I had the hardest time figuring out where to start this chapter…and once I got it started I had a harder time trying to make sure Delena didn't take it over! (Though I personally wouldn't mind it!) Hope you enjoy it! And leave me some love!
Wednesday meant Nerds vs. Preps Day. Caroline had pushed her way into Elena's room last night to pick out an outfit for her to wear. Elena glared at the short plaid skirt, sweater vest and collared white shirt laid out on her bed. Caroline was encouraging her over the phone. "It's adorable!" She protested.
"I'll look like a slutty Britney Spears." Elena whined. "Wait, that's redundant. All I need are the high stockings…"
"Look in the bag!" Caroline squealed. Elena groaned and opened the bag Caroline had brought over last night. "I'm coming to pick you up in ten. You'd better be dressed in what I picked out! Bye!" And she hung up. Elena strangled her phone pretending it was Caroline. It wasn't nearly as satisfying as she imagined the real thing would be. She stomped her feet for a minute, expounding some of her frustration then began to get dressed. Given a choice, Elena would have rather dressed as a nerd today. But Homecoming week was Caroline's thing and hell hath no fury like a Caroline ignored.
Looking in the mirror for one last review, Elena groaned. She absolutely refused to braid her hair in pigtails. She grabbed her bag and was digging looking under some papers for her scientific calculator when she felt the change in the air. She spun around quickly and saw Damon climb in through her window.
"We have a front door you know." She huffed, crossing her arms.
"I prefer to use less conventional methods of entry. Keeps people on their toes." He told her with a grin. She frowned.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"Today is the tomorrow you talked about yesterday." He mused, raising an eyebrow. Elena rolled her eyes. "You said we'd talk tomorrow. It's tomorrow."
"And I have school."
"Since when has that ever bothered you? Have you seen your attendance record? You've missed more days than the cast of Teen Mom 2." He quipped; he plopped down on the bed, holding her teddy bear. "Cute outfit by the way. Britney Spears day?"
Elena growled and tapped her foot. "Caroline will be here any minute, talk fast. What do you want, Damon?"
"I want to apologize."
Her face expressed her shock. Well that was unexpected. "For what?"
"For the other night. I should've told you Andie was there." He said hesitantly.
"Oh. Don't worry about that. I should have…"
"We're not together…." Damon began.
"I know we're not together," Elena said shaking her head. Damon laughed.
"Will you let me speak?" He asked and she nodded reluctantly. "Andie and I. We're not together, Elena. She offers her vein and friendship. That's all. And as of two days ago, she doesn't even offer the former anymore."
"I know." She whispered. His head came up, they made eye contact.
"You know?"
"I ran into Andie yesterday at the café. She told me."
"Oh. Well then. So we're good?" He asked. She nodded.
"Yeah. We're good." A horn honked outside. "That's Caroline." She said spotting her calculator she snatched it up. Disappointment crossed his face and Elena frowned. She thought their talk had gone pretty well. "I've gotta go." She turned towards the door. "I'll see you later?" He nodded.
"Sure." She gave him a small wave and he smiled softly. "Later." And he was gone before she even closed her door.
Bonnie failed miserably to hide her laugh and Caroline grinned when Elena walked out of the house. Elena glared at both of them. Bonnie had apparently foregone Caroline's advice and had dressed as a nerd. Glasses with tape in the middle, pocket protector, suspenders the whole shebang! Elena slid into the backseat and shut her door. Caroline spun around. "You look hot!" She squealed. Caroline was dressed fairly similar to Elena, but had apparently opted for the ponytails. Elena rolled her eyes.
"Just drive, Care." Elena said, looking out the window. "The faster this day goes; the better."
"Speak for yourself." Bonnie spoke up from the front seat. "Jer and I are having a talk tonight. Not looking forward to that at all." Both Caroline and Elena shot her sympathetic looks.
"Has he said anything else?" Elena asked.
"Nope, I've been slaving over the grimoires searching for an answer or cure or anything. Nothing. And the spirits are still pretty pissed at me, so no help there either. Guess I'm just stuck with a boyfriend who sees his dead ex-girlfriends." She hugged herself and looked out the window. Neither Caroline nor Elena had anything to say so they remained quiet for the rest of the ride.
They all went their separate ways to class, promising to meet for lunch. Elena aced her Calculus test, or at least felt like she did. History, drama, everything just breezed by for the day and Elena couldn't have been happier. She was really looking forward to her workout with Ric later on. Maybe that was getting her through the day. Endorphins from yesterday's workout, the desire to get the school day over and her talk with Damon. Everything was going well, starting to look up. She wasn't going to let things like Klaus and Stefan cloud her good day. She was sure Damon and Katherine had a grasp on the situation and they would handle it. The end.
When the last bell rang, Elena made her way out to the parking lot, feeling like she was floating. She was happy. Nothing could touch that. As she weaved in and out of cars, making her way to Caroline's she spotted Damon leaning against Caroline's car. His Camaro was parked next to it. He smiled when he saw her and Elena found herself smiling back.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, holding her book and notebooks tighter to her chest. That giddy feeling? Had nothing to do with Damon, or his smile. Nope, not at all.
"Do you trust me?" He said, holding out his hand. She pursed her lips.
"Yes." She said with little to no hesitation. "Why?"
"Hop in." He tilted his head towards his car. She laughed.
"What?" He skirted around the end of his car, and opened the passenger door for her.
"Trust me." With one last questioning look, Elena walked over to his car and slid in. He shut the door behind her. Caroline and Bonnie were walking towards her car; Damon saluted them with two fingers and climbed in. Elena shrugged at their questioning looks, smiled and waved.
"What's going on?" She asked, as he started up the car and backed up. His arm extended behind her head rest, and he looked over his shoulder as he reversed. He had nice arms. Focus, Elena! Elena eyed him suspiciously. He just grinned.
"You'll see." He told her.
"Kidnapping's a felony." She advised him.
"Then I guess I'd better be glad you're not a kid." He turned on the radio. "Also, you got in willingly." She frowned at him and then smiled, finding his good humor contagious. "Just saying."
He stopped off at her house, to allow her to change so she was less 'teeny bopper' and then they quickly hit the road again.
"Where are we going?" She asked, as he got on the highway. "I had plans with Ric today." She protested half-heartedly.
"Now you have plans with me." He told her. "Just enjoy the ride, Elena."
"Give me a chance to explain." Stefan pleaded. Rebekah stood over him, having knocked him to the ground.
"I'm not mad, Stefan. Just curious. Rebekah, on the other hand….well she looks pretty mad." Stefan pushed to a sitting position, leaned against the wall. "Start at the beginning."
"I picked it up, that night at the club. Kept it on me for years. I gave the necklace to Elena, last year." Stefan began. "She's had it ever since." Klaus nodded and waved his hand for Stefan to continue. Stefan glanced over at Rebekah who looked positively enraged. Klaus wagged his finger at her, warning her to keep quiet.
"So she still has it?" Rebekah asked. "Where is she?" Stefan grimaced. He had to answer the question.
"I'm not sure." He answered. Klaus did not like this answer. He stepped forward, capturing Stefan's gaze.
"Well, she's in Mystic Falls, right?"
"Most likely." Stefan replied, the compulsion forcing his brain and mouth to comply.
"Buried in the cemetery?"
Stefan scrambled for an answer. Honest. "I don't know where she's buried."
Klaus frowned. "You don't know where she's buried?"
"No." Stefan replied. And it was the truth. He didn't. Because she wasn't.
"Well, then I guess we'll have to figure that out won't we?" He mused, he continued to eye Stefan. He was certain Stefan was telling the truth, he had to be. Stefan nodded. Crisis averted temporarily. He turned away. He should warn Damon, but with Klaus and now Rebekah keeping such a watchful eye, he wasn't sure when or how he could do so.
Elena was doing her homework in the car, the drive was taking forever. Damon was still remaining tight lipped about their destination. She kept glancing over at him, and he would just smile. She'd shake her head in mock frustration. She had texted Alaric earlier to cancel their plans. When Damon exited the highway in Raleigh, Elena started paying attention. She put her book and notebook away in her bag and kept an eye on the sights. He headed downtown into the Warehouse District and Elena looked over at him. "Where are we going?" She asked again.
"You'll find out when we get there." He said with a smirk. She huffed at him and his smirk widened.
"Jerk." She muttered.
"You like it." He murmured seductively, and then laughed when she turned away. He parked on the street, got out and paid the meter. He came around to her door and opened it for her. Once she was standing beside the car, he asked her. "What do you want to eat?"
She scrunched her nose up at him. "Is this a date?" She asked.
He shrugged. "You can call it whatever you want. I got you out of Mystic Falls to do something fun for a change. So…what'll it be?"
"Seafood?" She asked with a smile. "I haven't had good seafood in a really long time!" Damon held out his arm, and she took it.
"Seafood it is, then."
Katherine lounged lazily in the Salvatore house. Mikael had disappeared shortly after their discussion and subsequent agreement on killing Klaus. She had raided the Salvatore wine cellar upon her arrival to celebrate. She sipped on her champagne and threw her arm over her eyes. Mikael's only condition to their new deal was that they get Klaus to return to Mystic Falls. Gloria had assured her that was already handled. Katherine and Gloria went way back, further than Klaus and Gloria. According to her, Klaus had discovered Stefan had been keeping something from him. An Elena related something. Based on Katherine's calculations, that should place Klaus, his brat sister and Stefan in Mystic Falls no later than Friday.
Damon had told Katherine to head back to Mystic Falls once everything with Mikael had been arranged. So here she was….and where was he? Out on a date with his little girlfriend. She debated briefly on heading to town to see what kind of chaos she could create impersonating her favorite little doppelganger. That was played out though, and not much fun anymore now that most of Elena's circle knew of her existence. Pouting just a little, she looked around the house. She was bored. And a bored Katherine always ended badly for someone.
Damon held the door open for her, and guided her in, his hand on her lower back. Elena shivered at his touch. He frowned down at her. "Cold?" He asked. She blushed and shook her head. At the hostess stand, the two hostesses stood and giggled. They were eyeing Damon up and down. Elena threw her head back and groaned.
"Not again." She muttered. Damon looked down at her and grinned.
"I can't help it that I'm devastatingly handsome." She rolled her eyes and smacked him in the chest.
"And so modest too." One of the gigglers led them to their table and Elena slid into her chair that he held out for her. "Careful, Salvatore." She told him with a raised eyebrow looking over her menu. "Keep up all this chivalry and you'll have me thinking this is a real date."
"I was raised a southern gentleman, you know." He quipped. She snorted and immediately covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes growing to the size of saucers. He looked up from his menu and smiled, fighting back a laugh. A shadow fell over the table and to Elena's surprise and relief they had a male waiter. They both ordered quickly and Damon leaned back in his seat, clearly relaxing. "So," he ventured, "any new feelings about college?"
She frowned thoughtfully and told him all about her recent musings on college and where she was thinking about applying. He inserted random sometimes helpful comments like 'that town is boring', 'you'd hate it there', or 'it's a good school.' She was surprised she was still talking by the time dinner arrived. She dug right in and frowned when she realized Damon hadn't touched his. He was just staring at her, a pensive expression on his face.
"What?" She asked, blotting her mouth with her napkin.
"Nothing." He shook his head and took a bite of his dinner.
"Sure?"
"Yup." He replied, taking a sip of his wine.
"Well, tell me about some of your college experiences." She twirled her fork in her pasta, and made sure to include a shrimp.
He laughed. "They're all very boring. Are you sure you want to know?" She shrugged.
"Regale me with your tales, Mr. Salvatore." He grinned and told her true stories and tall tales alike.
Once she was finished eating and the waiter had taken away their plates, she found herself with her elbow on the table, chin in hand and laughing at Damon. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had so much fun. She hadn't though once about Stefan, or Klaus or Mystic Falls or Damon being a vampire. She was just enjoying herself. Deciding to forego dessert, she waved away the waiter and Damon paid the bill. She looked back at Damon.
"You ready to go?" He asked her with a smile.
"No." She pouted. "I'm really enjoying this."
He laughed and stood. He held out his hand to help her up. "Well, the night's not over yet." She stood, placed her hand in his and followed him out of the restaurant.
Stefan woke on the floor. He felt tired, weak. Sensations he hadn't experienced in a very long time. Had Klaus Vervained him? He lifted his head to take a quick inventory of his surroundings. The coffins were behind him and to his right racked on the walls. It wasn't a very big room, maybe 16 feet by 8 feet. Where the hell was the door? His eyes adjusted to the darkness, one of the bonuses of being a predator. Based on the noises, he wasn't alone. He stood up immediately, backing up against the wall.
"What's going on?" Stefan asked. "What is this?"
"Calm down, mate." Klaus told him, holding up his hand. He was sitting on an overturned box. "We'll find the necklace, take it back to Gloria, connect with the Original witch and find out why my bloody hybrids keep failing."
Stefan scrambled to come up with ideas. "I lost it. Give me the chance to redeem myself. I'll head to Mystic Falls and recover it. I can be back here in 48 hours, tops."
Klaus shook his head. "No need, Stefan." Klaus stood and walked over to the wall. Bending down he yanked on a handle and up went the door. A rolling door. It was a moving truck. They were in a truck. As the door rolled up, dread filled Stefan. The scenery became overwhelmingly familiar. "Welcome back to Mystic Falls, Stefan."