So here is part seven of ten. We`re getting closer to the end. Again I used a lot of the storyline and changed it slightly.

Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing.

Please let me know what you think.

What a day

Alaric was sitting at the bar and tried to ignore Damon, who was trying to coax the teacher into drinking with him. "I´m here to see Jeremy. Who is an hour late for his shift." he told the vampire. Of course Damon had to make fun of that. But Ric wasn`t in the mood for laughing. He showed Damon the boy`s latest paper, copied from the internet. "Ohh, somebody's getting grounded." Damon joked, causing Alaric to roll his eyes.

"I`m worried about him, Damon." he admitted, when a girl interrupted their talk and told them that Jeremy was fired last week. Now Ric was really worried. He walked over to Elena, who was sitting at a table with Bonnie and told her. She called Jeremy, but he didn`t pick up his phone, which worried both of them even further.

With a heavy sigh Damon promised to go looking for the wayward boy. Ric supposed he did it for Elena. While his relationship with the vampire had improved, he still wasn`t sure where they stood. Damon had stopped avoiding him and had even taken up the nightly visits again, though not as frequent as before. Somehow they had ended up at pretty much the same point they had been at before Chicago.

Watching Elena out of the corner of his eye, Alaric remembered the night after their failed attempt to kill Klaus. Damon had come to his room, rambling about Stefan and how he had betrayed them. "We thought of everything! Klaus having hybrids. Mikael turning on us. We brought in Katherine so Elena wasn`t in danger. Anything that could have gone wrong we were prepared! But not for Stefan turning on us!"

Ric had watched the vampire pacing in front of his bed. "Where`s Katherine?" The question hadn`t made Damon falter in his steps. "She ran for the hills like usual, the minute things got bad! And who blames her?! Klaus would`ve crushed her. I had him, Ric. I had Klaus! This could have all been over!" Damon had worked himself into a fit, so Alaric had finally stepped in his way to stop the pacing and pulled the vampire in his arms.

"Hey. Damon, listen to me! We`ll survive this. We always survive. Trust me. And we`ll find another way. Okay?" It had taken a long moment, but finally Damon had sighed and relaxed into his arms. Ric had no idea how long they had stayed like this, before the vampire had finally pulled away, stripped down to his underwear and crawled into the teacher`s bed like it was the most normal thing in the world.

He was brought out of his reverie by Elena who decided they should go home and wait for Jeremy. So they did just that. After discussing the best approach they finally agreed to make dinner and sit down with the teen to talk things through. It sounded like a good plan, but they probably should have known it wouldn`t be that easy. After all, when did things ever go like they planned?

When Jeremy finally appeared he tried to run out on them again before they had the chance to talk properly. "Ah, well I thought we would all stay in, have a meal together like a typical, atypical family." Ric tried to placate him. Jeremy only arched an eyebrow at that. "Why?"

"Maybe because you got fired and you didn't tell anyone." Elena tried the direct approach. Which failed as well. Jeremy told them in a bored tone he already had plans with Tyler, shocking both of them with the news that he was hanging out with the Lockwood heir. Elena tried to tell him that Tyler was dangerous, since he was sired by Klaus and had to do his bidding. "He can still hear you. He is right outside. Besides you of all people are going to lecture me on who I can and can't hang out with?" The teen grumbled at his sister and tried to leave, since Tyler was waiting for him.

Elena stepped in his way, telling him he wouldn`t go anywhere today, especially not with Tyler. Jeremy looked at Alaric for help, but the teacher backed her up. "I'm with her on this, Jer. Sorry." With a frown the teen gave up on trying to escape and shocked them by inviting Tyler into the house.

They were too late to stop it, so they had to deal with the hybrid sitting in their kitchen, trying to tell them Klaus wasn´t such a bad guy. "Tell me Tyler...What is the difference between being sired and being compelled?" Alaric asked him, truly curious. "Compulsion that´s just mind control - like hypnosis. And being sired is...it´s like faith. You do something because you believe it´s the right thing." Tyler tried to explain.

Alaric questioned him some more and was honestly a little freaked out by the answers the hybrid gave. Finally Tyler excused himself and the teacher turned to Elena to discuss this new development. "So, Tyler Lockwood is a lunatic who has access to our house." Elena commented sarcastically. Alaric shrugged. "This whole sire bond thing is... wild. I don't even think Tyler is fully aware of what little reason lies behind what he's saying. It's this weird cult logic." he mused.

Elena turned to adress Jeremy, but found that he was no longer there. Ric looked around and found his protection ring lying on the table. "That's his ring." he pointed. He and Elena looked at each other, an uneasy feeling creeping up on the teacher. Rushing outside they found Jeremy standing in the middle of the street. From there on everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

Ric saw the car speeding towards Jeremy, who made no move to get away. Without thinking he ran into the street and managed to push Jeremy out of the way at the very last second. Which meant that unfortunately the car hit him instead. He felt the sudden pain of the impact, felt himself flying through the air and then there was only darkness.

When he came to again he was lying on the couch. So obviously some supernatural being had been driving that car. Lucky for him. Sitting up with a groan he found Elena entering the room. She looked glad to see him alive. "How is Jeremy?" Ric asked the most important thing. "Hating me. Hating life. Hating the fact that we can't even have a family dinner without somebody dying before dessert." Elena quipped.

The teacher vaguely thought that a girl her age shouldn´t have such a sarcastic attitude already. She could almost rival Damon. Before he could comment on it however there was a sudden searing pain in his upper body and he started coughing up blood, shocking poor Elena. "Something's wrong! The ring!" he ground out, before collapsing on the floor. The pain almost too intense to bear.

From there on things got fuzzy again. He could hear a siren in the distance and then voices talking, probably about him. Then Elena was screaming, but he was too weak to help her. Too weak to even notice what was going on that had her so scared. He must have blacked out after that, because the next thing he knew he was waking up in a hospital bed, feeling surprisingly well.

After checking himself for injuries and finding none he stood up and got dressed. There was a strange aftertaste in his mouth that gave him a vague idea of what had happened while he was out of it. He stared at his ring, wondering why it hadn`t worked properly, if maybe he had used up all its magic, when the door opened and a female doctor entered.

"Mr. Saltzman. What are you doing up? You should be resting." she admonished. "Ah, I´m more of a walk it off kinda guy. Do I need to sign something?" he asked, getting ready to leave. The doctor told him the extent of his injuries, internal hemorrhaging, three broken ribs and a concussion, and insisted he had to stay so she could run some tests. Alaric refused her help and insisted on leaving, now certain what had healed him.

Finally she gave up. "Mr. Saltzman...what is your secret? Guardian angel or did you sell your soul to the devil?" she joked. He smirked at her and told her it was a little of both, while he thought of Damon.

Jeremy was waiting in front of his room and they left the hospital together. "So, the ring brought you back to life, but it didn't heal you. Does that mean it's broken?" the teen asked quietly. Ric shrugged. "I don't know. It's never happened like that before. I guess I have Damon's blood to thank for the fact that I'm still walking." It wasn`t really a question, but Jeremy nodded anyway. "He said to say you owe him a drink." Ric couldn´t help but chuckle at that. Typical Damon.

Looking sideways at Jeremy he noticed the frown on the teen´s face and asked if he was okay. "Why wouldn't I be? I shot a hybrid in the back and chopped his head off with a meat cleaver. Typical Sunday, huh?" the boy answered cynically. And once again it pained Alaric that someone so young had such a cynical outlook on the world. It just wasn`t fair.

And there really wasn`t much he could do about it, except offer that he would be there if the boy wanted to talk. "What could you tell me that I don't already know? This is the way things are. It sucks but- I just gotta get used to it." Jeremy told him with a shrug and left. Ric watched him go, wishing there was more he could do, but knowing there just wasn`t.

He returned to the Gilbert house to find Elena viscously scrubbing the front porch, with Damon watching her skeptically. "Hey Ric, back among the living?" the vampire called when he spotted him. Alaric nodded. "Yeah, I guess you expect me to thank you now?" There was a mischievous smile playing about the vampire`s lips, but it didn`t really reach his eyes and Ric could tell he was faking it, surprised himself that he could read Damon so well now.

Elena asked if he was really okay and Ric assured her that he was fine. They moved into the living room and she confessed that she had traded Rebekah for Jeremy`s safety. "What? No. No, you did not do that. She's going to come here and try and kill you!" Damon snapped. Alaric had to agree with him. But Elena insisted that Klaus had given her his word to take care of his sister. She asked about Stefan and Damon could only tell her that he was doing his own thing right now and he had no idea what his brother´s next move would be.

"Yeah. My brother just chopped off someone's head! It's not right. It's not fair. He's 16 years old. He shouldn't have to live like this. There has to be another way. We have to fix it." Elena was breaking down and Alaric felt at a loss. He was her guardian and he had no idea what to do. Feeling utterly helpless he looked at Damon, but the vampire just shrugged.

"He´s not safe here." Elena muttered and Ric had to agree with her. If only they could get Jeremy to leave town for a while. At least until this war with Klaus was over. Until they had found a way to get rid of the originals for good. But he would never agree to go. Not willingly at least. With a sigh he looked at Elena. "We should get him out of town for a while." he suggested. "I thought of that too, but he won´t do it. He won`t leave us alone to deal with Klaus."

"Not if we leave the choice up to him." the teacher said quietly. The meaning of his words wasn`t lost on the other two. Elena bit her lip, looking uncertain. "Ric is right. If you want him to be safe..." Damon murmured.

After a second she nodded. "Okay. Let`s do it." She and Alaric walked up to Jeremy`s room. "Hey. Can we talk?" she asked softly. "Ahh- what did I do now?" It sounded only half joking. Elena reminded her brother of the things he had said earlier, about packing up and leaving. Jeremy told her he didn`t mean it, but she interrupted him. "But you were right. You shouldn't have to give up a normal life- just because of me."

Alaric could see that Jeremy was getting suspicious and motioned for Damon to enter. "Your sister thinks we should have another one of our talks." the vampire announced. He sat down in front of Jeremy and compelled him to leave town for a while. "You're going to stay with some nice family friends in Denver, you're going to be at a new school, you'll meet new girls, living girls. You're going to drink a few beers, take an art class. You do whatever you want." the vampire murmured in a hypnotic tone. "Tell him he's going to leave Mystic Falls behind and never think twice about it." Alaric spoke up suddenly. Damon did as he was told.

When they left Jeremy`s room Elena was crying. She went out to the front porch and Damon followed her. Alaric listened to him consoling the girl, telling her she saved her brother by sending him away. He was just about to go up to his own room, when Damon suddenly said: "You should know this, Elena. Stefan didn't screw us over. He screwed us over but he had a good reason. He saved Klaus to save me. Then he stole the coffins to get even."

Alaric paused, shocked at the news. So Stefan was still on their side? Elena seemed just as surprised. "What? Damon, if he did it to protect you then... Why would he even do that? What does it even mean?"

"It means you were probably right when you said my brother loves me." Damon answered quietly. After that it was silent outside and a quick look out of the window told Ric that the vampire had left. Deciding that he`d had enough drama for one day he headed upstairs and went to bed.

It was way past midnight when Alaric woke up to the feeling of being watched. He opened his eyes and found Damon lying in bed beside him. "What`s up with your ring?" the vampire asked, causing Ric to sigh. "I don`t know. Maybe it only works for a certain amount of time. Maybe I used up all the lives I had." he muttered, not in the mood to talk about his stupid ring right now. It had been a long and awful day and all he wanted was sleep.

"I`ll have to look after you better. We can`t have you getting killed all the time with the ring not working right." The teacher raised an eyebrow at that statement. "Is that what you`re doing here? Looking after me?" The thought sent a thrill through him that he desperately tried to trample down. He was Damon`s friend. His only friend. Nothing more.

The vampire didn`t answer. Instead he leaned closer and pressed his lips to Alaric´s. After a few seconds the teacher gently broke the kiss. "I`m tired, Damon." he whispered apologetically. Damon didn`t seem mad. He just nodded and put his arms around Alaric. "Sleep." he ordered softly. Ric closed his eyes and snuggled closer to the vampire. He fell asleep again quickly, feeling strangely secure in Damon´s arms.