Part IV

"Can I help you?" he asked, his voice having a hint of an accent.

"Hi, I'm Jenna. We live across the road there," she introduced herself, pointing to their home, but her gaze remaining on the man stood in his doorway wearing only a dressing gown. "This is my nephew Jeremy and my niece Elena, and her boyfriend Stefan. We just thought we'd bring this round as a 'welcome to the neighbourhood' gift."

"Um, ah…thank you," smiled the man, as he opened the box. "What, uh, what is it?"

"It's pecan pie."

"Right. That's an American thing isn't it?"

"Rhy did you steal my hairspray again?!" a female voice screamed from inside the house, interrupting whatever reply Jenna had been about to make. "Nevermind, I found it!"

A young girl rounded the corner spraying hairspray through her red curls only to suddenly halt when she noticed that Rhy was standing with company at their front door. She rolled her eyes at the undressed man and smiled at the people that gawked at her.

"Manners are a good thing to have, Uncle Rhy, as are clothes," the girl raised an eyebrow at her uncle's state of undress.

"These are our neighbours: Jenna, Jeremy, Elena and Elena's boyfriend Stefan."

"Well come on in then," she said as she ran her fingers through the ringlets framing her lightly tanned face.

"We should really be getting to school," said Elena.

"You go to the local High School?" questioned the man, 'Rhy'.

"Yeah," replied Jeremy.

"Would you mind giving my niece a lift? It's just I need to take our car to get a service and also as you can see I'm not exactly dressed for the school run."

"Elena won't mind at all, will you?" grinned Jenna.

"Thank you so much. You got everything, Ai?"

"I think so," the red-haired girl said, biting her lip.

"You'll be fine. Good luck," smiled her uncle, before pushing her out the door and closing it.

"Sorry about Rhy; he's really not a morning person," explained the girl.

"We should get going then, um…"

"Aibie, I'm Aibie. And I guess you're Elena?"

"Yes she is. You guys have fun at school."

"Sure thing Aunt Jenna," Jeremy rolled his eyes before clambering into Elena's car with Aibie following after.

"Thank you so much for this. I'd really rather not be late on my first day."

"So where are you from 'cause you and your uncle both have a weird accent?"

"Jeremy, you can't say things like that," groused Elena.

"No it's fine. We're from Greece, but we've lived all over."

"Is it just you and your uncle?"

"Uncle Rhy took over guardianship of me when my father died. We decided on a new life and this is the only continent we hadn't visited before."

"You've never been to America and you choose Mystic Falls of all places to settle down. Why?"

"Jeremy, quit badgering her."

"I don't mind, honestly. We chose it because some relations once lived here a few decades ago. Rhy read about it and decided it was the place for our new start."

At that moment Elena parked the car and they all exited it heading towards the school, Aibie trailing behind them, fidgeting nervously with her bag. Elena was quickly surrounded by her two best friends with Caroline immediately asking for details on Elena's and Stefan's weekend away.

"Who's that?" Bonnie asked, jerking her head in Aibie's direction.

"That's Aibie from Greece who is now living across the street from us," answered Jeremy.

"Bonnie?" Stefan stared at the witch as she seemed a little out of sorts.

"Something about her…it doesn't matter. It could be a residual aftereffect of Jonas taking my powers."

"We'll keep an eye on her to be on the safe side any way," suggested Stefan.

A/N: Please review. More to come tonight and tomorrow.

xx