DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, I JUST OWN MY CHARACTERS AND THEIR STORY LINES.
Ashley tied her apron as she made her way out of the dressing rooms in the Grill. After she fixed it, she grabbed a tray and walked to her section of the tables to see Bonnie and Elena were sitting there talking about something.
"How is Damon?" Bonnie asked Elena and Ashley heard the doppelganger sigh a little bit.
"Damon is... Damon." Elena responded giving enough information to her best friend to understand.
"Damon is hiding his feeling by drinking. He took a note from Dean Winchester's book." Ashley joked but the girls didn't get her joke as they looked at her confused. "Dean Winchester played by the handsome Jensen Ackles in Supernatural?" She still got nothing from the girls which made her gave them n annoyed look. "You guys should watch some TV once in awhile. Either way, what do you want to order?"
"We already did." Bonnie responded and Ashley rolled her eyes at them.
"You could have told me that earlier so I wouldn't tell you about the man of my dreams." Ashley walked away from them and to the other side of the bar to face her uncle and his best friend.
"Oh, I give you a choice. Bloody Mary or Screwdriver. Brunch in a bottle. Come on Ric, I can't drink all this by myself. I mean I can but then somebody's getting naked." He winked at Ashley thinking it would get Alaric's attention but the man was clearly focused on the papers while Ashley glared at him. "Oh man I can't believe you're making me drink alone. You want to join, Buffy?"
"I'm busy and she's underage." Alaric said not looking up from his papers again.
"It's the eve of Klaus-ageddon. You're doing homework?" Alaric finally looked up to talk to Damon.
"This may come as a shock but I am not here to hang out with you. I'm here to see Jeremy. Who is an hour late for his shift." Ashley frowned at her uncle clearly knowing something he didn't.
"Kids today...Where are their values?" Damon asked looking back at Ashley who stuck her tongue out to him.
"Ric..." Ashley began to say something but then Alaric put Jeremy's mid-term paper 'American History 201' which had a red F on it.
"That's his mid-term paper. Copied it straight off the Internet. Didn't even try to hide it." He informed them and Damon smirked a little.
"Ohh, somebody's getting grounded." Damon pointed out and Ashley cleared her throat so the attention could go to her.
"That somebody was fired last week too." Ashley added and Alaric's eyes widened a little at the news.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner, Ashley?" Alaric asked her a little mad with his niece who was about to respond.
"She has been to busy with her boyfriend." Damon teased her and she glared at him.
"Fuck off, Damon. He told me that he already told you when I talked to him five days ago and my life unlike everyone of the Scooby Gang doesn't revolve around the Gilbert's residence." Ashley snapped at her uncle but he didn't seem bothered by her comment. He turned to look at Elena who was now sitting in the table alone and he joined her.
"Some bourbon, barkeep." Damon told Ashley who grabbed a glass and poured him some bourbon. "Leave the bottle."
"You're planning to get drunk today too. Damn if you were a human, you would be dead by now but I don't think alcoholism would have taken you, someone would have probably killed you."
"I'm too sexy to be killed."
"Not that sexy." She quipped regretting her words after they left her mouth.
"You think I'm sexy, Ashley?" Damon used a low voice that was really hot and made him ten times more attractive which made Ashley shiver a little which went unnoticed by Damon.
"I'm an honest woman but there are people who are more attracted than you."
"Example?" Damon asked with a cocky smirk.
"Dean Winchester. That guy is fine and a good brother." Damon rolled his blue eyes at the raven haired girl behind the bar. "And if he was here, Klaus would have been gone so long ago."
"What makes you say that?" Damon asked slightly bored but not that bored to not ask her that.
"Well, he and the rest of Team Free Will took down Lucifer and Michael. Two archangels. Now, they can-" Damon cut her off as he poured more bourbon in his glass.
"You know that is a TV show. This is real life."
"That looks like a mix of Buffy and Days of Our Lives."
"In times of troubles, Ashley Saltzman comes speaking words of bitchiness and fandom references." Ashley chuckled at the joke and then her eyes met Damon's for a split second but they were interrupted by someone clearing their throat. She looked away only to see Felix standing there with his hands in his pocket.
"Well, I'm going to leave you two lovebirds alone." Ashley sensed some sarcasm on his voice but she shook it off as she looked at her boyfriend.
"Hey there." She smiled up at him which he returned before he leaned in and captured her lips for a short kiss. It had been more than a week since the Homecoming and they had been going strong. Ashley pulled away with a smile on her face.
"So, I'm going today in Richmond with my family but I wanted to ask you on a date on the night of the Fundraiser for The Wickery Bridge?" Felix asked supporting his shoulders on the bar and Ashley nodded her head at him.
"Yeah, of course." She nodded at him and he smiled up at her.
"Well, I go to go. See you!" He pecked her lips before he walked away from her.
"He's hot but isn't he in high school." One of the bartenders named Christa said behind Ashley. "And don't give me that 'Love doesn't have an age' crap."
"I'm like 7 months older than him." Ashley told her and Christa nodded her head.
"'Well if you ask me, I would go for an older kind of type like the guy you were flirting before your boyfriend caught." Ashley parted her lips at Christa's words and she was shocked. She was bantering with Damon, not flirting.
"I wasn't flirting with Damon, we just talk like that." Ashley defended herself and she eyed Damon who was now flirting with Elena a little bit. "It's his human nature to flirt." Christa just hummed and Ashley felt like she was mocking her but then she walked away. Ashley glanced at Damon but then she shook the thoughts in her head and continued her work.
"Two glasses of whiskey, love?" Ashley looked up only to see Klaus sitting in one of the bar stools with a man by his side. She hesitated at first but then she poured Klaus a drink and then one for his friend. Immediately after she poured the drinks, she moved to walk away but she was stopped by Klaus's voice.
"I heard you and Rebekah had a quite budding relationship." He pointed out her and she tried her best not to flinch. Damon had told her that Elena had daggered the blonde Original girl and Ashley thought it was one of the most stupid ideas she had ever heard.
"Hanged out with her one time, she was cool." Ashley responded calmly as she started to scrub the bar with a rug.
"Do you know where she is?" Klaus asked and Ashley looked up at him and shook her head.
"I haven't heard anything from her since that day which I found really offensive because I'm a delight to be around with." Klaus chuckled at her words and then he looked at his friend.
"What did I tell you, Tony? She's one of the Mystic Fall's finest entertainment." Tony smiled and looked at Ashley which made her a little bit uneasy. "How about Stefan?"
"I haven't seen him around here neither but let me tell you a blood lust psycho with hero hair is hard to miss." She was about to leave when Klaus gripped her arm and pulled her closer to him.
"Are you sure you haven't seen anyone of them? Because if you have and I find out that you did, your boyfriend and uncle would be in a great danger." He threatened her and it scared Ashley to her core but she wasn't going to act it.
"I don't want to sound rude Klaus but you should know my life doesn't revolve around the Scooby gang." She yanked her arm out of his reach and walked away from him to the bathrooms. She got in and let out a shaky breath. He scared her and she was afraid that he might find out she knew Rebekah's location which was the Salvatore cellars. She pulled her phone out and decided to call Damon. The line rang for a few seconds before Damon finally picked up.
"Miss me already?" He said jokingly through the phone which made Ashley roll her eyes at him.
"Klaus was in the Grill." Damon didn't let her finish as he started to talk.
"I know, he confronted me and Elena about something my brother stole." Damon told her and Ashley bit her lip to prevent from screaming.
"Why didn't you warn me you genius?" Ashley asked him a little mad at the older Salvatore but then she decided to let it go. "He asked me about Rebekah and your brother and he told me if he found out that I was lying, he would kill Alaric and Felix."
"I'll come and get you. Compel your boss to give you a day off. Where are you?"
"The staff's bathroom."
"Okay. Stay there." Ashley nodded her head even if he couldn't see him and hanged up. She supported her head on the wall as she waited for Damon to come and get her. She waited for him a couple of minutes and then she heard the door open and then she saw Damon pop his head inside. she sighed in relief and she took off her apron. He opened the door for her and both of them got out of the Grill.
"Where is Ric?" She asked him as they got in his blue Camaro.
"Having a normal family dinner with Jeremy and Elena. Want me to drive you there?" She shook her head and Damon turned the engine on.
"What did Stefan steal from him?"
"I have no idea. Seems like Stefan has gone diabolically evil this time." Damon replied to her question and Ashley covered her face with her hand.
"Things just get messier and messier."
"You can always leave." Ashley lowered her hands and looked at Damon wanting to see if he was being serious with her. He was being serious with her.
"I can't leave. Alaric is here and he's my family and of course I have Felix now. Plus, I would probably worry about your stupid ass."
"Aw, you worry about me?" Damon asked her looking at her but she ignored the look.
"Eyes on the road, dumbass." She told him but he still had a smirk on his face, which was getting into her skin. She hated that Damon got under her skin and she couldn't blame Elena at all for liking him. He was funny, charming and protective but he was arrogant, impulsive and hot tempered too. She shook her thoughts about Damon one more time this day but she knew it wouldn't be the last time. Damon pulled up his car on the boarding and they headed inside.
"Bourbon?" Damon asked Ashley as he poured some for himself and she nodded her head as an answer. Ashley watched as Damon poured them some bourbon when her eyes moved to the figure who was standing behind him. Damon had noticed her looking that way and he turned only to see Klaus there.
"I think it's about time we had a drink, don't you?" Klaus asked Damon as he eyed Ashley who looked away from him.
"I'd say we're overdue." Damon responded looking at the Original hybrid.
"Well, you've been so busy with all your plotting and scheming." He told Damon who hummed a little. "How about you love?" Klaus looked at the raven haired girl who shrugged her shoulders.
"Why not? How many times does a girl get to drink with an Original hybrid and a vampire?" Ashley responded and Klaus smiled up at her with amusement.
"You know me, Klaus. Never miss a chance to plan an epic failure." Ashley gave Damon a sympathetic look remembering Homecoming night and how disappointed Damon was with himself.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. Who could have guessed your own brother would betray you?" Klaus said with his taunting smile and Ashley just knew Damon had a good comeback for him.
"Well, I did have a front row seat when your sister lied to you." Damon retorted at Klaus who gave both Damon and Ashley a look.
"Yeah, well she's fickle that one. And you say you have no idea of her whereabouts?" Klaus asked but he was more looking at Ashley then Damon thinking she would break and tell him if she knew something. Ashley just stared at him unaffected although she was screaming inside knowing Rebekah was in the basement, a dagger literally behind her back.
"That's the thing with younger siblings. You just never know what they're gonna do." Damon said as he extended Klaus a glass of bourbon. "Drink?" Klaus only looked at him with suspicion. Klaus took the drink and Damon leaned down to give Ashley hers who was sitting on the couch.
"Cheers mate!" Klaus said as he neared his glass to his lips.
"Down the hatch" Damon responded and the three people in the room took a sip.
"You know, we've actually got a lot in common, you and I." Klaus told Damon who raised an at the statement Klaus just gave while the latter one walked to stand before Ashley.
"Really?" Damon said in disbelief and he looked at Ashley who gave him a shrug. "Well, yeah. Maybe we can bond over our mutual loathing of my brother. Why are you so mad at him? He stole something?" Damon looked at Klaus slightly curious as he spoke.
"My family, the Originals. I had them daggered, boxed-up awaiting the day when I saw fit to wake them. And he went in and pinched the bloody lot." Klaus responded and Ashley's lips parted a little bit.
"What a beautiful relationship you have there with your siblings." She commented and Klaus gave her a glare but Ashley didn't seem affected by it.
"Of course he did. Such a buzzkill, my baby bro." Damon looked through the window and then walked towards the dirty blonde man in the room. "Well, I'd love to find him. Just the trouble is, I sure as hell don't work for you."
"You know, your drink stinks of vervain- so I can't compel you. There be no point in killing you because your actually the one with the most help of getting me what I need. And yet it would seem a demonstration is in order. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough when I told you to find Stefan. Well, it seems you people respond best to displays of violence. Why don't you take this as an example of my reach." Ashley gave Damon a worried look but he only was looking at Klaus. Klaus took out his phone and called someone. "There he is! So, that thing I told you to do...why don't you go ahead and get on with it?" The other person on the line didn't talk at all, he only hanged up and Klaus smirked at Damon. Ashley was officially worried and she had every reason to be.
Ashley almost kicked the door of the Gilbert house after she heard the news that her uncle had been run over by a car. She saw her uncle in the couch dead.
"How is he?" Damon asked as he was behind her and Ashley moved to the other side to look at her uncle.
"He's dead, but he had his ring. Klaus's hybrid hit him. Now we just wait." Ashley sighed in relief as she looked at her uncle but then she cussed under her breath.
"How did this happen?" Ashley asked Elena looking away from her uncle.
"Well maybe it happened because this dumbass is not wearing vervain." Ashley turned to look at a very confused Jeremy.
"It was Tyler! It had to have been. That's why he was hanging out with you. To get you off the vervain." Elena told his brother in a voice that practically said 'i told you so'.
"Klaus is trying to send us a message. He wants us to find Stefan who stole his coffins full of his dead family members." Damon informed the Gilbert siblings and Ashley looked at her uncle once again. Flashbacks of her mother dying in her hospital bed flashed through her mind as she looked at her uncle.
"Coffins?" Elena asked as she was looking at Damon who was looking at Ashley.
"Yep! So all we have to do is find four coffins and voilà! No one else on your family's Christmas list needs to die!" Ashley wanted to snap at Damon but she was trying not to let the tears fall from her eyes.
"Wait- that's your big plan? To steal back four dead originals so this evil hybrid doesn't kill me and everyone else we know?" Jeremy snapped at Damon who wasn't even bothered by him.
"You got a better idea?" Damon snapped at the younger Gilbert who nodded his head.
"Yeah! Let's get the hell outta here! Pack our bags and go!" Ashley looked at Jeremy and she couldn't help but think that he was the only one speaking common sense in the moment. She looked at her uncle who was still dead.
"Hey, Jeremy calm down." Elena told her brother but Jeremy seemed like he had it enough.
"No, no! I'm not gonna calm down, Elena! This happens every time, no matter what we do! Get on my case about school and work...Who cares? None of us are gonna make it out of this town alive." Jeremy left to his room upstairs and Ashley got up from the place she was kneeling before.
"I'll go talk to him as the only one here alive that isn't something supernatural." Ashley put a strand of her hair behind her ear and went upstairs to the Gilbert house, It was her first time she went upstairs to this house and she looked around to find Jeremy's room. She found it and knocked on the door.
"Elena, leave me alone." She opened the door and Jeremy looked at her.
"Not Elena, so I'm coming inside." She closed the door behind her and looked at the younger Gilbert. "You know you're right."
"About what?" Jeremy frowned at her words as he asked her.
"About packing your bags and leaving this town. Most of the time, I regret coming here but I already started a life here. I have a job, family, friends and a boyfriend but I still want to leave. Get Ric and never look at this town again."
"Why don't you?" Jeremy asked her and she shrugged her shoulders.
"Alaric would never leave you and Elena alone, he thinks you as his family and that makes me think of you some kind of a family."
"Even Elena?"
"I put the you more in singular." Jeremy chuckled at that and Ashley looked down. "But you need to support your family and your sister is your family. She might be the center of this shit that is going on in your life but you need to think of how she feels in this moment."
Ashley had been with Alaric downstairs for hours now as she waited for him to wake up. A big part of her was afraid that he might not wake up as she never experienced him dying and waking up but Damon had done his best assuring her that he would wake up. She looked at the window and it was nighttime now. She started to get more worried when she heard a gasp and saw that her uncle had woken up.
"Oh thank God." She mumbled as she moved to look at her uncle who was coughing.
"Ashley?" He muttered her name and she nodded her head.
"Yeah, it's your favorite niece." She said which made him smirk a little.
"You're my only one." He pointed out and Ashley saw that he was having some problems getting up. She helped him up and they heard the door open.
"Ric, hey! When did you return to the living?" Elena asked as Alaric looked at her.
"Just now." Ashley responded to her trying to keep her uncle still.
"How is Jeremy?" Alaric asked as Elena walked closer to him and Ashley.
"Hating me. Hating life. Hating the fact that we can't even have a family dinner without somebody dying before dessert." Elena stopped as she saw that Alaric had started to couch uncontrollably. "are you okay?"
"Ric?" Ashley called her uncle's name but then she saw that he had coughed blood. "Oh My God."
"Something's not right! The ring!" Alaric responded a little bit hard as he kept coughing.
"Elena, call the ambulance." Ashley ordered the other girl and she tried her best to keep her uncle up but he collapsed on the floor. "Alaric? Ric? Uncle Ric?" She called but the man wasn't responsive.
"They're coming." Less than a minute, Elena opened the door for two paramedics.
"What happened?" One of them asked as they moved towards Alaric while Ashley stepped away.
"He got run over with a car," Ashley hesitated as she had to remember to leave the part that he woke up from the dead. "he's coughing up blood now."
"Get his vitals." The other paramedic ordered the other and Ashley saw as they checked his pulse.
"Pulse pretty weak. Looks like internal bleeding. We gotta get him outta here." Ashley's heart started to beat frantically as she looked at her uncle.
"Let's move." The second paramedic said but they were stopped by a voice coming from the doorway.
"Let's not and say we did. Why don't you two meet us at the hospital?" Ashley and Elena shared a worried look and Ashley stepped forward to face Tony.
"What the hell are you doing?" Tony didn't reply and the raven haired girl turned around to see that the paramedics were leaving. "Where the fuck are you going? You have to help him."
"You can still save your uncle, Ashley. Come here and take my blood." Ashley shared a look with Elena as Tony raised his wrist. "I can't get in. You're gonna have to invite me."
"I'm going to kill you." Ashley mumbled under her breath but the hybrid had the audacity.
"Why are you doing this?" Elena asked Tony who turned to look at her.
"Klaus asked for his family. You didn't deliver." Tony replied and Alaric began to couch again. Ashley began to move to look at her uncle.
"I'm right here, uncle Ric." She told him repeatedly as he coughed.
"He's gonna die. Might want to invite me in, Elena." Tony taunted Elena and just then Ashley heard Tony grunt in pain and then fall down. She then saw a bow behind his back. Someone had shot him.
"Jeremy!" Elena called and Ashley was thankful to Jeremy from coming in time.
"He's not dead yet." Jeremy told her and then Ashley saw him walk to the kitchen.
"What are you doing?" Elena asked and Ashley was just as confused but then she figured what the boy was going to do when he grabbed the meat cleaver. Elena screamed and Ashley knew that Jeremy had cut down Tony's head.
"Guys, we need to take him to the hospital." She reminded the Gilbert siblings and they nodded at her.
"Don't you think it will be weird if the doctor finds you like this?" Alaric looked at his niece while playing with the ring in his head. "You looked like shit and look at you now."
"They won't have questions if we get out of here more quickly." Alaric told her and she crossed her arms over her chest.
"I think you should lie down, you don't know if that can happen to you again." Ashley pointed out and Alaric sighed before speaking.
"Don't worry about me okay?"
"Cut the bullshit." Alaric was taken back by his niece who seemed to have it enough. "You just died and you expect me not to worry about you. You're my uncle and I will worry about your stupid ass who sacrifices his life for good stupid intentions."
"Ashley-" Alaric began but the girl raised her hand to stop him.
"After we fix that ring thing, me and you are heading out of this town. I don't want to hear Elena this, Jeremy this. If they want to come, the do. If they don't me, we are getting out of here no matter what."
"I can't just leave them like that, Ashley."
"You might have dated their aunt and Elena might be your stepdaughter but you don't own them to take care of them. You need to think of yourself Ric, not others." Alaric didn't speak, he only looked down and Ashley sighed. "I'll wait you for you and Jeremy in the car." Ashley walked out of the room and then out of the hospital. She rushed to get in the car and immediately as she closed the door. Tears welled up in her eyes and she let them. She couldn't even think Alaric dying, she couldn't think anyone in her life dying and in that moment she didn't want nothing than drugs. They helped her cool off and forget everything. They made her go into another wrong. A world full of bliss. A perfect world. She had promised her uncle and grandparents that she would quit them and she didn't want to hear Nate's voice saying. She ran a hand through her dark locks when her phone started to ring. It was Hanna and she decided to pick it up.
"Hey, Poo Bear." She made Ashley smile immediately with her voice. "We haven't talked in awhile."
"New York is keeping you quite busy, my friend." Ashley pointed out as she wiped her tears away.
"Yeah and your cougar like style is keeping you busy. Felix, right?" Ashley hummed as a response. "So, how good in sack is he?"
"We haven't slept together yet, Hanna."
"What are you waiting for? In Chicago, I met this guy named Nik and can I just say that was the best sex I ever had." Ashley always loved Hanna's brash attitude.
"Don't spare me the details, honey." Ashley said and then Hanna began to talk to about Nik. something about him reminded of Ashley of someone but she couldn't place a finger on it.
"And that accent, Ash. The way he said love." Then it hit Ashley. Hanna had slept with Klaus. Hanna said that he had blue eyes, dirty blonde hair and had an accent. He called her love and then she remembered that Rebekah called him Nik. "Ashley, are you there?"
"Where did you meet this guy?"
"In a bar called Gloria's. The one you waited for Damon in the parking." Again, Ashley was screaming in the inside and she then saw Alaric and Jeremy walk out of the hospital.
"Ric is coming. I'll call you ." She hanged up her phone and took deep breaths. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Alaric and Jeremy had entered the car and noticed her.
"Are you okay?" Alaric asked her and Ashley nodded her head.
"Fine, just tired." She lied and then scratched her forehead. She had just leaned that her best friend had slept with Klaus.
Ashley didn't disagree with Elena about compelling Jeremy to go to Denver. It was his life but she knew it wasn't her business. She didn't voice out her opinion, she only sat on the couch waiting for Damon to finish the compelling and drive her to her apartment as Alaric was going to stay with Elena and Jeremy. Elena walked out in the front porch and sat on the swing but Ashley didn't move from her place, she only waited for Damon to come. She heard someone descend the stairs and looked to see that it was Damon. She rose from her seat and got out of the house, Damon followed her behind. She saw that Elena was looking down on the floor.
"I feel like a horrible person." Ashley was too tired to remark something, she only watched Elena sit in the swing.
"You just saved his life, Elena. Take it from me, strange is bad, dead is worse." Damon tried to assure the doppelganger.
"I just can't stop thinking about what happened the last time I asked you to compel him." Ashley was taken back by the new information Elena just gave to her.
"You're not a horrible person, but your sister skills need improving." Damon nudged Ashley at her words a little who only rolled her eyes at him. "Either way, I'm out." She walked away from Elena and Damon heading towards Damon's car. Damon talked to Elena a little bit more before he walked over to Ashley. Elena seemed to have been shocked with the news Damon just gave her.
"What did you tell her?" Ashley asked looking at Elena who had headed inside.
"If I killed Klaus, I would have been dead." Damon turned the engine on and Ashley looked at him in shock.
"Stefan saved you." She pointed out and Damon nodded his head. Ashley could see that there was something in his eyes but he was hiding it from her. "How do you feel?
"Guilty." Damon responded to her and she understood what he meant. Damon felt guilty that he wanted Elena. There was a silence before Ashley spoke.
"You can't always get what you want but if you try you might just get what you need." Damon gave Ashley a disbelieving look at her words.
"Did you just quote a song from Rolling Stones?"
"Ignore that. Just remember my words, Salvatore." Damon pulled his car in the driveway and Ashley got out. "Goodnight." Damon watched as Ashley walked up to the door and turned right for the staircase. Even after she was long gone, he kept looking towards her direction. If Elena was what he wanted, was Ashley what he needed.
Sorry for the long wait but here is the update. Hope you guys enjoy it. The next chapter is going to be very interesting to write in Ashley's perspective and Alaric might notice something about his niece and his best friend ;). School is ending in a week so you're going to have more updates.
NicoleR85: I'm glad that you like Ashley a lot and her honesty. I wanted to write a character who just says the truth to everyone's faces and Ashley does. Here is the update and I hope you enjoy it.
Adela: Thank you and hope you enjoy this update too.
ChristinaAguileraFan: I'm glad that you like the story and the character.
galwidanatitud: That's the understatement of the year :D.
Persephone Vulturi Uchiha: The whole friendzone feeling Damon and Ashley are both giving to each other is fading and you got to see it this chapter more. We get to meet this person in the upcoming chapters and she would help Ashley a lot with her Alaric situation.
P.S. Thank you for the follows and favorites. Love you