"Where's Jenna?" I asked Jeremy as soon as everyone had left the room.
"She's dead, Elena." He told me, sending chills down my spine as soon as I remembered everything from a few hours ago...seeing my aunt turn to a gray as soon as Klaus had driven the stake through her heart.
"Oh yeah," was all I could say.
I looked at my little brother. My best friend, my partner in crime when I was little. Last year when my parents died, I had just thought of him as my little responsibility that my parents had left for me. Of course I loved him...but it wasn't until this moment that I realized just how important he really was to me. The only member left of my family. Even my screwed up father had left me. I guess John really had proven that he wanted the best for me. But he just had to go and die to prove that. I swear to God I am going to do anything to keep Jeremy alive.
"You hate me now, don't you?" I asked.
He looked up at me from where he was sitting and pressed his lips together. "Not you...just the fact that
Uncle John and aunt Jenna had to die for this. Would it be selfish if I said I'm relieved that neither of them were Bonnie?"
"That'd be like me saying that I'm relieved that it wasn't you, is that selfish?"
"I guess not. But it doesn't matter because we can't change it no matter what we do."
"Its my fault, I'm not going to deny that." I told him. Then I added, "Don't blame yourself or Damon or Stefan or anyone else for that matter."
"No, it's not your fault. It's Klaus's."
Tears welled up in my eyes when it finally settled in that Jenna really was dead. So was John. Jeremy was even younger than I was...and he'd been dealing with all this stuff for less time than I have. How did he feel about all of this? As soon as I had found out that Stefan and Damon are vampires, my brain had almost instinctively expected a few people to die, even people that were close to me. But I was thinking people more like Matt or Tyler, not Jenna or Jon.
"I am so sorry, Jeremy." I choked out before my throat closed completely. I tried to swallow the lump in it, but it was just to big. Almost like trying to swallow an apple whole.
"What about guardianship?" Jeremy wondered. "Just for the next two months until you turn eighteen, then you can take guardianship of me."
I recalled what Jenna had said about taking Jeremy and I in. About how she wasn't sure that she could do it, wasn't sure if she would. At that moment I wasn't sure if I could do it, but I knew that I would. Jenna had been alone while taking in two kids; fourteen and sixteen who wouldn't be able to take care of themselves all the time. She had to go from providing for one person to providing for three, four if you count how much Jeremy really eats. The difference for me is that I knew that, yes I was going to have to provide for him, but Stefan and Damon had plenty of money that they would gladly put in for Jeremy's welfare. He was only one teenager instead of two, and I definitely wasn't going to rAise him alone. We had the years od wisdom through Damon and Stefan, not to mention both of their cooking. There was also the legality of Alaric. Matt and Tyler would take him under their wing at school just like Caroline and Bonnie did right after my parents did. the point is that I was never going to be alone in this. But that doesn't mean that I wasn't scared out of my mind because I the end I really was the one responsible for him.
"The only two people that I can think of right now is Damon or Alaric." Jeremy pointed out. "I mean stefan technically is over the age of eighteen, but he's seventeen according to his current birth certificate. Damon is listed as twenty four. But Alaric is thirty eight, so he might be our best bet for now."
There was a knock at the door. Alaric was standing there with a saddened expression "Sorry, but I couldn't help but hear your conversation."
Jeremy made a motion telling him to come in and sit down. He took the invitation with a sigh of relief.
"Elena, if you think about it, I would have been your step dad if Isabel would have kept you." He told me. "and what Jenna never told you was that we kind of got married."
Jeremy and I met glances. Why were we never told about this?
"So I am legally you twos uncle. Though I'm not related to you by blood, I am legally. As your only remaining family member, I will take it as my responsibility to take care of you two until Elena is of age."
"You don't have to if you really don't want to." Jeremy reassured him.
"Forgive me for being sentimental. At first when Jenna and I started dating or whatever we were doing, I already considered you two almost my niece and nephew. When I realized that Elena is actually my step daughter, I immediately started recognizing her as exactly that. After Jenna and I got married in Vegas, both of you are almost like my kids. Since I've never had my own kids and I don't have any nieces or nephews by blood so I don't really know what it feels like. But I do remember what loving my parents was like. My love for you guys is just as strong as that."
Wow Ric was right when he said that he was about to be sentimental. Ric was never sentimental, except maybe with Jenna, but things are always different when you're in love with someone.
"What do you think Elena?" Jeremy asked me.
"I think that there's absolutely no way that I'm going to let Damon be in charge of my little brother. No offense Damon, you're great and all but no." I said, making attempt at humor but I completely failed.
"I'm going to have to take custody of you for the next two months then too, Elena." Ric pointed out. "But of course you can still live here. I know that would be beat for you. Jeremy, on the other hand, that depends on what you want to do. But I really doubt that you can live at Bonnie's place because if her parents."
"I think I might want to stay at your place after a week or so. Elena might need me for a while but I don't want to face the wrath of Damon every morning. Plus it might be awkward to be sleeping in the same house and my sister and her boyfriend."
He had a good point, it was already awkward with Stefans brother around all the time...listening to our every word And move. I suddenly felt very insecure. I had never really thought about the lack of privacy until now. Look how selfish I am; thinking about stupid stuff right after our aunt and uncle/dad just died. They had been wasted for absolutely nothing. Something worse than nothing.
Jeremy seemed to read my mind. "hey can I have a moment alone with my sister?"
Ric agreed and headed out of the room. Before he shut the door behind him he told me something. "Elena I have one request if I so this for you. I expect you to do what I say and not get yourself killed. Otherwise I don't care what you do. If I lose one more person, I'm not gonna be able to go on any longer. That foes for you too, Jeremy. Is that understood?"
We both nodded, shocked to see him give orders like that. He wasn't being mean at all, just afraid too lose us is all.
"They both loved you, you know that right?" Jeremy made sure that I had heard him.
I nodded, refusing to look him in the eyes. He sat next to me on the sofa stiffly and awkwardly.
"Why would you question your value like that?" he questioned me.
"Since when can you read my mind?" I demanded.
"I've known you my whole life, not to mention I've also lived with you my whole life. I think I would know you almost as well as I know myself." he reasoned, and I had to admit that he had a good point.
I stayed silent again.
"Look, everyone was willing to die for everyone. You were willing to die for everyone and everyone was willing to die for you. Someone was going to die from this whether you like it or not. You have no idea how relieved I am right now that it wasn't you."
"and visa versa."
We sat there for a while before he lifted my chin to make me look at him. There were tears in his eyes. That just made my heart break more than it Already was. It must had been shattered to pieces by now.
"Do you know how scared I was before you woke up? I thought that you were going to be gone for forever. That was a thousand tomes worse than when Damon broke the news about Jenna."
He broke down now. There was no hesitation as I wrapped my arms around him. I'd done this so many times now; several times the month that mom and dad died, after Vicki died and after Anna died. He wasn't emotional (though he did seem to be obsessed with the idea of romance a bit much for his age) rather it was just that the kid had been through way too much. He relaxed in my arms and laid his head down on my shoulder.
I stayed there like a stone for another minute, staying strong like I should be. But after that minute, it was my turn to break down and sob like a baby.
He sat up now to look at me. "You don't have to he strong for me Elena. Just let it all out."
Gently, he pulled my head down so that it rested on his chest. He sleeper kind of like dad did, all pepperminty. Thank God he didn't have the tobacco smell that my dad did, or he'd have some explaining to do.
So I did let it all out. He cradled my head and held me close like he was never ever going to let go. I held on to his sweat shirt for dear life.
my last blood related relative was right here. Though through blood we were first cousins it didn't matter. Our bond was too strong for cousins. We used to fight and we'll probably still have our quarrels in the future. But nothing was ever going to change the fact that we loved each other. I just wished we could say the same about Stefan and Damon. But I'm afraid that there's too much that even time couldn't fix.
Damon and Stefan in Stefan's room;
"Is that really true?" Damon walked into his brothers bedroom without permission. Stefan wished that vampires required a room invite too instead of just an invitation into the house. But of course that's how dear mother nature works and there's nothing you can do about it. Unless you had a nifty loop hole... Bonnie? He shook his head, too pointless for her to do that.
"Is what true?" he asked, just to buy time, he knew exactly what Damon was talking about.
"That we're never going to be like Jeremy and Elena. All the touchy feely crap? Are we really nevr going to be like that again?" for once, Stefan thought, he's actually being serious. Or was he being played.
"Are you saying that we should hug every morning? Oh are you going to read me a bedtime story every night?" Stefan wasn't sure if he should be serious or if he should joke around.
"Nah, every night for eternity is a a lot of stories. But you said something a while back about we have to work together to protect her no matter what. And for Elena, I'm willing to so that."
Damon really was being serious now.
"I know." Stefan replied.
"she wants us to get along you know?" Damon almost snorted. "Just think that a girl ripped us apart a century and a half ago and now her doppelgänger wants to glue it all back together."
"Maybe she has a point." Stefan was being very cautious so that he wouldn't sound like a preacher or a counselor. If he went too fast, Damon would run away.
"Well we do happen to be brothers. Plus we make a pretty kick ass team when we're teamed with Bonnie and Alaric."
"There's just one problem though. What about Elena?"
Damon sighed and picked up a bottle of Scotch and swigged some of it. "To be honest, I have tried to give her up, but I can't."
Stefan nodded. "You know I would tell you to go to he'll, but Elena seems to be falling for you a little bit at a time. So... I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I'm okay with that."
Damon seemed genuinely surprised at his brother. "You know it's highly unlikely that she'll end up with me. But if she does then I will understand if you're not able to stop being in love with her. Because I know it's impossible for me."
"Its not as unlikely as you think it is." Stefan admitted. "but we can't become like Elijah and Klaus. We cant hate each other so much to the point that we'll kill each other at any cost."
"Even you have to admit that I'm not as psycho as those two." Damon pointed out.
"Yeah but please don't ever go on another killing spree again." Stefan asked.
"Don't kill any more baby bunnies, I thin they're almost on the extinction list."
Stefan rolled his eyes and didn't bother to say anything because sarcasm was a part of Damon and it was one of the reasons that people loved him so much at times.
"I'll try to refrain myself." Stefan agreed, holding out his hand for Damon to shake. Stefan had to admit that he was a little surprised when Damon took it in a firm grasp and shook it hard.
The handshake was more than just a friendly gesture between brothers. It was the start of an invincible alliance. They may not be perfect. But the world knew that if these two teamed up together to protect Elena, ain't no one was going to stop them