a/n: there is a reason behind the final scene. it will be explained in the subsequent chapter.
"How's the salad coming along, Jer?" Elena asked dully, her hand mechanically stirring the pot of pasta sauce. It was an easy task, leaving her mind free to brood upon the events from the morning. Either way you looked at it, their situation was impossible; Klaus was all-powerful and Stefan was bound to him. For the next ten years.
"I'm working on it," Jeremy looked up at his sister tentatively. "Elena, you know you don't have to cook dinner...I know you have other things to worry about."
"It's fine," Elena replied instantly, her gaze lifting to meet Jeremy's worried expression. "I need to focus on something," she explained, "Or I'll go crazy."
He nodded in understanding, but still looked concerned. He balanced the salad bowl in one hand as he opened the one of the cabinets, "How many plates should I set?"
"What?" Elena asked distractedly, "Oh, set it for three. I think Ric said he'd be home for dinner." She watched Jeremy carry everything into the dining room with unfocused eyes. What if we can't get Stefan out? He won't be the same person in ten years. Her mind felt hazy as she realized, I won't be the same person in ten years either...
"Elena?"
She jumped, wondering when Jeremy had returned. "It's almost done," she said automatically, assuming he had asked whether the food was ready yet.
Jeremy gave her a small smile as he peered at the meal that Elena was preparing, "You made all that for just three people?"
"Huh? Oh, is it too—"
"Better make that four people," Alaric suddenly announced as he walked into the kitchen, laden with groceries. Elena stared at him in puzzlement until she saw who he had brought with him.
"Damon!" Elena's brow furrowed, "I didn't know you would be joining us tonight." She abruptly averted her eyes back to the pot she was stirring to avoid looking at him. They hadn't spoken since the morning. "I thought you'd be watching over Katherine."
"She's back at the boarding house," Damon said easily, "She's not going anywhere."
"We were at a council meeting," Alaric explained, dropping the groceries onto the countertop. He glanced at Damon before continuing, "Sheriff Forbes is having some trouble dealing with Mrs. Lockwood."
"I told you that family was trouble," Damon muttered under his breath. Then he grinned as he sauntered over to Elena, "What smells so good?" Elena's cheeks flushed as Damon stood over her, and his fingers brushed hers. "May I?" he offered, "You can help Ric pour the wine."
"Oh, we don't have any—"
Elena broke off as Ric lifted a bottle of wine from one of the grocery bags. "Damon insisted," Alaric said dryly, and Elena rolled her eyes.
"What else did you get?" Jeremy asked, looking excited at the prospect of a full house for dinner.
"Garlic bread, fruit salad," Alaric named the items as he laid them out on the table. "Oh, and Damon bought dessert from The Grille…"
Elena's mouth watered at the sight and she turned around to smile at Damon. "That was really nice of you, Damon. But you didn't have to go to all the trouble."
"It was my pleasure," he replied, his tone changing slightly as he said the words.
And Elena was left to ponder exactly how he managed to ooze sexual overtones into everything he said.
.
About twenty minutes later, the table was set with more food than was strictly necessary and the four of them were seated. "This looks great," Jeremy said enthusiastically, and Elena nodded in agreement.
"Your sister did most of the cooking," Damon corrected, raising his glass in Elena's direction.
"So," Elena took a sip of the wine, noting the pleasant taste—though she wouldn't have expected anything less. "What exactly happened at this council meeting?"
"It would appear that Mrs. Lockwood is threatening to fire Liz," Alaric answered, "Seeing as how the vampire problem is…still a problem."
Jeremy frowned, "What does Mrs. Lockwood even know?"
"Well, she is on the council so she knows about Andie being turned," Damon began, "And she knows about Jenna."
Elena stiffened, "The council knows about Jenna?"
"We had to tell them a partial truth, Elena," Damon said, even though he looked slightly uncomfortable. "Jenna couldn't just...go missing."
She eventually nodded, accepting the story. "What is the sheriff planning to do?"
"Whatever happens, we can't let her get fired," Damon said vehemently. "We don't need some new sheriff coming in to complicate matters."
"Agreed," Elena murmured. As she raised her wine glass to her lips, she was surprised to see it was full again. She frowned at it, and looked up to see Damon wink at her. She felt her lips curve upwards with a smile, even as she shook her head.
.
The rest of the dinner was spent discussing everything else possible except the obvious; Damon had imposed a "no-talking-about-Klaus" rule, which Elena was more than grateful for. There were only so many times that they could go over the dismal facts.
Elena stood up when everyone was done to collect the plates, and Damon immediately offered to help. "I'll bring out the dessert to the living room," Alaric suggested, "Maybe we could watch a movie together?"
"Yeah," Jeremy hopped up, "I'll go find a DVD."
Elena watched them go with a small smile, and she walked into the kitchen where Damon was clearing off the plates. "Thanks for doing this," she said, "It means a lot to Jeremy. Lately, it's been way too quiet around here."
Damon turned around from the sink to give her a brief smile, "Well, the three of you are always welcome to dinner at my place..." He trailed off with a frown, "Though now that Katherine is there, that might be a problem."
"Here, let me help," Elena pulled open the dishwasher to start loading the dishes. They worked in companionable silence for a few minutes before she spoke again. "So, what's the real reason you're here?"
A look of annoyance crossed Damon's face. "Geez, Elena! Do I always have to have some secret vendetta?"
"No," she answered, closing the dishwasher and switching it on. "But you usually do."
He only shook his head and grabbed the bottle of wine, gesturing towards the living room, "Come on. They're waiting for us."
"Wait," Elena reached out to stop him, "Aren't we going to talk about what happened this morning?"
Damon's mouth fell into a grim line. "Which bit?" he asked politely, "The part where we found out that my brother is indebted to Klaus for the next decade, or the part where you admitted to knowing about the compulsion?"
"The second one," Elena replied quietly, her gaze searching his. "You said we would talk about it later."
He looked like he was going to blow her off again, but then he suddenly snapped, "You sure waited a long while before fessing up. How long have you known?"
"I remembered as soon as I came back to life," Elena admitted, "But t-there was never a good time to tell you. First we had to deal with Jenna's death and John's death...and when that was all over, I was going to tell you but then it was you that was dying..." She took a deep breath, "And so it was never the right time."
Damon played with the rim of his wine glass absentmindedly, "Are you upset that I compelled you?"
"No," Elena replied after a moment. "But...I want you to know, I did try to tell you the truth." She hesitated, "When you were dying, you told me..." She felt her face heat up and mumbled, "You know what, never mind."
"I told you that I loved you," Damon said slowly, "And you said..."
'I know you love Stefan, and it'll always be Stefan. But I love you. You should know that.'
'I do.'
"You said that you knew," Damon suddenly realized, "I thought you just meant—"
"I was trying to tell you," Elena said quietly, "I was trying to tell you that I remembered."
Damon opened his mouth to say something, but his gaze flicked to someone behind her. "Everything alright in here?" Alaric asked, looking between Damon and Elena. "The dessert is starting to melt."
.
"Took you long enough," Jeremy grumbled when the three of them walked back into the living room. He pointed to a stack of DVDs, "I couldn't decide which one to pick."
Damon didn't respond and began pouring four more glasses of wine instead. "Damon," Alaric said pointedly, "I think they've had enough."
"Relax, Ric," Damon said dismissively, "Remember, we're pretending this is just a normal Saturday night. I'm sure they can handle a few more."
At his words, Elena frowned. "It is Saturday night...I forgot."
"Is something wrong?" Alaric glanced up at her questioningly, "Did you have other plans?"
"No," Elena hesitated, "It's just that...Saturday night was always..."
"Date night," Damon supplied when Elena didn't finish. "Hers and Stefan's," he elaborated when Jeremy and Alaric both looked confused.
"Oh yeah," Jeremy looked over at Elena, "I forgot."
Elena gave him a small smile before meeting Damon's gaze; he was looking at her intently, seemingly waiting for her to freak out or have an emotional outburst. "You remembered," she said to Damon in realization, "That's why you did all this."
Damon shrugged, trying to make light of the situation. "Yeah, well. I would hate for you to spend Saturday night alone just because Stefan...isn't here."
"Thank you," Elena tried to smile at him, "I...guess I should apologize for accusing you of having a secret agenda."
"Under normal circumstances," Damon smirked at her, "You would've probably been right."
.
As Alaric began handing out the dessert, Jeremy's phone beeped. He read it quickly before looking up at Damon, "Ah, can we talk about Klaus now?"
"What is it?" Elena asked immediately, "Did you hear from Stefan?"
"No," Jeremy handed her his phone, "I got a text from Bonnie. She said that she found a loophole in that locator spell that she used when Rose and Trevor kidnapped Elena."
Damon looked up with interest, "She found a way that my blood will work to find Stefan?"
"The text says that if your blood is mixed with blood from a 'human that is pure of heart', then it should show us where Stefan is on the map."
"Pure of heart?" Alaric asked skeptically, "What does that mean?"
"I would assume it meant Elena," Damon answered thoughtfully, "How soon can we see if the spell works?"
"I can tell her to come over tonight if you want," Jeremy replied, taking his phone back from Elena and beginning to text back his response.
Damon stood up, "It's late. Tell her I'll be at her house in 10 minutes to pick her up." He had just begun to make his way to the front door when someone knocked on it loudly.
"Elena, open up!" Caroline banged on the door incessantly, "It's an emergency!" Damon immediately blurred forward and pulled the door open, revealing Caroline, Tyler, and Matt. "Oh thank god you're all here," Caroline hurried into the house, pulling Tyler and Matt in after her. "Something's happened."
"What's going on?" Elena stood up, her gaze falling on Matt who looked deeply disturbed. His forehead shone with a sheen of sweat, and he was visibly shaking. "Matt? Are you okay?"
"Tell them," Caroline urged, giving Matt a small push forward. "Tell them exactly what you told me."
Matt took a deep breath, "I had just gotten home after finishing my shift at The Grille a-and I pulled into my driveway. Everything seemed perfectly normal." He suddenly lurched forward and insisted, "I would've noticed if something was different!"
Elena quickly led Matt to the sofa and placed her hand on his arm in a comforting manner. "Matt, it's okay. Just tell us what happened."
"How do you deal with it?" Matt whispered, "Somedays I still can't believe any of it is real! I d-don't want to believe it's real..."
"What's not real?" Elena asked gently. "Was there someone in your house? A vampire?" A sudden thought occurred to her and she asked sharply, "Klaus?"
"Sitting at my kitchen table," Matt muttered, "As if it was perfectly normal to be there!"
Elena gasped in horror, "Klaus was in your house?"
"What?" Matt asked in confusion, "No, no. I don't know who that is. I meant my sister. Vicki."
