o-0-o-0-o Time for chapter 35- here it is. Thanks to those who have alerted and favourited, and thanks to David Fishwick, Anna-Lisa, Marie, Amanda Renrouge and celia for reviewing. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think o-0-o-0-o
Damon headed towards Bonnie's house, bored and annoyed. He hadn't seen Tyler, which was going to be his amusement for the night. Insulting the wolf would have been fun, but no such luck for Damon.
Damon turned his head when he heard Bonnie and Jeremy's voices.
"You sure you're fine?" Jeremy asked her, something sounding different in his voice.
Apparently neither of the two saw Damon.
"I'm fine Jer," Bonnie sighed, looking at him for a minute. Something was up with him. He hadn't said anything really, but she could tell he was upset about something.
"That Anthony freak attacked you-" he said angrily.
"I'm a witch Jeremy," Bonnie said, cutting him off. "I can heal myself from a bunch of stuff. I'm fine."
"So you healed yourself?" he asked.
"Well, no," Bonnie admitted.
"Then how are you okay?"
"I could have healed myself, but it would have taken a bit, so Damon helped," Bonnie said.
"What do you mean he helped?" Jeremy asked with a frown.
"He gave me some blood," Bonnie said.
"Oh," Jeremy said, not sounding thrilled. "Lovely, blood from Damon." he muttered sarcastically.
"Gee, that's nice," Bonnie said, starting to get annoyed. "You could sound a little happier that I'm okay."
"I am happy that you're okay. Did that Anthony guy leave town? Or is he still here?" Jeremy asked.
"He's sticking around the area- he's pretty set on looking out for Katherine, and Elena too if she needs anything from him."
"I want that guy gone," Jeremy said, "and I've never even met him."
"I think he's pretty harmless now. Though I'd like nothing more than to kick his ass, he just wanted to make sure Katherine was okay. He thought me and Stefan were keeping her from him," Bonnie told him.
"The guy attacked you and Stefan, and threw my sister down. How's he harmless?" Jeremy muttered.
"Jer, are you mad at me or something?" Bonnie asked as she stopped walking. "You've been sort of ass-like for the past forty-five minutes."
Damon smirked.
"I didn't know that you and Tyler were close," Jeremy said, out of nowhere.
"What?" Bonnie said.
"I wasn't eavesdropping," Jeremy started.
Bonnie rolled her eyes.
"I heard him say something like 'didn't I tell you that you'd find a good guy?'"
Bonnie interrupted. "And you have a problem with him calling you a good guy?" she asked, getting a bit fed up with Jeremy.
"No, but you said something about 'Bonnie and Tyler nostalgia'-"
"Seriously Jeremy?" Bonnie said. "Wow. Are you jealous?"
"Should I be?"
"We were friends. Why does that matter to you?"
"Were you ever with him?" Jeremy asked.
"You're actually asking me that- are you insane? Dude, where the hell is this coming from?" Bonnie said, close to yelling, not answering the question.
"Were you?" he asked again.
Damon stood listening, annoyed that the kid was clearly pissing Bonnie off, but quite amused at the same time, thinking about the possibility that Bonnie might kick the littlest Gilbert's butt.
"First of all, if I ever was, it wouldn't be your business. Second of all you knew he came to see me about Caroline, remember? And third, what the hell was with the Damon comment a minute ago? And seriously, where the hell did the Tyler question come from?"
Damon cringed a bit, now it was getting into potential big fight territory.
"First- gee lovely answer. Thanks so much. Second, yeah I know. Third- I'm just saying, Damon's around a lot lately. And the Tyler question- well I'm just asking 'cause you know we both had Vicki, I was just wondering if it would be the same with you," Jeremy said, wanting to make Bonnie angry.
Now the kid was really pissing Damon off. Why the hell was he talking to Bonnie like that? It wasn't cool.
Bonnie was furious. That comment was too much. She slapped him in the face- hard. "Get the hell out of my face Jeremy," Bonnie spat. "I mean it."
"Or what?" Jeremy said, taunting her.
Okay, that was enough. Damon moved out from his spot. The kid was being an asshole.
"Ignore him, Bonnie," John said, popping out of nowhere. "He's being a jerk because he's mad at me."
"Where'd you come from?" Jeremy asked.
"I've been looking for you," John said.
"Well, I don't want to see you. I'm not in the mood to talk to a liar," Jeremy said, not looking at his uncle.
"Let's go Jeremy," John said, taking hold of his nephew's shoulder. "And say you're sorry, for God's sake."
Jeremy shrugged his uncle's hand off.
"What's going on?" Damon asked, making himself visible.
"None of your business," Jeremy muttered.
"My boyfriend's just being an asshole. That's all," Bonnie said angrily.
"We're leaving now Jeremy. Let's go," John said again.
Jeremy rolled his eyes at his uncle.
"Yeah, by all means- please leave," Bonnie said with clenched fists.
Jeremy turned back to Bonnie and took a breath. "I'm sorry, okay. He's right, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at him."
"That's nice," Bonnie said. "You may not be mad at me, but I sure as hell am mad at you right now."
"I didn't mean it, Bonnie," Jeremy said again, fully realizing how stupid he had just been by trying to anger her and push her away. It was just plain stupid. "I'm sorry."
"You should really think before you say stupid shit," was Bonnie's response.
"I'm sorry," Jeremy repeated.
"Go with your uncle, Jeremy. Maybe I'll see you at school tomorrow, but I'm not dealing with you anymore tonight. I'm going home, you should do the same," Bonnie said, beginning to walk away.
"Want some company walking back, Judgey?" Damon said, not sparing another look at Jeremy or John.
"Sure," Bonnie said, not looking back.
Jeremy turned to his uncle angrily and said, "So you were just going to lie to us til you died?"
Before Jeremy met up with Bonnie, he had overheard his uncle on the phone. He had been talking to Isobel. She must have known that he was sick. She probably asked him how the results turned out, or something like that because he had said 'The results weren't good, Isobel. I told Jeremy everything was fine, but I didn't get better. This thing's eventually going to take me out.'
"Yeah, that was the plan," John admitted. "I already told you, I wanted time with you guys. I didn't want you guys to give me time because you feel bad that I'm sick. I actually wanted us to have some real fun. Why is that so hard to understand?"
"I get it," Jeremy said taking a deep breath, "but that doesn't mean it's right."
"Maybe not."
"You're a giant asshole, but you're family and I don't really know how to deal with this. I don't wanna lose anyone else."
"You're scared of losing me, of losing anyone else- pissing off your girlfriend and pushing her away- that's not going to help you in the not losing anyone department."
Jeremy remained silent.
"I didn't want you or Elena to know. I didn't want either of you thinking about losing another family member. You two don't need to deal with anymore death or worry, and I don't want you feeling sorry for me," John said.
Jeremy didn't answer, but when John started to walk Jeremy followed.
After a couple minutes of walking, Jeremy finally said "Jenna's not gonna be home tonight. She's staying on campus to finish up a paper. You can stay at the house if you want."
"See, you're feeling sorry for me already. I didn't want that."
"Maybe I am," Jeremy admitted. "But you said you wanted to spend time with us- you should take the invitation when it's offered."
"Okay," John said. "I just have something to do first, then I'll meet you back at the house."
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Katherine threw the last empty bottle of blood at the wall of the tomb. She had drunk it all. The amount that Stefan had brought her should have lasted at least another 2 days but she had just chugged it all down, bottle after bottle.
Seeing Anton infuriated her. He made her remember things she wanted to forget. He showed up and messed her up. She wished she could get out of the tomb and just pound away at him and not stop.
She couldn't do that right now, obviously. The thing she wanted most, after getting to kick the crap out of Anton, was more blood and to forget.
She pounded her fist on the ground, waiting for Stefan to fall asleep. She hoped he would sleep soon. She'd ask him to bring her more blood and something that would get her really drunk. She didn't want to think anymore.
"Go to sleep babe. Go to sleep," Katherine mumbled. "Hurry up Stefan."
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Almost immediately after cozying up to Stefan in his bed, Elena fell asleep. Stefan was tired too, but he made himself stay awake a little longer. He just wanted to look at her for a little while.
He loved this girl. There was no question about it, he was going to love her forever. She calmed him down. She made things better. She made everything better.
He had been on edge tonight and he knew that she had been also, but they had calmed each other down.
He brushed her hair aside, checking for something he knew wasn't there. Her head was fine. There were no marks to show that she'd been thrown down by that Anthony idiot.
Stefan hated the guy. Plain and simple. He couldn't stand him. He would have liked to have been able to dish out a bunch of pain on the guy.
Stefan didn't care that Anthony clearly didn't see Elena when he threw her down- he could have ripped him apart just for that. But that wasn't the only thing Anthony had done- add on that the bastard attacked Bonnie and he infuriated Katherine to a point Stefan could never remember seeing.
Stefan hoped the guy got the hint and left town, but he knew that he didn't. Stefan, who did not like John Gilbert at all, would pick that man- someone who tried to kill him- over Anthony any day.
Stefan tried to shut down his mind and allow himself to sleep for a bit. He had a feeling the next day was going to end up being a headache.
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"Were you there the whole time?" Bonnie asked Damon after a couple minutes, getting closer to her house.
"I got there when your little boyfriend got a little bit dirty- something about him and Tyler both having you or something. And then you smacked the crap out of him," Damon said, lying a bit.
He had a feeling Bonnie would bitch him out if he said he'd been listening in, and while Bonnie being annoyed was usually entertaining, he wasn't in the mood to piss her off right now.
"I can't believe he said that to me," Bonnie said, unlocking her door. "I don't care if he was pissed off about something or not."
"What the hell was that about anyway?" Damon asked, following Bonnie inside.
"I don't freakin' know. He heard like ten words between me and Tyler and invented some scenario in his head or something."
"So, now I'm curious- were you ever with Lockwood?" Damon asked with a smirk.
"Oh, shut up," Bonnie said, heading to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.
Bonnie heard Damon chuckling.
"What?" she asked from the kitchen.
"Your potential uncle-in-law is quickly approaching your front door," he said.
"Seriously?" Bonnie asked.
"Yup."
"Stay unseen," Bonnie said.
"Gee, thanks witchy," Damon said sarcastically.
John knocked on the door and Bonnie opened it reluctantly.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi," she said back
"Jeremy went home. I told him I'd be there soon."
"Okay," she said awkwardly.
"Please don't stay mad at him. His head was messed up."
"Over what?" Bonnie asked, annoyed that John was making excuses for Jeremy.
"You won't just leave it at that?"
"No," Bonnie said.
"Have you ever been scared about something?" John asked her.
"Sure," Bonnie said, wishing he'd get to the point.
"That thing you were afraid of happening, that thing you didn't want to happen- have you ever just ended up doing something to actually make the thing you were scared off happen?"
"I don't know what you're trying to say, John," Bonnie said tiredly.
"Jeremy's lost a lot of people in his life, and now he's scared about losing someone else. He was angry and he took it out on you and he did something stupid that might have caused yet another person being lost to him. Do you get what I'm saying about causing what you're afraid of happening to happen?"
"Who's he scared of losing and why?" Bonnie asked.
"That's not important," John said. "Just don't hold tonight against him. He was just being stupid. The kid wasn't thinking straight."
"You,"Bonnie said, putting things together. "He's worried about you. He was mad at you. What's wrong with you?"
"Goodnight, Bonnie."
"There's obviously something wrong if he's scared about losing you- so what's wrong?" Bonnie said.
John knew he wasn't going to get away without saying anything, so he decided he'd tell a bit of the truth and a bit of lies.
"I've been sick for awhile- Jeremy found out about it tonight and I guess he stormed off and went to meet you. But I had an appointment with the doctor just after he found out that I had to go to. I've been undergoing treatment for awhile, and my appointment was actually about the treatment. The results came back- the treatment's been working. I'm going to be fine, but he didn't know that when he was with you."
"Oh," Bonnie said, sighing.
"Don't be too hard on him, okay?" John said, turning to leave.
"Thanks for letting me know," Bonnie said.
"Goodnight."
"Bye," Bonnie said, closing her door.
Bonnie grabbed her phone and dialed Jeremy.
"Hello-"
"Your uncle just came to my house and told me that you found out that he was sick tonight, and that's when you came to hang with me. You only knew at that point that there was something wrong, you didn't know that he was going to meet with the doctor. You didn't know that the doctor said he'd be okay... I get that you were worried. Even though you guys aren't close, I know you couldn't bear the thought of him dying. I get it. You should have just told me what was up. You should have told me you were worried instead of acting like an idiot. I adore you. I don't like being mad at you- so don't act like an idiot again, alright?" Bonnie said, not letting Jeremy get anything other than 'hello' out.
"Okay," Jeremy said, surprised that John went to see Bonnie to try to get her to not be angry with him. He wasn't so surprised that John lied about getting better, though. "I really am sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did. It was stupid. And even if you ever did hook-up with Tyler I know that you guys were never together, so you were right, that's not my business. A hook-up isn't a relationship. If it was something serious, you would have told me. I think I wanted to make you mad at me so that maybe I could focus on that instead of thinking about John."
"Go to sleep. Get your head clear. Be happy your uncle's okay. We'll start clear tomorrow, okay?" Bonnie said.
"Sounds good," Jeremy said.
"Okay, goodnight," Bonnie said, hanging up.
"Well, that was all quite interesting," Damon said, plopping himself down on Bonnie's couch. "You totally slept with wolf-boy, that's why your boyfriend's stupid-ass comment pissed you off so much," Damon said.
"You saying I wouldn't have a right to be pissed about that unless I did sleep with Tyler?" Bonnie asked.
"Not at all. I get why you'd be pissed, hell I felt pissed. But there was just something extra in your pissed off-ness, that's all," Damon said, shrugging.
Bonnie looked at Damon for a minute and couldn't help but laugh. It was still funny for her sometimes to think that she'd become comfortable enough around him to even let this conversation get to this point.
"What?" Damon asked.
Bonnie just shook her head. "Time to get to work."
"Nope," Damon said. "It's not midnight yet Bon-Bon. Technically there's still half an hour to go."
"Oh come on," Bonnie said.
"Nope," Damon said again, grinning.
"Fine," Bonnie said, plopping down next to Damon on the couch.
"Random question for you, Judgey."
"What it is?" she asked.
"When I was doing my whole drunken rant to you- did I mention that I told the lovely Elena that I love her."
Bonnie's jaw dropped. "No, you left that part out. When did you tell her that?" Bonnie asked, shocked.
"It was the day we got her back from Rose and Trevor."
"She's never mentioned it," Bonnie said, moving herself so that she was facing Damon. "She would have mentioned it."
"She would have, but she doesn't remember."
Bonnie looked confused for a moment.
"She'd lost her necklace with the vervain in it, and I found it. I went to bring it back to her, but I didn't give it back until I told her what I needed to say. I said the words because I needed to, and then I compelled her to forget."
Bonnie slapped Damon upside the head.
"Yeah, yeah. I know it was wrong to mess with her memories. I know I didn't have the right, but I knew that I'd be opening up a big can of worms with what I said. I couldn't have that... Anyway, my question for you is- what do you think is gonna happen if she remembers? Is she gonna hate me?"
"You just said you compelled her, how's she gonna remember?"
"I did compel her, but she has it in her head that there's something that happened that she forgot, and not from when she fell down the stairs. I don't think it worked properly. What if she remembers? What am I supposed to do? " Damon asked.
"Deal with it," Bonnie said with a shrug. "There's nothing else you can do."
"Okay, Judgey. I'll be nice. I won't make you wait til midnight. Let's start up your craziness again," Damon said, not wanting to continue on the topic of Elena finding out anymore.
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"Finally," Katherine said, walking into Stefan's dream. "I've been waiting for you to fall asleep."
"Is everything okay, Katherine?" Stefan asked.
"I need more blood. I have none left. And you need to bring me something that'll get me drunk- and quick," she said.
"How are you out of blood?" Stefan asked her, moving closer. "Did you seriously drink it all?"
"I don't know if you noticed, but I kind of had a shitty day. Yeah I drank it all. I know you just fell asleep and I know that you're probably lying there with Elena, but I need more blood and I need something- Stefan, my friggin head is pounding. I wanna sleep, but I can't because I can't friggin stop thinking. Bring me something- I need to get wasted and knock myself the hell out. That's the only way I'm gonna get any damn sleep, any peace tonight."
Stefan sighed.
"Get out!"
"Katherine, who's there?" Stefan asked.
"Did you really not understand me when I told you to get the hell out of here before, Anton?" Katherine spat.
And then his dream with Katherine cut off.
Stefan was awake in a matter of seconds. He moved out of his bed as fast and quietly as possible. He placed a quick kiss on Elena's forehead, and headed to the basement. He grabbed some blood bags and a bottle of scotch, threw it all in a bag, and headed off to the tomb quickly.
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"You need to tell me what happened, because I still don't understand. Whose child did I bury when I walked into your house and saw everyone dead?" Anton said, ignoring Katherine's obvious desire to never speak to him again.
"Not mine. Now get the hell out," Katherine said through gritted teeth.
He ignored her and took a seat in front of the invisible barrier that kept Katherine inside the tomb. He sat there in front of her, silent for a few minutes.
"I saw them all lying there. I thought that you were dead. I thought your body was in the next room. I couldn't bear to go check. I couldn't handle the idea of seeing you dead. And then I saw the child on the ground. A little boy, dead. I thought that that was our-"
"I had a girl," Katherine said, banging her head against the tomb wall. "I don't want you here. Just leave. I'm fucking tired. I don't want to see you. Just leave me alone."
"I can't. I still love you."
"Well, I don't love you. I never did. I don't want or need your help. I don't want you in my life. I want you gone," Katherine yelled.
"I-"
"How many times do you have to be told to get lost?" Stefan asked, walking in.
He walked to where the guy he couldn't stand sat, and passed the bag to Katherine.
"Thanks," she said.
"You're welcome," he told her, and then he turned to Anton. "Now it's time for you to go."
"You really think you can make me leave?" Anton asked Stefan. "I'm older than you- stronger."
"You keep saying that you love her, but you're not listening to a damn thing she says. She doesn't want to see you. You piss her off. You make her mad. If you really love her, respect what she's asking of you- leave her alone," Stefan said angrily.
"I don't want to go," Anton said.
"Well, it's not about what you want. So it doesn't matter. Get up and go," Stefan said, looking Anton straight in the eye.
"Come on, try to make me," Anton said. He hated that everyone was trying to make him go. He just wanted to talk to Katerina.
"Anton, do you remember what I said to you before? I swear I wasn't kidding. You better get up and leave on your own because if he has to drag you out of here and you touch him, I promise you that I will kill you when I get out here. Don't doubt that for a second. Not to mention Elena will hate your guts if you touch her boyfriend again. I know you've got a soft spot for her. You don't want to piss her off," Katherine said.
"Mr. Stefan, can't be here all the time- I'll come back tomorrow. I'm not trying to upset you, Katerina. I know that I wronged you in the past and I am sorry, but I just want you to talk to me. I just want to help,"Anton said, getting up.
"Don't come back here tomorrow Anton, nothing's gonna change," Katherine said, grabbing one of the blood bags.
"I'll be back," he said, exiting the tomb.
Katherine gulped down the contents of the blood bag and then threw it aside. She opened the bottle of scotch and started to chug that down also.
"Sorry for bugging you," Katherine said to Stefan.
Stefan shrugged.
"Is Bonnie any closer to getting me out of here?" Katherine asked, taking another drink.
"Yeah, she said she is. I'm not exactly sure when she'll be ready, but she says it shouldn't be too much longer."
"Good, 'cause I can't stand it in here anymore and now that he knows I'm in here, I hate it even more. I can't wait until I don't have to see his face anymore. When I get out of here, I'll make him leave me alone," she said, taking another drink again. "I'll kick his ass all over the place."
"Give me that," Stefan said. "I shouldn't have brought that for you."
"The goal is to get drunk Stefan- you definitely should have brought it," Katherine said with a laugh, but not a happy one.
Katherine was miserable. This had become pretty clear to Stefan and it wasn't fun to see.
"Getting drunk isn't going to change anything Katherine. Maybe you'll forget whatever it is that's eating away at you for a little while, but it's all gonna be there again when the alcohol wears off," he said, holding out his hand.
"I'm tired, Stefan. I want to sleep. I want to stop thinking for five freakin' minutes."
"Getting drunk isn't going to guarantee any of that. Just give me the bottle back."
"I'll give the bottle back if you stay," Katherine said, sure that that would end the subject and leave her to get drunk in peace.
"Fine," Stefan said, not wanting her to drown her sorrows. It was weird seeing her like this. "I'll stay," he said, sitting down in the spot where Anton had been only a moment earlier.
"Oh," Katherine said, surprised.
She hadn't expected that.
"Hand it over," Stefan told her.
"Okay," Katherine said quietly, passing the bottle back to Stefan.
"Go close your eyes now. Trust me, you will fall asleep eventually," Stefan said.
"Soon enough the time will come when Elijah and Klaus get here and then we'll take care of all that, and the problems will be gone. You won't need to deal with me too much longer," Katherine said, sitting back down again.
"Close your eyes, Katherine. No more talking tonight," Stefan said, leaning his head back against the wall.
Katherine saw his eyes close and then she did the same.
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"Cute pjs," Damon said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.
"I'm tired Damon," Elena said awkwardly.
"I brought you this," Damon said, holding up her necklace.
"I thought that was gone," Elena said, surprised. "Thank you."
Damon pulled the necklace back a bit before she could take it back.
"Please give it back," Elena told him.
"I just have to say something."
"Why do you have to say it with my necklace?" Elena asked nervously.
"Because what I'm about to say is probably the most selfish thing I've ever said in my life."
"Damon, don't go there," Elena said, nervous about where the conversation was heading.
"I just have to say it once. You just need to hear it... I love you, Elena. And it's because I love you that- I can't be selfish with you- why you can't know this. I don't deserve you, but my brother does," he said quietly, leaning in to kiss her forehead.
"God, I wish you didn't have to forget this," he said, hand her on face. "But you do," he said, looking her in the eye.
Damon's eyes were wet, a tear fell.
Elena blinked and then Damon was gone.
Elena shot up in Stefan's bed.
"What the hell was that?" Elena wondered aloud.