Family Ties
I walked down the stairs the next morning to find Jenna staring down the telly, muttering darkly under her breath as she watched the news. I raised an eyebrow as I caught what it was, precisely, that she was saying.
"Scum-ball…" She tested, and discarded in favor of, "scum-bucket."
"Aunt Jenna, are you alright?" I asked, a little perplexed.
She jumped apparently not having heard me come down the stairs, and nodded vigorously. "Sorry, I just…" She began to excuse, and then shook her head, opting instead to narrow her eyes and go back to staring down the news anchor.
"Him," she said at last, nodding at the telly as if to specify which of the abundance of hims there were in the house was the one she was talking about. "Also known as Logan Scum-fell."
I detected in her voice something that in my previous twenty-three years of life pre-Elena I had known to be the voice used almost exclusively by my friends to refer to…
"Is he your ex?" I questioned, blinking.
Jenna nodded.
"That, my dear Elena, is the reason I moved away from Mystic Falls." She intoned darkly, her attention still focused on the rather unimpressive man reporting the news. I voiced this opinion of him rather drolly and added that she could have done so much better.
I busied myself with the contents of a box I had retrieved from Mrs. Lockwood, which Elena's mother had apparently agreed to loan to the Founder's Council for their Heritage Display, which, coincidentally, since it meant so much to Elena's mom, I decided to attend to at least let Elena be there physically at the event her mother had put so much work into.
I figured that way, when she came back, she'd have a picture or something to commemorate it. I don't know, it was just a thought…
Jeremy had the audacity to ask how much Jenna and I thought the stuff would be worth and was quickly shut down by the two of us, because there would most certainly be no pawning of Elena's parents' stuff. I closed the box right in time to hear the doorbell ring.
It was my best friend in the whole world.
"Stefan!" I cried in a hushed whisper, hoping not to draw Jenna's attention to us (because I didn't want her to see me ask the question I wanted to ask or make assumptions about it) and threw my arms around him in greeting. "Just the man I wanted to see!"
He raised an eyebrow, obviously amused by my exuberance, and allowed me to take his hand and practically drag him up the stairs to my room, where I sat him down and promptly began pacing like a general on the eve of battle.
"Stefan, do you love me?" I asked out of nowhere, stopping in the middle of the room to look at him with Elena's innocent doe eyes, clasping my hands gently together and resting them softly against my chest, the picture of tremulous sincerity.
He stiffened slightly, his eyes stuck on mine for a moment before he awkwardly cleared his throat and asked in a rather tight voice, "What is this about, Lena?"
I bounded over to the bed and sat myself cross-legged next to him, smiling sweetly.
"You do love me, don't you?" I pressed in my nicest, most inviting voice. "Enough to maybe put on a suit for me? Enough to conceivably wear that suit to the Founder's Party? Enough, possibly, to be my, er, date?"
My voice had been getting progressively higher as it got more sugary, and I ended my endlessly appealing plea in a bit of a squeak. Stefan laughed suddenly, and then stopped as if he had surprised himself. (Given that boy's ridiculous gravitas, I'd hardly find it shocking if he had). I fluttered my eyelashes at him, still using the old Elena Gilbert patented wide, innocent brown eyes trick to ideally cause him to pity me so much he'd agree.
When he'd collected himself at last, he turned very seriously to me and said, "I would be honored to accompany you, Miss Gilbert."
"Thank you, Stefan!" I cried in delight, and then frowned suddenly, looking him over with appraising eyes. He fidgeted slightly under my stare.
"What is it, Lena?" He asked after letting me shamelessly eyeball him for a moment.
"I was just wondering what you look like in a suit," I answered pensively, and then gave him a double thumbs up. "I bet you'll look great!"
He smirked a little at that, modestly informed me that he could "pull one off."
"So," I chirped, the picture of satisfaction at having secured a survival-buddy for the evening, "have you ever been before?"
I got a vague, noncommittal answer in response and he deftly changed the topic.
We hung out for a while, and then he went home. I hung about the house, bored and wishing I had some video games to play or something, before settling down to read the latest book Stefan had brought me from the library, which was, enchantingly, Pride and Prejudice. (Yes, I had returned This Side of Paradise earlier that week after reading it through twice). I read in peace until Tyler came over to pick up the box full of Elena's parents' things.
Unfortunately Jeremy came to the door too, and I had to break up a brewing row between both boys. Then I was alone with my book until Bonnie came over to get ready.
"Delicate flower versus naughty vixen?" She pondered aloud, comparing what looked like from where I stood in the kitchen two bottles of nail varnish.
"Both," I answered promptly, drying my hands with a paper towel (I had been washing them) and sitting with her at the table. "Every girl's got a bad girl in them, so why not?"
She giggled at my expression as I waggled my eyebrows at her suggestively and left both the nail varnish on the table. Her expression fell a little, though, as she thought of something, and even though she shook her head a little very surreptitiously as if to clear it, I caught the movement and found myself wondering what was up.
"Bonnie, is there anything you need to tell me?" I asked her bluntly, a bit concerned by the way she had been biting her lip nervously when she first came. She looked more relaxed now than she'd been earlier, and I hoped that meant relaxed enough to talk to me.
"You're excited," she responded, obviously feeling a little on the spot. "You look happy. I don't want to ruin your night, not when you're all raring to go about your date."
I pursed my lips.
"So, basically, you've heard something bad about Stefan and you want to tell me, but you think whatever it is you have to say is bad enough that it could ruin my evening and you don't want to do that," I guessed accurately. Bonnie made a face that told me I'd hit the mark.
"Would it make you feel better if I told you that I knew without any doubt whatsoever that Stefan was trustworthy? That I could tell you, completely surely, that I can trust Stef with my life?" I returned, my voice so steady Bonnie nodded slowly, hesitantly.
"I'd want to know why," she said after a moment, "but…I believe you, and it does help."
If I told her about what I knew right now she'd think I'd gone mad, and that was probably not the best option I had available.
"Tell you what," I promised sincerely, "when you think you're going crazy because of a few candles, I'll explain it."
"Candles?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. I nodded.
"Just…remember how you were seeing those numbers and then…you know…"
A look of deep unease settled on her face, and I put my arms around her carefully and tried to soothe her with a few, quiet reassurances. "It's not your fault, Bonnie. How could you have connected the dots like that? It was impossible, and hopefully you won't have to deal with something like that every again."
"It scares me," she mumbled into my shoulder as I stroked her hair pityingly.
"I know," I said, and then pulled away, keeping a hand on her shoulder. "But it will be okay."
She smiled a little then, a sort of half-smile that wanted to believe me and then said, "Candles, huh? And then you'll tell me why you trust your new boyfriend?"
I groaned.
"He's not my boyfriend, Bon. We're just friends. And yeah, as soon as you get what I mean by candles, I'll let you know. And I get this funny feeling that'll be sooner rather than later."
Our conversation when to lighter topics after that and we relocated to my room until Mrs. Lockwood rang and told me in a tizzy that there was a piece missing in the box I'd sent over, a fob watch or something. With a sinking, cautious feeling in my stomach, I went to go ask Jeremy if he had it, and hoped that if he did he hadn't been planning on selling it.
"Jeremy, I just got an odd phone call from Mrs. Lockwood," I said to him after gently pushing back his earphones so that he could hear me. "She said the fob watch that Mom put on the list was missing. Please tell me you have it; I know its yours, and that you weren't exactly keen to let the Lockwood's borrow it for the Heritage Display, but I need to know that it's safe because it's meant for you and if it's missing I have to get it back."
He looked away from me for a moment.
"Yeah, I have it." He admitted, and I heaved a sigh of relief.
"Good. That's good. You…I'm sorry, Jeremy, but I have to ask. You're not…you're not selling it for money for drugs, are you?" I asked meekly, and anger flashed across his face.
"I wouldn't do that!" He snarled angrily, and I held up my hands in a gesture of surrender.
"I believe you, Jer, but I had to ask. I'm sorry for doubting you." I apologized, not having meant to insult him and secretly very glad that he wasn't because, well, I hadn't been too sure. "I'll…I'll tell Mrs. Lockwood I couldn't find it and it's probably still somewhere in the attic."
He didn't answer, only watched me defensively as I left.
It's funny, but I understood completely where he was coming from. I'd been my father's only child; I had two brothers, yes, but they were technically my half-siblings. I'd been the only one left in all my da's side of the family to inherit his watch when he'd passed away.
That watch had been a twelve-year-old girl's precious treasure, it had been the only source of comfort she would draw from because she'd felt her mother and brothers and friends couldn't understand. I understood Jeremy's feelings about that watch, his rightful inheritance, better than he probably could have imagined.
I shook off those thoughts before heading back to Bonnie, plastering a grin on my face as I returned to the room and then we were both getting dressed and putting on make-up and doing our hair and laughing and having fun.
I wore a dress I was pretty sure was the one Elena had worn to the party, which I vaguely remembered from the series because I was sure that Stefan drugged Damon with vervain by spiking Caroline's drink with it. I had been faithfully straightening my hair each day, but quite frankly, I couldn't be bothered any more and had decided to curl it for a change of pace, and pinned up in a lovely, twisting up-do that left tendrils of curls framing my face.
As a last minute touch, I nestled a coral-colored Hibiscus flower I had deliberately gone by the florist's to get into the base of my bun at the left side, and then smiled at my Elena's reflection in the mirror. She looked quite nice, if I say so myself.
I didn't wear jewelry save for the necklace Stefan gave me.
Bonnie and I hung out, looking gorgeous together (we totally did) and then waited for Stefan, who was going to be joining us. Technically speaking, both Bonnie and Stefan were my dates, because I had thoughtlessly asked Stefan without giving any thought to who Bonnie would attend the party with, and I certainly didn't want her to go alone, so the three of us were going to go together. I figured Caroline was going with Damon, anyway, so there was no one left out.
"Stefan! Damn, son, you look great!" I called teasingly upon opening the door for him.
He smiled.
"You look beautiful," he said quietly, as if he were afraid I would hear him say it, and then cleared his throat and amended a little louder, "Both of you. You both look amazing."
"Thanks, Steffy," I responded with a grin as Bonnie gave him her own pleased thank you. I looped one of my arms with his and the other with Bonnie's, stepping into the cool, late afternoon air with both of my dates at their respective side. "Shall we?"
When we got to the Lockwood's home, the party was in full swing, so to speak, and there was a ridiculously long line in front of the house. I thought I saw Damon and Caroline ahead of us, but it was difficult to tell because of all the people.
Mrs. Lockwood greeted us at the door; I turned on all of the gentility metaphorically beaten into me back at the upscale academy I had attended secondary in and surprised her, I think, with my exquisite manners.
Bonnie ditched Stefan and I in favor of…I don't know what she was doing, exactly, but she went off with a vague "I'll see you later," and left us to ourselves. I really wanted to see all the stuff on display in the house, especially since some of the stuff had belonged to the Gilbert family, so Stefan and I headed in.
I saw Jenna inside, she looked fabulous, and I saw that Logan Fell guy she'd been staring down with narrowed, disdainful eyes on the telly and have to admit, I was rather impressed with their not-really-chemistry.
I said as much to Stefan who glanced up at them again, right in time to catch Jenna give Logan a sort of look and disagree, saying: "Oh, yes I have. I'm meaner now."
The Fell bloke had just been saying that she hadn't changed a bit, and the way he watched her as she retorted sassily and flounced away with her beautiful, loose curls and her I'm-better-than-you slight swinging of her hips was hilarious.
"Chemistry?" Stefan echoed, amusement written all over his face.
I nodded with a smirk.
"Look at him. He looks like he'd like nothing better than to shag Aunt Jenna on one of those display cases." I noted primly, and then frowned. "If he hurts her, I'm going to have a temper tantrum Were-Bat would cringe at, take a hint from Take-Me-Out-To-The-Ball-Game, and have at him with a baseball bat."
"I'm sure you will," Stefan assured me easily, as though he sincerely doubted it but was indulging me anyway, and then it was his turn to frown, a little nonplussed.
"The truth is out!" I cried before he could question my strangeness, pointing to a hand-written document on display. "You have been to a Founder's Party before!"
"I told you I had, once, when I was younger," he stated a little curiously, then saw what I was looking at and grew a little rigid.
"Look," I said, pointing. "You and Damon, right there."
He seemed a bit flustered, as if he was afraid I would randomly figure out his secret just because of some names on a page. Bit silly, that. I mean, who would actually make the jump from same name to oh-my-God-he's-a-vampire? Old family names is a much more plausible and believable excuse.
"The original Salvatore brothers," Damon interjected smoothly, sidling up behind us with Caroline at his side. "Our ancestors."
"Lies!" I accused with a playful smile, knowing that it actually was, in fact, a lie. "And I refuse to believe otherwise, because the mental image of Steffy looking all dapper in period costume amuses me far more than it should."
"Dapper, hmm?" Damon mused, leaning forward a little. "What about me?"
I sniffled.
"In the scarlet waistcoat, maybe, but it's hard picturing you all dressed up. You look silly in your casual clothes. I blame the cream-colored bowler hat." I said honestly, and then blinked at the fact that I had seen him very clearly in my head. How on earth I remembered that, but couldn't remember the basic order of the plot, I had no idea.
I turned to Caroline to avoid his suddenly burning stare.
"So, you had a spin on the dance floor yet, Care?" I asked in a friendly way, and she frowned.
"Damon," she answered pointedly with a look at him, "won't dance with me."
He ignored the look and happily hummed confirmation of that statement. She pursed her lips slightly before turning back to me with a charming smile.
"Could I just borrow your date?" She asked sweetly, and I blinked.
"Well, you'd have to ask him?" I replied a little baffled at why she would ask me that instead of him. "I mean, I'm perfectly alright with it, but it's up to him, obviously."
Stefan faced her politely and excused himself, saying, "I…don't really dance."
"Oh, sure he does!" Damon interrupted, clearly intent on being his usual prat self. "You should see him, the waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk. He does it all!"
"I'm not really that good, might step on your toes," Stefan lied with a polite expression of apology on his face. Apparently, Caroline really wanted to dance.
"Sorry, but I won't take no for an answer!" She exclaimed vivaciously, and dragged him off.
I watched them go, admittedly a little amused.
"And then there were two," I murmured dramatically, and rested my elbow on Damon's shoulder. "Fancy a little walkabout?"
"With the most beautiful woman here?" Damon voiced smoothly. "Of course."
I rolled my eyes and, without further comment mainly because I didn't want to encourage him, we were on our way. We walked around the various 'exhibits' set up and marveled at this and that, well, I appreciated the history of some of the artifacts and Damon just sort of smirked at me, and then we were done and heading slowly back towards the exit.
"I want to apologize to you," he said out of nowhere, turning a falsely sincere expression at me as we stood in the very same room I'd last seen Jenna in, "for being a world-class jerk."
I laughed.
"No, you don't" I told him easily, "and I don't expect you to. Be yourself, Damon. I like you better that way."
"The other night I tried to kiss you," he insisted. "There's no excuse."
I rolled my eyes.
"I punched you. We're even."
He frowned a little at my easy-going attitude but went back to smirking rather quickly. The lull in conversation wasn't unpleasant, but before it could go on for much longer, I decided I wanted to get out of the rather stuffy house and into the evening air.
"Come on then," I instructed, gently tugging on the sleeve of his jacket. "Let's go outside, have a dance. If you're feeling charitable and at all inclined, of course."
His smirk grew challenging and just a little smug.
"I wouldn't dance with Caroline," he reminded me with a lazy shrug of his shoulders as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "What makes you think I'll dance with you?"
I scoffed playfully.
"You ask that like you haven't already decided to humor me, but I'll answer anyway. Firstly, it'll irritate Stefan. Secondly, it'll irritate Stefan. That probably satisfies you so much it merits being on your list twice."
Damon nodded slowly as if he were weighing my words with the utmost gravity, trying and not quite succeeding at hiding a grin behind his serious face.
"Thirdly," I continued thoughtfully with a smirk of my own, "since you're the one that tried to have it on with me the other night, you'll likely want to take advantage of the fact that this'll be the only time I'll ever willingly invite you put your hands on my person, ever."
He raised an eyebrow as if to ask me if he could consider that a challenge, but I didn't return the expression or give him a chance to speak.
"Fourthly," I interjected perhaps a little hastily, "because Stef will know what reason number three is because he knows you that well and thus will be even more irritated, and lastly, because deep down you are dying to get out there and party like it's 1864."
"Well," he said sarcastically, "you sure have me convinced."
He adopted a thoughtful sort of look.
"Yeah, you had me at 'it'll irritate Stefan.' Let's go."
And so, I ended up dancing with Damon Salvatore, which was strangely fun in itself, to say nothing of the hilarity of the running commentary he provided on other guests.
I ended up leaning on him more than might have been appropriate to keep myself from doubling over with laughter as he happily criticized this man and his so very obviously false hair, that woman over there with the unfortunate roses-the-size-of-cabbages dress, and recounted sad tales such as that of the boy so very obviously ditched by his date with wicked glee. I liked funny Damon a lot. Much better than I liked fake-sorry Damon.
We danced until I confessed I was dying of thirst, and then were reunited with Stef and Caroline at the drink table.
"Lena," Stefan said with what might have been a little tense relief in his voice as he wordlessly offered me a drink. I took it with a smile and thanks. He turned to his brother, who was not-so-innocently grinning at him.
"Drink, Damon?" He asked, holding a glass out to him.
"No thanks, I'll pass," Damon answered casually, and initiated another stare-off between them.
I rolled my eyes, so done with both of them.
"Have another dance in you, Stef? I wouldn't mind another turn round the room."
"Absolutely," Stefan answered, and I grinned and let him lead me back to the dance floor.
Stefan and I danced for like, three more songs, chatting pleasantly about this and that and 'oh, I hope my brother didn't drive you bonkers?' 'No, no, he was surprisingly entertaining!' and the like. I pointed out that he hadn't stepped on my toes once and he sheepishly 'confessed' that he only said that because he didn't fancy dancing with Caroline.
It was fun and relaxing, but three songs is a bit much, especially considering I had danced with Damon before that, and I was about ready for a break. I excused myself from the floor and told Stefan I'd catch up with him in a bit. I wanted to find Bonnie, and he did seem preoccupied, at any rate.
I bumped into Caroline in the ladies, where I had gone to freshen up.
"Hey," I said in greeting, and then began to rummage through my bag looking for my lipstick.
"Hey," she returned, touching up her own lip gloss.
I watched her out of the corner of my eye, wanting desperately to peek under the scarf she had to confirm that Damon had bitten her. I knew that she dated Damon and he had her under compulsion, but I didn't know when, exactly, that happened. Although…I was grimly certain that, as short a time as they had been 'dating,' it was more than long enough.
I had been debating slipping her vervain; if I gave it to her now and he realized he couldn't compel her, he might hurt her. I hadn't been able to think of any ways to get her it without her suspecting at any point before now, mainly because I had apparently fallen out of her good graces. I seemed to be back in them, now, if not a favorite of the realm, but I had a sinking feeling that giving her vervain now could be a mistake.
I could see the bite mark on her shoulder under her little lacy knit cardigan. Anyone could, if they were looking.
She caught me staring and frowned.
"What?"
"Nothing," I answered, and then told her sincerely, "you look very nice."
She smiled and said thank you, and I excused myself to look for Bonnie, but I felt something urge me to have a little chat with Damon. The bite mark on Caroline's shoulder upset me enough that I followed it, and I found him standing near the drinks where I'd left him.
He smiled a little when he saw me.
"Lena! To what do I owe the pleasure?"
I stopped where I was, suddenly uncomfortable because he actually did sound a little pleased to see me, in his own twisted, sarcastic way. It took the ire right out of me and left cool rationality behind. I had to be careful with my words.
"Damon," I started seriously, rubbing at my bare arm, feeling a bit chilled. "Do you know anything about the weird scar on Caroline's shoulder?"
His face went utterly blank.
"What are you talking about?" He asked, as if he had no clue what I was talking about. He was certainly better than Stefan at the what-I'm-not-a-vampire thing, but I knew better.
"It's a bite mark." I said quietly, uneasily, and before he could say anything, I turned around and left him, feeling oddly disappointed.
I looked for Bonnie for a while, but I couldn't find her. Eventually, I texted her and got a message back saying that she had left early and we needed to talk, whatever that meant, so I decided, due to a feeling of apprehension in my stomach, to go find Caroline.
Find her I did, and she was very clearly unwell. I dreaded to think that Damon might have gone after her because I opened my stupid mouth.
"Caroline, what happened?" I asked worriedly, putting my hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down some. She wouldn't answer the question.
"I'm fine. I'm fine."
She wasn't fine, she was trembling like a leaf in the wind, and I couldn't leave her. I texted Stefan to apologize for leaving and told him something had come up and took her home.
I had forgotten that all Mystic Falls parties end in disaster, and I had a nasty feeling that I hadn't seen the worst result of the night before it was over.
To be continued in You're Undead to Me.
