"Why are you putting a book into Elena's bag?" Damon jumped at the sound of my voice. I stood on the stairs looking down at him with my arms crossed.
"It's for Alaric." I walked to his side and pulled out the book in question.
"Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Really?" He shrugged at his little joke. "It's not funny D."
"I thought it was." I sighed and tossed the book back into the bag and before walking off.
"You need to come to Denver with us?" I looked up from the book I was reading and raised my eyebrow at Damon and Elena.
"Why?" I asked curiously.
"Because you need some time away from all this." Damon comically waved his arms around emphasising the greatness of the crap currently hanging over us.
"Ok."
"Ok?" Elena seemed wary by my easy response.
"Sure, why not, I miss Jeremy." I stood up. "And someone has to save you from stupid over here." Elena smiled at the insult while Damon acted offended.
"STEFAN!"
"WHAT?"
"CARRY MY BAG TO THE CAR!"
"Why do I have to do it?" He whined from my doorway.
"Because; you're my little brother, and little brothers' always help their big sisters. Always." He sighed.
"Fine."
"Good Stefan." I patted him on the head.
"You heard from Klaus?" I stopped just before the entrance to the living room to listen to the boys' conversation.
"Not yet, I'm sure I will soon though. He's expecting me to deliver two stakes and I only have one." Stefan twirled the lone stake in his hands.
"Well that's going to be disappointing for him."
"I'll get it out of him. I just need some time." I winced at the thought of what Stefan may need time for. Poor Alaric.
"I like that confidence. I don't share it but I like it."
"You don't think I can do what it takes."
"Well, you're good Stefan again. You're in control, so…you may get the girl but you lose the edge."
"Speaking of…" I made presence known just before Elena entered the room.
"Have you ever flown first class?" Damon asked Elena while my eyes lit up at the promise of first class.
"Who'd you have to compel for that." Damon scoffed.
"Please, we use miles." It's true, we do. Damon slung his arm around my shoulder and led me out.
"Bye Stef!" we called in unison before leaving the house.
"Man I love first class!" I exclaimed at I sat down into my extremely comfy first class seat, which happened to be directly next to the window and Damon since Elena wanted to sit alone.
"I agree. Hey, do you remember travelling first class to Italy in the 90's?"
"Oh yeah! That was awesome!"
"What happened?" Elena asked from behind us.
"We played strip poker with the cabin crew." Elena rolled her eyes and put her earphones in. we shrugged and continued to reminisce.
"There he is!" Elena pointed him out and practically ran to him while D and I walked behind. His arm slung around my shoulders, and me leaning into his warmth.
"Next time we compel him…remind me to make him better at baseball." Damon said after we watched Jeremy miss the ball. The slow ball. The kid really was bad at baseball. Elena ignored us and walked up to the cage.
"Hey Jer." The teenager turned to face his sister.
"Elena?" They had some sort of sickly sweet silent sibling reunion while D and I gagged at each other. "What's wrong?" Moment over.
"Katherine sired us."
"Rose sired Katherine."
"Now we need to find out who sired Rose?"
"So you travelled across the country to get me to talk to a dead vampire?"
"I didn't. I actually missed you." I shrugged and smiled at Jer and he returned it happily.
"The dead vampire's redundant but yes." Damon brought us back to the conversation at hand.
"Well I cant. I could talk to Anna and Vicky because I knew them." He returned his helmet to the cubby hole. "I've never even met Rose."
"What good is you dying and coming back to life if you can't talk to a ghost when I need you to." I hit D and shot him a death glare.
"Rose spent a long time running from Klaus as well. She and Damon were close," I raised an eyebrow at Damon while he just smirked, "so maybe we can use him as a connection." Jeremy sighed.
"Fine. Fine, can we do this later because my friend just got here" I turned and saw Jer's 'friend', "and yes Damon I actually have some. I'll call you when I'm done."
"Damon, that's Kol." Damon turned and was struck in the face by a baseball bat. "Damon!" I cried before dropping to my knees to cradle his head.
"What the hell are you doing?" Jeremy shouted.
"Jer get back, he's an Original." Elena warned.
"No hard feelings mate, but we're not buds." Kol picked up a metal bat. "You know; I'll never get used to aluminium, but hey, at least it won't break." He said threateningly while going to hit Damon again. Before he could my hand wrapped around the broken wooden bat and I staked him in the stomach.
"Did you kill him?"
"No." I helped D up. "But it'll give us a head start. C'mon." I lead them to the rental car while supporting D. "I'll drive."
I pulled up in front of a motel and we all got out.
"So where are we?" Jer asked while I dumped my bags in D's hands.
"Far enough somewhere and nowhere where Kol can't find us." I said cryptically while we walked up to the second level.
"I can't believe Kol was a vampire." Jer was in disbelief.
"Well, didn't you find it weird that you made a friend so fast? I mean have you met you?"
"Not helping." Elena said while I shot him another death glare. We found the room and poured in.
"This should work." I said while D dumped our bags into a corner. "Right?"
"Yeah. It doesn't really matter."
"Alright, what do you need? Candles? Incense?" D questioned while drawing the curtains.
"That's not how it works."
"I know. I know – they push from the other side and you pull from this one." We both removed our leather jackets and took a seat on the one bed.
"Alright. You got a picture of her?" Jeremy settled down.
"Picture? Of what? A trip to Disney Land? C'mon Rose, you're not gonna make us wait are you? I know you're obsessed with me." He taunted.
"Alright, tell me something about her."
"Ummm, well, she does this thing with her tongue."
"Something that matters." I said, disgusted. He got serious.
"She spent her last day in paradise. Soaking in the sun, reminiscing about what it means to be human. And when death came, she didn't fear it." I slid next to him and wrapped my arm around him as a sign of comfort. He smiled a small smile at me.
"I was with her on her last day and she definately wasn't in paradise." Elena said confused.
"It was in the dream he gave her." Jer seemed to be harnessing a memory, "She's here." We looked around but saw nothing.
"Is she lonely on the other side?" Elena asked.
"She says not to worry, she's happy." It was cool that Jer could talk to ghosts but hearing only one side of the conversation was driving me insane.
"Is she still hot?" I rolled my eyes at Damon and his grin.
"She misses you." Jer seemed to be paraphrasing. "She misses both of you, and is sad that she never got to meet you." He looked at me and I smiled.
"Hi Rose." I waved to an empty room. Jer laughed.
"She says hi." I smiled. "She was sired by someone called Mary Porta."
"Scary Mary." I groaned.
"Where is she Rose?" Damon asked.
"She says to sit tight. She'll find out."
"Ok then, I'm going to get some dinner. I'll be back soon." D left.
Elena was busy texting someone while I struck up a conversation with Jer;
"Hey Jer?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you try something for me?"
"Uhhh, sure. What's up?"
"I was wondering…could you access my parents? It's just that, I want to talk to them just one more time." I asked.
"Sure, tell me about them."
"Well, my mom looked like me, and my dad…my dad was a typical 19th century gentleman. They were awesome. But they died in a house fire when I was,"
"When you were six." He interrupted.
"Yeah."
"They're here." I gasped and looked around the room again but to my dismay they weren't there.
"Mom? Dad?"
"Yeah. They say that they love you so much and they're so proud of you." Tears welled up in my eyes.
"I love you both too."
"They say that they're sorry but they can't stay for longer but to always remember that they're in your heart and are always watching over you." I started to cry. "I'm sorry Char, they're gone."
"Thank you Jer. I'll never forget this. Thank you." I caught round him and then sat at the table with my head in my hands trying to hide the sobs that wracked my body.
The door opened and D walked in carrying a box of fried chicken.
"Everything ok in here?"
"Yeah." Elena got up and took the chicken off him.
"Char?"
"I'm ok." I sobbed unconvincingly. D squatted at my side and stroked my tear streaked face.
"What's wrong." I started to cry more. He scooped me up in his arms and carried me outside so we could have some privacy. "Char?" he asked again after we settled on the floor against the wall.
"I asked Jer to contact my parents." D pulled me closer. "They said that they love me and that they're always watching over me."
I continued to sob into D while he comforted me. Eventually we returned inside where Elena and Jer had left us some chicken. D found some alcohol and set me up at the table while he went to shower.
By the time the door the bathroom opened, Elena and Jer were in bed, and I was halfway through the bottle. It had had no effect on me and I still felt sad but not so much anymore. I was ok, better even, now that I had gotten to say goodbye to my parents.
D walked back into the room wearing only his jeans with his shirt hanging open, and joined me for a drink. I couldn't help but admire his body; I mean he was flaunting it in front of me. We clinked our plastic glasses, and settled in for the night in our chairs seeing as Elena and Jer had claimed both beds.
"You never told me about that. What you did for Rose." Our heads snapped towards the noise. Elena was staring intently at Damon.
"It wasn't about you."
"Why don't you let people see the good in you?"
"Because when people see good, they expect good. And I don't want to have to live up to anyone's expectations." Damon and I smiled at each other and joined hands.
Elena saw us trying to get comfortable, she got up and slid into bed next to her baby brother. Sometimes, I really love Elena. We shrugged at each other and climbed into the bed.
I was in Damon's arms and I was home. This is where I feel most safe and most loved - with Damon. I sighed, got out of bed and walked outside. Damon joined me with a frown and his shirt still open.
"Don't." I said to Damon, my back to him, attempting to compose myself.
"Why?" I could hear the confusion in his voice. "Char?"
I turned and ran to him; my hands cupped his face as I hesitantly placed my lips onto his. He stood shocked for a second but soon his arms wrapped around my torso and pulled me closer. We stood locked in our embrace, our lips attacking each other, releasing years of overlooked tension. Damon pushed me back into a pillar and continued his assault on my lips, neck, and any flesh he could access. It was exhilarating, it was explosive, and it was perfect! My body responded perfectly to each of his kisses and he responded to each of mine. Passion flooded from us as everything drifted away.
"Char? Damon?" We broke apart and gazed into each other's hungry, glazed-over eyes before we saw Jeremy and Elena standing by the motel room door.
"Jeremy. Elena." I acknowledged the siblings.
"Uhhh, Rose found Mary. She lives in Kansas." Jeremy seemed uncomfortable.
"Ok then, let's go." We walked inside and I ignored Elena's knowing smile.
The car pulled up to a large house covered in snow.
"This is it." Jeremy called as he got out of the car and joined us at the hood.
"Looks about right."
"Wait here." I said to Elena and Jeremy.
"Why?"
"Vampires. Humans." I pointed at the corresponding party as I said each word.
The door was insanely creaky. It seemed too cartoonish for me but oh well. I searched for my phone in my pockets while Damon closed the door.
"I can't find it! It should be in my coat pocket." I huffed as I searched my person.
"Here." Damon reached inside my jean pocket and slowly pulled my phone out. "Found it." He smirked at me as I flicked on the light. "Urgh. Vampire hoarders."
"Man, I haven't seen Mary in years." I said while shining the light around the cluttered hall.
"Me neither." I raised my eyebrows at him.
"Why? Saw enough last time?"
"She's creepy, not ugly." I rolled my eyes at him but couldn't help the pang of jealousy that overcame me. We continued walking through the house, until we heard a loud crash.
"What was that?" I asked panicked.
"Scared?" he smirked at me.
"No." I said stubbornly.
"Come here." I obliged and he wrapped an arm around me, shielding me from whatever dangers were in the house. We slowly approached the doors from where the crash came from when I started to smile.
"Why are you smiling?"
"It's stupid."
"What?"
"Big Bad Damon." I gestured to the protective arm. He smiled.
"Always."
We reached the doors and opened one. Where we saw Mary speared to a wall by a wooden stake in her heart. I buried my head into Damon and his arm tightened around me.
"Mary." He stated
"Quite contrary." The lights flicked on and showed Kol sitting in a desk chair holding the aluminium bat from earlier today. "Shame about Mary, she used to be a blast." He got up and stood in front of Mary's body facing us, "I don't quite know what happened. I feel the time she spent with my family may have ruined her. She was bit of an Original groupie."
"And were you her favourite?"
"You mean did I turn her? I think I did. But no, wait maybe it was Rebekah. There was also a Klaus period. And let's not forget the Elijah affair. I spoke to my brother, I know that you're trying to find out who you're descended from. And now you never will." He turned to admire his handy work then faced us again while playing with the bat. "So, where did we leave off?" He swung and cracked Damon's knee, then both his arms. Damon was lying face down on the floor in what must be excruciating agony.
"Char, get out of here." He called out. I ran to the door but Kol blocked my way.
"According to my brother; you're off limits. Please don't test me." He flung me onto a pile of random stuff. I groaned in pain. Damon flashed upright and pinned him to the door.
"Don't touch her!" He spat out. Kol managed to hit Damon again; he sent him flying into a door.
"Oh dear, I've hit a nerve. Relax darling. I just want us to be even; you snapped my neck, you killed my brother, and then you humiliated me." He raised the bat to take another swing but I got in his way and kicked him in the shin. He fell to his knees but regained composure quickly and once again flung me across the room. He stood and repeatedly beat Damon. I listened to his bones crunch and winced every time the bat was lowered. "There, now we're even." He left the house in a gush of wind.
I crawled over to Damon clutching my one shoulder and sat him up to face me. Slowly we helped each other set bones and heal our eyes never leaving each other's.
We walked hand in hand to the car where Elena and Jer were waiting for us.
"Are you guys ok? Kol just said goodbye to us."
"Yeah. Let's go home."
The journey home was quiet, Elena slept and Jer seemed spaced. Damon and I kept glancing at each other and eventually he took my hand and we were both more at ease during the journey.
