Chapter 37: FLUFF
Nettie's phone buzzed as she walked out of the Boarding house. She turned it on and saw Caroline's name flashing on the screen.
Caroline: I found Leila coming out of the janitor's closet. She was feeding. Apparently she's been doing it for the last couple hours.
Nettie: What can I do? She just runs off..
Caroline: I have her in the dorm room with me. I'll make sure she doesn't go on a feeding frenzy. Just thought you should know.
Nettie sighed loudly and shoved her phone back into her pocket as she approached the Impala. She reached for the door handle then stopped. She felt lightheaded suddenly, things were spinning.
She reached out for something to grab, but there was nothing she could find before she stumbled backwards, falling on her ass. She put a hand to her head, squeezing her eyes shut tight.
After a moment she opened them again, the world wasn't spinning anymore. "The hell...?" Nettie said breathlessly. She slowly and carefully got to her feet, glancing around before opening the car door and sliding inside.
Nettie took a minute to find her barrings, hands on the steering wheel in front of her. That was new. She shoved the key into the ignition and sped out of the long, dirt driveway.
Leila walked down the sidewalk, backpack slung over one shoulder as she left classes the next day. She hadn't even paid any attention to the teachers, even in her favorite class. There was just too much going on outside of school problems that she was worrying about. She couldn't concentrate, she couldn't keep her mind off the hunger she just couldn't seem to satisfy. It didn't help that Caroline was keeping her under dorm arrest either.
Leila stopped walking. Damon was leaning against a pillar in front of her. He was facing away, looking at the wall, like maybe he was waiting for someone. Probably waiting for Elizabeth to get done with her classes, Leila thought.
She'd promised Caroline she'd talk to him, but every bit of her wanted to just hightail it out of there.
'Stop running.' Nettie's voice played over and over in her head. 'Let her go, she always runs anyway...'
Leila took a deep breath, trying to suppress all her anger and her fear. She approached him. Leila grabbed his arm firmly as she came to a stop behind him. "Damon, we need to talk."
Damon turned to look at her... Except it wasn't Damon. Leila blinked. The man resembled him it was almost uncanny. Charcoal black hair, icy-blue eyes. Even the way he held himself was exactly like Damon. "Excuse me?" The man said. Well, he sounded a little different.
Leila dropped her hand. "I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else..." Her eyes explored the man's features.
"Something on my face?" He asked, smirking.
"Uhm, no." Leila shook her head, taking a step back. "I'm sorry. I should go."
"Just hang on a second!" He called after her, but the small vampire escaped before he could stop her. Shrugging, he leaned against the wall outside Art studies and waited.
Silas smiled to himself after hanging up on Elijah Mikaelson. Elena had come through and he was on his way to figuring out how he could save Amara. All he needed was a little fae magic and he was home free.
"We have to tell them." Nettie whispered to Jeremy from where they sat in the large classroom. Beth was showing slides of old Dali paintings and Nettie was getting a bit bored. But Jeremy had tagged along and she was happy with that... "Bonnie has been gone long enough. We either tell them she's dead or we tell them she isn't coming back. You choose."
"She doesn't want anyone to know, Nettie. She's being adamant about it." Jeremy said quietly.
"I know that Jeremy. But maybe it shouldn't be up to her anymore. We can't keep lying to everyone, I won't be able to keep track anymore." She couldn't keep a lid on things when they were this unstable.
Jeremy chuckled. "You lying that much, Nettie?" He smirked at her. "You know lies have a way of coming out eventually." He leaned the chair he was sitting in back on two legs. "Maybe you're right. Maybe we should tell everyone about Bonnie."
"I'm getting tired of holding back the truth. I've decided to turn over a new leaf Jere." She said, patting his arm, "So if your going to tell them. Good. I'm not going to hide it if they ask me." The bell rang and people began getting up out of their seats. Jeremy stood to leave and find his sister, "Thanks for visiting Jere." She said. "But try to remember I don't really like you." She teased, sending him off to his sister.
"Who was that?" Elizabeth asked, approaching Nettie after Jeremy had gone. She smiled. "You have a lot of friends."
"That was Elena Gilbert's brother. She's one of the doppelgangers." Nettie said, smiling at Beth.
"Oh, so he's related to Katherine Pierce?" She asked, a worried look on her face as she spoke about Katherine.
"Yep." Beth's glance faltered and she reached out to grab Nettie's arm. "What is it?" Nettie asked worriedly, spinning on the spot. "Holy shit." She breathed as a man, the spitting image of Damon moved towards them from the classroom door.
"It's..."
"Mother." The man said, his eyes filled with hope as he looked at her.
"Samuel..." Elizabeth said on a breath. She dropped her hand from Nettie's arm and hurried to her son. He drew her into a tight, loving embrace. "You're okay."
"I've been waiting to see you again for so long." Samuel told Beth on a happy sigh.
"Holy shit... This was not supposed to happen..." Nettie breathed, staring at the two with wide eyes.
"Samuel, did you find Elizabeth?" A man stepped into the classroom. Nettie couldn't help but feel like everything was falling apart around her. Nettie met his gaze and it almost fell away.
He had big blue eyes, like puddles of water on a clear day. His hair was blond and cut long. But that wasn't what had made her pause. It was the way he had looked back at her. Almost like he was surprised by something.
"Yes. Mother, this is Joseph. He is the reason I am alive to see you return home." He smiled, reaching out for his friend.
Joseph came further into the room, peeling his gaze from Nettie, and gave Elizabeth a smug smile. "Pleasure."
Elizabeth looked a little confused, "The vile?" She asked him carefully. But Samuel's eyes were locked on Nettie. He wasn't sure why she was there, or why she smelled the way she did. "She's alright. She's Hubert's granddaughter." Beth smiled softly at her son. His worry faded, turning into understanding.
"Hubert had children." He said to her, almost trying to process that information.
Nettie smiled awkwardly, putting her hand up in hello. "Hey." She mumbled, unable to find the words. She knew Hubert was dead and this was the closest she was going to get to meeting him.
"I... Where are your parents?" He asked her, curious to see them as well.
"Nettie's parents are no longer with us." Beth said sadly to her son. "She had been living with the Maxwell family. Nettie could see recognition, as if he knew them. But she figured they were a Founding Family. If Beth had brought him here as a child then he would have most likely met a Maxwell at some point.
"We should leave and discuss this at the Salvatore's house. I am staying there." She said to her son. Once again his eyes flashed recognition.
Leila climbed out of her beater car parked in front of the Boarding house. She had already faced the knot in her stomach earlier that day. She didn't want to have to do it again, but Damon had called and asked her to come over.
She pushed open the front door and stepped inside, walking into the living room, where she always happened to find him. Exactly as she had thought, he was standing in the room with a bottle of bourbon in his hands. "Damon," she said softly. "You called me?"
"We need to talk Red." He told her, placing the glass down.
"Then go ahead. Talk." She didn't move from the spot she stood.
"You know what's been going on?" He asked her carefully.
"Most of it. Nettie has been filling me in." Leila took a breath. She could already feel her emotions heightening. She didn't know if she was mad at him, or worried about him...
"I've been acting like an ass.." He told her. "But I'm not sorry about her being here Red. I am only sorry that I haven't talked with you about it." He loved her, he felt bad. The longer he got, the deeper he dug the hole he was in.
"Yeah, well, sorry doesn't fix things." She bit into her bottom lip. "It doesn't make the pain go away."
"I haven't done anything to you Leila. I've just been trying to figure out how to deal with all this. Nothing is going to change." His eye were pleading with her.
Leila crossed her arms. "Sure, Damon. You say that. But I saw the way you looked at Elizabeth. You went to her, you held her..." She took a breath. "You didn't even see me. I was right there."
"We hugged Leila." Damon tried to reason with her.
"Why didn't you say anything to me? You haven't spoke with me in weeks, I was right there and you said nothing." Leila's voice rose a tad.
"I KNOW THAT!" He yelled at her, "YOU.. You get upset about everything! I just wanted to deal with this before we had to fight about it!"
"Look who's fighting Damon!" Leila dropped her arms to her side. "I didn't want a fight. I was telling you how I felt."
"Maybe this is a mistake." He said, not being clear as to what he meant.
"What's a mistake?" Leila narrowed her eyes.
"This." He motioned between them. "I think we should take a break Leila." He snatched the glass back up off the table, drinking it quickly.
Leila felt like she'd been stabbed through the heart. She couldn't bring herself to say anything, couldn't move to run away like she always did when she got upset about something. She just stared at him, feeling tears coming on.
"Hey guys." Elena said awkwardly, on her way down the stairs from Jeremy's room. "Everything alright?" She asked carefully.
"Yeah. Everything is crystal clear all of a sudden." Damon said angrily. Then he was gone, leaving Elena and Leila alone.
As soon as he left, Leila took a shaky breath, then out of nowhere she grabbed Damon's liquor table and threw it into the fireplace roughly. Little bits of glass flew through the air as the liquid splattered in all directions.
"Whoa, Leila..." Elena watched, shocked.
"Can you drive me home?" Leila asked her, thinking it wasn't best to drive herself when she was this angry. "My car's in the driveway." She said, dropping the anger as soon as it happened. Then she handed Elena her keys and made for the door.
Leila got out at the dorm's and followed Elena upstairs. She was tired and her heart was aching but for some reason she couldn't cry about it. She was numb.
"This is seriously weird." Jeremy said, watching Damon glare at Samuel. "You look identical." He laughed.
"Yeah, I would say so." Stefan agreed.
Elizabeth watched Samuel and Damon carefully. She wasn't entirely sure how she thought this might go. "I don't understand." Damon said, breaking the strange silence that had blanketed the room.
"I gave him a vile of my blood when I had to run. He was supposed to take it when he was ready, and then wait for me to return. Things didn't exactly go as planned." She smiled at Damon, hoping he would come around.
"I got into an airplane accident and was saved by a vampire," Samuel explained. "I guess you could say I was pretty lucky."
"You're my kid..." Damon said again.
"He's our kid." Beth corrected him.
"Holy shit." Jeremy kept laughing.
Katherine stumbled from the woods, coughing, a bit of blood was left over on her hand and she looked down at it worriedly. "Please, help me!" She cried out, noticing a woman moving towards her on the small road into Mystic Falls.
"Your Elena Gilbert aren't you?" The woman asked her.
"Well actually, I'm much prettier." Katherine tried to smile at the lady, but the coughing had started up again. "Please, just help me."
The woman reached into her bag, and sprayed Katherine in the face with her mace. Katherine yelled, falling onto the road at her feet.
The lady began punching keys on her phone. Katherine glared up at her through bleary, stinging eyes and launched herself at the woman. She knocked her onto the ground, grabbing the phone and crushing it.
Katherine slugged the lady in the face, massaging her wrist as she looked at the unconscious woman. "Agh, dammit!" She grumbled.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" A man's voice came from behind Katherine. She looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened at the sight of Matt cocking a shotgun and aiming it at her. "Not as much as this will."
The boarding house door seemed to open every ten minutes and Nettie was beginning to feel relieved that she didn't live there. "So you guys can take the cabin seeing as I will be staying in the dorm." Nettie told Samuel and Joseph. "I'd feel better if someone was there anyways."
The blond man hadn't said much to her. But he nodded in appreciation. "Then when we get the attic open you can go up there and find out what happened to your son." She suggested to Samuel.
She handed over the keys. "I'll be around tomorrow. Elijah will be here and he's bringing someone to help us figure it out. Now... Damon! Did you go to the grocery store?" She asked him, hand on her hip.
"What?" He shook his head in confusion.
"Milk. I need it, now." She had still not worked up the nerve to go to the store alone... Not since the incident.
"There's some in the fridge. Just take it blondie." He ruffled her hair. He seemed like he was in better spirits out of the blue.
She smiled up at him and made for the kitchen.
The front door swung open again and Damon looked up into the entryway to see who was else had decided to stop by. Klaus stormed into the living room, anger evident in his expression.
"I gave you a week." He smirked, ignoring the others in the room. Until he caught their scent. His eyes widened. "She's here isn't she?" He asked again.
Nettie was muttering obscenities as she held up the empty milk jug, walking through the door of the kitchen. "This is empty Damon. EMPTY! You're trying to kill me again. I knew it." Her eyes fell on Klaus and she stopped dead on the spot.
Klaus turned to look at Nettie, eyes wild. "Not a great idea to ignore me love." He said, a look of anger about him.
"Why are you here?" She asked him, relaxing her shoulders and straightening out.
"We need to talk about some things Nettle." He told her, not asking.
"We talked the last time I saw you. I don't have anything else to say." She wasn't looking to be murdered. She wasn't looking to be pushed into another steamy kiss. She wanted to never be reminded of her feelings for him. "You should go."
"I'm not leaving until we talk. I can begin dropping bodies if that would change your mind love." Klaus's tone was demanding. His eyes moved to a man standing not far from Nettie. His hands were balled into fists at his side, but he didn't move to help her. Klaus shrugged it off, "Shall we?" He smirked, knowing these people wouldn't stand up to him.
Samuel began to shift from the other side of the room near Beth but Damon reached out and grabbed him by the arm, stopping him.
"Nettie?" Beth asked, "Do you want us to-"
"No it's fine. I'll talk to him. I don't think I could handle another fight anytime soon." She said, grumbling under her breath as she followed after him.
"Who was that?" Joseph asked, watching the attractive blonde follow the angry man out the door.
"He's one of the Original Vampires." Stefan said, "I've learned over time to just give him what he wants. Things can get very complicated with his family."
"Should one of follow them at least? Make sure she will be alright?" Sam suggested. Looking worriedly at Damon. He had only just gotten his family back. He wasn't ready to lose them just yet.
"I will." Joseph said, leaving after them at vampire speed.
"I still want you to leave." Nettie walked down the driveway with Klaus, crossing her arms as he lead her towards a path and into the woods.
"You disappeared after that night. You were gone for three months without a word to anyone. Where did you go?" Klaus didn't seem concerned, didn't seem angry. He was eerily calm.
"Don't worry Nik, I wasn't plotting to kill you if that's what you're worried about." She said grumpily. "If I wanted you dead you would be."
"So you don't want me dead?" He asked her, stopping them when he was sure no one in the house could hear.
"I would prefer it if you went back to New Orleans if we are being honest. We are being honest aren't we?" She asked him, searching his face for something. A reason why he wouldn't leave her alone.
"Yes, honesty..." Klaus gazed at Nettie with the same look, like he was searching her for something too.
"We shouldn't have... Gone into the attic." She said, changing her mind.
His eyebrow rose slowly and he tried to figure out what to say to fix things. "I'm not going to kill you Nettle."
"Really Klaus? How can I trust that? You came to my house to spend time with me, then you tried to murder me. Make up your mind!" She didn't yell, but she was getting upset.
Klaus had Nettie in his arms before she could react. He pressed his lips to hers roughly, passionately, like he was hungry for her.
Nettie kissed him back for a moment, remembering why she had liked him in the first place. But a rustle behind her made her stop. She pushed him away, "No Klaus. I don't want this anymore. You need to leave me alone." She told him. "Try to kill me or don't. But I can't do this." She took a step back.
"You told me to make up my mind. I did. I don't want to kill you. I want to be with you, Nettle." Klaus gave Nettie a very serious look, like there wasn't a doubt in his mind. "I won't leave until I get your confession."
"My confession?" She had no idea what he was talking about.
"Me." He said, a sad smile on his lips. "As soon as we are done here I'm going to walk away Nettle. And I won't be coming back." He stepped towards her, "You won't have to pretend anymore that you don't feel the same way about me as I do you. You'll never have to loathe the darkest parts of yourself that care for me. I will be gone. And you will be free."
Her breath hitched as he stood close enough to kiss her again. "I just." He exhaled nervously, "Want you to admit that you have feelings for me."
Nettie let out a sigh, shifting on her feet. "I'm in college." She said, "I just found out I have family, real family. I want to build a life for myself with them. I have Leila's plans to worry about. We have a future to build. That doesn't include you Klaus."
"I get it." He said.
"No you don't get it. I cover my feelings for you with hostility because yes, I hate myself for the truth and what it does to my sister. But if you promise to walk away then, yes. Yes I will be honest with how I feel."
"I will walk away." He watched her let out a deep breath, "I will walk away and I won't be back." She closed the gap between them, touching her cold hands to his stubble.
"Good." She whispered, reaching up and kissing him. She knotted her fingers in his wavy hair. Klaus held her close, caressing the back of her head as he pulled her nearer to deepen the kiss. After a moment she moved back again and whispered in his ear. "I'm sorry."