Chapter seven
Elena knocked on Stefan's door but just walked in afterwards. "Stefan?"
"In here." He called from the dining room. He was seated looking at a stack of yellowed papers. An archival box sat on the table along with what had to be the oldest bible Elena had ever seen.
She followed the sound of his voice and smiled. "It looks like I piqued your interest." She said and came to sit beside him.
"You did. " He said "The youngest and only living, as far as I know anyway, female member of the Salvatore family is Rachel Salvatore. She'd be in her late forties now" He said showing her the family tree. "You can just make it out through the white out." He shook his head. "So why don't you tell me what this is all about." He asked quietly, studying his former girlfriend carefully.
"I met someone last week when I was hiking around the falls." She told him. Wow she didn't want to do this. She really didn't want to tell him but he deserved to know. This wasn't just some random guy this was living breathing family and maybe it was what Stefan needed right now. Or it could be enough to push him the rest of the way over the edge.
"Okay. I know Caroline was worried about you going out there. She thought you were looking for Damon. "
"For a split second I thought I'd found him." She said honestly. "His name is Jace Hamilton. He's Rachel's son... and he looks so much like Damon that its almost painful to see." And wonderful at the same time. She took out her cell phone and opened it to the picture she'd shown Alaric the first day.
Stefan took the phone in hand and stared at the phone, expecting someone with dark hair and pale eyes and maybe a strong passing resemblance. "He could be his doppelganger... god I hope not."
"Me too. " Elena said. "I'm hoping that its just a family resemblance thing."
"Kinda strange since Damon looks like our mother and Vincent was only our half brother." He muttered, setting the phone down where he could still see it. "Must have been more of Dad in there than we thought." he smiled faintly.
"He'd like to meet you if you're willing." She said. "I didn't tell him anything really. Just the usual BS you two told people about yourselves."
Stefan nodded. "Yeah... I'd like to meet him too." He said quietly. "What's he like?" Family. There was still family left.
Elena smiled, seeing something spark in Stefan's eyes for the first time in months. Stefan would understand when he met Jace. He wasn't Damon... but he dulled the pain just enough to make it bearable.
TVD
The first wooden bolt hit his left shoulder and the force of it spun him around. The next hit the right and Enzo stumbled backwards, and down the small stairwell that led to his daylight basement apartment.
He struggled to get to his feet, only to be hit again, and again , his leg, his gut, his chest so close to his heart that he was afraid to breathe much less move. He looked up half expecting to see the horrors of his past standing at the top of the stairs Grayson Gilbert, Wes Maxfield...The wood had been treated with vervain and his vision began to swim,but he didn't lose consciousness. They apparently wanted him awake for this.
Two men came down the stairs. A containment team. They'd started using them after Damon's dramatic escape had cost them half their benefactors. Bastards, he thought waiting for the inevitable.
"You have been a very bad boy." One of them said as he knelt down beside him.
"Its part of my charm." He said weakly, and groaned as they grabbed him by the hair and turned his head to the side. They pushed a largish needle into the base of his skull. For a moment he thought his head was going to explode then it faded to a dull throb around the injection sight. "What are you doing?" Maxfield had always told him what he was going to do before he did it. Gilbert talked about the good he was going to do and why it was necessary to do whatever he was doing. This new player in the game didn't seem to like sharing. It was unnerving.
The second man handed him another needle that was deftly slid into a vein to fill vial after vial of blood.
Why were they doing this on his front stoop? Why were they doing it at all? He had expected the containment team since Maxfields death. He'd had nightmares of them finding him, finding Caroline. But in his nightmares they either killed him outright or drug him back to the lab for tortures worse than any he'd experienced in reality. But this made no sense.
He patted Enzo on the arm. "Its good doing business with you again."
The second man, who had to this point been standing silent guardian over the scene spoke for the first time. "I'm only going to explain this to you once. Consider yourself on probation. If you leave town, if you meddle in things that don't concern you, if you resist when we come to call, you'll find yourself back in your cage before you can say lab rat." he smiled slowly. "that goose egg at the base of your thick skull is a tracking device. I can find you no matter where you go."
"Go to hell." He said hoarsely.
"Probably." The man answered and they packed up, jogging back up the stairs that Enzo had fallen down minutes before. He smiled passing the pretty blonde on their way back to the car. "Miss." He said nodding to her. Caroline Forbes. It was a shame she wasn't on the Augustine list yet.
Caroline frowned. There was something about those two that bothered her. For one thing what were they doing coming out of Enzo's apartment. There was only one at the base of the stairs. She moved more quickly to the stairwell and then quicker still down the stairs to Enzo's side. "You're alive... thank god."
"I didn't know you cared." he said and grinned a little as Caroline sputtered.
"I - I don't. But I need your help still so I need you alive." she said as she studied the placement of the cross bow bolt in his chest. "Don't move."
"Hadn't planned on-" He groaned through clenched teeth as the barbed bolt was pulled from his chest, taking part of him with it.
Carolines eyes widened "oh god!" She exclaimed. "I'm so sorry." She set it aside with trembling hands. Enzo was a jerk but he didn't deserve that. Not recently anyway. She was as angry as she was horrified.
"Push..." He breathed raggedly around his words. "Push the others through. Don't pull. Please." He added the last word as an after thought.
She nodded and winced as she pushed first one then two more of the horrible bolts through his chest. Her hands were stinging, so she knew they were vervain soaked. She was too angry to care.
She fished in his pocket for his keys and unlocked the door before pulling him to his feet. He groaned which brought a fresh round of I'm sorrys as she supported his weight to get him inside. Once inside she eased him down on the sofa and went to the refrigerator, hoping to find bagged blood there. There were a couple water bottles instead and she didn't want to know where he'd gotten it from.
She grabbed one and took it back to him. "okay, here... What happened? What did they want? What did you tell them?"
"If you're going to keep shooting off rapid fire questions you're going to need to write them down." Enzo grumbled irritably. "The only thing I told them was to go to hell. THey weren't asking questions. They wanted what Augustine usually wants. Vampire bits. What happened? I was ambushed."
"Why did they leave you behind then." She asked with a frown.
"They're trying out a new catch and release program to cut down on overhead. How the hell should I know why they do anything."
"You were their prisoner for 70 years." She said
"Princess all they told me in that time was how they were going to torture me next. I don't know anything about how they work outside the lab."
TVD
Jace opened his refrigerator and stared inside. He groaned and closed it again. He was so sick of behaving. The last thing he wanted was to mess things up on the program. There was more at stake than a few medical bills and he knew it.
But he was stressed and he really wanted that cheeseburger and a beer. How bad could it be? He asked himself. One in six months wasn't going to clog his arteries or pack on the pounds. Even if it did he could stand another 5 or so pounds anyway. The new ultra safe diet was making him lose weight that they didn't want him to lose either.
He grabbed his jacket and limped to the door. He was starting to think that he was limping more from the bandage than the actual injury to his foot. It didn't hurt anymore at all. After a moments hesitation he tossed his jacket onto the chair and sat down to remove the bandage. "Thats weird." he said, looking at a completely healthy foot. No swelling, no bruising whatsoever. "huh.. wonder if I should mention that tomorrow..."
He put his shoe back on and was standing up when the phone rang. He laughed quietly as he picked it up. "Hey." He said smiling.
"Hey." Elena answered.
"Did you forget something in my car?" It had only been a couple of hours since he'd dropped her off at her dorm.
"Actually I just talked to Stefan."
His blood chilled just a little in his veins. "And?" He asked, holding his breath a little.
"He wants to meet you." She said and he could hear the smile in her voice. "I think this could be good for both of you."
"Or I could remind him way too much of his dead brother and it could be nothing but awkward." Yeah he definitely needed that cheeseburger and beer. Double order of onion rings while he was at it.
"Even if it is awkward, give it a chance. Awkward is survivable. You don't know each other yet, but you're the only family the two of you have. There is no way this could be bad."
He stood up and picked up his jacket again. "So is there a time he wants to meet?" Jace's experiences with 'family' told him otherwise but he was willing to go with it. They'd booted his mom to the curb. Then again his mom was batshit crazy so he couldn't really blame them. Besides this guy was Damon's younger brother. That would make him in theory younger than Jace. He'd probably never even met his mom.
"Tomorrow afternoon? He has a date tomorrow night."
"Its not a date, Elena." someone said in the background and Jace smiled at the tone.
"Well it should be." She told Stefan, and returned her attention to the phone "So is tomorrow afternoon alright?"
"Yeah, I have an appointment in the morning but I should be done by 2:00 or so. Shall we call it 3:00?"
"Sure, that's fine. I can come get you if you want." Elena offered.
"Sure. Pick me up out in front of the hospital around 2:30 ish. Sometimes these things run a little long sometimes just the opposite so don't give up on me if I'm running a little late."
"If you're not out front you'd be in cardiology right?"
"Yeah. So, you know where to find me." Jace said. "I'll see you tomorrow then." Dessert. He'd definitely earned dessert too.
Elena smiled. "I'll see you then." She told him and hug up. "So that's all set up.
"You're right. He does sound like him. Less snark in the tone...actually no snark whatsoever. That's gonna take some getting used to." Stefan said.
"He's not Damon. He doesn't need to carry that same bitterness around with him." Jace had his own baggage as she well knew. Just like everyone else on the planet.
"So... cardiology?" Stefan asked with a frown.
"He had a heart transplant when he was little and apparently they don't last forever so they're monitoring him a little more closely these days. That's how he explains it anyway. Something about the warranty having run out."
"You care about him already. I can hear it in your voice when you talk to him." Stefan said.
"He's my friend. We've even had the we can only ever be friends talk. I love Damon. Right now I can't imagine anyone else in my life. Not even if they look just like him. But yeah. I care about Jace. People are going to have to be okay with that."
"You know if he gets too close to us he's going to find out what we are." Stefan said.
"Yeah well lets postpone that for as long as possible." Elena said.
tvd
Alaric had finally made it back to his own town and his own bar. Claire was right. Food was almost as good as alcohol. At least when paired with beer on a night when he had to prepare a lecture at the last minute because he'd spent the entire weekend drunk off his ass and whining like a little boy instead of sucking it up and doing his job. Either of them.
At least he'd managed to make contact with Elena and Jeremy today. Not that it had done much good. They were both blowing him off in their own way. At least Elena promised to meet with him soon. And she'd told him about Damon's double the first day. He told himself that counted for something.
He was halfway through the first draft when he heard a familiar voice at the bar. Even knowing the guy existed this was a definite shock to the system. He debated staying put, continuing to work on his lecture and finishing his beer. He thought it was probably a very good idea. Not my circus, not my monkeys... right. He'd stay in the background and just... be there for Elena.
That's what he told himself until he was standing in front of Jace Hamilton offering his hand "You must be Jace, I'm Ric..ahm... Elena's-"
"Step-dad." Jace said taking his hand and shaking it. "She's told me about you."
"Is that how she referred to me?" He asked, smiling brightly.
"I believe the phrase was 'Guardian step dad uncle-oid- yeah ahm Ric." He said laughing. "And she's obviously mentioned me and I stick out in a crowd because I Iook like- "
"Damon. " Ric said with a nod. "If its not a little too weird for you, you can join me." He indicated where he was sitting.
"Sure, why not." Jace said. "Everything has been a little weird today what's a little more weird."
"Trust me, I've had those days." Ric said laughing as he led the way back to his seat.
"So Elena tells me you're a history professor. " Jase said sitting down and putting the number plaque on the table so his food could find him.
"I am. I'm supposed to be finishing up notes for a lecture tomorrow but to be honest I can't concentrate tonight."
"Do your students know your office comes with Guinness on tap?" Jace teased.
"Only the ones I don't mind seeing outside of office hours." He said laughing. "So Elena hasn't told me much about you. She told me when she met you but other than that I haven't talked to her much. "
"And she didn't mention me while she was on the phone this afternoon because I was there." Jace nodded. Well this was definitely a different sort of meet the family situation than he'd expected. "Is this where you ask me my intentions?"
"Nah, Elena can take care of herself in that regard. This is where we play twenty questions and I ask you all the questions I've been dying to ask her."
"I can live with that." He looked up and smiled at the waitress as she set his glass of beer on the table. The aforementioned guinness.
"Are you a student here at Whitmore?" Ric asked as he put away his classwork.
"Nope. How did I figure that would be the first question? I have a bachelors in history ironically, from Georgia State."
Ric grinned. "If you tell me you're following that up with a secondary degree in education I will personally call Caroline and have her start planning your and Elena's wedding." He was teasing and it was obvious.
"No, I'm going into Anthropology. And Caroline hates me apparently so I doubt she'd be much help." Okay he liked Ric. This was good. He started to relax.
"That's because you look like Damon." Ric said. "She'll come around eventually. What brings you to Whitmore if you're not going to college here. Its a bit of a commute to Atlanta."
And here it was about to go down hill. "I'm here for my bi-annual check up." He said "Elena will probably tell you the details later when you corner her like any good Stepfather would." He added. "But I am also diving into the genealogy library here. Or I was." He shrugged "So why does looking like Damon make Caroline hate me?"
"They used to date. It ended badly. And she's afraid Elena is going to get hurt. Not because of anything she thinks you'll do but because the resemblance is striking and Elena is still fragile where Damon is concerned. But I am reassured that she's got her head in the right place since she told you about him."
"Yeah that's all wrapped up in today's weird." He said taking a drink of the dark beer and savoring it.
"That weird?"
"No that long since I've had a beer." Jace laughed. "I can only do the healthy living thing for so long before I start hardcore jonesing for burgers and beer."
"I don't even try." Ric laughed as well. "So what else am I going to find out about you from Elena?"
"Translation, spill your guts kid, don't make me break out the bright lights and rubber hoses." He chuckled a little.
"I'd never resort to bright lights." Ric said.
"But rubber hoses are still an option. Alright then." Jace said laughing.
"You can trust me." Ric said looking into his eyes, compellingly. okay it was cheating. But things were just a little too pat as far as Ric was concerned. He was hoping it was just the paranoid nature of a vampire, but he wasn't going to take any chances.
Jace didn't like talking about himself generally. Foster care, even in a good foster home didn't breed trusting people. It also left you open to a lot of crap growing up that other kids didn't have to deal with. Your entire life was decided by committee. Add in the medical situation and the constant trips to Whitmore, and the committee got larger and more unwieldy. He just didn't like adding more people to the list and people always seemed to want to be on the list with opinions and suggestions and a lot of assumptions.
But he found himself willing to let Ric in. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been willing to do that with anyone. Even telling Elena had been difficult for him.
"okay... well... top of the weirdsville list... apparently my mother was a Salvatore." Jace said. "Not that I grew up with her. She was apparently kicked out of the family for being out of before I came along. Turns out she was bipolar and not fond of taking her medication."
"Did you grow up with your father? Or..."
"Foster care." He admitted and took another drink of his beer, waiting for the tension in the room to start rising. Fathers did not like to hear those two words.
"that had to be rough. I'm sorry." Ric said sincerely. "So did you come here looking for your family?"
Jace explained the situation, how he'd been looking for even a name to go on, and how Elena had given him the answer he was looking for and confirmed with Stefan that his mother was indeed a relative. "So I'm meeting him tomorrow afternoon. Kinda nervous about that."
His food was delivered to the table and he went for the onion rings first with such enjoyment that it made Ric laugh. "How long have you been on the rabbit food plan? Cause I'm thinking you and your food need to get a room. "
"Six months." Jace said around his second onion ring.
He whistled lowly. "Nice self control there buddy, I wouldn't have made it a week. And you don't have anything to worry about with Stefan. He's a good guy. A little uptight sometimes but his heart's in the right place."
"Stuffy elitist uptight or worried uptight?" Jace asked.
"Worried and thinking he's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders uptight. That last part I've always thought was a Salvatore genetic trait. Are you an uptight person Jace. Can you prove or disprove my theory."
"Well... three uptight worried people in the Salvatore family tree does prove a trend but its not sufficient data to prove the theory that its universal. He said laughing. "So expect up tight and worried... great. Should be an interesting afternoon to say the least. Maybe I should have postponed my binge for tomorrow night."
"You'll be fine. If Elena's willing to introduce you, it'll be fine."
"She seems kinda lost..." Jace said frowning a little. "I'm worried that she needs for me to belong to that family because it adds another layer of the illusion. I'm not an idiot. yeah she's not rebounding on me. Yeah we've both agreed that we're just friends and that's where its going to stay." Not that he really wanted it that way but he didn't want to get hurt either. " But I can't help feeling I'm the Damon substitute."
"And yet you haven't run for the hills to avoid us all." He said studying the younger mans face. He knew he'd be able to tell the difference between them. Damon and Jace could stand side to side, wearing the same clothes the same expression and he'd be able to tell the difference.
"Because I want to know more about where I come from." He said honestly. "And Elena's sweet. She's beautiful and she's unlike anyone else I've ever met. I'd be an idiot to walk away."
Ric nodded. This was going to get complicated fast. He hoped Jace was up to it. If he actually was a Salvatore there was no way to escape the drama that was part of their lives. He'd be pulled into the vampire politics and the life and death struggles that were their reality. And then things would start to really get complicated. It was tempting to compel the kid to run don't walk back to Atlanta, get on with his life and never think twice about being a Salvatore or Elena Gilbert. But he couldn't do that. He wasn't going to take someone's free will away completely.
"Just be careful." He said. "I like you. I don't want to see either of you get hurt. Granted I'm more concerned about Elena and Stefan cause ... history... but you don't deserve to be hurt by an accident of genetics either."
"We're being careful." He said. "So...whats the lecture on?" Jace asked, wanting the conversation off of himself for a while. Ric was more than willing to comply.
