I pull out my headphones as the landing is announced. After putting my headphones and my sketchbook in my bag I sit back and fasten my seatbelt. After what feels like hours I'm finally at the exit and start looking for Jenna. I find her standing in front of her car with Mr. Saltzman... they're apparently together now. I walk towards them and Jenna finally sees me, she meets me halfway and we just hug each other tightly. "I missed you." I say after a few minutes of just hugging her. "I missed you too." Jenna says and then pulls back. "What did you do to your hair?" Jenna asks me while tugging on a strand. "Yeah, I was forced but I like it. It looks nice, right?" I ask her a little unsure. "What? Of course it looks great. It suits you." Jenna assures me. "Thanks. Hey Mr.Saltzman." I greet him as he comes and stands next to Jenna. "Hey Arielle. Ric is just fine, there's no need for formalities." Ric says and I smile and nod. "Okay. You aren't busy right? I wanted to go meet Care first, just for a few minutes and then I was hoping that you would drop me off at Ty's." I tell Jenna since I wanted to check on both my friends. "Yeah, of course. Come on." Jenna says and we head towards her car. Once my bags are in the trunk and we are all settled, Jenna starts driving towards the hospital.

"How was it? Did you have fun?" Jenna asks after a few minutes. "It was fun. I liked the academy itself and I sort of just fell in love with New York too. I made a few friends, saw amazing places, so all in all it was a fun experience. Did you have fun here?" I ask Jenna in return. "Not really. Everything's so confusing add the fire and well it's just a bit odd. I'm really glad you're back, finally have someone to talk to without being called crazy." Jenna says and Mr.Saltzman looks back at me as though warning me, I just raise an eyebrow in challenge. Jenna has the right to know, besides if she finds out later on during some tragedy well that's going to be awful. "Don't worry Jen. The best of us are crazy. Besides it is a bit odd." I assure her and she smiles at me. After half an hour we reach the hospital, I get out and wait for Jenna. "Do you know where Care is?" I ask her and she nods. "Yeah, I'll show you." Jenna says and I follow her. We reach a room and she gestures for me to go in. I take an unnecessary breath and open the door.

"Ari?" Care asks as I enter. To my surprise she looks just fine, but Ty said that she had been taken into surgery. What the hell did Elena do this time? I ask myself. "Hey Care. Miss me?" I ask jokingly as I stand next to her before giving her a hug. She hugs me back tightly. "You have no idea Ari. I'm so glad you're back. I missed you." Care whispers and I let go off her before sitting down next to her. "Me too. I'm so glad you're okay. When Ty called I was so worried I wouldn't get to see you again." I whisper back and she smiles before hugging me again. "You know, I heard you won Miss Mystic Falls." I told her after we both settled back down. "Well with the dress you sent how couldn't I? It would've been a shame really. Thanks Ari, you supported me even when you weren't here." Care says and I smile at her. As I'm about to say something we both hear the door open and Matt comes in with... Bonnie. Great. I get up and hug Matt. "Ari?" Matt questions while hugging me tightly. "Hey Matt." I whisper while holding on tightly to him. "God Ari, I missed you." Matt says before pulling back. "I missed you too." I tell him. "When did you get here? Did you come with Jenna? Did you meet John?" Matt asks before looking at my hair in confusion. "Well I landed about an hour ago and I got here only a few minutes and yes I came with Jenna. I thought that I would meet Care first then Jenna could drop me off at Ty's. And yes I changed my hair. And what about Uncle John? He's here?" I ask Matt. "It suits you. And if you don't mind we could go to Ty's house together. The wake's today so... And yeah John accidentally cut off his fingers." Matt says a bit unsure and confused. "Oh, I didn't know, I'll go meet him. And okay. I'll just go home and change. Pick me in half an hour?" I ask him. "Sure." Matt agrees. I turn to Care and hug her one more time. "I'll come by tonight okay?" I ask her. "Okay. See you soon." Care says and I hug Matt once and say bye before leaving.

I find Jenna sitting outside on a bench. "Matt told me that Uncle John's in the hospital. Do you know which room?" I ask Jenna. "Yeah come on." Jenna says and I follow her she shows me the room and tells me she'll wait in the parking. I nod and go in. "Uncle John?" I ask and go to his bedside. "Arielle? I thought you were in New York." Uncle John says a bit confused. "Yeah I just got back now. How are you?" I ask him as I sit down beside him. "I'm fine. They were able to sew my fingers back. So... What about you? How are you?" He asks me. "I'm fine. I'm glad you're okay. I didn't even know you were here. Are you staying?" I ask him. I never really had a problem with him unlike Jenna and Elena. "No. I'm leaving tonight actually." He informs me. "Oh. Okay. Have a safe trip. I have to go but I'm glad you're okay." I tell him and he nods. "Yeah you stay safe too. Okay?" He says worriedly. "Yeah. Bye Uncle John." I say and give him a small hug he gladly returns. "Bye Arielle. Take care of yourself and your sister and brother." He tells me and I nod. I wave to him before finally leaving the room.

I reach the parking and look for Jenna. I see her car and walk towards it. Jenna is already sitting in so I get in. She starts driving towards Ty's. "Hey Jen. Matt told me that the wake is today, so I told him we would go together. So can we go home instead? I have to meet Jer and change too." I ask Jenna. "Sure. You going to stay at the Lockwood mansion tonight?" Jenna asks me. "I don't know for sure but yeah, probably." I tell her. We reach home in a few minutes and I can't describe in words how it felt to be back again. Some part of me was more than ecstatic but the other part was sad at the fact that I truly was back here and not in New York anymore. I take out my bags and Jenna takes. Wasn't 'Ric' with us? "Hey Jen, where did your boyfriend go?" I ask her as we climb the stairs to our home. "Oh, he went with Damon somewhere. Don't really know. He's just vague about his whereabouts most of the time." Jenna says and I can hear the little silver of doubt and disappointment in her tone. I don't really say anything unsure of wether to support her doubts or just assure her everything was okay. We enter the living room and see Jer sitting on the sofa with Stefan. Great. "Jer?" I ask aloud and he springs to his feet. "Elle?" He says with disbelieve before coming to hug me. "I missed you so much. Are you okay?" I ask Jer. "I'm fine, especially since you're here. I missed you too." Jer says while holding on tighter. I pull back and we just look at each other before hugging again.

After Jer and I hug 15 times according to Jenna, I decide that I should go and change for the wake and call Ares before he starts worrying. "I should go change. We'll talk later." I tell Jer and he nods. "Okay. Be careful Elle." Jer says and I nod and smile. I go upstairs ignoring Stefan calling out my name. I open my suitcase and pull out some black jeans and a loose fitting white t-shirt. I change and put my hair into a bun before taking my phone and calling Ares. "Hey Elle, how was your flight?" Ares asks as soon as he answers. "It was okay. When is your flight?" I ask him sitting on my bed. "It's in 2 hours. How is your friend? Your brother?" Ares asks sounding concerned. "They're both fine. I think Elena had a hand in Care being okay." I say having a bad feeling about all this. "Don't worry too much. Everything will be fine Elle, how's your other friend? Tyler?" Ares asks me and I sigh. "I don't know yet. I'm going to meet him in 10 minutes. The wake is today so I just came home to change. I'm just... I don't have good feeling about this. Adding to this is the fact that my uncle was in the hospital too. He cut off his fingers accidentally. Cause that's so believable." I tell Ares. "Well of course it is, at least to normal people. And Elle, please stop worrying about things you don't have control over. Just make sure your friends and family are okay and leave everything else be." Ares tells me. "Fine. Have fun in Rome. Call me when you land or something. And be careful." I tell him. "Of course. We'll call when we can. Since there is a tone difference it might be a little late. You be careful too and call if you need help." Ares says. "That's fine just call. Bye Ares." I say. "Bye Elle." Ares says and we both cut the call. I go downstairs and onto to the porch since Matt texted that he's on his way.

I wait for about 2 minutes and Matt stops in front of the house. I go and sit in the passenger seat. "Hey Matt. When does the wake begin?" I ask since I wanted to talk to Ty beforehand. "It starts an hour later. Don't worry, we have plenty of time to talk to him." Matt assures me and I smile at him. We reach in a few minutes and get out. Matt and I walk towards the front door and knock. "Hey Mrs.Lockwood. I'm really sorry for your loss." I say as Carol opens the door and the words taste so bitter in my mouth. "Oh Arielle, Matt. Thank you for coming. Maybe Tyler will talk to you. And thank you for your kind words, I'm sure you have more bitter ones for him, for me." Carol says and I feel bad just the tiniest bit. "I do hope we can make him feel better." I agree instead of saying something else or commenting on her words. Carol lets us in and we both head to Ty's room all too familiar with the route. We reach his room, Matt tries to open the door but it turns out to be locked. I knock on the door. "Ty it's me and Matt open up." I say and wait for him to open up. Ty opens the door and to say he looks miserable and awful would be an understatement. "Hey guys. I'm glad you're here Ari." Ty says as he lets us in and then hugs me and Matt.

After just sitting in silence for five minutes on Ty's bed, I finally decide to say something because Matt keeps giving me looks. "You okay?" I ask not really expecting him to answer since Ty hated taking about his feelings or emotions. "I don't think so. But I should be. Why am I upset Ari? He was awful, he never loved me. Then why I do feel... empty?" Ty asks with his eyes full of tears, something he'll probably blame on lack of sleep if ever asked. "Because it doesn't really matter if he was jerk, he was still your dad. He was still someone you grew up with, someone you looked up to. And he did love you, maybe he just didn't want to seem weak or... I don't know something like that. It's okay to be upset Ty." I tell him and he comes to sit on the bed. He sits down before laying down with his head on my lap. "I don't want to be upset. He doesn't deserve it. He doesn't deserve any of this, all these people coming to mourn his loss or me missing him. He doesn't Ari." Ty argues and I really don't know what to say so I look towards Matt. "Ty... you're right he doesn't deserve any of this. He was never a good father. But you've always been a great son..." Matt says before trailing off. "Matt's right. You've always been a great son and maybe some part of you hoped that someday he'd be a great father too. Maybe that's why you miss him, because you wanted him to be a father not a great one but just your father even for a bit." I say not really knowing if they're the right words. "Maybe. Thanks for coming Ari. I missed you." Ty says and I smile. "I missed you too Ty. You don't need to thank me. You're my best friend its the least I could do." I tell him and he sighs before smiling at me. "Thanks Matt." Ty says and I know he's not just saying that for today.

Matt and I convince Ty to take a shower and get dressed for the wake. So while he's taking a shower I pick out a simple gray t-shirt and some black jeans. "You think he's okay?" Matt asks as we sit on the bed waiting for Ty. "Not really. I think he's just trying not to think too much about his dad. But he'll be fine soon. We'll help him. What about you? You okay?" I ask Matt. "I guess, can't really complain. Vicki's doing fine, mom is somewhere I'm just happy that it's far from here. Just worried about Caroline and Tyler. What about you?" He asks. "Yeah Ari. How are you? How was New York?" Ty asks coming out of the bathroom dressed and looking a little better. "New York was nice, I had fun. It was different and a great experience. I really loved it. I'm fine, great actually, I'm back home so..." I tell them not really having the courage to tell them about Jackson but technically not lying. "Good. You got us anything?" Ty asks me while sitting in front of me and Matt. "As a matter of fact I did. But I didn't think giving you a gift at your father's wake is very appropriate. So I'll give it to you later. Okay?" I ask. "Okay." They both agree.

I decide to ask about the accident. "So what exactly happened? With the accident." I ask. "Well I was driving Matt and Caroline home after all the festivities and I suddenly heard this noise in my head it was like needles piercing through my head and I lost control of the car. Matt and Caroline tried to steer it but we crashed. Matt and I only had a few bruises and Caroline seemed fine but she fainted suddenly and before we knew it she was being taken into surgery. I'm sorry this is my fault." Ty says and I don't really think on the odd piercing through the head part. "It's not Ty. Don't worry, besides Care's fine now." I tell him and we hug. After that I tell them about Ares and Noah trying to distract them both from everything. After I'm done we sit a few minutes before I look at Ty. "Ready?" I ask since it's almost time for the wake to start. "Yeah. You'll stay with me?" Ty asks us and we both nod and smile at him, he smiles back we walk down the stairs.

We reach the living room and Carol gives me and Matt a look so we leave to the hall where the wake is going to be. It has a few food, snacks and drinks already organized. "What do you think they're talking about?" Matt asks me even though we both have a good enough idea what Carol is going to say. "Carol is most likely telling him to behave and be careful of his words. The woman's annoyingly consistent." I say and he nods. "You okay?" I ask Ty as he comes into the room. "Yeah I'm fine. I'm supposed to stand at door, only one of you can stay." Ty says and from the look on his face the conversation with Carol went more awful than either of us expected. "I'll stay." Matt volunteers. "Yeah I'm not good with people anyway. We'll stay over tonight." I agree and smile at Ty. "You don't have to." Is all Ty says. "Ty, we don't know what Carol said but don't push us away okay? Please, we're here for you not for her." I tell him and he smiles and nods. I hug both of them and they both go towards the door as we hear cars outside. I stay in the hall having nothing to do. I walk around for a while trying not to talk to anyone. Since Mystic Falls is a small town everyone knew everything and people kept asking me about New York.

I sigh as a woman I don't the name of finally leaves me alone. I decide to check on Tyler and Matt and head towards the door. I reach there and see Tyler hugging a strange and unknown man. Well at least until they pull away, when they do I see that it's Mason Lockwood; Tyler's uncle and the only Lockwood who I actually like aside from Tyler. "Let me guess Arielle and Matt. You all are still inseparable I see." Mason says as he and Matt hug. Being close to Ty made us familiar with Mason; even though he's only here for some time. "Hey Mason." I greet as he smiles at me. "Look at you Ari you look like a woman now." Mason says. "Thanks I guess." I say and he seems ready to say something but Carol calls out to him. "Having fun?" Ty asks me teasingly knowing full well that the people of the town are insufferable. "Yup so much. You okay?" I ask instead. "Yeah, let's go in. I'm done here." Ty says and I nod. We go in and Tyler is stopped by his mother and Matt is called by Vicki. I shrug and decide to go eat something. I see Bonnie walk away from Damon and decide that it might be the best time to find out the truth. "Damon." I greet him as I stand next to him. "Arielle, nice seeing you again." Damon says with a small smirk. "You too. What happened yesterday? And Caroline, did you have anything to do with her health?" I ask him. "Whoa slow down. One question at a time. Last night the tomb vampires planned to kill council members and well your uncle had his own plan. There was this Gilbert device that was like an aneurysm generator and Isobel got Elena to give it to her. We thought that Bonnie deactivated the device but guess not. When it went off there was this piercing noise and then deputies rounded up vampires and burned them." Damon explains. "And Isobel is?" I ask him. "Uh your mother." Damon says a bit unsure. Of course. Great. "Right, of course. What about Caroline? Did you give her your blood?" I ask him and he nods.

I sigh and he looks at me questioningly. "Why didn't Sheila interfere? Why would you even trust Bonnie? She hates you and she's judgy." I say to him. "Yeah well not everyone's as smart as you." Damon says like he's annoyed. "Let me guess you trusted Bonnie because Elena told you to. Seriously? I know love is blind but I didn't know it was dumb too." I say sarcastically. "Thank you for that amazing view." Damon says equally sarcastically. "Thanks though honestly. You were telling me the truth I should've believed you. It would've saved a lot of efforts." Damon says honestly. "You're welcome. Anyways why did they take the mayor? He wasn't a vampire." I ask him. "Yeah could be something similar. You have any idea?" Damon asks. "They could be werewolves. I don't really know of other supernatural creatures." I tell him. "Yeah right." Damon says with disbelieve and a superiority complex. "Oh that's right vampires and witches can be real but in no way can werewolves be real." I say with a little sass. "Right. We'll see." Damon agrees before standing at the banister. We had walked to the front of the house while talking.

"What are you drinking?" I ask him as he takes another sip of an amber liquid. "Bourbon." He says simply. "May I?" I ask him. "Sure you can handle it?" Damon asks me. "I have no idea but I have a feeling I'm going to need it." I say and he hands me the glass. They did it. Noah and Ares turned me into in a drunk. "If anything happens to Caroline. I'll kill you. If she turns... you shouldn't have given her your blood it wasn't Elena's decision to make." I tell him. "Would you rather that your friend die?" Damon asks me. "No but I think she would've preferred to die than turn. If she turns what then? You're going to take her responsibility?" I ask him. "Sure. If we can train Vicki we can train Caroline too." Damon says a bit proudly. "Yeah right. Train a council members daughter to become a vampire. Great plan. Just so you know if she turns and gets hurt the blame is on you and Elena, I can't do anything to Elena since she's my sister but I will kill you." I threaten him and I can see the slightest bit of fear in his eyes. I start to walk to the house. "Oh and Damon? Neither of them are worth it, worth losing your family." I say and walk away. Well that was dramatic, I'm going to blame it on Ares.

I walk into a room looking for Tyler and Matt but instead find Elena. Well no not Elena. I can feel danger coming from her and know it's Katherine. "Hey Arielle." Katherine greets which in itself is so unlike Elena. She prefers to childishly ignore me most of the time. "Elena doesn't greet me. Just so you know." I tell Katherine and she smirks. "Well that was fast. I'm Katherine it's nice to meet you." She says while circling around me. "Nice to meet you too. I've heard a lot about you." I say and she smiles a bit maliciously. "All good things I hope." She says and I roll my eyes. "Well then you would be wrong. None of what I heard was good. But well no harm done, after all there isn't much good to say about you." I say confidently, knowing I can take her. "Well I should go. I have things to do. Friends to meet. Nice meeting you. Hopefully the first and the last time too." I say after she just stands in silence and leave before she can snap to reality or snap my neck. That would not be good.

After the odd conversation I walk around looking for Matt and Tyler but find Mason instead. "Hey Mason. Have you seen Matt or Tyler?" I ask him as I stop beside him. "No I'm looking for Tyler too. I'm pretty sure he's that way. Come on." Mason says and I follow him. We cone to a room and I see Ty offer Jer a flask of alcohol. Mason walks in announcing his presence and I follow. "Hey what's going on in here?" Mason asks and Jer stands up straight. "Nothing. Nothing." Tyler replies while Jer clears his throat. I raise an eyebrow towards him and he hands the flask to Mason. I gesture Jer to follow me since I knew Mason wanted to talk to Tyler first. "I'm sorry Elle. I just..." Jer starts but I stop him. "Jer you don't have to explain. I'm not accusing you. I just thought you stopped that's all." I tell him. "I have. I promise." Jer says and I nod indicating I believe him. "Then you have nothing to be sorry for. It's fine Jer. Just don't fall back down that hole. Okay?" I ask him. "Okay promise." Jer agrees and I nod in acceptance. I give him a hug and tell him to find Vicki and to send Matt here if he can. They're both friends now apparently.

Once Jer leaves I wait for Mason to come back out. After a few minutes Matt comes and stands next to me. "Hey." Matt says. "Hey. We're waiting for Mason to leave." I explain to him and he nods. As people start leaving so does Mason. He nods towards us. We go in and see Ty sitting on the couch just holding the flask. "People left." I inform him. Tyler nods but doesn't say anything. Matt and I sit down and Tyler starts pacing. I look towards Matt and know that we're both just waiting for him to burst. And soon enough he does. He breaks a frame and then throws everything down from the desk. Carol comes in and says, "Tyler! What are you doing?" Tyler turns towards her seeming pissed. "I hate him." He says angrily. I look to Matt and he stands up knowing intervention would be necessary. "Oh, don't say that honey..." Carol tries to calm him but he pushes her back. "Let go off me." He says and seems ready to do something else. "Ty?" I ask and he looks to me. "I hate him." Tyler says again. "I know. It's okay. Come on, let's go." I try to take him out of the room knowing that trying to calm in Carol's presence would be difficult. She likes to intervene. He seems ready to walk out and go somewhere else. But Carol interrupts. "Tyler?" He tries to stay calm but her voice is enough to remind him everything and he turns around and Matt gets close to him. But Mason comes in and tackles Ty. "Get off of me." Ty says pissed. Mason you're not helping I scream in my mind. "Hey, Tyler! Hey, hey!" Mason exclaims and l look to Matt. Matt moves closer to them and calls out to Tyler. "Come on Ty. Calm down." Matt says and Ty struggles a few seconds before going limp. "Let go off him Mason we got him." I tell Mason and he looks unsure but let's go and gets off Ty. There were a few things me and Matt had learnt early about Tyler, he got pissed off easily especially when his parents were involved and the best way to calm him down was to distract him and keep him far from home and his parents. Tyler gets up and walks towards the door and walks out. Me and Matt follow and catch up to him.

When we're a good distance from his house I know he's calm enough to listen. "We could go meet Care and then go to mine or Matt's house if you want." I suggest and Ty looks down before nodding. "We'll go back to my house. I'm fine now." Ty insists. "Okay." Matt agrees and we walk towards the hospital. We reach there in 10-15 minutes and head to Carolines room. We go in to see that a nurse looking her over so we wait. "Hey. How are you feeling?" I ask as we all sit down around her. "I'm doing fine. But I still have to stay here 2 more days. What about you?" Care asks Tyler. "Fine. I'm glad you're okay." Ty tells her with a small smile. Care smiles back at him. Then Care starts telling me well more like ordering me to help with the carnival and her worries about how it's going to be awful without her supervision. We talk for a few minutes barely 5 before the nurse comes in and tells us that we have to leave. We all hug Caroline and wish her goodnight before leaving. On the way back to Ty's none of us talk. We know Ty needs this and that he's too lost in thought to listen. We reach soon enough and find Mason sitting on the sofa. "If you guys don't mind I want to talk to Tyler." Mason says and Matt and I nod before Ty's room. We both change into comfortable clothes that we always have at each others house before sitting and waiting for Tyler to come back.

In about 20 minutes Ty comes back and sits down on the bed. "Can we watch a movie?" Ty asks us and we agree. He puts on some action movie I don't pay attention to since i'm way too tired. I did wake up at 4 for the flight. I try to stay awake but seriously can't for much longer. "It's fine Ari. We know you probably woke up early. Get some sleep." Ty tells me and Matt nods. "Fine. Goodnight." I agree and smile at them. "Night Ari." Matt says with a smile. "Goodnight Ari. Thanks for staying." Ty says and I manage to smile before getting into a comfortable position. I feel the day catching up to me and welcome sleep gladly.