The Return

I was starting to get to know the airport in a way I didn't want. But it was only natural for one to start exploring after two and a half hours of sitting in the corner like a lost puppy.

I was there only once before, when I was flying to New-York a few weeks after it happened, and at the time the only thing I was capable of was walking to the plane and as far away from this place as possible. Now, I was somewhat alright, and my natural curiosity had kicked in.

But so had my anger.

"I'm going to kill her…" I muttered under my breath, looking at my phone for the millionth time, watching the all too familiar Calling Elena on the flat screen. A few second later it went once again into voice mail, and I hung up, not even waiting for the lady's voice to finish the instructions of leaving a message.

The funeral must have already started. And I was stuck here. Waiting for my sister. Who was not going to show up.

It was unlike her, ditching someone. Elena was always the perfect girl, kind and caring, rushing to help anyone she could. But then again, what had happened might've changed her, like it changed me. So I really didn't know what to think.

Twenty minutes later, I thought I was imagining things when the words showed up on the screen. I was so surprised I even forgot to sound angry. "Hello?"

"Ohmygod Jess! I'm so sorry! I'm getting in the car right now-"

"No need to do that." I remembered to be angry this time. "You see, after waiting for three hours and talking to Jenna who couldn't come because you took the car, I ordered a cab that is going to cost me god knows how much." The driver looked at me in the rearview mirror and smiled apologetically.

"I'll pay for the cab!" Elena sounded so very regretting, and the anger started melting away.

"What happened that you couldn't even call?" I huffed into the phone, running a hand through my hair.

"John got stabbed."

"John? Uncle John?" Now that was a surprise. It seemed as if the last few days in Mystic Falls were packed with disasters. "How?"

"We don't know. John didn't see his face." There was a slight pause. "I'm heading home now, and then I'm driving Jenna and Jeremy to the funeral. When are you going to get there?"

"Uh, half an hour I think. Maybe forty minutes."

"Good, good. I'll meet you there. And I'm really, really sorry Jess!"

I rolled my eyes at my sister's desperation, but smiled nonetheless. "All will be forgiven after you make it up to me."

"I'll think of something."

"Bye, love you sis."

Half an hour turned into forty five minutes, but when I arrived at the Lockwood Manor there were still a lot of people, which made sense, considering it was the Mayor who had died. Practically all of Mystic Falls had gathered.

It was kind of awkward to walk among all these grieving people with a suitcase. I encountered some judging stares, and even Tyler raised a brow as he surveyed me.

"I came here straight from the airport, don't judge." I explained, putting the suitcase aside and reaching for a tight hug that the boy accepted gratefully. "I missed you Ty. Sorry for your loss."

"Thanks Jess." He smiled somewhat sadly. "Good to see you here. It's been months. You missed the sexy car wash."

I faked a devastated face. "Uh, dang! How could I miss that? All those sexy shirtless jocks… thought you would have been there to ruin the view, so it wasn't too much of a miss, I guess."

"Not cool, Gilbert." He made an offended face. "It's not like you are that much of a delight to look at."

I mirrored his face. "Not cool, Lockwood." He smirked at me and I considered making him a little bit less sad a mission accomplished. "Can I put the suitcase somewhere?"

"Sure. Come on, we can steal my dad's booze supply."

Frankly, I had mixed feelings about drinking a dead person's alcohol, but Tyler seemed pretty fixed on the idea. "Just like old days. Good to be back."

Tyler was kind enough to carry my suitcase for me, and now that I wasn't worried about tripping on it, I spent the walk to Mayor Lockwood's office texting Elena and announcing that I had arrived.

I received a text from my twin pretty quickly.

Gettin into the car with Jenna and Jer. B there in 5.

Satisfied with the answer, I turned my attention back to Tyler, who had already put my luggage aside in the corner of the room, and was now taking the flask of liquor from its regular hiding spot in the desk.

"I can't even count how many times we have done this." I commented, taking off my coat and sitting down on the coach. Tyler joined me a second later, handing the flask over to me.

It was whiskey, I learned after the first sip. There were many shitty things about the Mayor, but damn, did he have a nice taste in booze. I took another sip and sighed in relaxation. "How are you? Elena told me that you, Caroline and Matt were in an accident." I really freaked out when I heard it. I used to be extremely close to both Tyler and Caroline before leaving.

"I'm fine." Tyler took much bigger sips than me. Then again, he also needed it more than me. "Matt broke his arm, Caroline was put in the hospital but I heard she's better."

"I'm glad." I replied, before lying on his knees like I used to do. The familiarity was more comforting than I had thought.

"How's New-York?"

"Fine, I guess. I thought it would be much more challenging, but it's not that much different from the school here."

Tyler just chuckled, ruffling my hair. "That's because you're a total nerd. Have you ever gotten anything lower than an A?"

"As a matter of fact, Tanner used to give me B- all the time."

"Oh, what a shame. How could you show your face in public after that."

"Shut up Tyler." I flicked his arm in annoyance. "Some of us actually want to achieve something in life."

"Who? Do I know them?" The boy smirked widely for the first time since I saw him, and I couldn't help but smile in return. I, of all people, knew what he was going through. Even though I myself preferred to deal with it on my own, I knew that Tyler needed someone to cheer him up and give him a sense of normality.

"Yes, your mother. She told me all about it when she was in my bed last night."

"Dude, that doesn't even make sense…"

"Oh sorry I was just looking for the…" There was a familiar voice – all too familiar and wonderful and amazing – and when I turned to face towards it, the beautiful face of my little brother greeted me. "… Jessica?"

"JEREMY!" I practically jumped from Tyler's lap and leaped towards the younger boy, wrapping my arms around him in a death grip. "When did you get so tall!?"

"During that phase called 'puberty'." My brother returned the hug, though somewhat reluctantly. But I still welcomed the warmth with everything I had. After not seeing him in person for months, it was really nice to be able to be this close to him. "How long are you staying?"

"For a week. I'm leaving straight after the Masquerade ball."

"Oh, nice. So you'll get to go the all of Mystic Falls' finest founders' activities. I know how much you love the- Have you two been drinking?" It seemed that only now he had noticed Tyler, and the air filled with some sort of heaviness I couldn't understand. Was it their old dislike for each other, or was it something newer I didn't know about?

"Hey look, I'm… I'm sorry about your dad." Jeremy was visibly searching for the right words.

Tyler just pursed his lips. "Today has been a big day of 'sorry's from people who really don't give a shit."

I knew that all too well from when it happened to me. It was exactly what I felt when all of those people who didn't even know me were telling me how sorry they were.

"I know what you mean, man." Jeremy said, and it was a surprise for me. I didn't know that. But then again I never really talked to him (or anyone, for that matter) about it, so of course I wouldn't know that. I suddenly felt like a really bad sister.

"The difference is in your case it's true. My father was a dick."

"Yeah, he was."

"Hey!" I elbowed him. "At least be subtle about it!"

Both of the guys chuckled, and it seemed to defuse the atmosphere a bit. "Here," Tyler handed my little brother the flask, and I watched him in bewilderment. "I found it in his desk."

"Lockwood, did you just give my little brother booze in front of me?"

"No offence Jess, but you're the last person who can tell me what to do." And there was the bitterness I was expecting. The hidden anger at me for running away when everything was falling apart. The hurt of a little brother desperate for his older sister.

I didn't know what to say in return. I just gaped at him, searching for words that weren't forming at my lips. It was Tyler that fortunately came to my rescue. "Hey, I bet you wanna go see Elena and you aunt. I'll stay here with mini Gilbert, you can go."

"Thanks. I'll talk to you later, okay? It would be nice to catch up!" With that I exited the office and closed the door behind me. I stood there for a few seconds, just taking in breaths, before adjusting my clothes and hair and going downstairs into the noisy first floor of the manor.

I immediately noticed my twin sister and aunt, talking to each other in the kitchen while Jenna tried to fit whichever type of food they had brought into the already filled fridge. I always looked more like Jenna's sister than Elena's, my strawberry blonde hair only slightly darker than my aunt's and my high cheekbones and nose practically copied from her face. I once saw photos of my grandmother and learned that I inherited her looks, while Jeremy and Elena looked much more like our father's line. Yes, Elena and I were not identical – far from it, actually.

Beside the hair color difference, my skin was pale while Elena's was olive. Elena was also taller than me (much to my disdain), and even though we shared similar eye shape, our colors were different as well. It was always hard to explain that we were actually twins, just not identical ones. It used to bother me as a kid, but as I grew I realized that having someone who looks just like me would be creepy as fuck.

Deciding to go with classics, I leaned against the entrance and crossed my arms on my chest. "How you doin'?"

My twin was the first to turn around, her eyes widened in recognition. It took her another second before she crossed the space between us and stood right in front of me. "Jessica." She breathed.

"Good to see you, twin." I smiled and hugged her tightly. She was even more welcoming than Jeremy, and I felt that if we would keep this up I would end up crying in the corner. I pulled away and faced Jenna. "My favorite aunt. You look mature. It's a good look on you."

"I hope you're not saying I'm old." Jenna grinned and hugged me as well.

"Jess, I'm really sorry. Just with John and everything that happened…" Did Elena become miss guilt while I was gone?

"I think that a round of shots on you in the Grill will make it up. John got stabbed; Caroline, Matt and Tyler got into an accident… I get it." I looked at the tray on the counter. "What did you make?"

"Gilbert Chili."

"Oh you shouldn't have…" I grinned wickedly and reached to the tray.

"No!" Jenna scolded me, making me pout. "This is for the Lockwood's."

"Party pooper."

"I'm mature." Jenna announced victoriously. "And if you'll excuse me, I'll go pay my condolences like a mature person."

"I take it back," I called after her, "It's not a good look on you!" Jenna ignored me, and I turned back to Elena, huffing. "I don't like her as the fun police."

"She's actually been doing pretty well at taking care of us after mom and dad died."

Wow. Since when was Elena okay with talking about that? I sure as hell wasn't yet.

"R-Really?" I tried to mask my discomfort with interest. "That's great. How have you been? The last days must've been pretty hard with Caroline, Matt, Tyler and Uncle John."

"Yeah it's been rough…" She admitted. "And there was something I had found out but didn't want to tell you over the phone. We're not twins."

Cue total shock. "…What?"

"A few days ago this woman showed up and told me she and John had a relationship when they were teens and she got pregnant. John brought her to dad and he adopted me. John confirmed it."

"Holy fucking shit, sister. Or cousin. Are we cousins now?" I ran a hand through my hair and sat down on one of the chairs. Elena followed me and did the same. "Well at least now we know why we look… not like twins."

"This doesn't change anything, Jess." Elena said a solemn tone, looking straight into my hazel eyes with her brown ones. "You are still my sister; you are still a part of me."

I scoffed and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't be stupid, of course I'm still your sister. It's going to take you a lot more than that to get rid of me."

She nodded at me gratefully and was about to say something, but was cut off by a male voice. "Sorry to interrupt the girly drama, but Elena, may I have you for a second?"

It was a guy in his twenties that spoke. A rather easy on the eyes guy. And by "easy on the eyes" I mean fucking gorgeous. He had the black-hair-blue-eyes superman look, only if superman was flirty, mysterious and wore everything black.

"Is that Stefan?" I asked. "Am I finally meeting Stefan?"

"Better." The guy replied. "Elena?"

"That's Damon, Stefan's brother." Elena explained, rolling her eyes. "What?"

"It's about your dear boyfriend and my dear brother."

Something flashed across my sister's face, and it looked too much like deep concern. It made me squint my eyes in suspicion. Why would Elena be worried just from hearing that Damon wanted to talk about Stefan?

"Lena… Is everything okay?"

It took her a second to turn her face to me and shrug it off. "Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. I'll be back soon, alright? And then we'll go home and watch 'Friends' with ice cream and catch up on everything."

"Sounds like a plan." I replied, but my suspicions remained. There was something off, yet I couldn't tell what. It was driving me nuts.

I couldn't take it off my mind, and I half-heartedly payed attention to Matt and Bonnie when I had finally saw them in one of the manor's rooms. It was nice seeing them, even if I didn't pay them my entire attention. I hang out with them and Tyler (who had joined us in the middle) until Elena came back with a fine-looking guy, who was no doubt Stefan.

Damn, where did she found this Greek god? He was gorgeous in a different way from his brother, more like a brooding prince from ancient times. Fuck, I had never dated such a handsome man. I was a bit jealous.

"Jessica, it's very nice to meet you. I'm Stefan." He shook my hand and I thought I was going to melt.

"My future brother-in-law." I grinned and Elena's jaw dropped. "Elena told me great things about you."

"She told me great things about you too."

"Did she tell you I'm the better twin, err cousin?"

"No, it must've slipped my mind." Elena retorted, rolling her eyes. "You want to head home?"

As she said it, I realized just how tired I actually was from the flight, the ride home and spending the entire day here. "Yeah, I'm exhausted. And I've caught up with everyone but Caroline, so I think my to-do list for today is complete."

We said goodbyes to everyone and headed home (Aunt Jenna said she will come home later and apparently Jeremy already left, too cool to wait for us). When we arrived home, I stepped out of the car and took a moment to stare at the house I hadn't seen for months. It was very familiar, yet very strange at the same time, and for a second I became afraid I wouldn't remember where my room was, or where the bathroom was located.

But as I slowly stepped into the living room, I immediately remembered to you had to head upstairs and turn right and there was my room, and across it was Elena's, and for Jeremy's you had to take a left, and for… for their room you needed to go to the end of the hallway.

Fortunately, Elena didn't seem to notice all this. "I'm going to change and then we'll get ice cream and watch 'Friends', maybe even Jeremy will join. Unless you're too tired?"

"No, no, I want 'Friends'." I said. "Worst case scenario I'll fall asleep like when we were kids."

We both smiled at the memory, and Elena nodded. "Okay."

My room was just like I remembered it, not even a single thing out of place. Though I expected it to be dusty, but it was clean and fresh-smelling as if someone cleaned it recently. Or had been cleaning it regularly. I couldn't tell. My bed sheets were new and soft under my touch, and as I sat down and surveyed around what I used to call my bedroom for seventeen years, I realized how much I really missed everything. Elena, Jeremy, Aunt Jenna, Tyler and Bonnie and Matt, Mystic Falls. I missed home.

It was the first time in months that a thought had crossed my mind. What if it was wrong of me to leave? What if I would've been better here in Mystic Falls? What if –

Strange noises came from across the hall, and I curiously popped my head out of the door, searching the source. It appeared to have come from Elena's room, and Jeremy had heard it too.

"What was that?" I asked and he shrugged, not knowing.

Jeremy opened the door to Elena's bedroom. "Elena? What's going on in here?"

By this time I was already by his side, and saw that my sister wasn't alone in her room. The gorgeous guy I had seen in the manor – Stefan's brother, Damon – was standing next to her, his face showing how drunk and angry he was.

"Nothing, Jeremy, Jessica. It's okay. Just go back to bed."

"No, it's not okay Elena." Damon, who was previously looking at her, turned to us. "He wants to be a vampire."

"How drunk are you exactly, pal?" I raised my eyebrows, but before I finished my sentence, Damon already grabbed Jeremy by his throat and slammed him against the doorway. I stared in shock, not understanding how he was able to move so fast and to slam Jeremy's brother so easily. "Oh my god, what the hell is going on!?"

"NO! Damon, stop it!" Elena exclaimed desperately.

Damon didn't seem to hear any of us. "You want to shut out the pain?" He sneered. "It's the easiest thing in the world. The part of you that cares just goes away, all you have to do is flip the switch and snap!"

The sound of breaking bone was the most disgusting thing I had ever heard. It was echoing loudly in my head, repeating over and over again as I watched in slow motion how my brother's neck was snapped in an unnatural angle, and as he fell to the floor motionless.

The roar that escaped my lips didn't register in my brain. I simply found myself a second later by Jeremy's body, helplessly trying to wake him up.

But he wouldn't.

Because Damon had murdered him.

I didn't know how much time passed after that. All I knew was that I was repeating the same thing.

"We have to call the police." I repeated for the tenth time. "Elena, why won't you let me call the police!?"

Elena's face was teary and stressed, but a few minutes after Damon left, she suddenly became a bit more calm and composed. She just sat next to Jeremy and hugged him tightly. It was me who walked around the room like a maniac, still not entirely believing what had happened. "We need to wait for Stefan first." She replied once again.

"ELENA! HE FUCKING KILLED OUR BROTHER!"

"We have to wait for Stefan."

I didn't realize I was still crying, but when my hands reached to run over my face, they came out wet. "What the fuck is wrong with him? I whispered. "He actually killed Jeremy. And what was this bullshit vampire thing he said? Is he mental?"

Elena didn't answer me, because at that moment Stefan rushed into the room. "Elena… God." His eyes were fixed on Jeremy's unmoving body.

"He had the ring on." Elena said quietly, which appeared to make both of them relieved for some reason.

"What ring? What are you talking about!?"

"He saw the ring. That's why he did it."

Elena shook her head desperately. "No, he didn't."

What the fuck was going on? Never in my life had I felt so confused about a conversation.

"It's Katherine. She got under his skin. She undid everything that was good about him." Stefan said.

"WOULD YOU TWO STOP FOR A MINUTE!?" I couldn't take it anymore. Both of them turned their faces towards me, as if finally remembering I was here. "Your brother killed Jeremy, and for some reason it's okay because Jeremy was wearing some ring? And who is this Katherine and how the fuck can she get so under his skin that he ended up fucking murdering someone!?"

"She doesn't know…" Stefan said with realization. "We should tell her."

"No, Stefan. Look at her." Elena shook her head. "She just came back, and she's freaking out. I can't let her get in-between everything; it's already bad enough Jeremy is involved. Compel her."

Now they have completely lost me.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, do it."

"Do what?" I asked, suddenly somewhat afraid of all those things I didn't understand. "What's going on?"

In a blink of an eye Stefan appeared right before me, and I let out a yelp of surprise. Before I could say anything, my eyes caught in his intensive green gaze and I couldn't look away. "Listen Jessica, you went home from the funeral with Elena, but were so tired that you fell asleep almost immediately. You won't remember anything that has happened in the past hour. You fell asleep as soon as you got home."

"I fell asleep as soon as I got home." I said, before everything turned black.

Primrose Path - a course of action that seems easy and appropriate, but can actually end in calamity.

I know that the concept of another Gilbert is overused, but I hope I can add something new to it. Jessica will not be anything special - she's not the doppleganger, nor she is a witch/werewolf/any other supernatural creature. She is simply a human, the daughter of Grayson and Miranda Gilbert. But that doesn't mean she will be defenceless.

Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated ;)