
Rating: PG
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries

Pairing: Alaric/Jenna
Spoilers: Just vague ones for episode 1x09.
Warnings: None, just pure schmoop :)
Word Count: 556
Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) don't own Alaric or Jenna or the fantastic show that I've stolen them from here. I just borrowed them for a bit to let them play around my sandbox. And f I made money off of this stuff, I wouldn't be living in Michigan :P
Summary: Jenna reminisces about the night she met Alaric.
Notes: Written for my schmoop bingo card on Livejoural, for the square "love at first sight." This is written in first person, Jenna's point of view. It's also my first Alaric/Jenna fic, and my first ever TVD fic... but hopefully that doesn't show! The title comes from my favorite Van Halen song of the same name. Comments are love, as always :)

I knew it from the moment I saw him sitting there at the Mystic Grill... all tall, dark, and handsome and nicely dressed in his blue button-up that wasn't nearly buttoned up enough to hide what was underneath... I was in serious trouble.

Was he my type? Was he "Jenna Sommers" material? I don't know. I'm not even sure that I have a type, to be honest. There was just something about this man... this Mr. Saltzman, a name Jeremy had so kindly supplied me with when I was only half paying attention. There was an unspoken confidence about him... I could tell by the way he carried himself. It wasn't often I saw a man dining alone, and I admired that. I think I may have even mentioned it to my nephew while absentmindedly eyeballing his teacher from across the table, I can't remember now. All I remember is wanting to know him... wanting to know his story, and wanting to know how such a handsome man had wound up flying solo that night.

"Well, I can introduce you..." Jeremy had said, obviously knowing something was up. Was I really that transparent?

I thought about it for a quick moment before shaking my head, dismissing his offer. There were at least a half dozen reasons for me not to get involved just floating through my head at that point. After all it was too soon after Logan, wasn't it? And my outfit... I'd dressed to have a nice, relaxing dinner with my nephew, not to impress some hunk of a teacher who'd probably want nothing to do with me in the first place. Which brought me to another thing I didn't like to mention... my unshakable nerves. Ever since Logan dumped me the second time around, I've had a hard time with men... I've kept my distance on purpose, always looking out to make sure no one got that close again... close enough to matter... close enough to hurt me. I guess my confidence took flight with Logan when he took off again.

But for every reason I found not to meet the gorgeously intriguing man sitting just tables away from me, I found a reason to doubt myself. After all, was it ever too soon to erase a bad memory and replace it with a good one? And a man worth my time wouldn't comment on my less than stellar wardrobe choice, or give me a reason to feel threatened or hurt... certainly all men couldn't be like Logan, right?

Well as fate would have it, I didn't even have to leave my seat to find out.

"Alaric Saltzman... it's nice to meet you," he'd said, after Jeremy introduced me against my will.

I'll be honest, it felt awkward for a moment... it wasn't all sunshine and rose petals from the beginning. But from the moment I looked up at him and our eyes met, I knew. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was different... that he wasn't Logan, or John, or any of the other mistakes I'd made in my life... that there was something between us, some kind of unexplainable draw that had my mind reeling and my heart pounding like a ridiculously hormonal teenager again.

I wasn't just in trouble... I was in love.