One of my shorter chapters, but it ended a current thought. Hopefully I'll get to the next chapter soon. I'm so grateful for all your kind remarks.

Chapter 26: Rescued

"Well, this isn't demeaning at all…" Damon complained as Bonnie clung tightly to his back.

"We had to stay together, Damon," Elena chided.

"You think carrying Bonnie is demeaning?" Jeremy called out incredulously as he held fast to Caroline's back. "You've got to be kidding."

Elena glared at her brother. "Would you two relax? I don't hear Matt complaining."

Jeremy and Damon looked at Matt on Elena's back and immediately laughed. Matt turned dizzily to the side and tried to hold everything in his stomach. "Elena, can we stop?"

"Oh my gosh, Matt, you should have said something sooner." Elena carefully extricated Matt from her back, and he crumpled to the ground.

"I didn't know if I could," Matt confessed.

"I wonder how far ahead Tyler and Stefan are." Jeremy hopped smoothly off Caroline's back.

"Bonnie, would you get off my back already?" Damon stood impatiently while Bonnie let go and sat wearily beside Matt.

"Tyler!" Caroline cried out. "What did you find?"

"See for yourself," he smiled lightly.

Stefan emerged from a thick grove of trees, followed by Elijah and Evangeline.

"Eva." Jeremy ran and threw his arms around Evangeline. "You're okay."

Evangeline smiled warmly. "Yeah, thanks to Tatia."

"Tatia?" Elijah stared at Evangeline, mystified by her remark.

"Yeah, it turns out I can see ghosts after all. Tatia led me to Elena's safe house."

Now Jeremy looked equally bewildered. "Elena has a safe house?"

Evangeline shook her head. "No one's been inside for at least a year, but there was a note from Isobel saying it was Elena's safe house to protect her from Klaus."

"Wait." Elena's gaze turned thoughtful. "I remember Isobel offering it to me, but I turned her down."

Stefan suppressed a slight grin. "Now, if I recall correctly, your exact words were, 'Get the hell out of my house.'"

"Yes, thank you, Stefan." Elena rolled her eyes.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go see it." Jeremy's curiosity was piqued.

Evangeline hated to disappoint him. "Jeremy…"

"Ahh, Eva, don't worry, we can go see it another time." Jeremy looked at Evangeline with understanding.

"Thank goodness," Matt groaned.

Evangeline sat down gingerly next to Matt and felt his face. "You're all clammy. When was the last time you ate something?"

"This morning, before we left to find you."

"Elijah, could you please hand me my pack? I think you might be having altitude sickness, Matt." Evangeline opened the bag and pulled out water and a protein bar.

"Whoa, you're loaded." Jeremy grabbed a granola bar for himself.

"Well," she said as she handed the food to Matt, "I didn't know I was going to be rescued."

"Should you be carrying all that being pregnant?" Elena creased her eyebrows.

"Don't worry. I'm fine." Evangeline glanced at Elijah and blushed. "I'm more concerned with what happened to Jared and the others who took me in the first place."

Caroline beamed. "Don't worry. Tyler and Elijah took care of them."

Evangeline froze for a moment. "They're all… dead?"

Jeremy crouched close to her side. "Of course, Eva. They were going to kill you."

Damon smirked, "Yeah, it's not like we going to let them run off and gather reinforcements."

"Oh…" Evangeline knew she should feel grateful, but she thought of Jared's despair when he found her in the alley and couldn't help but feel saddened. "I suppose you did what was best." Her voice sounded somewhat detached.

Elijah lifted Evangeline into his arms, and everyone made their way leisurely back to Mystic Falls. They arrived back at the boarding house before sundown, but Evangeline lingered by the front porch. Evangeline knew the heavy footsteps behind her were Elijah's, but she peeked around just to make sure.

He stood silently for a moment and gazed intensely into her eyes. "You've had a rather trying few days."

Evangeline sighed, "Life hasn't been the same since I came to Mystic Falls."

"Is that what troubles you?"

"No. Not really," she frowned. "It's Jared."

Elijah's eyes flickered slightly. "You still cared for him," he assumed.

"That's not what I meant," she exhaled. "I think maybe I just felt sorry for him."

"You understand that they were prepared to sacrifice you to save themselves. They had no honor in their actions and received none in their deaths."

Evangeline cringed slightly. "I don't think fighting to save their race was so dishonorable."

"But the means they used negated any respect they might have otherwise deserved." Elijah stared at Evangeline seriously and touched the back of his fingers to her cheek. "Would you have had me let you die?"

"No," Evangeline cried and leaned into his shoulder.