Chapter 2 - Home

"And I feel just like I'm living someone else's life
It's like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me"

-Michael Bublé

Tears continuously streamed down her face and she couldn't stop it. Her head hurt. Her body heart. Everything hurts. All she felt was an unexplainable pain deep in her soul. An emptiness, she had decided to call it and it consumed her. Nothing had been the same since she woke up from her accident. She was confused and hurt and all she wanted to do was to stop herself from the pain.

"Elena..."

Quickly, she turned around and found herself face to face with Jeremy, her patient and loving brother. As soon as Jeremy saw her, his heart immediately broke for her. She was hurting and he could see it.

"I...I'm sorry," he apologized, again.

She shook her head, "don't. Stop apologizing, Jeremy. It isn't your fault I got into an accident and lost my memories."

"It's just...I wish I can heal you, you know. You're always crying and I feel so helpless. I don't know how to make you better."

Seeing his eyes filled with tears, Elena immediately felt guilty. She took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around him and held onto him as if he was her lifeline. "Everything is my fault, Jer. It's all in my head. Ever since I woke up and found out I have forgotten a part of my life, I just feel...lost."

Jeremy shook his head and moved away from her embrace, "you're not lost. I'm right here. You're right here, with me."

She sniffled and nodded her head.

"I think..." Jeremy paused and took a deep breath. "I think you should leave Mystic Falls."

"...what?"

"Alaric suggested it and I think he's right. You need to heal and you can't do it here because everything you forgot happened here. I think you need something new. Go make new memories elsewhere, Elena. Forget about Mystic Falls."

Elena shook her head, "I can't leave, Jer. I can't just leave you here by yourself. We just lost Jenna."

"Please, Elena," he begged. "Just go. You need it. I'll be fine here. I have Ric here with me. It's not forever. We'll see each other. I'll visit you as much as you need me to. Just, please, leave Mystic Falls and start a new life somewhere else..."

Welcome to Mystic Falls. A smile escaped Elena's lips as she drove pass the sign. She was excited to be back in Mystic Falls after being away for years at college in New York, but most of all she was excited to see Jeremy again. She hadn't inform Jeremy that she was on her way back. It was meant to be a surprise. Jeremy had called her a month ago; telling her Bonnie had accepted his proposal and for her to come back to Mystic Falls to celebrate with him. The plan was to wait for Matt to finish his work and then the two of them would come back for a week or so, but Elena had other plans. She was tired of New York and longed to be back at Mystic Falls. Something was calling her back so she had packed up the things she needed and treasured the most with her and took off by herself back to her hometown. Jeremy was going to be in for a surprise.

Once she saw the old Gilbert home that Jeremy and Alaric were currently living, she slowed down and tried to calm down her nerves. She wasn't sure what kind of reaction she was going to get from them; especially Jeremy. Sure, he would be happy, but as soon as he finds out the reason why she had decided to visit earlier than expected he would be so disappointed in her. Taking a deep breath, Elena parked her car in the drive way and exited.

"Here goes nothing," she mumbled to herself. She grabbed her small luggage that she had placed on the passenger seat and decided to leave her other luggage in the car. Taking a deep breath, Elena gathered her strength and walked to the porch. As soon as she reached the porch, she heard a familiar voice coming from backyard. Smiling to herself, she took a detour and walked toward the backyard where she found Jeremy wrestling with the grill.

"Jeremy!" Elena immediately called out as soon as she saw him.

Jeremy looked up and was stunned for a moment to see Elena in front of him. He hadn't expected her to show up until the next week, so he was definitely surprised. "Elena?"

As soon as he realized the person standing in front of him was Elena, he immediately dropped what he was doing and rushed over the her awaiting form. She met him halfway and wrapped him in a bear hug. God, she had missed him and clearly she didn't know how much until she had her arms wrapped around him. He had grown up to be a man, but in her eyes, he would always be her baby brother no matter how old he gets. "Oh, I missed you."

Jeremy was the first to break away from the hug and took a good look at her, "what are you doing here? I mean, I am glad you're here and all, but I didn't expect you to show up until next month. You're early. How did you get here, anyways? I know for a fact Matt is still out on a business trip. You should've called me. I would've picked you up from the airport."

Elena laughed as she listened to Jeremy's ramble, "chill out, Jer. I just missed you so I decided to come early. Can't I come early to hang out with you before you become a married man?"

"Where's Matt? Did he come, too?"

"Uh...he'll come he's done with his business trip. Don't worry."

"Elena..." he said in a warning tone.

"I don't need permission to come and see my baby brother, do I?"

"Of course not."

"I didn't sneak out," she stated, offended, as she noticed the look he gave her.

Jeremy threw his hands up as a signal to surrender, "I'm wasn't saying you did."

"If you don't want me here I can just go back."

She quickly grabbed her suitcase again and turned back toward the front yard. Immediately, Jeremy held onto her hand to stop her, "I'm sorry, okay? I'm happy that you're here. Really."

Elena smiled to herself as she listened to him; happy that Jeremy at least backed down-for now. She knew eventually he'll start digging deeper and start to question her once he gets over his excitement of having her home. His distraction will at least buy her a week, two at most, to get the courage to confess that she had left Matt without notice and was planning to stay in Mystic Falls for a indefinite amount of time.

"Alright," Jeremy excitedly clapped his hands together. "This calls for a family reunion lunch. Bonnie is actually out of town at the moment so that leaves only us and Ric. Why don't you go put your things away in your room and get freshen up while I call him home."

"Thank you, Jeremy," she hugged him again. She couldn't help it. He had been her rock since she woke up from the coma and realized she missed seven months of her life. He had been nothing but patient and understanding with her; the perfect brother. It was too bad she couldn't return the favor.

...

"How did she look to you?" Alaric quietly asked Jeremy as the both of them stood in the middle of the kitchen. "Did she looked okay?"

Jeremy shook his head, "it's back, Ric; that broken look of hers. She's trying to hide it and I can see her pretending to be okay, but I don't want to push her."

"What do you mean?"

He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, "I just don't get it, Ric. She was completely fine the last time I saw her and Matt said she was getting along fine, but she comes home unexpectedly and that broken soul comes back."

"Maybe she had a relapse somewhere between the time you last saw her and her coming here. She could've relapsed and hid it away from Matt. You know how good she is at that."

Letting out a sigh, Alaric took in Jeremy's appearance. Jeremy had been fine this morning when he left to work, but now he looked completely stressed out. Elena Gilbert. He felt a pang against his heart as he talked about her. She had always been a painful subject to him because when he hears her name, it brought him back to two of his worst memories; Jenna's death and the day he failed to save her. He had been nothing but a horrible guardian to her and Jenna would've been so disappointed in him.

"It's going to be okay," he tried to reassure him. "Just give her a couple of days."

"I just want to fix her. Fix this..."

"You can't fix her, Jeremy," Alaric interrupted. "She's not a car that had broke down along the road. She's just lost for now. We'll find a way to heal her. I promise you that."

Jeremy solemnly nodded his head, "you know, sometimes when I can't sleep at night I would think back to that day. I would replay every scene over and over again in my head and try to see what I could've done differently. After I memorize each scene again, I would start to play the what if game in my head and imagine how different life would've been if I stepped in."

"Jeremy..." Alaric sighed. "You can't keep doing this to yourself."

"It's all my fault," he whispered, brokenly. "I want her to be fixed; to be better. All I want is for her to have a normal life and not feel like a piece of her is missing. I know how it feels like, Ric. You might forget the memories, but the feelings are always going to be there...no matter what."

"Are we talking about Vicki?"

"What happened to Vicki...it was horrible and I couldn't remember it, but I could still felt that feeling of losing something that I loved. The pain stays, Ric. With every power there is a side-effect."

"It's not all your fault, Jeremy," Alaric tried to comfort him. "We are all at fault here. You can't be taking all the burden on yourself. It's not healthy for you. Remember, we have to be the strong ones for her."

He shook his head, "the nightmares had returned, Ric. I think my subconscious knew she was coming back and brought the nightmares back. I can still hear her screams, feel her pain and I allow myself to feel it because I deserve it for what I have done. She was such a good sister and I had failed at being her brother."

"You thought it was the right thing for her during that time."

He didn't respond.

"Right, Jeremy?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but quickly shut it when he knew he couldn't reveal the answer to him. Not to Ric because he didn't want hurt the one person in world that had been there for him since that day. The only person that helped him help Elena.

"What's wrong?"

"I...I don't know. Da..." he paused as he caught himself and sighed in frustration. "God, I can't even say his name! It's pathetic. After all these years, I still can't say his name. Why is that?"

"Maybe it's your guilt?" Ric suggested as he shrugged his shoulder.

"Maybe..."

"Jeremy, is Ric here yet?"

The two of them immediately froze in their spot as they stared at each other in fear that Elena had overheard them talking. They quietly watched her enter the kitchen and stop to stare at the both of them.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she looked between them.

"Nothing," Ric shook his head. "Jeremy was just asking me about some guy stuff."

"What guy stuff?" she curiously asked.

"Just guy stuff that um..." Ric paused and glanced over at Jeremy. "That involves Bonnie."

Elena nodded her head, "oh...that's...ew. I don't want to know. That's my best friend you guys are talking about there. Ew."

Jeremy's face instantaneously turned beet red as he realized what Ric just told his sister. He let out an uncomfortable cough and not so nicely jabbed Ric in the stomach. Elena slightly shuddered as she tried to shake out the image Ric just placed into her mind. That was her best friend and brother he was talking about it.

"Come on," she urged them to the door. "Let's go before I start hearing about the honeymoon plans."

Ric let out a laugh as he followed Elena out.

"Not funny!" Jeremy shouted after them as he also followed them out.

...

As soon as they arrived to the Grill and got seated, Ric unexpectedly got a text from Meredith. He quickly apologized to Elena and Jeremy and left the two of them to catch up on their own.

"I can't believe Ric just left," Jeremy grumbled as they walked out of the Grill after finishing their meal. "He is so fucking whipped and they're not even married."

"Stop it," Elena shushed him. "It's okay. He did say it was an emergency."

Jeremy scoffed, "emergency or not; this is a family reunion lunch. He certainly doesn't have his priorities straight."

"It's okay, Jer. I'm here for a while so we can do a family dinner next time. No big deal. Besides, don't you miss hanging out with just me? It'll be like old times."

He glanced over at her and grinned, playfully nudged her shoulder with his. She quickly smacked him on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his.

"So, how is the wedding planning coming along?" she curiously asked. "Bonnie becoming a bridezilla yet?"

Jeremy let out a laugh, "she's going slightly crazy. She's just overwhelmed with her job being more demanding now and planning that extravagant wedding of hers, but she decided to take a break and left with Rebekah to Atlantic City to check out wedding dresses over there."

"Extravagant wedding, huh? Do you want that?"

He shrugged, "no. Not really, but whatever makes her happy. Hey, as long as I get to make her my wife at the end of the day then it's all good."

Elena shook her head and smiled, "it's still kind of surreal to me; Bonnie and you. Before the um...accident, I never saw any signs of interest between the two of you. I remember you running around with Vicki, but I guess I understand. Vicki's gone and you two bonded."

Uncomfortable with the mention of Vicki, Jeremy shifted a little and nodded his head. They had told her that Vicki died from an overdose accident and it was so far from the truth. He didn't like talking about her or the past. It was another reminder of what he have done. Suddenly, as if his past had heard his thoughts, eyes grew wide as he noticed two familiar people walking out Mystic Falls Hospital. He immediately stopped.

"Jeremy?" Elena noticed his hesitation. "Are you okay?"

"Uh...yeah. Um, why don't you go check out the library first. I think I left my wallet back at the Grill. I going to run back and try to find it."

"Are you sure? I can go back with you."

"No," he shook his head. "It's fine. Go. I won't be long."

Elena nodded her head and entered Mystic Falls library without looking back. As soon as Elena disappeared from his sight, he rushed across the street and froze in place as he found himself standing in front of two people he thought he'll never see again in Mystic Falls.

"Hello, Jeremy. Did you miss us?"

He stood frozen in front of them in fear.

"Let's get reacquainted, shall we?"

The scream that he was going to released stopped dead at his throat as one of them sped up to him with elongated teeth and aimed for his throat.

A/N: Again, un-beta so all mistakes are mines. Anyways, now it's time for you to do your thing. You see that nifty little button below that say REVIEW, click it. It takes you this magical world where you can give me feeback. I should mention...feedback feeds my muse. Lol. Thank you for reading~!