Title: Missing scenes

Summary: 2x20 missing scenes after the kiss and before Alaric left to find Damon

Characters: Jenna/Alaric

Spoilers: 2x20

Timeline: 2x20

Disclaimer: I do not own anything or anyone, only the plot bunnies, and some of you know what they look like ;)

Author's Note: I'm depressed, crashed and devastated, and I'm going to break down, like, now. And since TVD should last at least 2 hrs instead of 42 mins, I had to write this little piece.

They ended up in the living room eventually. Alaric took a seat on the couch and pulled Jenna down, her back resting against his chest and his arms wrapped around her. Right this moment all he wanted to do was hold her like that for the rest of his life.

It felt surreal. Having this black hole is his mind was one hell of confusion. All the days he hadn't been… well, himself, he simply couldn't wrap his head around it. But this? Jenna knowing everything? Jenna pointing a freaking crossbow at him? Now that was blowing his mind away. He chuckled inwardly at the latter. Should've known she'd come around fast and demand for a weapon, shouldn't he? De-briefing was still a must on his side, Alaric decided, before she actually harmed someone, or herself. Just to be safe.

But that was minor, really. Everything was minor compared to holding her in his arms right now. This longing was bittersweet and almost painful – he missed her so much, and he didn't even realize it until she smiled at him up at the gallery and told him she was glad he was okay. Or maybe his mind was just blocking it for his own sake before he'd actually lost the remains of his sanity. And if she didn't… if she didn't come around, he'd do anything and everything to prove that he loved her more than life.

Right now though, all that mattered was that she was safe, and she was with him, and they were okay, or at least as close to okay as they could be in given circumstances. And the whole world could fall apart this very moment – he couldn't care less. For once he needed to just be with her, feel her, and not give a damn about anything else. It was enough that his stomach was twitching every time he thought about Klaus coming after her. Klaus using his body to come after her… Alaric's insides twitched,

It was stupid – so, so stupid to keep all of that away from her. Thing was – he didn't know how to tell her the truth, which of course was the lamest excuse ever. Many times he tried to create the scenario in his head – what would he say? How would she react? Would she understand him? Would she hate him? What would it mean to them? But now all of that didn't matter anymore, and all he knew was that he'd never felt so relieved in his life. He hated lying to her, hated every single half-truth he had to tell her thinking he was doing it for her own good. And more than everything, he hated knowing that she trusted him and he was breaching it. He hated himself to pieces for doing this to her.

How could he not see she'd understand? How on earth could he not see it from the start? He was such an idiot putting them both through this mess and having to deal with the consequences instead of coming clear months ago and saving them the trouble.

Absently, Alaric ran his hand up and down Jenna's arm, holding her even closer. His lips brushed lightly against her head as he breathed in delicate scent of her hair, a mix of her shampoo and sweet flowery perfume. Something that was etched into him forever. God, he loved her so much! And he was going to keep her safe now, properly. He was not going to let anything happen to her ever again.

"Is he going to be okay?" Jenna asked if a little absently in a low voice, her eyes flickering to the ceiling.

"Stefan?" Ric's breath tickled her temple. "Yeah, he'll be fine. The vampires heal fast, and with the blood to escalate the process he'll be as good as new within an hour." His hand covered hers. "You okay?"

She let out a small chuckle. "Still processing. All of it." Look up to meet his eyes. "A week ago I'd say it was insane, but now… well, it's still too much." Jenna scooted closer into him. "But… it is settling, gradually. Does it get any better? With time, I mean."

Alaric's lips curved into a rueful smile. "Not really," he admitted. "You just… get used to it." He fell into silence for a few moments, bracing himself. "I'm sorry for keeping it from you, Jenna. I should've known better than that—"

"A head-start on your wife's possible appearance could be nice," Jenna said, making him flinch. "And there was a minute or two, or a few hundred, when I wanted to rip your head off for it," she continued. "But when Elena told me about you being possessed, and I thought you could be hurt or… worse," she choked and swallowed the lump that stuck in her throat at the memory, "I don't want to lose you, Ric."

"You won't," Alaric promised, kissing her hair again. "Never."

"You know what?" She broke the silence after a little while. "You could have told something less… well, personal to prove that it was really you," she said, still not sure if she was more embarrassed or amused by the details he was eager to reveal to the audience. "Something that wasn't—" M-rated. Okay, she was kind of out of ideas here, what with her mind being slightly preoccupied with, like, a million of other things.

"Well, you wanted a solid proof, right? Something that only the two of us knew." Hell, he was amused by how easy it was to make her blush in the end.

"And Jeremy," Jenna reminded him.

Ric laughed softly. "I doubt he was walking around and telling people about witnessing his aunt making out with his history teacher. It was pretty safe."

This made her grin. "You did it on purpose, didn't you?"

"You had a crossbow pointed at me," Alaric shook his head. "If anything, I would've managed to distract you, perhaps."

"Fair is fair! You pointed a knife at me after freaking hell out of me by the vampire talk."

Yeah, he heard that story, too. And the mention made chill trickle down Alaric's spine. She could have been hurt. She could have been dead if Stefan wasn't there with her when it happened. Ric swallowed and tightened his grip on her when Jenna shivered a little, obviously thinking about the same thing.

"I am so sorry you had to go through it," he whispered and let out long weary sigh.

"It wasn't you," Jenna murmured. "It wasn't your fault."

"But you thought it was me."

And he didn't want to think about what she was seeing when she was looking at him now. What she was thinking back then, when it happened. She didn't know the truth. She thought he was trying to scare her, hurt her.

"All I knew is that you seemed to be on some drugs," she joked trying to lighten up the mood. She found his hand and linked their fingers, wondering if there were any words of reassurance to make him feel better about all of it.

"Well, you can call it that." Ric stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. "Did I mention you looked hot with deadly weapon?"

Jenna giggled. "I killed the lamp in my room when Stefan was showing me how to use it. It was fun though."

"Brutal death," he snorted. "We'll go through some basics again when we have time, okay?"

"Are you going to teach me?"

"I am not going to let you anywhere near the real fight, if that's what you're asking," Alaric pointed out. "But we don't want to damage the furniture, even the evil one, do we?"

Another burning lump formed in her throat. Jenna squeezed his hand and looked up at the outline of his profile again, taking in every single detail, as if trying to memorize them forever. "I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you."

The words were out of her mouth before she knew she was actually speaking, and Jenna only realized it when he fixed his gaze on hers, his expression changing from amused to… indescribable.

Alaric reached out and stroked her cheek gently, his eyes wandering around her face. "I love you," he said quietly, his voice thick with emotions. "And I will always be here." He traced her jaw-line gently with the back of his fingers. "I am so sorry for putting you through all of this. All I ever wanted was to make it right. To keep you out of it. And I screwed it up. But it's going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay now. I promise you, Jenna. We're going to make it right this time."

"I'm scared."

Her fingers closed around the sleeve of his shirt, holding tight. There was nothing else in the world that she wanted more than him to hold her tight and never let go. With Elena, she had to be strong. She had to be a grown-up, a protector. She had to have clear mind and know that she was doing the right stuff to protect her niece, her family.

With Ric though, she wanted to be weak. She wanted to be protected. She wanted to know that she wasn't all alone. It was still new – too new – and so, so hard to absorb. But having Alaric there – after all the hours she had spent going crazy and thinking she might never see him again – was like a breath of fresh air. He was giving her comfort and hope that everything would actually work out eventually. And how could it not when he was holding her like that, and she was feeling his breath on her skin and the steady beating of his heart at her body? How could things go wrong now?

"I know," he breathed out, his hand running absently along her arm. "But when this is over, we'll do something fun, okay? Just you and me."

"Do you think this will ever be over?"

"Yes, it will."

They both turned around to the sound of the footsteps, frowning slightly when Stefan and Elena walked in.

"Is everything okay?" Jenna asked if a little cautiously. Alaric's fingers flexed around hers.

"Yeah," Stefan nodded curtly. Gave Elena a quick look before turning back to her and Alaric. "We'll—we'll go out for a while."

"Now?" Jenna's frown deepened slightly. The idea of locking Elena in the basement for a year or two was still fresh and appealing. Out? Where the danger was?

"Just need some fresh air," Elena assured her on a small smile. "We'll be back soon, promise. You guys are going to be okay?"

"Sure," Alaric nodded after a short hesitation.

"Okay then," Stefan started pulling her away. "See you later."

Once they were gone, and the front door closed behind them in the hall, Jenna sagged against him again.

"They are going to be fine," Ric murmured softly against her temple.

"Can't we all just be fine?" She whispered back, not really convinced.

Alaric's chuckle brushed against her skin. "And wouldn't it be too boring?"

It made her smile. "I could do with boring."

He sighed then. "Look, do you mind if I go and find Damon before he did something stupid again?"

Jenna hesitated for a moment. Selfishly, she wanted to have him all for herself, if only to be sure that he was safe, and alive, and unharmed, and whatever else. Because she wanted to have him to herself, period! But for some reason that was still a mystery at times to her, Damon was Alaric's friend, and with all the tension hanging in the air lately, she knew that Ric was right in his worries. In the back of her mind Jenna knew that the vampire meant well. The problem was that he didn't always know how to get to that "well" without leaving a bloody trail behind him. He was unstable lately, and probably needed some company and someone to keep an eye on him before something bad happened. And knowing that Ric didn't really take the whole possession thing easily, she didn't want him to blame himself if something happened to Damon, too.

"Sure," she said at last with a bit too much easiness than she was feeling, hoping she managed to mask her disappointment.

"It won't take long," he told her as they got up. "I will just make sure he's not bringing even more trouble on all of us, and then I'll be back."

"Take your time," she smiled, looking up at him. "I'm not going anywhere."

Alaric pulled on his jacket and looked thoughtfully towards the hall, torn between friendship duty that was pushing him to leave and overwhelming desire to stay, waiting for one or the other to win. Damon was a big boy, for heaven's sake, and after 150 years he should have learned that actions normally led to consequences. Okay, Ric was getting it – heightened feelings, overflowing emotions, blah, blah, blah. But he wasn't five!

Yet, if it was Alaric who was going to lose the woman he loved, he thought, he had no idea how he'd be dealing with it, what with all the half-assed plans they were having, none of them safe and solid enough to reassure any of them. It was different. Besides, he knew that Jenna was safe here, no vampire could enter the house, and he'd be back before she even knew, right? And he'd make sure he wouldn't let her out of his sight until Klaus was dealt with for good.

"Just stay here, okay?" He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's the safest place now."

"I know," Jenna nodded. "Elena told me how it works. Besides, Elijah is somewhere here, so…" she trailed off. "I'll be fine. Still, we will probably need a secret password, just so I know it's really you when you come back." She grinned slyly. "Don't you think?"

Alaric returned it. "How about our second date?"

On impulse, and still grinning, Jenna grabbed him by his jacket and pulled him down until his lips met hers in a long, searing kiss. She let him deepen it, their breaths mingling and their heartbeats escalating by the moment. It was like a gulp of water in the desert, carrying both desperation and promise, hunger and fragility. As if it could have been taken away from them any moment and they needed to take just as much of it as they possibly could.

Jenna felt Ric rake his fingers gently through her hair, and had to fight hard to stop herself from asking him to stay. Damon Salvatore wasn't her problem! But she swallowed the words, knowing it wasn't the right time. They'd have their moment, they'd have so many of them!

Breathless, he pulled away and pressed his lips to her forehead, his arms closing around her. "I missed you so bad."

"I missed you, too." Jenna muttered into his chest, her voice weak and muffled and her head spinning a little. She stepped back after a little while, her smile one hundred percent warm and genuine this time. "Take care, okay?"

"I will," Alaric smiled back. "And you wait for me here."

"I will."

#VivaLaJenna!